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The audiences at Carnegie Hall in 1892 had a unique experience. They were taken on a trip to the moon. It was all done through special effects, of course. But since this was several years before the Lumiere brothers screened the first motion pictures, the effects all had to be done live, on stage.
Click all images to enlarge — they are much bigger than you can see on this page!
The show, titled "Urania" after the goddess of astronomy, had been created by the Urania Astronomical Society of Berlin. It had already been a hit in Germany three years earlier. The special effects had been devised by W. Kranz and J. Carl Mayrhofer. The managers of Carnegie Hall, knowing a good idea when they saw one, procured all the scenery and special equipment and hauled it to New York. The script was rewritten by Garrett P. Serviss, who as a science popularizer was the Carl Sagan of his day. He is best known today, however, for being the author of "Edison's Conquest of Mars."
After an introduction, the audience was treated to the spectacle of a solar eclipse over Havel Lakes, near Berlin. They saw the sun rise, its disk slowly covered by the moon, the moment of totality and the appearance of the corona and then the return to a normal summer sky.
This was achieved by having the foreground scenery painted on a transparent screen. The areas to remain opaque were painted black on the reverse side, leaving sky and water translucent. Two projectors—-one for the crescent sun and one for the corona—-were used to recreate the eclipse. A third projector reproduced the effect of moving waves in the lake. Specially controlled stage lights gave the effect of changing colors in the landscape as the earth passed through the lunar shadow.
The audience was then treated to a view of the moon seen from a distance of just 5000 miles. This was accomplished through the use of a three-foot plaster model set against a black backdrop. The phases of the moon were created by slides in special projectors.
Zooming in, the audience saw close-up views of the lunar landscape, such as Mounts Aristarchus and Herodotus, and Cape Laplace, as they might appear from a height of just 2 1/2 miles. The models were lit by four powerful arc lights that contrasted the "earthly landscapes, softened and harmonized by the presence of air and life, with those of the moon, which, under a sky of eternal blackness, glitter in a jeweled panoply of death, for the moon is a dead world."
Audiences saw the lunar landscapes lit by earthlight before witnessing a sunrise on the moon. After having already seen a solar eclipse they are now treated to one as seen from the moon—-this time with the earth passing in front of the sun...one of the most technically complex effects in the entire show.
A return to earth revealed our planet from space at different distances. A sunset in the Indian Ocean and a moonrise over the opening scene completed the presentation.
"These splendid scenes," gushed Scientific American, "are a triumph of science and scenic art."
I haven't the slightest doubt about that! | <urn:uuid:a9ee2d09-ae92-4fea-9470-471a4b4b9aec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://io9.com/5978536/a-trip-to-the-moon-in-1892?tag=history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973446 | 664 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
An apparent object impact captured about 6:35 am on Sept. 10, 2012 from Dallas, Texas USA. Credit: George Hall.
UPDATE: Yes, there was an impact! An amateur astronomer in Dallas Texas, George Hall captured the impact flash in his webcam — click here to see his website and image – at about 6:30 am on Sept. 10, 2012.
From astronomer Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute comes news about a potential new impact on Jupiter. She reports there has been a visual sighting of an apparent fireball on Jupiter earlier today (about 10 hours ago, as of this posting) so the impact site should be visible again over the next few hours. According to amateur astronomers discussing this on G+, the impact area on Jupiter won’t be visible again until about 05:00 UTC, (01:00 EDT). The amateur who observed the flash was Dan Petersen, from Oregon, who made the observation at approximately 11:35 UTC on September 10. Petersen reported it to Richard Schmude of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). Hammel says the report sounds realistic, but obviously it needs confirmation if possible: a) by looking for any ‘impact scar’ tonight or over the next few days; b) by searching any webcam video that any observers might have been recording at the time. From the time and position given, the flash was on the North Equatorial Belt at approximately L1=335, L2=219, L3=257. “Let’s hope someone has a record of it!” Hammel says.
If it was the impact was sizable enough, it might have left an impact scar like those seen after the Shoemaker-Levy/9 impacts and this one in 2010:
Anthony Wesley from Australia captured the flash of an impact in June 3, 2010. There was also a similar impact and flash in later in 2010 and a big one in 2009.
On the Cloudy Nights astronomy forum, Petersen described his sighting:
This morning (9/10/2012) at 11:35:30 UT, I observed a bright white two second long explosion just inside Jupiter’s eastern limb, located at about Longitude 1 = 335, and Latitude = + 12 degrees north, inside the southern edge of the NEB. This flash appeared to be about 100 miles in diameter. I used my Meade 12″ LX200 GPS telescope and a binoviewer working at 400X for the observation, seeing was very good at the time. I was thinking about imaging Jupiter this morning but decided to observe it instead, had I been imaging I’m sure I would have missed it between adjusting webcam settings and focusing each avi. We’ll have to wait and see if a dark spot develops inside the southern regions of the NEB over the next day or two. Good luck imaging this. My best guess is that it was a small undetected comet that is now history, hopefully it will sign its name on Jupiter’s cloud tops.
If you make any observations or find you have webcam footage that may show such an impact, please send us an email.
Via astronomer Pete Lawrence (@Avertedvision on Twitter) is a simulated view showing where impact may have occurred (X marks the spot).
We’ll provide more updates as they become available. | <urn:uuid:b87c1276-c6df-42cd-a6a6-c8be79d104f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.universetoday.com/97294/viewing-alert-jupiter-may-have-been-impacted-by-a-fireball/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949818 | 711 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Canadian Shield in Yorkville Park
But that isn’t just any chunk of rock; it’s a piece of the Canadian Shield and it weighs a slight 650 tonnes. It’s also the place where, in summer and winter, you can see people lazing, eating their lunch or otherwise enjoying the sights and sounds of Yorkville.
It has become such a central part of the area, the American Society of Landscape Architects honoured David Oleson with a Landmark Award for his work there. Of course, The Village of Yorkville Park is more than just “the rock,” as it has become known. The grounds also feature horizontal fountains, misting fountains and 20 evergreen trees planted in round planters arranged in five rows of five trees. The park features a series of gardens designed to showcase the varied Ontario landscape, including a marsh area with a boardwalk, prairie grass, flower gardens and, of course, “the rock.”
The Landmark Award recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located.
“Receiving the Landmark Award is a tremendous honour,” says Oleson. “It’s always been a privilege to be part of the design team that brought Toronto such a unique and engaging public space. So to be recognized for the lasting impact of the Village of Yorkville Park is a bonus.”
The Village of Yorkville Park was a collaboration between Oleson’s firm, Oleson Worland Architects, and landscape architecture firm, Schwartz / Smith / Meyer, which was based in San Francisco at the time of the park’s design.
Oleson is the architect behind ART Condos, the 11-storey residence at the corner of Dovercourt and Sudbury Sts. Already nearing completion, Oleson designed ART to embody the creative spirit and the Queen West arts community.
He has also designed several other iconic and award-winning Toronto projects, including the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre, which won the prestigious Governor General’s Medal for Architecture, the beloved Don Valley Brick Works, and Sherbourne Lanes, Toronto’s first midrise, infill housing project.
Photos courtesy Oleson Worland Architects | <urn:uuid:9307680d-58c8-4915-af41-ff39a6f523cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thestar.blogs.com/galebeeby/2012/10/canadian-shield-in-yorkville-park.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950694 | 493 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Just the Facts?: Russian Scientist Claims Life On Venus -- Illinois UFO Abduction - Reptilian Encounter
Russian scientist claims 1982 pictures shows 'life on Venus'
Prof Ksanfomaliti, from the Moscow-based Space Research Institute, analysed photographs taken by a Soviet probe that landed on the planet's surface.
The 79 year-old claimed the pictures, taken by the probe Venus-13 in 1982, show a giant scorpion-styled insect that he claimed proved to life on the scorching second-closest planet to the sun.
But the views of the member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, published in Solar System Research, have been cast into doubt.
Experts say the features described as a disc and a scorpion appear to change locations from one photo to the next.
Prof Ksanfomaliti said the images show a scorpion shaped body, a disc and a "black flap" which apparently move as the probe's camera records the scene.
They all "emerge, fluctuate and disappear" explained Prof Ksanfomaliti.
"What if we forget about the current theories about the non-existence of life on Venus, let's boldly suggest that the objects' morphological features would allow us to say that they are living," he tells the magazine.
No records have previously been found of life on Venus, which has a surface temperature of 464C and gravity 0.9 times more powerful than Earth's.
But Jonathon Hill, a research technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, cast doubt on the claims.
The man who processes many of the images taken during NASA's Mars missions, said the higher-resolution versions of the Venera 13 images show that the crablike object is actually a mechanical component, not a living creature.
The same object shows up in a photograph taken by an identical landing probe, Venera 14, which landed nearby on Venus. - telegraph
UFO / Possible Abduction in Illinois
Log Number US-01252012-0017
Date Submitted 01/25/2012 03:46 UTC
Date of the Event 07/20/1988 02:00 UTC
Summary UFO sighted and possible abduction.
Tags hovering lights ufo triangle
Country United States
Location Resolution Approximate
Viewing Distance 21-100 Feet
Sighting Duration 04:00:00
Object Features Unknown
Object Flight Path Hovering then path
Object Shape Triangle
Weather Factors Unknown
On this night I had some buddies of mine over for a visit. I live in the out skirts of town in the open country farm area. There were four of us there. It was a very nice warm summer night. I had my guitar out side and plugged into an amp and was playing some tunes for my friends. We were having some beer's and just enjoying the night since it was the weekend. The sky was very clear and the stars were all around. My friends had been there going on about six hours and it was getting to be about 2:00 a.m. in the morning. My mother and step father were out of town and I was staying home alone. We had dairy cows at that time and grew corn. The sky was still clear and all of a sudden the wind started blowing as if a storm was approaching but there wasnt any clouds as we could see. The cows in the barn started acting funny and making noise, like some thing was bothering them. One of my friends then said he was ready to leave because he didnt want to get hit with that storm he thought was comming and needed to get home. So he looked up at the sky and said. That's so strange because he did'nt see any clouds or anything but the the way the wind was acting it should have looked stormy. But he got in his car then pulled out of my long drive way we have and drove off. Well right after he left my other two friends decided they were gonna leave also. As they were pulling out of the drive I noticed something big and dark above one of the three corn bins we have and was just hovering above it. I quickly started flashing the house lights on and off to get them to come back and to look at what I was seeing but they never even noticed the thing and just drove off honking the horn good bye. I then turned my attention back to the object and started to walk towards the corn bin were it was hovering. I noticed it was very large and was triangle shaped. it looked bigger than the corn bin. It had some lights kinda pulsating around it. I thought what the heck. I had a beer in my hand as I walked up to it,( no I wasnt drunk ), I was seeing this thing. The beer was in my right hand because im right handed and always use that hand. Just as I was staring at this thing, BAM! this light hit's me like a spot light, very bright. I can't see anything now. Just that light. After I was hit with that light all I remember was the light going back up into the UFO and it just took off like very fast and was gone. Now this is the strange part. This all happened at around 2:00 a.m. and was dark outside of course. But now as im standing there the sun is comming up and it's just becomming dawn. And the beer I was holding was now in my left hand and I swear that I never switch it. Seem's four hours had passed and I dont remember what happened in between. I feel I was taken aboard or something, and then put back down. I have had bad dreams since then and always about being on some strange table being looked at by aliens. I just wanted to share this story since I feel maybe this may have happened to some one else perhaps and to let them know they are not alone. Thank you very much for reading my report. C. M. from Illinois. - MUFON CMS
Cloaked Reptilian Abduction
Case Number 35123
Log Number US-01252012-0004
Date Submitted 01/25/2012 01:08 UTC
Date of the Event 01/03/2010 03:30 UTC
Summary 7 foot tall cloaked being, reptoid.
Tags abduction triangle
Country United States
Location Resolution Approximate
Viewing Distance Unknown
Sighting Duration 00:00:30
Object Features Undisclosed
Object Flight Path Undisclosed
Object Shape Unknown
Weather Factors Unknown
My friend and I were scoping out a house where the occult practices from a fairly good distance, about 100 yards off. There was a field near by where cows are kept to feed on the field during the winter, and they were dead quite. So was everything else in the valley. Not a single sound. Except for a demonic roar, that was multi-pitched, and would come from about a hundred yards off about every other minute or so. We didnt really care though.....because we suspected we were well camouflaged and it was late enough at night to evade, which we had already done that night, if necessary. We were overlooking an embankment about 15 yards apart from each other. He was ahead of me. I was looking at him to get the go ahead to move because our presence was already known there. he suddenly froze, then started sprinting in my direction. Under his breath he told me to run, and run we did, for about 1.5 miles. Along the way we could hear the multi-pitched voice call to its buddies, and they would call back, in their multi-pitched voices. When we finally got out and got to have a cigarette, he told me what happened. The house we were checking had company. As ----- was checking out the house, a 8.0 to 8.5 foot tall cloaked being came to the window and looked directly at him. He said he froze from its stare, and then saw it make a go for the door of the house. He made for it when that happened and we both ran. He said the thing wasnt human, and wasnt very happy.....We didnt speak an entire word on the ride back. The feeling down there is death, and you have to accept it to face these guys. worst trepidation of my life...no joke. When we got back to __________, his eyes started to bleed. They bleed for about the next full day. Couldnt really find anything on the internet to collaborate this experience, but we did meet another group of 2 from the area that had the same exact thing happen to them, eyes bleeding and all. I have suspect evidence to believe that it was reptilian, from the near abduction instances from the triangles down there, and other personal witness of reptilians in the area. - MUFON CMS
85-year-old woman fights off moose with a shovel
She may be 85 years old and weigh under 100 pounds, but an Alaska woman is being hailed as a hero after fighting off a moose. Dorothea Taylor was waiting in a pickup truck as her husband, George Murphy, 82, went to round up their dogs from their morning run when she heard the pets barking loudly.
She got out of the truck, saw a moose strike something with its hooves — and immediately knew something was wrong. "I thought he was trying to kill Fellar, the old dog," she said. She raced back to her vehicle, grabbed a shovel and took a swing at the moose, who was attacking the dog.
With a few more swings — and the help of a dog — she managed to get the moose to back away. "Then I saw it wasn't Fellar the moose was after at all," she said. "He was striking over the top of Fellar to get George." She immediately tried to stanch her husband’s bleeding as a good Samaritan dialed 911.
George Murphy was rushed to an Anchorage hospital, where he is resting with a gash to his head and a few broken ribs. And he couldn't be more proud of his wife of 40 years. "Jeez, that was a pretty hard thing for anyone to do, to walk up on a moose like that," he said. "Heck, all she had was a shovel."
Blood bubbles out of drains in Polish town
After bubbling out through holes in the covers, the blood formed a river of red that flowed along a road in the Polish town forming large bloody puddles.
An investigation revealed that the blood had come from a meat processing plant and had seeped onto the streets because of a blocked drain.
“Police were called and we are investigating to find who is responsible for this,” said Janusz Matrejek, a spokesman for the regional police headquarters.
Confronted with pools of blood on their streets locals reacted with horror.
“There are two schools on the street where a large amount of blood was flowing,” wrote one angry resident on a news website. “The blood was also heading towards a local market. When you consider public health this situation is appalling.”
People also questioned as to how the blood had managed to leave the meat processing plant without any form of treatment, despite possible environmental risks.
A spokesman for the municipal authorities said the situation was now under control and that the blood had been removed from the streets. - telegraph
Those are some low prices! | <urn:uuid:ed3cecaa-6cf7-4ef7-9831-a46f1ba36abf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2012/01/just-facts-russian-scientist-claims.html | 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 | 0.985543 | 2,373 | 2.125 | 2 |
Finally, after days of listing on a disabled Carnival cruise ship without electricity and working toilets, thousands of passengers finished disembarking early Friday morning at the Port of Mobile.
The frustration that many felt was typified by Janie Esparza, one of the first passengers to get back on land.
"It was horrible. Horrible," Esparza told a scrum of reporters. "The bathroom facilities were horrible and we could not flush toilets. No electricity and our rooms were in total darkness. Honestly, think that this ship should have ever sailed out."
The Carnival Triumph, became a major media story, when it caught fire off the coast of Mexico. The blaze left the vessel listing to the side, drifting in Gulf of Mexico currents and the more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board in limbo. It took five days for the ship to dock at the Alabama Cruise Terminal, three days after it was due.
Family members cheered as the ship pulled in and in the crowd also was Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill. The CEO had his own message for the weary passengers: Sorry.
"We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case," he said.
The beleaguered CEO went on the ship as passengers departed and delivered another apology.
But for some, like passenger Norma Reyes, it was too little too late.
"The hallways were toxic," said Reyes, who said she would never go on a Carnival cruise again. "Full of urine. It was horrible. If that ship caught on fire and they had not contained it where would we be? Floating in the ocean or dead."
Others were more forgiving. | <urn:uuid:799bfb37-319b-4a00-b4ce-1b6d65dc9e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kmbc.com/news/money/travel/Crippled-cruise-ship-returns/-/11663910/18542838/-/5yxxsy/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988491 | 347 | 1.625 | 2 |
The U.S. Department of Energy has teamed up with the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and NASA to invest $45 million in the pilot institute of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation.
Designed to bridge the gap between research and product development for additive manufacturing, the pilot institute will be a means of providing businesses, especially those of a smaller scale, get access to cutting-edge capabilities and equipment in order to bring their ideas to life. The institute will also focus on educating and training workers in advanced additive manufacturing skills.
The overall goal of the project is to help U.S. manufacturers better compete in the global marketplace.
Read the full article here.
In an effort to increase manufacturing production in the United States, President Obama has launched a competition that will lead to the development of three new manufacturing innovation institutes.
Munro & Associates announces it has named Gerald S. Bryce as a director of business development.
Sciaky Direct Manufacturing Solution Featured at Pennsylvania State University's Technology Showcase
Sciaky Inc. announces its Direct Manufacturing solution was one of the many technologies featured at the Pennsylvania State University Technology Showcase on Additive Manufacturing.
To help boost America's manufacturing industry and its global competitiveness, the DOE has launched the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative. | <urn:uuid:9dcdb748-1373-4d65-8997-9d3f20d6144b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oemoffhighway.com/news/10760576/new-government-funding-will-help-support-manufacturing-innovation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947595 | 265 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Easy Ways to Lose Weight
25 Ways to Lose Weight at Work
Begin with breakfast. It's old news by now: If you want to stay slim, don't skip the most important meal of the day. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that those who passed up a morning meal were 4.5 times more likely to be obese compared with those who ate breakfast. Maximize your a.m. efforts by picking a powerful protein. An International Journal of Obesity study found that those who ate two eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet lost 65% more weight and reported higher energy levels compared with dieters who ate a bagel breakfast.
Brown bag it. "Keep portions in control by packing your lunch instead of buying it," Mangieri says. "This is the easiest way to know exactly what you are getting." Need inspiration? This book has 200 recipes and meal ideas for a healthy 400 calories per serving.
Split your lunch. No, we're not asking you to share. Divide your lunch hour into two parts—30 minutes for eating your meal and 30 minutes for walking once you're finished, advises Mangieri. "Even better, make time to hit the fitness center if your workplace offers one," she says.
Do restaurant research. "If you plan to eat out for lunch, prepare by visiting the websites of a few of your favorite restaurants," says Mangieri. "Review the nutrition information before you order so that you can make an informed decision." Need help navigating menus? Sign up for the Eat This, Not That! Jumpstart Plan and learn what to eat (and what to avoid) at popular restaurants and supermarkets.
Abide by an agenda. When you get to determine the contents of your breakfast, lunch, and snacks over the course of a workday, you're more likely to stay on track, says Mangieri. But don't forget to do your homework: "Understand how many calories are needed and what a healthy meal looks like so that you can execute your plan effectively," she says. Even better, keep a food log to track what you eat. Here's a complete guide to keeping a diet journal. | <urn:uuid:804e757b-5017-4a69-9197-319f29b50a3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fitbie.msn.com/lose-weight/tips/25-ways-lose-weight-work/tip/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964005 | 442 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Review: In Racketeer, Grisham delivers another page-turner
THE RACKETEER. By John Grisham. Doubleday. 352 pages. $28.95.
Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered.
Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five. ...
It’s a long story.
And what an entertaining and riveting story it is.
It is difficult to be disappointed with John Grisham’s novels. And in his latest, “The Racketeer,” he delivers again.
“The Racketeer” uses the basic Grisham “man against the system” formula, and it is delightful to watch the main character execute an end-run around the authorities. The plot is somewhat unrealistic and reminiscent of “heist” movies such as “Inside Man,” “The Town” and “Ocean’s Eleven” to name a few, but as Grisham notes at the end of the novel, “The Racketeer is indeed a work of fiction. Accuracy was not deemed crucial. Long paragraphs of fiction were used to avoid looking up facts.”
He masterfully presents his own take on the heist concept and spins a gripping tale that captures and holds the reader’s interest.
Malcolm Bannister is a lawyer and former Marine serving time for money laundering in a minimum security prison camp in Frostburg, Md. When we meet Bannister, he is halfway through his 10-year sentence. He swears he is innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced — he just picked the wrong client — and he is determined to reduce his remaining time to zero.
He gets his chance at freedom when a federal judge is killed and the FBI is at a loss. Bannister knows who killed the judge and why.
Grisham holds back plenty of secrets as Bannister’s story unfolds.
We know Bannister wants his freedom, but Grisham is not in a hurry to reveal his hero’s goal. Grisham gives us only enough to keep us turning the pages.
In a first-person account of his every move, Bannister goes from city to city, country to country, playing out a carefully choreographed plan designed not only to ensure his complete freedom but also leave him wealthy.
Though unrealistic, the story is fast-paced, well-conceived and executed, and it leaves the reader guessing until the very end. There is thrill, intrigue, deceit and revenge. Nothing is as it seems and everything is fair game.
Reviewer Jacqueline Maduneme is a tax lawyer and author who lives in Charleston. | <urn:uuid:69e8deaa-616d-4cf8-b7ab-d2252ef69a7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130127/PC1201/130129474/1278/review-in-racketeer-grisham-delivers-another-page-turner&source=RSS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973745 | 605 | 1.609375 | 2 |
About Norton Chapel
Norton Chapel was built in 1964 and named after Dr. Arthur H. Norton, long-time president of Keuka College and a proponent of a large and architecturally significant chapel.
The timber trusses are naturally finished laminated Douglas fir grown in Oregon, and the ceiling is cedar decking from the Pacific Coast. The white marble chancel platform was quarried in Vermont, the blown glass spheres in the chandeliers were created in Italy, and the heavy cedar shakes shingles came from Canada.
More About Norton Chapel | <urn:uuid:f9943c6f-bcee-4653-b777-50ec8189e653> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.keuka.edu/weddings/about/bride-and-groom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954781 | 116 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The emphasis now is tightly focused on the quality of the site that is the source of the link as well as its relevance to the destination page. Links must now have at least one, but preferably a combination of the following characteristics:
* Originating from an authority site – Search engines love links coming from news sites such as CNN, MSN, Huffington Post, etc. Links that source from .gov and .edu sites are highly regarded as well.
* Industry related sites – Links that source from industry related sites are likely to hold relevance and will score points in the search engines’ algorithms.
* Relevant social media pages – Search engines are paying an increasing amount of attention to links that source from social media sites.
In review, the link building game has changed from one where thousands of links could be purchased and deliver results within days to an environment where quality and relevance rule the day. As the search engines continue their quest to deliver the best user experience possible, websites and their SEO’s would be wise to follow the same path. | <urn:uuid:1717bad8-282f-4168-b5e1-88204d8c78df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prlog.org/11982508-gervais-group-review-of-the-new-world-of-link-building.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95862 | 213 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Creighton Glaucoma Screening Initiative Hits the Road
Creighton University’s Glaucoma Screening Initiative will expand its efforts to serve a five-state area, University officials will announce Thursday.
On July 13, Creighton’s Office of Health Sciences’ Multicultural and Community Affairs (HS-MACA) will dedicate a new van that will be used to bring the division’s free glaucoma-screening program to at-risk populations in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado. The dedication will take place at 3 p.m. in the Hixson-Lied Science Building atrium.
Since 2001, HS-MACA has reached out to populations that are at particular risk of developing glaucoma, including African Americans and Hispanics, through free eye screenings and educational programs and materials. Until now, those efforts have been limited primarily to north and south Omaha and several Native American reservations in Nebraska.
“Last year, we screened about 1,500 individuals in Nebraska and reached 10,000 through programs and materials. With the van, we will be able to double those numbers to at least 3,000 (screenings),” said Sade Kosoko-Lasaki (right), M.D., Creighton associate vice president for the health sciences.
An estimated 2.5 million Americans have glaucoma, and half of those individuals are unaware that they suffer from the disease, the second-leading cause of blindness in the United States. Early detection is critical in treating glaucoma, Kosoko-Lasaki noted.
Hispanics and African Americans over the age of 40, individuals 65 and older, people with family history of glaucoma, hypertension, diabetes, and those who have experienced a serious eye injury are at higher risk of glaucoma. She said at-risk individuals should have complete eye exams at least every one to two years.
Creighton’s Glaucoma Screening Initiative is “not a magic solution, but it gives us a baseline measurement,” Kosoko-Lasaki remarked. The initiative also helps to identify eye-care providers who may offer follow-up care at no or reduced cost to individuals who cannot pay for those services.
The Friends of the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation in New York helps support Creighton’s Glaucoma Screening Initiative. Health-care providers who are interested in offering their services to help treat individuals diagnosed with glaucoma and other eye disorders through the initiative, should call (402) 280- 2332. | <urn:uuid:45718014-3e72-4fdf-aaf2-d179303af469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creighton.edu/publicrelations/newscenter/news/2006/july2006/july112006/07112006glaucomascreening/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934014 | 540 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Rehnquist often sided with states over federal power
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON When William Rehnquist, who died Saturday night of complications from thyroid cancer, joined the Supreme Court in 1972, it was dominated by justices with an expansive view of individual liberties, defendants' rights and federal power. He often dissented in rulings that broadly interpreted the Constitution to address society's problems. The court Rehnquist leaves behind emphasizes states' rights over federal power:
Jan. 7, 1972 — Rehnquist, who had been an assistant U.S. attorney general, joins Supreme Court after being nominated by President Nixon and confirmed by Senate, 68-26.
June 1972 — The court strikes down all state death penalty laws, saying inadequate procedures led to arbitrary results. Rehnquist dissents.
January 1973 — Court finds right to abortion in Constitution's guarantee of personal liberty. Rehnquist dissents.
July 1974 — Court says Nixon must comply with a judge's subpoena for Watergate tapes. Rehnquist doesn't participate because he served under Attorney General John Mitchell, on trial for his involvement in Watergate.
December 1975 — President Ford appoints John Paul Stevens to court. He initially aligns with Rehnquist in some cases but becomes one of court's strongest liberals, usually opposing Rehnquist.
June 1976 — Rehnquist writes opinion saying Congress exceeded its power to regulate interstate commerce when it extended federal minimum wage standards to states and cities. It is the first of many major opinions in which he emphasizes states' rights.
July 1976 — With Rehnquist's vote, court reinstates death penalty laws with new procedures.
June 1978 — Court allows affirmative action in higher education. Rehnquist dissents.
June 1979, July 1980 — Court upholds affirmative action in public contracting. Rehnquist dissents.
September 1981 — President Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to court. A former Stanford law school classmate of Rehnquist, she becomes his ally but is more moderate on privacy and equality issues.
June 1983 — In key dispute over public funding for religion, Rehnquist writes opinion permitting Minnesota to grant parents an income tax deduction for cost of tuition, textbooks and transportation at all schools, including religious ones.
February 1985 — Court overrules 1976 decision that said federal wage law could not apply to cities and states; Rehnquist among dissenters who say their view eventually will prevail. The ruling has not been overturned, but later decisions undercut much of the legal reasoning behind it.
September 1986 — Rehnquist becomes chief justice after being nominated by Reagan and confirmed by the Senate. He succeeds Warren Burger. Antonin Scalia joins court and provides another strong conservative vote.
February 1988 — Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy joins court, giving Rehnquist a majority of five conservatives on many issues.
January 1989 — With Rehnquist in the majority, the court sets a strict standard for local governments' affirmative action policies.
February 1989 — With Rehnquist's vote, court dramatically cuts death row prisoners' ability to challenge their cases.
October 1990 — David Souter joins court, appointed by the first President Bush to succeed William Brennan, Rehnquist's ideological opposite. To administration's surprise, Souter votes with court's liberal wing.
October 1991 — Clarence Thomas joins the bench, appointed by Bush and succeeding Thurgood Marshall. Thomas gives Rehnquist a consistent conservative vote. Marshall was the last justice who opposed the death penalty in all cases.
June 1992 — Over Rehnquist's dissent, the court upholds the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that made abortion legal nationwide.
June 1993 — With Rehnquist's vote, the court for the first time allows white voters to challenge black-majority congressional districts, which were intended to boost minorities' political power.
August 1993 — President Clinton appoints Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who becomes the court's first Democratic choice in 26 years, succeeding conservative Byron White.
August 1994 — Clinton appoints Stephen Breyer to replace Justice Harry Blackmun, who mostly voted with the left. Like Ginsburg, Breyer votes with the two other liberals, Souter and Stevens.
January 1995 — In a whimsical touch, Rehnquist adds gold stripes to the sleeves of his black robe after seeing a Gilbert and Sullivan production of "Iolanthe" and being amused by the garb of the British lord chancellor.
April 1995 — Rehnquist authors decision that Congress exceeded its authority to regulate interstate commerce when it passed a law banning guns within 1,000 feet of a school.
June 1995 — With Rehnquist's vote, the court strikes down federal contracting affirmative action program.
June 2000 — Rehnquist writes opinion allowing continuation of so-called Miranda rights read to criminal suspects. Despite his personal objections to Miranda, he writes that Congress cannot legislatively overturn the constitutional decision that dates to 1966. Also in June, a five-justice majority, over Rehnquist's dissent, strikes down state laws banning what critics call "partial birth" abortions.
December 2000 — Rehnquist votes with O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas to stop recounts of Florida presidential ballots, leading to Republican George W. Bush's victory.
June 2002 — Rehnquist leads conservative bloc in ruling that public money can be used to send children to religious schools with tuition "vouchers."
June 2003 — Over Rehnquist's dissent, the court rules 5-4 that colleges may favor minority applicants to achieve racial diversity on campus. Separately, over Rehnquist's dissent, a six-justice majority rules that state laws banning sexual relations between people of the same sex are unconstitutional.
June 2004 — After the court hears the first major challenge to the Bush administration's legal policy on terrorism, Rehnquist rules with the majority that a U.S. citizen held as an "enemy combatant" has a right to be told the reasons for his detention and to rebut those claims before a judge. Rehnquist dissents, however, from a decision that says foreigners in military custody at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may challenge their detentions in federal courts.
October 2004 — Rehnquist is diagnosed with thyroid cancer, undergoes a tracheotomy and chemotherapy treatments.
January 2005 — Rehnquist administers oath of office to President Bush. As he descends steps to inaugural platform, ailing Rehnquist receives a standing ovation.
June 2005 — Writing for the court in one of two 5-4 rulings on Ten Commandments displays, Rehnquist says a monument on the grounds of Texas' state Capitol is permissible because it is surrounded by other types of monuments and undeniably has historical meaning.
Sept. 3, 2005 — Rehnquist dies at his home in Arlington, Va. | <urn:uuid:1524e465-03e0-44ce-8a03-577cdc927d73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/supremecourtjustices/2005-09-03-rehnquist-chrono_x.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943958 | 1,401 | 2.6875 | 3 |
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Local hero celebrated at Shildon railway museum
AN engineer, who championed a major canal project and pioneered the use of explosive forming in the foundry process, is the subject of a new display at The National Railway Museum, Shildon.
Daniel Adamson was born in the town on April 30, 1820, the 13th of 15 children and attended Edward Walton Quaker School in Old Shildon.
At 13, he became an apprentice to Timothy Hackworth, engineer to the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
He went on to establish his own iron works in Newton, Cheshire, and was a pioneer in the development of explosive forming used in the foundry process, and in the use of steel.
He was also a champion of the Manchester Ship Canal project.
The Local Heroes display, in the museum’s Welcome Building, features people from the Shildon area, who have made their mark on history, including authors, politicians, businessmen and engineers.
The display runs from Monday (November 12) to the end of December.
The museum is free and is open 10am to 4pm.
Comments are closed on this article. | <urn:uuid:bbc8303e-8ea3-460c-b38e-d8cc132d426c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10040137.Local_hero_celebrated_at_Shildon_railway_museum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968366 | 254 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Posted September 1999
La réforme agraire en Chine rurale depuis la moitié des années 80Cet article analyse les principaux aspects de la réforme agraire en Chine rurale depuis la moitié des années 80. Il explique le système chinois actuel de responsabilité du ménage en insistant notamment sur ses faiblesses institutionnelles, et expose les hypothèses quant à la nature et à la direction d'une réforme agraire plus poussée avancées par les économistes chinois. L'article analyse en particulier quatre modèles de réforme représentatifs et expérimentaux mis en oeuvre depuis cette période. Enfin, des leçons sont tirées du passé en vue de façonner la réforme à court et à moyen termes.
Reforma agraria en la China rural desde mediados de los años ochentaEn el presente artículo se examinan los principales aspectos de la reforma agraria en la China rural desde mediados de los años ochenta. Se expone el sistema actual de responsabilidad familiar de China, describiendo sobre todo su debilidad institucional, así como los debates teóricos sobre el carácter y las orientaciones de la ulterior reforma agraria entre los economistas chinos. Se analizan en particular cuatro modelos representativos de reforma experimental desde mediados de los años sesenta, ilustrando sus comienzos, funciones y resultados primarios. Por último, se extraen algunas enseñanzas del pasado para definir la reforma futura a corto y medio plazo.
This article reviews the major issues of land reform in rural China since the mid-1980s and in particular examines four experimental reform models. Given China's huge size and its diversity in natural endowment and economic development, it is very difficult to carry out an inclusive study. Thus this paper restricts the analysis to some of the main issues and cases to shed light on the current approaches. As institutional innovation is being driven by the weaknesses of the existing agrarian system, an overview of the current household responsibility system is given, focusing mainly on its institutional weaknesses. Bringing about further reforms is bound to be a difficult and contentious task. The range of ideas and suggestions has been extensive. As theoretical studies generally precede changes in practice, a section examines the debates and controversy on the nature and directions of agrarian reform among Chinese economists. This is followed by an analysis of four recently initiated local reform cases which, in the authors' view, represent the main approaches to China's agrarian reform since the mid-1980s. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons from past reforms that might help to shape future measures.
To reach this target, China carried out its second land reform, a campaign of collectivization in the mid-1950s. During the process individual farmers were compelled to join collectives. The collectivization finally developed an institution called the People's Commune. With centrally controlled property rights and a misapplied egalitarian principle of distribution, the communes destroyed farmers' operational freedom and their enthusiasm for production. Much literature illustrates the poor performance of the commune system (e. g. Stavis, 1982; Lin, 1982; Lin, 1987; Chen, 1994).
At the end of the 1970s China launched an economic reform, pioneered by rural reform. China broke with the Soviet doctrine, introducing a family-based contract system, the so-called household responsibility system. Since then, household responsibility has been the nationwide statutory pattern of agricultural land tenure . Honoured as the third land revolution in China, the household responsibility system has proved a great success. There is no doubt that the system generates incentives for production by giving farmers freedom of land use rights and decision-making, linking rewards closely with their performance. As a result, China's agriculture has been dramatically revived. After 30 years of stagnation, growth in agricultural output in the first half of the 1980s accelerated to a rate several times the previous long-term average. Between 1978 and 1984, output of the three main crops, namely grain, cotton and oil-bearing crops, increased at annual rates of 4.8 percent, 7.7 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, compared with the average rates of increase of 2.4 percent, 1.0 percent and 0.8 percent per year from 1952 to 1978 (State Statistical Bureau, People's Republic of China, 1985). Production of grain, the most important farming product of the country, reached a peak of 407 million tonnes in 1984, which represented a net increase of more than 100 million tonnes within only six years. The fundamental problem of feeding the giant population, which had been a great pressure in China for several centuries, was basically solved. However, a big drop in grain output was witnessed in 1985, 6 percent off the previous year, followed by stagnation until the 1990s. It appeared that the household responsibility system had exhausted its benefits, although clearly neither the dramatic growth in the first half of the 1980s nor the stagnation in the second half was the sole result of land institutional reform. However, it did have an important role, alongside, for example, real grain price changes.
|Year||Cultivated area per household (ha)||Number of plots per household||Average size per plot (ha)|
|Source: Ministry of Agriculture of China, 1993.|
Second, farmers were shortsighted in action. According to the system, a person's eligibility for land depended only on his or her villager status, no matter when this was obtained. On the one hand, babies and villagers' newly married spouses from other villages were all eligible claimants, having equal rights to share equal amounts of land; on the other, when a villager died, his or her right would automatically disappear. As population increased, villages had to readjust the distribution structure, which further subdivided the farmland . The endless redistribution of farmland resulted in many problems:
Third, farmland was generally poorly endowed with the necessary human capital. Under the household responsibility system, egalitarianism was generally the leading principle guiding land distribution, with little consideration given to interfamily differences such as labour capability, education and individual preference . As a result, some large households with a limited labour force could have too much land to work, while other smaller households, particularly those specialized in agriculture, could have insufficient land for full employment. This kind of problem was much worse in areas experiencing rapid rural industrialization and urbanization. In these areas there was a general deterioration in the agricultural labour force as the most able workers tended to leave the villages. Adding to the problem was the fact that those finding off-farm work did not renounce their right to farm but retained a part-time involvement. Many did not give priority to cultivation and at times even let the land lie idle. Thus, the scarcest resource was underutilized . To sum up, the household responsibility system maintained egalitarianism but was less successful in terms of economic efficiency. As for the unsolved problems, the negative aspects of the household responsibility system will inevitably become more and more of a constraint on the further development of China's agriculture. China faces a challenge once again.
In the early stages, discussions mainly focused on whether collective ownership should be maintained and what form of property rights could be adopted. Two divergent ideas drew much academic attention. One group of economists advocated farmland nationalization. Their central idea was that State ownership of farmland with individual lifelong possession could be the best solution. They argued that collective ownership of farmland did not exist in practice in rural China: rural collectives never had exclusive property rights on land under the so-called collective system. During the commune era, collectives were prohibited from selling the land they owned (except to the State) or from buying land from other owners. Farm products could only be sold to State commercial institutions at administratively low prices; thus farmers were denied the right to benefit from farming. Farmers' land use rights such as production decisions were also weakened by the rigid State procurement system. Under the household responsibility system, farmers still failed to have complete rights on land. They lacked the right to transfer their contract land, and their rights to use and benefit from the land were further weakened by administrative interference and continued State procurement. As a result of these infringements of property rights, the State was the real landowner - the biggest landlord in rural China (Din and Cheng, 1994). These economists argued that if public ownership was a kind of dogma, it would be better to abandon the name "collective" and institute State ownership instead, in order to live up to the letter and spirit of the system. Through nationalization of farmland, farmers would be granted permanent land use rights. They could buy, sell, mortgage and bequeath their rights. Although peasants would not be landowners, lifelong tenancy in effect could be as efficient as owner cultivation (Din and Cheng, 1994).
Although these arguments are persuasive, the idea of farmland nationalization was not seen as likely to find public acceptance. The first objection of opponents was financial. They asked if the State would need to pay to effect the transfer of land. Although the ownership of collective farmland is ambiguous, it was unlikely that the State could get the land free; it would have to pay at least part of the price. The government would then have to consider social and political risks. An agreement to pay would entail financial embarrassment. In addition, opponents wondered whether the State would be able to manage farmland as well as collectives do. Some economists bitterly criticized the idea of land nationalization as intending a return to the abolished commune system; others viewed it as a kind of quasi-private ownership. Given the strong objections, farmland nationalization is unlikely to be put into practice.
A second group of economists was willing to accept the critique of collective ownership; however, instead of farmland nationalization, they advocated individual ownership. They argued that only under individual farmland ownership would it be possible to overcome the above problems. To defend themselves against criticism for advocating privatization, they tried to find theoretical support. They argued, by the theory of Karl Marx, the founder of socialist thought, that socialism would rebuild the society on the basis of socialized individual ownership. Accordingly, some took the view that the vital difference between socialism and capitalism is whether the main production means are owned by all individuals or by a small number of individuals - the former case being socialism. They argued for a break with the theoretical doctrine that socialist ownership could only be through State and collective ownership (Li and Li, 1989; Lin, 1989).
|Village income level||Agree with land privatization? (%)|
|Source: Xia, 1992.|
As the theoretical debate developed, a third group of Chinese economists took the view that it was more feasible to improve land use rights than to change ownership of land. They argued that both approaches, i. e. nationalization and individualization, were still strongly trammelled by the previous doctrine where the concept of ownership was overstressed and taken as the sole key point of property rights. Following modern theory they believed that ownership was, on the contrary, just one of the components of property rights. Other components include the rights to consume, to obtain income from and to alienate assets (Barzel, 1989). The purpose of property rights is to define interests and obligations among participants sharing an asset. Without the clarification of property rights, participants could shoulder burdens for others and this could generate problems such as moral hazard and free riders. According to the theory of property rights, the ownership of land in rural China is clear, but the property rights of farmers are very incomplete. Land is owned by farmers collectively rather than individually, but the land use right is granted to farmers as individuals. In theory, farmers should have an exclusive use right which should mean the freedom to consume, to obtain income from and to alienate the use right at their will. In practice, however, farmers' land use rights are insufficient. Their rights to consume and to obtain income from land are weakened by the State procurement system and distorted prices. Furthermore, farmers are prohibited from transferring their land use rights. These drawbacks, in combination with the problem of frequent land redistribution, lead farmers to feel that they are only nominal owners. As a result of the ambiguous status of land use rights, farmers' incentives to take care of their land are considerably weakened. In addition, as land use rights are not tradable, it is difficult for land markets to develop. Thus, the problem of land fragmentation remains highly intractable. If there is no possibility of changing landownership, there exists, nevertheless, vast scope for improving the land use rights system. At present, therefore, the most important thing is to clarify farmers' property rights so as to foster their production incentives and prevent further farmland fragmentation.
From the above brief review, it is clear that Chinese economists all agree about the need for further clarification of land property rights, but they hold different views on how this should be done. In the absence of a universally accepted approach, recent land reform initiatives have been guided mainly by the ideas of the third group of economists, which are seen to be less socially and politically risky and more easily accepted by the central government. Under the principle of adhering to collective ownership of farmland and reforming land use rights, the government has issued a number of policies and measures. For instance, in 1983, households were allowed to exchange their labour with others and to employ limited amounts of labour for farm work. For the purpose of providing better incentives for soil conservation and investment, leaseholds were extended to 15 years in 1984, and then to 30 years in 1995. In the late 1980s, rural households engaged in non-farm business were allowed to sublease their land to other villagers in order to prevent land from being left idle. Meanwhile the central government also encouraged more flexible measures to be carried out at the local level. Experimental land reform models were initiated in selected locations of various provinces in the mid-to late 1980s. Thus, China is actively pursuing appropriate models to guide further land reforms.
The initial local government response was to make another distribution and then to fix the structure for 20 years. However, most peasants disagreed with this idea. An investigation among 510 peasant households showed that 64.7 percent wanted to stop redistribution at once. Therefore, a local policy, extending the tenure term to 20 years (originally 15 years) and fixing contract land within this period irrespective of births or deaths of household members, was initiated in December 1987. After careful trial in two villages the policy was extended to all rural areas of the county. Following adoption of the policy, farmers were granted inheritance rights on their land and the ability to exchange land with one another, to subrent, to pool land and to mortgage for credit. Meanwhile, the local government encouraged households to farm wasteland and to develop small family businesses such as processing and animal breeding, and surplus labour was encouraged to find work outside agriculture.
Several years after adoption of the policy some rudimentary effects can be seen. First, most local farmers have welcomed the policy. According to an investigation, only 10 percent of households asked for land readjustment; they complained that the original land distribution in the early 1980s had been unfair, rather than the policy itself. Second, farmers had greater incentives for land investment and conservation. By 1993, 100 000 ha of new land were developed (average 0.03 ha per caput), which represented one-third of the per caput farmland of the county in 1978. Land fertility grades were advanced and farmers increased their purchases of fixed means of production. Third, land fragmentation was to a large extent brought under control. In 1991, the area occupied by paths and boundaries between plots was almost the same as it had been in 1987. Land subdivision now took place mainly within households as children matured, instead of being redistributed among the households of a village. In addition, farmers' attitudes towards increasing family size changed. Traditional Chinese culture equates more children with more happiness. However, under the new land system, as new babies are not able to get land during the contract term, 41.4 percent of the sampled households showed a negative attitude towards having more children.
In 1993, the policy of fixing contract land was formally legislated as the provincial land management law and applied in all rural areas of the province. In 1995, when the Chinese Government issued the new land policy, in advance of the first 15 years' tenure coming due, Meitan's experiment was included in the central government document. Although the document just suggests that appropriate villages should consider the policy, its inclusion shows that after eight years of experimentation in a small local county, the policy of fixing land is gradually becoming integrated into national institutional arrangements. This is indeed a significant change. | <urn:uuid:a5794261-b787-4c11-b7df-d410929021b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fao.org/sd/LTdirect/LTan0031.htm | 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 | 0.941898 | 3,533 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Recently, there has been a great deal of attention to the fact that the U.S. workplace now spans four generations. How can employers ensure that work is meaningful and adapted to the needs of workers across these four generations? For the most part, disability has not been part of the mainstream of this conversation. Yet, disability issues are central to understanding and responding to the multi-generation workforce in several ways: The meaning of “disability” has changed significantly over time; the legal and policy climate of disability in the workplace has evolved; different generations tend to experience different types of disabilities; and with the aging of our population, more people with disabilities will be in our workforce. In this session, we will co-explore the multi-generational workplace and examine how employers can ensure that everyone can fully contribute their talents.
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A Project of the International Reading Association
in collaboration with National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Teachers Association, and National Council for the Social Studies, and with support provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York
Adolescents today require high degrees of literacy in order to understand complex texts in a variety of media, covering a range of topics and subject areas. In recognition of this need, middle and high schools in the United States are turning increasingly to “literacy coaches” to lend their expertise and support to content area teachers who may not be confident in their knowledge of effective reading instruction.
Literacy coaching—a form of highly targeted professional development—can be a potent vehicle for improving reading skills. When well delivered, it includes features identified as part of effective professional development:
- Grounded in inquiry and reflection
- Participant driven and collaborative, involving knowledge sharing among teachers within communities of practice
- Sustained, ongoing, and intensive
Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches, prepared by IRA with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York and in collaboration with NCTE, NCTM, NSTA, and NCSS, outlines the ideal of what a literacy coach should know and be able to do—in delivering both leadership and support in individual content areas. It is offered as a blueprint not only for literacy coaches themselves, but for policymakers, school and district administrators, and teacher educators, in the hope that it will help support and develop coaching in ways that will most benefit adolescent learners.
Related resources in Resources by Topic
IRA resources cited in the Standards | <urn:uuid:33c48a8a-6e9e-440c-998b-dadc7f44027d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reading.org/general/CurrentResearch/Standards/CoachingStandards.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943618 | 329 | 3.46875 | 3 |
|On May 12, 1999, the Fish and Boat Commission broke ground for
its new headquarters building. After years of efforts, forging partnerships, and developing innovative
methods of funding this project, we finally realized our longstanding goal. We couldn't have done it without
the support of the anglers and boaters of Pennsylvania, the members of the General Assembly, and Governor
Tom Ridge and his Administration.
When we broke ground for our new building, we also broke ground for our agency's future. From the establishment of the Fish and Boat Commission in 1866 until now, the agency's headquarters has been housed in other state office buildings or rented facilities.
Our new headquarters is a tribute to the power of vision coupled with the results of hard work combined with a good measure of persistence and some old-fashioned common sense. As Chairman Bruce Smith of the House Game and Fisheries Committee observed at the formal groundbreaking: "The Fish and Boat Commission's headquarters project shows what partnerships can do."
In many ways, Governor Tom Ridge has been the senior partner in this effort, because he and his staff provided the key approvals for the project to proceed. This project also is an example of an effective partnership between the Commission and the General Assembly. Twice the Commission asked the legislature to approve this project in capital budgets, and twice the General Assembly said yes. It's also a good example of cooperation among state agencies. The Department of Agriculture transferred this valuable parcel to the Fish and Boat Commission at no cost in 1989. The Budget Office and the Department of General Services devoted many hours to reviewing this project and some of the legal documents that accompany it.
Most importantly, this project is an example of the strong partnership between the Fish and Boat Commission and its customers, the anglers and boaters of Pennsylvania. The sportsmen of Pennsylvania provide the strong foundation of support that is essential to completing a project of this magnitude. On behalf of our Commissioners, I want to thank the sportsmen for their steadfast support.
Our new headquarters project is a concrete expression of our faith in the future of angling and boating in Pennsylvania. When the General Assembly approved this project in 1992 and 1997, and when Governor Tom Ridge and his Administration gave us the go-ahead to proceed with this building, they were sending an unmistakable signal about the important functions our agency performs.
Why does the Fish and Boat Commission need a new headquarters? Anyone who has visited our overcrowded and inadequate rented facilities knows the answers.
We know this new building will result in some additional costs for the Commission in the short term, but in the long run this is a good investment of angler and boater dollars.
Our new building will consolidate all of our Harrisburg area headquarters functions in one 62,000-square-foot location. It was designed to take full advantage of this rugged site but yet be functional in all respects. It was also designed to incorporate important "green" features, which will conserve energy and demonstrate our commitment to putting the "Resource First" in all that we do.
The spring of the year 2000 will be a time of celebration for Pennsylvania's anglers and boaters. Fish passage will be provided at York Haven Dam, the last barrier to shad migration on the lower Susquehanna. For the first time in more than a century, shad and other migratory fishes will be able to move up the Susquehanna to Harrisburg and beyond. And, about a year from now, I will ask sportsmen from across Pennsylvania to join us as we dedicate our new headquarters.
Our May 12 groundbreaking ceremony concluded when several youngsters, children of Commission staff, came forward with their shovels and broke ground for our building. The children's participation symbolized the future generations of anglers and boaters that our agency will serve. We recognized that we are building this headquarters not just for the here and now, but for future generations.
Implementation of the ideas outlined by the Heritage 21 Alliance would indeed be a plus for the anglers and boaters of Pennsylvania. But it doesn't end there. Commission programs benefit all Commonwealth citizens. Our 62 publicly accessible lakes and nearly 250 boating access areas support 21 million fishing trips and 20 million boating trips annually. These trips generate an economic impact for the Commonwealth valued at more than $2 billion annually. The impact of boating in the Commonwealth (including boat fishing) has been estimated at more than $1.7 billion. Angling alone generates an economic impact of $1.35 billion annually, supports more than 16,000 jobs, and generates nearly $50 million in state sales and income taxes. Nearly half of the $1.35 billion in fishing economic impact is derived from trip-related expenditures.
Peter A. Colangelo
PDF file of this article
July/Augsut 1999 Angler & Boater
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Web Privacy and Security Policies | <urn:uuid:f62884c5-0796-4bf2-a032-3d1fba938a1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fishandboat.com/anglerboater/1999/julaug99/japcepce.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954018 | 994 | 1.515625 | 2 |
In 2003, President Bush announced the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a 5-yr, $15 billion initiative to combat AIDS around the world. The program, set to expire at the end of this year, has been heralded as one of the most successful foreign aid programs due to its targeted focus on:
o Treating those sick and dying of AIDS,
o Preventing new HIV infections, and
o Guaranteeing measurable results and standards.
• Watch a mini-video about life-saving treatment in U.S. global AIDS programs.
• Watch the trailer to a moving PEPFAR documentary created in collaboration with the PEPFAR program.
• President’s State of the Union announcement of the new PEPFAR program. | <urn:uuid:c7d0756d-5724-45b8-a9bd-c16ed0a02e56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/rightnow?ContentRecord_id=af9dc27f-5c52-4426-825b-352d4b7abb01&ContentType_id=b4672ca4-3752-49c3-bffc-fd099b51c966&Group_id=00380921-999d-40f6-a8e3-470468762340&MonthDisplay=7&YearDisplay=2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924277 | 166 | 1.90625 | 2 |
[Firestorm_x1] put together a tutorial about interfacing an analog joystick with a microcontroller. These analog sticks are easy to find; he got his from Goodwill but we’ve got a couple in our junk box right now. The stick uses variable resistors to report its position so it’s just a matter of reading and interpreting that data. After explaining the concepts he demonstrates how to use the joystick to control a Basic Stamp 2 based robot, the Boe-Bot. This could easily be adapted for use with other robot platforms. | <urn:uuid:2d0f243f-6fa3-4f2a-af0c-62bd793f9d77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2010/02/06/interfacing-with-an-analog-joystick/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=39eb77acf0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9212 | 113 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Till July 27, as many as 28 commercial banks have reduced the lending interest rate to less than 15 percent per year for old loans, the local Newswire Tien Phong on August 3 reported, citing the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) as saying.
As reported by 35 credit institutions (accounting for 70.7 percent of the market share), the total outstanding loans in dong for prioritised sectors with the lending interest rate of less than 10 percent per year accounted for 1.9 percent of the total loans and loans at the interest rate of 10-13 percent per year accounted for 15%.
A proportion of 50.3 percent of the total medium and long term loans was for prioritised sectors, business and production purpose and consumer loans at the interest rate of 13-15 percent per year. The proportion of loans at the interest rate of over 15 percent per year was 32.8%, halving against before July 15.
Loans at the interest rate of over 15 percent per year were mainly for projects, individual consumer loans, bad debts and debts in non-prioritised sectors.
Amongst four state-owned banks namely Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade (Vietcombank-VCB), Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Bank of Industry and Trade (VietinBank-CTG), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (Bidv) and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), the proportion of loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year at Vietcombank, Bidv and Vietinbank was at very low level, at 2.2%, 4.8 percent and 5.7 percent respectively. Meanwhile, at Agribank, there are still 50 percent of loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year mainly in individual consumer loans.
The average proportion of loans at the interest rate of more than 15 percent per year of the group of commercial joint stock banks was 63%. Some banks have reduced the interest rate but the proportion still remained high such as Southern Bank (86%), Southeast Asia Bank (SeABank) at 88.5%, Dai Tin (Great Trust) Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TrustBank) at 98.6 percent and Techcombank at 76.7%. These loans were mainly in the sectors of securities and real estate and overdue debts with high risk.
As many as four branches of foreign banks did not have loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year such as ICBC, JP Morgan Chase, OCBC, Nataxis, Cathay Unites Bank while two finance companies of Prudential and PPF had 100 percent of their loans at the interest rate of above 15 percent per year. | <urn:uuid:b0551b83-6072-4e71-9f68-ee146e77a650> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intellasia.net/twenty-eight-banks-reduce-lending-interest-rate-to-15pctyr-for-old-loans-222613 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964169 | 552 | 1.625 | 2 |
Inside Young Learners (5)
Susan Rivers & Setsuko Toyama
Packed with interactive illustrations, stories, and activities, English Time is a six-level course that develops students' speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills – while they have fun.
Dorothy Kauffman and Gary Apple
Beginner to Intermediate
The second edition of this well-loved dictionary with an increased emphasis on academic language, alignment to curriculum standards, and a research-based pedagogy. | <urn:uuid:de98784e-58ed-40a9-ae02-11c101cd132b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://elt.oup.com/cat/courses/young_learners/?cc=global&mode=hub&fq=Skills_facet%3A%22Speaking%22&mode=hub&mode=hub&mode=hub&fq=Usage_facet%3A%22Self-study%22&mode=hub&mode=hub&fq=OUPlevel_facet%3A%22Intermediate%22&cc=global&selLanguage=en&mode=hub | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905065 | 102 | 2.1875 | 2 |
A Powerful Plunge
16 years ago it started as a relatively small gathering of family, friends and colleagues who took to the beaches of Sandy Point State Park in the shadows of the Bay Bridge for a fun (and cold) day to raise money for Special Olympics in Maryland.
16 years and $18.6 million dollars later, the Polar Plunge has become a tradition like no other in Maryland. And possibly a tradition like no other across the nation.
The 2012 edition of the Polar Bear Plunge attracted more than 14,000 folks to the banks of the Chesapeake Bay on the last Saturday in January.
And thanks to the hard work of the plungers and volunteers, and the generosity of thousands of Marylanders, $2.5 million dollars was raised for Special Olympics Maryland.
It all started with dozens and dozens of Super Plungers who first braved the cold waters of the Bay at 10:00 am and then plunged every hour, on-the-hour for the next 24 hours.
Just like the thousands of folks who came out to Sandy Point State Park to take a single plunge on Saturday, the Super Plungers came from all walks of life.
There were once again so many very special Special Olympics athletes and their families and friends who plunged for 24 hours with the likes of local members of the media, State Police Troopers, local police officers, business owners and even members of the military who took time out from serving our country to help raise money for one of the greatest causes out there.
The MSP Polar Bear Plunge benefits Special Olympics Maryland and the thousands of children and adults with intellectual disabilities who experience the life-changing benefits of participating in the organization's year-round training and competition programs - all at no cost to themselves or their families.
Then just when the Super Plungers were going into the water for there last few plunges on Saturday. that's when the more than 14,000 plungers and plunge watches started rolling into Sandy Point Park for a great day of plunging, music, friendship and just plain good old fun!
And without a doubt, there are very few (if any) events that are better for this blogger and reporter to cover!
It's so much more than just a simple plunge into the cold waters of the Bay.
Now it's a full fledged PlungeFest. A full day of fun for the whole family. In addition to the main event (the actual Plunge!), participants and spectators alike can enjoy the offerings inside the heated festival tent, including live music, a kids’ corner, displays, a variety of vendors and crafters, carnival games, Plunge souvenirs, and much, much more.
The event also includes the Polar Bear Plunge Pageant, live MD Lottery drawings, live remotes by 98 Rock and WBAL Radio, a spirited costume contest, great food and drink for sale, and most of all the opportunity to be a part of THE event of winter!
And don't forget the hundreds of Maryland high school students who raised thousands and thousands of dollars and came out to take a spirited plunge in the cold waters of the Chesapeake Bay on Friday at high noon.
Sure there are Polar Bear Plunges all across the country where Americans jump into cold water to raise money for charity.
But next year come out and take part in the Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge and you'll quickly realize it is an event held here in Maryland that is like no other anywhere else! | <urn:uuid:40e033c4-2e8f-4553-86b7-9e1d0148d35c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scottwykoff.wbal.com/2012/01/powerful-plunge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955255 | 725 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Although there are many sites, blogs and other resources about MATLAB on the web, one is worth be the frequently accessed by users: MATLAB Central, an official exchange area for users community. Inside, there are 4 blogs I like:
- Loren on the Art of MATLAB: Loren Shure works on design of the MATLAB language at The MathWorks. She writes here about once a week on MATLAB programming and related topics.
- Doug’s Pick of the Week: Doug is an Application Engineer at The MathWorks. A MATLAB user since 1994, he gets paid to live, eat, and breathe MATLAB! Each week, he highlights a submission from the File Exchange that he finds useful or interesting.
- Steve on Image Processing: Steve Eddins manages the Image & Geospatial development team at The MathWorks and coauthored Digital Image Processing Using MATLAB. He writes here about image processing concepts, algorithm implementations, and MATLAB.
- Inside the MATLAB Desktop: The MATLAB Desktop team, comprised of eight developers, builds the main user interface for MATLAB, including the Command Window, the Editor, and the Current Directory browser.
Using pipes again, I decided to join the four feeds (what also includes some podcasts) into one:
If you use Netvibes, add it to your page:
To get this feed into your mobile phone, I also created a WidSets widget: | <urn:uuid:19da3dd0-b929-4700-8ca3-66c0905fdff3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dilsonlira.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/mashing-up-the-matlab-central-blogs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91287 | 295 | 1.71875 | 2 |
A traveler after our own heartsIn 1907, Irish-born explorer Ernest Shackleton, in preparation for his Nimrod expedition to the South Pole, did what any hardy adventurer headed into sub-zero temperatures would do: He shipped himself some hooch. Twenty-five crates of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt, to be exact. (No fruits or vegetables, apparently -- at least he had his priorities straight). Three crates were left behind when Shackleton and his men -- half-dead and freezing -- called it quits in the winter of 1909. The whisky was cocooned in ice under his expedition hut when it was unearthed a century later by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust. In 2010, after excavation, one of the crates was shipped to Canterbury Museum in New Zealand, where it was carefully defrosted. Amazingly, 10 bottles were in perfect condition, still wrapped in straw.
And, no, you can’t buy one of them. That’s not what we’re talking about here. Not quite. But you can have one just like it.
Three bottles of Shackleton’s whisky were returned to Scotland, where Master Blender Richard Paterson set about trying to recreate it. Which would have been a lot simpler if the Glen Mhor distillery, in Inverness, was still making Mackinlay’s malt. But Glen Mhor was demolished in 1988 to make room for a shopping mall. So Paterson used his nose (which is also his nickname in the industry) and some lab equipment.
Whisky CSIThrough chemical analysis, Paterson’s team was able to discern that the whisky was aged in American white oak sherry casks and that the peat used in production came from the Orkney Islands (longtime home to the excellent Highland Park label). To recreate it, Pattison blended old stocks of Glen Mhor with Dalmore and other malts (mostly Speyside), all ranging from 8 to 30 years of age.
A tasty findFrom the bubbles caught in the glass to the hand-drawn lettering on the label, the recovered bottles have been meticulously replicated, and they were released to the market in September. As for the whisky itself? It’s pretty damn good. Spicy, with notes of cloves and baked apples, and a lingering touch of smoke. It’s anyone’s guess how much it mirrors the original -- we’ll all have to take Paterson’s word on that. But if you were wintering in Antarctica, you’d kill a bottle or two of this stuff. Happily.
And if you see one on the shelf, where you’ll find it in limited numbers for about $175, you’d be smart to grab it. | <urn:uuid:b97f062b-e543-472d-87ce-fcda4160b206> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askmen.com/fine_living/drinks_500/505_shackleton-whisky.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96903 | 581 | 2.375 | 2 |
Dretzin produced "A Hidden Life" with Muriel Soenens and directed it with her husband, Barak Goodman, who was also the writer. Their previous reports for FRONTLINE include,"The Persuaders" (2004), "Failure to Protect" (2003), "Merchants of Cool" (2001) and "The Lost Children of Rockdale County" (1999).
When we started work on this documentary in the summer of 2005, we saw the Jim West scandal mainly as a portal into a broader story about being gay in the political and cultural middle of America. But during the year we spent reporting, it became clear that the West scandal deserved a film of its own. And so, as often happens when a year of work is condensed into an hour of television, a lot of that broader story didn't make it into the final program. Luckily, much of what we learned of that story has been made available for people to read -- and watch -- on this Web site, and I also want to talk a bit about it here.
· · ·
Spokane is a predominantly white city which for decades remained pretty isolated, culturally and geographically. When we made our first trip in August 2005, we expected to find a community largely hostile to gay rights efforts. Instead, what we found was a widely divergent, almost schizophrenic landscape.
People we met on the street seemed very anxious to not be perceived as homophobic, insisting that their opposition to Jim West had nothing to do with his sexuality and was about other issues: abuse of office, for example. At the same time, one soon noticed that Spokane has virtually no openly gay city leaders, and the few prominent gay business people we met keep their sexuality quiet. We began to pick up clues that Spokane, like much of America, was in the throes of a major transition -- and most people were still very confused about how to feel about that.
“Spokane, like much of America, was in the throes of a major transition -- and most people were still very confused about how to feel about that.”
Until recently, Spokane, with its depressed economy and deserted downtown, has been viewed as a backwater, a place to escape from. But in the last decade, young people have begun to flock there, looking for a cheaper, less crowded alternative to cities like San Francisco and Seattle. And they've brought new attitudes with them. Until recently, Odyssey, the one gay youth center in town, kept its address unpublished and met behind an unmarked door. That changed during the period we were reporting our story. Now, not only can one find the address of Odyssey online, but the group works with the city's high schools and sponsors a Valentine's Day dance in a local high school gym for "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning" students.
The public schools in Spokane have adopted a progressive attitude towards gay and bisexual students. Most of the kids we met seemed entirely comfortable with being out in high school. Matt Smith, a 16-year old senior at Rogers High School in Spokane, told us he thought he had gained more friends from coming out. Being gay, it seems, is a badge of "difference" in high school, and minority status is respected -- Smith was vice president of his high school class and an enthusiastic member of the ROTC. Matt Smith is on the edge of a social shift that's so recent that someone who graduated from Rogers just five or six years ago wouldn't recognize it. At Rogers, a high school student can be out -- even conservative and out -- and no one blinks an eye.
Even Spokane's staid business community is feeling the winds of change. In 2003, the Downtown Spokane Partnership invited George Mason University public policy professor Richard Florida to advise them on revitalizing the city's ailing downtown. Florida told them Spokane needed to attract professionals with its "tolerance" -- meaning a more prominent gay population. The business community went to local gay leaders and asked them to try and think of ways to become more visible. The result: a proposal, still in the works, for a gay business district in Spokane.
As gays and lesbians in Spokane gain confidence and visibility, an organized movement has sprung up to preserve Spokane's small-town family values. Penny Lancaster, a conservative activist, allowed us to film a meeting of her group, the Frontline Workgroup on Homosexuality. It was formed in reaction to initiatives such as a bill to extend benefits to the domestic partners of Spokane city workers and Washington's same sex-marriage amendment, which went before the Washington State Supreme Court during the time of the West scandal. Lancaster also invited us to a luncheon, hosted by the Spokane College Women's Association, at which the featured speaker Dr. John R. Diggs Jr. spoke about the public health risks of the homosexual lifestyle in terms that probably would have not been well-received on most college campuses.
Lancaster summed up her feelings about her changing city in an interview:
"It is a huge cultural shift. And it does feel like you're standing on a train track, and there is this big train coming at you. You see the lights, and you just want to hold up your hand and say, 'Don't do this, don't crash through our city.' And somehow you'd like to put a bubble around Spokane and let Spokane be a safe and healthy place to raise families, like it has been more or less in the past."
SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
NEXT ON FRONTLINEOutlawed in PakistanMay 28th | <urn:uuid:8e974ece-6e64-40b4-aab4-6b3077d5a296> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hiddenlife/etc/notebook.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979089 | 1,145 | 1.609375 | 2 |
On his show “How Safe is your Drinking Water?”, Dr. Oz actually talks about water fluoridation.
He introduces the topic by saying that if you don’t want fluoride in your drinking water, you can use a water filtration system to get it out. Dr. Oz uses Reverse Osmosis (RO) to remove fluoride from his family’s water! He explains that RO systems are affordable, compact systems that remove fluoride plus a list of other water contaminants. He even shows pictures of RO systems, stating, “They are a reasonable investment for a lot of families out there.”
Oz stresses to check with your local water company’s C.C.R. (Consumer Confidence Report) regarding the level fluoride in your drinking water.
It’s impressive that he strongly emphasizes that we’re giving our children far too much toothpaste, that they should never use more than a pea-sized dab of fluoride toothpaste.
Yep, you read it right. According to Dr. Oz, IF you severely limit the amount of fluoridated toothpaste you use AND totally remove fluoride from your drinking water, you can avoid dental fluorosis.
I’m impressed with ol’ Dr. Oz for sticking out his neck like that on national TV. Sure, he could have said to use NON fluoridated toothpaste – and who knows, maybe he wanted to say it. But at any rate, at least the man recommended that we:
Get the “F” out!!
That’s pretty ballsy of him, considering how strong the fluoridation proponents have proven to be. In the same “How Safe Is Your Drinking Water” show, Dr. Oz interviews Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA. Unfortunately Lisa Jackson still believes in adding fluoride to our public water supply. On the up side, she does say the EPA is considering lowering the level because of overexposure and the resulting dental fluorosis problem.
Click here to view Dr. Oz’s discussion of water fluoridation: “How Safe Is Your Drinking Water” Part 3 | <urn:uuid:5aea8d95-b51d-4dae-a908-4d4007f9ec60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fluoridedetective.com/2012/01/09/dr-oz-avoids-fluoridated-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93292 | 443 | 2.15625 | 2 |
So what would you consider as modest apparel for a woman? Does the Old Testament law pertain to now -- woman in man's clothing and man in woman's? If so, then what would you consider man's clothing and woman's clothing? All men and woman wore skirts. So why is it that women who wear skirts or dresses are the only ones considered to be modest in a lot of Christian customs? Why do men believe that they are the only ones to wear jeans (revealing might I add) and shorts? Pretty much whatever they want.
Fashions vary widely between countries, cultures, and eras. The Scriptures do not impose requirements pertaining to particular styles of clothing, such as women may only wear dresses or only men may wear jeans. (Consider that jeans were not known in biblical days.) Instead we find guidelines controlling what we choose to wear.
You are correct that one rule given to the Israelites was a requirement that men and women's fashion were to be different and that difference was to be respected. "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 22:5). This rule is continued in the New Testament in I Corinthians 6:9 where the Greek word malakos refers a man acting as a female or dressing as a female. Paul said that such cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What constitutes male or female clothing has varied over the ages, but such differences that you find in the culture in which you live should be respected. Those differences may be great or subtle. My reference books tell me that in ancient Israel the primary difference between men and women's clothing was the embroidered hem on women's garments. However the fashions are expressed, Christians should accept them so long as they do not violate other standards God has set forth, such as the requirement that our nakedness be covered. See the article "Modest Apparel" for more details.
When discussing clothing, Paul stated, "in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works" (I Timothy 2:9-10). Three words are used to describe proper attire:
- komois (translated as "modest" in this verse) refers to something that is orderly, of good behavior, or respectable.
- aidos (translated as "propriety" in this verse) means with a sense of shame or bashfulness, or even a sense of reverence.
- sophrosune (translated as "moderation" in this verse) means with sobriety, showing a soundness of mind, good sense, self-restraint, or with moderation.
In considering these terms, we realize that Christians are not to be
fashion trend setters, especially in the realm of pushing the limits as
to what society finds acceptable. We must remember that Christians represent
God to the community. If the community finds fault in our attire, it will
interfere with our ability to spread the gospel message. Our duty to teach
the world about Christ is far more important than demanding rights to
dress in outlandish ways. See also the sermon titled "The
Rebel's Cause" and the article "You
Can't Tell Me How to Dress!" for more information. | <urn:uuid:fa99b78f-3be2-4681-96c3-db0704fb3e44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2004/2004-08-01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957381 | 727 | 2.109375 | 2 |
I rarely recognized the full significance of Andrew Marvell's imagery on my first reading, and with each subsequent reading I made new discoveries. Likewise, Marvell's themes are often complex and require thought and contemplation. This is poetry to be read again and again. Nonetheless, Marvell's language is characterized by clarity and even the first reading is quite enjoyable.
Although Andrew Marvell is recognized today as one of the great poets of the English language, many readers are familiar with only a few of his works, notably To His Coy Mistress (found in most anthologies) and a few of his pastoral poems like Damon the Mower and The Mower's Song. This little Dover edition offers an inexpensive way to become more acquainted with a good selection of Marvell's versatile poetry.
Andrew Marvell was active in English politics during the turbulent period of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Charles II. His love poems and lyrics were private writings not published until three years after his death. Through the years a few poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth recognized Marvell's genius, but he largely remained unknown.
Fortunately, a scholar, Sir Herbert Grierson, and a noted poet, T. S. Elliot, jointly brought attention in the 1920s to the remarkable work of the "metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century", especially Andrew Marvell.
In this Dover edition the spelling and punctuation has been modernized somewhat for clarity. The footnotes are sparse and I found it helpful to occasionally visit the dictionary. The collection includes a wide selection of Marvell's love poems, lyric poetry, religious poetry, and two political poems - An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland and the rather long poem Upon Appleton House.
It is not easy to select only a few favories as this collection is quite exceptional. Certainly my list would include: To His Coy Mistress - The Mower to the Glowworms - The Mower Against the Gardens - Damon the Mower - The Mower's Song - On a Drop of Dew - Eyes and Tears - Bermudas - and A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body.
The other poems in this collection include: The Definition of Love - The Unfortunate Lover - The Gallery - The Fair Singer - Mourning - Ametas and Thestylis Making Hay Ropes - The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn - Daphnis and Chloe - The Match - Young Love - The Picture of Little T. C. in a Prospect of Flowers - The Garden - A Dialogue Between the Resolved Soul and Created Pleasure - and The Coronet. | <urn:uuid:c7c44162-8234-4300-b5f8-e6a84e63a99b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazon.ca/His-Coy-Mistress-Other-Poems/dp/0486295443 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945655 | 537 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Grade Range: 5-12
Resource Type(s): Reference Materials
Date Posted: 7/10/2012
In this post, students will learn how trading cards were used to educate those who could not be reached through more traditional methods during the AIDS epidemic. In 1993, comic book publisher Eclipse Enterprises released a set of 110 AIDS Awareness trading cards. The cards feature a variety of HIV/AIDS information and organizations, as well as personalities who died from AIDS, were currently battling the disease, or were involved in AIDS awareness. Written by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.,Archives Specialist for the Smithsonian Archives Center, this post is published on the Museum's "O Say Can You See?" blog.
Historical Thinking Standards (Grades 5-12)
Science Standards (Grades 9-12)
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
World History Standards (Grades 5-12) | <urn:uuid:26206c1c-be93-460b-b75e-12e669c1e678> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/?key=7108&lp=resource | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96052 | 186 | 3.625 | 4 |
Treating Periodontal Disease in Dogs
Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Whether it's feeding a healthy diet, keeping an eye out for hazards around the home, or simply making sure they're happy and well loved, all of us do our best to take care of the animals who share our homes and our lives. But when was the last time you examined your animal companion's teeth? Periodontal disease (gum disease) is a very serious condition brought on by bacteria that live in the mouth and cause bad breath, inflamed gums, and, in extreme cases, even death. Gum disease isn't just a contributor to "doggy breath," it is also something that can threaten dogs' very lives.
The scary thing about gum disease—whether it affects humans or animals—is that red, inflamed gums and tissue can let bacteria and their poisonous byproducts into the bloodstream. Once an infection is in the blood stream, it can easily impact the health of your animal friend's heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and even bones. Some serious infections could cause a death that no one would ever attribute to gum disease!
I would like to share with you how not only to prevent gum disease but also to help your animals stay healthy and live longer. It is simple and easy to do. It may take some getting used to by your companion animals, but the rewards are tremendous—for you and for them.
First and foremost, it is important that regular vet appointments be scheduled. Make sure that your animal is eating high-quality food and that he or she has had regular cleanings and evaluations. Once the mouth is clean and all the tarter is removed, it is now time to follow the oral-hygiene program. When at the clinic, tell your veterinarian about your plan for keeping your cat's or dog's teeth clean between veterinary exams—he or she may have helpful advice. Keeping your animal's mouth clean will reduce the number of cleanings that have to be performed at the veterinary office. This will cut down on the number of times that anesthesia and expensive trips to the vet are needed.
Prevention is the best medicine, and it is important that you not only take the necessary action to keep your animals' teeth clean but also work with the right products. You want to use products that contain an ingredient that kills germs, eliminates odors, and, at the same time, helps heal the affected areas. I advocate Oxygene, an ingredient that has been used for years to sanitize water, food, and anything that food comes in contact with. This ingredient works by combining with the bacteria and the gasses that they produce and completely neutralizing and eliminating them. It is totally harmless and breaks down into safe and inert byproducts.
For more information, you can visit here and have a look around. There is a wealth of information there as well as articles and "how to" instructions.
This guest post was written by Ann Spink. Ann was a dental hygienist for 10 years and then later became a DDS. Ann is now retired from active dentistry but devotes most of her time to teaching groups about oral health (in both people and animals) and how it relates to longevity.
Posted to Health | Posted to Tags: dog health, Guest Blogger, Gum disease in dogs, Periodontal Disease | <urn:uuid:e2db1921-5c0d-4b4f-9cae-fa1b7a550864> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prime.peta.org/2010/09/treating-periodontal-disease-in-dogs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968406 | 701 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Effective Practices in Closing Achievement Gaps
NEA offers a wide range of programs, products, and resources to engage and support state affiliates and members in closing the achievement gaps. The question most often heard when educators confront the reality of the achievement gaps in their school is "What can I do in my classroom?" NEA resources provide support for answering this question by:
- Offering research-based suggestions for what educators can do now to create a learning environment in which diverse students can learn;
- Providing training and resources that challenge educators to meet accountability demands while still offering quality instruction to those students who need the most help;
- Developing training and materials to help educators meet the needs of English language learners; and
- Providing connections to additional resources that spark even more ideas for how to be successful with all students.
- Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gaps
What do schools or districts that close achievement gaps have in common? They employ these strategies from Closing Achievement Gaps: An Association Guide.
- 2011 C.A.R.E. Guide: Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gaps
Research-based ideas for educating culturally diverse students and students from low-income families.
- "I Can Do It!"
This training program from the NEA Academy is designed for new K-12 teachers in their first five years of teaching. Included in the curriculum is information about the elements necessary for successful classroom management.
- Teaching for Understanding: A Guide to Video Resources (2006) (PDF, 916KB, 42pp)
Authors Judith W. Segal, Elizabeth J. Demarest, and Andrea I. Prejean describe recent videos portraying teaching practices that are consistent with the most recent research on learning and teaching and with professional standards, and how they are used in professional development.
- NEA Achievement Gaps Discussion Guides
NEA created a series of short guides designed for members to use in leading discussions about achievement gaps in their schools and communities.
- Special Education Resources
NEA is deeply committed to the notion that all students should have access to a free, appropriate public education that promotes student achievement. When parents, teachers, administrators and related service providers work and plan together, focused on matching the educational environment and appropriate supports with the learning needs of students with disabilities and those without, the specialization process yields programs and services that maximize the success of every child.
- Looking into Learning-Centered Classrooms: Implications for Classroom Management (PDF, 452KB, 28pp)
Recent research is revealing a great deal about how changes in educational practices and policies can revamp classrooms and schools to close the achievement gaps and promote excellence in learning for all students. This NEA report, by Carolyn M. Evertson and Kristen W. Neal, describes what research says about managing learning-centered classrooms to foster student engagement, autonomy, community and responsibility.
- Characteristics of Teachers Who Are Effective in Teaching All Students to Read (PDF, 580KB, 15pp)
Research from the 1970s and1980s on the characteristics of effective elementary school teachers highlighted the importance of a strong academic focus, explicit instruction,and high levels of pupils on task (Hoffman, 1991). Extending this earlier research, recent largescale studies on effective teachers of reading have highlighted the importance of motivating and balanced instruction, the teaching of strategies as well as skills, the encouragement of higher-level thinking, and the use of coaching as children are reading and writing.
- Steps for School-Wide Reading Improvement (PDF, 910KB, 20pp)
The question of what makes schools successful in improving students’ reading achivement has been a key area of inquiry at the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). The process for school-wide reading improvement described in this booklet is based on the framework for change used in the CIERA School Change Project.
Resources from Other Organizations
- Class Matters: In and Out of School (2008) ( PDF) - Closing gaps requires paying attention to race and poverty. Phi Delta Kappa.
- Teaching Teachers: Professional Development to Improve Student Achievement (Summer 2005) (PDF, 4pp)
This issue of AERA's Research Points examines the connection between professional development for teachers and student achievement and remarks that teachers are the foundation of good schools.
- 'Reading Don't Fix No Chevy's': Literacy in the Lives of Young Men (Heinemann Books, 2002)
The problems of boys in schools, especially in reading and writing, have been the focus of statistical data, but rarely does research point out how literacy educators can combat those problems. That situation has changed. Michael Smith and Jeff Wilhelm, two of the most respected names in English education and in the teaching of reading, worked with a very diverse group of young men to understand how they use literacy and what conditions promote it. In this book they share what they have learned.
- Teaching Mathematics and Science to English Language Learners: It's Just Good Teaching
Part of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's series "It's Just Good Teaching," this publication offers teachers research-based instructional strategies with real-life examples from Northwest classrooms.
- The Inclusive Classroom: Mathematics and Science Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities (PDF, 47pp)
The Inclusive Classroom provides strategies to ensure that students engage meaningfully in science inquiry and mathematics problem solving and all other aspects of the mainstream classroom. Teachers can use strategies that draw on key principles of inclusion, special education, multiculturalism, and standards-based reform to promote mathematics and science achievement for all students.
- IRIS Center - Resources for Working with Students with Disabilities
Research-based, high-quality resources for higher ed faculty and professional development about students with disabilities. Content is also relevant for preK-12 educators who work with students with disabilities. It has free, online, interactive training modules on such topics as Response to Intervention (RTI), Classroom Management, and Differentiated Instruction. A federally funded project housed at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
- Assessing Kindergarten Children: A Compendium of Assessment Instruments (SERVE) (PDF, 82pp)
Schools and state departments of education often need information on assessment instruments and lack a comprehensive resource that provides consistent information on many different instruments. The Compendium is designed to provide a starting point for gathering information on assessment instruments.
- Great Science for Girls
This Web site is designed to build the capacity of after-school centers and intermediaries to deliver evidence-based programming that will broaden and sustain girls' interest and persistence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). | <urn:uuid:5c230c9c-1623-4679-b91d-29c8be54f2cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nea.org/home/20609.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927446 | 1,360 | 3.046875 | 3 |
You can judge someone’s personality by what his or her work space looks like. Take Tara Hirshfeld, for example. She’s set up her office on a picnic table. She has the laptop, the headset, even the office-type snacks. But there are leaves rustling and cars honking. Intuitively, you know she’s not an accountant type. And you surely won’t be surprised to hear that she’s a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
People leave deliberate and inadvertent clues about themselves in their personal space and Samuel Gosling, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, studies those clues. And Gosling concludes that your co-workers are good at judging what the clues mean even if they don’t know why.
Deliberate clues people leave are things like plants, which reveal that you are nice and that you intend to stay a while, and candy, which reveals that you’re an extrovert, because you want people to drop by your office and talk. These are deliberate because a person puts them in their office for others to see. Some clues are deliberate but not other-focused. For example, a pebble you keep from the beach of your first kiss will not be meaningful to someone who doesn’t know the story, but it reminds you of something nice. Still, something like that gives co-workers information, and they will pick up on the fact that you’re sentimental.
Hirshfeld’s clues fall into the inadvertent category. For example, when asked about her picnic-bench desk, Hirshfeld replies, "I needed some fresh air." She inadvertently conveys that she is unconventional, which, for an art student seems fine. But for an accountant, watch out. You can give inadvertent clues with a plant too. "Anyone can buy a plant," says Gosling, "but you need to be task oriented to actually keep the plant alive."
Be careful about all the clues you leave about yourself in your office, because your image is at stake. And the image you project might be more powerful than the work you actually do.
So manage your workspace like you manage the colors in your wardrobe, the layout of your memos and all other aspects of your image. In many instances you’ll be able to control what you project. For example, if you are trying to be more detail-oriented in your work, but you’ve killed every plant you’ve ever owned, don’t buy another because your dead plant will just emphasize your lack of attention to detail.
When it comes to projecting a positive image through your personal space, some areas are more easily managed than others. A messy desk is tough. If you keep a messy desk, it’s probably inadvertent, and you will have to change behavior in order to clean up your act. It’s worth the effort, though.
"There is a cultural bias toward orderliness," says Eric Abrahamson, professor at Columbia University Business School, "Messiness is considered bad." Kelly Crescenti, an Illinois-based career coach, concurs: "When people have a clean desk it looks like they get things done and they are productive."
You cannot really know how productive someone is by looking at their desk, counters Julie Morgenstern, organizing guru and author of Never Check Email in the Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work. But she concedes that "the image issue is giant." So even if you can find everything you need on your pile-laden desk, clean it if you want to look good.
Start with a filing system and, Crescenti advises, at minimum, take the last fifteen minutes of every day to actually use the system and clean things up a little before you go home.
But, as with all image management advice, don’t go overboard. Everything in moderation. Abrahamson provides a postmodern defense of the messy desk: "Messiness is related to creativity because it tends to juxtapose things that don’t normally go together."
"It’s the last frontier of messiness," adds Abrahamson, and he reports that he’s seen computer-monitor desktops that rival the worst of the classic desktop messes. Hirshfeld can attest to that. "The last computer I had got very, very messy."
But that might be okay; it’s true that your co-workers can accurately judge you by looking at your workspace, but it’s also true that your computer desktop is a nice place to hide your worst attributes. | <urn:uuid:bed1f9c2-718b-4ff7-bf35-ef62065434f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jobjournal.com/article_full_text.asp?artid=2414 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955726 | 972 | 1.960938 | 2 |
When You May Be Ready to Investby InvestorGuide Staff
If you've transitioned from a debt situation to a paycheck-to-paycheck situation to a saving some money every month situation, you're ready to begin investing what you save. You should start by amassing enough to cover three to six months of expenses, and keep this money in a very safe investment like a money market account, so you're prepared in the event of an emergency. Once you've saved up this emergency reserve, you can progress to higher risk (and higher return) investments: bonds for money that you expect to need in the next few years, and stocks or stock mutual funds for the rest. Use dollar cost averaging, by investing about the same amount each month. This is always a good idea, but even more so with the dramatic fluctuations in the market in the past 10 years. Dollar cost averaging will make it easier to stomach the inevitable dips. | <urn:uuid:38977640-c4c8-477e-a4bf-72c60a3f2ad8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.investorwords.com/tips/1536/when-you-may-be-ready-to-invest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944506 | 187 | 1.960938 | 2 |
James Robertson Rabbits, increasingly inured to human poison, are on the run across Sydney.
Trained detection dogs will be used to flush out rabbits and hares in the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary so the pests can then be shot or gassed.
Mike Hedge The official weather forecast for Rockhampton yesterday was accurate enough, in an understated, Australian way.
David Ellery Native and feral animals are flocking to our road verges in search of a free meal as dry weather grips the region after three seasons of plenty.
Nina Karnikowski Dog training is the latest desperate measure in the battle to protect Australia's endangered koalas, with estimates putting numbers in the wild below 50,000.
In late August 2009 a tiny, solitary bat fluttered about in the rainforest near Australia's infamous Christmas Island detention camp. We don't know precisely what happened to it.
Tim the Yowie Man A kookaburra sits in an old she oak chuckling, no doubt laughing at the three of us scrambling up Mount Majura.
Nicky Phillips The pastures blossomed first. Then came the small ground-dwelling creatures - the rabbits and the mice, followed by their hunters, the foxes, feral pigs and wild dogs.
Tony Cathcart, a quiet sort of bloke nearing 50, once spent 187 nights hunting a tabby cat through the red earth desert between Mildura on the River Murray and Broken Hill in far western NSW.
The hunt is on to undo some of the damage caused by introduced animals to native species on one of Australia's southernmost outposts, writes John Huxley.
More than 2000 birds have died on Macquarie Island since the federal government began a scheme to cull rabbits, cats, rats and mice.
Tom Arup It has been three years since Peter and Emma Ashton packed up their lives and headed outback.
Very little is known about the risk of dogs passing the Hendra virus to humans, the CSIRO says.
Elizabeth Weise It sounded like a joke when the news first broke in 2000: giant Burmese pythons were invading the Everglades.
Erik Jensen, James Robertson Joe Girgenti has been driving ice-cream vans for 26 years. But his five trucks have spent much of the past few months tucked under a carport. ''It's been the worst summer that I've had,'' he said.
Melissa Davey Opinion was fiercely divided when Warringah Council announced earlier this year that it would consider relaxing its strict no-dogs-on-beaches rule and spend $20,000 researching potential dog beaches...
Saffron Howden The hunter is conflicted, Edward Hoogenboom says. The adrenalin rush that comes with a kill is quickly followed by ''the hunter's lament''.
Glenda Kwek In the second of a three-part series on Sydney's parks, Glenda Kwek uncovers the secrets of Headland Park
Paddy Manning THE businessman Graeme Wood has condemned Australia's failure to act on climate change, criticising ''scared'' politicians for a lack of leadership.
A laboratory in Britain infiltrated by animal welfare campaigners may have allowed animals in its care to suffer unnecessarily, according to a Home Office report. | <urn:uuid:639121f9-eba6-439d-8ceb-218dd0a6badf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/conservation/rabbits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944621 | 678 | 1.664063 | 2 |
A commodity is a raw material or agricultural product such as grains, gold, beef, oil and natural gas that can be widely bought and sold across global markets. In general, there are two types of commodities—hard and soft commodities, classified by their predicted life span.
Hard commodities include iron, crude oil, gold and silver. Soft commodities generally include agricultural products such as rice or wheat. Recently, however, the definition has expanded to include a variety of financial products such as foreign currencies.
A commodities market occurs when manufacturers of a commodity want to sell their goods at a given price and speculators enter trade markets in order to aid the process of transferring goods and gaining profit. Currently, there are approximately 100 listed primary commodities.
Financial transactions involving commodities generally take place through the form of futures contracts, which is a contract to buy or sell an asset at a future date, making standardized payments, generally on a monthly basis. The first commodity transactions involving futures contracts were those of the Dojima Rice Exchange in Japan that began in the 1730’s. In the US, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) listed the first known standardized exchange traded forward contracts in 1864.
Commodities are traded globally through exchanges, such as the venues of the CME Group, NYSE Euronext, the IntercontinentalExchange and the London Metal Exchange. | <urn:uuid:d7774e23-b7ab-46ff-adb9-0c1e04c6bc94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.ftfnews.com/2012/10/09/what-is-a-commodity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966267 | 278 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Description: This exhibition is composed of fifty-four alumni who received arts degrees from either a BA in Fine Arts, BFA In Studio Arts, BFA in Communication Arts and Design, BFA in Interior Architecture, MA in Studio Arts or MAT at the University of Louisville since 2000. They are currently working as artists, arts educators, designers, illustrators, curators, gallery directors and arts activists. They also may be running their own business and/or continuing their education (two are currently in PhD programs). Of the alumni in “Making it: Now”, twenty-seven have gone on to earn higher degrees at other institutions including Tyler School of Art, Yale University, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, New York Academy of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, Rhode Island School of Art, University of Pennsylvania, Pratt, University of Cincinnati and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Some have stayed in Louisville or this region while others have moved to New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, San Francisco and all points between.
Description: BOB THOMPSON, (1937-1966) - In 1957, the same year that Federal troops were called in to escort black students in Little Rock, Bob Thompson, an African American artist, was granted an Allen R. Hite Art Scholarship to study at the University of Louisville. In 1959 he left Louisville for New York where he quickly and steadily gained success. In his brief life, Thompson produced well over 1,000 works, many of them monumental in scale and ambition. Although Thompson has been the subject of many exhibitions across the country, including a major retrospective at the Whitney in 1998, he is still not well-known in his hometown of Louisville. Seeking Bob Thompson will reintroduce the city of Louisville to one of its brightest talents.
This exhibition is presented as part of the University of Louisville Fine Arts Department 75th Anniversary Celebration.
Description: In conjunction with the First Friday Trolley Hop and the University of Louisville Fine Arts Department 75th Anniversary Celebration, the Cressman Center for Visual Arts will host an opening reception and gallery talk for the exhibition "Seeking Bob Thompson." Curators, John Begley and Slade Stumbo, will discuss the history, artwork, and local heritage of the accomplished artist.
Description: Born into a Czech family of glass workers, Martin Janecky began working in his father’s factory at the age of 13 before attending secondary school concentrating on glass art. Since his first visit to the United States in 2003, he has served repeatedly as an Artist in Residence and instructor at Penland, Pilchuck, Corning, Tacoma and Public Glass. Janecky received the 2006 Kaiser foundation Award and the 2008 Salvador Dali World Prize.
Description: For more than ten years Stephen
Cartwright has recorded his exact
latitude, longitude and elevation
every hour of every day. This data
is embodied physically in his
sculptural objects. While working in
the exhibit industry, making displays
and prototypes, Cartwright was
introduced to the possibilities of
digital fabrication, a technique he
frequently uses in his current work.
Cartwright was lured away from the
exhibit industry to complete several
grand bicycle journeys through
North America, Europe and Asia,
totaling more than 20,000 miles. He
relished the complete immersion in
the landscape and culture that selfcontained
bicycle travel afforded.
While Cartwright continues his work
related to his latitude and longitude
recordings, other recent work
focuses on human alteration of the
Cartwright earned a BA in Studio
Art from the University of California,
Davis and an MFA in Sculpture from
Tyler School of Art. Cartwright is
currently an assistant professor in
sculpture at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign and longs for
the topographical relief that informs
Description: Bill Fischer is a life-long artist, having started painting in the late 1950’s and continuing on to as recently as 2011. The Hite Art Institute wish to recognize his accomplishments
as an artist and his contributions to young artists at the University of Louisville with a dedication ceremony and reception in his honor.
Bill Fischer has endowed the Bill Fischer Senior Project Grants which helps one student in 2-D studios and one student in 3-D studio each semester mount their Senior Exhibition based on their presentations during BFA reviews.
In addition, he has underwriten the department’s studio spaces at Our Mother of Sorrows, now referred to as the “The Bill Fischer Studios.”
Description: The University of Louisville Hite Art Institute is pleased to announce the opening of the Fall 2012 BFA Thesis Exhibition at the Schneider Hall Galleries. The exhibition will display artwork in a variety of mediums of those students graduating with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Hite Art Institute. The Exhibition will open with a reception and remarks on November 29 at Schneider Hall Galleries on Belknap Campus from 5:30-7:30pm.
This show will feature the artwork of Arin Ashley, Benjamin Cook, Julia Davis, Lana Wilson, Rachel Hagan, Sarah Hance, Jordan Lance Morgan, Charlotte Pollock, Patrick Rademaker, Philip Rodriguez, Jeff Ruemeli, and Lana Wilson.
Each BFA candidate will contribute their unique vision as represented by a concentrated body of work developed to demonstrate their readiness to enter the professional art world upon graduation.
Description: Presented by the Hite Art Institute and the Speed Art Museum. Dr. James Crump is Chief Curator at the Cincinnati
Art Museum. With over twenty years in the field, his
career is marked by ground-breaking exhibitions,
publications, acquisitions, and programming for
learning and interpretation.
The exhibitions Dr. Crump curated in recent years
include: American Photographs: Diane Arbus, Lee
Friedlander, Richard Avedon; Image Conscious:
Photography and Contemporary Art; Garry Winogrand:
Women Are Beautiful; Doug Aitken: Electric Earth,
Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970—1980;
Walker Evans: Decade by Decade; Doug and Mike
Starn: Gravity of Light; and Herb Ritts: LA Style (with
the J. Paul Getty Museum).
Description: Benefitting the Ceramic Arts Organization. Friday, November 30, 8am-8pm and Saturday December 1, 10am-2pm. Cash and Check Only. University of Louisville, 2314 South Floyd Street, HPES Building, Room 136, Corner of Floyd and Warnock. | <urn:uuid:969a629c-d464-4148-ac1b-9341ed6a0ec9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://louisville.edu/art/calendar/month?currentDate=2012/11/30&xmy=0&xsub=ALL | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941975 | 1,371 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Ben Goldacre, Saturday 10 October 2009, The Guardian
Last month I had a debate at the Royal Institution with Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, in which he argued that I was too harsh on British science coverage, which is the best in the world. During this event our chairman (bizarrely and excellently Simon Mayo) pulled out a health front page from the Express, and asked what we thought about it. I said the article might well be accurate, but it’s also quite likely to be a work of fantasy, and as a serious matter of public health I would urge people to be extremely sceptical about health information on the front page of the Express. Lord Drayson thought this was cynical and unfair. He warmly encouraged us to trust this newspaper.
And here comes the proof in a new front page story. “Jab ‘as deadly as the cancer’” roared the giant black letters on the front page of the Sunday Express this week. “Cervical drug expert hits out as new doubts raised over death of teenager” said the subheading, although no such new doubts were raised in the article. We will now break with tradition and reproduce a whole paragraph from the Express story. I’d like you to pay attention, and perhaps build a list of its claims in your mind. This is one of those stories where every single assertion made on someone else’s behalf is false.
“THE cervical cancer vaccine may be riskier and more deadly than the cancer it is designed to prevent, a leading expert who developed the drug has warned. She also claimed the jab would do nothing to reduce the rates of cervical cancer in the UK. Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, Dr Diane Harper, who was involved in the clinical trials of the controversial drug Cervarix, said the jab was being “over-marketed” and parents should be properly warned about the potential side effects.”
The story seemed unlikely for three reasons. Firstly, Professor Harper is not a known member of the antivaccination community, which is vanishingly small. Secondly, it was on the front page of the Sunday Express, which is indeed cause for concern. Lastly, it was by specialist health journalist Lucy Johnston, whose previous work includes “Doctor’s MMR fears”, “Exclusive: Experts Cast Doubt On Claim For ‘Wonder’ Cancer Jabs”, “Children ‘Used As Guinea Pigs For Vaccines’”, “Dangers Of Mmr Jab ‘Covered Up’”, “Teenage Girls Sue Over Cancer Jab”, “Jab Makers Linked To Vaccine Programme”, and so many more, including a rather memorable bad science story, the front page: “Suicides ‘Linked To Phone Masts”.
So I contacted Professor Harper. For avoidance of doubt, so that there can be no question of me misrepresenting her views, unlike the Express, I will explain Professor Harper’s position on this issue in her own words. They are unambiguous.
“I did not say that Cervarix was as deadly as cervical cancer. I did not say that Cervarix could be riskier or more deadly than cervical cancer. I did not say that Cervarix was controversial, I stated that Cervarix is not a ‘controversial drug’. I did not ‘hit out’ – I was contacted by the press for facts. And this was not an exclusive interview.”
Professor Harper did not “develop Cervarix”, as the Sunday Express said, but she did work on some important trials of Gardasil, and also Cervarix. “Gardasil is not a ‘sister vaccine’ as the Express said, it is a different compound. I do not know of the side effects of Cervarix as it is not available in the US.” Furthermore she did not say that Cervarix was being over marketed. “I did say that Merck was egregiously overmarketing Gardasil in the US- but Gardasil and Cervarix are not the same vaccines.”
And here is the tragedy. In a clear example of the extent to which academics are often independently-minded about the interventions they work on, Professor Harper is a critic of Gardasil, or more specifically of how it is marketed.
Briefly, her view (which has been published a long time ago) is that we do not yet know how long the protection from these vaccines will last, and this will affect the cost-benefit decisions. She is concerned that aggressive advertising aimed directly at the public – which is not permitted in Europe, with good reason – may lead people to falsely believe they are invincible to HPV, and so neglect other precautions. Lastly, she suspects from modelling data that for the specific and restricted group of women who are punctilious about attending every single one of their cervical cancer screening appointments, vaccination may have little impact on their risk of death from cancer; but even this group will still benefit from the reduction in reproductive problems caused by treating precancerous changes in cervical cells, and from avoiding the unpleasantness of screening and treatment.
The article has now disappeared from the Express website, and Professor Harper has complained to the PCC. “I fully support the HPV vaccines,” she says. “I believe that in general they are safe in most women. I told the Express all of this.”
Her criticisms of some aspects of cervical cancer vaccination are nuanced and valuable, but they do not fit into the black and white hysteria of the British news media. It would be nice if we could have a public discussion about the relative risks and merits of different treatment options. Sadly, with this kind of ugly reporting, scientists around the world may learn that such a discussion is not currently possible in the UK media. That is the greatest tragedy.
Simon Mayo thinks the original version of this article reads as if the the front page story discussed a month ago in the debate with Lord Drayson is actually this week’s cervical vaccine scare story from the Sunday Express. I’ve added an extra sentence above to make it as clear as possible, informed the Guardian, and I hope nobody feels misled. They are of course two separate stories, and my point – which I hope is very clear and also taken – that Lord Drayson is wrong to describe the front page of the Express as a reliable source of information about health. | <urn:uuid:1b15e3a7-8585-4693-9ee7-a6a32dd3ff5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.badscience.net/2009/10/jabs-as-bad-as-the-cancer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971596 | 1,371 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Fact Sheet on NRC Review of Paper on Reducing Hazards from Stored Spent Nuclear Fuel
The NRC staff has reviewed the paper, “Reducing the Hazards from Stored Spent Power-Reactor Fuel in the United States,” April 21, 2003, Robert Alvarez, et al., (published in Science and Global Security, spring 2003) and concludes that it fails to make the case for its central recommendation.
The basic argument of the paper is that the risks and potential societal costs of terrorist attacks on power reactor spent fuel pools justify complex and costly measures to improve the safety of fuel storage. The main recommendation made in the paper is the removal of all spent fuel cooled more than five years from the storage pools, storage of that fuel in dry storage casks, and modifying spent fuel pools to open-frame storage for the remaining fuel at an estimated cost of $3.5 to $7.0 billion. The benefits attributed to this proposal are that the amount of spent fuel stored in the pools would be substantially reduced (by approximately a factor of four) and the remaining fuel could, with open-frame storage, be rendered coolable even if the pool water were entirely lost. Additional measures to improve fuel cooling and reduce the risk of a severe spent fuel pool accident are also discussed.
The paper suffers from excessive conservatisms throughout its cost benefit evaluation. Therefore, the recommendation for an accelerated program of complex and costly measures does not have a sound technical basis. In the United States, spent fuel, in both wet and dry configurations, is safe and measures are in place to adequately protect the public.
Our review of the paper indicates that it is a deficient study of the hazards associated with the storage of spent fuel. Many of the 114 cited references are NRC studies or NRC contracted studies conducted for a variety of purposes, and most are not applicable to terrorist attacks. Some of the studies are generically applicable, others are plant specific, and all of the studies are based on assumptions that do not appear to have been sufficiently considered by the authors. For example, the authors’ analysis of societal costs is based on a 1997 Brookhaven National Laboratory study which was performed for a reactor site location that represents an extremely high surrounding population density and is not representative of an industry average. However, the authors suggest that it is a characteristic site appropriate for broadly assessing industry costs and benefits. In another example, the author’s quote a cesium-137 release fraction from an NRC publication. However, the value chosen in the NRC publication was acknowledged to be a bounding assumption that was not based on analysis. Valid scientific studies carefully search past data and analyses, carefully evaluate them and then draw conclusions based on the facts, augmenting the data or analyses when necessary.
Anecdotal information is sprinkled throughout the study. However, in many cases insufficient or no context is provided. For example, a means cited in the paper for removing water from the pool is to boil the water as a result of a jet fuel fire. The paper acknowledges that in the event of a jet fuel fire, only a relatively small fraction of the heat would go into the pool. Yet the paper states that burning 30 cubic meters of kerosene would release enough heat to evaporate 500 tons of water. This corresponds to the theoretical 100% absorption of the released energy to evaporate the mass of water and is a vast misrepresentation of expected physical behavior. Even after making this inappropriate assumption, the authors fail to note that for a typical pool the loss of 500 tons of water corresponds to only a modest drop in water level such that the fuel is still safely covered by an ample inventory of water. Mentioning a potential hazard, in this case which assumed evaporating spent fuel pool water with jet fuel, without explaining the expected consequences (in this case no consequences) is misleading.
Additionally, the report does not attempt to compare the risks associated with spent fuel storage with the risks associated with other critical civilian infrastructure, e.g., storage of hazardous materials. Without putting the risks associated with spent fuel storage in context with other risks, it makes little sense to do cost-benefit analysis and propose solutions.
The NRC staff has reviewed the paper and have concluded that it suffers from significant flaws. We have identified four major areas where the authors have, based on their own analysis or referenced findings of earlier studies, introduced unrealistic conservatisms into their risk assessment and cost-benefit evaluation–1) no justification for the postulated probabilities of worst-case spent fuel pool damage; 2) overestimation of radiation release; 3) overestimation of consequences and societal costs for the postulated severe event; and 4) underestimation of the costs of the authors’ main recommendation. Each area is discussed below.
No Justification for Postulated Probabilities of Worst-Case Spent Fuel Pool Damage
The paper does not offer a probabilistic analysis of the likelihood of a terrorist
attack leading to severe damage of a spent fuel pool and its fuel. Indeed, the paper
quotes the NRC staff comment
that “No established method exists for quantitatively estimating the likelihood of a sabotage event at a nuclear facility.” (Terrorist and sabotage events are addressed by the NRC’s regulatory requirements without quantitative estimation of the likelihood.) Instead, the paper simply states probabilities of success for an attack leading to worst-case fuel damage which the authors claim would justify, on a cost-benefit basis, removing older fuel from pools, storing it in dry casks, and storing remaining fuel in an open-rack configuration. The authors deduce that if there is a .7 percent chance in a 30-year period of a terrorist attack leading to a complete release of a spent fuel pool’s cesium-137 inventory or an approximately 5 percent chance in a 30-year period of a terrorist attack leading to the release of one tenth of a spent fuel pool’s cesium-137 inventory, then the authors’ estimated $3.5 to $7 billion cost of relocating the older spent fuel into casks would be justified, but they do not provide any basis for these probabilities.
The authors suggest by their discussion of various threats to a spent fuel pool that the cited likelihoods of an attack leading to worst-case fuel damage are reasonable. Specifically, in discussing a potential terrorist attack using a large aircraft, the paper cites past NRC studies which assumed a high conditional probability that the turbine shaft of a large plane would penetrate and drain the spent fuel pool, if the aircraft struck the pool. A second reference to simplified models for penetration of a reinforced concrete wall is cited as support for the view that penetration “cannot be ruled out.”
The past NRC reports referenced, NUREG/CR-5042, “Evaluation of External Hazards to Nuclear Power Plants in the United States,” and NUREG-1738, “Technical Study of Spent Fuel Pool Accident Risk at Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants,” used very conservative assumptions with respect to the conditional probability of pool penetration by the turbine shaft of a large plane in part because even with those conservative assumptions the risk was acceptably low for the intended purpose, and more detailed analyses were not needed at the time. However, when assessing potential spent fuel pool vulnerabilities to terrorist events, using these very large conservatisms is inappropriate and provides misleading results.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the NRC has sponsored additional research
regarding the penetrability of concrete structures by aircraft engine turbine shafts.
The analyses have been performed using both detailed physical response modeling
and experimentally validated models developed by Sandia National Laboratories and
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These models have been specifically developed
to assess penetration of materials by hard projectiles under a variety of size,
speed, and orientation conditions. While the analyses are ongoing and specific results
are classified, the results strongly indicate that prior assumptions regarding the
probability of engine turbine shaft penetration are conservative by orders of magnitude.
These latest improved calculations retain significant, yet realistic, conservatism.
For example, the analyses do not generally consider the beneficial effects of the
steel liner on the inside of the pool or the effect of the pool water itself in
reinforcing the concrete wall. The effect of these conservatisms is to further support
the conclusion that prior assumptions related to engine turbine shaft penetration
of the pool wall are overly conservative for a realistic assessment. Therefore,
analyses which rely on these assumptions, as does the subject study, as underpinning for judging the conditional probability of pool failure due to a terrorist attack using a large aircraft, are not reflecting the actual structural capabilities of power reactor spent fuel pools.
The authors hint at various other ways that terrorists might attack a spent fuel pool to justify their postulated probabilities of a terrorist-induced spent fuel pool drain-down event (.7 percent to 5 percent over a 30 year period). However, in doing so the paper does not adequately credit either the physical features of the pools or the security, unmatched elsewhere in our nation’s critical civilian infrastructure, surrounding such spent fuel pools. Nuclear power reactor spent fuel pools are neither easily reached nor easily breached. Instead, they are strong structures constructed of very thick steel-reinforced concrete walls with stainless steel liners. In addition, other design characteristics of these pools, not analyzed in the paper, can make them highly resistant to damage and can ease the ability to cope with any damage. Such characteristics can include having the fuel in the pool partially or completely below grade and having the pool shielded by other plant structures.
The likelihood of a terrorist attack cannot be ascertained with confidence by state-of-the-art methodology and any attempt at quantification or even qualitative assessment of the likelihood of terrorist attack is highly speculative. Nonetheless, spent fuel pools at operating power reactors are protected by robust licensee security measures, which have been further augmented as a result of NRC’s February 25, 2002 and April 29, 2003 Orders, the details of which are sensitive. Even prior to September 11, 2001, licensees had multiple barriers and sensors, well-armed and trained guards, ready to defend from prepared positions. The February 25, 2002 and April 29, 2003 Orders augmented those capabilities through requirements for increased patrols, augmented security forces, additional security posts, greater vehicle stand-off distances, more frequent training, preparation to defend against a larger design basis threat, and enhanced coordination with law enforcement authorities. In short, the Commission believes that the combination of the physical features and security of spent fuel pools make them highly resistant to terrorist attacks.
Overestimation of Radiation Release
In estimating fuel damage, the paper again makes reference to past NRC studies which conservatively assumed bounding pool configurations for cooling analysis and conservatively assumed the extent of radiation release. In the 1997 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) study, “Severe Accidents in Spent Fuel Pools in Support of Generic Safety Issue 82,” (NUREG/CR-4982), it was assumed that 10-100% of the cesium-137 was released to the atmosphere. Similarly in NUREG-1738 the base case assumed the release of 75% of the total cesium-137 inventory. The assumption of such a large release in NUREG-1738 was a large conservatism which was tolerable for the purposes of that study. However, it is neither a realistic estimate nor an appropriate assumption for a risk assessment of security issues where realism is needed. Ongoing research to address these issues includes more detailed realistic analyses of the thermal response of fuel to loss of water scenarios and more detailed, realistic analyses of the radionuclide releases for those scenarios where adequate cooling is not maintained. Based on preliminary analyses, we conclude that spent fuel in pools is more easily cooled even in the event of a complete loss of water. Further, preliminary analysis indicates that previous NRC estimates of the quantities of fission products released were high by likely an order of magnitude. Earlier NRC studies used large conservatisms, in generic calculations, with simplified modeling.
Further, the paper generally does not give credit for the likely intervention by operators to prevent uncovering the fuel or to provide emergency cooling to the spent fuel although it acknowledges some of the very long times available for loss of cooling events. Our ongoing analyses suggest that longer times than previously estimated are available for operators to intervene to restore water to ensure that the fuel remains cooled.
The National Research Council in its 2002 report, Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism, found: “The threat of terrorist attacks on spent fuel storage facilities, like reactors, is highly dependent on design characteristics. Moreover, spent fuel generates orders of magnitude less heat than an operating reactor, so that emergency cooling of the fuel in the case of an attack could probably be accomplished using ‘low tech’ measures that could be implemented without significant exposure of workers to radiation.” The Commission agrees with this statement, and through its February 25, 2002 Order directed licensees to develop guidance and strategies to maintain or restore spent fuel pool cooling capabilities using existing or available resources.
Overestimation of Consequences and Societal Costs For Postulated Severe Event
The authors’ analysis of land contamination for a postulated severe fuel
damage event reflects a range of cesium-137 releases of 3.5-35 megaCuries, but the
estimate of costs cited in the paper is taken from the 1997 BNL study which assumed
a release of cesium-137 from 8-80 megaCuries. The BNL study was performed for a
reactor site location that represents an extremely high surrounding population density
and that is not representative of an industry average. However, the authors suggest
that it is a characteristic site appropriate for broadly assessing the risk of their
postulated severe event. The use of the BNL study’s site characteristics,
instead of a mean value considering all sites, biases the economic impacts and societal
costs of the postulated worst-case fuel damage event by a factor of 5 - 10. Moreover,
if a site-specific evaluation were performed, it would be necessary to address site-specific
features which mitigate against pool damage and any large release, including location
of the pool or fuel below grade and shielding of the pool by surrounding structures.
When such mitigative site-specific features are taken into account, mean
economic impacts and societal costs of the postulated severe fuel damage event would be further reduced.
Underestimation of Cost of Main Recommendation
The paper estimates the cost for removing the older fuel from pools and placing it in casks to be $3.5-7 billion. We have preliminarily concluded that the authors’ estimate is low by at least a factor of two when considering the costs of spent fuel pool modifications, dry storage facility design and construction, dry storage cask procurement, and cask loading and transfer costs. Furthermore, the paper does not address the radiation doses to workers that would result from the removal, disposal, and replacement of the spent fuel pool racks nor the added risk from these manipulations.
Spent Fuel Pool Safety Facts
To reiterate before closing, the safety and security of spent fuel pools is ensured by a series of physical structures, operational measures and security barriers that are unprecedented in U.S. civilian infrastructure.
- Nuclear power reactor spent fuel pools are robust structures constructed of very thick steel-reinforced concrete walls with stainless steel liners located inside protected areas.
- Many of spent fuel pools are designed with the pool and fuel located below grade, many are shielded by other structures, and many have intervening walls that would obstruct an aircraft’s or other object’s impact.
- Spent fuel pools contain enormous quantities of water and the spent fuel in the spent fuel pool produces significantly less heat than in an operating reactor. As a result, for most events (i.e., loss of cooling or small leaks) plant operators would have significant amounts of time to correct the problem, or implement fixes needed to restore cooling.
- In addition to the water in the spent fuel pool, nuclear power plants possess many other sources of water that are readily available that could be made available as a backup supply to the spent fuel pool.
- Since September 11, 2001, additional measures have been taken to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist attack and to further improve capabilities of nuclear plants to resist and withstand an attack. These measures include specific enhancements associated with the protective strategies for ground attacks on spent fuel pools. Additionally the NRC has ordered licensee to develop guidance and strategies to maintain and restore spent fuel pool cooling using existing or available resources if cooling is lost for any reason.
- Access to spent fuel pools requires passage through multiple physical barriers which must be of sufficient strength to provide high assurance in the protection of public health and safety from radiological sabotage. An attempt to commit radiological sabotage at a spent fuel pool would result in a security response to neutralize the threat. Furthermore, the Federal government has taken numerous actions to prevent terrorist use of large aircraft over the past 18 months, thereby reducing the likelihood of an attack on all critical infrastructure from such threats.
- Currently analyses are underway utilizing updated realistically conservative methods. Insights from these more realistic analyses indicate that
- the spent fuel stored in spent fuel pools is more easily cooled than predicted in earlier NRC studies,
- the consequences of such an accident would be much less severe than previously estimated,
- the radioactive release would be much smaller (by at least a factor of 10 for the scenarios analyzed), and the radioactive release would begin later than previously estimated
- providing more time for implementing effective protective measures, e.g., evacuation of the EPZ,
- resulting in reduced health effects, and
- resulting in reduced land contamination.
In summary, we conclude that the authors’ assessment of possible spent fuel pool accidents stemming from potential terrorist attacks does not address such events in a realistic manner. In many cases, the authors rely on studies that made overly conservative assumptions or were based on simplified and very conservative models. The use of these previous studies, most of them NRC or NRC contractor studies, provides overly conservative and misleading results when assessing potential spent fuel pool vulnerabilities to terrorist events. The overall effect of the combined conservatisms in the four major areas discussed cumulatively affect the paper’s cost-benefit calculations for its central recommendation by orders of magnitude. Given all of this, NRC does not believe that the fundamental recommendation of this paper, namely that all spent fuel more than five years old be placed in dry casks through a crash 10-year program costing many billions of dollars, is at all justified. Spent fuel stored, in both wet and dry storage configurations, is safe and measures are in place to adequately protect the public. | <urn:uuid:12dddab0-6e14-4504-98c5-76c15c7c3adb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/reducing-hazards-spent-fuel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952496 | 3,887 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Entrance to King Tut’s tomb discovered
British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
When Carter first arrived in Egypt in 1891, most of the ancient Egyptian tombs had been discovered, though the little-known King Tutankhamen, who had died when he was 18, was still unaccounted for. After World War I, Carter began an intensive search for “King Tut’s Tomb,” finally finding steps to the burial room hidden in the debris near the entrance of the nearby tomb of King Ramses VI in the Valley of the Kings. On November 26, 1922, Carter and fellow archaeologist Lord Carnarvon entered the interior chambers of the tomb, finding them miraculously intact.
Thus began a monumental excavation process in which Carter carefully explored the four-room tomb over several years, uncovering an incredible collection of several thousand objects. The most splendid architectural find was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, which was made out of solid gold, was the mummy of the boy-king Tutankhamen, preserved for more than 3,000 years. Most of these treasures are now housed in the Cairo Museum.
For this and other November 4 events, go to History.com
Visit King Tut’s Virtual Tomb
Learn more about Tutankhamun by clicking on the photo of his mask above.Print This Post | <urn:uuid:0020538d-66e1-4f7b-ba4b-8db32554427c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/11/04/on-this-day-november-4-1922/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956564 | 312 | 3.78125 | 4 |
NEW YORK — - U.S. power-grid chief Jon Wellinghoff is touting the long-term cost savings of electric cars, saying the vehicles could net their owners $1,500 a year in paybacks when their batteries are connected to the power grid.
While electric cars planned for the U.S. in the next few years will likely carry heftier price tags than many gas-powered cars, Wellinghoff argued at an investor conference last month that owners of plug-in vehicles will benefit from much lower costs for filling up, cutting the long-term operating cost.
Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said that on top of saving $3 or $4 a gallon on gasoline in future years, car owners could be reimbursed by grid operators and power companies for the battery storage offered by the roughly 22 hours a day that electric cars would be connected to the nation's power system.
"Plug-in hybrids could help stabilize the grid and make money for their owners," said Wellinghoff, who spoke at Knight Capital Group's Electrifying Transportation conference for institutional investors.
Wellinghoff, a lawyer who specialized in energy issues before becoming FERC chairman this year, cited moves into green energy under President Barack Obama, who addressed climate change in a major U.N. speech last month. Obama named Wellinghoff to the FERC chairmanship.
The Obama administration has given a $529 million government loan to Fisker Automotive to build electric cars. Tesla and others have also received hundreds of millions of dollars from government stimulus programs.
While the electric car industry remains in its infancy, proponents of plug-ins expect millions of models on the road in the next 10 years that could collectively add to the nation's power storage capabilities.
Sharing the main points of his chapter in the book "Plug-In Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington," edited by David Sandalow, Wellinghoff said growth of solar and wind energy in the U.S. will create a greater need for storage capacity on the grid to smooth out power surges.
Electric car batteries, along with flywheel systems, could help take up the slack.
Wellinghoff was joined at the conference by Knight Capital Chief Executive Tom Joyce, who drove a Tesla before the meeting and said it was "possibly the coolest car I've ever been in."
Chelsea Sexton of VantagePoint Venture Partners, another speaker at the conference, called electric cars "cool, fast and fun" and pointed out that hybrids have managed to capture about 3 percent of the car market. | <urn:uuid:1bbdc76c-c82a-4c08-a07a-5a7eded1c634> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2009-10-18/business/0910160361_1_electric-cars-power-grid-nation-s-power | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962584 | 529 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Walter Dorn is a Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and the Canadian Forces College (CFC). He serves as Chair of the CFC's Department of Security and International Affairs. In the past, he has served as co-chair of the CFC's Department of Security Studies and as Deputy Director for Outreach and Community Development. He is also Chair of Canadian Pugwash, an organization of physical, life and social scientists seeking to reduce the threats to global security.
Dr. Dorn is a scientist by training (Ph.D. Chemistry, Univ. of Toronto), whose doctoral research was aimed at chemical sensing for arms control. He assisted with the negotiation, ratification and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) while working as a programme coordinator at Parliamentarians for Global Action (1992-93). He addressed parliamentary bodies on several continents and drafted a parliamentary declaration that was subsequently signed by more than one thousand parliamentarians.
His interests are now broader, covering both international and human security, especially the operations in the field to help secure them through peacekeeping and peace enforcement by the United Nations.
At the Canadian Forces College he teaches officers of rank Major to Brigadier from Canada and over 20 other countries in the areas of arms control, Canadian foreign/defence policy, peace operations and international security.
As an "operational professor," he seeks direct experience in field missions. In 1999, he served as a district electoral officer with the United Nations Mission in East Timor. He also served with the United Nations in Ethiopia (UNDP project), at UN headquarters as a Training Adviser and three times as a consultant with the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). He has carried out DPKO-sponsored research in conflict areas in Central and South America, Africa and South East Asia. In 2010, during a sabbatical, he was a Visiting Professional in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Since 1983, he has served as the UN Representative of Science for Peace, a Canadian NGO, and addressed the UN General Assembly in 1988 at the Second UN Special Session on Disarmament. In the United States, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Cornell University (Einaudi Centre for International Studies, 1998-2000), a consultant to UN Studies at Yale (1996), a visiting scholar at the Cooperative Monitoring Centre (Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, 1999) and an adviser to the Federation of American Scientist (Biological Weapons Control expert group, 1990). At the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, he taught the course, "Live, Move and Work: Technology and Engineering in Modern Peacekeeping."
At the University of Toronto, he was a Research Fellow with the International Relations Programme and with the Peace and Conflict Studies Programme, and the Physical Science Don at Trinity College. In 2001/02 he was awarded the inaugural Human Security Fellowship (academic) by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).
He has recently finished writing a book titled "Keeping Watch: Monitoring, Technology, and Innovation in UN Peace Operations" and is hoping to finally complete a related book on a broader theme, tentatively titled "The Emerging Global Watch: UN Monitoring for International Peace and Human Security." It will analyse the expansion of the monitoring of conflicts, sanctions, elections, human rights and global security generally.
|Canadian Who's Who Bio (pdf)
(100th Anniversary Ed.)
The current website was created after restrictive Treasury Board rules were imposed on Canadian government websites, which curtailed the posting of academic papers and publications.
Many thanks go to Lisa Plekhanova and Jamie Osborne for the design and upkeep of this site.
Dr. Walter Dorn
Canadian Forces College
215 Yonge Blvd., Toronto ON
M5M 3H9 Canada
Tel: 416-482-6800 x 6538; Fax: 416-482-6802 | <urn:uuid:44adffdd-9188-4bfa-b7bc-d3c738e431c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://walterdorn.org/bio | 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 | 0.935599 | 808 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Yogi Bhajan touched the hearts and opened the minds of people in all walks of life. Equally at home in a boardroom or teaching in a park sitting on the grass, he was mentor to statesmen and CEOs, and confidante of religious leaders, media personalities, and simple seekers.
His Motto: “If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.”
His Credo: “It’s not the life that matters, it’s the courage that you bring to it.”
His Challenge: “Don’t love me, love my teachings. Become ten times greater than me.”
Yogi Bhajan was born Harbhajan Singh Puri in India on August 26, 1929. During early childhood he learned at the knee of his saintly grandfather. When he was eight he was sent to study with the great Master, Sant Hazara Singh, under whose unrelenting tutelage the boy mastered Kundalini Yoga when he was 16 ½ years old. During the partition of India in 1947, young Harbhajan’s village had to be evacuated because it was to become a part of Pakistan. Still a teenager, his leadership ability already recognized, he was put in charge of bringing more than a thousand people to safety in Delhi, traveling through many dangerous miles of country in violent upheaval.
As a young man at Punjab University, Yogi Bhajan won prizes in debate, was a champion athlete, and earned his master’s degree in economics. In the Indian Army he was a Motor Transport Officer and then served the Indian Government in the Tax and Customs division until he came to the West. Yogi Bhajan married Bibi Inderjit Kaur in 1953. They had three children born in India and five grandchildren born in the United States.
Yogi Bhajan gave his first public lecture in the United States on January 5, 1969. He was determined to train leaders and teachers with the power to heal, uplift, and inspire humanity. Yogi Bhajan said, “I’ve come to train teachers, not to gather students.” In July of 1969, Yogi Bhajan legally established 3HO® Foundation, with “3HO” standing for Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization.
Yogi Bhajan taught Kundalini Yoga openly to the public for the first time in history, despite the taboo that had kept it shrouded in secrecy for centuries. Yogi Bhajan didn’t just teach physical exercise, meditation, and yogic breathing techniques as such; he taught people how to live, how to relate to each other, and how to relate to God. The 3HO way of life offered an alternative to the drug culture prevalent among young people at the time.
Yogi Bhajan’s penetrating insight, infinite compassion, tireless service, and delightful sense of humor immediately endeared him to the eager young people who flocked to his Kundalini Yoga classes. He taught students how to access their intuitive awareness, how to experience higher consciousness without drugs, and how to build a future for themselves and their families. Dedicated to promoting the welfare and equality of women everywhere, Yogi Bhajan inspired women to lead, uplift, and heal through their inherent grace and power.
Yogi Bhajan was definitely not the stereotype of a yogi from a cave, wearing a loincloth and carrying a begging bowl. On the contrary, he inspired and was the driving force behind 19 thriving corporations, all of which espouse the principles he taught. Yogi Bhajan published over 30 books and over 200 other manuals, videos, and CDs featuring his teachings (available from KRI). In 1980, he earned his Ph.D. in the Psychology of Communication. Yogi Bhajan never took credit for any of his achievements; always saying it was all the grace of God and Guru, that he was “just the mailman delivering the message.”
Although he himself was a devoted Sikh, Yogi Bhajan never tried to convert anyone. However, his example of unshakable faith and commitment to God and Guru was contagious, and many of his students recognized they were destined to walk through life on the Sikh path. In 1971, at Amritsar, India, a prominent Sikh leader honored him by giving him the first-ever title of “Siri Singh Sahib,” the Chief Religious and Administrative Authority for Sikh Dharma in the West. While promoting world peace throughout his very active lifetime, he met with religious and spiritual leaders all over the world.
Yogi Bhajan left his body on October 6, 2004, at the age of 75. To many people, he hasn’t actually “died” because his presence is still so vibrantly with us. His divine wisdom and inspiration live on in the enlightened legacy of the vast Library of Teachings he created to serve us now, and for countless generations to come.
Adapted from Kundalini Yoga: The Flow of Eternal Power by Shakti Parwha Kaur. | <urn:uuid:3b501298-4382-40e9-85af-f5949b34fc0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.3ho.org/winter-solstice/solstice-experience/yogi-bhajan/ | 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 | 0.979115 | 1,071 | 2 | 2 |
Much in the news today is the nomination of former Republican Sen. and wounded Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel to be secretary of Defense. He had been a close friend with Sen. John McCain, but the two separated over the Iraq War.
Two historic giants, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, were brought together by World War II and became fast friends.
Eavesdropping on that friendship and the momentous events surrounding it has been a fascinating few days thanks to Jon Meacham’s authoritative and delightful new book, Franklin and Winston.
The two world leaders first connected through Roosevelt’s chief of staff, Harry Hopkins, who cemented the relationship at Ditchley Park, now a conference center where Josephine and I have spent many enlightening weekends over the years. Then it was the 18th-century, 40-bedroom house of Ronald Tree, a member of Parliament.
At dinner, Churchill gave a speech about the values of Western democracy and asked what the president would think of the speech. After a long pause, Hopkins said, “Well, Mr. Prime Minister, I don’t think the President will give a damn for all that,” and to the anxiety of the British, paused again, then added: “You see, we’re only interested in seeing that that G-D, S-O-B, Hitler, gets licked.”
His answer was greeted with laughter, relief and agreement.
From that Ditchley dinner and several Trans-Atlantic voyages there developed a friendship and trust exemplified by the time the president knocked and entered the Lincoln bedroom to find Churchill covered in only his ample pinkness. “You see, Mr. President, I have nothing to hide from you.”
The two men and their families bonded until late in 1943 when Roosevelt could see that only two powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, would dominate the post-war world. FDR’s attempt to develop a personal relationship with Stalin to give context to future encounters made Winston feel rebuffed and hurt.
At the Tehran Conference in November, Stalin put his finger on one element of national power. “The most important thing in this war are machines … without the use of those machines (through Lend Lease), we would lose this war.”
True, as far as it goes. Economics, the vast industrial power of the United States, is needed to defend our nation and to win wars. But Churchill also represented a primary portion of national strength: the values of democracy and freedom that kept Britain fighting alone, keeping the Nazi barbarians from its shores.
National strength isn’t just one thing; it is a hierarchy of democratic values, a strong economy and tight alliances with like-minded nations. When we discard one leg of the platform of national strength, we lose our balance and get into trouble as we did in Vietnam and Iraq.
We lunged virtually alone into the Vietnamese civil war, choosing sides with a dictatorial regime that didn’t have the support of its own people, a regime that was bound to fall.
Again, we invaded Iraq to protect ourselves from doomsday weapons that might, just might, one day be used against us, only to find that weapons of mass destruction did not exist.
We invaded with confidence that we could easily defeat the Iraqi armed forces, which we did, but we gave little thought to what to do once the shooting stopped. The first thing we did was ban all members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.
What that meant was hundreds of thousands of jobless, humiliated and armed soldiers, as well as sending home police and civil administrators who were the people who kept the country running.
Nine years later, we are leaving the Iraqi mess that we made, which brings us around to Chuck Hagel’s nomination, a choice that is viewed as heresy by the good people who brought us the shining examples of Vietnam and Iraq.
Hagel’s enemies represent a dark, thankfully minority view that America is followed, or rather obeyed, because we have the power to compel obedience. That is the psychology of the dictator.
In the years just ahead, America will be at peace for the first time in a long, long time. It is time to refresh and revive our economic power, including job-creating infrastructure such as a rail system up to Asian standards.
Dangers remain, but it is reassuring to know that we have in the Pentagon a man who thinks strategically, keeps all elements of national power in balance and who calculates both necessity and legitimacy before projecting our power.
Friendship is a secondary consideration in the calculus of war and peace.
H. Brandt Ayers is the publisher of The Star and chairman of Consolidated Publishing Co. | <urn:uuid:a283dbbf-1a7f-43ce-8b62-7bef682f082c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/21453876/article-H--Brandt-Ayers--Good-man--bad-war?instance=columnistsPageAyers2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96466 | 986 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Commenting on several early Virginia preachers put in jail for preaching, recalling Paul and Silas singing in the Philippian Jail, Dr. Greg Dixon shares a song that can help anyone enduring imprisonment or God forbid, criticism:
"What would the nightingale care if the toad despised her singing? She would sing on and leave the cold toad to his grouchy thoughts and shadows. And what cared these preachers for the sneers and scoffs of men who grovel upon the earth? They sang on in the ear and the bosom of God."
Isaiah embodies the suffering of Christ and disciples with this powerful verse: Isaiah 50:7 "For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."
When trouble comes, keep in mind that He is the guide along the path, and He permits the trouble. Knowing the truth enables us to do as Isaiah has Christ doing, we "set our face like a flint" and keep on trucking.
I learned something nearly 40 years ago when I really made a mess out of things. When I experience the brethren being "nice" feel the hard looks and freezing shoulders, I ignore them and keep my face set like a flint toward what I believe to be God's will. If they want to talk, I listen. Walk with HIM. | <urn:uuid:13d5fffb-8cfc-4b1e-a62d-400c111e682e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=148249 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958379 | 294 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Music! Words! Opera! (M!W!O!) Professional Development Workshop
Professional development for educators is something that we take seriously. We host a curriculum workshop called Music! Words! Opera! developed by Opera America - the national service organization for opera. In addition to exploring some of the greatest operas ever composed, the curriculum is perfect for interdisciplinary study, joining various content areas such as language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, English, and fine arts together with music. Designed for educators teaching grades 4th-12th, the 2013 training session will explore Verdi's Aida. M!W!O! also trains teachers to lead students step-by-step through the process of producing an original opera. The workshops are for any educator whether classroom teacher, art and drama teacher, music teacher, etc. We suggest more than one teacher per school to participate for collaborative purposes. The one week training session will be led by M!W!O! national training facilitators Clifford Brooks and Roger Ames.
Dates: June 10 - 14, 2013
Time: 8:30am - 3:30pm | <urn:uuid:80b6c27f-2773-48e2-a07a-3309b6cf5ae7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://operamemphis.org/education-and-outreach/opera-for-teachers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934196 | 229 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is reporting that a recently-published study by Health Canada found that the vast majority of canned soft drink and energy drinks contain bisphenol A, a known endocrine disruptor and estrogen mimic.
The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in January, tested 72 canned drinks purchased in 2007 and found detectable levels of BPA in 69 of them. The levels are within the limits of what Health Canada considers “safe,” however, some critics believe that there is no safe level of this chemical, pointing out that studies in peer-reviewed science journals have shown that BPA can increase breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer cell growth in animal testing even at very low doses.
Other critics point out that if soft drinks were our only source of exposure to BPA, perhaps the assertion of safety would be warranted. However, BPA is present in many canned foods, and many people drink considerable amounts of canned soft drinks, increasing the potential exposure.
BPA is used in the lining of metal cans as well as certain plastics. Canada banned the sale of polycarbonate baby bottles containing BPA in October 2008, the first country in the world to do so. The US has not as yet instituted any similar bans, although one county in New York is taking steps towards this legislation. While Health Canada maintains that the general population does not have to be concerned with these recent findings, it remains committed to ongoing research into the safety of BPA and the health implications of its use in our food supply. The Canadian government has allocated $1.7 million dollars over the next three years for this research.
[This post was written by Heather Dunham] | <urn:uuid:6188d752-19d0-475f-8d82-e2c4c0e12cb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/03/05/health-canada-finds-bpa-in-canned-soft-drinks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972232 | 345 | 2.953125 | 3 |
What does it take to live a life of significance? When Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy took home the trophy in Super Bowl XLI, fans around the world looked to him as the epitome of success. Athletic victory, professional excellence, fame and celebrity, awards and honors - he had it all. But even in that moment, he knew those achievements had little to do with his ultimate significance as a man. Coach Dungy still passionately believes that there is a different path to significance - a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding. In the New York Times bestseller Uncommon, Dungy reveals secrets to achieving significance that he has learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his walk with God. Large Print Edition.
Customer Questions & Answers: | <urn:uuid:f4d55536-c8fb-4196-ba98-57b4d4e560e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://answers.christianbook.com/answers/2016/product/153686/christian-large-print-uncommon-finding-your-path-to-significance-large-print-questions-answers/questions.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984569 | 169 | 1.507813 | 2 |
versão impressa ISSN 0042-9686
Bull World Health Organ vol.81 no.10 Genebra Out. 2003
Equitable access to scientific and technical information for health
Hippocrates equated scientific truth with mystical knowledge which should be revealed only to the initiated (1). In current thinking, however, scientific and technical information is seen as an archetypal global public good which should be freely available for the benefit of all (2). With traditional printed publication, the wide dissemination of this information through academic journals was an expensive undertaking, but now the internet and associated technologies have revolutionized the situation. The opportunities presented by these technologies have led to calls for greater access to the scientific literature.
Even though electronic publication has reduced or eliminated costs associated with the printing, handling and postage of scholarly journals, other significant costs remain. These include quality control (peer review and editing), production and dissemination (making the edited information available on the internet), and long-term preservation. A movement called Open Access maintains that these residual costs of publishing scientific information should be borne by the provider, and that access to the information should not be limited by the user's ability to pay.
In particular, a model proposed by BioMed Central based on funding by authors or their institutions has become prominent (3). This model may solve the problem of access, at least for those with the required level of connectivity, but it is not clear if all authors or institutions can afford to provide free access, especially if they have to pay the full cost of publication. Other models of financing open access need to be investigated such as the SciELO Project in Latin America (4), in which funding is mainly by governments through their research agencies. This comes conceptually closer to the idea of scientific information as a global public good, and open access is now the dominant form of publishing academic journals in that region. While open access has made impressive progress in recent years, the scientific health literature is still dominated by commercial publishers and learned societies which follow a similar commercial model for the publication of their journals. These publishers own copyright to millions of pages of scientific and technical information of vital interest to those working in the health field. Although they are susceptible to moral arguments about access to this information for those who need it, the publishers argue that they have both to finance their work and to meet obligations to their investors and members.
One of the advantages of electronic publication is that once the information is available for dissemination on the internet the costs of access are insignificant. This can allow publishers to provide free access to certain categories of readers at no or very little cost to themselves. It also allows publishers to adopt a policy of equitable access to the journals based on the ability of their customers to pay. The Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI), involving WHO and many leading publishers (5) uses such a model.
There are many other ways in which publishers can give greater access to their information while still earning revenue to finance their work. For example, journals can give free access to the web version of the journal and charge for the print version; they can provide free access to articles and charge for advertising and access to other services on their web site; they can give free access to back issues and only charge for the current issue; they can give free access to newly-accepted articles and charge for access to the edited version. Many journals are successfully applying these models of increased access. The Bulletin has for some time supported models of open access both by giving free access to the web version of the journal and by participating in the SciELO project.
In any case publishers have to respond to calls for greater access to the scientific literature, otherwise more radical solutions may be favoured, in which their role could be eliminated. Proponents of self-archiving of scientific information, information portals, deconstructed journals and other radical ideas await their chance to win the support of a disenchanted academic community. This community, which supplies journals with authors, reviewers and editors free of charge is increasingly dissatisfied with the cost of journal subscriptions and the balance of power in the publishing world. It recognizes the value of journals in the authority and quality control they provide, but its continued support cannot be taken for granted.
The encouragement given by scholars to projects such as the Public Library of Science (6), the Budapest Open Access Initiative (7) and the Open Archives Initiative (8) indicates both widespread support for greater access and the capacity to provide it. Health is perhaps the area of most intense demand for greater access to scientific and technical information, partly because failure to obtain it can be literally fatal. A public which pays for most medical research through taxes and other public funds is becoming increasingly puzzled by the barriers that deny access to the results of that research. The time is ripe for action. The initiatives already begun by publishers are a good sign, but can only be regarded as initial steps. A more comprehensive solution, allowing access for all those who need the information, is required. Hippocrates would have been delighted to see such an effective means of improving expertise and reducing ignorance.
1. Hippocrates. The Canon. In: Hippocratic writings. Harmonsworth: Penguin; 1978. p. 68.
2. Smith RD, Beaglehole R, Woodward D, Drager N, editors. Global public goods for health: a health economic and public health perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003.
3. BioMed Central http://www.biomedcentral.com/
4. SciELO, The Scientific Electronic Library Online http://www.scielo.org/
5. The Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) http://www.healthinternetwork.org/
6. The Public Library of Science http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/support/openletter.shtml
7. Budapest Open Access Initiative http://www.soros.org/openaccess/
8. Open Archives Initiative http://www.openarchives.org/ | <urn:uuid:a14de305-75c0-4075-9535-65cd3728c1e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862003001000003&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931899 | 1,221 | 2.46875 | 2 |
If you have already had chickenpox, you have developed an immunity to it and are very unlikely to get it a second time. However, since the chickenpox virus remains in the body, hiding in spinal nerve cells, some adults will develop a localized recurrence of chickenpox known has herpes zoster or “
To avoid getting chickenpox at all, you should:
- Avoid contact with people who have it.
- Avoid sharing personal items with people infected with the illness.
The chickenpox vaccine, a series of two injections, is routinely given to children at ages:
Children who have not been vaccinated and have not been exposed to chickenpox can also receive the series.
In addition, the vaccine should be given to adults who do not have immunity to chickenpox. Talk to your doctor, though, because if you have certain conditions, you will not be able to have this vaccine.
The vaccine can also reduce your risk of infection if given within three days of exposure to chicken pox.
If you are unable to receive the varicella vaccine because you are at high risk, if exposed to chickenpox, you might be able to receive immune globulin. Immune globulin is a blood product that contains antibodies to the chickenpox virus.
For prevention, immune globulin is given by injection immediately after exposure to the VZV virus (within 96 hours).
It is usually only given to people who are at unusually high risk for severe complications from the disease. These may include:
- Adults including pregnant women
- Newborns whose mothers have chickenpox
- People who are immunosuppressed or very ill
If someone in your household gets chickenpox, you can prevent it from spreading by:
- Keeping them isolated until the disease runs its course and all blisters have crusted over
- Informing others (including parents of other children) who have been in recent contact with your child that they may have been exposed to chickenpox
Baker CJ, Pickerling LK, Chilton L, et al. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Recommended adult immunization schedule: United States, 2011.
Ann Intern Med.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommended immunization schedules for persons aged 0-18 years—United States, 2011.
The Merck Manual of Medical Information.
17th ed. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster; 2000.
National Centers for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at:
Last reviewed October 2012 by Michael Woods, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:c8cf2efb-c0c4-40a4-b130-5d6f12a3c4a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stvincenthospital.com/Info/health-library.aspx?chunkiid=20303 | 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 | 0.945309 | 626 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Reading the Riot Act
Today it is a phrase more associated with teachers or parents scolding badly behaved children - but back in the 18th Century being 'read the Riot Act' had far more serious consequences, including the possibility of being taken to the gallows to be hanged.
A new series for BBC Radio 4, Voices from the Old Bailey, looks at the origin of the term and hears court testimonies from ordinary people caught up in civil unrest more than 200 years ago.
Here - listen to excerpts from the programme and take a look at how artists helped tell the stories of 18th and 19th Century riots.Continue reading the main story
Audio by Loftus Audio, with contributions from historians Peter King, Tim Hitchcock and presenter Amanda Vickery.
Images courtesy Getty Images. Music arranged by David Owen Norris and sung by Gwyneth Herbert.
Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication date 27 July 2011.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
More audio slideshows: | <urn:uuid:2117eb7b-a0f9-4ff5-9984-79fb05a33b9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14289971 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928198 | 207 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Department of Transportation Records Guide
Agency History - 1940-1968
1941 was a busy year for transportation concerns in the Legislative Assembly. Centennial license plates for motor vehicles were planned for use in 1943 (1941 Oregon Law, Chapter 255). Motorcycles were required to have front and rear illumination for the purposes of visibility (1941 Oregon Law, Chapter 69). Logging trucks were instructed to obtain operating permits by the county courts and the State Highway Commission for trucks over fifty feet in length (1941 Oregon Law, Chapter 55).
Diverse transportation issues including interstate ferry authorization by the State Highway Commission (1943 Oregon Law, Chapter 196) and the Commission being granted authorization to construct tunnels (1943 Oregon Law, Chapter 384) were addressed in 1943. The Legislative Assembly transferred the authority of the Champoeg Provisional Government Park to the State Highway Commission (1943 Oregon Law, Chapter 128). The Legislative Assembly also addressed oversized truck and trailer permits (1943 Oregon Law, Chapter 266), and the annual transfer of money from the motor carrier transportation fund to the State Police account (1943 Oregon Law, Chapter 328).
As Oregon's focus shifted to World War II, the volume of transportation issues decreased markedly in the Legislative Assembly. Logging trucks were required to have fire-fighting equipment on board (1945 Oregon Law, Chapter 55) and the expiration of all motor vehicle licenses was extended to expire in 1947 (1945 Oregon Law, Chapter 9). The Legislative Assembly also authorized a windshield sticker for licensing purposes on motor vehicles (1945 Oregon Law, Chapter 2).
The use of Oregon beaches as a public highway regulated by the State Highway Commission with authority to monitor activity, grant access, and act accordingly in that area (1947 Oregon Law, Chapter 493). The Oregon House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 18 at the request of a federation of Oregon garden clubs to designate Highways 99 West and 99 East as 'Blue Star' highways. The blue star designation was to commemorate the Oregon men and women who served in World War II.
In 1948 the architectural firm of Whitehouse, Church, Newberry and Roehr was selected to design the new State Highway Building in Salem. The same firm had designed the Public Service Building and was involved with the design of the State Capitol.
The gas tax and automobile registration fees increased in 1949 (1949 Oregon Law, Chapters 379 and 380). That year as well Oregon became the first state to prorate registration fees of commercial vehicles based upon the miles traveled within the state (Oregon Law, Chapter 381).
The first permanent Oregon license plates were issued in 1950 with black numbers on a silver background. At that time there were 718,420 vehicles registered in Oregon. When the Legislative Assembly met in 1951, the primary transportation focus was road and highway issues. Chapter 587 outlined the right of access to state roads by adjacent property owners and Chapter 289 provided for the establishment, maintenance and operation of an arboretum and botanical garden by the State Highway Division. Emergency vehicles and funeral processions were also instructed to have flashing lights mounted on their vehicles (1951 Oregon Law, Chapter 400).
The mid 1950’s were fairly quiet for transportation issues in the Legislative Assembly. Additions to Oregon law concerning truck routes (1953 Oregon Law, Chapter 257) and highway advertising signs (1955 Oregon Law, Chapter 541) were both made.
In 1955, the State Department of Motor Vehicles was established. That action transferred some duties and personnel from the Office of the Secretary of State to the new department (1955 Oregon Law, Chapter 294). The department’s mandate included "the administration of laws relating to motor vehicle registration and licensing, dealers' business and vehicle licenses and wreckers' licenses...”. Also in 1955, speed traps were defined (1955 Oregon Law, Chapter 462) and the statute also provided for the use of "radiomicro waves" by law enforcement and the marking of all speed traps by signs. The State Highway Commission was to oversee the sign installation for Oregon State Police speed traps. The motor vehicle speed limit in 1955 was 55 mph for open highways (1955 Oregon Law, Chapter 38) trucks and school busses had a maximum speed of 45 mph and emergency vehicles were exempted from speed limits (1955 Oregon Law, Chapter 598).
The 1957 Legislative Assembly outlined state highway routes in Oregon, including the Mt. Hood and Sunset highways (1957 Oregon Law, Chapter 123). An additional fee was added to driver licenses and renewals to fund the cost of high school drivers training courses (1957 Oregon Law, Chapter 206). Another notable event of 1957 was the installation of an IBM 650 computer system by the State Highway Department making it the first computer system in Oregon State government.
The Legislative Assembly renamed the Parks Division the Parks and Recreation Division (1959 Oregon Law, Chapter 611). This reflected the division’s secondary activity of promoting recreational facilities and programs established and maintained by local governments. The legislation also created the position of state recreation director who reported to the state parks superintendent. In addition the Legislative Assembly disbanded of the Oregon Tunnel Commission (1959 Oregon Law, Chapter 30). The "Pacific Wonderland" slogan license plates issued. The slogan was based on a winning high school contest entry.
The first state scenic areas adjacent to highways was established in 1961. The Scenic Commission was formed and the members were appointed by the Governor to manage such areas (1961 Oregon Law, Chapter 614). Other issues addressed by the Legislative Assembly included private aircraft licensure (1961 Oregon Law, Chapter 107), pedestrian control measures (1961 Oregon Law, Chapter 254), and the designation of gross vehicle weight on all motor trucks, truck trailers and semi trailers (1961 Oregon Law, Chapter 255). The first bill attempting to establish the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was introduced in the Legislative Assembly but failed to gain enough support to become law.
The severe Columbus Day storm of 1962 (October 12) caused millions of dollars of damage to the infrastructure of the State Highway Department.
The 1963 Legislative Assembly established a penalty for the discharging of bows and arrows on a railroad right of way (1963 Oregon Law, Chapter 94). Railroads were now required to seek State Highway Commission approval before changing crossings, signage, or signals (1963 Oregon Law, Chapter 118).
The "Pacific Wonderland" license plates were discontinued in 1964. In 1965 the Legislative Assembly passed legislation affecting driver responsibilities. The ‘implied consent’ legislation presumed the consent of all Oregon licensed drivers to sobriety testing. Failure to perform the test became sufficient grounds for license suspension (1965 Oregon Law, Chapter 574). A motorcycle operator's permit was established for the first time (1965 Oregon Law, Chapter 547) and the truck speed limit was increased to 50 mph (1965 Oregon Law, Chapter 415). Lastly, turn signals became required for motorists (mechanical or hand signal) as well as appropriate audible signals to effectively warn pedestrians (1965 Oregon Law, Chapter 104).
Interstate 5 opened in 1966 with four traffic lanes from Portland to the California border. Later that year, the Astoria Bridge opened for traffic and by doing so closed the last major water gap on US 101 from Mexico to Canada. The Astoria Bridge cost 24 million dollars and spans 4 miles.
The Department of Motor Vehicles computerized its records in 1967 and the gasoline tax was raised to seven cents a gallon (1967 Oregon Law, Chapter 463). | <urn:uuid:7ffb66ed-1e29-4de2-b5f9-19ede6429c7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sos.state.or.us/archives/pages/records/state/odot/hist/history1940.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955826 | 1,519 | 2.46875 | 2 |
By Dan Santy 01/08 Updated: 02/08 16:16
A CHARITY already struggling to rehome cats has seen its waiting list double after taking in 24 kittens from a single house.
Rugby Cats Protection volunteers were called to the home of a woman in Newbold whose 11 unneutered cats had given birth to the kittens, leaving the owner struggling to cope. It meant there were a total of 35 cats in the house - the most ever seen by the charity's volunteers in one place.
Secretary Eva Goodwin said: "The lady living there called us and said she had a few too many cats, so our volunteers got there you can imagine how surprised they were to find so many.
"We've never see so many in one house before. They weren't being neglected or anything and the lady was doing the best she could to care for them, but she had too many to handle."
All 24 kittens are now living with Cats Protection volunteers for the time being until new homes can be found for them, and 11 adult cats from the woman's house will also be taken in once they have been neutered.
But in the current climate that will prove tricky, with families willing to adopt cats from the charity in short supply.
Before the new arrivals the charity had some 30 cats on its adoption waiting list, meaning this has effectively been doubled after the intake of kittens.
Ms Goodwin said: "It's really tough at the moment. We get a lot of calls about rehoming cats, but we struggle to find people to adopt them, and now this case has effectively doubled our waiting list.
"Unfortunately this case is a sign of the times. People are in financial hardship and so often, things like neutering of pets fall by the wayside.
"Sometimes, it is just lack of awareness of the importance of neutering that results in cases like these. Cat numbers can soon get out of hand and kittens grow into adults which then add to our ever growing number of unwanted cats."
Anyone interested in adopting an unwanted cat should visit www.rugby.cats.org.uk or call 01788 570010.
THE seventeen-year-old boy who died in a crash
A FEW technical hiccups did not stop a
A WOMAN had to be airlifted to hospital
AN AMBITIOUS £59million plan to move council staff into a ...
GYPSIES finally evicted from their illegal Greenbelt camp in Meriden ...
WARWICKSHIRE Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Ball has thrown his ... | <urn:uuid:3b861438-be04-4b22-a371-5b89f55b295b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.therugbyobserver.co.uk/2012/08/02/news-24-kittens-taken-in-from-single-home-46767.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977312 | 529 | 1.820313 | 2 |
RIFF Review: Chasing Ice
Chasing Ice is a documentary that tells the story of James Barlog, a geologist turned photographer, and his Extreme Ice Survey project. Its purpose is to provide photographic evidence of global warming.
The documentary follows Barlog as he sets up around two dozen cameras to photograph glaciers with regular intervals. It chronicles the tribulations of getting the equipment to function in the extreme conditions and weaves it with the personal tale of Barlog himself, a man deeply passionate about the subject of global warming and the toll his exploits have and are taking on his body. The personal drama works to get you to relate to the issue without feeling manipulative.
The film is a very obviously politically charged look at the hotly contested issue but it couldn’t really be accused of being one-sided because the evidence that it presents, through years of photography of several glaciers around the world, what should be considered irrefutable evidence of humanities effect on the climate. A negative effect with potentially terrible repercussions . What the film does best is showing this in the easily understandable format of both still and time-lapse photography as well as making the viewer aware of the scale of the glacial regression that’s happening. The feeling of seeing a piece the size of lower Manhattan break off of a glacier is difficult to put into words.
Chasing Ice is chock full of breathtaking and majestic cinematography and photography that helps drive the point the film is trying to make home. It sends chills down your spine with shocking regularity and when it has shown its hand completely, revealing the whole situation and its implications you’re hard pressed not to be driven to tears.
Final Verdict: Chasing Ice is a powerful, though provoking documentary that shows without a doubt that humanity is having a negative impact on the world and dares you to take action. It proves that glaciers melting in the dead of night can be much more impactful than personal drama.
Keep up with our RIFF coverage here. | <urn:uuid:1c7e484a-62f3-4420-82a7-94cb51cd04fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.filmophilia.com/2012/09/28/riff-review-chasing-ice-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963845 | 409 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Book of 6 Ezra (2 Esdras 15-16)
THE BOOK OF 6 EZRA (2 ESDRAS 15-16)
(Online version of a lecture by J. R. Davila on 20 April, 2007)
(Once again, this lecture is largely informed by a book by Theodore Bergren, this time the one on 6 Ezra (for which, see the bibliography). I have summarized hiss arguments and sometimes interacted with them with a few of my own thoughts and ideas. Professor Bergren will also be providing the "6 Ezra" contribution for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.)
The book of 6 Ezra now survives as chapters 15-16 concluding the Latin work 2 Esdras. The Latin 2 Esdras contains three separate works: 5 Ezra (chapters 1-2); 4 Ezra (chapters 3-14; and 6 Ezra. In terms of genre and form, the book of 6 Ezra is a collection of prophetic oracles with God as the speaker. As it stands now, it is anonymous, but there is some reason to think it may originally have circulated separately as a work ascribed to Ezra (see below). It presents a situation of eschatological crisis, condemns the unbelievers and the sinful nations, describes the sorrows of the eschaton, and offers encouragement to "my people" and the persecuted "elect." A creation hymn appears in 16:54-62 and the work concludes with a warning of persecution, encouragement to the elect, and woes to sinners.
6 EZRA: TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS: The details of the Spanish and French recensions of the Latin 2 Esdras have already been covered in the lecture on 5 Ezra. The same manuscripts are involved, with only eight being of any real text-critical use. The most important additional text is a fourth-century CE Greek fragment of 15:57-59 from Oxyrhynchus. The page numbering and codicology of this manuscript indicate that 6 Ezra stood alone in it rather than being associated with 5-4 Ezra. In addition, 15:21-27 and 16:3-13 are quoted by the sixth-century British monk Gildas in De excidio Brittanniae. There are some later quotations as well.
In the Syriac text of 4 Ezra 14:48 (and the versions that derive from it) there is a brief account of the ascent and apotheosis of Ezra which is missing in the Latin of 2 Esdras. The Latin text was probably mutilated when 6 Ezra was added onto it. (It would not have made sense to have had additional oracles from Ezra once he had ascended to heaven.) It seems clear from the Oxyrhynchus fragment of 6 Ezra that it once circulated on its own. It seem unlikely that its prophecies would have been anonymous, so it may well be that a reference to Ezra in the first verse was deleted as redundant when 6 Ezra was added to the end of 4 Ezra.
TWO RECENSIONS: The same two French and Spanish recensions of 4-5 Ezra survive for 6 Ezra, but the evidence indicates that, as with 4 Ezra but not 5 Ezra, the French recension is the more original of the two. The indications are that the development into two recensions is an inner-Latin one rather than being the result of separate Latin translations of a Greek original. Very briefly, the arguments in favor of the superiority of the French recension over the Spanish are as follows. The Latin style of the French is more awkward, while the style of the Spanish is more polished. In the French, Greek words are often used in the Latin text but these are almost always replaced by good Latin words in the Spanish. The Spanish also tends to correct biblical allusions toward the text of the Bible and it also has more longer readings that appear to be secondary expansions. The only possible indicator of the priority of the Spanish is that, while both recensions have a vocabulary closer to the Old Latin Bible than the Latin Vulgate, the Spanish is more closely allied to the earlier African recension of the OL. But this may mean nothing more than that the African recension was in use by the community of the Spanish reviser. The French contains a great many rare words - mostly missing in the Spanish - but its vocabulary is not notably closer to either the African or the later European recension of the OL.
The Greek fragment favors the French (6 readings) over the Spanish (2 readings), and the text of Gildas' quotations is also closer to the French than the Spanish, confirming the results above. Overall, neither the French nor the Spanish recension represents the original text perfectly, but the French is considerably closer than the Spanish.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: Our starting point should be the earliest manuscript, the fourth-century Oxyrhynchus fragment, which is in Greek. But the earliest manuscript of a work does not have to be in the original language, so we must look at other factors as well. The Latin version has many Greek loan words, a number of grammatical features that appear to be translations from Greek, and a number of odd Latin expressions that also seem to be attempts to translate a Greek original. So it seems clear that the Greek version is prior to the Latin and the Latin is dependent on it.
Is the Greek version the original? The Latin version contains some possible "Semitisms" that might hint that the Greek was in turn translated from a Semitic original (Hebrew or Aramaic), but these Semitisms are typical of biblical Greek (the Septuagint/LXX, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and may simply mean that the writer affected a biblical Greek style. So the Greek is the earliest version for which we have evidence. The Greek may possibly have been translated from a Semitic original, but we have no good evidence for this.
DATE OF COMPOSITION: Our solid end-points for a date are that 6 Ezra knows the New Testament book of Revelation (c. 100 CE) and it is quoted by Gildas, so it must have been composed between c. 100-500 CE. Bergren argues that it was written before about 313 CE, because it appears to address a persecuted Christian community of the sort that ceased to suffer persecution around this time. If, as some have argued, 15:28-33 refers to the Persian-Palmyrene wars, we can narrow the date further to after 262-267 CE. Much of the eschatological content is quite generic and seems uninformative about the author's life situation (see, e.g., 15:20-27 and 16:18-34), but the very concrete reference in 15:30 to the Carmonians is striking and corresponds well to a connection with the Persian-Palmyrene wars.
ORIGIN AND BACKGROUND: As before, our methodological approach is to start with the social context of the earliest manuscripts and quotations and to work backwards from there only as required by the evidence. With this approach, a good case can be made that 6 Ezra is a Christian work, even though no explicitly Christian ideas appear in it.
¿ The earliest identifiable social context (in the Latin manuscripts and quotations) is a Christian one. Still, it is difficult to weight the significance of this, since the social context of the earlier Greek fragment from Oxyrhynchus is unclear (at least to me).
¿ A key argument is that 6 Ezra contains clear allusions to the book of Revelation, implying some sort of literary relationship. See especially 6 Ezra 15:43-16:1 and compare Rev 14:8, 20; 15:43, 46-49; and 16:19-19:3. Both books use "Babylon" as a code name for Rome (the great whore who is to suffer downfall and destruction. The direction of influence seems to run from Revelation to 6 Ezra (although I suppose someone might want to dispute this), in which case it is much more likely that a Christian rather than a Jewish writer would be quoting this Christian work. There may also be allusions to 1 Cor 7:29-31 in 6 Ezra 16:41-44.
¿ The book clearly is aimed at a persecuted community (e.g., 15:21, 53, 56; 16:68-78). Bergren argues that the references to persecution fit best in the contexts of persecutions of Christians in the early centuries CE. Note, for example, that the issue of eating sacrifices to idols is a significant concern, as it is in Rev 2:14, 20 and 1 Cor 8.
¿ Bergren considers Asia to be the most likely geographical provenance, on the grounds that the passage on Asia (15:46-63) is longer, more specific, and more vivid than the other descriptions of geographical areas. This seems a plausible argument, but perhaps not too much weight should be put on it. It is interesting to note that the list of sinful nations in 6 Ezra (Egypt, Arabia, Carmonians, Asia, Assyrians, "Babylon," and Syria) has many parallels to the sinful nations in the Qumran War Scroll, which also lists (among several others) Assyria, Egypt, the Arabs (the "sons of Ishmael and Keturah") and Syria (the "sons of Aram"). In addition, the War Scroll uses the code name "Kittim" for the Romans. The name "Kittim" appears in the Habakkuk Commentary in the place of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) in the text of Habakkuk, so the Qumran community also used the Babylonians as a code word for the Romans. All this indicates that many references to specific nations in both works are generic end-time themes.
CONCLUSION: 6 Ezra is a short book but, apart from the exemplary work done by Bergren, it has not yet received a great deal of attention on its own terms and much work remains to be done on it. A thorough form-critical analysis of the oracle types in it might be useful. Also, a thorough analysis of its exegesis of scripture would be very desirable. The commentaries list a great many scriptural allusions, but no one has yet looked in detail at how these passages have been used and what they tell us about the work and its author.(c) 2007
Reproduction beyond fair use only on permission of the author. | <urn:uuid:5d1ff55d-26e2-4ae9-9a9d-b4f5e09e30d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/rt/otp/abstracts/6ezra/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959815 | 2,177 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Currently, Hadoop tasks (in a job) are independent of each. If Hadoop
is going to use MPI for inter-task communication, then make sure they
understand that the MPI standard currently does not address fault
Note that it is not uncommon to run map reduce jobs on Amazon EC2's
spot instances, which can be taken back by Amazon at any time if the
spot price rises above the bid price of the user. If Hadoop is going
to use MPI, and without a fault folerant MPI implementation, then the
whole job needs to be rerun.
Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine
Scalable Grid Engine Support Program
On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 3:20 PM, Ralph Castain <rhc_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> FROM: LANL, HLRS, Cisco, Oracle, and IBM
> WHAT: Adds Java bindings
> WHY: The Hadoop community would like to use MPI in their efforts, and most of their code is in Java
> WHERE: ompi/mpi/java plus one new config file in ompi/config
> TIMEOUT: Feb 10, 2012
> Hadoop is a Java-based environment for processing extremely large data sets. Modeled on the Google enterprise system, it has evolved into its own open-source community. Currently, they use their own IPC for messaging, but acknowledge that it is nowhere near as efficient or well-developed as found in MPI.
> While 3rd party Java bindings are available, the Hadoop business world is leery of depending on something that "bolts on" - they would be more willing to adopt the technology if it were included in a "standard" distribution. Hence, they have requested that Open MPI provide that capability, and in exchange will help champion broader adoption of Java support within the MPI community.
> We have based the OMPI bindings on the mpiJava code originally developed at IU, and currently maintained by HLRS. Adding the bindings to OMPI is completely transparent to all other OMPI users and has zero performance impact on the rest of the code/bindings. We have setup the configure so that the Java bindings will build if/when they can or are explicitly requested, just as with other language support.
> As the Hadoop community represents a rapidly-growing new set of customers and needs, we feel that adding these bindings is appropriate. The bindings will be maintained by those organizations that have an interest in this use-case.
> devel mailing list
Open Grid Scheduler - The Official Open Source Grid Engine | <urn:uuid:d4938c6f-43ae-41f6-ac4e-d5a8d8705b4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.open-mpi.org/community/lists/devel/2012/02/10320.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91442 | 559 | 1.515625 | 2 |
BBC admits a problem with portrayal
23 February 2012
BBC Director General Mark Thompson (left) has responded to campaigning pressure and acknowledged the BBC has a problem with portrayal. Speaking after the launch of Serving All Ages – The Views of Audiences and Experts, a report on audience research from the Creative Diversity Network (CDN), he said: “There are lessons here for the BBC and the rest of Britain’s broadcasters. It is young people who are most concerned with the way they are portrayed and we need to look at this. But we should also note the concern, expressed by older people generally, about the need for greater visibility for older women. While of course there are many older women presenters and actors across our airwaves, this is something that needs to be addressed.”
Equity has campaigned for many years about the difficulties faced by many actresses as they get older in finding work. In Equity's latest campaign more than nine and a half thousand people, including some of the UK’s best known performers, have signed a petition calling on TV companies to address the imbalance of male and female roles on UK television. Recent research reveals that for every two male roles in a drama there is just one female. Make sure you join in the protest and sign the online petition here!
A summary of Serving All Ages – The Views of Audiences and Experts was presented to the Council in February. The CDN brings together Britain’s leading broadcasters to improve the representation of ethnic minorities in television both on screen and behind the camera. The full report can be downloaded from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/diversity/pdf/serving_all_ages_acc.pdf.
For more information about what was decided at the February meeting of the Equity Council go to: https://www.equity.org.uk/documents/council-report-21-february-2012/?preview=true.
HOW THE MEDIA REPORTED THIS
WOMEN AT THE BBC: IT'S BETTER LATE THAN NEVER FOR MARK THOMPSON
Director general's mea culpa comes just two weeks after he denied the corporation had a problem
BBC'S MARK THOMPSON: THERE AREN'T ENOUGH OLDER WOMEN ON TV
There are not enough older women on TV, the head of the BBC has admitted.
'I'M SORRY, MR THOMPSON BUT WHATEVER YOU SAY, THE BBC STILL TREATS OLDER WOMEN AS UNWANTED AND INVISIBLE,' SAYS MIRIAM O'REILLY
A man called Ray summed up the problem facing women on TV as they get older. I was on Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show when Ray phoned up to share his view, formed over years of not just watching television but also having worked in the industry.
GENDER BIAS AT THE BBC: WHAT'S THE EVIDENCE?
I got on a plane this morning (I'm still on it, wish me luck, it's bumpy, and the picture on the safety card didn't make me feel any better, showing a serenely placid passenger, up to her neck in a suspiciously calm body of water, with a seat-cushion tucked under her neck in order to hold her afloat – I'm doubting I'll look like that if we fall 30,000 feet into the Atlantic), and, as luck would have it, found myself sat next to the woman whose work/life/family juggling I'd described in Saturday's column. What are the chances? I'm going to North Carolina for heaven's sake. Anyway she told me she liked the piece, so that was OK.
ROWAN ATKINSON: MIRIAM O'REILLY BBC AGEISM ROW AN ATTACK ON 'FREE EXPRESSION'
The BBC should have been allowed to sack Miriam O’Reilly from Countryfile without fear of sparking an age discrimination row, according to Rowan Atkinson, the actor. | <urn:uuid:863a31eb-7a09-405a-a17e-72a21e77123c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.equity.org.uk/news-and-events/equity-news/bbc-admits-a-problem-with-portrayal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934968 | 848 | 1.546875 | 2 |
I am a novice and so have no context for facts. Specifically, it is my understanding that the whole concept behind artisan bread making is that the retardation adds taste. Yes? I put the starter after an hour in the fridge and let the yeast sleep. Then the next day I mix in my flour mix and let it rise twice and then put it in the fridge again so the yeast can sleep and let the bacteria go to work. That at least is my concept. In R L Barenbaum's bread bible she makes baguettes with water at the temp of 75-90 degrees....But on the KA flour package in front of me their French baguettes require cool water for the Starter.
And again with Peter Rinehart and his very much loved Pain à l'Ancienne in his Bread Baker’s Apprentice lists the following recipe for baguettes with ice cold (40°F) water:
Days to Make: 2
Day 1: 10 to 15 minutes mixing
Day 2: 2 to 3 hours fermentation, shaping, and panning; 15 to 30 minutes baking
Makes 6 small baguettes, 6 to 8 pizzas, or one 17 by 12-inch focaccia
6 cups (27 ounces) unbleached bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons (.56 ounce) salt
1 3/4 teaspoons (.19 ounce) instant yeast
2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons to 3 cups (19 to 24 ounces) water ice cold (40°F)
With that as preface I ask a simple question, why do so many recipes for regular bread call for warm water rather than ice cold water, if what we want is in fact taste and we can only get that with slow retardation and that to get that we know we must go to cold temps.
Can anyone understand my question? I sense that everyone else in the room knows the answer but me...gulp. Thanks, CB | <urn:uuid:4c1faab0-75fb-4d7a-885f-d18010d76639> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/3236/water-temperature | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929216 | 401 | 2.234375 | 2 |
German supporters at the match sang the official version of the anthem
Swiss television has made an embarrassing error during live coverage of the European Championship football match between Germany and Austria.
The national channel SRG ran subtitles to Germany's national anthem including the obsolete first verse - ignored since the fall of the Third Reich.
"Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" or "Germany, Germany above everything", was popular under the Nazis' rule.
The third verse, on its own, became the anthem following unification in 1990.
The third verse, which begins "unity and justice and liberty for the German fatherland", was sung by Germans in the west of the country after World War II.
And that verse alone became the official anthem after East and West Germany unified.
The error was described as "inexcusable" by a spokesman for Swiss Text, a subsidiary of SRG, responsible for subtitling services.
According to an interview in the Swiss newspaper Blick, the spokesman said two young sports editors were at fault, and that the mistake was a result of poor research.
The anthem was written by poet Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841. | <urn:uuid:ba5c439c-6ce6-4fdb-a22f-0c2f14c86816> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7461606.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969601 | 247 | 2.359375 | 2 |
NE43-208, (617) 258-7885
Office hours: by appointment.
Prof. Leonard McMillan
|Time and Place:
This is a reading and projects course covering a range of topics related to geometric representation and computation. We will study fundamental data structures and algorithms from computational geometry and computer graphics, their application to problems that occur in practice, and techniques for visual inspection of and interaction with geometric entities.
The aim of the course is to gain familiarity with the understanding,
crafting, use, augmentation and visual inspection of geometric objects
and data structures. Specifically the course will have
Registration is by approval of the instructor; it will probably be limited to about 25 students.
A typical class meeting will consist of an instructor or student presentation of papers and software, and a discussion of the material co-led by the student and instructor. Each lecture, one student will be expected (given several weeks' notice) to summarize the material for that lecture and help lead a discussion of the readings. One week before the student is to present, s/he will be expected to submit a "pre-talk" (a draft version of the overheads to be used) and an initial treatment of the "talking points" suggested by the teaching staff, as well as (of course) other discussion topics the student wishes to cover in class.
There will be substantial use of existing packages for geometric computation and visualization.
The teaching staff will provide timely feedback about the pre-talk. The discussion questions will be evaluated, and then forwarded (possibly with modifications) to everyone in the class. These questions will also be posted to the course web page in a timely fashion.
All class members will be expected to have read the listed readings, and pondered the discussion questions by the start of the relevant class.
There will be several small programming assignments. These are intended to get everyone familiar with the issues of crafting technically substantive and visually interesting manipulations of geometric entities.
Each student will, with a partner, propose and complete a substantial programming project related to interactive geometric computation. Many topics will be suggested, but students are of course free to propose their own project topic. Acceptable projects include but are not limited to an implementation (and improvement) of an algorithm from a paper, a synthesis of techniques from several papers, or a work that explains or advances the state of the art. The projects are expected to have some research content and should be designed with that in mind.
Course grades will be based on the pre-talk and discussion questions, presentations, class participation, and the final project.
Last modified: Feb 1998Seth Teller, MIT Computer Graphics Group, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:ea62c415-7c61-4b6d-8b31-ec6f9a341bcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/classes/6.838/S98/homepage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914633 | 553 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Leading maritime services experts to debate key technical, environmental, health and safety issues of adopting LNG marine fuel at Middle East Workboats 2011.
The future of LNG as a viable and sustainable alternative marine fuel for working vessels is one of the most eagerly-anticipated sessions taking place at Middle East Workboats 2011, the definitive event for workboat operators, builders and equipment suppliers. Taking place from 3-5 October, 2011 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the conference features a high profile line-up of regional maritime services experts who will examine the technical and environmental challenges facing the industry.
Andrew Brown, Business Development Director for the Lamnalco Group, the leading provider of safe and efficient towage and associated marine services to the oil and gas terminal industry, will lead a session on ‘LNG Marine Fuel – the Future’.“The potential for LNG as a suitable fuel alternative is a much-debated issue right now, and has been trialed both in Norway for its ferries, and in Bangkok for the river boat taxi network. We will examine the challenges faced by the workboat community in using LNG, and the next steps – and research - needed to make this a practical reality for our sector,” said Brown.With environmental safety concerns a major red flag in the future adoption of LNG as a reliable marine fuel, Brown will also address the infrastructure, health and safety challenges lying in the path of industry-wide implementation.
“The handling of LNG and understanding of thermal dynamics, as well as spillage management, are crucial areas that need to be addressed by engine manufacturers. There’s also the fundamental issue of retrofits or upgrades for tug engines, which require new health and safety focused design,” remarked Brown. “This is compounded by the possibility of future oversupply to the industry, with too many liquefaction plants and not enough re-gasification plants plus carrier over-capacity. And, although it is unlikely that prices will fall dramatically, as LNG is still indexed to oil, it is possible that they may separate in the future,” he added.
The Middle East Workboats showcase offers a platform for the region’s leading maritime services experts and operators to debate the key issues impacting future sector development during two dedicated full morning sessions, followed by hosted technical seminars each afternoon. “Together with our steering group committee - a team of respected industry specialists that have worked with us on an advisory basis for the past three years - we have developed a compelling conference programme that is designed to address the key issues that are prevalent in the industry today,” said Chris Hayman, Chairman, of organisers Seatrade.
A line-up of top industry professionals will be speaking this year including; Robert G. Allan, P. Eng., Executive Chairman of the Board, Robert Allan Ltd; Capt Ian Bacon, Marine Consulting and Operations Manager (Middle East and India), GL Noble Denton; Joseph Brincat, Vice President, Middle East Region, ABS; Mustapha Boussaid, Director, Maritime Investment, Waha Capital; Bo Damsgaard, Head of Marine Service, Maersk Oil Qatar AS. Other top industry speakers include Andrew King, Managing Director, P&O Maritime Services; Knut Mathiassen, Regional Head – Shipping Finance – Middle East & Africa, Standard Chartered Bank; Lars Seistrup, Chief Operating Officer, SVITZER Asia, Middle East & Africa; William Tobin, Offshore Syndicate Manager – Underwriting, The Shipowners’ Protection Ltd and Vincent Weve, General Manager, Stanford Marine. | <urn:uuid:9efc782a-254c-43cc-8431-1c6fe6f3b000> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marinelink.com/news/alternative-conference340384.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932459 | 743 | 1.6875 | 2 |
"American food is in a state of crisis. Health, food costs and our environment are all in jeopardy. A movement to put good food back on the table is emerging. What began 30 years ago with chefs demanding better flavor, has inspired consumers to seek relationships with nearby farmers. This is local food."
An official selection of twelve film festivals around the world, "Ingredients" is a must-see documentary for anyone interested rebuilding the connection between farms and food. The film is narrated by Bebe Neuwirth, and features such food visionaries as Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse, and Gary Paul Nabhan, of Renewing America's Food Traditions.
See "Ingredients" this Thursday, July 29, at the Coolidge Theater in Brookline. The show starts at 7pm, and you can buy your tickets online in advance.
"Ingredients," directed by Robert Bates, produced by Brian Kimmel and Debra Sohm Lawson | <urn:uuid:2a946fc0-84bc-4a52-ac4b-319f31f66679> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.examiner.com/article/coolidge-theater-screens-ingredients-documentary | 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 | 0.965504 | 192 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Massage is an ancient technique that involves manual manipulation of muscles and soft tissues of the body. It increases circulation and promotes relaxation. In addition, it has important emotional and psychological benefits as well. The various forms of massage that are commonly practiced are Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Reflexology, and Tuina. Swedish massage is the most common and consists of five basic strokes and their variations. Reflexology involves massaging specific areas (reflex points) on the hands or feet that are believed to correspond to particular regions in the body. Shiatsu and Tuina are techniques that originated in Japan and China, and involve stimulation of acupuncture points and meridians to ensure proper flow of energy and blood to facilitate healing.
Clinical studies show that massage can alleviate symptoms such as stress/anxiety, nausea, insomnia, pain, fatigue, and depression (1) (3) (7) (8) (9) (12) in cancer patients, and reduce psychological and neurological complications associated with bone marrow transplantation (2). Reflexology (foot massage) was also found to alleviate pain and nausea in cancer patients (4). Preliminary data indicate that post-operative arm massage can decrease pain and discomfort after lymph node dissection (5). Manual lymphatic drainage or MLD, which involves specialized light rhythmic massage, reduced lymphedema (6) and prevented secondary lymphedema (10) in breast cancer patients. But further research is needed. Massage therapy is effective in treating chronic back pain (11).
Massage is generally safe and being increasingly used as a complementary therapy to provide relief from certain symptoms of cancer and other illnesses. However, patients suffering from cancer, heart disease or arthritis should consult a qualified massage therapist for treatment. | <urn:uuid:07afc8d8-89ed-4f0e-a111-27b8f8008db9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/massage-therapy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926926 | 354 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Editor's note: The following information is excerpted from Taking the High Road, A Guide to Effective and Legal Employment Practices for Nonprofits, published by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. In these days when hiring discrimination has taken on a new meaning due to the September 11, 2001 tragedies in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, this topic needs a fresh look.
Liability risks in hiring are serious and need to be addressed with proactive policies and procedures. Complicating matters is that there are many federal and state laws that create a web of restrictions on the hiring process.
The federal law that protects employees from most forms of illegal discrimination is known as "Title VII." However, there are actually a host of laws which together make up the federal civil rights protections we know today. Each state also has its own version of an anti-discrimination law, which in some cases, provides more protection than the federal law.
Federal Law Prohibitions Against Discrimination
Title VII, in combination with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Pregnancy Discrimination in Employment Act (PDA), prohibits discrimination in hiring decisions, or any employment decision.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
(Applies to employers of fifteen or more employees). It is illegal to base employment decisions such as hiring, promotions, demotions, pay practices, and terminations on the characteristics of race, color, religion, sex (including the prohibition against sexual harassment), and national origin.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
(Applies to employers of twenty or more employees.) Protects employees age 40 or older from discrimination in employment.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
(Applies to employers of fifteen or more employees.) Prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with a disability (those who with or without accommodation are capable of performing the essential functions of the position). Those who are protected include: currently disabled individuals, persons having a record of impairment, persons who are perceived as having an impairment or are related to or associated with persons who are disabled/perceived as having an impairment.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
(Applies to employers of fifteen or more employees) Defines sex discrimination under Title VII as including childbirth, pregnancy and related conditions, and makes it illegal to refuse to hire on the basis of pregnancy. The PDA does not bar employers from requiring pregnant employees to meet objective standards of performance as long as those expectations and policies are applied equally to other employees.
Equal Pay Act
Prohibits paying different compensation to men and women for similar jobs, unless based on a "reasonable factor other than sex."
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
Prohibits discrimination in order to avoid paying benefits, e.g., discharging an employee just before her pension vests.
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA)
Prohibits discrimination in hiring based on citizenship, national origin, language spoken, or appearance as a non-American citizen.
State Anti-Discrimination Laws
All fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, have laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. Many state laws are more extensive in their coverage than the federal anti-discrimination laws, and many apply to employers with fewer than fifteen employees. This means that smaller employers must be aware of state requirements!
In some states, religious institutions and charitable and educational institutions controlled by or affiliated with religious institutions are exempt or partially exempt. Some states supplement federal protections by specifying that "marital status" and/or "sexual preference" or "sexual orientation" are protected categories. Many states specifically prohibit sexual harassment and others expand the definition of the protected category for age discrimination to persons age 18 or older. Other states specifically protect smokers and non-smokers from discrimination in employment, while still others prohibit discrimination on the basis of the employee's lawful use of alcohol and tobacco while off-duty and off-site.
Consequently, you should be familiar with the applicable laws in your state and municipality and recognize that those laws may expand or redefine the federal definition of "protected class." Be aware that these state laws are subject to constant review and revision in state legislatures.
Questions NOT to Ask During Hiring
Camp directors should be certain that all persons assisting in the interviewing of potential staff be trained in appropriate inquiries on applications and in interviews. No employers or their agents should make inquiries on the following topics:
1. The age of the applicant, their birthdate or when they graduated from college or high school. You MAY ask what schools the applicant attended, how many years the applicant attended each school and whether a degree was earned. If age is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) such as a minimum age required by law or by insurance companies to be a driver, applicants may be asked if they are at least that age.
2. How long the applicant has lived at his/her current address. You MAY ask whether the applicant has recently moved from another state or municipality.
3. The name of the applicant's church, synagogue, mosque, or pastor, minister, rabbi, etc. Any discussion of religion is out of bounds unless [your camp] is affiliated with a religious institution and being supportive of or practicing that religion is a job requirement.
4. In states where marital status is a protected category you should not ask whether the applicant would like to be called "Ms.," "Miss," or "Mrs.," or what the applicant's maiden name was, surname, or whether the applicant is married, divorced, single, or who resides with the applicant. You MAY ask whether the applicant has ever used any other name and what that name was.
5. How many children the applicant has, what school the children attend, their school schedules, or what childcare arrangements will be made.
6. How the applicant will get to work, unless owning a car is a bona fide requirement of the job.
7. Whether the applicant owns or rents a residence.
8. Any information relating to the applicant's bank or personal financial matters, including whether the applicant has any loans outstanding or whether the applicant has ever had wages garnished. (Such information can be obtained from a credit history report.)
9. Whether the applicant has ever been arrested. Check your state law before making inquiries into criminal records. Several states have laws that limit access to, the use of, or inquiries into an applicant's criminal records including arrests and/or convictions.
10. Whether the applicant has ever served in the military of another country. In some states military status is a protected category, but in those states you MAY ask an applicant to provide a copy of his or her discharge from the military, if you ask every applicant the same question and preface the request with: "if applicable."
11. Whether the applicant can speak or write any foreign languages, unless doing so is a bona fide job requirement.
12. Whether the applicant is for or against any candidate for public office, what political party s/he belongs to, or whether s/he is for or against unions.
13. What clubs the applicant belongs to, or how he or she spends her spare time.
14. How many days the applicant missed work in the last year and whether the applicant filed any workers compensation claims at his/her previous place of employment. You MAY tell the applicant what the expectations are for attendance and ask about the applicant's ability to meet those expectations, as long as the questions are not designed to elicit disability related information. For instance, you MAY ask, "How many Mondays and Fridays did you take off last year which were not approved days off?"
15. Whether the applicant has any disabilities, impairments, recurring illnesses, whether s/he has ever been hospitalized, treated by a psychiatrist, psychologist, or counseled for any mental condition, whether the applicant has had any major illness or about any health-related concern, mental or physical. You MAY ask the candidate whether s/he is capable of performing all the job duties of the written job description. You should give a written description to the candidate to review.
16. Whether the applicant uses lawful drug and alcohol products, smokes, takes any prescription drugs, has ever been addicted to drugs, or alcohol, is undergoing treatment for addiction disorders, or substance abuse.
17. Whether the applicant is good at handling stress or has ever demonstrated any physical response to stressful working conditions. You MAY ask what the applicant does to respond to stress or what the applicant considers to be a stressful work experience, in an effort to elicit whether the applicant is qualified to handle a particularly stressful job. If too many questions on this subject are asked, however, it appears that the questions are designed to elicit disability information.
18. Questions about an applicant's former employers or acquaintances that elicit information specifying the applicant's race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, medical condition, marital status, age, or sex. You MAY ask for names of persons willing to provide professional and/or character references for the applicant, and by whom they were referred for a position.
Note: These and many more topics related to Employment Practices are included in this book. Please contact the ACA Bookstore at www.ACAcamps.org/bookstore or the Nonprofit Risk Management Center at www.nonprofitrisk.org . While the word "nonprofit" is in the title, the principles of appropriate employment are not limited to nonprofits. The book is currently available at a $10 discount by calling (202) 785-3891 to place an order. Mention that the book is currently discounted to members of the American Camping Association.
Originally published in the 2001 Fall issue of The CampLine. | <urn:uuid:07133978-2ab0-4708-9c6d-1375a397b4d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acacamps.org/print/29728 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947157 | 2,001 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Comic book and movie super heroes are often bulletproof, and two excellent, 700-plus-page biographies of two former presidents hint that they were as well.
Ron Chernow's George Washington: A Life (Penguin Press), winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for biography, tells the familiar but good story of 23-year-old George Washington surviving a 1755 French and Indian War battle despite having two horses shot out from under him and four bullet holes through his hat and uniform. "I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved (Washington) in so signal a manner for some important service to his country," said a Presbyterian minister at the time.
Edmund Morris' Colonel Roosevelt (Random House) is the final volume of the historian's Theodore Roosevelt trilogy: Modern Library listed the first in its top 100 nonfiction books of the 20th century. Colonel Roosevelt chronicles TR's post-White House decade, including the time in 1912 he was on his way to give a speech in Milwaukee and a gunman fired a bullet from point-blank range into his right breast. Roosevelt's 50-page speech (folded in half) and his eyeglasses case slowed down the bullet enough for TR to stride into the auditorium, unbutton his vest to reveal to a stunned audience of 10,000 his bloodied shirt, and speak for 80 minutes. Then he headed to the hospital.
Chernow calls Washington "a remote, enigmatic personage more revered than truly loved" and sets out to humanize him. Washington did not chop down a cherry tree when young or wear wooden teeth when old. He did love dancing and musical theater and he liked to leave his carriage on the outskirts of a town and ride in on a white horse. He struggled with debt and was a demanding perfectionist, issuing orders for the exact height of his personal guard.
Chernow also presents an inner Washington who endured an overbearing mother, struggled with a temper that lurked behind his marble façade, and believed that Providence "directed my steps and shielded me in various changes and chances through which I have passed." An active member of two churches, Washington's placid outward demeanor kept him from using his faith as a spectacle, Chernow argues. He depicts Washington as having a simple faith, and quotes numerous contemporaries who saw Washington engaged in regular private prayer and devotions.
Theodore Roosevelt also prayed to a great God and played on a large stage. He once boasted that he had "lived and enjoyed as much of life as any nine other men I know," and it's hard to argue his point. At age 50 he left office, embarked on a yearlong African hunting safari, and returned to civilization having personally killed 296 animals-a zoo-like menagerie of lions, elephants, buffalo, rhino, giraffe, hippos, ostriches, and zebras.
This was not even TR's biggest post-presidential adventure. In 1914 he led a two-month expedition to map an unknown river in Brazil called the River of Doubt. Roosevelt and his crew braved cannibals, whitewater rapids, diseases, and dwindling food supplies. Men died, and the almost-1,000-mile trek nearly cost Roosevelt his own life. "I had to go," TR said. "It was my last chance to be a boy."
Morris details Roosevelt's stubborn attempt to regain the White House in 1912 and his romanticizing of combat. He spent three years trying to bully President Woodrow Wilson to bring the United States into Europe's great war, and when he did so TR, now 58, begged Wilson to give him a battlefield command. Wilson said no, so Roosevelt sent his four sons to fight in his place. The consequences gave TR a shocking education in war's brute realities-a lesson, Morris argues, that literally broke Roosevelt's heart.
Buy the book: Links to purchase the books featured in WORLD's 2011 Books Issue
Browse through our library of annual Books Issues dating back to 1999. | <urn:uuid:969f4fe6-dce1-4559-9161-b477d87206a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldmag.com/2011/06/better_than_bullets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97582 | 824 | 2.078125 | 2 |
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Student Loan Repayment Options
Many of us have student loans and you might be wondering what your repayment options are, especially since in a difficult economy it can be difficult to pay those off once you are out of school. Letís look at some student loan repayment options.
If you are entering graduate school and you have student loans from your undergraduate days you will likely have the option of deferring your student loans while enrolled in graduate school. Interest might continue to accrue while your loans or deferred and you will need to resume payments once you are no longer a student. You should check with your lender to find out what the requirements are to qualify for deferment, such as minimum number of classes per semester. You may also be able to request deferment if you lose your job or experience an economic hardship. Deferments can generally be requested for up to one year at a time and at the end of the deferment period you would need to resume payments or request another deferment.
Consolidation is an option that might make your student loan payments more manageable. Consolidation lets you combine different loans into one loan and it lengthens the amount of time you have to pay off your loan, reducing your monthly payment amount in the process. You should check with your lender to find out if your student loans are eligible for consolidation and what your options are.
You might be able to change your payment amount to match your current ability to pay. For example, you might have the option of graduated payments. This payment option means that you will pay a lower amount for a set period of time and then your payments will increase. The goal of this payment option is to allow you to pay a smaller amount while you are initially out of school, with payments increasing the longer you are out of school and (hopefully) making more money.
Another potential option is an income based payment schedule. This is usually only available with federal loans so you should talk with your lender. This option bases your payment amount on how much money you make over the federal poverty level. As your income increases, your payments will increase. This option can help you keep your student loans to a payment schedule that is reasonable for your income.
Ask your lender for your options and find one that works for you and do everything you can to avoid defaulting on your student loans since default can carry serious consequences.
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Hannah Arendt was a diligent and widely respected student of totalitarianism. It is not necessary to agree with all, or even most, of her assumptions and conclusions to appreciate the critical distinction she draws between power -- "the capacity to transform a living person into a corpse, which is to say, a thing," as Simone Weil put it -- and authority.
In a free society, power is used only to protect the persons, property, and rights of the innocent, and then only as a last resort after an appeal to authority fails.
The aspirational premise of the republic we have lost was that power would be transmuted into authority through the "consent of the governed," and that the authority thus conferred on governing institutions was revocable -- to the extent that the government itself could be altered or even abolished when necessary to protect individual rights.
It didn't work out that way. Given the history of the singular plague called government, this outcome was hardly surprising. The entire project begun by the Founders was based on the right to revoke consent -- a right they exercised in withdrawing from the British Empire. The exercise of that right is also known as "secession," and the entire point of the event commonly called the Civil War was to abolish that right through the exercise of State power in its most elemental sense: More than a half-million human beings were turned into the things called "corpses" not to free slaves from bondage, but rather to reconquer communities that had chosen to leave a supposedly free union.
Since 1865, as historian Jeffrey Rogers Hummel has pointed out, there have been no permanent victories for individual liberty over power.
Today, the malign influence of the Regime ruling us contaminates practically every social institution, through “laws” regulating behavior, speech, and even individual attitudes.
And the behavior of the Regime's armed enforcers -- still called "Police," even though their behavior is now indistinguishable from that of an army of occupation -- is increasingly defined by Lenin's totalitarian formula of exercising "power without limit, resting directly on force.
Back in the Good Old Days, many law-and-order conservatives insisted that the chief domestic threat to liberty came from the efforts of Communist and other subversive groups to undermine the police. In the era of the federalized, militarized, monolithic Homeland Security State, the police themselves are the single most potent threat to individual liberty.
This is not necessarily because their ranks have been filled with degenerates, although the decline in recruiting and performance standards certainly plays a role in our predicament. Rather, it is because law enforcement at every level has embraced the power-centered worldview, in which the role of police is to ensure that people submit to the State.
A spectacular example of this has been captured by 20-year-old Brett Darrow. Last Friday, Darrow captured, on video, an arrogant, abusive, foul-mouthed, illiterate, cretinous, power-intoxicated simian by the name of Sgt. Kenline [actually, Kuehnlein -- see update and correction below] threatening to perjure himself to justify arresting the motorist -- simply because Darrow wasn't properly submissive to somebody wearing a State-issued costume.
"Try and talk back ... to me again," snarled Kenline, who took offense when Darrow politely and compliantly asked what violation justified his detention: Merely asking an agent of the State to justify such an action, you see, is grounds for arrest. And Kenline understands that he has the power -- not the authority, mind you, the power -- to commit acts of violence against Darrow to deprive him of his freedom, and then lie about the circumstances afterward.
"I bet I could say you resisted arrest or something," boasted the officer. "You want to come up with something? I come up with nine things.... You already start your f*****g problems with your attitude. Did we have a bad night boy? Huh? Answer me or I'll lock you up for failure to imply [sic] with a police officer's commands.... You want me to show you? You want me to lock you up to show you I'm right and you're wrong?.... You want me to show you the f*****g law."
Kenline's contrived objection was that Darrow failed to use a turn signal. As Darrow's video record documents, this was a lie: The driver had signaled properly. Kenline also claimed that Darrow had been "swerving back and forth within the roadway" -- another documented lie. Without the video record, Kenline's lies would have held up in court, since -- in defiance of Common Law principles and common sense -- the uncorroborated word of a police officer is considered self-ratifying in court.
Darrow behaved with commendable composure during this entire ordeal, and was released after a few minutes -- and following a nauseatingly paternalistic lecture from a uniformed goon who badly needs to get his back dirty. As Darrow comments, "Looking into this guy's eyes, he was crazy. I was really scared he was going to assault me. I just wonder how many other people have been arrested on these charges
In what passes for Sgt. Kenline's mind, he doesn't need the authority of the law, because as someone exercising power, he is the law. (Go here for a video and transcript of the encounter.)
This isn't the first time Darrow (who is a hero in the cause of civil liberties, but who needs to be a bit more judicious if he wants to avoid becoming a martyr) has experienced and documented the totalitarian mindset that increasingly typifies the police.
The power to treat others as objects inevitably gives rise to sadism. Those who work in law enforcement are hardly immune to this tendency; indeed, there's reason to believe that this profession selects for that personality type.
Witness the comments of a Multnomah, Oregon Sheriff's Deputy (brought to my attention by Radley Balko) who described the sensual thrill he experiences when killing a suspect, or subjecting him to electric torture through the use of a Taser: “Seeing someone get Tasered is second only to pulling the trigger. That is money – puts a smile on your face.”
There are other perks to be enjoyed, apart from sending hot lead or 50,000 volts into a human body.
Didn't like your hamburger? If you're wearing a State-issued costume, you can arrest the short-order cook on a fabricated charge of "reckless conduct."
That's what happened to 20-year-old Kendra Bull of Union City, Georgia, who spent a night in jail and was bailed out on $1,000 bond because an officious pr*ck in uniform wasn't smart enough to complain about his hamburger after the first bite.
(Thanks to The Smoking Gun, we know that the soon-to-be-changed home phone number of Wendell Adams, the aforementioned officious pr*ck in a uniform, is 770-964-1333. Why don't you give the guy a call. Be polite, if that suits you.)
Can't keep track of your money or count your change correctly? If you're a cop, you can throw a conniption fit, assault and pepper-spray the young woman working at the register, and drag her away to jail on fraudulent charges:
The assailant in this video, a rented thug from Dayton Ohio named Michael McDonald (no, not that Michael McDonald), "was cleared of all wrongdoing." Although the city touched up the taxpayers to buy off McDonald's victim, the officer apparently behaved according to department policy.
Don't they all?
Sgt. James Kuehnlein, the foul-mouthed bully in uniform whose demented rant was captured on video by Brett Darrow, has been put on unpaid suspension after Police Chief Scott Uhrig received hundreds of outraged phone calls.
After reviewing the video, Chief Uhrig said "the officer acted inappropriately when he threatened to make up charges, and used a disrespectful tone and inappropriate language," reported STLtoday.com.
"We don't do that," Uhrig said. "Someone either violated the law or they didn't. You don't say, I'll lock you up and then come up with why afterward."
Chief Uhrig is describing the proper conduct and demeanor of a peace officer, as understood a generation ago. Sgt. Kuehnlein modeled the tactics and behavior of the contemporary Homeland Security thug. It is Kuehnlein, not Uhrig (who -- despite his criticism of the abusive cop -- still made a point of questioning Darrow's motives) who represents the wave of the future.
Please be sure to follow the unfolding economic Armageddon at The Right Source, and to check out the Liberty Minute archives. | <urn:uuid:f3c2cd18-1cad-4ea3-b96c-ad145b199279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2007/09/power-vs-authority.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970121 | 1,835 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Ulcers are breaks in the layers of the skin that fail to heal. They may be accompanied by inflammation.
Sometimes they don't heal and become chronic. Chronic foot and leg ulcers mainly affect the elderly.
People with diabetes are at special risk of developing foot ulcers, and foot care is an important part of diabetes management.
What Causes Ulceration ?
The most common cause of chronic leg ulcers is poor blood circulation in the legs. These are known as arterial and venous leg ulcers.
Other causes include:
- Injuries - traumatic ulcers
- Diabetes - because of poor blood circulation or loss of sensation (nerve damage) resulting in pressure ulcers
- Certain skin conditions
- Vascular diseases (stroke, angina, heart attack)
Arterial Leg Ulcers
Approximately 10 per cent of all leg ulcers are arterial ulcers. Feet and legs often feel cold and may have a whitish or bluish, shiny appearance. Arterial leg ulcers can be painful. Pain often increases when your legs are at rest and elevated.
You can reduce pain by sitting on the edge of the bed with your feet on the floor. Gravity will then cause more blood to flow into your legs.
What Can Trigger Or Worsen Arterial Leg Ulcers ?
- High blood pressure.
- Arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis).
- Old leg ulcers.
- Coronary heart disease, including coronary thrombosis (blood clots in the arteries of the heart).
- Atherosclerosis in the legs.
What Can I Do To Prevent Arterial Leg Ulcers ?
Stop smoking and lose weight if you are overweight. Reduce the amount of fat in your diet and eat more fruit and vegetables.
Exercise as much as possible. By exercising, you force your blood vessels to form new branches, improving the blood circulation in your legs.
It's fine if your legs hurt a little when you exercise, but it mustn't make you feel unwell.
Try this exercise while sitting down: move your feet around in circles, then up and down. This activates the venous pump. It's also helps people with venous leg ulcers.
Take good care of your feet:
- Make Sure Shoes Fit Correctly And Are Not Too Small.
- Keep Your Feet Warm And Try To Avoid Injuries To Your Feet And Legs.
- Examine Your Feet And Legs Daily For Any Changes In Colour Or The Development Of Sores.
- Visit A Chiropodist Regularly.
Venous leg ulcers
Approximately 70 per cent of all leg ulcers are venous ulcers. A leg with venous problems has a very characteristic appearance:
- The leg is swollen.
- The skin surrounding a venous ulcer is dry, itchy and sometimes brownish in colour.
- eczema may appear (varicose eczema).
- The ulcer has a weeping, raw appearance and is usually painless unless infected.
- Venous leg ulcers are often located just above the ankle, typically on the inside of the leg.
What causes venous leg ulcers ?
Most of venous leg ulcers occur because the valves connecting the superficial and deep veins are not functioning properly.
The venous system is made up of superficial and deep veins:
- Superficial veins are located between the skin and the muscles
- Deep veins are located between the muscles.
Superficial and deep vein systems are connected to each other by veins that have one-way valves.
These valves normally ensure that blood flows from the superficial veins to the deep system.
Failure of these valves causes blood to flow from the deep veins back out to the superficial ones - a major cause of varicose veins.
When you walk or exercise, the calf muscles push venous blood back to the heart.
What can trigger or worsen a venous leg ulcer ?
- Old ulcers that may have damaged part of the venous system.
- A fracture or other injuries.
- A blood clot in the deep veins (deep vein thrombosis).
- Work that requires a lot of sitting or standing.
- Inflammation in the veins (phlebitis), especially in the deep veins.
- Pregnancy - the more pregnancies, the higher the risk.
For more information, medical assessment and medical quote
as email attachment to
Email : - email@example.com
Contact Center Tel. (+91) 9029304141 (10 am. To 8 pm. IST)
(Only for international patients seeking treatment in India) | <urn:uuid:58675cbd-2b3f-4091-adfd-011e6ee540ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indiahealthtour.com/treatments/vascular/lower-leg-ulcers-treatment-india.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904381 | 975 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Sequence Data Analysis
- The first part of the password is "Cheesy". Check the Schedule page and click on the Day 3 link to find the second part of the password.
- Central dogma review reading from the Cartoon Guide to Genetics. If you don't have transcription and translation down cold, you should read this. (It's short and funny.) -Kelly Drinkwater 22:26, 29 February 2012 (EST)
- Corrections have been made to labs #2 and #3. -Kelly Drinkwater 19:50, 10 February 2012 (EST)
- HW #2 and labs #2 and #3 have been posted to the Schedules page. -Kelly Drinkwater 16:52, 10 February 2012 (EST)
- Welcome, class of 2012! -Kelly Drinkwater 17:19, 9 February 2012 (EST)
SEED 12th grade Spring 2012
To email all course staff: email@example.com
TA's: Hannah Johnsen (firstname.lastname@example.org), Tyler Wagner (email@example.com)
Classroom: Unfortunately, due to scheduling difficulties, we will have to be in a different classroom each day. Latecomers should go to the SEED office.
Just as electrical engineering brought engineering to the science of physics, synthetic biology aims to bring engineering ideas to biology with a similar explosion in capabilities. The electrical engineering revolution allowed anyone to build a circuit or use a computer at home without needing to understand complex physics. The emerging field of synthetic biology aims to allow anyone to design, build, and experiment with biological systems. The purpose of this class is to introduce basic biotechnology techniques and key engineering concepts, such as modularity and abstraction, that are critical for large scale biological system integration.
The class aims to cover:
- Theory: Engineering principles and enabling technologies
- Practice: Hands-on design and construction
- Context: Current and future possibilities; risk and safety | <urn:uuid:57eabaac-9634-42ca-a8e1-544a5c579136> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openwetware.org/wiki/SEED/2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910179 | 403 | 2.21875 | 2 |
How to be an organic gardener
Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails? Simon Lacey, a professional gardener from Debden in
Essex, reveals his secrets
"Organic gardening is low maintenance, because by choosing the right plants for the location, planting them in beneficial combinations and mulching, you are setting the garden up to manage itself.
You need to think holistically.
If you get greenfly on the roses, which option would you go for: mechanical removal of greenfly at first sign - a long-term solution which keeps numbers down and encourages predators - or a spray?
Organic gardening is about being able to tolerate the situation until you get the balance right.
When you put down mulch, it can be a home for slugs and snails, but at the same time you get an increase in spiders and ground beetles.
After a few years, the spiders and ground beetles are feeding on the slugs and you have them under control, but you have to resist reaching for the chemicals!
The alternative is very high maintenance.
To save money, plant crops that are expensive to buy in the supermarket, rather than the cheaper, readily available crops.
Go for crops that are easy to grow, like rocket and asparagus.
Save on the cost of a greenhouse by growing plants that are sown directly into the ground.
If your neighbour is planting French beans, you could plant runner beans and swap the surplus - and watch your gardening community flourish.
This is an extract from Save cash & save the planet.
For a good selection of organic gardening links, see A Lot of Organics. | <urn:uuid:b28f369a-37d5-46df-8740-9d496cda15f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foe.co.uk/living/articles/organic_gardener.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94807 | 340 | 2.5 | 2 |
- For Teachers
I like the first best.
We just use a simple trick here. Reverse the sentence and you will see how easy it is toget the right answer. "I am better than he." Definitely not, "Me am better than he."
"He's better than me" is perfectly acceptable English usage/ Example: "He is better than me at remembering things."
"I am" is extraneous. "I" is hypercorrection.
As my English-teacher mom would have said, mockingly: "He's better than me am?"
RonBee you have to remember to always add the missing "am", so "He is better than me at remembering things" is grammatically incorrect because "He is better than me am" makes no sense. Thus, "He is better than I at remembering things" is correct
Says who? This is a made-up test that proves nothing. The majority of native speakers do not follow this pattern. | <urn:uuid:c8c2d8c5-5b6a-472a-aff7-5aad68ae8e6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usingenglish.com/poll/21.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937554 | 202 | 3.125 | 3 |
Last week, as promised in the coalition programme, the government published its proposals for allowing voters to recall MPs who are found guilty of serious wrongdoing. The draft bill and accompanying white paper set out procedures whereby a recall petition will be opened either when an MP is jailed for up to twelve months (longer jail sentences already lead to automatic expulsion) or when the Commons itself decides that a miscreant MP should be censured with the threat of recall. The petition will be administered by returning officers. If at least 10 per cent of eligible local voters sign the petition within an eight-week period, a by-election will be held. The sitting MP will be allowed to stand in the by-election, but will have to prove his or her continuing local support in order to retain office.
Before getting into the detail of these proposals, it’s worth remembering what has sparked them. Recall was a complete non-issue in the UK before the scandal over MPs’ expenses. As I’ve written elsewhere, when Californian governor Gray Davis was recalled in 2003 and replaced with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the British press was almost united in its condemnation of what it viewed as populist theatre.
That began to change in early 2008, when, in a precursor to the main expenses furore, Derek Conway was found guilty of serious abuse of the allowances system. Many – notably including a group of backbench Conservative MPs – complained that there was no mechanism for voters to get rid of their wayward representative.
Little more was heard, however, until May 2009, when the Telegraph began publishing its dossier of expenses claims. By the end of the month, recall had leapt from obscurity to become received wisdom. All three main party leaders had backed it. Polls had indicated overwhelming public support. The momentum was carried forward to the 2010 election manifestos and the coalition agreement that followed.
Two main questions are being asked about the government’s proposals. First, is it right to restrict recall only to cases of “serious wrongdoing”? Shouldn’t voters be able to remove their MP whenever they feel that MP is not up to scratch? Second, if the restriction is justified, is it right that MPs themselves should be the arbiters of when wrongdoing has occurred?
Some say that recall should be an option at any time. Peter Facey, from Unlock Democracy, writes:
A proper recall system empowers citizens, not MPs or the courts. It should be up to local people to decide what issues should trigger a by-election. By contrast, the proposals only allow MPs to be recalled if they are convicted by a court or hung out to dry by the House of Commons. In their present form, these proposals are not worth the parliamentary time it will take to debate them.
During the protests over tuition fees last year, the National Union of Students began to campaign for the recall of Lib Dem MPs. One student leader was quoted as saying, “in a democracy, when someone makes a pledge, you expect them to honour and fulfil that pledge. … If they flip-flop or do a U-turn on this issue, they are betraying the electorate. It is a fundamental democratic principle that we should be able to remove them.”
A rule that allowed recall when pledges are broken would certainly not be helpful: election manifestos would need to become legally enforceable documents, which would only lead politicians to strip them of meaningful content. So presumably the claim here is again that voters should be able to recall an MP whenever they see fit.
Several arguments suggest this course would be undesirable. First, the presence of mavericks on the backbenches – people who are willing to swim against the tide and say unpopular things – greatly enlivens political debate and can help to save us from sclerotic groupthink.
Second, we should not want our political leaders to be slaves to public opinion. It would be absurd to suggest that public attitudes are always well grounded. Politicians sometimes need to take decisions that will make them unpopular in the short term. Third, allowing recall of cabinet ministers on policy grounds would give undue power to the voters who happen to live in those ministers’ constituencies. As I wrote in A Citizen’s Guide to Electoral Reform, “the good people of Witney are as entitled to their views as the rest of us, but the prime minister should be formulating policy for the country, not for one wealthy part of it”.
It clearly isn’t healthy for democracy when politicians break promises. But a better solution is to scrutinize the promises more effectively when they are made. It was always clear that the Lib Dems’ pledge on tuition fees was undeliverable, and that should have been exposed at the time it was made. None of the parties made their spending plans clear during last year’s election campaign, because they knew that honesty would cost them votes. Before we demand extra means of exercising control over our politicians, we should make sure we don’t punish politicians for telling us the truth.
A linked concern is that introducing recall in a restricted form will discredit the system. Peter Facey says, “For all its promise, it does not in practice offer the voter any more power over their MP than they have at present. By raising people’s expectations, it can only entrench cynicism.” Michael White worries, similarly, that “the bill will create expectations that cannot easily be fulfilled”. He draws the opposite conclusion from Facey: it would be better, he says, not to have recall at all.
It is not clear to me that introducing limited recall would, on its own, make such a difference here: after all, students were already demanding recall of Lib Dem MPs last year, before even a draft bill existed. What does matter is that the mechanism for triggering recall command public confidence. If public demands for recall are perceived as being blocked by an illegitimate process, further cynicism will indeed result.
That leads on to the second big question. The government does not propose to interfere with current Commons procedures for disciplining MPs. Thus, whether an MP is guilty of such “serious wrongdoing” as justifies triggering the recall process will be decided by a committee of MPs – the Committee on Standards and Privileges – whose report will be subject to endorsement by the Commons as a whole.
We should first clear away two unfounded criticisms of this plan. The first is that it somehow breaches the coalition parties’ promises. Sadiq Khan, Labour’s Justice spokesperson, says:
The fact that MPs have a final say in whether a recall petition is triggered, unless an MP commits a crime punishable with a prison sentence, is certainly not what the Tory or Lib Dem manifestos promised. This is yet another broken promise from this Tory-led government.
A range of commentators – including Christopher Hope in the Telegraph and Alex Stevenson at politics.co.uk – have followed the same tune. In fact, however, no promise has been broken. Both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems proposed in their election manifestos to allow recall in cases of proven “serious wrongdoing”. Labour proposed recall of “MPs who are found responsible for financial misconduct”. None of the parties said anything about the mechanisms by which the presence or absence of wrongdoing would be determined. In fact, as I wrote in A Citizen’s Guide to Electoral Reform, it always seemed likely that the government would propose to maintain the current procedures. So let’s not get sidetracked by mock outrage about broken promises.
The other unfounded criticism is the claim that the MPs will always protect their own and never allow the public a voice. Alex Stevenson says the Committee on Standards and Privileges “is one of parliament’s most mysterious, inscrutable committees”. He adds, “There’s a real fear that behind that screen the independence of its decisions could be compromised.” Matthew Sinclair from the TaxPayers’ Alliance says, “So long as they have enough friends in Parliament, and avoid doing anything so flagrant it actually gets them sent to prison, they will be safe from these toothless provisions for a recall.”
In fact, the Committee on Standards and Privileges does a good job. Its work is underpinned by the work of the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who investigates complaints against MPs. It does regularly sanction miscreant MPs. Furthermore, MPs have little interest in protecting individual members whose actions harm the reputation of parliament as a whole. As I noted above, after all, it was a group of MPs who initially called for recall in the wake of the Derek Conway affair. It seems almost certain that recall would have been triggered in Conway’s case, and probably several others arising from the expenses scandal in addition to those that finally led to custodial sentences.
Nevertheless, for two reasons, in independent procedure for establishing wrongdoing would be preferable. First, the procedure should be one that is free so far as possible from any danger that political considerations or ties of friendship will play a role. It may be all too tempting for MPs to cast out colleagues who have been publicly vilified, even if their misdemeanours have been minor. It may be tempting to retain a colleague whose future prospects seem particularly bright. An independent process would offer a better guarantee of focusing solely on the relevant facts.
Second, an independent procedure would stand a much greater chance of commanding public confidence. Popular cynicism towards politicians is often unfounded, but it is not about to disappear. MPs will be shooting themselves in the foot if they cling on to the principle of self-regulation in the face of such public attitudes.
There is much talk in the government’s white paper of the Glorious Revolution and the enshrinement of parliamentary self-regulation in the 1689 Bill of Rights. Even more anguish on this point is expressed in a recent report by the Commons Procedure Committee on the innocuous idea of adding two lay members to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. But the Bill of Rights is intended to protect parliament from interference from the executive and the courts. It is not intended to protect a cosy club. The club currently does rather a good job of governing itself, but that is not good enough in our modern democracy. It is high time that MPs, like the rest of us, were subject to independent adjudication of allegations of wrong-doing.
Taking this route would enhance their reputation. It would also strengthen the government’s proposals for recall.
Alan Renwick’s current research into political reform debates in the UK is generously funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to whom he is grateful. All views expressed herein and any errors are, of course, his own. | <urn:uuid:5966a2bf-f1cb-4ed5-aa11-ab98e6182e90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/readingpolitics/2011/12/21/the-government%E2%80%99s-proposals-for-recall-of-mps-moving-in-the-right-direction-but-further-still-to-go/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969538 | 2,212 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Posts tagged News for kids
Daisy, I was happy to see you blogging again! I liked reading about other kids across the country doing amazing things! Since you know how much I love chocolate, I was very interested in what you found about about Milton Hershey.
Here is an example of a kid who started playing around with technology at the age of 2, and now in 7th grade he won the MIT App Inventor Award!
S.Arjun created a Bus Locator app because his parents were worried when his school bus was late one day. “Their being worried disturbed him and he wanted More >
Hi everyone! Sorry I haven’t written here in awhile, but I got caught up in writing a story the last several months and that has taken up all my free time.
But I became very inspired when my parents took me to Hershey Park for Spring Break. We had never been there before and even though I’ve heard of Mr. Hershey, and of course have eaten the yummy chocolate bars he created, I really didn’t know his story.
Milton Hershey was an amazing man! He was a true entrepreneur who started with nothing, and even went broke four times More >
In previous posts I have highlighted adults who are making a difference, and in this post I wanted to share information about Barrington Irving. He became the youngest person and first African American to go around the world by flight. The difference is he did it in a plane which he built himself from donated parts — at 23 years old!
Years later he has founded a non-profit called Experience Academy, where Mr. Irving is teaching young people to accept “no limitations.” His 4 year old program encourages students to follow their interests in science, math, engineering and technology. More >
Basil, speaking of cool camps, I thought you might find this camp interesting!
An organization called Active Learning is creating Computer Enrichment Camps around the country this summer. These Game Builder Creation Camps will have kids actually designing, developing and creating one of a kind computer games. They were developed to teach introductory programming skills and encourage creative thinking.
There are 4 types of camps for kids ages 8 – 14 to choose from: Introductory Video Game Creation, Video Game Creation – The Sequel, Animation Creation, and Learn to Fly — a camp for kids who are interested in More > | <urn:uuid:ff7cb13a-6592-4147-8cf3-121fe1ee58e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.daisybuttonadventures.com/blog/?tag=news-for-kids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984111 | 497 | 1.890625 | 2 |
World Youth Day 2008? ;
Are problems beginning to show in the events organisation of World Youth Day?
Stephen Crittenden: Welcome to the program.
HERMANNSBURG - NTARIA LADIES' CHOIR
Stephen Crittenden: Isn't that fabulous? Here at The Religion Report that's become our unofficial World Youth Day Anthem: the ladies from the Hermannsburg Mission singing a German chorale tune in the language of their own country. I bet Pope Benedict would love it. It's from a much larger orchestral composition by Andrew Schultz and Gordon Kalton Williams called 'Journey to Horseshoe Bend'.
Well we had hoped to bring you a curtain-raiser to World Youth Day on this week's program. But not only has the co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, declined our request for an interview, late yesterday afternoon he also directed Father Peter Williams, the executive secretary of the National Liturgical Commission, not to participate in an interview with us either.
Interesting that World Youth Day is being subsidized by the Australian taxpayer to the tune of $95-million, but the organisers won't speak to the taxpayer-funded national broadcaster.
Which is a pity, because there's a lot to talk about. At the weekend, the organisers announced that they'd found the young man who will play Jesus in the stations of the cross pageant that will be staged as part of World Youth Day.
And there have also been reports lately that haven't been nearly so good.
Last year there was the saga of whether the papal Mass would be staged at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, and in recent weeks there have been reports of a blowout in the costs and a big drop in the number of pilgrims expected from overseas.
Thirty-seven-thousand young people from the United States registered their interest initially, but fewer than 20,000 are expected to actually make the journey now. The Americans are blaming the high airfares. And of course the higher the cost of travel, the more likely that World Youth Day will be a jamboree for rich kids, and the less likely that it will truly reflect the African, Latin American and Asian diversity of the worldwide Catholic church.
This is an enormous problem for the whole World Youth Day idea, and it raises the question of whether World Youth Day '08 may be the last. Certainly the crowds have been getting a bit smaller each time, and Pope Benedict would probably breathe a sigh of relief; he's a more reluctant traveler than his predecessor. Also there's the fact that many Catholic dioceses around the world simply can't afford to be left with a huge bill after everyone goes home, and they don't expect their governments to foot the bill either.
Another issue the organisers don't want to talk about is the weather. In July last year, in the week of World Youth Day, the overnight temperature in Sydney got down as low as 3.7-degrees. Not promising for the 200,000 kids planning an overnight sleepout in the middle of Randwick racecourse.
Most importantly, there's the event management timetable. When Cardinal Pell won his bid to host World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia's experience of planning and hosting major events like the Olympic Games and the Rugby World Cup figured very high.
However, senior figures in the events industry, the sort of people who put these events together, have told The Religion Report on condition of anonymity that the event planning for World Youth Day is seriously behind schedule, and that the organisers only have a matter of days to get personnel, infrastructure and co-ordination plans in place for the four major World Youth Day events.
The archdiocese placed advertisements for a series of people to fill events management roles as recently as 7th February, and it's not clear whether these positions have yet been filled, or whether office space has been found for them.
To add to these woes, the director of Liturgy for the Sydney archdiocese, a Texan priest named Father Tim Deeter, has suddenly left the scene, parting ways with Cardinal Pell at the weekend. Was he sacked, or did he resign? Well it depends on who you talk to, but the timing of his departure just four months before the Pope's arrival, can't help.
SINGING: Spirit-power (international) - composed by Christopher Willcock
- Wachet Auf ( Kaarrerrai worlamparinyai! Jesula nurnanha ntangkama)
- Ntaria Ladies' Choir, Sydney Symphony , Sydney Philharmonia
- Journey to Horseshoe Bend
- Andrew Schiltz/ Gordon Kalton Williams
- CD details: ABC 476 2266
- Spirit-power (international version)
- MAGiS Collection
- Christopher Willcock
- Stephen Crittenden
- Noel Debien | <urn:uuid:9532e55f-9fde-451b-8491-2b2b829f9e33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionreport/world-youth-day-2008-/3263646 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950878 | 1,016 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The following are health and medical definitions of terms that appear in the loperamide, Imodium; Kaopectate II; Imodium A-D; Maalox Anti-Diarrheal article.
Abdominal: Relating to the abdomen, the belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from the chest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body cavity below the lungs.
Absorption: Uptake. For example, intestinal absorption is the uptake of food (or other substances) from the digestive tract.
Acute: Of abrupt onset, in reference to a disease. Acute often also connotes an illness that is of short duration, rapidly progressive, and in need of urgent care.
Bowel: The small and large intestine.
Breast milk: Milk from the breast. Human milk contains a balance of nutrients that closely matches infant requirements for brain development, growth and a healthy immune system. Human milk also contains immunologic agents and other compounds that act against viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Since an infant's immune system is not fully developed until age 2, human milk provides a distinct advantage over formula.
Chronic: In medicine, lasting a long time. A chronic condition is one that lasts 3 months or more. Chronic diseases are in contrast to those that are acute (abrupt, sharp, and brief) or subacute (within the interval between acute and chronic).
Colitis: Inflammation of the large intestine (the colon). There are many forms of colitis, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, infectious, pseudomembranous, and spastic. For example, intermittent rectal bleeding, crampy abdominal pain and diarrhea can be symptoms of ulcerative colitis. Diagnosis can be made by direct visualization using (sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy) which is the most accurate test. Long-standing ulcerative colitis increases the risk for colon cancer. Ulcerative colitis can also be associated with inflammation in joints, spine, skin, eyes, the liver and its bile ducts. Treatment of ulcerative colitis can involve medications and surgery.
Constipation: Infrequent and frequently incomplete bowel movements. Constipation is the opposite of diarrhea and is commonly caused by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diverticulosis, and medications. Paradoxically, constipation can also be caused by overuse of laxatives. Colon cancer can also narrow the colon and thereby cause constipation. A high-fiber diet can frequently relieve constipation. If the diet is not helpful, medical evaluation is warranted.
Crohn's disease: A chronic inflammatory disease, primarily involving the small and large intestine, but which can affect other parts of the digestive system as well. It is named for Burrill Crohn, the American gastroenterologist who first described the disease in 1932.
Diarrhea: A common condition that involves unusually frequent and liquid bowel movements. The opposite of constipation. There are many infectious and noninfectious causes of diarrhea. Persistent diarrhea is both uncomfortable and dangerous to the health because it can indicate an underlying infection and may mean that the body is not able to absorb some nutrients due to a problem in the bowels. Treatment includes drinking plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration and taking over-the-counter remedies. People with diarrhea that persists for more than a couple days, particularly small children or elderly people, should seek medical attention.
Dizziness: Painless head discomfort with many possible causes including disturbances of vision, the brain, balance (vestibular) system of the inner ear, and gastrointestinal system. Dizziness is a medically indistinct term which laypersons use to describe a variety of conditions ranging from lightheadedness, unsteadiness to vertigo.
Dry mouth: The condition of not having enough saliva to keep the mouth wet. This is due to inadequate function of the salivary glands. Everyone has dry mouth once in a while when they are nervous, upset or under stress. But if someone has a dry mouth most all of the time, it can be uncomfortable and lead to serious health problems.
Erythromycin: Erythromycin is a common antibiotic for treating bacterial infection. Sold under many brand names, including EES, Erycin and Erythromia.
Fatigue: A condition characterized by a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency of accomplishment, usually accompanied by a feeling of weariness and tiredness. Fatigue can be acute and come on suddenly or chronic and persist.
FDA: Food and Drug Administration.
Fetus: An unborn offspring, from the embryo stage (the end of the eighth week after conception, when the major structures have formed) until birth.
Generic: 1. The chemical name of a drug. 2. A term referring to the chemical makeup of a drug rather than to the advertised brand name under which the drug may be sold. 3.A term referring to any drug marketed under its chemical name without advertising.
Inflammatory bowel disease: A group of chronic intestinal diseases characterized by inflammation of the bowel -- the large or small intestine. The most common types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease.
Morphine: A powerful narcotic agent that has strong analgesic (pain relief) action and other significant effects on the central nervous system. It is dangerously addicting. Morphine is a naturally occurring member of a large chemical class of compounds called alkaloids. The name, which derives from Morpheus (the mythologic god of dreams) was coined in 1805 by German apothecary Adolf Serturner to designate the main alkaloid in opium. Opium comes from the poppy plant.
Mouth: 1. The upper opening of the digestive tract, beginning with the lips and containing the teeth, gums, and tongue. Foodstuffs are broken down mechanically in the mouth by chewing and saliva is added as a lubricant. Saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. 2. Any opening or aperture in the body. The mouth in both senses of the word is also called the os, the Latin word for an opening, or mouth. The o in os is pronounced as in hope. The genitive form of os is oris from which comes the word oral.
Nausea: Stomach queasiness, the urge to vomit. Nausea can be brought on by many causes, including systemic illnesses (such as influenza), medications, pain, and inner ear disease.
Nursing: 1) Profession concerned with the provision of services essential to the maintenance and restoration of health by attending the needs of sick persons. 2) Feeding a infant at the breast.
Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pain has both physical and emotional components. The physical part of pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain may be contained to a discrete area, as in an injury, or it can be more diffuse, as in disorders like fibromyalgia. Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain where their conscious appreciation may be modified by many factors.
Pregnancy: The state of carrying a developing embryo or fetus within the female body. This condition can be indicated by positive results on an over-the-counter urine test, and confirmed through a blood test, ultrasound, detection of fetal heartbeat, or an X-ray. Pregnancy lasts for about nine months, measured from the date of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP). It is conventionally divided into three trimesters, each roughly three months long.
Pregnant: The state of carrying a developing fetus within the body.
Prescription: A physician's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a patient. A prescription has several parts. They include the superscription or heading with the symbol "R" or "Rx", which stands for the word recipe (meaning, in Latin, to take); the inscription, which contains the names and quantities of the ingredients; the subscription or directions for compounding the drug; and the signature which is often preceded by the sign "s" standing for signa (Latin for mark), giving the directions to be marked on the container.
Stool: The solid matter that is discharged in a bowel movement.
Traveler's diarrhea: Diarrhea that results from infections acquired while traveling to another country. Among the causes of traveler's diarrhea are enterotoxigenic E. coli</i> and a variety of other bacteria and viruses.
Ulcerative colitis: A bowel disease that is characterized by inflammation with ulcer formation in the lining of colon (large intestine). Its cause is unknown. The end of the colon (the rectum) is generally involved. When limited to the rectum, the disease is called ulcerative proctitis. The inflammation may extend to varying degrees into the upper parts of the colon. When the entire colon is involved, it is referred to as pancolitis or universal colitis. Symptoms include intermittent rectal bleeding, crampy abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Many patients experience long remissions, even without medication. Ulcerative colitis may mysteriously resolve after a long history of symptoms. Direct visualization (via sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy) and biopsy of the lining of the bowel is the most accurate diagnostic test. Treatment of ulcerative colitis involves medications and/or surgery; changes in diet can sometimes help.
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May 06, 2009 | Myrna Anderson
In a cubicle in the Engineering Building in mid-April, senior engineering student Tom Kok is holding the prototype of a little airplane that needs some work:
“How is it going to fly without any wings?” asks Calvin engineering professor David Wunder.
“We’re going to throw it really hard,” Kok responds, smiling.
The plane is an unmanned vehicle equipped for aerial photography and created by “Plane!,” a team composed of electrical engineers Ian Hoffbeck, Brett Pennings, Christian Swenson and Kok. The team still has time to re-attach the wings and make other necessary tweaks to this, their fourth prototype, before they show it off at the Senior Design Banquet and Open House, held 4–6 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, in the Engineering Building.
The open house, a showcase of the projects it has taken senior engineers an entire academic year to produce, is the capstone of a Calvin engineering education. And the 15 senior design teams that will present their projects on May 9 have been putting in a lot of hours in recent weeks.
“A lot of times we’re here from 7 a.m. to 12 or 1 a.m. …,” said Matt Lubbers, an electrical engineer on “Storbot,” a team which devised a robotic arm to move items in warehouses. “I spend 11 hours a day in the machine shop, and, when the machine shop closes, I spend a lot of time designing.”
In cubicles adjacent to Storbot’s, senior teams composed of civil and environmental, electrical and computer, mechanical, and chemical engineers are wrestling with their own engineering challenges: building a small-scale wind energy system; building a chariot-style vehicle for transporting physically disabled persons in road races; devising a culturally appropriate, small-scale rice-drying system; producing a remotely-controlled submersible research vessel (“Basically, it will be an underwater eye,” said mechanical engineer Ken Haan, who is working on the sub); designing a cell phone system that synchronizes with a land line; creating a device that will lift and pour chemicals from barrels; extracting biofuel from a Jatropha seed; making charcoal out of wastepaper; designing an economical and environmentally friendly high school gymnasium; dealing with flood-control issues in both Byron Township and Hudsonville; designing a green roof system for Calvin’s new Commons building; and making brackish water more treatable. (The last-mentioned team, The Marah Project, won a specially created Performance Award for their project at WERC's Environmental Design Contest back in April.)
“The course is intended to transition them from class work to the real world, and engineering projects take months to years of real effort,” Wunder said of Senior Design Project, the class that yields such a profusion of engineering concepts.
The process of engineering is a good teacher, he said. “We allow them to fail along the way, and quite a bit is learned and can be learned through error.”
Ryan Mejeur, an electrical engineer who had to learn a bit of mechanical engineering while working on the robotic arm, agreed: “We’ve been joking that we should get two certificates, one for mechanical and one for electrical,” he said.
Calvin engineers learn more than the intricacies of their concentration, said Wunder. They also learn the value of every type of engineering work:
“Regardless of concentration, we expect that every Calvin engineering graduate will invest his or her life in kingdom work, leveraging their gifts and training for a lifetime that serves the needs of the world,” he said. “We see kingdom work in the engineering of water purification systems, in the design of enhancements to phone systems, as well as the development of alternative fuels from novel sources. All of these projects link the gifts and efforts of engineers with the needs of the world.”
The uncertain job market adds some extra challenges for graduating engineers, Wunder said: “I haven’t seen pessimism … They are surprisingly optimistic about the future, but not without some heightened stress due to the economy.”
On Saturday night, the senior engineers, will dress in formal attire to present their projects twice—once at the open house and, later, to faculty, friends and loved ones. The occasion, though a happy one, generates its own kind of stress, Hoffbeck admitted: “It’s a day of reckoning.”
Earlier in the week, he and the rest of team “Plane!” were in the middle of the soccer field near the Bunker Center, test-flying their prototype. Back in December, the team won the Calvin BizPlan competition with their concept for marketing the automated plane, which they believe will appeal to surveyors, cartographers and others who need aerial footage. The win gave the team a psychic boost and the cash to keep them in airframes. Two have crashed with no hope of repair, and another simply wore out.
The fourth airframe is holding steady, and, for this flight, the team increases the range of the rudder. The plane takes off, under Kok’s remote control, and swoops over the guys playing flag football, flying in big loops around the field and landing with a hard bounce.
“That landing could have been better,” Kok said.
The little plane is taking good pictures, however. “The images are sweet,” said Pennings. “We got a lot of footage of the Ecosystem Preserve.”
“We got a picture from 200 feet up,” said Kok, “and Christian is identifiable.”
|People, Area of Study, International||People, Area of Study, Sports||People|
Faculty Profile: Anding Shen
We Are Calvin: Melissa Darusz
Jeanne Nienhuis wins Spoelhof Award
|People, Area of Study, International||People, Area of Study, Campus Life||People, Area of Study, International, Sports|
We Are Calvin: Andrew Mitchell
Calvin's Honors Program names new director
We Are Calvin: Rachel Wahl | <urn:uuid:a42867b4-5c14-4b8a-acf2-f1ce2cd86565> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calvin.edu/news/archive/showing-their-stuff | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950382 | 1,324 | 2.234375 | 2 |
By Mike Mount
The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be getting an estimated $40 million communications upgrade, signaling it will continue its mission of holding top suspected terrorists and as a major humanitarian aid base in the region.
The base, also known as Gitmo, will upgrade its limited satellite communications system to an underwater fiber optic line that will stretch from the base to the coast of Florida, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale.
The United States has alerted the Cuban government that it intends on starting the project this summer with a survey ship operating off the eastern coast of the country evaluating the expected route, but actual work of installing the cable will being within a couple of years.
Trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan for the first time in seven months on Thursday after Islamabad agreed to reopen routes, officials said.
The four trucks, under heavy security, crossed the border from Chaman in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
Because Afghanistan is landlocked, many supplies for NATO-led troops fighting Islamic militants there have to be trucked in from Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Islamabad decided to reopen the crucial supply routes shut down on November 27, a day after coalition forces mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops. | <urn:uuid:4e6d8575-8076-4fd4-ad91-f5a3eb226e79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937164 | 261 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Brazil to charge army officer over military rule abuses
A former Brazilian army officer is to become the first to be charged for alleged rights abuses during the 20-year military dictatorship.
Prosecutors say Sebastiao de Moura, a former colonel, faces criminal charges over the kidnap of five guerrillas in the 1970s.
At the time, he commanded troops fighting the leftist Araguaia movement.
An amnesty law bans army officers from being tried for abuses during the 1964-85 dictatorship.
Prosecutors concluded that there was enough evidence linking Col De Moura to the kidnapping and suspected torture of the five members of the communist guerrilla group in the northern state of Para.
All five - three men and two women - are still missing. The charges still have to be approved by a judge before the case can go to trial.'Landmark step'
Prosecutors argue that the 1979 amnesty law, enacted before the return to civilian rule, does not apply to the case, as the bodies of the five guerrilla fighters have never been found.
They say as the case is still open, it falls outside the 1961-79 amnesty period.
In November last year, President Dilma Rousseff signed a law creating a truth commission to investigate human rights abuses, including those committed during military rule.
More than 400 Brazilians were killed in the period, although correspondents say Brazil's military dictatorship was less brutal that those in neighbouring Argentina and Uruguay.
Military figures have voiced opposition to the panel, saying it is a way to circumvent the amnesty law.
Between 1966-74, the Araguaia movement fought a guerrilla war aimed at bringing about a communist revolution.
Government troops fought a campaign to suppress the uprising on the banks of the Araguaia river between 1972 and 1974.
The campaign group Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision as a "landmark step for accountability in Brazil".
"This is tremendous news for the families who lost loved ones in the brutal repression that followed the 1964 military coup," Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of HRW's Americas division.
The moves makes Brazil the latest Latin American country to prosecute alleged human rights violations committed under military rule.
In January, it was announced that former Guatemalan military leader Efrain Rios Montt would be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity during his time in power from 1982-1983.
In April 2011, Argentina's last military ruler, Reynaldo Bignone, was given a life sentence for the torture and murder of political opponents more than three decades ago. | <urn:uuid:415e1f55-f56a-42b5-9e55-226842574fec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17371865 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965972 | 517 | 2 | 2 |
I was wondering how one can determine which solvent is better for crystallization without trial and error. Instead, determine it by comparing the polarity,melting and boiling points? For example, if I want to recrystallize benzoic acid, and my choices of solvents are petroleum ether, 95% ethanol, or water, which one would be better?? I realize that all 3 solvents are polar and so is the solute. I've narrowed it down to water and ethanol in this case, since their structures are more similar to the solute than an ether, but deciphering between the two solvents when they both have similar structures to the solute seems difficult without trial and error.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! | <urn:uuid:73455212-f4ed-42cc-8d43-6757f2c7dd8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=5617.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971462 | 155 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The Oley Valley Barn Conference Tour
BY GREGORY HUBER
(abridged version; complete copies can be purchased by contacting the HBFF of PA for $5 each)
Casper Maul Stone Ground Barn Dated 1791
The Casper Maul barn is a ground barn located in Oley Township. There is no basement in a ground barn – no distinct functional area appears below the wagon bay. The Maul barn is also called a boddam or bottom barn. In the German dialect it is grundscheier.
Two photos of the 1791 dated Maul barn appear in Charles Dornbusch and John Heyl’s classic barn book – Pennsylvania German Barns. The barn is 60 ½ feet along the front wall – one of the longest seen in any early ground barn in Pennsylvania – and 33 ½ feet at each of the end walls.
A liegender Dachstuhl or early style German roof structure with four main trusses is seen in the Maul barn.
Both mow-stead walls are almost completely original and boards are secured with early style wrought nails. On the cow side of the barn are at least three boards 18 inches wide. There is one “doodle” area that has five concentric circles – the outermost one is 32 inches in diameter. The threshing floor consists of mostly original planks up to 15 inches wide. The Maul barn retains a great deal of its original features.
Jacob Keim Homestead – with Early 1750’s Stone House – Ancillary Building and Unique Double Fore-bay Barn
The excellent Jacob Keim homestead offers a wide array of German buildings. The main attraction of the old farm is the large and early main two-section house of all stone construction. The earlier section is from 1750’s and is replete with early German construction features and other details including an extremely rare original second floor chevron door.
The stone ancillary house that stands only about 15 feet from the main house is a rarity as only a few other German homesteads have them. The roof ridgeline is at a distinct angle to the roof ridgeline of the main house. The steep pitched roof is now covered with red tile distinctive of early German house roof coverings.
At the rear of the main house is a unique two-level bank barn. It has no banked or ramped condition at the rear wall. It does have however a cantilevered condition or fore-bay at each side or eave wall. The barn measures about 44 feet long by about 32 feet wide. A hay hood door appears at the roof peak at the one end wall for entry and exit of farm crops.
Diener – Fillman Log Switzer
The Diener Log Transitional Switzer in extreme southern Pike Township is the only log barn that was visited on the tour. Although Berks County still is home to almost 25 log barns, the county two hundred years ago was the residence of hundreds of such generic structures. The earlier style Switzer barn is distinguished from the later and very common Standard barn type in that the Switzer has an asymmetrical roofline and interior framing units that are not contained with the distinctive appendage like fore-bay at the front of the barn. The Diener barn is called a Transitional Switzer in that the end walls fully extend to a point that is in line with the front fore-bay wall.
The one log crib is composed of four log walls while the far crib has one frame constructed wall adjacent to the one wagon bay. The logs are joined at the corners by squared v – notching that is so often seen in eastern Berks County and areas east. West of the Diener barn location half dove-tailed and full dove-tailed corner notching becomes progressively more common in both barns and houses out to Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.
Bertolet-Coker Stone Classic Switzer – Dated 1787
This early barn in Oley Township at the Bertolet homestead is what might be called a masterpiece of barn construction. It is one of the most outstanding barns in not just all of the Oley Valley but in the entire state of Pennsylvania. This is the Bertolet stone classic Switzer in Oley Township. There is a 1770’s two-story stone house with addition and a small stone cabin that is said to have built in the 1730’s. The Bertolet family was of French Huguenot origin and they settled in the Oley Valley in the early 1700’s.
The stone Switzer is actually the older of the two homestead barns. The other barn is a Standard type and is immediately adjacent to the Switzer and is dated 1837. The Switzer barn is, except for the front fore-bay, made completely of stone construction including to the peaks at both end walls and the rear wall and part of the rear wall of the fore-bay. End walls have the very distinctive vertical ventilator slits or splayed loopholes that are commonly seen in pre-1830 barns.
Barn dimensions are not unusual where the end walls are each 33 feet long and the barn length is about 65 feet. The front fore-bay extension is six feet. The barn is of three-bay construction – two end bays and a single wagon bay that has a rare extension at one side below an equally rare swing beam. Tethered horses swung around below the swing beam for the threshing of grains. While the main wagon doors are not fully original the so-called haar-hung doors still swing on their original vertical pivot poles. The doors are extremely rare in any type of barn in Pennsylvania and have ancient roots in Europe. The carved date of 1787 with names of the Bertolet family is seen on the lintel beam above the wagon doors. There are two other exterior features of very particular note. The first is the very rare mostly original short projecting pent roof at the basement level toward the house side of the barn that protected animal and human entries at that end of the barn. The other feature is the extremely rare completely original early style plank stairway that appears at the front of the basement stable wall that leads to the fore-bay. Perhaps even more rare is the fully original wooden trap door with unusual German hinges at the top of the staircase that forms part of the fore-bay floor.
German families often stored their grains in the attics of their houses in much of the eighteenth century. Later they apparently stored grains in closed or walled in spaces in the fore-bays of their barns that were called – appropriately enough – granaries. It appears that the Bertolet barn has the earliest original granary in any barn in Pennsylvania in the fore-bay at the far end of the barn. The ceiling and the walls of the granary formed by wide boards are all secured with wrought nails. The granary door itself is original with rare type wrought metal hinges. Even the grain compartment bins within the granary are formed with partition walls that are mostly original.
The 1837 Standard barn at the homestead is very typical in most regards for a frame constructed bank barn. Built precisely one half century after the stone Switzer was constructed the later barn resulted from the ever expanding need for greater crop storage space that most farms in the northeast experienced during the Industrial Revolution. The craftsmanship in the newer barn is much less fine than that found in the original barn. The two barns offer a wonderful study in contrast between two very different eras of building construction traditions.
Kaufman Homestead – with 1766 House and Two Main Barns
The Kaufman homestead is replete with out-buildings of which the main attractions are two barns. Toward the rear of the farm yard is a massive sized circa 1840 stone Standard barn about 40 feet wide by about 90 feet long. There is an added on out-shed or rear granary at the far end of the barn. Its walls are plastered. The barn is of four-bay construction – two middle wagon bays and two end bays. At the one main wagon entry is another very rare example of original haar-hung wagon doors. Above the wagon doors is a not often seen overhead pentice or roof projection that protects the two wagon doors.
Hewn common rafters are seen and vertical queen posts help support the roof. Rarely seen are original hay-hole shoot frames like open sided boxes that appear – one at either side of each wagon bay. In the basement is a rare condition where an original feeding alley is flanked by original staked mangers at either side that span most of the width of the barn.
A much smaller two-level stone barn is seen at the front of the barn yard. It is about 42 feet long by about 35 feet wide. There is, very oddly, no banked or ramped condition at the rear of the barn. In fact at the rear wall of the barn are three wall openings with stone arched doors. A cantilevered wall or fore-bay appears at the front of the barn. At the end walls are louvered windows. At the house end of the barn is a large wood door opening toward the peak that allowed entry and exit of farm produce. A large impressive single length summer beam seen in the basement supports the upper floor. Two partly original transverse staked mangers survive. Very peculiarly horizontal spriggel bars appear at each animal door at each end of the stable wall. Usually the bars that help to contain stabled horses appear at or toward only one end of a stable wall. This barn may have been for the exclusive use of horses.
Stapleton – Ruth Variant Ground Barn
One of the finest barns of any type in all of Pennsylvania is the Stapleton stone barn in Oley Township. There is a quiet raging debate whether the barn is a variant ground barn – there is no floor level below the threshing bay – or a variant English Lake District barn – as some of these barns are apparently found in that region of northwest England. A date of 1782 is seen on an exterior wood piece and it may be the original date of construction. Only two others barns in southeast Pennsylvania only one of which still stands approximates the general design features of the Stapleton barn and may have experienced similar influences of building traditions.
The distinctive and almost medieval like roof slope of the Stapleton barn is one of the steepest of any barn in the greater Oley Valley. Kicks in the roof appear at each side of the barn. This of course indicates early German roof framing which the barn has. All exterior barn walls possess splayed loop holes. The barn measures 68 feet at each side wall and 33 feet at each end wall. No other ground barn of any type or any close relative built in the eighteenth century attains such a length.
Farm animals were stabled at the basement level at each end bay at very distinctly different floor levels. Above the stables were mow areas for crop storage.
Tuttle Classic Stone Switzer
The Tuttle classic stone Switzer dates from either the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. It is of five-bay construction with two wagon bays and three hay mows – two mows of which are back-to-back.
This barn boasts of an English style Principal Rafter System, the only barn on the tour with such a roof. In certain respects, this roof structure type is similar to the early German style roof in that there are principal rafters. However these rafters in the Tuttle barn extend the full length of each roof slope and are thickened in the middle or mid-span areas for the joining of barn length purlin plates. The Principals are supported by vertical queen posts. Between adjacent Principal Rafters are common rafters that are seen in early German roofs.
One remarkable feature seen in a few mow-stead wall boards are tally marks. Every fifth mark is considerably longer than the preceding marks. In addition, every twenty-fifth mark is considerably longer than the long “every fifth” marks. This tallying system may be unique.
Among other features seen in the barn is an original threshing floor with planks that are pegged. The granary room that is intact with its probable original door is very large in that it extends the widths of two bays. The threshing doors are of frame construction with mortise and tenon joinery that was likely common in barns of 150 to 200 years ago.
Fisher Homestead – Superb 1801 Georgian-Federal Stone House and Unique Stone Variant Two-Level Ground Barn and Massive 1862 Stone Standard Barn
The Fisher homestead in Oley Township is another superb example of a collection of historic buildings. The Fisher place is the home of the latest built house on the tour, constructed by Conrad Heinrich and Gottlieb Drexel in 1801. Two barns are seen at the rear of the house complex. The smaller one is unique in the German cultural landscape. Its type may be called a variant ground barn although it does have two levels. The barn measures about 50 feet long and about 28 feet wide.
An over one hundred foot long stone to the peak Standard bank barn appears a number feet south of the variant ground barn. It is dated 1862. It is of five-bay construction – three side by side wagon bays and two end bays. | <urn:uuid:29571085-6f98-40b9-8d96-1674110c65f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pahistoricbarns.org/2008/06/11/the-oley-valley-barn-conference-tour/ | 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 | 0.954816 | 2,769 | 2.703125 | 3 |
When the Light House Mission moved in its current location on Wabash Avenue, men, women and families were all housed in the building, but it was not an ideal situation.
In 2012 the new building housing the Conners Center and Gary's Place opened. They cleaned, painted, renovated, added a new kitchen, set up the offices, moved in the furniture, and finally the ladies.
The new location is 1201 South 13th Street. It is closer to town, on a bus line and is a bigger space.
The first floor is for the single ladies and single ladies with children.
The second floor houses our teen girls. They share a library, computer room, and dining room.
Everyone is excited that the facility is the completed – especially the girls and women. They were excited to move into their new home.
If you would like to see the new facility, call the Conners Center at (812) 232-4050 to set up a time.
In 1998, the old Otter Creek High School and former home to Little David's became available in North Terre Haute, The Mission purchased the building at 3212 East Linn Avenue and began its renovation, building eighteen rooms for single women and women with children. It was named the Conners Center, in honor of the past Executive Director, Rev. Richard Conners, and his wife, Anna.
The building could house around 40 women and children, but reached a high of 45 last winter when so many needed assistance. The Conners Center only has a staff of one, so the ladies help out with cleaning the building and cooking the meals.
In addition to providing shelter and meals, The Conners Center offers the LightLife program, a 12-month program to change their lives; Mountain Movers, a ten-step recovery program; and computer and GED classes to the women residents. They also provide transportation for appointments to the doctor, welfare office and other needs.
Donations that are given to the Mission also go to support the work at The Conners Center. It is a welcome addition to the Light House Mission as it ministers to the needs of single women and their children.
1201 South 13th Street
Terre Haute, IN | <urn:uuid:02f7b621-0f82-4101-8cb9-7c4de4fa50c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thlhm.org/the-conners-center/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977269 | 460 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Spring 2006 - Volume 9 Number 2
|Making Interdisciplinary Courses Work with Constructivism and Science, Technology and Society (STS)
Educators expect students to question, explain, hypothesize, and devise tests to determine validity concerning science and its applications. The traditional approach of presenting individual courses concentrating on single disciplines and ignoring linkages to other disciplines is abysmal. If we expect students to understand how science is related to the humanities, it is important to provide the links and bring the disciplines together in a coherent interdisciplinary course using Science, Technology, and Society together in a constructivist methodology. Science, Technology, and Society and constructivism recognize that science does not operate in a vacuum nor does student learning. Knowledge is continuing being assembled by learners and science learning must be taught in the scope of the human experience and understanding.Undergraduate Science, Interdisciplinary Studies.
Science has been separated from the humanities over the years. Public perceptions have represented science to a “feared” discipline that only few students willingly attempt to study. Although science is regarded as an important endeavour, it is segregated from its impact on the human experience. We study history, literature, sociology and such disciplines and sometimes include a brief description of how science may have affected an event or lead to a decision. More needs to be done. Interdisciplinary studies permit the examination of all disciplines in the development of a liberal arts education that focuses on the relationships among all disciplines. As courses are developed, the basic nature of each discipline must remain intact if the student is truly to learn. Science courses and concepts can be integrated in interdisciplinary courses successfully if the methodology as well as the content of science is taught.
As students examine science and controversies about science, they often fail to ask the simple question “what is science”. The very question “what is science” would eliminate many false debates concerning pseudoscience and other fantasies. One such current debate, created by the general public’s lack of understanding what science is and how it influences our lives is the “intelligent design argument.” The scholars and theologians who proposed this “argument” fail to understand the nature of science, scientific reasoning and scientific methods. (Hoffman, JR, and Weber, 2003; Alters, JB, and Nelson, CE, 2002). Science is based on observation, evidence and the ability of data to be replicated by others.
Evidence of the failed argument of intelligent design and other pseudoscience is reflected in the observation of L. S. Lubie (1962), who described science as “the greatest of the humanities” because of the “humility and honesty with which it constantly corrects its own errors”. Science implores its inquirers to tease the evidence, examine the observable and test the validity of the outcome. Science must stand the test of falsifiability. Since intelligent design failed to meet the criteria described by Lubie and traditional scientific methodology, it is not science.
It would help the public to understand science and its role in the human experience to involve science as a discipline in more integrated and interdisciplinary courses.
Too many educational institutions teach their science courses as independent, specialized classes that barely address other sciences, much less how they impact society. Science should be viewed as a part of the human experience. Students are always observing and constructing their understanding of science and its application in their lives simply to try to make sense of their world. In this constructive process of learning about their world, students, often without knowing it, apply principles of science that they have acquired their science education to solve observations.
Teaching science in constructivist teaching methodology recognizes that students have developed scientific process and application skills, and have used creativity in approaching science problems in their terms of their thinking. Being able to apply their experiences in problem solving will influence their attitudes towards science (Hollenbeck, 1999; Yager, R.E., Meyers, LH. Blunk, S.M., McCommas, W. 1992: National Science Teachers Association. 1982). Teaching in the constructivist/STS method is natural, and will encourage all learners to embrace science as an important and practical discipline. Teaching an interdisciplinary course with science and the humanities is a dynamic process of teaching and learning. Constructivism encourages the student to explore, interact, and construct their understanding of science as it is applied in their world by providing them a “foundation” of knowledge. The learning process stressed in STS is that learning must be an active process, engaging the mind and the physical senses of the body.
It is important for the learner to be able to apply science to technology and evaluate its worth to the human experience. Learning is an active process of building and reshaping previously learned material and systems of meaning. The learning involved in STS requires that learner reflect on their activities and organize the acquisition of newly learned information. Learning is also a social activity in which one is engaged with others, and the social aspect of learning is critical to the student’s learning success. The learning process must be given time for the learners to assimilate the new information, and bring it into the personal context of their worldview.
An integrated science/humanities course dedicated to STS learning can be enhanced by applying the Constructivist Learning Model (CLM) defined by Yager (1991) and Yager, MacKinna, and Blunck (1992). Many successful educators use constructivist teaching strategies in preparing lessons and learning experiences without knowing it. The CLM learning experience makes explicit the need for:
When the CLM is used in conjunction with the STS method, the following statements will characterize successful programs:
Many institutions are including STS/Constructivism approaches into new courses and programs by weaving science and the humanities together to form new integrative science courses (Hollenbeck, J.E. and Reiter, W.S. (2006); Carstens-Wickham, B. 2001, Flower, 1999). Generally, these courses utilize interdisciplinary faculty teams, themes, and resources. The difference between the traditional science course and humanities course method is that the new course is one in which the separate disciplines are linked in a coherent strategy that enables students to question, and establish student ownership of learning. These new courses encourage the student research and presentation of their results to their peers. The instructor is involved in this process, acting as the facilitator of information and coordinator of the students’ work, so all the pieces "fit together.” The role of the instructors becomes more dynamic, and allows them a greater opportunity to demonstrate research and scholarly activity with their students.
One example of an interdisciplinary course that takes advantage of STS learning concerns the “The Dirty Thirties.” The Dirty Thirties introduces the students to the 1930s American Dust Bowl through science, social studies, literature, and mathematics. The science disciplines that addressed are climatology, meteorology, ecology, and geology. The songs of Woody Guthrie, stories from John Steinbeck and historical documents from the New Deal are all used in developing knowledge about how the climate and weather affects us. The course uses a multi-media content approach to integrate reading and critical thinking skills into the class. Students are given a variety of activities, reading assignments and research topics to help them understand the causes and effects of the dust bowl, and learn about differences between life in the United States in the 1930s and today.
A second example cited is the examination of an event that will challenge the learner to research topics in history, social customs, geography, climatology, economics and microbiology is an interdisciplinary course on the “Black Plague of Europe”. This course introduces the learner to the biology of the bubonic plague as they research communicable diseases and the effect that the plague had on Medieval European society. Students discover that the same public health issues (e.g., etiology, diagnostics, finding appropriate treatment, societal concerns) confront us today in terms of coping with tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and influenza. The prospect of studying science with an interdisciplinary connection to history, sociology, psychology and literature is rich. Science becomes the focus that brings the other fields of study together.
Assessment schemes used for an interdisciplinary course can involve student achievement on short assignments, their journal or “log” of class activities, and their research project, which is presented as a scientific paper or a poster paper. In this constructivist course, the instructor should be able to determine the students’ prior knowledge and assess what the student had learned about the topic. The University of Iowa researchers and applications by the author of such courses, found the constructivist methodology allowed for authentic assessments, such as measuring student attitudes, constructing a rubric for scoring assignments such as group projects, student journals, portfolios, and performance based assessment instruments which accurately measured student learning (Hollenbeck, J.E. and Reiter, W.S. 2005; Bunce, D, 1996).
Research conducted at the University of Iowa by Yager, Mackinna, and Blunk (1992) has consistently confirmed that when science teaching is approached in the constructivist method, meaningful, long-term learning occurs and the learners gain confidence in approaching new problems (Hollenbeck, J.E. and Reiter, W.S. 2005; Hollenbeck, 1999; Yager, R.E., Meyers, LH., Blunk, S.M., McCommas, W. 1992). To assure that learning has occurred, students must be encouraged to question, allowed to explain their hypotheses, and devise tests to determine the validity of their explanation.
James Rutherford and Andrew Ahlgreen, authors of Science for All Americans, state that "The world has changed in such a way that scientific literacy has become necessary for everyone, not just a privileged few; science education will have to change to make that possible" (Bruder, I. 1993). Constructivism and STS can lead us in teaching responsibility with our applications of scientific knowledge in a holistic learning experience that will appeal to more students and provide a greater understanding of the nature of science.
The scientifically literate person has a substantial knowledge base of facts, concepts, conceptual networks, and process skills that enable the individual to continue and learn logically. This knowledge base provides an appreciation of the value of science and technology in society and understands their limitations (National Science Teachers Association, 1982 and Miller, 2002). Students taught using in the method of STS will learn science (knowledge and methods), technology (application of science to solve problems) and society (how science and technology effects humans and life) in one course. Students learn best through relevancy. STS interweaves and demonstrates cause-effect responses. Incorporating science taught in a STS methodology with the humanities will engage students. Science with relevancy employs the students’ experiences and creates an interesting course.References
Alter, B.J. and Nelson, C.E. (2002). Perspective: Teaching evolution in higher education. Evolution: International journal of organic evolution. 56, p. 10.
Bruder, I. (1993, March). Redefining technology & the new science literacy. Electronic learning, pp. 20- 24.
Cartsens-Wickham, B. (2001, May). “The atomic era: A new interdisciplinary course combining physics, the humanities, and the social sciences”. Physics education. 36, pp. 212-217.
Flower, M.J. (1999). Centering the program: Clusters of inquiry. Journal of general education. 48, pp. 90-96.
Hoffman, J.R. and Weber, B.H. (2003). The fact of evolution: Implications for science education. Science education. 12, pp. 729-760.
Hollenbeck, J.E. and Reiter, W.S. (2005, Fall). Linking the two worlds: Science and art for understanding. The college quarterly 8(4).
Hollenbeck, J.E. (1999) A five-year study of the attitudes, perceptions, and philosophies of five secondary science education teachers prepared in the constructivist teaching methodology advanced at the University of Iowa. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, MI.
Lubie, L. S. (1962). Daedalus 91, p. 305. Cited in Schwartz (1998). Miller, J. E. (2002). Building interdisciplinary bridges between math, science, and engineering courses, Journal for the Art of Teaching, Volume IX (1), pp. 56-72.
National Science Teachers Association. (1982). The NSTA position paper on science, technology and society (STS). Washington D.C.: Author. Cited in Yager, R.E. Science/technology/society programs and teachers make a difference! The Science Education Center, The University of Iowa. Iowa City, IA. 52242 USA
Schwartz, A. T. (1988). Science: The greatest of the humanities? Bulletin of science technology and society. Vol. 8, pp 167- 171, STS Press. USA.
Yager, R.E. (1991, September) The Constructivist Learning Model. The Science Teacher. Vol. 58(6), pp. 52-57.
Yager, R.E., Mackinna, & Blunck, S. (1992). Science/technology/society as reform of science in the elementary school. Journal of elementary science education. Vol. 4(1), pp. 1-13. Curry School of Education, The University of Virginia.
Yager, R.E., Meyers, LH. Blunk, S.M., McCommas, W. (1992). The Iowa Chautauqua program: What assessment results indicate about STS instruction. Methods of science, technology and society. Vol. 12(1), pp.26-38. STS Press. University Park. PA. USA
Dr. James E. Hollenbeck, Ph. D. teaches at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN 47150. He can be reached by e-mail at email@example.com
The views expressed by the authors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of The College Quarterly or of Seneca College.
Copyright © 2006 - The College Quarterly, Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology | <urn:uuid:d5c1546a-d321-477c-b961-51030d2fb3e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collegequarterly.ca/2006-vol09-num02-spring/hollenbeck.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924578 | 2,991 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Birthdate and student achievement: The effects of school grouping practices in British Columbia [Executive summary]
||07 June, 2011
||A summary of a study of the relationship of age at kindergarten entry to later academic outcomes, based on longitudinal data from 46,968 children in British Columbia, Canada, who entered kindergarten in fall 1995 and who had all been born from January through December 1990
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Will Keystone XL Spoil Your Holidays?
from Wildlife Promise
One of the sadder rituals in the nation’s capital is the “December surprise,” whereby the administration in power makes controversial pronouncements right around a major holiday. I’d be willing to bet all the candy canes in my stocking that the U.S. State Department, which is currently overseeing an environmental review of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, will do just that before the year is out. It will be difficult for State to please everybody, and either polluters or conservation groups are going to be pretty unhappy. Ominously, State has a history of coming up very very short on it’s Keystone XL studies.
Why the State Department? State Department won’t have the final word of course, that’s ultimately going to be up to newly re-elected President Barack Obama. But State’s decision could offer clues about where the President is heading on energy policy over the next four years, and his final decision on the Presidential Permit for Keystone XL is his prime opportunity to signal he is serious about addressing high carbon fuels like tar sands that are speeding climate disruption.
State’s decision will come in the form of a “supplemental environmental impact statement” (SEIS) for the pipeline segment that crosses over Canada and runs to Steele City, Nebraska.
State, rather than the Environmental Protection Agency or the Energy Department, is charged with running the environmental assessment because the mega-pipeline crosses an international boundary with Canada. President Obama must decide if this pipeline is in the national interest.
Why Keystone is a big big deal. The administration’s Keystone XL decision represents a pivotal moment in the direction of energy policy for the nation because approving the pipeline for one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet will do nothing to move the nation to a cleaner, less-polluting, less carbon-intensive future. Quite the opposite, Keystone XL’s dirty tar sands could ‘crowd out’ rapidly growing markets for renewable energy like wind and solar power. It will lock in more dependence on imported oil and metastasize the destruction of natural resources already well underway in Canada’s boreal forests.
Energy giant TransCanada originally proposed the Keystone XL pipeline to transport 800,000 barrels daily of tar sands oil through five states from Alberta, Canada, 1,700 miles to Gulf of Mexico refineries in Texas. Tar sands oil is a type of heavily-polluting, crude oil or bitumen that must be diluted before it can be pumped through pipelines. Bitumen is more corrosive on pipelines and it is more toxic and more difficult to clean up than conventional oil.
How did we get here? Last December, Congress sent President Obama a bill requiring a final decision on the Keystone permit. The President was lauded by conservationists when in mid-January this year, he rejected the application saying Keystone hadn’t been adequately studied. He also invited TransCanada to resubmit a new application.
After the administration gave the go-ahead for a southern segment of Keystone XL that will run to the Gulf Coast, State suggested that TransCanada reroute the northern segment of the pipeline to avoid sensitive areas in the Great Plains, especially the Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer which makes Midwest agriculture possible and supplies drinking water to millions. On May 4, 2012, TransCanada filed a new application with the U.S. Department of State revising and shortening the previously proposed route.
Currently, the state of Nebraska is putting the finishing touches on an evaluation of the new proposal and the State Department is preparing a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on the May application.
The State Department’s website says, “We will consider this new application on its merits . . . this involves consideration of many factors, including energy security, health, environmental, cultural, economic, and foreign policy concerns.” Let’s hope they mean it, but many conservationists remain concerned State’s focus will fall in line with TransCanada’s wishes: namely to have a very narrow review that only looks at the rerouted portion of the pipeline and little else.Seeing the forest for the trees. Of course Keystone XL will have profound impacts that State or ultimately the President need to address. Here’s just a few things the new SEIS should include to do justice to generations of Americans who will have to live with this pipeline and its pollution for its half century service life:
- An examination of all environmental impacts, including air, water and climate and refinery emissions;
- An analysis of impacts on wildlife, facts ignored in the first EIS, including threatened and endangered species, especially the Whooping Crane and Sandhill Crane whose migratory flight would cross Keystone at numerous points.
- An honest of accounting of the drawbacks including: pipeline spill risks, jobs that could be lost in renewable energy here in the U.S., and state-by-state impacts on energy prices for states likely to see price hikes from Keystone.
- A respectful consultation with impacted communities and tribal interests who will suffer in the event of a catastrophic spill.
Years from now, we will likely look back on the Keystone XL pipeline decision and see it as a turning point in national energy policy. Our first glimpse of that future may depend on whether State is naughty or nice this holiday season. | <urn:uuid:d9f47a86-1107-41e9-83d5-45ee8d0bda46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nwf.org/2012/12/will-keystone-xl-spoil-your-holidays/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942845 | 1,114 | 2.421875 | 2 |
I liked to sit sipping coffee in the tall kitchen window of my apartment in Vilnius. The window overlooked the broad Town Hall Square teeming day and night with international tourists. Gold-domed churches and pastel houses with terra cotta roofs bordered the square above which loomed the red brick castle on its hill. Beyond the castle were the dense pine forests that surrounded the city like a green velvet setting for a diadem. The window coincidentally faced the corner where the Nazis had staged their so-called Great Provocation. This was the faked sniping incident they used to justify the “retaliation” that led ultimately to the extermination of the Vilna Jews. Turn left outside of my apartment and you entered the Square, with its wind-tossed fountain, linen and amber boutiques, and outdoor cafes. Turn right and you found yourself in a dreary, cavernous courtyard carved out of what had once been the small ghetto. In this area women, children, and the elderly were corralled and starved before being marched out to the killing fields of Paneriai, where they were summarily shot and tossed into open pits.
During my first week in Vilnius, whenever I left the apartment, I always turned right. I walked through the twisted streets of the former ghettos, the large and the small, and read the signs in Yiddish commemorating the slaughtered; I went to the little Holocaust Museum in the Green House and fed my revulsion on the names of both the ordinary and celebrated citizens that had perished. I made the pilgrimage out to Paneriai and tried to identify with the men assigned to burn the corpses, who might discover among the dead the body of a wife, a father, a child or two. I tried in my fashion to obey the 11th commandment: Zakhor! Remember! and its more piquant Yiddish corollary, “Zolstu krenken un gedenken,” may you sicken and remember. I believe that the Shoah diminished the whole human enterprise, that as a race we’ve been missing vital parts of ourselves ever since. So shouldn’t it be incumbent upon persons of conscience to return to the scenes of the crime in the hope of retrieving something of what was lost? Of course it’s a quixotic exercise; language and emotion are unequal to the task. Poetry, as Theodor Adorno famously pronounced, is barbaric after Auschwitz. Besides, there’s nothing to be found in such places but the stray stones placed atop the monuments by mourners. And even the Jewish graveyards of Vilnius have been removed. Meanwhile, from my kitchen window, I watched the early morning theater: young men stumbled cartoon-like from all-night benders, scattering pigeons as they soaked their sore heads in the fountain; a pair of lovers, still tipsy from their the previous evening’s carouse, performed the comic pantomime of a mating dance; a street sweeper whistled as he worked to a tune played by a solitary Gypsy accordionist. And later on, when I left the apartment, I turned left—as I did every day after that first week in Vilnius—ducking under the arch to enter the carnival atmosphere of the square.
I’m not entirely a fool. I knew that the city was largely illusion, its crooked streets and fanciful facades reconstructed after the war upon a foundation of ashes and bones. I knew that, if you walked beyond the perimeter of the precious Old Town, you immediately found yourself in a soviet wasteland, where impoverished and often suicidal alcoholics sold their daughters into slavery. I knew that, in the face of the nightmare of history, even the Deuteronomic injunction to choose life is a flimsy excuse. But the square was so full of a number of things and the city such a goddam gem. | <urn:uuid:a1cfcee3-9dd8-419c-acfa-087af19f7267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/members-of-the-scribe/tag/eastern-europe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963338 | 817 | 1.75 | 2 |
The B’nai B’rith World Center and the Israeli non-profit organization Bridge of Gold will co-sponsor a festive menorah-lighting ceremony at the historic Hurva Synagogue in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City Jewish Quarter. The ceremony, marking the sixth day of the eight-day Chanukah holiday, will take place on Sunday, Dec. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Israel (12:30 p.m. in Washington, D.C. and 9:30 a.m. in Los Angeles). The ceremony will be streamed live on the B’nai B’rith International website at www.bnaibrith.org to allow Jewish communities, synagogues, institutions and families around the world to incorporate the ceremony into their own festivities.
Of particular significance to this holiday—which marks the victory of the Maccabees over the Hellenists in 165 B.C.E. and the rededication of the Second Temple—the Jewish community of Salonika, Greece, nearly decimated by the Holocaust, will participate in the ceremony. Via video-conferencing, Salonika residents will light an antique menorah along with the participants at the Hurva.
Israel Defense Force soldiers, B’nai B’rith members, government officials and invited guests will also participate in the ceremony. Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Yisrael Katz will represent the Israeli government at the event. Scenes from the Jewish struggle for Jerusalem from antiquity to modern times will be showcased during the hour-long ceremony. The ceremony will include performances by the Jerusalem Cantors Choir and the Israel Police Band Wind Quintet.
“This ceremony provides a rare opportunity for Israel and Diaspora communities to share a joyous festival together. The striking setting of the Hurva Synagogue, just yards from the Temple Mount, is a perfect setting for celebrating together the triumph of few against the many, of Jewish self-determination and freedom in antiquity and today,” B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider said.
B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Haim V. Katz will address the ceremony.
The Hurva Synagogue was first inaugurated in 1864. Known also by its full name, The Beit Ya’akov Synagogue in the Courtyard of the Ruin of Rabbi Yehuda Hassid, it became the largest, most magnificent and most important synagogue in Israel and the center of life in the Jewish Quarter. Two days after the Jewish Quarter fell to Jordan’s Arab Legion in May 1948, the synagogue was dynamited along with 57 other synagogues and yeshivot (Jewish religious seminaries) that functioned in the Old City. After Israel conquered Jerusalem in 1967, a commemorative arch was erected at the site to mark the destruction, itself becoming a prominent landmark of the Jewish Quarter. The plan to rebuild the synagogue in its 19th-century style received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000, and the newly rebuilt synagogue was dedicated on March 15, 2010. | <urn:uuid:80eb66b4-0945-47ad-8f9e-bc3563a83327> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bnaibrith.org/5/post/2011/12/festive-menorah-lighting-ceremony-light-from-jerusalem-to-take-place-at-historic-hurva-synagogue-in-jerusalem.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930422 | 640 | 1.710938 | 2 |
VANCOUVER, Wash. - Words have power. Many are positive. Some are negative - often unintentionally. On Monday, Dec. 5, Alpha Sigma Phi, the Clark College chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, will host a day-long event, “History and Bias Encoded in Language.”
The keynote event will be a reader’s theatre presentation from 7-9 p.m. in Clark’s Gaiser Student Center. Speaker and author Amy Roloff will be the featured presenter.
Roloff, who is known for her appearances on TLC's “Little People, Big World,” established the Amy Roloff Charity Foundation, which advocates for children and youth who face social, mental, physical, emotional or economic challenges. She will be speaking about disability biases as well as biases in general. During the program, members of Alpha Sigma Phi will narrate readings related to biases including appearance, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and education.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Phi Theta Kappa chapter will host bias awareness displays in Bauer and Gaiser Halls and in the lobby between Foster and Hanna Halls. At each of the displays, students and visitors may obtain a punch card for visiting. Each booth will have a different hole punch. People who obtain all six punches will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 gift card to the Clark College Bookstore. The winner will be announced during that evening’s reader’s theatre presentation. The winner must be present to claim the gift card.
All events are free and open to the public. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.
An international honor society, Phi Theta Kappa was established to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and provide opportunities for individual growth and development through participation in honors, leadership, service and fellowship programming.
About Amy Roloff
A graduate of Central Michigan University, Amy Roloff earned a BSBA (Bachelor of Science degree in business administration) in personnel and hospitality.
Roloff has worked as an early education teacher, manager of a soccer club, and youth team soccer coach. She is president of the Amy Roloff Charity Foundation. She is also a long-standing member of the nonprofit organization, Little People of America, and has served on its board of directors.
Roloff's dwarfism is the result of the most frequently diagnosed cause of short stature, achondroplasia. Achondroplasia is a genetic condition that results in disproportionately short arms and legs. It occurs in one out of 26,000 to 40,000 births.
Amy Roloff and her husband Matt have four children, Jacob, Jeremy, Molly and Zachary. | <urn:uuid:1e09b880-d500-4821-beef-8abd4c29fda2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.oregonlive.com/my-vancouver/2011/11/listen_can_you_recognize_bias.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956551 | 595 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Have you heard of the Butterfly Effect? The idea that one item or change can set off a cycle of sequences and consequences? The Butterfly Effect is based on the Chaos Theory that explains the butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world changes the weather pattern in another part.
Whether you believe in the Butterfly Effect, you've likely experienced something akin to it during your work or daily life. Imagine you wake up in a good mood but then the coffee maker is broken so you go to the drive thru and the clerk is surly and they get your order wrong, then you get to work and your boss calls you on the carpet for a mistake with a client. See what I mean... your day spirals downward following the broken coffeemaker and it probably won't get better until your head hits the pillow that night.
Are there little irritations that send your day down a "bad" path? Are there things you can do to address those little irritants so they don't pop up to Butterfly Effect your day toward badness? Of course there are.
Take a few moments, or a half an hour if necessary, and look around your environment. are there items you see that could make your work day easier? Putting only pens you like in an easy-to-reach spot? Having notebook paper available? Picking up the stacks of magazines off the floor so they don't fall over every time you walk past?
Simply spending a few moments at the beginning or end of every day can make you feel more productive, happy and organized. Consider changing the background desktop picture on your computer to coincide with the weather -- or conversely if you're living in a snowy area, why not change it to a beach photo? A little change can set the right mood.
Are there background noises that distract and irritate you? Are you listening to the news in the background while you work and are the stories of famine, despair and nasty politics draining your energy? They very well could be. Change your background music or sounds and see if it elevates your mood and your productivity.
Take a break. Literally. Get up, walk around, leave the house if the weather permits. Even a five minute break can ease tension and enhance your flow of creativity.
Here are a few items to look at when looking to make small changes:
- Pick one item that you can easily change today... right now
- Write down five items that irritate you on a daily basis and work to change them
- Take a moment to enjoy your freedom from the irritants and be inspired
What are your irritants and how can you change them for the better? | <urn:uuid:d66beab3-e5e7-4e71-889e-aaa32bd63c62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.robbihess.com/2012/06/butterfly-effect-your-way-to-a-good-day.html | 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 | 0.934712 | 540 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Want More Education?
Delve deeper into the science behind skin care with —Skin Inc. Video Education!
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Medical Esthetics Treatments
Professionals Face Safety Issues with At-home Treatments
Posted: December 5, 2008
page 3 of 4
Botulinum toxin, most widely known for its ability to diminish wrinkles and other facial lines, currently is being studied across many medical specialties for an array of different conditions. For example, one manufacturer is seeking FDA approval of using botulinum toxin to treat migraines. Dr. Hirsch explained that a few new manufacturers have introduced botulinum toxin formulations in recent years. This helps patients by making pricing more competitive and, hence, more affordable.
“The important thing to remember with any of these cosmetic procedures is that you have to be sure that what you’re choosing is the real McCoy—authentic and trustworthy.” cautioned Dr. Hirsch. “Unless you go to a dermatologist specifically trained in cosmetic procedures, you cannot be sure you are receiving the highest quality care—and in the case of botulinum rejuvenation, the safe dosage and manufacturer-specific formulation.”
For some consumers, the “do-it-yourself” cosmetic treatments that can be performed at home represent a viable alternative for those looking for a quick, albeit temporary, remedy. Many of the at-home products such as microdermabrasion kits and chemical peel solutions that can be purchased at drug stores can be safe when they have been thoroughly tested for this type of self-use. To ensure the highest level of safety, the concentration of the active ingredients in these products is much lower than that used by dermatologists and skin care professionals.
However, Dr. Hirsch pointed out that there are drawbacks to at-home treatments of which consumers should be aware. While most at-home treatments do not produce results as dramatic or long-lasting as the cosmetic procedures performed in dermatologists’ offices or skin care professionals' facilities, there are still safety concerns if these are used improperly or if any of the active ingredients cause an unforeseen skin reaction. | <urn:uuid:5cb3802a-7993-4f85-86c2-36b0c12aa612> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skininc.com/treatments/medicalesthetics/35598584.html?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946776 | 443 | 1.898438 | 2 |
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U.S.-Cuba travel snarled by regulations, politics
HAVANA (Reuters) - The Obama administration's much touted "people-to-people" travel program to Cuba has all but ground to a halt due to tighter regulations issued in May, apparently to placate Cuban-American lawmakers, travel industry professionals said this week.
The program, which began last year and requires the annual renewal of permission to bring groups to Cuba, allows for educational and cultural travel under the administration's policy of constructive engagement.
The licenses of dozens of tour operators, who have carried an estimated 50,000 Americans to Cuba under the "people-to-people" banner so far, have not been renewed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
This has caused confusion in both countries as the trips must be planned months in advance and hotel rooms, very much in demand in Havana, blocked out for the Americans.
The problems began after the new guidelines were issued, the companies said.
"We've laid off 22 people, canceled 150 trips, and after only one year of operations we are unable to recoup our start-up costs," said Tom Popper, president of New York-based Insight Cuba.
Popper, whose nonprofit business brought some 3,000 Americans to Cuba under the program, said he had applied twice to renew his license to no avail.
"We know of many licensees that are in the same predicament," he said.
The travel program came under heavy fire from its inception from Cuban-American lawmakers, who oppose all contact with the Communist-run country and have lined up to denounce it.
SOURCE OF REVENUE
"This is not about promoting democracy and freedom in Cuba. This is nothing more than tourism ... a source of millions of dollars in the hands of the Castro government that they use to oppress the Cuban people," Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida charged during congressional hearings last year.
Rubio then blocked the administration's nominee for undersecretary of state for Latin American affairs, Roberta Jacobson, until it agreed in March to tighten the regulations, according to his office's statements to the media at the time.
The new regulations quickly followed.
The Obama administration has denied any deal with Rubio, saying the regulations were tightened after it heard of potential abuses of the program, which essentially prohibits typical Cuba tourist activities such as salsa dancing or going to the beach.
"We revised the license application criteria to stress to applicants the seriousness of the requirements of the people-to-people licensing program, in part because of reports we received concerning travel under the licenses," Jeff Braunger, OFAC's program manager for Cuba travel licensing, said by email.
John McAuliff, executive director for the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, an organization working to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba, as it did with Vietnam, said he doubted that was the case.
"OFAC is accommodating Senator Rubio and other hard liners who oppose all travel because it undermines their narrative about isolating evil Cuba," McAuliff said.
Hopes for a significant improvement in relations when Obama took office were soon dashed when Cuba arrested U.S. contractor Alan Gross in December 2009 for illegally bringing internet equipment into the country and setting up Wi-Fi networks. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Since then hostile rhetoric between Washington and Havana has picked up and immigration and mail service talks have once more been put on hold.
CLARITY OR OBFUSCATION
The United States banned travel to Cuba under sanctions put in place soon after the 1959 Revolution, but has gone back and forth ever since on whether Cuban Americans and professionals should visit the "enemy" 90 miles away.
Obama lifted all restrictions on Cuban Americans visiting home, and in December 2010 reversed a Bush administration ban on professional research, religious and people-to-people travel.
An estimated 350,000 to 400,000 Americans visited Cuba in 2011, the vast majority of Cuban heritage.
The new regulations require detailed itineraries of each traveling group, reports upon their return and explanations about each member's "meaningful interchange" with ordinary Cubans.
Applications can now run more than 100 pages, compared with fewer than 10 pages in the past.
Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Charters, said the new regulations, while far more onerous than those issued when the program began, lacked the very transparency Braunger said they provided.
"What do they mean by such phrases as you must demonstrate travelers' 'meaningful interchange' with Cubans during each of four activities, each day of the trip, and then give the result of that 'meaningful interchange?'" asked Guild, in Havana this week to sort out hotel reservations for clients left waiting for licenses.
"When a group thinks they have complied with the restrictions in the applications, and we're talking now about some of the most prestigious groups in the United States such as the Smithsonian Institute and National Geographic, Treasury says no, we need more," Guild told Reuters.
"What more do you need, the organizations ask, and OFAC says ‘we can't tell you that but we need more,'" he said.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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"There is a need for toughening of licensing norms and legislature has to keep this in mind", the bench said.
The stinging remarks came while the court was hearing a petition filed by children homes Chatravas and Arya orphanage challenging government's refusal to grant them license under the Women and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956 and insisting on registration under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The Delhi government and union women and child development ministry opposed the plea saying that all children homes in the country have to be registered under the JJ Act 2006 which subject them to supervision, monitoring and periodic inspections by child welfare committee of the government even if they have licenses under any other law.
Arguing for the homes, senior lawyer Maninder Singh said "an institution which has licence under the Women and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956 did not require registration under the JJ Act.
"The JJ Act has its own field and does not override the women and children's institutions act. Moreover JJ Act is not applicable to independent private philanthropic institutions but for those run by government", argued Singh.
The stand of the centre was that a clear policy framework for the entire country has been laid out and Women and Children Institutions (Licensing) Act has no value as it stood repealed even since the JJ Act came into being in 2006. But Singh said the option should be licensing under Women and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act or Orphanage and other charitable institutions Act even if the JJ Act was applicable in a state. | <urn:uuid:e99265d8-9fc1-4e63-b5e6-1697792d2bba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/1021701.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969835 | 317 | 1.703125 | 2 |
By Craig Stephen
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Investors have always needed a different tool-kit when it comes to deciphering China’s monetary policy. Now it needs another update as new funding sources explode.
Traditionally in China’s state-driven economy, monetary policy has been about the quantity of money rather than interest rates. Whereas in the U.S. all eyes are on the Fed’s rate policy, in China, it’s typically loan quotas that make the headlines.
Investors have also grown used to bank lending as a proxy for economic growth, given so many loans go to fixed asset investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). If you want faster growth, simply look at the pace of lending, particularly by the “Big Four” state banks that can supply up to half of all domestic lending.
China's economic comeback
China's gross domestic product rose 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012 from a year earlier.
Using the old tool-kit would suggest authorities see slower growth in the year ahead. Reports suggests China’s “Big Four” banks have nearly 3 trillion yuan ($482.63 billion) /quotes/zigman/4869230/sampled USDCNY +0.0196% in new lending quotas for 2013, up only slightly from 2012.
China’s banks are believed to have extended 8.3 trillion yuan in local currency loans last year and its central bank has a target of 8.5 trillion yuan this year, according to reports.
But this misses the real funding picture. Bank lending is becoming much less important after an explosion in trust loans and corporate bond issuance in the past year.
New figures reveal bank loans now accounts for just 52% of the economy’s total fund raising — a record low. In fact, trust loans surged 679% in December alone to 264 billion yuan from a year earlier, according to new bank data last week.
China’s banks are believed to have extended 8.3 trillion yuan in local currency loans last year and its central bank has a target of 8.5 trillion yuan this year, according to reports. But this misses the real funding picture. Bank lending is becoming much less important after an explosion in trust loans and corporate bond issuance in the past year.
Helpfully, China has now coined a new term to measure these emerging funding channels “Total Social Financing” (TSF). This measures total fund raising in the economy, including not just bank lending, but trust loans and bonds, which were up 23% last year.
This means in retrospect, for much of last year, the market was tracking the wrong indicators.
If we rewind to early in 2012, mainland authorities were criticized for not more aggressively loosening policy, despite signs the economy was lumbering further into a slowdown.
One theory was China’s banks were facing supply constraints as deposit growth slowed and bank loans to provincial governments were rolled over, rather than repaid.
Many analysts argued a slowdown in bank lending was unavoidable after earlier lending sprees.
And while bank lending started strong in 2012, it continued to decline.
After April saw bank lending peak at 1 trillion yuan, monthly lending continued to fall, ending the year at roughly half that in November and December. | <urn:uuid:24fc0e35-59af-4912-ae1a-63e4b322c046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-risky-new-money-supply-2013-01-20?siteid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96082 | 688 | 1.640625 | 2 |
[Paris, April–May 1780
[salute] My dear Portia
Yesterday We went to see the Garden of the King, Jardin du Roi, and his Cabinet of natural History, Cabinet d'Histoire naturell.
The Cabinet of natural History is a great Collection, of Metals, Mineral[s], shells, Insects, Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and presscious stones. They are arranged in good order, and preserved in good condition, with the name of every thing beautifully written on a piece of paper annexed to it. There is also a Collection of Woods and marbles.
The garden is large and airy, affording fine Walks between Rows of Trees. Here is a Collection from all Parts of the World, of all the plants, Roots and Vegetables that are used in medicine, and indeed of all the Plants and trees in the World.
A fine Scaene for the studious youth in Physick or Philosophy. It was a public day. There was a great deal of Company, and I had opportunity only to take a cursory view. The whole is very curious. There is an handsome statue of Mr. Buffon, the great natural Historian whose Works you have,2
whose labours have given fame to this Cabinet and Garden. When shall We have in America, such Collections? The Collection of American Curiosities that I saw at Norwalk in Connecticutt made by Mr. Arnold, which he afterwards to my great mortification sold to Gov. Tryon, convinces me, that our Country affords as ample materials, for Collections of this nature as any part of the World.3
Five midshipmen of the Alliance, came here last night, Marston, Hogan, Fitzgerald and two others, from Norway, where they were sent with Prizes, which the Court of Denmark were absurd and unjust enough, to restore to the English. They however treated the Officers and People well, and defrayed their Expences. They say the Norwegians were very angry, with the Court of Copenhagen, for delivering up these Vessells. It was the Blunder of Ignorance, I believe, rather than any ill Will.
Every day when I ride out, without any particular Business to do, or Visit to make, I order my servant to carry me to some place where I never was before, so that at last I believe I have seen all Paris, and all the fields and scenes about it, that are near it. It is very pleasant.
Charles is as well beloved here as at home. Wherever he goes, every body loves him. Mr. D[ana] is as fond of him, I think as I am. He learns very well.
There is a Volume in folio just published here, which I Yesterday, run over at a Booksellers shop. It is a description and a copper Plate of all the Engravings upon precious stones in the Collection of the Duke of Orleans. The stamps are extreamly beautiful, and are representations of the Gods and Heroes of Antiquity, with most of the fables of their Mithology. Such a Book would be very usefull to the Children in studiing the Classicks, but it is too dear—3 Guineas, unbound.
There is every Thing here that can inform the Understanding, or refine the Taste, and indeed one would think that could purify the Heart. Yet it must be remembered there is every thing here too, which can seduce, betray, deceive, deprave, corrupt and debauch it. Hercules marches here in full View of the Steeps of Virtue on one hand, and the flowery Paths of Pleasure on the other—and there are few who make the Choice of Hercules.4
That my Children may follow his Example, is my earnest Prayer: but I sometimes tremble, when I hear the syren songs of sloth, least they should be captivated with her bewitching Charms and her soft, insinuating Musick. | <urn:uuid:bf572460-d9fd-4f05-9d98-4fc1496ebf67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.masshist.org/publications/apde/portia.php?mode=p&id=AFC03p333 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970398 | 835 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Although, as Orin Kerr (GWU) notes, probable cause is one of the fundamental concepts of Fourth Amendment law, the Supreme Court has resisted quantification. Insofar as this blog tilts favorably toward all things quantitative, as an initial proposition such resistance strikes us as less than optimal. Of course, not all initial propositions withstand careful analysis. Indeed, Kerr's paper, Why Courts Should Not Quantify Probable Cause, benefits from an on-the-ground and granulated understanding of probable cause and articulates a persuasive (if counter-intutitive) non-empirical position. The abstract follows.
"This essay argues that courts should not quantify probable cause because quantification would produce less accurate probable cause determinations. The core problem is that information critical to probable cause is often left out of affidavits in support of warrants: Although affidavits say what techniques police tried that added to cause, they generally leave out both what the police tried that did not add to cause and what techniques the police never tried. Determining probable cause accurately often requires this information, however. By leaving probable cause unquantified, current law enables judges to use their intuition and situation-sense to recognize when missing information is likely important to assessing probable cause. Quantification would lead to less accurate probable cause determinations by disabling those intuitions, creating the false impression that the information provided in the affidavit is the only relevant information. Cognitive biases such as the representativeness heuristic and anchoring effects would allow the government to create the false impression that a low-probability event was actually a high-probability event. To ensure accurate probable cause determinations, then, probable cause should remain unquantified. The result is counter-intuitive but true: Knowing less about probable cause improves how the standard is applied." | <urn:uuid:3046d678-f758-4101-882a-fa76cdf094bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_studi/2011/04/why-knowing-less-means-knowing-more-in-the-probable-cause-context.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925508 | 367 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Air conditioning: An essential part of hair care?
My wife and I live in the northwest corner of Georgia, and she insists on running her car's air conditioner at all times -- winter, summer, spring, fall, day, night, doesn't matter. While I don't mind using it when it's hot, I think using it in winter does nothing but waste gas (as your engine does have to work harder when the air is on). But she thinks that by running it in the winter, it will keep her hair nice because, according to her, it keeps the humidity low.
When we drive somewhere together, sometimes I can sneak my hand over and turn it off while she's not looking, and, after the inevitable argument that results from my surreptitious action, I can't ever tell any difference in her hair. But she insists that she can. We've argued back and forth about this for 10 years now, and I think it is finally time we settled it once and for all. Should I consult a hairstylist on this question, or can you guys help us end this argument? -- Jeff
TOM: Jeff, here's what you need to realize: Once your wife divorces you, she'll use the air conditioning whenever she wants, since she'll be getting the car. And you'll be living in a refrigerator box.
RAY: My brother knows whereof he speaks, Jeff. When he got divorced the second time, he had to downsize to a studio refrigerator box.
TOM: You need to give it a rest, man. You've been on her case for 10 years over this? Who cares? If she says it makes her hair look better, then it looks better.
RAY: She's probably right. Using the air conditioner decreases the humidity in the air. And everybody knows that humid days are bad-hair days. Of course, humid days for me are "no hair days." Just like every other day.
TOM: On many cars, the air conditioner automatically goes on when you turn on the defroster. Why? For the same reason your wife uses it: To remove moisture from the air and clear water vapor off the inside of the windshield faster. If you've got one of those cars, you're using the AC in the winter whether you know it or not.
RAY: So, consider the facts, Jeff: (A) She's right. (B) You're being a pest. And (C) a divorce is much more expensive than the small amount of gas she's using to run the air conditioner. So you decide the best course of action here.
TOM: And let me know if you need a refrigerator box. I may have to downsize again soon. | <urn:uuid:4ca0e2d8-443f-47fa-ab8d-189c50e22c13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cartalk.com/content/air-conditioning-essential-part-hair-care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959515 | 570 | 1.539063 | 2 |
When the governor and legislators talk about balancing the California budget, they’re talking about closing the gap between revenues and required expenditures, either by increasing the former or reducing the latter. The task becomes more difficult by the minute.
Looming on the not-too-distant horizon, however, are some other huge obligations that elected officeholders have chosen to ignore because acknowledging them would make closing the chronic budget gap just that much harder.
There is, for example, a potentially huge increase in the “contribution” that the state must make to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to cover public pensions.
CalPERS has seen its once-immense investment portfolio shrink dramatically, due to recession and some boneheaded investments, such as a $1 billion haircut on raw land in Southern California. Big increases in pension benefits, enacted a decade ago, are also a factor. CalPERS won’t tell the state how much its boost will be until sometime next year, but it could be hefty, unless CalPERS postpones the pain by stretching out the bite over several years — which would merely postpone the pain.
An even bigger headache is a new requirement that state and local governments identify and quantify their obligations for providing healthcare to their retired employees. The state auditor’s office and an advisory commission told the state two years ago that its unfunded liability for healthcare is $48 billion.
State officials were advised to commit $3.73 billion during the current fiscal year to begin shrinking the unfunded liability, but the state is paying just $1.36 billion to cover its current costs.
The Legislature, under the sway of unions, rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to overhaul employee healthcare to save money, but he’s trying again, seeking to increase the amount of time it takes new state employees to earn lifetime health benefits, boosting it from 20 to 25 years.
The state auditor’s office says in a new report that $4.71 billion would be needed in 2009-10 — this year’s unfunded deficit, next year’s current costs and next year’s share of the unfunded amount. It’s like a high-interest credit card debt that continues to grow when a cardholder makes only minimum payments.
Those numbers don’t count future healthcare costs for University of California or court-system retirees, estimated at $13 billion. Nor do they include retirees from local school districts and local governments, another $58.7 billion.
Some of the latter have begun to set aside money for retiree healthcare, the auditor’s office says in its report, but the state, the university and the court system have not. The state’s total retiree healthcare headache is about $120 billion — more than the entire one-year state general fund budget — and growing steadily.
One can understand the politicians’ reluctance to set aside money from a budget that’s already awash in red ink. But how long can they ignore this ticking fiscal time bomb?
— Dan Walters writes for the Sacramento Bee. E-mail him at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:679364c7-5439-4bfb-9c13-e4f7297c6ff5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/may/20/big-costs-loom-for-california-beyond-todays/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951315 | 659 | 1.625 | 2 |
Google debuts news timelineGoogle just unveiled its latest innovation – a News Timeline, which provides short bursts of news from a variety of sources in a chronological grid. You start with Time and Wikipedia as your default sources but you add to those from a smattering of other sources (Rolling Stone blogs to the Vegetarian Times to sports scores), photos, books and more.
Google’s news sources include stories from Google News Search, recent and historical news, scanned newspapers and magazines, blog posts, sports scores, and information about various types of media, such as music albums and movies.
You can set a digest for daily news or, say, check out the news on the day you were born (or in other words, spend a lot more time playing with this than you probably really want).
Some of the source materials are kind of sparse, for example, newspaper choices. But if you’re looking for a quick fix on select news sources or a historical search for a particular date or subject, you could find yourself doodling over the timeline. | <urn:uuid:67bcb5b1-e46d-4cf5-8755-821b460f06be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/google-debuts-news-timeline/printarticle/150701/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938611 | 216 | 1.726563 | 2 |
National Study of Antibiotic Use in Emergency Department Visits for Pneumonia, 1993 Through 2008
Academic Emergency Medicine, 05/21/2012
Neuman MI et al. - Emergency department (ED) visit rates for pneumonia increased slightly from 1993 through 2008. Although antibiotic administration in the ED has increased for adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), guideline-concordant antibiotics may not be consistently administered.Methods
- Data were obtained from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) for ED visits during 1993 through 2008 for adults with a diagnosis of pneumonia.
- During the study period there were an estimated 23,252,000 pneumonia visits, representing 1.8% of all ED visits.
- The visit rate for pneumonia during this 16-year period may have increased (p trend = 0.055).
- Overall, 66% of adult patients with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia had documentation of an antibiotic administered while in the ED.
- There was an increase in antibiotic administration for adults with pneumonia from 1993 through 2008 (49% to 80%; p trend<0.001).
- Specifically, there was an increase in use of macrolides from 1993 to 2006 (20% to 30%, p trend<0.001) and a marked increase in use of quinolones from 0% to 39% from 1993 through 2008 (p trend<0.001).
- Penicillin and cephalosporin use remained stable.
- Use of an antibiotic consistent with 2007 IDSA/ATS guidelines increased from 22% (95% confidence interval [CI]=16% to 27%) of cases in 1993–1994 to 68% (95% CI=63% to 73%) of cases in 2007–2008 (p trend<0.001). | <urn:uuid:d192fe8f-a52e-471b-a386-18fc404ae5e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdlinx.com/physician-assistant/news-article.cfm/4076395/0/pneumonia/next/59?source=scroller | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918543 | 370 | 2.125 | 2 |
As far as history-altering events go, the Internet is pretty much on par with an alien race visiting earth and bestowing their technology upon us. We were a fairly simple society who typically had enough time each day to take care of our required tasks and still spend a few hours in front of the TV in the evening. Information about the world came to us sporadically and always adhered to schedules and regimens. If you wanted breaking news, you had to wait for the news report on TV or radio or pick up a newspaper the next morning on the way to work. Our only sources of information outside of what we could find via television and magazines were those old encyclopaedias most informed families had in their houses, access to a library or a university scholarship if you were driven enough to really understand a particular subject. All of which seems pretty archaic now but we were happy with it back then, we knew no other way of life.
Less than ten years ago we were still freaking out over the novelty of cellphones with colour screens, acronyms were still reserved for professional terminology and crossword puzzles and the Internet was still a fairly undeveloped child as far as creating interpersonal relationships were concerned. Then the rise of superstars like Google changed the way we found information and suddenly we all had the option of learning more about medicine without needing to obtain PhDs, about making cocktails without being barmen, about building pipe bombs without going to terrorist meetings. IM applications like Skype, Yahoo and MSN Messenger dragged obscure IRC users out from the underbelly of the lonely internet geeks club and into the embrace of mainstream society. Suddenly talking to people online went from being creepy and weird to being the new cool. Meanwhile Napster, however unintentionally, instilled a strong activism in everyday people to fight for the right to access information freely. In the past, if you wanted information or entertainment, you would have to pay for it. Which was fine, until the day we were offered the impression of being unshackled from those restrictions. Suddenly we could roam the world and access any point on the planet from our living rooms, bedrooms and offices. The internet gave every average person a feeling of entitlement, that feeling that they now had the right to know more and have more, share more...and that payment should become as obsolete as the CDs and books we used to buy from stores. Generation X was withering while the new generation of information junkies rose from the shadows of isolation like a ravenous army of soldier ants after a long winter underground. Everything was about to change.
As much as the internet had matured to that stage where it made sense to start making it a more personal experience, people just weren’t quite ready for what was about to happen to their perception of privacy. Youtube and MySpace lay out an exciting new path of possibility for every person with internet access. Suddenly you could build a profile and share your ideas, photos and experiences with the world. Humanity was hooked. Then Facebook surfaced from the most unexpected source and the developed world went into a frenzy. The notion that ‘if you didn’t have a Facebook profile, you didn’t exist’, soon became a very real perception to people around the world. Everyone was putting themselves out there willingly, in a way that before would have been nothing short of overexposure and too much information. It would have been like walking around and showing random strangers your holiday photos and expecting them to happily comment on it. But in the virtual world the rules are very different. Here sharing your most private things was not only accepted, it was encouraged and even expected after a while. We were sucked into this new way of life so rapidly that the global phenomenon of an online life consumed our real lives and because it was such a new thing, there were no ground rules, no set agreed upon ethical conduct that decided where the lines should be drawn. The legal system had to rapidly adapt to facilitate laws to somewhat control online conduct and to this day we haven’t come close to establishing an internationally agreed upon way of behaving in an acceptable manner online. It was pretty much a matter of anything goes. The business world soon realized that the internet was no longer just a means for sending e-mail, it was becoming one very powerful tool of communication. And so social media marketing suddenly sprung up and the world went from being cursed by calls from telemarketers to being bombarded with spam e-mails and online advertising wherever they set a virtual foot. The world suddenly became a far more competitive place to live in, especially if you were a business entity. Battle lines were drawn and the fight went from who had the best newspaper advert to who had the most compelling and interesting website. Marketing went from being a push mechanism where people were force fed information through being bombarded, to a pull mechanism where people were invited to join a community and interact.
Blogs started sprouting up in the meantime and it went from being something people used to share recipes and write their opinions on politics or their love of kittens and knitting, to becoming a viable way of making a living for those smart enough to know how to utilize it. There was a huge argument among members of the media about blogs and whether a blogger should be considered a ‘real’ writer or not. Journalists would not be caught dead blogging as it was considered the inferior way of communicating. It was the poor man’s cheap imitation Ray Bans while they were the die-hard label devotees who would not dare so much as look at anything but the real deal. It was the greatest insult, knowing that they had studied for years and yet everywhere people were surfacing with no formal education and stealing their spotlight. But soon the walls starting crumbling, especially after a prominent New York Times journalist decided to hell with it and started to blog. He received endless amounts of flak from his peers and plenty of praise from the blogging community and before long, journalists and writers came to realize that blogging was not sacrilege after all.
The final straw of information restriction broke when Twitter was unleashed upon the world. While it took a while to catch on here in South Africa, it rapidly grew globally and became the one way of getting instant information about what was going on in the world. The power of Twitter was that, in the same way that blogging made any person a writer, Twitter could make any person a news reporter at the center of the action. Suddenly news broke not thanks to a journalist who got to the scene of an event an hour after it happened, but thanks to the people who were there and saw the whole thing first hand. Smartphones became the tools of evidence and suddenly everyone had the immense power in their hands to immediately let the world know what was going on, from anywhere. Of course, the downside of Twitter was that the rapid spread of information could easily stir up some very false stories. Several celebrities were declared dead, some with the misfortune of repeatedly suffering this fate, thanks to some online pyromaniacs who thought it’d be fun to set fire to a suggestion and watch the whole world go up in flames. In spite of the occasional negative effects of Twitter, it was still a powerful force to be reckoned with and world leaders had to sit up and take notice when they realized this new tool could create a tidal wave of rebellion in countries where such things were strictly forbidden. The world had become a global village in a way that made that term seem entirely ludicrous before now...and it was only shrinking more by the day.
So where does this leave us? In a matter of a few short years our very existence has been redefined by the technology that we’ve now merged with. And yet, we still don’t really know exactly how to make use of it optimally. People still over-expose themselves and live to regret it. Everyone is now a writer, a photographer, a marketer, an online expert. Everyone wants to have the full seven course meal that the online world has to offer and don’t want to miss out on anything. The oldest generation is left being robbed by phishing scams because they were never informed of the dangers of corrupt sharks that swim the virtual waters of our world, while the youngest generation has never known a life before the internet and smartphones and ends up thinking it’s normal to throw their thoughts and lives out there without any hesitation. The internet has become the free buffet table that everyone wants to gorge off of. Thanks to that we’re sitting with a global web that’s gasping under the weight of so much information that it’s become near impossible to find quality in all of that quantity. We have a massively over-saturated market where we can finally see just how much incredible talent there is out in the world, but at the same also recoil a bit at the clear reflection of what matters to humanity as a whole. It’s gone from being a giant hall filled with categorized think tanks where each one had a specific and unpolluted purpose, to now resembling the aftermath of an alcohol-drenched frat party where everyone just threw their personal belongings down and left it to pile up. I pity the cleaning service that has to try and organize this mess but ideally the internet should be a smooth and organized machine. One where you can find the information you seek and have it be valid and not speculation. One where the mad race between web services had finally hit a stable plateau and you know a website will be around in a year’s time and not be replaced by another new kid on the block with flashier clothes but ultimately the same moves and flaws. While we wait for things to balance out and for our phones to work without crashing and our social media websites to stop changing the formula and leaving millions of people having to figure out how to use it all over again, we need to learn to take a step back and find balance in how we prioritize our online lives against our real ones. Technology has brought us an amazing new means of living and learning, but we might well be forgetting how to actually live and interact face to face because of it. Once – and hopefully it does happen - we learn to make the internet and technology a tool to better life and not a replacement for life, we’ll begin to balance out our development and regain some perspective again.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received. | <urn:uuid:685fb791-8351-40f5-b0fa-6d6e8b492662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Race-against-the-Machine-20120116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981045 | 2,179 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Ralph Engelstad Arena at The University of North DakotaThis panorama was taken on January 14, 2012, in the world-class Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This panorama spotlights the National Anthem ceremony before the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota match-up, known as the final Fighting Sioux and Golden Gopher men's hockey game in which UND wore their jerseys featuring the historic Fighting Sioux logo. The Ralph Engelstad Arena, often referred to as "The Ralph," is located on the UND campus, seats 11,640 fans and is used primarily for hockey. The arena has been called one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world and was built by UND alumnus Ralph Engelstad. This panorama was taken by Christopher Gjevre. | <urn:uuid:8ac2fa7e-c243-4d90-9e2e-7d04509aac3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/detail_BL-255__234__northdakotahockey12bl.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967219 | 166 | 1.695313 | 2 |
New York State law requires that every dog over the age of 4 months be licensed annually in their local municipality.
Dog licenses in the Town of Perinton are issued by the Town Clerk's office at 1350 Turk Hill Road. Licenses can be obtained in person between the hours of and , or by mail. In order to obtain a dog license, proof of a current rabies vaccination and certification of spaying or neutering, if applicable, is required, along with a completed dog license application, and the appropriate licensing fee made payable to the Town of Perinton.
Dog license fees are as follows:
Spayed/neutered dogs $10.00
Unspayed/unneutered dogs $20.00
To view the Town of Perinton dog ordinance, please click here. | <urn:uuid:aad3e62e-e293-4b6c-ab69-50d59eb4bd03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.perinton.org/Departments/animal/doglic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948359 | 164 | 1.523438 | 2 |