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After launch, spacecraft and instruments are guided in both their flight and their scientific data-gathering using commands from mission operators at our in-house facilities using ground stations around the world. LASP has two such facilities for spacecraft operations, called Mission Operations Centers. LASP currently operates four satellites from these Mission Operations Centers.
Examples of commands that mission operators might give a satellite are powering on or off specific instruments, changing the tilt of solar panels, or pointing an instrument in a particular direction to take specified data. LASP uses a worldwide network of sophisticated ground antennas and satellites to relay signals between the Mission Operations Centers and the spacecraft we control.
One of the most exciting and unusual aspects of mission operations at LASP is the opportunity for CU undergraduate students to become certified mission operators. Our student operators, who must pass a summer-long course held at LASP, work under the supervision of professional staff to operate billions of dollars worth of spacecraft. | <urn:uuid:f68fd474-6aa2-4cdc-9548-1c1e4d3d5a66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/mission-ops-data/flight-operations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944312 | 195 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Having finally finished Eight Cousins, it amuses me that an overarching theme of this book is that women can be their own worst enemy.
Who comes out well …
For Rose, Uncle Alec is the hero and the boys are her true friends. Anyone who knows anything about Louisa May Alcott knows her penchant for boys (and how she longed to be one herself) so it’s no surprise that the male characters come out smelling sweet.
… and who doesn’t
The female characters do not do as well. Had the aunties had their way, Rose would have been a weak, neurotic, totally trussed-up caricature of a woman, lacking intellectual curiosity (let alone ability), unable to move even a step forward without great effort, either physically or emotionally.
And what of female friendship? Louisa’s offering was Annabel Bliss: a shallow, frivolous gossip with a slavish attachment to fashion.
There are always exceptions
Now granted, we do have Aunt Peace, Aunt Plenty and Aunt Jessie, the only grown women who show character. They are quiet and unassuming, generous in their love of Rose. But even Aunt Peace and Aunt Plenty misread what Rose needed by introducing her to Annabel.
There is Phebe the maid whose sharp mind and desire to better herself make her and Rose fast friends. And Rose is eager to pass down to Phebe everything she has learned, not from her aunts, but from her uncle.
Rose and Phebe are the only female characters to come out looking good. And it’s mainly because of the influence of Uncle Alec.
The boys have their faults to be sure. The older ones smoke and the younger ones read trashy books. They are impulsive, boisterous and willful. They tease Rose and pull pranks on her. Charlie (aka the Prince) has a falling out with Archie because he wants to follow a fast crowd of boys; all Archie can do is preach at him. At one point Mac’s thoughtlessness caused Rose to wait in vain for him in the bitter cold and become quite ill as a result.
Faults? Yes. But these characters redeem themselves over and over again because of their buoyant spirits, generous love and their desire to better themselves, often due to Rose’s influence. They are alive, they move, they grow.
The real sin
Most of the women, however, are stagnant. There is little to no growth for any of them with the exception of Rose and Phebe. Some not only don’t wish to grow but they want to deny that growth for Rose. They are small-minded, horrified that Alec would teach Rose about her body, deny her the wearing of corsets, allow her to run about outdoors, or wear comfortable clothes that would actually serve a function.
Quite a damning portrait of women. Louisa knew her foes well. Women would never achieve true autonomy on their own. A male element was necessary, whether it be physical, such as Uncle Alec, or simply in the way of thinking. Since Louisa always thought like a man, it was natural to her that women should be free to be everything they were meant to be. She had little patience for the Aunt Janes and Myras of this world.
Meant for children …
Now granted, Eight Cousins is a children’s book and the characters are drawn in broad strokes of black and white. In fact, there’s nothing much in this book that is subtle but children are not interested in subtly. Children over the years have loved the warm and fun relationships between Rose and the clan. I certainly enjoyed the special relationship Rose had with Mac, seeing him through his ordeal with his impaired eyesight. There’s tenderness and respect in the relationships between Rose and her cousins.
Knowing Louisa as I do, however, I cannot help reading between the lines and seeing what lurks beneath. Eight Cousins is a stinging indictment of 19th century women. It is also a celebration of enlightened men, many of whom Louisa had the privilege of growing up with.
… yet something for adults too
So times I regret that I never read these books as a child. I would love to read them not knowing what I know about Louisa or as a 50-something woman in the 21st century. I do, however, find comfort in these books as I’m sure many children have over the years. Louisa serves up great comfort food for the soul.
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More About Louisa on Twitter | <urn:uuid:a7fe5643-49e5-4a9a-bcea-83a4e4c78e78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://louisamayalcottismypassion.com/category/books-by-louisa-may-alcott/eight-cousins/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974588 | 993 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Evidence that the student is a productive, reliable, and competent worker is critical. Work experience in nutrition and food service is very helpful, and many hospital-based dietetic internships look for some hospital work experience as evidence that applicants will be prepared for and comfortable with the internship environment.
Consider the following when seeking work experience:
- Health care settings are best (ex. hospitals, nursing homes).
- Foodservice experience, especially in healthcare is valuable.
- Dining Service experience is an option but many programs emphasize a healthcare setting.
- WARNING: Do not work too many hours and jeopardize your GPA! Find a balance that works for you.
- Aim to obtain a variety of experiences -- community and clinical and foodservice.
- Work experience not directly related to dietetics (for example, retail) may not be preferred, but does help to develop professional qualities and skills (i.e. interpersonal skills). | <urn:uuid:19d4ca37-1220-494d-800c-ac263092d200> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cord.edu/Academics/Nutrition/opportunities/lookingahead/workexperience.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9307 | 189 | 1.75 | 2 |
LOWELL, Mass.—Junior Rosario spent 15 years on the streets of New York and Massachusetts, sifting through garbage bins for meals and spending cold nights sleeping under cars to stay warm.
But after a visit over the summer to the Lowell Transitional Living Center, an organization that works with the homeless, Rosario was quickly provided with something he had been without for so long: an apartment to call his own.
"It is a miracle and a dream come true for me," said Rosario, 35, of securing his own home. "It has shown me I have something to live for."
Rosario has been helped under a strategy Gov. Deval Patrick's administration is employing to end homelessness by 2013 called "Housing First."
This approach rests on the belief that if a perennially homeless person like Rosario can be placed in stable housing and provided with support services, such as health care and a case manager, they are better able to land a job and stay out of shelters.
"Not only are people living healthier lives in housing, but it is saving the system money," said Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, who chairs the Governor's Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness.
The council launched 10 regional networks in December 2008 with $8 million in state resources to promote Housing First.
The networks have helped place 376 people in housing and have helped prevent almost 11,000 families from becoming homeless, according to the Patrick administration. To bolster its efforts, the state announced last month it is giving an additional $1.56 million to the 10 networks.
But as the state shoots for its 2013 goal, hundreds of families still are being placed in hotels and motels on the state's dime. As of Sept. 27, there were 919 families in these facilities, which Murray attributed to the recession.
"We were making a lot of progress reducing the count, but it has spiked back up a little bit now," he said.
Joe Finn, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, says he is confident that if the economy improves and the state continues to focus its efforts on homeless prevention, the goal of eradicating homelessness can be achieved.
"I hope we don't pat ourselves on our backs before our job is done," he said.
Individual cities in the different regional networks say the new approach to combating homelessness has been effective in reducing their shelter populations and overall homeless populations.
In Springfield, city officials set a goal in 2007 of creating housing units for 250 chronically homeless individuals. So far, more than 100 formerly homeless people have been housed and 50 units are under construction.
The housing efforts have reduced the city's homeless street population from 98 in 2004 to 10 this year, and led to the elimination of 75 shelter beds. Geraldine McCafferty, the deputy director of the Springfield Office of Housing, says the reduction of the street population has been a boon to businesses in Springfield's downtown.
Boston's Pine St. Inn, which provides shelter to the homeless, has also worked toward reducing its population through housing. In 2009, the shelter eliminated 65 -- or 10 percent -- of its beds because of successful housing placements.
"That was the first time shelter beds have come down instead of going up in the city," shelter president Lyndia Downie said.
She says research has shown that providing a homeless person with housing rather than having them in shelters saves $9,000 per person, primarily because of the reduced medical costs that result from placing a person in stable housing.
The Lowell center that helped place Rosario is working on reducing the bed count from 90 to 60 beds and has placed over 40 people in housing with regional state money.
Rosario is now studying for his GED and hopes to be able to secure work in the future. But first, he says he is looking to celebrate Christmas in his new place.
"I have not set up a tree for 20 years," he said. | <urn:uuid:54cfd244-5911-4ac8-9842-de91c7bf3cc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/10/10/mass_continues_push_to_end_homelessness_by_2013/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977061 | 807 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Save the planet: Stop the Greens
Climate change is a serious problem, but the solutions are a joke
Comment I find myself in an uncomfortable position over this climate change thing. I've no problem with the existence of man-made climate change, no problem with the idea that we ought to do something about it. But what we are actually trying to do about it seems bonkers, counter-productive even. So how did we get into this mess?
To start with I'm entirely happy to accept the output from the IPCC: the globe is warming, it's all us doing it. Perhaps I shouldn't be happy to do so but that's a very different argument. Similarly I'm happy to accept that the possible outcomes are sufficiently terrible that we really ought to do something about it.
Again, perhaps I shouldn't be but just, if you don't accept either of those two, bear with me anyway. For what really confuses me about what's going on is that even if we do accept those two points, what we're actually trying to do about it all doesn't seem to solve the problems identified.
I've argued at length, elsewhere (even in a book), that the very IPCC assumptions about the economy that are used to prove that we do have this climate problem that we must do something about, also show us that globalisation is part of the cure. So why are all those using the existence of climate change to tell us we must change our ways insisting that we must reverse globalization in order to do something about it?
Similarly, we can show that market-based economic systems encourage innovation more than planned economic systems. And we're pretty sure that innovation, new sources of energy and the like, are what we need to beat climate change. So why are so many insisting that we need a planned economic system to beat climate change?
But that's matters general. We've had, just recently, a number of bits and pieces which show that the solutions which are being pushed on us aren't quite what we really want. They seem to come more from some ideological playbook that I've not as yet read.
Take for example the Muir Trust's recent report on wind power. The takeaway point from this is that it simply doesn't work at any large fraction of the energy supply system. Put to one side the costs, the efficiencies, and consider the variability. It's well-known that peak power demands in the UK come on cold winter's days.
Yet just such cold winter's days are associated with high pressure areas over the UK: they themselves meaning no wind. So we seem to be spending a huge amount on an electricity supply system that will provide no electricity just when that's what we want: electricity. And yes, this "no wind" can and does go far enough that every single damn windmill in the entire combined Kingdom produces no power at all at times. In fact, they can consume power as a system, power needed to keep them ready to go when the wind does pick up.
Why so many windmill windbags?
Thus, in the absence of a storage system, populating the country with windmills just won't work. So why are we doing it?
On the other hand, we've also just been told that there's vastly more natural gas around than we thought there was. This shale gas thing. Now that will work: natural gas is lower in emissions than coal (higher than hydro, wind or solar of course), we can build the plants quickly, it's a domestic fuel, it hits pretty much all the right buttons.
Further, it will actually work, work in the sense of providing us with the power we need and desire when we actually need and desire it. But I'm actually seeing people arguing that we can't shouldn't use gas because it will stop us from investing in windmills. Which, when you think about it, is probably true: building something that works will indeed prevent us from building something that doesn't.
But why is there this huge attachment to something, windmills, that isn't going to work? | <urn:uuid:c864d7b3-22bb-4d67-95c9-0d76d4aa05a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/27/climate_change_thorium/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975641 | 839 | 1.710938 | 2 |
|About the presenter: Charlie Osborne, MA, CCC-SLP, is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point, Wisconsin where he teaches the fluency disorders course and other courses, supervises in clinic, with an emphasis on working with children & adults who stutter, and provides clinical services at St. Michael's Hospital. Charlie received the 2007 Wisconsin Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Professional Associationšs (WSHA-P) Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement for his work in fluency and in mentoring students. Charlie is a member of ASHA Division 4, Fluency and Fluency Disorders and is currently the editor of the ASHA Division 4 Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders. Charlie has worked with children and adults who stutter for over twenty five years.|
The purpose of this article is to provide information regarding Perspectives, the process of the publication of Perspectives and to encourage the reader to consider contributing an article for publication.
Readers are invited to check out an issue of Perspectives which will only be accessible while the conference is "live." After the conference concludes, although you will be able to view the table of contents and abstracts, access to the full-text articles in Perspectives will require membership in ASHA's Special Interest Division 4.
Purpose of Perspectives
The ASHA Special Interest Division 4 publishes Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders three times each year for ASHA Division 4 members. The mission of Perspectives is to
Perspectives was first published in 1992 and has had several editors: Gordon Blood, Ted Peters, Charley Healey, Hugo Gregory, Bob Quesal, Nancy Hall, and John Tetnowski. I will be ending my tenure as editor this year and Rod Gabel will be assuming the role of editor, along with Joe Donaher as associate editor in 2010. Over the years there have been many contributors. Authors have included numerous researchers, clinicians, and people who stutter. In 2008 there were two major changes to Perspectives, it became an electronic publication and it also became available as an ASHA continuing education activity.
The Publication Process
The process of putting an issue together includes multiple steps beginning with authors. Some authors submit articles to Perspectives on their own, but most articles have come from direct invitation from the editor and/or associate editor. Once an author has submitted a paper, it is sent to the Division Review Board (DRB), made up of 8-12 people who serve as peer reviewers. Each article is reviewed by a minimum of two peer reviewers , the editor and the associate editor. Authors may be asked to make revisions, based on reviewer feedback . Each year there are typically one to two articles that are declined for publication based on reviewer feedback. Once the revised articles are received from the authors, the issue is sent to our Continuing Education Administrator (CEA) who ensures that the content has been reviewed by the DRB, reviews/edits the articles in the issue and corresponding continuing education questions, determines the amount of continuing education credit that can be earned by participants, and sends feedback and suggested changes back to the editor. Once the suggested changes have been resolved, the editor submits the issue to the Associate Director for Communications at the ASHA National Office where the issue is edited again for grammar, content, and conformance with ASHAšs publication style and standards. A proof of the issue, along with queries, is then returned to the editor, the division coordinator, and to the Director of Special Interests Divisions and any articles to other National Office personnel, as appropriate, for additional review. The editor submits answers to all queries and suggested edits back to the ASHA Associate Director for Communications who finalizes the newsletter and submits it to Highwire for publication.
Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders has a rich history and strong track record of quality publications which can only continue through the participation of speech-language pathologists interested in fluency and fluency disorders (research or clinical) and interested people who stutter. Please consider this article as an open invitation to submit to Perspectives. Manuscripts can be research articles, related to topical issues, ideas for therapy, consumer response or opinion (from someone who stutters), or related to any topic that you may feel is relevant to the area of fluency and fluency disorders. If you would like to submit an article or if you have questions regarding a potential article, please contact Rod Gabel, editor, at firstname.lastname@example.org .
ASHA (2007, November). DIV 4 Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders, 17 (3), 2.
|Return to the opening page of the conference| | <urn:uuid:e1ab42d8-91ed-4aab-8b68-c72068e5223b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad12/papers/newsletters/osborne12.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950547 | 976 | 1.625 | 2 |
The cataclysmic earthquake that devastated the Island of Haiti caused endless death and suffering to a nation already steeped in a history of poverty and turmoil.
Three years and $6 billon later, we remain with the same questions and a very troubling report about USAID from CEPR. The big question remains. Who is capable of charting the way forward for Haiti?
Donna Karan, the pioneering fashion designer and the tireless philanthropist talks about meditation, traveling on a motorcycle and that thing which she refers to as her savior.
Parisian street artist C215 has been traveling again, this time to Port Au Prince in Haiti, where he drew many curious audiences during the week-long ...
Today at Bellevue Hospital there will be a joyful celebration when the ReadMobile will deliver the books to the children and restore the much loved library to its original abundance. When the families will read their much loved books together and the children will smile, even in spite of whatever pain they are suffering.
My recent trip to Haiti brought me into constant contact with people who inspired me and others to take action. It didn't matter where they came from or what work they did, they were actively making those words real. We can all make those words come alive be it here in Philadelphia, in Haiti, or in your own backyard.
Inside the USAID-headquarters-turned-courthouse in Port-au-Prince, the case against former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was being heard, in a trial unlikely to bring justice to the hundreds of thousands killed and tortured by him and his father François.
It is easy to believe in what we are doing. We are in the midst of training our staff to collect data as we monitor and evaluate our strategies to create change for the orphans and at-risk youngsters in Kenscoff.
How do you know what you are capable of? Don't even argue with me here -- you have no idea. Our own potential is a mystery. It might show signs of itself here and there. But its true abundance can only be revealed in a committed courageous exploration.
Despite its image of relentless poverty and political unrest, Haiti is the most beguiling and charming of destinations for foreign observers, but also one of the most maddeningly complex.
Anthropologist Mark Schuller's new book Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs examines why abundant foreign aid dollars and agencies have not improved the socio-economic status or security of Haiti's people.
Progress is being made and worldwide government and humanitarian efforts have been helpful. The U.S. needs to keep the pressure on the Haitian government to maintain the development of its democratic institutions.
It became clear -- money, supplies and good people are not enough. It all has to be applied thoughtfully and deliberately to transform communities in a way that they can start taking care of themselves.
The Modification in Mother-Baby Statistics Initiative seeks to use mobile technology to deliver prenatal services to women who have no access to care, thereby saving their lives and the lives of their babies. It is an Ode to Ma...my contribution, my way of paying homage to moms everywhere.
On this International Women's Day, we rerun a 2005 piece on one of our greatest heroines, Marie Simone Alexandre. Though she died eight years ago, her life and message remain as powerful and inspirational today as any we know.
Coming to Haiti "for business" may seem like a contradiction in terms to anyone familiar with the headlines on this impoverished nation. Nevertheless,... | <urn:uuid:94f25890-48fe-415b-b53a-093d165555a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/haiti | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960082 | 729 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Since the AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s there has been a prevalent public fear of infection from blood transfusions, and the requests for bloodless surgeries have been on the rise in recent years not just from religious objectors to transfusions, but also from those simply seeking peace of mind. Adding to this fear is the increasing evidence that, despite popular opinion, blood transfusions do not always improve surgery outcomes. A recent study led by the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center showed that patients who received platelet transfusions during coronary bypass surgery were more likely to require longer hospital stays and bore a greater risk of infection, post-operative bleeding, stroke and death.
While autologous blood transfusions have been increasing in popularity and, in the process, improving patient outcomes and stress levels, it still involves putting outside blood into the patient. Thus, the risk of infection, though minimized, is still there. Basically, the best way to avoid the potential risks of blood transfusions is to avoid the transfusions all together, and the best was to accomplish this is to conserve the patient’s blood throughout the surgery.
Of course, this is easier said then done. In minor procedures blood loss poses little concern, but in major surgical procedures and many open procedures blood loss is inevitable. There are, naturally, traditional techniques utilized to stop bleeding. Pressure can be applied to bleeding areas to quell the flow, clamps can be affixed to veins and arteries, and tourniquets can be used restrict to flow of blood to limbs and appendages. These techniques are effective, but not always practical or possible in some surgeries.
Advances in medical science over the past few decades have ushered in other tools and technologies to help stop intraoperative bleeding, and provided surgeons with a choice of the most effective surgical hemostasis technique for each procedure. Electrosurgery and electrocautery allow surgeons to coagulate blood and cauterize vessels and capillaries, while tissue adhesives function as sealants that either promote clotting or enhance the effectiveness of ligatures.
But while advancing technology can provide newer and more effective ways to solve problems during surgery, it can also bring further complications. With the increasing prevalence of minimally invasive surgery, and its benefits ensuring its continuing popularity, surgical hemostasis is becoming harder to achieve. While it must be granted that the minimally invasive approach, by its nature, reduces bleeding, any blood loss that does occur is entirely internal. Suction can be used to keep to surgical site relatively clear, but even the smallest amount of blood entering the site can seriously affect the surgeon’s visibility.
Naturally, though, there are already certain products available to help surgeons stop bleeding in hard to reach areas where ligature and traditional means of hemostasis are impeded or ineffective.
Avitene Flour is indicated for all surgical procedures, including neurosurgery and urology. Effective in controlling arterial bleeding, it conforms and adheres to irregular spaces, making it invaluable in such cases where use of ligatures or conventional methods of hemostasis are ineffective. The hemostat can then be easily removed with irrigation and suction. The Avitene Sheet, a non-woven web, has the same properties and efficiency as the Avitene Flour, but comes in three sizes allowing it to be cut into any shape or size required. The configuration of the Sheets makes them ideal for use on flat surfaces, but they can also be used to wrap vessels. To further assist in the effective placement of the Avitene hemostats, Davol offers two delivery units specially configured to accommodate a wide variety of surgical procedures. The SyringeAvitene Collagen Hemostat provides Avitene Flour in an easy to handle applicator that allows the user to apply as little or as much of the hemostat as required. The one gram SyringeAvitene can be used in general surgery, oncology, cardiovascular procedures, and in trauma cases, while the 5-mm SyringeAvitene is designed to deliver Avitene Sheets to hard to reach areas. This model comes in especially handy in Neuro and ENT surgeries.
Davol’s hemostasis product line also includes The Avitene Ultrafoam Collagen Sponge, a soft and pliable hemostasis sponge that is ready-to-use right out of the package without any need for soaking, and the Avitene UltraWrap Collagen Hemostat, an active, absorbable, easy-to-handle collagen fabric that requires no preparation and will not swell after application.
Another offering for intraoperative hemostasis is CryoLife, Inc.’s BioGlue®, a surgical sealant cleared for use as an adjunct to standard methods of achieving hemostasis. “BioGlue is indicated for cardiac and vascular surgery, for large vessel repair including carotids, femorals and aorta, and for tissue reinforcements such as aortic dissections,” says Adam Silver, Marketing Manager, Global Bioadhesives at CryoLife. “Though it is being used off label.”
BioGlue is a two-component adhesive composed of purified bovine serum albumin (BSA) and glutaraldehyde. The solutions are mixed during application from a controlled delivery system. The glutaraldehyde then cross-links the BSA molecules to each other and then to the tissue protein at the repair site. The BioGlue polymerizes within 20 to 30 seconds and reaches its full bonding strength within two minutes.
The original controlled delivery system designed for BioGlue is composed of a reusable delivery device, applicator tips, and applicator tip extenders. BioGlue cartridges, which contain the BSA and glutaraldehyde components are simply inserted into the delivery system and are ready to use. The cartridges are available in 2-ml, 5-ml, and 10-ml sizes, require no preparation, and boast a shelf life of three years when stored at room temperature.
A new delivery system for BioGlue was recently introduced that requires even less set up than the original controlled delivery system. The BioGlue Syringe comes in an all inclusive package that contains five pre-filled syringes, tips, and plungers. They are quick to set up, easy to use, and fully disposable. Available in 5-ml and 2-ml sizes, they provide a simple, off-the-shelf hemostasis solution.
Fibrin SealantsOver the past few years fibrin sealants have been gaining popularity for intraoperative hemostasis in operating rooms across the United States. Using actual human proteins, fibrin sealants react with human tissue to promote natural coagulation and clotting.
CROSSEAL is derived from human blood plasma and contains the coagulation factors necessary to stop bleeding in surgical settings. It is totally free of bovine components, making it useable by a wider number of patients. This fibrin sealant delivers its active components in a simple, easy-to-use proprietary pre-assembled applicator device that can be used for both dripping and spraying. Shipped frozen, CROSSEAL can be available in one minute when thawed and requires no reconstitution, special heating, or stirring devices. It is stable for up to 24 hours at room temperature and, unopened, can be refrigerated for up to 30 days.
Baxter’s Tisseel VH Fibrin Sealant has the maximum concentration of human fibrinogen to stimulate this natural physiologic clotting process. Tisseel firmly adheres to connective tissue and forms an easy-to-see clot that aids in surgical trimming. It also has a high level of elasticity for application to pulsating, moving organs. Also available is Tisseel VH Fibrin Sealant Biologic-Only, a configuration that does not include any reconstitution or delivery devices, for a more efficient ordering process.
While this is just a brief overview of some of the more popular hemostasis products currently available to surgeons, they represent the front line in hemostasis technology. With some of these hemostats still in their infancy, it seems safe to assume that they will continue to develop as surgery itself so rapidly is. | <urn:uuid:3bc0bfab-9399-421d-a4f5-1cc12e09e0f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surgicalproductsmag.com/product-releases/2005/02/keeping-blood-where-it-belongs?qt-most_popular=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932087 | 1,719 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Doogan and Wood v. NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board CSIH 36 – read judgment here and Alasdair Henderson’s commentary here
It is easy to become complacent about women’s reproductive rights in mainland Britain. Compared to our Irish neighbours, women here are able to access their chosen contraceptive, abortion and maternity services with relative ease. When Savita Halappanavar died after she was refused an abortion in Galway, commentators lamented a system where a woman could be told by healthcare staff that she couldn’t have an abortion because Ireland is a Catholic country. We imagined that such events could not happen here. A recent judgment of the Scottish Inner House of the Court of Session (the Scottish Court of Appeal) shakes that belief. Of most concern is that the court failed to engage with the human rights implications of its decision.
Our abortion law is found in the Abortion Act 1967. Section 1 makes abortion lawful only when it has been authorised by two doctors who attest that continuing the pregnancy poses a risk to a woman’s physical or mental health, or where the child would ‘suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped’. In effect, all abortions, save those for fetal abnormality, are performed on the basis that there is a threat to the woman’s physical or mental integrity as a result of pregnancy. Section 4 excuses a person from ‘participating in any treatment’ under the Act if they express a conscientious objection to abortion. As the Abortion Rights campaign points out, the law gives doctors control over women’s informed choices about their pregnancy that can lead to damaging delays in accessing abortion services.
Doogan and Wood v. NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board CSIH 36 – read judgment here
The Inner House of the Court of Session (the Scottish civil court of appeal) ruled last week that two midwives from Glasgow could not be required to delegate to, supervise or support staff on their labour ward who were involved in abortions.
The ruling makes it clear that the conscientious objection provision in s.4 of the Abortion Act 1967 has very broad scope. This probably means that the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will all need to change their guidance on the subject, since the existing versions take a much narrower view. This judgment affects England and Wales as well as Scotland (since the Act covers all three countries), but not Northern Ireland.
The facts of the case, and the original decision of Lady Smith in the Outer House of the Court of Session are covered in our previous blog post here.
The Strasbourg Court has today come up with something of a mixed message in relation to religion at work. They have voted that there is a right to manifest individual faith by wearing religious adornments but not by objecting to practices that are protected by anti-discrimination legislation.
All four applicants are practising Christians. Ms Eweida, a British Airways employee, and Ms Chaplin, a geriatrics nurse, complained that their employers placed restrictions on their visibly wearing Christian crosses around their necks while at work. Ms Ladele, a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and Mr McFarlane, a Relate counsellor complained about their dismissal for refusing to carry out certain of their duties which they considered would condone homosexuality. Further details of all these cases can be found in our posts here, here, and here (as well as in the “related posts” section below).
I have posted previously on cases involving the ethical objection of landowners to being forced to allow hunting over their property.
These objections have generally found favour with the Strasbourg Court in the balancing of private and public interests under the right to property. Mr Chabauty puts the issue into another perspective. He also complained that he was unable to have his land removed from the control of an approved municipal hunters’ association. The difference was – and this proved to be critical to the outcome of the case – Mr Chabauty is not himself against hunting on ethical grounds. Since no conscience was underlying his Convention complaint, the Court found it not to be disproportionate for the French state to require small landowners to pool their hunting grounds. As such, there had been no violation of Article 1 Protocol 1 or Article 14. Continue reading →
Herrmann v Germany (Application no. 9300/07) 26 June 2012 – read judgment
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the obligation of a landowner to allow hunting on his property violated his Convention rights. Although the majority based their conclusion on his right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions, the partially concurring and dissenting opinions and the judgment as a whole provide an interesting insight into the way freedom of conscience challenges are to be approached in a secular society where religion holds less sway than individual ethical positions on certain issues.
In 2002 the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany ruled that the granting of exceptional authorisation for the slaughter of animals without previous stunning, on religious grounds, did not breach the German Basic Law Schächt-Entscheidung (BVerfGE 99, 1, 15 January 2002). The social uproar that followed the ruling led to the German constitutional legislature taking a significant step aimed at protecting animal welfare with the 2002 constitutional reform, by including Article 20a in the Basic Law:
“Mindful also of its responsibility toward future generations, the State shall protect the natural foundations of life and animals through legislation…” Continue reading → | <urn:uuid:33245df4-01e0-4584-820f-d8b75eecb8b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/tag/conscientious-objection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964049 | 1,153 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Chaminade College Preparatory School, an independent, Catholic Day and Resident school, sponsored by the Society of Mary, is dedicated to cultivating the inherent gifts, skills and talents of young men in grades 6 through 12 so that they are prepared for success in college and life.
Chaminade has a unique educational mission rooted in our Catholic Marianist identity. Our long-standing traditions have contributed to the continuation of our mission and identity. Throughout our school's history, we have enjoyed a close association with the Society of Mary and our identity has been enhanced by the constant presence of Marianist priests and brothers serving as administrators, faculty and staff.
Special emphasis is given to educate students to read and think critically in order to write and communicate effectively and help them prepare for their future by developing the necessary research skills, formal and creative writing skills and analytical skills.
Chaminade strives to be innovative in our educational efforts and sensitive to the needs of all of our students. This can be seen in the development of our laptop program which allows us to use the latest educational technology to enhance the classroom learning experience. Teachers use various methodologies and pedagogies to present the curriculum including power point presentations, videos, group discussion, guest speakers, field trips, lab-oriented experiments and interdisciplinary methods to meet different learning styles in the classroom.
For those students needing extra help, teachers often provide one-on-one tutoring opportunities before and after school and facilitate peer tutoring by advanced-level students. | <urn:uuid:7b9a3a0f-77f7-4dc6-aae2-a19807cdf9b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://portal.chaminade-stl.com/academics/mission_statement/overview/index.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950701 | 302 | 1.898438 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — If the characters of American leaders are revealed in their appetites, Barack Obama is the president from Whole Foods.
His recipe for chili includes a ground turkey option instead of beef — only a pound in either case, mind you — and calls for barely enough chili powder to make a parakeet sneeze.
Lyndon Johnson of Texas was a different man from a different chili nation. There, the kidney beans that Obama likes in his chili are as taboo as Birkenstocks at a rodeo.
Four pounds of beef go into LBJ's Pedernales River Chili. To that, add twice as much chili powder as Obama recommends, plus "two to six generous dashes of liquid hot sauce."
A new Library of Congress bibliography of presidential cookbooks and other White House kitchen details reveals a lot about the men who've led America, their stomachs and their times.
Take that other man of the hour, Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln's idea of breakfast was an egg and coffee, if he remembered to eat it, according to John Hay, Lincoln's longtime private secretary.
Compare that with James Buchanan, who's recalled as president for little but his opulent style. At his inauguration, his 5,000 guests consumed "eight rounds of beef, seventy-five hams, sixty saddles of mutton, four saddles of venison, four hundred gallons of oysters, five quarts of jellies, twelve hundred quarts of ice cream in assorted flavors and pates of infinite variety," Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks wrote in "The Presidents' Cookbook."
No surprise: Ulysses S. Grant, the president, dined like Ulysses S. Grant, the general.
Grant's first White House chef, a quartermaster from his Army days, believed deeply in turkey. "He planned turkey for a formal dinner, and varied the menu for a state dinner by having a bigger turkey," according to Cannon and Brooks
Grant, whose "fondness for simple rice pudding was almost a mania," also indulged his children at table in a way that Barack and Michelle Obama never will:
"It was the president's habit to roll his bread into tiny balls and shoot the balls as ammunition at Nellie and Jesse," Cannon and Brooks wrote.
The nation's first general, a Virginian, served his guests grandly at Mount Vernon, but was himself a man of rigid simplicity. If it was Saturday, George Washington ate cod.
Some penchants are predictable: Andrew Jackson loved Old Hickory Nut Soup — hickory nuts ground to a paste, plus water and sugar. Dynamo Theodore Roosevelt drank a gallon of coffee a day, adding as many as seven lumps of sugar per cup. The Eisenhowers, modest and modern in their tastes, often dined alone on tray tables in front of the TV.
Some tastes are quite eccentric.
James Garfield, for example, craved squirrel soup, which his doctors offered him on his deathbed, thinking that it might revive his appetite.
The meat should be "boiled to shreds," then strained through a colander, "so as to get rid of the squirrel's troublesome little bones," according to F.L. Gillette, the author of "The White House Cook Book," published in 1887, six years after Garfield's death.
Then there's the fondness of that ascetic eater Lincoln for lemon custard pie.
Lincoln's lemons were a pricey delicacy available only from the West Indies, according to Pierre Laszlo, the author of "Citrus: A History." Shipping lemons to the Union capital while the Civil War raged was tricky, too.
For a taste of the pie that Lincoln loved, here's the recipe, from "Lincoln's Table: Victorian Recipes From Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois to the White House," by Donna D. McCreary. Due diligence: McClatchy made the pie twice with runny results.
LINCOLN'S LEMON CUSTARD PIE
2/3 cup water
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided use
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grate the rind from the lemon; juice the lemon. Combine water, 1 cup sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice and rind, and cornstarch. Beat hard for 1 minute. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake 30 minutes.
Beat egg whites, gradually adding remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, until very stiff. Place on custard pie. Increase oven heat to 450 degrees; return pie to oven and bake until meringue peaks brown lightly.
ON THE WEB
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY | <urn:uuid:0a483baa-ef5e-44f5-b521-ce1625ef7929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/01/13/59606/where-does-obama-fit-in-the-pantheon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953938 | 990 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Hamas is celebrating its 25th anniversary today in the Gaza Strip — 25 years of suicide bombings, rocket attacks, incitement to genocide, repression and endless war against Israel.
Throughout the day, the official IDF twitter account, @idfspokesperson, is tweeting examples of the kinds of events that Hamas is celebrating. The IDF is using the hashtag #HamasCelebrates and is encouraging others to use the hashtag and tweet examples of Hamas praising attacks on Israeli civilians.
Israel is under attack again, I doubt they are going to put up with this for long:
More than 200 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, and struck major population centers in southern Israel in the last 103 hours. More than 1,000,000 Israelis are under the threat of rocket fire.
Terrorists, such as the PRC (What is the PRC?), are firing rockets into the cities of Ashdod, Be’ersheba, Yavne, Netivot and Ashkelon; as well as into the Eshkol and Shaár Ha’Negev regional councils. Iron Dome system has so far intercepted 56 rockets that were to land in densely populated areas.
Since Operation Cast Lead, Hamas has been intensively working to rearm itself and to pose a continuous threat to Israel’s civilian population.
Thousand of rockets and mortars have been smuggled into Gaza, reviving the terror infrastructure that was nearly dismantled by Israel in 2008.
In 2011 alone, 627 rockets and mortars and been fired from Gaza into Israel.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured from mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip this morning, landing in the Eshkol Regional Council. The two were evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment. An IDF force responded by firing at the source of the launches.
The mortar shells landed in the same area where just last night IDF soldiers thwarted an attack by an Islamic Jihad militant who planted an explosive device near the security fence.
The Israel Air Force struck a weapons manufacturing site in the central Gaza Strip, two weapons-smuggling tunnels and a terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip overnight.
The attack is in response to the mortar shells that were fired at Israel, hitting the Eshkol Regional Council communities, during the past 24 hours, causing light injuries to two IDF soldiers.
More than 115 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli territory since the beginning of 2010, and over 420 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the end of operation Cast Lead.
I was on the Nation today and due to time constraints I didn’t get to slam into the liars of Kia Ora Gaza. Sean Plunket however did a fair job of trying to expose their lies.
Here is the transcript:
SEAN In the past week you’ve been asked to give again to a group called Kia Ora Gaza. They tell us they’re a group of Kiwis joining an international aid convoy to deliver humanitarian supplies to the needy of Gaza. They’ve had some media coverage in the papers and on the tele. They’ve adapted a Hank Williams song and have a cute little Kiwi cartoon on their website where they’re asking for $100,000 to fund this mercy mission. But is this really a homegrown handout for the needy of Gaza, or is there something else going on? To find out we have in the studio Roger Fowler, Team Captain of Kia Ora Gaza, good morning to you, and from the Jewish Council of New Zealand, David Zwartz, he’s in our Wellington studio
SEAN Roger Fowler I want to come to you first, is this about delivering aid, or making a political statement?
ROGER It’s definitely about delivering aid, we’re talking about millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid which is desperately needed by the people of Gaza. We’re talking about medical equipment, educational equipment, and building equipment to try and rebuild some normality of life for the people of that desperate nation.
SEAN Alright and to do that the six of you are going to London and then driving to Gaza?
ROGER There’ll be a massive convoy Sean of about 500 vehicles, coming in three legs. One’s coming down from London and that’s the one that we’ll be joining with the people of Palestine, and there’ll be another leg coming from Dohar, and another one from Morocco, all coming towards Gaza on the same day.
Ok here we have the first lies. That 500 vehicles is a massive convoy to save the embattled Palestinians. They are trying to make out that Israel is starving the people out of their homes through a blockade. It is a lie that “aid” is even needed.
SEAN Can you not buy the supplies, the medicines and the building supplies you want on Cairo and simply send them over the border to Gaza, why the need for this massive road trip?
ROGER Well this is a big international effort once and for all to bring much needed aid to the people of Gaza.
SEAN But as I’ve just explained to you there’s a far logistically simpler and one would presume more economically sustainable way to do that?
ROGER There is but the need to bring this humanitarian aid is because there is a siege on Gaza, which is inflicted by their neighbours, and we have seen a need to break that siege. So yes there is a physical component to breaking that siege and bringing that aid.
SEAN So are you actually going to physically drive through the lines and sort of confront the Israeli Security Forces?
ROGER Well the Israelis have indicated that they’ve eased the blockade and indicated that it’s easy to get stuff through. So that will be put to the test.
So this big international aid effort is only going to deliver a sixth of the usual monthly amounts, not even half of the trucks for the first week of August….sounds like they are just trying to make a show for cameras. There is not a siege on Gaza, a siege would not allow anything through. The Israelis have made it quite clear that they will allow anything through so long as it can’t be used for war-making.
SEAN Okay, I’m going to put it to you that actually this is about politics. You and Grant Morgan who’s the person you send the money to if you want to back Kia Ora Gaza, members of the Social Workers Party people have been involved in what one would call the far reach of left politics in New Zealand for quite some time.
ROGER Sean you probably know that left leading people are often the very first to come to the aid of the underdog in New Zealand, and in fact it’s a good Kiwi tradition. We come to the side of the underdog whether it’s in sports or its social events.
SEAN So you would agree there’s a political motivation to this?
ROGER No, there are people politically involved, but there’s people from a wide selection of backgrounds come to ….
SEAN Not on the trip there isn’t?
ROGER Yes there is a wide selection of people.
SEAN Well could you just name some people who aren’t politically active on the trip? Your son perhaps?
ROGER My son has put his hand up and he’s been selected too.
SEAN Okay, politically active?
ROGER He’s involved in community work just as I am. I’m the manager of a community centre in South Auckland, have been heavily involved in community work all my life.
SEAN Part of the Resident Action Movement that stood for Council?
ROGER Yes I’ve been active in politics.
SEAN Okay, other people on the truck been involved in that movement as well?
ROGER One other one yes.
This is about politics pure and simple. They are communists and antisemitic and want nothing more than a conflict with Israeli border troops entering Gaza. they will drive up and expect to drive straight through, that isn’t going to happen, those trucks will be thourghly searched and then allowed to proceed, but this won’t be good enough for these guys, hoping to make a huge deal with some pushing and shoving with Israeli troops.
Plunket is right, why not just buy the goods in Cairo and drive from there. After all one of Gaza’s borer crossings is into Egypt and managed by Egypt. Are they too blockading and laying siege to Gaza. Of course they aren’t, they don’t want bombs flying over their borders just as much as the Israeli don’t want them over theirs.
SEAN Okay, Grant Morgan as I said the man who’s taking the money the last General Secretary of the Communist Party in New Zealand. Where does that money go and who administers it, are you a charity?
ROGER We’re in the process of setting up a charitable trust. This has all come together quite quickly and the support has been enormous and is growing.
SEAN Okay, and you would agree that the person Viva Palestinia the group you are linked up with in London, is spearheaded by George Galloway, former Labour MP, virulent anti American, a man who’s said ‘I never met a dictator I didn’t like’ and Viva Palestinia itself was investigated by the British Charities Commission last year. Two of its directors resigned and questions were asked about direct payment of money to Hamas which is of course listed as a terrorist organisation in Great Britain.
ROGER Yes, I think all those allegations were proved to be false, and yes George Galloway has been a long time campaigner against war.
ROGER Sean, we all know that there is definitely a siege and a blockage on Gaza, even the Prime Minister of the UK has come out and denounced this inhumane blockade, and demanded that it be stopped. World leaders …
SEAN No what he’s actually said and I’ve got the direct quote here. He said that Gaza couldn’t remain a prison camp, and he says progress is being made, and he made that speech in Turkey, he said progress is being made, which is unlike George Galloway, who says that at the end of the day this is all about the fall of the capitalist system, and Grant Morgan says that in some of his political writings as well.
ROGER Well actually anybody making those references to this issue, this is an issue of taking humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, they’re in desperate straits despite what our friend says, and they have been for some time. Yes there has been an easing, and all that means is there’s a few bits and pieces are getting through. 250 trucks a day is completely inadequate, they’re people in a desperate situation.
Still they lie. Calling Gaza a prison camp and saying the people are in a desperate situation.
Kia Ora Gaza are tricking through lies and obfuscations, Kiwis into believing the mass media lie that Gaza is somehow a place of squalor. If there is squalor the solution for citizens of Gaza is simple. Stop throwing missiles, bombs and bullets over the border, start to live peacefully with your neighbours like Egypt does and they will find that life gets a whole lot simpler and easier. Nothing brings prosperity like peace does. The solution is in the hands of the the citizens of Gaza, that they keep using those hands to make bombs, and voting in Hamas is no ones fault but their own.
David Zwartz, former Honorary Israeli Consul to New Zealand, gives some very sensible advice for people wanting to donate to the needy.
I would say that $100.000 given to the Pakistan Aid Relief will help one million children instead of going to the diesel fuel and trucks to drive 4,000 kilometres from London to deliver aid which can be delivered much more efficiently through the International Red Cross.
I am very pleased to support the solidarity action ‘Kia Ora Gaza’. The people of Gaza have suffered severely from the blockade of Gaza by Israel. This has included not only their inability to get the materials they need to rebuild after the last bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli army but also even the ability to get school supplies. The attack on the most recent flotilla was an act of piracy and the violence displayed was beyond belief. A supply of aid from the people of New Zealand is a way for us to send a real expression both of our disapproval of the blockade but also our solidarity with the people of Gaza. I wish it every success.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
Te Kauae Kaimahi
The impact of Labour’s economic mismanagement is often difficult to realise. After Labour, New Zealand’s gross debt is set to rocket from under 20% to 57% by 2023. That’s a big increase but what does it mean?
At 20% of GDP, give or take a few percent for infrastructure investment, we sit around the same place as countries like Denmark and Ireland. At 57%, we’re up alongside countries like Ghana, Malawi and the Great Satan (Bush’s America)
Now add in the huge economic crisis that has caught us all and especially caught out Michael Cullen who thought we could just keep on keeping on. We are in a world of hurt. Cullen and Clark will be long gone before we recover from their legacy. | <urn:uuid:2e9c8150-ef92-4af4-b985-ba68ba9abe91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/tag/gaza-strip/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967005 | 2,853 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Biology is defined as the study of living things for which biologists collect and interpret data. Today, sophisticated laboratory technology allows us to collect data faster than we can interpret it. We have vast volumes of DNA sequence data but how do we figure out which parts of that DNA control the various chemical processes of life? We know the function and structure of some proteins, but how do we determine the function of new proteins? And how do we predict what a protein will look like, based on the knowledge of its sequence? We understand the relatively simple code that translates DNA into protein. But how do we find meaningful new words in the code and add them to the DNA-protein dictionary?
Basically, Bioinformatics is the science of using information to understand biology. It may be broadly defined as the interface between Life Sciences and Computational Sciences. It is a subset of the larger field of Computational Biology that includes the application of quantitative analytical techniques in modeling biological systems. It is a science that deals with genomics - an area of study which looks at the DNA sequence of an organism in order to determine what genes code for beneficial traits and which genes are involved in inherited diseases. As biology is advancing, more and more information is generated and scientists need a way to store and analyze it. Computers can greatly assist that process. As a result, this new research area, which combines the study of biotechnology and the use of computers, is emerging. It involves the use of Internet tools, artificial intelligence and other advanced computational methods to assist in storing and analyzing data generated from DNA sequencing.
The field of bioinformatics relies heavily on work by experts in statistical methods and pattern recognition. Researchers (or bioinformaticians) come to it from many fields, including mathematics, computer science, and linguistics. By providing algorithms, databases, user interfaces, and statistical tools, bioinformatics makes it possible to do exciting things such as compare DNA sequences and generate results that are potentially significant. These new tools also give you the opportunity to over interpret data and assign meaning where none really exists!
Bioinformatics is thus the study of the information content and information flow in biological systems and processes and the application of computational and analytical methods to biological problems. But the main goal of bioinformatics isn't developing the most elegant algorithms or the most arcane analyses; the goal is finding out how living things work!
How Is Computing Changing Biology?
An organism's hereditary and functional information is stored as DNA, RNA, and proteins, all of which are linear chains composed of smaller molecules. These macromolecules are assembled from a fixed alphabet of well-understood chemicals: DNA is made up of four deoxyribonucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine), RNA is made up from the four ribonucleotides (adenine, uracil, cytosine, and guanine), and proteins are made from the 20 amino acids. Because these macromolecules are linear chains of defined components, they can be represented as sequences of symbols. These sequences can then be compared to find similarities that suggest the molecules are related by form or function.
The Eye of the Fly Example:
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have a gene called eyeless, which, if it's knocked out (i.e., eliminated from the genome using molecular biology methods), results in fruit flies with no eyes and hence the eyeless gene plays a role in eye development.
Researchers have identified a human gene responsible for a condition called aniridia. In humans, who are missing this gene or in whom the gene has mutated stop functioning properly, the eyes develop without irises.
If the gene for aniridia is inserted into an eyeless drosophila, it causes the production of normal drosophila eyes which is an interesting coincidence. So there is a similarity in how eyeless and aniridia function, even though flies and humans are vastly different organisms!
To gain insight into this, their sequences can be compared. Thus, sequence comparison is possibly the most useful computational tool to emerge for molecular biologists. Today, a molecular biologist can compare an uncharacterized DNA sequence to a single public database of genome sequence data and collection of DNA sequences available to a worldwide community of users on the World Wide Web.
As little as 15 years ago, looking for similarities between eyeless and aniridia DNA sequences would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most scientists compared the respective gene sequences by hand-aligning them one under the other in a word processor and looking for matches character by character. This was very unweildy. However, in the late 1980s, fast computer programs made it possible for pairwise comparison of biological sequences which is the foundation of most widely used bioinformatics techniques.
How does sequence alignment work?
It's important to remember that biological sequence (DNA or protein) has a chemical function, but when it's reduced to a single-letter code, it also functions as a unique label, almost like a bar code. The sequence label can be applied to a gene, its product, its function, its role in cellular metabolism, and so on. The user searching for information related to a particular gene can then use rapid pair-wise sequence comparison to access any information that's been linked to that sequence label.
The most important thing about these sequence labels, though, is that they don't just uniquely identify a particular gene; they also contain biologically meaningful patterns that allow users to compare different labels, connect information, and make inferences. So not only can the labels connect all the information about one gene, they can help users connect information about genes that are slightly or even dramatically different in sequence. So simply, every DNA sequence could be slapped with a unique number or ID and be done with it. But biological sequences are related by evolution, so a partial pattern match between two sequence labels is a significant find.
Basically, it involves:
· Finding the genes in the DNA sequences of various organisms
· Developing methods to predict the structure and/or function of newly discovered proteins and structural RNA sequences.
· Clustering protein sequences into families of related sequences and the development of protein models.
· Aligning similar proteins to examine evolutionary relationships.
The genomic code breaks down into thousands of individual genes. Genes tell cells to make proteins - individual molecules each one of which has a unique chemical mission. Proteins interact with each other to carry out thousands of functions, from digesting your dinner to synthesizing the small molecules that form a barrier between the inside of your cells and the outside world.
There are many ways in which computers can aid research into this. For example -
· Collecting and processing signals detected by laboratory equipment as DNA sequencers, CCD devices, spectrophotometers, and just about any other device that can be connected to a computer via an analog to digital converter.
· Tracking samples and managing experiments in industrial-style laboratories
· Storing data in public databases, and more importantly, public access to the database via sophisticated Web searches and deposition mechanisms.
· Extracting patterns and rules from large data collections and using these observed patterns to characterize and predict features in new data. This is the core of bioinformatics and hence tools that can recognize pattern matches and feature signatures within an otherwise inscrutable data set can be developed.
· Using automatic computational methods to assign functional meaning to uncharacterized data and to create informative links between different data collections. For example, using automated sequence comparison searches to identify potential genes in new genome data.
· Using known information about a system to simulate properties of the system.
Thus, with the help of computers, bioinformaticians work with data generated by the experimental biology community and by a growing number of data factory projects (e.g. genome sequencing projects). This data is mined to develop new hypotheses, new models of how biological systems function, and even rules and patterns which can be used to screen new data sets.
Let us take up two examples -
1. Information Storage -
As mentioned above, DNA is a molecule made from sugar, phosphate and bases called guanine (G), cytosine (C), adenine (A), and thymine (T). The various combinations these four bases make up the DNA in plants, animals, bacteria, yeast and fungi. An infinite number of combinations of these bases are possible. For example you could have AAGCT, CCAGT, TACGGT etc.
Scientists are currently trying to determine the entire DNA sequence of various living things. By the end of this year, it has been predicted that the human genome sequence databases (such as GenBank and EMBL), that are already present on the net as for all the scientists to collectively work on information, will have grown to 4 billion base pairs! These databases have been growing at exponential rates. This deluge of information has necessitated the careful storage, organization and indexing of sequence information. For Example, in agricultural research, the effort to sequence the Arabidopsis genome will require determining the sequence of a 120 - megabase sequence. Computers can greatly assist in storing and managing all of this information.
2. Data analysis
Results generated from DNA sequencing could identify genes, regulatory sequences and other functions. Once the information of the DNA sequence has been determined, the next step is to find out what these genes code for. Comparing one DNA sequence to another amongst closely related organisms assists these processes. Computers can help compare DNA sequences and look for homologies, or related strands of DNA. One can also compare DNA sequences to determine how closely two different species are related on an evolutionary scale.
The goal of biology, in the era of the genome projects, is to develop a quantitative understanding of how living things are built from the genome that encodes them. Cracking the genome code is complex. At the very simplest level, we still have difficulty identifying unknown genes by computer analysis of genomic sequence. Beyond the single-molecule level, the challenges are immense. As datatypes beyond DNA, RNA, and protein sequence begin to undergo the same kind of explosion, simply managing, accessing, and presenting this data to users in an intelligible form is a critical task. Human-computer interaction specialists need to work closely with academic and clinical researchers in the biological sciences to manage such staggering amounts of data. Biological data is very complex and interlinked. A spot on a DNA array, for instance, is connected not only to immediate information about its intensity, but to layers of information about genomic location, DNA sequence, structure, function, and more. Creating information systems that allow biologists to seamlessly follow these links without getting lost in a sea of information is also a huge opportunity for computer scientists. Finally, each gene in the genome isn't an independent entity. Multiple genes interact to form biochemical pathways, which in turn feed into other pathways. Putting genomic and biochemical data together into quantitative and predictive models of biochemistry and physiology is the work of bioinformaticians and computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians are also a vital part of this effort.
Biologists want to collect all of the information they can about every gene in every genome, and from that information construct models using computational techniques for analyzing how genes work together to build up and maintain a living body, whether it's a bacterium or a star quarterback!
Can they do it? Well, time will tell, and so will Bioinformatics! | <urn:uuid:27e8dff1-334b-41a6-8240-e6808e0263bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ewh.ieee.org/r10/bombay/news4/Bioinformatics.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929094 | 2,372 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Vygon Launches Nautilus® Real-Time Catheter Tip LocationMain Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 25 Jan 2013
Vygon (UK) Ltd has launched an innovative new ECG product designed to help reduce both the patients' and clinicians' exposure to X-ray radiation and enhance therapy. Nautilus(R) helps you find your way during catheter insertion by providing accurate, real-time tip location confirmation.
Thousands of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are placed each year, and traditionally tip location must be confirmed by X-ray before treatment can begin. Nautilus(R) uses innovative ECG technology to give the clinician immediate feedback on catheter tip location, enabling consistent accurate PICC placement both in the hospital and potentially in the community setting, meaning that treatment can begin without delay.
Nautilus(R) uses proven ECG tip confirmation technology to minimise the risks associated with blind catheter placement such as thrombus, which can lead to hospital associated infections. It also eliminates unnecessary exposure to harmful radiation for both clinician and patient.
Clinical studies involving 334 varied patients show that ECG placement technology has a 97.3% success rate for placing the catheter tip correctly first time. Correct PICC placement on the first attempt allows the PICC to be used immediately and helps save time and money otherwise spent on chest X-rays and other associated on-costs.
"The introduction of a new technology that uses ECG monitoring to accurately map the tip position of a catheter during placement into a person's chest has greatly reduced risks for our patients. This means that the catheter is positioned accurately every time and also means patients no longer need to have an X-ray to check the catheter has been positioned accurately - avoiding radiation exposure in this way opens this course of treatment up to pregnant women, who previously could not have the procedure because of the X-ray risk to the unborn child."
Original article posted on Medical News Today.
Articles not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today | <urn:uuid:2db4ec17-e579-4345-8a37-f5ee36a40545> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=255398 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938251 | 434 | 2.015625 | 2 |
I don't know much about NT.
I have installed oracle server and client on NT box.
When I am trying to connect to server I am getting "no listerner" error.
I have checked the listerner.ora (initially listerner.ora was not there so I
copied from another machine and modified it) and tnsnames.ora.
How can I find out that listerner is running or not in NT?
In unix=> ps -ef | grep -i ora
How can I start the listerner on NT if it is not running?
In unix=>lsnrctl start
If listerner was not created during the installtion, do I need to re-istall it? | <urn:uuid:585b93d4-614f-40da-94fc-14695d046404> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dbasupport.com/forums/showthread.php?6076-Very-Urgent...&goto=nextoldest | 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 | 0.928385 | 167 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The injuries included burns to legs, arms and faces
Thirty people were treated for injuries in Hong Kong after they were splashed by a corrosive liquid.
Two bottles of what is thought to be acid were either thrown or fell from a building into crowds of shoppers in the Mong Kok district.
Those who received medical help - 14 women and 16 men - suffered burns to the legs, arms and faces.
Police are linking it to an incident in December when 46 people were hit by acid on the same street.
No-one has been arrested in connection with either incident.
Police say whoever is responsible faces a possible charge of intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which can lead to life in prison.
After the December incident, police offered a reward of $12,900 (£8,000) for information leading to an arrest.
"We will find out whether the two cases were done by the same person as soon as possible," said Superintendant Leung Ka-ming.
Firefighters helped those affected clean the liquid from their arms and legs before sending them to hospital.
Samples of the fluid are being tested in a laboratory to determine exactly what it is. | <urn:uuid:4b74726c-047d-41d6-98e2-ea96e2c978ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8053645.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9838 | 241 | 1.851563 | 2 |
At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.
The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.
At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas. | <urn:uuid:ab9151b1-7306-4737-8ee2-f16debd1133d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1279 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957693 | 267 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Manufactures of such high quality jewellery items are continuously providing the market with perfect finished items. The antique jewellery items are designed keeping in mind their traditional and ethnic values. For the more contemporary items like silver pendants, manufactures avail the customers with a trendy look by providing a perfect fusion of tradition and fashion.
Jewellery has always been the most precious possession of mankind from ancient ages. The value of jewellery has been recognized for its traditional design pattern and precious metals used. The ancient Indian rich traditional and cultural heritage is highly dependent on the precious metal made jewellery items that highly enhanced the beauty, prosperity and status of the royal kingdoms. Even coins were made of precious metals like silver and gold with an original value attached to it. Gold and silver items portrayed intricate craftsman skill that is still used by the modern designers to provide a traditional look to their jewellery. The term ‘antique’ gives an idea of the historical value of the jewellery.
Antique jewellery is a treasured item that is hardly calculated on monetary terms. Any item that is more than 70 years old is said to be antique. Antique jewellery is popular for its historic and traditional attachment to the past. Chiefly preserved a relic of historical past, antique jewellery is passed on from generation to generation that are store with great compassion for the fore fathers. The antique jewellery and coins of royal kingdoms or ancient civilizations are generally preserved in museums and are not meant for sale. The antique jewellery is the signs of the rich cultural heritage of our state and is considered as our duty to protect it. Families possessing antique jewellery like an antique necklace, or antic rings love to flaunt it. The antique jewellery can also be made of wood or other precious stones that are highly elegant and gorgeous reflecting the rich past of the particular family. Whereas antique jewellery is popular for its rich historic past, the contemporary fashion jewellery are gaining popularity in the market that are highly influenced by the unique designs of these antique jewellery.
Silver pendants are one such jewellery item that is highly demanded in the global market. The popularity of silver as a jewellery item was there since age old times. The popularity of silver has never drooped since then. The silver made from pure silver metal provides a dazzling gorgeous silvery aura that enhances the beauty of the wearer. Although silver is not as precious as gold, still this metal is popular fashion item that is adorn for any casual party or festive occasion. A dazzling silver pendent provides simplicity with elegance that distinguishes it from other metal jewellery items. Although antique jewellery and silver pendants are quite different in their value and the way they are used, they are of high popularity and are continuously creating market demand. The manufactures are efficiently catering to the specific requirements of the customers.
KT Arts is engaged in the manufacture and production of a wide range of gold handmade beads, silver pendants, antique silver jewelry, javamani etc. Ours’ is an exclusive and unique collection assuring quality and authenticity. We have earned goodwill and reputation since 1975 serving clients successfully, both within India and serveral countries abroad. To know more about us and our collection of products, contact (+91)-9420584784. | <urn:uuid:73d884c0-3056-4154-964f-16dd63309547> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecatalogpages.blogspot.in/2011/11/importance-of-antique-jewellery-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95871 | 661 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Civil War Records: An Introduction and Invitation
By Michael P. Musick
|The gateway to the Forty-fourth New York Infantry camp near Alexandria, Virginia, April 1864. (NARA 111-B-5078)|
The voices of the National Archives, and of archival holdings everywhere, reach out across the years, speaking directly and, at their most memorable, from the depths of human experience. One of those voices belonged to Mary Pierce.
Mrs. Pierce, of Clyde, Illinois, wanted Abraham Lincoln to know how she felt. On August 1, 1864, she addressed the President "in sorrow and deep affliction": "I was once a happy Mother," she lamented, "but alas this cruel war has taken my sons from me."
My youngest dearest fell in a charge before Kenesaw Mountain[.] he enlisted in Havana, Mason Co. Ill. he was in the morning of life. My hope and comfort in my old age he cast his first vote for you in 60 went into the army left Mother and home to endure the hardships of war has the reputation of being a good soldier always present and efficient in his duty and now I appeal to you for a Pass to send for his remains[.] Oh Sir if you could but know [the] depths of sorrow that weights my withered heart to the ground the sadness and darkness that surrounds my path way to the tomb I know that your humanity would promp you to grant that small favor to you small but a great one to me[.] I ask no more now on earth but to have his body to inter in the family burying ground where I can plant flowers and care for them until I shall pass away.(1)
At an earlier stage in the war, Col. Lewis A. Armistead of the Fifty-seventh Virginia Infantry penned an equally heartfelt, though less tragic, request to the Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General Samuel Cooper on behalf of an appointment for his son. From Camp Belcher, near Richmond, Virginia, on December 2, 1861, Colonel Armistead reflected, "I have been a soldier all my life."
I was an officer in the Army of the U.S., which service I left to fight for my own country, and for and with, my own people and because they were right and oppressed. . . . I never was a man of any wealth, and the little I had was all sacrificed when I left the U.S. Army I wish it had been more. . . . Altho' my services were rendered under a different flag from that which I now acknowledge, I can recall them with pleasure and pride.(2)
The former United States officer was to seal his devotion to his "own people" with his life at the Battle of Gettysburg, fighting troops commanded by his dearest friend in better days.
Even so prosaic a document as a list of privates present for duty can be freighted with significance, as when that lowly soul went on to become President or was the ancestor of the reader of that document. Part of the mystery of the records is how to find them. The goal of "Civil War Records" is to simplify the task of leading the researcher to the sources. In this issue of Prologue appears the first of three articles on research in Civil War records: "The Little Regiment." In the Fall 1995 issue there will be an article on battles, campaigns, and skirmishes, and in the Winter 1995 issue, an article on arms and equipment.
Who is the intended audience? Virtually anyone who wishes to pursue research on the American Civil War (as it is being called here; see more about the official title of the Civil War). The National Archives is an intimidating place. Many are the books that could have benefitted from use of its holding but did not, either from ignorance or fear. During the course of over a quarter century working with these records, and the people who come seeking them, I have encountered military historians, genealogists, gun buffs, local historians, biographers, collectors of artifacts, reenactors, archaeologists, scholars of African Americans and other ethnic groups, students of women and of sexuality, and even a few gold and ghost hunters. The intention is to bring to all these people, and many others, the fruits of that experience so that they will find in one place an explanation of how to conduct research, what they are likely to find, and most important, an appreciation of the hurdles to be cleared in the course of such a pursuit.
It is for you, the reader, to best judge how successful this guide is. Inevitably, some will be disappointed. They will not find the equivalent of an overall name and subject index such as was done by the National Archives as a bicentennial project for The Papers of the Continental Congress (5 volumes, Washington, DC, 1978). The volume of the documentation is simply too great. Nor will everything be specifically covered and elucidated in detail. The intention is to concentrate on those series of records that have proved most consistently fruitful and to point the reader to additional possibilities not treated thoroughly here.
|Civil War guides.|
The seasoned researcher will immediately note that three excellent guides to the Civil War holdings of the National Archives already exist. Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War (Washington, DC, 1962; reprinted as The Union . . . , 1986), by Kenneth W. Munden and Henry Putney Beers; Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America (Washington, DC, 1968; reprinted as The Confederacy . . . , 1986), by Henry Putney Beers; and Civil War Maps in the National Archives (Washington, DC, 1964; 2d ed., A Guide to Civil War Maps in the National Archives, 1986, with some additional information) provide a splendid overview of the entire subject. These guides should still be consulted when approaching Federal and Confederate records in the institution they cover, and for Confederate records wherever found. Experience has demonstrated, however, that the Beers and Munden volumes consider so vast a quantity of documentation, and by necessity use such concise (and to the nonarchivist obscure) terminology, that the majority of readers are puzzled about just what they describe. The administrative history of an office in previous guides is intended to explain the kinds of subjects treated in its records, but that standard approach baffles the average researcher. Thus the voluminous series of Letters Received by the Secretary of War From the President, Executive Departments, and War Department Bureaus, 1862-1870 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M494, 117 rolls, a portion of RG 107) is represented in Munden and Beers (p. 246) only by the title of the series and the phrase "grouped separately for each year." Few would suspect that a letter such as Mary Pierce's about her son's body might be one of the thousands of items it contains.
I hope, further, that having spent so many years in reference, endeavoring to initiate the public in the mysteries of Munden, Beers, other guides, preliminary inventories, record groups, and so forth, both over the telephone and in person, that it will be possible to put in permanent form the lessons that effort has taught. The emphasis will be on textual (i.e., written) military documents, rather than those of civilian agencies, but some attention will be paid to both aspects. Traditionally, archivists in the military records unit have been separated into reference and projects staff (projects entailing the description of records, among other things). The present guide hopes to bring the two together. It is a work in progress, composed of chapters written out of sequence, with the intention of eventually including chapters on the nature of archives in general and a survey of important books the reader should know about.
The notion is alarmingly widespread that one can simply go directly to the "original source" with no preparation or background and extract whatever information it contains, without benefit of any intermediary. It is as though the average citizen, intent upon studying the Bible, should hold the inscribed leather and papyrus of the Dead Sea Scrolls in his or her hand in order to absorb the insight they provide. In most cases, however, the effort to become aware of what has already been written, and what has been published in documentary editions, will be repaid many fold. In fact, even the seemingly most simple, most straightforward inquiries, those about the service of individual soldiers, will gain considerably from a knowledge of other sources, such as unit histories and published rosters, of the background of how the records came to be created, and of what they represent. Innumerable encounters with the public have highlighted the fact that most people do not know what an archives is, what the National Archives in particular is, what the relationship of the latter is to the Library of Congress, and how the world of manuscript historical documents beyond these institutions can be explored.
The National Archives holds the permanently valuable, noncurrent records of the United States government. That is, the official records of various agencies, including many records of the Confederate government, which were captured by Federal forces or given after the war to the War and Treasury Departments. The National Archives is organized by record group, each of which is composed of a significant body of files of a sizable office. The record groups have been assigned arbitrary numbers. Hence we find references such as Record Group 107, the Records of the Office of the Secretary of War; Record Group 92, the Records of the Quartermaster General's Office; and Record Group 94, the Records of the Adjutant General's Office.
Most record groups are described in an inventory. The inventories break the documentation down into series (often quite large themselves) dictated primarily by their format or filing schemes. Researchers should be aware that to cite only a record group number is still only a very broad identification, perhaps referring to a body with hundreds of thousands of items within it. To give one case in point, Record Group 94, the Records of the Adjutant General's Office (the recordkeeping office of the army) is described in an inventory of 813 entries, just one of which (entry 544, Field Records of Hospitals, 1821-1912) consists of some eleven thousand volumes.
When records have been microfilmed, as has been the case with many of the more important series in numerous record groups, the best description of them is contained in the pamphlet that the National Archives has produced to accompany the film. These microfilm publications are identified by "M" numbers (e.g., M1098, U.S. Army Generals' Reports of Civil War Service, 1864-1887). When there is a descriptive microfilm pamphlet (known as a "DP"), the inventory becomes superfluous. In some cases, records series have been microfilmed without good descriptive pamphlets. These are generally identified by a "T" number (T288, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934).
The National Archives is not the place to go for printed books, newspapers, private letters, or personal diaries. The Newspaper Reading Room of the Library of Congress is a prime source for newspapers. The Library of Congress's multivolume National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections is the best guide to private letters and unofficial diaries. It is to the National Archives that one turns for the files of government agencies.
Another notion widely prevalent among the research public is that in this ever-changing world, the one thing that remains unchanged is the historical record. Immutable as the Rocky Mountains, constant as the moon, the documents are presumed to repose in a dimension beyond the merely temporal. Alas, this comforting vision requires revision as well. Putting aside the remote spectres of fire, flood, theft, or other obvious disasters, the potential scholar often fails to take into account the growth in the total quantity of records to be preserved, as well as the irrepressible impulse of Homo sapiens to tinker with whatever they are given. Growth in the total quantity of records to be preserved can mean physical moves, new facilities, and fewer resources devoted to older records. The tinkering impulse can mean that box numbers in which a record will be found are likely to be changed in a generation. It also can mean, for example, that documents once safely assigned to Record Group 98 reemerge assigned to Record Group 393. In fact, institutions themselves take on new identities, and like a Vedic deity of old, the National Archives Establishment (1934) becomes part of the General Services Administration (1948), within which it becomes the National Archives and Records Service (1949), only to reappear as the independent National Archives and Records Administration (1985). Even the form of records changes; as they are microfilmed, the originals are generally taken out of circulation, as is the case with General Armistead's plea to General Cooper. Inventions such as the computer are created and improved, absorbing the attention of a populace ever in search of a technological quick fix.
Although the uses of computers in archives have been the subject of careful investigation for decades, the Civil War holdings of the National Archives are not now available online, nor are they likely to be in the short term. The National Archives cannot truly be "accessed" by E-mail, and it is not interactive. The sheer volume of the holdings means that merely inputting data is liable to absorb more time than anyone can spare. One exception may be the summaries of individual service and pension records that the National Park Service and other organizations (including the National Archives) are attempting to computerize. The fragmentary and confusing nature of the nineteenth-century records is liable to present stumbling blocks in the path of this laudable endeavor. John J. Pullen's admonition of 1966 is still valid: "Roster-making has the appearance of being simple on first thought, but it is an exceedingly tricky business, as the Civil War clerks manual warned to no avail."(3) Another area in which technology is likely to contribute significantly is in the computerization of finding aids, though this has not come to pass at this writing.
Change of one kind or another continues apace. Whole new buildings arise, as in the case of the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland, to which cartographic and still picture holdings have been transferred. Other records once in Washington, D.C., have been transported to regional centers around the country thought to be closer to those who would use them. This guide will try to indicate when such changes have occurred. Yet in all of this, contact with an archivist remains essential in determining what changes have taken place and in discovering that seemingly changeless dispositions have been redisposed.
|Researchers will find Civil War photographs and maps at the National Archives facility in College Park.|
The human (and occasionally all too human) archivist will continue to be a necessary link, available to explain the inevitable anomaly in guides, lists, and whatever other finding aids appear, and basic terminology as well. Even so simple a phrase as "The records of . . ." requires explanation. It means different things to different people, and is fraught with possibilities for misunderstanding. Rather than referring to any records that bear on the subject, in the archival profession it ordinarily means a series of records created and maintained by a particular office or command. Someone seeking information about a particular post, for example, would generally be well advised to examine a series of records with documentation on all posts as well as those once kept at the installation itself. Someone will always need to be available to point out that reference to a record group number is only one element in citing the location of a document and to elucidate the seemingly endless arcana of archives. Because this is a personal view, someone's favorite source will certainly be slighted. So be it. To balance this lack of all-inclusiveness, considerable reliance will be placed on precise information in illustrations, tables, and appendixes. These types of reference sources have proved over time to be particularly effective in conveying an accurate picture of just what records are available and what they consist of. An example is the series of bound regimental records created and maintained by Union Army volunteer units. The National Archives has such volumes for most, but not all, regiments. There are thousands of such volumes, but this statement is much less helpful than a list of the units represented in them. Such a list appears in print here for the first time in "The Little Regiment." In the near future I anticipate that the National Archives will be able to make available for researchers the list including the number of volumes for each regiment.
Certainly, this guide aspires to smooth the path of the seeker of documents. Yet the stark truth remains that extensive research will never be an easy pursuit. Thorough combing for files on a substantial subject will require time spent in Washington and the unglamorous scanning of reels of microfilm, handwritten papers, or both.
Unglamorous, but not necessarily unrewarding. The archivist is the custodian of files that, with luck, will be reminiscent of those encountered by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the recesses of the custom house in Salem. As Hawthorne sifted, one record in particular caught his eye: "This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present. There was something about it that quickened an instinctive curiosity, and made me undo the faded red tape, that tied up the package, with the sense that a treasure would here be brought to light." And so sprouted the seed that became The Scarlet Letter.
The records-keepers are in fact in possession of a secret, but one which they hope will be revealed. The secret is that, for all the labor and time they can absorb, archives the records themselves are immensely satisfying. Not only do they inform and enlighten, they can also touch and inspire those intrepid enough to seek them out.
1. Letters Received by the Secretary of War From the President, Executive Departments, and War Department Bureaus, 1862-1870 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M494, roll 53, #637), Records of the Office of the Secretary of War, Record Group 107, National Archives, Washington, DC. President. Lincoln's private secretary, John G. Nicolay, referred the letter to the wecretary of war, and it fell to a colonel serving in the War Department to inform Mrs. Pierce that her son (Sgt. Thornton S. Pierce, Co. B, 85th Ill. Inf.) cound not be disinterred at that time due to orders that forbade removal to the North until fall and presumably cooler temperatures made removal less hazardous to health.
2. "Armistead, W. Keith," 6th Virginia Cavalry, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers who Served in Organizations From the State of Virginia, M324, roll 62, RG 109, NA.
3. John J. Pullen, A Shower of Stars: The Medal of Honor and the 27th Maine (1966), p. 212.
|Articles published in Prologue do not necessarily represent the views of NARA or of any other agency of the United States Government.| | <urn:uuid:0658c86b-9030-46a4-9a79-b01019e9ab06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1995/summer/civil-war-records-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954868 | 3,981 | 2.09375 | 2 |
MIAMI -- Addressing a crowd of mostly seniors and using a new visual aid, Mitt Romney hit Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the Texas governor's past statements that Social Security may be unconstitutional and should be a state program.
As dual giant projector screens posed six questions directed to Perry -- about how Social Security would actually work at the state level -- Romney lambasted the idea, arguing that such a system would not work in "any way, shape or form"
The Perry campaign responded with this statement: “Mitt Romney's own book compared Social Security to a criminal enterprise. Now Mr. Romney is again sounding like a Democrat, distorting the truth and trying to scare senior citizens. As he has so many times in the past, Mr. Romney seems to forget he's a Republican."
Romney also used this appearance before a group of perhaps 70 voters (as well as a healthy number of reporters) to advance another major argument for his nomination: that he is the most electable candidate against President Obama.
Asked how he could help Senate candidates in addition to just campaigning for them, Romney replied, "I'm going to be the Republican candidate who can win, and I say that with significance," adding he believed that he could win over independent voters, women, and even some Democrats.
"President Obama is doing a great job of rallying our base," he said to laughter from the crowd. "There’s almost nothing we can do…that’s as motivational as what he’s doing to get our voters out and voting."
The former Massachusetts governor also said he would not be pushed to the right in a primary -- or to the center in a general election -- because he had mapped out his positions in his own recent book, and that those represent where he is.
"I think the American people recognize that we’re at a point of crisis and they want to hear the truth. And they can tell when people are being phony and are pandering to an audience, and you’ll see that in politics. You’re not going to see that in my campaign."
(Romney critics, however, argue that his chief weakness may very well be his ability to pander. He once supported abortion rights; he's now against them. He once supported embryonic stem-cell research; now he's against it. He once called his Massachusetts health-care law a model for the country; now he wants to repeal a federal law based largely on his state law.)
When a reporter asked Romney after the event who he felt was being a phony, exactly, he declined to name names.
Romney took a few questions from the audience pertaining to local issues like immigration and the United States' relationship with Latin America, which he said he hopes to strengthen by appointing a presidential envoy to take responsibility for the region.
On immigration, Romney again criticized Perry by name -- for the Texas governor's opposition to a full-border fence, the Arizona immigration law, and for creating a "magnet" for illegal immigrants by allowing in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants in Texas.
For his part, Romney theorized that using a point system similar to those used in other countries to determine who can immigrate here legally might be one way to reform the system of legal immigration.
Asked by NBC after the event if his criticisms of the President's policies on Israel were appropriate given the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations at the United Nations today, Romney expanded upon his original remarks.
"I think what the president did was an error with regards to Israel was begin dictating what he would do saying here you should do this and you should that. Those kinds of discussions should be held behind closed doors," Romney said. "The president should not be negotiating for his ally Israel. The president should stand behind Israel and negotiations and discussions should be held in private if the president has a different view than they do." | <urn:uuid:aa871484-41a3-4e7f-8011-dd1683bccbe9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/09/21/7881665-romney-once-again-knocks-perry-on-social-security | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982902 | 798 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Conditions of Use
Mind Over Matter
In Language Arts, we recently read a poem called "The Victor". I agree with the author's message that our thoughts influence our success. First of all, hope encourages effort. When you hope to succeed and see your goal, you will try hard to meet and reach it. Also, without the hope and confidence, you can't even start the process to reach your goal. Secondly, perserverence comes with confidence. You will most likely give up if you think you will fail, but with confidence, you keep trying. The strength pushes you and encourages you to keep going. Finally, skill isn't everything. Skill comes from work, and work comes from the hope to win. You can be small but if you have a strong will and heart, you can succeed. There is no strength without the confidence first. As you can see in many ways, mind trimphs over matter.
Article posted January 30, 2012 at 07:33 PM •
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I totally agree with you. If you don't believe in yourself, then you can never achieve anything. You really got that message across. Great job!
Comment Posted on February 23, 2012 at 09:13 PM by | <urn:uuid:b91f38af-0a56-4570-88b7-c4aa79d86275> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=1417363&mode=comment&blogger_id=347922 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960113 | 267 | 2.625 | 3 |
John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.
Federal judge Roger Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision), issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln didn't respond, appeal, or order the release of Merryman. But during a July 4 speech, Lincoln was defiant, insisting that he needed to suspend the rules in order to put down the rebellion in the South.
Five years later, a new Supreme Court essentially backed Justice Taney's ruling: In an unrelated case, the court held that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus and that civilians were not subject to military courts, even in times of war.
This was not the first or last time that the U.S. federal government willfully ignored its own laws during times of strife. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II. Some forty years later, a U.S. congressional commission determined that those held in the camps had been victims of discrimination. Each camp survivor was awarded $20,000 in compensation from the U.S. government. | <urn:uuid:cf81bf20-6cd6-434f-996b-70b37ecd740d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-lincoln-suspends-the-writ-of-habeas-corpus-during-the-civil-war | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97267 | 334 | 4 | 4 |
Photographs by Jonah Volk
Giles Shurtleff was a theology student and tutor at Oberlin when the Civil War broke out. He was instrumental in the formation of the Company C, a regiment of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Company C was made up of Oberlin College students, and Shurtleff served as its captain. He later commanded the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry/5th US Colored Infantry, the first black regiment in Ohio. After the war he returned to Oberlin and became a professor of Greek and Latin.
The text on the plaques is as follows:
"Freedom can not be given, it must be achieved.
"Giles Waldo Shurtleff (1831-1904): Believing in the ability of the negro to aid in the fight for his freedom, he organized the first regiment of colored troops raised in Ohio. Inspired by his leadership they offered their lives for the freedom of their race.
"Captain Co. C. - Oberlin Students - 7th Regt.,
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861
Prisoner of War, August 1861-August 1862
On Staff of General Wilcox, 9th Army Corps, October 1862-March 1863
Engaged in the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862
Lieut. Colonel and Colonel, 5th US Colored Troops, July 1863-June 1865
Before Petersburg, this regiment lay two months in the trenches under daily fire. Nearly half its men were lost and he was severely wounded in the charge on New Market, September 1864.
Brevetted Brigadier General, March 1865."
A statue erected in General Shurtleff's honor was erected soon after his death, and currently stands in front of the building known as Shurtleff Cottage, on South Professor St. The statue holds a scroll and has one arm extended, pointing forward. | <urn:uuid:655cd812-5b9a-406b-bd11-99868f9aee74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/Shurtleff%20Monument/shurtleff_monument.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979026 | 383 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Washington, August 9 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have determined that depletion in the ozone layer is reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of the Southern Ocean.
Most current models predict that the strength of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink should increase as atmospheric CO2 rises, but observations show that this has not been the case.
To help resolve this discrepancy, scientists Andrew Lenton and Nicolas Metzl, along with other researchers, considered the effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, which most previous studies had not included.
They compare coupled carbon-climate models with and without ozone depletion and find that including ozone depletion produced a significant reduction in Southern Ocean carbon uptake, in good agreement with observed trends.
The simulations show that ozone depletion, combined with increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration, drives stronger winds above the Southern Ocean.
These stronger winds bring more carbon-rich deep water to the surface, which reduces the ocean’s ability to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The researchers also found that ozone depletion increases ocean acidification. They suggest that future climate models should take stratospheric ozone into account. (ANI) | <urn:uuid:b3aa86ad-880c-4b7a-9e59-9794cb8ee673> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://silverscorpio.com/tag/andrew-lenton/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925749 | 233 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Dr. James Blackburn
Professor Emeritus, Physics & Computer Science
Contact InformationEmail: firstname.lastname@example.org
BiographyResearch Interests: This research program is focused on the dynamical properties of nonlinear systems, especially superconducting devices and periodically driven oscillators. An ongoing collaboration with Niels Jensen (Davis) and Matteo Cirillo (Rome) is directed at the development of theoretical models to describe the interactions of coupled superconducting qubits. Also of interest are the transitions out of the zero voltage state that occur when Josephson junctions are subjected to steadily increasing bias currents. It is widely thought that at very low temperatures junctions might enter a macroscopic quantum state and that the switch to finite voltage would occur via macroscopic quantum tunneling. We have been exploring the possibility that non-quantum physics (thermal and resonant activation) might predict the experimentally observed features of the process. The research methodology is numerical modeling and simulation, but for certain problems electronic circuits are designed that function as analogs of the physical systems. This latter approach provides an experimental route to these investigations. | <urn:uuid:1ccaff0e-633e-44cb-b98e-568d35953926> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=513&f_id=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910927 | 231 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Photos: Elvis -- From 'Hillbilly Cat' to '68 Comeback
Elvis Presley is arguably the most photographed star in the history of rock 'n' roll, and esteemed music photo archivist Michael Ochs possesses one of the largest stores of Elvis pictures this side of Graceland.
Guiding us through a selection of Elvis images, Ochs, in his own words, delivers his impressions of the Hillbilly Cat who would be King.
1956: I believe this was the first color handout from RCA [Elvis' label]. They gave it to newspapers as 35mm slides. The way they deified him, from the colors to the lighting to the pose, it's totally godlike. If you want an image that sums up the true beauty of rock 'n' roll, this is so beatific it's almost beyond description.
June 1956: This is also an Earl Leaf shot. It's the only time I have ever seen Elvis with his trio -- Scotty, Bill and D.J. -- and the Jordanaires all in the same shot. To me, that's just totally unique. And then you throw in the general feel of the extras -- the girls sitting there -- and the fake Colony Music Shop background. But the key thing is that I've never seen all of them together in one picture.
June 1956: Again, this [Earl Leaf photo from the 'Milton Berle Show' sessions] just reminds me of an Alfred Wertheimer shot. The great thing about Elvis was he was very natural. He was so into the moment and into being Elvis the simple country boy, versus the biggest-selling recording artist in the country. He was always true to himself. To capture that -- that's not posing, that just him.
June 1956: There was a photographer for the teen magazines named Earl Leaf, and Earl mostly shot movie stars. The only two '50s rock 'n' roll sessions he's done were for Ricky Nelson, and he got to photograph Elvis at this 'Milton Berle Show' rehearsal. I think Earl Leaf's shots are just as good as Alfred Wertheimer's. You can see the complete intensity -- just riveting.
August 1956: This is during 'Love Me Tender' -- this is Elvis the first time he ever recorded without his usual musicians. He's at the 20th Century Fox soundstage studio. There's the novelty of him playing piano, which one seldom sees. Here he is in a whole new milieu -- he's in L.A. There's an openness and yet a startledness and a freshness about this shot.
December 1956: It was a Carl Perkins recording session at Sun Records. Elvis stopped by to see what's happening -- this was a year after he left Sun for RCA. Jerry Lee Lewis was always hanging around the studio -- he hadn't quite made it yet. So the three of them started goofing around, and [Sun Studio owner] Sam Phillips was smart enough to leave the tape running. After awhile, Sam realized the was an amazing occurrence, so he calls Johnny Cash and says, "Get over here quick!" So Cash comes over, and Sam calls the Memphis Press-Scimitar [newspaper] to send a reporter over right away, and they sent one with a photographer, fortunately.
1957: For some reason, people think this typifies the real Elvis. I don't think it does. I think the importance of this photo is that besides Elvis being the father of rock 'n' roll, it shows that he had some natural smarts. In 'Jailhouse Rock,' he personally choreographed all those dance numbers. Those were all his ideas. His gyrations put Michael Jackson to shame.
April 1961: This picture totally illustrates his unfortunate movie career. I especially love the fake rock that's holding the surfboard. The whole thing exemplifies his Hollywood years. This was a Paramount [Studios] giveaway -- they sent out 8x10 color positives to the newspapers, which is very unusual.
June 1968: This is the most iconic image of that period -- the NBC comeback TV show. As good-looking as he was in the '50s, he was never better-looking than in this brief period. This is the epitome of Elvis' sexuality and sensuality -- to me, it just captures it all.
Specially for the 30th Anniversary ;
Why Elvis? By Paul Simpson
Elvis - 30 years on ... and the world turns ... By Mark Cunliffe
Elvis Presley - 30 Years On and Still The King By David Troedson
A personal Presley pilgrimage By Scott Jenkins
We love Elvis Presley !!!!!!!! : So ... Stop, look and listen baby that's our philosophy ... First thing in the morning, last thing at night ... look, stare everywhere and see everything inside ... Stop, look and listen! | <urn:uuid:ef729078-1eef-4ab9-8158-420b94f51e5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/photos_elvis_presley.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96377 | 1,015 | 1.609375 | 2 |
EGYPT: Rights group alleges military forced captured female protesters into taking 'virginity tests'
Female activists detained during the Egyptian army's evacuation of Tahrir Square on March 9 told human-rights organizations that they were beaten, tortured and forced to take virginity tests while in military custody.
Salwa Hosseini, 20, who was taken by soldiers to a military prison on the outskirts of Cairo, told Amnesty International that she and fellow female detainees were strip searched, photographed while naked and subjected to electric shocks. Hossein added that female guards warned the captured women they would be charged with prostitution if they didn't take medical tests to prove they were virgins.
"Forcing women to have 'virginity tests' is utterly unacceptable. Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women," Amnesty International said. "The Egyptian authorities must halt the shocking and degrading treatment of women protesters. Women fully participated in bringing change in Egypt and should not be punished for their activism."
The human-rights group alleges the tests were carried out by a male doctor and that one woman, who claimed to be virgin while tests proved otherwise, was beaten and given electric shocks.
"The army officers tried to further humiliate the women by allowing men to watch and photograph what was happening, with the implicit threat that the women could be at further risk of harm if the photographs were made public," Amnesty's statement added.
Journalist Rasha Azeb, another female activist detained in Tahrir Square, said she was insulted, handcuffed and beaten.
El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence announced that testimonies given to them by other female captives echoed those of Azeb and Hosseini. Following the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, several hundred protesters decided to prolong their demonstrations in the square until what they called "all the Jan. 25 revolutionary demands" were fulfilled by the ruling Supreme Military Council.
On March 9, military forces intervened to clear the square in an incident that saw at least 100 activists detained, including more than 17 women. Many of those captured were initially taken to the nearby Egyptian museum, where they claimed to have been tortured and beaten by soldiers.
All female detainees were released on March 13 after appearing in front of a military court. A few, including Hosseini, were convicted of disorderly conduct, destroying private and public property, obstructing traffic and carrying weapons. Hosseini was sentenced to a suspended one-year imprisonment.
-- Amro Hassan in Cairo
Photo: Female protesters taking part in the Egyptian revolution. Credit: Associated Press | <urn:uuid:db77c4fe-6e18-4deb-a8af-1cee842269a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/03/egypt-military-forced-captured-female-protesters-into-taking-virginity-tests.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983853 | 528 | 1.726563 | 2 |
University Stops Closing School for Christian and Jewish Hol
University Stops Closing School for Christian and Jewish Holidays
American Center for Law and Justice
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today urged the president of New York's Stony Brook University to reverse a troubling decision that ends a long-standing practice of closing school in observance of major Christian and Jewish holidays. The ACLJ calls the move "an unnecessary, ill-advised change that demonstrates hostility to members of all religious faiths."
"This schedule change demonstrates hostility toward religion and departs from the American tradition of the government accommodation of religious practices," said Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ. "To discard a long-standing practice of closing school in observance of religious holidays is offensive and runs afoul of the Constitution, Supreme Court precedent, and New York State law. We urge Stony Brook University to reconsider and accommodate people of faith, not punish them."
In the past, classes have been cancelled at Stony Brook in observance of most major Christian and Jewish holidays such as Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. Now, university officials have decided to change that practice, with one university official quoted as saying the change is being made to ensure that some religions aren't given "special treatment" at the school.
In a legal analysis sent today to Stony Brook President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., the ACLJ contends “the terms of the new calendar and the secretive, exclusionary process used to create it, strongly signal a hostility to religious adherents.”
The ACLJ letter clearly explains that this hostility in unwarranted, and is neither required nor justified by the Constitution.
"The Supreme Court has explained that 'the Constitution . . . affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any. . . . Anything less would require the ‘callous indifference’ we have said was never intended by the Establishment Clause.' The Court has noted that there is no 'constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence.' '[H]ostility toward religion . . . has no place in our Establishment Clause traditions.'"
The ACLJ urges the university president to reconsider and reject the proposed changes to the academic calendar. "Refusing to accommodate religious observances now after many years of previously doing so strongly signals to current and prospective students and their families that Stony Brook's once welcoming approach to students of faith has changed," the letter concludes. "It is not too late to correct what appears to be an ill-advised change in SUNY Stony Brook policy."
© 2012 ACLJ
Search by Keyword | <urn:uuid:e18f0dc1-2bc1-4929-a22b-4713c4940716> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithissues.com/page/469572970 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945687 | 577 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Helping Seniors Get Hooked on the Internet
By Lisa C. Bailey
In our hyper-linked world, there are still pockets of isolation cut off from the benefits of the Internet. But unlike some other groups who are underrepresented online—minorities and the economically disadvantaged, for example—many older adults seem to remain unplugged on purpose.
That could be an unhealthy choice. The Internet is an invaluable resource for help in making key life decisions and tapping into expert knowledge, says UAB sociologist Shelia Cotten, Ph.D. It is also a great way for people “to connect with others that they can’t see regularly or easily,” she notes. And this is particularly true for older adults, because “many suffer from health impairments and mobility issues that prevent them from traveling.”
Cotten became interested in the social benefits of computers when she moved to Boston in 1998 for a postdoctoral fellowship, leaving friends and family behind. “I began to think about how I was communicating with members of my social networks—which was primarily through the Internet via e-mail—and I realized that few researchers were examining how online communication affects social support and well-being,” she says.
One of the key questions is why more older adults don’t head online. Fear of scams and of computers themselves are big factors, but Cotten’s research suggests that the main reason may be that older adults just don’t see the relevance of the Internet to their lives.
In a recent survey, Cotten and her graduate students assessed computer and Internet use among adults age 50 and older in the greater Birmingham area. Approximately 61 percent of respondents reported owning computers, and 60 percent said they used them. Forty-eight percent of those who used the Internet said they went online daily. While 16 percent of respondents were concerned that the Web was too hard to use, and 23 percent were afraid of online scams, the highest number—27 percent—reported that they simply didn’t want to use the Internet.
“The biggest barrier to getting older adults online is helping them realize how computers and the Internet can be useful to them in their daily lives,” says Cotten. “If you can help people see how they can be useful and help them acquire the skills to do what they need to do online, they can overcome their fears.”
Cotten is pursuing a grant from the National Institutes of Health that will allow her to bring practical advice and technical training to older adults in 15 assisted-living facilities in the Birmingham area.
The six-week training program will begin with a discussion of reasons for using computers and the Internet. Starting from the most basic of basics—how to turn on the computer—the training will progress to sessions on sending digital pictures by e-mail, making online purchases, and avoiding scams. “We also plan to have an ‘in-house’ assisted-living resident who is skilled with using computers and the Internet that participants can contact if they have questions,” Cotten says.
The benefits of this training should be wide-ranging, she adds. Reestablishing connections to distant friends and family helps older adults “feel that they matter to others.” And many years of experience interviewing older adults have taught Cotten how much this age group enjoys having the chance to tell its own stories. “I think there is a great opportunity to use the Internet to help older adults enhance their quality of life and pass along their history to future generations.” | <urn:uuid:4beaf5dd-f5bf-4f21-bcd1-53d3c5e67266> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/winter2009/snapshots/missedconnections | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964439 | 735 | 2.265625 | 2 |
SLAVES OF MORGAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE
Slaves were in Morgan County. With this page, and everyone's help we will attempt to
put together a bit of information about them. If you have records or documents that
show former owners and former slaves and would like share it with others, send it to me for posting.
The Emancipation Proclamation
By the President of the
Return to Morgan County Home Page | <urn:uuid:1585f1dc-c85c-458f-9ce7-c8ccd6ab793c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tngennet.org/morgan/SlaveryinMorganCounty.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955231 | 92 | 1.828125 | 2 |
For over 5,000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has claimed to be able to predict the state of your inner health (or ‘zheng’) simply by looking at your tongue.
The traditional method bases its results on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body.
However, in the modern world (and with technology on our side) gadget geeks have come up with a contemporary way to check our health using the power of the tongue… by creating a smartphone app that does it all for us.
Combining ancient practices with modern medicine and advanced mobile technology researchers from the University of Missouri are developing computer software that enables users to take a snap of their tongue and have it analysed for any health issues.
“Knowing your zheng classification can serve as a pre-screening tool and help with preventive medicine,” said Dong Xu, the co-author of the latest study, reports Medical Daily.
What is your tongue trying to tell you about your health? Scroll down to find out...
The phone app aims to analyse the tongue’s colour, where it gets placed into a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ category, which then pinpoints any possible underlying health conditions.
“Hot and cold zheng doesn’t refer directly to body temperature. Rather, it refers to a suite of symptoms associated with the state of the body as a whole," adds Xu.
So far, researchers have tested the app on 263 gastritis patients and 48 healthy people.
"As we continue to work on the software we hope to improve its ability. Eventually everyone will be able to use this tool at home using webcams or smartphone applications. That will allow them to monitor their zheng and get an early warning about possible ailments," adds co-author of the study, Ye Duan.
Worried about the state of your tongue? Discover what your tongue could reveal about your health...
<strong>What could it mean?</strong> If your tongue looks like a creamy colour and pale, research suggests this could be down to lack of iron in your diet. Inadequate amounts of haemoglobin the blood (the iron-containing proteins found in red blood cells), causes the tongue to appear pale and lifeless.
<strong>What could it mean?</strong> If you have tiny, red raised spots on your tongue (usually found on the tip of your tongue) or a rash-like patch across the front of your tongue, experts claim this indicates a lack of vitamin C in your diet.
<strong>What could it mean?</strong> If your tongue is more of a bright to deep purple colour, than a pinkish red, experts believe this could be a sign of high cholesterol. The colour could be down to a lack of blood supply, poor circulation or too much sugar in the body.
<strong>What could it mean? </strong> Although a thin, white coating on the tongue is perfectly normal, research has discovered that a heavy white layer over the tongue could be signs of oral thrush - a fungal infection which occurs mainly in warm, moist areas of the body.
<strong>What could it mean?</strong> A dry tongue could be a symptom of swollen salivary glands. These produce saliva, so if you're lacking any moisture in your mouth, expert believe that this could be why.
Shape of your tongue
What the shape of your tongue could mean, according to the experts: <strong>Swollen</strong> If your tongue is puffy, this could be the sign of a spleen deficiency. <em>Always consult your GP</em>. <strong>Thin</strong> A thin tongue could signal blood and body fluid deficiencies.<em> Contact your GP if in doub</em>t. <strong>Sides curled up</strong> If the side of your tongue curls up at the ends and have teeth marks in them, this could signal problems with the liver. <em>Contact your GP if you're worried about this</em>. <strong>Cracks</strong> Slight (and sometimes painful) cracks on the side of your tongue can be signs of dehydration, excess heat. | <urn:uuid:28144f00-8263-474b-b4fe-3f923c4644a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/29/phone-app-predicts-health-problems-tongue-picture_n_1552363.html?ref=tw | 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 | 0.924686 | 874 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Item #: SCP-914
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: Only personnel who submit a formal request and receive approval from site command may operate 914. SCP-914 is to be kept in research cell 109-B with two guard personnel on duty at all times. Any researchers entering 109-B are to be accompanied by at least one guard for the entirety of testing. A full list of tests to be carried out must be given to all guard personnel on duty; any deviation from this list will result in termination of testing, forcible removal of personnel from 109-B, and formal discipline at site command’s discretion.
WARNING: At this time, no testing of biological matter is allowed. Refer to document 109-B:117. Applying the “Rough” setting to explosive materials is not advised.
Description: SCP-914 is a large clockwork device weighing several tons and covering an area of eighteen square meters, consisting of screw drives, belts, pulleys, gears, springs and other clockwork. It is incredibly complex, consisting of over eight million moving parts comprised mostly of tin and copper, with some wooden and cloth items observed. Observation and probing have showed no electronic assemblies or any form of power other than the “Mainspring” under the “Selection Panel”. Two large booths 3mx2.1mx2.1m (10ftx7ftx7ft) are connected via copper tubes to the main body of SCP-914, labeled “Intake” and “Output”. Between them is a copper panel with a large knob with a small arrow attached. The words Rough, Coarse, 1:1, Fine, and Very Fine are positioned at points around the knob. Below the knob is a large “key” that winds the “mainspring”.
When an object is placed in the Intake Booth, a door slides shut, and a small bell sounds. If the knob is turned to any position and the key wound up, SCP-914 will “refine” the object in the booth. No energy is lost in the process, and the object appears to be in stasis until the Output Booth door is opened. Intense observation and testing have not shown how SCP-914 accomplishes this, and no test object has ever been observed inside SCP-914 during the “refining” process. The process takes between five and ten minutes, depending on the size of the object being refined.
Addendum: 5/14: Dr. █████ Test Log
Input: 1kg of steel (setting: Rough)
Output: Pile of steel chunks of various sizes, appearing to be cut by laser.
Input: 1kg of steel (setting: 1:1)
Output: 1kg of steel screws
Input: 1kg of steel (setting: Fine)
Output: 1kg of steel carpet tacks
Input: 1kg of steel (setting: Very Fine)
Output: Several gases that dissipated into the air quickly, and 1 gram of an unknown metal, resistant to heat of 50,000 degrees, impossible to bend or break with any force, and a near-perfect (1.6x10-75 ρ) conductor of electricity
Input: 1 wristwatch belonging to Dr. █████ (setting: Coarse)
Output: 1 completely disassembled wristwatch
Input: 1 cellphone belonging to ███████ (setting: 1:1)
Output: 1 cellphone, although different make and model
Input: 1 standard Colt Python revolver (setting: Very Fine)
Output: [DATA EXPUNGED] Aforementioned ████████████ completely disintegrated all matter in its line of fire. Object contained with high density gamma waves.
Input: 1 white mouse (setting: 1:1)
Output: 1 brown mouse
Input: 1 chimp (setting: Fine)
Output: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Input: 1 chimp (setting: Rough)
Output: Badly mutilated corpse, showing signs of crushing and cutting with high heat
Document # 109-B:117: Dr.███ and Dr.███████ Test Log
Input: Subject D-186, male Caucasian, 42 years old, 108kg, 185cm tall. (setting: 1:1)
Output: Male Hispanic, 42 years old, 100kg, 188cm tall. Subject was very confused and agitated. Subject attacked security personnel. Subject terminated.
Input: Subject D-187, male Caucasian, 28 years old, 63kg, 173cm tall. (setting: Very Fine)
Output: [DATA EXPUNGED]. Subject escaped from test chamber, killing eight guards as well as Dr.███ and Dr.███████. Lockdown initiated. Subject causes containment failure of three SCP areas in continued escape attempt. Special response team engages subject, resulting in severe wounding of subject, partial memory loss in special response team members and corrosive damage to plumbing. Subject expired several hours later, dissolving into blue ash and blinding nearby research team.
Biological testing with SCP-914 discontinued.
Note: "Because of the nature of this SCP a wide range of test data would be helpful. Dr. Gears has ordered that any researcher can have access for non-biological testing if they themselves are or they are supervised by a Level 3 researcher. All testing is to be recorded in file #914-E (Experiment Log 914). Biological testing will continue only with prior clearance by 05 Command. As long as you want to try something mundane that isn't alive feel free to help accumulate data." - Dr. █████ | <urn:uuid:a194f097-d846-4fcd-aea7-62efd2593c92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-914 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905591 | 1,188 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Sean was placed at AMIkids when he was no longer allowed to attend his local high school. Because of poor decisions, he found himself in trouble that led to losing friends, trust from his family and only led him to more bad decisions. He was skipping school regularly and had no investment in his own future.
At AMIkids, Sean learned the benefits of giving back to his community through volunteering and community services. It was a great learning experience for him and helped him meet leaders and positive peers in his local community. He was proud of his participation with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Inc. and helping them renovate their office buildings.
Those around him have seen the change in Sean. While walking with his family, he saw an elderly woman struggling with her groceries and, without hesitation, Sean walked over to lend her a hand. Admittedly, he says that never would have crossed his mind before.
Sean says that AMIkids helped prepare him by teaching him to stay positive and to make decisions based on his new values system rooted in responsibility and honesty. He now says that his goal is to share his experiences and impact someone else’s life the way that AMIkids has impacted his. | <urn:uuid:f419fc7a-4a49-4c45-9921-1ff9964e2c88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amikidspiedmont.org/about-us/why-amikids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.996217 | 244 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Dog lovers with a pet allergy have a big problem when it comes to having a dog in the home. But the usual solution — getting a breed known to be hypoallergenic — may not be a safe bet. In fact, there may be no such thing as a low-allergy or allergy-free dog, according to a new report. The study found that the quantities of dog allergens in homes with supposedly hypoallergenic breeds are no different from those in homes with dogs widely considered non-hypoallergenic.
It is not even clear how a hypoallergenic breed earns the title. There is no single “official” list of them. Various breeds, often dogs that shed little hair, appear on lists posted on the Internet, and the American Kennel Club suggests 11 “hypoallergenic canine candidates,” including poodles, soft-coated wheaten terriers, schnauzers and the Portuguese water dog, made famous two years ago when the Obama family adopted one.
“I have no idea where this whole concept came from,” said Christine Cole Johnson, the senior author of the study, to be published online in The American Journal of Rhinology and Allergy. “It’s been around for a long time, and maybe people associated it with shedding. I think it’s just a legend.”
Christina Duffney-Carey, spokesperson for the kennel club, said that it “does not recommend or endorse any specific breed, nor does it claim that ‘hypoallergenic breeds’ will not affect people with allergies.” But, she adds, “there are many breeds with consistent and predictable coats that we suggest for allergy sufferers. These breeds have nonshedding coats, which produce less dander.”
It is possible that some breeds shed less dander — bits of hair and skin — than others. But according to this study, that may make little difference to allergy sufferers.
Previous studies have examined dog skin and hair to determine the amount of allergens they contain, and have found wide variations among individual animals, but no consistent differences by breed. This is the first study based on a sample scientifically selected to be representative of the national population to look at the actual dispersal of allergens in homes.
The scientists found that 60 of the 161 A.K.C.-recognized breeds were listed as hypoallergenic on one Web resource or another. But rather than entrust the matter to the opinions of the list-makers, the researchers decided to see whether breeds called hypoallergenic were actually shedding less of the major dog allergen, Canis familiaris 1, or Can f 1, where they live.
As part of a larger population-based long-term allergy study, the scientists collected dust samples from the homes of 173 one-dog families, and found that 163 of them produced measurable levels of Can f 1.
The numbers of dogs of each breed were not large enough to allow for analyses by individual breed, but the researchers compared quantities of allergens found in the samples using various categories of purebred and mixed-breed hypoallergenic and non-hypoallergenic dogs. No matter how they did the comparisons — even comparing dogs identified as hypoallergenic by the A.K.C. against all other dogs — they found no statistically significant differences in levels of Can f 1.
The authors acknowledge that their study has certain weaknesses. For example, the amount of time the dog spent in the room where the sample was gathered was not known, which could have affected the results. And the authors relied on the reports of the owners about the breed and ancestry of their dogs.
Still, Dr. Cole, an epidemiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, said: “You can’t be assured that some breed is going to produce less allergen than another. Allergists, based on their experience, really think that it’s just individual dogs who have some variations based on genetics or behavior, who produce more allergens than others. But it’s not going to be a breed classification that predicts that.” | <urn:uuid:3591eb30-f9b4-462d-b68e-cd0f06fe2835> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/the-myth-of-the-allergy-free-dog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961334 | 882 | 2.609375 | 3 |
S.C. Survey Shows Single Gender Education Improves Student Performance
The South Carolina Department of Education released a report Tuesday, which summarized the results of surveys given to students, parents and teachers participating in single sex public education.
According to the annual report,
Roughly 7,000 students, 1,120 parents, and 760 teachers from 119 different elementary, middle, and high schools around the state completed the surveys. Some of these schools started with single-gender classes in August 2009, while others have had greater experience with them.
Reuters reports the state has the highest number of schools offering single sex classes in the nation.
The surveys asked questions regarding students' self-confidence, participation in class and enjoyment of schoolwork.
Overall, results were positive toward the impact of single gender classes.
Some results from the report:
• 65 percent of students indicated that the classes increased their academic success and attitudes toward learning.
• 75 percent of students said that the classes improved their self-confidence.
• 80 percent of parents said that single sex classes were a factor in improving their childrens' performance in school.
Educators also felt that they saw improvements in the classroom because of single gender classes:
Teachers of female students gave "increase" answers at a higher percentage level (response averages ranging from 84 to 97 percent) than teachers of males averages ranging from 71 to 89 percent). | <urn:uuid:0016b7ad-8c2f-4e92-be40-56dfe1686283> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/sc-survey-shows-single-ge_n_790630.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966675 | 286 | 2.625 | 3 |
Ozzie Sweet approached photography as if he were a painter, composing shots so carefully that each picture was more a completed canvas than a random candid moment.
Taking inspiration from Norman Rockwell, Mr. Sweet created images of top athletes and movie stars, politicians and children. Beginning with a photo of a soldier that appeared on the cover of Newsweek during World War II, his work captured the heroic Americana quality many saw in Rockwell’s paintings.
Calling himself a photographic illustrator, Mr. Sweet left no detail to chance. While staging a shot of Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers sliding, Mr. Sweet told an assistant to throw ashes at the second-baseman’s feet to add heft to the kicked-up dirt. The preparation for a photo of two children at a water fountain on a Florida beach was even more elaborate.
“You can think of the beach, water, and sky as the blank canvas, the setting,” Mr. Sweet told the Globe in 1998. “You find a good-looking water fountain, talk to the city of St. Petersburg, ask them to bring it out to the beach, secure it on a big board so there is no danger of it falling on the kids, then bring a hose out to be buried under the sand. Cast the kids right, then you may have to wait days for the right weather.”
Mr. Sweet, whose work appeared on about 1,800 magazine covers ranging from Newsweek and Sport to Boy’s Life and Argosy, died Feb. 20 in his York Harbor, Maine, home. He was 94 and his health had been declining.
“He was the kindest person I ever met and he had a naturally sunny disposition,” said his wife, Diane. “I think so much of what he saw and what he wanted to create with photography was colored by his personality: So many of his images impart a feeling of upbeat optimistic happiness. I remember him saying that’s a hard thing to do, to impart a feeling from an image you produce. He said that if he could do that with one or two images a year, he felt he was doing a good job.
“He was a humble guy to boot.”
Personality played a key role in his success. In the introduction for Mr. Sweet’s 1993 book, “Legends of the Field,” which gathered many of his best sports photos, Ed Fitzgerald recalled the photographer’s unassuming good nature.
“What it came down to was that he liked people and people liked him,” wrote Fitzgerald, who was editor-in-chief of Sport magazine in the 1940s and ’50s. “That’s a priceless asset for a professional photographer who makes a living asking busy people to let him take pictures of them.”
Ted Williams, for example, was reluctant to pose, but Mr. Sweet persisted. In the resulting photo, smile wrinkles crinkle around the Red Sox slugger’s eyes. Beneath a boyish smile his bat is tucked so close that his chin brushes against his knuckles.
“I always wanted to get the tool of the trade in there,” Mr. Sweet told the Globe in 1993. “And it was nice to work his hands in there, too. You’d focus on what was important.”
Born Oscar Cowan Corbo in Stamford, Conn., Mr. Sweet took his stepfather’s last name when his parents divorced and his mother remarried. He grew up in the Adirondack Mountain region of New York, and after high school studied with sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who created the presidents’ heads on Mount Rushmore.
Heading to Los Angeles, Mr. Sweet acted in a Cecil B. DeMille movie and joined the Army during World War II. While serving as a photographer, he shot what became his first cover photo, a soldier with a knife in his teeth, which Newsweek published in 1942.
While working for Newsweek after the war, Mr. Sweet shot a photo of Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller that caught the eye of Fitzgerald, who called to ask Mr. Sweet to shoot photos for Sport magazine.
“But I don’t know anything about sports,” Mr. Sweet said.
“That doesn’t matter,” Fitzgerald replied, recounting the exchange later in the book introduction. “You know how to take pictures of people, and that’s what we want.”
During the next few decades, it seemed as if Mr. Sweet photographed everyone for every kind of magazine. Major League baseball players were a specialty, particularly Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees, who became the subject of a book Mr. Sweet published with the writer Larry Canale.
Mr. Sweet’s portraits included the actress Ingrid Bergman, a laughing Albert Einstein, Grace Kelly before she became Princess Grace of Monaco, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, TV host Arthur Godfrey, and Bob Hope holding a teacup.
“Ozzie combined technical skill with creative virtuosity, but his true talent, the spark that fired his genius, was his buoyant personality,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Like Will Rogers, Ozzie never met a man he didn’t like, or a woman either, and he could charm the birds out of the trees.”
Mr. Sweet photographed New England women for Playboy, Eskimos in Alaska for National Geographic, and Ernest Hemingway for Cat Fancy.
“See, he had to have company when he was writing,” Mr. Sweet told the Globe in 2005. “Dogs were too demanding, so he had cats. My assignment was to photograph him with his 30 cats, all descendants of a single cat.”
Mr. Sweet’s first marriage ended in divorce. He married Diane Rocco in 1974 after meeting her in Florida. One of her neighbors was a photo director and asked her to sit on a bicycle as an extra in one of Mr. Sweet’s photos.
“Ozzie worked all the time,” she said. “He loved to take pictures, and he had a happy life because of that.”
She added that “he always was so grateful to be able to do what he did. He saw things differently than the average person. It was always a joy to go to museums with him because he would make comments about art that we were looking at and reveal something that I never would have seen with my own eyes.”
A service has been held for Mr. Sweet, who in addition to his wife leaves two daughters, Linnea of San Francisco and Pamela of Newport, R.I.; a son, Anthony of Hong Kong; and a grandchild.
“Ozzie is an artist, but he uses a camera instead of brush and paint,” Canale told the Globe in 2005. “He creates scenes, and nobody has been better at it.”
For Mr. Sweet, who also published photographs in the Globe, the artistry could be found in the hours he spent preparing for that brief moment when the shutter clicked.
“Many people have said to me, ‘You don’t take pictures, you make them,’ ” he told the Globe in 1998, “and that’s really what photographic illustration is.” | <urn:uuid:d5f57c2f-1c78-4b9d-9032-66cfa3f2e847> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/12/ozzie-sweet-photographer-took-painter-approach-creating-historic-images/elw2s2T7P38eU8wQsOkrDM/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984004 | 1,568 | 1.617188 | 2 |
When Barry Sanders, 57, went to Georgia to hunt alligators this past weekend, he never expected to find one 13 feet long.
“It was unbelievable how big it was,” he said.
Initially, his friend Keith Herbert caught an 8-foot alligator Saturday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., so they kept hunting on their small 18-foot boat.
Then they saw a much bigger gator. When it poked its head above water they used a snag hook to grab it and spent the next two hours wrestling the large reptile, estimated to weigh about 800 pounds.
“It took three of us to get him in the boat,” Sanders said. “He was a horse.”
Sanders’ guide on the hunting trip, local legend and alligator trapper Jack Douglas, 65, helped pull the gator in.
“I’ve caught a good number of 12-foot gators … but this gator just dwarfed them out so bad,” he said. “I’ve been a trapper since ’89 and have probably handled 6,000 gators, and this was my biggest ever.”
The pictures, Sanders said, don’t do the gator justice.
“I’m 6′ 2″, and his legs were just as big as my legs,” he said.
They brought the gator back to Douglas’ home where his wife Amy, who also has a gator hunting tag, took pictures.
“This one was beyond anything any of us had seen before,” she said.
Her daughter Amanda, now 31, was the first woman to draw a gator hunting tag in the yearly Georgia lottery several years ago. She eventually caught a gator that was 12 feet long and about 600 pounds.
“As they get longer the girth is so much bigger,” she said.
Sanders, who first hunted gators in 2006, said this gator was probably at least 50 years old.
“Older than me maybe,” he said.
After skinning and harvesting the alligator, Sanders, who had traveled to Georgia from Warsaw, Va., brought nearly all of the meat back home.
“It makes a great jambalaya,” he said. | <urn:uuid:064114b2-0d16-4069-9c08-57fd411538d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/09/giant-georgia-gator-caught-in-ogeechee-river/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979398 | 492 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The atmospheric lapse rate ( ) refers to the change of an atmospheric variable with a change of altitude, the variable being temperature unless specified otherwise (such as pressure, density or humidity). While usually applied to Earth's atmosphere, the concept of lapse rate can be extended to atmospheres (if any) that exist on other planets.
Lapse rates are usually expressed as the amount of temperature change associated with a specified amount of altitude change, such as 9.8 °Kelvin (K) per kilometer, 0.0098 °K per meter or the equivalent 5.4 °F per 1000 feet. If the atmospheric air cools with increasing altitude, the lapse rate may be expressed as a negative number. If the air heats with increasing altitude, the lapse rate may be expressed as a positive number.
The lapse rate is most often denoted by the Greek capital letter Gamma ( or Γ ) but not always. For example, the U.S. Standard Atmosphere uses L to denote lapse rates. A few others use the Greek lower case letter gamma ( ).
Types of lapse rates
There are three types of lapse rates that are used to express the rate of temperature change with a change in altitude, namely the dry adiabatic lapse rate, the wet adiabatic lapse rate and the environmental lapse rate.
Dry adiabatic lapse rate
Since the atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, the volume of an air parcel expands as it rises. Conversely, if a parcel of air sinks from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, its volume is compressed by the higher pressure at the lower altitude. An adiabatic lapse rate is the rate at which the temperature of an air parcel changes in response to the expansion or compression process associated with a change in altitude, under the assumption that the process is adiabatic (meaning that no heat is added or lost during the process).
Earth's atmospheric air is rarely completely dry. It usually contains some water vapor and when it contains as much water vapor as it is capable of, it is referred to as saturated air (i.e., it has a relative humidity of 100%). The dry adiabatic lapse rate refers to the lapse rate of unsaturated air (i.e., air with a relative humidity of less than 100%). It is also often referred to as the dry adiabat, DALR or unsaturated lapse rate. It should be noted that the word dry in this context simply means that no liquid water (i.e., moisture) is present in the air ... water vapor may be and usually is present.
The dry adiabatic lapse rate can be mathematically expressed as:
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere and almost all human activity takes place in the troposphere. Since g and cpd vary little with altitude, the dry adiabatic lapse rate is approximately constant in the troposphere.
Wet adiabatic lapse rate
An unsaturated parcel of air will rise from Earth's surface and cool at the dry adiabatic rate of – 9.8 K / kilometre (5.4 °F /&tninsp;1000 ft) until it has cooled to the temperature, known as the atmospheric dew point, at which the water vapor it contains begins to condense (i.e., change phase from vapor to liquid) and release the latent heat of vaporization. At that dew point temperature, the air parcel is saturated and, because of the release of the heat of vaporization, the rate of cooling will decrease to what is known as the wet adiabatic lapse rate. This rate is also often referred to as the wet adiabat, saturated lapse rate, SALR, moist adiabatic lapse rate or MALR.
The wet adiabatic lapse rate is not a constant since it depends upon how much water vapor the atmospheric air contained when it started to rise, which means the amount of heat of vaporization available for release is variable. In the troposphere, the rate can vary from about 4 K / kilometre (2.2 °F / 1000 ft) in regions where the ambient temperature is about 25 °C (77 °F) to about 7 K / kilometre (3.8 °F / 1000 ft) in regions where the ambient temperature is about – 10 °C (14 °F).
After the air parcel has reached its dew point and cooling has decreased to the wet adiabatic lapse rate, it will eventually rise to a point where all of its water vapor has condensed and its rate of cooling will then revert back to the dry adiabatic lapse rate.
The wet adiabatic lapse rate can be mathematically expressed as:
Environmental lapse rate
The dry adiabatic lapse rate and the wet adiabatic lapse rate are both theoretical rates. The actual real-world profile of temperature versus altitude that exists at any given time and in any given geographical location is called the environmental lapse rate, also often referred to as the ELR, prevailing lapse rate or ambient lapse rate.
Meteorologists measure vertical temperature profiles by releasing weather balloons with mini-weather stations attached to them called radiosondes. Sometimes, meteorologists drop these mini-weather stations from an airplane at high altitude with a parachute attached. This type of measuring device is called a dropsonde.
In general, the ambient atmospheric air in the troposphere decreases with increasing altitude and so the environmental lapse rate is denoted as being negative. A committee consisting of 29 organizations and universities in the United States, established an average environmental lapse rate named the U.S. Standard Atmosphere having various values, as shown in the adjacent table, which are dependent on the altitude region of Earth's atmosphere. From the Earth's surface to an altitude of 11 kilometres, the value of the U.S. Standard Atmosphere is – 6.5 K / km (3.57 °F / 1000 feet).
A number of other organizations have established "Standard Atmospheres", including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), all three of whom agree with the U.S. Standard Atmosphere for altitudes up to 11 km (6.8 miles)
The adjacent graph, published by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), depicts the average profile of temperature versus altitude in the various layers of the Earth's atmosphere. As can be seen, it is generally in fair agreement with the above tabulated lapse rates of the U.S. Standard Atmosphere.
At times, inversion layers may form in the troposphere. Such inversion layers will have a positive environmental lapse rate, meaning that the atmospheric temperature increases with altitude within the inversion layers. An inversion layer may be one of two types:
Surface inversion layer
During the night, the Earth's surface loses heat rather rapidly by radiation while the ambient air above the surface loses heat more slowly by convection. Thus, what is called a radiation inversion forms in which the air temperature for some distance above the ground is higher than the air temperature very near to the ground. In other words, the environmental lapse rate within the surface inversion layer is positive and increases with altitude. Air very near Earth's surface which has flowed across a cold surface (such as a lake), and been cooled by advection, may also form a surface inversion layer called an advective inversion. Advection is a meteorological term for heat transfer occurring from horizontal air motion.
During a typical diurnal pattern (i.e., daily cycle), the base of a radiation inversion formed during the night rises during the day as the Earth's surface warms up from solar radiation. As it rises, it forms what is called an inversion aloft. The base of that inversion aloft is a ceiling or lid, above which very little or essentially no vertical turbulence (i.e., vertical motion) or vertical mixing occurs within the inversion layer. The height of the lid is called the mixing height. As the day goes on and the Earth's surface continues to warm, the base of the inversion rises, the inversion layer gets thinner and the mixing height increases. When the base of the layer reaches the inversion top, perhaps by mid-afternoon on a hot summer day, the inversion aloft breaks up completely and the mixing height is no longer limited.
Lapse rates and atmospheric stability
Atmospheric stability is a term used to qualitatively describe the amount of vertical motion of the air in the lower atmosphere (the troposphere). In broad general terms, the atmospheric stability can be characterized by these four categories:
- A very stable atmosphere is one that has very little, if any, vertical motion of the air.
- A stable atmosphere is one that discourages vertical motion but does have some motion of the air.
- An unstable atmosphere is one that encourages continual vertical motion of the air, upwards or downwards.
- A neutral atmosphere is one that neither discourages nor encourages vertical motion of the air and is often referred to as conditionally stable.
The numerical value of the environmental lapse rate determines the stability category of the atmospheric air. Referring to the adjacent diagram:
- When the environmental lapse rate (i.e., the actual ambient temperature gradient) is greater than zero (as for the rate marked 1 in the adjacent diagram), then an inversion layer is present and the atmospheric temperature increases with altitude. There is essentially no vertical turbulence and the atmosphere is said to be very stable or extremely stable.
- When the environmental lapse rate is greater than – 5.5 K / km (as for the rate marked 2 in the diagram), then there is some small amount of vertical turbulence and the atmosphere is said to be stable. It may also be referred to as being sub-adiabatic.
- When the environmental lapse rate lies between the wet adiabatic lapse rate and the dry adiabatic lapse rate (as for the rate marked 3 in the diagram), then the atmosphere is said to be neutral. That would apply to the U.S. Standard Atmosphere of – 6.5 K / km in most cases.
- When the environmental lapse rate is less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate (as for the line marked 4 in the diagram), then there is turbulence in the atmosphere and the atmosphere is said to be unstable. It may also be referred to as being super-adiabatic.
- Although not shown in the diagram, if the environmental lapse rate were zero (perfectly vertical), then the atmosphere would be in an isothermal condition (no change of temperature with altitude) and would be also be said to be very stable.
Importance of understanding atmospheric stability
An understanding and knowledge of atmospheric stability is important for many reasons. What follows is a brief discussion of some of those reasons:
Probably one of the most important reasons is that atmospheric turbulence and mixing plays a major role in air pollution dispersion modeling. Turbulence and mixing is provided by an unstable atmosphere and thus enhances the dispersion of air pollutants, while a stable atmosphere inhibits turbulence and results in very poor dispersion of air pollutants.
A stable atmosphere inhibits rainfall, while an unstable atmosphere encourages rainfall and thunderstorms. A stable atmosphere also inhibits forest fire activity and an understanding of atmospheric stability helps explain certain aspects of forest fire behavior.
A certain amount of atmospheric instability is important for glider pilots, since without it the thermals needed for glider flight would not form. Understanding of atmospheric stability is also important for the safety of glider pilots because high atmospheric instability may lead to thunderstorms.
The atmospheric stability has a large impact on the deposition and drift of aerially applied sprays of various farm crop protection materials and herbicides.
- Note: is the LaTeX rendition of the Greek capital letter Gamma and Γ is the HTML rendition.
- Note: The lapse rate is often defined as the negative change of temperature with a change of altitude. That definition leads to statements such as "A positive lapse rate indicates cooling as height increases while a negative lapse rate indicates warming as height increases". That is counter-intuitive since lapse rates are usually denoted as a negative number (i.e., – 6.5 °K / kilometer (km) or the equivalent 3.6 °F / 1000 feet) to indicate cooling with an increase of height.
- Note: Since the wet adiabatic lapse rate may be as low as – 4 °K / km, the U.S. Standard Atmosphere may not always lie between the wet and dry adiabatic lapse rates.
- Lapse rates and air parcels, Professor Robert Fovell, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Characteristics of Air Parcels and Air Masses; Clouds, Dr. Nicholas Short, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976.
- Vertical Motion and Atmospheric Stability, From the website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- About Atmospheric Stability, Steve W. Woodruff, Pierce College, Los Angeles, California.
- John E. Frederick (2008), Principles of Atmospheric Science, 1st Edition, Jones and Bartlett, ISBN 0-7637-4089-6.
- Glossary of Meteorology, Dry adiabatic lapse rate from the glossary of the American Meteorological Society.
- Glossary of Meteorology, Moist adiabatic lapse rate from the glossary of the American Meteorological Society.
- Milton R. Beychok (2005), Fundamentals of Stack Gas Dispersion, 4th Edition. Author-published. ISBN 0-9644588-0-2., 4th Edition, Self-published, ISBN 0-9644588-0-2.
- Manual of the ICAO standard atmosphere extended to 80 kilometres (50 miles), Document 7488-CD, Third Edition, 1993.
- Standard Atmosphere, ISO 2533:1975/Add2:1997.
- The Layers of the Atmosphere From the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS).
- Atmospheric Stability and Instability, From the website of the Utah State University.
- Atmospheric Stability, From the website of www.coursework.info
- Atmospheric stability, From the website of the Encyclopedia of Southern Fire Science (ESFS).
- Federal Aviation Administration (2007), Glider Flying Handbook, Reprint Edition, Skyhorse Publishing, ISBN 1-60239-061-4.
- Role of Atmospheric Stability in Drift and Deposition of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. | <urn:uuid:06c1ccf1-fce1-4437-be9f-7a1dd86ecebb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eoearth.org/article/Atmospheric_lapse_rate?topic=74661 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905748 | 3,063 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Yes, that’s right: Get a Twitter account. Don’t be “that guy.” You know the one. He's the same guy who refuses to espouse WiFi because “dial-up works just fine,” and the same guy who still has a clamshell flip-phone. Don't be him. Embrace the technology and social media because it’s quick, painless, (mostly) free and – most important – here to stay. Come on, genius, you can tourné a carrot, you have all the skill you need to open and use a Twitter account.
Being a New Englander, I understand we can be stubborn and resistant to change. But when someone asks on Twitter about the special you're running that night, take a second out of your prep work and answer them. When your cooks ask questions, you spend minutes if not hours a day answering them. Cooks don’t make you money but the customer does, so take a few moments and communicate. You don’t have to respond to every tweet; don’t feel like you have to. It's a learning process, but once you get into the rhythm you’ll find Twitter to be invaluable.
Twitter is not a popularity contest, unless of course you’re an actor or politician. Twitter is a succinct means to communicate with people and places that interest you, like other chefs or restaurants. It’s a means to entertain, gather and disseminate information. Not following people is like choosing to be blind to what’s going on around you. Go ahead, follow all the famous restaurants and chefs you want to, but then follow your local chefs and maybe some regulars. This will create a mutual feeling of loyalty because you are showing that you actually care about your patrons.
Twitter Is Not a Billboard
Twitter is like having a face-to-face conversation with each and every follower. You wouldn’t walk up to a customer or friend and say, “Cookies are three for $1!” and then not say anything else. Now don’t go getting all squirrelly on me, there are exceptions. For example, aside from dialogue with customers Doug Sohn of @hotdougs in Chicago uses Twitter to post his weekly specials…once a week. People want to be talked to and not “at” so keep the hawking to a bare minimum. If you want to introduce something you feel your customers might be interested in, introduce it as a special. Answer price questions only when asked. Remember Twitter is a relationship builder and you are a friend, not a huckster.
Do Not Let Someone Tweet For You
Nobody knows your business or your passion for that business like you do. If you had a Ferrari and absolutely loved driving it, would you let me drive it for you when you didn’t have time? That’s what @SocialKitchenNH and other companies like it would have you do, and on top of them driving your Ferrari they’ll also ask you to give them gas money.
You won’t be able to fix every problem you find on Twitter just by responding. I mean, some people would complain if you hung them with brand new rope. But being the voice of reason and showing you care enough to respond is sometimes all a customer wants. They want you to be accessible. “Sorry you didn’t enjoy your app @JoeBobbleHead Please come back so we can give you the experience you deserve. We appreciate the opportunity to earn your business.”
When people you follow have something informative or entertaining to tweet…re-tweet it! Known as a “RT” in the Twitterverse, it's a simple way to pass on someone else's comment to your followers with the touch of a button. You’re not a clown after all and nobody is expecting you to be the only entertainment source.
The Bottom Line
Twitter is as easy as falling out of a boat. It’s a tool you can use a little or a lot. Either way your relationship with your customers will foster respect and loyalty because you’re not only feeding their bellies, but their hearts as well. Twitter may not make you the next @Mariobatali , but it will sure as hell help you and your restaurant by expanding your name, brand and your reputation by knowing your customers’ needs and how to service them. | <urn:uuid:71fd9878-1c0d-4229-9d9f-6567e28af8cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pavlovblogs.blogspot.com/2012/08/chefs-restaurateurs-meet-twitter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949295 | 935 | 1.523438 | 2 |
New Book by Author Joe Puckett, ‘The Dream: The Story of the 1978 and 1979 Peerless Panthers’
AMHERST, N.H. /Publishers Newswire/ — High school basketball took hold of one small town – Peerless, Montana – and author, Joe Puckett, recounts the story in “The Dream: The Story of the 1978 and 1979 Peerless Panthers” (ISBN: 978-0-9845494-0-5), a new book published by Aubade Publishing. In the team’s 45-year history, it was the players from 1978 and 1979 that first qualified for the State Class C basketball tournament in Montana.
The story details 1957-1980 when the State Class C Montana basketball tournament was played in Helena. It also outlines the passing of the District 1-C basketball conference – once the most powerful Class C basketball conference in Montana – which today no longer exists.
Puckett recounts sharing a dream with his father, George “Tiny” Puckett; his twin brother, Jon; and childhood teammates to someday play in and win this State C basketball tournament for the town of Peerless.
The story begins in 1932, when Puckett’s grandfather, Forgey Reese Puckett, founded Peerless High School and ends with its closing in June 2009. Throughout its pages are numerous black and white photos that help to bring the story to life.
Mostly, this book is about dreams, rivalries, triumph, disappointment, passion and a love shared by a group of boys who never gave up striving for the one thing in their life that mattered most – playing in the State Class C basketball tournament.
Largely based on the author’s memories, events that occurred more than 30 years ago are pieced together with the help of a scrapbook that was meticulously maintained by Puckett’s mother, Faustine.
With many small schools in Montana either closing or being forced to combine with other schools, mostly attributed to the difficulty of the small rancher or farmer to make a living, it was this fact that served as the catalyst for Puckett to write this book – to preserve the memory of the Peerless community.
Laced with humor, small-town intrigue and anecdotes, most readers will find something to identify with in “The Dream.” It reveals just how closely one small town’s identity and social life are connected to high school basketball.
As a way of commemorating the fine Peerless Panther basketball tradition, former Panther players are gathering for an alumni tournament on June 25 and 26 in Scobey, Montana. Panther teammates from the 1960s through the 1990s will play a game to salute the memory of Peerless High School.
For more information, visit: http://aubadepublishing.com . | <urn:uuid:4b2406ae-ba18-43c5-99af-82f0c89595f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://publishersnewswire.com:/2010/06/12/PNW1903_122451.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958924 | 591 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Thein Kyu, Ph D , University of Akron
Research and Education Activities:
Prior to investigating the trans-cis photoisomerization effects, we found gigantic azobenzene pyramid single crystals shooting through monomer and nematic liquid crystal melt phases. The shooting phenomena is present in trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA), 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (DA), and E7 nematic liquid crystals. We established the solid-liquid phase diagram of AC and each of the solvating components above, showing isotropic, pure crystalline, and coexistence of crystal + isotropic regions bound by solidus and liquidus lines. Upon thermal quenching from the isotropic melt to the crystal + liquid region, AC crystals nucleate and form faceted rhomboidal single crystals. As solvent is rejected from a growing front, a concentration depletion zone develops at the crystal-solution interface. This composition gradient induces spatial variability of surface tension, a relation known as the Marangoni effect. If single crystals nucleate in this surface tension gradient, they are propelled away from the growing front by unequal surface tension forces. Such crystal rapid motion (hereafter called crystal shooting) has prompted development of a model for the motion based on the balance between surface tension and opposing drag forces. The mathematical model has resulted in one publication and another one in progress in collaboration with Professor Dmitry Golovaty from the Department of Applied Mathematics.
Crystals which move quickly through the solution also appear to take on shape selection rules based on solution undercooling. A fourfold rhomboidal symmetry is exhibited at shallow undercoolings, while the rhomboidal shape becomes truncated at the acute tips, creating a six-fold crystal symmetry in crystals observed at deeper solution undercoolings. A phase field model for crystal solidification is being developed to simulate crystal shape selection rules, the phase field model is advantageous in that the thickness of the interface affects the front propagation speed and shape. Also, the surface energy anisotropy of growing single crystals is incorporated into the model so as to preferentially grow the crystal along certain crystallographic planes. We hypothesize the relative growth rates along crystallographic planes changes with undercooling depth, much like the shapes of snowflakes depend on saturation conditions in the clouds they grow in. Once shape selection behavior is characterized in relation to the phase diagrams, we plan to use these guiding principles during photo-patterning experiments to select the preferred crystal interface topologies.
Students Involved and/or Graduated:
Namil Kim, graduated with a Ph. D. in August, 2010 with the dissertation supported by this ACS-PRF grant # 48735-ND7: “Photoisomerization and photopolymerization induced phase transitions in mixtures of photoresponsive chromophores and reactive mesogens”. Dr. Kim has been working as a research fellow with a Korean national lab. Grant Riley, an undergraduate Physics student from Miami University (OH) studied AC crystal motion in diacrylate during summer 2010 (10 weeks) and was jointly supported by NSF-REU. Tom Sutter, a Ph. D. candidate, is currently exploring the AC/E7 liquid crystal system, modeling the crystal solidification, and developing a photolithography setup to complete the second focused area of the grant. He presented crystal motion findings at the 2011 APS national meeting in Dallas, TX, and also at the Midwest regional ACS meeting in 2011. Tom Sutter won the University of Akron poster contest for graduate research in May 2011. Kaitlin Sweany, an undergraduate Physics student from Baldwin Wallace College studied shape selection of AC crystals in E7 blends during summer 2011 (10 weeks) and was jointly supported by NSF-REU. Jonathan Proch, an undergraduate student in mathematics and electrical engineering, was hired during summer 2011 for 2 months to perform the numerical simulation on crystal growth dynamics and was supported by the present PRF grant.
1) The present research is the first to demonstrate the swimming, shooting, and sinking of diamond AC crystals during crystallization in solution.
2) The phenomenon of crystal swimming is attributed to the unbalanced surface forces resulting from solvent rejection from growth fronts and a solvent concentration gradient. This novel surface tension mechanism is the first to be reported in the field of crystal growth.
3) AC single crystals in diacrylate solutions are capable of undergoing cascading nucleation events while moving through the melt, resembling fireworks. Tumbling while shooting, and varied single crystal shapes (hexagonal or rhomboidal) are the never before seen phenomena.
4) Polygonal shape selection during crystal growth is due to the depth of undercooling below the liquidus line of the system.
5) Deep temperature quenches below the liquidus reveal seaweed-type crystals growing in regions of lowest temperatures and polygonal single crystals at temperatures at shallower depths. Complexity of possible crystal structures is conceptualized in the context of the undercooling depth guided by the phase diagram.
Proposed Study in the Third Year (i.e., no-cost time extension period)
In the requested no-cost time extension period, we will examine AC crystal solidification and motion during photolithographic illumination and patterned photopolymerization of DA. The spatio-temporal crystal growth will be investigated in the context of phase field theory of solidification by coupling with the photopolymerization rate. The influence of photopolymerized DA domains on crystal motion and shape selection will be explored. We expect the liquidus of AC/DA blends to move to higher temperatures as a result of the photopolymerization, in turn creating more truncation in single crystals or evolution of the solidification fronts into dendritic or seaweed structures. | <urn:uuid:76e05a5b-f9e5-4788-a761-58f055eefaf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://acswebcontent.acs.org/prfar/2011/Paper11768.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915782 | 1,200 | 2.453125 | 2 |
I've heard setting keepalive timeout at too high a number will diminish its value. So, to be on the safe side, and still somewhat benefit from it, can I set it to 1 second ?
Or will setting it to 1 second be equivalent to just leaving it OFF ?
First of all, before you make any kind of changes, get familiar with the system internals. Install munin to monitor what your system does, how many connections, open sockets, apache processes etc. you have and make choices based on the real numbers/statistics.
KeepAlive's main purpose is to send several static files via HTTP 1.1 on the same connection. So if you disable or set KeepAlive too short the client has to make a connection for every css, js, jpg, whatever static file it wants from your server. Building up a connection takes time, so it is wise to set it to 300 seconds. Most browsers keep connections open from 120 to 300 seconds, also most of the SSL keys have the same 300 sec timeout.
If you experience excess resource usage, then lower it till you reach the value suits your and your clients needs.
Where'd you hear that? The risk to having a high KeepAliveTimeout isn't to diminish its value; the risk is that you'll end up with a potential resource exhaustion condition on your web server from too many open keep-alive connections.
At a bare minimum, set the keep-alive timeout to the time it takes a client browser to fully load a typical page; disabling it or setting it too low will force extra reconnects, slowing your page load speeds (and on SSL pages, force extra CPU-intensive negotiations for each reconnect). | <urn:uuid:95ef1f3b-4dd4-4ae2-8c35-39802089e846> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://serverfault.com/questions/355717/is-it-better-to-set-keepalive-to-1-second-rather-than-turning-it-off-all-togethe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937893 | 354 | 1.984375 | 2 |
See more from this Session: Student Oral Competition: Turfgrass Ecology and the Environment
Experiments were conducted in 2010 at the Weed Science Annex in Raleigh, NC. Herbicide treatments included AMCP (84 g ae ha-1) and Confront® [triclopyr (315 g ae ha-1) plus clopyralid (105 g ae ha-1); (TRIC+CLPY)] applied to mature tall fescue. Clipping collection took place 0, 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after application (DAA). Clippings (25 g) were placed into 15 L growth containers containing alligatorweed and parrotfeather (9.5 L pondwater; pH ≈ 7.8). A nontreated mulch and nontreated control were also included for comparison. Treatments were arranged in a 4 x 5 factorial (four clipping treatments by five clipping collection timings) in a randomized complete block design with four replications and two experimental runs. Visual plant injury (0 to 100% scale) was recorded weekly and plant shoot length (cm) was recorded 69 days after initiation. Data were subject to ANOVA using MIXED model methodology and means separated using Fisher’s Protected LSD (P<0.05).
All herbicide treatments and clipping collection timings caused significant effects to alligatorweed and parrotfeather growth compared to the nontreated mulch and nontreated control. In general, visual injury increased and shoot length decreased as clipping collection neared 0 DAA. Alligatorweed visual injury was greater from AMCP clippings collected 1, 3, 7, and 14 DAA than similar TRIC+CLPY clipping collection timings. Alligatorweed shoot length was reduced more with AMCP than TRIC+CLPY clippings collected 0 and 7 DAA. Similarly, parrotfeather visual injury and shoot length reduction was greater with AMCP clippings collected 3, 7, and 14 DAA than similar TRIC+CLPY clipping collection times. Based on these data, turfgrass managers must properly return AMCP and TRIC+CLPY treated turfgrass clippings in a manner which avoids potential off-target plant injury. | <urn:uuid:3aec1dbc-d28d-4dda-9a23-090e763818ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://a-c-s.confex.com/scisoc/2011am/webprogram/Paper68602.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948399 | 465 | 2.375 | 2 |
With all the storms in the weekend forecast, why not talk about lightning and thunder? Local WCCO-TV news ran a story on this yesterday, but in my humble opinion, it didn’t tell us much. Some of it even missed the mark. So here we go!
The question was asked: Why does thunder crack and sometimes roll?
Many reasons determine the sound of thunder. Distance is a key component. As the sound waves from thunder travel toward you, they travel through different densities of air, different temperatures, and fade. Lower tones travel the farthest. You tend to hear the low rumble of distant thunder, therefore.
Also the length of a lightning bolt affects the sound you hear. All thunder is the result of lightning and some lightning can travel over 60 miles. You literally hear different parts of the lightning bolt at different times. This can also give thunder and rumbling, rolling sound. Different parts of the sound travels through different densities of air, for example.
Where you are in the storm matters, too. Generally we hear the first strikes of thunder the loudest and clearest, especially if the thunder precedes any rainfall. Without rain impeding the sound waves, the thunder tends to be more sharp and clear.
And if you happen to be right next to a strike, you get the loud crack that sounds instantaneous because the sound has very little distant to travel and distort. You hear the loud crack. If you still have your wits about you, you can often still hear the thunder roll away in the distance, too.
Two errors in the WCCO story. One minor and the other a bit more signficant.
First, lightning and thunder rarely occurs in the winter not because there isn’t as much moisture in the air, but because there isn’t as much static electricity in the air. The turbulent rising and falling of rain and especially ice in thunderstorms creates a charge (usually a negative charge) in the cloud that is discharged against a positive charge elsewhere, even in another cloud. It is a matter of turbulent storm dynamics, not moisture, that causes lightning and thus thunder. It does happen in the winter, but rarely, because the storm dynamics are not right.
(I heard someone once say that lightning is rare in hurricanes, too. Is that true? I was told hurricanes expend energy in circulating winds that inhibit tall thunderstorm development. I don’t know if this is true. Does anyone from Florida or Louisiana read this post? My dear friend Sandy can answer this for me. I’ll get back to you.)
The second and more silly error is how the difference in time between a lightning strike and the sound of thunder was explained. They explained that every five seconds counted after seeing a lightning flash and hearing thunder counted for a mile of distance, which is essentially accurate. If you can count thirty seconds, for example, the storm is about 6 miles away. The meteorologist said this was true because light travels five times faster than sound. This is incorrect. (Sorry, Mike Augustyniak…but it is ok.)
Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second or almost 700 million miles an hour. (We learned this in school, right?) Sound travels about 768 miles per hour, right? I’m not a math wiz, but light travels many millions times faster than sound. And if you think about it, it doesn’t matter anyway. If light travels “five times” faster than sound, how would counting to five measure that. Where is the constant? If I counted really slowly and only got to three, would that mean light traveled three times faster than sound? Nope. The logic behind the incorrect answer is incorrect as well.
So there you have it, my little brush up on lightning and thunder. Please reply with all corrections kindly.
- Why are we getting thunder and lightning? (metofficenews.wordpress.com)
- Flash Facts About Lightning (nationalgeographic.com)
- Frequently Asked Questions About Lightning (nssl.noaa.gov) | <urn:uuid:c587a52a-fd6c-46c6-b531-3c9217108aa1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alittletourinyellow.wordpress.com/tag/wcco-tv/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936377 | 849 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The difference between entitled and titled.
Kings and Queens are entitled to rule because of their birthright in a monarchy.
Workers for large corporations are entitled to the benefits that the corporation offers.
When you buy insurance you are entitled to the benefits of the insurance you’ve purchased.
Books are not entitled to anything. Now people if they own books are entitled to read them.
Books are titled (e.g. John Green wrote a book titled Looking for Alaska)
Movies are titled (e.g. What was the title of the movie you saw?)
The titles of books will never be entitled to anything, so when you declare that a book is … titled this or that … make sure you do not bestow it with benefits.
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- wordpainting posted this | <urn:uuid:9d6d4079-f710-416f-86d1-ee28187e4d56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wordpainting.tumblr.com/post/34561864836/letting-the-grammar-geek-out-of-the-box | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919979 | 571 | 2.484375 | 2 |
ARPOC (Augmented Reality with Point Of Interest)
Augmented Reality (AR) refers to a simple combination of real and virtual (computer-generated) worlds. AR can be used to add information to our reality. Best known and simple example for AR – While watching live coverage of Cricket match on television, we see some kind of logo of well- known sponsor appears. So here real world is live coverage and virtual world is added sponsor logo. On the same line we have created a POC based on AR to show the Points of Interest around you. To get the real world’s feel application uses Camera Controller which is available in iOS. To display virtual information i.e. Points Of Interests, on the camera controller application uses some calculations which are done using GPS, POI data and compass capability of the device. The virtual information is made interactive to navigate the app to show the details related to it. | <urn:uuid:892501fc-4725-40ea-8f17-7b92f0936fc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.softsystems.in/index.php/applications/iphone-applications/arpoc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923078 | 187 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Animal Species:Spider Ant
Spider Ants are conspicuous ants when you see them, but they are rarely encountered in Sydney.
At first glance, as their name suggests, Spider Ants look like spiders. This is because of their thin body, elongated head and long thin legs, and their habit of raising their lower abdomen and moving quickly when disturbed.
Spider Ants are found throughout Australia.
Spider Ants live in urban areas, forests and woodlands, and heath. They are more often encountered in forest and mountainous areas with high rainfall.
Other behaviours and adaptations
Spider Ants usually nest at ground level in soil or dead wood and have relatively few members in their colonies compared with other ants. Spider Ants forage during the day and sometimes at night, collecting a wide range of both plant and animal material. The long thin legs enable Spider Ants to walk on the water surface. They are often the first ants to forage after rainfall.
As well as the usual workers that tend young, forage and guard the nest, Spider Ants also have workers with special adaptations for food storage. When food is scarce, these workers distribute a liquid that they store in their swollen abdomen to members of the colony. | <urn:uuid:3ae765b0-fd86-4a14-8925-34bcec2e20dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Spider-Ant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932296 | 250 | 3.609375 | 4 |
The death of former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell reverberated throughout the National Football League, eliciting responses from figures both past and present. Here are some of those responses:
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti: "He was my friend, my mentor. We will miss him so much. How lucky are all of us to have had Art in Baltimore? How fortunate I am to have had him teach me about the NFL. His generosity, his love, his humor, his intelligence, his friendship -- we were all blessed by this great man. We will strive to live up to his standard."
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome: "Art was a giant in our industry. He was my boss -- but he wouldn't let me call him that -- my mentor, and most importantly, my friend. He was the most caring, compassionate person I've ever known. The opportunities he gave me are historic, and I will be forever humble and grateful."
|Art Modell, one of the most influential people in the NFL, died Thursday, eliciting a range of reactions. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)|
Ravens coach John Harbaugh: "It is often said about those inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame: 'Can you write the history of the league without him?' The answer with Art Modell is resounding. He was a great leader, but more importantly, he was truly a good man."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: "Art Modell's leadership was an important part of the NFL's success during the league's explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond. As the longtime chairman of the league's Broadcast Committee, Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass viewing of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the league. Art played important roles in many other league matters as a key advisor to Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue, and also built championship teams in Cleveland and Baltimore. His skills as an owner and league contributor were matched only by his great sense of humor. Any conversation with Art included laughs. He always left you with a smile on your face. We extend our condolences to John, David and the rest of the Modell family."
Former NBC-TV president Dick Ebersol: "I believe very strongly that Art Modell is one of the most important figures in the history of the modern NFL. He and Pete Rozelle developed the magic formula that married the potential of television to the game. Those funds from this marriage propelled the game into what it is today. Art was there with Pete, and Art made it happen. Those two, along with Well Mara -- who convinced other owners about the power of shared revenue -- are the three men who pushed the NFL into what we know today."
Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: "Art Modell made extraordinary contributions to the National Football League during his decades as an NFL owner. When he stepped away from operating the Baltimore Ravens in 2004, his 43 seasons in the league represented more than half of the NFL's history. Art contributed to the NFL's growth and success through the performance of his teams, his recognition of the unique place our sport has in American life, his active participation in the leagueâs governance, and his support of civic and community organizations. He was a trusted advisor to both Commissioner Rozelle and me during our time in office. His wisdom, knowledge and wit kept both of us grounded in the toughest of circumstances. My deepest sympathies to David, John and the entire Modell family on their loss."
Former Ravens coach Brian Billick: "Art Modell was all about family, and that's how he directed the Ravens. He treated me, my family and everyone in the organization like a member of his family. Before I think of the gratitude I owe him for giving me the opportunity to be his head coach, I think of the way he treated all of us. I don't believe there's another NFL franchise that embraces that more than Art did. That was reflected in the people he hired. He created an atmosphere that was the best. It was a joy to come to work for him. He accomplished so much as an owner: championships, playoffs, the TV contracts, the leadership in the NFL. They are all great and deserving of the Hall of Fame. Those who worked with Art will all say the same thing. He was a Hall of Fame person."
Former Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer: "No, no, this is sad news. I loved Art Modell, and I was just thinking of him yesterday. He was a man's man, someone you wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with. He gave me my first head coaching job, and we had the most fun working together. We didn't win the biggest prize, but we were awfully close, and we had a ball trying to get there. Art made it fun. His humor was the best, and my wife, Pat, always said what a gentleman he is -- classy, and he ran his franchise that way. I have only good memories of Art."
Giants president and CEO John Mara on the passing of Art Modell: "Art Modell was one of the greatest owners in the history of the NFL. He contributed in so many ways to the success of this League and he deserves a place in Canton. More importantly, he was a decent man and a great friend to my family. We will miss him dearly."
Giants executive vice president Steve Tisch: "Art Modell was a visionary, a deal-maker and a friend. And he possessed a marvelous sense of humor. Our league and my father and our family benefitted from his great qualities and foresight. It was Art who formally introduced my father to Wellington Mara, which ultimately led to my father purchasing 50 percent of the Giants franchise. For that, and for Art's good nature, we will always be grateful."
Former Denver Broncos and Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe: "One of my favorite moments in the NFL was when he spoke to us in the locker room after the Super Bowl victory. He said, 'This is the proudest day of my life; you guys make me proud.' And then he started to break down. That touched me. You could not only see the emotion from him and from all of us in that room, you could feel it. Knowing how long he had been in the NFL and how many great players he had been around, it was such a great feeling to give him something that he wanted for so long. We all wanted it for him!"
Ravens LB Ray Lewis: "When you think about Art Modell, you think about a great man, a leader, a father and a servant. Every minute of his life, he cared more about everyone around him than himself. Anytime I saw him, he would always make me smile. He always had a joke to lighten your mood or some sort of wisdom to impart to make you a better man. I genuinely loved Art as a man, and he showed me what to strive for in life. When you truly see the impact he had on everyone he touched, it humbles you. When I found out he wasn't doing well, I knew immediately I had to see him. When I was with him yesterday, I prayed with him and shared with him things that a son would say to a father. Even though he has left us, he is going to a place that one day we all want to be. I am truly blessed to have had Art in my life. He was a humble servant, and one of the best men I have ever known."
Former Browns and Ravens RB Earnest Byner: "The thing about Mr. Modell, his heart was always one of giving. That man did a lot for Cleveland, he did a lot for the players that were on that team, and he gave a lot of people a lot of second chances in life. He's a juggernaut in the league because of what he did for Monday Night Football. He was a visionary, and he had the heart of a champion. For me, that pretty much says it all."
Former Browns, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins QB Bernie Kosar: "I had a special relationship with Mr. Modell, and he's probably angry that I'm not calling him Art. We were close when I played for him and became even closer through our adversities. He was such a caring person. The first thing he would ask is, 'How are you doing? How are the kids?' He told me that I was like a son to him, and that made me proud. A lot of Clevelanders wouldnât believe this, but Art is one of the most loyal and trusting persons I've ever met. Maybe that led him to some decisions that not everyone liked. But, he was tough -- always willing to take the brunt of things on his shoulders. He didn't blame others. This is a sad day for me. I truly valued his friendship and will miss that."
My family and I would like to send ourcondolences to the Modell family. Art was a visionary and humanitarian, who helped lot of people...â Jim Brown 32 (@JimBrownNFL32) September 6, 2012
RIP A Modell..Art was part of the 2nd wave of Owners of mid-20th century era that shaped the NFL,the marriage of TV;a big-hearted jokester!â Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) September 6, 2012
Art Modell was one of kindest men I have ever known. I am proud to have called him a friend & will miss him dearly. twitter.com/CoachBillick/sâ¦â Brian Billick (@CoachBillick) September 6, 2012
To a man that I consider not only a friend but a second father Art Modell you taughtme a lot about life and being a man thank u ! RIP!â Tony Siragusa (@TonySiragusa) September 6, 2012
Art Modell was a class act... When I was a rookie he was at every practice. He was a owner that you just wanted to win for.â Jamal Lewis (@Jamal31Lewis) September 6, 2012
My favorite Art Modell quote is when he would call me and say, "Look kid, I am not second guessing, I am first guessing".â Michael Lombardi (@michaelombardi) September 6, 2012
R.I.P to Art Modell an amazing person who effected so many aspects of our history from Cleveland to Syracuse to Baltimore.â Jameel McClain (@JameelMcClain) September 6, 2012
Equality that he strived for in this game will only be a small part of a great legacy.â Jameel McClain (@JameelMcClain) September 6, 2012
RIP Mr. Art Modell...without his dream I would have never been able to play for this great city...thank youâ Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) September 6, 2012
RIP to the late great Art Modell prayers go out to your family and ravens nation for losing a great one.â Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) September 6, 2012
RIP Art Modell, one of the most fascinating people I've ever covered in this business. He loved the NFL as much as any owner.â Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) September 6, 2012
Prayers go out to the modell family!â Derrick Mason (@deemason85) September 6, 2012
I visited Art Modell every yr in owners' suite in Baltimore. He was never same after moving #Browns. I believe it broke his heart.â Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 6, 2012 | <urn:uuid:06082099-a6ce-47a7-8fe1-18154c64ebc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000058866/article/the-sports-world-reacts-to-death-of-art-modell?module=HP11_content_stream | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988516 | 2,434 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Today, the Palais Royal, in the 1st arrondissement, accommodates both the old and the new in harmony. In the Cour d’honneur, Daniel Buren’s black and white columns, known as Les Colonnes de Buren, and the seventeenth-century facades somehow seem to sit comfortably together.
Cardinal Richelieu lived here in the early seventeenth-century, as did various itinerant ‘Royals’. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d’Orléans moved in and changed the character of the place.
In the arcades of the Palais Royale:
In the 1780’s he turned this aristocratic home into a public place with a shopping mall complete with luxury shops, cafés and even a circus and a waxworks museum. The Palais Royal became the place to see and to be seen in. It attracted customers, flaneurs, passers-by and prostitutes in equal measure – a hotbed of pleasure and entertainment. But more than that, it represented a significant change in the social dimension – a sort of classless rubbing of shoulders.
By the end of the eighteenth-century it had become a hotbed of political radicalism. In 1789, close to the restaurant Le Grand Véfour, which still stands in the Palais Royal and where Napoléon and Joséphine, Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac once sat, a young lawyer, Camille Desmoulins, an immature, reckless but passionate young man, stood on a table and issued his call ‘To Arms’. The crowd around him were to storm the Bastille the next day and the French Revolution was about to unleash unimaginable bloodshed.
Although the shops and restaurants are still there, the Palais Royal has a more sedate feel to it today.
Music outside the Palais Royal:
But keeping the eighteenth-century spirit of revelry alive, this group of young musicians enthusiastically reflect the former atmosphere of the Palais Royal much to the enjoyment of the large crowd rubbing shoulders around them. | <urn:uuid:6a8fa6e9-8cf7-4a32-a77a-10354b3b7c19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://soundlandscapes.wordpress.com/category/passage-couverts/palais-royal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942593 | 444 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Commentary & Opinion
Bush Administration Should Recognize Value of Needle-Exchange Programs to Reduce HIV Spread, Letter to Editor Says
March 14, 2005
Observers need "[l]ook no farther than the president's backyard for proof" of the "devastati[on]" caused by the Bush administration's efforts to "undermine" needle exchange as part of its international HIV prevention strategy, Patsy Fleming, vice president of the board of directors for the Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit group Prevention Works, writes in a Washington Post letter to the editor. Although "almost every scientific standard" has shown that needle-exchange programs are effective at reducing the risk of HIV infection without increasing illegal drug use, Congress prohibits taxpayer funds in Washington, D.C. -- which has the largest per capita rate of new AIDS diagnoses nationwide -- from being used for needle-exchange programs in the district, according to Fleming, who was director of national AIDS policy from 1993 to 1997. As a result, needle-exchange advocacy groups in the district "must raise every cent" from private donors and foundations, which "distracts from lifesaving work," Fleming says. "We applaud efforts to ensure that sound science prevails over partisan politics in the broader global fight against AIDS and ... encourage Congress and the president to understand the effect of their shortsightedness on lives in the nation's capital," Fleming concludes (Fleming, Washington Post, 3/11).
Abstinence, Fidelity Best Ways to Prevent Spread of HIV, Ugandan Ambassador to U.S. Writes in Letter to Editor
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services. | <urn:uuid:d73d3946-825e-4a7b-a31e-ed95243936cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/content/art8722.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935103 | 377 | 1.96875 | 2 |
In the robotics industry the words "integrate" and "integration" are thrown around quite a bit. And rightly so; integration refers to every aspect of building a robot system - from the early planning stages through to installation.
So how exactly does a company integrate a robot? Take a closer look at RobotWorx' approach to custom integration:
Every integration process begins with discussion. RobotWorx engineers and sales staff talk directly with the customer to learn about the specific goals and requirements for the robot system. Basic aspects of a customer's application, reach, and payload needs are outlined.
Next, RobotWorx draws up a unique integration solution catered to that specific customer. Robot models, peripherals, workcell configurations are proposed in a formal manner. More discussion follows as the customer and RobotWorx team fine-tune the integration proposal to suit financial, technical, safety, and environmental needs.
Once the basic details of the application and proposed robot system are in place, a customer may choose to conduct a feasibility study. RobotWorx' technicians work directly with parts from the customer and some of the key integration pieces (i.e. robot model, tooling) to determine that the integration solution indeed meets with the customer's specifications.
At this stage, the customer is encouraged to visit the RobotWorx facility to inspect the finished parts and process. Alternatively, these communications can be handled over the phone and via e-mail.
With the details of the system determined, and the integration solution tested and approved by the customer, the nuts and bolts of integrating a robotic system begin.
RobotWorx technicians and engineers build the system and integrate all the elements to "talk" to each other. Workcell structures are constructed, and parts positioners and safety features integrated to work in concert with the robot. Technicians test, wire, program, and re-test every component to make sure everything is communicating correctly and functioning as it should.
During the final integration stages, the customer is encouraged to visit RobotWorx' facility for training and system approval. The finished robotic system is run through its paces and customers learn about important maintenance needs and safety features.
The integration process doesn't stop here. Following system shipment, the customer may choose to have RobotWorx install the system. The robotic workcell may be a stand-alone unit, or it may be required to interact with other machines, parts conveyors, or technologies in the customer's facility. RobotWorx makes sure all systems work seamlessly.
Interested in a custom integration solution? Call RobotWorx at 740-251-4312. | <urn:uuid:091c0da0-3984-4c82-94cc-c3b6dd8de5dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.robots.com/blog/viewing/integrate-a-robot-in-five-steps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918076 | 547 | 1.976563 | 2 |
WorldCat comes to Tyndale’s Library
Tyndale’s Library has introduced WorldCat, a new, more extensive research search engine. This new system is provided by a non-profit organization that is run by libraries around the world.
The WorldCat search engine allows students to discover resources that might have been missed by using OnTRAC or the 50 plus databases that Tyndale subscribes to. Hugh Rendle, the director of Library services says, “WorldCat is a really good alternative to Google. As people are used to going to one search engine and finding what they want.” WorldCat will allow students to search for books, peer-reviewed articles and e-books all in one place. Additionally, it can allow students to request books from other libraries in the area or around the world.
WorldCat provides more information in one location, such as providing background information on a specific author. It offers students the opportunity to create an account on WorldCat that is free and has several functions such as creating lists of books or articles for a research project or group project, which can be shared through social media such as Facebook, Twitter or email. Professors can do the same by creating a list of articles for students to read. “WorldCat is an interface with a collaborative effect.” says Hugh.
There is a WorldCat mobile app available for mobile devices. The WorldCat system is now available for use on the Tyndale library page http://www.tyndale.ca/library and will be completely implemented by April. | <urn:uuid:31fa9ff5-0828-4aef-a19d-59246b1b59b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tyndale.ca/news/worldcat-comes-to-tyndale%E2%80%99s-library | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946544 | 323 | 1.921875 | 2 |
John Wildsmith (English, active 1757–69); John Mayhew (English, 1736–1811) and William Ince (English, active ca. 1758/59–1794, died 1804)
Pine, carved and gilded, composition, various marbles, semiprecious stones
(a) 37 x 60 1/4 x 31 1/8 in. (94 x 153 x 79.1 cm), (b) 1 7/16 x 61 5/8 x 33 in. (3.7 x 156.5 x 83.8 cm)
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958 and 1959 (58.75.130a,b)
The specimen-marble table top was supplied by John Wildsmith in 1759. Affluent Englishmen are known to have collected marble and pietre dure tabletops while visiting Italy on their grand tours. Lord Coventry never traveled to Italy, however, and this tabletop is a rare example of London manufacture, documented by the payment to the craftsman John Wildsmith in 1759. Wildsmith, who was also responsible for the marble mantelpiece in the tapestry room, inlaid 176 squares of differently colored hardstone specimens in a diagonal checkerboard pattern in order to display "all the curious sorts." The "large frame . . . on turned legs, neatly carved and the whole gilt in burnished gold" was supplied much later, in 1794, by the London firm of John Mayhew and William Ince. | <urn:uuid:7401e62a-832b-4e5b-a7c9-a46efb9cef05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/58.75.130a,b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914934 | 321 | 2.15625 | 2 |
- Celebrity Pets
In the interest of having something to do, I guess, researchers at Ohio State University found that pets can provide support, companionship, and stress relief for college students who live with their pets. Now more than ever, college students need whatever help they can get to overcome the stresses encountered on the bridge from home to career. Better dogs than drugs.
But it doesn't come as any surprise that a pet would not provide the same comfort, companionship, and stress relief for college students, as a pet relationship would provide for any person under stress... and who doesn't experience stress? Those of us who've been raised with pets as our "best friends," generally live with pets throughout our lives for the same reasons.
The ability to have a pet on a college campus, though, is a wonderful opportunty for those students who are responsible to their pets and to their dorm mates. But a student's pet has to be amenable to living in a dorm room, as well. You don't want to bring an outdoor cat to live in your dorm room, nor a dog who experiences separation anxiety. Certainly the pet's temperament has to be considered along with the restrictions dictated by the college.
What I find most interesting in reading about pets on college campuses are the observations of the administration of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida, one of the pioneers in allowing pets to live in dormitories with students. They find that pets make better students. That's right, better students.
How? Having a pet makes a student more responsible, let's say about going to classes. The need to walk a dog or feed a cat gets one up in the morning, whereas otherwise that 8:00 a.m. class might be skipped. In the evening, students are more likely to return to their rooms instead of going out to party. And if they do party, they return to their rooms at a more responsible hour.
A few dozen colleges now provide specially assigned dormitory space for students with pets, among them, Eckerd College, UCLA, MIT, Stephens College, Vassar College, Cal Tech and the State University of New York, although all have certain restrictions about pet size and pet type.
That's the buzz for today! | <urn:uuid:bfdfeaba-2910-4152-a2a7-215621179d90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://petslady.com/articles/pets_help_college_students_many_ways_22710 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968498 | 462 | 1.789063 | 2 |
One thing quite noticeable at this year’s PyCon US is that the Python community’s efforts towards increasing diversity are starting to work. More women are attending and children are being included in an integrated way (coding!). To be clear, we still have a long way to go. Twenty percent attendance by women is an improvement, but it by no means demonstrates parity, and other minorities and those with intersectional identities remain greatly underrepresented. What’s important, though, is that actions of the Python community, including adoption of a code of conduct, are showing real results. Hats off to the PSF and to various PyCon organizers around the world. You are doing good work, thank you.
In the days that have followed the main part of the conference, and while the code sprints were still going on, word reached the internet of a certain code of conduct violation, how it was handled by all parties involved and what the consequences were (or continue to be).
And now we start heading to the heart of my post.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years thinking about the tactic of public shaming as a tool for combating institutional oppression. Is it ever appropriate? Under which circumstances? When is it most effective? Does it have some other empowering use? What’s the best way to respond to backlash? I think about this every time I am witness or subject to an aggression. Or when I am the organizer for an event where an incident is called out publicly before I have a chance to respond privately. Or when others make the decision to document publicly another’s transgressive behavior. I think about it especially when that person is then subject to a torrent of negative backlash including threats of violence and death.
Tech is dominated by white, straight, able-bodied, middle- and upper-class men because our industry reflects the social structure of the society in which we live. Our demographics are the result of the racism, sexism, heterosexism and homophobia, sizism, ableism, etc. that persists in society that we allow to propagate within our own, smaller community. That’s why increasing diversity, whether you want to recognize it or not, means combating its enemy: institutional oppression.
How does one fight oppression to increase diversity?
It’s not easy because the tactics available to those who oppose institutional oppression are limited and judged by the very institution that is oppressive. Those from and to a certain extent those who ally themselves with oppressed groups, by definition, have less social capital and the associated benefits than their counterparts. When a queer person, or a person of color, or, god forbid, a disabled queer person of color reports that they have been subject to or a witness of transgressive behavior, they are taken as less authoritative about their own experience than their straight, white, abled counterpart would be. They get less attention and support from the social structures that are supposed to aide them. And quite often they are subject to violence in its many forms.
These responses are not accidental. Those who benefit from the status quo, whether they realize it or not, have a vested interested in maintaining that status quo. That means working to ensure that any threat to it is rendered ineffectual. The best way to do that is to discredit the person who generated the threat. If the threat is the reporting of a transgressive act that the dominant social class enjoys with impunity, then the reaction is to attack the person who reported it.
And that’s exactly what happened this week to Adria Richards.
PyCon made efforts to transform the status quo of a male-dominated environment where sexualized speech is acceptable to one where it is not so that women and others felt more comfortable participating. At least two attendees continued to acted in ways that were no longer acceptable. They probably weren’t the only ones. And I’m sure more than one person was made uncomfortable. But one person chose to speak up about it.
That she chose to do so publicly isn’t really for me, or any of us to judge. As I mentioned before, as someone not part of the dominant social order you have limited options for calling attention to transgressive behavior. You can do so to the individual or individuals demonstrating the behavior, you can report it to the social structures available to you (parents, school, organizations, government, etc.) or you can report it publicly.
The first option is obviously risky. If you don’t have as much power as someone, it is scary to interrupt them and tell them what they are doing is wrong. If you have past experience with violence (as most people with minority identities do), then your experience tells you this is not a good idea because the confrontation may become violent. Additionally, when you are a in a room surrounded by people who look exactly like the person or persons committing the transgressive act it’s sensible to assume that you will not be the person who will have support in a confrontation.
The second option also carries risk. If you do not have a significant history of an organization helping in these matters, there’s a good chance they won’t. Asking them to do so takes emotional work, and handling rejection thereafter takes even more emotional work. Plus, organizations, like the people that run them, also have a vested interest in maintaining the status quos from which they benefit.
Furthermore, it’s not anyone’s job (except perhaps your caretakers’, when you’re young) to remind you how to behave. Ignorance of appropriate social norms is not an excuse for transgressing them. Richards had zero obligation to be polite to the developers or to educate them. We are well into the post-colonial era. Feminism is not a new idea. Get a book and educate yourself.
And that’s how we arrive at the public option. Sometimes publicly outing someone’s bad behavior is the safest, most effective way you can respond. This is particularly true when you don’t have a lot of time to figure out what to do, when you are in the minority position and when you are in an environment that feels unsafe.
It is entirely acceptable for someone to take whichever option they feel to be the best course of action based on the situation at hand and the person’s lived experience up until then. It is not anyone else’s right to determine that for another. This is true regardless of how unskillfully you believe the person handled the situation.
No conference organizer likes dealing publicly with issues, but…
As a conference organizer who has been in the position of responding to public reports of conduct violations, I can tell you it doesn’t feel good to be denied the opportunity to deal with them privately. Not only do you have to process why the person reporting the incident didn’t come to you first, but you have to deal with a much larger response and you have to do so immediately. You no longer have the luxury of time, nor the ability to be distracted by the other million things you’re supposed to be keeping track of while running an event. While it may not feel so at the time, that you are forced to deal with things promptly and publicly is not necessarily a bad thing. There is value in doing so for your community.
Let’s talk about shame for a moment.
Shame isn’t always a bad thing. When you’ve done something you know to be wrong and you feel shameful, that is an appropriate response. If someone calls out your behavior publicly and you feel shame as a result, that’s probably a sign you should pay attention and evaluate your behavior. Shame is contextual. It doesn’t work the same way going up the power hierarchy as it does going down. Power magnifies shame and magnifies the damage it does when applied incorrectly. A young child can’t shame a parent and have the same effect as when a parent shames a child. A white male using shame against a women or a person of color to uphold his social status is not the same thing as a women or a person of color using public shame to bring visibility to inappropriate behavior.
Being the trigger of shame in others while documenting a broken system is not the same thing as enacting revenge.
At one point in Never Sorry, Ai Wei Wei says something like “the broken system must be documented.” I found this statement to be very powerful. Often we feel powerless to change the monolithic systems around us, no matter how broken we know them to be. One power we can exercise is to document what we see and experience.
So, if you find yourself in a situation where you feel your only option is to say nothing or say it publicly? Absolutely say it publicly. Howard Zinn explains the power in this act very eloquently:
“The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured. Those special people who speak out in such a way as to shake up not only the self-assurance of their enemies, but the complacency of their friends, are precious catalysts for change.”
That quote above encapsulates why the reaction to Richards’ act has been so strong, far stronger than the reaction to the code of conduct violation that prompted it. The checking of male privilege and the imposition of consequences for unabashed exercise of that privilege is threatening to all those who enjoy it, as well as those who are ambivalent to its exercise.
Most disappointing of all? SendGrid’s response.
What I find most disturbing about this incident is the response of SendGrid, Richard’s employer up until this week. Rather than having the insight and moral courage to stand behind their employee they gave into the fervor of the mob. That news of Richard’s firing is at the top of the MensRights and WhiteRights subreddits is telling. SendGrid chose to go in the wrong direction on this moving train. They claim to want to build their developer community “across the globe,” but the qualifier they add with their actions is “as long as you are a white male or don’t make white males angry.” I suppose this is none too surprising when you look at SendGrid’s leadership team: Only one out of the twelve company leaders is a women. SendGrid has put into words the unspoken rule we already know: Speak out and you risk your livelihood.
How to we move forward from this incident?
We keep doing what we’re doing. Speaking up when we feel we are able to. Asking the communities of which we are a part to continue adopting and enforcing codes of conduct. Making allies and supporting each other and groups like the Ada Initiative. Avoiding employment, when possible, at companies who, like SendGrid, decide not to advocate for their minority employees the moment is become inconvenient. Pressuring our peers and managers to embrace the change required to make a diverse workforce possible.
I’ll close with a final quote from Mr. Zinn:
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
Update 22 March 11:31 PDT with some further reading, now that this is getting some sensible coverage: | <urn:uuid:2a11f6de-7ced-4d01-ba4d-fc9331ae047e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://subfictional.com/category/uncategorized/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960858 | 2,365 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The ASI has been asked by the court to ascertain if the ruins, which surfaced during digging, were indeed from the Mughal era and remains of the Akbarabadi Mosque as claimed by Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal and his supporters.
"It is wrong to blame us for the non-implementation of the court's unequivocal demolition order dated July 30. The non-compliance is because the police are refusing to provide security. If they continue to filibuster, there are other paramilitary forces who may be asked to provide us cover," NDMC's lawyer told the court.
The police had earlier expressed their helplessness in providing protection to the demolition team, saying that they feared a communal flare-up. They urged the court to direct Matia Mahal MLA Shoiab Iqbal, who had allegedly raised the structure on the ruins, to demolish it himself.
Standing counsel for the police Pawan Sharma repeated the stand in the court, saying that the police did not wish to take any action till the ASI came up with its final findings.
Meanwhile, the ASI told a special bench headed by Justice SK Kaul that IIT Kanpur had started conducting Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPRS) of the area and has filed a preliminary report. The final report will be ready by October 20, it said.
The court slammed Iqbal for seeking a stay on the demolition order till the ASI came up with its final report and taking the ground that "the area was pre-dominantly occupied by the minority community.” “We are not looking into minority-majority angle. No one can take law into their hands. We are only enforcing the law,” Kaul said. | <urn:uuid:b48c1df9-045b-491e-b543-d829d6b991c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/943276.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980448 | 360 | 1.632813 | 2 |
This Humane Farming Association documentary provides an interesting look into factory farming, pigs' personalities, and the environmental effects of animal agriculture.
Learn more >>
Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more. | <urn:uuid:3f45a683-bc10-440b-a35f-6a953f8117ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://origin.www.peta.org/tv/videos/vegetarianism-pigs/822802401001.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947848 | 84 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Google has released the full report of the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation into the company’s collection of "payload data" from millions of business and residential WiFi networks, says the Los Angeles Times. The FCC dropped the investigation earlier this month, after fining Google $25,000 for obstructing the investigation.
A more heavily redacted version of the report was released by the FCC on April 15. The new version released by Google to the LA Times, only redacts names of individuals, and reveals more details about how Google captured the data—and how much the company knew about what was being collected.
The data, which Google claims was stored "inadvertently," was collected over a two-year period by Google’s fleet of Street View cars along with photos and the location of WiFi access points. It included personal information from unencrypted wireless networks—captured network packets that included email messages, passwords, and website requests with attached cookie data that could be used to establish website usage history of the users of those networks.
In an email to the LA Times, Google spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said that the company "decided to voluntarily make the entire document available except for the names of individuals...While we disagree with some of the statements made in the document, we agree with the FCC's conclusion that we did not break the law. We hope that we can now put this matter behind us."
The FCC ceased its investigation after determining that the unencrypted network traffic wasn’t protected by federal wiretap laws, and a key Google witness invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. That witness was a Google engineer—referred to as "Engineer Doe" in the FCC report—that the company claims intentionally added code to the Street View data collection software to capture packets’ payload data. Google has declined to name the engineer.
But the FCC report called into question whether the collection of the data was as inadvertent as Google has claimed. Engineer Doe reportedly told two other Google engineers, including a senior manager, that he was collecting payload data as part of Street View. In October of 2006, he gave the entire Street View team a document detailing the work he had done, including the fact that payload data would be logged as part of the data collection.
On Thursday, Google’s attorney E. Ashton Johnson sent a letter to the FCC accepting the $25,000 fine—ending the investigation. But the company’s letter also blasted the FCC, claiming that the company hadn't done anything wrong, and that the FCC’s investigators had themselves obstructed the investigation by dragging their feet, and that the investigation would have ended much sooner if the company hadn’t voluntarily agreed to allow a seven-month extension. "This is hardly the act of a party stonewalling the investigation," Johnston wrote. | <urn:uuid:821e618c-f5fd-414d-b63f-7365e519b2a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/04/google-releases-full-details-of-fcc-investigation-into-street-view-wifi-snooping/?comments=1&post=22805991 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971998 | 577 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Protein skimmers create foam by mixing saltwater and air together. Protein skimming works through adsorption, which is the firm attachment of an extremely thin layer of molecules to the surface of air bubbles. Protein and other organic compounds in the water form a coating around the bubbles as they rise to the top of the foam riser tube of your skimmer. The foam cascades over the top of this tube, filling the collection cup. The captured foam is emptied from the collection cup before it can re-enter the aquarium. Proteins and other organics are removed before they can turn into nitrogen compounds or other toxins that may be harmful to your aquarium inhabitants.Protein skimming helps you maintain a healthy environment for your fish and invertebrates. Filtration equipment of this type is the most important investment you can make. It is the life support system of your saltwater aquarium.Helps to prevent tank wipe out (toxic tank syndrome), which is the accumulation of unknown toxins in the water.Helps to prevent the buildup of toxins that can kill all susceptible fish and invertebrates within just a few hours (this usually occurs overnight).Protein foam skimming completely removes most organics from the system before they can break down, including water-soluble protein, amino acids, some dyes, fatty acids, fats, carbohydrates, enzymes, detergent, phosphorus, iodine, detritus, metals such as zinc and copper, some algae, protozoa, bacteria, and other organics.Protein skimming helps to aerate the system and increase the oxygen level in the aquarium.Easily adjusted and low maintenance.Comes pre-assembled and includes two-way plastic valves and plastic assembly. For internal use only. There are no complicated plumbing requirements.
InstructionsThe Protein Skimmer comes pre-assembled and includes two two-way plastic valves (also referred to as plastic valves) and hanger assembly. Additional supplies needed for effective operation are a strong air pump and airline tubing for attaching the plastic valves to the pump.Cut two pieces of airline tubing long enough to connect the skimmer from the top of the aquarium to your air pump. Should be equal in length.Attach one end of the airline tubing to each of the plastic valves on your skimmer (valves A and B) attach the opposite ends to the air pump.There are three options for attaching the skimmer to your aquarium:With two suction cupsWith hanger assembly, or With two suction cups and hanger assembly. All components are included. Select the option most suitable to your aquarium and assemble the selected components using main illustration for reference.Place the skimmer assembly in the aquarium and position on the back wall.Once the skimmer assembly is in the aquarium, make sure the water level guideline is lined up with the actual water level in the aquarium.Now you are ready to make important operational adjustments.These Operational Adjustments Are CriticalPlug in your air pump.Turn off both plastic valves (so that no air can escape from either valve).Plastic valve A controls the downward flow of water. Very slowly open the valve to allow the air bubbles to rise up the tube. Adjust the air flow until the bubbles are approximately 1/2" to 1/4" apart as they rise in the return tube. Note: If bubbles exceed this rate, start over with adjustments two and three until proper bubble rate is attained.Plastic valve B controls the upward flow of bubbles in your skimmer through the wooden air diffuser. Very slowly open valve B, watching the foam riser tube. When bubbles reach the foam line, adjustments are complete.Please note: If the wooden air diffuser valve B is opened too fast, the flow of water will reverse in your skimmer, causing ineffective operation. It may also cause undesirable water to build up in the collection cup.Special AttentionProtein skimming will remove some beneficial organics and trace elements from the system.Be careful when adding supplement. Excessive foaming may result.Do not use the protein skimmer when medications are present in the water, since the skimmer may remove them.Foam formation may decrease for a period of time after cleaning the aquarium.Keys to Effective OperationSmall bubble size (0.5 to 1.0 mm).Use wooden air diffusers.Provide maximum contact time between bubbles and water by using the tallest skimmer that will fit your aquarium. Longer contact time between air bubbles and water allows the bubble to acquire more surface organics.Low water temperature. Foam break down to fast at high temperatures, causing more water to collect in the cup.Air flow rate should be approximately 1/2" to 1/4" between each bubble in the Return Tube.Maintain pH at 8.1 to 8.4.With the use of a hydrometer, maintain specific gravity (salt) between 1.020 and 1.025.MaintenanceCheck the Collection Cup on a regular basis and empty as it fills.The air diffuser should be changed every three to six weeks, or as needed (when bubble size exceeds 1.0 mm).Remove Protein Skimmer completely from tank to clean periodically. All parts are detachable for easy cleaning. Do not use detergents or soap. A scrubber pad, hose brush, and water work best.The water level in the aquarium should be maintained at all times to avoid constant re-adjusting of the skimmer. If the water drops below the optimum level it will prevent the foam from rising in the Collection Cup. When the water level is too high the Collection Cup will fill with water or wet foam.New Aquarium Set-UpIf the aquarium is still going through the start-up cycling process, it is usually best to start the skimmer when the cycle is complete (except in reef applications).Brackish Water UseSalt content must be at least 5 ppt to be effective.Protein Skimmers Are Not Suitable For FreshwaterTypically the pH in freshwater is not at a suitable level to allow the electrical interaction between the organics and the water. Foam will not form as needed under this condition.The density of freshwater is too low to allow for the production of fine bubbles which are necessary for the formation of foam.
Lee's Medium Counter Current Protein Skimmer
Aquarium Size: For Aquariums up to 50 gallons | <urn:uuid:44e3809f-c088-4ecf-82be-b4fad8160455> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrificpets.com/pet_supplies/fish/protein-skimmers/6125.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907567 | 1,300 | 3.046875 | 3 |
EU Confident on Closing CO2 ‘Ambition Gap’ as Islands Protest
The European Union said it’s confident it can iron out differences with small island states and least developed nations over pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions before climate talks in Qatar in December.
The EU, which has pledged to reduce emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, seeks an eight-year second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to last through 2020, three years longer than island states want. A shorter period would “create a gap” in climate pledges, Artur Runge-Metzger, the head of climate strategy at the European Commission, said today in Bonn.
“We want to move in the same direction, even if in terms of instruments we might have some different views,” Runge- Metzger told reporters on the first day of two-week-long talks in Bonn ahead of the annual round of talks in Doha, Qatar, starting Nov. 26. “By Doha, I’m sure, we will have sorted them out. And hopefully we can show to the world that we have been able to close that ambition gap.”
The second set of Kyoto targets is one of several key decisions to be made by year-end, when the treaty’s first commitment period ends. The EU in Durban agreed to accept new emissions targets after 2012, while working to increase the global ambition of greenhouse gas cuts after warnings from the United Nations that they’re not ambitious enough to contain global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Low-lying islands including Tuvalu and poorer nations such as Chad and Nepal are seeking a five-year commitment period because they say a longer one would lock in an inadequate pace of emissions reductions for longer, delaying the steeper cuts they say are necessary to stem rising temperatures that threaten to swamp their coasts with higher sea levels.
If Europe insists on an eight-year Kyoto commitment period, “they will be sticking their heads in the sand instead of opening the global discussion about the need for urgent and stronger action on climate change,” Tove Ryding of Greenpeace International told reporters in Bonn today. “This will make it much easier for everyone else to do the same.”
The EU is proposing to introduce a review of reduction targets and seeks to make it easier for states to increase the ambition of pledges over time to assure other parties “that we don’t want to talk about lock-in,” Runge-Metzger said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at email@example.com.
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:447232ab-0f78-4730-9ac4-fc65cab3e976> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-14/eu-confident-on-closing-co2-ambition-gap-as-islands-protest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92728 | 627 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Is all prejudice bad in interpretation? At first glance we might think so. As we discussed in the lecture, there is always a danger that we might project our prejudices onto a text. For example, the belief that language is simple and that the meaning of words stays static presents certain problems. This can (as we saw) produce some quite unusual readings of a text: if John Bunyan wants us to “move our bowels” for Christ, then a “literal” interpretation of this will lead us to some questionable religious practices! More seriously, prejudice can have seriously detrimental effects on the way we see the world. The consequences of prejudices against particular races and religions are all too clear both in history and contemporary life.
However, in the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, the German philosopher explores what he describes as the “the fundamental prejudice against prejudice itself” in the Enlightenment tradition. What if, Gadamer asks, the Enlightenment has actually skewed the meaning of “prejudice”? What if prejudice can be returned to its Renaissance meaning, “Pre-judgement” rather than simply used as a negative category? How would an awareness (and an acceptance) of our own pre-judgements (our prejudices) influence our attempts to understand a text?
The “historicist” tradition that Gadamer is critical of emerged from the Enlightenment. This imagines that we can somehow approach the text in an entirely neutral way: as a completely blank slate ready to understand the text in all its purity. The text is imagined as a historical artefact that we can understand if only we can lose our pre-conceptions and understand the historical, social and culture background of those who produced the text.
Yet as Gadamer argues, this is not actually a very useful way in which to work. The historicist approach imagines that we have come to a place in which we will have a broad understanding of the circumstances of the original text’s production. In other words, we will be able to criticise the text from above – as the all-seeing historian we can look down from on high and interpret. The problem with this approach, as Gadamer points out, is that we are constrained by our own historical existence. In other words – each of us is writing at a set moment in history. We will be superceded by the next generation, who will no doubt look down their noses at our foolish attempts to understand the past. We always like to think that right *now* is the pinnacle of civilization, but give it fifty years and scholars will be laughing at the research we produce. Similarly, Gadamer argues that while we should be careful not to apply our own fore-meaning to a text, we can’t expect to approach it with some kind of robotic neutrality. “The important thing,” Gadamer writes “is to be aware of one’s own bias, so that the text can present itself in all its otherness and thus assert its own truth against one’s own fore-meanings”. After all, our own biases are usually responsible for what we choose to study. It is unlikely that we will be researching a text that we have no interest in. We have chosen to study the texts that we study because we have some form of interest in them (the exception being when I *make* you study them on this course). At a very basic level, our prejudice therefore not only influences the texts that we choose to study, but what we hope to get from them. If I read a book, I expect that what I am reading can be understood. More than that, if I choose to read a book motivated by my own interests, I accept that the book might have something to say to my present situation or contemporary concerns. After all, I’m unlikely to read something that I think is entirely irrelevant (even as a historian!). While recognising that the world of the original text is different from my world, I can nonetheless attempt to bridge the gap between my own limited view of the world (my “horizon”, which I cannot see beyond) and the limited view of the text. I can enter into a dialogue with the text, allowing it to speak to my world and my concerns, while appreciating the world of the text for what it is. As my horizon fuses with that of the text, the prejudices I hold (the meanings I expected that I would find) become clear – I can examine them, question them, find out whether they are valuable or hinder my understanding of what the text is saying. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we uncritically accept the prejudices we find in the text – it too is susceptible to the insights that I might bring in from within my own horizon. In this way, we can engage in a fruitful conversation with the text that allows us to see, modify (or perhaps even verify) the prejudgements we have when approaching it.
This is not to say that Gadamer’s approach is the right way to interpret a text, but he gives us one of many methods through which we can approach a text. Why not explore the hermenutics section of your bibliography to find out more? | <urn:uuid:7f74ac83-6f67-41d2-8c3d-e9bf97818be9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://corecourse2010.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/gadamer-and-prejudice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956061 | 1,080 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Editor: Gert Rickheit
Editor: Hans Strohner
Paperback: ISBN: 9783110199000 Pages: 538 Price: Europe EURO 39.95
In our everyday life, communicative processes are relevant in almost all situations. It is important to know whether you should say something which is adequate in the situation or whether it is better to say nothing at all. Communicative competence is fundamental for a successful life in our society as it is of great importance for all areas of life. Therefore, it is not surprising that communicative competence is the subject of many theoretical and empirical approaches and, in consequence, research on this topic is diverse. We focus our contributions on linguistic aspects of communication. In the centre of interest are linguistic oriented performances of different forms of communicative competence, language acquisition, and language disorders. The topics of this book concern the description of methods for studying language in the brain, the interaction between language and cognition, discourse acquisition of children, literacy acquisition and its precursors, the use and acquisition of the sign language, models and training of writing and reading, nonverbal communicative competence, media competence, communication training, developmental dyslexia, the treatment of stuttering, and the description of language disorders.
- provides a state-of-the-art description of different areas in the context of communication competence - includes articles from international experts in the field - deals with the foundations of communicative competence, language acquisition, adult competence, competence training and language therapy
Language and Social Interaction | <urn:uuid:19b0e10e-f4b9-4b59-8499-10e4cdda4410> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://linguistlist.org/issues/21/21-3187.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910639 | 308 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Too bad this wasn’t reported in the newspapers or 6 o’clock news…
Virtually every past civilization has eventually undergone collapse, a loss of socio-political-economic complexity usually accompanied by a dramatic decline in population size . Some, such as those of Egypt and China, have recovered from collapses at various stages; others, such as that of Easter Island or the Classic Maya, were apparently permanent [1,2]. All those previous collapses were local or regional; elsewhere, other societies and civilizations persisted unaffected. Sometimes, as in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, new civilizations rose in succession. In many, if not most, cases, overexploitation of the environment was one proximate or an ultimate cause .
But today, for the first time, humanity’s global civilization—the worldwide, increasingly interconnected, highly technological society in which we all are to one degree or another, embedded—is threatened with collapse by an array of environmental problems. Humankind finds itself engaged in what Prince Charles described as ‘an act of suicide on a grand scale’ , facing what the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor John Beddington called a ‘perfect storm’ of environmental problems . The most serious of these problems show signs of rapidly escalating severity, especially climate disruption. But other elements could potentially also contribute to a collapse: an accelerating extinction of animal and plant populations and species, which could lead to a loss of ecosystem services essential for human survival; land degradation and land-use change; a pole-to-pole spread of toxic compounds; ocean acidification and eutrophication (dead zones); worsening of some aspects of the epidemiological environment (factors that make human populations susceptible to infectious diseases); depletion of increasingly scarce resources [6,7], including especially groundwater, which is being overexploited in many key agricultural areas ; and resource wars . These are not separate problems; rather they interact in two gigantic complex adaptive systems: the biosphere system and the human socio-economic system. The negative manifestations of these interactions are often referred to as ‘the human predicament’ , and determining how to prevent it from generating a global collapse is perhaps the foremost challenge confronting humanity.
The human predicament is driven by overpopulation, overconsumption of natural resources and the use of unnecessarily environmentally damaging technologies and socio-economic-political arrangements to service Homo sapiens’ aggregate consumption [11–17]. How far the human population size now is above the planet’s long-term carrying capacity is suggested (conservatively) by ecological footprint analysis. | <urn:uuid:58941073-32e0-42b9-a1c2-a050f2a3f133> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sustainablemontreal.ca/tag/ecoside/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926437 | 528 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Riot Games has established an honour system for League of Legends in the hope of cleaning up its notoriously hostile community.
After every matchmade game, players now have the ability to give Honor to both teammates and enemies as acknowledgement that they played in a respectful, friendly, or helpful manner.
“Your total Honor represents your ongoing commitment to making games better for your fellow summoners,” said Riot.
“It’s not a currency, and you can’t spend it – we’re going to experiment with some potential bonuses to being an honorable summoner in the future.”
The amount of Honor a player may assign is limited, but it replenishes after each completed matchmade game.
Further, the biggest gains are made the first time a player received Honor from another, with subsequent honorings between the two bringing diminishing returns.
Spamming or trading Honor resets a player’s Honor level to zero.
Riot Games has focussed on its community issues recently, banning a player from the European Finals for bad behaviour, bolstering its Player Behavior and Justice team, and adding a cognitive neuroscientist and a behavioural psychologist to its ranks. | <urn:uuid:8fb35c98-ec1a-4c32-b3a2-578a54106055> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gameplanet.com.au/pc/games/159437.League-of-Legends/news/1015542.20121003.Riot-hopes-Honor-system-will-make-LoL-a-friendlier-place/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958686 | 245 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932, Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt) is a noted film director and author.
After growing up during the Second World War, he studied law, history and music at the universities of Marburg and Frankfurt am Main, receiving his doctorate in law in 1956. While studying in Frankfurt, Kluge befriended the philosopher Theodor Adorno, who had returned to Germany and was teaching at the Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School. Kluge served as a legal counsel for the Institute, and began writing his earliest stories during this period. At Adorno’s suggestion, he also began to investigate filmmaking, and in 1958, Adorno introduced him to German filmmaker Fritz Lang.
Kluge directed his first film in 1960, Brutalität im Stein (Brutality in Stone), a 12-minute, black and white, lyrical montage work which, against the German commercial (Papa’s Kino) cinematic amnesia of the prior decade, inaugurated an exploration of the Nazi past. The film premiered… read more
Peter Schamoni (27 March 1934 – 14 June 2011) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed 35 films between 1957 and 2011. His 1966 film No Shooting Time for Foxes was entered into the 16th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize. Two years later he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1972, his film Hundertwasser’s Rainy Day was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. —Wikipedia
A report from the retrospective on the Oberhausen Manifesto’s 50th anniversary, at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. | <urn:uuid:0a21969d-4a9a-4ad5-877a-dffa7bee9a12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mubi.com/films/brutality-in-stone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972124 | 370 | 2.5 | 2 |
English art and architecture
IntroductionEnglish art and architecture, the distinctive national art and architecture that art may be said to have evolved in the 12th cent. with the Norman style. Building before that time was in what is commonly called the Saxon or Anglo-Saxon style, which combined Roman and Celtic features; it is represented by sparse remains of monasteries, churches, and cathedral crypts, notable for the use of long-and-short ashlar stonework. These churches were small, relatively simple structures, having one or more towers and one or three aisles, with wooden or stone roofing.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: European Art to 1599 | <urn:uuid:910d470b-2752-4632-8bbd-9b7e2f953d8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/english-art-architecture.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943843 | 168 | 3.8125 | 4 |
While we still had permission to hunt the site I found a 44 caliber Army Colt serial number 130842. Although it was rusty the trigger guard is brass. The revolver was fully loaded and not cocked. Never found the tomahawk. It could have been picked up after the battle or there was no metal on it.
There was a Cheyenne Indian named "Two Crows" that was reported to have looked out his teepee to see what the commotion was. Seeing the charge of the Cavalry, he grabbed his revolver, tomahawk, rope and a bridle. He want out side threw the revolver and tomahawk away. He caught a horse the pony boy had stampeded back into the camp and helped other members of his people escape. Two Crows also told the Bents at Bents Fort what happened at the Kidder Massacre in June of 1867. Because the revolver was found fully loaded and not cocked, I believe that the revolver was Two Crow's and also came from the Kidder Massacre Site. I have been trying to find a listing of the serial numbers issued at that time. I have had people tell me they never kept those records at that time, and some that they did. So far, I have not been able to find them either way. I just think that after they started to serial number weapons records were kept. It would keep one soldier from selling his revolver and stealing one from someone else. I'm hoping that some of you are better at finding things like this and can help me out. I checked with Colt and their records for that time period were burned in a fire.
Kidder Massacre July 1867
2nd Lieut. - Lyman S. Kidder
Sergeant - Oscar Close
Corporal - Charles Haines might be Charles H. Haynes
Private - Roger Curry
Private - Michael Cornell
Private - William Floyd
Private - Michael Gorman
Private - Michael Haley
Private - N.J. Humphries might be William J. Humphries
Private - Michael Lawler
Private - Charles Taltin might be Charles Telton
Sioux Scout - Red Bead
Died in the Performance of their duty on or about July 2, 1867, in combat with Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.
Thank you for any help you can provide. John Harmon
I have found three places that state that the 1860 had brass trigger guards.
2.2004 Standard Catalog of Firearms 14th Edition page 290
It states that the trigger guard and front strap are brass and the backstrap is blued steel.If you look at the cylinder of the 1860 Army pictured on that page is the same as the one on my revolver. on the next page is a pictured 1861 Navy they are different. As far as I could find the Navy was only a 36 caliber. Although because of the rust it is hard to measure the barrel and cylinder both are larger than 36 caliber.
3. Flayderma's Guide to Antique American Firearms, 8th Edition page 80
Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver. The gripstraps standard as follows: Brass trigger guard, blued steel backstrap.
MAN, Charley you are picking me to death. You most likely know a lot more about this that I do but the following are references that state Lt. Kidder and his men were with the 2nd cavalry, Company "M".
Bugles, Banners, & War Bonnets by Ernest L. Reedstrom page 35
If, you are ever in the Denver, Colorado area you are welcome to come and look at this revolver.
Thanks, John Harmon
Unless that was a 4-month volunteer cavalry unit, there are errors in the references.
The only time there would be an M company in a cavalry regiment would be if the regiment was organized into battalions. While between 1866 & the reorganization of 1869 there were several battaliion-organized regiments, they were all infantry. The 1869 reorganization did away with the 5 'veterans' reserve corps' regiments & consolidated the 45 Inf regiments into 25. It also eliminated nearly 1000 officer slots. About the only way an officer who wasn't a USMA grad could stay in was to volunteer to serve with the 9th or 10th Cav, the 24th or 25 Inf, or specifically volunteer for frontier service. Of course, if a non-grad had the right politico/social connections he had a chance to stay in iwthout serving with a 'colored' regiment or on the frontier.
Custer, who'd been a Major General during the war, was offered a full Colonelcy & command of the 9th Cav. He turned it down in favor of a Captaincy in the 7th because he didn't think there was enough 'glory' in commanding a 'colored' regiment.
The last time I was in Denver was July of '89. I had to change trains there. It was 10 PM & hot as Hell in downtown Denver, even at that time of night. The only time before that was 1947. I went through there in the '90s on the way to Cheyenne, but didn't stop. I spent a week in Colorado Springs back in the '90s. It sure had changed from '54, which was the last time I was there. Typical Texas cowboy in those days, I was going out to see if I could find something pretty. I had on jeans, boots, a short-sleeved western shirt, & a straw hat. I walked out the motel door--and walked right back in. It was mid-June, about 8 PM, & the temp felt like about 35! I still don't know what the girls of Colorado Springs are like--& at my age, I don't reckon I'll ever find out.
The Colt Army has a brass trigger guard. | <urn:uuid:c8c6c2b4-8318-46bc-8b6a-c15bcf601a48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://truewest.ning.com/forum/topics/44-caliber-army-colt?commentId=2518161%3AComment%3A172066&xg_source=activity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981825 | 1,213 | 2.015625 | 2 |
WASHINGTON,D.C. (WUSA) - When federal agencies are forced to cut 9% out of their budgets, the Washington area alone will see 65,000 federal jobs lost. 97,000 federal contractor jobs will disappear. Add to that subcontractors and people who rely on all of that, and the total local jobs lost is nearly 500,000
"You can't cut back the federal government by 9% without finding some impact on every town, on every individual across the country," said George Mason economist Stephen Fuller. He believes that federal services and facilities could be shutdown or cut back. The National Zoo and Smithsonian could cut back hours. You might not get that passport renewed in time for your trip.
Meteorologists were able to track Hurricane Sandy using federal satellites. NOAA may not be able to spend what it needs to keep those satellites up to date. And, Fuller says, we could see slowdowns at some smaller airports where the FAA may implements cuts. He says everybody will be inconvenienced. But worse, Fuller says, "Just about everyone will see their taxes go up."
People who work will see their payroll taxes go up and people who itemize won't be able to deduct child care expenses because Congress hasn't continued those reductions. And small businesses will lose money because of changes in the inheritance tax.
"We basically lose the gains we've made, that we've achieved over the last three years that we've added and we're back to the depth of the recession again."
And when people have less money to spend, or have lost their jobs, they don't go out eat or get their nails done anymore, and those businesses will suffer.
"It will happen unless Congress acts to stop it. So they have to pass legislation that reverses this and the President sign it before the 1st of January," said Fuller.
The thinking is that the lame duck Congress will meet and decide to push the issue on to the next Congress. Fuller said that won't help the ongoing uncertainty which is not good for the economy, but at least it's better than going over the cliff. | <urn:uuid:082c57a3-a301-44a9-8253-b37d8ab94357> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/228739/187/Facing-The-Fiscal-Cliffs-Realities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975272 | 429 | 1.6875 | 2 |
WASHINGTON - A Senate panel has approved a foreign aid budget for next year that cuts US assistance to Pakistan and Egypt.
By voice vote Tuesday, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved the overall bill totaling $52.1 billion. That is $2.6 billion less than what President Barack Obama requested and $1.2 billion below current spending.
Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy cited the strained US relations with Pakistan for reducing aid and imposing restrictions on $1 billion in assistance. Pakistan has closed supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan, angering the United States and lawmakers.
The panel also cut $5 million from the $250 million in economic assistance for Egypt. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said it equaled the amount the US spent to get American non-government workers out earlier this year
US Senate panel cuts aid for Pakistan citing strained relations - The Times of India | <urn:uuid:d76585d2-6a27-4c85-b988-7edb255e03c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defence.pk/forums/strategic-geopolitical-issues/182410-us-lawmakers-call-pakistan-terrorist-state-schizophrenic-ally.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93307 | 174 | 1.515625 | 2 |
To get more people to cycle, it is of great importance to make the bicycle a safe and easy choice. One of the latest and most innovative solutions in safety equipment is the patented battery-free lights from Reelight. Reelight bike light does not use batteries, but produces its own environmentally-friendly energy by means of induction. Reelight is permanently mounted, so you always have your lights with you. They are on whenever you cycle, which makes you more visible and safe in traffic – day and night. According to a study conducted by Reelight, Odense Cycle City and the University of Aalborg, permanent battery-free bike lights reduce accidents by 32% while boosting a cyclists’ sense of security by up to 85%. Reelight provides safety and mobility to cyclists: the safety of always being visible in traffic with lights that are fixed and always lit. Reelight is also about freedom: the freedom of never having to remember to take our bicycle lights with us, to switch them on or change the batteries and the freedom of never having to worry about the impact of bike light batteries on the environment.
Reelight offers traffic planners, politicians, journalists, and other interested in developing a safer city for cyclists the following:
a. A presentation on bike light campaigns. The presentation should give your organization inspiration to initiate improved focus on bike lights and safety for cyclists in your city and provide insight into the possibilities and opportunities of cooperation between municipalities and private companies.
b. A presentation on Reelights cooperation with the municipality of Odense and the University of Aalborg. An experiment was carried out in the city of Odense, which documented a 32 % decrease in the amount of bike accidents when fixed mounted magnetic bike lights were used. The experiment resulted in a change in the law in Denmark – flashing lights are now legal.
c. A presentation on innovative solutions for the cyclist. | <urn:uuid:c2259f51-22d2-4b18-8d5e-fef13f194951> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/2010/09/29/reelight-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956102 | 381 | 2.421875 | 2 |
In 2000, musician and author Charlie Angus along with fellow citizens in a northern Canadian community stood shoulder to shoulder on a blockade, they wanted to stop their community from having a garbage dump for southern urban communities. The citizens refused to be a "sacrifice zone".
The battle had started in the late 1980s and was only resolved last year. It involved a large cross-section of the population, and brought together many different communities, First Nation indigenous people, farmers, miners, and Anglophones and Francophones.
Four years after that blockade, the musician and author became a Member of Parliament, and is now part of Canada's Official Opposition NDP party.
He's now come out with a book Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War.
RCI's Wojtek Gwiazda talked to Charlie Angus about the book and about the challenges facing citizens then, and now.
News reports about the use of foreign workers by the Royal Bank of Canada have infuriated some Canadians. While there are questions about whether the bank is in fact using foreign workers to replace 45 Canadian employees, the two cases have prompted bitter criticism of the lawgoverning the use of temporary foreign workers.
Dinosaurs ruled the earth for 160 million years. In comparison, man’s presence on earth is only the equivalent to a tiny fraction of that time, a mere 200-thousand years. Our fascination with dinosaurs is never ending however, and with good reason. Their presence has helped to shape many of the things which surround us today.
Not many Canadians know about this position. Fewer know what these public servants do. But the Clerk of the Privy Council, who advises prime ministers and the cabinet, is the most senior non-political official in the government of Canada.
Five former Clerks of the Privy Council will be honoured by Canada's Public Policy Forum at its 26th Annual Testimonial Dinner & Awards in Toronto on Thursday (April 11). The Forum is an independent not-for-profit organization which promotes the quality of government and the public service.
The five former Clerks to be honoured are Kevin Lynch (2006-2009), Alex Himelfarb (2002-2006), Mel Cappe (1999-2002), Jocelyne Bourgon (1994-1999),
and Paul Tellier (1985-1992).
RCI's Wojtek Gwiazda spoke to David Mitchell, the President and CEO of the Public Policy Forum.
Ungava Canadian Premium Gin was honoured with “Best in Show” at the recent World Spirits Competition held in Austria. Last summer it took home two “Excellent” scores from New York City at the Ultimate Cocktail Challenge.
The stand-out yellow liquid, in the bottle with the Inuktitut writing on it, is growing in popularity and developing a new generation of gin drinkers around the world.
The idea began in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, with the proprietors of Domaine Pinnacle. The ice-cider producers had moved into beverages using local maple syrup, and then they began thinking about gin.
Consumers often don’t get what they pay for when they buy fish in the United States, Canada and other countries. Canadian technology has helped researchers determine that 33 per cent of fish sold in the U.S. is mislabelled. This is one result of a large market study on mislabelled seafood. Another study indicates a similar situation in Canada where between 30 and 40 per cent of fish are mislabelled.
Inferior farmed fish are often substituted for more expensive types. Researchers at the University of Guelph in the province of Ontario developed the method for identifying fish samples using DNA and took part in this study for Oceana, an ocean conservation group.
Put together by Canada's national library, Library and Archives Canada (LAC), 'Double Take' features 59 contemporary and historical Canadian personalities.
The exhibition of more than 100 paintings, photographs and drawings, also includes artifacts and was curated by LAC's Portrait Program Curator Madeleine Trudeau.
The exhibition is now on show at the Canadian Museum of Civilization after two previous showings in Canada. It continues until October 14, 2013.
RCI's Wojtek Gwiazda spoke to Madeleine Trudeau about the goals of the exhibition and the challenge of choosing which Canadian personalities to feature.
Renowned Canadian scientist David Schindler says there are stunning similarities between deformities in fish near oilsand developments in Canada and those near major oil spills like the Exxon Valdez in Alaska and Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico. He has photos of fish from the Athabasca region in western Canada with two tails, bulging eyes and huge tumours.
The same kinds of deformities were reported in a study Schindler received last week from the Gulf of Mexico. The variety of abnormalities leads him to believe they are caused by disruptions of the fish’s immune systems.
Its called schistosomiosis, and it affects more than 200 million people worlwide. Its common in Asia and South America, but most cases are in sub-Saharan Africa.
It’s a chronic disease, in which a small parasite enters the skin and develops into a worm that ultimately infects the blood vessels near the intestine or bladder.
The parasite uses a species of small snail as its mid-stage host for its larval development. The parasites grow in the snail which becomes a factory releasing them into the surrounding water.
Once they contact human skin, the tiny parasites enter the blood stream and grow into worms, eventually causing chronic health issues particularly in the liver, bladder and urogenital tract. Eggs are passed from the human, hatching into a different free-swimming stage that seeks out and infects the snails, and the cycle is repeated.
At the University of Alberta, assistant professor Patrick Hanington, who specializes in infectious diseases, is one of a relatively limited number of researchers working on ways to break the cycle.
The corridors of Canadian political power welcomed a new visitor on Tuesday (April 9), a Google Maps Trolley documenting Canada's Parliament in Otttawa. [...]
A new public opinion poll suggests that Stephen Harper's Conservative Party government is taking a pounding on the issues of secrecy and ethics. Two-thirds of those polled by Ipsos Reid said Mr. [...]
Less than 24 hours after Montreal police arrested 279 student protesters upset with tuition hikes, demonstrators gathered in a downtown park on Saturday for a different--and less angry--manifestation. [...] | <urn:uuid:5b2ac8af-ffa0-46b7-bec1-182371abc061> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rcinet.ca/english/daily/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95627 | 1,358 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Volt Fuel Economy StickerEnlarge Photo
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration has abandoned the idea of using letter grades to reflect the fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions of new cars. Instead, the administration is expected to announce a new, revised system that will take the place of the existing price and fuel economy stickers affixed to new vehicles.
Existing labels estimate the miles a car owner can expect to drive on a gallon of gasoline under ideal conditions. It allows consumers to make a more informed choice when comparing which new vehicle to purchase. Both the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) want to improve the current system starting with the 2012 model year.
The auto industry was not happy with the proposed letter grade system. Vehicles would be assigned a letter—from A to D—based on fuel economy and emissions. However, it was expected that only electric cars and plug-in hybrids would get the highest grade. The auto industry felt the system would confuse consumers because they wouldn’t immediately understand why most cars would not receive an “A” rating. They also didn’t like the government making subjective value judgments about new vehicles.
A number of environmental groups had lobbied for the letter grades. The WSJ article quotes one as being disappointed with the Obama administration over the announcement to cancel the proposed letter grade system.The Wall Street Journal article also stated that the Obama administration will announce details of the new sticker system this week. The system is expected to fulfill its objective to help consumers compare one vehicle’s gasoline costs and emissions to another. | <urn:uuid:bfced9b1-a099-46f2-8df8-93624e317c55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1060333_no-letter-grade-the-car-industry-breathes-a-sigh-of-relief | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951969 | 327 | 2.265625 | 2 |
On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 11:24:17AM +1000, Lachlan McIlroy wrote:
> Dave Chinner wrote:
>> On Sunday 15 June 2008 11:41 pm, Lachlan McIlroy wrote:
>>>> ASSERT? How about a WANT_CORRUPTED_GOTO()?
>>> I was just being consistent with the rest of the code. If you think this
>>> ASSERT should be changed then what about all of them?
>> Well, the ASSERT means silent failure on a production system.
>> Given that failure here indicates a corrupt btree, then we really
>> should be treating it as such. i.e. shut down the filesystem. This
>> might have saved us a whole heap of trouble tracking down these
>> problems as a shutdown here would have pointed us right at the
>> source of the problem...
> Dave, what I was asking is what about the rest of the ASSERTs in
> this file - should we change them too? There's a lot of them.
> After this change they are all equally likely to trigger so if
> it makes sense to change one then the same argument applies to
> all of them.
In the past we've only changed the bits of the code that have been
needed for debugging problems. e.g. there's WANT_CORRUPTED
throughout the alloc code, but only some bits of the bmbt code and
almost none in the inobt. Really we should be consistent with
our catching and handling of errors.
IOWs, I'd say we probably should change them all, but it's going
to touch lots of code. For the btree code, I'd say it should be done
with the factoring (get them all in one go), but xfs_bmap.c code is
separate and could be done separately. | <urn:uuid:610010d0-1c4a-47f5-999c-e336d6f1596f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linux.sgi.com/archives/xfs/2008-06/msg00173.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930551 | 404 | 1.71875 | 2 |
People with Asperger Syndrome have a form of autism. They usually have average to above average intellectual ability, although about 5% also have an accompanying learning disability. However they all have great difficulty with:
- Communication skills, especially non-verbal language. For example, problems understanding the ‘give and take’ of normal conversation and figurative language. Generally they have rather rigid thought patterns, love routine and hate change.
- Understanding and interacting in social situations. For example difficulty understanding the ‘rules’ of social interaction and great difficulty understanding or working out what other people’s behaviour means. This means that people with Asperger Syndrome often don’t understand danger signals from other people.
- Understanding and empathising with other people’s thoughts and feelings, so although their imaginative powers may be exceptional, they cannot make use of them in social settings.
- Sensory impairments: Hypersensitive to touch, smell, taste, texture, clothing, food, sound, light and proximity.
People with Asperger Syndrome look like everyone else but they experience fundamental social difficulties. They long for friends, to be accepted and to contribute to society. But they don’t know how. Society can be very unkind to people with poor social skills. Most of them suffer loneliness and bullying at school and fail to achieve their academic potential. Few adults with Asperger Syndrome find employment, live independently or have a social life. The resulting frustration emerges as anxiety, depression, paranoia, aggression and frequently, suicidal ideation. Without support many may suffer from mental illness. However with the appropriate support many are able to live meaningful lives and achieve their full potential.
People with Asperger Syndrome often have special interests or obsessions and amass a huge amount of knowledge about a particular subject. The ability to focus exclusively on one subject and the joy that people with Asperger Syndrome get from their chosen interest is a great gift. People with Asperger Syndrome may find it difficult to maintain long term relationships but they are often very loyal friends. | <urn:uuid:6721ff63-2918-441c-a0f8-e4ded75adec4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aspergers.org.uk/asperger-syndrome/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957065 | 423 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — — Militants armed with grenades, guns and suicide vests Friday stormed two mosques in Lahore belonging to a minority sect, killing at least 76 people in coordinated attacks that illustrate the vulnerability of groups considered outside the mainstream of Pakistani society.
The Ahmadi sect is one of the country's most beleaguered minority groups. Numbering about 4 million, they consider themselves Muslims but believe their late-19th century founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet of God. That is heresy for most Muslims, who believe Muhammad was the last prophet. Ahmadis suffer severe discrimination in Pakistan and are legally barred from calling themselves Muslims.
The attacks occurred during Friday prayers as Ahmadis filled two of the sect's mosques in the neighborhoods of Model Town and Garhi Shahu.
In both cases, militants were able to easily get inside the mosques, where they opened fire with guns and threw grenades at terrified worshipers. At the Garhi Shahu mosque, two of the attackers detonated suicide vests in the main hall. At least 91 people were injured.
An Ahmadi elder said the Model Town mosque had gotten threatening phone calls and had reported the threats to police.
"We asked the government and police several times to enhance our security, but we didn't get anything," said man, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution.
Geo TV, a Pakistani satellite channel, reported that the Punjabi Taliban, a wing of the Pakistani Taliban comprising several Punjabi extremist groups, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Punjab is Pakistan's wealthiest and largest province, but it is rife with violent sectarian groups that prey on religious minorities such as Ahmadis, Christians and Shiite Muslims. In April, Ahmadis were subject to a wave of kidnappings and killings in the central Punjabi city of Faisalabad.
The extremist groups, which include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, have been officially banned for years, but they operate freely throughout Punjab province. Experts say the provincial government, led by the country's largest opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, has shied away from cracking down because those militant groups represent large constituencies that provide political support.
More recently, members of these groups have joined forces with the Pakistani Taliban and have expanded their focus beyond sectarian targets to include attacks on military and government buildings. The 2009 siege of the Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi, which killed 19 people, was led by a former Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member.
Asma Jahangir, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said in a statement Friday that the watchdog group "is concerned over the spread of sectarian extremism, and considers it a huge threat to the security of Pakistani society."
"For more than a year, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has been giving intimations to the Punjab government about threats being made to the Ahmadi community," Jahangir said. "Though the Punjab government had apparently taken some steps to enhance security, they were not enough to stop well-planned and comprehensive terror attacks. That was proved by the attacks Friday."
Witnesses said one of the three assailants at the Model Town mosque killed a security guard at a front gate and then ran inside while another attacker shot through a window at the back of the building to get in. Hundreds of worshipers ran for cover as the militants fired indiscriminately.
One worshiper, who gave only his first name, Shahzad, said he and others hid on an upper floor as gunfire rang out in the main hall.
"They were throwing grenades and firing everywhere," Shahzad said. "Our leader told us to stay calm and asked us to pray quietly. I was very afraid and very sure that the terrorists would come upstairs and kill us."
Shahzad said that when he looked down on the main floor, he saw several worshipers lying in pools of blood, many of them with gunshot wounds to their heads. Nearby, a militant clutching a Kalashnikov assault rifle lay seriously injured, gasping for breath.
Authorities said two of the Model Town attackers were captured. The third assailant was killed by security forces. The death toll at the mosque stood at 24 as of Friday evening. At least 33 people were injured.
After the attack, worshipers formed a chain around the compound to prevent journalists and outsiders from entering. They were angered by what they said was a delayed response by police, though there is a police station near the mosque. The Ahmadi elder said police arrived about 50 minutes after worshipers called for help.
About the same time as the Model Town attack, six militants stormed into the Ahmadi mosque in the Garhi Shahu neighborhood, which had about 1,000 worshipers. Witnesses said they saw the attackers running inside, armed with assault rifles and lugging duffel bags. | <urn:uuid:716e6aca-a1db-454d-bf33-698f902562ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/29/world/la-fg-lahore-mosque-attack-20100529 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981262 | 1,022 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by severe drought combined with a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion. Extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains in the preceding decade had displaced the natural deep-rooted grasses that normally kept the soil in place and trapped moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. Rapid mechanization of farm implements, especially small gasoline tractors and widespread use of the combine harvester, were significant in the decisions to convert arid grassland to cultivated cropland. During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the soil in place, it dried, turned to dust, and blew away with the prevailing winds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky, reaching all the way to East Coast cities such as New York City and Washington, D.C.. These immense dust storms – given names such as "black blizzards" and "black rollers" – often reduced visibility to a few feet or less. The "Black Sunday" black blizzards of April 14, 1935, were witnessed by Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger who happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma that day; the term Dust Bowl was coined by Edward Stanley, Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, while rewriting Geiger's news story.² (via Freebase) | <urn:uuid:287bbfe4-f5f4-499f-8812-e0e467d90513> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.linktv.org/topics/dust-bowl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953924 | 347 | 4.0625 | 4 |
by Dr. Jack Singer
“Bullying” is certainly not limited to schools and children. It can occur at any age and in any locale, including the workplace.
Workplace bullying is occurring in the US at an alarming rate. The American Psychology Association reports results of a 2010 survey of Americans showing that “13.7 million people said they were currently being bullied, and nearly three times that number said they had been bullied in the past.”
Bullying in the workplace constitutes a form of harassment, but bullying itself is not presently illegal, unless this form of harassment discriminates against someone who is in a protected group (i.e., harassment based on sex, race, age, disability, color, creed, national origin, or religion). The problem is that bullying behavior often “flies under the radar screen” and often does not get defined as “harassment.”
Here are some differences between harassment and bullying:
- Harassment is often physical (e.g., unwanted touching, use of force) while bullying is psychological and verbal);
- Bullying targets anyone, so many victims are not members of protected groups, or the bully and victim could be from the same group;
- Harassment is often obvious and focused on the victim’s group membership. Bullying is typically more subtle and begins as mild criticism, teasing, making jokes at the target’s expense and then escalates or persists. Others may join in, considering it “harmless fun.”
Bullying is usually based on anger issues the bully has not resolved, his/her need to displace blame onto others, rather than accept responsibility, or, most often, is it based on the insecurities of the bully, him or herself. Typically, bullies choose targets who threaten the bully’s self-image, so targets are often highly people the bully perceives she/he is competing with, or they could be “nerds,” who are smarter and obviously more accomplished than the bully, but non assertive. They make easy targets and other potential targets may join in with the bully, for fear of becoming targets themselves..
How to Stop Workplace Bullies.
In their new book, The Bully-Free Workplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels, and Snakes from Killing Your Organization, Gary and Ruth Namie outline the steps that workplace leaders and managers need to take to stop bullying.
Recognize Bullying. Organizational leaders need to be informed about the dynamics of bullying, the costs, including both the physical and psychological effects on the targets of bullying, and the negative impact on workplace climate and productivity. Employee training needs to teach potential victims that identifying bullies will be in their and the company’s best interests.
Intervene. Again, look at bullying like harassment, so that managers deal with it as soon as they are aware of it.
Another idea is to provide a reward system for bystanders to report bullying, even if the targets are afraid of reporting it themselves.
Stop Rumors. Starting and sustaining negative rumors about bullying targets is a big part of the bullying process, and is one of the reasons that bystanders don’t intervene (particularly if the rumor suggests that the target is the “problem”). Managers need to be aware of the workplace grapevine in order to nip such rumors in the bud.
Hold Leaders and Organizations Accountable. Organizations must make a genuine commitment to create anti-bullying policies, similar to anti-harassment policies, which protect the rights and dignity of all workers. To date, 20 states have begun to enact legislation protecting victims of all kinds of bullying.
Bullies come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and ethnic groups. They may be co-workers or supervisors/managers. Prevention means identifying the culprits and taking them to task legally. Just as in workplace harassment, we need to put the legal mechanisms in place so that companies can suffer from lawsuits as a result of bullying.
If CEO’s know that their company can be sued for such behavior, they will surely develop pro-active forms of sensitivity training for bullying behavior.
Hopefully, we have learned from the unfortunate bullying tragedies that have taken place in schools. We don’t want to develop laws to prevent workplace bullying after there is a disaster, such as a victim suicide.
Let’s take action now and prevent workplace bullying from taking one more victim!
Click here to listen to my interview with Jon Hansen on this subject.
About the Author:
Dr. Jack Singer is a professional speaker, trainer and psychologist. He has been speaking for and training Fortune 1000 companies, associations, CEO’s and elite athletes for 34 years. Among the association conventions which Dr. Jack has keynoted are those which serve financial planners.
Dr. Jack is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, FOX SPORTS and countless radio talk shows across the U.S. and Canada. He is the author of “The Teacher’s Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide,” and several series of hypnotic audio programs, some specifically for athletes and some for anyone wanting to raise their self-confidence and esteem. To learn more about Dr. Singer’s speaking and consulting services, please visit DrJackSinger.com and FunSpeaker.com or call him in the U.S. at (800) 497-9880. | <urn:uuid:d5237385-fca9-4674-8e22-9ff568a1a5bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drjacksinger.com/dealing-with-bullying-in-the-workplace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966489 | 1,124 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Maths target books went home after parents evening - have a go at learning number bonds and tables.
Use the Victorian homework sheet for ideas - homework day is next Monday so create something to share.
Plan a story based on our class ideas (finding a mysterious locked box in an empty room) after listening to the authors sharing their tips for storywriting in book week.
Welcome to the Squirrels page.
Our new squirrels have been on some wonderful squirrelly adventures!
Betsi, Erin, Reece and Evie were busy interviewing the Squirrels about the Autumn topics and they produced this photo story.
Squirrels had a great day visiting Bodiam Castle. Can you recognise who got dressed up as knights? | <urn:uuid:d055aab5-ac2c-404d-adfc-427f8e16d410> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupId=552534 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941002 | 151 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Clone batteries typically have a somewhat higher early failure rate and generally decline in capacity faster than originals.
Clone mAh capacities are usually no better than or are worse than originals - regardless of what the labels say. The higher the claimed label mAh the more likely it is that the manufacturer and product is suspect.
An unloaded LiIon battery should retain its voltage almost unchanged for long periods - at least many months. Clones and originals should be no different in this respect. Any battery that loses capacity or terminal voltage rapidly when unloaded is highly suspect. Note that some systems place a continuous light load on the battery when in standby or sleep modes.
My experience with clone LiIon batteries is that they are usually somewhat somewhat inferior in lifetime performance than are original batteries BUT that their very much lower price means that they are much better value for money than original batteries.
Lithium Ion batteries can have major reliability issues and worst case can "vent with flame'> This is not an explosion but comes somewhat close on occasion. The total energy in the battery is released in a flaming over 10 to 10s of seconds. If this happens inside your camera you'll be needing a new battery, AND a new camera. Repair is unlikely to be a sensible option.
Name brand manufacturers are not immune from such problems. Various 'top' manufacturers have issued recalls of probably millions of laptop LiIon batteries over the last decade. These are numerous horror stories available and graphic youtube videos of laptops and other devices incinerating or having been incinerated.
All that said, I'm an EE and have quite a lot to do with batteries. I have never seen a LiIon battery self destruct out of captivity and do not know anyone personally who has had it happen.
I have purchased 20 to 30 "clone" LiIon batteries for digital cameras in the last 5 + years and am happy to use them.
BUT - if you do have a melt-down, and odds are you won't, if it's a Canon battery you MAY be able to persuade them that they should replace your camera. If it's a Horse-Radish brand battery (as yours are) or some other lesser know Asian brand, then odds are the endor or manufacturer (if known) will be unlikely to replace your camera. Now, it MAY be that I am incorrect in my assumptions re Canon and/or re Horse-Radish. You need to decide the merits of this aspect yourself. It also may be that your insurance policy will cover damage of this sort. Or not. Again, I am happy to use clone batteries and I've never seen or directly heard of any vent-with-flame problems.
PERFORMANCE: Clone batteries usually have larger claimed mAh capacities than original versions. You can pretty much guarantee that they are lying. If they lie about capacity it may not be a good sign re their other business practices :-). While it is possible to get more than typical capacities from a given size of LiIon cell, this is usually done at a cost. If you are making low cost product it's a lot easier and cheaper to print a lying label than to fit in more Li metal or afford and use industry leading edge practices that safely give more capacity.
LiIon batteries have two main capacity loss mechanisms. They lose capacity with each discharge / charge cycle of use, and they have a "calendar life" where they slowly lose capacity "just setting" even if unused.
My experience with clone LiIon camera batteries (mainly for various Minolta and Sony DSLRs) is that initial capacity is about the same as original, they may lose capacity with use somewhat faster than originals, and they tend to have a noticeably shorter calendar life.
That said, value for money they usually give far more accumulated total mAh capacity per $ than original batteries. Overall they are VERY substantially better value for money than original batteries and I am happy to use them and have never had any problems with them.
Most clone batteries that I have met have not suffered catastrophic failures in capacity or lifetime. However, some brands of clone batteries have a certain percentage of their batteries fail totally after a very short time or lose capacity at a very high rate. Some sellers, even on auction sites such as ebay will replace batteries that fail or fall well below specification within a short period. Those who do usually offer 6 months warranty. You need to determine the policy and credibility of your vendor. I usually buy from a vendor who I know is of absolute integrity (a retired surgeon who sells photo gear as a retirement hobby). He will tell you the likelihood that a given brand will fail and will unquestioningly replace any that fail catastrophically. Odds are your vendors will be a little less inspired than he is - but do check. | <urn:uuid:2a160cdb-89d1-49d8-b775-2ef4eceefe38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/1339/should-i-buy-an-original-manufacturer-battery-or-is-a-generic-brand-ok/1365 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955632 | 980 | 1.59375 | 2 |
By Chuck Nottingham
The problem most kids have with gun safety programs is safety's BORING!
In the average safety program, rules are recited, books are studied, videos are shown, maybe kids even get to hold a gun or two, but let's face it guns are for shooting. Learning doesn't stick with most kids when it's so abstract.
Poorest examples are hunter education programs with no walks through real fields and forests and no shooting opportunities.
On the other side of the coin, the problem with lots of shooting programs is gun safety may be stressed at the onset, but soon shooting positions, equipment, and scores become uppermost. Safety sometimes gradually fades to a secondary concern. Sometimes, the more intense the competition, the less actual safety is observed.
Worst example I recall was a big-city trap club. After the first visit, I was too frightened to return. Careless scatter-guns muzzles waving about were scarier to me than jungle-types trying to shoot me with AK-47s.
Likewise, too many shooters in youth rifle marksmanship programs get training when they're 10 years old, but compete till they're 18 with little more than occasional reminders at grievous errors. Safety often gets taken for granted in the hustle-bustle of competition, especially when the shooter-coach ratio is three or four to one or greater.
But for parents who want a dynamic, on-going gun-safety program for their youngsters, and for kids 8 to 15 who want to shoot it's all rolled into one in the Jaycees-Daisy BB-Gun Program.
On April 7 and 8, Laurel Jaycees' BB-Gun Team prevailed over 13 other 8-member Montana teams to capture the State Daisy-Jaycees BB-Gun 2001 Championships held at Havre Middle School.
Up to 10 young shooters from Laurel, Montana, and their coaches are eligible to travel to the 36th annual National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in July. Runner-up Glendive may also attend, and third-place Belgrade is allowed to send a team.
Last year, Havre Jaycees' BB-Gun Team won the 2000 Montana title and competed in the nationals at Atlanta, Georgia.
Competing at Montana's 2001 State Meet were three teams from Belgrade and Havre and two teams each from Choteau, Dillon, Glendive, and Laurel.
Some folks might consider air guns particularly BB guns to be "kid's stuff," but the program sponsored by United States Jaycees and Daisy Manufacturing Company and sanctioned by the National Rifle Association, goes far beyond marksmanship competition.
Part and parcel of the training is not only shooting BB guns, but knowledge, attitude and skills concerning of all guns, including firearms.
Program participants learn about rifles, shotguns, ammunition, hunting safety, and ethics. In both practice and competition, coaching is one coach to one shooter.
Part of the competition at the state meet in Havre April 7 and 8 was a written examination and oral gun knowledge as equal parts of the tournament and it shows. The Jaycees-Daisy program has experienced zero shooting injuries in its 36-year service to gun safety.
In competition like that, everyone walks away winners.
To enroll kids 8 to 15 years of age in a quality safety-shooting experience beginning 2002 and lasting a life-time, contact a member of the Havre Jaycees. | <urn:uuid:88cc0e4e-6e92-463f-a2f7-0c9b63267973> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.havredailynews.com/cms/news/story-90715.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963956 | 713 | 1.539063 | 2 |
"Investigation Continue" is a critical and universal slogan. This slogan is consequence of the unresolved problems and it is used like a mechanism of deffense by the authorities.This title results from the situation in Kosovo and summarise some of the key concept that i have explored as an artist.Following two years of research ,in 2006 i exposed officially on the topic of disappearances,whith the National Museum in Tirana-Albania.This exposition was entitled INVESTIGATION CONTINUE.
Today, everywhere ine the world,people desappear and it is allways same process "The investigation carries on"
The insecurity,non respect of the human right has made people flee their country in the search of a more democtratic and safe fatherland, in order not to be victim of this sllogan.
This artistic concept was 14.05.2008. in Commission of Recourse of refugees-Paris | <urn:uuid:a13a286c-2437-4ffa-b89c-b71d0e6e50b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Photography-Black-White-investigation-continue/96105/651759/view | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933598 | 189 | 1.773438 | 2 |
consistent •\kən-ˈsis-tənt\• adjective
1 : marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity
2 : marked by agreement : compatible
3 : showing steady conformity to character, profession, belief, or custom
4 : tending to be arbitrarily close to the true value of the parameter estimated as the sample becomes large
The word consistent has appeared in 969 Times articles over the past year, including on March 22, 2010 in “In Therapy, Cellphones Ring True”:
Though the interruption may be jarring, I rather welcome the twang of bluegrass or the toll of church bells coming from a patient’s cellphone during a psychotherapy session.
[...]A mother receives a call from her teenage daughter. One theme of our sessions has been how to deal with the daughter’s ”demanding behavior.” The volume is up; I hear both sides. The daughter is insistent about something trivial; mother is endlessly patient, even solicitous. Now I see that this child hasn’t been getting consistent feedback that her behavior is problematic. Guilt has driven my patient to conceal her anger. She is surprised to learn from me how successful she has become at this deception and how counterproductive it is. | <urn:uuid:672f1484-5bb1-42fb-93fe-d597463c5011> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/word-of-the-day-consistent/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930991 | 265 | 2.375 | 2 |
Max Weber I
Edited by Peter Hamilton
Published August 1st 1991 by Routledge
The essays contained in Max Weber: Critical Assessments (1) deal with the whole of the famous German sociologist's work. This four volume collection provides critical and analytical coverage of each of the central themes which contemporary sociology recognises in Weber's main published writings. As an aid to use by teachers and students, it has been organised in such a way that it corresponds with the major lines of Weber teaching. The essays reprinted here provide comprehensive analyses of the following themes:
* Max Weber: Life, Work and Intellectual Context
* Methodology: Verstehende Sociology
* The Protestant Ethic Thesis
* Economy and Society
* Power and Authority
* Sociology of Religion
* Philosophy of Social Science
The collection is intended to provide a good thematic coverage of the chief features of Weber's writings, as recognised in the large body of scholarly literature developed over the last 70-80 years. The collection contains many classic articles of Weber scholarship, and traces the key features of the numerous debates over interpretation of the leading sociologist of the twentieth century. It includes those assessments of Weber's work which have themselves formed critical readings of his sociology for an international audience of scholars and students.
All articles have been reprinted in their entirety, and thus contain a wealth of invaluable bibliographic source material.
In order to help the reader review the chronological order of the articles, there is an appendix at the end of the General Commentary, listing each reprinted article, and indicating where it can be found in the four volume set.
Peter Hamilton is a Lecturer at Open University. | <urn:uuid:196adfc8-ecdd-460f-a1c6-3ab87b4efb79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psypress.com/books/details/9780415017435/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92223 | 340 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Hospitals agree on care plan for vulnerable adultsby Jessica Mador, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — Four large Twin Cities hospitals have agreed to participate in a revamped health plan for the state's poorest and sickest adults.
Lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty had agreed in March to preserve General Assistance Medical Care for more than 30,000 low-income adults, but hospitals later balked over low reimbursements.
Under this new deal, the Hennepin County Medical Center, University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview, North Memorial Medical Center and Regions Hospital will provide coordinated care under the GAMC program.
Gov. Pawlenty's spokesman Brian McClung said the deal includes caps on each hospital's enrollment.
"This new health care program using coordinated care delivery systems includes meaningful health care reform and important cost savings," McClung said. "The old GAMC was simply unaffordable and unsustainable and under this new system we are going to be able to reign in spending and still provide health care coverage for needy Minnesotans."
St. Paul DFL Rep. Erin Murphy, who negotiated the GAMC deal, said the agreement preserves the program for the state's neediest adults.
"From the perspective of the potential enrollees, the people who are served in GAMC, this is a good thing," Murphy said. "We are going to know where they can get their care and they are going to get care and that has always been my goal."
The new program will begin on June 1 as scheduled.
(MPR reporter Tom Scheck contributed to this report.) | <urn:uuid:a68be3e9-ca39-4953-943d-4a3b168e666b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/05/06/vulnerable-adults-health-plan?refid=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960404 | 333 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|"I have had a very bad physical reaction to Splenda.
Earlier this summer, I had some popsicles--about 4. The next day I had mild cramps and diarrhea, which lasted about a day. Since this coincided with a spell of hot, muggy weather while I was doing yardwork, I didn't think much about it.
However, three days ago, I had three fudgsicles made with Splenda and my reaction this time has been much worse--severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, body aches, and weakness. Today is the first day I haven't spent 80% in bed, when not dashing to the bathroom.
Now, I am not a weakling or a complainer. I am a firefighter/EMT. I train search and rescue dogs and engage in searches that involve many hours in the field over difficult terrain. Firefighting demands the use of turnout gear and an airpack which together weigh about 80 pounds.
I'd like to know if the FDA did any human studies of this product before allowing it to be marketed."
Thank you P.E. for sharing your story with our visitors. | <urn:uuid:72698052-202e-4813-8f3b-067dd703c82a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodanddiet.com/NewFiles/splenda-story166.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979429 | 241 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Let the fireworks begin.
When talk turns to naming the Great American Novel — the upper-case designation is required by custom, if not by law — tempers tend to flare. Each time I approach the subject in a column, and display the shameless gall of actually suggesting a title or two, I am invariably besieged by an onslaught of contrary opinions, generally arriving under the salutation, "Dear Idiot."
The phrase Great American Novel is comfy and familiar, even if more so out of mockery than sincerity. If you're hunched over your laptop and a friend spots you and asks, "What're you up to, sport? The Great American Novel?" Chances are your pal is not seriously inquiring as to the nature of your endeavor.
No matter how much it is ridiculed, however, I love the idea of the Great American Novel. I love the notion that we are eternally searching for a book — one book, one book out of all the hundreds of thousands of books published since the country had its tumultuous birth — that will somehow encapsulate everything that we are and hope to be.
Impossible to find just one, you say? Well, maybe. But in the quest to do so, we end up discussing just what it is that makes the United States unique, and so marvelous, complex, mysterious and irreplaceable.
First, a ground rule: You're free to change your mind. In fact, you should change your mind. The Great American Novel isn't a fixed entity. Just as we elect a new president every four years, we should designate a new Great American Novel every few years as well. (Repeat terms are acceptable. "The Grapes of Wrath" is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Great American Novels.)
In years past, I've been — like Lewis and Clark — all over the map. I once named a contemporary novel, "American Psycho" (1991) by Bret Easton Ellis. But I've also gone with novels by Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis. F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (1925) is a perennial contender, exploring as it does the corrosive effects of fabulous wealth — Gatsby's fortune, remember, has dark and sinister roots — as well as the history-haunted beauty of the wistful yearnings that mark us at our best. Americans are indeed "boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
My finalists in 2011 are:
•"The Shadow Country" (2008) by Peter Matthiessen.
•"The Rise of Silas Lapham" (1885) by William Dean Howells.
•"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" (1940) by Carson McCullers.
Matthiessen's book, a consolidation of three previously published novels, is an epic telling of the life of the legendary E.J. Watson. It is brutal, harrowing and luminous, and its view of America is tough but fair. In his introduction, Matthiessen almost sounds as if he's campaigning for the Great American Novel crown: "Though the book has no message, it might be argued that the metaphor of the Watson legend represents our tragic history of unbridled enterprise and racism and the ongoing erosion of our human habitat as these affect the lives of those living too close to the bone and way out on the edge, with no voice in the economic and environmental attrition that erode the foundation of their hopes and nothing with which to confront their own irrelevance but grit and rage."
The novel by Howells is not much read today, but ought to be; its portrait of a businessman's rise and fall is poignant and telling. And it includes one of my favorite descriptions of our national character. Lapham, Howells wrote, displayed "that American poetry of vivid purpose."
This year's prize, though, goes to "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter."
It has everything: a sensitive, idealistic young girl; a brilliant black man, embittered by racism; a labor organizer; a doomed love affair between two damaged men.
Here is our last look at Biff, the lonely man who runs the local diner in a small Southern town: "Then suddenly he felt a quickening in him. His heart turned and he leaned back against the counter for support. For in a swift radiance of illumination he saw a glimpse of human struggle and valor. Of the endless fluid passage of humanity through endless time. And of those who labor and of those who — one word — love. His soul expanded."
Yours will, too, when you read this novel. | <urn:uuid:019bc0a7-d473-4c75-9bef-84f5be846bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/books/ct-ae-0703-lit-life-20110701,0,941539.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945817 | 955 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Cruelty and Violence
Science and History
First Printing Sold Out!
More on the way.
Pre-order a copy here.
- "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth."
- "He hath ... barked my fig tree." God hates figs. 1:7
- "Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth." 1:8
- "Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth." 1:13
- The animals are perplexed and cry out to God after he torments
them by burning their food and drying up the rivers. 1:18-20
- "The day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand." 1:15,
- "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness"
"The day of the Lord" will be dark and gloomy -- like a northern Idaho spring day. 2:2
- There will be earthquakes, the sun and the moon will be dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
- "Therefore also now, saith the LORD ... rend your hearts, and not your garments." 2:12-13
- God says he will repay Israel for the damage the locusts caused -- which he sent!
And they will "praise the name of the Lord." 2:25-26
- "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." These "signs" were a lot more impressive before
the causes of solar and lunar eclipses were understood. 2:31
- The Lord will roar and the heavens and earth will shake. 3:16 | <urn:uuid:1ebb15a0-8fab-4459-8f0a-ee75d425e174> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jl/abs_list.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90032 | 395 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Senator Biden’s Plan for Iraq: Can it Work?
By: Greg C. Reeson
The midterm Congressional election results have been widely interpreted as a public rejection of the Bush Administration’s handling of the ongoing war in Iraq. Democrats swept to victory promising a change in course, although their “New Direction†has yet to reveal itself to the American people. Recommendations are expected next week from the Iraq Study Group (ISG), headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, and the Pentagon has commissioned its own panel to provide the President additional options in case he is unsatisfied with the ISG’s report.
While everyone is frantically trying to come up with recommendations for the White House, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden some time ago proposed a plan for Iraq that is quickly gaining lots of attention, from Democrats and Republicans alike. The question, though, is whether or not the plan has a realistic chance of succeeding. Each of the five parts of the plan, along with an assessment of each, is presented here.
Part One: Establish One Iraq, With Three Regions. Senator Biden’s plan calls for separate Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish autonomous regions with a strong but limited central government in Baghdad. The regional governments would be responsible for administering their own areas, while the government in Baghdad would be given responsibility for border defense, foreign policy, oil production, and oil revenues.
There has been a concerted effort recently, primarily by Shiites and Kurds, for separate autonomous regions in Iraq. In fact, the reality on the ground is that the Kurds already run their own governmental operations in the north while the Shiites control Iraq’s south. The problem, though, is the Sunnis. The only area left for this minority sect to inhabit as their autonomous region is economically stagnant, devoid of oil resources and without any real economic potential at all. Knowing that they cannot survive in such a region, the Sunnis have used a violent insurgency to force Shiites and Kurds to reach some sort of political accommodation that provides for Sunni inclusion in Iraq’s future. Unfortunately, neither the Shiites nor the Kurds have been willing thus far to deal with the Sunni minority that oppressed them for three decades under Saddam Hussein’s ruthless dictatorship. And there is not much chance that will change anytime soon.
Another factor that must be considered in any partition plan is the potential response of Iraq’s neighbors. None of the nations sharing borders with Iraq have expressed an interest in dividing the country into separate regions, and Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region, is adamantly opposed to any division because of the potential for future demands for outright independence from the Kurds. Such a move would foment unrest among Turkey’s Kurdish population, a scenario Ankara is insistent upon avoiding.
So, while talk of partition continues in Baghdad and Washington, and while neighboring countries weigh in with their opinions, and while the Kurds and Shiites exert more and more autonomy, the violence continues to escalate. The problem of Sunni inclusion is too complex to be solved by a simple division of the country into largely autonomous regions with a central government in Baghdad. Mixed population cities will not suddenly become peaceful and security forces would likely be more loyal to regional governments than to the enforcement of any foreign or oil policies to emerge from Baghdad.
It is doubtful, to me at least, that Iraq can remain a unified country. Attempting to hold on to some sort of central government in Baghdad is likely to create more problems than it will solve. And, while regional and allied concerns must be considered, a more realistic scenario is the division of the country into two independent states, a Kurdish north and a Shiite south. Sunnis will have to recognize that they are a minority, and they will have to learn to live peacefully and productively in the societies in which they find themselves. The Kurds are not likely to give up control of their region, and the Shiites are not likely to give up control of theirs. The remaining Sunni area is not economically sustainable on its own. Of course, the answer is not as simple as this, as control of Baghdad and some other key areas will still have to be resolved, and the Sunnis will have to accept the fact that they will not be returning to minority rule. But given the other options put forth thus far, it is an idea worth considering.
Part Two: Share Oil Revenues. To address the problem of an economically depressed Sunni region, Senator Biden proposes guaranteeing Sunnis twenty percent of all present and future oil revenues, which would be roughly equivalent to their proportion of the Iraqi population. The central government in Baghdad would be empowered to set national oil policy and distribute all oil revenues.
While such an agreement would provide much needed capital for any autonomous Sunni region, the difficulty lies in securing the cooperation of all the parties involved. Sunnis are divided, with some opposing anything but a return to their minority rule, some backing the fledgling government in Baghdad, some joining forces with foreign jihadists, and some just looking for a piece of the Iraqi oil pie. The Shiites are similarly divided, with some favoring a unified Iraq, some pushing for a strong alliance with Iran, and some content to live in a Shiite region in the south, with responsibility for their own security and control of the southern oil fields. Each sect has its own militia and death squads are running rampant conducting sectarian killings with increasing savageness.
The point is that there is no single, unified leadership for either the Sunnis or the Shiites. A plan that may be accepted by some will be rejected by others. The central government would face tremendous difficulties in attempting to administer any type of central oil production and revenue distribution policy from Baghdad, and any real enforcement capability would likely be severely limited. I agree with Senator Biden that a unified oil production system for all of Iraq would attract more foreign investment, which is desperately needed for an aging and failing infrastructure. But the reality of differing sectarian goals and regional loyalties makes such an arrangement a distant dream at best.
Part Three: Convene International Conference, Enforce Regional Non-Aggression Pact. Senator Biden’s plan calls for the convening of a regional security conference, with the United Nations, where Iraq’s neighbors would pledge to support Iraq’s power sharing agreement and respect Iraq’s borders. The plan includes direct engagement with Iraq’s neighbors, presumably to include Syria and Iran. Additionally, this part of the plan calls for the creation of a standing contact group that would be charged with the enforcement of the commitments made by neighboring countries.
Diplomatic efforts are always worth the time and effort involved, but this is not a new approach. President Bush has repeatedly asked the United Nations and Iraq’s neighbors to take a more active role in stabilizing the situation there. Syria and Iran have repeatedly said they are doing all they can to prevent instability and claim to be taking all necessary actions to prevent the smuggling of weapons and fighters across their borders.
Of course, we know that Syria and Iran are actually contributing to the increasing levels of violence in Iraq and that the United Nations is still upset that it was bypassed by the Bush Administration when it would not agree to enforce its own resolutions on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs. To expect a sudden reversal in attitude by Syria, Iran, or the United Nations is a bit idealistic to say the least.
Syria and Iran are both using the violence in Iraq as bargaining chips for their own national interests and their cooperation will likely come at an exorbitant price. Iran sees the United States as bogged down, and can offer help with the Shiites in exchange for concessions on its nuclear program. Syria, similarly, could do more to secure its border with Iraq, but will likely want concessions on its control of Lebanon. Direct engagement may lead to a reduction in Iraqi sectarian violence, but it will come at a price the United States is probably not willing to pay.
Finally, it will be extremely difficult to secure commitments for a contact group that may have to use force along Iraq’s borders or within Iraq itself. No new nations are likely to step forward, given the current level of violence in Iraq and the global distaste for the war, and many of the nations that are there now plan on withdrawing their troops sooner rather than later. Additional international cooperation is extremely unlikely, especially given the potential for increased violence in Iraq or a potential showdown with Iran or Syria.
Part Four: Responsibly Drawdown U.S. Troops. Senator Biden’s plan would direct U.S. military commanders to develop a plan to withdraw and redeploy almost all U.S. forces by the end of 2007. It would maintain in or near Iraq a small residual force (the plan says perhaps 20,000 troops) to take care of any concentration of terrorists, to help keep Iraq’s neighbors honest, and to train Iraqi security forces.
The problem here is that any withdrawal of U.S. troops must be conditions-based, and not time-based. The argument that Iraqis have had enough time to get their act together does not take into account the difficulties of transition from dictatorship to democracy, especially when that transition is occurring under fire.
Government security forces have to be trained to switch roles from protection of Saddam Hussein at any cost, including mass murder and terror, to serving the national interests of Iraq without regard to sectarian loyalties. That training is happening every day in Iraq, but it takes time. How much time? The answer to that question can only be answered by the commanders on the ground. We have trained them and placed them in leadership positions as subject matter experts on fighting and winning America’s wars. Do we not trust them to bring our sons and daughters home as quickly as possible, with the honor that comes from accomplishing their mission under the most difficult of circumstances?
The commanders in Iraq have told us that government security forces are making progress. Yes, they have been infiltrated by insurgents. Yes, they lack proper equipment and are not as skilled as their American trainers. But they are making progress. Despite daily roadside bombs and the constant threat of death at the hands of insurgents, Iraqis line up every day to join the Army and Police forces. Abandoning them now would be to leave them at the time of their greatest need.
The terrorist threat has not diminished. Syria and Iran continue to allow weapons and fighters to cross their borders into Iraq. If 140,000 troops are deemed insufficient to control the situation there, what good will 20,000 do? The answer may not be fewer troops, but more troops. Senator McCain has suggested an increase in forces. General Abizaid has said he doesn’t need them. Who do we listen to? Do we trust the Senator in Washington or the soldier in Iraq? Do we trust both? What General Abizaid has asked for is more time, not an increase or decrease in troop levels. Do we trust him as the subject matter expert that we trained him to be? Or do we not?
The point of all this is that we have to be careful not to fall into the trap of allowing Washington to make tactical decisions. The government gives our armed forces a mission based on national goals, resources them for that mission, and then assesses whether or not that mission is being accomplished. Military commanders are not, and should not be, free to do whatever they want, but their hands cannot be tied either. If confidence in them is lost, then the civilian leadership that is vital to our military system can take corrective action that it deems necessary. But we must, at a minimum, take into consideration what our military leaders are telling us.
Part Five: Increase Reconstruction Assistance and Create a Jobs Program. Senator Biden proposes more reconstruction assistance that would be tied to the protection of minority and women’s rights and the establishment of a jobs program designed to provide opportunities for young Iraqis. The plan would also insist that other countries take the lead in funding Iraqi reconstruction, especially the countries in the Middle East.
Here Senator Biden and I agree. Any U.S. reconstruction aid must be conditional. The issuance of blank checks is foolish policy and the protection of minority and women’s rights will be crucial to Iraq’s future as a democratic state. And, Iraq’s neighbors should be the parties most interested in the reconstruction of the war-torn country. Stability in their backyard should be a national security concern for all Middle East nations, and the rebuilding of Iraqi infrastructure and the opportunity for economic advancement will go a long way toward providing that stability. The alternative is continued strife and a potential refugee problem as people look to escape destitute and violent areas.
While I don’t agree with all aspects of Senator Biden’s plan, it is a plan with some merit. There are both positive and negative aspects to what he proposes, and the plan at least puts forth some ideas. Where we go from here must begin with such proposals, no matter what they may entail. Intelligent men and women will debate the merits of the ideas and the country will move forward from there. So, while I don’t think the plan will work as written, it is a proposal at least worthy of our consideration. From it we may draw options for the President and the Congress to consider. And that at least gives us a place to start. | <urn:uuid:b12180cb-0af8-4f3f-a6e5-6c59ffbf37a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelandofthefree.net/conservativeopinion/2006/12/05/senator-biden%e2%80%99s-plan-for-iraq-can-it-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962994 | 2,770 | 1.820313 | 2 |
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Conservationists are offering a $1,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever shot and killed a bottlenose dolphin in Louisiana.
The dolphin's body was found Saturday at Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge just west of Grand Isle. It had been shot on the right side just behind its blowhole, and the bullet was found in its lung.
The shooting comes after another dolphin was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver off the coast of Alabama this summer. There are still no suspects in that case.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 forbids harassing, harming, killing or feeding wild dolphins. | <urn:uuid:e279c610-c752-4c96-8737-0e24f853316e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilx.com/news/nationalnews/headlines/Dolphin-Found-in-Louisiana-Was-Shot-to-Death-171266561.html?site=full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963102 | 134 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Hurricane Igor hit the island portion of the province, namely the Burin, Bonavista and Avalon Peninsulas on Tuesday, bringing record rainfall in a very short period of time, reporting over 230 mm in some areas. This, coupled with high winds washed out a number of roads (including the TCH), damaged infrastructure, knocked out communications/utilities - leaving more than 50,000 without power.
The provincial government describes the magnitude of the infrastructure damage from Hurricane Igor as severe. The impact of the storm was unprecedented in this province. Regional emergency management and planning officials, fire protection officers and provincial engineers are advising on issues of temporary bridge and road access, water and sewer repairs, and other infrastructure repairs. More permanent repairs will take longer.
One death has been reported. Condolences are extended to the family of the 80 year old man of Random Island, who was slept out to sea after a driveway gave way underneath him.
Despite, more than 50 communities still remain isolated, there has been progress on improving conditions as power has been restored to more than 40,000 customers. Utility crews are working around the clock to restore power. As well, temporary bridges are being installed to enable transportation or goods and emergency services to assist people in the area. There is still a lot of work to be done to make the situation more comfortable for many residents of Newfoundland. It may be many weeks or even longer before some people’s lives are back to a more normal state.
It is during trying times like this when we rely on our sense of community. It is during times like this when we need our neighbours to extend help each other through difficult times. As Newfoundlanders & Labradorians, we are known for our hospitality, often extending a helping hand in any way possible.
For photos, videos and updates visit: www.vocm.com.
We can not plan and be prepared for all natural disasters. However, we can certainly learn from this situation to become better prepared for the future. The province has received more tropical storms and natural disasters in recent years. We must as citizens become better prepared in times of emergency. We should ensure we have a supply of food and water for a minimum of 72 hours, a radio, batteries, flashlight and other necessities. How about having trained regional volunteer response teams? What about our armed forces? Are they able to place a greater role in the future with assisting in bring building, bringing supplies as they are well trained to deal with dire situations?
My thoughts are with my fellow Newfoundlanders & Labradorians that are experiencing ramifications as a result of this tropical storm.
Live Rural NL – CCM | <urn:uuid:df8d4045-6221-445a-bc90-b9c95ce6817b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://liveruralnl.com/tag/igor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965666 | 540 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Healing QA: What Can I Do For Asthma?
06/26/2012 | 04:07 PM
What can I do for asthma?
As asthma is closely related to the dysfunction of the respiratory system, Ayurveda primarily associates the occurrence of this disease with the imbalance of the Kapha energy that sits in the head and chest region. When food is not properly digested, it can’t be reabsorbed and eliminated from the body as needed. This creates a backlog of undigested food, which in turn creates excess toxicity like mucus.
The act of eliminating waste follows a basic downward movement as the matter travels from the stomach and small intestines into the colon and out of the body. When this basic process is disrupted with the aforementioned undigested food, the downward action becomes reversed in the body and the toxicity moves up into the head and chest region through the blood. Toxicity in the head and chest equates to the moisture and density associated with the Kapha dosha, and this leads to a buildup of congestion and restriction in the air passages.
Ayurveda guides us to control asthma attacks with two primary tasks: 1) regulating digestion and 2) burning off the accumulation of mucus in the head and chest. Poor digestion is resolved primarily through a proper diet that diminishes the build-up of Kapha in the system. As an asthma sufferer, it is ideal for you to avoid eating too many mucus-forming foods like sweets, salty foods, and dairy products (except for milk). Food must be properly chewed, eaten in reasonable quantities, and not consumed for at least four or five hours before going to bed. The accumulation of mucus in the head and chest can be burned off by consuming heat-producing substances like spicy foods, ginger, and raw onions with food. An Ayurvedic healer may also settle excessive moisture in the head and chest with specific herbs that act as bronchodilators to help the body open the passages and as tonics to strengthen the lungs. Other lifestyle changes to be made in response to asthma include:
- Avoid eating dinner as it will create more mucus in the system as food remains undigested until the early morning.
- Avoid lying down too much, as inactivity will help build up more mucus in the body.
- Keep meals to once or twice a day, without snacking. This will quickly relieve the body of excess food to digest and bring it back into balance.
- Avoid heavy foods at night, which will create more stress on the digestive fire.
- Avoid drinking too much while eating at the same setting. A half cup of water is sufficient.
- Wake at the time of Vata, which is before 6am. This early activity will help dry up the mucus.
- Avoid food until later in the morning, after 10am. This will help digestion become stronger.
- Sniff a pinch of ginger and pepper powder up the nose to help open the passages.
Check Out Our Related Content:
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Healing QA: How Do You Decide What To Eat For Dinner?
Healing QA: Ayurveda Tips for Dental Care?
Find Out What Dosha You Are. Take our Dosha Quiz!
The Incurables: healing stories that defy all odds! | <urn:uuid:c408218c-3d75-4571-bdf4-b28a7415387b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.veria.com/healing/healing-qa-what-can-i-do-for-asthma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93597 | 696 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Brace (Orthotic) Treatment for Scoliosis
Treatment Overview Back to top
Brace (orthotic) treatment for scoliosis is used to prevent spinal curve progression and to maintain the appearance of the back.
The goal of brace treatment is to prevent the curve from getting worse. Bracing does not correct a curve. There may be some initial straightening of the spine and the appearance of correction when a brace is applied. But in most cases, after the child stops wearing the brace, this correction is lost and the curve returns to its original shape.
What To Expect After Treatment Back to top
In most cases, any correction of the curve that occurred during bracing is lost, and the curve returns to its original shape after bracing is discontinued.
Why It Is Done Back to top
Brace treatment is used for a child who is still growing to prevent progression of moderate spinal curves. Brace treatment is usually continued until the child's skeleton stops growing.
Two common types of braces include the:
- CTLSO, which stands for cervical-thoracic-lumbar-sacral orthosis. This brace consists of a customized pelvic girdle and a metal structure that extends to the neck. This brace is not hidden by clothing. The CTLSO is used to treat curves high in the upper back, such as kyphosis (hunchback). The brace treatment of kyphosis in the upper back can often result in correction.
- TLSO, which stands for thoracic-lumbar-sacral orthosis. This brace consists of a trunk and pelvic girdle that is customized to fit the child. It is used to treat curves in the mid back and lower back. This brace does not have a metal structure and can be hidden by clothing better than the CTLSO can be.
Braces are not effective for curves greater than 45 degrees.
How Well It Works Back to top
Most research on using braces for scoliosis has focused on idiopathic scoliosis. In general, the research shows that braces can be effective for preventing curves from getting worse. The more the child wears the brace, the more effective the brace can be. 1
Braces are generally effective in providing immediate control of curves. When a brace is first applied, a significant correction is often seen. But after the child stops wearing the brace, the curve usually returns.
Although bracing does not always prevent a spinal curve from getting worse, the best results occur when:
- Bracing is started early, while the child is still growing.
- The spinal curve is moderate, not severe.
- The brace is well fitted.
- The child wears the brace for the prescribed amount of time.
- There is family support for the child.
Risks Back to top
Complications of bracing therapy include:
- A child not wearing a brace for the prescribed amount of time, which allows the curve to get worse.
- Skin irritation.
What To Think About Back to top
Children who wear braces are examined by a doctor regularly (such as every 3 months or 6 months or more frequently if problems arise) to monitor the effects of the brace.
A child who has a severe forward curve in his or her upper back in addition to scoliosis may not be well suited for bracing.
Children can ride a bicycle, play tennis, run, and jump while wearing a brace. But they should not participate in activities such as horseback riding, skiing, skating, and gymnastics while wearing a brace. Because wearing a brace makes many physical activities difficult, children or teens are typically advised to remove their braces when they participate in activities such as physical education classes.
References Back to top
Credits Back to top
|Primary Medical Reviewer||John Pope, MD - Pediatrics|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||Robert B. Keller, MD - Orthopedics|
|Last Revised||July 21, 2011|
Last Revised: July 21, 2011
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2013 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. | <urn:uuid:2cee5834-9538-4ee8-9ceb-918fbc5c6243> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwhealth.org/health/topic/otherdetail/bracing-orthotic-treatment/hw62295.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934533 | 877 | 2.96875 | 3 |
WE thought this camel at Honeysuckle was a fun addition to the streetscape, until it turned out to be the most dangerous camel since that one that sells cigarettes.
Well, that might be an exaggeration.
But it’s already cost a Topics reader $600.
‘‘When they were installing the camel,’’ says our reader, ‘‘I was driving along Honeysuckle Drive and was distracted.’’
She promptly ran up the back of a car. No one was hurt, and our reader’s car was fine. But the other car, she tells us, a ‘‘shiny new Honda’’, wasn’t so lucky. The excess bill was $600.
Driver distractions aside, we like Honeysuckle’s latest art installation.
The sculpture, named Constance, was made by artists Suzie Bleach and Andrew Townsend with the support of the Newcastle Museum and Newcastle Art Gallery.
A closer inspection reveals that Constance is built from metal and covered in rivets and bolts.
Her belly is filled with symbols of Newcastle’s industrial and immigrant past.
‘‘The hammer and sewing machine speak of industry, the canary is a reference to coalmining, the ukulele speaks of the music that all people bring with them and the books are the literature and photo albums that define us,” the pair said of their creation.
The camel might also represent how this city has been planned. A horse designed by committee. | <urn:uuid:287f4f71-7402-4c91-8a78-b202a1b35885> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theherald.com.au/story/206403/constance-distraction/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971775 | 327 | 1.6875 | 2 |
PIONEER GOLD COINS
The coins and patterns of J.H. Bowie represent a family organization’s efforts. The name Bowie is known to many people because of the Bowie knife invented by James Bowie of South Carolina and because of his relative Jim Bowie who defended the Alamo in Texas. But it was the Bowies of Maryland (distant cousins of the aforementioned Bowies) and the senior branch of the family who were destined to make dies and so render their name numismatically immortal.
In 1705, John Bowie emigrated from Scotland to Maryland and established a clan still prominent in that state. Lord Baltimore granted Bowie as a tenant-in-chief several manors in an area located approximately midway between Washington and Annapolis, where the town of Bowie and its racetrack thrive today.
Joseph Haskins Bowie – great, great, grandson of John – was born in Georgetown, D.C., on January 25, 1816. Young Haskins, as he was called, grew up on a plantation in neighboring Montgomery County, Maryland, where he and others his own age played amid the many pine trees. In later years, Haskins used the pine tree as a symbol on his coinage.
There was then, and is now, a branch of the Bowie family in North Carolina, and it is possible that Haskins visited them and may have known of the gold strikes and the mints of Reid or, more likely, the Bechtlers. It is more than coincidental that the Bowie coins and Bechtlers’ are quite similar. Both have the weight and fineness in grains recorded on their surfaces. This feature is unique to Bechtler, Bowie, and a coiner formerly associated with Bechtler, Schaeffer. Perhaps Bower used a Bechtler coin as a model, or remembered the appearance of these coins. Certainly he could have seen them often enough in Maryland or at his cousins’ place in North Carolina, or both, during the twenty years of their currency before his departure for California.
At any rate, Bowie apparently left the plantation in Maryland to join his cousin Augustus, a surgeon, who had opened a practice in San Francisco, after completing a tour of duty with the United Stated Navy. Dr. Augustus J. Bowie established his office in a cottage at the corner of Dupont and Clay Streets across from Moffat and Company, which may have suggested the idea of a mint to the Bowies.
On his trip to California, Haskins was accompanied by his cousins, Hyde Ray and Hamilton (Ham) Bowie. The three men sailed on the U.S. Frigate Saint Andrews (probably due to Augustus’ influence) on March 12, 1849, arrived in Panama, crossed the Isthmus on foot, by Indian dugout canoe, and on donkeys. Because of the great difficulty in transporting very heavy loads across the Isthmus, it is probable that even if Bowie or his cousins had the foresight to provide themselves with a coining press, planchet forming the equipment, etc., they would have had to discard them. Probably they could only have carried the comparatively lightweight dies which were almost certainly engraved in the East. These, as shall be seen, were eventually used in striking coins.
Not being able to obtain passage in Panama on any of the fully booked ships that regularly plied the California route (California, Oregon or Pacific), the Bowies were reduced to the less comfortable accommodations offered by the Massachusetts Whaler, Sylph, and arrived off Monterey on May 21, 1849. Coastal fogs delayed the cousins’ entry into San Francisco Bay until June 25.
One wonders if the Bowies, after such an arduous journey, did not regret that they had not taken up an interesting but obvious spoof in the New York Tribune of March 12:
AIRLINE TO CALIFORNIA
Our staid citizens were somewhat excited on Sunday (March 11) by the appearance of large hand bills announcing in bold capitals, the Aerial locomotive will leave this city on the 15th of April, on its first flight to California. The price of passage is fixed at $50, including board, and the trip is expected to be made, in calm weather in two days – against head winds in five days. The proprietors, Messrs. Porter & Robijohn, propose to stop on the way for companies of not less than twenty. We are glad to learn the plan will be at least fully tested.
Of the down-to-earth Bowie coinage itself, little is known. There was no readily available iron in California to make a coin press, planchet rollers, or similar heavy equipment, but evidently coining equipment was shipped around Cape Horn by some other company and was later used to form and finish the planchets which were then struck with the Bowie dies to produce coins. Perhaps one of the California coiners, such as Kohler & Company, purchased the Bowie dies and used their equipment to make gold coins, as they probably did with other issues. The Bowie dies may have been engraved by Baltimore’s one jewelry manufacturer, George W. Weber.
However the coins were struck, there is only one known gold specimen of the Bowie coins. The reason for their scarcity can be deduced by examining this unique $5 gold piece. Its weight is 8.60 grams and purity .879 fine gold, giving it an intrinsic value in 1849 of just over $5, or more than its purported worth. If this piece is typical of his output, obviously most of them would sooner or later have been taken to the mint, melted, and recoined for profit.
Bowie, after living some time in California, Mexico, and Texas, finally settled in Monticello, Illinois. He died on January 5, 1879, while on a visit to St. Louis, Missouri.
H. R. Bowie went on to become a partner in the law firm of King, Bowie and Judah (no relation to James King of William, though Judah pioneered the transcontinental railroad). He died in 1853 during a trip to Washington, D.C., where he was pleading a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ham speculated in real estate and became treasurer for the city and county of San Francisco from 1852 to 1854. It is an interesting irony that his career was put in jeopardy by another private coiner, the infamous James King of William. An editorial written by King in his newspaper, The Bulletin, accused Ham, then the County Treasurer, of embezzlement. Although indicted, Ham was not convicted even though King was the jury foreman! Later, Ham went to Nicaragua, where he died of cholera in 1856.
--Reprinted with permission of the author
from Donald H. Kagin's, "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the
United States", copyright 1981, Arco Publishing, Inc. of New | <urn:uuid:69ffc19e-deb2-4376-a52f-230143334e34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coinfacts.com/pioneer_gold/j_h_bowie.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982173 | 1,432 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Inconsistent spelling and improper punctuation should be fixed by editors. Wrong information should be corrected by fact checkers. Unfortunately, the rush to publish, limited budget and egomania ("I doan need no steenkin editor!") of many self-published authors lead to bad books. There are defective articles in magazines and newspapers. Many websites and blogs are very far from perfect, too. And so are some broadcasts.
Time magazine has (or had) the most stringent fact-checking process in periodical publishing. Apparently, their checkers were expected to put a dot over each word in a manuscript to indicate that the word was checked, verified or changed.
Rival Newsweek has been notorious for printing "Newsweek regrets the error" at the end of the letters section.
Esquire once paid me to write an article, and months later one of the mag's fact-checkers called ME to verify something in the article. If I was not trusted to write the piece, why was I trusted to verify it?
The New York Times publishes large sections of corrections.
Some of my favorite errors:
- The February 2009 issue of Automobile magazine told readers that Thomas Edison said, "Mr. Watson, come here." Actually, Edison was the guy with the light bulb, moving pictures, phonograph and concrete houses. Alex G. Bell was the one who spoke to Watson on the first telephone.
- In the 1980s, a reporter for WCBS TV news used the Spanish phrase "mano a mano" to mean "man-to-man." It really means "hand-to-hand." This is a common error.
- Every November, without fail, at least one talking head on TV will refer to the "Macy's Day Parade." The name of the holiday is Thanksgivings Day, and the event in Manhattan is the "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," you idiots!
- Another common New York broadcast blooper, at least for beginning broadcasters, is "Port of Authority." The real name of the organization is the "Port Authority of New York and New Jersey."
- Brent Sampson is the boss of Outskirts Press and author of a promotional book titled Self Publishing Simplified. Brent wrote, "Peter Mark first published the Thesaurus in 1852," strangely ignoring the much more famous Peter Roget who published his Thesaurus in the same year. Actually Mark was the middle name of Peter Mark Roget, so Brent was two thirds right.
- Orange County Choppers: The Tale of the Teutuls by Keith & Kent Zimmerman has silly geography errors. It's disturbing that three Teutuls plus two Zimmermans plus fact checkers and editors at Warner Books could let obvious errors get printed. On page 11, Paul Senior talks about his parents charging people to park in their driveway on Cooper Street in Yonkers, to watch horse races in Yonkers Raceway or baseball games in Yankee stadium, which were within "walking distance." While the track is just a few blocks away, the stadium is about 8.5 miles south. The 17 mile round trip is not "walking distance" for most people. Twice on page 15, Senior mentions his house in "Muncie," New York. Muncie is in Indiana. The Teutuls lived in MONSEY (which is pronounced like Muncie).
- In Against the Odds. Inter-Tel: the First 30 Years, author Jeffrey L. Rodengen claims that in the early 1970s, "there were no domestic phone system manufacturers except AT&T. He inexplicably ignores GTE, Stromberg-Carlson, ITT, Northern Telecom and Rolm. Jeff also misspells company names, and seems to confuse intercom systems with phone systems.
- In Desperate Networks by Bill Carter, an otherwise excellent book, there is this strange sentence on page 366: "What do expect for this?" What the heck does that mean? I'm only an amateur, but I found this and other flubs in the book. Where are the pros who get paid to find and fix them?
- In So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slichter, another book I liked very much, there's also some silly stuff. On page 237 it says, ". . . and did whatever the man in the headswts shouted at them to do." I've been using and selling headsets for years. I've even designed a few. But in all my experience, I've never seen a man who wore more than one headset at a time. Most men have two ears, and one headset will take care of both them just fine.
- Steve Vogel's The Pentagon, a History is an extremely good book and I recommend it highly. Alas, it, too, has imperfections. On page 302 Steve describes a 1,000-foot-long vehicular tunnel illuminated by rows of neon lights. Neon lights are used for signs. I'd bet $20 that the tunnel was really illuminated by fluorescent lights. On page 276 Steve says the original Pentagon phone system had "68,600 miles of trunk lines." I'd bet $100 that's not true.
- Joshua Levine's The Rise and Fall of the House of Barneys is a very interesting retail history that details the destruction of a once-powerful institution by the dysfunctional family members who followed its founder. (At least it's very interesting to me, and I read a lot of retail histories.) On page 147 we are told that "inventory shortage is the term applied to discrepancies between the inventory recorded as sold and the actual depletion of stock on hand." The proper term is "shrinkage," not "shortage." Retailers know this, and so should writers and editors doing a book about retailing. On page 186, Joshua mentions "people called factors," who advance payments to stores based on accounts receivable. It's possible that hundreds of years ago factors were individual people, but during the Barneys era, factors have been companies. On page 244, Joshua tells us that Fred Pressman "didn't have the kichas for it . . . a Yiddish expression for intestinal fortitude." The proper term is kishkes. This error is unforgivable for a writer with a name like "Joshua Levine." The word originally meant "intestines," and is now slang for "guts."
- In Release Your Writing: Book Publishing, Your Way!, Helen Gallagher says, "Expert editing is a requirement." Sadly, Helen calls Stephen King, "Steven" and falsely claims that Amazon.com owns POD-printer Lightning Source.
- In a Wall Street Journal article published on April 2, 2008, Amy Schatz wrote, "The Carterfone rule required traditional wireline phone companies such as AT&T to allow consumers to use any phone they wanted in their homes, instead of renting or buying a phone from their local carrier." The Carterfone decision was in 1968, but at that time the phone companies were renting, not selling phones to their customers. Sales did not come until much later, probably in the 1980s, as a defensive reaction to retailers who were selling phones that could now be legally plugged in. Some smaller phone companies may have sold some equipment earlier, but not AT&T's Bell System, and the Carterfone decision did not permit massive private phone ownership. That was enabled by a Supreme Court decision in 1977. And even then, people could not "use any phone they wanted." Phones had to meet FCC standards or be connected behind a protective coupling device.
- Back on December 12, 1988, the New York Times published an article by Calvin Sims about the aftermath of the 1984 Bell System breakup. Sims wrote, "consumers have to decide whether to buy their telephones or rent them in a market where dozens of telephone manufacturers offer equipment of varying quality." While that statement was true, it had absolutely nothing to do with the demise of the Bell System. As I stated above, freedom of choice goes back to 1977. Calvin also wrote, "Consumers must choose among the nation's three long-distance carriers -- American Telephone and Telegraph, MCI Communications, and U S Sprint." While those three companies had captured the majority of the long distance calling business, there were dozens of other regional, national, and international competitors, including ITT, Metromedia, RCI, TDX and Allnet. And if consumers did not want to make a choice, a long distance carrier could be assigned arbitrarily by the local phone company. Also, long distance competition existed as far back as 1970, long before the Bell breakup.
- Years ago, the New York Daily News reported on a teenage fashion trend: "wearing pumice." In reality, high school kids were not wearing lumps of volcanic rock that are normally used as an abrasive to remove calluses from feet. They were wearing Pumas, a brand of sneakers.
- The Essential Guide to Telecommunications by Annabel Z. Dodd does a pretty good job covering the subject, but has some silly errors. On page 40 she says, "Rotary telephones, called 500 sets, were introduced in 1896." Actually the 500 model designation was not used until after World War II. Before that were the 300, 200 and others.
- In a review of "Grease" in one of New York City's tabloids, the writer explained that the title refers to the lubricants used in teenage boys' hotrods. Actually, it referred to the grease in their hair. (When I was in high school, those kids were called "greasers" -- or "hoods" or "JDs" (juvenile delinquents).
- Sadly, I can't give you a citation, but I read an interview where someone was quoted as saying "chalk full" of something instead of "chock full." I've also read "chuck full."
- Google shows more than 600,000 links for "anchors away." The correct term is "anchors aweigh."
- On an early job working for a magazine, I wrote something about trading-in an aging model A Ford for a new model T, and submitted my manuscript to my boss, the editor. The editor told the publisher that I made a serious error because the Model A came out after the Model T. He was wrong. What I knew, and what the editor didn’t know, was that there were two Model A Ford cars. One was first built in 1903, before the Model T, which was produced from 1908 through 1927. Another Model A was first built in 1927, after the Model T was discontinued.
- In 1976 I accused a co-author of bullshitting about the "baobab" tree. I thought he made it up, but the tree is real.
- In my first book about self-publishing, I recommended using the prime and double prime to indicate feet and inches, and minutes and seconds. I illustrated that section with vertical ditto marks. I was wrong, and my later books show correctly slanted primes. | <urn:uuid:2d14e9b3-46ea-45da-ac2d-c037714419f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookmakingblog.com/2011/03/writers-need-better-ears-eyes-brains.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971926 | 2,291 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Following the recent events in Syria, the Blue Shield expresses its deep concern regarding the safeguarding of the country’s invaluable cultural and historical heritage. The Blue Shield also deplores the suffering and loss of life during this conflict.
Between 1980 and 2006, six sites bearing witness to the rise and fall of sophisticated cultures stretching from prehistory to the 17th century were chosen to become part of the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Ancient cities of Aleppo, Bosra, and Damascus are evidence of the civilizations that passed by, settled and flourished in Syria between the 2nd millennium B.C. and the 17th century A.C.
To read the rest of the statement, download the English version of the statement (pdf) | <urn:uuid:de49dfb5-7b78-4159-8334-cfedd5ad0480> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uscbs.org/news/?p=171 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923218 | 147 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Italian geologists awarded the Capellini Medal to SMU Associate Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies James E. Quick (right) Sept. 6-8, 2010, in Pisa. The award recognizes the discovery of an enormous 280 million-year-old fossil supervolcano in the Italian Alps with its magmatic plumbing system exposed to an unprecedented depth of 25 kilometers. The discovery has sparked not only worldwide scientific interest but also a budding regional geotourism industry.
Quick and his colleagues at the University of Trieste – Silvano Sinigoi, Gabriella Peressini, Gabriella Dimarchi and Andrea Sbisa – discovered the unique fossil supervolcano in northern Italy’s picturesque Sesia Valley.
The Italian Geological Society, Italy’s oldest professional organization for geologists, awards the medal to foreign geoscientists for a significant contribution to Italian geology.
Quick, a professor in the Huffington Department of Earth Sciences in Dedman College, is the second recipient of the award.
Supervolcanoes, also referred to as calderas, are enormous craters tens of kilometers in diameter produced by rare and massive explosive eruptions – among nature’s most violent events. Their eruptions are sparked by the explosive release of gas from molten rock, or magma, as it pushes its way to the Earth’s surface.
“There will be another supervolcano explosion. We don’t know where,” Quick says. “Sesia Valley could help us to predict the next event.”
The Capellini Medal is named for Giovanni Capellini, founder and five-time president of the Geological Society of Italy and strong advocate of international scientific exchange.
Written by Margaret Allen | <urn:uuid:22606ce5-5e2f-4181-a185-5e341f84875d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.smu.edu/forum/2010/09/14/jim-quick-receives-capellini-medal-for-supervolcano-discovery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925077 | 370 | 3.078125 | 3 |
In my first post, I shared my mantra for focusing on the task at hand. In my second post, I shared a strategy for prioritizing only the three most important tasks.
Today I'll talk about stacking functions.
Stacking Functions: The Permaculture PrinciplePurpose: Task efficiency
There’s a permaculture principle known as stacking functions, the notion that everything you plant in a garden should serve at least three functions. For example, an apple tree might provide fruit to eat, shade for another plant, and beautify your landscape.
The higher level idea is that you want to get the maximum usefulness you can out of anything you dedicate resources to (time, money, garden space, etc.)
This principle can also be employed towards work.
As a blogger, I’m always looking for good content. If I need to write a report or research something for my job, I'll leverage that and turn it into a blog post. If I write a forum response to a question, I'll turn my answer into a blog post. With just a little extra effort, I'm getting two functions out of my original effort. Many of my blog posts will, in turn, get repurposed into books, adding the third function.
The blog itself serves multiple functions: it's a place for me to capture knowledge or refine ideas I want for myself, to share that knowledge with others, and ultimately to drive traffic that helps sell books.
I surf the web to read about the latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence. That's fodder for my science ficiton novels, but it's also of interest to readers, so I use bufferapp to schedule out tweets to articles of interest. I’m researching at the same time I’m engaging with readers.
In my day job, I’ll take on challenges like A/B testing and social web features, skills that I can then apply to refining my own website.
Anything can be stacked, even purely personal desires: With three kids and a full work and writing schedule, I don’t get much time for social outings. So when my writing critique group meets, I bring a flask of bourbon. :)
In the next post, I'll talk about avoiding time sinks. | <urn:uuid:baf58d2c-b5f9-48ae-9980-e1503c39c672> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.williamhertling.com/2013/02/how-to-accomplish-anything-principle-3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926262 | 467 | 1.890625 | 2 |
William M. Bulger is the twenty-fourth president of the University
of Massachusetts. He assumed office on January 4, 1996. In his inauguration
speech, President Bulger said the University recognizes that "it
is for life - not merely for a living - that we must prepare our
Under President Bulger's leadership, the five-campus University
has seen dramatic increases in private support, alumni activity,
research funding, and the academic scores of incoming freshmen.
President Bulger has also launched an award-winning television advertising
campaign featuring prominent alumni, and a scholarship program that
rewards students who finish at the top of their high school graduating
President Bulger's appointment by the University of Massachusetts
Board of Trustees followed his 35-year career as a leading state
lawmaker. From 1978 to 1996, he served as President of the Massachusetts
Senate, elected every two years by his colleagues. His tenure as
President was the longest in state history.
He was first elected to the Senate in 1970 representing the First
Suffolk District. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served in the
House of Representatives from 1961 to 1970. Throughout his legislative
career, Mr. Bulger played a pivotal leadership role in issues that
shaped the physical, cultural and social landscapes of Massachusetts.
During the 1960s, he led efforts to write the first child abuse
reporting laws in this state and during the following three decades
continued to focus much of his attention on the plight of children.
He was one of the architects of a groundbreaking education reform
law that reduced the funding inequities between rich and poor communities.
He was among the first advocates of charter schools and public school
choice. During the 1980s, he made funding of public libraries a
top priority and also advocated for the expansion of childhood nutrition
services and fuel assistance programs.
Under Mr. Bulger's leadership, Boston Common and the Public Garden
were beautified and protected. He secured funding to keep both parks
well lit at night, and he led the fight for a law prohibiting the
building of any skyscraper that would cast a shadow upon either.
He also won funding to beautify Castle Island in South Boston and
preserve the 19th-century fort there, while also securing funds
to help clean up the Boston Harbor.
President Bulger led the Senate through its debate on welfare reform
in the early 1990s, often reminding lawmakers that "after we
have eaten, we forget there is such a thing as hunger." The
resulting legislation, less punitive than some hoped, became the
model for a national law.
Mr. Bulger is a past president of the Boston Public Library Board
of Trustees and continues to serve on the board. He is also a member
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Board of Overseers, Massachusetts
General Hospital Board of Trustees and the National Grid USA Advisory
He is a former member of the Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees
and the McLean Hospital Board of Trustees, overseer of the Children's
Museum in Boston, Citizens Bank of Massachusetts Board of Directors
and corporator of the Winsor School in Boston.
Upon is graduation from Boston College High School in 1952, President
Bulger enrolled at Boston College. His undergraduate career was
interrupted when he joined the United States Army in 1953. He returned
to Boston College in 1955 and completed his undergraduate degree
in English in 1958. He then entered Boston College Law School, from
which he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1961.
Known for his independence of mind, regardless of the political
consequences, President Bulger has been singled out for special
recognition by one of the Commonwealth's most prestigious institutions.
In bestowing its 50th Anniversary Award upon President Bulger, Boston
College Law School described him as one "whose career reflects
great honor on the Law School."
President Bulger is the recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees
from institutions of higher learning.
Mr. Bulger is the author of the best selling political memoir,
"While the Music Lasts, My Life in Politics."
He was born on February 2, 1934, the son of James and Jane (McCarthy)
In 1960, he married Mary Foley. He continues to make his home in
South Boston where he and his wife of 41 years have raised their
nine children: William, James, Sara, Patrick, Mary, Daniel, Kathleen,
Christopher and Brendan.
There are now 19 grandchildren: Bridget Bulger, Monica Bulger,
Michael Hurley, Deirdre Hurley, Mary Hurley, Charles Webb, Ian Webb,
Alannah Bulger, Christopher Bulger, James Hurley, Patrick Bulger,
Thomas Bulger, William Webb, Grace Bulger, Elizabeth Hurley, Mary
Catherine Bulger, Brendan Webb, Margaret Bulger and Jean Marie Bulger. | <urn:uuid:4ece62a2-5a5a-4c55-bc67-7eca01603f3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bpl.org/general/trustees/bulger.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965161 | 1,024 | 2.171875 | 2 |
- Reader's Digest (or similar sized magazine/catalog)
- Misc. Supplies (explained below)
Take a Reader's Digest magazine, or even a small paperback catalog, and open it up to the first page -- some people like to remove the front and back covers (that's a personal preference).
Take the upper right corner of a page, fold it down into the middle -- towards the inside seam -- so that there is straight edge from the inside edge of the top of the page to the middle of the page -- it should be a triangle shape.
Then take the side of the page and fold it in towards the middle of the book -- you should now have 2 folds on one page. Make sure that all folds are "crisp".
Continue until all the pages have been folded in this manner.
Glue the front and back pages together so that it forms a cone shape and "stands up". This becomes the 'body' of the angel, choir boy/girl, etc.
Spray paint the angel's body whatever color you want. Let dry for 24 hours.
Take a styrofoam ball and glue it to the top of the book -- this is the head. I recommend trying to put a 'skewer' into the styrofoam ball and putting a dab of glue on the end and pushing it into the center of the book.
For the hands, you could try a variety of things -- foam shapes, paper, etc -- glued to the page where you want the hands to be.
Decorate the head they way you like. Suggestions:
Hair - raffia, curly hair, wool, etc.
Eyes - wiggly eyes, foam cutouts, buttons, felt, etc.
Mouth - foam, felt, etc.
Nose -- felt, etc.
Neck -- I put a little bit of gather lace around the neck, hiding the styrofoam and top of book.
Other decorations -- put a prayer/song book in the hands, put a holly sprig near the neck or in the hair, etc.
The picture featured here was submitted by Lorielle Ludeman-Rutten. She explains, "I remember my mother making these when I was a kid, and wanted to keep the tradition going this year. I made this set for my piano teacher. He and his family loved them, and plan to keep them for a long time, and to pass them on to their children."
If you like this craft, you might want to make a Reader's Digest Christmas Tree Craft. | <urn:uuid:bd003e63-8370-437f-81da-de9ae98b2949> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/makingangels/a/blrdangel.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936116 | 541 | 2.109375 | 2 |