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BEIRUT (AP) -- Government forces shelled the central Syrian city of Homs on Monday, striking a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas and killing at least 17 people in the third day of a new assault on the epicenter of the country's uprising, activists said.
The government denied shelling the city, however, and said "armed terrorist groups" were attacking civilians and police in several neighborhoods.
Homs, which many refer to as "the capital of the Syrian revolution," has become a flashpoint of the nearly 11-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad. Several neighborhoods in the city, such as Baba Amr, are under the control of rebels.
On Saturday, Syrian forces killed up to 200 people in Homs -- the highest death toll reported for a single day in the uprising -- according to several rights groups. There was no way to independently confirm the toll.
Syria has blocked access to trouble spots in the country and prevented independent reporting, making it nearly impossible to verify accounts from either side as the conflict spirals out of control and turns increasingly violent.
The uprising began with mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad, but government forces responded with a fierce crackdown. Now, army defectors and others are taking up arms to fight back, raising fears of civil war.
The threat of both sides turning to greater force increased Saturday when Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed. Now regime opponents fear that Assad will be emboldened by the feeling he is protected by his top ally Moscow and unleash even greater violence to crush protesters.
China said Monday it was forced to veto a United Nations vote on Syria because it was called before differences in the proposal were bridged, but denied playing spoiler and said it wants to see an end to violence there.
China and Russia have drawn the wrath of the United States, Europe and much of the Arab world for the weekend veto. China says the resolution put undue emphasis on pressuring the Syrian government and prejudged the result of any dialogue between the parties in Syria.
"On the issue of Syria, China is not sheltering anyone nor do we intentionally oppose anyone. We uphold justice and take a responsible attitude," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Monday.
Also Monday, an explosion ripped through a gas pipeline in Homs, the state-run news agency, SANA, reported. SANA blamed terrorists. The regime says terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking change.
The Local Coordination Committees activist group said Monday's shelling in Homs hit a makeshift clinic in Baba Amr, causing casualties.
At least 17 people were killed across the city on Monday, according to the LCC and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said a paramedic was wounded in the shelling of the clinic and two people who were standing outside died instantly. He added that many volunteers at the hospital were wounded as well as people receiving treatment.
"As of 6:30 this morning the shelling intensified with a rate of one shell every two minutes," the man said.
Syria's state-run TV denied government forces were besieging the area, saying activists in the city were setting tires on fire to make it appear as if there was a bombardment.
Syrian security forces are "chasing the terrorists and clashing with them," it said.
On Sunday, the commander of rebel soldiers said force was now the only way to oust Assad, while the regime vowed to press its military crackdown to bring back stability to the country.
"We did not sleep all night," Majd Amer, another activist in Homs, said by telephone. Explosions could be heard in the background. "The regime is committing organized crimes."
Amer said shelling of his neighborhood of Khaldiyeh started at 3 a.m., and most residents living on high floors either fled to shelters or to lower floors. He said electricity was also cut.
___ Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue
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How To Make A Ported Subwoofer Box
Learning how to make a ported subwoofer box is easier then it may seem. Although ported subwoofers look amazing when they are done, the materials are inexpensive and easy to assemble.
To make a ported subwoofer box, you will need:
- A circular saw for cutting the wood to specific dimensions(although some home centers will do this for you at no charge, whichever is easier).
- MDF(Medium density fiberboard) or plywood either pre-cut at the store or cut at home.
- A jig saw or router for cutting the speaker holes.
- A hole saw for the ports( a jig saw will work for this also).
- A drill for screwing, pre-drilling and ported holes.
- One and a half inch ABS drain pipe
- Carpet for covering the subwoofer box
The size of the speakers determines the size of the box. We are going to use two twelve inch subwoofers as a basic idea and then if the size is different, the ported subwoofer box can be adjusted. The box will have six holes, two for the subwoofers and four for the ports.
- The face of the ported subwoofer box is the first part to design and build. If the speakers are fourteen inches total (with the rim), then the face of the box needs to be sixteen inches high. The speakers should be three inches apart and six inches from the ends of the box. This makes the face forty three by sixteen inches.
- The next step is to determine the depth of the box. A ported subwoofer box does not sit facing directly forward, it always has a slight tilt so the speakers are angled up. Measure the face of the speaker to the end of the magnet and add two inches for extra room. Lets say this is six inches. The addition two inches makes an eight inch depth. So, the sides need to be sixteen by eight inches. Now don't forget about the angle. A twenty degree angle will give a nice tilt to the speakers. A test board can be used to see which angle works the best. Next cut the top and bottom boards. The sizes should be based on the measurements from the face and side boards.
- Once the top and bottom are cut, then it's time to cut the back piece. This is always last because the size depends on the measurements from the side boards.
- Now that all the pieces are cut for the subwoofer box, its time to cut the speaker and port holes. Measure from the center of the face one and a half inches to each side and make a mark. This should be directly in the center of the face, don't make the mark on the edges. Now hold the speaker upside down on the face and place it against the mark. Rotate the speaker until it is one inch from the top and the bottom. This way if the board was not cut to the exact dimensions the speaker will still fit evenly. Do the same for the other side. After the speaker holes are cut then it's time to use the hole saw for the ports. measure three inches from the center edge of each speaker and make a mark. Now draw a line square with the edge of the subwoofer box. Measure two inches from the top and bottom and make the mark for the hole. Use the hole saw or jig saw to cut the circle for the subwoofer ports.
- It's time for assembly and final touches. Make sure there is some Elmer's glue handy for extra support on joints. Put the sides on first, then the top and bottom, finally finishing with the back. Measure to the back of the subwoofer box through the port holes. Subtract one inch and cut the ABS tubing to fit. This gives a little room for the air to move in and out, but not so much that the speakers just reverberate. Glue the ABS tubing in place with an epoxy or other construction adhesive around the port hole edges.
- Finish the box with carpet for paint. Carpet works well because it helps dampen the vibration and allows for a clearer sound.
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It has been said (too many times) that all roads lead to Rome. But did you know that you could trace botanical medicine and even the environmental movement to 16th century Italy? It was here in the city of Pisa (1544) then Padua (1545) that the world’s first botanical gardens were set up.
This month’s Italy Blogging Roundtable topic is “roots” – a nod to spring. And what better nod to spring than to go straight to the garden? I’ve covered gardens in this blog before, from a mention of the reissue of Edith Wharton’s book Italian Villas and Their Gardens to Cortili Aperti, the “open courtyards” initiative that each year gives visitors a chance to check out gardens and courtyards at private estates. But I’ve yet to touch on Italy’s many botanical gardens, which are almost always historically linked with their cities’ universities.
The Orto Botanico di Padova is the world’s oldest academic garden still in its original location and it has been a model for all subsequent botanical gardens around the world. From the beginning, the mission of the Orto Botanico di Padova has been to collect local and unique plant life, maintain an herbarium for the study of plants for use in medicine, and educate the public on botany, horticulture, and the need for plant conservation. The Orto Botanico di Padova is one of Italy’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, having been inscribed in 1997. The most famous plant specimen at the Padua Botanic Gardens is a Mediterranean Palm, the “Goethe Palm,” which dates from 1585 and was written about by Goethe. Additionally, the gardens have a library and a museum. The Orto Botanico di Padova is open daily from April to October; from October to April, it is open mornings Monday through Saturday. The current admission price is €4, subject to change.
An Italian visitor to the Orto Botanico di Padova took a comprehensive tour of the gardens and created this video:
Italy’s botanical gardens don’t often make it on the tourist itinerary. But they are actually quite ideal, as most are located near the city center and often a quiet respite from sightseeing. Other Italian cities with well-positioned botanical gardens include Rome (near Trastevere), Bologna, Milan (it has three), and Palermo, to name just a few.
Read the posts, leave comments, share them with your friends – and tune in next month for another Italy Blogging Roundtable topic.
- ArtTrav – How to put down roots in another country
- At Home in Tuscany – Roots and Other Roots
- Brigolante – Zen and the Art of Making Gnocchi
- WhyGo Italy – Tracing Your Italian Roots
Photo Flickr/Ned Raggett
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If you're not a
member already –
you really should be! Read more about member benefits
The TCPA has recognised the need for effective strategic planning for over 50 years. Today, the TCPA believes that effective strategic planning is needed more than ever before – at UK, national, regional, and sub-regional levels.
The TCPA sees strategic and regional planning as an essential tool for guiding development, land use change, and a wide range of other activities at the level of relatively large areas that have some clear socio-economic, cultural, or ecological identity. This approach recognises that major developments will influence living and working conditions well beyond the boundaries of any single locality or local administration. A strategic plan should develop understanding and vision across a whole range of social, environmental, and economic issues that go far beyond the considerations of conventional land use planning, taking a comprehensive and integrated approach over long time horizons. By doing this, the aim is to ensure effective and co-ordinated thinking and action across the full range of sectoral and departmental concerns.
Download the TCPA policy statement on Strategic and Regional Planning (published January 2003)
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Programs for Kids & Teens
Great Ideas for Programming for Kids & Teens
Teen Advisory Group Allows teens to be involved with and have a voice in their library. Encourages communication between teens and librarians, and allows teens to provide input as to what they'd like to see in the way of programming, events, or collection additions in the library that they frequently use.
Teen Advisory Group Tips Go to the teens with a passive program to introduce the public library in a non-threatening manner. I go to the high school once or twice a month and set up a table outside the cafeteria during the lunch hour. On the table I have information about programs, discarded books that the teens can take for their mandatory 20-minutes of reading in class, and sometimes a guessing game with a ballot box, and often some hard candies. It was scary to do at first, but the teens responded really well, and now they come to the table to ask what is going on. From there, we were able to form a relationship with the teens -- and held the Public Library Teen Advisory meetings during lunch, at the school until things were more established. We are a small town, with one high school so it works.
At my rural branch library (Greene County Branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in Virginia) we've had a boy's summer book group for two summers and a corresponding girl's group for one summer. These were half book groups and half activity clubs...
Youth Services Success with Boys' Program
I am absolutely new to this (wikis, THIS wiki), but would like to start out by saying I'm a NON-LIBRARIAN ("clerk" and "library assistant" are job titles I've held), working 20+ years in public libraries, mainly in Youth Services. I've been a long-time library user (long before working in one) and am a parent of grown children (thus, the time to participate in this wiki, and take classes toward an LTA certificate).
Over the years, getting kids (especially grade school age boys) to read for pleasure (and to come to the library for programming) has been a challenge. This year, my library was awarded a grant for the purpose of bringing boys back to books.
The programming involved hands-on use of "building" materials, such as Lincoln Logs, erector sets, and a program (hired-out) involving designing your own video game. WOW! Was it ever successful (and yes, girls were included). We purchased some books to go with the programs (such as the "Wright Three" series as well as books about Frank Lloyd Wright, when we hosted an architect & people from the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust to talk and demonstrate building techniques using Froebel blocks, etc.). Parents (and kids) are still talking about our programs and hoping for more.
I'd be interested to hear other success stories involving boys and books and libraries. -- Alice Majka
We developed a beautiful mural with teens for a community project. We surveyed the public for suggestions, hired a muralist to create and guide the process, found teens through one of the charter schools, requested funds through our friends program and developed and created the mural over a period of about three or four months. We walked the teens through the project, starting with art books and ideas and then mural instruction. The teens got to be a part of a community project for the library, and the library and community got a new mural.
Blogs/Websites to Watch
- EZ Library Program Database from the Mid-Hudson Library System.
The Imaginary Librarian a Blog filled with YA Programming Ideas, Pictures and Instuctables
S'More Stuff Swathmore Public Library Programs a blog that is valuable for the scope of programming at a small library with a smaller budget. A wonderful template to follow for programming for children with links to sign-up forms and calendars.
a collaborative Pintrest Board discussing teen programming in libraries. YouMedia
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When news happens, text SDE and your photos or videos to 80360. Or contact us by email and phone.
First Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment holds Remembrance service
4:10am Sunday 11th November 2012 in News
HAMPSHIRE’S soldiers will be remembering a lost comrade today at a ceremony at their home base.
The First Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (1PWRR), nicknamed the Tigers, will be marking Remembrance Sunday at Barker Barracks in Paderborn, Germany, with a parade and the laying of a wreath at their Memorial Wall.
The Tigers finished a sixmonth tour of Afghanistan in April, where they were advising and training Afghan police.
Tomorrow’s ceremony will be particularly poignant when they remember Pte Tom Lake, who was killed by an improvised explosive device within weeks of beginning their last tour.
Lieutenant Colonel Andy Flay, Commanding Officer of 1PWRR, said: “We of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment think it is important to remember those who have fallen in conflict around the world.
“Remembrance Sunday this year is especially significant given that the battalion has returned from an operational tour of Afghanistan.
“During this tour Pte Tom Lake was killed in action and we, as a battalion, feel that this is an opportunity to pay tribute to the memories of the fallen.”
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Seventeen-year-old Geeta Usendi and her younger sister Indra (15) committed suicide by consuming pesticide at their house in Orchha village of the district, Superintendent of Police Mayank Shrivastava told a news agency over phone.
"Both of them were studying in separate ashram schools (residential school) in the region," he said.
According to the parents of the girls, Geeta, a student of class 10 and Indra, who was studying in class eighth, were suffering from some illness owing to which both were brought to their home from hostels last week, he said.
On Monday, both of them were taken to a local baiga (one who practises necromancy) for treatment. But their condition kept deteriorating. "Both the sisters consumed pesticide this morning," he added.
One of them died on the spot, while the other one breathed her last while she was being taken to a hospital in Narayanpur town, he added.
While the exact cause which prompted the teenagers to take the extreme step was yet to be known, according to their father, the victims had been suffering from health problems from the past few days which could have distressed them, police said.
A case has been registered in this connection, he said adding that further probe was on.
Raipur: Two teenage sisters on Tuesday committed suicide by consuming poison in the Naxal-affected Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
First Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 21:31
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|Uploaded:||October 24, 2008|
|Updated:||October 25, 2008|
Hello folks I am back with another drawing tutorial and yes it is another tattoo design that I think is a very interesting concept. Right now I will show you how to draw a scarab step by step. Now I’m not a wiz on everything but I do read a lot and I know that the scarab is a scared beetle to the Egyptians. In ancient Egypt they believed that the dung beetle or scarab was linked to the God of the sun, Khepri. They also believed that this insect’s sex origin came only in male and that they reproduced by dumping semen into the dung balls that they roll. An interesting fact is that the dung ball is in the shape of a sun, so obviously this belief gains respect. A roman historian by the name of Plutarch quoted on the dung beetle and the Egyptians belief, he said; “The race of beetles has no female, but all the males eject their sperm into a round pellet of material which they roll up by pushing it from the opposite side, just as the sun seems to turn the heavens in the direction opposite to its own course, which is from west to east”. Anyway, the Egyptians are people that have many beliefs and many myths. I think that their culture back in the ancient days was pretty interesting. This is an awesome tattoo design that I took a lot of time with. I will show you how easy it is to draw a scarab design step by step. I hope you like this drawing; I will be back with more tutorials in a bit so keep your eyes open people.
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TranscriptQuestion: Is tolerance staging a comeback?
Ian Buruma: Well of course it is not dead, but what has happened is that tolerance which we on the whole used to regard as a positive term more and more has become a very negative one, and that those who are afraid that the West or Europe in particular is going to be Islamized, that Europe is going to end up as Eurabia or that we’ll be swamped by intolerant Muslims and so on, tend to see tolerance as at best indifference, at worst a sort of cowardly appeasement and collaboration with Islamic fascism. I think that is very regrettable because tolerance in the sense of being able to live with people whose opinions or values you may not share, as long as everybody abides by the law and doesn’t start you know slitting each other’s throats I think is necessary. And you can’t demand—and the United States is a good example of this—that the entire population shares exactly the same cultural values, it’s impossible, nor should one demand it. I mean diversity is part of the societies we live in.
Question: Who does multiculturalism hurt?
Ian Buruma: Well multiculturalism, if it is simply a description of a society which consists of various different cultures and languages, is one thing. We live in such societies. Multiculturalism as an ideology that somehow supposes that or promotes the idea that people should stick to their own culture and not integrate or assimilate I think is wrong. But I think as an ideology it is certainly on the way out. I don’t think that that many people believe in that anymore. I think that when you think of it in that dogmatic way it harms minorities because they’re not encouraged to learn the skills or the languages that would allow them to take part in the societies and the economies in a way that would be beneficial to them.
Question: How have former British colonies dealt with the phenomenon of multiculturalism?
Ian Buruma: Well India is rather a good example of a place which has institutionalized multiculturalism in the sense that it includes a population of very different cultures and even ethnicities and I don’t just mean Muslims and Hindus. There are a huge number of different languages in India and so on. And somehow it works even though there are instances of violence and tensions and it is a democracy that's hugely problematic, but it works. They’ve found a way of dealing with it that actually probably the West in its more hysterical moments could learn something from.
Indonesia likewise. It was only a nation state because of... because the Dutch colonial history made it that. I mean it is highly diverse. It has only just become a democracy and showing many tensions, but I think again one probably we should be paying more attention to Indonesia because it is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world and when people say Islam in incompatible with democracy they should take another look at Indonesia.
Question: Are urban-rural divisions a source of violent culture clash in Europe?
Ian Buruma: Well the violence that comes from radical Islamists for example is sometimes blamed on a clash of civilizations that somehow different traditions, one a non-Western one, one a European one, are sort of violently clashing. I think that is a mistake. It’s a mistake in analysis, because the people who drop bombs in the London underground for example are not guest workers from little villages in Anatoli or the Rif Mountains in Morocco. They’re people born in Europe and raised in Europe who often grew up not knowing much about religion. And I think they indeed are often in a kind of no man’s land, which is very often true of second generation immigrants, where they are alienated from the culture of their parents or grandparents and feel rejected for one reason or another by the country in which they grew up. And of course they’re vulnerable, particularly vulnerable, to violent causes. All young people are vulnerable to them, but they are perhaps especially vulnerable.
Recorded April 21, 2010
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The cool temperate rainforests of southern South America (37-55º south latitude) are isolated from the warm tropical Amazonian rainforest by arid regions and mountains. Dating from the late Cretaceous forests of the Gondwanan supercontinent, the isolated southern temperate rainforest ecosystem has produced endemic species. This forest system has been threatened by deforestation, but recent measures are being initiated to protect this habitat. This area is an urgent target for biodiversity analysis and ecological research that is needed to guide appropriate conservation strategy.
This southern rainforest holds the only species in the Order Microbiotheria, which is one of the seven orders of marsupial mammals. This species is the most closely related of the American marsupials to the highly diversified Australian lineages. This small, rare, opossum-like relict, Dromiciops gliroides, known as "Monito del Monte," inhabits remaining patches of old-growth forest in southern Chile, including the Isla Grande de Chiloé, and an adjacent area of Argentina. The Monito del Monte forages at night in trees and bushes, and consumes both insects and fruit.
Surprisingly little is known of the ecology, life history, and behavior of the Monito del Monte. We are exploring the basic ecology and natural history of this species in Chile at the field station of the "Senda Darwin" Foundation on the island of Chiloé. We are monitoring a natural population throughout its annual cycle of breeding, recruitment of juveniles into the population, and hibernation. We expect to determine spatial and social relationships, using DNA markers to identify the genetic basis of population structure. A study of diet and habitat use will help to define the role of D. gliroides in this ecosystem, including dispersal of seeds from fruits.
Southern South America and its temperate rainforest have been shaped by the geological uplift of the Andean Cordillera in the Oligocene. More recently Pleistocene climatic and glacial cycles have produced periods of expansion and reduction of the range of this forest habitat. This process included fragmentation, isolation, and re-invasion of the forest and its inhabitants, including the Monito del Monte. Our phylogeographic study of D. gliroides is focusing on the response of the geographic range of the species to late Pleistocene glacial cycles. We expect to reveal the possible refugia that maintained the Monito del Monte during peak glaciation. These sites could include the northern end of the island of Chiloé, mainland Chile, or both. We will employ the mitochondrial genome and several genetic analyses to address this issue.
Chris Himes is a Burke Museum graduate student working on his Ph.D. in Zoology. He is interested in evolution, biogeography, and life history of mammals and works in the temperate rain forest environments of both North and South America.
Jim Kenagy is Curator of Mammals at the Burke Museum and Professor of Zoology in the Biology Department.
The Burke researchers are also collaborating with Chilean colleagues on a variety of aspects of this research:
Juan Armesto, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,
Juan Luis Celis, Universidad de Chile,
Cecilia Smith, Universidad de Chile,
Milton Gallardo, Universidad Austral de Chile
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President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education (PCESE)
On October 3, 2001, President George Bush established a Commission on Excellence in Special Education to collect information and study issues related to federal, state and local special education programs with the goal of recommending policies for improving the education performance of students with disabilities.
(December 18, 2001)
Paige Names Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced that Loretta Petty will serve as deputy assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services.
(November 26, 2001)
Department Hosts Forums on Special Education
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will hold a series of public forums to gather information about the upcoming reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
(October 10, 2001)
Tingus Appointed Director of National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that Steven James Tingus will serve as director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
(October 5, 2001)
$8.7 Million in Special Education Grants Awarded for New Centers to Study Reading, Behavior and Learning Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education today announced a package of more than $8.7 million in special education grants to establish nine centers to study issues related to reading, behavior and learning disabilities.
(October 5, 2001)
$7.8 Million in Special Education General Supervision Enhancement Grants Awarded to 24 States, Territories and Outlying Areas
More than $7.8 million in grants have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to 24 states, territories and outlying areas for special education improvement efforts as part of a competitive process to help reform and improve services for children with disabilities.
(October 5, 2001)
Education Secretary Backs Up President's Commitment to Special Education as an Essential Piece of No Child Left Behind Effort
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the ability of America's schools to identify and provide a quality education to children with disabilities and the need for sound research to inform how we identify and educate children with special needs.
(October 4, 2001)
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education
The President intends to appoint sixteen individuals to serve as Members of the newly-created Commission on Excellence in Special Education. Dr. Pasternack to serve as ex-officio member.
(October 3, 2001)
Wilson is New Commissioner for Rehabilitation Services Administration
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that Joanne M. Wilson has been formally sworn in as commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
(August 27, 2001)
Pasternack is New Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that Robert H. Pasternack has been formally sworn in as assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services.
(August 8, 2001)
National Meeting on Health and Health Care Needs of Individuals With Mental Retardation
The Surgeon General plans to convene a major meeting late this fall on the unmet health care needs, including mental health and dental care, of children and adults with mental retardation. Learn more about this conference and share your insights concerning the key issues that were discussed.
(August 1, 2001)
Archived News from OSEP
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Recently, people of all ages gathered at North Branford's Intermediate School, taking part in the 23rd Annual Community Roundup.
The Round Up is an effort to help collect canned goods for the North Branford Food Bank in an attempt to aid people less fortunate than ourselves. People participating were assigned specific food pick up routes. The doors opened up at 8:30 a.m, Saturday October 27. Sure enough, people swarmed in eager to make a difference. They traveled by foot and by car making pit stops at their check points. Most of the items people collected had been placed beside donators' mail boxes. David Cassidy, North Branford resident, said, “It's a good activity for the school, we always supported the local food banks and I think it's really important to do that.”
When collecting was over, all the food items were brought back to the Intermediate School and placed into designated sections. The food was packaged, boxes were taped up and the items were shipped off to the local food bank.
Nearing the end of the roundup, teams counted up the total number of canned goods they had collected. The top teams received awards for their success. Many thanks were given out to the people who, in total, collected a whopping 8,000 items.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.ctnow.com/about/studentnews/ctn-north-branford-lassos-the-giving-spirit-at-annual-community-roundup-20130110,0,5772221.story
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Its own public policy lobbying is now not enough. Google has taken the rare step of devoting homepage space to urge its German users to oppose government-proposed copyright reforms on its behalf.
Proposed in August and coming up for first reading in the Bundestag this Thursday, the Leistungsschutzrecht – or, ancillary copyright — would give news publishers the exclusive right to control re-uses of their output, requiring others obtain a license even to excerpt.
Google fought back on Tuesday by using a google.de homepage campaign to ask users to complain to elected representatives, casting the issue as one both of fundamental freedoms and of practicality: “For you, it would be so much more difficult on the internet to find the information that you seek. Defend your network.”
It is a mark of how seriously Google is taking the threat that it is trying to appeal to users’ emotions, enlisting them to fight the proposals. Google argues Leistungsschutzrecht will “damage the German economy” and “threaten the diversity of information”.
German publishers have formed their own counter-campaign…
Google is widely thought to be allowed to crawl news stories of which it republishes only excerpts. Emerging law may suggest otherwise — a Belgian court ruled in 2007 that it did not have the right to run such excerpts and UK copyright authorities this year ruled commercial news aggregators (though not free alternatives like Google News) must pay a license for doing so.
In Belgium, news stories were only returned to Google after a private commercial agreement between it and publishers. So German publishers may feel confident in seeking an equivalent arrangement. And that would challenge the widely-held belief in free online excerpting.
This week an Australian court ruled Google had defamed a man wrongly accused of being a criminal in a web page not hosted by but indexed by Google for its search results.
That contradicts the settled view of many legal jurisdictions that online platforms are not to be considered publishers of information placed by others, though is consistent with other case law that holds such platforms liable from the moment they are made aware of infringing material on their platform.
My colleague, paidContent legal correspondent Jeff Roberts, says this may make it more likely would-be litigants shop for victories in forums like Australia.
France also recently set Google a year’s-end deadline for agreeing to voluntarily pay news publishers — or it may legislate that it must pay a levy for the privilege. Google told French ministers such a compulsion would “threaten its very existence”.
So now Google is battling challenge to two of its central tenets — that it is not a publisher and only excerpts parts of articles.
Asked why its members don’t just block Google using robots.txt, the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers on Tuesday said via Twitter: “Robots.txt is a standard from the internet stone age. Why doesn’t Google want to use (alternative standard)
ASCAP ACAP, that is the question.”
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Learn more about the medical cases the doctors of SGH have faced
Trichotillomania and bezoars
By Meg Marinis, Director of Medical Research
Fifteen million dollars. EACH.
That's lots and lots of money. Granted, it's sad money because they went through a plane crash and lost two friends in the process, but… It's lots and lots of money. What would you do with fifteen million dollars? Now I'm no expert in such large funds, but I won't say I haven't thought about it. First, I'd take care of a few bills, pay back a couple of loans, and then book a room at this really expensive hotel in Big Sur and just maybe get a massage while I'm there. Then after I'm relaxed, I'd start to think about what I would do with the rest of the money.
But that's just me. Our doctors are a different story, but I can't say anything more because then I'd give things away and be in trouble. So…
Okay, so what the heck was that thing that Meredith and Richard took out of the patient's stomach?
When they opened up Taylor Lanz's abdomen, Meredith and Richard discovered a large bezoar – an accumulation of swallowed foreign material (like hair or fiber) that collects in the stomach and fails to pass through the intestines.
These bezoars most commonly occur in teenage females who are at greater risk for psychiatric disturbances.
These patients suffer from a condition called trichotillomania – The disorder causes people to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area, underarms, beard, chest, legs or other parts of the body. Ranging from mild to severe, the condition is currently considered an "impulse control disorder" but questions remain on its specific classification. Other experts prefer to view it as a habit, addiction, tic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Recently, trichotillomania has been included in the group of "body-focused repetitive behaviors" which encompasses skin biting and nail biting.
Symptoms usually begin before patients reach the age of seventeen. Signs include:
• An uneven appearance to the hair (Bare patches or loss of hair).
• Constant tugging, pulling or twisting of the hair.
• Denying hair pulling.
• Hair regrowth that resembles stubble in bare spots.
• Increasing sense of tension before the hair pulling.
• Other self-injury behaviors.
• Sense of relief, pleasure or gratification after hair pulling.
As well as pulling out their hair, many of these patients also swallow it.
Human hair is indigestible and slippery, therefore it cannot proceed through the stomach into the intestines, becoming entrapped in the mucosal folds. Over the years, large amounts accumulate, forming a "hair ball" and causing intestinal obstruction. Patients will typically complain of indigestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and pain. Like in Taylor's case, if the bezoar is large, the doctor may be able to feel a lump in the abdomen. After imaging, the mass can be confirmed and the patient will proceed to the operating room to have it removed.
After doctors have cleared the intestinal blockage, how do they treat the trichotillomania and prevent the complication from happening again?
Doctors do not unanimously agree on one specific treatment, but methods may be tried in order to reduce the symptoms. Many patients will begin taking anti-depressants and participate in different types of psychotherapy such as:
• Habit reversal training.
• Cognitive therapy.
• Acceptance and commitment therapy.
For more information on trichotillomania and trichobezoars, please visit:
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The Asian and Pacific Islander population was the one racial or ethnic group whose composition and count was profoundly affected by the revision of OMB Statistical Directive 15 in 1997. For Census 2000, Asians and Pacific Islanders were divided into two major race groups: 1) Asians, and 2) Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (also referred to as Pacific Islanders). For historical comparability, we focus on results based on the combined group. However, since this change will persist, we also present 2000 statistics for the two new groups separately.
Like American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asians and Pacific Islanders do not constitute a large proportion of the U.S. population, however, like American Indians and Alaska Natives, that proportion is growing. Asians and Pacific Islanders grew from 3.5 million (1.5 percent of the U.S. population) in 1980 to 7.3 million (2.9 percent) in 1990. In Census 2000, there were 11.9 million Asians (4.2 percent of the U.S. population) and nearly 900,000 Pacific Islanders (0.3 percent).(1)
Asians and Pacific Islanders also tended to be concentrated in the West, but they are much more urban than non-Hispanic Whites. Of the Asians and Pacific Islanders population, 92.2 percent were in metropolitan areas in 1980, and increasing to 94.4 percent in 1990. In Census 2000, 95.1 percent of Asians and 83.3 percent of Pacific Islanders lived in metropolitan areas. Therefore, we were able to include substantially more metropolitan areas in our analysis than we could for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
When either all metropolitan areas or selected ones (30 metropolitan areas had at least 3 percent or 20,000 or more Asians and Pacific Islanders) were considered, the dissimilarity, isolation, and spatial proximity indexes indicated increases in the residential segregation of Asians and Pacific Islanders between 1980 and 2000. The delta index indicated no change, and the absolute centralization index showed a small decline (Table 4-1).(2) The increase in isolation over the 1980-2000 period was particularly pronounced. An examination of the full distribution of the indexes for the selected metropolitan areas likewise showed an increase for dissimilarity, spatial proximity, and isolation over much of their range (Figure 4-1(a-e)). There were indications of a small decline in absolute centralization, and a less clear pattern for delta. Figure 4-2 (a-e), which plots 1980 index values versus the 2000 values, further confirmed these patterns.
Nineteen of the 30 selected metropolitan areas were in the West region (Table 4-2). Patterns of change in the West mirrored the summary above, with a few relatively minor differences as compared with the rest of the country. Asians and Pacific Islanders in the West in 2000 were more isolated than Asians and Pacific Islanders in the other regions, a bit less centralized, and lived slightly closer to one another (spatial proximity).
There seemed to be noticeable differences by size of metropolitan area. The isolation index was nearly twice as high for medium-sized areas (500,000 to 999,999) than for larger or smaller areas, though there were only three of them, compared with 20 large areas and 7 small ones. In contrast, three of the five indexes -- delta, absolute centralization, and spatial proximity -- were smallest for the medium-sized areas.
Areas with the smallest proportion (under 1.8 percent) of Asians and Pacific Islanders had, by far, the lowest level of isolation and the lowest level of spatial proximity. Both the isolation and spatial proximity indexes increased monotonically with the percentage of Asians and Pacific Islanders. The other indexes did not seem to display a pattern with respect to the percentage of Asians and Pacific Islanders.
In terms of patterns by the rate of growth of the Asian and Pacific Islander population, metropolitan areas with the greatest growth between 1980 and 2000 experienced particularly large increases in isolation, and some increases in dissimilarity and spatial proximity. Those with the lowest rate of growth (under 256.8 percent increase -- still a large rate) experienced more modest changes in segregation over the two decades.
Three of the five indexes -- dissimilarity, isolation, and spatial proximity -- stand out as being most likely to show increases (Table 4-3). In fact, all 30 metropolitan areas had an increase in isolation of more than 5 percent between 1980 and 2000; the delta and absolute centralization indexes showed more decreases than increases.
Table 4-4 shows the index levels for the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the country that also have at least 3 percent or 20,000 or more Asians and Pacific Islanders. The five areas with the highest level of dissimilarity (the most commonly used index) were, in order, New York, San Francisco and Houston (tied), Los Angeles-Long Beach, and San Diego. Using all five indexes, the most segregated large areas include four of the same five metro areas, with San Francisco at number one and San Jose moving into the top five and Houston at number six, basically tied with San Jose and Los Angeles. Figure 4-3 (608k) shows the settlement pattern of Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2000 in San Francisco.
The least segregated large areas were, again in order using the dissimilarity index, Portland-Vancouver, Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Nassau-Suffolk, Newark, and Bergen-Passaic. Using all the indexes, the five least segregated large areas were Nassau-Suffolk, Baltimore, Newark, Bergen-Passaic, and Detroit. Figure 4-4 (1.6M) shows the settlement pattern of Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2000 in Nassau-Suffolk.
The large areas with the greatest increase in segregation over the 1980-2000 period include two of the five areas with low overall segregation -- the five with the greatest increases were Riverside-San Bernardino, San Jose, Nassau-Suffolk, Bergen-Passaic, and Portland-Vancouver. The five with the smallest increases (or largest decreases) were Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles-Long Beach (Table 4-5).
Table 4-6 shows segregation statistics separately for Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2000 for all and selected metropolitan areas. Because of the small number of Pacific Islanders, in particular, the selection criteria continue to refer to metropolitan areas with at least 20,000 or 3 percent Asian and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders combined in 1980. As a baseline, the index value for all Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2000 already discussed is presented first, followed by the index value for Asians and then Pacific Islanders.
The dissimilarity index shows only a little difference between the residential segregation levels for the two groups, though Pacific Islanders are more segregated than Asians (using the significance criteria explained in footnote 2). The other indexes suggest, however, that Pacific Islanders are slightly less residentially segregated than Asians.
An examination of the histograms for 2000 (Figure 4-5(a-e)), shows a higher level of residential segregation for Pacific Islanders than for Asians when the dissimilarity index is considered, but a lower level for the other four indexes. This was also very apparent when the scatter diagrams were examined. The dissimilarity index scores were arrayed along the diagonal in Figure 4-6a, but slightly below the diagonal for the delta index (Figure 4-6c), and well below the diagonal for the other three indexes.
In sum, there seems to have been an increase in the residential segregation of Asians and Pacific Islanders over the 1980-2000 period according to three of the five measures, no change in a fourth measure, and a small decline in the fifth. Increases are most notable in the isolation and spatial proximity indexes. The more Asians and Pacific Islanders in an area as a percentage of the population, the more they are isolated, and the more they tend to live with one another. Asians as a group were more segregated in 2000 than were Pacific Islanders.
1. The 2000 figures includes all people who identified as being of the particular group alone or in combination with another race. The number of people who identified as Asian alone was 10.2 million (3.6 percent of the total U.S. population), and the analogous figure for Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders was just under 400 thousand (0.1 percent of the population).
2. Using the approach described in Chapter 2 to determine substantive changes as one percent of the index range over three years, the following critical values are used: dissimilarity, 0.003; isolation, 0.007; delta, 0.004; absolute centralization, 0.006; spatial proximity, 0.002.
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<urn:uuid:339ef00a-338f-411e-90e5-6526bb37aa02>
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LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The movement has three main premises: that people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity, that diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered. The use of the abbreviated gay pride and pride have since become mainstream and shorthand expressions inclusive of all individuals in various LGBT communities.
The word pride is used in this case as an antonym for shame, which has been used to control and oppress LGBT persons throughout history. Pride in this sense is an affirmation of ones self and the community as a whole. The modern “pride” movement began after the “Stonewall riots” in 1969. Instead of backing down to unconstitutional raids by New York Police, gay people in local bars fought back. While it was a violent situation it also gave the underground community the first sense of communal pride in a very well publicized incident. From the yearly parade that commemorated the anniversary of the Stonewall riots began a national grassroots movement. Today many countries around the world celebrate LGBT pride. The pride movement has furthered the cause of gay rights by lobbying politicians, registering voters and increasing visibility to educate on issues important to LGBT communities. LGBT pride advocates work for equal “rights and benefits” for LGBT people.
Symbols of LGBT pride include the LGBT rainbow flag, butterfly, the Greek lambda symbol, and the pink as well as black triangles reclaimed from their past use.
Getting your gift baskets delivered are a great way to celebrate yourself, your sexuality and your life with those you love.
Pride parades for the LGBT community (also known as gay pride parades, pride events and pride festivals) are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) culture. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage. Most pride events occur annually and many take place around June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, a pivotal moment in the modern LGBT rights movement.
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<urn:uuid:a83982a7-d04c-4070-ae62-2d7dea930261>
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http://www.pridefestival.org/
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Ben Johnson, The White House Watch
Impeachment usually represents a punitive act following the commission of a crime, but some are looking to it as a last means of self-defense. At a Tea Party town hall meeting last night Rep. Michael Burgess, R-TX, said impeachment “needs to happen” to stop Barack Obama from inflicting more “damage” on this country.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram claims an attendee “suggested that the House push for impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama to obstruct the president from pushing his agenda.” Burgess, who represents four counties in northern Texas, responded: “It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up. No question about that.” He later stood by his comment. “We need to tie things up. The longer we allow the damage to continue unchecked, the worse things are going to be for us.”
The Star-Telegram adds, “Burgess said he wasn’t sure whether the proper charges to bring up articles of impeachment against Obama were there.” Since the reporter does not quote Congressman Burgess nor elaborate on this sentence, it is uncertain whether Burgess said he was not sure Obama had committed an impeachable offense or whether the charges could pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. While there are ample grounds for impeachment, it would take intense citizen pressure to force senators to vote for conviction.
Whatever the circumstances surrounding Burgess’ words, he is part of a significant and growing number of Congressmen willing to see Obama removed from office….
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<urn:uuid:1147f1b0-f13f-4c1f-a1ce-50e0b504fdf2>
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|"Are you a wizard or not?"
The title of this article is conjectural. Although it is based on canonical information, the actual name is conjecture and may be supplanted at any time by additional information released from canonical sources. If this occurs, please move this page to the appropriate title.
Creates a stream of non-bursting bubbles
- "...tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree."
- —Ron watches Flitwick using this spell to decorate.[src]
This spell is used to conjure a stream of bubbles from the tip of the wand.
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When cleaning for Passover, don’t forget the needs of sweet Fido. Or Garfield. Or Tweety. Or whatever your canine/feline/avian family member is named.
While the Talmud instructs that pet owners are allowed to feed non-kosher food to their furry or fine-feathered friends most of the year, on Passover, while pets are permitted to continue to consume treyf fare, their human owners are allowed no chametz in their homes.
A conundrum? Not at all, thanks to a proliferation over the past two years of companies catering to the Passover pet. In yet the latest instance of rabbinical Judaism meeting the virtual age, many products can be purchased online.
Started last year in south Florida by a pet owner, www.kosherpets.com was the first to go into business. The Chicago Rabbinical Council approved its food as kosher for Passover for pets — it includes no chametz, but the meat is non-kosher. This year brings us www.kosherpetz.com — from Rabbi Joshua Wohl in Flatbush, Brooklyn — which sells Oma’s Pride pet food products. Rabbi Wohl has himself deemed the products appropriate for Passover. His business is seasonal.
Arlene Mathes-Scharf, the food scientist and kosher food specialist behind www.kashrut.com, lists on her Web site mainstream pet foods that don’t include any grains or other foods that may be considered chametz. Indeed, she said, pets take prominence during the Passover season: Without fail, the “first question” she gets as the holiday approaches is about what to do with a family’s animal members.
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http://forward.com/articles/8552/holiday-kashrut-for-critters/
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Instructional Objective The learner will be able to match famous women in American History with their historical importance (politics, labor, author, social work, or special interest).
Learners/Context The learners are high school history students and can be both male and female. The card game is played in the classroom as an extra activity to the regular history curriculum.
Rationale This card game will give students the opportunity to group women together by time period and to then match them with their area of recognition. It also will give them the opportunity to see the importance of different time periods to women's issues.
Rules Four can play. One person will be the dealer, and it is his or her job to lay down a face card. The dealer will have a fact sheet that gives the noteworthy historical information for each woman.
Each of the other three players are given decks of equal fact cards. Players choose between blue, green or yellow. As the dealer lays down a face card, the players must lay down the appropriate fact card. Each player must lay down a card whether they are sure of their response or not.
After each player lays down a fact card, the dealer notes on a score sheet who won the round. There can be more than one winner for each turn and possibly there may be more than one winner for the game. The first person to lay down a fact card correctly wins that round and gains three points. At games end the total points are added up and the person with the largest score wins. To keep track of who was first, the first person to lay the correct card on top of the face card wins that round.
Deck Design The deck consists of 40 face cards and 40 fact cards. The face cards show the portrait and name. The fact cards contain historical information. In the upper left hand corner of the fact card, is a color coded letter noting specific area or category the woman fits in.
The lower right hand corner contains the era of the historical achievements. The color coding helps the dealer determine who was the first one to lay down the correct fact card.
Design Process I had originally thought the cards would all be alike, a fact card with the portrait included. The players would match categories (three each) or the era. As this seemed to be too much information for one card, I thought of having the fact cards and the face cards separate. The players could match faces with facts, but then there would have to have more than one fact for each woman. A successful match would be one face card with two facts cards or as before three categories would be a match. But these didn't seem to aid learning as the players would only be matching letters or pictures. The current version asks the players to match the players to actually put a face with an achievement. The element of first one down adds excitement and competition.
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<urn:uuid:281fb936-c728-4fdb-b697-361d9195fbbb>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/Cardboard/Card/W/women'shistorygame.html
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en
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The sound of church bells at Mission San José echoes across grassy fields on a damp and chilly November day and lifts my spirits.
Mission bells also assured the Coahuiltecan Indians who helped build this fortress-like church more than two centuries ago. They were fleeing for their lives from their traditional enemies. I'm here to escape the crowds of tourists and traffic downtown for a little while.
I want to get a closer look at the four beautiful 18th-century Spanish churches that grace San Antonio's Mission Trail. The well-marked driving route stretches south for 9 miles from The Alamo along the San Antonio River. The world remembers The Alamo as a heroic battleground, but the other missions are tranquil shrines where the Spanish planted the seeds of San Antonio. The National Park Service administers the grounds, organizes tours, and operates visitors centers at each site. All four have active churches.
When I step inside the thick stone walls of the grassy compound at San José, it's easy to understand how seminomadic tribes were thankful for the safety they found here. They joined Franciscan friars to help build the missions because Apache and other enemies were threatening them.
Missionaries taught the Coahuiltecans farming skills and gave them religious instruction. Before the Spanish came, there were no horses in Texas and no gunfire, except for the raiding Apache. A vast frontier had never been touched by a wheel or felt the blade of an iron ax. The missions evoked a powerful presence to American Indians.
Music and Marriage
The mission churches are still an important part of daily life for parishioners. "This is our neighborhood. I can see the top of the church and hear the bells from my house," says Robert Perez. He's here to attend the marriage of his granddaughter, Mary Solis, and Edward Aguilar. During the ceremony, a guitarist plays Spanish songs and, following the Spanish custom, Father Ed Boren drapes an ornamental lasso over the shoulders of the bride and groom to join them as one. Pointing out that almost 50% of marriages fail, he encourages them to "build your house on a rock." Like this church.
"Brides come from all over the city to have their pictures taken here. On any given day, you'll see two or three," says Dr. Rosalind Rock, National Park Service historian. Mariachis play for the noon Mass on Sunday when visitors arrive an hour early to get seats. "Tourists come, and they get tears in their eyes," says Alfred Schwab, a retired airline pilot and volunteer docent who leads guided tours at San José.
Among other contributions, the missions planted the roots of ranching in Texas. Indian vaqueros tended huge herds of cattle, goats, and sheep. They marked stock with branding irons like the ones used in Spain and Portugal as early as the 10th century.
A Shining Example
Cream-colored limestone walls gleam in the afternoon sun at San José, but remnants of paintings at Mission Concepción show some of the vivid colors that once adorned the churches. "Concepción is the best preserved and least altered of the missions," says Rosalind. Next year marks the 250th anniversary of its dedication.
Pews are decorated with pink ribbons and flowers for a wedding yet to come, but on this late afternoon, it's a place of timeless tranquillity. I linger to watch candles flicker on soft walls in the fading light of a church built before America was a nation.
Outposts on the Trail
Early on Sunday morning, I drive out to see Mission San Juan and Mission Espada. At the two rural sites, I get a sense of how remote they once were. In 1836, Jim Bowie and James Fannin took refuge here not long before the fight at The Alamo was lost.
Under missionary supervision, the Coahuiltecans grew crops in rich fields along the river. They built dams and waterways called acequias for irrigation. I stop at Espada Aqueduct to watch water splash through a stone trough. Constructed in 1745, it is the oldest Spanish-built aqueduct still in operation in the United States.
When I slip inside the church at Espada this morning, it's standing room only. About 90 parishioners sit listening to a priest recite the Mass in Spanish. Little girls with red bows in their hair sit beside their mothers. Young men stand politely at the back.
The words are as strange to me as they were to the Coahuiltecans. But I understand the message. In the busy rush of the holiday season, I'm thankful for the trail that led me here. For more information: Contact Park Headquarters at San Antonio Mission National Historical Park, 2202 Roosevelt Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78210-4919; (210) 534-8833 or www.nps.gov/saan.
Where To Start: Mission Concepción heads the trail, but it's a good idea to stop first at the main visitors center, located in the 3300 block of Roosevelt Avenue at Mission San José, about 4 miles from downtown. Pick up a trail map, and take time to view an informative 23-minute film to get an overview of the Coahuiltecans and the missions. Join a guided tour. (Don't miss Alfred Schwab's entertaining tour if you're there on a Monday.)
"Discover San Antonio's Mission Trail" is from the November 2004 issue of Southern Living. Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.
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Rising Danube sparks floods, evacuation
By Nikolay Doychinov
LOM, Bulgaria (Reuters) – The Danube hit record high levels
in the Balkans on Thursday, sending soldiers and disaster
workers scrambling to evacuate people and stem flooding along
its banks, officials said.
Bulgaria’s government declared a state of emergency along
the Danube’s southern bank, while in Serbia’s capital, the
mayor called for the evacuation of a suburb near the Sava
“No evacuations have started yet, but we have told people
if it is impossible to leave, they should go to the top floors
or roofs of their buildings,” Krasimir Kostov, a civil defense
official in Silistra, northern Bulgaria.
In Lom, a town of 6,000 some 230 km (140 miles) north of
Sofia, workers filled sandbags to shore up dikes as the river
swamped a hotel and city administration buildings.
A Reuters photographer at the scene said people were
carrying furniture and other belongings from the buildings as
the waters, fed by melting snow in central Europe and heavy
rains in the Balkans, continued rising.
Upriver in the port of Vidin, 140 soldiers arrived to help
shore up berms as the Danube rose to 942 cm (370 inches), near
or higher than the not officially recorded all-time high set in
1942, when waters inundated the then unprotected city center.
“People are out in the park looking at the river, because
we have never seen such high levels before,” said Mariana
Peneva, chief accountant at the Vidin civil defense office.
“We are prepared to evacuate.”
Officials said they would move 70,000 people from the area
if it appeared the river would overcome dikes built to
withstand water a meter (3 ft) higher than current levels.
Serbian crews struggled in heavy rain to shore up defenses
on the banks of the Tisa and people in Mosovin, a village of
3,500, raced to build a new dyke, news agency Beta reported.
In the capital, Belgrade Mayor Nenad Bodanovic decided to
evacuate Partizan, a suburb of around 1,000 people on the Sava
river. Several of the city’s main roads were also flooded but
not closed to traffic.
Romania’s Interior Ministry said more than 120 people had
fled their homes near where the Danube creates its southern
border with Bulgaria and swollen rivers also overcame a dam on
the Borcea tributary — the second to overflow in two days.
“We are on alert and ready to take immediate action. If the
Danube rises by 30 more centimeters, we will be forced to
evacuate 1,500 people from nine villages,” said Ioan Boieru,
government representative in Tulcea.
Away from the Danube in southern Bulgaria, the Struma river
also threatened to break its banks due to heavy rains,
threatening a repeat of floods last month that caused major
damage to farmland in neighboring Greece.
The Danube is expected to rise for around another week as
the flood wave travels down from central Europe. The region is
still recovering from floods last summer that killed scores of
people and caused massive damage to farmland and
(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia, Beti Bilandzic,
Kremena Miteva and Tsvetelia Ilieva)
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The Right Direction to Better Health….Naturally!
With the Compass Assessment, computer generated digital signatures representing physical stimuli are sent to the body. These digital stimuli elicit physiological responses from the body, one of which is a change in the conductivity of the skin. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) is an established response to various stimuli. One application of GSR that many people are familiar with is lie-detector testing. These fluctuations in skin conductivity are measured and sent back to the computer for analysis and interpretation. Coherence is a state where two or more things exist without conflict. By tracking multiple inputs the Compass technology can calculate shifts in coherence as the body responds to each digital signature. Signatures that create greater coherence than the baseline are given a positive score and signatures creating less coherence than the baseline are given a negative score. The data received from the hand cradle is plotted and analyzed for coherence. Each response is given a positive or negative score called a Deviation Ratio. After analyzing the data from the hand cradle, the computer displays the data in an easy-to-read graphical interface. The data shows the body’s responses ranked in order of priority. Results are optimized and time is used more efficiently by focusing on the body’s priority.
How does the technology work?
The Compass technology measures fluctuations in the energy patterns of the skin. The primary feedback mechanism is called GSR for Galvanic Skin Response. GSR is commonly used as a marker for stress. In a process called a bio-survey, a client places his/her hand on a hand cradle and the Compass software sends stimuli to the body using digital signatures representative of various alternatives like nutritional supplements. Each stimulus creates a unique GSR response which the Compass software measures and analyzes. Each response indicates a biological preference for the item assessed. Knowing biological preferences helps individuals make better choices about their health; for example, choosing the right nutritional supplements.
Do you have FDA approval?
The Compass technology has been reviewed by Underwriters Laboratory (UL), an approved FDA consultant along with legal experts who determined that it does not qualify as a medical device and therefore does not require FDA registration.
Are the results reproducible?
The Compass technology measures the most rapidly changing field in the body, the energetic field, which processes 400 million impulses of information per second. When dealing with complex mind-body systems, repeatable measurements are not expected. However, in most instances successive bio-surveys will produce comparative results; each bio-survey will present a picture that is comparative in a meaningful way to the others. Health professionals and others with bio-survey experience learn that results obtained from the first bio-survey are valid and the most accurate.
Can the technology be used to treat or diagnose?
No. The Compass technology does not treat, cure or diagnose. It is a tool designed to assist the individual in finding the body’s preferences for any list of items. This information is used to make better decisions about personal health, preference for nutritional supplements, foods to avoid, and so on. Even though this information has obvious value, the results of a bio-survey are not diagnostic.
Are there research studies on the technology?
The Compass technology involves information theory, biology, physics, and biofeedback. Each of these disciplines have several studies that validate the individual components that makes up the Compass technology. For example, there are several studies over the last century relating to GSR and its use in measuring the body’s reaction to stimuli. In addition, several health professionals have conducted successful studies using the Compass technology. Recently, The Compass concluded an extended research study in China, the results of which are set to be published in a peer reviewed journal.
Are the results accurate?
Yes. Health professionals using the Compass technology have performed hundreds of thousands of assessments worldwide and report excellent results. A recent hospital study showed a high correlation between the information provided by the Compass technology and the recommendations made by attending physicians.
The Compass System assessment increases the accuracy of determining the right nutrients for your body by up to 500%!
$35 fee is waived if recommended products valuing $35 or more is purchased.
Stop wondering if you are taking the right supplements. Call or stop in today at A Harvest of Health Nutrition & Wellness Center and experience the Compass Assessment. No appointment necessary.
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have entered a difficult crisis after Washington's decision to refrain from asking Israel to freeze settlements in the West Bank as a condition for the resumption of direct negotiations. Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper quoted Abbas as saying after a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, "I do not doubt that there is a crisis .. a difficult crisis."
Abbas voiced his hope to see the participation of the European Union in the peace process in order to to allow the resumption of negotiations. "We hope that soon the the European Union will play a role with the United States."
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasser Abed Rabbo on Wednesday was asked about Washington's ability to influence Israel to freeze settlement activity and he replied that the policy of the U.S. administration failed as it received a heavy blow from the Government of Israel. He hoped to see a change in the US policy taking into account the Israeli refusal.
And he asked: "If this administration is unable to persuade Israel to stop even for a limited time for serious negotiations, how will it be able to compel Israel to evacuate settlements on the basis of international legitimacy and the two-state solution?"
Abed Rabbo added: "This failure leads us again to go to a wider international context." He expressed surprise at the American position that refuses to back Brazil and Argentina's recognition of a Palestinian state. "In a time when the administration announced the failure of its efforts it also expresses dissatisfaction with the recognition of Brazil and Argentina."
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April 20, 2012, Gelan Gura, Ethiopia–Jam-packed day today with Tessema Bekele and his team at EDA – Emmanuel Development Association. We travelled south of Addis and got to sample some of the local traffic congestion on the highway to the eastern port in Dijbouti. Seemed like every truck and his mini-bus brother was out there.
On the way to the EDA offices, our Country Representative, Gebriel, briefed us on Ethiopian history, culture, government, foods, crops and so much more. That man is a font of wisdom and interesting facts – and he sure makes a drive in congested traffic pass quickly.
Tessema is the founder and Executive Director of EDA, and he started the organization in 1996 with the aim to improve the socio-economic situation of vulnerable children, youth and women through integrated, community based, and sustainable development programs. EDA is impressive in both its reach to the most vulnerable communities and the disciplined approach they take to make lasting change happen. Tessema and his amazing team put together a full day visiting a variety of projects, but I have to focus this blog on one that really stands out.
The Gelan Gura Kebele (i.e., community) is a community to the east of Addis, and while it is currently quite rural and quite poor, you can see the city’s development heading its way with the building of new industrial sites on the road from Addis. CFTC is supporting the building of a water system for which the community had requested support from EDA. They had been suffering from waterborne diseases for a long time, and had to walk a distance to get water from the local spring or river – both of which carried unhygienic and polluted materials.
EDA worked with the Community Water Committee to scope the project to meet their needs, and EDA took the initiative to bring a professional engineer on board to ensure it was done to high standards. This water distribution system is being set up to serve more than 4,000 people in the current communities, with the potential to reach 10,000 in time with future expansion of the system.
So what does a water distribution system look like? Basically, a capped bore hole that reaches 40 metres underground to the water table is dug in the middle of a field. From this hole, trenches have been dug and pipes laid to bring the water all the way to the closest village on a nearby hilltop where a large stone reservoir is being built to store the water. From this reservoir, trenches have been dug and pipes laid to the three other communities, including one at a considerable distance away across many fields.
Each community will have its own local reservoir and water tap – and those days of long walks with the jerry cans and donkeys to the river and back for poor quality water are almost over.
What I love about the work of EDA is their willingness to do things right – not just to build a well but to build a well-designed and integrated system that not only meets the community’s immediate needs now but can be expanded in the future. As EDA Program Manager Yonas Ashgari said, “Water is life,” and the support EDA has provided to the Community Water Committee to organize themselves and oversee management of the system is inspiring as they strive for better quality of life through better quality of water.
Once again I am deeply impressed by the practical and sustainable ideas of our local partners – and there are many great lessons learned we can share with our other country projects.
We had to leave Gelan Gura in a hurry as the rains came in full force and we needed to be off the seriously potholed local roads…or to stay for one very long and wet coffee ceremony. Nice that as we were driving away, there was a beautiful rainbow to the east hanging over rolling green fields against the dark sky. I’ll take that as a good omen for water anyday.
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Alum is active in fight against Alzheimer’s
Augusta, Ga. – “It’s a tsunami waiting to happen,” said Dee Dee Kurilla, a Southern Wesleyan University North Augusta Alum.
Referring to a perfect storm fueled by aging baby boomers and people living longer, Kurilla asserts that the number of victims of Alzheimer’s Disease, an illness already considered the sixth largest cause of death among Americans, is expected to increase.
Kurilla graduated from Southern Wesleyan’s North Augusta location in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in management. She says that earning a degree opened the door to a rewarding position as director of development for the Augusta Region of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Georgia Chapter, which serves 17 counties in the CSRA.
Kurilla’s previous employer provided support for her to earn a business degree. She chose Southern Wesleyan’s North Augusta location over the option of taking classes online because she wanted more one-on-one interaction with her professors. She said Southern Wesleyan was just the right size and added that the Christian atmosphere helped reaffirm her personal beliefs.
For years, Kurilla took classes off and on, but she’s proud to have finally earned a degree. She contends that, as children grow up and become independent, it’s a great time for the parent to prepare for the exciting next step of earning a degree.
“I really appreciate some of the professors who took their time to help those of us who hadn’t been through school in a long time,” Kurilla said, adding “I really enjoyed the study groups.”
“Dee Dee is a tremendous asset to the Alzheimer's Association and therefore to the community that she serves,” said Dave Houston, vice president of development at the Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter. “Not only is she a tremendously dedicated worker, she excels in all of the intangibles that make working with volunteers a rewarding and inspirational experience.” Houston added that he’s also appreciative of Kurilla’s professional training from Southern Wesleyan.
Kurilla is passionate, not only about her Southern Wesleyan experience, but also about her work with the Alzheimer’s Association, providing training and support for families and professionals who work with Alzheimer’s patients and serving as an advocate for them in Washington. “We ask our federal legislators to join a bipartisan Alzheimer’s task force,” said Kurilla, adding that they urge support of the National Institutes of Health to make Alzheimer’s research a top priority.
Kurilla is excited about a new fundraising event taking place across Georgia, which is similar to a popular TV show where contestants dance with celebrities. “Dancing with the Stars of Augusta” will involve 10 local celebrities in a ballroom dancing event where each celebrity will raise $5,000 or more.
“We’re trying to find fun ways for people to get involved,” she said. Recently, Kurilla and a team of volunteers raised more than $96,000 at their signature Walk to End Alzheimer’s and hopes that people will continue to give until the end of the year.
“Funds raised will provide care and support services to the 200,000 residents of Georgia living with Alzheimer’s, while also contributing to advancing critically-needed research,” Kurilla said.
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Thousands of Libyans took to the streets Sunday to celebrate the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Libyan National Congress leader Mohammed Magarief addressed flag-waving crowds in the North African nation's second city, Benghazi, where he urged his countrymen to "join ranks and resolve our differences to build our nation."
The country has been roiled by instability and violence since the ouster of Gadhafi's government in late 2011. Benghazi has been among the worst-hit parts of the country, falling prey to armed militiamen and Islamist extremists.
Many residents in the city are unhappy that the current government has yet to disarm the militias or write a new constitution.
In the capital, Tripoli, thousands gathered in the main square in celebration. Security was deployed, but the mood was relaxed. In some neighborhoods, camels were slaughtered and displayed on the street for the occasion. Youths banged drums on top of cars while men in traditional clothing rode on horses.
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Technology changes things. Perhaps that seems obvious; one need think only of the advances made in areas such as medicine and agriculture in the last century. But when it comes to modern media like radio, television, and the internet, we can be guilty of a certain level of naiveté about the effects of technology on our lives, especially as people of faith. In the twentieth century, religious leaders often made statements encouraging attempts at putting the ancient content of the faith in contemporary forms for the sake of “modern man.” A major part of those calls concerned the felt imperative of making use of modern media like radio and television for the advance of the gospel. Now, in the wake of the relatively recent rise of the internet (I still remember using it for the very first time and doing email in DOS), the calls grow ever louder to bring the gospel to the internet, to engage digital culture.
But the medium assuredly affects the message, even if one doesn’t want to go as far as Marshall McLuhan and assert that the medium is the message. I was glad to see Kevin White’s piece on the effects of microphones on the Mass in the recent issue of First Things (“Drop the Mic,” December 2012), for microphones have been on my mind lately as I hear homilies at Masses several times a week and as I reflect on and teach about mission, liturgy, and preaching in various contexts for the Year of Faith. Indeed, better preaching has become a major concern for Catholics recently. In 2007 in Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict baldly stated, “given the importance of the Word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved.” Quoting these words three years later in Verbum Domini, Benedict also warned against “generic and abstract homilies which obscure the directness of God’s word . . . as well as useless digressions.” And in recent weeks the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a major document on preaching, “Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily.”
It behooves us, then, to actually think about the microphone. In most liturgical churches, the use of video screens occasions serious and sustained discussion, whereas the microphone has made its way into the sanctuary as a matter of course. But the microphone is a technological medium with real effects on preaching and liturgy; it changes things. McLuhan may be right that the technology of the microphone ultimately led to a vernacular Mass versus populum with significant lay involvement; technological determinists would tend to agree with him. Leaving that fraught question alone for the moment, I would raise a different one: Do microphones encourage poor preaching?
I think microphones might very well injure preaching, for in preaching the microphone functions as both obstacle and crutch. The microphone is an obstacle, one more piece of complexity that can go wrong. It makes preachers tentative; the microphone is like a snake that might bite if one makes a wrong move. Having used many microphones of all kinds in both public speaking situations as well as concert venues (I used to play in rock and heavy metal groups as well as praise-and-worship bands), I have learned that microphones are painfully unpredictable. We have all been in situations where they don’t function well, for whatever reason, and the result is poor sound quality (at best) or feedback (at worst). The microphone is also a crutch, since the electronics of the microphone are designed to do the work the bodies of preachers of prior ages used to do.
Microphones are therefore enervating, as the microphone affects the very nature of the homily by affecting delivery in removing much of the preacher’s body from the arduous physical task of public speaking. Good preaching generally involves a tone of authoritative proclamation, but the use of microphones encourages a quieter, conversational tone from the pulpit. Thus the proclamation of both law and gospel loses its force as preaching becomes something either casual or intellectual. The preacher transmits either banalities or mere information, and the congregation misses a potential transformative encounter with the Word of God.
Technologies have unintended, undesired, and often ironic effects. One such ironic effect of microphones in preaching is the increased distance between preacher and congregation. We do not hear our preachers directly from their lips, but at another remove, from the speakers. To me, this seems to cut against the grain of good preaching, which ought to be both interpersonal (ideally, we have a good relationship of trust with our preacher) and incarnational (as the word of the homily rooted in the word of Scripture proclaims and makes present the Word of God, Jesus Christ). In evading the role of the body, the microphone subtly supports a soft sort of Gnosticism, like most modern technologies.
Could we drop the mic? Certainly. Of course we will continue to employ technology in our lives and in our religion, but we needn’t be slaves to technological determinism. Dropping the mic would necessitate cultivating the art of classical oratory as well as constructing sanctuaries designed to carry the human voice, just as the use of the microphone (I would suggest) has relegated homiletics to an afterthought for many seminarians and encouraged uninspired ecclesiastical architecture. “A microphone allows its user to impose his voice . . . on many more people than an ancient orator could,” White writes, and it’s certainly true. The technology exists today where it would be possible for a single speaker to address all seven billion people on the planet at once. But ancient orators could address multitudes of people, many more than attend most churches on a given Sunday. Think no further than Jesus addressing the crowds at the Sermon on the Mount.
Leroy Huizenga is Chair of the Department of Theology and Director of the Christian Leadership Center at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. His personal website is LeroyHuizenga.com. His previous “On the Square” articles can be found here.
Kevin White, Drop the Mic
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This volume is the first book-length study of the extensive career and prolific works of D.A. Pennebaker, one of the pioneers of direct cinema, a documentary form that emphasizes observation and a straightforward portrayal of events. With a career spanning decades, Pennebaker's many projects have included avant-garde experiments (Daybreak Express), ground-breaking television documentaries (Primary), celebrity films (Dont Look Back), concert films (Monterey Pop), and innovative fusions of documentary and fiction (Maidstone).
Exploring the concept of "performing the real," Keith Beattie's insightful analysis interprets Pennebaker's films as performances in which the act of filming is in itself a performative transgression of the norms of purely observational documentary. He examines the ways in which Pennebaker's presentation of unscripted everyday performances is informed by connections between documentary filmmaking and other experimental movements such as the New American Cinema. Through his collaborations with such various artists as Richard Leacock, Shirley Clarke, Norman Mailer, and Jean-Luc Godard, Pennebaker has continually reworked and redefined the forms of documentary filmmaking. This book also includes a recent interview with the director and a full filmography.
"A welcome addition to the Contemporary Film Directors Series."--Documentary
"Filled with useful historical and technical details, this enthusiastic study of one of documentary cinema's most important filmmakers will convert some skeptics and create many new admirers of D.A. Pennebaker's work."--Joe McElhaney, author of Albert Maysles.
Field of Research
190201 Cinema Studies 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified
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The Oxford English Dictionary Gang has once again named their “Word of the Year,” and this one is very near and dear to all of our hearts: GIF. Love that word. Use it in a sentence. “I GIFed, he GIFed, she GIFed, we GIFed.” Good sentence. From Wired:
“Like so many other relics of the 80s, it has never been trendier,” wrote lexicographer Katherine Martin in a blog post conveying the news. “GIF celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun. The GIF has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace.”
And the official definition from Oxford:
GIF, verb to create a GIF file of (an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event)
Congratulations to the English language. Better luck next year, “STAHP,” “unfollow,” and all the other great words!
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Faced with record deficits and expanding federal responsibilities, politicians from President Barack Obama on down routinely talk about the need for transparency and accountability in government. At the same time, though, they’ve left more than a dozen of the government’s top oversight jobs unfilled.
At least 15 of the 73 inspectors general, chief auditors, or whistleblower protection jobs across government currently are vacant or are being covered by acting officials, according to a Center for Public Integrity review. Many of the openings have languished for a year or more.
The State Department, for instance, has been without its chief watchdog since early 2008 when President George Bush’s inspector general appointee resigned after a controversy involving investigations into spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And the Central Intelligence Agency, often in the limelight with its sweeping spy powers, hasn’t had a presidentially appointed inspector general since the most recent appointee retired in March 2009.
The top jobs at the Office of Special Counsel, charged with protecting federal whistleblowers, and the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ main investigative agency, also have been vacant for more than 18 months and two years respectively.
And if some lawmakers have their way with financial reform legislation pending in the Senate, five more vacancies could soon exist.
The House-passed version of financial reform legislation included a plan to convert five independently hired inspector generals at financial oversight agencies to political appointees, requiring them to be confirmed by a Senate that has been slow to act on countless nominations, including some pending for inspectors general.
A troubling void
The number of vacancies is disturbing for those in Congress charged with providing oversight of the government.
“Inspectors general play an important role in protecting taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud and abuse. I am troubled by even a single prolonged vacancy,” said Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
A former high-profile government watchdog said the Obama administration should be applauded for its efforts at improving government transparency, but needs to fill the watchdog vacancies to make good on its commitment.
Clark Kent Ervin“The key mechanism for holding government agencies accountable for their performance is inspectors general,” said Clark Kent Ervin, who served as the Homeland Security Department’s first chief watchdog from 2003-04. “So, it is troubling that there are so many vacancies in key government agencies.”
Administration officials say the president is working to make strong picks for each inspector general vacancy, and that candidates for three openings — they declined to identify them — are in the pipeline.
“The President takes seriously government oversight and accountability, which is why the administration has implemented the toughest ethics rules in history. Candidates for a number of these posts are in the vetting stage,” said White House spokesman Ben LaBolt.
The president got four inspectors generals confirmed in his first 15 months in office at NASA, the Education Department, the Small Business Administration, and the Pentagon.
In November, he also nominated Arthur Elkins Jr. to be the inspector general for the Environmental Protection Agency. But almost six months later, Elkins still hasn’t been confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, leaving the EPA’s top watchdog job occupied on an acting basis by a career official.
Likewise, Obama’s nominees for the open IG jobs at the Corporation for National and Community Service, named in February, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, named in April, also remain unconfirmed by the Senate, their nominations still pending in committees.
When the top inspectors general jobs go unfilled, the career staffs continue to produce their daily audit and investigative work. But the agencies are often left to the care of an “acting” leader who lacks the authority, public standing, and ability to set the agenda that a Senate-approved, presidential appointee brings to the job, officials said.
The Labor and State vacancies demonstrate some of the struggles a watchdog office goes through when a vacancy stretches on for a long period of time. At the State Department, for instance, the inspector general’s website hasn’t updated its press releases since late 2007.
Labor’s top watchdog job has been open since mid-2008 when then-Inspector General Gordon S. Heddell was named acting inspector general at the Pentagon. Heddell was formally confirmed as the Defense Department’s chief watchdog last July. The Labor Department initially named Deputy Inspector General Daniel Petrole to be the acting inspector general, but the vacancy has stretched on for so long that Patrole was forced under federal employment rules to go back to his former job, officials told the Center.
Lawmakers also have two of their own watchdog openings to fill. Former Comptroller General David Walker stepped down in March 2008, and the office has been under the command of Acting Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro for more than two years. Lawmakers formed a committee to interview prospective replacements for Congress’ most high-profile accountability job and names of possible candidates were reportedly transmitted to the White House recently. A nominee, however, hasn’t been named.
IG openings also persist at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, according to the website for the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, the main organization for inspectors general. Those agencies don’t require presidential appointments and simply hire their watchdogs from the outside, according to the White House.
A proud history
Congress first created the job of inspector general in 1978 with a law that directed the president to appoint 12 watchdogs to guard against wrongdoing at Cabinet agencies. Today, the number of IGs has grown to cover 69 agencies, and the jobs have come to symbolize the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
For instance, longtime Interior Department inspector general Earl Devaney won accolades for his investigative work before he was picked by Obama to lead the massive job of accounting for all $787 billion spent under the 2009 economic stimulus law. The dean of the IG community, Devaney’s oversight work over the years at Interior helped uncover the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and another scandal involving oil, sex, and gifts inside the agency that leases federal lands for oil and gas drilling.
Devaney took over fulltime as chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board in February 2009, leaving a deputy to run his old office back at Interior. He declined to comment on the IG vacancies, though his spokesman Ed Pound said Devaney is on leave of absence from Interior while he serves the Recovery Board.
Over the years, government watchdogs have produced some memorable investigations, uncovering federal workers who watched pornography from government computers, revealing that federal housing vouchers were still being paid to dead Americans, and disclosing the FBI’s illegal gathering of phone records. And the inspectors general are frequent witnesses before Congress, helping the legislative branch fulfill its oversight function.
Troubles of their own
In recent years, however, the watchdogs’ own conduct has come under scrutiny:
- Then-State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard announced his resignation in December 2007 after a congressional committee questioned his independence and his oversight of spending in Iraq. To date, a successor has not been named.
- President Obama caused a stir in June 2009 when he fired Bush-appointee Gerald Walpin as inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service shortly after the watchdog issued a report critical of one of the president’s political supporters. Republicans in Congress cried foul, though the administration argued the termination was warranted. Walpin subsequently sued the government, alleging wrongful termination.
- Former CIA inspector general John Helgerson reportedly was subjected to an administrative review by the Agency’s director, raising concerns in Congress about whether the watchdog’s independence was being compromised. Helgerson was never accused of any wrongdoing and he retired in March 2009. No replacement has been named.
- And former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch, whose office investigates whistleblower’s allegations and protects them from reprisal, was removed in October 2008 amidst investigations into his own conduct. He pleaded guilty late last month in federal court to one count of criminal contempt for withholding information from Congress.
The lengthy vacancy at the Special Counsel’s office has frustrated whistleblower advocates, who have been pressing Obama to name a replacement for months.
“Appointing a new Special Counsel is critical,” said Stephen M. Kohn, a lawyer who serves as executive director of the nonpartisan National Whistleblower Center. “The President must appoint a strong, independent and highly aggressive advocate for whistleblowers to clean up that office and ensure that whistleblowers are protected under the law.”
A little-noticed provision of the financial services bill being debated in the Senate has raised the prospect of even more vacancies in the watchdog community.
Five financial regulatory agencies — the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Reserve Board — for years have hired their own inspectors general because Congress had not included them in the system that requires a presidential appointment.
But a provision in the financial markets reform legislation passed by the House last December would remove those independently hired IGs in favor of political appointees named by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The current holders of those jobs are fighting the change, suggesting it would jeopardize the political independence they have enjoyed in aggressively pursuing wrongdoing inside their agencies.
“The language converting each of the five Inspectors General to Presidential appointment with Senate confirmation does not enhance the existing statutory independence and authority of our offices,” the five current inspectors general wrote Congress in February. “To the contrary, we are concerned that [the proposed change] would potentially politicize these appointments, such that our independence, and that of our successors, would be threatened.”
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and a longtime champion of whistleblowers and inspectors generals, has echoed those comments.
“Making these five inspectors general presidentially appointed goes in exactly the opposite direction of independence because these positions run relatively small offices and don’t have the professional staffs that contribute to independent work in the biggest departments,” Grassley said. “The proposed change does nothing to enhance the accountability of inspectors general to the American people, which is at the heart of their role in our system.”
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Well, thankfully this is rather trivial task for Linux and you can change MAC address of your network adapter using a few CLI/console commands. Honestly speaking it is impossible to literally change MAC address as it’s loaded into firmware but you can configure Linux so it will transform old MAC to the new one the fly.
The commands are are below but before typing them let’s consider why one might need this. One of the simplest examples is here: you acquire IP address, gateway, DNS entries via DHCP server which is set up to give out your IP settings to your MAC address only so if you change [possibly broken] network adapter you will need to ask sysadmin to change DHCP server’s settings… If this looks familiar to you, just type the following commands with sudo prefix or under superuser/root:
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:19:7e:53:8c:a3
ifconfig eth0 up
eth0 – is hardware name of your network interface, you can use
ip link to see all available interfaces identified by your system.
00:19:7e:53:8c:a3 is new MAC address you’d like to apply to the NIC.
These commands should be added into startup scripts if you require them to appear after Linux system reboots. This works on any distribution like Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, Suse whatever.
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Responding to Emergencies
28 August 2009
WFP is carrying out an emergency operation in Orientale Province to assist more than 160,000 displaced people and has already air-dropped more than 1,000 t of food assistance into Dungu since May.
WFP begins operations in Bas Uele. WFP has started a second wave of airdrops in Orientale Province. On 17 August 2009 an aircraft started two rotations per day (from Gulu in Uganda) to deliver a total of 157 mt of food assistance to 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and host families in Dingila, Bas Uele. The operation will last one week.
In Orientale Province, transport of food by road continues, but is hampered by the duration of the trips due to bad roads and bad weather. Several new road transport options are also being explored to supply sites in Haut and Bas Uele. WFP has established a logistics base in Aru, on the border with Uganda. Food will be transhipped at the Ugandan border and sent to distribution sites all along the route between Aru, Ariwara, Aba, Faradje and Dungu.
Due to increased displacements of populations caught in fighting in South Kivu, WFP has doubled its food assistance to reach 250,000 people each month. WFP is currently distributing food assistance through partner Malteser International to more than 1,000 households per day in Ihembe. The Shabunda airlift operation in South Kivu was successful with 190 tons of food airlifted from Bukavu to Shabunda centre to assist 11,400 displaced people. Increasing insecurity is reported in Uvira territory, South Kivu, where around 50,000 displaced have been identified recently.
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News & Useful Information
NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS AND RESIDENTS
YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE SENDING RAIN WATER FLOWS INTO THE SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM
CREATING THE POTENTIAL FOR SEWAGE OVERFLOWS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
During the recent rain events the Montecito Sanitary District was inundated with additional flows entering the sanitary sewer system. From data sensors in the underground sewer pipeline collection system, we have identified that properties in your area are the source of the additional flow. The volume that normally flows into the wastewater treatment plant is approximately 1 million gallons per day. During the rain event the wastewater treatment plant was overwhelmed with nearly 3 million gallons in one day making it challenging for the District to meet the rigorous standards required to protect public health and the environment. The source of the additional flow is believed to be direct rain water connections to the sanitary sewer system and not people staying home and doing more laundry or taking more showers.
You may not be aware, but you are in violation of District Ordinance No. 12 if you discharge rain water into the sanitary sewer system. All rain water must flow on the surface of the ground or to inlets that are connected to a storm drainage system or creek.
The District is requiring that you check your property carefully for the following possible connections:
- - Roof drains, Downspouts and Yard Drains - if there is any question of where this water flows on/off your property, please contact the Sanitary District. We will schedule our crew to verify the situation free of charge.
- - Outdoor Sinks and Outdoor Showers - the drain line must not be tied into the sanitary sewer system. If it is possible that the drain might be connected to the sewer system, please plug/cover the drain every time rain is forecast.
- - Swimming Pools/ Spas - these tend to fill up rapidly during heavy rain. Overflows from pools and spas must not be drained to the sanitary sewer system during the rain event. It is best to lower the level of your pool when rain is forecast not during a rain event otherwise all pool overflow water should be drained onto the surface of the ground or to your storm drainage system.
- - French Drains and Sump Pumps - water from basements, low areas and retaining wall drains must not be plumbed to the sanitary sewer system.
- - Private Cleanout Covers and District Manhole Covers - these covers should not be removed or left open during a rain event. If you have a District manhole in an easement on your property, it should only be opened by District personnel and should never be used as a location to rid your property of rain water.
Please call Diane Gabriel, General Manager/District Engineer or Alex Alonzo, Collection System Manager at 969-4200 if you have any questions or to schedule our crew to assist you. We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
Have you or someone you know experienced a sewer back up into a residence, business, or other structure? If so, you know backups can cause unpleasant and costly damage. But, did you know that the backup could have been prevented?
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Ready, Set, Goal: Win-It Strategies from Top Athletes
Strategies for Success
When I was in my thirties and playing the dating game, I often thought about benching myself; the cycle of buildup and disappointment was wearing me out. One night, though, at practice with my local women's ice hockey team, we worked, again and again, on our wrist shots, because our coach said we'd been overthinking them. Doing reps would train us just to let the puck fly. Indeed, the more shots I took, the less I hesitated and the more natural they felt.
As I whacked the puck against the boards, I thought, "If only scoring the right guy were so easy." Then it hit me: This drill could apply to dating. I just needed to stay at it -- repeat, repeat, repeat. No matter how monotonous or frustrating, putting myself out there would keep my flirting skills sharp and me in the zone. Several weeks later a friend invited me to a cocktail party. My inner coach said, "Don't think. Just go and get another rep in." And, yep, that was the night I met my husband. Goal!
Relationships are only one arena in which the same skills you use in sports can bring success. What works on the court, track, or field can help in other areas, personal or professional, that require toughness, diligence, and grace under pressure, says Rebecca Bode, PhD, a sports psychologist in Novelty, Ohio. Take your life to the next level with these playbook secrets.Strategize
No athlete goes into practice, let alone competition, without a plan. A marathoner doesn't simply tell herself to run faster. She sets a goal of, say, running eight-minute miles and plots out a training schedule to run at that pace, first for a 10K, then a half-marathon, and finally the full 26.2 miles. "Breaking down a large goal into smaller, doable steps is the key to an athlete's success," says JoAnn Dahlkoetter, PhD, a sports psychologist and author of Your Performing Edge. "It helps you focus, mark your progress, and stay motivated."
Life lesson: Whether you're aiming for a promotion or to buy a house, a detailed to-do list with regular deadlines will help get you there. For example, if your dream is to own a home, set a one-year time frame to find one, says Gene Keyser, an associate real estate broker with the Corcoran Group in New York City. Within that year, schedule one week to apply for mortgage prequalification (this will help you know your budget), then take the next week to create separate lists of must-haves (for example, two bathrooms) and would-likes (a fireplace). After that, plan to visit at least three houses every weekend until you find the one you love. "Make your first steps so easy that you can't fail," says Steven J. Danish, PhD, professor of psychology, preventive medicine, and community health at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "This will give you the momentum and sense of achievement you need to keep going."Picture Victory
For many top athletes, "visualization is the key to getting your head into the game," Bode says. A diver, for example, rehearses in her mind -- both at the pool and away from it -- every moment of her dive, from her toes leaving the board to her body slicing into the water. "Mentally going through the motions accustoms our body and mind to how something is done," Bode explains.
Life lesson: Think of a habit you'd like to change: Do you procrastinate? Are you a chronic oversleeper? Find a comfy spot where you can sit for five minutes every day. Next, imagine the action -- waking up at 6 a.m. -- in detail. Hear the alarm go off, see yourself throwing aside the covers, feel the floor under your feet. "The more senses involved, the more the image will be etched in your brain," says Bode.Breathe Through It
Athletes control their breathing to center themselves and fend off nerves, anger, or other distractions that can undermine their game. That's what basketball players do before a free throw and golfers before a critical putt. "When you consciously inhale and exhale slowly, your focus automatically turns inward and your mind and body relax," explains Jack J. Lesyk, PhD, director of the Ohio Center for Sport Psychology, in Beachwood.
Life lesson: You can use this technique to stay calm during a heated debate at work or before giving a toast at your friend's wedding. With your eyes closed, breathe in through your nose for a count of five, hold for a count of two and exhale through your mouth for a count of seven. Pause for two seconds, then repeat until you feel serene. To get to the point at which just one or two breaths are enough, practice for one minute five times a day and for five minutes once a day. "The former teaches you how to withdraw from your environment, center yourself, and return with clarity," Lesyk explains. "The latter teaches the right tempo. If you're breathing too fast or too slow, those five minutes will seem long. When you get it just right, they pass quickly."
What do you think of this story? Leave a Comment.
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May 31, 2012
"MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR" THIS WEEKEND
Mother Earth News Fair at the Puyallup Fair Ground June 2-3.
About the FAIR
MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIRS are fun-filled, family-oriented sustainable lifestyle events. The Puyallup FAIR features practical, hands-on demos and workshops:
Green building and more
We hand-select local and national exhibitors to bring you the best in:
Organic food and drink
Books and magazines
Tools and seeds
Clothing and more
The Puyallup Fairgrounds is the site of Washington’s largest single attraction: the Puyallup Fair. The Fairgrounds are located 35 miles south of Seattle and 10 miles east of Tacoma in the shadow of Mount Rainier.
- "2nd Annual Mother Earth News Fair coming to area"
" In testament to the “green power” of the Pacific Northwest, the Mother Earth News is hosting their second annual fair at the Puyallup Fair Grounds, June 2-3, next Saturday and Sunday.
Last year’s festivities featured dozens of speakers and vendors of back-to-the-land skills and supplies, and drew over 10,000 visitors. Mother Earth News Fair official, Brandy Ernzen, hopes for more this year," quoting Bruce Smith in The Mountain News.
UPDATE: June 6, 2012
Bruce Smith in The Mountain News filed this report on the 2012 Fair:
"Huge crowds highlight the 2nd Annual Mother Earth News Fair"
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In multicellular organisms, all the cells are identical in their DNA but the proteins vary tremendously. Therefore, it would be very useful if we could separate cells that are phenotypically different from each other. In addition, it would be great to know how many cells expressed proteins of interest, and how much of this protein they expressed. Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) is a method that can accomplish all these goals.
The process begins by placing the cells into a flask and forcing the cells to enter a small nozzle one at a time (figure 1). The cells travel down the nozzle which is vibrated at an optimal frequency to produce drops at fixed distance from the nozzle. As the cells flow down the stream of liquid, they are scanned by a laser (blue light in figure 1). Some of the laser light is scattered (red cone emanating from the red cell) by the cells and this is used to count the cells. This scattered light can also be used to measure the size of the cells.
If you wanted to separate a subpopulation of cells, you could do so by tagging those of interest with an antibody linked to a fluorescent dye. The antibody is bound to a protein that is uniquely expressed in the cells you want to separate. The laser light excites the dye which emits a color of light that is detected by the photomultiplier tube, or light detector. By collecting the information from the light (scatter and fluorescence) a computer can determine which cells are to be separated and collected.
Figure 1. Diagram of FACS machine. Cells have been fluorescently tagged with either red or green antibodies, though not every cell expresses the epitope and therefore some are not tagged either color.
The final step is sorting the cells which is accomplished by electrical charge. The computer determines how the cells will be sorted before the drop forms at the end of the stream. As the drop forms, an electrical charge is applied to the stream and the newly formed drop will form with a charge. This charged drop is then deflected left or right by charged electrodes and into waiting sample tubes. Drops that contain no cells are sent into the waste tube. The end result is three tubes with pure subpopulations of cells. The number of cells is each tube is known and the level of fluorescence is also recorded for each cell.
FACS data collected by the computer can be displayed in two different ways. What we want to know is how many cells of each color were sorted. In the first example (figure 2), we see the intensity of the green or red fluorescence is plotted on the X-axis and the number of cells with each level of flourescence is plotted on the Y-axis. In this example, there were twice as many red cells sorted as green or unlabeled cells, but the level of light was greater from the green cells than the red cells. This method is best if all cells are either green, red or unlabeled and no cells are labeled both colors.
Figure 2. Quantifying FACS data. This graph shows the number of cells (Y-axis) and the level of fluorescence emitted (X-axis) by the labeled cells. Many different colors can be plotted on this graph, but cells should not be labeled by more than one color.
In figure 3, we see a different way to display the same data. The X-axis plots the intensity of green fluorescence while the Y-axis plots the intensity of red fluorescence. The individual black dots represent individual cells and we are not supposed to count the dots but just look at the relative density of dots in each quadrant. From this graph, we can see there were no cells labeled both red and green (top right) and many cells that were unlabeled (bottom left). The number of green-labeled cells (bottom right) is about the same as the number of unlabeled cells, but the number of red-labeled cells (top left) is about twice that of the other two categories of cells. Again, we can see that the level of fluorescence was higher in the green cells than the red ones. This method of graphing the data is especially useful if cells are present that have been labeled both red and green.
Figure 3. Quantification of FACS data. This graph compares the number of cells labeled by two colors - red (Y-axis) and green (X-axis). The intensity of the emitted light increases as indicated by the arrows. The number of cells at each intensity is shown by the number of dots where each dot represents a single cell. This graph does not work for more than two colors but it works well when individual cells can be labeled by both colors at the same time.
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Persistent feuding between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has troubling implications for the future of Afghanistan.
Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been frosty for most of the post- Soviet era, but they have taken a particularly nasty turn lately. Uzbek leaders are now maintaining an economic blockade on Tajikistan, halting rail traffic and interrupting electricity supplies. The font of discord appears to be Tajikistan’s efforts to build the Rogun hydropower plant. Uzbek authorities fear Rogun would diminish the amount of water available for their country’s all important cotton sector, as well as weaken Tashkent’s political leverage in Central Asia.
The three most influential powers operating in Central Asia – the United States, China and Russia -- are all keenly interested in easing Tajik-Uzbek tension. But they appear to have few instruments at their disposal to compel Tashkent to ease up on Dushanbe.
From the US perspective, a continuation of the Tajik-Uzbek Cold War would significantly increase the degree of difficulty of keeping Afghanistan stable after the withdrawal of American and NATO troops, now scheduled for completion in 2014. Washington's post-withdrawal stabilization strategy for Afghanistan appears to rely heavily on regional economic development schemes, especially an initiative known as the New Silk Road.The Tajik-Uzbek spat acts like sand in the Silk Road’s engine. As it is, the project has a lot of problems, suffering from a lack of political will and financial backing. The ongoing inability of states in the region to work together would ensure that the New Silk Road is dead on arrival.
Tajik-Uzbek feuding could also hamper two other US-supported initiatives to help stabilize Afghanistan: one is the establishment of a regional electricity market via the construction of power transmission lines connecting Central and South Asia; the other is a long-planned pipeline connecting Turkmenistan to South Asia, dubbed TAPI.
As disruptive as it is for US plans, the Tajik-Uzbek feud is even more vexing for Russia, creating a major security gap that could be exploited by narcotics traffickers and Islamic militants. Regional experts are bracing for a rise in Islamic militant activity in Afghanistan and Central Asia after the 2014 foreign troop pullout. Speaking at a May 21 news conference in Baku, Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), suggested that a deterioration of the regional security situation is almost inevitable. “We should be ready to neutralize the additional problems which may arise," the Trend news agency quoted Bordyuzha as saying.
The problem is that if two CSTO-member frontline states – Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – are, in effect, fighting each other, a collective effort to contain drug trafficking and Islamic militancy seems to stand little chance of success.
The threat posed by Islamic militants to the regimes of Imomali Rahmon in Tajikistan and Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan would seem to dictate that Dushanbe and Tashkent, as well as all the other Central Asian states, unite in the face of a common enemy. But the Tajik and Uzbek leaderships seem incapable of listening to reason. They are, in effect, acting against their own best national interests.
Uzbekistan, in particular, seems impervious to outside influence. In late April, for example, Uzbek leaders reportedly brushed off an attempt by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to kick-start negotiations between Dushanbe and Tashkent. Now, some Russian political scientists expect Tashkent to turn the screws tighter on Dushanbe by closing Tajikistan’s road access to the outside world. Some even suggest that Uzbekistan’s Karimov is trying to drive Rahmon from power by precipitating an economic crisis that reignites civil strife in Tajikistan.
When it comes to China, Uzbekistan’s importance as a cog in Beijing’s energy strategy in Central Asia is growing. Thus, Chinese officials cannot be thrilled to see Tashkent embroiled in a regional disturbance.
To keep the Chinese economy going, Beijing needs to dramatically increase the amount of energy it imports from Central Asia and elsewhere. In 2010, China overall consumed an estimated 130 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. The country’s projected need in 2020 could be well beyond double that amount. Since 2009, Uzbekistan has been a transit nation for Turkmen gas exports to China. But now Tashkent is getting directly into the act. Under a deal announced in late April, Uzbekistan will ship up to 4 bcm of gas to China in 2012. The amount could climb to 10 bcm in 2013. Chinese officials are now considering plans to more than double the existing capacity of the Turkmen-China pipeline by 2025. Instability in Uzbekistan could potentially disrupt all these pipeline plans.
The Tajik-Uzbek feud can be seen as an important test case for Central Asia. It would be a hopeful sign for the region, if regional powers can help Dushanbe and Tashkent put their problems behind them. Conversely, the lack of resolution would provide Islamic militants much desired breathing room, a prospect that no one in Washington, Moscow or Beijing can relish.
Stephen Blank is a professor at the US Army War College. The views expressed in this article do not in any way represent the views of the US Army, Defense Department or the US Government.
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Filed under: maps, Uncategorized | Tags: al Qaeda, AQIM, China, coup, France, Germany, Libya, Mali, Qaddafi, realpolitik, Sanogo, Taureg, Toure, UN
By no means unknown…
Former president Touré, who came to power in a coup in 1991, enjoyed US military and economic support for many years. According to figures released by the US government, Washington backed Mali with $138 million in 2011 and planned to increase its support to $170 million in 2012. A joint military manoeuvre between US forces and the Mali army took place in January.
The new ruler is by no means unknown to the US government. Sanogo took part in language training courses in Texas from August 2004 until February 2005. In 2007, he was schooled by the US Secret Service and trained as an infantry officer in Georgia for five months.
It is quite possible that Sanogo’s coup was arranged in cooperation with the US government. However, imperialist forces will not be happy with the result because Mali’s north is still in the hands of the insurgents. A future UN intervention supported by the US cannot be excluded, because for Washington, Mali is particularly important from the standpoint of containing Chinese influence in Africa.
Just as the international intervention in Libya was aimed in part at denying China access to North African oil, a military intervention in Mali in cooperation with the US would target Chinese influence in the country.
This influence has grown in recent years. Chinese direct investments in Mali increased 300-fold from 1995 to 2008. Mali ranks with Zambia, South Africa and Egypt among African countries where China has made its largest investments.
In addition to the United States, France also has an intense interest in its former colony, and is just waiting to “rescue” the country’s cultural heritage with a military intervention backed by the UN Security Council. ….
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I don't know if you also wanted to know what we meant by them so I'll try even tho' there might be disagreement about the exactness.In my opinion
is used with posts to remind us that we are not debating. This is a discussion forum and without the IMO, some forum participants come off as sounding like they have a corner on what God meant to say. That doesn't make for discussion/conversation but turns people off/angry.
Eternal torture/ eternal torment - This is a belief held by the majority of professing
Christians that God loves us but ONLY if we choose to trust in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to cover our sins. This MUST be done before one dies or it will be Eternal torment/torture reserved for that individual.
Eternal death - this belief held by relatively few "professing" christians but by a majority of atheists is that if one does not trust in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to cover our sins in this lifetime that when we die, we will be simply erased and go out of existence forever. The christians that believe this usually believe that there is also some kind of torment/torture before non-existance comes to pass.
Ultimate reconciliation - is the belief held by a minority of "professing" christians that the scriptures confirm our God is a God of love, justice, and mercy and that the shed blood of Christ covers ALL the sins of the whole world. Most people will not be saved in this lifetime though we are instructed to pray for the salvation of all men because God says it IS his will that ALL be saved. We believe that eventually, ultimately, all people will be reconciled to God and God will be ALL - in ALL as the scripture states. There will be varying degrees of temporary punishment because God is not mocked.
This is "corrective punishment" as never ending or eternal punishment serves no purpose. Finite sinful man cannot be punished infintely.
Well those IMO are the basics. There is no way I could cover every aspect of each as whole books are devoted to this. Books on each one of the three positions so this is a very brief explanation.
Possibly the best book explaining the scriptural reasons for UR is free online at: http://www.hopebeyondhell.net/
If you have a kindle the book may be downloaded for free to your kindle at:http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Beyond-Hell-Gerard-Beauchemin/dp/0977279308
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[Partially based on my Hebrew Post]. The assasination of Mahmood Al-Mabhouh is still a mystery, though many links point to the Israeli Mossad as responsible, and security cameras show a general operation, some might understand that biometrics played an important part in the game, as both The Biometric Architect, Meir Sheetrit stated that the biometric database would have prevented the identity theft and we, as opposers, stated that the biometric database allows the Mossad and other security agencies unlimited access to personal information.
However, we could be certain, without a shadow of a doubt, that no matter who is right, some problems arise from the definition of the access to Israel’s biometric database.
It doesn’t matter if MI6 was tipped by the Mossad about the assasination or not; as under the new Biometric Database Act passed in Israel, the Mossad and Shin-Bet would have unlimited access to the biometric database. In such case, and as the biometric data encrypted in passports is only Facial, they could attempt to find persons with double citizenship, let’s say, both Israeli and Irish, and use their original documents, making forgery of Biometric passports irrelevant.
The current law allows them Access, without explaining what is access. During the discussions over the biometric bill in parliament, I tried to ask the Secret Service’s representatives what does this access mean; this is how the conversation was listed in the 20.07.2009 official protocol:
Chair Meir Sheetrit: Ok, the sunlight does not apply for secret things.
Jonathan Klinger: what is ‘pass information from the database’? it could be from the entire database
Parliament Member Eitan Cabel: Mr. Geva is still in the midst of his matters, afterwards we shall relate to it, as my mind is not at ease.
Danny Geva: This clause was phrased after all the other possibilities were examined and in order to allow us to tolerate our needs. What I want to say is that what we create here, with the issuing of the new biometric cards and the database is something new that did not exist before. This new situation has to allow us to continue to act in order to fulfil our role and destination.
Nira Lamay: When they say ‘allow them access to the database’, they mean that they could just enter to the actual place… will they have permissions in the database? when they say ‘allow them acces’, it is not just to convey them -
Chair Meir Sheetrit: Not through communication.
Nira Lamay: So what is ‘allow them access”?
Nissim Alyasaf: They could come to the database and obtain information.
Nissim Alyasaf: The database will not have communication.
Chair Meir Sheetrit: So why won’t you change the word ‘Access’?
Nira Lamay: So what is access?
Danny Geva: it doesn’t matter what access is, the word access has to stay because we inspected all other possibilities -
Chair Meir Sheetrit: do explain.
Danny Geva: Sir, there are things I cannot explain.
Now, you may understand that no matter what, Sheetrit’s statement that “Effective use of biometric data could have prevented the apparent theft of Anglo-Israelis’ identities” is incorrect; had the Mossad wished to do so, it could have just as easily found the people it needed in the database and use the government’s own facilities to issue original biometric passports.
The other point of failure is the ease of stealing Israel’s biometric database; as I explained briefly in a Round-Table held at the Israeli Democracy Institute, more than 30,000 People would have access to the biometric database. This number constitutes around 0.5% of the Israeli population. No secret is secure enough when so many people have access to it.
We are turning more and more into a surveillance society, this has to be stopped before we lose ourselves.
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Astute observers of Amsterdam's tram map will notice the absence of a few tram numbers: 6, 8, 11, 15 ... Some of these have a practical reason behind their disuse: line 6 was simply discontinued in 2006; line 11 is occasionally resurrected for special events; line 15 was retired ... Line 8, however, has a special story behind why it was discontinued after World War II, and why it will never return.
Tram line 8 was put into service in 1905; its route took it from Central Station, to Nieuwmarkt (the central square of Amsterdam Chinatown), Waterlooplein (site of Het Muziektheater - the Music Theater - home venue of De Nederlandse Opera), Weesperstraat and Sarphatistraat (in the former Jewish Quarter, now the Weesperbuurt), to Weesperzijde (on the opposite side of the Amstel River). Despite a number of additions and modifications to the route, it remained a line that connected the Jewish enclaves of Amsterdam. (For this reason, the tram was relatively empty on Saturdays, when its many of its riders observed the Sabbath - whereas early on Sunday, line 8 was packed while the city's other trams experienced a lull.)
In 1942, when Jews were prohibited to use public transport in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, tram 8 lost much of its ridership, and was summarily discontinued. But the trams soon returned to line 8's tracks - as a means to transport Jewish Amsterdammers to the concentration camps where millions perished. Some accounts report that Jews were transported to the Central Station on this tram, while others indicate that the destination was the Hollandse Schouwburg (Holland Theater) - once a popular theater, where much of Amsterdam's Jewish community was assembled for deportation to Westerbork, a transit camp in the northeast of the Netherlands, and ultimately to German concentration camps. (The Hollandse Schouwburg now stands as a memorial to the 104,000 Dutch Jews who were murdered.) For this reason, since World War II, line 8 has been permanently retired as either a tram or bus line, out of respect to the riders who lost their lives at the end point of this journey.
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Boy racks up a £1,000 iPad bill
Another child has racked up a big bill on his parents' iPad.
Theo Rowland-Fry, eight, spent almost £1,000 downloading extra software to help him play a Simpsons game on the Apple tablet.
His parents, Nick and Lisa, only discovered their son's purchases when they noticed their bank balance was very low.
Mr Rowland-Fry, from Felton, near Bristol, said that he had been refunded the £980 but was concerned that it could happen to other people.
"Theo is only just eight and has no real concept of the monetary value attached," he told The Post. "As far as he was concerned he was just buying doughnuts.
"We know others caught out by the same thing.
"I appreciate children are their target audience but it is not right and there needs to be specific controls in place to stop this from happening."
It comes just weeks after five-year-old Danny Kitchen, from Bristol, ran up a £1,700 bill playing the game Zombie on an iPad.
His parents, Greg and Sharon, were also refunded.
An Apple spokesman did not wish to comment but referred to information available on the company's website about parental controls.
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Brutes and Bravos
The history of Clan Brujah has been one of struggle and passion since its first nights. Whether challenging the tyranny of feudalism or rallying against stagnant institutions, the Brujah take their fight into the modern nights. Whether she is a political dissenter or a common thug, a Brujah wears her emotions on her sleeve, and woe to those who get in her way.
Intellectuals and Idealists
As the second entry in the revised lineup of clanbooks, Brujah takes one of the classic Vampire sourcebooks and brings it into a modern context. All-new information accompanies revised material, inviting you to add as much depth to your character as you like. The sheer volume of information contained in the new clanbooks (each with 32 more pages than the first-edition books) permits Storytellers to round out their chronicles.
Note: The Black & White print editions of this book are not full-bleed. Because of printing requirements there is a small white border around the edge of the pages.
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|Owners||Vale S.A. – 100%|
Iron Ore - 109.8 Mt (2011)
|Deposit Type||Banded Iron Ore Formations (BIF)|
|Reserves & Resources||
Iron ore - 7.383 billion tonnes (proven & probable,
|Mining Method||Open pit|
|Processing Method||Crushing, screening, hydro-cycloning, filtration|
|Mine Life||To 2064|
|Mining Equipment||Truck & shovel|
|Processing equipment||Crushers, screens, hydrocyclones|
Av. Graça Aranha, 26 - 12th floor
Ph: 55-21-38144477; 55-21-38148888
Last updated: July 10, 2012
Iron Ore production of Vale
Vale conducts its iron ore business in Brazil primarily at the parent-company level and through its wholly owned subsidiaries Urucum and MCR. All mines are open pit, and their related operations are mainly concentrated in three systems: the Southeastern System, the Southern System and the Northern System, each with it s own transportation capability. Vale also conduct mining operations in the Midwestern System and through joint venture Samarco.
The Northern System
The Northern System mines, located in Carajas mineral province of the Brazilian state of Para, contain some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The reserves are divided into northern, southern and eastern range situated 35km apart. Since 1985, Vale have been conducting mining activities in the northern range, which is divided into three main mining bodies, N4W, N4E and N5. The Northern System has open-pit mines and an ore-processing plant. the mines are located on public lands for which Vale holds mining concessions.
Vale operates an integrated railroad and maritime terminal network in the Northern system. The Carajás Railroad (known by its Portuguese acronym, EFC) transports the ore to Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in the state of Maranhão, from where it is exported. Vale also has a pelletizing plant in São Luís, Maranhão, that processes material from Carajás.
To support Vale Carajas operations, Vale has housing and other facilities in a nearby township. There operations are accessible by roads, air and rail.
The Carajas Serra Sul S11D is a development project consisting of a mine and a processing plant having an estimated nominal capacity of 90 Mtpy. Start-up is expected for the second half of 2016. Capex was estimated at US$8.039 billion.
Expansion of Northern System railway and port capacity, including the construction of a fourth pier at the Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal in the Brazilian state of Maranhao was underway and expected to cost US$11.4 billion. The project will increase EFC’s logistics nominal capacity to approximately 150 Mtpy. As of December 2011, the project was 67% complete, with total realized expenditures of US$2.3 billion. Start-up was expected for the first half of 2014.
The Northern System mines, located in Carajas mineral province of the Brazilian state of Para, contain some of the largest iron ore deposits inthe world.
The Carajas region iron ore deposits were discovered by accident in the late 60s when a helicopter was forced to land on a hill in the area to refuel. Surveyors on board remarked the high iron content of the rocks that made up the hill and reported that to their employer: US Steel, an American company.
Para is a state in the north of Brazil. Its most famous icons are the Amazon River and the Amazon Rainforest.
Climate is equatorial with no dry season.
The Northern System's reserves are among the largest iron ore deposits in the world. These reserves are divided into two main ranges (north and south), situated approximately 35 kilometers apart.
The Carajás ores are found within Archaean banded iron ore formations. Oxidation is observed to a depth of up to 500m in the banded iron formations (BIFs) of the ore zone contributing to an iron ore enrichment of the zone.
The upper 80% of the iron ore reserve comprises a soft, friable iron enriched limonite which grades down into hematite to a vertical depth of around 300 m. The soft hematite layer contains hard hematite rich siliceous pods which transitions at depth to a lower grade unaltered BIF.
Iron ore reserves as of Dec.31/2011, were estimated at 7,383 million tonnes grading 66.7%.
Vale and BNDES, the Brazilian state-owned development bank, are parties to a contract relating to mineral exploration & mining of certain unexplored mineral deposits that form part of Vale’s Northern System (Carajas), as well as proportional participation in any profits earned from the development of such resources.
The Northern System deposits have the high iron content, 66.7% on average, with 7.3 billion tons of iron ore (proven and probable reserves).
The method of mining is conventional, with the open-cast ramps, drilling, blasting, and the carrying and transport of mined material by truck, off-road, to the plant installations for processing.
The Northern System iron ore mines and their 2011 stated mine life is as follows:
- Serra Norte: N4W (1994-2037); N4E (1984-2021); N5 (1998-2027);
- Serra Sul: S11 (to start in H2 2014 with mine life to 2065);
- Serra Leste: SL1 (to 2064).
The Northern System consists of the Carajas Mountain Mining Complex and the Maritime Terminal of Ponta da Madeira (TMPM) located in Brazil.
The Northern System also includes the Sao Luis pelletizing plant.
Carajas iron ore is sent to this plant and ship its production to customers
through our Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal.
The Carajas Serra Sul S11D is a development project consisting of a mine and a processing plant having an estimated nominal capacity of 90 Mtpy. Start-up is expected for the second half of 2016.
The Northern System deposits have the high iron content (66.7% on average) in the Northern System deposits, that they do not have to operate a concentration plant at Carajas.
The beneficiation process consists simply of sizing operations, including screening, hydro-cycloning, crushing and filtration. Output from the beneficiation process consists of sinter feed and pellet feed. Vale obtains all of the electrical power from the Northern System at market prices from regional utilities.
EFC is located in the Northern System, beginning at the Carajas iron ore mines in the Brazilian state of Para and extending 892 kilometers to Vale’s Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal complex facilities located near the Itaqui Port in the Brazilian state of Maranhao. Its main cargo is iron ore, principally carried for us. It has a daily capacity of 313,970 metric tons of iron ore. EFC supports the largest capacity train in Latin America, which measures 3.4 kilometers, weighs 42,300 gross metric tons when loaded and has 330 cars.
Expansion of Northern System railway and port capacity, including the construction of a fourth pier at the Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal in the Brazilian state of Maranhao was underway. The project will increase EFC’s logistics nominal capacity to approximately 150 Mtpy. As of December 2011, the project was 67% complete, with total realized expenditures of US$2.3 billion. Start-up was expected for the first half of 2014.
According to company's statements, the S11D mine and the plant will be saving 93% and 77%, respectively, in water consumption and fuel, allowing a 50% reduction in emission of greenhouse gases, when compared to conventional methods. The dry processing will also reduce the power consumption by 18 000 MW per year and it would be eliminating the use of tailings dam, minimizing intervention in native environments.
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Hit the mother lode in Oak Park
Tour Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio
OAK PARK (AP) – Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, but Frank Lloyd Wright lives here.
Wright died in 1959, two years before Hemingway, but the famous architect's legacy is so strong in this village west of Chicago that he seems to be part of the present. Home to more than two dozen Wright structures, including a church, two stables and a fountain, Oak Park boasts the largest collection of Wright-designed sites in the world. Wright lived in Oak Park for the first 20 years of his career, between 1889 and 1909, developing Prairie style architecture in a studio there. In contrast, Hemingway couldn't wait to leave, reportedly disparaging it as a place of "wide lawns and narrow minds." (The future novelist left at age 18 to become a reporter for the Kansas City Star.)
Some 80,000 people tour Wright's Oak Park home and studio each year (and about 10,000 visit the Hemingway sites) but visitors can also get a sense of Wright's impact just by strolling up and down the streets. In addition to the homes he built, his designs are incorporated into everything from windows to mailboxes to lamps at scores of houses the architect had nothing to do with. This village of 52,000 is a living testament to his influence.
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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SAN FRANCISCOWomen who gain 38 lb or more during pregnancy have a 40% greater risk of postmenopausal breast cancer than women who gain less weight, Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD, said at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (abstract 1169).
Weight gain during pregnancy, however, appears to have little effect on the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, said Dr. Hilakivi-Clarke, professor of oncology, Georgetown University.
In the study, done in collaboration with Riitta Luoto, MD, of the University of Tampere, Finland, researchers analyzed data from more than 27,000 women in Finland.
The first cohort, consisting of more than 17,360 women, contained 392 women who served as controls and 98 women who developed premenopausal breast cancer at an average age of 47. Breast cancer diagnosis and pregnancy weight gain were obtained from a questionnaire the study participants filled out from 1990 to 1993.
The second cohort of 4,090 women, included controls and 166 women who developed postmenopausal breast cancer at the mean age of 68.3 years. These breast cancer cases were identified through the Finnish cancer registry; pregnancy weight gain was obtained from cards stored in maternity centers.
"We found that women who gained the most weight during pregnancy are at higher risk for postmenopausal breast cancer," Dr. Hila-kivi-Clarke said. "Those who retained the added pounds after pregnancy are also at risk. Overall, the increased risk due to pregnancy weight gain is modest and similar to the increased risk from obesity after menopause."
Her research team has not yet investigated whether women who gain too much weight during pregnancy, and then lose all the weight, have an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
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<urn:uuid:4492b9c2-472d-4054-a8e9-8ed36ea9e591>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.cancernetwork.com/news/display/article/10165/76598
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This book is an easy-to-follow handbook that introduces readers to entry-level clinical job opportunities and explains how to qualify for them, with a particular emphasis on how to gain “clinical experience” that a hiring manager will accept.Â
Each chapter covers one of the clinical specialties involved in conducting pharmaceutical clinical trials: for example, clinical research associate, clinical data manager, biostatistician, and clinical drug safety specialist. The chapters are written as personalized narratives, allowing the reader to follow the daily work of a clinical specialist as he or she supports a clinical study and interacts with the other study team members. The descriptions of these specialists are composite profiles that incorporate the true-to-life experiences of typical clinical study team members. A list of career options available to workers after mastering their entry-level clinical position, as well as a tool box for those seeking a position, are included.
Career Opportunities in Clinical Drug Research also gives readers a brief overview of research and development in the pharmaceutical industry and explains how a typical clinical study is conducted.
About the author: Rebecca J. Anderson has worked in the biopharmaceutical industry for more than 25 years in jobs spanning pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and contract research organizations. As a hiring manager in all of these organizations, she has reviewed and screened thousands of applicants for clinical research positions. Rebecca holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Georgetown University and was an MRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. Prior to her career in industry, she conducted basic research in pharmacology and toxicology and served on the faculties of the George Washington University Medical Center and the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She currently works as a freelance writer.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
PART 1: BACKGROUND
1. What is the Clinical Environment in Industry?
2. How Are Drugs and Medical Devices Developed?
3. What Happens at the Clinical Site?
PART 2: PATHS TO CLINICAL JOBS IN THE MEDICAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
4. Entering as a Clinical Research Associate
5. Entering Data Management
6. Entering as a Biostatistician
7. Entering as a Clinical Quality Assurance Auditor
8. Entering Regulatory Affairs
9. Entering Clinical Safety
10. Entering as a Medical Writer
11. Your Future in Clinical Operations
PART 3: TOOL BOX
12. Helpful Hints for Landing a Clinical Product Development Job
13. Reference Materials
• ISBN 978-193611305-7
Last updated on: 07/09/2010 17:29:07
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The name Châteauneuf-du-Pape translates into "new castle of the pope," and derives from the period of when Pope Clement V moved the papacy to the village of Avignon in the early 14th century as a measure of protection from the volatile period of political instability and religious strife. The picture above is of the Pope's palace where it stands today in the square of Avignon. The cathedral is magnificent and imposing, and yet the exterior is quite bare and the architecture relatively restrained compared to ornate religious structures of later periods. It is a significant symbol of France's history, and it is a requisite destination for both the spiritual and historians, alike.
Pope Jean XXII further embedded the papacy in the region when another castle was built on one of the highest hills of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the 15th century, and was designated as the pope's summer home.
It is during this period when the wine-loving Popes planted the roots of Châteauneuf-du-Pape's agricultural mainstay: grapevines, and with it established this region's prominent tradition and reputation of wine making.
Today, the pope's summer home in Châteauneuf-du-Pape is but a mere residual memory of itself, annihilated by wars and destruction over the centuries.
The castle overlooks the region of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the river on the edge of the village is the southern part of the Rhone River, which travels north to south.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the wine region extends much further than the village, covering nearly 8,000 acres or roughly ten square miles. Considering its small size, and the AOC's strict growing standards, it is one of the most productive agricultural regions of the world, yielding an annual average of 2.6 million gallons of wine or roughly 325 gallons per acre. That figure does not comprehend the 5% of grapes mandated by the AOC to be discard as a measure of quality control. There are thirteen grape varietals of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, a majority represented by Grenache (30%) and Mourvèdre (30%), a smaller percent by Syrah (10%), Counoise (10%), Cinsault (5%), and the balance is represented by seven other obscure varietals. Neither Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc are among the thirteen grape varietals of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
On the day we visited, we walked down the long and wide brick stairway from the Pope's castle leading to the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
I have a better appreciation of how young America is learning about French history and studying the various architectures of the homes we passed by.
I'm imagining how wonderful it must be to grow up in the quaint village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The population of the village is roughly 2,200. Everyone must know everyone else.
Sherry Page tells me that the village of Chateauneuf, because of its renown wine region and significance to history, gets quite a few tourists over the warmer months. But since it was early February, we didn't see a single soul while we walked through the village, and in fact, most of the businesses were closed for winter months. It was quite nice to feel the soul of the town without the distraction of crowds.
The next post will be on a visit to the winery dubbed as the 'Crown Jewel' of Chateauneuf-du-Pape by Food & Wine. Can you guess which one it is?
- Truffle Hunting in Provence
- Chez Bruno - The Ultimate Truffle Dining Experience in Provence
- Saint Rémy de Provence
- Bistrot Découverte in Saint Rémy de Provence
- Château Beaucastel Winery of Châteauneuf-du-Pape
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Trust Me: Inside the National Trust
By Arnold Berke
In December the Trust and four other national nonprofits filed amicus briefs in a lawsuit over a New Orleans development. The suit contends that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development didn't produce an environmental impact statement and failed to follow required federal preservation review procedures when it gave $25 million to redevelop the St. Thomas Housing Project. The suit was filed in federal court in 2002 by local groups that said a proposed Wal-Mart Superstore (opened last summer) and new housing in the Lower Garden District could harm historic sites in the area. The alleged environmental impacts included the razing of 1,500 units of public housing without providing for appropriate relocation of residents. The suit also says HUD erred by leaving compliance procedures in the hands of the city housing authority and the developer. The other organizations are the American Planning Association, Sierra Club, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and Great Rivers Environmental Law Center.
... It will take at least $60,000 to shore up Sagrado Corazon Mission, a church flirting with collapse in the Texas hamlet of Ruidosa. The elements are eating away at the c. 1914 adobe, unused since the 1960s and missing one of two towers and much of its roof. But help is coming. The Texas Historical Commission offered $30,000 to stabilize the building. Then the Presidio County Historical Commission and the Trust chimed in to help match the grant with $6,000 and $5,000, respectively. And a private donor gave $1,000. Donations for the church, whose full restoration could cost $250,000, are being coordinated by the county's Ruidosa Mission Project. Initial work may begin soon. If you'd like to assist, call the Mission Project at (432) 729-4452.
... The President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument has received a $55,000 grant from United Technologies Corp. to support "green design." The Trust historic site in Washington, D.C., under restoration, will use the funds to incorporate environmentally positive practices into the rehab of one of its buildings, to become a visitors center. The grant is from UT's Sustainable Cities initiative, launched in October to promote green building in urban areas and the teaching of sustainability principles—weighing the environmental effects of business decisions.
... Standing like a sentry in Lake Huron, the DeTour Reef Lighthouse guides ships to and from the busy St. Mary's River, the link to Lake Superior. But the Coast Guard declared this and many other Michigan lights surplus in 1997, landing them on the Trust's 1998 most-endangered list. That's when locals founded the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society, determined to restore the 1931 structure. They succeeded. Raising more than $1 million from the state (including its preservation office), a foundation, and local donors, the group finished the job last fall. Its next goal is to acquire the light, which society board member Jeri Baron Feltner says should occur "in the very near future." (A surprising fact: Michigan boasts 126 lighthouses, more than any other state.)
... What could Chesterwood and the Fontainebleau Hotel possibly have in common? Well, each is feting a 50th. The former, a Trust historic site in Stockbridge, Mass., that was the studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, is marking 50 years since it opened to the public. The latter, in Miami Beach, Fla., made the half-century point in December. This zesty essay in MiMo (Miami Modern), and the youngest Historic Hotel of America, was designed by once-maligned, now-admired architect Morris Lapidus. Hmm ... what would French and Lapidus have had in common?
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By Dr. Ben Martin
Effective leadership is the current buzzword in pastoral ministry. It is hard to dispute the theory that the key to effective churches lies with effective pastoral leadership. The critical question, therefore, lies in what is necessary to create effective leaders for the Church. There are many pieces to the puzzle and it is easy to get focused on one piece at the expense of the others. I'll suggest three of the critical pieces that need continual attention by leaders themselves and those called to recruit, assess, deploy and support them.
The first piece is giftedness or natural ability. Some argue that leaders are born and others argue they are made; I would say it is a combination of both. But it begins with some measure of natural ability, intellectual ability, a personality or relational skills compatible with the job, an emotional stability equipped for the challenges of ministry and energy/passion to succeed. I know some fairly argue that “God qualifies the called” (i.e. the giving of Spiritual gifts), but it may equally be true that being “qualified” (as in natural ability) is a part of calling. Personal and institutional understanding of where a person’s giftedness lies and matching it to the situation is a critical for success (I Cor. 12:27-30).
The second piece of the puzzle is vital personal discipleship. We can’t expect to lead others into discipleship without having an ongoing personal practice of discipleship. We can’t give people what we don’t have (John 7:37-39) or understand from personal experience, nor can we be sustained in the challenges of ministry apart from that connection (John 15:4-5). Vocational ministry can easily take its toll on the leaders’ relationship to Christ by robbing us of the time, energy, and attention needed for practicing the spiritual disciplines necessary to keep ourselves spiritually connected, nourished and growing. Included in the discipleship area of leadership development is our connection to other leaders (“as iron sharpens iron”). The practice of fellowship and accountability is vital for isolation created in vocational ministry.
The third piece is educational (2 Timothy 2:15). Through theological education we are supposed to learn to think theologically, to study the Bible critically, to counsel carefully and to administrate effectively. However, seminary’s rapid overview of the multiple knowledge areas necessary for a “generalist” vocation like pastoral ministry is intended to only begin our educational journey in ministry. Effective leaders are lifelong learners and not just from the realm of “sacred study.” Theological education does not equip a leader with the management, organizational, evaluative or technological knowledge and skills necessary to organize for success (Wesley’s genius was organizational). For growth in those areas we need to look to the business world where many of the world’s most gifted, trained and effective leaders are enabling institutional success in changing environments (which really is the church’s challenge).
I lift up these three pieces of the leadership puzzle (there are others) to remind all of us who have found our way into leadership positions in vocational ministry that self-assessment and self-improvement are our responsibility if we are to be all we can for Christ and the Church. We can never be satisfied with what we know and how we are leading, for the accompanying complacency is tantamount to death.
Dr. Ben Martin is District Superintendent of the Statesboro District. He shares his thoughts on faith, leadership and following Christ at www.statesborodistrict.blogspot.com.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.sgaumc.com/advocate/detail/9115
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Susceptibility loci for intracranial aneurysm in European and Japanese populations
Stroke is the world's third leading cause of death. One cause of stroke, intracranial aneurysm, affects ∼2% of the population and accounts for 500,000 hemorrhagic strokes annually in mid-life (median age 50), most often resulting in death or severe neurological impairment. The pathogenesis of intracranial aneurysm is unknown, and because catastrophic hemorrhage is commonly the first sign of disease, early identification is essential. We carried out a multistage genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Finnish, Dutch and Japanese cohorts including over 2,100 intracranial aneurysm cases and 8,000 controls. Genome-wide genotyping of the European cohorts and replication studies in the Japanese cohort identified common SNPs on chromosomes 2q, 8q and 9p that show significant association with intracranial aneurysm with odds ratios 1.24-1.36. The loci on 2q and 8q are new, whereas the 9p locus was previously found to be associated with arterial diseases, including intracranial aneurysm. Associated SNPs on 8q likely act via SOX17, which is required for formation and maintenance of endothelial cells, suggesting a role in development and repair of the vasculature; CDKN2A at 9p may have a similar role. These findings have implications for the pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapy of intracranial aneurysm.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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Red meat has taken a beating from just about every low-fat diet that's ever come down the pike, and some of that criticism is unjustified. Go to a steakhouse and order the traditional 12- or 16-ounce ribeye and you're getting well over 1,000 calories and 30 grams of fat, a lot of that in saturated form.
(The government considers a 2,000 calorie diet when figuring nutritional guidelines.)
However, there's also nothing quite like the taste of a piece of steak flame-broiled just right with just a bit of kosher salt and cracked pepper to season it.
But there are lots of cuts of beef out there that don't carry the same caloric mass-load as the beloved ribeye. Some of them are still great on the grill, while some need a bit more specialized handling to yield their true beefy goodness.
There are those in the beef marketing business who would have you believe that, unless you are cooking USDA prime steak, you're somehow shortchanging yourself and your guests. Those people quite likely wouldn't be able to tell a prime ribeye from stew meat.
The simple fact is that prime beef comprises only a tiny percentage of the total yearly harvest. And you will pay dearly for it. When I used to splurge on prime, the price was routinely $21.99/lb. or more, whereas the USDA choice would come in at $13.99/lb. You'll also have real trouble finding prime beef outside a bona fide butcher shop. Most beef sold as steaks in supermarkets is choice grade, although you'll be hard-pressed to find it identified as such. Most markets emphasize things such as "genuine Angus" or "certified Hereford" instead.
Does prime taste better? Personally, I think if you treat a choice-grade steak properly it tastes just as good. Proper cooking is the key.
Ribeye: 222 calories, 15 grams fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 21 grams protein
Ribeye is the king of grill steaks for a good reason. With its fat marbling, all a good ribeye needs is a little kosher salt and pepper. If you must, a blend like Penzey's Chicago-style steak seasoning is fairly nifty. If you marinate a ribeye, the Beef Police will come and take your grill away from you.
Filet Mignon: 175 calories, 8.3 grams fat, 71 mg cholesterol, 24 grams protein
The filet is commonly regarded as the Cadillac of steaks, so why is it so often sold wrapped in bacon? The simple reason is that while it is buttery-rich and tender, it just doesn't have much character. Yes, it's the purest expression of steak, but most steak aficionados honestly prefer a ribeye or strip steak with a bit of marbling.
New YorkStrip: 174 calories, 8 grams fat, 59 mg cholesterol, 24 grams protein
Also called a Kansas City strip when cut a bit thicker, this is the classic steakhouse favorite. It doesn't have quite the fat of the ribeye, and thus welcomes steak rubs, herbed butter and peppercorn sauces. Do yourself a favor, though, and try one treated like a ribeye. It's serious beef.
T-bone: 219 calories, 15 grams fat, 59 mg cholesterol, 20 grams protein
For many steak purists, the T-bone is the ultimate steak. In one hot, juicy package you have a piece of filet and a chunk of New York strip, separated by a bone just made for gnawing. It's not something one generally eats in polite company, but when the better half is out of town and you're craving steak, go for it. (Note that I didn't specify a gender. Women get a steak jones occasionally just like men do.)
Top Sirloin: 183 calories, 9 grams fat, 66 mg cholesterol, 24 grams protein
Sirloin is one of your best values in the steak universe. It has enough fat to make it tasty and it won't drain your wallet. Make sure you get top sirloin, as the bottom sirloin tends toward dry and chewy. You can sear it like a ribeye, but it also takes very well to marinades. One great use is to slice it thinly -- do it when the steak is partially frozen for thinnest slices -- and make stir-fry.
Chuck: 196 calories, 10 grams fat, 76 mg cholesterol, 24 grams protein
Chuck has a fair amount of connective tissue, and doesn't take well to fast, hot cooking like grilling. Braise it, use it in stews or cut it in chunks and marinate it for use in kabobs. I also like to make my own ground beef at home using half chuck and half sirloin, cut in chunks and pulsed in the food processor.
Round: 169 calories, 5 grams fat, 77 mg cholesterol, 30 grams protein
The higher protein and lower fat on this cut tells you all you need to know about cooking it: go slowly. Cook a bottom round steak too quickly and you'll end up with beef-flavored vulcanized rubber. A thick-cut top round makes a great pot roast, braised slowly with your choice of flavorful liquids and/or vegetables.
Of course, there are other cuts of steak out there. Porterhouse, the big brother of the T-bone, flank steak, skirt steak and hanger steak are just a few. However, you'll find that once you've mastered the big seven, you'll find that no cut of beef will be able to intimidate you.
All nutritional values are for a 3-ounce serving.
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Thursday, September 6, 2012
the last book I ever read (Katharine Graham's Personal History, excerpt six)
from Personal History by Katharine Graham:
Unbeknownst to Phil at the time, the previous afternoon Kennedy had formally offered the vice-presidency to Symington through Clark Clifford. After conferring with his wife and two sons, who were opposed to the idea, Symington told Clark to accept, but added presciently, “I bet you a hundred dollars that no matter what he says, Jack will not make me his running mate. He will have to pick Lyndon.” Clark called Kennedy back and accepted for Symington.
Early Thursday morning, Kennedy called Johnson, waking him up and making an appointment to see him a little later. At that meeting he offered him the vice-presidency—both because he thought he had to and because he thought that Johnson would not accept. Kennedy went back to his headquarters and, according to Arthur Schlesinger in Robert Kennedy and His Times, told Bobby, “You just won’t believe it. He wants it.” Phil had been right. Johnson would indeed accept.
Everyone around the Kennedys, especially those connected with the labor movement, was upset. Apparently, they all spent much of the day thinking how they could undo what they had done. Bobby went down to see Lyndon twice, once to feel him out and the second time to tell him that there was going to be a lot of opposition, that it was going to be unpleasant, and to offer him instead the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
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BULLET PROOF KEVLAR
“Kevlar” is synonymous with “bullet proof.” Woven bullet resistant Kevlar cloth gives bullet-proof vests their bullet resistance. The Kevlar-based fiberglass helmets that the U.S. Army began issuing active service soldiers in the 1980s have saved countless lives in the battlefield. Like “Band-aid,” “Kleenex,” and “Xerox,” Kevlar is just one player in a crowded field, but its prominence in movies and news stories has made it the default term for “bullet resistant fibers.”
THE BIRTH OF KEVLAR
First developed in 1965 by DuPont, Kevlar was originally used to replace the steel and cloth belts in race car tires. The material itself is a woven synthetic para-aramid fiber (similar to nylon). DuPont had already been successful in bringing several related aramid synthetic fibers into the market, including Nomex (which is still used to produce fire-resistant garments for firefighters and test pilots). Kevlar shares Nomex’s lack of a melting point and near complete fire-resistance under normal oxygen levels. But in contrast to Nomex or nylon, when Kevlar forms into fibers, its molecules naturally align themselves into long, unbroken chains along the fiber’s entire length. Subsequently, in addition to its fire-resistance, Kevlar is also highly resistant to abrasion and shows incredible tensile strength–making it perfect for stopping bullets.
Today many different companies produce para-aramid fiberglass cloth comparable to DuPont’s Kevlar. Such cloth is the basis of the fiberglass panels used in banks, convenience stores, and other sites to make walls and counter tops “bullet proof.”
KEVLAR IN ACTION
Bullet resistant fiberglass panels are made by saturating a synthetic fiber mesh made from a Kevlar-like material with resin. Flat layers of this resin-soaked mesh are squeezed and baked by an industrial press. The result is a hard, dense, rigid panel. A speeding bullet, striking such a panel, deforms, loosing much of its forward momentum. Meanwhile, the layers of hard resin-caked mesh separate, unfolding like an accordion’s bellows. This absorbs even more of the bullet’s energy. The practically unbreakable strands of Kevlar running through the panel can then act like the net walls of a batting cage, easily catching and deflecting the bullet.
These ballistically rated fiberglass bullet resistant panels are often called opaque armor or “Kevlar panels.”
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FITCHBURG (CBS) – Technically, it is a loaner from the U.S. Army.
But as the sparks fly from workmen running grinders and welders atop this 56 ton chunk of metal, Pauline Roberge knows it’s a keeper.
“Most of the time I bite my tongue to fight the tears,” she says. “Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t.”
On February 9th, it’ll be four years since her oldest son — 22-year-old PFC Jonathan Roberge — was killed in Iraq.
And for half of that time, family and friends have been scouring the nation for a tank to honor the Leominster native, and serve as the cornerstone of a small park on Mechanic Street dedicated to his memory.
“The emotions are overwhelming,” says his father John Roberge. “I have to walk away from it every once in a while and then go back at it.”
But they are not alone. Their friends, their town, and even strangers have pitched in along the way to make it happen.
Why the tank?
Jonathan was actually trained as a tank driver at Fort Hood, Texas before his deployment to Iraq. But when he got overseas, the streets of Mosul were too narrow for tanks. So he was reassigned to drive his Colonel’s Humvee, which hit a roadside bomb, killing Roberge, the Colonel, and three other soldiers.
As you might imagine, tanks are hard to come by off the battlefield — especially if you’re intention is to stick it in a city park.
But after pestering the Army for two years, a tank finally became available earlier this month — surrendered by a National Guard Armory that was closing its doors in North Carolina.
“They didn’t want it,” says Rick Vouture, Leominster’s Director of Veteran’s Services, whose staff spent countless hours getting the deal done. “And because we were so persistent, they gave it to us.”
The Roberge family gathered on the Johnny Appleseed Lane bridge over I-190 to watch it arrive.
“It was awesome on the one hand,” explains John Roberge. “But then when I thought about what it really meant, it was hard. Very hard.”
The paperwork alone is mind boggling in such a deal. A Carolina trucking firm agreed to cut-rate transport, thanks in part to an ex-Army truck driver who volunteered for the job.
Indeed, the hard work and generosity of volunteers has been key every step of the way — like the Fitchburg company that is making the tank ‘park-ready’. Workers at Steel-Fab Inc. are sealing the tank to weather, making it safe to climb on, stripping the rust and repainting it with desert camouflage — all for free.
“Some big companies like to calculate their stock price by the hour,” says Steel-Fab president Mark Freeman. “We kind of look at it the old-fashioned way, and figure that paying it forward and doing the right thing is the way to go.”
Eventually joining the tank at Roberge Park will be a bronze statue of Jonathan, tributes to the four others who died with him, and a memorial to all Massachusetts Vets who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is still much emotional work to be done — and much fundraising.
“The pain it’s giving me is nothing compared to what all these soldiers went through,” says John Roberge. “It has to be done.”
Re-painting will begin by week’s end, and the tank will be in place by the 4th anniversary of Jonathan’s death.
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<urn:uuid:36ef5a39-c736-4b89-9e85-9f0c17f90e84>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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Ret. Col. Says UFOs Are Real, but Denies Government Cover-Up
Whether you believe or disbelieve the notion that UFOs are visitors from another planet, a former highly decorated military officer now comes forward with information that may infuriate those on both sides in the ongoing ET debate.
Retired Col. John Alexander, using his military savvy and high security clearance, spent a quarter of a century going through the top levels of the U.S. government and military searching for the group of people who were allegedly responsible for UFO information and the supposedly decades-old UFO cover-up.
His conclusions: Not only is there no such group and no cover-up, but disclosure about UFOs has already occurred on different official levels.
With so many people crying out these days for the U.S. government or the United Nations or even the Vatican to issue some sort of "we are not alone in the universe" disclosure statement, Alexander says the information has been dripping out all around us, over decades, with top officials casually making statements about UFOs.
He references this 1950 remark made by President Harry Truman: "I can assure you the flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth."
"Disclosure has happened," Alexander added. "It starts with former presidents Truman, Carter, Reagan and [the Soviet Union's] Gorbachev. I've got stacks of generals, including Soviet generals, who've come out and said UFOs are real. My point is, how many times do senior officials need to come forward and say this is real?" Alexander told AOL News.
"At one time, before a lot of this information was released, I could see both the classified and the unclassified material. And I will tell you that 98 percent of the information was already in the public domain. The only things that weren't there was stuff like sources and method, which is protected, but the information about the incident was already out there."
Several months ago, a group of ex-military officers came forward to discuss their experiences when UFOs reportedly tampered with American nuclear missile sites. While Alexander acknowledges the events, he suggests why there was no intense intelligence investigation of these incidents.
"They absolutely happened, but when it's a one-time event, the attitude of investigators is: If it happens again, we'll get nervous, but since it didn't happen, put it aside.
"It's sort of an indictment that says, despite overwhelming evidence of interaction with strategic systems, nothing was done. And in my view, it is put, like a number of things, in the too-tough-to-handle bin."
The 74-year-old former Green Beret A-Team commander and developer of weapons at Los Alamos, N.M., is one of many speakers presenting his views at this week's International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Ariz. He takes issue with both true believers (who assume any strange light in the sky is from another planet) and hard-nosed skeptics (who debunk any and all UFO reports and evidence to the contrary).
In his new book, "UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities" (Thomas Dunne Books), Alexander jumps right to the chase, saying, "UFOs are real! With no prevarication or qualification of terms, there are physical objects of unknown origin that do transit our universe. The evidence that supports those statements is simply overwhelming."
The evidence he speaks of includes the hard data of sensor technology that has frequently confirmed the reality of physical craft and the high quality of extremely reliable eyewitnesses who are "neither misreporting facts nor delusional."
After spending decades deeply embroiled behind the scenes, Alexander's assertion of the reality of UFOs still leaves the bigger question: What's the origin and purpose of these unexplained machines? (If, in fact, they are machines in the sense that we use that term.)
"The problem is, when you discuss UFOs, we are talking everything from little balls of light to hard craft a mile or more across, and everything in between. So what is it?" Alexander asked.
"I argue that, not only are we not solving the problems yet, we're not even asking the right questions, because we approach this wrong.
"I suspect that consciousness is a piece of the puzzle. We talk about UFOs, saying it's a technology that's 1,000 years in advance, but it really isn't. If you follow the history of these things, usually it is somewhat in advance, but not beyond our comprehension by any stretch of the imagination.
"The conundrum you get into is, yes, they are seen by sensors; however, at other times, they are not seen by sensors that should've seen them, and that's one I can't answer."
Alexander is a frequent guest on "Coast to Coast AM With George Noory," the popular overnight radio program. George Knapp, a multiple Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and a weekend "Coast to Coast" host, praises Alexander's stance and suggests his book "will almost certainly infuriate zealots on both ends of the UFO spectrum."
In his review of Alexander's book, Knapp wrote: "Alexander's military mind instinctively gets to the heart of UFO cases and issues, makes quick work of charlatans and fools, and will likely inspire a new round of speculation about his presumed role as an MIB-type spook who spies on the UFO community."
In the early 1980s, Alexander created a behind-the-scenes government UFO study group called Advanced Theoretical Physics, or ATP, that consisted of members of the military, scientific and intelligence communities. With a top-secret security clearance, Alexander also had a tremendous amount of flexibility.
A key outcome of that study group was, contrary to conspiracy theorists' beliefs, that nobody in the government was responsible for UFO information.
He says that after his ATP group looked at many UFO cases, they came to some key conclusions:
* There was sufficient evidence supported by high-quality data to know that some UFO cases were real anomalies -- not just poor observation or misidentification.
* There were cases involving military weapon systems that posed a significant threat and should be investigated.
* Multisensory data supported observations of physical craft that performed intelligent maneuvers that were far beyond any known human capability.
* There were cases that involved trace physical evidence.
* Study of the UFO data could provide a potential for a leap in technology.
All that being said, Alexander also states that the infamous Roswell, N.M., UFO case of 1947 was not, in fact, a crashed alien spacecraft but a top-secret military project called Mogul.
"It was a real incident, no doubt about it. The Air Force played it abysmally, but I think there is a prosaic answer, and that was Project Mogul," Alexander explained. "It wasn't a weather balloon -- it was something really quite different. This was designed to listen to the Soviet Union.
"So when they say it was stretched out across the field, yup, exactly the way it was done. It was supersecret and it didn't involve UFOs."
After many years of deep research into UFOs, Alexander is convinced from both a personal and military point of view that it's a much more complex issue than the idea of Earth being visited by extraterrestrials. He proposes a concept called precognitive sentient phenomena.
"The point is there is something out there that is sentient. When I say precognitive, it knows -- whatever it is -- not only what it is going to present, but how we are going to respond to it.
"The public is interested but ambivalent in general. The public believes in UFOs, but it doesn't affect their daily lives," Alexander explained. "In the military, you learn very quickly it is not career-enhancing to bring up anomalies that you don't have good answers for.
"There's a euphemism in the military: If you bring me a problem, bring me a solution."http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/23/retired-army-colonel-says-ufos-are-real-but-denies-government-c/
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|Anne Callahan, a junior at Fontbonne Academy, put Rosie the Riveter in Army combat dress.|
Art student dresses Rosie the Riveter image for a new role
This story is from BostonGlobe.com, the only place for complete digital access to the Globe.
Anne Callahan, a junior at Fontbonne Academy in Milton, took a well-known image of women’s strength and capability, arms factory worker Rosie the Riveter, and put her in a new uniform. Remarkably, the Bridgewater student’s inspiration came before US military officials made the decision predicted by her artwork, that women can now apply to serve in combat units.
Callahan said she created the image of a new Rosie for an advanced art class at Fontbonne, a private Roman Catholic college preparatory high school for girls. Among 15 other images created by Fontbonne students were paintings of Magritte’s “The Son of Man” updated with the Apple logo by Tianna Szeto and Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” turned into a Starbucks by Sarah Albanese.
“Our assignment was to recreate a classic artwork and put a modern twist to it.” Callahan said recently. “I chose to paint Rosie the Riveter but put her in a US Army suit. . . . My objective was to say that women can now fight in the war.”
The purpose of the original Rosie the Riveter was to publicize the important work women did in World War II wartime factories by taking the place of men serving in the armed forces. Callahan’s artwork put a recognizable Rosie in combat camouflage, substituting a green head scarf for the polka dot one in the original, to fulfill an assignment from art teacher Nicole Robertson.
Callahan said she was happy and “excited” to hear the news earlier this year that the Defense Department had decided to lift the restriction that prevented American women from serving in combat roles.
Robert Knox can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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The project is being led by Andrew Haeg, who co-founded US crowdsourcing platform Public Insight Network in 2003. The platform, which he said is now used by around 80 newsrooms, uses email to reach out to potential sources and ask them to feedback on specific issues.
Haeg told Journalism.co.uk that the growth of the network highlighted "a need for a platform that allowed individual journalists to start building networks of sources around their journalism and to reach out to them in very simple ways via mobile phone".
Working with the World Press Institute, Haeg decided to apply for funding from the Knight Foundation, which will now be used to pull together a team of developers and build a prototype of the platform. It is hoped the first version will be ready to start testing next month.
The idea is that during news events across the world, where journalists need to find sources on the ground, the platform will open up sources to the media via mobile phone who may not be as connected to the social web.
"Maybe they're not sharing on Facebook and Twitter, or maybe they're not sharing that kind of information," Haeg explained. "Maybe they're not even connected to social media at all and plus they might not be part of that journalist's social network.
"I found it's very difficult to connect to people who aren't part of your social network and to make a trusted connection with them.
"I think we assume that Twitter and Facebook give us the ability to connect to anyone in the world, anywhere, anytime, but actually it's quite difficult to travel beyond our own spheres of influence into areas where we don't know anyone."
The plan is for GroundTruth's landing page to feature a map which users can then use to zoom into their areas of interest and apply filters such as by demographic, expertise or background and be alerted to relevant sources who have already submitted their information to the platform.
At this point a user can choose to set up a survey or ask a question via text message, which will prompt an SMS to be send to the source asking if they wish to share their experience with the journalist.
Currently the plan is that if the source agrees to speak to the journalist, a voice call will be made to the source asking the journalist's questions, with future versions of the platform able to translate those questions into the relevant language.
To build the network of sources Haeg aims to use his experience in building Public Insight Network which has helped him gain "a pretty good idea of what motivates people to share information".
The plan is to offer incentives using a points system. For example, if a person responds as a source they get 100 points and if they get 1,000 points their mobile phone bill will be paid for a certain amount of time.
He said that using a points system rather than direct payment "avoids some of the problems journalists might have with the perception or the reality of paying for sources".
"But the fact is if they're answering questions via text message or their mobile phone they're using their own money to engage with you so they need to be compensated somehow for that. The points system I think is a good way to do that."
He added that this is open to feedback, and given the fact the platform could be used by a number of other groups beyond journalists there is the potential to limit incentives to non-journalism uses if that proves to be an issue for news outlets.
"That's the great part about the Knight prototype fund is that it allows for a rapid iteration and experimentation period."
The next step is for the team to start building the first prototype and "by early December we'll have a prototype ready for testing with a small group of journalists and researchers", he added.
"By early next year, probably about February, we'll have an alpha version that will be ready to be tested with a larger group of journalists and we'll use that period in the early part of the year to raise an additional round of funding to build the organisation and to build up the technology."
He added that the overall aim is to roll out the platform in beta by summer 2013.
For potential respondents, the platform will be "completely wide open", while to be authenticated as a professional user of GroundTruth the platform may adopt a "referral, affiliate approach" with a subscription model based on the volume of questions being asked.
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FABBS Foundation Honors Edward Smith
Edward Smith, PhD, William B. Ransford Professor of Psychology and the Ransford Professor of Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University, and the Director of the Division of Cognitive Neuroscience at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, is featured in the FABBS Foundation's program which honors eminent, senior scientists.
Edward Smith is one of the world's leading cognitive psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists. He has conducted important research on working memory, word perception, semantic memory, concept use, reasoning and the neural basis of cognition. Ed's impact extends far beyond cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He has been a bridge to almost all the other subdiscliplines of psychology—social, clinical, personality, developmental and education—and he has collaborated with colleagues in each of these fields.
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Alberto Tadiello (1983, Montecchio Maggiore, VI) is one of the few artists who have managed to break down the wall that separates the traditional contemporary art practice and that stream related to media art, which is close to scientific and technologic experimentation and the idea of “Do It Yourself”.
A recent essay by Claire Bishop (1) shows that there is reluctance by both editors and some artists to use new technologies, especially digital ones. Conversely, there is a tendency to recover and preserve media of the close past such as vinyl, films and video film, musicassettes (MCs).
Although not using any particularly new technology, Tadiello (http://www.t293.it/artists/alberto-tadiello/) concentrates on simple materials in an innovative way and often does this≠ through a formal solution, for which his work might act as a bridge between disciplines.
As he declared many times, the final configuration of his works derives exclusively from forms of life present in nature, to which nothing else is added . Everything is essentially assembled to help the functioning of a work that needs to result honest, clean, dry like a blade slicing the space. The same characteristic is found in the sound being produced by the mechanisms.
Tadiello has a background as a musician, but what he is searching for is not harmony in sound. He seeks unpredictable whistles, noises and vibrations emitted by its machines, . What he investigates, in fact, is the sculptural dimension of sound that has to fill the voids of the body. At the same time, filling those voids creates a forced reaction in those watching, one of his goals is to make hearing compulsory for the audience.
The most recent works by Alberto Tadiello are visible until Sunday February 24, 2013 at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Villa Croce in Genoa, during his personal exhibition High Gospel curated by Ilaria Bonacossa (http://www.museidigenova.it/spip.php?rubrique120&azione=eventdetail&eventoID=37445)
Alessandra Saviotti: At Palazzo Strozzi your work E13000625 (2010) was off. I remember well asking the guards to turn it on and then understood the reason it was not working. I was told that is was too frightening for the visitors and it was almost unbearable for the museum attendants. Had you predicted that the ‘ disturbing factor’ could compromise your work? Do you think this element can also be considered part of the work?
Alberto Tadiello: No. Absolutely! The fact that the museum attendants decided to turn my work off, did not become part of my idea of the work. Unfortunately, sometimes these things happens. E13000625 was not too violent or disruptive. It was a deep sound, cabled, guttural, adjusted around tens of seconds. The volume was moderate. I am well aware of the “disturbance” that a sound piece can create in a collective show or an exhibition space. I always try to consider the aspects I need to confront every time, in order to respect those who work or live nearby.
Alessandra Saviotti: How important is time in the fruition of your works? And how worn out are the works? I think of 9V (2007), EPROM (2008) and Switch (2008). But also of the drawings of Untitled (2006), where it is precisely the relationship with time to determine the ultimate form of the work.
Alberto Tadiello: It is a time that is not mine. It lives in its own cycle, and I am not immediately responsible for it. These works expose processes of disempowerment, sound, energy, physicality. All have to do with duration, with the sense of a measure and an effort. They are inexorably linked to a temporal dimension.
Alessandra Saviotti: In Come abitando in prossimità 2007), USB (2007) and Shift (2008), the center revolves around the search of the invisible and its manifestation through work. Where does your urgency to document the invisible come from?
Alberto Tadiello: I think it is closely linked to the idea of exposure, of detection. The imperceptibility has something to do with deafness and uncertainty and I am unable to pursue it to the end.
Alessandra Saviotti: All your works, especially the last (Hyper, 2012 – Taraxacum, 2012 – Elektronskal, 2011) are aesthetically accurate and well built. I would say, quite simply, ‘beautiful’. Yet have additional elements – sound, light, heat – which are crucial in your research. If you kept off your ‘machines’, do you think, they would have the same function in space?
Alberto Tadiello: I think it concerns different aspects of a single point of view. When I produce a work, it is very important for me that it is holding, in its being turned off, a potential or a residue of its being turned on.
Alessandra Saviotti: In your most recent works you added elements such as light and heat. How did you come to this evolution?
Alberto Tadiello: Every job comes from a visual logic, a stratification of yes and no, ends with a yes. I try to get the same consistency owned by Nature.
Alessandra Saviotti: Referring to your latest works, I noticed that the shape tends to become less ‘sharp’. The reference to nature becomes implicit. Does it disappear permanently or persist in the assemblying of the work?
Alberto Tadiello: No. I think that the reference to nature has become more explicit. If you look well, in the center of Elektronskal you can also see the pistils, scarlet. However, declaring it runs the risk to appear awfully childish, like trying to describe the seeds of a dandelion move with the wind.
1 – Claire Bishop, Digital Divide, Artforum, Sep.2012
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Productivity, relevance and natural selection
Recent papers by a number of philosophers have been concerned with the question of whether natural selection is a causal process, and if it is, whether the causes of selection are properties of individuals or properties of populations. I shall argue that much confusion in this debate arises because of a failure to distinguish between causal productivity and causal relevance. Causal productivity is a relation that holds between events connected via continuous causal processes, while causal relevance is a relationship that can hold between a variety of different kinds of facts and the events that counterfactually depend upon them. I shall argue that the productive character of natural selection derives from the aggregation of individual processes in which organisms live, reproduce and die. At the same time, a causal explanation of the distribution of traits will necessarily appeal both to causally relevant properties of individuals and to causally relevant properties that exist only at the level of the population.
Stuart Glennan. "Productivity, relevance and natural selection" Biology & Philosophy (2008).
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stuart_glennan/12
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- 1 - Chapter 1. Once upon a Time
- 2 - Chapter 2. How the Shepherds Began the City
- 3 - Chapter 2. How the Shepherds Began the City - Continued (1)
- 4 - Chapter 3. How Corinth Gave Rome a New Dynasty
- 5 - Chapter 4. The Rise of the Commons
- 6 - Chapter 5. How a Proud King Fell
- 7 - Chapter 6. The Roman Runnymede
- 8 - Chapter 7. How the Heroes Fought for a Hundred Years
- 9 - Chapter 7. How the Heroes Fought for a Hundred Years – Continued (1)
- 10 - Chapter 8. A Blast from Beyond the North Wind
- 11 - Chapter 9. How the Republic Overcame its Neighbours
- 12 - Chapter 10. An African Sirocco
- 13 - Chapter 10. An African Sirocco – Continued (1)
- 14 - Chapter 11. The New Pushes the Old -- Wars and Conquests
- 15 - Chapter 12. A Futile Effort at Reform
- 16 - Chapter 13. Social and Civil Wars
- 17 - Chapter 14. The Master-Spirits of this Age
- 18 - Chapter 15. Progress of the Great Pompey
- 19 - Chapter 16. How the Triumvirs Came to Untimely Ends
- 20 - Chapter 16. How the Triumvirs Came to Untimely Ends – Continued (1)
- 21 - Chapter 17. How the Republic Became an Empire
- 22 - Chapter 18. Some Manners and Customs of the Roman People
- 23 - Chapter 18. Some Manners and Customs of the Roman People – Continued (1)
- 24 - Chapter 19. The Roman Reading and Writing
- 25 - Chapter 19. The Roman Reading and Writing – Continued (1)
- 26 - Chapter 20. The Roman Republicans Serious and Lively
- 27 - Chapter 20. The Roman Republicans Serious and Lively – Continued (1)
- 28 - Chapter 21. The Julian Emperors
- 29 - Chapter 22. The Claudian Emperors
- 30 - Chapter 23. The Flavian Emperors
- 31 - Chapter 24. The Next Five Emperors
- 32 - Chapter 25. Period of Military Despotism -- Decline of the Empire
- 33 - Chapter 26. Invasions and Distribution of the Barbarians
Bust of Julius Caesar, Dictator of Rome from 49 BC to his assassination in 44 BC.
This title discusses the history of Rome, from its beginning in the mists of myth and fable, right through to the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
As one surveys this marvellous vista from the vantage-ground of the present, attention is fixed first upon a long succession of well-authenticated facts, which are shaded off in the dim distance, and finally lost in the obscurity of unlettered antiquity. The flesh and blood heroes of the more modern times regularly and slowly pass from view, and in their places the unsubstantial worthies of dreamy tradition start up. The transition is so gradual, however, that it is at times impossible to draw the line between history and legend. Fortunately for the purposes of this volume it is not always necessary to make the effort. The early traditions of the Eternal City have so long been recounted as truth that the world is slow to give up even the least jot of them, and when they are disproved as fact, they must be told over and over again as story.
Roman history involves a narrative of social and political struggles, the importance of which is as wide as modern civilisation, and they must not be passed over without some attention, though in the present volume they cannot be treated with the thoroughness they deserve. The story has the advantage of being to a great extent a narrative of the exploits of heroes, and the attention can be held almost the whole time to the deeds of particular actors who successively occupy the focus or play the principal parts on the stage. In this way the element of personal interest, which so greatly adds to the charm of a story, may be infused into the narrative.
It is hoped to enter to some degree into the real life of the Roman people, to catch the true spirit of their actions, and to indicate the current of the national life, while avoiding the presentation of particular episodes or periods with undue prominence. It is intended to set down the facts in their proper relation to each other as well as to the facts of general history, without attempting an incursion into the domain of philosophy.
Credit: Based on a book by Arthur Gilman, M.A., with information added by Dynamic Learning Online.
Please select the first link below to go to the start of the title. Alternatively, select any Chapter link to go to that Chapter.
The following are books that hold information relevant to the book you are about to read.
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I'm having trouble finding artschools that suit me, living in Sweden I've found none that will give me the education I want. I suspect there's more students that has the same problem, so I thought people could help me and make a list. I'll try to keep this first post updated with whatever information I can find, or that You'll post.
So far I'd like to keep this to fine art, graphic design and video game related programmes.
I am unsure about the programmes, but I'm fairly sure most of them are taught in Swedish. Also keep in mind that all Swedish school are free of charge unless I mention something else, and that alot of people apply for each course (up to a couple of hundred on the most popular ones).
I should probably also mention that it's become more of a tradition to take one or two years in pre-college before applying for universitys or colleges in Sweden. If any younger or inexperienced artists want information about these feel free to drop a line. I'm currently in the end of my second year of pre-college courses (dated spring '08 ), and I do have information about shorter programmes. I'll wait with listing those unless someone asks.
The programmes listed are Bachelor's Degrees, if nothing else is mentioned.
Atelier Stockholm - (Formerly Pantura Studios?)
Located in Stockholm, Sweden. From what I can tell the only realist painter school in Stockholm. I have vague memories of the authors of the school being active in these forums, though it might have been some time ago. The school only has one programme, and I'm not sure at all how classes and students are organized or enrolled. Maximum is 24 students plus 6 in an evening course (much like Beckmans, except in realist art). Though it seems like the best school I can find, it also has the drawback of having a tuition fee of 70 000 SEK (roughly $10-12k/7-8k€), being alot compared to nothing in the other schools. It also lacks the necessary approval of our institution for schools, which means Swedish students can't get normal loans for this school (CSN).
Realist Art. Not sure what to call this one. The course seems to have alot of real classes and focuses on a traditional education. Cast drawing, life drawing and alot of painting.
I do not know how to apply or if any portfolios are necessary, only that is has a maximum of 24 students.
Mentionable is that this school is the same that taught our beloved MindCandyMan. Only that it's moved to Stockholm. For those of you that doesn't know of him, shame on you and use the search button.
The Florence Academy of Art in Mölndal
Located in Mölndal which is close to Gothenburg, Sweden. It's basically a branch of the Florence Art Academy. I haven't got much info about the school, but I do know it's a realist art school and it's very similar to Atelier Stockholm. Only one programme. Costs about $4k per trimester according to their site. I suggest mailing them about the differences between the Florence school and their Mölndal branch
Realist Art. Their site lists a couple of different programmes involving painting, landscape painting, sculpturing and such. I'm not sure I dare to mention them since the branch in Sweden is smaller than the 'real' school.
The site has instructions for applicants. Takes 35 students at the most.
Konstfack - University College of Crafts, Arts and Design
Located in Stockholm, Sweden. Has two courses that could be relative for people wanting to work in the industry. My own impression of the school is that it's fairly usable for learning technical drawing or any painting. Main focus lies on the graphic design course, mostly used for people working in advertisement industry.
GDI, Graphic Design and Illustration. Graphic design (with typography), illustration (with photo and graphic art), animated design & digital medias. The school also has courses in theory (essays, marketing, rhetoric, presentation technique and more). Popular amongs Swedish illustrators, but doesn't have any focus on anything close to perspective, anatomy or other technical aspects of art.
The programme has alot of applicants and 6-8 compulsory assignements such as 'make a movieposter for a book', 'make a campaign for...', 'illustrate a book cover' and more.
Fine Arts. In short, You get to share an atelier with another student. No compulsory courses, everything is decided by You and your mentor. Probably not the best choice for someone that needs a teacher, but mentionable for people that can work for themselves. From rumours and friends I've heard they usually take on about one painter a year, whilst the rest of the places are filled with things like performance art or such.
This course has the most applicants of all the programmes in the school. 5-10 Free works documented in a portfolio, whereas many pages can be documentation for one work.
I might be wrong here, but someone told me that Mattias Snygg (Mon on the forums) went to this school. His biography only tells that he's been studying art and sculpture for three years before starting with concept art.
Located in Stockholm, Sweden. This school is focused on advertisement works, illustration and fashion design. Judging from the things I've heard about this school and the student portfolios on the site I'm guessing it's pretty far from concept arts, but still worth to mention. In my current class I've had graduate students from the school as teachers. According to them students can illustrate their way all through their programmes, tho I guess the mentoring will be abit lacking. Also has evening classes for younger and less experienced students, tho they cost abit.
Advertisement and Graphic Design. Probably the most related programme. The course is very similar to the previously mentioned GDI at Konstfack, with more focus on advertisement and design.
I have no real numbers, but I believe this course has even more applicants than GDI. I will correct this once I know more about the numbers of people applying. This course also has compulsory assignements for applying.
Royal University College of Fine Arts - KKH
Located in Stockholm, Sweden. I don't know that much about the school except it has alot of resources. I haven't done much research about the school, but apparently they sponsor you with alot of material and other necessities. Only has one course I believe.
Fine Art. I believe it's very similar to other Fine Art programmes in Sweden, except it has open workshops and courses that annyone can attend to. The difference between Konstfack and KKH is probably that this school has more traditional art students, rather than performance artists. Since the school has more resources than most others, it also get alot of applications.
No compulsory assignements for applying, only a number of free works.
Valand - School of Fine Arts
Located in Gothenburg, Sweden. This school is also very similar to the other Fine Art programmes. The main difference is that it's located in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.
Fine Art. This, just like the other Fine Art programmes in Sweden, is focused on performance, installation and 'other' kinds of art rather than traditional painting. I've visited the school myself and seen their exhibitions, without any interest of the school.
Applications are most likely free works, can't imagine that they have any compulsory assignements.
HDK - School of Design and Crafts
Located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Much similar to the other design schools in Stockholm. Has a number of crafts programmes, but only one design programme. The school is a part of the University of Gothenburg and has a couple of courses selectable for all students.
Design. I think the programme is varied abit more than the other design courses mentioned, much because it's one of the few located in Gothenburg. I believe both illustrators and industrial designers can take this programme, even though I'm fairly sure it's not interesting if you want to work with traditional art.
Also much competition to get into this school, many applicants from the southern region of Sweden. I believe there's no compulsory assignements for applying.
Umeå Institute of Design - Umeå University
Located in Umeå, Sweden. Has a number of different designprogrammes, only one in english it seems tho. I believe it's a good school with focus on industrial design (something I haven't noted in the other schools, tho they have similar programmes). I won't mention any of their specific programmes, since I don't know much about them. The school also has a couple of one year courses.
That's it for now. I intend to fill this up with more bachelor's degrees programmes from other countries. I plan on adding Gobelins from France, the Florence branch of The Florence Art Academy and a couple of more that I know about. I hope that you can forgive all my spelling errors and mistakes I've made now, but just this took some time to write.
Any tips ideas or information is very welcome. My hope is to have this filled with information about all related schools in Europe, and my ambition is to update this thread and post for as long as I can.
Last I'd like to ask if I should change the order. I'm thinking listing programmes rather than school, organizing them from their courses rather than their location. Right now it goes; Country->School->Programme.
.cheers for now
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I tried to make sense of the Four Books*,
until love arrived,
and it all became a single syllable.
(*Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Quran, considered by Islamic tradition to be four Divinely revealed books.)
From #21, page 43, chapter II, The Way of Love, in The Drop That Became The Sea, Lyric Poems of Yunus Emre. Translated from the Turkish by Kabir Helminski and Refik Algan.
This theme of the single syllable, the first letter of the alphabet, containing everything, is reiterated in this poem #26, page 52, chapter III, Necessary Lessons, where wisdom is equated with Self-knowledge.
Wisdom comes from knowing wisdom.
Wisdom means knowing oneself.
If you do not know yourself,
what is the point of reading books?
The point of reading is to know something real.
Since you have read and do not know it,
reading is useless.
Don’t say, “I’ve read, I’ve learned.”
Don’t say, “I’ve worshipped a lot.”
If you don’t accept the Perfect Man,
all other works are futile.
The meaning of the Four Books is clear and complete.
It shows itself in the first letter, aleph.
If you don’t know what aleph is,
what do you know of reading?
You recite every syllable of the alphabet.
You say “Aleph,” but how little it means.
Yunus Emre says:
“Hey Hoja, you’ve made a thousand pilgrimages
but never been welcomed by a single heart.”
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BAND member Lisa Ransdell has set plans for the one year anniversary of the reinstatement of the Denver breed ban and here they are...
On Tuesday, May 9th we'll have a Candlelight Vigil outside Denver's Municipal Animal Shelter to memorialize the 1100 dogs that have been killed just because of the way they look. We will all arrive at 8 p.m. for an official 8:30 p.m. start time. Address and directions to the shelter are below.
This will be a solemn event, there will be no speakers, but probably plenty of media, so we ask you to please be the best representative of our breeds you can be. The theme will be about the dogs, so highlight that in your signs, specifically that these dogs are targeted for how they look. As you know, many other breeds of dogs have been identified by Animal Control as Pit Bulls that have been American Bulldogs, Mastiffs, Boxer mixes, etc.
If you or someone you know has had their dogs killed by Denver's Animal Control as part of this breed ban, please e-mail photos of the dogs to both of these e-mail addresses: firstname.lastname@example.org and Lisa.Ransdell@du.edu. She will put them on a large banner that will show some of the dogs that have been killed.
Please bring your own candle, and know that if it is windy that night, it could be a good idea to bring a brown paper bag with you as well to keep the candle from blowing out. We will have some candles there, but not enough for everyone.
If you need help with ideas for your own sign, stop by the SorryAgain.com website to see how some of the captions of the photos from that site highlight the dogs. Many of them say things like, "I'm sorry you're scared of me," alongside the photo or "I'm sorry you want to kill me just for the way I look."
This event is to commemorate the dogs and highlight the fact that dogs are being killed just for the way they look. I've talked to dog people from all around the country who do not truly believe that the City of Denver is picking up good family dogs and killing them. People need to know this is happening here and is happening or could happen elsewhere.
If you are outside of Denver, but want to support us, feel free to have your own vigil at 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time (10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time) and write to let us know what you are doing. We dog people are all in this together!
I'm going to ask you to e-mail here at ThePitBullBAND@aol.com only if you can come--you don't need to write if you can't make it--so we can get a good count. If you need further information, please contact Lisa at the above address. I hope to see you there.
The Pit Bull BAND (Breed Awareness, Not Discrimination)
Denver Municipal Animal Shelter is at 678 South Jason Street. The nearest major cross streets are Alameda and I-25. If you take the first light south, just west of the I-25 overpass from Alameda Street, that is Jason. The shelter will be on the left a few blocks down.
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Welcome to the Rush City School District
Rush City Schools is located 50 miles north of Minneapolis/St. Paul on Interstate 35, minutes away from Rush Lake and the scenic St. Croix River. With strong community support the school system offers a variety of innovative educational programs in modern facilities. District students have a history of excellence in the classroom, on the athletic field, and in the fine arts.
Rush City Schools demonstrates its commitment to excellence by maintaining small class sizes, promoting quality instruction through ongoing staff development, encouraging open communication among staff, parents and community, and offering a wide variety of educational opportunities for students in the Fine Arts, Academics and Athletics.
To learn more about our District click here.
Good Luck on your retirement!
High Quality Schools for All Children No Matter the Zip Code
Plaques were presented to two employees after many years of service to
Rush City Schools.
Colleen Daniels - 23 years of service and Deb Guse - 22 years of service.
What happens if a family in one community pays $3.50 for a gallon of milk while a family in a neighboring community pays $10.50? What if the family pays three times as much for most of their every day necessities? Obviously, the quality of life for that family is greatly diminished. This scenario plays out today in schools all across Minnesota.
Back in the 1980s, many school districts struggled to provide a quality education for their students. The state funding per student was inadequate, and schools were forced to rely on voter-approved school levies just to provide the very basics. Because the taxpayer cost per levy dollar was based on the property wealth of each school district, those districts with significant commercial or industrial development held a distinct advantage. The larger tax base lowered the cost for all. Taxpayers in districts with mostly residential development paid two or three times as much for each levy dollar, and were unable to support sufficient levy revenue for their schools. As a result, Minnesota’s education system became one of “haves” and “have-nots,” with the quality of a child’s education dependent mainly upon their zip code.
Educators accused the Legislature of not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a “general and uniform”system of public schools. In the resulting 1991 lawsuit, the appellate court agreed that reform was needed when differences in school funding were based merely on the property wealth of each school district. The Legislature responded with several measures to reduce the disparities. One major change was the adoption of an “equalization formula”, which is a match of state aid to make the cost of a levy dollar uniform across the state. Over the next several years, the funding disparity between school districts in the top five percent and the lowest five percent shrunk from 35% to 19%.
Unfortunately, the funding disparity has crept back up to 31%, mostly because the State Legislature has not adjusted the equalization formula since 1993. Equalization erosion has resulted in less levy revenue in low property wealth districts, and residents in some communities once again pay two or three time more for each levy dollar. For example, the state allows districts to have school levies up to $1,633 per pupil, and many do. The annual cost to a taxpayer per $100,000 of property value in a high property wealth school district for this levy amount is $151, while for residents and small business owners in the Rush City district the cost escalates to $409.
The time is now to bring greater equity to our schools. Students today won’t just compete against students in the next town or next state, they will compete against the entire world. All students must have equal access to a high quality education regardless of where they live in Minnesota. Many legislators recognize the need to make school levies more affordable in low property wealth districts. Contact your legislators today to say that increasing equalization must be part of the final budget agreement.
Written by Todd Anderson, President of Schools for Equity in Education (SEE). SEE is an association of 62 Minnesota School Districts, including Rush City, that serve nearly 250,000 students. SEE works to advocate for equity and adequacy in K-12 education funding and policy.
For more information,visit www.schoolsforequity.org.
Weather Emergency/School Closing Information
Listen to WCCO radio (830 AM), WCMP radio (1350 AM & 100.9 FM) or watch WCCO TV for school closing/weather emergency information.
2012-13 MCA Testing Dates:
April 16 - 11th grade Math - Segments 1&2
April 16 - 9th grade Grad Writing
April 17 - 11th grade Math - Segments 3&4
April 23 - 9th grade Grad Writing make up
April 22 - 7th grade Math - Segment 1
April 23 - 7th grade Math - Segment 2
April 24 - 8th grade Math - Segment 1
April 25 - 8th grade Math - Segment 2
April 26 - Make up 7th & 8th Math
April 29 - 10th grade Grad Reading - Segment 1
April 30 - 10th grade Grad Reading - Segment 2
May 1 - 7th grade Reading
May 2 - 7th grade Reading
May 6 - 8th grade Reading
May 7 - 8th grade Reading
May 13 - 8th grade Science
May 14 - 8th grade Science
May 15 - 10th grade Science
May 16 - 10th grade Science
March 19th - 5th grade Science
March 20th - 5th grade Science
March 21st - 5th grade Science
March 22nd - 5th grade Science Make up
April 10th - Reading
April 11th - Reading
April 15th - 18th - Reading
April 22nd - 25th - Math
April 29th & 30th - Math
Our District Newsletter is produced in September, November, January, March and May of each school year. Click the following link to view the most current copy of our newsletter.
May 2013 Newsletter
Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment Results
Minnesota Health Care Programs
Foreign Exchange Program
To view Rush City School Calendar, click on one of the following links:
2012-13 Activities Calendar
2012-13 School Calendar
2013-14 School Calendar
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Understanding Your Gay Teen
A Primer for Parents
As parents we cling to many fantasies about our kids. When they're babies, we tell ourselves: When they become toddlers, they'll never throw tantrums in the mall. When they're toddlers, we tell ourselves: When they become first-graders, they'll never have trouble learning to read or ever be sent to the principal's office. And when they're in grade school, we tell ourselves: When they're teenagers, they'll never do drugs, get pregnant, or come home and tell us that they're gay.
Those are the fantasies. But any mom or dad who's been a parent for more than 45 seconds knows that children delight in relieving us of our delusions, even as they bring us joy and wonder. Such is the case in families where an adolescent's sexual identity becomes an issue or cause for concern. Acknowledging that one's child has sexual feelings at all is difficult for many parents. But realizing that a child may not be following the traditional, or expected, path, in terms of sex and relationships, can cause parents even more distress.
"Is my son gay?" "Is my daughter bisexual?" "Can I as a parent find it within myself to accept my child's sexual identity, or should I try to dissuade my child of his or her feelings?" These can be very difficult questions for parents to consider. Here are some facts, opinions, and resources to help in the search for understanding.
How many gay, lesbian, bi and transsexual teenagers are there in the United States?
No one really knows, but the Kinsey Report estimates that one of every ten teens may be gay, lesbian, bi or transsexual.
What can parents say (or not say) if they suspect a teen is gay, lesbian, or bisexual?
Carolyn Wagner, national vice president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG (pflag.org), says a good place to start is with a statement that offers acceptance instead of judgment. This lets a teen know that Mom or Dad is approachable and open to discussions about sexual identity:
"I just want to let you know that if you're having feelings that are different from other boys (or girls), it's okay to tell me because there's nothing you can say to me that's going to make me any less proud of you, or love you any less."
What should parents say (or not say) if a teen says s/he is gay, lesbian or bisexual?
When a teen comes out, the same expression of love and support is called for, Wagner believes. She urges parents to separate their belief in their child from whatever religious beliefs may conflict with a child's sexual identity.
"When our 13-year-old son talked to us about being gay, my husband said, 'Son, I love you just the same, and you're the same son to me that you were five minutes ago.' It was very straightforward and simple. Our son jumped up, huge tears rolling down his face, and gave his father a big hug. It was only then that we learned he'd tried to commit suicide several times, and had been getting depressed. Talking really was a big relief."
Facts and Resources
How serious is the risk of HIV infection and AIDS to gay teenagers?
According to the federal government's Centers for Disease Control (CDC), half of all new HIV infections in the United States are among people under age 25. Although the overall incidence of AIDS cases is declining, there has not been a comparable decline in the number of newly diagnosed HIV infections among the youth population.
Among 13- to 24-year-old males, 50 percent of all AIDS cases reported in 1999 were among males having sex with males, as opposed to 8 percent of AIDS cases among heterosexual males. There are no such statistics regarding AIDS infection resulting from sex between females; 47 percent of the 13- to 24-year-old females infected with AIDS contracted the disease heterosexually.
How serious is the threat of depression or suicide?
A 1989 U.S. government report on youth suicide sparked controversy with its claim that gay teens are 2 to 3 times more likely to attempt suicide that other young people, and may comprise up to 30 percent of those teens who actually do take their own lives. Although some researchers have since questioned those findings, subsequent studies have shown consistently high rates of suicide attempts by homosexual youths. Still, the causal link between sexual orientation and suicide has yet to be determined.
How serious is the threat of anti-gay violence?
Says David Buckel, senior staff attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (lambdalegal.org): "Anti-gay harassment and violence is a plague in our nation's public schools. Studies show that large numbers of gay-identified students do not feel safe at school, are often threatened or injured, and often stay home for fear of injury."
Parents should know that the rights of gay, lesbian, bi or transsexual students are protected by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and by the 14th Amendment's requirement of equal treatment under the law. In a public school setting, this means, among other things, that a school district is bound by law to protect students from anti-gay harassment just as it protect students from other kinds of harassment.
What do psychiatrists say about sexual orientation?
According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, "Parents need to clearly understand that homosexual orientation is not a mental disorder. The cause(s) of homosexuality are not fully understood. However, a person's sexual orientation is not a matter of choice. In other words, individual have no more choice about being homosexual than heterosexual. All teenagers do have a choice about their expression of sexual behaviors and lifestyle, regardless of their sexual orientation." (For more information, go to aacap.org and look under "Facts for Families" for fact sheet #63, "Gay and Lesbian Adolescents.")
What do the terms "reparative therapy" and "transformational ministry" mean?
"Reparative therapy" refers to a controversial therapeutic practice intended to eliminate an individual's homosexual sexual desires. "Transformational ministry" is the use of religious or pastoral counseling to eliminate those desires. Both practices are based on an understanding of homosexuality that has been rejected by most major health and mental health professions.
What do the organized religions say about raising gay teenagers?
Only the American Baptist and Unitarian churches are open and accepting of homosexual church members. But across the country, many individual priests and ministers are openly defying the edicts of the church hierarchy and showing support for parents raising gay, lesbian, bi and transsexual youth. The same is true of many unaffiliated Christian churches.
What about the future (marriage and grandchildren?)
Says PFLAG's Wagner: "This is where you as a parent project your own plans and dreams, for weddings and grandchildren, rather than look at your children's own hopes for the future. But just because your child is not heterosexual doesn't mean you are not going to have a wedding or grandchildren. I have been to several commitment ceremonies that were just beautiful, with all the families there. And there are now thousands of gay couples in committed relationships who are raising children."
More on: Teen Social and Emotional Issues
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Part of Our Shared History
August 31, 2012
I recently attended the 68th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising in Banska Bystrica and will return to the area this weekend to participate in the annual Sliac Airshow. This year, a U.S. B-52 Statofortress will be at the airshow, and I had the chance to tour this plane on SNP day along with President Gasparovic and several ministers. As the crew of this impressive plane began planning their visit, they discovered remarkable historical links between their unit and Slovakia.
On the morning of August 29, 1944, the same day as the Uprising, twenty eight B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 2nd Bomb Group set out from Italy on a mission to destroy strategic targets in German-occupied Ostrava, Czech Republic. Nine aircraft from the 2nd Bomb Group, including all seven from the 20th Bomb Squadron, were shot down as they traveled the dangerous flight route over Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Forty airmen were killed, another forty-six were taken prisoner, and four airmen successfully evaded the Germans.
The stories of these men are incredible and touching. Many of those killed during the mission were given dignified burials by the Czechs and Slovaks who found their bodies. Those who escaped their damaged planes and survived told stories of locals who provided them food, shelter, and medical assistance even though the Germans threatened to execute anyone found aiding Americans.
A Czech family hid one of the airmen for the duration of the war. Slovaks helped three others escape to Banska Bystrica, the base for the Uprising. On September 17, two U.S. B-17s landed at Tri Duby Airfield, now Sliac Airport, in a daring behind-enemy-lines mission to provide assistance to the Uprising and rescue these and other airmen who had been shot down in operations over Slovakia. A similar mission brought back an additional 28 U.S. airmen on October 7.
August 29, 1944, was a very momentous day in the history of Slovakia and the 2nd Bomb Group. Both the Uprising and the sacrifices of the U.S airmen demonstrate the commitment of Slovaks and Americans to fighting for our core shared values: freedom, liberty, and democracy.
I hope you will have the chance to visit the Sliac airshow this weekend, meet the crew of the B-52, and experience part our shared history.
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Monica: How would you suggest we get practice signing?
DrVicars: Okay about practice. You need to tie into the Deaf community. I know that
somewhat difficult for many of you, but try to find a friend or someone else whom you can
You might want to try your local library's audio/visual dept. Ask the librarian about
teach sign language.
Check with your local college and or community education organizations.
Call the "night-school" director of your school district and ask about
Check with your state's division of services to the deaf.
If you are the religious type, check with your church for deaf outreach services.
Subscribe to the nationwide deaf magazines: The NAD Broadcaster (301) 587-1788
[Editor's note: the publication has been changed into "NAD Mag," so I
suggest you visit www.nad.org for subscription info], or the
Silent News (609) 802-1977. Then also subscribe to your local Deaf Community newspaper
When you get the newspapers, look in the "What's Happening" sections and try
to find activities
and events that you can attend or participate in.
Ask the Deaf people in your area if there is a list of Deaf Organizations and contact
Then contact the president of each organization that is of interest to you and ask if you
volunteer is some capacity.
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Help save the planet one step at a time!
It's no secret; this big-blue marble we call home is starting to show some rough edges. The big question is, how can we be kinder and gentler to our planet, and yet, maintain our busy lifestyles?
Saving the Planet should be treated just like any other goal...
One Step at a Time.
During the program you'll work to develop what we like to call a "Green Brain." Train Your Brain readings aret specifically designed to train the brain to grab hold of the behaviors that will lead you to a more environmentally conscious way of thinking.
Delivered through our online learning platform "The Toolbox," each lesson contains valuable tips presented in easy to digest bite-size chunks via audio and video coaching, readings and exercises.As you progress through the program, you'll also gain access to powerful tools for change, like the "Small Steps" tool - which you can use everyday to record ideas, and make lists of the little things you achieve as you start living more green. The Excuse List will help you identify and be more mindful of the excuses you're using as to why you're NOT taking action to be more green. The "Green Plan" Tool will allow you to schedule some major changes you can make in your life and sends you reminders as the deadlines for those changes draw near. ToolsToLife.com's mission is to provide for you ways that you can improve your life, contribute to your community and help affect positive changes in the world. In line with that mission we're proud to offer you our latest program, Start Living Green Tools. We'll show you what actions you can start taking today to begin living a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. To get started though, it's up to you to take the first step. (Don't worry, it's easy, and it's free.)
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|
Unemployment Insurance Will Promote Economic Recovery
Preventing unemployment benefits from expiring could prevent the loss of more than 500,000 jobs
December 9, 2011
Families have a lot on their minds right now. The holidays are right around the corner and Congress has not yet passed an extension of federal unemployment insurance for millions of Americans.
If Republicans in Congress fail to act before the end of the year, Americans who have lost their jobs will also begin losing their federal unemployment insurance in January. By February, roughly 2 million Americans will have had their benefits cut off.
An extension of benefits would not only ensure a continuation of vital assistance to the unemployed, it also will promote our economic recovery. The Congressional Budget Office notes that unemployment benefits are "both timely and cost-effective in spurring economic activity and employment." And the Economic Policy Institute has estimated that preventing unemployment benefits from expiring could prevent the loss of more than 500,000 jobs.
The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2011--which I have co-sponsored--would extend the current federal unemployment insurance programs through next year. The legislation would also provide some immediate assistance to states grappling with insolvency within their own unemployment insurance programs by relieving states from interest payments on federal loans for a year and would place a one-year moratorium on higher federal unemployment taxes that are imposed on employers in states with outstanding loans.
These solvency provisions will stop $5 billion in tax hikes on employers in nearly two dozen states, as well as provide $1.5 billion in interest relief. In my state of Michigan, employers will see $237 million in federal tax relief, and the state could save about $1 million in interest payments.
Imagine if all of the unemployed were able to come to Washington. The line of Americans standing shoulder-to-shoulder would extend from the Capitol to Sioux Falls, S.D.
Congress has never allowed emergency unemployment benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was anywhere close to its current level of 8.6 percent, and we should not start now.
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She was the most fortunate of women, she told herself again. Large in girth, Jochebed kept her secret from all except family. Her eyes focused on the far wall where a shaft of moonlight illuminated the travels of a large cockroach. Its tenacity reminded her of Amram, her husband, who chafed under the yoke of a harsh taskmaster who was as resolute to smash him, as she was that persistent insect.
Another blinding cramp caused her to grip her daughter’s little hand to keep from crying out.
“Quickly, child! The birthing stool!”
“Where, Mama, where?”
“Hidden under the wall bench. You must pry the base loose first.”
Seven-year-old Miriam briskly obeyed, alarmed at her mother’s muffled cries . . .
Two months later, Miriam was washing her baby brother’s clothing in the river. Spreading the cloths over a tree branch to dry, she peeked through the tall reeds to watch the princess and her handmaidens approach the opposite bank.
The princess was crying again. Miriam wondered how anyone with so much could be so unhappy. The handmaidens were trying to comfort her and, their attention diverted, Miriam chose the opportunity to creep closer.
“Dear Hatshepsut, don’t fret! You will have a healthy son, just wait and see! If anyone deserves a child, it is you! We will ask the gods to grant you a man-child to replace the daughter you lost.”
Miriam smiled softly as she thought of her entrancing baby brother. She knew her mother would be inconsolable if her baby brother died, a strong possibility. At least a baby boy belonging to this princess would not be a Hebrew baby, doomed to drown in this very river by the Pharaoh’s edict. Spurred by these thoughts, she quickly retrieved the laundry to scurry home. Even now, the guards might be scouring the village for newborns!
Jochebed was preparing her baby son for his nap, wrapping him snugly into the cleverly concealed bench drawer. Unlike his older brother, Aaron, who was sensitive to the slightest noise, this baby was unusually quiet. It was getting harder to muffle his occasional sobs, however, and he was outgrowing the hide-a-way. Miriam watched the furrows on her mother’s brow deepen while she patted her brother to sleep.
“Mama, I saw the princess and her ladies at the river today,” she babbled, hoping to distract her mother’s thoughts.
Alarmed, Jochebed asked, “You weren’t seen with your brother’s swaddling!”
“They were busy comforting the princess.” Miriam repeated their conversation. As Jochebed prepared the evening meal for her family, she pondered an idea.
“I can’t do it. I love him too much. It will tear my heart out.”
Regardless, Jochebed and Amram both felt God’s hand upon their youngest child, and His guidance as they hatched a bold plan to preserve his life.
Mother and daughter worked on the dried stems of bulrushes, kept hanging from the rafters, to make the boat. Using slime and pitch, they formed them into a large sturdy basket that would not leak. The drying and expanding process took days, but finally, it was ready.
Jochebed nursed her baby, donned him in fresh cloths, and covered him in the finely woven homespun blanket that was warm as it was light. She and Miriam stealthily walked to the river in the dewy grass, the gently rocking basket between them, lulling the baby to sleep. With kisses damp upon his brow, his mother waded out into the Nile River and placed the basket tenderly into the rushes so that they canopied over it, an airy bonnet of protection.
Miriam remained after her mother left, following the lazy floating basket until she saw the royal entourage forming at the bank a few feet away. Suddenly, the baby began great sobbing gulps of wailing that Miriam could envision awakening the entire palace. Hatshepsut ordered her slave girl to retrieve the basket from the river. With awed tenderness, the princess picked up the squalling infant who immediately quieted with her loving touch.
“Look, Shaba, a Hebrew baby—see the homespun gray blanket with the tell-tale design! Why, it is a male child! Oh, we must save him! He is mine. I will call him Moses, because I drew him from the water.”
Miriam, standing close by, eagerly approached.
“Do you have anyone to nurse the infant? Because I know a lady.”
“Yes, child, yes! Bring her now!”
Dawning enlightenment beaming on her face, the princess murmured,
“And I will pay her to care for OUR child.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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World Wetlands Day in the USA
Common Ground for Conservation
World Wetlands Day 2007
Wetlands, fisheries and Ramsar January 2007
At least one billion people mostly in developing countries - rely on fish as their primary source of animal protein, and an estimated 35 million people are directly engaged, either full- or part-time, in fishing for wild stocks or in aquaculture. In the past 30 years aquaculture has become the fastest growing food production sector in the world, providing one-third of the fish people consume.
That sounds like mostly good news. But our technological capacity to catch and farm fish has developed without enough consideration for the health of the ecosystems both marine and freshwater that sustain fish and fisheries. The result? Many fisheries are not sustainably managed. So heres some of the bad news:
- Seventy-five percent of commercially important marine, and most inland water fish stocks are either currently overfished or are being fished at their biological limit.
- Demand for seafood products has doubled over the past 30 years and is likely to continue alongside a growing global population.
- Industrial fishing fleets compete often in coastal areas with small-scale and artisanal fishers for diminishing fish stocks. Conflicts and habitat destruction are ongoing problems, and there is a need for protection and appropriate management, such as co-management, for small-scale fishers who constitute over 90% of the people involved in coastal and offshore fishing.
- The growth of aquaculture is making more fish available when at the same time some capture fisheries are failing, providing employment and a significant food source, but it often brings with it a host of environmental problems: a heavy dependency on inputs such as energy, chemicals, and the use of wild fish as a food source; destruction of mangroves to make way for aquaculture ponds; pollution of local habitats; introduction of non-native species, etc. Achieving sustainability in aquaculture is possible but not yet widespread.
- The use of destructive fishing practices (such as uncontrolled trawling, dynamiting and use of fish poisons) are still of concern and control measures are often hard to implement.
What is World Wetlands Day?
Every year on February 2nd we celebrate World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2nd 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Each year, government agencies, non- governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.
The Ramsar Convention aimed to protect inland and coastal wetlands support fish and fisheries at all levels, from large-scale, commercial fisheries to subsistence fishers, and from wild, capture fisheries to farmed fish (aquaculture).
What can YOU do?
Almost everyone has some involvement in fisheries - whether you are consumer, tucking into curried prawns or grilled fish, a producer, fishing for wild fish or farming salmon, carp or prawns, a decision-maker who can oversee the development and implementation of sustainable fishing practices, or an environmentalist, dedicated to conserving aquatic ecosystems, or indeed any combination of these.
All of the fish in the Everglades need clean water to survive. During periods of long drought, up to 90% of the fish in the park may die. If the fish die, there is no food for the birds and they die, as well. You can help. Conserve water, and do NOT release exotic fish from your aquariums into the canals.
Coastal wetlands, such as mangroves and seagrass beds, additionally provide key spawning and nursery areas for fish that spend their adult lives in deeper waters.
Let us take care of The Everglades: Ramsar site, World Heritage Site, Biosphere Reserve; National Park, Wilderness Area.
This year we look forward to everyone involved in celebrating the value of wetlands in supporting sustainable fisheries.
Everyone has a role to play in sustainable fisheries.
Watch the Video
Common Ground for Conservation Team
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Creating a fairer Britain
25 April 2012
The Commission believes the first judgements handed down by the Supreme Court on age discrimination will remind all employers of their responsibilities and help make the law clearer.
19 April 2012
Research released by the Commission at this week’s Brighton conference on the European Court of Human Rights, shows that just a tiny minority of rulings by the Strasbourg Court are against the UK government.
03 April 2012
A Commission spokesperson said: 'The Government’s email and web monitoring plans would potentially be incompatible with the right to privacy of many ordinary people in the UK.'
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Teenagers aren't the only ones who skirt the truth in admitting drug use: Their parents do it too, a new study suggests.
Teens were 52 times more likely to test positive for cocaine use than report using it, while parents were 6.5 times more likely to do the same, the researchers said. Both groups misrepresented their illicit drug use despite knowing they would undergo a drug test.
"If someone asks you a question and you don’t like the answer, it's human nature to provide a socially acceptable answer," lead researcher Dr. Virginia Delaney-Black of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, told LiveScience. "They're putting a spin on their lives and experiences, and I think it’s perfectly natural." (Delaney-Black is also a professor of pediatrics at Wayne State University in Detroit.)
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In one of the first large, nonclinical teen studies with biological testing, the researchers asked more than 430 urban teens and parents about their cocaine and opiate use in face-to-face interviews and questionnaires.
Hair samples – which can reflect drug use for up to three months – were tested, and all participants were promised confidentiality. Parents were also asked to divulge if they suspected drug use among their children.
Despite the checks and balances, both teens and parents also tested positive for opiate use at higher rates than reported – with parents 5.5 times more likely to deny later-proven use.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 5.3 million Americans ages 12 and older had abused cocaine in 2008. Non-medical use of the opiates Vicodin and OxyContin, both prescription painkillers, increased during the last five years among 10th graders.
"For adults, the perceived threat of legal consequences from acknowledging illicit drug use may contribute to the relative poor sensitivity of self-report," Delaney-Black wrote in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics, which appears online today (Oct. 25).
Patrick J. Hart, a Seattle psychologist specializing in family drug intervention, said removing the stigma from drug dependency is likely to prompt more adults and teens to seek treatment instead of hiding their habit.
"One thing to highlight is the emotions underlying the underreporting," said Hart, who was not involved in the study. "It's a shame-based illness, so the context of shame is an important consideration."
Delaney-Black said she and other researchers were concerned about the substantial discrepancy between how many teens admitted using drugs and how many actually did. Also disturbing was that many parents were not aware their children were users, she said.
The study "confirm(s) our concerns that both teen- and parent-reported teen drug use is limited, at least for youth in high-risk urban settings," she wrote.
Medical professionals should anticipate that teens who claim to be drug-free may not be telling the truth, Delaney-Black said, even if they are reassured the information is confidential.
"The take-home message is to have pediatricians recognize . . . they need not rely on self-reporting,” she said. "I don't think our results are that surprising, if we really thought about it. Nobody likes the truth when they think it might be embarrassing."
- 10 Easy Paths to Self-Destruction
- 5 Painful Facts You Need to Know
- 7 Solid Health Tips That No Longer Apply
© 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
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by Chien-Chi Chang
Tanzania has faced double HIV/AIDS epidemics: an old generalised epidemic, (more than 6% prevalence in the general population) and more recently, a new concentrated one among injecting drug users (IDUs). Dar Es Salam is one of the areas most affected by this last epidemic.
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Home Page Archives
"I went to India in 1959 for what was meant to be four months and I stayed for 14 years," Marilyn Silverstone once said. Then, in 1977, Silverstone took another life-changing step: she gave up her career as photographer and became a Buddhist nun.
In Access to Life, eight Magnum photographers portray people in nine countries around the world before and four months after they began antiretroviral treatment for AIDS.
Magnum In Motion
Magnum In Motion is a library of more than 100 short web documentaries available for syndication and screenings.
Browse through our catalog.
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Mitt Romney with Kid Rock
Maybe you should just plug your iPod into the booth or connect the Diebold machine to Facebook this November. It started as an office joke, but after running the numbers, I can’t escape the data. It turns out music preference is pretty well correlated with political affiliation.
A few highlights:
- Republicans seem to have less diverse music taste than Democrats
- Kenny Chesney fans are most likely to swing right, Rihanna fans left.
- Metal fans could save us all from a two-party system.
Over the past few years, we here at The Echo Nest have put a lot of engineer energy into “Taste Profiles” – our server-side representation of everything a listener does with music. We first released them in 2010, then we linked them to our playlist API with catalog-radio, and recently released a large amount for research. Anyone can store their musical activity across services in our “cloud” from metadata, audio files or fingerprints, and update stats like play counts, skips, ratings, loves and bands. The Taste Profile ID can then do all sorts of stuff – everything from recommending you new music, to syncing your local collection to a cloud service, to suggesting shows to see, to some of the crazy stuff I’ll walk through below.
Quite a lot of our API developers and customers are already using Taste Profiles to manage the musical identity of their customers, and we use them internally as the proving ground for a lot of our analytics work. For example, we spent the last few months making sure people listen to our automated radio service (used in iHeartRadio, Spotify, VEVO, MOG and many others) as long as possible by predicting how they’ll respond to our suggestions. And with today’s release of new Taste Profile key-values you can now annotate a Taste Profile with any information you want (such as your location, the device you’re using, your IDs on social networks or anything else) and we’ll use it to give you better results. Part of the push behind arbitrary data in a musical identify is to track how “non-musical behaviors” can make our results better. If you live in Sweden, maybe you don’t want to hear ABBA anymore. Or you’ve just seen a Wes Anderson film — we might want to send you down a Kinks path.
We’ve been collecting this (completely anonymized of course) data for a while now and started looking into what correlations exist between music, psychographics, demographics and other media preferences. As the time is upon us in the US to start thinking about who to elect as president, we thought we’d first look to see what political affiliation data we had and if it had any correlation to music. Can we tell if someone is a Republican just from his or her iTunes collection? And if so, which artists are the key “tells” for both sides? What we found was fascinating.
Predicting politics from Taste Profiles
Barack Obama with BB King
Some couching notes before we get started: although we have far more data, we’ll only look at listeners that self-report as either “Democrat-aligned” or “Republican-aligned” and are living in the US, to make it a quicker read. The political alignment was automatically derived from annotations of political figures or parties, we grouped prominent political figures such as Bill or Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Kerry and so on as Democrat alignment, as would be a specific party affiliation. Likewise for republican: George Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and so on. If someone listed both or had conflicting affiliations we did not include them in this experiment, nor did we consider any other party or country. Finally, throughout this I’ll call the two classes “Democrats” and “Republicans,” even though that’s an incredibly generalized version of the available data.
So let’s get to it: let’s take a bunch of Taste Profiles, see which ones have political affiliation listed and then try to learn the relationship between the musical data in the Taste Profile and the affiliation.
What kind of musical data are we talking about here? An Echo Nest Taste Profile can be as simple as a list of artists the listener likes or can include very detailed information about his or her listening activity. The Echo Nest then of course has tens of thousands of points of data to associate with each artist or song. These data points are as mundane as the name of the artist (“Carly Rae Jepsen”) to as complex as the number of millseconds in between each downbeat (4508), or the predicted key (E major), or the probabilities of words people use to describe the artist on the internet (“angular,” “stupid,” “witch house.”) We use all of this data to recommend you music on MTV.com or play you a great station on iHeartRadio, and here we’re going to use it to see if you like big government.
Cultural vectors used in Echo Nest musical analysis, here for “ABBA”
For every person’s Taste Profile, we have many thousands of terms that describe the kind of music the person is into. For this experiment, half of the Taste Profiles’ worth of musical term data is thrown into The Echo Nest’s statistical machine learning classifiers (we have our own custom stuff that mostly acts as a very large scale multi-class support vector machine.) and associated with the “ground truth” of affiliation to try to learn a model of each class. In layman’s terms, this basically means we show the system a bunch of examples of Democrat Taste Profiles and a bunch of Republican ones and see if it can predict the class on a new, unknown Taste Profile. Our machine learning tech is good at handling messy data like this— we’ve added a lot of math and magic on top to deal with our specific kind of musical data.
After we’ve learned the model we can then test it by giving it the other half of the data — asking our classifiers to identify each previously unknown Taste Profile as each Democrat or Republican — to see how well it does at prediction. We use a few measures to evaluate the experiment:
- raw accuracy (out of all the test examples, how many did we get right)
- precision (out of the ones we predicted in the class, how many were in that class)
- recall (out of all the examples of that class, how many did the classifier find) and
- F1, a blended measure of precision and recall that people in this field like to use as a general performance metric.
Looks like we’ve got something here! We hit an F1 of over 0.8 for Republican prediction and just under 0.4 for Democrat prediction. These are both good numbers, in line or above many other prediction algorithms. But why is our Democrat prediction less than half as accurate as our Republican prediction? Shouldn’t they be the same?
Political affiliation is not binary, and it’s not like we can assume that just because someone didn’t explicitly list an affiliation with the Democratic party that they are voting for Romney. And it turns out the correlation between musical preference and Democrat affiliation is slightly harder to tease out. When I was going over the data I had a theory: Republicans might listen to fewer kinds of music. If most of the class you are trying to predict stays within a narrow range of music types, they’re easier to spot. Conversely, if the class you’re predicting is all over the musical map, it becomes harder to make accurate predictions. And the data shows it. If we add up the occurrence of each musical term associated with each person (for example: Joe listens to “rock” at “110 bpm” that sounds like “Aerosmith” or “the 70s” and is voting for Romney, we mark a +1 under each of those terms for the Republican bucket) and then plot the histogram counts in descending order, we see a clear difference in both the magnitude and distribution of musical types for the two political affiliations.
Histogram counts of the top occurring musical terms for each class.
Not only are there less musical types overall, but the clear almost right angle “elbow” of the Republican histogram distribution shows that after a small set of top ranking terms, their listenership tends to have far less musical diversity. The Democrat curve is smoother, indicating that those people listen to more types of music overall. Overall, for every 10 unique musical types Democrats listen to, Republicans listen to just 7.
As silly as it might seem to predict political affiliation with music, this is a great example of why we do this kind of analysis. Now that we’ve found room for improvement in predicting a class by looking at diversity as a feature, we can apply this in our work to make our playlists and recommendations better. We’re currently adding a “diversity index” to our Taste Profile back end to model this exact effect.
Who are Kenny Chesney fans voting for?
Another fun thing to look with these political classifiers is the inputs that the machine thought were the most predictive of political affiliation. For each class, you can do some quick math on the model by inspecting the margin. This tells us which musical terms and properties best separate each political class:
In this diagram of the support vector machine in action, the circles on the dotted lines are the support vectors where training examples are used to define the classification boundaries.
Since a list of probabilities of music vectors isn’t exactly good blog material, I found the closest matching artists to each set of terms to show here. We get a great list from doing this:
Artists whose fans are most correlated to Republican
- 1. Kenny Chesney
- 2. George Strait
- 3. Reba McEntire
- 4. Tim McGraw
- 5. Jason Aldean
- 6. Blake Shelton
- 7. Shania Twain
- 8. Kelly Clarkson
- 9. Pink Floyd
- 10. Elvis Presley
Artists whose fans are most correlated to Democrat
- 1. Rihanna
- 2. Jay-Z
- 3. Madonna
- 4. Lady Gaga
- 5. Katy Perry
- 6. Snoop Dogg
- 7. Chris Brown
- 8. Usher
- 9. Eminem
- 10. Bob Marley
The Democrat high predictive list reminds me of another experiment I ran: taking the Billboard Top 10 and feeding it through the predictor. As of this writing the top artists are Carly Rae Repsen, Maroon 5, Gotye, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Ellie Goulding, fun., Nicki Minaj, David Guetta and Usher — almost all artists that skew very strongly Democratic. If only people that buy singles in music stores vote this November, it will be a complete Obama landslide.
Classifier confusion prediction
Lastly, I thought the “highest confusion” artist list was interesting. These artists are not good predictors of either Republican or Democrat, so if you like them, you’re relatively safe from this Minority Report shit.
Artists whose fans are hardest to predict for either Democrat or Republican
- 1. The Beatles
- 2. Marilyn Manson
- 3. The Rolling Stones
- 4. Johnny Cash
- 5. Pantera
- 6. Alice in Chains
- 7. Paradise Lost
- 8. Moonspell
- 9. Fleetwood Mac
- 10. Tiamat
I found it neat these non-predictive artists were mainly metal. Perhaps the genre that can finally bring this divided country together or break the lock on the two party system.
OK, now what?
Obviously, The Echo Nest is not going to quit our day jobs to become pollsters. But it’s fascinating how much information about you is sitting inside your musical tastes, and we also appreciate how we can use these experiments to tune our models to make your listening experience better on everything we power (Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio, eMusic, MOG, Spotify, Nokia, the BBC, VEVO, and many more.) We have a lot more ideas around this angle. Stay tuned to this blog for more experiments, and please let me know if you’ve got any great ideas.
Huge thanks to proofreaders / reviewers Dan Ellis, Eliot van Buskirk, Jim Lucchese
All data used in this experiment (and all Echo Nest Taste Profile data used in analytics) was carefully anonymized before we received it. ↩
Please get in touch if you’ve got a great idea for another experiment on data like this that I don’t cover! ↩
Perhaps fit for another blog post, but if you’re reading down here: it turns out that the musical data the Echo Nest has is crucial for the experiment to work. Just training a model against artist or song names alone did not work nearly as well. F1s dropped on average of 20–40% depending on the task. ↩
In practice we use a somewhat “reduced” form of the SVM known as RLSC so that we can easily scale across many machines, but the intent is the same. You can read about RLSC on music data in an old paper of mine if you’re interested. (PDF) ↩
We trained two binary classifiers: Rep vs. Dem and Dem vs. Rep. The training data chose a large random sample from the universe of data, which was 66% Dem and 34% Rep. ↩
To make this histogram chart, we normalized both bucket counts first by the universe of terms to ensure this bias in the priors would not affect the distribution. ↩
One day, Echo Nest will start delineating between “good” Pink Floyd (Syd) and the other kind ↩
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Download the application
Applications are due October 28, 2012.
Ari Hahn Peace Awards
The Ari Hahn Peace Awards are given annually to people who wish to work toward coexistence and peaceful ways of addressing and resolving conflicts of many sorts. The awards are meant to enhance peace culture as it evolves in our society and elsewhere in the world.
Applications must be in one of these three categories:
Art works and essays on peace. Works of art related to peace include those that reveal the costs of violence, the commitment to non-violent struggle, and artistic expressions of any aspect of conflict and peace culture. These submissions might take the form of poetry (a substantial poem or group of poems), a play or scene or short story related to peace; slides of visual art; cassettes or CDs of music; or other forms of documentation appropriate to the work. This category covers already completed works of art. Essays of 20-30 pages are included in this category of submission.
Travel grants for participation in a peace project or conference in this country or elsewhere. This designation is for people with a demonstrated record of serious peace activism.
Seed money for peace-related projects. For applicants who design and organize a project such as a community mediation service at Brandeis or in a nearby community, or a peace education project in local public or religious schools, or a dialogue group on or off campus. It is also available for peace promoting projects elsewhere.
PAX is usually faced with more outstanding applications than it can fund. Through the Ari Hahn Peace Awards, the program will be able to select more applicants, and offer larger grants consonant with the projects offered.
Here are examples of some of the proposals granted in past years for peace awards:
- Creation of a Turkish/Armenian dialogue group at Brandeis, to bring together students from those communities when they are in the U.S. and give them a chance to discuss the sensitive issues of Turkish/Armenian relations in a safe, academic environment.
- Conducting leadership building workshops, open to all community members at Brandeis. It is designed to equip participants with skills for resolving conflict and setting up conflict resolution institutions in their various countries, if they are international students.
- Creation of a primer for college students hoping to do good abroad in internships, study programs, or on their own.
- Investigating creative methods and approaches of students active in a national organization working to alleviate and raise awareness about the crisis in Darfur.
- Investigation of corporate practices that might be amenable to change in developing regions of the world where child soldiers and ex-child soldiers create huge problems in their societies.
- Volunteer work with the Center for World Solidarity in Orissa, India, which works to further the cause of sustainable development and for the rights and empowerment of women and minorities in India. The volunteer was there to teach English and sexual health practices to rural women in Orissa state and learn about and contribute to sustainable development projects there.
The Ari Hahn Peace Awards would allow PAX to fund more, and more fully, the excellent work proposed by students who apply for the awards.
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The Dominoes (also sometimes known as Billy Ward & the Dominoes) had one of the finest musical pedigrees of any R&B vocal group of the 1940s, at least based on its founder's training and experience. A lots of R&B acts came out of a gospel background, and Bo Diddley even studied violin as a boy, but rare is the R&B vocal group whose founder was trained at Juilliard. Billy Ward (born September 19, 1921, Los Angeles) had a minister father and a musician mother, and was a musical prodigy as a child, schooled in classical music theory and composition as well as performance. Before he was in his teens, Ward was good enough on the organ to play at his father's services and he won a composition award at age 14 from Walter Damrosch, the celebrated New York music educator, composer, and administrator. Following his military service during World War II, Ward studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where he later became a voice coach; he also began working on Broadway during the late '40s. It was from the ranks of his ex-students that he recruited the original members of the Dominoes: Clyde McPhatter as lead singer, Charlie White (tenor), Joe Lamont (baritone), and Bill Brown (bass). The Dominoes won a series of talent contests, including a competition on the television show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which got them a lot of engagements and an audition with Ralph Bass, the head of the newly established Federal Records label, part of Syd Nathan's King Records, during the final months of 1950. The Dominoes, with McPhatter's high tenor lead, had a startlingly fresh sound and enjoyed a number six R&B hit in early 1951 with one song from their first session, "Do Something for Me." It was in May of that year that the group broke through to the top of the R&B charts with "Sixty Minute Man," which also established them as one of the leading crossover acts between gospel and blues. Riding the wave of demand for their performances off of that hit -- one of the first great double-entendre records of the '50s and a very early example of what would be considered a "rock & roll" record -- the group spent the next seven months on the road, building up a lot of public good will and a reputation as one of the top R&B acts of the era.
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Last week's data release from Kepler appears to have temporarily overwhelmed both professional and amateur exoplanet enthusiasts. After the initial flurry of basic overview posts on the Kepler data, I noticed a conspicuous hush fall over many of my favorite astronomy blogs, presumably caused by their authors turning en masse to parse the new treasure trove.
The list of more than 1200 candidate planets will likely yield more than a thousand actual confirmed worlds once culled of false positives. One system, Kepler-11, contains six confirmed transiting planets, and another system, KOI 157, has five candidates. Eight systems have been found with four candidate planets, along with 45 triple-planet and 115 double-planet systems. It's a lot to digest, and only represents the first four months of data from a 3.5-year mission.
Fortunately, the incapacitating shock of the breadth and depth of the new dataset seems to be wearing off, and researchers are beginning to reveal some of their initial explorations. In particular, Daniel Fabrycky, a University of California-Santa Cruz astronomy post-doc and member of the Kepler team, has created an impressive visualization of projected orbital motions for all the multi-planet systems Kepler has discovered to date. Within each system, planets are color-coded according to size, with the redder planets being larger and bluer planets being smaller.
It's hard to overstate the magnitude of the insights that can potentially be extracted from novel presentations of Kepler's raw data and its present and future planetary ensemble. Though each planetary system constitutes an essentially static snapshot of only one outcome from eons-long stochastic processes, lurking in the aggregate are lessons about how exactly planets form, how orbital configurations change over time, the relative distributions of planetary size, and frequency and how a star's age, size, and mass determine the sorts of planets it produces.
Sometimes these rules and the relationships between them may clearly manifest through a simple chart or graph of two key variables, but in other cases they may only reveal themselves through more dynamic presentations and multivariate analyses that better leverage the pattern-recognition capabilities of people. In this way, Kepler's large, diverse data sets may stimulate not only a more robust understanding of stellar and planetary science, but also significant progress in the effective design and usage of scientific data visualization.
For example, novel visualizations of stellar light curves from Kepler's first batch of data, released in June 2010, allowed members of the citizen-science project Planethunters.org to preliminarily identify 83 candidate planets that were only confirmed in last week's data release.
The same visualizations, which plot dips in the brightness of the more than 150,000 Kepler monitors, also yielded what may prove to be 47 additional candidate planets that slipped through the Kepler team's automated pipeline. Many fainter, subtler signals of smaller planets in habitable orbits around larger stars are certainly present unrecognized in the most recent dataset—borderline events that won't trigger a flag in a software routine but will catch the human eye. More people should be looking—there is a not-insignificant chance that with a bit of luck and careful observation, you could discover a potentially Earth-like world in Kepler's data even before the mission's scientists do.
- Cosmic Commodities: How much is a new planet worth?
- Is There Life Out There?--The Most Thrilling Question We Can Answer
- Six ways to find another Earth
- Missing: Thousands of planets
- Kepler: All systems go!
- Science and press conferences: Seeing our own shadow
- KOI 326.01: The cream of the new Kepler crop
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|Linear Induction Motors (LIM)|
Flight of Fear at
Mr. Freeze at Six
Batman and Robin: The Chiller at Six Flags Great Adventure
does an LIM roller coaster work?
A basic LIM roller coaster works by placing hundreds of tiny motors along the coaster track at key places were acceleration will be needed – at the launching pad and at the base of each element (twists, turns, inversions, etc.).
Within an LIM the stator (the fixed part of a rotating machine) is flattened out so that it will produce a linear force along its length. While LIM can be utilized for many different purposes in several different forms, a low-acceleration LIM is used for roller coasters. This means that the linear moving electric field produces a force which acts on conductor – in this case the conductor is small metal fins placed on the roller coaster cars. The electric field produces an induced eddy current in the fins, which produces and opposing electric field. The two electric fields repel each other, pushing the cars forward on the track.
At the launch pad there is a very high concentration of these motors, in order to produce a high acceleration to propel the ride through the first element. Each of the motors are powered in a timed sequence in order to propel the ride forward to reach its maximum velocity. These LIMs can produce speeds of 60-70 miles per hour in as little as 3-4 seconds!
What are some advantages and disadvantages from using a LIM roller coaster?
Not only can LIM roller coaster accelerate at speeds of 60-70 mph in as little as 3-4 seconds, but they can also accelerate backwards, as seen in Speed – The Ride in Las Vegas ant the Sahara Hotel and Casino. This coaster uses LIMs to accelerate the ride through the ride in one direction, and when the end of the track is reached LIMs once again accelerate the ride, this time to ride the track backwards.
One of the main problems of using LIMs in theme parks is that they require large amounts of power to operate. This becomes a problem with the high frequency of operation in a theme park, and can create voltage sags in the park and nearby areas. However, if the LIM cannot draw enough current, it will not generate enough power to accelerate the ride to a speed at which the ride can clear the first element, causing the cars to become suck inverted within the first element. These problems can be solved with the use of a high speed reactive power compensation system which will provide the coaster with the high amount of current needed to operate properly, while eliminating the voltage sags.
What are some rides that utilize LIMs?
In 1996, Premier Rides, built the first LIM roller coasters as well as the first magnetically launched rollers called the Flight of Fear located at both Paramount’s Kings Island in Ohio and Paramount’s Kings Dominion in Virginia.
Other famous coasters that utilize these linear induction motors
include Mr. Freeze at Six Flags over
HOME LSM SOURCES
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Letters to the Editor
To the Editors:
In the article “Optimizing Your Retirement Income: What Works Best and Why,” by Christine Fahlund, Monte Carlo analysis was used as the basis for the recommendations [August 2008 AAII Journal]. However, Monte Carlo for stock analysis does not predict the future. It only says what the statistics were for the past. Even then, it does that wrong when it assumes inflation was constant over the whole period and there is no serial correlation. It makes no sense to have a scenario where one moment the input may be from 1933 and the next input may be from 1999. It would be better to admit that the statistics only reflect past history and use actual scenarios with the correct inflation and r
H. K. Hebeler
To the Editors:
James Cloonan errs in discussing the PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 exchange-traded fund (PRF) [“AAII Model ETF Portfolio Review and How to Take Advantage of ETFs” November 2008 AAII Journal]. This ETF tracks the Fundamental Index devised by Research Associates and maintained by FTSE—1,000 large-capitalization U.S. stocks compose the index. Dr. Cloonan states that the index weights its components with proprietary fundamental factors. However, these factors are publicly and plainly disclosed in the book “The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest.” The four metrics employed by the authors—Arnott, Hsu, and West—are the last quarter’s book value and trailing five-year sales, cash flows, and dividends. These authors, who are also the inventors of the method, explain how they weight companies that pay no dividends. They give enough information for any investor—institutional or individual—to learn to weight his own port
To read more, please become an AAII member or CLICK HERE.
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The World Wide Web is still learning how to stage protests online, with people and companies trying different tactics, throwing spaghetti against the Internet and trying to see what sticks.
The reaction from the Web on Wednesday to two separate bills in Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, seems to have pushed the online protesting experiment a little further.
Some of the reactions were borrowed from revolutions in the Middle East last year, when people changed their Twitter avatars to the color green to show support for the cause. This visual gesture seems to be borrowed from the physical badges people used to pin to a jacket or bag to protest wars and support causes in the past.
Hunter Walk, an early employee at Google, acting on his own accord, set up a Web site called #BlackoutSOPA, which allowed people to easily change their Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus avatars, adding banners to the bottom of their photos that proclaim: “STOP SOPA.”
Since the site was introduced earlier this month, more than 73,000 people had chosen to change their avatars. As a result, based on the number of followers these people have, more than 53 million people on Twitter and more than nine million Facebook users will potentially see these virtual protest badges.
“I wanted to make sure we reached people beyond the true believers, and that we can convert passion into action,” Mr. Walk said in a phone interview, explaining why he created the project. “If we can create an action that is persistent and visual, this can translate to people who don’t know about this issue. Then it’s working.”
One of the newer tricks in the online protesting movement came in the form of blackouts, in which sites took their content completely offline.
In a telephone interview over the weekend, Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist in New York and a managing partner at Union Square Ventures, said that it made sense for some sites, like Wikipedia, which does not have daily revenues tied to page views, to go dark. Other sites, though, needed to offer alternative ways to protest the Congressional bills.
“I don’t think it would be responsible for sites like Twitter and Tumblr to go dark, too, as too many people rely on these services,” Mr. Wilson said.
Tumblr, a site in which Union Square Ventures has invested, gave people the option to black out their own blogs in protest of the proposed legislation. Flickr adopted a similar approach, creating an option for people to black out specific photos on the site.
Although some complained that sites like Twitter and Facebook should have gone offline too, it would have been almost impossible to share and promote the cause at hand without these social networks.
Although figuring out what works and what doesn’t in online protest will take time, it is clear that people are taking to the Web to voice their opinions and rally behind a cause.
The Web site hotspot.io, which tracks social media, found that at one point there were more than 270,000 Twitter messages per hour related to SOPA and PIPA on Wednesday. This is up 500 percent from the same time on Tuesday. Twitter also registered 2.4 million related Twitter posts on Wednesday alone.
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This analysis of the history of the Chicago Board Options Exchange
explores the performativity of economics, a theme in economic sociology
recently developed by Callon. Economics was crucial to the
creation of financial derivatives exchanges: it helped remedy the
drastic loss of legitimacy suffered by derivatives in the first half of
the 20th century. Option pricing theory—a “crown jewel” of neoclassical
economics—succeeded empirically not because it discovered
preexisting price patterns but because markets changed in ways
that made its assumptions more accurate and because the theory
was used in arbitrage. The performativity of economics, however,
has limits, and an emphasis on it needs to be combined with classic
themes in economic sociology, such as Granovetterian embedding
and the way in which exchanges can be cultures and moral communities
in which collective action problems can be solved.
For that matter, I'm so enthusiastic I'll even include a link to the official pdf for the article even if I have no idea if that pdf actually works or is screened out by some website security feature.
I read the article straight through in my office, remaining so riveted while I read it that the motion detector in my office turned the lights off twice on me. I'm normally so restless in the office that I think I've only had the motion detector turn off here twice before ever.
Also today, I was told by a graduate student whose presentation I had gone to earlier this semester that the student had judged the comments I had offered to be the "Least Relevant" of anything that anyone said about it.
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"I can only welcome the agreement that has been reached between the partners to set a timeline to agree on thresholds and to make progress on that journey toward banking union," IMF director Christine Lagarde told reporters during a visit to Chile's capital of Santiago.
"We regard this as one of the three pillars to reinforce the Euro zone—the currency pillar, the banking union pillar and the fiscal union pillar. On the banking union pillar clearly progress has been made yesterday and we salute it."
After a marathon session, EU finance ministers agreed on a deal that gives the European Central Bank extensive powers, including power to grant and withdraw banking licenses, investigate institutions and fine banks that fail to abide by the rules. It also paves the way for Europe's rescue fund to directly aid the euro zone's troubled banks.
Under the deal, banks with more than (EURO)30 billion ($39 billion) in assets supervised or those that represent a significant proportion of their national economies will be under the oversight of the European Central Bank.
Lagarde also lauded Chile for being one of the strongest economies in South America. She said the IMF expects the Andean country's 2012 economic growth at 5.5 percent, as robust domestic demand offsets weaker exports.
"It's one of the best students in the class," Lagarde said about Chile's economy and the government's ability to keep unemployment at historic levels and inflation controlled at below target of 3 percent.
"It has enjoyed robust growth for the last decade. It has a strong economic policy framework and it has now reinforced the economy resilience in the country in the face of potential external shocks coming from the United States, the European Union and potential volatility of the price of commodities."
Lagarde said Chile, the world's top copper producer, faces potential risks from fluctuations in the price of commodities. She said it could also suffer from a potential U.S. fiscal cliff problem, if it's not resolved in time, and an acceleration of the Euro zone debt crisis.
Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao
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McFarland: Petrol-sniffing Act will save SA lives
- From: The Advertiser
- November 22, 2011
KUNMANARA Brown, an Aboriginal man from Central Australia, was only 18 when he hanged himself behind the house his mother was staying in at Kilkenny two years ago.
He had moved from Alice Springs down to Adelaide in an effort to rid himself of the grim habit of inhaling petrol fumes.
This sad and dehumanising practice is adopted by some young people in remote Aboriginal communities to relieve the boredom and purposelessness they experience.
On April 1, 2009, under the influence of petrol, Brown had threatened his mother and her partner with a knife. Police were called to the house and, according to a recently concluded coronial inquiry, did everything they reasonably could to deal with the situation that confronted them.
They cut Mr Brown down from the cable he had used to hang himself and applied CPR quickly and purposefully.
In January 2008, Kunmunara Brown's grandfather had made application to the NT government for his grandson to be "taken to an approved facility for assessment and treatment".
The request was made under the provisions of the NT Volatile Substance Abuse Prevention Act 2005, which operates only in that territory.
The Act, developed after rigorous consultation with Aboriginal communities, does not criminalise volatile substance abuse, nor does it prescribe prison sentences for offenders. It simply offers a cohesive framework which allows authorities to intervene and provide treatment to those abusing these substances.
The Act has four key areas.
First, it empowers "authorised persons" to remove and dispose of volatile substances when individuals are abusing them, and to take these persons to a "place of safety".
Second, people concerned about a family member's volatile substance abuse can apply for an assessment to be carried out. Subsequently, the Chief Health Officer may seek a court order requiring the individual to receive treatment.
Third, remote communities can apply to the minister for the community to be declared a "management area", which enables them to implement local plans to help eliminate volatile substance abuse.
Finally, the Act prohibits individuals from supplying volatile substances in circumstances where they are likely to be misused.
CAYLUS (Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service) believes that the Act has been instrumental in seeing the number of petrol sniffers in the central desert area fall from 500 to fewer than 20. The evidence suggests VSAP legislation, introduced in concert with culturally sensitive youth programs, is highly effective.
Aboriginal people in Central Australia are highly mobile, so it is critical for their wellbeing that they are treated consistently by the jurisdictions of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Deputy Coroner Anthony Schapel concluded his inquest into the death of Kunmanara Brown with a recommendation that the SA Minister for Health "consider introducing legislation before the SA Parliament similar to that encompassed within the NT Volatile Substance Abuse Prevention Act 2005, that has general application within the entire SA jurisdiction and which is specifically targeted towards volatile substance abuse".
CAYLUS heartily endorses this recommendation and implores minister John Hill to enact VSAP legislation in SA.
We believe it will save lives.
-- Blair McFarland is the co-ordinator of the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service based in Alice Springs.
GRAPHIC IMAGE: A BRITISH soldier has been hacked to death near a barracks in London, while two alleged suspects were shot by police.
POLICE will launch an unprecedented national crackdown on illegal firearms and their suppliers in the first Australia-wide assault on gun violence.
THE SUCCESS of the new Holden Commodore rests on the shoulders of mums and dads across Australia.
HAWTHORN star Lance "Buddy" Franklin has apologised to a woman who accused him of drunken, rude behaviour on Saturday night.
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Malaria and typhoid on the increase in Matete District
Written by Joseph Amunya Otieno
Read 563 Times
Dr.Harrison Barasa addressing residents in Matete District[PHOTO|Joseph Amunya|Westfm]
Malaria and typhoid epidemics have been reported to be on the increase in Matete District of Kakamega County.
Addressing area residents at Kabrengo, the District Medical Superintendent Officer Dr.Harrison Barasa said that the two diseases are among the constantly treated by medics at Health facilities in the area.
This he said was a result of the majority of the residents ignoring use of water life straws and nets to guard against the spread of the diseases, he revealed that survey carried out shows that only 40% of residents are correctly using life straw s and mosquito nets.
He appealed to the residents to assist the government in its efforts to fight and eradicate the diseases.
At the same time, he announced that he will mount a campaign that will ensure residents use nets and life straw gadgets correctly.
He said those who will be found not to be using them as required will have action taken against them adding that a majority of them were using nets for poultry farming and protecting their crops from predators.
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This story is from the category Health
Date posted: 08/08/2010
In Britain, an increasing number of websites are pushing the boundaries of online medicine, with at least a dozen sites offering consultations and medication most countries only allow during in-person visits - or remote ones with the help of a webcam or telephone call.
The sites are completely legal, and fall under the jurisdiction of a regulator called the Care Quality commission. Not surprisingly, the most in-demand drugs are for erectile dysfunction, sexually transmitted diseases and hair loss.
The websites don't handle serious medical problems or emergencies and don't deal in narcotics, painkillers or other drugs people could become addicted to.
"The British websites are definitely an exception, but they are the start of a trend we will soon see everywhere," said Dr. Steinar Pedersen, a founder and special adviser at the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine.
"Opinions will change as people become more comfortable with technology," he said.
Pedersen didn't know of any countries beyond Britain where online medicine for patients who don't know the doctors and don't ever speak to them is legal. The European Commission does not monitor such medical websites, but is working on a paper addressing the legal issues of telemedicine.
In countries including Canada, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and France, doctors are only allowed to treat patients online if they have previously seen them in person.
In the United States, several companies offer online medicine, but patients must typically speak to a doctor on the telephone or set up a videoconference for a live, face-to-face chat.
See the full Story via external site: www.physorg.com
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14/06/2013: Biochip Lab Breakthrough Allows Fast, Reliable Pathogen Identification
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The American Library Association Glossary of Library and Information Science (1983) defines journal as "a periodical, especially one containing scholarly articles and /or disseminating current information on research and development in a particular subject field."
The Library's first priority is collecting scientific or scholarly journals containing signed papers that report original research. The intent is to assemble a comprehensive collection of the world's most significant research journals in all subjects collected at NLM, from all countries and in any language.
NLM also collects clinical and other practice journals. Collecting emphasis is on those of interest to U.S. health professionals; but NLM also collects works from other countries that document diverse approaches to clinical practice, or that cover health issues unique to a particular region.
Review journals, which summarize and sometimes analyze recent research in a field, have become an important means of biomedical communication. The Library collects substantive review journals likely to be of interest to U.S. health professionals and scholars. NLM collects "current awareness" periodicals -- which provide only cursory summaries -- more selectively, emphasizing those that contain unique subject or geographic coverage or are of particular interest to U.S. health professionals. NLM generally does not collect review journals or current awareness periodicals intended primarily for local or regional audiences, or those that essentially duplicate journal literature already in the collection.
A journal should demonstrate quality of editorial work, including features that contribute to the objectivity, credibility, and quality of its content. These features may include information about the methods of selecting articles, especially on the explicit process of external peer review, statements indicating adherence to ethical guidelines and evidence that authors have disclosed financial conflicts of interest. Commercial sponsorship should not raise questions about the objectivity of the published material. Additional factors that are considered include the publisher and/or sponsoring organization's history and corporate structure, longevity, and record of performance regarding such issues as: quality of publications; experience in scholarly publishing; involvement with the scientific community; disclosure of and adherence to print and online publication standards; and promotion of editorial integrity and independence.
When selecting scholarly and scientific journals, NLM expects, as a benchmark, at least 20% of the articles to be "in scope" - i.e., to fall within the subject collection parameters outlined in this manual. Other periodicals -- those that are not sources of original research -- must be primarily biomedical in content to be considered for selection. The Library may make exceptions to this rule to ensure that the collection provides sufficient geographic heterogeneity. For example, NLM may select basic science or social science journals from developing countries
, which often have little or no medical publishing per se.
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This study examined the impact of critical time intervention (CTI) in reducing rehospitalization among formerly homeless individuals with severe and persistent mental illness after discharge from inpatient psychiatric treatment.
CTI is a nine-month care coordination intervention designed to support persons with severe mental illness in the transition from institutions to community living. After discharge from inpatient psychiatric treatment, 150 previously homeless men and women were randomly assigned to receive either usual services only or CTI in addition to usual services. Study participants were assessed every six weeks for 18 months after entering the community.
At the end of the follow-up period, psychiatric rehospitalization was significantly lower for the group assigned to CTI compared with the usual services group (odds ratio=.11, 95% confidence interval=.01−.96).
This study demonstrated that CTI, primarily designed to prevent recurrent homelessness, also reduced the occurrence of rehospitalization after discharge. (Psychiatric Services 63:935–937, 2012; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100468)
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Richburg, SC (WLTX) -- Severe weather and hurricanes are always a concern for the people of the Midlands and there is a place in Chester County working to make buildings safer.
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety conducted an experiment on Tuesday with high winds and the impact it has on a typical strip mall type building.
According to Dr. Anne Cope, "You know how to shop for the kind of interior you want when you are looking for a home or a business, you know what you want in the inside, what we are showing here today is why it is important to know what is in the walls."
In this experiment, two buildings were placed side-by-side and were subject to severe thunderstorm winds and hurricane force winds.
"We have modeled the winds to replicate an event that actually occurred in Texas and we have the data from that severe thunderstorm and we will use that for the model that we are doing today, then we turn the buildings around to face the front towards the fans and we will be modeling a hurricane," said Cope.
The two buildings held up well during the severe thunderstorm simulation, however after shooting debris through the glass store fronts, one of the buildings walls collapsed during the hurricane force winds.
Cope said, "Both of these buildings survived at first, they made it through the first onslaught of the winds, up to a gust of 135 mph."
That type of construction is that same type that is used in almost every part of this country according to the researchers, a fact that has them concerned.
"This is the difference you can achieve with really small mitigation techniques for your building and this is why you should care," said Cope.
According to the researchers, it only costs about 5% more of the total of the building to build a safer structure that is more disaster resistant than a building built using common practices.
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Growth in slaughter of non-stunned animals is 'unacceptable'
Jeremy Laurance is Health Editor of The Independent and the i and has covered the specialism for more than 20 years. He thinks the harm medicine does is under-appreciated, the harm it prevents over-rated, and that cycling works better than most drugs. He was named Specialist Journalist of the Year in the 2011 British Press Awards.
Saturday 05 May 2012
A former president of the British Veterinary Association claims that meat producers have increased the number of animals slaughtered according to religious principles, without prior stunning, because it is commercially advantageous for them to do so.
Professor Bill Reilly, a consultant in veterinary public health and former chairman of the UK Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, said the growth in the slaughter of animals which had not been stunned was "unacceptable" and should be curbed, if not banned.
Citing reports by the Farm Animal Welfare Council and EU-funded Dialrel Project, he said films posted on YouTube "clearly demonstrate the pain and distress of obviously still sentient animals after non-stun slaughter".
Although UK and EU legislation allows for the slitting of animals' throats without prior stunning to enable Muslims and Jews to meet the dietary requirements of their faiths, the rapid increase in the production of halal meat in particular now greatly exceeds the proportion of Muslims in the UK population. The halal share of the UK meat market has grown from 11 per cent in 2001 to 25 per cent today, he said. The Muslim population is estimated at 4.6 per cent.
Writing in Veterinary Record, Professor Reilly said: "Why has there been this growth in demand for halal meat and the proportion that is from non-stunned animals? There may be operational advantages for an abattoir if stunning is not carried out. Other commercial drivers include the convenience of not offering a Halal processing line."
Professor Reilly said Britain was a tolerant society and his complaint had "nothing to do with" the expression of religious belief. "The challenge to society is to enable religious slaughter without compromising animal suffering." That meant reducing to a minimum the number of animals killed without pre-stunning.
Dr Shuja Shafi, deputy general-secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said there had been a "lot of confusion" over Halal meat, which may be stunned before slaughter and still be labelled Halal. "Over 90 per cent of Halal meat is stunned before slaughter," he said.
Have shock jocks gone too far?
Former Google exec says he has 100,000 emails showing how 'immoral' company avoids paying UK tax
Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?
British man confesses to slitting two children's throats in Lyon flat
'Swivel-gate': David Cameron goes to war with the press over 'swivel-eyed loons' slur
- 1 Asteroid nine times the size of the QE2 liner to sail pass Earth
- 2 Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?
- 3 British business: We need to stay in the EU - or risk losing up to £92bn a year
- 4 You thought Ryanair's attendants had it bad? Wait 'til you hear about their pilots
- 5 It’s official: thanks to Stephen Hawking's Israel boycott, anti-Semitism is no more
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
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£28000 - £31500 per annum + benefits: Randstad Education Newcastle: Permanent ...
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£30000 - £40000 per annum + BENS: Progressive Recruitment: Drupal Developer A ...
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Posted by Abdul Alim
Express Tribune: by Yakoob Khan Bangash: Yes, you read it correctly. I am asking all minorities — ethnic, religious, denominational — and any other people who consider themselves a minority of any kind, to please leave Pakistan.
Yes, I know that this means that Hindus who have lived in Sindh for millennia should leave, that Christians from whom SP Singha hailed and who made the critical casting vote in the Punjab Assembly for Pakistan should leave, that the Ahmadis who gave Pakistan its first brilliant foreign minister as well as a Nobel laureate, that Shias who count the founder of the country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as one of their denomination, should leave — yes, all should leave.
Soon, of course, we would need to add to this list, women, since they always prove to be so deviant and might want to go out of the house, and some men, too, as they might have visited the shrines of those Sufi saints who are responsible for the conversion of millions to Islam.
This obviously is just the beginning of the list and very soon, more categories will be added as the above mentioned people are exterminated or simply chased away.
It does not matter if the chosen are a few thousand or even a few million — the vast majority of the country’s 180 million need to leave since they simply do not fit the bill and are minorities of some kind. Pakistan was founded to be the preserve of a small minority of men and so it should be.
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China will require more than 3,750 new passenger jet aircraft in the next 20 years, says the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac).
Of these, 2,950 will be single-aisle jets while the remaining 800 aircraft will be twin-aisles, says Comac in its market forecast released at Airshow China in Zhuhai.
It also expects China to add more than 680 regional jets between now and 2029.
Comac says air traffic in China will grow at a rate of 7.7% annually over the next 20 years.
"The commercial jet fleet is expected to grow by 6.2% annually, and by 2029 will exceed 4,900 aircraft and comprise 14% of the global total, up from 8% in 2009," adds Comac.
Comac is developing the ARJ21 regional jet and C919 narrowbody, which will be China's first large passenger aircraft. It aims for the jet to enter into service in September 2016, following first flight in 2014, says Wu Yue, Comac's C919 programme general manager.
"After the first flight in 2014, it will take another 18 months or so for the aircraft to enter into service, which will put the entry into service in September 2016," says Wu.
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The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) is a student-fee based sustainability fund at UC Berkeley. TGIF awards grants to campus-based projects that promote sustainable modes of transportation, increase energy and water efficiency, restore habitat, promote environmental and food justice, and reduce the amount of waste created by UC Berkeley. Portions of the fund also support education & behavior change initiatives, student aid (via return to aid), and internships. Students, faculty, and staff may submit project proposals.
Submit a grant abstract by one of two deadlines: February 1, 2013 by 5pm OR February 22, 2013. Those who submit by the 1st deadline have a chance to resubmit by the 2nd deadline (if necessary). Selected abstracts will be invited to submit final grant applications by April 1, 2013 at 5pm.
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Competency: Weight Loss and Weight Control
You can’t just dive in and lose weight? Having trouble with being a little overweight? It seems so simple. Eat less and exercise more! Well, not so easy. Which is why we are all getting fatter. Have you ever heard of the melanocortin system? I hadn’t.
One tiny column is hardly enough to teach you much, but it’s an idea you need to know about, even if just in name. Let me give this a try. Your brain makes a large protein called pro-opiomelanocortin or POMC for short. It can be broken down into 7 different shorter pieces, all called collectively the Melanocortins, hence the melanocortin system. One is called endorphin (your natural opioid). That deals with pleasure and pain. Another is melanocortin with stimulates melanocytes. That is all about skin and hair color. But it is also complex because they can stimulate appetite, blood pressure, inflammation, skin and hair pigmentation and bone growth. Whew. And then there is ACTH, another of the 7 peptides that come from POMC. It stimulates the production of cortisol.
Finally, there is lipotropin that is all about fat. And here is where we spin off into leptin and its feedback loops with serotonin and first and second order neurons giving varying levels of feedback. Confused yet?
The reason this matters is that we are beginning to understand and make the connections between why women gain weight around menopause and just can’t lose it for the life of them. It sticks like glue. Unless you mess around with the opioid suppressor system. And if you have polycystic ovarian syndrome, this is all about you.
What’s that? Naltrexone is an opioid blocker and low dose naltrexone is one of the first coarse methodologies discovered that works with blocking the dysfunctional aspects of the melanocortin system. Haven’t you ever felt like eating was an addiction and you just couldn’t stop? Can you imagine what your brain is saying when you are 8 scoops into the ice cream bucket? (YES!!!) What we find in the second paper is what happens when women start losing their estradiol with menopause. In the brain, estradiol is used to enhance the expression of POMC. As it drops out of the picture, fat mass increases as a way to make more estradiol via the enzyme aromatase that happens to be in fat tissue. You gain weight to make more estradiol. And that makes your brain happy. Wouldn’t it be easier to just give you a wee bit of estradiol….just a smidgen?
Now, interestingly enough, if you want to lose weight, you can take low dose naltrexone and bupropion and you don’t level out because you have blocked the endorphin negative feedback effect.
WWW. What will work for me? This is one of those way-over-the-top ideas I’m trying to get my head around. But it may be the beginning of a larger conversation. The road to successful weight loss may be around this corner. Certainly we are seeing that low dose naltrexone works with weight loss in some overweight folks, particularly if they have Polycystic ovarian syndrome. As for me, I’m just a hunkering down and trying to focus on having an apple instead of ice cream for my bedtime snack. My endorphins would be happier if I had the ice cream.
Reference: Biochem J 2010 May 27;428(3):305-24 and Eur J Pharmacol Jun 2011 June 11;660(1)1;181-7
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January 16, 2013
Did the Nazis like life?
In his Jan. 4 column, Dennis Prager reproved the dutiful readers of the Jewish Journal, who tried to quarrel with the idea that without God there’s no moral restriction on murder. After reading that, I traded e-mails with a thoughtful friend.
“There is a logical fallacy in his arguments in three ways,” my friend wrote back. “Many murders have been committed in the name of God, for the sake of God, by people who believe in God. Some feel bidden to slaughter Jews; others nonbelievers. Even the Torah demands that we kill Amalek — men, women and children — and eradicate their memory. Philosophers of ethics have not needed to resort to God in order to condemn and prohibit murder. Some such ethicists have been believers; other were not, but for at least 200 years and even in ancient antiquity, the alternative to a belief in God or gods was not, as Prager has it, ethical relativism or nihilism.”
“Maybe so,” I said, “but we should all be careful about finding the combination of words to shake Dennis Prager’s belief in God, since by his logic, God is all that keeps him from loading up the Bushmaster.” What puzzled me was why nobody reacted to his column of Oct. 3, 2012.
[Read Dennis Prager's response: 'A new low']
This is the one where Prager quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations, about the possible need to bomb Iran before they completed their nuclear testing. Netanyahu said, “Deterrence worked with the Soviets because every time the Soviets faced a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose their survival.” Now it’s bizarre for the son of a historian to skip over the 25 million Russians who died for Stalin, fighting to push the Germans out of their country, to preserve Stalin’s communism, and he’s sliding by the 2.2 million Ukrainians dead in Stalin’s intentional famine, all to preserve Stalin’s communist rule, but leave that aside to look at how Prager’s next thoughts embellished on the prime minister’s.
“Nazis and communists liked life. Islamists revel in death. An enormous difference.”
Nazis liked life. Dennis Prager said it, and the editor of the Jewish Journal published it.
Does it make one a hysterical progressive to suggest that the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran is dreadful enough without sharpening your argument by saying something good about the Nazis, that the Nazis had some kind of saving virtue?
To say that the Nazis and Soviet communists didn’t revel in death is … well I’m really not sure how to respond, actually. It feels sick to use a Jewish paper to remind everyone that when the Russians were advancing westward in the spring of 1944, the trains that Hitler could have used to carry munitions to the front and the wounded to the rear were diverted instead to carry Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. So, Nazi ideology was sustained and millions were slaughtered, Jews and Germans. Hitler’s own generals tried to kill him, not because he was losing the war, but because he was leading the entire country to death. As the Germans were finally surrounded in 1945, Hitler ordered Albert Speer to blow up the country’s infrastructure, killing his own people, the only order Speer ever refused. I’ll stay out of the imagination that says this isn’t really reveling in death.
God’s word in Deuteronomy 30:19 is not, “Like life, if you and your offspring would live,” but “Choose life.” As Prager says, “An enormous difference.” To like life in the Jewish sense, in any sense other than appreciating the warm belly of a puppy, is to be grateful to God for our own lives and to turn that gratitude into an action for the benefit of others and to save lives, not destroy them for pleasure, and even when making war, to limit the destruction. The Nazis did not observe purity of arms. So, if the Islamist love of death means that Iranians or jihadists can’t be trusted to restrain themselves even at the cost of their own survival, then to say that in opposition to them, “Nazis liked life” is to suggest that during the war, the Nazis exercised restraint and mercy. Prager’s words imply that, by liking life, the Nazis made choices to preserve life, otherwise he’s left with nothing more that expresses “Nazis liked life” than the laughter of the beer halls of Munich. Surely Dennis Prager doesn’t mean to say that the Holocaust could have been worse but for Nazi intervention.
One last thought, for the editors and for Dennis: Please, every fascist skinhead, neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier can now happily link to the Jewish Journal where you declare, “Nazis liked life.” “See,” they can say, “even the Jews have come around.” I urge Dennis and the editors, if it’s possible, to scrub that line from the Web site. And with that, even this discussion. The Nazis did not like life. I wasn’t there, but that’s what I’ve been told by everyone I know who knew them.
Michael Tolkin is a novelist, essayist and screenwriter.
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Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.Close
I want to talk about the election. For the first time in the United States, a predominantly white group of voters voted for an African-American candidate for President. And in fact Barack Obama did quite well. He won 375 electoral votes. And he won about 70 million popular votes more than any other presidential candidate -- of any race, of any party -- in history. If you compare how Obama did against how John Kerry had done four years earlier -- Democrats really like seeing this transition here, where almost every state becomes bluer, becomes more democratic -- even states Obama lost, like out west, those states became more blue. In the south, in the northeast, almost everywhere but with a couple of exceptions here and there.
One exception is in Massachusetts. That was John Kerry's home state. No big surprise, Obama couldn't do better than Kerry there. Or in Arizona, which is John McCain's home, Obama didn't have much improvement. But there is also this part of the country, kind of in the middle region here. This kind of Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, West Virginia region. Now if you look at '96, Bill Clinton -- the last Democrat to actually win -- how he did in '96, you see real big differences in this part of the country right here, the kind of Appalachians, Ozarks, highlands region, as I call it: 20 or 30 point swings from how Bill Clinton did in '96 to how Obama did in 2008. Yes Bill Clinton was from Arkansas, but these are very, very profound differences.
So, when we think about parts of the country like Arkansas, you know. There is a book written called, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" But really the question here -- Obama did relatively well in Kansas. He lost badly but every Democrat does. He lost no worse than most people do. But yeah, what's the matter with Arkansas? (Laughter) And when we think of Arkansas we tend to have pretty negative connotations. We think of a bunch of rednecks, quote, unquote, with guns. And we think people like this probably don't want to vote for people who look like this and are named Barack Obama. We think it's a matter of race. And is this fair? Are we kind of stigmatizing people from Arkansas, and this part of the country?
And the answer is: it is at least partially fair. We know that race was a factor, and the reason why we know that is because we asked those people. Actually we didn't ask them, but when they conducted exit polls in every state, in 37 states, out of the 50, they asked a question, that was pretty direct, about race. They asked this question. In deciding your vote for President today, was the race of the candidate a factor? We're looking for people that said, "Yes, race was a factor; moreover it was an important factor, in my decision," and people who voted for John McCain as a result of that factor, maybe in combination with other factors, and maybe alone. We're looking for this behavior among white voters or, really, non-black voters.
So you see big differences in different parts of the country on this question. In Louisiana, about one in five white voters said, "Yes, one of the big reasons why I voted against Barack Obama is because he was an African-American." If those people had voted for Obama, even half of them, Obama would have won Louisiana safely. Same is true with, I think, all of these states you see on the top of the list. Meanwhile, California, New York, we can say, "Oh we're enlightened" but you know, certainly a much lower incidence of this admitted, I suppose, manifestation of racially-based voting. Here is the same data on a map. You kind of see the relationship between the redder states of where more people responded and said, "Yes, Barack Obama's race was a problem for me." You see, comparing the map to '96, you see an overlap here. This really seems to explain why Barack Obama did worse in this one part of the country.
So we have to ask why. Is racism predictable in some way? Is there something driving this? Is it just about some weird stuff that goes on in Arkansas that we don't understand, and Kentucky? Or are there more systematic factors at work? And so we can look at a bunch of different variables. These are things that economists and political scientists look at all the time -- things like income, and religion, education. Which of these seem to drive this manifestation of racism in this big national experiment we had on November 4th? And there are a couple of these that have strong predictive relationships, one of which is education, where you see the states with the fewest years of schooling per adult are in red, and you see this part of the country, the kind of Appalachians region, is less educated. It's just a fact. And you see the relationship there with the racially-based voting patterns. The other variable that's important is the type of neighborhood that you live in. States that are more rural -- even to some extent of the states like New Hampshire and Maine -- they exhibit a little bit of this racially-based voting against Barack Obama. So it's the combination of these two things: it's education and the type of neighbors that you have, which we'll talk about more in a moment. And the thing about states like Arkansas and Tennessee is that they're both very rural, and they are educationally impoverished.
So yes, racism is predictable. These things, among maybe other variables, but these things seem to predict it. We're going to drill down a little bit more now, into something called the General Social Survey. This is conducted by the University of Chicago every other year. And they ask a series of really interesting questions. In 2000 they had particularly interesting questions about racial attitudes. One simple question they asked is, "Does anyone of the opposite race live in your neighborhood?" We can see in different types of communities that the results are quite different. In cites, about 80 percent of people have someone whom they consider a neighbor of another race, but in rural communities, only about 30 percent. Probably because if you live on a farm, you might not have a lot of neighbors, period. But nevertheless, you're not having a lot of interaction with people who are unlike you. So what we're going to do now is take the white people in the survey and split them between those who have black neighbors -- or, really, some neighbor of another race -- and people who have only white neighbors. And we see in some variables in terms of political attitudes, not a lot of difference. This was eight years ago, some people were more Republican back then. But you see Democrats versus Republican, not a big difference based on who your neighbors are.
And even some questions about race -- for example affirmative action, which is kind of a political question, a policy question about race, if you will -- not much difference here. Affirmative action is not very popular frankly, with white voters, period. But people with black neighbors and people with mono-racial neighborhoods feel no differently about it really. But if you probe a bit deeper and get a bit more personal if you will, "Do you favor a law banning interracial marriage?" There is a big difference. People who don't have neighbors of a different race are about twice as likely to oppose interracial marriage as people who do. Just based on who lives in your immediate neighborhood around you. And likewise they asked, not in 2000, but in the same survey in 1996, "Would you not vote for a qualified black president?" You see people without neighbors who are African-American who were much more likely to say, "That would give me a problem."
So it's really not even about urban versus rural. It's about who you live with. Racism is predictable. And it's predicted by interaction or lack thereof with people unlike you, people of other races. So if you want to address it, the goal is to facilitate interaction with people of other races. I have a couple of very obvious, I suppose, ideas for maybe how to do that.
I'm a big fan of cities. Especially if we have cites that are diverse and sustainable, and can support people of different ethnicities and different income groups. I think cities facilitate more of the kind of networking, the kind of casual interaction than you might have on a daily basis. But also not everyone wants to live in a city, certainly not a city like New York. So we can think more about things like street grids. This is the neighborhood where I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan. It's a traditional Midwestern community, which means you have real grid. You have real neighborhoods and real trees, and real streets you can walk on. And you interact a lot with your neighbors -- people you like, people you might not know. And as a result it's a very tolerant community, which is different, I think, than something like this, which is in Schaumburg, Illinois, where every little set of houses has their own cul-de-sac and drive-through Starbucks and stuff like that. I think that actually this type of urban design, which became more prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s -- I think there is a relationship between that and the country becoming more conservative under Ronald Reagan.
But also here is another idea we have -- is an intercollegiate exchange program where you have students going from New York abroad. But frankly there are enough differences within the country now where maybe you can take a bunch of kids from NYU, have them go study for a semester at the University of Arkansas, and vice versa. Do it at the high school level. Literally there are people who might be in school in Arkansas or Tennessee and might never interact in a positive affirmative way with someone from another part of the country, or of another racial group. I think part of the education variable we talked about before is the networking experience you get when you go to college where you do get a mix of people that you might not interact with otherwise.
But the point is, this is all good news, because when something is predictable, it is what I call designable. You can start thinking about solutions to solving that problem, even if the problem is pernicious and as intractable as racism. If we understand the root causes of the behavior and where it manifests itself and where it doesn't, we can start to design solutions to it. So that's all I have to say. Thank you very much. (Applause)
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Nate Silver has data that answers big questions about race in politics. For instance, in the 2008 presidential race, did Obama's skin color actually keep him from getting votes in some parts of the country? Stats and myths collide in this fascinating talk that ends with a remarkable insight.
Math whiz and baseball fan Nate Silver was mainly known for predicting outcomes in fantasy ballgames -- until his technique hit a home run calling the outcome of the 2008 election primaries. Full bio »
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Toni Lister was reported missing in Seward, Alaska, on March 7, 1982. Her body was found a month and a half later. An autopsy showed she had been sexually assaulted and brutally stabbed 26 times with a Phillips screw driver.
Nine months later, on October 26, 1982, Robert Hansen was arrested on kidnapping and rape charges — and later confessed to the brutal murders of four women in Alaska, although the known death toll is much higher (at least 17 victims). In the final days and months of his killing spree, according to autopsy reports, Hansen had gone into a frenzy of violence, not only shooting the women, but stabbing them multiple times. When asked about the Lister murder by Alaska State Troopers, however, Hansen denied it.
It wasn’t until 2007 that cold case investigators made an arrest in Toni Lister’s murder. The man they arrested was not Robert Hansen. They instead arrested Jimmy Lee Eacker, a trade school friend of Lister’s husband. He had been an early suspect.
Is it possible that police have the wrong man?
Let’s be clear. Jimmy Eacker is no choirboy. He has an armed robbery conviction. He’s a registered sex offender. At his 2007 trial, at least two witnesses testified that he’d raped and threatened violence against them during the ’80s. He acknowledged he’d had sex with Toni Lister on the night in question. Beyond that, he claims he can’t remember killing Toni Lister because he was high on mushrooms.
To complicate matters, the critical DNA evidence in the case — the DNA that tied Eacker to Lister’s murder — was seriously compromised. More specifically, it was contaminated to the point where more than one person’s DNA was found. Several factors were involved, including sloppy lab work. The judge, upon learning of this, threw out Eacker’s conviction and ordered a new trial.
That’s where the maps come into play.
When Hansen was arrested, troopers found aviation maps at his home with hand-drawn markers on them. Those markers later proved to be spots where Hansen victims would be discovered. Once troopers started unearthing bodies, Sgt. Glenn Flothe created a parallel aviation map, marking spots that Hansen had “missed.” Flothe also color-coded his map, with blue marks for victims Hansen acknowledged killing, yellow for those he denied.
There are key differences between those two maps. Flothe’s map has more markers than Hansen’s. Including one very near where Toni Lister’s body was found (#23) — a marker missing from the Hansen map.
Glenn Flothe’s cryptic note about #23? “Denied.” Indeed, the Flothe map shows that Hansen claimed only one of the Seward markers represented a victim. The sole exception was Joanna Messina (#17), whose body was found in… 1980.
So by his own admission, Hansen had been in the Seward area as late as 1980 — and routinely visited Seward in the ’70s, during which time police have evidence of at least one kidnapping and rape (1971). There are also two very suspicious Seward disappearances (1973, 1975) that Hansen denied; suspicious because Hansen was known to be in Seward both times. Troopers speculate that Hansen denied those presumed murders because the victims weren’t prostitutes.
Could Robert Hansen have killed Toni Lister? Yes. Could Jimmy Lee Eacker have killed Toni Lister? Yes. Anyone else? Maybe.
The lesson? If you are going to go cold-casing, don’t cut corners on the lab work required to pinpoint the DNA. After thirty years, memories go bad. DNA evidence is not always perfect or pristine, but carelessness in the lab can be prevented.
AST Version of Hansen’s Flight Map (portion)
Hansen’s Flight Map (portion)
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