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By ALICIA MUNDY And BILL TOMSON
(Please see Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture experts found growing sanitary problems including bugs and overflowing trash earlier this year on the Iowa farm at the center of the national egg recall, but didn't notify health authorities, according to government documents and officials.
The problems laid out in USDA daily sanitation reports viewed by The Wall Street Journal underscore the regulatory gaps that may have contributed to delays in discovering salmonella contamination. Tainted eggs sickened at least 1,470 Americans.
Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, recalled 380 million eggs in mid-August, but people likely began getting ill around May 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The USDA was the only federal body with a regular presence at Wright, but it says it wasn't responsible for safety. USDA graders were at a Wright egg-packing plant seven days a week to oversee designations such as "Grade A" on egg cartons.
The Food and Drug Administration, which has overall responsibility for egg safety but didn't inspect the Wright facility until this August, says it never heard from the USDA about problems such as dirt and mold. The two agencies have a formal understanding about the USDA giving the FDA notice over sanitary issues, but the USDA declined to give details.
The USDA said it didn't give notice because "the conditions at the egg plant packing facilities were routine."
If the USDA notifies the FDA that it has stopped grading due to a health issue, the FDA sends inspectors to the farm, and can ask the farm to stop shipping eggs.
Wright said its farms have maintained USDA approval and it "corrected immediately" any issues raised by the USDA. The company also has said it is working with FDA inspectors and has corrected many of the issues raised by the FDA. The USDA declined to give details.
Besides grading eggs at Wright County egg, the USDA workers also wrote a daily review of 22 categories of cleanliness. Reviews from last year and April of this year generally found conditions satisfactory.
Early Hints of Problems
See excerpts from USDA inspectors' reports on Wright County Egg.
Around mid-May, however, the marks shifted to "unsatisfactory" in several areas including some deemed "critical."
Over time, conditions grew worse and in July and August, a few critical areas were called unsatisfactory several days a week. The facility, Plant 1720, was supplying many of the eggs that were later recalled.
In written remarks, the USDA graders repeatedly noted problems with bugs, trash and egg residue. "The scanning equip[ment] had egg yolk everywhere," read an April 29 note. "Lots of bugs dead on the floor," read another on July 1.
The graders didn't stop production. The USDA says that is because they notified the plant manager each morning when they saw issues, and facilities were cleaned up before production began. "The egg graders did their jobs," the USDA said in a statement.
It isn't clear whether the sanitation problems identified by the USDA graders had anything to do with the salmonella contamination. The USDA only oversees pasteurized eggs and packing facilities, which are less likely to be contaminated by bacteria from live animals.
However, several members of Congress said the USDA missed an opportunity to raise an early alarm about safety that might have brought about a more timely federal response.
When the FDA finally did come for an inspection in August, it found many sanitation problems at Wright's henhouses including mice, maggots and manure piles as high as eight feet.
The FDA inspection found salmonella in feed and other places at Wright County facilities, but not in the packing area.
Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said he had raised questions with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about how his department forwards food-safety concerns. "In my oversight work, I've seen far too many federal agencies working in silos, failing to communicate with each other," Mr. Grassley said.
Even in the week of Aug. 15-21, after the FDA inspectors arrived at Wright County, they didn't know that USDA graders a few dozen feet away were marking their reports "unsatisfactory" day after day in critical areas, according to FDA officials.
FDA food official Jeff Farrar said the two agencies needed to improve communication and they were working on it.
USDA officials have repeatedly said safety of eggs isn't their job. They say badges such as "USDA Grade A" refer to the eggs' size and color, and consumers shouldn't interpret the grade as an indicator of safety.
Grading is optional for egg producers, but packaging eggs with a USDA shield allows them to charge more. The producers pay the USDA for the personnel.
Mr. Vilsack said this week: "Our people are focused on grading eggs. They are not necessarily focused on all of the other issues that the FDA had, and all the responsibilities FDA had."
Mr. Grassley said, "Just because food safety isn't 'my job' doesn't mean it should be ignored."
Corrections & Amplifications
Besides grading eggs at Wright County egg, the USDA workers also wrote a daily review of 22 categories of cleanliness. A previous version of this story mistakenly referred to them as FDA workers. | <urn:uuid:00424850-d85a-43c7-82f5-1e662252f7cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575482091768513872.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979124 | 1,102 | 2.21875 | 2 |
| Quote #1
I do not like people shouting at me. It makes me scared that they are going to hit me or touch me and I do not know what is going to happen. (5.5)
Sometimes Christopher is afraid of the things we're all afraid of: in this case, violence. He takes it one step further, though, and includes "touch" as a scary possibility.
| Quote #2
It is like being in France, which is where we went on holiday sometimes when mother was alive, to camp. And I hated it because if you went into a shop or a restaurant or on a beach you couldn't understand what anyone was saying which was frightening. (67.4)
The literal language barrier serves as a powerful illustration of Christopher's difficulty with more subtle kinds of communication, like body language and tone of voice. And, of course, his fearfulness in France at hearing words he doesn't understand is dwarfed by the daily occasions in which people express themselves in ways he's totally unable to interpret.
| Quote #3
So because it was a Super Good Day I decided to walk into the park with Mrs. Alexander even though it scared me. (97.73)
Isn't it amazing how Christopher can overcome his fears and limitations seemingly at will? Surely there isn't anything intrinsically special about having seen a few red cars in a row. What is that enables him to muster courage at these otherwise random moments? | <urn:uuid:7c24a818-fbbd-41e9-a3be-9fcd8898313f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/curious-incident/fear-quotes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986828 | 299 | 1.84375 | 2 |
ST.PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Alexei German, a Russian film director best known for his works offering a bitter view of life in the Soviet Union under dictator Josef Stalin, died Thursday, his son said.
German, 74, died of heart failure at a hospital in his hometown, St. Petersburg, his son, Alexei German Jr., said in a blog post.
German came to prominence internationally for his 1983 production "My Friend Ivan Lapshin" about a police investigator battling a criminal gang. Censors blocked the film's release for two years because of its realistic depiction of Soviet life in the wake of the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.
The release of the film heralded the era of reforms launched by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and was aired on Soviet television in 1986 to much clamor and public debate.
The production of "Khrustalyov, My Car," a grotesque narrative centered on Stalin's final days, endured multiple delays due to Russia's post-Soviet economic meltdown. It received a hostile reception at its Cannes premiere in 1998, but later attained cult status.
In a 2012 article, critic Anton Dolin observed that "to many Russian critics, cinephiles, and viewers, German is their national cinema's foremost figure after (Andrei) Tarkovsky."
"Others insist that, in fact, he is more important and more original," Dolin wrote.
German's output was typically starkly shot and marked in its emphasis on mood and oppressive atmosphere over traditional linear narrative. His films are unified by an unflinchingly critical view of Soviet history.
His first solo directorial work, "Trial on The Road" -- made in 1971 but barred from release until 1986 -- was based on a war story by his father, a famous novelist, and told the story of an escaped prisoner of war compelled to win back the trust of his comrades during World War II.
Although structurally conventional, the film drew the authorities' disapproval for German's unusual decision to make a hero of a character initially viewed as a Nazi collaborator.
Alexei German Jr., who is also a celebrated director, said work on his father's sixth and final film was all but done.
"The film 'It Is Hard to Be a God' is in effect finished. All that remains is the audio dubbing. Everything else is ready. It will be completed in the foreseeable future," he said.
German Jr. said his father worked on the film despite his failing health.
"The making of the film was long and painful," German Jr. said in a post on Ekho Mosky radio station's website. "It was made without government money."
Even before its release, the film has generated a lot of public expectations and intense discussion, with some seeing it as a stinging satire on President Vladimir Putin's Russia, full of grim predictions for the future.
The Lenfilm studio, with which German worked over his entire career, said his funeral would take place Sunday in St. Petersburg.
German is also survived by his wife, Svetlana Karmalita.
Peter Leonard contributed from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Philadelphia bicyclist has teamed up with a cat for tandem rides.
Morgan Freeman can't stay awake during a TV interview. (Video)
The Nickelodeon star's antics continue in New York City.
Vegas's Neon Museum offers night tours of nightlife icons. | <urn:uuid:5b63794d-46cd-460d-9068-7b7c6e505e76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtop.com/556/3230138/Acclaimed-Russian-film-director-Alexei-German-dies?nid=1229 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979379 | 739 | 1.835938 | 2 |
NPCC has the perfect course for you. Whether you are interested in watercolour, oil, acrylics, drawing, life drawing, or developmental programs offering critiques, we have a class for you.
Adult Spring 2013 Course Calendar
Critique! Studio Course with Steve Rose
Award winning instructor Steve Rose will share his insight and experience through the critique and analysis of students’ art. Bring in any works in progress or dust off those pieces you have given up on. Learn from the mistakes and successes of your peers while finding ways to introduce more of yourself into your work. This course is open to all levels, in any media or style you choose.
Watercolour for Beginners with Martha Bull
Many people are intimidated by watercolour, either because it has a reputation for being difficult to handle or because they have tried it and found it troublesome. This course will get you working in watercolour quickly with beautiful luminous results. Open to absolute beginners and intermediate watercolourists who want to try a new way to work with this exciting medium.
Basics and Beyond with Louise Zych
For beginners, seasoned artists in need of a shake-up and those in between, this course can be tailored to meet your needs and will keep you moving on your creative journey. Painting and drawing in a variety of media will be explored, with emphasis on strong compositions, value design, and colours that sing. Students are free to try any media (except oils, please). Satisfy both sides of the brain by thoughtfully designing your painting, drawing or other artwork without sacrificing spontaneity and life. There will be a brief discussion about an art related topic (theory, materials, history) in each class.
Collagraph Printmaking with Victoria Cowan
Collagraph prints are known for their richness of colour and texture; the plates are built up by gluing materials to a support, so no drawing skill is required, just a sense of play and lots of interesting scraps. Rich colour & texture are created with the simplest methods and materials in collagraph printmaking using non-toxic inks. Explore all the variations of the piece on its own and/or plan to combine it with your painting & drawing practice.
Figurative Art with Kim Lee Kho
Working with a model, we will use the human form to explore a broad range of artistic and technical issues. Beginning with the foundation of drawing -- central to the art of seeing and a simple, versatile medium for exploration -- we will also incorporate other media to broaden our scope, supported by weekly examination and discussion of artworks by historical and contemporary artists.
Push Your Painting with Kal Honey
An artistic adventure! Challenge your preconceptions about what constitutes painting and how it might be done. You will be encouraged to be as adventurous as possible in your media combinations, approach and subject matter. Each week will focus on a different artistic idea, movement, or process. Regardless of our starting point, you’ll always have plenty of creative leeway to take things in your own direction. All levels and abilities are welcome: the only prerequisites are an open mind and an adventurous spirit. All water-based media are acceptable, and will be used on their own and in conjunction with drawing materials.
Painting Studio with Kal Honey
A challenging and supportive environment in which to further your self-directed painting practice. Group discussion and plenty of personal attention will enable you to better understand and develop your artistic vision. Already excited with your current direction? Come develop it – push it further. Stuck? Come get unblocked in a creative, non-threatening environment. Starting out? Come explore the vast array of options and start to find your path, your voice. Each session begins with a brief look at the work of a particular painter or movement as inspiration, and if desired, individual challenges can be set in consultation one-on-one with the instructor.
Drawing: Explorations in Media and Technique with Helen McCusker
For students who have some drawing experience and are looking for ways to expand their drawing repertoire, become more proficient, and learn new ways of seeing. This class will explore the use of Chalk Pastels, Oil Pastels, coloured pencils and Watercolour pencils. We will study colour, composition and technique. Have fun improving your drawing skills in a supportive environment!
Beyond Picasso with Steve Rose
Learn to paint in a free, expressive way. This popular course encourages students to take new creative paths in their work. Learn the difference between abstract and non-objective painting. Apply your knowledge of depth, shape, form and contrast to the exciting technique of non-objective painting to achieve a freer expression of style in all your work.
Life Drawing Studio
No instructor – for independent and/or experienced artists. Life Drawing is a classic study and the Human Figure offers endless opportunities to take your work to the next level. Expand your repertoire and explore the joys of Figure drawing! $100 for ten classes or $15 drop-in fee (if space allows).
Abstract Watercolor with Bianka Guna
The perfect opportunity to get started painting in watercolour or explore new modern techniques. Each class will cover new topics related to water colour materials, basic techniques, colour theory, elements of design and composition, presentation and critique. These non –objective watercolour classes are designed to help any student, beginner or intermediate. Weekly demonstrations will encourage and inspire students, to take the medium to another level! | <urn:uuid:3fd509c1-9ee0-4bc5-bdab-0470949f6086> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://neilsonparkcreativecentre.com/programs/adult-classes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931107 | 1,118 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Jonathan Chin & Alan Stern Present
Everything that you've ever wanted to know about the U.S. Constitution is only a click away! This site is dedicated to providing students of all kinds with knowledge of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. Dive in by choosing an option at left or using the search engine below.
Here's a quick guide to the content of this site; use the buttons at left to access it.
Constitution -- A complete copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights with plain-english explanations, as well as notes on the more significant clauses.
Origins -- In-depth background on the Constitution. Includes English heritage, influential documents, and famous philosophers.
Creation -- A look at the happenings of the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, the event that spawned the Constitution.
Issues -- Controversial Constitutional issues both past and present that have faced the nation.
Court Cases -- Information on landmark Supreme Court Cases that impacted American government and society.
Messages -- Two message boards for the exchange of ideas. One's just for discussion of constitutional topics, the other for questions and answers. Get involved!
About Us -- Want to know all about the raving lunatics who created this site? Click above!
If the topics at left don't seem to fit what you're looking for, try our search engine.
[ Feedback ]
Questions? Comments? We'd appreciate anything you'd like to tell us about this site.
This web site is best viewed with:
[ Constitution ] [ Origins ] [ Creation ] [ Issues ]
[ Court Cases ] [ Messages ] [ About Us ]
© Copyright 1997 Jonathan Chin & Alan Stern | <urn:uuid:d3b42b5b-0d31-4553-9e5c-0d19d3ec25da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/index.html?tqskip=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907511 | 346 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Randomized Study of ON 01910.Na in Refractory Myelodysplastic Syndrome Patients With Excess Blasts
Diseases and Conditions Researched
What is the purpose of this trial?Although researchers do not know what causes MDS, they do know its symptoms and effects. In MDS, although the bone marrow can still make some blood cells, very few of these cells are released into the blood for use in the body. Therefore, patients with MDS often need transfusions of red blood cells for anemia, platelet transfusions for low platelet counts or bleeding, and antibiotics for serious infections that occur because of low white blood cell counts. MDS may cause an accumulation of abnormal cells called blasts, and this puts patients at a high risk of developing leukemia. The purpose of this study is to determine how well a drug called ON 01910.Na works on people with MDS and to study the safety of ON 01910.Na when it is given to people with MDS.
Click here for detailed participation information for this trial.
How will my information be used?
When you express interest in a specific study, the information from your profile will be sent to the doctor conducting that study. If you're eligible to participate, you may be contacted by a nurse or study coordinator.
If you select a health category rather than a specific study, doctors who have active studies in that area may contact you to ask if you would like to participate.
In both cases, you will be contacted by the preferred method (email or phone) that you specified in your profile. | <urn:uuid:ab2b0650-2f1f-4fbf-b282-0de7f64afc1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yalestudies.org/clinicalTrials/displayTrial.asp?nctID=Yale7332836 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918793 | 327 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Local lessons, global audiences
Books and bytes ... Oscar Rowell sells his book online. Photo: Domino Postiglione
The paint is dry on the page, the last word has been written and the glue on the science project has set. But rather than just handing their school work to a teacher, students can now also broadcast their creations across the world, allowing anyone to view and rate their work.
Via blogs, podcasts and online games, pupils are opening themselves up to public criticism and sharing their school work with audiences on a scale never previously possible.
This made me think there's a different way of using my mind.
Publishing their work so openly might seem a risky approach but it is generally a better learning experience than traditional teaching and school performances alone, the director of innovation at Northern Beaches Christian School, Stephen Collis, says.
Not only do students receive honest feedback, they also observe each other's ideas and develop better awareness about internet safety. Most importantly, they are more motivated to produce quality work and are better engaged in the classroom.
"It teaches them their voice is valuable, worth listening to and worth publishing," Collis says. "Staff find it revitalises and invigorates their classes. It makes everything easier because the kids actually care about what they're doing."
At his school, the Real Audience Project allows children from kindergarten to year 12 to publish their school work via the web. Students sell print books via Lulu to generate income to support the school's community work, and their radio station, Booralie FM, broadcasts looped interviews, music and fake advertisements via podcasts in iTunes. And like many other students across the state, they use blogs to share their ideas about anything from poetry to science.
While teachers monitor the content and comments that are published, the project demands little of their time and resources and allows students to guide their own learning.
Some of the students' webpages have attracted up to 30,000 visitors but even a few clicks have an enormous psychological effect, Collis says. "There's a real buzz when some random person gives feedback."
A year 10 student, Oscar Rowell, is one of about 20 students at the school who sell their work online. His children's book, The Adventures of Marlin and Woody, follows the story of a boy and his dog who sail to an island. Publishing his writing has boosted his academic confidence and changed his attitude to education.
"I'm not very interested in normal learning but this made me think there's a different way of using my mind," Rowell says.
In North Parramatta, year 7 technology students at Tara Anglican School for Girls design simple games using a program and online community developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On Friday the girls will upload their first creations to the Scratch website, where anyone can test, play or comment on them. Students must test, revise and evaluate each project and develop software skills along the way. The finished products will join more than 1.5 million Scratch projects from around the world.
The project co-ordinator at the school, Daryl Hinton, says the goal is for students to tailor their games to specific audiences and understand what makes programs enjoyable.
"Developing projects for real-world audiences involves a lot of problem-solving skills and critical thinking, and that's a huge motivator for the girls," Hinton says. "You often find with boys that they're happy to tinker just for play's sake whereas girls have a lot more interest in making something for a particular context or an audience."
Gaming is also at the forefront at Covenant Christian School in Belrose, where one student designed a chess app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. For a year 12 assignment, Matthew Betts borrowed a device from his school to create the Chess4 app, which is now free to download via Apple's App Store.
At the same school, year 5 students have made stop-motion clay animations for YouTube. The finished products may not be perfect but their teacher, Emma Clemens, says the children took great pride in making a film from scratch and followed every subsequent click.
"The students learnt so much about narrative and captivating the interest of an audience," Clemens says. "They love being able to share [their videos] with everyone – it gives them a real purpose and they feel like they're real movie makers."
Websites are another popular way for students to reach out to different communities. A year 12 student at Redlands in Cremorne, James Lockrey, is designing a site for the gaming company Chaos Theory Games, which he and two friends are working on. By publishing concept versions of their games at chaostheorygames.com, the trio hope to attract investors and build a community of gaming enthusiasts who test them.
Another group of teenagers who have created their own online portal is the student media group at Clancy Catholic College at West Hoxton. They keep the community up to date with school events at Clancy College News by publishing articles, uploading videos and scrolling Twitter posts. Like a real media outlet, student reporters pitch their ideas and story angles at regular news conferences.
"I always like to get feedback and when people reply on the videos it's always good to see comments – they form a part of the learning process," a year 11 student who runs the group, Peter Richardson, says.
But not all schools use the web to reach out to their communities. At St Monica's Catholic Parish Primary School in North Parramatta, students have launched a community radio station on 92.5FM, which they can broadcast across a five-kilometre radius. And later this year, Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College in Burwood will open a cafe and restaurant to the public, where senior high school students will practise cooking and hospitality skills.
On the north coast, science students from Ballina High School help run a marine discovery and resource centre that welcomes tourists, students from other schools and club groups.
The students help maintain about 40 fish tanks, give presentations to younger visitors and man stalls at community events.
"Kids are very effective at passing on knowledge," the school's head science teacher, Mick O'Connor, says.
"[The centre] gives them a greater sense of responsibility and a positive attitude to the marine environment." | <urn:uuid:66a8cf2b-764b-44ea-b82e-228c68fa2d18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/local-lessons-global-audiences-20110328-1cctl.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965359 | 1,296 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Effect of a network of no-take reserves in increasing catch per unit effort and stocks of exploited reef fish at Nabq, South Sinai, Egypt
N. Galal, R. F. G. Ormond and O. Hassan
Marine and Freshwater Research
53(2) 199 - 205
Published: 22 April 2002
In 1995, in collaboration with local Bedouin fishermen, five no-take fisheries reserves were established within the Nabq Natural Resource Protected Area, South Sinai, Egyptian Red Sea. The abundance, size structure and catch of commercially targeted groupers (Serranidae), emperors (Lethrinidae) and snappers (Lutjanidae) were investigated before the establishment of these reserves, then in 1997 and again in 2000. By 1997, these fish had shown a significant increase in mean abundance within two of the no-take reserves. By 2000 each family and three individual species (Lethrinus obsoletus, Cephalopholis argus and Variola louti) had increased in abundance in the reserves. There were significant increases in mean individual length of the serranids Epinephelus fasciatus and C. argus and of the lethrinids L. nebulosus and Monotaxis grandoculis. Meanwhile, mean recorded catch per unit effort (CPUE) within the adjacent fished areas increased by about two-thirds (P <0.05) during the 5 years. The establishment of the no-take reserves appears to have played a key role in maintaining the sustainability of the fishery. The involvement of local Bedouin and fishermen in the co-management of fisheries resources was critical to the success of this initiative.
Full text doi:10.1071/MF01158
© CSIRO 2002 | <urn:uuid:34f70d7b-b751-4705-a6ff-b5e9d232c15b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MF01158.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921577 | 371 | 2.0625 | 2 |
1 And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel,
2 And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth,
3 And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether, and to Gezer; and the goings out thereof are at the sea.
4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
5 And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper;
6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;
7 And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan.
8 The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.
9 And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10 And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute. | <urn:uuid:b66dd34f-a7c0-4039-9705-cfab07cea6c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://christiananswers.net/bible/josh16.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955934 | 375 | 1.601563 | 2 |
MARCH 23, 1960
NEW YORK—This month has been named "Neighborhood Houses Month," and two important anniversaries fall in this year—the Jane Addams Centennial at Hull House in Chicago and the 60th anniversary of the United Neighborhood Houses in New York City.
United Neighborhood Houses is a federation of 50 settlement centers in New York City's most-troubled neighborhoods. These centers have moved as neighborhoods changed over the years, but many of them still exist.
Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of settlement houses in America. The contribution of these settlement houses has, of course, changed with the needs of the cities. But at all times they have been a great force for good in our City of New York, and nearly every big city in the country can tell the same story of the valuable contribution made by them in some neighborhoods of their cities.
In Hull House in Chicago Jane Addams not only trained many workers who affected the life of the city and later even of the nation, but she made out of her settlement house a center which affected the whole atmosphere of the city of Chicago.
My first social work as a girl of 18 was done on Rivington Street here in New York in an old settlement house. I can't say it was very important work for I was not a trained worker, but it kept children off the streets and it taught me an understanding of a side of life that might have remained to me a closed book if I had not come in close contact with settlement work.
In more recent years remarkable things have been done along these lines. For instance, there is the Neighborhood Conservation Program inaugurated by the Hudson Guild in the Chelsea area of New York City. And who has not watched the growth of the Henry Street Settlement's programs under Miss Lillian Wald and Helen Hall without surprise and gratitude! I will never forget Miss Wald and the influence she exerted. And there are many men, such as Herbert Lehman and Henry Morgenthau, who look back upon their experience with her as part of their education on social problems.
The whole lower East Side of New York City, where Henry Street and the old University Settlement and others are situated shows today the years of work and progress put in by so many workers. These people have worked with the youth; they have worked with the old; they have promoted better housing, an appreciation of art and, above all, they have taught low-income families how to live better without indulging in excessive installment buying that would lay them open to exploitation by unscrupulous credit merchants.
United Neighborhood Houses has inaugurated a joint supplemental fund-raising campaign to help member settlements meet rising deficits, expand existing services, and initiate important new ones. The settlements need to raise nearly $1,700,000 above the $5,500,000 they now raise in order that they may adequately supply the neighborhood services that are required to help with new migration, housing, delinquency and intergroup problems.
As slum areas are torn down in our cities the problem of housing in the interim before new buildings are erected is a very important and difficult one to meet. It requires trained personnel and knowledgeable people to appear before city and state bodies in their effort to be helpful in solving these housing difficulties.
Neighborhood Houses Month was established to call our citizens' attention to these needs, and I hope that all of us in whatever cities we reside will study our neighborhood houses and strengthen their position. | <urn:uuid:83c89130-1b7e-4316-ace5-003b76e87492> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1960&_f=md004700 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978294 | 703 | 2.4375 | 2 |
The Tax Man
My next step in setting up my photography business, Saguaro Shadows, was understanding the tax system. This will vary from state to state, and often city to city. But I think the steps I had to go through will be similar in most areas of the U.S. Federal Income Tax was pretty straight forward.
After talking to my accountant, he explained that my income drawn from photography could be reported on my normal income taxes, since at this point, photography was a side business, and not my primary income. I will not have to report estimate income tax on the photography business on a quarterly basis until it reaches a significant percentage of my regular income. He gave me a target figure to keep in mind.
Next, I had to come to an understanding of the state and local sales taxes. The state of Arizona is unique from most other states in this regard. Rather than a strict "sales" tax, Arizona has a Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT). The easiest way to explain the difference between sales tax and TPT is to refer to the Wikipedia definition:
"Transaction privilege tax (TPT) refers to a gross receipts tax levied by the State of Arizona on certain persons for the privilege of conducting business in the state. TPT differs from the ?true? sales tax imposed by many other U.S. states as it is imposed upon the seller or lessor rather than the purchaser or lessee. The seller/lessor may pass the burden of the tax on to the purchaser/lessee, but the seller or lessor is the party that remains ultimately liable to Arizona for the tax."
Thus in Arizona, you have a choice. As an example, you can charge someone $100 for a service, and $8.20 in TPT. Or you charge them a straight $100, and then pay 8.2% of your $100 as TPT to the city and state, hiding the "sales tax" from your customer's bill. I also discovered that the city of Tucson and the State of Arizona collected the TPT income separately. This varies in Arizona depending on what city you live in, but it holds the same for most of the larger cities in Arizona. In addition to registering my business as an LLC with the state of Arizona, I also needed to register as a business with the State of Arizona, and the City of Tucson. For the city, I contacted the Business License office through their website for help. They responded by email and recommended I come down to their city hall offices for assistance. They were quite helpful in the process. After registering with the city, I now automatically receive a form every month in the mail that I fill out and return with a check for what I owe the city in TPT income. The State of Arizona was quite similar. Through the state's Department of Revenue website, I was able to register for a state business license. The state also sends me a form each month, but I can also pay online through their website. Before starting your own business, you should consider doing the following:
• Visit a tax accountant
• Contact your city's business license office for information.
• Contact your state government for information.
Most cities and states have websites that can provide you with much of the required information. If you still have questions, the people in the government offices are generally very willing to help. After all, it's in their best interests to encourage new business and bring in more tax dollars!
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The Tax Man.
TrackBack URL for this entry: | <urn:uuid:5bd5ace2-7e23-42e4-8568-a3ce48bbc091> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nikonians.org/rickpaul/2009/02/the-tax-man.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971544 | 737 | 1.53125 | 2 |
- Historic Sites
Fort Smith National Historic Site
A visit to the Fort Smith National Historic Site begins at the Visitor Center, located in the former barracks/courthouse/jail buildings. On the grounds of the park visitors can see the site of the first fort, the Trail of Tears Overlook on the Arkansas River, the Commissary building, and reconstructed gallows. Paved, handicap accessible paths makes walking to the sites easy, but visitors should plan on spending up to an hour to tour the grounds of the park. | <urn:uuid:37506298-a10d-4084-8977-3e683d98ce7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanheritage.com/content/fort-smith-national-historic-site | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930032 | 109 | 2.328125 | 2 |
'I escaped from Homs in February," said Abu Mohammed as his three children played in a nursery yard in Damascus. "We moved to Seida Zeinab and then that was bombed last month." All over the Syrian capital, in schools, hotels and houses, tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes because of war are now living in misery. They include hundreds who moved from other cities to what they thought was the safety of Damascus and have had to flee again.
Attacks on the capital's outlying districts continue relentlessly. In the leafy residential streets of central Damascus, the crump of distant artillery is a regular sound. People no longer shrink in horror but merely shrug and carry on.
The cafes halfway up the tawny brown ridge of Mount Qassioun, which stretches along the city's northern edge, remain open but visitors have to pass army checkpoints to get there, under the big guns on the plateau above.
As destruction creeps nearer, the mood has changed dramatically in the six months since I was last here. People on all sides – government sympathisers, opposition supporters and civilians who waver in the middle – all feel that Syria has become a victim and a plaything taken over by foreigners. "The situation is no longer in the hands of Syrians. We are pawns in a big game," said Youssef Abdelke, a leading artist.
Whatever awaits them in the next few months, whether a change of regime, a political compromise or – the most likely scenario in the minds of people I spoke to – a further intensification of war, they feel it will be decided by outsiders.
Discussion among Damascenes no longer centres on whether to support change or stick with the status quo for fear that the alternative to Bashar al-Assad's regime will be worse. The focus is on priorities. Which objective is more urgent: to stop the killing or to topple a regime that has shown greater resilience than many predicted?
The argument that the opposition should negotiate with the regime about reform was never popular, given the regime's rejection of compromise and its record of detaining critics. Dialogue now seems an even more remote option.
Conversation centres on the tactics of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), or at least of those bands of young men who fight the government under its banner without co-ordination from any centre. Are they right to come into city districts and attack police and army buildings, knowing that retaliation will be massive, bloody and brutal? The army is to blame for destroying people's homes, but had the FSA not provoked it the homes might still be there and people might be alive.
Khaled, a young man who lives with his parents in Old Mezzeh, showed me around in February. His district used to consist of fields of cactus plants surrounding cheaply built one- and two-storey breezeblock houses. Some years ago the main road to Beirut was driven through this poor rural area, uprooting people. Then came other wide avenues that now serve the Canadian and Iranian embassies as well as high-rise flats, many of whose middle-class tenants are government employees and supporters.
The government mounted an offensive on Old Mezzeh last month. The army has since piled mounds of earth to block access except through two entrance roads behind the flats where troops check IDs. Other troops mount patrols inside the district. Sitting in a parked car outside the area this week, Khaled said the trouble began when a rumour spread that the shabiha (ghosts), the pro-government militias, were about to raid Old Mezzeh and slaughter people. "Women and children left immediately and only men stayed. I was at home with my father. We asked the FSA to come and protect us. When they arrived, some were local people whom I knew, others were outsiders. People gave them food but they didn't sleep in our houses. For five or six days they were there but when word came of a government offensive they withdrew so as not to have ordinary people get hurt," he said.
After the FSA retreated, the security forces moved in. According to Khaled, they looted and burned shops, and about 30 young men were killed. Burials were held in groups of three at night. Older men were detained.
Khaled and his father had left before the army incursion. Although his fellow villagers had invited the FSA, Khaled now thinks it was a mistake since they did not have the power to resist the army. "The tactics were not good. The FSA shouldn't come among houses since the security forces will destroy the area," he said.
In Midan, another mixed district of old houses and narrow alleys leading to a settlement of better-off flats, barely two miles from central Damascus, it was the FSA that took the offensive in mid-July, according to residents. Gunmen moved in surreptitiously and attacked police stations. The army responded by sending in tanks, whose treadmarks are still visible on the soft asphalt.
Residents showed me the al-Majed mosque, where a shell had taken a large bite out of the minaret. Several houses on street corners with good strategic views down the alleys had been damaged by heavy weapons. Bullet holes pockmarked metal shutters on shops, and I saw at least two cars that had been crushed by manoeuvring tanks. Anti-government graffiti had been painted over by troops.
Now, two weeks after the government counterattack, a few shopkeepers had reopened for business or were repairing their ruined premises, but many residents were still sheltering elsewhere. "It was foolish to try to attack, and it's caused heavy human loss," said Abdelaziz Alkhayer, a veteran member of the opposition who was released in 2005 after 14 years in prison.
"It was spontaneous, not well-organised, and they ran out of ammunition quickly. Some people who took part now feel deceived. We don't ask the FSA to put down their guns, otherwise they would be slaughtered. But they should not use them for offensives in city streets unless they can hold the ground."
Louai Hussein, another critic of the regime, who heads Building the Syrian State, a non-governmental organisation, said criticism of FSA tactics was growing. "Support for the FSA in these attacks depends on whether the insurgents are local or from the outside," he said.
Both men are longtime critics of the opposition's militarisation. Under the auspices of the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome, a Catholic peace-building organisation with long international experience, they joined several other Syrian opposition groups last month in signing a declaration urging the FSA to abandon violence. "While recognising the right of citizens to legitimate defence, we repeat: weapons are not the solution," it said. "We must reject violence and the slide into civil war because that places at risk the state, and our national identity and sovereignty."
One person who took a sensational step in warning Syrians against self-destruction was Rima Dali, who became a political celebrity overnight in April when she staged a protest outside parliament holding a banner saying "stop the killing". Sarah Abu Assali, a local journalist, said she admired Dali's stand. "Within the areas of Damascus that have been affected by violence, I think the majority have turned against the FSA, but elsewhere more are moving towards it," she said. "I see an ongoing street war for at least a year – this is the best-case scenario."
After the collapse of Kofi Annan's mediation efforts and while the world's major powers arm the two sides, the chances of a political solution are much smaller than they were six months ago, in Assali's view. "The regime is more determined than ever, and innocent people will pay the price. The outside powers just want to watch us fight each other," she said.
In spite of recent high-level defections and the deaths of four senior security figures in a bombing last month, the regime's core appears solid. The army has recaptured lost ground in the city's inner districts and is trying to regain control of the eastern outskirts, in an area known as the Orchards, wearing down resistance by cutting off water and electricity, blocking access and inflicting heavy shelling and mass arrests.
In the old city of Damascus, residents report that guns are being distributed, presumably by the government, to Christians and Shias, two minorities that are particularly alarmed by the rise of militant Sunnism and the arrival of elements from al-Qaida.
Some government members accept they will never pacify the whole of Syria. "The government can hit the insurgents hugely and it can stop them existing in Aleppo but it can't stop them being in villages while the border is open. Military power has limits," said Kadri Jamil, a deputy prime minister.
The humanitarian crisis is immense. Hundreds of Syrians have left for Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (Sarc) is distributing 175,000 food parcels within Syria. Close to a million people have been displaced countrywide.
In Damascus the numbers fluctuate as some people go home after a few days while others flee. Sixty schools are being used as temporary shelters, and the government has not yet responded to Sarc's question about what will happen in mid-September when children are due to resume classes.
To receive Sarc's aid, people have to be registered. Some fear this could lead to interrogation or arrest. In response, opposition supporters have set up independent shelters. Those who reject further militarisation are increasingly turning to humanitarian work as a way of taking non-violent action. They see it as a valuable form of political resistance.
In a disused health clinic and a nearby private nursery in Barzeh I found homeless families with terrible stories of bombing and killing. Food, clothing and sleeping mats are supplied by neighbours or funded through donations, bypassing Sarc.
"The country is almost destroyed. We have no idea what's going to happen," said Abu Mohammed, the father of three who was bombed out of Homs and bombed again in Damascus. "I never thought this could happen in Syria."
Rima Dali used to work for the United Nations refugee agency in Damascus, helping the thousands of homeless Iraqis who had fled to Syria. "I saw what civil war means and what being a refugee involves," she said.
The 33-year-old law graduate from Aleppo University felt depressed about Syria's criris and decided to act. "I didn't discuss my plan with friends because they would try to dissuade me. I just told them something important would happen outside parliament. About 50 turned up with cameras," she said.
There, on 8 April, she stood in the street in a red dress and poured white paint on herself. She held aloft a banner, saying: "Stop the Killing. We want to build a homeland for all Syrians." Within 10 minutes police arrested her and took her to a women's prison where she stayed for four days. "It didn't start as a campaign. It was a personal reaction. I was angry that nonviolent activity was losing its space. The government wanted to push people into violence because that's their game and they don't know how to deal with nonviolence," she said.
Dali is not sure how to take the protest further, though she has a team discussing ideas with sympathisers. One idea is to form a group of bereaved mothers of troops and rebels, to be called Mothers of Martyrs. "I'm not against the Free Syrian Army but I hope to make their role different. If you want to argue with them, you have to demonstrate an alternative, like supporting humanitarian relief and medical aid. We must talk about the ethics of the revolution and its mistakes," she said. | <urn:uuid:2c6313d2-6ee8-4201-9ca2-7316fa30659c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/20/pawns-syrian-conflict-await-endgame | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983859 | 2,422 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Lou visiting MAG's operations in Laos in 2009.
After more than 20 years with MAG, Lou McGrath has decided to step down from the role of Chief Executive.
As a co-founder of MAG and its Chief Executive since 1996, Lou has made an outstanding contribution to the organisation being what it is today.
From the first day that Lou and his brother Rae founded MAG in 1989, Lou’s commitment to the people all over the world who are helped by MAG’s work has been a driving force in the development of the organisation.
Lou talks with residents of Tahen village in Cambodia, including a landmine accident survivor.
The organisation initially served as an advisory group, publishing reports about the problems in Afghanistan and Cambodia based on their assessments between 1989 and 1991. Subsequent reports included Iraq, Somaliland and Angola.
In 1992, MAG, along with other non-governmental organisations, formed the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). It was Lou’s work with ICBL and others that led to MAG being co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace prize.
It was at this time that Lou was asked to take on the post as Chief Executive of MAG. At this time the organisation was much smaller than it is today, but under his leadership MAG has grown from strength to strength and has now worked in nearly 40 conflict affected countries and regions.
During this time, the team Lou brought in developed new methods and approaches to mine action, introducing concepts that are now common and replicated by other organisations, such as the multi-skilled Mine Action Teams, a Community Liaison approach to working with those people directly affected by conflict, and Mine Risk Education.
It can now be argued that MAG is a market leader in clearing landmines and other weapons, and reducing the devastating impact these explosive remnants of conflict have on the lives and livelihoods of people.
Wherever he went on his constant travels – whether taking part in fundraising bike rides across France, discussing funding with high-level US State Department officials, or visiting the rural offices of one of MAG’s national partner NGOs in the Congo or Sudan – Lou’s warmth and humanity, and his genuine dedication to MAG, all his staff and the lifesaving impact their work has all over the world could not fail to be noticed by anyone.
All at MAG wish Lou every success in the future. He will forever remain an intrinsic element of the MAG family as all wish him well.
Statement from the Board
After more than 20 years with MAG, Lou has decided to resign from the role of Chief Executive. The Board have accepted Lou’s resignation which took effect from 31st March.
As a co-founder of MAG and its Chief Executive since 1996, Lou has made an outstanding contribution to the organisation being what it is today. We are most grateful to Lou for all that he has done and look forward to continuing to work with him to promote MAG’s interests. We wish him all the best for a successful future.
In the meantime, Rob White has accepted the Board’s invitation to act as Chief Executive until a new appointment can be made.
Professor M.H. Taylor
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Statement from Lou
After more than 20 years at MAG, the last 15 of which I have served as the Chief Executive, I have taken the decision to move on. In doing so, I feel comforted by the fact that the organisation is in good health and fully able to take on the challenges that it will face in the future.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of those colleagues, both past and present, who have worked with me to make MAG the successful organisation it is today. I would like to pass on a special thanks to all those in the field programmes, both national and international staff, who through their work, sometimes in the most difficult conditions, have afforded MAG the professional reputation it enjoys today.
A special thanks also to all our partner organisations with whom we have been involved in Mine Action over many years.
Last but not least, I would also like to thank all MAG’s donors and supporters, without whom our work and success would not have been possible. I wish all of you, and MAG, the very best of luck for the future.
With kind regards,
Lou McGrath OBE
Lou visiting MAG's operations in Cambodia in 2008.
20 April 2011 | <urn:uuid:5133cefc-f16e-4c74-84f6-a859d6372570> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.maginternational.org/news/mag-chief-executive-lou-mcgrath-steps-down/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979624 | 912 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Posted: Dec 27, 2012 11:13 AM by Dave Hovde
Exposed west and northwest facing shores are experiencing surf height of 10 to 13 feet.
The largest breakers will occur through early afternoon and then gradually subside.
Very strong rip currents which will make near shore activities potentially dangerous.
A high surf advisory means that high surf will affect beaches in the advisory area producing rip currents and localized beach erosion.
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Today Second Life took us all the way to London to learn about how the Sun affects the Earth. We talked to Dr. Joanna Haigh, a scientist who studies how changes in the sun may affect Earth’s climate. The Sun even appeared in the auditorium during the talk!
The Sun takes part in Dr. Joanna Haigh’s talk in Second Life
Not only did we learn about the Sun today, we found a way to view it safely through a telescope on the Museum’s rooftop Weintraub Observatory. We could clearly see sunspots on the surface – these are “cool” regions of the Sun because they’re “only” 3000°C. (I guess that’s cool compared to the surrounding 6000°C temperatures!) Solar flares, which occur around sunspots, are solar storms that can actually disrupt communications here on Earth. It’s incredible that something 93 million miles away affects us!
Rooftop solar observations
After using the telescopes, we made our own camera out of a potato chip can (and got to eat the chips too). We cut the can into two sections, and put it back together with the lid in between – this would be the screen for the camera. We poked a tiny hole in the bottom of the can, and when we looked through it, everything was upside down and backwards! Can you figure out why?
You always hear people say that we need to have our next generation be strong in science, technology, engineering, and math. We are the next generation, but it’s hard to know sometimes how we get there. What do you really do as a climatologist, an atmospheric scientist, or a meteorologist? And what should you study in school to get there? Today the Museum held a Climatology Career Day for students in the Museum’s Youth EXPO, Digital WAVE, and Upward Bound programs to answer these questions.
Dr. Clement makes a cloud in a jar
We’ve all learned about climate change, but now we get to hear more about how we can really be a part of it. We talked with a Robert Molleda, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the National Weather Service; Maria Beotegui, Education Coordinator from Biscayne National Park; David Bernard, CBS4 Chief Meteorologist; Dr. Arturo Rodriguez, Professor of Chemistry and Meteorology from Miami Dade College; Erik Salna, Associate Director of the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University; Dr. Amy Clement, Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; and Dr. Kevin Helmle, Research Scientist from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Not to mention Michael Garay, Senior Physics Engineer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was the keynote speaker for the event and spoke with us through Second Life.
Speakers L to R: David Bernard, Robert Molleda, Erik Salna, Dr. Arturo Rodriguez, Dr. Kevin Helmle, Maria Beotegui, Dr. Amy Clement
These people were all so different, but they all seemed to have something in common – when they were younger, some kind of spark inspired them to get into science, and they worked really hard to get where they wanted to go. All we need to do now is follow our own inspiration.
Who knew there was a missing link between soft drinks, forests, ocean acidity, wild fires, cement production, and volcanoes? Today Mike Gunson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory talked to us via Second Life about this “carbon dioxide puzzle” and about how we know from data that humans are a piece of that puzzle.
So when we say that burning fossil fuels releases about 8.5 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere per year, what does that mean? It’s hard to really understand a word like “gigaton” because it means 1 BILLION tons. To give you a comparison, if 1 Mazda Miata weighs about 1 ton, then you’d need 8.5 billion Miatas to make 8.5 billion tons. That’s enough Miatas to circle the Earth 850 times!
It just so happened that the Museum had a Great Energy Challenge event this day. So after we learned about how important it was to have cleaner and more efficient energy, we went through the Museum and made some clean energy ourselves!
Kennedy Space Center. This is the place where Space Shuttles and rockets are launched. The place where you can re-live the history of the US Space Program, walk under rockets that took men to the Moon, and even meet astronauts. We went for a day to Kennedy Space Center, and got to do all these things. Listening to Astronaut Tom Jones talk about the day he saw 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises from the International Space Station makes you realize how lucky astronauts are.
Outside in the Rocket Garden, we walked across a walkway, just like the one that astronauts walk across to enter the Space Shuttle. But we did it in slow motion, just like in the “hero shot” in movies when the astronauts are on their way to accomplish a dangerous, but vital, mission. Everyone has a little bit of astronaut explorer blood in them!
Visiting Space Shuttle replica at Kennedy Space Center
It was the greatest video game ever: there was a control pad, and a maneuverable object. Our control pad was a computer remotely hooked up to the Marine Resources Development Foundation in Key Largo. And our maneuverable object was a real, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in waters off the Florida Keys! Working with a scientist sitting in a habitat almost 50 feet under the surface of Largo Sound, each of us took a turn maneuvering the ROV from our lab at the Museum.
ROVs can provide tons of climate information for us, by exploring where humans can’t – underwater caves, the frozen polar regions, oil rigs and shipwrecks. They can use claws to take samples, and probes to take temperature readings, and can observe habitats without disturbing the inhabitants very much. And we were able to operate one! It may be hard to tell from the picture, but it was like a real-life game. You can see our controls on the left, and the view from the ROV’s “eye” as it follows an underwater pipe. Some took to it more quickly than others – it definitely is a skill, and not as easy as it looks!
Navigating an underwater ROV from our lab in the Museum
The material is based upon work supported by NASA Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums under award No. NNX09AL31G. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. | <urn:uuid:f5c8cf83-3eba-48ae-bf01-0b1763b7bd1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamisci.org/~youthexp/author/admin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947529 | 1,458 | 3.125 | 3 |
Arthur Szyk: Ink and Blood
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada and the McGill Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections present Ink and Blood, an exhibition on the works of Polish-born graphic artist, book illustrator, caricaturist and stage designer Arthur Szyk (1894-1951). The exhibition, in place at the Redpath Library Building since Nov. 26, runs until Jan. 31, 2013.
Seldom has art been as intrinsically intertwined into politics as in the works of Arthur Szyk. A self- described “soldier in art”, Szyk was a committed activist-artist advocating religious tolerance and racial equality for minorities especially for Jews and black Americans. Throughout his career he created art in the service of human rights and civil liberties. The theme of freedom, central to his work, echoes throughout his oeuvres, a “one-man army,” using art as a weapon to garner support for the social and political issues in which he believed. Szyk dedicated his work to democracy, freedom, and an end to political injustice and human suffering.
-”Words and pictures are bullets whose flight never ends. Their trajectory knows no down curve. They endure long after the guns are silenced.” Arthur Szyk
Szyk lived in France, Poland and the United Kingdom before finally settling permanently in the United States in 1940. Best known for his World War II Anti-Nazi political cartoons, he was a master of miniature painting and calligraphy, bringing his unmistakable style to subjects as diverse as biblical stories, literary classics, and political caricature and cartoons. Szyk revived the medieval tradition of the art of illumination.
His anti-Axis cartoons appeared frequently in popular media such as Collier’s, TIME and The New York Post and in two published compilations, The New Order (1941) and Ink & Blood (1946). He also illustrated numerous works, including a richly rendered, magnificently printed Haggadah (1940), reflecting his passion for his own Jewish heritage and concern for the Jewish people in the face of Nazi hostility.
Today, collectors around the globe prize Szyk’s art for its vibrant imagery and messages, which remain as stunning and timely as ever.
The materials in this exhibition come from the collection formed by the McGill graduate and Library benefactor Norman H. Friedman (1900-1981). The collection was acquired by the Library in 1976 and is held in Rare Books and Special Collections. The exhibition was launched on Nov. 26 with a day-long conference on Szyk and his work. Learn more about that event here and about the ongoing exhibition here.
Category: Around Campus | <urn:uuid:ab6bf6ae-48a3-4e0b-b6c4-39b52fc1028f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://publications.mcgill.ca/reporter/2012/12/ink-and-blood-the-works-of-arthur-szyk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968344 | 556 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Stress can come from many factors. Whether it’s worrying about our children, our job, or our health, stress can be persistent and often quite overwhelming.
As life’s demands increase, our ability to manage stress diminishes. We can become chronically stressed which affects our moods, our relationships, our motivation and ultimately our health.
So, what can we do to deal with stress?
Here are a few suggestions and general tips to deal with the growing list of demands life offers.
Have a Positive Attitude – “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” This saying equates to what having a positive attitude is all about. Being able to stay positive and upbeat during tough times may be the one sure fire way to turn things around. When we can learn to manage our attitude and outlook by being optimistic and hopeful, we have a leg up on the negative mentality that stress produces.
Be Flexible – If there is one thing certain in life, it’s that unexpected things will happen and plans will ultimately change. Learning to stay present and mindful during these moments offers much peace of mind. Develop patience and the ability to just to “Be” and sit quietly. Don’t get consumed with how everything “should” be, but instead roll with the punches and try your hardest to make the best out of every situation.
Exercise - Making time to exercise and take care of ourselves is a primary way to neutralize stress. Whether you have a strict workout routine or simply take a walk during your lunch hour or afternoon break, get moving and stay active. Do something outdoors to enjoy the sunshine, or learn some simple yoga poses to stretch and release tension.
Breathe - When we get emotionally distraught our breathing becomes shallow, rapid, and noisy. To neutralize this stress response, learn deep breathing to stop the cycle. This can reduce tension and bring your body back to equilibrium. Make your breathing deeper, slower, quiet, and more regular. This can offer a quick and convenient way to calm your mind and body.
Laugh - When all is lost, keeping a sense of humor can really lighten up a situation. Add more humor to your life by watching funny movies and video clips, or reading funny stories and spend time with someone who will make you laugh. Find some amusement to brighten your mood. The ability to laugh at one’s self offers much relief. Laughter delights the soul and brings joy to the heart.
These are just a few suggestions to deal with stress. Find something that works for you and that fits into your schedule so you know you can utilize it.
Any other suggestions to deal with stress?
Photo credit: madmolecule
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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (May 4, 2011)
Mental Health Social (May 4, 2011)
Sam Glenn (May 5, 2011)
Carolina Aramburo (May 5, 2011)
From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (May 5, 2011)
From Psych Central's World of Psychology:
Best of Our Blogs: May 6, 2011 | World of Psychology (May 6, 2011)
Best of Our Blogs: May 6, 2011 - Dreams.Jasee.Info (May 7, 2011)
Anxiety Treatment Is A Great Relief | Keith (August 30, 2011)
Last reviewed: 4 May 2011 | <urn:uuid:89896777-2764-433f-962b-b87cdcf59475> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.psychcentral.com/positive-psychology/2011/05/is-stress-consuming-you-heres-what-to-do/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934071 | 725 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Learning and having fun...
At BFA we enjoy dancing "folklórico" because it is not only a way to keep Mexican culture and traditions alive but it is also a great way to exercise and have a hobby in our spare time.
We learn to dance music from different regions of Mexico including:
Many of our members have been in the group for several years and they are very knowledgeable in many of the regions, including the attire required and choreographies. When necessary, they teach us each of the songs from the very basic steps. We do not require new members to have previous experience since we constantly learn new songs, so everybody is at some point a "newbie"!
We also look forward to improving our dancing skills by attending conferences like Danzantes Unidos. Part our program includes songs that we have directly learned from Prof. Miguel Diaz, who teaches Folklórico at CSUN and is one of the best professional dancers in California.
We practice* at the CSUN Campus
California State University, Northridge students, alumni, and community members of Ballet Folklórico Aztlán de CSUN need to fill out a membership/community participant form. After becoming a member/community participant and attending the majority of general practices, members/community participants will have the opportunity of participating in the majority of scheduled performances.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to live the great experience of dancing Mexican folklórico!
If you are looking for Mexican folkloric dance accessories, we have some references here for you.
BFA participates and organizes different recruiting events where we provide you with information about our activities. Our participation includes events such as Orientation Week at CSUN and Meet the Clubs Day. We also organize an Informational Meeting in our practice room, where all our visitors can learn and experience Mexican folklorico dance the very same day! For more information regarding these events please contact us, we will be very pleased to assist you.
We would like to invite you to take Prof. Miguel Diaz's class as well!!
Have fun while earning credits... Enroll in a Mexican Dance class taught by Maestro Miguel Díaz.
Offered by the Chicana/o Studies Department Every Fall and Spring Semester. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn the art of Mexican folkloric dance with one of the best teachers in California.
Enroll this fall 2007 in Prof. Diaz's class:
Folkorico (Dance Mex II)/ Lab
Course: ChS 415/415L #16376/16377
Location: JR 118 Date/Time: Mon 4:20-7pm
A day in the life of BFA ...
Send mail to
questions or comments about this web site. | <urn:uuid:f00621d5-0511-451f-948f-7b486bf45d07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csun.edu/~ballet/Practice.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931618 | 575 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Knowledge at Wharton features the research of Wharton Professor Cassie Mogilner and her colleagues, Harvard business professor Michael J. Norton and Yale postdoctoral associate Zoe Chance. Through a series of experimental studies, they find that, "by taking time to help others, we can help ourselves by creating a feeling of expanded time." In other words, perhaps we should reconsider when we feel stressed and reject invitations to help someone else out at work, at church, or in our neighborhood. The scholars found that "although people's objective amount of time cannot be increased (there are only 24 hours in a day) ... spending time on others increases feelings of time affluence. The impact of giving time on feelings of time affluence is driven by a boosted sense of self-efficacy -- such that giving time makes people more willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules."
While I find the work compelling, I think we should take great care acting on the conclusions. We might feel better if we help others, but we also have to remember that trade-offs exist. There is no free lunch. Will our effectiveness at all activities suffer if we take on too many tasks? Many students, for instance, struggle with time management in their early years in college. While taking on extracurriculars has many benefits, I have definitely seen many students become stretched too thin. Not only does schoolwork suffer, but their effectiveness in their social or community service work tails off as well. | <urn:uuid:1066ebfe-cb14-4420-a0be-bd3a9778945e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michael-roberto.blogspot.com/2012/07/time-management-interesting-new-finding.html?showComment=1342008138931 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971388 | 300 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Buildings & Architecture Archives
Open House NY - October 8 and 9, 2005
This is a fantastic way to see some of New York City's buildings up close and in ways rarely possible.
This year’s event will highlight 150 sites throughout the city, allowing you to explore landmarks such as the Chrysler Building, major projects such as Fresh Kills, and sites open for the first time, such as the grounds of Ellis Island Hospital PLUS lighthouses, lookouts, monuments, mansions, fireboats, forts, farmhouses, penthouses and SO MUCH MORE!
They also need volunteers to work at the sites as well as professional photographers.
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, making it 75 years old next year.
"The four main cables are composed of parallel wires carried back and forth across the river, each containing 61 strands of 434 individual wires."
According to the Port Authority, "During the first full year of operation in 1932 more than 5.5 million vehicles used the original six-lane roadway." In 2004, 108,404,000 vehicles crossed the bridge.
Books and Posters
. . . . . . . . .
For posters of the GWB, see C1 - D1 on this page.
Brooklyn - Williamsburgh Bank photos
Here are some more photos of the Bank and the neighborhood around the bank from Satan's Laundromat: Williamsburgh Savings Bank 1 (with links to more photos from other sites), and Williamsburgh Savings Bank 2. He advises
the cathedral-like 63-foot-ceilinged banking hall on the ground floor, which is perhaps New York's greatest interior and certainly Brooklyn's, will be converted into a restaurant. (See it now, while you still can: the HSBC bank closes September 30th.)
forgotten ny has a story with photos
nyc-architecture.com has more photos and some architectural info
Old News - Conversion to Condosthe Wired New York Forum has a thread discussing the conversion of the building into condos.
Crain's New York reported in May that
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building has been bought by Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, an investment concern started by “Magic” Johnson, and the Dermot Co., which plan to renovate the landmarked, 35-story tower into condominiums and ground-floor retail space.
forgotten NY - web site - highly recommended
If you love New York, then you must visit, and bookmark, forgotten NY. Run by Kevin Walsh, forgotten NY includes text and photographs of all parts of the City, new and old ... he also conducts walking tours ... upcoming tours are announced on the home page ...
Some of our favorite pages include
- Journey Through the Past (a subway tour on IRT Low Voltage cars)
- Jamican Red (original red brick pavement in Jamica)
- A Walk on 53rd Street (from the Hudson to the East River)
- Who Are those Guys and Gals and Dogs (The Statues of Central Park)
- Where Brooklyn Began - Fulton Street at the waterfront
An incredibly rich site, forgotten NY will keep you occupied for hours ... I bet most of you don't make it to this sentence ...
For more about Kevin Walsh, see the gothamist interview. Thank you, Kevin Walsh, for a wonderful web site.
AGINY Highly Recommended and Top 10
New Penn Station Approved
New York has approved the design for the new Penn Station, to be located in the Main Post Office on Eighth Avenue, which is across the street from its current location. NY Daily News has a story.
Aside from rush hour, it was empty, and had a sad battered quality that made you feel like a rude sack of meat slumped over a ration of intoxicants. ... The reality is a waiting room with insufficient signage, a great hall that isn’t, and a Hudson News thronged with balding guys, ties askew, furtively paging through battered porn mags. | <urn:uuid:cf453288-8fe5-4d48-ad84-eeeff3f525c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aguyinnewyork.com/archives/sights_sounds/buildings_architecture/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946625 | 841 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Awareness of damage to the environment was rather scant during the Nineteenth Century, so finding any environmental cartoons from this period, is rare. When they are found, it nearly always involves the aftermath/results of some environmental damage caused by Man.
Above, from rear cover of the February 28th, 1883 issue of Puck, comes The Lesson of the Floods, depicting how unregulated deforestation led to the flooding of towns (note the tops of buildings shown on the far left, peeking out from within the river).
Click on the picture above, to view a larger version.
The above cartoon by artist Bernhard Gillam, was created in response to the Ohio River flood of February 21st, 1883, referred to by some locals as “Noah’s Flood”. Deforestation along the Ohio River banks, had resulted in soil washing into the river, filling its bottom and tributaries, so that the minor flooding people were used to, became instead a cresting of the river at 66 feet!
Failing to take this as a lesson in proper land management, the floods occurred again the next year, reaching this time a height of 71 feet. (For the source of the above information, click here on Digger Odell).
Next, from the May 1912 issue (swiped a month early) of Cartoons Magazine, we have a page of cartoons on the Mississippi River Valley Flood of 1912, all focusing upon how a lack of forethought and investment in our environmental future — which would have cost a small amount upfront — instead now costs a large amount, thrown at the disaster, only after it has already occurred! Cartoonists above include Robert Minor, Jr. and William Charles Morris.
Click here, to find our prior Earth Day postings. | <urn:uuid:43b97b19-27eb-456d-b989-c451ae9a8f7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://superitch.com/?p=21939 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967241 | 366 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Thursday, July 26, 2007, 11:00 am
Apple may let iPhones share data over voice channelsApple Inc. has done some conceptual work on software technology that would allow an iPhone to vocalized multimedia data -- such as text -- and then send that vocalized data via a walkie-talkie-like voice channel to a second iPhone where it would then be output as audio or transcribed back into text.
The concept was originally outlined in a January 24, 2006 patent filing with the United States Trademark Office by Apple iPod chief Tony Fadell and published for the first time on Thursday.
Given the rapid deployment, proliferation, and technical advancement of mobile personal communication devices like cell phones, users of those devices are presented with any number of ways to communicate with other users, Fadell explained in the filing.
"For example, a user can send type a text message using, for example, Short Message Service-Point to Point (SMS-PP) protocol as defined in GSM recommendation 03.40 where messages are sent via a store-and forward mechanism to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which will attempt to send the message to the recipient and possibly retry if the user is not reachable at a given moment," he wrote. "Therefore, SMS-PP requires the use of a backend server to provide the necessary support for transmission of data between sender and receiver."
On the other hand, Fadell's concept calls for a mechanism whereby data is passed between a sender and receiver unit by way of voice channel only, therefore bypassing use of the data channel used in conventional arrangements.
"In this way, a sender can select that data which he/she desires to send to a receiver unit using by first converting the data into an appropriate vocal/voice format which is then forwarded to a receiver unit by way of the voice channel," he wrote. "Once received at the receiver unit, the vocalized data can be converted to an audio signal, which is then output by way of an audio output device (such as a speaker, earphone, etc.)."
Fadell explains that the concept is particularly well suited for people having visual problems or in those situations where viewing the data on a small display screen is problematic.
According to the filing, once the vocalized data -- such as a vocalized phone number -- has been sent to and received at the second cell phone, processing of that data can be performed based upon a prompted user request or based upon a pre-selected protocol.
"For example," Fadell wrote, "once received at the cell phone, the vocalized phone number can be passed to an audio output device that (in the case of a speaker) generates an audible rendition of the vocalized phone number. In another case, the vocalized phone number is forwarded to a voice mail server where the receiver records the vocalized phone number as a voice mail message for subsequent playback."
In the filing, the Apple iPod chief also describes a method where vocalized text data could be received and then transformed back into text, effectively allowing for walkie-talkie like text messaging between iPhones without the need for a backend server.
On Topic: General
- Google's Motorola issues second appeal of dismissed ITC case against Apple
- South Australia's first Apple Store draws line hours ahead of opening [update: photos and video]
- Rains once more cause damage at Apple's Fifth Avenue NY store
- Steve Jobs's family has been giving money away anonymously for more than 2 decades
- Judge says evidence will likely show Apple culpable in e-book price fixing case | <urn:uuid:55c11d96-b82c-4d8e-8add-75862e6a3708> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://appleinsider.com/articles/07/07/26/apple_may_let_iphones_share_data_over_voice_channels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941764 | 740 | 2.046875 | 2 |
It's all about the children.
And parents and community leaders are striving each day, putting their heads together to come up with ways to make West Point a better place for children to live and grow with their parents, many of which need a loving, helping hand in raising their children.
The needs for the children in the community are recognized every year by West Point's Excel By 5 Coalition, who congregated March 22 at a town hall meeting where they discussed how the community as a whole can give West Point's young children the resources they need to help them excel in life, beginning at their very early stages.
Sherri White, Family Resource Center coordinator and Excel By 5 facilitator for West Point, said each year, surveys are passed out in schools and daycares for parents of young children, asking these parents what they think is the biggest need for young children and asking parents how can the community do a better job at supporting parents with young children. The group of about 60 adults and 30 children discussed how hard it is right now for almost everyone, especially with rising gas prices and many parents not being able to afford groceries for their family. Participants also talked about the responsibility of the community to assist teen parents and single parents.
“If we see someone having a hard time, there's something we can all do to pitch in and help out,” White said.
During the town hall meetings, the answers to the parent surveys are combined, and each year parents have a similar wish.
“This is the third year we've done this, and basically ever year the parents say the same thing,” White said. “They say, 'We love West Point, we have a loving community, but we need more free and economical activities for parents and children. They say we don't have a swimming pool, movies, bowling alley, skating rink, and the average family has a hard time affording some of the things we do offer in the community.”
Things for both kids and parents, like the Wellness Center, Girls Scouts, dance classes and activities at the Civic Center that often cost $10 or $20 a ticket, leaving many families in the community unable to participate in such activities.
Children often frequent Kid Town Park and Zuber Park in West Point, but to many parents that's not enough, White said. So attendants at the meeting brainstormed for ideas and came up with a few suggestions.
One participant recommended that the city sponsor a free family movie night in the park or at local churches. Susan Brasfield, Excel By 5 Coalition member, suggested a Delta Kappa Gamma sponsored program called Two Can Read, an initiative to bring books into the homes of three and four year olds in the community. Through this program, children would go to the library, obtain a container, work with their parents to fill the container with pennies, return their pennies to the library and receive a free book. Robert Smith, West Point School District School/Community liaison, suggested that churches in the community adopt a daycare and provide the daycare with supplies, whether it be cleaning or school supplies.
“It was really, really nice,” she said. “This one was our biggest town hall meeting ever, and I think each year it's getting bigger and better. Some of the comments were we have so many churches here, and if we can get the churches, the businesses and other organizations pulling together – it really does take a village to raise a child. We have so much of what it takes. It's just getting that word out and working together for the children.”
White said during their next coalition meeting, Excel By 5 members will begin working on a plan to implement the suggestions brought forth at the town hall meeting.
Already, Excel By 5 coordinates three free events for parents and children to attend each year. In partnership with North Mississippi Medical Center, Excel By 5 hosts an annual Kids Health Fair, at which children receive free health screenings while enjoying games and activities like train rides, inflatable jumpers, face painting and many more free activities as well as free food. The coalition also puts on a free kindergarten readiness event, which will be in April this year, for parents of children who will enter kindergarten the following school year. The third event changes from time to time, and this year Excel By 5 hosted Dad's Day, where coalition members focused on mentoring dads in the community.
West Point was the second city in Mississippi and the nation to become a certified Excel By 5 community in 2005 and is now working on its second recertification. An Excel By 5 certification means the city is a great place to raise children from birth through their kindergarten year.
“Becoming an Excel By 5 community is just the beginning,” White said. “It's not the end. When we came an Excel By 5 community, it was the beginning so we have certain things we have to do to maintain our certification.”
Having three community events a year, holding a town hall meeting and assisting local daycares with staff training are parts of the requirements to maintain the certification. | <urn:uuid:f04d018a-4aed-4077-8869-100110f89f4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytimesleader.com/print/2772 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974905 | 1,050 | 1.742188 | 2 |
In more than the half century since World War Two ended, women of all ages
have filled the work place. Additionally, the Feminist Movement began
agitating a few decades ago for "equality" on the job between males and
Ask a young girl today what she wants to be when she becomes an adult and, chances are, she won't say, "A homemaker." A secular humanistic society has so tainted even the thinking of Christians that it is now expected that females will all grow up to pursue careers outside the home. These things ought not so to be. Nothing is clearer in the New Testament than that young women should be keepers at home in their God-ordained roles as homemakers.
We often quote Paul's injunction to Titus about "sound doctrine" and exclusively apply it to such things as the plan of salvation, the church, etc. But, have you ever looked at Titus 2:1 in its immediate context? The "sound doctrine" he delineates in the verses immediately following includes, (1) that older men be sober, grave, sound in faith, (2) that aged women behave themselves properly in holy behaviour and as teachers of good things, and (3) that the older women teach the younger women "to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." (Titus 2:4-5).
The home as God ordained it in the beginning is the home where fathers, under Christ's authority, provide for their families and mothers, under that same authority, guide their households.
It has long been my conviction that our society's departure from God's pattern for the home is a major contributing factor to the to the immorality that threatens to consume the fabric of American life. That belief has been confirmed by a former CBS newsman.
"Bernard Goldberg's new book, 'Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News,' deserves to be a best-seller. ...Goldberg — an Emmy-winning broadcast journalist who spent three decades at CBS — seeks to disprove the notion that media are fair. Best of all — from my perspective at least — he blasts one of the most protected bastions of political correctness: working mothers.
"In a chapter titled 'The Most Important Story You Never Saw on TV,' Goldberg documents the steady decline in the behavioral, emotional and physical health of America's children that has taken place as the percentage of latchkey and day-care children has increased. Some Examples:
"Goldberg asks why the major media have not done more reporting on this. Why haven't Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and their counterparts at the other major news networks shone their probing spotlights on growing evidence that great numbers of America's children are getting the old short shrift by parents who decide that making more money and gaining status are more important than providing the best life for their children? Because this is about women, and in America's newsrooms, women are a 'protected class.'
"Feminists are highly threatened by the sort of evidence Goldberg cites...
"And so, as writes Rich Lowery in the May 2001 National Review, 'We are willing to do anything 'for the children' except suggest that their mothers should stay with them; we are committed to 'leaving no child behind' unless it is by his mother hustling off to make her career." (John Rosemond, "Author Cites Working Moms In Deterioration of Morality," in his column, "Parental Guidance," The Daily Oklahoman, Mon., Mar. 11, 2002, p. 5B).
God has always known that godly mothers are the guardians of morality. His wisdom in ordaining that they should be keepers at home cannot be questioned. We who propose to teach "sound doctrine" ought to be sounding the clarion call for mothers to be "keepers at home" in the exalted position where God placed them instead of competing in the marketplace.
When mothers (and fathers) are driven by materialism and secular concerns more than concern for their children's souls, everyone suffers — most of all, the children. | <urn:uuid:7e6b9756-0db4-4726-8588-109f0950aef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gospelpreceptor.com/BreweJ15.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963915 | 877 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:31:55 -0700 (PDT)
On Jul 10, 6:03 am, "Brian Selzer" <br..._at_selzer-software.com> wrote:
> "Marshall" <marshall.spi..._at_gmail.com> wrote in message
> > On Jul 9, 8:36 am, "Brian Selzer" <br..._at_selzer-software.com> wrote:
> >> Logical propositions without an intended interpretation are when written
> >> just squiggles--something akin to doodles--with no significance or
> >> utility
> >> whatsoever, and are when spoken just noise--they do not rise even to the
> >> level of being a tale told by an idiot: they're just noise.
> > That turns out not to be the case. Axioms are just sentences in
> > a language, for example. A first order theory is just a bunch
> > of syntactic statements. There may be a variety of different
> > possible interpretations, or models. There may be exactly
> > one, or there may be none at all.
> > Marshall
> I don't think so: axioms are sentences that are suppposed to be true.
I can only really echo Marshall's comments. The "truth" (whatever that means) of axioms is irrelevant as far as a theory is concerned (and i'd make pains to distinguish between the scientific and everyday uses of the term theory).
> Truth is determined through interpretation. Therefore, axioms are sentences that
> are supposed to be true under an interpretation--the intended
> interpretation. So a logical theory consists of a set of sentences that are
> supposed to be true under an interpretation along with that which can be
> derived from those sentences.
Received on Thu Jul 10 2008 - 05:31:55 CDT | <urn:uuid:46557ad1-3f8e-4bbc-a4f6-de08f15bfdf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orafaq.com/usenet/comp.databases.theory/2008/07/10/0192.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911441 | 414 | 2.421875 | 2 |
The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science has been conducting international clinical research missions since 2003. Such activities have been and will continue to be framed within the context of direct patient care, conducting needs assessment research as well as intervention research to identify the efficacy of therapies and education provided.
Vietnam and Cambodia aboard the USNS Mercy (2010): In the summer of 2010, The School of Nursing and Health Science sent 6 nursing students and one faculty aboard the USNS Mercy to serve the people of Cambodia and Vietnam. Students worked with the pediatric and medical-surgical units on board and at on-shore clinics. The trip focused on patient care and the development of student cultural competencies and leadership. Nursing Students Serve and Learn on the Mercy
Cruce de Arroyo Hondo, Dominican Republic (2004 – 2010): The School of Nursing and Health Science began sending students and faculty to Cruce de Arroyo Hondo in 2004 with the goal of improving the health of children and the community. Health care in the community of Cruce has been complicated by funding and accessibility. Students and faculty provided well-child examinations, health and developmental screenings and home visits. They identified needs for health care education with families and local health care providers and helped develop sustainable community health programs. 53 USD graduate nursing students, 8 USD nursing faculty and 4 pre-health students participated. El Bohìo Dominicano
Mbarara, Uganda (2006 – 2010): This project began in April, 2006 with consulting to build the first children’s hospital in Uganda. The goals of the project were to decrease the death rate of children and improve the health of the community. The hospital, a 60-bed in-patient unit with an outpatient department and administrative offices, opened on July 4th, 2009. As of December, 2011, Holy Innocents Children’s Hospital has treated over 40,000 children for both outpatient services and life-threatening illnesses, largely malaria, dysentery and respiratory infections. Students and faculty who participated in this project completed needs assessments, tested water quality, and taught community health educators, nurses, and doctors about community health and caring for children in a specialty hospital. The hospital is now operationally self-sustaining and is treating thousands of children each year. 60 USD graduate nursing students, 5 undergraduate chemistry students and 4 USD faculty participated in the project. Holy Innocents Children’s Hospital
Miacatlan, Mexico (2003 – 2009): The program in Miacatlan started in 2003 with the dual goals of teaching students and faculty Spanish through immersion at Kukulcan Language School and identifying and addressing health needs of the children at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) orphanage. The School of Nursing and Health Science in collaboration with the on-site health personnel at NPH provided well-child examinations, health and developmental screenings and health education. The program placed a strong emphasis on the value and importance of cultural competency in the delivery of health care. 68 USD graduate nursing students, 3 pre-health students and 8 USD faculty participated.
La Morita Colonia (2003 – 2006):One of the first international nursing missions began just across the border in La Morita Colonia in East County Tijuana. Students and faculty performed 1-day health care services and health education to the people of La Morita three to four times per year. 180 USD graduate nursing students, 10 USD nursing faculty and 40 community volunteers participated in this service. Approximately 1800 people were served. | <urn:uuid:ce3e0943-b558-4908-b3ec-c09b3612a8ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sandiego.edu/nursing/programs/international/history.php | 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 | 0.952084 | 715 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Coralbells sport airy flower spikes on wiry stems above low-growing, often dramatic foliage. Varieties with variegated or dark purple leaves make stunning ground covers, and the delicate flower spikes won't obscure the plants behind them, making them a good choice for the front of the border. Another common name is alum root.
About This Plant
Most coralbells sport clouds of tiny, bell-shaped pink, coral, red, or white flowers in late spring or early summer. However, varieties grown primarily for their foliage may have insignificant blooms. Foliage colors include red, purple, silver, as well as green, and some varieties sport marbled or patterned leaves. Foliage height ranges from 6 to 18 inches; flower spikes can reach 24 inches tall.
Easy care/low maintenance
Good for cut flowers
Select a site with full sun to light shade and well-drained soil. In areas with hot summers, light shade is preferred.
Plant in spring or fall, spacing plants 1 to 2 feet apart depending on the variety. Prepare the garden bed by using a garden fork or tiller to loosen soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost. Dig a hole twice the diameter of the plant's container. Carefully remove the plant from its pot and place it in the hole so the top of the rootball is level with the soil surface. Carefully fill in around the rootball and firm the soil gently. Water thoroughly.
Remove dead foliage in early spring, then apply a thin layer of compost, followed by a 2-inch layer of mulch to retain moisture and control weeds. Water plants during the summer if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week. Cut back flower stalks after blooms fade. Divide plants in early spring every three or four years or when the stems become woody or the plant falls open at the center. Lift plants, divide the rootball into clumps, and replant. | <urn:uuid:0fac41b0-35d7-4e71-ae41-8759104a6255> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.garden.org/subchannels/flowers/perennials?q=show&id=2042 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908699 | 415 | 2.296875 | 2 |
A recent McDonalds advertisement put the fast food chain in hot water with animal rescue
advocates when it implied that petting a stray pit bull is unsafe, The Associated Press
McDonalds has since pulled the radio ad, which said that eating its Chicken McBites was less risky than petting a stray pit bull, shaving your head, naming your son Sue or giving your friends your Facebook password. It ran in the Kansas City area for several days.
"It was stupid marketing, playing into the media hysteria about pit bulls," Rachele Lizarraga, owner of a pet-sitting business and social media coordinator for Chako Puit Bull Rescue in Sacramento, California, told the news outlet.
While some pit bull advocates are happy now that the ad has been pulled and the company has apologized, others want more. One Facebook page called "Pit Bulls Against McDonald's" has more than 8,200 fans, a number of whom want the chain to donate to a pit bull rescue organization and feature the breed in another ad.The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
reports that pit bulls are one of the breeds with the most prejudice against it, despite the fact that it was once known as especially non-aggressive toward people. Irresponsible owners are breeders are mostly to blame, and media attention to pit bull attacks exacerbates the issue. | <urn:uuid:6e19d938-6338-4689-8494-edc79731cf13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/ars/article/McDonalds-pulls-ad-that-offended-pit-bull-owners455 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966467 | 281 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Chapter LXI.—Caiaphas Answered.
“Then Caiaphas attempted to impugn the doctrine of Jesus, saying that He spoke vain things, for He said that the poor are blessed; 591 and promised earthly rewards; and placed the chief gift in an earthly inheritance; and promised that those who maintain righteousness shall be satisfied with meat and drink; and many things of this sort He is charged with teaching. Thomas, in reply, proves that his accusation is frivolous; showing that the prophets, in whom Caiaphas believes, taught these things much more, and did not show in what manner these things are to be, or how they are to be understood; whereas Jesus pointed out how they are to be taken. And when he had spoken these things, and others of like kind, Thomas also held his peace.”
Matt. 5:3, Luke 6:20. | <urn:uuid:3371dd86-8f1a-456e-8c88-874104204a21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/008/0080123.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975819 | 186 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Saturday is again the weekly Sabbath day of rest. We rest physically but emotionally we are anything but at rest as we ponder an uncertain future without a leader, without our King Jesus.
Let's recap Thursday - Sunday by looking at some verses in Luke:
Luke 23:52-24:1 [Thursday][Crucifixion day] "This man, Joseph of Arimathaea, went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down [from the cross] and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher (tomb) that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation [preparation for the evening Sabbath of Unleavened Bread], and the Sabbath [Unleavened Bread, evening Sabbath curfew] drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld (observed) the sepulcher, and how His body was laid. And they returned (home) and [Friday] [normal Day] prepared (worked & labored) spices and ointments; and rested the [Saturday][Sabbath Day] Sabbath day according to the commandment [the 4th of the 10 commandments, the weekly Saturday Sabbath]. Now upon the first day of the week [Sunday][Resurrection Day], very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them."
It's dark in there; it's a dark and lonely place in those deep dark tombs. Death is dark, and it's dark when we look death in the face. Will the light shine? Will there be life? Will life live and conquer the darkness; the loneliness, the despair, the finality of death? We as humans have to know. We have to know if there is any hope, any permanent existence, any purpose, any reason to life and our existence or if our brief existence here on earth is only a byproduct of some random collision of molecules. Only God - Jesus can answer this question for us and it can only be answered in the Resurrection Life of Jesus as only life can hold the answers to the problems that face mankind.
God has given to us, a long time ago, the answer and His promise in each new day.
In the beginning of creation God created the Physical Light. He created light as a representation for us to see that indeed His true Spirit light of life shines and it does indeed remove the darkness of death. Every time life gets dark just remember the New Day the Sunrise the Resurrection Sunshine from on high as the Sun represents to us the True Son Light, Jesus. God made it that way! The Sun is our daily and momentary reminder of God, of His Son Jesus, of His light, His warmth, His promises, His Life, His Love and His Eternal Resurrection Life for us.
Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall in my mind, therefore I have hope. It is the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed, because His Compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is Thy Faithfulness. | <urn:uuid:09da4927-bde3-460a-98bb-d3b430b482f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ldgermany.blogspot.com/2009/04/journey-to-cross-saturday.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94489 | 654 | 1.625 | 2 |
More posts by Lisa Bloom | Follow me on Twitter
What are you reading? What’s influencing your state of mind? What are you allowing into your life?
I was visiting a friend a few months ago. She seemed distracted and not altogether happy. After a little while I asked her what was bothering her? She told me that that morning she had gotten up in a great mood and with her morning cup of coffee, she had started to browse Facebook. She had seen a post from a ‘friend’ that had really disturbed her.
She told me that this friend, someone she actually knows in real life, sends very graphic and very disturbing posts about all kinds of abuse; children, animals, women. She said that she likes to know what’s going on in the world but this had really upset her and made her feel quite depressed.
It really struck a chord with me.
How often we get concerned with what our kids are exposed to on television and the internet, yet we don’t extend that concern to ourselves.
It reminded me of a wonderful passage from the book ‘Peace is Every Step’ by Thich Nhat Hanh. He writes…
‘Watching a bad TV program, we become the TV program. We are what we feel and perceive….We can be anything we want, so why do we open our windows to bad TV programs made by sensationalist producers in search of easy money, programs that make our hearts pound, our fists tighten, and leave us exhausted? Who allows such TV programs to be made and seen by even the very young? We do! We are too undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, too lonely, lazy , or bored to create our own lives. We turn on the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us, shape us, and destroy us. Losing ourselves in this way is leaving our fate in the hands of other who may not be acting responsibly. We must be aware of which programs do harm to our nervous systems, minds, and hearts, and which programs benefit us.’
Of course this is not just about TV (I have to admit I’m quite addicted to ‘Downton Abbey’ these days, this series completely caught my attention, imagination, I’m loving it!).
It’s about the amount of absolute drivel we allow into our lives through social media, the internet and all the rest. It’s the images we casually scan and get used to seeing. Even the careless conversations that can lead us to harm, the type of harm that slowly erodes our minds and hearts.
You know it’s all about the stories. What stories do you listen to and what ones do you tell?
Remember, your stories create your reality. Not just the ones you tell, but the ones you hear and ultimately live by.
It’s very simple.
You know what you need. You know what is right for you.
It’s just like how you feel better when you eat healthy food. It’s the same as you can tell when someone is telling the truth. It’s the authenticity that we can smell a mile away.
It’s all about intentional, mindful story awareness.
Tell the story that nurtures your mind and heart.
Be that story.
Lisa Bloom, founder of Story Coach Inc. helps entrepreneurs and business owners beat overwhelm, stress and discomfort with marketing to find confidence, attract ideal clients and make more money by finding their success story. You can download Lisa's ebook "Using Stories to Get Great Clients" at www.story-coach.com| | <urn:uuid:5e2d6b0c-a3d3-4abb-b45d-d67b717247a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.solo-e.com/blog/2012/12/why-are-you-watching-that.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970876 | 769 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Slyline of La Valetta, capital city of Malta
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||Local government in Malta
By Jimmy Magro
6 June 2008: Malta is a Republic, whose parliamentary system and public administration is closely modeled on the Westminster system. For sure, there is one good thing about local government in Malta: local councils, as they are known by our legislation and the masses, cannot raise taxes and this is part of the Local Councils Act 1993. Malta began with 67 local councils and this was increased to 69 a few years alter.
System of government
The unicameral House of Representatives is elected by direct universal suffrage through single transferable vote every five years, unless the House is dissolved earlier by the President on advice of the Prime Minister. The House of Representatives is made up of sixty-five Members of Parliament. However, where a party wins an absolute majority of votes, but does not have a majority of seats, that party is given additional seats to ensure a parliamentary majority. The Constitution of Malta provides that the President appoint as Prime Minister the member of the House who is best able to command a (governing) majority in the House.
The President of the Republic is elected every five years by the House of Representatives. The role of the president as head of state is largely ceremonial.
The main political parties are the Nationalist Party, which is a Christian democratic party, and the Malta Labour Party, which is a social democratic party. There are a number of smaller political parties in Malta that presently have no parliamentary representation. Malta and Gozo are divided into 13 electoral districts. Five Members of Parliament are elected from each district. The Constitution has seen several changes in order to ensure strict proportionality between the number of first count votes and the number of parliamentary seats gained by any political party. Another measure to avoid disproportionality was included in the Constitution whereby electoral districts cannot exceed +/- 5percent from the national average of the number of votes in each electoral district.
Local government was established in 1993 following Parliament’s approval, in June 1993, of the Local Councils Act, 1993 (Act No. XV of 1993). This law made it possible for local councils to be set up. Furthermore, it presently serves as a regulatory mechanism for the councils` operation.
The Local Councils Act was modeled on the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which the Maltese Government had signed and ratified. According to this Act, "The Council shall be a statutory local government authority having a distinct legal personality and capable of entering into contracts, of suing and being sued, and of doing all such things and entering into such transactions as are incidental or conducive to the exercise and performance of its functions as are allowed under the Act."
Today, Malta has 68 Local Councils - 54 in Malta, the mainland; 14 in Gozo, the sister island. In December 1999, the Local Councils Act was revised considerably and Act No. XXI (1999), the Local Councils (Amendment) Act 1999, was published.
Another important step taken to consolidate local government in Malta was when the system of local government was entrenched in the Constitution of Malta. In fact, in April 2001, Act No. XIII of 2001 established that: "The State shall adopt a system of local government whereby the territory of Malta shall be divided into such number of localities as may by law be from time to time determined, each locality to be administered by a Local Council elected by the residents of the locality and established and operating in terms of such law as may from time to time be in force."
Local Councils Association
The Local Councils Association was established in 1994 through the issue of specific Regulations entitled: Local Councils (Association) Regulations, 1994. From time to time, these Regulations were amended and enhanced.
The Regulations state that: "There shall be a Local Councils Association representing all the Local Councils with the aim of protecting and promoting the common interests of all the Local Councils and to represent, solely for the purposes of these regulations, all Local Councils in Malta and overseas, and on international associations of local government authorities."
The Association is a juridical body having a distinct legal personality.
Constitution and election process
The Association is composed of six councillors forming an Executive Committee and they are assisted administratively by a full-time Executive Secretary of the Association, who is a public officer.
The six members of the Executive Committee are elected upon the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, and an election takes place every two years, and all Councilors in office can be nominated to contest as candidates in the election of the Executive Committee. Once elected, Committee members are obliged to attend all meetings of the Committee. The Electoral Commission is responsible for the Local Councils Association election process.
The idea of town twinning was born about 50 years ago, when the peoples of Europe realised the need for mutual reconciliation and cooperation between neighbours. The first contacts were essentially exchanges of experiences in the area of local life. Today, town twinning has grown into a movement linking municipalities in several European countries to a dense and organised network of towns, cities, villages and citizens.
In Malta, with the establishment of Local Councils the idea of town-twinning was introduced through local government legislation in 1994.
According to the Local Councils Act, local councils have the right to make twinning arrangements with any city, town, village or other locality in any other country, provided that any twinning between a city, town or village and another locality in any other country shall require the approval of the Minister responsible for Local Government. Prior to this approval, the Local Councils Association is requested to give its opinion on the particular twinning proposal.
In establishing twinning of localities, considerations are normally given to the status of the localities in the other country with which twinning is being proposed, and such that a capital or a former capital city of Malta shall only be twinned with a capital or a former capital of another country, and a city shall, as far as possible, only be twinned with another city.
Currently there are around 40 twinning agreements between Maltese local councils and local governments from other countries around the world.
As from their conception, the Government of Malta adopted a policy of devolution of power and responsibilities to local authorities. In the beginning the first functions to be devolved included the provision of collection and removal of all refuse from any public or private place; the maintenance of cleanliness and for the establishment of dustbins and other receptacles for the temporary deposit and collection of waste. Local councils were also given the responsibility for the making of any changes in traffic schemes directly affecting the locality in consultation with the competent authority and also planning or building schemes in consultation with the competent authorities. The naming or renaming of streets was also a responsibility devolved to our local authorities.
Local councils were also responsible to give advice and be consulted by relevant authorities on decisions affecting the Council and the residents it is responsible for.
In 1995, local councils had new responsibilities. These included the provision of the upkeep and maintenance of any street or footpath not being privately owned, including the patching or resurfacing thereof, but does not include its reconstruction and the provision of the establishment, upkeep and maintenance of children’s playgrounds, public gardens and sport, cultural or other leisure centers. Local councils also had to work on the provision of, and the maintenance of proper road signs and road markings, in conformity with national and international standards, to establish and maintain pedestrian and parking areas and to provide for the protection of school children in the vicinity of schools.
During the years local councils were entrusted with more responsibilities, including the assistance to citizens by providing, in conjunction with any competent authority, information relating to the rights of citizens in general, including information on consumers` rights, transport, communications, tourist facilities, taxation, social security, public health and other matters of public utility and interest; the establishment, upkeep and maintenance of crèches, kindergartens and other educational services or buildings; in conjunction with any competent authority, the establishment, upkeep and maintenance of health and rehabilitation centres, government dispensaries, health district offices and homes for senior citizens.
Along the years the following functions or initiatives were introduced:
In January 1999, an agreement was signed with the Water Services Corporation. This controlled the way re-instatement was performed (by local councils) after Trenching works were carried out.
The administration of Regional and Local Libraries by councils was introduced in March 1999. The following councils have signed the relative Agreement with the competent authority.
This was accompanied with the Devolution of Public Property Administration (by councils).
The Local (Wardens) Enforcement System was introduced in February 2000 and was applied by most councils in Malta and Gozo, while the Devolution of Sports Facilities Administration by Councils was initiated in November 2000.
In November 2000 the Collection of Government Property Rents through local councils was established, while in April 2001 the Local Councils Association entered into an agreement, on behalf of councils, for the provision, erection and maintenance of standard bus shelters in Malta’s localities.
Local councils in Malta are also responsible for the maintenance of street lighting, and for the issue of temporary trading licences.
The functions of local councils are outlined in the Local Councils Act (Chapter 363, Laws of Malta) specifically in Section 33 of the same Act.
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The ratings will become a contributory factor of World Mayor 2010. | <urn:uuid:dfb073c3-9a53-4de3-9373-192fb655ec1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.citymayors.com/government/malta-government.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960968 | 2,788 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Mind the Gap
Alight from an underground train in London’s Bank station and you’ll hear a deeply concerned recording advising you to “mind the gap.” That simple recording must have saved thousands of hapless commuters from flinging themselves mindlessly into the 6-inch space between the train and the platform.
Perhaps the recording would be better employed in our software development bullpens, because there’s a gap there that is wider and has caused far more stumbles. It’s the gap between skills and experience.
Developers and managers in the field are desperately trying to keep their skills current. They’re lapping up the low-level trade books-how to write programs in language XYZ, how to configure a Web server, how to install Linux, whatever. At the other end of the spectrum, they’re working in environments where they have to learn their organization’s methodologies, whether Rational Unified Process, Capability Maturity Model, Extreme Programming or something home-grown.
But the industry is still frustrated. With all these skills, project teams continue to make the same old mistakes-mistakes in design, mistakes in implementation and mistakes in deployment.
The teams are gaining experience, and they’re gaining it the only way they can-by making mistakes. There’s a wide gulf between skills and experience. Would you want to be flown by a pilot who has read all the books he can find on flying but hasn’t actually sat in a plane until today?
Developers can know all the ins and outs of the language they’re using. They can have walls papered with Microsoft or Sun certificates. They can fill in the forms and follow the practices of their methodology. But that’s not programming. And programming is what developers spend most of their day doing.
Programming is normally regarded as a personal skill, something that’s honed on the grindstone of practice. Sit in your cubicle and hit those keys, and you’ll gradually get better and better.
Is there any alternative? Is there a way to fill the gap between technical proficiency and professionalism? Yes. You and your team can accelerate the learning process. Here are proven factors that help teams cross the experience gap more quickly and with fewer stumbles.
Know what you don’t know. You can gather experience by picking up bits and pieces as it drifts by, or you can actively seek it out and grab it with both hands. This is particularly important when starting new projects. We’ve seen clients throw dozens of inexperienced staff at some new technology hoping they’ll catch on. It just doesn’t work.
Diversify. If you treat your knowledge and skills as an asset, then diversification is just good sense. By all means have particular areas of focus, but without a broad base, there’s less framework on which to hang new experiences.
Become your user. The majority of real experience is not in the technical details; it’s the interactions between things that hold the information. So find ways of getting close to your users, really close. If possible, work alongside them every now and then. If not, invite them into your world. Learning from each other during a development is better than screaming at each other afterward.
Stir the mix. A typical team has a broad spectrum of skills and experiences, yet developers typically work shut away in their cubicles most of the day. Break down the barriers to communication.
Encourage prototyping. Prototyping is learning. Developing a prototype, throwing it away, then developing the real thing normally take less effort than developing the final application, throwing it away and developing it again properly. Look for tools and techniques that facilitate the process. (A message to project sponsors and managers out there: If you take a prototype away from a team and try to deploy it, they’ll never prototype again. That’ll end up costing you a lot.)
Don’t blame; don’t make excuses. Have an official no-blame policy, so mistakes can be shared and learned from. Learn from professional aviation. In the early ‘70s, pilots were reluctant to report problems for fear of enforcement actions-their livelihood was at stake. Following a sequence of accidents, NASA agreed to start accepting reports of problems, and the Federal Aviation Administration agreed not to use them to assess blame. The program now receives over 30,000 reports every year, making flying safer for everyone.
Act on feedback. Feedback is how we learn. Find out how to give feedback and learn how to take it. Feedback doesn’t come just from your colleagues and your users. Listen to your software and processes as well. That piece of code that steadfastly refuses to work? Maybe it’s trying to tell you it wants to be refactored. That change request form that no one bothers to fill in? Maybe it’s just not a good form.
Buy time. You don’t learn from doing unnecessary things, no matter how well you do them. Practice techniques of salvaging time. For example, automate everything you can. Not only do you buy time, your work becomes repeatable. Do you really need acres of class diagrams before you start to code? And fix things now. It will take longer later.
Judge yourself. The old saw is “Experience is not what you’ve done, but what you’ve learned from what you’ve done.” Constantly review your performance against your objectives, and adjust accordingly.
And don’t forget to make all this effort worthwhile. Capitalize on your experience and learn to trust your judgment. Actively plan the acquisition of experience, and you’ll find your projects go faster with fewer mistakes. You’ll probably enjoy them more, too. | <urn:uuid:da55ad8e-323f-4fbe-b1c3-956b3183a7cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pragprog.com/articles/other-published-articles/mind-the-gap.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947161 | 1,228 | 2.046875 | 2 |
I recently saw an episode of Modern Marvels about rice. In it, scientists genetically developed a hybrid that was flood resistant but also tasted good. Once they proved it lived up to their claims, they then had to spend additional time going through the old fashioned method of cross-breeding the 2 strains until they achieved the same results. Newsflash, cross-breeding is genetic engineering, just on a longer time-scale! Think of the millions of third world hunger victims who may have lived if this strain had gotten to market sooner. | <urn:uuid:4b38d878-23d0-42d1-a859-b843d66b1189> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/social/usercommentprint/6214219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983168 | 106 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Freedom Is Not Enough
The War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Movement in Texas
Publication Year: 2010
Published by: University of Texas Press
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In March 1965 television audiences got a jarring glimpse of the violence that enforced segregation in the Jim Crow South. Mounted sheriff’s deputies and Alabama state troopers, menacing in protective masks, trampled and beat young marchers in a cloud of tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Such brazen racist violence captured on the television news seemed to discredit the recent legislative triumph of the Civil Rights Act and pending voting rights legislation for southern blacks. To reaffirm the nation’s commitment to civil rights, Lyndon Johnson responded with a speech that compared the bravery of the marchers, who risked their lives for the right to vote, to the...
One. Poverty, Race, and Politics in Postwar Texas
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Michael Harrington’s The Other America may have sparked a “rediscovery” of poverty in the 1960s, but chronic poverty was no revelation in the Lone Star State. Texas had more poor people than any other state when Lyndon Johnson took office.1 Yet poverty in Texas had been on the decline since 1945 as the state followed the nation into the dramatic economic and social transformation of the postwar decades. By the time the War on Poverty began in 1964, many more Texans had moved into John Kenneth Galbraith’s affluent society than remained in Harrington’s other America...
Two. Postwar Liberalism, Civil Rights, and the Origins of the War on Poverty
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The vitriol of political talk in recent decades has clouded historical understanding of liberalism in the twentieth century. Conservatives have largely driven the political discourse in America since LBJ left office, defining liberal Democrats as, more or less, feminist proponents of abortion and gay rights who are soft on defense and cater to minorities with affirmative action and welfare programs. Ronald Reagan made “liberal” an epithet—“the L word”— and made “big government” liberalism nearly synonymous with “socialism.” Reaganite myth held that government of the New Deal and the Great Society intruded on individual liberties, stole from working families with oppressive taxes, made people hopelessly dependent, weakened the national defense in the face of mortal threats, and sought to erase the moral codes that defined...
Three. The War on Poverty and Texas Politics
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The Democratic Party in Texas began to unravel in the postwar period. No other state, George Norris Green asserts, “could boast of a governor (conservative John Connally) and a senator (liberal Ralph Yarborough) in the same party who hardly spoke to each other and who took every opportunity to undermine each other for six years.”1 No other issue informed this enmity more than civil rights. Conservatives who identified with Governor Connally maintained that civil rights legislation violated states’ rights. Liberals, represented through the sixties by Senator Yarborough, firmed up their commitment to civil rights with a strengthening coalition of African American and Mexican American voters. The newly emergent Republicans, led by Senator John Tower, became the primary beneficiaries of the civil war among the state’s Democrats. Tower renounced the Johnson administration’s civil rights initiatives and drew many Texas voters who could not disassociate Connally’s...
Four. Launching the War on Poverty in Texas [Includes Photo Inserts]
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The battery of programs introduced by the OEO, presented as a bewildering list of acronyms, confused local officials when the War on Poverty came to the Lone Star State. In Brownsville the Cameron County Commissioners’ Court invited the local press to a discussion of the unfolding fight on poverty. County Judge Oscar C. Dancy’s understanding of the OEO’s role reflected that of many local officials in Texas: “I’m in favor of cooperating with the President and the governor as far as we can on this poverty thing . . . The beautification of highways, parks, seems to be the first on the President’s program.”1 Dancy and many others seemed to believe that LBJ intended more or less to revive the New Deal. When a reporter asked the judge, “Is it a make work program, like the WPA was?” Dancy replied, “Yes, I would say it is, at...
Five. Making Maximum Participation Feasible: Community Action in Urban Texas
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Recent scholarship on the War on Poverty focuses on the significance of community action and other OEO programs to the political mobilization of marginalized groups at the grassroots level. African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and women in general, already activated politically for the civil rights revolution, saw the OEO as a means to include and advance the cause of economic justice on their agendas. Civil rights activists took the OEO’s principle of maximum feasible participation seriously—for them it was feasible for the poor to participate by running the programs in their communities.1 This represents a departure from the earliest scholarship on the War on Poverty, which tended to depict confrontations over OEO funds between local civil rights groups and city hall, often controlled by local Democratic machines, as a liability for LBJ and the overall Great Society agenda. There was little or no acknowledgment that in many cases community action was...
Six. Race Conflict and the War on Poverty in Texas
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On September 12, 1968, more than two thousand angry protesters marched through the narrow streets of downtown San Antonio to stage a demonstration at city hall. SANYO supporters staged the protest to compel the EODC to place control of funds for the Concentrated Employment Program (CEP), a new effort introduced by the OEO to bring jobs into low-income areas. Police and reporters stood by as speakers provoked “a super-charged emotional upheaval” of shaking fists and chants from the crowd.1 The protesters, mostly Mexican American, endured the late-summer heat because they had grown impatient with the lack of nonwhite involvement in the administration of the local War on Poverty. Albert Peña brought the protest to a climax when he declared, “The city and the county should stay out of the poverty program and let the poor people run it . . . San Antonio will never be the same again...
Seven. The War on Poverty and the Militants: The OEO and the Chicano Movement
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The events of 1965 cast doubt on the substance of the liberal legislative accomplishments of 1964. The passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Economic Opportunity Act and Lyndon Johnson’s electoral victory all seemed less substantive as Watts burned and Alabama state troopers beat young marchers at Selma. For those civil rights activists who would lead the militant phase of the civil rights movement after 1965, Selma and Watts were unsurprising evidence of the failure of the liberal agenda. That mounted police beat peaceful marchers in Selma proved that the Civil Rights Act had failed to vanquish racist violence. Similarly, the riot in Watts proved that the Economic Opportunity Act and the War on Poverty had done little to alleviate chronic urban poverty. For the militants, Lyndon Johnson was just another white politician, big on promises but unwilling to share power and unable to...
Eight. A "Preventative Force"? Urban Violence, Black Power, and the OEO
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The Black Power movement did not develop as extensive an organizational base in Texas as did the Chicanos with MAYO. Black Power nevertheless paralleled the Chicano movement in the state. Young people came under the influence of national leaders like Stokely Carmichael, who rejected integration as a goal when he assumed leadership of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee in 1966. The only black Texan to gain national recognition within the movement was Bobby Seale, who grew up in various Texas cities as his father, a single parent of three children, moved frequently to look for work. Seale came of age in Oakland, California, where he helped create the Black Panther Party (BPP). Carl Hampton, a Black Panther organizer originally from Houston, returned to his hometown from Oakland to open a Houston chapter of the Panthers. Unable to get an endorsement from the national Black Panthers, in 1969 Hampton instead formed the largest militant organization in the state, the People’s Party II (the first people’s party being the BPP). Like the Panthers, the People’s Party II focused on teaching self- defense, confronting police brutality, and providing services to the poor such as food and clothing. The Houston Police killed Hampton in a 1970 shootout...
Nine. After LBJ: Republican Ascendance and Grassroots Antipoverty Activism
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In 1968 Ralph Abernathy, the new chair of the Southern Christian Leader- ship Conference (SCLC), chose to go ahead with a march on Washington that Martin Luther King Jr. had been planning when he was murdered. King called it the Poor People’s Campaign. He hoped the event would be a show of unity as people of all races gathered in the capital to dramatize the plight of the poor. King wanted to make clear to the nation that the demands of economic injustice compelled the civil rights movement to continue. In the summer after King’s death, some seven thousand protesters gathered on the national mall in Washington and built a camp of tents they called Resurrection City. The march drew very little attention at the time and had no impact on national economic policies. There was just too much going on in 1968 for the Poor People’s Campaign to capture public attention.1 King’s assassination and the riots that followed, Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, the Tet offensive, and Lyndon Johnson’s abdication combined to make Americans weary. Even people sympathetic to King when he came to Washington in 1963 had grown tired of marches. Bertrand Harding, who took over the OEO when Shriver left, wondered whether the Poor People’s Campaign accomplished...
Conclusion: Texans and the "Long War on Poverty"
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It seems mandatory in any study of the War on Poverty to repeat Ronald Reagan’s notorious assessment of the effort, which he offered in his final state of the union address in 1988: “My friends, some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won.”1 In response to Reagan’s assessment, liberals concluded that the “War on Poverty didn’t fail. It was called off.”2 Recent scholarship has made it clear that both assessments are wrong. The fact that poverty still exists does not mean poverty won the war, if for no other reason than the War on Poverty was not called off. The federal government began a retreat near the end of the Johnson administration, but the fight against poverty continued independently on the local level. Movements for economic justice have emerged with less federal assistance since the sixties. Historians have now begun to trace the contours of a “long war on poverty,” just as Jacquelyn Dowd Hall introduced the concept of the “long...
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Page Count: 230
Illustrations: 15 b&w photos
Publication Year: 2010 | <urn:uuid:be6e1ac6-0bbb-4197-9053-f890a07e85ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780292793088 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937035 | 2,413 | 2.6875 | 3 |
TOP STORY > >Bayou Meto canoe trail starts next summer
Leader staff writer
Canoeists looking for gentle waters to explore in central Arkansas have a flat water trail on the Bayou Meto to look forward to.
The Arkansas Stream Team chapter at North Pulaski High School has set its sights on the two-mile stretch of the bayou running from Hwy. 67/167 to Hwy. 161 by Reed’s Bridge as a worthy community project and a way to improve their GPS tracking skills.
Mike Stanley, president of the central Arkansas chapter of the Arkansas Canoe Club, says the bayou will offer a canoeing experience not widely available in the state. It will also be well-suited for those not highly skilled at manning a canoe.
“Flat water paddlers are at a little bit of a disadvantage because there are not a lot of slow-moving canoe trails established,” Stanley said.
“This one will be close to Little Rock with easy access at both ends and a shuttle that is a short drive. There won’t be a lot of safety issues; a life jacket will be just fine.”
The bayou won’t be safely navigable until it is cleared of logjams and other debris, which could take until next summer.
The project kicks off this Tuesday when NPHS EAST lab students – also members of the Stream Team – will scope out the area under direction of their teacher, Julia Leonard. Their objective is to use GPS technology to create maps of the bayou, including one that identifies waterway obstructions.
The trail-development project is a collaboration of the NPHS Stream Team, along with the city of Jacksonville, Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, and the Arkansas Canoe Club.
A Boy Scout troop has shown interest in identifying and labeling trees and other plants along the banks of the bayou.
Once the weather warms in the spring, the plan is for volunteers in waders and armed with chain saws to begin clearing hazardous obstructions from the waterway, guided by the map created by the students.
Future plans include construction of access ramps at the end points of the trail as well as mid-way, a short walk from Dupree Park.
A walking trail along the shore of the bayou is also part of the plans. All of that must await the city’s acquisition of grant money. Public works director Jimmy Oakley is looking into that, but he already sent a crew to rough-out the course for the future trail.
Ron Newport, executive director of Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, tried out the trail course recently.
“It was very scenic, very peaceful, very nice,” Newport said.
Clearing obstructions from the stream will also improve the Bayou Meto effectiveness in flood control, Newport noted.
He envisions the project as the start of a larger effort to improve other sections of the Bayou Meto to the east and west of Jacksonville.
“Many schools have Stream Teams so this may generate some enthusiasm,” Newport said.
The Arkansas Canoe Club is lending a hand to the effort with volunteers, canoes, and other equipment once the cleanup gets under way. Members have also offered their expertise with right-of-way acquisition, design of ramps, depth markers and other canoe trail issues.
The Arkansas Stream Team is a program of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission dedicated to river, stream, and bayou conservation. It offers opportunities for citizens to cleanup and stabilize stream banks and other water quality and habitat protection efforts.
The head of the meandering Bayou Meto is located northwest of Jacksonville, just over the border in Faulkner County. South of Jacksonville, the stream continues to the southeast until it flows into the Arkansas River near Gillett. | <urn:uuid:29c32a35-adc7-48ce-8f4a-0b2104366307> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arkansasleader.com/2008/12/top-story-bayou-meto-canoe-trail-starts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948069 | 789 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Remember address book-gate? Locationgate? I-don’t-know-what-my-apps-are-doing-on-my-phone-gate? (Oh, that last one might not be a real thing.) Regardless, we’re living in age where companies are pushing us to rethink the boundaries between what we consider private, personal information and what should be public. The resulting backlash is an overreaction(-gate) when we discover that some of the data we presumed to be ours alone was actually being stored, accessed and shared by others…in many cases, “others” being mobile app developers.
Well, leave it to a security firm to capitalize on the privacy scare trend. And by capitalize, I mean launch a $4 app that tells you what the apps on your phone are doing. Introducing Bitdefender’s Clueful.
Today, the security company has pushed Clueful into the iTunes App Store, claiming it can identify the “misdemeanant apps on your iPhone.” (I believe “misdemeanant” is fancy talk for “naughty.”) Of course, Apple iPhone users don’t have much to fear in terms of malware – Apple curates and tests apps prior to admission. Google has a bigger malware problem, as it only kicks apps out after they’re discovered to be malicious. That being said, even Apple can’t test everything. And some users don’t understand that a social feature on their phone may require an app taking a peek at their address book, for example (the horror!), or tracking their location (ack! I’m being stalked!).
While Bitdefender acknowledges that most apps are not malicious, it’s true that app developers can be careless with the way they handle user’s data. With Clueful, Bitdefender says it can now answer questions about what your apps are doing. It shows which apps are accessing your location, tracking your in-app usage, reading your address book, linking your actions across apps to a single identity, needlessly keep GPS running, thereby draining your battery, accessing your UDID, and a host of other ills. To do so, Clueful examines what applications are running in memory and then retrieves audit information from the “Clueful Cloud.” (That’s the name for the space where Bitdefender maintains all the data on apps, and it’s also the way they ensure communication between the app and Bitdefender’s research labs.)
To create the Clueful Cloud, Bitdefender built proprietary technology similar to what they use for their anti-virus products, but customized for iOS apps. But because it’s a proprietary technology and patent pending, the company won’t go into detail about the specifics of how it works. But the long and short of it is this: Bitdefender tests apps, creates a database, and then shares that info with the Clueful app to give you insight about the apps you use on your phone.
The iTunes App Store has hundreds of thousands of applications, but Bitdefender’s Cloud “only” has tens of thousands at launch. However, the database is still growing, and you can submit apps to be tested using the application.
I’ve got an embarrassing number of apps on my phone, but after installing and running Clueful, it still managed to surprise me. (Solitaire was accessing my address book? What?) But the news wasn’t all bad – most of my apps were behaving. Clueful nicely differentiates between apps that “can” do something (like access your address book) versus those that “could” do something (like track your location). Plus, it highlight the good things apps do for you, too, like encrypt your data, for example. I’m not sure the app is worth $3.99, but if you’re at all curious about your apps, or just privacy-sensitive, this isn’t a bad tool to use.
BitDefender™ provides security solutions to satisfy the protection requirements of today’s computing environment, delivering effective threat management to home and corporate users. BitDefender products eatures antivirus, firewall, antispyware, antispam and parental control for corporate and home users. Also the BitDefender range of products is intended to be implemented on complex IT structures (work stations, file servers, mail servers, and gateway), on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD platforms. The products have multi-language support available in 18 languages and are easy to use,... | <urn:uuid:4a47c7c2-19ed-454f-b8c6-bf57c7dc32d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/22/clueful-scans-the-apps-on-your-iphone-tells-you-which-ones-are-doing-naughty-things-with-your-data/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923755 | 983 | 1.5 | 2 |
Like Nixon or Like Ike?
For the Republicans, there are two ways out of Iraq. They can either go out like Eisenhower or like Nixon.
As the first Republican to occupy the White House since the coming of the New Deal, Dwight Eisenhower could have chosen to divide the public and try to roll back Franklin Roosevelt's handiwork. In fact, he didn't give that option a moment's consideration. Social Security and unions, he concluded, were here to stay; any attempt to undo them, he wrote, would consign the Republicans to permanent minority status. Ike also ended the Korean War without attacking Democrats in the process.
His vice president, Richard Nixon, became president largely because of the public's massive discontent with the Vietnam War. We now know that Nixon and Henry Kissinger had no illusions that the war could be won, and Nixon probably could have withdrawn U.S. troops in a way that didn't polarize the public. Such a stance, however, ran counter to Nixon's deepest instincts. For Nixon, politics was about dividing the electorate and demonizing enemies. Even as he drew down U.S. forces, he did all he could to inflame the war's already flammable opponents in the hope that however much the people might dislike the war, they would dislike its critics more.
Today's Republicans now must choose between Eisenhower's way and Nixon's way. If they're like Ike, they will recognize that the war is lost and that public support for it isn't likely to be rekindled. A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted over the weekend shows more than 60 percent support for a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's escalation. Even reliably conservative Republicans who are up for reelection in 2008 from shaky states or districts are bailing on the war (New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu is questioning the surge) or on their careers (Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard just announced he's not going to run again). To continue dispatching and keeping troops in a country racked by an intra-Islamic civil war, looked at from this perspective, only guarantees that November's Republican defeat will be a prelude to 2008's Republican rout.
A Nixonian perspective also acknowledges that the war cannot be won but believes that blame for the defeat can still, somehow, be placed on the Democrats. If only the Democrats can be held responsible for defunding the troops, if only the U.S. presence in Iraq can be prolonged until it falls to the next administration (which may be Democratic) to end it, if only enough Republicans on the Hill can be dissuaded from voting with the Democrats' attempts to rein in the war, if only the surge engenders some wild and crazy antiwar demonstrations, then maybe, just maybe, there's a way to keep the war going without destroying the GOP. These options may seem a bit far-fetched, but who believes that Karl Rove hasn't at least thought about them in his more contemplative moments?
How Rove defines his job these days is an interesting question. Since November, he's no longer the Republicans' master political strategist -- not just because November was such a debacle but also because the political interests of the Bush White House, congressional Republicans and the Republican presidential candidates are de-aligned and in some cases even adversarial. The man who'd hoped to make Bush the second coming of William McKinley -- a harbinger of a long-term Republican realignment -- now handles a president whose electoral impact on his own party could be nearer to Herbert Hoover's.
For a time, at least, the Republicans' presidential hopefuls can't really rule out a Nixonian tack. For New York's reflexively combative Rudy Giuliani, such politics may come naturally. But the need to win support among Republican primary voters -- the last group in American politics still sticking with Bush and his war -- could compel any number of primary candidates to bash Democrats for their dovishness. Besides, will Bush and Vice President Cheney really cease to defend their war even if the Republicans' eventual nominee wants to wrap it up? If Republican congressional leaders tell Bush that his war has no more support, will Bush and Cheney fold, or will they insist on continuing the war with invocations of executive power or any other doctrine that might work? (Memo to David Addington: The divine right of kings? The infield fly rule?)
The guy to watch in all this is the pooh-bah of Fox News, Roger Ailes. Nixon's onetime aide guides a TV network that is Nixonian to its bones -- Fox's raison d'être is to bash liberals, real or imagined. But Ailes can't be insensible to the war's effects on Republican electoral prospects. If Fox News were to break with Bush on Iraq, that would be proof positive that even the Nixonians believe there's no way, politically, they can salvage this miserable war. | <urn:uuid:c2a16f31-d9e2-4975-8c14-b0931f6628ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601336.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96301 | 996 | 1.835938 | 2 |
A nice Gradient Fill can really make the difference and enhance your artwork. I will try to explain in detail all about Gradients.
An alternative way of coloring an object with a solid fill, is choosing a gradient. A gradient fill consists of more than a single color. It takes a minimum of two colors gradually blending from one to the other.
Ok, let's see all that in action.
So, start Illustrator and create a new document. In the toolbox on the left, select the Rectangle tool , click on the artboard and drag to draw a rectangle with a black stroke and a nice solid green color.
From the right dock, click on the Gradient Panel and click to expand it.
Of course, you can always avoid all this by simply clicking CTRL+F9 on your keyboard.
With the rectangle still selected, click on the small icon on the top left corner of the panel in order to change from the solid green color to a gradient fill. This is the Gradient Fill Box, and displays the current gradient colors and type. By default, the panel includes a start and end color box. Notice that the first time you will click on this icon, the default white to black gradient fill will be applied to your selection.
As you see, the rectangle fill, looking at it from left to right, starts from pure white color and then it gradually blends into shades of grey until it ends up to pitch black. Why is this happening?
Take a look at the Gradient Panel.
Let's focus first on the Type textbox and the Angle textbox. There are two types of Gradients, Linear and Radial. Below I will try to explain the difference between them.
a. Linear Gradient
In a linear gradient the blending of one color to the other takes place along a straight line from one side of the object to the other. In the following images the blending starts from left to right along a straight line.
In this type of gradient, you may also specify the angle of that line, the direction along which the color blending will take place. In the images shown above, the angle is 0 degrees. If you input a value of 45 degrees the result is shown below.
b. Radial Gradient
In a Radial Gradient, color blending starts from the center of the shape and is completed outwards.
Ok, let's go back to the rectangle we started with, so that we explore the Gradient Panel a bit more. At the bottom of the panel, there is a tool called the Gradient Slider. The Gradient Slider adjusts the way the Gradient looks. Underneath the slider bar, you can see two small 'pointers' called Color Stops (the start color and the end color of the Gradient). On the top side of the bar, there is a diamond shaped icon called the Midpoint Indicator. This is an indication of where is the midpoint of the transition from one color to the other.
For demonstration reasons, I undocked the panel and resized it so that its length is equal to my rectangle length.
Ok now, let's see what adjustments we can make to our dull rectangle. Click on the Midpoint Indicator and drag towards the right. You will see that your gradient is adjusted so that the midpoint will be at the new point you defined. You will also notice that as soon as you move the Indicator the Location value box becomes active so that you can precisely place the Midpoint along the Gradient.
Let's see now what happens if we move the Color Stops. Make sure the rectangle is selected, and let's assume we move the white stop towards the right at approximately 20% (shown in the Location box) of the Gradient slider length and the black stop at the 80%. You should have an image similar to the following.
What has actually happened is that the rectangle is now split in 3 zones. In Zone 1, we have solid white color. Then, at 20% of the rectangle length (at point A) is where our gradient starts. It starts from pure white, lasts throughout Zone 2 (it also passes from midpoint at C) and the blending is completed by turning into black at point B (approximately @80%). From this point onwards, we have Zone 3 in which we have pure solid Black color.
Remember we talked earlier about Linear Gradients and how we can adjust the direction of the Gradient by entering an angle in the Angle text box? In order to avoid the fuzz of manually inputing the angles you can simply select the Gradient tool from the left toolbar, and drag accordingly in the document window to set the angle. This is an example of how you do it.
In the previous image, what I actually did by clicking and dragging (on the yellow highlighted spots), was to specify an angle of approx. 34 degrees.
Let's see now what happens if you select the Gradient Tool again, but this time you click outside the shape,drag and release the mouse again outside the rectangle.
In order to fully understand what happens, take a look at the previous image. Given that you clicked on the amber spots, I resized the Gradient Slider to extend from the start point to the end point of the Gradient. The solid white and the solid black regions of my gradient are outside the rectangle, thus not visible. In general, with the gradient tool you can very quickly test many angles to your gradients and choose the best one for your design.
If you are dealing with a radial gradient and you decide to modify it with the gradient tool, then the place you click and start your drag is the center of the gradient. Have a look at the following image.
Let's say we agreed on the direction of the Gradient but we are not satisfied with the boring colors of our gradient so we want to spice things up a bit. What about playing around with the colors?
There are quite a few ways to change the colors of a gradient. A quick one is described below. Open the Swatches Panel. Locate it on the right dock and click on it (or use the top Menu and choose Window > Swatches).
Select the rectangle with the white to black Gradient. Click on a color swatch of your like and drag it on top of one of the color stops, let's say the white.
You could do the same procedure for replacing the black color stop, but I want to show you a different way to change the color. So click on the black color Stop. On the right dock locate and click to open the Color Panel (or simply press F6) . By doing so, you see that the color is solid black. Press SHIFT and click on the ramp at the bottom of the color panel.
This way you' re switching between the available color modes, RGB, CMYK etc. Set it to RGB and pick a color over the right edge of the bar. The result should be something similar to the following.
Of course gradients are not limited just to two colors. You can create gradients consisting of many colors. And it's very easy to do it. Repeat the same procedure like before, but this time drop the color on the slider somewhere between the two initial color stops. The result should be similar to the following image.
As you notice, by adding a new color stop, a Midpoint indicator is also created. So you can precisely adjust the midpoint for every section of the gradient separately (one midpoint indicator for each pair of color stops). You may add as many color stops as you may handle and produce impressive gradients. Try adding a 4th and a 5th color stop to the gradient.
Let's say now that we are happy with all these colors and satisfied with the gradient fill we created for our rectangle. Illustrator offers you the ability to save this gradient's settings and store them as a new color swatch in the Swatches Panel and use it again in the future. Let me show you how.
Click in the Gradient Fill box, drag n' drop in the Swatches Panel and there you go... Your gradient swatch is now available for later reference. Double-click on the swatch icon and in the pop-up window give it a name of your like. I named it 'Rainbow'.
So if you now create a new rectangle or circle, select it and just click on the newly created swatch (rainbow) in the Swatches Panel.
The result is a circle with the gradient fill you created before but you do not have to go through all the procedure of creating the gradient from the very beginning.
In just a snap...
Before you go, check out other interesting tutorials of mine: | <urn:uuid:db8ed9f8-00d8-46b5-a5ca-18d938652087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://klethegr8.blogspot.com/2008/09/adobe-illustrator-cs3-tutorial_29.html?showComment=1295624136633 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908958 | 1,806 | 3.546875 | 4 |
México Indígena Project
Bowman Mexico News Release
Dobson Statement on Oaxaca
AGS Ethical Guidelines
Antilles GIS Project
Colombia GIS Project
AGS Explorers' Globe
AGS Educational Tours
AGS Media Center
Updated March 3, 2009
AGS BOWMAN EXPEDITIONS
Jerome E. Dobson
In the last issue of Ubique I wrote about our Bowman Expedition to Mexico in 2005 and 2006. This time I’ll write about our new Bowman Expedition to the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
As you may recall, the existing Mexico Indigena Project was established as the prototype for a much larger concept whose ultimate purpose is to combat geographic ignorance in all sectors of society. At full funding, AGS would send a geography professor and two or three graduate students to every country in the world for a full semester each year, with teams rotating on a five-year cycle so that each country is understood by five separate teams. Each team would collect open source GIS data and conduct one research project of the investigator’s choice. Allies at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, marketed the concept and funded the prototype. Now, a major step has been taken toward implementing the concept beyond its initial prototype.
First, let’s give credit where it’s due. We are able to proceed mainly because of the phenomenal success of the prototype led by my KU colleague Peter Herlihy in collaboration with Derek Smith of Carleton University and Miguel Aguilar Robledo of the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. Last year they conducted fieldwork in the Huasteca Region of Mexico, this year in Oaxaca State. I’ll report on their project again later. For now, I’ll simply say that their results stunningly prove what geographers can do anywhere in the world to learn about foreign lands and people, establish relationships with people and institutions, collect unclassified information, and build open source geographic information systems (GIS) that can be employed by any other investigator, regardless of discipline.
Now, we are pleased to announce that a partnership led by the American Geographical Society has won an award for fieldwork throughout the Antilles Region. The proposal was submitted competitively to the Federal Government. The award amounts to a total of $255,598 and covers funding for one year with renewal likely for a second year and possibly for a third.
The project will be designated as the Bowman Expedition to the Antilles in honor of Isaiah Bowman, the Society's Director from 1915 to 1935. The region presents an unusual challenge because it contains so many island nations. We have addressed this need by engaging experts from eight different universities. Over three years, recipients of Bowman Expedition funds will include the following institutions and tasks:
*** Kansas State University has accepted primary responsibility for building and maintaining a multi-resolution, open source GIS database for the entire Antilles Region.
*** Virginia Tech will conduct a comparative analysis of water resource issues in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
*** LSU will focus on land-use and land cover dynamics as they relate to tourism, the dominant economic sector in the Leeward segment of the Lesser Antilles.
*** Miami and Hofstra Universities will compare and contrast rural economic conditions, land use change, and job prospects in three independent countries of the southern Lesser Antilles.
*** Indiana University will conduct field-based research to investigate the consequences of rapid urbanization in Trinidad and rapid coastal zone tourism-related development in Tobago.
*** The University of Kansas will coordinate the effort among participants, report to AGS, and interface onsite with the sponsor.
The third Bowman Expedition is to Colombia, and details are available online at AGS Bowman Colombia project.
Additional proposals have been submitted and others will be submitted for Bowman Expeditions to other world regions. We'll keep you posted as the program advances.
The American Geographical Society’s Bowman Expeditions seek to improve geographic understanding at home and abroad: Spotlight on México Indígena
México Indígena was the first Bowman Expedition and is the prototype for all subsequent expeditions. From 2005 through 2008, we worked in two indigenous regions of Mexico, studying the effects of changes brought on by Mexico’s
massive new land tenure program. We put geographic tools in the hands of the communities to help them use the power of GIS and maps to support their property claims and cultural rights, educate their youth, and plan conservation and
community development strategies. Read the complete news release in English and in Spanish and view photos of the researchers and community
leaders in the field.
The Bowman Expedition to Mexico was featured in an article in the Lawrence Journal World (KS) on Monday, October 23, 2006. | <urn:uuid:a9539fbb-60dd-42f6-89ab-39c4fd266571> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amergeog.org/bowman-expeditions.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922049 | 999 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge (DRC) has begun and key teams have been announced.
Other tracks continue to be open for registration for participants.
Over the next two years, participants will compete to develop and test hardware and software for robots in response to disasters.
DARPA has selected and will provide funding for seven teams in Track A to develop new robotic systems containing both hardware and software.
The seven Track A teams include: Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center, Drexel University, Raytheon, SCHAFT Inc., Virginia Tech, NASA’s Johnson Space Center and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The agency also announced the 11 teams in Track B to develop software. Track B includes: Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories, RE2, University of Kansas, Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, TRAC Labs, University of Washington, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Ben-Gurion University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and TORC Robotics.
Tracks A and B will receive funding.
Registration remains open in Track C for individuals and teams from around the world to compete without the need for hardware. Some in Track C may eventually qualify for funding.
“Anyone with the skills to develop the software needed to advance core robotic software capabilities can register and participate using the open-source DRC Simulator,” the agency said in a statement. “Expertise in software for robotic perception, planning, control and human-robot interface, and experience in physics-based games, models and simulation, as well as open-source code, will all be useful.”
The first DRC event, the Virtual Robotics Challenge, is scheduled for June 2013, and a qualifying round is planned to be held in the Simulator in May. Track C teams will compete against Track B teams.
Track D is an option for teams worldwide to develop both robotic hardware and software for disaster-response robots, but without DARPA funding. Track D participants are encouraged to develop robots of any form – not just humanoids.
In a related matter, the Simulator is now available in beta version 1.0 and will be improved by the Open Source Robotics Foundation. Once validated, the Simulator can be employed to test software.
“The DRC Simulator is going to be one of DARPA’s legacies to the robotics community,” said Gill Pratt, DARPA program manager. “One of DARPA’s goals for the Challenge is to catalyze robotics development across all fields so that we as a community end up with more capable, more affordable robots that are easier to operate. The value of a cloud-based simulator is that it gives talent from any location a common space to train, design, test and collaborate on ideas without the need for expensive hardware and prototyping. That opens the door to innovation.”
The competition will focus on robots to be used in humanitarian assistance in emergency responses, such as natural disasters. The DRC was inspired by the 50 men who risked their lives to prevent a nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant after the massive tsunami in 2011.
In addition, to the power plant crisis, other recent disasters cited by the agency include the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Chilean Copiapó mine collapse.
In December 2014, there will be a $2-million prize awarded to the team that best meets DARPA’s requirements.
To register for tracks C or D, click here.
In a related matter, Arati Prabhakar, the DARPA’s new director, said that national security capabilities, a differentiated technology base and a robust agency “are elements of DARPA's future success,” RobotXworld reported this week.
Edited by Braden Becker | <urn:uuid:889fb141-3cb1-4987-8771-d491ba209c05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.robotxworld.com/topics/robotics/articles/313518-darpa-robotics-challenge-begins-key-teams-announced-as.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916709 | 806 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Diamond Aircraft has selected a newer, higher nominal thrust engine in the same Williams engine family for the D-JET - the FJ33-4A-19.
The engine's advantages include several technological advances that result in better bleed air handling and improved specific fuel consumption. With a 1,900-lb nominal thrust versus 1,564 lbs for the originally planned FJ33-4A-15, the 'FJ33-19' also offers a potential future performance upgrade path for the D-JET. Williams International's accelerated development schedule of the FJ33-19 has made it viable to proactively launch D-JET deliveries with this engine rather than reactively introducing it at a later date in response to competitive pressures.
"The FJ33-19 engine is the perfect match for the D-JET, offering the latest technology and a potential performance and utility upgrade path for delivered aircraft that the current engine just doesn't allow. While making this change now rather than later means that initial deliveries will now be in Q2, 2009, we are confident this is the right choice and in the interest of all D-JET customers, as it ensures one configuration and maximum resale value for all delivered aircraft," said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond Aircraft.
Diamond will deliver the FJ33-19-equipped aircraft to current position holders at the contracted price; however, the company announced that a price increase for future orders is expected shortly.
"The FJ33-19 is the very latest in turbofan engine technology and offers unique features never before available on a smaller turbofan engine," explained Matt Huff, Vice President of Business Development at Williams International. "We are pleased that our accelerated development schedule for this engine now makes it feasible for Diamond to launch with the FJ33-19, instead of introducing it after initial aircraft deliveries. Every D-JET customer will now benefit from technological advances, such as the built-in pre-cooler and new compressor technology."
- Maylan Aviation will operate a fleet of 35 DA20-C1 aircraft | <urn:uuid:f25e17e6-a503-4e26-80a1-9c40415d25a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diamondaircraft.com/news/news-article.php?id=14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940322 | 428 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Unfortunately, the history that seems to stick in the mind is oversimplified beyond belief. Although jazz is a reasonably young phenomenon, it has attracted too many watery half-truths. When enthusiasts began to write about the music and its performers in the Thirties, they were so in love with what they heard that they created and embellished myths appropriate to its magical, transporting nature. Perhaps we have come some distance from Buddy Bolden’s cornet being heard miles away and Bix Beiderbecke carrying his horn in a paper sack, but the myths have been maintained tenderly for decades. Closely examined, these cherished bits of apocrypha turn out to be dangerous rather than dreamlike.
In his new book, musician, harmonic theorist, and writer Randall Sandke (we know him as Randy) has done a magnificent job of spring cleaning jazz’s mythic house, writing truths others wouldn’t. It might be the only book of its kind; it needed to be written. More to the point, it needs to be read.
Sandke’s WHERE THE DARK AND THE LIGHT FOLKS MEET: RACE AND THE MYTHOLOGY, POLITICS, AND BUSINESS OF JAZZ (Scarecrow Press: 2010, 275 pages) takes its title from the verse to “Basin Street Blues,” but it is neither an exercise in jazz nostalgicizing (“Oh, the glories of the past . . . all gone now . . . how those boys could play . . . who remembers them?”) nor is it a spattering of irascibility (“Those damned hip-hop musicians . . . those promoters . . . Oprah . . . those record labels . . . the end of beauty as we know it.”
Sandke is angry, but his is a righteous indignation. The book isn’t his story of how badly he’s been treated, but a wide-ranging evidence-based study of the distortions that pass for received wisdom. His goal is to point out the fallacies, inconsistencies, and contradictions that have become jazz history (and by extension, the curricular truths on which jazz education has been built). He can be sharp-tongued, especially about biased statements made by people who don’t play instruments — but the book is not a vindictive jamboree.
What Sandke is particularly unhappy about are attempts to portray jazz as a racially divided music, where African-Americans took their inspiration directly from Africa (where else?) and brought it to America only to have it stolen by greedy, ignorant Caucasians who copied their innovations, ran record labels and jazz clubs.
Jazz, to Sandke, isn’t Black music popularized by White men: it is a musical continuum where Ornette Coleman can speak sadly about young “Scotty” LaFaro, his favorite bassist, where Louis Armstrong and Doc Cheatham can speak reverently of Bix Beiderbecke. The musicians know that the notes are not connected to skin pigment.
The critics, Black and White, have not gotten that point.
And the writers who have, intentionally or through ignorance, nurtured alsehoods are famous — Rudi Blesh, John Hammond, Hugues Panassie, Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, Marshall Stearns, Amiri Baraka, Martin Williams, Gary Giddins.
If this ideological slant had only been condescension to Benny Goodman and Bix because as, Rob Gibson (the director of Jazz at Lincoln Center) told someone, Benny and Bix didn’t write any jazz compositions of significance, it would be foolish and sad. If this racial perspective had only ignored the creative White improvisers, Sandke’s work could have been seen as a continuation of Richard Sudhalter’s LOST CHORDS — but Sandke has larger aims in mind than simply saying, “You know, when Louis and Bunk were playing jazz in New Orleans, the Prima brothers, the Brunies brothers, Tony Parenti, Johnny Wiggs, and fifty more people whose names aren’t caled, were also playing.”
What Sandke wants is fairness, not music being distorted to serve anyone’s ideology. He wants readers to know the reality of the music business — something he’s learned from experience on the bandstand and off — and to examine how race applies to jazz, which it certainly does. He wants us to know what musicians were paid in different contexts from New Orleans gigs to current festivals. He would like us to think deeply about the problems of ”authorship” — when a composition was re-copyrighted under a different title, when such august figures as Clarence Williams made money off more credulous younger players, one being Louis Armstrong.
And he poses philosophical questions without being didactic, merely by positioning first-hand narratives side-by-side, so that we are asked to think about Duke Ellington’s taking the ideas his musicians brought to him and making hit songs out of them, adding his name . . . and the same process done to those compositions by Ellington’s White manager Irving Mills.
Many readers will be drawn to Sandke’s careful yet impassioned examination of what he calls “the Wynton Marsalis phenomenon,” giving Marsalis credit as a player and influential figure but taking issue with the social and poitical implications of his elevation to a primary role as jazz’s sole figurehead. But Sandke is not out to win notoriety by attacking Marsalis, as will become obvious even to the most Marsalistic of readers.
Sandke also works hard to remove the mythic accretions of decades in favor of first-hand narratives: the racial balance in the recording studios; the complex and sometimes painful relations between musicians and record companies, managers, and promoters, and the role of White listeners as essential to the survival and continuation of jazz. For jazz, he sees a hopeful future — that is, I think, if much could be left in the hands of the musicians rather than the ideologues.
This book will be greeted with some dispeasure. Sandke is Caucasian; he will be seen by some who do not read his book closely as writing as a jealous, disgruntled outsider. He does portray some musicians and writers, living and dead, as unfair, hardly objective. But five pages of his book will easily dispel any sense that he is acting out of acrimony. Those tempted to call him racist will have to ignore the evenhandedness on every page.
And — to back away from disputation for a moment — Sandke is a fine literate plain-spoken writer. The book is heroically researched without being dull or stodgy. And it comes to seem a series of brief interconnected essays on the larger theme, essays that can successfully stand on their own. I dream of an upper-level jazz course for musicians as well as educators that would take each essay as a seminar text: perhaps some perceptive university will offer Professor Sandke a steady Tuesday-afternoon gig.
Ultimately, it all comes back to the book’s title. Jam sessions and jazz clubs have long been places where dark and light folks met in joyous exploration, creative harmony. Eddie Condon was arranging “mixed” record sessions long before this country could accustom itself to the possibility of Barack Obama. Jazz, rather than having been the reactionary, nearly moribund phenomenon some of its critics see it as, could still be the vision of a loving collective world. Now, that’s hopeful! | <urn:uuid:41dcf74b-8724-4478-aa76-31eef8aa7ced> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/where-the-dark-and-the-light-folks-meet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964677 | 1,600 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Apr. 5, 2010 Aspiring moms may be advised to achieve a healthy weight before they become pregnant, and to gain only the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancy. Now ongoing studies by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded investigator Kartik Shankar and colleagues could provide new insights into those recommendations.
Shankar is taking a new, closer look at how influences that occur in the womb -- and perhaps during the first few months of life -- might affect development of a child's ability to regulate his or her weight later in life.
In fact, the child's body-weight-regulating mechanisms might be permanently altered by maternal signals associated with the mother's own overweight, according to Shankar. Such maternal programming of the unborn child could increase the risk that the child would become an overweight or obese adult and would have a higher risk of obesity-related afflictions.
A preliminary study that Shankar and his group published in the American Journal of Physiology -- Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology several years ago has led to follow-up investigations now under way in his laboratory. He is based at the ARS Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock, Ark., where he is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Shankar looked at weight gains among rat pups whose dads were lean and whose mothers, called "dams," were either lean or overweight (from overfeeding) before conception and throughout pregnancy.
All offspring were of normal weight at birth and at weaning. However, when the weaned offspring were given free access to an unlimited amount of high-fat rations, the offspring of overweight dams showed remarkable sensitivity to the high-fat rations. They gained significantly more weight, and more of that weight as fat mass, than did the offspring of lean dams.
The study strongly suggests that exposure to the mother's obesity while in the womb results in programming of the offspring's metabolism and body-weight-control mechanisms. The dams' obesity alone was sufficient to significantly increase the pups' susceptibility to obesity.
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- Kartik Shankar, Amanda Harrell, Xiaoli Liu, Janet M. Gilchrist, Martin J. J. Ronis, and Thomas M. Badger. Maternal obesity at conception programs obesity in the offspring. Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, Feb 2008; 294: R528 - R538 DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00316.2007
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:517a30a5-bf82-4138-8426-37cd914d59ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100315125551.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961388 | 556 | 2.96875 | 3 |
translated from the French by Marilyn Hacker
Rachida Madani was born and lives in Tangiers, Morocco. Her education was bilingual in French and Arabic. Her advanced studies were in French literature. Her first collection of poetry, Femme je suis, was published in France in 1981 by "les inéditions Barbare." Her second collection, Contes d'un tête tranchée, was published in Morocco in 2001 by Les Editions Al-Forkane. A book comprising both of these, entitled Blessures au vent, was published in Paris by Les Editions de la Différence in 2006, along with Rachida's first novel, L'Histoire peut attendre. She is presently working on a new book of poems and a second novel, having in the interim made her début as a painter. Sections from Contes d'une tête tranchée, in Marilyn Hacker's translation, have appeared in various journals in the United States and Great Britain, including WordsWithoutBorders, Banipal, Magma and Callalloo. The book will be published in Yale University Press' Margellos Translation Series in 2012.
Marilyn Hacker is the author of twelve books of poems, including Names (Norton, 2010) and Desesperanto (Norton, 2003) and an essay collection, Unauthorized Voices (Michigan, 2010). Her translations from the French include Marie Etienne's King of a Hundred Horsemen (Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2008) , which received the 2009 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and Amina Saïd's The Present Tense of the World (Black Widow Press, 2011). For her own work, she received the American PEN Voelcker Award for poetry in 2010 and the international Argana Prize for Poetry from the Beit as-Sh'ir/House of Poetry in Morocco in 2011. She is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She lives in Paris. | <urn:uuid:a4edfba8-0a6a-4a98-8f52-81ef27ba3ce1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asymptotejournal.com/article.php?cat=Poetry&id=92&curr_index=9&curPage=Poetry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943123 | 418 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Neither style is better than the other. Each one can be successful, or fail spectacularly. Finding the style that matches your personality will help you by reducing your stress level and by optimizing your efficiency.
Trying to work in a style that doesn’t fit with your personality will only make you miserable, unhappy and more likely to abandon your quest.
Like the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, there are generally two kinds of entrepreneurs.
A significant proportion of internet start-up types are Hares. They tend to work in concentrated spurts. They’re the one who are most likely to pull all-nighters for a month or two to launch their creation, then take a few months off to recover and wait for the next inspiration or the need for funds arises.
An all-purpose definition of an internet entrepreneur is someone who “works 18 hours a day so he or she can make money while sleeping.”
Tortoises, of course, take the slow and steady pace. They show up every day. They can be counted on to produce quality content in measured amounts.
Bloggers are a supreme example of Tortoises. Bloggers often keep going year after year — forgetting there’s even a finish line.
There’s no particular style that is the correct one. You have to discover which one you are and leverage it best for your business.
Shells for Tortoises
Blogging is the perfect environment for a Tortoise. Most blogs needs to be fed a steady stream of content. It may not be every day, but predictable schedules are essential, and successful blogs need at least one new post a week.
Tortoises also thrive on newsletters (paper, email, or otherwise). No matter how much time and energy you pour into this month’s newsletter, there’s always a new one on the horizon.
Tortoises are good at holding a prospect’s attention for a long time because they’ve always got something to tell them. They don’t mind customers who take a long time to make up their minds because they can keep that customer engaged until ready.
If you’re a Tortoise, you can learn a few tricks from the Hare.
Put some automated systems in place so you get a break every now and then. Even the Tortoise can benefit from taking time away from the business to recharge and renew.
Smart Tortoises are well advised to look for Hares for business partners. Hares add excitement to Tortoise-run business. And they have the energy and enthusiasm to push that business to a higher level.
Hutches for Hares
Product launches are the Hare’s forte. Launches are intense with massive activity contained within a short window.
Launches reward the Hare’s need for excitement, speed and passion. The days may be long, but there’s an end in sight thanks to the looming deadline. And there’s always that victory party followed plenty of rest.
Advertising is a tool well-suited the pace of a Hare (especially tactics like pay-per-click), because they act as a switch that can turn the traffic on or off. Add in smart automated marketing techniques that work with pay-per-click ads to make money on autopilot for the times when the boss needs a break.
The majority of social media techniques are not a good fit for Hares. Social media requires a willingness to check in a couple of times a day. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace need the steady presence that belongs to the Tortoise.
If you’re a Hare, listen to a lesson from the Tortoise.
In the long run, it’s exhausting to keep building new businesses from the ground up. Momentum is a magnificent and misunderstood force.
That’s why a smart Hare looks for a Tortoise as a partner. Tortoises are capable of building businesses that are worthy of long-term loyalty. And Tortoises can keep a watchful eye over all of those Hare-brained ideas and tactics, so they always work their best.
So do a bit of soul searching to determine your own personal style and partner up with someone of the opposite species to balance and complement each other. | <urn:uuid:b0a29b08-e881-4d04-9f42-280274f4aa3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nextdayflyers.com/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-%E2%80%93-two-work-approaches-to-getting-the-job-done/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932382 | 897 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The Fire Science Club was created after the Fire Science Department was established in 1972. Our mission is to provide fire safety education to students, and to advance knowledge, involvement and camaraderie in the Fire Science Community.
Our most popular events of the year include the Burn Box, Docudrama, and Annual Banquet. This year’s Burn Box will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 10, and we will be setting two replica dorm rooms on fire to demonstrate the protection provided by automatic sprinkler systems. Fire suppression provided by Allingtown Fire District.
The Docudrama will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and we will be demonstrating, in real time, the Fire, EMS and Police department response to a DUI accident. Our banquet will be held in the spring of 2013 and is open to the entire student body to celebrate a successful year at UNH. We also hold BBQs periodically throughout the year, and networking and training opportunities to our members.
For more information, you can email the club at FSC@newhaven.edu. You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UNHFireScienceClub or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/UNHFireScience. Club meetings this fall are on Mondays at 7 p.m. in the German Club, unless otherwise announced. Opportunities for involvement in the club range from our various committee memberships and leadership opportunities, to the participation and attendance of our events, socials and training opportunities.Tweet | <urn:uuid:62fbc0f5-5cf2-4239-a84d-ad8038c624b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chargerbulletin.com/2012/10/10/organization-spotlight-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933543 | 308 | 1.796875 | 2 |
WASHINGTON - Fairfax County officials want to bring 911 texting to the county's residents.
Sharon Bulova, chairperson of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, says the county would like to add the option of texting to its existing 911 emergency system if the technical problems can be worked out.
"It looks like an innovative opportunity to offer to people in addition to making to a phone call," Bulova says.
The texting option would allow residents to text a message to emergency responders if they cannot make a telephone call. The text could include a brief message describing where you are and what the emergency is.
"It's not without some difficulties and we just want to make sure the bugs are worked out prior to our adopting something to make sure that it's going to work for our citizens," Bulova says.
A major failure in the region's 911 emergency system during last summer's derecho has led to increased scrutiny of the system's backbone technology and has prompted calls for faster upgrades.
But upgrading to a "next generation" 911 system will take time and the technology is still evolving. Officials envision that in the future, residents will be able to send videos, photos and text messages from any device with Internet access.
In December, the Federal Communications Commission said the country's four largest wireless carriers agreed to relay text messages to 911 centers by 2014. The carriers cover most users, but only a few 911 centers accept the messages.
A 911 center in Iowa began receiving texts in 2009 and trials are currently happening in Vermont.
The FCC said texting to 911 could be useful when a phone call could put the caller in danger. Texting could also aid a person with disabilities who is unable to call.
- Virginia investigates 911 phone system failure
- Phone cos. to relay 911 texts by May 2014
- FCC to explore sending text messages to 911
- Report criticizes Verizon response to 911 failure
- FCC to Verizon: Derecho 911 outage 'unacceptable'
© 2013 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.
Clothes have a starring role at the Cannes Film Festival. (Photos)
"Sulu" weighs in on the actor filling his shoes in the new "Star Trek."
Star-studded event raises millions for AIDS research. (Photos)
Snooki awkwardly meets "Jersey Shore" nemesis Chris Christie. | <urn:uuid:a4b35dea-5a66-4ec4-9d3c-ad201f45c4bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtop.com/41/3244784/Fairfax-looking-to-add-911-texting-service | 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 | 0.942762 | 479 | 2.21875 | 2 |
A San Joaquin County creek and stream monitoring system, once hailed as a flood early-warning tool, has been allowed to become non-functional.
County public works officials said the network of 25 stream and rainfall gauges became inoperable in 2010 after a computer server failed.
“There was a conscious decision made to no longer maintain that system,” said San Joaquin County Chief of Flood Engineering John McGuire. “It was for budgetary reasons.”
The gauges sent continuous, real-time data from remote locations along waterways like Bear, Potter and Lone Tree Creeks, which have a history of flooding.
Officials said occasional flooding happens mostly in eastern San Joaquin County, which is largely agricultural and has minimal impacts.
McGuire said the county is “functioning effectively” without the network.
However, the director of San Joaquin Emergency Services said the missing data was important.
“It was highly valuable,” Michael Cockrell said. “Rather than have to run out there you could call it up on your computer.”
Cockrell said the missing data has created a blind spot for emergency planners.
He said they have no data on streams in large rural areas from Linden south to Escalon, as well as areas south of Tracy. | <urn:uuid:53edb793-973f-43a0-921e-b56a33bbdf8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-stockton/Storm-monitoring-system-inoperable-since-2010/-/12969936/17859196/-/yfvxwoz/-/index.html?absolute=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971934 | 273 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Salah Osman Ahmed, another suspect in the case, pleaded guilty in July to providing material support to terrorists.
Families that belong to this Minnesota mosque, Abubakar As-Saddiqu, were suspected of having a role in their loved ones' disappearance.
One young man attended secret meetings in Minneapolis. Another got a phone call, urging him to leave Minnesota and go to Somalia to fight. Terrorist training videos featuring English speakers pepper YouTube, calling others to the cause.
Details are emerging about how terrorists in Somalia have lured young American men — including as many as 20 from Minnesota — back to their homeland to join their jihad. At least three have died, including one who authorities believe is the first American suicide bomber. Three others have pleaded guilty in the U.S. to terror-related charges.
Court proceedings and interviews with community members, attorneys and terror experts indicate the Somali-based terror group, al-Shabab, uses widespread recruitment tactics including a vast Web-based network.
"Al-Shabab 10 years ago would be a two-bit, paramilitary group that no one would've cared about ... sitting in a basement somewhere stockpiling rocket-propelled grenades and bullets for AK-47s," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist at Georgetown University. "Now, we see them reaching into the United States."
Like many terror groups, al-Shabab uses Internet videos to draw disenfranchised young men into its fold. Many feature typical militant scenes: men with covered faces firing automatic weapons, marching or practicing martial arts. Some show close-up footage of dead bodies and religious documents.
But al-Shabab's propaganda sets it apart.
"I would say they were among the most explicit, the most violent, and the most enthusiastic videos of any jihadi organization out there," said Evan Kohlmann, a terror consultant.
The group, which the U.S. government says has ties to Al Qaeda, also uniquely targets Americans and English speakers, Kohlmann said.
Some videos show English-speaking suicide bombers reciting last wills. Others showcase a man with shoulder-length brown hair who calls himself Abu Mansour the American commanding fighters and glorifying jihadists killed in Somalia.
Al-Shabab's online propaganda proliferated in recent years after messages from Osama bin Laden appeared on jihadist forums encouraging followers to go to Somalia. The country of 7 million has not had a functioning government since 1991.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington was concerned al-Shabab uses foreign fighters and there was no doubt the group wants to take control of Somalia and "launch attacks against countries far and near."
Experts say Western recruits' passports and cultural awareness make them valuable.
"You can't take someone from the slums of Mogadishu and take them on some suicide mission to Rome, Paris, New York," Hoffman said. American deaths also bring more attention to al-Shabab's cause, he said.
In Minneapolis, home to the largest population of Somali immigrants in the U.S., a federal investigation into the missing men is illuminating the recruiting.
Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, of New Brighton, told a judge last month that he attended "secret meetings" in Minneapolis starting in October 2007. There, he said, a group of "guys" talked about returning to Somalia to fight Ethiopians. At the time, the Ethiopian army, which many Somalis viewed as abusive, occupied parts of Somalia.
When Ahmed got to Somalia, his attorney said, he realized what al-Shabab really was.
Hoffman said the underground meetings fit a pattern.
"The conspiratorial air is part of this group bonding," Hoffman said. "That kind of atmosphere makes these young men think that what they are doing is all the more important."
Hoffman also said terror groups use a network of friends, many of whom act like persuasive salesmen, to help recruit.
One man who filled that role in Minneapolis, by one account, was Zakaria Maruf.
Stephen Smith, an attorney who represents several young Somalis questioned by authorities, said his clients describe Maruf as someone with a bravado that appealed to younger men he met on the basketball court or at mosques.
Smith said one of his 18-year-old clients got a phone call from Maruf, in Somalia, asking him to join the fight. Maruf and the teenager also exchanged e-mails and had a brief conversation in a chat room, Smith said.
Smith said the teen didn't go but felt uncomfortable turning down someone he looked up to.
Maruf's whereabouts aren't known. Some family members say they believe he was killed in Somalia last month, but federal officials could not confirm that.
Many young Somalis in Minneapolis say friends who left have stayed in touch through Facebook or phone calls. In those conversations, friends said, the men talked about life in Somalia being harder than expected, and of missing American food and Starbucks.
The Facebook accounts are private. While the FBI said it can't comment on specific communications, spokesman E.K. Wilson said the agency continues to investigate "who or what motivated" the young men to go to Somalia.
In Minnesota, imams are trying to counter al-Shabab's message by speaking out against violence and radicalism, reminding the faithful that Islam is peaceful.
Farhan Hurre, the executive director of Minneapolis' Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, which has rejected suspicions it played a part in recruiting, said mosque leaders also are advising parents to keep their eyes open.
"If you have computers, if you have Internet, you have to know the sites that your boys are visiting and what they are listening to," Hurre said. | <urn:uuid:65f40427-42d3-4689-97fe-db7833660c5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,542381,00.html?test=latestnews | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965336 | 1,197 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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The content for this column is provided by the Iacocca Foundation
Denise Faustman, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School, was able to eliminate type 1 diabetes in mice (Science, November 2003). With the help of the Iacocca Foundation, she is working to raise the $11 million needed for the first three years of a program to investigate this potential cure for human type 1 diabetes.
Here she answers some of the most frequently asked questions about her research.
How will you use the $11 million you are raising?
The $11 million covers the first part of our program, which has three components:
1. Additional studies in mice to refine the therapy to be tested in type 1 diabetics
2. Developing and refining a blood test to allow us to evaluate how well the potential therapy works
3. The initial phase 1 human clinical trial
The human clinical trial will test one part of the two-part therapy to specifically eliminate the T cells that incorrectly destroy the islet cells. Each of the two therapy arms will be developed separately. The FDA approval allows one therapy to be tested at a time.
Can you tell us more about this phase 1 trial?
David M. Nathan, MD, at MGH, will lead the trial. It will evaluate the safety, optimal timing for administration and best dosage of a bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in type 1 diabetics to see if BCG can help to eliminate the defective cells that attack and kill the insulin-producing cells. This study is approved by both the FDA and by the human studies committee at MGH.
What is BCG? Is it safe?
BCG is a weakened strain of bacteria that has been used for over 80 years as a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis. It is also used in certain cancer treatments. It has been administered to more than 4 billion people and has an established safety profile over a very broad dose range in humans.
We expect the effect of BCG will be similar to that of the agent we used in mice to eliminate the memory T cells. The phase 1 trial using BCG is the first step for finding out if the approach my lab used in mice is applicable in humans.
How do we define a diabetes cure?
A cure for type 1 diabetes is a treatment that permanently halts disease progression after a limited exposure to the therapeutic agent(s), eliminates the underlying cause of disease, and restores normal islet function. A cure does not introduce new disease or defects nor otherwise increase morbidity or mortality. Finally, the treatment must be effective in animals with full-blown disease or long-term disease because results in prediabetic or recently diabetic animals have not been a good predictor of success in humans, and because, for the vast majority of type 1 diabetics who have little or no remaining islet function, a treatment that may delay disease progression represents no cure.
Why don’t you have large government funding for this trial?
Government agencies have specific criteria for the types of trials they fund. Many prefer to fund later-stage trials in which the concepts have been proven and the phase 1 testing and blood assay work are completed. We are hoping that once we can demonstrate that our potential therapy is applicable to humans, we will receive government funding for the phase 2 and phase 3 trials.
How Can I Help?
The cost of the first three years of clinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital is estimated at $11 million. Contribute to the Join Lee Now campaign and support these efforts to cure type 1 diabetes in humans. Donations may be made over the Internet or by mail.
Internet: To make a donation over the Internet, please visit www.JoinLeeNow.org.
U.S. Mail: To mail your donation, please make checks payable to “Iacocca Foundation.” Send donations to the following address:
The Iacocca Foundation
17 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116
Gifts: Give the gift of a donation to support important diabetes research. Donations can be made in a loved one’s name. For more information about gift-giving, call Danielle Briscoe at (212) 255-5340.
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues. | <urn:uuid:d5b9f5d9-f672-496a-bb95-82025823ad4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2005/02/01/4415/a-q-and-a-with-denise-faustman-md/?isComment=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928279 | 1,002 | 2.484375 | 2 |
By Arthur Foulkes and Howard Geninger
TERRE HAUTE —
Liquid Tamiflu, given to children who have the flu to slow or stop symptoms, is in short supply in the Wabash Valley but an adult capsule version of the of the drug is readily available in many pharmacies.
“There are intermittent shortages of the liquid version of Tamiflu, but not the capsule version, due to the supplier's challenges to meet the current demand,” said Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS Pharmacies, in an email to the Tribune-Star.
However, the adult capsules can be converted into a liquid. Roxanne Ling, pharmacist for UAP Clinic in Terre Haute, said information is “readily available in multiple sources” for a pharmacist to use a capsule, mix in water and add a syrup agent to get a liquid suspension that can be used for children.
“We may have some locations that are currently experiencing shortages in supply of [children’s Tamiflu], however our pharmacies are able to compound as needed to continue filling prescriptions for the liquid Tamiflu to meet the needs of patients during this flu season,” said Mai Lee Ua, a spokeswoman for Walgreen Co.
Two locally-owned pharmacies confirmed adult Tamiflu is available at their shops, but agreed the children’s version is harder to find.
“[Manufacturers] are raising the price on [adult Tamiflu] because of the demand, but I haven’t had any delayed orders,” said Becky Golden, a pharmacist for JR Pharmacy in Terre Haute. The children’s version of the drug in that pharmacy is currently on “back order,” she said.
A 10-day supply of Tamiflu currently costs about $118, Golden said. However, patients with insurance usually only pay a portion of that, she said.
The JR Pharmacy at Southland Plaza keeps 10 boxes of adult Tamiflu on the shelf each day, Golden said. The pharmacy orders replacement boxes as soon as one is dispensed, she said.
Tamiflu is used to treat people who have already been exposed to the flu virus. It must be taken within two days of the onset of symptoms, Golden said. It can also be taken to minimize flu symptoms by people in close contact with those who have the flu, she said.
“We have some on hand and we really haven’t seen much of a run on it,” said a representative of another Wabash Valley pharmacy who did not want to be identified. That pharmacy, which is outside of Vigo County, however, reported one customer driving from Terre Haute to purchase adult Tamiflu.
Two of the largest providers of flu vaccines in the United States are reporting shortages of flu treatments and vaccines, according to Reuters.
Sanofi SA said Thursday that four of its six formulations for the flu vaccine Fluzone are sold out. Rochhe Holding AG, which makes Tamiflu, reported a shortage of the drug’s liquid form late Wednesday.
Ling said UAP’s drug wholesaler, Cardinal Health, does not have a shortage of Tamiflu. However, it is out of Fluzone.
“We found out before Thanksgiving that Fluzone was not availble. However, we still had plenty in stock and we still have every formulation available other than the regular, which is for ages 3 and above. That is where we are experiencing some problems, but we do some alternatives,” Ling said.
Ling said the alternatives are FluMist, which can be used for anyone from 2 to 49 years of age and a Fluzone High-Dose, used for people 65 and above. “We also still have the pediactric presentation of Fluzone which is for six months to 35 months,” Ling said.
“What we have had to do is to scramble for a regular flu vaccine that does not fit into any of those categories. The only product that we currently have been able to find is Afluria,” Ling said, adding it is to be used for people ages 9 and above.
Afluria is manufactured by CSL Biotherapies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week reported that 41 states are experiencing “widespread geographic influezna activity,” up from the previous week. The CDC reported the proportion of people seeing a physician for influenza-like illness is above the national baseline for the fourth consecutive week, climbing sharply from 2.8 percent to 5.6 percent.
The CDC reports 29 states, including Indiana, as well as New York City, are reporting high flu activity. Overall, 41 states are now reporting influenza activity. Since Oct. 1, 2012, the CDC reports an increase of 735 hospitalizations weekly for laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations. That translates to a rate of 8.1 flu-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the United States, according to the CDC.
So far, 18 influenza-associated pediatric deaths have been reported to the CDC in the 2012-2013 flu season.
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or email@example.com. Reporter Howard Greninger can be contacted at (812) 231-4204 or firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:7b7538a9-75db-44f4-b028-9ad2317ce9a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tribstar.com/news/x2056581980/Children-s-Tamiflu-in-short-supply/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964563 | 1,152 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Credit Scoring in Washington State
Across the country, credit scores play an important role in many insurance companies’ ratemaking. Nearly all insurers and some consumer groups say the use of credit scoring makes sense, because a wealth of research shows that people who do not manage their credit well tend to make more-expensive insurance claims.
Across the country, credit scores play an important role in many insurance companies’ ratemaking.Some consumer groups, however, contend the practice is intrinsically unfair. Credit scores, they point out, don’t directly affect risk. Moreover, insurance companies that use credit scores tend to perform better financially. Thus, they contend, using credit scores is an act of unjust enrichment on the part of the insurance companies.
This paper explores how Washington State has worked to regulate the use of credit scores; considers some proposals that would change the regulation of credit scoring; and lays out the likely consequences of those proposals. | <urn:uuid:4dc34159-ee4c-4adc-872c-c1896c6877db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heartland.org/policy-documents/credit-scoring-washington-state?quicktabs_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954321 | 191 | 2.1875 | 2 |
After reflecting on how ASEAN is helping the world emerge from the present financial crisis, Surin argues that ASEAN is “now more integrated, and resilient, than many had thought.”
But for the sake of argument, I think it’s worth picking apart that statement on three dimensions.
Here’s the core of Surin’s argument:
“Over the past 40 years we have developed a ‘workable diplomatic sculpture’ called ASEAN. The experience of other regional groupings shows that they all have a strong core. The European Union has coal and steel cooperation. The North American Free Trade Area is centred around the United States—the strongest economy in the world. [But] ASEAN is designed in the reverse. ASEAN has a rather loose core but draws on connectivity and dialogue to generate real partnership.”
And here’s Surin’s punchline: “We are not perfect but we can provide centrality and leadership to shape the regional landscape.”
With the Obama Administration reviewing the U.S. posture, both toward Asian regional organizations and toward Southeast Asia more generally, Surin’s argument raises three important—but tough—issues:
(1) Is ASEAN, with its “rather loose core,” quite so integrated?
(2) Can ASEAN provide “centrality and leadership” to Asian regionalism?
(3) And how many, and what kind of, eggs should the U.S. put in the ASEAN basket, anyway? An alternative would be to pursue a largely bilateral approach, or at least to diversify the U.S. portfolio in Southeast Asia.
I won’t settle these issues here, but I addressed them (hopefully, in provocative way…) in a recent Council on Foreign Relations Special Report that I co-authored with Bob Manning, The United States in the New Asia.
First, it’s worth noting that ASEAN integration is a work in progress. We shouldn’t ignore the successes. Forty years of commitment have altered the fundamental dynamics between Southeast Asian states. ASEAN has successfully leveraged meetings at all levels to foster a sense of common interest, reinforced by personal acquaintance with counterparts in other ASEAN capitals. (And it has had some notable successes—for example, in the 1991 Cambodian peace settlement).
But disparities of capacity and conflicting objectives make it difficult to address functional challenges. Expansion of its membership to Indochina and Myanmar and the weakness of ASEAN’s alphabetically rotating chairmanship have created structural limitations to ASEAN effectiveness. ASEAN’s founding members, understandably, wanted all ten Southeast Asian countries joined as a cohesive force to help balance China. But their timing was poor: Myanmar could not be assimilated to ASEAN ways and—unlike Vietnam—Cambodia and Laos carry little weight. A “wise persons” commission asked to advise on the creation of an ASEAN charter recommended replacing consensus with majority decision-making, but the adopted charter has fallen short of this goal.
Second, I’m increasingly skeptical that ASEAN will be quite so central to the future of East Asian regionalism.
This is a pregnant subject, as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who advocated a new, non-ASEAN-centric architecture, has discovered. Indeed, as Graeme Dobell sharply put it over at the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter blog, “Rudd to ASEAN: You Win.”
Still, the United States should take heed because China, Japan, and South Korea, each in its own way, are posing their own questions and challenges.
One of the ironies of modern Asia is that Southeast Asians built most regional groups, even though the region’s economic, military, and diplomatic power resides overwhelmingly in Northeast Asia. There is now a serious mismatch: the part of East Asia with so much less economic, technological, and military capacity has become the principal architect of nearly every recent effort to pool Asian power and capacity.
That’s important because Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul seem openly skeptical of this state of affairs. And that partly explains their growing emphasis on their own mechanisms, including dialogues, a prospective trade agreement, and especially a “Plus Three” process that began in Bali in October 2003.
Third, then, while the United States would be foolish to pay ASEAN no heed, American policy shouldn’t conflate “ASEAN” with “Southeast Asia.” Indeed, for all the rhetorical hype from the administration about how “the U.S. is back” in its relations with ASEAN, the administration’s actions make clear that it has decided—correctly—that a little portfolio diversification is in order.
The U.S. now works with ASEAN through an array of mechanisms, including the ASEAN-U.S. Cooperation Plan announced in 2002; the ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility established inside the ASEAN secretariat in 2004; the ASEAN-U.S. Enhanced Partnership agreement signed in 2005; the Enhanced Partnership Plan of Action signed in 2006; the ASEAN-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement also established in 2006; and under the rubric of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, which the United States joined after Obama took office in 2009. In September 2008 the U.S. became the first ASEAN dialogue partner to appoint an ambassador to ASEAN, an initiative spearheaded by Senator Richard Lugar. And President Obama has also taken the important step of inaugurating a U.S.-ASEAN leaders meeting.
But Thailand and the Philippines have become less coherent polities, less effective both inside and outside the ASEAN context. Meanwhile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam have become more prominent and economically dynamic, with robust bilateral ties to the United States. As a vibrant new democracy and a member of the G20, Indonesia has rightly garnered special attention from the administration. And U.S.-Malaysia relations have improved on the basis of trade, counterterrorism cooperation, and military exchanges.
Given the considerable gap in military, economic, and diplomatic power between Northeast and Southeast Asia, it’s increasingly clear that there will always be serious limitations to ASEAN-centric multilateralism. | <urn:uuid:49834857-1005-40d2-b502-aaeb0731098e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.cfr.org/asia/2010/05/03/just-how-central-is-asean-anyway/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940431 | 1,350 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Dutch Butterfly Conservation produced an analysis in 2004 for the ETCNPB. This analysis was subcontracted and resulted to results and figures. These results and figures are free of copyrights for publications (edition, web, ...). Dutch Butterfly Conservation should be cited in any of these publications.
It is largely biodegradable, less polluting to aquatic habitats and just as effective a cleaning agent as less environmentally friendly options. Look for eco-friendly dishwashing detergents, such as those labelled with the European flower eco-label (see www.eco-label.com to find one in your country).
More green tips | <urn:uuid:b184b45d-a531-4ba8-be48-2b4468c9f96a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/temporal-coverage-for-the-three-data-sets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932201 | 128 | 2.265625 | 2 |
OSU website showcases efforts to enhance ag water supplies
Internet surfers can now see some of the ways in which Oklahoma State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources is enhancing management of the state's water supplies, with a simple click of the mouse.
Located at http://agwater.okstate.edu, the new website for DASNR's Water Research and Extension Center went live early in July.
A key focus of the site is to provide access to the latest goings-on in the division relative to its many and varied water-related projects, said Dave Engle, center director and holder of the Thomas E. Berry Endowed Chair in Integrated Water Research and Extension.
"People might be surprised at the depth and breadth of the division's water programming, everything from water quality and hydrology to plant breeding for drought tolerance and water-use efficiency," Engle said.
The center is key to division efforts for sustaining Oklahoma's agriculture water supply, which is crucial to the state's economy and the health and well-being of residents and the environment, said Robert E. Whitson, DASNR dean and director and OSU vice president of agricultural programs.
"Decisions made by Oklahoma producers, agricultural processors and value-added industries about their water use and management have never been more key than today, with demand for water increasing from multiple users and interest groups," he said. "DASNR has more investment in water research, education and public service than any other entity in the state."
Water issues in agriculture have been identified as high-priority areas of emphasis for all three aspects of the division, which is comprised of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and two statewide agencies: the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.
"Of course, the ultimate goal of the center is to help Oklahomans make improved water-use decisions, provide a more dependable water supply and maintain or promote water quality," Engle said. "This is where the land-grant mission comes in, developing and providing science-based solutions to public concerns and issues."
The center is helping division scientists to more effectively conduct cutting-edge research on emerging water issues such as economics of water policy, land-use effects on water yield and effects of climate uncertainty on water resources, especially as they relate to agriculture and natural resource management.
"We're also trying to make it as easy as possible for division scientists to integrate their expertise," Engle said. "For example, developing best management practices that will be used by farmers and ranchers requires a process in which research and Extension must work together more closely than ever, all the while adjusting to the complexities of public decision making. Water is a very emotional issue for many people."
Then there is the next generation of scholars, leaders and scientists.
"Water will be an increasingly pressing issue for society, whether the specific issue is a matter of policy, conservation, hydrology or plant breeding and genetics," Engle said. "Oklahoma and the region need innovative, sustainable, and, most importantly, the right solutions when it comes to our water resources." | <urn:uuid:6022bc64-4240-43d7-8a3d-3cb7f8b49a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hpj.com/archives/2009/aug09/aug17/0714OSUwebsitewaterworksko.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950271 | 643 | 2.53125 | 3 |
- by Mary K. Levie
Anyone can be a youth mentor, says Emily Dupree, mentor liaison for the newly created Governor’s Mentoring Initiative, a program created by Governor Bredesen in partnership with Youth Villages.
“A lot of people think, ‘I don’t have anything to offer; I wouldn’t make a good mentor; I’m not a role model’,” says Dupree. “Every single person has something to offer, and all you’re doing is just being a friend to this person.”
The Governor’s Mentoring Initiative was created to provide teenagers in foster care with a positive influence at a challenging point in their lives. The program also provides a rewarding opportunity for people wanting to make a significant impact on the trajectory of a teenager’s life.
Mentors are required to spend a minimum of four hours a month with their teen, a requirement that Dupree says is frequently exceeded. There is no obligatory contract for the length of the mentor relationship.
“Governor Bredesen was hoping this would be a lifelong relationship, and that’s why he didn’t want to say you have to do this for a year or two years, hoping that the mentors will bond with the teen no matter where the teen goes,” says Dupree.
When teenagers in foster care turn 18 they can sign themselves out of state custody and exit the system, so having a mentor at this point could prove crucial in a successful transition to life on their own. The program has several children about to turn 18, so they will soon be able to measure if this desired outcome occurs.
The application process for mentor candidates involves checking employment history, verifying three references, a background check, sex offender and felony offender check, and fingerprints. The fingerprints take the longest to process, as those are done through the Governor’s office, making the time from application to approval about two to four weeks. After the candidate is approved they are brought in for an interview and required to attend a 3 hour training session where all aspects of the mentoring process are covered, including the trust issues Dupree says lot of the teens have developed.
“Right when they get close to someone, they move to another place,” says Dupree. “That’s the same thing with the mentoring relationship. They may not trust you right off the bat; they may not open up. It may take several visits for the child to open up.”
In the training session the mentors are taught not to take the child’s behavior personally, be it shyness or even sometimes hostility. Mentors are trained to know what causes the behavior, how to deal with it, and hopefully move beyond it, Dupree says. She points out that about 95% of the over 100 current mentoring relationships are going well with no problems, and that teens are volunteer participants in the program.
The teenagers are interviewed before being matched with a mentor in an effort to have the most compatible match possible. Dupree checks in with the mentors on a weekly basis, and is always available to answer questions and resolve any problems that arise.
“This is supposed to be fun for the child and the mentor,” says Dupree. “If it’s not, then we find that out and work out the kinks.”
To learn more about joining the Governor’s Mentoring Initiative, call Emily Dupree, 251-4813 or visit their website www.tn.gov/mentoring. | <urn:uuid:56b9fb3b-15e8-4f24-9f28-d786c2c92902> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://culturegrits.com/nonprofit/2007/11/09/governors-mentoring-initiative/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956048 | 749 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Since the late 1990s the citizens of Macon County have steadily embraced the idea of recycling and as the wait for a new Solid Waste Management and Materials Report begins, the county anticipates another high showing and hopefully even a number one ranking in the state for its efforts in recycling.
According to the Macon County Solid Waste Department, 80 percent of waste is recyclable or compostable. Some of these recyclable materials include corrugated cardboard, newspapers, various types of plastics, aluminum cans, glass, metal, etc. Some centers also accept materials such as used oil and used anti-freeze, tires, electronic waste, and used car and truck batteries.
Pursuant to General Statutes 130A-309, 136-28.8(g) and 143-58.2(f), the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is required to submit a report on solid waste management to the governor of North Carolina, the Environmental Review Commission, the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, and the Revenue Laws Study Committee by Jan. 15 of every year and this time around Macon County could sit atop the list.
All 100 counties in North Carolina offer recycling services, so to be ranked highly, especially number one would be quite an accomplishment. Macon has been ranked in the top 10 for the past several years, and according to Joel Ostroff, recycling coordinator, since 2001, Macon County has never fallen out of the top 10. Catawba County, which lies in the western Piedmont area of North Carolina, took the top spot in the 2010-2011 Solid Waste Management and Materials Management Report. In the same report, Macon County was ranked at number six behind Swain County at fifth while Jackson County ranked 25th.
Recycling conserves natural resources and creates less pollution, not to mention, everything that is recycled is sold to companies who make new products from the county's operation resulting in economic benefits to those who live within the area. It also saves space at the county landfill.
“The reason it is significant, is that the more we can recycle, the less we have to put into our landfill,” said County Commissioner Kevin Corbin. “We have extended the life of our landfill by 10 years.” This results in savings for the county since keeping materials out of the landfill means that landfills do not have to be built as often and therefore reduces operating costs.
Though recycling has gradually been introduced in Macon County over the past 15 years, two major improvements have been made to the recycling operation in the past five years. The first was a new baler at the landfill which is much more efficient, allowing employees to process more material than was previously possible. “When we baled cardboard for example, the completed bale had to be hand-tied,” said Chris Stahl, director of Solid Waste Management. “This process took two operators about 10-15 minutes. With the new baler, tying the bale is automated, meaning none of the operators have to stop processing materials and the bale is strapped in about 20 seconds.”
The other change that has boosted the numbers coming from the county landfill was the development of the recovery operation. Without opening bags in respect to people's privacy, employees sort through the waste looking for materials to be recovered such as cardboard, metals, unwanted electronic products, and clean wood waste. “We started this program about three years ago and we are averaging approximately 800,000 pounds of materials recovered per year,” said Stahl.
The Solid Waste Department moves its operations beyond the landfill by putting recycling containers in all county offices and making drop-off accessible to the general public by means of the convenience centers spread around the county. With the help of state grants, recycling trailers have been placed at a number of the schools. This helps to spark an interest in the children who are beginning to learn about recycling at an early age at home and at school. Containers have also been placed at the recreation park and facilities in order to collect plastic bottles and aluminum cans which have been banned from landfills in North Carolina.
Whatever the ranking achieved in the latest report may be, it is always contingent on citizen participation. Unlike some counties across the state, Macon County does not have a mandated recycling program beyond the landfill bans and therefore the public's willingness to recycle is essential. “I don't want to discount the efforts and the commitment of my staff, or the commitment the county has made to recycling, but our success this year and for over a decade really belongs just as much to the public for their investment and time and energy to achieve this level of success,” said Stahl when asked about public participation. “The fact that on a per capita basis, we can outpace counties with curbside recycling, pay-as-you-waste systems, or other mandated programs demonstrates the public's emphasis on recycling.”
Statewide, recycling can be credited with helping to provide 15,000 jobs. In Macon County, 51 people are employed in the recycling arena of the Solid Waste Department, four of which are full-time. Of those who work at the landfill and the Highlands transfer station, there are nine full-time employees. Also in the mix are three administrative positions and one Solid Waste Maintenance and Safety Officer.
“The staff at Solid Waste really do a super job,” said Corbin.
Eleven drop-off centers operate around the County including the landfill located in Franklin, Carson Center in Otto, the Buck Creek Center in Highlands, the Nantahala Junaluska Road Center in Topton and the Nantahala School Site in Nantahala among others. A complete list of convenience centers as well a recycling guidelines can be found in brochures available to the public at the above stations, the county landfill, the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce and the Solid Waste Management Office. | <urn:uuid:ca9ae75d-a50e-4372-be4c-96ce9938fd7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maconnews.com/news/state--region/4280-macon-county-ranks-in-the-top-10-in-the-state-for-recycling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952851 | 1,228 | 2.59375 | 3 |
- THE MAGAZINE
According to “The Economics of Natural Graphite (7th Edition),” from Roskill Information Services, the last decade’s development of thermal and chemical processes to produce high-purity natural graphite has enabled a more effective use of graphite resources. Lower grade ores and fines can be now transformed into grades suitable for use in demanding applications such as batteries. Markets previously lost to synthetic graphite, such as batteries and carbon parts, offer opportunities for growth.
High-grade graphite can be further processed by means of intercalation and thermal shock to produce expanded graphite. Materials such as graphite foil, based on expanded graphite, now form the fastest growing end-use sector for graphite. It is characterized by low-volume, high-value applications, including gaskets and seals, heat sinks, and bipolar plates for fuel cells and flow batteries.
Refractories remain the most important end use in terms of volume, accounting for around 33% of the total global demand for natural graphite. The main driver for growth in demand for graphite-containing refractories has been increasing steel production in Asia, particularly China. Future growth in this sector is unlikely to track recovering steel output, since unit consumption of refractory material per metric ton of steel is falling in both China and the CIS as new steel mills are installed.
The use of natural graphite in batteries has increased, partly as a result of the increased availability of high-purity, high-carbon grades, and partly because of the increased output of lithium ion batteries, which use graphite in the anode. Graphite is used in a number of fuel cells under development; the greatest potential for a significant increase in consumption lies with the proton exchange membrane cell for use in automotive and stationary power sources.
China is by far the largest producer and consumer of natural graphite. In 2008, it accounted for around 80% of supply, although the rate at which mine production has grown has slowed to 1.6% per year since 2001. In contrast, output in Brazil, Sri Lanka and North Korea has increased at higher rates, ranging from 3.5% to over 6% per year. Increasing demand for flake graphite has led to a number of potential developments outside China that could add a total of 70,000 tpy to global supply.
Chinese production is still characterized by a large number of small companies, but larger producers are emerging in both Heilongjiang and Hunan. There are now seven Chinese companies capable of producing more than 30,000 tpy of natural graphite. Increasing regulation of mine safety and plant emissions, together with the imposition of export taxes and permits, is likely to lead to further consolidation. Existing and anticipated restrictions in the availability of Chinese graphite in the world market have encouraged foreign producers and processors to invest in production bases in the country.
This region is set to increase in importance for natural graphite, as Chinese consumption is forecast to increase by 8% per year from 2010. Much of this will be linked to a recovery in steel output, but the increasing availability of high-purity grades will feed into China's fast-growing battery industry. Consumption of graphite in reactor components and nuclear control rods will increase as new reactors are brought online.
After a decade in which the average value of exports of Chinese natural graphite showed a slow but steady decline, prices increased in 2007 following the introduction of an export tax and rising energy and transport costs. This upward trend continued in 2008 and, while prices fell back slightly in response to recessionary conditions in 2009, they are expected to recover to an average of $840/t by 2010. In the medium-term, rising production costs, including the cost of complying with environmental controls, will exert an upward pressure on prices.
Visit www.roskill.com/reports/natural for additional details. | <urn:uuid:d2b3417a-2912-4885-8371-b45497f8439c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ceramicindustry.com/articles/new-roskill-report-focuses-on-natural-graphite-posted-9-1-09 | 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 | 0.945771 | 799 | 2.375 | 2 |
What is Urban Nature?
Broadly speaking all the living and non-living things that exist on this earth are part of nature. Humans are also part of nature. From the indigenous people of Wulgurukaba and Bindal peoples who have lived in the Townsville region sustainably for thousands of years to the modern day Townsvillians living in a very urbanised environment with changing and competing needs of a modern city, we are still part of this ever-changing urban nature ecology. Townsville as the largest Tropical city in Australia is uniquely situated close to environmentally important natural assets including: the Tropical Savanna Grasslands, the Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Areas as well as Bowling Green National Park to name just a few. Furthermore, there are bushlands, creeks, rivers and waterways that have survived as natural areas, which are now part of our urban environment.
Urban nature is thus simultaneous to nature in the urban areas or nature in the city. Therefore, urban nature refers to all of our bushlands, hills, creeks, rivers and waterways – the biological, ecological and the physical environments, the flora and fauna that have survived, adapted and persisted in this urban landscape despite of the urban development and the changes that are continuously happening around them. These pieces of nature within our urbanised landscape have experienced ongoing pressures from urban development, from population growth, from pollution, weed invasions and other human related activities.
Why Protect Urban Nature?
The city of Townsville is growing in population and our suburbs are getting extended, new ones are being developed and with these come pressure for housing, greater urbanisation and extensions to existing transport networks. With increasing urbanisation there is also increasing pressures put on our natural environment. Nature within and outside of our urban areas are being affected by these urbanisation processes often resulting in habitat shrinkages, isolation and destruction. A growing city also needs to maintain its attractiveness and livability and one way of doing this is to ensure we keep and enhance our natural assets as well as bring back nature to the city through revegetation projects, enhancing our riparian areas, conserving our bushlands as well as by planting local native plant species in our gardens and backyards.
Through the Urban Nature Program we are taking nature conservation from the pristine and distance environmental icons to our suburban creeks and bushlands because nature conservation is not only limited to ensuring the protection of our pristine natural assets, it is also about ensuring that we conserve and maintain as much of the natural areas within our urban areas – it is a whole ecosystem conservation. Those patches of bushlands, creeks and riparian areas scattered across our city and suburbs are not empty lands waiting to be developed, they represent our “Green Infrastructure” the green lungs of our city providing essential services such as keeping the air clean and cool, reducing the urban heat island effects, preventing erosion, carbon sequestration, providing habitat and refuge for our local flora and fauna as well as places for recreation (e.g. bushwalking, fishing, sport, picnic and relaxation) to residents. Nature conservation is also about people, living and wellbeing. Thus by bringing nature conservation to the city and suburbs we are also conserving the interconnections between human and nature, between urban dwellers and the environment. Urban Nature conservation iniatives are allowing our young generations to enjoy and connect with nature through fun and educational environmental activities.
How Did the Urban Nature Program Come About?
In 2002, Townsville City Council initiated the Greening Townsville Program with the aim of establishing green corridors and restoring natural areas and habitat to create green and natural areas hubs around the city. The aim of planting 10,000 local native trees annually was successfully achieved year after year with the help of local businesses, community groups and residents. Local native plants giveaway became a regular and permanent feature of many community fun days and events where residents can take away a local native species and plant it in their own gardens.
The Urban Nature Program has been initiated on the back of the success of Greening Townsville Program. Townsville City Council’s Urban Nature Program is an initiative dedicated to bringing nature conservation and activities to the urban areas, to where we all live and work. Studies have shown that improving the environment we live in can bring about positive changes to our well-being, promote community sense of place and socio-cultural linkages and interaction between urban areas and create community stewardship of our local environment. Importantly, the initiatives of Urban Nature Program also help to achieve conservation outcomes such as restoration of urban habitats and biodiversity through increased in local vegetation coverage, protection of our local wildlife and cleaner air and water quality.
Urban Nature Program also provides opportunities for residents both young and old to be involved in conservation activities to enhance local habitats, local creeks and nature in Townsville in a fun and family friendly ways. Through these activities we also hope to foster and raise awareness of the values of our local habitats, our bushland areas and our local native flora and fauna.
Urban Nature Initiatives
• Community Greening Program
• Adopt a Local Native - Life in the Dry Tropics
• Green Tree Ants – Nature and Biodiversity Teaching Resources
• School Shade Tree Program
For more information please contact Integrated Sustainability Services on 1300 878 001 or send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:72416544-cf29-4cdb-9d80-9e3f3aaa554e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/community/sustainability/urbannature/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939673 | 1,110 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Posted: Dec 28, 2012 4:44 PM by Alyse Rzemek
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A new California law aimed at making it faster and less expensive for women to get pregnant using sperm from a donor they know is scheduled to take effect on January 1.
Crafted with women who are single or in same-sex relationships in mind, the new law creates an exemption from federal rules requiring donated sperm either to be quarantined for six months or the man providing it to undergo repeated testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
The California regulations would allow women who already have tried artificial insemination with an acquaintance's sperm at home to waive the requirements in a clinic, just as women who are inseminated with sperm from their sexual partners can.
University of California fertility specialist Mitchell Rosen tells the San Francisco Chronicle the new law will level the family planning playing field for same-sex couples. | <urn:uuid:a060ab12-cefb-482e-92db-645c674c6989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koaa.com/news/new-california-law-eases-sperm-donor-testing-rules/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954162 | 191 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Leaders learn to lead as apprentices in the classroom of experience with senior leaders.
It takes leaders to grow other leaders.
Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.
Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.
The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.
Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
No matter how vast, how total, the failure of man here on earth, the work of man will be resumed elsewhere. War leaders talk of resuming operations on this front and that, but man's front embraces the whole universe.
When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.
Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
Some missionaries are giants in the Spirit and pygmies in skills in the Spirit. Work hard to develop a balance. Your leaders, and you, should teach the skills to each other.
Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally recover the Road Map to Peace, only to discover that, while they were looking for it, the Lug Nuts of Mutual Interest came off the Front Left Wheel of Accommodation, causing the Sport Utility Vehicle of Progress to crash into the Ditch of Despair.
Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.
There are no warlike people, just warlike leaders.
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
You are priests, not social or political leaders. Let us not be under the illusion that we are serving the Gospel through an exaggerated interest in the wide field of temporal problems.
In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people.... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.
Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
Bush the father did well in placing his sons as governors and did not forget to pass on the expertise in fraud from the leaders of the region to Florida to use it in critical moments.
Various philosophers and religious leaders tried to convince their disciples and followers that animals are nothing more than machines without a soul, without feelings. However, anyone who has ever lived with an animal--be it a dog, a bird, or even a mouse--knows that this theory is a brazen lie, invented to justify cruelty.
I think it's only in a crisis that Americans see other people. It has to be an American crisis, of course. If two countries fight that do not supply the Americans with some precious commodity, then the education of the public does not take place. But when the dictator falls, when the oil is threatened, then you turn on the television and they tell you where the country is, what the language is, how to pronounce the names of the leaders, what the religion is all about, and maybe you can cut out recipes in the newspaper of Persian dishes.
We need leaders who will stand up for the little guy and listen once again.
Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel.
As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage. | <urn:uuid:f5acc4f8-dcf2-42a1-95ab-a3b38952b1a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.finestquotes.com/quotes/on/Leaders/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958113 | 820 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Harnessing Your ADHD Strengths
One of the most important things you can do to maximize your strengths is to manage your adult ADHD symptoms consistently and effectively.
Take your medication regularly. While medication alone can’t fix a flagging career or make the wrong career feel right, it can help you manage mood swings and alleviate restlessness and bad temper while you’re in the process of looking or preparing for a new career.
For most ADHD adults, the best treatment approach is a combination of medication, therapy, behavioral modification, healthy eating habits, regular exercise, support groups, relaxation techniques, and other lifestyle changes that enhance your life. | <urn:uuid:8840bf5c-7f94-4262-9199-9ff00bc80ee6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netplaces.com/adult-add-adhd/finding-the-silver-lining-of-adult-adhd/harnessing-your-adhd-strengths.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901019 | 133 | 1.742188 | 2 |
bankruptcy is basically a merchandising swindle based on the abuse of
credit. In this type of scheme, credit that has been legitimately
obtained is used to purchase inventory to sell, or otherwise dispose of,
at a pure profit. Meanwhile, the perpetrator plans to defraud creditors
by not paying the bill, loan, or other form of credit, eventually filing
for bankruptcy, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
In a typical planned bankruptcy scheme, the perpetrator creates a new
business, opens a bank account, and leases operating space to create a
front of legitimacy. In some cases, a planned bankruptcy operator will
simply purchase, on a delayed payment basis, an existing business with a
favorable credit rating, thereby eliminating the need to establish a
credible business front.
Operators then begin to order merchandise. The bills for initial
purchases are either pre-paid or paid promptly to establish a favorable
The operators often invent credit histories and provide false financial
statements and trade references. The names, addresses and phone numbers
of the references are developed with relatives, business associates and
friends. The references are often other "bust-out" operators at work. As
well, many of the references turn out to be "legitimate" merchants who
are buying the defrauded goods from these bust-out operators.
Then the operators begin to purchase additional merchandise from new
suppliers, while beginning to slow payment to old suppliers. Eventually,
increasingly large orders are placed with all suppliers. The increased
inventory is then quickly sold, often below cost.
Once the perpetrator receives payment for the sold, but unpaid for,
merchandise, he or she either absconds with the profits or files for
The individual creditor ends up just writing it off as a bad debt,
rarely pursuing the claim past the "no assets" statement filed with the
Cons often use trade shows to target many companies simultaneously and
place multiple orders. This way they avoid prosecution under the U.S.
federal mail and wire fraud statutes, since they don't use the mail or
telephone lines to transmit the fraudulent information.
Partial segments courtesy of Crimes
of Persuasion: Schemes, scams, frauds.
Most Wanted Butte County
Law Enforcement Agencies
Butte County District Attorney's Office. All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:0bf1863b-401d-4c6a-bd69-0c5ddf340d6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://buttecounty.net/da/bankruptcyfraud.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900955 | 496 | 1.609375 | 2 |
By Mark Burnette[Printer Friendly] | [Contact us about this collection]
Creator: Harrison, Elizabeth (1849-1927)
Extent: 4.0 Cubic Feet
The Elizabeth Harrison Papers consist of Correspondence; Publications (Pamphlets/Articles/ Addresses); Manuscripts; “A Course for Mothers Given by the Chicago Kindergarten College” (1891); Journals, Notebooks and Scrapbooks; and Miscellaneous items (documents pertaining to the Chicago Kindergarten Club, the Chicago Kindergarten Training School and the Kindergarten College, personal papers of Elizabeth Harrison, and writings by Mrs. J.N. Crouse, Susan Blow, and William T. Harris). Within each category, materials are organized chronologically.
Elizabeth Harrison was born in Athens, Kentucky, September 1, 1849. At an early age, her family moved to Midway, Kentucky, and in 1856 to Davenport, Iowa. From her childhood, she suffered from poor health: chronic asthma and bronchitis, and in later years from recurring pneumonia.
In Davenport, she attended public schools and graduated from the local high school, whose faculty and administration were populated by the “Acht und Verzigers,” Germans who immigrated following the 1848 revolution in Germany. However, her father’s business reversals prevented her from attending college, and she devoted the next years of her life to caring for her sisters’ children in Marshalltown, Iowa.
In the summer of 1879, Harrison visited a high school classmate living in Chicago who persuaded her to attend the kindergarten training class organized by Alice Putnam. Putnam had opened the first kindergarten in Chicago in 1874 and began offering courses in her Kindergarten Training School at the Loring School on Prairie Avenue, Chicago, in 1879 (the following year Putnam founded the Chicago Froebel Association). Harrison returned to Chicago in September 1879 to attend Putnam’s Training School, completed the 36-week training course, and received both a diploma and a certificate to train kindergarten teachers.
In 1881-82 Harrison attended Susan Blow’s school in St. Louis, the first public kindergarten in the United States, which opened in 1873. In order to pay for her attendance at Blow’s school, Harrison opened a summer kindergarten in Marshalltown, Iowa, and in six months Harrison completed the two-year program. The following year she returned to the Loring School but almost immediately traveled to New York to study with Maria Boelte and her husband John Kraus. In 1854-56 Boelte had studied with Frau Louise Froebel, the widow of Frederich Froebel (1782-1852, founder of the kindergarten movement in Germany). Thus, within three years, Harrison had studied with the pioneers of the kindergarten education movement in the United States.
After returning to Chicago in 1883, Harrison and Putnam organized the Chicago Kindergarten Club, which initially attracted 30 members. The following year, Harrison began offering mothers’ classes to educate parents about the kindergarten, and in the fall of 1885 or 1886—National-Louis University and its predecessor colleges traditionally have traced their origins to the latter date, but the sources are contradictory—Miss Harrison’s Training Class (or School) opened with five students and two mothers.
By 1887, there were 48 kindergartens in Chicago and its suburbs (private, church, settlement house, and the first in a public school) and four kindergarten training schools. Harrison soon met Mrs. John N. (Rumah) Crouse—wife of a prominent Chicago dentist, founder and president (1877-1907) of the Women’s Baptist Home Missionary Society in Chicago, and mother of one of Harrison’s kindergarten students—and the two women began planning an expanded curriculum. By 1889 they had opened the Chicago Kindergarten Training School in the Chicago Art Institute, at Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street. Although they shared many of the responsibilities of operating the school, Harrison focused on teaching and publicizing the kindergarten programs while Mrs. Crouse attended to the financial management, publicity, student recruitment, facilities management, and fund raising for the school.
Eighteen eighty-seven also saw the first of several literary schools, focusing on various historical literary figures, sponsored by the Chicago Kindergarten Club and the Chicago Kindergarten Training School. These began to attract the notice of the local Chicago newspapers. In 1889, Harrison began to offer courses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for kindergarten teachers and mothers, and in 1890 she traveled to Germany to meet with Baroness Bertha von Marenholtz-Bulow and Henrietta Breyman Schrader, a niece of Froebel, and visited the Schrader Kindergarten Training School.
Harrison played a major role in the kindergarten exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. By then, there were 100 kindergartens in the Chicago area, and Chicago Kindergarten College students were supervising 50 of them. In 1894 Harrison organized the first national Mother’s Convocation in Chicago, forerunner of the Parent and Teachers Association (PTA), which drew 1,200 attendees. She was becoming a national figure.
At the turn of the 20th century, there were more then 5,000 public school kindergartens in the U.S. and more than 200 kindergarten training schools, and Chicago Kindergarten College alumni were holding positions of influence in the state and local Normal Schools, which were beginning to graduate kindergarten teachers.
Harrison was a founding member of the International Kindergarten Union in 1892, and in later years charted a moderate course between the conservative (strictly Froebelian) wing of the kindergarten movement, represented by Susan Blow, and the more liberal wing associated with John Dewey.
In 1912-13 Harrison visited Rome to observe the school of Maria Montessori, and in 1914 her study of the Montessori Method was published by the U.S. Bureau of Education. The following year the National Kindergarten College, successor to the Chicago Kindergarten College, began offering classes in the Montessori Method.
In 1917, a Children’s School was opened under the supervision of Clara Belle Baker, the younger sister of Edna Dean Baker, who had become Associate President of the National Kindergarten and Elementary College and would succeed Elizabeth Harrison as its president in 1920.
Following a heart attack in 1919, Elizabeth Harrison retired as president of the National Kindergarten and Elementary College in 1920. She spent the remaining years of her life principally in San Antonio, Texas, occasionally traveling to other parts of the U.S. Until the end of her life she revised her memoir, Sketches Along Life’s Road, which was eventually published in 1930, three years after her death on October 31, 1927.
Processing Information: Described at the folder level. | <urn:uuid:81fb5496-168a-4eb4-90e6-c09a91321c30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archon.nl.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=61&q=&rootcontentid=4440 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957148 | 1,449 | 2.359375 | 2 |
The Swiss cinema was born in 1920s with a huge net of distributors. Swiss films such as Lindtberg's were created in the late 1930's early 1940's. Fusilier Wipf (1939), Gilberte de Courgenay (1941) and Die Missbrauchten Liebesbriefe (1940) are those which make Swiss movies history notable. During 1950s and 1960s a number of successful plays were screened. Two film stars from Switzerland raised up in early 1950s and received an international acclaim for playing in lots of films. Switzerland are proud of them. It's Maximilian Shell and Ursula Anderss who became famous in Hollywood. The famous movies filmed in Switzerland were shot by Jean-Luc Godard. He is a living icon of temporary cinema. He influenced on the huge list of new generation directors, such as Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Steven Soderbergh, Jim Jarmusch. Godard's films were awarded many times including Honorary Academy Award (2010), Honorary Cesar (1987, 1998), Prix Jean Vigo (1960). Also he influenced on the movies set in Switzerland. The Swiss art house received an international acclaim in the middle of 1980s and now it still has a reputation of one of the most contemporary cinemas.
A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day.
A symphony in three movements. Things such as a Mediterranean cruise, numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday... Our Europe. At night, a sister and her younger brother have summoned their parents to appear before the court of their childhood. The children demand serious explanations of the themes of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Our humanities. Visits to six sites of true or false myths: Egypt, Palestine, Odessa, Hellas, Naples and Barcelona.
Dino is a cat that leads a double life. By day, he lives with Zoe, a little girl whose mother, Jeanne, is a police officer. By night, he works with Nico, a burglar with a big heart. Zoe has plunged herself into silence following her father's murder at the hands of gangster Costa. One day, Dino the cat brings Zoe a very valuable bracelet. Lucas, Jeanne's second-in-command, notices this bracelet is part of a jewelery collection that has been stolen. One night, Zoe decides to follow Dino. On the way, she overhears some gangsters and discovers that her nanny is part of the gangsters' team.
Emile is an unhappy little vampire, doing a job he detests, in a world plunged into perpetual gloom. He serves a despotic mistress who loathes wrinkles, in the most extreme way.
Ricky leaves Hong Kong for Switzerland to look for the lost soul and the past of his deceased Swiss lover, Pascal. Ricky struggles with the confusion of memories, reality and illusion.
When a young musician and his wife become witness of a bank robbery they get in the midst of a political conspiracy with the risk of losing their lives.
For 25 years in Invercargill at the south end of New Zealand, Burt Munro (1899-1978) has been working on increasing the speed of his motorcycle, a 1920 Indian. He dreams of taking it to the Bonneville Salt Flats to see how fast it will go. By the early 1960s, heart disease threatens his life, so he mortgages his house and takes a boat to Los Angeles, buys an old car, builds a makeshift trailer, gets the Indian through customs, and heads for Utah. Along the way, people he meets are charmed by his open, direct friendliness. If he makes it to Bonneville, will they let an old guy on the flats with makeshift tires, no brakes, and no chute? And will the Indian actually respond?
Valentine is a young model living in Geneva. Because of a dog she ran over, she meets a retired judge who spies his neighbours' phone calls, not for money but to feed his cynicism. The film is the story of relationships between some human beings, Valentine and the judge, but also other people who may not be aware of the relationship they have with Valentine or/and the old judge. Redemption, forgiveness and compassion...
Karol (Polish) marries Domininque (French) and moves to Paris. The marriage breaks down and Dominique divorces Karol, forcing him into the life of a metro beggar and eventually back to Poland. However, he never forgets Dominique and while building a new life for himself in Warsaw he begins to plot...
Historical epic. The triumphs and tragedy of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. | <urn:uuid:30094a8d-cf93-4c50-bc9a-3f8613a88ba5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mymoviemarket.com/country/Switzerland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966628 | 1,063 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Booker Prize-winning author Aravind Adiga’s second book Last Man in Tower skillfully builds to the final conflict right underneath your feet brick by brick, until you’re forced to retreat to the roof teetering on the precipice before he forces you off to meet your maker. I immersed myself in the dizzying array of Adiga’s cast of characters who were unconstrained in their displays of love, greed, and desires for upward social mobility
The setting for the novel is in and around Vishram Society Tower A, a building development in the Vakola neighborhood of the Mumbai suburb of Santa Cruz. Adiga describes it as incredibly pucca, solid and permanent, a stalwart presence against the surrounding slums:
Vishram Society is anchored like a dreadnought of middle-class respectability, ready to fire on anyone who might impugn the pucca quality of its inhabitants. For years it was the only good building -- which is to say, the only registered co-operative society -- in the neighborhood; it was erected as an experiment in gentrification back in the late 1950s, when Vakola was semi-swamp, a few bright mansions amidst mangroves and malarial clouds. Wild boar and bands of dacoits were rumoured to prowl the banyan trees, and rickshaws and taxis refused to come here after sunset.
The plot is set in motion when residents of Vishram Society are made an offer by a building developer, Dharmen Shah of the Confidence Group, who offers to buy their apartments at a rate of 19,000 rupees per square foot so he can tear down Vishram and build luxury high-rise apartments called the Shanghai. At this rate, the average payout per family would be about $330,000 in a country where the average per capita annual income in 2008 was $800.
The book uses a Vertigo-inspired cover but the plot is less a psychological thriller and more a psychological game of iron wills. Vishram’s decision must be unanimous according to co-op bylaws and must be made by October 3. It is a five month countdown but not everyone in the society wants to sell, and as each week passes, the dissenters fall like pawns, except for one person.
Highly-respected Yogesh Murthy, known as Masterji, is a recently widowed and retired schoolteacher. Much like Hitchcock’s enactment of vertigo through the obsessions of his characters, Adiga has Masterji dizzyingly revisiting the same moments over and over again, consumed by the death of his wife and the accidental death of his daughter. The persistence of Masterji’s obsession with the memories of his wife and daughter is pitted against the weight of Shah’s offer.
Photo of the author by Mark Pringle
Adiga doesn’t allow us to hate Shah because he doesn’t rely on caricature. Shah isn’t merely portrayed as the exploitive evil developer. Through Adiga’s careful representation, we get glimpses of Shah’s humanity, his weakness, his random kindness, his spiritual side, and his own moral code in which he believes in honesty and fairness. Shah doesn’t believe in his own villainy but he is aware that that is what he is in their eyes. While attempting to convince left-wing radical communist social worker Mrs. Rego to take the money, he muses, “A social worker needs a builder. We make each other: she can be so pure only if I am so evil.”
And Adiga doesn’t let us blindly root for Masterji. We admire Masterji for his resolve but we also start to doubt his intentions and his character. Is pride the only thing keeping him from accepting?
One of the great pleasures in reading Last Man in Tower, much like a Zadie Smith book, is Adiga’s collection of characters. He is a master of observation and shows the intimate gestures between people which say volumes about their relationships. Adiga carefully constructs the worldview of Mumbai’s middle class. While you feel disgusted by the greed underlying the extraordinary measures they take to pressure Masterji to accept Shah’s offer, you also commiserate with them. Their motivations are moving and sweet. It’s difficult to judge them because we see the difficult position they are in: they are trapped by their desires to provide a better life for their families.
With wit and dark humor, the journey of the residents of Vishram depicted by Adiga gives us food for thought but he isn’t interested in raising questions about whether or not human nature is inherently cutthroat. Instead, he explores the corruptive influence of money on kind and decent people. Those who think selling out is unacceptable or selfish may disapprove of Adiga refusal to apologize for the Vishram residents. But this is exactly the point. Adiga encourages us to draw our own conclusions and to question our own ethics. I may not agree with how the characters carried out their actions, but Adiga suggests that those types of decisions lie with the person making them and that we all have to live with ourselves in the end.
Jenny Yap is a lecturer in the English Department at California State University, East Bay. She might be willing to sell out her neighbors if the right offer came along.
The previous issue of Hyphen is available in its entirety for your perusing pleasure. Almost as good as having it right in your hands! | <urn:uuid:326573b8-08a0-440a-99d7-24d0ff980e6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2012/05/books-indias-greedy-middle-class?quicktabs_2=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971424 | 1,150 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Obama's Tech Tools
As a candidate, Barack Obama benefited greatly from the power of the Internet, tapping Web tools to reach, motivate, and collect funds from millions of people across the country. As president, Obama has cemented his role as the nation's most connected president to-date, incorporating technology as a cornerstone of key initiatives from healthcare reform to education. Taking a page from corporate America, Obama hired a chief technology officer to oversee the nation's IT direction. And, though he has publicly claimed ignorance about iPads, iPods, and popular gaming systems, Obama has long been known for his reliance on a BlackBerry, an addiction that required approval from the Secret Service for security reasons. | <urn:uuid:0aa6e801-fb70-4c14-ac19-258ba5f4bc83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/obamas-tech-tools/227700337?pgno=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961592 | 138 | 2.03125 | 2 |
To the Editor,
The June 28 Legal Ease column suggested that people with a mortgage should do the math and “unless the house is really a winner, hand the keys back to the bank and be done with it.”
From the perspective of this column, what matters is that the mortgage owner can save money by failing to abide by their contractual obligations. No mention is made of any other alternatives, such as refinancing to reduce the interest rate, or lengthen the term, selling the home with the mortgage, reducing other spending, getting roommates or anything else that actually requires someone to keep their promise to repay the loan. It is a poor example to set for the younger generation, that someone’s promise to repay a loan can be broken by simply “handing the keys back,” and that the important issue is how much money it might save, rather than fulfilling your obligations.
In cases of serious illness or job loss when there are no savings or any other possible alternative, foreclosure may not be avoidable. This column’s sole focus on crunching the numbers after a mortgage is obtained, and not before being obtained, is advising the readers based solely on self-interest.
You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:3feaf19a-d086-472f-95cc-79ff384e7f6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ss-times.com/2012/07/05/legal-column-dismisses-alternative-opinions/ | 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 | 0.961256 | 259 | 1.835938 | 2 |
About Youth Soccer Month
October 11, 2004 10:00 PM
In September 2007, the National Youth Soccer Month campaign celebrates its fifth year of educating the public about the joys, rewards and benefits of playing youth soccer, and offers a variety of resources to learn more about youth soccer and get involved.
We hope that visitors to this site will join us in September and all year as we reach out to soccer enthusiasts throughout the United States with our messages about youth soccer and the many advantages of the sport.
We hope that you will choose a unique way to celebrate soccer in September and spread the message about your positive experiences. On this website you will find ideas and materials to use for your celebration and increase public awareness of the many benefits of playing youth soccer.
YOUTH SOCCER MONTH!!!
Goals of Youth Soccer Month
- Raise awareness of Youth Soccer and the benefits of playing the game.
- Emphasize soccer as the number one youth participation sport in America and a leading contributor to the healthy lifestyle of millions of American families
- Bring kids and families of all ages and all abilities together for fun, friendship and fitness.
- Highlight the various programs available to children interested in participating in soccer, including inner-city, special needs, recreational and elite soccer programs.
Anyone can spread the message about his or her positive experience with youth soccer. Youth Soccer Month celebrations can be found at soccer practices and tournaments, businesses, nonprofit and community centers, shopping malls, schools, private homes…..just about anywhere that kids who play soccer and those involved with those kids may gather. People who organize Youth Soccer Month Celebrations are soccer volunteers and administrators, parents, coaches, players….anyone who wants to celebrate our sport.
This website is designed to help you get involved and celebrate Youth Soccer in your own unique way. We want to hear how you participate in Youth Soccer Month this year. Click here
to tell us how you get involved in and celebrate Youth Soccer in America. And be sure to visit youthsoccermonth.org often during September to see what’s going on across the country.
Get Involved and Celebrate Youth Soccer in September! | <urn:uuid:eea13567-216a-4bac-a64c-a71d488e68a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/news/story/?ArticleId=226478 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947886 | 442 | 1.8125 | 2 |
transition elements or transition metals, in chemistry, group of elements characterized by the filling of an inner d electron orbital as atomic number increases. This includes the elements from titanium to copper, and those lying in the columns below them in the periodic table. Many of the chemical and physical properties of the transition elements are due to their unfilled d orbitals. In the elements of the lanthanide series and the actinide series the inner f orbital is filled as atomic number increases; those elements are often called the inner transition elements. Transition elements generally exhibit high density, high melting point, magnetic properties, variable valence, and the formation of stable coordination complexes. Their variable valence is due to the electrons in the d orbitals. The study of the complex ions and compounds formed by transition metals is an important branch of chemistry. Many of these complexes are highly colored and exhibit paramagnetism.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on transition elements from Infoplease:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Compounds and Elements | <urn:uuid:0b321068-25e3-4884-a054-5ef61fc33e6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/transition-elements.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901496 | 224 | 3.921875 | 4 |
An introduction to the art of building, this course deals with whole systems of building: heavy timber framing, wood platform framing, masonry load bearing wall, structural steel framing, concrete framing and enclosures. The evolutionary development of the system, the properties of its major materials, the possibilities and limitations of the building method and the basis for choosing among systems is covered.
No corequisites or prerequisites
Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Textbook information will be available online for each term's courses 45 days prior to the first day of classes for the term.
Each course offered by Seminole State is listed alphabetically and organized by the course prefix, catalog number and description. The courses in this catalog are identified by prefixes and numbers that were assigned by Florida's Statewide Course Numbering System, a system used by all public postsecondary institutions in Florida and 32 non-public institutions. Seminole State controls the description, credit and content of its own courses. | <urn:uuid:896b5a64-8db9-4ac7-b5a0-28e49e4aa7b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seminolestate.edu/catalog/courses/course/BCN2230 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916532 | 200 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Maricopa County residents and businesses will now be able to receive real-time text alerts when dust pollution reaches levels that are potentially dangerous.
The Rapid Response Notification System was launched on Wednesday by the Maricopa County Air Quality Department and is intended to both warn residents of health hazards and to prompt people to take action to reduce the amount of dust in the air.
The system uses the existing 12 monitors located around the Valley to measure the particles, but with new software it is able to send air quality data to the department every five minutes. Now officials will be able to take action the moment a problem is identified.
The need for such a system became evident after party-goers in south Phoenix stirred up enough dust to cause one monitor to register levels above those allowed by federal standards. The party was on a Saturday night and the violation was not discovered until Monday.
“We’d like to move forward and avoid this happening again,” said Holly Ward, public relations officer for the department, who adds “all of us are notified so we can stop pollution before it becomes a concern.”
Maricopa County has struggled with meeting the standards of the federal Clean Air Act in the past and is currently in the last year of a three-year plan to clean up the air. Failure to stay in compliance could mean sanctions and the loss of up to $7 billion in federal transportation dollars. This money is used to fund projects such as new roads and highways.
Health concerns are also a reason why the county is taking steps to warn residents about air quality as quickly as possible. According to Ward, small particles roughly one-eighth the size of a human hair can settle deep into the lungs and cause breathing problems.
“The federal health standard is good for those of us that breath because it is about our lungs and our health,” said Ward, who adds that the standard is based on what the lungs can take, not on climate.
“To have a heads up would really be a godsend for a lot of people with asthma,” said Joy Autore of Chandler, who moved to the Valley of the Sun from Nebraska because of her breathing problems.
Autore said that both she and her daughter, who also has asthma, have trouble breathing because of a decline in the air quality over the last 10 years. She welcomes the new text alert system and hopes it will help remind her daughter to use her inhaler.
“If you’re not near a TV or a computer you don’t see that stuff coming in, so a text alert would be wonderful,” Autore said.
While it is too soon to know exactly how many alerts the system will generate, Ward estimates that it will probably be around one or two every month. Those interested in receiving the alerts can sign up at maricopa.gov/aq. The website also provides tips on how to reduce the amount of dust in the air, such as keeping all-terrain vehicles on designated trails.
The Rapid Response Notification System upgrade was funded by the Maricopa Association of Governments.
• Morgan Sailor is interning this semester for the Ahwatukee Foothills News. She is a senior at Arizona State University. | <urn:uuid:474d8a3b-d7f2-497a-b4ac-0349e9ccadc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ahwatukee.com/community_focus/article_7645545c-8e32-11e0-846a-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968841 | 668 | 2.625 | 3 |
On Tuesday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court returned the state's new, strict Republican-backed voter-ID law to the lower court for more hearings to determine whether there's any way the law can be implemented without disenfranchising citizens who don't have the photo ID it would require in order to cast a ballot. (Read the Washington Post's story on voters' efforts to obtain the necessary ID before the election here .)
The majority instructed the lower-court judge, who had earlier ruled that the state could get the needed photo identification to voters who now lack it in time for the election, to re-evaluate the facts.
If the commonwealth can't make the case that voters will not be disenfranchised by having to produce appropriate ID at the polls, then an injunction against the law must be issued before the election, the court ruled.
Advancement Project Co-Director Penda D. Hair called the decision "a big step in the right direction for the commonwealth's voters," saying, "The lower court must now examine the actual availability of the ID card, which we already know has been difficult for voters to get. America stands for equality, a nation where every citizen can raise their voice in the ballot box. Pennsylvania's restrictive voter-ID law stands in the way of voters being able to exercise that right."
Meanwhile, 14 members of Congress, led by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), have introduced a bill to combat what they say are countrywide voter-suppression efforts. The America Votes Act of 2012, H.R. 6419, will allow voters to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity if they do not have the identification documents required at their polling place.
"The America Votes Act of 2012 is a commonsense bill that protects the ability of American citizens to exercise their democratic right to vote," said Larsen. "There are more recorded instances of exploding toilets and shark attacks than there are of in-person voting fraud. The story of our nation is one of extending the right to vote irrespective of race or gender. We must not allow the United States to move backward to our dark history of voter intimidation and suppression."
Read more at the Washington Post . | <urn:uuid:27a76106-871b-48ef-8919-d24de7e0d63e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theroot.com/print/66209 | 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 | 0.951219 | 446 | 1.96875 | 2 |
by Ray Notgrass
Mardel Price $37.95
Exploring World History is designed to be easy-to-use for parent and student. Each of the 30 weekly units has an introduction that features a summary of the material covered, a list of lessons, books required for that unit, and suggested writing assignments. Each of the 150 daily lessons (five lessons per week) includes the history text and the reading assignments for that day (and those in progress). A focused student can direct his own study, and the parent can offer as much interaction as needed. Depending on how fast your child reads and how much time he spends on the writing assignments, he may need an average of 2-3 hours for each daily lesson. Completing the full course provides your child with a year's high school credit in World History, English (literature and composition), and Bible.
Part 2: The Renaissance to the Present (second semester) | <urn:uuid:7939c3b5-46b9-4411-aa97-ec45534f6169> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mardel.com/Exploring-World-History-Part-2-2459758.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931458 | 190 | 2.8125 | 3 |
History on stage
Broadcast: Midmorning, 01/07/2009, 10:06 a.m.
The two starring actors in the road version of Frost/Nixon talk about how they bring their own interpretations to characters who are well known in real life and in a new movie.
- Stacy Keach: plays Richard Nixon. Keach is a longtime stage, screen and TV actor, winner of a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Ernest Hemingway. He also was the star of Mike Hammer TV series.
- Alan Cox: plays David Frost. He's perhaps best known for playing a youthful Watson in Young Sherlock Holmes. | <urn:uuid:9e77f5a6-5016-429c-87af-ffbdc6bced01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/01/07/midmorning2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973845 | 131 | 1.539063 | 2 |
How to Write a New Topic
Choose the appropriate forum for your topic.
For a detailed description of the differences between HSA’s different forums please see: Where Should I Post This?
Use a descriptive subject line.
Your subject line should attempt to accurately describe the content of your proposed topic for discussion. “How can we positively impact our local communities?” is an example of a good subject line. Vague and/or undescriptive subject lines such as “Help,” “A question,” or “LOOK!” should not be used.
Develop a clear and concise message body.
Please observe the rules of proper English spelling, grammar, and punctuation when constructing your message body. Also, bear in mind that a very long post will be read by fewer people than a shorter one. Try to be as clear and as concise as possible.
Ask your question in one post, respond to it in another.
This is especially applicable to Roundtable topics. If you are starting a discussion with a question, use the starting post as a succinct prompt, and then (if you wish) make a subsequent post to provide your response.
Make sure your post complies with the Guidelines for Acceptable Conduct.
See: Guidelines for Acceptable Conduct (GAC)
<< Return to the Help Index. | <urn:uuid:60ebb1bd-7dcb-4320-9e13-0ddeb1459628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homeschoolalumni.org/faqs/content/tips_newtopic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903309 | 282 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Title: White Oleander
Author: Janet Fitch
"Oleander time," she said. "Lovers who kill each other now will blame it on the wind."
Ingird Magnussen is sent to prison for murder and has left behind her daughter, Astrid to be sent into foster care. The story tells of the different foster homes Astrid finds herself in. The different worlds, the different rules, and different lessons.
Throughout the book and through the different families Astird belongs to, one thing is constant. Leaving. While reading this novel, I really felt for Astrid and the absence of love that she so desperately craved. She experienced so many different types of pain and hell. She often felt disconnected with society.
" To them, pain was a country they had heard of, maybe watched a show about on TV, but one whose stamp had not yet been made in their passports. where could I find a place where my world connected to theirs?"
The message I think the author is trying to convey in this novel is that we all live completely different worlds. Different struggles, different wars, even different joys. What a better way to convey that than someone in foster care. I think that the author was successful in portraying this message. The only thing I would have liked to see a little different, is that not every home is hell. Not every family is so destructive. There is goodness out there and that was never shown in the story. It was quite jaded in that way.
At the end of the book after all Astrid has gone through, she still yearns for a life with her mother. It is a great story with great character development with both Astrid and Ingrid. There is a great ending to a great story, and one that will leave me thinking differently about those around me. | <urn:uuid:28490670-f326-4056-bb07-22b020bcd860> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michellesreadingroom.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984255 | 380 | 1.765625 | 2 |
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2002
7. Relevant Legislation
- 7.1 State, Commonwealth and International Listing
- 7.2 Recovery Plan Preparation and Implementation
- 7.3 Critical Habitat
- 7.4 Environmental Assessment
The Lord Howe Woodhen is listed as Endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) and Vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It is protected under the Lord Howe Island Act 1953.
The TSC Act is the legislative framework in NSW to protect and encourage the recovery of threatened species, populations and communities. One of the consequences of listing as a threatened species on the TSC Act is that consideration must be given to the species in assessing the impacts of developments and activities with the aim of minimising adverse impacts. A licence under the TSC Act may be required if actions are likely to result in the harming of the species or damage to its habitat.
Animal Ethics approval and licences must also be obtained under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 to take, handle or keep the Lord Howe Woodhen for scientific purposes, for the welfare of the animal or if there is threat to life and property. Research on any flora and fauna on the island requires a permit under this act, Animal Ethics approval and the Lord Howe Island Act 1953 (NSW) (LHI Act).
The LHI Act established the LHIB, which is charged with the care, control and management of the affairs and trade of the Island. The Permanent Park Preserve is established under s.19A of the LHI Act and is managed in accordance with a Plan of Management.
Additionally the Lord Howe Island Group is listed as a World Heritage site and therefore must be managed in accordance with the provisions of the EPBC Act.
Recovery plan preparation
The TSC Act provides a legislative framework to protect and encourage the recovery of Endangered and Vulnerable species, Endangered Populations and Endangered Ecological Communities in NSW. Under this legislation the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife has a responsibility to prepare recovery plans for all Endangered and Vulnerable species, Endangered Populations and Endangered Ecological Communities listed on the TSC Act schedules. Similarly, the EPBC Act requires the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment to ensure the preparation of a recovery plan for nationally listed species and communities or adopt plans prepared by others, including those developed by State agencies. Both Acts include specific requirements for the matters to be addressed by recovery plans and the administrative process for preparing recovery plans.
This recovery plan has been prepared to satisfy both the requirements of the TSC Act and the EPBC Act and therefore will be the only recovery plan for the species. It is the intention of the Director-General to forward this recovery plan to the Commonwealth Minister of the Environment for adoption, once it has been approved by the NSW Minister for the Environment.
Recovery plan implementation
The TSC Act requires that a public authority must take any appropriate measures available to implement actions included in a recovery plan for which they have agreed to be responsible. Public authorities and councils identified as responsible for the implementation of recovery plan actions are required by the TSC Act to report on measures taken to implement those actions.
In addition, the Act specifies that public authorities must not make decisions that are inconsistent with the provisions of the plan. The government agencies responsible for implementing this plan are the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the LHIB.
The EPBC Act states that the Commonwealth must implement a recovery plan on those areas that apply to Commonwealth lands. There are no Commonwealth owned lands on Lord Howe Island.
The EPBC Act additionally specifies that a Commonwealth agency must not take any action that contravenes a recovery plan.
Many Woodhens occur on private leases in the settlement area of the island (there is no freehold title land on the island). Therefore, the implementation of this plan will depend significantly on a cooperative approach involving local leaseholders.
The attainment of the recovery plan objectives will be subject to available funding.
The TSC Act makes provision for the identification and declaration of Critical Habitat for species, populations and communities listed as Endangered. Once Critical Habitat is declared, it becomes an offence to damage Critical Habitat (unless the action is specifically exempted by the TSC Act). A Species Impact Statement (SIS) is mandatory for all developments and activities proposed within Critical Habitat, with the nature and extent of the SIS determined by the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife. The declaration of Critical Habitat is not considered to be a priority for this species, as other mechanisms provide for its protection.
Under the EPBC Act, Critical Habitat may be registered for any nationally listed threatened species or ecological community. When adopting a recovery plan the Federal Minister for the Environment must consider whether to list habitat identified in the recovery plan as being critical to the survival of the species or ecological community. It is an offence under the EPBC Act for a person to knowingly take an action on a Commonwealth area that will significantly damage Critical Habitat (unless the EPBC Act specifically exempts the action). Although this offence only applies to a Commonwealth area, any action that is likely to have a significant impact on a listed species occurring within registered Critical Habitat on other areas is still subject to referral and approval under the EPBC Act. Proposed actions within registered Critical Habitat on non-Commonwealth areas are likely to receive additional scrutiny by the Commonwealth Minister.
The TSC Act amendments to the environmental assessment provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) require that consent and determining authorities in NSW consider threatened species and their habitats when exercising a decision-making function under Parts 4 & 5 of the EP&A Act. When considering any activity that may affect the Lord Howe Woodhen, these authorities should consider the conservation strategy outlined in this plan.
Where an activity or development that may impact upon Lord Howe Woodhen or its habitat is not subject to approval under the EP&A Act, an approval may nevertheless be required under the Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 or the TSC Act. These approvals must also take the strategy in this plan into consideration.
Exceptions are where the proposed activity or development is classed as exempt or is undertaken in accordance with previously approved Regional Vegetation Management Plans or Property Management Plans.
The NSW NPWS is represented on the Regional Vegetation Management Committees that are responsible for the preparation of these plans and will seek appropriate identification and protection of relevant Lord Howe Woodhen habitat under them.
Development applications on Lord Howe Island are considered in accordance with the provisions of the EP&A Act and the Lord Howe Island Regional Environmental Plan 1986 (REP). The consent authority for the Island is the LHIB. Planning NSW is currently undertaking a review of the REP.
The following public authorities currently have a decision making function in relation to the Lord Howe Woodhen:
- The LHIB;
- Planning NSW;
- the NPWS; and
- the Commonwealth through its responsibilities to manage World Heritage properties and nationally listed threatened species and ecological communities under the EPBC Act.
Any other activity not requiring development consent under the EP&A Act, which is likely to harm the Lord Howe Woodhen or damage its habitat, requires a Section 91 licence from the NPWS under the provisions of the TSC Act. If the impact is likely to be significant, as Species Impact Statement is required.
The EPBC Act regulates actions that may result in a significant impact on nationally listed threatened species and ecological communities. It is an offence to undertake any such actions in areas under State or Territory jurisdiction, as well as on Commonwealth-owned areas, without obtaining prior approval from the Commonwealth Environment Minister. As the Lord Howe Woodhen is listed nationally under the EPBC Act, any person proposing to undertake actions likely to have a significant impact on this species should refer the action to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment for consideration. The Minister will then decide whether the action requires EPBC Act approval.
Administrative guidelines are available from Environment Australia to assist proponents in determining whether their action is likely to have a significant impact. In cases where the action does not require EPBC Act approval, but will result in the death or injury of a Lord Howe Woodhen and the bird is in, or on, a Commonwealth area, a permit issued by the Commonwealth Minister under the EPBC Act, will be required.
The Environment Minister can also delegate the role of assessment and approval to other Commonwealth Ministers under a Ministerial Declaration and to the States and Territories under bilateral agreements. The development of a bilateral agreement between NSW and the Commonwealth is not yet complete, but when in place will avoid the need for duplication of environmental assessment. | <urn:uuid:6c0c104d-0039-4bcd-9de5-1a55a142314d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/recovery/lord-howe-wood-hen/legislation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929798 | 1,788 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Scientists and a Republican member of Congress are protesting other members' attempts to investigate three researchers who have produced climate data that support global warming, arguing the investigation is designed to intimidate scientists who don't generate politically favorable data.
In 1998, Michael Mann of the University of Virginia, Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, and Malcolm Hughes of the University of Arizona published a paper in
Last month, Mann, Bradley, and Hughes received a letter from US Congressmen Joe Barton, chair of the House Committee of Energy and Commerce, and Ed Whitfield, chair of the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, with a two-page list of requests for material to support their conclusions, such as all financial support for their research, including–but not limited to–honoraria and financial awards.
Instead, by "overburdening" him and his colleagues with requests, the congressmen are trying to disrupt their work, Bradley noted. "I've been working for 30 years. If they think I'm going to sit down and go through everything I've done, it's impossible. It would shut me down, which is what they want."
Through a spokesperson, Barton told
"When studies were criticized and results seemed hard to replicate by other researchers, asking why seemed like a modest but necessary step," Barton said. "This is not the first time this committee has asked for this type of information, and it won't be the last."
However, some experts noted that this is the first time they have seen individual congressmen question individual scientists. "I have never seen anything quite as egregious as this," Linda Rosenstock, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health from 1994 through 2000, told
In protest, both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academies of Science (NAS) have written letters to Congressman Barton. Alan Leshner, the CEO of AAAS and executive publisher of
Even the Republican party is divided on this issue. On July 14, Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chair of the House Committee on Science, called the investigation "misguided and illegitimate" in a letter to Barton. "The only conceivable explanation for the investigation is to attempt to intimidate," Boehlert notes, which sets a "chilling" precedent.
And on July 15, twenty scientists voiced their own protests against Barton's investigation, noting that there is debate about climate change, but Mann et al.'s work constitutes "only one item among literally thousands of pieces of evidence that have contributed to the present consensus on the serious nature of climate change." Alan Robock, distinguished professor of environmental science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, told
Bradley said that he has responded by sending his own letter to Barton, which included his CV, archives for data used in his research, and criticisms of the work of McIntyre and McKitrick. Mann and Hughes have also submitted responses.
Bradley added that he was "surprised" and "depressed" to receive the letter, and warned that this development does not bode well for scientists who receive federal support or work in controversial areas such as evolution or stem cell research. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," he warned. | <urn:uuid:42da7206-e3a3-4063-bb4c-0c1f83541756> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/23409/title/Members-of-Congress-probe-climate-researchers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976193 | 664 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Dear NASET Members,
Welcome to NASET's WEEK in REVIEW. Here, we provide you with the latest publications from NASET to read and download, as well as some of the most interesting issues that have happened this week in the field of special education. We hope you enjoy this publication. Feel free to send us articles for this publication or let us know your thoughts about the WEEK in REVIEW at firstname.lastname@example.org. Have a great weekend.
NASET News Team
New This Week on NASET
Assessment in Special Education Series
Part 3 - Obtaining Parental Informed Consent for Assessment
There are many times when a school district must notify a parent in writing of its proposed action and ask for written consent (permission) to carry out this action. One of those times is when the initial evaluation for a suspected disability and eligibility for special education are requested. In general, informed written consent means that the parents have been given all the information that is needed to make a knowledgeable decision about a proposed activity by the school district regarding their child's education and that they agree in writing to that proposed activity. Parents have the right not to give their consent. They also have the right to revoke their consent at any time. A copy of this form can be found at the end of this part of the series.
To read of download this issue - Click Here
Classroom Management Series IV
Behavior Crisis Management Tool #13
Attention Seeking Students
The purpose of this issue of the Classroom Management Series is to explain how to short circuit a student's need for inappropriate attention.
To read or download this issue - Click Here (login required)
Quick Links To NASET
Recovery Act Grant Aims to Teach Kids with Autism How to Better Express Themselves
Most children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) seem to have trouble engaging in everyday social interactions. They may seem to have no reaction to other people or may respond atypically when others show anger or affection. Their own facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language may not match what they are saying, making it difficult for others to respond appropriately. Such barriers to communication can isolate children with ASD from their peers. To help overcome these barriers, NIH awarded a Challenge grant on behalf of NIMH to support the development of a new training program that incorporates two existing computer programs. One program, called Let's Face It!, helps children with ASD recognize facial expressions of others and understand the corresponding emotions. The other program, called the Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox, detects a user's facial expression in real-time, based on 37 different facial expression dimensions (for example, widening one's eyes, raising the inner or outer corners of one's eyebrows, wrinkling one's nose, etc.) and their intensity. To read more, click here
NEW! NASET MEMBER'S BENEFIT
To learn more about Health Proponent - Click Here
Be sure to mention that you are a member of NASET for special plan and pricing! (Optional Member's Benefit)
Test Scores Rise for Students With Disabilities
Test scores on state assessments for students with disabilities have increased in recent years, according to a new study released today. The Washington-based Center on Education Policy examined state mathematics and reading test results from the 2005-06 school year to the 2007-08 school year. Those state tests are used to determine whether schools and school districts are making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The study found that students with disabilities showed progress at all levels of proficiency in 4th grade, where the median percentage scoring at the basic level or above was 71 percent. Most states showed more gains than declines among students with disabilities over the three-year period. To read more, click here
In India, Children With Multiple Disabilities Need Early Rehabilitation
Children with single or multiple disabilities need early rehabilitation and training to bring out the best in them and make them socially useful and acceptable, says Reena Bhandari, an expert in rehabilitation of the differently. Bhandari, associated with Voice and Vision, a Mumbai-based NGO working in the field of rehabilitation of children having speech and vision disabilities, was on Monday speaking at a training programme organised by Akansha, a Gaya Institute. Bhandari regretted that whereas in big cities and towns, facility for rehabilitation of differently abled children exist, the semi-urban and rural children do not have access to such facilities, thereby making such children unwanted at home and in society. The rehabilitation expert said with its extensive network, government agencies and their auxiliary units can go a long way in creating awareness and channelising hidden potential of children suffering from one or more physical or mental disability. To read more, click here
MS Is More Aggressive In Children But Slower To Cause Disability Than In Adults
Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported. Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed. "Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author."But surprisingly, the average time to reach the secondary progressive phase of the disease is longer in patients who develop MS in childhood than in adult onset MS," she continued. "Reaching the next stage of disability is almost 10 years longer in pediatric-onset patients." To read more, click here
Learning Disabilities: Problem For Education Worldwide
A recent article entitled "Study backs vouchers for special education" contained a very potent statement: "20 percent of D.C. public school students are diagnosed with learning disabilities, compared with about 12 percent in Montgomery County and about 14 percent in Fairfax." The conclusion was that the D.C. schools are beefing up the numbers for higher subsidies. Having looked at special education for 20 years as an insider, and 12 more as a graduate student majoring in School Psychology and School Administration, this writer holds no hope that creative financing or any other sort of education reform will solve this problem. 12% in Montgomery County and 14% in Fairfax, and 20% in D.C. suggests that environment has an impact upon the problem. A look at the different environments would provide greater insight. San Francisco solved its problem by cleaning up the pollution in the old Bayview Hunters Point. To read more, click here
NASET Offering Members Two Million Dollar Educator's Liability Insurance
Every day, special educators are faced with the stresses and potential liability issues involved in dealing with children with special needs. As a result you may be vulnerable to lawsuits, which have been on the rise over the last few years, from parents, or students themselves. In the past decade, the number of suits filed against educators and administrators has risen dramatically, causing the cost of insurance to increase as well. While some special educators may feel that they do not need this type of coverage and they are protected by their district, they should think twice. Even if you are 100% innocent of the charges or accusations, legal costs alone could run into the thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. In special education today, parents - and students - are more aware of their rights, and the laws that govern special education and hold teachers/educators to high standards. Don't try to convince yourself that the expense of your professional and public liability protection is unnecessary or unjustified. Experience shows that the cost of such coverage is by far lower than the risk a teacher takes by not having such protection. Why take a chance for less than $10.00 a month? To learn more about educator liability insurance available through NASET and our partnership with the Association of American Educators (AAE), click here
Is American Education Neglecting Gifted Children?
America's 3 million gifted and talented students are getting the shaft in the vast majority of K-12 schools, according to a new report from the National Association for Gifted Children and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted. The report found that gifted students are being neglected at all levels in the United States, from weak or non-existent policies at the state level to uneven funding at the district level to a lack of teacher preparation at the classroom level. The report, "2008-2009 State of the States in Gifted Education," pointed to several failures on the part of U.S. education, from a a severe lack of commitment on a national level to spotty services and little or no support to get teachers trained to deal with gifted students. To read more click here
Oppostional Defiance Disorder: Why Some Children Just Can't Help Behaving Badly
It may seem self-evident that parents practising "tough love", a judicious combination of affection and discipline, are likely - as claimed by a report last week - to give their children a better chance of doing well in life. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that the corollary does not hold, and juvenile delinquency, as it used to be called, is not necessarily a consequence of poor parenting. Some children are just born with ODD - Oppositional Defiance Disorder - a pattern of negative and hostile behaviour that is impervious to the strictest disciplinary sanctions. "Four-year-old Marianne begins her day by getting up early and making a noise, banging things around till her parents get up," writes psychiatrist James Chandler, describing a typical case. "Breakfast is the first battleground, where she does not like whatever is placed in front of her. She enjoys spending her time purposefully annoying her mother, demanding over and over again that she wants something and deliberately losing interest as soon as she gets it." And so it goes on, in a way that is clearly intended to cause the maximum aggravation to adults. To read more, click here
Does Modernization Affect Children's Cognitive Development?
Societal and technological changes have taken place at a dizzying pace over recent decades. A new cross-cultural study aimed to determine whether these dramatic changes have had an effect on the thinking skills that are learned over the course of childhood. The study, by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and Pitzer College, is published in the November/December 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. Using previously collected data from the late 1970s, the researchers looked at almost 200 children ages 3 to 9 in Belize, Kenya, Nepal, and American Samoa. When the data were collected, these four communities differed in the availability of resources that are typically associated with modernity, such as having writing tablets and books, electricity, a home-based water supply, a radio and TV set, and a car. To read more, click here
Shire Reveals New Positive Data From ADHD Drug Intuniv Study - Update
Biopharmaceutical company Shire Plc said Monday that results from an open-label study did not show any evidence of unique adverse effects with the combination of Intuniv extended-release tablets and amphetamine or methylphenidate. The findings are relative to what was observed with either amphetamine or methylphenidate alone in treatment of adolescents of ages between 6 to 17 with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Andrew Cutler said, "Pivotal studies have shown that Intuniv improved ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents with the disorder, and the publication of these safety data gives us insight into administering Intuniv in combination with stimulant medications in the management of ADHD." Andrew Cutler is courtesy assistant professor, department of psychiatry, University of Florida, and CEO and medical director, Florida Clinical Research Center, Bradenton, Florida. To read more, click here
To learn more - CLICK HERE
Singapore Ministry Of Education To Provide Support For Special Education
To further boost the development of Special Education (SPED) schools, MOE will be providing scholarships and sponsorships for the professional development of SPED staff. In addition, funding will be given to each SPED school to employ an Administration Manager. The new measures aim to further improve the quality of education in SPED schools to benefit their students. New Undergraduate and Postgraduate Scholarships for SPED Educators MOE will offer scholarships to SPED school principals and key personnel such as Heads of Departments (HODs) to enhance their professional expertise from 2011. Up to 10 local scholarships would be offered yearly to non-graduate principals and HODs to pursue degree-level training in Special Education. To read more, click here
Study Finds High Rates Of Abuse Against Women With Disabilities
Westchester women with mental or physical disabilities suffer high rates of domestic violence and the abuser is often an intimate partner, a recent county report suggests. "Domestic Violence Incidence Survey of Women and Men With Disabilities," surveyed 350 Westchester County community-based social service organizations, including police departments and elected officials. More than half of the 50 organizations responding to the survey said there was at least one report of domestic violence from a person with disabilities within their group. In a majority of the incidents - 87 percent - women were the victims. And, in more than 70 percent of those cases, the abuser was the woman's intimate partner, similar to rates among able-bodied people. "When we consider that domestic violence is mostly a silent crime among people with disabilities, and we had an average of almost 500 actual reports in one year - can you imagine how many people must be suffering in silence?" said Camille F. Murphy, director of the Office for Women. To read more, click here
Low Birth Weight and Diabetes Have a Common Genetic Background
Low birth weight increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Until recently scientists had attributed this to maternal malnutrition during pregnancy. However, now it seems that genetic background may also play a major role. A research team of Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München has now demonstrated, that gene variants which influence insulin metabolism can also affect birth weight. In the BABYDIAB study led by Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, director of the Institut für Diabetesforschung der Forschergruppe Diabetes e.V. at Helmholtz Zentrum München and Forschergruppe Diabetes at the Technische Universität München analyzed the data of 729 children whose mothers had type 1 diabetes and who thus had a higher diabetes risk. To read more, click here
Food for Thought........
Teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say. | <urn:uuid:5b76abb8-c75f-4ecc-b1a4-6ef1c058375f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naset.org/2932.0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952914 | 3,065 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Indian Affairs, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Bureau of, created (1824) in the U.S. War Dept. and transferred (1849) to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. The War Dept. managed Native American affairs after 1789, but a separate bureau was not set up for many years. It had jurisdiction over trade with Native Americans, their removal to the West, their protection from exploitation, and their concentration on reservations. Because of wide dissatisfaction in the West over army administration of Native American affairs, the responsibility was given to the Dept. of the Interior and reorganized. The new bureau was no more successful than its predecessor in preventing wars with Native Americans or in protecting their rights. The Bureau of Indian Affairs instead evolved primarily into a land-administering agency, a process speeded up by the Dawes Act of 1887, the Burke Act of 1906, and the Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934, now acting as trustee over Native American lands and funds. The bureau also promotes agricultural and economic development, provides a health program, social services, Native American schools, and reclamation projects for Alaska Natives and Native Americans in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has also been officially called the Office of Indian Affairs and the Indian Service. Beginning in the early 1970s, Native American civil-rights groups, such as the American Indian Movement, began actively protesting their dissatisfaction with the bureau. In 1997 the bureau was accused by Interior Dept. auditors of mismanaging money owed to Native American tribes and individuals; a lawsuit on the issue, dating to 1996, was tentatively settled in 2009 for .4 billion (mainly for compensation and fractionated land ownership consolidation).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Indian Affairs Bureau of from Infoplease:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Government | <urn:uuid:c8fd5dd8-e80b-45be-beca-11084f1d3e16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/indian-affairs-bureau-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954524 | 393 | 3.875 | 4 |
First off, what gives a site value?
Every site has its own history. (I like comparing the web to nature because it just makes better sense to me.) Just like you and I, we have “reputation” in our natural environments, what we do reflects others opinions about who we are. When one person is consistently achieving results for something, they become trusted for their talents. In a pack of wolves, there is always a dominant wolf, AKA the wolf pack leader. The leader builds a “reputation” for dominating. All the others follow the leader, simply because of its “reputation”. In this example, the leader has authoritative qualities. Sound familiar?
The web is no different from nature…
Search engine optimizers are new age sheepherders and here’s the Wiki:
“Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool. Over the next millennia, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia.
Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as chickens and pigs. To maintain a large flock, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture; this required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. In ancient times shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk; only some shepherds still do this today.”
And the analogy…
Our demographic are sheep.
“To maintain a large flock, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture” to guide a prospect into a sale we must be able to move the prospect from a resourceful piece of content to another resourceful piece of content.
“The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators” I’m not calling all web browsers sheep. A sheepherder’s job is no different then an Internet Marketers. In this business, we look for a demographic to link to. However, we must also protect our investment from the wrong demographic (bad quality or invaluable linking). Timing is also an important factor for some demographics, via social networks, and blogging. Just like the duty of a shepherd: “The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing”. When something relevant to your demographic gets mentioned or is trending on a social network, blog, or forum an opportunity for linking opens. If you get to the post too late, you will not be able to benefit as much from the demographic as you would of if you were involved at the peak of the conversation.
More about Sheep’s! Yeah Really!
“In many societies shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others.” SEO’s are hired to watch out for and create links for others. We are in charge of the demographic (sheep).
Here is the juicy part.
“Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that travelled with their flocks.”
SEO’s should work in groups. We may have sites that relate, and we can help each other create useful content for these sites. We are handling businesses demographics by herding their sheep. So, why not work in groups?
Achieving success by working in groups.
As SEO’s we should all follow good practices and help each other grow. Once we build good reputation by educating the web, we earn rankings. SEO’s have a hand full of sites they can exchange links with. However, reciprocating is not acceptable and many SEO’s don’t follow good practices. Conclusion, if SEO’s only network relevant sites without reciprocation, the users will be happy, and so will the search engines. Content is not key in SEO. Relevant content from authoritative sources is!
No more sheep talk I promise.
The good, The Bad and The Unknown!
From when a site is built, to the time it is completed and ranking, link exchanging is ongoing. When comparing sites, look at how many links all the sites on the first page have. Then look at the quality of these links. The sites that were rewarded did not have a 4th of the amount of links that some of the first page rankers had. However, the latest update cleared the path for success.
With Google’s latest Penguin update, we have been rewarded from long-term link building campaigns.
When link building, every site you place a link to will affect the business’s “reputation” in the users eyes, followed by the search engines spy’s.
The Good –
Linking Sites relevant to your niche that helps users find more information is all you need. When linking sites, create unique text to link the sites. Link Anchoring “Click her to learn more about [exact keyword]” using diversity, the link should describe the destination. The good educate the web!
Social Sites can build traffic by entertaining users or by helping them learn more. Use social networks to find your demographics needs and earn links. Once your sites have value, you have value. Our search engine results are based on our “Reputation”. The good educate the web!
The Bad –
Linking Sites from every direction without care. Linking to sites that don’t relate to the users needs won’t carry any value. If the user doesn’t benefit, neither do the search engine results. Link anchoring the same [exact keyword] surrounded by irrelevant text will not help your rankings, in order for authoritative link juice to pass through there must be relevancy. Can you imagine what spam sounds like when you read it out loud? How does that affect a business’s reputation? If you get a link from a site with a PR3 that is not one bit relevant to the niche. It will not pass as much link juice as a relevant site with a PR3. The bad pollute the web!
Social Sites with spam are just plain annoying! If no one is clicking, no one is buying. Placing a link on a thread that is not relevant to you niche is like putting a billboard on the bottom of the ocean. In my opinion, if your not there to help, you are there to pollute. The bad pollute the web!
The Unknown – (blogs and forums)
Linking Sites in the gray area can be useful in some cases, if it can help a user find value. Anchoring [exact keyword] signatures on every blog post and forum post looks like an attempt to manipulate the search engine. However, anchoring with diversity in relevant places does help. Whenever linking a site in the gray area, use caution. The gray area can do one of two things… Help your results, or hurt them… You have two options. Option 1: Educate the web! Option 2: Pollute the web!
Social Sites in my opinion don’t have a gray area. It’s black and white!
The more connections an SEO builds the more link requests get presented for different sites. The hard part is telling a site with a Page Rank 5 that is not relevant to you is:
My Friend You Will Become? | <urn:uuid:a85f1458-bcf5-4a73-9471-9a25d3eeb763> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boastingbiz.com/blog/seo/link-building/links-dont-rank-websites-reputation-does-seos-are-shepherds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953224 | 1,667 | 2.015625 | 2 |
[b-hebrew] Isaiah 53
Lisbeth S. Fried
lizfried at umich.edu
Tue May 18 16:37:34 EDT 2004
> Dear Liz,
> I've also thought of a simple example to illustrate absence
> of the dating case preposition. There is a perfect analogy in English:
> he gave his tomb to the wicked
> he gave the wicked his tomb
> without "to" - or le
> Best regards,
This is called the Great Dative Shift in English.
At some point the dative shifted from the end of the
sentence (in which the preposition was required)
to right after the verb and the preposition was dropped.
It still is the dative tho.
Also, the fact that the Greek uses the accusative case
means that they are reading )et, not )it.
But I can't translate it without putting it in the accusative
myself, so there you are.
As for the past tense, I object to the notion of a prophetic
perfect. People who translate these by the future are
reading their own hopes and dreams into the text. A
very unreliable way to proceed. Isaiah 9:1 was offered
as an example. Those are perfects and refer to the
events of Tiglath-Pileser III.
More information about the b-hebrew | <urn:uuid:e9ca9b46-1e7a-46d8-9bac-bca68dc92acb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2004-May/018322.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944428 | 296 | 2.375 | 2 |
By Emily Maltby
Inside the Treasury building on Tuesday, the talk was all about high-growth start-ups.
At a conference called “Access to Capital: Fostering Growth and Innovation for Small Companies,” panels of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and government administration officials discussed the challenge of securing funds for “gazelle” firms – those top-performing companies that take off rapidly and provide jobs.
Karen Mills, who heads the Small Business Administration, said in opening remarks that such firms are “out-innovating and out-competing the rest of the world.” Yet, the recession has crimpled their growth: Only six venture-backed companies went public in 2008, down from 86 the year before, Mills noted, and in the first half of 2009, early-stage investing deals fell about 40%.
Representatives from smaller venture capital firms said they are struggling to raise money from institutional investors such as pension funds. The money instead is going to top-tier VC firms, a topic that the WSJ explored in the article, “A Have and Have-Not Venture World.”
“It’s time for us to find ways to get investors back in the game,” Mills said. “Our challenge in government is to find low-cost, high-return solutions to fill these gaps.”
But there were mixed opinions from the panelists and audience participants on the government’s role in getting the market back on track. Some expressed frustration with government-instituted compliance burdens.
“One thing that weights us down is regulatory burden from the SEC,” said panelist Ann Miura-Ko, partner at Floodgate Capital, which provides early-stage investment to start-ups. “That causes back-office issues with us.”
Some attendees said Securities and Exchange Commission rules are outdated and don’t account for new funding platforms that are online. Jessica Jackley, chief executive of ProFounder.com, a crowdfunding website that we wrote about here, called for federal laws to trump state laws. The process of getting money from investors in different states—particularly through an Internet-based platform—is complicated and prohibitive for the average small-business owner, she said.
Audience members and panelists alike called for solid and more-predictable government policy. A member of the venture-capital community (seated in the audience) said the rules and constraints aren’t a problem so long as he can “know what the hell the constraints are.”
On the panel, Silicon Valley Bank president Greg Becker expressed a need for reform specifically in the Food and Drug Administration. The agency, he said, has shifting regulations that discourage life-science companies.
On the other hand, several attendees argued for more government programs. One audience member suggested that there be grants to match angel investments up to $1 million.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said such a program would be hard for some taxpayers to swallow. (Read more about Geithner’s remarks here.)
Silicon Valley Bank’s Becker suggested a loan-guarantee program specifically targeting clean-tech companies. “There’s a gap between start-up capital and commercialization that isn’t filled by anyone,” he said of the industry.
Another audience member said some of the existing government programs are effective but not well-advertised. He called for “more visibility and education” to the general public about what advice and capital-access services are offered in their communities. | <urn:uuid:a31c41b3-404f-4e9d-9d94-360e68557b65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/in-charge/2011/03/22/opinions-abound-at-capital-access-forum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957389 | 746 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission are committed to releasing data to support the government's move to greater openness.
The transparency agenda is at the heart of the government’s commitment to:
- enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account
- reduce the deficit and deliver better value for money in public spending
- realise significant economic benefits by enabling business and non profit organisations to build innovative applications and websites using public data
Government Equalities Office (GEO) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are committed to the transparency agenda. The Home Office business plan includes a section on transparency which outlines the input and impact indicators to help measure performance.
In support of the prime minister's commitment towards the transparency of public bodies, GEO and EHRC have opted to publish expenditure transactions over £500, which is far below the government’s current minimum requirement.
Although the focus is on departments using readily available financial information, departments are asked to publish their expenditure information taking a consistent approach to timing, format and content. A link to the guidance for all departments as produced by HM Treasury can be found on the Treasury website. | <urn:uuid:839a029a-a6b5-4b97-a108-3228cbcd4e40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20110810135904/http:/www.homeoffice.gov.uk/equalities/equality-government/transparency/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920625 | 240 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The old roses have competition for there are a number of very outstanding modern roses. The Tropicana rose is one of those.
Tropicana makes an exquisite cut flower. This plant became an instant favorite. Now grown all over the globe, it is considered an absolute classic modern rose. It is among the best selling rose plants.
This is known for its perfectly classic, cup-like roses. Opening from pointed buds, these occur singly on tall stems and make a great cut flower. These delightful blossoms are very double and up to five inches wide with 35 petals. When this was released it was a real breakthrough so far as the color was concerned. These are an orange-red. The color can range from pale scarlet or vermilion to reddish-orange, orange, or orange-coral. Blooming all season, this is considered a repeat bloomer.
The moderately to extremely thorny plants are four to six feet tall with a spread of three to four feet. These vigorous plants are recommended for zones four through eleven, The much branched, bushy, upright plants can have an open uneven habit.
They have deep green, leathery, shiny leaves. The foliage shows some resistance to disease. However, it can be touched by mildew.
Known as the Tropicana in the U.S., this is called Super Star elsewhere. This hybrid tea was introduced in Europe in 1960. Two years later, when it was introduced to the U.S. the Star Roses firm objected to the name Super Star, considering this a trademark infringement. So, in the U.S. it is sold under the Tropicana name.
This variety has received numerous awards since its release. It became an All-American Rose Selections winner in 1963. The American Rose Society Gold Medal was awarded in 1967. It received the Geneva Gold Medal in 1960. In 1960 it received the Royal National Rose Society Gold Medal and the Presidentís International Trophy.
It was bred by Mathias Tantau and was released in Germany. Its parents were (Alpine Glow and an unnamed seedling) and (Peace and an unnamed seedling). There is a climbing form of Tropicana. | <urn:uuid:bf90c873-df66-4a43-bbe5-bfc50c04ae93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/ArticlesP/art70403.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972058 | 452 | 2.15625 | 2 |
By Capt. Franklin Ellis309
Nearly due west from Malden Bridge, and about four miles north from Chatham Centre, is the village of North Chatham.
The place is prettily located, in a rich section, on one of the principal highways to Albany. There are about three hundred and fifty inhabitants, most of them occupying comfortable homes. The place contains two churches and a good school-house. The early settlers were Andrew Wiederwax, Richard S. Peck, and later the Nichols and Hill families.
In the lower part of the village Andrew Wiederwax opened the first tavern, which he kept until 1825. Other keepers followed in the same house. Caleb Hill opened another public-house near the centre of the village. The place is now without an inn.
The first store was kept by Jacob A. Ten Eyck, as early as 1800, on the spot now occupied by H. Wiederwax & Son. The Widerwaxes have been in trade thirty-five years, and Aaron Traver for the past eighteen years. Other merchants were Caleb Hill, Jacob Wilson, Pardee Carshore.
The post-office was first kept in Hill's tavern. Subsequently John Schermerhorn, Aaron Traver, and Lyman Becker were the postmasters.
Dr. Richard S. Peck practiced medicine until 1827, and was followed by Drs. Joseph Chadwick, O. J. Peck, F. B. Sutliff, and John H. Hoysradt; several of the latter being now in practice.
These Beautiful Graphics Designed by: | <urn:uuid:b8cf9155-c032-4012-9b5f-cab735f4fd58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/columbia/chatham/no_chatham.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966686 | 336 | 2.734375 | 3 |
By Debbie Smith
Asylum may be available to individuals who have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country based on one of five grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The most difficult of the five grounds to interpret and the one that remains the most contentious more than 30 years after the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980 is “membership in a particular social group.” In the case Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, No. 09-71571, Order (January 31, 2012), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided to reconsider its previous decisions on social group membership. Similarly, other courts of appeals have wrestled with the BIA decisions on membership in a particular social group deciding that the Board’s requirements were contradictory and incorrect. The facts of the Henriquez-Rivas case reveal the problems with the BIA’s unreasonable requirements.
Why the BIA Decisions on Membership in a Particular Social Group Are Confusing. The BIA first interpreted the term membership in a particular social group in the case, Matter of Acosta, 19 I.&N. Dec. 211 (BIA 1985). In Acosta, the BIA held that persecution on account of membership in a particular social group meant that “persecution is directed toward an individual who is a member of a group of persons all of whom share a common, immutable characteristic.” Using the analysis of Acosta, the BIA found that Filipinos of mixed Filipino-Chinese ancestry, familial sub-clan in Somalia, young women from a specific tribe who had not been subjected to FGM and who oppose the practice, were members of a particular social group. Individuals in these groups had a fundamental characteristic that could not nor should not be required to change. However, in 2006, the BIA added factors to the evaluation of membership in a social group.
In In re CA, 23 I.& N. Dec. 951 (BIA 2006), the BIA required that an individual seeking asylum as a member of a social group demonstrate the “social visibility” and “particularity” of the social group. In C-A, the asylum applicant’s group consisted of noncriminal drug informants working against the Cali drug cartel. The BIA held that confidential informants could not meet the “visibility” prong of the test for social group because they were by nature out of public view. The new requirements of “social visibility” and “particularity” became the new criteria by which the BIA determined whether an individual established membership in a particular social group.
Facts of Henriquez-Rivas. The case of Henriquez-Rivas illustrates the strange consequences that result from an application of the BIA’s “social visibility” and “particularity” criteria. At age 12, Ms. Henriquez-Rivas witnessed her father’s murder by the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) gang. She testified in open court against the three MS members, two of whom were convicted of her father’s murder. Suspected MS gang members visited Ms. Henriquez-Rivas’s home and school after the trial. In fear for her life, Ms. Henriquez-Rivas fled El Salvador and sought asylum in the United States. She claimed that she would be persecuted by MS gang members because of her membership in the particular social group composed of individuals who testified against gang members in open court. The immigration judge granted her application for asylum but the BIA held the Ms. Henriquez-Rivas’ social group lacked “social visibility” and “particularity” and reversed the immigration judge’s decision. | <urn:uuid:fa02faa4-01e3-433b-b2e4-66758749ea95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cliniclegal.org/print/6114 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94941 | 786 | 2.15625 | 2 |
- change ups
Steelcase Recognized For Waste Reduction
GRAND RAPIDS — Steelcase Inc. has been honored with an award from WasteWise, an Environmental Protection Agency program that helps U.S. organizations reduce municipal solid waste. Winners of the WasteWise awards are selected for accomplishments in waste prevention, recycling collection, and buying or manufacturing recycled content products.
According to a news release, Steelcase has received a Gold Achievement Award for Product Stewardship for the third year in a row. This is the sixth consecutive year that Steelcase has been recognized by the EPA.
"At Steelcase, we are always seeking ways to prevent pollution and eliminate waste," said David Rinard, director of Global Environmental Performance at Steelcase. "We are honored to once again be recognized by WasteWise and the EPA for our efforts."
Steelcase actively employs innovation to develop sustainable products and services. It has one of the most extensive programs for the assessment of materials used in its products, and analyzes products through their entire life cycle to ensure continuous improvement. Its operational activities include a strong focus on recycling, pollution prevention, and water and energy conservation. A key environmental goal for the company is a 25 percent reduction of its global footprint by 2012.
Highlights of Steelcase's environmental initiatives in 2006 that contributed to the WasteWise awards include:
• Continuous product introductions and portfolio re-evaluation, abiding by the stringent requirements of the Cradle to Cradle Product Certification from MBDC and Indoor Air Quality Certification.
• 2006 brought the Cradle to Cradle product certification to Answer, a fully powered workstation, the first of its kind to receive the certification.
• The Steelcase portfolio now features 23 products with Cradle to Cradle product certification, more than any other company.
• The implementation of fabrics made from 100 percent recycled beverage bottles and particleboard made with 100 percent recycled wood fiber.
• Ongoing environmental efforts at various Steelcase operations including evaluating scrap yield on a daily basis; conversion from solvent-based to water-based wood finishing technology at the Steelcase wood furniture manufacturing facility; and the reuse/donation of surplus materials through the modernization of the Grand Rapids and Kentwood complexes.
• Joined the Chicago Climate Exchange trading platform for CO2 credits. Steelcase has reduced its North American CO2 emissions by about 30 percent since 1989.
• Styrofoam beverage cups have been replaced with 99 percent post-consumer recycled paper cups that contain a minimum of 12 percent post-consumer recycled content and are fully compostable. This involves an average of 3,000 cups per week at the Steelcase University Learning Center alone.
"WasteWise partners have made remarkable progress cutting waste, reducing energy use, limiting green house gases and conserving natural resources. EPA is proud to recognize Steelcase Inc. for its commendable achievements, ongoing dedication and continued commitment to WasteWise," said Susan Bodine, EPA's assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response.
WasteWise and the EPA recognized Steelcase at the 2007 WasteWise and NPEP Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15.
Steelcase is one of 12 organizations to receive a Gold Achievement Award at this year's event. | <urn:uuid:d6b05600-01e0-4a4d-8caa-a572b8209ae1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grbj.com/articles/68304 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939443 | 666 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The 3 rings of commitment in any group
Managing any team, network or group becomes a whole lot easier if you understand the distinction of the three concentric rings of team member commitment.
Image Source: Fraser's spiral from Visual illusions and mathematics
I define the three concentric rings as the Inner Ring, Middle Ring and Outer Ring.
For something so fundamental I was amazed to find there seems to be very little written about it - the only reference I could find to anything vaguely similar is in "Mastering Virtual Teams " .
The 3 rings
Essentially the group leader(s) and each group member should make a joint decision on which one of the three concentric rings of commitment they belong in (at that point in time):
- The Inner Ring
This is where the leaders and most committed group members reside.
This is also referred to as the Core Team where the members are "accountable for direct task output".
- The Middle Ring
This is where the normal active team members reside.
This is also called this the Extended Team where there is not necessarily daily involvement from the members.
- The Outer Ring
This is where the team members who make occasional input reside.
This is also known as the Ancilliary Team whose role include adhoc expertise, reviewing and approving work.
Using the 3 rings
The three rings of groups make it very easy to discuss with team members, in simple terms, where everyone sits in terms of their commitment to the team.
It also works very well with collaborative business networks where team commitment is often the number one problem.
For each ring of the group you just have to agree with its members:
- Types of communication
- Reply and response times
- Hours per week
- Involvement etc
You need all 3 rings!
Finally don't fall into the trap of thinking that Ring 3 members are less valuable that Ring 1 or Ring 2 members.
You need all three rings operating well in a successful team or network.
Ring 3 members can be absolutely crucial in areas such as authority, approvals, organisational grapevines and politics.
1. "Mastering Virtual Teams " by Deborah Duarte and Nancy Tennant Snyder" and published by Jossey-Bass.
This article was originally published on www.bioteams.com in November, 2005
About Ken Thompson
Ken Thompson is an expert practitioner in the area of bioteaming, swarming, virtual enterprise networks, virtual professional communities and virtual teams and has published two landmark books:
Bioteams: High Performance Teams Based on Nature's Best Designs
The Networked Enterprise: Competing for the future through Virtual Enterprise Networks
Ken writes the highly popular bioteams blog which has over 500 articles on all aspects of bioteams (aka organizational biomimicry) - in other words how human groups can learn from nature's best teams.
Ken is also founder of an exciting European technology company Swarmteams which provides unique patent-pending bioteaming technologies for all shapes and sizes of groups, social networks, business clusters, virtual/mobile communities and enterprises. Swarmteams enables groups to be more responsive and agile by fully integrating their mobile phones and the web with bioteam working techniques. The latest Swarmteams implementation is SwarmTribes which helps musicians and bands form a unique collaboration with their fans for mutual benefit.
Bioteams Books Reviews
Knowledge-based SMEs and SMBs (small fish) need to read "The Networked Enterprise (TNE) - competing for the future through Virtual Enterprise Networks (VENs)" with its numerous real examples and proven techniques to find out how to use VENs to develop strategic partnerships with BIG FISH (large enterprises) to propel them to the next level of competitive success. BIG FISH must also use TNE to gain enhanced access to innovation, agility and alternative risk/reward and cost models by partnering with small fish via VENs. | <urn:uuid:f0ea43fb-0a2c-45ea-b5b3-ed5c697e5e96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bioteams.com/2008/09/08/the_3_rings.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947492 | 813 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Program helps kidney specialists discuss difficult news with patientsNovember 8th, 2012 in Other /
Kidney specialists, or nephrologists, care for a medically complex population and frequently must discuss serious news with patients: giving a diagnosis of kidney disease, explaining the risks and benefits of treatments, and defining care goals at the end of life. Yet nephrologists do not routinely receive formal education on how to engage in these types of conversations. A new communication skills workshop for nephrology fellows could change that, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).
To address the need for structured communication training in nephrology programs, Jane Schell, MD (University of Pittsburgh) and her colleagues designed a formal workshop, called NephroTalk, aimed at providing nephrology fellows with communication skills in discussing dialysis decision-making and end-of-life care. The workshop, modeled after a national oncology workshop called OncoTalk, is comprised of educational sessions on delivering bad news and defining goals of care when a patient is not doing well. It involves small group sessions with standardized patients. The skills that are taught and practiced include assessing patient understanding before giving news, recognizing and responding to patients' emotional concerns, and eliciting patients' goals and end-of-life preferences.
The workshop was offered to 22 nephrology fellows at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh. Surveys conducted before and dafter the workshop revealed the following:
- The average level of perceived preparedness significantly increased for all skills, including delivering bad news, expressing empathy, and discussing dialysis initiation and withdrawal.
- All respondents reported that they would recommend this training to other fellows.
- 95% said the workshop should be required of all nephrology fellows.
More information: The article, entitled "Communication Skills Training for Dialysis Decision-Making and End of Life Care in Nephrology," will appear online on November 8, 2012, doi: 10.2215/05220512
Provided by American Society of Nephrology
"Program helps kidney specialists discuss difficult news with patients." November 8th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-kidney-specialists-discuss-difficult-news.html | <urn:uuid:d7a9d3a6-76a2-40e2-a6eb-9fffb192fdbe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/print271613448.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929299 | 476 | 2.90625 | 3 |
RISMEDIA, November 16, 2009-Can you recall lessons you’ve learned about the power of compound interest? I do. I can still remember my high school teacher showing charts of what happened to money when interest compounded from period-to-period over time. Here are two definitions for the word “compound”:
1. intensify: make more intense, stronger, or more marked
2. put or add together; “combine resources”
Compound interest is a powerful saving’s strategy because your savings intensify over time. This happens because you earn interest on the money you originally saved and then you earn interest on the interest previously earned. With each passing compounding period, your savings earn more and more interest.
I have a firm belief that the same effect can happen with your marketing. There are three fundamental ways you can harness the power of “compounding” in your marketing:
1. As you sell homes and earn commissions, you increase the amount of money invested into marketing. This compounding increases each year as does your sales.
To engineer this in your business, you must set a specific percentage of your commissions to save and allocate to marketing. In addition, you must have the discipline to increase this set percentage each year. From my observation, this compounding doesn’t actually occur for most agents. This is because most agents have a tendency to spend every penny they make. They don’t develop the discipline to save or re-invest a fixed percentage of their commissions.
2. Consistently testing new lead generation advertisements and lead conversion systems in your business.
In number 1, the goal is to increase the amount of money you invest into marketing. The trick is to use the additional marketing $$ to test new marketing campaigns. Marketing is really about testing. You must be testing new advertisements all the time. One new winning advertisement could help you sell hundreds of homes.
3. By creating marketing pieces that have the ability to be spread virally.
A viral marketing piece is one that is spread by word of mouth, to friends, family, co-workers, etc. Over time, this kind of marketing takes on a life of its own, moving through groups of people without you expending any additional funds to market it. Examples of viral marketing might be a book you wrote, a video, a free report, or an audio recording. The major component of this idea is to make the content of your viral marketing piece so good that anybody who receives it wants to pass it on to everybody they know.
I was able to capitalize on this viral strategy by offering a book I wrote as an eBook and giving each person who requested it the right to share it with others. Slowly but surely, we began to be contacted by people interested in our services who hadn’t requested the book but who had it passed on to them by someone. When we met with these prospects, they would explain that a friend of theirs gave them my book. This is compound marketing at its very best.
Think for a second about how powerful this sort of compound marketing could be for you over time. It intensifies day by day, week by week, month by month- brining you more leads, more sales and bigger profits.
Unfortunately, most real estate agents don’t think about compound marketing. They are very haphazard with their marketing. It’s the “dreaded” task that they put off and rarely get to because they’re too busy.
Here are a few steps you might take to compound your marketing:
1. Think long-term about your marketing instead of short-term
2. Make marketing THE priority for your business
3. Save a portion of each commission check you receive and reinvest it into future marketing
4. Increase the amount of commission you re-invest in marketing as your income grows
5. Always be testing new lead generation ads
6. Constantly test new approaches to lead conversion
7. Create viral marketing pieces and encourage prospects and clients to give them away
Make these efforts to compound your marketing, and you will be glad you did.
Rob Minton, who reinvented his real estate sales business to sell 269 homes to a limited number of clients in one year, has written a very practical book on how real estate agents can sell more homes. For a limited time, you can download this book for free by visiting www.renegadehomesales.com.
Copyright© 2013 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia. | <urn:uuid:2cd7e353-63b6-4f2c-8d53-5136f7428163> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rismedia.com/2009-08-27/three-ways-to-compound-your-marketing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96274 | 961 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Ouachita National Forest proposes to formally designate a system of roads and trails for public use of motorized vehicles, including Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs), in the area known as Wolf Pen Gap in a manner consistent with the Travel Management Rule.
An earlier attempt to do so was reversed on appeal, hence the need to revisit those designations. The project may include changes to the existing system of roads and trails, including changes in seasonality or type of use permitted, re-routing or re-location of some routes, consideration of new route proposals, and road and trail closures.
Approximately 7 miles southeast of Mena, AR
Districts: Mena Ranger District, Oden Ranger District
Wet Weather Management Protocol (PDF 883kb) This document details the Wet Weather Management Protocol that would be implemented for a selected action alternative. It describes monitoring and methodology for decisions on trail openings and closings.
Trails Unlimited Best Management Practices (PDF 2907kb) This document describes the Trails Unlimited technical requirements, or "Best Management Practices" selected for this project. Some or all would be implemented with a selected action alternative.
Project Announcement Letter (PDF 678kb) "Scoping letter" released September 30, 2010, describing proposed actions regarding motorized use in the Wolf Pen Gap area. In addition to long-term actions known as the Wolf Pen Gap 2011 Project, the letter describes and displays short-term resource protection measures and introduces an interim management plan (see Supporting Documents below).
Road and Trail Map (PDF 1160kb) Display of the roads and trails that would result from implementing the Proposed Action as described in the Project Announcement Letter.
Motorized Use Designations Map (PDF 1169kb) Display of the public motorized use designations (highway licensed vehicles only, off-highway vehicles and highway licensed vehicles, etc) that would result from implementing the Proposed Action as described in the Project Announcement Letter.
Road and Trail Changes Map (PDF 1215kb) Display of physical changes to the road-trail complex (new construction, relocation, obliteration) shown as "added" on the ground and "removed" from the ground.
Interim Management Plan (PDF 256kb) Describes interim management actions (road and trail maintenance) that will occur until a decision is made to implement the Wolf Pen Gap 2011 Project (long term actions detailed in the Proposed Action or an alternative). | <urn:uuid:3aa238e9-56a1-4f89-8bc1-812314c5f00d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php/fs-usda-pop.php?project=33235 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904195 | 504 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Editor's note: Mat Jacob is the emergency communications officer for the International Medical Corps efforts in Mali. The Corps delivers health care services and sustainable development projects to people affected by war, natural disaster or disease.
(CNN) -- We arrived in Mali's capital city, Bamako, on January 22, a four-person emergency assessment team rapidly deployed by International Medical Corps. With violence raging throughout the country as French and Malian forces fought to take back control of areas seized by Islamist rebels earlier this month, we had no time to waste.
Fighting had already displaced more than 10,000 people by the time we arrived (an estimated 25,000 to date), adding to the more than 460,000 Malians who fled their homes because of violence in 2012. Even before January 10, more than 2 million Malians were at risk of food insecurity and an estimated 1.5 million at risk of epidemics, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In this dire humanitarian and volatile security context, we immediately began advancing north to reach areas affected by the latest conflict and assess the most urgent humanitarian needs on the ground.
Mali, particularly the northern part of the country, poses enormous challenges for organizations seeking to help those who need it. Humanitarian access is extremely limited, making the presence of relief and aid agencies very sparse, despite vast need. We have faced tremendous challenges traveling through conflict-affected areas: strict military checkpoints, impassable roads and rivers, unpredictable security dynamics, and, worst of all, the ever-present possibility of scattered Islamist rebels along the route. But we're working together with local authorities, U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organization partners to gain access to previously unreachable areas and ensure that critical health and nutrition needs are being met.
On January 28, local authorities granted our team access to the town of Konna to conduct the first humanitarian assessment there. We had only four hours to get in and out. Konna was the first town captured when armed Islamist rebels who control northern Mali began aggressively moving south on January 10, triggering French military intervention. Beginning with airstrikes on January 11, French and Malian military forces fought intensely against the Islamist rebels in Konna for more than a week, forcing many of the town's residents to flee their homes.
French and Malian forces retook Konna from the rebels on January 18. Most of the town's residents had returned by the time we were allowed in to assess critical needs, and life was beginning to return to normal. But there were still many signs of the conflict. The road leading into the town was littered with burned-out pickup trucks and shrapnel. We even found an unexploded bomb in one home we visited, quickly warning the family of 17 to stay clear before reporting the bomb to the French military to be rendered safe. Similar threats of unexploded ordinances and remnants of Islamist rebels will persist throughout Mali, even as military operations begin to wind down.
We met with community leaders to discuss Konna's most urgent needs, involving all sectors of the community, including the mayor, women's groups, local health associations and youth groups. We also visited homes to see firsthand the household-level impact of the conflict. Hunger and food insecurity are major concerns in Konna and throughout Mali. Konna's market was closed for a month because of instability in the region, cutting off access to food and compromising many people's livelihoods. The town's school remains closed, but health and nutrition services have started reopening with the support of local NGOs.
We're now on our way to Timbuktu, which was just retaken by French and Malian troops. Timbuktu is one of the three northern regions controlled by Islamist rebel groups since an April 2012 coup that effectively split Mali into two. Thousands of displaced families are expected to be returning home in the coming days, likely overwhelming critical services that have been weakened since being cut off from the world 10 months ago. We've heard reports that the rebels looted health clinics, damaging and even destroying some. Many doctors and nurses have fled south or across the border to Mauritania, leaving limited support for the local population.
As soon as we gain access to Timbuktu, we'll conduct rapid assessments of its health facilities to determine the most pressing needs before initiating emergency response activities to provide staff, equipment and medication. We'll also assess the town's nutrition and water needs, sharing our findings with U.N. agencies and NGO partners to facilitate a coordinated humanitarian response.
After Timbuktu, we'll continue north, heading deep into formerly rebel-held territory—areas NGOs have been cut off from for months—to reach those most in need. To help us help the estimated 4.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Mali, donate to our emergency response fund. Stay updated on our Mali emergency assessments and responses by visiting our Mali page. | <urn:uuid:7a13b7d8-c9bc-42b0-a916-77cffe673aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/iyw-mali-international-medical-corps/index.html?hpt=wo_bn7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96847 | 1,005 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Trying to wrestle a cranky fevered baby for a temperature reading can be like trying to wash a cat in a bathtub. But when baby's feeling hot and bothered, it's time to pull out the thermometer and gauge the tot's temperature. Easier said than done, there are some simple steps mama can take to get the job done without screaming and crying.
Infants three-months-old and younger: Children 90-days-old and younger should be carefully watched for fever. To get the most accurate and easiest read, most prefer the rectal route.
- Rectal: It is often easiest to take a newborn's temperature using a digital rectal thermometer. To ease the pain, parents can lay the child on a changing table as if changing a diaper. Dab a bit of Vaseline on the tip and lift the legs as if applying diaper cream. Insert the thermometer and wait for the beeping when the degree is revealed.
- If the number is 100.4°F (38°C) or above, the doctor should be notified.
To see how to deal with older babes, read more.
Older infants and toddlers:
Older children are more cognizant and less excited about the rectal readings. If they resist such use, parents can default to using a regular digital indicator, a digital ear or pacifier thermometers. If the child is still alarmed, mommy can do a test on herself to show him how easy it is.
- Regular: If using a regular thermometer under the arm, make sure it is touching only skin. When using this method, I place it under my child's naked arm, scoop him up so his arm and body are pressed against mine. I hold him like this until it beeps and then let him move around at will. There are also cartoon adorned gadgets that can get excited lil ones through the fear.
- Pacifier: Not a regular user of pacifiers, my two-year-old daughter delights in sucking on the digital one making it a fun and rather simple task for me. Tots who take to the paci will make this a cinch, too.
- Ear: Many schools opt to use the digital ear thermometers as it is easier to use with numerous patients. They also typically offer a quick reading (sometimes in a few seconds) and are less threatening to children.
- Babies between three and 12-months-old gauging a fever of 102.2°F (39°C) or higher or lasting longer the 24 to 48 hours should be reported to their doctor.
- Aware of their symptoms and feelings, older children are generally willing to let their parents take their temperatures. Preschool aged youngsters may be able to hold the digital thermometer under their tongue for the duration of the reading. If they are not capable quite yet, try the armpit or using an ear thermometer.
- Call a pediatrician if a child has a fever lasting longer than 48 to 72 hours.
If calling the pediatrician, make sure to report that actual reading and the method in which it was taken. | <urn:uuid:0cc39d0f-735a-45f2-a69e-e204b93a9755> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lilsugar.com/Taking-Child-Temperature-3097780 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937422 | 647 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The Education Department at the New-York Historical Society offers a wealth of resources and learning opportunities designed to make history come alive!
Education programs are made possible through endowments established by the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Hearst Foundations. Programs are supported, in part, by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Additional support is provided by The Barker Welfare Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation and Verizon.
Support the New-York Historical Society
Help us present groundbreaking exhibitions and develop educational programs about our nation's history for more than 200,000 schoolchildren annually.
American Musicals Project >
The New-York Historical Society is proud to introduce
A NEW HOME FOR HOMESCHOOLERS
Make history come alive! This fall the New-York Historical Society launches a new program for homeschooled students, designed to enrich and support the study of American History through its unique program, the American Musicals Project.
By coupling the power and emotional energy of American musical theater masterworks with evocative and thought-provoking exhibitions and primary sources from the collections of the New-York Historical Society, students explore four significant themes in American History: Independence, Slavery, Suffrage, and the Great Depression. Over the course of the classes, students will explore the museum’s vast treasures, participate in hands-on history, and engage in group work.
Each theme is taught in four hands-on sessions and is designed to:
- Develop critical thinking skills as the student engages with primary source materials and experiences the wonder of making historical discoveries.
- Develop media literacy as the student forms observations and interpretations of scenes from American musicals that shape his/her understanding of history.
- Engage the student with in-class projects that promote inter-disciplinary learning.
Appropriate for students ages 11–14
Fridays, 1:30–3 pm
Independence: November 18, December 2, 9, and 16, 2011
Slavery: January 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2012
Suffrage: March 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2012
Great Depression: May 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2012
Register for all four themes for $200, or $65 per theme, per student.
To register, please contact us at (212) 485-9236 or email@example.com.
We extend our sincere gratitude to all those who attended the 2012 American Musicals Project Benefit, "Making History with American Music." | <urn:uuid:6a429047-8b45-4396-88e8-d6ee2f889fbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nyhistory.org/education/educators/american-musicals-project/annual-benefit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911307 | 569 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Jamie Chandler Political scientist at Hunter College :
The Chicago teachers strike will have little or no impact on the Obama campaign as it relates to influencing undecided voters.
Provided the president remains quiet on the issue. However, if the Illinois and national teachers unions work behind the scenes to pressure the administration to intervene, they use the threaten of withhold campaign donations to push him to respond..
Whether or not this would happen, or the degree to which the unions could influence his campaign is debatable. Democrats already have strained relations with Big Labor because of the party's decision to hold it's convention in union unfriendly North Carolina. Unions have already played most of their pressure cards on response.
Strikes and protest have influenced elections in the past. President Hoover's 1931 decision to send federal troops to a DC Hooverville to break up World War I veterans pensions support helped win FDR the election.
Don't expect a similar effect here. Mitt Romney is at a greater risk of denting his campaign should he be too aggressive in his criticism. Undecided voters may get think that he's not focusing on their real concerns: jobs and the deficit. And it could further reinforce the perception that he is too business and wealthy friendly.
Romney's union rhetoric helps him with the GOP base, but it's a non starter nationally. This is a local issue. Most voter's aren't following it. Best advice is for Romney to stay on script and the president to remain mum. | <urn:uuid:e7042746-8706-4ee0-9075-f3a3af3dd74d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Jamie__Chandler_880B4B89-4370-4207-ABD1-0C504F5548AE.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974568 | 297 | 1.6875 | 2 |
IBM offers cloudy blue datacentre vision
Look, that one's shaped just like a rack server
IBM is offering its customers the tools to operate their own data centres as if they were hosted distributed computing services.
The vendor has dubbed the strategy Blue Cloud, and at first glance the plan is as diffuse as the name suggests.
IBM describes it as “as series of cloud computing offerings” which will allow data centres to behave “more like the internet by enabling computing across a distributed, globally accessible fabric of resources”.
Put slightly more prosaically, it seems the vendor is tying together its management and virtualisation tools to allow workloads to be dynamically allocated and provisioned across its various hardware platforms, and not necessarily all in the same place. IBM’s Tivoli management software is at the heart of the strategy.
The approach will be debuted on an IBM BladeCenter chassis using Power and x86 chips next spring. The Linux-based server will be combined grid computing software, Xen virtualization tools, Apache's Hadoop parallel workload scheduling and IBM's Tivoli data center management software. IBM said they weren't ready to give out any prices for the offering.
It's the brainchild of IBM's own distributed computing projects — such as its partnership with Google announced last month to let students use their hardware to study large-scale cluster computing.
"We realized that there is a much larger space of customers that can take advantage of the technology," said Dennis Quan, CTO of high performance on demand solutions at IBM. "It's a way to tackle data centers running into operational difficulties because of energy costs, running out of space, management of servers and utilization rates."
The Blue Cloud will then drift onto its System z mainframe platform and onto highly dense rack servers.
IBM promised that the cloud computing will be able to integrate with customers’ existing IT via SOA services.
According to Reuters, IBM hardware boss Bill Zeitler described the launch of Blue Cloud as as important as IBM’s conversion to Linux or its effort to get business onto the internet in the 1990s.
Anything that makes its hardware more attractive will be a good thing for IBM. Its most recent results showed systems and technology revenues down 10.3 per cent to $5.1bn. IBM put the drop down to customers holding off buys until the vendor updated its processor ranges. ® | <urn:uuid:dbc64a8a-0999-45ed-93a9-14fc19e4f434> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/15/ibm_cloud/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94448 | 496 | 1.710938 | 2 |