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The First Cut: Low P/E Relative
by John Bajkowski
The price-earnings ratio (P/E), or earnings multiple, is one of the most popular measures of company value. Value investors analyze companies with low price-earnings ratios hoping to find stocks mispriced because of market neglect or overreaction to bad news.
In this article
Share this article
The P/E relative is often used to judge whether a companys price-earnings ratio has strayed too far from its normal range.
To read more, please become an AAII member or CLICK HERE.
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Sweden is about the size of California. Its population is roughly that of North Carolina. So the question is whether Sweden represents a unique music market way over there, or a first mover that predicts the future for the rest of the world.
And, if Sweden is what the world looks like tomorrow, is that good for the music industry? Or, a huge problem for anyone that isn't a huge label, huge stakeholder, or fan?
The latest stats from Swedish recording group GLC tell quite a story. Most notably, the group found that streaming revenues now account for 89 percent of total digital music revenues in the country, a ratio that will become increasingy lopsided over time. By comparison, analyst Mark Mulligan found streaming penetration rates in countries (and largest music markets) like the US, UK, and Japan to be significantly lower.
On one level, that means that downloads are an increasingly unimportant source of revenue for Swedish labels and artists (and, Norwegian artists, among other earlier adopters). More accurately, it means that paid downloads are less important in the broader legitimate mix, as a separate study from Lund University shows a continued increase in file-sharing activity in the region.
Overall, streaming pulled revenues of 253 million kronor ($36 million) for the first half, against broader recording revenues of 446 million kronor ($63.5 million). This isn't a difficult trend to analyze.
Written while listening to Obituary, the greatest metal band, ever.
@mattadownes Friday, July 13, 2012
I lived over in Sweden for 6 months a couple years ago when Spotify was peaking. Not one of the musicians I knew was "paying" for Spotify service, they were all using the free version. If they wanted a song or album (that wasn't available on Spotify) they'd use YouTube. The loyalty was in the "free" not Spotify.
HansH Friday, July 13, 2012
If even musicians aren't paying for music....
The loyalty to free sure brings in a lot of money :)
Digitalism Friday, July 13, 2012
Seriously, you talked about "digital news" using an example from "a couple of years ago"?
A couple of years ago there was no Andoriod, and Facebook was smaller than MySpace.
Change, is possible.
Visitor Friday, July 13, 2012
...and the national total revenue for music all music sales is $6.66... in Sweden...
Nu Profile Entertainment Saturday, July 14, 2012
I think that what is going to happen and what we have already seen happen thus far is a requirement of not only the music industry execs but the artists themselves to be more creative and cutting edge about the way that they market music to the public and also where the revenue streams will come from. But as stated in this article Sweden is not exactly the pulse of the world so it remains to be seen how the rest of the world will fall in line as far as digital revenue is concerned.
Misan Monday, July 16, 2012
Source on this study from Lund University on file-sharing?
I can promise you that almost all file-sharing going on here is movies, tv-series etc. Spotify has single-handedly eliminated music piracy here on a broad scale
@wheresalexb Monday, July 16, 2012
I'm Swedish aswell, and I agree with Misan. I have a few friends who still rely on piratebay and other bit-torrent sites for music, but it seems most people have come to consider Spotify a lot more convenient, and I think it might just be a matter of time before music piracy is eliminated here. Spotify was launched in 2008 already, and with digital downloads not doing very well here, there was a huge market to be seized. That in combination with the low price and the huge catalog made it a viable alternative for many, I think.
@visiblemusician Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The world is changing, kids.
@inxu Tuesday, July 17, 2012
This is the future and Sweden shows the way.
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Introducing places of interest: Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
Mt. Fuji Area
This area includes Mt. Fuji, Japan's tallest peak, and is considered one of the preeminent tourism destinations in the country. In addition to mountain climbing, visitors can enjoy camping, fishing, and various other leisure pursuits.
Vicinity of Mt. Fuji (Japan's tallest peak)
Celebrated as Japan's tallest peak (at 3,776 meters above sea level), Mt. Fuji draws approximately 200,000 people every year to its summit during the mountaineering season in July and August. A total of four mountaineering trails have been built from the Shizuoka and Yamanashi sides of the mountain. Each of these trails offers climbers a unique set of experiences. The Fuji-Goko area is also used year-round for boating, summering, leisurely drives, camping, and a host of other activities.
The site of the tenth post station on the fabled Tokaido Highway, the Hakone Area flourished in days of old as an onsen district. The area has seen an increase in the number of visitors from overseas in recent years.
Hiking information: numerous hiking courses
As its geography was formed through extensive volcanic activity, Hakone is the site of numerous older and more recent somma craters and other types of peaks. Since the mountains in this area correspond to relatively low elevations—perhaps due to the effects of intense volcanic activity in the region, there are many mountaineering trails to be found that are ideally suited to novice and intermediate-level climbers. These are popular and used by significant numbers of visitors at all times of the year.
Plants bearing the name of the Hakone region: endemic species of flora
Hakone is home to many plants that bear the name of the Hakone region and that have been designated protected species by the local municipality. Some examples of these species include Tsusiophyllum tanakae Maxim (known in Japanese as Hakone kometsutsuji), Aconitum japonicum var. hakonense, and Aster viscidulus (Makino) Makino (known in Japanese as Hakone giku). Rosa microphylla hirtura (known in Japanese as Hakone bara or sanshobara) has been designated the official flower of Hakone and is the official symbol of the Hakone area.
Wild animals: salamanders living in clear streams
Hakone is also the habitat of the Japanese clawed salamander (known in Japanese as Hakone sanshouo), an endemic species of salamander indigenous to Japan. This species, which can only live in clear mountain streams, has been designated a protected species by the town of Hakone and is also identified as an endangered species in Kanagawa Prefecture's Red Data Book. This matter has become the focus of considerable concern on the part of scientists in recent years.
Izu Peninsula Area
Much of the coastline and the areas through which mountain-ridge roads have been built in the Izu Peninsula lies within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. This area is also referred to as Doro-Koen ("Road Park") due to the exceptionally beautiful scenic views these roads command.
A natural environment with so much to offer
The Izu Peninsula is a region where visitors can enjoy both the mountains and the sea. You are invited to climb Mt. Amagi and other local peaks, go swimming in the ocean, engage in scuba diving, explore the vistas of Tsumekizaki and other seacoast areas, and do so much more. Plenty of acclaimed onsen resorts are also located here. Taking an onsen bath in Izu should be an essential part of any trip to this National Park.
Doro-Koen Park: for driving
One of the great joys of visiting the Izu Peninsula area consists of the landscape that can be seen from the road. Park roads built amid a natural landscape that includes Mt. Fuji, the seacoast, and numerous islands constitute a considerable incentive—along with the ease with which the area can be accessed—inducing travelers to arrive at this location in their family automobiles.
Izu Islands Area
The Izu Island Chain comprises eight islands—namely, from north to south Oshima, Toshima, Niijima, Shikinejima, Kozushima, Miyakejima, Mikurajima, and Hachijojima—and is also famous as a favored destination of diving enthusiasts.
Natural environment and uses: take advantage of a diverse natural environment
With its warm climate, tropical-like natural landscape, points of historical interest, and settings ideally suited to hiking, sea bathing, and other recreational pursuits, the Izu Islands are a popular destination. Many visitors also flock here to spot interesting wild birds and go whale watching. According to surveys conducted by the Ministry of the Environment, the area also accounts for approximately 8 percent of all domestic giant trees and about one half of all domestic pasania trees.
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The Weekly Dream: Who Do Men Say I Am?
“Reputation is the coin of the realm and the cornerstone of power.”
“A bad conscience is to be beared before a bad reputation”
Question of the Week: Are you a prisoner of your reputation? How did you build your reputation and what is it for?
Growing up, everyone was known for something. You were either popular or you were not. You were cool or you were a square. You were smart or you were dumb. Looking back, we learned to label others and treat them accordingly. However, we were also keenly aware of the effect the opinion of others had upon us. Like gravity, we learned to function under the tremendous weight of conforming to the opinions of others or at least having a desirable reputation. This peer pressure may have relented as we became adults, only to be replaced by the stress of conforming to corporate cultures and the like. Which leads to the question: How do we manage our reputation and what goes into it? In what ways does it empower or shackle us?
The Fat Girl at Prom
I remember a conversation I had with my father when I was in the fifth grade. After months of being teased by the “cool kids” in class, I was complaining to him that I did not want to be smart anymore, I wanted to be popular instead. I was and still am, a bit of a nerd growing up and I knew I was not like my classmates. My dad responded to me that it did not matter what they thought, and just because you are popular now does not mean you stay popular. I thought, that is all fine and good, but how is it gonna keep me from getting teased tomorrow.
Consequently, I grew up not caring what people thought about me, since I knew how fickle public opinion could be. Plus, the expectations of others became more of an annoyance than anything. I watched others who let their lives become dominated by the opinion of others. Yet, what I failed to realize is that even though I did not care, that attitude helped cultivate a reputation of arrogance and insolence. Talk about a Catch 22-can’t win for losing.
The Pin and Fork
Reputation is basically the general opinion and attitude towards a person or organization. Reputation serves as an important signal to others as to how to act, who to associate with and it also sets expectations. Normally, these expectations are set against a backdrop of norms and standards not of our own creation, and our representation is like our report card in carrying out these standards. Like your word, it is one of the bare bone things you have control over. And whether you like it or not, everyone gets one. It is the price you pay for being a social creature in society. If you know someone has a reputation as a gossip that lets you know not to tell them any of your business. In the business world, your credit score is viewed as a signal of your reputation for integrity. Those with good credit have good business reps. Those with bad credit, have bad business reps, and get treated accordingly. Thus, it behooves us to keep one eye on our reputation.
But in a sense, reputation is not fair. As I mentioned, reputation is closely related to expectations and external standards. Take the double standards associated with men and women. It used to be and still kind of is, if a woman messed around with a lot of guys, she was not someone you took home to your mother. But if a guy did it, he was a Ladies Man. As a result, an inordinate amount of stress has been traditionally placed on women to act and behave a certain way.
Furthermore, reputation is often divorced completely from the truth. Like a bad game of Telephone, how you really are is often ovrshadowed by your reputation. And how you see yourself is often different also. Let’s try an experiment. Write down a description of yourself. Then, ask people who hardly know you, those who are acquainted with you and your intimates to describe you and see if it is in line with your description.
Does It Really Matter?
I believe reputation is a tool and should be used as such. It is an imperfect signal. Just as a business card cannot really capture what you do at work, reputation cannot really convey your essence. It can serve as a useful deterrent or attractor, depending upon your purpose, thus saving you a tremendous amount of time, energy and resources.
A story will relay the point. Jesus was alone with His disciples and He asked them a series of questions. He first asked them who did men say He was. The disciples said things like Moses, Elijah, a prophet and all other sorts of stories. Then He asked them who did they think He was, and only Peter said the Christ.
Reputation is just the top layer, although an important layer.
However, it can never capture the real you. So don’t be obsessed with something that is based on something as fickle as public opinion.
Who men say you are is not as important as who you say you are. Define yourself and let the world catch up.
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Nigerian Roman Catholic Archbishop John Onaiyekan, on a visit to Kenya, said the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency is as rooted in bad governance as much as in its push for Islamic sharia law.
Nairobi, Kenya; and Kano, Nigeria
But look beneath the surface, says Nigerian Roman Catholic Archbishop John Onaiyekan in a recent visit to Nairobi, and you find that the crisis is “not purely religious.”
In Nigeria’s “winner take all” political culture, the archbishop said, where the country’s political elites from a number of regions, religions, and ethnicities compete for power and the control of oil resources, militant groups serve as a kind of pressuring mechanism for achieving what cannot be achieved in elections, in parliament, or in backroom deals. Far from uplifting the entire populace, oil wealth has remained in the hands of a very powerful few, creating economic and social inequality for those regions – such as the Islamic north and the oil-producing but poor Niger Delta region – who are left out of the power balance.
So when Boko Haram targets Christian churches or Western-model schools, they aren’t doing so out of mere hatred of Christianity or the West. They are doing this for much more basic reasons, to protest the north’s feeling of being excluded from power.
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HP and Shell are working together to re-purpose HP’s MEMS technology for use in oil drilling and exploration (Drilling with print heads: Shell and HP develop seismic sensor system – 15/02/2010 – Computer Weekly).
“These MEMS devices have been developed to take electrical signals and convert them to ink droplets,” said Rich Duncombe, distinguished technologist at HP’s Technology Development Organisation. “Just as in the semiconductor industry, the device can be used for another function.”
As a bonus for anyone even thinking about attending MEMS Executive Congress™ 2010, HP’s Rich Duncombe is confirmed as a keynote speaker. MIG is honored to have Mr. Duncombe as a keynote and we can’t wait to hear all about what HP’s up to in MEMS beyond the inkjet printhead. (For more information, the official MEMS Executive Congress™ website, www.memscongress.com, will launch very soon with details about this year’s event.)
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Editor’s note: With news of Steve Jobs’ passing on Oct. 5, we thought it was appropriate to republish this story, written when he resigned as CEO of Apple.
Steve Jobs resigned Wednesday as CEO of Apple Inc., but his legacy will be felt in the news industry for years to come.
In the past five years, Jobs’ Apple has simultaneously disrupted, transformed and aided the news industry.
It created or at least defined almost every aspect of mobile consumer technology that is now part of media’s future and its fastest-growing segment. The iPhone and iPad created inescapable trends. They were not just devices but whole new product categories and new content economies.
The iPhone was not the first smartphone. But it was the first to employ a full-face touchscreen, to decide finger taps and swipes were better than buttons, and to unleash the enormous power of third-party apps. Its largest competitors — Android and BlackBerry — have largely followed Apple’s lead in their devices and software.
The iPad was in some ways less new; it borrowed the same operating system and app environment from the iPhone. But in other ways it was entirely different — a whole new category of product between phones and laptops.
The iPad has proven to be an ideal device for long reading sessions, often at home during leisure time. As such, it is competing with print products that had served that purpose, while also offering new long-term hope of a digital transition for publishers.
Most media companies have had to bend to the market created by Apple, as 88 percent of national U.S. newspapers have an iPhone app, and most that don’t already have an iPad app are probably planning on one.
Jobs not only influenced news publishing indirectly, he also worked with publishers directly. With the debut of the iPad in 2010, Jobs personally met with executives from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and perhaps others.
Jobs featured The New York Times in his keynote speech debuting the iPad, but was later critical of its first app, which featured a limited “editor’s choice” of stories. Jobs planned to join Rupert Murdoch on stage for the launch of The Daily this year, but illness prevented that. He did attend an earlier News Corp. corporate retreat to discuss media-built iPad apps and called the Wall Street Journal’s iPad app slow and clunky.
The criticism may have hurt some feelings, but it also showed how much Jobs cared. Here was the CEO of Apple, not a vice president or media liaison, meeting personally with news industry leaders and urging them to create the best possible experience for this new device.
If you take him at his word, Jobs cares hugely about preserving journalism for journalism’s sake.
“Anything that we can do to help The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal find new ways of expression so they can afford to get paid, so they can afford to keep their editorial operations intact, I’m all for it,” he said at a 2010 conference.
A source told The New York Times ahead of the iPad launch that Jobs “believes democracy is hinged on a free press and that depends on there being a professional press.”
In return, much of the mainstream press took an optimistic liking to Jobs. Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer once called Jobs a “once-in-a-century” innovator comparable to Thomas Edison. Jobs noted in one of his own keynotes an admiring quote from Murdoch: “Here we have the man who invented the personal computer, then the laptop. He’s now destroying them. That is an amazing life.”
For as many products as Jobs helped invent at Apple, he had even more quotable public statements about innovation. A few stick out today as relevant to what people in news organizations are going through.
This, from Fortune Magazine in 1998:
“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”
On the same theme, Jobs said this to BusinessWeek in 2004:
“Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.
“And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”
And in 1999, as Apple was still trying to recover from its struggles of the 1990s, Jobs said something about the way forward that applies today for newspapers and other legacy media companies.
“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”
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The Norman House
1180AD - 1180AD
In a city as ancient and rich in heritage as York, the remains of any building that claims to be the oldest of its kind are always impressive. The two surviving walls of York’s oldest house were discovered just behind Stonegate in 1939.
We know that this building used to be a house because the windows were unglazed. Instead, the inhabitants used shutters with a metal bar across for safety. Also, archaeologists found a rare gem on this site- a medieval toilet!
Originally there would have been a large hall on the first floor which would have been used as living quarters. You can see where the floor level was in the line of red stone that remains on the right hand wall. An undercroft below would have been used for storage.
The significance of this site is huge; it is the only remaining example in York of Norman domestic stonework that survives in its original location. This house was built between 1170-1180. In this period, the wealthy were building in stone on a scale unseen before. Stone was at the head of the building material hierarchy, being the most expensive. As it is often said, ‘stone meant status’.
Although construction in stone increased throughout this period, the vast majority of urban dwellings would have still been built in timber, and so considerably sized stone houses such as this would have stood out as grand, impressive buildings belonging to an individual of some status.
The owners of this house were probably always members of the church, at least in the 14th century it was owned by a senior member of the clergy. Its position near the minster and on an important street such as Stonegate also supports this.
The nearest surviving counterpart to the Norman House is that of the so-called ‘Jew’s House’ on The Strait in Lincoln. The surviving window of the Norman House is almost identical to that in Lincoln, and both houses were built at the same time. As with many stone houses that remain, the Lincolnshire house has been linked to Jewish ownership. We have records in York too of such grand houses belonging to the leading Jews Benedict and Joceus at this time.
Other survivals of Norman domestic architecture in York are the remains of a window frame stored in the Hospitium in the Museum Gardens, or the columns standing in the entrance to Grey’s Court.
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articles, opinions, and research about teaching and learning
Revisiting Education for All
Mr. Sheldon Shaeffer
Question: What do you think have been the main advances in education since the EFA Jomtien meeting in Thailand in 1990?
Answer: A host of innovative approaches to increasing access and improving quality -- from clusters to multi-grade teaching, community schools to life skills, from stronger parent-community mechanisms to girls' education initiatives.
Q: What is a significant change in the new Dakar EFA declaration compared to 10 years ago?
A: A framework which promotes an "expanded vision" of quality -- which includes quality not only of teaching and content, materials and outcomes, but also of the learners themselves (with implications for early childhood care and child health and nutrition) and of the learning environment (related to the health, safety, and protectiveness of the school). Also, a stronger focus on the education of girls, to ensure their equal access to, and achievement in, education.
Q: What are the main outcomes which UNICEF wants to see from the World Education Forum in Dakar?
A: First, all young children must be ready for school and for life that from birth they are nurtured in safe, caring, and gender-sensitive environments that help them become healthy, alert, secure, and able to learn. Nations must promote more comprehensive policies and programmes to meet the health, nutrition, and development needs of young children, especially the most excluded.
Secondly, the right of every child to basic education must be fulfilled. All children must have access to school and be able to stay there, in order to achieve basic education. There must be good quality "second chance" education for adolescents and youth who have never been in school. There should be a focus on the needs of those most disadvantaged and excluded from learning, both in and out of school girls, working children, children of ethnic minorities, and children affected by violence and conflict, HIV/AIDS and disabilities.
Thirdly, we must put a special focus on girls. It is a global shame that two thirds of those children out of school are girls. If this problem is not addressed, Education For All will surely fail. Girls must have full and equal access to, and achievement in, basic and secondary education. Denying girls basic education is a massive violation of human rights. Accelerated basic education must be strengthened, and additional education opportunities provided for adolescent girls. All forms of gender discrimination in education systems and schools, in curricula and learning materials, in teaching and learning processes must be eliminated. Schools must be located where girls can reach them safely and every school must have separate and functioning latrines for girls and boys.
Quality basic education is a necessity. Learners must be healthy, well-nourished, and ready to learn where necessary, through child care and pre-school programmes of good quality. Systems must provide relevant curricula and learning materials which are gender-sensitive and in languages that teachers and children can understand, for literacy, numeracy, and relevant content on human rights, gender equality, health, HIV/AIDS, and peace. Teachers must be well-trained to use flexible classroom arrangements and child-centred methods, so that children can participate actively and think critically.
Schools must have adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities and school policies which guarantee physical and mental health, safety, and security. Above all, children must end up learning what they are meant to, and need to, learn. Schools must have practical ways to assess these results and report on them for all to see: parents and communities, as well as national governments. Both new and old technologies, such as Internet connectivity and radio instruction, must be used more creatively to reduce, rather than increase, disparities in access to quality learning.
In situations of conflict, violence, and instability, learning must be re-started quickly. This requires the ability to rapidly assess educational and psycho-social needs of children, provide essential supplies and materials, promote local governance and partnerships in restoring education, and support relevant and rapid curriculum and teacher development. Children affected by HIV/AIDS deserve immediate attention. Systems must ensure creative and dynamic life-skills programmes which both transmit information and change behavior, so that education has an impact on the pandemic on decreasing the rate of the transmission of the virus. Education systems must also act to decrease the impact of the pandemic on education on the demand for, supply of, and quality of education and on educational systems, schools, and learning.
Q: What does this mean for teachers?
Explore Ideas ·
Discuss Issues ·
Last revised May 1, 2000
Copyright © UNICEF
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I had a boss once to whom loyalty was a key to whether or not staff were good and should be retained, promoted, involved in initiatives, etc. If the staff were loyal to clients or to a goal or cause, that wasn’t good enough – they had to be personally loyal, to him. When I submitted my resignation to him, I told him about some of my concerns regarding the leadership and management of the organisation. He never spoke to me again, because I was ‘disloyal’ and ‘ungrateful.’ But the fact is, I was deeply loyal to the cause of the organisation and its clients and seeing results improved and furthered.
It was with some satisfaction, then, that as I was working through Edgar Schein’s Organizational Culture and Leadership (2010), I read of some key aspects of Apple’s culture from the early 90s that were clearly re-established when Jobs returned to the company.
Schein worked with Apple line managers and human resources personnel in the early 90s to decipher Apple culture. Among their conclusions was the governing assumption that “Task accomplishment is more important than the process used or the relationships formed” (you’ll find the quote on p. 337). That is, people were loyal to and excited about the task, not the relationships or methods as a rule. Apple even had (probably still has) an explicit mutual “no loyalty contract”, whereby the company did not owe loyalty to staff if there were hard decisions to be made, nor, if staff found greener pastures, did they owe loyalty to the company by remaining.
If you think about leadership and organisations on a broader scale, the world’s greatest despots had tremendously loyal followers and servants: Hitler, Mussolini, Gaddafi. The list goes on. So too, have some of the world’s greats. But dictators and manipulators tend to put personal loyalty above loyalty to the cause. Then, if disagreement comes, you are not being ‘loyal.’ We know that gangs work on this same mentality: it’s about the gang, not about you. People can equally be loyal to the most foolish of causes.
Regular readers know that I place a high value on leaders and organisations treating their staff well. I contend that it’s part of an implied social contract and the contract of leadership. Demanding loyalty without thought and ethic is, however, irrational at best, despotic at worst.
So remove loyalty from your list of virtues. It won’t guarantee results. It has its place, but is subordinate to other true virtues for both followers and leaders.
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Mexico City International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México or AICM), also called Benito Juárez International Airport is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is Mexico's busiest airport by both passenger traffic and aircraft movements. Although this was not its official name for several decades, it was formally named after the 19th century president Benito Juárez in 2006, and is Mexico's main international and domestic gateway. In recent years Toluca airport has become an alternate airport.
This hot and high airport offers direct flights to more than 100 destinations worldwide. In 2009, the airport served 24,243,056 passengers, a decrease of 7.5% compared with 2008, who received 26,210,217. This modest decline was mainly due to the global financial crisis and the outbreak of influenza. In optimal conditions, and with the current renovations and expansion projects completed, the Benito Juárez airport will be able to handle up to 32 million passengers per year.. It provides non-stop services from Mexico City to North America, Central America and Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia (Aeromexico is the only airline that flies to Asia from Mexico City).
As the main hub for Mexico's largest airline Aeroméxico and a secondary hub for its subsidiary Aeroméxico Connect, the airport has become a SkyTeam hub. It is also a hub for Interjet and a focus city for VivaAerobus.
In 2009, Mexico City International Airport was Latin America's busiest airport by passenger traffic and aircraft movements. Currently is the second busiest airport by passenger traffic after Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. The airport houses a wide variety of lodging options for its passengers, including hotels inside Terminal 1 (the Hilton Hotel, the Camino Real, and the Fiesta Inn), also a NH Hotel at Terminal 2.
Facts about flying to Mexico City
It takes approximately 11 hours 15 minutes to fly to Mexico City from the UK.
The IATA airport code for Mexico City Airport is MEX. This will appear on your ticket.
The average temperature of Mexico City in July is 18°C.
Airlines that fly to Mexico City include KLM, Iberia, British Airways, bmi, Virgin Atlantic - and you can book them all at discounted prices with us.
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Al-Anon: Support for The Family of a Drinker
Al-Anon is strength, hope, and support for family and friends of a problem drinker. Whether you're growing up (Alateen) in a family with a problem drinker, have a spouse, friend or loved one who is a problem drinker, or you grew up with a problem drinker, Al-Anon meetings may help. The focus of Al-Anon meetings is not on the alcoholic in your life. The focus is on you.
Brief History of Al-Anon
As Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), traveled the country, he found there were groups of family and friends (Family Groups") of alcoholics meeting for support. He suggested to his wife, Lois B. that she create a similar 12-step program for the friends and family of alcoholics.
In 1951, Lois and Anne contacted 87 of the family groups who had previously written to AA. Forty-eight of the groups replied, forming Al-Anon. Alateen--support groups for teenagers of alcoholics--was formed in 1962. Today there are over 29,000 Ala-Anon/Alateen groups with 387,000 members in 115 countries.
Is Al-Anon for me?
On their website, Al-Anon asks you to answer these questions if you're considering attending a meeting.
- Do you worry about how much someone else's drinking?
- Do you have money problems because of someone else's drinking?
- Do you tell lies to cover up for someone else's drinking?
- Do you feel if the drinker loved you, he or she would stop drinking to please you?
- Do you blame the drinker's behavior on his or her companions?
- Are plans frequently upset or canceled or meals delayed because of the drinker?
- Do you make threats, such as, If you don't stop drinking, I'll leave you?
- Do you secretly try to smell the drinker's breath?
- Are you afraid to upset someone for fear it will set off a drinking bout?
- Have you been hurt or embarrassed by a drinker's behavior?
- Are holidays and gatherings spoiled because of drinking?
- Have you considered calling the police for help in fear of abuse?
- Do you search for hidden alcohol?
- Do you often ride in a car with a driver who has been drinking?
- Have you refused social invitations out of fear or anxiety?
- Do you sometimes feel like a failure when you think of the lengths you have gone to in order to control the drinker?
- Do you think that if the drinker stopped drinking, your other problems would be solved?
- Do you ever threaten to hurt yourself to scare the drinker?
- Do you feel angry, confused or depressed most of the time?
- Do you feel there is no one who understands your problems?
What are Al-Anon Meetings Like?
Al-Anon groups are composed of all volunteers. Al-Anon is designed to be a mutual support group where everyone is equal. You can ask questions, but you also don't have to say a word. You don't have to give your name. The group will understand. Everything you say is confidential. Each meeting is different as each group runs their meetings as they see fit--within the guidelines of Al-Anon.
Meetings typically begin with the reading of the Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference, …" As the Al-Anon website states: Your religious beliefs--or lack of them--are not a subject for discussion at Al-Anon meetings, which focus solely on coping with the effects of someone's drinking."
Then the group reads the Twelve Steps. Lastly, someone in the meeting will suggest a topic of conversation. And the discussion will begin.
Al-Anon Members Speak
Here are some comments--pulled from the web--from people who have been in Al-Anon.
"Going through this process to the fullest, really working the program, gets you there so please don't be deterred out of frustration. It will happen and you will move forward. I didn't think I would, and yet here I am. I choose when to think about X, talk about X, and intend to never deal with X again." Alice
"Al-Anon keeps me sane. I continue to attend so I can learn, grow, recover, serve, listen and share my experience, strength and hope. I even continue to make mistakes. After all, my goal is progress, not perfection." Diane B. Michigan
"Al-Anon was not a program for the alcoholic. It was a program for me. During the drinking years, I became ill--full of anger, resentment, and self-pity. I became controlling and unreasonable. Al-Anon helped me change by taking the focus off the alcoholic and putting it on myself." Anonymous from Florida
"I am grateful to Al-Anon for everything it has given me. Some of the oars I have today are certain realizations that I have about me and my own disease. For example, my obsession is really just a mask for my impatience and ego. It comes from my mistaken belief that if I don't fix it, no one will. Al-Anon teaches me I have to ask if what I've been doing really works." Nancy B. Colorado
The purpose of Al-Anon is to provide support for the family of a drinker. Similar in methods to other 12-step groups, Al-Anon members share their stories, support one another, and learn to break free of their pasts.
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There is perhaps no greater web annoyance than a poorly constructed form. Whether they’re clumsy, picky, or just plain confusing, too many forms make submitting data a cumbersome chore. The worst forms transcend mere annoyance and actually drive users crazy (or drive them away alltogether.) The sorry state of web forms need not and should not continue, however, it all begins with knowing why so many are so bad in the first place. Here are 7 form tactics to purge from your website ASAP:
Insisting that passwords have certain characteristics
It’s one thing to require that passwords be more than 3 or 4 characters. It’s even okay to reject obvious passwords like “password.” What’s not okay is forcing annoying requirements on your users, such as making them capitalize the first letter or use at least one number in the password. Even worse is when the form does not state these requirements up-front, allowing the user to set what they believe is a fine password and only telling them after the fact that they need caps or numeric characters. While your goal – keeping your users safe – is noble, going about it in this way serves only to annoy and frustrate them as they try to join your website.
Insisting upon perfect formatting
Ever type your birthdate or credit card number into a form, only to be told that you didn’t use dashes or slashes the way the form wants you to? Weren’t you completely annoyed when you had to go back and fix it before going further? Well, guess what – most of your users feel the same way if your form is doing this or similar things to them. There is simply no excuse for this other than laziness on the part of the website owner. Your users are doing you the favor of trusting you with valuable and sometimes sensitive information. The least you can do is let them give it to you in a way that’s convenient for them.
Vague error messages
Nothing is more frustrating than a form that gives you vague error messages. Just because you were a computer science major doesn’t mean your users are, which means most of them wont have the faintest idea what “could not connect to database” or “fatal submission error” means. Sometimes an error truly is technical and can only be expressed as such. However, when possible, you should make the effort to display errors in ways that are meaningful and intelligable to your audience. Otherwise they might just give up and close the form alltogether.
- Having to re-enter all your data just because you messed one thing up
It’s bad enough to complete an entire form and have to go back because you left something out. (For example, not including a number in your password!) It’s even worse to have to go back and type everything out all over again, just because of the one thing you missed. Not all forms do this, but the fact that some do is another indicator that improvement is needed.
- Poorly coded drop-down menus
Another inexcusable form annoyance is when you click a drop-down menu and it either:
- Doesn’t drop down, or
- Does drop down, but wont let you select any of its choices
This, again, is nothing more than laziness from the programming team or web designer. But it’s far from trivial, for if the user literally cannot select anything from the menu, she is stuck with nowhere to go. Nine times out of ten she will simply close the form and forget about it. Clearly, this is not what you want!
Requiring information that has no business being required
Given the choice, most users wont fill in information they don’t want to give out. Webmasters, in turn, seem to have concluded “well, we’ll just require that information by not letting them submit the form without it!” Unfortunately, this is one instance where the intentions fall far short of the results. People don’t suddenly leap to share information they feel you don’t need just because you put a “Required” asterisk next to the box asking for it. Some will, but most will ditch the form or fill it out with bogus information. Neither does you any good.
- No clear indication that the information was submitted
It’s best to assure users (particularly if your form is long) that the form they just filled out out was successfully submitted. That said, it’s astounding how many forms simply drop users at a blank webpage or some vague message instead. This creates nervousness and panic in the user who is now unsure of whether you received her data. Rather than risking this perception, take the time to type out a small blurb along the lines of “Thank you! Your information has been sent and received. We’ll be in touch shortly!” This leaves no doubt that the time filling out the form was well-spent.
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Mallinckrodt Chemical Inc.
1.0 Site Identification
|Type of Site:||Complex Decommissioning Site|
|Location:||St. Louis, MO|
|License Status:||Possession Only License|
|Project Manager:||John Buckley|
2.0 Site Status Summary
The Mallinckrodt, LLC (Mallinckrodt) facility has been operating since 1867, producing various products including metallic oxides and salts, ammonia, organic chemicals, and uranium compounds. The G. Mallinckrodt & Company originally operated the St. Louis, Missouri facility and became Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in 1882, Mallinckrodt Group Inc. in 1989, Mallinckrodt Chemical Inc. in 1994, and Mallinckrodt, LLC in June 2011. From 1942-1957, Mallinckrodt processed uranium ore to produce uranium for development of atomic weapons for the Manhattan Engineering District and the Atomic Energy Commission (MED-AEC). From 1961 to 1985, Mallinckrodt extracted columbium-tantalum (C-T) from natural uranium ores and tin slags (a by-product of ore smelting), and purchased and processed materials for C-T production. The plant currently produces products for the food, drug, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and specialty chemical industries.
The Mallinckrodt facility is an approximate 17.4-ha [43-acre] site located near the west bank of the Mississippi River in the northeastern section of St. Louis, Missouri (Figure 1). The site is an urban industrial area surrounded by developed land and 3 railroads. The facility consists of over 50 buildings, subdivided into ten areas called “plants”, based on the similarity of operations being performed. The former C-T process areas included 21 support buildings on approximately 1.7 ha [4.2 acres], primarily located within Plant 5, but also in portions of Plants 1, 3, 6, 7, and 8. Support facilities include maintenance shops, laboratories, warehouses, steam boilers, wastewater and air treatment operations, inactive wastewater neutralization basins, and drum storage of hazardous waste. Mallinckrodt will continue to use the site for industrial uses, including Plant 5, after the C-T facilities are decommissioned.
In 1942, Mallinckrodt contracted with the U.S. War Department to produce uranium for use in the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago’s graphite reactor. Uranium processing and waste management activities supported early federal government programs during 1942-1958 to develop atomic weapons under MED-AEC. Mallinckrodt was initially the only supplier of uranium compounds for the Manhattan project, and provided high purity uranium products used during World War II. Mallinckrodt processed euxenite mineral ore from 1956-1960, uranyl and thorium salt from 1956 to 1977, and researched reactor fuel rod production from 1956 to 1961.
In 1961, Mallinckrodt was issued a source material license, STB-401, by AEC authorizing the possession and use of materials containing uranium and thorium isotope. From 1961-1985, Mallinckrodt produced C-T from uranium and thorium ores and tin slags. Although C-T was no longer being processed, the source material license was renewed in 1989 to allow for the receipt, possession, and manufacturing of 30,000 kg [66140 lbs] of natural and synthetic uranium ores and 30,000 kg [66140 lbs] of natural and synthetic thorium ores. In July 1993, Mallinckrodt’s license was amended to possession only for the decommissioning and license termination process.
Mallinckrodt is decommissioning the C-T project areas in two phases in order to quickly reduce the amount of residual radioactivity at the site while still continuing to operate. In 1997, Mallinckrodt submitted the C-T Phase 1 decommissioning plan (DP) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), who is the successor of the AEC. Subsequently, the license was amended in 2002 to incorporate the approved Phase 1 DP. Phase 1 was completed in February 2007 when buildings and equipment in Plants 1, 3, 6, and 8 were decommissioned to meet NRC’s criteria for unrestricted release. The revised Phase 2 DP was submitted in 2008 and again in 2010, and decommissioning is expected to take 2 years after NRC approves the plan. Phase 2 will include the remediation of the building slabs and foundations, paved surfaces, and all subsurface materials within Plants 5 and 7 to meet NRC’s unrestricted release criteria. This includes the wastewater neutralization basins, the removal or plugging of contaminated sewers and soils, packaging and shipping of contaminated materials to an appropriate facility, final radiation status survey, backfilling and compaction of remediated areas, and final grading and paving. The Mississippi River is the only surface water near the facility and because of the large flow volume of the river and the environmental controls on the site, no impact to the river during decommissioning is anticipated. Mallinckrodt will continue its non-licensed pharmaceutical business while undergoing decontamination and remediation at the former C-T processing areas. The remediated areas may be used for new manufacturing or support operations.
3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues
Widespread radioactive (uranium, thorium, actinium, and radium) contamination of surfaces, structures, and soil at the Mallinckrodt site resulted from MED-AEC uranium purification activities. MED-AEC contamination is being removed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with oversight by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), which was created by the U.S. Congress to identify and remediate sites with residual contamination from the early years of the nation's atomic energy program.
Decommissioning at the Mallinckrodt site is taking place in two phases. Phase 1 addressed decommissioning of the buildings and equipment. Phase 1 was completed in December 2004. Phase II includes the decommissioning of the building slabs and foundations, paved surfaces, and all subsurface license related materials to the extent that they can be released for unrestricted use.
4.0 Estimated Date For Closure
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Diatribe: “Instant Credit” At The Check-Out line!
I learned many years ago that “Instant Credit” is a very bad idea. Many retail establishments have continuous promotions whereby customers are invited to apply for a credit card in exchange for a percentage off of their first purchase using their new line of credit. I tried it one time, on a sizeable purchase that I intended to pay for using cash that I’d saved. It seemed wise to open a revolving account, save a percentage off the purchase, and then pay off the balance right away.
I’ve encountered this promotion in numerous department stores as well as major home improvement stores but, for the first time this week, I learned that it’s also done at Target.
While waiting to checkout in the Express Lane, since I only had a couple of items to purchase, the woman in front of me was invited by the cashier to open a “red account” and save ten percent on her purchase. The cashier indicated to the woman that it was a simple procedure and all she needed was a driver’s license.
The cashier couldn’t open the account. It was supposed to be “instant” but there was something about the woman’s identification that caused problems at the register. After swiping and scanning and typing in the information three times, she still couldn’t figure it out. The cashier called for help. And I moved to a different line.
Several minutes later, after I’d paid for my purchase and was on my way out of the store, I noticed that the woman was STILL trying to pay for her purchase by opening a “red account”. A supervisor had been called to help and the light above the Express Lane was dark indicating that the lane was closed.
“So much for ‘express’,” I thought to myself. “Whatever she’s doing to save ten percent should be done at the customer service counter and certainly not in the Express Lane.”
Back when I took advantage of a similar promotion, I received undivided attention from a department manager who knew what to do. It was quick and easy and other shoppers didn’t have to wait behind me. My all-time biggest pet peeve continues to be having to wait to give someone my money. It bothers me all the more when the person I’m waiting behind is getting a discount at what feels like my expense.
Have you ever taken advantage of one of these promotions? If so, did other people have to wait while your request was processed?
Like this post? Follow the blog and get involved in discussions! Find “Follow via Email” on the right side of the page and click “Follow.” Buttons for Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook are there, too!
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Read NFIB's positions on legal issues, such as reform and liability, that affect small businesses.
As the nation's legal system continues to spiral out of control and billion-dollar lawsuits become the norm, NFIB is working hard for legal reform in all 50 states. Along with pushing for legislation that abolishes joint-and-several liability abd caps excessive punitive damages, NFIB will fight for legal services that level the courtroom playing field for small business. After all, just one frivolous lawsuit can force a small business to close its doors forever.
Featured Video: Victor Schwartz discusses the importance of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act to small business.
NFIB supports mandatory sanctions for lawyers who bring frivolous lawsuits.
NFIB supports legal reform establishing a product-liability standard that distinguishes sellers from manufacturers and a union statue of limitations in product-liability cases.
NFIB supports legal reform that will cap punitive damages at reasonable levels so that small businesses are neither destroyed nor forced to settle out of court under the threat of outrageous punitive damages.
NFIB supports legislation to close an EAJA loophole which allows the government to skirt reimbursements to wrongfully accused small business owners.
NFIB strongly opposed, "The Paycheck Fairness Act" because it would impose significant costs upon small business owners.
Interested in legal reform issues? Learn how NFIB's Small Business Legal Center actively pursues precedent-setting cases to stop small businesses from becoming victimized by frivolous lawsuits and burdensome regulations.
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"Won't You Be My Neighbor?" may be the most beloved song of all time which was never released as a single and never hit the charts. It was written and performed by Presbyterian pastor Fred Rogers on his Public Broadcasting System children’s show, “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Each episode began with Rogers coming home, singing his theme, then changing into sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater. In a typical episode, Rogers might have an earnest conversation with his television audience, interact with live guests, then take a field trip to such places as a bakery or a music store. Today his sweater hangs in the Smithsonian. And his gentle anthem lives on in our hearts.
The Dog Days Are Over - Florence + the Machine»
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Document Type Master's Dissertation Author Hlungwane, Bohani URN etd-04082010-115904 Document Title The impact of SADC regionalisation on intra-SADC trade Degree MBA Department Gordon Institute of Business Science Supervisor
Advisor Name Title Mr T Beney Supervisor Keywords
Date 2010-04-03 Availability unrestricted Abstract
The subject of international trade is as old as the human race. Countries have always needed goods they were unable to produce either because of lack of resources, lack of skills or just cost related constraints. On the other hand, countries have at one time or the other been able to produce more goods and services than they can consume. This situation led to people buying goods and services across national boundaries. As long as people have inhabited the earth, they have been engaging in some form of trading.
As the world evolved through civilisation, countries continued to exchange goods and services across borders. Goods and services can be exchanged for a price between two countries, a few countries in a region, countries in a continent and even all countries in the world.
The world multilateral trading system celebrated 60 years in operation in 2006. By this time over 55% of world trade was happening through Regional Trade Agreements with the European Union leading the way. Over 70% of trade in the European Union happens within the region. In the meanwhile, the South African Development Community (SADC) only conducts about 9% of its total trade within the region.
Against this background, SADC agreed to a Trade Protocol in 2000 with the objective of deepening regional economic integration. Amongst the objectives of the SADC Trade Protocol was to increase levels of exports and imports within SADC. This study looks at the impact of these regional economic integration efforts on intra-SADC trade. The study examines if the SADC intra-regional trade behaves in a consistent manner with economic theory, global trade trends and other regional formations of economic integration.
© 2009 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
Please cite as follows:
Hlungwane, B 2009, The impact of SADC regionalization on intra-SADC trade, MBA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04082010-115904/ >
Filename Size Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
28.8 Modem 56K Modem ISDN (64 Kb) ISDN (128 Kb) Higher-speed Access dissertation.pdf 170.15 Kb 00:00:47 00:00:24 00:00:21 00:00:10 < 00:00:01
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Court opens door to divorce for mentally disabled
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court opened the door Thursday to divorce for people who need guardians because of mental disabilities.
For years, Illinois has barred guardians from seeking a divorce on behalf of the mentally disabled people under their protection. That meant the disabled person could not get a divorce unless his or her spouse started the process.
The ban affected people with severe brain damage, but it also covered those who could make their wishes known – people with Alzheimer's, for instance, or with a mental illness whose effects come and go, according to the advocacy group Equip for Equality.
If you have any technical difficulties, either with your username and password or with the payment options, please contact us by e-mail at email@example.com
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updated 05:15 pm EST, Tue December 14, 2010
Gmail vet predicts Chrome OS dies in 2011
Gmail's core developer Paul Buchheit today said in a prediction that he expected Chrome OS to die in 2011. The former Google employee and FriendFeed creator expected that it would either be ended outright or else "merged" with Android. In a defense on FriendFeed, he noted that there was no point to Chrome OS and argued that even the Cr-48 netbook was a mistake.
"ChromeOS has no purpose that isnít better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display)," he wrote. "I was thinking, 'is this too obvious to even state?', but then I see people taking ChromeOS [sic] seriously, and Google is even shipping devices for some reason."
Critics have noted that Android already has an HTML5-capable browser and not only supports web apps but can run native apps and supports much more offline content. Being originally designed for smartphones, it has much of the quick start support and low power consumption built into Chrome OS. Either operating system is free, but it's not necessarily certain that Chrome OS netbooks will cost significantly less than Windows models that could already run the Chrome browser.
Tablets may also jeopardize Chrome OS' success. While it can extend to touchscreens, the platform was designed for a mouse and keyboard and could be undermined by the decline of netbooks as the iPad and Android 3.0 tablets get more sway.
The creation of the platform is even known to have gone against the advice of Google chief Eric Schmidt, who himself had seen his former employer Sun try and fail to launch a network-based Java computer concept. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are believed to have pushed ahead in spite of Schmidt's early advice.
Google hasn't responded to the commentary, although it has lately pitched Chrome OS as ideal for business due to the lightweight requirements, constant updates and tight security. The first Chrome OS portables won't ship until mid-2011, when Acer and Samsung try their first models. [via TechCrunch]
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By Jonah Wagner
Cities benefit from economies of scope and scale which tend to make them more ‘efficient’ places to live. In most countries around the world, it is ‘greener’ to live in a city than outside of it. Home and work are closer together, reducing transportation time and cost. Population density also allows for the development of large, centralized, public utility infrastructure – lowering costs for energy generation and transmission, water purification and distribution, waste collection and management, etc. Historically, these utilities have benefitted significantly from scale.
Example: Water purification costs by plant size
This may be changing. New technologies (e.g., remote sensors) are making possible the coordination of modular, scalable, decentralized systems of public service delivery in cities.
Sarvajal is an example. The business model was initially applied to rural India because population density in villages could not justify piped, centralized water distribution systems. We had to bring the plant to them. However, there was no technical reason why the model couldn’t be applied to slums – places without consistent access to clean water, and with proven willingness to pay. On an individual basis, Sarvajal’s plants were inefficient, converting roughly half of processed water to waste. Yet even this level of efficiency is comparable to the waste endemic to Delhi’s piping infrastructure. And, Sarvajal’s remote plant management increases the likelihood that the water is clean and relatively constant.
This kind of distributed infrastructure has significant advantages versus the large public utilities serving most cities today. Large plants are only efficient at high capacity utilization. For new cities, achieving high utilization while allowing cushion for growth is very hard to do. Large, capital-intensive projects also create financing risk, should a downturn cut the flow of funds to key projects (e.g., King Abdullah Economic City). In addition, these plants are built to last for decades, narrowing opportunities for future technological innovation.
Modular, distributed infrastructure mitigates these risks. Additional units can be added to ensure consistently full capacity utilization. Financing can be phased in by project, as needed. New technologies can be integrated into the next build-out, or swapped in for old plants. The ability to seamlessly coordinate and automate information flows makes it theoretically possible to manage huge utility networks. It also enables the integration private contributions to the network, such as augmenting the grid with electricity generated from rooftop solar panels (e.g., Sungevity. There are a number of companies besides Sarvajal exploring this space (e.g., Bloom Energy), and capital is beginning to follow (e.g., Liberation Capital).
The temptation to build a big, shiny plant is very real. Big financing tends to look for big projects. However, new business models and new technologies are beginning to make a strong case for smaller, quicker, cheaper, everywhere.
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My friend, Eric, posted about the London Underground Railroad today, and it got me thinking about underground places in cities…
Back in 1973, I visited Atlanta, and while I was there, I had the pleasure of visiting Underground Atlanta. I was saddened to hear that in 1980 they closed it down during the construction of the MARTA rapid transit line and “other factors” which, at that time, I had heard had to do with safety of visitors. I was worried they would never open it again.
Other factors noted in the wikipedia posting about it under the Decline and second era section:
The heyday of Underground Atlanta lasted for only half a decade. When neighboring DeKalb County relaxed their restrictions on alcohol consumption in the early 1970s, new bars sprouted up in other parts of the city, generating competition. The dress code restrictions were dropped and fights began to break out. The construction of the MARTA East Line beginning in 1975 tore out several blocks of clubs and eliminated parking. Crime became uncontrollable and the area was considered dangerous. In 1980, Underground Atlanta was closed. A few businesses struggled to stay open but by 1982 they left and the area was once again abandoned.
But I was happy to hear that they did re-open it in 1989, see History of Underground Atlanta here:
Underground Atlanta was reopened in 1989, at a cost of $142 million, through a joint venture between the City of Atlanta and private industry. It was redesigned to be one of the major projects aimed at preserving and revitalizing the center of Atlanta as the focal point of community life. Today, Underground offers a complete family experience, with retail shops, specialty and gift shops, fast food in the Old Alabama Eatery, unique features and entertainment, special events and fine restaurants.
It was a wonderful place to visit, so I was happy to hear that they have re-opened it and revitalized it and most importantly tried to recapture the historical significance of Underground Atlanta!
It is so cool to visit old historic places like this.
At some point I will post about the Endless Caverns that we visited on one of our camping treks that was a wonderful place to visit that is also underground! Love caverns!
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There are many myths and misunderstandings that prevent clear thinking, good debate, and proper argumentation. I will discuss ten myths about beliefs, but first I will describe knowledge.
What is Knowledge?
Knowledge is defined by many philosophers as justified true belief. For example, my belief that I exist is a justified true belief I have. Some beliefs are justified, such as our belief that Einstein’s theory of physics is true. Some beliefs are true, such as our belief that gravity existed in 2009. However, some beliefs might be true without any justification—such as my belief that I will live for the next 10 years. It could be true, but I can’t really give a good reason that I have the belief. Some beliefs are true, but people have them for the wrong reason. For example, some people might believe that Einstein’s theory of physics is true just because their parents believe it (rather than because the most respectable scientists agree with it).
Knowledge requires justified beliefs, and justified beliefs often require arguments—reasons to accept a conclusion. Good reasons for a conclusion are good justifications.
True beliefs are statements that refer to facts, and facts are things in the world. If it is true that I exist, then I am something in the world that the statement “I exist” refers to. No belief is required for me to exist. Facts do not require true statements to exist because true statements are merely statements that corresponds to facts.
Myths About Beliefs
What are the myths about beliefs that I will discuss?
- All opinions are equal.
- Challenging a belief is an insult.
- Something is true because I feel certain about it.
- A statement is an argument.
- Disagreement is an argument.
- Controversial beliefs can’t be justified.
- An objection to a belief proves it’s wrong.
- Knowledge requires an explicit justification.
- Justified beliefs have to be certain.
- All beliefs are rationally acceptable.
All opinions are equal.
Not all opinions are equal. It is clear that all opinions are not equal considering that we know some beliefs are true and others are false. Fist, mathematical truths, such as 1+1=2 is not up for debate. Second, it is pretty clear that some opinions are better than others now that science is so successful. How to make a television set is not a matter of belief, it is a matter of reality. Jumping off a skyscraper will kill you no matter how safe you might believe it to be. And so on.
It is also clear that all opinions are not equal because such a belief is self-defeating. Imagine for a moment that all opinions are equal. However, in that case the opinion that “not all opinions are equal” is just as good as the belief that “all opinions are equal.”
What makes some opinions better than others are (a) the truth and (b) justification. Some opinions are true and others are false. Some opinions are justified and others are unjustified. The best beliefs are the most justified beliefs. It is better to believe something false for good reasons than something true for bad reasons. Why? Good reasons are reliable and bad reasons aren’t. The odds of having a true belief from good reasons are higher than from poor reasons.
False justified beliefs.
Scientists at one point felt absolutely certain that Newton’s theory of physics was true, and they had no reason to doubt it. However, we later on found out that it had some flaws and Einstein’s theory of physics proved that Newton’s theory was false. At the same time the scientists had justified beliefs about physics that were clearly superior to previous theories of physics.
True unjustified beliefs.
Some people believe that racism is wrong just because their parents think racism is wrong. However, getting all of our values from our parents is not a reliable way to get our moral values. Some parents are racists, but that isn’t a good reason to be a racist. Additionally, your parent might be correct that racism is wrong, but have other false moral beliefs that you might accept without a second thought.
Challenging a belief is an insult.
It is not insulting to challenge someone’s belief. If you have a false belief, then you should welcome others to let you know about it. There’s nothing wrong with trying to correct people’s beliefs. Of course, it is most polite to actually tell someone why you think they are wrong. To demand agreement without argument can be disrespectful and pushy.
To be afraid to challenge someone’s beliefs can be disrespectful because you will be assuming that the person is too irrational and “can’t take criticism.” If your assumption is correct, hen the person really is irrational (at least in one respect).
It is also disrespectful to punish or blame people merely for challenging your opinions. You are basically telling that person that he or she can’t possibly have a better reason for his or her belief than you have for holding yours.
Something is true because I feel certain about it.
No matter how much you feel like you are right, you might not be. Many people say that they are “certain” that something is true, but “certainty” means that a belief is infallible—that it couldn’t possibly be false. To feel certainty is not to actually have certainty.
We are, in fact, not certain about very much in life. We might be certain about mathematical and logical truths, but not so much about the world or ourselves. Most of our best knowledge is based on the assumption that the future will be like the past, but we can’t know that for certain. The sun might not rise tomorrow, gravity might not exist tomorrow, etc.
A statement is an argument.
A statement or assertion is not an argument. For example, “fire is hot” is not an argument because an argument requires a justification or reason to believe something. There is no reason given to accept it. However, a series of statements can be an argument. For example:
- Fire has high kinetic energy.
- All objects or areas of high kinetic energy feel hot.
- Therefore, fire is hot.
Disagreement is an argument.
No disagreement is required for an argument. The above argument concerning fire does not require any disagreement. It is a reason to believe that fire is hot despite the fact that people already agree that fire is hot. We can use arguments to try to give reasons for beliefs that no one has ever seriously questioned.
Controversial beliefs can’t be justified.
Just about everything in philosophy is controversial, but it is possible for two incompatible beliefs to both be justified. Philosophers have spent years studying and defending various theories—such as utilitarianism—and one philosopher can have a justified belief that utilitarian is false even though another philosopher can have a justified belief that utilitarianism is true. In a similar way it could be that one philosopher can have a justified belie that cocaine should be legal and another can have a justified belief that it should be illegal. Such beliefs are not sufficiently justified to prove that they are true, but they are sufficiently justified for a person to rationally hold the belief.
Some actions are morally acceptable, such as walking on your hands, and some beliefs are rationally acceptable, such as the belief that cocaine should be legal.
An objection to a belief proves it’s wrong.
First, an objection might not be a good objection to a belief. For example, the fact that cocaine is unhealthy and harmful doesn’t in itself prove that cocaine should be illegal. (Those could be objections to its legality.)
Second, good objections do not prove a belief is wrong. A good objection is one that seems to undermine a belief. There are serious problems with many scientific theories, but scientists call them “anomalies.” These are issues that the scientist hopes will be “explained away” in the future rather than proof that the theory is false.
In order to know if a belief is undermined by an objection, we need to decide how much reason we have that supports the belief. If I drop an object and it doesn’t fall, that wouldn’t disprove the existence of gravity because we have so much reason to believe in gravity. However, an objection against the belief in ghosts could be very worrisome because we have so little reason to believe in ghosts to begin with.
Knowledge requires an explicit justification.
Explicit justification is basically an argument. We don’t need to be able to give an argument to have knowledge. I know that 1+1=2 but I don’t have an argument that proves it. Some of our knowledge is difficult to justify, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have knowledge. Some people know that killing people for no reason is wrong despite not knowing how to explain why it’s wrong.
Justified beliefs have to be certain.
Certainty requires infallibility—the impossibility of being wrong. However, justified beliefs can be false—such as the belief scientists had in Newton’s theory of gravity. Some beliefs are rationally acceptable and others are rationally required. It can be rationally acceptable to believe that cocaine should be legal, but we might have our doubts and admit a great deal of uncertainty. However, it seems rationally required to believe that Einstein’s theory of physics is very accurate. There is a lot of evidence to back it up, and it doesn’t make sense to disbelieve in it. At the same time Einstein’s theory might be false—something can be very accurate and be false nonetheless. (Newton’s theory of physics is very accurate but false.)
A lack of certainty and knowledge doesn’t prove that facts don’t exist. I exist even if I believe that I don’t exist. A lack of knowledge of my existence has no effect on my actual existence.
All beliefs are rationally acceptable.
Not all beliefs are rationally acceptable. Someone might try to have a new politically correct belief to replace “all opinions are equal,” such as with “all beliefs are rationally acceptable.” However, it’s not rationally acceptable for me to believe that I don’t exist. No one would be here to have such a belief if it were true. It is also not acceptable to deny that 1+1=2. It is not acceptable to think that I will survive jumping out of a skyscraper. And so on.
There are many strange beliefs people seem to have regarding beliefs, argumentation, evidence, justification, truth, facts, and knowledge in general. The fact is that there are justified true beliefs, but most of our best beliefs are merely “highly justified.” Knowing that most of our beliefs are uncertain merely requires us to admit that our beliefs could be false. That doesn’t mean we should seriously doubt such beliefs unless we are given a good reason for doubting them. For example, I believe that killing people willy nilly is wrong and I don’t think that belief will ever change, but that belief lacks a level of certainty that other beliefs have—such as the belief that I exist or that 1+1=2. I have no doubt that killing people willy nilly is wrong, but that doesn’t mean that I am certain in the strict sense of the word. (I suppose it is possible to find out that I am highly deluded about many things if there is an evil demon deceiving me, etc.)
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Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the "Toy Train", is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, the railway is about 78 kilometres (48 mi) long. Its elevation level varies from about 100 metres (328 ft) at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres (7,218 ft) at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services: however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by the vintage British-built B Class steam locomotive, DHR 778. The railway, along with the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway, is listed as a Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site. The headquarters of the railway is in the town of Kurseong.
A broad gauge railway connected Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Siliguri in 1878. Siliguri, at the base of the Himalayas, was connected to Darjeeling by a cart road (the present day Hill Cart Road) on which "Tonga services" (carriage services) were available. Franklin Prestage, an agent of Eastern Bengal Railway Company approached the government with a proposal of laying a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The proposal was accepted in 1879 following the positive report of a committee formed by Sir Ashley Eden, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Construction started the same year.
Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. constructed the railway. The stretch from Siliguri to Kurseong was opened on 23 August 1880, while the official opening of the line up to Darjeeling was on 4 July 1881. Several engineering adjustments were made later in order to ease the gradient of the rails. Despite natural calamities, such as an earthquake in 1897 and a major cyclone in 1899, the DHR continued to improve with new extension lines being built in response to growing passenger and freight traffic. However, the DHR started to face competition from bus services that started operating over the Hill Cart Road, offering a shorter journey time. During World War II, the DHR played a vital role transporting military personnel and supplies to the numerous camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.
After the independence of India, the DHR was absorbed into Indian Railways and became a part of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone in 1958. In 1962, the line was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 4 miles (6 km) to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad gauge line there. DHR remained closed for 18 months during the hostile period of Gorkhaland Movement in 1988–1989.
World Heritage site
DHR was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999, only the second railway to have this honour bestowed upon it, the first one being Semmering Railway of Austria in 1998. To be nominated as World Heritage site on the World Heritage List, the particular site or property needs to fulfill a certain set of criteria, which are expressed in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and its corresponding Operational Guidelines. The site must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.
Criteria for Selection
The DHR is justified by the following criteria:
- Criterion ii The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is an outstanding example of the influence of an innovative transportation system on the social and economic development of a multi-cultural region, which was to serve as a model for similar developments in many parts of the world.
- Criterion iv The development of railways in the 19th century had a profound influence on social and economic developments in many parts of the world. This process is illustrated in an exceptional and seminal fashion by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Authenticity and Integrity
Since 1881, the original route has been retained in a remarkable condition. Only minimal interventions of an evolutionary nature, such as the reduction of loops, have been carried out. Most of the original steam locomotives are still in use. Like Tea and the Ghurka culture, the DHR has become not only an essential feature of the landscape but also an enduring part of the identity of Darjeeling.
Management and Legal Status
The DHR and all its movable and immovable assets, including the authentic railway stations, the line, and the track vehicles, belong to the Government of India entrusted to the Ministry of Railways. The Northeast Frontier Railway documented all the elements of the DHR in a comprehensive register. Apart from that, it handles the day-to-day maintenance and management. But moreover, several programs, divisions and departments of the Indian Railways are responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing the DHR. This includes technical as well as non-technical work. In principle, the only two legal protection mechanisms that apply to the conservation of the DHR are the provisions of the 1989 Railway Act and that it is a public property which is state-owned and therefore protected.
The route
|Mountain Railways of India|
|Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List|
|Inscription||1999 (23rd Session)|
The railway line basically follows the Hill Cart Road which is partially the same as National Highway 55. Usually, the track is simply on the road side. In case of landslides both track and road might be affected. As long parts of the road are surrounded with buildings, the railway line often rather resembles urban tramway tracks than an overland line.
To warn residents and car drivers about the approaching train, engines are equipped with very loud horns that even drown horns of Indian trucks and buses. Trains horn almost without pause.
Loops and Z-Reverses (or "zig-zag"s)
One of the main difficulties faced by the DHR was the steepness of the climb. Features called loops and Z-Reverses were designed as an integral part of the system at different points along the route to achieve a comfortable gradient for the stretches in between them. When the train moves forwards, reverses and then moves forward again, climbing a slope each time while doing so, it gains height along the side of the hill.
|Darjeeling Hill Railway
(Stations shown in south-to-north order.)
- New Jalpaiguri Junction ((NJP)
- Siliguri Town Station
Siliguri Town was original southern terminus of the line.
- Siliguri Junction
Siliguri Junction became a major station only when a new metre-gauge line was built to Assam in the early 1950s
- Sukna Station
This station marks the change in the landscape from the flat plains to the wooded lower slopes of the mountains. The gradient of the railway changes dramatically.
- Loop 1 (Now removed)
Loop No.1 was in the woods above Sukna. It was removed after flood damage in 1991. The site is now lost in the forest.
- Rangtong station
A short distance above Rangtong there is a water tank. This was a better position for the tank than in the station, both in terms of water supply and distance between other water tanks.
- Loop 2 (Now removed)
When Loop 2 was removed in 1942, again following flood damage, a new reverse, No.1, was added, creating the longest reverse run.
- Reverse 1
- Loop 3
Loop No.3 is at Chunbatti. This is now the lowest loop.
- Reverse 2 & 3
Reverses No.2 & 3 are between Chunbatti and Tindharia.
- Tindharia Station
This is a major station on the line as below the station is the workshops. There is also an office for the engineers and a large locomotive shed, all on a separate site.
Immediately above the station are three sidings; these were used to inspect the carriage while the locomotive was changed, before the train continued towards Darjeeling.
- Loop 4
Agony Point is the name given to loop No.4. It comes from the shape of the loop which comes to an apex which is the tightest curve on the line.
- Reverse 6
Reverse No.6 is the last reverse on the climb.
- Mahanadi Station
- Kurseong Station
There is a shed here and a few sidings adjacent to the main line, but the station proper is a dead end. Up trains must reverse out of the station (across a busy road junction) before they can continue on their climb. It is said that the station was built this way so that the train could enter a secure yard and stay there while the passengers left the train for refreshments.
Above Kurseong station, the railway runs through the bazaar. Trains skirt the front of shops and market stalls on this busy stretch of road.
- Tung Station
- Dilaram Station
- Sonada Station
Sonada is a small station which serves town of sonada on Darjeeling Himalayan railway. It is on Siliguri - Darjeeling national highway (NH 55).
- Rangbul Station
- Jorebungalow Station
This is a small location near Darjeeling and a railway station on Darjeeling Himalayan railway. Jorebungalow was store point for tea to Calcutta. This is a strategical place to connect Darjeeling to rest of the country.
- Ghum Station
Ghum, summit of the line and highest station in India. Now includes a museum on the first floor of the station building with larger exhibits in the old goods yard. Once this was the railway station at highest altitude overall and is the highest altitude station for narrow gauge railway.
- Batasia Loop
It is 5 km from Darjeeling, below Ghum. There is also a memorial to the Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Army who sacrificed their lives after the Indian Independence in 1947. From the Batasia Loop one can get a panoramic view of Darjeeling town with the Kanchenjunga and other snowy mountains in the back-drop.
- Darjeeling Station
The farthest reach of the line was to Darjeeling Bazaar, a goods-only line and now lost under the road surface and small buildings.
All the steam locomotives currently in use on the railway are of the "B" Class, a design built by Sharp, Stewart and Company, and later the North British Locomotive Company, between 1889 and 1925. A total of 34 were built, but by 2005 only 12 remained on the railway and in use (or under repair).
In 2002, No. 787 was rebuilt with oil firing. This was originally installed to work on the same principle as that used on Nilgiri Mountain Railway No.37395. A diesel-powered generator was fitted to operate the oil burner and an electrically-driven feed pump, and a diesel-powered compressor was fitted to power the braking system. Additionally, the locomotive was fitted with a feedwater heater. The overall result was a dramatic change in the appearance of the locomotive. However, the trials of the locomotive were disappointing and it never entered regular service. In early 2011, it was in Tindharia Works awaiting reconversion to coal-firing.
In March 2001, No.794 was transferred to the Matheran Hill Railway to allow a "Joy Train" (steam-hauled tourist train) to be operated on that railway. It did not, however, enter service there until May 2002.
Only one DHR steam locomotive has been taken out of India, No.778 (originally No.19). After many years out of use in an American museum, it was sold to an enthusiast in the UK and restored to working order. It is now based on a private railway (The Beeches Light Railway) in Oxfordshire but has run on the Ffestiniog Railway, the Launceston Steam Railway and the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.
In popular culture
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has long been viewed with affection and enthusiasm by travellers to the region, and the Earl of Ronaldshay gave the following description of a journey in the early 1920s:
"Siliguri is palpably a place of meeting ... The discovery that here the metre gauge system ends and the two foot gauge of the Darjeeling-Himalayan railway begins, confirms what all these things hint at ... One steps into a railway carriage which might easily be mistaken for a toy, and the whimsical idea seizes hold of one that one has accidentally stumbled into Lilliput. With a noisy fuss out of all proportion to its size the engine gives a jerk — and starts ... No special mechanical device such as a rack is employed — unless, indeed, one can so describe the squat and stolid hill-man who sits perched over the forward buffers of the engine and scatters sand on the rails when the wheels of the engine lose their grip of the metals and race, with the noise of a giant spring running down when the control has been removed. Sometimes we cross our own track after completing the circuit of a cone, at others we zigzag backwards and forwards; but always we climb at a steady gradient — so steady that if one embarks in a trolley at Ghum, the highest point on the line, the initial push supplies all the energy necessary to carry one to the bottom."
The trip up to Darjeeling on railway has changed little since that time, and continues to delight travellers and rail enthusiasts, so much so that it has its own preservation and support group, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.
Several films have portrayed the railway. Especially popular was the song Mere sapno ki rani from the film Aradhana where the protagonist Rajesh Khanna tries to woo heroine Sharmila Tagore who was riding in the train. Other notable films include Barfi!, Parineeta and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. The Darjeeling Limited, a film directed by Wes Anderson, features a trip by three brothers on a fictional long-distance train based loosely on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
The BBC made a series of three documentaries dealing with Indian Hill Railways, shown in February 2010. The first film covers the Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway, the second the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the third the Kalka-Shimla Railway.) The films were directed by Tarun Bhartiya, Hugo Smith and Nick Mattingly, and produced by Gerry Troyna. The series won the UK Royal Television Society Award in June 2010.
Other tourist trains in India
- Palace on Wheels
- Royal Rajasthan on Wheels
- The Golden Chariot
- Deccan Odyssey
- Kalka-Shimla Railway
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway
- India on Wheels
- The Indian Maharaja
See also
- "DHR and Its Development". About DHR,dhr.in. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, NF Railway, India. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
- "DHR History". darjeelingnews.net. Darjeelingnews. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
- Whittle, Paul; Terry Martin. "A Brief History of the DHR". History and A Trip Up the Line. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
- "Mountain Railways of India". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
- UNESCO (1972) Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Paris: World Heritage Centre.
- UNESCO (2011) Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. Paris: World Heritage Centre.
- ICOMOS (1999). "Advisory Body Evaluation. Darjeeling Railway (India) No. 944.". ICOMOS. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- "The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway". Indian HillRailways. BBC. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- "1989 Railway Act". Retrieved 5 October 2012.
- "Darjeeling Himalayan Railway". Hill Railways. Indian Railways Fan Club. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
- The Earl of Ronaldshay Lands of the Thunderbolt. Sikhim, Chumbi and Bhutan (London: Constable & Company) 1923 pp10-12
- "Welcome to the DHRS". Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
- Mahalingam, Sudha (March 2001). "Darjeeling: Where the journey is the destination". Travelogues. Outlook Traveller. Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited. Archived from the original on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
- "Darjeeling Toy Train". Theme India: Train Tourism in India. IndiaLine. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
- "Indian Hill Railways". BBC. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- "Documentary on Hill railways of India bags UK award". Express India. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway|
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society site
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
- More pictures of Darjeeling and the railroad at the University of Houston Digital Library
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Exploratory Data Analysis
1.3. EDA Techniques
1.3.3. Graphical Techniques: Alphabetic
Display Multivariate Data
The star plot
is a method of displaying multivariate data.
Each star represents a single observation. Typically,
star plots are generated in a multi-plot format with
many stars on each page and each star representing one
Star plots are used to examine the relative values for a single data point (e.g., point 3 is large for variables 2 and 4, small for variables 1, 3, 5, and 6) and to locate similar points or dissimilar points.
The plot below contains the star plots of 16 cars. The
data file actually contains 74 cars, but we restrict the
plot to what can reasonably be shown on one page.
The variable list for the sample star plot is
We can look at these plots individually or we can use them to identify clusters of cars with similar features. For example, we can look at the star plot of the Cadillac Seville and see that it is one of the most expensive cars, gets below average (but not among the worst) gas mileage, has an average repair record, and has average-to-above-average roominess and size. We can then compare the Cadillac models (the last three plots) with the AMC models (the first three plots). This comparison shows distinct patterns. The AMC models tend to be inexpensive, have below average gas mileage, and are small in both height and weight and in roominess. The Cadillac models are expensive, have poor gas mileage, and are large in both size and roominess.
|Definition||The star plot consists of a sequence of equi-angular spokes, called radii, with each spoke representing one of the variables. The data length of a spoke is proportional to the magnitude of the variable for the data point relative to the maximum magnitude of the variable across all data points. A line is drawn connecting the data values for each spoke. This gives the plot a star-like appearance and the origin of the name of this plot.|
The star plot can be used to answer the following questions:
|Weakness in Technique||
Star plots are helpful for small-to-moderate-sized
multivariate data sets. Their primary weakness is that
their effectiveness is limited to data sets with less than
a few hundred points. After that, they tend to be
Graphical techniques suited for large data sets are discussed by Scott.
|Related Techniques||Alternative ways to plot multivariate data are discussed in Chambers, du Toit, and Everitt.|
|Software||Star plots are available in some general purpose statistical software progams, including Dataplot.|
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5 Things You Didn't Know About The Michelin Guide
Pages: 1 2
The foodie blogs are on high boil over the rise of Alain Ducasse to celestial status, and they are chilled at the fall of Daniel Boulud from the firmament.
Now that the feeding frenzy has begun, here are five things you didn't know about the Michelin Guide.
1. The Michelin Guide began as a promotional giveawayImagine if the Goodyear tire company of Akron, Ohio were the world's arbiter of fine dining. That's just a taste of French tire maker Michelin's astonishing achievement with the gastronomic guide gourmands call "The Red Bible."
First published in 1900, the Michelin Guide was conceived by brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, and was given gratis to the speed demons of the nascent automotive age. French tire buyers peeled rubber from automotive showrooms with a Michelin giveaway to guide them on their journey -- a marketing concept that grew into an empire.
2- The Michelin point system has classical originsThe proper name of the Michelin Man, that jolly, rotund fellow constructed from tires, is "Bibendum." From the Latin phrase nunc est bibendum, or "now is the time to drink," Bibendum originally advertised the durability of Michelins. The tires were said to "drink up" the road and give a smooth ride, but fortuitously, the Latin phrase also applied to the wining and dining described by the Michelin Guide. Bibendum is one of the world's oldest trademarks and is referred to as "Bib" in the Michelin point system, where his jolly visage is a symbol for distinctive but moderately priced food.
The Michelin point system itself is inspired by classical cartography. Unlike the numerical point system used by newer restaurant guides such as Zagat and Gault Millau, the Michelin system is expressed in universal symbols or "pictograms." The pictograms were commissioned for the Guide and were intended to be instantly recognizable, whether at a distance by passing tourists, or at a glance by weary travelers flipping pages as they drive.
3- Michelin points are not awarded on food quality aloneThe majority of the restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide are rated solely for comfort. The criteria include cleanliness, service and decor. Comfort is judged using a crossed fork-and-spoon symbol, ranging from one () to five (). A red fork-and-spoon is awarded to restaurants classified as "especially pleasant establishments."
Find out what the other Michelin symbols mean, how restaurants are secretly inspected, and why for some the Michelin rating is a matter of life and death... Next Page >>
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Atlantis: The Mother of Time by J. Robin E. Harger
Price: $3.00 USD. 50590 words.
Published on July 10, 2012. .
The Great Pyramid was decommissioned through misadventure by Atlantis but it was built and encoded prior thereto by visitors as part of an undertaking that had driven them across the vast reaches of space. Reforming the stumbling proto-humans they had long-since departed leaving us to take up our own destiny in the mighty task of spreading human consciousness throughout the universe.
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The holidays always remind me of the hours and hours I’ve spent in the kitchen with truly great cooks- my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins, my friends, my father-in-law, my daughters, my son, my mom. Each taught me something that added to my culinary skills. And though I no longer cook, I am confident that given the right circumstances and motivation, I could cook because of all the wonderful women, and a few men, who took the time to teach me!
My children can stop laughing right now! I choose not to cook anymore, but someone certainly kept YOU from starving, and even managed to teach you a thing or two. And no, it wasn’t just your Grandma Bea or Grandpa Dutch. There were years when I baked something wonderful every single week and I sure didn’t get any complaints. Lol
Of course my mom was the one who began my basic training in the kitchen. She taught me all the safety skills so that I knew how to keep things clean, handle a knife, and turn on the stove. She also taught me a host of things that girls no longer know how to do- skin a rabbit, pluck a chicken, singe a duck, and fry a squirrel. Plus the bonus skills- getting water from the well, chipping a block of ice with an ice pick, and heating water on a wood stove. The worst one was the lesson on “lighting the oven with a match”. I failed miserably and had the singed bangs to prove it. To this day I am cautious around gas ovens. And though I peeled thousands of potatoes there were a few stubborn ones that resulted in nicks and cuts. I never missed my target with the ice pick, but I had numerous small burns and scars from cookie sheets and pan handles.
My aunt Juanita taught me how to follow a recipe and how to separate an egg. Funny how I remember those two things. My grandmother and mom had always cooked from memory and used the “pinch of this” method that was so difficult to follow. I was amazed the first time I saw my aunt read a recipe. “You mean there are instructions???” Reading was my best subject- I could do that!! And I guess my mom had never cooked anything requiring an egg white. I just thought that separating an egg was one of the coolest tricks ever. Lol
My Grandma Bea taught me how to bake. That woman loved bread! And she made the best cookies in the world. She made cakes from scratch, and pies that melted in your mouth. Her mother made the best pecan pie I have ever tasted.
Mama Della taught me how to make breakfast. She made her own butter and fried perfect bacon. She gathered eggs from her own hens. She made pancakes from scratch. She cooked sausage that Papa had ground and seasoned by hand.
I could go on and on. My Aunt Molly was a school cook. Gary’s cousin Sandy is an amazing cook and caterer. I have friends who are whizzes with pastry and candies. I have been to church potlucks where the food is so good it might be a sin. My daughters have very different styles, but each is a terrific cook. My son knows his way around a stove. All great cooks.
And now I’m the dropout. I “assemble meals” from a few basic ingredients. I manage to keep us from starving- my photo is evidence of that! But I no longer bake. I don’t try new recipes or make up my own. Sad, but true. However, I’m a great “taster” and I’m available at all hours. Happy to help you test your recipes!
I hope you have trained or are training a great cook in your kitchen. The next generation needs to know how to make a few things. Maybe not a tasty fried squirrel, but at least a good oatmeal cookie.
Hope you have a great day!
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The number of people choosing to have plastic surgery has soared in recent years. Facelifts, botox and tummy tucks have become popular procedures that people look to as ways to improve their appearance. Technological advances have increased the options you can consider. But do your research before you consider any operation.
All surgery carries some risk. And while plastic surgery can improve a part of you body, it rarely improves your whole life. Make sure your goals are realistic.
To begin your quest for plastic surgery information, please click the category you are interested in having a procedure on.
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Once a user has made the first post and thus started a topic, the "check if solved" icon will display at the top right of his view of the message, along with the "edit", "quote", and other buttons. The "Topic Solved" icon looks like a little green tick-mark.
After the user has received satisfactory assistance (or once moderators determine that the original question has been explained sufficiently), this button will be clicked, marking that topic as "solved". Once "solved", the "solved" icon will be displayed in that topic's title bar in the forum listing:
- Students: Please use the "Topic Solved" button as a way of saying "thank you" to the helpers for their assistance.
- Helpers: Please do not greatly extend or resurrect "solved" topics.
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Already a Bloomberg.com user?
Sign in with the same account.
More than 15,000 temperature records were broken in the U.S. last month and the country had its first $1 billion weather disaster of 2012, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The average temperature in the contiguous U.S. was 51.1 degrees Fahrenheit (10.6 Celsius), or 8.6 degrees, above the 20th century average and 0.5 degrees more than the previous all- time high set in 1910, according to NOAA.
“Only one month, January 2006, has seen a larger departure from its average temperature than March 2012,” according to a NOAA statement. NOAA’s climate records began in 1895.
Temperatures in the heating season, which runs from October to March, were 3.8 degrees above average, making it the second- warmest on record behind 1999-2000, according to NOAA. Natural gas prices have fallen 30 percent this year partially because of the warmer weather and rising production.
Across the U.S., 15,292 warm temperature records were set or tied, according to NOAA.
Every U.S. state set a daily record and 25 states east of the Rocky Mountains had their all-time hottest March, according to NOAA. In addition, 15 states had monthly temperatures in the top 10.
The warm weather also contributed to 223 reported tornadoes in the U.S., more than the 80 normally seen during the month.
A tornado outbreak on March 2 to March 3 across the Ohio Valley and the Southeastern U.S. killed at least 40 people and caused more than $1.5 billion of damage, according to NOAA. It is the first $1 billion weather-related disaster of the year. Last year, the U.S. experienced 14 weather-related disasters that caused $1 billion in damage or more, according to NOAA.
The first three months of 2012 had an average temperature of 42 degrees, which is 6 degrees above average and the warmest on record, according to NOAA. A more detailed analysis of March’s weather will be released at 11 a.m. New York time, according to NOAA.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at firstname.lastname@example.org
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Noel Studio Works with Williamsburg Schools to Implement Communications/Writing Curriculum
Continuing its efforts to provide services that support the development of effective communicators in surrounding areas, Eastern Kentucky University’s Noel Studio will collaborate with Williamsburg Independent Schools to develop and implement the district’s communications and writing curriculum through professional development programs.
“School districts all across Kentucky have been recreating their writing portfolios over the past several months, as required by Senate Bill 1,” explained Kelli Moore, EKU’s Educational Extension Agent for Knox, Laurel and Whitley Counties, who first proposed the collaboration.“One of the ways Williamsburg Independent is making its program unique is to place an emphasis on communications, rather than strictly writing. The teachers see an opportunity to improve student presentations with targeted programs, such as PowerPoint, Prezi and Movie Maker, and desire training to continue improving the student’s ability to the level that can be achieved with expert guidance in this area.”
Noel Studio staff members will provide that guidance, offering on-site training in August to approximately 65 elementary- through high-school teachers in the Williamsburg district on presentation techniques and the evaluation of presentations. The effective development and use of technology in presentations is an integral piece of the planned training.
Noel Studio staff will also assist Williamsburg teachers in evaluating a sampling of student presentations during the school year. The purpose of these “evaluations” is not to judge the student presentations, but to help train teachers in the best manner to evaluate presentations.
“Williamsburg Independent believes that excellent writing and communications skills are paramount for college readiness or career readiness,” said Loren Connell, director of instruction with the Williamsburg Independent School District. “As our commitment to excellence continues, I cannot imagine a better way that we could expose our faculty and students to both the teaching and learning of the communications skills needed for the 21st Century than by working with Eastern Kentucky University and the Noel Studio.
“The national accolades the Noel Studio and its staff have received distinguish the quality of their services,” he added. “Williamsburg is extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Noel Center to enrich our students’ educational experience.”
Published on June 17, 2011
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Bob Babyok of Warner Robins is the proud owner of a Nissan Leaf.
"It's like driving an iPod," he says. The Leaf is a 100% electric car. Babyok leases it for about $140 per month, including electricity. He says enjoys being able to commute gas free.
"Normally, I would anticipate here in Warner Robins maybe 80 miles to a charge. My commute's about 40 so I only technically need to charge up every other night."
But traveling outside his commute is a different story. In order to go for Atlanta for example, he had to charge up at home in Warner Robins, top off in Macon at the Bibb County Courthouse, home of the region's only charging station, again in Griffin, before reaching Atlanta.
Now, a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will place 100 more charging station across the Middle Georgia Clear Air Coalition's seven county region, which includes Bibb, Houston, Peach, Monroe, Twiggs, Crawford, and Jones Counties.
You can follow 13WMAZ's Tom George on Twitter @thetomgeorge or like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tomgeorgewmaz
"If they roll out electric charging stations so I could use it around the state without renting a car, that would be great, I mean that would be icing on the cake," Babyok says.
But for other in the region, Babyok says electric cars can be a tough sell. But, he says eventually, people will see the benefits. "It only a matter of time, everything is going to be electrified sooner or later."
The locations for the new charging station will be determined at the Clear Air Coalition's meeting next Thursday. The group hopes to have some of them up and running by Earth Day in April.
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What will the medicine do for me?
To understand the benefits of your medicine, you need to know what it does (its effect) and how well it works. Here are some pointers to finding out what your medicine will do for you.
To work out the benefits of your medicine, you need to know what it does (its effect) and how well it works. Here are some pointers to finding out what your medicine will do for you.
A medicine or medication can work in different ways, it might:
- prevent an illness from developing
- reduce some or all of the symptoms
- stop an illness from getting worse
- cure an illness
- prevent complications developing.
Here are some questions for you to think about and discuss with your health professional:
- How will this medicine help my illness?
- Which benefits are important to me?
- How will I know the medicine is working and how long will that take?
- How well is the medicine likely to work?
Different medicines can help different aspects of your illness. For example, if you were having an asthma attack you would use a short-acting inhaled medicine (reliever) to open up your airways and quickly help your breathing. However, this won’t make future asthma attacks any milder or less frequent — you would need to take regular doses of another medicine to reduce inflammation in your airways (preventer) to do that.
Consumer medicine information (CMI)
To understand how a medicine might help, you need to find out what benefits it is expected to have by talking to your health professional. You can also find information, including the consumer medicine information (CMI), through the NPS medicine search. Talk it over with your health professional if you have any questions about it.
Sometimes it is helpful to have a list of questions and take notes when you are talking to your health professional. You can use our Questions to ask your health professional tool to make a printable list of questions, with space for you to write answers to questions.
CMI stands for consumer medicine information. This is a leaflet that comes with all prescribed medicines, and some of the medicines that you buy at the pharmacy, and it gives you information about what the medicine is for, how and when you should take it, what to do if you miss a dose and other very important information, such as possible side effects and interactions with other medicines.
CMIs have a lot of information in them and it’s not necessary to read them from beginning to end. You may just pick it up and try to find when you should be taking the dose, what time of day — or with food or without food. You may pick it up because you want to check on side effects, and the important thing to remember about these CMIs, which can be a bit daunting when you first see them, is that they’re all in exactly the same order, so that if you have several medicines you will find that the structure of the CMI is the same and you will quickly learn how to go straight to the piece of information that you are looking for.
Which benefits are important to me?
Different things are important to different people, so think about what benefits are important to you. When you talk to your health professional, explain which benefits are most important to you — or what aspects of your illness trouble you the most — and find out if the medicine can help, or if there is another reason for taking it.
Many people with high blood pressure do not notice any symptoms, and so controlling their blood pressure does not seem like an important benefit. But most people want to avoid a stroke or heart attack. Being told that taking blood pressure medicines can reduce their risk of a stroke, can help people make their decision.
How will I know if the medicine is working and how long will that take?
Some medicines, such as pain-relief medicines, should have an almost immediate effect. Others, such as antidepressants, often take 2–3 weeks to make a noticeable difference.
When you start taking a new medicine, ask your health professional:
- How quickly will the medicine start working?
- How will I know it is working?
- When should I come back to review how well it is working?
Even when a medicine is known to work, it is usually not expected to be 100% effective for 100% of people. You might want to try to find out how much of an effect it is likely to have.
Your health professional can’t predict exactly how well a medicine will work for you. Sometimes you may need to try different medicines to find one that works for you.
Not everyone responds the same way to medicines. Antidepressants are a good example: genetic and other differences can mean what works for one person doesn’t work for another. If you don’t feel you are getting a benefit from the antidepressant after 6 weeks or so, talk to your health professional about trying another type.
As well as your health professional’s experience with other people taking the same medicine , information about how well it works usually comes from clinical trials and other research. These trials can tell you how many people in a scientific study received a benefit from treatment, and how great (or small) that benefit was.
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Supporting undocumented young people in their pursuit of college, career and citizenship
TIPS ON FILLING OUT THE CALIFORNIA DREAM ACT APPLICATION Thanks for SFSU's Financial Aid Office and the CSAC for these tips!
If you have a Social Security Number through Deferred Action, you may fill out the CA Dream Application, NOT the FAFSA to be eligible for state aid. Students with a SSN through DACA are not eligible for federal financial aid. U visa holders may file the Dream Application, while T visa holders may file the FAFSA.
Selective Services Registration: Most males who are 18-25 years of age must be registered with Selective Services to be eligible for state student aid. All male students can register at their local post office by filling out and mailing a Selective Services postcard. Even if you are undocumented, you must register to be eligible. No SSN required.
It is important to file the Dream Act Application as early as possible. Filling out the application online is the fastest and easiest way to submit the application. The priority deadline for submitting the California Dream Act Application is March 2, 2013. Go to www.caldreamact.org to access the application.
First create an account. You will set up a user name, password and security question. Record and save your user name and password because you will need these to login on future occasions to make the edits and check the status of your application.
The application does not ask the student for a Social Security Number (SSN). Provide the names and SSNs of your parents. If they do not have an SSN, you may list their Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), if they have one. If they have neither, list nine zeros in that field.
You must report your income and any cash support given by relatives. You do not need to include the value of food and housing.
If you are under 24, your parents must also report their income and any cash support given by relatives except food and housing-- unless you are married, have children of your own, or are a graduate student.
Selective Service registration: Most males, 18-25 must be registered with Selective Service to be eligible for state student aid. All male students can register at their local post office by filling out and mailing a Selective Services Registration Form, (SSS Form 1M(UPO)). You can also download the Selective Service form at www.caldreamact.org, complete and mail it in. Even if you are undocumented, you must register to be eligible. No SSN is required. For more information or questions, you may visit: http://www.sss.gov/SSSYOU/sss&you.pdf.
SIGNING THE CA DREAM APPLICATION
Students and one parent must sign if the student is considered dependent (again, that means anyone under 24 with only a few exceptions). There are two steps to successfully signing the California Dream Act Application: the student signature and the parent signature.
First, the student signs by checking the signature box and submitting the Dream Application. Students will be taken to a confirmation page.
RETRIEVING THE PARENT PIN
To complete the application, students and one parent will need to complete the 2nd step of the signature process. To create the Parent Pin, students must click the red button indicated in the screen shot above.
The name, birth date and wages of the parent signing the Dream application are entered and must match what the information the student previously provided the Dream application.
Once you retrieve the Parent PIN, you will have to go to the Dream Application home page to add the parent signature to the Dream Application.
Once you submit the Parent PIN, the signature process will be done, and the application will be complete.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE PARENT PIN
You and your parents must decide which parent will sign the application
Only one parent can obtain a PIN number and this PIN is tied to the individual student
If there is more than one student submitting a Dream Application in the same household, the parent will have to obtain a Parent PIN for each student
Every time the student makes a correction on the application, the parent will need to sign again
Income Verification: A percentage of the students will be selected by their college or university to verify their family income. If you or your parents meet income guidelines to submit taxes, you might be required to present IRS transcripts.
Household Size: This should include every member of the immediate family who receives more than 50% of his/her financial support from a dependent student’s parents or from an independent student. Spouses may be counted. So, if your siblings receive more than 50% of their money or other kind of support from your parents, they would be counted.
Citizenship Status: AB540 eligible students who cannot fill out the FAFSA must choose the third option: “Non-citizen or eligible noncitizen”
Dislocated Worker: Anyone who lost a job or had a reduction of hours due to the economic downtown in 2011-2012.
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO FILL OUT THE DREAM ACT APPLICATION
List of paperwork you will need to provide, if it is relevant to your situation:
W-2 forms and other 2011 records of income (if your parents have any)
2011 income tax returns (if your parents have any)
Records of child support (if your parents have any)
Records of student scholarships and fellowships included in your parents taxes
Current bank statements (if applicable)
Current investment records or business records if over 100 employees (if applicable)
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A fleeing ship went back on the U.S. blacklist on Friday, proving the difficulty in enforcing some U.S. sanctions.
he MV Amina, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, was detained by Sri Lanka in December after Germany’s DVB Bank SE obtained a court order to hold the vessel after the owners defaulted on a payment, according to a Reuters report.
Following its detention, the U.S. Treasury Department, which blacklisted the ship in 2008, issued a general license in early January that authorized certain transactions “related to the arrest, detention, and judicial sale” of the MV Amina.
“Such transactions include…bidding on the purchase of the vessel; paying deposits; providing financing, insurance, or funding in connection with the purchase; and, in furtherance of the arrest, detention, and judicial sale of the vessel, providing vessel management services; providing port agency services; purchasing of bunkers; repairing or modifying the vessel for commercial use; providing crewing; and hiring surveyors to inspect the vessel,” the license said.
But the Reuters report said the ship fled, even after the Sri Lankan navy fired warning shots, and that it wasn’t possible to immediately confirm the vessel’s exact location. The report said it was unclear what cargo the vessel carried.
On Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department revoked the license to conduct the transactions.
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The following tables set forth a reconciliation of AGL Resources’ operating margin to operating income and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to earnings before income taxes to net income to net income attributable to AGL – as reported and net income attributable to AGL – as adjusted, for the indicated periods.
Download GAAP Reconciliation
A reconciliation of operating margin and EBIT by segment is available in our quarterly reports (Form 10-Q) and annual reports (Form 10-K) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Our management evaluates segment financial performance based on EBIT, which includes the effects of corporate expense allocations. EBIT is a non-GAAP (accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America) financial measure. Items that are not included in EBIT are financing costs, including debt and interest expense and income taxes. We evaluate each of these items on a consolidated level and believe EBIT is a useful measurement of our performance because it provides information that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of our businesses from an operational perspective, exclusive of the costs to finance those activities and exclusive of income taxes, neither of which is directly relevant to the efficiency of those operations.
We also use EBIT internally to measure performance against budget and in reports for management and the Board of Directors. Projections of forward-looking EBIT are used in our internal budgeting process, and those projections are used in providing forward-looking business segment EBIT projections to investors. We are unable to reconcile our forward-looking EBIT business segment guidance to GAAP net income, because we do not predict the future impact of unusual items and mark-to-market gains or losses on energy contracts. The impact of these items could be material to our operating results reported in accordance with GAAP.
Operating margin is a non-GAAP measure calculated as operating revenues minus cost of goods sold and revenue taxes, excluding operation and maintenance expense, depreciation and amortization, and taxes other than income taxes. These items are included in the company's calculation of operating income. We believe operating margin is a better indicator than operating revenues of the contribution resulting from customer growth, since cost of goods sold and revenue taxes are generally passed directly through to customers.
EBIT and operating margin should not be considered as alternatives to, or more meaningful indicators of, our operating performance than operating income or net income, as determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, our EBIT or operating margin may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of another company.
Net income attributable to AGL Resources, as adjusted and Basic and Diluted earnings per share, as adjusted are non-GAAP measures and exclude transaction costs related to the merger with Nicor. We believe these financial measures are useful to investors because they provide an alternative method for assessing the Company’s operating results in a manner that is focused on the performance of the Company’s ongoing operations. The presentation of these financial measures is not meant to be a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.
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As we all continue to hear about the alarming rate of concussions even at the youth sports level, we also hear about new equipment being developed and sold that provides extra protection against concussions.
Should we believe what these manufacturers tell us? The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) says no. Make that a capital ‘N.’ This new post from momsTEAM.com, one of my favorite websites, offers a closer look at the claims that certain mouth guards, headbands, and supplements reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries.
The temptation for parents and coaches to believe the claims – and then buy the products – is tough resist. We want to protect the kids and will do whatever it takes. We want the industry to create safer options and so when we hear of something that claims to work, we pull the trigger.
The NOCSAE warns “caveat emptor.” In the article, the NOCASE’s executive director says, “Any device or supplement promoted as being able to prevent, diagnose or cure a concussion must be supported by scientific data and peer-reviewed research. Currently, there is no definitive scientific research linking mouth guards, head bands, supplements or other specialty products to a reduction in concussion risk or severity. For companies to suggest otherwise misleads athletes, parents and coaches into a dangerous false sense of protection against concussion.”
The organization is saying, in other words, that the products being marketed MIGHT have a legitimate claim, but that claim hasn’t been proven by an outside, objective, expert source. For football helmets, the article suggests, as do most experts today, that you look for the Virginia Tech STAR rating, which rates the product’s safety.
It’s true that the sports equipment industry is working hard to develop safer products, because the demand for them exists. But despite our desire for a quick fix, we need to be patient and to analyze claims carefully. The new and growing awareness among parents and coaches is great to see, and as it continues to grow we’ll be equipped to make more informed decisions that will help to protect our kids.
The industry seems to be making legitimate efforts to make sports safer to play. We just need to bring with us our collective grain of salt as we evaluate the contenders and pretenders seeking our money. Check out the momsTEAM post and stay tuned for further developments.
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Nov. 8, 2010 Patients with stroke who experience improvement within one hour of receiving the clot-dissolving medication tissue plasminogen activator appear more likely to do well three months later, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Neurology.
Only one effective therapy has been approved for acute ischemic stroke (in which blood flow to an area of the brain is blocked or reduced), according to background information in the article. Within 4.5 hours of developing symptoms, patients receive an intravenous (IV) dose of the medication recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, which helps to break up clots in the blood vessels. "However, not all patients respond to IV therapy; failure to respond to IV therapy is usually, but not always, associated with occlusion of large arteries and lack of recanalization [the formation of new blood vessel paths around the obstruction]," the authors write. "Additional IV thrombolysis [clot-dissolving] therapies, such as chemical and/or mechanical intra-arterial therapy, represent a promising approach to obtaining recanalization and better recovery."
Ioan-Paul Muresan, M.D., and colleagues at Assistance Publique -- Hôpitaux de Paris, France, analyzed 120 patients with acute ischemic stroke who were treated with IV recombinant tissue plasminogen activator between Nov. 11, 2002, and Dec. 24, 2007. Individuals were classified as having very early neurologic improvement at one hour if they had a National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score of zero at the end of medication administration or if their score had improved five or more points (on a severity scale of zero to 30) compared with the beginning of therapy.
Of the 120 patients, 22 (18.3 percent) had very early neurologic improvement. After three months, 15 of these patients (68.2 percent) had a favorable outcome as assessed by a scale measuring disability following stroke, compared with 29 patients without early improvement (29.6 percent). None of the patients with very early improvement died, compared with 17.3 percent of other patients.
Asymptomatic brain bleeding occurred in two patients with early improvement (9.1 percent) and in 23 patients without early improvement (23.5 percent). Symptomatic brain bleeding occurred in five patients (4.2 percent), none of whom showed early improvement.
"A promising new approach in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke is bridging therapy with a dual approach: IV thrombolysis by recombinant tissue plasminogen activator followed by chemical or mechanical endovascular therapy," the authors write. "Our results suggest that very early neurologic improvement, as determined by a clinical routine tool (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) at a patient's bedside, might help to rapidly select patients who will not respond to IV recombinant tissue plasminogen activator but who could be candidates for bridging therapy."
Editorial: Findings Intriguing, but Require Confirmation
"Evidence-based rationale for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke has accumulated during the last 15 years," writes José Biller, M.D., of Loyola University Chicago, in an accompanying editorial. "Intravenous administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator remains the most beneficial proven intervention for emergency management of acute ischemic stroke and the only therapy for acute ischemic stroke approved by the Food and Drug Administration."
"Understanding how baseline clinical, biological and imaging variables affect outcome is critical for the subsequent treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke and future acute stroke clinical trials design."
"Muresan and colleagues' attempt to answer an interesting question suggest that a quick bedside assessment with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale can predict good response and conversely, that it can predict poor responders so that the treating physician can begin consideration of mechanical interventions intra-arterial therapy or other alternative therapies."
"As pointed out by the authors, this is a single-center study that needs to be reproduced," Dr. Biller concludes. "Clearly, additional studies involving larger populations with a multicenter design are needed to address the significance and clinical utility of the intriguing findings of this carefully conducted study by Muresan and colleagues."
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
- I.-P. Muresan, P. Favrole, P. Levy, F. Andreux, B. Marro, S. Alamowitch. Very Early Neurologic Improvement After Intravenous Thrombolysis. Archives of Neurology, 2010; 67 (11): 1323 DOI: 10.1001/archneurol.2010.265
- J. Biller. The Sooner, the Better. Archives of Neurology, 2010; 67 (11): 1306 DOI: 10.1001/archneurol.2010.276
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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Bull Sluice Lake
On the north side of metropolitan Atlanta and in the middle of the prime trout fishing water of the Chattahoochee River, Bull Sluice Lake is a series of shallow sloughs that offer good fishing for bream and other warm-water species. Bull Sluice Lake (also known as Morgan Falls Lake or Lake Roswell) upstream of Georgia Powers small hydroelectric dam on the Chattahoochee River. The dam goes by the name Morgan Falls, hence the confusion about the name of the lake. The lake is generally recognized to be the stretch of the Chattahoochee River from Georgia Highway 9 (Roswell Road) downstream to Morgan Falls Dam. Although the lake is just a stretch of the Chattahoochee River and a collection of several shallow sloughs, the fishing here is very different from the rest of the Chattahoochee around Atlanta. The current in the lake can be very strong, depending on what is taking place at Buford and Morgan Falls Dams. Anglers should use extreme caution navigating the lake. Much of it is extremely shallow and sandbars and shoals lie hidden just below the surface. In most places, the main channel will have 4 to 8 feet of water, but once you get out of the channel, watch out. Use your trolling motor to navigate your way up the narrow side channels leading into the sloughs. Lest you throw caution to the wind and operate your boat in a manner resulting in an unplanned swim, another factor to keep in mind is that even in the summer months, this water is cold. Releases from Buford Dam usually keep the temperature around 60 degrees F in the main channel, with the sloughs slightly warmer. Although Bull Sluice Lake has some of Georgias most popular trout water both upstream and downstream of it, most of the fishing in the lake is for warm-water species. Bream are probably the best choice, but largemouths better than 8 pounds have also been caught. Key species: bluegill, redear sunfish, largemouth bass.
Fish: Bass, bream, channel catfish, yellow perch, crappie, rainbow trout, brown trout
Facilities: Boat ramp, picnic tables, restrooms, playground
Dates of Operation: All year, from 7 am to 6 pm each day
Directions: Southeast of Roswell on Azalea Drive
Restrictions: No swimming; no trout stamp is needed to fish in Bull Sluice Lake (between Roswell Road Bridge and Morgan Falls Dam), but a trout stamp is needed to keep any trout caught.
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Meanwhile, Al Begley, co-owner of Smoky Mountain Biofuels, says the park is operating at unsafe conditions, but park Manager Timm Muth is denying his claims and says it’s running smoothly.
Muth is refuting all accusations that Begley is firing out about the nationally recognized park, and it appears that at least part of the problem may lie in disagreements between the two men.
“There’s been some bad blood between Smoky Mountain Biofuels and the person we hired to run the green energy park,” County Commissioner Tom Massie said.
A piping problem
The pipe that pumps methane from the Dillsboro landfill to blacksmithing forges and a boiler that produces biodiesel is a potential safety hazard and needs to be corrected, Begley says.
However, the county claims the pipe meets state code.
“We are in compliance,” County Manager Ken Westmoreland said.
“It’s rated for gas service,” he said. “This is the standard pipe used in landfills.”
The pipe — DriscoPlex 4100 — is made by Performance Pipe and carries the methane from the landfill. According to Begley, the pipe is the wrong type.
“I think any layman can look at this pipe and know it’s not right,” he said.
Methane is pumped from the landfill into a pipe that’s buried underneath the ground and runs below a road frequently used by residents to drop off their trash at a county staffed recycling center. The pipe comes to the surface and runs along the biodiesel and blacksmithing building. The methane is then used to operate blacksmithing forges and a boiler to make biodiesel.
The idea to use landfill gas to operate machinery has put the green energy park on the map. Since opening in October 2006, the park has received national attention for its efforts — including its tenant Smoky Mountain Biofuels — by the North Carolina State Energy Office, the Environmental Protection Agency, and various state agencies.
According to Begley, the pipe should be buried underground. He says the pipe carrying the methane is typically used for water and sewer lines. Begley is backing his claims through emails with Performance Pipe Technical Service Specialists Larry Petroff.
Begley started questioning the pipe’s installation after a letter to the editor appeared in the Smoky Mountain News criticizing the park for the amount of toxic pollution it produces and contacted the manufacturing company. After corresponding with Petroff through several emails, Begley believes the pipe is unsafe.
“Performance Pipe does not recommend the use of polyethylene pipe for above grade gas service,” Petroff wrote in an email. He later writes, “Polyethylene gas pipelines should be buried. Transition risers are available that allow one to connect a buried polyethylene pipe with an above-grade steel line.”
Petroff also wrote, “You might also note that DriscoPlex 4100 is manufactured for use as water and sewer pipe and not for gas service. Normally landfill gas gathering pipe is DriscoPlex 6400.”
“We’ve been sitting on a time bomb and we’ve never been told about it,” Begley said.
Once hearing this news, Begley stopped operating his business at the park and began working out of his home.
“After I found out what I did, I immediately laid everyone off and vacated the site,” he said.
It’s been about a month now since Begley closed down his business at the energy park.
Begley emailed his concerns to Muth and the board of commissioners. He says he has not received an answer from the county regarding his concerns.
“There has been no correspondence and no answers to my questions,” he said.
However, the county says they have taken his concerns seriously.
“Any concern anyone has about safety I take very seriously,” Muth said. “I will investigate and if something needs to be changed I will make those changes.”
Massie says if the park is in violation of any codes the county will fix it immediately.
“If it is found that it’s not correct, then we’ll fix those things,” he said.
Muth added if there are any problems with the piping system the county would have already been notified. Each month McGee Environmental of Asheville inspects the pipe. During the inspections, the firm checks for leaks, Muth said.
The company also installed the pipe and officials say this specific type of pipe used to carry the methane is used extensively at landfills.
“This is a type of pipe we use at all landfills,” said Eric McGee, owner of McGee Environmental. “The pipe is well within its operating ranges.”
“I installed the pipe where the client wanted it,” he said.
Muth says the county did not take any shortcuts when installing the piping.
“We are very conscientious,” he said. “We made sure that the materials we use are top-notch.”
However, Begley argues that the pipe may meet inspection guidelines but it does not meet federal law regarding the distribution of the gas.
“Once the gas leaves the flare, it’s considered to be distribution and meets other classifications,” Begley said. “I’ve been trying to explain that to them but they have yet to understand.”
Again Begley is backing his statements up through comments Petroff made in an email. Petroff claims the way the pipe is installed is in violation of federal law.
Petroff wrote, “Gas distribution piping in the U.S. is regulated by the Federal Code 49 CFR 192. The Federal Code applies to all jurisdictional applications. The code states, ‘plastic pipe must be installed below the ground level.’”
Muth contests Begley’s claims and says the pipe does not have to be buried because it’s made of a material that can withstand the sun’s ultraviolent rays. According to Muth, the pipe would have to be buried if it was not this specific model of piping.
Following the rules
The Green Energy Park has been subjected to numerous inspections since opening 14 months ago. When the park was built the county building inspections department and fire marshal inspected the facility. The park is also inspected quarterly by Altimont Environmental, who checks its gas wells. The North Carolina Department of Natural Resources in Asheville also inspects the county landfill on a regular basis.
The lease agreement
In July, Smoky Mountain Biofuels signed a new lease with the county. In the new lease the company was required to make several modifications to its business. Since signing the lease, the company has failed to make these modifications, so the county is forcing its tenant to comply.
“They need to make those corrections to honor that contract,” Massie said.
Begley says his business has needed some time to recoup because there was a lapse in time in drafting a new lease. He says negotiations for a new lease started in April but it was not until July when an agreement was reached. Begley says during that time his business suffered substantial losses. Begley was planning to expand the business to produce three million gallons a year and was in the process of ordering new equipment, but because it took so long for an agreement to be reached, Begley says he had to cancel the orders. He says he lost about $6,000 in deposits.
He claims this is why it’s been over eight months since he has produced any biodiesel at the park. Begley says he’s had to revamp his business plans because of the delay, and he’s now making all of his money by selling ethanol.
“We’ve been able to make it in the black,” he said.
Begley has put his business plans on hold because of the park’s safety concerns.
“I am in a state of limbo,” he said.
Until Begley hears from the county, he says that his business plans continue to be up in the air. He has an agreement with Mountain Energy to sell biodiesel at its 21 stations located in five counties.
Begley says this situation has him considering alternatives. “We’ve been looking for a new location,” Begley said. “But that’s not really in the original business plan.”
Begley says he can make all of the changes that the county is requesting, but since he has not received any formal notice about its plans to correct the piping problem he has yet to fix his problems.
“We are at an impasse, and were waiting for them to comply,” Begley said.
However, county officials have a different story when it comes to the park’s future. Muth says the greenhouses will be operational within the next few weeks. Also, construction of the park’s pottery studio building is slated to begin this summer.
If Begley does leave the Green Energy Park, the county will not be losing that much money. Smoky Mountain Biofuels pays $875 a month to rent space at the park. The county has receives a little more than $10,000 a year from the company, which is a small part of the park’s $210,000 operating budget.
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Gender Roles and Toys
Toys play an important part in defining gender roles. If parents buy girls dolls, dollhouses, high-heeled shoes, and makeup, they give one set of messages. If they buy boys chemistry sets, tool kits, doctor’s bags, building blocks, and wheel toys, they give another set of messages. Children learn roles and skills from playing; the toys they have to some extent determine which roles and skills they learn.
Visit a child care program and examine the environment, specifically the block area and the dramatic play corner. Vivian Paley (1984) deals with this subject at length in her informative, easy-to-read book Boys and Girls: Superheroes in the Doll Corner. Though the book is not new, the superhero play hasn’t changed. Only the names of the heroes, and the few heroines, change regularly. No more He-Man or Teenage Super Ninja Turtles. Superman is still around, and Spiderman is big. While you are looking into the dramatic play area, notice whether more girls are there or boys. Check out the block area. Is that where you find the boys? If this is the case, examine the factors that might contribute to this situation. Sometimes the adults in the program subtly encourage this kind of gender differentiation. Notice the way the environment is set up. If the dramatic play area is a traditional “housekeeping” corner with frilly girls’ clothes, shoes, and purses, most boys won’t be attracted. If a variety of male or non-gender-specific hats, shoes, ties, and accessories are added, that can help. What helps most of all is adding a little water to the play sink, and maybe some soap suds and sponges.
Because boys tend to dominate block play in many programs, some teachers have tried a variety of approaches to encourage girls to go into the area also. One technique is to arrange the environment so that the blocks are close to the dolls or to put a dollhouse in with the blocks. Another idea is to put up “girls only” signs occasionally to give the message that this is valuable play for both sexes.
© ______ 2009, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM
The Youth Exchange Program of Rotary International began, as most Rotary programs do, on the local level. The first documented exchanges were initiated by the Rotary Club of Copenhagen in 1929 and involved only European students. Exchanges between clubs in California and Latin American countries began in 1939, and exchanges spread to eastern United States in 1958. In 1972, Rotary International made Youth Exchange an official program.
Approximately 8,000 students ages 15-19 from over 82 countries go abroad every year under the auspices of the Rotary Youth Exchange program. They see the world as it is best seen—from the inside out! The increased self awareness and global perspective they derive from the experience would not be possible without the commitment of many volunteer host families and the dedication of those Rotarians who serve as Youth Exchange officers.
Rotary exchange students spend an academic year, or an extended period of time, living with a host family and attending high school in a country other than their own. The students may learn a new language, but they also learn a new way of living and a great deal about themselves. The people whom the students meet in their new country also learn about the student’s country, its culture and the student him/herself. In this sense, Rotary Youth Exchange students become young ambassadors, helping to bring the world closer together.
Each year local Rotary districts and clubs worldwide arrange thousands of international Youth Exchanges for high school-aged students. Local Rotary districts and clubs first screen youth interested in the program by using detailed applications and interviews. This process helps ensure that only highly responsible and mature students are sent on an exchange. Generally, students are selected based on scholastic record, linguistic ability, community involvement, potential as a cultural ambassador, and age. A primary goal of the program is to foster world understanding by way of intercultural exchange.
The Rotary Club of Glens Falls, through the Rotary District 7190, has been hosting and sending students on this program for over 30 years. In 2006 the club hosted Maria Lourdes “Luli” Gonzales, whose mother had been hosted by the club at Queensbury High School in the early 70’s. This year the club is sponsoring one outbound student:
The club is hosting two inbound students: DANNY DAYAN-CISTERNAS, attending Glens Falls High School, is sponsored by the Rotary District #4360, and is from the city of Collipulli Chile; and attending Queensbury High is CRISTINA GARCIA-TENORIO, sponsored by the Rotary Club Nuzo Madrid, District #2201, from the city of Torrejon de Aroz, Spain. To learn more about these outstanding young people, please click on INBOUND below to read more about them.
The club is always seeking potential host families for future inbound students in either Glens Falls or Queensbury school districts. For more information on becoming a host family or on becoming an outbound Rotary Exchange Student, please contact the club President or click here for more information or a Youth Exchange Program Application.
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Understanding the Difference between Espresso and Cappuccino
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages all over the world. Caffeine is very important especially when someone needs a boost anytime of the day. Although coffee is traditionally served during breakfast, it has become so popular that nowadays anyone can have their own caffeine boost whenever they want and however they want it. Among the two most popular coffee choices are espresso and cappuccino. Although both varieties can definitely help wake someone up, there are basic differences that one should consider in order to choose which variety is better.
Cappuccino is by far the more popular variety, especially in Europe, South Africa, Australia, South America, and some part of North America. A cup of cappuccino together with any pastry is the perfect combination to perk someone up. This could be due to the fact that one can make a cup of cappuccino without the use of special machines or coffee beans. The sweet taste adds makes it more attractive to more people. In the United States, however, espresso has become the more popular option, particularly in Seattle. It has become so popular that espresso machines are starting to become a usual part of an American kitchen.
Espresso outweighs cappuccino in terms of concentration or caffeine content. On the average, 1.5 ounces of espresso beans will contain around 77 milligrams of caffeine. The similar amount of caffeine is found in about 12 ounces of cappuccino. This means that a person who prefers cappuccino would have to drink 8 times as much compared to someone who opted for an espresso shot. Thus, if one is looking for a major boost, espresso is far off the better choice. Cappuccino will come in handy if one just wants to start the day right or if one needs additional energy in the middle of a busy day.
Method of Preparation
Espresso and cappuccino are prepared in entirely different manners. In order to prepare an espresso shot, one has to make use of an espresso machine, which basically forces hot water through the coffee beans using very high pressure. Using a traditional coffee maker or brewing coffee beans will not be enough in order to make espresso. On the other hand, cappuccino can be made using any type of coffee. 2 to 3 ounces of any type of brewed coffee mixed with steamed and frothed milk will do the trick. One can also take a shot of espresso in order to make the perfect cup of cappuccino.
Both espresso and cappuccino are well-loved by coffee drinkers and caffeine addicts anywhere in the world. Espresso is more preferred by those who are usually on the go and need a full blast of energy all throughout the day while cappuccino is preferred by those who have the time to sit back and relax to enjoy to soothing feeling of drinking a cup of sweet and frothy coffee. While some may prefer espresso over cappuccino, the complicated process of preparing it through the use of an espresso machine may be a setback. With both varieties, however, one can definitely enjoy the wonders of drinking caffeine and having a great day ahead.
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ibn Ma'qil said: I heard Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari say: "I
was with Ishaq ibn Rahuyah when a man said: 'Why don't you compile
an epitome (mukhtasar) of the prophetic ways?' This stayed with
me, and was the reason why I compiled this book (the Sahih)."
Al-Dhahabi said: "It
has been narrated through two firm channels of transmission that
al-Bukhari said: 'I extracted this book from about 600,000 (sound)
hadiths, and I compiled it over sixteen years, and I made it a plea
for what lies between myself and Allah.'" Al-Firabri said:
Muhammad ibn Isma'il said to me: "I never included in the Sahih
a hadith except I made a major ablution (ghusl) and prayed two rak'at
said: "The scholars have agreed that the soundest of all hadith
compilations are the two Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and their
vast majority have agreed that the soundest and most beneficial
of the two was al-Bukhari's " He continued: "The totality
of its hadiths are 7,275 with the repetitions and about 4,000 without."
his Kitab al-Tatabbu', al-Daraqutni argues for the weakness of 78
hadiths in al-Bukhari, 100 in Muslim, and 32 in both based on isnad
and matn criticism.
said: "The two Sahihs differ from all other books only in respect
to the fact that what is in them is sahih and does not require investigation."
Ibn al-Salah said: "Whatever only al-Bukhari or only Muslim
narrates enters [also] into the category of what is definitely sahih...
except a few letters which some of the expert critics objected to,
such as al-Daraqutni and others - and these are known to the specialists."
He said this after stating that what they agree upon is
"definitely sahih" (maqtu'un bisih.h.atihi) for the Umma.
Imam al-Nawawi objected to the terms "definitely sahih"
while granting all that is in the Sahihayn the level of "strongly
presumed [sahih] until it becomes mutawatir" (yufidu al-zanna
ma lam yatawatar) as is the rule with all sahih lone-narrated (ahad)
hadiths. But Ibn Kathir differed: "I am with Ibn al-Salah in
his conclusion and directives, and Allah knows best." Al-Suyuti
in Tadrib al-Rawi cites Ibn Kathir's words verbatim then states:
"And this is also my choice and none other." This is because
of the standing of the two Sahihs in the Umma and because none of
the past Imams in Islam ever declared explicitly and rightly that
all they had gathered in their respective books was sahih except
al-Bukhari and Muslim, and the verifying experts have confirmed
their claim. Al-Suyuti also states:
al-Islam said: "What al-Nawawi mentioned in Sharh Sahih Muslim
is based on the perspective of the majority (al-aktharin); as for
that of the verifying authorities (al-muhaqqiqun), then no. For
the verifying authorities also agree with Ibn al-Salah."
"Shaykh al-Islam" al-Suyuti means the spotless Hafiz and
immaculate Imam Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani and his book al-Nukat 'ala
Ibn al-Salah. Al-Suyuti goes on to quote in detail - mostly from
Hadi al-Sari - the refutations of Ibn Hajar to al-Daraqutni's criticism,
showing that, in effect, the latter fails to invalidate the view
of the Sahihayn as 100% sahih.
fact is that they are all sahih but not all of them reach the same
high degree of sahih. This is in essence what al-Dhahabi concluded
concerning the few narrators of the Sahihayn whose grading was questioned:
"The narration of one such as those, does not go below the
rank of hasan which we might call the lowest rank of the sahih."
Shaykh Abu Ghudda comments in the margin: "This is an explicit
confirmation that al-Bukhari and Muslim did not confine themselves,
in the narrations of their respective books, only to narrate hadiths
that have the highest degree of
sihha." Then again in his appendix (p. 144) he states:
Shaykh, the 'Allama Ahmad Shakir - Allah have mercy on him - stated:
"The truth without doubt among the verifiers of those who have
knowledge of the sciences of hadith... is that the hadiths of the
two Sahihs are all sahih and there is not in a single one of them
a cause for true
[technical] disparagement or weakness. What al-Daraqutni and others
criticized is only on the basis that it did not reach the high criterion
which each of them defined in their respective books. As for the
[criterion of] soundness (sihha) of the hadiths in themselves, then
both of them lived up to it.
Badi' al-Sayyid al-Lahham in his edition of Ibn Kathir's al-Ba'ith
al-Hathith (p. 44-45) also closes the discussion on the topic of
the Sahihayn with the same words but without attributing them to
Shakir. Abu Ghudda concludes (p. 145): "All these texts show
that most of what is in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is of
the highest degree of the sahih, and that some of what is in them
is not of the highest degree of the sahih." More to the point,
our teacher Dr. Nur al-Din 'Itr said in
his manual Manhaj al-Naqd fi 'Ulum al-Hadith: "The ruling concerning
the hadiths of the two Sahihs is that they are all sahih."
All those mentioned above - Ibn al-Salah, al-Nawawi, al-Dhahabi,
Ibn Kathir, Ibn Hajar, al-Suyuti, Ahmad Shakir, Abu Ghudda, 'Itr,
al-Lahham - agreed on the fact that all of what is in al-Bukhari
and Muslim is sahih, and, apart from al-Nawawi's duly recorded dissent,
the muhaqqiqun such as Ibn al-Salah, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Hajar, and
al-Suyuti consider all the hadiths
contained in them maqtu'un bisihhatihi i.e. of the same probative
force as mutawatir hadith. Further examination of the positions
of the major hadith Masters might add more names to this distinguished
questions are sometimes asked (1) whether all the Ulema of Hadith
agree that all the hadiths in al-Bukhari and Muslim are sahih or
(2) if there are any scholars who consider them to contain some
weak narrations, and (3) whether one who believes that "the
Sahihayn are not 100% sahih" is an innovator. As was just shown,
some of the greatest hadith authorities such as Ibn al-Salah, Ibn
Kathir, and al-Suyuti answered yes to the first question. Imam al-Haramayn
(Ibn al-Juwayni) said that if a man swore on pains of divorce that
all that is in al-Bukhari and Muslim is sahih his marriage would
be safe. But Imam al-Daraqutni said a small number may not reach
that level so the answer to the second question has to be yes. Yet
the objections were refuted one by one by Ibn Hajar at the beginning
of Fath al-Bari and Imam al-Nawawi at the beginning of Sharh Sahih
Muslim. The short formula "whether the Sahihayn are or not
100% sahih" remains tenuous and misleading, for the Umma far
and wide - meaning the Consensus of the Fuqaha' generation after
generation - have been satisfied that they are.
conclusion excludes the chainless, broken-chained reports, or unattibuted
reports sometimes adduced by al-Bukhari in his chapter-titles or
appended to certain narrations. An example of the latter is the
so-called "suicide hadith" - one of al-Zuhri's unattributive
which is actually broken-chained and therefore weak. It does not
meet the criteria of hadith authenticity used by the lesser and
greater hadith Masters, much less that of al-Bukhari who mentioned
it only to show its discrepancy with two other chains whose versions
omit the attempted suicide story, and Allah knows best.
above conclusion is proof that the position that everything that
is found in the two Sahihs is rigorously sound refers only to full-chained
reports positively attributed to the Prophet (S), and Allah knows
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"Unfortunately, in a number of births the children are born paralyzed due to the dust and depleted uranium in the air flying to Iran from Iraq," representative of Ahwaz city in the parliament Shokre Khoda Moussavi told FNA on Monday.
He said that the present equipments in Ahwaz city hospitals cannot afford the diagnosis and treatment of the children paralyzed due to contamination with depleted uranium.
His remarks came after recent medical reports indicated that cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, specially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.
Dr. Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects.
"Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous consequences," he said
Also the Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion.
Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" recently reiterated that the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009.
Not everyone is ready to draw a direct correlation between allied bombing of these areas and tumors, and the Pentagon has been skeptical of any attempts to link the two. But Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in US and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected.
In Fallujah, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of newborn infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord.
The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009.
The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.
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The purpose of refuges is to enable some susceptible insects to survive. Mating with Bt-resistant insects prevents a resistant race from developing.
Refuge management will help your hybrids work effectively and keep you in compliance with regulators
No one likes the fact that new technology usually comes with a price tag called a "learning curve." But who wouldn’t want to simplify their pest management system and boost yields at the same time by using a Bt hybrid? The good news is, once you understand the concept of "refuge," the rest is all downhill.
Though hybrids containing the Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) protein simplify pest control by eliminating the need for most soil-applied and foliar insecticides, they create a need for refuges. These consist of a certain number of acres planted to non-Bt hybrids, which are essential to
preventing insects from developing resistance to Bt hybrids. Pesticide resistance—by weeds, diseases and insects—is the biggest agronomic issue facing producers in 2012, says Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie. "The better stewards we are of Bt hybrids, the longer we’ll be able to use them," he says.
A certain percentage of insects is resistant to any pesticide, Ferrie explains. "Back when we applied soil rootworm insecticides, in a band about 7" wide and 4" deep, they protected only the area around the crown root of a corn plant," he says. "Many rootworms survived; the few that were naturally resistant to the insecticides mated with the many susceptible insects, so resistance was not passed on as easily. But with Bt hybrids, all the insects that survive are naturally resistant. When we plant these hybrids, we are selecting for resistant insects."
Planting refuge areas to a non-Bt hybrid ensures that susceptible insects survive, so resistance does not become a problem. Besides that practical aspect, the Environmental Protection Agency makes planting a properly sized refuge a legal requirement for using Bt hybrids.
With resistance at stake, noncompliance is cause for concern, Ferrie says. But some farmers negate the value of their refuge by failing to plant sufficient acres, failing to design their
refuge correctly or not managing it properly after planting.
"Problems are more accidental than intentional," Ferrie says. "But some farmers don’t realize that they aren’t in compliance."
Refuge management can be complicated. Acreage requirements for Bt hybrids range from 5% to 20% in corn-growing areas and from 20% to 50% in cotton-growing areas. Hybrids containing two resistance modes of action for the same insect might require a smaller refuge. Hybrids containing resistance to two pests require a refuge for each insect.
Here are some tips to make your refuge management successful:
1. It’s your responsibility. "Start by choosing the best-yielding genetics for your farm," Ferrie says. "If those hybrids come with Bt traits that you need, that’s a bonus. But sometimes the best-yielding hybrids come with traits you don’t actually need on your farm. In that case, you still are responsible for planting the required refuge."
2. Work with your seed supplier. "Good seedsmen understand the requirements for their hybrids, and they can help you plan your refuges," Ferrie says. "Your seed company representative will know the distance requirements for hybrids and various ways to lay out the refuge.
"He or she can advise you on what hybrid to plant in order to complement your resistant hybrid. I’ve seen farmers run into problems when they purchase a refuge hybrid with flowering dates different from the Bt hybrid they planted in the rest of the field."
3. Choose the best hybrid for a refuge. Your refuge hybrid should have similar agronomic characteristics to your Bt hybrid, especially early vigor, maturity and plant height, says
Michael Smith, senior North American product stewardship manager for Pioneer Hi-Bred. That way, it will be as attractive to adult insects as your Bt hybrid. It will also let you harvest both hybrids at the same time.
4. Manage hybrids identically. You want the Bt hybrid and your refuge hybrid to be equally appealing to insects, Smith emphasizes.
- March 2012
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Mira Shiva: Health Effects of GM Foods
by Bhavani Prakash
Dr Mira Shiva is a renowned medical doctor and public health activist from India. She was a member of the Drug Pricing Review Committee in 2001, and has been a member of various bodies such as the National Population Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Voluntary Health Association of India, Health Equity and Society, All India Drug Action Network, Doctors for Food and Biosafety and Diverse Women for Diversity.
She gave her feedback to various public hearings on the introduction of Bt Brinjal (aubergine) in India. In February 2010, the Indian Government made a decision to halt the commercial production of Bt Brinjal, the world’s first genetically modified (GM) aubergine or eggplant with insecticidal toxin protein from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)
In this video taken at Navdanya, Dehradun, India, Dr Mira Shiva spoke to us about her feedback to various public hearings on the introduction of Bt Brinjal.
Video link here
Here are some explanations to some of the names and terms mentioned by Dr Mira Shiva in the video:
1. She refers to Arpad Pusztai at the Rowett Institute who investigated the possible health hazards of GM potatoes which had been genetically modified by a gene from snowdrop bulbs.
The studies showed that the two transgenic lines which originated from the same transformation experiment, and were both resistant to aphid pests, were NOT substantially equivalent in composition to parent-line potatoes, nor to each other.
More importantly, the results showed that diets containing GM potatoes had, in some instances, interfered with the growth of the young rats and the development of some of their vital organs, inducing changes in gut structure and function, and reducing their immune responsiveness to injurious antigents. In contrast, the animals fed on diets containing the parent, non-GM potatoes, or these potatoes supplemented with the gene product, had no such effects.”
Arpad Pusztai also gave an affidavit during the Bt Brinjal hearing in India last year
According to Arpad Pusztai and Susan Bardocz in “Potential Health Effects of Foods Derived from Genetically Modified Plants: What Are the Issues?”
The basic tenet of the biotechnology industry engaged in the production of genetically modified (GM) crop plants and foods is that no ‘credible’ evidence exists that GM crops damage the environment or that GM foods harm human/animal health. Accordingly, they are as safe as their ‘substantially equivalent conventional counterparts’ and need no safety testing. The general acceptance of such a view could, of course, save a great deal of money for the biotechnology industry that otherwise would have to be spent on very expensive environmental and health risk assessments of their GM products.
However, practically all recent reviews that have critically assessed the results of GM crop/food safety research data published in peer-reviewed science journals have come to the conclusion that, at best, their safety has not yet been adequately established, or at worst, that the results of risk assessment studies, particularly (but not exclusively) those carried out independently of the biotechnology industry, have raised important safety concerns which have not been properly settled.
2. Dr Mira Shiva mentions Ann Venemen to show how pro-industry some US goverment appointments have been. Ann Venemen has been profiled here.
3. Dr Mira Shiva also refers to a study by Irina Ermakova. The study has been described by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception in his article, “ Most Offspring Died When Mother Rats Ate Genetically Engineered Soy”
” The Russian scientist planned a simple experiment to see if eating genetically modified (GM) soy might influence offspring. What she got, however, was an astounding result that may threaten a multi-billion dollar industry.
Irina Ermakova, a leading scientist at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), added GM soy flour (5-7 grams) to the diet of female rats. Other females were fed non-GM soy or no soy at all. The experimental diet began two weeks before the rats conceived and continued through pregnancy and nursing.
Ermakova’s first surprise came when her pregnant rats started giving birth. Some pups from GM-fed mothers were quite a bit smaller. After 2 weeks, 36% of them weighed less than 20 grams compared to about 6% from the other groups (see photo below).
Photo of two rats from the Russian study, showing stunted growth – the larger rat, 19 days old, is from the control group; the smaller rat, 20 days old, is from the “GM soy” group.
But the real shock came when the rats started dying. Within three weeks, 25 of the 45 (55.6%) rats from the GM soy group died compared to only 3 of 33 (9%) from the non-GM soy group and 3 of 44 (6.8%) from the non-soy controls.
Ermakova preserved several major organs from the mother rats and offspring, drew up designs for a detailed organ analysis, created plans to repeat and expand the feeding trial, and promptly ran out of research money. The $70,000 needed was not expected to arrive for a year. Therefore, when she was invited to present her research at a symposium organized by the National Association for Genetic Security, Ermakova wrote “PRELIMINARY STUDIES” on the top of her paper. She presented it on October 10, 2005 at a session devoted to the risks of GM food.
Her findings are hardly welcome by an industry already steeped in controversy.
GM Soy’s Divisive Past
The soy she was testing was Monsanto’s Roundup Ready variety. Its DNA has bacterial genes added that allow the soy plant to survive applications of Monsanto’s “Roundup” brand herbicide. About 85% of the soy gown in the US is Roundup Ready. Since soy derivatives, including oil, flour and lecithin, are found in the majority of processed foods sold in the US, many Americans eat ingredients derived from Roundup Ready soy everyday.
The FDA does not require any safety tests on genetically modified foods. If Monsanto or other biotech companies declare their foods safe, the agency has no further questions. The rationale for this hands-off position is a sentence in the FDA’s 1992 policy that states, “The agency is not aware of any information showing that foods derived by these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way.” The statement, it turns out, was deceptive.
Documents made public from a lawsuit years later revealed that the FDA’s own experts agreed that GM foods are different and might lead to hard-to-detect allergens, toxins, new diseases or nutritional problems. They had urged their superiors to require long-term safety studies, but were ignored. The person in charge of FDA policy was, conveniently, Monsanto’s former attorney (and later their vice president). One FDA microbiologist described the GM food policy as “just a political document” without scientific basis, and warned that industry would “not do the tests that they would normally do” since the FDA didn’t require any. He was correct.
There have been less than 20 published, peer-reviewed animal feeding safety studies and no human clinical trials—in spite of the fact that millions of people eat GM soy, corn, cotton, or canola daily. There are no adequate tests on “biochemistry, immunology, tissue pathology, gut function, liver function and kidney function,” and animal feeding studies are too short to adequately test for cancer, reproductive problems, or effects in the next generation. This makes Ermakova’s research particularly significant. It’s the first of its kind.”
For the rest of the article by Jeffrey Smith, please click here.
Bt Brinjal pictures from Navdanya’s campaign brochures.
Further links you may be interested in:
EWTT: Vandana Shiva: Traditional Knowledge, Biodiversity and Sustainable Living (Recent Interview with Dr Vandana Shiva at Dehradun, India on the myth of GM, growth and development and ecological agriculture)
YouTube: Health Implications of Bt Brinjal Dr. Vandana Shiva, a renowned environmentalist, discusses some of the health implications on the genetically modified eggplants that are trying to be forced into India.
Google Videos: The Dangers of Genetically Modified Food by Jeffrey Smith
Short URL: http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/?p=6165
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What we spend and how we spend it
In order to prepare the budget for the following year the Council will produce a Medium Term Financial Plan which provides a framework the budget to be prepared within. This will help inform how the Revenue Budgets, the Capital Programme and the Fees and Charges are produced as they will need to incorporate the key principles outlined in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
In preparing the Revenue and Capital budgets the impact of the Councils Priority Plans and Service Plans will be incorporate into establishing what the Council is going to spend its money. At the same time as preparing the Revenue and Capital Budgets a Treasury Management Strategy will also be produced which will incorporate the impact of the Capital Spend on future financing requirements and any impact on revenue costs for the budget. It also lays out what additional income the Council may receive from investments it may have from the reserves it has.
At the end of the financial year the Council will prepare a Statement of Accounts that will provide the financial standing of the authority at that point in time and outline what the Council spent its money on over that year. In addition to this a Summary of Accounts document is also produced to provide a more user friendly overview of the past year and this will also feed into the Councils Annual Report.
Strategies and Policies
The purpose of the Medium Term Financial Plan is to translate the Council's strategic direction and priority outcomes into financial terms. It is an over-arching view of how the council will raise and spend money over a five-year period.
The Capital Programme and Annual Revenue Budget provide a more detailed account of expected income and expenditure for the forthcoming year, together with indicative figures for the next two years.
The Fees & Charges Strategy guides decision making on the setting of fees and charges and links in to the Council's core priorities and objectives. The fees and charges set for each year feed into the Annual Revenue Budget.
The Council's Debt Management Strategy outlines a framework to control how money owed to the Council is managed and collected. It covers Council Tax, Business Rates and Council House Rents income, all of which are detailed in the Annual Revenue Budget.
The Treasury Management Strategy outlines expected treasury activity for three years. It covers debt and investment projections together with the expected movement in interest rates and sets out how the Council will borrow and invest. It is linked to the Capital programme and the projections of interest earned and borrowed feeds into the Annual Revenue Budget.
The Value for Money Strategy sets out how the Council will work to improve efficiency, effectiveness and economy. Efficiency savings are included as part of the Annual Revenue Budget.
The aim of the Risk Management Strategy is to ensure that risk is managed consistently across the Council. These would include risks around not achieving objectives and outcomes covered by other strategies. It is closely linked to the Internal Audit Three year Plan/Strategy. Internal audit provides an independent and objective assurance to management and members on the effectiveness of risk management. The three year plan sets out which areas are to be assessed based on the level of inherent risk or identified risks.
The Whistle-Blowing policy is independent of the above strategies. It covers the way in which the Council will deal with alleged corruption.
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Apache Commander is a software complex for administering and configuring Apache web servers. Using this complex makes it easy to administer and configure them, view their error log files and control both local and remote Apache servers working on different platforms. It does not matter what Apache servers you are using - local or remote, working on MS Windows, Unix (Linux, FreeBSD) or Novell NetWare.
This program is especially handy for those who like to configure the server manually. It has a special editor of the server configuration file and a special viewer of the server error log file. It can work with FTP and SSH servers, perform the administration of both local and remote Apache servers via the local network or Internet. Also, it has a lot of additional features to make the manual configuration more comfortable.
Apache Commander can work simultaneously with a number of web servers. You can open all their configuration files at one time, copy the configuration of one server to another, control the work of all servers at the same time.
Apache Commander has a special editor with syntax highlighting, code completion and code templates for editing the main server configuration file. The configuration file can be located on the local computer or on a remote FTP or SSH server that you can access via the local network or Internet. The program will present the file in a structured tree-like form. You will grasp the structure of the configuration file as a whole and you will be able to quickly access any directive as well as get its full description. A beginner will have the opportunity to understand the server configuration file really quickly and a professional will have an indispensable tool for "tweaking" it.
Also, you will be able to administer your server, i.e. to start, to stop and to restart it. Besides, it makes no difference what server you are using - local or remote, working on MS Windows, Unix (Linux, FreeBSD) or Novell NetWare.
Quick and easy access to the server error log file will let you track the errors emerged as a result of making changes in the server configuration.
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Mary Greg collected everyday domestic objects during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She was particularly interested in pre-industrial handmade objects and wanted to preserve examples of traditional artisan skills. Whilst there are objects on display in the Gallery of the Craft and Design, the majority of this strange and peculiarly engaging collection, which was given to Manchester Art Gallery in 1934, remains in storage.
Since early 2009 group of passionate curators, interpretation developers and artists have been working behind the scenes to re-evaluate the collection and have been documenting their progress on a blog: marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk.
High quality photographs of some of the items from the collection can be viewed in our Mary Mary Quite Contrary flickr collection.
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FORT COLLINS -- The High Park fire has displaced thousands of residents and destroyed the homes of 257 families.
But amid the 87,250 acres charred in the Poudre, Rist, Redstone and Buckhorn Canyons, is the habitat homes of deer, elk, birds, squirrels, rabbits, bear and other wildlife.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists expect some fatalities, particularly for smaller mammals that cannot run as fast and birds that are still in the nest, but do not know the extent of the deaths associated with the still-burning wildfire.
In the long run, however, these animals will benefit from the effects of the fire on their habitat.
For fish, it is another story.
The long- and short-term effects of a wildfire pollute waterways, clog gills, reduce habitat and essentially kill fish.
Immediately, slurry pollutes fish habitat because of the amount used, said Randy Hampton, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
"Iced tea is perfectly safe, but if I drop 40,000 gallons of it in the creek, it's going to kill fish," he said.
Firefighting officials do their best to avoid dropping it in areas that can affect streams, but some of the red retardant does make it into the fish habitat, said Ken Kehmeier, senior aquatic biologist with Parks and Wildlife.
The long-term effects on fish habitat will be much greater and last for many years. The flames burn away grasses, trees and vegetation that would normally stop debris from washing into waterways and leave behind soot and ash that rain will carry into the Poudre River, the Little South Fork of the Poudre and Buckhorn Creek.
Meanwhile, the earlier Hewlett Gulch wildfire will affect the North Fork of the Poudre.
The silt and debris will fill up some areas of prime habitat, harm spawning gravels and even shallow the deep pools in which fish survive over the winter, Kehmeier said.
Experts will work to reduce erosion with vegetation, sediment retainer pools and other measures, but the fish populations of the river and streams will suffer and could take many years of stocking and habitat rehabilitation to reach pre-fire levels.
The 2002 Hayman fire -- the largest in Colorado history, though the High Park fire is creeping up on acres and cost and has surpassed Hayman in homes lost -- resulted in enough sediment and ash in the South Platte River to kill 70 percent of the fish population, according to Kehmeier. In the intervening decade, wildlife and water experts have worked together to stock fish, regulate water flows to benefit habitat and repair the fire damage.
"We're just starting to see some re-population of fish," Kehmeier said.
Even though the High Park fire is still burning, Burn Area Emergency Response teams have begun looking at the landscape and situation and ways to prevent much of the ash from swirling into waterways with the first rains.
The sooner the work starts after the fire, the better the result for the fish, Kehmeier said.
For now, the fire is still actively burning in many areas and thousands of residents remain evacuated from their homes in the Poudre, Redstone, Rist and Buckhorn Canyons.
Those flames destroying homes, devastating lives and torching dry grasses and trees, will in coming years benefit the habitat homes for wildlife.
For deer, elk, moose and other big game, the trees will grow back less dense, providing more tasty grasses and forbes, which makes it a healthier habitat. And for bears, the regenerated bushes will produce more berries, chokecherries, acorns and other morsels.
"Younger plants are healthier and produce more forage," Hampton said.
Pamela Dickman can be reached at 669-5050, ext. 526, or email@example.com
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“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness.” ~Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness
The quote of Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama makes clear the obvious: everybody on earth is seeking happiness. Is there anything more important than happiness to you? What are we aiming for if we want to be successful, to be respected, to have the perfect mate, to get more money? Those “things” in themselves are not important to us. It is what we get from them. It’s the elemental need to feel good – to be happy.
The Dalai Lama talks a lot about happiness and how to achieve it. It’s always a real pleasure to hear his wisdom as well as his sharp mind speaking. In his book "The Art of Happiness he and co-author Howard Cutler are getting to the very heart of the matter.
His Guide to Happiness is of course influenced by Buddhism. But it really is not a religious approach but rather a very practical one: We can achieve happiness by developing our mind and applying it, in other words by personal development.
What Leads to Happiness?
Happiness is a state of mind. In Buddhism there are four factors of fulfillment :
2. Worldly Satisfaction
which lay on the path to happiness. I find it interesting that to the leader of Buddhism the first two “material” sources of happiness play an important role. You could insert synonyms like success and personal growth here. Of course there is also the influence of spirit, but the whole approach is also pretty compatible with psychology and science in general which makes it suitable for any person.
I want to make one point, that is clear to me today: the right to happiness and the ability to achieve it is within everybody. EVERYBODY. And this guide to happiness as described by the Dalai Lama in his book is the way that many other people walk to develop and free themselves towards a happy life.
On our pursuit of happiness we have to …
1. Train Your Mind
Happiness is a mental attitude, a state of mind and not primarily dependent on external conditions.
Now to the Dalai Lama the mind is not only the intellect. According to the Tibetan word “Sem” for mind (meaning more psyche or spirit) it includes intellect, feelings, the heart and the mind. Training an developing the mind starts with learning. And its aim is to set free the inner human potential that everybody has. So one could say it is the process of personal development.
Education and knowledge is a crucial part here. There is an interesting note by the Dalai Lama: knowledge is not primarily there to make us cleverer. The most important use of knowledge is to understand ourselves, to create a mental clearing and make changes from within or as he puts it: to develop a good heart.
2. Develop Calmness of Mind
By training the mind we can develop an inner discipline. That discipline makes a transformation of attitude, our outlook and approach to living possible. This training towards a calmness of mind is what Buddhists call “The Way” and it is the fundamental method of achieving happiness. The inner discipline means confronting our negative states of mind and transforming them into more positive states. The goal is to develop a calm or peaceful and stable state of mind, regardless of outer events.
A calm mind doesn’t mean to be passive; it is very sensitive and aware and it means to be in control and to respond to situations in the best way possible without the buildup of heavy negative emotions. A calm mind is a very developed mind and one that has strength and inner space to choose the right reaction.
3. Build up Positive States
Obviously many negative thoughts and emotions have a destructive effect. Emotions like anger and hatred serve absolutely no purpose and are unnatural. Other people from the personal development area have also made this point, for instance Brian Tracy. If we think about it, do we really need negative emotions to choose a good action? Or is an action influenced by anger not very likely to cause more negativity?
According to the Dalai Lama all negative emotions are based on ignorance, which is the misconception of the true nature of reality. Therefore they have no basis in reality. On the other hand positive states have a solid basis; they are grounded in reality and are life-supporting.
The idea is to free ourselves from negativity. It works by developing and cultivating positive states and emotions and then living and acting from there. Positive states can act like an antidote to negativity. By coming from a state of joy, love or enthusiasm it is almost natural to neutralize anger, hatred or apathy. The goal then is to develop habits out of those positives states to make them our predominant state …
4. Cultivate Good Habits (and Eliminate Bad Ones)
If we really want to be happy we have to identify the factors that lead to happiness and then cultivate them into habits. On the other side we have to identify what leads to the opposite of happiness: suffering. Then we have to get rid of those destructive states and habits and replace them by the positive ones.
For instance the habit of overeating fast-food can be replaced by the habit of eating healthy food. The habit of chaotic organization can be replaced by weekly planning. The habit of watching TV can be replaced by exercising and so on. This is inner discipline at work. I think it is a source of real happiness and of inner satisfaction. The motivation to create good habits stays if we just see and experience the benefits and freedom they are giving us. If we keep bad habits then we consciously of unconsciously are ok with being unhappy.
5. Welcome Change
Life flows like a river. It is impermanent, all things are impermanent – it’s the nature of the world. Therefore life is changing continuously. So when we resist this change by clinging to something that is changing, we become attached. We can’t be happy because we resist the change, what is futile. Of course we can direct change up to a certain degree, but we can’t prevent it. The key is to get into the river of life and direct the course of positive change. Then the fear of change also vanishes.
To change to a happier state, learning is only the first step. Necessary follow-ups are conviction, determination, action and effort. A strong determination to change then enables action. The final effort is also critical. To start we need a strong willingness or wish to start. And we need to develop enthusiasm and a sense of urgency. Tools to get this are goal-setting, visualization and in general our imagination.
To overcome apathy and to generate enthusiasm it is very helpful to start on the physical level. In that way we can gain more energy first.
6. Develop a Long-Term Perspective
To develop good habits and to build up positive states we need a certain inner self-discipline. If we are focused on short-term pleasures this is very difficult. If we evaluate the effects of short-term and long-term oriented behavior it becomes clear what is more helpful on the long run. So we need a wider perspective. This long-term perspective helps to build up happiness.
7. Know the Meaning of Suffering
Suffering is the opposite of happiness. We have to identify the causes (not only the symptoms) that lead to suffering and then eliminate them. If we suffer it’s not very pleasant of course, but nevertheless it might be a very valuable lesson. We seem to learn the most from our so-called failures. If life shows us that something is wrong – by suffering – we have that feedback which we need to trace back to its causes and transform those. There is no reason to give in, it is just valuable feedback that we needed to change.
8. Develop Deep Relationships
It’s clear that the quality of our relationships is very connected with our level of happiness. Deep relationships are based on openess, truth and respect. That allows meaningful communication between two human beings, not of two humans playing roles. And if the only basis of a relationship is attraction, the relationship is not based on respect and cannot hold for long. Often what is spoken of as love is not true love, it is confused with attraction, which also includes attachment. Nothing is wrong with attraction, it’s a great feeling of course. But true love is non-conditional.
So to build a truly satisfying relationship it’s best to get to know another persons deeper nature and relate to her/him on that level, instead of on superficial characteristics.
9. Develop a Sense of Compassion
In the western world the word compassion comes with a flavor of weakness. But what about a compassion that comes from a very strong and able mind, wouldn’t that be a wonderful ability to possess? Genuine compassion, as the Dalai Lama speaks about, originates from the realization that every human being is ultimately the same as every other human being.
Genuine compassion is a state of mind which is non-violent, non-harming and non-aggressive. This attitude is based on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility and respect for the other. It creates a positive, friendly and secure atmosphere. To develop compassion we can take the wish to be free of suffering for ourselves and then cultivate it to include and embrace others.
The value and benefit of compassion is obvious: if we understand, accept and even support that every human being has the wish to be happy, just like myself, then it is the basis of peace and therefore for happiness.
10. Release Your Buddha Nature
There are two levels of spirituality. The first are religious beliefs that are very different on the surface. The purpose of religion is to benefit people. The second level of spirituality is the direct experience of it, the practice of religion not only on an intellectual level, but on a deeper feeling. This second level can be experienced even without any religious beliefs. It is of course available for everyone. The Dalai Lama considers this second level to be more important, because these spiritual values connect everybody and the experience and living of it is more important than just understanding it mentally.
The nature of our mind is very pure. It has the qualities of clarity and knowing. Buddhists call the Buddha Nature “the mind of clear light” (Enlightenment) where no negative thoughts or emotions arise. It shines through if we are quieting all abstract concepts and thoughts and become aware of the underlying stillness of the mind directly.
Ultimately all causes of suffering find their root in ignorance. To overcome negativity towards happiness we can apply the antidote to ignorance: the wisdom factor. It is the true nature of reality. “You can eliminate the harmful effects by cutting off the specific branches or leaves, or you can eliminate the entire plant by uprooting it” ~Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness.
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Who’s Leading the Leading Health Indicators?
The physical environment plays a major role in impacting quality of life, years of healthy life, and health disparities.
Improving Air Quality Through Community Partnerships
Safe air, land, and water are vital to a healthy community. The physical environment plays a major role in impacting quality of life, years of healthy life, and health disparities.1 Globally, nearly 25 percent of all deaths and total disease burden can be attributed to environmental factors.2 Despite substantial progress in improving outdoor air quality in the United States over the past several decades, approximately 124 million people lived in counties that did not meet national outdoor air quality standards in 2010.3
Poor outdoor air quality can be attributed to both natural sources of pollution, such as dust from wind storms, as well as human-generated sources, such as emissions from vehicles.4 Exposure to outdoor air pollution can cause both short-term and long-term health effects, including damage to the immune, neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems; asthma; and death.5, 6
Among the many factors that contribute to poor indoor air quality, secondhand smoke is one of the most common of these pollutants, and poses serious health risks. During 2007–2008, approximately 88 million nonsmokers (more than 40 percent) were exposed to secondhand smoke in the United States.7 The health impact of exposure to secondhand smoke include: head and neck, lung, stomach, pancreatic, bladder, and cervix cancers; damage to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems; gum disease; reduced fertility; and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).8
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors air pollution levels nationwide. Since 1996, the EPA has designated the most populous county in Arizona (Maricopa County) a “Serious Nonattainment Area,” meaning that air pollution levels—in this case particulate matter, such as sand and dust—regularly exceed national health thresholds.9 To protect the health of its 3.9 million residents, Maricopa County has struggled for years to keep within EPA-defined acceptable limits of air pollution generated by industry, agriculture, and dust storms.10, 11 After initial efforts to improve air quality had limited success, in 2011 the Maricopa County Air Quality Department reached out to businesses, governmental agencies, public institutions, and local communities to identify feasible strategies to address the problem.
Together, these partners implemented Rapid Response Notification System, which was launched in June 2011 to identify and respond to man-made dust pollution incidents—that is, human activity that disturbs dirt surfaces—with the goal of reducing the number of days this region exceeds the Federal health standards for air pollution. Through this system, air quality is monitored in real-time throughout the county, and the data is gathered and transmitted to the Air Quality Department for rapid analysis. Businesses, organizations, and individuals participating in the program are automatically notified via email, text message, Twitter, and Facebook when the air quality in their surrounding area declines below acceptable levels. Participants then implement a response by either reducing dust or halting activities that generate dust and particle pollution, like construction or driving on unpaved roads, until the air quality recovers sufficiently. The Air Quality Department also dispatches a Rapid-Response Inspector to the scene to assess the sources of pollution and discourage activities that contribute to poor air quality.12
Because so many facets of daily life, industry, and agriculture can contribute to air pollution, the Air Quality Department has worked to engage public and private stakeholders across multiple sectors, including businesses; law enforcement; city, county, and state governments; restaurants; home builders; health care organizations; and media outlets. For example, the Air Quality Department works with local law enforcement agencies to patrol specific areas in response to complaints of improper off-highway vehicle activity, which generates dust and particle pollution.
The program also includes an educational outreach component to inform Maricopa County residents about air pollution challenges and provide them with the tools they need to take action to improve air quality. Using dollars partially collected from air quality violations, the Air Quality Department works with multiple sectors of the Maricopa County community to reduce pollution and to participate in the Rapid Response program. The Department provides brown bags, seminars, and specific dust control training for its stakeholder organizations. Individuals participating in the training act as program champions for their industries and within their peer networks, educating their colleagues on air pollution and its health impacts, developing materials to prevent and respond to air quality incidents, and enforcing air quality statutes.
Since implementing the Rapid Response Notification System, the Maricopa County Air Quality Department and partners have successfully responded to 12 of 14 human-generated dust incidents. In these 12 cases, the county was able to keep air quality levels from exceeding health-based air pollution thresholds.
1 Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Environmental Quality.” Available from: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/LHI/environmentalQuality.aspx.
2 Prüss-Üstün, A. & Corvalán, C. (2006). Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments: Towards an Estimate of the Environmental Burden of Disease. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Available from: http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/preventingdisease.pdf [PDF - 8.4 MB] .
3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Air Quality Trends.” Available from: http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/aqtrends.html.
4 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Sources of Pollutants in the Ambient Air.” Available from: http://www.epa.gov/apti/course422/ap3.html.
5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Effects of Air Pollutants - Health Effects.” Available from: http://www.epa.gov/eogapti1/course422/ap7a.html.
6 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. “Air Pollution.” Available from: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/exposure/air-pollution.
8 Office of Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Tobacco Use: Smoking & Secondhand Smoke. CDC Vital Signs. Atlanta, GA.
9 GoodGuide. “Nonattainment Areas.” Scorecard: The Pollution Information Site. Available from: http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/def/cap_naa.html .
10 U.S. Census Bureau. “Maricopa County QuickFacts.” State and County QuickFacts. Available from: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04/04013.html.
11 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Classifications of Particulate Matter (PM-10) Nonattainment Areas.” Available from: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/greenbook/pnc.html.
12 National Association of Counties 2012 Achievement Awards. “Rapid Response Notification System.” Available from: http://www.naco.org/programs/recognition/Pages/2012AchievementAwards.aspx .
Disclaimer: Reference in this web site to any specific product, process, service, organization, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by U.S. Government or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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THE deployment of megaships will place staggering new demands on northern European container terminals, which will need deeper channels and bigger ships to shore facilities to cope with massive volumes without creating congestion in yards, says a new study from UK-based Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC).
Much larger vessels have entered the Europe-Far East trades, it said. "The pressure on water depth, quay length, port access and the consignment sizes handled by terminals, represent major issues that must be addressed to maintain competitive position," the OSC study said.
"The container shipping market is in crisis, with severe overcapacity resulting in lines recording huge losses. The position of the lines as customers and as users of north European container terminals is generating considerable uncertainty.
"Though the outlook in the short term remains uncertain, due to macro-economic issues in the Euro zone, long-term prospects are strong, and demand growth will be positive in the forecast period. There will be far-reaching changes in terminal ownership, use and related investments," said the OSC study.
But north European container ports have bounced back from a downturn, said the OSC analysts citing a demand increase of 22 per cent since 2009 recession.
The study, entitled North European Container Ports Market to 2025, discusses forces driving terminal development, noting that total demand reached 57.9 million TEU in 2011, with the eastern Baltic region seeing strong growth.
Due to this and other factors, the structure of regional demand is changing. Transshipment demand is increasing; and deep-sea calling patterns are being altered, with the emergence of direct deep-sea services in the eastern Baltic, and associated scope for transshipment hubbing within the region, the authors of the study concluded.
Furthermore, inland transport costs are increasing rapidly and this factor - combined with increasing environmental pressures - is highlighting the need for intermodal transport solutions. Supporting investment programmes are becoming critical, and intermodal contractual commitments are often at the centre of investment planning, OSC said.
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categories: science, technology, history, art, family, school
Leonardo da Vinci has been a man active and talented in so many different areas that he may be called one of the few genius' in history of mankind. He was scientist, engineer and a brilliant inventor. The exhibition discovers his intelligence and creativity as never seen again. Explore the myths and legends of this universal genius and his inventions which inspire and challenge us even 550 years later. The exhibition contains more than 60 3-dimensional, mostly interactive machines, built as full scale and smaller scale models. They have been recreated based on the original codices, the notebooks Leonardo da Vinci carried with him to record his findings. The machines have been created maticulously using material used at his times: wood, metal, cloth and ropes. The functionality of the machines is described in detail by computer simulations and videoguides that visitors can interactively handle.
550 years ago a man was born who would change the world. On April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci - a small city in the Italian province of Tuscany. From humble beginnings as a farmer’s son, he became a universal genius – the most famous artist and scientist of all time.
Leonardo’s inventions set new standards in the areas of:
- hydraulic machinery, e.g. pumps
- mechanical machinery, e.g. automobiles, gear works
- machinery of war, e.g. tanks, cannon
- flying machines, e.g. air screw, parachute
At the time of their inception, his inventions were so progressive that only a few could be realised using existing materials and manufacturing methods.
Leonardo was a painter, sculptor, architect, art historian, musician, natural scientist, writer and inventor. This universal genius left the world with a treasure of revolutionary ideas and inventions, some of which we still use in our daily lives. Leonardo’s genius continues to challenge the spectacular and unthinkable.
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Cuts (rushes, out takes) for story FOR THE NORTH POLE in G 1201. The original story is on Pathe Master tape *PM0408*.
Similar footage to cut story. C/U of one of the crew with an Alsatian dog. M/S as they adjust the lifeboats. L/S of the boat in the water.
Sailors in the North Atlantic fire guns at icebergs to break them up.
A sailboat looks around icebergs for a polar bear and finds one!
American soldiers capture nazi arctic bases.
American submarine Skate arrives at the North Pole.
Expedition to the Arctic.
US Navy manoeuvres in the Arctic Sea.
Scorpion aeroplanes are on air guard over Arctic.
Scientists and soldiers undertake tests in the icy North.
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There seems to be an idea in the photographic world that anything slower than 1/60th of a second cannot be hand-held, and you must use a tripod. This is tripe - unless you have some medical condition resulting in uncontrolled shaking spasms, but I think is a carry-over from Box Brownie days.
The reason to use 1/15th is to expand the light range in which you can take shots without flash, such as sunsets for example, or to bring out the background, even when using flash. You know the shots taken at a function where you get someone looking like a startled rabbit in blackness, where if you had used a 1/15th shutter speed you would have got a nice mellow background to soften the picture.
Of course there are a few tricks to hand-holding at the slower shutter speeds. The first is to steady yourself and that can be done easily by leaning against a wall or a pole (preferably not a chrome one attached to a go-go dancer). The second is to hold the camera firmly in both hands, take a breath in and hold it and then gently depress the shutter button. I have even shot at ½ a second by holding the camera firmly pressed down on the back of a chair. Take a few as some will have obvious camera shake, but you will get at least one good one.
Still on the number 15. There is a theoretical f stop which could be called f 15. F stops after all are only a way of measuring the diameter of the aperture inside the lens, to bring it to its simplest terms. As you go through the usual f stops of f 8 to f 11 to f 16, you are actually cutting the light down by one half each time. The f stop scale is also an inverse ration, as the bigger the number, the smaller the diameter. There is a good mathematical reason for this, but just believe me.
If you really want to get technical, for example, f/16 means that the aperture diameter is equal to the focal length of the lens divided by sixteen; that is, if the camera has an 80 mm lens, all the light that reaches the film passes through a virtual disk known as the ‘entrance pupil’ that is 5 mm (80 mm/16) in diameter. The location of this virtual disk inside the lens depends on the optical design. It may simply be the opening of the aperture stop, or may be a magnified image of the aperture stop, formed by elements within the lens.
The f stop scale is a sliding one, allowing for fractional differences in the light allowed through to the film (or the digital sensors). Most old cameras had an aperture scale graduated in full stops but the aperture was continuously variable allowing the photographer to select any intermediate aperture, and thus it would be possible to shoot at f 15.
The continuously variable aperture cameras slowly disappeared, with ‘click-stopped’ aperture became a common feature in the 1960s; the aperture scale was usually marked in full stops, but many lenses had a click between two marks, allowing a gradation of one half of a stop.
On modern cameras, especially when aperture is set on the camera body, f-number is often divided more finely than steps of one stop or half a stop. Steps of one-third stop (1/3 EV) are the most common, since this matches the ISO system of film speeds. Enough technical details! Understand the numbers 15 and 16 and how they affect your final image, and you will expand your photographic abilities.
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The number one goal of orthodontic treatment is to give you or your child a good bite, meaning straight teeth that work well with the teeth in the opposite jaw. A good bite makes it easier for you to eat, chew and speak. It can enhance your dental health and your overall health, and may well improve your self-esteem. As a part of your comprehensive dental health care plan, orthodontic treatment can help you retain your teeth—and your smile—for a lifetime.
Let your smile express yourself! Nothing can show the world how happy you are quite like a beautiful smile. In fact, it’s one of the first things others notice about you, too. With orthodontics, you can be proud to flash your smile, because you’ll know that your smile truly represents your positive attitude.
Make your mouth healthy! Straight teeth aren’t just pretty, they’re healthy as well. Teeth that are properly aligned are easier to clean, reducing the amount of plaque buildup and risk for gingivitis. The cleaner you keep your teeth, the longer they’ll last!
Feel free to live your life! Orthodontics is easier today than ever before, with treatment options that fit your lifestyle and schedule. We can personalize your treatment to suit all of your needs!
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Underground River Discovered Beneath Amazon
This schematic shows the flow of the underground river to the Amazon River above.
CREDIT: Valiya Hamza
An underground river has now been discovered beneath the mighty Amazon River, flowing miles below the surface.
Scientists detected this river after they analyzed data from 241 wells that Brazilian oil company Petrobras drilled in the Amazon region in the 1970s and 1980s. The river was unofficially named the Hamza by scientists at Brazil's National Observatory in honor of their colleague, geophysicist Valiya Hamza.
"The name given to the underground flow is not official," Hamza said.
Thermal signatures of groundwater suggest that the Hamza flows west to east just like the Amazon, except at a depth of about 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) below the Earth's surface. Computer simulations suggest that at a higher depth of about 2,000 feet (600 meters), the river actually flows vertically.
Much less water flows down the Hamza than the Amazon — about 1 million gallons (3,900 cubic meters) per second as opposed to about 35 million gallons (133,000 cubic meters) per second for the Amazon. Water also crawls more slowly down the Hamza, with speeds of about 33 to 330 feet (10 to 100 meters) per year, as opposed to the Amazon's swift water speeds of about 20 to 390 feet (6 to 120 meters) in just one hour.
Still, the Hamza is nearly as long at about 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) compared to the Amazon's length of about 3,800 miles (6,100 km). The Hamza is also much broader at about 125 to 250 miles (200 to 400 km) wide, compared to the Amazon's width of about 0.6 to 60 miles (1 to 100 km).
The Hamza might not be the only such subterranean flow.
"It is possible that underground river systems of a similar kind exist in other parts of the Earth," Hamza told OurAmazingPlanet.
Altogether, these findings reveal "there are three kinds of 'river systems' in the Amazon region," Hamza said. In addition to the well-known Amazon River and its tributaries, there are "atmospheric rivers" where large amounts of water vapor flow through the local air and now this underground river system. Knowing about these three flows helps scientists better understand the total amount of water available in the Amazon region, which is a critical factor for investigating life there.
Hamza and Elizabeth Tavares Pimentel detailed their findings Aug. 17 at the International Congress of the Brazilian Society of Geophysics in Rio de Janeiro.
This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.
MORE FROM LiveScience.com
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In a few weeks, a Melbourne University conference, World at a Crossroads: Climate Change - Social Change Conference II, will draw connections between the environment and social systems.
According to the organizers of the international conference, climate change is no longer just a prediction and is intrinsically connected to the global financial crisis. The Arab revolutions, euro zone crisis and WikiLeaks' revelations are also related to climate change, because most governments are doing nothing to avert an environment and social catastrophe, the organizers allege.
Climate change, no longer just a prediction, is already extinguishing species, destroying essential food production and forcing thousands of people to flee their island homes, says the conference's Web site.
If climate change will destroy the planet, global financial crisis will be the death knell of humanity, says the organizers' Web site.
When the revolutionary government of tiny Bolivia refuses to bow down to the rich countries' attempts to impose fake solutions to climate change ... we know that it is possible to rescue and change our world, the introductory note to the conference says.
Resistance, an Australian revolutionary socialist youth organization, is a co-sponsor of the conference in Melbourne, scheduled to run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.
There is no other event that brings together the two biggest crises of our time - global warming and social crisis, a Resistance member told Green Left. In doing so it highlights that the root cause of both is in fact the same - in Nina Power's words: Capitalism! Obviously.
John Bellamy Foster, author of The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences and What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism, will deliver the keynote speech on Sept. 30.
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“The statesman can only wait and listen until he hears the footsteps of God resounding through events; then he must jump up and grasp the hem of His coat, that is all.” Thus Otto von Bismarck, the great Prussian statesman who united Germany and thereby reshaped Europe’s balance of power nearly a century and a half ago.
Last week, for the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama heard those footsteps, jumped up to grasp a historic opportunity … and missed it completely.
In Bismarck’s case it was not so much God’s coattails he caught as the revolutionary wave of mid-19th-century German nationalism. And he did more than catch it; he managed to surf it in a direction of his own choosing. The wave Obama just missed—again—is the revolutionary wave of Middle Eastern democracy. It has surged through the region twice since he was elected: once in Iran in the summer of 2009, the second time right across North Africa, from Tunisia all the way down the Red Sea to Yemen. But the swell has been biggest in Egypt, the Middle East’s most populous country.
In each case, the president faced stark alternatives. He could try to catch the wave, Bismarck style, by lending his support to the youthful revolutionaries and trying to ride it in a direction advantageous to American interests. Or he could do nothing and let the forces of reaction prevail. In the case of Iran, he did nothing, and the thugs of the Islamic Republic ruthlessly crushed the demonstrations. This time around, in Egypt, it was worse. He did both—some days exhorting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave, other days drawing back and recommending an “orderly transition.”
The result has been a foreign-policy debacle. The president has alienated everybody: not only Mubarak’s cronies in the military, but also the youthful crowds in the streets of Cairo. Whoever ultimately wins, Obama loses. And the alienation doesn’t end there. America’s two closest friends in the region—Israel and Saudi Arabia—are both disgusted. The Saudis, who dread all manifestations of revolution, are appalled at Washington’s failure to resolutely prop up Mubarak. The Israelis, meanwhile, are dismayed by the administration’s apparent cluelessness.
Last week, while other commentators ran around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, hyperventilating about what they saw as an Arab 1989, I flew to Tel Aviv for the annual Herzliya security conference. The consensus among the assembled experts on the Middle East? A colossal failure of American foreign policy.
This failure was not the result of bad luck. It was the predictable consequence of the Obama administration’s lack of any kind of coherent grand strategy, a deficit about which more than a few veterans of U.S. foreign policy making have long worried. The president himself is not wholly to blame. Although cosmopolitan by both birth and upbringing, Obama was an unusually parochial politician prior to his election, judging by his scant public pronouncements on foreign-policy issues.
Yet no president can be expected to be omniscient. That is what advisers are for. The real responsibility for the current strategic vacuum lies not with Obama himself, but with the National Security Council, and in particular with the man who ran it until last October: retired Gen. James L. Jones. I suspected at the time of his appointment that General Jones was a poor choice. A big, bluff Marine, he once astonished me by recommending that Turkish troops might lend the United States support in Iraq. He seemed mildly surprised when I suggested the Iraqis might resent such a reminder of centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule.
The best national-security advisers have combined deep knowledge of international relations with an ability to play the Machiavellian Beltway game, which means competing for the president’s ear against the other would-be players in the policymaking process: not only the defense secretary but also the secretary of state and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency. No one has ever done this better than Henry Kissinger. But the crucial thing about Kissinger as national-security adviser was not the speed with which he learned the dark arts of interdepartmental turf warfare. It was the skill with which he, in partnership with Richard Nixon, forged a grand strategy for the United States at a time of alarming geopolitical instability.
The essence of that strategy was, first, to prioritize (for example, détente with the Soviets before human-rights issues within the U.S.S.R.) and then to exert pressure by deliberately linking key issues. In their hardest task—salvaging peace with honor in Indochina by preserving the independence of South Vietnam—Nixon and Kissinger ultimately could not succeed. But in the Middle East they were able to eject the Soviets from a position of influence and turn Egypt from a threat into a malleable ally. And their overtures to China exploited the divisions within the Communist bloc, helping to set Beijing on an epoch-making new course of economic openness.
The contrast between the foreign policy of the Nixon-Ford years and that of President Jimmy Carter is a stark reminder of how easily foreign policy can founder when there is a failure of strategic thinking. The Iranian Revolution of 1979, which took the Carter administration wholly by surprise, was a catastrophe far greater than the loss of South Vietnam.
Remind you of anything? “This is what happens when you get caught by surprise,” an anonymous American official told The New York Times last week. “We’ve had endless strategy sessions for the past two years on Mideast peace, on containing Iran. And how many of them factored in the possibility that Egypt moves from stability to turmoil? None.”
I can think of no more damning indictment of the administration’s strategic thinking than this: it never once considered a scenario in which Mubarak faced a popular revolt. Yet the very essence of rigorous strategic thinking is to devise such a scenario and to think through the best responses to them, preferably two or three moves ahead of actual or potential adversaries. It is only by doing these things—ranking priorities and gaming scenarios—that a coherent foreign policy can be made. The Israelis have been hard at work doing this. All the president and his NSC team seem to have done is to draft touchy-feely speeches like the one he delivered in Cairo early in his presidency.
These were his words back in June 2009:
America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
Those lines will come back to haunt Obama if, as cannot be ruled out, the ultimate beneficiary of his bungling in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, which remains by far the best organized opposition force in the country—and wholly committed to the restoration of the caliphate and the strict application of Sharia. Would such an outcome advance “tolerance and the dignity of all human beings” in Egypt? Somehow, I don’t think so.
Grand strategy is all about the necessity of choice. Today, it means choosing between a daunting list of objectives: to resist the spread of radical Islam, to limit Iran’s ambition to become dominant in the Middle East, to contain the rise of China as an economic rival, to guard against a Russian “reconquista” of Eastern Europe—and so on. The defining characteristic of Obama’s foreign policy has been not just a failure to prioritize, but also a failure to recognize the need to do so. A succession of speeches saying, in essence, “I am not George W. Bush” is no substitute for a strategy.
Bismarck knew how to choose. He understood that riding the nationalist wave would enable Prussia to become the dominant force in Germany, but that thereafter the No. 1 objective must be to keep France and Russia from uniting against his new Reich. When asked for his opinion about colonizing Africa, Bismarck famously replied: “My map of Africa lies in Europe. Here lies Russia and here lies France, and we are in the middle. That is my map of Africa.”
Tragically, no one knows where Barack Obama’s map of the Middle East is. At best, it is in the heartland states of America, where the fate of his presidency will be decided next year, just as Jimmy Carter’s was back in 1980.
At worst, he has no map at all.
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Guess people don't watch nature shows.
"Owls, too, are also generally associated with death and the underworld because of their nocturnal habits. The most widespread species, the Barn Owl, with its ghostly appearance and blood-curdling shriek, is considered a bad omen in cultures throughout the world. Several African cultures depict owls as spirits of the dead and as omens that foretell the death of anyone who sees them."
Oh, and the whole natural predator to bats theme, that people seem to ignore.
Last edited by WhitOro; 04-30-2012 at 09:42 AM.
What have they done? They have killed a politician , they have kidnapped Bruce and drove him almost to insanity , dick has been framed for murder, as the end issue 7 the owls start rampaging on the city. The back up of batman 8 has the owls killing important people in Gotham.
Originally Posted by Mr. Holmes
So you ask what's scary about them, and I give you reasons why, yet they're
not good enough? Big surprise. News Flash, bats aren't that scary either, and until one turns into a vampire in front of me and trys to turn me, I don't think they're scary.
Originally Posted by Cavemold
Nope. You make too much sense and have valid points. That's not good enough. Haha
What makes, penguins, riddlers, clowns, scarecrows, poison ivy, cats scary?
That is some lovely work.
So you mean they've done a bunch of stuff Ra's al Ghul has already done a number of times over? I'm going to agree with others on this one, the concept has proven to be far more interesting than the execution.
Originally Posted by Cavemold
What kind of question is this? Are telling me that Penguin, Poison Ivy and the Riddler are suppoused to be scary? No they're not. They're dangerous, and fear comes from the danger they create.
Originally Posted by maxpower00044
The Court is suppoused to generate the same kind of fear. You're suppoused to say "Damn, these guys are so strong and dangerous that I'm actually scared of them".
You believe that Snyder is good at doing that? Good, I'm happy you enjoy it.
I can't, because it doesn't matter how many people they kill, I don't find ninja-owls that act like schoolyard bullies while getting comanded by an overtheatrical hammy inner group of rich d-bags scary/dangerous etc etc etc.
As for clowns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulrophobia
Scarecrows are suppoused to scare crows, the fact that they scared humans came later.
Both these two are about facing a guy you can't recognize, it's an expansion of the fear of the unknown.
OK I GET IT, I'm the only coward scared by bats. Can we move over?
Originally Posted by Roldan
Last edited by WhitOro; 04-30-2012 at 09:58 AM.
So you wouldn't be afraid if a secret society kidnapped and drugged you ??
Dark Knight Detective
Penguin and Riddler, sure, I'll give you that they're mostly scary because of the fact they're dangerous. Poison Ivy, I think you can make an argument for. I mean, one of her recent MOs is the fact that she uses her pheromones to seduce people to do her bidding--the idea of having all control and ability to consent being taken from you is a rather frightening concept. Look at stuff like Hush, where Catwoman was clearly shaken up and hurt from being forced to steal again (and possibly more) when under Ivy's spell, or during Dini's Detective run, where he had her basically seduce random people in bars and then put them in plants in acid just to hear them scream and die. She's the ultimate date rape nightmare--and let's not even get into the giant plant monsters she can create.
Originally Posted by WhitOro
As for that last point--can you honestly say that Penguin or Riddler have NEVER been overtheatrical and hammy? I honestly think that's a requirement for most supehero comic villains.
My thought process regarding this thread:
*Sees Batwing Preview thread has 3 pages already!*.
Awesome, the book must be getting more readers!
*Enters thread and sees everyone arguing about whether or not the Owls are scary*
CBR I am disappoint....
On topic, sweet preview. To's art is great and I like Winick's writing so far. Looking forward to this issue.
This is scary.
Oh, and Marcus To is an amazing artist, I will miss the art of Ben Oliver but Marcus draws very beautiful.
Shut up, Leonard
hahahaha. yeah... you and me both
Originally Posted by MB99
No Love Allowed
Originally Posted by FHIZ
And I have to admit that I was sceptical about To being on art duty for Batwing, based solely of of his RR run...but I am quite pleasantly surprised with this prev. Inks certainly do make a (very important) difference.
(Still, I'm hoping beyond all hope that his alternating artist would be Ken Lashley).
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You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
Related Medications Videos on Diabetes Health TV
STAT™ Medical Devices
Could Byetta Become a Standalone Drug?
New Small Molecule Drugs for Type 2 - Human Trials Underway
Popular Shots Articles
Highly Recommended Shots Articles
As diabetes climbs to epidemic levels in the United States, and finding adequate resources to fund future U.S. healthcare remains in question, the need for an already existing "boots on the ground" group that can address the disease is greater than ever.
0 comments - Aug 15, 2012 -
With Father's Day just around the corner, I thought it would be nice to stop for a moment and reflect on what dads do for us, especially dads who have diabetic children. The pressure and emotional aspects of diabetes can be overwhelming, not to mention the stress it can put on a family. For every needle prick, shot, and counted carb my father (and mother) helped me with, I want to say thanks.
22 comments - Jun 19, 2011 -
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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14th Amendment Under Fire: Senate Republicans Propose Changing Citizenship Requirements
The 14th Amendment, as you’ll recall from A.P. Government, grants citizenship to anyone born on United States soil, including, occasionally, the children of illegal immigrants. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), minority whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and the indefatigable Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have all gone on record this week to suggest that the amendment itself is in need of amending. “I haven’t made a final decision about it, but that’s something that we clearly need to look at. Regardless of how you feel about the various aspects of immigration reform, I don’t think anybody thinks that’s something they’re comfortable with,” McConnell said, according to The Hill. Kyl, a supporter of his state’s controversial immigration law, was less equivocal: “If both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?” he rhetorically asked on CBS’s Face the Nation. It was Senator Graham who first proposed altering the parameters of citizenship during an interview with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren last week. “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake, that we should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen,” he said, and added that he doesn’t “want 20 million more [U.S. citizens] 20 years from now.” (McConnell, for what it’s worth, isn’t so sure birthright citizenship should be repealed entirely. “I think we ought to take a look at it—hold hearings, listen to the experts on it,” he hedged.) Before a change can be made to a Constitutional amendment, legislation must pass in two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-fourths of the states. As you’ll also recall from A.P. Government, this has been successfully done only 27 times.
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Forecast of budget shortfall greets incoming governor
A four-year outlook released Wednesday by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council shows incoming new Gov. Jay Inslee will enter office facing a $900 million budget deficit.
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — Gov.-elect Jay Inslee will take office in January facing a projected $900 million deficit for the next two-year budget ending in mid-2015, not counting money lawmakers will need to improve funding for education as directed by the state Supreme Court this year.
A four-year outlook released Wednesday by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council showed the projected revenue shortfall for the following biennium ending in 2017 would be even larger, at $1.1 billion.
The outlook was released along with the state's quarterly revenue forecast, which showed the income projection increased slightly — $8 million — for the biennium that ends next summer. But it showed a reduction of $88 million for the next two-year budget cycle that begins July 1.
The outlook doesn't take into account lawmakers' court-ordered requirement to increase the amount the state spends on public schools.
The Supreme Court ruled in January the state was not meeting its constitutional duty to fully pay for basic education. The court is asking for yearly reports on the Legislature's progress.
A task force has a December deadline for reporting back to the Legislature with a recommendation about how it should proceed toward meeting the court's orders, which were to find a way to pay for the plan by 2018.
Inslee, a Democrat who will succeed Gov. Chris Gregoire in January, has said that he will work to make government more efficient and that he would be able to balance the state's budget without new taxes.
"There's going to be a lot of conversations to be had about ways we will have to make efficiencies, and what the real priorities are that we have to fund," Inslee spokesman Jaime Smith said Wednesday.
"There's going to be a lot of hard choices to make. We just aren't going to be able to afford all of the things we have been doing."
But during Wednesday's meeting, Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, a member of the Revenue Forecast Council and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has long stated he doesn't think it's "numerically possible to have a budget that doesn't have a revenue increase."
He said trends show "the growth in the economy is not matched by the growth in revenue."
"I actually don't think it's going to be numerically possible, but we're going to look at that effort and we're certainly doing that effort first," Hunter said.
Republican Sen. Dino Rossi, R-Sammamish, a fellow council member, said he agreed with Inslee on the issue of taxes, saying, "we really shouldn't be raising taxes in this environment."
Smith said Inslee's main focus is on jobs.
"He does recognize the severity of the economic challenges that we're facing, and he knows the reason we have those challenges is because we saw so many people lose those jobs," she said. "The most important long-term priority is on economic development."
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Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
There were plenty of stats doled out by Twitter’s founders during Chirp Conference keynotes today. The two that stuck with us were: 1) that its servers handle 3 billion calls every day, just to the API , and 2) that 75% of all their traffic comes from their API. If you look at the volume alone, that’s over 30,000 updates, timeline requests and searches per second.
While Twitter mashups continue their tremendous growth, there’s another area we’re also noticing blossom: APIs that are based on the Twitter API . It’s a growing trend, and we now have 43 Twitter-derived APIs in our directory. These developer-created apps and platforms process data from Twitter, adding value, and in-turn share that back out for developers via their own API.
We write a lot about the growth in the number of APIs on ProgrammableWeb. But how about usage? Some APIs see so many requests that they measure in billions.
There is a long list of things people will tell you that you need as a startup: You need a working product. You need a business plan . You need a lawyer . You need a good coffee maker, a video game system, and beer on Fridays.
Twitter was one of the first to see what happened when traffic to the site came more from the API than the Web. It now has more than 65 million tweets per day, most coming from services that use the Twitter API. Twitter has made numerous changes to fix its API.
There was a recent post on ReadWriteCloud about 10 common mistakes made by API providers. I think this is a very thoughtful post, but I think it's an inward look at the problem. In other words, they are looking at problems that developers face while implementing their own APIs. I think biggest mistakes are not necessarily how to implement your API, but how API consumers will perceive, implement and use the API.
I started building Facebook apps about three years ago, when I first started doing web development consulting full-time. My first apps were simple affairs, but over time they grew more complex and I leveraged the platform features more and more. Over the last three years, I’ve spent an increasing amount of time on the Facebook platform. This year I built applications for Neutrogena and IHOP, both moderately complex, and I also spent a decent chunk of time this year working on several social games on Facebook.
Last week, Alex Williams posted a list in ReadWriteWeb's Cloud Computing channel of the " !0 Common Mistakes Made by API Providers ." Alex's post points to some of the problems that occur in both the technical and the business realms of API development. In the case of the latter, he lists "Poor Community Management" and "Not Recognizing the API as a Core Line of Business" as common business-related errors. The API has long been seen as a cornerstone of BizDev 2.0 , a term coined by Hunch co-founder Caterina Fake. But parallel perhaps to the misconception that "if you build (a product), they will come," is the notion that simply because you've developed an API for your business that you have, in fact, upgraded your business development to that 2.0 level.
We have received a great deal of feedback recently about things we should do to improve Facebook Platform. The themes are clear: “fix the bugs,” “update the documentation,” “talk to us more,” and “make things more reliable.” We are listening, and this post outlines some of the things we are doing to address your concerns. Fixing Bugs We have set up new mechanisms to triage and track the bugs you report. The most significant change you will see is improved responsiveness to new bugs and real action on our substantial backlog. We will report our progress against bugs every week on Friday, so you can see the progress we are making together.
This guest post comes from Alex Willen, Business Analyst at Box.net . Alex works with the Box platform, improving its usability and evangelizing it to developers. An API can be an extremely powerful tool, allowing you to expand the functionality of your product without having to do the development yourself. To achieve this, however, you need to get developers using your API.
Typically, when anyone talks about APIs, they talk about internal or enterprise APIs and external or open APIs. But as the cloud services become more widely adopted, we’ll see an interest in more hybrid situation, where internal IT departments use external APIs or other services as part of a broader architecture. What does this mean for developers?
This guest post comes from Jimmy Jacobson , a developer and advocate with Zappos IP, Inc’s API team. Shiny. That’s what your API is. Brand new.
This guest post comes from Alex Willen, Developer Advocate at Box.net . Alex works with the Box platform, improving its usability and evangelizing it to developers. So you’ve decided to put together an API, an excellent choice which I applaud.
Business models were nascent in 2005, when ProgrammableWeb listed only 105 APIs in our directory. There were only four basic models, according to John Musser’s talk this morning at Glue . Fast forward six years and those same business models exist, but there’s a lot more detail, as the now 3,000+ APIs have refined the ways an API can make money. 2005 API Business Models 2011 API Business Models ( larger version )
As a consumer of APIs, one thing you encounter every day are API rate limits. Just about every API has limits on the number of calls you can make against their API. As developers, we accept the limits because in many cases we are getting the API for free. And in some cases, even the rates aren’t enough for a provider to get what it needs, as when Google put the kibosh on Translate . Are limits simply a sign that a provider needs to find a strategy that scales? Some API owners solve this problem of “excessive calls” by setting a daily limit on API calls.
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Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus or, simply, Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος, Exodos, meaning "going out"; Hebrew: שמות, Sh'mot, "Names"), is the second book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the five books of the Torah (the Pentateuch).
The book tells how the children of Israel leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh, the god who has chosen Israel as his people. Led by their prophet Moses they journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh promises them the land of Canaan (the "Promised Land") in return for their faithfulness. Israel enters into a covenant with Yahweh who gives them their laws and instructions for the Tabernacle, the means by which he will dwell with them and lead them to the land, and give them peace.
Traditionally ascribed to Moses himself, modern scholarship sees the book as initially a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century). Carol Meyers in her commentary on Exodus suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity: memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with the god who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it.
Contents according to Judaism's weekly Torah portions
- Shemot, on Exodus 1-5: Affliction in Egypt, Moses is found and called, Pharaoh
- Va'eira, on Exodus 6-9: Plagues 1 to 7 of Egypt
- Bo, on Exodus 10-13: Last plagues of Egypt, first Passover
- Beshalach, on Exodus 13-17: Parting the Sea, water, manna, Amalek
- Yitro, on Exodus 18-20: Jethro’s advice, The Ten Commandments
- Mishpatim, on Exodus 21-24: The Covenant Code
- Terumah, on Exodus 25-27: God's instructions on the Tabernacle and furnishings
- Tetzaveh, on Exodus 27-30: God's instructions on the first priests
- Ki Tissa, on Exodus 30-34: Census, anointing oil, golden calf, stone tablets, Moses radiant
- Vayakhel, on Exodus 35-38: Israelites collect gifts make the Tabernacle and furnishings
- Pekudei, on Exodus 38-40: The Tabernacle is set up and filled
There is no agreement among scholars on the structure of Exodus. One strong possibility is that it is a diptych (i.e., divided into two parts), with the division between parts 1 and 2 at the crossing of the Red Sea or at the beginning of the theophany (appearance of God) in chapter 19. On this plan, the first part tells of God's rescue of his people from Egypt and their journey under his care to Sinai (chapters 1-19) and the second tells of the covenant between them (chapters 20-40). Douglas Stuart in his commentary on Exodus puts it this way: "In Egypt, Israel was the servant of Pharaoh; at Sinai they became God's servants."
Egypt's Pharaoh, fearful of the Israelites' numbers, orders that all newborn boys be thrown into the Nile. A Levite woman saves her baby by setting him adrift on the river Nile in an ark of bulrushes. Pharaoh's daughter finds the child, names him Moses, and brings him up as her own. But Moses is aware of his origins, and one day, when grown, he kills an Egyptian overseer who is beating a Hebrew slave and has to flee into Midian. There he marries the daughter of Jethro a priest of Midian, and encounters God in a burning bush. Moses asks God for his name: God replies: "I AM that I AM." God tells Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrews into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham.
Moses returns to Egypt and leads the Israelites out of bondage. The desert proves arduous, and the Israelites complain and long for Egypt, but God provides manna and miraculous water for them. The Israelites arrive at the mountain of God, where Moses' father-in-law Jethro visits Moses; at his suggestion Moses appoints judges over Israel. God asks whether they will agree to be his people. They accept. The people gather at the foot of the mountain, and with thunder and lightning, fire and clouds of smoke, and the sound of trumpets, and the trembling of the mountain, God appears on the peak, and the people see the cloud and hear the voice [or possibly "sound"] of God. Moses and Aaron are told to ascend the mountain. God pronounces the Ten Commandments (the Ethical Decalogue) in the hearing of all Israel. Moses goes up the mountain into the presence of God, who pronounces the Covenant Code (a detailed code of ritual and civil law), and promises Canaan to them if they obey. Moses comes down the mountain and writes down God's words and the people agree to keep them. God calls Moses up the mountain with Aaron and the elders of Israel, and they feast in the presence of God. God calls Moses up the mountain to receive a set of stone tablets containing the law, and he and Joshua go up, leaving Aaron below.
God gives Moses instructions for the construction of the tabernacle so that God could dwell permanently among his chosen people, as well as instructions for the priestly vestments, the altar and its appurtenances, the procedure to be used to ordain the priests, and the daily sacrifices to be offered. Aaron is appointed as the first hereditary high priest. God gives Moses the two tables of stone containing the words of the ten commandments, written with the "finger of God".
While Moses is with God, Aaron makes a golden calf, which the people worship. God informs Moses of their apostasy and threatens to kill them all, but relents when Moses pleads for them. Moses comes down from the mountain, smashes the stone tablets in anger, and commands the Levites to massacre the unfaithful Israelites. God commands Moses to make two new tablets on which He will personally write the words that were on the first tablets. Moses ascends the mountain, God dictates the Ten Commandments (the Ritual Decalogue), and Moses writes them on the tablets.
Moses descends from the mountain, and his face is transformed, so that from that time onwards he has to hide his face with a veil. Moses assembles the Hebrews and repeats to them the commandments he has received from God, which are to keep the Sabbath and to construct the Tabernacle. "And all the construction of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished, and the children of Israel did according to everything that God had commanded Moses", and from that time God dwelt in the Tabernacle and ordered the travels of the Hebrews.
Jewish and Christian tradition viewed Moses as the author of Exodus and the entire Pentateuch, but by the end of the 19th century the increasing awareness of the discrepancies, inconsistencies, repetitions and other features of the Pentateuch had led scholars to abandon this idea. According to current thinking, a first draft (the Yahwist) was probably written in the 6th century BCE during the Babylonian exile; this was supplemented and completed as a post-Exilic final edition (the Priestly source) at the very end of the 6th century or during the 5th century, and further adjustments and minor revisions continued down to the end of the 4th century.
Genre and sources
The book of Exodus is not historical narrative in any modern sense. Modern history writing requires the critical evaluation of sources, and does not accept God as a cause of events. But in Exodus, everything is presented as the work of God, who appears frequently in person, and the historical setting is only very hazily sketched. The purpose of the book is not to record what really happened, but to reflect the historical experience of the exile community in Babylon and later Jerusalem, facing foreign captivity and the need to come to terms with their understanding of God.
Although mythical elements are not so prominent in Exodus as in Genesis, the echoes of ancient legends are crucial to understanding the book's origins and purpose: for example, the story of the infant Moses's salvation from the Nile has its basis in an earlier legend of king Sargon, while the story of the parting of the Red Sea trades on Mesopotamian creation mythology. Similarly, the Covenant Code (the law code in Exodus 20:22-23:33) has notable similarities in both content and structure with the Laws of Hammurabi. These influences serve to reinforce the conclusion that the Book of Exodus originated in the exiled Jewish community of 6th-century Babylon, but not all the sources are Mesopotamian: the story of Moses's flight to Midian following the murder of the Egyptian overseer may draw on the Egyptian Tale of Sinuhe.
Biblical scholars describe the Bible's theologically-motivated history writing as "salvation history", meaning a history of God's saving actions that give identity to Israel - the promise of offspring and land to the ancestors, the exodus from Egypt ( in which God saves Israel from slavery), the wilderness wandering, the revelation at Sinai, and the hope for the future life in the promised land.
A theophany is a manifestation (appearance) of a god - in the Bible, an appearance of the God of Israel, accompanied by storms - the earth trembles, the mountains quake, the heavens pour rain, thunder peals and lightning flashes. The theophany in Exodus begins "the third day" from their arrival at Sinai in chapter 19: Yahweh and the people meet at the mountain, God appears in the storm and converses with Moses, giving him the Ten Commandments while the people listen. The theophany is therefore a public experience of divine law.
The second half of Exodus marks the point at which, and describes the process through which, God's theophany becomes a permanent presence for Israel via the Tabernacle. That so much of the book (chapters 25-31, 35-40) is spent describing the plans of the Tabernacle demonstrates the importance it played in the perception of Second Temple Judaism at the time of the text's redaction by the Priestly writers: the Tabernacle is the place where God is physically present, where, through the priesthood, Israel could be in direct, literal communion with him.
The heart of Exodus is the Sinaitic covenant. A covenant is a legal document binding two parties to take on certain obligations towards each other. There are several covenants in the Bible, and in each case they exhibit at least some of the elements found in real-life treaties of the ancient Middle East: a preamble, historical prologue, stipulations, deposition and reading, list of witnesses, blessings and curses, and ratification by animal sacrifice. Biblical covenants, in contrast to Eastern covenants in general, are between a god, Yahweh, and a people, Israel, instead of between a strong ruler and a weaker vassal.
Election of Israel
Israel is elected for salvation because the "sons of Israel" are "the firstborn son" of the God of Israel, descended through Shem and Abraham to the chosen line of Jacob whose name is changed to Israel. The theme of election by birth will later narrow still further, to the line of David, the descendant of Judah, and further in Christianity to Jesus. The goal of the divine plan as revealed in Exodus is a return to man's state in Eden, so that God can dwell with the Israelites as he had with Adam and Eve through the Ark and Tabernacle, which together form a model of the universe; in later Abrahamic religions this came to be interpreted as Israel being the guardian of God's plan for mankind, to bring "God's creation blessing to mankind" begun in Adam. Later, the "obedient son", Jesus, ultimately brings about a new creation where the "old Adam and old Israel failed".
See also
- The Exodus
- Song of the sea
- Film adaptations of the Book of Exodus
- History of the Jews in Ancient Egypt
- Dozeman, p. 1.
- Johnstone, p. 72.
- Meyers, p. xv.
- Meyers, p. 17.
- Stuart, p. 19.
- Stuart, p. 20.
- Meyers, p. 16.
- Johnstone, pp. 68, 72.
- Kugler, Hartin, p. 50.
- Fretheim, p. 7.
- Dozeman, p. 9.
- Houston, p. 68.
- Fretheim, p. 8.
- Kugler,Hartin, p. 74.
- Dozeman, p. 4.
- Dozeman, p. 427.
- Dempster, p. 107.
- Wenham, p. 29.
- Meyers, p. 148.
- Meyers, pp. 149-150.
- Meyers, p. 150.
- Dempster, pp. 97-98.
- Dempster, p. 100.
- Dempster, p. 234.
Translations of Exodus
Commentaries on Exodus
- Houston, Walter J (1998). "Exodus". In John Barton. Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198755005.
- Johnstone, William D (2003). "Exodus". In James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson. Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837110.
- McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881461015.
|Wikisource has original text related to this article:|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Book of Exodus|
- Exodus at Mechon-Mamre (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- Exodus (The Living Torah) Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
- Shemot - Exodus (Judaica Press) translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
- Shmot (Original Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
Book of Exodus
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By PBN Staff
WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates were lower in August in 325 of the nation’s 372 metropolitan areas, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate dropped to 10.4 percent in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro during August. Year over year, the metro area’s unemployment rate dropped 0.8 percentage points from 11.2 percent in August 2011.
The Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area was slightly better off than the state of Rhode Island, which posted a 10.6 percent unemployment rate during August.
The New Bedford metro area’s jobless rate dropped 0.5 percentage points year over year to 9.9 percent in August. Massachusetts as a whole saw its unemployment rate drop from 7.2 percent in August 2011 to 6.4 percent in August 2012.
The national unemployment rate dropped from 9.1 percent in August 2011 to 8.2 percent in August 2012, not seasonally adjusted.
Two hundred seventy-four metropolitan areas reported over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 92 reported decreases and six, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area, had no change.
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The Cuban government arrested 29 journalists in March 2003 in a massive crackdown on the independent media. Accused of being "counterrevolutionaries" at the service of the United States, the journalists were convicted after summary trials behind closed doors. Only two have been released.
Several of the jailed journalists are suffering from deteriorating health.
Jorge Olivera Castillo was taken from a hospital in eastern Guantánamo province to Agüica prison in western Matanzas province, according to his wife, Nancy Alfaya. Olivera, who suffers from several ailments, is being held at the prison's infirmary, but is receiving no medical treatment, Alfaya told CPJ.
Another, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, has been hospitalized for more than a year and his health continues to decline. His wife, Miriam Leyva, said the family does not have access to his doctors, his medical tests, or treatment records.
Raúl Rivero, who suffers from pulmonary emphysema, has been subjected to harassment by prison officials, according to his wife, Blanca Reyes. After Rivero's last family visit, on August 19, the prison's medical services director told Reyes she could no longer deliver medicine to Rivero. Reyes, who was warned by state security officers not to give statements about Rivero's status, told CPJ that prison officials had suspended his September 11 marital visit after he argued with a security officer.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, a journalist who is jailed at Kilo 8 prison in central Camagüey province, went on a hunger strike August 11 to demand his transfer to a prison closer to his home, according to the independent news agency Decoro. Prieto Llorente, who is from eastern Isla de la Juventud province, subsequently ended his hunger strike and on August 30 was visited by his mother and sister. He has been harassed for protesting his conditions, according to Decoro.
Also in August, journalist Héctor Maseda was transferred to a cell with repeat offenders in La Pendiente prison, according to his wife, Laura Pollán. Maseda is concerned that prison authorities may use common prisoners to harass him. Pollán also told CPJ that she and other relatives of imprisoned journalists and opposition activists had formally appealed to Cuban authorities to grant them amnesty, but government officials have not responded to their request.
"The Cuban government continues to ignore international and domestic appeals for the release of the imprisoned journalists," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "As long as these journalists are jailed, in violation of international freedom of expression standards, we will continue to demand their immediate and unconditional release."
The Cuban government arrested a total of 29 journalists in the March 2003 crackdown, and tried them behind closed doors on April 3 and 4, 2003, as the world's attention was focused on the war in Iraq.
Some journalists were tried under Article 91 of the Penal Code, which imposes lengthy prison sentences or death for those who act against "the independence or the territorial integrity of the State." Other journalists were prosecuted for violating Law 88 for the Protection of Cuba's National Independence and Economy, which calls for imprisonment of up to 20 years for anyone who commits acts "aimed at subverting the internal order of the nation and destroying its political, economic, and social system."
On April 7, 2003, courts across the island announced prison sentences for the journalists ranging from 14 to 27 years. In June 2003, the People's Supreme Tribunal, Cuba's highest court, dismissed the journalists' appeals for annulment (recursos de casación) and upheld their convictions.
In June 2004, imprisoned journalist Carmelo Díaz Fernández was granted a medical parole and sent home. At the time he was warned that he would be sent back to prison if he recovered from his illnesses or did not maintain "good behavior". Also in June, journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, CPJ's 2003 International Press Freedom Award winner, was released without explanation. Upon his release, two state security officers suggested that he leave the country.
The imprisoned journalists, most of whom are being held in maximum-security facilities, have denounced their unsanitary prison conditions and inadequate medical care. They have also complained of being fed foul-smelling and rotten food. Unlike the general prison population, who receive more frequent visits, most imprisoned journalists are allowed family visits every three months and marital visits every five months.
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This is the federal state of Hessen's annual celebration and Germany's oldest and largest regional fair. Always held in a different town, it presents the state, its regions and its towns through a week of events spanning arts and culture, customs, a range of music, exhibitions and speciality Hessian cuisine.
In 1961 the Hessentag was inaugurated by the then state premier Georg August Zinn, who said "A Hessian is anybody who wants to be a Hessian". His aims were noble – to bring together long-established citizens and immigrants, to give the many refugees and displaced people a flavour of their new home. Hessen itself had some catching up to do in terms of solidarity, for the state was only created in 1945 from areas that had had no links for centuries. Over time the Hessentag has changed, with new ideas and events being incorporated every year into this ten-day celebration of tradition and modernity. Now concerts by international bands are just as much part of the programme as the major regional exhibition, and every year the festival attracts over half a million visitors. In fact, the million mark was passed for the first time in Baunatal in 1999, and since 2011 Oberursel has held the record with around 1.4 million visitors. But one thing has not changed and will never change. The Hessentag brings people together to exchange ideas, broaden their horizons and have fun, which is what every successful festival should do.
2013.06.13. - 2013.06.24.
Az árakra, időpontokra és nyitvatartási időkre nem vállalunk garanciát.
Adja hozzá kedvenceit. Mentse el, rendszerezze, ossza meg és nyomtassa ki választásait és tervezze meg teljes németországi útját.
0 kedvenc kiválasztva
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MILLEDGEVILLE — The historic campus of Georgia Military College and Georgia College professors will be featured in NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” as Emmy award-winning cooking host Paula Deen unveils her southern past.
The NBC television show filmed Georgia College history professors Dr. Bob Wilson and Dr. Rachel Shelden delineating Deen’s ancestry roots while sitting in the legislative chambers on the campus of GMC in March.
“My colleague and Civil War Era historian, Dr. Shelden, met with Ms. Deen, who was absolutely delightful to work with. Ms. Deen connected with her great-great-great-grandfather, John Batts, a substantial cotton planter of Lee County. Batts served in the legislature in the late 1850s and early 1860s, hence his association with Milledgeville,” Wilson said in a press release. “The whole process is a great adventure.”
Each week, viewers follow some of America’s best-known celebrities into their ancestral pasts, as they uncover stories of heroism and tragedy, love and betrayal, secrets and intrigue that lie at the heart of their family history, states NBC.com. As each celebrity discovers his or her unknown relatives - most of whom overcame hard times, the show will take viewers back through world history to expose how the lives of everyone's collective ancestors have shaped the world today.
The episode is schedule to air at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC as the show’s third season finale.
For more information about the show or Deen, visit www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are.
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Today in Tech: Why an iPad mini is probably comingJuly 5, 2012: 5:30 AM ET
How brick and mortar stores are luring online shoppers offline; meet the youngest start-up entrepreneurs around.
Why would Apple make a device that Steve Jobs famously described as too small for "great apps ... unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size"? To cut off the air supply of Google's Nexus 7, Microsoft's Surface, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tabs, that's why.
Luring online shoppers offline [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
Now some big retailers are taking a new approach to the dreaded showrooming by transforming their stores into extensions of their own online operations. Walmart, Macy's, Best Buy, Sears, the Container Store and other retailers are stepping up efforts to add Web return centers, pickup locations, free shipping outlets, payment booths and even drive-through customer service centers for online sales to their brick-and-mortar buildings.
But staying focused is hard to do, as Google showed last week when it introduced a series of new products including a tablet computer, a home entertainment hub and a corporate computing service. As if that was not enough, Google previewed futuristic Internet-enabled eye glasses that are supposed to make smartphones obsolete. "Google is focused. On everything," Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, an online file storage service, joked in a post on Twitter.
Discovering the Higgs boson is not likely to radically change life for most people — it will not lead to better communications devices or fancy new electronics. But knowing its characteristics will bring physicists a better understanding of nature. The Higgs is important because it is the manifestation of the Higgs field, which is thought to permeate all of space and interact with all other subatomic particles. This interaction leads to the different mass for each elementary particle. Some particles, like protons, are slowed by this field, like a tennis ball going through molasses, and are relatively heavy while others, like electrons, shoot rapidly through like BB gun pellets, making them light.
Here's why it really sucks to be an app reviewer for Apple [BUSINESS INSIDER]
"People have this idea that there are 100 people in India doing app reviews," [Mike] Lee tells Business Insider. "It's just people in a building at Apple, and like every other part of Apple, they can't get enough really good people. Apple will not compromise the quality of its teams to fill it in. I promise you its a lot smaller than you imagine."
Doing apps and start-ups while still in high school [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
While budding moguls in high school clubs like the Future Business Leaders of America invest make-believe money in the stock market or study the principles of accounting, the Entrepreneurs Club members have a distinctly Silicon Valley flavor: they want to create start-ups. They have met weekly during the school year to discuss their ventures and ideas, explore matters like money-raising strategies and new markets, and host guest speakers. Once, they held a Skype chat with a software engineer in Sweden who described the intricacies of running an online music business.
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Oh yeah. The veritable 1911 pistol. Designed by John Moses Browning, in active use by dozens of countries for over 100 years now, it represents (to me anyway) the perfect melding of form and function.
Now, if you own one, and it happens to be a “mil-spec” or “A1″ style 1911, chances are very good that it has a staked front sight. That means the front sight is secured by what is known as a mortise and tenon joint.
Here’s a picture of a basic mortise and tenon joint. Mortise on the left, tenon on the right.
In the most basic terms, a mortise and tenon joint is a square or rectangular peg (the tenon) being driven into a square or rectangular hole (the mortise) to join two pieces of material (wood, metal, stone) together at a 90 degree angle. It’s very basic, very strong, and has been in use since at least 2500 BC.
That’s a long time.
Now, in order to replace the staked in front sight, you don’t need anything super-fancy, but you do need a specialty tool. This tool is called a front sight staking tool, and you can buy one from Brownells for about 50 bucks. Not a whole lot of money, but if you only have one 1911 with a staked front sight, it’s probably not worth it to spend the money on a tool you’ll likely only once in your life.
Anyway, enjoy the video.
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Adjusting air flow rates through air distribution system devices, such as fans and diffusers, by manually adjusting the position of dampers, splitter vanes, extractors, etc., or by using automatic control devices, such as constant air volume or variable air volume boxes.
The following is a compilation of building energy-code related terms and acronyms used on the Building Energy Codes website and throughout the building construction industry.
Select a letter to navigate through the glossary:
Adjusting water flow rates through hydronic distribution system devices, such as pumps and coils, by manually adjusting the position valves, or by using automatic control devices, such as automatic flow control valves.
A device used in conjunction with an electric-discharge lamp to cause the lamp to start and operate under the proper circuit conditions of voltage, current, wave form, electrode heat, etc.
Basement walls that enclose heated spaces are part of the building envelope. Basement wall refers to the opaque portion of the wall (excluding windows and doors). To be considered a basement wall, at least 50% of the wall's total wall area (including openings) must be below grade. Treat walls on each side of the basement individually when determining if they are above-grade or basement walls. For any individual wall less than 50% below grade, include the entire opaque wall area of that individual wall as part of the above-grade walls.
That portion of a wall in the building envelope that is entirely below the finish grade and in contact with the ground.
Basement or first-story walls (Section 802.2.8) associated with the exterior of the building that are at least 85% below grade.
Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc.
A pressurized system in which water is vaporized to steam by heat transferred from a source of higher temperature, usually the products of combustion from burning fuels. Steam thus generated may be used directly as a heating medium or as the working fluid in a prime mover to convert thermal energy to mechanical work, which in turn may be converted to electrical energy.
A boiler that is shipped complete with heating equipment, mechanical draft equipment, and automatic controls; usually shipped in one or more sections. A packaged boiler includes factory-built boilers manufactured as a unit or system, disassembled for shipment, and reassembled at the site.
The circuit conductors between the final overcurrent device protecting the circuit and the outlet(s); the final wiring run to the load.
Board of Standards Review.
British thermal unit, which is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound (0.454 kg) of water 1°F.
A computer representation of a hypothetical design based on the actual proposed building design. This representation is used as the basis for calculating the energy cost budget.
A structure wholly or partially enclosed within exterior walls, or within exterior and partial walls, and a roof, affording shelter to persons, animals, or property.
Any doorway, set of doors, turnstiles, or other form of portal that is ordinarily used to gain access to the building by its users and occupants.
A building envelope includes all components of a building that enclose conditioned space. Building envelope components separate conditioned spaces from unconditioned spaces or from outside air. For example, walls and doors between an unheated garage and a living area are part of the building envelope; walls separating an unheated garage from the outside are not. Although floors of conditioned basements and conditioned crawlspaces are technically part of the building envelope, the code does not specify insulation requirements for these components.
The elements of a building that separate conditioned space from unconditioned space or that enclose semiheated spaces through which thermal energy may be transferred to or from the exterior, unconditioned spaces, or conditioned spaces.
Any doorway, set of doors, or other form of portal that is ordinarily used only for emergency egress or convenience exit.
Lighting provided through building's electrical service for parking lot, site, roadway, pedestrian pathway, loading dock, and security applications.
A digital representation of the building process. The BIM facilitates exchange and interoperability of information in digital format.
Any element (other than air films and insulation) of the building envelope through which heat flows and that is included in the component U-factor calculations.
The officer or other designated representative authorized to act on behalf of the authority having jurisdiction.
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Photograph by Jim Richardson
Photograph courtesy Jim Richardson
Contributing editor Jim Richardson is a photojournalist recognized for his explorations of small-town life. His photos appear frequently in National Geographic magazine.
Once you go to Valhalla, return is not an option. But I have done it several times.
I do not refer to the mythological Valhalla of Norse legend, Odin's majestic "hall of the slain" wherein those who die valiantly in combat find honor in the afterlife. No, this Valhalla is a quiet museum collection tucked away in the Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly. Here the fallen are the poignant figureheads from ships wrecked in these treacherous waters off the English coast. Each one proudly graced the prow of some merchant ship or ship of the line that sailed these waters in the 19th century. In the day, ships were decorated and ennobled with personal character.
I'll never forget the first time I saw the collection, rounding a corner of the gardens, expecting yet another magnificent rhododendron or some improbable palm tree, when I seemed to step, without warning, into another era altogether. I was no longer in a garden but among lost souls. Displayed under a low roof, the light is soft on the statues; visitors instinctively speak in hushed tones.
There is the Mary Hay, which hit Steeple Rock and sank while returning from Jamaica with a load of rum and sugar. Over there is Palinarus, which met its fate at Lion Rock in 1848, her crew of 17 drowned. And here is the alabaster-white River Lune, gazing wistfully skyward but hopelessly lost in thick fog on July 27, 1879, when the lookout sighted rocks all around them.
They all have a story to tell. Thanks to Augustus Smith of Tresco Abbey, "Lord Propriety" of the Isles of Scilly, the man who collected them, their stories live on. In each face there is something of that age—of innocent optimism, stoic bravado, or even tearful foreboding.
I'd never managed to capture this element before. Always on previous trips my images had been big, sweeping, get-it-all-in shots that recorded everything and perhaps revealed nothing. So I set out to rethink where the soul of the Valhalla collection in Tresco Abbey Gardens could be found. To some degree I stepped back in reflection rather than observation. Mostly I looked into the eyes of the ships' figureheads. I thought I could see behind the painted carvings to the real people of another time. Or at least I might glimpse the hopes and fears, aspirations and inner doubts of another age.
Once that notion was fixed in my mind, the photography was simple. Just straightforward pictures, no gimmicks. Let the faces speak.
Back at the computer it was a (relatively) quick matter to resize them all to a common format, import them into Photoshop and construct a new document to hold the grid of images. A bit of playing with position and the interplay of light and dark images (and the juxtaposition of the dour and doubtful with the forthright and sinless) and the image was done.
It is not a simple image, yet it can be "read" at length and leisure.
Valhalla is a fitting name for this lovely place. The lost souls seem at rest here.
Shop Photography Books
Subscribe to National Geographic magazine and save. Print and digital editions available.
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There is no other place quite like Brooklyn. Not only has it inspired and nurtured many native writers, it has had a profound impact on those passing through. The Brooklyn Reader features a rich diversity of writings -- short stories, poetry, essays, novels, biographies, and plays -- that offer thirty writers' unique and colorful experiences of New York City's biggest borough. Ranging from warm, nostalgic memories of childhood to humorous tales of new arrivals adjusting to the American way, or just stories of life's unplanned adventures, this reading tour is a true delight. Contributors include:
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Alice Leccese Powers
About Alice Leccese Powers
Alice Leccese Powers is the editor of the anthologies Italy in Mind and Ireland in Mind, and co-editor of The Brooklyn Reader: Thirty Writers Celebrate America’s Favorite Borough. A freelance writer and editor, she has been published in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, and many other newspapers and magazines. Ms. Powers also teaches writing at the Corcoran School of Art and Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and three daughters.
"Lively, affectionate, moving pieces by the natives and transplants who have made Brooklyn one of America's great literary landscapes." -- Tallahassee Democrat
"Intelligently conceived and intelligently executed ... a portrait of the borough as it might have been edited for William Shawn's New Yorker." -- Boston Sunday Globe
"There's plenty of gems ... one of the best is Capote's evocation of the Heights and those first sentences: 'I live in Brooklyn. By choice.' " -- New York
"Testaments to the mythic place Brooklyn was, and in many ways continues to be."--New YorkDaily News.
The Brooklyn Reader by Andrea Wyatt Sexton Alice Lecesse Powers
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In April 2011, the Commercial Service (CS), Belgium, the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), and the League of Green Embassies unveiled the energy-efficiency makeover at the 230-year-old, 16,000 square foot Brussels residence of U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard W. Gutman, the first in a planned series of energy-efficiency makeovers in US Embassy properties.
The goal of the event was to showcase the variety of upgrades, to emphasize the U.S. Government‘s efforts on energy efficiency and climate change, showcase US technologies and set the stage for additional embassy residence makeovers.
The unveiling of the residence’s green upgrade took place during a VIP reception hosted by Ambassador Gutman and ASE. The event was attended by 400 American and European clean-tech executives and officials. View a video of this event.
Companies which participated in the upgrades are listed below. Total product value amounts to $185,000. The top-to-bottom makeover, which used on average up to 25% less energy during the first week after installation, maintained the residence’s historic features and décor.
THE League of Green Embassies is a USG initiative promoting energy efficiency in the green building sector by retrofitting U.S. embassies with the most efficient technologies. Embassies are a powerful force for introducing innovative solutions, influencing individuals and institutions in host countries, and play an important role in mobilizing public opinion and action. The vision of the League, a collaboration of the departments of State and Commerce, is to stimulate economic growth, promote green building exports by demonstrating the effectiveness of U.S. technologies, and stimulate U.S. investment in clean energy and environmental technologies, while addressing energy security. The League reflects the commitment of its members, now numbering 70, to reduce operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions of embassies and related properties. Membership is open to foreign embassies. The League was established in 2007 by Michael M. Wood, former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden. U.S. Ambassador to Finland, Bruce Oreck is the current League of Green Embassies Chairman. Ambassador Oreck launched the green makeover program in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy. See http://www.leagueofgreenembassies.org.
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Tarak Said Paras Handakni was recently killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in Ramallah. Israeli intelligence identified Handakni as one of the murderers of Aharon Avadian, an Israeli father of four from the northern town of Zichron Yaakov.
Out of the hundreds of incidents in the Israeli anti-terrorist campaign of the past few months, why did this one catch my attention? Because Aharon Avadian was not just another victim in the headlines. He was my neighbor.
When word of his murder reached our town that day, an Arab who used to work with Avadian broke down and wept. "I hate Arabs," he said.
What am I to feel? Should I hate Arabs? Should I gloat over the killing of my neighbor's murderer? Or should I feel sadness and disgust over so much hatred and violence?
Some would answer that whatever you feel, you have a right to that feeling. But the Torah viewpoint is different. Not only is the Torah a book of law and history, it is a guidebook for life. There is nothing in life that the Torah does not address.
What the Torah says about such situations, however, seems at first glance contradictory.
On one hand, we have a verse: "In the destruction of the wicked, there is song" (Proverbs 11:10). The Talmud says this refers to King Ahab, who was so evil that the world looked forward to his death, and everyone rejoiced in being rid of him.
Every morning in our prayers we mention the drowning of the Egyptian legions at the Red Sea.
Indeed, we celebrate the destruction of the wicked every morning in our prayers when we mention the drowning of the Egyptian legions at the Red Sea. It was one of the great moments of Jewish history, when Moses and Miriam led the Jewish people in a song of praise and thanksgiving to God. And we recall it with festivity every year at the Passover Seder.
At the same time, the Midrash explains that during the last six days of Passover, we do not say the complete Hallel prayer of joyful praises, because when the Jews crossed the Red Sea, God said, "Since my creations [the Egyptians] are drowning, you should not be singing praises."
IMAGE OF GOD
The Torah tells us about God's decision to destroy the city of Sodom. Abraham comes to God and argues against it. The question is asked: The people of Sodom were known to be entrenched in evil. Why should Abraham care?
The lesson Abraham teaches is that we don't desire that sinners will cease, but rather that sins will cease. Therefore, instead of wishing for their demise, Abraham prayed for them to repent.
Every human being is created in the image of God -- even a terrorist -- and we should pray for their return to sanity.
Jews in Israel just want to be left alone to live in peace.
Jews in Israel don't want to kill Palestinians, God forbid. We just want to be left alone to live in peace.
If Palestinians do not choose the path of peace, and they suffer because of it, we are still instructed not to rejoice at the downfall of an enemy. As the Sages say: "When your enemy falls, be not glad; and when he stumbles, let your heart not be joyous. Lest God see and it displease Him and He will turn His wrath from him [to you]." (Proverbs 24:17-18; Avot 4:24)
The classic commentary, Tifferet Yisrael, distinguishes between the various sources as follows: When it's just a grudge match, when it's only your own enemy that has fallen and you feel a personal triumph, then God may be displeased and you should not be glad. But when the objectively wicked perish, as with the death of Ahab and the drowning of Pharaoh's legions, then we may rejoice -- for it is there that we see the Hand of God punishing our enemies, meted out in a world where the reign of injustice had seemed virtually invincible.
HONOR AND TRUTH
A few words about my neighbor Aharon Avadian.
All that the newspapers told about him in their brief report was that he was a kashrut supervisor. That is probably the least of the things that those who knew him will remember. And yet, his position as a supervisor of kashrut did, in its cryptic way, testify to the extraordinary person that he was. For Avadian was not raised in a religious environment; he was, like his family and friends, educated to a secular way of life. But he was searching for the truth, and he came to the conclusion that the truth resided with the ways of Jewish tradition.
It was not an easy decision. Rabbi Yechiel Yaakovson said during the shiva that Avadian struggled for a long time with the great question of what it means to be a Jew. Only when he was certain that it was the right path, did he commit himself.
In the eyes of the Torah, honor is measured in accordance with how much one has fulfilled his potential.
Rabbi Yaakovson, a distinguished Torah scholar, said that he would stand up in Avadian's honor when the latter entered the room. He described how Avadian would protest against this gesture, insisting that it was an insult to the rabbi's greater Torah knowledge. "It was the only time I ever saw him get really angry," recalled Rabbi Yaakovson. "It was only because he loved the truth so much, and he felt that this was wrong. But in the eyes of the Torah, honor is measured in accordance with how much one has fulfilled his potential, how much he's overcome in life. Considering where I came from, and considering where Aharon came from, I had to stand up for him, and not the other way around."
Avadian's modesty and kindness were trademarks. It was an irony of death that it occurred in an area where he was well known for his work as a volunteer in the regional rescue unit. Avadian responded to numerous calls for help in the nearby Arab village. Several residents of that village owe their lives today to Aharon Avadian.
When friends would caution him that it was dangerous to go into Arab areas after the intifada had started, he responded, "Aren't they also human beings? How can I not answer their call for help?"
In the case of Aharon Avadian and the hundreds of other innocent Jews killed by Palestinian terror, there have been no open miracles in the bringing of their murderers to justice. The sea does not split, nor does the earth swallow up the terrorists who assail us every day. Furthermore, even operations like Defesnive Shield will only stop the terror temporarily. Aharon Avadian's killers may have been eliminated, but the killing goes on, and no one knows when it will end.
So while there can be some sense of satisfaction that justice has been done, that some of the wicked have perished, it is hardly a time for song.
The sages of our own generation have often invoked the words of the prophet to describe and define our times: “It is a time of suffering for the Jewish people" (Jeremiah 30:7). It is a time in which the hand of justice is rarely perceived, and the bloody arm of the enemy of Israel is about in all the land.
But we also have to remember the concluding words of that verse: "from it, [Israel] will be saved." When that time comes, when the mighty arm of God is seen clearly in the events of history, then we will be able once again to sing a joyous song.
In the meantime, we pray for all mankind to pursue the path of peace.
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TE Lawrence's Clouds HillView map
An old fashioned kind of hero...
f Lawrence of Arabia were around today he’d no doubt be whizzed around by some type of PR svengali from event to event.
His rampant heroism and various sensational personas - mystic, warrior, author and airman - would have caused a media frenzy.
Even back in the day T. E. Lawrence as he was known to his mum attracted more than his fair share of limelight thanks to the part he played in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule and his ability to write so vividly about his adventures. When it all got too much for him, he retreated to Dorset and the isolated Clouds Hill.
The tiny Clouds Hill cottage is now a National Trust property and remains just as it would have been the day Lawrence set out for that fateful motorcycle ride. Lawrence certainly made the cottage his own and the rooms provide a fascinating insight into his complex personality.
After exploring his home you can complete your day by walking the 'Lawrence Trail' which takes you through the breathtaking Dorset scenery to his final resting place at St Nicholas Church.
As good as Peter O’ Toole was in the Lawrence of Arabia epic, nothing beats a day in Dorset to get a real insight into one of history’s most enigmatic figures.
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What is the most important piece of furniture in your home?
The answer to the question of the most important piece of furniture for each family may be varied. I came to my answer when I was just 18 while hearing a speech presented by a fellow student in college.
Her speech was about the importance of table manners and told an embarrassing event in her life of eating out with a boyfriends family and how her lack of social graces prompted her to educate herself on the proper etiquette of eating at a table with others.
I can remember during her speech being thankful for my parents who prepared meals and we all sat down together and ate as a family.
The dining table has always been the most important piece of furniture for my family.
It is at the table where my children learned table manners and how they were expected to behave during meals. It was also where we discussed our days of victories and defeats.
Social skills were developed and the minor act of taking turns and passing food were important keys to developing a consciousness of others needs before our own. It was also a place where we, as a family, worked as a team by setting the table, discussing and sharing of ideas, and clearing the table to do the dishes.
Our table was a place we met three times a day when my children were small and at least once a day as they grew older. It was at that table we wielded a relationship of love that persevered through anger, disappointment, and misunderstandings. I have often been told how close-knit my family appears to be with one another. It was at our dining table we began that bond.
What Is Your Families’ Most Important Piece Of Furniture?
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7 June 1974. Thought for the Week: "The truth is that Civilisation collapses when the essential reverence for absolute values which religion gives disappears. Rome had discovered that in the days of her decadence. Men live on the accumulated Faith of the past as well as on its accumulated self-discipline. Overthrow these and nothing seems missing at first, a few sexual taboos, a little of the prejudice of Cato, a few rhapsodical impulses - comprehensible, we are told, only in the literature of folk lore - these have gone by the board. But something has gone as well, the mortar which held society together, the integrity of the individual soul; then the rats come out of their holes and begin burrowing under the foundations and there is nothing to withstand them".
Dr. Monk Gibbon in Mount Ida.
BLACKMAIL THREATS BY PEKING
"The ABC is almost certain to ban entirely a controversial film on China because of Chinese threats to close its Peking office. The ABC is in the process of buying the 2.5-hour feature film, made by Marxist director Michelangelo Antonioni, and had planned it as a major TV coup. But the Chinese Embassy in Canberra last week asked the Australian Government to ban the film from the ABC." - The Australian, May 31st.
Where are all those Whitlam supporters who have for years been shouting about the necessity for Australia to adopt a sturdy independent approach to other nations? Apparently it is quite all right to abuse the Americans and the British but nothing must be done which might upset the Peking Communists. In explaining why the ABC's TV programme, "This Day Tonight", had been prevented from using a segment from the Antonioni documentary, the ABC's director of public affairs, Mr. Allan Martin, said that screening of the film could "expose our representative in China to risk." The chairman of the ABC, Professor Richard Downing, states, "I am concerned about the future of our representative in Peking, Paul Raphael. After all, it took us a long time to get him there. We are also concerned about the ABC's relations with China."
What a supine, sickening attitude. If the ABC
can only maintain a representative in Red China by jumping to attention
every time Peking cracks its threatening whip, then the sooner the ABC
withdraws its representative the better for Australians self-respect.
But Mr. Jack Lazarus, President of a Communist-front organisation, urges
Australia to cringe before the Peking threats. In a letter in The
Age, Melbourne, of June 3, Mr. Lazarus provides a classical example
As there is at present no relationship, excellent or otherwise, between the Australian and Chinese people, how can the showing of a documentary film on Communist China upset anyone - except of course the Red Chinese and their Australian supporters, who do not wish the Australian people to see anything unfavourable about Mao Tse-tung's "paradise." The ABC episode is a clear indication of the type of blackmail tactics used by Communist regimes. Like all totalitarians, the Communists cannot tolerate any criticism whatever.
FROM CANADIAN "ON TARGET": THE REAL ISSUE OF JULY 8
"Under the above heading, the May issue of The
Canadian Intelligence Service features a four-page article on the
present political situation in Canada, and the forthcoming election.
The following areas of Government policy are examined: Commonwealth
Relations, International Relations, National Defence, Foreign Aid, the
Great 'Grant' Racket, Bilingualism, Immigration, and Economic Policy.
The Opposition parties are assessed. 'Three essential points respecting
Inflation and Canada's present economic-finance bind are discussed.
The starting point is to realize the shortcomings of all political parties, and the inherent weakness of a purely party label approach to politics. Let's face the fact that this country's salvation lies in the hands of no one group of politicians. But rather, it lies in the character, the integrity, and the faith of our people. Therefore, we must look first at ourselves and at Grassroots Canada. And we must take both a short-term and long-term view.
This election constitutes our immediate, short-term challenge. Discount party labels. Examine closely not only the words but also the records, of candidates seeking your support. Ascertain, as far as possible, where candidates stand on key issues, and whether or not they owe their first allegiance to their electors or to their party. Consider their character and integrity carefully. In other words, elect the best man. Political parties are devices by which politicians and those behind them impose their will upon the electorate.
The only realistic long-term approach, therefore, must include a strategy designed to enable the electorate, especially between elections, to impose its policy upon the politicians. The only movement working towards this end at present is The Canadian League of Rights. (And the Australian League of Rights, the New Zealand League of Rights, and the British League of Rights, in their respective countries. Ed.) It has been said that people get the kind of government they deserve. Let us now, with this election, start to work towards deserving better government".
FROM BRITISH "ON TARGET" (13/4/74): MORE GRANTS TO TERRORISTS
In view of the recent political coup in Portugal; and the new regime's intention to 'negotiate' with the Frelimo terrorists (a mistake, in our view), the whole subject of aid to terrorists demands more ventilation. Particularly disturbing is the aid to terrorists from the World Council of Churches; aid and succour for murder and rapine in the name of humanitarianism: Satan's delight! The article follows.
The author is the well-known Bernard Smith: - "At the beginning of March the W.C.C. (World Council of Churches) announced a fresh batch of grants to 'liberation' movements totalling $200,000. The largest single amount went to P.A.I.G.C., the terrorist group that seeks to 'liberate' Portuguese Guinea from colonial rule. A Reuter report in the Daily Telegraph (1/3/74) refers to a bomb explosion outside a crowded pavement cafe in the heart of Bissau, capital of Portuguese Guinea. Sixty-three people were injured, and one person killed. The report goes on to indicate that this is the second such bombing incident in Bissau in less than a week, and seems to herald a new offensive by the African guerrillas of the P.A.I.G.C. (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) movement designed to hit at morale in the capital of the tiny territory. This report indicates how P.A.I.G.C. 'liberates' the African. The W.C.C. has donated $42,000 to P.A.I.G.C.
P.A.I.G.C. TERRORISES AFRICANS
ANY CHURCH THAT REMAINS A MEMBER OF THE WORLD
COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IS GUILTY OF THE MORAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ON SUBSCRIPTIONS"Starting from scratch" nine and a half years ago On Target has been able to keep expanding its circulation sufficiently to keep ahead of constantly rising financial costs. But recent accelerations in costs, the major increase being in postal charges - and more to come early next year! - have made it imperative for us to increase our subscription for the first time in our history. We hate breaking our record of no increases over nine and a half years, but we must face realities. One major feature of our success in holding down our subscription rate until now, has been the wrapping of On Target every week by volunteers; also the servicing of subscription renewals by a volunteer. We are increasing the subscription rate to $5.00 per annum. But supporters can assist us and themselves, by taking advantage of our two-year subscription rate of $9.00 This will save not only on postage, but also relieve the strain on our limited full time staff and volunteers. We can, of course, also continue to absorb some rising costs by accelerating our circulation growth.
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY INDUSTRY'S PROPAGANDIST FLIGHTS OF FANCY
"The outlook for most industries remains bright, according to a Department of Secondary Industry survey." - The Sun, (Melbourne) June 3rd.
This Survey is aggressively optimistic; just as were the many surveys which we can recall concerning Britain's entry into the Common Market: just as optimistic - and just as wrong! According to the Department of Secondary Industry, the strong demand for goods and services will continue; and a big rise in capital spending will take place. Modest warnings are given that steep rises in costs and prices will continue (of labour and materials). And much more.
We consider that this Dept. of Secondary Industry Survey is farcical; it is really most difficult for us to appreciate that supposed 'authorities' could utter such drivel. The tightest credit squeeze in the history of the Reserve Bank is now gripping the Australian economy (the present share market barometer readings is some sort of indication of the apprehension of the Business World) and the effect of this squeeze upon the Australian finance-economic machine will be to slow it right down. How capital spending is to rise sharply in a period of deflation is beyond us; and we are quite sure, beyond Mr. K. Enderby (the Minister of Secondary Industry).
Mr. Whitlam has said that there will be a balanced
Budget this year (that means no, repeat no increases in capital spending,
at least Governmental) - and the Reserve Bank restrictions mean that
there can be no increases in capital spending in the private sector;
indeed, very much the reverse. On top of all this, there is present
the inflammatory factor of inflation (we predict a rate of around 20%
by Christmas) which was not present in previous credit squeezes. We
can see ahead not industrial brightness, but soaring inflation, bankruptcies,
retrenchments, unemployment, industrial warfare, The Communists are
licking their lips.
Communism and the Second World WarThe Second World War and a further undermining of Civilisation was the logical and inevitable outcome of the policies that had produced the First World War and the Great Depressions. The major outcome of the Second World War was tremendous expansion of the Communist Empire, and the undermining of the British Empire as a stabilising force in world affairs. Convulsion after convulsion has followed, with increasing dissatisfaction in every Society. One striking manifestation of this dissatisfaction is the growing revolt of youth, many of whom have become persuaded that their societies have produced such appalling results that they either seek to contract out completely -(stop the world, I want to get off) - seek escapism with the aid of drugs, or join forces with those revolutionaries who urge that their societies should be completely destroyed as a necessary preliminary to replacing them.
Probably nothing so demonstrates the sickness of society than the loss of faith in it by the younger members.
Negative criticism of youth ignores the basic cause of unrest; departure from the correct principles of association."
"On Target" is published by the Australian League of Rights, Box 1052. G.P.O. Melbourne 3001.
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New taskforce to fight student finance confusion
|Published: 17th June 2011 08:15|
A task force is being established to help ensure students understand the true cost of their education after the 2012 English student finance changes.
In 2012, universities will be allowed to charge tuition fees to full time students of £9,000 - nearly three times the current level. Repayment terms are also being revised, with the earnings threshold for repayments to kickstart being raised from the current £15,000 to £21,000.
The Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information's primary aim is to co-ordinate, advocate and champion best of breed communication in the online, app, print, and broadcast spaces - allowing all interested groups (eg, schools, colleges, parents, teachers, universities) to help students understand the changes. It is made up of the National Union of Students (NUS), the National Association of Student Money Advisors, UCAS and the higher education bodies Universities UK and GuildHE, and is supported by many others.
The initiative, launched today, is headed by Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com and Wes Streeting, NUS President 2008-10. Universities Minister David Willetts has committed to full co-operation to ensure swift access and support upon request.
Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com's creator, who will head the Taskforce, said: "For 20 years we've educated our youth into debt when they go to university, but never about debt. For that we should hang our heads in shame.
"With the huge 2012 changes coming, we must ensure students understand the true cost of their education, so they can decide whether it's worth it.
"While I'm no fan of the changes, even more damage has been done by the crossfire of political spittle that's left many future students and their parents confused and scared - often for the wrong reasons.
"These changes are now happening, so we must explain the real impact on the pounds in students' pockets. I hope this initiative will spread unbiased, best-of-breed apps, web, speakers, video, print, ambassadors and more."
Wes Streeting, Helena Kennedy Foundation chief executive & NUS president 2008-10, will be deputy head:
"After the heated political debate about tuition fees, I believe it is vital that potential students and their families can make informed choices about going to university based on the facts about the new system. That's why I'm prepared to play my part, as a longstanding campaigner against tuition fees, to ensure that we dispel any lingering misunderstanding about tuition fees and student finance.
"If potential students are deterred by higher fees, the Government will need to rethink its policy. But the tragedy of students, particularly from poorer backgrounds, being deterred because of myths and misconceptions is one that can be easily avoided if we all play our part."
Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Universities Minister, says: "It is vital that people understand how the new system will work from 2012. This independent group has the expertise and reach to communicate to a huge number of prospective students, families and teachers, as well as to universities. I strongly back this new initiative. The group will be well resourced by the sector and we will be listening to what it says.
"Under the new system no new student will be asked to pay up front for their tuition. There will be more financial support for students from low-income households. Graduates will not be asked to repay their loans until they are in well paid jobs. I thank all those who are coming together from a wide range of organisations to help ensure the public have the facts."
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The Inherent Right of ALL People to
Alter or Reform Abusive Government
The Right Upon Which All Other
The Torchbearer for J.A.I.L.
Nationally - Support Them!
P.O. Box 412, Tea, S.D. 57064
- (605) 231-1418
"Independence of the
Judiciary" To Be Checked By The
Thanks ... for the
last article delineating the boundaries of JAIL. No one with half a
brain or an iota of concern, (which, as you pointed out, may
actually not be as many as we think,) can accuse us of going beyond any
perceived limits as to citizen activism in government, or of tying the
hands of justice. Rule of Law, if there is such an
animal, implies that no one is above the law. Jefferson asked,
"Where is the check on the judiciary?" Good question. Which
a check on the judiciary preclude the notion of an independent
judiciary? Perhaps. It seems to be a moot point, however,
which means, not a settled point, but one that is debatable. My
idea is that if judicial independence means no interference whatsoever,
that invites tyranny, if it is not by its very nature tyrannical.
If independence is to be maintained, then no governmental agency,
entity, or person should be allowed to intervene, and it seems
eminently logical and practical and patriotic, therefore, to
provide for intervention ONLY by the people, as a DUTY, and as a
means of participating directly in the political process. Someone
once said that "a mistake is an error left uncorrected." We're
just correcting an error, made perhaps by the founders or perhaps by
interpreters with a personal interest in immunizing judicial officers,
before it becomes a more serious and perhaps a mistake fatal to
agree with your correct presumption, by the way, concerning the nature
of the establishment of government. Webster's definition of Civil
Liberty went on to explain that:
"Civil Liberty is an exemption of the arbitrary will of
others, which exemption is secured by establishing laws, which restrain
every man from injuring or controlling another. Hence the
restraints of law are essential to civil liberty.
liberty of one depends not so much on the removal of all restraint from
him, as on the due restraint upon the liberty of others.
this sentence, the latter word liberty denotes natural
one would argue that to prevent injury or control laws should
exist. But when the restraints become excessive or arbitrary, as
they have, so that they are NOT "necessary or expedient for the safety
and interest" of the people, but for the government itself and for the
corporations it creates, --that, Webster says, is "tyranny and
oppression." Ah, there's the rub. Now judges uphold bad
laws, badly written, ill-conceived, and misapplied. Their only
defense is the Neuremberg defense: They're only following
orders. And they are, not as judicial officers, but as employees
of the State exercising Executive power. In Thompson v
Smith, the supreme court ruled that "judges, when enforcing
statutes, do not act judicially." WOW, ya gotta love it!
That's because you must have Laws, Statutes AND Regulations for the due
process of the law to be complete! Otherwise, the "judicial"
process is flawed, defective and/or abusive.
only way for a judge to be a judge is to be delegated authority by
Congress through Article III of the National Constitution.
It says Congress MAY delegate judicial authority. In fact, the
record indicates that Congress actually withheld the delegation of
judicial authority! Check out Northern Pipeline v.
Marathon Pipeline, a bankruptcy case in which the court
declared that a bankruptcy court judge does NOT have Article III
judicial power, is NOT a judge, and so his decision was null
and void. Ouch! Who woulda thunk
would happen if the same were considered about State Judges?
I know what the ruling SHOULD be. They're not Article
III judges either and State courts are NOT Constitutional
courts. That definition is, not of a court that considers, uses,
abides by and is restricted by the constitution, but one that is a
court established or created by the constitution. State
courts are created by the legislature. State judges, therefore,
are NOT judicial officers, and are not independent, but have conflicts
of interest inherent in their job! What does it say on their
paycheck about who pays them? They take a loyalty oath to the
State. The State owns the judges, the court, all the attorneys,
and they are the plaintiff trying their own cause. How the hell
did that happen? True or not, I even heard that judges LEASE
their courtrooms! In any case, it is merely a "kangaroo court" as
I said before, "one in which the outcome is
pre-determined." And so is the income! They've got a cash
cow going and they don't want to give it up. A portion of the
court fees go into their retirement funds. That's a financial
interest in every case.
is up to the people. As much as I hate cliches, it is apparent
that the ball is in our court, pun intended. It is, and
must truly be, not the State's court, but the people's court, or
it is no court at all.
soon forward some attachments for you to consider and I look forward
to hearing from you again.
then, I remain,
Pro Libertate et Patriae
the Liberty of My Country,"
Aris et Focis,
Our Altars and Our Hearths,"
and Be Well,"
(Ancient Roman closing of letters)
Your thought on the "independence of the
judiciary" is very well taken and should be shared with our readers
because one of the foremost arguments of our opposition is that J.A.I.L.
will interfere with the "independence of the judiciary." It is very
important that the People understand what is being said. Therefore, your
message and my reply is being sent as a JNJ for educational
First, whenever you hear any accusation
against J.A.I.L., they are accusing the People--
for J.A.I.L. is the People exercising their
inherent right to amend what purports to be "government" inasmuch as
their rights are being violated every day and the People are being forced
to live under absolute despotism. The evils are no longer sufferable;
therefore it is incumbent upon the People to "throw off such government"
by holding the guardian of our rights, i.e., the purported judiciary,
accountable to the People under constitutional
For purposes of the J.A.I.L. process, it
doesn't matter what the make-up of the powers-that-be is. All we know for
sure, as a People, is that the powers are evil
and destructive of the People and it can no
longer be endured. We know for sure that only we, the
People, can change the situation, and change it we
must! The People will continue to seek redress of grievances in
whatever forum is theoretically available to them, before whatever
tribunal is theoretically available. It is what happens in practice in
our system of redress that must be checked by the
People. All we know is that the system, for whatever reason,
doesn't work, and it is up to the People to
correct the malfunction.
Secondly, we know as a People that the
powers-that-be is no longer "government" by the empirical results we see
and experience in everyday life. We know that our rights are not being
protected by a government under constitutional principles, but that our
rights are being constantly trampled upon by a power that is
foreign to our Constitution, destroying our
lives, our liberty, and our property, clearly defining the powers as
To illustrate how tyrannical this
occupying power is, the South Dakota Legislature that is financially
supported by the People of South Dakota, is conspiring together with all
105 legislators to actually write and pass a resolution among themselves
to oppose a ballot measure (J.A.I.L. -- Amendment
E) that is sponsored by the People, their constituents, to establish a
new guard for their future security. We know that if the South Dakota
Legislature were actually the state representatives of the
People, they would not be willing to campaign
against a People's measure. This is just one way
the People can know that the occupying force operating under color of the
South Dakota Legislature is not really representing the People, but are
in fact opposing the People, at the People's
expense. Such a tactic is unheard of in America-- but that
proves what kind of a "power" the People of
South Dakota are dealing with. It certainly is not a power that is
protecting their rights, such as a constitutional government would
We've heard about the doctrine of
"separation of powers" as part of constitutional government-- three
separate branches of government. Yet see what the empirical evidence
shows-- there is no separation. It's the entire
occupying force in power against the People. What passes itself off as
the South Dakota Legislature is conspiring among its own members to
oppose a People's measure calling for accountability of
another branch of "government." Ask
yourselves, WHY? Does this make sense?
Thirdly, we hear the entire occupying
force operating under color of "government" in opposing the People of
South Dakota who are sponsoring a People's measure to hold "judges"
accountable, tell us that "J.A.I.L. will interfere with the
independence of the judiciary." That phrase
comes up time and time again. The system portrays that as meaning
that the judiciary must remain independent to rule according to law and
not be under pressure of outside influence in making their decisions. If
that is truly the case, then J.A.I.L. will
enhance the independence of the judiciary
because it will force the judiciary to rule according to
We, as a People, know that the judiciary
does not rule according to law, and that in
fact the judiciary IS UNDER PRESSURE OF THE SYSTEM to rule in its favor,
despite the law and the facts. We know that the
judiciary is in fact the "mouthpiece" for the system behind which the
system hides because judges have made themselves invincible
--unaccountable-- by their self-imposed doctrine of "judicial immunity."
And so the entire system uses the judges and "judicial immunity" to
hide their own corruption, through judicial cover-up. This illicit
practice has become a racket without redress by the People, and it is no
The People will be a check upon the
"independence of the judiciary" by making sure that it
does rule according to law and not according to
pressures from the system, or anyone else. The judiciary will no longer
have their trusty shield of "judicial immunity" to hide behind and remain
unaccountable for their actions, i.e., procedural
misconduct --not making decisions. Decisions aren't even
reached when judicial procedure is violated.
So when you hear that J.A.I.L. will allow
people to sue judges if they "don't like the decision," you know that
this is more evil propaganda used to deceive the People. This is more
evidence that we don't have a government in power to protect the People's
rights, and that the People must restore constitutional government and
the American way of life in this country-- not
the oppression we're experiencing today under the status
The other issues you mention, Michael,
are interesting, but are not the immediate concern for J.A.I.L.
Those things will come to attention in due course, and they will be
corrected. But right now, all the People want is a way to hold the
purported "judges" (whoever is considered a judicial officer having
judicial discretion, and is covered by judicial immunity-- and that
doesn't mean school boards or city councils)
accountable under constitutional principles. That's
Thank you Michael, and to all of you
whose eyes are finally opening to the desperate straits the People are
faced with under the status quo. The rich have plenty of insulation from
the tyranny-- they can "pay" for "justice"
busy themselves in a high life style, far
from reality. The poor are hidden away and stripped of their resources,
making them miserable and helpless. We just hope that in between, there
are enough People left to carry the ball for the rest of society and
realize that J.A.I.L. is the answer, as we've always been saying-- it
hasn't changed! It's just that the People are beginning
to wake up-- finally. The two-hundred-year honeymoon for the
tyrants, with an ignorant and apathetic people to control, is
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Seoul, Aug 8, 2012 (AFP) - South Korea's extended heatwave has taken its toll on both humans and animals, with more than 830,000 chickens or other poultry reported dead as of Wednesday.
The agriculture ministry said 786,512 chickens, 40,780 ducks, 3,000 quail, 336 pigs and five cows have died since July 20, when the peak temperature began hovering above 33 Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit) in most areas.
The stifling heat also killed seven people in June and July, the health ministry said, mostly elderly people working in fields or greenhouses.
Temperatures have stayed above 35 C for 12 days in much of the country, causing massive blooms of algae in rivers.
Sales of electric fans and air conditioners have soared. On Monday the state power company warned that reserves were dangerously low and urged people to switch off appliances, as usage reached a record.
The meteorological administration says relief is in sight starting Friday, with midday temperatures dropping to the customary August figure of 30C from the weekend.
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L. Xia, V. Conitzer
Usually a voting rule requires agents to give their preferences as linear orders. However, in some cases it is impractical for an agent to give a linear order over all the alternatives. It has been suggested to let agents submit partial orders instead. Then, given a voting rule, a profile of partial orders, and an alternative (candidate) c, two important questions arise: first, is it still possible for c to win, and second, is c guaranteed to win? These are the possible winner and necessary winner problems, respectively. Each of these two problems is further divided into two sub-problems: determining whether c is a unique winner (that is, c is the only winner), or determining whether c is a co-winner (that is, c is in the set of winners). We consider the setting where the number of alternatives is unbounded and the votes are unweighted. We completely characterize the complexity of possible/necessary winner problems for the following common voting rules: a class of positional scoring rules (including Borda), Copeland, maximin, Bucklin, ranked pairs, voting trees, and plurality with runoff.
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The momentum toward reform of science education brings pressures on schools and teachers to evaluate or otherwise account for children’s progress in science. During an earlier era of neglect of science education, not much attention was paid to assessment and evaluation, but currently there is widespread interest at all levels of the educational system. This interest can bring with it a certain rush to judgment, but it also brings an opportunity to explore assessment alternatives that are fundamentally different from conventional evaluation methods.
Assessment can be defined as the process of identifying, collecting, and analyzing the records of learning in order to make informed judgments about students. Especially in early childhood, this process should support teachers’ inquiry into children’s learning more than identify discrete strengths and weaknesses. We know that learning takes time, young children need the chance to explore and make connections, and learning is social. Yet this very complexity of learning makes it difficult to see the “science” in children’s activities. What does young children’s science look like? How do you know it when you see it? Given this context, a first purpose of assessment in early childhood should be to enhance teachers’ capacities to observe, document, and understand learning. Opportunities for thoughtful examination of children’s learning may not be a routine part of the professional life of many teachers, but new approaches to assessment could provide occasions for such reflection.
Educational assessments serve a variety of purposes and yield different kinds of results. The term assessment itself carries multiple meanings. Often, assessments are equated with testing. Statewide “assessment programs” of science are, in essence, statewide “testing programs.” Sometimes the term suggests a more diagnostic function, as in the identification of children with special needs. At times, assessment invokes a wide array of procedures drawing upon various kinds of information, for example, classroom assessments of mathematics and early literacy that include the use of student work samples and portfolios.
A recent statement of principles and recommendations for early childhood assessment prepared by an advisory group for the National Education Goals Panel accentuates the importance of differentiating purposes of assessment (Shepard et al. 1997). (Distinctions of purpose are also prominent in the National Science Education Standards [National Research Council 1996].) As the panel’s report indicates, the purposes determine the content of the assessment; the methods of collecting evidence; and the nature of the possible consequences for individual students, teachers, schools, or programs. In the past, serious misuse of tests and other instruments in early childhood has often stemmed from confusion of purpose. Instruments designed for one purpose, such as identification, may be completely inappropriate as instruments to measure the success of a program. With respect to early childhood education, four purposes provide the framework for the report’s recommendations:
In this paper, we focus upon the first assessment purpose—to inform instruction and support learning. We start from the premise that the foremost function of classroom assessment in the early years is to enhance teachers’ powers of observation and understanding of children’s learning. We stress this function for two reasons: the rapid and variable nature of children’s learning and the interactive nature of teaching. The classroom science envisioned in Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science 1993) calls for interactive instruction, which presumes that teachers can respond to young children’s interests, background knowledge, and emerging skills. Whether the program is defined by science themes, units, or kits, the role of the teacher as observer and shaper of the classroom program is critical. Science instruction, which promotes children’s inquiry and problem solving, must be guided by cues in the children’s behaviors and language as well as by curriculum expectations.
Learning in early childhood is rapid, episodic, and marked by enormous variability. Even the most carefully designed assessment instrument cannot, by itself, capture the complexity of a child’s understanding. Instead, evaluation of learning should be based on multiple forms of evidence from many sources. In active science programs, children make choices, voice opinions, and perform various investigations. In such settings, children might demonstrate their interests, understandings, and emerging skills through their conversations; their questions; their actions; and the work they produce, such as constructions, drawings, or writings. It is this sort of evidence that teachers can rely upon when evaluating whether an activity is meaningful and whether children are learning. The children’s ongoing behaviors and their work are the stuff of teachers’ everyday observations, records, and evaluations. In the case of science education, the richer the instructional environment, the broader the potential range of evidence for assessing learning (Bredekamp and Rosegrant 1995).
Since young children’s thinking reflects both developmental and experiential factors, teachers need to have a good sense of the appropriate instructional pace, allowing time for exploration and accommodation of new ideas. Children need time to revisit interesting phenomena; they need opportunities to ask the same question over and over again, perhaps in new or slightly different ways. Important ideas develop gradually—over days, months, and years—and are seldom the result of a single lesson or demonstration. Moreover, the development of thought is not neatly sequential, but rather marked by detours and explorations. Given this pattern of learning, indicators need to be collected on a regularly scheduled basis. For example, some portfolio assessment programs require that documents be collected at three or four specified periods of the year. Whatever the data collection method, the goal is to obtain records that reflect the child’s developmental progress (Bredekamp and Rosegrant 1995).
The evidence collected in early childhood assessments should go beyond the “deficit” model and highlight what children know. Teachers need to understand that children’s “misconceptions” about natural phenomena are not necessarily unproductive; they may reflect keen observations and efforts to make sense of the world. For the teacher, this assessment requires an attitude of listening, of asking questions in an open way, and of attending to unanticipated answers. This stance toward assessment is exemplified when teachers collect information about children’s interests and prior experiences as a step in planning instruction. For example, as an introduction to a unit on paper, a group of kindergarten teachers made experience charts from the things that children said were “made out of paper,” “not made out of paper,” or “not sure.” The chart was revisited over the course of the unit.
Young children’s science learning is inherently social. A teacher with whom we have worked remarked, “It’s the many little conversations among children that really count for something” in promoting their ideas and observations. As an example, she described how a child discovered that by getting under the aquarium stand and looking through the glass bottom, one could witness a whole new dimension to the life of the fish tank, such as watching the sea worms tunneling in the sand. This experience caught on among the children, and, over the course of weeks, it promoted much talk and exchange of observations.
Although individual learning is typically the focus of classroom assessments, teachers need to be responsive to the patterns of interest and knowledge within the group. Documents reflecting the social dimension abound in young children’s classrooms, such as displays of drawings, records of class discussions, and observations of group projects. Exploration into the understandings of a community of learners can provide insight into the prior knowledge and experiences that students bring to learning environments.
For a number of years, we have been meeting with teachers in elementary and preschool settings to explore classroom strategies for documenting children’s science learning. Documentation is an approach to assessment that attempts to build directly upon evidence from teachers’ everyday experiences of observing and listening to children and collecting samples of their work. As an approach, these methods are more open-ended than tests or checklists, yet more structured and systematic than incidental recordkeeping.
In our work to date, we have found that children’s talk and language about natural phenomena is of particular interest to teachers and serves as a useful starting point. In the early grades, children’s conversations and discussions constitute perhaps the single richest source of evidence to teachers concerning the substance of their students’ ideas. However, in contrast to drawings, writings, and constructions, discussions leave behind no artifacts or documents for the teacher to review or consider. Children’s talk is a facet of the teaching experience that tends to remain unrecorded and, hence, not ordinarily accessible to review.
In early education classrooms, most discussions and conversations among the children occur spontaneously and informally. However, there are also occasions when teachers bring the children together to share ideas and to talk about some activity. With some attention on the teacher’s part, these occasions can become opportunities for investigating children’s thinking.
The following guidelines were formulated with teachers who participated in a study of children’s science learning. These guidelines were intended to facilitate the sort of discussions that are sustained by child-initiated questions and ideas and that allow children some control over the direction or drift of their remarks. In such settings, interactions among children may well bring out lines of thinking that are not so evident in individual interviews or group lessons, when children must deal more directly with the adult’s agenda.
“What are some things made of paper?”
“Where have you seen shadows?”
“What do you know about water?”
“What have you noticed lately about our caterpillars?”
The teacher sets the stage for conversation but does not dominate it. Children are allowed time and space to formulate ideas in their own terms and to pursue aspects of a topic that are of greatest interest to them. In general, teachers refrain from correcting or modifying children’s comments.
Teachers steer the discussion in a way that encourages comments from each child at some point. “Going around the circle” is one strategy. A discussion that involves most of the group will bring out evidence of the variety of interests among children; it will also highlight issues or questions that are commonly shared.
There are different ways of making a written record of the discussions. The fullest records can be made via tape recording or observer notes. Other records can take the form of “experience charts,” lists, etc. Full transcripts are not needed, but an effort should be made to capture the key terms in any child’s statement.
The following discussion of a “dead” fish illustrates how the teacher provides structure for a conversation while allowing the children to shape the agenda. The result is that the matter of a fish’s scales—the intended topic—becomes subsidiary to larger questions of whether the fish is dead and how to make that determination. In this particular example, the discussion led directly to a classroom investigation.
Note: Donna Erickson, a Philadelphia kindergarten teacher, made this transcript.
While I was reading The Rainbow Fish to the class, a child asked what “scales” were. A few days later I bought a fish at the supermarket and brought it to the class. Sitting in a circle, I showed the class how to feel the scales and invited them to tell us anything else that they noticed about the fish. Their discussion follows.
Darryl: “You got to scrape the scales off and then cook it.”
Kate: “Was the other fish bigger in the book?” (Class thought the book fish was bigger.)
Blair: “I had a fish that die.”
Jennifer: “Fish will swim in the water.”
Sarah: “I love to eat fish.”
Ashley R.: “I notice that he’s dead.”
Alina: “It makes me remember trout fishing with my grandfather.”
Derek: “At my old school we fed fish in a pond.”
Liam: “The eye reminds me of jelly.”
Frank: “It reminds me of my alive fish. This one’s alive. No. It’s dead. I see the blood (around the eye).”
Earl: “It’s wet. I can feel its scales. I think it’s alive.”
John: “I think it’s dead.”
John: “I don’t know.”
Mickey: “It smells bad. I think it’s dead because I see blood.”
Richard: “It’s dead.”
Teacher: “Why do you think so?”
Richard: “Because fishes always die?”
Shelby: “I like fish. I think it’s alive.”
Teacher: “Why do you think it’s alive?”
Donovan: “I like fish.”
Ashley H.: “It feels like my cousin’s fish. It’s dead cause it ain’t movin’.”
Danielle: “It’s not movin’. It’s dead.”
Darryl: Jumps up and yells. “No! Fishes swim in the water. You gotta put it in water!” (Many students agree.)
Zoe: “It’s dead.”
I got a plastic shoebox and filled it with water and put the fish in and set it before the children. I heard someone say, “It’s sleepin’,” and many agreed. I told the class that I’d put the fish on the table and they could keep their eyes on it. Kids went over throughout the day to check it out. Once there were screams of “It’s moving! It’s moving!” but then someone said, “No it’s not. You just bumped the table and the water’s movin’.” By the end of the day when I asked the class about the fish, they all agreed that it was dead because it never moved.
Over the past three decades, there have been major changes in assessment of early literacy, with some lessons for primary science. Where once readiness was narrowly measured, newer methods reflect a broader conception of literacy and recognize that children’s steps toward reading and writing entail much more than alphabet recognition. These changes not only reflect theoretical advances but also extensive teacher participation in the observation of young children’s efforts to make sense of print. Portfolios and other methods have played an important part in strengthening the teacher’s capacities for inquiry and the teacher’s contributions to new models of assessment. These methods have also demonstrated how assessments can build upon practice and how they need not interrupt teaching but can be embedded within instruction (Jones and Chittenden 1995).
Interest in science assessments brings the opportunity to explore methods that require a central role for early childhood science teachers. There are of course some critical differences between language arts and science instruction. For teachers, recognizing the science in children’s behavior may well be more problematic than observing children’s development as readers and writers, in part because of the teachers’ own limitations of content knowledge. In addition, the boundaries of the child’s development as a “scientist” are less clear. Children’s ways of figuring out how the world works are not constrained by science lessons but cut across the curriculum areas. These points argue for greater involvement of teachers in the documentation and analysis of children’s science learning, both for professional development and for the design of appropriate assessments.
ILEA/Center for Language in Primary Education. (1988). The primary language record forms [Observations and Samples form]. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books, Inc.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bredekamp, S., and Rosegrant, T., eds. (1995). Reaching potentials: Transforming early childhood curriculum and assessment. (Vol. 2). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Jones, J., and Chittenden, E. (1995). Teachers’ perceptions of rating an early literacy portfolio. Center for Performance Assessment Report MS# 95–01. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Shepard, L., Kagan, S.L., and Wurtz, E. (1997). Principles and recommendations for early childhood assessments. Unpublished Draft. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel.
Edward Chittenden and Jacqueline Jones are with the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ. Chittenden is a research psychologist, Jones a research scientist.
Copyright © 1999 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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Dogs and small children who share similar social environments appear to understand human gestures in comparable ways, according to Gabriella Lakatos from Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary, and her team. Looking at how dogs and young children respond to adult pointing actions, Lakatos shows that 3-year-olds rely on the direction of the index finger to locate a hidden object, whereas 2-year-olds and dogs respond instead to the protruding body part, even if the index finger is pointing in the opposite direction.
It is widely accepted that in the course of domestication, dogs became predisposed to read human communication signals, including pointing, head turning and gazing. Furthermore, the social environment of human infants is often shared by pet dogs in the family, and therefore there are likely to be similarities in the social stimulation of both young children and dogs.
The authors carried out two studies in which they compared the performance of adult dogs and 2- and 3-year-old children - the period of human development during which children and dogs respond in similar ways. They investigated whether dogs and human children are able to generalize from familiar pointing gestures to unfamiliar ones and whether they understand the unfamiliar pointing actions as directional signals.
A total of fifteen dogs and thirteen 2-year-old and eleven 3-year-old children took part in the two studies. In the first study, the researchers used a combination of finger and elbow pointing gestures to help dogs locate hidden food and children a favorite toy. They found that dogs choose a direction for the reward on the basis of a body part that protrudes from the experimenter's silhouette, even when the index finger is pointing in a different direction. Like dogs, 2-year-olds did not understand the significance of the pointing index finger when it did not protrude from the silhouette. (In these cases, the elbow protruded in the opposite direction.) However, 3-year-olds responded successfully to all gestures.
In the second study, the researchers used unfamiliar pointing gestures with a combination of finger, leg and knee pointing. All children and the dogs understood the leg-pointing gestures but only 3-year-olds successfully responded to pointing with the knee.
The authors conclude that "protruding body parts provide the main cue for deducing directionality for 2-year-old children and dogs. The similar performance of these groups can be explained by parallels in their evolutionary history and their socialization in a human environment."
- Lakatos et al. A comparative approach to dogs’ (Canis familiaris) and human infants’ comprehension of various forms of pointing gestures. Animal Cognition, 2009; DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0221-4
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The United States and Britain issued warnings Sunday of potential terrorist attacks in Europe. Washington urged American tourists in Europe to be extra vigilant, while London raised its threat assessment to high for citizens traveling to France and Germany.
The new warnings by the United States and Britain add to concerns of potential terrorist strikes in Europe that have been simmering for weeks. The U.S. State Department warned Americans in Europe to be extra cautious in public places, particularly tourist spots and transportation hubs.
But Washington did not issue a formal travel warning advising Americans not to visit Europe.
Britain raised its terrorism threat assessment for Germany and France to high. Britain's own assessed terrorism threat level is rated "severe."
The warnings follow reports of an al-Qaida terrorist plot against Europe that some believe aims to imitate the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai.
In Paris, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told reporters the French government had registered the new U.S. travel warning.
Hortefeux said French authorities were analyzing the U.S. warning and remained vigilant. France's national terror warning plan, dubbed Vigipirate, is on a "reinforced red" alert level - one step below the highest threat level. Last month, the famous Parisian landmark, the Eiffel Tower, was briefly evacuated following a bomb threat that proved to be a hoax.
Not far from the Eiffel Tower, Alison Glasgow Lafontaine, an American living in Paris, was philosophical about the stepped-up risk assessment. "I have lived in France through a number of bomb threats and bomb attacks, unfortunately. It is kind of sad to say that this is the world that we live in and it is just not in France. Bombs are going off in all countries and in all societies," he said.
In Rome, one San Francisco tourist - who gave his name as Mark - suggested the threats would not alter his travel plans. "If I hear something like that and I get scared, I think they have already won, so I just keep going," he said.
Europe is no stranger to terrorist attacks. Paris, Madrid and London have all been targets of strikes by extremists during the past 15 years that have killed and injured hundreds of people.
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Confronto creativo sul futuro della solidarietà trentina e del Centro
International co-operation for development is an area that is subject to an intense debate, with its different opinions, its theories and its own literature. The activity of solidarity is part of the sphere of international relations, the importance of which is also becoming more and more evident in the individual dimension of all people. Having escaped the exclusive competence of diplomats and armies, the relationship between different countries enters our lives with the journeys that we go on, the products that we purchase, the new cultures that live alongside us, the energy that we use and many other aspects.
The Training Centre for International Cooperation invites you to think about this contemporary reality which is so strongly globalised, offering food for thought on the nature of international relations, the change of conventional “development co-operation” and the role played by each of us.
Security or solidarity?
The question of security is increasingly higher up on the agenda of relations between nations. The priority has become to defend ourselves from terrorism and authoritarian regimes, or to compete with our adversaries in the race toward resources; the relationships between countries are therefore becoming more and more unilateral, brimming with tension and dominated by the reasons of the military and the global economy.
International co-operation, on the other hand, means building a free world, founded on peace, on material and cultural exchanges between communities and on a durable order to be freely chosen, never imposed with the use of force.
Acting from the bottom
International solidarity on a local level is a form of support and an alternative to the co-operation of States and large Non-Government Organisations. The resources that are distributed among the multitude of people, organisations and experiences present within a territory are gathered together, allowing them to be effective together in a way that would not be possible if they were separate. Thus a network of co-ordinated actors is created which establishes a relationship between communities that is: reciprocal, multiple, durable.
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Last changed: 4/05/12
ZEMA began its work in the Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) in 1993. ZEMA records, evaluates and publishes in annual reports all events which must be reported to the authorities pursuant to the 12th Federal Immission Control Ordinance. Such reportable events are sub-divided according to their hazard potential into major accidents and disturbance of normal operation. The systematic recording and evaluation of events will provide information which acts as an important basis for a further development of the state of the art of safety technology. Between 1980 and 2011, 588 events were registered in the ZEMA database. Statistical evaluations are available for the period 1991 to 2008.
Click for enlarged graphic
PDF / 112 KBThe bar chart presents the number of incidents in Germany notified according to the Major Accidents Ordinance in the years 1991 to 2009. In 2009 there had been 10 Major Acidents according to Annex VI Part 1 No. I of the ordinance, 2 technical significant accidents according to Annex VI Part 1 No. II of the ordinance and 4 accidents including releases or run-away reactions according to Annex VI Part 1 No. III. The standardized rate of incidents was 8.2 incidents per 1,000 establishments (according to Art. 3 of the Seveso-Directive 96/82/EU) and therefore lower as in 2008.
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SQL Server, both 2005, and 2008, have both been supported in virtual environments, Microsoft or otherwise, for some time now. This means that, providing you followed the specific guidelines for SQL and virtualisation, you could happily virtualise SQL, as a standalone instance, on a virtual platform. This was acceptable for a number of smaller organisations - the fact that you could virtualise a SQL instance, and make it highly available on a virtualisation host cluster, gave them a greater level of resiliency than they had before! Win Win!
However, what about slightly larger, or more complex SQL deployments? In the physical world, no problems, clustering at the SQL level is supported – happy days. What about in virtual machines? Can I cluster SQL 2005, or 2008 at the Guest OS level, i.e. from a Windows VM, to a Windows VM, running on a virtual platform? Well, up until a few days back, you could do it, but you wouldn’t be supported. I’m now happy to say, you are supported when clustering SQL at the Guest OS level.
You can grab all the info you need, over at this SQL KB Article.
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"Nov. 1, 2012 -- Having even mildly elevated blood pressure at midlife prematurely ages the brain, a new study shows.
Researchers say the early changes seen with higher blood pressure may set the stage for problems with thinking, memor"...
Excessive Pharmacodynamic Effects
In administering nicardipine, close monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate is required. Nicardipine may occasionally produce symptomatic hypotension or tachycardia. Avoid systemic hypotension when administering the drug to patients who have sustained an acute cerebral infarction or hemorrhage.
Use in Patients with Angina
Increases in frequency, duration, or severity of angina have been seen in chronic therapy with oral nicardipine. Induction or exacerbation of angina has been seen in less than 1% of coronary artery disease patients treated with Cardene I.V. The mechanism of this effect has not been established.
Use in Patients with Heart Failure
Titrate slowly when using Cardene I.V. (nicardipine hydrochloride) Premixed Injection, particularly in combination with a beta-blocker, in patients with heart failure or significant left ventricular dysfunction because of possible negative inotropic effects.
Use in Patients with Impaired Hepatic Function
Since nicardipine is metabolized in the liver, consider lower dosages and closely monitor responses in patients with impaired liver function or reduced hepatic blood flow.
Use in Patients with Impaired Renal Function
When Cardene I.V. (nicardipine hydrochloride) was given to mild to moderate hypertensive patients with moderate renal impairment, a significantly lower systemic clearance and higher area under the curve (AUC) was observed. These results are consistent with those seen after oral administration of nicardipine. Titrate gradually in patients with renal impairment.
Intravenous Infusion Site
To reduce the possibility of venous thrombosis, phlebitis, local irritation, swelling, extravasation, and the occurrence of vascular impairment, administer drug through large peripheral veins or central veins rather than arteries or small peripheral veins, such as those on the dorsum of the hand or wrist. To minimize the risk of peripheral venous irritation, change the site of the drug infusion every 12 hours.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Rats treated with nicardipine in the diet (at concentrations calculated to provide daily dosage levels of 5, 15, or 45 mg/kg/day) for two years showed a dose-dependent increase in thyroid hyperplasia and neoplasia (follicular adenoma/carcinoma). One- and three-month studies in the rat have suggested that these results are linked to a nicardipine-induced reduction in plasma thyroxine (T4) levels with a consequent increase in plasma levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Chronic elevation of TSH is known to cause hyperstimulation of the thyroid.
In rats on an iodine deficient diet, nicardipine administration for one month was associated with thyroid hyperplasia that was prevented by T4 supplementation. Mice treated with nicardipine in the diet (at concentrations calculated to provide daily dosage levels of up to 100 mg/kg/day) for up to 18 months showed no evidence of neoplasia of any tissue and no evidence of thyroid changes.
There was no evidence of thyroid pathology in dogs treated with up to 25 mg nicardipine/kg/day for one year and no evidence of effects of nicardipine on thyroid function (plasma T4 and TSH) in man.
There was no evidence of a mutagenic potential of nicardipine in a battery of genotoxicity tests conducted on microbial indicator organisms, in micronucleus tests in mice and hamsters, or in a sister chromatid exchange study in hamsters.
No impairment of fertility was seen in male or female rats administered nicardipine at oral doses as high as 100 mg/kg/day (human equivalent dose about 16 mg/kg/day, 8 times the maximum recommended oral dose).
Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology
Embryotoxicity, but no teratogenicity, was seen at intravenous doses of 10 mg nicardipine/kg/day in rats and 1 mg/kg/day in rabbits. These doses in the rat and rabbit are equivalent to human IV doses of about 1.6 mg/kg/day and 0.32 mg/kg/day respectively. (The total daily human dose delivered by a continuous IV infusion ranges from 1.2 to 6 mg/kg/day, depending on duration at different infusion rates ranging from 3 to 15 mg/hr as individual patients are titrated for optimal results.) Nicardipine was also embryotoxic when administered orally to pregnant Japanese White rabbits, during organogenesis, at 150 mg/kg/day (a dose associated with marked body weight gain suppression in the treated doe), but not at 50 mg/kg/day (human equivalent dose about 16 mg/kg/day or about 8 times the maximum recommended human oral dose). No adverse effects on the fetus were observed when New Zealand albino rabbits were treated orally, during organogenesis, with up to 100 mg nicardipine/kg/day (a dose associated with significant mortality in the treated doe). In pregnant rats administered nicardipine orally at doses of up to 100 mg/kg/day (human equivalent dose about 16 mg/kg/day) there was no evidence of embryotoxicity or teratogenicity. However, dystocia, reduced birth weight, reduced neonatal survival and reduced neonatal weight gain were noted.
Use In Specific Populations
Pregnancy Category C
There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of nicardipine use in pregnant women. However, limited human data in pregnant women with preeclampsia or pre-term labor are available. In animal studies, no embryotoxicity occurred in rats with oral doses 8 times the maximum recommended human dose (MRHD) based on body surface area (mg/m²), but did occur in rabbits with oral doses at 24 times the maximum recommended human dose (MRHD) based on body surface area (mg/m²). Cardene I.V. (nicardipine hydrochloride) should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus.
Hypotension, reflex tachycardia, postpartum hemorrhage, tocolysis, headache, nausea, dizziness, and flushing have been reported in pregnant women who were treated with intravenous nicardipine for hypertension during pregnancy. Fetal safety results ranged from transient fetal heart rate decelerations to no adverse events. Neonatal safety data ranged from hypotension to no adverse events.
Adverse events in women treated with intravenous nicardipine during pre-term labor include pulmonary edema, dyspnea, hypoxia, hypotension, tachycardia, headache, and phlebitis at site of injection. Neonatal adverse events include acidosis (pH < 7.25).
In embryofetal toxicity studies, nicardipine was administered intravenously to pregnant rats and rabbits during organogenesis at doses up to 0.14 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (5 mg/kg/day) (rats) and 0.03 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (0.5 mg/kg/day) (rabbits). No embryotoxicity or teratogenicity was seen at these doses. Embryotoxicity, but no teratogenicity was seen at 0.27 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (10 mg/kg/day) in rats and at 0.05 times the MRHD based on body surface are (mg/m²) (1 mg/kg/day) in rabbits.
In other animal studies, pregnant Japanese White rabbits received oral nicardipine during organogenesis, at doses 8 and 24 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (50 and 150 mg/kg/day). Embryotoxicity occurred at the high dose along with signs of maternal toxicity (marked maternal weight gain suppression). New Zealand albino rabbits received oral nicardipine during organogenesis, at doses up to 16 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (100 mg nicardipine/kg/day). While significant maternal mortality occurred, no adverse effects on the fetus were observed. Pregnant rats received oral nicardipine from day 6 through day 15 of gestation at doses up to 8 times the MRHD based on body surface area (mg/m²) (100 mg/kg/day). There was no evidence of embryotoxicity or teratogenicity; however, dystocia, reduced birth weights, reduced neonatal survival, and reduced neonatal weight gain were noted.
Nicardipine is minimally excreted into human milk. Among 18 infants exposed to nicardipine through breast milk in the postpartum period, calculated daily infant dose was less than 0.3 mcg and there were no adverse events observed. Consider the possibility of infant exposure when using nicardipine in nursing mothers.
In a study of 11 women who received oral nicardipine 4 to 14 days postpartum, 4 women received immediate-release nicardipine 40 to 80 mg daily, 6 received sustained-release nicardipine 100 to 150 mg daily, and one received intravenous nicardipine 120 mg daily. The peak milk concentration was 7.3 mcg/L (range 1.9-18.8), and the mean milk concentration was 4.4 mcg/L (range 1.3-13.8). Infants received an average of 0.073% of the weight-adjusted maternal oral dose and 0.14% of the weight-adjusted maternal intravenous dose.
In another study of seven women who received intravenous nicardipine for an average of 1.9 days in the immediate postpartum period as therapy for pre-eclampsia, 34 milk samples were obtained at unspecified times and nicardipine was undetectable ( < 5 mcg/L) in 82% of the samples. Four women who received 1 to 6.5 mg/hour of nicardipine had 6 milk samples with detectable nicardipine levels (range 5.1 to 18.5 mcg/L). The highest concentration of 18.5 mcg/L was found in a woman who received 5.5 mg/hour of nicardipine. The estimated maximum dose in a breastfed infant was < 0.3 mcg daily or between 0.015 to 0.004% of the therapeutic dose in a 1 kg infant.
Safety and efficacy in patients under the age of 18 have not been established.
The steady-state pharmacokinetics of nicardipine are similar in elderly hypertensive patients ( > 65 years) and young healthy adults.
Clinical studies of nicardipine did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients.
In general, use low initial doses in elderly patients, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.
Last reviewed on RxList: 4/4/2011
This monograph has been modified to include the generic and brand name in many instances.
Additional Cardene I.V. Information
Report Problems to the Food and Drug Administration
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit the FDA MedWatch website or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Get tips on handling your hypertension.
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Prices for oil in the Middle East are closely tied to Brent crude, which rose 73 cents to settle at $101.74 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. It's also used to price oil in Asia and Europe.
Events remained fluid in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak announced he won't run again later this year. That followed the largest demonstration yet in a week of protests by citizens calling for the president's immediate resignation.
Many refineries, including those on the East Coast of the U.S., face higher costs because they use Brent to produce gasoline. Experts say, however, that drivers won't immediately face higher pump prices because harsh winter weather has hurt demand.
Average gasoline prices dropped about a penny during the past week to a national average of $3.101 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
"It's been an awful winter, definitely not inspiring people to go out and drive," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.
A gallon of gasoline is 2.8 cents higher than a month ago and 43.2 cents higher than the same time last year. Kloza said prices will climb to between $3.50 and $3.75 per gallon by March.
In the U.S., benchmark West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for March delivery fell $1.42 to settle at $90.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, which analysts say better reflects global oil demand, traded as high as $102.08, a level not seen since October 2008.
More than a quarter-million people flooded Cairo's main square Tuesday in the latest — and largest — protest during a week of unrelenting demands for President Hosni Mubarak's resignation after nearly 30 years in power. Similar demonstrations took place in five other cities around Egypt.
Then, Tuesday night in Cairo, Mubarak said he won't run in September elections and will work towards a "peaceful transfer of power" as he sought to defuse the massive protests.
In other Nymex trading for March delivery, heating oil rose 1.67 cents to settle at $2.7570 per gallon, gasoline futures climbed 1.93 cents to settle at $2.5194 per gallon, and natural gas lost 7.3 cents to settle at $4.347 per 1,000 cubic feet.
**Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.
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A free community mobile oral health service run by the University of Newcastle was launched on the Central Coast on March 7.
The service will be available to seniors and current Health Care Card holders. Oral Health students from the University’s Central Coast campus will offer check-ups, teeth cleaning and fluoride treatments under the supervision of a certified dentist.
The service will be offered every Wednesday for three weeks at various locations on the Central Coast including Mingara Recreation Club at Tumbi Umbi, Coast Shelter at Gosford, Lake Haven Shopping Centre, and the Central Coast Youth Club at Niagara Park.
Wyong Shire Council will store and transport the van.
The University of Newcastle’s Associate Professor of Oral Health, Jane Taylor, said the service provided two important benefits to students and the local community.
“This initiative provides Central Coast residents with free oral health care. It also gives students real life work experience that counts toward their studies, and that they can take into their professional lives.”
University of Newcastle Foundation CEO, Louise O’Connell, said without corporate and community support, the service would not have been possible.
“We are incredibly grateful for the community’s help to start this valuable service. We hope to receive further support for ongoing costs and maintenance to sustain it into the future.”
Medfin, a provider of finance for healthcare professionals, has donated the van and the trailer. Together with NAB health it also covered many costs to repair and refit the van.
Community groups have also lent a hand to prepare the van, with the Bateau Bay Mens’ Shed painting the inside of the van and de-rusting its trailer as part of the fit out process. The Rotary Club of North Gosford funded and constructed steps for the van, and will help set it up each time it operates.
Other supporters include William Green Dental Supplies, which donated a dental chair unit plus a Kodak Xray machine. Karagi Court supplied a sterilising unit; Gastrohealth funded the van’s exterior; Coast Shelter, the Co-Op Bookshop and the Rotary and Lions Clubs at The Entrance provided financial support; and Dentsply and Colgate donated dental cleaning equipment and consumables.
Anyone interested in making a donation to support this project can contact the University of Newcastle Foundation on (02) 4921 7453 or www.newcastle.edu.au/foundation
About the University of Newcastle Foundation:
The Foundation is the platform for philanthropic support for the University of Newcastle. Donations help fund student scholarships, academic positions and research. It also aims to create and sustain relationships between the community, business, alumni and the University.
Media contact: Benieke Treverton, University of Newcastle Foundation on (02) 4985 4178 or0404 624 969.
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Re: besides mamenschisaurus
Sam j hogan wrote:
> I don't actually have the book, but the description sounds suspiciously
> like the mounting found in the atrium of the American Museum of Natural
> History in New York City. Is the Mamenchisaurus (identified as
> Barosurus in the museum's display) rearing up to defend itself and its
> offspring from the theropod? If it is, then it's the same display. In
> this case, the theropod is _Allosaurus_ (fragillis?).
I didn't get that from the description, Sam. I didn't get it from the
photograph, either. The mamenchisaur and the theropod are simply in
conventional mounts, more or less side by side, not a "lifelike" display
like the AMNH _Barosaurus_.
The theropod in question looks strongly allosaurish to me, but I know
zip about how to distinguish big allosaurish theropods. It's big, it's
got a heavy skull with lots of teeth, and it has three-fingered hands.
That's all I can tell about it from the photo. Being in the Beijing
Museum means it's certainly Chinese. Three fingers means it isn't
_Tarbosaurus_, which is the only Chinese theropod I could identify from
a photograph, and that only because of the tyrannosaurid two-fingered
hands. Lambert's ULTIMATE DINOSAUR BOOK says that _Yangchuanosaurus_
comes from the same formation as _Mamenchisaurus_. _Yangchuanosaurus_
is a big allosaurish theropod. Given all that, I think T.A. Curtis's
identification of that skeleton as a _Yangchuanosaurus_ is about as good
a guess as any, and more likely than most.
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The Saudi government is running a deceptive PR blitz. Will the media buy into it?
Some college newspapers may be helping foment the anti-Israel atmosphere on campus.
The method of the IDF operation in Jenin helped reduce civilian casualties. The UK media parrots Palestinian claims it was a massacre.
Our annual award for the most skewed and biased reporting.
The publisher of the most prestigious German weekly compares Ariel Sharon to Adolf Hitler.
With suicide attacks plaguing Israel, it is more important than ever that the media get its facts straight.
When Harper's publishes vile anti-Israel filth, the PR community calls upon HonestReporting to respond.
Jacoby exposes the long Arab record of broken agreements, and international hypocrisy of criticizing Israel's stance at a time of unparalleled restraint.
Even traditionally anti-Israel publications joined in the near-universal condemnation of the UN Conference on Racism.
HonestReporting gets the attention of columnist Robert Fisk. We haven't succeeded in ceasing his bias, however.
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Capital gains and your home sale
What's the best tax break available to Jane and John Q. Public? If they're homeowners, it's selling their house.
Homeowners already know the many tax breaks that Uncle Sam offers, most notably mortgage interest and property tax deductions. Well, he also has good tax news for home sellers: Most of them won't owe the Internal Revenue Service a single dime.
When you sell your primary residence, you can make up to $250,000 in profit if you're a single owner, twice that if you're married, and not owe any capital gains taxes.
"Most people are not going to have a tax obligation unless their gain is huge," says Bob Trinz, senior tax analyst for the Tax and Accounting business of Thomson Reuters.
Some sellers are surprised by this break, especially if they've been in their homes for a while. That's because before May 7, 1997, the only way you could avoid paying taxes on your home-sale profit was to use the money to buy another, more-expensive house within two years. Sellers age 55 or older had one other option. They could take a once-in-a-lifetime tax exemption of up to $125,000 in profits. And in all instances, there is Form 2119 to fill out to show that you followed the rules.
But when the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 became law, the home-sale tax burden eased for millions of residential taxpayers. The rollover or once-in-a-lifetime options were replaced with the current per-sale exclusion amounts.
"There is some logic to this law change because most people under the prior rules didn't recognize a taxable gain, because they rolled it over into another residence," says Trinz. "The change essentially makes it easier to dispose of your residence."
Still some requirements to meetIf you used pre-1997 rules for residential sales, don't worry. That doesn't disqualify you from claiming the exclusion on any residential sales now. The law change applies to all sales since it took effect.
Another bonus to the new rules? You don't have to buy another home with your sale proceeds. You can use the money to travel Europe in style, buy a recreational vehicle and drive across the country, or get all those designer shoes you never could afford.
Even better, there's no limit on the number of times you can use the home-sale exemption. In most cases, you can make tax-free profits of $250,000, or $500,000 depending on your filing status, every time you sell a home.
Ah, but we are talking taxes here. You did notice that phrase "in most cases," didn't you? Before you put a "for sale" sign in the yard, you need to make sure your house-sale situation is one of those "most cases."
First, the property you're selling must be your principal residence. That means you live in it. This tax break doesn't apply to a house or other property that you have solely for investment purposes. In those cases, the usual capital gains rules apply.
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The question of God’s relationship with evil is a long-running one in the history of Christianity, and the term often used for this task is “theodicy.” The way theodicy has historically been pursued, however, has been problematic on a number of counts. Most significantly, these efforts have generally been insufficiently theological. This work hopes to subvert and reconfigure the theodical task in a way that can be accessible to nonspecialists. Overall, the book hopes to cast the “god” of theodicy as the triune God of Christian confession, a move that shapes and alters all that follows in what has traditionally been considered a philosophical matter.
In the Logos edition of Theological Theodicy, you get easy access to Scripture texts and to a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Hovering over Scripture references links you instantly to the verse you’re looking for, and with Passage Guides, Word Studies, and a wealth of other tools from Logos, you can delve into your study of God’s relationship with evil like never before!
- Discussion of the necessity of theodicy
- Examination of a theologically self-understood theodical proposal
- Exploration of divinity and its relation to the cosmos
- Is Theodicy Possible? Is It Necessary? Is It Helpful?
- The Goodness of the Creator (and So of the Creation)
- The Conflicted State of Creation
- God’s Healing Response
Praise for the Print Edition
If we are to speak with theological intelligence and Christian compassion about the nature, causes, and overcoming of evil, we must first speak of the God whom Christians confess and in whom they hope. This elegant, perceptive, and gentle book shows us why theology matters in theodicy.
—John Webster, chair of systematic theology, King’s College
This book addresses a timely, critically urgent, and complex topic. Daniel Castelo engages it with grace, humility, and deep understanding. Many books on theodicy read with philosophical detachment. Castelo writes as a Christian theologian fully committed to practicing discipleship. The questions he faces are no mere abstractions, but the stuff of life. Castelo knows exactly when to speak with bold clarity and when to remain reverently silent. Anyone who reads this book will do so with great profit.
—Stephen Rankin, chaplain and minister, Southern Methodist University
Theological Theodicy is a richly textured and accessible exception to the rule of failed theodicies. Informed by the Catholic spiritual-doctrinal tradition and fired by Pentecostal sensibilities, Castelo faces troubling questions and refuses all premature resolutions. With humility and verve, he calls for spirited, virtuous embodiment of the gospel as counter-witness to the evils of this present age.
—Chris Green, assistant professor of theology, Pentecostal Theological Seminary
Daniel Castelo guides readers through a thoughtful and insightful exploration of the problem of suffering. Castelo’s approach honors the mystery of God, who cannot be fully explained and is thus inherently apophatic. His fundamental understanding of evil is a scandalous ‘sickness or malady,’ a condition of anti-godness. With theodicy being perhaps the most pressing issue today—not just in seminary classrooms, but in the world that feels godforsaken—Castelo’s work offers a hopeful and therapeutic vision.
—Elaine A. Heath, McCreless Associate Professor of Evangelism, Southern Methodist University
- Title: Theological Theodicy
- Author: Daniel Castelo
- Series: Cascade Companions
- Publisher: Wipf & Stock
- Publication Date: 2012
- Pages: 116
About Daniel Castelo
Daniel Castelo is an associate professor of theology at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of The Apathetic God.
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By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
Shortly after U.S. forces marched into Baghdad in 2003, The Weekly Standard published a jeering article titled, “The Cassandra Chronicles: The stupidity of the antiwar doomsayers.” Among those the article mocked was a “war novelist” named James Webb, who is now the senator-elect from Virginia.
The article’s title was more revealing than its authors knew. People forget the nature of Cassandra’s curse: although nobody would believe her, all her prophecies came true.
And so it was with those who warned against invading Iraq. At best, they were ignored. A recent article in The Washington Post ruefully conceded that the paper’s account of the debate in the House of Representatives over the resolution authorizing the Iraq war — a resolution opposed by a majority of the Democrats — gave no coverage at all to those antiwar arguments that now seem prescient.
At worst, those who were skeptical about the case for war had their patriotism and/or their sanity questioned. The New Republic now says that it “deeply regrets its early support for this war.” Does it also deeply regret accusing those who opposed rushing into war of “abject pacifism?”
Now, only a few neocon dead-enders still believe that this war was anything but a vast exercise in folly. And those who braved political pressure and ridicule to oppose what Al Gore has rightly called “the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States” deserve some credit.
Unlike The Weekly Standard, which singled out those it thought had been proved wrong, I’d like to offer some praise to those who got it right. Here’s a partial honor roll:
Former President George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, explaining in 1998 why they didn’t go on to Baghdad in 1991: “Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”
Representative Ike Skelton, September 2002: “I have no doubt that our military would decisively defeat Iraq’s forces and remove Saddam. But like the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must consider what we would do after we caught it.”
Al Gore, September 2002: “I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century.”
Barack Obama, now a United States senator, September 2002: “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
Representative John Spratt, October 2002: “The outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker-elect, October 2002: “When we go in, the occupation, which is now being called the liberation, could be interminable and the amount of money it costs could be unlimited.”
Senator Russ Feingold, October 2002: “I am increasingly troubled by the seemingly shifting justifications for an invasion at this time. ... When the administration moves back and forth from one argument to another, I think it undercuts the credibility of the case and the belief in its urgency. I believe that this practice of shifting justifications has much to do with the troubling phenomenon of many Americans questioning the administration’s motives.”
Howard Dean, then a candidate for president and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, February 2003: “I firmly believe that the president is focusing our diplomats, our military, our intelligence agencies, and even our people on the wrong war, at the wrong time. ... Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms.”
We should honor these people for their wisdom and courage. We should also ask why anyone who didn’t raise questions about the war — or, at any rate, anyone who acted as a cheerleader for this march of folly — should be taken seriously when he or she talks about matters of national security.
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