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Congressional representatives are all back home with their constituents trying to figure out what they can tell you to get your vote. So, what is it you want to hear in order to give them your vote? Or, given anti-incumbent sentiment swelling, is it too late for that?
For many, but far too few, it is what politicians did, said, and voted on since the last election that will determine whether they vote for or against their incumbent senators and representatives. For others, short cuts for not having paid attention will have to do. For example, many voters will ask themselves, am I better off today than I was two years ago? For fewer voters, the question is, will my kids be better off in the future given my incumbent's actions, or lack thereof, over the last few years? But for many, the shortest short cut is to listen to the ads politicians run to discredit opponents and hail themselves as the newest incarnation of Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The easiest and laziest voting decision for many millions of Americans however, is to not vote. These Americans will rationalize that candidates and politicians are all thieves and liars so, what's the point? This, however, is not a shortcut to figuring out how to vote. It is an excuse! In effect, it abdicates the responsibility attached to every person who lives in a democracy — parliamentary, direct, republic, or otherwise. Moreover, it seriously undermines democracy and the health of the nation.
There is no more important vote than that cast by the disgruntled. It is the disgruntled vote that has the greatest potential to unseat corruption in government, to deny reelection to the incompetent and inept, and to replace those politicians who, for all their good intentions, remain ineffective in the eye of the disgruntled citizen.
If ever there was a time to unseat incumbents, it is now. A huge majority of our politicians in Congress share a corrupt but common priority system. First priority — don't alienate the party's contributors or leadership. Without party backing of one's primary election, one has less chance of reelection, a lesson Senator Lieberman is still smarting over.
Second priority — don't alienate the wealthy donors representing their own wallets, like lobbyists, and corporations, and unions, whose campaign donations and backing are essential to purchasing the advertising to tell voters what they want to hear just before an election. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake here for incumbents.
Third priority — do not forget the pork. Never mind the fact that bringing home federal dollars for a bridge to nowhere, or a $200,000 gazebo for the state's capital city has a price tag 49 times greater than what it actually costs to build. It's okay. Because voters haven't yet figured out that in order to bring home 40 million dollars of pork federal dollars, the other 49 states who could veto your pork project in Committee will insist on their own 40 million dollar pork projects. And politicians do their best to obfuscate the fact that their 40 million in pork dollars actually costs tax payers almost 2 billion dollars in extra taxes or deficits. These are taxes and deficits our children will have to pay in increasing amounts.
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Cloud Computing seems to be one of the new technology that created much hype last year(2008) and we saw Amazon, Google and Microsoft entering into the Cloud. There are usually two categories in the Cloud:
- You provide a platform where developers can build applications and host in the Cloud in your platform, or,
- Develop a full fledged 'cloudy application' and allow users to use it
9to5Mac and ComputerWorld report that now Apple might join the competition and enter into the Cloud world. This announcement is expected at the upcoming MacWorld. The rumor is that Apple is going to take its applications iWork and iMovie to the Cloud.
For iWork it is rumored that, the iWork applications - Pages, Keynote, Numbers and Tutorials - are going Cloud including storage. This also indicates that there would be an iWork web application released. Whether it would be something similar to Google Docs or Office Live Workspace is still a mystery.
For iMovie it is rumored that users would be able to upload movies and edit them online. Expect iMovie also to be released as a web application. Again, this is not new and there are already few (free) applications that allow online video editing.
It is good to know that Apple is also joining the crowd. Certainly, I think this is a great move by Apple after those failures in launching MobileMe.
If these rumors are true, do you think Apple is ready to enter the Cloud market?
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About 70 miles East of Chicago, the neighboring states of Indiana and Michigan, often referred to as Michiana, are a part of our nation’s bountiful “fruit belt”. Along the sparkling western coast of Lake Michigan, several lakeshore counties spread out like a beautiful tapestry of farmland, orchards, and vineyards. This region rivals California in providing non-citrus fruit, fresh produce, meats and wines to the rest of the country.
Why so productive? With its rich sandy soil, moderating lake effect weather, and desirable elevations, southwest Michigan has almost ideal growing conditions. A variety of microclimates are influenced by Lake Michigan which helps keep early and late freezes at bay, provides insulating snow cover in winter, and cool breezes in summer. Small family farms continue to be the mainstay of sustainable agriculture, keeping Michigan a leader in fruit production for well over a century.
With all this going for it, Southwest Michigan was well positioned for the current ‘locovore’ movement picking up steam across the country. Recent grassroots efforts are helping to re-invigorate the agricultural base through the support of local family farms and agri-tourism. Many restaurants, cafes, and other businesses design menus around what’s in season, and grown locally, including grass-fed livestock. Visitors from Chicago and Detroit come to the area expecting fresh, local foods on the menu and fine regional wines. The local food movement embraces seasonal bounty.
Leading the charge in support of local agriculture is Judy Kite-Gosh, chef/owner of the Retro Café and Kite’s Kitchen, a catering and specialty food business in New Buffalo. In 1992, Judy left the hectic city-live of a company executive in Chicago in search of a new life, a new business adventure, and a new chance to pursue her first love…FOOD. She inherited her love of food from both a grandmother and an aunt who were chefs and gardeners. Never without fresh ingredients with which to cook, her grandmother and aunt picked from their own gardens or those of local farms in the area.
Judy wanted the same local connection to the food she planned to prepare in her future restaurant and catering business. “I wanted to be where there was a strong local farming community to support my business plans”. She found just the agricultural bounty she was looking for in Berrien County, Michigan. Judy’s husband, Tom, does the local sourcing for the business, visiting local farms weekly during the growing season for the freshest and best the area has to offer. “Over the years we’ve built lasting relationships with our local farmers”.
“We probably freeze and preserve more than any restaurant I know. We make all our own preserves, pie fillings, chutneys, sauces and soups from fresh local fruits and vegetables. From May to October we’re processing and freezing fruits and vegetables for use all year. We stock our retail store with all our homemade products.
Tom and Judy believe using locally grown meats, fruits and produce is a quality of life issue. “I love really good food and fresh, seasonal, local food is the best there is. At its peak it is also the most affordable. It supports the local economy, reduces our carbon footprint and has positive effects on overall health”.
In an effort to ‘practice what she preaches,’ three years ago, Judy and a group of like-minded individuals came together and raised money to fund the production of a local PBS documentary titled, ‘Farm Fresh To You’. With two years of hard work invested, ‘Farm Fresh To You,’ premiered in June of 2009. The documentary has been made available to PBS stations nationwide. The project was so successful that a thirteen part PBS series titled, “Get Local,” which will explore farming and food in the entire Great Lakes region is in the planning stages along with a companion cookbook. Viewers of the 13 part series will also be able to get tips on canning, preserving and freezing the bounty of the seasons.
Helping local chefs and farmers find each other is one of her next projects. She plans on hosting a weekly chefs’ market beginning this spring. “Farmers will know better what to grow and how much to meet the chefs needs. Chefs will better understand the flexibility required when dealing with nature. And having a single drop-off and pickup point will save everyone time and money”.
“The local food movement is gaining momentum. We’ve added two new area Farmer’s Markets in the last four years. The local schools are improving food programs and adding more fresh, local products to the menus”. As for how other communities can work to support their local agricultural base, “The biggest challenge is to get the right people together who are willing to do the work. It requires a lot of organization and communication. You need passionate, organized people to make it happen”.
Look for the related article "Cooking With The Seasons", for some of Judy's favorite recipes.
Read more about Judy and Southwest Michigan by clicking on the related links below.
For more info on Michigan visit: www.michigan.org and for more info on Michigan’s Harbor Country visit: www.visitharborcountry.org.
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NORMAN — In his second year in Moore Norman Technology Center’s Entrepreneurship Program in the early 1990s, Neal Do took the first step toward becoming an entreprenuer: writing the business plan for what ultimately would become E-Express, a group of successful convenience stores in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
It was also during his time at MNTC that Do and his family experienced a family tragedy, with the death of Do’s older brother. The loss pushed Do toward achieving high goals and staying focused on his dreams.
Do’s formal business plan for his company today is modeled after the business plan he wrote while in his MNTC Entrepreneurship class, and models the plan he used for a competition through DECA - an international association of marketing students, whose MNTC chapter Do headed for two years. This was also the business plan that he and his older brother planned to use to start their family business together.
MNTC Instructor Nancy Holt said, “The plan Neal developed is the same plan that is the foundation for his success today. He paid attention to every detail and absorbed every piece of knowledge he could get his hands on — he runs his businesses with heart. Today he sits on my class’s advisory board, and he’s one of my most successful graduates.”
Do graduated from Westmoore High School in 1992. After his freshman year at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, he spent the summer as a manager-in-training with French oil and gas company Total, which was expanding its retail business into Oklahoma. He liked the business so much he decided to stay, working his way up the corporate ladder.
But the entrepreneurial spark never flickered.
“I wanted to start my own company,” Do said. “I saved my money, built up my credit and learned everything I could about how the business works. Working for Total, I learned what it would take to make a business succeed.”
Do started E-Express with a single leased store in Midwest City in 1996. Today, E-Express has 11 locations in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Midwest City, Yukon and Okemah, with plans to continue expansion.
“When I started, I realized that buying and selling the stores generates profit more quickly than operating them,” he explains. “In the early years, I built up the business to create more value. Then I started selling, which gave me the capital to grow into bigger facilities.”
Holt said one aspect of Do’s success is his treatment of employees — as if they are his own family.
“Neal was a kind and generous student with a big heart. He’s always been generous in his words, his time, and gifts and now he's just an extremely generous employer. He treats his employees as if they are the most important people on Earth and in turn, they do the same for his customers.
E-Express also believes in giving back to the communities in which it serves those customers. In Midwest City, for example, E-Express partners with First National Bank of Midwest City to sponsor the annual Relay for Life cancer research fundraising event.
Despite his considerable success, Do has no intention of resting on his laurels. “I’m satisfied with what I’ve built but I still have a lot of work to do,” he declares.
For information about MNTC’s Entrepreneurship class open to high school juniors, seniors and adult students, visit www.mntechnology.com or call 405-364-5763.
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Information about the Inquiry
On 25 June 2008, the Senate established the Select Committee on the National Broadband Network (NBN) to inquire into and report on the government's proposal to partner with the private sector to upgrade parts of the existing network to fibre to provide minimum broadband speeds of 12 megabits per second to 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses on an open access basis.
On 7 April 2009, the Rudd Government announced that it had terminated the previous Request for Proposals process, replacing it with an initiative that would see 90 per cent of Australian homes, workplaces and schools with fibre-to-the-premise, connecting all other premises in Australia with next generation wireless and satellite technologies, ensuring every Australian house, school and workplace can access fast affordable broadband.
Consequently, on 14 May 2009, the Senate revised the terms of appointment of this committee, refecting the change in the government's policy direction and allowing the committee to effectively continue and complete its inquiry into the National Broadband Network.
The Committee has now provided four interim reports to the Senate, dated 2 December 2008, 12 May 2009, 26 November 2009 and 18 May 2010.
Most recent report of the committee
The committee's most recent interim report, its Fourth Interim Report, was presented to the Senate out of session on 18 May 2010.
The Fourth Interim Report comprehensively assessed the progress on the National Broadband Network, including consideration of exposure drafts of legislation establishing arrangements for the ownership, operations, access obligations and services of the NBN Company.
The latest report is available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/broadband_ctte/interim4-report/report.pdf.
Current work of the committee
Paragraph 2A of the committee's revised terms of reference requires the committee to
examine the findings of the National Broadband Network Implementation Study, the Government's response to the Implementation Study and any subsequent implications of that report for the National Broadband Network policy. .
The Implementation Study referred to in Paragraph 2A is a document provided to the Government by its Lead Advisor, a consortium of McKinsey & Co and KPMG, as to how the Government's National Broadband Network policy might be implemented.
The Government received the Implementation Study on 5 March 2010. However it did not release the document publicly until 6 May 2010. It is now available at: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/broadband/national_broadband_network/national_broadband_network_implementation_study
On 12 May 2010, the Senate agreed to extend the committee's reporting date to 17 June 2010 to enable the committee to properly examine and publicly consult on the Implementation Study.
The committee is seeking further submissions, in particular in relation to the recently-released Implementation Study, which should be lodged at email@example.com by 27 May 2010.
The committee held a public hearing on 20 May 2010 and will hold a further hearing in Canberra on 4 June 2010.
The committee is due to make its final report to the Senate by 17 June 2010
For further information, contact:
Senior Clerk's Office
Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Canberra ACT 2600
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Thursday, February 21st 2013, 6:57 AM EST
Chart above shows the years 2004, 2010, and 2013. Source: http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
Looking at the temperature chart of the Danish Meteorological Institute, we see that the Arctic above 80°N has turned quite frosty.
The polar bears are probably the only ones enjoying it.
Checking the charts from the years before, we see that today’s Arctic temperature is a hair lower than the low of 2010 (it’s very close), and is thus the lowest since 2004. At Twitter a couple a days ago I think it was Ryan Maue who said that the Arctic was in for a cold snap, and so it’s possible temperatures above 80°N may even drop further before this ends.
Will be interesting to watch in the days ahead. I wonder if they’ll blame it on warming.
Comments section below this advert:
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11-year old Reuben Land, a character in the 2001 book Peace Like a River, provides narration that is clear-eyed and insightful, yet retains the magic, wonder, and innocence of youth. I found it easy to entrust my imagination to the author’s clever method of telling the story through the sensibilities of a pre-teen boy. An author with lesser skill would have either made the boy too smart-alecky for his own good or impossibly cute. As it is written, the character is believable and real.
The novel employs the wide open spaces of the Minnesota countryside and rugged terrain of the North Dakota Badlands as a backdrop for its colorful tapestry. Set in the early 1960s, author Leif Enger uses diverse elements including Old Testament and Old West allusions and literary/historical references—often accented by miracles—to tell a tale which highlights eternal truth.
As with many stories that contain elements of fantasy, it’s easy to find unmitigated joy in the unexpected mining of tiny truth nuggets hidden in the rubble of the narrative. When I happen upon a vivid and compelling truth—whether or not actually intended by the author—like the power of an atom bomb which belies its size, it detonates waves of pleasure which resonate like massive ripples in a small mountain stream. You will discover many such moments in Peace Like a River.
Without succumbing to cartoonish hyperbole or explicit moralizing, Enger uses compelling characters and masterful prose to craft a story which is both familiar and mysterious. Like a well worn path, I found values that were inspirational, comfortable, and warm as my favorite pair of gloves. And yet, despite moments of recognition, I was also intrigued and jarred by so many strange twists and turns. Like a fountain drink of living water, this story refreshed and fulfilled a deep hole, but left me craving more. Of this great novel, it’s equally true to say that I’ve seen it before and I’ve never seen it before.
Peace Like a River is a novel which contains deep sadness, pain, and lost innocence. Despite that, I found it dripping with loyalty, peace, faith, joy, and extraordinary love. As the novel ebbs and flows—I was vividly reminded once again that good is better than evil, the truth is better than a lie, and that life is better than death.
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Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair, by William Morris, , at sacred-texts.com
SQUIRE SIMON COMES BACK TO OAKENHAM. THE EARL MARSHAL TAKEN TO KING IN OAKENREALM.
Now as to Squire Simon, whether the devil helped him, or his luck, or were it his own cunning and his, horse's stoutness, we wot not; but in any case he fell not in with Ralph Longshanks and Anthony Green, but rode as far and as fast as his horse would go, and then lay down in the wild-wood; and on the morrow arose and went his ways, and came in the even to the Castle of the Uttermost March, and went on thence the morrow after on a fresh horse to Oakenham. There he made no delay but went straight to the High House, and had privy speech of the Earl Marshal; and him he told how he had smitten Christopher, and, as he deemed, slain him. The Earl Marshal looked on him grimly and said: "Where is the ring then?"
"I have it not," said Simon. "How might I light down to take it, when the seven sons were hard on us?" And therewith he told him all the tale, and how he had risen to slay Christopher the even before; and how he had found out after that the youngling had become guest and fosterling of the folk of the Tofts; and how warily Christopher had ridden, so that he, Simon, had had to do his best at the last moment. "And now, Lord," quoth he, "I see that it will be my luck to have grudging of thee, or even worse it may be; yea, or thou wilt be presently telling me that I am a liar and never struck the stroke: but I warrant me that by this time Jack of the Tofts knoweth better, for I left my knife in the youngling's breast, and belike he wotteth of my weapons. Well, then, if thou wilt be quit of me, thou hast but to forbear upholding me against the Toft folk, and then am I gone without any to-do of thee."
Earl Rolf spake quietly in answer, though his face was somewhat troubled: "Nay, Simon, I doubt thee not, not one word; for why shouldest thou lie to me? nor do I deem thou wouldest, for thou art trusty and worthy. Yet sore I doubt if the child be dead. Well, even so let it be, for I am alive; and full surely I am mightier than Jack of the Tofts, both to uphold thee against him (wherein I shall not fail), and otherwise. But may God make me even as that young man if I be not mightier yet in a few days. But now do thou go and eat and drink and take thy disport; for thou hast served me well; and in a little while I shall make thee knight and lord, and do all I can to pleasure thee."
So then Simon knelt to the Earl and made obeisance to him, and arose and went his ways, light-hearted and merry.
But within the month it so befel that some of the lords and dukes came to the Earl Marshal, and prayed him to call together a great Folk-mote of all Oakenrealm; and he answered them graciously, and behight them to do as they would; and even so did he.
And that Mote was very great, and whenas it was hallowed, there arose a great lord, grey and ancient, and bewailed him before the folk, that they had no king over Oakenrealm to uphold the laws & ward the land; and "Will ye live bare and kingless for ever?" said he at last. "Will ye not choose you a king, and crown him, before I die, and we others of the realm who are old and worn?" Then he sat down, and another arose, and in plain terms he bade them take the Earl Marshal to king. And then arose one after other, and each sang the same song, till the hearts of the people grew warm with the big words, and at first many, and then more cried out: "A King, a King! The Earl Marshal for King! Earl Rolf for King!" So that at last the voices rose into a great roar, and sword clashed on shield, and they who were about the Earl turned to him and upraised him on a great war-shield, and he stood thereon above the folk with a naked sword in his hand, and all the folk shouted about him.
Thereafter the chiefs and all the mightiest came and did homage to him for King of Oakenrealm as he sat on the Hill of the Folk-mote: and that night there was once more a King of Oakenrealm, and Earl Rolf was no more, but King Rolf ruled the people.
But now the tale leaves telling of him, and turns again to Christopher the woodman, who lay sick of his hurt in the House of the Tofts.
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By Tim Leeds/Havre Daily Newsemail@example.com
Montana is still not out of its drought - which some areas have been experiencing for nearly five years - but the situation is looking better than it has in years.
"When you compare last year to this year, it's a turnaround," said Peggy Stringer, state statistician of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Montana Agricultural Statistics Service.
Jesse Aber of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said the members of the Governor's Drought Advisory Committee are cautiously optimistic.
But, he pointed out, the state still has to recover from four to five years of precipation deficits that have lowered the water table and reduced soil moisture. Some areas have an 8- to 18-inch deficit from their normal precipitation to make up, he said.
The Havre area's cumulative deficit from 1996 through 2002 is 10.77 inches. So far this year, Havre is at 4.51 inches, compared to an average of 4.59 for this time of year. For the water year, starting Oct. 1, Havre is at 5.28 inches. The average is 6.17 inches.
Aber said the water year so far ranks as the 36th driest in the 123 years of record keeping for the Havre area.
If the state has a hot, dry period for a few weeks, it could slip right back to the drought situation it was in last August, Aber said.
Last year the U.S. Drought Monitor categorized most of the state as being in drought status, with north-central Montana receiving an exceptional drought rating by the end of April. That was the earliest time of the year the most severe drought rating had ever been used, said representatives of the Drought Monitor, a joint group of federal and state agencies, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other experts.
This week's drought monitor shows a band along the Rocky Mountain Front and through the central and southern areas of the state still with moderate to severe drought status, with a forecast through August showing drought continuing with some chance of improvement through the region. The northeastern part of the band is forecast as likely to improve. North-central Montana ranges from moderate drought to abnormaly dry, with a forecast of likely improvement. Roy Kaiser of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Tim Felchle of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said the situation is similar for streamflow and reservoir levels in the state. Outside of a couple of areas that still need more moisture, most of the state has improved, they said.
Ron Zellar, public information specialist at the Montana Department of Agriculture, said the numbers posted by the statistics service tell the tale, although improvement in the long term is hard to predict.
Eighty-one percent of Montana's topsoil has average or surplus moisture, with 19 percent short or very short. Last year at this time, 59 percent had adequate or surplus water, with 41 percent short or very short.
The five-year average, which Stringer points out includes the effects of the ongoing drought, shows even less water. Forty-five percent had adequate or surplus moisture, with 55 percent short or very short.
Perhaps more importantly, the subsoil moisture also has turned around. Thirty-nine percent is listed as being short or very short of moisture, with 61 percent adequate or surplus. Last year at this time, 79 percent was listed as short or very short, with only 21 percent adequate or surplus. In the five-year average, 66 percent was listed as short or very short of moisture, with 34 percent adequate or surplus.
Stringer said that is significant because it takes the subsoil longer to lose its moisture.
"Definitely the water has percolated down into the soil and that's looking a lot better," she said. "If the rain was to stop today and stop for a month or so, yes, we're going to be in the same condition we were in last year. We need to continue to get more precip."
At least in the short term, the state is expected to get more precipitation, said Gina Loss, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls. Beyond that, it's nearly impossible to predict, she added.
The combination of a high pressure ridge to the west of Montana and a low pressure ridge to the east is bringing some storm systems in, resulting in the rain showers areas of the state have been experiencing for the past week. Loss said the weekend may warm up and dry out a bit, but a storm system in Canada could come through the state next week, resulting in more rain.
The El Nino weather system, caused by an increase in the temperature of the surface water of the eastern Pacific Ocean that often causes flooding in Peru and the southern regions of the United States and drought in the West, is ending, Loss said. The pattern could shift to the opposite, called La Nina, she added. That system usually results in below average temperatures in the West, and above-average precipitation during the winter and average to below average precipitation in the summer.
But the Climate Prediction Center of the Weather Service can't predict the weather over the summer yet, she cautioned. Its staffers are predicting equal chances for above or below average temperatures and precipitation.
"They don't have anything to hang their hats on," she said.
The statistics on pastures and crops, particularly winter wheat, also reflect the higher amounts of precipitation that areas of Montana received last summer and in the last few months.
"It's just looking great," Stringer said.
Of the winter wheat crop, 75 percent is listed as good or excellent, with 6 percent listed as poor or very poor. Last year at this time, 18 percent was listed as good or excellent, with 56 percent poor or very poor. The five-year average lists 25 percent good or average and 42 percent poor or very poor.
By this time last year, 50 percent of the winter wheat crop had been abandoned, Stringer added. This year, about 8 percent has been abandoned, which is about average. The statistics service expects farmers will harvest 1.7 million acres of the 1.85 million acres planted with winter wheat in 2002, compared to 750,000 harvested of 1.45 million planted in 2001.
That reflects the higher moisture the topsoil had when the wheat was planted last fall, as well as the precipitation this spring, she said. The winter wheat didn't have that the previous year.
"Basically, by spring it was dead," she said.
The conditions also look better for spring crops, Stringer said. With normal precipitation over the summer, producers should be able to expect a return to more normal crop yields, possibly better than average if the state receives extra precipitation.
Spring wheat is listed with 73 percent of the crops good or excellent, with 1 percent poor and zero very poor. Last year at this time, it was listed as 6 percent poor or very poor and 40 percent good or excellent. The five-year average shows 17 percent of spring wheat poor or very poor and 48 percent good or excellent.
The pasture land in the state is also significantly improved, although Zellar said its recovery also depends on how overgrazed and drought-stressed the plants are. Some producers may have to reseed their pasture, he said, and the drought also brought more weeds.
"You get some dead spots and the invaders come in," he said.
The pasture statistics show 65 percent listed as in good or excellent condition, with 7 percent listed as poor or very poor. Last year at this time 20 percent was listed as good or excellent, with 43 percent poor or very poor. The five-year average lists 29 percent good or excellent and 40 percent poor or very poor.
NRCS also forecasts improved streamflows over last year. While most of the state's rivers and streams are still listed with below-average streamflow forecasts, most are also higher than last year's forecasts at this time.
Kaiser said the main exceptions are the Sun-Teton and Marias river systems, which are still forecast at far below average streamflows.
The improvement is over last year's forecast, not over the actual streamflows. Especially after a major storm moved through Montana in early June last year - it dumped from 3 to 7 inches of precipitation in the form of rain and snow from Glacier to Hill counties in about three days - the actual streamflows improved significantly in some areas.
"The Milk River turned out higher than expected. It was substantially different than what was forecast," Kaiser said.
The forecasts assume average precipitation. If the state receives substantially higher than average, the streamflows will increase. If it receives substantially lower than expected, they will drop, Kaiser added.
The higher than average temperatures in late May have made the streamflows even more dependent on summer moisture, he said. The snowmelt and streamflows have already peaked, and the flows are starting to drop.
"There is, unfortunately, a chance of slipping back," Kaiser said.
The long-term situation depends on the snowpack in the next few years, he added.
"I hope we're going to get a good winter next year, and a winter that pretty much covers the state," he said.
The Bureau of Reclamation has much the same report for reservoirs around the state. Felchle said that except for Clark Canyon Reservoir and Bighorn Lake, most of the lakes and reservoirs the bureau manages are at adequate levels.
The biggest problem on those two systems will be carrying over a supply to next year, he said. Most of the state looks better for carryover, but that depends on summer and winter precipitation, he added.
The Milk River system is in relatively good shape. Lake Sherburne, in Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, supplies water that is diverted to the Milk River through the St. Mary Diversion. It is 58.9 percent full, or 14 percent above the average for this time of year. Fresno Reservoir west of Havre is 87.2 percent full, 25 percent above average, and Nelson Reservoir, east of Malta, is 81.8 percent full, or 7 percent above average.
Felchle said he doesn't expect any shortage of water in the Milk River system unless it gets very hot and dry over the next few months, and irrigators can probably expect full allotments of the water they request.
But, he cautioned, people should still try to be conservative in their water use. The system still doesn't have much extra water, he said.
"Also, we have to carry over to next year," he added.
The carryover for Fresno was above average for the first time in five years. The lowest the reservoir's water level dropped to after last June's heavy storm was 90 percent of average on Aug 9. The lowest it dropped in the year before was 3,443 acre-feet on April 4, 3.7 percent full and 6 percent of the average for that date.
While the drought is not over, and could come back, the Governor's Drought Advisory Committee, chaired by Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs, is meeting next week and will do a statewide, county-by-county analysis of drought conditions, Stringer said.
"That should tell the story. Some of these counties that had severe drought last month could come out of drought (status)," she said.
On the Net: Drought Monitor: www.drought.unl.edu/dm/index.html
Natural Resource Conservation Service National Water and Climate Center: www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/wsf/
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Genealogists have always come up against brick walls. They hammer away brick by brick to find their elusive ancestors. To find that piece of information that will get them to that next step, next generation.
So here is the conundrum for future researchers. You are looking at a family and there are two children in the family. They are 2 months apart in age. You start to question this because one surely must be adopted. You hunt and hunt for an explanation but sure enough the records show they are that close in age. You look for a sibling of the parents who may have died leaving their baby with their brother or sister. Nope. No luck.
I was just watching the news and they showed a family who had twin boys. One of these babies was born prematurely, the other was carried for 2 more months and was delivered then. They were born 63 days apart.
Oh how we are going to pull our hair out over these puzzles.
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Integrated Performance Assessment
French IV, Grades 10-12
High School of Science and Technology
The Springfield School District participated in the ACTFL Performance Assessment Project, which used the K-12 Performance Guidelines (see Resources) to help measure student performance. The project focused on creating authentic, content-rich assessments that integrate the three communicative modes. Nancy Gadbois began doing Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) as part of this pilot project. Currently, teacher use of IPAs in Springfield is voluntary, and district-wide assessments do not include performance tasks.
In this case study, Ms. Gadbois's students complete two portions of an IPA focused on a French music video. For the first task, students interpret the song's meaning by observing visual cues in the video and by reading the lyrics. After receiving feedback on their interpretations, students complete an interpersonal communication task by discussing in pairs topics inspired by the music video. Ms. Gadbois later concludes assessing the students' communication skills by having them share what they learned with a French-speaking audience -- a presentational communication task.
Spanish and French Performance Assessments
Wendie Santiago/Maureen Pizzutello
Spanish IV/French IV, Grades 11-12
Nanuet High School
Nanuet, New York
Authentic assessments are a district-wide initiative in Nanuet, New York, driven in part by the New York State Board of Regents mandated tests (see Resources). The Regents tests encourage authentic assessments and performance tasks in foreign language education. Nanuet has a spiraling language program, which cycles content at increasingly complex levels from grades 7 through 12. Thus, while the culminating activities used by Ms. Santiago and Ms. Pizzutello were designed to meet the needs of their classes, both teachers used standard, departmental rubrics to assess students' performances.
In this case study, students write and illustrate a children's story, then record it on audiotape and perform it for younger students. This culminating activity measures students' achievement in the level IV class as well as their cumulative language learning in the Nanuet program. The students use rubrics for the written, artistic, and oral components of the project to help them draft their text and rehearse their presentations. The rubrics also serve as the teachers' assessment tool. Using the same rubric for both purposes ensures that students meet their teacher's expectations.
French, Grade 8
Pleasant Hill Middle School
Pleasant Hill, California
Foreign language classes are an elective at the middle school level in California, so there is no standard assessment required by the state or district. Paris Granville uses the backward design process to create her own multiple assessment methods. For each unit, she begins with the relevant district curriculum objectives, determines her outcome goals, and then designs the students' final performance or product and how it will be assessed. She then works backward to plan the individual lessons and make connections to the local and national standards. This process ensures that the lesson objectives mirror the assessment, and that individual activities lead to the intended outcomes.
In this case study, Ms. Granville assesses students individually on their interpersonal communication skills using a task that mirrors a previous class activity. She first reads to a group of three students a story similar to one they had read in class, then discusses it with one of the students. During the discussion, Ms. Granville negotiates meaning with the student as the student creates a story map with the information. After the exchange, Ms. Granville uses a rubric to provide the student with immediate feedback. (For more information on Ms. Granville's class, see A Cajun Folktale and Zydeco.)
Next > Analyze the Video
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NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG).- After more than a decade away from blackboard drawings, British artist Tacita Dean returned to the form with last years Fatigues series.
First shown at the Documenta exhibition outside Kassel, Germany, the works are now at the Marian Goodman Gallery, along with Deans 2010 film The Friars Doodle.
Fatigues comprises immense drawings in white chalk on blackboard that depict Afghanistans Hindu Kush peaks, the source of the Kabul River in the mountains and another view of the river descending toward Kabul.
Dean, 47, planned and created the drawings for Documentas tall vertical space, with the peaks shown on top, the flowing river on the bottom.
At Marian Goodman, she had to adapt her vision to a single floor of two rooms. She sees a long corridor between them helping the viewer make the spatial transition.
We met at the Manhattan gallery just a few days before the opening of the show.
Rosboch: Your main medium is film. I understand there was a foul-up with a film project that more or less forced you back to blackboard drawing after so many years.
Dean: I went down to Kassel and the curator told me that she would have part of Documenta happening in Kabul. So I decided to make a blind film there.
I found a cameraman, got a little Bolex wind-up camera and some film, and sent everything by diplomatic bag to Afghanistan.
Then I was very involved with the Turbine Hall and when I eventually looked at the footage, I realized that most of it was unusable. Also, the space that I was supposed to have was given to someone else and in its place I was offered a three-story tax office with a very ornate staircase in the middle.
Thats when I realized that I would have to work with things on the wall and, given the little time, go back to something I trusted -- blackboard drawing.
Rosboch: Tell me about the drawings.
Dean: I bought some albumen prints of Kabul from 1875 off the Internet that depicted an incident in the second Anglo- Afghan war. I started researching into that and was led to a horribly jingoistic poem by Rudyard Kipling called Ford O Kabul River, about a platoon of soldiers trying to cross the Kabul River and drowning.
It was the combination of that and the memory of a brief moment in my failed faulty footage when a flash flood was going through the streets of Kabul.
So I started doing the Hindu Kush and the passage of the Kabul River and got quite into the whole geography of it. The war receded and it became just about the general rising of the waters and the melting of the ice every year, that brings some sort of catharsis, the washing of the streets, but is also a disaster and kills people.
Rosboch: Have you been to Afghanistan?
Dean: No, the blind film I did in the beginning was because I didnt want to go. The drawings came from my head, to some extent. I used some pictures of mountains, like the Himalayas, but then I kind of made it up. That is always what happens to me, I find a way of doing things and then drawing takes over.
But I had to not make it look like Switzerland because there are no trees there. So the moment of breakthrough was working out how to do those bare rocks. It was pretty hard.
Rosboch: Do you keep any of your work?
Dean: No, but I keep proofs of all my films. Not that thats going to be of any use when film doesnt exist anymore.
The art world knows the difference but the cinemas, which have all the money and control the medium, think film and digital are the same thing.
Rosboch: What are the main differences?
Dean: Everything. Film is for me a medium of time, and you never know what you have, so all the energy goes into the making. With digital its all in post-production and everything can be changed.
Theres a potential to have two different mediums, which is exciting, but they have to be so absolutist.
Rosboch: Can you talk about The Friars Doodle, the film now at Marian Goodman?
Dean: When I was at boarding school -- I was a Catholic in a Methodist school -- I received dispensation from attending chapel and was allowed to go across the road to a study center for young Franciscans.
One of them gave me a photocopy of this doodle that hed made, which I kept, amazingly enough, for 30 years.
When I was invited to do something in a monastery in Silos, Spain, I immediately thought of the friars doodle. Its quite strange, with swirls and ducts, stairs and passageways, crosses and stars, and no kind of exit. It always fascinated me.
So I filmed it the old way, with an old rostrum camera -- probably the last place you could find one in England is gone now.
It goes round and round and you cant ever find a way out. You never see the doodle in the film, youre lost in it.
The show is on view through March 9th at the Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 W. 57th St.
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The Sacrament of the Incarnation of our Lord
"In the beginning was the Word. Who says this? Surely, John the fisherman, but he does not say this as a fisherman, but as a fisher of man’s disposition. For already he was not catching fish but was quickening men. These words are not his, but His who granted him the power of quickening. For the fisherman was more silent than the fish which he formerly used to catch, and with respect to the divine mysteries he was more dumb who did not know the author of his own voice; but he who is quickened by Christ heard the voice in John, has recognized the Word in Christ. Accordingly, full of the Holy Spirit, since he knew that the beginning was not of time, but above time, he left the world, and ascending in spirit above all beginning, he says: In the beginning was the Word. […]
And the Word was with God . This that he said is to be understood thus: The Word was just as was the Father; since He was together with the Father, He was also in the Father, and He was always with the Father. […] It is of the Word to be with the Father; it is of the Father to be with the Word, for we read that the Word was with God. So if, according to your opinion, there was a time when He was not, then, according to your opinion, He too was not in the beginning with whom was the Word. For through the Word I hear, through the Word I understand that God was. For, if I shall believe that the Word was eternal, which I do believe, I cannot doubt about the eternity of the Father, whose Son is eternal."
Ambrose, The Sacrament of the Incarnation of our Lord (III, 15-18)
Lord, be my helper and my redeemer: my helper in doing good, my redeemer when I have done wrong; my helper that I may dwell in your love, my redeemer that you may deliver me from my wrongdoing. – cfr. Comm. on Psalm 18 (2), 16
By Ateneo Pontificio "Augustinianum"
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Ayn Rand is everywhere and her political opponents are growing nervous.
Rand of course is a champion of individual rights, including property rights, and an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism. Walk through any Tea Party gathering and you’ll see signs such as “Who is John Galt?,” “Rand was right” and “Read Atlas Shrugged.” Paul Ryan says of her, accurately in my view, that “Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism.”
On this shift in the political landscape, Paul Krugman comments in “A Tale of Two Moralities” that gone are the days when policy disputes were about pragmatic differences in accomplishing the same goal. Today we see a difference in moral principle: one side considers the modern welfare state morally superior to capitalism and the other side considers capitalism morally superior to the welfare state.
What Krugman doesn’t say, however, is that to the extent there actually is a side today that thinks capitalism is morally superior to the welfare state, it’s thanks to "Atlas Shrugged," "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and Rand’s other works.
But whether Krugman knows this or not, many other people do. What worries advocates of the welfare state is that they have never before faced any moral opposition.
Whatever the rhetoric of Republicans and Democrats in the past, they agreed on the basic goal: more and more government controls are necessary to rein in businessmen, “manage” the economy, and minister to those in need.
No matter which party was in power, therefore, we got things like Sarbanes-Oxley, bailouts of GM and Citibank, a huge prescription drug “benefit” and ObamaCare. Politics was a squabble about the efficacy of any proposed controls, not a dispute about the morality or immorality of imposing controls in the first place. As Krugman observes, in years past everyone “accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state.”
But now its advocates sense that this is no longer true, that some Americans are beginning to question the moral legitimacy of the welfare state. To strangle this questioning in the crib, supporters of government controls are trying to persuade their opponents to abandon Rand.
The current tactic is to tell Tea Partiers and “conservatives” that if you take religion seriously, you can’t be a fan of the atheist Ayn Rand. The American Values Network (AVN) has produced a short video containing snippets of Rand’s rejection of religion, which they hope to e-mail to more than a million people in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, asking citizens how they can support both Jesus and Rand.
Leaving aside AVN’s distressing attempt to blur the separation of church and state by basing politics on faith, this much is true. Rand’s moral teachings are fundamentally different from Jesus’teachings.
A rational morality, Rand argued, teaches us the crucial values that make up a successful and happy life. Above all else, it instructs us to uphold reason as an absolute in our lives, as our only source of knowledge and only judge of values, and to achieve self-esteem in our souls. True self-esteem is the knowledge that by your own choices you’ve created a rational mind “competent to think” and a personal character “worthy of happiness.”
In terms of virtues, Rand’s is a moral code that upholds rationality not emotionalism or faith; intellectual independence not authority or obedience; earned pride not humility or the belief in man’s inherent sinfulness.
In Rand’s argument, morality is not about subordination or service to others or to some “higher power”; it is not about self-sacrifice. Hers is a morality that upholds egoism and individualism: it seeks to teach you the difficult task of pursuing the values that achieve your own individual self-interest and happiness.
Only an explicit or implicit individualist and egoist, Rand held, will understand and demand the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence: his inalienable rights to his own life, his own liberty, and the pursuit of his own happiness. He will demand his political freedom and reject all government controls designed to restrict his liberty and make him sacrifice for the “public interest.” He will oppose the welfare state.
Given her positive teachings, Rand must reject what is usually taken to be the core of Jesus’ moral teachings, the Sermon on the Mount. But before you dismiss this as unthinkable, ask yourself the following question. Did Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers not reject the Sermon’s advice in creating America?
As I’ve written before: “When the British struck America’s right cheek, did Jefferson in the Declaration tell America to turn to offer them the left? Did Jefferson love his enemy—or did he go to war with him? Did Jefferson, who had a gallery of worthies in his home, portraits of men like Isaac Newton and John Locke, think that the blessed are the poor in spirit—or that the only people worthy of admiration are those who choose to make something of their spirit? Did Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers think that the meek shall inherit the earth—or that, in Locke’s words, the rational and the industrious shall? Did Jefferson give up riches—or did he seek them?”
Today we face similarly stark choices. If we are to reject the welfare state as immoral and thereby restore the American dream of individualism, don’t we need a rational morality that challenges the centuries-old creed of self-sacrifice and instead argues for the individual’s moral right to his own life and happiness?
In other words, don’t we need Ayn Rand?
Onkar Ghate is senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California.
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In a recent USA Today article, texting and music listening while driving and walking are leading to an increase in the death of pedestrians. People are still talking on the phone and texting while driving, despite the statistics that prove it can be deadly and despite it being against the law.
But now, we have new statistics that show the same result -- injury and death -- arises from just walking and texting or listening to music and being in "another zone." All of which confirms that multi-tasking is a misnomer. We can do one thing at a time, not many different things at the same time.
Those who reach the pinnacle of success are able to do many things ... but focus on one thing at a time. There just ain't no such thing as multi-tasking.
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Current budget deal is less than perfect
The debt ceiling deal passed this summer may have saved the United States from defaulting, but it has not changed much. While the deal cuts at least $2.1 trillion over the course of a decade, it also raises the debt ceiling by up to $2.4 trillion, resulting in what some advocates tout as a budget deficit of only about $300 billion. So it would seem.
Though largely liberal, Bowdoin tolerates all political perspectives
At certain colleges, conservative newspapers have been trashed or shut down. From the defacement of hundreds of issues of a conservative magazine at Tufts University to the State University of New York at Albany's decision to deny funding to a conservative newspaper, examples of political intolerance at institutions of higher learning abound across the country.
Cuts and compromise needed to solve the nation’s severe debt crisis
According to a BBC analyst, "All sides are starting to realize the U.S. government cannot keep overspending. For every dollar it spends, 40 cents are now borrowed. If the government was a normal household and was forced to pay normal interest rates, the US would already have declared bankrupt." These words reflect the vast amount of money that the federal government is borrowing to finance continued deficit spending. With the debt at 97.4 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), neither party has offered a serious plan to reduce the debt.
National debt poses greatest threat to the United States
Although there are many issues on our minds as Election Day approaches, the economy should be our main focus. Many Americans are unaware of—or do not fully comprehend—the size of the national debt, which currently stands at roughly $13.6 trillion, according to government estimates. To write that amount out in full: $13,676,109,536,322. The citizenry is only just beginning to wake up to this huge debt that will have to be paid off. Debt does not simply disappear, and it is astounding that we have gotten this far into the hole without a massive uproar. It would also be foolish to assume that we can remain the world's preeminent power while incurring the largest debt as well.
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In case you missed it: Here’s a great piece by Amanda MacArthur, VP of CDC Development Solutions. Originally posted at CSRWire.
Skills-based volunteering is on the rise. In 2011, four times as many companies sent employees to volunteer professional skills in countries such as Ghana, India and Nigeria compared to just six years ago according to the CDS’s 2012 International Corporate Volunteer Benchmarking Survey. Volunteers – and their employers –often call the experience life changing. NGOs, nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations say expertise in areas such as technology, supply chain management and marketing allows them to advance in ways they otherwise never could.
Over the past few years, companies such as IBM, Pfizer, PepsiCo and Dow Corning have sent employees on skills-based, pro bono, short-term volunteer assignments in emerging markets for leadership development, product innovation opportunities and to better understand emerging markets while providing much needed assistance and enabling skills transfer. Now, companies can also send their employees on volunteer assignments that link directly to U.S. global development goals that help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues – clean water, education, food security and healthcare.
The Center of Excellence for International Corporate Volunteerism (CEICV) is the result of a new partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and IBM, which operates the largest skills-based International Corporate Volunteer (ICV) program. CEICV, which is implemented by CDC Development Solutions, enables companies to learn how to create and manage International Corporate Volunteer programs and highlights the potential for these programs to support broader development goals in critical emerging markets around the world. The aim is to help build the capacity of beneficiary organizations in emerging markets through short-term partnerships with highly-skilled corporate volunteers.
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To the Editors:
Why does Norman Mailer’s “The White Man Unburdened” [NYR, July 17] leave one with such mixed feelings?
Regarding “Unburdened,” my first reaction was to exult, Mailer is back! “The White Man Unburdened” shows Mr. Mailer at his rhetorical, polemical best. Unlike other, seemingly halfhearted recent forays, this one is deeply felt, the source of the essay’s resounding prose, its unforced alliterations, the reader’s desire spontaneously to agree.
Nevertheless, in setting up and mowing down President Bush’s explanations for the war in Iraq, Mailer’s venerable hair trigger focuses, as usual, on economics, sociology, and above all culture to explain politics. We are offered once again the nefarious centrality of the corporation in American society, race matters, and the ever-present drumbeat of machismo, thwarted and reborn, in American political leaders.
He writes, “The key question remains—why did we go to war? It is not yet answered.” Can this really be true? So many answers have been given, it would be surprising if someone has not stumbled on the truth.
“If we could not find our machismo anywhere else, we could,” he says, “certainly count on the interface between combat and technology.” Thus the war.
Mr. Mailer cannot seriously believe that no one has suggested machismo as a, the, Bush motivation in Iraq. The photo accompanying the text—President Bush about to launch his tailhook caper—has been commented on ad nauseam. And so on. What is certain is, on the other hand, that no such allegation has appeared in such glorious, heavyweight prose.
Mailer rightly puts at the heart of the matter the impact of 9/11 on American society. But it was not just a matter of social demoralization, as he says. It is the probability, or certainty, that terrorists already have weapons of mass destruction in their possession. This should surprise no one, since so many sources are on the loose around the world. The truly demoralizing fact after 9/11 is that, of ten terrorist attempts, nine will be stopped. Why Norman Mailer doesn’t even mention, let alone take account of this fact, is puzzling and, finally, infuriating.
As for the over-focus on President Bush himself and his machismo antics: Bush is at once too easy and too difficult a target. Antics, certainly. But it isn’t convincing to criticize Bush’s morale-building (for the military and public opinion), and electorate-building (for himself and his party), when they are both arguably legitimate purposes. Bush can be opposed politically, but does it really get a hook into him to mock building morale and trying to get reelected? Antics aside, what is he supposed to do? Or is it only the antics?
Second is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which Mr. Mailer does not seem to notice. Where are Afghanistan and al-Qaeda in “Unburdened”? Nonexistent? Irrelevant to Iraq? The threat of catastrophic terrorism and the geopolitical justification (accepted or rejected) for the Iraq war were not simply shaken out of thin air. Mailer needs to be held to account for his views, or lack of them, on this score.
Third, Mailer on machismo, American cultural images, and the changing racial balances on sports teams: Striking as his insights are, is such “evidence” necessary, let alone sufficient explanation for foreign policy? I hope not.
Fourth, to argue that Saddam Hussein was in fact a punched-out, fat-bellied palooka ready to go is indeed a good point. The French scholar of Islam Olivier Roy made it a few months ago on the New York Times Op-Ed page. Iraq, in part, was selected as the chosen regime, M. Roy suggested, not because it was strong but because it looked strong but was weak, easy meat for America’s military might. It would be the prelude to the Wolfowitz-Cheney strategy of “letting the sequels play out” in surrounding countries, not least in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. (By the way, M. Roy was therefore one of those who had little trouble figuring out the main reason for the Iraq war.)
Finally, and most importantly: The most devastating threat to Americans, not from Saddam Hussein but from WMD in the hands of terrorists, is quite real. Chemical weapons would be bad enough. Biological weapons could kill many more people than chemical weapons, no doubt orders of magnitude more, while dirty nuclear bombs, or miniaturized genuine nuclear weapons, would be yet more catastrophic. This is not a moral question, or one that can be successfully approached through the ancient prism of old left ideology. It is a matter of facing a fact.
It could just be, in other words, that the Bush administration is trying to do its job—however it got elected, however it is trying to get reelected, and however scandalous its domestic policies, including Ashcroft and Homeland Security. The bottom line is not machismo but the security of the American people. One hopes they’ll get it right.
Norman Mailer replies:
Given the courtesy of Ronald Tiersky’s critique of “The White Man Unburdened,” how can one not reply? I have to recognize, however, some limitations for myself. The new questions are large. In effect, Ronald Tiersky is asking: “What would you have done after 9/11?”
Well, I can present other scenarios than the one offered by our two good Doctors of Magic, Rove and Bush, Masters of the Advertising Sciences (Mendacity and Public Manipulation). Their access to confidential material is orders of magnitude larger than is available to any of us, but their scenario has been skewed by the outsize need to mischaracterize the greater part of the intelligence they do receive.
Let me argue then that a military response to 9/11 was an error. Going into Afghanistan became an adventure that ended as a cipher. (The warlords are back in power and bin Laden is still at large, even though our military entrance into Afghanistan came because the Taliban refused to turn over bin Laden. For icing on the cake, the Taliban now seems to be returning.) Iraq was even less to the stated purpose. Embarking on a full-scale war to rid oneself of terrorists is analogous to hunting a hornet with a Sherman tank. When the tank knocks down the house that shelters the hornet, the creature whips into the attic of the next house. Containment might have been a better strategy for Iraq. Containment would certainly have offered a horde of attendant annoyances (especially when no WMD were found), but it could have been linked to a worldwide collaboration of the police powers of all the well-developed and many of the underdeveloped nations of the world. A number were sufficiently vulnerable to large-scale terrorism to be ready to collaborate in a global venture, which, for that matter could have been concentrated first on Afghanistan. Granted that there were obvious obstacles—intelligence agencies never share information easily for fear of exposing the source. But even 20 percent of a comprehensive effort could have done no worse at the business of capturing Osama bin Laden. And might have done more.
Of course, one cannot eliminate terrorism altogether any more than one can wipe out an entire strain of bacteria through antibiotics. On the fringes, new, virulent, more impervious strains develop. Depredations, however, can be kept under some control, whereas war is bound to generate novel mutations of terrorism. Such, at least, is the theory here advanced.
Obviously, I cannot vouch for this approach with whole confidence. All-out terrorism is a new species of human disease. Personal viciousness, when multiplied to this degree, fulfills Engels’s dictum: Quantity changes quality. Terrorism is now megahuman in its cruelty. If we had begun, however, with an international police effort including Afghanistan and it had not been able to fulfill its objectives, war would then have seemed a more logical next step, and there would have been less need to manipulate the American public in order to go forward with it. We might also have had a real coalition.
There was never much chance of that. Powell and the State Department would probably have worked with the UN, but there were other programs being forwarded in the administration and they were closer to Bush. The forces who were for world empire—could that be Rumsfeld and Cheney?—were hell-bent on the US going it alone in Iraq en route to Syria, Iran, Pakistan, the milestones from their point of view to US domination of the globe. That would be our best international solution as they saw it. Only America could be trusted for so holy and immense a venture. It is the aftermath in Iraq that has proved the largest blow to their plans—everything takes so long when it comes to injecting democracy into the hearts of fundamentalists.
Bush and Rove, interested in building a powerful long-term Republican majority among white male voters, were, I have argued, out to demonstrate how great a force was our military. Add to that Bush’s fatuous, even inimitable, purchase on cant. He was all for giving a demonstration of the manner in which good could destroy evil. While there’s no use in being a politician if you can’t lie to pick up votes, Bush has abused the privilege. So we suffered all the damage that has been laid on America by the administration prevaricating at top speed all the way to Iraq, misspeaking so egregiously that 25 percent of the nation still thinks that Saddam Hussein was the genius behind 9/11 (with what cost to our spiritual literacy is not easily counted).
The next White House vision that is bound to prevail, the sturdy argument of the neocons, will insist that the war with Iraq, no matter which lame offerings were presented previously, now shows itself as a necessary war. Peace between Palestine and Israel was not possible without a choke-hold on the Middle East. Now we have the choke-hold and so can pursue the roadmap. It is the neocon verion of Realpolitik, and there are huge obstacles to be overcome before it could come true, but what if it is bona fide? Despite all the damage done to America’s sense of reality, what if a species of peace does come to Israel and Palestine? Can it be argued then that it was not worth it? As Stalin remarked, you break eggs to make an omelet. Do they say no less now in the White House?
Wonderful. If the roadmap works and Israel and Palestine come to live together in some kind of reasoned fashion, then Bush will also have gained a choke-hold on the argument—provided terrorism does not increase drastically in other places. Ronald Tiersky makes the cogent point that “the most devastating threat to Americans [is] WMD in the hands of terrorists.” Agreed. Nonetheless, the question persists. Will a peace with Gaza and the West Bank serve as a real deterrent to al-Qaeda? Perhaps—but does that really feel probable?
Maybe we will do well to learn to live with terrorism as a chronic condition, an ongoing upheaval to all sorts of good hopes, plans, and projects. All the same, until it reaches the numbers of our annual automobile accidents (more than 40,000 mortalities), can we recognize that there may be worse things in store for our Republic than projected weapons of mass destruction (which are, after all, never easy to deliver), and one of them is the shameless exploitation of American perception? A blinded democracy is soon on its knees begging for a leader to show the road.
At present, the specter of fascism settling upon us remains just that, an exaggeration, a specter, but will we escape it if we are struck by economic miseries? That is the time when we will need to be at our best rather than gulled in thought and dulled in language by our reigning Doctors of Advertising Sciences. Tiersky concludes his letter by suggesting that the real bottom line on the Bush administration, whatever its admitted low maneuvers, may be that it is still trying to do the job of searching genuinely to provide us with security.
The answer may be that there are more important things to safeguard. What does it profit us if we gain extreme security and lose our democracy? Not everyone in Iraq, after all, was getting their hands and/or their ears cut off by Saddam Hussein. In the middle of that society were hordes of Iraqis who had all the security they needed even if there was no freedom other than the full-fledged liberty offered by dictators to be free to speak with hyperbolic hosannas for the leader. So, yes, there are more important things to safeguard than security and one of them is to protect the much-beleaguered integrity of our democracy. The final question in these matters suggests itself. Can leaders who lie as a way of life protect any way of life?
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myBonzle menu: Add to my places Add picture Add story Add note
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Bulgarra is located in northwest Western Australia and has a population of around 3,300 (55.3% male, 44.7% female). Around 766 families live in the area and of those 52.3% have one or more children under the age of 15. 8.7% of families have only a single parent while 30.7% of couples have no children. Bulgarra covers an area of approximately 348 hectares (859 acres).
The most common income bracket for people living in Bulgarra is $2,000 or more per week (11.8% of people). 6.7% have no income.
Of the 963 private dwellings in Bulgarra 14% are owned outright by their occupiers, 34% are being purchased (eg. by mortgage) and 50% are being rented. On average there are around 3.4 people per private dwelling in the area. The composition of occupied private dwellings in Bulgarra is as follows: 60.7% separate houses, 36.2% semi-detached houses (eg. townhouses, row or terrace houses), 2.6% flats (including units and apartments).
In terms of people aged 15 years or more living in Bulgarra 46% are married, 8% are divorced, 4% are separated, 1% are widowed and 42% have never married.
Bulgarra varies in altitude/elevation from about 3 m (highlight point) to 22 m (highlight point) above sea level.
The postcode for Bulgarra is 6714.
Neighbouring suburbs/regional areas of Bulgarra include Karratha, Pegs Creek and Stove Hill.
Do you know what facilities are available in Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here.
Do you know what recreational activities are available in Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here.
Are you a keen gardener? Do you know what edible garden plants grow in Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here.
Do you know whether any feral animals, insects and weeds have invaded Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here.Do you know of any agricultural activities in Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here.
Are you a keen bird watcher? Have you been bird watching in Bulgarra? What birds have you seen in Bulgarra? Contribute your knowledge by clicking here. As a Bonzle sub-project, we're trying to build Australia's most comprehensive suburb by suburb bird location atlas. A big thankyou to all that have contributed and continue to contribute sightings.
The areas that make up this are outlined in yellow on the map below.
If you're interested in Suburbs/Regional Areas then you may also be interested in Cities, Towns and Villages and Cities, Towns and Villages
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|— Beach Resort —|
|Coordinates: Coordinates: |
|Parish||Westmoreland and Hanover|
|Time zone||EST (UTC-5)|
Negril is just about one hour and fifteen minutes drive from Sir Donald Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay. Westmoreland is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, located on the south side of the island. Downtown Negril, the West End cliff resorts to the south of downtown, and the southern portion of the so-called "seven mile (11 km) beach" are in Westmoreland. The northernmost resorts on the beach are in Hanover Parish. The nearest large town is Savanna-la-Mar, the capital of Westmoreland Parish.
The name Negril is a shortened version of Negrillo (Spanish: Little black ones), as it was originally named by the Spanish in 1494. The name is thought by some to be a reference to the black cliffs south of the village. Another theory holds that because there was a vast population of black eels along Negril's coast, the Spaniards called the area Negro Eels which was shortened to Negrillo and then to Negril. Although Negril has a long history, it did not become well known until the second half of the twentieth century.
Negril's development as a resort location began during the late 1950s, though access to the area proved difficult as ferries were required to drop off passengers in Negril Bay, forcing them to wade to shore. Most vacationers would rent rooms inside the homes of Jamaican families, or would pitch tents in their yards. Daniel Connell was the first person to create more traditional vacation lodging for these "flower children" when he set up the first guest house in Negril - Palm Grove. The area's welcoming and hospitable reputation grew over time and the first of many resorts was constructed in the mid to late 1960s. The first hotel in Negril was the Yacht Club by Mary's Bay on the West End.
When the road between Montego Bay and Negril was improved in the early 1970s, it helped to increase Negril's status as a new resort location. It was a two-lane paved road that ran approximately 100 yards (91 m) inland from two white coral sand beaches, at the southern end of which was a small village. The long paved road from the village ran north to Green Island, home to many of the Jamaican workers in Negril, and was straight enough to double as a runway for small airplanes, which was why there were lengths of railroad track standing on end along the side of the road - to discourage drug smugglers from landing on the road to pick up cheap cargos of marijuana.
After Negril's infrastructure was expanded—anticipating the growth of resorts and an expanding population, a small airport, the Negril Aerodrome, was built in 1976 near Rutland Point, alongside several small hotels mostly catering to the North American winter tourists. Europeans also came to Negril, and several hotels were built to cater directly to those guests.
Geography and Ecology
The geography of Jamaica is diverse. The western coastline contains the island's finest beaches, stretching for more than 6 km (3.7 mi) along a sandbar at Negril. It is sometimes known among tourists as the "7-Mile Beach" although it is only slightly more than 4 mi (6.4 km) in length, from the Negril River on the south to Rutland Point on the north.
On the inland side of Negril's main road, to the east of the shore, lies a swamp called the Great Morass, through which runs the Negril River. Within the Great Morass is the Royal Palm Reserve, with protected wetlands and forest.
In 1990, the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society was formed as a non-profit, non-governmental organization to address ongoing degradation of the coral reef ecosystem. The Negril Marine Park was officially declared on March 4, 1998 covering a total area of approximately 160 km2 (62 sq mi) and extending from the Davis Cove River in the Parish of Hanover to St. John’s Point in Westmoreland.
Scuba diving and snorkeling are especially good in the protected reef areas.
The West End Road is also known as Lighthouse Road as there is a Belgian engineered lighthouse protecting seafarers from the dramatic cliffs. There is beautiful scenery on this western tip of Negril, near Negril Lighthouse. You can mingle with locals at beer shacks like Sexy Rexy's and others "out West".
Negril today
For years, Negril's beach has been rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world by many travel magazines. The beach's length is the stuff of legends—it is actually little more than four miles in length, but tourists and travel writers insist on the "seven-mile" label. The north end of the beach is home to the large, all-inclusive resorts, and to the south are the smaller, family-run hotels. This combination gives the Negril area a large variety of rooms, services and prices.
South of downtown Negril is West End Road, known as the cliff area, which is lined with resorts that offer more privacy. These areas offer easy access to waters good for snorkelling and diving, with jumping points reaching more than 40 feet (12 m) high.
Many vendors and shops are located around the beach resorts however they are predominantly located on the south end of the beach where there are fewer all inclusive resorts. It is reported by one British newspaper that white women of middle age visit Negril in search of what they call the "big bamboo."
That Negril is still fairly underdeveloped remains a significant factor in its undoubted charm. This may not last, as a new highway from Montego Bay and an improved infrastructure may bring more tourists. As a result more hotels and tour operators continue to develop the many attractions in Negril see more attractions and excursions as well as Airport Transfer here . As n recent years it has also become a popular location for U.S. college students to visit during spring break or just a regular vacation in Jamaica.
Negril has some quality local accommodation for those that want to live closer the people. Recent developments such as One 4 the Road Backpacker Hostel at the Judy House on West Land Mountain on the West provides clean cheap rooms for world & island travelers.
The last few years have seen major development along the famed beach. The resorts include Couples Swept Away, Couples Negril, Sandals, Beaches, Samsara Hotel, Legends Resort, Breezes Grand Resort and Spa (the former Grand Lido), Riu Palace Tropical Bay, Riu Club Hotel and Hedonism II. A branch of Jimmy Buffett's chain restaurant and bar, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and a duty free zone have also been added. These developments have led to adverse environmental effects e.g. dredging of sea grass beds caused the major loss of beach area due to increased sea water erosion.
Notable appearances in media
The early development of Negril as a resort is featured in Ian Fleming's 1965 novel The Man with the Golden Gun. One of the schemes of the novel's antagonist Francisco Scaramanga was to open an hotel called the Thunderbird on the beach.
See also
- Banana Shout, (Fiction), by Mark Conklin, Fusion Press; 1st edition (March 2000). ISBN 1-928704-73-5
- Walk Good: Travels to Negril, Jamaica, (Nonfiction), by Roland Reimer, Trafford Publishing (July 12, 2006). ISBN 1-55369-871-1
- How Stella Got Her Groove Back, (Fiction), by Terry McMillan, Viking (1996). ISBN 0-670-86990-2
- The Naked Truth About Hedonism II, (Nonfiction), by Chris Santilli (last updated in paper July 2006). ISBN 978-0-9662683-3-1
- The Republic of Pirates, (Nonfiction), by Colin Woodward (2007). ISBN 978-0-15-603462-3
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Negril|
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Dental Exam by Comfortable Care Smiles
As you know the recommendation from most dental professionals is to see your dentist at least twice a year for a check-up and cleaning. This frequency bodes well for most people but can be more if you have dental problems such as gum disease, a genetic predisposition for plaque build-up or cavities, or a weakened immune system. Stress, illness, or the intake of certain medications are also reasons that you may want to schedule a dental appointment as we can help to prevent dental issues that you may be unaware of. Regardless of whether you take great care of your mouth, teeth, and gums, routine dental appointments are still a good idea to maintain good oral health.
Three Reasons to Visit Your Dentist Bi-Annually
- So that your dentist can check for problems that you might not see or feel.
- To allow your dentist to find early signs of decay (decay doesn't become visible or cause pain until it reaches more advanced stages).
- To treat any other oral health problems found (generally, the earlier a problem is found, the more manageable it is).
The Typical Dental Exam
Professional Examination- Typically both your dentist and an oral hygienist will inspect your teeth upon your visit. The hygienist will conduct an oral examination of your teeth, gums and document any changes from a previous visit. The hygienist will clean and polish your teeth, discuss tooth and gum care, and answer any questions you may have about your oral health. Next the dentist will conduct an oral exam, checking for signs of oral cancer or other disease, review the work done by the hygienist, and make treatment recommendations.
Teeth Cleaning- A professional teeth cleaning is required beyond good at-home habits because regular brushing and flossing can't remove all the plaque that builds up on your teeth. Hygienists use a series of hand instruments to clean your teeth, mouth and gums.
Teeth Polishing- Once your teeth have been cleaned, they are polished to remove plaque and stains on the tooth surface. Polish contains an abrasive substance and fluoride, and is applied using a small rotating rubber cup or brush attached to a dental hand piece.
Prevention- Your dentist and hygienist may recommend additional instructions for you to follow on your own at home. These recommendations will be based upon the results of the dental exam.
X-Rays- X-rays are not always part of every check-up, but new patients or patients who have oral health issues may have them taken to see potential problems not visible to the eye.
Treatment Recommendations- If you have any oral health problems that are witnessed in your check-up, Dr. Kostrzewski will recommend additional treatments to prevent them from worsening and correct them.
If you have any questions about the dental examination or would like to schedule a consultation with our office, please contact us today. Contact Comfortable Care Smiles Today 203-951-3153
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Every home that's put up for sale, every new home that's built, and every home that's rented out to a new tenant, needs an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
The EPC allows prospective buyers and tenants to see information about the energy efficiency of their building. They can consider fuel costs before they buy or rent.
The certificate lasts ten years - but the owner of the building can get a new one before the ten years is up if they make energy efficiency improvements in the meantime.
EPCs are issued by an accredited domestic energy assessor. Most estate agents employ their own assessor. Or find an energy assessor online (external website).
Check the assessor is qualified; ask them who they are accredited with and then check that company. Contact details of all the accreditation bodies are on the Communities and Local Government website.
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Several years ago, we had a class at a youth rally at 9th Avenue taught by my friend Larry Davenport. His topic was “Can the Bible Compare with Hollywood?” As always, Larry did a great job, but it was the way he started the class that will forever hold a place in my mind.
Larry started by retelling some of the awesome accounts in the Bible (the parting of the Red Sea, creation, Noah’s ark, etc.). He then reminded these young people that all these were real events, not done with trick photography or computer technology. After that brief introduction, Larry renamed the class: “Why Hollywood Can’t Compare with the Bible!”
What a great reminder. We live in a world of sensationalism. Everything, it seems, “has to be” over the top. A new movie has to be a little more “out there” than the last. Special effects in movies and TV shows have to be more clear and realistic. The explosions have to be larger. The destinations have to be more exotic. The colors have to be more vivid.
Admittedly, it’s amazing what Hollywood producers can do. They can transport us for a few minutes (or even a few hours) to another place, another time, even another planet. They truly give us a believable story with some amazing things.
But then, it’s over, and we’re reminded that it was all a story with some nice computers and cameras telling us the story.
When you open the Bible and read some of the amazing things in it, remember that there is no trickery. There’s no trick photography. There are no hidden cables. There aren’t any computer programs. No smoke machines or sound machines were used. It’s all real, and it’s truly astounding.
Hollywood just can’t compare.
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Caregiving and Everyday Relationships Affected by Poor Communication
Caregiving relationships are stressful and overwhelming. Relationships and communication detour when we blur fact vs. fiction, truth vs. opinion and assumptions vs. reality. None of us have the power to control how other people will react to what we say or write once the communication is sent - this represents the danger in our own intentions and actions.
Words, verbal and written, can't be erased. In communication what's the intention -- supporting and building a relationship or injury, cruelty and destruction of a relationship?
Communication has the ability to foster positive feelings and goodwill or feelings of hurt and injury. When we communicate (expressions of word and tone) -- how our intention is perceived by the receiver affects their response and the quality of our back and forth communication. We must learn that we have to adjust the style of our communication to the various people with whom we communicate.
Again, what's the goal of our communication -- mutual respect, common purpose or love or to injure another person because of perceived or actual injury ( i.e. our response to their message). This type of relationship conflict is damaging to ourselves and others - conflict absorbs great mental and emotional energy. Communication or involvement from a person not directly involved is even more dangerous because it involves their perceptions, opinions and assumptions -- no facts -- and the result is rarely positive.
We can argue our intentions all day -- but if the result or outcome isn't positive, re-examining the message we sent is critical unless our goal is to destroy.
There is a middle ground where discussing negative or difficult information in a factual, truthful, non opinionated manner can be productive and positive. Arriving at this middle ground takes removing ego, the desire to be right and truly placing a bigger perspective of supporting a family, a team of caregivers and others involved above our own personal needs which can be very, very difficult.
In the bigger picture how do we want to be seen by others? If our story appeared on the front page of the newspaper, how would we feel? If the answer isn't proud or positive, we must give thought the quality of our internal thoughts and the results these thoughts produce in our words and deeds and in our actions that affect others.
There is wisdom in the old saying, "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all". This can be translated to "if you can't think something positive, work to examine and to change the internal quality of your thoughts". In caregiving and in life it's our relationships that are important. Too many times we realize this too late. http://pameladwilson.comhttp://www.thecarenavigator.com
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expert survivors of the human race, those who live to 90 years of
age or more, mention spirituality as one of the things that has
contributed to their long lives. Spirituality has different meanings
for different people. However, a definition that is widely held
among those who have researched the topic is that spirituality has
to do with the non-physical and un-material aspects of our being.
For some spirituality is directly connected to organized religion,
yet for others it is not.
is widely believed that the human health should be approached from
a holistic perspective. This means that humans are a combination
of mind, body and spirit and health encompasses all three. Around
the world, medical and university researchers have been taking a
close look at how health status and spirituality are connected.
Some of most recognized centers of this kind of research are The
George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, The International
Center for the Integration of Health and Spirituality, and The Center
for Integrative Medicine.
of the benefits of a strong spiritual foundation that contribute
to improved health and longevity are:
beliefs often influence life style choices that promote health.
with others who hold similar spiritual beliefs can create strong,
compassionate social networks
can provide optimism when adverse circumstances are encountered.
image of a power greater than us reduces anxiety and provides
solace in times of suffering.
often includes some form of meditation or prayer.
often offers opportunities for forgiveness of others and us.
Weil, M.D, of The Center for Integrative Medicine is a strong proponent
of the spiritual aspect of healthful life style choices. Some of
the suggestions he makes for
strengthening the spiritual aspect of our health include:
a list of the all the injuries, illnesses, or problems you have
successfully overcome. Think about what you did to speed the healing
with nature. Have plants and flowers in your house and yard year
time with people that make you feel more alive, happier, and more
to or play music that makes you feel happier and more alive.
a few objects that you find beautiful and keep them where you
can see them everyday.
others because it makes you feel good, not because it is expected
M. Puchalski, M.D. founder and director of the George Washington
Institute for Spirituality and Health has written extensively about
the important role that forgiveness can play in our health. She
contends that forgiveness of self and others leads to reduced anxiety
and depression, improved coping skills, reduced risk of heart disease,
and increased resistance to physical illness. This is strong evidence
that depression can lead to poor self-care, stress can increase
blood pressure, and poor coping skills create a vicious circle of
depression and stress.
recent polls suggest that many people agree with Drs. Weil and Puchalski.
A recent study conducted at Bellevue Hospital in New York City found
that patients rated spirituality as more important to their recovery
than the quality of food and rooms. A 1998 CBS News Poll and a 1996
TIME/CNN poll asked if people felt that doctors should pray with
their patients. Six out of every ten people who responded said that
doctors should join their patients in prayer if patient requested
it. In a USA Weekend Faith and Health Poll six of every ten respondents
said that it is good for doctors to talk with their patients about
a person to have the health benefits that a spiritual foundation
brings, it is not necessary for them to belong to an organized religion.
Each person can find the things that strengthen their connection
with a power greater than themselves. No matter how it is accomplished,
there seems to be little doubt that the extreme survivors are right
when they say that spirituality is one of the things contributes
to longevity and good health.
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The Tenderloin is not exactly known as a tender place to live. It’s the densest neighborhood in San Francisco – home to roughly 30,000 people. That’s about 750 people per square block, and many are low-income immigrants and families living in tall apartment buildings, homeless shelters, or single room occupancy hotels. Some – with nowhere else to go – live right on the street.
You’re more likely to hear police sirens than birds or other wildlife in the Tenderloin. That’s partly because this is an area of high crime, but also, because there’s very little green space here. But that hasn’t stopped some Tenderloin residents who’ve invited nature into their lives in the most unexpected of places. KALW’s Ali Budner takes us to a place known to residents at the Tenderloin National Forest.
* * *
DARRYL SMITH: Right now we’re standing in front of a more arid desert feature.
ALI BUDNER: The street sounds don’t let you forget that you’re in the heart of the Tenderloin, but as soon as you set foot in this park, you know you’ve walked into a unique space.
SMITH: There’s the hummingbird.
That’s Darryl Smith, my tour guide.
SMITH: I’m co-founder/director of the Luggage Store Gallery with my partner, Laurie Lazer.
Together they founded this place, the Tenderloin National Forest. It’s off of Ellis Street between Hyde and Leavenworth. And let’s be real – it’s still a concrete alley sandwiched between tall brick buildings. But, if you let yourself zoom in on what’s in here, it really can feel like a verdant oasis. Trees and plants of all colors and sizes surround us.
A water fountain filled with bright orange fish bubbles in one corner. A neon sign hangs over a shed with a living grass roof. It reads in cursive script: “Tell your stories here.” An earthen oven. Giant colorful murals on every wall. My favorite touch is the arrowhead-shaped greeting sign that looks a lot like the traditional National Forest logo.
FRANKIE MADISON: It’s comforting. It’s very, very comforting and very serene.
That’s Frankie Madison. He comes here to relax.
MADISON: And in this chaotic city now it’s nice to have a little quiet place to be. Especially here in the Tenderloin, everything is so upside down and backwards that to step through that gate and to come in here is you just transcend to a different place. You’re not in the Tenderloin anymore.
But if you had peered into this alley 15 years ago or so, you would have seen a very different picture. Again Darryl Smith.
SMITH: Back then, yeah, it was all asphalt. It was a classic inner city alleyway. There was a lot of garbage, lot of excrement, drug paraphernalia. Kind of, you know, it had its own story.
Which is in part, the story of the Tenderloin itself.
BEN GRANT: It was a very dense and very mixed part of the city from a very early on, without a lot of provision for open space.
That’s Ben Grant. He works with SPUR – an urban planning nonprofit in San Francisco. He can think of only one substantial public park in the Tenderloin – Boeddecker Park – built in the mid-‘80s. But it has tall metal fences and iron benches. It’s not that welcoming.
GRANT: I think the contrast between Boeddecker Park and the Tenderloin National Forest really reveals the importance of local stewardship and community advocates especially in a district that has significant problems with homelessness, with substance abuse, and with social issues.
So how did they do it? How do you create green space where there’s practically none?
In the 1980s, artists Darryl Smith and Laurie Lazer were living and working in the Tenderloin, right near this alley. Then it was called Cohen Place. And at that time, Smith say the alley received an average of a thousand police calls a year. So in the early ‘90s they began a public art series there. They called it “Performance in the Gutter.”
SMITH: We’d clean up and then we’d do installations and have performances go on here. Just to kind of give a sense of what could be, of what the possibilities could be if we could kind of turn it around.
But they couldn’t do it right away. First, they reached out to their neighbors for ideas and support. Then they went to local nonprofits that helped them with research, planning, and connections so they could approach city government. A decade later, the city agreed to lease them the space for a dollar a year. Then they knew they could really build something. But they started small.
SMITH: So this redwood that we call “Mama Tender” was the first tree that we brought here to live…
And that’s how it started: with one tree, which is now four stories tall, by the way. And as it grew, so did their vision. One day they laid out a blanket of grass for an event. When they were about to pack it up…
SMITH: Somebody in The Senator Hotel just kind of whispered out the window like, “Keep it.” You know like, I was like, “Wow.” That planted the seed really.
And that’s when the alleyway really started to change.
SMITH: Garbage collector trucks didn’t come in here anymore.
And when there was an emergency…
SMITH: The fire department said you know, “We’ll just bring in hoses and ladders. We don’t need to pull a truck in.”
These changes allowed the alley to flourish. Today, there’s all kinds of trees: pine, maple, lemon, olive, gingko, and not one, but two redwoods. From cacti and succulents to bamboo and ferns – sage, rosemary, lavender, and mint – the diversity of plant life in this small space is astounding.
Anne Thomas was caught by surprise when she first saw the forest.
ANNE THOMAS: I was walking really fast and I was really upset because I had to search for a bed. I seen this place and I stopped and I moonwalked back and I said, “Oh my gosh!” And the gate was open – I walked in and I was like, “Oh how beautiful!” Everything is so cute. I wish I could bake something in that oven! You can bake food here. It’s just gorgeous and I thank god that this place is here.
Founder Darryl Smith says the neighbors have really embraced the forest.
SMITH: The neighborhood’s over the years gotten much more involved in it, like taking care of it, watching over it.
But the park’s most frequent visitors are the hummingbirds.
SMITH: The hummingbird is kind of a magical bird…
It’s the only bird that can fly backwards and it has the largest heart in the animal kingdom, relative to its size. But also…
SMITH: It’s the link from green pocket to green pocket. Like, how does it get here? There’s a series, a whole system of green pockets that it ties together in its flight pattern. So they started coming here after we began greening the alley.
During my visit, a few ruby-throated hummingbirds flickered in. They’d hover for a sweet moment, then flicker away. Kind of like the neighbors who wander in and out of this space. For now, it’s forest enough.
From the Tenderloin National Forest, I’m Ali Budner for Crosscurrents.
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Every student tackling the management admission test prepares feverishly for a long time. It is usual to collect all relevant information relating to the format of the test, different section of test and the marks assigned to them. The student will learn quickly enough that from any test preparation guide those there are two types of main questions that are quantitative type questions and verbal type questions. The GMAT Verbal is further sub divided in to two sections. These sections relate to reading comprehension and sentence correction. The verbal type is what determines the student’s ability for original thinking and proper understanding of any data or information that he may come across.
Preparation required answering gmat questions
All students sitting for the GMAT will be interested to know the sort of gmat questions that will confront them. The best way to get information is to buy a preparation guide that is easily available. The guide contains full information about the format of the questions the different sections the type of questions etc. It will be clear on going through the guide book that the admission test is unique in nature and quite different from the other exams which students are used to till then. It is significant that these schools wish to admit students who have the potential to reach top ranking positions in the business world.
The students therefore are to be screened at the admission stage itself so that with the coaching and training that they impart to them a student can live up to the potential. The admission test therefore seek to find out the mental capabilities of the students, with regard to analyzing issues solving problems and taking correct decisions in tight situations. The capability of the student is sought to be tested by the way he answers the questions under various sections of the test.
Admission based on gmat scores
However good a student may be in his academic career may the undergraduate level, gmat scores play an essential part in the final outcome when it comes to admission to top Business schools. The capability and speed the student answers the quantitative and the verbal questions will have a bearing on the marks he scores in the test. The overall score is 800 and the student has a chance of getting admission to the business school if you can score at least 80% of the marks. The students will be able to know the marks he has scored on completion of the test. The score will appear on the computer which is programmed to evaluate the test result.
The marks cored in the essay writing test will not appear on the computer. The gradation is done by another examiner also and it is expected that the two valuations will be almost the same. However, if there is major variation a third person to evaluate the result and his decision will be final. The gets to know the score through email after the process is complete. Even though the overall percentage is talked about generally individual scoring in each section is important.
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Florida City and State Pension Disability Claims Lawyer
People who work for counties, municipalities or the State are probably familiar with the Florida Retirement System.
The Florida Retirement System (FRS) is an employer contributory system. In other words, your employer pays all the retirement contributions necessary for you to earn service credit towards a future retirement benefit. No money is deducted from your salary to pay for your retirement.
While the primary purpose of the FRS is to provide a pension for teachers, government employees, police officers and firefighters, it also provides financial support for those employees that become permanently disabled due to illness or injury while working or during poisoning injuries like smoke and drug related injuries.
Who Is Eligible: If you are actively participating in a Florida Retirement System plan, you are eligible for disability benefits should you become disabled. However, there is a big difference between being eligible for benefits and qualifying for them.
How “Disabled” is Defined: In order to receive disability retirement benefits from the FRS, you have to be totally and permanently disabled. If your injury or illness does not prevent you from doing any other sort of work, you are not eligible for FRS disability benefits.
Types of Benefits: FRS disability benefits fall into two different categories. The first is regular disability retirement benefits, which cover you if you become disabled or sick at home, or on vacation, or basically anywhere. Since these benefits are offering you coverage for when you aren’t at work, you have to have been employed for eight years by an FRS-paying employer in order to qualify.
The second category is line of duty disability, which every employee in the FRS system has from the very first day they are hired. Line of duty disability is not just available for police officers, fire fighters, or employees in positions that are inherently high risk. It is available for any FRS contributor who becomes disabled due to an event that occurred while they were working.
What the Benefits are Worth: If you qualify for regular disability, you should receive a minimum of 25% of your Average Final Compensation (AFC.) Your AFC is based on five years’ employment where your salary was the highest. If you qualify for a line of duty disability, you should receive a minimum of 65% of your AFC.
Finding yourself suddenly disabled is an experience that does not lend itself to paperwork and clear thinking. The newly disabled all of a sudden find themselves dependent on other people for practically every aspect of their lives, and this requires a huge adjustment.
Applying for your disability benefits are not the sort of thing that you can just take care of in an afternoon. There are forms to fill out and doctors to visit, and each step of the process must be completed in an exact way, otherwise the benefits will be denied.
What is Needed: If you are injured in the line of duty, the first thing you have to fill out is a Notice of Injury Form. If you are receiving workers’ compensation while you are applying for permanent disability, then you have to fill out a Certification of Workers’ Compensation Form.
What follows is an Application for Disability Retirement, which has to be filled out and notarized. A Statement of Disability has to come from your employer, plus you have to have a Physicians Statement of Disability, which has to be filled out by two Florida doctors.
It is practically expected that these forms will be followed by interviews, requests for more information, and more paperwork to fill out.
Your Options if You Are Denied
Fortunately for the disabled, those that are denied coverage have both the right to appeal and the right to reapply. For those with disabilities that are not so obvious, such as traumatic brain injuries or mental trauma, the whole application process should be overseen by an attorney that has experience in helping the disabled and has experience in the disability applications process.
The Law Offices of Nancy L. Cavey: Bridging the Gap for Florida Workers
The Law Offices of Nancy L. Cavey is a practice that is dedicated to helping the injured and disabled receive fair treatment from the programs that are supposed to help them.
We have helped injured Florida workers receive what they are entitled to from workers’ compensation programs and Social Security Disability, as well as the Florida Retirement System.
Our experienced attorneys will help you through the complex applications process. We will help you with the paperwork and make sure that everything is filled out correctly, and we will also represent you in any hearings or interview sessions that take place.
If you or a loved one is in the process of applying for disability benefits through the Florida Retirement System, contact our offices for a free consultation today.
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- A Penn State University internal inquiry dismissed three allegations of research improprieties against a leading climate scientist but recommended further investigation into one allegation regarding leaked e-mails about global warming.
Meteorology professor Michael Mann said he was pleased the inquiry results "found no evidence to support" four allegations against him. But in a report issued Wednesday, Penn State said its inquiry could not make a "definitive finding" on one allegation of inappropriate research conduct, warranting further investigation.
A three-member university committee has been looking into the work of meteorology professor Michael Mann since late November, when leaked e-mails were obtained by computer hackers from a British research center. Mann's research has long been a target of criticism by skeptics of man-made global warming theories.
Mann, long a target of criticism by skeptics of man-made global warming theories, said he welcomed the investigation, in hopes of removing lingering doubts. The security breach at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia leaked correspondence that critics have said proves scientists may have hidden evidence and overstated the case for man-made global warming.
The committee "could not make a definitive finding whether there exists any evidence to substantiate that Dr. Mann did engage in, or participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research or other scholarly activities," the report said. Besides 377 e-mail messages, related journal articles and reports were also reviewed.
Five other faculty members will take part in the investigation phase looking into Mann's work, though it was unclear when that process would begin, school spokeswoman Lisa Powers said.
"Three of the four allegations have been dismissed completely," Mann said in a statement he issued following the release of the report. "Even though no evidence to substantiate the fourth allegation was found, the university administrators thought it best to convene a separate committee of distinguished scientists to resolve any remaining questions about academic procedures."
"This is very much the vindication I expected since I am confident I have done nothing wrong," Mann said.
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For one thing, most of these PMO talking points are propaganda utilizing grade 4 arithmetic (at best):
Simplistic enough for some, (the group that would buy that line of tripe), but unsubstantiated with any statistical evidence. So, The Jurist engages in a statistical exercise which immediately puts the Harper PMO sputtering to the lie.OAS is funded primarily through taxes on working people and is unsustainable on its current course.
- The number of Canadians over the age of 65 will increase from 4.7 million to 9.3 million over the next 20 years.
- The OAS program was built when Canadians were not living the longer, healthier lives they are today.
- Consequently, the cost of the OAS program will increase from $36B per year in 2010 to $108B per year in 2030.
- Meanwhile, by 2030, the number of taxpayers for every senior will be 2 - down from 4 in 2010.
If we do nothing, OAS will eventually become too expensive and unsustainable.
The Cons' estimated total cost is about $108 billion. But based on Statistics Canada's medium-case demographic estimates, seniors ages 65 and 66 will make up only 11.5% of the total population aged 65 and up as of 2031.And then he takes aim at the real plan. The Harperites promised that, once they've balanced the budget, as long as you have a large enough income, you can increase the amount of money you put into a Tax-Free Savings account from the current $5,000 to $10,000 annually.
So if OAS is relatively evenly applied across the age spectrum, the savings from pushing back the retirement age for Canadians in general will amount to 11.5% of $108 billion - or just over $12 billion per year.
At the same time, the Cons plan to push through general income splitting and increases to tax-free savings accounts. And those plans - targeted squarely at large-single-income households and those wealthy enough to have $10,000 to sock away every single year - will cost...just under $12 billion per year. And unlike the Cons' numbers for OAS, that's without taking into account any growth in the size of the tax base in the meantime.Just so we're clear here, the cost of the Harper frat-boys' plan to allow income splitting in high-earning-single-income households and to double the amount that those with a spare ten-thousand bucks laying around can shelter from interest and investment income taxes is about the same as would be saved by forcing seniors to delay an old age benefit until they reach aged 67.
The question is, how many wage-earning Canadians have an extra $10,000 laying around to toss into a tax-shelter? Not many, I reckon, so it would be a benefit acquired by a smaller percentage of the population than would be surrendering that same amount of needed survival income.
The truth is, a solid majority of Canadians in their peak earning years do not or cannot afford to make annual contributions to the primary retirement savings instrument (RRSP) and only 12% of those in their 40s make the maximum allowable contribution. Of those in their 50s, only 14% make the maximum contribution.
Is the fog coming off the mirror yet? The Harper plan for "prosperity" is to rob seniors of their past tax payments and give it to the wealthiest portion of the population.
And if you're a Harper Conservative, that's as it should be.
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BRIDGEPORT, Ohio (AP) — Quick-thinking neighbors banded together to save a 103-year-old woman from her burning eastern Ohio home.
It happened Wednesday night when the garage caught fire at a home near Bridgeport. WTOV-TV (http://bit.ly/Yq84Zf ) reports that neighbors went into the home and helped the frail woman to safety.
The woman's daughter told the television station that the entire garage was engulfed before they noticed the home was on fire. She was scrambling to get her mother outside when neighbors came to the rescue. About eight of them helped get her clear of the house.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Bridgeport is about 125 miles east of Columbus, on the Ohio River.
Information from: WTOV-TV, http://www.wtov9.com
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Needs versus wants
You need many things in life including food, shelter, clothing and education. Needs are those things that you cannot live without or that living without would cause hardship and distress. Knowing whether something is a need or a want is important since your perception will determine whether you spend your money on it or not.
There was a time -- not so long ago -- when there were no cellular phones or e-mail -- and we managed, just the same. New technology is created to make things easier and enhance the quality of your life. But technology doesn't eat a hole in your wallet or put you into debt -- you do that when you choose to purchase things you cannot afford.
Many people feel they deserve to "treat" themselves to expensive items or spend money they don't have on living a lifestyle they have yet to earn. They charge these "rewards" on a charge card. But there are costs for borrowing money, besides the fees and the interest, you experience the stress of being in debt and you are living a lie. And yes, you still need to pay the money back for those expensive things that you purchased.
As you know, companies use advertising to market their products. The role of advertising is to create "needs" for the things that you "want" which influences purchasing behavior. It's your job to decide whether each new product is something you really need, something that will make your life easier or add to the quality of your life or, whether it's something you can continue to live without.
The amount of money you have to spend is finite; everything in life is a trade off. If you are going to spend your money on one thing today then this becomes money that is not available for saving or for purchasing more important items in the future. Just as you prioritize your time, learn to prioritize your spending. Before you make a purchase, ask yourself whether the item is a need or a want and decide accordingly.
Identify your spending habits by writing down every dollar you spend for a week or two. Identify how much you're spending, on what and where your money is going. Eliminate all unnecessary spending such as excessive bank fees or fees on credit cards, late payments and wasteful purchases. Return items you will never use. Examine every bill you pay; is there any way to lower your bills -- perhaps eliminating a luxury item?
Put money back in your pocket by identifying areas to cut back. Our clients have found hundreds of dollars that they were able to cut back -- a week! Make a game of it and include those in your family.
Dump the debt
Eliminating debt is an important part of the process. Debt is created from many sources: a spending addiction, living a lifestyle beyond your means, being driven by wants, impulse buying and a lack of respect for your money. Get control of your credit card debt and stop using your credit cards for anything other than emergencies.
There are many strategies for eliminating debt; you can consolidate your cards to a lower interest card, pay off high interest cards first or get help from a credit card consolidation company. Consumer Credit of America (www.ccoa.org) is a reliable agency and does not charge a fee for using their services. Other services may charge fees, so ask before enrolling in any program like this.
Save for a rainy day
Open a savings account and start saving 10 to 20 percent of your earnings. If you can, have the money deducted automatically out of your checking account. Take pride in saving your money; after all, you are working hard to earn it. Imagine your bright financial future with plenty of extra money and no longer living paycheck-to-paycheck. Imagine having $20,000 in the bank. How would that feel? What about $50,000 or $100,000? You might think it's impossible, but all it takes is learning to make better choices. It's about learning to exercise the proper respect for your money. It's not the big-ticket items that are the problem; you carefully plan for those purchases. It's the small, day-to-day purchases that are stealing your financial freedom away. What is $100,000 anyway? It's one hundred thousand of those little one-dollar bills!
The path to financial freedom lies before you. You have the power to take responsibility for your money and to make better choices. Take control of your current financial situation by becoming aware of your spending habits and patterns. This will empower you to shift from a spending mentality to a saving mentality and start you on the path to building wealth.
Then, you can develop financial goals and create a financial plan to keep you focused on creating financial reserves. It's your choice -- choose to make better financial decisions, one dollar at a time.
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a membrane-penetrating nanoneedle for the targeted delivery of one or more molecules into the cytoplasm or the nucleus of living cells. In addition to ferrying tiny amounts of cargo, the nanoneedle can also be used as an electrochemical probe and as an optical biosensor.
Schematic illustrating the strategy of the nanoneedle-based delivery of bioprobes into the cell, along with the combined fluorescence and bright-field images showing the nanoneedle penetrating through the cell membrane, and the quantum dots (in red) target-delivered into the cytoplasm and the nucleus of a living cell.
“Nanoneedle-based delivery is a powerful new tool for studying biological processes and biophysical properties at the molecular level inside living cells,” said Min-Feng Yu, a professor of mechanical science and engineering and corresponding author of a paper accepted for publication in Nano Letters, and posted on the journal’s Web site.
In the paper, Yu and collaborators describe how they deliver, detect and track individual fluorescent quantum dots in a cell’s cytoplasm and nucleus. The quantum dots can be used for studying molecular mechanics and physical properties inside cells.
To create a nanoneedle, the researchers begin with a rigid but resilient boron-nitride nanotube. The nanotube is then attached to one end of a glass pipette for easy handling, and coated with a thin layer of gold. Molecular cargo is then attached to the gold surface via “linker” molecules. When placed in a cell’s cytoplasm or nucleus, the bonds with the linker molecules break, freeing the cargo.
With a diameter of approximately 50 nanometers, the nanoneedle introduces minimal intrusiveness in penetrating cell membranes and accessing the interiors of live cells.
The delivery process can be precisely controlled, monitored and recorded – goals that have not been achieved in prior studies.
“The nanoneedle provides a mechanism by which we can quantitatively examine biological processes occurring within a cell’s nucleus or cytoplasm,” said Yang Xiang, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology and a co-author of the paper. “By studying how individual proteins and molecules of DNA or RNA mobilize, we can better understand how the system functions as a whole.”
The ability to deliver a small number of molecules or nanoparticles into living cells with spatial and temporal precision may make feasible numerous new strategies for biological studies at the single-molecule level, which would otherwise be technically challenging or even impossible, the researchers report.
“Combined with molecular targeting strategies using quantum dots and magnetic nanoparticles as molecular probes, the nanoneedle delivery method can potentially enable the simultaneous observation and manipulation of individual molecules,” said Ning Wang, a professor of mechanical science and engineering and a co-author of the paper.
Beyond delivery, the nanoneedle-based approach can also be extended in many ways for single-cell studies, said Yu, who also is a researcher at the Center for Nanoscale Chemical-Electrical-Mechanical Manufacturing Systems. “Nanoneedles can be used as electrochemical probes and as optical biosensors to study cellular environments, stimulate certain types of biological sequences, and examine the effect of nanoparticles on cellular physiology.”
With Wang, Xiang and Yu, co-authors of the paper are graduate student Kyungsuk Yum and postdoctoral research associate Sungsoo Na. Yu and Wang are affiliated with the university’s Beckman Institute. Wang is also affiliated with the department of bioengineering and with the university’s Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory.
The Grainger Foundation, National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health funded the work.
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Revista de Salud Pública
Print version ISSN 0124-0064
CORTES-NETO, Ewerton Dantas; ALCHIERI, João Carlos; MIRANDA, Hênio Ferreira de and DANTAS-CAVALCANTI, Francisco Ivo. Elaboração de indicadores de sucesso em programas de saúde pública com foco sócio-esportivo. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2010, vol.12, n.2, pp. 208-219. ISSN 0124-0064. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0124-00642010000200004.
Objective The present study was aimed at analysing how social sports projects are evaluated so as to draw up and develop indicators of success regarding social programmes' efficacy and effectiveness. Method This was a descriptive survey. The sample consisted of 51 participants, male (n=29) and female (n=22), from the Nova Descoberta project whose ages ranged from 8 to 17. Data was obtained from a semi-directed survey having open items covering 10 topics; it was carried out with children and adolescents over a 2-year period (2007-2008). Documental data was also obtained from schools which had agreed to cooperate with the project. Results There were no statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between the performance of survey group participants and those who had not joined the project in terms of scholastic performance during 2007. A significant difference (p<0.05) was observed regarding studying Portuguese when comparing the groups having the highest averages being obtained by students who joined in 2008. Discussion A series of indicators contributing towards reliable evaluation emerged within the social context regarding sports projects. The manifestation of other characteristics in the environment could have interfered with participation and involvement in physical activity and, consequently, with the children and adolescents' health and quality of life. Conclusion It was found that school work performance indicators could be taken together with other indicators, such as development of various abilities, participation in other activities, activity motivation, behaviour and attitudes at home and at school, for evaluating social projects.
Keywords : Education; evaluation; health.
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What is “Clean Eating”?
Clean eating is simply eating foods as close to their natural state as possible. Foods that are highly processed or contain highly processed ingredients are not considered “clean” foods. There are certain aspects of “clean eating” that vary from person to person, however that is the basic explanation of it!
The following foods are typically not considered “clean”: cookies, chips, crackers, candy, white breads and pastas, sugary cereal, fast food, frozen dinners and most packaged goods.
For those interested in switching to a healthy, clean-eating lifestyle, here are a few tips:
- Start making your own meals from wholesome lean proteins, veggies, fruit and healthy fats. Basically, eat as close to natural as possible!
- See my grocery list for an example of clean foods!
- Remember healthy food does not have to be expensive. Check out my tips for shopping on a budget if this is a concern!
- Toss (or donate if you’re so inclined) and avoid buying the following: soda, diet soda, fruit juice, sports drinks, cookies, chips, crackers, candy, ice cream, pudding, jell-o, flavored yogurt, condiments like mayo, ketchup, ranch and other fattening/sugary dressings and marinades, deli meats, processed meats, white breads and pastas, sugary cereals, packaged processed crap, granola bars. Most are full of sugar and processed, chemical junk! Sugar spikes insulin and promotes fat storage and has been linked to numerous, serious health conditions such as obesity, heart disease and some types of cancer.
- Recipe possibilities are virtually endless and there is no need for healthy food to be boring. Use popular search engines like Google to look for “clean eating” recipes.
- Start slow. Try swapping out on meal a day that is typically unhealthy. So for example if you usually grab a doughnut or pastry for breakfast, try making a healthier breakfast with eggs and old-fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon & Stevia! (Remember not to buy the pre-sweetened variety). It only takes 5 minutes to make and will give you tons of healthy nutrients and energy to tide you over for several hours! Each day, aim to make your choices healthier. In time it will become habit!
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Reliability of Minecraft and mods
But the problem truely lies with Java, it's an inefficent programme to make a full on sandbox game, it's not an ideal choice, Minecraft itself, as notch has admitted is not the best written, it also does not truely allow modding.
Mods are a sort of Hack, and bot h Bukkit and Forge are almost 3rd party fixes.
The pipes are great and while thre is limited system issues, The rendering of a single item in the pipe I find effects my server or system very minimally, the problem comes in when items are left on the ground, whether they are from pipes, TNT, or mining, if items fall onto the ground then thats when things get lageriffic for me.
and sadly thats a minecraft issue not buildcraft.
The other limitation is the way the chunks are handled, and of course how the server works. Remember that minecraft has been developed as a single player, Mojong then hacked in a multiplayer component. The thing is that the server side of things is horridly written and is just a hacked and heavily modded single player version. this results in errors, hence the joining of Mojong and Bukkit, they are working on rewriting all the code to make not only modding better, but to make the memory leaks a thing of the past and improve general system performance.
if you want to see what Minecraft can be like, Minecraft for Xbox is stable, stream lined and beautiful, however thats a complete rewrite non java based game. The mods sadly are sometimes better than Mojong at the programming, but they are doing the best they can, with what they have.
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Sign in with the same account.
The euro-area jobless rate climbed to a record in September as the fiscal crisis and tougher austerity measures threatened to deepen the economy’s slump.
Unemployment in the 17-nation region rose to 11.6 percent from 11.5 percent in August, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That’s the highest since the data series started in 1995. The data also showed that youth unemployment is at 23.3 percent, with Spain’s rate more than double that, at 54.2 percent. A separate report showed inflation cooled to 2.5 percent in October from 2.6 percent.
The debt crisis has pushed at least five euro nations into recessions and eroded investor and business confidence, forcing companies to cut costs to help weather the turmoil. Economic confidence in the region fell in October, according to a report yesterday, while data today French consumer spending rose less than economists forecast in September.
“We’ve become more pessimistic,” said Christoph Weil, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “The euro-area economy will probably only return to growth in the second quarter of 2013. The situation on the labor market will continue to worsen, with the jobless rate increasing to 12 percent.”
The euro traded at $1.2995 as of 11:33 a.m. in Brussels, up 0.3 percent on the day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent. The gauge is on course for five straight months of gains, the longest winning streak in six years.
Today’s jobless report showed that 18.5 million people (EUGNEMUQ) were unemployed in the euro area in September, up 146,000 from the previous month. At 25.8 percent, Spain had the highest jobless rate in the currency bloc. Portugal’s unemployment rate was at 15.7 percent, while Ireland reported a jobless rate of 15.1 percent. France’s jobless rate was at 10.8 percent, while Austria had the lowest rate at 4.4 percent.
Job cuts at some of the largest companies in Europe may deepen the economic slump by eroding consumer spending across the euro area. Air France-KLM (AF) Group said today it will seek 1,300 job cuts at its Dutch unit in addition to 5,000 already being eliminated at the larger French business. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-largest airline, is cutting 3,500 administrative posts and as many as 1,000 in catering.
Fiat SpA (F), the Italian carmaker that controls Chrysler Group LLC, forecast a prolonged downturn in the European market yesterday after reporting a wider loss there. The Turin, Italy- based company also cut revenue and profit goals for 2014.
“Events of the past 12 months have reinforced our negative view of the development of the European markets,” Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said. “We see continuing weak trading conditions for the remainder of 2012, extending well into 2013 and at least part of 2014.”
The euro-area economy probably continued to shrink after contracting 0.2 percent in the second quarter, putting it into its first recession since 2009. Economic confidence dropped to the lowest in more than three years in October and manufacturing and service industries contracted. German business confidence also declined this month.
Adding to signs the economic slump is spreading to core nations, French consumer spending rose 0.1 percent in September from the previous month, national statistics office Insee said today. That’s below the 0.2 percent median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey.
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-Prize winning economist and professor at Columbia University, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Oct. 30 that he’s “very pessimistic” about the prospects of a European recovery.
“Basically Europe has put in place austerity packages that almost inevitably will lead the economy to become weaker, they haven’t put in place anything that will promote economic growth,” he said. “It’s difficult to see what the impetus for real growth in Europe will be.”
Elsewhere, indicators showed that the worst of the declines in Asia-Pacific economies may be moderating. Taiwan’s gross domestic product rose 1.02 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, after a 0.18 percent drop in the previous three-month period. South Korea’s industrial output rose 0.8 percent last month, while Singapore’s unemployment rate in the third quarter dropped to the lowest in 1 1/2 years.
In the U.S., the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc.’s business barometer probably rose to 51 in October from 49.7 in the previous month, according to a Bloomberg survey. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The European Central Bank, which has cut borrowing costs to a record low, in September predicted a deeper slump this year than previously estimated, with ECB President Mario Draghi saying earlier this month that risks to the outlook are “on the downside.” The central bank on Sept. 6 also lowered its inflation estimates for this year and next.
Euro-area core inflation, which excludes volatile costs such as energy, held at 1.5 percent in September. The statistics office will release the figure for October next month. The ECB will hold its next rate assessment on Nov. 8.
To contact the reporter on this story: Simone Meier in Zurich at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at firstname.lastname@example.org
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For the first time in 13 years, there's good news for the music business.
On Tuesday, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry released a report in London that said worldwide music sales increased by a whopping 0.3 percent in 2012 over 2011.
You read that right: 0.3 percent. But considering that recorded music sales have declined every year since 1999, it's a cause for mild celebration, even if 2012's revenues were only $16.5 billion compared to the last century's $38 billion peak.
"We'll take it!" Welk Music Group President Kevin Welk said, with a laugh, from the Santa Monica offices of his company that owns such independent labels as Vanguard and Sugar Hill Records.
"We had a good 2012 with a relatively modest release schedule," Welk continued. "Our sales were up, mostly in digital and streaming."
The report from the IFPI, which watchdogs the industry's interests across the planet, noted that digital revenues from downloads and subscription services such as Spotify were up a healthy 9 percent, and were now available in more than 100 countries.
Of course, digital technology was what decimated the music business in the first place. Illegally downloaded pirated songs became a huge drain on industry income. However, slowly building efforts on companies' parts to combat piracy, coupled with the explosion in personal (and music-playing) electronic devices and ease of access to buying songs from iTunes and other legitimate e-retailers, seem to have led to a bottoming-out of the damage.
Or, maybe, it was just that a lot of folks liked "Gangnam Style" and "Call Me Maybe" last year.
"My one-word response? Psy," said Bob Merlis, an L.A.-based music business publicist who's watched it all come and go over his 40-plus year career. "I'm sure it's multiple factors, but if I had to attribute the figure going up to one thing, my gut reaction would be to attribute it to that."
Noting that he's seen the industry shrink from six major conglomerates to just Universal, Sony and Warner Music Groups today, Merlis listed some of the on-the-ground changes that have occurred since he worked for the biggies.
"There's been less money in play," the publicist, who for years has run his own company Merlis for Hire, summed up. "If you think of things that spill out from the music industry, from recording studios to pressing plants to rent-a-car and limousine companies, it's a trickle-down circumstance.
"I used to work for a major label and I would not think twice about saying, `Hey, go out and frame this poster of such-and-such an artist.' That used to have a positive impact on parts of the economy that had nothing to do with the music business. There's much less of it now."
Antonio Danova, music industry analyst at market research outfit IBISWorld in Santa Monica, put the report into perspective.
"It's definitely a small rise, but it signifies that the industry is kind of on the road to recovery and moving further and further away from the turmoil it had with piracy and illegal downloading at the beginning of the '00s," Danova said.
"A lot of this has to do with the growth of digital services. Obviously, iTunes, but also a lot of subscription services like Spotify or Rhapsody. Apparently, those grew by 44 percent last year."
Very nice. But music bosses would be well-advised not to revive the company Cristal budgets just yet.
"I don't think we're out of the woods," cautioned Welk, whose company was started by his bandleader grandfather Lawrence in the 1960s.
"We had the Adele record, some great performers, some of these sales we haven't had in a long time. Obviously, that helps the overall business.
"But I do think that we're at the bottom of the curve. It might be a little flat for a year or two, but I'm optimistic - just don't expect 5 percent next year. I'm just bullish that that bell curve is turning and we're figuring it out. But I'm not bullish at all on it's all better."
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The focus at Quantum Leap Kids’ Learning Center, Inc. is providing dedication to academic excellence, through collaborated expertise in the field of pedagogy, a proven holistic teaching approach in all areas of English Language Arts (ELA). We have found this unique strategy brings each child into the realization that he or she is a significant individual force, representing the next generation of readers, writers and speakers who will influence the direction of their life path in the 21st century.
Our mission for all of our students pivots on four pillars for success.
- Your child will be engaged in the acquisition to develop the ELA skills needed to read, write and speak proficiently, according to NYS Standards and beyond.
- Your child will build confidence, organizational study skills and motivation to stay on task to complete their homework and projects throughout the school year.
- Your child will develop writing skills to support the requirements outlined in the NYS ELA Core Curriculum, as well as a keen development in the creative writing spectrum.
- Your child will develop his or her critical thinking analysis skills associated with the NYS ELA EXAM and to further master critical thinking analysis on multi-levels for advanced reading comprehension skills.
As the founder and Educational Director of Quantum Leap Kids’ Learning Center, Inc. (QLK), I recognize the fundamental significance of advocating and assisting the academic endeavors children face during each school year. Our academic coaches, mentors and tutors model and demonstrate methods which will assist your child with organizing the requirements set by their teachers inside the classroom. Today’s educational competitive climate, along with additional changes in state standards, has burdened families on how to best shield children from developing academic anxieties. In my ELA teaching experience, I have encountered numerous cases of this, which I believe hinders children’s eagerness to learn.
A partnership between your child, you and an educational mentor specializing in literacy at QLK Learning Center, is a winning formula to put the confidence, interest and fun back into learning for your child, while at the same time, building excellent ELA skills to advance mastery in all subjects.
Enrolling your child with us, early in the school year, will set an academic foundation, which will supply guidance, feedback and a risk-free learning environment to help gain success in your child’s classroom.
Yours in Education,
Ms. M. D. Marrone, M.S. Ed.
Founder and Educational Director
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BBC Worldwide survey finds newspaper websites more popular than hard copies
Figures reveal nation flocking to mobile devices
TechLife | 07 Jun 2012 :
A BBC Worldwide survey of people in Ireland carried out between January and February 2012, and conducted by independent research agency Sponge It, reveals a huge appetite for digital news consumption amongst people in Ireland.
Newspaper websites (59.9%) now beat their hard copy equivalents (57.4%) as a source for news and current affairs. TV however still dominates as the main source of news at 63% with breaking news and sports the main drivers of content consumption for respondents.
With regards to the frequency of news consumption, online platforms are in the driving seat. To keep up with news and current affairs 54% use smartphone apps more than a couple of times a day followed by newspaper websites at 42% and TV websites also at 42%. This compares to 33% for TV sets and 11% for newspapers.
As to where media is consumed newspapers are popular in the home (99%) or at work (42%) with radio taking much more prominence while travelling (45%). Portable audio devices follow a similar trend but can also be associated with down time (28%). Smartphones are the device most diffusively used at all occasions in the day.
The survey also reveals our love for gadgets - 83% own a laptop, 64% a smartphone, 50% a games console and 21% a tablet computer. 86 per cent have broadband internet access. News consumption through online video sources has now become the norm with 56% citing this as something they do regularly.
The findings also outlined the importance of tailoring content for different platforms - TV, online, mobile and tablet computers. Seven out of 10 respondents believe having content optimised for their choice of device is important, with the majority (75%) accessing news content on laptop devices. Smartphones are the access device for 30%.
When visiting websites for news, RTE.ie (74%) is the most popular choice followed by BBC.com (53.5%), irishtimes.com (41.4%) and independent.ie (34.9%).
For sports news RTE (47%) is the most popular choice but only by a narrow margin. The BBC comes second (38%) followed by Sky News (21%) and The Irish Times (18%). The same order of popularity applies when it comes to ownership of smartphone apps for these media organisations.
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1912 - 1924
New Hudson was a well-respected name in the motorcycle world for many years. In business from 1909 to 1957 they had two brief periods of car manufacture. The first was in 1912, at the beginning of the cyclecar boom, when they launched a very small 2-seater powered by a 737cc 4 1/2hp single-cylinder single engine, with epicyclic transmission and shaft drive. This was listed up to 1915.
A new car carried the New Hudson name after the war, this time a 3-wheeler powered by a 1250cc V-twin engine with a 3-speed gearbox and chain drive to the single rear wheel. In 1922 the engine was replaced by a slightly smaller V-twin, this time made by M.A.G. This was made up to 1924.
Source: Nick Georgano / The Beaulieu Encyclopaedia of the Automobile
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Buy this book! | View Cart | Check Out
cloth 1592136427 $74.50, Jan 08, Available
paper 1592136435 $25.95, Jan 08, Available
Electronic Book 1-59213-644-3 $25.95 Available
224 pp 5.5x8.25 13 tables 2 halftones
Outstanding Academic Title, Choice, 2008
"This book is the most comprehensive study of drug smuggling and drug smugglers I have seen. The details and descriptions of the smugglers’ activities are rich and extensive. Decker and Chapman delve deeply into interdiction efforts and the methods and strategies used by drug smugglers to counter the government’s efforts. In particular, the study views the government’s efforts at deterrence from the perspective of the smugglers themselves, offering a unique approach to the issue."
Paul Cromwell, Wichita State University
Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling features interviews with 34 convicted drug smugglers-most of them once major operators-detailing exactly how drugs are smuggled into the U.S. from Latin America. These sources provide tangible evidence of the risks, rewards, and organization of international drug smuggling.
Quoting frequently from their interviews, Decker and Chapman explain how individuals are recruited into smuggling, why they stay in it, and how their roles change over time. They describe the specific strategies their interviewees employed to bring drugs into the country and how they previously escaped apprehension. Overall, the authors find that drug smuggling is organized in a series of networks which are usually unconnected.
This extraordinarily informative book will be of particular interest to law enforcement officials and policymakers, but it will appeal to anyone who wants to know how the drug business actually works.
Excerpt available at www.temple.edu/tempress
"Scott Decker and Margaret Townsend Chapman have made a major contribution to our understanding of the underworld of international drug smuggling. Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling is a master work that must be read by anyone with a serious interest in the control and containment of illicit drugs."
Richard Wright, Curators’ Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis
"For thirty years the U.S. government has targeted cocaine smugglers. For thirty years, as a GAO Report title once put it, ‘Large Quantities of Cocaine Are Not Being Seized.’ This book gives the most thorough picture of why so many people continue to be willing to take the risks of long prison sentences to bring in the drug."
Peter Reuter, Professor of Public Policy and Criminology and Director of the Program on the Economics of Crime and Justice Policy, University of Maryland.
"Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling is a unique and remarkable contribution that challenges many of the core assumptions that animate America’s War on Drugs. In the rich criminological tradition of first hand accounts of crime and its social organization, Decker and Chapman let drug smugglers speak in their own voices about their motivations and strategies as well as their organizational architecture. Their lessons stand in sharp contrast to the rhetoric of our nation’s drug policies and the logic of vast investments in interdiction that seem disconnected from the reality of high volume drug supply. Drug Smugglers offers enduring lessons about the social organization of high income crimes and the centrality of spontaneous crime networks as a form of self-help and collective action."
Jeffrey Fagan, Professor of Law and Public Health, Columbia University
"[T]his book is informative, well written and interesting.... The detail is rich and informative.... A very interesting read on a topic about which conclusive information is difficult to find. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
"[A]n informative account about cocaine and marijuana smugglers incarcerated in U.S. penitentiaries.... The book provides a fascinating overview of dynamics associated with cocaine and marijuana smuggling and of the challenges facing smugglers. The authors gained valuable information with respect to the sociology of the drug smugglers' worlds, and also about the perceptions of risk. They also gained insight with respect to current U.S. drug strategy, which suggests that current strategies appear out of sync with realities. The book makes a significant contribution to the field of criminology as well as social work as the profession strives to enhance its knowledge of the ecology of drug abuse and to develop its expertise in the area of substance abuse. Social works as a profession might be well served to draw on the methodological lessons and the knowledge of scholars such as Decker and Chapman."
Sociology and Social Welfare
"[A] significant addition to the growing interview-based research literature on organized crime.... The findings of the study...create a quite vivid and detailed picture of drug smuggling into the United States.... This book gives a straightforward account of drug smuggling through the eyes of incarcerated, mostly high-level drug smugglers.... There is a lot of detailed information to be discovered both for students of the history of drug smuggling between Colombia and the United States, and for students of smuggling, illegal markets and organized crime in general."
Trends in Organized Crime
"[A] well written and detailed account.... Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling is an important contribution to the existing research on international drug markets.... Decker and Chapman have provided us with an important piece of scholarship that is sure to generate the audience and debate it deserves given the importance of the issue. The book should appeal to a broad audience of scholars, law enforcement and public officials."
Also available in e-book
1. Motivation for the Study
2. Organization of the Study
3. Drug Smuggling Organizations
4. Movement of Drugs
5. Roles, Recruitment into, and Remaining Involved in the Drug Smuggling Trade
6. Balancing Risk and Reward
7. Making Sense of Drug Smuggling: Conclusion and Summary
Appendix 1. Instrumentation Study Design
Appendix 2. Study Design
Scott H. Decker is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He is the author of Life in the Gang: Family, Friends and Violence.
Margaret Townsend Chapman is an Associate at Abt Associates Inc.
Law and Criminology
Political Science and Public Policy
Buy this book! | View Cart | Check Out
© 2013 Temple University. All Rights Reserved. http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1914_reg.html
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Causes of Female Incontinence
Find out how childbirth, menopause, and other factors may play a role in incontinence.
Urinary incontinence can strike anyone, but research shows that it’s far more common in women than in men.
According to the National Association for Continence, women account for 75-80 percent of the 25 million cases of urinary incontinence in the United States. One in four females over the age of 18 will experience some involuntary urine leakage, and as many as 13 million will have severe symptoms, resulting in nearly 1.16 million trips to the doctor's office each year, compared with around 207,500 visits by men for the same reason.
The reason for this disparity has to do with the way women’s bodies are designed and the physical changes they experience over the course of their lifetimes. Pregnancy and childbirth can strain the muscles that control the bladder, and the structure of the female urinary tract is not as effective as the male urinary tract at controlling urine flow. Because a decrease in the body's level of estrogen may affect bladder control, menopause can also bring on female incontinence.
Women also are subject to many of the same things that cause incontinence in men, including nerve or brain damage, stroke, birth defects, chronic diseases like Alzheimer's or multiple sclerosis, and physical problems brought on by aging.
Urine is stored in the bladder, an organ that expands like a balloon to handle its liquid content. The urine flows out of the bladder and the body through the urethra. Female incontinence takes place when the muscles and nerves meant to control the release of urine malfunction or are damaged.
Female urination is a complex process. Muscles in the bladder wall contract, forcing urine out of the bladder. At the same time, the sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra that normally prevent urine flow will relax, allowing the urine to flow out. Any additional pressures, or any slight change in the position of internal organs, can interfere with this process.
Childbirth and Female Incontinence
More than one-third of pregnant women find themselves experiencing mild female incontinence. That's because the baby growing inside them places additional pressure on the bladder and on the muscles controlling the bladder.
Any additional stress — even something simple as a laugh — will cause urine to leak. "It has to do with the baby sitting on the pelvic floor," says Jean Fourcroy, MD, a Washington D.C., urologist, a consultant to Walter Reed Army Hospital, and former Food and Drug Administration medical examiner.
Childbirth can lead to continuing female incontinence due to strain and damage on the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder. Those muscles are always contracted, constantly working to hold up your bladder, uterus, and intestines. If the pelvic muscles and ligatures weaken, it can cause your bladder to shift downward. As a result, the muscles that ordinarily force the urethra shut aren't able to squeeze as tightly. Stresses on the body like sneezing, coughing, laughing, or lifting heavy objects can cause urine to leak.
Hormones and Female Incontinence
Estrogen is essential to the health of the female bladder and urethra. When women experience menopause, the resulting decrease in hormone production can cause female incontinence.
When estrogen levels decrease, the cells lining the inside of the bladder and urethra become thin and less elastic and the blood flow to the urethral tissues decreases. The spongy tissue surrounding the urethra collapses, causing the urethra to open slightly and become more susceptible to urine leakage in periods of stress. The lining of the bladder also is more apt to be affected by irritants like caffeine, citrus fruits, spicy foods, and alcohol.
Menopause also can cause urge incontinence in women. Nerves that govern the bladder need estrogen to function properly, and as the hormone dwindles the nerves may become more sensitive. That can cause bladder spasms or a sudden and intense urge to urinate.
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IV Securement & Stabilization
IV Securement & Stabilization
Short Peripheral Intravenous Catheter (PIVC) setups typically consist of a peripheral catheter, anywhere from 1⁄2” to 2” in length, connected to extension tubing and other components that deliver intravenous therapies to the patient. When catheter securement fails, and movement or poor insertion techniques compromise the integrity of this setup, a wide range of complications and safety issues can occur.
According to one expert source, the term "stabilization" is generally used when referring to the catheter itself and the term "securement" when referring to tubing and junctions. So catheters are stabilized, while tubing junctions are secured; but a review of the literature shows that these two terms are often used interchangeably.
Traditionally, PIVCs have been secured with medical tape, tape with transparent dressings, or tape and gauze. One study documented the use of IV catheter securement with tape as resulting in only an eight percent PIVC success rate. In addition, excess use of tape may obscure the IV site, preventing early detection of complications, and increasing the potential for infection.
Complications arise when IV catheters and tubing connections are not properly secured. Some consequences of poor catheter securement include phlebitis, infiltration, dislodgement, leaking, infection, patient pain and dissatisfaction, patient safety concerns, nursing interruptions, and additional costs. In many cases, the PIVC needs to be removed and another restarted in a new location.
According to a large study comparing catheter stabilization devices to tape, unscheduled restarts (when PIVCs are replaced after one or more have already failed), account for between 40 percent and 70 percent of all PIVC insertions. Complication rates have been shown to be directly related to the method used for securing the PIVC setup to the patient.
PIVC restarts increase the healthcare worker’s risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens, and every time it is necessary to re-stick a patient there is the potential for a healthcare worker to suffer a needlestick injury. With better stabilization and longer dwell times, healthcare institutions can reduce the risk to healthcare workers, patient discomfort, and accidental catheter dislodgement.
One article on choosing the right IV device advises clinicians to use the one that is the least invasive with the lowest risk of complications, and the one that will last the length of IV therapy with minimal replacements.
The 2011 Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice includes a standard on catheter stabilization that says, “Vascular access device (VAD) stabilization shall be used to preserve the integrity of the access device, minimize catheter movement at the hub, and prevent loss of access.”
The 2011 CDC Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections states: “Use a suture-less catheter securement device to reduce the risk of infection for intravascular catheters.” While this statement is most often associated with the risk of infection with central lines, recent evidence published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology shows that the risk of infection with short PIVCs may be an under-recognized complication.
The Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice no longer list dressings alone as catheter stabilization devices. Although dressings protect the insertion site, there is little to no evidence that they enhance catheter stabilization by themselves or in combination with tape. The chosen catheter stabilization method should let you assess the catheter insertion site easily and should not alter the flow of blood or fluid through the catheter.
A randomized, controlled trial showed that the built-in stabilization platform of a closed IV catheter system used with an IV securement dressing provided effective stabilization. This combination provided significantly reduced dislodgement and could reduce the need for restarts and the associated costs.
The size of the footprint of the stabilization appears to be a critical component. This would be either a stabilization device added to a traditional catheter hub or a platform built into the catheter design in combination with a dressing for catheter securement. One study documented a cost savings from fewer restarts and reduced nursing time when hospitals changed to a combined PIVC and stabilization device, even though upfront costs were higher.
The CDC has recently stated that peripheral IVs may stay in place for 96 hours or more, as long as they are functioning well. Hospitals can realize significant cost savings by using devices with superior securement to ensure that PIVCs stay in place as long as they are needed.
The NovaCathTM Integrated IV System is designed to address the issues associated with PIVC stabilization and securement. NovaCath features advanced stabilization technology designed to:
Minimize catheter movement at the hub and prevent loss of access
Reduce IV catheter restarts
Improve patient comfort
Extend dwell time of existing catheters
Significantly reduce complications associated with IV therapy.
In addition, NovaCath includes a design element that provides an internal 180-degree fluid path turn. This unique tubing management feature eliminates the need for an external “J-Loop,” which is usually necessary in order to redirect IV fluids back toward the patient. Elimination of the external “J-Loop” minimizes potential complications associated with tubing snags and IV catheter dislodgement.
NovaCath is the only FDA 510(k) cleared Safety IV Catheter system and patent protected technology that uniquely offers Advanced Catheter Stabilization, Next Generation Tubing Management and Passive Needle Encapsulation. To view a demo video, click here.
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Tracy Daugherty and Marjorie Sandor utilize their writing and teaching abilities in OSU’s master’s degree program in creative writing.
When Marjorie Sandor and her husband, Tracy Daugherty, captured major writing awards last year, it was nothing new for either of them.
Sandor won the 2004 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for her collection of 10 short stories, Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime.
The stories are fictional portraits that revolve around a Jewish immigrant family that keeps secrets from each other to protect the younger generation from the family’s unfortunate history and contemporary struggles. “My mother really wasn’t very thrilled with the title,” Sandor says. “I had to explain to her the context for the title, and then she was okay with it.”
Daugherty, meanwhile, brought home the Oregon Book Award for the novel for his book, Axeman’s Jazz.
It was the third time he has won the Oregon Book Award, taking it for short fiction in 2003 and for the novel in 1996. Sandor won an Oregon Book Award in 2000 for a collection of essays, The Night Gardener.
Both are faculty members in OSU’s Department of English, and they bring their writing talents and success to the classroom as teachers in the university’s master of fine arts program in creative writing.
Daugherty, who is director of the MFA program, says although writers tend to be introspective and he was “petrified” when he first started teaching, he believes writing and teaching can be complementary activities.
“Learning to articulate an element of craft to a writing class helps me be clearer in my own approach to writing,” he says. “In other ways, they are opposed activities. In teaching the critical mind is most engaged; in writing, it’s the creative side of the brain that’s tapped.”
Audio Selections (MP3)
You can download a free audio player from Real.com
Elegy for Miss Beagle (MP3) and (text equivalent)
Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime (MP3) and (text equivalent)
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A Vision of Integrative Design
To help students prepare for an engaging, productive career in the design and planning professions, the College of Architecture and Planning has developed a bold vision called Integrative Design. This vision directs the college to:
- Engage design and planning challenges that are significant for our society. We are not an ivory tower. Learning experiences address real issues facing designers and planners as they create healthier, more sustainable, more meaningful environments for the 21st century. In recent years, among many other socially important projects, our students have: designed alternatives to suburbia; built award-winning solar-powered homes; written new codes to encourage livelier, safer cities; discovered ecological design principles in Colorado ranches; proposed ways for neighborhoods to recover from natural disasters; and invented new ideas for affordable housing.
- Engage these challenges in partnerships among the disciplines and with our external communities. No one discipline can address these issues alone. Architects, landscape architects, planners, urban designers, and developers must work together to create holistic, healthy, sustainable environments.
In our college, students have opportunities to:
- Participate in multi-disciplinary teams, modeling the practices of today’s successful design and planning firms.
- Interact with outstanding practicing designers and planners in the Denver metro area, through internships, mentorships, design juries, lectures, and student professional organizations.
Communities of Interest
To implement this vision, the College has organized many of its activities around “communities of interest.” These bring together faculty, students and practitioners across the disciplines who share an interest and expertise in a particular theme, building synergistic relationships as they explore new design and planning ideas.
The college’s communities of interest currently include:
- Emerging Practices in Design
Exploring how the digital design revolution and sustainable design practices are reshaping the professions. These include sustainable design and design/build practices as well as digital visualization and Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies
- Sustainable Urbanism
Exploring new ideas about creating livable cities in the midst of intense pressures for growth and fragile ecosystems
- Healthy Environments
Exploring how to build healthier buildings, cities and landscapes
- Cultural Heritage
Understanding, interpreting and preserving our cultural heritage in design and planning, including historic buildings, landscapes and intellectual and cultural ideas
Areas of Prominence and Distinction
The communities of interest are rapidly building areas of prominence and distinction for the college through awards and competition wins. Some recent successes are:
- A team of 30 architecture and engineering students successfully defended its championship and took first place overall in Solar Decathlon 2005. The second international Solar Decathlon on the Washington, DC Mall pitted 18 collegiate teams from the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Canada and Spain in a competition to design, build and operate the best solar-powered home, while educating the public about alternative energy. The winning home was built from renewable resources including soybeans, corn and wheat.
- Joining forces with business students, two graduate students won the prestigious 2005 Urban Land Institute Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition for their redevelopment plan for Magna Township in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley. The group, which beat teams from Harvard, Columbia and University of Texas-Austin, was lauded for its “evolutionary strategy” backed by a “resourceful business plan.” The team received a $50,000 cash prize for first place and was further honored in a resolution passed by the Denver City Council.
- Students working in the Learning Landscapes Initiative have designed more than 97 innovative playgrounds for the Denver Public School System, and then studied the impacts of these designs on children’s behavior.
- Students have joined college research projects to document places like Anasazi Pueblo ruins, Hispanic homesteads, National Park structures, and Lawrence Halprin’s 1970s Denver Skyline Park. A Preservation Design Studio explores issues such as adaptive re-use of historic buildings.
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Eliza W. Stedman
At a Glance
Eliza W. Stedman was a member of a prominent North Carolina family. Her distinguished grandfather, Elisha Stedman, was an early settler of Fayetteville, NC.
Mrs. Engstrom’s entry for Eliza Stedman in The Book of Burwell Students states that she was listed in the 1848-1851 catalog, and was perhaps the sister of the distinguished clergyman, James Owen Stedman, born in Fayetteville and a UNC graduate. He was also listed as a “patron” of the school.
No evidence has been found that the Rev. Stedman had a sister named Eliza, nor that he had a daughter named Eliza. He did, however, have a niece, Eliza W. Stedman, the eldest child of his older brother John Madison Stedman and she is likely the Eliza W. Stedman who attended the Burwell School.
John and James Stedman were two of four sons of Elisha Stedman and his wife Mary Owen Stedman. Elisha had come to North Carolina from Connecticut in the late 1700’s and married the daughter, and sister, of distinguished officers in North Carolina. The couple were devout Presbyterians. Elisha Stedman became a prominent farmer and businessman in Fayetteville. He is said to have been one of three partners in one of the first, and certainly one of the most important, taverns and meeting places in the area.
Several family trees posted on genealogical web sites state that children of Elisha and Mary Owen Stedman of Fayetteville were twins who died after birth, a daughter, Mary, a son who died as a boy, and four surviving sons, Thomas William, John Madison, James Owen, and Denny Porterfield Stedman.
Mary Stedman died in 1829, Elisha in 1832. His will directed that his estate was to be divided equally among his four sons; John, James and an in-law were named as executors. Mary and Elisha were buried in the Cross Creek Cemetery in Cumberland County, NC in Fayetteville, NC. The inscription on the couple’s tombstone reads:
“And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
Both John and James graduated from UNC and James and James later graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. In the same class as John Stedman at UNC was another relative, Elisha Stedman of Chatham County, certainly named for his uncle, the prosperous patriarch in Fayetteville.
Further information on James’s brother Thomas William Stedman has not been located. However, the youngest brother, Denny Porterfield Stedman, is found in the United States Census of 1860 Census for Morrisville, Wake County, NC where he was listed as D.P. Stedman, was married with three children.
John Madison Stedman graduated from UNC in 1830. He married Olivia Potter of Fayetteville in 1833 and they had at least six children. The oldest, born about 1838, was Eliza W. Stedman. Eliza is listed, 12 years old, with her parents and siblings in the United States Census of 1850. It was a bit difficult to find this entry because the census taker spelled the name for the family as Steadman. Eliza’s siblings were Mary O. (likely named for Mary Owen, John’s mother), Margaretta H. (undoubtedly for John’s sister-in-law, Margaretta Harbert, who married his brother James Owen Stedman), Olivia, and Susan W. Eliza may well have been named for her esteemed and generous grandfather, Elisha. The family resided in Fayetteville City, Cumberland County and John stated his profession as “Steamboat Cpt.” According to two sources, he drowned in 1858, reportedly at Whitehall Landing, NC.
In the United States Census of 1880, John’s widow Olivia is shown living with her grown daughter Olivia Hall and her unmarried daughter Susan, in the home of Olivia (music teacher) and William Hall (dry goods clerk) and their two children, in Fayetteville.
It is quite likely that Eliza W. Stedman, daughter of John Madison and Olivia P. Stedman, is the Eliza who attended the Burwell School, perhaps with the sponsorship of her uncle, James Owen Stedman. The dates and ages match up well, and it is clear that the families were fond of each other, shown by the naming of a daughter in the John Stedman family after the wife of his brother James.
There is some ambiguity about Eliza W. Stedman, daughter of John. However, records show that an Eliza P. Stedman, of Cumberland County, married James Woodell of Alabama in 1860 and moved with him to Alabama. This may be the same Eliza Stedman who attended the Burwell School. If she was the same Eliza, she would have been 22 at her marriage. The couple is shown in the United States Census of 1870 of Lauderdale, AL with one child, Mary, 7. Mr. Woodall’s occupation is “General Collector” and Eliza is listed as “keeping house.”
Also in the Woodell household in Alabama 1870 are two Stedman relatives from North Carolina: Susan Stedman, 18, and Ella Stedman, 14. Ella Stedman was the same age as two other Ellen Stedmans: James Owen’s daughter; and the niece who was living with his family in 1880. The Susan Stedman visiting in Alabama in 1870 is very near the age that James and Olivia Stedman’s daugher Susan would have been in 1870. Perhaps this visitor of Eliza’s, Ella, was the young lady called “Ellen” living with the James Owen Stedman family in Memphis ten years later.
This information tends to suggest that Eliza Stedman Woodell was the daughter of John Stedman, but the ages are off by several years. If the age given in 1850 for Eliza, 12, was correct, she should have been 31 or 32 years old in the 1870 Census, but Eliza Stedman Woodell in Alabama stated her age as 29 in that census.
Eliza W. Stedman was born in 1838, in Cumberland County, NC.
Places of Residence
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In many developing countries around the world, software for business and education is in high demand. However, software is priced based on the economies of developed countries, making software out of the reach of people in developing countries.
Prices are exceptionally high for software used by businesses to improve their productivity, such as Microsoft Office. The high prices make it difficult for businesses to obtain such software legally.
In addition, one problem faced by people and businesses in developing countries in their search for original works is that they are not easily available. The lack of a sizable market in many developing countries has deterred creators of copyrighted work from entering the market with their products. As a result, people and business are unable to obtain original works.
Both DHL and FedEx delivers to 220 countries worldwide, but services of such international freight companies may be out of the financial capacity of citizens and businesses in the developing world.
We have established that to the developing world, software prices are very high. It can be said that copyright? infringement allows individuals and businesses in the developing world a chance to benefit from these copyrighted works, which they would not originally be able to access due to their high cost. Copyright infringement? allows people in the developing world to be educated and for businesses to have the same opportunities as those in developed countries. Education and increased productivity both help to level the playing field and allow economies in the developing world to benefit from the technology that the world has developed thus far.
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Two new government reports illustrate the complex and troubling state of opportunity in America, but also the right way forward.
The first set of data, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that the gender pay gap is at a historic low, with women earning almost 83¢ for every dollar earned by men—compared with 76¢ a decade ago and until fairly recently. The change is due in part to young women’s progress in the workplace—they increasingly are better educated and out-earn their male counterparts—but also to depressed wages and, especially, more rapid job loss by men.
Wage rates, in other words, are largely leveling down instead of leveling up. Figures for African Americans were especially striking: median weekly wages rose 8% over a one-year period for black women and fell by 2.4% for black men.
The second set of data came from the Census Bureau, which reported that the number of working-age Americans living in poverty was the highest since the 1960s, and that one in seven Americans were poor. The poverty rate for Latinos (25.3%) and African Americans (25.8%) is more than double that of whites (9.4%), meaning, among other things, that one in four people of color are struggling to provide for their families.
The poverty figures were for 2009, President Obama’s first year in office. So they are less a referendum on his presidency than they are a clear problem statement for the administration and Congress (whatever its partisan composition) going forward. Together, the new information calls for initiatives and investment in both greater and more equal opportunity for all Americans.
That means, for example, a focus on retraining and education for well-paying jobs in the new economy, and better aligning existing green jobs training to actual, long-term job opportunities. But it also means ensuring that private-sector jobs and public-sector initiatives reach all Americans and their communities, irrespective of race, gender, or ethnicity.
One of President Obama’s first acts was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and his Justice Department has stepped up its fair employment enforcement considerably. But more is needed.
The Opportunity Agenda has proposed the use of Opportunity Impact Statements to ensure that public investments in employment and infrastructure in fact create quality job opportunities, and do so equitably. And Congress should move forward with legislation to ensure paid sick leave for all workers—a step that will help close the gender wage gap, since women are more likely to lose work days, and pay, as caregivers to sick children, elderly parents and others.
These protections should be elements of a renewed focus on job creation, such as through the Local Jobs for America Act proposed by Rep. George Miller of California. Also welcome is the commonsense proposal for immigration reform to be introduced by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez—fixing our broken immigration system will raise both wages and tax revenues now and for years to come.
As the latest economic figures show, steps to ensure both greater and more equal opportunity benefit all Americans, and our nation as a whole. Now is the time to make them a reality.
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Trash collection dumped over safety
Community activism is being trashed because of bureaucracy.
The Vernon Collectors Club will no longer pick up garbage along the Swan Lake portion of Highway 97 because it says the provincial government hasn’t taken any steps to ensure the safety of volunteers.
“They won’t do anything for us,” said George Zimmerman, with the club.
“We won’t do it any more because it’s too dangerous.”
As part of the Adopt A Highway program, the club began picking up trash between the overpass and the weigh scales six years ago.
Being struck by a vehicle has been a major concern for the 10 members who regularly participate four times during the summer.
“Cars are going by at 100 kilometres an hour and blowing us off the road,” said Zimmerman.
Orange vests have been supplied, but the Ministry of Transportation has denied requests for flagpersons and signs urging motorists to slow down because of volunteers working along the highway.
The club has also had to pay $650 a year for $2 million liability insurance.
“We want the public to know why we aren’t doing this anymore,” said Zimmerman.
About 20 to 30 bags of garbage — 500 since 2006 — are collected during each clean-up session.
“Lumber, plastic, you name it,” said Zimmerman, adding that the group’s efforts have meant the ministry has not had to provide garbage control.
“We’ve been doing this as a community service and making it a little more respectable along there.”
Murray Tekano, Ministry of Transportation district manager, says there are protocols for the Adopt A Highway program.
“The obligation for safety falls on the group. Basic signage is provided,” he said, adding that flagpersons would be subject to traffic controls and that process can be onerous.
Tekano believes options exist for the club.
“There are other areas of highways we can find for them if they wish to continue,” he said.
“We certainly appreciate their contributions.”
Eric Foster, Vernon-Monashee MLA, is surprised to hear the ministry denied the group’s safety requests.
“I will have to ask and see why they couldn’t do that. I will see what we can do,” he said, adding that he has contacted the group about its concerns.
“It’s a nice service they do for the community.”
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Date: Thursday, May 6th, 2010, 04:48
PC Pro is reporting that Intel has been demoing a laptop running the company’s “Light Peak” connectivity standard initially offering transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps in both directions. The company previously demonstrated the technology using a prototype Mac Pro motherboard last year, but has now reduced the required hardware to fit inside a laptop enclosure.
The demonstration laptop was sending two separate HD video streams to a nearby television screen, without any visible lag. The laptop includes a 12mm square chip that converts the optical light into electrical data that the computer understands.
Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, claimed that the bandwidth afforded by the optical technology is practically unlimited. “Light Peak begins at 10Gbits/sec, simultaneously in both directions,” he said. “We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You’ll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There’s almost no limit to the bandwidth – fibers can carry trillions of bits per second”.
Intel has touted Light Peak as a possible replacement to USB, Firewire, and display connectors in the future, and notes that the hardware should become available to computer manufacturers by the end of this year.
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5 Tips For Hunting Whitetail Deer
For those new to the sport of hunting, here are 5 tips for hunting whitetail deer to help you out. With the economy still down, more people are turning to hunting as not only a hobby, but as a means of adding food to the family table.
- Keep a 4x4 piece of folded tarp and a small rope in your pack. After field dressing a whitetail deer, you can put the whitetail deer on the tarp, slip the rope through the eyelets and tighten. Now you can drag the whitetail deer out much easier and without picking up tons of dirt and debris.
- Putting strips of reflective tape or small bike reflectors on your hunting stand will assist you in finding it in the dark with just the aid of a small flashlight.
- Strips of reflective tape on the back of your arrows, between the noc and the fletching, will make them easier to find in the dark and not affect their flight.
- Tampons make great scent wicks and even come with a string for hanging or dragging. Do make sure you choose the unscented ones when choosing them for use in whitetail deer hunting!
- Arrive early and be patient. Getting to your hunting stand early in the day allows you to sit there when other hunters arrive and drive the animals to you with the noise of their arrival.
There are many different tips out there, and each whitetail deer hunter has his or her own favorite way of doing things. Hopefully, these tips will help you out and maybe even inspire you to find your own tips to pass along to your fellow hunters!
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There will be double-duty cameras that also clock drivers speeding through green lights and tunnels in the District if Mayor Vincent Gray gets his way. News4's Tom Sherwood reports.
OK, there soon may be another reason to worry about those red-light cameras in the District.
If Mayor Vincent Gray gets his way, those red-light cameras will be doing double duty. Not only will they take photos of red-light runners, the cameras also will snap a photo if you’re speeding through the intersection on green.
And the mayor also wants to take advantage of laser beams and even catch speeders zooming through the city’s tunnels. You can’t escape.
The mayor’s proposals are part of his 2013 formal budget he submitted to the D.C. Council last week.
The goal is public safety, he and the police say, but the new proposals would raise about $30 million in new fines. That’s on top of the approximately $58 million raised by speed and red-light cameras now.
“It’s really to have drivers to be cognizant that these cameras are out there and the ultimate goal is to get folks to slow down,” Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham told News4. “If you’re not speeding, at the end of the day, you’re not going to get a ticket.”
D.C. Council Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson will hold hearings on the new speed camera policies before they can go into effect this fall.
Mendelson said the city “should not be balancing budgets based on ticket writing; ticket writing should be based on public safety.” He said there is a real law enforcement problem with speeding and red-light running.
Or better yet, just slow down when you drive.
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In our current times, it was the advent of Nichiren Daishonin who appeared some 220 years in the ten thousand year cycle of the Latter Day of the Law. He offers a method, a practice and a place; a practical means to work towards attaining the sphere of Buddhahood; for all humankind. Nichiren established the sound meditation, chanting of the Infinite Title of the Lotus Sutra, Namu~Myoho~ Renge~ Kyo as a dynamic life force. This profound sound meditation comes from the Eighth World of Realization, enabling all Beings to have a method of conscious communication with the universal Law, touching the Law of Cause, Karma and Effect.
Chanting brings together Object Theory and Subject Reality, with a practical means for all humans to achieve moments of Buddhahood in their present form! Practical proof that mother Earth, is the Buddha’s Pure land.
With Ichinen Sanzen we find the documentary and actual proof that all phenomena are One, there is mutual possession, an inter dependent relationship, contained in every moment of life, in our universe so that fundamentally there is no distinction between the world of Buddhahood and the other nine worlds from Hell to Bodhisattva. This
is an amazing Realization and proof of the Buddha’s earlier quote.
From a practical point of view, most people realize that if you place an unripened green tomato on a sunny windowsill it will quickly ripen and turn red. A ripe tomato and an unripe one are not the same and yet the change takes place within the same fruit. We may be born not yet learning about our Buddha Nature, then when the time is right we are introduced to it and find it appealing and awakening to our desire to find a faith of peaceful means, that brings answers to our quest to give back to the world we were born into; as Buddhists we find that it fits with our open mindedness and inner intuitive knowing finding the light and energy, the Joy of Life.
The lesson is that we humans have free will and choices we can make. We can accept
to live in doubt and suffering, seeing life’s challenges as fate, we can live in the lower worlds of Hell, Hunger, Animality and Anger or we can progress changing our negative karma into positive, enlightened karma, moving through Humanity, Heaven, Bodhisattva and even Buddhahood itself momentarily; thereby attaining a life of indestructible health, happiness, wisdom in our ever changing life cycle of the Ten Worlds.
Attaining Buddhahood can be ours by building on the Four Cornerstones of the wisdom teachings: faith, practice, study and meditation.
I wish you well on your Journey and look forward to hearing about your enlightening moments of Heaven, Realization, Bodhisattva and Buddhahood.
Thus It Has Been Shared, Respectfully, TM Henry
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Study suggests raising the bar for olive oil quality control
September 18, 2012
Almost all of the samples in a recent authenticity and quality review of olive oils sold to restaurants and food-service establishments passed common federal chemistry tests but often failed to meet sensory standards, and 10 percent had clearly been adulterated, report researchers at the University of California, Davis, Olive Center.
Based on these findings, the researchers recommend that the restaurant and food-service sectors enhance their quality-control protocols for olive oil by including more effective tests outlined in the report. Researchers also recommend that the U.S. Department of Agriculture include the more effective tests in U.S. standards for extra-virgin olive oil.
“Results of this study make it very clear that efforts to control the quality of olive oils served in restaurants and other food-service operations will likely fail if they are based only on the most commonly used chemical analyses,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center and a co-author of the study.
“It is now clear that even olive oils that prove to be substandard according to sensory tests can slip past existing chemical protocols,” he said.
Flynn noted that the findings were consistent with the results from the Olive Center’s reviews of olive oils sold in California supermarkets, reported in 2010 and 2011.
The new study was conducted by Selina Wang, research director of the UC Davis Olive Center, and by Edwin Frankel, the center’s senior scientific adviser and one of the world’s leading authorities on food oils and related compounds.
The UC Davis researchers evaluated 21 olive oil brands sold to restaurants and food-service operations, including 15 marketed as “extra virgin,” the premium grade for olive oil. The other six olive oils were not labeled as extra virgin.
All of the olive oil samples were sent to the Australian National Oils Laboratory for sensory and chemical testing, and to sensory panels in Spain and Italy. Chemical tests are used to analyze the chemical makeup of the oils, while sensory tests evaluate the flavor, aroma and texture of the oils.
All of the analyses were conducted as “blind” tests, in which the laboratory and sensory reviewers did not know the brand name or country of origin of the oils they were evaluating.
Results from the chemical and sensory tests indicated that:
- All but one of the oils marketed as extra virgin passed commonly used USDA chemistry standards for quality.
- Despite this, nine (60 percent) of the samples failed the USDA sensory standards for extra virgin, criteria that are rarely used by food distributors for quality control.
- The most common sensory defects were flavors and aromas described as rancid, fusty or muddy, and musty. Some of the oils tested were so defective that the sensory panelists classified them as lamp oil, considered by USDA standards to be unfit for human consumption without further refining.
- These nine oils also failed to pass the chemical tests for the compound diacylglycerol, a standard adopted by the Australian Olive Association for extra virgin.
- Chemical purity tests indicated that one of the 15 samples labeled as extra virgin and one of the six samples not labeled as extra virgin had been adulterated with cheap, refined canola oil.
The UC Davis researchers advised that these findings indicate that further research is needed to develop faster, more accurate and less expensive tests and to develop innovative packaging that will extend olive oil freshness.
Copies of the new report are available from the UC Davis Olive Center.
About UC Davis
For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 33,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget of nearly $750 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.
Return to the previous page
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Before going on summer break, the federal Conservatives pushed through their first budget as a majority government which they claim is designed to lower the deficit – which stood at about $23.5 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
In doing so, however, the Stephen Harper government is also making sure that it can check off many of the boxes that satisfy its Conservative agenda.
The decision, for instance, to reduce the size of the public service will save on spending but also begin to address the right-wing goal of smaller government. And don’t be surprised if the matter of a public-private health care system arises again with federal finance minister Jim Flaherty’s recent take-it-or-leave-it transfer payment offer to provincial health ministries.
In a previous deficit-reduction crisis during the 1990s, Liberal finance minister Paul Martin’s cuts to social programs and public services came at devastating and lasting cost to working families. However, Martin did not pursue tax cuts for large corporations as these Conservatives are doing.
That we continue to face huge deficits and humongous debt speaks more to a structural problem where governments continue to spend beyond their – and our – means and that keeps being an excuse for them to enact all kinds of austerity measures that in the end cause considerable grief, especially to the most vulnerable. And efforts – or attempts – at reduction usually come at a time when it is political advantageous or when, as with this government, the time has come to fulfill its ideological commitments.
This Conservative government’s deficit fighting, while still leaving the lower economic groups in peril, takes a predictably different focus than Liberals, and as such reveals its priorities.
The Harper government’s strategy has led to cuts not only to the federal bureaucracy, but also in foreign aid, environmental assessments, to environmental advocacy organizations that challenge the government, the forestry industry, curtailment of the purview of Statistics Canada which will affect information gathering on the results of government policy, cuts to an already highly restrictive Employment Insurance system of payments, increasing the prison population, and a delay of Old Age Security payments to age 67, among other things.
Significantly, it is cutting or limiting some programs established during the Liberal era, and in the case of the environment portfolio, is even backtracking on advancements put in place by the previous Conservative government of Brian Mulroney.
As long as a system prevails that allows for deficits to accumulate year after year we will have governments that use them as an excuse to foist their agenda on the populace, starving services they deem unnecessary or troublesome, while fostering conditions for the advancement of others.
What we have today is a government that is widely regarded as being in partnership with big business and free market capitalists at the expense of the falling middle class and the always threatened poorer and working classes.
Our more regulated banking system, in place before the Harper government took the reins and the Bank of Canada holding to its low interest rates are essentially the centerpieces of our current economic pride. That rate has meant that Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets, for example, have been economic drivers for quite some time. Yet, employment and growth in other areas remain lukewarm at best. Unstable, minimum or below minimum wage or under the table jobs with no benefits are on the rise.
Harper likes to boast that our economy is doing just fine. Yet, we all know people who are struggling to find decent employment.
The question is this, while Harper glows in self-congratulation for keeping the Canadian economy above water, taking credit for, if not building on, Martin’s austere deficit reductions, and playing to the interests of big business – what exactly is being done to ensure opportunities for ordinary Canadians?
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The European Space Agency has selected the Jupiter Icy moons Explorer - JUICE - as its next large science mission.
JUICE will study three of Jupiter's moons - Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. It is believed that all three moons have internal oceans and a key objective of the mission is to study the potential for life.
Whilst this is the first mission to study the moons, it will be a long time before the study begins - the probe won't enter orbit around Jupiter until 2030.
JUICE will also study Jupiter's atmosphere and magnetosphere, and the interaction of the Galilean moons with the gas giant.
JUICE will visit Callisto which is the most heavily cratered object in the Solar System. It will also flyby Europa twice and measure the thickness of Europa's icy surface. The explorer will then enter orbit around Ganymede in 2032. JUICE will study the internal structure of the Ganymede including its subsurface ocean. Ganymede is known to have a magnetic field and data on this will also be gathered.
Ganymede is the largest moon in our Solar System with a diameter of 5,260 kilometres - larger than the planet Mercury - and circles Jupiter once every 7 days at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometres.
The mission will launch in 2022 from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. The explorer will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and spend at least three years making detailed observations.
JUICE - Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. Credit: ESA/AOES
ESA's Science Programme Council confirmed the decision following the recommendation in April of its Space Science Advisory Committee.
The decision is the end of a long process to choose a large class mission, a process that began in 2007 when ESA requested proposals for a large class mission. The chosen mission has to meet the objectives of the agency's "2015 - 2025 Cosmic Vision" which provides an overall strategy and direction for all of ESA's space missions.
The Cosmic Vision has four broad themes:
Planets and life: what are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life?
The Solar System: how does the Solar System work?
Fundamental laws: what are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe?
The Universe: how did the Universe originate and what is it made of?
Learn more about ESA's Cosmic Vision
Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 and are known as the Galilean moons.
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WHATIF and Linux
simon.andrews at bbsrc.ac.uk
Tue Sep 4 09:12:00 EST 2001
Michael Pachta-Nick wrote:
> On Tue, 04 Sep 2001 09:28:40 +0100, Simon Andrews wrote:
> Hi Simon, thank you very much for answering.
> >The main thing to consider is what kind of stereo you're trying to get,
> >there are two kinds above-below (also called interlaced), and frame
> >sequential stereo.
> I thought that there's a difference between above/below and
> interlace, because the WhatIf manual sharply distinguishes between
> the two modes. The WhatIf manual says concerning interlaced vs.
> above/below (chapter 188.8.131.52):
> Actually we have started first programming this "above/below" format
> for the use of sync doublers, but later we came to the conclusion
> that the solution of stereo in a window was much better, and we
> decided to implement that one [interlace stereo] in our final
OK - WhatIf do seem to use Interlaced to describe frame sequential
stereo, which is not how I understand this term to be conventionally
used. This is good in as much as frame sequential stereo is much higher
quality, and doesn't have to be full screen, but bad in terms of
> That seems to mean that WhatIf does not support above/below stereo
> and thus a sync doubler would be useless. Did I get that right? Or
> can I get the stereo effect without any special support by the
> software I use?
You would have to have software support for above/below stereo. If the
above statement is the only form of stereo mentioned by Whatif then
you're stuffed I'm afraid.
> >Above-below stereo should work on pretty much any hardware,
> But it must be supported by the software, right?
> >it doesn't
> >require a fancy graphics card, but it does require an external box
> >called a sync-doubler. This should have been provided along with your
> >shutter glasses.
> Unfortunatly not. But if it would help, we'll buy it.
> >In your case you say you are plugging the glasses
> >straight into the card - this would be right for frame sequential
> >stereo, but you may need to buy an external sync doubler to go between
> >the glasses and the card for use under Linux.
> Actually the shutter glasses are wireless. An infrared LED emitter is
> connected to the graphics card. But that should be the same as
> attaching a pair of wired glasses to the card.
Yep. Whether the connection is wire or IR doesn't make any difference
to how they work.
> When switching to stereo mode within WhatIf it draws two images of a
> molecule which are slightly shifted against each other. This is not
> what can be considered as above/below, if I got you right. So a sync
> doubler finally won't help, will it?
Really? That sounds like what you'd expect to see from a frame
sequential display (except that the images would noticibly flicker). I
don't know what whaif does if it can't do real stereo, but maybe it just
draws both on the same screen. If you can get them to be different
colours (red-blue for example) then you could get stereo from coloured
> >PS Seeing as you already have the card, have you tried running Swiss
> >PDB Viewer under windows in frame sequential stereo? That should
> >work like a charm.
> No, but I could give it a try.
You would also have the option of above-below stereo, side by side
stereo, and even red-blue stereo. One of those will work on any system!
Having written the original reply I went back to have a look at the
state of stereo drivers for Linux. There seems to have been a lot of
hype that stereo support would be introduced with Xfree86 4.0, but I've
since seen a couple of posts from after this was released suggesting
that that functionality wasn't included.
The latest xfree86 (4.1) seems to have support for the hardware
acceleration in the Nvidia chips your card uses, but makes no mention of
stereo support - so I'm afraid it looks like my previous pessimism still
In fact, having just been to look at the whatif documentation at;
The line that really seems to finish you off is;
"Because of the need to separate in time the images for each of the two
eyes, a perfect synchronisation of the glasses to the graphics hardware
is needed. This is handled in hardware by most modern graphic cards but
the appropriate software drivers to use it, for example in Linux, are
Try again in a few months (or switch to windows for a bit!)
More information about the Molmodel
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Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world’s great storytellers at the peak of his powers.
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into thirty-four languages, and the most recent of his many honors is the Yomiuri Literary Prize, whose previous recipients include Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe.
Praise for Kafka on the Shore…
“As powerful as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. . . . Reading Murakami . . . is a striking experience in consciousness expansion.” –The Chicago Tribune
“An insistently metaphysical mind-bender.”
–The New Yorker
“If he has not achieved that status already, Haruki Murakami is on course to becoming the most widely read Japanese writer outside Japan, past or present.”
–New York Times
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Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 17, 2013
A second review for the Day of St. Pat:
The practice of making whisky at the Old Bushmills Distillery can be traced back to 1608 when King James I granted Sir Thomas Phillips (landowner and Governor of County of Antrim, Ireland) a royal license to distill ‘uisce beatha’, the gaelic for ‘water of life’. Although this grant serves as the first documented evidence of whisky being distilled at the site which would become Old Bushmills, it was not as yet called Bushmills. By 1743 however, a distillery by this name was (according to Victorian whiskey journalist Alfred Barnard) was “in the hands of smugglers”‘. (However, it was not until 1784 that Hugh Anderson officially registered the Old Bushmills Distillery with the Pot Still as its trade mark.) Today, the Bushmills brand is owned by the Diageo conglomerate with all of the whiskey produced under the Bushmills name produced at the Old Bushmills Distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The Bushmills Black Bush is composed of whiskey aged in Oloroso Sherry and American oak (bourbon) cask. All of this whiskey is aged for up to 7 years with 80 per cent of the blend being Premium Malt Whisky.
Please click on the following excerpt to read the review which contains two great St. Patrick’s Day cocktails, Fool’s Gold on the Rocks, and of course, Irish Coffee:
“… The initial breezes above the glass are warm and inviting. I sense some soft caramel toffee rising into the air with some sweet malty aromas, hints of dry fruit (raisins and apricots), a nice lightly spicy oak presence, and some light impressions of cocoa … “
Please enjoy my second St. Patrick’s Day Review!
(Note: Sample for this review provided by the Diageo Marketing team in Alberta.)
Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Irish Whskey, Whisk(e)y, Whisk(e)y Review | Tagged: Black Bush, Bushmills Whiskey, Cocktails and Recipes, Irish Coffee, Irish Whiskey, Whisk(e)y Review, Whiskey | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Arctic Wolf on February 21, 2012
The practice of making whisky at the Old Bushmills Distillery can be traced back to 1608 when King James I granted Sir Thomas Phillips a royal licence to distill ‘uisce beatha’, the gaelic for ‘water of life’. This grant serves as the first documented evidence of the distillation of whiskey at the site although at that time it was not yet called Bushmills. The first known reference to the Old Bushmills Distillery was in 1743 when, according to Victorian whiskey journalist Alfred Barnard, the site was “in the hands of smugglers”‘. Now over 400 years later, the Bushmills brand is owned by Diageo, however all of the whiskey produced under the Bushmills name is still produced at the Old Bushmills Distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The Bushmills 16 Yr Old Single Malt is composed of whiskey distilled three times. A portion of the whiskey is aged in American oak (bourbon) casks and a portion is aged in Spanish oak (Oloroso sherry) casks. All of this whiskey is aged for 16 or more years. The final whiskey is blended prior to finishing in old oak Port wine pipes. With such a variety of oak used in the aging and finishing in there is the potential for great complexity.
I revisited the Bushmills 16 year Old Single Malt recently, and when I looked over my original review, I was quite pleased that my impressions were very consistent over two years later. I decided to take a little time to fix some typos and to clarify some points in the review. As well I added a new introduction. Here is a link to my revised review of this Bushmills whiskey which was originally published in November of 2009:
Please enjoy the review!
Posted in Irish Whskey, Single Malt Whisky, Whisk(e)y, Whisk(e)y Review | Tagged: Bushmills Whiskey, Irish Whiskey, Single Malt Whisky, Whisk(e)y Review | Comments Off
Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 7, 2009
A good Irishmen will tell you that Ireland is the birthplace of Whiskey. (He probably will not tell you that this original Irish Whiskey was made from oats not barley and it tasted disgusting.) Whether Ireland really was the birthplace of whiskey is a matter of debate, (for a good Scotsman overhearing the conversation might just roll up his sleeves and start swinging at the mere suggestion that his ancestors did not invent the stuff). But actually the evidence tips slightly to the Irish who are not above tipping and tottering after a dram or two. In fact it is said that the Irish first spelled whiskey with an “e” and the Scots decided to drop the “e” just to point out that their whisky was different, which originally it probably wasn’t, but soon was. And if you follow all of that you probably need a dram of the stuff right about now. So let me introduce an outstanding Irish Whiskey:
Bushmills 16yr Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey has its own unique flavour heritage, spicy anise and a smooth grainy profile. Personally I find Irish whiskey to be a smooth and easy to drink. Bushmills 16yr Single Malt does not disappoint in this regard. The Irish heritage stands proudly here, but this is a single malt, not a grain whiskey. This means we get a little more sweetness on the palate. The anise flavour is more licorice like. However the whiskey has other complex flavours not commonly found in other Irish whiskeys. A firm but mellow vanilla bourbon (from the American whiskey oak), a subtle but slightly heavy sherry influence (from the Oloroso cask), and fruity cherry like flavours from the port pipes. ….
You may read the full review here:
Posted in Irish Whskey, Whisk(e)y, Whisk(e)y Review | Tagged: Bushmills Whiskey, Irish Whiskey, Whiskey, Whisky Review | Comments Off
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WASHINGTON—Catholics can learn about the state of poverty in the United States and concrete ways they can make a difference at a new website from the the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The site, www.povertyusa.org, was launched August 15 and offers tools and resources to spread the word about poverty in America. Resources include an interactive poverty map with state and county level poverty statistics, a Poverty Tour video which gives viewers a sense of what it is like to live at the federal poverty line, videos and links to PovertyUSA's social media sites, including www.facebook.com/povertyusa.
The website, which is an initiative of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) and USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, will feature selected news stories related to the state of poverty in the United States. Also, on the county-level view of poverty statistics, visitors will be able to find examples of local organizations working to alleviate poverty in their communities.
We are committed to providing educational content related to poverty as well as hopeful examples of what we can do to make the state of poverty better," said Ralph McCloud, national director of CCHD. "We welcome comments regarding the new site or suggestions for future feature articles or guest editorials."
Comments and suggestions may be sent to the Justice, Peace and Human Development Those wishing to receive additional resources on a regular basis can sign up for the email newsletter. . . , Notes for Neighbors.
CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the USCCB and works to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. It has a complementary mission of educating on poverty and its causes. This dual pastoral strategy of education for justice and helping people who are poor speak and act for themselves reflects the mandate of the Scriptures and the principles of Catholic social teaching.
CCHD is made possible by the generous support of Catholics in the United States, especially through an annual parish collection. CCHD's grants to local anti-poverty efforts are screened, awarded and monitored in close partnership with local Catholic dioceses. CCHD grants to groups in a local community require the explicit approval of the bishop of that diocese.
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Attorney General Eric Holder, center, walks between Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, center left, and Assistant Attorney... View Enlarged Image
The War On Banks
Fearing the Supreme Court will strike down "disparate impact" discrimination claims against banks, the administration has maneuvered to protect the weak standard of proof by enshrining it in decades-old housing law.
For the first time, the Department of Housing and Urban Development codified disparate impact as a national regulation for enforcing the 1968 Fair Housing Act, while adding new powers.
"The rule formalizes a substantive legal standard that is well recognized by both courts and participants in the lending industry for assessing claims of discriminatory effects," HUD said earlier this month, adding that it will apply the ruling to more than two dozen pending investigations.
The administration hopes the move will shield the controversial standard from an expected constitutional challenge, since the high court has long deferred to government regulations when interpreting the law.
A few months ago, the court asked the administration to state its objections to hearing a New Jersey housing case that tests disparate impact as a form of discrimination. Last year, justices agreed to hear a similar case threatening disparate impact, but the Minnesota petitioner dropped it under unusual pressure from senior administration officials, who personally stepped in to block the case.
If the bench takes the new case, Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, legal experts anticipate the conservative majority will rule the regulation unconstitutional. Such a landmark decision would hand banks a major victory, while denying regulators a potent new weapon against them.
"I believe they will strike down this use of disparate impact," Washington bank lawyer Andrew Sandler told IBD.
The banking industry complains the administration is using an unfairly broad interpretation of civil-rights law that exceeds its statutory authority.
As written, the FHA and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) contain no disparate-impact language outlawing adverse racial effects from race-neutral lending policies.
"Neither (of the laws) permits disparate impact claims," Sandler advised in a recent paper to the American Bankers Association, adding that both require proof of discriminatory intent.
IBD has learned the HUD official who drafted the new disparate-impact regulation has admitted as much.
In December 2009, before joining the Obama administration as HUD's chief of enforcement, Sara Pratt wrote in a National Fair Housing Alliance paper, "The text of the FHA's substantive provisions does not explicitly state whether impact claims are or are not cognizable."
Previous administrations have sued lenders for bias under a disparate treatment claim, which requires a higher burden of proof.
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How Not To End Things
By Stuart Horwitz
Allow me to pull back the curtain just a bit. Yes, I am a developmental editor who gets paid to be an instructional expert…to know what I’m talking about, in other words. But I’m also a writer, and the writing process is separate from editing skill. All writers make mistakes, and I think that the ability to fix them is the measure of talent/ability.
For those of us who have struggled to end a piece of writing, we know that there are a series of pitfalls that the ending can fall into. Below, I have tried to break these into five broad categories based on the particular flaw in each argument. (I should mention that there was one runner-up, the Speech-Which Reveals-All ending, which didn’t get quite enough votes to be included…)
The Too-Precious Ending. I have done this. But I’m not the only one. The poet John Ashbery once ended his book with a word that no one knew. He liked the idea of his readers having to go to the Dictionary to look it up, that way they’d be “closing one book and opening another.” Um, no. That is just too precious. This example also falls into the next category:
The Overly Obscure Ending. I have done this. I didn’t want the reader to have a clear sense of who was right or wrong — after all, haven’t thoughtful people accepted relative morality by now? My readers could not participate in what my story ultimately meant; as a result, they didn’t have a clear fix on what actually happened, either.
There is such a thing as an open-ended ending (pardon the repetition). In something that is open-ended, the gestures are symbolic enough and the words spoken are applicable enough that we know what something means to us, but we don’t necessarily seek to impose that meaning on other people. I would say that’s a good thing, carried out in the spirit of fair play, and not at all the same thing as being overly obscure.
The Horrifying Ending That Awaits Us All. I have done this. Are you sensing a pattern? Sometimes we can fall into the trap that we should end our tale in utter darkness. That would make us cool — plus, it would be so much easier. Take every series of events and just head them down the toilet.
In the last century, the modern critic William Dean Howells said, “What the American public wants in the theater is a tragedy with a happy ending.” I’m not suggesting that your ending (if not dark) should be overly light either. As readers, we’re just asking for an ending that befits the rest.
The Abrupt, That’s-What-It-Is Ending. We’ve all done this! This is really a failure of the middle more than the end. Someone took out the fourth act, the falling action, and evidently forgot to return it. We think we are appealing to people’s shrinking attention spans, but the result is that our readers finish the race ahead of us.
In Greek drama, the equivalent would be the appearance of the Deus ex Machina, that scene where a God comes down on a mechanical contraption and ends the play with what happened next and forever. Time to go home, people.
The Irresponsible Ending. I have done this: written an ending and then claimed not to have engineered it. A variation of the sentiment that “my characters are stronger than me,” is “I can’t say why it happened, it just did.” The problem with this ending is that everything we create, especially the ending, is an act of projection that clearly identifies our values for all to see. To not own your projection just adds insult to injury.
The ancient theorists called the ending the apportionment of fates. There was no way around it–what the playwright or poet thought about the world was encoded in the ending.
If the ending communicates your values, befits your story, lets things play themselves out, doesn’t make us feel stupid, and helps us keep our bearings, then you’re good. Your readers know the end is coming, they can see the number of pages they have left roughly in the book they are holding or track their progress in their e-readers. That the end will come is not the question. When you will start wrapping things up, and how you will wind up packaging the experience are the things we are really watching for.
Stuart Horwitz founded Book Architecture after an astrologer told him his work would flourish “behind the scenes.” New today: check out Book Architecture’s animated feature, “The Wheel of Process,” and give it a spin for essays and advice on all all stages of the publishing process.
Stuart is an award-winning poet and essayist, and the front man for the band Art Don’t Pay. He holds two Masters degrees—one in Literary Aesthetics from NYU, which helps him a lot with this work—and one in East Asian Studies from Harvard with a concentration in Medieval Japanese Buddhism, which helps him get out of bed in the morning.
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Skip to Main Content
Many cables containing 1.3-μm zero-dispersion single-mode (SM) optical fibers are installed in trunk and access networks. Recently, there have been a number of studies on wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems designed to increase transmission capacity and flexibility. If we can construct WDM systems using SM optical-fiber cable networks designed to transmit using wavelengths in the 1.3-μm window (O-band), this will prove very effective in reducing construction costs. It is therefore important to examine the wavelength dependence of the transmission characteristics of SM optical-fiber cables and networks that have already been installed and in which several optical fibers are joined. In this paper, we describe the measured optical characteristics of SM optical-fiber cables and installed optical-fiber cable networks at various wavelengths. The optical characteristics were stable in the 1.46 to 1.625-μm wavelength range and we confirmed that the installed SM optical-fiber cable networks could be used for WDM system applications.
Date of Publication: Feb. 2003
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died at the age of 82, U.S. media reported on Saturday.
Armstrong underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on August 5, to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the moon's dusty surface, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
The Apollo 11 moon mission turned out to be Armstrong's last space flight. The following year he was appointed to a desk job, being named NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology.
He left NASA a year later to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
The former astronaut lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.
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Uncle Bob always has the sure-fire investment that he’s confident will make us rich. Ever wonder why he is just as poor as we are?
It seems to be human nature to not only want to get rich quickly (consider all those who purchase lottery tickets), but also to be assured that it can be accomplished risk-free. When it comes to money–and life in general–we want safety, security, and peace-of-mind. In short, we want to know that whatever time and resources we invest will be rewarded, or at least “returned” with their original value. That is, we want a money back guarantee.
Trouble is that there are no financial guarantees, and only a few life guarantees. Even the oft-quoted guarantees of “death and taxes” are only partly correct as many don’t even pay taxes.
Then what is the point? Why bother if there is no guarantee that things will work out as planned? Why not have a great time today (or as someone said “eat, drink, and chase Mary”) and worry about tomorrow . . . well, tomorrow?
Good questions. Even though practicing sound principles of money management (Financial First Aid) does not guarantee success, it greatly improves one’s chances of financial success. That is the point.
And, I can almost guarantee that Uncle Bob will lose your money!
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Before you Fly
Although most passengers may have already had vaccinations as children, boosters or new immunisations may be required depending on the destination. It is recommended that you consult your doctor or local travel health clinic 4-6 weeks prior to travel to get appropriate advice on health precautions to take and immunisations required for the places you will be visiting. Make sure you carry all immunisation certificates in your cabin baggage together with your travel documents. More information can also be found on our OneWorld Visa and Health Information website.
- We strongly recommend passengers purchase travel insurance that provide sufficient cover for illness, injury or accidents that may result in treatment or repatriation. This is particularly important for adventure holidays, skiing and diving trips.
- Bear in mind that healthcare facilities in the destination country may not be as good as what is available at home, particularly in remote destinations or developing countries. It is better not to travel to such places if you are pregnant or have a medical condition that may require access to advanced healthcare facilities. If you are taking 'adventure holidays', make sure that adequate facilities are available if you are injured and need urgent treatment.
- If you need to take any medication on a regular basis, make sure you have enough in your cabin baggage for the journey plus 1 or 2 extra days. We recommend you carry your prescriptions with you to avoid problems at customs. For more details please also read “Carriage of Medications/Sharps”.
- It is better to pack 2 lighter items of check-in baggage than 1 very heavy bag, as that may cause injury when being handled.
- Try to get a good night's sleep before your flight as this helps to avoid additional problems with jet lag.
- Eat lightly before your flight to avoid indigestion.
- It is better to wear generously cut, comfortable clothes made from natural fibers for air travel and comfortable shoes or boots with sufficient room to accommodate a small amount of swelling which may occur after long periods of sitting.
- Make sure you arrive at the airport with sufficient time to check in.
- You may consider carrying a small kit with basic medical items with you while you are travelling. Consult your own doctor for advice to individualise the content based on your itinerary and medical history. Be sure to check what items you can carry and can’t take onboard the plane or into the destination country.
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In 2009 we also tried to create "photosynths" of parts of the Leaves & Lizards property. PhotoSynth is a kind of pseudo-3d photograph viewer that allows a view or 3d space to be photographed in 3d. Adjoining images are matched up so that a user can navigate between images. Some have likened it to Google's StreetView product, and Microsoft and used the same underlying technology for their street-side views in Bing Maps.
Our initial results can probably be described as "fair". Forests and trees were always going to be a challenge for PhotoSynth. For example, it is going to have problems matching images of a teak plantation when all the trees look the same. Overall the PhotoSynths were about 50% "synthy" (ie. about half could be be stitched), and some areas of forest were PhotoSynthed surprisingly well.
You can try navigating through the following two PhotoSynths, but the slideshow option can also be used. The slideshow option is particularly recommended for the Bird Path.
This PhotoSynth was created around the cabin area. Most of the images are taken along the path connecting the three cabins, but also includes the steps up to the 'Monkey Cabin'. A number of small closeups and multiple 360 degree views are also included.
This PhotoSynth traces the bird path that runs from the turnaround below the cabins, to the pasture below the stables. The sequence stops at the bottom of the slope up to the stables.
Parts of this PhotoSynth work very well with 360 degree views, and forward movement along stretches of path. However, there are gaps which PhotoSynth has not been able to "stitch" properly. It is recommended that you use the slideshow option for this PhotoSynth to give a linear sequence that is easier to follow.
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Updated: 9/16/2010 9:00 AM ET|
College scholarships: A wacky world
Need some help affording college? A special skill or interest -- or even a particular last name -- can put a big dent in a student's tuition.
For two Colorado students, duct tape helped seal dreams of a college education.
As part of a scholarship competition, Izzy Bristow and John Dyer used nearly 40 rolls of the tacky stuff to create off-the-wall fashions: prom suits and gowns in royal blue. The shiny adhesive outfits -- hers with a detachable peacock-patterned collar -- took 90 hours to construct and netted them $3,000 each as winners of the Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest sponsored by marketers of the Duck brand tape.
"I was shocked," says Bristow, who is now studying costume design at Western Oregon University. "But it was pretty cool to know that I could do something other than write an essay to get a scholarship."
While a few thousand bucks may barely put a dent in annual college tuition costs these days, plenty of strapped students are chasing down obscure microgrants -- scholarships with requirements that are nonacademic and sometimes downright bizarre.
Intrepid types can find awards for vegetarians, nudists or so-so students with creative abilities. Some grants require a special knack for sewing or playing the bagpipes; others can be secured only by fate, such as having a particular last name or a towering physique.
How's the weather up there?
The Tall Clubs International gives grants of $1,000 to men who stand at least 6 feet 2 inches or women 5 feet 10 and over.
Applicants need to have good grades, write an essay about "What Being Tall Means" and offer proof of their height. To satisfy the main requirement, most applicants submit to a measuring session at one of the club's local chapters.
The food industry serves up a smorgasbord of offerings. The National Potato Council provides a $5,000 award to a graduate student pursuing curricula in agribusiness that "enhance the potato industry," according to contest rules.
The Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) hands 25 students scholarships in the amount of $7,500 each, plus a trip to Disney World and the chance to star in a "Got Milk?" mustache ad.
Thousands of American individuals, associations, foundations and corporations pony up more than $3 billion in private scholarships each year, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FastWeb, an online scholarship guide.
These include prestigious awards such as National Merit scholarships and other traditional prizes.
More offbeat aid tracked by Kantrowitz starts out at about $250 and can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
"These scholarships won't determine whether someone attends a school, but it alleviates some of the financial strain," says Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
"Thinking that you're going to win a free ride is unrealistic," adds Kantrowitz. "But students who excel at something usually have success."
Financial aid for being a vegan
Claire Askew of Lenexa, Kan., had fallen in love with Lewis & Clark College during a family trip to Portland, Ore. But even with generous financial aid from the school, she figured "there was no way" she could afford the annual tuition and fees of about $45,000.
Each night she prowled the Internet for college cash.
After sending off several applications and essays, she scored $4,000 from the Potawatomi Indian tribe, of which she is a member. She also managed to impress the Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit educational organization that awarded her $5,000 for a book she had written in high school about being a teenage vegan.
Having a green palate wasn't enough, stresses Jeannie McStay, outreach coordinator for the group, which provides two scholarships a year. The funds, she says, come from an anonymous donor who wants to reward applicants who have promoted vegetarianism at school or in their community.
Unusual skills and talents can put matriculants over the top. Andrew Bova of Perrysburg, Ohio, began playing bagpipes when he was 12. With only a few U.S. schools offering a degree program in bagpipe performance, he was keen to attend Carnegie Mellon University. He caught his breath after landing a place in the music program, as well as the school's Lewis W. Davidson Bagpipe Memorial Scholarship, worth $7,000 a year.
The money will reduce his debt load, says Bova, who is mindful of his future income prospects. "I'll be happy as a bagpiper, but God knows I'll never be driving a Porsche," he says.
What's in a name? Money
At some schools, there's plenty in a name. Loyola University Chicago offers tuition scholarships to Catholic students with the last name of Zolp. No cheating -- the school requires a birth certificate and a baptismal or confirmation certificate. The scholarship was a bequest from Father William Zolp, who took classes at the campus but didn't pursue a degree. For the 2009 academic year, the school doled out $25,000 to two Zolps.
"I had heard about all sorts of wacky scholarships, but this topped the list," says Lindsey Zolp, who is a Zolp fund beneficiary. As a kid, she recalls how her last name automatically put her at the back of most lines. "I hated being a 'Z,'" she says. "But I guess it paid off."
North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., has had a disproportionate number of students named Gatlin or Gatling. That's because John Gatling, a successful businessman, bequeathed to his alma mater funds for such scholarships, which ramped up in 1979. Those born with either spelling are eligible for the grants, which typically average about $14,000 a year.
Conas Gatlin, who has two college-age sons, learned about the program while chatting with a relative at a family reunion. "I thought, 'Surely he isn't serious,'" recalls Gatlin.
After checking online and with the college, she discovered it was indeed for real. Her sons, Jonathan and Joshua, applied to the school and were granted both admission and Gatlin gifts. As a result, the Houston-area family was able to avoid taking out loans.
When Gatlin tells others about her family's good fortune, she says some people ask, "Can you adopt my child?"
This article was reported by Jilian Mincer for The Wall Street Journal.
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RECENT ARTICLES ON COLLEGE SAVINGS
New York's mayor says a composting program would save millions. It's a great frugal hack for anybody, anywhere. Here's how to get started.
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Rev. Alban Butler (171173). Volume II: February. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SS. German, Abbot of Granfel, and Randaut, or Randoald, Martyrs
From their acts, written by the priest Babolen in the same age, in Bollandus, Le Cointe, ad an. 662. Bulteau, Hist. Mon. dOccid. l. 3. c. 44. p. 661.
About the Year 666.
ST. GERMAN, or GERMANUS, was son of a rich senator of Triers, and brought up from the cradle under the care of Modoald, bishop of Triers. At seventeen years of age, he gave all he could dispose of to the poor, and with Modoalds consent applied himself to St. Arnoul, who having resigned his dignities of bishop of Metz, and minister of state under Dagobert, then led an eremitical life in a desert in Lorrain, near Romberg, or Remiremont. That great saint, charmed with the innocence and fervour of the tender young nobleman, received him in the most affectionate manner, and gave him the monastic tonsure. Under such a master the holy youth made great progress in a spiritual life, and after some time, having engaged a younger brother, called Numerian, to forsake the world, he went with him to Romberg, or the monastery of St. Romaric, a prince of royal blood, who, resigning the first dignity and rank which he enjoyed in the court of King Theobert, had founded in his own castle, in concert with his friend St. Arnoul, a double house, one larger for nuns, the other less for monks; both known since under the name of Remiremont, situated on a part of Mount Vosge. St. Romaric died in 653, and is named in the Roman Martyrology on the 8th of December, on which his festival is kept at Remiremont, and that of the Blessed Virgin deferred to the day following. He settled here the rule of Luxeu, or of St. Columban.1 St. German made the practices of all manner of humiliations, penance, and religion, the object of his earnest ambition, and out of a desire of greater spiritual advancement, after some time passed with his brother to the monastery of Luxeu, then governed by the holy abbot, St. Walbert. Duke Gondo, one of the principal lords of Alsace, having founded a monastery in the diocess of Basil, called the Great Valley, in German, Granfel, and now more commonly Munsther-thal, or the Monastery of the valley. St. Walbert appointed St. German abbot of the colony which he settled there. Afterwards the two monasteries of Ursiein, commonly called St. Ursitz, and of St. Paul Zu-Werd, or of the island, were also put under his direction, though he usually resided at Granfel. Catihe, called also Boniface, who succeeded Gondo in the duchy, inherited no share of his charity and religion, and oppressed both the monks and poor inhabitants with daily acts of violence and arbitrary tyranny. The holy abbot bore all private injuries in silence, but often pleaded the cause of the poor. The duke had thrown the magistrates of several villages into prison, and many ways distressed the other inhabitants, laying waste their lands at pleasure, and destroying all the fruits of their toil, and all the means of their poor subsistence. As he was one day ravaging their lands and plundering their houses at the head of a troop of soldiers, St. German went out to meet him, to entreat him to spare a distressed and innocent people. The duke listened to his remonstrances and promised to desist; but whilst the saint staid to offer up his prayers in the church of St. Maurice, the soldiers fell again to killing, burning and plundering: and whilst St. German was on his road to return to Granfel, with his companion Randoald, commonly called Randaut, they first stripped them, and then, whilst they were at their prayers, pierced them both with lances, about the year 666. Their relics were deposited at Granfel, and were exposed in a rich shrine till the change of religion, since which time the canonries, into which this monastery was converted, are removed to Telsberg, or Delmont.
Note 1. Remiremont was destroyed in the tenth century by the Hungarians or New Huns, but rebuilt in the reign of Lewis III. in the plain beyond the Moselle, at the bottom of the mountain, where a town is formed. It has been, if not from its restoration, at least for several centuries, a noble collegiate church for canonesses, who make proof of nobility for two hundred years, but can marry if they resign their prebends; except the abbess, who makes solemn religious vows. [back]
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1) Make your body more alkaline and less acidic. See my post on Why Alkaline Foods Might Keep You Healthy.
2) Give Up Dairy When You Are Sick...see my post on More Milk Info if you need inspiration. Interestingly, bacteria and viruses thrive in an acidic environment so by tweaking your diet, you can make your body less of a comfy home for bugs. Dairy is a food group that people who are sick might want to think about giving up. I am not into dairy for a bunch of reasons, but if you do use milk, I would recommend the non-homogenized milk they sell at Dean and Deluca with the cream on top-which is still dairy but at least it is slightly less processed. Or go to France. It is really the processing of milk that is the problem. And the giant vat of milk is probably the biggest difference between milk in France and here. But try giving up dairy if you have a cough and congestion that won't go away. Interestingly, strep needs a dairy environment to take hold and one doctor said that he had never seen a child who was dairy free with strep.
3) Begin or Add Probiotics. See my post on Probiotics for all the health benefits of probiotics as well as ordering information. Probiotics make your body less acidic which means that the viruses and bacteria aren't as likely to take hold. And by increasing the good bacteria in your gut you are strengthening your immune system. Also, most probiotics are cultured on milk. Which supposedly makes the milk less allergenic because it is fermented, but I have experienced that to not be true with my son who is super sensitive to dairy. He can not tolerate any of the over counter "casein free" probiotics. The one we use is casein (dairy) free and several top integrated doctors sell it because it is a really clean product. For a long time it was sold only through doctors because they want to make sure the product was refrigerated but now you can get it through Invite Health. I just thought I would mention it in case you wanted to upgrade your probiotics! It is good to switch up probiotics because they each contain different strains.
4) Make Some Tea for yourself or your kids when you are sick...see my post on Mint, Chamomile and Ginger Tea for some ideas on which teas are best to use for which symptoms.
5) Manuka Honey is supposed to break down the biofilm that surrounds the virus. Getting rid of the biofilm is really important if you have an illness that won't go away. Only specific honeys can break down the biofilm so try to get Manuka honey from New Zealand. If you are thinking of reaching for some antibiotics, you might want to try some honey first after reading about The Antibacterial Activity of Honey Against Antiobiotic Resistant Strains of Staph or Other Manuka Honey Evidence.
5) Oscillococcinum: This is probably my most way out there, but most well tested (by me!) recommendation: take some oscillococcinum at the first signs of getting the flu. It is a homeopathic remedy made in France that really works. No one knows why. It might be a placebo, but if it is a placebo it is a top notch placebo that works for many people. Here is a coupon for Oscillo.
6) Get some coconut oil which is antiviral/antibacterial.For more info see Coconut Oil: Antiviral and Antimicrobial. Run, don't walk to your nearest health food store for the coconut oil. It is a staple in my house.
Please let me know if you have other ways of staying healthy that I have overlooked. And an early happy and healthy holiday season from whattofeedyourkids.com.
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In the district called Toichi of Yamato Province, (1) there used to live a goshi named Miyata Akinosuke... [Here I must tell you that in Japanese feudal times there was a privileged class of soldier-farmers,--free-holders,--corresponding to the class of yeomen in England; and these were called goshi.]
In Akinosuke's garden there was a great and ancient cedar-tree, under which he was wont to rest on sultry days. One very warm afternoon he was sitting under this tree with two of his friends, fellow-goshi, chatting and drinking wine, when he felt all of a sudden very drowsy,--so drowsy that he begged his friends to excuse him for taking a nap in their presence. Then he lay down at the foot of the tree, and dreamed this dream:--
He thought that as he was lying there in his garden, he saw a procession, like the train of some great daimyo descending a hill near by, and that he got up to look at it. A very grand procession it proved to be,--more imposing than anything of the kind which he had ever seen before; and it was advancing toward his dwelling. He observed in the van of it a number of young men richly appareled, who were drawing a great lacquered palace-carriage, or gosho-guruma, hung with bright blue silk. When the procession arrived within a short distance of the house it halted; and a richly dressed man--evidently a person of rank--advanced from it, approached Akinosuke, bowed to him profoundly, and then said:--
"Honored Sir, you see before you a kerai [vassal] of the Kokuo of Tokoyo. My master, the King, commands me to greet you in his august name, and to place myself wholly at your disposal. He also bids me inform you that he augustly desires your presence at the palace. Be therefore pleased immediately to enter this honorable carriage, which he has sent for your conveyance."
Upon hearing these words Akinosuke wanted to make some fitting reply; but he was too much astonished and embarrassed for speech;--and in the same moment his will seemed to melt away from him, so that he could only do as the kerai bade him. He entered the carriage; the kerai took a place beside him, and made a signal; the drawers, seizing the silken ropes, turned the great vehicle southward;--and the journey began.
In a very short time, to Akinosuke's amazement, the carriage stopped in front of a huge two-storied gateway (romon), of a Chinese style, which he had never before seen. Here the kerai dismounted, saying, "I go to announced the honorable arrival,"--and he disappeared. After some little waiting, Akinosuke saw two noble-looking men, wearing robes of purple silk and high caps of the form indicating lofty rank, come from the gateway. These, after having respectfully saluted him, helped him to descend from the carriage, and led him through the great gate and across a vast garden, to the entrance of a palace whose front appeared to extend, west and east, to a distance of miles. Akinosuke was then shown into a reception-room of wonderful size and splendor. His guides conducted him to the place of honor, and respectfully seated themselves apart; while serving-maids, in costume of ceremony, brought refreshments. When Akinosuke had partaken of the refreshments, the two purple-robed attendants bowed low before him, and addressed him in the following words,--each speaking alternately, according to the etiquette of courts:--
"It is now our honorable duty to inform you... as to the reason of your having been summoned hither... Our master, the King, augustly desires that you become his son-in-law;... and it is his wish and command that you shall wed this very day... the August Princess, his maiden-daughter... We shall soon conduct you to the presence-chamber... where His Augustness even now is waiting to receive you... But it will be necessary that we first invest you... with the appropriate garments of ceremony."
Having thus spoken, the attendants rose together, and proceeded to an alcove containing a great chest of gold lacquer. They opened the chest, and took from it various roes and girdles of rich material, and a kamuri, or regal headdress. With these they attired Akinosuke as befitted a princely bridegroom; and he was then conducted to the presence-room, where he saw the Kokuo of Tokoyo seated upon the daiza, wearing a high black cap of state, and robed in robes of yellow silk. Before the daiza, to left and right, a multitude of dignitaries sat in rank, motionless and splendid as images in a temple; and Akinosuke, advancing into their midst, saluted the king with the triple prostration of usage. The king greeted him with gracious words, and then said:--
"You have already been informed as to the reason of your having been summoned to Our presence. We have decided that you shall become the adopted husband of Our only daughter;--and the wedding ceremony shall now be performed."
As the king finished speaking, a sound of joyful music was heard; and a long train of beautiful court ladies advanced from behind a curtain to conduct Akinosuke to the room in which he bride awaited him.
The room was immense; but it could scarcely contain the multitude of guests assembled to witness the wedding ceremony. All bowed down before Akinosuke as he took his place, facing the King's daughter, on the kneeling-cushion prepared for him. As a maiden of heaven the bride appeared to be; and her robes were beautiful as a summer sky. And the marriage was performed amid great rejoicing.
Afterwards the pair were conducted to a suite of apartments that had been prepared for them in another portion of the palace; and there they received the congratulations of many noble persons, and wedding gifts beyond counting.
Some days later Akinosuke was again summoned to the throne-room. On this occasion he was received even more graciously than before; and the King said to him:--
In the southwestern part of Our dominion there is an island called Raishu. We have now appointed you Governor of that island. You will find the people loyal and docile; but their laws have not yet been brought into proper accord with the laws of Tokoyo; and their customs have not been properly regulated. We entrust you with the duty of improving their social condition as far as may be possible; and We desire that you shall rule them with kindness and wisdom. All preparations necessary for your journey to Raishu have already been made."
So Akinosuke and his bride departed from the palace of Tokoyo, accompanied to the shore by a great escort of nobles and officials; and they embarked upon a ship of state provided by the king. And with favoring winds they safety sailed to Raishu, and found the good people of that island assembled upon the beach to welcome them.
Akinosuke entered at once upon his new duties; and they did not prove to be hard. During the first three years of his governorship he was occupied chiefly with the framing and the enactment of laws; but he had wise counselors to help him, and he never found the work unpleasant. When it was all finished, he had no active duties to perform, beyond attending the rites and ceremonies ordained by ancient custom. The country was so healthy and so fertile that sickness and want were unknown; and the people were so good that no laws were ever broken. And Akinosuke dwelt and ruled in Raishu for twenty years more,--making in all twenty-three years of sojourn, during which no shadow of sorrow traversed his life.
But in the twenty-fourth year of his governorship, a great misfortune came upon him; for his wife, who had borne him seven children,--five boys and two girls,--fell sick and died. She was buried, with high pomp, on the summit of a beautiful hill in the district of Hanryoko; and a monument, exceedingly splendid, was placed upon her grave. But Akinosuke felt such grief at her death that he no longer cared to live.
Now when the legal period of mourning was over, there came to Raishu, from the Tokoyo palace, a shisha, or royal messenger. The shisha delivered to Akinosuke a message of condolence, and then said to him:--
"These are the words which our august master, the King of Tokoyo, commands that I repeat to you: 'We will now send you back to your own people and country. As for the seven children, they are the grandsons and granddaughters of the King, and shall be fitly cared for. Do not, therefore, allow you mind to be troubled concerning them.'"
On receiving this mandate, Akinosuke submissively prepared for his departure. When all his affairs had been settled, and the ceremony of bidding farewell to his counselors and trusted officials had been concluded, he was escorted with much honor to the port. There he embarked upon the ship sent for him; and the ship sailed out into the blue sea, under the blue sky; and the shape of the island of Raishu itself turned blue, and then turned grey, and then vanished forever... And Akinosuke suddenly awoke--under the cedar-tree in his own garden!
For a moment he was stupefied and dazed. But he perceived his two friends still seated near him,--drinking and chatting merrily. He stared at them in a bewildered way, and cried aloud,--
"Akinosuke must have been dreaming," one of them exclaimed, with a laugh. "What did you see, Akinosuke, that was strange?"
Then Akinosuke told his dream,--that dream of three-and-twenty years' sojourn in the realm of Tokoyo, in the island of Raishu;--and they were astonished, because he had really slept for no more than a few minutes.
One goshi said:--
"Indeed, you saw strange things. We also saw something strange while you were napping. A little yellow butterfly was fluttering over your face for a moment or two; and we watched it. Then it alighted on the ground beside you, close to the tree; and almost as soon as it alighted there, a big, big ant came out of a hole and seized it and pulling it down into the hole. Just before you woke up, we saw that very butterfly come out of the hole again, and flutter over your face as before. And then it suddenly disappeared: we do not know where it went."
"Perhaps it was Akinosuke's soul," the other goshi said;--"certainly I thought I saw it fly into his mouth... But, even if that butterfly was Akinosuke's soul, the fact would not explain his dream."
"The ants might explain it," returned the first speaker. "Ants are queer beings--possibly goblins... Anyhow, there is a big ant's nest under that cedar-tree."...
"Let us look!" cried Akinosuke, greatly moved by this suggestion. And he went for a spade.
The ground about and beneath the cedar-tree proved to have been excavated, in a most surprising way, by a prodigious colony of ants. The ants had furthermore built inside their excavations; and their tiny constructions of straw, clay, and stems bore an odd resemblance to miniature towns. In the middle of a structure considerably larger than the rest there was a marvelous swarming of small ants around the body of one very big ant, which had yellowish wings and a long black head.
"Why, there is the King of my dream!" cried Akinosuke; "and there is the palace of Tokoyo!... How extraordinary!... Raishu ought to lie somewhere southwest of it--to the left of that big root... Yes!--here it is!... How very strange! Now I am sure that I can find the mountain of Hanryoko, and the grave of the princess."...
In the wreck of the nest he searched and searched, and at last discovered a tiny mound, on the top of which was fixed a water-worn pebble, in shape resembling a Buddhist monument. Underneath it he found--embedded in clay--the dead body of a female ant.
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The principles of truth and honesty are recognized as fundamental to a community of scholars and teachers. Sacramento State expects that faculty, staff, and students will honor these principles, and in so doing, will protect the integrity of academic work and student grades. Students are expected to know and abide by University policy about cheating, including plagiarism. The entire document, Policies and Procedures Regarding Academic Honesty, may be found on the University’s Web site. Key points are summarized here.
I. DEFINITIONS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
A. Cheating: At Sacramento State, cheating is the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work through the use of any dishonest, deceptive, or fraudulent means. Cheating at Sacramento State includes but is not limited to:
1. Copying, in part or in whole, from another’s test or other evaluation
2. Using crib sheets, “cheat notes,” or any other device in aid of writing the exam not permitted by the instructor;
3. Submitting work previously graded in another course unless this has been approved by the course instructor or by departmental policy;
4. Submitting work simultaneously presented in two courses, unless
this has been approved by both course instructors or by the department policies of both departments;
5. Altering or interfering with grading or grading instructions;
6. Sitting for an examination by a surrogate, or as a surrogate;
7. Any other act committed by a student in the course of his or her academic work which defrauds or misrepresents, including aiding or abetting in any of the actions defined above.
B. Plagiarism: At Sacramento State plagiarism is the use of distinctive ideas or works belonging to another person without providing adequate acknowledgement of that person’s contribution. Regardless of the means of appropriation, incorporation of another’s work into one’s own requires adequate identification and acknowledgement. Plagiarism is doubly unethical because it deprives the author of rightful credit and gives credit to someone who has not earned it. Acknowledgement is not necessary when the material used is common knowledge. Plagiarism at Sacramento State includes but is not limited to:
1. The act of incorporating the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or the specific substance of another’s work, without giving appropriate credit, and representing the product as one’s own work. Examples include not only word-for-word copying, but also the “mosaic” (i.e., interspersing a few of one’s own words while, in essence, copying another’s work), the paraphrase (i.e., rewriting another’s work while still using the other’s fundamental idea or theory); fabrication (i.e, inventing or counterfeiting sources), ghost-writing (i.e., submitting another’s work as one’s own), and failure to include quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged; and
2. Representing another’s artistic or scholarly works such as musical
compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works as one’s own.
The instructor of record in a course where academic dishonesty is alleged to have occurred and the Office of Student Affairs shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the trial of charges of academic dishonesty that may give rise to academic and administrative sanctions under this policy.Academic and administrative sanctions may be imposed for violations of this policy. Academic sanctions are defined as those actions related to the coursework and grades and are the province of the instructor. Administrative sanctions may alter a student’s status on campus and are assigned by the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs. The imposition of one type of sanction shall not preclude the additional imposition of the other.
III. STUDENT RIGHTS
Nothing in this policy is intended to deny students who come within its scope appropriate due process, including the right to be informed of the charges, the nature of the evidence supporting the charges, and the right to have a meeting with the faculty member, the Judicial Affairs Officer, or other decision-maker, at which time statements and evidence on behalf of the student may be submitted. The student also has the right to a determination of the facts of the case based on a preponderance of the evidence presented. Nor is anything in this policy intended to deny the right to appeal, through appropriate University channels, any decision resulting from such a meeting. In the case where an appeal is made alleging that the grade-sanction was not proportional to the offense and therefore arbitrary, the appeal is governed by the grade appeal process.
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Question: If the work required to stretch a spring 1 ft beyond its natural length is 9 ft-lb, how much work W is needed to stretch it 10 in. beyond its natural length?
So my teacher today gave us some physics equations and said to do this homework. Im a little stuck on this, usually they give us the force required to stretch a spring, not the work. Here is what i tried:
Then I did F=KX (hooke's law) to solve for the k constant of the spring
9 = K * 1 ft
K = 9
So I now know that F = 9X (equation for force of a spring when you know the k constant of that spring)
And then i said the:
INTEGRAL of: 9x from 0-10/12 = Total work needed to stretch the spring 10inches.
I get 7.25, but this answer is wrong.
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Lambda Beta Zeta is a fraternity. Fraternities are designed to give college
students interaction while attending school. The University of Delaware is a great school to
attend. Please check back soon for more info on Lambda Beta Zeta or Lambda Chi Alpha. Everyone
goes off to college to get a good education and to meet lifelong friends. The absolute best way to meet
great friends that you can count on for the rest of your life is to join a Fraternity. A fraternity is
for life and even after you finish college and move on to a career you're still part of the fraternity you
joined in school. So think long and hard about pledging for a fraternity.
BR111 Hardwood Flooring: 2011
BR111 Exotic Hardwood Flooring is
made either engineered or with solid flooring. Engineered flooring is made of many layers of wood. The wood is
glued together and is one board. The bottom board is either particle board or plywood. The wood is the top layer
and is decorative. You will find that engineered flooring is made with an interlocking tongue and groove system.
Solid flooring is just as the name
implies. Solid flooring is made up of single wood pieces from the top to the bottom to make the board.
You may choose to go with the
engineered flooring. You will have fifteen main styles to choose from. Within each style you have more options
to select. You will surely find the BR111 Exotic Hardwood flooring for your home or place of
Nafco Vinyl Flooring
Cherry, walnut, Brazilian oak,
tigerwood and Santos mahogany are your lovely choices.
If you are remodeling your home,
you may have to select the engineered flooring over the solid wood flooring for installation purposes. If the
area that needs remodeling is a concrete floor than this is the choice for you or two specific sizes of hardwood
If you live in a state or area with
a lot of humidity it is best to go with BR111 engineered flooring.
Otherwise, in most cases, you have
the choice of either engineered or hardwood flooring. You can speak to someone who can help you select the
perfect flooring option for you and your home. Each home has different needs and someone with knowledge on
engineered flooring and hardwood flooring can give you all of the information you need to know before
BR111 is the top of the line exotic
wood for your home. Once you see the colors, styles and textures this flooring has to offer, you will be hooked.
Your home will look absolutely breathtaking.
Imagine walking into your home
after a long day of work. You will immediately feel refreshed at the warmth and beauty of your home. Comfort is
the key to a happy life and with the rich woods that BR111 has to offer, it is accomplished.
You will love the look of BR111
Hardwood flooring so much that if you own your own business you will want to have it installed there as well.
You will impress your clients/customers with the look of BR111 Hardwood flooring.
For more information on hardwood flooring, exotic hardwood floors, or hand scraped flooring please visit
Beauty, Combined with Unsurpassed Durability: The Benefits of Cork Oak Floor
Cork is harvested from
the bark of the Cork Oak tree. These special trees can be found throughout the Mediterranean, but the largest
producer of cork is Portugal. The virgin harvest comes off of a tree that is about twenty to twenty five years
old. Eventually, the tree re-grows its bark, and is then harvested about every nine years. The bark is harvested
by hand, allowing the tree to remain uncut. This process makes cork products very friendly to the
Once the cork is harvested form the tree, it is ground, cleaned and boiled. The
boiling process adds to the corks strength and flexibility. Once this process is finished, the cork is mixed
with resin, formed into sheets, and baked in a kiln. The heat from the baking process brings out the corks
natural beauty. The sheets turn out in warm honey and caramel tones, colors that add beauty and warmth to any
space. Many patterns and designs are available, along with bolder colors.
Wicanders Cork Flooring
Armstrong Grand Illusions
Teragren Synergy Bamboo
Cork flooring is so versatile and functional; it
can be used in commercial spaces or the home. It is resistant to abrasion, and can take a lot of wear and tear.
It has been used in public places for over one hundred years. Many of these floors still exist today. Due to the
compactness of cork, these special floors are able to recover from compression quickly. Another benefit of cork
flooring is that it does not absorb dust and other airborne particles, making it allergen fee. Cork is a
great flooring choice for those who suffer from allergies or asthma.
Cork flooring generally comes in tiles or rolls,
and can usually float over existing floors. This feature makes it very easy to install. Cork is also comfortable
and cozy. It’s a great insulator, whether you live in a hot or cold climate, and it’s comfortable to ones feet
and legs. Cork is also a great acoustic insulator, proving quiet throughout your home or
Armstrong Flooring Prices
Bruce Flooring Prices
flooring provides cushion, comfort, and quiet, all in one easy to maintain product. A cork floor is virtually
maintenance free. To care for a cork floor, vacuum or sweep it once a week. When a little extra care is needed,
just damp mop it occasionally. About once a month should do. So, why settle for just any floor, when only a cork
oak floor will do? We cork flooring is a great cork
flooring company that provides top quality flooring that will add style and design to your home or
Keeping the carpets in your home and business clean is the utmost of importance, but it can be
difficult and time consuming. A clean carpet is much more pleasant to walk on and to be around in general. It
will make your home seem cleaner and it will make you look better. Not to mention that a clean carpet will
last longer than a dirty one, this will save a considerable amount of money in the end. Now that you
understand how important it is to have a clean carpet, it is important to learn how to do it effectively.
There is nothing worse than spending several hours trying to clean a carpet and end up having negative
results. You want your efforts to show through, and learning the most effective carpet cleaning techniques
will make that happen.
The most important part of maintaining your carpets is prevention. Keep the carpet from
getting dirty in the first place and you won’t have to worry about cleaning very often. Make sure that people
take their shoes off before walking in to your home. Even if their shoes look clean, they are tracking soil
and oil that will mess your carpet up. Wearing slippers or socks inside is another great way to keep body
oils out of your carpet. An area rug by the door is also a must if your front door goes to a room with a
carpet. A small area rug is much cheaper to replace, and much easier to clean.
Vacuuming your carpets often with a high-powered vacuum is a great way to make extend their
life. Loose dirt wears out carpet fibers faster than anything else. Try to vacuum your carpets at least once
a week even if they don’t look dirty.
Steam cleaning should also be used on carpets at least
once a month. A good steam cleaning gets rid off the soils and oils that a vacuum cleaner can’t reach. Don’t be
like most homeowners and use expensive carpet shampoos on your expensive floors. Carpet shampoos leave a nasty
film on your floor that attracts dirt. Instead, use water and white distilled vinegar to clean your floors. The
vinegar will take care of any oils, as well as any film left behind by a carpet shampoo. Vinegar also happens to
be much cheaper than carpet shampoo.
By keeping up with this maintenance each month your carpet will last much longer, and will look much better.
Prepare to start getting compliments on your fresh new carpet.
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Florida's education budget boils down to details
Both the Florida House and Senate seek to follow Gov. Rick Scott's playbook in putting about $1.1 billion back into public K-12 education funding a year after taking away about $1.3 billion.
Beneath the bottom line figure, though, are specifics that don't have both bodies on exactly the same path. That leaves room for deals as conference committees gather to hash out the inconsistencies.
Among the differences:
Co-enrollment - The House would extend funding for high school students to take up to two adult education courses for credit recovery or dropout prevention. The Senate does not address this issue. many districts have requested this funding extension, and House members seem intent on it.
School recognition - The Senate would keep funding for this program at $70 per student, while the House would increase the amount to $100 per student. Gov. Scott has indicated his support for increasing the recognition funds, while some senators have suggested zeroing out the program.
PECO funding - Both would funnel $55 million in K-12 capital money to charter schools, with none for traditional schools. The House would direct an additional $22 million to the college and university systems, while the Senate would give just $5.4 million to the college system only.
Virtual instruction - The House would increase per student funding allocation to $5,000, while the Senate would leave the amount at $4,800.
Workforce education - The Senate would leave tuition charges for these programs unchanged, while the House would increase them to $2.39 per contact hour for residents and an additional $7.17 per contact hour for out-of-state students. Adult education fees would remain the same.
Public radio - The House would eliminate funding for public radio. The Senate does not address the issue.
Textbook purchases - The Senate would allow school districts to get a waiver of the requirement that they purchase newly adopted textbooks within two years of adoption. The House does not address this issue.
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The Ghorish Maw is used by the Ogre Tribes which live in the Ghor Mountains, named after a legendary Ogre Chieftain who once resided there. Known for his love of eating, these are the weapons he armed his warriors with.
A Woodsman Blade is a useful tool for those who ply the woods. It is often the primary weapon for a variety of Woodsman Organization.
The Wei-Jai were carried by Chinese soldiers during the anti-piracy campaign in the mid sixteenth century. Chinese sword blades were inferior to the Japanese blades, so there was a period when the Chinese government purchased Japanese made blades fashioned in the Chinese design.
In the north west provinces, the locals used an odd design for their shovels. The blade part is a flat 12” (30 cm) cast iron half circle with a small extension in the back to facilitate mounting on the handles. Like many farming items, they were adapted to be used as weapons by those who had them and had no others.
To wield such a weapon is to ensure long life and enough luck to have it.
An aquatic spear made of shaped coral.
One Hundred tiny prayers for luck.
A Ryder Spear is the quintessinal Kerrenese weapon. It is used by Ryders in combat and in tournament, the two most important parts of a Ryder’s life.
It is called the Spring and Autumn sword because it brings new beginings and new endings.
“When I strike at you, I am not alone. I have the courage and skill of my entire family. You do not have a chance!”
In most places, weapons are designed for ease of creation and practicality of use. In others, various weapon designs are developed to meet certain philosophical criteria. Wind and Fire Wheels are of the later type. However, they augment many unarmed combat styles, so in the end, they are an effective weapon.
In most places, weapons are designed for ease of creation and practicality of use. In others, various weapon designs are developed to meet certain philosophical criteria. This staff was initially designed for philosophical reasons, but has become a very effective weapon in which several martial techniques have been built around.
In the North West Province, Bats are considered Evil (as they are creatures of darkness and bring disease), but are still a sign of good luck. The presence of bats around one (as many locals dig out caves or put up bat sheds) shows a Sly Dark One’s Luck. (In reality, Bats eat locusts, locust pupae, and many other disruptive pests, so farmers with bats near by have better crops). The people of this province have a love hate relationship with these creatures.
The Ducal Retainers of Urania who patrol the ever moving Twilight Zone, carry special swords that only they may legally carry.
The Tree-of-Blades (along with the infamous dragonsword, with which we are not concerned here) is the signature weapon and symbol of the Dragonfighters of Mount Taris. It is also known as the Dragonfighter axe, or as the txarian (this name, pronounced “char-EE-ahn”, comes from Txarian Tapolosthes, the feared Chilliarch of the Dragonfighters, who led the his people in a series of short but vicious wars against the Mysians).
Just like with the sharks they so revere,a wrong or inappropriate action can provoke a lethal reaction from a Shura. As the other mer-races are so fond of saying among themselves,the only thing more unpredictable than a shark is a Shura. This is a prefered weapon, simple yet deadly.
Some call the Khawarezmians primitive. Paperswords are not made of paper or parchament. They are made of thin sheets of bone laminated together. It takes expert craftsmanship to make them. They are anything but primitive.
Every item does not need to be POWERFUL… EXOTIC… MYTHIC, but it does need to be interesting or useful. After all, if the item is not useful in some way…. why did anyone take the time and materials to make it?
This weapons has been made popular by several heroic and near mythical adventuring types that have served the Empire over the last three centuries. They are large, powerful weapons, with a distinctive look to them, suitable for Heroes and those who think they are heroes.
a very useful exotic weapon
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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Declaration adopted on 5 October 2010
“Living Together as Equals in Dignity with Roma”
The Human Rights Committee of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe, meeting on Tuesday 5 October 2010,
- Welcoming the invitation by the Secretary General and the Chair of the Committee of Ministers to member states to hold a high-level meeting on the situation of Roma in Europe on 20 October 2010;
- Referring to the work done by various Council of Europe bodies advocating a comprehensive approach to the issues concerning Roma and Travellers in order to improve respect for their rights in Europe – an approach in which Roma themselves are key players;
- Noting nevertheless the extent to which the measures recommended go unheeded in many member states;
- Concerned by the recurrent human rights violations affecting Roma living in Europe, even though they are its citizens: stigmatisation, discrimination, racism, attacks, expulsions;
- Condemning the unacceptable living conditions they often face in many places;
1. Calls on the authorities in all Council of Europe member states and on European Union bodies to implement in this area the principles of intercultural dialogue and the practical measures which permit such dialogue, as defined in the White Paper on Living Together as Equals in Dignity adopted by the member states on 7 May 2008: developing dialogue of this kind is the only way to combat attitudes of mutual incomprehension and ostracism. In particular, this means recognising the great contribution of Romani culture and its role within European culture, of which it is part; raising awareness of Romani culture among all those, especially teachers, who come into contact with Roma; and providing meeting places to combat the ignorance and stereotypes which still exist.
2. Invites the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to study the possibility of establishing a network of towns and villages that undertake to offer Roma and Travellers decent living conditions, enabling best practice to be exchanged in consultation with Roma themselves.
3. Draws the attention of the authorities in charge of education in the member states to the need to provide a suitable education system for Roma children: they must be taught in ordinary rather than special classes, with the necessary flexibility being ensured to cater for children with itinerant lifestyles and account being taken of positive measures developed in this respect in various countries for other population groups.
4. Calls on the various Council of Europe bodies to step up monitoring to ensure the effective implementation of human rights for Roma, a process in which our INGOs are willing to co-operate.
5. Wishes to contribute to the implementation of the measures to be adopted at the high-level meeting on 20 October 2010, in particular through its European network of non-governmental organisations in the education, social and human rights sectors.
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Hizb ut-Tahrir Emerges in America
Hizb ut-Tahrir Background
Posted: July 28, 2009
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), Arabic for "Party of Liberation," is an international organization that seeks to establish a global Islamic caliphate. Established in Jerusalem in 1953, HT claims to be a political organization "whose ideology is Islam."
HT maintains an extensive international following; it is currently active in more than 45 countries, and its August 2007 convention in Indonesia drew approximately 100,000 delegates.
HT's strategy to establish a global Islamic caliphate consists of three stages. In the first, the group seeks to recruit "people who believe in the idea and the method of the Party." This stage mimics that of the prophet Muhammad, who "gathered together secretly those who believed in him on the basis of this ideology," according to HT's Web site.
In the second stage, HT seeks to educate the larger Muslim community about its interpretation of Islam so that the community can work "to establish it in the affairs of life." This stage consists of approaching the masses through "lessons, lectures, and talks in the mosques, centers, and common gathering places, and through the press, books and leaflets."
The third and final stage entails replacing all governments and implementing a global Islamic caliphate.
HT conferences around the world suggest that the group is currently in the second stage of its goal of establishing a global Islamic government. In commemoration of the anniversary of the abolishment of the Islamic caliphate 85 years ago, HT held worldwide events throughout the summer of 2009, calling "on Muslims around the world to mobilize to re-establish the Islamic Khilafah." In addition to the July 19 conference in Oak Lawn, Illinois, events took place in Ukraine, Mauritius, Lebanon, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Britain, Indonesia, Sudan and Turkey, among other places.
HT claims that it does not engage in violent activities and generally espouses a policy of nonviolence. However, in a January 2010 press release, HT called for violence against U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan. The group accused "US crusaders" of killing nine school children and injuring 85 others in Afghanistan. "Such incidents," HT said in the press release "has to be answered by sharp swords of Muslim united armies under a true Muslim leader (Imam/K), not by few words of condemnations, rallies and demonstrations or submissions of list of demands to the UN's or Human Rights, which are the protector of these crusaders, not us."
Its position on nonviolence is complicated by its admission that "jihad" is compulsory for Muslims in an Islamic country to fight their perceived enemies. According to the group's Web site, "the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in that country are a part of the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them as it is upon other Muslims, in their capacity as Muslims, to fight the enemy and repel them." HT's statements in response to the Israeli naval operation to stop a flotilla of ships en route to Gaza, which called on Muslim armies to "fight the Jews" and "blow 'Israel' off the map," further demonstrate the group's acceptance of violence.
The radicalization of HT members who adhere to the group's extremist ideology can also lead to violent acts. In 2007, German police arrested three men on suspicion of plotting to bomb military and civilian airports, restaurants and nightclubs. Two of the men were allegedly Uzbek members of the HT splinter cell Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), which carried out a terrorist attack against the American and Israeli embassies in Uzbekistan in July 2004.
Two British HT members were also allegedly involved in terrorist activities. One of the men was among those responsible for the 2003 suicide bombing at Mike's Place, a bar in Tel Aviv. Another HT member was suspected of joining Al Qaeda and plotting to attack several New York-Based financial targets. He was arrested in 2004 by British authorities.
Some observers have suggested that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda in Iraq's former leader, were also members of HT.
In 2003, Germany banned HT for allegedly spreading anti-Semitic propaganda. Russia declared the group a terrorist organization that same year after reportedly detecting links between HT and Chechen terrorists. The group had previously been banned in Russia in 1999 for being a criminal organization. HT has similarly been banned in several Arab and Central Asian countries as well.
Several other European countries, including the United Kingdom, have considered banning HT. The British government sought to ban the group after allegations that it was linked to the London bombings in July 2005.
HT also has a growing presence in the West Bank, which stands in opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and rejects the legitimacy of both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. In 2007, the group held a conference in Ramallah that reportedly drew approximately 20,000 supporters. That same year, HT marched through Ramallah in opposition to the "Zionist provocation" against the Al Aqsa mosque. Palestinian officials banned HT from holding a July 2009 rally opposing both Fatah and Hamas and the concept of a modern nation-state.
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Historical maps tell us about the geography of different places. They also show what people knew about those places at the time the maps were made. This map shows what a Dutch mapmaker thought part of North America looked like in 1639.
Source: Library of Congress.
Today, there are countless maps of the Americas. This was not true 500 years ago. Before the 1500s, most Europeans, Africans, and Asians did not know that the Americas existed. After European explorers saw this land, mapmakers drew maps of it. Mapmakers used information from explorers to make their maps. The locations and distances recorded by explorers were not exact. Mapmakers did the best they could with the information given to them.
Look at the map shown above. A Dutch mapmaker named Joan Vinckeboons (YOH ahn VINK uh bones) created it in 1639. The labels are in Dutch. Vinckeboons was a mapmaker for the West India Company, from the Netherlands. This company of merchants started Dutch colonies in the Americas.
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Mt. Pinatubo (Volcano Week 4)
Monday, 27th July 2009 by Evan Brammer
It’s Volcano Week 4 here at GSS. Volcanoes, about a week. You know the drill!
Beauty sometimes erupts from utter disaster. Take, for example, the gorgeous crater lake that formed in the remnant bowl of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines. A stunning natural wonder was created from one of the largest, most devastating volcanic eruptions in the past 100 years.
No one knew there was volcanic action happening far below the surface of Pinatubo. The local indigenous people, the Aeta, had no recollection of any previous blasts in their oral history and geologist data was scarce as well.
Due in part to Typhoon Yunya that was ripping through the island nation, the ash cloud that should have been spread over the surrounding oceans instead cycloned back over the Luzon region, where Pinatubo once lay dormant.
The mixture of the typhoon force winds and rain with the ash cloud resulted in a rainfall of heavy mud causing considerable damage to neighboring cities. This included the already evacuated Clark Airbase, a U.S. Air Force establishment, whose many flat-roofed buildings collapsed under the weight of the ash and mud.
The military never permanently returned to the base, instead they turned it over to the Philippine government, who converted half of it into a Philippine Air Force base and the other half into a Holiday Inn Resort complex.
It is easy to see the ravines and canyons coming down the sides of the mountain that are now filled with lahar, a volcanic mud mixture. Lahar filled river beds streak the landscape leading away from Pinatubo.
After years of rainfall, the basin of the once-mountain filled with water to form Pinatubo Crater Lake. Now a tourist destination, many will trek for several hours through deep jungle trails to reach the clear waters of the lake.
Back in 2002, the lake had filled the crater so much that there was fear that the rim might collapse, causing considerable damage to local farms and endangering some 45,000 residents in neighboring villages.
To prevent such a collapse, the government commissioned engineers who sand bagged a makeshift river bed, using a lahar mudflow path, 5 metres wide and then cut a notch the same width in the lowest part of the crater’s rim. They managed to drain off 25% of the crater’s water into the nearby Bucao River.
All in all the blast at Pinatubo caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, the deaths of over eight hundred, and damaged billions of pesos worth of property, buildings, and farmland. But, they got a very beautiful lake out of it – that is, if you’re willing to make the trek.
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The world's highest road bridge has been inaugurated in southern France by President Jacques Chirac.
The bridge is 23 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower
The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high - taller even than the country's Eiffel Tower.
The bridge, which opens to traffic on Thursday, was built to clear summer traffic jams around the town.
The BBC's Paris correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, says the bridge is one of the most breathtaking ever built.
She says that with its concrete and steel pillars soaring high above the morning fog in the Tarn Valley, the construction makes a spectacular sight.
'Delicacy of a butterfly'
Seven slender piers support the roadway, rising into seven graceful pylons bound to the bridge with what look like cobwebs of steel, our correspondent says.
"The bridge is just on the clouds," Millau Mayor Jacques Godfrain told the BBC's World Today programme.
"The architect, Norman Foster, gave us a model of art."
Mr Foster said the bridge was designed to have the "delicacy of a butterfly".
"A work of man must fuse with nature. The pillars had to look almost organic, like they had grown from the earth," the world-renowned British architect said in an interview with regional daily newspaper Midi Libre.
Like Concorde and the Channel Tunnel, the bridge is Franco-British.
French construction group Eiffage - that built the Eiffel Tower - financed the project in return for the right to collect receipts from a bridge toll for 75 years.
The bridge is now a source of pride for Millau, which believes many more tourists will come to admire one of the engineering wonders of the 21st Century, our correspondent says.
The construction also removes a bottleneck at the town, completing a new motorway link between Paris and the Mediterranean.
The construction of the steel bridge - now weighing about 36,000 tonnes - began in December 2001, using innovative techniques.
From the north and south sides of the valley, the metal sections of the structure were assembled, lifted slightly and then carefully slotted into place on each of the supporting pillars.
Motorists are expected to pay 4.6 euros (£3.18; $5.60) for a trip across the bridge.
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Has the City of Ottawa violated your human rights if it won't let you park in front of your house?
According to New Edinburgh resident Pamela Howson, the answer is yes - if, like her, you have three young children in car seats and your vehicle is too wide to easily negotiate the narrow laneway that leads to your backyard parking spot.
In a novel case before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in Ottawa Monday, Howson argued that the city discriminated against her on the grounds of family status by not letting her build a parking pad in front of her house.
But city lawyers argued that Howson has never applied for a minor variance from the city's committee of adjustment - the body legally able to consider her request - so has never actually been denied anything.
Howson and her husband have three children, aged one, four and nine. She told tribunal chairman Michael Gottheil that because of her family circumstances, she couldn't reach the parking spot at the back of her century-old Stanley Avenue house.
Howson shares with a neighbour a narrow driveway that varies in width from 2.6 to 2.78 metres. It's technically possible for her car - a 2.25-metre-wide Mazda 5 - to squeeze through the laneway.
But such manoeuvring is difficult at the best of times and impossible in winter because of snow and ice buildup, she said.
Adding to the hazard are foundation stones that jut into the 12-metre-long driveway in several locations. The family has already damaged the side mirrors on their car attempting to back out of the laneway.
The family used to own a Honda Fit that could reach the backyard parking spot, but replaced it three months ago with the larger Mazda because it was almost impossible to get three car seats for their children into the back seat.
They managed to do so only by removing the arms on two of the car seats and overlapping them with the middle booster seat - an arrangement, Howson acknowledged, that "might be a safety concern."
Trading the Honda in for the larger Mazda solved that problem, but meant the family couldn't reach their parking space behind the house.
They're now parking illegally on their front lawn.
Under the current zoning, frontyard parking isn't permitted on Howson's street, which is in a heritage preservation district. However, exceptions can be granted under certain circumstances.
Two years ago, Howson - a former investigator with the Ontario Human Rights Commission - approached the city to see if it would grant an exemption based on her family's "special circumstances."
The family was willing to eliminate its parking spot in the rear, she said, if the city would permit them to park in front of their property. "We proposed a number of reasonable solutions, all of which were dismissed," Howson said.
The city's refusal "constitutes discrimination on the grounds of family status," she said. "We have a legal parking spot we cannot access due to the circumstances of our family."
The family bought the house in 2007. "We love our family home, and plan to live in it for the length of our lives," an emotional Howson said, pausing to regain her composure.
Because of the parking problem, they will either have to sell the home or accept a reduced quality of life, she said. "This is a lived burden that is very real for us."
Howson said city officials told her to apply to the committee of adjustment, an arms-length panel that considers minor variations to zoning bylaws.
But once she raised her human rights concerns, she said she was warned that every city department would oppose her application. Moreover, she was told the committee of adjustment wouldn't consider human rights arguments, she said.
Given that, and the $1,500 cost of an application, Howson said she concluded that going to the committee of adjustment would be a "useless but expensive and time-consuming process."
She complained that city officials "refused to engage" with her human rights complaint. At the very least, she said, the city should have acknowledged the issue and supported her application before the committee of adjustment.
But Alain Miguelez, a senior city planner, testified that city officials do not have the authority under the Planning Act to grant exceptions to zoning bylaws. Only city council and the committee of adjustment can do that, he said.
Thousands of inner city residents have no on-site parking, Miguelez said. "If we were to approve front yard parking for all of those, we'd end up with quite a different environment. It's just not workable."
City planners usually oppose applications to allow front-yard parking, particularly in heritage areas such as New Edinburgh, where it is "not in keeping with the fabric of the neighbourhood," Miguelez said.
City lawyer David Patacairk said Howson had presented no evidence to support her allegation that the city's actions were discriminatory. "All we have is an individual who says, 'I don't want the law to apply to me.'"
Noting that the city has already expended "considerable time and resources" on the case, Patacairk asked Gottheil to dismiss Howson's application, arguing she "has not made out a prima facie case of discrimination.
"No actions have been taken by the city, and certainly none of those actions, even in contemplation, would be taken on the grounds of her family status. We're trying to answer a planning question in a forum that's not designed to answer those questions," Patacairk said.
Gottheil said he would consider the arguments and issue a written decision "in due course."
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Democratic Republic of the Congo: Internally Displaced Persons weigh options as fighting rages in North Kivu
|Publisher||Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)|
|Publication Date||4 June 2012|
|Cite as||Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Democratic Republic of the Congo: Internally Displaced Persons weigh options as fighting rages in North Kivu, 4 June 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fcf214a2.html [accessed 22 May 2013]|
Since fighting began in April between government soldiers and a large group of defectors from the regular army, North Kivu Province in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has become a spaghetti junction of human migration patterns; tens of thousands of people have been displaced.
The movement of people might appear haphazard to the outside observer. Some walk east, others west.
For some, it is their third time to be displaced by conflict and many report negative experiences in camps. "You wait a whole day for one bowl of porridge, and there is violence," said Jeremiah*, who is currently sheltering in a remote hospital on a hill in Rutshuru District which overlooks an anti-aircraft gun position. International NGOs have no presence here now - only the local Red Cross, which supports the hospital.
Jeremiah's nine-year-old daughter was apprehended and raped while she and her grandmother were fleeing their village. He says the news killed him and that he is tired of war. But he says he will not cross the Ugandan border (less than 20km away) even if it does guarantee his family's safety. "They make you go very far from your home," he said.
Maria Domitilla Nyabayazana* is the only resident in Kabanda, a village now on the front line in the conflict on the edge of Virunga National Park. Suffering from a leg injury, Maria was abandoned when other residents fled two weeks ago. "I have heard bombs since this morning - everybody has left," she said. Maria still carries out her daily chores, and eats the vegetables and fruits growing by her house.
"Close to 100,000 people have been uprooted from their homes by the recent wave of violence in… North Kivu, prompting renewed calls for better measures to protect civilians and more aid for distressed families," said a 31 May press release from the UN humanitarian coordinator in the DRC.
"Since the beginning of April, thousands of families in North Kivu have had to flee for their lives, in the wake of violence borne out of desertions from the national army as well as ongoing military operations to bring under control illegal armed groups. It is estimated that some 74,000 people are now displaced in the Masisi, Lubero and Rutshuru territories, and several thousand more have found refuge in and around the provincial capital Goma," it added.
The army defectors or "mutineers" had previously been integrated into the army as part of peace efforts.
On 4 June, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Rwanda of supporting the mutinous troops, who are led by Gen Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
HRW said Rwandan military officials had allowed Ntaganda to enter Rwanda and supplied him with new recruits, weapons and ammunition. Rwanda has denied any involvement in the mutiny.
As villages become front lines, the most determined close their doors and hope for the best. "Yesterday, we listened to the armoury of the government," said August Basiha, 20, outside his home in Rangira, as UN surveillance helicopters circled overhead. "This village was never taken in the past. We are staying," he said, shortly after a convoy of trucks carrying special forces from Kinshasa and heavy artillery had passed.
Uganda the best option?
For others, however, Uganda is the best option: There is a relatively good road to the border, and trading opportunities in the busy border town. But some Congolese refugees say Uganda's immigration officials are refusing them entry on the basis that "night commuting" is not allowed.
On one night in May, 7,000 people collected at the Bunagana border crossing, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In response, Ugandan officials encouraged people to register. Those who did were transported to the increasingly over-stretched Nyakabande transit centre, 20km from the border and yet further from their crops and livestock.
At the border itself, UNHCR does not provide any assistance, nor register people, said Simplice Kpandji, a UNHCR public information officer in Goma: "The refugees are registered in the transit centre and assistance is also given to them there. For security reasons, we encourage them to move to the transit centre."
In Bunagana, a Congolese town straddling the Ugandan border, the school is a temporary camp for many hundred internally displaced persons (IDPs). Jean-Claude* has a stall selling potatoes and miniature tubes of toothpaste. He says residents feel safe, and there are buildings for shelter and water. "But no one has any money and we're not getting any food - there is only so long that I can stay here," he said.
Patchy aid delivery
A rapid response, led by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), is allowing aid workers to intervene and distribute essentials, but the government has made it clear that it does not want new official camps, and attempts by some NGOs to feed these people have been frustrated by bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, the government's food distribution efforts appear to be ineffective. One international aid worker said the DRC minister of humanitarian affairs arrived in Rutshuru town (28km from Bunagana) and left a pile of food, but did not stop to ensure it went to those in need. The source, who asked not to be identified, said that even policemen took a share of the rations.
"We are facing difficulties as it's quite impossible sometimes to have access to the people in the war zone. We need a humanitarian corridor to assist and protect people," said Kpandji. UN agencies and international NGOs have been forced to pull staff out of a number of locations in the last two months.
*names have been changed at interviewees' request
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Palazzo Pitti and Giardino Boboli
Originally owned by the wealthy banker Luca Pitti, the Palazzo later became the property of the Medici family and was the one-time residence of the Italian king. It is a grand structure that now boasts no less than seven museums. Among these are the Medici treasures that are showcased in the Museo degli Argenti, the Museum of Costumes and the Porcelain Museum. The Galleria d'Arte Moderna provides a fascinating display of works from the Macchiaioli school - early 19th-century proto-impressionist paintings - as well as a collection of Neoclassical and Romantic art. The collections in the Palazzo Pitti can keep visitors captivated for hours. Extending behind the palace are the elaborately landscaped and beautifully maintained Giardino Boboli (Boboli Gardens), one of the oldest gardens in Italy and well-known for its fountains and grottoes. The most celebrated aspect of the gardens is the Grotta del Buontalenti, located close to the entrance. In the deepest recess of the cave is the sculpture Venus Emerging from her Bath, attended by curious imps. Another notable structure is the enormous amphitheatre designed on a scale to serve the Medici's tastes.
Address: Piazza Pitti 1
Telephone: +39 055 294 883
Opening times: Each museum has its own opening hours, but most are closed on Mondays
Admission: From €4 to €8.50. A ticket for all museums is €10.50. Entry to the gardens only is €4
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Tired pilot sends aircraft into nosedive after thinking Venus was a plane
- Filed under:
A disoriented pilot was so tired that he sent his passenger plane into a sudden 400ft nosedive because he mistook the planet Venus for an oncoming aircraft.
The incident, which occurred on a Boeing 757 Air Canada flight between Toronto and Zurich, caused injuries to 16 people on board, many of whom had to be hospitalised.
A report on the incident has been released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. It reveals that the plane's first officer had been taking a scheduled nap when he awoke and suddenly slammed the plane into a nosedive.
The officer had been awoken by the captain's report on their flight position. Cockpit alerts had been going off because a US Airforce plane was approaching 300 yards below. The captain was aware of this, but the "confused and disoriented" first officer mistook Venus for the approaching plane, and, thinking it was coming straight at him, overrode the autopilot and sent the jet into a sharp nosedive.
Most of the 103 passengers onboard were sleeping at the time and were wearing seat belts, but 14 passengers and two flight attendants were thrown around the aircraft, suffering cuts and bruises.
Louisa Pickering, a passenger on the flight, told the BBC she as asleep when she was thrown out of her window seat and slammed into the ceiling.
"I hit the top of the ceiling and and fell back to the ground," she said. After that it was kind of chaos."
After falling 440feet, the captain managed to regain control of the plane and returned it to its cruising altitude, and the military aircraft passed safely underneath.
The report concluded that the first officer, who had been asleep for 75 minutes, was suffering "sleep inertia magnified by fatigue". It also said that the flight crews were not following standard procedures for "strategic napping" (normally 40 minutes). Pilots are supposed to have 15 minutes after a nap to allow them to awaken fully before taking control.
The incident has again highlighted the subject of passenger safety in the light of pilot fatigue. A recent study from the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) found that one in five pilots felt that their ability fo fly an aeroplane was compromised more than once a week.
The Association says that fatigue among pilots is a growing problem and that tiredness now accounts for between 15 and 20 per cent of accidents. At the same time, the EU is imposing increased flying hours.
The Air Canada Pilots Association has called for a mandate for a third pilot on eastbound transatlantic flights. However Air Canada says it has already taken steps to allow pilots who are too tired to fly to withdraw from assignments.
British pilot falls asleep at the controls
Air traffic controllers should sleep on the job, say experts
Twelve things not to do on a plane
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Stem Cell Treatment Examples
- In March of 2008, a Sacramento, CA family with a two-year old son diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy was treated with cord blood obtained while in-utero. Two-days after the one-hour procedure, the child showed signs of marked improvement. Click here for more information.
- In February of 2003, Cryo-Cell International successfully aided a Tampa, FL client in saving a three-year old boy suffering from T-cell lymphoma. The procedure was made possible through a cell transplant using cryo-preserved hematopoietic stem cells from the child's younger sibling's cord blood. Click here for more information.
- In April of 2002, Spencer Barsh - a 4-year old diagnosed with Adrenoleukodystrophy - is treated with cord blood. Click here for more information.
- In the summer of 1999, Jaclyn Albanese - a 16-year old diagnosed with Myeloid Leukemia - is treated with cord blood. Click here for more information.
- In 1998, cord blood was used for the first time when a six-year old boy from France was suffering from Franconi's anemia. The child was successfully treated using cord blood obtained from his disease free sibling. Click here for more information.
- In December of 1997, doctors from the Fairview-University Medical Center in St. Paul, MN used hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood to save the life of a two-year old boy suffering from Krabbe's disease. Click here for more information.
- In July of 1994, Erik Haines - a 14-year old diagnosed with Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy - is treated with cord blood. Click here for more information.
- In 1993, Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, of Duke University Medical Center, cured acute lymphoblastic leukemia through the first two successful unrelated donor cord blood transplants. Click here for more information.
- As of today, more than 8,000 patients afflicted by over 70 different diseases have been treated using hematopoietic stem cells. This includes malignant diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma, as well as retinoblastoma and neuroblastoma. Go to diseases treated to read more.
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- Story Ideas
- Send Corrections
HOPE, Maine (AP) — Maine has its moose, lobsters and puffins. Now, add elephants to the list.
Two retired circus elephants, 41-year-old Opal and 43-year-old Rosie, have arrived at a newly built elephant rehabilitation center in an unlikely spot, the countryside of Maine.
Veterinarian Jim Laurita once worked with Rosie and Opal as an elephant handler for a circus. He has formed a nonprofit with his brother, raised money and built an elephant barn and paddock.
Laurita is treating the Asian elephants for ailments and making their retirement comfortable in what could be described as an old folk’s home for elephants in the small town of Hope, outside of Camden.
He gives tours to school groups and is spreading the word about the need to protect elephants from extinction.
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Transport experts discuss bus rapid transit, safety and security, and climate change
Transport and planning experts from around the world shared their knowledge about bus rapid transit, safety and security, and climate change at the seventh annual Transforming Transportation 2009 conference, held in Washington, D.C.
Analysts applaud sustainable transit efforts, suggest BRT as preferred alternative
January 15, 2009
Location: WASHINGTON, D.C.
Enhanced buses along the proposed Purple Line in Maryland’s D.C. suburbs would cost less, offer similar services, and fight global warming better than light-rail cars, according to an analysis released today by the World Resources Institute.
Experts will share best practices, identify key cycling trends in India
The Bangalore Metropolitan Land Authority, in partnership with EMBARQ and other international and local partners, will be hosting a Cycling Initiative Workshop on January 31, 2009 in Bangalore, India.
Transport experts discuss greenhouse gases, motorization and public transit in cities worldwide
Representatives from the EMBARQ Network shared their expertise during the Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting, held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 11–15, 2009. The five-day event included 3,000 presentations from nearly 600 sessions addressing the topics of transportation, energy and climate change.
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The mayor of Georgia’s youngest city told residents they could expect to vote on a referendum in November that would raise taxes to pay for parks and greenspace.
The remark came Feb. 10 during Dunwoody Mayor Ken Wright’s state of the city address for Dunwoody, which incorporated in 2008.
Wright said residents can expect the city council to support a referendum that would ask for a 1.5-mill tax increase. That would raise $56 million to fund Dunwoody’s parks and greenspace master plan, which is being worked on. It would take about $61 million to implement the master plans, Wright said.
“There is no way in our $16- or $18-million annual budget that we would ever be able to get anything done as far as improving our parks or acquiring parcels,” Wright said. “It’s just not there and it will never be there.”
Wright said a recent study of the city’s parks showed that Dunwoody’s greenspace is woefully inadequate when compared to any nearby municipality.
“We are way, way under the mark,” Wright said.
Dunwoody has a pending lawsuit, filed in December, against DeKalb County for more than $7 million it claims is left more than from a voter-approved bond referendum for developing Brook Run Park. Dunwoody, which took over the park in August 2010, claims that $4.5 million has been spent on the park.
In addition to the greenspace plan and one specifically for Brook Run Park, Dunwoody is working on a transportation plan.
“These things are just immensely important–not the most exciting things to most people, but they are critical to the success of this city,” Wright said.
The city’s 2010 budget was $18 million for a city that Wright expects to have approximately 50,000 residents when the latest census results come in.
“We do a ton with relatively little,” Wright said. “As a city, we’re very deliberate, very cautious, very conservative, and I think you can see that in the way we operate day-to-day.”
Nearby Sandy Springs has a budget of $90 million and is approximately twice the size of Dunwoody, Wright said.
With pictures being projected of Dunwoody and its residents at various 2010 events, and with audience participation, Wright’s address seemed more like a talk show than a mayoral presentation.
Near the beginning of his address, Wright allowed his children, Clayton, 8, and Cassidy, 10, to speak to the audience.
Clayton said he wanted to know why the president and governor both have limousines, but not the mayor of Dunwoody.
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Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday he would pay close attention to religious sensibilities in his new role as NATO chief in comments aimed at allaying Muslim concerns at his appointment.
Turkey had threatened to veto Rasmussen’s appointment over his handling of a 2006 crisis triggered by cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper. His comments fell short of the outright apology which Turkish officials had hoped for.
“I respect Islam as one of the world’s major religions as well as its religious symbols,” Rasmussen said during a panel discussion at an Istanbul conference aimed at building bridges between the Muslim world and the West.
The conference coincided with Barack Obama’s first visit to the Muslim world as U.S. president. Obama was meeting Turkish officials in Ankara on Monday and was due to attend a dinner at the conference.
“I was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by many Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectively towards Islam or the Prophet Mohammad. Nothing could be further from my mind,” Rasmussen said.
The NATO row, which threatened the image of unity at the military alliance’s 60th anniversary summit, was resolved after Obama guaranteed that Turkish commanders would be present at the alliance’s command and that one of Rasmussen’s deputies would be a Turk.
Rasmussen had previously defended the publication of the cartoons, which caused protests in the Muslim world, on the grounds of free speech and refused to apologise to Muslim countries.
“During my tenure as the secretary general of NATO I will pay close attention to the religious and cultural sensibilities of the different communities that populate our increasingly pluralistic and globalised world,” Rasmussen said.
NATO is engaged in the biggest military operation in its history in Afghanistan, and Turkey, the only mainly Muslim member of the alliance, had said Rasmussen’s appointment would make the alliance’s mission there harder.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan initiated the “Alliance of Civilisations” forum which was meeting in Istanbul, told the conference that a peaceful Afghanistan was crucial.
“We want Afghanistan to stand on its own feet. We want to reconcile the civilian population to put an end to terror and offer the Afghan people every opportunity to live in peace and development,” he said.
Erdogan called for greater efforts to overcome religious and cultural divisions.
“We still have the opportunity to write the history of this century, which we began with conflict and polarisation based on religious and cultural differences, as one of peace, harmony and tolerance,” Erdogan said in a speech opening the conference.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was also attending the conference, said the forum could help prevent future conflicts before they emerge.
“All too often, the United Nations must deal with fires after they break out. Through the Alliance of Civilisations, we can stamp out the sparks before they catch,” Ban said.
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San Francisco garter snake returns to its namesake city
On Thursday, June 2, 2005, the San Francisco Zoo hosted a unique event to mark the return of one of California 's most endangered and beautiful species to its native city. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Interior P. Lynn Scarlett joined San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the first public viewing of recently acquired San Francisco garter snakes.
Scarlett, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget and Deputy Secretary-Designate, and officials from local and national environmental agencies spoke on the importance of bringing these endangered snakes back to San Francisco and the continuing plight of this species in the wild. The San Francisco garter snake has been absent from North American zoos since 2003 and is the focus of new efforts to increase wild populations along the San Francisco peninsula.
"We at the Interior Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are pleased to partner with the San Francisco Zoo to bring one of the world's most beautiful snakes back to one of the world's most beautiful cities." Scarlett said.
San Francisco 's own native snake, the San Francisco garter snake ( Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia ) is a subspecies of the common garter snake and was found historically from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Today, with a wild population limited to coastal San Mateo County and other small pockets, the San Francisco garter snake is considered critically endangered in the wild because of the loss of habitat.
In an effort to actively conserve and recover the San Francisco garter snake, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established an internal San Francisco Garter Snake Working Group in 2003 to design and implement specific conservation actions while updating the recovery plan. The working group identified and developed a multi-phase process for restoring and enhancing captive and wild San Francisco garter snake populations.
The first phase of the plan is to restore and enhance habitat for the wild population and the second is to restore the North American captive population by importing stock from Europe and placing them in zoos accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. Subsequent phases include the possibility of zoos holding wild snakes for short periods as habitat restoration projects progress, a possible "head-start" program for juvenile snakes, and preparations for captive propagation, if such measures are called for to prevent the extinction of the species in the wild.
Ten juvenile San Francisco garter snakes of five mixed gender pairs were flown from the Netherlands to the U.S. These ten snakes will be used as part of a public education effort that will include classroom visits from the Zoo Mobile, on-site presentations, inclusion in VIP tours and interpretive graphic displays, that are intended to inform local residents about the plight of the snake. The pencil-thin, 18-inch snakes, with turquoise bellies and distinctive red and black striped bodies, will eventually grow to four feet in length. These snakes will be available for the public to see up-close at the Zoo's Koret Animal Resource Center, part of the Children's Zoo.
"The San Francisco garter snake is one of the most beautiful snakes in the world," said Manuel Mollinedo, executive director and president of the Zoo. "This is our native snake and we want people to recognize this as a special animal that may occur in their own backyard. Hopefully, people will be inspired to protect it for future generations."
The San Francisco garter snake was listed as a federally-endangered species in 1967 and as a state-endangered species in May 1971 due to habitat loss from urbanization and agricultural conversion in areas of established garter snake populations. The drainage of ponds and marsh sites where snakes feed, in addition to changes in water quality and/or the introduction of the bullfrog into its ecosystem, has resulted in a corresponding decline in its core foods: the threatened California red-legged frog and the Pacific tree frog. The captive population, once thriving in the 1990's, went extinct in 2003 when the last remaining snake in captivity died at the San Francisco Zoo, where they were once considered the jewels of the collection.
Meanwhile, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with the California Department of Fish and Game, the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and lots of other public and private partners to enhance wetland and upland habitat for the San Francisco garter snake. Their efforts are aimed at nurturing wild populations of the snake so that, eventually, it can be taken off the endangered-species list.
For instance, the National Park Service in partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service created two wetlands in November 2004 to enhance breeding habitat for California red-legged frogs and Pacific tree frogs at Mori Point, on Golden Gate National Recreation Area lands in Pacifica. Since frogs constitute the majority of a San Francisco garter snake's diet, this habitat restoration effort was designed to produce adequate prey for the snakes while emulating the area's natural topography.
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When I was in graduate school, Phil Daniels, then a psychology professor at Brigham Young University, taught us about a feedback mechanism he called the SKS form. It was simply a process whereby we would ask others what we should stop (S), keep (K), and start (S) doing, given a particular role we might have as a teacher, friend, spouse, father, mother, etc. People are asked to fill in the blanks, limiting their entries to no more than three bullet points under each subhead.
Eventually, I introduced the SKS process into faculty evaluations at universities, as well as performance appraisals on Wall Street. I've found it helps me, as well as others, avoid living in our fantasies of who we are. The specificity of knowing what we should quit, continue, and start doing anchors us in reality.
Asking others for feedback using SKS can be important to professional growth. I urge you to tell your support people about the SKS process. Ask them to evaluate you using SKS regularly and hold you accountable for what they list. It's a simple tool, but a highly effective one. Too often, we may tell ourselves that we have to quit being such a micromanager (for instance), but our resolve to stop micromanaging gets lost in the activity of daily events. By having your support team respond to three simple questions, invaluable feedback can be obtained. The questions are:
- What should I stop doing?
- What should I keep doing?
- What should I start doing?
The SKS also counteracts our tendency to avoid seeking out other people's opinions of our attitudes and behaviors. When you are feeling the worst about yourself, you don't ask for more feedback. You don't want to know. You use the excuse that you are already being tough on yourself, so you don't need anyone else to be harsh. This rationale creates a vicious cycle where there is no need for you to learn of other views or ask for help. If you don't hear the hard truth from others, you don't have to acknowledge that it's real. The SKS process breaks the hold our illusions have on us.
When you have your support people do an SKS, use the following questions to help you identify the behaviors that are keeping you stuck and the behaviors that will help you move in new directions:
- Are you hearing that you should quit doing something that you feel is a skill or strength?
- Is your first response that quitting this behavior will have catastrophic consequences?
- On reflection, is it possible that you've fallen into a behavioral rut? If you stop doing one thing, might you have an opportunity to try something new and different?
- Is there something you're doing right that people feel you should do more of?
- Have you been dismissive of this particular behavior or skill for some reason?
- What might happen if you used this "keep" more? How might it impact your effectiveness and satisfaction with your job?
- Are people recommending you do something that feels foreign or scary?
- What about it makes you anxious? Is it because you are afraid of looking like you don't know what you're doing?
- Why are people suggesting you start doing this new thing? What benefits do they feel will accrue to you, your group, or your organization?
We know feedback is seldom as bad as we have imagined in our heads. The key is to begin the process sooner than later.
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|— census-designated place —|
|Tulare County and the state of California|
|• Total||0.610 sq mi (1.581 km2)|
|• Land||0.610 sq mi (1.581 km2)|
|• Water||0 sq mi (0 km2) 0%|
|Elevation||548 ft (167 m)|
|• Density||1,000/sq mi ( 390/km2)|
|Time zone||Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)|
|• Summer (DST)||PDT (UTC-7)|
|GNIS feature ID||0241659|
Ducor is located at (35.892176, -119.048079).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2), all of it land.
The 2010 United States Census reported that Ducor had a population of 612. The population density was 1,002.9 people per square mile (387.2/km²). The racial makeup of Ducor was 251 (41.0%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 15 (2.5%) Native American, 20 (3.3%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 302 (49.3%) from other races, and 24 (3.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 502 persons (82.0%).
The Census reported that 612 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 142 households, out of which 89 (62.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 103 (72.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 13 (9.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 16 (11.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 12 (8.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 1 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6 households (4.2%) were made up of individuals and 1 (0.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.31. There were 132 families (93.0% of all households); the average family size was 4.40.
The population was spread out with 200 people (32.7%) under the age of 18, 90 people (14.7%) aged 18 to 24, 135 people (22.1%) aged 25 to 44, 136 people (22.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 51 people (8.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.6 years. For every 100 females there were 104.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.5 males.
There were 154 housing units at an average density of 252.4 per square mile (97.4/km²), of which 105 (73.9%) were owner-occupied, and 37 (26.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 11.9%. 434 people (70.9% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 178 people (29.1%) lived in rental housing units.
As of the census of 2000, there were 504 people, 120 households, and 101 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 829.2 people per square mile (319.0/km²). There were 123 housing units at an average density of 202.4 per square mile (77.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 34.33% White, 0.20% African American, 0.40% Native American, 1.59% Asian, 61.11% from other races, and 2.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 72.62% of the population.
There were 120 households out of which 46.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.8% were non-families. 12.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.18 and the average family size was 4.58.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 39.3% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 17.7% from 45 to 64, and 5.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 119.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.5 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $33,125, and the median income for a family was $30,694. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $26,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $9,701. About 24.8% of families and 30.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.1% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.
In the state legislature Ducor is located in the 16th Senate District, represented by Democrat Dean Florez, and in the 34th Assembly District, represented by Republican Bill Maze. Federally, Ducor is located in California's 21st congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +13 and is represented by Republican Devin Nunes.
Ducor Union Elementary School District services the students in Ducor, CA. The District website is located at www.ducorschool.com
- U.S. Census
- "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- All data are derived from the United States Census Bureau reports from the 2010 United States Census, and are accessible on-line here. The data on unmarried partnerships and same-sex married couples are from the Census report DEC_10_SF1_PCT15. All other housing and population data are from Census report DEC_10_DP_DPDP1. Both reports are viewable online or downloadable in a zip file containing a comma-delimited data file. The area data, from which densities are calculated, are available on-line here. Percentage totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. The Census Bureau defines families as a household containing one or more people related to the householder by birth, opposite-sex marriage, or adoption. People living in group quarters are tabulated by the Census Bureau as neither owners nor renters. For further details, see the text files accompanying the data files containing the Census reports mentioned above.
- "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- "Will Gerrymandered Districts Stem the Wave of Voter Unrest?". Campaign Legal Center Blog. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
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Urinary incontinence is a common geriatric syndrome that affects at least 1 in 3 older women and can greatly diminish quality of life. Incontinence has been associated with increased social isolation, falls, fractures, and admission to long-term care facilities. Often unreported and thus untreated, it is important to include incontinence as part of the review of systems for all older women. Using the case of Mrs F, we highlight the chronicity of incontinence and discuss the evidence base for evaluation of incontinence in older women, with proper initial diagnosis of the type of incontinence—stress, urgency, or mixed—in order to prescribe optimal treatment. We present an evidence-based discussion of available incontinence treatments including pelvic floor muscle exercises, stress strategies, urge-suppression strategies, fluid management, medications, intravaginal pessaries, intravesical injection of botulinum toxin, percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, sacral neuromodulation, and surgical procedures for stress incontinence. Special considerations in evaluation and treatment of patients with dementia are presented. Urinary incontinence treatments yield high levels of patient satisfaction and improvements in quality of life.
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Supporting creativity through knowledge integration during the creative processes. A management control system perspective pp258-267
Organizations require an intensive knowledge integration mechanism that supports creativity within all the phases of its process in order to analyze, understand, select, and integrate ideas into a business model. Management Control Systems, as a part of t he structural capital, can be utilized as knowledge integration mechanisms to provide: i) a dialog among internal or external actors of the creative process; ii) a knowledge repository for data and other information required in the selecting process; ii i) representation of the new ideas into a business model. Using a multi‑method case study, this article analyzes the role of knowledge integration played by Management Control Systems (MCS). Within the perspective of the Levers of Control (Simons, 199 5), MCS are recognized as the sum of belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive systems that could be used to manage the creative process. We apply the Appreciative Inquiry model of creativity (Cooperrider, Srivastva, 1987) which recognizes four step s: Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. Creativity is then classified based on the problem's characteristic using Unsworth's model (2001) which separates closed and open problems. Results show that in the early phases of the creativity process problem s are more structured and are faced using diagnostic and boundary tools. In the design phase, a dynamic tension between interactive and diagnostic systems is always preferred. The final phase (Destiny) requires diagnostic approaches in all cases. On th is foundation, the paper aims to contribute to the literature on innovation and intangible assets. It is our opinion that the results could also be used by managers and entrepreneurs involved in the creative process in order to improve a companies abilit y to face change.
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The BBC is reporting that EDSAC, the “first recognisably modern computer” is being rebuilt at England’s famous code-breaking estate, Bletchley Park. Sir Maurice Wilkes’ Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator might not be as famous as the US’ ENIAC, but it’s exactly the sort of room-sized computer people think of when they picture that era of computing. The three year, £250,000 rebuild is taking place at The National Museum of Computing at the behest of the Computer Conservation Society.
EDIAC’s input was handled through punched tape and used mercury delay lines in place of memory. In other words, this might be a “modern computer” in the minds of technology historians but it’s far removed from what most people consider an early computer. If are really curious, a simulator is available here.
As far as technology goes, EDSAC was quite advanced for its time. It contained over 3000 vacuum tubes and took up 12 racks in a room that measured 5 meters by 4 meters. The system could process 650-714 operations per second (depending on your source). It holds the honor of being the first computer whose calculations were used in a scientific paper. And the best fact of all: Its equivalent of an OS took up just 31 words of read-only memory.
The article notes another interesting fact–while the computer will be reproduced as accurately as possible, safety regulations will prevent it from containing the 5-foot long tubes in which the system’s mercury was stored.
Read more at the BBC
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Game Assignment for Environmental Economics
This is a group assignment for Environmental Economics at the undergraduate level that could replace a course paper assignment. At the end of this assignment students will understand economics, environment and geosciences at a deep level and learn how to differentiate theoretical results from real situations; gain excel skills, team working skills and game creation skills that are useful in their working environments; reinforce their writing and presentation skills; and finally learn the subject by doing it and having fun.
The main goal is for students to incorporate at least 3 key concepts in the rules of the game, the strategies of players and calculations in the game engine, as well as to use real data as much as possible. If the game is to save water in a residential home it is expected that the incentives to save water, the costs incorporated, the alternatives to choose from and the volume of water corresponds to reality. In addition, students gain group working skills, excel skills and visualization skills from their own peers.
The specific economics, environmental and geosciences concepts are chosen by the students from a list that comes from the course learning outcomes and that are presented in the attachment below. Instead of imposing my own interests and reality, I want students to apply concepts to their own reality and interests and become experts in the areas that make more sense to them.
The list of concepts in the attachment comes from the learning outcomes for an environmental economics course. It does not include the geosciences concepts yet, because this is what I want to learn in this workshop.
Context for Use
This assignment replaces the term paper I used to include in my courses, so it is a significant effort that counts 25 % or 35 % of the course grade. I tried this type of activity in introductory microeconomics with adult students (average age 33.7) in a very fast learning environment (the course last only 4 weeks, more or less like a summer session in traditional universities but students take only this class). The level of engagement and student commitment is fabulous and it would be better if students play a game designed by the instructor in class. The class sizes at my university are between 25 and 35 students, so I usually ask students to make groups of 3-4 students. A single student cannot complete the assignment because no single student has all the skills necessary to finish the assignment in 3 weeks. Some students are good writing papers, others have graphical skills and are great with illustrations and simple animations, others are good with math, calculations and excel skills, and others are good with the creative process of fun playing situations. It is necessary that students understand the scope of the assignment before they form groups, so they have a sense of work distribution since the beginning. I found very important if the grade can incorporate an individual and group component and you provide some guidelines about group management.
Description and Teaching Materials
The first attachment, 'Student Handout Game Assignment' includes the
complete information for this activity: Game for Environmental Economics
Assignment Description; Theoretical Concepts to be Included in the
Game; Online Support to Design the Game; Suggested Steps and Time Table.
The second attachment, 'Course Description' includes the description of
a possible course in environmental economics where the game activity
could be placed. This document includes the course title, textbook,
course description and learning objectives.
Student Handout for Game Assignment (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 20kB Jun20 12) Course Description (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 14kB Jul16 12)
Teaching Notes and Tips
Play a game in class
: It is easier for economics to play one or two games in class because we have already games available in the literature that are 'sure' winners, for instance the 2nd auction market. There are some games for environmental economics too, but I am not familiar with educational games for sustainability courses. I only know of a home water saving game developed by my colleague Ben Radakhrishnan at the School of Engineering.
Create a grading rubric that incorporates individual and group grades.
Monitor Activity: Timing and group management is critical for the success of this activity. My students must report a specific piece of the assignment every week (the term lasts only 4 weeks), have a space in the course shell where they collaborate and develop the assignment and have a space to communicate. In terms of group management I suggest to use some free website like https://trello.com.Office Hours and Teaching Support
: Expect students to come to your office hours more than ever with this assignment, and you may need to extend your faculty support. However, it is not painful because students are so engaged with it that for the 1st time in their student experience they want to share new things and learn more than the regular staff we teach in the classroom. I am not a game design professional, so I am limited to basic things, but we have an online support site
: It is amazing all what excel can do for game creation and engine support. Students already have some excel experience from work and quantitative courses. The most previous experience the better. However, they may not be familiar with graphics or connected sheets and some math tools.
Luckily, there are many videos in YouTube that explain all these things and students can learn by themselves on the fly, and they can add free add-ins like Solver for graphing and finding solutions with no calculus. If you are not familiar with excel, identify any statistics book with excel, for instance Humberto Barreto's Intermediate Microeconomics with Excel and Introductory Ecometrics with Excel.
The delivery items are a written report in Word, a game engine in Excel,
a game board in Excel or Powerpoint to play the game, and a powerpoint
to make the group presentation. The written report includes six separate
sections: Abstract, Instructions, Game Board and Excel Engine;
Debriefing Section; References and Appendix. The most important sections
are the Instructions (rules, strategies, constraints with economics
concepts) and the Debriefing Section (what is the expected result and
how the trial diverted from the theoretical prediction). The game engine
operates all calculations in the background based on key concepts
learned in class and real relevant data; it should also compute the
winner of the game.
References and Resources
The general online supporting site we use at National University: http://nucatalyst.com
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The Bachelor of Science degree in Management simultaneously maximizes the preparation of the student and maintains flexibility within the program. Two concentrations are offered in the Management major:
- Human Resource Management
In the Management Concentration, students focus on the pivotal knowledge and skill areas of teamwork, leadership, change management, and employee motivation. The student also may choose from among specific management electives to complete the major area. This flexibility allows the student to tailor the degree to his or her particular career goals.
Human Resource Management
The Human Resource Management Concentration is designed to prepare students to sit for and pass the National Human Resource Certification Exam given annually by the Society of Human Resource Management. In the program, the student learns in-depth skills in human resource concepts, staffing procedures, compensation and benefits, and conflict resolution.
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Skip to Main Content
Damage to the hippocampus is frequently associated with epilepsy, stroke, and dementia (Alzheimer's disease), and is considered to underlie the memory deficits characteristic of these neurological conditions. The essential goals of this multi-laboratory effort include: (1) experimental study of hippocampal neuron and neural network function - how does the hippocampus encode information?, (2) formulation of biologically realistic models of neural system dynamics - can that encoding process be described mathematically to realize a predictive model of how the hippocampus responds to events that need to be remembered?, (3) microchip implementation of neural system models - can the mathematical model be realized as a set of electronic circuits to achieve parallel processing, rapid computational speed, and miniaturization?, and (4) creation of hybrid neuron-silicon interfaces - can structural and functional connections between electronic devices and neural tissue be achieved for long-term, bi-directional communication with the brain? By integrating solutions to these component problems, the team is realizing a microchip-based model of hippocampal nonlinear dynamics that can perform the same memory function as part of the hippocampus.
Date of Conference: April 29 2009-May 2 2009
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