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In a similar vein to the
macro post, here’s some thoughts on wildlife photography.
Q1: What lenses do I need?
This is a tricky issue. If you are just going to have one lens, then a good telephoto zoom is probably ideal. If you’re prepared to have several lenses, than a mix of good telephoto zooms and primes makes more sense. The merit of a long telephoto prime is that it delivers optimal sharpness at the long end. Zooms have more compromises. Something has to give somewhere.
In the days of film, a lot of wildlife photographers had a 70-200/2.8 zoom and a 300mm or 400mm prime. Teleconverters were included as another way to increase focal length.
Surely having the longest telephoto I can get makes the most sense?
No, not always. The wildlife photographer Cal Singletary for instance, recommended "Buy the sharpest lens you can, that’s what makes your picture". His longest lens was a 400mm prime (on APS format, that gives the same angle-of-view as a 267mm lens).
This is roughly where I sit. The lens you get has to deliver images that are sharp at least at a 300mm focal length. More is better, but for wildlife shots, 300mm should be regarded as the minimum. If you’ve got the reach all the way to 500mm or more, but your images aren’t sharp enough, that extra reach isn’t worth it.
One of the issues you have to grapple with is that wildlife photography isn’t just about taking photos on safari. There can be a lot of instances where the line-of-sight is obstructed or shorter than African savannah. Photographing tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea doesn’t need a 600mm lens.
Q2: So how the heck did film wildlife-photographers get those excellent images?
By getting closer.
They understood the behaviour of the animals they were targeting. And they used tricks like blinds, lures and calls to get up close. Sadly, such techniques seem to be ebbing in popularity.
Now it’s not always possible to get up close. I don’t recommend getting up close to large carnivores. There a super telephoto makes a lot more sense.
Q3: Teleconverters- yes or no?
Yes, a good teleconverter is a light and compact way to add focal length. For that reason, wildlife photographers hauling gear around like to have them.
But, they should be the best teleconverters you can get. And note that the sharpness of the image will take a hit. As a rule of thumb, a 1.4x TC won’t have a serious impact on photos. But a 2x TC will start to noticeably degrade the image. So you will need the sharpest possible lens to begin with and the best TC you can get. Going above 2x isn’t a prudent way to capture sharp images…
Q4: I’ve got myself a super-telephoto (500/4 say) and I’m disappointed, is something wrong with the lens?
Probably not. The technique to get a good super-telephoto shot is different to other telephoto shots.
You’ve got a much narrower angle of view. That’s okay for large animals but makes searching for smaller animals trickier.
Also, that extra focal length will exacerbate any motion in the camera or lens. So plan on using a tripod. That means a good tripod and a good tripod-head.
And this means building up experience with this combination is important. Techniques that worked okay with a 200mm lens don’t extrapolate seamlessly to a 500mm lens.
Q5: Do you use super-telephotos?
No, not anymore. Having lighter gear means I can go deeper into wilderness areas and I usually work on ways to get closer. This is probably aided by the fact that my usual habitats have short lines-of-sight and lots of cover.
It also makes travel more convenient. By sticking to (sharp) long telephotos I escape the need for tripods and heavy lenses. It’s kind of funny going to spots in Asia and realising that everybody with the super-telephotos and tripods, aren’t found more than 100m away from the car-park.
I am however, waiting on Sony to see whether the new 500mm super telephoto will suit me.
So does that mean I shouldn’t get a super-telephoto?
Depends on you. There are some kinds of shots that you can only get with a super-telephoto. In which case, it will be the appropriate solution. But having a lot of gear (heavy lenses, tripods etc) to carry around may hinder you get other types of wildlife shots.
So if you understand the pros and cons, that the subjects you want to photograph do not suit a ‘blind’ technique or similar, then don’t let me stop you.
OTOH, if you think wildlife photography is just a matter of slapping on the longest lens you can find and wandering aimlessly in a wilderness area, then maybe it’s time to think about the issue a bit more.
Q6: What should I get for the Sony Alpha system?
Okay, if I was starting from scratch here would be my preferred kits.
First, for the single lens solution I would get the Sony 70-400 G SSM lens. Now, it is going to be a bit too slow for some action-type shots but you get the combination of IQ and focal length you need. You could dabble with the 70-300 G but it’s not going to be as versatile as you would need.
Second, for a mobile kit I’d get a 70-200/2.8 with an older Minolta 300/4 G and a 1.4x TC.
Third, my portable kit would be the 70-200/2.8 G with the 300/2.8 G and the 1.4x and 2x TC. This has a good combination of IQ, speed and reach.
Fourth- my heavy kit would be the 70-200/2.8 G with the 300/2.8 and ‘promised’ 500 G Sony super-telephoto. The 500 could be replaced with the older Minolta 600/4, but I think the SSM function of the 500 will provide a better tracking function. I’d keep the 1.4x TC with this also.
I’d only get the 500/8 reflex lens if I already had a G telephoto.
Q7: Any other tips?
First, be safe. Big carnivores may regard you as a soft, pink tasty-snack. And just because you don’t intend to harm a venomous snake or doe with her fawns, doesn’t mean they will leave you alone. If they see you as a threat, then you may be attacked. Don’t take your inspiration for wildlife interaction from the Disney channel.
Second, know when not to take a shot. Ideally, your behaviour should not disturb or threaten wildlife. Case in point, I avoided taking a shot of an endangered loris in Yunnan because I didn’t want to blast the nocturnal primate with my flash.
Third, try to get something interesting. I get totally uninspired by seeing ‘the crocodile on the riverbank’ shot. Often the best wildlife shots are those where the animal is exhibiting behaviour that is rarely captured by others.
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On Friday, February 2, 2007 the BLS released the Employment Report for January 2007.
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 111,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job growth continued in several service-providing industries over the month, and construction employment also rose. The number of manufacturing jobs continued to decline. The number of unemployed persons (7.0 million) and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) were aboutThe expectation was for 150,000 to 170,000 jobs. The number came in at at 111,000. So was the raw number a bad showing? To help answer that question let's take a look at birth/death adjustments.
unchanged in January.
Job Birth Death Assumptions
January and July are typically the revision months for the BLS. Given that many (myself included) harp about all the positive assumptions, this month we see a negative adjustment of 175,000 jobs. In spite of that significant downward adjustment, jobs still came in at +111,000. All in all that is a respectable showing. But what does it say about September through December? Hmm. The Birth/Death assumptions for those months were +221,000. In effect the BLS assumed 221,000 jobs were created in those four months but now it is saying that 79.2% of those jobs were fictional. But rather than telling us what months they were wrong about, we are left guessing.
The BLS website has this to say about Birth/Death assumptions
- The net birth/death model component figures are unique to each month and exhibit a seasonal pattern that can result in negative adjustments in some months. These models do not attempt to correct for any other potential error sources in the CES estimates such as sampling error or design limitations.
- Note that the the net birth/death figures are not seasonally adjusted, and are applied to non-seasonally adjusted monthly employment links to determine the final estimate.
- The most significant potential drawback to this or any model-based approach is that time series modeling assumes a predictable continuation of historical patterns and relationships and therefore is likely to have some difficulty producing reliable estimates at economic turning points or during periods when there are sudden changes in trend.
Although the raw number of 111,000 was respectable given the massive downward adjustment, a closer look at the establishment data raises additional questions and comments.
For starters note that 14,000 of the 111,000 jobs created were government jobs. That is a fairly robust 12.6%, and not a good sign of anything but waste. Note also that manufacturing and durable goods both shed a lot of jobs. This is not actually a sign of a healthy economy. Most suspicious, however, is the 22,000 construction jobs that were created in the midst of a huge housing slump. Remember that those numbers are seasonally adjusted. So what happens to normal seasonal adjustments when weather was unseasonably warm? Hopefully the answer is obvious.
Thus we have the odd anomaly of a weak 111,000 overall number being stronger than it looks but the makeup of that 111,000 being weaker than it looks. Sheeesh.
Are we done yet? Unfortunately not. The BLS issued this notice in the January report.
Establishment and Household Data Changes
The establishment survey data in this release have been revised as a result of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors. See the note beginning on page 5 for more information on the revisions. In addition, household survey data for January 2007 reflect updated population controls. See the note on page 6 for more information. ....As you can see from the above table there was a massive revision based on a methodology change. Did those jobs really occur? In the months stated? Or in 2005 or 2004? If those jobs were indeed created in the stated months, then 2006 was a bit stronger than generally reported.
Revisions to Establishment Survey Data
In accordance with annual practice, the establishment survey data have been revised to reflect comprehensive universe counts of payroll jobs, or benchmarks. These counts are derived principally from unemployment insurance tax records for March 2006. As a result of the benchmark process, all not seasonally adjusted data series were subject to revision from April 2005 forward, the time period since the last benchmark was established. In addition, with this release, the seasonally adjusted establishment survey data from January 2002 forward were subject to revision due to the introduction of updated seasonal adjustment factors. Table B presents revised total nonfarm employment data on a seasonally adjusted basis for January through December 2006.
The revised data for April 2006 forward incorporate the effect of applying the rate of change measured by the sample to the new benchmark level, as well as updated net business birth/ death model adjustments and new seasonal adjustment factors. The November and December 2006 revisions also reflect the routine incorporation of additional sample receipts into the November final and December second preliminary estimates.
The total nonfarm employment level for March 2006 was revised upward by 752,000 (754,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis). The previously published level for December 2006 was revised upward by 981,000 (933,00 on a seasonally adjusted basis).
When it comes to jobs data we are seeing revision after revision and some of the revisions and adjustments can not even be added together because they are not compatible. For example the birth/death figures are not seasonally adjusted, but everything else is, and in some sort of magic those unadjusted numbers are applied to seasonally adjusted monthly employment numbers to determine the final estimate. If that was not enough in and of itself, we have new seasonally adjusted methodology changes, new birth/death model adjustments, and to top it all off there are post-benchmark revisions. Does anyone have any confidence in this?
"The February 2007 issue of Employment and Earnings will contain an article that discusses the benchmark and post-benchmark revisions."
I can hardly wait. In the meantime, let's call this report what it really is: ugly.
Mike Shedlock / Mish
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ANY REASON FOR DIFFICULTIES AND THEIR CORRECTION
Getting Discouraged Easily
Do not be discouraged easily. Give auditing a fair chance to work. A preclear will often experience different emotions or attitudes during auditing services, and discouragement can be one of them.
The only way out is the way through. Sometimes a preclear has to have the courage to persist through a difficult spot in auditing to emerge with the full gains that can be had.
But do persist. If the auditor and the preclear work together as a team, results will occur every time. Man has spent countless years sinking into his present state. Auditing will not handle every problem a person might have in a day or a week. But the technology is available to greatly increase a persons ability and to restore his health, self-confidence and happiness. Man can pull himself up.
Scientology does not claim to be a perfect system. It is a workable system, and does produce definite, predictable and positive results, far in excess of any other practice.
It is the responsibility of the individual to practice Scientology exactly as provided in Scientology scripture, just as it is the auditors and Course Supervisors. When applied exactly as written, Scientology services will give 100 percent success.
Scientology Online Courses
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Web edition: June 29, 2011
“AAAS vigorously opposes attacks on researchers that question their personal and professional integrity or threaten their safety based on displeasure with their scientific conclusions.” This declaration was contained in a 400-word denunciation of attacks on climate scientists and the politicization of climate science that was issued June 29 by the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The board is not objecting to people voicing opinions about climate data, explains AAAS board member Raymond L. Orbach, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute. “This is about an attack on people. And that’s an important distinction,” the physicist emphasizes. The concern, he says, is that these attacks can have “a chilling effect on scientists’ ability to present facts.”
Attacking the messenger can discourage researchers from publishing data they fear might lead to intimidating phone calls — even death threats, he says. And that would jeopardize public access to important data on which public decisionmaking should be based, he argues, “which is just pernicious.”
Orbach, a former Under Secretary at the Department of Energy, notes that while heading its Office of Science during the George W. Bush administration, his office funded plenty of atmospheric studies into global change. “So I’m reasonably familiar with the field.”
Together with marine scientist Nancy Knowlton of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, in Washington D.C., Orbach introduced a resolution at the May board meeting of the AAAS asking for a formal condemnation of the public intimidation of climate researchers. When I asked him what had triggered the move, he pointed to a succession of events in recent years, including:
— a campaign by Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli to obtain access to research data by former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann (now at Penn State). Cuccinelli said he wanted to prosecute Mann or his university under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act for misuse of state funds
— a petition by the American Tradition Institute (ATI) — a “free-market”-based think tank — demanding that the University of Virginia turn over thousands of e-mails and documents written by Mann
— ATI’s January 19, 2011, filing of a Freedom of Information Act request for NASA to hand over documents detailing “whether and how ‘global warming’ activist Dr. James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has complied with applicable federal ethics and financial disclosure laws and regulations, and NASA Rules of Behavior”
— and news accounts of climate researchers receiving death threats in response to reports of their findings.
“Disagreements about the interpretation of data, the methodology, and findings are part of daily scientific discourse,” the AAAS board’s statement observes. “Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that are controversial.”
Moreover, Orbach points out, some political candidates now make acceptance or rejection of a human role in climate change as a litmus test of suitability for statewide office. “It got scary” to see climate issues become so political, Orbach says. Intimidating scientists and politicizing their findings should be “anathema,” he charges. “And we hope that the new statement will cause people to think about the need for unbiased, unfettered investigation into issues” — especially those that are as potentially complicated and economically important as climate change.
ATI was quick to respond to the AAAS salvo. In a prepared statement, it argued that "AAAS’s failure to mention the group that invented this series of [data and email] requests, Greenpeace, informs our conclusion that this outrage is selective, and is therefore either feigned or hypocritical. . . . That transparency and ethics laws also apply to scientists who subsist on taxpayer revenue. This they also forgot to mention." Regarding Michael Mann, ATI said that "if our review of his documents which belong to the taxpayer also happen to exonerate him from the suspicions that have arisen, we will be the first to do so.”
Charges and counter-charges aside, no one should get a death threat or face over intimidation about publishing research findings. Especially when the health of our planet and its stewards are at stake, decisions should be grounded on facts and science not faith and politics. And the more open and transparent data are, the better chance we have of validating — or refuting — them.
AAAS Board of Directors. Statement of the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science regarding personal attacks on climate scientists. [Go to]
American Tradition Institute. ATI Law Center asks court to force NASA to produce ethics and outside employment records of Dr. James Hansen. [Go to]
American Tradition Institute. The American Tradition Institute and the honorable delegate Robert Marshall v. rector and visitors of the University of Virginia. [Go to]
R. Beeby. Climate of fear: scientists face death threats. Canberra Times, June 4, 2011. [Go to]
J. Raloff. Climate science: Credibility at risk, scientists say. Science News blog. Feb. 21, 2010. [Go to]
J. Raloff. 'Climate-gate': Beyond the embarrassment. Science News blog. Dec. 12, 2009. [Go to]
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Liger Classification and Evolution
The Liger is the largest of the world's felines, known to grow up to 12ft tall when standing on their hind legs. Created by the mating of a male Lion with a female Tiger, Ligers tend to far exceed the size of both of their parents and although they share similar characteristics with both of them, the Liger tends to be more like a Lion rather than a Tiger. A Tigon is the result of breeding a female Lion with a male Tiger, with this animal tending to be less like a Lion having more Tiger-like qualities. Due to the fact though that Lions and Tigers live in different areas of the world, it is very unlikely that Ligers (or Tigons) would occur naturally in the wild. Today there are a handful of Ligers found in zoos around the world, which are a result of either accidental or deliberate Human intervention.
Liger Anatomy and Appearance
The Liger is an enormous animal with a large muscular body and broad head. Ligers tend to have sandy or dark yellow fur which is covered in the distinctive faint stripes inherited from their mother. Although other variations in fur colour have been known (including white when their mother is a White Tiger), the Liger generally has a more Lion-like appearance including the manes of the males. Although a Liger's mane is not as big or as impressive as that of an adult Lion, they can grow quite large on some individuals but it is not uncommon for a male Liger to have no mane at all. Along with their stripes which tend to be most noticeable around their hind quarters, the Liger may also inherit the spots found on the backs of Tiger's ears along with the tufted fur around their chins.
Liger Distribution and Habitat
Historically it could have been possible although rare, for a male Lion to mate with a female Tiger in the wild to produce Liger offspring. This is because the Asiatic Lion once roamed across a much larger portion of Asia meaning that they could have more easily wandered into a Tiger's territory. Today however, Tigers are only found in the dense jungles of Asia where they are being pushed into smaller and smaller pockets of their natural habitat. Lions on the other hand, are found patrolling the African grasslands with the exception of the few remaining Asiatic Lions, who are found in a remote forest in India where there are no Tigers. Sadly, although the natural habitat of the Liger would probably be fairly similar to that of a Tiger, the world's only known Ligers are found in caged enclosures.
Liger Behaviour and Lifestyle
Despite their gigantic size and the fact that their parents are two of the planet's most ferocious predators, the Liger is known to have a relatively gentle and docile nature particularly when interacting with handlers. They have however been reported to be slightly confused as to whether or not they are Lions or Tigers as their most bewildering characteristic is the fact that they seem to love water. In the wild, it is not uncommon for Tigers to enter water either to catch prey or to cool down in the heat and so they are naturally good swimmers, which is something that the Liger seems to have inherited. Lions do not like water however and so it is often reported that it does take some time for the Liger to take to it's water loving lifestyle. Another odd thing is the fact that the Liger appears to make both Lion and Tiger noises but it's roar is more like that of a Lion's.
Liger Reproduction and Life Cycles
Most Ligers are created through the accidental introduction of Lions and Tigers in the same enclosure although it can take up to a year for the two to mate. After mating the male Lion with the female Tiger, the Tiger gives birth to a litter of between 2 and 4 Liger cubs after a gestation period that lasts for about 100 days. As with the young of other large felines, the Liger cubs are born blind and are incredibly vulnerable, relying heavily on their mother for their first 6 months of life. As with Lion cubs, young Ligers have darker spots on their fur which helps to provide them with extra camouflage. However, as with some adult Lions, these spots often remain on Ligers and are most prominent on their underside. Many Liger cubs are sadly born with birth defects and often don't survive for longer than a week.
Liger Diet and Prey
Like the rest of the world's felines, the Liger is a carnivorous animal meaning that it hunts and kills other animals in order to gain it's nutrition. Although the wild diet of the Liger can only be presumed, it is thought to be similar to that of a Tiger mainly hunting larger herbivores including Deer, Wild Boar and (due to their immense size) possibly small or vulnerable Asian Elephants. In captivity they tend to eat an average of 20lbs of meat a day but it is thought that a Liger would easily devour 100lbs worth of food in one sitting. The Liger has an enormous and incredibly strong jaw with sharp, pointed teeth which are ideal for tearing through flesh. Ligers also have very muscular bodies and sharp claws which also help them to catch and eat their prey.
Liger Predators and Threats
If they were found in the wild, the Liger would be the most dominant predator in their environment and would therefore have no natural predators to worry about, with the obvious exception of Humans. Much like Lions and Tigers, Ligers would be subjected to both hunting for trophies and their fur, along with severe habitat loss throughout much of what would be their natural range. In captivity, many Liger cubs are born with fatal birth defects due to the fact that it is the result of cross-breeding of two different species. Another problem to consider is the unnatural nature in which Ligers are both bred and kept all around the world. As it is highly unlikely that Ligers can occur in the wild today, they are merely being bred and kept by zoos in order to make money.
Liger Interesting Facts and Features
Although like many other hybrids Ligers tend to be sterile, it has been known for a female Liger to be able to produce offspring but a fertile male Liger has never been recorded. She will either be bred with a male Lion or a male Tiger to either produce a litter of Li-Liger or Ti-Liger offspring depending on the species of the father. One of the most famous Ligers is a Hollywood creation named Hercules, who is the offspring of a male Lion and a female Tiger in an institute in Florida. At the age of three he stood at 10ft tall when on his hind legs and weighed half a ton. Another reason as to why Ligers would be rarely produced in the wild is that if a male Lion and a female Tiger came across one another, they are much more likely to fight to defend their territory or avoid one another completely in order to risk getting hurt.
Liger Relationship with Humans
The Liger has been bred by people since the early 19th century when a litter of Liger cubs was born in Asia in 1824. It was more than 100 years however until the next recorded litter which was in a zoo in South Africa just before World War II. Although Ligers are known to be quite even tempered, there remains a great deal of controversy over the cross-breeding of two different animal species, particularly when it is so highly unlikely to occur without Human intervention. Today there are a number of Ligers found in zoos and animal institutes around the world, who are bred (generally by accident) and kept as a money-making attraction.
Liger Conservation Status and Life Today
As there is no real scientific name assigned to the Liger due to the fact that it is made from cross-breeding two separate species artificially, and that is it is not found in the wild, the Liger has no conservation status. The Liger is found in only a handful of enclosures on the planet but they remain frowned upon by many as they do not exist in the wild and therefore have no value as such to conservation. Tigons are more rarely found than Ligers today however, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were more of them than there were Ligers. The breeding of Ligers is now banned in a number of countries around the world.
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Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (WFC) has fired a Des Moines worker over a 1963 incident at a Laundromat involving a fake dime in the wake of new employment guidelines.Richard Eggers, 68, was fired in July from his job as a customer service representative for putting a cardboard cutout of a dime in a washing machine nearly 50 years ago in Carlisle, the Des Moines Register reported Monday.Warren County court records show Eggers was convicted of operating a coin-changing machine by false means. Eggers called it a "stupid stunt," but questions his firing.Big banks have been firing low-level employees like Eggers since new federal banking employment guidelines were enacted in May 2011 and new mortgage employment guidelines took hold in February, the newspaper said. The tougher standards are meant to clear out executives and mid-level bank employees guilty of transactional crimes — such as identity theft and money laundering — but are being applied across the board because of possible fines for noncompliance.
If using a fake dime is worthy of firing, then what penalty should await those who launder* billions of fake dollars on behalf of the Federal Reserve? It is simply reprehensible that Wells Fargo would fire a man for using a fake dime yet not dismantle their own company for laundering at least $2 billion* of fictitious money. This goes beyond mere irony, and even beyond hypocrisy. This is pure evil, and all those who work at Wells Fargo should lose their jobs, while those who are/were the heads of the company should go to jail for defrauding the American people, and the company should have its corporate status revoked and be disbanded.
* Wells Fargo received about $25 billion from TARP. The federal budget for 2008 was $2.9 trillion, while the deficit was $240 billion. This means that, proportionally, at least $2 billion of the $25 billion that Wells Fargo received from TARP was from the deficit. The federal deficit is nothing more than monetized debt, since federal services are paid for, but not always by the money from tax receipts. To make up the deficit, the federal treasury sells debt (issues bonds), which are then bought by investors, foreign nations, and the federal reserve. The federal reserve is the largest holder of US bonds, and the sale of US bonds to the federal reserve is referred to as monetizing the debt, because federal debt is converted into money, and the money is created out of thin air. Therefore, a significant portion of the federal debt is actually realized as inflation. And therefore it can be accurately claimed that Wells Fargo launders fictitious money because it receives funds that are nothing more than monetized debt, which is really money created out of thin air.
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Lean times mean belt tightening and never having any more fun, yes? Wrong. It's just a matter of being creative. We've come up with a 11 ways, tested by us, that should help you get through an economic slump...
- No fun, no parties: Saving money doesn't mean staying home by yourself, twiddling your thumbs. But it might mean less time out and more friends over. Try potluck dinners, game nights, movie nights at home (split a Netflix or local dvd store subscription with friends). We like brunch: it's an inexpensive meal, one person brings the papers & we all share. Less paper waste too.
- Stretch out your weekly or monthly costs: If you do your grocery shopping every week, try stretching it out to 10 days. Same with trips to the laundromat or the dry cleaner. Stretch out month services for every 5 or 6 weeks. It's a small change with big returns.
- Do Your Own Chores: Have a housekeeper? Save money, keep your home clean and improve your health at the same time by doing it yourself (or have her come less frequently. See above). Follow this post's advice and your home will practically clean itself.
- Declutter: Not only will you get rid of stuff but then you can make money by selling it on Craigs List or Ebay, swap with friends or donate it and take a tax deduction.
- Pay your bills online: Not only will banking online save you money in stamps but it'll help you keep a tighter rein on your finances and avoid bank charges, including overdraft or bounced check fees.
- Use your library: It's a great source for books and audio materials. Remember that each city in Los Angeles has their own library system so if what you want's not available through one system, try another. We belong to the Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills libraries. And, if you donate books to the library, you get a tax deduction as well as some decluttering done.
- Swap out regular bulbs for CFLs: Yes, the initial outlay's a little more expensive (dropping all the time) but they last longer so you'll have fewer replacements. And they're good for the environment so you're saving a little green at both ends.
- Turn down the thermostat: Even a few degrees can help. And, if it's a little chilly, you can put on a sweater or wrap yourself up in a throw. It's said that keeping your home a little cool will keep you energized.
- Bundle: Receiving cable, phone and internet from one provider often entitles you to a discount on those services. Call and ask for a reduced rate.
- What do you really need? From home appliances to hundreds of cable channels, what do you really need? If you rarely watch tv, do you need every cable channel? Maybe you can just opt for basic cable and rent the new episodes of your favorite show via ITunes as one friend does for "Mad Men". We balked at spending money on a toaster and grill bread instead; two sets of sheets are plenty for us; we share magazine subscriptions with a friend; see less movies out and more on Netflix. Get creative.
- Cook at home: Warm up your home by doing more cooking at home. Plus the great smells (and taste) will put a smile on your face. Check the Kitchn for recipe ideas and this post on saving money in the kitchen.
Do you have any great ideas that you can share with us?
[painting by Veronica Nagy, available for sale on her Etsy]
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Market Commentary and Intraday News
Va. escapes worst of recession but new fears ahead
223 days ago
By SHARON COHEN
AP National Writer
(AP:LEESBURG, Va.) Amid scenic horse farms, vineyards, Civil War landmarks and quaint shops tucked in historic red-brick buildings, signs of prosperity are plainly visible. The anxiety about the economy, less so _ but it's here.
Talk to the husband and wife who opened a used bookstore last year, and they reveal they first signed one six-month lease, then another, not wanting to lock into anything longer until they were sure they had a viable business.
Or the construction consultant who realized government budgets were shrinking and a full-fledged economic recovery was years away, so it was time to change careers.
Or the restaurant owner who wonders when the uncertainty will fade and people will start spending.
While Virginia escaped the worst of the recession _ unemployment peaked at 7.3 percent _ uneasiness about the future is in the air. For good reason: The state's fortunes are tied to the outcome of the deficit debate on Capitol Hill and its outcome could dramatically alter its economy. Unless Congress finds a way to avoid the tax increases and spending cuts that could send the nation barreling over the so-called fiscal cliff early next year, the state could face serious pain.
The cuts could impact federal workers, defense firms, the state's many military installations and beyond. Virginia is home to the Pentagon, the CIA, Naval Station Norfolk, Fort A.P. Hill, Langley Air Force Base, Marine Corps Base Quantico and more. By one account, more than 200,000 jobs could be vulnerable _ more than those lost in the recession
"This would be a punch in the face for the whole state," says James Koch, an economist at Old Dominion University. "People here have looked at other states such as Florida, Ohio and Nevada and said, `Oh, they have it worse.' Now the worm could turn a bit."
Against this tense backdrop, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are dueling over the size of government and defense cuts, pouring tens of millions of dollars into this crucial battleground, a state where military spending adds enormous sums to the local economy. The winner will claim Virginia's 13 critical electoral votes _ and most likely, better odds for capturing the White House.
SHIFTING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Four years ago, Obama broke a 44-year GOP grip on Virginia with a decisive 6.3 point win over John McCain.
The president cobbled together a coalition of minorities, young people and college-educated white voters (women more than men) in the affluent suburbs across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, a Democratic-leaning, fast-growing area. Here in Loudoun County, for instance, the population skyrocketed 84 percent in the decade ending in 2010.
Obama scored victories, too, in the Hampton Roads region, home to the world's largest U.S. Naval base in Norfolk, along with many active duty and retired military. It was a stunning defeat for McCain, a Navy veteran.
Changing demographics also made the state friendly territory for Obama. The Latino population in Virginia jumped 92 percent from 2000 to 2010. Minorities now account for 27 percent of eligible voters in this state that was home to the Confederate capital.
The constituencies that propelled the president to victory remain, but enthusiasm has waned and Democrats expect a much closer race this time. Polls show Obama with a slight edge or virtually tied with Romney.
"Things are probably more competitive, just as they are nationally," says Peter Brodnitz, a Democratic pollster working in the Senate campaign of former Gov. Tim Kaine. "I don't think it's a repeat of 2008 when the wind was blowing strongly in just one direction."
The state's economy, though, shouldn't be a drag on the president.
Among battleground states, Virginia has one of the lower unemployment rates: 5.9 percent in August. It also has fared better than many others in rebounding from the recession, gaining about two-thirds of 171,000 jobs lost, compared with a national recovery rate of about 45 percent, according to Scott Hoyt of Moody's Analytics.
These days, Virginia is in an enviable position: It ended its fiscal year in June with a $448 million surplus that triggers a 3 percent bonus for state employees.
It's a record the Republican nominee should be trumpeting, says Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University.
"Romney should be telling the story as a Republican success _ that policies on the state level are responsible for the budget surplus and overall the better economic situation," he says. "That's the political message. Whether it has any economic merits is an entirely different matter. Most economists think it's a stretch to attribute better circumstances entirely or even mostly to state government policies."
Despite its sound finances, Virginia is a land of extremes, home to the very poor and very rich.
Five of the nation's top 10 wealthiest counties are in the northern part of the state, according to the 2011 American Community Survey. Among the key reasons: a heavy concentration of college graduates and two-income families, many with good-paying government or contractor jobs.
That diversity spawns two Virginia economies. One is urban-based, dependent on technology and government (including defense) and doing well; the other is more rural with timber, coal and agriculture and higher, even double-digit joblessness, according to Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason.
"It's a harder sell for Romney in more urbanized areas to suggest that he can manage the economy better because it already seems better," Fuller says, noting that in northern Virginia, housing prices are up and about 30,000 jobs have been added in the last year.
Romney, he adds, will have more appeal in conservative, moderate-income areas where "the population is disenchanted with the recovery. These are the people who feel government ought to get out of their lives."
Throughout the state, Romney also has been trying to convince women his economic policies would help them more than Obama's, part of a strategy to cut into the president's strength among female voters. Obama, who has emphasized women's health issues, held a 19-point lead among females in one Virginia poll.
Economic messages still matter despite the state's relatively low unemployment, Rozell says, because people hear the national dialogue and "share the same anxieties and concerns about their own futures."
That's true in Loudoun County. Though this is home to the nation's highest median household income (more than $119,000 a year in the 2011 survey), it's also not immune to struggle.
TALES OF ANXIETY
Molly Lovato and her husband, Paulo, both felt the recession's pinch. She lost her lease on her flower shop at Dulles International Airport; his landscape business lost many middle-income clients.
But, she says, "plenty of people suffered far worse than we did," and business decisions may have contributed to some of their troubles.
A local Obama volunteer, Lovato credits the president with steering the country away from financial disaster. "I think he kept us from sliding into a depression," she says. "I'm really dumbfounded by people who say `Why didn't he fix this?' and it's 20 minutes later."
She compares reviving the economy to gutting and then rehabbing a home. "It takes a hot minute for everything to unravel," she says, "but to put it back together is really very difficult."
But Anthony Cavallo, who owns the Vintage 50 restaurant in Leesburg, says lingering questions about the economic future hurt business. He closed two restaurants in the last year.
As a small businessman, he doesn't relate to Obama or Romney. "Neither one of them has ever really walked in my shoes," Cavallo adds.
"Romney _ he lives up here," he says, lifting his right hand horizontally above his head, sitting in his candlelit restaurant. "He doesn't know me down here ... and I'm middle class. I own a business. I have a home. I can only imagine how disconnected he is from the majority of the people that don't have that."
As for the president, Cavallo believes that while Obama champions poor people, he sometimes shuts out the middle class.
"As a white American, I can't relate to what he's trying to do," Cavallo says. "I can't relate to where he wants to take the country. Explain to me how my working every day, owning a small business ... how does that fit into his plan?"
Cavallo was swayed by the first presidential debate. Before, he says, "I thought Romney was a wuss. He wasn't coming on strong." But he admired the Republican nominee's "aggressive" performance, and is now leaning toward him.
Nancy King Robinson, and her husband, Allen, owners of Books and Other Found Things, have already decided. They're backing Obama.
"I'm one of the 47 percent," says King Robinson, who has multiple sclerosis and receives Social Security disability. "I get it because I worked for it." She believes Romney revealed his "true colors" in his disparaging remarks, made at a private fundraiser, that 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes feel entitled to government handouts.
Romney later renounced his comments, saying he was "completely wrong," but Allen Robinson isn't buying it.
"It's just reinforces to us ... he's willing to say whatever he has to win," he says. "If he's elected, what's to keep him from changing his mind again?"
For some voters, though, philosophy matters more than the candidate.
Chris Charron, who is leaning Republican, likes Romney's run-government-like-a-business approach, though he's less impressed with the candidate. "There's a certain charisma you have to have," he says, "And I don't think he's got it."
Charron recently sold his construction consulting company, nervous about how the business _ 80 percent involved government contracts _ would fare in this era of budget cutbacks. He also was impatient with the pace of recovery.
"Every time the economy takes a step forward," he says, "you get a little excited, then you get knocked back on your knees."
Now part owner of a winery, 868 Estate Vineyards, and the adjoining Grandale Farm Restaurant, Charron is relieved he no longer works with federal bureaucrats.
"There are some people in the government who are not qualified or capable of doing their job," he says. "But there's no way to get fired in government. You either get moved around or you get promoted."
THE GOVERNMENT DIVIDE
In campaign 2012, the candidates have repeatedly clashed over the size and scope of government. Obama believes government has a role in creating conditions for prosperity. Romney argues it's too big and intrusive, though he wants to increase defense spending.
Those sharp divisions are reflected among Virginia voters, too.
Tom Mastaglio, CEO of MYMIC, a simulation and training company in Portsmouth _ most of his clients are in the defense industry _ sides with Republicans on this issue. He thinks the federal government is inefficient and has too many unnecessary programs.
Mastaglio thinks Romney is a good businessman and will likely support him. He believes Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic House and Senate leaders share a government-has-all-the-answers attitude, stemming from lifetime political careers. "They don't understand there are other ways to solve problems without federal tax dollars," the Army veteran says. "That's just their upbringing."
But Peter Gillard, a retired Social Security worker, says people criticize government until they need it.
"The attitude is `As long as it doesn't affect me, government is too big,'" says Gillard, a volunteer at an AFL-CIO Democratic get-out-the-vote phone bank. "But when there's a disaster, like a flood or a hurricane, what's the first thing people say? `Where's MY government?'"
And in this state where the federal government, according to Fuller, accounts for 32 percent of the economy, candidates tread gingerly.
"You have to be somewhat nuanced in how you attack federal government because many people in Virginia understand their prosperity is in part, dependent on it," says Robert Holsworth, a retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor. About 375,000 federal workers live in the Washington, D.C., area.
McDonnell, the governor, has acknowledged the importance of federal government, noting that stimulus funds did help Virginia's economy, but he maintains it was only a short-term benefit.
NEW ECONOMIC WORRIES
The recession may be over, but a new financial threat looms.
It's sequestration, the automatic across-the-board cuts that will take place if Congress doesn't reach a budget agreement soon. About half, or $56.7 billion, would come in defense, according to a report by Fuller, of George Mason and Chmura Economics & Analytics.
It's a topic Romney dwells on when campaigning in military communities, criticizing the president for the potential cuts, though they were agreed to under a deal between Obama and Republican leaders in Congress.
If the cuts proceed, they could result in the loss of more than 207,000 jobs in Virginia alone _ almost two-thirds of them in defense, according to the report. Fuller says the impact would also hit retailers, car dealers and local governments.
"People are scared, extremely scared," says Johnny Garcia, CEO of SimIS, a simulation and information security company in Portsmouth. A Navy veteran, Garcia says his business already has begun adapting to the shrinking defense business, moving into health care and manufacturing.
"The defense industry _ if it doesn't collapse in the next six months, it's going to take a big turn for the worse," he says." It's scary not knowing who the next president is going to be. But I don't think it really matters. We're going to be in a downward spiral the next four years."
Garcia says he's "a Democrat at heart," but is disappointed in the president, saying he believed in the "hype" about Obama in 2008 that "this was going to be something different. It wasn't. It's like getting on a roller coaster ride and it's not all that exciting when it's done. It's a dud."
He's still an undecided voter, unsure if Obama should have more time or Romney has the right ideas.
"It's all about who's going to make the difference," he adds. "That's the hard part. I don't know."
Sharon Cohen is a Chicago-based national writer for The Associated Press. She can be reached at scohen(at)ap.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Energy supplier Co-operative Energy is set to share its profits for the year with customers following a vote at its Annual General Meeting.
The ability of many people to get cheap energy deals in the future may depend on the country being able to replace its ageing power generation sources with cleaner, more modern technology.
The government has unveiled details of its plans for the future of the solar power market in the UK, which may encourage more people to seek cheap electricity by installing solar panels.
Homeowners may still be able to get cheap electricity by fitting solar panels
E.ON welcome new bill that will help deliver secure, cheap electricity and reduce carbon emissions
The Scottish government had confirmed the launch of a new scheme to encourage investment in marine energy in the nation, which could help people get cheap electricity from renewable sources.
The reforms to the electricity market announced this week, which have been claimed to be able to offer people cheap energy, could result in bills rising for some consumers.
The government has published new advice for consumers looking to get cheap energy deals by participating in a collective scheme.
With the recent news the UK is officially in a double-dip recession following two consecutive quarters of negative growth, now could be a perfect time for people to take steps such as performing an energy comparison in order to take control of their finances.
Consumer Focus says the government has got to make sure the Energy Bill keeps costs down for customers.
Individuals in the UK need to be offered more incentives to encourage them to undertake home improvements that could help them get cheap energy.
Performing an energy comparison in order to find a better deal could be a good start for people looking to secure cheap electricity and gas prices.
Consumers who prefer to pay for their energy bills using cash may find they are less able to get cheap gas and electricity deals than those using methods such as direct debit.
The government has published its draft bill for reforming the UK's electricity market, which it claims will help cut carbon emissions and enable more people to get cheap energy.
People searching for the best gas and electricity prices could cut their bills to under £1,000 a year with energyhelpline.com's Huge Switch collective bargaining scheme.
People living in private rented accommodation may benefit from performing an energy comparison to switch gas and electricity supplier, as these individuals typically pay more than those who own their own home.
Energy supplier Scottish Power has launched a new system that will help customers check if they are on the best deal and switch energy tariff to a more suitable option.
Increasing the UK's use of renewable energy could help people get cheap electricity in years to come by insulating them from spiralling prices for fossil fuels.
The government's draft energy bill could cause gas providers to put up their prices.
Many electricity and gas providers are using incentives to encourage customers to sign up to poor-value energy schemes.
A growing number of people in the UK are looking to compare energy tariffs and switch gas and electricity suppliers to find a better deal.
Many mums who work from home are seeing their gas and electricity bills soar.
Which? has called on the government to ensure the Green Deal leads to real savings on energy prices.
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Technorati Tags: ebooks online libraries books
August 21, 2008
The SC Center for the Book Awards were formerly a single award known as the Palmetto Book Award. In 2008, the Palmetto Book Award expanded to honor excellence in Writing, Teaching and Literary Arts Advocacy. Nominees must be published writers, current teachers, or active promoters of the literary arts in South Carolina, as described in a one page nomination letter. Winners are selected from nominations submitted to the SC Center for the Book by the general public. Any individual or organization in South Carolina that works to promote the literary arts and to foster a creative atmosphere in the state is eligible for nomination for the Literary Arts Advocacy award. Any current teacher of the literary or language arts at any level or type of school in South Carolina is eligible for nomination for the Teaching award. Any South Carolina writer of any genre whose work was published in the previous calendar year is eligible for nomination for the Writing Award. Previous winners of the Palmetto Book Award include Dr. Walter Edgar (2007), SC Young Writers Conference (2006), and Hub City Writers Project (2005).
The South Carolina Center for the Book held its annual awards ceremony on August 14, 2008, at the Hilton Head Island Library (Beaufort County) from 2:00-4:00pm.
The South Carolina Center for the Book is the South Carolina affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book and is a cooperative project of the South Carolina State Library, the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science, and The Humanities CouncilSC.
August 16, 2008
August 15, 2008
August 11, 2008
South Carolina still runs on its 1895 constitution. Guess what? It doesn’t work.
One day this June, a group of state agency managers came to Governor Mark Sanford with a pitch. They wanted to raise the projected growth rate for the for state retirement fund's investments from 7.25 percent to 8 percent. That would free up significantly more money for state spending.
Sanford hated the idea. Given that the system currently has only about 70 percent of the money it needs to pay retirees, he thought investment policies ought to be more conservative, not more daring. And given the turbulent economy, what reason was there to be optimistic about investments anyway?
In many states, there wouldn't have been much more to it. The governor would have prevailed. Mark Sanford, however, has the bad luck to be the governor of South Carolina. Read more...
Technorati Tags: governing south carolina state government management issues
August 08, 2008
August 07, 2008
August 06, 2008
Half of U.S. adults use social media. That is, they do according to the latest findings from Universal McCann's "Media in Mind" study, an ongoing research effort that analyzes how consumers relate to media and products in their daily life. However, it's worth noting that in this particular study "social media" includes text messaging. Combined with blogging and social networking, these three technologies are used by 50% of U.S. adults for communication purposes.
August 05, 2008
Technorati Tags: radiolab radio lab science storytelling podcast
August 01, 2008
Flickr: Flickr 888
Libraries, get involved and submit photos from your libraries on August the 8th!
Given the success of last year’s event, we hope that you’ll join us in celebration of another 24 Hours of Flickr – Flickr 888 on Friday, August 8th, 2008 (8-8-8!), a most auspicious day!
How can you participate? Take a photo any time during the twenty-four hour period that’s August 8th where you are and then share it with the group. We’ll accept one (1) contribution per Flickr member into the group from noon PST Friday, August 8th until Tuesday, September 2nd, noon PST, 2008.
We’ve partnered with the cool folks at MOO to create unique Flickr 888 Postcard Packs. Those images with sufficient resolution (1795x1287 pixels) that feature “safe” content (as defined in our Community Guidelines), will be printed and sold in postcards packs this coming fall at MOO. We’re still working out the final details of how many, how much, etc., and we’ll share the full details here in the group when we’ve got our ducks in a row.
So, mark your calendars, and get ready to capture August 8th in all its glory.
Technorati Tags: flickr libraries 888
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|The insect-controlled robot
An insect-controlled robot, integrating an insect and a robot, was developed to investigate the capability of insects to adapt to perturbations. A silkmoth controls the robot by walking on the ball. Perturbations can be induced by manipulating the transmission between the silkmoth movements and robot movements. The silkmoth can control the robot normally even in the presence of perturbations.
|The insect-brain-controlled robot
|The odor-seeking robot based on an insect
|Collision-avoidance system based on an insect
The insect's processing of visual information and following behavior are fast, simple and robust, which could be applicable for engineering. To establish an behavioral model of insect's collision avoidance system, we are analyzing bumblebee's behavior: changes of yaw torque and wingbeat frequency in response to looming stimuli. Based on the behavioral analysis, we make a model and evaluate it using a mobile robot.
Back / Top
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Children's agency, Goodfellows team up
Kassy Kreutz-Heister, left, 12, of Slippery Rock and volunteer Judy Hines of Mercer perform a Native American dance on Tuesday with other students at Glade Run Lutheran Services in Zelienople.
Share with others:
What the Rev. William A. Passavant began in 1853 as the Zelienople Orphans' Home and Farm School has evolved into a multifaceted $24 million program that serves children with mental health issues, autism or neglect.
Now known as Glade Run Lutheran Services, the agency operates a residential treatment facility, a school for special-education students and a therapeutic farm and horticultural program at its 350-acre site in Zelienople. It also has community services for children with mental health issues at its main site as well as in Friendship, Butler and Beaver Falls.
Sheila Talarico, executive director of the Glade Run Foundation, said the agency specializes in "kids everyone else has given up on."
That includes 150 to 200 children who attend classes at St. Stephen School, which specializes in teaching those whose autism or mental health issues make it difficult for them to learn in a regular classroom. The school typically has classes of 12 students or fewer and those with the most serious needs have three staff members for each student.
The school has contracts to accept students from 53 school districts, mostly in Allegheny and Butler counties.
In addition to regular classroom work, the school offers special sensory rooms that help children with autism calm down and regain their focus.
Glade Run also runs a residential treatment program on campus, where about 100 live in group homes. Some are voluntary placements for help with mental health issues, others court placements after neglect or abuse at home.
The cottages feature individual rooms for residents, a common dining and meeting area and rooms set up to help teach residents life skills such as laundry, cleaning, writing a resume and keeping a checkbook.
Ms. Talarico said the agency is proud that more than 90 percent of those in residential treatment leave for less-restrictive programs.
Glade Run also uses a portion of its 350 acres for an active farm and horticultural program where kids can care for and interact with farm animals or grow flowers and vegetables. The program, which is also available as a summer camp, helps to teach responsibility.
"Animals make special connections with kids," Ms. Talarico said.
Allegheny County regularly places abused or neglected children at Glade Run, partially because of the unique setting and full range of services it offers.
"It gives kids an opportunity they might not otherwise have," said Marcia Sturdivant, deputy director of the county's Department of Human Services, Office of Children, Youth and Families.
"Sometimes a child needs a loving place. They offer homelike cottages that are good for kids."
Ms. Talarico said Glade Run soon will begin a major capital campaign to upgrade some of its facilities, including building a "sensory house" with a series of rooms for children with autism.
Holidays present a special challenge for programs like Glade Run. In some cases, children come from financially stable, loving families that willingly participate in their care and holiday activities. But others come from dysfunctional families or families without the financial means to give gifts at Christmas.
That's where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Goodfellows Fund and the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program come in, providing toys for children who otherwise might not have anything under the Christmas tree. Your donation will help an agency like Glade Run provide a gift for a needy child.
"A lot of kids, even if they come from a good home environment, their family may not be able to buy anything for Christmas," Ms. Talarico said. "Our staff identifies kids who may be in poverty and makes sure they get something."
Glade Run also will collect gifts or gift cards as admission for two special showings of the animated movie "Polar Express," at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday. Santa Claus will visit and refreshments will be available.
Reservations are required and can be made by calling 724-452-4453 ext. 1227 or sending an email to email@example.com.
Glade Run also has a Christmas Angel program through Dec. 20 in which the public can ask for a tag with a child's specific Christmas gift wish and deliver it unwrapped to the facility.
Tens of thousands of needy children are counting on the generosity of Pittsburghers to brighten their Christmases through donations to the Goodfellows Fund. The goal of the fund is to make sure that every child has a toy under the tree on Christmas morning.
Please help. Make a tax-deductible donation to Goodfellows by using the coupon on this page, or online by visiting www.post-gazette.com/goodfellows. Every donation will be acknowledged in the newspaper.
The Toys for Tots program will hold open houses next month to distribute toys to parents and guardians of needy children.
They will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 at Guardian Storage Solutions, 2839 Liberty Ave., Strip District. Parents and guardians should bring a photo ID for themselves, a birth certificate for each child (children up to age 12 are eligible) and proof of need -- welfare check stub, food stamp card or other proof of government assistance.
First Published November 30, 2012 12:00 am
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Antarctica is the last untouched continent, making it a desirable destination for the intrepid traveler. It has no indigenous people, no politics and no economy, yet it covers almost one-tenth of the earth's surface -- making it 1.5 times the size of the United States. More than 30,000 tourists travel there each year -- a small number compared to Alaska's 1 million cruise visitors.
The history of Antarctica's exploration includes Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen's famous race for the South Pole, as well as one of the greatest survival stories of all time. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew set sail aboard Endurance on a quest to be the first to cross the southernmost continent over land. They abandoned their attempt when the ship was trapped in sea ice, but incredibly, thanks to Shackleton's courage and determination, all crewmembers survived.
Today, cruise ships visit just the tip of the iceberg compared to the great explorers, traveling to the South Shetland Islands and the 1,000-mile-long Antarctic Peninsula. Typically, one-third of all visitors come from the U.S., and U.K. travelers rank second, closely followed by German adventure-seekers.
The "White Continent" has the world's largest concentration of marine wildlife, with hundreds of thousands of penguins, six species of seals and nine types of whales calling it home. You can expect to see three types of penguins -- chinstrap, gentoo and adelie, all from the Brush-tailed penguin family. Finding an emperor penguin this far north is unlikely, but it does happen. South Georgia is the place to find King penguins. Seals are commonly found on the beaches and lazing on icebergs, and if you're very lucky, a blue whale will breech alongside your ship.
You have to see the remarkable scenery to believe it. Icebergs come in shades of white and blue -- weathered by the sea -- and huge glaciers line the horizon. Most impressive are the immense tabular icebergs that break off from frozen ice shelves in huge chunks. Whether you go for the wildlife or the breathtaking scenery, you won't be disappointed.
Who Goes There?
Three main types of ship travel to Antarctica: small expedition ships with ice-hardened hulls, medium-size ships and large cruise ships.
Smaller ships carry inflatable landing craft (usually Zodiacs) so that passengers can venture off the ship and actually set foot on land. Look for the smallest vessels from lines like Aurora Expeditions, Oceanwide Expeditions and Antarpply Expeditions, but the more well-known sailings tend to be on the mid-sized ships of Hurtigruten, Silversea, Lindblad Expeditions
, Quark Expeditions, G Adventures, Noble Caledonia
, Orion Expeditions
and Seabourn Cruise Line
. Large ships from lines like Crystal Cruises
, Princess Cruises
, Holland America
and Celebrity Cruises
offer two to three days of scenic cruising with no landings.
Choosing an Itinerary
Most Antarctica itineraries (and fares) include charter flights to the cruise port of Ushuaia, Argentina, from (and back to) Buenos Aires, Argentina or Santiago, Chile. There is generally an overnight scheduled at a hotel in Buenos Aires or Santiago on the way to the cruise. Once you reach Ushuaia, there are two primary options for your actual cruise:
These itineraries feature 11 to 14 nights at sea, including the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands located off its tip.
South Georgia and the Falklands:
Longer 14- to 19-night sailings add the Falkland Islands, where you can check king penguins off of your wildlife sighting list, and South Georgia, where Shackleton is buried.
Around Cape Horn:
In the large-ship category, on lines like Holland America and Princess, the journey to Antarctica takes about six nights during an around-the-horn South America cruise. Remember, you won't have the opportunity to get off the ship in Antarctica.
It's worth noting that wherever you go is entirely weather dependent. If it's too windy and dangerous to land the Zodiacs at one spot, the captain will sail to another landing.
Whether you choose a large or a small ship from South America, there's no getting away from sailing across the Drake Passage -- roughly 36 hours of choppy seas and gale-force winds. There's a reason it's called expedition cruising. The area is nicknamed the Drake Lake on calmer days and the Drake Shake on wilder days. Come prepared with a supply of seasick patches or pills.
Best Time to Go
The Antarctic summer and cruise season begins in November and ends in March. It is too dangerous for tourist ships to visit in winter, when pack ice extends more than 620 miles around the continent. At that time, it's also dark, and temperatures can drop to as low as -90 degrees C.
It is usually warmest between December and January, when the first penguin chicks emerge, fur seals breed and the receding ice allows for more exploration. If you're keen on whales, go in February or March, when sightings are most likely on the Peninsula. Be aware you'll experience a wide variety of weather conditions -- rain, snow, sleet and sunny skies whenever you go. Temperatures can change by the hour, ranging from relatively mild to freezing and below zero with a high wind-chill factor.
Antarctic landings are unlike anything you will experience on a regular cruise. There are no cafes, no shops, no towns and no people, except at a handful of research stations.
Most ships drop anchor and take passengers by Zodiac to roughly the same spots. These are some of the shore excursions which may be included in cruise fares:
An active volcano made monochrome with black ash is one of the most popular landings, and arriving through Neptune's Bellows -- a 200-meter-wide gap in the wall of the caldera -- it's easy to see why. On the shore is an abandoned British Antarctic Survey base and crumbling boilers from a Norwegian whaling operation. It's a great hiking spot, and from the higher peaks you may be lucky enough to spot a pod of humpback whales in the sea below. You can even go swimming there -- if you're brave enough!
Now the habitat of chinstrap and gentoo penguins, this is where Shackleton's crew was stranded while he took five of his men in search of help. The men were eventually rescued from the island, but only after spending a grueling winter there.
A British station on Wienke Island was secretly established by Churchill during World War II to report enemy activity and provide weather reports. Now the rustic building is like a time capsule back to the 1960's, complete with original tins of food in the kitchen and peeling painted pin-ups in the bedroom. It is manned by a small team each summer that monitors the effects of visitors on the penguin rookeries. The building is part museum and part shop, so get your cash ready. There's a great selection of souvenirs, and you can even send a postcard!
Half Moon Island:
This crescent moon-shaped South Shetland island is the site of an Argentine research station, and you'll find the wreck of an old wooden whaling boat on its shores. It is home to a large chinstrap penguin colony, as well as nesting Antarctic terns and kelp gulls. You'll also find fur and elephant seals lazing on the beach or ferociously fighting in the surf.
The Lemaire Channel:
This is one of the most spectacular waterways on the planet. It's obvious why it is nicknamed Kodak Gap as you glide through clear sapphire seas among mountain peaks capped with pristine white snow and ice-blue bergs. This is not a landing, but the Zodiacs may be lowered for seal-spotting and taking photos of the boat.
It is possible to visit Antarctica for a few hours without going by sea. On a limited number of South American cruises, such as Victory Adventure Expeditions, you can book shore excursions (weather permitting) from Punta Arenas, Chile. The flight is 3.5 hours each way. Crystal Cruises also offers a 12-hour excursion, landing at the Chilean base on King George Island. The trip costs about $3,600 per person.
Extending Your trip:
One night isn't nearly enough time to explore the vibrant departure cities of Buenos Aires and Santiago. It pays to add a few days -- or even a week -- on your own. You won't regret it.
Check out our port profiles for things to do in Buenos Aires
What To Pack:
Essential clothing for Antarctica includes a winter coat, waterproof trousers (to keep you dry while riding in a wet Zodiac), two pairs of warm gloves (again, one to keep dry when the other pair gets wet) and a wool hat. You will also be lost without a pair of knee-high rubber boots (for all landings), but check with your cruise line if they rent these before you go. You'll also need thermal underwear, heavy socks, sweaters and wool pants or sweatpants (to wear under your waterproof layer). A few upscale ships supply windbreakers, which you get to take home after the cruise. If you find that buying all this gear adds up, you can either rent it from a snow-and-ski or adventure store, such as Outdoorhire
in the U.K., or order it online from Antarctic Equipment
in Ushuaia and pick it up before you embark.
Even if you are not a keen photographer, it's worth investing in a decent camera to capture what could be the most spectacular scenery and wildlife you will ever see. And if you have them, take binoculars.
You won't need hiking boots, as you will always go to shore in your rubber boots. A waterproof backpack to carry photography gear in the Zodiac is also recommended.
For more ideas, see our Ultimate Guide to Packing for a Cruise
Travel responsibly: IAATO
(International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) is an organization founded to advocate, promote and practice safe and environmentally responsible private-sector travel to the Antarctic. The continent is still unspoiled, and it's vital to keep it that way. So, before you go, clean and examine clothes and equipment thoroughly for dirt and other organic material.
--updated by Emily Payne, Cruise Critic Contributor
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The wisdom of the humble shall exalt his head, and shall make him sit in the midst of great men.
Praise not a man for his beauty, neither despise a man for his look.
The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness.
Glory not in apparel at any time, and be not exalted in the day of thy honour: for the works of the Highest only are wonderful, and his works are glorious, and secret, end hidden.
Many tyrants have sat on the throne, and he whom no man would think on, hath worn the crown.
Many mighty men have been greatly brought down, and the glorious have been delivered into the hand of others.
Before thou inquire, blame no man: and when thou hast inquired, reprove justly.
Before thou hear, answer not a word: and interrupt not others in the midst of their discourse.
Strive not in a matter which doth not concern thee, and sit not in judgment with sinners.
My son, meddle not with many matters: and if thou be rich, thou shalt not be free from sin: for if thou pursue after thou shalt not overtake: and if thou run before thou shalt not escape.
There is an ungodly man that laboureth, and maketh haste, and is in sorrow, and is so much the more in want.
Again, there is an inactive man that wanteth help, is very weak in ability, and full of poverty:
Yet the eye of God hath looked upon him for good, and hath lifted him up from his low estate, and hath exalted his head: and many have wondered at him, and have glorified God.
Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God.
Wisdom and discipline, and the knowledge of the law are with God. Love and the ways of good things are with him
Error and darkness are created with sinners: and they that glory in evil things, grow old in evil.
The gift of God abideth with the just, and his advancement shall have success for ever.
There is one that is enriched by living sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward.
In that he saith: I have found me rest, and now I will eat of my goods alone:
And he knoweth not what time shall pass, and that death approacheth, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die.
Be steadfast in thy covenant, and be conversant therein, and grow old in the work of thy commandments.
Abide not in the works of sinners. But trust in God, and stay in thy place.
For it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make the poor man rich.
The blessing of God maketh haste to reward the just, and in a swift hour his blessing beareth fruit.
Say not: What need I, and what good shall I have by this?
Say not: I am sufficient for myself: and what shall I be made worse by this?
In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils: and in the day of evils be not unmindful of good things:
For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward every one according to his ways.
The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights, and in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works.
Praise not any man before death, for a man is known by his children.
Bring not every man into thy house: for many are the snares of the deceitful.
For as corrupted bowels send forth stinking breath, and as the partridge is brought into the cage, and as the roe into the snare: so also is the heart of the proud, and as a spy that looketh on the fall of his neighbour.
For he lieth in wait and turneth good into evil, and on the elect he will lay a blot.
Of one spark cometh a great fire, and of one deceitful man much blood: and a sinful man lieth in wait for blood.
Take heed to thyself of a mischievous man, for he worketh evils: lest he bring upon thee reproach for ever.
Receive a stranger in, and he shall overthrow thee with a whirlwind, and shall turn thee out of thy own.
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ORLANDO (AP) The NBA still leads the way in sports diversity.
The NBA was again the only men's professional sports league to receive a combined "A" for race and gender in the annual report released Wednesday by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
The league had slight decreases for blacks in front-office positions from last year but is still the best among men's pro sports, according to the study.
"I think that our teams go for the best talent and it's a fact that if you don't have the widest possible pool, including women and minorities, then you're not going to have the best talent. And so for us it's quite natural and we're very proud of our teams and their talent search," NBA commissioner David Stern said.
The study shows 77% of the NBA players were black, 18% white, 3% Latino, 1% Asian and 1% "other." International players, after a steady rise in recent years, stayed steady at 18%.
Richard Lapchick, author of the study, said the percentage of international players might deviate slightly in the next few years but has "probably peaked" for now.
Women made up 44% of professional employees at the league offices. That increased by one percent from last year, higher than any other menfk's professional league in any previous study but still below the NBA's high of 49% in the 1995-96 season.
There also were 34 women in vice president positions in the league office, an increase of three. And while the league received high marks for gender again, Lapchick said that might be the area the NBA can make the biggest strides.
"I think that the NBA, like the other leagues, has a lot of room for improvement at the senior-level positions of teams for women," Lapchick said. "But it's still better than every other men's pro league."
The report is based on information published in official team guides at the beginning of the 2009-10 season.
Dave Czesniuk, director of operations for Northeastern University's Sport in Society, said the NBA consistently gets the highest marks because Stern has made diversity a priority.
"Other leagues should stop looking at this NBA study as a report card, and start looking at it like a best practices manual," Czesniuk said.
The study shows there were eight black head coaches and one of Asian decent —Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra — at the start of the season, a drop of 10% for minorities. There were four black team presidents, a decrease of five, but still more than any other sport.
The report found 36% of the professional positions at the league office were occupied by minorities, the highest ever for any major pro sport.
Lapchick also credits the high marks the NBA has received to Stern's presence as commissioner, a post he's held since 1984.
"David, I think, made clear to all of his teams that he just wanted the best people hired," Lapchick said. "Not only as players, but as front offices, and he started to set a standard in the league offices as to what teams should do."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.
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|Indians are going to the polls in the world's largest democratic exercise [EPA]
While previous general elections in India have been fought over national issues, this time around coalition mathematics seems more important than campaigns over economic growth, terrorism or inflation.
With both the major national parties, the Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), being shunned by their regional allies across the country, the likelihood of a coalition of disparate parties coming to power after the April-May general elections looms large.
Not that India is new to coalitions. The Congress has ruled for most of the last five years through a stable coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). So did the BJP before that between 1999 and 2004 with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The worry is that a coalition without a strong Congress or BJP to lead and hold it together will not last the full five-year term. It happened in 1996 when 13 parties came together to rule and fell two years, and two prime ministers, later.
It was not always like this. The Congress, which led India's freedom struggle, won the absolute majority of votes for decades after independence in 1947 - somewhat akin to the African National Congress's hold over politics in post-apartheid South Africa.
But a gradual erosion of support for the Congress, beginning in the mid-1970s, saw mainly national opposition parties, including the BJP, make steady gains and come to power in the 1990s.
And now in 2009, it may be the turn of regional parties who have already tasted power in the states, to come together and rule the country.
This motley group is called the Third Front and they have positioned themselves as the alternative to the UPA and NDA.
For their detractors, the Third Front is just an umbrella that could be folded away for parties that are not with the main coalitions.
Politics in India, especially in the rural hinterland, is still substantially driven by identities of caste, sub-caste, and sub community within that.
The build-up to the election day is played out like a game of chess.
Each major party watches whom the others are nominating in each constituency like hawks and then try to break the numbers: by getting relatives from the opposition candidate's family to stand, prodding some independent candidates to step up, buying off others who could swing key blocks.
|The BSP's Mayawati aims to be the first lower caste prime minister [GALLO/GETTY]
With each move, the calculated aim is to splinter the electoral mathematics and nudge the needle to the barest minimum margin for victory.
And it is the mathematics that gives the Third Front confidence.
The Congress and the BJP won just over 50 per cent of the vote between them in the last election in 2004.
The Third Front reckons that any further fall in support for the two main parties would effectively give regional and caste-based parties the advantage.
It is as if the smaller parties have smelt blood and are eager to zero in on the kill.
Parties which were aligned with the major parties are either unwilling to have a pre-poll arrangement or have bickered with these two parties over seat-sharing arrangements - a clear sign that they would rather pick their partners after the election results are out on May 16.
The Third Front
The main players in the Third Front are the leftist parties, mainly the Communist Party Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc.
Voting takes place in the 543 constituencies in five phases from April 16 to May 13. Results will be announced on May 16.
16 April: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadwep
Total constituencies: 124
22 April: Manipur
23 April: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Utter Pradesh, Jharkhand
Total constituencies: 141
30 April: Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Sikkim, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
Total constituencies: 107
7 May: Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi
Total constituencies: 85
13 May: Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh
Total constituencies: 86
The second-biggest partner is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati, the chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. Her support for the front is conditional: if they win she wants to be India's first prime minister from the so-called lower castes.
Other partners include the regional Telugu Desam Party, the Telangana Rashrtiya Samiti, the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal.
Together, this rump coalition, which cuts across ideology, had 96 seats in the last Lok Sabha or the lower house of parliament.
They could emerge as a decisive force if the main coalitions fall reasonably short of the simple majority of 272 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha.
With the BJP being an anathema to most of them, the Third Front is likely to end up supporting a Congress-led government.
And if the Congress tally drops drastically, they would pitch for leading a government, supported by the Congress.
In the 2004 elections, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's biggest support came from the leftist parties with 59 seats.
They supported the government from outside but withdrew support over the landmark civilian nuclear deal with the US in 2008.
So is India heading for a weaker, and perhaps short-lived, coalition government, with both major national parties struggling to keep up with the Third Front?
The main battle
The main national battle is still between the UPA and the NDA.
Many opinion polls show that the ruling UPA could beat the main opposition NDA, but may still fall short of a majority in parliament.
Only weeks ago, the Congress seemed to have a better chance of winning, with its coalition appearing intact and better-than-expected performances in state elections last year.
However, the party's dwindling base in former strongholds like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar states, is a major cause of worry for its leaders.
In many of these states, the party has been forced to play second fiddle to its allies, who are powerful there.
And seat-sharing arrangements for the Congress have broken down in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 80 parliamentary seats, the biggest single source.
The birth of new regional parties has also threatened the party in swing states like Andhra Pradesh.
The UPA had the support of 263 MPs in the last parliament. Of this, 145 were Congress MPs.
The BJP had 138 seats, just seven seats short of the Congress.
However, its major allies in the NDA have either parted company or are seriously considering the option.
The chances of the NDA improving its tally hinges on the party improving its strength in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Smaller allies like the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), who have few seats between them, would hardly make a decisive difference even if their tally increased this time.
With Biju Janata Dal in Orissa having left it and no new alliances formed, the NDA appears to be in some trouble.
All these calculations are conventional wisdom. But does the Indian voter really want the Third Front option?
Investors and businesses worry that it could herald policy limbo just as the affects of the global economic recession are being felt in a still growing economy.
|A coalition of India's leftist parties may emerge as a decisive force [EPA]
While reforms to open up the financial sector may be put aside amid the credit crunch, they are looking for changes in India's rigid labour laws as well as moves to privatise public sector companies to help boost investments.
The fear is that a loose coalition will mean more squabbling over policy.
And the ordinary voter may still remember the political chaos unleashed by the Third Front during its short spell in power.
Many will be fervently hoping that the analysts get it wrong as in 2004.
In that election, the ruling BJP ran on the platform that declared India shining – the country had never had it so good.
While the rest of the world and the experts agreed, to the BJP's shock, India disagreed.
Also, a terror attack anytime before the end of polling may see the nation rallying behind either of the two main parties.
The truth is no one really knows what can happen. The Indian voter is shrewd and has always had a penchant for surprising the pundits.
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Washington, DC— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivered the following remarks this morning on the Senate floor to congratulate Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia on becoming the longest-serving member in the history of Congress. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
“When baseball legend Lou Gehrig retired after playing 2,130 consecutive games, every expert jumped to the same conclusion: this record will never be broken. Of course, they were all wrong.
“Throughout history, forecasters have sentenced themselves to ridicule for prematurely assuming a skyscraper’s height would never be topped, for promising an invention’s ingenuity would never be outdone, or for contending an athletic feat would never be surpassed.
“Even so, I am willing to risk predicting that many of the records set by Senator Robert Byrd will never be matched:
· Since coming to the Senate in 1959, Senator Byrd has cast more than 18,500 votes. No one else, past or present, even comes close.
· Here’s another: He is the only Senator who has ever been elected to nine full terms in this body.
· And another: He has presided over both the shortest session in Senate history – not even one second long – and presided for the longest continuous period – more than 21 hours.
· Here’s one more: No one has ever served on a Senate Committee longer than Senator Byrd. Just days after being sworn in, he joined the Appropriation Committee he would later chair.
· He has also held the most leadership positions in Senate history, and continues to serve as our President Pro Tempore.
“And just moments ago, when this body was gaveled into session, Senator Byrd realized one more unparalleled accomplishment: he has just become the longest-serving member of Congress in United States history.
“Every day since January 3, 1953 – that’s 56 years, 10 months and 16 days – West Virginians have been proud to be represented in Washington by Robert Byrd.
“He began his service in the House the same day Alaska became our 49th state, and was months into his Senate service when Hawaii became our 50th.
“Senator Byrd has served in this nation’s Congress for more than a quarter of the time it has existed. And he has served in Congress longer than more than a quarter of today’s sitting Senators – and the President of the United States – have been alive. That doesn’t even count one Senator who was born just days after his first election to represent West Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District, and a second who was born just weeks after that.
“A dozen men have called the Oval Office his own while Senator Byrd has called the Capitol building his office.
“He twice won every single one of West Virginia’s 55 counties. And throughout one of the longest political careers in history, no one ever has defeated Robert Byrd in a single election.
“But through each one of those campaigns – after each of the twelve times he has taken an oath to represent the people of West Virginia – on every single one of the 20,774 days he has served – he has never taken the privilege for granted.
“As a former leader of both the majority and the minority caucuses in the Senate, he knows better than most that legislation is the art of compromise. It is telling that the man who has served here longer than any other American has come to the conclusion that we must work together as partners, not partisans, for the good of our states and our country.
“He has seen partisanship and bipartisanship; war and peace; recession and recovery; and his perspective is invaluable to the way we carry ourselves as United States Senators.
“Senator Byrd’s legislative accomplishments are many, and he continues to accumulate them. And while those accomplishments fortify his incomparable legacy, he is perhaps best known in this chamber as the foremost guardian of the Senate’s complex rules, procedures and customs.
“He has not concerned himself with such precision as a pastime or a mere hobby. He has done so because of the unyielding respect he has for the Senate. And on this momentous occasion, I say to my friend that the Senate returns that unyielding respect to him.
“By virtue of his endurance, Robert Byrd has known and worked with many of the greats of the United States Senate. Because of his enduring virtue, he has long since established himself among them.
“There will never be another Senator like Senator Byrd, and today’s milestone is another record that will never be broken.
“Congratulations, Senator Byrd.”
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Many people read their owner’s manual from beginning to end when they first receive their new vehicle. If you do this, it will help you learn about the features and controls for your vehicle. In this manual, you’ll find that pictures and words work together to explain things quickly.
Seats and Seat Controls
This section tells you how to adjust the seats and explains the reclining seatbacks and head restraints.
Manual Front Seat
You can lose control of the vehicle if you try to adjust a manual driver’s seat while the vehicle is moving. The sudden movement could startle and confuse you, or make you push a pedal when you don’t want to. Adjust the driver’s seat only when the vehicle is not moving.
2-Way Manual Seat
Lift the bar located under the front of the seat using an upward motion. This will unlock the seat. Slide the seat to where you want it and release the bar. Try to move the seat with your body to be sure the seat is locked into place.
6-Way Power Seat (If Equipped)
The driver’s switch is located on the left side of the driver’s seat cushion. The passenger’s switch is located on the right side of the passenger’s seat cushion. To move the seat forward or rearward, push the switch forward or rearward. To raise or lower the entire seat, push the switch up or down. To raise or lower the front portion of your seat, push the front of the switch up or down. To raise or lower the rear portion of your seat, push the rear of the switch up or down.
Reclining Front Seatbacks
Lift the lever to release the seatback, then move the seatback to where you want it. Release the lever to lock the seatback into place. Pull up on the lever without pushing on the seatback and the seatback will move forward.
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Collection of modern, minimalist, and eco friendly architectural design for your home inspiration
Located in Lupsingen village, near Basel, Switzerland, Luca Selva Architects designed a minimalist house which is set on a hillside on the outer edge of the Lupsingen residential area. The village consists of a small old center and a much larger residential area of single-family homes. This is the most popular mixture of remoteness and close proximity to the city center of Basel.
The building’s volume interprets the local building codes in an unexpected way. The code allows saddleback roofs and hipped roofs only. Luca Selva Architects opted for an undirectional volume and chose the hipped roof, to get the benefit from the diverse qualities of the village site.
The three glassed sides allow for cross-views over the interior of the living space and also extend the view out through the windows. The sliding doors also open the living space to an extent that the border between interior and exterior becomes blurred.
The building’s appearance itself is ambivalent. It is a body rather than a house in the traditional way. There is no distinction between roof and walls both are clad in slate. The entire envelope is the roof. There is no canopy and no gutter or rain pipes, the rainwater simply runs down the façade.
With tons of blueprints (over 16,000!) for different furniture designs and outdoor woodwork projectsyou can have a great insight into how to build different things with wood. In it, they tell you about wood, how to design projects, the detailed photographs, patterns, blueprints, materials list and step by step instructions on how to put build them.
The second part shows you the different tools and how to use them, and a complete guide to woodwork carpentry. And the color photographs and drawings are beautiful and show a lot of detail.
Copyleft © 2012 Home and House Design | 29.11 MB
All materials, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain. In the event that there is still a problem or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof
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Lisa J. Messersmith '84 Shapes AIDS Laws in Vietnam
Alumni News & Notes
By Briana Wagner '13
April 21, 2012
Bostonia Magazine has featured Lisa J. Messersmith '84 and her efforts to prevent the transmission of HIV among injecting drug users in Vietnam in an article titled " Ho Chi Minh gets with the program: How an American public health researcher helped shape AIDS law in Vietnam."
Messersmith moved to Vietnam in 1998 to serve as the sexuality and reproductive health program
officer for the Ford Foundation’s Office for Vietnam and Thailand. Among her first initiatives was a "condom café" in Ho Chi Minh City that provided young people with condoms and sexual health information.
In 2002, however, Messersmith, a medical anthropologist, moved her focus to the high rate of HIV transmission in Hà Giang Province; over half of injecting drug users were infected. She and her colleagues proposed a clean needle and syringe program to security officials and the provincial Communist Party chief. Through provision of clean injecting equipment and peer education, Hà Giang Province saw a 24 percent decrease in HIV among addicts just 18 months later.
Within five years, these efforts in Hà Giang Province led to similar programs across the country and eventually to a national AIDS law that helped fight against discrimination in education, employment and health care that is often experienced by those living with HIV/AIDS.
Today UNAIDS reports that 89 percent of Vietnamese injecting drug users say they used a sterilized needle the last time they injected. Between 2002 and 2006 HIV rates among injecting drug users in the country decreased from 30 percent to 23.6 percent. Awareness and access to treatment for HIV have also increased.
At the end of Messersmith’s Ford Foundation tenure in Vietnam in 2004, she was presented with the Medal for the People's Health by the government.
"Her valuable support for the improvement of the social life of the Vietnamese people is unquestionable," explained Nguyên Chí Dung, a professor of sociology at Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Administration. "It's fair to say that she considerably contributed to the development of the relationship between Vietnam and the United States."
Messersmith is currently an associate professor of international health at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is director of the Vietnam AIDS Policy and Planning Project and the principal investigator on two studies in Vietnam, one of which looks at the health and social service needs of women who are living with HIV/AIDS, and the other which examines the magnitude and forms of discrimination faced by people living with HIV/AIDS.
At Hamilton, Messersmith majored in creative writing. She earned her Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1991 and her Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1992. She went on to earn her PhD in Anthropology in 1994 from the University of California at Los Angeles.
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Ask a question about 'Exotic Zoology (book)'
Start a new discussion about 'Exotic Zoology (book)'
Answer questions from other users
is a cryptozoological
Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals whose existence has not been proven...
book by Willy Ley
Willy Ley was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.-Life:...
, a science writer and space advocate.
Ley had written a number of books containing scientific oddities; Exotic Zoology
collects the cryptozoological matter from those books. Throughout the book he shows examples of organisms that were rumored to exist, or were thought to be impossible, that were shown to be real; and others that were accepted as fact, that were discovered to have never existed: "He speculates about dragons and sea serpents, wingless birds and Abominable Snowmen." The book, in its description of (fictional) peoples and creatures, has been compared to John Mandeville
"Jehan de Mandeville", translated as "Sir John Mandeville", is the name claimed by the compiler of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a book account of his supposed travels, written in Anglo-Norman French, and first circulated between 1357 and 1371.By aid of translations into many other languages...
. Some of the claims have been criticized or ridiculed, for instance the statement that giant squid
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species...
s had left scars on whales of two feet in diameter.
- A Bibliography of the Works of Willy Ley by Jean M. Perreault, University of Alabama in Huntsville
The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a state-supported, public, coeducational research university, located in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees, and is organized in five...
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You'd better believe that the old Pearsonian myths that have dominated Canadian foreign policy are dead now. Just consider today's announcement and ask yourself if this would have been contemplated even five years ago:
The Conservative government has come under fire from a wide range of critics condemning the recent appointment of a new Canadian ambassador to Iran as a cynical and potentially dangerous political move guaranteed to inflame tensions in the Middle East.
The Department of Foreign Affairs announced today that Fred Litwin, 51, an Ottawa-based music production company president with no previous foreign policy experience, will become Canada's envoy to the fundamentalist Islamic regime effective immediately.
Mr. Litwin is well-known in party circles for his blog, Gay and Right, in which he has expressed uncompromising support for both Israel and gay rights, and opposition to Iranian and Islamic political ambitions.
Mr. Litwin attracted media attention several months ago when he organized the showing of a controversial documentary film on Islamic terrorism, only to have it cancelled by theatre operators following protests from local activists. The film was later shown at the Ottawa public library.
An unusually broad collection of critics, ranging from peace activists to social conservatives, have come out against Mr. Litwin's appointment, calling the appointment of the openly gay Jewish music producer offensive and counterproductive.
"Appointing this man sends a signal that Canada disrespects the faith and sensibilities of the Iranian people and Muslims all over the world," said Canadian Islamic Congress President Dr. Mohammed Elmasry. "It is an act of aggression unworthy of Canada's role as a tolerant and peaceful nation, and we call on (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper to withdraw this appointment and apologize to the Islamic and Iranian communities."
Liberal foreign affairs critic Ujjal Dosanjh also condemned the appointment at a press conference in Ottawa as a shameful pre-election exercise in political posturing aimed at winning over votes from the Jewish community and socially progressive urban voters.
"This appointment has nothing to do with promoting peace in the Middle East and everything to do with promoting Stephen Harper at home," said Dosanjh. "It's cynicism of the worst kind--hiding the party's intolerance behind a token gay man."
Some commentators, however, have expressed support for Mr. Litwin's appointment, calling it a bold move that could actually raise Canada's reputation and influence in the strife-torn region.
"The Middle East is a land of symbolism, and what could be a more powerful symbol than sending a Jewish gay man to Iran?" said University of Western Ontario political science professor and Toronto Sun columnist Dr. Salim Mansur. "It demonstrates a resolve not to compromise in the face of (Iranian President) Ahmadinejad and the mullahs."
Relations between Canada and Iran have been strained over the past several years, following the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in a Tehran prison in 2003, and the arrest and subsequent release of Iranian-Canadian professor Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo in 2006.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa called the appointment of Mr. Litwin "a matter of grave concern for both our countries" and said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry "would give careful consideration to its response."
Everybody is piling on about the appointment in the media--Gwynne Dyer, Eric Margolis, Neil MacDonald, Haroun Siddiqui, etc., etc.--and you can read a collection of selected commentary here.
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Last Modified: November 1, 2001
This Patient Pointers was written by Cecelia George, the wife of a man diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Since her husband's diagnosis, one of her goals has been to educate other women about prostate cancer and to encourage the men in their lives to practice healthy behaviors.
Most women don't like "bugging" their men. However, if your spouse or significant other is dragging his feet about getting a prostate examination, you may need to take the initiative. Make the appointment, lasso him, and drive him in for the test.
Women undergo mammograms, Pap smears, and endless waiting for results. While men see to it that we take care of ourselves, their health is a horse of a different color. And while I'm talldng about horses, I hereby give you permission to be a nag (just about this one thing) and get him in for prostate testing. Macho men often take the view that nothing bad can happen to them, but statistics prove otherwise.
In the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts & Figures-1992, there were an estimated 132,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States.
The report estimates that 165,000 cases and 35,000 deaths from prostate cancer will occur in 1993. Approximately 1 in every 11 men will develop prostate cancer. This is second only to skin cancer as the most common cancer in men. There were an estimated 34,000 deaths from prostate cancer in 1992, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men.
My husband, Lisle George, is 63 years old. He happened to read a newspaper column where a concerned person wrote in and asked about the PSA (prostate-specific antigert) blood test. Lisle was impressed by the article and went to his family doctor, who refused to give him the test, saying that the digital examination was all that he needed and that he was "fine, not to worry." Lisle was persistent and contacted a new physician.
The doctor said this simple blood test detects PSA, a protein produced only by the prostate that can be increased when cancer is present. The higher the PSA level in the blood, the greater the likelihood that cancer is present and that further testing is needed. Normal levels of the antigert in the prostate are under 4 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). Lisle's result was 7 ng/mL.
Lisle was sent to a urologist, and further tests demonstrated that he had prostate cancer. My husband and I were both called in and the doctor ex- plained the options. Being married only 6 years at the time of diagnosis and still called "honeymooners," we did not want anything to change our marital re- lations. Therefore, we chose nerve-sparing surgery. Lisle was sent to a University Medical Center where successful nerve-sparing surgery was performed.
So wives, if you value your man as I do, I strongly suggest that you go ahead--be a nag. Don't let your man be a statistic. I have recently completed training as a certified nurse's aid and had part of my training in a urology unit. Believe me, I saw many patients undergo prostate surgery. In the 1991 report of the community cancer program in which I trained, 269 of the 973 new cancer cases were of the prostate gland. My work now takes me to retirement centers and care centers, and it doesn't take me long to realize that the women are outliving the men. Unlike the digital rectal exam, the PSA blood test is not part of a regular checkup. However, ira man has a family history of prostate cancer or simply desires to have the test done, he should be persistent until a doctor agrees to perform the test. If surgery is necessary, it can be performed, as in Lisle's case, and your lffe can go on together. If you hold your man's hand and get him to doctor and through the recovery period, your relationship will be enriched and you can go on living. We love life and are active people-and we're fortunate that we were persistent enough to push for a diagnosis. Together we battled cancer and won.
For the Cancer Information Service and for all support group information call: 1-800-ACS-2345
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Do you ever find yourself saying, “It used to be so simple?” Sharing your views was a simple as handing out flyers, attending a meeting, or making a few phone calls. Then you discovered e-mail and the Internet, and before long, you were deluging your friends and acquaintances with forwarded posts and links to websites.
Since the publication of The Hobbit in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–1955, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction has captivated generations of readers. The numerous printings and editions of his works have been met by seemingly innumerable imitators and commentators, and they spawned one of the most financially successful adaptations to film in history.
The Dumbest Generation is a book that is painful to read, but which Americans dare not ignore. The book’s title reflects the confrontational character of its findings: Mark Bauerlein addresses a topic that refuses to be ignored, and he does so with a command of the facts and the passion of a jeremiad.
Success or failure for a political lobbyist often comes down to access; without easy access to legislators, it is naturally much harder to apply the pressure to drive legislation in the desired direction. But lobbyists in Austin, Texas, may soon begin applying a variation on Chairman Mao’s saying, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” — albeit not in the way the Marxist dictator had in mind.
A recent New York Times op-ed is proving to be simply the latest in a long string of such pieces proving that the editors at the supposed “paper of record” simply do not “get it.” Opining under the headline “Preserving Reasonable Gun Limits,” the editors of the New York Times demonstrate a breathtaking disregard or misunderstanding for the nature of constitutionally guaranteed liberties in the United States.
According to its website, the Department of Homeland Security “has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face. ... Our duties are wide-ranging, but our goal is clear – keeping America safe.” Unfortunately, while ostensibly busy with the performance of those wide-ranging duties, DHS employees have managed to lose track of nearly 300 firearms — and some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of known criminals.
When he was running for President, Barack Hussein Obama claimed that a decision to elect his opponent would mean, in essence, a “third term” for George Bush. The purported purpose for voting for the candidate of “Hope and Change” was to mark a break with the past eight years, right?
Are objects evil, or is it the purpose for which a person uses it which is evil? This is a fundamental question that underlies many public policy debates in our country, but rarely does it so near the surface as it is in the debate over gun control.
A Washington Post article details some of the appalling tactics employed by the CIA as operatives (some lacking any interrogation training) attempted to beat the truth out of detainees. As detailed previously for TheNewAmerican.com, the CIA’s policy of so-called Extraordinary Interrogation Techniques left corpses in its wake, and allegedly involved the routine violation of the U.S. felony torture statute, which defines torture as including “the threat of imminent death; or the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering.”
In recent years, a popular understanding has arisen that DNA is an infallible form of evidence; whether one is speaking of a crime scene or a paternity test, whether on the news or in a crime drama, “The genes don’t lie.” But now a new study has found that DNA can be as open to falsification as any other form of evidence.
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Brief Outline of Topics Covered in Lecture 13
Chapter 22 Aggregate Demand and Supply Analysis
- Aggregate supply
- Aggregate supply in the short-run
- Aggregate supply in the long-run
- Does the economy self-correct?
Chapter 24 Money and Inflation
- Monetarist view
- Keynesian view
- Supply shocks
- Always a monetary phenomena?
- How does inflationary policy arise?
- Cost push - demand for higher wages
- Demand pull - shooting at the wrong target
- Budget deficits and inflation
Materials from class:
- The Citigroup Bailout (Round-Up of Reactions), Mark Thoma
- Sync, and Swim Together - NYTimes.com
- Toles Skewering Economists - Washington Post
- Carbon, trade policy, and carbon free trade areas - voxeu.org
- Bonfire of sovereign wealth funds? - Brad Setser
- The world’s central banks must buy assets - FT
- Quo vadis Islamic finance? - voxeu.org
- The Short-Selling Question - The Balance Sheet
- Why are we mean to car companies (and nice to the banks)? - Justin Fox
- The Real Great Depression - The Monkey Cage
- Anatomy of a Meltdown - The New Yorker
James Kwak says the bailout is "Weak, Arbitrary, Incomprehensible." I think he has it right:
Citigroup Bailout: Weak, Arbitrary, Incomprehensible: According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is done. Here are the terms. In short: (a) Citi gets another $27 billion on the same terms as the first $25 billion, except that the interest rate is now 8% instead of 5%, and there is a cap on dividends of $0.01 per share per quarter; and (b) the government (Treasury, FDIC, Fed) agrees to absorb 90% of losses above $29 billion on a $306 billion slice of Citi’s assets, made up of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities. (If triggered, some of that guarantee will be provided as a loan from the Fed.) There is also a warrant to buy up to $2.7 billion worth of common stock (I presume) at a staggeringly silly price of $10.61 per share (Citi closed at $3.77 on Friday).
The government (should have) had two goals for this bailout.
First, since everyone assumes Citi is too big to fail, the bailout had to be big enough that it would settle the matter once and for all. Second, it had to define a standard set of terms that other banks could rely on and, more importantly, the market could rely on being there for other banks. This plan fails on both counts.
The arithmetic on this deal doesn’t seem to work for me (feel free to help me out). Citi has over $2 trillion in assets and several hundred billions of dollars in off-balance sheet liabilities. $27 billion is a drop in the bucket. Friedman Billings Ramsey last week estimated that Citi needed $160 billion in new capital. (I’m not sure I agree with the exact number, but that’s the ballpark.) Yes, there is a guarantee on $306 billion in assets (which will not get triggered until that $27 billion is wiped out), but that leaves another $2 trillion in other assets, many of which are not looking particularly healthy. If I’m an investor, I’m thinking that Citi is going to have to come back again for more money.
In addition, the plan is arbitrary and cannot possibly set an expectation for future deals. In particular, by saying that the government will back some of Citi’s assets but not others, it doesn’t even establish a principle that can be followed in future bailouts. In effect, the message to the market was and has been: “We will protect some (unnamed) large banks from failing, but we won’t tell you how and we’ll decide at the last minute.)” As long as that’s the message, investors will continue to worry about all U.S. banks.
The third goal should have been getting a good deal for the U.S. taxpayer, but instead Citi got the same generous terms as the original recapitalization. 8% is still less than the 10% Buffett got from Goldman; a cap on dividends is a nice touch but shouldn’t affect the value of equity any. By refusing to ask for convertible shares, the government achieved its goal of not diluting shareholders and limiting its influence over the bank. And an exercise price of $10.61 for the warrants? It is justified as the average closing price for the preceding 20 days, but basically that amounts to substituting what people really would like to believe the stock is worth for what it really is worth ($3.77).
How does this kind of thing happen? A weekend is really just not that much time to work out a deal. Maybe next time Treasury and the Fed should have a plan before going into the weekend?
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Trevor: A Novella
Seven Stories Press
Publication date: September 2012
Digital Book format: ePub (Adobe DRM)
You save: $1.96 (13%)
Trevor is an exuberant, sociable, and witty thirteen year old. So how come, when he takes that nerve-wrecking turn toward his locker at school, does he feel scared and alone? Shunned by his friends, misunderstood by his parents, and harrassed at school for being different, Trevor goes from wondering what color glitter to choose for his Lady Gaga costume at Halloween, to wondering why some feelings "are so intense it makes you just want to lay down and die rather than go on feeling it," and making an attempt on his life. Trevor mixes humor and realism in an urgent look at what it is like to feel alienated from everything around you. And more importantly, what critical ties can step in at the most unlikely moment, to save you from despair, and give you reason to go on living.
Trevor is an update of the film version of the story, directed by Peggy Rajski, which won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 1994. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth. As the recent attention to youth suicides has received increased media attention, and Dan Savage's IT GETS BETTER campaign has gone viral around the world, the public is finally beginning to face hard facts. Thirty-three percent of suicides among teenagers involve LGBTQ youth, one-third of all LGBT kids report having attempted suicide, and nine out of ten report overt harassment at school. Trevor is an effort to make those kids feel loved and supported, so they will find the strength to go on living.
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HOW DO I FIND OUT IF I HAVE HIV?
Take an HIV test. This is a very personal decision. If you feel you may have taken part in activities that have put you at risk, you may want to consider taking the test. The test should be taken three to six months after the last time you may have been at risk. Since you can be infected with HIV and look well and feel healthy for years, the only way to know for sure if you are infected is by taking the HIV antibody test.
Click here to locate a testing site near you.
It is important to know if you have HIV so you can get early medical treatment, learn all you can about HIV disease, and protect yourself and others. Because there are many new drugs and treatments available, people are living longer and healthier lives with HIV/AIDS.
TIMELINE OF THE EPIDEMIC
Click here for a timeline of the AIDS epidemic including APLA highlights and milestones.
USEFUL INFORMATION AND LINKS
Click here to go to our Links page, where you will find a wide variety of HIV/AIDS-related resources.
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With the upcoming primary elections June 1, I thought it would be a good time to teach Girl Scouts the importance of voting. An article in the 2006 Leader Magazine says:
Many Girl Scout councils have incorporated some form of advocacy into their program models and public policy efforts. For example, "I Promised a Girl Scout I'd Vote" developed by the Girl Scouts, Patriots' Trail Council in Massachusetts teaches girls about the election process and the importance of voting.
Take our daughters to the polls is a White House Project to encourage girls that they are a valuable part of the political process. The website says:
The U.S. currently ranks an astounding 71st in the world in women's political representation. Women leaders make up just 17% of the Senate, 24% of state legislatures, and 17% of big city mayors. With so few women to emulate, young girls are going to have a hard time believing that they can make a difference in politics when they grow up.
Today's Girl Scouts are learning to use their voices to make a difference, and they want the adults in their lives to do the same by being politically engaged. Model the way for girls by taking the time to research the candidates and issues this election season and then going to the polls to cast your vote!
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Why did inrunner motors go out of favor?
I remember 20 years ago when inrunner motors ruled the RC airplane world. AstroFlight and their cobalt geared motors dominated the electric flying field.
What happened? What was so bad about these motors that seeing one in an airplane today is a rare sight indeed?
Classic Inrunner Motors
Inrunner motors spin their central part that is wrapped with copper windings. The magnets are on the outer casing that is stationary. Since the electrical windings spin, conductive electrical brushes must be used to make the electrical connection. The brushes caused drag that lowered the efficiency of the motors. They were also a constant source of wear and tear.
The bigger problem with inrunners is that they have a relatively high motor constant (Kv) value. What this means is that they want to spin at high RPM with little torque. Before they can be used in the typical model airplane, you must convert some of those RPMs into torque that can turn a reasonably sized propeller.
The best way to do it is by attaching a gearbox to the front of the motor. The best gearboxes are the so-called planetary gearboxes. They are expensive, easily costing more than the motor itself. They are also heavy, usually adding about 50% of the motor’s weight to the airplane.
Even worse, if you have a bad landing, it is the gearbox that is going to get it. Again, the nice gearboxes are not cheap.
Modern Outrunner Motors
Outrunners still have the copper windings on the inside, but now the magnets on the outside casing spin around. This arrangement completely avoids the need for brushes, a major source of headaches in inrunners.
Since the larger diameter outside can is what spins around, outrunners naturally develop more torque than inrunners. For a given size and weight, outrunners have much higher torque. Put another way, their Kv values are much lower. They are not as good as an inrunner with a gearbox, but it is good enough.
Outrunners have another advantage. They are designed for their shafts to be easily replaceable. The overall quality of components has gone up over the years anyway. It has been a long time since I have bent the shaft of one of my motors. But it is nice to know that for a couple of bucks I can get a replacement.
Ducted fan airplanes are still a great choice to use an inrunner motor. You need high RPMs and there is no danger of bending the shaft.
An inrunner would still use brushes, which you might want to avoid. Different windings on outrunners can be used to increase their Kv values. I think an inrunner still has the edge in this application, but in the end it is up to you.
While I’m on the subject of outrunners, let me say a word or two about their connectors.
Outrunner motors, at least the ones that I buy, almost never come with connectors soldered on. They usually come with the bullet connectors in a plastic bag for me to put on. For some reason 4 mm bullet connectors are very popular. A lot of motors come with them so you can solder them on yourself. But not always. Sometimes they come with an oddball size. I always keep a ten pack of 4 mm bullet connectors handy just in case. I recommend you do the same.
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How often should the Lord’s Church on earth celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? The mere fact that this question is raised suggests that there is no direct statement in Scripture. Indeed, the closest thing to a direct statement as to frequency is given at the institution of the Lord’s Supper as found in 1 Corinthians 11:26. “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
But how often is too often? How often is not often enough? What is the proper balance? Some churches opt for a weekly Communion. Citing New Testament passages regarding “the breaking of bread” such as Acts 2:42 and 20:7 et al, it is alleged that the established Communion frequency is weekly. However, we are not convinced that these verses teach weekly Communion.
For example, we read in Acts 20:7a: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread…” To be sure, the disciples held Communion, i.e., ‘broke bread’ on that particular Sunday. However, to suggest that this sets the precedent for weekly Communion is to suggest too much.
You may ask what is wrong with partaking of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday? But you might as well ask what is wrong with celebrating it every day, or two or three times a day.
The compilers of the Westminster Confession of Faith in The Directory For The Publick Worship Of God, as help, offer only these words:
“The communion, or supper of the Lord, is frequently to be celebrated; but how often, may be considered and determined by the ministers, and other church-governors [alias the Elders] of each congregation, as they shall find most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people committed to their charge. And, when it shall be administered, we judge it convenient to be done after the morning sermon.”
We believe that Quarterly or Seasonal Communion is the most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people in most city and rural Charges, and that Quarterly or Seasonal Communion has a strong Biblical basis.
The following is a brief overview of our reasoning:
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only Sacraments found in New Testament. These are signs and seals of the Covenant of Grace instituted by God in Christ. They replace the two Old Testament Ordinances of Circumcision and Passover respectively.
Baptism, like its predecessor Circumcision is a “one off” ordinance. Circumcision can occur only once. Likewise Baptism is administered once only per recipient.
However, Passover and the other Old Testament Feasts were celebrated often, i.e. annually. Likewise, their New Testament replacement is to be celebrated frequently. We believe the traditional Presbyterian practice of four times yearly (quarterly) is often enough, as this coincides with the Seasonal Feasts established by God in the Old Testament.
There were three major pilgrimage-feasts coinciding with the first, second, and third quarters of the year commanded by God in Scripture. At the time of Moses the Lord said to His people: “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year… The Feast of Unleavened Bread… The Feast of Harvest… The Feast of Ingathering” Exodus 23:14-16.
Another feast was added, viz., the Feast of Dedication. This Feast, like the three major ones also drew large crowds to Jerusalem. Thus it completed the annual cycle by placing a feast in the fourth quarter. Its title and season are mentioned in John 10:22, “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”
Hence, the three major feasts plus the great Feast of Dedication were as follows:
Spring = Unleavened Bread/Passover (Matt. 26:17-20).
Summer = Harvest/Pentecost (Acts 2:1).
Autumn = Ingathering/Tabernacles (John 7:2).
Winter = Dedication/Lights (John 10:22).
We believe that all Old Testament Feasts are now fulfilled in Christ and are now incorporated in, and replaced by, the Lord’s Supper. As the Old Testament Feasts were Gospel representations of Christ and His work of redemption, so is the Lord’s Supper.
Moreover, the Lord’s Supper is also representative of Christ’s Gospel blessings as promised to Abraham and repeated throughout the Old Testament. Peter, in Acts 3:19, refers to these blessings as “times [i.e. ‘seasons’ ASV] of refreshing”. These “seasons of refreshing” began at Pentecost and will continue throughout the Gospel Age “till He comes.”
With this in mind, it is interesting to note what is written even in the very first chapter of the Bible: “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years…’” Genesis 1:14.
The Hebrew word here for ‘seasons’ is moo’a:dym. Not only has this word to do with climate, but it also includes the idea of festive gatherings, or seasonal celebration. Therefore, the precedent for quarterly or seasonal Communion has been established from the very beginning.
Since there is no explicit instruction given in the New Testament regarding the exact frequency of administration of the Lord’s Supper, we, by the process of “good and necessary consequence” (compare Westminster Confession of Faith I:6), deduce that the Scriptures teach quarterly or seasonal Communion. (Cf. too Genesis 1:14; 4:3f; 8:20-22.)
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OVERVIEWis actually the prelude to Planetary Collective’s forthcoming project CONTINUUM, a feature documentary film about our deep interdependence with each other, the planet and the universe. They tell us that this perspective is the key to understanding the grave crises we currently face as a civilisation and as a planet. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, here it is (video above)…
Planetary Collective a team of three self-taught filmmakers who took a chance, quit their jobs, and have been living in the back of trucks and on people’s floors for nearly two years in order to make this film a reality. And with your support in this final phase they will be able to launch the film in February, 2014. If you haven’t seen the project, please check out the Kickstarter page and make a pledge. There are only 12 days left in the campaign, so please do so before March 24th.
Echolab is a studio specialized in sound design. They have imagined with the motion design studio Korb what would the spread of sound be like on Mars. The result is simply amazing, both for visuals and sounds.
Acoustic dust performance on the Red planet (northwestern part of the Aeolis Quadrangle at 5.4˚S, 137.8˚E) by KORB and ECHOLAB.
A gale is very strong wind. Gale is also a crater on Mars where NASA Curiosity rover landed on August 2012. It is the most advanced mobile robotic science lab ever to explore another planet. The rover aims to behave for a Martian year, but the nuclear power source may last for 14 years. What does the future hold for Curiosity? Will Mars rover ever leave Gale Crater?
Astronomers have conclusively measured the spin of a black hole for the first time by detecting the mind-bending relativistic effects that warp space-time at the very edge of its event horizon — the point of no return, beyond which even light cannot escape.
If the “Higgs-like particle” discovered last year is really the long-sought Higgs boson, the bad news is that its mass suggests the universe will end in a fast-spreading bubble of doom. The good news? It’ll probably be tens of billions of years before that particular doomsday arrives.
That’s one of the weirder twists coming out of the continuing analysis of results from Europe’s Large Hadron Collider, which produced the first solid evidence for the existence of the Higgs boson last year. Current theory holds that the Higgs boson plays a role in imparting mass to other fundamental particles. Confirming the discovery of the Higgs would fill in the last blank spot in that theory, known as the Standard Model.
Audio Data courtesy of CARISMA, operated by the University of Alberta, funded by the Canadian Space Agency.
20 Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array and interpreted as audio, we hear tweeting and rumbles caused by incoming solar wind, captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz. Generated directly by the sound, tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception.
As a double-winner of the Nobel Prize, Marie Curie brought global prestige to the Nobel institution in the early part of the Twentieth Century. But few names of Women scientists have been noticed, leave alone, celebrated in the annals of Nobel Prize history ever since. For instance, how many have heard of Dorothy Hodgkin who won the Chemistry Nobel in 1964 for determining the structures of important biochemical substances using X-ray techniques, and was a key figure in the famous Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs? And, how many have cared to know who Maria Goeppert-Mayer was? (She was a co-laureate of the Physics Nobel in 1963 tor findings related to nuclear shell structure, and remains the only woman after Marie curie, to have won the Nobel Prize in this category.)
Similar fundamental, anxious questions could be raised about Gerty Cori, the first Nobel Prize winning woman of America and the first female medical scientist to be inducted into the Nobel hall of fame (for identifying the course of catalytic conversion of glycogen), as well as Rita Levi-Montalcini, the Italian neurologist who co-win the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1986 (for discovery of the Nerve Growth Factor) and is the oldest living, longest-lived Nobel laureate today. (She completed 102 Years in April 2011).
World’s highest radio telescope captures image (left) providing evidence of how ‘gas’ planets are formed
The world’s highest radio telescope, built on a Chilean plateau in the Andes 5,000 metres above sea level, has captured the first image of a new planet being formed as it gobbles up the cosmic dust and gas surrounding a distant star.
On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.
The publication of Andreas Cellarius’ Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660 forms the final chapter of an ambitious cartographic project initiated 25 years earlier by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664), namely, the publication of an ATLAS in several volumes which described not only the surface of the Earth but the whole of Creation, including the cosmos and its history.
“My final project I made for my video productions class “Cutaway Productions” at my high school. I don’t own the rights to the song or the pictures and I am not trying to claim them, I just did this video for fun and i spent many a hour on it.” drivinman687
Song: Mind Heist (yes it is from Inception) by: Zack Hemsey
Pictures: from all over the internet
some of the space pictures, are made by the digital artist “antifanfan”
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The British tourist was taken to shore following the attack but died from blood loss after the shark ripped off his arm and tore into his leg.
The shark ripped off the tourist's arm and tore into his leg.
The attack occurred in the same spot where a French diver was killed earlier in the month.
The Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority issued a swimming ban at the Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette beaches.
A shark attacked and killed a British tourist as his newlywed wife looked on from a beach in the Seychelles Indian island paradise where they were celebrating their honeymoon, police said Wednesday.
The tourist from Lancashire was hauled onto a boat and taken to shore following the attack but died from blood loss after the shark ripped off his arm and tore into his leg, police said.
"Ian Redmond, a 30-year old British man, was on honeymoon with his wife when he was attacked by a shark while diving at Anse Lazio," a police statement said.
"The shark tore off his arm and bit a part of his left leg," it added.
His newly married wife was on the beach -- a famous beauty spot hailed for its white sand on the archipelago's Praslin island -- and watched helplessly as her husband was savaged by the shark.
"Two people who were on a boat not far from the attack tried to rescue him," the statement added.
"Ian Redmond did not survive his injuries because he had lost too much blood."
The attack happened on Tuesday afternoon in the same area where a shark attacked and killed a 36-year-old French diver earlier this month.
The couple, both from Lancashire, were holidaying in the Seychelles to celebrate their recent marriage.
The Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority issued a swimming ban at the Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette beaches, while surveillance patrols were launched in a bid to catch the killer shark.
Shark attacks are rare in Seychelles, with the last reported fatal shark attack before the recent killings in 1963, according to the government.
The 115-island Indian Ocean archipelago is a popular top-end tourist destination, with some villa accommodation costing as much as 10,000 euros per night.
Britain's Prince William and his bride Catherine celebrated their honeymoon in the archipelago in May.
British officials said they were comforting the distraught widow.
"The British High Commissioner and the vice-consul flew out on Tuesday to support his wife," a British High Commission spokeswoman said.
Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated their travel warnings following the deadly attack, highlighting the swimming ban.
"You should avoid swimming at these designated locations until further notice," the warning read.
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Editor’s note: Many of In Session’s Facebook and Twitter followers have asked us how does In Session track trials. In Session’s Trials Editor Jessica Thill wrote the following post to answer some of those questions.
TRIAL TRACKING IN FIVE STEPS
In Session’s Trial Tracking does a critical job for the network – finding interesting cases and keeping watch as they get closer to trial.
There are a number of ways the tracking team members find and research trials. They comb case leads in daily online periodicals, press releases and Google alerts. They also talk to prosecutors, defense attorneys, court clerks, and other court personnel. The trial tracking unit also uses social media to follow trending cases and get suggestions from In Session viewers. All of this information is stored in an extensive proprietary database that currently has data on more than 9,000 criminal and civil cases.
Here is an actual example of the unit’s five-step process for finding trials:
Step 1: FIND AN INTERESTING STORY
The tracker who covers Arizona finds an article about a woman who is accused of shooting and stabbing her ex-boyfriend and leaving his naked body in a shower in 2008. Police recovered photos of his body from a camera that was left in a washing machine. The defendant has given varying accounts of what happened, but ultimately claims she killed him in self-defense.
Step 2: THE DATABASE
The case is definitely one we want to follow, so the tracker starts a file with basic information, including a summary of facts.
Step 3: TRACKING THE CASE
As the case progresses through the criminal justice system, the tracker compiles articles and information on the case. The tracker also contacts key players, including the prosecutor and defense attorneys, for additional details and periodically checks with the court clerk and public information officer for updates on court dates and filings.
Step 4: PREPARING THE REPORT
The case is set for trial in November 2012, so the tracker writes an extensive report, making sure it includes all the pertinent information. Any gaps are filled and the final report is reviewed to ensure accuracy and completeness.
Step 5: TRIAL TRACKING MEETING
The Trial Tracking team and In Session executives meet every Tuesday to discuss upcoming trials. In Session executives make a final decision on whether the case will be covered and what resources to devote to bringing the case to the audience. The case is selected. The tracker sends a formal application letter to the judge and the attorneys involved. The judge approves our application to put cameras in the courtroom. Field producers, correspondents and technical staff will head to the courthouse and set up cameras and equipment before jury selection begins.
The last step is bringing you gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial on In Session.
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The nabob, the king of Lucknow, was certainly a man of tremendous courage, insight. But these are the people who become misunderstood by the common man. Before I tell you the story about the musician, it will be good to know about the king who invited him to Lucknow, to his court. He was the last king of Lucknow, and when the British armies invaded Lucknow he was listening to music. He was informed that the British armies were coming closer and closer. He said, “Just welcome them. They are our guests.” Perhaps nowhere else in history has there been a king who accepted his enemies as guests. And he told his people, “Make every arrangement for their comfort, and tomorrow I will receive them in the court. If they want to remain here, they can remain. If they want the power, they can have it. There is no need for unnecessary violence. Things can be settled in a more cultured way. But as far as this moment is concerned, I will not disturb the musicians just because a few stupid people are attacking the city.”
This nabob was very much concerned that all the great musicians had played in his court except one. He inquired: “What are the reasons?”
His people said, “His conditions are absolutely insane. He says that while he is playing his music, nobody should move. If anybody starts moving or swaying with the music, his head has to be immediately removed from his body. He will come only if this condition is fulfilled.”
The nabob said, “You should have told me before! Invite him and tell him the condition is accepted. And declare to the whole beautiful city of Lucknow that those who want to hear the musician should know the condition; otherwise they should not come.”
But almost ten thousand people came to listen to the musician. And the nabob was not a man to go against his word: one thousand soldiers with naked swords were surrounding the listeners. The order was that they should note down whoever moved, because to remove his head in the middle would be a disturbance.
Only twelve heads moved. They were noted. In the middle of the night, the musician asked, “Has my condition been fulfilled?”
The king said, “Yes, these are the twelve people who moved and swayed and forgot the condition. Now it is up to you: what do you want? Should we behead them?”
To everyone’s surprise, the musician said, “These are the only people worthy to listen to me. Now let the whole crowd go. They were not listening to me, they were simply protecting themselves. Just an accidental movement could cause death, just a change of position could be dangerous. They were too concerned with their lives. Music is not for them; let them go. Now the real music I can play for you in the remaining night, and for these twelve people.” It took a strange turn! The nabob said, “But this is a strange way to find the right people.”
The musician said, “That is the only way to find the right people. These are the people for whom music means something more than life itself.”
And in fact they had simply forgotten all about the conditions. Music touched their hearts and they start swaying, a kind of dance entered into their beings. He played his music for those twelve people the remaining night. And he told the nabob that he did not need any reward. This was enough reward, to find the right people who could listen to music. “I would pray to you: reward these people, because these are the people to whom music is meditation.”
There are two possibilities, looking at this story: either meditators found music, or musicians found meditation. But they are so immensely and deeply connected with each other…my own experience is that because meditation is a far higher, far deeper experience, music must have been found by the meditators – as a language to bring something from their inner dance, inner silence, to the people they loved.
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Jack Pennington Ltd is constantly looking to reduce its impact on the environment. A significant amount of work has been undertaken to reduce and better manage the volume and handling of waste both within our business and directly impacting on our customers.
Through this process we have reduced our waste sent to landfill by over 70% in the last 16 months and the aim is to make further reductions before the end of the calendar year.
This has been reduced by:
- Re-using as much material as possible
- Use and re-use cardboard and recyclable packaging materials wherever possible
- Introduction of three bin system within the warehouse
- In house baler enabling us to bale and recycle cardboard, plastic and shrink wrap
- Wood skip for collection and recycling
- Minimize use of packaging materials, particularly tape, plastic and shrink wrap
- Investment in portable banding machines
- Introduction of returnable packaging solutions
- Working with our supply partners to reduce waste coming in to our business
- Changing our ordering practices
- Most importantly - communicating the message throughout our business
We now collect and recycle a minimum 95% of all waste paper, cardboard, plastic/shrink wrap and wood generated within our business.
Whilst we are proud of the significant steps we have taken we firmly believe there is more to be done and we will continue to look to reduce our environmental impact wherever possible.
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THE HISTORY OF CHOROPLETH MAPPING
University of Guelph
Since their initial appearance in the early 19th century, choropleth maps have become the most widely used form of thematic map. This report traces the history of this ubiquitous method focusing on the societal influences, technical constraints and opportunities, and cartographic paradigms that have shaped its adoption and design. The surge of thematic mapping activity around 1840-1860 was influenced by innovations in both the social sciences and printing technology, as well as an increased government concern with economic, demographic, and health conditions. It was then that principal European countries began to conduct their first national censuses, providing a wealth of statistical information related to defined administrative areas on the ground. Once basic ideas concerning data processing and classification were worked out, choropleth mapping continued essentially unchanged up to the present day, although the term “choropleth” to describe these area symbol maps was not adopted until 1938.
Choropleth maps were one of the first types of thematic maps to be automated around 1960-1970. Not only were new production technologies emerging at this time, but a paradigm shift was occurring within the scholarly discipline. The new research paradigm envisioned mapping not as an end in itself with the map as a static end-product, but as part of a dynamic communication process whereby spatial information was transmitted from the map maker to the map user via the map. With the communication model came the focus on the map user, and interest shifted toward understanding the tasks for which choropleth maps were used, and how to effectively design maps to facilitate these tasks. Research in the last several decades of the 20th century delved into every aspect of the use and design of choropleth mapping.
By 2000 choropleth mapping could be readily automated with excellent results. In fact, with vector-based geographic information systems (GIS) which store attribute data in a spreadsheet format keyed to map areas, choropleth mapping became more pervasive than ever. By this time the communication model evolved into a paradigm of geographic visualization which recognized the important role of mapping in interactive data exploration. GIS facilitated this direct interaction between the user and the spatial information which was increasingly available in digital format from government agencies. The incredible rise in popularity of the Internet at the turn of the century led to the creation of Web-based tools for creating choropleth maps.
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...the Future, Your legacy into our Third Century of Service
to the Oxford Community.
Rivaling the sessions house and Hood's Tavern for antiquity is the library, the oldest in the county and the third oldest in PA. It was established on August 3, 1784, by 28 members and an equal number of books, to "promise Knowledge and Literature in the Township of Oxford...," according to the articles of incorporation of the Oxford Library Company.
It was a subscription library kept in private homes, having limited membership. In 1868 it was opened to the public (over 15 years old) for the purchase of a share of stock and an annual fee of one dollar, and was made a free public library in 1939, when it became a beneficiary of the Community Chest.
The library occupied rented space in various buildings - among them the second floor of McCullough's Pharmacy Building, the People's Bank building, and the Burn Building - until 1947, when it received $40,000 from the estate of Edith Rollins, enabling it to buy its own building, on the southeast corner of Lincoln Road and Fourth Street. In 1955 it moved from its last rented space, the lower floor of 13 North Third, the old Masonic building.
There were two other notable benefactors. Clyde Alexander, who died in 1966, left approximately a quarter of million dollars for the erection of colonial-style building in memory of his wife, Katherine B. Bicking Alexander, who died in 1954. Theirs was a childless marriage. Mr. Alexander was born in Oxford in 1885 and , when he was grown, worked with his father in the grocery store on Market Street that had been established in 1826 by his grandfather, Thomas Alexander.
The business was prosperous and his wife received a sizable legacy from the Bicking estate. Nine churches and six other health and civic agencies in the Oxford area also benefited from his estate. The commodious building constructed with Mr. Alexander's bequest was competed in December 1970, at 48 S. Second Street. It has 54,000 items in its collection and a patronage of almost 9,500, and is an associate of the Chester County Library System.
More recently, in 1979, George W. Brown left $165,000 in trust for the library. Mr. Brown, who lived in Lancaster at the time of his death, had once owned the Delmonico Cafe and had been associated with the Imperial Hotel there, as well as having been employed in real estate and insurance.
Excerpt from "Around the Oak" Reprinted by the Friends of the Oxford Public Library, March 1999
The Oxford Public Library is located at 48 S. Second Street in Oxford, PA. South Second Street runs between Lancaster Ave (Rt. 472) and E. Locust Street and can be entered from either of these streets. Free parking is available behind the library and across the street. An elevator is available just through the front entrance off of the parking lot.
Carey Bresler, Director
To reach the staff listed below by email: firstname.lastname@example.org
- Linda Teel, Circulation Supervisor
- Nancy Kodish, Children's Services Librarian
- Laurie B. Slauch, Administrative Assistant/Tech Services
- Susan Waltman
- Maria Garcia
- Jeanette Jenkins
- Chelsea Ramsey
- Eileen Sinsheimer
- Carlene Baer
- Amie Sweren
Charlie Harris and Phyllis Harris
Board of Trustees - 2013
- Frank Spor, President
- Karen S. Hovis, Vice-President
Upper Oxford Township
- Walter Leis , Secretary
East Nottingham Township
- Levi Villagomez, Jr., Treasurer
- Ruth P. Holmes,
Upper Oxford Township
- Maren D. Ketcham
- Jahan Shiekholeslami
Lower Oxford Township
- Dr. Raymond S. Fischer, Oxford Area School District Superintendant
Liaison from CCL Board
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From the looks of the initial pre-release, Windows 8 resembles a mobile operating system like what you might see
on a Windows Phone. Microsoft calls this new user interface, "Metro UI". For traditional desktop users, this new
change may be a little confusing to use.
Once Windows 8 boots, the user is directed to a Lock Screen which displays
the time, date, battery power indicator (if applicable) and network status. Double-clicking your mouse or pressing a
key on your keyboard sends the user to the login screen. Once logged in, the Home Screen (a.k.a. the new Start Menu) appears
with links to Internet Explorer, news feeds, the new Microsoft App Store and games. Those using a traditional mouse and
keyboard can scroll up and down through the menus while those using touchscreens can pinch and swipe to navigate.
Not unlike the Apple Store, you can purchase and download Metro Apps from the Microsoft App Store. Once installed, these apps
are made available in the Start Menu. Of course, you can also install traditional Desktop applications as long as they are
Windows 8 compatible.
While the Metro UI is a nice addition, you can still access the Windows Desktop, although it does look a bit different than
previous versions of Windows. If you are using dual monitors, Windows 8 boots as Metro UI on one display and the Desktop on
For those who have used the latest versions of Microsoft Office (2007 & 2010),
you'll notice that the new Windows Explorer in Windows 8 utilizes a similar ribbon-style menu at the top, including the Quick
Access Toolbar. The ribbon menu provides larger icons that can be customized to display the features you use most. Another exciting
and probably long awaited feature in Windows Explorer is the copy function. In Windows 8, you'll be able to know exactly how long
it will take to copy those files from one location to another. The details pane will show you the a percentage complete and the
amount of remaining time left to copy. What's more, file collision is handled more efficiently by not barraging the user with a ton
of alert windows when overwriting files.
Lastly, the other most notable difference in Windows 8 is the new Task Manager. It looks much less intimidating and simpler to use.
Microsoft added a new App History tab which lists how often you've used each application on your system and tells you which ones are
using the most resources. This feature seems like a great utility to identify bloatware and prevent it from taking over your system.
Overall, we believe Windows 8 is headed in the right direction. Supporting both desktop and mobile users should give Microsoft a
chance at capturing new customers as well as retaining their current client base. As computing technology changes, users will need
to adapt to a host of new features and new ways of doing things, but one thing is for sure, Fast Rhino will be here to help.
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From Mangilao, it was a southward drive towards Talofofo. But on the way, we checked out the jungle cruise port but the boat had just left. There are two schedules, one at 9 a.m. and another at 1 p.m.
Our next stop was the Talofofo Falls Park. Talofofo Falls is one of Guam's popular tourist attractions. A privately owned area, the entrance fee for tourists is US$20 which includes a two-minute cable car ride down to the falls and back, the amusement park, and a visit to Yokai Cave.
The cave was the hiding place of Sergeant Soichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier who hid in the Talofofo jungles for 28 years following the defeat of the Japanese in World War II. He was finally captured in 1972 and returned to Japan where he was given his back-pay. From the depiction on the wall, you could see that the cave was actually a small bunker 2.5 meters below the ground, 1 meter high and 1.5 meters wide.
We took the cable car down to the waterfalls area and hiked around. There are actually two waterfalls. Several rope bridges allow visitors to walk across the river to get around the falls area.
From Talofofo, we passed by Inarajan which we visited yesterday. We stopped at the Saluglula Pool which was a popular swimming area with a two-meter deep natural pool popular for diving. This pool was protected from the strong waves by several rocks.
We made our way to Merizo which was celebrating its village fiesta that day, known as Fiestan Tasi. Among the interesting sites in the village is an old convent which is now a school as well as a bell tower. There is also a replica of the image of the Our Lady of Camarin, the patroness of Guam, right in front of the church plaza. Merizo Port is also the jump off point for Cocos Island, a very popular beach among Japanese tourists.
From Merizo, we went to Fort Nuestra Senora de la Soledad in the village of Umatac. Umatac Bay is said to be the landing site of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 which is why a monument to him could also be found in the village. In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Umatac, claiming the islands for Spain. This would start the long intertwined history of the Philippines and Guam since the Marianas were governed by the governor-general in Manila.
Umatac Bay was very important to the Manila Galleon Trade since it was the last replenishment stop before the long voyage to Acapulco in Mexico. Which is why from 1680 to 1810, several fortifications were built to protect the galleons from pirates and privateers. The last of the four forts constructed was Fort Soledad.
It was already close to 2 p.m. and we realized we hadn't had lunch yet. So our driver took us to a popular Filipino restaurant in Tamuning which is actually an institution in the Filipino community of Guam. Opening its doors in 1987, Rambie’s is said to be the longest-running Filipino restaurants in Guam. Serving Pinoy favorites such as kare-kare, sinigang, caldereta and dinuguan, the restaurant uses the turo-turo concept, enticing customers with its colorful display of different dishes.
From Rambie's, we made our way to the Hyatt in Tumon to pick up the Probe crew who had done interviews the whole day. From there, we went back to the hotel to freshen up for a dinner cruise. But the sad part was the boat cruise cancelled due to the storm. So we decided to go shopping.
Our first stop was Micronesia Mall which is owned by none other than Lucio Tan. I guess the Philippines is completing its invasion of Guam with the arrival of shopping malls. Yes, Henry Sy has his own stake on the island as well. Jollibee is there too and so is San Miguel! After Micronesia Mall which closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays would you believe, we went to K-Mart which was open 24 hours. Anyway, more tomorrow.
626-year-old mosque named National Shrine
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Our comprehensive environmental
Environmental responsibility has long been part of Intelligencer Printing's culture. However, in the past few years we've accelerated our commitment by cultivating environmental awareness and action—both here in our plant and among our business partners and clients.
We're one of the few printers in the nation with a dedicated and formalized program for developing environmental best practices at every stage of the printing process. In fact, our Intelligent Green initiative includes a number of concrete policies and programs designed to sustain a healthy, natural world.
- We use alcohol-free and phosphate-free solutions.
- We have eliminated most toxic solvents.
- Our sheetfed presses use vegetable-based inks and Intelligencer's Renew™ Bio-based NO VOC and LOW VOC Inks.
- Our web presses run conventional and vegetable-based inks.
- A high percentage of our jobs use recycled papers—text and cover.
- We make an effort wherever possible to purchase paper from AFA (Abundant Forest Alliance) members and FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council™) certified mill sources.
- We take part in an aggressive program to recycle waste including paper, inks and solvents
- Our automatic blanket wash systems reduce the release of VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) by 70%.
- We're in compliance with all OSHA, EPA and Clean Air Act guidelines.
- Our delivery trucks run on bio-diesel fuel.
The bottom line? You can choose Intelligencer Printing with complete confidence and peace of mind, knowing that our commitment to nurturing the earth and protecting the environment continues to grow.
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My interest in swords grew out of my martial arts experiences. I’m not one of these self-styled “Japanese sword experts,” but I have enough experience drawing, cutting and sheathing real swords that I have some strong ideas about what a sword or knife should be.
First, a good blade should be durable. If a blade breaks, it’s not just an embarrassment to the sword maker, it’s a potentially lethal problem. Blades have to be made from good quality steel, properly heat treated. I’ve done a lot of experimentation and study to try and get the most out of the steel I use. I won’t say I don’t have room to improve (I do), but I do feel confident that my methods and testing will produce swords that won’t break under normal use.
Second, a blade should feel good. This is a very subjective matter. Different sword schools emphasize different techniques; different body types require different sizes and weights of sword. All I know is that I have ideas about what I like that are based on day-in-day-out practice with swords.
Third, a blade should be sharp. I own a gunto (war-era Japanese blade), and frankly I have pliers that stay sharp better. It used to be a commonly held belief among smiths that high carbon steels (the harder steels) should be avoided for swords because they are too brittle. But the American Bladesmith Society crowd have pretty well proved to my satisfaction that high carbon steels can be wicked tough…if properly heat treated. Right now I’m doing a good proportion of my work with high carbon steels which hold their edges well.
Fourth, a blade should be beautiful. To me beauty has two components. One is just plain-old vanilla esthetics. You can train your eye to see ungainliness, awkwardness, lack of proportion, lack of symmetry and so on. As somebody who grew up around art, who draws and paints, I think I have a decent eye for what’s butt-ugly and what’s not. I try to avoid butt-ugly in my work.
But beauty is more than esthetics. Swords are as classic an example as you can find that practical things are almost always attractive. Form follows function.
But there’s yet another layer to the beauty issue. I try to put my heart into everything I do. Whether it’s playing music, writing books, playing with my son, or making swords, I hate doing stuff in a half-assed way. I think that things which are made with commitment and joy have something special about them. To me this, above all, is what distinguishes my work from factory-made blades.
The worst of the factory blades are simply dangerous crap. They’re easy to hate. But the best of them, while adequate for use by serious martial artists, are a little soulless.
My swords, on the other hand, are made by me on a one-off basis. I design them, I forge them, I plunge them into the water to heat treat them, I polish them, I test them, I sharpen them. When you get one of my swords — for good or ill — you get a piece of me.
Which, in this world of mass market plastic same-ol’-same-ol’ shlock, is a beautiful thing.
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Freezing water is an example of a phase transition -- a change in the physical properties of a substance when the temperature or pressure are changed. Phase transitions are often accompanied by either the absorption or release of thermal energy.
Water molecules have electric dipole moments -- the oxygen atoms are more negatively charged than the hydrogen atoms, and the molecule is in a bent shape, with hydrogen atoms not quite on opposite sides of the oxygen. This means that water molecules strongly attract each other electrostatically (opposite charges attract each other). If there isn't too much random motion of the molecules (that is, the water isn't too hot), then the molecules prefer to line up in an orderly fashion, with the positively-charged part of one molecule next to the negatively-charged part of another molecule and so on, held together in a rigid crystal. If the molecules have more thermal energy, they shake around and break free of their neighbors. They still like to stick to one another, but because they are moving so much, they constantly change their neighbors and bounce off of each other. This is the liquid phase.
Ice is actually less symmetrical than liquid water. In the liquid state, all directions appear the same, and all places in the liquid have the same properties as all others. Not so with ice -- the crystals point in definite directions over long ranges (you may still need a microscope to see them well for a snowflake, for example, but the crystals still are very large compared to the molecular-scale randomness in liquid water). Freezing transitions of substances involve a reduction in their spatial symmetry, or otherwise said, an increase in how orderly the molecules are arranged.
When water freezes, the molecules give up some of their energy to their environment (by conduction or radiation, helped on macroscopic scales by convection, of course) and slow down. They begin to stick to each other, and as permanent bonds form, additional energy is released (it takes energy to pull the molecules apart, and you get the energy back when you let them stick to each other). The amount of energy released is 80 calories per gram of water when it freezes.
A curious thing about water: liquid water with a temperature close to the freezing point is actually more dense than ice, due to the fact that the crystalline arrangement of water molecules in ice is not the closest packing possible because of the shape of the molecules. You can even melt ice under some circumstances by exerting pressure on it
. I suppose it also goes in the opposite direction -- water may re-freeze once the pressure is gone. But of course, as always, the 80 calories per gram must be added when the ice melts and removed when it re-freezes.
If you dissolve something in the water then the freezing point of the solution will be lower than for the water alone. Salt can be used to lower the melting point in many practical situations
. The reason for this is that the salt, actually, sodium and chloride ions in solution, "gets in the way" of the water's ability to make a nice, orderly crystal, so when the ice crystal forms, almost all the salt gets left behind in the liquid. That means that freezing the water not only lines up the water molecules but also limits the room the salt ions have for moving around. That makes it harder to freeze. Other additions to the water will have a similar effect. You can try experimenting with sugar, for example, to see how the concentration affects the freezing point of water. Some substances won't dissolve in water (like oil) and won't have an effect on the freezing point, although a coating of oil on top of the water may have an effect on the rate at which heat flows into and out of a container of water.
(published on 10/22/2007)
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The thunder echos as the fog rises. When you get closer the mist covers you, folding you into the blanket of drops that bounce from the pouring of the massive amount of water tumbling from the river to the canyon below it. The amazing Victoria Falls spans two countries in Africa: Zimbabwe and Zambia. One of the seven wonders of the world, this rushing flow of water is also known as the “cloud that thunders”. When you set eyes and ears upon it, this becomes more clear.
There are options of helicopter, small plane or microlight flights over the falls, depending on the side of the Zambezi River you are staying. I recommend both, since each offers a different experience and the time of year also makes a difference. Later in the year you will find the water on the Zambia side at a mere trickle. The Zimbabwe side will be rushing as usual and a tour under portions of the falls is worth getting wet. Wearing a hooded poncho will help with this, but you will be surprised at the amount of precipitation you will encounter despite this preparation.
If you are in Africa at all, Victoria Falls is worth the visit. Plan to spend a couple of nights and enjoy an elephant ride, river cruise or wildlife safari in addition to viewing Victoria Falls from the air.
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Nestle Proposal Overview
Nestle Waters North America is proposing to pump water out of an aquifer in the semi-arid Arkansas Valley near Nathrop, CO (approximately midway between Salida and Buena Vista). This water will then be piped 5 miles to a loading station. The water will then be trucked 120 miles to Denver for bottling under the Arrowhead brand. The quantity of water involved is 200 acre feet per year, which translates into approximately 65,000,000 gallons per year. In order to handle this quantity of water, Nestle will be running 25 trucks roundtrip to Denver each day. Nestle calls this a sustainable operation.
Nestle Waters North America (Nestle) is a branch of the multi-national company Nestlé, based in Switzerland. Nestle is one of the world’s leading bottlers of water. Numerous brands belong to Nestle; in our region the two common brands are PureLife (bottled municipal tap water) and Arrowhead (bottled spring water). Nestle has recently built a bottling facility in Denver where they are bottling Denver municipal water. They also hope to bottle spring water at the Denver plant. To obtain the spring water, their plan is to pump water from an aquifer in Chaffee County (called the Ruby Mountain site), build a 5 mile pipe line in order to transport the water to a loading station, and then use tanker trucks to make a 240 mile round trip to Denver. Twenty five round trips will be made each day in order to extract the planned 65,000,000 gallons annually. If you would like to see a graphic that shows how many bottles would be used monthly, please click here This is a project that Nestle promotes as “sustainable”.
In order to realize this project, Nestle has to satisfy various rules and regulations that apply to such a project in Chaffee County. The land, which they currently do not own but have a conditional contract on, does not currently comply with the necessary land use designation for such a project (think of zoning). Therefore, they must apply for a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP). In addition, the County has in place a body of regulatons called “1041 Regulations”
GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS FOR
AREAS AND ACTIVITIES OF STATE INTEREST
COUNTY OF CHAFFEE
STATE OF COLORADO
ADOPTED: December 10, 1991;
REVISED: June 17, 2003.
Chapters 1,2,3, and 9 are the ones that the County referred to in Nestlé’s application. To view the 1041 regulations click here
A second major element needed to realize the project concerns the water that they want to withdraw. In order for Nestle or anyone to use water, ( note that we did not say "take" ) they must have a “right” to do so. Think of the word “water right”. Nestle does not currently own such water rights as would required to remove the quantity of water in question (65 million gallons/year). The anticipated purchase of the Ruby Mountain site does not involve such necessary water rights. The proposed solution to obtaining a necessary “right” is that Nestle will lease that right from Aurora. This process will allow them to "augment" their withdrawals. They have an agreement pending with Aurora for a 10 year lease of the “water right”. Currently for every gallon of water Nestle plans to extract and truck to Denver, Aurora will release a gallon of water into the Arkansas River in the area of Twin Lakes (20 or so miles upstream). Where does the water Aurora is supplying come from? Nestle is committing that it will be trans-basin, meaning that it will come from outside of the Arkansas Valley Watershed or basin. Nestle promotes to the County citizens “every drop of water we take will be replaced”. This seems to make a number of people feel better … but it will be the poor neighbors in the watershed(s) to the west that will have to bear the loss of the water from their region. The truth is the majority of the water Nestle “harvests” will be headed out of the State of Colorado! If you read this document it will be clear that such an action as a corporation exporting public water from the State for profit is most questionable. Myopic views concerning water are not acceptable at this point in time.
The last public hearing during which either the applicant or the public could make any comments was held May 21, 2009. Subsequent to that meeting the County Commissioners (the deciding body) have held 3 hearings in which they “deliberated” on the application. It was during this process that the Commissioners decided to direct County Staff to draw up a body of “conditions” that Commissioners felt would allow the permit to be acceptable with regards to the 1041 regulations.
On September 23, 2009 the Commissioners signed the Permit Resolutions for the Nestle
Waters 1041 Permit Application and the Special Land Use Permit. To view the Final 1041
Permit Resolution click here. For the Final SLUP click here and for the Cost Reimbursement
Fund click here.
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Chances are you have been on the Internet and have been surfing in and out of websites looking for valuable information pertaining to a favorite topic or researching a subject for school or work. As you type in keyword(s) you match the information you are searching for on Google, you come up with 10,000 pages of information. It's virtually impossible to go through every one, so you refine your search by adding more exclusive keywords. Voila the number of pages reduces to around 1,000. Still this is a lot of pages, but you start looking through the information to find what you want.
As you go through the first 10 links on the page, WHAM! The information you needed to find was in the first or second in order of PageRank. You wonder how did they get such a high rank on Google? You may think it was very expensive to get that site at the top of the heap. The funny thing is, with a little know how and about $75 you too can go for the top.
Search Engine Optimization or "SEO", has become a standard in the web design industry, every customer of a good web designer wants to be number one in their keyword and may be willing to pay the extra money to get there. A good web designer will dress up a web sites home page to match the requirements of their client on specific keywords. The client will also pay more for the exclusivity to remain there untouched. SEO has become a niche for a lot of web companies. They know if they can get the company to the top fast, the word of mouth will be helpful toward their business.
Through specialized META tags (hidden group of keywords) the web designer will strategically place keywords multiple times in the title bar, keywords, and even as hidden text. Some search engines have figured these tricks of the trade out and have banned certain websites from their indexes. Google has become the engine of choice for a lot of people today. There is a different logic Google uses to calculate page rank and keywords is only a portion of it.
Google actually uses a specialized mathematical equation to place your site in a predetermined order. First things first, if your website is a keyword, that does not automatically give you a top spot. It will take time to move up the ranks and you should register with Google as soon as possible to drive your rank upwards. But just having the right URL (Universal Resource Locator) doesn't guarantee the top spot either. You must also be swapping or reciprocating links with other Google users. The more you use Google websites that are indexed the faster and higher your site will go in the ranks.
A Google robot will visit your site frequently so continue to modify your code and keep checking its rank and status. Eventually, your site will drive up the ranks and land on top. It may take time and work, but you will get the hang of keeping it there once you employ the right mix of keywords with links. Some companies can charge up to $1,000 for the top spot, they employ the same techniques, even though they don't want you to know this. Keep your META tags, title, keywords and content in line with your keywords and continuously look to optimize them. Under no circumstances take another persons keywords off of their code; this is potentially dangerous as you could be violating copyright laws.
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A carefully-woven masterpiece of geometry and ingenuity, Stravinsky Violin Concerto is a work of symmetry and order on the outside, but the pair of orchestral arias at its core provides the inspiration for two of Balanchine's most unique pas de deux.
This score was composed in 1931, and for the premiere Igor Stravinsky conducted, with Samuel Dushkin as the violin soloist. In writing the score, Stravinsky collaborated closely with Dushkin who provided technical details about the violin, with both of them making fascinating discoveries about its possibilities. The score was first used by Balanchine in a wholly different version, for the Original Ballet Russe in 1941, under the title of Balustrade, with beautiful costumes and scenery by Pavel Tchelitchev. When Balanchine returned to this score three decades later he could no longer remember his original choreography. “What I did then was for then,” he said “and I wanted to do this music for our Stravinsky Festival.” The ballet premiered on the opening night of the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, which also included the premiere of Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements.
View a slideshow of images from Stravinsky Violin Concerto >
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And so in articles in the Post, as well as the Baltimore Sun and the Annapolis Capital, Tyler Heights Elementary is portrayed simply as a model of school reform done right, headed by a cheerleading, effortlessly optimistic principal. The stories don’t delve into the heavy costs of the success; they rely heavily on interviews with the principal, and why would she have wanted to discuss the messy stuff?
Even if the school had given a newspaper access for a year, the reporter still would lack many of the advantages that a book author enjoys.
You get more space. In Tested, I wanted to explain how outside influences, from federal education policy to county directives to family life, affected the school days of children and teachers and transformed the ecology of a school. There are a few newspapers that devote massive resources and space to education projects, but more do not. Even a huge newspaper project is a fraction of the length of a typical narrative nonfiction book, limiting the scope of an effort like this.
Freed from the strictures of space, I was able to focus on issues I felt were crucial to understanding the inner workings of a school, which are the types of topics a newspaper editor is likely to consider inside baseball and the first things that get cut from an overlong newspaper article. Too often, education is covered as a consumer issue, with stories geared only to what editors think readers want to know about how their own children spend their time. Kids losing recess because of test prep and art: yes! Teachers told they need to pass a test or else their students will receive letters that they’re not qualified: meh. A “news you can use” approach to stories is fine in many cases, but not when it crowds out the comprehension that can come from seemingly wonky stuff. Teachers’ battles with bureaucracy, after all, are news a reader can use when the reader wants to understand the climate of schools and why teachers are losing enthusiasm for their profession. A book allows you to show consultant visits, curriculum decision-making, meetings where teachers discuss the mundane details of each special-education student or struggling reader or chronic misbehaver. These situations may be administrative in origin, but the impact on real lives is compelling—if you get to really know the characters involved.
You get more time. A paper like the Post spends a lot of resources on education, with at least ten reporters devoted to the topic. But those reporters almost all cover local school systems, and when they do tackle projects, they usually must tend simultaneously to their regular beats. For a project of the depth and breadth I was setting out on, the Post would have had to allow me a massive, impractical amount of time away from my daily beat. Two years elapsed from my first contact with the Tyler Heights principal to the completion of the editing process, including ten months when I spent nearly every school day at Tyler Heights and the remainder of the afternoon and evening at home transcribing notes, reading, and interviewing.
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WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- A rule proposed under the Affordable Care Act would cut lots of red tape, saving an estimated $4.6 billion over 10 years, U.S. health officials say.
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the proposed rule would implement several administrative simplification provisions as part the healthcare reform act.
"The new healthcare law is cutting red tape, making our healthcare system more efficient and saving money," Sebelius said in a statement. "These important simplifications will mean doctors can spend less time filling out forms and more time seeing patients."
Currently, when health plans and entities like third-party administrators bill providers, they are identified using a wide range of identifiers that do not have a standard length or format. As a result, healthcare providers run into a number of time-consuming problems, such as misrouting of transactions, rejection of transactions due to insurance identification errors, and difficulty determining patient eligibility, Sebelius said.
The rule simplifies the administrative process for providers by proposing that health plans have a unique identifier of a standard length and format to facilitate routine use in computer systems. It will allow providers to automate and simplify their processes, particularly when processing bills and other transactions, Sebelius said.
|Additional Technology Stories|
WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) --The Senate Wednesday shot down Rand Paul's amendment to the U.S. immigration reform bill that would have tied immigrants' legal status to border security.
LOS ANGELES, June 19 (UPI) --U.S. singer and actress Selena Gomez and British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran are now involved in a trans-Atlantic romance, Us Weekly reports.
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One of the primary goals of genetics over the past decade has been to understand human health and disease in terms of differences in DNA from person to person. But even a relatively straightforward trait such as height has resisted attempts to reduce it to a particular combination of genes. In light of this shortcoming, some investigators see room for an increased focus on an alternative explanation for heritable traits: epigenetics, the molecular processes that control a gene’s potential to act. Evidence now suggests that epigenetics can lead to inherited forms of obesity and cancer.
The best-studied form of epigenetic regulation is methylation, the addition of clusters of atoms made of carbon and hydrogen (methyl groups) to DNA. Depending on where they are placed, methyl groups direct the cell to ignore any genes present in a stretch of DNA. During embryonic development, undifferentiated stem cells accumulate methyl groups and other epigenetic marks that funnel them into one of the three germ layers, each of which gives rise to a different set of adult tissues. In 2008 the National Institutes of Health launched the $190-million Roadmap Epigenomics Project with the goal of cataloguing the epigenetic marks in the major human cell types and tissues. The first results could come out later this year and confirm that different laboratories can get the same results from the same cells, says Arthur L. Beaudet of the Baylor College of Medicine, the project’s data hub. “One couldn’t automatically assume it would be so nice,” he says.
Up to this point, the best way to study epigenetic effects has been a strain of mice known as agouti viable yellow. In these mice, a retrotransposon—a bit of mobile DNA—has inserted itself in a gene that controls fur color. Mice bearing the identical gene can be yellow or brown depending on the number of methyl groups along the retrotransposon. Such methylation marks would normally be erased in the reproductive cells of an animal. But in 1999 a group led by geneticists at the University of Sydney in Australia discovered that methylation of the fur color genes persists in the female germ line, allowing it to be passed down to offspring like a change in the DNA.
Agouti viable yellow mice might have something to say about the human obesity epidemic. The animals have a tendency to overeat and become obese. In 2008 Robert A. Waterland, also at Baylor, discovered that this trait gets passed down and amplified from one generation of agouti to the next, so that “fatter mothers have fatter offspring,” he says. He is investigating whether the effect can be explained in terms of methylation patterns in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates appetite.
Retrotransposons could lead to other epigenetic effects. In the early 2000s geneticist David Martin of Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in California reasoned that the silencing mechanism that keeps retrotransposons inactive might randomly shut down genes that are supposed to be left on. If the silencing occurred in a gene responsible for suppressing tumor formation, the result would appear the same as genetic mutations that predispose people to cancer.
Working with colleagues at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Martin identified two individuals who had the characteristics of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, which is usually caused by a mutation that inactivates one of a person’s two copies of the tumor suppressor gene MLH1, but who showed no signs of mutation. Instead the MLH1 of both was methylated in cells of the blood, hair follicles and inner cheek—all derived from different embryonic layers.
In Martin’s view, the result strongly suggested that the patients had inherited the silenced gene from one of their parents, like the case with agouti mice. Although some researchers have suggested that a genetic mutation in the fertilized egg cell could be responsible for the methylation pattern, Martin says the simplest explanation is an inherited epimutation. “Nobody has been able to explain why these things aren’t actually germ-line epimutations,” he says.
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San Bernardino is known for their sunny weather and easy going residents. We are also known for some of our local attractions and historic landmarks. Below are just a few landmarks located throughout the city.
First McDonald's Restaurant
The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The original mascot of McDonald's was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger shaped head whose name was "Speedee." Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald McDonald in 1963.
The restaurant is still opened as a museum and can be seen on the historic Route 66 in downtown San Bernardino.
Al Houghton Stadium
San Bernardino is the home of Al Houghton Stadium and the Western Regional Little League headquarters of Little League Inc. Each year in the first two weeks of August, San Bernardino hosts eleven western states in the West and Northwest regional tournaments. The winner of each tournament goes onto the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The championships games each year are televised by ESPN. Teams include: Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Northern and Southern California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Orange Show Poster
The National Orange Show Festival is an annual festival held in San Bernardino County, California since 1911. A fun event for most San Bernardino residents, there remains a legend regarding the opening of the show — it always marks rain for the usually dry Southern California residents. The reason behind the rainy day is legend has it that fair ground employees were looking for a new place to have the Orange Show and the land that they wanted was an Indian burial ground. The Indian tribe put a curse on the annual show saying that every time the show was to occur it would rain that day. And ever since the curse was put on it has rained every year of the show.
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NEWPORT NEWS — Whether performing surgery with his sure hands or pleading for equality with his quiet voice, the late Dr. Charles Waldo Scott left a legacy that continues to ring across the southeastern part of the city.
He felled barriers in the medical field, establishing a less hostile road for subsequent doctors whose only apparent fault was their color.
Scott also fought for African-American participation in the local political arena, paving the way for individuals such as son Bobby Scott, who, in 1993, became the first black congressman from Virginia since Reconstruction.
``He was recognized as a most outstanding person in the community, first because of his abilities as a physician and surgeon,'' said Philip S. Walker, 73, a retired Newport News attorney who grew up with the elder Scott.
``He was recognized also because of his community activities and interests.''
C. Waldo Scott began a private practice here in 1948 and served on the staffs of predominately black Whittaker Memorial (now Newport News General), Sentara Hampton General and Mary Immaculate hospitals until his retirement in 1987.
``He was one of the pioneers in surgery. He was able to excel even when the playing field wasn't level,'' said L.D. Britt, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School. ``I learned of him when I was in high school. When they talked about the successful and renowned surgeons on the East Coast, his name would always pop up.''
Scott was the first Peninsula general surgeon certified by the American College of Surgeons and also was a fellow of the college and a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery.
Without Scott, there would have been a harder road for Britt, 43, a Harvard Medical School graduate and Suffolk native who also heads the Shock Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
``I can't ever talk about the achievements of my colleagues today unless I mention the pioneers,'' Britt said. ``It's easy for me to run touchdowns, but those guys did all the blocking.''
Though he walked the corridors of many hospitals in Newport News, Scott's relationship with a hospital he never worked for best conveyed the doctor's role as a pioneer.
In 1963, Scott and pediatrician George Cypress filed suit against Riverside Hospital, claiming they were denied staff privileges on the basis of their color. A federal judge ruled in favor of the hospital, but the testimony of Cypress and Scott sent a clear message: You cannot deny qualified physicians based only on the color of their skin.
Riverside knew of Scott's capabilities, as shown by court testimony from a respected New York doctor who observed Scott in the operating room and reviewed his experience and training.
Said Dr. Samuel Standard, director of surgery at Morrisania Hospital in New York and professor of clinical surgery at New York University and Bellevue Medical Center, ``I would be very happy to have a man of his caliber as an example for a group of residents not only about how to do surgery, which I have no doubt about at all, but also how to live with one's fellow man and his responsibility to surgical care and the grace and the ease with which he carries himself.''
Cypress reapplied and joined the staff of Riverside in 1966, but Scott did not, citing a recent heart attack.
``He never became a member of the staff,'' said Walker, who was involved with the case, ``but he made it possible for others.''
And he paved roads without a hint of anger, added his wife, Mae Hamlin Scott, 75, a retired Newport News public school teacher.
``Even though he met with a lot of unpleasant things,'' she said,``he never looked back or held a grudge.''
On Nov. 13, 1993, Sentara Hampton General dedicated a surgical suite in honor of Scott, who had died earlier that year. Dr. Ralph Lee, a medical partner of Scott's who considered the man a mentor, delivered a speech titled ``Making rounds with Waldo,'' an off-the-cuff rendition that brought tears to the audience and fittingly described the doctor's friendly demeanor.
``I started it off as if we were making rounds together,'' Dr. Lee recalls. ``He tried to know the names of the even the domestics that worked in the hospital. He was a great surgeon and here he was anxious to know the little people.''
Walker was once a patient of Scott's and remembers waking up around midnight to find the surgeon watching over his bed. Friends say it was not uncommon to find Scott in his basement office at Whittaker Memorial in the late hours of the night.
``I was his patient,'' Walker said. ``This was his concern.''
Equal to Scott's accomplishments in the medical world were his achievements as a community leader. He held a life membership in the NAACP and opened political doors for African-Americans here through his work with the Newport News Political Action Committee.
``We tried to increase participation and opportunities for black persons in the political arena,'' explained Walker of the committee's purpose.
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Black… Red.. White…
ON BEING YOU
As you focus on and perhaps read and repeat the above invitation for a few times, consider this:
The root of the English word ‘belief’ is a now obsolete word ‘lief’, which meant ‘love’. Shakespeare used this word frequently. Belief without love is not belief at all. It is only a mental game of noughts and crosses.
I am also told (and I stand to be corrected) that the German word “belieben”, which is the immediate root of the English word “believe” does not mean “to believe” but rather “to be-love”.
Suggestion: as you continue to ponder the above phrase, remember that ultimately it is an invitation to love yourself. Because how can you take the risk to “be you” if you don’t love yourself?
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UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
"HOT AFRICAN DEVIL PEPPERS"
You can also substitute Chile Pequins. Basically, both of these are very hot, tiny little dried red peppers about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Use a good quality Spanish or Portuguese olive oil, if possible. Otherwise, just select a good quality Italian or Greek olive oil. The seeds won't swell up much. You can also just put the whole dried peppers in there. The ratio of peppers to oil has more to do with how hot you want it. The longer you soak, the hotter it will be. At the end of the soak- preparation, it makes a seasoned oil-like "sauce" that is quite spicy. If you use whole peppers, you might want to put it in the food processor to make it more "sauce"-like.
The Portuguese cookbook I have at home suggests Piri-Piri Shrimp. All they do is marinate the shrimp in the sauce and then cook them outdoors. I suppose you would use the same procedure for chicken. The same cookbook also adds kosher salt and cider vinegar to their piri-piri:
2 to 6 (or more) dried hot red peppers (depending on hotness and personal taste), 1 t kosher or course salt, 1 c olive oil, 1/3 c cider vinegar.
They chop the peppers then mix them with everything else in a 1-pint shaker jar, cover tightly, shake, and store at room temperature. They claim the sauce will keep well for a month (but with hot peppers and vinegar, I'm sure it would probably last indefinitely). Shake the sauce every time you use it. [Note: This is an American cookbook, so t=teaspoon, c=cup.]
Another historical note: The piri-piri peppers were brought from Brazil (Portuguese New World settlement) to Angola (Africa). The peppers became so integral to the local cuisine, that they became known as "Angolan peppers." From there they made their way to Portugal. Piri- piri can simply be thought of as Portuguese hot pepper sauce.
|Previous Menu||Home Page||What's New||Search||Country Specific|
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Building a Business Around Your Children
Much has been said about mixing business with family but every working mother knows that running a business part time and keeping a household full time can be the most difficult career of all. The responsibilities of managing a business often overlap those of motherhood, so the challenge among mothers-turned-entrepreneurs is knowing how to run a successful business and take care of a growing family. Is it truly possible to have the best of both worlds? Many female entrepreneurs think so and have shown it is achievable.
The following are just a few approaches and strategies that successful ‘mompreneurs’ have used.
It is impossible for a mother to create an effective home and working environment without setting up rules and boundaries. Without rules to delineate what can and cannot be done, it will be extremely difficult to be effective and efficient in either responsibility. From the very beginning, set your boundaries and limits. As Mama Goddess Retreats co-owner Kristin O’Connell suggests, a mother at work should focus on being an entrepreneur but when she is at home, she should focus on being a mother. That way, expectations are met and relationships are maintained.
Family Matters Outweigh Business Matters
One common mistake that a working mom entrepreneur can make is to allow business issues to overpower their family duties. This is understandable, considering that an entrepreneur is likely to spend a minimum of eight hours at work everyday, or even more, if the business is at its initial stages. Naturally, family-related matters can and will crop up and make it appear that juggling tasks and responsibilities is next to impossible.
Instead of just throwing up your hands in despair, take a cue from entrepreneur Victoria Knight-McDowell. Knight McDowell was a schoolteacher in California in 1997, the same year she began developing an herbal formula to help prevent colds. She and her husband decided to sell the concoction, so Knight-McDowell had to manage a home, teach, and run her business.
In 2000, she resigned from teaching so she could focus on her own company and take care of her baby. Instead of slowing her down, motherhood inspired her. According to Knight-McDowell, motherhood helped her see things in perspective and keep her grounded and calm even during the most taxing times at work. She said that there was very little that the business world could throw at her that fazed her because to her, it was never more important than family issues.
Overwhelmed? Get Help
Sometimes, no mom entrepreneur can make it without any help. If housework is eating up too much of your time or if your children are too young to be left on their own, hire someone to help you. Outsourcing common household duties is quite common and is often recommended by women business owners who have been there and done that. KLC Associates president Karen Cornelius handles a management consultant firm with multi-city offices and two children. She encourages mothers to get someone to assist them with the housework as much as possible to offload themselves of certain tasks and responsibilities. That way, they can enjoy their work and family life more.
Make Time for Yourself
It may seem to you that taking in more responsibilities at work and giving more to your children and family is a good way to ensure that nothing is taken for granted, but you could end up spreading yourself too thin. As a mom and entrepreneur, you need time for yourself. You too can get tired, anxious, worried, harried, sleepy, hungry, and yes, you do need to get your hair and nails done, exercise and nurture yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The solution, according to Porch Light Psychology Services owner Lynda Ariella, is to choose one day out of every week as your day off. Find the time to relax, sit back, and rejuvenate yourself. When you are relaxed, you are more excited about work and family and more likely to be able to manage both in the best way possible.
About the Author: Sarah Daren is a writer who creates practical articles in relation to health and business. In this article, she describes the challenging task of mothers managing a business while building a family and aims to encourage continued study through a sonography program.
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Egypt’s embattled government has shown signs of bowing to massive pressure from an energised secular opposition which wants a controversial decree that gives President Mohamed Morsy expanded powers scrapped and defer a referendum on a draft constitution.
On Friday, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki said the President could postpone the constitutional vote slated for December 15, if the opposition accepted a dialogue without preconditions.
It was unclear whether the Minster’s gesture would be enough to entice the opposition, buoyed by the protests that have rocked Egypt over the last two weeks.
From Tahrir Square, the icon of the Egyptian uprising, the protests have now shifted to outside the President’s residence in Cairo’s upscale Heliopolis district.
The anti-Morsy camp wants the President to withdraw his controversial decree that allows him to put a draft constitution — a document that has not emerged out of political consensus — beyond the reach of the judiciary. It also opposes a national vote on the draft constitution.
Critics say the Islamists, who dominated the 100-member Constituent Assembly, disregarded the rights of women, workers and Christians, when they drafted the national charter.
Well aware of the depth of the protests, which seemed to impart rigidity to the opposition’s stand, the government signalled that it was ready to concede much more.
Late on Friday, Egypt’s Supreme Election Commission announced that it was postponing the early voting by Egyptian expatriates that was scheduled on Saturday to December 12.
In tandem, Minister of State for Legal Affairs Mohamed Mahsoub told Al-Jazeera television that a consensus had been reached on the controversial presidential decree. He pointed out that all parties had agreed on the annulment of Article Six of the President’s decree, which have given Mr. Morsy blanket powers. Both sides also agreed on amending Article Two of the presidential order, which shielded Mr. Morsy from judicial intervention.
Mr. Mahsoub disclosed that once a dialogue with the opposition commenced — which Mr. Morsy avidly proposed over national television on Thursday night — its prospects would depend on the stance the opposition adopted on the draft constitution.
“If they [the secularists] consider the constitution as valid, the referendum could be postponed and the constitution may consequently return to the Constituent Assembly,” said Mr. Mahsoub. “If they consider the constitution invalid, then we will have two options: either to re-form the Constituent Assembly through consensus or elections, or merge the amendments of last year’s March declaration with the 1971 constitution”.
As Egypt’s deepening crisis threatened to tear apart the country’s social fabric, the military has asserted itself, by urging a dialogue between the antagonistic camps.
A statement by the military on Saturday warned that it will intervene to stop Egypt going into “a dark tunnel”. A spokesman for the military read out the terse statement over television.
“The armed forces... realise their responsibility to preserve the higher interests of the country and to secure and protect vital targets, public institutions and the interests of innocent citizens,” it said. “The armed forces affirm that dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus,” it added.
“The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow.”
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Background Information for Montserrat
Background: English and Irish colonists from St. Kitts first settled on Montserrat in 1632; the first African slaves arrived three decades later. The British and French fought for possession of the island for most of the 18th century, but it finally was confirmed as a British possession in 1783. The island's sugar plantation economy was converted to small farm landholdings in the mid 19th century. Much of this island was devastated and two-thirds of the population fled abroad because of the eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano that began on 18 July 1995. Montserrat has endured volcanic activity since, with the last eruption occurring in July 2003.
The information here has been derived from Public Domain Sources such as the CIA World Factbook. No liability can be taken for any inaccuracies. You can use the maps, flags and facts presented here however you choose.
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Carnegie Mellon wins the robotic Urban Challenge
Stanford relegated to second
Carnegie Mellon University has redeemed itself by winning the $2m first place prize in the DARPA Urban Challenge. Stanford University took second and $1m, while Virginia Tech took $500k for third.
Six vehicles of the 11 vehicles finished the sixty-mile course with Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech all closing within a few minutes of each other. The robots had to complete a number of different missions, returning to the starting point each time to collect a new task. Meanwhile, teams from University of Pennsylvania, MIT and Cornell finished as well, although after the alloted six-hour limit.
(You can find our diary of the race here.)
Individual winner aside, the contest proved a success for DARPA and for the advancement of robotics technology. Just three years ago, similar vehicles failed to travel more than a handful of miles along a desert course. In that race, the systems were hand-fed GPS points and needed only focus on speed while avoiding stationary targets such as ditches and trees. One year later, the vehicles mastered those tasks but were unprepared for facing more demanding tasks.
Stanford won the second race, beating out a pair of vehicles produced by longtime robotics powerhouse Carnegie Mellon. The Stanford victory proved tough for Carnegie Mellon to swallow since the Stanford team is led by Sebastian Thrun - a former student of Carnegie Mellon lead Red Whittaker. This time Red got his revenge.
In addition to the money, the winning teams received cheesy, giant eagle statues.
Carnegie Mellon had to overcome a bit of adversity to take the victory. A jumbotron screen near the starting line crippled its GPS receivers. So, Carnegie Mellon had to replace its receivers and started about thirty minutes late.
DARPA officials said that Carnegie Mellon averaged about 14 mph with Stanford and Virginia Tech slightly under that.
The Winners - Stanford (left), VT (middle) and CMU (right)
Over the span of two years, the university teams have been the ones to show the most progress. Boosted by millions of dollars in government and corporate aid, the academics have crafted systems that can share the road with human drivers. The robots know how to take their turn at a four-way stop. They know how to follow traffic laws such as flashing their indicators when passing a slower car, and they can, for example, mimic the task of taking off from a garage to pick up a jug of milk and then return home.
Would these robots fare well on the busy streets of a real city? No.
In fact, even the winning teams suffered from the repeated stops and starts generated by confusion. Some cars would perform great, weaving through one way streets and intersections only to come to a complete halt in the middle of an open road.
Happy Carnegie Mellons
We'll be damned though if the day when you could flip your car into automatic mode while stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic isn't far off. You'd still be lodged in the hell that is rush hour, but at least you could watch some TV or read a book during the process.
Such a practical use of robotics technology could serve as a great boon for an industry that has relied more on fantasy than practical application for its charming aura.
DARPA too benefits from this endeavor. The agency looked the clown in 2004 when it bumbled through the Grand Challenge, allowing too many teams to participate, changing rules at a whim and celebrating a $1m first-of-its-kind race that resulted in a stream of negative press reports.
The organization must look better in the eyes of Washington officials now that it's figured out how to control the qualification events and overall structure of the race to almost ensure some sort of victory.
Six teams finishing this more complex event beats out the five finishing the 2005 challenge by a significant margin.
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, 1954. Mr. and
Mrs. Nuñez's marriage was blessed with five children: Annie Nuñez, Cruzita
Salazar, Wally, Toni and Meraldo.
When Don Wally was 45
years old he was given the opportunity to purchase a tortilla factory from the
late Daddy Paz. With the full support of his wife and children, Don Wally made a
thriving business out of this enterprise he named Tortilleria El Patio. The
husband and wife team worked diligently seven-days-a-week to supply the
villagers with hot corn tortillas. Their work began by cooking the corn the day
before and rising out of bed as early as 4:00 a.m. the next day when Don Wally
would wash the corn by hand. The corn was then ground in the "molino" to produce
the "masa". This was then passed through the tortilla machine, producing 100%
hot corn tortillas. Villagers were able to purchase this staple food for daily
consumption by six o'clock every morning. But the work did not fall solely to
the hands of Don Wally, Mrs. Tudy also did her share of labor, as did the
children. More than a tortilla factory, Tortilleria El Patio was a social
gathering place where island housewives would discuss their plans for the day
and husbands (who were also sent to buy) would boast about their latest catch.
Children also enjoyed going to Don Wally to buy tortillas as this charming
gentleman would give the children a hot tortilla to eat during their walk home.
This always made the children feel very special and they would brag about it
when they arrived.
Four and a half years ago, after
working in the tortilleria factory for 25 years, Don Wally was forced to retire
from this job he enjoyed so much but the production of tortillas did not end
there. Under the able supervision of Mrs. Tudy the work continued, though,
assisted by two other employees.
Even now, tortillas
remain one of the staple food in the houses of most San Pedro residents and are
also served as a side order for many local dishes at restaurants.
The legacy of Don Wally Nuñez lives with the Tortilleria
El Patio and the great product his wife continues to provide. Without a doubt, a
lot of hard work and dedication goes into making traditional corn tortillas, a
business that truly adds flavor to the local meals served in "Our
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Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is coming to the United States next week to highlight the role of African women in the continent's economy and raise money to rebuild commercial markets in my native Liberia.
Africa's first female president will pay tribute to the market women of Liberia as she launches the Sirleaf Market Women Fund's Adopt-A-Market campaign, an initiative designed to rebuild Liberia's economy.
Peter Buffett visited Liberia last year as part of his effort to improve the plight of adolescent girls and reduce poverty in developing countries.
Sirleaf hopes to raise $2 million to continue her efforts to rebuild many of the markets that were destroyed during Liberia's civil war.
Since she became president two years ago, Sirleaf has rebuilt nine of Liberia's 224 markets. Her goal is to provide nursery school for the women's children, improve sanitation and set up credit unions so the women can access loans.
My aunt, Thelma Awori, heads the project. She called today to tell me about the event. I think it's a great project and deserves support.
Growing up in Liberia, I always admired the market women because they were the ones who got up before dawn and headed to markets all across the country to sell fruits, vegetables, palm oil, rice and many other foods that ended up on our dinner tables.
They are just like the farmers at Syracuse's Regional Market. The market women in Liberia grow and sell their own produce.
They have little or no education, but they are the breadwinners in their families. Some can't write their names, but they send their kids to private schools and college.
Like women in much of Africa and the developing world, they get little recognition for their role in the economy.
The market women were key to Sirleaf's election. This project fulfills a promise she made to them during her campaign.
"There's a lot of good reasons to uplift the standard of the country as a whole on this group of women," Thelma said. "They're organized, they're already in place. All we need to do is give them that extra push. It's also important that every woman in Africa, most especially Liberian women, put their support behind this to ensure that (Sirleaf) is successful. She has chosen this project as her priority, and we think we should help her succeed."
Aunt Thelma was one of the people President Sirleaf tapped when she embarked on the major task of rebuilding Liberia, Africa's oldest republic where freed American slaves settled in the 1920s.
The two women attended the same high school in Liberia. They are both graduates of Harvard University and spent their careers working for international organizations including the United Nations.
Aunt Thelma is the former assistant secretary general of the UN where she was responsible for the Africa Bureau of the United Nations Development Program. She served also as deputy director of the United Nations Fund for Women(UNIFEM).
She developed programs that are used as models for improving the lives of women in developing countries.
Liberia, Aunt Thelma says, is in a crisis. Unemployment is one of the major problems facing the country. Eighty-five percent of the country is unemployed and seventy-five percent of Liberians live below the poverty line, she said.
"Thirty-seven percent of the households rely on petty trade and street vending so marketing is really the way most Liberians make a living," she said. "What these women do with their money is educate their children. They feed them, they clothe them and that's what they use for health care.''
There's a new crop of market women in Liberia these days, Aunt Thelma told me. They're the high school graduates who followed in their mothers' footsteps.
"They said it was their mothers who sent them to high school,'' she said. "They themselves are market women. That's the only job they can lay their hands on, and they learned it from their mothers. Market work is hard that's why Ellen wants them to have a decent facility to work in.''
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Nostalgic for last year's Doomsday worries? You may enjoy pondering an asteroid, named Apophis, passing overhead Wednesday. It also aims for close encounters with Earth in 2029 and 2036.
The asteroid, some 886 feet across, will pass within 9 million miles of Earth on Wednesday, its closest approach this year. The asteroid had attracted a great deal of interest in 2004, when it was discovered, after some estimates suggested it had a chance of hitting Earth in 2036. That possibility was later dismissed after better estimates of its orbit arrived.
Because a tiny chance still exists of the asteroid hitting Earth in 2036, "scientific interest in Apophis is acute, and it's very important to learn as much as we can about this object when it gets close enough for physical observations," says a recent statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Radar observations of the asteroid, scheduled for February, should refine orbital track analyses of the asteroid's impact chances.
If it ever hit Earth, the asteroid would deliver an impact blast on land of 141 megatons, almost three times stronger than the biggest H-bomb ever tested, according to Purdue University's impact calculator.
"Due to the proximity of its orbit to Earth, Apophis is being considered as a potential target for both robotic and crewed spacecraft missions," the JPL statement notes.
But instead of any landing this year, the Wednesday night passage will be too dim for even backyard telescopes, says Slooh Space Camera's Patrick Paolucci, in a statement. Slooh's online cameras will make views of the asteroid available in a webcast on Wednesday night.
Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
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http://www.wkyc.com/(S(5gc40445twtwgj453gk2liai))/news/article/277347/225/Astronomers-keep-eye-on-asteroid-Apophis-as-it-passes-
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Nobel Scientists | Interviews with Nobel Prize winning scientists
CHANNEL | Other
RECORDED | circa 1985
DURATION | 62 minutes 43 seconds
Biochemist Dr Frederick Sanger is one of the very few people to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice: in 1958, for his work on the structure of proteins, and in 1980, for research into base sequences in nucleic acids, both of which played a crucial role in unlocking the genetic code. In this interview, he talks about his life and how he came to be employed in the field of biochemistry and acknowledges the individuals who helped him to carry out his award-winning work.
An interview with the scientist who helped unlock the genetic code.
How playing with iron filings led to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Discovering how our immune systems protect us.
Radio telescopes, pulsars and why stars 'twinkle'.
Working with John Cockcroft to split the atom.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/scientists/10603.shtml
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| 0.940664
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The application of soil as a fertilizer to the fields of China, whether derived from the subsoil or from the silts and organic matter of canals and rivers, must have played an important part in the permanency of agriculture in the Far East, for all such additions have been positive accretions to the effective soil, increasing its depth and carrying to it all plant food elements. If not more than one-half of the weight of compost applied to the fields of Shantung is highly fertilized soil, the rates of application observed would, in a thousand years, add more than two million pounds per acre, and this represents about the volume of soil we turn with the plow in our ordinary tillage operations, and this amount of good soil may carry more than 6000 pounds of nitrogen, 2000 pounds of phosphorus and more than 60,000 pounds of potassium.
When we left our hotel by ricksha for the steamer, returning to Shanghai, we soon observed a boy of thirteen or fourteen years apparently following, sometimes a little ahead, sometimes behind, usually keeping the sidewalk but slackening his pace whenever the ricksha man came to a walk. It was a full mile to the wharf. The boy evidently knew the sailing schedule and judged by the valise in front, that we were to take the out-going steamer and that he might possibly earn two cents, Mexican, the usual fee for taking a valise aboard the steamer. Twenty men at the wharf might be waiting for the job, but he was taking the chance with the mile down and back thrown in, and all for less than one cent in our currency, equivalent at the time to about twenty “cash”. As we neared the steamer the lad closed up behind but strong and eager men were watching. Twice he was roughly thrust aside and before the ricksha stopped a man of stalwart frame seized the valise and, had we not observed the boy thus unobtrusively entering the competition, he would have had only his trouble for his pains. Thus intense was the struggle here for existence and thus did a mere lad put himself effectively into it. True to breeding and example he had spared no labor to win and was surprised but grateful to receive more than he had expected.
ORIENTALS CROWD BOTH TIME AND SPACE
Time is a function of every life process, as it is of every physical, chemical and mental reaction, and the husbandman is compelled to shape his operations so as to conform with the time requirements of his crops. The oriental farmer is a time economizer beyond any other. He utilizes the first and last minute and all that are between. The foreigner accuses the Chinaman of being always “long on time”, never in a fret, never in a hurry. And why should he be when he leads time by the forelock, and uses all there is?
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In The Shop: A Better Way To Splice Wires?
Jun 15, 2011
A while back I blogged about using heat-shrink butt connectors to make weatherproof, durable splices when repairing electrical wires on farm equipment. I mentioned that a customer had shared with me a new type of splice connector that looked promising. I've done some more research and will pass on what I've learned. This is not an advertisement or recommendation---just one shop rat sharing a new gadget with another shop rat.
Posi-Lock connectors are interesting. They are three-piece splices--two threaded sleeves that screw into a midsection with a metal insert that's tapered on both ends. The user slides the threaded sleeves onto the ends of each wire to be spliced before stripping 1/4-inch of insulation from the end of each wire. When the sleeves are screwed into the center housing, the bared ends of the wires are forced over the conical metal insert, creating a tight electrical connection extremely resistant to mechanical separation. No need to use special crimping pliers; no problems with a weak or "missed" crimp allowing the connection to pull apart. Plus--because the connection is made by the threaded sleeves, it can be easily disconnected and re-assembled multiple times.
The standard Posi-Lock connector is semi-weatherproof. Their Posi-Seal connectors come with rubber gaskets that make the splice weatherproof. Posi-Tite connectors are WATERproof, and designed for immersion.
Price-wise: a plain ol' crimp-on butt connector from the local auto parts store sells for around 50 cents a piece. New style crimp-on butt connectors with heat shrink insulation--the ones I mentioned in the earlier blog--cost around 75 cents to $1.00 each. The basic Posi-Lock connector, if bought in volume, retails for 77 cents; the Posi-Seal connector goes for $1.75 a piece, and the Posi-Tite connector sells for $2.33 per unit. Contact them at www.posi-lock.com
Again--I'm not advocating one way or the other. All I ask is that you use SOME form of splice connector when you have to join two wires on a piece of farm equipment. I'm on a campaign to bring an end to "twist and tape" electrical splices on farm equipment.
What you do in your house when you're fixing lamps and light fixtures is your own business that I really don't want to know about...
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<urn:uuid:11bf2b7b-96b2-4829-ac48-8486b98537e1>
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|
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| 0.925475
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|
300,000 Organic Farmers Sue Monsanto in Federal Court: Decision on March 31st to Go to Trial
Little did Willie Nelson know when he recorded “Crazy” years ago just how crazy it would become for our cherished family farmers in America. Nelson, President of Farm Aid, has recently called for the national Occupy movement to declare an “Occupy the Food System” action.
Nelson states, “Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil…”
Hundreds of citizens, (even including NYC chefs in their white chef hats) joined Occupy the Food System groups, ie Food Democracy Now, gathered outside the Federal Courts in Manhattan on January 31st, to support organic family farmers in their landmark lawsuit against Big Agribusiness giant Monsanto. (Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association v. Monsanto) Oral arguments were heard that day concerning the lawsuit by 83 plaintiffs representing over 300,000 organic farmers, organic seed growers, and organic seed businesses.
The lawsuit addresses the bizarre and shocking issue of Monsanto harassing and threatening organic farmers with lawsuits of “patent infringement” if any organic farmer ends up with any trace amount of GM seeds on their organic farmland.
Judge Naomi Buckwald heard the oral arguments on Monsanto’s Motion to Dismiss, and the legal team from Public Patent Foundation represented the rights of American organic farmers against Monsanto, maker of GM seeds, [and additionally, Agent Orange, dioxin, etc.]
After hearing the arguments, Judge Buckwald stated that on March 31st she will hand down her decision on whether the lawsuit will move forward to trial.
Not only does this lawsuit debate the issue of Monsanto potentially ruining the organic farmers’ pure seeds and crops with the introduction of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) seeds anywhere near the organic farms, but additionally any nearby GM fields can withstand Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides, thus possibly further contaminating the organic farms nearby if Roundup is used.
Of course, the organic farmers don’t want anything to do with that ole contaminated GM seed in the first place. In fact, that is why they are certified organic farmers. Hello? But now they have to worry about getting sued by the very monster they abhor, and even have to spend extra money and land (for buffers which only sometimes deter the contaminated seed from being swept by the wind into their crop land). At this point, they are even having to resort to not growing at all the following organic plants: soybeans, corn, cotton, sugar beets, and canola, …just to protect themselves from having any (unwanted) plant that Monsanto could possibly sue them over.
“Crazy, crazy for feeling so…..”
The farmers are suffering the threat of possible loss of Right Livelihood. They are creating good jobs for Americans, and supplying our purest foods. These organic farmers are bringing Americans healthy food so we can be a healthy Nation, instead of the undernourished and obese kids and adults that President Obama worries so much about us becoming.
So what was President Obama doing when he appointed Michael Taylor, a former VP of Monsanto, as Sr. Advisor to the Commissioner at the FDA? The FDA is responsible for “label requirements” and recently ruled under Michael Taylor’s time as FDA Food Czar that GMO products did not need to be labeled as such, even though national consumer groups loudly professed the public’s right to know what is genetically modified in the food system. Sadly to remember: President Obama promised in campaign speeches that he would “let folks know what foods are genetically modified.” These are the conflict of interests that lead to the 99% movement standing up for the family farmers.
Just look at the confusing headlines lately that revealed that mid-western farms of GM corn will be sprayed with 2,4-D toxins found in the deadly Agent Orange. Just refer to the previous lawsuits taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court by U.S. Veterans who tried to argue the dangers of Monsanto’s Agent Orange, and high rates of cancers in our soldiers who had to suffer the side effects from their wartime exposures in Vietnam.
In 1980 alone, when all this mess started with corporations wiping out the livelihoods of family farmers, the National Farm Medicine Center reported that 900 male farmers in the Upper Midwest committed suicide. That was nearly double the national average for white men. Even sadder is the fact that some of the farmers’ children also committed suicide. Studies show that when one generation of family farmers lose their farms, then the next generation usually can’t revive the family business and traditions later.
Jim Gerritsen, President of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, has pointed out that there are 5th and 6th generation family farmers being pushed off their farms today, and because of a “climate of fear” (from possible lawsuits from Monsanto), they can’t grow some of the food they want to grow.
These farmers are the ones who have been able to survive the changes over the past twenty years by choosing to go into the budding niche of organic farming. Now look at what they have to deal with while trying to grow successful businesses: Monsanto’s threats.
Even organic dairy farmers have had to suffer lawsuits ( from Monsanto) when they labeled their organic milk “non-BGH” referring to Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone used by conventional dairies.
Consumers want organic food, and they want America’s pure food source to stay protected in America. Made in America, organically, is the way of the future, and family farmers and seed businesses should be free to maintain their high standards for organic foods. They deserve protection from Big Agribusiness’ dangerous seeds trespassing on their croplands, not to mention the use of pesticides and herbicides on GM crops. The organic industry has an “organic seal” which is also important to the success of family businesses, and even that stamp of quality is threatened by the spread of Monsanto’s GM seed contaminating their pure seed banks.
The Banking industry is also partly to blame. Years before the mortgages and home fiasco we have now, the farmers were the first to feel the squeeze. I interviewed Willie Nelson in the 1980’s, and he mentioned even then the high rates of farmer suicides, and that Farm Aid was receiving letters from family farmers saying the banks had “called in their loans”, even though “we had never missed a payment”. Was this just a veiled land grab for fertile lands, or to intentionally bankrupt independent family farmers?
It was so inspiring years ago when Michelle Obama planted an organic garden at the White House. It was a great precedent for the future, but what happened? It was ruined when they discovered sewer sludge from previous Administrations had contaminated their beautiful soil where the organic vegetables were planted. Just one small upset but it was remedied for future plantings. What about our whole country’s organic food supply being contaminated by previous Adminstrations’ bad choices? Why did they ever allow Monsanto to introduce genetically engineered seeds into our pure, organic, and heirloom stockpiles across America in the first place?
Recently, the Obama Administration, in an effort to boost food exports, signed joint agreements with agricultural biotechnology industry giants, including Monsanto, to remove the last barriers for the spread of more genetically modified crops.
But in this recent lawsuit filed by the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, it was argued that a previous contamination of a “genetically engineered variety of rice”, named Liberty Link 601, in 2006, before it was approved for human consumption, “extensively contaminated the commercial rice supply, resulting in multiple countries banning the import of U.S. rice.” The worldwide economic loss was “upward to $1.285 billion dollars” due to the presence of GMOs…
What are everyday Americans going to do to turn it around, to get rid of Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds and its dangerous threat to America’s heirloom and organic seed caches?
There is high rate of cancer in America, and eating healthier, especially organic foods, has been shown to have great benefits in beating cancer and other diseases. When we have Agribusiness threatening independent family farmers, which leads to the farmers feeling so scared that they don’t even plant their organic crops that Americans need, then perhaps we can all see what the 99% Occupy Movement is trying to say about their conflict of interest and seemingly abuse of powers.
Willie Nelson just released a new poem on You Tube: “We stand with Humanity, against the Insanity, We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for… We’re the Seeds and we’re the Core, We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for; We’re the ones with the 99%.”
Monsanto’s practices are a clear example of the wrong direction that the 99% want our country to go in. How about shining some light on Monsanto, and before it is too late, realize the dangers of genetically modified seeds which are contaminating the world’s food supply.
“Crazy, crazy for feeling so…… 99% .
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<urn:uuid:70d84ea1-fe78-41e8-9c8d-92eb91d98133>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.nationofchange.org/300000-organic-farmers-sue-monsanto-federal-court-decision-march-31st-go-trial-1329059467
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|
en
| 0.961962
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- Immunity status of adults and children against poliomyelitis virus type 1 strains CHAT and Sabin (LSc-2ab) in Germany (2010)
- Background In October 2007, the working group CEN/TC 216 of the European Committee for standardisation suggested that the Sabin oral poliovirus vaccine type 1 strain (LSc-2ab) presently used for virucidal tests should be replaced by another attenuated vaccine poliovirus type 1 strain, CHAT. Both strains were historically used as oral vaccines, but the Sabin type 1 strain was acknowledged to be more attenuated. In Germany, vaccination against poliomyelitis was introduced in 1962 using the oral polio vaccine (OPV) containing Sabin strain LSc-2ab. The vaccination schedule was changed from OPV to an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) containing wild polio virus type 1 strain Mahoney in 1998. In the present study, we assessed potential differences in neutralising antibody titres to Sabin and CHAT in persons with a history of either OPV, IPV, or OPV with IPV booster. Methods Neutralisation poliovirus antibodies against CHAT and Sabin 1 were measured in sera of 41 adults vaccinated with OPV. Additionally, sera from 28 children less than 10 years of age and immunised with IPV only were analysed. The neutralisation assay against poliovirus was performed according to WHO guidelines. Results The neutralisation activity against CHAT in adults with a complete OPV vaccination series was significantly lower than against Sabin poliovirus type 1 strains (Wilcoxon signed-rank test P < 0.025). In eight sera, the antibody titres measured against CHAT were less than 8, although the titre against Sabin 1 varied between 8 and 64. Following IPV booster, anti-CHAT antibodies increased rapidly in sera of CHAT-negative adults with OPV history. Sera from children with IPV history neutralised CHAT and Sabin 1 strains equally. Conclusion The lack of neutralising antibodies against the CHAT strain in persons vaccinated with OPV might be associated with an increased risk of reinfection with the CHAT polio virus type 1, and this implies a putative risk of transmission of the virus to polio-free communities. We strongly suggest that laboratory workers who were immunised with OPV receive a booster vaccination with IPV before handling CHAT in the laboratory.
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Most Popular in:
Staying Afloat in Digital Waters
By: Jeff Falk
Posted: July 6, 2009, from the July 2009 issue of GCI Magazine.
In early April 2009, Unilever’s chief marketing officer, Simon Clift, told attendees at Ad Age’s Digital Conference, “No matter how big your advertising spending, small groups of consumers on a tiny budget might hijack the conversation. So this Internet thing is much bigger and more interesting than just finding successors to TV advertising.”
In expounding on the power and intricacies of social media, Clift’s core message came down to a simple truth about the media, diluted by Ad Age, “Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them.” Social media, in itself, is not a strategy, but it must be understood in order to be deployed as a tactic.
In fact, social media is a tide that seems to be growing into a tsunami, and it’s about to engulf you, if it hasn’t already. Think of the coverage in this issue as a life jacket. It is clear that social media and the Internet in general have influenced and impacted the way we communicate and do business, and will continue to do so. The shoreline has changed, and understanding the change is essential.
The beauty industry, it is comforting to note, has a unique edge on other industries, and the backstory of its relationship with consumers is full of examples analogous to social media. In the September 2008 issue of GCI magazine, Jamison Davis wrote: “The beauty business has always enjoyed a certain word-of-mouth evangelism. The promotion of products designed to enhance one’s personal appearance is a practice made more believable when the advice is coming from a friend or acquaintance a consumer can trust.”
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"Do One Thing" & Make a Difference
Melinda recently attended a talk by Braam Malherbe, conservationist, extreme adventurer, youth developer, author, and motivational speaker at the UCT Zoology Department.
Braam is an Honorary Ranger for South African National Parks. He is dedicated to doing all in his power to eradicate the scourge of poaching and offers his time to assist in the training of park rangers in methods for counter poaching operations. He has also co-founded the Table Mountain National Parks Volunteer Firefighting Unit where he was CEO for 6 years. Braam focuses his attention on the protection of the rhino population, where 72% of poaching is taking place in Kruger National Park.
He believes that more attention should be spent on securing the borders of Kruger, and the legalization of trade on rhino horns. Since the ban on trade approximately 75,000 rhinos have been killed, which shows the ban is not preventing poaching. Braam frequents a rhino farm in which the rhino’s are all de-horned, and they survive fine without them. The man in charge of the farm has only lost two rhinos to poachers since he de-horned them. This shows that this may be one step in the solution of preventing the poaching of rhinos.
Wednesday’s presentation was called “Do One Thing” which is the name of one of his conservation campaigns. Braam states “Our planet is just a dot in the universe; we are just dots on our planet; but, if we each just DO ONE THING (D.O.T.) we can make a radical difference.” He believes that if you start by focusing your attention on one aspect of conservation, even if it is a minor change in your lifestyle, it can contribute to a positive difference to the planet. He gave examples in his speech of using reusable water bottles, not using styrofoam cups, or purchasing only free-range eggs.
These are small and simple steps towards sustainability. The “power of the consumer” was discussed, by making “greener” product choices we are inherently changing what products are going to be distributed in restaurants and stores nationwide. As consumers we can also boycott products, and services that are harmful to our environment.
I found Braam’s talk to be very inspirational, especially to the green community. The discussion reinforced the belief that we have the power to make changes in our lives, that will positively affect our planet. For more information about Braam Malherbe visit his official website at www.braammalherbe.com
Information sourced at www.braammalherbe.com
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Revision Date:Apr 30, 1998
Publication Date:Jan 22, 1998
Source:Harvard Business School
Also Available in:
Sealed Air Corp.'s CEO and COO are considering what approach they should take to building a seamless corporate culture worldwide. Anticipating continuing growth and expansion, especially outside the United States, they are concerned with preserving and promoting the culture that has been one of the company's key assets. However, their experiences in integrating acquired companies, especially outside the United States, have heightened their awareness of differences among the regional cultures of the world and the challenges they face in maintaining a unified corporate culture.
To illustrate the challenges of building a single corporate culture in a global enterprise and to explore the tensions between U.S. culture and cultures of Europe and Asia.
Business ethics; Business policy; Expansion; International business; Leadership; Organizational culture; Organizational development
- Geographic: Asia
- Geographic: Europe
- Geographic: United States
- Industry: Packaging, cartons & containers
- Company Employee Count: 4,200
- Company Revenue: $800 million revenues
- Event Year Begin: 1997
- Event Year End: 1997
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That was the headline of a book review I wrote years ago about Boulder, Colorado being stalked by mountain lions. When I briefly lived there in the late 2000s, some of the natives (okay, they were my colleagues) sniggered at my histrionic fears.
Now it looks like the wildlife in Boulder is getting even peskier. Check out this hilarious dispatch from Jonathan Thompson, a former editor of mine at High Country News. He shares some of his recent encounters, such as this one:
A couple of weeks after I arrived in Boulder, I was riding down a path when I turned a corner and the path appeared to be covered by a beige, many-headed, writhing monster, forcing me to lock up my brakes. The monster turned out to be a pack of prairie dogs that had taken up residence on either side of path. Later, when I mentioned the incident to acquaintance, she asked: “Are you for the prairie dogs? Or against them?” Wildlife politics in Boulder are often much more dangerous than the wildlife itself. Boulder prohibits the killing of the prevalent prairie dogs sans permit, yet some of them have been known to carry the plague (a serious downer for a Boulder fitness regime). So, some folks want them relocated; others say no. It’s a heated, sometimes just weird, (even weirder) debate. I don’t think the fact that Boulder’s prairie dogs will be the subject of a climate change study will ease the tension.
I’m telling you, even the big alpha rats in New York City, my natural habitat, know their place in the pecking order. I miss Boulder dearly, but the people there are in danger of loving their cutesy nature a little too much.
The reasons that the desert Southwest is having another extreme fire season are complex. They include decades of poor forestry and livestock grazing practices, misguided federal firefighting efforts that have prevented low-intensity fires in Ponderosa pine forests from clearing out underbrush and small trees, and prolonged, exceptional drought caused by climate change.
John Fleck, a science writer for the Albuquerque Journal, grasps the complexity of the fire story, and Andrew Freedman does a superb job unpacking the scorching Southwestern drought in a must-read post at the WaPo’s Capital Weather Gang blog:
The drought was caused in part by La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which altered the main storm track across North America, helping to steer storms across the northern tier, leaving southern areas desperate for rain. Although La Nina has waned, there are increasing signs that it may redevelop this fall or winter, according to the latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center.
However, La Nina wasn’t the only force behind the drought, says [Marty] Hoerling, who leads a group of climate change attribution sleuths at NOAA. For now, though, the co-conspirators remain unknown. Although climate science research shows that droughts are likely to become more intense and more frequent in a warming world, particularly in the Southwestern US, observational evidence does not yet show clear trends in drought conditions in the U.S. to date.
Hoerling says his quick analysis led him to conclude that climate change has not played a major role in this event. “This is not a climate change drought by all indications,” he said, adding that this view does not in any way refute the fact that global warming is occurring, either.
Hoerling noted that as average temperatures increase due to climate change, drought impacts would likely get worse. Drought plus heat “is just going to make a bad situation that much worse,” he said, since higher temperatures dry soils out much more rapidly. “We haven’t necessarily dealt with drought and heat at the same time in such a persistent way.”
He said the drought serves as a reminder that society needs to be more prepared for significant, relatively rare events such as this one, regardless of whether they are due to global warming or natural climate variability.
Bob Simon, the wildlife correspondent for 60 Minutes, offers an unvarnished perspective on naturalists and wildlife biologists, and why he loves animals. Earlier this week, he was interviewed by Ann Silvio, an editor with 60 Minutes Overtime. Check out the short video segment. Meanwhile, here’s the good stuff.
Silvio: Is there something about doing animal stories that is more pleasurable than doing a people story?
Simon: An animal is never duplicitous. An animal will never get involved in gratuitous cruelty. And it’s very refreshing to go see them after you’ve spent a lot of time interviewing politicians.
Talk about nailing both human and animal nature in one punch! In another exchange towards the end of the short segment he makes another interesting observation:
Silvio: You’ve met a lot of people who devote their lives to a particular species, but also a particular small community of animals.
Simon: That’s right. These are wonderful people. I’ve never met one of these people who have devoted their lives to animals that I didn’t like. And they’ve all got quite a bit in common.
Silvio: Like what?
Simon: They don’t like people very much.
Bryan Walsh at Time has a nice deconstruction of the recent cluster of sudden animal deaths he sardonically refers to as
the Aflockalypse, the Aquapalypse or some other clever term that will soon be trending on Twitter.
With so many mass animal deaths occurring together in such a short period of time, it seems perfectly reasonable to ask the question: are the end times nigh?
Actually, no, it’s not reasonable at all. While it is possible that these string of suspicious animal deaths could signal some kind Revelations-like event a third of the living creatures in the sea died“), it’s really, really, really unlikely. For one thing, as they examine the deaths, scientists are already beginning to come up with explanations””none of which so far involves a pale horse and pale rider.
The Wildlife Society asks:
Can a 10 pound bird bring down an 80 ton airplaine?
When an aircraft and a goose collide, the goose weighs more than an elephant during the instant of collision. This force is enough to cripple an aircraft and can force emergency landings (We all remember the Miracle on the Hudson). Birds colliding with airplanes are not rare events; on average this kind of accident happens almost 20 times a day.
So what to do? Well, for one thing, you can disappear the culprits overnight. But in this case, there is a question as to whether the right culprits were rounded up, or whether that was even a very nice thing to do.
“Basically we have created a goose buffet with our grass lawns in parks, yards and golf courses,” says Helen Ross of the Seattle Audubon Society. She points out that geese have abundant nesting sites, no predators, and easy access to their favorite food: freshly cut grass.
“Geese are symptomatic of our long-term, poor management of urban ecosystems,” she says.
So we created the problem. Where have I heard this story before?
Anyway, here’s the deal we cosmopolitan nature lovers have with wildlife, be it in Brooklyn or Boulder, Colorado:
Don’t get too close, or I’ll have to kill you. (And that includes my plane!)
Several days ago, Andy Revkin wrote a Dot Earth post about what I would characterize as an ecotopia for conservationists:
After three years of meetings and study, a broad array of conservation groups, government scientists and other experts on North American wildlife policy have produced a road map for restoring some large free-roaming populations of bison in the North American plains.
As Revkin goes on to detail, the plan would have to overcome significant political and cultural hurdles. Tellingly, at the end of his post, Revkin asks a question that hints at his take on the idea:
Can we, or should we, get comfortable with what amounts to an engineered “Eden”?
Ah, what I would give to be able to discuss this more often than the latest skirmish over climate science. Because there is much here that signifies how environmentalists still view nature and humans as separate entities.
One gruff commenter, obviously perturbed at the rewilding concept, nonetheless channels my thoughts when he asks:
what is the reason for this lamentable sentimentalism when it comes to certain animals and physical landscapes? things change.
Another commenter, noting all the positive reaction on the thread to the notion of reintroduced bison, is similarly sarcastic:
It’s fascinating how many of the comments mention the glorious sight of buffalo on the plains…
Are ya just hoping for something better to look at when you drive through?
Did you consider that actual midwesterners would have to be consulted before you went through with your theme-park plan for the Great Plains?
Are *you* going to subsidize the industrial-strength fencing that will keep the behemoths off the highway?
How much to indulge this toxic sentimentality about a mythical before-time when all was bright and clean and morally correct?
As I was reading though the post and comments, I was reminded of a review I wrote four years ago, of a book called Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America, by Paul Martin. I summarized the book’s concept as thus:
Martin argues for returning the ancient beasts””sloths, saber-toothed tigers, mastodons, and other extinct megafauna””to their old stomping grounds in North America. Okay, what he really wants is to restore their evolutionary lineage by rewilding parts of the American desert and prairie with their latter-day relatives, such as the elephant and the cheetah, whose current prospects in Africa are otherwise considered dim because of poaching and habitat loss.
Now that would be something to see as we drive through.
There is no doubt that some individuals and organizations will have a difficult time shifting from a mindset where wolves are rare creatures that need every protection to one where wolves are common and can become pests. To quote a 2005 article by Jim Robbins in Conservation in Practice (October-December: 28-34), “In the wake of successful wolf reintroductions, managers who once fervently defended wolves are now faced with killing them. Are we ready for modern predator management?”
Hutchins then points to a similar “transition” that had take place when the alligator population rebounded in Florida.
Once perilously close to extinction, these large reptiles have recovered as the result of government protection. There are now some 1-2 million in Florida alone. In order to manage potential conflicts between alligators and people, the state of Florida sanctions a regulated annual hunt. In addition, it removes another 15,000 or so gators a year following public complaints of aggressive behavior.
As a conservationist, I can only hope that we are faced with many more of these dilemmas, as it will mean that carnivore conservation has been a roaring success.
This is a pretty big generalization coming from a wildlife professional:
Most Americans know very little about wildlife and nature, and this affects their ability to make intelligent, rational, and well-considered decisions.
Also, I don’t think that intelligence + knowledge of nature necessarily = “rational, well-considered decisions.” In Boulder, Colorado, where I just spent a year, people are highly intelligent but let the deer roam wild because they like having Bambi in their midst. That attracts the mountain lions. I wouldn’t call this behavior on the part of the Boulder residents “rational” or “well-considered.”
Of course, there’s always a silver lining:
Scientists commenting on the study said this was both good news and bad. It was “alarming”, they said, that global warming may be causing evolutionary change, but also hopeful in that some species may be able to adapt to changing circumstances.
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Videogame Distribution Shifting Online, Even for TV-Tethered Consoles
Internet-enabled devices such as phones, tablets and computers are making it insanely easy for consumers to discover and play new videogames.
And it’s that kind of online connectivity that is expected to drive the next wave of growth on the consoles.
In a new report, market research firm DFC Intelligence said it believes console sales will regain some momentum in 2014 and 2015 as new systems from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hit the market.
As a result, DFC is estimating that by 2017, 39 percent of console game revenue will be via online distribution and online revenue sources.
Nintendo is the first of the hardware makers to announce plans for its next console, which is expected to hit this holiday season. The Wii U will come with features encouraging consumers to connect online, including video chat and Miiverse, a social network where avatars walk around a virtual plaza. With Miiverse, game players will be able to post their thoughts in speech bubbles that appear over their heads with text or drawings — sort of like a status update on Twitter or Facebook.
With existing consoles, players often have the option of downloading new content for games, but typically the original game was purchased on a disk and didn’t require an Internet connection. Sony and Microsoft have not yet announced their plans, but both are expected to eventually release new hardware that will be more connected to the Internet than ever before.
Other companies — like Amazon, Valve’s Steam and Electronic Arts — are also in various stages of offering digital distribution channels.
Despite reports of a soft console market over the past year, DFC is still forecasting the industry to grow over the next five years to $82 billion in 2017 from $67 billion in 2012.
In addition to new consoles fueling some of this growth, the research firm said, the increase is thanks to PC and mobile gaming. Worldwide revenue from online games will reach $35 billion in 2017, up 84 percent from 2011, and PC game revenue is expected to pass $25 billion in 2017, up from about $20 billion in 2012.
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Topic Overview Back to top
What is congenital torticollis?
Torticollis, also known as "wryneck," is a condition in which your baby's head is tilted. The chin points to one shoulder, while the head tilts toward the opposite shoulder. Treatment is necessary to prevent your baby's face and skull from growing unevenly and to prevent limited motion of the head and neck.
"Congenital" means a condition that is present at birth. Congenital torticollis occurs at or shortly after birth.
See a picture of congenital torticollis.
What causes congenital torticollis?
Congenital torticollis occurs when the neck muscle that runs up and toward the back of your baby's neck (sternocleidomastoid muscle) is shortened. This brings your baby's head down and to one side. This is known as congenital muscular torticollis.
Experts don't know exactly what causes the shortened neck muscle. The muscle may get injured before or during the baby's birth. The injured muscle may bleed and swell. And scar tissue may replace some of the muscle, making it shorter.
Some cases of congenital torticollis are caused by a bone problem in the neck portion of the spine (cervical spine). This is known as a congenital malformation of the cervical spine.
Torticollis may also occur later in life, but this is not congenital torticollis.
What are the symptoms?
Your baby's head is tilted to one side. The chin points to one shoulder, and the head tilts toward the opposite shoulder. Usually the head tilts to the right and the chin points left, meaning the muscle on the right side is affected. You may notice that your baby cannot move his or her head as well as other babies. You may also notice a lump in your baby's neck muscle.
How is congenital torticollis diagnosed?
The caregiver usually first notices that the infant always holds his or her head tilted to one side. Be sure to see your doctor for an exam, because other conditions may also cause this head position.
Your doctor will examine your baby and may ask you questions about your baby's birth. He or she may want an X-ray of the cervical spine to rule out bone problems.
Your doctor may also check your baby's hips. Some babies who have congenital torticollis also have an abnormal development of the hip (hip dysplasia).
How is it treated?
To treat congenital torticollis, you'll learn to stretch your baby's tight neck muscle several times a day. Your doctor or a physical therapist will teach you how to safely do the exercises.
Another way to help you stretch your baby’s neck is to do things so that he or she rotates the chin toward the shoulder of the affected side. For example:
- During feeding, hold your child in a way that makes him or her rotate the chin to the correct position.
- Place the crib so that your child turns his or her chin the correct way in order to see the room.
- Place toys and other objects in such a way that your baby has to turn his or her head to see them and play with them.
If your baby does not improve after a few months of stretching, contact your doctor. There may be another problem, or surgery may be needed to stretch or lengthen the neck muscle.
The lump in the muscle usually goes away on its own.
If the congenital torticollis is not caused by a shortened neck muscle but by a cervical spine abnormality, the spine abnormality is sometimes treatable.
Other Places To Get Help Back to top
|American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)|
|6300 North River Road|
|Rosemont, IL 60018-4262|
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) provides information and education to raise the public's awareness of musculoskeletal conditions, with an emphasis on preventive measures. The AAOS website contains information on orthopedic conditions and treatments, injury prevention, and wellness and exercise.
References Back to top
Other Works Consulted
- Loder RT (2006). Torticollis section of The cervical spine. In RT Morrissy, SL Weinstein, eds., Lovell and Winter's Pediatric Orthopaedics, 6th ed., vol. 2, pp. 878–889. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
- Mercier LR (2008). Torticollis section of The cervical spine. In Practical Orthopedics, 6th ed., pp. 41–42. Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier.
- Staheli LT (2006). Torticollis section of Upper limb. In Practice of Pediatric Orthopedics, 2nd ed., pp. 232–234. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Credits Back to top
|Primary Medical Reviewer||John Pope, MD - Pediatrics|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||Robert B. Keller, MD - Orthopedics|
|Last Revised||July 21, 2011|
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2013 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
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Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has approved a financial mechanism for an investment programme on electricity transmission grid (the second phase) with loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
At a seminar to launch the project in Hanoi on November 17, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dao Xuan Hoc said the project was of primary significance to locals in the central region, where the rate of safe water users in its population is lower than the national average. The region is also prone to natural disasters, suffers saline water sources and is hit by high poverty rates.
Hoc added the Government has issued a number of incentive policies to encourage private investors to invest in safe water supply along with foreign assistance in order to increase the number of safe water beneficiaries.
Paul Van Klanveren, a representative from ADB in charge of the project in Vietnam said it is the first project on safe water supply and environmental hygiene that his employer has ever funded in the central region. He expected that the project would not only bring in more equality to people in disadvantaged areas but also help Vietnam sustain its socio-economic development.
The project will run until 2017 with investment totalling 50 million USD, of which ADB provides 45 million USD in credits and the rest is contributed by Vietnam.
MARD reported that the national target programme on rural safe water supply and environmental hygiene has helped up to 79 percent of the national population to access safe water supply and 54 percent of families build standard latrines.
The nation, however, is still coping with a number of challenges in this regard./.
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April 9, 1994
Consumers can recognize the difference between frozen food and fresh food, despite efforts by the Department of Agriculture to confuse the issue for the benefit of Arkansas interests that helped Hillary Clinton hit the commodities futures jackpot.USDA upholds a curious legal fiction that frozen chicken may wear the "fresh" label in stores. Despite pledging to review the deceptive policy, the department is still dragging its heels.The USDA has also joined the frozen-fowl flock in a lawsuit to overturn a California law that bars poultry chilled below 26 degrees from being sold as "fresh."
August 14, 1991
GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST, without skin or bones, is everywhere -- popping up on restaurant menus and backyard barbecues. Chicken has fewer calories and fat then red meat and, if grilled properly, plenty of flavor.Grilled chicken's biggest enemy is overcooking. Diane Rozas, author of "More Chicken Breasts," a new cookbook with nearly 100 recipes, has these suggestions for perfect chicken:* Spray the cold grill with a non-stick vegetable coating such as PAM to keep the chicken from sticking and to make clean-up easier.
November 24, 1992
Stuffed Squash1 large Turkish or Hubbard squash or pumpkin12 slices bread ( 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat bread)1/2 cup butter1 stalk celery1 onion1/2 tsp. sage1 tsp. thyme1 vegetable bouillon cube1 tbsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos1/2 cup boiling waterOpen squash. Scrape seeds out of cavity. Prepare stuffing. Place bread slices on cookie sheets in 400-degree oven for 15 minutes to dry out bread so stuffing holds together better. Meanwhile, melt butter in large saucepan. Chop celery and onion, add to butter.
July 24, 1991
This dish is sure to be a hit with busy people. The recipe, from the National Broiler Council, uses skinless, boneless chicken breasts and the microwave to create a fast, delicious recipe.Deluxe Chicken Breasts 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved3 tablespoons bottled microwave browning sauce1 teaspoon seasoned salt, divided1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper, divided1 cup nonfat plain yogurt1 teaspoon grated onion1 teaspoon prepared mustardBrush chicken with browning sauce and arrange on rack around outside edges of circular microwave dish.
July 10, 1991
When summer weather lures you outdoors, rely on quick-to-fi salads to make meal preparation simpler and get you out of the kitchen fast.This recipe is from the Potato Board and Mushroom Council.Grilled Chicken Summer Salad4 medium potatoes, about 1 1/3 pounds1/2 pound mushrooms, halved1/3 pound green beans, halved, trimmed and blanchedTarragon vinaigrette, recipe follows4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 6 ounces each1/4 cup chopped red onionHalved cherry tomatoes for garnishIn covered saucepan, cook potatoes in about two-inches boiling water until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
May 12, 1995
It looks as though Anne Arundel County Executive John G. Gary and his $733 million budget proposal have ruffled a few feathers.Last week, Mr. Gary sent a memo to County Council members urging them to support his budget and exhorting them to follow the example of geese, which support each other. At budget hearings this week, the executive's aides were greeted by honks of derision from council members who think some of Mr. Gary's spending ideas are for the birds.How did Mr. Gary, the acclaimed fiscal wizard who helped wrestle state budgets into shape while serving on the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee for eight years, get himself into such a predicament?
November 15, 2010
Three years ago, Maryland-based Perdue Farms stopped using feed treated with the antibiotic roxarsone, which contains arsenic. The company found that with better management of its flocks and contract chicken houses, the drug wasn't needed to keep chickens healthy. Unfortunately, too many in the industry have failed to follow suit. A recent study released by a Washington-based consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch found poultry available in supermarkets contains three times more arsenic than other meats.
October 10, 1993
In the current issue of Ducks Unlimited Canada Conservator is an article about the zebra mussel, the tiny striped clam whose presence within a few hundred miles of Prettyboy, Liberty and Loch Raven caused the Baltimore Department of Public Works to restrict fishing boats on the city's reservoirs.City officials feared that anglers would bring the mussel into the reservoirs where it could block water piping systems as it has in the Great Lakes.Officials thought that the clam has no natural predators in this hemisphere.
July 28, 1996
I CAN SYMPATHIZE with William Hahn's complaints about years of aural assault by peacocks. But he doesn't know how bad it could get.He says his sleep and peace of mind have been persistently disrupted by these bejeweled birds and their shrill screams, which he compares to the cries of a sick cat.The distraught Gamber resident appealed in vain to the Humane Society, the Maryland State Police, the Carroll County Planning Department and the farmer who raises...
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Matt Potter 11:59 a.m., June 19
Working in our brewery, we hear from time to time the popular refrain/war cry “Lets open a Brewery!' We've heard this courageous cry among home brewers, and would be home brewers/entrepreneurs around San Diego for the last few years or so. So what does it take to start brewing some craft beer for our friends on a commercial level? Money? Sure, but the business world is a complicated one, and some techniques should be adhered to, before we put the down payment on our lease and put the boil on.
The initial capital required to start a small brewery (around three to five Hundred thousand dollars) is just the start folks, the expenses do not stop there, and a major overlook by small business is the operating budget for the next fiscal 12 months. When we start up a new company the monthly budget is factored in, therefore eliminating all worry about our rent, additional equipment, and more importantly, our salary. Remembering capital is always around and can be had, allows us to work on our formula, and with numbers in the black, investors invariably show up for the next phase. Having this freedom will free us up to work on our product, to keep sharpening our pencil, and to stay ahead of the game.
I've said it before, “get the right help!” The first impressions of any start up are of most value, and when we are not ready for the deluge of opening night with professional bartenders and the service, we lose customers. The professional beer maker in charge of the brew house, sales reps acquiring new accounts, marketing and advertising, are just the beginning offices needed, for instance, it is not the job of an outside accountant to manage our company's best interests, this would be the CFO’s work. The formulation of a team should be worked on consistently, and in a recession it is an optimum time to do so, lots of help available, and college majors are always looking too. Make relationships for the long term, build the team, and allow them the responsibilities which come with each position, allowing us to work on our business, and not in it it.
Making money is the work of the U.S. Mint, not ours, and in the business world we do not talk about making money, we make numbers, which should work to make bigger numbers. Of course, the real reason to start business at all is to help fulfill a need with our skills, to alleviate the problems we see with our solutions. Helping someone in our immediate village first, whether it be with a quality hand crafted beer, or an apprenticeship in the office or brew house, should be our main objective when starting any enterprise.
Meanwhile back at the brewery, the latest batch of Dunkelweizen tastes wonderful, fruity banana like flavors and cloves, yummy. At the end of the day, this what it is all about, making a righteous product and always working on improving it, complacency being the bane of entrepreneurs. It is proven, opening a Brewery or any other business is copious amounts of work, but the reward pays off with accomplishment, fun is to had too. Be adequately dialed in to the local movers and shakers, and move in the correct orbits with the industry's Guru's, learn from them. When entering business on a professional level, mandatory continued education is suggested, as it will be a lifetime of on the job learning anyway. Cheers, and to our health, which ultimately is our wealth...
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Engineers write defence against aliens manual
NASA consultants advocate sci-fi mujahideen tactics, call Sagan 'total jerk'
A group of American aerospace engineers have written a book on how to defend the earth against alien invasion.
Travis Shane Taylor, Bob Boan, Charles Anding and T Conley Powell hold a variety of PhDs and other degrees in hard sciences and technology. All have worked on weapons and aerospace programmes for defence contractors, NASA and various parts of the US forces. Taylor and Boan also claim expertise in various kinds of technical military intelligence-gathering.
John Ringo, who has written many bestselling sci-fi books on the theme of alien invasions, said in his New York Times review:
"Whatever your beliefs on the subject, and despite many of my own popular novels I am agnostic at best, the book also serves as an important primer on the potential future of warfare . . . It is tightly grounded in current day realities of war and extrapolates thoughtfully but closely about future potentials. It should be on the reading list of anyone who is serious about national security and the future of war."
There seem reasonable grounds for a bit of agnosticism around the possibility of alien invasion - during the accurately-foreseeable technological future, anyway. The authors are tangling with Fermi's paradox (if the aliens are coming, surely it's a bit odd they aren't yet here?) and the late Carl Sagan's belief that any species advanced enough to master star travel will have evolved beyond war.
But Taylor, Boan et al aren't worried. On page 54, Sagan is characterised as a "total jerk," which takes care of him.
As for the existence/distribution of aliens, the four engineers offer the following line of reasoning:
"We know that at least one star system (our own) within the Milky Way Galaxy has developed intelligent life . . . that suggests statistics of at least one civilisation per galaxy . . . So, there should be billions of star systems with intelligent civilisations."
Take that, sceptics.
Most of the book is actually about methods of warfare which humanity might use against the alien invaders. The book's authors seem to be big fans of Robert Heinlein's sci-fi; they have 45 pages on how the Sixth Column-style secret resistance network should be organised, and there are references to "mobile infantry" in combat spacesuits, suggesting that someone has been reading Starship Troopers as well.
On top of this, there's a sprinkling of mildly trendy military staff-college buzz phrases like "asymmetric warfare" (that one's fairly old, actually) and discussion of the mujahideen's war against the Soviets in Afghanistan - which the authors hold up as a model for human tactics against invading aliens.
It's often worth reading sci-fi when written by good storytellers, in El Reg's opinion. When it's sci-fi about war, it often helps if the authors have military backgrounds - as Heinlein did (and John Ringo, in fact). Likewise, we like technical writing by technical experts here at Vulture Central, and these guys are nothing if not technical.
Military staff-college bumf, on the other hand, is usually no fun no matter who writes it.
All in all, it might be better to just buy some sci-fi, or a book about weapons tech - or even, for the self-flagellant, a staff-college thesis or two (these last are usually given away free). An Introduction to Planetary Defense may not be for most of us. ®
Why are we so paranoid?
I hate this paranoid fear that is gaining momentum in the US that anything unconventional must be a terrorist threat.
If the aliens have any sense at all, then they will land somewhere other than the US where some dumb redneck isn't going to automatically shoot first.
They're not coming.
Any species intelligent enough to get across the interstellar void to visit Earth is intelligent enough not to do so.
First of all, don't worry. The mice will take care of protecting us. The dolphins might help. So no panic on the Titanic.
Second... so this is the quality of a "variety of PhDs and other degrees in hard sciences and technology", I wonder? Engineers? Couldn't NASA afford better ones? You know, real science PhDs are very seldom *that* stupid, even when they comment on areas outside of their expertise...
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I am preparing a textbook for use at my school. Eventually, I might hand-draw all of the illustrations, but in the meantime, I will use photographs. Some of these photographs will fill 1/3 of the page. To save as much money as possible, I will use the campus print center to make copies of the book. They have black and white photocopy machines. Unfortunately, the print center claims that it is very difficult to photocopy photographs. They demonstrated this with a page and showed that the photos were almost entirely illegible, and the process used too much ink.
- How can I prepare all of my photographs, such that they will still have a consistent and legible appearance when photocopied?
- I have found that lithographs, such as this illustration of Wimel Poort will photocopy just fine and they still retain a lot of detail. Is there some way to prepare the photograph to have a similar texture?
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http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/6400/preparing-photographs-for-black-and-white-photocopiers
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A comprehensive health system serving Bennington, Vt., and nearby communities in New York and Massachusetts.
There are growing concerns and research about the effects of too much screen time from TVs, video games, smartphones, and computers on a developing child. Join an informative discussion on the topic on May 19 at the Northshire Bookstore.
People diagnosed with a mental illness should know not to feel ashamed, embarrassed or that they are weak. Mental health issues can affect anyone at anytime.
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While discussing some changes with someone the other day, I looked over this section again:
A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent
works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work,
and which are not combined with it such as to form a larger program,
in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an
"aggregate" if the compilation and its resulting copyright are not
used to limit the access or legal rights of the compilation's users
beyond what the individual works permit. Inclusion of a covered work
in an aggregate does not cause this License to apply to the other
parts of the aggregate.
From what I gather, the intent of this paragraph was to define how the GPL affects hardware manufactures that embed GPL software on their products. They wanted to allow companies to ship various software together, as long as the user of the product doesn't have any legal restrictions applied to them. For example: By opening this package you forgo your rights to ever resell the contents within. Or: You agree to not use this product in order to reverse engineer it. Or the real clincher: By opening the packaging or using this product you agree to not attempt to modify it.
Basically this is done to explicitly state the GPLs new intent:
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run
modified versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer
can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of
protecting users' freedom to change the software. The systematic
pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to
use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we
have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those
products. If such problems arise substantially in other domains, we
stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions
of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.
Now under the GPLv3, one is unable to sell hardware with GPLv3 on it to someone which somehow limits their legal rights they had prior to owning hardware.
Now what exactly defines legal rights? One's legal rights change from location to location. One has legal rights and restrictions based on the country they live in. They also have legal restrictions added on to those by the state they live in. One who owns a domain may also limit the rights of those who wish to stay within their domain. When one lives in a domain, and violates a law of that particular domain, they may be punished by the rules of that domain, as long as the punishment isn't in conflict with the rights and restrictions provided by the domain that particular domain is contained within.
Meaning, I can establish rights and regulations within my own household that are binding to members within it, as long as it isn't in conflict with the state I live in. The state can do the same as long as it doesn't violate the laws of the country it is in.
Although not normally thought of in that sense, my home does have legal rights, restrictions, and regulations that I apply to my household. I don't allow coloring on the walls. If one does so, they know that their crayons will be taken away, and they will lose allowance for the next two weeks or perhaps certain video game privileges, depending on the age of the perpetrator.
Now in the past, if I wanted one of my children to have a computer, I'd buy/build/whatever a computer, and install all the necessary software I think they need, as well as any other software that they desire that I don't deem as contraband.
However with the GPLv3, if I compile together components for a computer, as well as various software into a nice personal computer, if any of the software is GPLv3, I can't restrict any other previous legal rights to the user of this personal computer.
Buying children expensive gifts have always been a form of negotiation and a method to apply new restrictions on troublesome issues that have recently come up. For example, if my daughter recently decided she wanted earings, but her mother and I decided we don't want her to get her ears pierced right now, we'd try to negotiate the restriction. If we knew she also wanted a nice new laptop, we'd perhaps buy her the laptop, but make a deal with her, that if she uses this nice new pink Eee PC, she no longer asks her mother and I if she can have earings until she is 16. This way she can be content about having a new computer, and wont bring up her desire for earings for a few more years.
However, if we got her an Eee PC with Linux installed with several GPLv3 apps, as opposed to the Windows preinstalled Eee PC, we would not be allowed to under the terms of the GPLv3 negotiate this agreement with our daughter.
It seems because of the GPLv3, I can't give my children anything but Windows on the computers I buy for them, if I try to use them as a bargaining chip. Before you Mac lovers pounce on me, please recall that MacBooks today come with GCC, which is GPLv3.
Thanks to the GPLv3, it seems now Windows is the only Operating System that is right for your family. Remember also to be careful which open source applications you preload with, to make sure they aren't GPLv3.
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Anyone who chooses to walk the path of scientific research will encounter exhilarating moments of breakthrough and discovery. But they will also have to deal with very many moments of disappointment, when an experiment – despite all the best efforts – has not worked out as planned.
It’s a lesson few budding scientists learn in high school. But it is one of the many lessons 28 high school students – including Dickinson High School’s Jay Patel – are learning this summer as part of Liberty Science Center’s Partners in Science Program.
“Research is very tough. I tell [the students], you’re lucky if you get a result in one summer,” said Prof. Kenneth Yamaguchi, chairman of the chemistry department at New Jersey City University (NJCU), who has taken Patel into his laboratory this summer as part of the Partners in Science Program.
“If researchers could get results in two or three months,” he said, “we’d know everything there is to know by now. That’s the nature of the beast, it’s a never-ending story. Those of us who have been doing this a while know that. It’s something the students are learning.”
Now in its 26th year, the Partners in Science Program pairs rising high school juniors and seniors with university professors and gives them an opportunity to work in a professional-level lab environment. The eight-week summer internship exposes these students to advanced research and some of the cutting-edge questions and methodology contemporary scientists are exploring.
“What we do is we field the applications from students and find places in professional labs for the students to work in,” said Elizabeth Romanaux, Liberty Science Center’s director of communications.
Approximately 600 students from the tri-state-area have participated in the program since its inception, according to Romanaux.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to get hands-on experience,” Yamaguchi said.
X-ray marks the spot
This summer, Patel and another student placed in Yamaguchi’s lab are trying to determine the chemical structure of a compound.
1. “I created a nickel compound from a Schiff-base ligand [an ion or molecule that forms a coordination complex by binding to a metal atom]. I crystallized that and ran it through an X-ray machine,” said Patel, who will be a junior at Dickinson High in the fall. He said he is now trying to verify that what he thought he created is, indeed, what he has on his hands.
Patel said he is unsure what he plans to study in college, but knows he wants to do something “in the medical field” and is currently leaning towards research.
“When you make something, how do you know if what you set out to make is really what you made?” Yamaguchi asked rhetorically. “What they’re doing is using X-ray diffraction, which is a way to determine the structure of groups of atoms.”
Patel and Yamaguchi further explained that by using X-ray beams scientists can get two-dimensional images of crystals that pinpoint and map out every atom that’s a part of the crystal. X-ray diffraction helps scientists better understand the chemical make-up of molecules.
“This is a technique you usually don’t get until graduate school – if you get it all,” noted Yamaguchi, whose own background is in analytical chemistry. “The most difficult part is not the technique. What’s difficult is you have to get an actual single crystal molecule.”
Patel, his research partner, and an NJCU student mentor who Yamaguchi has assigned to assist with the pair have been working on this project four days a week since June. The lab component of Patel’s internship will continue through early August.
Patel said that while Dickinson High School is often criticized for its overcrowding and the occasional rowdiness of its students, “Their research program is really good. Not a lot of people are involved in it. It’s something that more people should take advantage of.”
Rounding it out
In addition to his lab experience, Patel and the other Partners in Science interns also participate in regular workshops that enhance their technical writing and public speaking skills. Both skills are necessary since professional scientists like Yamaguchi are expected to conduct research and publish and present their findings.
In keeping with the program’s focus, the Partners in Science students are required to write a paper on their summer lab work and must then present their work to their peers in late August.
Students enrolled in the program, which is supported by the Provident Bank Foundation and other funders – earn a $1,000 stipend.
“The reason for the stipend is we want the program to be available to students who have to earn money over the summer,” Romanaux said. “There are students who can’t afford not to work over the summer and we’d rather have them be in a program like this than flipping burgers somewhere.”
Liberty Science Center offers the Partners in Science Program annually each summer, with applications typically due in the early part of the year. For more information regarding the 2013 Partners in Science Program, contact Ruben Rosario, associate director of lab-based programs at Liberty Science Center, at firstname.lastname@example.org.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at email@example.com.
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The difference between what the federal government is owed, and what it actually collects is expected to be around $300 billion this year. Why do so many people fail to pay their full tax bill? According to CNBC reporter Stuart Green, it is because Americans do not feel morally obligated to pay the IRS.
Why and how are so many people avoiding what Franklin thought was a certainty?
Much of the gap is the result of good faith mistakes by taxpayers — no surprise given the mind-numbing complexity of the tax code.
But some significant part of the disparity is the result of intentional evasion, non-payment, or underpayment. The question is why. Why are so many Americans willfully and flagrantly violating our tax laws?
he issue is a complex one, but a few key factors can be identified. One is that the norms associated with the duty to pay taxes are surprisingly weak. Most scholars agree that society’s ability to enforce compliance with the law lies less in the government’s power to impose sanctions than it does in the norms by which people direct their lives.
Generally speaking, people refrain from committing crimes not because they fear sanctions if they do, but because they believe it is morally wrong to engage in the conduct prohibited.
In the case of paying taxes, lots of people apparently believe it’s not morally wrong to fail to pay what’s owed. Suspicion of taxes is deeply rooted in our national psyche, going back to the Boston Tea Party of 1773 and the Whiskey Rebellion of the early 1790s.
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Date of Award
Doctor of Philosophy
Countries with unemployment insurance (UI) program can effectively conduct a labor market policy and observe the flow of unemployed-employed. But should we just hand UI over to anyone who has no job? Do individual response to the program in terms of their decision to work or to enjoy more leisure unanimously the same across leisure type characteristic individuals? In a heterogeneous constructed labor search market we derive that introduction of the UI program increases the wage gap between the different individuals when the program impacts the productivity of firm positively. In an empirical investigation of the impact of unemployment benefits on the duration of unemployment using a job search model, we specify a distribution of duration of unemployment that we estimate using maximum likelihood estimation and find that there is in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 97) there are 3 types of individuals and the type of leisure individuals present an adverse response to the program: An increase in UI for the highest leisure type leads to a longer duration of unemployment. Whereas the lowest values of leisure do not tend to have an extended duration of unemployment from a positive change in UI. Finally, the response for the type 2 individuals is completely ambiguous as it could either see them having a prolonged duration of unemployment or a shortened period with no work. So a selective increase in unemployment insurance to those with a relatively low value of leisure may decrease the equilibrium rate of unemployment. The second part of the dissertation focuses on modeling money demand and shocks in Cote D'Ivoire for the period of 1960-2009. Unlike Drama and Yao (2010) our result suggests M1 is not in a long-run equilibrium with its determinants real income and expected inflation and therefore unstable. However, the broad definition M2 is cointegrated with its long-run determinants and it is therefore the most appropriate definition of money for the Cote D'Ivoire economy. As a consequence M2 can be used as an alternative to the interest rate as a long run monetary policy instrument.
This dissertation is only
available for download to the SIUC community. Others should contact the
interlibrary loan department of your local library or contact ProQuest's Dissertation Express service.
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| 0.906747
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| 1.5
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clone, group of organisms, all of which are descended from a single individual through asexual reproduction, as in a pure cell culture of bacteria. Except for changes in the hereditary material that come about by mutation, all members of a clone are genetically identical. In 1962 John Gurdon was the first to clone an animal when he transferred cell nuclei from adult frog intestinal cells and injected them into egg cells from which the nucleus had been removed; the eggs then developed into tadpoles. Laboratory experiments in in vitro fertilization of human eggs led in 1993 to the "cloning" of human embryos by dividing such fertilized eggs at a very early stage of development, but this technique actually produces a twin rather than a clone. In a true mammalian clone (as in Gurdon's frog clone) the nucleus from a body cell of an animal is inserted into an egg, which then develops into an individual that is genetically identical to the original animal.
Later experiments in cloning resulted in the development of a sheep from a cell of an adult ewe (in Scotland, in 1996), and since then rodents, cattle, swine, and other animals have also been cloned from adult animals. Despite these trumpeted successes, producing cloned mammals is enormously difficult, with most attempts ending in failure; cloning succeeds 4% or less of the time in the species that have been successfully cloned. In addition, some studies have indicated that cloned animals are less healthy than normally reproduced animals.
In 2001 researchers in Massachusetts announced that they were trying to clone humans in an attempt to extract stem cells. The National Academy of Sciences, while supporting (2001) such so-called therapeutic or research cloning, has opposed (2002) the cloning of humans for reproductive purposes, deeming it unsafe, but many ethicists, religious and political leaders, and others have called for banning human cloning for any purpose. South Korean scientists announced in 2004 that they had cloned 30 human embryos, but an investigation in 2005 determined that the data had been fabricated.
See G. Kolata, Clone (1997).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on clone from Infoplease:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Biology: General
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As discussed in the Part 1 of this series (requirements and assessment flow)
, safety is one of the key parameters that most of automotive companies are focusing on. Part I described the ISO 26262 standard and the related nomenclature. This part deals with looking into design solutions for increasing the safety/reliability of products, thus enabling automotive chip suppliers and their customers to deliver safer parts. Design failures
According to ISO26262, a design should be robust enough to handle the random failures caused by harsh ambient conditions. It has been observed that the cosmic rays and alpha particles can produce enough charge inside a chip to change the state of one or more flip flops or temporary change in the net value. And due to aging, a flip flop may not be able to retain its values for long duration. These failures can be temporary in nature, like bit flipping or permanent because of wearing out of the device. Such failures can lead to a malfunction resulting in a violation of safety goals (damage incurred).
Failures can be classified into two types, depending on failure tolerant time.a) Single point failures (SPF)
SPF refers to the faults that would immediately cause the output to go invalid state (i.e. result in immediate functional error (failure tolerant time is less)) and make the error dangerous (failure of a safety goal). These errors should be detected as quickly as possible and corrective action taken. An example for these errors is incorrect functioning of the CPU core that could lead to malfunction of a critical feature such as steering. b) Latent failures
These failures refer to the faults that wouldn’t immediately cause the output to go invalid state but would result in the part degradation (failure tolerant time is greater). These faults alone might not result in the functional failure immediately, but with certain subsequent failure conditions they can be dangerous. These faults should be checked periodically and corrective action taken. An example for these errors is bit flipping in the memory or degradation in the memory (i.e. memory ability to hold data). Failure rate dependence
ISO26262 defines the process that could ensure higher tolerance to failure. Failure rate depends on various factors like technology and the environment where the part has to operate. These parameters are generally uncontrollable by silicon providers. So, silicon providers need to look into the design/architecture solution for increase reliability (i.e. detecting the failures as quickly as possible or reducing the impact of those failures).
Several design solutions that can be implemented to increase the circuit reliability are discussed below.Lockstep mode and delayed lockstep mode
An extra CPU is integrated in the device. If one of the CPU is malfunctions then it is immediately sensed by compare logic. Once the fault is detected, the system could be designed to run in a safe mode and give warning to the user.
Another means of ensuring CPU operation is to run the main CPU one or two "clocks" delayed from the "checker" CPU and accordingly do the comparison. This is known as delayed lockstep mode of operation.Adding structural redundancy to make a design more immune to failures
Critical flops in the design could be replaced by the triple flop structure as shown in the above diagram. Additional flops reduce the risk of the circuit malfunction due to bit inversion on one of the flops. Having more flops reduces the probability that two flops in the same structure will flip simultaneously.
Critical modules/peripherals in the SoC can be replicated to provide fault tolerant operation (e.g. two ADC measuring the same quantity). In case of an error in a module, the backup module can be made active. A safety protection mechanism must be put in place like regular LBIST (logic built-in self-test
), ECC (error correction code), or CRC (cyclic redundancy check
) scan of configuration space to detect errors in module/peripherals.Data redundancy added to make a design more immune to noise
A master unit could generate an error correction code, which could travel along with the address and data, being checked at the destination. In case of the bit flip due to noise, this error could be detected at the receiver end and corrective action taken by having these end-to-end ECC checks. Similarly critical modules can have local ECC checks.
Similarly data in RAM could be stored with the ECC whenever a "write" occurs in the RAM, and on "read" it can check for ECC error.
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The Hidden Power, by Thomas Troward , at sacred-texts.com
THOROUGHLY to realise the true nature of affirmative power is to possess the key to the great secret. We feel its presence in all the innumerable forms of life by which we are surrounded and we feel it as the life in ourselves; and at last some day the truth bursts upon us like a revelation that we can wield this power, this life, by the process of Thought. And as soon as we see this, the importance of regulating our thinking begins to dawn upon us. We ask ourselves what this thought process is, and we then find that it is thinking affirmative force into forms which are the product of our own thought. We mentally conceive the form and then think life into it.
This must always be the nature of the creative process on whatever scale, whether on the grand scale of the Universal Cosmic Mind or on the miniature scale of the individual mind; the difference is only in degree and not in kind. We may picture the mental machinery by which this is done in the way that best satisfies our intellect--and the satisfying of the intellect on this point is a potent factor in giving us that
confidence in our mental action without which we can effect nothing--but the actual externalisation is the result of something more powerful than a merely intellectual apprehension. It is the result of that inner mental state which, for want of a better word, we may call our emotional conception of ourselves. It is the "self" which we feel ourselves to be which takes forms of our own creating. For this reason our thought must be so grounded upon knowledge that we shall feel the truth of it, and thus be able to produce in ourselves that mental attitude of feeling which corresponds to the condition which we desire to externalise.
We cannot think into manifestation a different sort of life to that which we realise in ourselves. As Horace says, "Nemo dat quod non habet," we cannot give what we have not got. And, on the other hand, we can never cease creating forms of some sort by our mental activity, thinking life into them. This point must be very carefully noted. We cannot sit still producing nothing: the mental machinery will keep on turning out work of some sort, and it rests with us to determine of what sort it shall be. In our entire ignorance or imperfect realisation of this we create negative forms and think life into them. We create forms of death, sickness, sorrow, trouble, and limitation of all sorts, and then think life into these forms; with the result that, however non-existent in themselves, to us they become realities and throw their shadow across the path which would otherwise be
bright with the many-coloured beauties of innumerable flowers and the glory of the sunshine.
This need not be. It is giving to the negative an affirmative force which does not belong to it. Consider what is meant by the negative. It is the absence of something. It is not-being, and is the absence of all that constitutes being. Left to itself, it remains in its own nothingness, and it only assumes form and activity when we give these to it by our thought.
Here, then, is the great reason for practising control over our thought. It is the one and only instrument we have to work with, but it is an instrument which works with the greatest certainty, for limitation if we think limitation, for enlargement if we think enlargement. Our thought as feeling is the magnet which draws to us those conditions which accurately correspond to itself. This is the meaning of the saying that "thoughts are things." But, you say, how can I think differently from the circumstances? Certainly you are not required to say that the circumstances at the present moment are what they are not; to say so would be untrue; but what is wanted is not to think from the standpoint of circumstances at all. Think from that interior standpoint where there are no circumstances, and from whence you can dictate what circumstances shall be, and then leave the circumstances to take care of themselves.
Do not think of this, that, or the other particular circumstances of health, peace, etc., but of health, peace,
and prosperity themselves. Here is an advertisement from Pearson's Weekly:--"Think money. Big money-makers think money." This is a perfectly sound statement of the power of thought, although it is only an advertisement; but we may make an advance beyond thinking "money." We can think "Life" in all its fulness, together with that perfect harmony of conditions which includes all that we need of money and a thousand other good things besides, for some of which money stands as the symbol of exchangeable value, while others cannot be estimated by so material a standard.
Therefore think Life, illumination, harmony, prosperity, happiness--think the things rather than this or that condition of them. And then by the sure operation of the Universal Law these things will form themselves into the shapes best suited to your particular case, and will enter your life as active, living forces, which will never depart from you because you know them to be part and parcel of your own being.
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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An ambitious research project is under way to shed light on the mysterious movements of white-tailed deer through the thick cover of northeastern Washington.
The study area in Stevens, Pend Oreille and northern Spokane counties covers the state's most productive region for whitetails and the hunters who pursue them during fall big-game seasons.
About 35 bucks, does and fawns gave researchers an intimate glimpse of their daily movements, migrations and, in a few cases, their deaths during the first year of research that started in January 2012. Another 35 already have been captured, fitted with transmitters and released during the winter trapping season going into the second year of the study.
About $400,000 in federal grants, state wildlife funds and volunteer services will be devoted to the project over 3 1/2 years, said Woody Myers, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department big-game research biologist.
Up to 100 deer will be adorned with $170 radio ear-tags or with $2,200 GPS collars that allow researchers to peg their location every four hours. Deer movements can be overlaid on maps that will show their migration routes and habitat preferences.
The number of deer with transmitters was small as the study ramped up in its first year, but some trends already are catching the attention of Myers, and University of Montana researcher Charlie Henderson.
"It's somewhat surprising to see how far some whitetails were migrating from summer to winter ranges," Myers said. "The Midwestern and Eastern version of whitetail research shows whitetails with fairly small home ranges, just a few square miles. But we're seeing some whitetails moving farther."
One deer stayed within 393 acres — about a half-section of land — for the year.
However, the largest home range (year-round area) documented so far is 7,633 acres covered by a doe. She concentrated most of her summer on 563 acres and wintered on 755 acres.
"As a storm was moving, the doe headed to her winter range as though a light came on," Myers said. "She left her summering area near the Pend Oreille River at 2 a.m. on Dec. 19 and arrived within her winter range on the Little Pend Oreille (National Wildlife Refuge) on Dec. 21. That's 20 miles as the crow flies."
Some deer followed the same corridor almost exactly as they came to winter range and returned to summer range in the spring. Others varied their migration patterns.
The main research and parallel studies could help wildlife managers set hunting seasons and regulations and focus habitat improvements to boost the region's deer.
Based on their perception that northeastern Washington was short on mature bucks, Stevens County sportsmen prompted a controversial rule two years ago restricting most hunters to killing only bucks with four antler points or more in the popular Game Management Units 117 (49 Degrees North) and 121 (Huckleberry).
State wildlife biologists didn't support the restrictive regulation approved by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, but they acknowledged they didn't have an abundance of local research data to take a stand one way or the other.
Research is under way seeking to estimate the northeastern Washington whitetail population. One of the techniques involves going into designated areas with dogs trained to sniff out piles of deer scat. The number of scats per site is figured with analysis of samples to peg how many different deer are using the area.
"Whitetails aren't as easy as elk to census by aircraft, especially in northeastern Washington," Myers said. "We have to be more creative."
College students from as far as Missoula are involved in the studies, and North Central High School genetics lab students are doing DNA tests from blood samples.
Contributing to the research are biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Spokane and Kalispel tribes. Two private timber companies and the Colville National Forest are giving researchers special access to closed forest roads in some areas.
Researchers also are using ultrasound on trapped does and collecting road-killed deer to check for fetuses, which they can measure to determine the dates of conception.
Generally, deer benefit from having enough bucks for a concentrated November breeding period so fawns hit the ground in a short period in early June. Predators will kill fewer fawns if they are born within 10 days than if their births are scattered over weeks.
On the other hand, late breeding of female fawns would be a good sign that deer are finding proper nutrition, putting on weight and becoming sexually mature earlier than normal, Myers said. Most bred females are yearlings or older, he said.
The study is enlisting the help of roughly 70 volunteers, mostly from the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council as well as from colleges, Myers said. Groups are trained to help trap deer and then monitor movements of the radio-tagged deer from the ground.
The Stevens County Fish and Wildlife Committee was particularly helpful in gaining access to private land for trapping the deer, Myers said.
Deer trapping is hard, dangerous, time-consuming work carried out by volunteers who are donating $40,000-$80,000 of service time a year to the study, Myers said.
The traps, which resemble portable dog kennels, are placed in secure areas such as farms where they can be baited and monitored. When a deer is caught, volunteers show up within hours and collapse the cage to immobilize the deer so it can be blindfolded and hobbled.
In one case last year, two cougars attacked and killed a deer in a trap just before the research crew arrived.
"Apparently one cat reached through the mesh with its paws, pulled the deer close and killed it by biting its head," Myers said. "A single canine (tooth) punctured its skull into its brain."
None of the collared deer was shot by hunters during the fall season. About two-thirds of the deer collared so far are females plus several sublegal bucks
Harvest of antlerless whitetails in units 117 and 121 is limited to youth, senior and disabled hunters during a four-day window in the season and bucks must have at least four points on one antler to be legal game. Those limitations plus a small sample size in the first year of the study lowered the probability that a marked deer would be killed by a hunter or a wolf, he said.
Survival rates of adult and juvenile deer and causes of their deaths are key goals of the research, he said.
Each deer is weighed, examined by a biologist who takes a blood sample for various tests and DNA. Deer released with radio-ear tags must be monitored by volunteers who go out on the ground and from occasional aerial surveys.
Some deer get the more expensive GPS collars, so they can be tracked by satellite from Myers' computer or mobile phone.
One GPS collar has malfunctioned so far and a few of the ear-tag radios have dropped out as the deer go about their lives in the brushy wild. Overall, Myers expects to get two years of tracking out of each transmitter.
The GPS tracking is so accurate, the research should reveal details such as how often deer are on north-facing slopes, in farmers' fields, near roads or what age of forest clearcut they prefer.
The original story can be found on The Spokesman-Review website: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/jan/27/technology-volunteers-boost-northeastern/
Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
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MINIMAL ART, that paragon of 1960's modernism, has never completely dropped from view, but right now it is so omnipresent that it looks like the flavor of the month. In numerous galleries, most of them in SoHo, Minimalism's simplified forms and surfaces are visible in various guises, phases and degrees of originality - and from different generations.
There are historical shows that reprise some of the tendency's best moments and look into such related tendencies as Color Field painting and Post-Minimalism. There's even some pre-Minimalism. As other exhibitions have proved this season, the originators of this seemingly reductivist style are not running out of things to do. Both Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt have excellent shows at the moment.
Among the exhibitions of younger artists who are trying to push Minimalism in new directions, there's nothing as good as Peter Halley's December show of paintings at Sonnabend in SoHo. Still, sleek geometric sculptures and monochrome canvases are coming on like the latest thing. Sometimes these are played straight, sometimes they're infused with elaborate Conceptual ironies, as in Stephen Prina's exhibition at the P.S. 1 Museum in Long Island City, Queens.
On many esthetic fronts, not only the Minimalist one, there seems to be a sense that less can once again be more, that simpler is better, and such developments raise a score of issues. Perhaps the dreaded pendulum has taken yet another swing, and we're in the midst of an esthetic purge that will cleanse the supposed excesses of 80's art. It may be that making objects that have a touch of the pure and hermetic about them is a subtle way to resist the pull of the market.
Those issues aside, after more than 20 years of exposure, Minimalism remains one of the few blue-chip art movements that refuse to look strictly like art. It can still raise hackles, still project an aura of radicality. Nothing but the facts - this is the Minimalist ideal: plain materials, preferably industrial in source; simple repeating forms that banish fancy compositon. There's more than a little Zen to this approach, more than a trace of the Shaker faith that puts plainness next to godliness.
This purity of form may be something that every generation has to rediscover for itself, and, in times of esthetic confusion, the comfort of the geometric should never be underestimated. But then again, there's the issue of esthetic amnesia. After all, how many times can the wheel be invented, how many more monochrome paintings does the world really need?
Luckily, some historical shows provide a bit of background for recent endeavors. Both the Blum Helman Gallery on 57th Street and one of Leo Castelli's galleries in SoHo - two places long associated with the style - have mounted surveys of works from the 60's that concentrate on the Minimal.
Also worth a visit is an exhibition at PACE PRINTS, on 57th Street, which includes geometric motifs by artists from A to Y (Josef Albers to Peter Young).
The BLUM HELMANeffort is particularly impressive, and pulls together a series of firsts. It includes Donald Judd's first large wall stack and Robert Morris's ''Untitled (Corner Beam),'' one of the big gray forms with which he opened the brief Minimalist phase of his long career. This one spans a corner above the viewer's head like an architectural afterthought.
''White Over Black,'' a 25-year-old work by Ellsworth Kelly, actually makes its public debut in this show. The triptych has a white center panel that is slightly forward of its two black side panels; it holds forth the hints of the real world - a window with shutters or an altarpiece - that have always set Mr. Kelly's abstraction apart.
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Biodiesel Farm Study and Regulations:
Farm Producers’ Frequently Asked Questions
This booklet offers answers to questions about the Off-Road Biodiesel Demonstration - Agriculture Sector study and about the coming biodiesel regulations.
Who conducted the Off-Road Biodiesel Demonstration Agriculture Sector Study?
The study was conducted by the Saskatchewan Research Council in consultation with agriculture and transportation industry groups. The study was part of the federal government’s National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative.
Where was the study conducted, and what equipment were the operators using?
The study was conducted at Foam Lake, Saskatchewan from August 2009 to November 2010. It included eight farmers using over 50 pieces of farm equipment, ranging from sub-100-horsepower yard tractors to +500-horsepower, 4-wheel drive tractors, fueled with blends containing from 2% to 10% canola-based biodiesel. A wide range of combines and swathers and several engine brands and types were represented.
Is there a risk of a biodiesel blend damaging my equipment?
In the study, none of the farmers had biodiesel-related equipment problems.
Does biodiesel perform well in cold weather?
The study found that canola-based biodiesel blends perform well through all seasons. During the study period, temperatures ranged from -36°C to 31°C.
Does a biodiesel blend require more equipment maintenance than regular diesel?
Biodiesel-blended fuel was incorporated into the participants' existing farm operations with no modifications to equipment, fuel storage facilities, or fuel handling practices.
Will biodiesel perform well in older equipment?
In the study, farmers using equipment more than 40 years old had no biodiesel-related equipment problems.
What about newer equipment with electronic fuel injection and emission systems?
Biodiesel specifications were developed with input from farming equipment manufacturers to ensure that biodiesel does not cause issues with electronic fuel injection and emission systems. For this reason, using up to 5% biodiesel blends will not compromise equipment warranties.
Can I leave a biodiesel blend in my tanks over the winter?
The study found that canola-based biodiesel blends perform well even when left in tanks from harvest end to harvest beginning the following year.
Was water in storage tanks an issue in the study?
The tractors, combines, swathers and storage tanks were tested regularly and none had an excessive build-up of water or sediments.
Were the on-farm storage tanks used in the study new or modified in any way?
Most of the tanks were older, with many more than 20 years old, and none were modified. Study participants indicated that they practiced no tank maintenance beyond a change of filter if the tank used filters.
Will there always be 2% biodiesel in the fuel I buy, or will the percentage vary?
The current regulations require an average blend of 2%. Actual percentages may therefore vary across regions of the country and by season (the percentage will likely be higher in the summer than in the winter). The equipment in the Off-Road Biodiesel Demonstration - Agriculture Sector study was fueled with blends containing up to 10% biodiesel. If farmers have questions about biodiesel levels in the fuel they are buying, they should talk to their fuel suppliers.
Why is the government requiring that I use a biodiesel blend?
The requirement for 2% renewable fuel in diesel and heating oil in Canada, combined with provincial regulations, will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to four megatonnes—the equivalent of taking one million vehicles off the road. Biodiesel is produced from renewable resources, helping to conserve Canada’s non-renewable resources.
When are suppliers required to include biodiesel in the diesel they sell?
The Renewable Fuels Regulations, published in the Canada Gazette on September 1, 2010, require an average of 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil. The Government of Canada has proposed a coming into force date of July 1, 2011 for the regulations, which are part of Canada’s Renewable Fuels Strategy.
Can I get a copy of the study?
The study can be downloaded from the Saskatchewan Research Council web site (www.src.sk.ca/biodieseldemo).
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The riots that toppled Tunisia’s strong man on January 14 spread on Tuesday to Egypt, which is in its third day of rioting. Today riots have broken out in Yemen. Where next? Could the rioting spread to non-Arab parts of the Middle East, such as Iran and/or Pakistan?
John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that “all successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.” The regimes that appear strong, with massive security forces, are suddenly revealed to be hollow. This is what happened in Tunisia. Ben Ali, in power since 1987, fled to Saudi Arabia after riots started when a fruit vendor immolated himself after his wares were seized by a government agent because he lacked a license to peddle fruit. It has been, on the scale of things, a relatively bloodless revolution, at least so far.
Egypt, of course, is a much larger country, with a population of 83 million, while Tunisia has only a little over 10 million. And Egypt is among the most densely populated countries on earth when you take into account the fact that more than 90 percent of it is essentially uninhabited desert. A popular revolt there could get very messy indeed.
It is all reminiscent of Europe in 1848, when a revolution in France that toppled the regime of King Louis-Philippe spread like a wildfire to Germany, Denmark, Italy, Prussia, and the Hapsburg Empire. Even Switzerland had a brief civil war. King William II of the Netherlands, afraid for his own throne, ordered changes in the constitution that resulted in a constitutional monarchy. The Chartist movement in Britain had a meeting on Kensington Common that numbered perhaps 150,000 people. They presented a mammoth petition to Parliament, but the meeting remained peaceful.
While many regimes survived and were able to reassert autocratic power before long (France’s Second Republic lasted only four years before its president, Louis Napoleon, converted it into the Second Empire, with himself as Napoleon III), the pace of political change in Europe accelerated markedly after 1848, as the Industrial Revolution continued. (The phrase Industrial Revolution was, in fact, coined in 1848.)
Will 2011 prove to be the 1848 of the Middle East? If the doors are rotten enough, it will.
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Conservation Districts in Pennsylvania have their roots firmly planted in a rich past, and their eyes focused on a productive future. Created under the Conservation District Law, Districts are the local unit of State government that provides the link between you, the citizens, and the multitude of local State and federal natural resource management programs. A Board of Directors, appointed by the County Commissioners from nominations received from County-wide organizations, serve as your voice. A staff of professionals provides information, technical assistance, financial assistance and educational programs and support at the direction of that Board.
The mission of the Bradford County Conservation District is to provide leadership, technical, financial, and education resources to the people, municipalities, industries, and organizations of Bradford County to develop sound natural resource management through the implementation of soil, water, and air conservation best management practices.
Meetings Times & Dates
Bradford County Conservation District 2012 Board Meetings will be held at the Stoll Natural Resource Center in Wysox, PA on January 9, February 6, and March 5 at 12:30; and April 2, May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 10, October 1, November 5, December 3 at 7:00 PM.
Keith Heimbach, Chair
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Elizabeth Miller Preserve at Black Mountain
The Mary Elizabeth Miller Preserve at Black Mountain is
located between Prather and Tollhouse, on the south side of Lodge Road. Black
Mountain is clearly visible from portions of the Highway 168 “four lane” to
Shaver Lake. The preserve covers 992 acres plus a 70 acre conservation easement.
You can reach the preserve by driving about three miles up Black Mountain Lane
from the point where it joins Lodge Road, about four miles east of Prather.
The Mary Elizabeth Miller Preserve has two quite distinct
habitats: dense, woody chaparral on the north-facing slope and grassland/oak
woodland on the south-facing slope. Because of its elevation, about 3600 feet
above sea level, Black Mountain receives much more rain than Table Mountain.
Once or twice a winter, it is white with snow. In fact, it receives about twice
as much precipitation as the valley floor. As a result of this extra moisture,
the plant life is abundant and extremely varied. In March, April and May, over a
hundred different kinds of flowering plants, some quite rare, cover the slopes
with their blooms. Animal life is correspondingly rich.
The preserve’s most distinctive plant is a large shrub with
gorgeous white blooms called Carpenteria or Tree Anemone (Carpenteria
californica), which flowers in early May. Carpenteria is a true rarity,
growing in the wild only in the foothills between 2500 and 4000 feet elevation
of central Fresno County and in one small area in Madera County.
Hiking on the Miller Preserve is easy, with much of it taking
place on a dirt road. The distance from the preserve headquarters to the top of
the mountain is about a mile and a half. An optional extension of the walk is a
mile-long trail from near the summit to the eastern end of the ridge, making a
round trip of about six miles. This preserve is especially recommended for
families with children but strong hikers can find challenges here as well.
See March 1, 2006 Fresno Bee article
about the McKenzie Preserve
Preserve at Table Mountain
The McKenzie Table Mountain Preserve (2960 acres) is
located between Friant and Prather, on the north side of Auberry Road. The main
gate is 3.3 miles uphill from the intersection of Auberry Road and Millerton
The main body of the McKenzie Preserve consists of grassland
and oak woodland sloping upward toward the basalt lava table lands which give
the preserve its name. The preserve includes a significant portion of one of the
flat-topped tables that are visible from the road. In the spring, rain water
collects in the table’s low spots, forming vernal pools. Since the basalt is
impermeable, these pools hold water for several weeks or months until it
eventually evaporates. The pools provide habitat for rare plants and rare
crustaceans which “come to life” in the presence of the water. When the
pools dry up in late spring, these interesting organisms take on new forms (such
as seeds or cysts) in order to survive the rest of the year. On the far side of
the table formations, out of sight of Auberry Road, the land slopes steeply down
to the San Joaquin River. These north-facing slopes sustain an excellent mix of
pine forest and chaparral. In addition to the main body of the preserve on the
north side of the road, the preserve also includes a 47-acre parcel along the
creek on the south side. This smaller piece is being developed as a nature
center which will host classes and school field trips.
The McKenzie Preserve was acquired in trust from The Nature
Conservancy in 1998. The property had previously been placed in a trust by its
owner, Ruth Bea McKenzie, who wanted it to remain in ranching and open space
after her death. Most hikes on the preserve include a climb to the top of the
table formation where visitors can enjoy spectacular views of the San Joaquin
River drainage and the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the spring there are
outstanding displays of wild flowers on the slopes and table tops. Trails at the
low end of the preserve, including a 4 mile self-guided Discovery Trail along
the ranch road and part of the old SJ&E railroad right of way, are suitable
for easy walking. The climb to the top of the table is strenuous; the table top
itself is level but walking is difficult because of the rocky surface. Total
distance along the trail from the parking area to the top of the table is about
six miles, round trip.
The Tivy Mountain Preserve is located on the south side of
the Kings River near the community of Piedra, in the southern part of Fresno
County. It is on the south side of Elwood Road near its junction with Piedra
Road. The preserve covers much of the north-facing slope of the mountain.
Using funds that were made available from the Central Valley
Project Conservation Program of the Bureau of Reclamation, SFC purchased the
first 40 acres in 1999. Since then, the preserve has been expanded to 825 acres.
The land was purchased for the specific purpose of rescuing a
rare plant from the brink of extinction. Keck’s checkerbloom (Sidalcia
keckii) is known to occur in only two places in the world: a small site
zoned for residential development in Tulare County and the north-facing slope of
Tivy Mountain. It is believed that much of the checkerbloom’s historic habitat
was destroyed when soil was removed for the construction of Pine Flat Dam. The
plant apparently grows only in an unusual type of soil which results from the
weathering of serpentine rocks. The soil of Tivy Mountain also supports an
unusually rich array of native perennial grasses.
Tivy Mountain has no established trails. Hikes to the summit
of the mountain are very strenuous cross-country treks with an elevation gain of
about 2300 feet over rocky terrain. However, the view from the top is splendid.
SFC also conducts low-elevation walks to admire and photograph the spring
Austin & Mary Ewell Preserve on Fine Gold Creek
The Austin and Mary Ewell Preserve is Sierra Foothill Conservancy's newest
preserve. It protects 718 acres of land and one and one half miles of lower Fine
Gold Creek starting where it flows into Millerton Lake. Like most foothill
streams Fine Gold does not flow in the summer, but it does maintain several
large pools of water even in the hottest months. The Preserve was established
with funding from Mr. Ben Ewell and his family, the Pacific Gas and Electric
Company, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Wildlife Conservation Board which is
part of the California Department of Fish and Game. In addition to the riparian
vegetation along the creek the Fine Gold Preserve protects Valley Elderberry
Longhorn Beetles and Western Pond Turtles and one of the few southern Sierra
populations of the Dutchman's Pipe Vine Swallowtail butterfly.
See more pictures of Fine Gold Preserve.
The Sierra Foothill Conservancy is actively protecting other
environmentally significant lands using conservation easements and mitigation
banks. It also works with federal and state agencies and other organizations
such as the Land Trust Alliance and the Trust for Public Land to promote
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Thu, Jul 26, 2012
But Will Require Long-Duration Flights To Stay Close To Airfields
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta says he is satisfied that the Air Force has identified the cause of hypoxia-like symptoms 12 F-22 pilots suffered, and restrictions he placed on use of the fifth-generation fighter will be lifted gradually. Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz and other Air Force leaders told Panetta on July 20 that they are confident the root cause of the symptoms is the supply of oxygen to pilots and not the quality of oxygen, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today at a news conference.
Reporters asked why these shortcomings weren’t picked up earlier. “I can’t go back in time and conduct technical archeology on this type of aircraft,” Little said. “I would say the Air Force has taken very prudent measures … over the past year and a half or so with respect to the F-22. And they have come to the conclusion as to what is causing these hypoxia events. “With any aircraft -- be it the F-22 or the F-16, [or] with a helicopter or a ground vehicle -- we can never take the risk to zero,” he said. “But we have an obligation to our troops and our airmen to make whatever equipment they are using as safe as possible, and that’s what we think we’re doing here.”
In May, Panetta directed the Air Force to limit all F-22 flights to remain near potential landing locations to enable quick recovery and landing should a pilot encounter oxygen deprivation. The secretary also directed the Air Force to expedite the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system in all of the planes, and he asked for monthly progress reports as the service continued the search for the root cause of the problem. These actions were in addition to steps the Air Force already was taking to determine the root causes of the hypoxia-like symptoms pilots have experienced. Panetta made this decision, in part, due to the reluctance of some pilots to fly the aircraft, Little said at the time.
The Air Force has made two changes that appear to have solved the hypoxia problem. The first was to order pilots not to wear the pressure garment vest during high-altitude missions. Pilots use the vest to combat G-forces generated flying a high-performance aircraft. The vest inflates to stop blood from pooling, which would cause pilots to black out during high-speed turns. The Air Force found that a faulty valve “caused the vest to inflate and remain inflated under conditions where it was not designed to inflate, thereby causing breathing problems for some pilots,” Little said. “The garment has been suspended from flight since June.”
This problem was not identified during initial F-22 testing.
Second, the Air Force removed a canister filter from the oxygen delivery system, and that has increased the volume of air flowing to pilots. The service also is looking at improving the oxygen delivery hose and its connections. Following the Air Force briefing last week, Panetta decided to lift restrictions on the aircraft gradually. Beginning today, F-22s may resume long-duration flights for deployments, aircraft deliveries and repositioning of aircraft.
“Secretary Panetta has authorized deployment of a squadron of F-22 aircraft to Kadena Air Base, Japan,” Little said. “The aircraft will fly to Japan under altitude restrictions using the northern Pacific transit route.” Following completion of the flight to Japan, the Air Force likely will approve most long-duration flights, officials said.
Still, initial long-duration flight routes will be designed to pass near airfields. The Air Force also has imposed an altitude restriction on the aircraft so pilots will not need to wear the pressure vest. Training sorties will remain near runways until completion of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board-recommended corrective actions. This is expected by the end of the summer.
The Air Force will notify Panetta when fixes are finished with the pressure vest and related cockpit life support components. Pending successful completion of associated testing and NASA’s independent analysis, Panetta can decide to return the F-22 fleet status to normal operations.
Stormbirds A confederation of Luftwaffe-related web sites, providing reference-grade coverage of the Messerschmidt 262 and other advanced combat aircraft of the Third Reich.>[...]
A safety alert issued by ATC to aircraft under their control if ATC is aware the aircraft is at an altitude which, in the controller's judgment, places the aircraft in unsafe proxi>[...]
"You have a huge job ahead of you. The challenges are many and the solutions are hard." Source: Senate Commerce Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).>[...]
Get A Customized ANN News Portal For YOUR Website! As we promised, the ever-so-busy software geeks at ANN have been working overtime on a number of cool new tools and toys... and t>[...]
Effort To Raise Funds And Awareness For The Special Operations Warrior Foundation A group of Airmen with the Air Force Seven Summits team reached the highest point of the world, Mo>[...]
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Champagne Before the Crash
Pilot Bravado May Be to Blame for Superjet DisasterBy Matthias Schepp and Gerald Traufetter
The Superjet had just entered Indonesian airspace on its demonstration flight when a half-naked passenger wielding a shiny, silver trident made his way into the cockpit. Sergey Dolya, a 39-year-old Russian travel journalist and aviation blogger, had bared his chest, tied on a long white beard and donned a crown made of silver paper.
Dolya had slipped into the role of the god Neptune north of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. "I imitated an equator-crossing ceremony 10,000 meters above sea level," he says. "Usually only seamen do that."
Dolya wanted to celebrate the fact that a Sukhoi SSJ 100 ("Superjet") had penetrated the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. All the hopes of Russia's aviation industry rest on this passenger jet, designed by a company with an 80-year history of manufacturing military aircraft.
The plane was on a demonstration tour aimed at breaking into the dynamic Asian market. President Nursultan Nazarbayev had already inspected the Superjet when it made an intermediate stop in Kazakhstan. Now the Russians were hoping to make an impression on potential buyers in Indonesia.
The mood on board was fantastic, and Dolya reports there was champagne. In the cockpit, the copilot snapped a photo of the faux Neptune with his cell phone. Indonesian flight attendants wearing high heels and short skirts posed for pictures.
A Level-Headed Pilot
A day later, the Russian crew of eight and all of the plane's 37 passengers were dead. It would appear that Alexander Yablontzev, the captain on the flight, had allowed himself to become infected by the general exuberance during the Wednesday afternoon demonstration flight.
Strictly speaking, hardly any other pilot was better qualified to man the controls on the test flight in Jakarta than the 57-year-old veteran. Friends describe him as a level-headed pilot. He had logged over 10,000 flying hours on more than 80 different types of aircraft. And when the Superjet made its maiden flight in May 2008, Yablontzev was the test pilot sitting in its cockpit.
Russian photographer Marina Lystseva likewise has nothing bad to say about Yablontzev. The young Moscow resident and friend of Dolya was very lucky: The only reason she wasn't on the afternoon flight was because she had already taken enough pictures on the morning flight. She has known Captain Yablontzev for a long time and says he loved the airplane and "wanted the jet to succeed with every fiber of his body."
There is much to suggest that this is precisely what led him and his passengers to their demise. Indeed, the pressure to make sure the Superjet mission succeeded was massive. Only in February, when he was still Russia's prime minister, President Vladimir Putin signed a 43 billion ($55 billion) program whose stated goal was to help Moscow's aviation industry capture 10 percent of the global market for passenger aircraft by 2025. At present, its market share is less than 1 percent.
To date, most of Sukhoi's Superjet sales have been to Aeroflot, Russia's state-run airline, at a cut-rate price of just 15 million apiece. But the Kremlin envisions the SSJ 100 as a future global competitor to aircraft that are twice as expensive, especially Canada's Bombardier CRJ and Brazil's Embraer 190.
The Most Spectacular Air Show Possible
Many experts doubt the Superjet will be able to establish a foothold in the highly competitive global market, and the embarrassing disaster in Indonesia makes its prospects even grimmer. For now, the important thing will be to swiftly determine the cause of the crash. Did the aircraft malfunction, or is the crew to blame? "Pilot error would naturally be the best outcome for Sukhoi," says William Voss, president of the Virginia-based Flight Safety Foundation.
Even if technical problems are not ruled out, the evidence points in that direction. The flight path alone, which has been reconstructed using radar data, leads one to suspect that the Superjet's final flight was mainly about one thing: offering potential buyers of the competitively priced regional jet the most spectacular air show possible.
Immediately after taking off on Wednesday afternoon, Captain Yablontzev turned south, flew over the city of Bogor and made an initial circle around the volcano on whose steep sides the flight would soon meet its tragic end. The crew then requested permission to descend to 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), though its reasons for doing so remain a mystery. "In this mountainous region," says Voss, the aviation expert, "there is no reason for a sensible pilot to descend to such an altitude."
Nevertheless, Yablontzev steered the airplane directly toward Mount Salak, the dormant volcano the Jakarta Post has dubbed "an airplane graveyard." Indeed, several aircraft have crashed into the mountain, including an Indonesian Air Force plane in a June 2008 accident that claimed 18 lives.
It was precisely here that Yablontzev wanted to show off the aircraft's abilities. To make matters worse, massive clouds were gathering around the mountain at the time. Locals consider the area the rainiest and stormiest in all of Indonesia.
A number of factors make approaching the volcano an incalculable risk, including steep mountain ridges, the steaming-hot rainforest and the chaotic air-circulation patterns. What's more, the airplane was most likely shooting above the rugged landscape at a speed of 130 meters per second (290 miles per hour).
It is almost impossible to safely maneuver passenger planes like the Superjet under such circumstances -- particularly because, unlike with military jets, the engines of these planes only react to thrust commands with a slight delay. For this reason, passenger airlines are supposed to maintain a 1,000-meter safety buffer from mountains -- a rule that Captain Yablontzev apparently violated. "The crash casts a spotlight on the mind-set of Russian aviation," says Heinrich Grossbongardt, an aviation expert based in the northern German city-state of Hamburg. With any Western airline, he adds, such behavior would be viewed as reckless bravado.
Images from the crash site show that the airplane was banking to the right when it slammed into the mountainside. This could indicate that Yablontzev was making a final attempt to pull the airplane up and over the mountain range. "The pilot had absolutely no experience with the area's unique topographical traits," notes Jan Richter, a Hamburg-based flight-safety expert.
What's more, one photo taken by the blogger Dolya right before the flight suggests that the automatic terrain warning system was turned off. The photo shows part of the instrument panel in the plane's cockpit, and the button corresponding to the warning system clearly shows a "fault" message and that it is deactivated.
'Like Being Born Again'
This wouldn't be the first time that hubris had led to fatal consequences in an airplane demonstration show. Probably the most famous example was the 1988 crash of an Airbus A320 during an air show in the Alsatian town of Habsheim. While flying over the runway, the jet suddenly dropped and slammed into a nearby forest. A year earlier, an Airbus A300 crashed during a practice flight near the Egyptian city of Luxor. And, in 1994, the test flight of an Airbus A330 in Toulouse, France, ended in catastrophe. As a consequence, Airbus' main competitor has a hard and fast rule: At aviation trade fairs, Boeing pilots are forbidden from making any kind of risky maneuver no matter how much they might wow potential buyers.
For Sukhoi, the crash could bring an already simmering crisis to a boil. Although more than 200 of the planes have been ordered, a lack of qualified personnel and sufficient expertise in the serial-production process has meant that only eight of the Superjets are currently in use: seven by Russia's Aeroflot and one by the Armenian airline Armavia.
What's more, even these customers are unhappy. In March, Konstantin Mokhna, Aeroflot's deputy chief engineer, humiliated Sukhoi when he complained about "technical problems" and delays in replacement-part deliveries. To corroborate his complaints, Mokhna cited some embarrassing figures: Instead of being able to keep his Superjets in service for the industry average of eight to nine hours a day, he could only use them for 3.9 hours per day. "For potential buyers, these revelations are even more unsettling than the crash in Indonesia," says New York-based aviation expert Richard Aboulafia.
Meanwhile, Dolya, the Neptune-impersonating blogger, and Lystseva, the photographer, have been walking through Jakarta as if in a trance. They still can't grasp what has happened. "By a hair, we would also be lying dead on this horrifying mountainside," Lystseva says. "It's like being born again."
Russian aviation, on the other hand, will have to continue waiting for its renaissance.
Translated from the German by Josh Ward
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's Appalachian-meets-avant-garde take on folk music is her most celebrated work, her range is even more inclusive than her solo career suggests: the classically trained harpist adds a decidedly different, textural sound to
than her other projects. Like her resumé,
's family and hometown of Nevada City, California, were musically rich: her mother trained to be a concert pianist, her father was a guitarist, and her brother and sister played the drums and cello, respectively. Meanwhile, the Newsoms also counted composer/pianist
and W. Jay Sydeman.
herself started on piano lessons at a very early age and played for several years before switching to the harp at seven. Her approach to the Celtic harp -- from the percussive aspects of her playing to her chord changes -- was also influenced by West African and Venezuelan harp music, which she began studying at a folk music camp she attended in her early teens. At the same time, she also listened to more vocal-based folk, punk, and jazz like Karen Dalton
, Texas Gladden
, Patti Smith
, and Billie Holiday
. By the time she reached high school age, Newsom
decided she wanted to become a composer, and while that became the focus of her studies, in her free time she began writing and recording instrumental songs. Eventually, Newsom
's passion for songwriting won out, and she began studying creative writing to work with words in the same way she was accustomed to working with music.
Despite her extensive musical background, she hadn't sung until she began concentrating on her songs, but her voice -- which had a pure, untrained sound somewhere between a child and a crone -- was the perfect complement to her music. Newsom
recorded some collections of songs that she gave to her friends, but eventually her music made its way to likeminded musicians like Will Oldham
and Cat Power
, both of whom invited her to play opening slots for their shows in 2002. That year also saw the release of the Walnut Whales EP, which she followed up with more appearances and another EP, Yarn and Glue, in 2003. After signing to Drag City, Newsom
released her full-length debut, The Milk-Eyed Mender
, in spring 2004; later that year, she toured the U.S. with Devendra Banhart
and played European venues with Smog
. She also appeared on Smog
's 2005 album A River Ain't Too Much to Love
and began work on her second album that year, drafting collaborators such as Bill Callahan
, Steve Albini
, Jim O'Rourke
, and Van Dyke Parks
for the sessions.
The ambitious, intricately lovely Ys
arrived in late 2006. The album became one of the year's most critically acclaimed releases, and Newsom
spent the rest of that year and early 2007 touring in support of it. That spring, she returned with the wittily named EP Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band
and continued to tour, all the while collecting material for a new studio project. That project ultimately arrived in the form a triple-disc album, Have One on Me, in early 2010.
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Smart Diary 4.4.1
Smart Diary 4.4.1 Ranking & Summary
Smart Diary 4.4.1 description
Smart Diary 4.4.1 is a useful tool which is designed to help users with benchmarks in journal keeping.
Smart Diary Suite is more than a simple Diary or a Personal Information Manager (PIM). You can plot your exercise program against your diary of health notes and see how they interact. Add information about changes in your diet and see how these changes have affected your health and activity levels. See how your mood is affected by your sleep. Track fatigue against dreams, diet or any part of your life that you choose.
In addition to using informative graphs to show you how your choices affect your life, Smart Diary Suite has all of the functions that you would expect to find in a professionally designed Personal Information Manager.
Smart Diary Suites components work together to help you keep track of your life.
- The Diary is a very powerful tool with a fully-featured rich text editor. Included in the Diary are the Life Factors and Graph.
- Schedule presents you with a fully-featured calendar that will make sure you don't miss your important appointments.
- Tasks allow you to set goals and monitor their progress.
- An online Community is part of SDS and this is where you can interact with other users of SDS.
Together with providing you with a fully featured rich text editor, the fully customizable life factors permit you to see on a graph your life visually over a period of time. You can also import and export life factors and share them through our online community.
The Pain Map and Medication facilities further complement and add meaning to your life as a snapshot of a moment in time. In addition, you can also make voice entries using a microphone.
Categories, sorting and grouping give you full control over how entries are presented on the screen and having a search function means you are never too far away from any entry!
- Fully-featured rich text editor
- Record and play voice entries
- Set life factor values
- Fully configurable graph
- Quick and full text search
- Assign entries to categories
- Diary calculator
- Spelling checker
- View life factor values on a graph
- Group and sort entries
- Print and print preview
- Optional Pain Map
- Import, export and share Life Factor Packs
- Fixed overview, nutrition and other small issues.
- Add export from Diary.
Requirements: No special requirements
Smart Diary 4.4.1 Screenshot
Smart Diary 4.4.1 Keywords
Bookmark Smart Diary 4.4.1
Smart Diary 4.4.1 Copyright
Want to place your software product here?
Please contact us for consideration.
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A broader OECD project has analysed the environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency of instrument mixes addressing selected environmental issues. In this connection, case studies of the instrument mixes addressing household waste have been prepared. This report discusses the preference given to incineration over landfilling in these two countries (and at the EU level), and points to a considerable overlap between the instruments applied in both countries.
Waste collection charges vary according to the quantity and quality of waste that households set out for collection and can provide important incentives for waste prevention and recycling. However, such schemes could also lead to more illegal waste disposal, as well as to relatively costly separate collection systems to function well. This in-depth study provides estimates of the costs and benefits of a number of variable waste collection systems – and finds in most cases that the benefits exceed the costs.
Different approaches to address a number of waste streams were discussed at an OECD workshop late in 2003. A publication presents the papers that were prepared in connection with that workshop, spanning from discussions of instruments to address household waste to preferable approaches for addressing PVC-waste and lead-containing wastes, as well as ways to impact on product design, with the aim of reducing waste generation.
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New Zealand MUVE activity
NMIT launches course covering
3d immersive environments
The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology has successfully launched and is into the fourth week of an online course on multi-user three dimensional virtual environments (MUVEs) and their relationships to other multi-user technologies.
The 16 students, enrolled in the course (A&M624, Immersive 3D Environments), based on the NMIT Second Life islands of Koru and Kowhai, are being tutored on-campus by Dr Clare Atkins (SL: Arwenna Stardust) and online by former SLENZ developer and New Zealand’s most experienced virtual world builder, Aaron Griffiths (SL: Isa Goodman).
The course has been designed to develop knowledge and understanding of using current generation commercial software as well as providing in-depth knowledge of specialised processes, techniques and media, according to Dr Atkins.
While the course includes explorations of other virtual environments, most of the classes focus on the use of Second Life.
The course will take 60 hours class time, with at least half the classes in a virtual world, mainly Second Life.
Dr Atkins and Griffiths are known in New Zealand for creating and championing the successful $NZ500,00 Second Life Education New Zealand (SLENZ) Project, which over an 18-month period created and established two pilot education programmes, one with Otago Polytechnic in midwifery, and the other in Foundation (Bridging) Learning with Manakau Institute of Technology. The Foundation Learning course, under the leadership of MIT lecturer Merle Lemon (SL: Briarmelle Quintessa), has now become a permanent course within the MIT structure, with a large number of students participating in it. Otago Polytechnic, however, decided at the conclusion of the pilot programme not to take the midwifery course any further.
Commenting on the first couple of NMIT classes Griffiths said that although the students had appeared reluctant at first they had quickly realised the potential (of Second Life) “… that it’s more than a game” with the student blogs starting to show their realisation of this.
” I am well pleased with this class…. most seem committed to learning ,” he said. “Building is slow, of course(and its) a HUGE step for many of them. I guess I am rather passionate about these environment … hopefully that rubs off on some.”
” The hardest part really is the limited time I have with them … (there is) one hell of a lot to get across in such short spaces of time.”
Griffiths and Atkins are detailing the class’ activities in a blog, Immersive 3d environments, which also links into the student blogs: this blog gives an interesting glimpse into how the lessons are constructed and are proceeding as well as student reactions.
Filed under: Education, Education in Second Life, Education in virtual worlds, Second Life, SLENZ Project, Virtual Worlds | Tagged: 3d Immersive enviroments, Aaron Griffiths, Dr Clare Atkins, Foundation learning, Immersive 3d Environments, Manakau Insitute of technology, Merle Lemon, midwifery, MUVEs, Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology, NMIT, Otago Polytechnic, Second Life, slenz, VLENZ | 2 Comments »
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|
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| 0.943913
| 714
| 1.59375
| 2
|
Editor's note: Part of a series looking at new features, changes and happenings in Berks County school districts for the 2012-13 school year.
Jay A. Culbert of Nagle Athletic Surfaces in upstate New York flushes the drains at the new all-weather track Wednesday at Muhlenberg High School. The company plans to start paving the track today.
Muhlenberg High School athletes will be seeing red when they take to the district's new stadium track after school starts - but not because they're angry.
The track is undergoing a $292,000 makeover this summer and, as a result, will get a new surface color. The former track, which workers have finished removing to make way for the new one, was blue.
The district opted for red for the new track because it was less expensive than blue.
The top layer of the old track had been peeling off in some areas, leaving the matting underneath exposed. The new track will be constructed differently, said Gregory G. Schneider, the district's building and grounds coordinator.
It will have what's called an embedded surface. That means the track surface material is built into a synthetic base.
"Surely this is going to be a much better surface than we had previously," Schneider said.
Other districts in Berks, such as Daniel Boone and Oley, have similar tracks, he said. So students will be used to the surface when competing outside the district.
"I think that it's good that we have a comparable surface that the athletes are used to running on," Schneider said.
The track is supposed to last 10 years. The blue track was installed eight years ago, but was defective.
Crews from upstate New York-based Nagle Athletic Surfaces began installing the track Monday. That work should take 21/2 weeks if the weather cooperates, Schneider said.
Muhlenberg students will encounter some other changes when they return to classes Aug. 23:
• The high school day will have five minutes added to both ends and the bell schedule will be rearranged. That will carve out a 30-minute period called "Muhl time" that students can use to get extra help and make up or redo work. Principal Michael Mish said the change will help raise the academic standards that students are expected to meet.
• The district is starting a program to keep students who would be placed in outside programs for disciplinary reasons at Muhlenberg. Students from the high school and middle school who are assigned to the program will learn through online courses in a new computer lab. There will be a teacher in the classroom to facilitate.
Dr. Vlacia Z. Campbell, assistant superintendent, said keeping those students at Muhlenberg will make for an easier transition back to regular classes.
"It's not as isolating as being in a completely different location outside of the district," she said.
When students are out of district, Muhlenberg doesn't have as much control over what they're learning, Campbell said. But with an in-house program, the district can make sure the students won't be behind when they return to regular classes.
Administrators have been meeting with the parents of the three to six students expected to start the year in the class.
"The families have been very positive about it," Campbell said.
• The elementary school will start having a monthly schoolwide activity that gets students thinking about science and math.
"It's a problem they have to solve, such as build a tower out of spaghetti or build a catapult, and you have everyday objects to do it," Campbell said.
The events will bring in professional scientists and engineers from the community to try the activities alongside the students.
• Administrators will start encouraging teachers in every subject at every grade level to try to incorporate some kind of writing into their lessons each day. The move is part of the district's efforts to emphasize literacy.
"When you write, it helps your reading, it helps your problem solving and it helps you organize your thoughts," Campbell said.
Contact Liam Migdail-Smith: 610-371-5022 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Geographical Index > United States > California > Shasta County > Report # 11496|
Submitted by Penny on Friday, April 29, 2005.
Lady has two Northern California sightings, over a 20year period
(Show Printer-friendly Version)
YEAR: 1970 1990
COUNTY: Shasta County
LOCATION DETAILS: The Lake Shasta sighting was up the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta, which is East of the Jones Valley Resort.
NEAREST TOWN: Redding, California
NEAREST ROAD: I believe the road was called, Bear Mountain Road that leads to the Jones Valley Resort, where we launched our boat.
OBSERVED: I have seen Bigfoot two times. The first time was one summer in the late 1970s. My friend and I were camping in the Tahoe National Forest in California. We were camping out of a station wagon, as we did not have a tent. My friend was cooking on the Hibachi, and I was sitting on the tailgate of the station wagon watching him. We were in a newly planted area of seedling pines. The surrounding that area was old growth pine trees. I looked over at the old growth area and there stood Big Foot. He was about 5' tall, and hairy all over. His eyes were large as if he were use to living in darker environment. I told my friend to turn around slowly, and look, as he did the Bigfoot melted out of sight back into the forest.
After we had gone to bed for the night around 2:00 AM in the morning, something hit the station wagon so hard that it rocked back and forth. Scared me half silly. The windows were clouded inside with moisture, and the night was dark.
The next time I saw Bigfoot, I was at Lake Shasta in the late 1990s. Wayne, Ginger the dog, and I were bass fishing on the lake, and the weather was warm. On the shore was Bigfoot walking down towards the water. When he got there he swooped his left arm down into the water as if he were checking a trap to see if there were any fish in it. He stood up and walked up the steep hill without any effort. He was huge. From the boat he appeared to be at least 7 to 8 feet tall. He had long shaggy hair, very dark brown. While all of this is going on Ginger the dog was going berserk. She was running around the boat yelping and howling. I told Wayne there is Bigfoot. He did not see him. The place where we had launched the boat was in the Jones Valley Resort area.
When I tell people I have seen Bigfoot, and they think I am crazy. I'm not. Cousin Bob went out fishing with Wayne not too long after that. He said he saw something also. He said he didn't know if it was a turkey hunter in disguise or what, but it walked up the steep hill with no effort.
ALSO NOTICED: During the first sighting, late 1970’s, the vehicle was hit with powerful force during the night.
OTHER WITNESSES: None. I was the only person who saw them both times.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: During the first sighting, late 1970’s, time was dusk, and it was summer. During the second sighting, late 1990’s, it was a nice warm summer day, well lit, with no clouds or rain.
ENVIRONMENT: Both times were in pine forest.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:
Tonight, the 18th of May 2005, Penny called me, and we went over her two sightings, the first one that took place during the late 1970’s (For a specific location, see below) in the Tahoe National Forest, and the last one that took place in the late 1990’s on Lake Shasta, California. Penny’s ex-husband told her about the BFRO, after he had seen an article in a Redding newspaper, called the Record Searchlight. His reason for telling her about us was that he knew that she had observed a Bigfoot while they were both fishing up the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta.
Penny relayed a few more details that she could recall, her first sighting, which took place in the Tahoe National Forest in the late 1970’s, off on a dirt-logging road that was off of Hwy 89, about ½ way between Truckee and Sierraville, California. (You can use the Northern California Delorme Atlas, Page 81, Index A 6, to better find that location.) She and a friend were camping in an area that was newly planted with seedling pine trees. The time was at dusk and it was getting dark fast, they were trying to cook dinner before it got too dark. She was sitting on the tailgate of the station wagon, when she looked past her boy friend and into the old growth pine tress, which were about 50 feet or so away. She said that she was surprised, but wasn’t scared. This 5’ tall creature was just standing there, on two legs, watching them, and had its arms down along its sides. She noticed the eyes, because they were really round, and they reminded her of the eyes of monkeys that only come out at night. The creature was covered totally with hair, which was a dark brown to black. The arms seemed much longer than a humans arm, because they extended down to its knees. Penny said, “because of the creatures size, it was not a child or an adult, and I thought it weighed about 150 pounds or maybe a little more.” She couldn’t tell if it was a male of a female, and it never made any noise. As she was attempting to tell her boy friend, to turn around slowly, to see what she was seeing, the creature just "melted" back into the forest and out of sight, so he never had the opportunity to see it. Her total time of observance, she figured, was a couple of minutes more or less.
Sometime during the early morning hours, the driver’s side of the station wagon was hit with enough force that the vehicle was rocked from side to side, and it scared the living day lights out of the both of them. Just after that occurred, the both of them had to relieve themselves, but neither of them wanted to go outside of that station wagon. After some time had passed, they went out and quickly returned back to the safety of the station wagon. The next morning, they checked out the station wagon, but couldn’t find any signs of where the vehicle was hit. They also checked out the area where Penny had seen the creature, but couldn’t come up with any prints or tracks in that area.
The second sighting took place about a half hour boat trip up the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta from the Jones Valley Resort where they put their boat in the water. It took place sometime between the months of June and August, Late 1990’s, and between the hours of 11 am to 12 am. Penny and her now ex-husband was slowly trolling for bass heading up the Pit River arm of the lake, and there was a rather steep incline on the right hand side of that section of the river inlet arm to the lake. Penny said, “I first observed this massive creature walking down towards the lake, and as I watched, it took the last 3 or 4 large steps to the waters edge.” “The creature then bent down, and with its left arm, it pulled something out of the lake, and was looking at it.” “To me, what the creature had pulled out of the lake was some kind of a fish cage or trap, made out of small tree branches.” “The trap seemed empty.” “At this point in time, the creature was about 50 yards or so, away from our boat, and I attempted to alert my ex husband as to what was taking place on shore, but when he looked in that direction, he couldn’t see what I was looking at.” Penny continued saying, “this creature was covered with hair, and the color of it was a dark brown to black, which blended into the background real good.” “Due to its color and the background; this made the creature seem like it was almost camouflaged in plain sight, and very difficult to see.” “Anyway, the creature then placed the cage or trap back into the lake, and it turned and walked back up a very steep incline into the foliage, which was about 75 yards away from the water's edge, disappeared into that foliage, and was gone.” “I thought the total time that I had seen the creature was at least several minutes long.” “The creature seemed unconcerned with the boat, and its occupants which included my ex, myself and our old dog that was very upset with what ever it was on shore, because it was raising heck by barking and howling real loud.” “The creature never looked in our direction, but it had to have heard the ruckus the dog was making. It never paid any attention to any of it, and just seemed unconcerned, and went on about what it was doing.”
Per Penny, “I thought the fish cage or trap was made out of small branches or sticks, and it was placed at a small river outlet that was entering into the lake at that point.” “I knew what I was looking at, a bigfoot, and it was huge, about 8 feet tall, and it had to weigh well over 375 pounds. The creature's legs and torso were also huge, and I thought the head was nicely proportioned to the rest of its body.” “I was too far away to see any facial features.” “I didn’t notice any ears on its head, but the arms were large and long like they were at least down to its knees, and they were a lot longer than any human that I know about.” “I never heard or smelled anything out of the ordinary.” “We did move the boat closer to shore, to where the creature had turned and went back into the forest, but we never got out of that boat.”
Summary: I ask Penny "What do you think about the creatures you had witnessed since you had two sightings over a period of years, and you had several minutes to observe them?" Her answer was, “I think these creatures are more human-like than they are like animals, because of their mannerisms, and some of the different facial expressions that I observed on the little ones face. Also, the way they moved when they walked, and while using there arms, and body. Plus, the big one who was using something like a fishing trap to obtain its food has got to tell you something.” Penny observed several facial expressions on the little ones face, from extreme interest while watching what was going on, to fear when she told her boy friend to turn around.
I also asked her if she was familiar with the 1967 Bluff Creek film? She stated, “Yes I am familiar with that film.” Penny went on to describe the female creature that was filmed in a sandy river bottom, saying, “that I had seen that film several times in the past.” I then asked her if she could relate it to the two that she had observed? She said, “they are the same type of creatures, but I think the big one, that I had seen on Lake Shasta, was a male because of its size.” “It was just plain huge!” I further asked if she thought the creature in the 1967 film was that of a man in a costume or the real thing? She said, defiantly "What I have seen, and what is in the Bluff Creek film are living creatures, and they are too similar in actions and looks to have been hoaxed by any man.”
Penny seemed a very credible witness, told me, that she would take a polygraph test to prove her authenticity to her sightings, if necessary. I do believe that Penny had two separate sightings, over several minutes in duration, which makes her better qualified than most to discriminate between the real thing and a hoax.
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