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Bill Bartmann says all businesses need money to operate. Borrowing money to start a business or expand your business is a skill all business owners need to be successful. When Bill Bartmann asks for a business loan, he knows that he must present a successful business and his personal experience and knowledge.
Here are some basic essentials you need to know about the business loan application process:
Qualify the Lender – Lenders are specialized; be sure the institution you are considering applying to is the right one for your needs. All lending institutions have rules and guidelines including amount they will loan (minimum and maximum), the industries they will loan to and geographic areas where they make loans.
Lenders want to Loan Money – Even in lean times, lenders want to make loans; this is how they make money. Don’t let anyone tell you ‘banks don’t have the money’ just because they were denied a loan.
Competition – You are competing with other people who are also asking for loans; you want to get in front of them; show you are the better candidate for a business loan.
First Impression – The first person you talk to likely has the authority to deny your loan; however, they cannot approve it. Their job is to screen applicants early to avoid wasting the loan committee’s time. You must make a good impression on this person.
Multi-Step Process – Be aware that borrowing money is a process; do not expect to walk in, apply and interview, and walk out with a check the same day.
The 4 P’s – Punctual – Keep your appointment; do not arrive very early or late; respect their time. Professional – look and dress the part. Prepared – Have your loan proposal with you for the loan committee’s benefit. Prompt – If your appointment is to last 10 minutes, do not go over. The less time spent with the first person you talk to, the less chance you have of making a mistake by saying the wrong thing. You don’t know this person; avoid small talk, be brief, get to the point and wrap it up in 10 minutes.
Call Ahead – Don’t waste your time or the lender’s time; make sure the lender you are making an appointment with is one who can do business with you. Tell them who you are, how much you need to borrow, the industry you’re in and the area you’re located in. Some lenders can only do very large loans; some are specialized in funding specific industries; some only work in certain geographic areas.
Always Make Application in Writing – Remember, the first person you speak to can say no, but they most likely cannot say yes. They will, however, be conveying your information to those on the loan committee. To avoid errors in relaying verbal information, always give them your written loan proposal; this is what the loan committee really needs in order to decide if you will be approved.
Your presentation determines your success in getting the lending institution to loan you the capital you need for your business. It is important that you show them that you are serious about your business and that you know what you are getting into. A well written loan proposal, with your business plan, will show the lender what you need, why you need it and that you are able to pay it back with a return.
Bill Bartmann has borrowed $3.1 Million dollars in 120 transactions from 180 lenders to fund businesses. He has never used any of his own money for business. Bill Bartmann covers all the essentials to borrowing money for your business, in great detail, in his online course, Billionaire Business Systems.
Bill Bartmann’s Business Plan on a Napkin
3 years ago
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East Gate, large Naga (heads to the right, and deities underneath) at corner cornice of roof
The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west (main entrance)
Angkor Wat is a Hindu temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and part of his capital city. (The Angkorian period dates 802-1432). As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation--first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early South Indian Hindu architecture. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west (because of its original dedication to Vishnu). The lower gallery (third enclosure) of the temple precinct, barely 5 m wide, is bordered on the outside by a double row of columns. On the inside, however, is a stone wall on which the reliefs are carved running round the entire temple complex. They are about 2 m high and more than 500 m long and cover an area of well over 1000 sq. m. The relief is so shallow that they have been described as 'frescoes in stone', and originally they may indeed have been partly painted. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for inviting me to this important hearing.
If you are expecting me to express a judgment on the question if the Washington 46-agreement
should be rediscussed, I am sorry to disappoint you: But I am sure there are more distinguished
people to assess this issue today with us.
I stand here before you as a Jewish journalist from Switzerland, who writes for the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency and other Swiss papers, and I have reported extensively on Switzerland's
wartime refugee and banking policies.
I am born in Zurich in December, 1939. Two years later, my mother -- like many other Jews
from Zurich -- flew with my two older brothers and I to the French part of Switzerland, to a
small village called Rougemont. At that time, my father served in the Swiss Army. Swiss Jewry
were warned that Nazi Germany might invade Switzerland shortly. Fortunately, this did not
happen, otherwise I probably could not be with you today.
My reporting on this issue began 50 years later, on January 20, 1995, when the Jewish world
marked the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. Together with
Jewish leaders from all over the world, the Jewish people remembered the biggest catastrophe in
Jewish history, when 6 million Jews were killed only because they were Jews.
In Switzerland a few months later, 5,000 readers of a Jewish weekly submitted a petition asking
the Swiss Government to remember and formally acknowledge the destiny of more than 30,000
Jews -- Jews who had fled from the Nazis, and escaped to Switzerland's borders, but were
refused entry. Not only those Jews, but many more who knew they would be turned back from
Switzerland were they to flee, and were killed in the Nazi death camps.
The Swiss Government promptly and coldly rejected this honest request, a request that called for
only acknowledgment - not restitution for survivors.
On May 8, 1995 Swiss President Kaspar Villiger acknowledged the anti-Jewish policy of the
Swiss wartime government, and issued a formal apology.
On the other hand, Switzerland allowed entry to about 28,000 Jews, on the condition that the
Swiss and international Jewish community pledged their financial support for each Jewish
immigrant in advance of their entry.
A few months later, the Jewish world -- led by the World Jewish Congress -- launched a
campaign for complete restitution of assets belonging to Holocaust victims. It is also with your
help, Mr. Chairman, that the Swiss Parliament, together with the Swiss government, banks and
industry, took important first steps toward justice, toward enlightening the Swiss people about
their country's wartime history. I mention the International Committee of Experts, headed by
Professor Bergier, and the Volcker Commission. The Swiss Holocaust Fund in the amount of 190
million dollars was founded by the 3 largest banks, the Swiss National Bank and Swiss industry.
This money is currently being distributed to needy Holocaust survivors around the world.
While the Swiss commercial banks have acknowledged some wrongdoing in the past and their
need for restitution, the Swiss National Bank only contributed its part to the Holocaust Fund
under heavy pressure, and without acknowledging any wrongdoing. Even today, the Swiss
National Bank rejects the idea that its profitable wartime trade with the Nazis was immoral, and
it continues to deny that it knowingly received looted gold from Holocaust victims.
The Volcker Commission cannot audit the Swiss National Bank, because the Bank refers to its
status as a Federal bank. But this is not true! The Swiss National Bank was open during the war
for individual customers, with branches all over Switzerland. While the bank did not pay interest
on the accounts, such accounts were sought after because of their guaranteed safety.
Consequently, today it has dormant accounts and safe deposit boxes. The National Bank even
admitted that it transferred in few cases funds from dormant accounts to its own assets -- in
other words, the bank stole the money!
It is time for the Swiss National Bank to honor the Swiss Government's slogan on this issue,
"Justice, Truth and Solidarity."
Thanks to strong support from most of the Swiss media on this issue, a large majority of Swiss
public opinion supports the international campaign for Justice for the Victims of the Shoa. It is
important to stress that at every Swiss body that deals with this issue, such as the Swiss National
Bank, the Task Force, and in various Swiss Ministries, there are individuals who are sympathetic
to the needs for truth and restitution.
However, the atmosphere changed during the negotiations toward a global and final settlement.
The three banks' recent offer of 530 million dollars reflected the idea: "Let's give the Jews some
money, and then go back to business as usual." "Justice for the Victims of the Shoa" was no
longer the motivation. A few days after the offer was made, the new President of United Bank
of Switzerland, in a interview with Swiss Radio, said openly what other bankers had said before
only behind closed doors: "We feel absolutely blackmailed." There was no public outcry. To the
contrary, expressions of anti-Semitism increased, and the banks' offer was likened to a "ransom."
Ransoms are paid to criminals, not Holocaust survivors.
Now, the Swiss Jewish Community receives hundreds of anti-Semitic letters and threats each
month. The majority of the Swiss Jews would prefer that you stop pressuring Switzerland on this
issue, because they are afraid of increased anti-Semitism. However, if the pressure on the Swiss
government and banks is halted, the anti-Semites are the only ones who will benefit.
Home | Menu | Links | Info | Chairman's Page
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How to approach a dog when touring an adoption facility
If you're considering dog adoption, then the first step is to visit a local animal shelter where you can meet some canines in need of a home. This can sometimes be a lengthy process, but it's important that you take the time to find a canine companion who suits you and your family's needs. It's never a good idea to adopt a pet until you're certain you can provide him with a "forever home." Your initial interaction with a potential canine companion can tell you a lot about whether or not he'll be compatible with your lifestyle, so here are some tips to keep in mind during your first visit to an adoption center.
Speaking with staff
Most adoption facilities appreciate advance notice if you're planning to visit their animals. This will also allow you to set up an appointment with a staff member to discuss the canines who are available. During this consultation, ask about any pet health issues the dogs you're visiting may have, and let the staff know what kind of dog you're interested in. Once you've gotten that information squared away, the staff member will likely be able to introduce you to dogs who could be a potential match.
In the holding area
As you walk through the holding area where the dogs are kept, you should expect to hear a lot of dog barking, as many of the animals will likely be excited to see an unfamiliar face. Don't let this put you off - barking isn't always a sign of dog aggression.
Some facilities may have an enclosed yard or other area where you can meet with the dogs one-on-one, and this is ideal - it will make it easy for you to get to know the canine without being distracted by other animals.
Meeting the canine
When it comes time to introduce yourself to one of the dogs, make sure you go about the process slowly, and base your interaction on the dog's attitude. Some animals may be very outgoing and run up to you to greet you while others will be more timid. If you are dealing with a shy canine, crouch down so you are at his level and hold out your hand so he can give it a good sniff. This is very much like a "handshake" for dogs, and may help the dog feel more comfortable interacting.
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The Rock Pool
Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article.
Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review.
discussed in biography
...then at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1927 he began a career of literary journalism as a contributor to the New Statesman, The Sunday Times, Observer, and other periodicals. His only novel, The Rock Pool, about the headlong decline of a young Englishman in a Riviera art colony, appeared in 1936. His most noted books are his collections of essays, Enemies of Promise (1938),...
What made you want to look up "The Rock Pool"? Please share what surprised you most...
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Buffalo Studio – Spring 2010
The Spring 2010 Shrinking Cities Buffalo studio is the first of a series of urban design studios taught by professor Brent Ryan at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning that will propose comprehensive spatial strategies for shrinking cities. The studio examines the paradigmatic shrinking city of Buffalo, NY (1950 population 580,000, current population 270,000.) The city is well known as a historic innovator in architectural and urban design, with extensive work from Olmsted, Wright, Sullivan, Richardson, Burnham, and SOM as well as the concrete grain elevators made famous in Corbusier’s Vers Une Architecture of 1924. Buffalo has always been dependent on marine infrastructure: the Erie Canal of 1825 effectively started the city’s growth, and the St. Lawrence Seaway of 1959 categorically ended it.
Buffalo today is faced with a myriad of crises. The current housing bust is only the latest in a series of events that seem to have conspired against the city. Among these are long-term economic decline stemming from economic-infrastructural shifts such as the Seaway; the suburbanization of the middle class; the nationwide shift toward the warmer Sunbelt cities; racial polarization and segregation; and globalization. The negative effects of these forces are clear to any visitor. The city’s population has fallen dramatically and housing abandonment is a serious problem in the most distressed areas of the city.
Despite these problems, Buffalonians have retained a sense of optimism toward the future. The city has inherited an impressive legacy of institutions from its past, and its design heritage is particularly strong. Buffalo’s amenities are spectacular for its size, and costs of living are low. Residents are friendly, approachable, and eager to discuss new ideas. The city’s industrial character is gritty and appealing, giving it a unique local flavor in an increasingly homogenized, chain-dominated, auto-dependent nation. The city’s political and social leadership is dedicated to making Buffalo livable under difficult circumstances that will not ease up any time soon.
What is the role for urban design given this situation? The studio attempts to answer this question.
Photo by Alex MacLean.
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I first presented this lesson months ago as a large group lesson. I thought the tray looked beautiful and the lesson interesting, yet none of the children ever chose the work. This past Friday, I stood looking at it for a few minutes wondering why its was not being used. I decided to re-present it as an individual lesson and soon another child was asking to observe the work.
The work requires that the child pour water from the pitcher into a small bowl (in this case a vintage sugar bowl). Next, he adds several drops of vegetable oil to the water. He then stirs the water to see if they will mix or not.
When the oil appears as small circles on the surface of the water, the child notes that they did not mix. Next, using a q-tip, the child sees if any of the oil can be remove from the water. This again proves that they did not mix.
So that he could see the circles of oil better, as is often done in my classroom, the child got a magnifying glass.
The next step is to add food coloring to the water/oil in the small bowl. The food coloring mixes with the water. The oil now stands out even more on the surface of the water. The child again stirs the oil, water and food coloring. When asked to remove some of the food coloring, he cannot. When asked to remove some of the oil, he can.
One of the most remarkable elements of this work is how steady the child's hand must be to carefully skim the water surface with his spoon and with the q-tip so as to gather some of the oil. His face tells it all. See below:
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Seven startling things most people still don’t know about the national debt, banking and the money supply
Most people, even smart people, know surprisingly little about the way money really works in Big Government. With the debt ceiling fiasco suddenly raising awareness of the possibility of a total global financial blowout, now seems like a good time to remind people of seven disturbing facts about money that are almost never acknowledge in the old media.
Fact #1 – There is no FDIC insurance fund.
The money at your bank is insured against loss by the FDIC’s insurance fund, right? Nope. That’s total fiction. There is no actual money in the fund. The FDIC insurance money has already been looted by the U.S. Treasury which has simply replaced the money with a bunch of IOUs.
Why does this matter? Because it means that if the U.S. government goes into default, so will the FDIC! And that means all your bank funds have zero insurance. That’s gonna be a big shock for tens of millions of people when they finally figure this out one day…
Fact #2 – There are no social security funds, either.
When you pay social security taxes, all that money goes into a trust fund that’s held for safekeeping until the day it pays you back, right?
Ha! That’s the “sucker’s view” of social security that only ignorant people believe. In reality, there is no money in the social security trust fund because it too has all been looted by the U.S. Treasury and spent. In truth, social security is already broke. Can’t wait for people to wake up and figure this one out, either…
Fact #3 – The U.S. Treasury is stealing money from you every day, even if you pay no taxes!
Here’s a mind-boggling truth that most people just can’t seem to get their heads around: The U.S. Treasury is stealing money from you every single day by the simple fact that they keep creating new money and handing it out to wealthy banksters. Well, technically this is being done by the Federal Reserve, which isn’t even part of the federal government. But it’s all done in cahoots with the Treasury, which is eroding the value of your money through these money creation and distribution actions.
That’s why prices keep going up all around you, folks: Food isn’t suddenly worth more money; the truth is that your money is worth less! That’s how the Treasury and the Federal Reserve steal from you without even breaking into your home.
Probably 99.9% of the population has no understanding of this phenomenon — the erosion of currency valuation through the centralized government printing of more currency. And yet it is a government scam that has been carried out against citizens of the world time and time again, spanning millennia! As history has clearly shown, every nation that goes down the path of printing more currency to pay its bills eventually ends up in a runaway hyperinflation scenario followed by economic collapse. The USA will be no different.
Fact #4 – The “balanced solution” isn’t balanced.
Don’t you love the quirky White House Press Secretary who keeps spewing out the phrase “balanced solution” even while the debt deal leaves the U.S. budget entirelyunbalanced?
When you’re spending more money than you’re earning, that’s not financial balance. When the White House says “balanced” what it really means is “compromised” — as in, half way between the Republican position (spend us into purgatory) and the Democratic position (spend us into oblivion). Neither party has any real solution to the cancerous growth of Big Government. That’s because they are creatures of Big Government!
Politicians can no more solve the problems of Big Government than arsonists can solve the problem of office fires. Because they are, themselves, creatures of runaway debt spending (how else do you get elected these days?), they simply do not possess the cognitive framework from which real financial solutions must stem.
Fact #5 – The government is going to steal everything from you before it collapses
Oh my, this is a tough one for people to get their heads around… especially those who naively trust governments to act in the interests of the People. The simple truth of the matter — and I’ve publicly made this prediction before — is that the government is going to STEAL almost everything you own as it heads toward a total financial implosion. This will include:
• The government theft of private retirement accounts. The feds will claim they’re taking them over “for your protection.” Yeah, right. And then one day they will simply all vanish. Kiss your IRA goodbye…
• The government theft of precious metals. Within the next 3 years, watch for a national emergency to be declared, followed by government confiscation of gold and silver. The feds will take your gold and hand you paper money in exchange. The paper money, of course, will be all but worthless shortly thereafter. Only the suckers, of course, will actually turn in their metals…
• Government takeover of your bank accounts. As banks begin to fail in the big collapse, the government will step in and take ownership of the failed institutions, just as it did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (which used to be publicly-owned companies but are now largely just government finance operations). This will put your bank accounts under the direct control of the White House, which can useexecutive orders to do things like banning all wire transfers out of the country or limiting daily withdrawals and transfers. Sure, you’ll still “own” your money in the bank, you just won’t be able to freely access it!
Fact #6 – Most people have no idea about fractional reserve banking, derivatives, the money supply or the Federal Reserve
It’s not just that most people don’t understand banking and finance; it’s that evenmembers of Congress have no idea how all this works. With few exceptions (like Ron Paul), they’re just clueless!
Get this: Even most bankers don’t even know how fractional reserve banking really works. They don’t understand derivatives, either, which is why they screwed them up so badly in the housing boom that crashed in 2007. And because bankers, investors and bureaucrats have no idea how it all works, they unwittingly turn it all into a runaway catastrophe.
Allowing ignorant adults to play with debt and derivatives is like letting infants play with nuclear weapons. It can only lead to something messy.
Fact #7 – Most people are betting their lives on the dollar
People buy insurance for their cars, their homes and even their health. But when it comes to money, 99 out of 100 people in America are betting their entire financial existence on the U.S. dollar! They get their paychecks in dollars, their savings accounts are in dollars, and all their assets are denominated in dollars. As a result, they have no diversity to protect them against dollar devaluation.
That’s kinda crazy, considering just how quickly the dollar could collapse in the near future and become totally worthless. That’s why smart people are diversifying their assets and converting dollars into land, gold, silver or even storable food. Here in central Texas, even ammunition has a long-term barter value that far exceeds dollars.
Looking around at the financial behaviors of others, I’m just stunned at how many people are betting everything on the dollar because they never realized they had any other option (that’s the way the government likes to keep it, of course!).
Coming soon: A huge national finance education of the masses
Mark my words, folks: The great financial collapse of America is now closer than ever. While I can’t put an exact prediction date on it, there’s absolutely no doubt that it’s coming. The morons in Washington aren’t doing anything to avoid it, either — they’re all just cashing in as much as they can before the big collapse rolls in.
Bunch of cowards and crooks running this country. They don’t understanding banking and finance, and they’re determined to make sure you don’t either. Because the less you know about what’s really going on, the longer they can continue to loot the U.S. economy while people stand around and do nothing.
How bad is the situation, really? Just yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden called Congressional Tea Party members “terrorists” for their insistence that the U.S. budget be balanced. So now, the mere idea of calling for a balanced budget turns you into a “terrorist” to be prosecuted under the Patriot Act.
And why not? Demanding financial sanity MUST be labeled an act of terrorism for our criminal government to continue its own criminal looting operation. Next we’ll probably see the President ordering the arrest and prosecution of any members of Congress — i.e. “terrorists” — who do not go along with unlimited increased in the debt ceiling.
Now you see what the terrorism laws are really all about: They are legislative weapons to be used against political enemies, not actual terrorists. Meanwhile, Big Government is technically engaged in the use of financial weapons of mass destruction against the People, yet no one notices.
A bizarre world we live in, folks. It is dominated by the mindless masses and run by criminal sociopaths. Those who demand real solutions are labeled terrorists, and those who try to explain all this to everybody else are labeled “alarmists.”
Just wait until this house of cards collapses, though. There will be a day of reckoning in which a whole bunch of apologies will be owed to all those people who tried to warn the nation what was really happening (and where it would lead us).
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Health Department to begin flu vaccinesWritten by Admin
Flu vaccine is plentiful this year, and the N.C. Division of Public Health and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging everyone older than six months of age to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The Haywood Health Department will offer flu clinics for adults ages 18 and above from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 5-7 at Health Department offices. Children under age 18 may get the flu vaccine by calling the Health Department at 828.452.6675 and scheduling an appointment.
The cost is $28 for flu vaccine and $35 for flu mist. Pneumonia vaccines will also be available for $45.
Haywood Regional Medical Center’s Home Care Services started providing flu shots for area residents Sept. 27. Flu shots will be given at the Home Care building from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until the supply is gone. No appointment is necessary. The Home Care building is located directly behind Haywood Regional Medical Center. The cost is $28. 828.452.8292.
A walk-in flu vaccine clinic will be held on Thursday, Oct. 7, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Fines Creek Community Center in the old Fines Creek cafeteria. Medicare Part B and most Medicare Replacements are accepted for payment. Please remember to bring your Medicare card. Cost is $28 for private pay patients.
The Jackson County Department of Public Health will began giving flu shots on Monday, Sept. 27, in the Big Room of the Community Services Building in Sylva. Shots will be given from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 27-30; from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 2; and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 3.
Cost is $20. 828.587.8201.
Anyone interested in the Health Department coming to administer the flu vaccine at their business, office, organization, or church, should contact Carla or Debbie at 828.586.8994 to schedule a time.
• Community Facilities Building — 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:15 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 7; 1 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 12.
• Macon County Public Health Center — 2 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 12 for children only; 1 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 14 for children only.
• Highlands Civic Center — 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 13.
• Nantahala School — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 21.
• Franklin Town Square — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Pumpkin Fest.
• Otto Community Building — 4 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 27.
Cost is $25. www.maconnc.org or 828.349.2081.
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Arts & Culture
Preserving neighborhood character by design
The first time I went to Pacific Heights, I expected to be surrounded by mansions, flower gardens, and expensive boutiques. Those weren't difficult to find, but while sitting in Lafayette Park during my first visit, I was surprised to see eight story apartment buildings nestled in between gold trimmed Victorian houses. That's when I began to investigate what was behind that juxtaposition – and what it meant in a neighborhood with a history of fighting up-zoning to preserve its dignified nature.
Residents created the Pacific Heights Residents' Association (PHRA) forty years ago, shortly after the city experienced a boom in high-rise construction. The association's goal is to preserve "the quality of life and the residential character" of the neighborhood. PHRA was established in response to the city's intention to change zoning laws to allow high rises in the neighborhood in the 1950s. Today, in part because of neighborhood activism, developers cannot construct buildings more than forty feet tall in the residential areas of Pacific Heights--unless they have a permit from the San Francisco planning department. With such a strong focus on retaining neighborhood character and accessibility, those are difficult to obtain.
Richard Morgenstein is a photographer who lives in a three-story apartment building in Pacific Heights. He believes that urban density––tall apartment buildings––can have an isolating effect. He says he doesn't talk all that much with the neighbors in his apartment complex. But other Pac Heights residents––even some in the tallest buildings––have had a different experience. Rina and David Collfield moved to San Francisco fifteen years ago from Colorado. Now they're building managers and fire safety directors for their building on the corner of Washington and Laguna. They feel that their building feels more like a small town; everyone knows each other but doesn't get overly involved in each other’s lives.
While it has a reputation as one of the toniest neighborhoods, PHRA President Greg Scott confirms there's a lot more to it: "Unlike the usual perception that Pacific Heights is full of rich people, we are a very diverse neighborhood with a lot of socioeconomic levels of people."
Height restrictions established long ago have helped preserve the character of the neighborhood. Today, the sense of community can be found all around...in buildings great and small.
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At the end of September Iggesund Paperboard inaugurated its new recovery boiler at Iggesund Mill, Sweden.
The ceremony was conducted by Lars G Sundblad, who was managing director of the company at the end of the 1950s, when the decision was made to begin manufacturing paperboard.
The new recovery boiler makes it possible for Iggesund to increase production of its paperboard Invercote, and also enables the mill to operate on 100 per cent biofuel and be self-sufficient in energy, both thermal and electric.
Construction of the recovery boiler took two years and cost SEK 2.3bn (EUR 240m). The company is also building a biofuel boiler at its mill in Workington, England. That investment, for the production of the paperboard Incada, will cost SEK 1.1bn (EUR 123m) and involves a radical change of energy source from today's fossil natural gas to bioenergy. The new biofuel boiler at Workington is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2013.
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George Xydis is a National Representative of the European COST Action TU0902 "Integrated assessment technologies to support the sustainable development of urban areas", and a member of the Management Committee. He graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a Mechanical Engineering degree. He holds a Ph.D degree in engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. He now works as a Scientist (Assist. Professor) in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark. He is a member of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) since 2009.
Being a certified WAsP user and having studied and developed more than 1700 MW of Renewable Energy Projects (wind mainly) we have gained significant experience in the sector so far and always continue to work on gaining more. We have dealt with site topography identification, correlation of short-term data with long-term data, estimation of energy production, design & energy output optimization, analysis of wind resource data from meteorological masts and maps, energy analyses, technical analyses, business plans etc.
Apart from renewable energy sector for some years now we have been involved in a number of environmental related EU funded projects.
Our main focus areas include (but are not limited to):
- Developing Wind Speed Prognostic Models (as Wind Farm planning tools)
- Air Psychrometrics Analyses (and effects on wind/solar power output)
- Energy Systems Modeling & Optimal Resource Planning
- Low Carbon Technologies (LCT) and Built Environment
- Resource Efficiency and Sectorial Analysis
- Wind Resource Analysis
- Demand Response
- Exergy Analysis
- Urban Planning
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[I just sent this message to my fellow members of 1) the Purissima Hills Water District Board and 2) the Los Altos Hills Water Conservation Committee.]
Below are excerpts from Conservation Feebates -- Journal of the American Water Works Association, Jan 1996, pp. 70-78, by Dr. Robert Collinge, Dept. of Economics, UT San Antonio. If you read nothing else, read the first and last paragraphs.
The tricky part is coming up with the allotments, but my understanding is that, at least in Purissima, there is already a formula or method for assigning allotments in a drought. I have no problem telling Purissima customers that if they don't like our prices/allotments, then they can truck in their own water. However, I have a big problem with telling LAH residents that if they don't use the water they buy in the way the town thinks is best, then they can expect a visit from the sheriff (or equivalent). As long as a customer pays our stated rates and isn't a nuisance to his neighbors or to district infrastructure, then I don't think it's any of my business what he does with the water he buys.
water rates are expected to satisfy three objectives: efficiency,
revenue neutrality to the utility, and distributional equity.
Unfortunately, adjusting rates to efficiently achieve use and
conservation targets would ordinarily generate excessive revenues.
Rather than mold one tool to the service of three masters, this article
suggests combining three separate tools. The first sets the water rate
to cover the utility's costs. The second assigns customers allotments to
water use. The third either charges a fee for use that exceeds the
customer's allotment or hands out rebates for consumption below that
allotment. The fees pay for the rebates--thus the term "feebate." The
outcome is: revenues to the utility just sufficient to cover costs;
efficient water consumption by municipal water customers without
conservation mandates; and revenue effects that can be spread fairly
across various categories of customers.
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“Even megafauna can be quickly forgotten: the baiji and shifting baselines.
In 2006 a survey in China to locate the endangered Yangtze River dolphin, known as the baiji, found no evidence of its survival. Despondent, researchers declared that the baiji was likely extinct. Four years later and the large charismatic marine mammal is not only ‘likely extinct’, but in danger of being forgotten, according to a surprising new study “Rapidly Shifting Baselines in Yangtze Fishing Communities and Local Memory of Extinct Species” in Conservation Biology.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Samuel Turvey, was a member of the original expedition in 2006. He returned to the Yangtze in 2008 to interview locals about their knowledge of the baiji and other vanishing megafauna in the river, including the Chinese paddlefish, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish. In these interviews Turvey and his team found clear evidence of ‘shifting baselines’: where humans lose track of even large changes to their environment, such as the loss of a top predator like the baiji.
The baiji, once known as ‘The Goddess of the Yangtze’. Photo by: Wang Ding.
“‘Shifting baseline syndrome’ is a social phenomenon whereby communities can forget about changes to the state of the environment during the recent past, if older community members don’t talk to younger people about different species or ecological conditions that used to occur in their local region,” Turvey explains. “These shifts in community perception typically mean that the true level of human impact on the environment is underestimated, or even not appreciated at all, since the original environmental ‘baseline’ has been forgotten.”
In other words, a community today may see an ecosystem as ‘pristine’ or ‘complete’, which their grandparents would view as hopelessly degraded. In turn what the current generation sees as a degraded environment, the next generation will see as ‘natural’. The shifting baseline theory is relatively new—first appearing in 1995—and so it has not been widely examined in the field.
Turvey and his team felt that the Yangtze River, one of the world’s most degraded freshwater habitats, would provide a more-than-suitable place to test the theory in the field. But even they were surprised by the extent to which once-important species were forgotten.
“Our data from the Yangtze shows that, in certain cultural environments at least, local communities will immediately start to forget about the existence of even large, charismatic species as soon as these species stop being encountered on a fairly regular basis,” explains Turvey.
Yangtze fisherman. Photo by: Samuel Turvey/Leigh Barrett.
The team interviewed 599 participants ranging from 22 to 90. While the majority of participants had heard of the baiji (89.7 percent) and the Chinese paddlefish (66.2 percent), the researchers found that the one thing that linked those who had never heard of the species was youth.
“Younger informants were less likely to know what either species was, despite being prompted with photographic cue cards, appropriate local names, and verbal descriptions,” the authors write. For example, over 70 percent of participants who had begun fishing after 1996 had never even heard of a Chinese paddlefish and 23 percent of these had not heard of the baiji.
“Often we would interview old fishermen who regaled us with stories about the best way to catch paddlefish with long-lines, or told us recipes about how to cook a baiji and what it tasted like, and then we would talk to a 30- or 40-year old fisherman sitting a couple of meters away in the same fishing village who had absolutely no idea what these species were or what we were talking about,” Turvey told mongabay.com, adding that, “it is particularly surprising because paddlefish (the largest freshwater fish in the world!) used to be culturally and economically important until the 1980s, and the baiji was the focus of myths and legends across the Yangtze region.”
Turvey believes their findings have large significance for conservation efforts in China and beyond.
The study shows that “although local ecological knowledge is a highly important source of information for making conservation decisions and recommendations, there are also major problems with relying solely on information provided by local people when trying to reconstruct past changes to the environment,” he says.
However, he also pointed out a possible upside to the research: “if communities forget about vanishing species very quickly, then maybe our findings could also suggest that reports of supposedly extinct species might turn out to be true.”
The other Yangtze victim: the Chinese paddlefish
Interviewing fishermen. Photo by: Samuel Turvey/Leigh Barrett.
It has been pretty well established that the baiji is extinct. Even if a few individuals survive it is highly unlikely that under current conditions in the river—massive dams, susceptibility to bycatch, illegal electric-fishing, pollution, collisions with ships—they could persist in the longterm .
Less is known about the state of one of the Yangtze river’s other big inhabitants: the Chinese paddlefish. The massive fish has not been the target of conservation efforts or publicity campaigns like the baiji, despite its importance to local fishermen as a food source. The Chinese paddlefish wasn’t only important regionally, but globally as it is considered by many to be the world’s largest freshwater fish with some individuals recorded at seven meters long.
The Chinese paddlefish began to decline precipitously in the 1970s due to overfishing; the construction of several major dams added to its problems, and in the 1980s the population collapsed. While the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) hasn’t evaluated the Chinese paddlefish population since 1996, a recent local survey failed to find a single individual. Some now believe the species, like the baiji, is either extinct or very soon will be.
“I have to say that sadly I don’t hold out much hope for the survival of the paddlefish, even in the short-term,” explains Turvey. “Although it’s possible that there might still be a tiny remnant population of paddlefish left in the Yangtze, any survivors downstream of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams are cut off from their spawning grounds, so they cannot reproduce. Fishing efforts and the wider-scale industrialization of the Yangtze are also continuing to intensify, in particular through an increase in destructive electro-fishing.”
Turvey says that the world has let that species go without even a whimper.
“It must also be recognized that, shamefully, there has been extremely little conservation interest ever paid to this magnificent species; at least the baiji was the focus of a lot of conservation discussion, whereas the plight of the paddlefish didn’t even receive that level of recognition.”
This fact alone probably explains why the Chinese paddlefish has been forgotten even quicker than the baiji.
The future of the Yangtze ecosystem: or is there one?
Reeve’s shad was a commercial fish in the Yangtze until its population collapsed from overfishing. Photo by: Samuel Turvey/Leigh Barrett.
Considering that the Yangtze river ecosystem may have lost two key species in less than a decade and possesses a high number of Critically Endangered species according to the IUCN —the Chinese alligator, the Yangtze sturgeon, and Yangtze soft-shell turtle—one has to ask: is this ecosystem beyond repair?
“The Yangtze ecosystem—a vast river drainage once home to hundreds of unique endemic species—is now undeniably one of the world’s most damaged, degraded habitats, and it is extremely depressing to try to carry out conservation projects there,” says Turvey. “The problem is especially acute because the region continues to experience tremendous industrial development associated with China’s escalating economic growth, and it is also home to a huge number of low-income communities that depend upon the river for resources and livelihoods.”
One year after the baiji was declared likely extinct, a report by China’s official State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) found that 30 percent of the Yangtze river’s tributaries are “seriously polluted” while 600 kilometers of the river’s water is in “critical condition”. Yet, development continues: China is currently proposing building another dam on the river, which according to researchers would impact the river’s only fish reserve and one of the last places where the Chinese paddlefish is thought to survive.
The degradation of the river and the loss of species has also impacted the region’s fishermen. In their survey, Turvey and his team found that over 90 percent of the fishermen didn’t want their children to become fishermen. Important commercial species, such as Reeves’ shad and the Yangtze pufferfish, have both undergone population collapses. According to SEPA the river’s annual harvest of fish has dropped 77 percent from the 1950s to the 1990s, leaving fishermen struggling to make a living and resorting to more drastic methods, such as electro-fishing.
“Under such conditions, it is often hard to see how conservation successes can be achieved—is it just a case of banging your head against a wall as you watch species slide irreversibly towards extinction? But how can we allow ourselves to ignore this kind of environmental problem?” asks Turvey.
Fisherman showing off nets. Photo by: Samuel Turvey/Leigh Barrett.
Currently the Yangtze finless porpoise, a freshwater subspecies of the finless porpoise, is estimated to have a population of no more than 2,000 individuals. The Chinese alligator is on the brink in the wild, but survives in captivity. The Yangtze soft-shell turtle, which may also be the world’s largest, could already be gone from the Yangtze, although a wild individual was recently found in Vietnam. Researchers are trying to breed two of the last captive turtles, but one of the turtles is over 80, and the other over 100. Turvey says that for species like these, captive breeding is likely to be the only way to save them in the long-run, although as the turtles’ prove even captive breeding may fail.
“As for many of the Yangtze’s other threatened species, unfortunately very little is still known even about their status or necessary conservation measures,” Turvey says. For example, the Critically Endangered Yangtze sturgeon hasn’t been assessed by the IUCN for over a decade.
In the end ‘shifting baselines’ appears to mean that not only a single species will be lost and forgotten, but an entire ecosystem.
Citation: Citation: Samuel T. Turvey, Leigh A Battett, Hao Yujiang, Zhang Xinqiao, Wang Xianyan, Huang Yagong, Zhou Kaiya, Tom Hart, and Wang Ding. Rapidly Shifting Baselines in Yangtze Fishing Communities and Local Memory of Extinct Species. Conservation Biology. 7th of January 2010. Doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01395.x
For more information: see an essay Dr. Samuel Turvey wrote for the BBC Green Room on his research.”
Dr. Samuel Turvey stands behind specimens of the maybe extinct Chinese paddlefish. Photo by: Samuel Turvey/Leigh Barrett.
The baiji. Photo by: Wang Ding.
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Function of Engineering Cell is to provide research support to various divisions of the institute and to undertake research in the field of Timber Engineering.
Research Supports :
To undertake civil & electrical works of various laboratories, academic/administrative blocks, residences of the institute. For this purpose the following units are working to facilitate the objectives and providing logistic supports:
1. Civil Engineering Section
2. Electrical Engineering Section
3. Service Branch (i) Mechanical Engineering Section (ii) Motor Garage
Timber Engineering :
Research on the strength properties of timber structures and timber connectors.
Developing the use of timber and bamboo as a structural material with due regard to economy and efficiency.
Preparation of designs for the use of architects and engineers for various timber and bamboo structures.
Dissemination of knowledge through Museum, short term training courses, supply of designs and teaching M.Sc. (Wood Science & Technology) FRI University.
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Five of Marlborough's leading wine industry experts will soon be teaching the art of organic-wine production through a new viticulture course at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
The Introduction to Organic Viticulture course, which begins on August 8, is to be delivered at NMIT's Marlborough campus one evening a week for six weeks.
The course tutors are: consultant viticulturist Bart Arnst, vineyard manager for Pernod Ricard Peter Franks, Wither Hills technical viticulturist Samantha Scarrett, Seresin Estate vineyard manager Colin Ross and Walnut Block Wines viticulturist Nigel Sowman.
NMIT viticulture tutor and course co-ordinator Glenn Kirkwood said the tutors were some of the best brains in Marlborough's organic wine industry. "These guys know what they're talking about, they are really passionate about organic viticulture and are excited to be able to share their expertise."
NMIT primary industries programme area leader Jeff Wilson said the course was developed in conjunction with the wine industry, for the wine industry.
It is specifically aimed at people working in the wine industry who are considering expanding or converting their conventional vineyard to organic.
All areas of organic vineyard management would be covered including soil nutrition and management, converting from a conventional to organic vineyard, organic pest and disease management, and certification processes.
Marlborough produced more than 50 per cent of New Zealand's organic wine so there was a real need for people trained in organic viticulture in the region, Mr Wilson said.
"People who attend this course will get a really good understanding of what it takes to successfully produce and market organic wine."
To find out more about the Introduction to Organic Viticulture course contact Paula at NMIT's Marlborough campus on 03 578 0215 or 0800 422 733; course costs $230 per person.
- The Marlborough Express
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Home / Posts tagged 'yoga to reduce blood sugar'
Post Tagged with: "yoga to reduce blood sugar"
Tweet Yoga is an ancient Hindu practice from India used worldwide for health promotion and stress reduction. It is one of a number of drug alternative approaches to lowering blood sugar levels in people who are pre diabetic or diabetic. Now a new 3-month study...
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With Russia turning its back and Europe giving it the cold shoulder, Ukraine is trying to hedge its bet with closer engagement with China. After the scuffles and fistfights that accompanied the debate on Russian language law last week, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill that will considerably expand Chinese farming investments in the country. But the move could also boost China's ability to influence developments in that country, which experts say is of far greater strategic importance to both Russia and Europe.
The Chinese-Ukrainian agreement ratified by the pro-government faction on Tuesday will allow the government to immediately attract up to $3 billion in Chinese investments in agricultural development, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Monday. Part of the loan will be spent on the construction of a plant for organic fertilizer processing, according to the Ukrainian government. However, a portion of the money will go to buy Chinese-made agricultural equipment, crop-protection agents as well as seeds. Ukraine will in turn be able to boost its grain production capacity and supply China with more oil, corn and soybeans.
Chinese investment activities in the country are expected to receive a further boost next year when a law that permits the sale, lease and purchase of agricultural land takes effect. However, some analysts have expressed concerns that the law could indeed pave the way for a complete Chinese takeover of Ukrainian fertile agricultural land. Others have cited the experience in Kazakhstan, where the Chinese invested just over $20 billion to take control of 70 percent of that country’s natural resources, including oil and gas.
“The real reason China readily invests in agricultural programs is that it gives the Chinese easy access to fertile land around the world,” said Sergei Nalivka of AAA Consulting, a Ukrainian agriculture consultancy. “And the reason our officials easily take the money is that it’s a feeding trough for them and their relatives.” Nalivka points to a clause in the new law that he said would allow the Ukrainian government to use discretion to lease land to legal entities, saying that such provision could enable countries like China to take over Ukrainian land through long-term leases.
As growing tension puts a strain on Ukraine’s relationship with both the European Union and Russia, Ukrainian politicians are also turning east to embrace China. “They [the Chinese] do not put forward unrealistic demands and they never mix economy with politics,” said an unnamed government official cited by Nezavisimaya Gazeta. “They have the tools, the technology, capabilities and above all, they are interested.”
Ukraine signed a framework agreement with the Chinese government last month in hopes of unlocking additional loans to undertake a major overhaul of its agricultural sector. “Yes, the countries intend to carry out joint work in the area of crop cultivation, plant protection, agricultural engineering and veterinary drugs,” Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk declared after the signing ceremony. “I understand that by uniting the natural, technical and financial resources we can produce goods and export them to the markets of third countries.”
In addition to the agreement, the Central Banks of both countries also inked a currency swap deal worth 15 billion Yuan ($2.36 billion) that will enable companies from either side to use national currencies for export-import operations and to conduct settlements in national currencies without involving the currencies of other countries. The deals could offer some relief to Ukraine, which currently spends about one billion dollars yearly to import chemical fertilizer.
There are at least six other Ukrainian-Chinese projects of national importance currently under consideration, ranging from the development of conventional and alternative energy sources to the construction of residential buildings and the computerization of schools. An ad-hoc Ukrainian-Chinese Committee is also reportedly working on the possibility of converting Ukrainian alcohol factories to factories that will produce biofuel. The Chinese have also shown particular interest in the development of the steppe regions of the Crimea, as well as in the land reclamation project in the Crimean Peninsula.
But whatever benefits the newfound cooperation may hold, some officials are calling for caution. “In recent years, the Chinese government has expressed interest in doing some quick turnover businesses in Ukraine,” said Vladimir Makiyenko, a pro-Europe Ukrainian lawmaker. “However, the government needs to weigh the pros and cons and the durability of each project must be carefully examined.” Makiyenko said that while it is understandable that working with the Europeans could be harder and more expensive, such cooperation might be worthwhile because “it could be more promising in the long-term."
Other experts have dismissed as myth the impending Chinese takeover of Ukrainian land. “Investment has no nationality,” said Konstantin Bondarenko of the Kiev-based National Strategy Institute. It is in Ukraine’s interest to open the door wide to investments from China, Europe, Russia, or wherever, he said. “This will speed up the development of agriculture, which is the strategic sector of the Ukrainian economy,” Bondarenko said. "In any case, the saving grace is still that non-residents will not be eligible to buy Ukrainian land.”
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Think I'm slipping into the twilight zone. Can somebody point me in the direction of the nearest pizza plant? Also, can you tell me what climate is best for pizza to grow in?
U.S. Congress Says Pizza is a Vegetable
By Dr. Mercola
"In case you weren't aware, you can eat a few slices of pizza and a couple of orders of fries and reach your daily requirement of vegetables!
Of course, I kid, although it's really not a laughing matter.
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed guidelines that would limit the use of potatoes in school lunches, as well as require a serving of tomato paste to be one-half cup in order to count as a serving of vegetables.
Since a slice of pizza has less than that, it would therefore NOT qualify as a vegetable, the way it does now.
Well, since Congress appears to have few more pressing concerns, they decided to invest their time nixing the proposed changes, and will continue to allow two tablespoons of tomato paste to count as a vegetable, and potatoes to be served with abandon.
Since federally subsidized school lunch programs are required to serve a certain number of vegetables, pizza and French fries will continue to be served as "vegetables" to school kids across the United States.
Who Lobbied for These Changes?
A handful of USDA provisions were vetoed by Congress, including standards that would not only have limited the use of starchy vegetables (including French fries) and changed the amount of tomato paste that counts as a vegetable, but also limit sodium and boost the use of whole grains in school lunches.
As you might suspect, food companies, including those that produce frozen pizzas for school lunches, and potato growers fought back, saying the USDA standards were too strict. Others argued that the changes would be too cost-prohibitive to schools already stretching their budgets. Unfortunately, what this means is that pizza and French fries will continue to be a staple found in most school cafeterias, which are already notorious for their heavy use of very low-quality processed foods.
It's true that most schools are on tight budgets, and though they may have good intentions, they often find introducing healthier foods a challenge, particularly when kids prefer the junk-food versions, or have not been introduced to healthier foods.
However, there are other factors at play as well, including not only intense lobbying from the food industry as noted above, but also "rebates" paid to food service companies that serve public schools for purchasing processed junk foods.
Have You Heard About Processed Food "Rebates"?
In an article published on La Vida Locavore, Ed Bruske revealed, possibly for the first time, that manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay "rebates" (aka "kickbacks") to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States.
Bruske obtained documents under The Freedom of Information Act that revealed more than 100 companies paid rebates to Chartwells, a food service management company hired by D.C. Public Schools. As you might suspect, the "rebates" present a conflict of interest that could prompt Chartwells to order food for your children based on the amount of rebate it will receive, versus the food's nutritional value.
The end result?
School lunches replete with heavily processed foods like muffins, pizza, tater tots and flavored milk in lieu of fresh produce.
According to Bruske:
"Manufacturers pay rebates based on large volume purchases -- literally, cash for placing an order. Rebates are said to be worth billions of dollars to the nation's food industry, although manufacturers as well as the food service companies who feed millions of the nation's school children every day -- Chartwells, Sodexo and Aramark -- treat them as a closely-guarded secret.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that food service companies engaged in "cost reimbursable" contracts with schools credit any rebates they receive to their school clients. For more than a year, attorneys for D.C. Public Schools refused to make public an itemized list of rebates collected by Chartwells, claiming the information constituted "trade secrets." The schools were overruled by Mayor Vincent Gray's legal counsel after I filed an administrative appeal.
John Carroll, an assistant New York State attorney general investigating rebating practices there, has said rebates pose "an inherent conflict of interest" in school feeding programs because they favor highly processed industrial foods. In cases where schools pay a food service company a flat rate to provide meals, the companies are not required to disclose the rebates they collect. In those cases,
Carroll recently told a U.S. Senate Panel, rebates tend to drive up the cost of food, cheating children out of nutrition they might otherwise have on their lunch trays.
Carroll also described cases where rebates discouraged the use of local farm products in school meals. Produce vendors can't afford to pay a rebate for local apples. But in at least one case, a produce distributor raised the prices of his goods so that he could pay a rebate to a food service company. A Homeland Security sub-committee in the U.S. Senate is investigating possible rebate fraud in contracts across the entire federal government."
What Happens When Kids are Fed a Junk-Food Diet?
It is a well-known fact that many of the top diseases plaguing the United States are diet-related, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. The National Institutes of Health even states that four of the six leading causes of death in the United States are linked to unhealthy diets.
On the flip-side, it's been proven that when kids eat healthier lunches, they behave better, are less likely to be obese and improve their grades. So, kids who get poor nutrition are not only at risk of chronic disease, but their performance in school is bound to suffer.
Mission: Readiness, an organization made up of retired admirals and generals, even went so far as to cite the "pizza loophole that treats the tomato paste on pizza as a serving of vegetables on school lunch menus" as a threat to national security, since obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service, and an epidemic of U.S. kids are now overweight and obese, in large part due to poor diet.
The other issue at hand is the fact that federally subsidized school lunch programs are based on federal nutrition guidelines, which in and of themselves are rife with misinformation such as the flawed nutritional dogmas that saturated fats cause heart disease while unfermented and genetically modified soy is "healthy".
For instance, in order to comply with new U.S. government standards, soy products are now being used to replace whole, nutritious foods in school lunches. Due to the decreased fat content of soy, it is touted as a healthful alternative to the meat and dairy of yesterday's hot meal (and it certainly doesn't hurt that soy is one of the most heavily subsidized crops in the United States as well).
In reality, soy added to your child's hot lunch depletes the necessary nutrients needed for healthy growth and has been linked to learning disabilities. It is also genetically modified, which carries its own health risks.
For now, though, the simplest way back toward health for school lunch programs would be to focus on WHOLE foods -- foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state.
As Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma, said:
"Let's look at the school lunch program. This is where we're feeding a big part of our population. We are essentially feeding them fast food and teaching them how to eat it quickly.
If we could spend a dollar or more per day per child and work on the nutritional quality of that food – and require that a certain percentage of that school lunch fund in every school district has to be spent within 100 miles to revive local agriculture, to create more jobs on farms, to rural redevelopment – you will achieve a great many goals through doing that.
You will have a healthier population of kids who will perform better in the afternoon after that lunch. You will have the shot in the arm to local economies through helping local agriculture. And you will teach this generation habits that will last a lifetime about eating."
How to Help Prompt Positive Change for School Lunch Programs
On an individual level, do your children a favor and send them to school with a healthy, home-packed meal.
On a larger scale, and to help those children who depend on school lunches for proper nutrition, you can join Chef Ann Cooper's National School Food Challenge, and make the pledge to provide fresh, local and healthy food to your children both at school and at home. Ann is heading up a grassroots public health effort to make school lunches healthier using practical strategies like:
Significantly increasing salad bars in schools across the United States until every child has the choice of healthy fruits and vegetables every day at school
Supporting the Farm to School program, which is broadly defined as a program that connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers
I urge you to get involved with Chef Ann Cooper's programs to help incorporate healthier foods into school cafeterias in your area, and help lay the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating choices among the next generation."
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iCo Therapeutics Inc. (iCo) is a Canadian biotechnology company focused on the identification, development and commercialization of drug candidates to treat sight threatening and life threatening diseases through a business model. The Company focuses on in-licensing drug candidates with a clinical history and redose, reformulate and develop drug candidates for the treatment of sight-threatening conditions, such as diabetic macular edema (DME) and severe allergic conjunctivitis and life threatening diseases such as severe systemic fungal infections. Its in-license three product candidates are iCo-007, iCo-008 and an Oral Amphotericin B Delivery System (formerly iCo-009), which is under development. On February 22, 2011, iCo announced the completion of Phase II clinical supply manufacturing of ICo-007. On September 26, 2011, iCo announced a research collaboration agreement with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) for the Phase II clinical trial investigation of iCo-007 in DME.
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Pay Attention to the Healthy People
In today's economy, it's becoming apparent that what we consider "health" needs to be redefined, argues Dee Edington, PhD, director of the University of Michigan's Health Management Research Center in Ann Arbor.
In quality terms, the current healthcare model needs to move away from its structure of waiting for defects—and then trying to fix those defects. In other words, the system waits for patients to get sick and then treats them. But this has created a failed healthcare strategy that is posing a major threat to business survival, says Edington, author of a new book, Zero Trends: Health as a Serious Economic Strategy.
"Companies are going out of business because we don't pay attention to healthy people. Our whole country, as we all know, just waits for sickness," he told a Washington audience earlier this month. "Nobody cares about health except for the individuals themselves, and they don't even care because they think, 'It's not going to happen to me.'"
Edington doesn't consider his comments a shot across the bow aimed at healthcare providers. Instead, he sees it as an idea that providers—as employers themselves—can embrace and adopt for their own employee populations. One Michigan healthcare organization, Allegiance Health System, has already taken his suggestions on keeping its employees on the healthier side.
To change the conversation about health in today's environment, Edington proposes five areas of change:
Move from health as the absence of disease to health as vitality and energy. Companies can no longer wait for their employees to become sick. Instead, they need to realize that keeping people healthy adds value on both sides: Costs related to disease are lower while productivity increases.
Move from caring only for the sick to enabling people to stay healthy. A culture needs to be developed that individuals are "winners" when it comes to health. Some corporate and community cultures are starting to change, and governments have put their stamp on change by legislating smoke-free environments or mandating safety belt laws. But more is needed, Edington says. Employers can help by recognizing and rewarding employees for staying healthy. "Set the incentives for healthy choices. Reinforce every touch point, every e-mail. Every time CEOs have a chance to talk, let them talk about the healthy culture," he says.
Move from the cost of healthcare to the total value of health. Governments and organizations generally have focused on how much it costs for someone who is sick. However, the total value of someone's health should be much more than that, he says.
Move from individual participation to population engagement. Health promotion or wellness programs have gone down the wrong path, Edington says. "If you try to change a person or provide something where people can change, then where do they go?" he asks. "You can't put a changed person back into the same environment because what happens? They go right back." Instead, shifts need to be made that keep entire populations in mind. Whether it's a company or a government, strategies aimed at entire populations need to be kept in mind that encourage, for instance, compliance with activities such as exercising or smoking cessation.
Move from behavior change to a culture of health. All too often, a "blame the victim" mentality has emerged for those who drink too much or do not exercise enough or do not eat healthy foods. The solution was to "sentence" them to behavior change programs, which often fell short of their goals, he says. Instead, more encompassing changes need to take place across the culture through vision and commitment that encourage healthier behaviors.
Note: You can sign up to receive QualityLeaders, a free weekly e-newsletter that provides strategic information on the business of healthcare management from around the globe.
Janice Simmons is a senior editor and Washington, DC, correspondent for HealthLeaders Media Online. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Only hours after Kurt Cobain's corpse was found in his Seattle home last Friday, he was buried in a media avalanche of generalities.
The myth-making machinery that cranks up after every show-biz death busily turned a troublesome rock musician into a recognizable, easy-to-digest archetype. Headline after headline assured us that the 27-year-old Mr. Cobain, the mainspring of the band Nirvana, was the voice of a generation. (Douglas Coupland, the author of "Generation X," even published a weepy open letter to "Kurt" to claim ownership.) Mr. Cobain was also irresistibly likened to the self-immolating rock trinity of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, who all vanished into their own drug hazes at age 27.
The New York Post pursued another familiar angle with its series: "How Fame Killed Kurt Cobain." And Newsweek achieved a hat trick of depression by putting Mr. Cobain's face on a cover featuring an essay by William Styron about Vincent Foster. Inside, Mr. Cobain and Mr. Foster joined a Mount Rushmore-like pictorial "pantheon of the suicidal" that also included Abbie Hoffman, Marilyn Monroe and Ernest Hemingway.
I asked my sons, both rabid Nirvana fans and both young enough to look upon Generation X as enfeebled parental figures, if any of this reflected the musician they admired. No, they said, and were particularly vehement in defending Mr. Cobain against the charge of being The Voice of a Generation. "He didn't want to be that," said my older son, urging me to check out Mr. Cobain's true story and to listen harder to the music that had for so long drifted out of his bedroom.
He has a point. Mr. Cobain's biography, as reported by Michael Azerrad in the book "Come As You Are," strikes American chords more universal than generational. The son of parents who divorced acrimoniously when he was 8, the young Kurt was shuffled from relative to relative in the gloomy logging town of Aberdeen, Wash. As he won high school art contests with his drawings, he was tormented by jocks. He turned to music for salvation, only to be startled when his intensely idiosyncratic songs caught on with the conformist majority he despised.
When Nirvana released its first album with a major label, "Nevermind," in 1991, all of show business was shocked. Without warning, an unglamorous cult sound became what one executive called a "get-out-of-the-way-and-duck record," knocking the invincible Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" out of number one and selling 10 million copies. Yet "Nevermind" was the antithesis of commercial pop: raw, abrasive, devoid of recording-studio slickness and, in its unalloyed rage, genuinely dangerous.
Mr. Cobain did have anti-establishment politics of a sort. But when he announced "I am a spokesman for myself" -- pointedly rejecting the role of generational mouthpiece -- he wasn't being flip. The subject of "Nevermind" and Nirvana's even harsher final album, "In Utero," is private suffering, not public injustice. Images of divorce, disease and self-loathing proliferate. Joy is virtually absent.
What makes the songs so affecting to a listener who isn't schooled in punk or grunge (and doesn't care to be) is their perfect pitch for naked anguish. Half the time Mr. Cobain is screaming the same unambiguous phrase over and over again -- "Stay away!" or "I do not want what I have got!" -- until finally he trails off in exhaustion ("Oh well, whatever, nevermind"). The sound that comes from his voice and from his shrieking, feedback-choked guitar is the piercingly authentic cry of a child in torment -- if not that of our own children (or so we hope), then maybe that of the children we once were, fleeing from warring or abusive parents, playground bullies, forces we couldn't yet understand.
To label Mr. Cobain patly now -- as a symbolic victim of success or drugs or rock nihilism or slacker angst or whatever, nevermind -- is to tune him out. But his primal screams of sheer pain, unsweetened by showmanship or sentimentality or even (to my taste) music, demanded a more direct and passionate response. Without prompting by hype, millions of Americans made that intimate connection. If there were easy answers as to why, it would not be so unsettling that Mr. Cobain's shattered voice, once heard, refuses to leave the ear.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Healthcare reform has been a hot topic in Vermont and nationally for quite some time. The discussion on how to improve the healthcare system is loud and sometimes emotional. In this midst of this debate, medical offices in the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital service area are leading the state and the nation in improving patient care and containing the costs of healthcare.
In January, the Department of Vermont Health Access released the 2010 Annual Report on the Vermont Blueprint for Health. As the report states the Vermont Blueprint for Health is “Vermont’s cutting edge health reform program”. Five primary care offices in the NVRH service area were the first offices chosen as part of a patient-centered medical home pilot in late 2007. The 2010 Blueprint Annual Report outlines the conclusions of the St. Johnsbury area pilot. Results include a reduction in avoidable emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and improvements in patient care in primary care offices.
The report compares data supplied by NVRH, Vermont Medicaid, and the Vermont Healthcare Claims Uniform Reporting and Evaluation System. The data from all sources shows a favorable reduction in avoidable hospital and emergency room visits. Similar reductions in hospital and emergency room use were also seen in Burlington Blueprint pilot sites, but were not seen in areas of the state not participating in the Blueprint for Health.
Paul Bengtson, CEO at NVRH, is very supportive of the Blueprint for Health. “NVRH is always here when our patients need us, but it is important that patients call their primary care office for non-urgent care, and to get the ongoing care they need from their primary care provider. We want people to get the right care, at the right time, in the right place”.
The Northern Counties Health Care medical offices of the Danville Health Center, the Concord Health Center, Caledonia Internal Medicine, and St. Johnsbury Family Health Center, and NVRH Corner Medical are recognized by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) as Patient Centered Medical Homes. The medical home model focuses on prevention and using a Community Health Team to deliver health care, and includes the patient as a key member of the healthcare team.
“Wow,” said Dr. Sharon Fine from the Danville Health Center when she read the report. “I am really excited to see the positive preliminary results from our Medical Home Pilot! The decrease in hospitalizations and emergency room utilization is impressive. I believe that providing a medical home for my patients is key to providing superior patient care. It is great to see this translate into measureable results.”
The report concludes that favorable trends are starting to be seen in the quality of healthcare delivered in medical homes. Additionally, focus forums with patients in the medical homes confirmed an increase in patient satisfaction.
For more information on the St. Johnsbury area Blueprint for Health visit www.nvrh.org. To read the full Vermont Blueprint for Health Annual Report visit http://hcr.vermont.gov/.
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Browse By Category
- Children & Family
- Lectures & Talks
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Convict Sydney exhibition. Photograph © Penny Clay, graphic design Beau Vandenberg.
All kinds of crimes could get you a job on Macquarie Street …
Explore Australia’s convict history at the World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks. Learn about the forced transportation of convicts, their daily lives and how they built the colony. Wander the streets of 1820s Sydney on our giant map, try on a set of leg-irons, lie in a convict hammock, look for your relatives on the convict database, and discover the intriguing stories of some of the 50,000 convicts who passed through the barracks doors between 1819 and 1848. Bring your kids for dress-ups and our convicts Kids' Trail.
Hyde Park Barracks is a World Heritage site
Hyde Park Barracks Museum
Saturday 11 September 2010 - Thursday 31 December 2015
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By Brady Holt
Current Staff Writer
Residents living along a deteriorating alley in eastern Georgetown are getting fresh promises that the city will address the pitted road surface and the stormwater runoff behind their homes.
The unpaved alley runs down the hill from R Street parallel to 31st and 32nd streets. Residents there have spent years pushing the D.C. Department of Transportation to address conditions there, and complain that they’ve watched other alleys get repaved while theirs has been a mix of gravel, mud and potholes since at least the 1960s.
The Transportation Department last week told residents that the project will move forward in the immediate future. The department is now working to hire engineers to design an improved alley, which will not only be paved but also incorporate connections to the stormwater system, agency spokesperson John Lisle said in an interview.
“There’s no drainage in the alley, which is a big issue. So you could go in there and pave it, and all the water would run toward the homes that are adjacent to it,” Lisle said. “That’s not an acceptable solution to anybody. What we’re working on right now ... is a complete redesign of the alley that would include a tie-in to the stormwater system, so it would be a completely improved alley with drainage.”
This isn’t the first time, though, that the Transportation Department has pledged to fix the alley. The agency regraded the alley in 2011, but the drainage issues made the potholes reappear quickly, according to neighbors. Then in December 2011, transportation officials said they’d found the money to rebuild the alley the next spring.
In an email to neighbors this week, Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans said the Transportation Department had “relegated it to a later status” because of the project’s relatively high cost and complexity — including coordination with the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority.
“When [agency director Terry Bellamy] said that this one project would use most of the Ward 2 alley budget for the year, I told him to move forward anyway, as we had made promises and more importantly, this needs to be done,” Evans wrote.
Dale Curtis, who lives on 32nd Street, said in an interview that it’s good to hear that plans for the alley are moving forward, but that he isn’t getting his hopes up entirely.
“We have been told many positive things in the past two years, and we’ve been encouraged by that — but nothing has happened yet,” Curtis said.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he added. “We get nice promises, but we still have an alley that’s in nearly third-world conditions.”
According to Lisle, hiring an engineering firm will take a few weeks, at which point that contractor will spend four to five months doing design work. Construction would begin about two months later, with the duration dependent on the design, Lisle said.
A budget for the alley project hasn’t yet been determined either, but Lisle said it’s unlikely that costs will again derail the work. “We’re committed to making the improvements,” he said. “I know this is a priority.”
This article appears in the Feb. 6 issue of The Georgetown Current newspaper.
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Artificial Heart Valve
An artificial heart valve is made of plastic, metal, or pig tissue and is surgically implanted to replace a person's original heart valve. These valves are also called mechanical valves or tissue valves.
A person's heart valve may need to be replaced if it no longer works properly because of a birth defect or because of damage caused by a disease or aging.
When a person has an artificial heart valve, he or she may need to take anticoagulants to prevent blood clots. And he or she may need to take antibiotics before certain procedures to prevent infection.
eMedicineHealth Medical Reference from Healthwise
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
Find out what women really need.
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Pill Identifier on RxList
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The movement of blood in the coronary arteries is still not fully understood. Unlike other organs, which receive a pulse of blood flow every time the heart contracts, the heart muscle itself compresses its own blood supply during its contraction. ICCH has developed a completely new method of analysing the complex interactions between pressure and flow that occur within the coronary arteries during cardiac contraction and relaxation.
Dr Justin Davies is using this method to identify a series of energy waves responsible for directing blood flow in the coronary arteries. These waves are detrimentally reduced in the abnormal thickening of the heart muscle caused by high blood pressure.
More recently, Dr Davies has developed a new technique to assess the importance of changes in the reservoir properties of the aorta in regulating blood pressure, and the impact of ageing and disease.
Dr Nearchos Hadjiloizou, a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow, is investigating the effect of left ventricular function on coronary haemodynamics. Normally, the blood supply to the heart comes from the left and right coronary arteries. While these arteries originate from the same level of the aorta and experience the same aortic pressure, their flow patterns are strikingly different. Dr Hadjiloizou accounted for this difference by investigating wave generation in each of these arteries.
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The following article was written by Elizabeth Lapointe:
Ottawa, Canada - November 3, 2011 - In accepting the remembrance challenge of this year’s Veterans’ Week, “Make remembrance more than something you feel. Make it something you do”, Canadian blogger, Elizabeth Lapointe, will have a whole week of Canadian military-related posts on her blog www.GenealogyCanada.blogspot.com.
Lapointe says, “Coming from a military family, and married into one, Veterans’ Week means something special to me. It is in this spirit that I will post on related Canadian military websites and blogs, culminating with a special Remembrance Day post on November 11th.”
Some examples of the posts planned during Veterans’ Week include a post on Veterans’ Week itself, listing the different events planned across Canada; a post covering the Wreath Laying Ceremony at the National Military Cemetery at Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery in December; and on November 11th (Remembrance Day), there will be a post on The Portraits of Honour National Tour, which has been going across Canada since May, and which will stop in Ottawa on November 11th and 12th.
Also included will be a special “Canadian Military” websites and blogs list that will be posted on Monday, November 7th as a special edition of the “New/Improved Canadian Websites and Blogs” series, which is published every Monday.
“I have gone through the military websites and blogs, and have picked the ones which have special meaning and remembrance for this week. Join me as I take the journey to the best websites and blogs honouring Veterans’ Week - November 5th to the11th," says Lapointe.
Go to www.GenealogyCanada.blogspot.com.
The blog www.GenealogyCanada.blogspot.com has been covering Canadian genealogy, heritage, and history since the first of over 500 posts was published in January, 2008.
At the www.GenealogyCanada.com website, there are over 30 monthly newsletters covering news on Canadian genealogy, heritage, and history, including the famous “Website of the Month”.
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World’s first advanced degree in animal law
From dogfighting and hoarding to pet custody battles, animal law issues are making headlines around the country. Now Lewis & Clark is creating the world’s first advanced degree in animal law, extending its leadership in the emerging field.
Robert Klonoff, dean of Lewis & Clark Law School, announced that the school’s proposal for an Animal Law LL.M. Program received acquiescence from the American Bar Association (ABA) and unanimous approval from the school’s Board of Trustees.
“The ABA’s and Board of Trustees’ quick and unequivocal actions represent a huge step forward and recognition for the field of animal law, and are yet another example of leadership and innovation at Lewis & Clark Law School,” he said.
This development enhances the already cutting-edge Animal Law Program and adds to the growing list of “firsts”:
- Comprehensive animal law program, including animal law certificate option
- Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) chapter
- Animal law journal (Animal Law)
- Summer Intensive Animal Law Program
- Animal law competitions (National Animal Law Competitions)
- Academic animal law conference (The Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark)
“The new LL.M. degree program marks another historic milestone in the evolution of animal law,” Pamela Frasch, assistant dean of the Animal Law Program and executive director of the Center for Animal Law Studies, said. “When I first started teaching in 1998, I dreamed of the day when students would have the opportunity to earn an advanced degree in animal law. That day is finally here, and I’m proud of Lewis & Clark’s strong commitment to educate the next generation of animal law attorneys. With the new LL.M., our graduates will be poised to become the leading legal educators and advocates in the field.”
The Animal Law LL.M. Program at Lewis & Clark is expected to launch in the fall of 2012. Demand for an advanced animal law degree is already high, with the school regularly receiving inquiries about its inauguration. Preparations are under way regarding the final details, including the application process. As more information becomes available, it will appear on the Center for Animal Law Studies’ website.
About the Center for Animal Law Studies:
Founded in 2008, the Center is the home for the animal law programs and activities of Lewis & Clark Law School. The Center collaborates with the national non-profit Animal Legal Defense Fund to educate and support law students and legal professionals in the rapidly developing field of animal law through classes, conferences, scholarship, and clinical opportunities.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Mooney Acclaim Type S: Still The Fastest!
If speed is your thing, The Acclaim Type S may be at the peak of the production pyramid
A few inches away, the world isn’t a friendly place. I’m cruising in a new Mooney M20TN Acclaim Type S at 25,000 feet over central Florida, and despite clear skies and warm temperatures on the ground, the air is cold and thin nearly five miles above the ocean. Without the Mooney’s protective bubble of aluminum and Plexiglas, plus oxygen masks to provide supplemental O2, I’d be in trouble.
The outside air temperature is about minus-30 degrees C, and the air is so thin at this height, we mere mortals would be tempting fate without our masks. If we were scaling K2 or Everest, we’d be only 1,000 feet below what climbers call the death zone. Technically, atmospheric pressure at FL250 is only about a third of that at sea level, and humans don’t do well at such heights without supplemental O2.
The new, production Acclaim Type S that has us surrounded doesn’t seem to mind the conditions. The airplane’s big Continental TSIO-550G engine features twin turbos and dual intercoolers; it thrums happily in the cold, high sky.
Loaded up with full standard fuel and two big pilots up front, the airplane is nearly at gross weight as it gradually sneaks up on its max cruise number. I watch the true airspeed readout on the Garmin G1000, and the numbers slowly count up to 239 knots. That’s 275 mph in nonpilot speak, about four times legal freeway speeds and faster even than a Bugatti Veyron. Normally, 239 knots is the beginning of turbine country, recorded by C90 King Airs and the like, but the fastest of the Mooneys takes truly high cruise in stride.
Speed has always been Mooney’s strongest suit. The type has consistently manifested among the highest knot count per hp in general aviation. In today’s world of $6-per-gallon avgas, the airplane’s ability to wring every possible knot out of each gallon serves it well. The gold standard of performance was previously one mph per hp, and a Mooney is one of very few production airplanes to realize that goal (achieved 30 years ago on the 201, flying 200 mph on 200 hp). Better still, the turbocharged Mooney 231 came close to realizing one knot per horsepower in 1979, delivering more than 200 knots on only 210 hp.
Alas, the days of the 200 hp Mooneys are long gone, though some of Mooney’s old guard still regard the 201 as the best Mooney ever built. Today’s Mooneys fly behind engines with far more power, but because drag increases at the square of speed, what was possible with 200 hp is highly unlikely with 280 hp. The current state of the aerodynamic art isn’t up to 280 mph on 280 hp.
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SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (5-28-09)
Beijing has taken steps to prevent dissent in response to a groundswell of pressure for the authorities to atone for what happened.
Students at Beijing and Dalian Universities have been banned from giving any interviews to the foreign media until after the anniversary.
University exams have been scheduled across China on June 4, in what appears to be an attempt to keep students inside their classrooms.
Security officers have also been targeting known dissidents including Bao Tong, 76, an aide to Zhao Zhiyang, the late Chinese leader. He has been taken out of Beijing to the mountain region of Huangshan on Monday.
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"In Bolivia's jungles and steep cliffs the Yungas people do not walk. They fly. On ropes. Like birds. Faster than astronauts. These 'birds' are known as cocaleros, or coca harvesters. They use ropes to swing across the narrow valleys, suspended from ancient rusting pulleys." Watch the video. Jerry, thanks for the link. Previously: Aerial ropeways: automatic cargo transport for a bargain.
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Wordsworth and Romantic Poetry: "…Tintern Abbey" and the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
Though absent long,
These forms of beauty have not been to me,
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration.
"I have said that Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the traquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind."
Therefore I am still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye and ear, both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognize
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
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Louisiana in 1757
Page 2 of 3
rior to this, the most recently published history of Louisiana was Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France (Paris, 1744) by the Jesuit Pierre de Charlevoix, who visited the region in the 1720s. In 1753, the Abbé de Mascrier published a two-volume work under the title Mémoires historiques sur la Louisian composés sur les mémoires de M. Dumont par M.L.L.M, which appeared at the same time as du Pratz's final Journal article.7 M. Dumont was another young soldier who had sought his fortune in Louisiana and eventually returned to France. Mascrier's history was based upon manuscripts that Dumont had written about his experiences in Louisiana, but Mascrier rather extensively and imaginatively edited the manuscript before publication. Du Pratz and Dumont knew one another in the colony (Dumont's stay from 1719 to 1737 nearly coincided with that of du Pratz), and thought of one another as friends until the Dumont/Mascrier work accused du Pratz of gross inaccuracies in his competing series of historical articles. This insult, as well as the encouragement of his friends, seems to have spurred du Pratz to expand his journal articles into his treatise Histoire de la Louisiane, published in 1758, forty years after the author landed in New Orleans.8
Du Pratz's Map of LouisianaCartouche
Click on the image below for a full view of the map.
This cartouche carries the date 1757 because the map was originally engraved in French for the first edition (three volumes, Paris, 1758). When the work was translated into English for publication in London in 1763 (two volumes) and 1774 (one volume), the map was re-engraved in English but retained the earlier date.
The full title of this work was Histoire de la Louisiane, contenant la découverte de ce vaste pays; sa description géographique; un voyage dans les terres; l'histoire naturelle, les moeurs, coutumes & religion des naturels, avec leurs origines; deux voyages dans le nord du nouveau Mexique, dont un jusqu'à la Mer du Sud; ornée de deux cartes & 40 planches en taille douce,9 and it first appeared in three volumes. His work covered French colonial activities, explorations, and military campaigns; Louisiana's natural history and economic potential; and descriptions of the customs and conditions of Native Americans in the region, particularly of the Natchez. What he wrote about the Natchez—their lives, customs, religious ceremonies, and social structure—is considered the best and most accurate account of these indigenous inhabitants of Louisiana, who had been annihilated by the time du Pratz returned to France. He has also recorded much information on the other Indian tribes of the lower Mississippi River country. Regarding the region’s economic potential, du Pratz was optimistic about prospects for economic development of the colony and provided detailed descriptions and recommendations for tobacco and indigo cultivation, as well as silk and tar production. His work was a practical handbook for those willing to establish themselves along the Mississippi.10
In 1763, the three-volume first edition in French was followed by a two-volume edition in English, and eleven years later, in 1774, by a one-volume edition in English, entitled The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina.11 The texts of both English editions were identical, and they both lacked the original French edition's many illustrations and much of its text, as the English publisher said he had eliminated du Pratz’s digressions and reordered the chapters. The London editions did have two folding maps, one of the Louisiana province, the other of the country about the mouths of the Mississippi River. Thomas Jefferson possessed copies of Charlevoix and Dumont and the 1763 edition of du Pratz in his private library. Meriwether Lewis toted a copy of the 1774 edition of du Pratz, which he had borrowed from Benjamin Smith Barton of Philadelphia, on his expedition through the northern reaches of the Louisiana territory.12
--John C. Van Horne, 5/05
7. Abbé de Mascrier, Mémoires historiques sur la Louisiane composés sur les mémoires de M. Dumont par M.L.L.M, 2 vols. (Paris: Buache, 1753).
8. Dawdy, "Enlightenment from the Ground," 19; Tregle, introduction to History of Louisiana (1975), xxvi.
9. History of Louisiana, including the discovery of that vast land; its geographical description; a voyage through the territory; the natural history, the customs, dress & religion of the natives, with their origins; two voyages through northern new Mexico, to the South Sea; illustrated with two maps and 40 woodcuts.
10. Dawdy, “Enlightenment from the Ground,” 19-20; Arthur, foreword to History of Louisiana (1947).
11. Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina; Containing a Description of the Countries that lye on both Sides of the River Missisippi: With an Account of the Settlements, Inhabitants, Soil, Climate, and Products (London, T. Becket, 1774); also 2 vol. (London, T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1763).
12. Dawdy, "Enlightenment from the Ground," 30; Arthur, foreword to History of Louisiana (1947); Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, compiled with annotations by E. Millicent Sowerby, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1952-59), 4: 237. It has been suggested by Carolyn Gilman that the “quaint illustrations” of flora and fauna in du Pratz’s Histoire de la Louisiane “led Jefferson to imagine Louisiana as an abundant garden.” Gilman, Lewis and Clark, Across the Divide (Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2003), 57. But Jefferson owned the 1763 English translation of this work, which lacked all these illustrations, and it is not clear that he ever saw the French edition.
Funded in part by a grant from the National Park Service, Challenge Cost Share Program.
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26 April, 2007
This book, being a straightforward trade children's book is a different thing completely from the special and wonderful books I have included before in this mini-series but anyone who has read our Bibliography or heard us speak will know much I love it and how strongly it influenced my decades as a book builder.
I see that it was published in the year I was born and I was given my copy quite soon afterwards. It was certainly a book that was read to me so that my eyes and my imagination were able to range freely across the landscapes on these pages and how much I loved doing that. I was captivated by the warmth and humour of the black and white drawings but I suppose it must have been unconsciously that I so valued the great areas of white space within them which added so much to their power rather than the reverse.
I was always especially fascinated by the great "O" on the initial page. I can vividly remember, without being able to explain it, my childish delight and love of this great sculptural shape which seemed to stand both as part of the line of text but also as part of the landscape - so drawing them together, I suppose.
This is not the place to recount the story in detail. If you have come across Ferdinand, you will know it off by heart and, if you have not, I can only hope that you can find a copy for yourselves. Suffice to say that Ferdinand is a little bull in Spain. In his field there are other child and adolescent bulls who love to rag around and fight each other and dream of being chosen for the bull-fight in Madrid. Ferdinand did not have any desire for this sort of behaviour but spent his time sitting under his favourite cork tree 'just smelling the flowers'.
At a very early age I realized that I WAS Ferdinand . . . going off by myself rather than rushing round with the others! That was the other reason for my love of this book but, for the moment I would just like to offer you some more of these incomparable drawings.
When the talent scouts arrive, Ferdinand goes off to his tree but unfortunately sits on a bee and is stung into great snortings and leapings about. The talent scouts immediately think he is the strongest and fiercest bull of all . . .
In the bull-ring, all the matadors and the picadors and so on march proudly round . . .
. . . and he ends up happily under his cork tree! Bliss.
I end with the wonderful endpaper drawing. This is the Spain that I have always looked for and how we laughed every time at the linguistic naughtiness of 'hot dogos' and 'chocolate baros'!
16 April, 2007
Our mower is bust at the moment!
I hate to imagine how Autumn will bring sharp brambles to our upstairs windows as we two Sleeping Beauties are finally lost to the jungle all around . . . but, for the moment, the Spring has great charms to offer. Lady's Smock and Celandine, Bugle and Violet . . . a veritable flowery mead.
What a lovely phrase that is! It makes me think of Shakespeare and Spenser, the mediaeval garden . . . either the real thing or Pre-Raphaelite versions.
But, in the context of the present day, I immediately think of the paintings of our friend Clive Hicks-Jenkins. So often, if a bit of ground has to be depicted in one of his rich works, it is elevated to the status of a delicious 'flowery mead'. Here is one - a tiny detail from a large painting in acrylics and I happen to know that he is working on another at this very moment, in an even larger work which will be the centrepiece of his exhibition, later this year, at MOMA, Wales. I will be sure to give further details of this nearer the time.
For the moment, though, I would advocate a visit HERE, in a hunt for more flowery meads and so much more. The site is a lavish presentation of Clive's paintings and drawings . . . together, of course, with the books he has made with us!
15 April, 2007
Natalie d'Arbeloff's enterprise with The Old Stile Press has been mentioned on this Blog, together with images of the amazing one-off artist's book we had from her some time ago, but all that is just a drop in the ocean!
An exploratory trip to her website (see link) will undoubtably lead to regular return visits BUT, for now, I urge you to find out more about the entirely life-enhancing "The God Interviews" by going HERE.
14 April, 2007
This photograph happens to bring together a number of things I like . . . especially paintings and photography and light and theatricality and recognizing that I must rush to do something (eg get my camera) NOW, or a moment will be lost for ever.
A painting by Michael Ayrton (a study for an enormous mural for the Festival of Britain) sat on an easel by the window. A glance showed that light was pouring in and the window itself was reflected in the picture glass together with part of a sculpture, by complete chance also by Michael Ayrton, which was on the other side of the room.
Happily, I think, I DID run for my camera!
06 April, 2007
Many years ago I found this piece of wood and hung it on an (outside) wall of our house - thinking that it looked quite like a dancer, or an angel or even . . .
As the years of rain and wind have lashed around in the courtyard in which the piece of wood hangs, it seems to have been changed, has become more stark. The soft tissues of the wood have washed or rotted away leaving the hard remains. It was always a lovely object but the passage of time has refined it, I feel, into something very special.
As I was clicking the buttons for the greeting below, I suddenly remembered a similar year whose winter had (for me) not been up to much and the fact that I had produced the above as an act of rejoicement . . . using some wood letter that I had unearthed and as a first experiment of having more than one colour on the roller at the same time.
03 April, 2007
This is a first experiment - after ages of frustration as described below!
If you go here, you can see it full-screen which is much better but you have to let it load sufficiently otherwise it stutters and breaks up.
With grateful acknowledgement and utter awe to Mozart.
Dedicated to Natalie d'Arbeloff, without whom . . .
Well, that was such fun . . . I must do another one!
02 April, 2007
Someone told me that, if you cut a round hole in some blue-black material, draw a bit of a horizon line on it and put it up behind something in the foreground like a tree, it would photograph just like a full-moon coming up. Well, I tried and tried and got nowhere fast so . . . I went outside and photographed the real thing!
Sorry but that is the best I can do! We were so self-absorbed that neither of us even realized it was April 1st yesterday until the evening!
I have been indulging in much displacement activity recently. What I am avoiding is irrelevant. More to the point is that most of the time is going, going, gone at the computer . . . where I am seriously trying to come to terms with such undiscovered lands as iDVD, iMovie and suchlike and HOW on earth can one uplift an utterly brilliant and amazing little slideshow to blip.tv (or anywhere else, come to that) so that YOU can see it!! I sat in the sun all this morning reading manuals and STILL cannot get the thing to work!
And I just know you are all quite unable to settle to your lives for waiting for it . . .
Sorry, again. This joke has gone far enough as well . . .
It's just the fact that we discover that this BLOG is already being read IN FOUR CONTINENTS. It has rather gone to my head . . .
Anyone out there in Africa??
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Reprint from Municipal Sewer & Water - October 2010
FOCUS: STORM - A sprayed-on structural coating enables rehabilitation of large stormwater pipes without traffic disruption and at major cost savings
There's a word for traffic disruptions around Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capital: ugly. When two dual pipelines running deep beneath one of the area's busiest arteries showed signs of deterioration, no one wanted to repair it by conventional dig-and-replace methods.
Instead, the Pennsylvania Department o fTransportation (PennDOT) settled on a trenchless solution involving a spray-on structural coating. The job saved months of traffic disruption and an estimated $2.6million. read more...
Reprint from Treatment Plant Operator - December 2010
How We Do It - A polyurethane spray coating helps a treatment plant restore an older clarifier, reduce surface maintenance and extend service life
During a product installation demonstration for the rehabilitation of some aging brick manholes and a concrete lift station, Mack McDonald saw what he thought might be the solution to save a deteriorating clarifier and reduce the cost of maintaining it. read more...
Reprint from Underground Construction - a Special Trenchless Technology Center Report
Organic "High-Build" Spray-In-Place Liners-An Emerging Class of Rehabilitation Methods
by Erez N. Allouche, PhD, P. Eng. and Eric J. Steward, Trenchless Technology Center, Louisiana Tech University
As the water distribution infrastructure continues to deteriorate across North America, there is a continued need to develop pipeline rehabiitation methods that are cost effective and minimally distuptive, while also minimizing the time a pipe must be taken out of service. Spray-on linings that satisfy the requirements of NSF 61 are one such emerging class of rehabilitation methods for pipes and conduits subjected to internal pressure. read more...
Reprint from Municipal Sewer and Water- October 2007
Out of Sight, Always in Mind - Derry Township Municipal Authority combines inspection and maintenance to keep the pipes flowing freely in the community known as Chocolate Town, USA
A simple philosophy helps keep Derry Township Municipal Authority on the cutting edge of sewer maintenance technology: “Just because it's out of sight, it can't be out of mind,” says Wayne Schutz, assistant manager of the authority, which serves the community better known as Hershey, Pa., or Chocolate Town, USA. “We've got a huge capital investment in our underground structures, and we have to pay attention to them.” read more...
Reprint from Trenchless Technology- September 2007
A Tale of Two Manholes- No matter how extreme the weather or terrain, two seasoned contractors prove successful manhole rehabilitation can be achieved if you choose the right tools and follow the wise old motto: Be prepared.
For two experienced municipal contractors, one in the cold northern Great Lakes region, the other in the tropical coast of Florida, adding the complication of extreme weather conditions to already challenging projects required all of their creative thinking and job planning skills. Spray-applied polyurethane technology, along with research, pre-project planning and special site specific preparation methods proved to be the right combination for a successful rehabilitation in both cases. read more
Reprint from Municipal Sewer and Water- December 2007
One Tough Coat - Polyurethane protective lining system from Sprayroq Inc. helps utilities quickly protect manholes against structural failure and corrosion
Faced with deterioration of manholes and other underground infrastructure, utilities are looking for lower-cost and less intrusive alternatives to tearing up streets and disrupting neighborhoods. One option is to apply a fast-curing protective coating to existing surfaces, renewing structural integrity while sealing out hydrogen sulfide and other corrosive agents. One such offering is the Spray Wall quick-setting read more...
Reprint from Trenchless Technology - September 2008
Supplying A Strong Solution - There's no argument about the fact that underground infrastructure in both the United States and around the world needs our attention. With populations growing and the demand on infrastructure increasing, it's more important than ever for municipalities to address their aging sewer systems for repair before any major problems present themselves. This includes not only taking a look at pipe, but rehabbing the vital, and often overlooked, structures called sanitary sewer manholes.
That's where Sprayroq comes into play. With its products, communities across North America are able to rehab manholes and address other structures that keep a system fully operational. read more...
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Saturday, September 16, 2006
Creating Peace in Iraq, the Cradle of Civilization
by Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson,
a September 2006 US Senate candidate
September 16, 2006
(This is my message # 23. I have also put more than twenty messages on my other blog at
* In our nuclear age, our overpopulated Spaceship Earth has become too, too small for war. We need to start transferring some of our military resources into peace making. We can use our embassies to help with the spreading of knowledge of how to increase peace. (For example, employment for everyone would help.)
* The causes of war exists in the minds of humans and in the struggle for scarce resources.
* We currently have put too much of our resources into our war machine. For our own benefit, we need to help promote a law-and-order Spaceship Earth of protection of life and property and incentive and safety.
* World-wide free trade would help. On our Spaceship Earth, it doesn't make sense to bomb our customers, and it doesn't make sense to bomb our suppliers.
* Employment for everyone in Iraq and on our Spaceship Earth is a good way to reduce crime and terrorism. People who work have a decreased incentive to destroy. The better people become at working, the less time they have to engage in crime.
* Scientists tell us that all humans are related, that we humans populated Africa and wandered into the Middle East, into Europe, into Asia, into Australia and the islands, and into the Americas. Thus we Americans (who come from all the nations of Spaceship Earth) and the people of Iraq are distant relatives.
* But what return are we Americans getting on our current investment of dollars and soldiers in Iraq? Our return on investment appears to be insufficient.
* Our military has proven that its officers-in-charge haven't studied or haven't mastered the building of civilization. The powers-that-be have not gotten employment to all the available workers in Iraq. The waste is huge ... so much labor not being used ... so much idle labor from which to recruit terrorists. Iraq is in a terrible human-made economic depression.
* Nation and civilization building never ends. Is the building-up of Iraq not a long-term job for the people living in Iraq, building up their new democracy and their economy? Should we not, therefore, begin our pull-out? We do have many other uses for the money and lives which we are currently investing in Iraq.
* Instead of wasting our money and soldiers in Iraq, would it not be better to do state building in the state of Washington? Improvement is often best obtained by competition and by leading by example. By building up Washington State, we lead Iraq by providing a good example for the people of that ancient civilization to follow.
* We Americans with our high, technoloical civilization are connected with the Iraqis in that they are living in the land of one of the beginning civilizations.
* Iraq now occupies the land of proud earlier civilizations: for example, in Mesopotamia (middle between the rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates ) about 5 or 6 thousand years ago, the Sumerians began building early cities and developed early writing. The ancient Sumerians of Iraq helped build early civilization. (Other members of our human family must have begun civilization even earlier, but I just don't know much about them. Let us assume that early civilization building started before our records of that civilization building.)
* In area, Iraq is about 7 % larger than California. California has about 37 million people, while Iraq has an estimated 27 million people, with a high unemployment rate.
* Because of the high unemployment rate, the Iraqis have a huge labor pool from which terrorists and suicide bombers can be recruited.
* Or from out of the current Iraqian, terrible economic depression, students of economics and other useful subjects can be recruited or other builders-of-society can be recruited.
* Because the overpopulated, desert nation of Iraq is in an economic depression, this is a wonderful time for some of the unemployed to become students to learn the many skills required to build a modern nation. The students can study and gain the economic knowledge that already exists in books and which inform their readers about how economic depressions can be ended and replaced with employment for everyone who wants employment.
* In buiding peace and productivity in Iraq, the Iraqis might do well to use Switzerland as a model. Long ago the German mountain people, the French mountain people, and the Italian moutain people chose to become the productive Swiss nation in the Alps. Their system of unity of different people is favorably impressive.
* The economists of Iraq can tell the people of Iraq how to employ their unused, available labor (the unemployed Iraqis) in the building up of Iraq. Unfortunately, human beings often refuse to study the principles of economics, and human beings have difficulty understanding what the economists are saying. (It is as if economists speak in the same illegible style that physicians use to write perscriptions.)
* Because of the huge abundance of un-used Iraqian labor, the labor of the American soldiers is not needed. Hiring Iraqian police and detectives would be so much cheaper! If the Iraqian people don't want to listen to the Iraqian economists and professors of democracies, I don't see why anymore American soldiers should be wounded or killed.
* With technology, we can now spread civilization all over our Spaceship Earth and even out into our Solar System by way of the coming, orbital space colonies that should have started in the 1970's after President Kennedy and President Johnson succeeded in getting us to the Moon in 1969.
* Technology is pulling our human family closer together. For example, the technology of the cell phone, the internet, mass media, movies, television, orbiting communication satellites, international trade, and vacations are all pulling our human family back together.
* Gradually, year by year, in our growing, technological age, Spaceship Earth will become the homeland of all Earthlings. Spaceship Earth will become the homeland of the Kurds, of the Chinese, of the Icelanders, of the Africans, of the Danes, of the Jews, of the Swedes, of the Americans, of the Indians, of the Norwegians, of all the ethnic groups of the Earth. We are all related. There will be much culture shock.
* It seems to me that in Iraq, American soldiers can't do the remaining job that needs to be done. The remaining job needs to be done by the Iraqis. More Iraqi police and Iraqi detectives and Iraqi economists are needed. The Iraqis understand the language and the culture of Iraq much, much better than do our American soldiers. We should start bringing our American soldiers home. Our soldiers did their job of removing Sadman Insane, the torturer (I hate torture;) and our soldiers helped with the establishment of a beginning democracy. It is now time for the Iraqis to start listening to their economists and their teachers of democracy, and it is time for the Iraqis to take over more of the building of their country.
* With each religious killing, the fires of hate are kept ablaze. ...
* Economic lessons, economic instruction promoting full employment should help build peace and prosperity.
* Through our embassies, we should spread the concept of "Separation of church and state"
We should spread the concept of democracy instead of theocracy. Although the people of democracy might vote in a theocracy.
We should, nevertheless, continue to spread the concept of free will of the individual and separation of church and state.
We should also spread the concept that it is a good idea to study science.
* Through our advancing technology, we should spread the concept that we are the human family traveling in the Milky Way Galaxy on our Spaceship Earth.
* to be continued
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Harmful, Destructive Municipal League of King County
by Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson, a September 2006 US Senate candidate
Monday, September 11, 2006
(This is my message # 22. I also have put more than twenty messages on my other blog at
Five years ago to this day, terrorists bombed the World Tade Center in New York City and the Pentagon just outside of Washington D.C.
Each election in King County, the Municipal League, a milder terrorists organization, harms candidates by giving some of them bad evaluations. Our society is also harmed by these bad rankings of some of the candidates. These candidates should instead be praised for trying to improve our society by being competitors.
In our society, we achieve improvements by promoting competition, but the Municipal League of King County discourages candidate competition by giving bad evaluations to some of the candidates. The Municipal League should instead be praising these candidates for running and thereby pushing the other candidates to do better and become better. Even the weaker candidates gain knowledge and become better and gain knowledge by running for office.
We are a competitve society. To raise the living standard, we need to encourage competition.
In that the Municiple League discourages political competion, some races have only a single candidate, and the voters have no choice, and our democracy is weakened. We voters are better off when we have a choice among candidates.
My impression has been that the greater the economic knowledge of the candidates, the worse the evaluations these candidates receive from the volunteers of the Municipal League of King County. But candidates with economic knowledge are really beneficial to our society.
I suspect that many of the volunteers (who are passiing out harsh judgement on some of the candidates) would themselves do poorly on a basic economics principles examinations. Many of the volunteers would probably fail a basic economics principles examination. I am guessing that the candidates rated "NOT QUALIFIED" would score higher than the volunteers and perhaps even higher than those who received an "OUTSTANDING" evaluation from the volunteers.
In other words, I believe that all the candidates should be praised for increasing competition.
The Municipal League says that it "does not consider candidates' political affiliations or stands on issues. Rather, these ratings focus on each candidate's potential for effectiveness in office and ability to serve the community."
But this is wrong. If the candidates stands on issues are not considered, then Hitlers and tyrants could get "outstanding" ratings for ability and effectiveness in caring out the plans of the "superior" people.
I believe that such a Municipal League rating system in NAZI Germany would have given Hitler a rating of "OUTSTANDING."
I want "superior" people with bad, harmful plans to lose to "not qualified" candidates with good plans. I want the Hitlers of the world to lose. I want the candidates' stands on issues to be considered.
Since 1910 the Municipal League has been rating some candidates badly. Now in 2006 we have many terrible, terrible problems in King County, Washington. The Municipal League should stop rating candidates badly. The Municipal League should stop rating candidates and should start studing the principles of economics. This would help to improve King County.
"Live long and prosper." (Star Trek)
Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson,
a Sepetember 2006 US Senate candidate
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World War I
Seizing the opportunity of Berlin's distraction with the European War and wanting to expand its sphere of influence in China, Japan declared war on Germany in August 1914 and quickly occupied German-leased territories in China's Shandong Province and the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall islands in the Pacific. With its Western allies heavily involved in the war in Europe, Japan sought further to consolidate its position in China by presenting the Twenty-One Demands to China in January 1915. Besides expanding its control over the German holdings, Manchuria, and Inner Mongolia, Japan also sought joint ownership of a major mining and metallurgical complex in central China, prohibitions on China's ceding or leasing any coastal areas to a third power, and miscellaneous other political, economic, and military controls, which, if achieved, would have reduced China to a Japanese protectorate. In the face of slow negotiations with the Chinese government, widespread anti-Japanese sentiments in China, and international condemnation, Japan withdrew the final group of demands, and treaties were signed in May 1915.
Japan's hegemony in northern China and other parts of Asia was facilitated through other international agreements. One with Russia in 1916 helped further secure Japan's influence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and agreements with France, Britain, and the United States in 1917 recognized Japan's territorial gains in China and the Pacific. The Nishihara Loans (named after Nishihara Kamezo, Tokyo's representative in Beijing) of 1917 and 1918, while aiding the Chinese government, put China still deeper into Japan's debt. Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for its European allies' needed war matériel, thus helping to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time.
Japan's power in Asia grew with the demise of the tsarist regime in Russia and the disorder the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution left in Siberia. Wanting to seize the opportunity, the Japanese army planned to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake Baykal. To do so, Japan had to negotiate an agreement with China allowing the transit of Japanese troops through Chinese territory. Although the force was scaled back to avoid antagonizing the United States, more than 70,000 Japanese troops joined the much smaller units of the Allied Expeditionary Force sent to Siberia in 1918.
The year 1919 saw Japan sitting among the "Big Five" powers at the Versailles Peace Conference. Tokyo was granted a permanent seat on the Council of the League of Nations, and the peace treaty confirmed the transfer to Japan of Germany's rights in Shandong, a provision that led to anti-Japanese riots and a mass political movement throughout China. Similarly, Germany's former Pacific islands were put under a Japanese mandate. Despite its small role in World War I (and the Western powers' rejection of its bid for a racial equality clause in the peace treaty), Japan emerged as a major actor in international politics at the close of the war.
|Country Studies main page | Japan Country Studies main page | Celebrity|
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Neoconservative legal scholars and their allies argue aggressively that international law isn’t really law because the nations who make it–through treaties and conventions and by practice–don’t really treat it as law. But Michael Scharf and Paul Williams, two alumni of the Legal Adviser’s office in the State Department–known inside the Beltway as “L”–decided to take a deep look inside the process of policy decision making to test this theory. They convened the ten living legal advisers in meetings in Washington and later also gathered some of their equals from Russia, China, and the United Kingdom, and asked them to address the question directly. Did their governments in fact treat international law as law in making decisions? Working through crises including Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran-Contra, they found that international law did in fact directly shape executive decisions. I put six questions to Case Western Reserve University Law Professor Michael Scharf about his new book, Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis.
1. Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner argued in their 2004 book, The Limits of International Law, that international law was really just policy, that modern nation states may sign a lot of treaties and agreements but a study of their conduct suggests that they don’t feel bound by them. Your book comes to just the opposite conclusion. Explain the different approaches you used and how you came to opposed results.
Goldsmith and Posner based their conclusions on selective use of anecdotal case studies, and their identification of the motivations of the decision makers is based entirely on conjecture. They made no attempt to penetrate the black box of foreign-policy decision making. In contrast, our research was based on a series of meetings with the ten living former State Department legal advisers, from the Carter, Reagan, elder Bush, Clinton, and Bush Administrations. The legal advisers provided remarkably candid accounts of the role international law actually played in behind-the-scenes deliberations on foreign policy during the major crises that occurred during their tenure. They confirmed that senior U.S. policy makers of both parties perceived international law as real law, that international legal rules contained in treaties and customary international law are often clear enough to constrain policy preferences, that the policy makers understood that there were serious consequences to violating international law, and that they recognized that it was almost always in America’s long-term interest to comply with international law.
2. Can you cite any specific cases in which a president has been advised not to take a contemplated action because of international law and he followed that advice?
The ten former State Department Legal Advisers provided a number of examples spanning thirty years. Examples detailed in the book include President Carter’s 1979 decision not to use force against the Iranian Embassy in Washington during the hostage crisis, President Reagan’s 1985 decision not to authorize the shooting down of an Egyptian airliner carrying the terrorists responsible for the Achile Lauro cruise-ship hijacking, President Clinton’s 1994 decision to halt the supply of counter-narcotics intelligence to the Peruvian air force after it shot down a civilian aircraft, and President Bush’s decision to direct the State of Texas not to execute a Mexican national convicted of rape and murder in order to comply with an International Court of Justice order. The legal advisers said there were only four times during the past thirty years in which they were intentionally cut out of the decision-making process on issues involving the interpretation or application of international law, and they described each as a “train wreck.” The first was the mining of the Nicaragua harbor, the second was the Iran-Contra affair, the third was the kidnapping of Mexican doctor Humberto Álvarez Machaín, and the fourth was the drafting of the so-called “torture memos.”
3. Goldsmith and Posner were at the heart of a political movement that (in Goldsmith’s words) “was skeptical about the creeping influence of international law on American law.” Looking back over the last eight years, do you see the influence of that movement within the Bush Administration? How did it manifest itself in terms of process?
Goldsmith and Posner, along with University of California Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo, were part of a group of scholars whose self-proclaimed agenda was to convince government officials, political elites, and the general public that it is permissible for policy makers to ignore international law whenever they perceive it to be in their interest to do so, especially in the context of the war on terror. After the 9/11 attacks, a small cabal of government lawyers, which included John Yoo, then an assistant deputy attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, formed what they called “the War Council.” The War Council drafted a series of legal memos, now known as the “Torture Memos,” that opined that international law did not prevent the government from detaining suspected terrorists indefinitely without judicial process, sending suspected terrorists to CIA black sites for interrogation, or employing extraordinary interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. John Yoo has admitted that the War Council cut out the State Department Legal Advisor from the “clearance” process because it anticipated that the Legal Adviser would issue contrary conclusions about the legality of these proposed tactics. The Department of Justice ethics probe documented that the War Council accomplished this by classifying the memos above “top secret.” William Taft, who was the State Department Legal Adviser at that time, told us that he thought his office had been cut out for fear that it might leak the conclusions of the draft memos in an effort to prevent them from becoming policy. It is worth speculating whether if Taft had been permitted to weigh in about the legality of the proposed tactics, this might have been sufficient to keep them from being approved by the President and implemented.
4. The Chilcote Inquiry, currently running in Britain, has had a strong focus on the legality under international law of the military intervention in Iraq. A review of the British media coverage in the run-up to the war shows the same strong focus, across political dividing lines. Yet in the United States, the “legality” issue was something on the fringe, for law professors perhaps, and not a matter for serious public concern–neither then nor now. How can you explain the differing attitudes between the United States and Britain on the importance of international law?
The Bush Administration initially argued that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was justified under the doctrine of pre-emptive self-defense because Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction and was supporting Al Qaeda. There wasn’t much debate at the time because the Bush Administration kept the predicate intelligence confidential, and the American public were largely willing to trust their government about matters involving U.S. security in the aftermath of 9/11. Months later, it was revealed that the intelligence did not in fact support either of those conclusions. That revelation was part of the reason the Iraq war ultimately became so unpopular in the United States. Interestingly, in contrast to the “torture memos,” the State Department Legal Adviser was fully consulted on the issue of the legality of invading Iraq. The Legal Adviser at the time, William Taft, opined that the invasion could be justified based on the UN Security Council’s 1991 Resolution authorizing use of force against Iraq, and the subsequent cease-fire resolution which set forth several conditions that Iraq later breached. As detailed in our book, the acting Legal Adviser in Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, did not agree with the U.S. interpretation of the resolutions, and resigned from office when Prime Minister Tony Blair disregarded her legal opinion. When we discussed Wilmshurst’s resignation, one of the former State Department Legal Advisers said that “when there is an important matter and the government refuses to follow advice that you consider to be essential, you are supposed to resign.”
5. In his effort to minimize the influence of international law, John Yoo advanced the notion that treaties and conventions were not law except as adopted by Congress, and then became law only through Congressional acts. Even in the recent Justice Department ethics review, the Convention Against Torture was seen as creating law only through the Anti-Torture Statute, 18 U.S.C. sec. 2340A, and was not otherwise seen as controlling on the Executive. How does this perspective compare with the view historically taken by the Legal Adviser at the State Department?
Historically the Legal Advisers have taken the position that all treaties that are ratified by the United States are binding on the United States on the international plane, but that non-self-executing treaties are not enforceable in a U.S. court unless there is federal implementing legislation. In this case there are federal statutes that make it a crime to commit war crimes or torture. As implementing legislation, those federal statutes must be interpreted in harmony with the treaties they implement, taking into account international precedents as persuasive authority. In other words, the torture memos should have cited the international precedent that indicated that waterboarding was clearly torture.
6. Under the principle of complementarity, international and foreign legal tribunals don’t need to concern themselves with matters upon which the criminal investigators and courts of the nation state most directly involved are engaged. Stephen J. Rapp, the U.S. war crimes ambassador, argued on January 25 that the United States Justice Department was seriously looking into allegations of torture as a consequence of policy in the Bush-era War on Terror. The next day, the Spanish Audiencia Nacional issued a decision in Madrid concluding that it was not, and opening a formal criminal investigation into the role played by Bush Administration lawyers in the torture of a Spanish citizen at Guantánamo. Who’s right?
Prosecution of former Bush Administration officials may be politically inexpedient for the Obama team. But the United States has an international obligation under the Geneva Conventions and the Torture Convention to investigate diligently and prosecute in good faith cases of war crimes or torture committed by American officials, including lawyers whose advice is intended to facilitate commission of such crimes. Because these are crimes of “universal jurisdiction,” if the Obama Administration does not in good faith pursue prosecution of former officials where there is probable cause to conclude they have been complicit in war crimes or torture, other countries may legitimately pursue criminal complaints against such individuals in their courts. The recent controversial decision of David Margolis, the Associate Deputy Attorney General, to override the advice of the Department of Justice ethics probe concerning responsibility for the “torture memos,” and the very limited mandate of the special prosecutor’s torture inquiry may give countries like Spain valid reason to perceive that the United States is not in fact pursuing these cases in good faith. Special prosecutor John Durham has been given the authority to evaluate whether a criminal investigation is warranted, not to commence a criminal investigation, and Attorney General Holder has made clear that the focus of Durham’s preliminary inquiry would be on individuals who went beyond what was authorized in the OLC memos, not on the drafters of those memos or the higher-level officials who pushed for the memos as a way to get around the law criminalizing torture and inhumane treatment. In any event, in this particular case, Spain has a right under international law to pursue criminal charges whether or not the U.S. decision to forego prosecution was made in good faith, because the victim of the alleged torture was a Spanish citizen.
More from Scott Horton:
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Lucas Mann on hope and change in a minor-league-baseball city
Minimum number of baboons forced to smoke crack in a 1989 study testing the efficacy of cigarettes as a drug delivery device:
A reduction in distrust toward atheists was documented among pious Canadians who are reminded of the Vancouver police.
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Winner of the 2012 Olivier Rebbot Award for best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines or books
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If a person is going to be successful in the horse world, you have got to decide what you want for yourself. The needs of the horse come before wanting to win championships; wanting to make money; wanting to be successful internally. It is a partnership. Your horse is critical. His needs must be met first, and if his needs are not met, your performance will pay a price.
We need to know what that horse considers to be a reward. As predators, we know food as a reward. There is, in our DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid], a factor for considering food a reward, but no blade of grass has ever run from a horse. No horse felt the need to stalk down a blade of grass and kill it, and then eat it. Food is just there, for them.
So what does a horse consider as a reward? Often times it is just the ceasing of work. Just stopping. Giving them a rub. Getting off their backs, if we’re on them. Walking them around. Walking away from them is a reward, that tells them that you are not predatorial. Think of innovative ways to reward your horse in HIS language. Which is to say, “I like you, and I’m not going to hurt you.”
Horses are very generous animals. They are ambitious. They have a lot of energy. So they don’t want to just stand around, they want to do things but be careful. Monitor them. Observe them. When they’ve had enough, ease up. Reward them. Stop. Get off. Give them a rub and walk away.
Your chances for success will fall right off the table if the needs of the horse are not met. When you meet his needs, then your chances go sky-rocketing. One can’t simply be conceited about it, or arrogant, when the horse meets your needs. The reason that you can not do that, is that you will start to overwhelm your horse, with your own requirements.
Study. Learn what he needs. Provide those needs and your chances for success will sky-rocket.
- Monty Roberts
Editor’s note: Find Monty’s principles illustrated and discussed in his Equus Online University: http://www.montyroberts.com/university
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BGP has an impressive arsenal of security tools available to protect its neighbor adjacencies. Here's a list and brief description of each I could come up with; if you can think of any I've omitted please mention it in a comment. (This article is limited to discussion about actual adjacency security; the acceptance of routes and peer policy enforcement is another matter entirely.)
Explicitly Defined Neighbors and ASNs
Unlike most interior routing protocols, BGP provides no mechanism to dynamically discover neighboring routers. The idea here is that BGP adjacencies should be formed only when they have been explicitly planned (not a bad practice to apply to your interior routing protocols as well). At a minimum, BGP neighbors must be explicitly configured by both IP address and autonomous system number (ASN).
router bgp 65100 neighbor 10.0.0.2 remote-as 65200
Packets Limited to One Hop (EBGP)
By default, packets sent to external BGP (EBGP) neighbors are sent with an IP time to live (TTL)/hop limit (IPv6) value of 1. This prevents information leakage and helps mitigate remote spoofing attacks by ensuring BGP traffic cannot reach devices further than one hop from its source.
ebgp-multihop parameter can be appended to a
neighbor statement to allow external adjacencies to neighbors more than one hop away. By default, this command raises the TTL to its maximum value of 255 (like IBGP). If this command must be used, it is recommended to specify a TTL value equal to the minimum number of hops needed to reliably reach the neighbor.
router bgp 65100 neighbor 10.0.0.2 ebgp-multihop 2
Note that an
ebgp-multihop value of at least 2 is needed when establishing adjacencies based on loopback interface addresses.
TTL Security Extension
RFC 3682 introduced an additional countermeasure which extends the prior TTL concept: TTL security. This extension essentially flips the direction in which the TTL is counted to prevent spoofed traffic from appearing to have originated from a directly-connected neighbor.
TCP MD5 Authentication
BGP on IOS supports MD5 authentication by the use of a static secret key (password):
router bgp 65100 neighbor 10.0.0.2 password FooBar
Because of this configuration syntax, many people assume this authentication is provided by BGP itself. In actuality, MD5 authentication is provided by the underlying TCP protocol (although the MD5 TCP option itself was proposed in RFC 2385 specifically for protecting BGP sessions). BGP_MD5.cap shows an MD5-secured BGP session.
TCP Spoofing Mitigation
A lesser known security feature implemented in IOS' BGP (and certain other protocols) is a heightened resistance to TCP spoofing attacks. A TCP reset attack, for example, exploits the fact that TCP considers valid any packet with a sequence number within a session's current receive window. To guarantee hitting a successful window in an (effectively idle) TCP session with a window size of 16K, an attacker needs only to transmit around 262,000 packets (assuming the source and destination addresses and port numbers are known). This is easy to accomplish with modern bandwidth speeds, and downright trivial for anyone in control of a botnet.
Cisco has been aware of this vulnerability for some time: an Internet draft was introduced back in 2003 (and implemented in IOS code around that time) which increases the difficulty of such an attack by a large degree. As specified in the draft, TCP sessions handled by applications such as BGP need only honor resets received with the exact next expected sequence number, rather than any sequence number which falls within the receive window. This increases the number of packets an attacker would have to spoof by a factor of the session's window size.
Interestingly, this mechanism has not been enabled on all TCP-based protocols. Casual testing has shown that while implemented for BGP and MPLS sessions, it has not been implemented for Telnet access, which is presumed to be short-term and subsequently less vulnerable.
While not a tool unique to BGP, it is worth mentioning that encryption and authentication such as that provided by IPsec tunneling can very reliably secure an adjacency from outside interference. IPsec authentication is potentially much stronger than the MD5 TCP feature mentioned earlier, and encryption can guarantee immunity from spoofing attacks even if they are performed on the local segment.
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Let's talk about Monarchs!
Moderator: Monarch Watch
Mona Miller wrote: Look the herbicides I am selling really don't kill plants.
Mona Miller wrote: Just because it looks healthy does not mean it is healthy.
Mona Miller wrote:But, who is going to believe this
blazing star wrote:Only someone extremely illogical would herbicide seed and plugs they recently planted. Are you illogical, Paul?
Mona Miller wrote:How do we know that you don't go out there and replant after a few months and then take more pictures? We don't.
blazing star wrote: Any land herbicided to get rid of all plants, only invites invasive plants to take hold. So while your thread title may have some merit, it's doubtful that huge tracks of roadside spraying is compatible with milkweed conservation. Again, you use a very broad brush when making statements.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests
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The unity of the Anglican Communion was positively demonstrated when 41 women from 27 provinces gathered as the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) delegation to the 49th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) meeting in New York 28 February- 11 March, 2005. With others we examined the theme from the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) to review the implementation of the BPfA and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled 'Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the 21st century'.
As we came together to listen to each other in honesty and trust, we developed a greater understanding of the body of Christ, recognizing the hurt and pain, hopes and joys of women and children across the Communion, and with one voice we endorsed the reaffirmation of the BPfA.
During our two weeks of meetings we reflected on the 12 planks of the BPfA based on a questionnaire circulated in advance. In small group discussions and regional caucuses, delegates were able to identify the most pressing women's concerns. The delegation highlighted four areas of major importance which impede world-wide development: poverty, poor education, violence and lack of access to good, affordable healthcare. These areas were the basis for consultations, which enabled delegates to discern God's call for their personal commitment and action as part of the Church's participation in God's mission for the world.
While acknowledging the strides many governments have taken to implement the BPfA, this delegation calls strongly for continued action with increased resources both human and financial, to ensure concrete results through programs of education and legislation.
We call on the ACC to affirm the advancements our governments have made regarding the status of women and encourage them to continue in this work. We strongly recommend the ACC continues to affirm the International Anglican Women's Network (IAWN) and again call on the ACC to adopt the goal of 30% representation of women in decision making bodies at all levels in our Anglican Communion. We call on the ACC to aim for 50% representation by the year 2010, to reflect more justly the current makeup of our Anglican global communion.
This year, 27 provinces responded to the challenge to be represented at the UNCSW. We are grateful to everyone who has made it possible to finance and give their time to this venture. We ask the ACC to encourage those unrepresented this year to demonstrate their solidarity with the women of the Anglican Communion by sending delegates to the next, 50th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
We look forward to a time when the Anglican Communion, as part of the body of Christ, brings women's and men's voices into balance and so reflect the true and inclusive nature of God.
9 March 2005
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Skip to main content
Renderings of the Freedom Tower, Tower 2, Tower 3, and Tower 4.
The Plan for Lower Manhattan > World Trade Center TowersWorld Trade Center Towers
1 World Trade Center: 1 World Trade Center will soar to 1,776 feet in the sky and serve as an inspirational and enduring beacon in the New York City skyline. The Tower's design evokes classic New York skyscrapers in its elegance and symmetry while also referencing the torch of the Statue of Liberty. 1 World Trade Center will rise to 1,362 feet, the height of the original WTC South Tower, and feature an outdoor observation deck at the height of the original North Tower. An illuminated antenna will rise from the center of the building to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet.
1 World Trade Center embodies an extraordinary amount of features that will make it unprecedented in terms of life safety and security. In addition, 1 World Trade Center will further its distinction as a world-class model of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. To increase security, architect David Childs and his team shrunk the building's base to 200 feet square, the same measurement as the original twin towers. The reduced footprint draws the building back 90 feet from West Street, compared to 25 feet for the original tower design, leaving a larger public plaza and more room for at-grade security.
The building will be among the country's safest, incorporating redundant measures like a steel-frame, vertical core enveloped by two feet of solid concrete. That core will encase the elevators, stairwells, utilities, communication systems, and even an emergency "fireman's lift." Emergency systems will also reside in the core, such as generators, a pressurized ventilation system, and a high-capacity water storage system for building sprinklers.
Tower Two (200 Greenwich Street): Designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster, Tower Two will rise 78 stories (1,254 feet), and stand out for its distinct cruciform core and diagonal roof that slopes toward the WTC Memorial plaza. The tower will be located at 200 Greenwich Street, just east of the Freedom Tower, at the corner of Vesey Street.
In total, 200 Greenwich Street will house 2.3 million square feet of office and 143,000 square feet of retail space (95,000 square feet of which is at or above street level). It will be home to 60 office floors each offering more than 36,000 square feet of space. There also will be four trading floors, 11.5 floors of building mechanicals, a sky lobby, and a 65-foot-tall entrance lobby.
Tower Two appears to be made of four slim blocks that top off in diamond shapes. In fact, “notches” rise up each of the building's four solid sides, creating the illusion of four separate mini-towers while serving to draw light into its column-free floors.
The glass “roof” begins its slant upward beginning on the west side of the 59th floor, simultaneously sending morning sunlight to the memorial. The diagonal silhouette also suits WTC Master Planner Daniel Libeskind's “wedge of light” concept, which casts no shadows on the memorial on the day of September 11th each year.
Tower Three (175 Greenwich Street): Designed by Richard Rogers Partnership, 175 Greenwich Street is at the center of the various buildings around the WTC Memorial site. As a result, it stands centrally across Greenwich Street from the main axis formed by the two reflecting pools of the Memorial. The design of the tower addresses this central position and accentuates the building verticality relative to the Memorial site. As suggested in the World Trade Center Master Plan, this verticality—relative to the adjacent and smaller building at 150 Greenwich Street—is also accentuated by the stepped profile of 175 Greenwich Street and by the antennae.
175 Greenwich Street, a 71-story tower, is the third tallest building on the World Trade Center site. It will rise to 1,155 ft above street level. With 54 office floors, 175 Greenwich Street includes 2.1 million sq ft of office space and five trading floors. The footprint of a typical floor is approximately 200 ft by 198 ft. At ground floor level, the footprint of the building is 49,000 sq ft. At trading floor level—the widest level—this increases to 55,000 sq ft.
Tower 4 (150 Greenwich Street): Designed by Maki and Associates, 150 Greenwich Street, a 61-story tower, will be the fourth tallest skyscraper on the World Trade Center site at 947 ft from street level. With offices beginning at 139 ft above street level, the building will include 53 office floors that total 1.8 million sq ft. Two thirds of the office space will be occupied by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and City of New York, and the rest will be retained by Silverstein Properties for commercial tenants.
The podium of the building consists of the ground floor as well as three additional levels above grade and two floors below grade that are dedicated for retail use - a total of 146,000 sq ft (of which 89,000 sq ft is at or above street level). The project provides access to the transportation and retail concourse below grade connected to the central PATH terminal.
The tower portion accommodates office spaces in two distinctly shaped floor plates. The low and mid-rise sections on floors 7 through 44 provide a typical floor plate size of 36,350 sq ft in the shape of a parallelogram echoing the configuration of the site. These are served by three elevator banks with eight cars each. The high-rise section from floors 46 to 60 provides a floor plate size of 28,000 sq ft in the shape of a trapezoid, shaped and fluted to open toward the tip of Manhattan and triangulated from the lower floors to face the Freedom Tower. These are served by two elevator banks with eight and six cars respectively. Both office floor plans contain a central core with a 45-foot lease span on the west side facing the Memorial, 40-foot span on the north and south and a 35-foot span on the east side. The tower will also include five levels of mechanical floors.
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Millwork and woodworking services produce building components or finished products from wood and lumber. Millwork involves the production of interior finish components such as baseboards, crown molding, doors, mantels, and window casings. Typically, millwork services use wood cut at sawmills to manufacture products from milled wood. Some companies also produce millwork made from high-pressure plastics or composite materials. Woodworking services differ in terms of products, but often specialize in the production of cabinets, furniture, or components such as handles or legs. Millwork and woodworking services are staffed by carpenters, furniture makers and cabinet makers, and generally serve the building and construction industry.
Millwork and woodworking services differ in terms material capabilities. Although there are many different types of wood, there are two basic types: soft woods and hard woods. Common types of softwoods include cedar, fir, pine and redwood. Hardwoods include ash, birch, cherry, mahogany, maple, oak, poplar, teak, and walnut. Cedar is used mainly for furniture, decks, and building exteriors. Fir is relatively inexpensive, but is better suited for painting than staining because of its grain patterns. Pine is both easy to stain and to carve. Redwood is often used for outdoor furniture. In terms of hardwoods, ash is easy to stain but birch is hard to stain. Cherry, mahogany, maple, teak, and walnut are relatively expensive. Often, millwork and woodworking services use oak or poplar instead.
Millwork and woodworking services use various types of handheld power tools and machinery. Handheld power tools for millwork and woodworking include biscuit joiners, domino joiners, chain saws, circular saws, jigsaws, miter saws, planes, reciprocating saws, routers, and sanders. Electric drills and rotary saws are also available. Stationary millwork and woodworking machines include bandsaws, combination machines, double-side planers, drill presses, bench grinders, jointers, wood lathes, mortisers, panel saws, pin routers, and radial saw arms. Millwork and woodworking services may also use scroll saws, spindle moulders, table saws, tenoners or tenoning machines, thickness planers, round pole milling machines and round pole sanding machines. Types of stationary sanders include stroke sanders, oscillating spindle sanders, best sanders, disc sanders, and combination disc-belt sanders.
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By Robert Spencer
Child marriage is rampant among those who believe that Muhammad is the supreme example of conduct (cf. Qur’an 33:21), but Islamic spokesmen in the West frequently assert that it is a cultural phenomenon that has nothing to do with Islam. They did not, however, tell the mullahs.
“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with ‘Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).” — Bukhari 7.62.88
Muslims take this seriously and imitate Muhammad in this. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”
The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. (In a civilized country, he’d have lived the rest of his life behind bars for pedophilia. -ed.) Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.” (Khomeini was a sick, demented, evil, child-raping freak. -ed.)
“Iran seeks to legalise marriage for girls under 10,” from Mohabat News, July 7 (thanks to Lachlan):
According to recently released statistics, in the past few weeks over 75 female children under 10 were forced to marry much older men. In 3929 cases, bride and groom were both under 14….
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"Maybe the most disturbing implication of the famous sentence 'They create a desolation and call it peace' is that apologists for violence, by means of euphemism, come to believe what they hear themselves say." -- David Bromwich, "Euphemism and American Violence", The New York Review of Books, v.55,#5, 2008-04-03
"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged against provisions against danger, real or pretended from abroad." -- James Madison (b. 1751-03-16, d. 1836-06-28; US President 1809-1817; principal author of US Constitution; co-author of the Federalist Papers), 1798-05-13 (letter to Thomas Jefferson)
From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2013-02-13:
"Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs." -- Vaclav Havel
(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)
"Snipers aren't deadly because they carry the biggest guns; they're deadly because they've learned how to weaponize math." -- Robert Evans, "5 Weapon Myths You Probably Believe (Thanks to Movies)", Cracked.com 2012-10-14 (spotted via link in a friend's locked LJ entry)
From Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson (1983, Timescape Books):
"Sir President, honored Seniors, Clansfolk and people of the Domain, let me first thank you sincerely and humbly for your patience. This occasion is unprecedented and therefore twice difficult--"
Not altogether meaningless noise. Monkeys groom each other with fingers, humans with words.
"... I don't even have an adjective to accurately describe it. I bet the Germans have one. They are light years ahead of our linguistic technology." -- Crave, author/artist of Between Failures, 2013-06-10 (author's note below comic)
[I don't know enough German to evaluate this claim, but I liked the phrasing.]
"It is essential to our well-being, and to our lives, that we play and enjoy life." -- Marcia Wieder
As requested (suggested?), a recent photo of Perrine (in the wee hours of this morning) to mark the decade she's been with me. Sorry about the funky cropping -- it was a shot-of-opportunity, and between the size of the room, which lens I had on the camera, and where Perrine decided to pose, it was either a potentially distracting crop or definitely distracting visual clutter eating the right side of the picture.
I feel so lucky to have her around. I hope she feels the same way. To celebrate, last night I brushed her until she decided she'd been brushed enough. (This can take a while.) This afternoon we played with string.
Unrelatedly, a cute bird that I'd shot a day and a half earlier:
"Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre." -- attriubuted to Cardinal Richelieu (b. 1585-09-09, d. 1642-12-04) nearly every place I've seen it, but Wikiquote notes that the attribution is disputed.
Translation: "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
"A home without a cat -- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat -- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?" -- from Pudd'nhead Wilson (1893) by Mark Twain (b. 1835-11-30, d. 1910-04-21)
Wow, has it been ten years already? Yeah, it has.
"I gave up the guitar in 1965. Didn't want to see a guitar. I'd go out and get drunk. When I came out of the heart surgery, the doc said, 'Promise me you'll work hard.' I said, 'I thought working hard is what got me here.' He said, 'No, working is what will keep you alive.'" -- Les Paul, (b. 1915-06-09, d. 2009-08-13)
"Sometimes, you have to go through a phase whether you like it or not." -- Tina Weymouth (b. 1950-11-22)
"Yet despite all this manificence Loiza la Vakako's private quarters, both aboard the air-car and wherever he stopped to spend the night, were always strangely austere: a thin mattress on the floor, plain white wall-hangings, a pitcher of water by his side. It was as if he accepted the gandeur as something necessary, a requirement of office, but gladly put it all aside when h could be alone. If you would see the truth of a man, look at the room where he sleeps." -- Yakoub, narrator of Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg (1986, Agberg Ltd.)
[Hush, Sheepie -- I know you know what an absolute wreck my bedroom is.]
"The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Since the Tiananmen uprising of 1989, China's rulers have loosened the economic strictures enough to allow remarkable growth -- testament to the vibrancy of the Chinese people given even half a chance. Out of this, China's rulers have devoted enormous resources to projects meant to suggest they run a modern nation -- sending astronauts into space, convening conferences on the climate, and hosting the 2008 Olympics.
"Count me unimpressed. The real sign of modernity will come when China opens up its political system enough so that the country's leaders no longer fear June 4 but treat the Tiananmen uprising with the honor it deserves."
-- Claudia Rosett, "What I Saw at Tiananmen", The Wall Street Journal, 2009-06-04
"In terms of US history [the biggest lie or omission] was the fact that we were taught that 'racism ended with the civil rights movement' and nobody told me about restrictive convents or redlining. The segregation in Cleveland (where I grew up) is plain as day. There are these bombed out inner city neighborhood (all black) and I could not understand why it was segregated like that. My history class didn't do much to help me understand the world I was living in. The history of racial struggle ended with MLK's 'I have a dream speech' ... and they lived happily ever after.
"Looking back I feel sort of betrayed. [...] I ended up hating history. That's why I study math. Mathematics makes sense."
From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2013-05-29:
"You're only given one little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." -- Robin Williams, comic and actor.
(submitted to the mailing list by M. McGuffin)
"If someone offers to give you the moon as a romantic gesture, don't accept. Humanity needs that for tides and science." -- @SarcasticRover, 2013-05-31
"He that leaveth nothing to chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things." -- George Savile (b. 1633-11-11, d. 1695-04-05), first Marquess of Halifax
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Fewer young drivers are getting a whiff of that new-car smell.
The share of new cars bought by 18-34 year olds dropped 30 percent throughout the last five years, according to Edmunds.com.
But the reason for the big decline is up for debate.
Some point a finger at the economy.
Young adults face high levels of unemployment -- with many giving up the job search altogether. So, young drivers may opt for a used car, or borrow mom and dad's keys, until the job market comes back to life.
But others say the drop may show a shift in priorities.
As urban populations swell, young adults may be swapping their wheels for a bus ticket or a subway pass. Companies like Zipcar provide rental cars in a pinch.
Social media also has a role to play.
Cars used to mean freedom for young drivers, but with the rise of cell phones and the internet, young adults interact without ever leaving the house. So, getting behind the wheel is less important.
Meanwhile, car companies hold out hope that as these drivers get older, new cars will become a must-buy.
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Below are photos that art teacher, Linda Devlin, posted to our Shells for NJ Shores Facebook page after her art room had been completely demolished by Hurricane Sandy. Mrs. Devlin's art room was in the basement of her school, St. Rose High School, in Belmar and the water had filled the space from floor to ceiling. Nothing was salvageable. Aside from the obvious damage caused to the room and all of the furniture and art materials inside, the flood waters also destroyed all of the artwork her students had created. This is particularly heartbreaking for high school students because many were in the process of building their portfolios for their college interviews.
B.A. artists created and sold our shell-themed artwork at the East Brunswick Craft Fair and continued to make sales at school throughout December. See pics and read about this amazing day here in my previous blog posts:http://baart.weebly.com/1/category/eb%20craft%20fair48d7cfaef4/1.htmlWe are hoping that our donation of $1673.00 to the St. Rose High School Art Department will help them in their recovery and rebuilding process.
Learn more about how my students and I created the Shells for NJ Shores art project, see photos and read stories of the many students across the U.S. who have been joining us to raise money for hurricane relief! http://shellsfornjshores.weebly.com/pics--press.html
Collaboratively, we have raised and donated $22,390.19 by selling our students shell-themed art and this dollar amount continues to increase each week!
Through creativity and kindness, we are making a difference!
Please share our website with anyone you think may want to participate.http://shellsfornjshores.weebly.com/index.htmlPhotos: St. Rose High School Art Rooms
One of our 4th grade B.A. artists, Samuel1367, has been nominated to win the Artsonia Artist of the Week Contest! Please take a moment to vote for his artwork (Winter Trees inside Pink Oval in the 4th -6th grade category) today and then again for the next two days. He would win $50.00 and our art program would win $100! Here is the link to vote:
http://www.artsonia.com/museum/aotw/vote.asp?group=1You can vote once per day per computer today, tomorrow and Saturday). If you would like to increase our chances of winning, vote from as many computers as possible.If you have a moment to share this link with others in your social networks or via email, we sure would appreciate that!Thank You!
Brunswick Acres raised $1140.00 at the East Brunswick Craft Fair yesterday! Visitors had many complimentary comments to share about how beautiful our students' shell artwork was. People were also impressed with how much kindness and compassion our school has for others and were happy to support our cause. 100% of money raised will be donated to Hurricane Sandy relief. Many thanks to all parents and students who were there to help. We had the best sales-students who were ready to share information with shoppers and even made up songs about our cause on the spot to draw in more customers. It was wonderful to see our principal Mr. Desai there with his daughter too! All students, families and supporters should share in the joy of the giving spirit, because many people are responsible for our success. Randi and Carol of the East Brunswick Craft Fair are beautiful people to have welcomed us to their town's craft fair! It is by far the BEST craft fair in our area and look forward to promoting for them next year. Over 200 amazing vendors! Not only did they welcome us, give us a complimentary table, and put us in a great location, but they also donated their raffle money to our cause!Visit or join our open Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/441972662526279/ and stay current with this global project. So many teachers, students and artists are participating and sharing their artwork, pics and stories.
Congratulations to everyone involved for making a difference! There were so many others who attended the craft fair. If you took photos that you would like to see included here, please send them to me Suzanne.Tiedemann@gmail.com and I'll add them!
Click image above to link to the full article about our Shells for NJ Shores project.Students who were interested in spray painting our shells met me outside during their recess a couple of weeks ago. We had large groups of very enthusiastic kids who wanted to learn how to apply spray paint. They were willing to wait on long lines just to have a chance to put on the safety goggles and spray a shell gold! One group decided to sing winter carols while waiting. We will be selling these shells as ornaments ($5.00 each) at the East Brunswick Craft Fair this Saturday from 10am - 5pm at East Brunswick High School! 100% of all purchases will be donated toward Hurricane Relief through our Shells for NJ Shores project.http://shellsfornjshores.weebly.com/Flyers about this event were sent home with students last week. I've added a copy of this flyer below featuring the details. We are hoping many families will be able to attend.
Have you visited your Artsonia Gallery yet this year? I've started to upload artwork and our B.A. Gallery is looking great! We have so many talented artists in our school and it's wonderful to be able to showcase student work online!
Some students have already begun to write and post "Artist Statements" about their artwork to let viewers know a little bit about what they were thinking when they were creating their artwork. One of the latest artist statements was written by Samantha (see pic above). It is obvious that Samantha reflected about her work and the creative choices she made. She also shared how this work of art makes her feel.
If you would like to tell the world more about your artwork, please do! Ask your parents to visit your gallery. Here is the link to our B.A. Gallery http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=1620
Once you are on your gallery page, your parents should click the yellow box under your artwork that looks like this:
They will need to click "Click Here" and sign in with the email and password they used to activate their account. Parents, if you do not remember the password you created, please call Artsonia during work hours at 1-(800)-869-9974
Artsonia will be happy to retrieve your information for you.
After you are logged in, students can type and post their artist statements! I'm looking forward to reading what you all have to say about your artwork!
Last week, South Brunswick Patch reporter, Davy James, contacted me and asked if he could talk to me about our Shells for NJ Shores project. We chatted on the phone about how Shells for NJ Shores began, the artwork we and other artists are making and how we are raising money to help with Hurricane Sandy relief. Read all about it here:http://southbrunswick.patch.com/articles/south-brunswick-kids-get-artistic-to-aid-sandy-victims
Visit our Shells for NJ Shores Website to see more pics, read about other participating schools, and track how much money we are raising together to donate! http://shellsfornjshores.weebly.com/
Mark your calendar for December 15th! B.A. will be selling our shell crafts at the East Brunswick High School Craft Fair. See Flyer below for details!
Brunswick Acres is closed again today, making this the sixth school day to be cancelled since last Monday due to power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy. Many of us were left without power, some for a longer time period than others. As frustrating as this has been and continues to be for many in our area, the sentiment that seems to be shared by most is that we are feeling very fortunate compared to our friends and families who lost everything along the coastDuring these times, we try to do what we can by making monetary donations, dropping off supplies to shelters, inviting people into our homes, traveling to areas that need help with clean up and more. These efforts are so important for our state to recover from this unprecedented storm damage. In an effort to provide a way for kids to help, I created a project called,
"Shells for NJ Shores" . It is an art project in which teachers and students everywhere are invited to participate to help Sandy victims. The idea is that students can create and sell "shell-themed" art, make a donation to the organization of their choice and track our progress online so we can see how our heart-work is making a difference. To learn more about Shells for NJ Shores, click here or on the image above:http://shellsfornjshores.weebly.com/Please pass this along to anyone you think may want to give their children a chance to assist in the recover and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey.To all of my students and B.A. parents, I hope you are doing well and have had your power restored. I hope school will be open for us all soon.
Our school, Brunswick Acres is competing for the $5000 Kris Wine and Americans for the Arts grant. Please VOTE for Brunswick Acres.
How To Vote:
*Click this link and "Like" the Kris Wine Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/kriswines/app_277727432252070?ref=ts
*Type Brunswick Acres in the search box
*Click the red pushpin
*Check the box
*Vote daily until October 31st
The winner is based on the total number of Facebook votes for the top school. We are currently in 1st place, but noticed that another school advanced 600 votes in one day on Friday. Our school has been averaging 100 votes per day, so we are hoping that our music video will inspire others to vote for us to keep us in the lead. We felt it was important to approach this as a creative project instead of just soliciting votes, because we want to prove that we are worthy recipients to receive an arts grant. Our video is posted on Vimeo and YouTube! Please consider sharing it with as many people as possible to generate support and votes!
If we win, we will use the money to purchase art supplies. The cost of supplies continues to rise while our art budget get lower and lower each year. My students are very respectful with materials. This grant money would last us for years to come.
Vote B.A. Oh Yeah! Thank You!!!
Hi Carly Rae Jepsen! We hope you like our parody :) Thanks for writing such an awesome song! Students in every grade (K-5) knew Call Me Maybe, so creating a parody they could sing along to was so much fun for them!
All the Best,
Brunswick Acres Elementary School
We are currently in the lead in the $5000.00 Kris Wine Grant Contest! In order to help spread the word and possibly get more votes, we are going to take this to the next level (and by this I mean we are going to make a MUSIC VIDEO of course)! I downloaded the karaoke version of the popular song, “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, wrote new lyrics to promote our school for this contest and recorded myself singing our new version. To help students learn the words, I created this karaoke video with lyrics so they can practice singing and dancing at home. We are soon going to turn this song into a MUSIC VIDEO featuring students, staff and admin! Please keep the votes rolling in! It will take dedicated voting each day by all of us to help us to stay in first place! Directions to vote:
* Click this link. http://on.fb.me/O7U1AF
Note: You must be on a computer to vote, NOT a cell phone or iPad.
* "Like" the Kris Wine Facebook page.
* Click "Vote Now"
* Type, "Brunswick Acres" into the box and click "Search"
* Click on the red pin that appears on the map
* Check the box to vote next to our school's name.
* Vote once per day up until October 31st.
* Help spread the word by sharing the link to this blog post!Let's Make This Happen Together!!!!
Thank you for supporting my students and our school!
This Saturday, I will be heading into NYC for the National Art Education Association Conference. I am looking forward to meeting so many great art educators who I have connected with on Twitter. It sure will be nice to finally be able to put faces to the names that have been the source of incredible inspiration for my students and me. Tricia Fuglestad, Theresa Gillespie and I have been planning our presentation, “There’s an App for That: iPads in Art Ed” for about a year now. Theresa and Tricia live in Illinois, so we prepared using online tools such as Wikis, Google Docs, Skype, DropBox, and more. Unfortunately, Theresa Gillespie notified Tricia and me that she would not be able to attend the conference, but as Tricia put it, she will be with us in spirit.
Tricia and I created our presentation using Keynote on our Macs. We each assembled slides that will inform our attendees why we use iPads, how we manage them, how we manage digital artwork, how we use iPads with students (apps), and what our future goals are.
We reached out to the developers of the apps we have been using to let them know we would be sharing their apps in our presentation. Many of them offered to provide us with free app codes. We are taping the codes to the back of our business cards and giving them away as door prizes! Some of the apps that we will be giving away, include, Sonic Pics, Faces iMake, Photo Tropedelic, Halftone, Doink, FaceJack, Dramatic Black and White, Grungetastic, NIR Color, PhotoArtista Oil HD, PhotoArtista Haiku HD, PhotoArtista Sketch, Rainy Daze, Romantic Photo, Simply HDR, Snow Daze, Vintage Scene, Artisan Paint and more.
I can’t believe that our presentation day is almost here! I started following Tricia’s work approximately 7 or 8 years ago, so this opportunity to present with her is truly mind blowing!
Check out our presentation website http://ipadsinart.weebly.com/ I added it as a tab at the top of this B.A. Art Website too. Wish us luck!
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|France: Terminations by mutual agreement and economic difficulties|
Termination by mutual agreement allows the employer and the employee to terminate the employment contract by mutual consent, without any grounds being necessary, as long as the termination complies with a specific procedure.
Despite grounds not being necessary, the General Division of Labour ("DGT") specified that termination by mutual agreement must not be used in contravention of the guarantees provided by Law (circulars of the "DGT" dated 22 July 2008 and 17 March 2009).
In this respect, French Labour Code only provides that a termination by mutual agreement must not be concluded in the framework of an agreement of "strategic workforce planning" ("Gestion Prévisionnelle des Emplois et des Compétences" – "GPEC") or in the framework of a social plan.
More generally, in consideration of the guarantees applicable to dismissals for economic reasons, to what extent can terminations be concluded for economic grounds?
An injunction order in chambers of the Labour Court of Toulouse dated 22 January 2010 and a circular dated 23 March 2010 specified the scope of application of termination by mutual agreement when economic difficulties arise.
In view of these decisions, the question of whether it is possible to conclude several terminations by mutual agreement for economic reasons, in the absence of a mandatory social plan, remains open, notably when a Works Council’s consultation on the contemplated dismissals would otherwise be required by Law.
In order to reduce the risks in this respect, we would recommend limiting the number of terminations by mutual agreement concluded in the same Company.
Additionally, we draw your attention to the fact that we would not recommend concluding terminations by mutual agreement in all cases when the employee should otherwise benefit from specific guarantees fixed by Law or by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and notably in case of work related injury, professional sickness, maternity leave and unfitness for work.
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Vitamin E Linked To Prostate Cancer
Study finds men who take high doses are at risk.
For the past decade or so doctors believed vitamin E might reduce the risk for prostate cancer.
That belief has been challenged by a large study from the Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Eric Klein.
"The finding was a bit of a surprise," said Klein.
Dr. Klein and his colleagues have been following a group of about 35-thousand men for at least 7 years to study potential benefits of supplemental use of vitamin E or Selenium.
Neither pill reduced the risk for prostate cancer -- and the men were advised to stay away from the supplements. But even after they stopped taking them -- researchers found this:
"Men who took vitamin e alone have a 17% higher chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer," said Klein.
This is the latest in a string of recent studies that have suggested Americans' use of vitamins is leading to overkill, literally.
On Monday, researchers said daily doses of multivitamins and other minerals like iron appear to raise the risk of an early death in older women.
"We saw an increased risk of total mortality," said Jaako Mursu, Ph.D. University of Minnesota.
And a study from the national institutes of health found most people who take dietary supplements don't need them because they tend to eat healthy diets -- full of all the nutrients their bodies need.
The vitamin E supplement in the Cleveland Clinic trial was 400 international units available over the counter.
Most multivitamins, however, contain much less -- which experts say is a much more appropriate dose.
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More new findings about spinal cord injury, myelin formation and stem cells.
Researchers Find A Reaction To Spinal Cord Injury That Speeds Recovery In Young Rats
13 Nov 2006 -- Neuroscientists have long believed that the only way to repair a spinal cord injury was to grow new neural connections, but researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center recently found that, especially in young rats, powerful cells near the injury site also work overtime to restrict nerve damage and restore movement and sensation.
The same process does not work as efficiently in adult rats and thus recovery time is much longer, the researchers also discovered. But they say that now that they know such a mechanism exists, it may be possible one day to "switch" these cells on therapeutically - and possibly help humans function better following serious spinal cord injuries.
"No one knew cells in the spinal cord acted to protect nerves in this way, so it gives us some hope that in the future we could stimulate this process in the clinic to enhance recovery and ensure the best outcome possible for patients," said the senior author, Jean R. Wrathall, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neuroscience.
"This is an animal study, however, and there is much work to do to understand more about this process and how it might be altered," Wrathall said. The study, whose first author is graduate student Philberta Y. Leung, is published in the November 2006 issue of the journal Experimental Neurology.
At the least, Wrathall said, the study reveals surprising new information about nerve cell recovery that neuroscientists can now explore.
In vertebrates, the nervous system uses a two-way transmission system to communicate the electrical impulses that lead to muscle movement and the perception of sensation. In humans, hundreds of thousands of nerve fibers (axons), which can be several feet in length, run through the spinal cord like a two-lane road. Half of these axons connect the brain to distant muscles, and the other half links the body to the brain.
Axons cannot regenerate when they are completely severed, but researchers believe that in a partial injury, surviving nearby axons that serve the same general body area and function can "sprout" new connections to those injured nerve cells that have lost some of their axons. In studying spinal cord injury in rats - the usual model for this kind of investigation - researchers had thought that younger rats ("pups") regain function faster because this sprouting occurs more quickly and proficiently than in older rats. "Just as young trees grow more quickly if you prune them than do older trees, we thought than in young animals, surviving axons would sprout new, and longer, axonal connections more readily," Wrathall said.
But their findings surprised them. "We didn't see that sprouting was faster or better in younger than in adult rats after a partial spinal cord injury," she said. Instead, they saw distinctions in what occurred in cells within the spinal cord at the site of injury. Leung and Wrathall specifically discovered that in the pups, specialized neural stem cells grew vigorously after injury and within one week, many oligodendrocytes, cells whose function is to provide a protective myelin sheath to axons, were produced..
The researchers believe that these activated cells wrap nearby surviving axons with extra myelin sheathing in order to protect them and support their function after injury.
"The ability of axons to transmit their signals is greatly dependent on the insulation provided by their myelin sheaths, and we know that axons near the site of injury eventually can die due to loss of this myelin," Wrathall said. "So we believe these stem cells work to protect healthy axons against toxic factors in the microevironment."
Adult rats do not activate these specialized cells to the same extent as the pups do after injury, for reasons that are not understood, she added.
"We hadn't expected these results, but they are exciting for the field of spinal cord injury and recovery," Wrathall said. "Now that we know that the difference in the local cell response to injury means a quicker recovery, we might be able to eventually exploit that innate healing ability in humans."
She added that these new findings might also be relevant to multiple sclerosis, a disease caused by loss of an axon's protective myelin sheath.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=56244
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An egg-shaped ring of standing stones in Australia could prove to be older than Britain’s Stonehenge – and it may show that ancient Aboriginal cultures had a deep understanding of the movements of the stars.
Fifty metres wide and containing more than 100 basalt boulders, the site of Wurdi Youang in Victoria was noted by European settlers two centuries ago, and charted by archaeologists in 1977, but only now is its purpose being rediscovered.
It is thought the site was built by the Wadda Wurrung people – the traditional inhabitants of the area. All understanding of the rocks’ significance was lost, however, when traditional language and practices were banned at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Now a team of archaeologists, astronomers and Aboriginal advisers is reclaiming that knowledge.
They have discovered that waist-high boulders at the tip of the egg-shaped point along the ring to the position on the horizon where the sun sets at the summer and winter solstice – the longest and shortest day of the year.
The axis from top to bottom points towards the equinox – when the length of day equals night.
At Stonehenge, the sun aligns instead with gaps in the stones on these key dates in the solar calendar.
The probability that the layout of Wurdi Youang is a coincidence is minuscule, argues Ray Norris, a British astrophysicist at Australia’s national science agency, who is leading the investigation.
Prof Norris and his Aboriginal partners used Nasa technology to measure the position of each rock in relation to the sun, and to demonstrate the connection with the solstices and equinox.
It’s truly special because a lot of people don’t take account of Aboriginal science,” says Reg Abrahams, an Aboriginal adviser working with Prof Norris.
As happened with Stonehenge, the discovery could change the way people view early societies. It is only recently that it has been demonstrated that Aboriginal societies could count beyond five or six.
Songs and stories
“This is the first time we have been able to show that, as well as being interested in the position of the sun, they were making astronomical measurements,” says Prof Norris, who is also a faculty member at the School of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney.
“It is interesting to know how far back people were doing astronomy – if it is 5,000 years old it would predate Stonehenge”
Quote Prof Ray Norris Astrophysicist
Other studies by Prof Norris, of Aboriginal songs and stories, have also indicated a clear understanding of the movements of the sun, moon and stars.
Indigenous customs vary among groups across Australia, but one story that appears in many local traditions is the tale of a great emu that sits in the sky.
The emu, which can be seen in the southern hemisphere during April and May, is a shape made by the dark patches of the Milky Way.
Its appearance coincides with the laying season of the wild emu and for the storytellers it is a sign to start collecting eggs.
Prompted by historian Hugh Cairns, Prof Norris examined and photographed an emu-shaped rock carving in Kuring-Gai Chase National Park, near Sydney, which cleverly mirrors the celestial animal-like shape.
During the southern autumn, the constellation is positioned above the rock with the bird shape almost perfectly reflected by the engraving.
Other stories show more complex, intellectual understanding of the universe.
In the case of the solar eclipse, the Walpiri people in the Northern Territory tell the story of a sun-woman who pursues a moon-man. When she catches him the two become husband and wife together causing a solar eclipse.
The idea that the solar eclipse is caused by the moon moving in front of the sun is something only widely accepted by western scientists in the 16th Century.
“This is not about balls of flames going out, it’s about one body moving in front of the other,” says Prof Norris. “That is a giant intellectual leap.”
Since solar eclipses are rare, the survival of this story, passed down through generations, also shows a remarkable continuity of learning.
These discoveries play a crucial role in helping Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians understand just how intellectually advanced their ancient society was.
“This discovery has huge significance for understanding the amazing ability of this culture that is maligned,” says Janet Mooney, head of Indigenous Australian Studies at Sydney University.
“It makes not only me, as an Aboriginal person, but a lot of Aboriginal people around Australia very proud.”
She hopes to be able to tell her students of an aboriginal site more ancient than Stonehenge.
Until it is dated however, Wurdi Youang could be anywhere from 200 to 20,000 years old.
Aboriginal stone structures in the region have a vast age range and are very difficult to date. Many of the smaller rock sites that have been found, such as shelters and cooking areas, have been moved over time by natural and human forces.
But given the size of the stones at Wurdi Youang and how deeply they are entrenched in the ground it is more likely they have been there for thousands of years, archaeologists say.
Dating requires archaeologists to test the soil under the rocks to see when it was last exposed to sunlight and the team hope to be able to do this in the next few months.
But Prof Norris believes he has already proven the real value of the stone circle.
“It is interesting to know how far back people were doing astronomy, if it is 5,000 years old it would predate Stonehenge,” he says.
“But it is not quite as interesting to my mind as whether the Aboriginal people were doing real astronomy before British contact. That really tells us a lot about what kind of culture it is.”
By Stephanie Hegarty BBC World Service
Sponsored by ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’ www.StonehengeTours.com
Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website
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Nineteenth-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is often credited with the statement, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” This column has discussed the lies and the damn lies. Statistics are the most treacherous because even the most skeptical electrical contractors (ECs) respond to the power of charts, graphs, dollar signs and percentages as if they contain universal truth.
The simplest way to misuse data is to cite meaningless numbers or simply fabricate them. Few people take the time to verify supporting data or consider differences in the baseline. For example, a chart may show that there are more electrical contractors operating in California than in Rhode Island. The substantial difference in the total is due to California’s larger population. A more meaningful comparison would be to calculate the number of electrical contractors as a percentage of total businesses operating in each state to adjust for this baseline difference.
Data dredging and manipulation
Data can be manipulated by dredging or digging for a pattern that supports a position and ignoring or discarding numbers that do not conform. Ideally, that pattern should be verifiable. Scientists, for example, publish results with the expectation that they can be verified by replicating the experiments using the same methods. Unethical practices include fudging results that do not conform to expectations or selectively reporting only positive results. Although this is problematic in financial reporting, this practice is acceptable when you provide client references, choosing only the most positive testimonials.
Causality and correlation
Statistics may show correlations that are not necessarily due to cause and effect. For example, profits may increase for five years in a row, while sales revenue declines. There are several possible reasons for this correlation:
1. Lower sales cause higher profits.
2. Higher profits cause lower revenues.
3. Each partly causes the other.
4. There is another factor causing both.
5. The pattern is the result of chance.
If you conclude that reducing sales revenue further will cause profits to rise even more, you will be sorely disappointed.
Surveys are a potential source of misleading statistics because there is almost no way to obtain a truly random sample of any group of people. So, the opinions of a few are extrapolated to reflect the opinions of a much larger population. For example, consumers surveyed by a lighting manufacturer prefer a certain type of lighting. The number of people studied, their demographics (age, location, type of residence, income), and the questions’ wording have all affected the results. For example, questions that do not allow for answer clarification create forced choices, and the closest answers are not necessarily the most accurate measures of opinion. If you survey customers, word the questions carefully and include a place for comments to gather more accurate feedback.
Dollars and percentages
Failing to consider both dollar amounts and percentage relationships can result in poor financial decisions. Here is an example. An EC earns $100,000 profit on sales revenue of $1 million (10 percent). The next year, revenue grows to $1.5 million, with a profit of only 8 percent. The owner is disappointed, until he sees that the business actually earned more money in dollars ($120,000). As revenue grows, profit percentages may shrink, but the profit in dollars may still be satisfactory.
Even a simple calculation, such as average job size, can be misleading. The same $1 million in sales revenue would produce an average job size of $100,000 if the firm completed 10 jobs in that year. The actual list looks like this:
The average job size is $100,000, but the distribution is also important. Without the $400,000 job, total revenue would shrink by 40 percent, reducing the average job size by one-third, to $66,667. When you calculate the average, or mean, it is important to recognize the range of values as well. The $400,000 job is an outlier, and it skews the average upward.
If you calculate the median as well as the mean (average), the effect of outliers will be obvious. The median is the middle value of the dollar amounts of the jobs; in this example, the midpoint between jobs 5 and 6, or $55,000 ($40,000 + $70,000 ÷ 2). The farther this value is from the mean, or average, the larger the effect of any outliers on the pattern.
You don’t have to be a statistician to make good financial decisions. Know that numbers can create false confidence. Always ask for supporting data, clarification of survey methods, and additional research before accepting an otherwise weak argument. Numbers are only part of the equation, so trust your instincts and experience to fill in the rest.
NORBERG-JOHNSON is a former subcontractor and past president of two national construction associations. She may be reached at email@example.com.
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Fitzleon is the capital of the Fitzleon Empire, one of the five great nations founded after the Draconic Revolution. It is ruled by King Fitzleon the IV, but he spends most of his days involved with the ongoing war with the Veil of Winter. Most of the day to day operations of the Empire are managed by Farizir.
The city is divided into three strata. The outermost lands are the farmlands that feed the city itself, which lie outside the city walls. The middle city is where the merchants and servants live, and where the trade and guild activity takes place. The inner city is for the palace and noble estates of Fitzleon’s ruling class, and is heavily guarded.
The town contains several temples: Obad-Hai Heironeus St. Cuthbert
And one unofficial guild: Thieves Guild
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Mary Rappaport 703/312-7886
Valerie Rheinstein 703/516-7963
|For Immediate Release
25 Feb 98
Washington, DC - Members of Congress and prominent figures from the fields of law, medicine and journalism were honored today by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) for their courage in publicly disclosing their experiences with the devastating effects of severe mental illness and their continued efforts to end stigma by openly discussing the impact serious brain disorders have had on their lives. The five honorees included Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, Ellen Hart Peña, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Representative Lynn Rivers (D-MI) and Tracy Thompson.
"The tireless and courageous efforts of these individuals are shining examples for us all," said NAMI Executive Director Laurie Flynn. "Their honest and personally painful stories give renewed strength and hope to the millions of Americans still hurting in the shadows of stigma. We look forward to the day when disclosing one's mental illness is as commonly accepted as revealing one's arthritis or high blood pressure. Our honorees show that the challenges of mental illness can be faced through self-acceptance and society's open acknowledgement."
Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has authored more than 100 medical texts on mood disorders, suicide, psychotherapy and lithium. Her most recent book, An Unquiet Mind, which chronicles her own experience with manic-depressive illness, received several literary awards and is currently under development as a feature film with Universal Studios.
Ellen Hart Peña, an attorney, was a consultant for the ABC Movie of the Week, "Dying To Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Peña Story," a film depicting her own battle with bulimia. She currently serves on the Harvard Eating Disorders Center advisory board and has written several articles on overcoming eating disorders.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), whose father suffered from depression and ultimately committed suicide, is known as an outspoken advocate on mental health issues in both his home state of Nevada and on Capitol Hill. A long-time NAMI advocate, Senator Reid last year sponsored S-84, a Senate Resolution calling for a national suicide prevention plan.
Representative Lynn Rivers (D-MI), also a long-time NAMI advocate, worked for many years in her home state on mental health issues and supported the Michigan Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Representative Rivers also valiantly announced her 24-year battle with manic-depressive illness in the final days of her 1994 campaign.
Tracy Thompson, a reporter with The Washington Post and author of The Beast: A Reckoning with Depression, has fought a life-long battle with depression. A suicide attempt in 1990 led her for the first time to seek appropriate medical treatment. Ms. Thompson now divides her time between her work for The Post and speaking engagements around the country on depression and the lingering public stigma.
Mistress of Ceremonies Marianne Ginter Gingrich and Robert Boorstin, senior advisor to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, presented the awards at NAMI's HelpLine Benefit, held at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
Long an advocate of volunteerism, Mrs. Gingrich praised the NAMI HelpLine. "People reaching out to NAMI for help always find reassuring and knowledgeable volunteers who have navigated their own way through the painful and frustrating experience of coping with a severe mental illness," said Gingrich. "In addition to saluting tonight's honorees, we're also celebrating the remarkable achievements of NAMI's HelpLine and its incredible army of volunteers who have helped more than 300,000 Americans in the last eight years. The NAMI HelpLine has been a true lifeline to thousands of Americans."
The NAMI HelpLine (1-800-950-NAMI) is a toll-free information and referral service that provides emotional support, referrals to local organizations, and information about disorders and their treatment for the more than 60,000 callers who contact NAMI each year. Staffed by volunteers, the NAMI HelpLine is accessible in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
With more than 172,000 members, NAMI is the nation's leading grassroots organization solely dedicated to improving the lives of persons with severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders. NAMI has more than 1,140 state and local affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada. NAMI's efforts focus on support to persons with serious brain disorders and to their families; advocacy for nondiscriminatory and equitable federal, state and private-sector policies; research into the causes, symptoms and treatments for brain disorders; and education to eliminate the pervasive stigma surrounding severe mental illness.
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I say this because, on the one hand, the theoretical amount of material written about and by such people is vast - just think of the billions of emails that go into the ether each day.
On the other hand, a huge percentage of these emails is deleted in a very short time and not kept, either on a computer or in hard copy.
I contrast the above statements with the letters, sent in the traditional
It is through letters which, fortunately for the residents of Redlands, are kept in the Smiley Library Heritage Room, that we can look with interest at the comings and goings of one branch of the Smiley family from 1874 through 1906.
In one box is a vast number of letters written by Daniel Smiley and members of his family to one another. These letters describe activities undertaken by the writer, tales of happiness and sadness, and give the reader a good view of the lives of a prominent family - prominent in New York and in Redlands and in many other places.
The letter writers are predominantly the following: twin brothers Alfred H. Smiley (1828-1903) and Albert K. Smiley (1828-1912), their younger half-brother Daniel Smiley (1855-1930) and his wife, Effie Florence Newell, (1858-1951) and their children Albert Keith (known as Bert, 1883-1964), Hugh (1886-1933), Francis Gerow (1886-1933) and Ruth (1892-1981). In the letters the in-laws are referred to as sister and brother.
Herein is a sample of the many letters in the Daniel Smiley collection. These letters show the extended Smiley family in
Letter from Daniel to Albert (in Redlands) on April 22, 1902, talking about work at Lake Mohonk:
"Yesterday aside from conference letters (the mail delivery) was smaller than usual. Yet we had 49 conference, 29 room, 9 provisions, 23 building and bills, and 10 miscellaneous making a total of 120. It has taken me nearly two hours each afternoon to open and dispose of all of these letters. I am eagerly counting the days till you come."
There is a letter from Rebecca Smiley to Sue Smiley on May 10, 1893, written on the letterhead of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, San Bernardino County, Arrowhead Springs, in which she says that she is enjoying the Arrowhead Springs Hotel.
Letter from Helen Harrington to Ruth Smiley on March 28, 1903, from the Hotel Colonial, Nassau, Bahamas:
"The people have no glass in their windows because if they did they would be rich enough to pay taxes" and "the houses have no chimneys. Doesn't that seem queer?"
Letter from Effie to "sister" on March 4, 1893:
"We are having great excitement now - for the big boiler is on its way up the mountain - a new experience for me. I have just been reading one of Charlotte Bronte's books and have been much in the contrast between the English and French characters."
She goes on to comment about the new position taken by a former president of the United States: "What a wise thing for President Harrison to go into; work as he has in taking a professorship at Stanford University."
(N.B.: I would think that former chief executives of our nation could perform a great public service if they were to follow in Harrison's footsteps.)
Letter from Nellie to her sister (Mrs. Smiley in Mohonk) on April 19, 1894, in which she discusses her poor physical and mental health:
"I am sad and feel crushed all the time - it is hard for me to look up but I'm getting on about the same (I) had to get another belt it's a torture to use night and day but if I can have another operation by it I shall be glad "
Letter to Albert K. Smiley from a friend in Philadelphia in which he not only requests a room at the hotel but talks about the new
"(We request) three rooms we would like them pleasantly situated near the elevator and not having the afternoon sun on them.
"We were much excited in the construction of the Library founded by you in California and congratulations on accomplishing so beneficial a work for your fellow men. It must have been a great pleasure and satisfaction to you."
Letter from John S. Bushing of New York City to the Smileys, thanking them profusely for their having sent the letter writer something of great value to an urban resident of the East Coast:
"A box was delivered to our house the other day which has created much interest and not a little excitement. My dear friend I had no idea that you thought enough of us to remember us in this royal way.
"We are quite overwhelmed by the generosity of the gift but I should not be surprised by anything in this life for your openhearted liberality is proverbial. You always do things on such a large scale. You may like to know that every orange arrived sound and good. The stems are even green and they are keeping very well."
Letter from Kate, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Mrs. Daniel Smiley (Effie) on March 15, 1899:
"I have such a delightful doctor. He is just about perfect I have quite lost my heart to him - but that is worse than no good - he is steeled against such things. I think I have succeeded in making his head swim a little (but) there is no more hopeless subject than a bachelor of fifty or thereabouts. Besides he has remained faithful to a love affair of thirty or more years ago - the girl died and ever since he has lived with his relatives."
Letter from Henrietta C. Partridge (of Redlands) to friends on May 11, 1901, commenting at some length on the visit of President McKinley to Redlands:
"We all wished you could have seen how lovely it was as the President drove up Wednesday morning. You must forgive me for sending a picture of myself for I wanted you to see the bouquet (which I handed to him) He has a fine face and most charming and courteous manner and very kind good eyes; so we have all fallen in love with him. It seems to me such a fine face could not belong to a politician (sic). The whole thing was very successful and brought such credit to the town."
Letter from Daniel to his wife, on April 18, 1902, in which he talks about an emotional heart-to-heart talk he had with their son Hugh:
" he was in bed and I went in and talked to him an hour or more finally breaking down completely and throwing myself at his neck (and) cried like a baby. It had been many years since my emotions had gotten the upper hand and I hadn't looked for it was not to happen again, but this dear boy so reminded me of thee and my heart so ached for him to do just right."
Letter from Daniel to Effie on Feb. 15, 1902, while he was staying overnight at Vassar College. He had had dinner with the editor of The Century, one of the leading journals of the early 20th century:
" and afterward I enjoyed his lecture on Lincoln. I saw considerable of him this morning and I went with him to the train."
Letter from son Bert to this mother (from Haverford College):
"This Spring, I am broad jumping and playing tennis for exercise and recreation. Nothing makes one enjoy life more than to get good and tired every day. I hope that you are all well and happy in California. I rather regret that soon I will quit this life where I have lived for four years and had so many good times."
Letter from Mabel (Bert's future wife) to Mrs. Smiley on Nov. 11, 1905, when she was visiting Bert at Haverford College:
"Bert and I have been very happy last night and today have had some good talks I had a very nice visit to Salem and while there I told the family (of) our engagement and they were one and all very pleased. They all spoke of my dear boy and of his family, who stood for so many good works."
Letter from Daniel to his wife from the Los Angeles Limited Railway on his way to New York, March 13, 1906:
"It was truly hard to leave thee Last night I thought it all over and carefully searched out the real state of feelings down below the surface and I am truly thankful that I had this winter with thee and I shall always look back on it gratefully. My heart aches this very moment for thee."
These letters, and the many others in this collection, show a prominent family at work and at play, in serious moments and at moments of tender affection for one another. They are of great interest to readers such as I, who have had the privilege and pleasure of studying in the Heritage Room of the A.K. Smiley Public Library.
Donald L. Singer holds degrees in history and education and is retired after a career as a professor and administrator at community colleges, including serving as president of Crafton Hills College and San Bernardino Valley College. He volunteers as an archivist in the A.K. Smiley Public Library Heritage Room.
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Most Active Stories
Thu September 6, 2012
Achtung Beerdrinkers: Munich's Brewers Need Bottles, Kegs For Oktoberfest
Originally published on Thu September 6, 2012 11:29 pm
German beer drinkers are eagerly awaiting Sept. 22, when the first Oktoberfest beer barrel will be tapped in Munich and two weeks of revelry begin. But when that happens, they might want to drink up — because the city's brewers are worried they won't be able to supply enough beer for the massive party and its huge beer tents.
The brewers aren't out of beer — there's plenty of that to go around, they say. The trouble is that makers of beers like Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr don't have enough bottles to supply the festival. In some cases, they've fallen tens of thousands of bottles behind their production schedule. Other say their kegs are in short supply.
The situation led Heiner Mueller of the Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr brewery to appear in Munich's TZ newspaper today.
"Dear Munichers — bring back your crates," he said, according to the German news site The Local. "We need our empties!"
The reason for the shortage is simple: People have been drinking a lot of beer in Munich lately. The spike in consumption is being blamed on some really nice weather the city's been having at the end of summer.
As we reported in 2011, 7.5 million liters of beer were served at Munich's Oktoberfest last year. And of course, much of it is consumed in the festival's famous steins, the large mugs that hold draft beer.
Because the brewers wash and reuse their bottles over and over — as many as 50 times, according to TZ — they rely on their customers to turn them back in. That hasn't been happening quickly enough to let beer-makers build up the supplies they need.
"We're tens of thousands of bottles short," said Stefan Hempl of the Hofbrau brewery.
The Local describes what, for some, would be a nightmare scenario:
"The crisis has led to Hofbrau prioritizing its two most popular beers — Helles and Wiesnbier. 'At the moment we could have a situation where we don't have any dark beer for a few days,' said Hempl, sending a chill down many Bavarian spines."
Even the big boys like Spaten and Lowenbrau — both of them owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev — are feeling the squeeze. Those breweries say they're running out of kegs.
"We can still fulfill all the orders, but it's getting tight," said Anheuser-Busch InBev's Oliver Bartelt.
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Severe droughts could devastate sub-Saharan Africa following a recent decades-long drought that killed 100,000 people in Africa’s Sahel region, scientists say.
Sub-Saharan Africa often suffers droughts, but the group of specialists reported on Thursday that global climate change will make these dry periods more severe and more difficult for the people who live there.
The prediction is contained in a study published in the journal of Science by the scientits at the University of Arizona, US.
“Clearly, much of West Africa is already on the edge of sustainability, and the situation could become much more dire in the future with increased global warming,” said Jonathan Overpeck, a climatologist and co-author of the study.
Via Aljazeera English.
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The Online Learning Center at the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Web site provides corn farmers a growing array of tools to help them succeed.
“The Online Learning Center is one way to provide up-to-date information on issues and programs about which our growers need to be aware,” says Tim Dolan, chairman of NCGA's grower services action team.
It includes modules regarding insect and weed-resistance management, as well as NCGA's “Know Before You Grow” program, which helps growers select hybrids with the full knowledge of whether they are approved for EU export. It also includes links to educational materials related to the Average Crop Revenue Election Program. Other modules are in development.
To log on, go to http://ncga.com/online-learning-center.
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|This grave of a Medieval knight was recently uncovered in a parking lot, turned building site, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (HANDOUT PHOTO/QMI AGENCY)
The remains of a medieval knight were located under a former parking lot and current building site in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Archeologists uncovered a sandstone slab decorated with the markings of nobility, the Calvary Cross and an ornate sword, the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation said in a press release. The markings indicate the remains belong to a "high-status individual" such as a knight or nobleman, the centre says.
When the area was fully excavated, an adult skeleton was also located. The skeleton will be analyzed to learn more about the deceased and how he died.
"This find has the potential to be one of the most significant and exciting archeological discoveries in the city for many years, providing us with yet more clues as to what life was like in medieval Edinburgh," Coun. Richard Lewis, the City of Edinburgh's cultural convener, said in the release.
In February, scientists announced the remains of King Richard III were found in a parking lot in England.
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President Obama addressed the need to elevate the status of teachers in his State of the Union address last year.
"In South Korea, teachers are known as 'nation builders,' " he said. "Here in America, it's time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect."
His next line, however, suggested not all merited that status: "We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones."
Parents may like their own child's teacher, but their overall confidence in U.S. schools appears to have reached a low point. A Gallup poll released earlier this year found that just 29 percent had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in public schools - the lowest level in nearly four decades.
"I think there has been a fairly concerted attack on teachers and teaching, specifically focusing on unionized teachers," said Jeffrey Mirel, an education professor at the University of Michigan.
Indeed, much of the criticism about education in the United States has centered on teachers and firing or weakening their benefits as part of the solution. When a board of trustees needed to come up with ways to improve one of the state's worst-performing schools in 2010, it decided to fire all of the teachers there - a decision that Obama said was an example of why accountability is needed in the most troubled schools.
The teachers were eventually allowed to keep their jobs, but in some ways the damage had already been done.
Whether the courageous actions in Newtown, Conn., lead to anything more than a temporary shift in the tone of how the nation talks about teachers remains to be seen.
But for the moment, teachers are grateful.
"When situations like that occur, teachers basically have a disregard for their own safety and put their own bodies between whatever might be happening to keep their kids safe," Krantz said. "I think we're always conscious of the fact that something like that could really happen."
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The Government department said that 458 suppliers were now offering anti-spam, simulation and training, and other services available for procurement through the Government's 'CloudStore'.
It is the second "G-Cloud supplier framework" announced by the Government. The system allows public sector bodies to gain access to services being offered by the listed suppliers over the period of a year. It said that the number of suppliers, 75% of which are small or medium-sized enterprises, had nearly doubled from the number listed in the initial G-Cloud supplier framework that has been in existence since February.
"This second G-Cloud procurement builds on the success of the first," the Cabinet Office said in a statement. "It will continue the transformation in how the public sector buys, manages and delivers IT services, and how suppliers work with government, driving greater efficiency and savings for the taxpayer."
"Since February, public sector organisations have been able to purchase a range of the best IT services off the shelf from the Government’s CloudStore on a 'pay-as-you-go' basis, rather than having to develop their own systems. This model means the government can use what it wants, when it wants it, and save money by avoiding duplication of services that cannot be shared. It avoids the Government being locked into long-term contracts," it added.
Public sector organisations have so far purchased IT services on 99 occasions through the CloudStore, spending more than £2.2 million in total. Of this total, 70% of the money was spent on services offered by SMEs, the Cabinet Office said.
"The high representation of SMEs on both G-Cloud frameworks and in purchases from CloudStore are positive signs that government is moving away from dependence on a small number of large suppliers for IT services," G-Cloud programme director Denise McDonagh said. "It also demonstrates growing support for the G-Cloud concept. We are creating a truly competitive and diverse marketplace that encourages service providers to improve the quality and value of the solutions they offer, reducing the cost to taxpayers and suppliers, who also benefit from the speed and ease of procurement that G-Cloud offers."
The G-Cloud network was set up by the Government to "substantially reduce the cost of communication services across UK Government and enable new, joined-up and shared public services for the benefit of citizens," according to the Cabinet Office.
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Today, Catholics and many other Christians celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This significant feast day recalls the spiritual and physical departure of the mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God.
Venerable Pope Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church when he defined it formally as a dogma of Catholic faith in 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim, “that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
His Apostolic Constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (Most Bountiful God), which defined the dogma,
contained the Pontiff's accounts of many longstanding traditions by which the Church has celebrated the Assumption throughout its history.
The constitution also cited testimonies from the early Church fathers on the subject, and described the history of theological reflection on many Biblical passages which are seen as indicating that Mary was assumed into heaven following her death.
Although the bodily assumption of Mary is not explicitly recorded in Scripture, Catholic tradition identifies her with the “woman clothed with the sun” who is described in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation.
The passage calls that woman's appearance “a great sign” which “appeared in heaven,” indicating that she is the mother of the Jewish Messiah and has “the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Accordingly, Catholic iconography of the Western tradition often depicts the Virgin Mary's assumption into heaven in this manner.
Eastern Christians have also traditionally held Mary's assumption into heaven as an essential component of their faith. Pius XII cited several early Byzantine liturgical texts, as well as the eighth-century Arab Christian theologian St. John of Damascus, in his own authoritative definition of her assumption.
“It was fitting,” St. John of Damascus wrote in a sermon on the assumption, “that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death,” and “that she, who had carried the creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”
In Eastern Christian tradition, the same feast is celebrated on the same calendar date, although typically known as the Dormition (falling asleep) of Mary. Eastern Catholic celebration of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week period of fasting which is similar to Lent. Pius XII, in “Munificentissimus Deus,” mentioned this same fasting period as belonging to the traditional patrimony of Western Christians as well.The feast of the Assumption is always a Holy Day of Obligation for both Roman and Eastern-rite Catholics, on which they are obliged to attend Mass or Divine Liturgy.
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You Have the Right to Remain Silent. Use It
Whether or not you have been arrested before, if you watch any crime shows, you have most likely heard some version of the Miranda warnings. When police arrest an individual, that person must be advised of his or her rights under the U.S. Constitution before they are questioned, including:
- The right to remain silent
- The right not to incriminate yourself
- The right to an attorney of your choosing or as appointed by the court
Choosing to remain silent does not just mean that you do not have to talk to the police. You should not discuss your case with anyone other than your criminal defense attorney. As a former prosecutor in New Hanover County, Patrick Roberts of Roberts Law Group, PLLC, knows that statements made after an arrest can be used against you. Protect yourself and your future by exercising your right to remain silent.
Only Conversations With Your Lawyer Are Confidential
Maybe you are released from jail or if a family member comes to visit, the first thing you will likely be asked is, "What happened?" It is a mistake to talk about your case to anyone, including your family and friends, until after you have spoken with a criminal defense attorney.
The experienced lawyers of Roberts Law Group, PLLC, can advise you of what you should and should not tell others about your criminal case. It may seem harmless to talk to a parent or a girlfriend or boyfriend about what happened, but the law protects only conversations with your lawyer and certain others (such as a spouse) from being discovered by the prosecution and used against you.
Contact Our Wilmington Firm to Meet With an Attorney Today
When you have questions about what you should and should not discuss with friends and family related to criminal charges you face, the criminal defense attorneys of Roberts Law Group, PLLC, can give you answers.
Contact us or call 910-212-5555 to meet with one of our Wilmington criminal defense lawyers today.
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This story was last updated at 3:35 p.m.
Here’s a roundup of how federal agencies, employees and others are managing Hurricane Sandy on social media. We’ll be updating this story throughout the day.
Battle of the Sandy maps: Google’s crisis map of Sandy’s path is getting much more play in the Twittersphere than the National Weather Service’s own collection of Sandy maps. Don’t think of it as a public sector failure, though. Remember, the majority of Google’s underlying map data comes from government satellite information and base maps.
Tips for getting through the storm: Despite staffing shortages, agencies are taking to social media to broadcast their hurricane-related news and services. The Agriculture Department, for instance, is tweeting out food safety tips for before, during and after Sandy hits. The Federal Communications Commission is offering tips on communicating during a natural disaster. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of course, is tweeting a steady stream of shelter and safety tips.
Surge in social media use: In a Monday afternoon conference call with reporters on Hurricane Sandy, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said that most of the storm alerts have gone out via TV and radio, but this time "there's a lot more social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, which could make for a higher degree of awareness that the storm is coming and its likely impact." He said he'd have to see whether that resulted in more people heeding evacuation orders. Fugate was asked if he writes his own Twitter feeds. "Yes, that’s why there’s typos, and we have to delete and redo them," he said.
But social media has its limits: Fugate has long been one of the government’s most prolific tweeters. But he warned in 2011 that citizens’ expectations of social media in a disaster were outpacing what emergency managers were prepared to deliver. A 2010 Red Cross survey, for instance, found more than three out of four respondents would expect help to arrive in less than an hour if they posted to an emergency response agency's Facebook page. The vast majority of emergency responders aren’t set up for that, including FEMA.
Anything for a rest: Feds have taken to Twitter to glory in a day off work, whatever the cause -- well at least those who weren’t already scheduled for telework. Some were confused by the Office of Personnel Management’s directive on federal agencies’ operating status. Others were savoring it and at least one bad apple was thinking about taking advantage of it.
The persistence of politics: Even a major storm, it seems, can’t sate our desire to follow the political horse race. Articles and speculation about Sandy’s effect on the presidential election are everywhere on Twitter. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s statement that he would cut some funding for FEMA during the Republican presidential primaries is getting a lot of play. There’s even a spoof Twitter handle @RomneyStormTips. By Monday afternoon, a heated conflict had developed between @RomneyStormTips and another Twitter parody mocking Romney’s response to Sandy and hurricane preparedness: @MittStormTips. Storms and social media know no party, of course, and President Obama isn’t being spared the Tweeple’s ire or their satire.
Obama sends citizens online: In a webcast speech at 12:45 p.m. President Obama urged citizens to find Sandy updates on FEMA’s hurricane website Ready.gov. “That website should provide you with all the information your family needs in terms of how you can prepare for this storm," the president said. Ready.gov is also tweeting here.
And of course there’s this.
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Incubators are popular with government agencies as a way to boost economic development. Such corporations as Turner Broadcasting [TWX], Volkswagen[VOW], and Panasonic[PC] also create their own incubators as a way to stay close to startups that may be worth investing in, partnering with, or acquiring. Venture capitalist firms such as Kleiner Perkins have partnered with tech incubators to give them better access to startups that may be the next Google[GOOG], Facebook [FB], or Twitter. And academic institutions are among the biggest supporters of incubators to help students get their startups off the ground. Schools sponsored 32 percent of incubators, according to the NBIA.
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Most indigenous Bolivians are poor subsistence farmers. Compassion sponsorship provides necessary tools to end that sad legacy. "Education is the most valuable benefit Rogelio (right) has received in the sponsorship program," claims his mom, Martina (center).
Ruddy-cheeked Rogelio Guarachi stoops to pick potatoes with his mother and sisters among lavender lilacs and yellow wild flowers.
Rogelio's family members are subsistence farmers; his people, the indigenous Aymará have worked the Bolivian highlands for centuries in this manner. Passed down through generations, the livelihood, culture and language of the Aymará the Quechua and other indigenous peoples remain alive and well in Bolivia today.
Yet Rogelio and most indigenous people must contend with another legacy - extreme poverty.
Bolivia's Indigenous Poor: a Tragic Legacy
In Bolivia, which has the largest indigenous majority in Latin America, more than 70 percent of its native peoples live in extreme poverty. That number increases to 85 percent in the rural areas such as the community where eight-year-old Rogelio lives - about 30 miles northwest of Bolivia's capital city, La Paz.
Poverty among native peoples is a result of 500 years of European oppression, cite cultural experts. They also claim language, education and unemployment are the major barriers to economic success for today's native peoples.
Yet Rogelio has one advantage to help break down these barriers that his ancestors didn't have - his attendance at a Compassion project.
Speaking the Language of Success
More than half of the over 31,000 children registered with Compassion Bolivia are indigenous. Many of their families struggle to speak Spanish, Bolivia's official language. Native people who do not speak the language have great difficulty obtaining an education and finding employment.
"The Aymará Quechua and Guaranì °eople think and dream in their own cultures and language," says Mario Vasquez, Compassion Bolivia's Country Director. To support themselves successfully, "they must learn to listen and write in Spanish."
That's why at the Pucarani Student Center (BO-108), where Rogelio attends, project workers speak in Spanish and native languages so the children can become bilingual. The project staff workers also use music, theater and puppetry to teach the Word of God.
Compassion's bilingual instruction is a source of joy for Rogelio's grateful mother, Martina Salaz. "When he began attending the Pucarani Student Center, he couldn't understand Spanish or the Word of God," Martina says of her son. "Now he's able to understand just about everything."
"I love to read the Word of God," Rogelio adds. "I especially like to read the book of Daniel."
Compassionate Intervention Inspires Hope
Martina, her husband and six children, including little Rogelio, endure a harsh livelihood, farming the rocky, barren Andean plains. On a good week, Martina and her husband earn 80 bolivianos (about U.S.$10) selling cheese and potatoes in the market. It's not enough to keep the family fed and clothed.
"Without the sponsorship support, it would be difficult for us to get by," Martina says. But sponsorship has given Rogelio more than an economic boost.
"Education is the most valuable benefit (Rogelio) has received in the sponsorship program," Martina adds. "We live in extreme poverty and I hope he can change that for all of us one day!"
Building a New Ancestral Legacy
"Some day I'd like to become a math teacher," Rogelio says, smiling.
Encouraged by letters, Bible verses and family photos he receives from his American sponsors, Rogelio knows now that he can overcome his impoverished ancestral legacy.
What did you like about this story?
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Hike to the top of the Slieve League/Sliabh Liag cliffs, on the south west coast of County Donegal, to enjoy some of the highest and finest marine cliffs in Europe. There are terrific views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Sligo Mountains and Donegal Bay.
Slieve League Cliffs (or Sliabh Liag in Gaelic), situated on the south west coast of County Donegal, are said to be the one of the highest and finest marine cliffs in Europe. To fully enjoy the spectacle of Sliabh League it is best to leave your car at the car park and walk the few miles to the cliffs so as not to miss the exciting scenery of the area.
There are terrific views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Sligo Mountains and Donegal Bay as you walk towards the terrifyingly high top of Sliabh League, where the cliff face of Bunglas rises over 600m above the raging ocean. Experienced walkers only should venture beyond the viewing point onto One Man's Pass which loops around onto the Pilgrim's Path.
This is a sacred mountain, for over a thousand years there was a Christian pilgrimage, no doubt Sliabh League was a sacred mountain before the Christians arrived here. You should remember this when visiting, so please do not disturb these monuments of Irish cultural heritage. There's much to know about Sliabh League, like the monks who went to Iceland or the eagle and the baby. To learn more visit the award winning Slieve League Cliffs Centre which is all about local culture, food and crafts served with a real warm Donegal welcome and sense of humour.
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A legacy of stewardship.
When we were entrusted with the development of Del Sur, the final phase of Black Mountain Ranch, we knew we had a very important task at hand—the creation of one of the last communities in central San Diego. We wanted to take inspiration from the best of San Diego’s past including the historic neighborhoods of Mission Hills, Kensington, La Jolla and Coronado that have charmed generations of San Diegans with their architectural diversity and pedestrian nature. Del Sur has translated these aspects into a new community of distinct neighborhoods and created a community that looks boldly to the future while maintaining a respect for the environment.
A community of neighborhoods.
Homes are designed for people first, with details like varied architectural elevations, entrances and front porches encouraging interaction with
neighbors. Almost every home is within walking distance of the six existing community parks—five of which feature solar heated pools.
Incorporating the natural.
The natural typography plays a dominant role in community design. Over 1,000 acres have been preserved as open space with an additional 4,000 acres of the adjacent Black Mountain Preserve. Over 18 miles of trails will connect the community, allowing residents to walk and bike to schools and recreation destinations.
Our commitment to conservation began with the very first building at Del Sur—the Ranch House. Built using local and recycled materials, the Ranch House is one of the most eco-friendly buildings in the country, earning the first Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in San Diego for new construction from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2007.
Excellence in education.
We understand that quality of schools is one of the top priorities for homebuyers. Del Sur Elementary, Oak Valley Middle and Del Norte High School are top rated schools in the highly acclaimed Poway School District.
Looking to the future.
Del Sur will continue to grow, keeping faithful to her original goals. In the future look forward to:
- A total of 13 neighborhood parks
- A future school
- Over 2,500 families will call Del Sur home
A Village Center will contribute to the pedestrian nature of the community, offering a Main Street and a mixed-use center with retail on the ground level and residential above.
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There are two teachers and three students inside a three-room house trailer parked in the shadow of Dopey Drive at the Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. -- hardly an educational quorum, under normal circumstances. The situation, however, is decidedly out of the ordinary, because the pupils in the well-appointed mobile home classroom are the juvenile stars of the popular television comdey series "Home Improvement."
"Do we have to do school now?" whines Zachery Ty Bryan, 12 years old, who portrays Brad, the eldest son. "I don't want to do these stupid lessons." Steve Elster ignores Zachery's lament and plunges into a lecture on how amino acids contribute to hereditary cell defects. As a studio teacher, Mr. Elster is one of a cadre of professional hybrids on whom children like Zachery depend. In order to do their jobs well, Mr. Elster and his co-teacher, Daphne Boelsma, must be by turns tutors, friends, therapists, protectors and surrogate parents for their young charges.
While California minors toil making commercials, acting in television shows or movies, those who haven't graduated from high school must go to school three hours a day, 15 hours a week. Although all states require a minimum number of hours of instruction for children working in the entertainment industry, only California law specified that even when a child's educational needs have been met, a state-certified studio teacher must be present on the set, serving as guardian of his or her health and safety, even during summer vacations.
With children so prevalent in movies and television the last few years, studio teachers have not been faced with the intermittent unemployment that plagued them in the past. Hired by production companies from a roster maintained by the teachers' union, they earn more than public school employees when they do work -- though considerably less than their students do.
Children who work have to be registered in accredited school, and the curriculum covered by their studio teacher is determined by their school of record. Students with continuing jobs, such as roles on television series, sometimes don't actually visit the schools at which they are nominally enrolled; they are often in independent study programs, which were developed for pregnant students trying to keep up with their lessons while out of school. Rare Visits to 'Regular School'
Zachery, a sixth grader, and his two television brothers call their home schools "regular school," an apt term since studio schooling is predictably irregular. Some children study with a studio teacher only a few days a year while appearing in commercials, while others spend several months making a movie or miniseries. And since many situation comedies schedule a break one week each month, the youngsters in their casts can return to their home schools periodically.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, 12, a sixth grader who plays Randy, the middle son in 'Home Improvement," says: "A lot of kids at my regular school don't understand. They go, 'Oh, you're so lucky. You don't have to go to school.' It's not like that. We do the same exact work that the public schools do, but sometimes it's more difficult because we have to do it in a shorter amount of time."
Studio teachers maintain contact with their students' home-school teachers, getting copies of texts used and tests given. In many cases, they fax or mail work done on the set to the classroom teacher. For a junior high or high school student, they will keep track of work assigned by as many as six different teachers.
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In the Chicago Sun-Times, music critic Jim DeRogatis offers an answer. He begins with the early years of the Grammy Awards in the late 50s and explains how they evolved into what they are today. As he notes, the Grammys weren't always an orgy of commercial radio hits.
Established in 1958 as a reaction by conservative music-industry veterans such as Frank Sinatra and "Sing Along With" Mitch Miller to that raucous new scourge of rock 'n' roll, the Grammys have been wildly erratic ever since in fulfilling their stated mission "to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position."Back in the day, mainstream successes like the Beatles and Bob Dylan gained scant attention from the Grammys. But that eventually changed:
Then the awards spent much of the '80s and early '90s trying to make things up to overlooked innovators -- showering accolades on Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few -- while subsequently slighting current developments such as punk, hip-hop and electronic dance music.After this strange "looking back" period, the Grammys takes a turn for the better, argues DeRogatis:
In the late '90s, things seemed to improve, helped by an influx of younger members. (The awards are chosen by 16,000 professionals, ranging from music teachers to recording engineers, and from studio musicians to chart-topping superstars.)
And finally, that brings us to today, a period where the most celebrated musicians are the ones with the most star power. DeRogatis for one, isn't happy:
This year's roster of nominees is evidence the Academy is backsliding, reverting to honoring familiar names, commercial accomplishments and major-label hypes rather than independent innovators, and steadfastly refusing to change with the times -- or even acknowledge them.
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TRC - Technology Resource Center
Renton Technical College opened the doors to the Technology Resource Center in May 2003. This facility was built to help bridge the gap in technology and become the home to the College's library, open computer lab, media lab and auditorium. This community resource has the capability to provide invaluable technology tools to individuals, businesses, workers needing retraining, community members, and students seeking basic workforce skills.
This $13.9 million project was a public/private partnership. The College received more than $12 million in State and Federal funds to build the facility. RTC raised $825,000 in donations from various businesses and people in the community, making it the largest campaign in the history of Renton Technical College. Recently a donor wall was placed in the Technology Resource Center to honor those businesses and people who have made generous contributions to the campaign. See pictures from the unveiling of the donor wall.
The campaign attracted leadership gifts that are among the largest in RTC history. They include $250,000 from First Savings Bank of Renton in honor of Harry Blencoe to name the Blencoe Auditorium, $125,000 from the RTC Board and Campaign Leadership Team, $100,000 from IKEA in memory of Shannon Parker to name the Shannon Parker Media Room, $50,000 from both The Boeing Company and the Rotary Club of Renton, more than $42,000 by RTC Alumni @ Microsoft Corp. and numerous Renton Technical College Employees have come together to give nearly $40,000. Two of Renton 's best known companies, McLendon Hardware and PACCAR, each made gifts of $25,000. See pictures of the Technology Resource Center.
Renton Technical College would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who
helped lead this successful campaign!
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OHSU Global Health Center
Globalization has spurred explosions in trade, investment and migration and produced a complex set of health challenges for the world’s populations. Treatable and preventable diseases are devastating developing nations, chronic illnesses are on the rise, and infectious diseases are rapidly re-emerging.
Meanwhile in Oregon we are welcoming a growing number of immigrants and refugee groups from countries around the world. In the process, our local health care professionals are being presented with new and, until recently, rare health conditions and sociocultural dynamics. Meeting these challenges at home and abroad will require professionals endowed with new skills and novel perspectives. In our profoundly interconnected and fragile world, everyone’s health will depend upon their ability to think globally — wherever they practice.
Such issues were recognized and articulated by the students who coalesced around promoting global health awareness. Ultimately the interest and enthusiasm engendered by the students’ activity in collaboration with faculty and staff from various OHSU institutes culminated in the founding of an interdisciplinary OHSU Global Health Center – to facilitate global health education, research, practice and advocacy across OHSU, and to promote quality and equity in health care.
Today the Center has a small footprint at home. With your help, it can have a big impact across the globe.
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Green Infrastructure Planning in the Hudson Valley
Using Green Infrastructure to Manage Stormwater
Like many waterbodies in New York, those in the Hudson Valley are affected by various forms of pollution, including pollutants carried by stormwater runoff. Left untreated, runoff carries pollutants into lakes, rivers, and streams where people swim, fish, play, and draw drinking water. Stormwater that flows into sewer systems can overwhelm the sewer and cause a sewer overflow, sending untreated waste into nearby waterbodies. Stormwater can also intensify local flooding problems, contributing to runoff and erosion issues and causing property damage.
The vegetated swale in the parking lot of Roeliff Jansen
Community Library in Hillsdale is an example of green
infrastructure, which can help capture and absorb stormwater.
Image courtesy of HVRC
Green infrastructure (GI) can help manage stormwater by using techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs, vegetated swales, bioretention areas, rain barrels, and pervious pavement to reduce runoff, water pollution, sewer overflows and flooding. Green infrastructure practices can be less expensive than building or expanding traditional stormwater and sewage treatment systems to handle runoff. They also have a number of secondary benefits not associated with traditional treatment methods, including aesthetic improvements, cleaner air, energy savings, urban cooling, and climate change mitigation.
In 2009, the Hudson Valley Regional Council (HVRC) received a $285,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or Stimulus) grant from DEC to develop a green infrastructure planning program in the Hudson Valley region.
Currently, some communities in the HVRC region have stormwater-related problems such as sewer overflows, flooding, and phosphorus pollution. The intent of this project was to help address these problems by:
- helping local stakeholders -- including municipal leaders, local decision-makers, consultants, planners, property owners, design professionals, developers, and other people interested in stormwater management -- understand, plan for, implement, and maintain GI practices; and
- developing an expanded inventory of potential GI projects and sites in participating municipalities.
Building community support for GI practices, along with identifying potential GI sites and developing conceptual project plans, will allow implementation of GI practices designed to capture stormwater runoff to move forward more rapidly when funding becomes available.
The top half of the image above shows an existing parking lot in
Beacon, NY. The bottom half shows how the site could look with
GI practices installed, including a bioretention garden, pervious
pavement, and a tree planting. These photos are from the
"Beacon-Fishkill Green Infrastructure Concept Plans,"
available on HVRC's website.
HVRC finished work on this project in December, 2011. To develop the skills, understanding, and experience of regional stakeholders, HVRC developed green infrastructure training materials, held training sessions, and organized outreach meetings. HVRC also completed conceptual GI plans which focus on practices that could be used for runoff reduction, stormwater management, and water quality protection and restoration.
To support and promote the project in the HVRC region, HVRC held a series of public meetings, identifying and organizing stakeholders in each community, and providing training to local municipal staff, consultants and volunteers. They formed stakeholder committees in the communities of Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Pawling, Newburgh, Beacon, Fishkill, Warwick, Greenwood Lake, and Yonkers to plan green infrastructure projects. Working with the stakeholder committees, HVRC identified more than 70 potential green infrastructure projects in these areas and drafted concept plans for each.
To identify potential green infrastructure projects in each community, HVRC used an inventory form to collect information about soil type, topography, location, vegetation, and impervious surfaces at each site. The project also included training for municipal officials on using LIDRA (Low Impact Development Rapid Assessment), a modeling tool that estimates runoff reductions from different combinations of green infrastructure techniques and helps identify the most cost effective projects.
HVRC also developed a Green Infrastructure Planning website to share educational and technical support materials. The website also includes training and outreach materials that were used by the project team to develop regional knowledge and support, along with links to other useful GI resources. A direct link to the Hudson Valley Region Green Infrastructure Planning website is in the "Links Leaving DEC's Website" section of the right-hand column of this page.
A rain garden, which helps capture rooftop runoff at the Ulster
County Department of the Environment in Kingston, was based on
one of the GI concept plans created for this project. This photo is
from the "Kingston Green Infrastructure Concept Plans,"
available on HVRC's website.
Many of the conceptual plans developed with this funding have already been used in seeking grant funding for further planning and construction. Several GI projects have moved forward or have been implemented as a result of this project. Some specific examples are listed in the final progress report.
Reports containing the conceptual GI plans that were developed for each of the regions are available on the Green Infrastructure section of HVRC's website, or copies may be requested by contacting HVRC.
Final Progress Report
When each ARRA 604(b) project is complete, DEC requires a final report summarizing the entire project to be submitted. The report includes a description of the project's goals, work accomplished, and final project outcomes.
To view the final progress report for this project, click the following link:
Regional Demographic Information
The seven-county HVRC planning region is located in the lower Hudson Valley and includes the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. The seven counties encompass over 4,700 square miles and approximately 2.2 million residents.
3 Washington Center, 2nd Floor, Newburgh, NY 12250
845-564-4075, email@example.com, www.hudsonvalleyregionalcouncil.com
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You can't maximize weight loss and fitness at the same time. This is a proven fact.
The fastest way to lose weight is on a medically-supervised very low-calorie diet (VLCD). On a VLCD, patients consume 800 calories per day, which is the minimum amount of energy the average person can take in without damaging his or her health.
It is possible to do some light exercise on a VLCD, but as you can imagine, you can't exactly train for a marathon.
Weight Loss vs. Fitness
That's an extreme example, but there are less extreme examples that also show you can't maximize weight loss and fitness at the same time.
For example, in 2009 researchers from Southern Connecticut State University separated 34 cyclists into three groups. One group added sprint intervals to their training. A second group went on a weight-loss diet. A third group did both. The researchers who conducted the study were interested in comparing the effects of these three interventions on the cyclists' power-to-weight ratio, which is one of the best predictors of race performance capacity on a bike.
The results were interesting. It turned out that the power-to-weight ratio improved in the group that did sprint intervals without dieting and in the group that dieted without doing sprint intervals, but it did not improve in the group that did both.
Why? The authors of the study speculated that the reduced calorie intake of the weight-loss diet prevented these cyclists from gaining any power from the sprint intervals.
Importance of Fueling
The lesson is this: When you're training for a marathon or other important race, you need to fuel your body for maximum performance in workouts and maximum recovery between workouts. This approach to nutrition during the training process will necessarily limit the amount of weight you lose.
Most runners lose some weight when training and eating appropriately for an important race, and some runners even lose a lot of weight. But you can't expect to lose as much weight as you would if weight loss were your highest priority, rather than maximum fitness.
A Time for Everything
There is a time to make weight loss your highest priority, but it's not while you're focused on an upcoming race. The best time to pursue faster weight loss is right before you start formally training for a big race. I call this short period of emphasis on weight loss a quick start.
I recommend quick starts for all runners who are more than five pounds above their optimal racing weight when they're getting ready to start training for a big race. Focusing on weight loss for 4-8 weeks before the race-training process formally begins will enable most runners to reach their ideal racing weight in time for their race without having to compromise their fueling (hence their fitness) during the training process.
Your diet and training within a quick start should differ from your diet and training during the training process in five key ways:
1. Moderate Calorie Deficit
During a quick start you should aim to consume 300-500 fewer calories per day than your body would need to maintain its current weight. This deficit is sufficient to yield fairly quick weight loss, but would be too large within the race-focused training process, when you need your diet to support heavy training for an upcoming race.
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Trail around the Sea of Galilee
Much progress has been made on the 40-mile trail encircling the Sea of Galilee, reports Miriam Feinberg Vamosh in Haaretz:
Now, about 45 of the trail’s 60 kilometers (28 out of 38 miles) are cleared, and the path is returning the lakeshore to a natural treasure open to all. You don't have to be a seasoned hiker to enjoy a walk on the Kinneret Trail; just follow the markers – a purple stripe between two white ones, guiding you through the lake's premier natural, historical and religious attractions.
The trail is divided into seven segments, allowing a casual trekker to meander one segment for an easy walk and a more adventurous hiker to combine several into a full day's outing. Part of the trail has been paved, and information and directional signs are on hand to guide you from site to site.
One segment that will appeal to heritage buffs and pilgrims is the two-hour walk from Capernaum National Park on the Kinneret’s north shore to the inlet of the Jordan River, a bird-watcher’s paradise. It takes in the little-known Greek Orthodox Church of the Apostles with its trademark red domes, and continues to the Ayish Ruins, where the very first lakeside cottage may have been built back in the second millennium BCE.
The full article is here. I agree that the northern shore is the most interesting for hikers.
Sea of Galilee from the west (photo source)
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Christ Notes > Bible Commentary > John Darby’s Synopsis > Titus > Titus 2
Life Lessons: Books of 1 & 2 Timothy, & Titus
By Max Lucado
"Sound doctrine" takes account of all this, and, in its warnings and exhortations, maintains all these proprieties. This is the instruction which the apostle here gives to Titus, with regard to aged men, aged women, young women (relatively to their husbands, their children, and their whole life, which should be domestic and modest); young men, to whom Titus was to be always a pattern; slaves, with their masters; and then the duties of all towards magistrates, and indeed towards all men. But, before taking up this last point, he establishes the great principles which are the foundation of the conduct of the saints amongst themselves in this world. Their conduct towards magistrates and the world has a different motive.
The conduct of Christians as such, in the assembly has for its basis and motive the special doctrines of Christianity. We find these doctrines and motives in chapter 2:11-15, which speaks of that conduct.
Chapter 2:11-15 contains a remarkable summary of Christianity, not exactly of its dogmas, but as a practical reality for men. Grace has appeared. It has appeared, not limited to a particular people, but to all men; not charged with temporal promises and blessings but bringing salvation. It comes from God to men with salvation. It does not expect righteousness from men, it brings salvation to those that need it. Precious and simple truth, which makes us know God, which puts us in our place, but according to the grace which as overleaped every barrier in order to address itself, in the sovereign goodness of God, to every man on the earth!
Having brought this salvation, it instructs us perfectly with regard to our walk in this world; and that in relation to ourselves, and to other men, and to God. Renouncing all ungodliness, and all lusts that find their gratification in this world, we are to bridle the will of the flesh in every respect and to live soberly; we are to acknowledge the claims of others and to live righteously; we are to won the rights of God over our hearts and to exercise godliness.
But our future also is enlightened by grace. It teaches us to wait for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Grace has appeared. It teaches us how to walk here below, and to expect the appearing of the glory in the Person of Jesus Christ Himself. And our hope is well founded. Christ is justly precious to us. We can have full confidence of heart in thinking of His appearing in glory, as well as the most powerful motive for a life devoted to His glory. He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify for Himself a people who would belong to Him in His own right and be zealous-according to His will and His nature-of good works.
This is what Christianity is. It has provided for all, the past, the present, and the future, according to God. It delivers us from this world, making of us a people set apart for Christ Himself, according to the love in which He gave Himself for us. It is purification, but a purification which consecrates us to Christ. We belong to Him as His peculiar portion, His possession in the world; animated with the love that is in Him, in order to do good to others and bear testimony to His grace. This is a precious testimony to that which Christianity is, in its practical reality, as the work of the grace of God.
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Are You Brainwashed? Seven Principles for Free Government
By John W. Whitehead
Brainwashed in our childhood
Brainwashed by the school…
Brainwashing us in Washington…
Brainwashed by the media…
Brainwashed by computer
Brainwashed by mobile phones
Brainwashed by the satellite
Brainwashed to the bone.
—George Harrison, “Brainwashed”
Precisely because Americans are easily distracted—because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights—and because the nation’s schools have ceased teaching the fundamentals of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer toward authoritarianism. This is taking place with little more than a whimper from an increasingly compliant populace that, intentionally or not, has allowed itself to be brainwashed into trusting their politicians.
If the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds.
The following seven principles—ones that every American should know—undergird the American system of government and form the basis for the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for. They are a good starting point for understanding what free government is really all about.
First, the maxim that power corrupts is an absolute truth. Realizing this, those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights held one principle sacrosanct: a distrust of all who hold governmental power. As James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, proclaimed, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Moreover, in questions of power, Thomas Jefferson warned, “Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
The second principle (one that has largely been turned on its head over the past several decades) is that governments primarily exist to secure rights, an idea that is central to constitutionalism. In appointing the government as the guardian of the people’s rights, the people give it only certain, enumerated powers, which are laid out in a written constitution. The idea of a written constitution actualizes the two great themes of the Declaration of Independence: consent and protection of equal rights. Thus, the purpose of constitutionalism is to limit governmental power and ensure that the government performs its basic function: to preserve and protect our rights, especially our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and our civil liberties.
The third principle revolves around the belief that no one is above the law, not even those who make the law. This is termed rule of law. Richard Nixon’s statement, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal,” would have been an anathema to the Framers of the Constitution. If all people possess equal rights, the people who live under the laws must be allowed to participate in making those laws. By that same token, those who make the laws must live under the laws they make.
Separation of powers ensures that no single authority is entrusted with all the powers of government. People are not perfect, whether they are in government or out of it. As history makes clear, those in power tend to abuse it. The government is thus divided into three co-equal branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Placing all three powers in the same branch of government was considered the very definition of tyranny.
A system of checks and balances, essential if a constitutional government is to succeed, strengthens the separation of powers and prevents legislative despotism. Such checks and balances include dividing Congress into two houses, with different constituencies, term lengths, sizes and functions; granting the president a limited veto power over congressional legislation; and appointing an independent judiciary capable of reviewing ordinary legislation in light of the written Constitution, which is referred to as “judicial review.” The Framers feared that Congress could abuse its powers and potentially emerge as the tyrannous branch because it had the power to tax. But they did not anticipate the emergence of presidential powers as they have come to dominate modern government or the inordinate influence of corporate powers on governmental decision-making.
Representation allows the people to have a voice in government by sending elected representatives to do their bidding while avoiding the need of each and every citizen to vote on every issue considered by government. In a country as large as the United States, it is not feasible to have direct participation in governmental affairs. Hence, we have a representative government. If the people don’t agree with how their representatives are conducting themselves, they can and should vote them out.
Federalism is yet another constitutional device to limit the power of government by dividing power and, thus, preventing tyranny. In America, the levels of government generally break down into federal, state and local branches (which further divide into counties and towns or cities). Because local and particular interests differ from place to place, such interests are better handled at a more intimate level by local governments, not a bureaucratic national government. Remarking on the benefits of the American tradition of local self-government in the 1830s, the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville observed:
Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people’s reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty.
These seven vital principles have been largely forgotten in recent years, obscured by the haze of a centralized government, a citizenry that no longer thinks analytically, and schools that don’t adequately teach our young people about their history and their rights. Yet here’s the rub: while Americans wander about oblivious in their brainwashed states, their “government of the people, by the people and for the people” is being taken away from them.
The answer: get un-brainwashed. Learn your rights. Stand up for the founding principles. Make your voice and your vote count. If need be, vociferously protest the erosion of your freedoms at the local and national level. Most of all, do these things today. Tomorrow will most likely be too late.
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Songkran chills summer sizzles
BANGKOK, 20 March 2012: As temperatures soar to the mid-30s, it is a reminder that the fun-filled nationwide Songkran Festival is just around the corner with an opportunity to chill out literally.
This year, the official holidays runs from 13 to 15 April, which falls on a weekend, but the festival holiday will get under way in some places as early as 9 April and continue to 24 April, depending on the location in the country.
During the annual festival, children and adults throw water at each other from sunrise to sunset. The activity looks like a war zone, as truck loads of revelers roam the streets armed with water pistols and even fire hoses to wash down their neighbours. These tit for tat battle are fun, if you are dressed for the occasion and need a bucket of ice cold water thrown over you to cool down in the sizzling summer heat.
Songkran is the traditional new year celebration when Thai people head home to spend time with their families to anoint elders with a tiny drop of blessed water in an act of respect.
They will also bathe Buddha images and attend ceremonies at temples. Inside the temple cloisters the atmosphere is quiet and the sprinkling of water has a significance that goes back centuries.
In decades gone past most of the festivities were focused on the temple and surrounding grounds. Children would throw water at each other during the day and in the evening temple fairs would open selling snacks and offering fun fair rides.
From the safety of the temple grounds the water throwing routine in this annual holiday has expanded to include all the roads and byways and anyone walking or riding a motor cycle is a target for a generous soaking.
Northern destinations are the most popular with Songkran holiday makers. Chiang Mai is famous for its Songkran festivities, while in Bangkok Wat Po is the centre for a traditional celebration with respectful sprinkling of blessed water and other religious ceremonies. Khao San road is probably the most boisterous venue to celebrate the event where tourists and local mingles to see who can get survive the soaking that eventually over flows the drains and floods the street.
Pattaya celebrates the festival one week after the rest of the country and that is a scene to behold such is the enthusiasm of the water brigade.
Tourism Authority of Thailand gathers all the festival options and information at http://songkran.tourismthailand.org where you can also find related information on the history of the festival itself.
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Today, Aliyu Musa has the platform. He was my colleague at Daily Trust, but now teaches at a UK university.
“Journalism without check is like a human body without an immune system. If the primary purpose of journalism is to tell the truth, then it follows that the primary function of journalists must be to check and to reject whatever is not true, ” Nick Davies.
Once upon a time journalism was considered a thankless profession due to reasons like poor remuneration, exposure to hazards (including threat to life) and not having the right equipment to work. The newsroom situation was always very complex – stories went through several tunnels, manually, before finally being certified fit for public consumption. In place of the user-friendly desktops, laptops and ipads, now commonly used, were click-click typewriters.
And, unlike now that a reporter could easily research a story by the click of a mouse, then it often took extra efforts to tear through the archives or to explore other means. A reporter could today get a piece of writing/report across to a reviewing editor by either saving on shared network or emailing directly almost effortlessly. An editor could double check a report in various ways including using the internet or making phone calls that come with much less labour too. And if happy with it, he could forward it to the production staff without moving a step from his seat. It’s a world of technology and things are very simplified.
But like everything that has its pluses, technology has also immensely played a role in rendering the profession highly vulnerable. It has made it easier for anyone anywhere to claim to be and act as a journalist. It provides a platform for falsehood to be mischievously peddled with grave consequences. Much worse, it allows for untruth to be circulated around the globe at supersonic speeds, leaving little chance to check and reject it. Journalism today, as Davies has suggested, lacks an immune system and is therefore at the mercy of imposters and rumour mongers.
One strand that appears guilty is citizen journalism. It is roughly defined as when an amateur journalist publishes news reports/stories on a blog or community website. But I add here that it is a situation in which someone devoid of even the basic knowledge of journalism takes advantage of the handiness of new technology – internet, mobile phone – to circulate rumours, falsehood and complete crap in the name of news as we see in many, though not all cases. The trouble with this form of journalism is that it clearly misinforms, misleads and has the potential to ignite or amplify crisis.
But a far bigger danger is that Citizen Journalism enunciates immersion in the story, which might explain why some mainstream media do not have any problem with being one-sided or nakedly biased. This might also explain why some media organisations are proudly flaunting their links to a side as opposed to the other and see no fault in that, in spite of professional ethics.
This largely determines the future of journalism as objectivity is increasingly giving way to partiality. Ray Jaysen aptly describes objectivity as: “…the value of fairness, which is extremely important. It’s the ethic of restraining your own biases, which is also important…It’s the idea that journalism can’t be the voice of any particular party or sect.”
When journalists openly display loyalty to one side, it means one of the last bastions of the ordinary people; the downtrodden is lost. Tales of horrific events in which the media actively fanned the embers of hate or turned a blind eye in the face of injustice against a side considered an adversary abound in our recent history. The case of Rwanda where a newspaper, Kangura, was used to fuel the genocide against the Tutsi minority by continuously referring to them as Nyenzi (Cockroaches) is one of such.
In Nigeria a similar trend is the recent allegation by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), South-East chapter that there’s a plan to poison the Suya (grilled steak meat) sold to people in the South of the country. Right Reverend Dr Emmanuel Chukwuma who spoke on behalf of the South-east CAN claimed the group, Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lid-da’awati wal-Jihad otherwise known as Boko Haram plans to “sprinkle powdered substances on Suya meat before selling it to unsuspecting consumers who would subsequently die of liver related ailment”.
The bombings going on in some parts of the North are totally senseless. Attacks on Churches are completely despicable. But to condescend to this campaign of hate against certain people is, to say the least, antithetical to the Right Reverend Chukwuma’s calling.
Just like the Tutsis were demonised as Nyenzi, this claim stereotypically presents the innocent Northerners going about their lawful businesses in the South-east as potential killers and, therefore, deserving of pre-emptive attacks. The claim justifies potential attacks on Suya sellers who are normally Northerners and anyone that is linked to the North. The logic in this call for blood might be better understood if recent reprisal killings in Jos and Kaduna are used as valid references.
However, what is most disgusting is the willingness of some media to consent to being used as a podium for unsubstantiated claims of this nature to be displayed and sold to hapless readers/audience. For instance, while the web went nuts over the allegation as soon as it was made, it was the Tribune of 19 June 2012 that totally took one aback. A serious reporter should be able to ask salient questions like, if the usual Boko Haram strategy is the use of direct violence, why would they resort to a less effective use of poisonous powdery substances?
If their targets are Christians and Southerners, how would they easily differentiate a Northern Muslim that has lived his entire life in the South, speaks with a Southern accent and dresses like a Southerner from the actual Southerner, Christian or even Southern Muslim? If, indeed, they plan to eliminate only Christians and Southerners as claimed by the reverend gentleman and reported by Tribune and others, how do they intend to prepare and sell the poisoned Suya that is meant for their potential victims and the safe one for the ‘favoured ones’ without being found out? And a credible editor should be able to find answers to these and other questions before going ahead to approve the report for publication. But the media that published the allegation without verification or balance were reckless enough to throw Jaysen’s wise counsel to the wind and act as the “voice of a particular party or sect”. This is the sort of journalism that compounds our problems and must be rejected by all.
Aliyu Musa, PhD.
Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies
Liverpool Hope University
Hope Park, Liverpool
L16 9JD, UK
Filed Under: Zainab Suleiman Okino
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NASA | JPL-Caltech | Cassini Solstice Mission | CICLOPS
It’s been nearly two years since NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has had views like these of Saturn’s glorious rings.
These views are possible again because Cassini has changed the angle at which it orbits Saturn and regularly passes above and below Saturn’s equatorial plane. Steeply inclined orbits around the Saturn system also allow scientists to get better views of the poles and atmosphere of Saturn and its moons.
Cassini’s recent return of ring images has started to pay off. A group of scientists has restarted the team’s studies of propeller-shaped gaps. These gaps are cleared out by objects that are smaller than known moons but larger than typical ring particles.
Cassini scientists haven’t seen propellers in two years. Matt Tiscareno, a Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and colleagues have been following these objects for several years. Because some of the propellers are exactly where models predicted they would be, scientists believe they are seeing some old friends again.
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The Freshman $1000: How To Help Your College Student With Credit Card Debt
Instead of gaining the infamous freshman 15 of extra pounds, your student has fallen prey to the Freshman $1000 by quickly running up credit card charges soon after arriving on campus. But unlike other mistakes that your student is bound to make, getting into debt and missing payments can affect his future for years to come. And because of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, unless your student has significant income, you most likely are a co-signer on your college student's credit card and their debt can directly impact your credit as well.
"Unfortunately, financial disasters are not like broken bones that can quickly heal. Credit mistakes that young people make have a way of hanging out for a very long time and on-the-job training in the world of credit debt can be very painful," says John Ulzheimer, President of Consumer Education for SmartCredit.com.
Once you realize that your college student may be getting into credit card debt or affecting her credit score with missed payments, here are three steps you can take to get your student on the right track.
1. Have an honest conversation with your student
If at all possible, sit down with your student in person, but the phone or video chat will work as well. Approach the conversation non-judgmentally with the goal of helping your child and try to leave your frustration with the situation at the door.It may be helpful to open the conversation by sharing about a time when you made a poor financial decision so that your college student realizes that you have been in her shoes before. Ask your child to tell you how she got into debt and actively listen to her response. Look together at the credit card bills to get a clear picture of where she is currently is and what decisions helped create the credit card debt.
2. Help your student make a plan for paying off the debtOne solution is for your college student to earn extra money working part-time to pay off the debt and map out a payment plan to get the bills paid off as quickly as possible. However, if your student is taking a full load of classes, this may take many years or cause their schoolwork to suffer because of working long hours on the job. And if they miss a payment, it can significantly impact your credit and you are a cosigner, as well.
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Apr. 16, 1997 During the weeks immediately following delivery of a baby, new mothers are at increased risk of strokes, a University of Maryland School of Medicine neurology professor told the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Boston this week.
Speaking on stroke prevention in the `90s, Dr. Steven Kittner, associate professor of neurology at the medical school in Baltimore, presented data from observational studies indicating a 28-fold increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage and a nine-fold increase in risk of cerebral infarction in women during the six weeks after delivery.
Pregnancy itself is associated with no increased risk of cerebral infarction and only a modestly increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage, Kittner said.
Oral contraceptives seem to cause a dose-associated increased risk of stroke, said Kittner. "Current research supports the accepted practice of restricting the use of oral contraceptives in women who smoke cigarettes, have a history of hypertension or other risk factors for vascular disease," he said.
The relationship between postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy and stroke remains less clear, the neurologist said. One large study showed a significantly increased risk of stroke both among women taking estrogen alone and those taking combination hormone replacement therapy of estrogen and progestin. But another study showed a significantly reduced risk of stroke in women taking combination hormone replacement therapy.
Several large clinical trials now under way should provide more definitive data, but for now, "there still are only two well established indications for hormone replacement therapy, relief of menopausal symptoms and prevention of osteoporosis," Kittner said. "Many uncertainties persist regarding the risk of combined estrogen-progestin therapy, and the risks/benefits need to be weighed in each individual case.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Maryland at Baltimore.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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If there were a Mt. Rushmore for guitar amps, the Vox AC models would definitely be carved in stone. The AC15 and AC30 models (Named for their respective wattages) were the sound of the British Invasion; In fact, The Beatles were contractually obliged to use Vox amps onstage exclusively. The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and, later, Brian May, the Edge, Rory Gallagher, Mike Campbell, and Pete Townsend, all made good use of the Class-A AC30's signature growl and jangle. Every studio has one (or needs one).
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As the U.S. economy continues to struggle for the third year, findings from the 2010 Stress in America survey paint a picture of an overstressed nation. Feeling the effects of prolonged financial and other recession-related difficulties, Americans are struggling to balance work and home life and make time to engage in healthy behaviors, with stress not only taking a toll on their personal physical health, but also affecting the emotional and physical well-being of their families.
Children and adults alike who are obese or overweight are more likely to feel stress, and overweight children are more likely to report that their parents were often or always stressed over the past month. Children, regardless of weight or age, say they can tell that their parents are stressed when they argue and complain, which many children say makes them feel sad and worried. Parents, however, are not fully realizing the impact their own stress is having on their children.
In general, Americans recognize that their stress levels remain high and exceed what they consider to be healthy. Adults seem to understand the importance of healthy behaviors like managing their stress levels, eating right, getting enough sleep and exercise, but they report experiencing challenges practicing these healthy behaviors. They report being too busy as a primary barrier preventing them from better managing their stress, and a lack of motivation, energy and time as the chief reasons for not being more physically active. In 2009 and again this year, lacking willpower was cited as a barrier to adopting healthy behaviors when lifestyle changes were recommended by a health care provider. Yet the majority believes willpower can be learned as well as improved, if they only had more energy and confidence.
The survey found that although reported average stress levels have remained much the same as they were last year, fewer adults report being satisfied with the ways that their employer helps employees balance work and non-work demands and, in general, concern about job stability is on the rise.
Survey findings have consistently shown that the majority of Americans are living with moderate (4 – 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means you have little or no stress and 10 means you have a great deal of stress) or high (8 – 10 on a scale of 1 to 10) levels of stress, and while they understand that this is not healthy, they’re stymied in their efforts to make changes.
Stress Taking a Physical Health Toll on Children
Perhaps most notable are what the survey results suggest about the connection between overweight children and stress. When asked, one-third (31 percent) of American children report being very or slightly overweight, a figure that is in line with nationally reported trends about overweight and obesity.1 Children who are overweight are more likely to report they worry a lot or a great deal about things in their lives than children who are normal weight (31 percent vs. 14 percent). Overweight children are also significantly more likely than normal-weight children to report they worry about the way they look/their weight (36 percent vs. 11 percent).
Although parents, regardless of their weight, are likely to report they feel it is important for their child to have healthy behaviors, there are findings that suggest that leading by example is also very important. Children who believe they are overweight are significantly more likely than those with a normal weight to report that their parent has been always/often worried or stressed about things in the past month (39 percent vs. 30 percent). While obese parents are equally as likely as those of normal weight to say it’s important to them that their children eat healthy foods and stay physically active (77 percent of normal-weight and obese parents), survey results suggest parents who are overweight are less likely to engage in the healthy behaviors they value.
Parents who are obese are more likely (28 percent) than those of normal weight (16 percent) to report having children who are overweight.
How often adults eat healthy foods can be related to their child’s weight. Parents of overweight children are less likely (14 percent) to report that they (the parents) eat healthy foods very often or almost always than parents of normal-weight children (26 percent report eating healthy foods very often, almost always or always).
Parents who are normal weight are more likely than those who are obese to say they engage in physical activity with their families (69 percent vs. 53 percent) and do activities together at home on a weekly basis or more often (68 percent vs. 54 percent).
Findings from the survey also suggest a relationship between stress and obesity in children.
Children who are overweight are more likely to report having trouble falling asleep (48 percent vs. 33 percent), headaches (43 percent vs. 28 percent), eating too much or too little (48 percent vs. 16 percent) or feeling angry and getting into fights (22 percent vs. 13 percent), which are often symptoms of stress.
Children who believe they are overweight are more likely to report that their parents have been always or often stressed or worried in the past month than children who see themselves as having a normal weight (39 percent vs. 30 percent).
Children who are normal weight are more likely to report doing healthy things to make themselves feel better when they are worried or stressed, such as playing sports (21 percent vs. 13 percent).
Children who are overweight are more likely than children of normal weight to report eating
(27 percent vs. 14 percent) or taking a nap (26 percent vs. 15 percent) to make themselves feel better when they are stressed.
Stress: Perception and Reality — How It’s Hurting American Families
As the aftershocks of the Great Recession continue to be felt across the country, money (76 percent), work (70 percent) and the economy (65 percent) remain the most oft-cited sources of stress for Americans. Job stability is on the rise as a source of stress; nearly half (49 percent) of adults reported that job stability was a source of stress in 2010 (compared to 44 percent in 2009). At the same time, fewer Americans are satisfied with the ways their employer helps them balance work and non-work demands (36 percent compared to 42 percent in 2009).
While parents report similar sources of stress as the rest of the population (80 percent cite money, 72 percent cite work and 72 percent cite the economy as stressors), many also report that family responsibilities are a significant source of stress (73 percent). Results from the survey suggest that parents feel that they are under a great deal of stress (nearly one-third report feeling this way) and understand the importance of managing it (69 percent say managing stress is important). However, only one-third (32 percent) believe they are doing an excellent or very good job of managing their stress.
While the majority of parents don’t think their children are strongly affected by their stress, children report otherwise. Nearly three-quarters (69 percent) of parents say that their stress has only a slight or no impact on their children, yet 91 percent of children report they know their parent is stressed because they observe a multitude of behaviors, such as yelling, arguing and complaining. When their parents are stressed or worried, nearly half of tweens (47 percent) and one-third of teens (33 percent) say that they feel sad; one-third of tweens (36 percent) and 43 percent of teens say that they feel worried; and one-quarter (25 percent) of tweens and 38 percent of teens feel frustrated when their parents are stressed. Children who say their parents are always stressed are more likely to report having a great deal of stress themselves than those who say their parents are never stressed (17 percent vs. 2 percent). Just 14 percent of all youth say that their parent’s stress doesn’t bother them. Overall, these findings suggest that parents are underestimating their child’s awareness of their stress and, therefore, the impact it could be having on their child’s emotional well-being.
One-third of children age 8 – 17 believe their parent has been always or often worried or stressed out about things during the past month.
Four in 10 children say they feel sad when their parent is stressed or worried.
One-third of children (34 percent) say they know their parent is worried or stressed out when they yell. Other signs of parental stress recognized by children are arguing with other people in the house, complaining or telling children about their problems and being too busy or not having enough time to spend with them.
One in five children worry a lot or a great deal about things in their lives but very few parents (8 percent) report that their child is experiencing a great deal of stress (8, 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10).
Nearly a third of children indicated in the past month that they experienced physical health symptoms that are often associated with stress: 38 percent reported trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night. Thirty-three percent experienced headaches and 31 percent reported having an upset stomach in the past month.
The vast majority of tweens (86 percent) and teens (74 percent) said that they are very or somewhat comfortable talking to their parents about the things that cause them stress, yet only half (50 percent of tweens and teens) have talked to their parents about things they are worried or stressed about in the past month. On the other hand, 61 percent of parents indicate that they have asked their child about their stress or worry in the past month. The difference in these findings suggest that parents and children may interpret what it means to talk about stress and worry differently, which could have negative implications.
Currently, tweens and teens report that they turn to sedentary behaviors to make themselves feel better when they are really worried or stressed, such as listening to music (36 percent of tweens and 66 percent of teens), playing video games (56 percent of tweens and 41 percent of teens) or watching TV (34 percent of tweens and 30 percent of teens). Learning early in life to rely on sedentary behaviors to manage stress could have serious implications for the health of young Americans, who, according to data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are already experiencing rampant rates of obesity — nearly one in five young people is obese (19.6 percent of youth ages 6 – 11 and 18.1 percent of youth ages 12 – 19).2
There is also a disconnect between the health behaviors parents and children perceive as important.
Only 43 percent of young people believe eating right is extremely or very important (versus 78 percent of parents); just 51 percent believe it’s important to be fit (versus 78 percent of parents who think it is extremely or very important for their child to be physically active or fit); and only 31 percent think it’s important to find activities away from the computer (versus 75 percent of parents).
More than half of parents (56 percent) say that it takes some or a great amount of effort to get their families to eat healthy foods. Similarly, 54 percent of parents say it takes the same amount of effort to get their families to be physically active.
Our Bodies, Our Stress
Less than half of all Americans (40 percent) perceive themselves to be in excellent or very good health. A similar number of Americans say their stress levels have increased over the past five years (44 percent). Similar to 2009, however, there continues to be a large gap between the level of stress Americans say they are experiencing (the average reported stress level is 5.4 on a 10-point scale) and what they perceive to be a healthy level (the average reported healthy stress level is 3.7 on a 10-point scale). The most common reason given by adults for not doing more to manage their stress was being too busy or not having enough time.
Americans also recognize that they are falling short in just about all areas of well-being, from the quality of their relationships with family and friends to getting enough sleep. Though many Americans reported that health care professionals recommended they exercise more (39 percent), lose weight (36 percent) and eat a healthier diet (30 percent), and many agree that these are important behaviors, they also reported a considerable gap between the importance they place upon these activities and their personal track record of achievement. That is, 58 percent agreed eating healthy was extremely or very important but just 31 percent thought they were doing an excellent or very good job in doing so. Likewise, 54 percent agreed that being physically active was extremely or very important, but just 27 percent were happy with their achievement in this area.
Stress has behavioral consequences which in excess could have physical consequences.
Two-fifths of adults reported overeating or eating unhealthy foods because of stress in the past month.
Nearly one-third said they skipped a meal because of stress in the past month.
More than four in 10 said they had lain awake at night in the past month.
The most common physical symptoms of stress reported were irritability (45 percent), fatigue (41 percent) and lack of energy or motivation (38 percent).
With the nation currently experiencing epidemic rates of obesity and overweight, it should come as no surprise that nearly one-third of adults exercise less than once per week. Those who exercise once a week or less say they don’t do it because they are not motivated (44 percent), are too tired (33 percent), are too busy (28 percent) or don’t like to (26 percent), among other reasons.
The Role of Willpower
As they did in 2009, adults again cited a lack of willpower as the most common reason (29 percent) for not following through with recommended lifestyle changes. While the majority of adults (70 percent) believe willpower — defined by respondents as self-control/resisting temptations/urges, sticking to a decision and accomplishing a goal — is something that can be learned, many saw money as an important factor in willpower. Four in 10 adults said money would help them improve their willpower. Similarly, having more energy/less fatigue and more confidence in their ability to change were most commonly cited as what would be needed to overcome a lack of willpower.
While many adults report that they lack willpower, their belief that having more money and more energy would help them accomplish their healthy living goals suggests there is an opportunity to educate adults about effective strategies for adopting healthy behaviors and incorporating these behaviors into their daily lives.
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Fragile economy, other global woes dominated Davos
Even broad agreement that there are some positive signs on the economic front, at least in emerging markets, was coupled with a warning from the head of the International Monetary Fund. “Do not relax,’’ Christine Lagarde said. There’s still a “risk of relapse.’’
More than 2,500 of the best and brightest in business, government, academia and civic life gathered for the five-day World Economic Forum at this Alpine resort.
But much of the overt glitz and glamour that is a usual feature was toned down or absent this year, a decision founder Klaus Schwab said reflected the serious issues facing the world.
Political and economic issues vie for top billing each year at Davos, and this time, the economy had the edge, with a special focus on how to promote economic growth and jobs, especially for the youth among the world’s 220 million jobless.
The IMF said that China, Africa, and other emerging markets could see significant growth, but Japan, eurozone nations and the US are likely to struggle with negative to low growth. Ahead of the 43rd forum, the IMF downgraded its forecast for global economic growth this year by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.5 per cent.
While the US avoided the
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Egg-redible benefitsPublished 6:48pm Thursday, December 6, 2012
You’ve probably all heard the ad for “The Incredible, Edible Egg,” but did you know the egg really is incredible?
First, eggs contain a low-cost, high-quality source of protein (the best for human consumption in my opinion), minerals and vitamins, (all except vitamin C), and egg yolks are one of only a few foods that contain vitamin D. They contain choline, which is necessary for healthy membranes in our bodies, and for proper brain function. Eggs are good for our eyes too, because they contain more “lutein” than any green vegetable; even spinach.
Eggs are also versatile. They can be prepared over easy, sunny side up, shirred, hard boiled, soft boiled, poached or scrambled. In addition, eggs can be made into egg salad, or added to other food dishes. It is true egg yolks contain cholesterol, but most on a low-fat diet can eat one or two eggs a day without measurable changes to their blood cholesterol levels. In fact, “saturated” fat in the diet, not cholesterol, influences blood cholesterol levels most.
While eggs do seem a common allergen, especially in infants, many children outgrow the allergy, then have no problem. Also, folks allergic to chicken eggs shouldn’t take the flu vaccine. To avoid risk from Salmonella (a type of bacterium that can be present both on the inside and outside of eggs), cook eggs thoroughly, and don’t hold eggs in the temperature range of 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours.
Don’t eat raw eggs either; not only because of risk of salmonella infection, but because raw eggs contain a substance called avidin. Avidin binds with biotin (a B vitamin necessary for cellular growth), and keeps it from being absorbed by our bodies. However, cooking eggs, breaks avidin’s bond. Even if you mix an egg with your dog’s food for a shiny coat, first cook the egg, because avidin affects dogs the same way.
If you wash fresh eggs, do so only with cool water. An egg has pores that can draw contaminants in if washed in warm or hot water.
Now for some fun facts about eggs.
The average hen lays 250 to 270 eggs a year. The color of an egg is determined by the color of the laying hen. Hens with white feathers and white earlobes, lay white eggs. Hens with red feathers and red earlobes, lay brown eggs, though brown eggs taste no different than white ones. An eggshell can have as many as 17,000 pores, that are used to let in oxygen, and keep out carbon dioxide. About 75 billion eggs are produced in the U.S. each year.
China is the biggest supplier of eggs in the world, producing 390 billion. If you can’t remember if an egg is raw or hard boiled, spin it. If it wobbles, it’s raw; if it spins, it’s cooked. A fresh egg will sink in water, but a spoiled egg will float.
So, consider the egg; it’s one of the most nutritious foods available to us. By the way; as to which came first…”the chicken or the egg.” Read Genesis 1:20-22, and you’ll find… it was the chicken.
Diet or exercise question?
Email me firstname.lastname@example.org, or visit fitness4yourlife.org. David Crocker of Landrum has been a nutritionist and master trainer for 26 years. He served as strength director of the Spartanburg Y.M.C.A., head strength coach for the USC-Spartanburg baseball team, S.C. state champion girls gymnastic team, and the Converse college equestrian team. He has also been a water safety consultant to the United States Marine Corps, lead trainer to L.H. fields modeling agency and a teacher for four semesters at USC-Union. David was also a regular guest of the Pam Stone radio show.
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Too much to fight over
Arctic countries have decided to join hands and gorge on Arctic resources
THE GEOPOLITICS OF the new Arctic entered the mainstream on August 2nd 2007. Descending by Mir submersible to a depth of over 4km, a Russian-led expedition planted a titanium Russian flag beneath the North Pole (pictured). The news shocked the world.
The Lomonosov ridge under the pole, which is probably rich in minerals, is claimed by Russia, Canada and Denmark. The Russians, it was assumed, were asserting their claim, perhaps even launching a scramble for Arctic resources. One of their leaders, Artur Chilingarov, Russia's leading polar explorer and a Putin loyalist, fanned the flames. “The Arctic has always been Russian,” he declared. Yet the expedition turned out to have been somewhat international, initiated by an Australian entrepreneur and a retired American submarine captain, and paid for by a Swedish pharmaceuticals tycoon.
Even so, fears of Arctic conflict have not gone away. In 2010 NATO's top officer in Europe, James Stavridis, an American admiral, gave warning that “for now, the disputes in the north have been dealt with peacefully, but climate change could alter the equilibrium”. Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has hinted at similar concerns. “NATO”, he said, “has sensed where the wind comes from. It comes from the north.” The development of the Arctic will involve a rebalancing of large interests. The Lomonosov ridge could contain several billion barrels of oil equivalent, a substantial prize. For Greenland, currently semi-autonomous from Denmark, Arctic development contains an even richer promise: full independence. That would have strategic implications not only for Denmark but also for the United States, which has an airbase in northern Greenland.
There are also a few Arctic quirks that turn the mind to confrontation. Most countries in the region (the United States being the main exception) have powerful frontier myths around their northern parts. This is truest of the biggest: Russia, for which the Arctic has been a source of minerals and pride in the feats of Russian explorers, scientists and engineers since the late 19th century; and Canada, which often harps on Arctic security, perhaps as a means of differentiating itself from the United States.
During the cold war the Arctic bristled with Soviet submarines and American bombers operating from airbases in Iceland and Greenland. The talk of Arctic security risks sometimes betrays a certain nostalgia for that period. Some people also worry about Arctic countries militarising the north. Canada conducted its biggest-ever military exercise in the north, involving 1,200 troops, in the Arctic last year.
Yet the risks of Arctic conflict have been exaggerated. Most of the Arctic is clearly assigned to individual countries. According to a Danish estimate, 95% of Arctic mineral resources are within agreed national boundaries. The biggest of the half-dozen remaining territorial disputes is between the United States and Canada, over whether the north-west passage is in international or Canadian waters, hardly a casus belli.
Far from violent, the development of the Arctic is likely to be uncommonly harmonious, for three related reasons. One is the profit motive. The five Arctic littoral countries, Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway, would sooner develop the resources they have than argue over those they do not have. A sign of this was an agreement between Russia and Norway last year to fix their maritime border in the Barents Sea, ending a decades-long dispute. The border area is probably rich in oil; both countries are now racing to get exploration started.
Another spur to Arctic co-operation is the high cost of operating in the region. This is behind the Arctic Council's first binding agreement, signed last year, to co-ordinate search-and-rescue efforts. Rival oil companies are also working together, on scientific research and mapping as well as on formal joint ventures.
The third reason for peace is equally important: a strong reluctance among Arctic countries to give outsiders any excuse to intervene in the region's affairs. An illustration is the stated willingness of all concerned to settle their biggest potential dispute, over their maritime frontiers, according to the international Law of the Sea (LOS). Even the United States accepts this, despite its dislike for treaties—though it has still not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an anomaly many of its leaders are keen to end.
The LOS entitles countries to an area of seabed beyond the usual 200 nautical miles, with certain provisos, if it can be shown to be an extension of their continental shelf. Whichever of Russia, Canada and Denmark can prove that the Lomonosov ridge is an extension of its continental shelf will therefore have it. It will be up to the countries themselves to decide this: the UN does not rule on disputed territories. The losers will not do too badly, though: given the Arctic's wide continental shelves, the LOS guarantees each a vast amount of resource-rich seabed.
The 2007 furore over the Russian flag led to an important statement of Arctic solidarity, the Ilulissat Declaration, issued by the foreign ministers of the five countries adjoining the Arctic Ocean (to the chagrin of the Arctic Council's other members, Sweden, Iceland and Finland). This expressed their commitment to developing the Arctic peacefully and without outside interference. Possible defence co-operation between Arctic countries points in the same direction. Their defence chiefs met for the first time in Canada in April in what is to become an annual event.
A warm atmosphere
The Arctic Council, founded in 1996, was not designed as a regional decision-making forum, though outsiders often see it that way. Its mission was to promote conservation, research and sustainable development in the Arctic. The fact that six NGOs representing indigenous peoples were admitted to the club as non-voting members was evidence of both this ambition and the countries' rather flaky commitment to it. But since 2007, under Danish, Norwegian and now Swedish chairmanship, the council has become more ambitious. Next year it will open a permanent secretariat, paid for by Norway, in the Norwegian city of Tromso. A second binding pact, on responding to Arctic oil spills, is being negotiated; others have been mooted.
Russia, which has at least half of the Arctic in terms of area, coastline, population and probably mineral wealth, is in the thick of the new chumminess. It has a reputation for thinking more deeply about Arctic strategy—in which Mr Putin and his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, are both considered well-versed—than any other power, and appears to have concluded that it will benefit more from collaboration than from discord. Indeed its plans for the Northern Sea Route may depend upon international co-operation: Norway and Iceland both have ambitions to provide shipping services in the region.
Russia's ambassador for Arctic affairs, Anton Vasiliev, is one of the council's most fluent proponents of such collaborations. At a recent conference in Singapore, convened by The Economist, he surprised many by declaring Russia eager to standardise safety procedures for Arctic oil and gas production. “The Arctic is a bit special for civility,” he says, “You cannot survive alone in the Arctic: this is perhaps true for countries as well as individuals.”
The United States is less prominent in Arctic affairs, reflecting its lesser interest in the region and lukewarm enthusiasm for international decision-making. Although its scientists lead many of the council's working groups on subjects such as atmospheric pollution and biodiversity, it only hesitantly supports the council's burgeoning remit.
Frustrated advocates of a more forthright American policy for the Arctic, mostly from Alaska, lament that the United States hardly sees itself as an Arctic country, a status it owes to its cut-price $7.2m purchase of Alaska (Russian America as was) in 1867. A common complaint is the United States' meagre ice-breaking capability, highlighted last winter when an ice-capable Russian tanker had to be brought in to deliver fuel to the icebound Alaskan town of Nome.
The African Arctic
As governments wake up to the changing Arctic, global interest in the region is booming. A veteran Scandinavian diplomat recalls holding a high-level European meeting on the Arctic in the early 1990s to which only her own minister turned up. “Now we're beating countries away,” she says. “I've had a couple of African countries tell me they're Arctic players.”
Asia's big trading countries, including strong exporters like China and Japan, shipbuilders like South Korea and those with shipping hubs, like Singapore, make a more convincing case for themselves. All have applied to join the council as observers, as have Italy and the EU. Half a dozen European countries with traditions of Arctic exploration, including Britain and Poland, are observers already.
Some council members are reluctant to expand their club. Canada is especially wary of admitting the EU because the Europeans make a fuss about slaughtering seals; Russia has a neurotic fear of China. Even the relaxed Scandinavians are in no hurry to expand the council. Yet the disagreement has been overblown. If the EU, China and others were to be denied entry to the council, they would no doubt try to raise Arctic issues elsewhere, probably at the UN, which is a far more dreadful prospect for Arctic countries. So by the end of Sweden's chairmanship, in May 2013, these national applicants are likely to be admitted.
But Greenpeace, which also wants to be an observer, may not be, even though another green NGO, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), already is. Several Arctic governments have been put off by Greenpeace's aggressive methods. Greens against governments, not country against country, looks likely to be the most serious sort of Arctic conflict. That is progress of a sort.
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Is it just me, or does our geopolitical soundtrack play like a 1990s remix?
Americans marked the killing of Osama bin Laden with a nation-wide block party, not unlike their celebration of Desert Storm, the 1991 operation that ejected the Iraqi army from Kuwait. Just as liberating a corrupt Arab emirate exorcised the demons of Vietnam, it seems, so has the killing of a mass murderer with a bad dye job salved the burden of an endless war on radical Islam.
The avenging angel that delivered bin Laden’s fate was a case of life imitating art—or at least a low form of art, as anyone who has seen the 1990 film Navy Seals would agree. (For the uninitiated, the film ends with Charlie Sheen getting rescued at sea after completing a dangerous mission in war-torn Lebanon. Imagine what a better world it would be, had he been left to dog-paddle his way back to the fleshpots of Beirut.)
Speaking of the U.S. Navy, I remember reporting from the deck of the carrier Independence in 1995 as it patrolled the South China Sea at a time when Beijing was acting particularly incontinent, listening to sailors and aviators lament the grueling tempo demanded by President Clinton’s adventures in East Africa and the Balkans. Today, those deployments look like a day trip when compared to the multiple tours American GIs are pulling in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, as now, a Democratic president was grappling with the legacy of his Republican predecessor’s misbegotten enterprises only to face pressure to enter new ones from neoconservatives to his right and liberal interventionists on his left. [Vote now: Which president deserves credit for Osama bin Laden’s demise?]
But what’s really flushed the ghosts of Seinfeld and Madonna’s Kabbalah phase to the surface was a handful of revealing stories last week that were obscured by Osamamania. There was Rep. John Boehner—Republican lawmaker, speaker of the House of Representatives, and high priest of the GOP’s “tax-cuts-for-the-rich” evangelism—telling reporters it was “critical to our...national security interests” to maintain a large troop presence in Iraq long after the bulk of American forces come home. The Iraqi military is still incapable of defending the country on its own, he said, so it is incumbent on Americans to “fill the gap.”
Rewind to the triumphant aftermath of Desert Storm, when it was concluded that a similar deployment of GIs should remain in Saudi Arabia to preserve Middle East stability. There they remained until the Pentagon withdrew them in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which were motivated in no small part by bin Laden’s outrage over foreign military bases on what Muslims regard as sacred ground. One wonders how many bin Ladens U.S. bases in Iraq will create? Even Boehner acknowledged that extending the Pentagon’s franchise in Iraq might be a delicate matter, if only because so many Iraqis are virulently opposed to the idea. [See a slide show of six potential terrorist targets.]
The same day Boehner’s remarks were reported in the press, the New York Times reported how assiduously U.S. security officials have cowed the Japanese government into preserving a much-loathed Marine base in Futenma, just off the island of Okinawa. This, too, has its roots in the Clinton '90s; in 1998, I was in Tokyo when the U.S. ambassador to Japan grandly announced how Washington would remove the Futenma installation in response to intense public opposition to it. Thirteen years later, the Marine base is still there, and area residents—martyrs, it seems, to the Pentagon’s duty to check “dramatic increases in China’s military capabilities,” as one U.S. diplomatic cable put it—are still seething.
In many ways, of course, America is a very different country than it was two decades ago. For much of the 1990s, Washington ran a budget surplus, and it was generally admired abroad for its robust economy and civil liberties, if not for the subtle arrogance with which its ministers conducted themselves abroad. Needless to say, the surplus is long gone, America is disparaged for its far-flung gulag and a diminished commitment to due process, and the swagger has been reduced to a shuffle. (In another example of America’s economic decay, the Financial Times last week reported how Mexico and other developing nations are hoarding gold as way of diversifying their reserves away from the struggling dollar.) Nevertheless, from the perspective of those on the business end of American empire—be they citizens who host it or the U.S. taxpayers who foot the bill—it is still very much That '90s Show.
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Feb. 29, 1996
Planning the Garden
Today's reading: "Planning the Garden" by Amy Lowell from PICTURES OF THE FLOATING WORLD, published by MacMillan Co.
It's Leap Year Day today.
It's also 'Ladies Day', the one day in four years when shy women can propose to eligible bachelors.
Ann Lee, founder of the American Society of Shakers, was born in 1736.
Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini was born on this day in 1792.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®
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WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of 2007's near-record meat recalls, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has called a public meeting here on April 9 and 10 to discuss various challenges and proposals on how to move forward to address E. coli meat recalls, safety measures and related topics.
Significantly, the meeting agenda indicates part of the program will focus on whether E. coli contamination on primal cuts and boxed beef should be officially considered an adulterant.
Currently, USDA/FSIS does not consider E. coli contamination on these products to be adulterant, and thus, even if contaminated, the product can bear USDA's stamp of approval, “USDA inspected and passed.” The agency's rationale is that the meat is meant to be cooked as steaks and roasts. It is, however, trimmed at retail locations, and generally the trim goes into ground beef.
The meeting notice says that “FSIS will discuss growing evidence that may support a determination that raw beef products such as primal cuts and boxed beef contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 are adulterated. … FSIS is initiating a discussion at this public meeting and will present preliminary information to address the agency's consideration of its position on primal cuts and boxed beef products that may lead to the conclusion that further risk mitigation actions are necessary.”
Meanwhile, some industry groups, including the National Meat Association, have said there is little evidence that boxed beef and primal cut contamination is a growing problem.
Set for Wednesday, April 9, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday, April 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Georgetown, 2101 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., the public meeting will include presentations and discussions by officials from FSIS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as a senior foodborne illness litigation firm partner, a small packing plant owner/operator from South Carolina, and representatives from industry and consumer groups.
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Fightin' Blue Hen Hall of Heroes
Framed photographs of each inductee and a volume of biographical resumes are on display at the
University's ROTC headquarters on the main campus in Newark.
Among the first group of inductees chosen were Capt. Robert Kirkwood, a Revolutionary War
infantryman who attended Newark Academy, and Lt. Gen John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel,
Delaware '17, '56PhD, veteran of four wars. O'Daniel earned his nickname in World War I when a
German bullet passed through the left side of his face, but didn't stop him from continuing to fight
for 12 more hours.
To qualify for election to the Hall of Heroes, alumni must have received a commission from the
University's ROTC program or one of its predecessors, and have one or more significant personal
or professional achievements. These can include earning the Medal of Honor or other combat
decoration, election to a state or national office, achieving a leadership position in an organization
or corporation, recognition for state or national service or other professional contributions.
The Fightin' Blue Hen Battalion Alumni Association, incorporated in 1995, is responsible for
maintaining the Hall of Heroes display. An ROTC advisory council composed of representatives
from many academic disciplines assists in evaluating nominees.
The late T. Alan Bennett, Delaware '32, began his 35-year Air Force career in 1933 as one of the first
75 flying cadets assigned to Randolph Field in Texas. From 1943-46, he was commander of the
China American Composite Wing, flying 96 combat missions and logging 888 combat flying hours.
The late Elmer Paul Catts, Delaware '52, held a regular commission as first lieutenant. After
receiving a doctorate in parasitology, he served as a professor at the University of Delaware from
1962-1980 and from 1980-1992 at Washington State University. He was widely regarded as one of
the foremost forensic entomologists, having pioneered efforts to use insects to assist in murder
Edward W. Cooch Jr. of Newark, Del., Delaware '41, who served in World War II, practices law in
Wilmington, where he is senior partner of Cooch & Taylor. Active within the state, he has been
president of Delaware Wild Lands and Christina Conservancy, director of the Wilmington Trust
Co. and trustee of the UD Library Associates and the Historical Society of Delaware.
Ernest A. Davidson of Dover, Del., Delaware '39, received a Purple Heart and seven battle and
campaign awards for his service as an anti-aircraft battalion commander in Africa and Italy and the
Mediterranean theatre from 1941-46. Retiring as lieutenant colonel, Davidson first served as an
engineer with the Delaware Highway Department and then as director of highways.
The late Berwyn N. Fragner, Delaware '50, whose military career spanned more than 40 years, rose
to the rank of major general and commander of the 63rd Army Reserve Command, with
responsibility for all Army reserve units in southern California, Arizona and Nevada. An aerospace
executive, Mr. Fragner was vice president of strategic development for TRW Space & Defense Sector
The late Joseph H. Harper, Delaware '22, who served 37 years with the U.S. Army, was promoted
to colonel in 1942 and was assigned command of a glide infantry regiment of the 101st Airborne
Division. Accounts of his experiences with this glider infantry, Sky Rider and Paratrooper!, are
available in the University's Morris Library.
William E. Hart of Christian, Miss., Delaware '51, a first lieutenant, served on active duty from
1952-54. After receiving a Ph.D. in marine science, he taught at George Washington University
while holding a first chair in mapping, charting and geodesy at the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, Calif. Hart retired as a director of the Naval Oceanographic Office, Bathymetry Division.
Fred G. Harvey of Bethlehem, Pa., Delaware '50, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was
graduated from the Command and General Staff College in 1969. After attending Harvard Business
School in 1973, he worked for 33 years in steel plant operations and served as a senior manager at
Bethlehem Steel and Steelton.
H. Stanley Hughes of Wilmington, Del., Delaware '52, was an air defense officer during the Korean
conflict, serving in various reserve assignments in Delaware and Puerto Rico from 1954-84. He is
owner of a consulting firm specializing in business services for mental health providers and
executive director of the Delaware Psychological Association.
The late Robert Kirkwood, a distinguished Revolutionary War soldier, was born in Mill Creek
(Del.) Hundred and lived with his sister in colonial Newark, probably while he attended Newark
Academy, predecessor to the University of Delaware. He became a trustee of the academy in 1783.
Joseph M. Lank of Newark, Del., Delaware '52, entered military service as a distinguished military
graduate upon graduation and retired as a colonel in 1980. He accepted an appointment in
Delaware in 1981 and served as adjutant general with the rank of major general. Lank received
many decorations for his service, including the Bronze Star and the Vietnam Service and Campaign
Joseph V. Marra of Wilmington, Del., Delaware '54, served on active duty from 1954-59 and on
reserve duty for 22 years. After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1959, he
worked as a research scientist at Hercules until 1989. Currently, he is a senior research associate at
Jerome D. Niles Jr. of Heathsville, Va., Delaware '39, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in
the Coast Artillery Corps, U.S. Army, serving on a searchlight battery along the Eastern seaboard.
In 1942, he was sent to Iceland, later serving in New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan. Retiring as
a brigadier general, he worked in the area of public health and was regional administrator of
maternal and child health and crippled children's services for Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
West Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., when he retired.
The late John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel, Delaware '17, '56PhD (honorary), serving more than 40
years in the U.S. Army, in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Robert H. Papy of Cape Coral, Fla., Delaware '47, who was the first distinguished military student
from UD, served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II from 1942-1945, and received a Bronze
Star, campaign ribbon with three battle stars and both presidential and unit citations. He served in
various management positions with Sears until his retirement in 1987.
Arthur R. Vande Poele of Fenwick Island, Del., Delaware '54, who was commissioned a second
lieutenant upon graduation, served with the First Cavalry Division in Japan. Joining the Delaware
Army National Guard in 1956, he served in various positions, rising to command the 198th Signal
Battalion until 1975. At that time, he was promoted to colonel and held various training positions
with the 261st Signal Command in Dover, Del., becoming chief of staff in 1980.
Kenneth L. Rieth of Atlantic City, N.J., Delaware '53, who played football at UD under coaches Bill
Murray and Dave Nelson, received a commission in artillery and served in Alaska from 1954-56.
From 1982 to 1990, he was deputy adjutant general of the New Jersey Department of Military and
Jules J. Schwartz of Belmont, Mass., Delaware '53, served from 1953-57 in U.S. and Germany. A
graduate of the Command and General Staff College, he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1982. After
receiving a doctorate in business administration in 1973 from Harvard Business School, Schwartz
has taught management and engineering at Boston University.
Robert R. Smith of Pisgah Forest, N.C., Delaware '51, who graduated from Command and General
Staff College in 1976, rose to the rank of colonel. He was employed by the DuPont Co. from
1951-1990, where he served in a variety of positions.
Walter F. Williams Jr. of Bethlehem, Pa., Delaware '51, who served as a first lieutenant in Korea,
received a Bronze Star Medal. He joined Bethlehem Steel, working for that company for 42-1/2 years
and rising to the position of chairman, president and chief executive officer in 1986.
Lewis W. Wright of Fairfax, Va., Delaware '53, served 28 years on active duty, including battalion
commander in Vietnam from 1969-70; comptroller of the Army in the Pentagon from 1970-73;
Department of the Army inspector general in the Pentagon from 1973-76; Army Materiel
Command, inspector general, from 1976-79; and Army Materiel Command, director of programs
from 1979-81. He was program manager at National Systems Management Corp. from 1981-1993.
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Daniel Rogers, EG '32, M '39
After several years in the U.S. Army Reserve, Rogers began active duty in World War II and served
from the invasion of Utah Beach in Normandy through the German occupation. After his service
in the Korean War, he had command assignments in the Pennsylvania National Guard until his
retirement. He is still active in several military organizations. Rogers has chaired the Middle Pazton
Township Planning Commission and is a member of a nonprofit organization sponsoring a river
paddleboat, The Pride of the Susquehanna, frequently used for civic and charitable purposes. A
philanthropist, Rogers and his wife, Barbara, established a private foundation for charitable
donations, and they also presented 167 acres of forest near Harrisburg, Pa. to the YMCA for use as
a park and day camp.
Col. (Ret.) Robert V. A. Harra Sr., AS '40
Harra received his commission from UD in 1940 as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps.
During World War II, he was deployed to Iceland with the 25th Coast Artillery Battalion, then to
England with the 47th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade, which participated in planning the invasion
of France. In June 1944, the brigade arrived on Utah Beach, and Harra was awarded the Bronze
Star Medal and battle stars for his service in campaigns in Normandy and northern France.
Leaving active duty in 1945, Harra, a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff
College, served in a variety of command assignments in the U.S. Army Reserve until he retired in
Col. Frank S. Pettyjohn, EG '56
Pettyjohn served as company commander of the 76th Engineer Battalion in Korea in 1957-58. He
received his medical degree from Hahnemann University in 1963 and later attended the U.S. Navy
School of Aviation Medicine and U.S. Army Flight Surgeon School. Pettyjohn served as a flight
surgeon and was cardiologist and flight surgeon for returning prisoners of war from North
Vietnam in 1973, and he served in the same capacity for returning POWs from Iraq in 1991.
Currently a Federal Aviation Administration aviation medical examiner and cardiology consultant,
Pettyjohn also is chairperson of the Department of Emergency Medicine and professor of medicine
and emergency medicine at the University of South Alabama. He continues his military career as a
master flight surgeon with the Alabama Army National Guard. He has been awarded the Combat
Medical Badge, the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit and several other military decorations.
Maj. Gen. George K. Hastings, AG '60
As adjutant general for the Delaware Army and Air National Guard, Hastings is responsible for
the mission readiness of all of these Delaware units. After active duty for training in 1960, he served
in the Delaware Army National Guard with the 198th Artillery Battalion in a number of
assignments. He also was in the transportation battalion and the signal battalion. In 1984, he
returned to active duty as project officer for the National Guard Bureau and was assigned in 1986
as Army National Guard adviser to the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center in Kansas. He received
his master's degree in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1989, and
was appointed assistant adjutant general for army, Delaware National Guard, in 1990. His awards
and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters,
Army Commendation Medal and others.
Col. Paul W. Hamblin of Atlanta, Ga.UD Class of 1943
Hamblin was born in Millsboro, Del., on May 23, 1922. He graduated from Millsboro High School
in 1939. He was commissioned a second lieutenant upon completion of the UD ROTC program in
1943.He served with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Europe in World War II and with
the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C, from 1948 to 1957. He completed 105 parachute
jumps during his career. Hamblin was an infantry company commander in Korea in 1952 and 1953.
During this conflict, he was awarded the Silver Star medal, two Bronze Star medals for valor and
the Purple Heart with two clusters for wounds received in combat. He served as an adviser to the
Republic of Vietnam Joint General Staff in Saigon in 1964. For his service, he was the first member
of the U.S. Armed Forces awarded the Republic of Vietnam Army Distinguished Service medal,
second class. In 1965, he was adviser to the II Vietnam Army corps. He was wounded during a Viet
Cong attack on the military installation at Pleiku in February, 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he was the
post chief of staff at the U.S. Army Headquarters, Ft. Riley, Kansas. In 1968 and 1969, he was the
chief of the military equipment delivery team in Rangoon, Burma. Among his other military
decorations are the Distinguished Service medal, the Legion of Merit (second award), the Join
Services Commendation medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Air Medal, the Purple Heart
with four clusters, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Master Parachute Badge, the Aircraft
Crewman Badge and seven overseas bars. After 28 years of service, he retired in 1971 and moved to
Atlanta. Following his retirement, Hamblin was the director of training for Ryder Technical
Institute until 1977. He then founded a transportation training company, which he operated until
recently. He is currently a training and safety consultant to automotive and heavy vehicle fleets
and is a former member of the board of directors of the Georgia Motor Truck Association and the
Georgia Safety Council. He was active in the Masonic Order and was a member of the Isis Shrine
Temple in Salina, Kan. He is married to the former Sylvia Dutton from Beckley, W. Va. They have a
son, Paul II and a grandson, Paul III of Minneapolis. Hamblin's brother John Lee resides in
Col. Arthur F. Krause
Brig. Gen. Edwin W. Thompson
Col. William H. Francisco
1st Lt. John R. Fenimore Jr.
Col. Norman F. Lord
|Delaware Military History
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The plane that is used to carry the president, which is typically a Boeing 747, costs the Air Force $179,750 per hour to operate, according to a new Congressional Research Service report. Military planes are used for security and because of special equipment on board.
Costs for each trip are even higher when factoring in the passenger and cargo aircraft that often accompany the president's plane, although those figures weren't specified in the eight-page report.
Taxpayers cover the cost of trips for official business, and campaign organizations reimburse the government for whatever portion of a trip is deemed political.
"It is unclear how the White House designates travel that is not directly related to a governmental or political function because of traditional reluctance to address this matter," the report said. Vacations count as official travel.
Information about the cost of presidential flights is scarce, according to the report. But earlier studies from Congress and the Government Accountability Office offer a glimpse of the cost of several major trips in the past.
For example, a European trip in 1989 cost the Air Force $1 million and a trip to Hawaii in 1990 cost $1.5 million, according to a 1992 report from a House committee on the civil service. The figures represented just operational costs for the aircraft – without related expenses such as food and lodging.
Extra costs add up quickly. These related costs for presidential trips in 1998 totaled $42.8 million for Africa, $10.5 million for Chile and $18.8 million for China, according to a GAO report.
Comparable information wasn't available for more recent trips, the Congressional Research Service report says.
David's journalism career spans three decades, including coverage of five presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 Florida presidential recount and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the White House for USA TODAY since 2005. His interests include history, politics, books, movies and college football -- not necessarily in that order. More about David
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About This Legislation:
The ABLE Act would give individuals with disabilities and/or their families access to savings accounts that would allow individual choice and control while protecting eligibility for Medicaid, SSI and other important federal benefits for people with disabilities. They could create a disability savings account that would accrue interest tax-free. Withdrawals would not be taxed as long as they are used to pay for qualified expenses. The account could fund a variety of essential expenses for the person with a disability, including educational expenses; medical and dental care; health, prevention and wellness expenditures; employment training and support; assistive technology; personal support services; transportation; housing; and other expenses for life necessities.
Savings accounts opened under the ABLE Act would differ from other savings instruments with tax advantages because they provide substantial flexibility:
In a manner similar to the treatment of Medicaid trusts, funds remaining in the accounts at the individual's death would be used to pay back the state Medicaid program up to the value of services provided to the individual during life.
The ABLE Act would give individuals with disabilities and their families an option for saving for their future financial needs in a way that supports their unique situation and makes it more feasible to live full, productive lives in their communities.
The ABLE Act was introduced in the House (H.R. 1205) by Reps. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla.; Kendrick Meek, D-Fla.; Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.; and McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. It was introduced in the Senate (S. 493) by Sens. Robert Casey, D-Pa.; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.; Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; Richard Burr, R-N.C.; and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Both bills have a growing list of bipartisan co-sponsors. No hearings have been held.
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Juniata Valley Audubon thanks the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission for defending our energy efficiency standards from efforts by utility companies to weaken them by up to 50 percent.
Pennsylvania's state energy efficiency requirements have saved bill payers hundreds of millions per year on their electric bills, created thousands of new jobs and greatly reduced toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
The cleanest possible kilowatt-hour is the one that is never generated.
Energy efficiency reduces demand for coal and natural gas, and therefore lessens the impact of their extraction and combustion. It is also cheaper than any form of electricity generation.
Juniata Valley Audubon is strongly opposed to the weakening of energy efficiency policies that save us money and protect the environment.
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There is no richer store of human experience than the folk tales, folk poems and songs of a people. In many, the heroes are always fully recognizable humans - only larger and more embracing in dimension. So it is with the Russian, Chinese. and the African folk-lore.
In 1937, a highly expectant audience of Moscow citizens - workers, artists, youth, farmers from surrounding towns - crowded the Bolshoy Theater. They awaited a performance by the Uzbek National Theater, headed by the highly gifted Tamara Khanum. The orchestra was a large one with instruments ancient and modern. How exciting would be the blending of the music of the rich culture of Moussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khrennikov, Gliere - with that of the beautiful music of the Uzbeks, stemming from an old and proud civilization.
Suddenly everyone stood - began to applaud - to cheer - and to smile. The children waved.
In a box to the right - smiling and applauding the audience - as well as the artists on the stage - stood the great Stalin.
I remember the tears began to quietly flow. and I too smiled and waved Here was clearly a man who seemed to embrace all. So kindly - I can never forget that warm feeling of kindliness and also a feeling of sureness. Here was one who was wise and good - the world and especially the socialist world was fortunate indeed to have his daily guidance. I lifted high my son Pauli to wave to this world leader, and his leader. For Paul, Jr. had entered school in Moscow, in the land of the Soviets.
The wonderful performance began, unfolding new delights at every turn - ensemble and individual, vocal and orchestral, classic and folk-dancing of amazing originality. Could it be possible that a few years before in 1900 - in 1915 - these people had been semi-serfs - their cultural expression forbidden, their rich heritage almost lost under tsarist oppression's heel?
So here one witnessed in the field of the arts - a culture national in form, socialist in content. Here was a people quite comparable to some of the tribal folk of Asia - quite comparable to the proud Yoruba or Basuto of West and East Africa, but now their lives flowering anew within the socialist way of life twenty years matured under the guidance of Lenin and Stalin. And in this whole area of development of national minorities - of their relation to the Great Russians - Stalin had played and was playing a most decisive role.
I was later to travel - to see with my own eyes what could happen to so-called backward peoples. In the West (in England, in Belgium, France, Portugal, Holland) - the Africans, the Indians (East and West), many of the Asian peoples were considered so backward that centuries, perhaps, would have to pass before these so-called "colonials" could become a part of modern society.
But in the Soviet Union, Yakuts, Nenetses, Kirgiz, Tadzhiks - had respect and were helped to advance with unbelievable rapidity in this socialist land. No empty promises, such as colored folk continuously hear in the United States, but deeds. For example, the transforming of the desert in Uzbekistan into blooming acres of cotton. And an old friend of mine, Mr. Golden, trained under Carver at Tuskegee, played a prominent role in cotton production. In 1949, I saw his daughter, now grown and in the university - a proud Soviet citizen.
Today in Korea - in Southeast Asia - in Latin America and the West Indies, in the Middle East - in Africa, one sees tens of millions of long oppressed colonial peoples surging toward freedom. What courage - what sacrifice - what determination never to rest until victory!
And arrayed against them, the combined powers of the so-called Free West, headed by the greedy, profit-hungry, war-minded industrialists and financial barons of our America. The illusion of an "American Century" blinds them for the immediate present to the clear fact that civilization has passed them by - that we now live in a people's century - that the star shines brightly in the East of Europe and of the world. Colonial peoples today look to the Soviet Socialist Republics. They see how under the great Stalin millions like themselves have found a new life. They see that aided and guided by the example of the Soviet Union, led by their Mao Tse-tung, a new China adds its mighty power to the true and expanding socialist way of life. They see formerly semi-colonial Eastern European nations building new People's Democracies, based upon the people's power with the people shaping their own destinies. So much of this progress stems from the magnificent leadership, theoretical and practical, given by their friend Joseph Stalin.
They have sung - sing now and will sing his praise - in song and story. Slava - slava - slava - Stalin, Glory to Stalin. Forever will his name be honored and beloved in all lands.
In all spheres of modern life the influence of Stalin reaches wide and deep. From his last simply written but vastly discerning and comprehensive document, back through the years, his contributions to the science of our world society remain invaluable. One reverently speaks of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin - the shapers of humanity's richest present and future.
Yes, through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage. Most importantly - he has charted the direction of our present and future struggles. He has pointed the way to peace - to friendly co-existence - to the exchange of mutual scientific and cultural contributions - to the end of war and destruction. How consistently, how patiently, he labored for peace and ever increasing abundance, with what deep kindliness and wisdom. He leaves tens of millions all over the earth bowed in heart-aching grief.
But, as he well knew, the struggle continues. So, inspired by his noble example, let us lift our heads slowly but proudly high and march forward in the fight for peace - for a rich and rewarding life for all.
In the inspired words of Lewis Allan, our progressive lyricist -
To you Beloved Comrade, we make this solemn vow
The fight will go on - the fight will still go on.
Sleep well, Beloved Comrade, our work will just begin.
The fight will go on - till we win - until we win.
Close this page to return.
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Assuring Quality is designed to be part of an institution’s formative evaluation process with a focus on continuous improvement. It will assist your institution in drawing conclusions about the overall quality of its assessment processes and practices, will provide your institution’s administration with an informed perspective on its strengths and gaps, and will allow your administration to plan strategically for improvement. The 29 criteria in eight areas comprise the essential indicators of high-quality student learning outcomes assessment and accountability practices. The ability to meet all of the stated criteria demonstrates excellent student learning outcomes assessment practice.
"Assuring Quality offers institutions a detailed road map for assessing student learning, an essential step in strengthening undergraduate education."
George D. Kuh, Director
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)
- - - - - -
"A team of assessment scholars worked collaboratively for more than a year to develop Assuring Quality. This is the most comprehensive set of guidelines for assessing campus assessment initiatives that has ever been assembled."
Trudy W. Banta, Professor of Higher Education and
Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Academic Planning and Evaluation
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
- - - - - -
"The strength of Assuring Quality is that for the first time faculty AND student affairs educators are expected to collaboratively demonstrate learning across an entire institution. It validates that learning occurs inside and outside the classroom and that student affairs educators play an important role in strengthening student outcomes. Assuring Quality is an essential tool for institutions committed to integrated learning and the transformative education."
Associate Professor of Higher Education, New England College
Director of Professional Development, ACPAGoverning Board
- - - - - -
“The step-by-step checklists in Assuring Quality provide clear and comprehensible guidelines to best practice at each stage of the assessment process. I believe this publication will be very helpful to colleges and universities.”
Linda Cabe Halpern, Dean of University Studies and Professor of Art History
James Madison University
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I haven't seen Grand Mesa at all today, and the West Elks have just vanished again. I know that we need the moisture desperately, and I know that it is January.
Yet I long for a warmer clime!
But I can't afford to leave town! So I gaze at the program from the Whooping Crane Festival of 2011 in Aransas, Texas. And dream. Of course the whoopers were the prize birds of the trip and happily Karen (my birding buddy) and I saw plenty. The Texas coast subtropical environment was all new to me and there were other birds that I especially hoped to see — like the roseate spoonbill.
On the second morning out, we were driving along the gulf shore, and there were six spoonbills — all pink! And the bills looked as impossible as they did in the field guide! Two were preening, two seemed to be asleep and two were foraging. What a treat! Before we started this trip, I did some research and learned that these birds usually forage alone. They sweep that spatula-shaped bill back and forth across the water to find small creatures. As I gazed at them, I thought, "Avocet?" Those familiar birds of Hart's Basin forage in this manner. But this bill! It seems impossible (but then I'm not a spoonbill!).
They are more common in Florida, so I feel particularly lucky to see them here in Texas. They occur all along the Gulf of Mexico coast, into South America and the West Indies. Normally I'd be interested in details: the nest, the eggs, incubation, fledging period and names: Ajaia ajaja?
What a strange name . . . I wondered what it meant. Though my field guide gave some information, I didn't even look. I was far too busy just admiring these pink birds of the subtropics.
Now the wind's up. I see the sideways snow out the window. And I don't care!blog comments powered by Disqus
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Georgy Abdaladze / AP
Billionaire and opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, left, and his wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze pray in a church in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Monday.
Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET: One of the world’s richest businessmen claimed to have inflicted a surprise narrow defeat on the incumbent pro-Western party in Monday’s elections in Georgia, a key ally of the United States neighboring Russia.
Billionaire tycoon-turned-politician Bidzina Ivanishvili claimed his opposition political alliance Georgian Dream had staged a remarkable upset and was heading for control of the former Soviet republic's parliament.
However, incumbent President Mikheil Saakashvili insisted his United National Movement was on course to retain power.
Reports said thousands of Georgian Dream supporters had gathered in the capital, Tbilisi, as the polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET). AFP journalist Paul Gypteau wrote on Twitter that the capital's Freedom Square was full with "cheering" people, while International Young Democrat Union observer Katrina Rice posted pictures showing crowds in the streets.
Rival claims could open the way to a post-election standoff. Any instability would worry the West because of the Caucasus country's role as a conduit for Caspian Sea energy supplies to Europe and its pivotal location between Russia, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia.
It is recklessly wild here. twitter.com/Veribatim/statâ�¦— Katrina Rice (@Veribatim) October 1, 2012
Ivanishvili, 56, is a once-reclusive investor and philanthropist listed by Forbes as the 153rd richest person alive having made a fortune, estimated at $6 billion, from investments across the border in Russia.
Voters on Monday chose between him and Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who swept to the presidency after the bloodless Rose Revolution of 2003 and fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008.
The new parliament’s 150 seats consist of 73 directly-elected constituency representatives and 77 nominees allocated from party lists based on overall share of the popular vote.
Reuters reported that one exit poll predicted Georgian Dream was ahead in the constituency vote while the UNM said it believed it had done well in individual constituencies.
Nicholas Clayton, editor of Kanal PIK TV English in Tbilisi, posted on Twitter that early exit polls were so far in the opposition's favor.
Living in a palatial $50 million glass residence overlooking Tbilisi, Ivanishvili previously used his wealth - equivalent to half the GDP of the country he hopes to run - to support local arts and culture before deciding to enter politics. His supporters say Saakashvili’s regime remains undemocratic despite post-Soviet-era reforms, with undue government pressure on courts and control of the media. Video footage showing the abuse and rape of inmates at a prison in the capital, Tbilisi, has boosted the alliance.
Along with supporters, he has been pressing his case in Washington by spending more than $1 million in recent months on a U.S. lobbying campaign, according to a Washington Post report citing disclosure records.
Saakashvili, 44, argues voters should choose the West-leaning agenda – it has close relations with NATO - and his supporters accuse Ivanishvili of being a Kremlin stooge that would allow the former Soviet outpost to be dominated by Russia.
Voting in the election, which got under way at 12 a.m. ET, was brisk, with lines forming outside several polling stations in the capital Tbilisi, a Reuters correspondent observed.
David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters
Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili talks to the media at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Tbilisi on Monday.
"Besides being a contest for parliament, it is also a shadow leadership election," said Thomas de Waal, a Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He said the vote "marks a turning point for Georgia".
The Washington Post on Monday said Saakashvili was facing "a serious challenge" and described the electon as "deeply polarizing."
The West wants a stable Georgia because of its role as a conduit for Caspian Sea energy supplies to Europe and its pivotal location between Russia, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia.
"Political leaders should be chosen through the ballot box and not on the streets," parliamentary delegation heads from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, NATO and the European Parliament said on Saturday.
"The most important thing is that those who are dissatisfied should not create disorder," said voter Yelena Kvlividze, 45.
The prison abuse video, aired on two channels opposed to Saakashvili including one owned by Ivanishvili, has undermined the president's image as a reformer who imposed the rule of law and rooted out post-Soviet corruption.
"I'm voting against violence and abuse - how can I do otherwise after what we have all seen on TV?" Natela Zhorzholia, 68, said outside a polling station at a school in the capital, Tbilisi. She said she would vote for Georgian Dream.
Ivanishvili hopes the scandal will convince swing voters that Saakashvili has become an undemocratic leader who tramples on rights and freedoms.
Human Rights Watch also said Wednesday that Saakashvili's government had used 90-day prison sentences against protesters and political activists, a situation it said “violates the country’s international commitments to safeguard against arbitrary detention”. Earlier this year, it issued a report slating the lack of due process and fair trial rights for those accused of “administrative offenses” such as minor breaches of public order.
'Peace and stability'
Many Georgians just want political and economic stability. The economy, hit by the 2008 war and the global financial crisis, has been growing again since 2010 but inflation is likely to hit 6-7 percent this year.
"I voted for peace and stability," said Georgy Ugrekhelidze, 76. "I want this government to carry out what it has started."
Elected in 2004 after the Rose Revolution protests toppled president Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, Saakashvili cultivated close ties with Europe and the U.S. and sought to bring Georgia into NATO.
He curbed police bribe-taking, made frequent power outages a thing of the past and presided over an economic resurgence. But opponents say he has curtailed democracy, persecuting opponents, and he faces criticism for leading Georgia into the 2008 war with Moscow in which Russian forces routed his army.
In a recent analysis of the campaign, Shaun Walker of the U.K.'s Independent newspaper wrote:
Saakashvili's people talk of a thriving democracy knocking on Europe's door, with the old Soviet mentality erased by efficient reforms and replaced with an effervescent meritocracy. Ivanishvili's brigade declare Georgia a totalitarian state, controlled by a ruthless cartel of a few men around Saakashvili who have scooped up all the economic and political resources for themselves, control the majority of media and are painfully sensitive to even the smallest criticism. The truth, unsurprisingly, is somewhere between the two extremes.
In a blog posted on the Financial Times website, Georgia analyst Michael Cecire observed that Saakashvili's reforms have turned Georgia from one of the most corrupt of the ex-Soviet regimes to the least in the space of less than a decade through measures such as the decision in 2005 to sack the entire traffic police force and replace it with university graduates.
Georgia is one of 15 former republics of the Soviet Union that gained independence when country the fell apart in 1991. The Soviet collapse ended nearly two centuries of almost continuous dominance of Georgia by Russia and the Soviet Union.
Tension with Russia erupted into a five-day war in August 2008, when Saakashvili's government launched an offensive on South Ossetia. Russian forces drove Georgian forces out of the region and penetrated deep into Georgia before withdrawing.
Umit Bektas / Reuters
View images of victims, soldiers and world leaders embroiled in the Georgia conflict.
Other parties include the Christian Democratic Party, led by former journalist Georgy Targamadze, which calls for a greater role for the dominant Georgian Orthodox Church.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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