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Cruise History: Shaw Savill Line – The Last Ocean Liners
Deck games on Shaw Savill.
The Shaw Savill & Albion Company built two advanced one-class ocean liners for continuous around-the-world service. Voyages were approximately 75 days, from Southampton to Australia and New Zealand outward via South Africa and return via Panama or in reverse order.
Southern Cross was a remarkable ship for her time, with significant innovative features. She was the first major liner with funnel and engines aft, which created substantial midship passenger space, the first passenger ship that carried no cargo (except stores) and the first major modern liner with all tourist class accommodations.
Shaw Savill Line The slightly larger Northern Star followed a few years later. She sailed eastbound, while her fleetmate sailed westbound, with each ship completing four voyages per year.
Both vessels had similar accommodation layouts. There were a large open Sports deck and Sun deck with outdoor pool. The Lounge deck offered a forward lounge, writing room, library, smoking room, two-deck cinema lounge and a tavern. There were forward and aft restaurants and a proper wrap around Promenade deck.
“Perhaps you just want to sail on and on, with fresh horizons each dawn and a new port to look forward to. Shaw Savill Round-the-World voyages are for you.”
Southern Cross Shaw Savill Line – Built: 1955 Gross tons: 20204 Length: 604ft Beam: 78ft Draft: 25ft Speed: 20kt -Propulsion: Steam turbines twin screw Passengers: 1100 Tourist – End of service: Laid up 1971
Northern Star Shaw Savill Line – Built: 1962 Gross tons: 24731 Length: 650ft Beam: 83ft Draft: 26ft Speed: 20kt – Propulsion: Steam turbines twin screw Passengers: 1437 Tourist – End of service: Scrapped 1974
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Raleigh Charter High School, Raleigh, North Carolina
OII and Harvard University to co-host web-conference on "Measuring Teacher Success;" Senate holds hearings on teaching American history; Cato Institute releases book about school choice in other countries; the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) issues "Strategies to Improve High Schools;" Leslye Arsht, founder of StandardsWorks, wins Good Housekeeping award for women in government; Holt, Rinehart and Winston announce new online Spanish language program for middle and high school students; and Intel offers website for teachers.
Innovations in the News
Baltimore approves four new charter schools; plus information about choice, and supplemental educational services.
Challenging Curricula, Citizenship Classes, College Counseling, and Summer Homework Count in Carolina
Even though North Carolina is home to the first Krispy Kreme doughnut, you are not likely to find Raleigh Charter High School students hanging out at the local Krispy Kreme shop this summer. In a state that boasts Babe Ruth's first homerun, and the nation's oldest public university (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), North Carolina has many reasons to be proud.
The state was one of the first in the nation during the 1920s to establish a network of paved thoroughfares, earning it a reputation as "the good roads state." Today, students in the state's capitol city are traveling down their own good road, which leads to a high-quality education and positive prospects for the future. At Raleigh Charter High School, recently named one of the nation's top 100 high schools by Newsweek magazine, students take advanced level courses, participate in a comprehensive college counseling program, have opportunities to observe and perform in arts, social service, and local government activities, and complete summer homework.
Raleigh Charter High School (RCHS) opened its doors in 1999 through the successful efforts of parents and a board of directors made up of business professionals, experienced educators, and college professors. Parents of eighth graders at the nearby Magellan Charter School wanted their children to continue to attend a small institution with high academic standards and a positive learning environment, so they mobilized to launch the charter high school. The school's mission is to create a close-knit learning community that combines a demanding college-preparatory education with a curriculum that develops students' citizenship skills.
The 504 RCHS students attend classes in buildings erected at the beginning of the twentieth century in the historic Pilot Mill section of Raleigh. The large administration building on the school's campus was built in 1910. Now, completely renovated, it is home to classes in core subjects, foreign languages, and the arts. The nearby Weaver building, built in 1894, has been refurbished to house, among other classrooms, the school's foreign-language, chemistry, computer, and physics laboratories. Each day, students rush along polished pine floors in the shadows of double hung sash windows on their way to analyze algorithms and the properties of matter.
During classes at RCHS, students delve into hands-on, experiential learning activities based on guidelines from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. RCHS courses are categorized according to five ability levels: Standard, Advanced, Enriched Advanced, Academically Gifted, and Advanced Placement (AP). The different tiers provide students with opportunities for in-depth study and enrichment and enable students to learn at an appropriate pace that best suits their individual learning styles. The majority of classes at RCHS are in the top four tiers. The school's 18 AP offerings include classes in core subjects and in subjects as varied as studio art, psychology, music theory, and environmental science. Four language classes in Latin, Spanish, French, and German round out the AP curriculum.
The school's broad range of AP courses helped place RCHS on Newsweek's list of the top 100 high schools in the country. RCHS ranked ninth on the list, which is determined by the number of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams that were taken by all students in a school in 2004, divided by the number of seniors who were expected to graduate.
Classes at RCHS have a student-to-faculty ratio of eighteen to one, allowing teachers and students to learn in a collaborative environment. Classes begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m. Students may choose to enroll in a supplemental course that meets for 45 minutes before regular classes convene. Elective courses include: chorus, string ensemble, concert band, visual arts, and theater. If they choose, students may also to take a second foreign language, mathematics, or history class. With the school's relatively flexible schedule, students have time to engage in extracurricular activities and to complete their challenging homework load.
At RCHS, faculty members focus on citizenship, and students participate in a program called "Flex Days and Ex Days." Flex Days occur over two successive Fridays, three times per year, when regularly scheduled classes are cancelled. During Flex Days, students meet in small groups to pursue projects in a particular subject area or to engage in citizenship activities, which often involve trips around the local community. Physics students have attended demonstrations at North Carolina State University's Solar House; mathematics students have studied radiocarbon dating at the NC Museum of Sciences; and world-history students have visited various religious institutions, including Raleigh's Hindu and Buddhist temples. Groups of students also have volunteered during Flex Days at the NC Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Urban Ministries, and at other local community organizations. In 2000, 2002, and 2004, students discussed political issues with visitors from Democratic, Republican, Green, and Libertarian parties who were running for national, state, and local offices.
Flex Days help the school integrate community learning into students' academic schedules. RCHS has a close relationship with Hope Elementary Charter School, which serves children in the neighboring Blount neighborhood. About 25 RCHS students devote time after school to tutor and mentor children from Hope Elementary. During Ex Days, on the other hand, the school extends the usual 45-minute class period to 90 minutes, allowing teachers to organize in-depth laboratory exercises, seminars, simulations, practice sessions, and group projects inside the school building.
After the school year ends, the learning does not stop. Students are expected to complete summer assignments. For students who will be taking Advanced Placement biology in the fall, for example, the goal is to get a head start on course material in order to understand the content thoroughly before the final Advanced Placement test is given in early May. In biology, students will take the first test on the first unit on September 2, only one week after the school year begins. The summer assignments in biology include exercises in the scientific method; unifying themes, such as giving examples of a prokaryote and a eukaryote; and chemistry, which includes covalent and ionic bonds, pH scale, and comparison of protons, neurons, and electrons.
Students in all grades, including those who will take advanced or enriched English languages arts classes in the fall, and those who will take AP English, are expected to do summer reading. Ninth graders must read To Kill a Mockingbird and Animal Farm while twelfth grade AP students are to read Life of Pi and Lord of the Flies. In addition to reading the books, students are required to write essays about the texts. Twelfth graders, for example, analyze diction, syntax, imagery, and other literary devices in writing their literary criticism. The essays will be collected on August 26, and tests on the books will be given on August 29.
Parents play an active role at RCHS, from providing transportation for Flex Day activities and coaching athletic teams to participating in the Parent, Administrator, Student, Teacher Association (PASTA), which organizes fundraisers, social activities, and "parent work days" when parents volunteer to do such community service activities as cleaning classrooms, repairing computers, or painting hallways. The school communicates with parents weekly through an online "Tuesday News" bulletin on the school's website, and parents are encouraged to regularly monitor their students' daily class participation by checking homework and discussing the events of the school day. "Coffee with the Principal" is offered for parents five times a year.
As a college preparatory school, Raleigh Charter provides students and their parents with an in-depth college counseling program. Three counselors visit colleges and universities across the country and attend college-counseling conventions each year in order to meet admissions personnel and observe facilities and academic programs. Representatives from higher education institutions also visit RCHS, presenting information about different schools to students in the ninth through the twelfth grade. As part of the counseling program, each student in the eleventh grade works with his or her parents and an RCHS counselor to develop an individual college search plan. In the twelfth grade, students collaborate with counselors to learn how to present themselves most effectively through their transcripts, college essays, letters of recommendation, and application forms.
In 2004, all of Raleigh Charter's graduating seniors were accepted into college. Students also have been successful on the North Carolina End-of-Course tests (EOC), which the state uses to assess how well students are mastering specific grade-level skills at the high school level. In 2003, 99 percent of tenth grade students at Raleigh Charter High School met or exceeded the requirements on the EOC. For five years Raleigh Charter's students have led the state's high schools in EOC scores, and for the last two years, the school has led the state's public high schools in SAT scores. During the 2003-2004 academic year, the school met all standards for Adequate Yearly Progress.
The U.S. Department of Education supports grants to charter schools through the Office of Innovation and Improvement.
Resources: Note: The featured program is innovative and interesting; however, it does not have evidence of effectiveness from a rigorous evaluation and may not be replicable in other locations with differing conditions.
From the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII)
OII and Harvard University's Government Innovators Network will co-host a web-conference on "Measuring Teacher Success: Innovative Developments in Assessing Teacher Performance," July 20th from 1-3 p.m. Eastern Time. Guest speakers include, Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education; Professor Ted Hershberg, University of Pennsylvania; Gaynor McCown, executive director of The Teaching Commission; Brad Jupp, Denver, CO teacher; and Lewis Solmon, president of The Teacher Advancement Program Foundation. RSVP with your name, title, organization, and e-mail address. (July 1)
On the eve of the Independence Day weekend, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development held a hearing on teaching U.S. history and the proposed American History Achievement Act, which was introduced in April by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA). The bill provides for improved testing of American history and civics to determine whether history is being taught well and how it can be improved. Senator Alexander explained the need for all citizens to understand the principles of history that unite us as a country. Those who testified at the hearing included noted historian David McCollough. (June 30)
The Cato Institute has released, What America Can Learn from School Choice in Other Countries, a book containing information by scholars from Europe, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States about school choice in these regions and lessons learned from their experiences. (2005) (Offered for sale.)
High School Reform
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) has issued Strategies to Improve High Schools, a quick "action guide" to help educators and administrators build capacity to comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This guide gives NCLB requirements regarding high schools, explains research on high school improvement, highlights practical examples of effective high schools using key strategies, and lists national organizations that focus on high school. (2005)
Leslye Arsht recently received Good Housekeeping Magazine's 2005 Award for Women in Government. Ms. Arsht earned the award as Senior Adviser to the Iraqi Minister of Education for helping to rebuild Iraq's educational system as part of U.S. Department of Defense efforts. Ms. Arsht is also the founder of StandardsWork, a reform organization that partners with states and school districts to track and use data about student performance in order to improve student achievement. StandardsWork is a Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) under OII's PIRC grant program. (July 7)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston has announced Expresate! Premier Online Edition, a Spanish language program for middle and high school students. The web-based program offers interactive and multi-sensory learning activities, which engage students in learning about Spanish culture while learning the language. The system includes such tools as self-grading workbooks, a voice recording feature called "Holt SoundBooth," and a searchable grammar bank. (June 27) (Offered for sale.)
Intel offers a website, An Innovation Odyssey with ideas for teachers from teachers around the world on how to use technology in the classroom to support student learning. Some of the topics covered on the website are: science and math, creative arts, community education, and simulations. (July 1)
Innovations in the News
The Baltimore (MD) School Board recently approved contracts for the city's first four charter schools. During the next few weeks, the board is expected to approve eight more charter schools, including seven existing schools that are seeking charter status. Most of these schools have educational themes, such as social justice, to focus teaching and learning. [More-The Baltimore Sun] (July 5) [free registration]
A former church school in Palm Beach (FL) will be the home of two very different charter schools sharing a facility and a principal. Excelsior Academy is an elementary school with a focus on the arts, while LIFE (Life Institute For Education) Academy is a high school serving students aged 14 through 22 with developmental delays. Both schools are tuition-free and open to the public. [More-The News-Press] (July 4)
Ohio can now claim bragging rights to the largest school voucher program in the country. Governor Bob Taft (R) approved the state legislature's plan to triple the state's voucher program. Starting in the fall of 2006, tuition aid, which has been available only in Cleveland since 1996, will allow up to 14,000 additional students statewide to leave schools that persistently fail and transfer to private schools. [More-Buffalo News] (July 3)
Summer is here, and so is competition for students in public school districts. The Phoenix Elementary School District (AZ) offers free before- and after-school care to entice families into the district's schools. Superintendent Georgina Takemoto has taken to the streets—promoting her schools to businesses and other organizations, often taking people on bus tours of the school campuses to attract individuals to downtown Phoenix from the suburbs. [More-The Arizona Republic] (July 5)
The Walton Family has selected Clint Bolick, an Arizona school choice advocate, to receive donations in memory of John Walton, who died suddenly. Mr. Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, co-founded the Children's Scholarship Fund, which provides private school options to tens of thousands of children who would have otherwise been stuck in underperforming public schools. He was also a contributor to a number of other organizations that advocate charter schools and promote school choice, including the Alliance for School Choice, founded in 2004 by Clint Bolick. The Walton family recently released a statement, suggesting that memorial donations be made to a Wyoming school and the Children's Scholarship Fund. [More-Arizona Republic] (June 28)
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nonpartisan membership organization of state legislators devoted to free markets, has approved the "Smart Start Scholarship Program" PDF (117KB), as "model scholarship legislation." This legislation model, recommended by the organization, would offer low- and middle-income families the option of sending their four- and five-year-olds to a public or private preschool or kindergarten of their choice. [More-Heartland Institute] (July 1)
Supplemental Educational Services
Maryland's only faith-based tutoring program, Mrs. Dowd's Teaching Service, is a state-approved supplemental educational services provider. Nearly 100 elementary school students participated in this summer's two-week tutorial inside St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bladensburg. Students worked one-on-one with instructors or in small groups, fine-tuning math skills, reading books, and even getting an anatomy lesson using the brain, heart, and lungs of a sheep. The service, begun by Eileen Dowd, is a nationwide network of Christian teachers. [More-The Washington Times] (July 2) [free registration]
Last Modified: 08/13/2009
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Learn Hebrew answers these problems:
- It lifts the language off the page. Fun games & quizzes that award you points for progress.
- It fits easily into short ten-minute sessions. But if you want to push yourself you can learn
the basics in a weekend. You'll be amazed how motivated you can be when you enjoy the
experience of learning!
What will I learn?
To speak and understand Hebrew enough to "get by".
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Aadi is the fourth month in the Tamil Calendar. Aadi Pirappu means ‘the first day’ or the beginning of the month Aadi’. The day and the month are of great significance as Dakshinayana Punyakalam begins on this day – sun changes its course. Next six months from Aadi to Margazhi is considered to be the nighttime of the Devas. In 2013, Aadi Pirappu is on July 17.
Since it is the beginning of the nighttime of Devas people believe that the month is not auspicious and important ceremonies should be held during this month. But the month is also noted for numerous festivals and rituals therefore there is also an argument that the month is auspicious. The month is also considered highly auspicious for the worship of Goddess Amman.
On the Aadi Pirappu day people visit nearby temples and pray for a hassle free month as the monsoon is at its peak.
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I have always liked Science the least of all subjects. I want to do fun Science stuff with my kiddos though and for them to have a chance to love Science. I am wondering what others do to teach Science. I know there are different curriculums and of course I can just do random things, but wanted others input. If I don't have a pretty good plan then I know I won't really do it since I don't really like it.
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Enter some "extra" data just once, and from then on
ManagePLUS can use it to automatically give you
enhanced quantity information and per-unit statistics on reports.
quantities attached to your accounts and classes
ManagePLUS displays its copy of your QuickBooks accounts, classes, and
transactions in tabbed windows
that have extra columns, where you can enter information to
associate with individual accounts and classes.
The most important extra information you can add is something we
call management quantities--physical
quantities you want to use as a basis for per-unit
information on reports. If you want to see each income and expense
total on a per pallet of product basis, or per bushel of
soybeans produced, or per
labor hour, or per tenant month (in an apartment complex), then
you'll enter the total number of pallets, or bushels of soybeans,
or labor hours, or tenant months, and ManagePLUS will give you
per-unit information on reports.
Here's the Classes tab in ManagePLUS, showing classes for individual trucks in an
example trucking company. Mileage has been entered for each truck--the miles
driven during the accounting period--to serve as management
quantities for reports on the truck classes:
With management quantities like these, ManagePLUS can automatically show per-mile income and expense statistics
for each income and expense category for each truck, on reports.
(See report examples in the next item, below)
There are two management quantity columns (A Mgmt Qty and
B Mgmt Qty), and you can use both if you want two sets of
per-unit information on reports--maybe you want to see expenses
both per pallet of production and per labor hour, or per
bushel of soybeans produced and per acre of soybeans grown.
What else? In ManagePLUS Gold, formulas for allocating income and expense to cost centers and
profit centers can be based on the management quantities you've
entered (more on this later in the tour).
Management Quantities: the Most Valuable
Demonstrates using management quantities to get
per-unit details on reports, and as a basis for
allocating income and expense. (Haul-Rite Trucking
per-unit income and expense statistics
If you've entered management quantities for any accounts or
classes as described above, you'll automatically get
per-unit statistics based on them, on reports. Here's a report
fragment showing dollar-per-mile revenue and costs for the
16-Peterbuilt class. (Don't fret if the numbers appear less than
realistic; remember, this is from a very simple QuickBooks example
Automatic quantity totals
You can also attach units of
measure to accounts (but not classes). If you do this for any
of your accounts (it's optional), ManagePLUS will automatically show quantity totals and related statistics for
those accounts on reports.
Here's a fragment from a ManagePLUS Profit & Loss with Classes
report, which shows the kinds of quantity information ManagePLUS provides automatically.
It's for a farm business' income account called Raised Livestock,
and the yellow band is a class-by-class breakdown of sales
for that account, with detail lines for two different classes of
cattle, Hfrs (heifers) and Strs (steers).
Note: Transaction data for this example included dual
quantities, which means both the
weight and number of animals sold were recorded in the
QuickBooks transactions from which this report was generated. With single quantities, less report information would
have been produced. The
ability to record two quantities in transactions is a ManagePLUS
exclusive and is described later
in the tour.
Currently ManagePLUS can only provide this kind of quantity
detail for accounts, not items
(from the QuickBooks Items list). And obviously, this feature
should only be applied to accounts that represent things bought or sold in a
unit of measure (pounds, gallons, tons, bushels, etc.), not for an
account like Office Supplies where a quantity total would be
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A Sourcebook on African-American Performance
Plays, People, Movements
Edited by Annemarie Bean
Published April 29th 1999 by Routledge – 376 pages
Series: Worlds of Performance
A Sourcebook on African-American Performance is the first volume to consider African-American performance between and beyond the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and the New Black Renaissance of the 1990s.
As with all titles in the Worlds of Performance series, the Sourcebook consists of classic texts as well as newly commissioned pieces by notable scholars, writers and performers. It includes the plays 'Sally's Rape' by Robbie McCauley and 'The American Play' by Suzan-Lori Parks, and comes complete with a substantial, historical introduction by Annemarie Bean.
Articles, essays, manifestos and interviews included cover topics such as:
* theatre on the professional, revolutionary and college stages
* concert dance
* community activism
* step shows
* performance art.
Contributors include Annemarie Bean, Ed Bullins, Barbara Lewis, John O'Neal, Glenda Dickersun, James V. Hatch, Warren Budine Jr. and Eugene Nesmith.
'an excellent resource for teachers and researchers' - Speech & Drama
'This book is invaluable as an introductory text for students of black performance.' - Celeste-Marie Bernier, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, American Studies 2001
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Pontoon bridge washed away after sudden water release
- Trouble mounts for Sreesanth as Mumbai cops gather more evidence
- SIT to seek Supreme Court guidance on Maya Kodnani death penalty issue
- Tamil Nadu police bans Yasin Malik-linked pro-Eelam public meeting
- Kings XI Punjab end IPL 2013 campaign with a win
- Narendra Modi: India losing sheen as agricultural nation
The sudden release of water from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana washed away several segments of a temporary pontoon bridge between Wazirabad and Majnu Ka Tila, as well as settlements along the Yamuna river in north Delhi on Thursday.
Even on Friday, most government departments remained unaware of the damage to the temporary bridge. But the PWD said it would require at least 30 days to repair and construct the pontoon bridge.
PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said that an unexpected discharge of water from Haryana into the Yamuna had caused damage to the pontoon bridge.
"We believe at least 38,000 cusecs of water was released and the force was strong enough to wash away parts of a temporary pontoon bridge," Chauhan said, adding that the pontoon bridge was constructed two months ago to ease traffic till construction of the Signature Bridge.
Senior PWD officials said they had engaged two steamers in the Yamuna to tow the displaced sections of the pontoon bridge. "By Friday evening, we had recovered around 35 tubes of the pontoon bridge. Some of the tubes had been washed away till Sarai Kale Khan. Once all the segments are brought back and the water level recedes, we will begin constructing the bridge again," a senior official said.
According to the PWD, the force of the water on Thursday night was strong enough to crack the steel clamps and wires that held the pontoon bridge together. "The pontoon bridge was fastened with steel clamps and three-inch wires. The current was strong enough to break these clamps and wires. We will also work on reinforcing the bridge," said another PWD official.
Sources in the PWD said they were not informed of the discharge of water and have taken up the issue with Chauhan.
"Neither flood control department nor the Delhi Jal Board notified the PWD about the impending water discharge. Our officials on ground noticed the current in the Yamuna increase and called the police to stop traffic," said a senior PWD official. He added that everyday, at least 150 vehicles use the pontoon bridge every hour.
- Destitute, orphan students outclass rest in Andhra Class 10 exams
- To re-energise ties, PM wants to visit US, waits for confirmation
- NIA court says no terror link, frees 'Hizbul militant' Liyaqat on bail
- CBI arrests its coal allotments investigator on bribery charge
- ‘Cricketer-bookie Amit may have used Jiju to reach Sree’
- BCCI chief N Srinivasan says police must prove spot-fixing allegations
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At Family TLC we teach couples anger management strategies such as don’t take things personally, stay calm, listen first and breathe. “Easier said than done,” many of our clients have told us. It’s one thing to learn and practice calming strategies when nothing’s going on, it’s another to use them when a spouse is pushing all of your buttons.
“How can I be so calm one minute, and then the next minute my spouse does or says something and I’m storming off or yelling or shutting down?”
Great question! With our spouse we always want things to be synchronized. We believe we need to be in harmony in order for us to stay together. We subconsciously expect our dreams, visions and thoughts to be in line, happily ever after. So we get scared when things are not synchronized. It hurts us when our spouse does not like something we do or thinks differently about us than we do about ourselves.
Think about this: Do you get mad when a friend doesn’t like your outfit, or when your buddy forgets to wipe up the counter after he makes a sandwich, or your carpool partner decides to drive a different route than you would, or your co-worker cannot remember what you take in your coffee? Probably not, but boy do you get mad when your spouse makes the same transgressions.
Be careful what you wish for. If everything with your partner was synchronized then you will end up being the same and the things about your partner that you were attracted to may disappear. So instead of being ticked off about the things that don’t fit into what you want, celebrate your differences and embrace the genuine uniqueness of your partner.
Always ask yourself, “Is this really worth the fight?” Remember – you love each other. Above all, respect your differences and see how being out of harmony actually helps you play a more beautiful tune.
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What You Need to Know about Nigeria Visas
If you are planning to visit or immigrate to Nigeria, you will of course need a Nigerian visa. It is a definite must-have in your passport before you can stay in the country for any length of time. You may obtain this travel seal from the Nigerian embassy or consulate in your country.
Depending on your purpose, you may apply for any one of the following visa types:
Tourist visa- If you are thinking of visiting the country to enjoy its wonders and tour amazing cities and towns, this is the type of visa you must apply for. It usually allows you a three months stay in the country; however, you are not allowed to participate in any form of employment during this time period.
Business visa- This type of visa can be issued for single or double entry. If you would like to live in the country temporarily due to business activities but not employment, apply for this type. It allows you to enter the country to attend conferences or meetings, or to negotiate business deals. The initial 90-day time period can be extended upon application.
Work visa- Applying for a Nigerian work visa is an employer-led process, and the Nigerian company must confirm that it has a vacancy to offer, and provide the full details of the job. A precursor to the work visa is the STR or subject to regularization visa. The STR visa allows you to stay for 90 days, during which an application must be submitted in order to make you “regularized.” You can then have a work permit.
Subject To Regularization or STR visa- This type of visa allows you into the country for a short period of time, as you apply to be “regularized,” which, in turn, allows you to stay and work longer in the country.
Temporary work visa- This type of visa is issued to foreigners who enter Nigeria to do services for a prearranged period such as account auditing, equipment repair, research, or installation work. It is also an employer-led process and is valid initially for three months.
Diplomatic or official visa- Members of the diplomatic communities or government officials are issued this type of visa.
Student visa- Scholars, foreign exchange students, master or doctorate degree students, and other members of the academic institution can acquire this type of visa to enter the country.
Transit visa- This type of visa is granted to foreigners who want to stay in Nigeria intransit to their destination.
Regardless of the type of visa you are applying for, the requirements you will need to submit include a valid passport, evidence of sufficient funds to cover your stay, your current vaccination certificate or yellow card, completed visa application form, and an interview when necessary.
For tourist and transit visas, there are additional requirements such as copies of your return ticket and flight itinerary, certified hotel reservation statements, contract of employment, or recent pay slip or bank statements from your home country, as well as a letter of invitation or responsibility from Nigerian organizations or individuals.
For business and student visas, you must also furnish the following documents: copies of return ticket, invitation letter from business organization or company indicating the reason for the trip, an acceptance and invitation letter from the academic institution you will be studying at, and a copy of your identification card, with a letter from your current institution.
For the temporary work permit, you will need an approval from the Nigerian government for the visa, an invitation letter from the company in Nigeria which must state the reason why you are entering the country, and a sponsorship letter from your employer.
For the STR visa, additional documents needed include certified copies of expatriate quota approval from Nigeria, or approval for STR from Nigeria, letter of employment, letter of acceptance, certified and legalized copies of all certificates and credentials, copies of marriage certificate and birth certificate, if you have a child.
You may apply for Nigerian visa on the Internet. Some Nigerian embassies and consulates have made their services available online in some countries. You can check with your embassy first to save time, rather than personally going to the embassy to get application forms and then returning to submit the required documents. In case you don’t know, Nigeria is 10th on the list of Top 10 countries with greatest oil reserves.
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I visited Peralta Elementary School in North Oakland this week to see how they are using the arts to teach children about the environment. A story about it ran in Saturday’s paper.
Below, you’ll find the “Miraculous Fungi” animation last year’s fourth-graders produced with their teachers to explain the concept of micromediation. (Normally, I’d explain such a term myself, but I’d rather let the students tell you how it works.) Next on the list: native bees.
Carrie Johnston, a teacher at Oakland’s Bella Vista Elementary School, wrote this reflection about a group of retired teachers.
Photo courtesy of Carrie Johnston. Left to right: Karen Chin, Louise Broome, and Carolyn Matson
Bella Vista School teachers gathered on this last morning before spring break for a treat — breakfast prepared by three retired teachers. The delicious repast included home fries, grits, donuts, and cheesy scrambled eggs. Tired staff, looking forward to the coming break almost as much as their students, took time to gather, enjoy the food, and spend some time together before the last day.
Carolyn Matson, Louise Broome, and Karen Chin have always been generous when it comes to sharing their cooking gifts with the staff at Bella Vista; ask any member of the staff from the past four decades and she will remember a potluck (or several) featuring one of Mrs. Broome’s tasty cooked treats, and for the past several years the social committee has been helmed by the dedicated, enthusiastic Mrs. Matson and Ms. Chin.
I began my teaching career at Bella Vista. After leaving the school and the district for several years I counted myself lucky to return here, because the staff have a wonderful way of caring for each other. Many of the teachers and support staff have worked together for decades, and the trust and comfort they take in each other is heartwarming. Although no teams of researchers have been in to confirm my beliefs, I am pretty sure the consistent staff and the fellowship among the adults at Bella Vista have contributed to the steady improvement in student achievement. It is a place where adults have felt at home, and these comfortable adults provide a feeling of home to the students at Bella Vista as well.
file photo of ACORN Woodland by Laura Oda/Bay Area News Group
Congratulations to ACORN Woodland and Henry J. Kaiser Jr. elementary schools. They were among 22 in Alameda County and 387 statewide to be named 2012 California Distinguished Elementary Schools, an award given by Tom Torlakson, California superintendent of public instruction.
Other nearby winners were Malcolm X in Berkeley; Amelia Earhart and Donald D. Lum in Alameda and Hanna Ranch and Olinda in West Contra Costa.
The awards went to schools that showed academic excellence for all students and which have narrowed the achievement gap. You can find the full list here.
“The schools we are recognizing today demonstrate the incredible commitment of California’s teachers, administrators, and school employees to provide a world-class education to every student, in spite of the financial hardships facing our state and our schools,” Torlakson said. “Their dedication is inspiring, and I applaud and admire their passion and persistence.”
UPDATE: The OUSD board voted 6-0 (board member Alice Spearman wasn’t present) to approve the charter conversions of both ASCEND and Learning Without Limits. You can find the full story here.
As a result of the higher-than-normal facilities rate the schools will pay OUSD to remain in their buildings ($2.50 per square foot, compared to $1.35 per square foot), their per-student contributions to the state debt, and the services the schools plan to buy from the district as part of a services agreement, OUSD expects to lose about $48,000 after it’s all said and done, down from the original $826,350 projected just a few weeks ago. (Note: OUSD will lose $4.5 million in state revenue from the conversion, but $3.67 million in costs will be eliminated, bringing the difference to $826,350.)
In January, Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith recommended that the school board reject efforts by ASCEND and Learning Without Limits elementary schools to secede from the district and operate as independent charter schools. The board did just that.
Then, last month, the two schools submitted revised applications — and the district administration is asking the board to approve them this evening.
Why the reversal? Last month, ASCEND and Learning Without Limits principals said the district was interested in what they called a “partnership charter.” We should learn more tonight at a special meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. You can find the petitions and the recommendations for ASCEND here and Learning Without Limits here.
If the Oakland school board approves the charter petitions, the schools’ leaders say they will stop their appeal to the Alameda County Board of Education, which is scheduled to hold a hearing next week. If the county approved the charter school petitions, the county — not the Oakland school district — would oversee the schools.
Normally I try to synthesize and rewrite the information that people send me, but I so enjoyed reading these coaches’ descriptions of the international creative problem-solving contest called Odyssey of the Mind that I thought I’d share them with you. You can also find the “long-term problem synopses” for 2012 here.
First, from Steve Trowbridge, who coached an all-girls team from Oakland’s Edna Brewer Middle School (Brewer’s only team), which is pictured above.
Problem 5: Odyssey Angels
The Angel students with their special powers took on the evil Angels and saved the day for a community of hippies. The evil Angels were trying to cut down the sacred tree.
Roger B. Moore, a Glenview Elementary School dad, gave us this summary:
This year Glenview had 49 students participating on seven different teams, four at the Division I level (Grades 3-5) and three at the primary level (Grades K-2). At last Saturday’s regional tournament, each team did an eight-minute presentation on their “long term” problem and worked on an impromptu solution to a “spontaneous” problem. The four Division 1 teams worked on different problems:
The “Ooh-Motional Vehicle” team created and drove a working vehicle that could respond to commands and show human emotions.
The “Weird Science” team presented explorers on a scientific mission explaining the cause of mysterious events shown in a NASA photograph.
The all-girl “To Be Or Not To Be Team” put on a Hamlet-inspired musical comedy, in which playwright Wilma Shakespeare visited the future, argued with Stevie Jobs, and uncovered secrets of her past.
The “Odyssey Angels” team created a play in which a traveling group turns negative situations into positive ones.
It’s not just leap day in Oakland. Feb. 29, 2012 has been proclaimed Henry J. Kaiser Jr. Elementary School Day. A Kaiser mom forwarded me this proclamation from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. I didn’t know mayors did that. Has your school ever had its day?
The document is admittedly hard to read in this size, so here’s an excerpt:
Henry J. Kaiser Jr. Elementary School is to be commended for its unwavering dedication to providing a place where diverse cultures are honored and celebrated, fostering academic excellence and creativity, and imparting the tools necessary for self motivation and independence that are required of well-rounded, reflective and socially aware individuals.
Two Oakland elementary schools whose attempted breakaway from the district was recently denied (by the district) are taking a different approach in their quest for independence. Tonight, the principals of ASCEND and Learning Without Limits turned in revised charter conversion applications — this time, for “partnership charters,” which would work closely with OUSD and its five-year strategic plan.
The faculties at both schools voted last fall to separate from the district in order to have more control over staffing, finances, curriculum and scheduling — conditions they said they felt all public schools should have. It was a blow to the district, and it came out as the board was holding its contentious school closure hearings.
But in recent weeks, district staff and the leaders of the two would-be charters — brought together by OUSD’s general counsel, Jackie Minor — have been negotiating a compromise.
Unlike other charter schools in OUSD, ASCEND and Learning Without Limits would chip in to pay down the district’s enormous debt from its 2003 meltdown and state bailout loan, a bill that comes to $6 million a year. They would also buy services from the district, including professional development and school meals, and its teachers and administrators would participate in some trainings and collaborative workshops with their district counterparts.
Students would enroll exclusively through the district’s student assignment process (though that doesn’t mean they’ll have more room for students displaced from closed schools), Read the rest of this entry »
A transitional kindergarten class at Oakland’s Greenleaf Elementary. — Laura A. Oda/ Bay Area News Group
The parents of 4-year-olds with fall birthdays — not yet in the public school system — have already come face to face with the topsy-turvy ways of Sacramento.
Take the parents of kids born in November 2007. Since 2010, they’ve been told their children will be too young for kindergarten in 2012 under the new cutoff date, but that they will be entitled to a spot in a new grade-level, transitional kindergarten.
Now, about seven months before the first day of school, they learn that the governor is proposing to cut the program to save $223 million.
This afternoon, the Oakland school district posted maps showing how it might redraw its boundaries for 2012-13, after five elementary schools close.
OUSD Spokesman Troy Flint is double-checking on this, but it appears that the remaining schools’ boundaries would only expand — not shift — under this plan. In other words, that the only residents who’d be redistricted would be those who live in the attendance areas of Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe. I think. If it appears otherwise to you, let us know!
Lakeview and Lazear each have two scenarios for consideration. Marshall and Maxwell Park have three (including one for Maxwell Park that splits the current zone into seven pieces). Santa Fe has just one three. You’ll find more detail below.
WHAT’S NEXT: The district is holding five community meetings, beginning Nov. 29, in each of the areas (see above link for dates and locations). It holds a public hearing Dec. 14, and is scheduled to make a decision on Jan. 11.
Here are the scenarios, with a list of all of the schools that would incorporate part of each existing attendance area: Read the rest of this entry »
As they come to terms with the upcoming closure of their schools, families from Oakland’s Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe elementary schools must now decide where to send their children next fall.
Typically, OUSD (and prospective OUSD) families submit their top school picks — mostly for kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades — by Jan. 15. The hundreds of children affected by upcoming school closures will make their choices earlier and will receive their placements by Dec. 19, according to this letter from OUSD.
In other words, they have first dibs on the open seats in grades 1 to 5.
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Secret inspection satellites boost space intelligence ops, Craig Covault, SpaceflightNow
"In a top secret operation, the U.S. Defense Dept. is conducting the first deep space inspection of a crippled U.S. military spacecraft. To do this, it is using sensors on two covert inspection satellites that have been prowling geosynchronous orbit for nearly three years. The failed satellite being examined is the $400 million U.S. Air Force/Northrop Grumman Defense Support Program DSP 23 missile warning satellite. It died in 2008 after being launched successfully from Cape Canaveral in November 2007 on the first operational Delta 4-Heavy booster."
"Craig Covault, one of the world's most respected aerospace journalists, is joining the Spaceflight Now team as Editor-at-Large. With about 3,000 articles to his name and nearly four decades in the business, Craig will further strengthen Spaceflight Now's unrivaled coverage of the space program."
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 10:29AM
Source: The Sunday Times, Jan 16 2011
Doctors should rely on senses, experience and eschew costly, unnecessary tests
There have been many reports in recent years of doctors, in the United States especially, ordering too many tests. Many of these tests are unnecessary and contribute to the rising cost of health care. In addition, tests that depend on imaging by X-ray may expose patients to excessive amounts of radiation.
In the old days, there were fewer tests available and doctors had to think like detectives, using every clue to guide them to a diagnosis.
Most of the relevant information doctors need - up to 70 per cent or more, especially with neurological problems - comes from what the patient tells us. But it takes experience to pick up the relevant parts of the patient's story and not be misled by red herrings.
Doctors take down the history, a narration of how an illness started, evolved, what bothers the patient - for example, whether there is fever, cough, vomiting, headaches and so on.
The doctor might well ask other questions that may be relevant, depending on the hypothesis she has built up at that point, such as whether the patient smokes or consumes drugs - not only what may have been prescribed but also obtained illicitly.
While we are listening to what the patient tells us, we have to simultaneously think of various possible illnesses, and narrow down the possibilities to a few that seem most likely.
About 15 per cent of our information comes from examining the patient. This is usually done after taking down the history. Examinations often involve looking at, feeling, listening to - and sometimes, even smelling the patient.
An examination includes observing the patient's general condition. A doctor might look into various orifices, like the mouth, ears, and even anus and vagina when the clinical picture suggests the latter two sites may yield valuable information.
Next, we may palpate the patient, feeling and pressing on various parts of the patient's body, including the abdomen. This is often followed by auscultation with a stethoscope, to listen to the lungs, the gut and sometimes sounds that come from abnormal blood flow.
Finally, a neurological examination may be done if necessary. This is usually the most difficult part of the examination and many non-neurologists do not even bother to master the technique.
A good doctor can often arrive at a diagnosis through such examinations without conducting any test at all. Tests generally provide only 15 per cent of the information we need.
Of course, the precise percentage that comes from taking down a patient's history or examining him or from tests varies from disease to disease. Hence how we approach a patient depends on what we suspect.
It is also important to have an open mind, and gather as much experience as possible, because diseases do not always present themselves in the classical way. Also, once we have decided on a particular diagnosis, there is a tendency to forget that we may be wrong, and thus be ready to revise our diagnosis when some unusual feature turns up.
In 1982, I was training in paediatric neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, better known as MGH (or 'Man's Greatest Hospital', as some have it). I was called down once to the hospital's emergency department because 'a baby had a fit'.
I asked the mother what happened. She said the baby had been perfectly well, suddenly gave a cry, vomited, then went limp and became unconscious.
Judging from her story, it did not seem to me that the baby had suffered a fit. Instead, it seemed to me that the baby had suddenly felt severe pain and fainted as a result. The vomiting suggested something had happened in the intestine.
In fact, any paediatrician who had been trained by Professor Wong Hock Boon, the father of paediatrics in Singapore, would have immediately blurted out 'intussuception'. It is a condition where one part of the small intestine telescopes into the next part and becomes stuck as a result.
I confirmed that it was indeed intussuception by carefully palpating the baby's abdomen. The abdomen was soft and the baby gave no hint that the palpation caused him pain.
In the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, I felt a lump. That was the part of the small intestine that had telescoped. If not urgently reduced - that is, unstuck - the gut would become gangrenous, the entire abdominal cavity would fill with bacteria, and the child would become seriously ill and probably die.
I told the crowd of paediatricians around me that the baby had intussuception. I suggested a barium enema be arranged as soon as possible. I was somewhat annoyed that none of them, not even the senior paediatrician heading the paediatric team in the emergency department, believed me.
Instead, they laughed and wondered why a neurologist was palpating the abdomen. After some argument, they agreed to do at least a plain X-ray, which might show up the intussuception.
It did. A barium enema was then arranged and a few hours later, the intussuception was reduced and the baby was perfectly well.
After that incident, I was no longer called 'that little China girl' by my American colleagues. Their impression of Singapore changed. They realised that doctors trained at the National University of Singapore (NUS) usually do not order unnecessary tests.
Rather, we use all our senses as well as accumulated experience, and perform only a few relevant tests. That combination can allow doctors to get to the root of their patients' troubles without conducting too many expensive tests.
I am proud of the NUS medical faculty. I am proud of the practical training it gave my generation of doctors.
Now, when I see young doctors emulating doctors in the US in ordering too many tests, I go out of my way to chastise them.
Adapted from an article on the ST, 16 Jan 2011
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The exercise of considering whether South Africa's public holidays discriminate against non-Christians should also consider that not only is discrimination sometimes justifiable, but if we are going to revise our public holidays, there might well be more important issues to consider in doing so.
The commission with the improbably long name (more formally known as the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, or CRL) is currently holding public hearings on South Africa's calendar. Following the receipt of four complaints from members of the public, the CRL has set out to determine the extent to which religious bias informs the public holidays we get to enjoy, and which we don't.
On the one hand, the debate seems easy to resolve. We're not officially a Christian country, so on the face of it, having Good Friday and Christmas Day as two of the 12 public holidays is surely discriminatory in that it privileges one religion over others. If you include Family Day - surely Easter Monday in all but name - a full quarter of the holidays are Christian, and none represent other faiths.
If this discrimination is thought unmerited or wrongful, we'd have two options. We could try to represent all faiths, or we could resolve to represent none. Then again, it is also possible to argue that the discrimination is warranted, seeing as roughly three-quarters of South Africans claim to be Christian.
You might not expect to hear this from an atheist, but I'm rather sympathetic to the claim that it's not unfairly discriminatory to allocate two of the 12 public holidays to the Christian faith. Religion, per se, does not justify public holidays, even if your religion regards certain days as holy. But sometimes tradition, history or heritage does seem to do so, when it can plausibly be argued to represent a significant majority of a population.
In the case of South Africa, three-quarters of the country appear to self-identify as Christian, and therefore three-quarters of the country happen to regard the same days as holy. Seeing as many of them won't be showing up for work on those days in any event, it seems to make perfect economic and moral sense to recognise that day as special. For most of the country, in other words, it is indeed special.
Not recognising those days as special could simply mean that additional, non-official public holidays would be the result. If these two (perhaps three) days are indeed the most holy days in the year for Christians, a possible alternative would be to let people choose to take these days as part of the 12 holiday days everyone is entitled to, on days of their choosing. But why create the logistical nightmare of forcing this large community to co-ordinate their holidays in this way?
Second, if all holidays are a matter of choice, it's not only the co-ordination of them between family, friends and communities that's an issue - we might also suspect that some people would end up getting no public holidays at all. It's one thing for an employer to pressure someone to work on an official public holiday - easier still would be for an employer to keep refusing to allow someone to take any self-designated day off. Having 12 pre-identified days makes everyone's planning easier, and makes it more difficult for employers to exploit their staff.
So, however we resolve the public holiday debate, giving everyone 12 days off on days of their own choosing seems the worst possible choice we could make. Our alternatives, as mentioned above, are to include all religions or to include none. Including all of them is clearly out of the question, unless by "all" we mean some limited set, rather than all.
Deciding on who gets to be included in that limited set would require some discrimination, though, and seems to get us back to square one - who gets to decide which religions are privileged, and why?
If, as suggested above, making these decisions is premised on popularity, then we should bear in mind that we might sometimes need to revise which public holidays are celebrated and which not. If South Africa eventually becomes a majority Muslim or Jewish country, for example, the holidays should change accordingly. This is perhaps the main issue: such a revision will be unpopular and divisive, and therefore unlikely to occur.
So we might want to consider the discrimination to be unjustified, and resolve that public holidays need to be entirely detached from religious holy days. Then, the days would never need changing and would be selected on a more principled basis. They could be arranged in such a way that the impact on the work week - and the economy - is minimised.
Public holidays in the middle of the week invariably result in absenteeism on adjacent days, and this problem could be resolved by stipulating holidays on "the third Monday of June", for example, rather than on a fixed date.
As indicated earlier, though, arguments that the current arrangements are discriminatory (coming from both other faiths and non-believers) seem to my mind overstated.
Discrimination is not always wrong, though it's easy to understand a non-Christian religious person feeling more aggrieved in this case, seeing as to all intents and purposes having two Christian days recognised where no other faith has a day does appear to present Christianity as the de facto national religion.
Debating this issue on the grounds of discrimination seems to result in more heat than light. We're becoming a nation of complainers, always on the lookout for who is abusing our dignity or denying some putative right. If there is a slight to other faiths and no faith here, it's a minor one.
But if we are to consider whether the current public holidays are the right ones, there are serious issues to debate - most importantly how we can derive maximum public benefit at lowest cost to the economy.
Let's hope the commission takes the opportunity to consider those issues, rather than being exclusively concerned with religious (and non-religious) sensitivities.
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Amours de Voyage
by Arthur Hugh Clough
Eastward, or Northward, or West? I wander and ask as I wander;
Weary, yet eager and sure, Where shall I come to my love?
Whitherward hasten to seek her? Ye daughters of Italy, tell me,
Graceful and tender and dark, is she consorting with you?
Thou that out-climbest the torrent, that tendest thy goats to the summit,
Call to me, child of the Alp, has she been seen on the heights?
Italy, farewell I bid thee! for whither she leads me, I follow.
Farewell the vineyard! for I, where I but guess her, must go;
Weariness welcome, and labour, wherever it be, if at last it
Bring me in mountain or plain into the sight of my love.
I. Claude to Eustace,--from Florence.
Gone from Florence; indeed! and that is truly provoking;--
Gone to Milan, it seems; then I go also to Milan.
Five days now departed; but they can travel but slowly;--
I quicker far; and I know, as it happens, the home they will go to.--
Why, what else should I do? Stay here and look at the pictures,
Statues and churches? Alack, I am sick of the statues and pictures!--
No, to Bologna, Parma, Piacenza, Lodi, and Milan,
Off go we to-night,--and the Venus go to the Devil!
II. Claude to Eustace,--from Bellaggio.
Gone to Como, they said; and I have posted to Como.
There was a letter left; but the cameriere had lost it.
Could it have been for me? They came, however, to Como,
And from Como went by the boat,--perhaps to the Splügen,--
Or to the Stelvio, say, and the Tyrol; also it might be
By Porlezza across to Lugano, and so to the Simplon
Possibly, or the St. Gothard,--or possibly, too, to Baveno,
Orta, Turin, and elsewhere. Indeed, I am greatly bewildered.
III. Claude to Eustace,--from Bellaggio.
I have been up the Splügen, and on the Stelvio also:
Neither of these can I find they have followed; in no one inn, and
This would be odd, have they written their names. I have been to Porlezza;
There they have not been seen, and therefore not at Lugano.
What shall I do? Go on through the Tyrol, Switzerland, Deutschland,
Seeking, an inverse Saul, a kingdom to find only asses?
There is a tide, at least, in the love affairs of mortals,
Which, when taken at flood, leads on to the happiest fortune,--
Leads to the marriage-morn and the orange-flowers and the altar,
And the long lawful line of crowned joys to crowned joys succeeding.--
Ah, it has ebbed with me! Ye gods, and when it was flowing,
Pitiful fool that I was, to stand fiddle-faddling in that way!
IV. Claude to Eustace,--from Bellaggio.
I have returned and found their names in the book at Como.
Certain it is I was right, and yet I am also in error.
Added in feminine hand, I read, By the boat to Bellaggio.--
So to Bellaggio again, with the words of he writing to aid me.
Yet at Bellaggio I find no trace, no sort of remembrance.
So I am here, and wait, and know every hour will remove them.
V. Claude to Eustace,--from Bellaggio.
I have but one chance left,--and that is going to Florence.
But it is cruel to turn. The mountains seem to demand me,--
Peak and valley from far to beckon and motion me onward.
Somewhere amid their folds she passes whom fain I would follow;
Somewhere amid those heights she haply calls me to seek her.
Ah, could I hear her call! could I catch the glimpse of her raiment!
Turn, however, I must, though it seem I turn to desert her;
For the sense of the thing is simply to hurry to Florence,
Where the certainty yet may be learnt, I suppose, from the Ropers.
VI. Mary Trevellyn, from Lucerne, to Miss Roper, at Florence.
Dear Miss Roper,--By this you are safely away, we are hoping,
Many a league from Rome; ere long we trust we shall see you.
How have you travelled? I wonder;--was Mr. Claude your companion?
As for ourselves, we went from Como straight to Lugano;
So by the Mount St. Gothard; we meant to go by Porlezza,
Taking the steamer, and stopping, as you had advised, at Bellaggio,
Two or three days or more; but this was suddenly altered,
After we left the hotel, on the very way to the steamer.
So we have seen, I fear, not one of the lakes in perfection.
Well, he is not come, and now, I suppose, he will not come.
What will you think, meantime? and yet I must really confess it;--
What will you say? I wrote him a note. We left in a hurry,
Went from Milan to Como, three days before we expected.
But I thought, if he came all the way to Milan, he really
Ought not to be disappointed: and so I wrote three lines to
Say I had heard he was coming, desirous of joining our party;--
If so, then I said, we had started for Como, and meant to
Cross the St. Gothard, and stay, we believed, at Lucerne, for the summer.
Was it wrong? and why, if it was, has it failed to bring him?
Did he not think it worth while to come to Milan? He knew (you
Told him) the house we should go to. Or may it, perhaps, have miscarried?
Any way, now, I repent, and am heartily vexed that I wrote it.
There is a home on the shore of the Alpine sea, that upswelling
High up the mountain-sides spreads in the hollow between;
Wilderness, mountain, and snow from the land of the olive conceal it;
Under Pilatus's hill low by the river it lies;
Italy, utter the word, and the olive and vine will allure not,--
Wilderness, forest, and snow will not the passage impede;
Italy, unto thy cities receding, the clue to recover,
Hither, recovered the clue, shall not the traveller haste?
Continue on to Canto V
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Downton Abbey creator Lord (Julian) Fellowes has admitted he does not "fully understand" why the stately home show has been such a hit with viewers.
He told Radio 4's Desert Island Discs he had been "a bit pompous" about complaints about the show's accuracy after viewers took it to task for using modern phrases and other historical errors.
Fellowes told host Kirsty Young: "Papers are not full of complaints about a programme that no one's watching. I think I misinterpreted what was an expression of the joint experience."
He said: "If I had a clear understanding of why it had done so well I would continue to write shows that attracted record viewers for the rest of my life. I don't fully understand why it did so well, I think we did one or two things right but for me I think the main reason it was so popular was we are allowed to give completely equal weight to all of our characters and we don't set them off in a group, so we don't make all the toffs horrible or all the servants funny."
Fellowes, who is revealed as something of an unlikely soul fan choosing records by Macy Gray and Marvin Gaye among his desert island picks, struggles when he is asked to say what class he is.
He tells Young that "I think there was a sort of bottom end of the top in the old days."
The actor-turned-writer said he was not an aristocrat, adding he was the sort of person who "might be asked to dinner occasionally but has to swim through the power of their own arms and legs".
Fellowes said his father, who worked at the Foreign Office, had known members of the Cold War Cambridge spy ring including Kim Philby and Guy Burgess.
He said his father found it difficult to dislike Burgess even after his treachery was unmasked and he had fled to the Soviet Union, adding: "He couldn't really bring himself to be unkind about Burgess because he said he was the funniest man he had ever known and Burgess could make him die laughing and it's difficult to take against someone who has that effect on you."
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Every day millions of lines of code are written, modified, moved and reorganized, in a massively parallel way, creating awesome new features in games, devices and applications. Our job is to track every change, preserve every piece and make sure all code is assembled back together precisely. You create the code - we do merge it!
What is Plastic SCM
Plastic SCM is the best Distributed Version Control supporting task-driven software development for teams of any size because it simplifies branching and merging.
It works the way you want!
- Fully distributed or centralized repos
- Branching and merging made simple
- Powerful GUI or straight command line
- Reliable & scalable repo storage with the RDBMS of your choice
Who is it for
Plastic SCM is for developers who love the freedom of simple, distributed branching and merging. It's for management personnel who need to lead distributed teams and understand the status of the project. It's for release builders who need to create stable releases.
Plastic SCM is the only version control system that can meet the demands of globally distributed development. It easily scales within any sophisticated development environment, without friction or complexity. It's SCM made simple.
What makes Plastic different
Three key aspects of Plastic SCM's architecture make it superior to other systems:
- It has excellent support for task-driven parallel development.
- It's a true distributed version control system (DVCS). Code branches can be replicated to multiple sites graphically with a single click.
- Awesome graphics, providing visualization of data and procedures that greatly simplifies even the most sophisticated version control operations.
Benefits of using Plastic SCM
The graphical tools help you to visualize the changes you make. Because your code is constantly evolving, it's very important to see where changes happen, where they come from (even exploring remote locations) and what code got into a given release.
The distributed Branch Explorer is a complete and interactive representation of the evolution of your project, able to display the changes happening in remote servers together with the local ones. Get the remote changes from your colleagues and merge them with yours just by right-clicking. And this is all in a single diagram offering a global view of the fully distributed environment.
A second tool we have made available is the graphical diff, or graphical display of changes made inside a given changeset, branch, or label.
The graphical three-way merge tool, our third major graphical tool, uses moved code detection and Xmerge to ease conflict resolution after refactors. It combines the source contributer revision (your co-worker's work), the destination contributor revision (your work), and the closest common ancestor revision (base revision) seamlessly.
We enforce the release-early/release-often agile best practices and avoid broken builds forever.
Using task-driven development, you get continuous integration on steroids: validate changes before breaking the build instead of reacting once it is broken. Avoid bug propagation!
Thanks to our awesome branching and merging, you can isolate tasks in their own branches and avoid developers being negatively impacted by their colleagues' mistakes. Since tasks are short-lived, you merge them together to form releases often, following agile release protocol.
Plastic SCM is designed to support thousands of branches through its DAG-based architecture.
Plastic SCM tracks and merges moved and renamed files or folders perfectly. No more problems using branches and refactors together.
Our awesome branching and merging support ensures that everything is in the repository and that files added, removed, renamed, or moved are correctly merged between branches.
From remote offices to single developers working at home, Plastic SCM is a fully distributed system that lets you replicate your code seamlessly between repositories.
Plastic SCM servers can replicate complete or partial repositories and, since the servers are very lightweight and installed in less than a minute, you can have your own partial or full copy of the code you need right in your computer.
You control the tool. With Plastic SCM 4.0 we introduce Transparent SCM so you don't have to tell the SCM what you are doing. Most other products on the market don't let you make changes to files directly in Windows Explorer, but with our software, you can move files around, rename, change, add or delete them in Windows Explorer, and when you are ready to commit your changes (or check in, as we say), Plastic SCM will detect all the operations you performed and display them. You can check them in with one simple click.
Thanks to the new Xlinks technology, you can now easily reuse libraries and other shared components between projects just by splitting them into repositories and mounting them on the needed folders.
When you have to modify the mounted component, we provide automatic branch expansion, so you keep working transparently and your changes are safely recorded in a separate branch that doesn't affect other users of the component. Of course, the new branch can be seamlessly merged when you are ready.
Plastic SCM 4 supports the fast-import/fast-export interchange format to communicate with your existing version control system, making migration - or even co-existence - a walk in the park.
Furthermore, Plastic SCM integrates with IDEs, editors, issue trackers, and many third-party tools.
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Krewe du Vieux
Date: Saturday, Feb 15, 2014 | Location: French Quarter | Time: 6:30pm
Born of the remains of the Krewe of Clones, which began parading in 1978, Krewe du Vieux marched for the first time in 1987. When the Krewe of Clones decided to become more respectable, Craig "Spoons" Johnson and Don Marshall decided to keep the parade's original raucous, art-inspired spirit alive in the Krewe du Vieux Carre (“Vieux Carre," which means "Old Square," refers to the French Quarter).
At first, the ragtag krewe had 16 subkrewes, and a collection of mule-drawn or hand-pulled handmade floats. But by 2001, KdV had its first title float, and its membership was growing. The numerous subkrewes meet in the "Den of Muses," a warehouse space, to bring together their costumes and floats. In 2006, KdV was the first parade to march post-Katrina, and garnered national attention for its tenacity and lightheartedness in the face of tragedy. That year's theme was "C'est Levee."
Krewe du Vieux is noted for wild satire, adult themes, and political comedy, as well as for showcasing some of the best brass and jazz bands in New Orleans.
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This piece in the Atlantic raises a question we have touched on before: anaesthesia. How do we know it works, how do we distinguish it from amnesia, and how much does it matter? What is supposed to happen is that when we get an anaesthetic injection, or gas, we simply stop feeling pain; possibly we stop feeling anything. It is certainly more complicated than that: the drugs used by doctors may simply stop us feeling pain – we more or less know with a local anaesthetic that that’s sort of what happens – but they may also, or alternatively, stop us remembering, or caring about, the pain; they may also merely stop us moving or complaining. Some of the drugs used by anaesthetists apparently do only one of the three latter things, with no direct influence on the pain experience itself.
This matters most obviously when things go wrong, and in the middle of a surgical operation a patient resumes consciousness while remaining paralysed, experiencing all the terrible pain of being cut open without being able to give any sign of it. Because of the memory-erasing effects of some of the drugs used we cannot be sure how often this happens, but it is accepted that sometimes it does.
This is one of those areas where the apparently airy-fairy disputes of philosophy suddenly get real. A number of people are sceptical in principle about the reality of the self, of consciousness, and of subjective experience: but I think you need to be quite bold to stick to scepticism when it involves dismissing pain on the operating table as a mere conceptual confusion, something we need not be too concerned about.
There is, however, little agreement about some fundamental issues. Does it matter if I feel terrible pain, but then forget about it completely? I’d say yes, but a friend of mine takes the opposite view: if he doesn’t remember it he considers that as good as not having had the experience in the first place. Of course I would have minded at the time, he says, but that’s not what we’re talking about; we’re talking about whether I should mind now. Ex hypothesi, if I’ve forgotten, my mind is in exactly the same state as if I never had the pain, and it’s incoherent to say I should worry about a non-existent difference.
I have to concede that my point of view opens up many more problems. Since memory is fallible, there might be lots of forgotten pains I should be worried about; but if I have a false memory of a pain that never happened, is that also a cause for concern? It’s possible to be in a state of mind in which one feels a pain but somehow does not mind it: but what if I start minding about it later? What if I forget that I didn’t mind? What if I did mind but the pain was actually illusory? What if I felt the pain unconsciously? And what if the memory then became conscious later? Or what if I felt it consciously but have only an unconscious memory? Do animals feel pain in the same way as we do? Do plants? If a drug dials my level of consciousness back to monkey level, dog level, chicken level, lizard level, ant level – does pain still matter? If I feel pain while operating on a protozoan mental level, does it matter more when I remember it on a fully human level? Do imaginative people suffer more (as, apparently, red-headed people tend to do)?
This may all sound stupidly speculative, but the questions are genuine and we’re talking about whether I’m in agony or not. It would be great if we could bring all this out of philosophy zone and into science, but there are problems there too. The Atlantic article recounts difficulties with the BIS monitor, supposed to provide a simple numerical reading for the level of consciousness based on electroencephalograph readings. Perhaps it’s not suprising that the BIS has been questioned: an electroencephalograph is hardly cutting edge brain technology. A more fundamental problem is that it has no known theoretical basis: the algorithm is secret and the procedure is based entirely on empirical evidence with no underlying theory of conscious experience. Providing sound empirical evidence of subjective experience is obviously fraught with complications.
Step forward our old friend Giulio Tononi, whose theory of Phi, the measure of integrated information and hence, perhaps, of consciousness, is ideally suited to fill the conceptual gap. With Phi in one hand and modern scanning technology in the other, surely we can crack this one? I don’t know whether the Phi theory is really up to the job: if it’s true it might tell me why consciousness occurs in the brain and how much of it is going on, but it doesn’t seem to explicate the actual nature of the pain experience, and that leaves us vulnerable because we’re still reliant on the fallible reports and memories of the patients to establish our correlations. Could we ever be in a position where the patient complains of terrible pain and the doctor with the Tononi monitor tells them that actually he can prove they’re not feeling any such thing?
Perhaps we can imagine a world where the doctor goes further. Great news, he says, we’ve established that you’re a philosophical zombie: although you talk and behave as if you have feelings, you’ve actually never felt real pain at all! So no injection for you – we’ll just strap you down and get on with it…
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January is a time for reflection and resolution. It is a time to
count our successes and to consider opportunities for improvement. This
past election cycle gives me, as Secretary of State, just that sort of
In Florida we saw a dramatic demonstration of what can happen when
our election laws and procedures are not kept up to date. As disturbing
as it was to watch - and with so much at stake for the country - it left
us feeling a bit smug here in Vermont. We don't have these problems.
The sloppiness, confusion and partisan gamesmanship of the Florida
election and recount could never happen here. For one thing, it has been
more than ten years since we got rid of the Vote-a-matic punch card
machines that were the source of many of the problems down south. They
were just too inaccurate. (They were only used in four Vermont
communities.) Most of our towns still hand count paper ballots, but,
because of population concentration in our cities, the majority of
Vermonters now cast their votes using optical scan machines. These
machines have a very low failure rate - less than one percent - and
every rejected ballot is automatically hand counted.
In addition to having better hardware than we saw in Florida our
elections are conducted outside the partisan arena. Vermont's town
election workers are balanced by party. All of our recounts are hand
counts. They are conducted at the Superior Court, also by politically
balanced teams. The judge is available to make a determination about any
ballot on which the team cannot agree. We also count every ballot where
we can determine the intent of the voter – even if they do not follow
the directions on the ballot and, for example, circle the names rather
than checking off the box.
Our absentee ballot system is also more clearly organized. Ballots
must arrive by the close of Election Day to be counted, no matter what
their postmark. As long as they are properly requested, and returned
with the proper endorsement by the voter, they will be counted.
We must, however, beware of too much self-congratulation. Our system
is good, but there are still opportunities for improvement. First and
foremost, we need to provide more time between the primary and the
general election so that our ballots can be printed and delivered to our
town clerks in time. This past election we had trouble finding a printer
who was willing - or able - to try and meet the present tight schedule.
This timing issue is particularly important for our service men and
women and other overseas voters. We need enough time for the absentee
ballots to be mailed out, completed and then returned by Election Day.
We also need to clean up our election laws. We must repeal out of
date provisions and update the others in order to comply with modern
election procedures. We must also respond to glitches in the Federal
Motor Voter law to ensure that every person who registers before the
statutory deadline is permitted to vote on Election Day.
Finally, we must increase the penalties for voter fraud and put a
statewide voter file in place. At present there is no sure and certain
way to tell if a voter is casting a ballot in more than one district.
The sanctity of our elections is too important to leave to chance.
One of the wonderful things about our state is that Vermont is a
place where we can get things done. In this, the first full week of the
legislative session, I have already had the opportunity to meet with
some of our lawmakers. We have begun the process that will lead to
addressing many of these problems right now, even as we plan for
tackling some of the others in the very near future. It is a great way
to start a new year. In addition we have a national mandate and will
likely have matching funds to implement improvements in state elections
administration. But please don't hesitate to let me know if you have
comments or ideas about how we can make our election process even
In our democracy every vote counts. It is part of my job to ensure
that all the votes get counted.
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Milan has a reputation as a dynamic and enterprising city. This is true, as one can see from the bustling escalators on the metro, where impeccable style accompanies the rush to get to work. But its dynamism goes much further than just haste.
Still today, the city presents many scenes recalling the atmospheres that inspired the Futurists, with unique colours, sounds, fragrances and culture, whatever the district of the city. A tram on the street, the bustle of people, glimpses of colour intertwined into a vortex of expressions and movement.
The city has a character of tireless innovation, as expressed by its increasingly dynamic business sector. It is fundamental to the national and international markets, and its economic development is accompanied by business training facilities.
Forms of cooperation in this area have developed between the Municipality of Milan and key foreign trade institutions. In Milan, everything is based on a spirit of hard work, and on an intense interest for the field of arts and communications. The many important events organized in and around the city include music, theatre and sports, on an international standing.
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At last, after years of horribly bad referee calls, the cave full of old crooks and farts known as FIFA has approved the use of technology to track the ball in soccer games. This is a huge change, with profound implications in the most popular sport in the world.
Soccer—or football, as everyone but the United States calls it—is played by more than 250 million people in over 200 countries. It moves more money than any other sport on the planet. More importantly, billions of fans watch it avidly every other day. A soccer game—the European Cup 2012 final in which Spain destroyed Italy—generated more tweets than any other sporting event before it.
All of those fans love soccer as much as they love to discuss referee calls during and after the game. Calls that, when erroneous, may not only decide the outcome of a game but the fate of a team in a given competition or tournament, both of which often have national pride at stake. Moreover, a bad call may represent hundreds of millions of dollars won or lost for a team—to say nothing of making a whole country cry. You know (or should), like when the USA lost that game to Slovenia in the World Cup, all because the referee was a blind moron.
HawkEye and GoalRef
That bad call, however, would still not have been avoided even if the technology that FIFA has approved today—through the International Football Association Board (IFAB)—had been in place.
The approved tech only affects ghost goals. Ghost goals occur when the ball passes the goal line but then jumps straight back out. Technically, it is a goal. But referees sometimes don't call it as such because they can't see it from their point of view—even while the entire world can see it clearly on their TVs.
Other times, the refs seem to have ignoble intentions—like when Lampard scored for England against Germany in South Africa '10, or Spain's Michel kicked the ball inside Brazil's goal in Mexico '86 only for it to bounce out.
The first technology is called HawkEye, which had been used in tennis for quite some time. HawkEye's cameras will be installed on the pitch's goalposts. They will track the ball and make sure it has passed the line.
For redundancy, there will be another tracking technology called GoalRef. Developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, GoalRef uses a low magnetic field around the goals, creating an invisible radio curtain. When the ball fully goes through that curtain, the magnetic field changes and the system sends an alert to the referee's wristwatch.
Both will be great additions that will avoid extremely bad and embarrassing decisions by the referee.
More is needed
But technology can do a lot more right now, eliminating 90% of the most common problems in referee decisions: off-sides. They only need to incorporate location microchips into players' boots and the ball. It doesn't have to be GPS. It could work locally, with a computer triangulating the position of players and balls using receptors placed around the field. It's not science-fiction technology. It can be easily done and it's not expensive for a sport that generates more money than any other in the world.
A technology like that, plus multiple cameras, would eliminate most of the problems and randomness of soccer, while avoiding interrupting the game too much.
Why they don't do it? Some say that, if you make it all too perfect, you take power away from the referees and the soccer federations. Others say that you will take la salsa off the sport. Like I said, people love to argue about these things. And then there are those that say that this would stop the game.
It's all bollocks, especially the last part: The game stops every time there's referee call, but even more so when it's a dubious fault, penalty, goal, or offside. It's then when players and referee waste minutes discussing the play (and frustrated players get pissed off too, which later usually leads to more adrenaline and violence in the field).
Hopefully, the introduction of GoalRef and HawkEye signals a much needed change in a world that, more often than you think, is affected by hidden interests and manipulation. And I hope that, if FIFA can change, other sports can change too.
When so much money and fans' pride is at stake in American Football, basketball, baseball and any-other-ball game you can think about, there is a clearly a need to use all the technology we can come up with to avoid any costly mistakes. [FIFA and Fraunhofer]
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Alphabet Coloring Pages
Welcome to the alphabet coloring sheets section of ColorMountain.com. We have letters from A-Z which can make your coloring E-Z learning. Many alphabet coloring pages in this section only come with upper and lower case letters. Other alphabet coloring sheets contain pictures of animals or everyday objects that begin with your chosen alphabet letter. Parents, teachers and especially children, love when fun and learning happen at the same time. You could print out and color all the letters that spell out your name! Then carefully cut out each of the alphabet coloring pages and put them on your bedroom door. The possibilities are endless, and make sure to check back soon for new updates to our alphabet coloring pages section. P.S. Don't forget about your 1,2,3's to go with the A,B,C's. Visit Paper Printout for single and double rule Line Paper printouts for kids. They also offer penmanship paper with a picture area that's perfect for kids too.
Select a picture to print out, color online, or to turn into an activity worksheet.
The Letter A Coloring Sheet
Learn the letter A with this simple shaped coloring sheet. Try to draw an apple or alligator on your sheet when your done coloring.
B Coloring Page
The letter B can be fun and exciting to color. And think of all the great words you can make with this beautiful, bubbly B!
C Coloring Page
Can you count how many coloring pages start with the letter C? Can you think of any words using the letter C? How about the word cat.
The letter D Color Sheet
The letter D is fun to color! Without this wonderful letter from the alphabet, we would not be able to spell the word doll or down. It's too bad its the fourth ...
Letter E Coloring Sheet
Excellent is a great example word for the letter E. Make sure you explore the greeting card coloring section for every event you might encounter, especially Eas...
Letter F Coloring Page
Look at all the Fantastic coloring page options! The letter F is always a favorite. It can be seen in words such as fish, farm, and fuzzy, furry, fox.
The Letter G Coloring Page
Good Gravy! Look at all the options for the grand letter G. This letter can be often found in the beginning or ending of particular words. Like our favorite wor...
The Letter H Color Sheets
How on earth did you get here? Are you having hours of fun coloring? Help yourself to all the wonderful tools for the letter H. We have high hopes!
The Letter I Coloring Sheets
Isn't it interesting when igloos interfere with icy polar bears from India while jogging with their ipods? Just think of all the letter I coloring one can do on...
The Letter J Color Sheet
Jumping Jack Flash! The letter J coloring sheets are jazzed up to be colored. Just don't sit there, join in the jubilee.
Letter K Color Sheet
The Letter K coloring sheets we have are fit for a king. The only way you can have more fun is if you were flying a kite in Kansas.
The Letter L Color Page
Coloring all by yourself can leave you lonely so let loose with the letter L. You can invite over some long lost friends and live it up with crayons and color s...
The Letter M Coloring Pages
You have made the right coloring page choice! The letter M is so magnificent it may make you march in place. Milk, Monday and moon are just a few words that beg...
The Letter N Coloring Sheets
Now take a moment and think of all the new coloring pages filled with the letter N. Nest, noise and nose are just a few word you can spell with the letter N. En...
The Letter O Coloring Page
Only ColorMountain.com can deliver outstanding coloring sheets. Open you eyes and your crayon boxes for the letter O.
Letter P Color Pages
Pick up the crayons and place more paper in the printer, we are having a coloring party with the letter P people!
The Letter Q Coloring Pages
Our quality Q coloring sheets are quick and quite easy to print out. These pages are fit for a Queen.
The Letter R Coloring Sheet
Remember when you wanted to play outside and the rain would not stop? These letter R coloring pages are a rainy day remedy! Red, yellow or green, it really does...
The Letter S color Sheets
The letter S is really something. Did you know the standard color for coloring the letter S is super silver. But let us not forget the great words that begin wi...
The Letter T Color Sheet
Thank goodness for T coloring sheets! In hot temperatures its nice to enjoy ice tea and coloring pages with friends. With those two things together, all are in ...
The Letter U Coloring Sheet
Enjoy the ultimate U coloring pages below. You can have unlimited hours of colorful fun. Unicorn and umbrella are great examples of the letter U in action. Try...
The Letter V Coloring Page
The words volcano, vase and varmint are all great example of the letter V at the beginning of a word. And we are sure you'll enjoy the letter V coloring sheet.
The Letter W Color Page
Well, well, well, if it isn't our wonderful friend. The letter W coloring sheet may not be much to look at but with the right crayons we can make it a winner!
The Letter X Coloring page
There isn't much to say about the letter X. The only words that begin with this coloring sheets letter are x-ray and xylophone. You could use X-box as an exampl...
The Letter Y Coloring Page
Welcome to the Y coloring sheet! You'll be writing Y words in no time like yellow, yarn, and yo-yo.
The Letter Z Color Page
The letter Z is not only fun to say but also fun to color! Some of our favorite words that begin with Z are zebra, zoom and zoo!
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OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University’s Stewart Library in conjunction with the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) Museum will host an event June 5 to release the new book, “Stories from the Collection of the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum.”
“This has been a lengthy project for us,” said Karen Stark, book project director, “but we’re excited to finally share these wonderful stories with the community.”
The event will feature photographs from the book, as well as a special exhibit created by WSU student, James Loken, which will highlight Ogden businesses from the late 1800s. Guest speakers will present pioneer stories, including “The Murder of Susan Jones: an 1870 Ogden Crime Drama,” “Charles Hancock’s Magic Lantern Slide Show” and Jean Rio Griffiths Baker’s journey from England to Utah.
Loken, a WSU history student, completed an internship with the DUP last semester, and the exhibit he created is the final product of that internship.
“I enjoyed working with the DUP on this project,” Loken said. “It was a chance for me to do some real digging into the history of the area, and to be able to create an exhibit about everything I learned is especially rewarding.”
The Weber County DUP was organized 100 years ago on February 26, 1912, and members quickly began gathering histories and artifacts of early Weber County pioneers. In 1926 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave the old Relief Society Hall in Ogden to the DUP. The building has since served as the organization’s museum. The collection is currently in storage since the museum is undergoing renovations after being moved earlier this year from the Ogden LDS Temple block to 21st Street and Lincoln Avenue.
“This event is an opportunity for us to show the community that, even though the museum will be closed for some time, we still have much we can share,” Stark said.
The program will begin at 6 p.m. in the Stewart Library Hetzel-Hoellein Room, and the exhibits will be on display in the library through the end of June. Copies of the new book will be available for $10 each. The event is free and open to the public.This project was an extension of the Museum Interpretive Initiative, which the Weber County DUP completed in 2010. Funds to support this publication have been provided by the Utah Humanities Council in collaboration with the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Office of Museum Services.
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Thirty previously unknown diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, hepatitis C, Lyme disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have emerged in the past 20 years. They remain incurable. These emerging diseases represent a significant cause of suffering and death, and impose an enormous financial burden on society. Studies show that pandemics of new strains of influenza and other emerging diseases are travelling faster and wider than ever before owing to global travel and trade. Some “older” diseases have been effectively controlled with the help of modern technologies, such as antibiotics and vaccines; others, such as malaria, TB and bacterial pneumonia, are now re-emerging in forms resistant to drug treatments (see anti-microbial resistance).
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Please bear with me as I am not an English expert, only an aspiring amateur!
I'm mostly aware of the rules regarding punctuation and quotes. Something like the following sentence makes sense to me:
She was so rude that I felt compelled to say, "I hope you act that way toward everyone."
However, where I get confused is when quotation marks are used simply to emphasize a single word or phrase:
Nobody really knew what he meant by "feature".
(I'm not really sure what to call this use of quotation marks. Is this still a quotation?) Should punctuation go inside the quotation marks?
I should clarify that I am interested in the common or accepted American usage.
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Cast a Vote for English Raven!
Conversation Creation Cards
This is the first set of a series of flash/activity cards I like to call "Conversation Creation". They are best suited to intermediate level students who need to start applying their vocabulary in longer, more structured sentences in a communicative fashion. They can also start experimenting with new vocabulary, particularly verbs and idiomatic expressions that sound more "natural" in oral speech. On the front of each card is an "everyday destination", where a variety of activities typically take place and various nouns can be found. On the back is a grid with tips on grammar and sentence building, a list of suggested verbs to use and some images of a variety of nouns. You could sort of consider it a combination of tips on vocabulary and grammatical usage with something akin to "suggestopedia". The key objective is to provide students with more opportunities to experiment with their language, and to improve both fluency and confidence. Look in the left-hand column for downloads and some suggested applications for these cards.
Click here to return to the Card Games menu
Question/Answer Prompt Cards
Conversation Creation Cards Set 1
Click here to get the downloads
Overview of Set 1
Set 1 comprises the following places: a bookstore | a fast-food restaurant | the corner store | the sports store | the computer store | the photo shop | the post office | a travel agent |
the bakery | the barber's/hairdresser's shop | the cinema | a shoe store.
The information on the back of each card provides grammar tips on using go, like, want and need in the present, past and future tense, as well as present 3rd person endings and the continuous tense. There are 5-8 verbs/verb phrases listed that can be used with these words, and a "picture grid" showing appropriate nouns for that location that can be used as indirect objects for any sentences the students choose to build.
Creating the cards is simple - just download them into MS word and print them. Then cut out each card along the horizontal lines so that the front and back are adjoined. Then fold the card in half and apply some glue. Your double-sided cards are now ready for laminating. Of course, it is up to you how and what you use - you might like to use them as individual single-sided cards only. You are only limited by your own creativity here!
There is also a larger set of "prompt" cards, with corresponding colors for the functions "go", "like", "want" and "need". These can be placed on the whiteboard to give students additional hints, or to build up some warm-up language and recycling of question/answer models before applying the more elaborate response cards.
Activity: Where and Why?
This is a fairly simple game to apply that the students are still likely to find a real challenge. Distribute one card to each student and instruct them to look at it for a minute or so. Then have them place it "main side up" (the destination picture) on the table in front of them.
Begin by asking each student where they are, where they went, are going, will go, etc. This is fairly simple, as the picture is right there in front of them. Once they have told you what the destination is, you ask a follow up question along the lines of "Well (student's name), why are you going to the (destination)?" (or why did you go, why will you go, etc). The student needs to use the information on the back of the card to phrase an appropriate answer, but they are not permitted to turn the card over to look - they must try and remember from their eariler examination of the card. Award a point if they phrase a correct response, and then move on to the next student. [Hint: it may be a good idea to ask the least talented/proficient students earlier than other students, so that there is a smaller time frame for them and less risk of them forgetting what it is they want to say in response].
Once you have completed a round of all the students, do a points tally and then announce "Round 1 Bonus time!". In this round, students will repeat what they said, to which the teacher asks something along the lines of "OK, are there any other reasons you went to the (destination)?" Students can earn a lot of bonus points here, they are only limited by how many response they can come up with, so long as each "reason" is different. It is probably a good idea to limit the bonus round to three points maximum per student, so as to move the turn on to another student.
Having finished the bonus round, move on to Round 2 by having the students circulate their cards to the student sitting to the right of them, and repeating the process. This round should result in quicker responses, more confidence and more points, as the students have had an opportunity to hear a range of answers from the student that passed the card on to them. If you go into a round 3 or even 4 and 5, you should notice that the students are getting better and faster at talking about why they are going places. In subsequent rounds you will certainly see the students paying a lot more attention to the information side of the cards in the "examination prelude" to that round, and probably begging you for more time to try and remember what is written on the cards. Either way, the students will probably be exhibiting a lot of interest in the game and in the English involved, and it is a great way to encourage them to listen to each other more and pay attention to vocabulary and detail.
Activity: Listen and Guess
This is a simple and useful activity for building listening comprehension and new vocabulary skills in the students. It can be used as a warmer or as a prelude to more demanding activities that follow.
Simply distribute each card to a student. Let them all look at the information on their cards for a minute or so, and then ask them to pass their card to the student sitting to the right of them. Repeat the process until the card they started with originally returns to them. Then collect all the cards and shuffle them.
Now begins the guessing game. The teacher takes a card from the deck, ensuring students cannot see either side of it, and says something along the lines of "I am going here because..." then read a hint from the information part of the card, for example "...because I want to munch on some pizza". The first student to say "You are going to the fast-food restaurant" (using correct grammar according to person and tense from the teacher's initial clue) gets the card, which comprises a point. If no-one can guess, give them another clue from the card. If you have read all possible clues out, announce what destination you were talking about and place it to the side as a "null card" for no points. You have the option to have a bonus round at the end where you re-apply these cards, which is a great follow-up technique for vocabulary the students are obviously not familiar with or just couldn't remember on spot.
At higher levels, you can play this sort of game in reverse fashion, simply saying where you are going. Students must then come up with a full sentence from the information section, eg. Teacher: "She went to the fast-food restaurant..." - Student: "Teacher! She went to the fast-food restaurant because she likes to eat hamburgers!"
How fussy you are about exact grammar and pronunciation is of course up to you, depending on the purpose of the activity and the students' level. You could use it to facilitate listening and communication in general, or to reinforce correct grammatical application.
Activity: Talk About Your Week
This is a good follow up activity to "Where and Why?" above, when the students are starting to show a lot of familiarity with the vocabulary but need to start concentrating more on correct form in terms of verb tense application.
Give each student a blank piece of paper with five days of the week listed vertically down one side in sequence (ensure that at least one of the days is a "yesterday" in relation to the actual day on which you apply the activity, and that at least one other will be a "tomorrow"), and then distribute one card to each student. The student should write the name of the destination on that card next to the first day listed on their paper, but no other details. They look at the information side of the card for a minute or so, make a decision as to "why" they were there, and then pass the card to the left. They write the destination on the next card beside the next day on the list and repeat the process until they have looked at five cards and listed destinations for each day of the week listed.
Having completed this process, ask the students what day it actually is "today". When they have told you what day it is, proceed to ask each student where they are "going" today. Then ask them why, evaluating responses as per "When and Why?" listed above, and awarding points for correctly structured answers employing present tense.
In the next round, ask each student where they "went" yesterday. Now students must reply using correct past tense and giving appropriate reasons for why they went where they did. [Note: when applying "like" they do not need to use a past tense form, as it is a "general truth" verb that usually applies irrespective of time]. Repeat each round by using a different day of the week and require answers using correct tense according to what day it is in relation to "today". By the fourth or fifth round, students are probably starting to apply the required grammar correctly, but will be starting to struggle to remember what reason they decided on!
You can apply this game in combinations that focus on just two or three days to give practive in one tense form only, or two in combination. Alternatively, at higher levels, you can ask them to complete a full seven days! Again, the students will have models to follow in the other students, many of whom will have similar destinations, but for different days of the week. As long as they are starting to apply the required structure correctly, students can actually come to each others' rescue in this case, if they have forgotten what reason they decided on for a destination but then hear someone else come up with one.
Activity: Talk About Someone Else
There are two quite different versions of this game that vary considerably in terms of difficulty.
The Simple Version:
Distribute the cards to the students and give them some time to check the information section on it. Have them place the card "face up" on the table and ask them where they are going (or went, or will go), and why. Award points as in "Where and Why?" above.
Students then pass their card to the right, and take some time to examine their new card. They then turn it over in the same way as before. In this round, they must not only say where and why for the card they are holding, they must then point to the person to their right , apply the 3rd person and state where that "he" or "she" is going (went, etc). This is a great memory game that really helps the students to remember the language, combining recent information with information they have just applied, and using correct pronouns and verb forms to do so. The student to their left (preceding them) will also give them a reminder of a reason for the card they are currently holding, and in the case where they had already decided on a different reason, there is a natural increase in the amount of language input they are experiencing.
For the third round, progress as before, except now students must explain their present card, the card the person next to them has, and the card the person next to that person has (ie, three cards). You can continue this process for as many rounds as there are students in the classroom. If you REALLY want to test them out, have them name a destination and a reason for the student that precedes them as well as the student that follows them. That way they have to remember what the person two places before them said, and this time they do not necessarily have the benefit of having seen the card.
The Difficult Version:
This is basically identical to "Talk About Your Week" described above, except that in this version, there is also a different pronoun listed next to each of the days on the sheet. For example, the sheet may read "Monday - I, Tuesday - we, Wednesday - he, Thursday - she, Friday - they". Play the game as described above, but this time they must apply correct subject-verb agreement in addition to correct tense. A real challenge!
Activity: Guess About Someone Else
This game is fairly similar to the ones listed above, except that it has less to do with memory and much more to do with guesswork and experimentation. This would be a good productive activity to follow up on the more "practice-orientated" activities listed above
Distribute a piece of paper to each student, and then give them each a card. Have them look at the card for a minute and then pass it to the right. Repeat the process until all students have seen all the cards. Then collect the cards, and instruct the students to select a destination and an accompanying reason to go there. They can choose whatever they like, as long as it makes sense. They then write this information on their piece of paper and conceal it from the other students.
Now begins the guesswork and the elimination! Students take turns trying to guess where another student in the room is or went, using appropriate yes/no questions. If they guess correctly, they must follow up with a guess as to the reason the other student is or went to the destination they selected. When a student correctly determines both the destination and the reason another student listed on their paper, the latter student must surrender their paper to the teacher. That student has lost the opportunity to win the game, but they can still make guesses themselves to eliminate other students (and it will usually be the student who eliminated them!). The game continues in turns until there is just one student left with a piece of paper. That person is proclaimed the winner, but the first student to correctly determine the place and reason for the winner is awarded second place.
This can be a tense and yet exciting game. It really encourages students to remember and apply more complex language when they are selecting reasons for themselves (as a measure of protection, so to speak), and also encourages them to experiment a lot through guesswork. They must also pay attention to the guesses of other students in order to "narrow down" the range of possible answers they are trying to find.
Activity: Dialog Roleplay
This activity illustrates some possible ways the conversation cards can facilitate roleplays.
Cards are distributed to all the students, and they are then placed in groups of two or three. Using the information on their cards, they must create and memorize an interactive dialog, which later they will perform in front of the other class members. The creative element involved is that students can pick and choose what they want to say. To make the dialogs lengthier and more interesting, the teacher can ask the students to include a set range of tenses and/or combinations of go/like/want/need. When students master the basics of it, they can also be asked to add preludes and continuations of the core dialog.
Activity: Speaking in a Crowded Room
Simply place all the cards on a table or desk, and hand out the Speaking in a Crowded Room question/answer sheets. Students then use any of the cards they like to formulate both questions and answers on their sheets. The good thing here is that there is likely to be a considerable range of both questions and answers when the students proceed to the stage when they must ask other students and list answers.
Activity: Describe and Flip
The conversation cards can be used to play a simple "flip-game". First spread the cards out on some table space, with the information section of the cards face-up. Let students look at them (and/or) talk about them for as long as they feel they need. Then turn all the cards over so that the destination image is face up.
Students then take turns choosing a card by saying "I will/want to go to (destination)." The teacher then asks the student a random question orientated around like, want or need. For example, if Sally chooses "fast-food restaurant", the teacher can ask her "Why Sally? What do you like to do there?" or "Why? What do you need ?" If the student can come up with an answer that is represented on the back of the card, using the correct vocabulary and grammar as dictated in the teacher's question, that card is theirs and represents a point. The game progresses until all the cards have been taken, the student with the most being the overall winner.
This is an effective game because it allows the teacher to direct more difficult questions to more proficient learners, and to constantly change the flow of information being asked for.
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Do you have questions about being vegan? Send them
to Jo using this easy form.
She would be happy to address your individual concerns
as well as general inquiries about vegan ethics, philosophy,
practical applications, and living compassionately.
Jo cannot respond to questions about nutrition or
answer questions that have already been addressed in
Jo will make every attempt to answer each question
personally, however, due to her schedule, this may not
be possible. If a reply is forthcoming, it could take
up to a few weeks, so please be patient. It is also
possible that your question will be answered directly
in the "Ask Jo!" column rather than an individual
If you'd like to view previous questions Jo has
answered, visit the Ask Jo! Archives.
Are Mock Meats Too Real?
People often ask me why vegans eat mock meats. They say it doesn't make sense for us to eat fake burgers, turkey, and lunchmeats if our true intention is to avoid all animal products. I've even known some vegans who wouldn't touch certain brands of veggie burgers because they seem too "real." Personally, I enjoy these products. Should I feel guilty about eating them?
For the most part, processed meat products don't resemble animal body parts. By the time raw meat reaches consumers, most of it is skinned, boned, ground, chopped, sliced, or diced. Various cuts also may be formed into patties, loaves, roasts, links, and other assorted shapes. We recognize "hamburger" as "meat," even though it actually doesn't resemble anything specific. Consequently, we associate veggie burgers with hamburgers because they have a similar appearance (and sometimes a comparable texture and flavor), but neither looks like an animal's limb.
We live in a meat-centered culture and are surrounded by meat-eaters daily, despite our displeasure about it. Nearly all vegans grew up eating meat or living among meat-eaters, so meat in all its forms is customary and familiar. Animal flesh is a central feature of most holiday and social gatherings, and, healthful or not, many of us learned to fashion our meals around animal products. It is reasonable that people accustomed to this way of eating would want a painless replacement for meat when they become vegan. Having a cruelty-free alternative to meat can make vegan meal planning a snap, and it also can help ease the transition to an animal-free diet.
Nevertheless, mock meats are not solely for new vegans; long-time vegans and even nonvegetarians enjoy them as well. Tasty analogs are ideal for meat-loving family members and friends, as they are a food we can delight in and share. They are perfect for warm weather cookouts when nearly everyone wants something to grill, office picnics, parties, and other celebrations. When coworkers, friends, or relatives are eating burgers, we can indulge in a veggie version and not feel alienated. When people partake of foods that are comparable, even if they are not identical, there is a feeling of unity and camaraderie. Because these foods can be heated quickly, they are convenient for hectic lifestyles and people on the run. Students, teens, and busy parents find them to be a godsend when appetites are raging and time is in short supply.
An interesting detail about meat is that it hardly ever is relished plain. Meat-eaters generally douse it with tenderizers, gravies, sauces, herbs, spices, breading, and a variety of condiments. At the very least, it almost always is served with salt and pepper. Meat without these seasonings and treatments usually is bland and relatively unpalatable. When people say they crave meat, what they really long for are the flavor enhancements, the chewy texture, or a sense of fullness and satisfaction. All of these are replicated easily with pure plant foods in the form of mock meats.
The vast majority of people who become vegan or vegetarian do not alter their eating habits because they abhor the taste of meat. While they may find animal products objectionable for myriad reasons, typically this has more to do with how meat is produced, or its effect on human health or the environment, rather than an aversion to its flavor. No one should be ashamed about having enjoyed the taste of meat prior to becoming vegan. Generally, those of us who ate meat at some point in our lives liked it, and this notion isn't going to vanish simply because we choose to change our diet. Although we might feel that meat is repugnant on a spiritual, philosophical, or intellectual level, our palates have memory. We cannot erase a personal history of once having enjoyed the taste of meat, and our emotional attachment to it may endure.
There is no reason for vegans to avoid plant-based foods that simulate meat or other animal products. For many vegans, meat analogs fill a void. They also are handy, practical, comforting, and satisfying. Plant-based mock meats may be reminiscent of animal products, but the critical point is that they aren't meat.
Copyright © 1998-2013 by Jo Stepaniak
All rights reserved.
Nothing on this web site may
be reproduced in any way
without express written permission from the copyright
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Major: Museum Studies
Imagine running a renowned museum that had the size and grandeur of a palace. Your days are spent gazing upon masterful paintings, curating brilliant new works of genius, and on occasion, getting to decide exactly where that larger-than-life Matisse should go. To top it off, you wine and dine at art openings, you can speak for hours on just one of Jackson Pollock’s paint splatters, and you’ve come to see the world as one great expanse of white exhibit space. All right, snap out of it. As a museum studies major, you’ll get an insider’s view of how a museum works and who really runs the show. You’ll learn about the roles curators, directors, conservators, collection managers, and exhibit designers play in creating exhibitions and presenting artwork to the public. There are various types of museums, from natural history to photography to history to art, and you’ll take a look at how their operations differ. Technology is playing a larger and larger role in the museum world, and you’ll examine how best to use this element to reach audiences and expedite museum processes. And you’ll gain an understanding of the history of museums—how they began, where they’re going, and why. This major may not feel quite as luxurious as spending a long, rainy Saturday wandering the great halls of a museum, but you may someday be a crucial factor in helping other people do just that.
There’s a lot of nitty-gritty that goes into managing a museum, including cataloging, research, and fundraising. You’ll be primed on all of it, plus you’ll study the role museums play in education, how various educational goals are set and achieved, and how museums can best reach their audiences. Preservation is integral to the survival of museums worldwide, and you’ll learn how to evaluate the condition of works of art, how to properly store and care for them, and how to transport them (beyond carefully!).
This course of study is highly interdisciplinary, and your course work will be drawn from the departments of art, history, education, and philosophy, to name a few. In fact, some colleges offer museum studies as a certificate or concentration instead of a major.
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Who says portraits for pay have to be bad?
PROFESSIONAL portrait painters are generally viewed as second-class citizens by the art world at large. It's perfectly all right for an Andy Warhol or Alice Neel to paint portraits. They, after all, are ''expressing themselves'' through this kind of work. But to do it for a living, to paint portraits to a client's specifications, strikes most people in the art world as unworthy of the high calling that is art.Skip to next paragraph
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I've never understood why. Some of the world's greatest paintings were commissioned portraits. Titian, Velazquez, Holbein, Rembrandt, Hals, Goya, to name only a few, did portraits to suit their clients. Some (El Greco and Rubens) may have been more individualistic than others, and others still may have seen portraiture as a lesser aspect of their art. But all were very much aware that unless they did what their patrons or clients wanted, there would be no money for food and clothing.
These artists had one great advantage, however. They and their patrons and clients shared a common artistic tradition. A beginning artist didn't have to shop around among dozens of different styles for a suitable one. Nor, failing that, did he or she feel obligated to invent a new one.
Art was a common language shared by artist and patron alike. The latter knew precisely what he or she wanted, and the former provided it to order. What resulted always bore the artist's personal stamp, of course, but it nevertheless shared a common ''family resemblance'' with everything else painted at that time and in that place.
All that changed, however, with our recent, more romantic notion that the artist is a unique and very special individual superior to society as a whole. And that his or her art must articulate and ''express'' this uniqueness - or find itself denied the status of true art.
Seen this way, anyone's attempt to modify or redirect an artist's near-sacred ''individuality'' must result in something other than art - a hack illustration, perhaps, or an academic portrait, but certainly not ''real'' art.
With this in mind, it is easy to see why commissioned work has such a low standing in art today. (Although, oddly enough, it doesn't in architecture.) And why professional portraiture in particular is seen as a contaminated art form at best, and the lowest form of expedient commercialism at worst.
Professional portrait painters see things differently. While most will probably agree that some of their fellow professionals are hacks grinding out one characterless likeness after another, they will also insist that the best of their peers are concerned artists whose intention is to probe and to reveal character as well as to produce ''speaking'' likenesses.
Having seen a large number of contemporary portraits recently, I would have to agree. If one sets aside the obvious hacks (and they existed in the time of Holbein and Hals as well as today), one is left with a number of professional portraitists who are good painters in the simplest and best sense of that term. They draw well and imaginatively, handle brush and paint with flair, sensitivity , and conviction, and do their best to paint pictures that are at least as interesting as paintings as they are successful as portraits.
Among them is an artist who only recently decided to become a professional portrait painter, but who has already produced a number of excellent commissioned protraits, incuding several of presidents and deans of colleges, law schools, and universities.
Sarah Swenson sees the relationship between artist and client as challenging and satisfying, and not at all damaging to her art. In fact, as she writes: ''The freedom of style in painting today has some advantages but it is not without its drawbacks. Deciding what to paint can be a real drain on one's creative energies. In portraiture, particularly in the commissioned portrait, much is given at the outset, yet, strange as it may seem, these constraints provide a structure which can in fact free one's painterly powers to operate more effectively.''
She also likes the businesslike nature of portrait commissions and the fact that she doesn't have to depend upon art dealers to market her work. Once contacted by a client, and after discussions about how and where her subject is to be painted, Swenson decides upon the work's composition, color scheme, and overall treatment. Preliminary sketches are made, and several black-and-white photographs are taken as reference material. Once that is set, work on the canvas begins.
Her style is lean, discreet, and precise. Although she admires the painterly flair of John Singer Sargent, her own portraits are less fluid and more dependent upon pure drawing than his. Her ability to identify with her subjects is remarkable - with the result that they come across in their portraits as highly individual human beings.
Although most of her portraits are of adults, she does occasionally paint children. ''Lucas and Laura Congdon,'' for instance, was commissioned by the children's grandmother when they were 41/2 and 21/2 respectively. Since Lucas enjoys playing the violin, it was decided to show him holding it - a decision Swenson used to good compositional advantage.
Another decision was to make this an indoor rather than an outdoor portrait as originally planned, and to use a large chair as the connecting device between brother and sister.
The result is a beautifully painted double portrait of children that is neither sweet nor sentimental. Young as they are, these children are real people. Careful study will also reveal how sensitively this picture has been composed, and how exquisitely every line, tone, and form interrelates with every other nuance or detail, and with the composition as a whole.
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20 Guerrilla Innovations
From Anti-Hype Asymmetrical Advertising to Illegal Art Blockbusters
From anti-hype asymmetrical advertising to guerrilla grocery branding, this cluster of guerrilla innovations are rebellion at its best.
Implications - The recession forced creatives in every industry to cut back, and savvy street artists used guerrilla art to express their distaste in the state of the economy. Pop-up art exhibits, unconventional ad campaigns and everyday street artists are just some of the manifestations of this phenomenon. Companies can take advantage of this theme by creating spontaneous publicity stunts that shock viewers and capture their attention.
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Ashley Rubin wins LSA Best Grad Paper Prize
Ashley Rubin's paper, "Race, Ethnicity, and Nativity at Eastern State Penitentiary: A Study of the Variation in Sentence Length, 1829-1871," has been selected by the Law and Society Association to receive the 2010 prize for best graduate student paper next month in Chicago. Congratulations to Ashley and to Malcolm Feeley for nominating the paper. The abstract follows:
Multiple theories have been generated and tested to explain the presence or absence of sentencing disparities at all levels of the criminal justice system. Yet these theories have been derived from and explain data coming primarily from the last fifty or so years. Consequently, little is known about the longevity of the contemporary sentencing literature’s explanatory power beyond this period. This project tests the leading theories in the literature by examining the presence of disparities in and influences on prison sentence length in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. The basic hypotheses explaining contemporary sentencing disparities, including the various group threat theories, court community perspective, and focal concerns, are tested on data for over 6,000 inmates sentenced to Pennsylvania’s Eastern State Penitentiary between 1829 and 1871. This study finds that several contemporary theories have explanatory power for the nineteenth century, suggesting that the social dynamics and decision-making practices that influence sentencing outcomes remain relatively consistent over time.
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The day the Connecticut state DNA lab scheduled to have a meeting regarding what submitted evidence was to be processed for DNA regarding the 2009 Dale Anderson T/A Travel Center homicide, the New Haven murder of Annie Le happened and Branford’s case was tabled. “They had to go – it was a very important case,” said Branford Police Detective William DeGoursey at a recent Board of Police Commissioners’ Meeting. “Our homicide got dropped down.”
are contending with large cities who have high crime rates, said DeGoursey when it comes to getting DNA evidence processed. They also are facing increased crime rates on a state level and more advanced technology to collect evidence, which produces a larger workload for the state. This competition with larger municipalities combined the shrinking state budget has made it increasingly harder for Branford Police to solve local crimes with DNA evidence. “When we are trying to investigate a , we can’t even submit our evidence,” stated DeGoursey, adding that the state is no longer accepting evidence from local agencies for misdemeanor crimes.
Captain Geoffrey Morgan of the Branford Police explains that waiting for any DNA to be processed by the state is risky for the police. “We have lost cases,” explained Morgan, because of a statue of limitations. Misdemeanors, like theft explained Morgan, have a one-year statute of limitations. In the past, that DNA would rarely be processed in a timely manner.
So Branford’s solution?
A localized DNA database called LODIS.
DeGoursey explains that LODIS, which will cost Branford $33,000 annually, will allow the department to have analysis of 25 samples per month at $110 per sample. The turnaround can be as quickly as a day, reported Morgan, and no longer than one month.
“LODIS makes it economical, efficient and affordable for small agencies to use state of the art technology,” explained Morgan.
Branford will be the first in the state to use LODIS if the commission decides to go forward with the purchase. Like their use of and other data-driven police tactics, Branford has been a leader. “With any cutting edge technology, and Branford is known for this, it usually takes an agency to make an investment in that technology,” commented Morgan.
Right now the hold-up from the commission is figuring out if other towns are interested in using the system and the logistics of it. If another town wants to submit samples for testing, Branford can send the sample to LODIS with their batch and charge the agency for the individual sample.
The main goal of utilizing LODIS is to reduce crime with the initial onset of the technology but also to create a local DNA database.
“Not only is it important to utilize DNA to solve crimes,” stated Morgan, “but we have to build a database of people.”
Currently the state DNA database does not tie into a local one for any towns; LODIS will change that creating a Branford or multi-town database; at the present LODIS does not tie into the state or national systems.
DeGoursey explained, in echoing ’s push for a predictive police force, “We are trying to focus on who’s giving us the most problems? We want to cocentrate on that small number and get it into a system that’s ours.”
In most cases, suspects have to agree to volunteer a DNA sample though state statute requires a sample be taken for all felony arrests. DNA can also be collected at the scene, police explain. The result of having a local database, police state, will help to reduce crime.
DeGoursey states as an example, the Palm Bay Police Department of Florida implemented the use of LODIS and saw a 16 percent clearance rate for burglaries rise to 33 percent clearance rate in one year of local DNA processing.
DeGoursey goes on to explain that a Sargeant from Bensalem, PA started using LODIS 18 months ago receive 124 “hits” or matches in their local DNA system. Thirty seven hits, DeGoursey reported, led to further criminal investigation. In comparison, when using the state DNA system, the Bensalem PD have five “hits” over the period of five years.
While the Commission tables the decision until next meeting, Halloran addressed the group last week stating of LODIS, “I am very much for going through with this. I think there are some concerns that have been brought up… I would like to see this implemented in a expeditious manner.”
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A major benefit of colonoscopies -- the assumption that they can keep people from dying of colon cancer -- has been touted for years. Now, there's good evidence that it's more than an assumption.
Deaths in the U.S. from colorectal cancer -- the second leading cause of cancer death here -- have been on the decline for more than 20 years, thanks to screening and improvements in treatment.
But the medical community didn't have solid evidence that removal of polyps found during a colonoscopy actually prevented deaths.
Until now. A Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center study that followed 2,602 patients who had precancerous growths removed during colonoscopies found that those patients risk of dying from colon cancer was 53 percent lower than in the general population.
The study was published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, along with another study that showed colonoscopies are better than fecal blood screening at finding polyps.
Screening -- for those from age 50 to 75 and those at high risk for colorectal cancer -- can be fecal blood testing annually, a sigmoidoscopy every five years or a colonoscopy every 10 years.
Only about half of those in the target group in the U.S. get screened for colorectal cancer. And that declined during the recession.
Granted, none of the three colorectal screenings are pleasant, which likely explains the reluctance of many to
The Sloan-Kettering study should be a motivator for older Americans to overcome their squeamishness and go for the colonoscopy. The chance of finding and removing a life-threatening cancer -- and living longer -- should be worth a little discomfort every 10 years.
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hist-games: Historical Games -- FAQ, Part II (Monthly Posting)
justin at intermetrics.com
Tue Dec 2 08:12:46 PST 1997
David Salley wrote:
> CHECKERS or DRAUGHTS
> [quoting the Brittanica]
> "That checkers was played in the days of the earlier Pharoahs is
> well authenticated by Egyptian history and the British Museum contains
> specimens of primitive boards quite similar to modern ones. ...
> Plato and Homer mentioned the game in their works and the Romans
> are believed to have imported it from the Greeks. ... [T]he
> earliest publications on record manifest the 12 men on each side
> and our conventional board.
Okay, now I'm intrigued -- this is quite different from the conventional
wisdom I've heard. I've never seen Checkers listed as a game of ancient
Egypt, and the received wisdom I've always heard is that it's a
middle-of-period descendent of Alquerques, altered to fit a chessboard.
Does anyone know more about this? While I'm willing to believe that it's
considerably more ancient, I'm not going to accept it on the word of a
single non-specialty secondary source. Are there other references that
folks know about? Do we know what these references in Plato and Homer
> And now for THIS week's list of games!
> MANCALA -- Ancient African in origin
"Ancient" seems to be the consistent word for it. I've never heard an
early boundary date placed on it; it goes way back. (Although I gather
that the evidence is mainly based on finding boards; I don't think I've
heard of any ancient written rules, but that isn't surprising.) It
should be noted that the term "Mancala" is often used as shorthand for
an entire family of games that involve moving stones around a board of
The game seems to be consistently African (indeed, seems to be the
primary game family of Africa); while it isn't listed in any period
sources from Europe that I know, I gather that there is some physical
evidence that it was at least known in some times and places, especially
in southern Europe (which traded with Africa)...
> MARBLES -- Prehistoric, found in nearly EVERY archeological site.
Visible in Breughel's painting of Children's Games, among others...
> OTHELLO -- 1880's ?
Something like that. Originally called "Reversi": I get the impression
that "Othello" is a trademarked name...
> POKER -- Earliest reference 1901?
Again, something like that; although it is played in many places today,
Poker is arguably the quintessential American card game. The origins of
Poker get argued all over the place; you will often encounter arguments
that it is a direct descendent of ancient card games, although I find
that more wishful thinking than anything else -- I haven't yet found a
geneology that I find very convincing.
Most of the elements of Poker can be found in period games, however. In
particular, Primero, one of the most popular Renaissance card games, has
a number of these elements, including the idea of specific hands such as
the Flush, as well as raising and bluffing. That's probably the closest
early analogue to the modern game, and the one I most often recommend to
Poker players looking for a period game. (The other one I recommend is
Gleek, which is less similar in details but is a better high-stakes
betting and bluffing game.)
> RUMMY -- Not a clue, anyone?
I gather that its origins are oriental, but I don't know more than
> TIC-TAC-TOE -- Ancient Roman
Often categorized as a trivial variant of Merels, although I have no
idea whether there's a genuine relationship there...
Random Quote du Jour:
"If at first you don't succeed -- destroy all evidence of
To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo at pbm.com containing
the words "unsubscribe hist-games". To contact a human about problems, send
mail to owner-hist-games at pbm.com
More information about the hist-games
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American NGO Freedom House compiles a report every year on violations occurring on the web. Its new Freedom on the Net 2012 study shows shifting trends in the Asia Pacific region as the reforming Burma cleans up its act a lot. That leaves China as the worst net freedom offender in the region, performing even worse than it did last year.
China’s score went up from 83 to 85 – and going up is not good. That means there were even more limits on web access and violations of users’ rights on the web. Burma’s dropped from 88 to 75 in a year in which it opened up to gradual reform, even releasing the political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi and allowing her to take an elected seat in parliament.
Indeed, China is now the third-worst in the world in terms of freedom of usage and expression on the net, behind only Iran and Cuba in first and second respectively. Note that North Korea is not listed. In Asia, Vietnam’s web tightened, while Indonesia’s improved slightly.
Here’s the graph just for Asia:
The report notes the paradoxical approach to the web in China, wherein the nation has a massive, thriving and very competitive internet industry – including social media like Sina Weibo – but it very tightly controlled at a number of levels. It continues:
This paradox was especially evident in 2011 and early 2012. On the one hand, the Chinese authorities further enhanced an already sophisticated and multilayered system for censoring, monitoring, and manipulating activities on the internet, while abducting or imprisoning dozens of activists, lawyers, and bloggers. The scale and speed of the censorship effort — particularly the use of tens of thousands of human censors to identify and delete social media posts — was remarkable.
One academic study reviewing censorship across nearly 1,400 blog-hosting and bulletin-board platforms in China estimated that 13 percent of posts were deleted, many within 24 hours of a particular term becoming sensitive or indicating collective action potential. Such controls contributed to the Chinese internet increasingly resembling an intranet. Many average users, isolated from international social media platforms and primarily exposed to a manipulated online information landscape, have limited knowledge of key events making news around the globe, including the publication of diplomatic cables by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks or anti-government protest movements sweeping the Middle East.
The China section is massive, running from pages 126 to 151, so we encourage you to get the full report from the link below.
On the known offenders, Freedom House notes:
After reviewing the findings for the 47 countries covered in this edition of Freedom on the Net, Freedom House has identified seven that are at particular risk of suffering setbacks related to internet freedom in late 2012 and in 2013. A number of other countries showed deterioration over the past two years and may continue to decline, but the internet controls in those states — which include Bahrain, China, Iran, Syria, and Ethiopia — are already well developed.
Then it also highlights some other countries that risk slipping into tighter web controls in the coming year. In Asia, those are Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan. China’s neighbor Vietnam is also a state that’s proving more adept at shutting up its growing population of netizens. Malaysia’s internet might not be censored in conventional ways, but the report highlights a worrying new form of cyber warfare:
Prominent online news outlets [in Malaysia] and opposition-related websites have suffered cyber attacks at politically critical moments.
Get the full Freedom on the Net 2012 report from here.
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24/04/2012 - Across OECD countries some 83 million people suffer from diabetes. On current trends, that will rise to almost 100 million by 2030.
Speaking at the European Diabetes Leadership Forum in Copenhagen, OECD Deputy Director General Yves Leterme said, “Preventing and treating diabetes and its complications costs about €90 billion annually in Europe alone. With health budgets already under great pressure and national budgets severely strained, for the sake of our health and the health of our economies we must find ways to prevent and manage diabetes in a cost-effective manner.”
Like other chronic diseases, diabetes reduces employment opportunities and earnings. In addition, diabetics are prone to depression, making it difficult to follow treatment guidelines.
In the coming 10 years, more than two out of three people will be overweight or obese in some OECD countries. This has an impact on both their salaries and their health - across OECD countries, obese people earn up to 18% less than non-obese people. And they are 8 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. This jumps to 60 times more likely for the severely obese.
Prevalence of diabetes in 2010, adults 20-79 years
Source: IDF (2009), OECD Health at a Glance 2011
As with many diseases, prevention strategies to tackle obesity – promoting healthy nutrition and exercise - are more cost-effective than the treatment routinely provided by health services. Governments must work with the food and beverage industry, medical practices, schools and community groups to promote healthy life-styles. Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary have already passed legislation taxing foods rich in fat and sugar.
OECD research shows that chronic diseases such as diabetes can be managed more efficiently through:
Programmes to encourage patients to control their conditions – some have shown positive results.
Payment systems and diseases management programmes rewarding good outcomes and continuity of care. These have been introduced with some success in the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Placing community care at the centre of health systems to improve quality of diabetes care. Austria and Hungary admit double the OECD average of diabetics to hospital. In Finland, Sweden and Denmark, men are more likely to be admitted than women.
The European Diabetes Leadership Forum gathers 800 participants from governments, the private sector, and consumer organisations across Europe to discuss workable solutions to address care for non communicable diseases such as diabetes. Participants are agreeing to the Copenhagen Roadmap, an outcome document offering concrete suggestions for good practice in the management of chronic diseases.
>> For more information on the OECD’s work on chronic diseases, including diabetes, please contact Helen Fisher: email@example.com (+33 1 45 24 80 97) or Francesca Colombo in the OECD’s Health Division: firstname.lastname@example.org (+33 1 45 24 93 60).
>> A background document is also available here.
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The Obama administration is attempting to throw U.S. intelligence under the bus, blaming it for the White House’s patently false claims about the attack in Benghazi. Our intelligence officials surely are used to this kind of treatment by now, but this doesn’t make the latest instance any more palatable.
In my view, the most deplorable example of throwing intelligence personnel under the bus was the sustained mistreatment of the heroes who interrogated terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11. In Power and Constraint, Jack Goldsmith chronicles this shameful history.
Here is my discussion of this portion of Goldsmith’s book in the review I wrote for the Federalist Society’s magazine, Engage:
Perhaps the saddest part of Goldsmith’s story is the persecution of CIA agents. In a time of crisis, CIA agents obtained valuable information from terrorist detainees. That information led to the capture or killing of terrorists bent on attacking the U.S. It may well have prevented attacks.
The techniques used by the CIA agents were approved in advance by the Department of Justice. As Goldsmith puts it, “[t]he CIA sought all of the right assurances up front for its detention and interrogation mission; it dutifully reported its subsequent mistakes; and it cooperated with the many resulting investigations.”
None of this mattered much. Sweeping initial internal investigations caused approximately twenty cases to be referred to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution. Only one resulted in prosecution, but the others were referred back to the CIA, which then considered whether to punish the agents. Some agents were cleared, some were punished, and some quit.
Then, Attorney General Holder ordered the reopening of cases that the Justice Department had already deemed unworthy of prosecution. Thus, agents who had been told the matter was finally behind them once again had to lawyer up, refresh their memories, and face a grand jury. Most agents eventually were cleared again, but the process demoralized the CIA.
Goldsmith believes that these experiences will make the CIA far more cautious and less inclined to take the initiative the next time the threat environment becomes severe. This ethos, he assures the human-rights lobby, provides a safeguard against future abuse. But Goldsmith can provide no assurances to those who fear that, due to caution and risk aversion, the CIA will be less effective in combating terrorism the next time around.
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A geo-engineering scheme in which thousands of machines are deployed to capture greenhouse gases from the atmosphere could succeed in cutting emissions where existing efforts have failed and should be urgently prioritised ahead of other ideas, the IMechE has said.
Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and climate change at the institution, said the organisation had ranked various geo-engineering schemes in terms of feasibility and environmental impact and that air capture of CO2 by machines – such as the artificial “trees” proposed by US physicist Klaus Lackner – represented the most promising route forward.
He told PE: “Currently from the institution’s point of view we see air capture as the best possible candidate for a geo-engineering approach, and that’s the one we would like to see significant funding for.”
Fox’s comments came in the wake of a paper on air capture produced by the IMechE that was circulated to officials at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent meeting on geo-engineering in Lima, Peru.
He said: “I think geo-engineering has been pretty much neglected by the IPCC as a possible approach to tackling climate change – they have been focused very much on adaptation and mitigation – but I think there’s clearly a growing recognition that some of the geo-engineering approaches are practical and technically feasible, particularly air capture.”
Air-capture schemes would suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and sequester it in underground stores or recycle it for industrial processes. They are being developed by Lackner, Canadian climate scientist Professor David Keith, and Professor Aldo Steinfeld of science and technology university ETH Zurich. But a pilot plant has yet to be developed and the ideas have only been tested at laboratory level. Fox said: “It’s only through a pilot plant that the engineering can be proved.”
Air-capture machines have the advantage that they could be deployed anywhere, perhaps in areas with renewable energy to power them. They could account for emissions not amenable to mitigation, such as from aircraft, giving a net balance of “negative emissions”. The air-capture systems could also be used next to power stations where carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is unsuitable.
It is thought the machines could even help to establish a global price ceiling for carbon in the absence of a legally binding international agreement on cutting emissions, where polluters would have to pay for the carbon they emit, or invest in air capture.
Fox said: “What that would do is encourage and accelerate the development of alternative ways of abating, whether that’s through CCS with coal, CCS with gas or cheaper wind turbines, solar and biofuels.” Developers of air-capture machines could be encouraged into the market and the price of carbon could drop with increased competition.
Fox said: “The current problem is that the market is failing, and the reason the market is failing is that there is no legally binding international agreement on carbon emissions. So we’ve got to think radically.” For the idea to work, an international mandate would be required in which CO2 was treated as a pollutant much in the manner of CFCs, Fox said.
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Unnatural? Rylee MacKay was kept out of class because of her hair color. (Photo: MacKay family via Facebook)In the past few months, schools have banned everything from yoga pants and Ugg boots to birthday candles and peanut butter sandwiches. But one Utah middle school is cracking down on hair color—even if the color in question isn't a garish blue or green but just a dark shade of red.
After being kicked out of class last week for dyeing her brown hair auburn, an honors student at a Utah middle school has been allowed to return to school—but only after she toned down her hair color.
Though Rylee MacKay, 15, had been dyeing her hair the same shade every six weeks since September, it wasn't until earlier this month that the school took issue with the color. On Feb. 4, Hurricane Middle School vice principal Jan Goodwin spotted Rylee in the halls and ordered her into the office. She had just had her hair touched up two days earlier.
The Washington County School District dress code states that "Hair, including beards, mustaches and sideburns, should be groomed so that it is neat and clean. Hair color must be a naturally occurring color; i.e. red, brown, black, blonde." And while Rylee's stylist had assured her that her new color complied with the dress code, Goodwin felt that Rylee's auburn-hued hair didn't look natural enough.
"In the light he said it was pinkish-purplish," Rylee told KUTV. "He told me to have it fixed by the next day or I couldn't come back to school."
But she didn't want to dye her hair back to brown—and her mother refused to make her.
"I absolutely am not going to dye it brown. That is not an option," Amy MacKay told Utah news station KSL.com on Sunday. Rylee had a hard time with the family's move to Hurricane two and a half years ago, MacKay said, and when she was finally allowed to dye her hair last year she felt better about herself. "My daughter feels beautiful with the red hair. Changing her hair really changed her; she really blossomed," she explained. "And now I have to say, 'No, sorry, you have to dye it brown?' I'm not going to change it back."
MacKay said that the district's hair policy is too open to interpretation. "It's totally his opinion whether it's too bright or not," she told KSL.com. "There's no set standard, no hair palette you can look at and say, 'OK, I'll go with that red'."
But school officials insist that the rules are not arbitrary.
"We deal with dress code issues nearly every day, specifically hair issues maybe once per week," Hurricane Middle School Principal Dr. Roy Hoyt, explained to Yahoo! Shine in an interview on Tuesday. "Most of the time it is a situation where students color their own hair and it doesn't come out as they had intended."
"Most of time it is a judgement call for the administration," Hoyt added. "This student's hair did not meet the expectation of naturally colored hair. We apply this standard consistently to all students and nearly every parent is supportive."
After four days of washing her hair at home, Rylee's hair had faded enough to be acceptable to school administrators, and she was allowed back in class. "All I wanted to do was just get back to school," she told KUTV on Monday. Hoyt confirmed that Rylee's hair now met school standards, even though she hadn't re-dyed it.
"We are small school in a conservative community," he told Yahoo! Shine. "While this policy may seem restrictive, it does establish a behavioral expectation. When these standards/expectations are established and enforced for seemingly small things it provides for a school culture where more egregious offenses are less likely to occur."
Parents and former students took to Facebook to weigh in on the controversy.
"My daughter went through the same thing there last year, but they told her she could stay because there were only three days left of school," Elizabeth Ebert said in response to a local newspaper's poll about MacKay's hair color on Facebook. "However, they also told me she would have to change it back in order to start school this year."
"I went to HMS about 6 years ago and this doesn't shock me one bit," Danielle Ritchey said in response to a local newspaper's poll. "This school really needs to focus on things that matter, like drug use, sex, and peer bullying and stop those…. I'm pretty sure the long term effects of being a drug user or a teen mom are a lot worse than putting some color in one's hair."
Also on Shine:
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En Gedi stream
En Gedi, the oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea, may be a more enjoyable place to visit in the future. From the JPost:
The Ein Gedi stream started flowing on Monday for the first time in 50 years, following an agreement signed in May 2007 between Kibbutz Ein Gedi and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The agreement stipulates that the kibbutz must let water flow from the Ein Gedi spring into the stream before drawing it for kibbutz use. The agreement also limits the amount of water that the kibbutz may use, thereby increasing the flow from the spring to the stream.
The stream dried up in the 1950s because those developing the kibbutz needed its water for agriculture. After that, until the signing of the agreement, the kibbutz drew water directly from the spring, which was the stream's source. The Ein Gedi water company also drew from the spring prior to the deal.
"We didn't deal with the principal question of whether the kibbutz needed to get this water," said Omri Gal, an assistant spokesperson for INPA. "We took as a given that the kibbutz needed that water. Our goal was to lessen the damage to the water. The previous situation was unacceptable, and the stream was a tragedy."
Several months later, after the kibbutz dismantled its water-drawing facilities, water has begun to flow down the stream at a rate of 10 meters per second, a number that should rise to 25 by the time the process is completed.
Though the Ein Gedi water, if not drawn, would flow to the Dead Sea, Gal said that its reaching the stream brought tremendous benefit to the surrounding area, as well as to the government agency that protects it.
"This is an amazing thing for the environment," he said. "Ein Gedi is an important natural area. There have been guards working there for 30 years, and for them this is a holiday."
The story continues here and ends with this line:
"Ein Gedi used to be unique," said Gal. "We want to revive the flora and bring back the water. It will look like it did in days of old."
You can read (and see) more about En Gedi at this BiblePlaces page.
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Every day, one-third of the people of Copenhagen ride their bikes to work or school. Collectively, they cycle more than 750,000 miles daily, enough to make it to the moon and back. And city officials want even more people to commute, and over longer distances.
So a network of 26 new bike routes, dubbed "the cycling superhighway," is being built to link the surrounding suburbs to Copenhagen.
Several innovations are being tested, like "green wave" technology, which times traffic lights to suit bikers. If you maintain a certain pace, you can ride all the way through into the city without stopping. There are also footrests with bars to lean on at traffic lights, and a bike pump every mile in case you have a flat.
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment
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Solar Power Goes Mobile with Solarpod
Generating solar power on the go is more than environmentally-friendly; it is fantastically convenient, too!
One product that recent caught our attention is Solarpod, a solar generator designed by a UK company called Thousand Suns. It is a portable solar power unit that looks more like an Apple computer than a clunky diesel generator. It is ideal for areas without a reliable grid, or with no grid connection at all. Think camping and boat trips or people living in remote areas.
Thousand Suns says it can power most home appliances such as TVs, stereos, games consoles, laptops, fax, power tools etc and can be completed with high performance solar panels. It works out of the box, with no installation required.
Energy Refuge caught up with Thousand Suns to find out more about this little solar power wonder.
ER: What’s the story behind Solarpod?
TS: Thousand Suns founders Jean Viry-Babel and Patrick Kemmis created a patent with the Imperial College for the Solar Concentrator, a product which would magnify the power of the sun in order to gain more from your standard solar panels. It was created in Singapore; however it did not work in the UK. Though the product never went into production there was a new name Thousand Suns (as the Solar Concentrator would create the power of a thousand suns).
Still passionate about runnable energy for both its sustainable commercial viability and its positive environmental implications, John and Patrick teamed up with Robert Smith. He had an idea for a portable solar energy generator that could replace noisy and polluting diesel generators. The Solarpod is born.
When it came to production Thousand Suns wanted to keep the process as ethical as the product, and sourced a small factory in France which gives work opportunities to those with disabilities.
The initial market was thought to be those who owned beach houses; it would be used to run things such as a small fridge or a TV. Upon further research market potential grew enormously with the likes of fishermen and boats, those wanting to be environmentally friendly, caravans, motor homes, campers, festival goers. Essentially any place where people would be away from the main grid, but wanted to run their small electrical equipments.
ER: How does it work?
TS: Solarpod contains a high performance lithium Ion Phosphate battery which is safe and environmentally friendly. It is fitted with a 400W inverter, a UK 3-pin socket, 2 USB ports and a 12V car socket. It can be charged either with solar panels or by plugging it directly into the mains.
From a Solarpod you can expect the following:
32in LCD TV – 5 hours
Smart Phone – 40 charges
ER: How many units have you sold?
TS: We have had 1500 units ordered since May, with orders coming from Finland, Germany, Spain, India, USA, UK, France, and Norway. From such phenomenal interest in just 2 months, and the many different user types, the growth potential is vast.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
|Tags: grid connection Solar solar energy Solarpod Thousand Suns||[ Permalink ]|
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Wed February 27, 2013
Runaway Bald Eagle Captured After 3 Days
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renée Montagne. Bald eagles are the definition of cool, but apparently they spook easily. So when Sequoia, a bald eagle at the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, got caught in a strong wind while spreading her wings at a local park, she took off to other suburbs. The San Jose Mercury News reports it took three days for the bald eagle's handlers to track her down. And then she was treated with a feast of mouse and quail. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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WMBD/WYZZ -- Peoria - State health officials say 41 probable cases of swine flu are in Illinois, while all of those cases are in the Chicago area, two central Illinois college students have been tested for the virus as a precaution. A Bradley University student went to the the University Health Center to get checked out, and one Illinois State University student who had close contact with friends who've recently visited Mexico has also been tested for the H1N1 virus. Some of those friends developed flu like symptoms but all have recovered. Illinois State President Al Bowman wants to stress there have been no confirmed cases of the flu virus on campus.
Meet The Team
Take a moment to meet WMBD 31's team. Click here to learn more about the people who are "Taking Action for You!"
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Find a JuDo Class
Click here to find a club in Ontario, Canada
a college student I took up Judo. After four years
of bi-weekly practice, I was in love with it for
life. Recently I have started practicing Judo
again after a 6-year hiatus. It was just like
riding a bicycle – a lot of the moves just
came flowing back to me and were simply fluid,
as if I never left Judo at all. Along with the
techniques, a lot of the life lessons that I took
out of it came flowing back too. Martial Arts
training - regardless of whether it's Karate,
Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Krav Maga, et al,. - is a great
activity for kids, - much more so than team sports
such as Basketball, Baseball, Soccer and Hockey.
If you are contemplating signing up your child
for some organized sports activity, here are some
reasons why Junior will be a lot better off studying
Judo or Jiu-Jitsu than playing in a Basketball
The number one reason why most people take up a martial art is for self-defense, and pretty much any style is a great way to learn how to defend oneself. Not only will the martial arts teach you the techniques to defend yourself, but also the way to think about defending yourself. They also help you build up the reflexes you need if you're ever in a pickle, and give you the confidence to fight back – which leads me to my next topic...
As children become more proficient in their selected style of martial arts, their confidence gets a big-boost. They become more self-assured and confident. Their Sensei's (Teacher's) encouragement goes a long way to help them achieve this goal, but the confidence level will extend far beyond the Dojo (Martial Arts Studio).
3. Belts and Ranking:
I know that this might seem like a stupid reason at first, but you'd be surprised how much belts and ranking help build your child's confidence and their desire to succeed. For the uninitiated, most Martial Arts styles use a system of Colored belts to indicate the knowledge and skill levels of their practitioners. In many cases the first belt promotion can be attained in as little as a few weeks and when children obtain that first belt, it shows them that with the right motivation, they can succeed. One belt is always not enough, once a child passes one belt test he or she is already thinking about the next one. Belts are a great way to help children track their progress and motivate them to strive higher.
The mantra of any martial art is ‘practice makes perfect' There is constant repetition in drills and practices with emphasis on details and rhythm. Kicking and punching are practiced ad nauseam; throws are repeated over and over. Even while sparring or competing – where a martial artist shows how creatively he or she can apply their well-honed skills – there are still rules and protocols to be followed. All of this teaches children to respect one another, their opponents and colleagues, and how to play games fair and square – lessons that follow them in their non-Martial Arts lives. It also teaches them the benefits of frequent practice, and the patience to get there (Remember the Karate Kid and Wax On/Wax Off?! ).
5. Emphasis on Individual Achievement:
In basketball there are only five starters, yet there are seldom only five people on a team – which means that someone has to start each game on the bench. This applies for most team sports as well. In team sports there are also positions, and each has connotations. Although teamwork and sportsmanship are emphasized in team sports, at some point you'll need to explain to your child why they aren't a starter or why their stuck in right field batting 9 th instead of playing first base and batting cleanup. In the martial arts, however, each child's success is based on his or her own individual merits. Yes, your kid may not be the most winning Judoka in his Judo class, but that will be because he tried and lost, and not because he wasn't good enough to make it off the bench. Your child will also not be stuck on a ‘bad team' as her own ambition will help her achieve success. Knowing that their own ambition and abilities will drive them to succeed, will lessen the chances that your child will say to you ‘I hate this sport'. Since each child has an opportunity to play, there is also no scapegoat to blame if they don't win, and the opportunity to do better at the next tournament.
6. Gender Equity:
I am sure that while many of you would consider martial arts for their sons, not nearly as many would consider it for their daughters. However the martial arts are one of the few sports where both boys and girls can play together. There are also tremendous international opportunities in Women's martial arts as well. Your daughter's red belt will not be any easier for her to attain than your son's red belt will be for him. It also gives brothers and sisters an opportunity to practice together and learn from one another as well (not to mention the convenience of having all of your kids in one place at a time). My college Judo coach, Sensei Maureen Braziel, competed for the US on an international level, and she is a great coach and an excellent Judo practitioner, in addition, one of Israel's few Olympic Medals, a Silver Medal, came from Yael Arad in the women's Judo competition in 1992 in Barcelona. Maybe your daughter will become an Olympic Judoka too some day?
The typical 2-hour martial arts class will often be comprised of warm-up calisthenics, teaching and practicing of moves and possibly some sparring. The warm up and practice comprise the bulk of the time, and for that time your child will be constantly on the go – stretching, crunches, punches and kicks. The workout each child gets will not only assist in the natural development of his or her muscles, but also help them build stronger Cardio-Vascular systems. Even in the most active of team sports such as Basketball, Hockey, or Soccer, children don't get that much of a workout simply because they generally don't play the whole game and even if they do, there are still breaks in the action.
8. Respect for Strength:
The first thing the parents of (even slightly) mischievous children think about when they send their kids to martial arts class is: “Is my kid going to use this to hurt others?” Although this is a legitimate concern, it is always addressed early by instructors who remind students that the techniques they learn in the dojo stay in the dojo (except in self-defense), and shouldn't be used to bully people (unless your Sensei is John Kreese from The Karate Kid ). As children learn the ropes, they will learn to respect their newfound strength and techniques. They will also gain a disdain for bullying as well.
Just like in team sports, Judo is all about competition. Competition is great for kids to test their skills and show their progress. Unlike team sports, the loser can't really blame anyone beyond his or herself. But then this gives them a sense of respect for their opponent, as well as motivation to do better the next time. Unlike team sports, which treat each game as a leg in the entire season, each tournament is a fresh start, and it is seldom that you get only one match (even in the Olympics where there is a single-elimination for the Gold and Silver medals, there is a second-chance round for those who have lost their first matches for them to be able to win a Bronze).
10. You can do it with them:
Many martial arts schools offer classes for both adults and children. While most do not run those classes simultaneously, they are usually one right after the other. This means that you can watch your children workout, and then they can watch you. If you have the proper space for it, you can practice with each other at home, and learn from one another. This will give you a special activity to use as a bonding tool with your kids. You can also become physically fit together. Granted, you can play Basketball in your driveway and have a catch in the backyard, but it is just not the same as working on your kids' roundhouse kicks in a group.
11. The Never-Ending Season:
Many team sports, especially those primarily played outdoors, or in specific weather (think Skiing, Hockey) are seasonal. The Martial Arts are a year-round affair. As I mentioned above, a bad tournament only puts you out until the next tournament, and your exercise routine remains constant the entire year. Having this consistency also helps build upon discipline, and allows children to progress very quickly.
…and 4 more reasons that they should specifically learn Judo
Since I am, after all, a Judoka , I would be remiss if I didn't provide some additional reasons why your child will benefit specifically from Judo more so than any other Martial Art:
12. They will exercise their minds too.
While all martial arts teach you to fighting strategies, Judo really teaches much more. While learning Kuzushi (the art of breaking your opponents' balance) and throwing techniques, they learn Mechanical Physics. Combination techniques and follow-ups teach them improvisation, and finally, they learn a lot of Japanese too (I've already taught my two-year old how to count to ten in Japanese). In most other forms of Martial Art, the language is limited to the words: Sensei (teacher) Hajime (Start) and Matte (Stop).
13. Judo isn't about brute force, it is about control:
Kano Sensei (Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo), in his teachings, emphasized the concept of maximum efficiency. This is evident, as the crux of many Judo techniques is not necessarily brute force, but using your opponents' movements and strength against him or her. While physical strength and size are important, mental strength is probably the most vital factor in competition.
14. Your child will be well coordinated (and we're not talking about Fashion)
When you're using your opponents' moves against him or her, timing is everything. Many of the throws in Judo will simply not work if you don't time them correctly. Feet, hands, hips and head all need to move in fluid and exact timed motions to properly execute a throw (which is why an Ippon – or full point – is so hard to achieve in competition). As your child practices he or she will learn more complex throws and, in turn, will demonstrate better reflexes and coordination as a result.
15. Judo is Universal
If a Karate practitioner travels to another city he or she might have a hard time finding a dojo to work out in that has the exact same style and philosophy as their home dojo . Not so for Judoka – because the techniques and principles are practically universal. A New Yorker can go to California for a week, and still find a place to play. There are over a hundred member countries in the International Judo Federation, and at the Olympics, the competing Judoka came from places as diverse as Cuba, Israel, and Kazakhstan as well as from the expected countries like Japan, USA, Russia and the France. Although the styles of teaching and ranking and promotion standards vary slightly from country to country – Judo is Judo is Judo. Which helps your child stick with it, even into adulthood, as it will never be hard to find a dojo to train in, and the material will always be the same even if the location is not.
Hopefully I've piqued your interest to the point where you are thinking where to start investigating the Martial Arts for your child. Martial Arts classes are given at many community centers, and schools are also listed in the phone book. However my advice is that you go online for suggestions on dojos and instructors as well as answers to any questions you might have. This site, Judoinfo.com, and its sister, JudoForum.com, are two great places to start investigating the sport of Judo and getting your questions answered. If you use Google, Yahoo, or other Internet search engines a simple search for, say ‘Karate Forums' or ‘Jiu-Jitsu information' will probably point you to similar sites for those arts.
If you are skeptical about making a commitment to a Martial Art for your child, you should definitely talk to the Sensei of the school you are interested in sending them too. Many schools will offer trial options, especially for younger kids, so you don't need to make a huge financial commitment up front if you feel that it isn't for your child.
In conclusion, Martial Arts are a wonderful alternative to team sports that will provide your child with not only an excellent physical workout, but also act as a vehicle to provide them with a mental and emotional workout as well.
Yonah Wolf has been practicing Judo on and off for the last decade, and has recently returned to the sport after a long hiatus. He currently holds the grade of Sankyu (the lowest grade of Brown Belt) and hopes to get his Black Belt before his two toddlers are old enough to play. The original version of this article appeared on JewCentral.com.
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Some lawmakers are calling foul with Rochester vacant homes being sold online. Currently there are about 3,000 vacant properties in the city. 1,800 of them are single family homes. Vacant homes cause a lot of problems for police and firefighters.
"We don't want vacant homes turning into drug houses, being turned into blight, decrepit parts of neighborhood," said Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy.
25% of the city's arsons happen in vacant homes. Senator Charles Schumer's office recently learned about an even more alarming problem. The Housing and Urban Development agency is selling Rochester's vacant homes on the web to absentee landlords for cheap. "They gobble up vacant properties online, sit on them until they can sell them for a quick buck. They don't care if the house deteriorates. They don't care about anything with the house," said Schumer.
Senator Schumer called for HUD to stop selling Rochester's houses online. He's also calling for a 3 billion dollar increase in federal funds for rehabbing abandoned houses. That money will help the Greater Rochester Housing Partnership. The agency buys vacant houses, fixes them up then sells them at discounted prices to low-income families.
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Thursday, January 06, 2011
I recently had the privilege of watching Precious Life, one of the fifteen documentaries short listed for an Oscar nomination this year.
Deservedly so, the recent documentary Precious Life, will largely be praised for it's moving story of human decency and dependence in the hardest of times. The set up for the documentary is that a Palestinian woman from Gaza who's child is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. With the help of an Isreaeli doctor, funds from an anonymous donor, and media publicity the story unfolds.
Shlomi Eldar, the Israeli journalist who constructed this film, and places himself as a central character in the story telling has done a remarkable job capturing this story and revealing unique things about the long struggles between people in the middle east.
The magic and intrigue though in the film really doesn't come into play until half way though the documentary in a dialogue between the Palestinian mother and Eldar, who suddenly transitions from journalist to person in his question asking, as he struggles with the way the mother, from a clearly different faith tradition, answers his questions.
Now there is definitely plenty of room to suggests that the mother's answers to his questions are doctored from reality due to her own fear of retribution for answers that might be unacceptable in her community, a community that is already critical and skeptical of her for obtaining medical intervention from "the enemy."
Yet, it is these questions about this telling interaction where a Palestinian mother of a sick infant tries to convince a journalist that her child's life is not precious that the rest of the film really blossoms.
From here, the film warrants discussions. Whether that discussion is the blatant discussion of whether life is precious, or the role of "the camera" in story telling, that depends on how you watch this film. But there are moving and troubling dialogue that really makes this film an important film.
Photo: "Precious Life." Credit: Shlomi Eldar
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Preparing for a TECEP®
When a TECEP® examination is revised, its test description often changes. To ensure students have the most current test description, the College advises them to check the Web site before they submit a registration form.
In order to succeed on a TECEP® examination, the student needs specific knowledge of the subject matter and test-taking skills. Even with previous background in an area, it is unlikely that a student can simply proceed to take and pass the exam. The first step is to review the information contained in the test description to learn what will be required. The student will typically have to read several textbooks from the list of possible readings in the test description. Succeeding on examinations requires planning and preparation.
For those interested in improving their study skills in general, an excellent, practical guide to effective and successful studying is How to Study in College by Walter Pauk & Ross Owens. It is available online from MBS Direct, the College's textbook supplier.
Reading textbooks is the traditional way to prepare for TECEP® exams. However, sometimes it is helpful to read a popular work in an area, particularly if the texts or subjects are difficult. Popular works can provide an overview to help understand the related textbook readings. In general, however, the content of popular works is not sufficient to ensure success on a TECEP®. These exams reflect the content of typical college courses, and textbooks are the basis for college courses.
Unfortunately, texts can go "out-of-print" at any time. Occasionally, when this occurs, it may be necessary to withdraw a scheduled examination. When this happens, there may be instances where a student continues to prepare for an examination that is no longer being offered. If this situation occurs, the College will make every effort to accommodate the student and arrange another testing, but, as noted elsewhere, Thomas Edison State College reserves the right to cancel or withdraw examinations when necessary.
TECEP® exams are general, end-of-course examinations, and are not usually developed to reflect the content of one specific textbook. The textbooks listed for each examination are current texts for college courses with the same or similar title at the time the test is developed. But in general, many college-level textbooks are suitable. It should be noted that several TECEP® exams are based on a specific textbook. When this is the case, the information is noted in the text section of the test description. Whether choosing a text that is on the list or not, always compare the table of contents with the Roman numeral outline of topics in the test description. This comparison will identify areas that may not be covered in a particular text. If students find gaps in coverage in the texts that have been obtained, they should make every effort to locate the information in another text.
To prepare for most TECEP® exams, students should thoroughly study two college-level textbooks on the subject. The College highly recommends that students review the major topics in both books, since textbook authors often differ in their coverage and emphasis. Remember, the broader the background of knowledge in a subject, the more likely a passing score will be received on the examination.
Bookstores: College bookstores are a good source of textbooks, and often have new and used texts for sale. In addition, many college bookstores have used book sales on a regular basis. This is an inexpensive way to buy textbooks. Calling a local college bookstore in advance to ask if and when they hold used book sales will save you time and effort. Most commercial bookstores do not stock textbooks, however, many will order texts for you. If you choose this route, be sure to allow enough time to order and receive the texts, as well as time to study from them.
MBS Direct: You can order many textbooks directly from Thomas Edison State College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct. However, due to fluctuating demand for TECEP®-related textbooks, it is not possible to order all TECEP® texts through MBS Direct. To learn if your texts are available, go to www.studytactics.com. At that site, click on the "COLLEGE" tab and follow the prompts. If MBS Direct has your text, you may order it online.
Libraries: The New Jersey State Library is fully equipped to help Thomas Edison State College students obtain texts as well as with research. In addition, college libraries, of course, are excellent places to find college texts, although to borrow books one generally needs to be an enrolled student or have taken courses at that college. Local public libraries usually are not a good source of college textbooks, however larger county libraries or city libraries often will have a number of texts.
Most libraries have interlibrary loan services, which means that they will find a library that has the desired books and will borrow them for you. If you decide to borrow your books from a library, make sure you can keep them for as long as you need them. It is very important to have your study materials available until the examination date.
Using Textbooks/Study in General
Reading is such a basic skill that we are tempted to just do it, rather than to think about how we do it. However, when we are reading to learn and to remember, it pays to be thorough. The following set of tips on how to read a textbook should very helpful. The benefits from these tips can help to improve your TECEP® score.
- Always read the introductory material at the beginning of each chapter of the book before proceeding. This introductory material usually talks about what is to follow and establishes an idea of what to expect. When you can anticipate what is to come, you will remember it better.
- Always read the summary material at the end of each chapter of the book before proceeding. You may not understand all of it since you will not have read the book or chapter, but you will form a clearer idea of how the author has organized and presented the material. This will help you to understand and remember the text itself.
- If there are any study questions in the book, take the time to look at them and to see what kinds of things are being asked. Usually, the more important points or concepts are covered in the study questions.
- Be an active reader. Take notes, think about what you have read, try to sense what questions the material answers, etc. The more actively you read, the better you will understand and remember the facts and concepts.
Learn how to take notes. You will evolve your own style for this, but some general suggestions may be helpful.
- Always use your own words when taking notes. By doing this, you can make sure that you understand what the author is saying. If you can write it down in your own words, you know you have grasped the idea.
- Keep your notes as brief as they can be and still capture the important points and ideas. Your notes have to be reasonably clear and meaningful to you.
- Read over your notes at a later date and re-do anything that is not clear to you.
- Be especially careful to write down the meanings of any words or concepts that are new to you. It is very important to learn these key elements so that you can correctly interpret test questions that use them.
- If you learn best by listening rather than reading, you may find it helpful to read important information from your text into a cassette recorder. You can play the tapes in your car or wherever you have a tape deck and review the information this way.
- Test your own memory. Take notes as you study and then try to write out these notes from memory. Review the areas that you do not remember. Do not expect to remember material well after only a single reading. In order to retain learning in memory, most people must go over the text several times. Further, material that has not been read recently is often difficult to remember. Plan your study so that on the day of the examination you will have recently reviewed all of the content that is to be covered on the examination.
Taking Multiple-Choice Tests
Many TECEP® exams are multiple-choice tests. Virtually everyone is familiar with this type of test and understands how to proceed. But some basic points cannot be stressed too often.
Manage your time efficiently. Calculate how much time you are given to answer each question. For example, if you have two hours to answer 100 questions, that equals 72 seconds per question. The time you need for each individual question, of course, will vary. You may find it useful to make a little table to help pace yourself. For example, if you start a 100-question exam at 1:00 p.m. and you have two hours, your chart might look like this:
Amont of test completed Time Question completed 1/4 1:30 p.m. Questions 1-25 1/2 2 p.m. Questions 26-50 3/4 2:30 p.m. Questions 51-75 Test complete 3 p.m. Questions 76-100
Keeping a chart like this in front of you and keeping an eye on the clock should enable you to work steadily and cover all of the material.
- Postpone answers to the hardest questions. Test questions vary in difficulty and in the time that they take to answer. Do not get stuck on any one question. If it is difficult, leave it and go on to the next question, but mark it so that you can return to it later.
- Always give an answer to every question. The score for a TECEP® exam is the number right. There is no penalty for guessing.
- Mark your answers clearly and neatly. Your answer sheet is scored by a scanner. To do this accurately, the scanner needs clearly, neatly marked answers using a #2 pencil. In particular, if you change an answer, erase THOROUGHLY. Otherwise, the scanner may erroneously score an answer that you did not intend.
- Consider all possibilities. Remember that the multiple-choice question works because at least some of the WRONG answers appear to be correct. Do not base your final answer on a reading of just one alternative. Read the entire set of answer options and form a final judgment after considering all of the possibilities.
- Choose the best answer. The test directions tell you to choose the best answer, not the correct answer. If you are not sure that one of the possible answers is completely correct, you should pick the one you think is closest to correct.
- Make notes on the test book as needed. You may write on the test book, do calculations, etc. The book will be collected at the end of the exam, but it is not used again.
- Avoid clerical errors in recording your answers. It is easy to accidentally "skip" a question on your separate answer sheet and then mark the following answers in the wrong locations. Verify that the question number in your test booklet and the answer number on your answer sheet are the same in each case. Also, be sure not to mark answers to two questions on the same line on your answer sheet.
- Be careful with questions that ask for the identification of error. Some questions ask you to identify the response which is NOT correct or which is the EXCEPTION. You must be certain to see that this is what is required and to make your selection accordingly.
Taking Essay Tests
Essay tests, like multiple-choice tests, require knowledge of the subject and an ability to apply language skills. However, essay tests are different and must be approached differently. Almost everyone has experience in writing essays, but the following points may be helpful:
- Memorize an adequate set of principal facts or elements. Essay tests require the recall of information, rather than the recognition of information. You need to memorize fundamental material if you are going to create a successful essay.
- Practice writing answers to sample questions beforehand. Essay tests require writing skills. Writing skills are best acquired by writing. The chances of success on the essay examinations increase when you practice. You will gain even more benefit if you can receive a review of these practice efforts from someone who has some knowledge of writing.
- Check on the time at frequent intervals. Time management during the examination is an important factor. After briefly reviewing the contents of the exam, make a schedule for your work, allotting a specific amount of time to each essay (see point #4 below). If you bog down on one question, move on to another and try to go back later. The best essay performances come from dividing the time appropriately among the questions.
- Decide how much time to spend on each essay. Allow more time for essays that are worth more points, and less time for essays worth less points.
- As you begin each essay, make a very brief outline of what you will cover. Follow the outline as you write and be certain that you cover all points.
- Pay particular attention to the verbs in the essay questions. Words such as "analyze," "describe," "review," "summarize," etc., give you important guidance as to how to shape your answer. A verb like "contrast," for example, requires you to review the points of difference between two things; a verb like "compare" is more general and requires a review of points of similarity as well as difference. If there is an instruction like "briefly summarize," do just that. A lengthy response to a question that asks you to "briefly summarize" is wasted effort. Your score will not be increased beyond the stipulated amount even if your lengthy answer is a good one. Your time is better spent on other things.
- Be certain that it is clear to the grader which question you are answering. You do not need to answer essay questions in the order they are asked. You should answer the ones you are most comfortable with first, and then proceed to the ones you are less comfortable with. This strategy ensures that you will receive the most points. However, you must make sure to write down the number of the essay question with your answer, so the grader knows which of the essay questions you are answering.
- Write legibly. Your work cannot be graded if it cannot be read.
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Running a Bar For Dummies
Running a bar isn't for the faint of heart. Besides the daily needs of running a bar — what tools and condiments to keep behind the bar, what to put on the tables and on the menu, and how to keep your employees well-supplied — you also have to deal with the rigors of management — like keeping your employees honest, staying on the right side of your state alcohol control board, and dealing with patrons who've had a few too many. The following information can get you pointed in the right direction.
Questions to Ask the Alcohol Control Board before Shopping for a Bar
If you’re interesting in running a bar, you’re going to have to get to know your local alcohol control board so you know what you can and can’t do when it comes to serving alcoholic beverages. Ask your state alcohol control board representative these important questions while shopping for your bar or bar location:
What kind of liquor license do I need? What’s the fee? How often do I renew it?
Where do I display the liquor license in my bar?
How many licenses are issued in the town?
What are the grounds for license revocation?
What are the restrictions on my hours of operations?
Can I serve food? Do I have to serve food?
Do I need another license for food? What’s the fee?
Do I need another license for music? What’s the fee?
What are the smoking laws I must abide by?
Can I open on Sundays? What time?
Menu Categories for Bar Food
If you want to run a successful bar, you must create the right menu to complement the beverages. Even if you already have your menu planned, consider the food categories in the following list. After your bar opens, you can keep an eye on what your patrons expect and think about adding items that may benefit your business:
Appetizers: An appetizer is a dish that’s served before the main meal in a restaurant. In bars, sometimes the only menu is an appetizer menu.
Full-blown menu: Many bars have larger menus these days. Your menu may start with the pub grub idea, and later expand further to include items such as salads, entrees (like ribs, steaks, and pasta), desserts, and even kids’ menus.
Happy hour: Some bars choose to only serve food during happy hour, a period of time designed to draw in a crowd with special pricing and promotions.
Pub grub: Pub grub is the affectionate term for typical bar food like wings, onion rings, cheese sticks, burgers, and so on.
Tapas: Tapas are snacks or small plates in the Spanish tradition. They don’t have to be Spanish food, just small portions of great dishes.
Condiments You Must Have behind the Bar
Running a bar is more than just mixing alcohol, mixers, and ice. You might be surprised by what you need to have on hand to keep the drinks flowing to happy customers. This short list contains items bar owners are often surprised to find that they need; keep it on hand and tailor it for your own business.
|Angostura Bitters||Real Cream of Coconut|
|Salt and pepper||Hot sauce|
|Lime juice||Worcestershire sauce|
Must-Have Bar Tools
Although keeping a toolbox behind the bar isn't a necessity (though it really isn’t a bad idea), if you’re running a bar, it makes sense to keep the following tools behind the bar to keep it running smoothly:
|Extra napkins||Shaker or comparable glass|
|Ice scoop||Stirrers and straws|
|Knife and cutting board||Tip cup|
|Muddler||Wine bottle opener|
Items Bar Servers Need to Carry
If you own or run a bar, your servers are your foot soldiers in a very real sense. You need to make sure that they’re well armed and prepared for anything. Post the following checklist for your wait staff so they (and you) can always be sure that they have everything they need:
|Band-aids||Pen (with small light, if you can find one)|
|Matches and lighter (where legal)||Table brush or cleaner|
|Wine opener or bottle opener|
What to Put on a Bar Table
If you run or own a bar, you want to make sure to supply your patrons with what they need to make their visit to your bar as comfortable and convenient as possible. The best way to do this is to make sure that certain items are within easy reach on the bar or at the tables. Snacks, condiments, and decor are the usual items, but check the following list often to make sure the items here are available and well stocked:
|Ash trays (where legal)||Napkins|
|Centerpiece||Pepper or pepper mill|
|Cocktail menu||Snacks (per house)|
|Ketchup||Sugar and sugar-free sweetener|
|Light or candle||Wine list|
How to Keep Bar Employees Honest
Of course, most people are honest, but you can take measures to ensure that all the employees in your bar resist the temptation to enrich themselves at your expense. Use the following practices to head off potential employee problems and handle them when they begin:
Check employee bags and packages in and out.
Conduct detailed weekly inventories.
Do not count out tips from the register at night.
Establish a no drinking or drugs policy for all employees.
Have spotters and mystery shoppers pull surprise inspections on a fairly regular basis.
If an employee is caught stealing or breaking a law, dismiss them with no second chances.
Install security cameras.
Keep storage rooms locked.
Non-sales must still have receipts.
Thoroughly count your register drawers every night.
Use only one door for entering and leaving.
How to Identify Intoxicated Guests in Your Bar
Sure, people go to bars to drink, but overly intoxicated patrons are a problem you don’t need in your bar. Not all drunks are happy drunks, and they certainly aren’t safe, so be prepared to cut off the alcohol supply or send people home before they get too intoxicated. Whatch for these warning signs to know when to take action:
Patron is drinking fast.
Patron is smoking two cigarettes at once — one is burning and he is lighting another.
Patron is spilling drinks.
Patron is engaging in loud, boisterous behavior.
Patron is very quiet. Yes, you have to watch the real quiet ones, too.
Patron is unable to pick up money or change.
Patron is annoying your other guests.
Patron has slurred speech.
Patron is becoming tearful or emotional.
Patron starts sleeping or gets drowsy.
If the patron falls off the barstool — it’s over! It’s time to notify the designated driver or call a cab.
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Special Report: State Department's computer crime investigations go global
- By Patience Wait
- Nov 03, 2005
Over the past three years, the Computer Investigations and Forensics unit has grown from three people to 25 full-time staff members. Ten of them are State department employees; the other 15 are contractors.
Forensics is 'becoming more high profile. ... They [department chiefs] have made significant investments, in both money and manpower.'
'CIF Branch Chief David Trosch
In 2003, in a former Soviet republic, several people were tried and convicted of terrorism, and two of them received the death penalty.
For national security reasons, many details of the case are not available. But what is known is that the State Department assisted in gaining the convictions, thanks to the work of its computer crimes unit.
'There was an attempted terrorist attack and the target was U.S. interests,' said David Trosch, branch chief for the Computer Investigations and Forensics (CIF) unit in the Diplomatic Security Service, a division of the department.
The country caught a man with a bomb and learned from him the location of the terrorist safe house, he said.
'As they were going through the door, [a] co-conspirator smashed the computer on the floor,' Trosch said. 'Their security service tried to work it over,' but it was too damaged for their expertise and the country asked the U.S. embassy for assistance.
Analysts from Trosch's unit went there and tried to duplicate the contents of the hard drive, but could not because it was so damaged.
The case was urgent, so the embassy arranged to divert a military airplane to the country, so the CIF agents could bring the drive back to the U.S. and use a 'clean room' to dismantle the drive.Recovery led to convictions
'We never were able to mirror the drive, but we replaced the damaged head and mechanically manipulated the drive to recover about 75 percent of the data,' Trosch said. 'Based on that re- covery, the foreign government convicted several people.'
Much of the work that CIF carries out is not as urgent as that example, but the unit is on track to handle more than 200 cases this year.
Trosch estimated that a quarter of those cases involve counterintelligence, another quarter are criminal cases investigating passport and visa fraud, and a quarter are miscellaneous investigations.
The remaining 25 percent are related to internal affairs matters'Diplomatic Service employees using government computers for illegal or unethical activities, he said.
When a State Department employee turns on his or her computer, the first thing they see on the screen is a warning that the machine is the property of the U.S. government and everything on it is subject to search at any time.
But people forget that all the time, said Anthony Adkison, the former branch chief for CIF, who recently moved on to another assignment in the department.
'It's not that they use computers to do something they wouldn't otherwise do,' he said. 'It's that the computer is a new venue for them to indulge habits they already have,' whether it's gambling over the Internet or conducting personal business.
Over the past three years, CIF has grown from three people to 25 full-time staff members. Ten of them are State Department employees; the other 15 are contractors, Trosch said.
That mix is necessary in part because of the expense of finding trained analysts, but in part because the Diplomatic Service rotates staff to new posts, overseas and stateside, every two years. Adkison stayed in his post for three years to help the unit take shape, but he had to request a one-year extension to do so.
Trosch has been brought in to head the team from the Defense Department. As a civil-service employee, he's not subject to the rotation rule.
'I'll be here for a while,' he said. 'It's becoming more high profile. ... They [department chiefs] have made significant investments, in both money and manpower.'
CIF is broken down into two lines of work, Trosch said. Several agents provide support services for search and seizures, going on-scene to handle the securing of computers and other digital devices, while the remainder provide the forensic analysis to support cases.Network protection
As the terrorism example shows, the unit provides its services to many outside interests, including other governments and other U.S. agencies. CIF also handles the computer forensics examinations for schemes against the State Department's computer networks, such as phishing, where the department itself is the victim, he said.
In passport and visa fraud cases, CIF is not the lead investigating unit. Overseas, personnel in the embassies and consulates conduct the investigations, and in the United States, field offices handle the investigations. But CIF can provide appropriate language for search warrants, log in the evidence and handle media analysis.
CIF creates a CD or DVD with hyperlinks that is turned over to the case agent, Trosch said.
The department is making a significant new investment in its computer forensics capabilities. CIF is scheduled by the end of the year to move into much larger offices, with dedicated lab space for analysts' workstations, juiced-up cooling capabilities to deal with the heat generated by all the equipment, and even 'safe' access to the Internet, so connections can't be traced back to the State Department, he said.
'It's several million dollars' of investment, Trosch said. 'I'm in the process now of trying to project lifecycle replacement costs' for the unit's very high-end computers.
At the same time, he has to look ahead to new technology challenges.
'There are several areas we're going to have to pay attention to,' such as RFID. The department has mandated that passports'both American and those of other countries'will have to include microchips to facilitate checking individuals' credentials.
Fortunately, 'there's always a bit of lead time when new technology comes out,' Trosch said.
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Spring Holiday Season Begins!
Finally, after surviving a long and especially snowy winter, Bulgaria rewards us with a series of spring holidays. The first, and my favorite, is the tradition of Baba Marta (Grandma Marta). Like spring, Grandma Marta is a capricious old gal and since she will change about the weather a bit in the next month, she gives us something to hang on (to). On the first of March, we buy little red and white bracelets called Martenitzi and give them to our friends and family. As we give and receive the Martenitza, we wish each other luck, happiness, health, love and success. You can sometimes spot a teacher from far away because of her massive, bright red arm with a wild assortment of beads and even action figures attached to the Martenizi from her students (little wonder why this is my favorite of the spring holidays!). The white is a symbol of peace and fertility and the red is symbolic of the blood that Bulgarian soldiers have shed fighting wars. There's a legend that a dove carrying a piece of white thread was injured and when Khan Asparuh saw it, the red and white thread looked like a Martenizta (please correct me on the historical accuracy there, if you have more specifics). Nowadays we wear these bracelets and pins (sometimes the Martenitzi are pins made out of thread in the shape of a boy Pijou and a girl Penda) until we see the first bud of spring on a tree or a stork. We then place the Martenitza on the tree or under a stone. I only saw one stork last year (since they're harder to come by in town), but soon my town will be covered in red, white, and green as things begin blooming (what's not to love about this holiday!).
The next major holiday we celebrated was the Bulgarian Independence Day on March 3rd, 1878. This was the day that the treaty was signed that liberated Bulgaria from the Turkish Empire. For a better explanation, try my friend Jason's blog, www.thoughtexperimentsgonewrong.blogspot.com/2010/03/freedom-or-death.html. On March 3rd, we generally have a flag raising ceremony in the center and people go to leave flowers and wreaths at the Russian monument in our town. My day consisted of lots of walking around town and drinking too much coffee in the café.
I've included some pictures of a show that recently came through my town, The Pirin Ensemble, a vocal and dance folklore ensemble. It was really impressive, and one of my friends that sings Bulgarian folklore explained to me how the dancers were wearing traditional Bulgarian costumes for different aspects of rural life, for example one woman was sowing seeds, another group of girls were pinning flowers to the hats of their young men, and the men were wearing handkerchiefs on their heads to protect their heads from the sun while they reaped wheat. They did all this while rapidly dancing to the haunting music of a women's choir and a folk orchestra, strings, clarinet, bagpipe and all. It's one thing to watch typical Bulgarian dance on television and quite another to see it live.
This month I had a mini celebration of my own. Instead of having a test in my literature classes, we played Jeopardy. The winning teams got to come 'na gosti' to my apartment and we ate Mexican (ok, Tex-Mex with Bulgarian ingredients) food, something that was new to my students, although a little too spicy for some. We also made S'mores by candlelight and hilarity ensued, including a séance, scary stories, and swing dancing. See for yourself in the attached pictures.
There are many holidays to come and I was quite surprised last year by all the days off in May last year. The burst of cheer in March has us off to a nice start.
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Brands are all about how consumers position themselves. Powerful brands succeed by establishing a relationship, a connection, with their customers. To establish that connection - to earn a place in their world - a brand must know its customers and become a part of how customers want to see themselves.
- What's a Brand?
- Brand Types.
- The Job of Positioning.
- The Brand Benefit Hierarchy.
What's a Brand?
Quite simply, a brand is a promise to the customer, a mirror in which the customer sees a reflection of him or herself and identifies with, or rejects, the promise he or she sees. Likewise, a brand is also a reflection of your organization. Your brand serves to define your organization and influences every aspect of your operation, right down to corporate culture. The power of your brand has far-reaching impact. On stock valuation. On marketing costs. Even on employee retention rates.
For customers, branding plays two important roles:
- In a world with lots of choices, it tells them which choice is right. It serves as a customer's compass out of the chaos of competing choices.
- In a world full of change and confusion, it helps them define who they are.
- Parent Brands:
Parent brands serve as our basis for identification, they provide recognition and quality reassurance. They say "safe, reliable, trustworthy". We associate parent brands with a set of values and imagery, and they evoke certain expectations about what our experience will be using that brand.
- Line Brands:
Line brands bring texture and tangible relevance to the parent brand, while adding the distinctive appeal of their own unique identity. Line brands code a product/service for a specific usage experience - a particular situation or occasion - and provide information about the intended user. They serve as a telegraphic communicator of attributes as well as functional and emotional benefits.
- Brand Extensions:
Brand extension allow parent/line brands to extend to new arenas of competition, new users and new usage occasions. By reinforcing the parent/line identity, extensions increase a brand's equity. They provide incremental growth revenue to the brand and keep parent and line brands current and vital.
When we interact with a brand, we experience it through a variety of attributes. All of these attributes tell us how to "feel" about a particular brand:
- What is it (cognitive)
- What does it look like (visual)
- How does it feel (emotional)
- What does it stand for (symbolic)
- How does it sound (auditory)
The Job of Positioning:
Brand positioning builds a bridge between the larger self of the consumer ("How I want to see myself") with a larger idea about a product or service. It constantly seeks to build the relevance and equity of your brand. Proper positioning allows your customer to say, "This is the right choice for me".
- Is intrusive, it cuts through the clutter.
- Is relevant, it constantly asks, "how can we join consumers" rather than asking consumers to join you.
- Differentiates, it demonstrates what's really different about your brand compared to everyone else.
- Strengthens margin, it establishes ownership of the category, not just "squatter's rights", by focusing on increasing brand equity.
- Creates demand, it links the consumer back to the category via the brand.
- Is consistent, it demands loyalty to consumers rather than requesting their loyalty to you. It requires you to be faithful to your brand and leverage it fully.
- Is customer-focused, it speaks in today’s consumer currencies: time, energy, money, quality and self-esteem.
The Brand Benefit Hierarchy:
Powerful brands allow us to join and connect to something larger than ourselves. We associate a brand with a whole bundle of increasingly meaningful benefits, a hierarchy of needs. Brands help us define who we are. Great brands recognize that they play an important role in how people position themselves in the world, which is the true focus of positioning.
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CEC will continue working toward increased funding for special and gifted education
Statement by Deborah Ziegler, Associate Executive Director, Policy and Advocacy Services,The Council for Exceptional Children
President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2012 education budget contains sizeable increases in public education funding, and the Council for Exceptional Children appreciates his commitment to making a high-quality education accessible to all of America’s children.
CEC was pleased to see a significant increase of $50 million in funding for the Part C Infants and Toddlers Program. Part C programs have been particularly hard hit over the years with many states having to increase fees to parents. This wise investment is a step in the right direction for the long-term stability of this important program.
The request also will increase funding for Part B Grants to States, but only by $200 million, keeping the federal share at 17 percent of the 40 percent average per pupil expenditure, which is considered full funding for IDEA, essentially level funding this program. Similarly, Part B, Section 619 serving students ages 3-5 and IDEA Part D programs will remain level funded with a decrease to technology and media services. While we appreciate the president’s attention to special education, CEC is concerned that after so many years of shrinking state and local revenues, and the deep cuts that have already occurred, the president’s budget does not go far enough.
CEC’s 35,000 members stand ready to work with the administration and Congress to develop policies that support positive educational outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and gifts and talents.
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How Alternative Transportation Helps the Environment
Perhaps the best way to understand how alternate transportation methods help the environment is to look at the heavy toll taken by driving. It impacts our air, our water and our land. And it’s not just bad for our environment—it’s bad for our health too. Every year, the average passenger car in the United States emits:
- 80 pounds of hydrocarbons, which creates smog and toxic air.
- 606 pounds of carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas.
- 41 pounds of nitrogen oxides, which causes smog and acid rain.
- 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas and major contributor to global warming.
The statistics for the average SUV are even worse; they annually emit:
- 114 pounds of hydrocarbons
- 894 pounds of carbon monoxide
- 59 pounds of nitrogen oxides
- 16,800 pounds of carbon dioxide
Automobiles also produce soot, sulphur oxides, ash and lead.
Smog threatens our environment and our public health. It can cause or aggravate health problems such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems. It’s also known to reduce resistance to colds and lung infections. And its effects on the environment are just as serious. Smog inhibits plant growth, increases the susceptibility of plants to disease and pests and can cause widespread damage to crops and forests.
Emissions from road vehicles are the largest contributors to smog. More than 200 million passenger cars and light trucks that travel American roads every year account for about 50 percent of air pollution nationwide.
As the number of cars on the road increases, so does the need for new highway and road development. Smart transit choices play a major role in helping to decrease traffic congestion and lessen the need for road development and other associated land usage.
In addition to creating pollution, cars drain our natural resources. It took over 200 million years for the earth’s oil resources to form. In just 200 years, we have used half of it. And at the present rate, the earth’s oil reserves will be used up in 40 years.
Any Way You Travel Green, You Make a Difference
Whether you carpool, use public transit, ride a bike or walk to work, you’re helping to contribute to a healthier environment:
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Posted by: Livia McCoy on Nov 15, 2011 in Teachers, Middle School, Livia McCoy, Learning Disabilities, Kindergarten, Kids Learning, High School, Health and Fitness, Fun Learning Activities, Elementary School
Having a good working memory is important for school success. When we are engaged in problem solving or learning something new, we have to manipulate ideas in our brains. We might be trying out new things and figuring out how they fit in with what we already know. We might be thinking about a new vocabulary word and relating it to similar words that are already a part of our vocabulary. Each of us has a limited amount of memory space for doing these activities. If we have a poor working memory it can cause problems.
On average, a school-aged child can hold and work with between five and nine things at a time. Younger children can manipulate fewer things than older children. It doesn’t really matter how many it is, it only matters if it is causing difficulty for some reason.
A child who has poor working memory loses track of what she is doing. I watched a student read a math problem carefully, decide how to work it out, line up the numbers on grid paper, begin adding the numbers, and then switch to subtracting in the middle of the problem. He lost track of what he was doing because his working memory capacity was limited.
There are several simple tests you can do to find out how many items your child can control in his working memory. First, however, be aware that some children do better when working with letters or words than they do when working with numbers. And some children remember what they see, but not what they hear. Therefore, your child may have a better working memory in some situations than in others.
Try these tests, but be careful not to go so far that your child becomes stressed. Try to make this like a game to them:
- Say a series of three numbers rather slowly (about one per second). Then ask your child to say them back to you. Do the same with four, five, six and on until she cannot say them back (remember, stop before it becomes too difficult.)
- Try a similar test with short sentences (three words), and work up to longer sentences until you find the number he can do successfully.
- Say three numbers and ask her to say them back in reverse order. This is obviously a more complex task, but it is probably more like what she will be doing when working a math problem. Try this with more numbers until you find the limit.
- Repeat the tests using letters (forward and reverse).
What can you do to improve working memory? If you feel your child has a poor working memory, you might want to do some practice activities to see if it helps. You can do so by using one of the activities you used as a test. For example, if your child was able to repeat three numbers, practice until he can do it consistently. Then, give him four, and keep practicing until he can do four consistently. This takes time, but it might gradually improve his working memory capacity.
I would love to know if any of you have tried similar activities that work. Please post a comment and let me know!
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Letter: Concerns over drugs and mental health in Hastings are valid onesI would like to comment on the editorial two weeks ago regarding mental health in Hastings being a bigger concern than drugs.
To the editor,
I would like to comment on the editorial two weeks ago regarding mental health in Hastings being a bigger concern than drugs.
I believe that our Hastings residents’ concerns over drug use and mental health are valid ones. These problems are bigger issues than residents are willing to accept or admit. After living in and raising my children in this community and also providing chemical dependency services for the better part of my adult life in this community, I know all too well just how significant the problem is.
What the community fails to recognize is that alcohol needs to be thought of in the same area as drug dependency. Do I agree that mental health is of greater concern? No. Do I believe that they are equally significant? Of course.
As a provider of chemical dependency services, the term is appropriately called dual diagnosis. According to the most recent reports, upward of 80 percent of those who suffer from alcohol and drug abuse also suffer from co-occurring disorders, mental health problems. It does not take long for an individual to realize that if you suffer from a mental illness, chemicals will temporarily take away the symptoms, pain, and trauma.
Human services professionals have worked very hard to coordinate services to address both. Both the United States Department of Human Services and the Federal Drug Administration have excellent statistics to identify the loss of lives due to these co-occurring disorders. The important thing to remember is that although suicide is the issue addressed in the editorial, car accidents where alcohol is a contribution factor, firearm deaths and major health issues (such as diabetes, stroke, cirrhosis, and cardiac problems), should also be identified along with suicides as deaths caused by chemical use.
Firstly, our communities have to begin to look at the big picture, identifying that alcohol is a drug.
Secondly, we need to see that along with addressing the mental health, most often the chemical dependency issues need to also be treated at the same time.
Lastly, it is important to remember that although these statistics already show an enormously high rate of mental health issues in those who are drug and alcohol dependent and vice versa, these statistics in reality are probably much higher.
When homeless or troubled persons succumb to their mental health and chemical dependency issues, the financial resources to perform autopsies and/or the willingness of families to address the possibility that drugs and/or alcohol played a part in the death is just too painful too bear. Because of this, many deaths that should be reported as being the result of mental health or chemical dependency go unreported.
My final thought is that I am very concerned that this seems to be a contest of which is worst (mental health or chemical dependency) and that it is even being discussed. The truth is that they usually go hand in hand and can both be treated. In my many years of working as a chemical dependency professional, I have witnessed parents, wives, husbands, friends and individuals spend more time researching the price of a car than the best treatment options for their loved ones or themselves. Identifying those programs, which address the needs of the whole person, is what needs to be done- not debating which is a greater need.
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Vermont Humanities Calendar of Events by County
August 15 — Vermont and the Civil War. From Cedar Creek to Gettysburg, Vermonters were central to the Union cause. Vermont author and Civil War historian Howard Coffin addresses the Vermont contribution to the Civil War. Hosted by the Bristol Historical Society. Bristol, Howden Hall, 19 West St, 7:00 pm. Gerald L Heffernan, (802) 453-2888.
October 17 — The Changing Music Scene of the 1940s. Catamount Arts’ Martin Bryan takes a look at the popular music scene of the 1940s — how it was affected by war, the musicians’ union, and the war’s aftermath — and how music styles evolved from the beginning of the decade to its end. Martin’s talk includes selections from original 78 rpm recordings, ranging from Big Band swing to wartime music, from popular Broadway musicals to bebop, and more. Americans marched off to war and returned to a changed society; Martin documents that time through its music. Hosted by the Bristol Historical Society. Bristol, Howden Hall, 7:30 pm. Gerald L Heffernan, (802) 453-2888.
June 12 — The Old Country Fiddler: Charles Ross Taggart, Vermont’s Traveling Entertainer. Having grown up in Topsham, Vermont, Charles Ross Taggart went on to a forty-year career performing in countless stage shows across the country, including the famous Red Path Chautauqua circuit. A fiddler, piano player, humorist, singer, and ventriloquist, he made at least 25 recordings with the Victor, Edison, and Columbia companies, and appeared in a talking movie picture four years before Al Jolson starred in The Jazz Singer. Fiddler Adam Boyce portrays Mr. Taggart near the end of his career, circa 1936, sharing recollections of his life and career interspersed with live fiddling and humorous sketches. Hosted by the Bennington Senior Center. Bennington Senior Center, 124 Pleasant St, 1:00 pm. Susan Hoag, (802) 442-1052.
June 28 — Alec Turner: Journey's End, Destination of a Dream. Alec Turner was born a slave in 1845 on the John Gouldin plantation of Port Royal, Virginia. He died a freeman, farmer, and landowner in Grafton, Vermont in 1923. His is a remarkable narrative, told by Alec to his family and recounted to Jane Beck by his daughter, Daisy, who was born in Grafton in 1883. Alec Turner's saga is rich in detail, with compelling anecdotes painted on a well-textured canvas. We are drawn to the power of Alec Turner's spirit, his humanity, and the measure of the man himself. Hosted by the Landgrove Meetinghouse. Landgrove Meetinghouse, Landgrove Road, 4:00 pm. Priscilla Grayson, (802) 824-6867.
August 16 — Vermont and the Civil War. From Cedar Creek to Gettysburg, Vermonters were central to the Union cause. Vermont author and Civil War historian Howard Coffin addresses the Vermont contribution to the Civil War. Hosted by the Landgrove Meetinghouse. Landgrove Meetinghouse, Landgrove Road, 4:30 pm. Sally Ogden, (802) 824-3850.
November 21 — Arming the Union: Vermont Gunmakers and the Technology that Shaped America. During the Civil War, the Union army fielded more than two million men, most of them armed with newlymade, highly accurate rifles. In this illustrated lecture, historian and museum curator Carrie Brown explores the critical role that Windsor, Vermont, played in producing technology that won the war and changed American life and popular culture even after the war ended. Hosted by the Dorset Historical Society. Dorset, Bley House Museum, 34 Kent Hill Road, 12:00 pm. Suzanne Hittle, (802) 867-0331.
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The Supreme Court dealt another good hand to promoters of investment in competing broadband networks. Yesterday, the Court declined to review a decision in which the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected cities' attempts to regulate cable modem service by treating cable modem service like cable companies' core video service. Regulation as a "cable service" would have subjected companies' broadband service to inconsistent, potentially onerous and possibly nonsensical obligations. For example, does the frequency range over which cable operators transmit cable modem signals over their networks constitute one or more "cable channels" for regulatory purposes and, if so, does that mean operators could be required, as with cable service, to feature "public access" or broadcast TV programming? Would operators have to scramble or block cable modem service to those using it primarily to view sexually explicit material, as is true for some cable channels?
But cities' most likely aims are to impose so-called "open access" or "net neutrality" mandates in favor of Internet service providers and content companies that have not bothered to build their own broadband networks. Oh, and, treating broadband like cable service would give cities more leverage under the Communications Act to squeeze higher fees from operators for the same use of public rights-of-way. Any of these scenarios would result in litigation or other costs that would either be passed on to consumers or would ultimately slow operators' investment in new services and capabilities. Although local governments have a few more legal arrows in their quiver, for now the battle to classify cable modem service under the Act will focus primarily on whether it should be treated as a heavily-regulated phone service or a largely unregulated "information service," as I discussed previously.
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Fresh Green Bean, (commonly known as Green Beans (America), French Beans or Runner Beans (Britain)) is a term collectively used to refer to the unripe fruit of any plant in the bean family that are usually characterized by their thin and green colored appearance. Fresh green beans are grown in a large number of varieties, differing in their flavor, flesh content and taste, some of which are yardlong bean, winged bean, the common bean or string beans or snap beans etcetera. Cultivated all around the globe, fresh green beans are mostly sold fresh, but processed varieties like canned and frozen too bag equal share. There are also takers for green beans that are dried and fried. In any form, fresh green beans are widely used in cooking, especially due to their nutritional value; green beans are rich source of Vitamin C, K and A.
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By Dave Kansas
Food prices are down today, but expectations remain high that they will continue to move upward in the months ahead.
In February, the UN agriculture watchdog reported that food prices were at record levels. Over the past year, wheat prices have risen 74% and corn has surged 87% amid concerns about lack of adequate supply.
Deutsche Bank, in a new report on food prices today, offers little prospect of any near-term relief. “Globalization and urbanization are contributing to a switch of dietary preferences towards Western diets, including foods requiring intensive use of resources (water, energy and grains). The consumption of animal proteins (meat) is rising fast in developing countries.”
On the plus side, Deutsche predicts that food prices are “likely to start falling later in 2011.” On the negative side, Deutsche expects food prices to remain high for the rest of the decade.
Other highlights from the report:
- Food prices will continue to push headline inflation figures higher in emerging markets since consumers in those markets spend more than 50% of their income on food.
- Higher oil prices are driving more food production (corn, soybeans) into energy production, exacerbating the pressure on food prices.
- Recent spikes in corn and soybeans could last until the fall, based on historical, seasonal price trends.
- Framers in the developed world stand to benefit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a 20% income jump for U.S. farmers in 2011.
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Ethanol industry and corn producers take issue with former president Bill Clinton's remarks at USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum.
Clinton says corn for ethanol is driving up food prices, and has caused food riots.
Reports show that the rising cost of oil, not ethanol production, is a major cause of increased food prices.
Former president Bill Clinton meant well when he took on the ethanol industry at the USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum in Arlington, Va., in late February.
“We have to become energy independent. But we don’t want to do it at the expense of food riots,” Clinton said in an obvious reference to the use of corn for ethanol.
It was a great sound bite. He just didn’t have all the facts.
It probably didn’t occur to Clinton that the U.S. ethanol industry uses only three percent of the global grain supply and is expected to return 1.2 billion bushels of corn livestock feed in the form of dried distillers grains and corn gluten feed this year alone, according to the National Corn Growers Association. That amounts to one-third of every bushel of corn used for ethanol.
I seriously doubt that Clinton knew that the protein percentage in DDGs is higher than in corn, meaning protein in the form of DDGs can be exported very cost-effectively.
NCGA President Bart Schott had this to add, “Every year, America’s farmers produce more than enough corn to meet all the needs of the expanding markets of feed, fuel and food both in the United States and across the world, and the ethanol industry is not an exception.
“New reports show that the rising cost of oil, not ethanol production, is a major cause of increased food prices. With the continuing unrest in the Middle East and Northern Africa, it is imperative that we continue to support a home-grown fuel industry that helps keep our country safe and creates jobs. The American farmer is very aware of the world’s rising demand for corn, and we will continue to meet those needs.”
A response from the Renewable Fuels Association pointed out that rising oil prices, “even before the unrest in the Middle East and Northern Africa, have made everything we buy from food to clothes to fuel more expensive.”
Clinton had a couple of good ideas about reaching out to poorer countries to improve their standards of living and their agriculture. Both ideas were lifted from highly efficient U.S. agricultural production. He talked about the need to introduce U.S. best management practices for rice to the rest of the world as well as the need for a global agricultural extension service based on the model used in the United States.
Unfortunately, Clinton actually seemed to be put off by the high prices American farmers are receiving. “It’s an exciting time to be alive, but we should all ask ourselves whether what we do to increase our income today is consistent to our long-term obligations to fight inequality, instability and the unsustainable way we are using energy.”
He’s wrong. To bring stability, wealth and energy independence to the world, American farmers don’t need to make apologies. They need to make corn and realize a nice profit doing it.
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An opposition group reported Thursday that government forces have carried out a "massacre" in Hama province, killing 220 people there. Most of the killings occurred in the village of Tremseh, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
ABC News' Barbara Walters is expressing regret for attempting to help the daughter of Syria's U.N. ambassador by seeking an internship or college admission for her.
The U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the weekend massacre of more than 100 civilians in Syria, with members casting blame on government forces for the deaths, while violence continued to rage on the ground.
The killings of more than 100 Syrian civilians, including nearly 50 children, provoked outrage around Syria and worldwide Sunday as horrific images of the bodies in Houla spread across the internet.
Major General Robert Mood, UN Supervision Mission responds to Outrage growing over The Syrian massacre.
Two powerful explosions kill dozens of people in the Syrian capital of Damascus. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
A suicide bombing in a Damascus neighborhood killed nine people Friday -- most of them government forces -- and further unraveled an already tenuous ceasefire, Syrian state media reported.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, told the U.N. Security Council that he was "gravely concerned at the course of events" after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad failed to withdraw troops from cities and towns by Tuesday's self-imposed deadline.
The Syrian government has agreed to begin immediately to pull its forces out of population centers and will complete its withdrawal by April 10, diplomatic officials told reporters Monday.
Europeans try a new way to pressure Syria's president by putting sanctions on his wife. CNN's Brian Todd explains.
The Assad family's relationship with the media reads like a romance gone sour.
Kofi Annan, the joint special envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League, will meet Saturday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "to seek an urgent end to all violence and human rights violations and to initiate efforts to promote a peaceful solution" to the violence that has wracked the country for nearly a year, his spokesman said Friday.
The growing ranks of Syria's disaffected appeared to get a high-profile addition Wednesday, when a man identifying himself as Abdo Hussam el Din, the country's deputy oil minister, announced in a video posted on YouTube that he was defecting from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
As the total death toll in Syria climbed past 7,500, according to U.N. estimates, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be tried for war crimes.
Activists in Syria plead with the world to help them, their voices filled with agony. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was apparently coached on how to describe his government's brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrators just days before his appearance on an American network, according to purported e-mails of Syrian officials released by the hacking group known as Anonymous.
CNN's Arwa Damon travels to the outskirts of Syria's capital and finds the government is in less and less control.
In a televised address, Syria's foreign minister accused the Arab League of working against the desires of the people.
Arab League demands Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down to help form a unity government. CNN's Ian Lee reports.
The United States is considering closing its embassy in Damascus, Syria, because of security concerns, the State Department said Friday.
Arab League monitors have complained about attacks on their Syria mission. CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
Syrian opposition activists called President Bashar al-Assad's defiant and rare address Tuesday a "worthless" and "meaningless" speech.
Syrian authorities have moved perhaps hundreds of detainees to military sites to hide them from Arab League monitors assessing whether the government is upholding a commitment to end its crackdown on protesters, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
Dozens more people were reported killed by government troops and police in Syria on Tuesday, a day after what opposition activists said was the single deadliest known day of anti-government protests.
The Arab League is a step closer to asking the U.N. Security Council to consider a plan designed to forge peace in restive Syria, a senior Arab League official told CNN Saturday.
The Syrian vice president arrived Friday in Moscow to talk with Russia's foreign minister about the unrest that has roiled Syria for months, a Russian state news agency reported.
As explosions and gunfire continued to ripple in Syria, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights on Monday raised the death toll from the Damascus government's crackdown on anti-regime activists to close to 5,000 people.
CNN's Jim Clancy reports on the opposition handling a Syrian government demand to stop demonstrations and surrender.
Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun tells CNN's Rima Maktabi his message for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
CNN's Rima Maktabi show why Syrian government claims of having video of "terrorist gangs" isn't necessarily correct.
World pressure on the Syrian regime escalated Wednesday as Turkey announced tough economic sanctions and a leading U.N. body announced a Friday meeting on the human rights situation.
Syrian security forces have committed "gross violations of human rights" since anti-government protests began in March, a United Nations report released Monday said.
Syria's foreign minister decried Arab League sanctions against his nation Monday, accusing the organization of targeting Syrian citizens.
Anna Coren reports on the clashes in Syria, where activists say 100 people have been killed over the past two days.
Members of Syria's government are facing sanctions and travel restrictions over its eight-month crackdown on opposition protesters that has left, according to sources reporting to the U.N., at least 3,500 people dead. The regime is showing no indication it will soften its position, so will the isolation of President Bashar al-Assad have any effect?
A familiar digital chime rang on the computer. Someone was calling via Skype from Syria.
Officials sparred Sunday over a proposed plan to send observers into Syria as the nation's president warned against military intervention.
Secretary Clinton discusses Syria, China and her upcoming trip to Burma in CNN interview.CNN's Brianna Keilar interviews Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her upcoming trip to Myanmar.
The crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Syria has resulted in at least 3,500 deaths. The United Nations Security Council should immediately request that all charges of crimes against humanity in Syria be referred to the International Criminal Court.
Turkey threatened to cut off supplies of electricity to its neighbor Syria Tuesday, as the Damascus regime found itself under growing pressure from Arab, Turkish, European and North American governments for its ongoing lethal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
A day after a neighboring Arab ruler indirectly called for Syria's dictator to step down, his opponents inside the country did battle early Tuesday against government troops, an opposition group said.
The Syrian foreign minister has reacted angrily to suspension from the Arab League. CNN's Rima Maktabi reports.
State media showed throngs of demonstrators rallying in support of Syria's president Sunday, a day after the Arab League's decision to suspend the country's membership.
Opposition groups called Monday for the international community to protect civilians in the besieged western city of Homs, which the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria said was the site of eight of the 12 killings it tallied on Monday.
Information leaking out of Syria suggests protesters are still being targeted despite a deal with the Arab League.
What is usually a time of celebration was marked by gunfire and protests in Syria on Sunday as residents ushered in the first day of the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha.
Families of freedom fighters who lost sons and fathers knew this would be a somber Eid, exacerbated by a lack of funds.
Syria and the Arab League have reached an agreement on a plan aimed at finding a solution to the months-long unrest in the country, state media reported Tuesday.
The Arab League is calling on Bashar al-Assad's government to remove its tanks and military from the streets of Syria.
Syria's president says his government isn't targeting its people. CNN's Anderson Cooper is Keeping Them Honest.
The Arab League has called on Syria's government to end all violence against its people, remove tanks and military vehicles from the streets of the country and release political prisoners, an official with the Arab organization told CNN Monday.
Three children were among 25 people reported killed Thursday in Syria, an opposition group reported, in the apparent latest round of violence to rattle the turbulent Middle Eastern nation.
Seventeen people were reported dead in Syria Wednesday as a result of continued clashes between government and opposition forces, a leading opposition group said.
CNN's Brian Todd reports on allegations a Syrian-American spied on fellow Syrians protesting in the U.S.
The United States has temporarily pulled its ambassador out of Syria as a "result of credible threats against his personal safety," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday, accusing Syria of "incitement" against Ambassador Robert Ford.
A detention hearing has been set for Friday for a Syrian-born naturalized American accused of spying on Syrian protesters in the United States.
A Syrian-born naturalized American was ordered held in custody Wednesday after he was charged for allegedly spying on Syrian protesters in the United States.
International powers put more heat on Syria's government Tuesday, as a new umbrella opposition group gained key backers in the Arab world and China exhorted the government to respond to people's "reasonable" demands.
The Syrian opposition council gains key support from within the Arab world. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.
CNN's Hala Gorani talks to the Syrian Ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha, about the ongoing demonstrations in Syria
While the United Nations says more than 2,500 people have died in Syria at the hands of the regime, President Bashar al-Assad's point man in the United States says the figure is false and the result of a conspiracy aimed at Damascus.
The U.S. ambassador to Syria called into question Tuesday the Syrian government's capability to enact "the deep, genuine and credible reforms" demanded by opposition protesters.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross is pressing Syria's leaders for access to detainees held by the government, the agency said, as both the government and opposition said there had been deadly violence in the conflict-wracked nation Sunday.
A top international Red Cross official will be meeting with Syrian leaders over the next two days to discuss "urgent humanitarian challenges" in the conflict-wracked nation and permission to visit detainees amid stark reports of prisoner abuse.
A growing number of Syria's Middle Eastern neighbors, including its closest allies Iran and Hezbollah, are calling on the embattled and defiant Damascus regime to implement reforms.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Sunday the situation in Syria "has turned into more of an armed situation."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says it's time for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Syria's tanks withdrew Wednesday from the center of the western city of Hama and were positioned on the city's periphery, more than a week after security forces besieged the center of anti-government sentiment, an activist said.
Turkey's top diplomat and Syria's president held a "friendly and frank" sit-down Tuesday to help end the violence embroiling Syria and jump-start reforms.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports it appears the Syrian government offensive is both spreading and intensifying.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense's website was inaccessible early Monday morning after it was hacked and its content replaced by an anti-government message.
Violence continues in Hama as anti-government protests unfold around Syria. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
A Syrian human rights group says eight premature infants dependent on incubators died after authorities cut power to a hospital in the embattled city of Hama as part of a renewed crackdown on anti-government demonstrators calling for an end to President Bashar al-Assad's reign.
The United States imposed sanctions Thursday against a Syrian businessman and member of parliament with close ties to President Bashar al-Assad and members of his family.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree authorising a multi-party political system, state media reported Thursday, a day after the U.N. Security Council condemned the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a harsh statement towards Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The embattled Syrian government lashed out Tuesday at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her criticism of Bashar al-Assad's regime and hailed the political leadership's initiative to pursue reforms, one of which is the just-completed "national dialogue" meeting.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out Monday at Syrian authorities for not protecting U.S. and French embassies in Damascus, adding she felt its president "has lost legitimacy" and wants to deflect attention from a crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Activists speaking at a Syrian government-sponsored "national dialogue" meeting Sunday criticized recent crackdowns by the country's security forces, calling for an end to violence against protesters.
Diplomatic feathers were bristling in Washington and Damascus Friday, with U.S. and Syrian officials expressing displeasure over their respective counterparts.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem tells CNN's Arwa Damon there is no military campaign against Hama.
The scene inside Syria's capital Thursday contrasted sharply with the scene in recent days on the Turkish side of the border, where some 10,000 refugees have sought shelter and safety as unrest continues to shake the country.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses his nation after recent government clampdowns on demonstrators.
CNN's Anderson Cooper reports on who Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is faulting for the unrest in his country.
Syria's president offered vague promises of reform and clear threats against protesters. Phil Black reports.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offered vague promises of reform and clear threats against protesters Monday, as he addressed his nation and the rest of the world, whose leaders called for swift changes, some saying he had passed the point of no return.
Dozens of children called for freedom, held anti-government signs and criticized President Bashar al-Assad in at least two Syrian cities on Sunday, a day before al-Assad planned to make another speech to the unsettled nation.
As the Syrian military on Tuesday continued its relentless advance against protesters, citizens who had fled their homes for safety related "horror story upon horror story" to a reporter who managed to enter the country.
Arwa Damon briefly enters Syria for a first hand look.
Syria announced Tuesday that it is granting "amnesty" to protesters accused of committing crimes.
CNN's Arwa Damon discusses the latest reports of another government crackdown inside Syria.
Two people died amid protests in Syria on Monday, as government troops and tanks surrounded one town and apparently shelled another for a second day, according to protest organizers and a witness.
The Council of the European Union condemned Monday "in the strongest terms the ongoing repression in Syria" and the violence meted out by military and security forces to peaceful protesters, which have led to hundreds of casualties.
President Obama imposed sanctions against Syria's president and six other senior Syrian officials.
President Barack Obama Wednesday imposed tough sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six other senior Syrian officials in an effort to stop the regime's fierce crackdown on protests, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Syrian State TV reports the military has began pulling out of Daraa. CNN's Rima Maktabi reports.
A prominent Syrian opposition figure was arrested in a suburb of Damascus on Friday, according to witnesses and his wife, and protests sweeping across the country left at least 21 civilians and 10 security officers dead.
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But the real life tale of the man who wrote the song is captivating in its own way.
While growing up in Mineral County, Jack Rollins had to care for a mother who had been blinded by glaucoma. She wrote poetry, so he did, too, recalled Rollins's grandson, James Busemeyer, who lives near Cincinnati, where Rollins died in 1973 at age 66.
After hearing her son's poetry, Rollins' mother had a suggestion that would come to reverberate across the years, Busemeyer said in a phone interview.
"It was her who said 'Maybe you ought to put some music to it.' She always encouraged him quite a bit. He felt very close with her."
Still, as a younger man, Rollins never took the leap into full-time songwriting. By age 40, he was still working at New York's Penn Station, where he was first hired as a baggage handler. He wrote music on the side and sold his very first song for $5, according to the Music Hall of Fame bio on Rollins.
After an irate customer unloaded a volley of complaints one day, Rollins quit on the spot to become a full-time songwriter.
He and lyricist Steve Nelson had early success with "Here Comes Peter Cottontail." As the story goes, the song's initial title was "Reginald the Rabbit." After switching it to "Peter Cottontail," Rollins had the lyrics down in 15 minutes.
Rollins then moved to Hollywood, where a long string of songs ensued, including a key bit of editing. After being signed on to write the lyrics to a USDA Forest Service campaign for "Smokey Bear," it was he who added the 'the' -- since he was unable to fit "Smokey Bear" into the lyrics.
In addition to helping burn Peter Cottontail, Frosty the Snowman and Smokey the Bear into the world's collective brain, Rollins also had success writing popular music for big stars. He co-wrote tunes for George Jones and Eddy Arnold and penned a No. 1 hit for Hank Snow in 1953 with "I Don't Hurt Anymore."
Rollins' grandson recalls a grandfather who could write songs at the drop of a hat or mention of a phrase.
"When I was a kid, I'd be around the house and I'd say, 'Grandpa, write me a song about my gym shoes!' And he'd write a song about it. That's what he did," said Busemeyer who accepted his grandfather's Hall of Fame award.
Busemeyer still possesses his grandfather's original songwriting paperwork. You'll also find sitting in his house a key item which helped to birth some of those "beyond classic" lyrics from a man whose gravestone in Keyser, W.Va., also bears the name of "Frosty the Snowman."
"I've still got the piano Grandpa wrote his songs on. My granddaughters are learning how to play on it."
Reach Douglas Imbrogno at doug...@cnpapers.com or 304-348-3017.
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The Torture of Losing the High Moral Ground
LOS ANGELES -- John F. Kennedy was no saint - and America is not god. But, indisputably, JFK did inspire countless people at home and around the world to aspire to a higher standard. When Kennedy implored Americans to ďask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country," he was not suggesting torture.
That's the essence of an impassioned message from Theodore Sorensen, JFK's special counsel and gold-standard speechwriter. "Future historians studying the decline and fall of America will mark this as the time the tide began to turn," he told graduates of The New School in a commencement speech in New York. "Today I weep for the country I love ... this is a cry from the heart."
Sorensen penned many of JFK's famous speeches and was perhaps professionally closer to the assassinated president than anyone except brother Robert. Ted's a hard-core Democrat, to be sure, but his speech did not mention the current president or the notorious prison in Iraq by name. Looking for higher ground on which to plant a new platform for America, Sorensen wrote: "The damage done to this country by its own misconduct in the last few months and years, to its very heart and soul, is far greater and longer lasting than any damage that any terrorist could possibly inflict on us."
America needs to live in a world that admires "not only the bravery of our Marine Corps but the idealism of our Peace Corps," he said. We need to be respected, not reviled; we need to escape the moral swamp into which we might sink (from Enron to Abu Ghraib). For it is our own moral misconduct, Sorensen suggested, that fuels the ceaseless attacks on our troops and assists the recruiting of more terrorists to attack us anew.
From the Arab and Islamic perspective, America is anything but blameless in world history. Even Asians who love the United States know there's some truth to that. They know that the mistreatment and torture of prisoners by Americans is a throwback to the bad old days of our Cold War foreign policy. It's a throwback to pre-democracy days in Taiwan, when the Taiwan Garrison Command and the Bureau of Investigation arrested anyone they wished and treated them any way they desired. It's a throwback to the pre-democracy days of the KCIA in South Korea, that did whatever it wanted to alleged Communists, unionists, whatever. It's a throwback to the dictatorship days in Indonesia of Kopkamtib and BAKIN, a nasty pair of internal-security outfits with an exceptional appetite for noisy student groups criticizing the authoritarian regime.
Like Chile's DINA in the days of Pinochet, or Iran's SAVAK in the days of the Shah, these Asian internal-security organizations, representing governments that had good relations with Washington, did not often practice the values of human rights and democracy that the United States then preached -- and still does.
But if our dreams today exceed the reality of the past, there is no time like the present to make a new, bold statement. "If we can but tear the blindfold of self-deception from our eyes and loosen the gag of self-denial from our voices," wrote Sorensen, "we can restore our country to greatness."
What can move whole mountains that mere military firepower cannot destroy? "Our greatest strength has long been not merely our military might but our moral authority," he said. "Our surest protection against assault from abroad has been not all our guards, gates and guns, or even our two oceans, but our essential goodness as a people."
Is it true that America is essentially good? The point is disputable, but Sorensen, the elegant writer, proffers more important point. Whatever our past misdeeds (and they include Abu Ghraib), we must hold ourselves to the highest standard if we are to contribute to building a 21st-century world order demonstrably superior to that of the 20th. America is not the whole story to that; Asia can make a major contribution, as can the European Union. But if America is not part of that, it wonít happen.
Americans understand, in their skin, that their country is off course. The polls are starting to show that. Yet Americans are not ready to assign blame (and the Bush administration appears prepared to accept none). But they know this country is at a fork in the road, and now is not the time for wrong turns.
"No military victory can endure unless the victor occupies the high moral ground," Sorensen told the students. There is, in fact, no other ground more worth coveting.
No matter how much oil or other riches may lie beneath, the true gold mine is the conquest of hearts and minds through honest persuasion and moral example. The United States is failing to do this at the moment. But, whatever our recent and past failures, it retains, I believe, the capability to rise to the challenge of history and secure that higher moral ground without which we will remain -- in Sorensen's words -- "in the deepest trouble of my lifetime."
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Tom Plate is a professor of Communication and policy Studies at UCLA. He is a regular columnist for the The Straits Times -- and is syndicated through UCLA's MEDIA CENTER to papers througout the world, including The Honolulu Advertiser, The Japan Times, The Seattle Times, the San Diego Business Journal, the Korea Times and the Orlando Sentinel. He has been a participant member of the World Economic Forum at Davos, and is a member of the Pacific Council on International policy. The author of five books, he has worked at TIME, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Mail of London. He established the Asia Pacific Media Network in 1998 and was its director until 2003. He is now founder and director of UCLA's MEDIA CENTER.
The views expressed above are those of the author and are not necessarily those of AsiaMedia or the UCLA Asia Institute.
Date Posted: 6/11/2004
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Chavez And Medvedev Get Even Cosier, Start Decorating One Another
In the nebulous world of Russian diplomacy a promised outcome is not always a sure one, but late last week Russian President Dmitry Medvedev struck a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that would see both countries sharing in rich oil reserves in the Carabobo region.
The politics of this event turned into a love-fest as first Chavez and Medvedev agreed to a visa contra deal between the two countries and then Medvedev was decorated with The Order of the Liberator, an honour he shares with a few Cuban terrorists; “Europe’s Last Dictator”, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashnko; and the former president of Iran, among others. No word yet on if the terrible rucking noises from the grave of Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s original Liberator, for whom the order is named, are those of him turning in it.
As eager members of the press and heads of Russian oil companies looked on, Chavez and Medvedev smiled, shook hands, and signed yet more deals, including one of nuclear cooperation. They’re also starting naval exercises together today, and have agreed the sale of Russian civilian planes to Venezuela. As Medvedev is the first Russian head of state to visit the country in 150 years, it was kind of Chavez to make him such a warm welcome, but perhaps the gild will come off the lily if oil prices fail to rise. Chavez has said that he wishes for OPEC to keep oil at between $80-$100 a barrel, as production is rumoured to be cut yet again, but Medvedev, as leader of the world’s largest oil provider outside of OPEC, has remained mum on the issue.
Meanwhile Russia has agreed to attend a meeting of oil-producing countries in Algeria to potentially aid OPEC in crying poor. Other nations included in the cabal of non-OPEC oil powers are Mexico and Norway, but Norway has already bowed out of the debate, claiming they have no idea how to make oil cheaper. Crisis!? We don’t need no stinking crisis!
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"We tend to focus on the cardiovascular benefits of physical activity, and those are important. But anything that promotes healthy circulation also helps keep your skin healthy and vibrant," says dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD, author of Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman's Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin and associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
If you have dermatological conditions such as acne, rosacea, or psoriasis, you may need to take special care to keep your skin protected while exercising. But don't let skin problems prevent you from being active. Here's why.
By increasing blood flow, exercise helps nourish skin cells and keep them vital. "Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to working cells throughout the body, including the skin," says Marmur. In addition to providing oxygen, blood flow also helps carry away waste products, including free radicals, from working cells. Contrary to some claims, exercise doesn't detoxify the skin. The job of neutralizing toxins belongs mostly to the liver. "But by increasing blood flow, a bout of exercise helps flush cellular debris out of the system," Marmur tells WebMD. "You can think of it as cleansing your skin from the inside."
Exercise has also been shown to ease stress. "And by decreasing stress, some conditions that can be exacerbated by stress can show some improvement," says Brian B. Adams, MD, associate professor and director of the Sports Dermatology Clinic at the University of Cincinnati. Conditions that can improve when stress is reduced include acne and eczema. Although researchers are still investigating the link between stress and skin, studies show that the sebaceous glands, which produce oil in the skin, are influenced by stress hormones.
Regular exercise helps tone muscles, of course. That doesn't have a direct affect on skin, dermatologists say. But firmer muscles definitely help you look better overall.
The Healthy Skin Workout
For all its many benefits, however, exercise can pose risks to your skin. Fortunately, protecting your skin is easy.
"The main danger if you exercise outdoors is sun exposure," says April Armstrong, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at the University of California, Davis. Sunburns increase skin cancer risk and rapidly age the skin, erasing any benefits your skin might get from exercise. The best advice is to avoid exercising outside during peak sun time, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
If you have to work out during peak sun time, however, wear sunscreen. "A lot of athletes are reluctant to put on sunscreen because it gets into their eyes when they sweat and stings," says Marmur. "But new Ph-balanced sunscreens are now available that don't sting." If you have naturally oily skin or problems with acne, choose a gel or oil-free product or the latest innovation, powder laced with SPF protection.
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Neighbor-Love, part 1
Sep 1st, 2012 | By Joanna H | Category: Proverbs For Preparation | Print This Article
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
We have to learn to love difficult, unlovable people…Part of the cost of discipleship is living with the other disciples.—Beth Allen, quoted in Practicing Peace, ed. Catherine Whitmire
As Christian preppers we try to live a life that is faithful, rooted in obedience to God, in love for our neighbors and in care for the world God created. This work is made harder by our own selfishness, weariness and internal conflicts, and also by the insistent messages of the consumer culture. If we are to do our work well we need help from our neighbors.
I have been helped and blessed by people who showed me how to tend goats and gardens, who comforted me when I was tired and frustrated, who spoke lovingly and bluntly when I was being foolish or selfish, who confirmed that the things I was trying to do with my life were realistic and worthwhile. And I have been frustrated and disappointed by many of those same people when they gave practical advice that didn’t work, when they were too caught up in their own weariness or anger or wanting to see me clearly or treat me fairly, when what I understood to be God’s will for me looked crazy to them.
When I’m frustrated in this way, I encounter two temptations. One is to write those people off and go looking for some easier, more lovable fellow disciples. The other is to focus on regaining the approval and liking of the people around me rather than on doing what God would have me do.
But, when I stop and consider the situation clearly, I know that I need to do for them what they at their best have done for me: love them as brothers and sisters in Christ, offer comfort when they’re distressed and encouragement when they’re doing work whose value I understand, speak the truth as I see it, both clearly and gently, when I think they may be astray, pray for them and leave them in God’s hands.
©2013 Off The Grid News
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Main navigation | Main content
By Deane Morrison
January 29, 2008
Fifty years ago this week, the United States entered the Space Age with the launch of its first satellite, Explorer I. The spacecraft made history by finding the first of two Earth-girdling radiation belts that threaten satellite electronics--and astronauts. To celebrate the anniversary, a University-led team used University-designed instruments to unlock one of the biggest mysteries of the Belts, which are named for their discoverer, James Van Allen. The researchers pinpointed the likely physical process that creates some of most destructive radiation in the Van Allen Belts, a necessary step toward NASA's goal of predicting and circumventing damage to spacecraft and space travelers. The culprit? The most powerful radio waves of their kind ever detected in the Belts. The researchers not only discovered the waves but showed that they are capable of accelerating electrons to near the speed of light--which gives the electrons enough energy to knock out computers, pierce spacesuits, and damage the tissues of astronauts--and that they can do it astonishingly fast. Their discovery of these "celestial tsunamis" appears in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "No one has ever seen waves this big," says University physics professor Cynthia Cattell, who led the team. "They're more than 10 times bigger than what we knew about."
Shaped like two concentric pumpkin shells around the Earth, the Van Allen Belts are areas where electrons and other charged particles get trapped by Earth's magnetic field. The belts constantly shift and pulsate, but in general they are thickest above Earth's midsection. There, the center of the Inner Belt is about 6,000 miles up and the more active Outer Belt--where the high-powered radio waves were detected--is at about 16,000 miles.
NASA takes a keen interest in the physics of the Van Allen Belts because disturbances in them can knock out satellites for weather, GPS, communications, and spying. Astronauts en route to or from the moon must pass through the Belts, and the International Space Station (ISS) is currently of special concern because it spends up to 20 percent of any given day inside the Outer Belt where it curves down toward the Earth. The ISS is a laboratory for working out the problems that confront humans in space, and high-speed electrons are one of them. Astronauts in or visiting the ISS sometimes must perform spacewalks to repair the station, which leaves them extremely vulnerable.
The waves studied by Cattell and her colleagues are known as whistlers, a special type of radio-frequency wave that has been known since World War I. "When first discovered, they were being generated by lightning," says Cattell. "They could be heard through radio receivers as high pitches falling to lower." The newly found whistlers have a lot in common with the ocean waves off Waikiki Beach. Both pick up surfers--whether people or electrons--and transfer energy to them. Electrons that absorb enough energy from whistlers can hurtle along at up to 99 percent the speed of light, which translates to 184,000 miles per second. The most startling revelation was how fast it happens. It had been thought that multiple interactions between whistlers and electrons, taking place over a span of minutes or even tens of hours, were necessary. "But we saw that electrons can be energized in a tenth of a second," says Cattell.
The key to the discovery lay in a couple of identical instruments designed by University physicist Keith Goetz. They are aboard the twin spacecraft of NASA's STEREO mission, one orbiting ahead of Earth and the other orbiting behind. The idea is to use the widely separated spacecraft to study the sun in 3-D. STEREO was launched in October 2006.
"It's icing on the cake to get this discovery in the radiation belts when at the beginning, our prime mission was to study the sun." The focus of Goetz's instrument--called TDS, for time-domain sampler--is waves in the solar wind, a stream of charged particles flowing from the sun. The TDS's were intended to collect data after the two STEREO spacecraft had settled into their respective orbits. But that didn't stop Goetz from insisting that they be turned on early, when the two orbiters were still near Earth.
Cynthia Cattell is one of three University of Minnesota faculty recently elected fellows of the American Geophysical Union. The others are R. Lawrence Edwards, professor of geology and geophysics, and Renata Wentzcovitch, professor of chemical engineering and materials science.
AGU is a worldwide scientific community of 50,000 researchers, teachers, and students who advance the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity.
And so they were. And thus the antennas of the TDS were ready on December 12, 2006, when the big break came. On that day the two spacecraft sailed through the Outer Van Allen Belt in tandem, one about 84 minutes behind the other. During that short interval, the Outer Belt was hit by a "magnetospheric substorm," an explosive release of energy from the Earth's magnetic field. The substorm stirred up the massive whistlers, which were detected by the second STEREO spacecraft. The TDS was the first instrument ever to detect such large waves, and it was no accident. It was programmed to measure much more powerful radio waves over much shorter time intervals than instruments on previous missions and to regularly discard data on all but the biggest whistlers it detected. "It's a very smart instrument," Cattell observes. Using the University's Supercomputing Institute, Cattell and undergraduate Kris Kersten simulated interactions between whistlers and electrons and found that the whistlers they had detected in the Outer Belt were more than strong enough to accelerate electrons to near light-speed in a tiny fraction of a second. So those whistlers emerged as the prime suspect behind that kind of radiation. The finding was especially gratifying because it came as a bonus. "It's icing on the cake to get this discovery in the radiation belts when at the beginning, our prime mission was to study the sun," says Goetz.
The University will continue to play a major role in studying the radiation belts. Physics professor John Wygant will lead one of four teams designing the Van Allen Radiation Belt Storm Probes, a two-spacecraft NASA mission scheduled for launch in 2012. "The processes that form radiation belts are mysterious," he says. "We want to understand all the mechanisms that energize particles in them."
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Last month marked the release of Superfreakonomics, a sequel by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner to the 2005 bestseller Freakonomics. The fanfare surrounding this prefix-enhanced release has been marred, however, by controversy surrounding a chapter on global warming. Starting with this entry on ClimateProgress.org, the debate has drawn a few responses on the Freakonomics blog, but nothing has seemed to blunt the allegations that Dubner and Levitt wrote the chapter from a contrarian perspective without understanding even the fundamental principles of climate science, and as a result, what they’ve written is garbage.
Much of the writing back and forth has been quite heated, and being a student of mathematics I am averse to conflict. However, one response resonated with me a great deal, and as a case study of the arguments that can be made using only simple calculations, it’s quite effective. The response in question comes . . . → Read More: Debating Superfreakonomics
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With legislative assembly elections in the state of Karnataka just weeks away, politicians are preparing for an ugly battle for a state whose political future looks wide open.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be hard pressed to hang on to its lead in the state after its once tight-knit leadership ranks frayed under corruption charges and infighting. Given their recent poor performance in the urban local body elections, they might have much to worry about.
“Infighting cost us. KJP (Karnataka Janata Paksha) and BSR Congress also took away our votes,” said state Higher Education Minister C.T. Ravi. But they don’t appear to be too unhappy because only about 30 percent of the state electorate was eligible to vote in the local polls.
Maybe they should be worried. The BJP’s likely candidate for prime minister in next year’s elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, didn’t show up for the beginning of statewide campaigning, though party leaders in Karnataka said that Modi will show up later to rally the base. The party needs to worry about this because Karnataka is its gateway to southern India, a region with a separate linguistic and cultural identity than the north, and one that accounts for some 20 percent of the country’s land mass and population. Regional groups often dominate the southern states rather than national parties, and without Karnataka, the BJP risks having no real, dominant presence in the South.
The BJP has had a tenuous reign in Karnataka. It came to power in 2008 and chose the charismatic and outspoken B.S. Yeddyurappa as chief minister. But infighting was there from the start, and breakaway groups sapped at the party’s influence. Yeddyurappa, who was forced out of the party in 2011 over accusations of illegal land deals and corruption, formed the KJP, while another disgruntled member, B Sriramulu, formed the BSR Congress. Both factions no doubt took votes from the BJP in the recent elections.
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Health Directorate is smoke-free
From 01 May 2009, Health Directorate is Smoke free. See the information below for our healthcare consumers and visitors.
The Health Directorate is dedicated to protecting healthcare consumers, visitors and staff from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke.
Smoking is not allowed at any Health Directorate facility, except in a designated outdoor smoking area.
In this section:
Health Directorate facilities are smoke-free from 1 May, 2009.
Smoking is only allowed in a designated outdoor smoking area. Staff will inform you where these are located.
Over the last fifty years, more than 700,000 Australians are estimated to have died prematurely due to tobacco use. Smoking is known to cause many diseases both to smokers and non-smokers.
Please support us in creating a smoke-free environment, which is better for everyone's health.
|Download:||Health Directorate smoke-free brochure (PDF File - 137k)|
Smoke-free map - Canberra Hospital
Patients and visitors
At all Health Directorate facilities, visitors must refrain from smoking or smoke only in designated outdoor smoking areas. Staff will inform you where these are located.
If you're a patient coming into hospital and you smoke, take up our offer of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to help you not to smoke during your hospital stay. This will reduce any withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, irritability and anxiety.
You may be asked questions about your smoking such as:
- How many cigarettes per day do you smoke?
- How soon after waking do you have a cigarette?
- Have you tried quitting recently or do you want to quit in the near future?
This will help staff understand your level of nicotine dependence and whether you are likely to experience nicotine withdrawal when you stop smoking.
Good indications of nicotine dependence are:
- smoking within 30 minutes of waking
- smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day
- previous unsuccessful attempts to quit.
If you're assessed as nicotine dependent and your medical condition allows NRT, then you will be offered nicotine patches or gum for use during your hospital stay.
Nicotine replacement therapy
There may be medical reasons for not being offered nicotine replacement therapy including:
- you are allergic to nicotine
- you have recently had a stroke
- you have recently had a heart attack or have angina
- you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Interested in stopping smoking?
You'll start to notice many benefits when you stop smoking. For a start, your body will begin to recover from the harmful effects caused by smoking. Other benefits include improved fitness, having the extra money you would normally spend on cigarettes, and having improved sense of taste and smell.
Support and practical help is available if you wish to quit smoking. Call Quitline 13 QUIT (13 7848).
Call 13 QUIT for information on quitting.
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Many, if not most, placed their first memory around the age of three or four. Some things were recalled quite vividly; colors were often mentioned, as were persons. They were anxious to share whatever they remembered, and were often frustrated that they recalled so little. The first memory was usually associated with an event, one that was of importance to the adults around them. Frequently it was their own birthday, with the memory of opening a particular present, or what their grandmother was wearing, or whether the sun was shining. Sometimes the memory was of a more public event, a regatta or a parade. Recalling, at the age of 18, these long passed moments, they demonstrated an early awareness of others. My sister was tired. My brother spilled water all over the table. Sometimes the memories were not as benign. I fell and cut my knee. There was a lightning storm and I was frightened. But whatever the earliest memory, the exercise, done early in college, clearly showed the students at how young an age they had begun to observe, process and judge.
That brief exercise was an attempt to examine the concept of the collective memory of a peopleWhere were you when...?and its implications for our common identity. The tragedy of the explosion of the space shuttle, for example, was very real to most of my students. They recalled and shared their memories of that in a way that bound them together, even though they had been children when it happened, living in different cities and towns.
Seeds of Faith
The power of memory and recall is so profound that its implications go well beyond being a mere teaching tool, at whatever level. The implications for the task of evangelization are particularly important. In the spring of 1999, I saw one way by which the seeds of faith are planted and nourished.
Christianity came to the islands of Malta on Feb.10, 60 A.D., when Paul of Tarsus and his companions were shipwrecked on the north coast of the largest island, Malta itself. The story is told in Chapters 27 and 28 of the Acts of the Apostles. The Maltese held onto their memories, and even today they can point to the third church built on the site where the survivors lit a bonfire, to spots where Paul is reputed to have preached, to the town where he was first received by the people. And the day on which Paul’s arrival is commemorated, Feb. 10, is a legal holiday.
The Maltese, who are a mix of Carthaginian, Phoenician and Italian peoples, seem not to have accepted Christianity at once. Several centuries passed before it was firmly planted. By the third century it was universal, and its record of faithfulness is unbroken despite unimaginable challenges over the centuries. Situated as it is in the middle of the Mediterranean, between modern Italy and Tunisia, it has known foreign occupation for thousands of years. While it has taken much from its different conquerors, it has managed to maintain its own unique culture and language, as well as its faith. Setting aside the jokes that Europeans make about what constitutes heaven or hell, suffice it to say that the modern Republic of Malta enjoys an ambience that includes the English language, the British legal system, Italian cuisine, vibrant Catholicism and the southern sun. The Maltese language has been described as a mirror of Yiddish, which is Germanic written in Hebrew letters. Maltese is Arabic written in Roman letters. It really is spoken in everyday use, not as a code to exclude foreigners; but English, which is also an official language, is universally and elegantly spoken, thanks to the British heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries.
At no time during the year is modern Malta more itself than when it turns inward spiritually and looks to its Christian heritage. The season of Lent, which often begins just after the feast of the Shipwreck of St. Paul, is a time of preparation for the elaborate Holy Week manifestations and processions that take place in virtually every town in Malta and on its sister island of Gozo. Dating back to the 17th century, these Holy Week celebrations involve the whole community. Originally sponsored by various charitable confraternities and guilds, today they are usually organized by the parishes.
During the day on Holy Thursday, exhibits are mounted in parish halls, converted garagesany available open indoor space. These might be models of biblical Jerusalem, with light shows and commentary. There might be a passion play performed by the children of the parish. Elaborate creations with colored rice are displayed, like tiles, depicting scenes from the passion of Our Lord. In the evening, after the celebration of the liturgy, people go from town to town to visit the repositories in different churches. Extravagant would be too weak a word to describe the effort that goes into these displays or the effect they achieve. The Blessed Sacrament might well be guarded by perfectly costumed Roman soldiers, with the poise and precision of United States Marines .
Some parishes have special observances for Easter Sunday, but most do not, possibly because the faithful are exhausted from the truly spectacular manifestations that take place on Good Friday evening. After the Good Friday liturgy, but not at once (to allow for a clear separation of the events and for preparation), in the major towns there is a procession. In the parish of Zejtun, more than half the men of the parish are actively engaged in preparing or participating in the parade. In Birgu, near Valetta, the procession takes more than three hours to pass. What is fascinating about these processions is that they have no particular cohesion, except for the tradition of the parish. There are groups dressed as biblical personages, of both Old Testament and New, sometimes gathered together. There are statues of Our Lord, the figures of the passion and of more modern saints, grouped according to a particular order, to be sure, but not a chronological one. There are bands, units of scouts, members of the confraternities dressed in their traditional robes. There are banners, with scriptural quotations, with prayers, sometimes clearly linked to the groups that carry them, sometimes not. The atmosphere of the procession is solemn, but not somber. The mood of the spectators is reverent, but far from morose. There is a professional precision about the organization and the speed of the groups as they pass, aided by the most modern of communication devices. You haven’t seen an anachronism until you’ve seen Pontius Pilate talking on a cellular telephone. But it all works. It is authentic and popular in the best sense. The entire community is involved, and it sets the mood for the solemn celebrations.
The strength of the family is still obvious in Malta. Family groups participate in the celebrations; roles are handed down from generation to generation. The youngest children are the ones most excited and enthralled by what they see and hear. I was with a young engineer, his teacher wife and their five-year-old son, who had held up manfully all during the procession. Snacks and distractions had been amply provided, but when it was clearly time to leave, he was the one to protest. I want to see the soldiers. There was a cohort of Roman legionnaires dressed and ready in the church square, but their cell phone hadn’t yet sounded. But grandma is waiting. And she has the pies ready. What a terrible choice for a little boy: soldiers or grandma. He had to think for a minute, but he must have been able to taste the spinach and anchovy treat that was waiting, and he smiled. Let’s go. Grandma won.
While these external manifestations have the whiff of the theme park about them, they must not be separated from the very real, everyday vibrant Catholicism that supports themand that they support. The Holy Week liturgies made that very clear. At St. Anthony’s in Mgarr on the island of Gozo on Holy Thursday evening, the jewel of a Franciscan church was completely filled a half hour before the service was to begin. Two choirs and a magnificent, loud organ helped fill in the time. Precise to the moment, the procession entered the church, men and women who were to be the ministers and servers for the Mass. The Franciscan Guardian was the main celebrant, assisted most closely by an older friar and a scholastic. The baroque setting looked Jesuit, and the care that went into the liturgy looked Benedictine. But the straightforward simplicity of the presider and his immediate connection to the people was pure Franciscan. His sermon was a clear and consise commentary on the Scriptures and the liturgy, focusing on the Eucharist, the priesthood, sacrifice and service. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to learn, much later, that he has a Roman doctorate in theology. What was especially notable was the modernity of the traditional liturgy. Women played a full part; several languages were used. The choice of hymnody and the excellence of the choirs supported the participation of the people. One interesting touch was the placement of those who were to have their feet washed. They were seated along the aisle, on both sides, with their families. The celebration met my three criteria for a major feast: the service was long (70 minutes), the music was loud (and very good), and the sermon was sensible.
On Easter Sunday morning, the Conventual Franciscans in St. Paul’s Bay provided an equally excellent, if somewhat more subdued, celebration. As missionary orders can do, they fielded a celebrant who was perfect for the congregation at the English Mass. He was a longtime pastor in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and he spoke especially of the universality of the church and of our need to go beyond ourselves in the task of evangelization.
I was moved to think of the Maltese missionary tradition, going beyond themselves to spread the Gospel message. During the 20th century no country, with the possible exceptions of Ireland and The Netherlands, provided so many missionaries for the whole church, in proportion to their own population. Pope Paul VI asked Maltese Jesuit missionaries to go to Uganda, where they remained through the horrors of Idi Amin Dada and Milton Obote, and where they remain today, to help heal the wounds of decades. I thought of the Jesuit who spent over a year as a captive of the Polisario Front in the Sudan, suffering forced marches and other horrors, and who remains in Africa, working with refugees in Ethiopia. I thought of his sister, a lay missionary, also engaged in refugee work. And I thought of the Franciscans who have followed Maltese emigrants, especially to England, Australia and Canada. I thought of the Dutch Jesuit who once said matter-of-factly, Vocations don’t fall like apples from the trees.
And I thought of the Good Friday procession. We in the United States cannot invent a tradition any more than we can build an old building. But we might have something to learn from the Holy Week tradition of Malta. It is sensual, appealing to all the senses, and it is memorable, planting the seeds of memory in the young and allowing the old to recall where they’ve been. It is communal, requiring considerable effort, and engaging the largest possible number of people. It takes advantage of the past and of tradition, and also makes use of the modern where possible, to tell the story of the community and of the church from its beginnings. And it is profoundly religious. I thought of the little boy eating the spinach and anchovy pie and wondered if, when he is 18, he will have a special memory of that night when he preferred grandma to the soldiers.
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|Meadow garlic (Allium canadense), a Florida native,|
belongs in your herb garden next to the chives.
What is a post on food doing on a native plant society blog?
Native plants play an important role in sustainable edible gardens. Sometimes native plants are the crops such as meadow garlic (“A Native Herb has Earned a Spot Amongst the Mediterranean Species” ), prickly pear ("Edible Native Recovers from the Frost"), and dotted horsemint (“Dotted Horsemint: An Appreciation”), but mostly native plants play a supporting role. An edible garden with all its non-native plants, both the carefully-bred cultivars and ancient heirloom species, does not exist in isolation; it is part of the larger ecosystem—the surrounding landscape and neighborhood.
|Butternut squash (Curcubita maxima). Squash flowers|
need to be visited by 8 or 9 pollinators to ensure
good fruit formation.
We’ve heard a lot about the honeybees and the colony collapse disorder that beekeepers have been grappling with, but if you practice ecosystem gardening, you’ll attract native bees that can do a fantastic job as pollinators for your crops and fruits, plus if the non-native honeybees find their way into your yard, you’ll be supporting them, too.
|A native blue bee works a prickly pear cactus flower|
(Opuntia humisfolia), an edible native.
· Your crops will not have any pesticide residues.
· The predators do much of the work, although you will help with physical controls.
· It helps to prevent the development of pesticide resistance in target bugs.
· You are not contributing to overall environmental pollution.
· Insect predators will wax and wane in pace with pest populations.
· It's a more balanced ecosystem. A poisoned landscape requires ever vigilant, total life-support from you.
|Beggar ticks (Bidens alba) may be a weed, but it attracts|
a wide variety of insects including these cool
polka-dotted wasp moths.
Provide good habitat for both the insects and their predators--some have called this farmscaping. You'll want to encourage a large insect population to keep the predators supplied with plenty of food. This may seem counter-productive since you're trying to get rid of problem insects, but your goal as an ecosystem gardener is to let the populations reach a balance or equilibrium. The predator populations expand and contract in reaction to the pest populations. You can purchase ladybugs and other predatory insects, but adding too many predators at once rarely works, and of course, the ladybugs will fly away home or at least to some other place.
It's a good idea to keep a variety of flowers with different colors and structures blooming in areas in and around your edible gardens throughout the growing season—that means year round here in Florida. This way you provide nectar and pollen for both the adult predatory insects and the important pollinators. Create different layers of vegetation in the areas around your edible gardens by planting native hedgerows that have leaves from the ground to high shrubbery level to provide good shelter--hedgerows make a good windbreak, as well.
Some specific plant types attract your beneficials:
1) Low-growing creepers provide cover for ground beetles.
2) Small florets arranged in a flat flower head are good for the adult phase of those tiny parasitoid wasps. Plants from the carrot family (Apiaceae) work well. These are plants that you'd have in your herb garden anyway such as parsley, fennel, coriander, and dill.
3) Flowers in the daisy family (Asteraceae) such as asters, mist flowers, coreopsis, black-eyed Susans, marigolds, zinnias, and goldenrod.
4) Flowers of the mint family (Lamiaceae) members such as monarda, salvia, scarlet sage, and various mints to attract hummingbirds, predatory wasps, hover flies, and robber flies.
|Plant a bug garden with some parsley or dill so |
you'll have a place to deposit the beautiful
black swallowtail larvae. This way you can
eat your herbs and still support the butterflies.
In addition to maintaining a large insect population, attract and keep carnivorous birds and bats on your property by supplying appropriately designed bird and bat houses and other shelter such as snags and brush piles. Hummingbirds eat insects when they are raising young, so keep them coming to your property with red or orange tubular flowers and hummingbird feeders. (“One Native Plant = Three Habitat Benefits” ) Install a purple martin apartment house in an open area near a body of water. Maintain some of your property as an open meadow (rather than a closely cropped lawn) for the bluebirds and other ground-feeding birds. If you garden in a small urban plot, a balcony, or just a cinder block raised bed garden, you could plant butterfly and insect-attracting plants nearby: in containers near the front door, in a hanging basket under eaves, or at the local community center, school, or church yard. This way, your whole neighborhood becomes a functioning ecosystem.
Leave some out-of-the-way places uncultivated with no weed barrier and no mulch, but with a log or a pile of brush where critters can make their nests in the ground. Most solitary bees, which are important native pollinators, build their nests in the ground or drill into dead wood. Create permanent toad shelters in and around your gardens—toads will return the favor by dining on your slugs and bugs. A toad shelter can be as simple as a piece of a clay pot or a flat rock with a small crevice under it.
|Green darner dragonflies mating and depositing their|
eggs in the water. Water features should include still
water with emergent plants such as this
native spatterdock (Nuphar advena).
Your Neighborhood Ecosystem
Many people call themselves locavores and try to use only local sources for food. What could be more local than growing edibles in our yards, school gardens, and community gardens? More native plants in and around your yard and the entire neighborhood provide the backbone for a bug-welcoming ecosystem, which provides the perfect environment for the neighborhood edible gardens.
· My post over on the Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens blog includes an explanation of the harmful poison cycle: "A Poison is a Poison is a Poison."
· At the FNPS conference last May we learned about native bees: “What was all that Buzzz at FNPS?” and “More Buzz About Bees”
· “Why are they Dying?” From the New Internationalist Magazine
· “On Einstein, Bees, and the Survival of the Human Race” from the Entomology Department at the University of Georgia.
· U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s “pollinators” web page with lots of resources:
The post is part of the Blog Action Day October 16, 2011
The official Blog Action Day tag is #BAD11
Now is a great time to start an edible garden in Florida, where we grow the cool weather crops right through the winter. Producing your own food—now that's action.
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Web edition: August 21, 2012
Elephants are well known for their trumpetlike sounds, but they can “sing” superlow songs, too. You’ll never hear these tunes in full, though. That’s because elephant songs include notes too low for the human ear to hear.
Some scientists had suggested that elephants make these low sounds in the same way that cats purr — by squeezing muscles near the voice box, or larynx. But elephants don’t need to use throat muscles to go low, say scientists in a newly published study.
S. Milius. How the elephant gets its infrasound. Science News Online, Aug. 2, 2012. [Go to]
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What is the Lutheran Church, and what do Lutherans believe?
Question: "What is the Lutheran Church, and what do Lutherans believe?"
The Lutheran Church is actually many different bodies, all of which base their teachings and practice to some degree on the work of Martin Luther. There is such a wide variance in their particular beliefs that it would be difficult to address them all, but this article will attempt to outline those most commonly held.
Martin Luther was born and raised in Germany and studied philosophy and law as a young man, but soon became discouraged by those studies. He became an Augustinian Monk in 1505, but the isolated lifestyle only led him to further despair as he spent countless hours in meditation and contemplation. In 1507, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and later began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg. During his years teaching theology, Luther grew increasingly frustrated at the excesses and abuses which he saw within the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. On October 31, 1517, he posted his 95 Theses on the door of All Saint's Church in Wittenberg, which was the accepted practice for anyone at the university who wanted to engage in theological debate. The majority of Luther's theses addressed the lack of biblical knowledge, practice, and accountability among the leaders of the church, and were intended to point them back to Scripture. Martin Luther was not the first to address these issues; in fact, most of them had been pointed out by other men within the Roman Catholic Church for nearly 100 years. Despite the steady stream of critics, the Catholic Church refused to admit error or make any substantial changes.
As with the other Reformers, who were all born, baptized, confirmed and educated in the Roman Catholic Church, Luther had no intention of starting a new church, but only wanted to correct what he saw as violations of clear biblical teaching. Part of the problem was a widespread ignorance of the Bible, even among ordained priests. Carlstadt, an older peer of Luther, admitted that he was made a Doctor of Divinity before he had even seen a complete copy of the Bible. One of the driving factors in Luther's work was the desire to have clear teaching for the common questions of the people, such as, “What must a man do to be saved?” and “How shall a sinner be justified before God and attain peace for his troubled conscience?” After a series of meetings in which Luther refused to recant his views, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in 1521. Many of the common people and German nobility followed Luther's teaching, and the Lutheran Church began to be organized as a separate body in 1525. In recent years, most Lutheran bodies have made efforts to mend the breach with the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1530, the German lords were requested by the Pope to give an accounting of their beliefs (as well as reconfirm their fidelity to the Holy Roman Empire), and they gave their reply in the Augsburg Confessions. This was the first detailed confession of faith by German Lutherans, and it is still the primary document used by Lutherans to describe and guide their faith. In 1580, the Book of Concord combined 10 documents which were considered authoritative for guiding the Lutheran faith. That book is still used today, but has a different degree of authority within the various Lutheran bodies.
Though there are quite a few organized Lutheran groups around the world, the two main bodies in America are the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). The ELCA has roughly 5 million members in 10,500 churches, and the LCMS has roughly 2.3 million members in 6,167 churches. The ELCA was formed in 1988 by a merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was formed in 1847 by Saxon (German) Lutherans who came to America to escape persecution and the detrimental effects of German Rationalism on their faith. Both churches hold to the Augsburg Confession, which teaches that all men are born in sin, and therefore need to be justified through faith in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Along with faith in Christ, baptism is “necessary for salvation” and therefore “children should be baptized, for being offered to God through baptism they are received into his grace” (Art. IX). The church teaches that all men have some measure of freedom of the will—which is ironic considering Luther comes to the opposite conclusion in one of his most famous books, The Bondage of the Will. Lutherans also believe that, without God's grace and help, given by the Holy Spirit, man is incapable of fearing or believing in God.
Many of the ceremonies and liturgies of the Catholic Church have been carried over into the Lutheran Church, with modifications to reflect their distinct doctrines. Some of the differences between the ELCA and LCMS stem from their divergent views on the Bible. While the LCMS affirms that the Bible is infallible in all areas (Psalm 19:7; 2 Timothy 3:16), the ELCA states that it is possible for the Bible to be in error concerning some areas, like science or history. In general, all Lutheran churches teach salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, but the manner in which that faith is lived out can vary from an empty participation in ceremonies to a very personal relationship with God.
Logos Bible Software and
Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences by Ron Rhodes.
While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.
What is the Reformed Church, and what do they believe?
What is the Methodist Church and what do Methodists believe?
What is cross theology / theology of the cross?
What is the Presbyterian Church and what do Presbyterians believe?
What is the Baptist Church and what do Baptists believe?
Questions about Christianity
What is the Lutheran Church, and what do Lutherans believe?
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Following the Viking missions of the mid-1970's, which turned up a wealth of possibilities but no evidence for life, interest in the search for life did not decline but instead heightened, for the two landers deployed by Vikings 1 and 2 had proven that direct contact with the Martian surface was possible.
Scientists wanted to try new ideas, explore new possibilities. We desperately wanted to find the perfect way to explore another planet without sending humans. Two plans included a rover and a penetrator.
A rover would land on one spot and travel around searching for life in more than one location. It would be controlled by remote from Earth. NASA had dreams of a rover that could travel hundreds of miles from the landing site. Could this be done? Was this technology possible?
The Soviets already had experience using roving vehicles. They landed eight-wheeled Lunakhods on the Moon. Because the Moon is only 240,000 miles away, the operator on Earth only experienced a 2.6 second communications delay. This is not ideal for a mission to Mars. Mars is much farther away than the Moon. The two way communication time could be as much as 40 minutes. If a rover were headed over a cliff, nothing could be done to save it for nearly twenty minutes. By then, the little rover would have plummeted to its mechanical death.
Photo. The Sojourner rover, its name meaning a wanderer and recalling the legacy of black abolitionist Sojourner Truth, was deployed by the Mars Pathfinder probe, which landed on the Fourth of July, 1997. Measuring just two feet long by one and a half wide and one tall and weighing under 25 pounds, the Sojourner--shown here being inspected by Jet Propulsion Laboratory technicians--can move one foot in about thirty seconds; an advantage of having a rover like this one is in its ability to move to its scientific targets, primarily rocks. Courtesy of NASA.
Is there a better alternative? Another idea was to drop several torpedo-like devices into the Martian soil. They would penetrate the surface and travel deeper into the planet's soil. They would then transmit information to be analyzed in a laboratory here on Earth.
Photo. A penetrator like the one diagramed here from the Russian Mars 96 probe would travel perhaps 15 feet into the surface of Mars with on-board instruments like spectrometers, which would analyze the chemical composition of the soil. The penetrator itself (with separation point marked by the arrow) would dig into the ground while the top unit remained above the surface Courtesy of Malin Space Science Systems.
Mission to Mars. An educational site created for the ThinkQuest contest.
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Open Phones with Open Moko
Can an open Linux phone platform change the mobile application game?
While all eyes may have been on San Francisco and the launch of the developer-unfriendly Apple iPhone, the real game changers were demonstrating their strategy at CES 2007, in Las Vegas.
While the hardware may be similar, the strategy is a complete reversal of Apple's closed platform and proprietary hardware. OpenMoko is an open Linux-based mobile application development platform that's designed to help operators and developers build innovative applications on top of a basic phone platform.
That platform is the FIC neo1973, an attractive curved device with a single large VGA touch screen, and a built in GPS. While it's only GPRS, this is a first cut at delivering open hardware, so we can expect future hardware to support faster data connections.
Out of the box the FIC mobile phone has very few features. You can make calls, send text messages – and that's pretty much it. The hardware, however, is much more capable. Applications are handled in an open manner, with access to proprietary hardware functions – including location data and connectivity tools.
A set of core tools mean all applications can access finger and stylus information, with core libraries that offer UI and PIM access. Other libraries offer GSM and GPS support – so your applications can take advantage of both network and hardware features.
The philosophy behind OpenMoko is interesting – by providing capable hardware, with a good UI and basic software, the project intends to quickly build a library of available applications. Existing Linux code can be ported to OpenMoko, while an SDK means that existing development tools (and skills) can be used to create new phone-centric applications.
Like most Linux distributions OpenMoko includes an application manager tool, which can download both operator-approved or community software. It's the equivalent of apt-get for your phone, which will keep applications updated as well as providing a tool for finding new features. Advanced users can opt for community applications, while trusted operator-verified applications mean that you don't need to ride the bleeding edge.
Sean Moss-Pultz, the project's architect, expects the first samples of OpenMoko hardware to ship in March 2007. The SDK should be released at the same time, though you can sign up for early access here.
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There's a fascinating element in the discussion of the Sabbath year in Deuteronomy 15. The general law requires releasing people from their debts every seven years. That means if you lend to someone a few months before the release of debts, and the person is too poor to pay it back in time, you have to release them of the debt. You might expect this to give rise to unprecedented amounts of stinginess in the time before the year of debt-release. The law anticipates this, though, and it commands Israel not to use such fears as excuses not to give. It's sin to refuse to give in such a situation, and they were commanded to give and not grudgingly. It says God will reward those who get stiffed in such a situation.
In the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism about gender distinctions in marriage, egalitarians often say that calling on a woman to submit to her husband is unfair when the man isn't called on to do the same. This does ignore that the same Ephesians 5 that tells women to submit to their husbands commands husbands to love their wives as self-sacrificially as the love that brought Christ to die for the church, which I think should count as at least as significant a level of sacrifice as what the wife is asked to do. But one thing complementarians often say strikes me as missing the point. They say that in any ideal marriage this shouldn't be an issue. If the husband is loving his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, then it won't be difficult at all for the wife to submit to the husband.
One hint that something is amiss here comes from considering the flip-side, which would be: If the wife submits to the husband, then it won't be difficult to love her as Christ loved the church. Really? I suspect it would still be immensely difficult for a sinful husband or wife to follow these commands even with a sinless spouse.
But I think the main reason I don't like that complementarian response is that you shouldn't have to go to the ideal situation to see that these commands are all right. If complementarianism is correct, then wives should submit to their husbands even if their husbands are complete jerks, and husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church even if their wives are as unlovely as someone's inner self could be. Indeed, I would say this is so even with an egalitarian interpretation of this passage. This is simply Christian teaching. Philippians 2 makes this utterly clear. Christ's model of giving himself for us is just plain the model for Christians and how we should treat others, regardless of how those others treat us. And this is simply continuous with the Hebrew scriptures, including the Mosaic law, since the very same principle underlies the command in Deuteronomy 15 that lenders should give to the poor even when there's little chance of getting the money back before the debt-release year (and many other places in the Torah, Proverbs, prophets, etc. along these lines).
So, while I don't think the complementarian reply above is correct (i.e. saying that in an ideal situation it isn't all that bad to follow complementarianism), at the same time I think objections to complementarianism that involve any claim that it asks too much are, at the very least, contrary to the very spirit of Christ and his call on the church. There are those who will resist such an ethic. They will say that Nietzsche was right in his diagnosis of Christianity as a slave-morality. I'm willing to grant that to a point, as long as they recognize that they resist Christianity in doing so. What I will have little patience for is those who think they can maintain a Christian ethic while thinking any unfairness here is immoral.
It reminds me of a discussion I overheard between two atheist philosophers, both of whom had some Christian influence when they were younger. One was giving a certain argument against a certain conception of hell, saying that it would be unfair, and the other said that it won't make much sense to use an argument that assumes God is fair against the followers of Jesus, since Jesus described God in terms of an employer giving the same amount of pay to the laborers who only worked an hour as he gave to those who had been working all day. These were day-laborers who subsist on a day's wage to live for the day. The Torah even requires people to pay day-laborers every day for that very reason. Jesus says God is like the farmer who pays the day-laborers a full day's wage even if they don't earn it. There's nothing fair about that arrangement, and yet Jesus says it represents what God's character is like. It's not remotely fair to ask Israelites to give to their poor fellow Israelites who will almost certainly end up with no debt due to the closeness of the year of debt-release. But it's very clear that biblical morality requires doing exactly that sort of thing and much more.
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Becoming an EMT
- Who offers the practical and written examinations?
- Where can I obtain the skill sheets for the practical exam?
- When do I find out whether I passed the practical exam?
- What happens if I fail the practical exam?
- Are there any additional materials available to assist in preparing for the National Registry written exam?
- What is the passing grade for the written exam?
- What happens if I fail the written exam?
- Is the written exam on a computer or old-fashioned paper?
- How long will the process take after I complete the course?
- Once I obtain my National Registry of EMT Certification, does that mean I am certified in every state?
- If NH is a "National Registry" state, why do I need to obtain a Provider's License from the State of NH? Why isn't my NREMT certification card sufficient? What's the difference between certification and licensure?
- I want to become an EMT to be better equipped to deal with medical emergencies that arise at home and at work. I don't intend to join an EMS service.
- Why is the process so complicated? I just want to volunteer with my local EMS service.
- I am an EMT in another state but want to become a New Hampshire EMT. What must I do?
A. The NH Bureau of EMS Field Offices offer periodic examinations at various locations throughout the state. Our local state field office is in Epping, NH. The schedule can be found at http://www.state.nh.us/safety/ems/trained.html. Certain other EMS training organizations make available examinations in conjunction with their EMT-Basic courses. They will usually allow other candidates to participate in the examinations. These examinations may or may not be listed on the online state list.
A. We will provide you with the skill sheets used in the practical examination. The course practical examinations will follow the same format as the State practical exam, and will use the same skill sheets. The sheets can also be obtained directly from the NH Bureau of EMS website (these sheets are slightly different from what may be in your textbook or on the National Registry Website). Make sure you are using the correct sheets:
- State of New Hampshire sheets for the N.H. Basic Life Support practicals
- National Registry Skill sheets for the regional Advanced Life Support Exams
A. You will be told on the day you take the practical exam whether you have passed .
A. It depends.
- State of New Hampshire Basic Life Support Exams: If you fail no more than 2 stations, you may retake the portion you failed (most testing locations allow you to retest the same day). If you fail 3 or more stations, you will need to retake the entire exam on another day.
- Regional National Registry Advanced Life Support Exams: If you fail no more than 2 stations, you may be able to retake the portion you failed (in New Hampshire, you cannot retest on the same day). If you fail 3 or more stations, you must retake the entire exam on another day.
Q. Are there any additional materials available to assist in preparing for the National Registry written exam?
A. For tips on passing the National Registries Computer Based Test (CBT) visit our webpage dedicated to that purpose.
The passing score is 70%.
A. After 3 fails you will have to do remedial training before being allowed to test again. At this stage you will have another 3 attempts. If you fail for the 3rd time after remedial training, you will be required to take a full EMT course over again.
A. The written NREMT exam is an online cognitive test. The test is multiple choice, and adaptive. This means the test learns from your answers and adapts the questions accordingly. The exams are held at Pearson Vue testing centers, and you have to schedule this online at a time that suits you.
A. You will need to schedule and take the practical and written examinations. After passing the exams, you will receive your NREMT certification card in 4 to 6 weeks. You can find out online whether you passed the written exam before receiving your certification card.
Q. Once I obtain my National Registry of EMT Certification, does that mean I am certified in every state?
A. Unfortunately, no. While the NREMT certification is accepted by many states (including Maine), it is not universally accepted. (Welcome to the bureaucracy that is EMS.) For states other than NH, we refer you to the applicable state EMS bureau for complete information. We have provided a brief summary for Maine and Massachusetts below.
Maine is a National Registry state. Once you have your National Registry card, if you are affiliated with a Maine EMS service, you may submit the card and required paperwork to Maine and obtain a Maine provider's license. See http://www.maine.gov/dps/ems/personnel/index.html for more information.
Massachusetts is not a National Registry state. Once you obtain both your NREMT certification card and your NH Provider's License, you may become certified in Massachusetts by taking the Massachusetts written examination. If you wish to work in Massachusetts before you take the Massachusetts written, the service for which you are working may apply to the Mass EMS bureau for a waiver. See http://www.mass.gov/dph/oems/emt/emtcert.htm#cert for detailed information.
Note: These are summaries only and are subject to change. If Massachusetts or Maine certification is important to you, we suggest you consult with the applicable Massachusetts or Maine state EMS agency before proceeding.
Q. If NH is a "National Registry" state, why do I need to obtain a Provider's License from the State of NH? Why isn't my NREMT certification card sufficient? What's the difference between certification and licensure?
A. Certification means that some entity (in this case, the NREMT) has determined through examination that you are qualified to perform certain skills. Licensure means that a state or other governmental entity (in this case, the State of NH) has granted you the right to practice as an EMT in the covered area.
Q. I want to become an EMT to be better equipped to deal with medical emergencies that arise at home and at work. I don't intend to join an EMS service.
A. We commend your desire to be prepared. You can take the EMT course and obtain NREMT certification without being affiliated with an EMS service. In NH, however, to obtain a Provider's License you must be affiliated with an EMS service. We suggest that you at least consider practicing as an EMT with an EMS service for a period of time; like any skills, EMT skills can only be fully developed with practice.
McGregor Memorial Ambulance offers an observer program that gives prospective EMT's who do not already belong to a service the opportunity to ride along with ambulance crews and experience EMS first-hand. In addition, we are always interested in new EMT volunteers. Newly licensed EMT's who volunteer with McGregor progress through an extensive training program, making McGregor an excellent place to begin your EMS career. To learn more about volunteering for McGregor click here.
A. Uh... that's a good question to which there is no good answer. Next question!
A. This depends. If you hold a National Registry certification then this should easily transfer to New Hampshire. You will need to take a New Hampshire transition course and protocol exam prior to becoming licensed.
If you are not Nationally Registered but hold an EMT license from another state that meets the U.S. Department of Transportation’s standards you may be allowed to test for your National Registry EMT certification after undergoing a shortened procedure. For more information on this process we recommend contacting the New Hampshire Bureau of EMS.
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The following editorial was written by former Observer editorial page editor Jerry Shinn. It reflects the views of the Observer editorial board:
The National Rifle Association claims to do some worthwhile work. It teaches people how to shoot, care for and safely store firearms.
Those are about the only worthwhile things it does, and if you think about it, they don’t really matter much. Even if there were no NRA, responsible gun owners would know how to shoot, care for and safely store firearms, and teach their children accordingly. It isn’t brain surgery or rocket science. Only the NRA would have you believe it’s a big deal.
The NRA probably knows it’s not a big deal. What is a big deal for the NRA is to block any sort of reasonable gun control legislation. In that effort, it does nothing for target shooters, hunters or people who want a firearm to protect their homes and families, because nobody in any position of potential authority over such matters objects to firearms for those purposes.
Nor does it do anything to protect the Constitution. The Second Amendment doesn’t mention assault weapons. The mass murderers and potential mass murderers whose right to own assault weapons is so zealously protected by the NRA aren’t part of any militia.
The NRA leadership says the appropriate response to the tragedy in Newtown is to put an armed security officer in every school in America. Fine. Then maybe the NRA will take the money it uses for lobbying against reasonable gun controls and give it to local school systems to help pay for those thousands of additional security guards. But it isn’t going to do that. Instead, it will continue to use its resources to try to assure that a mass murderer will have easy access to a weapon with which he could commit mass murder before an armed security officer could stop him.
If the NRA’s opposition to reasonable gun controls doesn’t have anything to do with hunting, target shooting, collecting, home security, self-defense or the Constitution – and it doesn’t – then what is it that really motivates that organization’s leadership?
Finding the answer to that question is almost as difficult as figuring out why anyone would want to murder all the people in a theater or all the children in a classroom. The answer to either question surely involves some kind of brain-warping sickness.
Most NRA members – good, sensible, sane people – probably don’t believe psychotically damaged people ought to have access to weapons with which they can murder a classroom full of children faster than a police officer can fire much more than a single shot. They ought to demand a change of leadership, and it’s time, way past time, for politicians who enjoy financial support from the NRA to say that no amount of money can buy their support for the murder of children.
In fact, since the NRA does so much real, bloody harm and so little practical good, maybe it’s time for everyone who cares about public safety and the safety of children to stop paying dues or otherwise supporting the NRA. Just get rid of it. America would be a safer, saner place without it.
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18 June 2012
The facility is operated by Veolia Environmental Services on behalf of Southwark Council and processes all of Southwark’s household waste and recyclables.
Visitors are able to see in action the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which sorts materials collected from homes and schools in the borough and bales them up to be made into something new. The MRF uses a range of state of the art technologies including optical sorters, magnets and electric current to separate materials and can sift through around 25 tonnes an hour.
Visitors are also able to learn more about what to recycle and what happens to materials once they are taken for recycling in the facility’s Recycling Discovery Centre, which was designed especially for primary school children by the team responsible for many of the interactive exhibits at the Science Museum.
Councillor Barrie Hargrove, cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling said:
"It’s great to see so many residents of all age groups taking an interest in what’s happening on site and what happens to their recyclables. Residents are already recycling over 27 % of their waste, and with the council diverting over 60% of the borough's waste away from landfill we are avoiding the high costs associated with waste disposal. I want to thank our residents of all their commitment to helping make this happen."
Fabrice Bouchon, general manager for Veolia Environmental Services in Southwark added:
“What happens here on site really is something to see. I would urge all primary schools and community groups to arrange a visit as soon as possible and we’ll be opening our doors again in September for Open House weekend, so we hope to see many more of our neighbours then, in the meantime I hope that everyone will keep up the good work and continue sending their paper, glass, plastic, cans and cartons to us!”
The Integrated Waste Management Facility will open its doors to the public on Saturday 22 September 2012. Schools and communities groups can also book a visit at anytime via www.southwark.gov.uk/recycle.
Click on the picture(s) below to see full size:
Communications Project Manager
Veolia Environmental Services (UK) Plc.
Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility
43 Devon Street,
Tel: +44(0)20 3567 2600
DD: +44(0)20 3567 2621
Fax: +44(0)20 3567 2601
Notes to the editor
Veolia Environmental Services provide waste management and recycling services on behalf of Southwark Council as part of a 25 year PFI contract. The company’s fully integrated strategy includes waste minimisation, collection, transfer, recycling, composting, pre-treatment and disposal.
Veolia Environmental Services, part of the Veolia Environnement Group, is the UK’s leading waste management company. With a sizeable presence throughout the UK, mainland Europe and the world, Veolia Environmental Services employs 85,600 people worldwide, servicing more than 73 million customers in 33 countries. (Source: Human resources data 2009)
Veolia Environmental Services is the only global provider of a full range of services for handling hazardous and non-hazardous solid and liquid waste. It provides waste management and logistics services as well as materials recovery and recycling. Veolia Environmental Services generated revenue of €9.05 billion in 2009.
Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in environmental services. The company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in four complementary segments: water management, waste management, energy management and freight and passenger transportation. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of €34.5 billion in 2009.
Further information can be obtained by visiting the websites: www.veolia.co.uk
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Colombia: Taller de Vida | LIMPAL
Taller de Vida
Taller de Vida ("Workshop of Life" in Spanish) provides critical services for displaced Afro-Colombian and Indigenous women and youth in Bogota, Colombia. Founded by two sisters—one a psychologist, the other an educational social worker—Taller de Vida works with youth who are at high-risk for being recruited as child-soldiers in Colombia's war. Taller de Vida's objective is to provide Colombian women and children with the support they need to resist this exploitation and create alternatives to the on-going violence in Colombia.
Taller de Vida offers trauma counseling and remedial education to help children who have been displaced catch up on their schooling, adjust to life in the city, and defend their human rights.
Taller de Vida also offers after-school sports, art, and theater programs to help young people develop their artistic talents and learn to express themselves through acting, dance, writing and painting. These programs help young people who have experienced enduring trauma from the armed conflict envision—and work to create—a more peaceful world. Through art, the youth at Taller de Vida are able to share past experiences and build a network of support for their future.
Taller de Vida offers women who have been displaced by the war programs that combine art therapy with income-generating projects. Taller de Vida maximizes the opportunity offered by these programs by holding discussions on human rights issues when women come together to work on crafts.
Since 1997, LIMPAL has worked with women who have been displaced by Colombia's long-standing armed conflict, helping them overcome the devastating effects of displacement and advocate for their rights. Today, LIMPAL plays a critical role in the network of civil society organizations educating women who have been displaced about their constitutional rights. LIMPAL's activities focus on peaceful alternatives to conflicts, such as human rights trainings, the enhancement of existing women's and human rights networks, the provision of secure spaces where women and their families can build support networks, and the development of income-generating projects for women.
Working with over 500 women, 90 percent of whom are of African-descent and over 50 percent of whom are heads of their families, LIMPAL provides humanitarian aid and human rights trainings and documents cases of human rights abuses. LIMPAL encourages women to share their stories of displacement and violence as part of a healing process and works to achieve justice for displaced women and families.
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In response to Mike Sakal’s piece on the sons of confederate vets: Mike you should have thought a little more than a cup of coffee before you wrote this piece on the confederate vets.
There was a reason all those men had unmarked graves and it wasn’t so we could remember them on Veterans Day either. Maybe you should have wrote about why they were in unmarked graves!
I think it is a real shame you couldn’t find more relevant, more meaningful tribute to write about on our USA Veterans Day.
Yes they did fight for a cause they believed in and some of them did die for that cause and they were soldiers for that cause as Mr. Brown says, but they were traitors and slave owners and killed and tortured those slaves when they didn’t listen to what they were told.
Lets have a John Wilkes Booth Day. He had a cause also.
They raped the slave women and their wives turned their back on them because they weren’t human but slaves. This kind of reminds me of a little war that was in Europe in the ’40s. Maybe we should have a day to honor Mr. Hitler. He had a cause to fight for also. Just ask the
6 million Jewish people he invited to take a shower!
Mr. Sakal, please don’t get in that, they were Americans too because in reality they were traitors. The man that blew up the federal building in Oklahoma, Tim McVeigh, also had cause. Are we going to honor him in 100 years as a veteran who had a cause? Maybe, who knows?
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Nyjer (R), niger, and thistle are all names used to identify a tiny, black birdseed cultivated in Asia and Africa that is high in calories and oil content, loved by finches and other wild birds, and has been used in the feeding of wild birds for more than 40 years. However, only one name is correct: Nyjer (R).
To differentiate between the imported niger oilseed used to feed wild birds and thistle - as well as to eliminate any possibility of offensively mispronouncing the word "niger" - the Wild Bird Feeding Industry trademarked the name Nyjer in 1998. Unfortunately, Nyjer seed is still referred to by many people who feed wild birds as well as by some in the industry who package and sell wild bird food and as both niger and thistle.
How niger seed ever became confused with thistle seed in the first place is somewhat of a mystery, although it is probably due to the fact that some birds - goldfinches in particular - do eat the seeds of thistle plants and also use the downy fluff for their nests. If given a choice of thistle and Nyjer, however, birds will pick Nyjer over thistle due to the fact it is a superior seed that is higher in both calories and oil content.
Thistle is considered a noxious weed that is capable of taking over entire fields and is the bane of many farmers in North America. Unlike true niger oilseed (now Nyjer), which is known by the scientific name Guizotia abyssinica and has yellow, daisy-like flowers, thistle has pink to purple ball-shaped flowerheads that consist of many spine-tipped bracts.
ORIGINAL To protect our environment from any invasive weed seeds that may enter the country with the niger oilseed (Nyjer) that is imported and to prevent the introduction of the non-native niger (Nyjer) plants themselves, all shipments are heat sterilized to prevent germination. Occasionally a fertile seed slips in that is capable of sprouting and people may find that the yellow flowering plant growing under their Nyjer feeder is indeed Guizotia abyssinicia, which will make their finches very happy! This is not necessarily good news because even though niger (Nyjer) is not a weed, it spreads like one and produces zillions of seeds. Therefore, it should be removed to prevent it from escaping and competing with our native plants.
REVISED To protect our environment from any invasive weed seeds (like dodder seed) that may enter the country with the imported niger oilseed, all shipments are heat sterilized to prevent germination of these weeds. Very rarely, a fertile Nyjer seed may sprout a yellow flowering plant under their feeder and this is indeed Guizotia abyssinicia. This is not cause for worry as is won't last long; this seed does not grow well in any part of the United States. Simply remove the plant to prevent it from escaping and competing with our native plants.
Nyjer is a favorite of goldfinches as well as purple and house finches, pine siskins, and redpolls. Ground-feeding species such as doves, juncos, and sparrows also find Nyjer attractive. It can be purchased separately but can also be found in many wild bird seed mixes as well.
Sometimes referred to as "black gold" due to the higher price that results from importing and sterilizing costs, Nyjer should be offered in a specially designed feeder with tiny ports that prevent spillage even though whatever spills onto the ground will be readily eaten by other species. Since Nyjer is such a favorite of goldfinches and pine siskins, Nyjer feeders with ports located below the perches - known as "upside-down feeders" - are a good investment. Goldfinches and pine siskins are quite acrobatic and don't seem to mind hanging upside-down to feed, and these upside-down feeders give them additional opportunities to eat without competition from house and purple finches. They're fun to watch, too!
Additional information was provided to this page by E. George Strasser, USDA APHIS retired. In December of 1982 large shipments of niger seed were detained at ports of arrival because they were found contaminated with dodder. It was at this time E. George Strasser was given the task of finding a treatment to devitalise the dodder seed without destruction of the Nyjer seed's nutritive value or acceptability to birds. results were printed in Seed Sci. & Technology in 1988, 16, 501-505. The article was "Studies on the use of dry heat to decontaminate niger seed (Guizotia abyssinica) infested with dodder seed (Cuscuta sp.)" by Strasser, E.G.
— written by Carla Davis; The Wild Bird Lady (c) 2004 eBirdseed.com - Written permission required for use of images/text on these pages.
Carla Davis is a Habitat Consultant residing on Long Island, New York, where she gives seminars on how to develop Backyard Bird Habitats through bird feeding and native gardening at Garden Centers, Garden Clubs, Nature Centers, Schools, and Audubon Chapters. She has taught portions of the Master Birding Course for Cornell Cooperative Extension, Suffolk County, New York, and her property has been designated as an Official Backyard Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. She is a contributing writer to Birding Business magazine and The Bird's-Eye reView, the newsletter of the former National Bird-Feeding Society, where she served as a member of the Board of Directors.
black oil sunflower
Call Us Today!
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Discover the Truth about Miniature, Gnome and Fairy Gardening
With the surge in interest in miniature gardening over the past couple of years it has been interesting to witness how the many different forms of gardening in miniature have been embraced and have become a part of our everyday lives.
Terrariums, dish gardening or simply a set of small potted herbs on the windowsill are all ways of growing small.
Miniature, fairy and gnome gardens have also become increasingly popular for a growing number of gardeners too. For many, these types of gardens now have a permanent place in the garden, but has anyone ever stopped define them?
What about fairy gardening? What is that? Isn’t that miniature too? And what is a gnome garden anyway?
Here is a brief overview to give you either an understanding, or a jump-off point for more ideas you can add to on your own. (And yes, I actually have thought about it extensively over the last few years, what else is a professional miniature gardener to ponder? ;o)
What is it - A miniature garden is defined by the use of naturally dwarf and miniature plants and in-scale miniature garden accessories that replicate a scaled living model of our full-sized gardens.
Where planted – In containers or in-ground.
Main plants used – Miniature and slow-growing dwarf forms of trees and shrubs. Low-growing plants no more than 3” tall, some flower spikes excluded.
Size or scale used – Dollhouse miniature scales, railroad garden scales and sometimes Barbie or GI Joe scale.
Main themes or accessories – None, any theme can be used.
Identifying characteristics – All trees, plants, patios and accessories are realistic and perfectly in scale with each other.
What is it - A fairy garden is a garden created and nurtured for fairies to live in.
Where planted – Most often in-ground where fairies would have access. Container fairy gardens are what we know as hotels or condos
Main plants used – Any flowering or herb plant. Most trees, flowering shrubs and hedgerows.
Size or scales used – Fairies are approximately 3 ½” to 4” tall, not including the wings.
Main themes or accessories – Tea parties, birthday parties or any seasonal celebration. Furniture and garden structures are normally made from twigs or other naturals but there are many exceptions.
Identifying characteristics – Look for the furniture set up on the patio, fairy houses or fairy doors in tree trunks or along the side of fences or buildings. Most herb and flower gardens have fairies too.
A Gnome Garden
What is it – A gnome garden that is any garden taken care of by gnomes.
Where planted – In-ground.
Main plants used – None.
Size and scales used – Gnomes range in size depending upon where they live.
Main themes and accessories – Anything garden. Accessories include wheelbarrows and garden tools.
Identifying characteristics – Look for the gnomes in the corners of the garden bed, beside tree trunks or peeking out from behind shrubs. Note the odd little pot and shovel that they often leave behind.
With using two very general words “miniature” and “gardening” to identify an emerging hobby, it is no wonder that the definition is vague and often leaves the listener begging for more details.
I hope this helps you identify your type of miniature gardening. For more information on anything true miniature garden, look forward to the release of “How to Create Living Miniature Gardens.” Please sign up for our mailing list for our Mini Garden Gazette, the release date and fireworks here.
Sources for this article: Ten years of professional experience in the miniature garden industry and the fairies and gnomes in my garden. ;o)
Checkout the your favorite Miniature Garden Center here.
Subscribe to this blog over there on the right! ~>
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By Alan Zibel and Jessica Holzer
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) seems determined to make a splash.
Just a few weeks after she was sworn in, Ms. Warren used her first appearance at a Senate Banking Committee hearing to grill top U.S. banking and market regulators.
Ms. Warren could have been among them but for strong disapproval from Republicans. She was the leading candidate to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011, but as opposition grew, President Barack Obama turned instead to former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray.
Ms. Warren, a Harvard Law professor who helped set up the CFPB, first gained national attention as chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing the 2008 bank bailouts.
On Thursday, instead of seeking an update on rules being developed for Wall Street, Ms. Warren asked the regulators when was the last time they took a financial firm to trial.
“I’m really concerned that ‘too big to fail’ has become ‘too big for trial,’” Ms. Warren told the regulators at the witness table, including the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Comptroller of the Currency. “That just seems wrong to me.”
Her rebuke brought applause from supporters in the audience.
Long a critic of the way big banks treat consumers, Ms. Warren’s aggressive questioning could signal that she will scrutinize Washington officials and bankers alike. An aide to Ms. Warren declined to comment.
She echoed criticism of the longstanding practice of allowing firms to settle SEC complaints without a formal admission or denial of guilt. Companies typically seek settlements with the SEC to head off major damage to their stock price or brand from a drawn-out court battle.
As for going to trial, Comptroller Thomas Curry said his agency has “not had to do it as a practical matter to achieve our supervisory goals.” SEC Chairman Elisse Walter said her agency looks “at the distinction between what we could get if we go to trial and what we could get if we don’t.”
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Copyright (c) 2001 First Things 111 (March 2001): 47-51.
Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis. By Ian Kershaw. Norton. 1,115 pp. $35.
Reviewed by Walter Sundberg
On May 11, 1945 Soviet Army authorities brought a cigar box containing a partial jaw–bone and two dental bridges to Fritz Echtmann, a dental technician who had worked for Dr. Johann Hugo Blaschke, Adolf Hitler’s dentist since 1938. Echtmann identified one of the bridges from records. The Nazi dictator, the chief protagonist in a war that left fifty million people slaughtered, was finally confirmed dead.
The question Ian Kershaw faces in the second volume of his massive biography is whether Hitler’s life has a coherent meaning for us, or whether it is as fragmented and partial as his earthly remains. His first volume, Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris (1998), covered Hitler’s early life and rise to power. In that volume the ultimate significance of Hitler’s life was not the urgent question. This final volume tells Hitler’s story from the height of his acclaim in March 1936, after German troops occupied the Rhineland, to his “extinction” (Kershaw’s word) in his bunker in Berlin in April 1945. Kershaw, Professor of History at the University of Sheffield, summarizes the historical meaning of Hitler’s life at the outset: “Hitler’s legacy,” he writes in the Preface, “is one of utter destruction.” The condemnation of Hitler in public opinion and scholarly research is unique in its unanimity and moral outrage. Even next to Lenin, Stalin, or Mao, Hitler stands apart as “the embodiment of modern political evil.”
In Kershaw’s cool and somewhat detached professional point of view, however, to call Hitler “evil,” even when one has no doubt that the judgment is right, “is a theological or philosophical, rather than a historical concept.” To seek the historical meaning of Hitler requires the examination of the publicly documented actions and behavior of the dictator in relation to the individuals, political structures, and social forces of his time. This is the task Kershaw sets himself. He documents Hitler’s life in its final nine years, interpreting it in the context of domestic, diplomatic, and military policy. Events are organized chronologically, month–by–month, drawing upon a wide range of original source material—Kershaw depends heavily on Joseph Goebbels’ daily journals—and secondary interpretations. The volume has notes covering two hundred pages of small print.
It is important to accept Kershaw’s quest for the historical meaning of Hitler on its own terms. Kershaw has not written psychohistory. He refuses to speculate on Hitler’s tortured personal life or unconscious motivations. Nor is he tempted by what Hayden White calls “metahistory,” the investigation of the deep structures of imagination in cultural life. Kershaw does not deal at any length with the Nazi mythos, a twisted blend of pagan, Christian, and folk imagery, whose symbolic world captured the German mind. Instead he offers straightforward political history, trying to be as objective as he can possibly be. His effort is admirable and effective. Here is a case where the significance of a life is all the more powerfully revealed if the biographer unrelentingly piles up the undisputed facts, leaving readers to make their own judgment.
There are no unusual revelations in the biography. The value of Kershaw’s effort is his steady and dependable sifting of a massive amount of scholarship. To be sure, Kershaw carefully carves out his own place. In contrast to Alan Bullock, he asserts that Hitler was not simply an opportunistic tyrant without fixed convictions, although there is much about Hitler’s domestic and foreign policy that was improvised and reactive. Kershaw rejects Hans Mommsen’s view that Hitler was a “weak dictator” who lacked control of the agencies of command, although it is true that Hitler could be extraordinarily detached at times, especially as his health de clined and he lived in a haze of potions and pills. Kershaw stands closest to Eberhard Jaeckel and Joachim Fest, who argued a generation ago that Hitler was an intentional political leader, driven by a “worldview” or, better, ideological obsessions for which he was willing to take conscious risks and make sacrifices, even to the point of disaster. These included the desires that Germany be the dominant power in Europe, that the nation be purged of all non–German elements, and that it obtain “living space” to the east.
Last but not least, Hitler’s ideology was driven by his hatred of Jews and Communists. The Soviet Union was a particular object of this double hatred; Hitler saw it as the home of what he called “Judeo–Bolshevism.” Hitler made these obsessions clear from the time of Mein Kampf, written in 1924–25, to his final testament dictated in the bunker in April 1945. Hitler meant what he said in these public documents and proved it by acting upon his obsessions. However paranoid, hateful, and vulgar they may be, they are nevertheless the essence of the historical meaning of Hitler’s life. It is these obsessions that forged his terrible will to undo and led Germany down a path of utter destruction.
The Hitler that emerges from these pages is a charismatic leader in the classic definition of Max Weber. A charismatic leader requires not only native ability, but a receptive social and psychological context. There is no doubt that Hitler had the native ability. Bolstered by an egomaniacal confidence in his own infallibility, he undertook the “historic mission” of his ideological obsessions by means of masterful speechmaking and acting. The inner circle of his regime reinforced this charisma by the expert use of propaganda, pioneering techniques of political communication.
Propaganda transformed Hitler into the image of der Fuehrer, to whom people related as an ideal or article of faith. “Working towards the Fuehrer” (dem Fuehrer entgegen arbeiten) became a fundamental motivation for the operations of government. Political and bureaucratic workers carried out their tasks at least in part by trying to do what they thought would please the Fuehrer and advance his ideology. Practical policy initiatives were justified as acts of the Fuehrer’s “will.” This left to Hitler the primary task of maintaining his authority, a task that he fulfilled brilliantly in his elaborately staged public appearances. He solidified this authority in endless rounds of private meetings with his immediate staff, generals, and courtiers. The accounts of these meetings that Kershaw provides, especially with the use of Goebbels’ journals, are fascinating.
Hitler would have gone nowhere if ordinary German people had failed to respond to him enthusiastically. Hitler fired their imaginations and ambitions, leading the Germans to what Kershaw calls “the greatest gamble in the nation’s history—to ac quire complete domination of the European continent. . . . The size of the gamble itself implied an implicit willingness to court self–destruction, to invite the nemesis.”
Inviting Nemesis, the god of retribution who punishes pride and arrogance, is a fitting image for what happened to Germany when it resolved to “work towards the Fuehrer.” How could a culturally accomplished, economically advanced people like the Germans fall into the abyss of Hitler’s obsessions? A definitive, all–encompassing answer remains elusive and perhaps is unobtainable. But it is possible to pile up the facts. Hitler maintained fear among average Germans by the use of Sippenhaft, that is, the arrest of entire families for the “crime” of one member. Each neighborhood had its spy (Blockwart) ready to report the slightest suspicion. Public enemies, including opposition parties, were dealt with ruthlessly in concentration camps. Indeed, these camps were originally set up to confine political opponents; only later did they take up their role in the extermination of the Jews. The Nazis ruled by fear.
Paradoxically, they also ruled by assent. Hitler ably exploited the tendency of German politics (in fact, continental politics generally) to subsume the individual under the regimented will of the nation. Freedom in this view is not an individual right protected by natural law but the hard–fought achievement of a people acting in community (Volksgemeinschaft) to fulfill a common purpose. In the revolutionary slogan, “liberty, equality, fraternity,” fraternity is key. The Nazis forged fraternity by adopting policies that relied on the permanent mobilization of resources. These policies inevitably gravitated towards military production and thus to war itself. In war, Hitler found his natural environment. Like Napoleon before him, Hitler’s fate became tied to a constant stream of military successes and then failures.
Kershaw naturally gives a great amount of attention to Hitler’s Jewish policy. He elucidates the question of what Hitler knew and when he knew it and traces the efforts of his inner circle “working towards the Fuehrer” to carry out his will while preserving what we would today call “deniability” for the leader himself. Kershaw lays out the development and implementation of the policy of deportation and extermination slowly and deliberately, conforming to his chronological organization. The result is gripping and horrendous.
A word should be said about the place of the churches in Kershaw’s account of Hitler’s reign. Kershaw assigns the churches only a minor role, which is fair enough. But the attention he does give them is not entirely satisfactory, as a couple of example—one Catholic, one Protestant—can demonstrate.
In the first volume, the signing of the Concordat with the Vatican in 1933 is seen as “an unqualified triumph for Hitler” in that it neutralized Catholic opposition to the new regime in its vulnerable first months. This is a fair assessment. After the signing, Michael Cardinal Faulhaber of Bavaria sent Hitler a handwritten letter of praise: “What the old parliament and parties did not accomplish in sixty years, your statesmanlike foresight has achieved in six months.” In the second volume the Cardinal is quoted as saying in 1936 that “the Reich Chancellor undoubtedly lives in belief in God.”
But that is only part of the story. During this same period Faulhaber issued frequent and courageous criticisms of Nazi attacks on the Catholic Church. Kershaw briefly alludes to them, but they leave no impression on the reader because the author provides no details and never quotes the Cardinal making a critical statement. This disparity in treatment is not entirely fair. To be sure, I cannot blame Kershaw for picking embarrassing quotations from ecclesiastical officials; such quotations are hard for any storyteller to resist. There is no doubt that the Cardinal said what he said in praise of Hitler. But it is not all he said.
The Protestant “church struggle” (Kirchenkampf) of the 1930s—my second example—is mentioned in twelve scattered pages of the second volume and even less space in the first. “The Church conflict was for [Hitler] no more than an irritation,” asserts Kershaw. Bishop Meiser, head of the Protestant Church in Bavaria, is quoted as offering public prayers for Hitler in 1937 in which he thanks God “for every success which, through your grace, you have so far granted [Hitler] for the good of the people.” Once again this is fair enough. But what about a word from the opposition? The likes of Martin Niemoeller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, both of whom engaged in heroic resistance, are mentioned only in passing and their words and writings are never quoted, and thus leave no impression on the reader. Here, too, I cannot exactly blame Kershaw. Meiser’s repugnant public statement is part of the sad record of the German church, and I would quote it if I were telling the story. But I would also give Niemoeller at least a line.
I do not want to make too much of this. There are plenty of sources that tell what the churches did (and failed to do) during the Third Reich, and it is only because this book is so complete that it is necessary to note what it lacks. There is no doubt that Kershaw’s achievement in this biography is considerable. He is the able successor to Bullock and Fest, and the two volumes of Hitler will be the definitive work on the subject for the foreseeable future.
Walter Sundberg is Professor of Church History at Luther Seminary in St. Paul,
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TRUCKEE, Calif. - A strange thing has happened in recent years. Many of my friends are having "situations" with their parents. It must be an age thing. I wouldn't know.
As we get older our parents do too. Interesting how that works. It's very frightening to see parents "lose it." They are protective of their role as parents. Naturally, they do not want their kids to see any sign of slippage.
Some of our parents have health issues, sometimes prolonged illnesses, even severe loss of memory and the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.
Broaching Estate Planning with Your Parents
Parents often don't like to talk about their health or their finances (at least their finances), and would never think of discussing their estate plan. If they have an estate plan. If asked, a common response is "it's none of your business" or "everything is taken care of."
But it is our business, and odds are everything isn't taken care of.
From my observation, more often than not, nothing is taken care of. The will, if there is one, is old and irrelevant, insurance is inadequate or inappropriate, no steps have been taken to address health problems, from something as basic as stairs in the house that soon can't be navigated, to a long-term (expensive) debilitating illness.
Parents and kids are unsure how to broach how the parents will be cared for and whether their financial affairs are in order. While it isn't easy, it must be done.
Beginning That Conversation
The father of a good friend of mine who was in the insurance business recently died without insurance and his wife was forced to sell the family home. If you think you and your brothers and sisters aren't on perfect terms now, wait until Mom and Dad die without a will or with an obsolete will, or without an inter vivos trust that could help save burdensome estate taxes.
Here are some suggestions for beginning that conversation with your mother and/or father: "So Dad, you sure look handsome today. Hey, have you ever thought about your mortality? We all die, so let's talk about your will. Where there's a will, there's a way, and I am your favorite, right? I mean, as the oldest child, you believe in primogeniture I hope."
Not. Try something like: "Mom, I bet with the severe decline in the market, like me, you've really taken a hit. I wonder if it's time to reassess your portfolio."
Assuming there is a portfolio, and they know what a portfolio is. Or try: "Mom, you know I was reading the other day, on average, families pay (pick a number) 40% more in death taxes when they don't plan their estates. Wills lose their effectiveness as we age."
Maybe: "Hey Pops, have you ever heard of an inter vivos trust where you and Mom are able to put your property in a trust for the kids, which you control and you keep the money; and it helps reduce or totally avoids estate taxes? Maybe we should check it out."
Try: "Mom, did you know that under new changes in estate tax laws, fewer people owe estate taxes. Maybe we should look into it."
Use a lead sentence that your parents will relate to.
In my family, while my Mom did not want to get into a family discussion about her finances, insurance and estate planning, she was more than willing to let we kids talk to her financial advisor and insurance agent.
There''s no simple way to approach your parents about their financial affairs. It's touchy topic.
Interestingly, my mother-in-law and father-in-law would never discuss their finances with my wife or her brothers, but when I asked, as the lawyer son-in-law, they dug out their will on the spot and we began talking.
It was the beginning of an unfortunate discovery. The fact that my in-laws' will was more than 20 years old was the first sign of a problem. Wills should be reviewed periodically. Much work had to be done with my wife's family assets - taking steps to avoid taxes and becoming eligible for Medicaid.
It worked. The kids would not have inherited anything if they had not discovered an obsolete will and created a family trust.
Personalize the Approach
Who in the family is best suited to raise the subject with your parents, and which parent is most likely to be receptive? Maybe all the kids should join in the discussion. Or the family lawyer or a trusted family friend could help.
Appeal to what would appeal to them: saving taxes, avoiding probate, preventing a sale of the family home, loss of retirement investments in a declining market, protecting the kids, providing for (or protecting from) a spouse or preventing an ugly family dispute.
In coming weeks (before the New Year and possible new less-favorable tax laws), we will explore questions to ask your parents, estate planning tools, and charitable giving. Four more articles coming up.
Jim Porter is an attorney with Porter Simon licensed in California and Nevada, with offices in Truckee and Tahoe City, California, and Reno, Nevada. He was the Governor's appointee to the California Fair Political Practices Commission and McPherson Commission, both involving election law and the Political Reform Act. Jim's practice areas include: real estate, development, construction, business, HOAs, contracts, foreclosures, mediation and other transactional matters. He may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or at the firm's website www.portersimon.com.
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The ICMP ping port is most likely closed either at your end or their end, which is a very standard thing to do. If you are trying to use PING to resolve a name, I'd rather use the nslookup command instead. There is no reason to ping sites today, to see whether they are responding, except on your own local network.
Usually, servers on the internet will have only opened the ports that are required to do their business, such as 80 and 443 for HTTP and HTTPS, as well as 25 for email. There may be others, of course such as ftp(20-21) and SSH (22), but those are the standard ones.
In the same way, organizations will only open ports that the internal users need to perform business on the internet, and the same ports are usually the ones always opened. On top of that, they may restrict where they can go out, to avoid wasting bandwidth.
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The story inspired Ben Affleck’s $44 million hit movie Argo, released last year to rave reviews. But the Hollywood version of events was not appreciated either by the Canadians, who felt their role had been downplayed, or by British and New Zealand diplomats who felt they had been traduced.
Islamic militants invaded the US embassy in Tehran on November 4 1979, taking 52 American staff hostage. Held captive for 444 days, they were abused, blindfolded and subjected to mock executions. But, unbeknown to the Iranians, six Americans had managed to escape.
The consular building, at the other side of the compound from the embassy, had been spared the brunt of the assault and several staff were able to make their way out of the building on to a deserted street. Led by the head of the consulate, Bob Anders, five of them, three men and two women, went on the run. They were later joined by a sixth escapee, the agricultural attaché, Henry Lee Schatz.
Their orders were to seek help at the British embassy, but they found a huge group of protesters blocking their path. For the next six days (aided by a Thai cook), they lived on their wits, moving from house to house to avoid being found by the armed mobs roaming the city, including spending one night at the British embassy summer compound in northern Tehran.
As it became clear the crisis would not end quickly, Anders contacted Sheardown, an old friend of his then working as an immigration officer at the Canadian consulate, to ask for his help. “Why didn’t you call sooner?” Sheardown replied.
At enormous personal risk, Sheardown and the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor gave the American diplomats sanctuary in their own private residences. The Taylors took two members of the group, while the other four stayed with Sheardown and his wife, Zena.
“We were under surveillance,” Sheardown recalled in an interview. “We had tanks at one end of the street and a fellow that walked up and down. They were always suspicious.” During the two months they housed the Americans, the Sheardowns had to think of ingenious ways not to arouse suspicion. To disguise the need for extra food, they bought groceries at different shops, while Sheardown disposed of rubbish on the way to work to camouflage the amount of refuse they were generating.
The group remained in hiding for 79 days as secret talks began about how they could be smuggled out of the country. These were initiated by the Canadians who arranged for the six to be issued with Canadian passports with forged Iranian visas prepared by the CIA, so that they could be spirited out of the country on an international flight.
The CIA enlisted its disguise and exfiltration expert, Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck in the film), to provide a cover story. Working closely with the Canadians, Mendez concocted an elaborate plot in which the six Americans would pose as a Hollywood crew looking for locations for a projected sci-fi film called Argo (not Argo as in Argonauts, Mendez explained, but Argo as in “Argo f--- yourself”) . To add to the authenticity, Mendez established a fake Hollywood film studio, placed display ads about the production in Variety magazine and even threw a launch party.
As the weeks passed, the Americans rehearsed their storylines, while Taylor made efforts to fly out non-essential Canadian personnel in case of discovery. On January 28 1980 the group made their way to Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, all playing their parts, the normally conservative Anders in a blue silk shirt two sizes too small, unbuttoned to reveal a hairy chest and gold medallion, “strutting around with the chutzpah of a Wilshire Boulevard stud” by Mendez’s account.
The group boarded a Swissair flight to Zurich without mishap. Sheardown and Taylor followed on the next flight out.
When Argo was released last year, there were complaints that Affleck had downplayed the Canadian involvement. Indeed Sheardown, who played such a vital role, was removed from the plot entirely. British and New Zealand diplomats were reported to be even more annoyed by the claim in the film that the six diplomats had fetched up with the Canadians after “Brits turned them away, Kiwis turned them away.”
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Anders described the claims as “absolutely untrue” recalling that the British in particular had given the group shelter and helped them to move around to different places. “If the Iranians were going to start looking for people they would probably look to the British,” he explained. “So it was too risky to stay and we moved on. They put their lives on the line for us.”
John Vernon Sheardown was born in Sandwich, Ontario, on October 11 1924 and later moved to Ottawa. After leaving school he joined the Canadian Air Force and served in Europe during the Second World War. On one occasion he broke both legs after jumping from a plane at low altitude on a training mission over England.
After the war, Sheardown spent several years in the Canadian Army before joining the immigration service in the early 1960s and later the foreign service.
After the triumphant conclusion of the “Canadian Caper”, Sheardown and his wife Zena, along with Ambassador Taylor and other staff, were appointed to the Order of Canada. Taylor was subsequently awarded the American Congressional Gold Medal.
Sheardown’s first marriage, to Kathleen Benson, was dissolved. In 1975 he married Zena Khan, who survives him with two sons by his first marriage. A daughter by his first marriage predeceased him.
John Sheardown, born October 11 1924, died December 30 2012
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Most popular at the top
- SAGE Publications 2012; US$ 84.00
The R version of Andy Field's hugely popular Discovering Statistics Using SPSS takes students on a journey of statistical discovery using the freeware R a free, flexible and dynamically changing software tool for data analysis that is becoming increasingly popular across the social and behavioural sciences. more...
- Penguin Books Ltd 2008; Not Available
It started with fireballs raining down from the sky and crashing into the oceans? deeps. Then ships began sinking mysteriously and later ?sea tanks? emerged from the deeps to claim people . . . For journalists Mike and Phyllis Watson, what at first appears to be a curiosity becomes a global calamity. Helpless, they watch as humanity struggles to... more...
- Taylor and Francis 2013; US$ 38.95
Completely unique in its global scope, this major text does what no other book in the field does: provides students with an excellent account of modern military history with analysis of strategy, as well as tactical and operational developments in the field of war. Carefully written by a highly renowned author, this book has been widely praised by... more...
- Hodder & Stoughton 2009; Not Available
Teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, juvenile delinquency, absentee parents, soaring rates of drug addiction? Britain is failing. Over the last twenty years, traditional family values have declined to the point where young adults without guidance marry too early, have children soon after and end up being swamped by the responsibilities of parenthood.... more...
- Penguin Books Ltd 2010; Not Available
Volume 4 in the bestselling World According to Clarkson series Jeremy Clarkson had a dream. A world where the nonsensical made sense, the idiotic was abolished and the sheer bloody brilliant was embraced. In How Hard Can It Be? our hero embarks on a quest to set the world to rights. Again. En-route he discovers how rhubarb will become the new crack,... more...
- Potomac Books Inc. 2006; US$ 14.95
The books in the Essential Bibliographies series include an essay by a noted scholar on the important historiographical issues and a pertinent bibliography for a particular period or theme in military history. They serve as research tools for librarians, researchers, and readers with a professional interest and as a starting point for pursuing further... more...
- Nation Books 2008; US$ 17.95
The unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy. more...
- Random House 2012; US$ 12.00
He's a hiring partner at one of the world's largest law firms. Brilliant yet ruthless, he has little patience for associates who leave the office before midnight or steal candy from the bowl on his secretary's desk. He hates holidays and paralegals. And he's just started a web-blog to tell the world about what life is really like at the top of his... more...
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Germany's high court today has upheld the country's law governing genetically modified (GM) crops. The law, originally passed in 2004 and modified slightly in 2008, holds farmers—and researchers—who plant GM crops liable for any pollen that escapes to neighbors' fields and makes any crops contaminated this way unmarketable as GM-free. It also requires a buffer zone between GM and conventional crops, and it mandates a public database that includes the locations of all GM plantings.
The German state of Saxony-Anhalt challenged the law's compatibility with Germany's Basic Law (the country's constitution), claiming it unduly limited farmers' "professional freedom," and that the database was an invitation to anti-GM activists to destroy crops. It also argued that the law turned any field trials of GM crops into an "incalculable economic risk" for seed companies.
But the national high court's ruling came down firmly on the side of the law's restrictions. "With the possibility to deliberately make changes in the genome, genetic engineering influences the elementary structures of life," the court wrote. "The consequences of such interventions can be, if any, difficult to undo."
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You might like
A tooth (plural teeth) is a mignonne, calcified, whitish form found in the jaws (or mouths) of multitudinous vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also exercise teeth in behalf of hunting or in place of defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are covered by gums. Teeth are not made of bone, but to a certain extent of multiple tissues of varying density and hardness.
The unrestricted make-up of teeth is similar across the vertebrates, although there is of distinction modulation in their shape and position. The teeth of mammals drink profound roots, and this design is also create in some fish, and in crocodilians. In most teleost fish, regardless how, the teeth are fastened to the outer rise of the bone, while in lizards they are fond of to the inner come up of the jaw alongside harmonious side. In cartilaginous fish, such as sharks, the teeth are attached by means of cold ligaments to the hoops of cartilage that accumulate the jaw.
4 weeks ago.
super song da!
3 months ago.
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South America Yacht Charters
reveal the lush landscapes and variety of sailing adventures native to the continent. Rio de Janeiro hosts several yacht clubs, one restricted. Cabo Frio is regarded highly by worldwide adventure-seekers, with white sand beaches, varied flora and fauna, and deep water for swimming and diving. Salvador de Bahia holds several regattas. Angra Dos Reis has chartering for sportfishing, honeymoons, snorkeling, and beginners’ scuba diving. Venezuelan yacht charters visit the archipelago of Los Roques, designated as a national marine park, little known and sizable for the Caribbean. Los Roques is protected by an immense barrier reef, producing smooth sailing in calm bays with 500 species of fish and many watersports opportunities. 600 miles from Ecuador lie the Galapagos Islands, where one-week yacht tours are common. Look out for the sea lions, penguins, and turtles in the water as you swim or snorkel! Yacht charters cater to experienced divers, stargazers, and whale watchers. Yachting around southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn is popular for 1-2 week excursions. Care is needed in sailing, for water currents are strong and storms rage. Tierra del Fuego boasts of fjords that look like glass, thick green forests, and specific glacier trips. Southernmost Cape Horn is where large birds, giant petrels, native steamer ducks, seals, and orcas can be spotted during cruising. The yachting season varies in South America from all year to October-May in the south.
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Recycling is one of the old-fashioned and modern ideas of the century.
People in the 1920’s were not so concerned about recycling for the betterment of a greener earth, they simply didn’t know where their next meal or container would come from so they cleaned, reused, and recycled everything they could. When times were better it was a sign of wealth to be able to throw things away without having to scrimp and save every little tatter of material or cola bottles. As 2020 approaches we again are looking for new and innovative ways to clean, reuse, and recycle rather than sending useful articles to the overfilled landfills around the world. Tired of paper or plastic grocery bags? Carry reusable canvas bags for groceries and other shopping. Want to make sure the stores know the bag is yours? Have your picture or a picture of your family right on the bag. That’s right! Use a digital photo to make a Photo on Canvas to sew on the front of your bag!
Canvas bags are durable and having a personal Photo on Canvas sewn to your tote is a sign of artistic value in the art of reusing, recycling, and making the world a greener place for our children and their children to come!
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- Post 06 February 2013
- By Special to the Daily World
- Hits: 209
At Monday's regularly scheduled meeting of the Atlanta City Council, the body voted to approve legislation mandating the use of carbon monoxide detectors in public buildings (legislative reference no. 12-O-1825).
Public Safety Committee Chair and Post 1 At-Large Councilmember Michael Julian Bond pushed for passage of the legislation following the carbon monoxide scare at Finch Elementary School last year.
"This legislation protects our children. We have no higher duty than to ensure their safety, and this legislation does that," said Bond. "Not only will every school and public building in the city now be outfitted with the necessary carbon monoxide detectors, but we have now developed consistent procedures across the city for regularly inspecting this equipment."
Under the new legislation, every public building under the jurisdiction of the City of Atlanta must be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors and warning equipment effective July 1. This equipment will be monitored and inspected regularly to ensure proper maintenance in accordance with regulations established by Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
Exposure to carbon monoxide, which is colorless and odorless, can cause serious harm including headache, dizziness, nausea, chest pain, confusion, and at high levels, loss of consciousness and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, every year more than 400 Americans die from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, with more than 20,000 requiring a trip to the emergency room.
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|Camp Kesem is a FREE college student run summer camp that serves the special needs of children with a parent who has (or has had) cancer. Our one-week sleep away camps provide the unique opportunity for kids ages 6-16 to develop friendships with peers facing similar challenges, in a safe place, away from the stress and fear cancer has brought into their lives. At Camp Kesem, everything we do is focused on our goal of giving campers a fun-filled week while providing the extra support
and attention that they need.Camp Kesem is a growing national 501(c)3 non-profit organization created by the efforts of volunteer college student leaders who work throughout the year to fund, manage, and run every aspect of their camp.With over ten years of success and growth, Camp Kesem is now on 41 college campuses in 23 states across the US. Camp Kesem UC Davis is the only chapter serving families in the great Sacramento and Davis region.
Our mission is two-fold:
- To provide kids whose parents have or have had cancer with a summer camp experience that gives them a chance to be kids
- To allow college students to channel their passion for making a difference, while developing critical leadership skills for long term social impact
There are over 1.7 million cancer cases a year in the United States that affect individuals and their families. While the support is there for adults, the special emotional needs of the children of adult cancer patients are often overlooked. Simply put: Kids are often left to deal with these personal tragedies on their own; and if parents themselves are struggling with illness, their sons and daughters frequently miss the simple joys of childhood. Children suffer from isolation, fear, and depression, which negatively impact their academic and social success for years to come.
Stories From The Local Community
Camp Kesem UC Davis is a magical experience that has touched the lives of many children in the Davis region. The Hebrew word kesem, means magic, which perfectly describes what our organization is all about. Maddie Merwin knew from the age of two what it means when someone in the family is ill. Maddie’s older brother had a severe disability and for ten years, Maddie saw her brother struggle to thrive and learn, saw her family battle for his treatments and saw her own courage grow. When her brother was bullied at school, Maddie was there for him, standing up to bullies twice her size. When Maddie’s mom was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, Maddie wanted to be brave again, but this time, Maddie needed someone to be there for her. At the first Cabin Chat at Camp Kesem, Maddie let her counselors and fellow campers stand with her and give her the support she needed to talk and laugh and cry in the face of another illness in her family. The Hebrew word kesem means magic, and that’s what Camp Kesem is for Maddie – a magic place where she doesn’t have to be brave, she can just be a kid.
Camp Kesem provides an essential need in the greater Sacramento and Davis region. At Camp Kesem we create a support system where children have the opportunity to make friends with peers facing similar challenges. Children gain a feeling of independence, build confidence and after a fun-filled week they become part of the magical spirit of camp that leaves campers waiting impatiently for next year’s camp. Children leave camp with a support network that gives them strength to deal with their parent’s illness or untimely death from cancer – truly a gift that lasts far beyond their week at camp. Camp Kesem is free for our families, as many tell us they would not have been able to afford camp due to the additional financial burden of cancer treatment.
Camp Kesem UC Davis 2013
- The 9th session of Camp Kesem UC Davis will be held
June 16, 2013 to June 22, 2013.
- Camp Kesem UC Davis will open its doors to 100 children regardless of race, religion or background!
- To send these children and our volunteer counseling staff to camp, Camp Kesem UC Davis an annual budget of $60,000.
INTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR FOR CAMP KESEM UC DAVIS?
Contact our Marketing Coordinator, Richard Yu at firstname.lastname@example.org or (650) 450 – 3157
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- Country Profiles
- About TRIP
In October 2010, the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative was launched in the EU to promote European approach to innovation. In line with the principles of this flagship initiative, Maltese Authorities decided to dedicate efforts to support knowledge generation and the transfer of ideas and research results to innovative products and services.
Intermediate targets, trajectories and monitoring mechanisms are defined through the new National Strategic Research and Innovation Plan 2011–2020. The new draft of this document was launched for public consultation in January 2012 by the Malta Council for Science & Technology. The Plan incorporates policy developments in other thematic areas and policy developments at national, European and international level. It emphasises innovation, framework conditions, societal challenges and the involvement of all actors. This strategy has identified four priority areas, which were designated to be platforms of strategic importance. These include:
The Malta Council for Science and Technology is responsible for research policy, promoting scientific research, and managing local research funding programme. The Council is the national contact point for the EU Research Framework Programme (FP).
Transport research is addressed in these multidisciplinary areas and also in the bottom-up research programmes and policy priorities established by the national authorities responsible for transport.
Transport Malta is responsible for developing the transport system but has not as yet compiled a full transport strategy. Current policies in public transport, maritime transport and aviation are provided by the relevant previous authorities. For instance, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Communications prepared the document Public transport in Malta - A vision for Public Transport which fulfils the public interest in the context of environmental sustainability’ on October 2008.
In 2009, Transport Malta took over from the Malta Maritime Authority, the Malta Transport Authority and the Department of Civil Aviation to bring waterborne, urban and maritime transport under one public body. The organisation is responsible for developing integrated transport policies, developing an efficient transport system for the islands of Malta, and providing an effective regulatory framework for land transport. Transport Malta is financially independent of the Government.
The research funding, including transport research, is provided by two national funding bodies and their most relevant programmes:
National funding presently focused on funding research projects between € 50,000 and € 200,000 concentrating on technology transfer between university and industry focusing on the four priority sectors identified in the National R&I Strategy.
Malta Enterprise is responsible for promoting foreign investment and industrial development in Malta. It is entrusted by the Managing Authority for Structural Funds for administering six European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant Schemes, two of which are directly related to research and innovation.
Organisations responsible for the institutional framework and funding:
There are several thematic programmes, which are funding research on transport related topics. For more detailed descriptions, please follow the links below.
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A month before Eugene Williams died in his sleeping bag in the East Anchorage woods, he had a place of his own with cable, a little kitchen and a landlady who did his laundry and gave him rides.
After she told him he couldn't bring his drinking buddies around anymore, he left the security of his $495-a-month room for life outdoors. On July 7, he asked his landlady to drop him off at the Cook Inlet Tribal Council building near the intersection of Bragaw Street and DeBarr Road. He made a little camp nearby.
His body was found there Aug. 9 -- an empty liquor bottle on the ground beside him and prescription medication in his backpack.
Williams was the 10th person familiar with life on Anchorage streets to die outdoors this spring and summer, most in parks and woods. Two more soon followed. Seven of the 12 were Alaska Native. The oldest was Williams, who was 69; the youngest was Elouise Okakok, just 25 and the only woman among the dead.
The string of homeless deaths has alarmed street people, their advocates and the general public. It's unusual for so many to die outdoors in Anchorage during good weather.
What's killing Anchorage's homeless?
For some, police say it's pretty clear what happened. The first, Stanley Ivey, died from hypothermia, they say. His body was found in the Chester Creek greenbelt May 7 during spring cleanup; while the days were warm, the temperatures dipped below freezing at night in that part of town.
James Lockery was stomped and beaten to death, police say. Douglas Friday was hit by a truck. Danny Wright drowned in Campbell Creek.
Wright had been drinking. A lot.
The common thread is a well-known suspect: alcohol. Four died, at least in part, because of the ravages of hard drinking; the number may grow when all the investigations are complete.
"I think the tragic truth is that in most of the cases, their lifestyle -- they are pretty much killing themselves through their lifestyle and their choices," said Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz, head of the Anchorage Police Department homicide unit.
The city's homeless alcoholics are struggling with a complicated disease and can't see the consequences of their actions, said Melinda Freemon, director of the Homeward Bound residential program that helps them get off the streets. Many are in emotional tatters. They can't think beyond getting the next bottle of booze, the next meal, a place to camp.
Freemon says they are dying because of the "long-term health effects of chronic alcoholism ... the cumulative effect of years of living in unsafe conditions."
Anchorage, she said, is sorely lacking in help. People must wait months for a treatment bed. The number of detox spots in the area has dropped from 35 to 10.
"You recognize they are fighting with demons that perhaps none of us see or know or understand," said police Lt. Dave Parker.
RUMORS ON THE STREET
Some people have trouble with that answer. The police have heard the conspiracy theories, that maybe a serial murderer is targeting Anchorage's homeless. But Markiewicz and others say there's no evidence of anything like that.
"We are police officers and we are suspicious by nature," the sergeant said. "Especially if you are in homicide, you don't take things at face value. You examine things."
Asked about the possibility of something sinister happening, Dr. Katherine Raven, the state's new chief medical examiner, said "there's no indication of that whatsoever."
The detective who has taken the lead on most of the homeless death investigations also is new in his job, having started in homicide at the end of April, just days before the string of deaths began. But detective Milton Jakeway's experience stretches back decades, to patrol and, before that, criminal investigations in the Army.
Jakeway and other detectives go to homeless camps. They interview homeless people. They try to figure out how the dead people spent their last days, who they were with, what they did. There have been autopsies for all but the first two deaths, toxicology tests for all. An investigator with the medical examiner's office went to every scene too.
Still, it can be a challenge.
Raven, who started work June 1, heard about the rash of homeless deaths right away. And she put in place new policies: autopsies of anyone who dies outdoors, and personal contact between her office and the families. Before she started, the office was down to one pathologist.
Out on the street, the homeless have their own theories. Some talk about "a helping hand."
"From what I was hearing when I was on the streets, there was a person, a guy, offering people open vodka and having turpentine in there, you know, some kind of poison," said Arlene Oscar, 46, who is now at Homeward Bound. A friend told her, don't accept any open bottle from someone you don't know. Don't scrounge around for almost-empties on the street, either.
"I'm not going to lie. I did that," Oscar said. But not this summer.
The police said they hadn't heard the turpentine theory but doubt it could be true. It would taste bad and it would burn, really burn, going down.
Raven, who has performed 4,000 autopsies in her career, said she's never seen a case of death by turpentine but believes there would be physical signs, including smell and damage to the esophagus or stomach.
Homeless deaths are common, she said. She's seen many in previous jobs in Reno and in Seattle. There, illegal drugs were more often a factor but otherwise the deaths are not much different, she said.
"It's a huge population out there that's dying before they should."
NO SIGN OF POISON
Toxicology tests were done on all the Anchorage homeless who died this spring and summer to look for alcohol and various drugs including prescription painkillers, over-the-counter medication such as Benadryl and common drugs of abuse like cocaine. In a number of the cases, expanded tests looked for hundreds of medications, Raven said.
But even the expanded tests don't routinely look for poisons, because there are so many and there was no reason to go down that path. A poisoned victim would likely writhe in pain or vomit. An autopsy would find internal irritation or hemorrhaging. Needle marks might be found. And nothing like that has turned up, Raven said.
Anyway, if someone were poisoning the homeless, it's likely that not all would die and that some would be showing up sick in emergency rooms, Parker said. That's not happening either.
The blood and other samples will be saved for two years in case new information points to the need for further tests, Raven said.
Still, the testing helps explain some of the deaths. Results are in hand for eight, and of those, all but two were above the .08 legal limit for driving. The man with the lowest level, .047, also was taking a prescription psychiatric medicine that police say interacted dangerously with the alcohol.
Four had a blood-alcohol content of .34 or higher, more than four times the legal limit although not necessarily lethal. One was .461, enough to kill most people, according to the medical examiner's office.
Both the police and the medical examiner say they couldn't specify who had what level because of privacy rules.
Still, police acknowledge that one of those with a high level was Wright. He was last seen passed out on an observation platform above Campbell Creek. When he was found dead in the water, he had a cut on his head. Maybe he rolled off and hit his head. Maybe someone hit him. But no one heard any fighting and there was no sign of a struggle, Markiewicz said. His death has been ruled an accidental drowning.
Some of those who died started drinking very young, at age 12 or 14, according to officials at Cook Inlet Tribal Council, where staff knew about half of those who died. Some went through detox and even residential treatment. But recovery is complicated and fraught with relapse. Some had brain injuries from long-ago vehicle crashes and were especially hard to help. A number of those who died had amassed criminal records, largely for petty stuff.
For chronic alcoholics, even a very high level of alcohol may not kill them directly, Raven said.
"Any emergency room physician will say, any police officer will say, that people are walking around at .600s, .700s. They are chronic alcoholics," she said.
But their liver may be diseased. Their heart may give out. Their organs are damaged and they are weak from poor nutrition. In the camps, there's no running water, no way to get clean.
"The people who are drinking themselves to .35 or higher nightly are killing themselves, in a slow way," said Susan Bomalaski, executive director of Catholic Social Services, which runs the Brother Francis Shelter.
Some think that perhaps more are dying outdoors this year because of the warmer-than-usual May and June -- in the past maybe they would have been in a shelter or at a friend's house or have gotten a cheap motel room.
Consider Eugene Williams, who lived in his east side rented room from October to July, said his landlady, Debra Kern. When he wanted to pitch his tent under a tree in the yard this summer, she said sure. But he took it down after one night.
He kept the place clean. He always paid his rent -- Kern said he had a monthly income but she's not sure from what. He made sure he had enough groceries. He loved pork steak and grilled cheese. He also bought liquor, a bottle a day, she said.
On June 7, Kern told Williams he'd have to leave if he kept letting his drinking friends come around. They stopped coming. She told him he could stay. But when the next month's rent was due July 7, he said he'd rather just move on. He mentioned something about a painting job in Seward but Kern suspects that wasn't true. Now, just days after his body was found in the woods, she is torn up over what happened.
"I got sort of close to him," she said. "I just feel so bad. I just think, what if he would have just stayed on, renting. He'd still be alive."
When asked to compare the number of deaths this year to past years, police found they couldn't. No one kept track. Parker is now reviewing old records, working his way through the years. The numbers are small, he said, and no pattern has emerged.
It appears, though, that 2006 was also a big year, with maybe 13 homeless deaths outdoors, many of them in the spring and summer, according to Parker. And that doesn't count homicides or traffic fatalities.
Another count comes from Bean's Cafe, the soup kitchen at the edge of downtown by the Brother Francis Shelter. Its staff posts an ever-growing "In Memoriam" list on the wall for the year. Almost all on it were homeless at one point or another, though the list includes staff and volunteers too. Some died on the streets; others were in hospitals, at home, in hotels, anywhere in Anchorage.
This year may be headed for a record, with 39 homeless or formerly homeless on the list and more than four months to go.
Anchorage police are quick to point out that homeless die on the streets in other cities, and in bigger numbers. On Los Angeles' Skid Row alone, 60 died last year, a big drop from the 94 in 2005, Markiewicz said. Advocates there say a crackdown by police may have just scattered the homeless.
In New York City, 40 die every three months, on average. But many are dying in hospitals and shelters; fewer than half turn up dead outdoors, according to a New York City report.
In San Francisco, with about double Anchorage's population, homeless deaths dropped to 26 last year, way down from in the past, Markiewicz said.
"Anchorage may actually be on the low side," he said.
Still, "it's too many people in too short of a time," said Freemon of Homeward Bound.
'SCARED OF DYING'
Street life itself uses people up, drives them into exhaustion, exposes them to disease and violence.
"There's a lot of beatings, rapes and robberies, out in plain view. In front of everybody," said Betsy Jensen, 38, who got off the streets just weeks ago and now is in Homeward Bound. "Pretty much I see people looking at it as, that's a homeless drunk person, and just drive by or watch it or not even help."
Just recently, police arrested two men for sexually assaulting a homeless woman as she was passed out drunk.
Jensen wonders if a bad person is out there, killing the homeless. But she knows what the drinking does. She said she almost died this summer because of it. She ended up in the hospital, her liver shot.
She was drinking a bottle of vodka a day, trying to numb her grief over the death of her son, Mychael. In November 2007, the 16-year-old somehow went out the window of a fourth-floor condominium in South Anchorage and was found bloody and unconscious outside. He died the next day. Police say there's no evidence he was pushed. His mother is not convinced.
She thinks it's too easy for street people to get lost in the system even when they want help.
But, "it's my fault too," she said. "I chose alcohol over everything else."
It's the same with the only homicide on the list of 12, James Lockery.
Lockery, who wasn't from Alaska but lived here off and on for years, stayed with friends until they had enough of his drinking. Police say he was sleeping in Centennial Park in Northeast Anchorage when two teens attacked and killed him.
Lockery, 37, was close with a circle of Anchorage hunters and fisherman, who included him in their excursions and looked out for him. One friend, Carmen Felix, learned of Lockery's death when he went to the park to check on him and saw police there.
Arlene Oscar, who is trying to get sober through Homeward Bound for the eighth time, said the street deaths this summer got to her.
"Because I'm scared of dying," Oscar said. "I don't want to go like that. I have two sons to think about. I wouldn't want them to see me go like that, especially through alcohol. Having to be ashamed, you know."
Oscar grew up in Bethel with Edwin Wheeler, 45, who was found dead near a picnic table on East 11th Avenue. And she was drinking buddies with another, Douglas Friday, the pedestrian killed Aug. 10 after stepping onto the Old Seward Highway. She thought of him like a little brother.
She said she wants to clean up her life, maybe become a counselor. She knows she made some bad choices.
"I don't expect no pity from nobody," Oscar said.
Geoffrey Scott Humphries, who was found on June 24 dead in a ravine, had tried Homeward Bound too during one of his many stretches of sobriety. He didn't stay in the program.
Humphries, whose family lives in Alabama, had struggled with alcohol since his college days. He had been in and out of treatment, said his father, J.B. Humphries of Mobile.
"There came a point in time when we just had to push him out," his father said. They hoped he would lift himself up. But he hit bottom again and again.
At the last count, in January, Anchorage had about 400 homeless alcoholics and drug users. They represent just a fraction of the city's homeless but are the most visible part. Some of the 400 were doubling up with friends or staying in cheap motels. Most were in shelters. But 52 were sleeping outside in the deep cold of winter.
FRUSTRATION AND SOLUTIONS
The Alaska Native Health Board passed a resolution earlier this month asking Mayor Dan Sullivan to create a task force addressing violence against Alaska Natives. The advocacy group was outraged by the recent case involving a couple accused of beating up a Native man, then posting it on YouTube; by sexual assaults of Native women; by the number of Natives among the homeless dead.
The group "really feels that the violent crimes and the deaths that have happened within Anchorage since May are a grave threat to the health and the welfare of Alaska Native people," said Angel Dotomain, the board president and CEO.
At Cook Inlet Tribal Council, officials are frustrated that shrinking funds for treatment limit options.
The council plans to direct four case managers to spend part of their workday where the homeless are -- at the downtown transit center, in the camps.
RurAL CAP, which runs Homeward Bound, is adding to its growing inventory of housing but says more is needed. Some of its apartments house people who lived on the streets for 10, even 25 years, Freemon said.
"They are thriving!" Freemon said. "And I don't mean just doing well. I mean thriving in that rental, that apartment."
Catholic Social Services is adding housing too, for when people leave Brother Francis.
"I'm just convinced there's more we can do, a way to reach out, and I don't know what it is," Bomalaski said, kicking a patch of gravel outside the shelter in frustration.
For Elouise Okakok, help was one day late.
She had been staying at Brother Francis, not drinking much, but had used up her allowed 30 days at the shelter. The night before she died, she was on the streets, sharing a bottle.
She was set to start at Homeward Bound the next day, on Aug. 7, said her boyfriend, Edwin Peterson, 32.
"We just wanted to get off the streets so we could get a job, get a place of our own," he said.
That night, they split a half gallon of Monarch vodka with a friend, then fell asleep in Earl and Muriel King Park, at the edge of downtown, he said. In the morning, Peterson said, he woke up and she didn't.
Neighbors heard him yelling her name. Police questioned him but say there was no evidence of foul play.
If the staff at Brother Francis had known she was trying to straighten her life out, they could have extended her stay. But the couple never mentioned it, Peterson said.
After a memorial service for Okakok at Bean's Cafe a couple of weeks back, Peterson slipped into the Homeward Bound van. He is trying to do alone what they set out to do together. As the van drove away, he left the old crowd behind.
Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.
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