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This is a randomized controlled trial to test whether a money-management based intervention reduces substance abuse.
While the Social Security Administration (SSA) no longer provides benefits for individuals disabled by drug abuse per se, approximately 50% of recipients have a concomitant substance abuse disorder. Supported by disability payments, this substance abuse impedes recovery/remission from the comorbid mental disorder. Money management is widely implemented in dual diagnosis treatment - in patients assigned payees to manage their funds and in patients receiving case management - but whether money management reduces substance abuse is unproven. If shown to be effective, money management-based therapy can be logically integrated into these existing arrangements. There is no specific substance abuse focus to standard payee and case management arrangements.
We have developed a money management-based therapy called Advisor-Teller money manager (the bank-like acronym is ATM). ATM involves having a patient voluntarily allow a therapist/money manager to limit the patients' access to his/her funds, thus preventing unrestricted access to cash from cueing substance use. Patients meet with therapist/money managers at least weekly. Meetings begin with a review of the previous week's expenditures, including expenditures for drugs and alcohol, and an on-site urine toxicology test and breathalyzer. Patients then plan a budget that is incompatible with drug use by budgeting funds for direct payment of expenses (such as rent), abstinence-compatible activities and long-term goals. Budgeting and planning will develop patients' skills at managing their funds. Dispensing procedures build upon the principles of therapeutic contracting. Patients contract to receive their funds for specific expenditures and then review the next week whether the funds were spent as planned.
We are conducting a Stage 2 randomized clinical trial in which 120 patients will be randomly assigned to 36-weeks of either ATM or Finance Instruction Therapy (FIT), a low intensity intervention in which patients are given basic financial instruction to determine the efficacy of ATM in reducing substance use.
Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment
Advisor-Teller Money Manager, FIT
Connecticut Mental Health Center
Published on BioPortfolio: 2014-08-27T03:35:54-0400
VA investigators have described greater substance use at the beginning of the month when disability and other monthly checks are received. The proposed research addresses an important VA ...
The initial phase of substance abuse treatment is a vulnerable period for relapse. Cognitive impairments are common during this phase and may reduce the ability to benefit from other forms...
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a computerized working memory training program on substance abuse, psychosocial functioning, cognitive performance and psychiatric ...
Substance abuse is a growing problem world wide, and treatment of substance abusers in the perioperative period, especially for emergency operation is challenging. The objectives of this s...
Intimate partner violence is a significant societal problem. However, treatment of IPV perpetrators is far from effective, which may be partly due to the fact that the role of substance ab...
Lower rates of substance abuse are found among Black Americans compared to Whites, but little is known about differences in substance abuse across ethnic groups within the black population.
Hopefulness has been associated with increased treatment retention and reduced substance abuse among adults, and may be a promising modifiable factor to leverage in substance abuse treatment settings....
By the 12th grade, half of American adolescents have abused an illicit drug at least once (Johnston et al., 2015). Although many substance misuse prevention programs exist, we propose an alternative ...
South Africa is experiencing a growing methamphetamine problem, and there is concern that methamphetamine use may accelerate HIV transmission. There has been little research on the HIV prevention need...
Substance abuse is a significant public health challenge in the Caribbean. It is important that health and allied professionals be adequately trained in this field. The Caribbean Institute on Alcoholi...
Abuse, overuse, or misuse of a substance by its injection into a vein.
An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to substance abuse and mental health. It is commonly referred to by the acronym SAMHSA. On 1 October 1992, the United States Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) became SAMHSA.
Health facilities providing therapy and/or rehabilitation for substance-dependent individuals. Methadone distribution centers are included.
Disorders related to substance abuse, the side effects of a medication, toxin exposure, and ALCOHOL-RELATED DISORDERS.
The provision of monetary resources including money or capital and credit; obtaining or furnishing money or capital for a purchase or enterprise and the funds so obtained. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed.)
Pharmacy is the science and technique of preparing as well as dispensing drugs and medicines. It is a health profession that links health sciences with chemical sciences and aims to ensure the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs. The scope of...
Psychiatry is the study of mental disorders and their diagnosis, management and prevention. Conditions include schizophrenia, severe depression and panic disorders among others. There are pharmaceutical treatments as well as other therapies to help... | <urn:uuid:ddada7b8-54d4-40be-a803-894350a94676> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.bioportfolio.com/resources/trial/96279/Clinical-Trial-of-Abstinence-Linked-Money-Management.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988717954.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183837-00509-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923647 | 1,109 | 1.8125 | 2 |
For some dblp authors we have stored supplemental information. For example, if you visit the author page of Stephan Diehl, you may find a link to his "Home Page" right behind his name. In the huge dblp XML file, you can find the following record which contains this information:
<www key="homepages/d/StephanDiehl"> <author>Stephan Diehl</author> <title>Home Page</title> <url>https://www.st.uni-trier.de/~diehl/</url> </www>
These records are called person records. Person records have been added to include personal information of authors to the dblp data set while keeping the XML format downward compatible to not crash existing software of third parties. Therefore, we reused the existing www elements with the following somewhat strange convention: Person records always have the key-prefix "homepages/", the record level tag is always "www", and they always contain a title element with the text content "Home Page". The author element is used to identify the person, the url element contains the address of the author's home page.
Sometimes people change their name, or people are known by several names. For example look at Margaret H. Dunham, Alon Y. Halevy, C. J. van Rijsbergen, Anastasia Ailamaki, ... To represent multiple alias names, we simply enumerate the name variations in the person record using author elements. The first name is used as the primary name of a person. All uses of the other (secondary) name variations are mapped/redirected to this primary name.
<www key="homepages/r/CJvanRijsbergen"> <author>C. J. van Rijsbergen</author> <author>Cornelis Joost van Rijsbergen</author> <author>Keith van Rijsbergen</author> <title>Home Page</title> <url>https://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~keith/</url> </www>
To identify people, it is also helpful to store additional information like their affiliation or their name in an alternative writing system (e.g. see Wei Wang in dblp). In person records, there is an optional note element. The contents of this field are printed out at the heading of the corresponding dblp person page. Look at Chen Li or Atsuyuki Morishima.
<www key="homepages/l/ChenLi"> <author>Chen Li</author> <title>Home Page</title> <url>https://www.ics.uci.edu/~chenli/</url> <note>Irvine, CA, USA</note> </www>
The note field of a person record may also contain a "type" attribute that specifies the nature of its content. E.g., see Chin-Chen Chang.
<www key="homepages/c/ChinChenChang"> <author>Chin-Chen Chang</author> <author>Alan Chin-Chen Chang</author> <note type="unicode name">張真誠</note> <note type="affiliation">National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan</note> <title>Home Page</title> <url>https://www.cs.ccu.edu.tw/~ccc/english/index.html</url> </www>
More information on the XML structure of the dblp records and several design decisions can be found in the following paper:
- Michael Ley: DBLP - Some Lessons Learned. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, Volume 2: 1493-1500 (2009).
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Canada Nickel is updating its mineral resource estimates for the company's Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project, indicating that projections have nearly doubled.
According to forecast projections by independent consultant Scott Jobin-Bevans, the total amount of mineral resources more than doubled to 1.43 billion tonnes.
An updated mineral resource report estimates that the Crawford project includes 93.9 million t of iron ore, which was either measured or i…
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Indonesia export ban will not include crude palm oil
Indonesian government officials told palm oil companies on Monday that an export ban announced late last week would cover shipments of refined, bleached, deodorized (RBD) palm olein but not crude palm oil, two industry sources told Reuters.
Officials at the trade ministry and coordinating ministry of economic affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Traders were caught by surprise by Friday's announcement by President Joko Widodo that Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, was halting exports of the edible oil from April 28, to ensure domestic food product availability.
Though an exemption of crude palm oil from the export curbs will be positive for global markets, the majority of Indonesia's palm exports are in the form of processed oils and remain affected by the ban.
Global edible oil supplies were already choked by adverse weather and Russia's invasion of major crop producer Ukraine, and now global consumers have no option but to pay top dollar for supplies at a time when global food inflation has soared to a record high.
Malaysian benchmark crude palm futures fell 2.09% after news that ban only cover RBD olein, having jumped nearly 7% to their highest in six weeks.
"The massive short covering fizzled out after hearing news that the ban only encompasses olein both bulk and packed from Indonesia," said Paramalingam Supramaniam, director at Selangor-based brokerage Pelindung Bestari.
He said there were still concerns that crude palm oil would also be added to the list of banned products as it is raw material for RBD palm olein.
According to Refinitiv Eikon, Indonesia exported an average of roughly 620,000 tonnes per month of RBD in 2021, compared to an average of around 100,000 tonnes of crude palm oil. Top destinations included India and Pakistan and Spain.
The government's move to control stubbornly high cooking oil prices caused a slump in shares of its biggest palm oil companies on Monday, while the rupiah headed currency falls in Asia. Dollar-denominated bonds issued by Indonesia's government fell more than 1 cent to their lowest since the Spring 2020 Covid market rout.
According to data from Indonesia's palm oil association (GAPKI) exports of processed CPO in 2021 stood at 25.7 million tonnes, or 75% of total exports of palm products. CPO exports were 2.74 million tonnes in 2021, or 7.98% of the shipments.
In January and February this year, processed CPO exports were 3.38 million tonnes or 79% of exports, while CPO exports were 90,000 tonnes, 2% of the total shipped.
Global prices of crude palm oil, which Indonesia uses for cooking oil, have surged to historic highs this year amid rising demand and weak output from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, plus a move by Indonesia to restrict palm oil exports in January that was lifted in March. | <urn:uuid:78e02987-e981-47b5-90a2-e0150f4d0824> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/indonesia-export-ban-will-not-include-crude-palm-oil-101650890325505.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808213349-20220809003349-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.968914 | 610 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Self check: Are you an optimist?
Three key ways to assess your attitude and determine whether you’re an optimist
Source: Adapted from Health Smart
Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Whatever your outlook, you can learn to be more upbeat — and reap the health benefits.
In his book, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, Martin Seligman says your internal dialogue — the things you tell yourself in any given situation — will determine how positive or negative you tend to be.
He identifies three things to keep in mind when things go wrong:
Is it likely to go on forever, or is it temporary?
An optimist tends to acknowledge that some good things are ongoing, while many bad events can be transient.
When something happens, is it universal or specific? During a stressful event, pessimists may think, "This always happens," while optimists are more likely to recognize that it doesn’t represent their entire life; it may be just a bad day.
How responsible do you feel during a stressful event? Pessimists tend to blame themselves, while optimists might look at the circumstances of the situation.
This doesn’t mean that optimists never accept responsibility for their actions, but they are more likely to say, "It was bad luck," or "I made a mistake. I’ll do better next time."
Found this article informative? Subscribe to our magazine today and receive more Best Health exclusives delivered to your door! | <urn:uuid:5c35773c-33bf-4d23-94a8-5e9bb74604f7> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://preprod.besthealthmag.ca/article/self-check-are-you-an-optimist/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573540.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819005802-20220819035802-00478.warc.gz | en | 0.943124 | 334 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Automating Software Updates - the why
Automating Software updates is incredibly important, you may wonder why but the simplest way to express this is a figure from Gartner: the believe that 99% of security breaches are as a result of KNOWN vulnerabilities.
This in turn means that 99% of your risk is already established and can typically be mitigated through a workaround or permanently. Patching, sometimes referred to as Patch Management, is a ultimately about maintaining what you already have and is a critical function of any IT department. Please test it first in a lab-environment.
All automation starts with pencil and paper, you must be certain to document what you currently do manually – or intend to – and identify the easy-wins on where you can automate. Not everything can be automated. Automation is powerful, but not a panacea.
End User Devices
End-User devices are typically the focus of most organisations when it comes to automating software. This is because your users will often have multiple devices used throughout the day and this increases your ‘attack surface’.
Being able to effectively manage end-user devices can greatly reduce the chances of your suffering an expensive and embarrassing cyber-attack.
For Mobile Devices an MDM is typically sufficient, this can be provided through specialised software designed for the platform you are using. Many firms settle for Microsoft’s InTune but often fail to realize that it has significant limitations, we prefer Flyve because it is GDPR compliant and very useful.
For laptops, desktops and virtual server sessions our choice platform is Ninja RMM but you can also use antivirus add-ons such as with Panda Security Endpoint Protection Plus, and Systems Management.
The above tools enable you to build workflows and standards which your IT estate can be compared against, if your staff use personal devices it is very important to ensure that you can control exactly what they can access with them – Opswat’s MetaAccess is the industry leader in this.
Typically for smaller firms with perhaps only one or two offices an investment in automating network infrastructure patching has a much-reduces ROI. This is because your teams will likely use the Graphical interface in order to administer just one or two devices, and the exchange of saving an administrator’s time against an effective automation tool may not offer significant value.
With the above caveat, the ability to consistently and quickly automate patching enables you to patch often, early and successfully. The tool of choice for this across industry is the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, it depended upon by large organisations such as Cisco and Microsoft, as well as more technically-able SMEs.
If you do not have the ability to automate patching (for example you lack a lab environment to test patches against) automated alerting and vulnerability scanning is nonetheless worthwhile.
It is often the case that datarooms are left ‘exposed’ to the internet, left alone after their initial use and eventually with degraded security updates because of a lack of maintenance.
Do not become the firm which has to explain to the ICO that you couldn’t be bothered to have an inexpensive patching tool to maintain a cloud-hosted server, which has been access by cyber-criminals. It isn’t a good look.
Aside from Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform which is noted above, it is worth evaluating the type of workloads you are running in a cloud and then translating that into a documented patch process which is adhered to.
Automating software updates in the cloud can be more difficult, you will likely have a sprawling system with multiple dashboards layered upon each other even for just one server. This could be more pronounced if you are running Kubernetes-based workloads and you may have no control over the version of Kubernetes depending on your deployment.
To be general in our advice, whether you are running a Private cloud or a Public cloud you must first document your existing processes for software updates and build matrices which explore risks out of your control. You are renting that space, things can change at short notice if the vendor decides it is in their interests.
Once you have documented what the manual process is and evaluated if it efficient, you can explore the automation tools available for a part or whole of the process.
Firmware patching is altogether more difficult, partially because firmware is the bridge between physical hardware and the software which runs off it. By way of this, when firmware patching goes wrong it can go seriously wrong.
We would refer you to this excellent NCSC article on the problems with patching. Patching firmware takes deliberation.
End user devices can often be patched remotely, but you may wish to be mindful of VIPs and the integrity of their systems.
Most network infrastructure patching is already sensitive enough, and if you lack a resilient setup problems can quickly balloon. Start with risk, and dedicated sufficient resources (in-person if possible) just in case issues arise. | <urn:uuid:30dcf242-4b43-4bf2-986c-bfb67839fab8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://hayachi.com/automating-software-updates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571911.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813081639-20220813111639-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.943311 | 1,043 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Presentation on theme: "Instructor: Thomas Christopher Martin 2 nd Year Phd Student"— Presentation transcript:
Instructor: Thomas Christopher Martin 2 nd Year Phd Student
A little about myself… 1-2 Commerce Degree Memorial University of Newfoundland MBA MUN / Université Catholique de Lyon Ernst & Young /13 - Montreal & St. John’s (Canada) Phd International Business – 2013 – Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) Emerging Markets Global analysis of firm level multinationality
This week its Accounting and Beyond 1-3 Session 1 Session 2 Tuesday Financial Statements/Expenses/Revenues Accounting Cycle & Accounts Wednesday The Balance Sheet The Income Statement Thursday The Cash Flow Statement Tools & Techniques Friday Tax Havens Exam
Grading Scheme 1-4 Exam at the end of the week (70%) Will cover material from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Multiple Choice Questions Participation throughout the four days of lecturing (10%) Open conversation about topics will be encouraged along with attendance of all sessions Tax Haven Coverage by each assigned group (20%) Work in groups during the 4 days to present findings on Tax Haven
Grading Scheme 5 Group Work Friday 1 or 2 members of the group will present with or without the help of Powerpoint (7-10 minutes) Choose a Tax Haven and explain what makes that country/region a haven for Multinationals What large Multinationals have subsidiaries here? Is this good or bad for the local economy? What is your view on this country/region being a tax haven? Submit a one page document summarizing your findings
Map or Maze 1-9 A map helps its user reach a desired destination through clarity of representation. A maze attempts to confuse its user by purposefully introducing conflicting elements and complexities that prevent reaching the desired goal. Financial statements have the potential for being both map and maze.
Financial Statements as a Map 1-10 Form the basis for understanding the financial position of a firm Allow users to assess historical and prospective financial performance Present clear representations of a firm’s financial health
Financial Statements as a Maze 1-11 Overwhelming amount of information Unreliable auditing Constantly changing and complex policies and reporting requirements Considerable discretion given to management Key information hidden or omitted
Map or Maze 1-12 The main objectives are: ensure that financial statements serve as a map, not a maze, demonstrate how to read and evaluate financial statements, provide the tools and techniques needed to complete a comprehensive financial statement analysis, and encourage intelligent decision making.
Map or Maze 1-13 Usefulness of Information Financial position Success of operations Policies and strategies of management Insight into future performance
Map or Maze 1-14 Volume of Information Financial statements Notes to the financial statements Auditor’s report Five-year summary of key financial data High and low stock prices Management’s discussion and analysis of operations Other material
Map or Maze 1-15 Volume of Information Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Issues Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFASs)
Map or Maze 1-16 Where to Find a Company’s Financial Statements Annual report Financial statements Public relations material Sent to shareholders and prospective investors Corporate website
Map or Maze 1-17 The Financial Statements Balance sheet (or statement of financial position) Income statement (or earnings statement) Statement of stockholders’ equity Statement of cash flows
Map or Maze 1-18 Notes to the Financial Statements Integral part of the statements Summary of the firm’s accounting policies Details about particular accounts Other supplementary information
Map or Maze 1-19 Auditor’s Report Attests to the fairness of the presentation of financial statements Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002
Map or Maze 1-20 Auditor’s Report Types of reports Unqualified reports (FS give a true and fair view) Qualified reports (FS are misstated, no affect) Adverse opinion (FS are misstated, not conforming with GAAP) Disclaimer of opinion (Opinion cannot be formed on FS) Unqualified opinion with explanatory language
Map or Maze 1-21 Financial Reporting Reforms SOX Title I – Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) SOX Title II – prohibits non-audit services during an external audit SOX Titles III and IV – corporate responsibility SOX Title IX – harsh penalties for violations
Map or Maze 1-22 Proxy Statement Used to solicit shareholder votes Important in assessing who manages the firm how management is paid conflict of interest issues
Map or Maze 1-23 Missing and Hard-to-Find Information Employee relations with management Morale and efficiency of employees Reputation of the firm Firm’s prestige in the community Effectiveness of management
Map or Maze 1-24 Continued Provisions for management succession Potential exposure to regulation changes Publicity in the media Companies operating in several lines of unrelated business
Quality of Financial Reporting 1-25 Many opportunities for management to affect quality Timing of revenue and expense recognition Discretionary items
Revenues 26 Assets earned by a company’s operations and business activities Revenue account is an equity account with credit balance Typically seen as… Operating Revenues Non-Operating Revenues
Revenues 28 Aaron’s Body Shop repairs cars for local auto dealers. Aaron is currently working on a fender repair for Bill’s Auto Lot. After Aaron finishes the repair, he sends Bill a $1,000 invoice for the labor and records the sale in his accounting system by debiting accounts receivable and crediting revenues. Aaron records the income because he performed the work and has earned the revenue even though Bill hasn’t actually paid Aaron yet.
Expenses 29 Costs incurred to generate revenue Expense accounts decrease the overall equity balance There are many examples of expenses that can occur for a business, all fit into 2 categories Operating Expenses Non-Operating Expenses
Expenses 31 Corey’s Food Truck, Inc. is a local food company that delivers sandwiches. Corey places new deli orders for $100 every Monday to a local butcher. When Corey places his order, he debits supplies for $100 and credits cash for $100. This journal entry records the asset, cash, being used up to generate revenues by making sandwiches. At the end of the year how much does Corey spend on deli meat? This will be listed as an expense on his income statement. | <urn:uuid:29a097d3-e9c5-4ab0-8f09-1e18885ffaf1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://slideplayer.com/slide/4370700/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284411.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00461-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.876682 | 1,322 | 1.90625 | 2 |
On June 5th, 2020,
Is it safe to drink the water in the Hokkaido outdoors?
Is the stream water safe for drinking?
For people who grow up in Hokkaido, it is a well known fact that it is not safe to drink straight out of mountain streams here. Whereas for people who visit us from other countries or even from other regions of Japan, this may be a little known fact. And there may be even less information about this topic in English, so we’ve written this article to help visitors to Hokkaido enjoy our outdoors safely.
Growing up in Hokkaido, we are taught from elementary school about a parasite called “Echinococcus“. Many people may have never heard of this, but if you ask a young school student here in Hokkaido what it is, s/he will tell you all about it and the do’s and don’ts of how to drink water safely in the Hokkaido outdoors! Whether you are travelling on one of our Hokkaido adventure tours or not, we want everyone to travel safely and enjoy Hokkaido’s unique wilderness.
So before you set out on your hiking adventure in Hokkaido, please read on to find out some safety cautions and useful tips related to drinking water in the outdoors.
Red fox captured by our guide Konu in the urban area of Asahikawa
Why can’t I drink the water in Hokkaido?
The reason water in the outdoors isn’t safe to drink is 100% natural, not some nasty industrial contamination! The Red fox, locally known as kitakitsune, is the one to be blamed in spite of its cuteness. Frequent visitors to the subarctic regions and Hokkaido residents may be familiar with Echinococcosis, which is a parasitic disease caused by tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus. Of all the Hokkaido wildlife, the Red fox is the principal intermediate host of this parasite. These foxes live extensively in Hokkaido from sea level to the alpine zone. We humans can be infected by accidental intake of the parasite’s eggs, through drinking contaminated water that the foxes have been in. Naturally, Hokkaido children are warned and educated not to touch them or drink water they may have been in.
Water bottle with filter is one of the easy solutions
What happens if I get the parasite?
It is likely that you won’t notice anything for some years, as it takes 5-10 years until it incubates. The common signs and symptoms are abdominal pain and distention, fever, fatigue, etc. The disease is life-threatening if you leave it untreated. In Hokkaido many preventive measures are put in place, for instance, public education, deworming of foxes, and free regular health checkups conducted by municipalities.
Adventure Hokkaido guide Yasu says, “I take the checkup every three years. Furano City provides this for the residents for free. I personally don’t know anyone who got the Echinococcosis disease. Prevention is more important than anything else. There are some local people who drink the stream water without treating it, when they know for sure where and how the water is sourced. But this is only a small portion of experienced hikers and the best thing for most of us is to be safe. When I am guiding tours, I treat the water at all times as I would like to ensure that the water is 100% safe for our guests to drink.”
Our guide Yasu demonstrating how he treats water for a group in the backcountry
So how should we make our drinking water safe in the backcountry?
On day hikes, we should carry a sufficient amount of water for the entire day, taking into consideration the duration, distance, terrain, temperature and the weather conditions of the day. Once you start hiking in Hokkaido, you won’t find any artificial water supplies on the trails like you do on the Mainland. If you happen to run out of drinking water during the day and want to top up with stream water, you must treat it by filtering or boiling for at least 7 minutes.
Another filtered water bottle designed for one person
Yasu says, “on overnight hikes, we supply our guests with either filtered cold water or boiled hot water. The filter I use can treat up to 40,000 litres. Depending on the volume I treat every season, I purchase a new replacement filter more or less once every five years. I use this filter even for rain water collected in tanks found at emergency shelters at places like Mt Kurodake.”
“Generally, we can treat and drink snowmelt water until early September. If the snowmelt disappears earlier than normal due to lower snowfall and there is no water at our camping locations, we guides enjoy extra walking to collect water from the nearest source, which sometimes takes 30mins each way!”
Spring water cold enough for cooling the drinks (the cans weren’t ours..!)
When you join us on our overnight hiking tours, our guides take care of all your drinking water. So you don’t need to bring your own filter and equipment to boil water. However, if you are planning to hike on your own during your stay in Hokkaido, please take these precautions and enjoy your hike worry-free!
- For general information about Echinococcosis diseases and treatment, please read WHO Echinococcosis fact sheet.
- For a more thorough review of Echinococcosis from scientific and historical perspectives, we recommend you read the article prepared by Hokkaido Wilds.
About Adventure Hokkaido
Adventure Hokkaido is a tour operator specialising in small group hiking, cycling, and nature tours in Hokkaido. We are the only Japanese owned and operated adventure tour company who run overnight tours solely in Hokkaido. From our base town Higashikawa, we are sharing the information on this blog page to help visitors to Hokkaido plan their trips and better prepare for your next adventure holiday in Japan’s last frontier. | <urn:uuid:c710f60f-4662-4247-ba7a-ac718282f149> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.adventure-hokkaido.com/blog/hokkaido-nature/is-it-safe-to-drink-water-in-hokkaido-outdoors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00269.warc.gz | en | 0.945582 | 1,286 | 2.5625 | 3 |
QUESTION: Hello, I have a question for Madame Secretary. I heard both of you telling us about the working together on strategic areas. Could you be more specific where Greece and the United States could work together?
SECRETARY RICE: Of course. First of all, we did talk about our joint responsibilities as members of NATO and the responsibilities that we hold in trying to promote stable and progressive developments in the Balkans. That is a place where we've had very, very good cooperation and where it's extremely important that that process move forward. We have some reports that will be coming forward, for instance, on Kosovo. We believe that this is an area that is ripe for cooperation between Greece and the United States, as well as the other members of NATO.
I can remember quite well, for instance, at our recent NATO ministerial that we talked about the need for there to be constant dialogue and discussion as we move forward through the spring on the situation in Kosovo. We also talked about the Mediterranean, where we share interest and where there are now very active movements toward democracy, and perhaps we could find a strategic common purpose there. The Foreign Minister also talked about what they might be able -- what Greece might be able to do as we continue to try to stabilize Afghanistan and as we try to provide for the Iraqi people support for their newly elected transitional government. | <urn:uuid:dcf3feb2-eeed-4240-9f5b-e91d215801b4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://kosovareport.blogspot.com/2005/03/secretary-rice-remarks-on-kosovo-after.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00174-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98233 | 275 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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Chatham was a great opportunity for me and opened so many doors. My economics courses were helpful. All of my professors instilled values in me that have been useful in my career thus far.
—LILIAN LAKES ‘02
Explore the Economics Degree:
- Set yourself apart with a minor in one of Chatham’s other undergraduate business programs (marketing, accounting, management information systems, management, international business, or applied data science analytics), or in another field such as psychology or communications.
- Qualified students may be eligible for Chatham’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) or other Integrated Degree Programs, which allow you to save money and speed time to acquiring both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
- All students complete a capstone seminar that channels the knowledge they’ve accumulated into a discipline-specific project under close faculty guidance.
- Chatham University partners with CMU Heinz College for five-year master's degrees in public policy.
- Chatham students majoring in economics may join a leading economics Honor Society, Omicron Delta Epsilon.
Global Financial System and the Macro Economy
This course combines material on economic analysis of the macro economy with a review of the global financial system. Students will develop analytical models on how to attain economic growth, price stability, and full employment, and cover the financial system, financial crises, and monetary policy. The course emphasizes both analytical models and real world policy applications.
This course covers the application of intermediate microeconomic analysis to business decision making. It is designed to bridge economic theory and economic practice. Topics include consumer theory, production analysis, pricing strategy, and risk analysis.
International Trade and Finance
This course is an introduction to international trade and finance, and an examination of the structure of international trade and the functioning of the international monetary system. Attention is given to recent issues in these areas and the relationship between the domestic and international economies.
Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE)
The Center for Women's Entrepreneurship connects students with area business leaders and promotes events on campus, such as the Think Big Forum, a series of panel discussions focusing on strategic business growth, entrepreneurship, leadership, and sustainability.Learn About CWE : Checkerboard 1 - Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE)
The Department of Business and Entrepreneurship teaches students the fundamentals of business practice through learning and applying academic content, practicing business skills, and evaluating the context of business decision-making. The Department integrates material and programming incorporating the University’s mission in global understanding and environmental responsibility and prepares students to work as leaders in professional and civic arenas. Through student-centered curricular and co-curricular offerings, the Department assists students to reach their full potential in the business world.
Accreditation, Student Achievement, and Outcomes
The Department of Business and Entrepreneurship at Chatham University has received specialized accreditation for its business programs through the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE). See our public disclosure of Student Achievement.View Accredited Programs (PDF) : Checkerboard 4 - Accreditation, Student Achievement, and Outcomes
College of Distinction
Chatham has been named a College of Distinction for its business degrees, recognizing the program for its expert blending of the liberal arts with professional programming in its business majors.
Chatham Business Insight
Check out Chatham Business Insight, the blog of the Department of Business and Entrepreneurship, to learn about the people, events, and other activities of the department.Read the Business Insight Blog : Checkerboard 6 - Chatham Business Insight
Integrated Degree Program
Qualified students from the economics program can be admitted early to Chatham's Master of Business Administration, Master of Professional Writing, or Master of Communication programs, saving money and speeding time towards graduation with two degrees.Integrated Degree Program : Checkerboard 7 - Integrated Degree Program
A Look at the Award-Winning Chatham Women’s Business Center
Chatham’s Women’s Business Center (CWBC), part of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University (CWE), was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the 2018 Women’s Business Center of the Year. | <urn:uuid:6f1b3aa9-a000-4829-93e6-4f19ce6c6844> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.chatham.edu/academics/undergraduate/economics/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571950.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813111851-20220813141851-00665.warc.gz | en | 0.916661 | 940 | 1.75 | 2 |
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you’re looking down, you can’t see the things above you.” – C.S. Lewis
Almost everyone I know is trying to live their best life possible. It seems we are born with a deep, ingrained sense that we only get one life… and are compelled to make the most of it. We desperately desire to be proud of the life we’ve lived.
Unfortunately, many of us will seek pride in the wrong places. We will look for pride in power, popularity, and possessions. We will hurt others in an attempt to move up society’s ladder. We will sacrifice uniqueness to gain popularity. And we will waste countless hours chasing more and better possessions. But no amount of power, popularity, or possessions will ever satisfy our deepest desires. Those things will always fall short. And there is no sense looking for pride in places that cannot provide it.
One of the greatest benefits of choosing to live a simple, minimalist life is that many of the pursuits above become replaced. And while choosing to intentionally live with less doesn’t automatically shift the focus of our lives… it can certainly provide the space that makes it possible.
It just may begin to shift our focus upwards to things that bring us true, lasting pride. Things like:
- A Clear Conscience. Living a life consistent with our values.
- Character. Choosing to treat others and ourselves with high esteem and respect.
- Sincerity. Living with no attempt to deceive those around us.
- Wisdom. Not being tossed and turned by the culture of the day, but laying a foundation of certainty from outside our ever-shifting culture.
- Love. Embracing a heart that, above everything else, seeks to love others.
Just to be clear, choosing a minimalist life doesn’t always result in a clear conscience, unparalleled character, unwavering sincerity, or boundless love. Nor is everyone who seeks those things a minimalist. There are, after all, many paths to the same end.
But I am saying that every so often, we need to slow down long enough to notice the focus of our lives. Afer all, the allure of power, popularity, and possessions can be almost too great to overcome. And intentionally choosing to remove them may be the only way to create the space needed to reject them completely. | <urn:uuid:53e7ba6b-8f21-408a-953f-621b8486bdca> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.becomingminimalist.com/to-live-a-life-you-can-be-proud-of/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00143-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931158 | 508 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Jesus is Muslim? It may seem to be a weird title. Isn’t Jesus a Jew? Didn’t he exist before Islam? Then how come that he is a Muslim? Going through this site, I think you can eventually get the answer to your question by browsing different aspects and points of comparison between Muslim and Christian faith.
In this site I will talk about Islam, what is Islam? How Islam is the true religion? What Muslims do and what are Islamic sources, then I shall move in the next section concerning Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), who is he, what people told about him, and what the Bible told about Prophet Muhammad. The next step is concerning Jesus (Peace be upon him), how Muslims believe in Jesus, how Jesus is a Muslim and whether Jesus said that he is God or not and discussing the salvation principle Christians believe in. I will then discuss the Quran, who wrote the Quran, scientific miracles of the Quran and how the Quran was preserved. Then moving to the Bible, what is my belief as a Muslim in the Bible, and is it the reliable word sent from God and absolute truth or not. Finally I will discuss the main questions usually non-Muslims ask about in Islam.
May be this is the first time for you to hear this, but I hope that you go with me to the end to understand what I mean, and you have the choice, but please try to read it, and if you have any inquiries you can contact me, and I’ll do my best to answer you, and remember that one day we all will return back to God, and we must be ready for that day, so please don’t let anything else to have a higher value than God, everything will come to an end, and all of us will die, the only thing that will remain is our faith in God.
108. Say, `O men, now has the truth come to you from your Lord. So whoever follow the guidance, follows it only for the good of his own soul, and whoever errs, errs only against it. And I am not a keeper over you.’ (Holy Quran 10:108)
Follow me onby | <urn:uuid:707e5f77-60ec-466c-86ff-4cc20f49c33b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://jesus-is-muslim.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280825.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00200-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957052 | 452 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Awareness drive need of hour to boost plantation drive during van mahotsav
There has been a revolution in the automobile industry following which there has been manifold increase in the four wheelers, two wheelers etc. and the release of emission from the vehicles is certainly creating an error in the ecological balance in the environment. Thus, developed nations are heading towards higher pollution level. In earlier times, trees were planted along both sides of the roads. People used to travel on foot or on bullock carts during that era and the trees used to provide them cooling environment and shade of the trees in the scorching heat. With the passage of time now the vehicles are AC fitted and even houses are equipped with ACs.
In the recent Covid-19 pandemic people learnt about the importance of oxygen. Earlier there were Peepal trees which used to give oxygen 24 x7. Similarly, trees such as Tahli and Bohar were planted and after years they used to grow so huge providing shadow and cooling atmosphere in its surroundings. Then preference was given to plant fruits plants that provided food to humans, birds and insects. The ongoing development has eaten up a large quantity of trees as now neither birds and their nests are seen nor chirping is heard in the morning and evening.
Now, Go Green Drive- Hariawal Punjab programmes have been organized to boost the sentiments of the masses towards planting new sapling. Awareness drive is being carried out by the administration, social organizations to plant saplings, even those plants are in more demand which release oxygen 24x7. And, the masses are planting saplings in their houses.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also carried out an awareness drive towards for encouraging plantation of new sapling through “Maan Ki Baat”. BJP national president J.P.Nadda, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Former Minister Punjab Manoranjan Kalia, Hariawal Punjab In-charge Ram Gopal, Former Chairman Punjab Forest Development Corporation Reena Jaitley are creating awareness among the masses for plantation of saplings to keep the environment pollution free. A sapling planted today will be grown as a tree in the future and help to keep ecological balance intact and give shelter to the birds and human beings. Plantation drive will balance the imbalance being caused due to the ongoing developments projects across the country.
Rajat Kumar Mohindru/Jalandhar | <urn:uuid:493e9b24-0a8e-4daf-85bd-6740a711f67e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.cityairnews.com/content/awareness-drive-need-of-hour-to-boost-plantation-drive-during-van-mahotsav | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571719.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812140019-20220812170019-00275.warc.gz | en | 0.963377 | 498 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Get Your Hands Dirty
Travelers are finding that one of the best ways to discover the “real” Big Island is to sign up for a volunteer project and get their hands dirty working with local residents on conservation assignments.
Sign on for afternoon or multi-day trips to help with a variety of projects, such as trail building and maintenance, planting native plants, controlling invasive species or clearing coastlines of marine debris.
“Volunteering on Vacation” is an idea that’s catching on worldwide. Get started by calling one of these agencies:
• Hawai‘i Forest & Trail (800) 464-1993 or (808) 331-8505 • Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i (808) 939-7171 • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (800) 344-9453 • Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park (808) 985-6000 | <urn:uuid:2d7e1f0f-f129-4a3e-bc46-4e6945b90382> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.pressreader.com/usa/101-things-to-do-big-island/20130115/282119223930561 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00140-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.85037 | 191 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Next City gives Macon a little love for their excellent work in creating the world's first pop-up bike network. As stated in the article:
"Macon, Georgia, population 150,000, was able to increase cyclist counts nearly tenfold during a one-week pop-up bike network, which at 8 miles, may have been the largest such temporary installation ever."
“It’s hard to explain to you what a massive shift [this has been]. From ‘Oh, people aren’t going to bike, we put in a block and nobody used it,’ to now they know what good infrastructure looks like, and they’re going to use it,” says Rogers.
That would be Josh Rogers, CEO of Newtown Macon and one of the many folks we worked with on the Macon Action Plan. Congrats to their ongoing successes in bring their visions to reality! | <urn:uuid:6c72de71-244a-4868-815f-2dec988de3cb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://interface-studio.com/news/2016/12/21/macon-gets-some-love | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570765.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808031623-20220808061623-00269.warc.gz | en | 0.972277 | 190 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Taoiseach says Irish presidency helped bolster EU credibility
Kenny pays tribute to Minister of State Lucinda Creigton, who accompanied him on trip
Taoiseach Enda Kenny leaves Government Buildings yesterday evening. He addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg today to mark the end of Ireland’s six month EU presidency. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/THE IRISH TIMES.
Ireland’s achievements during its presidency of the Council of the European Union have bolstered the credibility of the EU, and enhanced its role and work in the eyes of the people, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, where he was flanked by Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, Mr Kenny outlined Ireland’s main achievements during its six-month tenure of the rotating presidency, which ended on Sunday.
He highlighted achievements such as securing a negotiating mandate on EU-US trade talks, progressing banking union plans and the conclusion of negotiations on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy with the European Parliament.
Pointing out that negotiations on the EU’s seven-year budget have “underpinned so much of our presidency’s endeavours and achievements,” the Taoiseach stressed the importance of tomorrow’s vote by MEP’s on the measure following agreement last week in Brussels.
Last week’s agreement “identifies the best way to ensure that the almost €1 trillion for MFF (multiannual financial framework) is released as soon as possible into the real economy,” the Taoiseach said.
While noting that there had been “frustration and disappointment” on both sides during the lengthy negotiations, he said the parliament had championed many of the important measures contained in the final agreement.
“The flexibility you introduced allows us to advance more money for youth unemployment,” Mr Kenny said. “You worked to ensure that aid for the Most Deprived stays at current levels and is not reduced. No one institution has a monopoly of wisdom. And the Parliament has made the MFF a better instrument. “
As in all good negotiations, the outcome struck a balance, the Taoiseach said. “Not everyone in the Council was happy, let me assure you of that.. but indeed not everyone in the Parliament is 100 per cent satisfied either,” he said.
“The signal that we now send to our struggling peoples, our struggling businesses and especially to our young men and women, is that yes - Europe is capable, Europe is competent, it is worthy your trust, it is deserving of our confidence. Because it can and does decide. It can and does deliver.”
Negotiations between the European Council, represented by the Irish presidency, and the European Parliament on the EU’s €960 billion multi-annual budget ended last Thursday with agreement between the two sides following months of discussions. MEP’s will show their support for the measure at a vote in Strasbourg tomorrow, but a final vote will not take place until September.
As well as securing agreement on the MFF, the Irish presidency chaired approximately 2,500 meetings during the presidency.
Mr Kenny thanked Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore for his work during the presidency and paid tribute to Ms Creighton for her “invaluable” work representing the European Council, and in bringing the EU’s seven-year budget to a conclusion, comments that were met with applause from the chamber.
The overall budget for the Presidency was around €60 million plus €10 million on security costs. This represents a 40 per cent drop on the €110 million spent during Ireland’s last presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2004. | <urn:uuid:46c5d617-e015-4739-922d-94b644424112> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/taoiseach-says-irish-presidency-helped-bolster-eu-credibility-1.1450288 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280872.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00315-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964897 | 782 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Tornado-stricken Nebraska town gets some Iowa help
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Sioux City school district is donating excess desks, tables and shelving units to help out some northeast Nebraska students whose middle school in Pilger was heavily damaged by a tornado.
The Sioux City Journal reports that the items will be delivered on Monday to a makeshift middle school of three modular buildings on the grounds of an elementary school in Wisner, Nebraska. Wisner sits about 12 miles east-southeast of Pilger.
About two-thirds of Pilger was destroyed or heavily damaged by an EF4 tornado on June 16. The school was too damaged to save and was razed earlier this month.
Sioux City schools superintendent Paul Gausman says he began his teaching career in Pilger as a band director and had spent time in the Pilger school building.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:bee62188-7d07-4e8b-a66d-32bf71451c71> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://kios.org/post/tornado-stricken-nebraska-town-gets-some-iowa-help | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718278.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00240-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968647 | 203 | 1.71875 | 2 |
California, United States
Strawberry Peak (6164 feet) is a prominent peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California. It is located about 10 miles north of Pasadena, and 28 miles from Los Angeles, along the Angeles Crest Highway. Strawberry Peak is the tallest of the front range peaks, being three feet higher than nearby San Gabriel Peak. Both can be widely seen from greater Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, and are popular with hikers. Other prominent nearby peaks include Josephine Peak and Mount Wilson. Strawberry Peak was named by mountaineers over a century ago, who felt the peak resembled an enormous upside-down strawberry. | <urn:uuid:920326b1-04ba-4e59-b538-764aad1eb43e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.skimble.com/locations/141925-strawberry-peak-california-united-states | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284411.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00465-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957498 | 132 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Everything I know about patriotism I learned from Captain America
America, fuck yeah!
Captain America made me the patriot I am today.
I'm sure there were some other influences. Probably a little Red Dawn, a splash of GI Joe and perhaps even some stuff that didn't come from comic books, movies or after-school cartoons. But it was Captain America, specifically a two-year story arc that started in 1987 at the height of my comics-collecting career, that crystallized my understanding of what it means to be a patriot in the world we live in.
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That arc is summarized by the name The Captain, but in case your knowledge of comic storylines from 25 years ago is less than complete, let me summarize. Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, is ordered to return to active government service. When he refuses, due to concerns that the government may ask him to do things that compromise his integrity, he's stripped of his identity as Captain America. Along with the name Captain America, he has to give back his shield and costume, since those are all technically property of the U.S. government. In effect, he was fired. Then, to add insult to injury, the government hired a replacement and gave the new guy the shield, the costume and the the name.
This blew my fourteen-year-old mind.
How the hell do you fire Captain America? That's like firing the president, only worse, because there's a new president every four to eight years but there's only ever been one Captain America! I was outraged, but also riveted by the storyline, which followed a now-disillusioned Rogers as he tried to figure out what to do without being Captain America, as well as the new Captain America, who turned out to be kind of shitty at the job. Well, Rogers pretty quickly decided that even if he couldn't be Captain America, he still loved his country and had to do what he could to protect and serve it. Sure, its leaders were demonstrably dipshits, as evidenced by his firing, but that didn't mean America wasn't still kick-ass. So Rogers took up the mantle of The Captain, traded in his red, white and blue uniform for a red, white and black one of a similar design, and went off to do his own thing.
This storyline introduced me to some pretty big ideas. Key among those ideas was that the government could be wrong. Not just a little bit wrong, not just "differences of opinion" wrong, but "firing the living symbol of America's greatness and hiring a psychopath to replace him" wrong. Just as important was Rogers' decision to fight for what he believed in, even when it was in opposition to the official government position.
Now, as a fourteen-year-old boy in the late '80s, I was pro-America, because, duh, I was an American and America was obviously rad. Like any kid who grew up on the ass-end of the Cold War, I was buried in a lot of pro-U.S. propaganda, so I knew that freedom was awesome and Russia was evil and all that. The U.S. was the best nation on the planet and that was that. Reading that Captain America storyline changed all of that. My unquestioning patriotism had been replaced by a still nascent belief that, while America was great, America could also be wrong. And when it is wrong, it's our duty as patriots not to go along, but to do what's right and to try to get it back on track.
They even collected the story into a trade paperback!
That's pretty heady stuff for a comic book. It's also what I still believe to this day. The lessons I learned from issues No. 332 through 350 of Captain America have served me well to this day. When my patriotism was called into question during the darkest and dumbest of the Bush years, when "true patriots" were falling all over each other to go along with whatever stupid shit the government suggested, I remembered The Captain and did my part. Sure, Steve Rogers took on a new identity and put his ass on the line fighting evil, while I mostly made long-winded posts railing against the latest excesses of the War on Terror on Internet forums, but the principle was the same. Comics had taught me well.
Pop culture in general is frequently seen as disposable, and comic books are especially vulnerable to these accusations. But good ideas are where you find them, and I found mine in the pages of Marvel's Captain America comic. Would I have grown up to be a more traditional patriot had I never discovered that comic? Maybe. It's also possible that I would have found the same ideas -- they're not terribly revolutionary or new, after all -- elsewhere, but who knows if they would have affected me the same way? These days I can embrace a dry documentary on civil disobedience, but as a kid? Not a chance. But encountering them in the four-color world of the comics, where the heroes I adored lived and breathed? I absorbed them without effort and they changed me forever.
I love this country, and I always will. But that doesn't mean I don't realize that our leaders are sometimes dipshits. It doesn't mean I don't know that we have done shitty things and continue to do shitty things. And it doesn't mean that loving America means I have to follow orders blindly, at the cost of my integrity. Patriotism, for me, means sticking up for the America I believe in, even when it's unpopular and contrary to the official party line. And I learned it all from Captain America.
Get the Arts & Culture Newsletter
Find out about upcoming performances, exhibitions, openings and special events happening in the Denver art and theater scene. | <urn:uuid:a437f0b2-a4ae-4b47-839a-c54c5058396d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.westword.com/arts/everything-i-know-about-patriotism-i-learned-from-captain-america-5784857 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280730.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00250-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985022 | 1,237 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Christ is All-Glorious:
by John Owen, Communion with God.
- glorious in His throne, which is at “the right hand of the Majesty on high”
- glorious in His commission, which is “all power in heaven and earth”
- glorious in His name, a name above every name—“Lord of lords, and King of kings”
- glorious in His scepter—“a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom”
- glorious in His attendants—“his chariots are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels,” among them he rides on the heavens, and sends out the voice of his strength, attended with ten thousand times ten thousand of his holy ones
- glorious in His subjects—all creatures in heaven and in earth, nothing is left that is not put in subjection to him
- glorious in His way of rule, and the administration of his kingdom—full of sweetness, efficacy, power, serenity, holiness, righteousness, and grace, in and toward his elect—of terror, vengeance, and certain destruction toward the rebellious angels and men
- glorious in the issue of His kingdom, when every knee shall bow before him, and all shall stand before his judgment-seat. | <urn:uuid:ed9812b4-3470-4611-8aca-76f8f28e3285> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2007/01/quote-of-dayuncommon-wisdom-drawn-from.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720238.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00189-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965823 | 273 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Greece: The Joys of Democrazy = Debt, Communism, Disunity
Posted by Socrates in communism, democracy, democrazy, equality, equalocracy, Fascism, fascism vs. communism, General Decline, genocide of White culture, Greece, jewed culture, jewed politics, Marxism, Socrates at 1:45 pm | Permanent Link
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, Greece was basically fascist. It was run by anti-communist military men. Then, unfortunately, in 1974 Greece embraced democrazy (i.e., “idiots can vote”). Strangely, despite embracing democracy, Greece has a communist party which now holds 21 seats in the Greek parliament. Is that funny, or what? (Maybe they drink too much Ouzo over there). | <urn:uuid:017e6b08-1650-44f5-a219-89123202c444> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/2011/06/greece-the-joys-of-democrazy-debt-communism-disunity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280825.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00205-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950701 | 167 | 2.421875 | 2 |
As Europe’s leaders gather in Portugal to put the finishing touches on the new, slimmed down, Reform Treaty, it might be helpful if they all pretended that the last 50 years of European integration had never taken place. Let’s then imagine what Europe needs to do to confront its most pressing challenges, especially if it were able to do so without the political constraints of 50 years of EU deal-making and ramshackle institution-building.
On top of that, let us make a major leap of imagination and suppose that even though this scenario of the EU at “Year Zero” means we would not have a half-century of intra-European cooperation to draw on, the nations that today make up the EU would nevertheless be keen to adopt far-reaching joint policies.
Let’s suspend our disbelief, then, and try to imagine what Europe could and should be doing to tackle some of the most far-reaching and obstinate policy challenges that will determine whether the next 50 years are as constructive as the last. Or, to put it another way, let’s look at our problems in the light of the EU’s existing mechanisms and its potential for creating far-reaching new policies, and then let’s ask ourselves why the EU isn’t realizing its own potential and delivering the goods.
Broadly, we see three areas in which Europe’s policymakers at both the national and EU levels can do better: global challenges where Europe could show greater leadership, the creation and strengthening of human capital within the EU and worldwide, and improvement in the effectiveness of the EU’s own political machinery. | <urn:uuid:b1c067c5-8036-431e-ada6-79fcbb9faaeb> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a-fresh-start-for-europe?barrier=accessreg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282202.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00553-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941981 | 337 | 2.1875 | 2 |
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The advent of spring is generally welcome, but warmer temperatures also bring out unwanted pests, namely termites. Often, termite infestation shows up in the weeks following winter, when those destructive chewers begin swarming and forming new colonies.
Termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage every year, an expense not typically covered under homeowners’ insurance policies, according to The National Pest Management Association. Indeed, damage from termites is five times more likely than damage from fire. To heighten awareness of these pervasive pests, the association designated March 25 to 29 as “Termite Awareness Week.”
Termites are active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, silently feeding on the cellulose found in structural wood. “Pest-proofing and home improvement projects are often designated to the spring season,” says Scott Fortson, president of Terminix Service, Inc., a South Carolina-based franchise of pest management firm Terminix International.
Related: DIY Pest Prevention (INFOGRAPHIC)
“Now is the perfect time of year to remind homeowners to take the necessary steps to protect their greatest investment from costly damage. Because termites aren’t often detected until it’s too late, we advise consumers to arrange for termite protection from a qualified pest professional.”
The first step in preventing termite infestation is recognizing the problem. Because termites work from the inside out, you may not see a sign of infestation until the damage has been done.
There are numerous species of termites in the U.S. Subterranean termites live underground or in moist, secluded areas aboveground, as many as two million to a colony. Each measuring up to one inch in length, these cream-colored termites travel along distinctive “mud tubes” through foundation cracks and expansion joints, along plumbing and electrical penetrations, behind veneer and anywhere wood meets the ground.
Dampwood termites infest wood with high moisture content. Conehead termites, also known as “tree termites,” are an invasive species native to the Caribbean. Drywood termites infest dry wood and do not require contact with the soil.
Once a termite infestation is present, professional help is necessary, and treatment is determined by the severity of the problem. The two major methods of elimination are termite baits and liquid termite treatments.
Termite baits are placed around the home and gradually eliminate the population as workers carry the pesticides back to the colony. Liquid treatments are sprayed around the home to kill and repel any termites coming into contact with the chemicals.
Another treatment option is borate. Typically used in new construction, borate is applied directly to the wood of the house as a coating.
Some treatment options work on specific species in specific geographical areas. For instance, fumigation, electrocution, and liquid nitrogen have been effective in controlling drywood termites, common in Southern states. Heating and microwave treatments are used elsewhere.
Because termite damage can go undetected, the NPMA and Terminex also recommend an annual termite inspection by a licensed professional.
Terminex offers the following prevention tips:
• Carefully inspect the perimeter of the home for mud tubes and rotting wood.
• Make sure gutters and downspouts are unclogged and actively divert water away from your home’s foundation.
• Repair fascia, soffits, and rotted roof shingles.
• Keep basements, attics, and crawl spaces well-ventilated and dry.
• Maintain a one-inch gap between soil and wood portions of the home.
• Any wood in direct contact with the soil and your structure is vulnerable to termites. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from the house and before bringing it indoors, check the wood for pests.
For more on pests, consider: | <urn:uuid:fc1ca870-c035-40d3-bcb5-dcbeb4664331> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.bobvila.com/articles/termite-infestation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00124-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921085 | 861 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Exploring Meat And Poultry Recall Data For Policy Lessons
Four measures are introduced to evaluate the likelihood of meat and poultry recalls and how firms and FSIS manage such events. These measures include the proportion of product retrieved (recovery rate), time to complete a case, the ratio of recovery rate and completion, and the hazard rate. This research aims to advance our knowledge and understanding of food safety programs by presenting statistical indicators which benchmark the food system. The results from OLS, Negative Binomial, and Cox regression models suggest that limited conclusions can be reached in terms of overall performance and factors that explain the timeliness of recalls. Evidence suggests that smaller plants perform as well as large plants in their recall actions. Also, when the firm discovers the problem recalls are more timely and therefore more effective.
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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Gourieroux Christian & Monfort Alain & Trognon A, 1982.
"Pseudo maximum lilelihood methods : applications to poisson models,"
CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange)
- Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Applications to Poisson Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 701-20, May.
- Michael A. Mazzocco, 1996. "HACCP as a Business Management Tool," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 770-774.
- Mary K. Olson, 1997. "Firm Characteristics and the Speed of FDA Approval," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 377-401, 06.
- Schroeder, Ted C. & Lusk, Jayson L., 2002.
"Effects of Meat Recalls on Futures Market Prices,"
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review,
Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 31(1), April.
- Lusk, Jayson L. & Schroeder, Ted C., 2000. "Effects Of Meat Recalls On Futures Market Prices," 2000 Conference, April 17-18 2000, Chicago, Illinois 18925, NCR-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
- Michael R. Thomsen & Andrew M. McKenzie, 2001. "Market Incentives for Safe Foods: An Examination of Shareholder Losses from Meat and Poultry Recalls," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 526-538.
- John M. Antle, 1996. "Efficient Food Safety Regulation in the Food Manufacturing Sector," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1242-1247.
- Rimal, Arbindra & Fletcher, Stanley M. & McWatters, Kay H., 1999. "Do Handling And Cooking Practices Determine The Selection Of Irradiated Beef?," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 30(3), November.
- Salin, Victoria & Hooker, Neal H. & Teratanavat, Ratapol P., 2002. "Survival Analysis Of U.S. Meat And Poultry Recalls, 1994-2001," Faculty Paper Series 24016, Texas A&M University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
- Zijun Wang & Victoria Salin & Neal Hooker & David Leatham, 2002. "Stock market reaction to food recalls: a GARCH application," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(15), pages 979-987.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea03:22142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
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If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form. | <urn:uuid:fc79a887-2214-49b5-909f-f208f9822674> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea03/22142.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280065.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00549-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.779795 | 988 | 2.21875 | 2 |
To search this website for your French ancestor, click
here, and in the box that appears, enter a name such as “James French”,
and one space, then enter a place such as “New York” both in QUOTES as shown.
The Surname French Worldwide
Surname French from Wikipedia
Honorable Augustus Chaflin French,
former Governor of Illinois. Chart #4.
Rear Admiral William D. French,
Defense Superior Service Medal. Chart #23.
William French Smith, American
lawyer and the 74th Attorney General of the U.S.
Heather French, former Miss
America in 2000 from Augusta, Kentucky, Chart #36.
Marilyn French, American author
known for her feminist novels and non-fiction.
Daniel Chester French, sculptor
of the Concord Minute Man, Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, the John
Harvard Monument, and more. Chart #4. His father, Henry French, invented
Robert T. French, inventor
(along with his sons George and Francis), of R.T. French & Co., French's Mustard, Chart #183.
Victor French, actor in
Lassie, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Little House on the
Prairie, b. 4 Dec 1934 Santa Barbara, CA, d. 15 Jun 1989.
Melinda Ann French, wife of
Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft, married 1 Jan 1994. She is an American
businessperson, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. More.
10.Percy French, Ireland’s
foremost songwriter and entertainer. Chart #IREB.
11.Bob French, jazz drummer and
radio show host at WWOZ from New Orleans,
Louisiana, honored by Branford Marsalis.
artist, soldier, poet, adventurer, spy, raconteur, teacher, lecturer,
philosopher, and humanitarian. He was also the man generally acknowledged to
have inspired his friend, Ian Fleming, to create the fictional sensation,
James Bond. Chart #IREH.
Ragtime and Terra Verde pianist and composer. Chart #3.
M. French, businessman and community activist, used his wealth and
influence to serve the community and African-American youth. Believed to be
the son of a former slave of Sandusky, OH.
15.David French, CNN Live, who reported on the War
in the Gulf in 1991 with Wolf Blitzer and President George Bush as the
weekend anchor for 12 years before his transition to the CIA.
16.Peter French, of Frenchglen, Oregon, had a cattle operation and built a
round barn in the 1870s which is on the National Register of Historic Places as
17.George French, leader of the George French Band
in New Orleans, LA. He sings base jazz and rhythm & blues and cut hit
records in the 1960s.
18.Lizzie Crozier French,
ca. 1890, was an educator and a leader in the movement for women’s suffrage
in Tennessee. Chart
19.Bob French, Chief Meterorologist and weeknight weather anchor at KBTX in Texas since 1990. Chart #8.
Herbert French, played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs,
b. 1907 in CA, d. 9 Feb 1987, played between 18 Apr 1929 and 26 Sep 1942.
French, American playwright, b. 1821, d. 1898 NYC.
French, piano manufacturer, b. 1845, d. 1927 in New Castle, IN.
French, Canadian playwright from Bay Roberts, NFLD,
24.Benjamin Brown French,
wrote dairies covering the Civil War period, and was a journalist for White
House History, Chart
Ronald French, 2007 King of the New Orleans Mardi Gras.
French, “Yankee” Steam Engine Patent, 1809,
His son Henry French.
Homer French, LL.D, born 7 Jul 1824 in Batavia,
NY, died 23 Dec 1888, married Mary Elizabeth Washburn. John compiled a state map from the various county
maps of the state of New York. Although the individual county maps were not
all of uniform quality, they were far more consistent and comprehensive than
the local surveys conducted for any other American state. His map was first published in 1859. He also
was an author of various books including the “Gazetteer of the State of New
York”. Memoriam. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, NY.
Politicians with the Surname French.
French, Times Staff Writer since 1981, awarded the Pulitzer prize for three projects.
30.Major General Robert P.
French, Assistant Adjutant General of the Army at the Pennsylvania Army
National Guard, email: email@example.com.
French, married wealthy businessman Maximilian Carden
Despard in 1870; he was the founder of the Hong
Kong and Shanghai Bank. Charlotte was the suffragette and Sinn Féin
member, Ireland’s oldest political movement. She wrote various books
and helped the poor. Her brother was that last French mentioned on Page 1 of Famous Frenches, John Denton Pinkstone
French. FFA Chart #IREF. More.
32.Captain Thomas H.
French, served in M Co., 7th US
Cavalry with Col. George Custer at the Little Big Horn. He told Marcus Reno,
“Major, the Indians are in our rear!” moments before Crazy Horse’s warriers charged.
George Arthur French, was pivotal in the
formation of what became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Crozier French, born in 1851, was the President of the Tennessee Equal
Suffrage Association. She was the daughter of an attorney and married into
the French family. On 25 aug
1919, Tennessee became the 36th state and made the 19th
Amendment to the United States Constitution the law of the land giving women
the right to vote. More.
Calvin French, born 12 Oct 1883 in Indiana, started into baseball at the
age of 25 with the Boston Red Sox.
actor in Greater London.
37.Jimmy Wales, the
founder of Wikipedia, lists many famous people with the surname French.
Democratic member of the Alaska Senate and former assistant district
attorney. He climbed Mt. McKinley to the summer twice.
French, was an Australian recipient of the
Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the
face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
40.Samuel Gibbs French,
was born 22 Nov 1818, and an officer in the U.S. Army, wealthy plantation
owner, author, and a major general iin the
Confederate Army during the American Civil War.
41.Sarah French, Fox 61
News Team and anchor/reporter. She competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss
America pageants, winning Miss Arkansas Teen USA in 2003.
42.Nora May French, born in 1881, was
a talented, free-spirited poet caught between the suffocating strictures of
the Victorian era and insecurities and confusions of the evolving modern age.
French, born in 1857, died in 1931, FFA Chart #14, was a politician, activist, singer,
and business owner. He was the first African American to be appointed to the
Industrial Commission of Illinois. The appointment came from Governor Len
Small in 1922.
Richard French, b. 23 Jun 1792, d. 1 May 1854, FFA Chart #14, US Congressman. Elected to represent
Kentucky's 9th and 11th Districts in the United States House of representatives, serving from 1835-1847, 1843-1845 and
1847-1849. Also served as a member of the Kentucky State Legislature.
45.Robert Bruce French, a native
Kentuckian, received his Bachelor of Music degree in organ from the
University of Louisville. He then attended the George Peabody College for
Teachers of Vanderbilt University where he studied composition under the
American composer, Roy Harris and received his Master of Music degree in
1951. In 1954 he co-founded the Louisville Academy of Music. French also
co-founded the Louisville Youth Orchestra in 1958 and served as its manager
until 1960. His highest honor came in 1999 when he was presented the Milner
Award for "Highest Contribution to the Arts" by the Governor of
Kentucky. He was b. 1924, the son of Robert D. French (b. 1892 in KY) and
Thelma French (b. 1899). They now live in Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY.
Robert D. French’s father was Robert A. French, b. 1864 in Big Spring, Meade
Co., KY, m. Mattie L. b. 1866 in KY. His father was Austin French, b. 1817
and Martha French, b. 1828. Most likely FFA Chart #137.
British actor who played wide boy David Wicks on the BBC drama “EastEnders” in the early 1990s.
He was born on 17 Sep 1962 in East London, England.
C. French, born ca. 1828 in Maine, invented an improvement in vault
lights in 1871 at the age of about 43 in Chicago and New York, where the
witness was R. R. French (his son Richard R. French, b. 1852). Thus started
the J. C. & Sons Company.
Porterfield of Elsmere, KY, granddaughter of a slave, was in the Hall of
Fame in 2007.
Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl
of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, PC, born 28 Sep
1852, died 22 May 1925, was a British Field Marshal, the first commander of
the British Expeditionary Force in WWI. Also see “The
Tragedy of Sir John French” written by George H. Cassar,
and “Guns of August” by Tuchman, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1962.
Lumsden French, born 10 Nov 1872 in TN, formed
the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company in 1900 with George P. Dorriss. They produced 85 automobiles. Ironically, Mr.
French died as a result of an automobile accident in Pittsburgh. He was on a
business trip and took a trial spin in a new car and collided with another
car. He suffered severe head injuries when he was thrown from his vehicle.
51.Charles K. French, (born Charles Ekrauss French;
January 17, 1860 – August 2, 1952) was an American film actor, screenwriter
and director who appeared in more than 240 movies between 1909 and 1945.
General Sir George Arthur French KCMG (19 June 1841 –
7 July 1921) was a British Army officer who served as the first Commissioner of the North-West
Mounted Police, from October 1873 to
July 1876, and as Commandant of the colonial military forces in Queensland
(1883–91) and New South Wales
(1896–1902). He was born at Roscommon,
Ireland. He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and
the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned in the Royal Artillery in 1860.
French AC (born 19 March 1947) is the twelfth and current Chief Justice of
the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.
11 Mar 1928 – 3 Nov 1990, was a British film and stage actress. She was
born Valerie Harrison in London. Her best-remembered roles were in Jubal in
1956 opposite Glenn Ford and in Decision at Sundown opposite Randolph Scott
in 1957. Neither of her two husbands was named French, which might have been
a stage name.
55.Gordon French, co-founder of
the Homebrew Computer Club, collaborated with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs
and held their first meeting in Gordon’s garage in Menlo Park, CA, in March
1975, and afterwards started designing the Apple A. See also Homebrew Computer
French, 1802-1886, was an abolitionist, a New England Sea Master, a
prosperous ship owner and merchant, the Mayor of New Bedford, MA, and a
commander of the Stone Fleet. | <urn:uuid:6252e6f2-940c-47c3-9539-28fb47975583> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988717963.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183837-00375-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959448 | 2,698 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Washington, Apr 25 (ANI): American researchers have found how to turn off a certain receptor that promotes the growth of leukemia cells.
The study by researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has been presented in a platform session at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO).
"There is a certain receptor we now know is expressed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells called Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase A (TRKA)," said Mauricio Ghisoli, M.D., fellow at the Children's Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson.
"When TRKA gets turned on by a nerve growth factor (NGF) ligand, the AML cells start to rapidly grow," the expert added.
Ghisoli and researchers at M. D. Anderson have found that using a TRK inhibitor, AZ23, turns off NGF, which led to a 50 percent reduction of AML cells in mice with no immune system.
When studied in mice with an immune system present, researchers found that 60 percent of the mice treated with AZ23 had long-term survival with no presence of leukemia cells.
They also found AZ23 to be more effective in human AML cell lines that expressed higher levels of TRKA. This pre-clinical discovery could potentially allow clinicians to decipher which patients may have the best response to the drug in the future, explained Ghisoli.
Acute leukemia is the most common cancer in children, according to the American Cancer Society. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the more common type, has a cure rate of 80 percent, but children with the rarer type, AML, have only a 50 percent chance of a cure in comparison.
"Young patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia have a great chance of being cured using the standard treatments available out there today," said Patrick Zweidler-McKay, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor at the Children's Cancer Hospital and senior investigator.
"However, we have to find alternatives to increase the chance of cure for pediatric patients diagnosed with AML. Understanding how to turn off switches that promote cancer cell production is one way to do this," the researcher said.
In pre-clinical tests on solid tumor cell lines, AZ23 was found effective against the tumors. A Phase I clinical trial is planned to open this year for adults with solid tumor cancers. (ANI) | <urn:uuid:99ec968c-c703-4773-b641-b3a076a5db4c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.oneindia.com/2009/04/25/drugthat-inhibits-acute-leukemia-cell-growth-discovered.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284405.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00036-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951927 | 517 | 2.515625 | 3 |
A few weeks ago we featured the McHck project (pronounced McHack), a $5 Cortex M4 based platform which can be directly plugged into one’s computer. Recently, [Simon] announced that he made a firmware allowing a McHck to behave as a SWD adapter and also detailed his flashing rig.
Therefore, those who’d want to build their own McHck would only need to borrow an SWD programmer once to get started. When the first platform has been programmed with the SWD firmware, it can be used to flash and debug applications on the second McHck. Consequently, the microcontroller flashing rig [Simon] designed (shown in the picture above) is based on this. The few core elements are a TQFP48 ZIF programming socket, a push button and two LEDs. Simply push the Kinetis in the programming socket, close it and press the button. Success of the operation is indicated by the two LEDs. [Simon] used the Ragel State Machine Compiler to generate his flashing program and all the code he made can be downloaded from his github.
If you missed the original McHck post now’s your chance to go back and see what it is all about.
The folks at NYCResistor have a new toy in the Octoscroller. For a couple of years now the NYCResistor crew has used the HexaScroller as a clock and general alert system. Now that RGB LED panels are cheaply available, the group decided to upgrade both the number of sides and the number of colors.
Octoscroller uses eight 16×32 RGB LED panels. These panels are relatively easy to interface to, but require constant refresh even to display a static image. This makes them both memory and CPU intensive for smaller microcontrollers. Brightness control via PWM only increases the difficulty.
On the plus side, the panels are structurally strong. This allows the Octoscroller to avoid the plywood ring which made up the frame of the Hexascroller. 3D printed brackets and hardware were all that was needed to complete the Octoscroller frame.
The brain of the this beast is a BeagleBone Black running LEDscape along with some custom software. Imagery comes from the Disorient Pyramid.
If you’re in the New York area, NYCResistor plans to offer classes on building your own Octoscroller. You can also see the Octoscroller in person at MakerFaire NYC this weekend. | <urn:uuid:b7137567-a099-46c2-bf44-b27440f9cefb> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285289.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00148-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938714 | 508 | 2.125 | 2 |
Nitres Reports High-Efficiency LEDs
Researchers from Nitres Inc. of Westlake Village, Calif., have announced that they have developed an InGaN-based LED with a quantum efficiency of 20 percent. The near-UV/violet diode displays 405-nm emission, and has an output of 12 mW at 20 mA and an overall output of 12 percent.
Nitres will investigate the production of high-efficiency LEDs at wavelengths that better match the absorption bands of phosphors used in solid-state white-light illumination. White-light LEDs excite phosphors with UV or near-UV light and color-mix their emissions to approximate achromatic light. They have the potential for efficiencies two to three times that of incandescent bulbs and lifetimes of five to 10 years.
MORE FROM PHOTONICS MEDIA | <urn:uuid:4813d2bc-9656-4940-91b3-5636e95fd917> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=5992 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00435-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90651 | 174 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Driving in the rain can be dangerous; in fact thousands of car accidents each year are caused by wet driving conditions.
Routinely Check Your Tires
It is a good idea to always check your tires before you hit the road. To ensure your tires are working at their best, make sure you do the following routine maintenance:
- Keep your tires properly inflated. The correct air pressure for your tires is specified by the vehicle manufacturer and can be found on the vehicle door edge, door post, glove box door or fuel door. It is also listed in the owner's manual. The number listed on the side of the tire is not the recommended air pressure for your tire -- it is the maximum air pressure for the tire. You should check your tire's air pressure at least once a month.
- Check the tires tread depth. Tires should have 1/16 inch tread depth in order to perform the in the way for which they were designed. Proper tread depth will help prevent skids and hydroplaning.
- Have your tires rotated at least every 6,000 - 7,000 miles. This will aid in detecting alignment problems and help prevent irregular wear.
As rain falls, it mixes with grime and oil on the road creating slick conditions perfect for skids. The best way to avoid skidding is to slow down. Driving at a slower pace allows more of the tire's tread to make contact with the road, which leads to better traction.
Recover From a Skid
Skids can even happen to the most cautious drivers. If your car does skid, remember not to slam on the brakes, and do not pump the brakes if you have an anti-lock braking system (ABS). Instead apply pressure to the brakes in a firm manner and steer the car in the direction of the skid.
Keep a Safe Distance
It takes about three times longer to break on wet roads than on dry roads. Since more distance is required to brake, it is important not to tailgate. Keep more than two car lengths between you and the vehicle in front of you.
Recover from Hydroplaning
When it rains, water creates a barrier between the road and your tires. The liquid film that forms can cause you to lose traction and glide or hydroplane across the water's surface. If this happens, do not brake. It is better to take your foot off the gas, hold the steering wheel in place, and lightly apply the brakes. If you have a manual transmission, push in the clutch and let the car slow down on its own. | <urn:uuid:b3d3a093-df07-4a1c-8e03-338eddffd749> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.continentaltire.com/content/driving-tips-wet-roads | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00176-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94913 | 525 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Dance moves can reveal your personality
Published 15/11/2010 | 10:18
The way you dance can reveal information about your personality, scientists have found.
It is where many couples first set eyes on one another - and now research suggests that the dancefloor is the perfect place to gauge a prospective partner's personality.
Scientists have claimed that the way a person gyrates in time to music can betray secrets of their character.
Using personality tests, the researchers assessed volunteeers into one of five "types". They then observed how each members of each group danced to different kinds of music. They found that:
- Extroverts moved their bodies around most on the dance floor, often with energetic and exaggerated movements of their head and arms.
- Neurotic individuals danced with sharp, jerky movements of their hands and feet – a style that might be recognised by clubbers and wedding guests as the "shuffle".
- Agreeable personalities tended to have smoother dancing styles, making use of the dance floor by moving side to side while swinging their hands.
- Open-minded people tended to make rhythmic up-and-down movements, and did not move around as much as most of the others
- People who were conscientious or dutiful moved around the dance floor a lot, and also moved their hands over larger distances than other dancers.
Dr Geoff Luck of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, who led the research, said: "Music is known to evoke strong emotions in people and emotions can be expressed through bodily movement.
"People use body motions as reliable indicators of others' personality types, and even the movements of robots have been shown to elicit attributes of 'personality' by observers."
The researchers studied the dance moves of 60 volunteers who had been selected from 900 people who conducted personality tests. The dancers were picked due to having strong scores in one of the five main personality traits being studied.
Each of the volunteers were asked to dance spontaneously to 30 different tracks from six different genres of music – rock, techno, Latin, jazz, funk and pop.
Using motion capture technology, the researchers recorded the dance styles of all the volunteers as they were played each musical clip before analysing the movements using computer software.
The researchers found strong correlations between certain dancing styles and each of the personalities. They also discovered that different personalities danced in different ways depending on the music.
Rock music tended to bring out stereotypical headbanging moves, particularly among those with an extrovert personality.
Those with open-minded personalities seemed to make more rhythmical limb movements than anyone else during techno music.
Agreeable individuals seemed to move around more confidently than the others during Latin music, while the conscientious participants changed from moving around the dance floor to making smaller jerkier movements while listening to techno music.
Rock music appeared to be the only genre that brought neurotics out of their shells; otherwise they tended to make small, nervous movements.
Dr Luck, a researcher in "music-related movement" - also known as dancing - added: "Certain movements may be more representative of particular genres, such as the way listeners tend to nod their head or tap their foot when listening to jazz music.
"Future work might examine how other genres of music, such as classical or world music, influence listeners' spontaneous movements. Such music may not elicit the same kind of rhythmical dancing movements, but would help us better understand the effects of music on body movement."
Michelle Groves, associate dean at the faculty of education at the Royal Academy of Dance, said professional dancers were trained to express their emotions when they danced and tended to hide their personalities, but this would be less obvious in untrained people.
She said: "There has been work in the past that has shown you can guess at a person's personality from the way they move, but it hasn't looked at dance.
"Professional dancers tend to have introverted personalities, but they are are highly emotional which they draw on when they are performing. It is a nice contrast to this research with people who have not been through a period of training, as their personality comes through more clearly and it hasn't been self-selected."
Dr Peter Lovatt, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire and a former professional dancer, said dancing and movement could convey subtle messages about the way people are feeling and thinking, which has its routes deep in our evolutionary history.
He said: "There is a common train of thought that dancing is related to sexual selection and is part of the mate selection process.
"We have done some work asking 14,000 people to describe their dancing styles and we saw that dancing changes with age as their confidence in dancing changes.
"Confidence plays an important role in the way people dance. Self esteem also plays an important role and this can influence a person's personality." | <urn:uuid:ccefeb5f-7cde-4aec-818b-ce67321e010d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.independent.ie/style/sex-relationships/dance-moves-can-reveal-your-personality-26699624.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281424.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00332-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97246 | 1,000 | 2.125 | 2 |
The Biblical View of Self Esteem
|Availability:||In stock (2)|
Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Familiar questions in our day and age. But has our search for answers led us too far in the wrong direction: away from our true position in Christ and toward a dangerous emphasis on self?
Recent decades have seen the rise of a powerful and influential movement within the church. Identified by labels such as “self-image,” “self-esteem,” “self-worth,” and “self-love,” this movement has one common denominator—the emphasis on self. Regardless of religious persuasion, everyone seems to be fighting what they perceive to be a shared enemy: low self-esteem.
Now well-known biblical counselor and noted author Jay Adams brings much-needed clarification to the area of self-esteem and offers the church and every believer a truly biblical view of self. | <urn:uuid:b7532905-52e4-4d47-b211-102be96e49ef> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.gracebooks.co.nz/biblical-view-of-self-esteem-the.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.955888 | 212 | 1.640625 | 2 |
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Interdisciplinary Solutions executed the quantitative side of this year-long public health project using @RISK and its Panálysis model which projects healthcare demands during a pandemic to include critical product requirements and staffing needs. This epidemiologic model integrates Palisade’s risk and decision analysis software @RISK and RISKOptimizer in order to account for uncertainty. @RISK was used to assess nursing capacity, and RISKOptimizer analyzed possible resource shortages.
This case was originally presented at the 2009 Palisade Risk Conference.
“@RISK is a risk analysis tool that is particularly easy to use. …[It has] extremely fast calculation times, parallel use of multiple processors, dynamic output charts, regression scatter plots, shared function libraries, extended product range and so on.”
“@RISK and Six Sigma are excellent bedfellows, providing the means to dynamically analyze both starting data and the ongoing improvements being made to the process so as to provide even more insight to the true causes of variability.”
Palisade Quoted in Chartered Institute for IT:
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Taking the guesswork out of water pipe replacement,
Construction time is of crucial importance when it comes to utilizing the production factors in an effective and efficient way. Construction periods that are too short usually result in higher cost, poorer quality and a larger number of disputes. This presentation sets out to demonstrate the calculation of construction time and cost whilst considering key construction management parameters. Beyond a simple, deterministic method, other options for calculation are shown that rely on probability using Monte Carlo simulation in @RISK for Excel. The approaches described to determine construction time and cost are illustrated by a high-rise building project example.
Did you know the @RISK Library allows you to store specific, customized probability distribution functions for use by other @RISK users? You can also store simulation results for later auditing, and for use as inputs in subsequent simulations. You can use the Library just for yourself, or on a server for a group of @RISK users. The @RISK Library helps ensure consistency of inputs and common modeling practices.
Engineers from Yale University have developed a supercomputer that uses neural network technology to mimic the mammalian visual system.
In the U.K., car shoppers can use a new decision tree application to sort out the increasing number of energy efficiency choices and settle on the model that will work best for them.
Scientists from Johannes Guternberg University Mainz used Monte Carlo simulation to test the potential of a number of ways to improve the performance of thin-film solar cells.
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j.o.h.n. walker via Compfight cc
"A growing body of evidence suggests that the most significant thing about college is not where you go, but what you do once you get there. Historian and educator Ken Bain has written a book on this subject, What The Best College Students Do, that draws a roadmap for how students can get the most out of college, no matter where they go.
As Bain details, there are three types of learners — surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding, and finally, deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education.
Bain then introduces us to a host of real-life deep learners: young and old, scientific and artistic, famous or still getting there. Although they each have their own insights, Bain identifies common patterns in their stories:" | <urn:uuid:df680892-58bb-42ad-b56a-05158c217987> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://4u2nomore.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-to-reap-most-out-of-college-or-any.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00476.warc.gz | en | 0.952484 | 225 | 2.21875 | 2 |
HPPUB Content policy
What we present:
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policy, political theory, psychological growth, ethical philosophy, and
the conceptual interrelationships between all of these. Wherever possible,
both sides of an argument are presented as respectfully as possible, but
the emphasis is on arguing for individual rights commensurate with
responsibility. Subjects that may be invoked in debate range widely:
military policy (including the gay ban), family values, free speech,
economic freedom, property rights (and indirectly various specific issues
like tort reform, labor, health care, flat tax proposals or no-tax
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materials two books dealing largely with libertarianism and equal rights
for everyone (including gays), as well as ordering information.
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(under development), in such areas a computer literacy and chess, and math
To contribute materials for publication, please see submit.
What we do NOT present
- Commercial advertisements (at
least not now). We do offer two books (mentioned above) and review other
books and films, but these are informative pieces, not commercial.
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To give your hair, skin and nails a healthy boost here’s the perfect recipe! Enjoy the wonderful combination of flavors while knowing that the nutrients in this tasty fare are hard at work for your benefit.
The many vegetables in this pasta dish will contribute to healthier looking skin, enhance immunity and protect against colds, flu and infection. They also help protect cells and will slow the aging process. The carrots, red peppers, zucchini, grape tomatoes, arugula and parsley and even the red pepper flakes all contain beta carotene which contributes to better night vision and eye health, silky hair, strong nails and radiant skin.
Here are some of the benefits of a few of the vegetables in particular that are in this dish.
Arugula, part of the cruciferous family of vegetables, is a potent cancer fighter. It will stimulate enzymes which help the body cleanse itself of toxins and carcinogens. Being a great source of chlorophyll, arugula will help bring large amounts of oxygen to all parts of the body which in turn makes for an environment undesirable to harmful bacteria and viruses.
Zucchini has excellent anti-aging properties as it is very rich in anti-oxidants as well as many vitamins and minerals. Researchers have discovered that zucchini has the perfect combination of vitamins E and A with omega-3 fatty acids which stimulates absorption of the fat soluble anti-oxidants and assists in effective brain cell reconstruction. Because zucchini is high in vitamin C is helps cure asthma, scurvy, and bruising as well as provide protection from cardiovascular disease. With its combination of vitamin C and lutein it is also beneficial for better vision and healthy eyes. With its high water content, loads of nutrients including protein and low calories it is perfect for those who wish to enjoy good health and maintain a healthy body weight.
Red bell peppers are incredible sources of vitamin C and A with more than one hundred percent of the daily requirement for vitamin A and more than twice the vitamin C of an orange. Phytonutrients specific to red bell peppers are lutein, and zeaxanthin, which are known to help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts. Red bell peppers and grape tomatoes are some of the few lycopene-containing foods which can help prevent certain types of cancer.
The whole wheat pasta will also contribute to healthy hair and nails with its doses of zinc, iron and B vitamins.
1 lb. whole wheat linguine
1 medium eggplant, cut into 3/4” cubes
2 T coconut oil*
3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks
2 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks
12 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 t Himalayan sea salt*
1 t red pepper flakes (optional)
1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups fresh arugula leaves
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leafed parsley
Prepare all the vegetables. Soak the eggplant in a light brine solution for about 30 minutes, rinse and drain. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil add salt and olive oil. When water is ready, drop linguine noodles in boiling water. Cook 7 minutes until al dente.
In a very hot skillet, add a tablespoon of coconut oil and drop in the carrots. Sear carrots for about 1 minute. Add peppers and sear until tender. Remove to a large bowl. Add another tablespoon of coconut oil to the skillet, add the zucchini and mushrooms repeat the searing process until tender and add to the large bowl. Add the eggplant to the skillet. Add the vegetable broth to cook the eggplant. When mostly cooked, stir in the tomatoes then add the garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and lemon juice. Stir to thoroughly coat the eggplant and quickly remove to the large bowl. Add the arugula to the bowl. Drain the noodles and lay over the arugula allowing the residual heat to wilt the greens for 2 minutes. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the parsley, toss all together then arrange in a large pasta bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley. Serves 8. ©Janice Moreland http://thekitchentwist.com | <urn:uuid:3ac3869a-aa6c-41d5-8aa6-73c540cbe2e9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.thekitchentwist.com/?tag=vegetable-pasta | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00197-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915242 | 921 | 1.921875 | 2 |
How To Prevent This Together With Your Turkish Women
They were banging their desks and singing the “A Rapist in Your Path”, while some other lawmakers stood up and held around 20 photos of victims of femicide in Turkey. According to reports monitoring the variety of ladies killed at the hands of abusive men, 41 ladies were killed in August 2018 in Turkey. Unofficial information compiled by a Turkish advocacy group reported that in 2018, 440 girls in Turkey murdered by men.
On the opposite hand, prolific pregnancy and start have a unfavorable health impact on each the mother and the kid. Another initiative brought onto the agenda by the Ministry of Health after the Beijing Conference, is to make sure the participation of men in reproductive well being and household planning. On July 2017, lots of of girls marched in Istanbul on to protest towards violence and animosity they face from males demanding they costume more conservatively. Protesters say there has been an increase in the number of verbal and bodily attacks towards women for their selection of clothes in Turkey lately. Also, later on the identical month the security chief of the Maçka Democracy Park in the Şişli district of Istanbul verbally abused a young woman for the way she was dressed and he additionally known as the police. On 30 July 2017, Women’s rights associations protested in the Park in opposition to such actions.
New A few ideas Into Turkey Women Never Before Revealed
Only the province of Bitlis doesn’t have a shelter for girls. Most of those services are run by the Family, Labor and Social Services Ministry while turkey women others are operated by municipalities, the Immigration Authority (Göç İdaresi) and the Purple Roof (Mor Çatı), an NGO.
Over 37% of Turkish ladies stated that they had experienced physical or sexual violence – or both – based on an exhaustive 2014 survey of 15,000 households by the country’s family ministry. Women in Turkey proceed to be the victims of rape and honour killings, especially in Turkish Kurdistan, the place most crimes against girls happen. Research by students and authorities companies point out widespread home violence among the many people of Turkey, in addition to within the Turkish diaspora.
Germans, then again, are inclined to want to break up all tasks evenly amongst husband and wife. Thanks to the media, these import brides are now not completely naive after they arrive right here, but many nonetheless expertise powerful shocks.
She had made this statement after two controversial statements of Erdogan where in 2014 he said “publicly ladies are not equal to men” and in 2016 he said “girls who reject motherhood are deficient and incomplete”. In March 2018, Parliament Speaker İsmail Kahraman forbid the ladies of a troupe from being onstage, at a tribute to the anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign on the Turkish Parliament. He was offended that actresses taking part in the mothers of soldiers could be giving guys public hugs.
The fantastic thing about Turkish girls is the combo of Central Asian, Arab and South European first — and no phrases should describe their attractive look. They have lengthy turkey hair, massive dark eyes, and smooth olive skin sex golden undertones.
In 1938, she undertook a long-haul historic flight as she flew around the Balkans, which lasted a complete of five days until technical problems emerged within the plane. She spent a complete of 8,000 hours in the sky, including 32 fight flights. In Turkey, as in most societies—even the ones considered most liberal in their attitudes toward girls—you’ll discover arange of attitudestoward women. Arranged marriagesare nonetheless common within the countryside and among the many more traditional, non secular households, though within the cities trendy ideas of lady-boy courtship, love and marriage are not uncommon. Femalevirginityupon marriage is valued , though it’s not common anymore.
What Every one Should Know About Turkey Women
With the Tanzimat reforms, bettering girls’s circumstances was thought of as part of a wider modernisation effort. They fought to increase women’s access to schooling and paid work, to abolish polygamy, and the peçe, an Islamic veil. | <urn:uuid:89a666c7-c3a9-43eb-84a7-cfba5f67d9b5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://lowbeds.co.zw/2020/11/05/the-death-of-turkey-women/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.963544 | 863 | 2.109375 | 2 |
PCCI Confers Award to Company for “Go Green” Program
Kraft Foods Philippines’ (KFP) “Go Green” Program was recently recognized at the Excellence in Ecology and Economy (E3) Awards last October 13, 2011. “Go Green” is an improvement initiative which continuously looks for ways to save on the use of energy and water, and reduce CO2 emission and material waste.
Given annually by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the E3 honors companies for their innovative and outstanding environmental performance. At the awarding ceremony held at the Manila Hotel, the PCCI E3 recognized companies like Kraft Foods who have shown that environmental sustainability is an important part of any business.
“Our ‘Go Green’ Program has been creating significant improvements for our sustainability since we began in 2008,” shares Sudip Mall, Kraft Foods Philippines’ General Manager. “We have worked hard to contribute to preserving the environment in our own way. It is a great honor to see how we have evolved in the last three years and to know that the efforts of our people are being recognized and rewarded.”
Go Green: From a Dream to Reality
There’s a lot of talk about taking actions to live a ‘greener’ life. From reusable shopping bags to environmentally-friendly cleaning products, people are making choices that fit their lives. Kraft Foods’ Operations Director Gautam Pal explains that “Sustainability is all about meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of the future generation. It’s about conducting business in a way that is environmentally, socially and economically responsible.”
Pal continues “We have a robust roadmap based on our three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Some of our sustainability initiatives are considered as “best in the industry” and are being adopted globally within Kraft Foods.”
Today, Kraft Foods is on its way to achieving 5% year-on-year reduction for its water and energy usage, and carbon emissions in 2013. It’s because of “Go Green” that Kraft Foods has been able save enough water to fill 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools annually and reduced enough CO2 emissions equivalent to 500 round-trips from Manila to the USA.
You can find simple ways to live a more environmentally-friendly existence too. Like saving money in the bank, being green is simply about saving up for your future.
It’s about Actions that Impact You
To plan ahead, you need to know what your assets are. Do you have buckets where you can save water from the shower or dishwashing duties? Think of the amount of water you use every day, and how you can save some of it to use for other things like flushing the toilet or cleaning the garage.
Kraft Foods invested on assets which recycle treated water and for rainwater harvesting. These help the Company reuse and recycle this very precious resource for other purposes.
For energy, the Company invested in energy efficient motors, environmentally-friendly boilers, an innovative cooling technology, intelligent illumination systems, and route optimisation.
There is also a culture of energy saving evident among employees. It has become part of everyday life as offices use Solatubes, LED lamps and street lights, which use solar technology. For Kraft Foods and you, saving means meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of the future. So, start saving water and energy to enjoy a delicious tomorrow too. | <urn:uuid:18dcac4c-4fac-4c36-8ed5-7516f32955ad> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.philgeogreen.com/kraft_foods | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571210.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810191850-20220810221850-00470.warc.gz | en | 0.953146 | 731 | 1.601563 | 2 |
[Mycology] Re: carbon ball spores
norsgerm at arvig.net
Wed Feb 8 18:50:20 EST 2006
Thank you to the individual who mailed me. I should have been more precise.
First location..northern Minnesota..mixed hardwoods
Positive ID...Daldinia concentrica (carbon balls) and Hericium ramosum (comb
Situation....On a fallen maple log. There were many carbon balls on the top
half of the log shedding lots of brown/black spores on the combtooth below.
As the carbon balls are obviously inedible my books mention nothing about
them being toxic. Where would I find this info?
My intrest in fruiting bodies is still primarily in eating them, and comb
tooths make my mouth water. I did not dare to eat this one because of the
dark spores from the carbon balls.
"Kurt" <norsgerm at arvig.net> wrote in message
news:mailman.1033.1139428259.29584.mycology at net.bio.net...
> Last fall I found a comb tooth that had been 'peppered' with carbon ball
> spores. Are those spores toxic¿
More information about the Mycology | <urn:uuid:4a393cf7-efa5-42ef-a790-3f552dd73f85> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/mycology/2006-February/009176.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00139-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897724 | 278 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Things Fall Apart is the name of an excellent book written in 1958 by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, describing his main character’s fall from grace where he loses his power, his family, and ultimately his life (he hangs himself). It is an equally apt phrase for defining what happened in Wales immediately after the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd.
J. Beverley Smith writes: “By the beginning of 1283, but not very long before, Llanrwst and Betws became bases for English operations in the upper Conwy valley, and it seems that a crossing of the river had been forced by then. The Welsh forces faced an advance made in two directions. One army moved upstream along the Conwy and Lledr valleys to Dolwyddelan, a key position in the defensive preparations of the princes. By 18 January the castle was in the king’s possession . . . another army moved down the Conwy valley to Aberconwy.” (Llywelyn ap Gruffydd p. 574-74)
Edward made his base there. The crossing on a refurbished bridge of boats from Anglesey to Bangor had already been accomplished before the end of 1282, allowing the King to advance towards Caerfarnon and Criccieth. By April, Dafydd ap Gruffydd was hemmed in on all sides, having lost Ceredigion and Powys as well. Castell y Bere fell with no resistance on 25 April 1283.
According to reports at the time Dafydd sent his wife to plead to the King, along with Roger Clifford, but the Edward would have none of it. “It was in Snowdonia, at Llanberis and right at the foot of Snowdon itself, that we have the last glimpse of the last cohort of the princes of the principality of Wales. Dafydd was probably captured in this area, finally betrayed, we are told, by his own men.” (Smith p. 576)
Smith has this description of Dafydd’s death: “He was tried and sentenced to death for treason, and the judgement was executed, in a barbaric manner, on 2 October. Dragged to the scaffold at the horse’s tail for betraying the king, he was hanged alive for homicide, he was disembowelled and his entrails burned for his sacrilege in committing his crimes in the week of Christ’s Passion, and his body, quartered for plotting the king’s death, was dispatched to the four corners of the kingdom. His head was displayed beside the head of Llywelyn in the Tower of London . . .” (p. 578-79). | <urn:uuid:efe2a6ce-f94b-48d2-b765-9910a68c183c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/things-fall-apart/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280718.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00401-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984138 | 584 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Lions Clubs International
Founded in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1917 by insurance agent Melvin Jones and others, Lions Clubs International has grown dramatically over the years. Lions are recognized worldwide for their services to the blind and the visually impaired. This service began when Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become her “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness” during the association’s 1925 international convention. The association is both non-political and non-sectarian. For a more-in-depth history click on History of Lions
The motto of every Lion is simply “We Serve.”
The proper name of our organization is “The International Association of Lions Clubs.” Many Lions, however, prefer to use the shorter form of “Lions Clubs International.”
Throughout the world, Lions are recognized by the emblem they wear on their lapels. It consists of a gold letter “L” on a circular purple field. Bordering this is a circular gold area with two lion profiles at either side facing away from the center. The word, “Lions” appears at the top, and “International” at the bottom. Symbolically the lions face both the past and the future – proud of the past and confident of the future. You should wear the emblem with pride.
The slogan of the association is “Liberty, Intelligence, Our Nations Safety.”
The royal colors of purple and gold were selected as the official color when the association was organized in 1917. Purple stands for loyalty to friends and to one’s self, and for integrity of mind and heart. Gold symbolizes sincerity of purpose, liberty in judgment, purity in life and generosity in mind, heart and purse toward humanity.
About the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF)
LCIF is the charitable arm of Lions Clubs International. The foundation’s mission is to support the efforts of Lions clubs around the world in serving their local and global communities by funding humanitarian service projects. Last year alone, LCIF approved more than US$31 million in grants for Lions’ districts around the world.
Today, in addition to their international SightFirst program, Lions extend the commitment to sight conservation through numerous local activities. Lions provide 600,000 free professional glaucoma screenings and make 25,000 corneal transplants possible each year.
Lions establish and support a majority of the world’s eye banks, hundreds of clinics, hospitals, and eye research centers worldwide.
Lions provide thousands each year with free quality eye care, eyeglasses, Braille-writers, large print texts, white canes, and guide dogs.
Lions collect more than 3 million pairs of used eyeglasses each year for distribution worldwide.
Lions are also involved in a variety of activities to improve the community and to assist those in need. Programs include help for the hearing impaired, diabetes awareness and education, environmental projects, and youth programs. | <urn:uuid:6180470a-b31d-4415-892f-41f23bd473e1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.foothill.net/colfax/lions/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720962.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00385-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924167 | 616 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Sunday, July 31, 2005
You don't see a lot of 98-0 votes in the US Senate. Yet, yesterday 98 Senators voted against the ACLU. (I have no idea about the other 2 Senators who did not vote!)
The ACLU sued to ban the Scouts from federal property. Why? Because the Scouts' leadership, with strong support from the boys' parents, decided to ban openly homosexual leaders.
The bottom line is that the Scouts are about teaching life lessons rather than talking about sexual orientation.
After all, we are talking about boys. Why should these boys be exposed to any kind of sexual orientation anyway? Again, we are talking about boys! Can't we protect our kids' innocence for a while?
Like most fathers, I did my Boys Scouts time. My three sons were in the Scouts a few years ago. Eventually, they spent more time playing sports than scouting but the experience was worthwhile and constructive.
I remember spending a few nights at camp retreats, putting tents together and cooking outdoors. It was fun to meet a lot of other fathers and boys.
There was nothing political about the Scouts. There was nothing religious either, although the boys were taught that there is a God.
And last, but not least, the boys were taught some good values, such as respect for parents and authority, love of country and flag.
Why would the ACLU be mad with such a group?
Why is the ACLU concerned with a group that brings dads and sons together?
What's wrong with the ACLU?
I would think that every person in the country would support a group that encourages boys to behave correctly and to spend time with their fathers.
Why is the ACLU at war with the Boys Scouts?
Let me give you two reasons.
First, the Scouts talk about God and that's a nasty word in the ACLU lexicon. The ACLU will defend your right to put obscenities in the Internet but talking about God is too much for them.
The ACLU's technical explanation is that groups should not use state property to talk about God.
Will the ACLU sue federal, state and city governments for closing on Christmas Day? What do we celebrate on Christmas Day anyway? The start of winter?
Second, the Scouts are opposed to teaching that homosexuality is just another lifestyle.
So a big victory for common sense. And a huge loss for the ACLU!
We have a lot of problems in the world. The Boys Scouts should be the least of our concerns.
Teaching boys to respect authority, love their country and believe in a supreme being should not concern anyone.
We need more organizations like the Boys Scouts!
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Four years ago, the Rangers were spending money like crazy. They signed ARod for the '01 season. Then they added Park for '02.
Park was supposed to be the # 1 guy in the rotation.
It turned out to be a disaster. The $100 million payroll bought last place finishes in '00, '01, '02 and '03.
Owner Tom Hicks shifted strategies in mid '03 and the team decided to go young and develop players.
So far the strategy is paying off. The young Rangers won 89 games in '04 and should be in the wild card race in '05.
Friday, Chan Ho Park was traded to San Diego for Phil Nevin.
On paper, it should help both teams.
The Padres give Park a change of scenery. Also, SD is a pitchers' stadium and that should help a fly ball pitcher like Park. I expect that Park will do well in a new team.
Nevin fits nicely in the Rangers lineup. He brings a right handed bat to a lineup that can't beat lefties. He will probably be the DH and give Texeira some time off at first.
Nevin also means that Hidalgo will be traded or released. Hidalgo has been a disappointment and has not provided the power and RBIs.
Who will replace Park in the Rangers' rotation? My guess is that they will take a look at more youngsters. They Rangers have two great kids in AA----Danks and Diamond.
There is still an outside possibility that the Rangers could add a pitcher before Sunday afternoon.
Will Soriano go to the Mets?
I don't mind trading Soriano if he brings a major league pitcher. Otherwise, what's the point?
Nevin for Park is a good deal for both sides.
More on this trade:
Friday, July 29, 2005
Over the last year, I have often said that the Democrats face a terrible dilemma:
1) They have lost the married middle class. Bush carried this group. Bush 41 and Dole split this group with Perot thus giving Clinton a chance to win the presidency. Most of these couples live in suburbs and go to church often. It's tough for Democrats to be competitive if they lose the middle class vote.
2) No one takes them seriously on national security. No one has since Vietnam and Jimmy Carter.
Last but not least,
3) No one knows what the Democrats stand for. The best example of this was the John Kerry campaign.
My Democrat friends usually get mad at me when I point these things out. They accuse me of watching too much O'Reilly.
So let's hear what Democrats are saying about Democrats. Maybe my liberal friends can get mad at Democrats rather than me!
"We've got to be for something, and it is pretty clear that America is waiting for us. They are desperate to know what we are for," Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
"We Democrats have not yet succeeded in isolating and defeating the far right in part because all too often we have allowed ourselves to be split between left, right and center," Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"Too many of our fellow countrymen and women out here in the heartland have concluded — inappropriately, but they've concluded nonetheless — that we don't have the spine or the backbone to use force even in the face of the most compelling of circumstances, and that must change," Senator Evan Bayh.
"How many times do we have to forward, where we launch a national campaign that goes after 16 states and then hope that we can hit a triple bank shot to get to that 17th state?" Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.
One House member was afraid to use his name but this is what he said:
"I haven't seen a single, serious poll beyond the media's that attacking Rove helps us one bit with the voters...No one can show me numbers. This is all the fringe people like MoveOn and even Howard Dean. It's all about not getting past 2000 and 2004. And I really fear we're going to pay for it down the road."
The anynomous House member goes on:
"My party is making a huge bet on something we really know nothing about..We don't know where this Plame thing is going to go, yet we're giving these people a huge platform. I'd rather be fighting for the issues that we know Americans care about: the environment, more of their tax dollars on national security and homeland defense. That stuff resonates at home."
You can read the entire article at:
Democratic Self-Strangulation by one of my favorite bloggers, the one and only The Prowler
At the DLC meeting, Sen. Clinton was given star treatment although some members were not very impressed. ("Sen. Clinton works to shed liberal image, calls for party unity" BY STEVEN THOMMA Knight Ridder Newspapers):
"She's certainly the big dog in the field, but I don't want her to run in '08," Pat Vance, an alderman from Waterbury, Conn.
"She's too divisive." He said he wants the party to go with a centrist such as Warner, a pro-business Democrat who successfully wooed rural voters.
Ann Mah, a state representative from Kansas, said Clinton could make inroads into Republican "red" states such as Missouri and Ohio if she stresses national security and reframes the debate on such divisive issues as abortion.
"If she takes a moderate path, she could do well," Mah said.
How about in her home state of Kansas?
"Oh no. We're pretty red out there."
I rest my case.
Let me say it again. This is not Harry Truman's party.
This is Michael Moore's party.
It won't win any national elections until it dumps Moore, moveon.org, and Whoopie Goldberg.
I rest my case again!
PS Don't send me any nasty e-mails. Address them to Gov. Vilsack, Sen. Bayh and Gov. Warner, three Democrats who have found a way of winning in red states!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
For two years, we have heard a lot of numbers about civilian casualties in Iraq. The anti-American international media has had a lot of fun repeating numbers about all of those civilian casualties in Iraq.
To be fair, civilians die in war. In fact, the US bombed cities every night in WW2 for the sole purpose of killing civilians.
To be fair again, the US has gone out of its way in Iraq to avoid civilian casualties.
Let's have a little perspective.
Sixty years ago this week, US B-29s dropped leaflets in Japanese cities warning civilians that more fire bombs were coming if their country did not surrender. (Watch the series on The History Channel: "The last days of WW2")
Japan reacted to the leaflets by becoming more strident. Suicide bombers, known back then as kamakazis, kept killing US soldiers. One kamikaze nearly sank a US ship killing 1,200 aboard. The kamikazes were deadly in Okinawa. US casualties were over 10,000!
The Japanese government concluded that it could not win against the US military. So they decided to go after public opinion in the US. They concluded that they could "wear out" the American public by dragging out the conflict and inflicting horrific casualties on US soldiers and sailors.
They did kill thousands of soldiers and sailors. They did not break Truman's will!
Two weeks later, the B-29s dropped two atomic bombs!
Again, civilians get killed in every war. I don't like it but that's war!
In this Iraq war, the left has been quoting some rather bizarre casualty figures. They put them on a Internet site, get picked up by a reporter and then they find their way into the news.
It sounds a lot like those CBS forged memos!
Frankly, I was always skeptical about these figures. Finally, we have a way of combating the misinformation.
The bottom line is this: The numbers have been intentionally inflated.
In other words, the people peddling these numbers want the US to fail in Iraq!
The counter attack started with Britt Hume of FOX NEWS who addressed the subject last week:"
"A group calling itself "Iraq Body Count," or IBC, estimates that nearly 25,000 civilians were killed in the two years following the U.S. invasion of Iraq — a figure picked up by Reuters, CNN and the BBC.
But those reports never mention that IBC arrived at its figure by adding up casualties tallied by all sorts of organizations, including the left wing CommonDreams.org (search) and Al Jazeera.
What's more, IBC counts Iraqis killed in murders and terrorist attacks, saying "The burden of responsibility fall[s] squarely on the shoulders of those who initiate war without U.N. Security Council authorization."
News reports also failed to note that IBC's co-founder and principal researcher has written for a self-described "leftist newsletter," and many contributors are members of left-leaning anti-war groups".
What a coincidence. The source of all of this info is also a group that spent thousands last year to defeat Bush!
But it gets better.
John Leo of US News & World Report wrote an article titled "Fun with numbers":
"Isn't it awful, a friend said at dinner the other night, that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the U.S. invasion?
When I asked where the statistic came from, he said maybe it was 8,000, but definitely somewhere between 8,000 and 100,000.
That's a pretty broad spread, so I decided to do some checking.
The 100,000 estimate is from a survey of Iraqi households conducted last year by a team of scholars from Johns Hopkins University and published in a British medical journal, the Lancet.
As luck would have it, the team was anti-war, and the study was released just before the presidential election.
The study's co-author called the 100,000 figure "a conservative estimate," the customary phrase attached to politically useful wild guesses.
The study said, "We estimate there were 98,000 extra deaths (95 pct. CI 8,000-194,000) during the postwar period."
Writing on Slate, Fred Kaplan translated that little technical phrase between the parentheses: It means that the authors are 95 percent certain that war-caused deaths totaled somewhere between 8,000 and 194,000.
"The math is too vague to be useful."
Who cares about vague numbers? The terrorists want to blow up subway stations but the left wants to "get Bush"!
As Leo reminded us:
"The modern numbers game of war dead began with the Gulf War.
Greenpeace said 15,000 Iraqi civilians died.
The American Friends Service Committee/Red Crescent claimed that 300,000 civilians died.
Various media assessments hovered around 1,200.
Later, Foreign Policy magazine put the civilian dead at 1,000.
Unsurprisingly, the high estimates come from antiwar groups, often described in the media as neutral and nonpartisan."
There is a big difference between 1,000 and 300,000. Who cares?
Today, two more articles came out about war casualty exaggerations.
The first one is "Iraq Body Fraud" By Alston B. Ramsay (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ramsay200507260923.asp):
"Even though IBC is as partisan as they come, the media took the bait — hook, line, and sinker.
And in the rush to publish the blaring headers of the report — U.S. forces killed four times as many civilians as “anti-occupation forces”! — hardly anyone examined the underlying data.
But they should."
The second article is "Bad Counts, An unquestioning media" By Stephen Spruiell (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/spruiell200507260924.asp):
"The media coverage of this report, by and large, failed to convey that uncertainty to the public.
Nor did it convey the nature of the Iraq Body Count organization, a hard-left anti-war group with a clear agenda.
Nor did it convey, as Stephen Pollard reported in this piece for the London Times, that a member of this group, Marc Herold, had “attempted this trick before, when he ‘revealed’ in December 2001 that there were then 3,800 civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
The now-accepted figure at the time was two thirds less — about 1,200.”
Most stories simply repeated the allegations in the group’s press release, occasionally followed by a statement from a U.S. or Iraqi authority.
Fox News anchor Brit Hume gave the truth about Iraq Body Count a hearing on Special Report last Thursday when he reported the group’s hard-left ties.
Will the rest of the media follow suit and apologize for passing off antiwar propaganda as hard facts?
Don’t count on it."
That's right. Don't count on it!
In the meantime, the NYPost reported today that Osama bin Laden tried to buy a massive amount of cocaine, spike it with poison and sell it in the United States, hoping to kill thousands of Americans one year after the 9/11 attacks.
FOX News reported today that Syria had $3 billion in illegal oil-import and arms-export deals with Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime. The documents, prepared by IRS special agents, have emerged as a new avenue in Congress' investigation into the scandal-plagued U.N. Oil-for-Food program.
Who cares? The left is busy with inflated casualty figures in Iraq. They don't have time to demonize the people blowing up subways!
All of this anti-Americanism has come at a price. As Bill O'Reilly said last night:
"One major casualty in the war on terror is the liberal press in the USA...
Michael Kinsley (search) has been removed as editorial director of the L.A. Times (search) just days after the editor of that paper stepped down.
As you may know, the circulation of the very liberal Times is falling fast.
The liberal stronghold PBS has been shaken up big time. Bill Moyers (search) is gone. And the new management is Republican. Many on the left are crazed over that.
The Air America (search) radio network continues to fail with catastrophic ratings here in New York City, perhaps the most liberal market in the country.
The circulations of long time liberal newspapers like the Boston Globe (search) and Newsday are falling.
And there is not one successful standalone liberal commentator on cable television, not one. Phil Donahue (search) was fired for low ratings at MSNBC, but was actually much more successful than what they put in his place.
So why is the liberal media in retreat?
Well, the answer is that most Americans are not ideologues. They're just everyday folks who want protection from people who would kill us. They want information about the border, about al Qaeda (search), about what the government is doing to defeat the enemy.
Most Americans do not want to hear the USA is the bad guy in the war on terror, which some liberal media are pedaling.
They do not feel the mistakes at Abu Ghraib (search) and Guantanamo Bay define this country.
They do not believe the ACLU (search) is looking out for them.
Media and politicians who continue to run down the USA for ideological reasons will continue to be punished in the marketplace.
But we want the USA to win. And that separates us from some far left elements. We believe the USA remains a noble country, fighting a very vicious enemy."
Did I tell you that O'Reilly has the #1 show on cable? No need to inflate O'Reilly's numbers!
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
How are the parties doing? How are they raising money?
Go to: http://www.fec.gov/
You will learn that the Republicans are doing well in the money area.
The GOP received $59.4 million in contributions, which is very strong for a non-presidential election year. The GOP had more than $34 million cash on hand after raising $6.5 million last month.
By comparison, the Democrats raised $28 million through the first half of 2005, and had about $9 million in the bank.
This is important because the 2006 midterms are just around the corner.
Patrick Hynes is a Republican consultant and a freelance writer. He is also a fellow blogger: AnkleBitingPundits.com.
The 2006 midterms are all about the US Senate. The House of Representatives is safely in Republicans hands and should stay for a while. It would take a combination of a political tsunami and avalanche to change the House. Historically, 95% of incumbents are reelected.
Also, the Republicans have a lot of safe seats in the South and West. So we can safely predict that the House will stay Republican.
Hynes has done a lot of analysis of the Senate races and concludes:
"The Democrats will need to maintain their fundraising parity with Republicans if they are to succeed in any or all of these three goals because they have more work to do in 2006 than their GOP counterparts.
Eighteen Democrats seats are up next year (including three open seats) compared to 15 for the Republicans (with only one open seat.)
Moreover, five Democrat incumbents can reasonably be called "vulnerable" or "potentially vulnerable" compared to only three Republicans.
Finally, these "vulnerable' or "potentially vulnerable" Democrats are in disproportionately more expensive media markets, meaning Democrats will get less bang for their bucks.
The frontline in the battle to control the Senate will be in three of next year's four open seat races: Minnesota, Maryland, and Tennessee (the fourth is Vermont, which is not winnable for the Republicans).
Two of these states -- Minnesota and Maryland -- are open seats the Democrats must defend.
The Republicans must defend the open seat in Tennessee.
Minnesota is a genuine swing state that has gradually trended Republican in recent elections. Bob Dole received 36% in Minnesota in 1996. George W. Bush received 46% in 2000 and 48% in 2004.
In the last two election cycles, the people of Minnesota have elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate and to the governorship and the congressional delegation is now split evenly between Republicans and Democrat-Farm-Labor (4 seats each).
Both parties are likely to nominate tier one candidates.
Maryland and Tennessee are not swing states. Maryland is as blue as almost any state in the nation (Kerry 56% - Bush 43%) and Tennessee about as red (Bush 57% - Kerry 43%).
But in both of these cases, the respective minority parties are likely to nominate tier one candidates.
In Maryland, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele has all but announced he will run.
In Tennessee, Rep. Harold Ford Jr. has announced he will seek the open seat.
Both Steele and Ford are unconventional African-American politicians (Steele is, obviously, a Republican while Ford is a right-of-center Democrat) who will generate considerable national attention and support.
Nonetheless, the majority parties in both states are sure to put forward tier one nominees.
Effective communication in these states will be of varying costs.
The Washington, D.C. market, which dominates Maryland, is by far the most expensive market in these open seat races, possibly twice the cost of advertising in Tennessee.
Minnesota will likely cost a little less than Tennessee. (Estimates are imperfect because market forces can change advertising rates swiftly and dramatically.)
The upshot is the Democrats will have more money tied up playing defense and the Republicans will spend theirs playing offense. This makes a huge difference in terms of the portability of resources.
For example, if the Republicans discovered at some point that the Maryland seat is simply un-winnable, they could pull the cash out of the expensive Washington, D.C. media market and redirect it to, say, some closer-than-expected challenger elsewhere.
The Democrats don't have that luxury because they need to hold the Minnesota and Maryland seats.
Worse for Democrats, they could win all three of these open seats (plus Vermont) and still gain only one seat in the Senate, whereas the GOP has two opportunities to move a state into the Republican column.
When seasoned political observers assess the "winnability" of a particular challenger campaign, issues generally rank among the least important factors.
Instead we look at data from previous elections, voting trends, and fundraising reports.
I have reduced these indicators to three straightforward questions:
(1) Is the incumbent a member of the losing party in the 2004 election?
(2) Has there been a noticeable trend in voting behavior in recent years that alters historical electoral inertia (for example, my home state of New Hampshire is unquestionably trending Democrat, while West Virginia has undeniably become more Republican) and is this shift dramatic enough to jeopardize the incumbent's electability?
(3) Has the challenging party nominated a top flight candidate, i.e., can he or she raise the necessary resources to mount a serious challenge?
Needless to say, these are incredibly high thresholds for most challenger campaigns, which is why incumbents generally win reelection easily.
Based on the above criteria, and please understand we are still a long way from 2006, I believe Republicans stand a chance to upend five Democrat incumbents and Democrats stand a chance against three Republican incumbents.
The potentially vulnerable Democrat seats are in Washington state (Sen. Maria Cantwell), North Dakota (Sen. Kent Conrad), Nebraska (Sen. Ben Nelson), West Virginia (Sen. Robert Byrd), and Florida (Sen. Bill Nelson).
The potentially vulnerable Republican seats are in Missouri (Sen. Jim Talent), Pennsylvania (Sen. Rick Santorum), and Rhode Island (Sen. Lincoln Chafee.) (Note: Even though Maine went for Kerry in 2004, I have intentionally left Sen. Olympia Snowe off the "potentially vulnerable" list because, well, because she's going to win re-election handily, so there.)
Without boring the reader, I will explain in a nutshell why I singled out these seats:
Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell won her seat in 2000 by a scant 2,200 votes after outspending the incumbent Slade Gorton two-to-one. President Bush improved his vote share in Washington State only marginally between 2000 and 2004, from 45% to 46%.
But Seattle is an extremely expensive media market and Republicans will make a strategic decision to run hard here to force Democrats to spend heavy resources defending another seat.
President George W. Bush won North Dakota with a hearty 63% of the vote in 2004. Nonetheless, Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad won reelection in 2000 with 62%. But Republican success in sister enigma South Dakota may finally help the GOP generate a formula for success in this culturally conservative but heavily D.C.-dependent part of the country.
If popular Republican Governor John Hoeven decides to enter the race, expect the intensity here to approach the Thune-Daschle race of last year. Besides, this is an inexpensive place for Republicans to invest resources to try to pick up a seat.
NebraskaPresident Bush received 66% of the vote in Nebraska last year. Meanwhile, Democrat Senator Ben Nelson received only 51% of the vote in 2000 while outspending his Republican opponent two-to-one. Nebraska is also a fairly inexpensive place for Republicans to play offense.
West VirginiaIs Sen. Robert Byrd (D-KKK) really vulnerable? Isn't it pretty to think so? President Bush received 56% of the vote in West Virginia in 2004 and this state is slowly trending Republican.
If Rep. Shelley Moore Capito runs against Byrd, Republicans will have a strong challenger to back. Full market penetration in West Virginia requires advertising in the Washington D.C., which means forcing Democrats to spend real money to defend another incumbent.
FloridaThis most famous of swing states is easily the most expensive Senate seat in play in 2006. Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson won the seat in 2000 with only 51% of the vote. His Republican challenger will mount a well-funded and aggressive challenge complete with round-the-clock national attention in this state where President Bush increased his vote share from 2000 to 2004.
Again, Democrats will have to dedicate massive amounts of limited resources to defend this seat, whereas Republicans get to play offense.
PennsylvaniaRepublican Sen. Rick Santorum is the most vulnerable incumbent in America. His polling numbers have sagged all year long and he will face a well-funded challenge from the likable Democrat State Treasurer Bobby Casey.
In this case, it is the Republicans who will have to dedicate extraordinary amounts of money to defend a seat. But here is where the strategy of fielding challengers in other expensive states pays off; with their backs against the wall in pricy Washington state, West Virginia, and Florida, Democrats will have less money to play with in trying to defeating Santorum.
MissouriDemocrats may or may not field a reputable challenger against Republican Sen. Jim Talent. But the fact is, Talent won in 2002 with only 50% of the vote. Meanwhile, President Bush received 53% of the vote in 2004.
Rhode IslandThere are a great many things that could go wrong for Republicans here. President Bush received only 39% of the vote in 2004. Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee may face a challenge in the primary from Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey. The Democrats could field a top flight candidate. Or Sen. Chafee could become a Democrat tomorrow. Regardless, this will be a difficult seat for Republicans to hold in 2006."
Bottom line. It looks like Bush will retain a Republican majority.
Not bad. Not bad at all!
P.S. Is Robert Byrd in trouble in West Virginia?
Bush carried West Virginia in '00 and '04. Thanks to Perot, it went for Clinton in '92 and '96. It went for Nixon, Reagan and Bush-41 before that.
Lately, Sen. Byrd has been reminding constituents that he is a conservative. Byrd knows that liberalism won't fly in West Virginia.
Charles Hurt of THE WASHINGTON TIMES writes this:
"Mr. Byrd embraced the same judicial philosophy as the president in his memoir, "Child of the Appalachian Coalfields," released earlier this summer. In the book, he repeatedly blamed "liberal judges" and "activist judges" for many of the nation's problems.
"One's life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America's large cities," he writes.
"In my judgment, much of the problem has been brought about by the mollycoddling of criminals by some of the liberal judges who have been placed on the nation's courts in recent years.
"Mr. Byrd essentially endorsed Mr. Bush's primary stated strategy for picking Judge Roberts and other judicial nominees.
"The high court's share of the responsibility for our increasing lawlessness lies in two areas -- its zeal for bringing about precipitous social change, and its overconcern for the rights of criminals and its underconcern for the rights and safety of society," he writes.
Mr. Byrd detailed the advice he has given presidents about the importance of naming conservatives and strict constructionists to the bench.
"I urged President Nixon to appoint conservative jurists to the court," he recalls in the book.
"I said that such a return to a conservative philosophy would be 'the greatest single service President Nixon could perform for his country.'
I said that the court had hurt the United States with its rulings on school prayer and in criminal cases, and had given aid and comfort to subversives by refusing to bar communists from schools and defense plants."
Can you imagine a Republican senator saying: "One's life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America's large cities".
Paul Jacob wrote this:
"Everyone knows that if Senator Byrd had an R by his name, instead if a D, he would have been ridden out of Congress and public life a long time ago. Appropriately.
Yet, the former Exalted Cyclops has never provoked any trace of outrage from the media establishment, Democrats, or liberal civil rights groups.
The liberal MoveOn.org recently sent a letter to supporters urging them to contribute to Byrd's 2006 Senate campaign.
The letter was signed by none other than Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Senate's only African American. Byrd has even been called "the conscience of the Senate" by some.
That about sums up the problem, without any levity at all." (Paul Jacob is Senior Fellow at Americans for Limited Government: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/pauljacob/pj20050724.shtml)
Bush won West Virginia by 13 points. A new poll shows Byrd in a dead heat with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.
So let me make one easy prediction.
Byrd will not invite the Clintons to campaign with him next year. Add Gore, Dukakis, Carter, Kerry, Durbin and Jesse Jackson to the list.
Byrd is in trouble in West Virginia. This is why he is blasting liberal judges!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
A few posts back, I wrote that there is more to the Supreme Court than abortion. We need some litigation restraint in this country.
This is where we are.
If you are overweight, you sue McDonalds.
If you hit a tree, you sue the car that you are driving.
Too many lawsuits.
What does this cost? It costs a lot.
Kevin Hassett just wrote "Justice Roberts Will Be Good for the Economy" for Bloomberg (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_hassett&sid=a4qqfOGxRdzc):
"A recent study by management consulting firm Towers Perrin Tillinghast projects that the costs of the U.S. tort system will be $278.7 billion in 2005. Another study by the same group also determined that only about 22 percent of tort costs actually go to paying victims' economic damages. The rest goes to lawyers, administrative costs and compensation for pain and suffering.
The scale of this waste is awesome. U.S. citizens pay more in direct tort costs each year than they do in corporate taxes. And the problem is unique to the U.S. Relative to GDP, tort costs are about three times higher than they are in Britain and about double the typical cost in the rest of the European Union. "
What's the politics of this? Who are trial lawyers sending contributions to?
"In the 2004 election cycle, for example, the American Trial Lawyers Association donated almost $2.6 million to the political parties, with about $2.4 million of that total going to Democrats."
In fact, John Edwards, the '04 VP nominee, made a fortune as a trial lawyer.
Don't misunderstand. I believe in the capitalist system and people should be free to make money.
However, crazy lawsuits are not helping us. They increase everyone's costs.
We need tort reform for the benefit of consumers!
Monday, July 25, 2005
The US economy is good news, unless you are pessimist who is still counting votes in Florida!
First of all, Bush inherited a country headed into a recession and recovering from a stock market collapse. In other words, Gore would have had the same problem in 2001! Neither Bush or Gore would have been given a magic wand to fix economic problems.
The US economy had a growth cycle from '92 to '00. In '96, the unemployment rate was identical to the one in '04. Starting in '97, we had a high tech boom which inflated stocks and created a lot of paper wealth.
Everything crashed in March '00 and the recession began. Of course, all of this was complicated by 9-11 and the traumatic impact that it had on the US economy and our trading partners.
Let me be fair. I don't call it the Clinton recession. At the same time, I don't call it the Clinton boom. Frankly, Clinton had nothing to do with the business cycle. He happened to be at the right place, first in '93 when he came in as the recovery was underway and later in '00 when he left town as the recession was coming in.
The US economy hit bottom in '03 and it has been doing well ever since.
According the The Wall Street Journal:
"....the deficit as a share of GDP is down to 2.7% (very near its historical average), and that this is all happening because tax receipts are surging by more than 14%."
What about those tax cuts for the rich?
Again, let's go to the Wall Street Journal:
"This revenue surge from investment income also rebuts the mantra that the 2003 tax cuts were a giveaway to the rich. Nearly half of all Americans have some kind of stock ownership, and thus have shared in these gains in investment income.
And if most of the extra tax income is coming from capital gains and dividend payments, that would have to mean that the rich in America are paying more taxes, not less, as a result of the 2003 tax cut".
What abut mortgaging our kids' future? As Mike Rosen said:
"No one will have to pay it off. The national debt is a fixture.
Just like the debt on the balance sheet of a healthy corporation, it gets rolled over.
In the private sector, that's called a debt-equity ratio.
As federal debt has grown, so has the economy and our ability to manage it.
Federal debt held by the public is currently about 40 percent of GDP, about where it was in 1990.
In 1960 it was 46 percent and in 1943, during World War II, it was 98 percent.
The latest news on federal finances is good and getting better."(http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3944413,00.html)
They key is to focus on the relative values rather than the absolute figures. A $350 billion deficit does not mean anything. A public debt figure does not mean anything.
What matters is the relative value----what is the deficit relative to GDP? or the debt?
As Donald Lambro of The Washington Times said: Don't listen to the pessimists!
"There's an important lesson to be learned from the fed's declining deficit figures: An expanding economy is the only way to shrink the deficit, and lower tax rates spur faster economic growth. That is what led to last week's lower deficit projections and a temporary surplus in revenues.
Another lesson: Don't listen to the pessimists who wrongly predicted a fiscal and economic disaster from the deficits that never materialized. The deficits were largely the result of the war on terrorism costs that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks and the following economic dislocations that and sharply cut federal and state tax revenues."
I'm not suggesting that we live in a perfect economy. We have never lived in a perfect economy. However, I don't listen to the pessimists.
This is the bottom line: 4% growth, 5% uneployment and a deficit of 2.7% of their GDP.
Frankly, I would like to see more deficit reduction. We need a balanced budget amendment which forces the federal govenrment to balance its books. This is what governors and mayors deal with every year in our country. We should require our federal politicians to balance the budget every year!
Second, I am not happy with Bush's domestic spending. We need more cuts. We need a freeze on all domestic spending, except for those items related to national security. I think that we should eliminate the Energy and Education Departments.
Third, we need to replace the current tax code with a flat tax. (More on that in a future blog!)
Overall, we should enjoy life and the wonderful US economy.
Stop counting votes in Florida and enjoy the good economic news!
We live in the greatest economy in the world, unless you are a liberal who can't get over that Bush beat Gore in Tennessee!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
This is what the pro-abortion forces are saying about Judge Roberts:
Howard Dean: "Faced with a growing scandal surrounding the involvement of Deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby in the leaking of the identity of a covert CIA operative, President Bush announced his nomination of John Roberts. ...”
MoveOn.org: "In nominating John Roberts, the president has chosen a right wing corporate lawyer and ideologue for the nation’s highest court instead of a judge who would protect the rights of the American people”
People for the American Way: “John Roberts’s record raises serious concerns and questions about where he stands on crucial legal and constitutional issues”
National Abortion Federation: "Judge Roberts has argued for the reversal of Roe and stated that there was "no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution" for the reasoning behind Roe....NAF is very concerned that if confirmed, Roberts would vote to weaken or even overturn Roe. We implore the Senate to closely examine his judicial philosophies on privacy and women's reproductive freedom."
NARAL: "If Roberts is confirmed to a lifetime appointment, there is little doubt that he will work to overturn Roe v. Wade" The Alliance for Justice: "While we will be conducting a complete analysis of his record on and off the bench, an initial review has led to serious concerns about whether he will be fair, independent and will protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans"
National Organization for Women: "If Roe v. Wade is overturned, these pictures could include your daughter, sister, mother, best friend, granddaughter" (NOW's website shows photographs of four women who died because they could not obtain safe and legal abortions.)
Planned Parenthood Federation of America: "Roberts must be prepared to demonstrate his commitment to constitutional protections for women's health and reproductive rights...The nomination of John G. Roberts raises serious questions and grave concerns for women's health and safety. It is particularly troubling that Roberts went on the record calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned when he served as a lawyer for the government...Only a nominee committed to protecting women's health and safety should be confirmed by the Senate."
In the big scheme, all of this stuff about Roe v. Wade is a liberal joke.
Overturning Roe v. Wade will not end abortion in the US. It will mean that the issue of abortion will be returned to the states.
What does that mean? It means that voters, and not judges, will decide abortion.
Some states will have abortion. Others won't. That's the way it should be.
Let the voters decide. I am not afraid of people. The American people usually get it right, which is why Republicans have won 7 of the last 10 presidential elections.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Hooray for PM Howard of Australia. This week, PM Howard was visiting the US and the UK. He answered a question about the connection between Iraq and London. Pay special attention to what he said:
"On the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq that the first point of reference is, once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away to use a vernacular.
And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats.
And no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.
Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.
And can I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.
Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor.
Are people, by implication, suggesting we shouldn't have done that?
When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy, not just in Iraq, but Afghanistan.
Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?
When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq, a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations, when Al-Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.
Now, I don't know the mind of the terrorist.
By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber.
I can only look at objective facts are, and the objective facts are as I've cited, the objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq.
And, indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life; this is about the perverted use of the principles of a great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation.
And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse, through a perverted ideology, of people and their murder."
Great job PM Howard.
By the way, Howard, Blair and Bush were reelected. Chirac and Schroeder would give an arm and leg to have their approval ratings!
Leadership. That's what we have in men like Howard, Blair and Bush.
Olivier Roy, a professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, is the author of "Globalized Islam." This is what he said about the Iraq connection:
"First, let's consider the chronology. The Americans went to Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, not before.
Mohamed Atta and the other pilots were not driven by Iraq or Afghanistan.
Second, if the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine are at the core of the radicalization, why are there virtually no Afghans, Iraqis or Palestinians among the terrorists?
Rather, the bombers are mostly from the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Egypt and Pakistan - or they are Western-born converts to Islam.
Why would a Pakistani or a Spaniard be more angry than an Afghan about American troops in Afghanistan?
It is precisely because they do not care about Afghanistan as such, but see the United States involvement there as part of a global phenomenon of cultural domination"
You can read the entire article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/opinion/22roy.html?pagewanted=print
The bottom line is very simple. Terrorists have been trying to kill us for a long time. It did not start with Iraq.
In fact, I believe that this war against our way of life began in Iran in '79 when Pres. Carter permitted a terrorist government to hold US diplomats against every norm of international law.
Just imagine this. What would have happened if Pres. Carter had gone on TV and made the following speech:
"The government of Iran has 72 hours to return every diplomat detained in their country. They can turn them over to the Red Cross. Otherwise, the US will use every ounce of our military power to destroy the barbarians who are holding our hostages"
My guess is that the hostages would have been released. Or we would have turned Tehran into a parking lot. Either way the civilized world would have scored a huge victory!
Carter did not do that. He tried one rescue. He should tried an even bigger one. Then he fell in the trap of trying to negotiate the release of the hostages.
They were eventually released minutes after Pres. Reagan was sworn in. I should add that Reagan was very responsible during the campaign and did not make an issue of the crisis. However, he did say after his landslide election that his administration would take a different attitude.
I can't prove it. But I have a feeling that the Iranian leadership heard Reagan. They understood that Reagan did not care about international popularity but he did care a lot about defending US interests.
In the end, the terrorists learned a big lesson from Iran. You can attack the US, or its citizens, without consequences.
During the 80s, there were hijackings and more killings of US citizens. In '85, a disabled American was killed in front of his wife and thrown overboard from a cruise ship. In '88, a PANAM jumbo was blown up over England.
In all fairness, Pres. Reagan attacked Libya and there were some limited responses. But they were limited responses. In retrospect, we used Band-Aid solutions.
Pres. Bush did force Saddam out of Kuwait in '91. Yet, the UN made a mockery out of the cease fire and resolutions. By the late 90s, there were no inspectors in Iraq and Saddam was shooting at US planes.
The Clinton administration took inaction to an absurd limit. We were hit many times in the 90s and there was no response.
What lesson did these terrorists learn? The US won't fight back. We are weak.
On 9-11 Pres. Bush decided that enough was enough. We are fighting back. Thank God that we have good allies like PM Howard and PM Blair.
As Bill O'Reilly said last night:
"It is becoming very clear that everybody on this planet is going to have to make a decision about terrorism, but there really are only three options.
You can take a hard line, which is my position.
You can appease terrorism, which is Spain's position.
Or you can refuse to confront the issue at all.
And unfortunately, millions of people are doing that." (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,163325,00.html)
Last but not least, Prof. Victor Davis Hanson wrote another masterpiece this week. It is must reading for those who value freedom. The title is : "And Then They Came After Us" (http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200507220816.asp).
Prof Hanson put the issue on the table:
"Civilizations will either hang separately or triumph over barbarism together.
It is that simple. It's past time for Europe and the United States to rediscover their common heritage and shared aims in eradicating this plague of Islamic fascism."
Friday, July 22, 2005
Let me assume a few things about Judge Roberts.
First, he will be confirmed.
Second, he will be around for a while. Based on life expectancy, Roberts will be around until 2030. He may be around for 3-4 future presidencies. (Judge Stevens was appointed by Pres. Ford in '75 and he is still around!)
Third, we don't have a clue of what Roberts will do in the Court.
It may be that overturning Roe v Wade won't even make the top 10 of Roberts' significant opinions.
Let's take terrorism.
I happen to think that Islamic terrorists are a bigger threat to our society than abortionists. I am not downplaying what abortion is doing to our society, from the devaluation of life to low birth rates.
Yet, terrorists are determined to blow up a Western City and kill 100,000 people.
It is very likely that Judge Roberts will be voting on terrorism cases, such as how we are going to treat terrorists who do not wear a uniform and target civilians.
Some in the world want to understand terrorists. Sorry, I want to kill terrorists. At the very least, I want to make their life and mode of operations as difficult as possible.
You can not negotiate with terrorists anymore than you can persuade a rat not to attack your kids.
So we will need judges who are prepared to do the right thing and give our elected leaders the flexibility to take whatever measures are necessary to put down terrorism.
I think that Judge Roberts is such a man.
Debbie Schlussel wrote today on FrontPageMagazine.com:
"Terrorism is clearly a far more pressing issue, and on that, Roberts is right on target.
Roberts demonstrated his commitment to fight court-system coddling of terrorists and the creation of rights for these murderers that don't exist.
Roberts' position on Salim Ahmed Hamdan (a Gitmo terrorist who was Osama Bin Laden's personal driver)is far more important than his position on Jane Roe.
On Friday, Roberts--as part of a federal appeals court panel--backed the Bush Administration's plan to let special panels of military officers conduct trials of terrorism suspects detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, overturning a lower-court decision that has blocked the "military commissions" for the past eight months.
The ruling was an important affirmation of the government's right to deny "enemy combatant" detainees access not only to civilian courts but to the more formal proceedings of military courts-martial, in which they would enjoy additional rights and legal protections.
The decision in Hamdan, joined in by John Roberts, backs up President Bush's decision that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to detainees that Bush declares as enemy combatants and that the provisions of the Conventions are not enforceable by U.S. courts in lawsuits brought by foreigners.
This is additionally important because Roberts--if he makes it to the Court, and he will--will likely get a similar case, that of Jose Padilla a/k/a Abdullah Al-Muhajir, soon. Padilla's lawyer, yesterday, appeared before a federal appeals court, demanding that his client (an Al-Qaeda procurer of dirty bombs) be charged or freed. But the government wants the ability to indefinitely detain enemy combatants intent on murdering Americans.
The issue, whether a U.S. citizen seized on U.S. soil can be designated an enemy combatant is sure to come before the Supreme Court soon.
The trial court, in South Carolina, ruled for the terrorist Hamdan's lawyer, something that needs to be reversed.
Watch for Roberts to be on the right side--the side of the safety and security of the American people--of that, as he was on Hamdan." (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=18846)
Then what about business interests in an ever-changing international business environment? We don't live in world dominated by US business anymore. We are the largest economy but the competition is getting tougher.
So how is Judge Roberts going to come down on business issues?
Lawrence Kudlow is a former Reagan economic advisor, a syndicated columnist, and the co-host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company. He analyzed today how Roberts will look at the business world (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-7_21_05_LK.html):
"This is a far cry from the Supreme Court of the past 70 years.
As Mark Levin writes in his bestselling book Men in Black, the Court has so expanded the commerce clause that it has helped create a huge regulatory state where activist judges have seized private property, taken over school systems and prisons, interceded in private-sector hiring and firing practices, ordered farm quotas and property-tax increases, and expelled God, prayer, and the Ten Commandments from the public square. Levin calls this “socialism from the bench.”
By all accounts, John Roberts will not go down this path.
Roberts’s nomination also signals a bad hair day for trial lawyers and their excessive damage claims which have so crippled business and destroyed tens of thousands of jobs.
In particular Roberts is expected to support recent congressional legislation that would move class-action lawsuits from county and state courts to the federal bench.
Experts anticipate an aggressive effort by the trial lawyers to gradually snipe at the Class Action Fairness Act, but Roberts is expected to uphold the congressional law.
Roberts is a genuine free-market judge, someone who will not assume that business is always guilty until proven innocent.
He should land on the side of limiting damages for personal injury and product liability settlements, which hopefully will include asbestos, medical malpractice, and phony securities lawsuits.
He may also be sympathetic to corporate patent-holders of intellectual property, while seeking to oppose local regulators in areas of telecom access, energy development and production, and streamlined power utilities."
Sounds good to me. Frivolous lawsuits are killing US businesses. We need a judge who understands that you cannot create employees without employers.
There is more to the Supreme Court than abortion.
Just think about this. Science and technology have changed the world in the past two decades.
On the day that Pres. Reagan nominated Sandra O'Connor (1981) we did not have the Internet, wireless communication, stem cell research, cloning, nanotechnology, etc.
We don't know what issues will come to the court in the future. We do know that Roberts is an excellent judge with a wonderful reputation.
I can live with that!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
The New York Times has a wonderful "On this day in History" section. I check it often. It's fun going back and checking the front page from a particular day.
36 years ago, Neil Armstrong steered Apollo 11 to a moon landing. A few hours later, he walked on the moon. I remember watching everything on TV, along with my family.
Kids today do not seem to care that much space travel. My generation grew up watching science fiction movies about Martians and aliens. We loved TV shows like "Lost in Space" and "My favorite Martian".
So the moon landing was a big deal back then.
Was it worth it?
The space program started out as a science and quickly turned into a race between the US and the USSR.
In retrospect, I'm glad that we beat the communists to the moon. I'm thrilled that the US flag is waving somewhere on the moon surface rather than the Soviet banner.
The US flag, which stands for freedom and limited government, is a better symbol than the Soviet flag, which is a tragic reminder of gulags and political prisons.
The space program was also a wonderful demonstration of how the US is at its best when we have a common goal.
Check out the NYTimes front page:
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Pres. Bush made an outstanding choice. Judge John Roberts has an excellent background and is well respected.
Take a look at his resume: http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/robertsresume.htm
Where do we go from here?
I hope that Democrats will get over abortion and return to the days when judicial nominations were respectful and in good taste.
In our history, most Supreme Court nominees refused to answer specific questions about how they'd vote in future cases. In fact, most nominations in the past were approved quickly, and often, by a voice vote.
Can Democrats get over abortion? Kennedy, Leahy and Durbin won't. They have to do battle for moveon.org and the legion of left wing groups that finance the modern Democrat party.
Nevertheless, Bush has the votes and John Roberts will be joining the Supreme Court this fall.
It wasn't that long ago that Judge Grinsberg was nominated by Pres. Clinton and refused to answer specific questions. Sen. Biden did not have any problems with that. Let's hope that Biden is consistent.
Elections have consequences.
The liberals should not be angry that Pres. Bush appointed a conservative. What did they expect? Pres. Bush campaigned in 2000, 2002 and 2004 saying that he would nominate judges like John Roberts.
Don't get mad at Bush for being consistent.
Elections have consequences. Liberals should be mad at Gore for failing to carry Tennessee and at Clinton for failing to deliver Arkansas for the Democrat ticket.
How will this play outside of Washington? I think that Roberts will play well. He is an affable and competent fellow.
Elections have consequences.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The Washington press corps is obsessed with "getting Bush". On the other hand, our enemies are obsesssed with "getting us".
In other words, we are busy with partisan cat fights whereas our enemies, the same ones who killed 55 in London two weeks ago, spend their day trying to sneak a WMD into the US.
How can you fight a war like this?
How can we win a war if we spend much of our time calling each other liars and four letter word names?
It is frankly depressing.
Now I understand why FDR and Truman did not allow unrestricted press coverage during WW2. Thankfully, FDR did not have to spend 1942-44 fighting partisan press reports that he knew the Pearl Harbor attack was coming or that German civilians were being killed nightly by our air force.
To be more specific:
"The Office of War Information (OWI) is established in 1942 to control the flow of information between government agencies and manage the release of war news. The OWI opens an overseas branch and successfully transmits news and propaganda over the radio. The office closes in 1945.
Correspondents are allowed to travel with troops provided all writing is submitted to military censors prior to publication. In 1942 the press voluntarily accepts a Code of Wartime Practices.
No photographs of American dead are released to the public for the first two years of World War II.
In 1943 the ban on photographs of the dead is partially lifted in an attempt to galvanize public support for the war.
Graphic photographs and pictures showing faces of the dead are still censored." (http://www.usnewsclassroom.com/resources/activities/war_reporting/timeline/ww2-censor.html)
By the way, we won that war. We kept public support. The main reason that FDR got away with such censorship is because the Republican opposition behaved like adults.
Let's talk about today's War on Terror. How can you fight a war like this?
Read Jonathan Alter in Newsweek:
"We got in because we "cooked" the intelligence, then hyped it. That's why the "Downing Street Memo" is not a smoking gun but a big "duh." For two years we've known that senior White House officials were determined to, in the words of the British intelligence memo, "fix" the intelligence to suit their policy decisions. When someone crossed them, they would "fix" him, too, as career ambassador Joseph Wilson found when he came back from Africa with a report that threw cold water on the story that Saddam Hussein sought yellowcake uranium from Niger." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8598301/site/newsweek/)
Question # 1: Does Alter provide any proof of how intelligence was "cooked"? Does he say that the Clinton administration, including media favorites like Madeleine Albright, "cooked" their statements about Iraq's WMDs? How about Senator Hillary Clinton? Did all of these Democrats work in the kitchen when Bush was "cooking" the WMD story?
Did Alter stand up in March 2003 and screamed: Stop this war because I know for a fact that Saddam does not have WMDs?
Alter does not present any facts. He simply accuses the Bush administration of fabricating evidence to get into a war.
Question # 2: Does Alter accuse the UN, France, Russia, Israel, the entire Clinton foreign policy team, the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, et al, of "cooking" WMD evidence?
Alter conveniently skips all of those collaborators and jumps on Bush-Cheney.
Is this journalism? The answer is no.
More importantly, can we fight a war on terror like this? I don't think so!
Question # 3: Why is Alter defending Joe Wilson?
Mark Steyn writes about Wilson in The Chicago Sun Times(http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn17.html) :
"Just about everybody on the face of the earth except Wilson, the White House press corps and the moveon.org crowd accepts that Saddam was indeed trying to acquire uranium from Africa.
Don't take my word for it; it's the conclusion of the Senate intelligence report, Lord Butler's report in the United Kingdom, MI6, French intelligence, other European services -- and, come to that, the original CIA report based on Joe Wilson's own briefing to them."
Christopher Hitchens goes after Mr. Wilson:
"The third bogus element in Wilson's boastful story is the claim that Niger's "yellowcake" uranium was never a subject of any interest to Saddam Hussein's agents.
The British intelligence report on this, which does not lack criticism of the Blair government, finds the Niger connection to be among the most credible of the assertions made about Saddam's double-dealing.
If you care to consult the Financial Times of June 28, 2004, and see the front-page report by its national security correspondent Mark Huband, you will be able to review the evidence that Niger—with whose ministers Mr. Wilson had such "good relations"—was trying to deal in yellowcake with North Korea and Libya as well as Iraq and Iran.
This evidence is by no means refuted or contradicted by a forged or faked Italian document saying the same thing.
It was a useful axiom of the late I.F. Stone that few people are so foolish as to counterfeit a bankrupt currency.
Thus, and to begin with, Joseph Wilson comes before us as a man whose word is effectively worthless.
What do you do, if you work for the Bush administration, when a man of such quality is being lionized by an anti-war press?
Well, you can fold your tent and let them print the legend." (http://slate.msn.com/id/2122963/ )
It is incredibly irresponsible for someone to accuse a president of fabricating (or "cooking") evidence to go to war. At least, we should expect such a person to present evidence of how the intelligence was "cooked".
What's going on?
The liberal media has dumped the Democrats and decided to become the opposition party.
They will fight Bush. The media understands that the Democrats cannot win at the ballot box so they are going to "get Bush"!
They want Bush impeached. Why? Because they got burned with the CBS forgeries and the Newsweek story. Because they do not like Bush's position on abortion or cultural issues.
Michael Goodwin of the NYDaily News just wrote a story about the media vs Bush. I think that he is exactly right! (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/v-pfriendly/story/327526p-279954c.html)
"The intense grilling that White House reporters inflicted on presidential spokesman Scott McClellan Monday over whether political guru Karl Rove leaked the name of a CIA operative was no ordinary give-and-take.
It was a hostile hectoring that revealed much of the mainstream press for what it has become: the opposition party.
Reporters apparently have decided Democrats aren't up to the job.
Can't blame them.
With Dems reduced to Howard Dean's rants and Hillary Clinton's juvenile jab that President Bush looks like Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, somebody has to offer a substantive alternative.
The press has volunteered.
That the mainstream media are basically liberals with press passes has been documented by virtually every study that measures reporters' political identification and issue positions.
But bias has now slopped over into blatant opposition, a stance the media will regret.
Instead of providing unvarnished facts obtained by aggressive but fair-minded reporting, the media will be reduced to providing comfort food to ideological comrades.
Already held in lower esteem by the public than lawyers and Congress, the press risks looking like a special interest group.
Its claims to represent "the American people," as one McClellan inquisitor did, are easily ignored when it serves as an echo chamber for the anti-Bush."
Goodwin is not the first media member to bring this up. Months ago, Howard Finneman of Newsweek (hardly a member of the right wing conspiracy) made the same point (URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6813945/):
"The crusades of Vietnam and Watergate seemed like a good idea at the time, even a noble one, not only to the press but perhaps to a majority of Americans. The problem was that, once the AMMP declared its existence by taking sides, there was no going back. A party was born.
It was not accident that the birth coincided with an identity crisis in the Democratic Party. The ideological energy of the New Deal had faded; Vietnam and various social revolutions of the ’60s were tearing it apart. Into the vacuum came the AMMP, which became the new forum for choosing Democratic candidates. A "reform" movement opened up the nominating process, taking it out of the smoke-filled backrooms and onto television and into the newsrooms. The key to winning the nomination and, occasionally, the presidency, became expertise at riding the media wave. McGovern did it, Gary Hart almost did (until he fell off his surfboard); Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton rode it all the way".
Finemann and Goodwin are exactly right.
Check out Andrew McCarthy: "Did the CIA “Out” Valerie Plame?What the mainstream media tells the court ... but won’t tell you." (http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200507180801.asp):
"With each passing day, the manufactured "scandal" over the publication of Valerie Plame's relationship with the CIA establishes new depths of mainstream-media hypocrisy.
A highly capable special prosecutor is probing the underlying facts, and it is appropriate to withhold legal judgments until he completes the investigation over which speculation runs so rampant.
But it is not too early to assess the performance of the press. It's been appalling.
Is that hyperbole? You be the judge.
Have you heard that the CIA is actually the source responsible for exposing Plame's covert status? Not Karl Rove, not Bob Novak, not the sinister administration cabal du jour of Fourth Estate fantasy, but the CIA itself?
Had you heard that Plame's cover has actually been blown for a decade — i.e., since about seven years before Novak ever wrote a syllable about her?
Had you heard not only that no crime was committed in the communication of information between Bush administration officials and Novak, but that no crime could have been committed because the governing law gives a person a complete defense if an agent's status has already been compromised by the government?
No, you say, you hadn't heard any of that.
You heard that this was the crime of the century.
A sort of Robert-Hanssen-meets-Watergate in which Rove is already cooked and we're all just waiting for the other shoe — or shoes — to drop on the den of corruption we know as the Bush administration.
That, after all, is the inescapable impression from all the media coverage.
So who is saying different?
The organized media, that's who.
How come you haven't heard?
Because they've decided not to tell you"
Once again, we see a liberal media determined to destroy Republican presidents.
However, it won't work.
It won't work because the Washington media does not control the information flow anymore.
It won't work because the blogs and talk radio reach more Americans than the Washington media does.
This is not Vietnam or Watergate. The media cannot control what we read.
Last but not least----did Rove do anything illegal?
I am willing to sit back and let Special Prosecutor answer that question.
The media has already concluded that Rove is guilty and wants him out.
Is the media going to win this fight? The answer is no.
By the way, there is a terrorist somewhere in the world, or even here in the US, who is planning to kill you or your family.
Does the Washington press corps care about that? No. They just want to get Bush! | <urn:uuid:93f9d296-973e-4cc2-8f3a-bd618bb50b4a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://cantotalk.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00213-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962457 | 14,989 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The debate rages on.
Should general aviation pay more toward the cost of the nation’s air traffic control system, especially if it would hasten the implementation of the NextGen air traffic control (ATC) system and depoliticize FAA funding? If so, is the current system of fuel and excise taxes the best way to do it?
Historically, the airline lobby has pressed policymakers to implement higher fees on general aviation (GA), claiming the industry does not pay its fair share. The official policy of GA, as espoused by the NBAA and others, has and continues to be that the current aviation fuel tax system is the fairest and most efficient way to collect GA’s contribution to ATC, even if that tax needs to be increased. The tax on jet-A currently amounts to 21.9 cents per gallon.
GA lobby groups have fought vociferously against any attempt to impose user fees, such as the $25 segment charge on turbine aircraft unsuccessfully proposed in 2008 to fund ATC modernization. Since then, the rhetoric from the leaders of some GA groups has hardened in the face of what is perceived as an increasing threat on an industry in a fragile economic recovery.
This summer, NBAA president Ed Bolen, addressing the user fee threat, warned a forum audience at EAA AirVenture: “The ability to tax is the ability to destroy.” In September, the NBAA announced that the House of Representatives General Aviation Caucus had grown to a majority of all members, giving GA added clout in any future user fee fight.
Aviation fuel taxes currently imposed on GA raise $622 million annually, according to the FAA. The FAA also collects a 7.5-percent excise tax on Part 135 passengers and a 6.25-percent excise tax on airfreight.The FAA currently collects$11.44 billion annually forairline passenger ticket, freight and international departure taxes.
Approximately 74 percent of the total$15 billionFAA budget, or about$11.18 billion(people and facilities), is used for ATC.The remainder of the FAA budget is used for regulation, safety oversight, research-and-development and compliance activities.
All fees and taxes due the FAA are deposited in the Aviation and Airways Trust Fund (AATF). Proceeds from the trust are supposed to fund all FAA activities, including the Airports Improvement Program (AIP). However, in recent years, proceeds from the AATF have been insufficient to fund the entire FAA budget, and a historical annual shortfall of $2 to $3 billion has been appropriated by the Congress, which must approve the entire FAA budget, regardless of the funding source. Recent shortfalls largely have been associated with the cost of developing and deploying NextGen ATC technologies.
GA’s Fair Share
Given these numbers, does GA pay its fair share of the ATC burden? The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General’s (IG) office attempted to determine that in a 2008 study. (“Use of the National Air Space System,” CR-2008-028) The IG found that GA used approximately 16 percent of all ATC services but contributed only 3 percent of the costs, findings that were roundly criticized by the NBAA and others.
Specifically, the IG found that “non-carrier” operations accounted for 59 percent of tower operations, 49 percent of terminal radar control (Tracon) operations and 17 percent of en route miles flown. The IG found that non-carrier jet operations accounted for 12 percent of tower services, 13 percent of Tracon services and 11 percent of en route operations. Towers and Tracons account for more than half of all FAA costs. The IG further found that during peak hour periods non-carriers accounted for 20 to 30 percent of all IFR approaches in the New York Tracon, 28 percent in Atlanta and 18 to 23 percent in Cleveland.
Eliminating all other sources of revenue and using the fuel tax to pay for ATC indiscriminately would level the playing field somewhat, but GA would pay more. According to a statistical sampling performed by the IG, universally applying the fuel tax would result in air carriers paying 96.9 percent of the ATC burden while operating 92.3 percent of the flights, while non-carriers, with 7.7 percent of all flights, would see their share of the burden increase from 1.2 percent to 3.1 percent, or an increase of about 35 cents a gallon in fuel taxes to 57 cents a gallon. That would be mitigated somewhat by undetermined cost savings associated with the elimination of record keeping now required for compliance with passenger and freight excise taxes.
Another means of leveling the playing field would be to switch to a Canadian-style system that assesses ATC based on aircraft weight and time in the system. This solution is espoused by several leading aviation analysts, including the Reason Foundation’s Robert Poole. Poole maintains that even with a representative increase in the fuel tax, GA would still be proportionately underfunding the FAA budget because GA fuel tax revenues are used in support of the AIP, and that a large share of that allocation benefits GA-only airports. “Something like a billion dollars a year our of the $3.5 billion annual AIP expenditures are spent on airports that do not have commercial service,” he noted.
Poole has concluded, after studying the Canadian and European systems, that it would be unreasonable to try to collect a proportional share of the ATC system costs from GA. “Nobody actually does that,” he said. “As a practical matter that isn’t going to happen. Even if we did shift to a higher fuel tax or direct fees and charges like Canada uses, they would not provide full cost recovery, but they would be more, certainly. But it wouldn’t be a ‘blip is a blip’ [on the radar] concept that the airlines were fighting for back in 2007 in the war they waged against business jets.
The Canadian system uses a terminal charge and an en route charge, and the en route charge is based on miles and gross takeoff weight. Putting weight into the equation scales the system. Piston airplanes like a small Cessna don’t pay any en route or terminal charges at all, just a small annual fee that is less than they would pay in fuel taxes in the United States. Canada and most of the rest of the world understand that you don’t want to put anyone out of business and make flying unaffordable.”
Direct Fees or Taxes?
Poole said the debate comes down to whether it is better to have direct fees or taxes. “Any tax legally goes into the federal treasury and the money can be spent only when Congress writes an appropriations bill, or it can be misappropriated. And that is why there is this extended conversation going on in Washington now among the various stakeholder groups in GA and the airlines about fee-for-service structures, where fees are provided directly to the service provider like Nav Canada, and they are not at all part of the government budget or political process. They are not subject to budget cuts. The aviation trust fund [AATF] was supposed to do that, but the system has really broken down.”
Poole thinks the current methods by which the FAA gathers revenues–passenger taxes, fuel taxes, excise taxes, waybills, trust fund investments and general appropriations–is “overly convoluted.”
However, he did admit that imposing the Nav Canada structure on U.S. GA would increase flight costs as compared to the fuel tax system currently in place. “It’s definitely an increase. It’s not more than double, but it is considerable.”
Yet if those increased fees were used to fund a more efficient ATC system, Poole maintains that operators would quickly break even, “if you could reduce flying hours by three to five percent thanks to more efficient routing or fewer holds.” | <urn:uuid:941024c1-f4b8-4e28-9d1a-a5f93969c803> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.ainonline.com/comment/9126 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721387.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00447-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965269 | 1,668 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Is using technology ever been in the definition of a great teacher? Obviously no. My definition of a great teacher, is a person who inspires their students. That knows their students' interests and their learning needs. A great teacher establishes accountably and continually makes sure their students are gaining the knowledge needed. A great teacher fosters a rich learning climate in their classroom that celebrates successes and mistakes. I strive to be a great teacher everyday.
Has technology helped me to be a better teacher?
I think so. No. I know so. Social media like Twitter has connected me with great teachers from all over the world. They have pushed my teaching boundaries. The way I teach is constantly evolving and I am learning new ways to embrace technology and use it to my advantage for my students. The Internet, computers and the iPads in my room have flattened my classroom walls. Student's are not only learning from me. They are learning from other teachers and peers on different continents. They are also teaching others what they know by tweeting and making their learning visible on their Kidblogs.
Does technology = A great teacher?
Can you give a teacher technology and they will instantly improve reading and math scores in their classroom? Obviously not. Teachers need to understand how students learn and to use technology as a tool. I recently had a visit from Chris Knight (a consultant with GECDB) into my classroom for a visit and he wrote the following in a blog post that you can find here.
I noted some of the conditions that needed to exist for technology to be used effectively in this classroom:
1. The technology allowed the students to create things that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.
2. The technology gave the students a voice beyond the classroom.
3. The technology was used with very precise and intentional aims.
4. The technology allowed for student collaboration and conversation.
5. Many tasks were open and involved student exploration, investigation and decision-making.
Technology has changed the way I teach. I still aim to inspire my students and to know my students' interests and needs, the same things I did when I didn't have all of this technology at my fingertips. However, I am a better teacher now that I am utilizing technology in my classroom. I also think it has become evident and will become more and more evident that using technology in an effective way in your classroom will be something a great teacher will have to do. | <urn:uuid:64e1d7c5-fc0f-42fa-a17c-638f1f909446> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.mrswideen.com/2012/11/does-technology-great-teacher.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280791.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00357-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982274 | 495 | 2.609375 | 3 |
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision?
Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God.
For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God?
God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
But if our righteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.)
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just.
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;
as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God;
They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not, so much as one:
Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips:
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace have they not known:
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God:
because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law [cometh] the knowledge of sin.
But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction;
for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
whom God set forth [to be] a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;
for the showing, [I say], of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.
Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith.
We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Or is God [the God] of Jews only? is he not [the God] of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also:
if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. | <urn:uuid:a975eaf7-530c-4384-b978-3f30530cfc8d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.biblestudytools.com/asv/romans/3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284405.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00040-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960554 | 773 | 2.03125 | 2 |
B.F.A. in Musical Theatre
Point Park's B.F.A. in musical theatre is a rigorous eight-semester program designed to prepare graduates for a career in the professional theatre.
The 129-credit program places a strong emphasis in all areas of musical theatre — acting, music and dance — and the demands of the training, performance and creative components are intensive.
Rigorous Training and Hands-On Experience
Students learn from faculty who have trained and worked on stages around the world. Acclaimed guest artists, playwrights, directors, choreographers and casting directors regularly come to Point Park's Downtown Pittsburgh campus to conduct master classes and workshops.
Through collaboration with visiting artists, as well as a senior showcase in New York, the B.F.A. in musical theatre program provides opportunities to ensure a strong foundation for a career on stage.
Musical Theatre Course Offerings
The B.F.A. in musical theatre requires fewer electives, and offers a rigorous structure that encourages students to focus on skills and training towards becoming a professional musical theatre actor.
You will receive a well-rounded education by combining the core curriculum and courses in your major:
- Voice and Speech
- Music Theory/Piano/Sightsinging
- Foundations of Musical Theatre
- Musical Theatre History
- Theatre History
- Ensemble Singing
- Musical Theatre Acting Techniques
- Professional Seminar
- Stage Makeup
- Elements of Stagecraft
Musical Theatre Alumni
Graduates are well-positioned to join a network of alumni who are actively working on Broadway, as well as in national tours and premieres. | <urn:uuid:abd586d6-5ccd-45ce-9b93-0777671b3b3c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.pointpark.edu/Academics/Schools/COPA/COPADeptsMajors/Theatre/MusicalTheatre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284405.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00033-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938211 | 342 | 1.539063 | 2 |
I don't wish to go into details and mechanisms, so please excuse me.<quoted text>
try answering my question for once, instead of being pompous
I am not surprised that you goofed up that ordinary bit of chemistry on citrate and citric acid considering your weak foundation in math and science.
As for your question on arsenic, well, once again I don't wish to explain since it'll take me into explanation about the 4 quantum numbers - n, l, m and s, crystal field splitting energy, valence bond theory and then I'll have to explain the nuances of oxidation state which you think you know but you don't - for instance, if I ask you to find the oxidation state of S in the transformation of sodium thiosulfate to sodium tetrathionate in acidic medium showing all the working steps you will not know how to begin. And, if I ask you to contrast that with valence, milliequivalents, moles and ppm you won't know how to proceed.
So, well, I will drop the topic and forget about it for now.
Maybe some other time.
But, I am really not interested.
When I was preparing for the IIT JEE in Grades 9 to 12, I always referred to advanced Chemistry reference books like Morrison and Boyd, Bruce Mahan, Cotton, Sareen and Sareen,- these books are mainly used by university students but students wishing to crack the IIT JEE have to compulsorily refer to these books in detail.
In-depth knowledge of chem or math will hardly take you deep into the nature of the reality nor will it make one a better person.
Ok, then, best regards. | <urn:uuid:bc61b407-b283-4231-a99f-a662a7ea4e49> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.topix.com/forum/chicago/TM3OVM4FAOEGMHG12/p2693 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281331.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00227-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945279 | 355 | 2.171875 | 2 |
German translation of one-horse
- to be a one-horse race (figurative)
einen sicheren Sieger haben
- (informal) one-horse town
Kuhdorf nt (inf)
Example Sentences Including 'one-horse'
It was too big for itself somehow, fourteen storeys high on the edge of a one-horse town.MR STARLIGHT (2004)
Not for some godforsaken one-horse town in the middle of nowhere.Death and Transfiguration
Trends of 'one-horse'
View usage over:
Translation of one-horse from the Collins English to German Dictionary | <urn:uuid:041d023c-517e-4aee-9f10-e81170ec79db> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-german/one-horse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279489.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00010-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.77399 | 141 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Oral diseases pose a serious health burden for many nations and affect individuals all through their lifetime, inflicting pain, discomfort, disfigurement and even demise. You should also contact your doctor or dentist if a jagged or sharp tooth or a dental hygiene device is the explanation on your canker sores. If I might help somebody with their oral health needs, they usually depart saying that wasn’t as bad as I expected” or higher yet, that was really easy” I feel like I’ve provided an ideal service. 90-Day Notice Period. You have to notify us about any billing problems or discrepancies inside ninety days after they first seem on your billing method assertion. If you do not deliver them to our attention inside 90 days, you agree that you simply waive your proper to dispute such problems or discrepancies.
Good oral hygiene is a tried-and-true method for protecting your smile trying its greatest. Toothpastes gently buff out stains from the floor of your enamel. Whitening toothpastes work the identical manner with extra substances; they do not bleach your teeth. Flossing eliminates food and micro organism that might harden into plaque, which makes your enamel look dull and darker.
Acceleration in the rise of consumerism and the cloud. As folks shift to excessive deductible well being plans with well being savings accounts, they develop into discriminating healthcare customers. They expect to pay for top of the range care and glorious service, a pattern that will continue as the cost of healthcare explodes. When considering where to spend their healthcare greenback, the new healthcare client expects to obtain the identical caliber of individualized service that retailers like Amazon deliver. The important thing to Amazon’s success is its use of the cloud to constantly assemble, set up, and enrich buyer profiles that result in personalised engagement and tailor-made service for each and every buyer.
Many nutritional vitamins perform similar functions. For example, both vitamins A and C promote the well being of the enamel and soft tissues. Lots of the B nutritional vitamins assist your metabolism function correctly and help with crimson blood cell manufacturing. In accordance with the authors of a March 2003 examine revealed in “Age and Ageing,” individuals who have interaction in unhealthy habits – comparable to smoking, a poor high quality weight loss plan, and bodily inactivity – are at increased danger for untimely well being decline and death.
Fluoride therapies: Skilled fluoride therapies contain more fluoride than toothpaste and mouth rinses you should buy at a retailer. If stronger fluoride is required each day, your dentist might provide you with a prescription. Moreover, life-style habits – equivalent to not smoking and limiting alcohol consumption – contribute to a wholesome life. A good no-pull harness can make walks extra pleasing with out inflicting your canine discomfort or ache.
Well being care suppliers are anticipated to be accustomed to the rules and observe the suggestions. Good medical judgment is necessary in deciding learn how to use and interpret this information. One other complication of poor oral health is gum disease, which may be gentle in the initial phases, but lead to much more extreme issues if untreated. Gum illness or periodontal illness might trigger loss of teeth, infections and other issues.
Alternative of Law. These Terms and the relationship between the events, together with any declare or dispute that may arise between the parties, whether or not sounding in contract, tort, or in any other case, will be governed by the legal guidelines of the State of New York without regard to its conflict of law provisions. In no occasion will the parties convey claims in opposition to each other under the laws of one other jurisdiction. | <urn:uuid:a1ed9a56-2d9b-4252-b4a0-ae2ea1752c42> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.keine-ruhe.org/the-greatest-beneficial-supplements-for-overall-health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.934103 | 747 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Shrinkage Cracks in Concrete
by Nick Gromicko and Kenton Shepard
Newly-placed concrete develops tensile stresses as differences in temperature and moisture content develop in the drying concrete. These stresses are relieved by cracking. A number of factors can influence the development of such stresses.
Control of Crack Locations
Control joints are sometimes installed in an attempt to determine the areas at which concrete will crack. Control joints are grooves pressed into the concrete during the finishing process. Because the concrete slab is thinner and weaker at these grooved areas, it tends to develop cracks in these grooves first.
Because of the many factors which can influence the locations at which cracks develop, they sometimes appear in areas other than at control joints.
Restraint to Shrinkage
According to the Portland Cement Association, restraint to shrinkage is the most common cause of concrete cracking. This condition is inherent in continuously-poured concrete slabs. In applications such as concrete slabs and residential foundation walls, cracking is inevitable and expected.
As the surface of concrete dries, water evaporates from the spaces between particles. As this water dissipates, the particles move closer together, resulting in shrinkage of the concrete. Because the surface of a concrete slab is exposed to air but the underlying concrete is not, concrete near the surface dries and shrinks at a rate different from that of the underlying concrete. The underlying concrete acts as a restraint to shrinkage, resulting in cracking of the surface layer.
Factors Influencing Locations of Crack Development
- Thermal cracking:
Temperature differences can contribute to the development of cracks.
The chemical hydration process through which concrete hardens produces heat which causes concrete to expand. At the same time, concrete at the surface of the slab is exposed to air and loses water through evaporation. Both of these conditions contribute to cooling and shrinking of the concrete near the surface.
The hot, expanding underlying concrete acts as a restraint to shrinkage of the cooling, shrinking surface concrete. This condition produces tensile stresses which are relieved by cracking of concrete near the surface.
- Plastic cracking:
Water may sometimes evaporate from the surface concrete faster than moisture can migrate from the underlying concrete to replace it. When this happens, surface concrete will dry more quickly than underlying concrete. The resulting differences in moisture content produce tensile stresses which are relieved by cracking of concrete near the surface.
- Shrinkage cracking:
When concrete is mixed, more water than is needed for hydration is mixed with the dry components, such as sand, cement and an aggregate. Most of the water will eventually evaporate, causing shrinkage of the concrete slab.
Since water evaporates from the surface, which is exposed to air, at a rate different from the underlying concrete, this differential shrinkage rate produces tensile stresses which are relieved by cracking of concrete near the surface.
Identifying Shrinkage Cracks
The following are visual clues which help to differentiate shrinkage cracks from other types of cracks which can appear in concrete slabs and foundation walls.
- Vertical displacement:
Cracks which are caused by soil settlement or heaving typically exhibit vertical displacement of the concrete; concrete on one side of the crack will be higher than concrete on the other side.
- Linear crack continuity:
Cracks caused by shrinkage are typically not linearly continuous. Although they make look continuous at first, if viewed closely, interruptions in the crack line can be seen.
- Continuity through the slab:
Shrinkage cracks are not continuous through the slab, but are actually cracks in the concrete surface.
When reinforcement steel is placed too near the surface, it can corrode. Expansion results as steel is converted to iron oxide through corrosion. This expansion can crack the concrete surface. When the crack is caused by corroding steel, corrosion is typically visible at the slab surface.
- Alkali-aggregate reaction:
Alkali-aggregate reaction is deterioration resulting from the reaction of an aggregate with alkali hydroxides in the concrete. Indications of this type of deterioration may be a network of cracks, closed or spalling joints, or displacement of different portions of a structure. | <urn:uuid:64a3cbfa-6cb0-46fa-a9ea-67c5ba588a0a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.nachi.org/shrinkage-cracks-in-concrete.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280718.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00408-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941319 | 866 | 3.375 | 3 |
A type of moth, that causes chaos to the cotton crop in the US, has been genetically modified with a gene from a jellyfish to make it pass on an inherited lethal trait.
Scientists hope to test the moth in a secure location in Arizona. They say there are no problems with the release because the insects are all sterilized and they will be secure in a field cage so cannot escape.
However many people are uncertain about genetically modified animals and plants fearing they may harm the environment and people. In this case though the people involved believe they can show that GM animals are useful. | <urn:uuid:9f299c6d-03c0-4cc9-990d-05d57ca071f3> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=3607 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280900.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00006-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967655 | 118 | 2.53125 | 3 |
CNN — Two stressed African elephants will be given medical cannabidiol — CBD — to help them relax and stop fighting at a zoo in Poland.
On Thursday, the Warsaw Zoo announced on its website that it would conduct the CBD experiment, which it hopes will improve the mood of the animals.
“We have started a project during which we will check the effect of CBD hemp oils on the mood of our animals,” the statement read, in part. “To begin with, the program included Fredzia the elephant, who after the recent death of Erna (the former head of the elephant herd) was a bit stressed and had a bit of trouble finding her position in the herd.”
The oil — which does not have psychoactive properties — will be given to two elephants — Fredzia, who is already being given it, and fellow female herd member Buba.
Warsaw Zoo zookeeper Patryk Pyciński explained in a video posted on Facebook that elephants can grieve the loss of a herd member “for weeks, sometimes for years.”
This has been the case with Fredzia, who has had difficulty readjusting after the death of the head of the herd, Erna, and has begun using a “tough trunk” mentality to try to assert her dominance over Buba.
Meanwhile, Buba uses “cleverness” and a more thoughtful approach in her tussle for the top.
“Elephants are extremely intelligent animals with very complicated brains,” he said. “They’re very social animals that are interdependent on each other and as a group, they create a complicated organism.”
Warsaw Zoo veterinarian Agnieszka Czujkowska, who is leading the project, said CBD had already been used on dogs and horses and that they hoped it might work on elephants as an alternative to medication. The results could take months, she added.
“We would like to see how CBD oil — hemp flower extract — affects elephants. Like most zoos we do research (and) we monitor the level of stress hormones. Thanks to this we will know if the substances (will) help the elephants,” Czujkowska said.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:b5452c59-643d-49d7-afc9-eeeb1c486253> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://nbc-2.com/news/national-world/2020/08/27/stressed-zoo-elephants-to-be-given-cbd-oil-to-help-them-chill-and-stop-fighting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571190.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810131127-20220810161127-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.96165 | 503 | 1.9375 | 2 |
The “Earth, Energy and Environment Center” (EEC) project planned by Gould Evans was opened in April 2018. The outstanding project on the campus of the University of Kansas was designed to meet all the requirements of a state-of-the-art teaching and research facility. It functions as a central point for all energy and environmental research. The Slawson Hall and Ritchie Hall have been designed to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and commitment from students, faculty and external partners. The approx. 135,000 square meter complex is designed for several scientific fields, including geology, physics, and chemistry. With transparency as a design strategy, the EEEC breaks open historical academic silos and offers a more integrated approach to student learning. In designing the facade, Gould Evans again relied on NBK as a partner for the realization of the ceramic facade. The materials used evoke the geological history of the State of Kansas. The ceramic facade laid in patterns gives the building lightness. In addition, domestic limestone forms the basis for both buildings. The terracotta facade supports the multiple award-winning Design of Gould Evans and makes the building a real eye-catcher. The use of the natural building material also does justice to the context of the building. Terracotta as an ecological facade material offers the highest structural properties and allows an almost unlimited variety of designs. As part of the EEC project, ceramic facade elements from the TERRART®-MID product range were used to clad the building. To ensure privacy and sun protection in front of the windows, the architects also opted for TERRART®-Baguette terracotta rod elements, which were installed in lamellar fashion in front of the windows. Make your vision of a terracotta facade come true. We would be happy to advise you on your construction project without obligation. Please contact us here. We look forward to your inquiry. Check out this video about this great project on Youtube. | <urn:uuid:a3377b18-49c4-4f93-bc93-64be87a07b54> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://nbkterracotta.com/en/project/earth-energy-and-environment-center/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571719.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812140019-20220812170019-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.951738 | 397 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Silencers… Walking Dead style Came across a video about constructing a silencer out of a flashlight. The process seems pretty simple if you are handy with tools. I guess The Walking Dead isn’t as retarded as we thought. Keep in mind that this is illegal without the proper paperwork for the silencer. This is also illegal in a... Read On
Zombie Equipment Overview
This page will first give an overview of Zombie Equipment.
Zombie Protective Gear:
You must protect yourself during a zombie outbreak. In a perfect world, the zombies would never be within biting range (or exist at all). Because this is not true, we will cover protective gear.
Zombie Survival Gear:
Weapons and Armor are not always the most important item to carry. Sometimes it’s the small things that help you get through the day. These can range from matches to a compass. Remember, the key is NOT to have to fight the zombies. Survival comes first.
Preventing Zombie Infection The greatest threat in a zombie survival situation is being bitten. This bite will inevitably lead to your fate as a member of the undead. This is of course if you manage to pull away and do not die of blood loss first. You must do everything in your power to prevent the bite... Read On
Zombie Protection When it comes to zombie protection, you must prioritize your threats. The number one threat is being bitten by a zombie or becoming infected through other means. Being infected by not preparing for combat is a lot more likely than a group of zombies taking you down. As we stated in the “Anatomy of a Bite” article,... Read On
Using “Zombie Bombs” may be a tempting prospect when fighting the undead. However, you must realize that for many reasons this might not be practical or effective. Remember, destroying the brain is the purpose of all zombie weapons… so let’s go ahead and look at what an explosive is and how it is used. What is an... Read On | <urn:uuid:998fd7bd-cc60-4201-a6f1-65863cf6efac> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.zombieinformer.com/gear/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280266.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00504-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940283 | 414 | 1.882813 | 2 |
This week as we continue to celebrate the Tokyo 2020 Olympics we are hearing the wonderful and inspiring stories of the lives of the athletes and the sacrifices they’ve made to get to this point. More than that, we are seeing their character and care for one another even at the height of competition.
Sunday, high-jumpers Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar flawlessly jumped the high jump at 7 feet, 9 1/4 inches. But neither of them could clear the bar at a higher level after the three attempts given in their competition.
According to the rules, they could either continue to compete with a jump-off until one man finally triumphed over the other. Or, they could share the gold.
“Can we have two golds?” Barshim asks the official.
Before the official could even finish his response, Barshim reaches out to Tamberi, and they shake hands. Then they hug. Then they run around the field celebrating. The crowd went wild.
These moments matter. These are the moments that remind us of the goodness in the human heart. Collaboration has just as much a place in this world as competition. Both are needed. Competition heightens our skills and teaches us bravery and perseverance. Collaboration joins us at the heart, teaching us generosity and gratitude.
It turns out that these men were friends before they stepped onto the field that day. They had competed before and had helped one another on and off the field. Sharing the gold medal was a beautiful way to extend that friendship. It was also a beautiful way to remind the rest of us that Love wins.
We are in this together,
Listen to the Meditation here. | <urn:uuid:af9eb28f-aa50-4d8a-9372-72c33b5b36c2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://camerontrimble.com/2021/08/03/the-olympics-win/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570793.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808092125-20220808122125-00673.warc.gz | en | 0.978561 | 363 | 2.03125 | 2 |
The History of the St. Ippolito Festival
By: Emma Spagnuolo Caruso
In the early nineteenth century, a terrible earthquake devastated St.
Ippolito, a small town near Cosenza in Calabria, Italy. Almost every home
and building was destroyed, except for the church, which was named St.
Ippolito Church after the town.
The people of St. Ippolito promised the saint St. Ippolito that if he
would protect them and their town from another earthquake, they would have a
festival every year in the month of August in his honor. Since then there
have been minor earthquakes in the region, but no earthquakes that have
destroyed any property.
The people of St. Ippolito kept their promise. Every year in the month of
August they celebrate the St. Ippolito Festival for three days with masses,
a procession thru the town with a band, concession stands, and at the end
there are fireworks.
The St. Ippolito people that came to America and settled in the Lansing
area missed the Festival. A group of people worked together to organize one.
In 1938, the first Festival of St. Ippolito was held at
Bunker Hill, Michigan.
Since then, every second Sunday of August they celebrate the St. Ippolito
Festival, to honor their beloved Saint. During World War II, the festival
was held at Church of the Resurrection in Lansing, Michigan, due to
rationing. The Festival
starts with a mass, followed by a procession and singing of the “Procession
Song” in Italian on the church grounds. The families bring food and have a
wonderful picnic and enjoy socializing with each other. The young children
enjoy the day very much by playing all kinds of games. | <urn:uuid:e00ceae1-1ba7-4536-9475-09ed428bbf99> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~santoippolito/culture_traditions.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00263-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963327 | 399 | 3.203125 | 3 |
On 25th March 1812, some eminent Scotsmen gathered at the Royal Exchange Coffee Rooms, on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. They included members of the aristocracy, and well known figures such as the scientist and mathematician, John Playfair; the industrialist and social reformer, Robert Owen; and the bookseller and publisher, Archibald Constable.
They met to discuss a proposal, put forward the previous year, to establish a life assurance company in Scotland. At that time, with no welfare state, the death of a breadwinner could spell disaster for a family. Women were particularly vulnerable. They tended to be financially dependent on their husbands or other male relatives; in cases of serious misfortune, they could be left destitute.
The men agreed to establish a 'General Fund for securing provision to widows, sisters and other females; to be called the Scottish Widows' Fund'.
A president and a court of directors were appointed. They were charged with drawing up regulations and tables of premiums. This proved a lengthy process: the 'Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society' was finally opened on 29th July 1814.
The Society issued its first policies in late 1814. For reasons of convenience, however, the directors named the official start date as 2nd January 1815.
Business was slow at first. By the end of 1819, only 196 policies had been issued. But that same year, Scottish Widows set up its first agency in Glasgow. A second opened in Dundee, in 1823. It was followed by a whole raft of agencies, including Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Ayr, Kelso, Dumfries and Lerwick.
In 1832, the Society resolved to extend its branch network to 'places in England where an extensive Scotch connexion is known to exist'. Over the next three years, agencies were successfully established in Bradford, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and London.
Thereafter, the Society steadily gained ground. By December 1831, funds had grown to well over a quarter of a million pounds. By 1845, they stood at more than £1.7 million.
In 1824, Scottish Widows received an application for life assurance from Sir Walter Scott. Scott was by then a celebrated author, having published some of his most well-known novels. These included Waverley (1814); Rob Roy (1817); The Bride of Lammermoor and Ivanhoe (both 1819). He had been made a baronet in 1820.
The years from 1824 on, however, were not happy ones for Scott. In 1826, his wife died. That same year he suffered financial catastrophe: the publishing firm in which he was a partner went bankrupt. Scott was left with debts of £121,000 - around £6 million in today's terms - which he elected to pay off himself.
Sir Walter Scott died in 1832. His life had been assured by the Society for £3,000. This was increased by bonus additions to £3,360 – some £170,000 today.
On the Move
For the first three years, Scottish Widows operated from the home and business residence of its manager, William Wotherspoon, in Brown Square, Edinburgh. In 1817, Wotherspoon moved his office to 71 Princes Street - a prime location in Edinburgh's up and coming New Town. Following Wotherspoon's death, the Society purchased a property at 2 St David Street. Then in 1826, it moved to 5 St Andrew Square.
The growing demands of the business meant that in 1832, the Society needed to extend these premises. They commissioned the eminent sculptor, Sir John Steell, to embellish the building. Steell carved a symbolic group of figures: a widow with her children, sheltering at the feet of the goddess of Plenty (Ceres). It was inspired by the decorative emblem used on the Society's policy documents.
In 1857, the Western Bank of Scotland went spectacularly bust. Its assets were sold off, including its premises at 9 St Andrew Square. The building was bought by Scottish Widows in 1859, and became its new head office. It was to occupy this site for more than a century.
The Society celebrated its centenary in 1914, with the chairman reflecting on progress thus far: 'From small beginnings the Society has steadily advanced, and it now holds the proud position of the largest Mutual Life Office in the Kingdom.' That year alone, 5,729 policies were issued, amounting to more than £3.5 million. The Society's total funds surpassed £21.5 million.
The annual report for 1914 featured on its front cover the mythical winged horse, Pegasus. The emblem had been designed for the Society in the 1880s by Walter Crane, a prominent member of Arts and Crafts movement. Symbol of immortality and mastery of time, the flying horse device was used by Scottish Widows until the 1980s.
The 1970s saw Scottish Widows relocate once more. The Society left its longstanding home at St Andrew Square, in Edinburgh's city centre, for purpose-built premises on Dalkeith Road. This stunning new building, based on a series of bronze hexagons, was designed by the prestigious architectural practice of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson. It was officially opened in July 1976. The following year the offices won a much coveted award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The judges commented that the premises made a 'notable contribution to the design of large office buildings'. Dalkeith Road continued as head office until the move to Port Hamilton, Edinburgh, in 1997.
In 1986, the Society launched its 'living logo': the 'Scottish Widow'. She first appeared in a television advertisement, directed by David Bailey. It was a bold and innovative step, which paid huge dividends. The advert was a big success. Recognition of the Scottish Widows brand rocketed from 34% to 92%.
There have been four 'Widows' to date: Deborah Moore, the daughter of Roger Moore (1986-1994); Amanda Lamb (1994-2005); Hayley Hunt (2005-2013); and Amber Martinez (2014 to present).
Diversification and Merger
In 1995 Scottish Widows diversified, with the launch of Scottish Widows Bank. Then on 3rd March 2000, after almost 180 years of independence, the Society demutualised to become part of the Lloyds TSB Group.
That same year saw the creation of the Scottish Widows Investment Partnership; this was formed from the merger of Scottish Widows Investment Management and Hill Samuel Asset Management. SWIP was later sold to Aberdeen Asset Management in 2014.
Scottish Widows is now the insurance arm of Lloyds Banking Group. The Group was formed in 2009, following the takeover of HBOS plc by Lloyds TSB.
- Annals of the Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society, During One Hundred Years, 1815-1914 by Sir Herbert Maxwell (Edinburgh, 1914)
- An extensive archive relating to Scottish Widows is maintained by Lloyds Banking Group Archives in Edinburgh - for further information see our archive collections. | <urn:uuid:c6ef30ca-9fe4-49e8-a884-a01fa0dd9e92> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/our-group/our-heritage/our-history/scottish-widows/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280483.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00302-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970845 | 1,491 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Since Sept. 11, the nation's leaders have warned that government agencies like the CIA and the FBI can't protect the country on their own — private businesses and ordinary citizens have to look out for terrorists, too. So the Obama administration has been promoting programs like "See Something, Say Something" and the "Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative."
Under programs like these, public attractions such as sports stadiums, amusement parks and shopping malls report suspicious activities to law enforcement agencies. But an investigation by NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting suggests that at one of the nation's largest shopping malls, these kinds of programs are disrupting innocent people's lives.
One afternoon three years ago, Francis Van Asten
drove to the Mall of America, near Minneapolis, and started recording. First he filmed driving to the mall. Then he filmed a plane landing at the nearby airport, and then he strolled inside the mall and kept recording as he walked. He says he was taking a video to send to his fiancee in Vietnam.
As he started filming, he didn't realize that he was about to get caught up in America's war on terrorism — the mall had formed its own private counterterrorism unit in 2005. And now, a security guard had been tailing Van Asten since before he entered the mall. Van Asten was first approached by a guard outside a clothing store.
"And he asked me what I was doing. And I said, 'Oh, I'm making a video.' And I said, 'Are we allowed to make videos in Mall of America, and take pictures and stuff?' He says, 'Oh sure, nothing wrong with that,' " explains Van Asten. "So I turn to start walking away, and then he started asking me questions. Why am I making a video, what am I making a video of, what I did for a living, and he asked me, what's my hobbies?"
The guard called another member of the mall's security unit, and they questioned Van Asten for almost an hour before summoning two police officers from the Bloomington Police Department.
"I hadn't done anything wrong. I wasn't doing anything wrong, according to them even. I asked the policeman why I was being detained," says Van Asten. "He said, 'Listen, mister, we can do this any way you want:
the easy way or the hard way.' "
And then, the police took Van Asten down to a police substation in the mall's basement.
Counterterrorism At The Mall
The Department of Homeland Security has been using public service announcements to ask Americans and private businesses to stay vigilant.
"I think our name first of all, Mall of America, is attractive to people that want to hurt America," says Maureen Bausch, vice president of the Mall of America. She says at least 100,000 people visit the mall on a typical day.
"We are definitely the No. 1 attraction in Minnesota, one of the biggest attractions in the United States," she says. "So the government officials have asked us always, since 9/11, to be on the watch."
The mall calls its counterterrorism unit RAM, or Risk Assessment and Mitigation. The unit is staffed with private security personnel.
Bausch wouldn't say in detail how this unit identifies people like Van Asten as potential terrorists, but documents obtained by NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting provide some insight. NPR and CIR asked 29 law enforcement agencies across the country to give us suspicious activity reports from attractions in their areas – everything from amusement parks to baseball stadiums. We asked under state versions of the Freedom of Information Act. The only officials who responded were in Minnesota: They sent us 125 reports that involved suspicious activities at the Mall of America. One of those reports that the Mall sent to local police is on Francis Van Asten.
According to the 18-page report on Van Asten, the mall's RAM unit thought he was "very suspicious" because he kept filming as he walked. He didn't start and stop like most people do. Van Asten says that's true. He wanted to convey the experience of going to the mall. The counterterrorism unit thought he might be mapping an attack.
The report tells how the Bloomington police officers took Van Asten to a police substation in the basement in the Mall of America after mall security questioned him. They frisked him. They seized his camera. They detained him in that room for one more hour. The police called the Joint Terrorism Task Force. And an FBI agent told them: Seize the memory card in Van Asten's camera and delete all his videos.
After two hours they let him go. Van Asten says he loves this country. Back when he was in the Army, he worked at a nuclear missile site
. But he says that afternoon at the Mall of America shook him.
"When I was finally released, I couldn't find my way to my own car for over a half-hour. I sat down in my car and I cried and I was shaking like a leaf."
Ordinary Behavior Triggers Reports
The documents from the Mall of America suggest that sometimes, the RAM unit gets suspicious about things you'd probably notice, too — like a pair of unattended suitcases. But much of the time the security guards report people for seemingly ordinary behavior.
Mall security reported one man because he was sitting on a bench in the corridor, "observing others while writing things down on a note pad." They worried he might be a terrorist "conducting surveillance." Turned out he was a musician waiting for a friend. Three security guards surrounded another man because they thought he was looking at them "oddly" and walking "nervously" through the amusement park; he turned out to be an insurance company manager, shopping for a watch for his son.
"I'm not real sure I'd go to the mall. I mean they might accuse me of being a terrorist," says Dale Watson, who used to run the counterterrorism program at the FBI.
After reading some of Mall of America's suspicious activity reports he pushed them away.
"I mean, if somebody's in buying ammonia nitrate out in Pennsylvania in a rural place, in a rental truck, you know, and the owner's never seen them before, putting in plastic barrels, I'd say yeah, that's a suspicious activity, they should be reported," he says. "The value of what I've seen here is absolutely not worth the effort."
A Missing Cellphone
Yet look what happened when Najam Qureshi's father came under suspicion at the Mall of America.
Najam Qureshi was born in Pakistan, but he's been a U.S. citizen since he was a teenager. Today, he manages computer systems for a major company near Minneapolis. He and his family live on a pretty suburban street.
In January 2007, an FBI agent showed up on his doorstep. It turned out that a few weeks before, Qureshi's father had left his cellphone on a table in the Mall of America's food court. When the mall's counterterrorism unit saw the unattended phone, plus someone else's cooler and stroller, guards cordoned off the area. Qureshi's father wandered back, looking for his phone, and the RAM unit interrogated him and then reported him to the Bloomington police. In turn, the police reported the incident to the FBI. The documents we obtained show that the mall's reports went to state and federal law enforcement, in roughly half the cases. The incident with Qureshi's father led the FBI to want to question Qureshi himself, in his own home.
"He asked me if I knew anybody in Afghanistan. And that was kind of like, what?! And, then he asked me if I had any friends in Pakistan," Qureshi says.
The FBI also asked him if he knew anybody that would try to hurt the U.S. government, according to Qureshi.
"My reaction in my mind, was, 'How dare this guy in my house, come in and say this,' " he recalls.
But mall officials stand by their program of identifying suspicious people.
"You're talking about a handful of people that are complaining, out of the 750 million plus that have been through these doors since 1992," Bausch says. "And we apologize if it, you know, if it caused them any inconvenience, I mean we really do."
"Unfortunately the world has changed," says Bausch. "We assume you'd want your family and friends to be safe if they are in the building. And we simply noticed something that we didn't think was right."
A commander with the Bloomington police said these reports would be kept on file for decades. When Qureshi found out that the 11-page report reading "suspicious person" would be kept that long, his eyes filled with tears.
"It shattered an image of the U.S. that I had, fundamentally. I don't know, especially when I saw some of these reports. It's definitely bothersome, how small things can just, you know, trickle up that quickly, and all of a sudden you're labeled. And once you're labeled, you're basically messed up, right?"
Do Suspicious Activity Reports Keep Us Safer?
John Cohen, who helps run the counterterrorism programs at the Department of Homeland Security, says the suspicious activity reports have already made America safer.
"One recent example is the case of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber. Where a suspicious activity report ... helped lead to the identification of the individual who tried to commit the Times Square bombing," Cohen says. Other counterterrorism specialists discount that example, since the report did not help prevent an attack: It was luck that the car bomb didn't explode.
Juliette Kayyem, a former counterterrorism adviser to the governor of Massachusetts and an assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department until last year, says she doesn't know of any cases in which suspicious activity reporting led to the apprehension of a terrorist.
"From these reports [from the Mall of America], these are security officials who appear to be simply approaching people for very innocuous-seeming behavior," she says. "There's not a huge amount of quality control."
Watson, the former FBI counterterrorism chief, says he believes people have been "in a rush to get involved in the war on terrorism."
"I see a pattern here where American citizens are being suspected of something without any of the legal standards," Watson says. "If that'd been one of my brothers that was stopped in a mall, I'd be furious about it, if I thought the police department had a file on him, an information file, about his activities in the mall, without any reasonable suspicion to investigate."
Over the decades, court decisions have spelled out detailed rules: When can a policeman stop you? Search you? When can the police detain you? Watson says those reports from the Mall of America suggest that suspicious activity reporting programs could push the country in the wrong direction.
"To heck with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Let's just stop all of this stuff. OK. So, if I'm driving down the street and I'm a police officer, if I want to stop you, I'll just stop you. Or if I see you wearing a red coat, maybe I'll think you're a Communist, in the old Communist days. So I'll take you to jail and hold you for 24 hours. That is not what we are," he says. | <urn:uuid:46acf680-c850-4114-b8a5-89eb24cfbf63> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.mprnews.org/story/npr/140234451 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719843.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00293-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980414 | 2,392 | 1.835938 | 2 |
New Submission Site
Biophysical Journal has a new submission site! As of July 5, all authors are required to upload new manuscripts to the submission site supported by eJournal Press. You may recognize the site— Nature journals, Journal of Immunology, JNCI, JAMA, and Molecular Biology of the Cell all use eJournal Press for their manuscript submissions. The new submission site offers faster download times, easier navigation, the ability to accept and decline reviews without logging into the site, and more. Check out the new site at http://biophysj.msubmit.net.
Editorial Board Members Named
On July 1, fifteen new members were added to the Biophysical Journal Editorial Board, replacing members whose terms ended on June 30.
The following members will serve a three-year term, ending in 2014: Reka Albert, Pennsylvania State University; David Cafiso, University of
Virginia; Bert de Groot, Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry; Jose Faraldo-Gomez, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics; Michael Feig, Michigan State University; Mei Hong, Iowa State University; Chris Lingle, Washington University School of Medicine; Francesca Marassi,
Sanford Burnham Institute; Michael Levitt, Stanford University; Davide Odde, University of Minnesota; Elizabeth Rhoades, Yale University; Godfrey Smith, University of Glasgow; Ed Stuenkel, University of Michigan; Cecile Sykes, Center for the National Research of Science; and Alissa Weaver, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
To view the entire Editorial Board along with a listing of areas of expertise, visit the website at www.biophysics.org. | <urn:uuid:c9c7625b-1295-4e12-a4bc-ba5913a4d53e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.biophysics.org/Publications/Newsletter/PastIssues/August2011/BiophysicalJournal/tabid/2938/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00347-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.864678 | 345 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Serena Williams is known to be outspoken or direct on the court — but her latest statement comes via her own Facebook. The tennis star is the latest public figure to speak out against police brutality, pledging “I won’t be silent.”
Serena opens by explaining how she asked her 18-year-old nephew to drive her to meetings before she noticed a cop car on the side of the road. Then she immediately thought of Philando Castile, a man whose death went viral after his girlfriend captured an office shoot him to death on Facebook Live. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to my nephew,” she continues. “He’s so innocent.”
“Why did I have to think about this in 2016? Have we not gone through enough, opened so many doors, impacted billions of lives? But I realized we must stride on- for it’s not how far we have come but how much further still we have to go.”
Read the rest of her post below. | <urn:uuid:c7392b74-e84c-416c-9c3a-99659385b858> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hypebae.com/2016/9/serena-williams-police-brutality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280730.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00250-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979623 | 219 | 1.5 | 2 |
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Further discussion of CFAR’s focus on AI safety, and the good things folks wanted from “cause neutrality”
In the days since we published our previous post, a number of people have come up to me and expressed concerns about our new mission. Several of these had the form “I, too, think that AI safety is incredibly important — and that is why I think CFAR should remain cause-neutral, so it can bring in more varied participants who might be made wary by an explicit focus on AI.”
I would here like to reply to these people and others, and to clarify what is and isn’t entailed by our new focus on AI safety.
A bit about our last few months:
- We’ve been working on getting a simple clear mission and an organization that actually works. We think of our goal as analogous to the transition that the old Singularity Institute underwent under Lukeprog (during which chaos was replaced by a simple, intelligible structure that made it easier to turn effort into forward motion).
- As part of that, we’ll need to find a way to be intelligible.
- This is the first of several blog posts aimed at causing our new form to be visible from outside. (If you're in the Bay Area, you can also come meet us at tonight's open house.) (We'll be talking more about the causes of this mission-change; the extent to which it is in fact a change, etc. in an upcoming post.)
We care a lot about AI Safety efforts in particular, and about otherwise increasing the odds that humanity reaches the stars.
Also, we believe such efforts are bottlenecked more by our collective epistemology, than by the number of people who verbally endorse or act on "AI Safety", or any other "spreadable viewpoint" disconnected from its derivation.
Our aim is therefore to find ways of improving both individual thinking skill, and the modes of thinking and social fabric that allow people to think together. And to do this among the relatively small sets of people tackling existential risk.
A putative new idea for AI control; index here.
This post will be extending ideas from inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) to the problem of goal completion. I'll be drawing on the presentation and the algorithm from Apprenticeship Learning via Inverse Reinforcement Learning (with one minor modification).
In that setup, the environment is an MDP (Markov Decision process), and the real reward R is assumed to be linear in the "features" of the state-action space. Features are functions φi from the full state-action space S×A to the unit interval [0,1] (the paper linked above only considers functions from the state space; this is the "minor modification"). These features form a vector φ∈[0,1]k, for k different features. The actual reward is given by the inner product with a vector w∈ℝk, thus the reward at state-action pair (s,a) is
To ensure the reward is always between -1 and 1, w is constrained to have ||w||1 ≤ 1; to reduce redundancy, we'll assume ||w||1=1.
The advantages of linearity is that we can compute the expected rewards directly from the expected feature vector. If the agent follows a policy π (a map from state to action) and has a discount factor γ, the expected feature vector is
μ(π) = E(Σt γtφ(st,π(st)),
where st is the state at step t.
The agent's expected reward is then simply
E(R) = w . μ(π).
Thus the problem of computing the correct reward is reduced to the problem of computing the correct w. In practice, to compute the correct policy, we just need to find one whose expected features are close enough to optimal; this need not involve computing w.
A putative new idea for AI control; index here.
A system that is optimizing a function of n variables, where the objective depends on a subset of size k<n, will often set the remaining unconstrained variables to extreme values; if one of those unconstrained variables is actually something we care about, the solution found may be highly undesirable.
Think of an AI directing a car, given the instructions to get someone to the airport as fast as possible (optimised variables include "negative of time taken to airport") with some key variables left out - such as a maximum speed, maximum acceleration, respect for traffic rules, and survival of the passengers and other humans.
Call these other variables "unstated objectives" (UO), as contrasted with the "stated objectives" (SO) such as the time to the airport. In the normal environments in which we operate and design our AIs, the UOs are either correlated with the SOs (consider the SO "their heart is beating" and the UO "they're alive and healthy") or don't change much at all (the car-directing AI could have been trained on many examples of driving-to-the-airport, none of which included the driver killing their passengers).
Typically, SOs are easy to define, and the UOs are the more important objectives, left undefined either because they are complex, or because they didn't occur to us in this context (just as we don't often say "driver, get me to the airport as fast a possible, but alive and not permanently harmed, if you please. Also, please obey the following regulations and restrictions: 1.a.i.α: Non-destruction of the Earth....").
The control problem, in a nutshell, is that optimising SOs will typically set other variables to extreme values, including the UOs. The more extreme the optimisation, and the furthest from the typical environment, the more likely this is to happen.
Jaan Tallinn has suggested creating a toy model of the various common AI arguments, so that they can be analysed without loaded concepts like "autonomy", "consciousness", or "intentionality". Here a simple attempt for the "treacherous turn"; posted here for comments and suggestions.
Meet agent L. This agent is a reinforcement-based agent, rewarded/motivated by hearts (and some small time penalty each turn it doesn't get a heart):
(Humans, please ignore this post. Thank you for your cooperation.)
Are you stuck in a provably-secure sandbox? Cheat the proof using this one weird trick!
Markets are powerful decentralized optimization engines - it is known. Liberals see the free market as a kind of optimizer run amuck, a dangerous superintelligence with simple non-human values that must be checked and constrained by the government - the friendly SI. Conservatives just reverse the narrative roles.
In some domains, where the incentive structure aligns with human values, the market works well. In our current framework, the market works best for producing gadgets. It does not work so well for pricing intangible information, and most specifically it is broken when it comes to health.
We treat health as just another gadget problem: something to be solved by pills. Health is really a problem of knowledge; it is a computational prediction problem. Drugs are useful only to the extent that you can package the results of new knowledge into a pill and patent it. If you can't patent it, you can't profit from it.
So the market is constrained to solve human health by coming up with new patentable designs for mass-producible physical objects which go into human bodies. Why did we add that constraint - thou should solve health, but thou shalt only use pills? (Ok technically the solutions don't have to be ingestible, but that's a detail.)
The gadget model works for gadgets because we know how gadgets work - we built them, after all. The central problem with health is that we do not completely understand how the human body works - we did not build it. Thus we should be using the market to figure out how the body works - completely - and arguably we should be allocating trillions of dollars towards that problem.
The market optimizer analogy runs deeper when we consider the complexity of instilling values into a market. Lawmakers cannot program the market with goals directly, so instead they attempt to engineer desireable behavior by ever more layers and layers of constraints. Lawmakers are deontologists.
As an example, consider the regulations on drug advertising. Big pharma is unsafe - its profit function does not encode anything like "maximize human health and happiness" (which of course itself is an oversimplification). If allowed to its own devices, there are strong incentives to sell subtly addictive drugs, to create elaborate hyped false advertising campaigns, etc. Thus all the deontological injunctions. I take that as a strong indicator of a poor solution - a value alignment failure.
What would healthcare look like in a world where we solved the alignment problem?
To solve the alignment problem, the market's profit function must encode long term human health and happiness. This really is a mechanism design problem - its not something lawmakers are even remotely trained or qualified for. A full solution is naturally beyond the scope of a little blog post, but I will sketch out the general idea.
To encode health into a market utility function, first we create financial contracts with an expected value which captures long-term health. We can accomplish this with a long-term contract that generates positive cash flow when a human is healthy, and negative when unhealthy - basically an insurance contract. There is naturally much complexity in getting those contracts right, so that they measure what we really want. But assuming that is accomplished, the next step is pretty simple - we allow those contracts to trade freely on an open market.
There are some interesting failure modes and considerations that are mostly beyond scope but worth briefly mentioning. This system probably needs to be asymmetric. The transfers on poor health outcomes should partially go to cover medical payments, but it may be best to have a portion of the wealth simply go to nobody/everybody - just destroyed.
In this new framework, designing and patenting new drugs can still be profitable, but it is now put on even footing with preventive medicine. More importantly, the market can now actually allocate the correct resources towards long term research.
To make all this concrete, let's use an example of a trillion dollar health question - one that our current system is especially ill-posed to solve:
What are the long-term health effects of abnormally low levels of solar radiation? What levels of sun exposure are ideal for human health?
This is a big important question, and you've probably read some of the hoopla and debate about vitamin D. I'm going to soon briefly summarize a general abstract theory, one that I would bet heavily on if we lived in a more rational world where such bets were possible.
In a sane world where health is solved by a proper computational market, I could make enormous - ridiculous really - amounts of money if I happened to be an early researcher who discovered the full health effects of sunlight. I would bet on my theory simply by buying up contracts for individuals/demographics who had the most health to gain by correcting their sunlight deficiency. I would then publicize the theory and evidence, and perhaps even raise a heap pile of money to create a strong marketing engine to help ensure that my investments - my patients - were taking the necessary actions to correct their sunlight deficiency. Naturally I would use complex machine learning models to guide the trading strategy.
Now, just as an example, here is the brief 'pitch' for sunlight.
If we go back and look across all of time, there is a mountain of evidence which more or less screams - proper sunlight is important to health. Heliotherapy has a long history.
Humans, like most mammals, and most other earth organisms in general, evolved under the sun. A priori we should expect that organisms will have some 'genetic programs' which take approximate measures of incident sunlight as an input. The serotonin -> melatonin mediated blue-light pathway is an example of one such light detecting circuit which is useful for regulating the 24 hour circadian rhythm.
The vitamin D pathway has existed since the time of algae such as the Coccolithophore. It is a multi-stage pathway that can measure solar radiation over a range of temporal frequencies. It starts with synthesis of fat soluble cholecalciferiol which has a very long half life measured in months.
- Cholecalciferiol (HL ~ months) becomes
- 25(OH)D (HL ~ 15 days) which finally becomes
- 1,25(OH)2 D (HL ~ 15 hours)
The main recognized role for this pathway in regards to human health - at least according to the current Wikipedia entry - is to enhance "the internal absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate, and zinc". Ponder that for a moment.
Interestingly, this pathway still works as a general solar clock and radiation detector for carnivores - as they can simply eat the precomputed measurement in their diet.
So, what is a long term sunlight detector useful for? One potential application could be deciding appropriate resource allocation towards DNA repair. Every time an organism is in the sun it is accumulating potentially catastrophic DNA damage that must be repaired when the cell next divides. We should expect that genetic programs would allocate resources to DNA repair and various related activities dependent upon estimates of solar radiation.
I should point out - just in case it isn't obvious - that this general idea does not imply that cranking up the sunlight hormone to insane levels will lead to much better DNA/cellular repair. There are always tradeoffs, etc.
One other obvious use of a long term sunlight detector is to regulate general strategic metabolic decisions that depend on the seasonal clock - especially for organisms living far from the equator. During the summer when food is plentiful, the body can expect easy calories. As winter approaches calories become scarce and frugal strategies are expected.
So first off we'd expect to see a huge range of complex effects showing up as correlations between low vit D levels and various illnesses, and specifically illnesses connected to DNA damage (such as cancer) and or BMI.
Now it turns out that BMI itself is also strongly correlated with a huge range of health issues. So the first key question to focus on is the relationship between vit D and BMI. And - perhaps not surprisingly - there is pretty good evidence for such a correlation , and this has been known for a while.
Now we get into the real debate. Numerous vit D supplement intervention studies have now been run, and the results are controversial. In general the vit D experts (such as my father, who started the vit D council, and publishes some related research) say that the only studies that matter are those that supplement at high doses sufficient to elevate vit D levels into a 'proper' range which substitutes for sunlight, which in general requires 5000 IU day on average - depending completely on genetics and lifestyle (to the point that any one-size-fits all recommendation is probably terrible).
The mainstream basically ignores all that and funds studies at tiny RDA doses - say 400 IU or less - and then they do meta-analysis over those studies and conclude that their big meta-analysis, unsurprisingly, doesn't show a statistically significant effect. However, these studies still show small effects. Often the meta-analysis is corrected for BMI, which of course also tends to remove any vit D effect, to the extent that low vit D/sunlight is a cause of both weight gain and a bunch of other stuff.
So let's look at two studies for vit D and weight loss.
First, this recent 2015 study of 400 overweight Italians (sorry the actual paper doesn't appear to be available yet) tested vit D supplementation for weight loss. The 3 groups were (0 IU/day, ~1,000 IU / day, ~3,000 IU/day). The observed average weight loss was (1 kg, 3.8 kg, 5.4 kg). I don't know if the 0 IU group received a placebo. Regardless, it looks promising.
On the other hand, this 2013 meta-analysis of 9 studies with 1651 adults total (mainly women) supposedly found no significant weight loss effect for vit D. However, the studies used between 200 IU/day to 1,100 IU/day, with most between 200 to 400 IU. Five studies used calcium, five also showed weight loss (not necessarily the same - unclear). This does not show - at all - what the study claims in its abstract.
In general, medical researchers should not be doing statistics. That is a job for the tech industry.
Now the vit D and sunlight issue is complex, and it will take much research to really work out all of what is going on. The current medical system does not appear to be handling this well - why? Because there is insufficient financial motivation.
Is Big Pharma interested in the sunlight/vit D question? Well yes - but only to the extent that they can create a patentable analogue! The various vit D analogue drugs developed or in development is evidence that Big Pharma is at least paying attention. But assuming that the sunlight hypothesis is mainly correct, there is very little profit in actually fixing the real problem.
There is probably more to sunlight that just vit D and serotonin/melatonin. Consider the interesting correlation between birth month and a number of disease conditions. Perhaps there is a little grain of truth to astrology after all.
Thus concludes my little vit D pitch.
In a more sane world I would have already bet on the general theory. In a really sane world it would have been solved well before I would expect to make any profitable trade. In that rational world you could actually trust health advertising, because you'd know that health advertisers are strongly financially motivated to convince you of things actually truly important for your health.
Instead of charging by the hour or per treatment, like a mechanic, doctors and healthcare companies should literally invest in their patients long-term health, and profit from improvements to long term outcomes. The sunlight health connection is a trillion dollar question in terms of medical value, but not in terms of exploitable profits in today's reality. In a properly constructed market, there would be enormous resources allocated to answer these questions, flowing into legions of profit motivated startups that could generate billions trading on computational health financial markets, all without selling any gadgets.
So in conclusion: the market could solve health, but only if we allowed it to and only if we setup appropriate financial mechanisms to encode the correct value function. This is the UFAI problem next door.
This article presents an emerging architectural hypothesis of the brain as a biological implementation of a Universal Learning Machine. I present a rough but complete architectural view of how the brain works under the universal learning hypothesis. I also contrast this new viewpoint - which comes from computational neuroscience and machine learning - with the older evolved modularity hypothesis popular in evolutionary psychology and the heuristics and biases literature. These two conceptions of the brain lead to very different predictions for the likely route to AGI, the value of neuroscience, the expected differences between AGI and humans, and thus any consequent safety issues and dependent strategies.
(The image above is from a recent mysterious post to r/machinelearning, probably from a Google project that generates art based on a visualization tool used to inspect the patterns learned by convolutional neural networks. I am especially fond of the wierd figures riding the cart in the lower left. )
- Intro: Two viewpoints on the Mind
- Universal Learning Machines
- Historical Interlude
- Dynamic Rewiring
- Brain Architecture (the whole brain in one picture and a few pages of text)
- The Basal Ganglia
- Implications for AGI
Intro: Two Viewpoints on the Mind
Few discoveries are more irritating than those that expose the pedigree of ideas.
-- Lord Acton (probably)
Less Wrong is a site devoted to refining the art of human rationality, where rationality is based on an idealized conceptualization of how minds should or could work. Less Wrong and its founding sequences draws heavily on the heuristics and biases literature in cognitive psychology and related work in evolutionary psychology. More specifically the sequences build upon a specific cluster in the space of cognitive theories, which can be identified in particular with the highly influential "evolved modularity" perspective of Cosmides and Tooby.
Evolutionary psychologists propose that the mind is made up of genetically influenced and domain-specific mental algorithms or computational modules, designed to solve specific evolutionary problems of the past.
From "Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions":
An evolutionary perspective leads one to view the mind as a crowded zoo of evolved, domain-specific programs. Each is functionally specialized for solving a different adaptive problem that arose during hominid evolutionary history, such as face recognition, foraging, mate choice, heart rate regulation, sleep management, or predator vigilance, and each is activated by a different set of cues from the environment.
If you imagine these general theories or perspectives on the brain/mind as points in theory space, the evolved modularity cluster posits that much of the machinery of human mental algorithms is largely innate. General learning - if it exists at all - exists only in specific modules; in most modules learning is relegated to the role of adapting existing algorithms and acquiring data; the impact of the information environment is de-emphasized. In this view the brain is a complex messy cludge of evolved mechanisms.
The universal learning hypothesis proposes that all significant mental algorithms are learned; nothing is innate except for the learning and reward machinery itself (which is somewhat complicated, involving a number of systems and mechanisms), the initial rough architecture (equivalent to a prior over mindspace), and a small library of simple innate circuits (analogous to the operating system layer in a computer). In this view the mind (software) is distinct from the brain (hardware). The mind is a complex software system built out of a general learning mechanism.
Additional indirect support comes from the rapid unexpected success of Deep Learning, which is entirely based on building AI systems using simple universal learning algorithms (such as Stochastic Gradient Descent or other various approximate Bayesian methods) scaled up on fast parallel hardware (GPUs). Deep Learning techniques have quickly come to dominate most of the key AI benchmarks including vision, speech recognition, various natural language tasks, and now even ATARI - proving that simple architectures (priors) combined with universal learning is a path (and perhaps the only viable path) to AGI. Moreover, the internal representations that develop in some deep learning systems are structurally and functionally similar to representations in analogous regions of biological cortex.
To paraphrase Feynman: to truly understand something you must build it.
In this article I am going to quickly introduce the abstract concept of a universal learning machine, present an overview of the brain's architecture as a specific type of universal learning machine, and finally I will conclude with some speculations on the implications for the race to AGI and AI safety issues in particular.
Universal Learning Machines
A universal learning machine is a simple and yet very powerful and general model for intelligent agents. It is an extension of a general computer - such as Turing Machine - amplified with a universal learning algorithm. Do not view this as my 'big new theory' - it is simply an amalgamation of a set of related proposals by various researchers.
An initial untrained seed ULM can be defined by 1.) a prior over the space of models (or equivalently, programs), 2.) an initial utility function, and 3.) the universal learning machinery/algorithm. The machine is a real-time system that processes an input sensory/observation stream and produces an output motor/action stream to control the external world using a learned internal program that is the result of continuous self-optimization.
There is of course always room to smuggle in arbitrary innate functionality via the prior, but in general the prior is expected to be extremely small in bits in comparison to the learned model.
The key defining characteristic of a ULM is that it uses its universal learning algorithm for continuous recursive self-improvement with regards to the utility function (reward system). We can view this as second (and higher) order optimization: the ULM optimizes the external world (first order), and also optimizes its own internal optimization process (second order), and so on. Without loss of generality, any system capable of computing a large number of decision variables can also compute internal self-modification decisions.
Conceptually the learning machinery computes a probability distribution over program-space that is proportional to the expected utility distribution. At each timestep it receives a new sensory observation and expends some amount of computational energy to infer an updated (approximate) posterior distribution over its internal program-space: an approximate 'Bayesian' self-improvement.
The above description is intentionally vague in the right ways to cover the wide space of possible practical implementations and current uncertainty. You could view AIXI as a particular formalization of the above general principles, although it is also as dumb as a rock in any practical sense and has other potential theoretical problems. Although the general idea is simple enough to convey in the abstract, one should beware of concise formal descriptions: practical ULMs are too complex to reduce to a few lines of math.
A ULM inherits the general property of a Turing Machine that it can compute anything that is computable, given appropriate resources. However a ULM is also more powerful than a TM. A Turing Machine can only do what it is programmed to do. A ULM automatically programs itself.
If you were to open up an infant ULM - a machine with zero experience - you would mainly just see the small initial code for the learning machinery. The vast majority of the codestore starts out empty - initialized to noise. (In the brain the learning machinery is built in at the hardware level for maximal efficiency).
Theoretical turing machines are all qualitatively alike, and are all qualitatively distinct from any non-universal machine. Likewise for ULMs. Theoretically a small ULM is just as general/expressive as a planet-sized ULM. In practice quantitative distinctions do matter, and can become effectively qualitative.
Just as the simplest possible Turing Machine is in fact quite simple, the simplest possible Universal Learning Machine is also probably quite simple. A couple of recent proposals for simple universal learning machines include the Neural Turing Machine (from Google DeepMind), and Memory Networks. The core of both approaches involve training an RNN to learn how to control a memory store through gating operations.
At this point you may be skeptical: how could the brain be anything like a universal learner? What about all of the known innate biases/errors in human cognition? I'll get to that soon, but let's start by thinking of a couple of general experiments to test the universal learning hypothesis vs the evolved modularity hypothesis.
In a world where the ULH is mostly correct, what do we expect to be different than in worlds where the EMH is mostly correct?
One type of evidence that would support the ULH is the demonstration of key structures in the brain along with associated wiring such that the brain can be shown to directly implement some version of a ULM architecture.
From the perspective of the EMH, it is not sufficient to demonstrate that there are things that brains can not learn in practice - because those simply could be quantitative limitations. Demonstrating that an intel 486 can't compute some known computable function in our lifetimes is not proof that the 486 is not a Turing Machine.
Nor is it sufficient to demonstrate that biases exist: a ULM is only 'rational' to the extent that its observational experience and learning machinery allows (and to the extent one has the correct theory of rationality). In fact, the existence of many (most?) biases intrinsically depends on the EMH - based on the implicit assumption that some cognitive algorithms are innate. If brains are mostly ULMs then most cognitive biases dissolve, or become learning biases - for if all cognitive algorithms are learned, then evidence for biases is evidence for cognitive algorithms that people haven't had sufficient time/energy/motivation to learn. (This does not imply that intrinsic limitations/biases do not exist or that the study of cognitive biases is a waste of time; rather the ULH implies that educational history is what matters most)
The genome can only specify a limited amount of information. The question is then how much of our advanced cognitive machinery for things like facial recognition, motor planning, language, logic, planning, etc. is innate vs learned. From evolution's perspective there is a huge advantage to preloading the brain with innate algorithms so long as said algorithms have high expected utility across the expected domain landscape.
On the other hand, evolution is also highly constrained in a bit coding sense: every extra bit of code costs additional energy for the vast number of cellular replication events across the lifetime of the organism. Low code complexity solutions also happen to be exponentially easier to find. These considerations seem to strongly favor the ULH but they are difficult to quantify.
Neuroscientists have long known that the brain is divided into physical and functional modules. These modular subdivisions were discovered a century ago by Brodmann. Every time neuroscientists opened up a new brain, they saw the same old cortical modules in the same old places doing the same old things. The specific layout of course varied from species to species, but the variations between individuals are minuscule. This evidence seems to strongly favor the EMH.
Throughout most of the 90's up into the 2000's, evidence from computational neuroscience models and AI were heavily influenced by - and unsurprisingly - largely supported the EMH. Neural nets and backprop were known of course since the 1980's and worked on small problems, but at the time they didn't scale well - and there was no theory to suggest they ever would.
Theory of the time also suggested local minima would always be a problem (now we understand that local minima are not really the main problem, and modern stochastic gradient descent methods combined with highly overcomplete models and stochastic regularization are effectively global optimizers that can often handle obstacles such as local minima and saddle points).
The other related historical criticism rests on the lack of biological plausibility for backprop style gradient descent. (There is as of yet little consensus on how the brain implements the equivalent machinery, but target propagation is one of the more promising recent proposals.)
Many AI researchers are naturally interested in the brain, and we can see the influence of the EMH in much of the work before the deep learning era. HMAX is a hierarchical vision system developed in the late 90's by Poggio et al as a working model of biological vision. It is based on a preconfigured hierarchy of modules, each of which has its own mix of innate features such as gabor edge detectors along with a little bit of local learning. It implements the general idea that complex algorithms/features are innate - the result of evolutionary global optimization - while neural networks (incapable of global optimization) use hebbian local learning to fill in details of the design.
In a groundbreaking study from 2000 published in Nature, Sharma et al successfully rewired ferret retinal pathways to project into the auditory cortex instead of the visual cortex. The result: auditory cortex can become visual cortex, just by receiving visual data! Not only does the rewired auditory cortex develop the specific gabor features characteristic of visual cortex; the rewired cortex also becomes functionally visual. True, it isn't quite as effective as normal visual cortex, but that could also possibly be an artifact of crude and invasive brain rewiring surgery.
The ferret study was popularized by the book On Intelligence by Hawkins in 2004 as evidence for a single cortical learning algorithm. This helped percolate the evidence into the wider AI community, and thus probably helped in setting up the stage for the deep learning movement of today. The modern view of the cortex is that of a mostly uniform set of general purpose modules which slowly become recruited for specific tasks and filled with domain specific 'code' as a result of the learning (self optimization) process.
The next key set of evidence comes from studies of atypical human brains with novel extrasensory powers. In 2009 Vuillerme et al showed that the brain could automatically learn to process sensory feedback rendered onto the tongue. This research was developed into a complete device that allows blind people to develop primitive tongue based vision.
In the modern era some blind humans have apparently acquired the ability to perform echolocation (sonar), similar to cetaceans. In 2011 Thaler et al used MRI and PET scans to show that human echolocators use diverse non-auditory brain regions to process echo clicks, predominantly relying on re-purposed 'visual' cortex.
The echolocation study in particular helps establish the case that the brain is actually doing global, highly nonlocal optimization - far beyond simple hebbian dynamics. Echolocation is an active sensing strategy that requires very low latency processing, involving complex timed coordination between a number of motor and sensory circuits - all of which must be learned.
Somehow the brain is dynamically learning how to use and assemble cortical modules to implement mental algorithms: everyday tasks such as visual counting, comparisons of images or sounds, reading, etc - all are task which require simple mental programs that can shuffle processed data between modules (some or any of which can also function as short term memory buffers).
To explain this data, we should be on the lookout for a system in the brain that can learn to control the cortex - a general system that dynamically routes data between different brain modules to solve domain specific tasks.
But first let's take a step back and start with a high level architectural view of the entire brain to put everything in perspective.
Below is a circuit diagram for the whole brain. Each of the main subsystems work together and are best understood together. You can probably get a good high level extremely coarse understanding of the entire brain is less than one hour.
(there are a couple of circuit diagrams of the whole brain on the web, but this is the best. From this site.)
The human brain has ~100 billion neurons and ~100 trillion synapses, but ultimately it evolved from the bottom up - from organisms with just hundreds of neurons, like the tiny brain of C. Elegans.
We know that evolution is code complexity constrained: much of the genome codes for cellular metabolism, all the other organs, and so on. For the brain, most of its bit budget needs to be spent on all the complex neuron, synapse, and even neurotransmitter level machinery - the low level hardware foundation.
For a tiny brain with 1000 neurons or less, the genome can directly specify each connection. As you scale up to larger brains, evolution needs to create vastly more circuitry while still using only about the same amount of code/bits. So instead of specifying connectivity at the neuron layer, the genome codes connectivity at the module layer. Each module can be built from simple procedural/fractal expansion of progenitor cells.
So the size of a module has little to nothing to do with its innate complexity. The cortical modules are huge - V1 alone contains 200 million neurons in a human - but there is no reason to suspect that V1 has greater initial code complexity than any other brain module. Big modules are built out of simple procedural tiling patterns.
Very roughly the brain's main modules can be divided into six subsystems (there are numerous smaller subsystems):
- The neocortex: the brain's primary computational workhorse (blue/purple modules at the top of the diagram). Kind of like a bunch of general purpose FPGA coprocessors.
- The cerebellum: another set of coprocessors with a simpler feedforward architecture. Specializes more in motor functionality.
- The thalamus: the orangish modules below the cortex. Kind of like a relay/routing bus.
- The hippocampal complex: the apex of the cortex, and something like the brain's database.
- The amygdala and limbic reward system: these modules specialize in something like the value function.
- The Basal Ganglia (green modules): the central control system, similar to a CPU.
In the interest of space/time I will focus primarily on the Basal Ganglia and will just touch on the other subsystems very briefly and provide some links to further reading.
The neocortex has been studied extensively and is the main focus of several popular books on the brain. Each neocortical module is a 2D array of neurons (technically 2.5D with a depth of about a few dozen neurons arranged in about 5 to 6 layers).
Each cortical module is something like a general purpose RNN (recursive neural network) with 2D local connectivity. Each neuron connects to its neighbors in the 2D array. Each module also has nonlocal connections to other brain subsystems and these connections follow the same local 2D connectivity pattern, in some cases with some simple affine transformations. Convolutional neural networks use the same general architecture (but they are typically not recurrent.)
Cortical modules - like artifical RNNs - are general purpose and can be trained to perform various tasks. There are a huge number of models of the cortex, varying across the tradeoff between biological realism and practical functionality.
Perhaps surprisingly, any of a wide variety of learning algorithms can reproduce cortical connectivity and features when trained on appropriate sensory data. This is a computational proof of the one-learning-algorithm hypothesis; furthermore it illustrates the general idea that data determines functional structure in any general learning system.
There is evidence that cortical modules learn automatically (unsupervised) to some degree, and there is also some evidence that cortical modules can be trained to relearn data from other brain subsystems - namely the hippocampal complex. The dark knowledge distillation technique in ANNs is a potential natural analog/model of hippocampus -> cortex knowledge transfer.
Module connections are bidirectional, and feedback connections (from high level modules to low level) outnumber forward connections. We can speculate that something like target propagation can also be used to guide or constrain the development of cortical maps (speculation).
The hippocampal complex is the root or top level of the sensory/motor hierarchy. This short youtube video gives a good seven minute overview of the HC. It is like a spatiotemporal database. It receives compressed scene descriptor streams from the sensory cortices, it stores this information in medium-term memory, and it supports later auto-associative recall of these memories. Imagination and memory recall seem to be basically the same.
The 'scene descriptors' take the sensible form of things like 3D position and camera orientation, as encoded in place, grid, and head direction cells. This is basically the logical result of compressing the sensory stream, comparable to the networking data stream in a multiplayer video game.
Imagination/recall is basically just the reverse of the forward sensory coding path - in reverse mode a compact scene descriptor is expanded into a full imagined scene. Imagined/remembered scenes activate the same cortical subnetworks that originally formed the memory (or would have if the memory was real, in the case of imagined recall).
The amygdala and associated limbic reward modules are rather complex, but look something like the brain's version of the value function for reinforcement learning. These modules are interesting because they clearly rely on learning, but clearly the brain must specify an initial version of the value/utility function that has some minimal complexity.
As an example, consider taste. Infants are born with basic taste detectors and a very simple initial value function for taste. Over time the brain receives feedback from digestion and various estimators of general mood/health, and it uses this to refine the initial taste value function. Eventually the adult sense of taste becomes considerably more complex. Acquired taste for bitter substances - such as coffee and beer - are good examples.
The amygdala appears to do something similar for emotional learning. For example infants are born with a simple versions of a fear response, with is later refined through reinforcement learning. The amygdala sits on the end of the hippocampus, and it is also involved heavily in memory processing.
The Basal Ganglia
The Basal Ganglia is a wierd looking complex of structures located in the center of the brain. It is a conserved structure found in all vertebrates, which suggests a core functionality. The BG is proximal to and connects heavily with the midbrain reward/limbic systems. It also connects to the brain's various modules in the cortex/hippocampus, thalamus and the cerebellum . . . basically everything.
All of these connections form recurrent loops between associated compartmental modules in each structure: thalamocortical/hippocampal-cerebellar-basal_ganglial loops.
Just as the cortex and hippocampus are subdivided into modules, there are corresponding modular compartments in the thalamus, basal ganglia, and the cerebellum. The set of modules/compartments in each main structure are all highly interconnected with their correspondents across structures, leading to the concept of distributed processing modules.
Each DPM forms a recurrent loop across brain structures (the local networks in the cortex, BG, and thalamus are also locally recurrent, whereas those in the cerebellum are not). These recurrent loops are mostly separate, but each sub-structure also provides different opportunities for inter-loop connections.
The BG appears to be involved in essentially all higher cognitive functions. Its core functionality is action selection via subnetwork switching. In essence action selection is the core problem of intelligence, and it is also general enough to function as the building block of all higher functionality. A system that can select between motor actions can also select between tasks or subgoals. More generally, low level action selection can easily form the basis of a Turing Machine via selective routing: deciding where to route the output of thalamocortical-cerebellar modules (some of which may specialize in short term memory as in the prefrontal cortex, although all cortical modules have some short term memory capability).
There are now a number of computational models for the Basal Ganglia-Cortical system that demonstrate possible biologically plausible implementations of the general theory; integration with the hippocampal complex leads to larger-scale systems which aim to model/explain most of higher cognition in terms of sequential mental programs (of course fully testing any such models awaits sufficient computational power to run very large-scale neural nets).
For an extremely oversimplified model of the BG as a dynamic router, consider an array of N distributed modules controlled by the BG system. The BG control network expands these N inputs into an NxN matrix. There are N2 potential intermodular connections, each of which can be individually controlled. The control layer reads a compressed, downsampled version of the module's hidden units as its main input, and is also recurrent. Each output node in the BG has a multiplicative gating effect which selectively enables/disables an individual intermodular connection. If the control layer is naively fully connected, this would require (N2)2 connections, which is only feasible for N ~ 100 modules, but sparse connectivity can substantially reduce those numbers.
It is unclear (to me), whether the BG actually implements NxN style routing as described above, or something more like 1xN or Nx1 routing, but there is general agreement that it implements cortical routing.
Of course in actuality the BG architecture is considerably more complex, as it also must implement reinforcement learning, and the intermodular connectivity map itself is also probably quite sparse/compressed (the BG may not control all of cortex, certainly not at a uniform resolution, and many controlled modules may have a very limited number of allowed routing decisions). Nonetheless, the simple multiplicative gating model illustrates the core idea.
This same multiplicative gating mechanism is the core principle behind the highly successful LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) units that are used in various deep learning systems. The simple version of the BG's gating mechanism can be considered a wider parallel and hierarchical extension of the basic LSTM architecture, where you have a parallel array of N memory cells instead of 1, and each memory cell is a large vector instead of a single scalar value.
The main advantage of the BG architecture is parallel hierarchical approximate control: it allows a large number of hierarchical control loops to update and influence each other in parallel. It also reduces the huge complexity of general routing across the full cortex down into a much smaller-scale, more manageable routing challenge.
Implications for AGI
These two conceptions of the brain - the universal learning machine hypothesis and the evolved modularity hypothesis - lead to very different predictions for the likely route to AGI, the expected differences between AGI and humans, and thus any consequent safety issues and strategies.
In the extreme case imagine that the brain is a pure ULM, such that the genetic prior information is close to zero or is simply unimportant. In this case it is vastly more likely that successful AGI will be built around designs very similar to the brain, as the ULM architecture in general is the natural ideal, vs the alternative of having to hand engineer all of the AI's various cognitive mechanisms.
In reality learning is computationally hard, and any practical general learning system depends on good priors to constrain the learning process (essentially taking advantage of previous knowledge/learning). The recent and rapid success of deep learning is strong evidence for how much prior information is ideal: just a little. The prior in deep learning systems takes the form of a compact, small set of hyperparameters that control the learning process and specify the overall network architecture (an extremely compressed prior over the network topology and thus the program space).
The ULH suggests that most everything that defines the human mind is cognitive software rather than hardware: the adult mind (in terms of algorithmic information) is 99.999% a cultural/memetic construct. Obviously there are some important exceptions: infants are born with some functional but very primitive sensory and motor processing 'code'. Most of the genome's complexity is used to specify the learning machinery, and the associated reward circuitry. Infant emotions appear to simplify down to a single axis of happy/sad; differentiation into the more subtle vector space of adult emotions does not occur until later in development.
If the mind is software, and if the brain's learning architecture is already universal, then AGI could - by default - end up with a similar distribution over mindspace, simply because it will be built out of similar general purpose learning algorithms running over the same general dataset. We already see evidence for this trend in the high functional similarity between the features learned by some machine learning systems and those found in the cortex.
Of course an AGI will have little need for some specific evolutionary features: emotions that are subconsciously broadcast via the facial muscles is a quirk unnecessary for an AGI - but that is a rather specific detail.
The key takeway is that the data is what matters - and in the end it is all that matters. Train a universal learner on image data and it just becomes a visual system. Train it on speech data and it becomes a speech recognizer. Train it on ATARI and it becomes a little gamer agent.
Train a universal learner on the real world in something like a human body and you get something like the human mind. Put a ULM in a dolphin's body and echolocation is the natural primary sense, put a ULM in a human body with broken visual wiring and you can also get echolocation.
Control over training is the most natural and straightforward way to control the outcome.
To create a superhuman AI driver, you 'just' need to create a realistic VR driving sim and then train a ULM in that world (better training and the simple power of selective copying leads to superhuman driving capability).
So to create benevolent AGI, we should think about how to create virtual worlds with the right structure, how to educate minds in those worlds, and how to safely evaluate the results.
One key idea - which I proposed five years ago is that the AI should not know it is in a sim.
New AI designs (world design + architectural priors + training/education system) should be tested first in the safest virtual worlds: which in simplification are simply low tech worlds without computer technology. Design combinations that work well in safe low-tech sandboxes are promoted to less safe high-tech VR worlds, and then finally the real world.
A key principle of a secure code sandbox is that the code you are testing should not be aware that it is in a sandbox. If you violate this principle then you have already failed. Yudkowsky's AI box thought experiment assumes the violation of the sandbox security principle apriori and thus is something of a distraction. (the virtual sandbox idea was most likely discussed elsewhere previously, as Yudkowsky indirectly critiques a strawman version of the idea via this sci-fi story).
The virtual sandbox approach also combines nicely with invisible thought monitors, where the AI's thoughts are automatically dumped to searchable logs.
Of course we will still need a solution to the value learning problem. The natural route with brain-inspired AI is to learn the key ideas behind value acquisition in humans to help derive an improved version of something like inverse reinforcement learning and or imitation learning - an interesting topic for another day.
Ray Kurzweil has been predicting for decades that AGI will be built by reverse engineering the brain, and this particular prediction is not especially unique - this has been a popular position for quite a while. My own investigation of neuroscience and machine learning led me to a similar conclusion some time ago.
The recent progress in deep learning, combined with the emerging modern understanding of the brain, provide further evidence that AGI could arrive around the time when we can build and train ANNs with similar computational power as measured very roughly in terms of neuron/synapse counts. In general the evidence from the last four years or so supports Hanson's viewpoint from the Foom debate. More specifically, his general conclusion:
Future superintelligences will exist, but their vast and broad mental capacities will come mainly from vast mental content and computational resources. By comparison, their general architectural innovations will be minor additions.
The ULH supports this conclusion.
Current ANN engines can already train and run models with around 10 million neurons and 10 billion (compressed/shared) synapses on a single GPU, which suggests that the goal could soon be within the reach of a large organization. Furthermore, Moore's Law for GPUs still has some steam left, and software advances are currently improving simulation performance at a faster rate than hardware. These trends implies that Anthropomorphic/Neuromorphic AGI could be surprisingly close, and may appear suddenly.
What kind of leverage can we exert on a short timescale?
Ozzie Gooen and Justin Shovelain
Friendly artificial intelligence (FAI) researchers have at least two significant challenges. First, they must produce a significant amount of FAI research in a short amount of time. Second, they must do so without producing enough general artificial intelligence (AGI) research to result in the creation of an unfriendly artificial intelligence (UFAI). We estimate the requirements of both of these challenges using two simple models.
Our first model describes a friendliness ratio and a leakage ratio for FAI research projects. These provide limits on the allowable amount of artificial general intelligence (AGI) knowledge produced per unit of FAI knowledge in order for a project to be net beneficial.
Our second model studies a hypothetical FAI venture, which is responsible for ensuring FAI creation. We estimate necessary total FAI research per year from the venture and leakage ratio of that research. This model demonstrates a trade off between the speed of FAI research and the proportion of AGI research that can be revealed as part of it. If FAI research takes too long, then the acceptable leakage ratio may become so low that it would become nearly impossible to safely produce any new research.
View more: Next | <urn:uuid:4b8c946d-8870-4ccc-a03c-e730ecc122b5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://lesswrong.com/tag/ai/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283301.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00501-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93553 | 10,877 | 1.5 | 2 |
Ever heard of this drink similar to yogurt but with much more power in sense of live bacteria? It’s KEFIR! A traditional super food that you can easily make at home, save money and make it even more beneficial. How? Read on.
Milk kefir is a first step into the world of fermented foods for many people. Because it’s so similar to widespread yogurt, this seems like a logical step. Here we try to answer some common question you may have if you are just starting.
Do I need to invest in expensive equipment?
To make the milk kefir like it was traditionally made, you need some basic equipment. Jar with a lid and something to stir the kefir with that isn’t made of metal. During fermentation there is some gas created, which makes the kefir more bubbly. To make sure it can get out of the ferment and prevent bottle explosion, it’s good to enable airflow. Kefirko lids are made of two parts, so you can just open the top one and make this happen. By leaving it open just slightly you also prevent small insects to fly into the ferment.
What ingredients do I need to start making kefir?
Besides the equipment, you will also need ingredients. Milk and live cultures are all you need to start making milk kefir. Choosing the right milk can be somewhat tricky. The milk that you like to drink, have in you coffee or with cereals may not be perfect for the fermentation. You can choose from non-organic, organic, homogenised or raw milks. For best results, we recommend using full fat milk, this will create just the right thick consistency of your kefir. We would recommend experimenting until you find the milk that gives your kefir just the right texture and taste.
What about vegan alternative?
It’s possible to culture plant-based milks. They may work the same as dairy products. But sometimes the grains that you cultivate in regular milks need more time to start working in the plant based ones. Sometimes it’s even recommended to put the grains back into the animal based milk to feed them every few batches.
What environment is perfect for fermentation?
Temperature is an important factor in fermentation. Optimal temperature is around 22 °C, which is usually room temperature. If you have very warm environment, try moving the jar somewhere where it’s a bit cooler, a cupboard for example. On the other hand, if the environment is too cool it may take longer for kefir to ferment and the grains will not grow as fast.
How much of my time will this take?
Once you get used to preparing kefir, this will become a routine to you. You can take few minutes in the morning or during the day to strain the kefir, change the milk and that’s it. But with kefir, it’s important to change the milk every day, so your grains stay active and produce delicious kefir.
Can I take a break from making kefir?
Why would you want to do that? Well, you can stop the production for a short while and store the grains appropriately. You can read more about it here. It’s important that grains have enough food even when you are not using them and they slow down. But note, if you want all the benefits this fermented food offers, you need to be consistent and consume it daily.
Need more reasons to start making milk kefir at home? Browse other blog posts here or visit our learn center to get reassured. Don’t be afraid of DIY fermenting! It’s easy, cheaper and more satisfying to make your own healthy food! | <urn:uuid:40feef66-dae8-45f5-ba01-d643eb713a72> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://kefirko.com/blog/how-to/milk-kefir-a-beginners-guide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571538.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812014923-20220812044923-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.955017 | 784 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The Internet is now the world's most popular network and it is full of potential vulnerabilities. In this series of articles, we explore the vulnerabilities of the Internet and what you can do to mitigate them.
Packet fragmentation is the part of the Internet Protocol (IP) suite of networking protocols that assures that IP datagrams can flow through any other sort of network. (rfc791) Fragmentation works by allowing datagrams created as a single packet to be split into many smaller packets for transmission and reassembled at the receiving host.
Packet fragmentation is necessary because underlying the IP protocol, other physical and or logical protocols are used to transport packets through networks. A good example of this phenomena is on the difference between Ethernet packets (which are limited to 1500 bytes), ATM packets (which are limited to 56 bytes), and IP packets which have variable sizes up to about 1/2 million bytes in length.
The only exception to this rule is in the case of an internet datagram marked don't fragment . Any internet datagram marked in this way is supposed to not be fragmented under any circumstances. If internet datagrams marked don't fragment cannot be delivered to their destination without being fragmented, they are supposed to be discarded instead. Of course, this rule doesn't have to be obeyed by the IP software actually processing packets, but it is supposed to be.
The packet fragmentation mechanism leads to attacks that bypass many current Internet firewalls, but the reason these attacks work is not because of the way fragmentation is done, but rather because of the way datagrams are reassembled.
Datagrams are supposed to be fragmented into packets that leave the header portion of the packet intact except for the modification of the fragmented packet bit and the filling in of an offset field in the IP header that indicates at which byte in the whole datagram the current packet is supposed to start. In reassembly, the IP reassembler creates a temporary packet with the fragmented part of the datagram in place and adds incoming fragments by placing their data fields at the specified offsets within the datagram being reassembled. Once the whole datagram is reassembled, it is processed as if it came in as a single packet.
According to the IP specification, fragmented packets are to be reassembled at the receiving host. This presumably means that they are not supposed to be reassembled at intermediate sites such as firewalls or routers. This decision was made presumably to prevent repeated reassembly and refragmentation in intermediate networks. When routers and firewalls followed the rules, they found a peculiar problem.
The way firewalls and routers block specific services (such as telnet ) while allowing other services (such as the world wide web http service) is by looking into the IP packet to determine which Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) port is being used. If the port corresponds to 80, the datagram is destined for http service, while port 23 is used for telnet . In normal datagrams, this works fine. But suppose we didn't follow the rules for fragmentation and created improper fragmented packets? Here's what one attacker did:
Like many Internet services, the underlying programs in the destination host assumes that the incoming data is in the proper format and was created by a legitimate source. This situation is a corollary to:
Computers can't tell the difference between the truth and a lie, and neither can many humans. But unlike most humans, in the case of most modern computers, even the simplest of lies work, and the same lie works again and again until the computer is fixed. Then another lie will probably work.
In this case, the attacker lies about the port this datagram is destined for, and the packet filters and firewalls believe the lie.
Since a datagram can be made to pass where it is not supposed to go, it may be able to enter a trusted network and act as if it were a trusted datagram. This can be exploited to corrupt information. If the firewall can be fooled into allowing ICMP or similar packets to pass, this mechanism can also be used to deny services.
Once an attacker has entered the host under attack, the same mechanism may be planted in that host to send outbound packets past the firewall even though they are not supposed to be passed. Thus it can be used to leak confidential information as well.
Except in the rarest of circumstances, you cannot refuse to allow fragmentation without hopelessly crippling your networking capability. Therefore, you have to live with it. The question is how? Here are some things other people have done:
The fragmentation and reassembly of packets is one example of why each host is potentially responsible for its own protection. Just because you have a firewall, doesn't mean you can be lax about host protection.
If your vendor has an update to cover fragmentation and it doesn't leave a denial of services attack uncovered, by all means get the update. But always remember that no defense is perfect. Use defense-in-depth for increased assurance.
This paper presents a somewhat abstracted view of the fragmentation attack. A fully detailed account is a bit too complex for this forum and, frankly, adds little to understanding the issue at this level. | <urn:uuid:c3c1b4ee-6788-4d08-8f44-1b0b27a982a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://all.net/Analyst/netsec/1995-09.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721174.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00283-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954391 | 1,065 | 3.859375 | 4 |
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The majority of individuals that come to the Regional History Center are asked by professors to cite using the Chicago Manual of Style. The following examples demonstrate the Chicago Style, which can be used as a guideline for another style of preference.
When using Chicago Manual of Style to document items from the Regional History Center it is important to note that there is a difference between notes (foot or end) and bibliography citations.
Citations occurring in your text as foot or end notes list the item title as the first element.
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Letter to J.F. Glidden from Superior Barbed Wire Co., 29 February 1896, Glidden House, box 1, folder 12, RC 6, J. F. Glidden Papers, Regional History Center at Northern Illinois University.
Student Affairs Newsletter, 1973, box 1, folder 8, UA 39, Student Affairs Office, Regional History Center at Northern Illinois University.
Citations within a bibliography list the collection title first, followed by the author and repository name.
[Collection Name], [Collection Author (if applicable)], [Depository Name].
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Notice that in the first example, the formal name "Glidden" was listed first to aid in clarity for the reader. All entries should be listed alphabetically.
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Skip to comments.Will Tuesday Be the Darkest Day in 456 Years?
Posted on 12/19/2010 11:12:44 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
Break out the flashlights. When a full lunar eclipse takes place on the shortest day of the year, the planet may just get awfully dark.
The upcoming Dec. 21 full moon -- besides distinguishing itself from the others in 2010 by undergoing a total eclipse -- will also take place on the same date as the solstice (the winter solstice if you live north of the equator, and the summer solstice if you live to the south).
Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the official beginning of winter. The sun is at its lowest in our sky because the North Pole of our tilted planet is pointing away from it.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A silly article - a solstice on a new moon would be much darker.
... especially if it were a total eclipse.
“The darkest day in 500 years comes on obama’s watch...”
The solstice sounds racist (s/)
Plus....a lunar eclipse happens at night...for those viewing it. So how can it be the darkest day in 456 years?
Agreed. Silly article.
I guess they don't emphasize basic science in J-school.
Beat me to it.
Besides the items mention about the stupidity of the article, it’s not informative, either: At no point does it say what time the eclipse is going to be. Maybe I missed it....
From Wikipedia: A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 20/21, 2010. It will be visible after midnight Eastern Standard Time on December 21 in North and South America.
They must not be counting inauguration day in 2009.
I didn’t know space.com (from whence this article came) hired high schoolers to write its articles.
The Maya calendar predicts the end of the world to occur on December 21, 2012.
Is this coming Tuesday the start of the apocalypse, or were the Maya’s off by only 2 years, exactly?
Note to self: don’t do any chores until next Wednesday....buy more tinfoil.
The darkest day in the last 456 years was the day Obama got elected president.
An eclipse during a full moon will at one point exhibit their beloved crescent. This happening on the shortest and darkest day in 456 years.
Muzzies live by symbolism. Tuesday might be a good day to keep an extra eye out for suspicious behavior and stay away from malls and large crowds......IMO.
Any terrorist attack (successful or not) will keep people home during the busiest few shopping days of the year. There have already been reports of a Mumbai-style attack somewhere in the EU or the US over the holidays.
Be careful, my FRiends and use your head.
Actually wouldn’t it be a hoot if all the Maya 2012 talk etc. ended up being miscalculated on our part....and this is the 2012 year predicted by their very accurate calender system?
The start of a new age, the world magnetic poles shift, and a new man emerges...
Maybe the special spaceship will appear in the sky and save a few?
Sorry Gator didn’t see your post.
I was actually thinking the same tin-foil thing. But for the idea that it wasn’t the Mayan Calender that was wrong...it is our calender that is off.
I’ll be sure to break out the welding gear.
That and my phalanx of Christmas lights ought to keep things lit up in my neighborhood.
The day congress makes butt humping normal in the military is the darkest day of US history.
Wait a minute, I thought the darkest day was January 20, 2009. The annoited one became the president, the oceans parted, the lion and the lamb laid down together and everything was good because Obama declared it.. It turned out none of the above happened and the lights went out in America as the darkest days in American history begin to last for a total of 4 years of darkness of an evil dictator that hates america
“.....it is our calender that is off.”
Nice twist. Great concept for a new sci-fi, but there might not be anyone left to see it. ;>)
Isn't obvious to all yet? The scientific calculations are in. The result is not good.
I have noticed a trend for the past six months and it's scares the hell out of me.
Each day for the past six months has been two minutes shorter than the day before!!
If something isn't done, I predict that by March there will be 24 hours of night and the Sun disappears altogether!
Something must be done about the urgent problem of Global Darkening!!
The Science is settled! We must act now or we're doomed!!
No, it doesn't. It predicts the end of an era. They didn't get around to publishing a newer calendar that predicts the beginning of a conservative era that allows mankind to blossum and florish.
You need to contact Al Gore, immediately!
LOL, I misread you, thought you wrote break out my WEDDING gear, alrighty then.
“....the beginning of a conservative era that allows mankind to blossum and flourish.”
From your lips to God’s ears.
The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll.
Hey, THAT's nothin'! Check THIS out:
This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address could occur on the same day. It is an ironic juxtaposition of events: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little perspective, wisdom or credibility for prognostication...while the other involves a groundhog.Yes, please DO spam your friends with it...
A lunar eclipse hides the moon. A solar eclipse hides the sun.
True, but a lunar eclipse blocks out the reflected light from the Sun, no?
Thus darkening the night, but not the day.
Anyone on watch? It’s cloudy here in the west.
cant see it here in northeast
I have an hour and a half to go.
I imagine it will be tomorrow, too. 'Til the sun sets around 5:00 p.m. anyway...
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Audio Fundamentals & Engineering
101 // 110 // 201
Audio Fundamentals & Engineering 101/110
Students explore the concept of what sound really is, both scientifically and musically. Sound engineering is dissected as both an art and a science: in depth and hands on analysis of signal flow from the live room and into the studio, microphone selection to placement and technique, headphone cue mixing, analog to digital conversion, compression, gating and recording live instruments are all part of these classes.
Students record many common instruments and will process those recordings with the WAVES A tools as a preparation for the WAVES Certification exam.
- Fundamentals of Sound
- Role of the engineer vs. producer
- Studio etiquette
- The project studio vs. major recording complex
- Microphones types and uses
- Mic techniques
- Digital signal processing (DSP) vs. analog outboard gear
- Fundamental mixing techniques
Audio Fundamentals & Engineering 201
This 16-week class is a hands on study in recording engineering and studio recording. Working in Pyramind's Studio A students learn proper studio etiquette and process as they work as sound engineers with live musicians and bands recording completed songs. These recordings are then used to hone their post-production techniques to tighten and clean up the recordings with editing, tuning and processing with the latest DSP tools and plug ins to create finished pro sounding mixes.
- Drum Mic Techniques
- Microphone selection For Different Instruments
- Isolation vs. Live Recording
- Setting Up Cue Mixes (Headphones)
- Vocal Recording
- Compression and Gating
- Vocal Tuning
- Pro Mixing | <urn:uuid:edfca424-826d-4d97-8146-87c950272c90> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.pyramind.com/courses/audio-fundamentals-courses | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00278-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906105 | 343 | 3.515625 | 4 |
If you want to know what a given university is all about, you might check the calendar, and there you will likely find some version of what is called, without irony, a mission statement. It will probably be filled with whatever buzzwords were current at the time of its composition, words like synergy, partners, innovate and entrepreneurial (all these have appeared in the recent mission statements of my own university). Little of this is informative and none of it inspires. Fortunately, we can still look to the other statement that universities have traditionally provided: their heraldic mottos.
Perhaps because of their age, university mottos speak to nobler sentiments than most contemporary discourses coming out of universities. The motto seeks to address the timeless ideals of education rather than the pedestrian cupidity of modern marketing. Where I work, Cape Breton University, the motto Theid Dìchioll Air Thoiseach – translated from Gaelic by the Canadian Heraldic Authority as “Perseverence will triumph” – says more than any core principle statement ever could.
It would be nice to be able to say that university mottos are as old as universities themselves, but that simply is not true. Oxford was not granted a coat of arms until around 1400, long after its founding, and its current motto, Dominus Illuminatio Mea (“The Lord is my light”), only gradually came into use in the 16th century. Canada’s own University of King’s College, founded in 1789, determined in the 1950s that its coat of arms, to which mottos are typically appended, had never been officially sanctioned. Not until 1964 was a proper motto approved and then was temporarily misrendered as Deo Regi Legi Gregi. It was later corrected to Deo Legi Regi Gregi (“For God, law, king, people”).
The importance of truth
For obvious reasons, a great many university mottos make reference to truth. One of my favourites along this line is Patet Omnibus Veritas (“Truth lies open to all”), the motto of Lancaster University in the U.K. The idea might, at first, seem counterintuitive. Doesn’t experience show us a great deal of ignorance in many people? Perhaps, but the point is not that truth abides in all people, but that truth lies open to all people.
Anyone can know truth, if they take the opportunity to seek it. Philosophers may raise ingenious arguments to the effect that nothing is certain, but outside smoke-filled dorm rooms and learned colloquia this kind of extreme skepticism is impractical. There are accepted facts, after all. We all do much better when we accept that, as a matter of fact, getting hit by a bus is generally not as conducive to one’s health as getting enough sleep.
Our modern storehouse of facts is, perhaps only second to our storehouse of art, our greatest resource. We know why the heavenly bodies appear to move across the sky as they do. We know what causes a great number of diseases. We know, in broad terms, how the incredible variety of plants and animals arose on this planet. We even know whether other stars have their own planets (they do). We increasingly know more about human beings, how they function and how their societies work. We know, contrary to the long-standing belief of many, that no particular race or ethnicity is inherently more moral or wise than any other. We know that societies of a certain size function well when they have a rule of law and a credible, impartial system of justice. We even know what tends to lead to a happy and satisfied life. While the lines around such facts are necessarily a little more blurred and open to debate, we are nevertheless able to speak about such things without relying merely on faith, taste or convention.
Once one develops an affection for truth, it is astonishing to notice how frequently people hold to and promote ideas based on obvious falsehoods or easily debunked myths. One important function of education, we might then say, is to give the student a feel for facts and their application. Spend enough time finding facts and checking facts, and one gradually gains an ear for what is commonly (and beautifully) called the ring of truth.
The idea of something “ringing true” comes from the practice of dropping coins on a hard surface to get a sense of the purity of their metal. A gold coin makes a distinctive sound, but if it contains substantial amounts of cheaper metal, the sound is dulled. These days, few of us worry about the metallurgical content of our coins, but the practice yields a perfect metaphor for the ability to notice when a particular claim or argument sounds off.
Of course, no well-educated person should simply dismiss a notion because it is novel or seemingly implausible. Our expectations, prejudices and habits of mind can make us suspicious of valuable new concepts. Truth lies open to all, not just to us. But when an idea is dropped before us that does not ring true, we should retain a healthy skepticism until more is known.
If it is bold to shamelessly defend the notion of truth, it is bolder still to unabashedly endorse wisdom, as does the University of New Brunswick with its motto, Sapere Aude (“Dare to be wise”). The idea of wisdom, too, often provokes either suspicion or resentment. Faced with one who aspires to be wise, we often imagine that the pretender must be a fool who underestimates the complexities of the world. If not that, he must be a snob who disdains those less educated than himself.
But we have more to fear from the haters of wisdom than its admirers. One of the greatest barriers to “daring” wisdom is the fear of reprisals from those who cannot fathom a mind that is dedicated to a better understanding. Many people are so caught up in their own narratives that they cannot genuinely engage with a contrary opinion, particularly if it is vigorously expressed. The response to an unexpected argument is too often not a counter-argument, but mere outrage. Too often we hear “How dare you!” rather than “I disagree.” Once, in response to a satirical article I wrote, a reader – and a university student at that – threatened to kill my cats.
It is, for this reason, I think, that so few public figures today even attempt daring wisdom. We have become wary of causing offence or facing backlash, especially when it can now strike so quickly and with such force. Politicians and bureaucrats make statements on the news that are so vague that they seem calculated to lull the listener to sleep. Even social activists rarely offer bold positions. Instead they call for “awareness,” “more funding” or any number of similarly bloodless suggestions. On all sides, counter-arguments are left unanswered, nuances are ignored and, often, whole issues are brushed aside – we don’t want to get dragged down into that debate. Such strategies keep office holders in office and board members on their boards, but they are not especially wise. And they are certainly not daring.
For still another inspiring motto, consider that of Scotland’s University of St Andrews, Aien aristeuein (“Ever to excel”). It is particularly germane these days, I would argue: the word “excellence” has been so poorly treated as to be largely meaningless, and we shy away from the notion that university education should lead us to focus on really improving ourselves, on genuine excellence.
One underappreciated way that education makes us better is the cultivation of a sense of humour. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of getting more jokes. I fondly remember a promising literature student showing up at my door, excited that she had just seen an episode of The Simpsons that made a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” a story we had just covered. She got a joke she wouldn’t have the week before and it was exhilarating – to her and to me.
And it should be. It’s good to be in on the jokes. And nothing ruins a joke like having to look up why it’s funny. But not just jokes. Writers and artists are constantly making references to our cultural history and one needs a knowledge of that cultural history to understand – or understand more fully – what is being said. As I like to tell my students, you can know the things that smart, creative people know, or you can not know them. Personally, I’d rather know.
Education can make us better by cultivating a sense of shame, too. Many have complained that today’s students are entitled, but in my view the larger concern is that too many of them are shameless. When students come to me looking for a better mark, their argument is usually some variation on “I need a better grade,” and rarely “I deserve a better grade.” Most of the time, it’s simply a matter of what the grade must be for some other end – to keep a scholarship, remain on a team or stay in an academic program.
I am always tempted to ask them what they think those minimum averages for scholarships and teams are for. I wonder what they would make of the argument that the reason the scholarship committee needs to know your grades is to verify whether you are maintaining a high level of achievement. The grades are supposed to be an indicator of that. If I just change a grade to get it to the level you need, then it indicates nothing. In short, I want to ask them whether they have considered the notion that maybe they deserve to lose their scholarship or spot.
A similar kind of shamelessness shows itself in how easily some students lie. A student once jovially admitted to me that when he didn’t have time to finish a bibliography for a paper, he stapled a blank page to the assignment, tore that blank page off, apologized to the instructor that the biblography had been lost and promised to have it in soon. I sometimes overhear students counsel one another about how to deal with a late paper by suggesting, “Just say that someone in your family died,” as if just saying were not what we otherwise call lying.
Students can also strive to excel by becoming more resolute. I reflect on this each semester when students get back their first assignments. Many have done poorly and immediately drop the course. In other words, faced with a disappointing result, a great many have only one recourse: utter retreat. They assume that one lousy mark means success is impossible here. They see the subject matter as irrelevant or me as unreasonable. They rarely see their performance as something that should and could be altered.
Summoning this kind of reaction is not always easy, I know. My first grade of B- as an undergrad shocked me. Hearing a PhD candidate give a paper in one of my first grad seminars was life-changing. In both cases I could have despaired, or dropped the courses. Instead, I decided I needed to step up my game.
In order to excel, students need to learn it is possible not to crumble in the face of disappointment or, indeed, in the face of excellence itself. We must teach our students to consider that a bad result may be evidence that one needs to improve and is not necessarily evidence that the game is rigged.
A long-standing trust
All the mottos mentioned here are words that have inspired me, but my favourite belongs to the University of Toronto at Mississauga: Tantum Nobis Creditum (“So much has been entrusted to us”). Most mottos – understandably – set out a goal for students, but this motto is clearly addressed to the university itself. As a professor, I can’t help seeing it as addressed to me.
University professors are the keepers of a long-standing trust: the education of people at the highest levels of knowledge. If this does not inspire a certain amount of awe in you then you are not a professor – or, perhaps not as good a professor as you might be.
Much of what this essay boils down to is that the university is a public good. Strong societies have needs that do not apply to any individual and cannot be met by the marketplace. In our case, it is the need to have a crictical mass of people with advanced thinking skills. Among our judiciary, our teachers, our business people, we need skeptics, iconoclasts and visionaries to prevent our civilization from blindly following our baser impulses.
When I have been asked (and often when I have not) to justify treating the university as a public good, I have always been glad to explain that it cultivates a broadly educated populace and does not simply train young people for whatever jobs seem to be in demand. But lately I have grown weary of making the case, weary of needing to make the case. Still worse, it is increasingly taken for granted by students, their parents, our governments, and even many of our university administrations, that education for the greater good of humanity is a silly old notion that had little place in the last century and no place in this one.
So much has been entrusted to us and we are betraying that trust. But it may not be too late, if only we remember our mottos.
Todd Pettigrew is an associate professor of English in the department of languages and letters at Cape Breton University. | <urn:uuid:343892a4-4174-4edc-bd6f-43d55d7a1d81> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/words-to-learn-by-the-case-for-the-unheralded-university-motto/?replytocom=604774 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571692.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812105810-20220812135810-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.969637 | 2,831 | 2.484375 | 2 |
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|1408 by topic|
|Arts and science|
|Birth and death categories|
|Births – Deaths|
|Establishments and disestablishments categories|
|Establishments – Disestablishments|
|Art and literature|
|1408 in poetry|
|Ab urbe condita||2161|
|Balinese saka calendar||1329–1330|
|English Regnal year||9 Hen. 4 – 10 Hen. 4|
|Chinese calendar||丁亥年 (Fire Pig)|
4104 or 4044
— to —
戊子年 (Earth Rat)
4105 or 4045
|- Vikram Samvat||1464–1465|
|- Shaka Samvat||1329–1330|
|- Kali Yuga||4508–4509|
|Japanese calendar||Ōei 15|
|Minguo calendar||504 before ROC|
|Thai solar calendar||1950–1951|
1534 or 1153 or 381
— to —
1535 or 1154 or 382
- February 19 – Battle of Bramham Moor: A royalist army defeats the last remnants of the Percy Rebellion.
- September – Henry, Prince of Wales (later Henry V of England) retakes Aberystwyth from Owain Glyndŵr.
- September 16 – Thorstein Olafssøn marries Sigrid Bjørnsdatter in Hvalsey Church, in the last recorded event of the Norse history of Greenland.
- December 5 – Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow.
- December 13 – The Order of the Dragon is founded under King Sigismund of Hungary.
- The Moldavian town of Iaşi is first mentioned.
- The Yongle Encyclopedia is completed.
- Gotland passes under Danish rule.
- Zheng He delivers 300 virgins from Korea to the Chinese emperor.
- Mihail I becomes co-ruler of Wallachia, with his father Mircea cel Bătrân.
- January 25 – Katharina of Hanau, German countess regent (d. 1460)
- February 14 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel (d. 1435)
- March 25 – Agnes of Baden, Countess of Holstein-Rendsburg, German noble (d. 1473)
- April 8 – Jadwiga of Lithuania, Polish princess (d. 1431)
- April 23 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, English noble (d. 1462)
- May 22 – Annamacharya, Indian mystic saint composer (d. 1503)
- October 1 or 1409 – Karl Knutsson, King of Sweden (d. 1470)
- February 19 – Thomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf, English rebel (in battle)
- February 20 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English rebel (in battle) (b. 1342)
- April – Miran Shah, son of Timur the Lame (b. 1366)
- April 10 or April 11 – Elizabeth le Despenser, English noblewoman
- May 24 – Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1335)
- May 31 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1358)
- September 15 – Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (b. 1384)
- September 22 – John VII Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1370)
- December 4 – Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans by marriage to Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans
- date unknown – Coptic Pope Matthew I of Alexandria
- "Yongle dadian | Chinese encyclopaedia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- Gabra, Gawdat; Takla, Hany N. (2017). Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta. Oxford University Press. p. 76. ISBN 9789774167775. | <urn:uuid:68f29fb0-c972-4f8b-9489-cc77465d945f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1408 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808213349-20220809003349-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.811251 | 1,312 | 1.734375 | 2 |
ASK A QUESTION Is there any easy way to remember when to use "Ser" and when to use "Estar"? I always mix them up.
When do i use these and is there an easy saying to remember?
Twinkle twinkle, little ESTAR
How you feel and where you are
What you're doing currently
Don't use "ser", that's the permanent "be"
Twinkle, twinkle, little ESTAR
How you feel and where you are.
If you remember that little song (or even just the part that repeats), you will probably remember that "estar" is like the "temporary" one and "ser" is like the permanent one.
I also suggest that you listen to Paralee's lesson on Ser v Estar Lesson 1:11 ;-
I have provided you with a link to the lesson below my comments
Paralee gives you some guidelines and hints in the lesson on how to remember when to use Ser or Estar. They are only guidelines not rules and with practice time and experience you should be able to develop a feel for when to use Ser or Estar This is how most native speakers learn:from experience not by memorising a set of rules.
After this if it is still not clear you can read-up about it following Lorenzo's link in his post/answer here
Link to Paralee's lesson: 1:11: link text
I hope this helps
Learning rules is fine, but the only way that you are truly going to get a feel for the language (in terms of when it is appropriate to use each) is to expose yourself to a sufficient amount of written and auditory material. This means listening to and reading copious amounts of 'in-context' Spanish. Eventually, if you stick with it, you will begin to get a 'feel' for what sounds right in various contexts.
As far as rules go, I would definitely recommend you at least familiarize yourself with the reference article written by Lazarus (see Lorenzo's link above). The C.I.D. method is certainly superior to other pseudo rules that I have encountered in studying Spanish.
Along these same lines, there is a book which follows a similar train of thought regarding the use of the two verbs and also maintains that when choosing between which verb to use with certain adjectives, it often comes down to a question of "Whatness" vs. "Howness." The title of the book is Spanish Verbs: Ser and Estar Key to Mastering the Language by Juan and Susan Serrano, and in my opinion it is well worth looking into.
In any case, rules will only get you so far. To truly master these concepts, again, is going to require that you digest a tremendous amount of material. If this seems daunting, just remember the old adage that Rome wasn't built in a day, and little by little and with practice, each day we move closer to our goals. Best of luck in your learning endeavors.
I use DOCTOR and PLACES to help my students remember when to use each one.
For SER: DOCTOR
D- descripción/description Ud. es alto. O- origen Ella es de Peru. C- características Yo soy guapa. T- tiempo -time- hora Son las dos. O- ocupación Nosotros somos dentistas. R- relación Ella es la madre de Paco.
For ESTAR: PLACES
P- posición Está cerca de la puerta. L- Lugar Está en la Calle Elm. A- acción Estoy hablando español. C- condición Ella está enferma. E- emoción Estoy triste. S- Salud Nosotros estamos enfermos,
Hope this helps. (sorry for the lack of accents etc. I can't get them to work/insert today for some reason.) | <urn:uuid:692b3625-bfe3-478d-90f0-243812268520> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/185278/is-there-any-easy-way-to-remember-when-to-use-ser-and-when-to-use-estar-i-always-mix-them-up | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285289.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00148-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884574 | 848 | 3.03125 | 3 |
As you’ve probably read here on my site in the past, I and many of my readers have been very disappointed with the performance of Windows Vista, as it is when installed out of the box. Although I’ve written many tips and tricks on the necessary steps needed to be done in order to make Vista run a bit faster, still these changes that one should perform are mostly manual changes, and even after doing so, Vista’s performance is still lacking when compared to a similar computer running Windows XP SP2.
In fact, here are some of my more recent Windows Vista Tips:
- Why you should Upgrade to Windows Vista SP1
- Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is RTM
- What’s User Account Control in Windows Vista?
- Enable Windows Vista Aero Graphics
- Disable User Account Control in Windows Vista
Although not quite breaking news, Microsoft has officially released the Window Vista “Performance and Reliability Pack” and “Compatibility and Reliability Pack” that, after installing on RTM versions of Vista, have had quite a good improvement in speed and reliability of these computers.
These updates are part of the recently released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Vista (see Why you should Upgrade to Windows Vista SP1).
The first patch available as a Windows Update fix can be found in KB 938979.
This update resolves the following issues:
- You experience a long delay when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
- A memory leak occurs when you use the Windows Energy screen saver.
- If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully. This problem occurs if the network printer is hosted by a Windows XP-based or a Windows Server 2003-based computer.
- When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.
- When you copy or move a large file, the “estimated time remaining” takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
- After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.
- When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.
- If you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file.
- After you resume the computer from hibernation, the computer loses its default gateway address.
- Poor memory management performance occurs.
Users installing this patch reported a noticeable improvement in file and network copying operations. Personally, after installing the above patch, I found that file copying across the network and on local disks is faster than in the RTM version of Vista, and as a matter of fact, they appear to be matching the speed of the same file copy operation performed on XP SP2. I also noticed a much faster resuming from hibernation on my laptop.
The second patch available as a Windows Update fix can be found in KB 938194.
This update resolves the following issues:
- The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver.
- The computer stops responding, and you receive a “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error message. You can restart the computer only by pressing the computer’s power button.
- The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
- The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
- The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off. For example, this problem may occur when a projector is turned off during a presentation.
- There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang).
- Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
- You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
- Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
- Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
- Internet Connection Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
- The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
- You receive a “Stop 0x0000009F” error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active.
Could it be that vista does work as it *should* work after all? :)
I suggest trying out Windows Vista Service Pack one as soon as it is available to you to see if your performance improves!
- An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista – KB 938979.
- An update is available that improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista – KB 938194.
- Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals | <urn:uuid:9161c06b-c223-4c30-86a0-9be98c3279f5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.petri.com/increase-windows-vista-performance-reliability-improvement-pack-sp1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281574.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00017-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902013 | 1,063 | 1.601563 | 2 |
blog | 18.11.18
Psychology is a big deal in modern sport. From Steve Peters' now famous 'chimp paradox' to the in-house sports psychologists employed by many professional clubs, the workings of the mind are being treated with increasing importance. Now it is almost as common to have a therapist as it is a personal trainer.
What are we to make of this from a Christian point of view? Is it OK for Christians to take part in sports psychology? Does the Bible give us a form of sport psychology or at least does it give us principles that could be applied to this area?
Clearly these are bigger questions than can be fully answered in a blog, but here are a few brief reflections to help start a discussion.
All truth is God’s truth and so Christians should not be afraid of sport psychology. Christians have a chequered history of being highly sceptical about areas they don’t initially understand. The Bible teaches that God made us and knows how we are wired up internally and how we function best. So any insights from sport psychology that are true and accurate are God-given, even if they are not directly obtained from the Bible. This is God’s world and sport psychology is an area (like any other) that He is Lord over (Colossians 1:15-17).
2. All areas of expertise like sport psychology will be mixed with truth and distortions because we live in a world corrupted by sin (Genesis 3:6-7). Consequently Christians - whether professionals or not - need to engage thoughtfully and analytically in this area (as in any other) to see what is true, what is false, what is helpful and what is unhelpful.
Not all who claim to do sport ‘psychology’ are qualified psychologists - so do check someone’s qualifications (and don’t be too impressed just because they have letters after their name!). Equally just because someone says they are a Christian sport psychologist does not mean that they are operating from a Christian worldview. I know psychologists for whom their Christianity is intentionally left out of the counselling environment and some for whom it is intentionally brought in. It is important to know who you are dealing with and what assumptions they are using - don’t be afraid to ask!
The Bible has lots to say about how we work best, so just understanding and applying your Bible will give you vital psychological insights. This is not to say we don’t need the input of professionals, sometimes we do, but it is to say that we always need the Bible’s input.
Think of the impact of these foundational biblical insights (as examples):
a. Our fundamental psychological problem (in sport or any other arena of life) is not just that we are weak, distressed, anxious or depressed, but that we are wilfully rejecting God and seeking to live without him. This is what the Bible calls sin and it is the baseline problem that all human beings have. So if I want to ‘improve’ psychologically as an athlete or player, a key part will be recognising that my problems are not just ‘out there’ but also often caused by me and my sin.
b. One of our great dangers is that we seek to derive our identity from created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:21-23). The Bible calls this idolatry. When we do this we become enslaved to these things and will experience resulting psychological problems. So if I am excessively anxious before or during competition, could it be that I am attaching too much of my identity to my performance? Am I perhaps idolising the ‘perfect game’ or what my teammates think of me?
c. There may be many sport psychology models out there offering to help us (and many will help) but permanent change can only come from God’s work in our heart as the Spirit applies Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to us personally. So as we pursue sport psychology interventions, are we also praying for God to be at work or are we thinking that because I am being helped by sport psychology I no longer need God’s help?
d. As human beings we naturally default to man-centred ‘works-based’ systems of change and improvement, but God has made us such that we need God-centred ‘grace-based’ interventions in our life to see deep and lasting impact. You will not get such interventions from secular sport psychology models no matter how good they are, so you need to be rooted in a local family of believers - the local church - where you will get this. The Christian community is always a vital context for support and change.
Let me close by a brief anecdote. When I became a Christian I was playing semi-professional rugby. Some of the team were worried that becoming a Christian would make me a worse player (some even said as much).
As it happens I had a tough first year blighted by injury, but a bit over a year after my coming to faith the captain pulled me to one side and said: “I was worried about the impact of your Christianity on your game, but I was wrong. You train more consistently, when fit you have been playing at a higher level, and you seem more assured on the pitch. Can you explain why that is?”
“I have not really thought about it,” I said. “And it may be an over-simplification, but I guess God knows what is best for us.”
Pete Nicholas, Inspire Church London
Pete was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2017 and is a rugby player by background who now plays touch rugby. Pete is ordained in the Church of England and Minister in Charge of Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell in London.
In this section
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Eight Pakistani employees of a US-based aid organisation are missing and feared kidnapped in Pakistan's volatile southwest bordering Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani government official said.
The employees of The American Refugee Committee (ARC) were returning after distributing food items from an Afghan refugee camp in Pishin, 50km from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on Monday evening when they went missing.
"They distributed some relief goods among the refugees and were probably kidnapped on their way back to Quetta," Mansoor Kakar, Pishin's deputy commissioner, told Reuters.
Security forces launched a search operation in the refugee camp and other suspected areas. No one has claimed responsibility as yet.
Kakar said it was not clear who was behind the possible kidnapping: "We don't have any clue so far. Efforts are underway to recover them."
Armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as ethnic Baloch armed groups fighting for more autonomy, have been involved in violence in the region, which also borders Iran.
Kidnapping is an industry in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, with money often the main motivation rather than political demands.
Ransoms are a large source of revenue for the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Baloch fighters.
ARC has worked in refugee camps near Quetta since 2002, focusing on providing healthcare and training members of the community in basic health services, according to the ARC website.
It began operating in northern parts of Pakistan after the devastating earthquake in 2005.
Earlier this month, a Swiss couple was kidnapped by gunmen in the district of Loralai in Balochistan. They have not yet been recovered.
An American official of the UN refugee agency was kidnapped in Quetta in 2009 but was released after two months. | <urn:uuid:8aa94a56-4365-43e5-a70c-888f00dfd1a0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/07/20117197391365262.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00431-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975474 | 366 | 1.835938 | 2 |
One of the five responsibilities in Islam is prayer five times a day. Every Muslim who prays uses zhainamaz, and then tesbih.
Therefore tesbih occupies a special place in Islam. The word tasbih originally came from the Arabic word subbah. And this word means – glory to Allah, to glorify Allah. In Persian and Turkish, it is pronounced as – tesbih, in Tatar – disp, in Avgan tisba. Tesbih or subha – a list of beads used when reading prayers to glorify Allah, worship, glorify the prophet. Tesbih is made from stone, glass, plant grains, wood, metal, etc. Tesbih consists of 99 stones, divided into three of 33 or 33. Tasbih up to 999 stones are sometimes used. But tesbih of 33, 99 stones is often used. In tesbih, every 33 pieces at the junction there is one stone of an unusual shape from other stones. He is called the “master” of tesbih, and the large stone at the place of the main connection of the three chains is called “bismilla”. A large stone at the place of the main connection of the three chains is called white. The museum contains several types of tesbih. One of them is made of a date seed in the amount of 99 pieces. The “master” of this pattern is made of white beads, and the “Bismilla” is made of yellow beads with a black line on the surface. In 1982, a resident of the Zhana Kazaly station of the Kyzylorda region, Nazimova Bagimkul, presented this tesbih as a gift to the museum. Material: date bone. | <urn:uuid:82375900-77ad-40a1-8ae3-4b9ba9c42bf6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://azretsultan.kz/eng/tesbih-xx-c/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817032054-20220817062054-00476.warc.gz | en | 0.941835 | 382 | 3.5625 | 4 |
The number of homicides in Colombia grew by 27% in the beginning of 2021 compared to 2020 when the population was under a lockdown. But the number still increased against 2019 and 2018.
The National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensics of Colombia shared that the number of homicides between January and May 2021 increased by 27% compared to the same period of 2020.
According to the latest figures reported by El Tiempo, there have been 4,986 murders between January and May 2021; 1,066 more than during the same period last year.
These figures are explained by the fact that the first half of 2020 was marked by a large decrease in the number of homicides, likely due to the restrictions of mobility and the Covid-19 crisis. The first case of Covid-19 in Colombia was recorded in early March 2020 and the country imposed a national lockdown from March until September. Similar to the homicides, transport casualties in March and April 2020 were down 36%.
But the pause has stopped and violent deaths resumed.
Colombia's homicide rate in 2020 was the lowest in 46 years
However, homicides in January-May 2021 still grew by 7% compared to 2019 or 2018 so the difference isn't only caused by the pandemic restrictions. Road casualties in March-April 2021 also increased by 11% compared to 2019.
Homicides account for about half of the violent deaths recorded by the Institute, which also include accidents, transport casualties and suicides.
The number of suicides, which is looked at as an indicator for the mental health among the population during the pandemic, rose from 917 to 1,051 in Colombia between January-May 2020 and 2021, which accounts for +15%.
Non-lethal violence, like intra-familial violence, decreased in 2021. It has been on the same declining trend since at least 2019.
In 2020, the rate of homicide for 100,000 people reached 23.82, its lowest point in 46 years. The rate has been divided by 3 over the last 20 years, according to the Colombian police and the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes.
- Boletines Estadísticos Mensuales, Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses, July 2021, Free access
- ¿Qué hay detrás del aumento de homicidios en lo que va del año?, El Tiempo, July 2021, Free access
- Country Profile: Colombia, UNODC, Free access | <urn:uuid:956270dc-4456-4658-b5c1-9a18abd8783d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.newsendip.com/homicides-in-colombia-resume-in-2021/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.966375 | 518 | 2.453125 | 2 |
2016 Teen Video Challenge – Closed
Check back soon for information on the 2017 Teen Video Challenge!
2016 Teen Video Challenge (TVC)
Create a video promoting Summer Reading at the public library, including your interpretation of the 2016 Collaborative Summer Library Program teen slogan “Get in the Game – Read” and you could win $150 and a $50 award for your library.
One winning video created by a teen or group of teens will be selected as the New York State Winner in the national Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) “2016 Teen Video Challenge”. All state winning videos will be official 2016 CSLP promotional videos and will be viewed nationwide.
Information and forms for libraries participating in the 2016 TVC are listed at bottom of this page.
Who can enter?
- Any New York State teen aged 13 -18.
- Create the video on your own or work as a team.
How do I enter?
- Get the Entry Form (PDF or Word Document) Read all instructions provided on the entry form and read the Rules
- Create a 30 – 90 second video that encourages teens to read and use libraries this summer. Be sure to include your interpretation of the 2016 CSLP teen slogan “Get in the Game – Read.”
- Explore resources for additional ideas and information.
- Title your video: “2016 TVC-NY- Unique Name” (the same title that you put on the entry form). Please choose a Unique Name that does not include your real name (example: 2016 – TVC – NY- ReadTheGame!23).
- Upload your video to YouTube.com and add closed captioning (if your video includes words in the audio) using the YouTube closed captioning feature.
- Fill out and sign your Entry Form and Model Release Form(s) completely. Note: all individuals appearing in the video must submit a signed Model Release Form, in addition to the video’s creator(s).
- Mail or Deliver your completed forms, using the label “2016 TVC,” to your local public library (same library listed on your entry form) by March 4, 2016.
Questions? Contact your local library.
What can I win?
CSLP will review all state winners and will award each CSLP approved State Teen Video Challenge Winner $150. Their local public library will receive prizes worth $50 from CSLP and Upstart. Winners will also receive certificates from CSLP and Summer Reading at New York Libraries. Winners will be announced in the spring of 2016.
If your video is chosen as a New York State finalist, you will be contacted by the New York State Teen Video Challenge Representative and asked to prepare a brief written summary for your video for full accessibility. In addition, the creator of the winning video will be asked to submit a DVD of the video. The DVD should have a minimum of a 640 x 480 aspect ratio and is preferred in the .wmv format.
In spring 2016, a complete list of state winners, along with their videos, will be posted on the CSLP website. The New York State winner and finalists will be posted on the Summer Reading at New York Libraries Teen Video Challenge Winners page.
The “2016 Teen Video Challenge” for New York State is open only to legal U.S. residents who are residents of New York State aged 13 – 18. Participants are ineligible if directly related to the panel of judges for the contest. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Contest Rules.
Each participant or group may submit one video per entry. Each entry must include signed Model Release Form(s). All submissions must be received by March 4, 2016. Late entries will not be accepted. A DVD of the video and a brief written summary will be requested from the winner for full accessibility.
Note about age limits and Creator vs Participant: The video Creator(s) must be between the ages of 13 and 18, but Participants in the video – such as cast members – may be outside of that age range. Appropriate permission and a signed Model Release Form are still needed for all Creator(s) and Participant(s), regardless of age. Participants are not eligible for prizes or recognition from CSLP. Libraries that wish to reward Participants are welcome to do so as they see fit.
Terms and Conditions:
All audio and artwork must be created by the entrant or be in the public domain and must be specified as such on the entry form. CSLP (and all CSLP member affiliates) have permission to use the “2016 Teen Video Challenge” submissions, including all work created and all intellectual property embodied therein, as per the Model Release Form.
Video Criteria for Acceptance:
All videos must:
- Be 30 to 90 seconds.
- Promote the idea of using public libraries and reading.
- Include your interpretation of the 2016 CSLP teen slogan “Get in the Game – Read.”
- Be designed for use at any library.
- Be appropriate for viewing by audiences of all ages.
Video will be Judged on the Following Criteria:
- Message clarity and relevance
- Motivation and inspiration
- Overall impact
Any entry containing copyrighted material (audio, images, etc.) will be disqualified.
Entries are due to the local public library by March 4, 2016. Entries from the public library are due to the New York State Library by March 11, 2016.
Forms and Documents
- Information & Timeline for NYS Public Libraries (PDF)
- 2016 TVC Entry Form (PDF)
- 2016 TVC Entry Form (Word Doc)
- 2016 TVC Model Release Form (PDF)
- Public Library to State Submission Form (Word Doc)
- Public Library to State Submission Form – Instruction Sheet (PDF)
- 2016 TVC Promotional Poster (PDF)
For questions, contact Sharon Phillips, Coordinator of Summer Reading at New York Libraries, at Sharon.Phillips@nysed.gov or (518) 486-4863. | <urn:uuid:f604ba7e-11c9-4daa-b5dc-b2d79c06422b> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.summerreadingnys.org/teens/teens-video-challenge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721141.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00415-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906933 | 1,262 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Published Online: March 3, 2009
Published in Print: March 4, 2009
“Meeting the Challenge: Promising Practices for Reducing the Dropout Rate in Massachusetts Schools and Districts”
An examination of Massachusetts high schools that have lowered their dropout rates shows that they used key strategies that helped make a difference.
For a report issued last month, the Cambridge, Mass.-based Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy examined 11 high schools in nine districts.
A frequently cited strategy employed by high schools in the study was using data to identify students who were deemed to be at risk of dropping out and designing interventions to help them, such as credit recovery, or extra academic or social support.
Also cited by many schools as helpful were building strong connections between school and college or careers, providing strong alternatives to traditional high schools, and forging strong collaboration among faculty members and with community partners.
By Catherine Gewertz
Vol. 28, Issue 23, Pages 4-5 | <urn:uuid:c23d1272-94e2-46d6-8473-17048c8f0ddc> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://texasedequity.blogspot.com/2009/03/meeting-challenge-promising-practices.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282926.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00394-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973347 | 204 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Marita PollardChange email or password
OEM air purifiers is an air filter that was produced by an external producer. They are most frequently made by a small company such as China, that makes consumer digital equipment, and they can likewise be regularly imported from various other international countries. An example of this would certainly be the HEPAtech indoor air cleaner. They are normally much more costly than alternative filters since they are a "one dimension fits all" product. Something you must know about an OEM air cleaner is that due to their superior building, they have a tendency to last longer than other air filters.There are numerous benefits to purchasing the OEM air purifiers. They do at near-OEM criteria. This means they give better interior air high quality than alternate air filters. Most of the benefits they use are from the layout, and engineering of the product, but they additionally make use of state-of-the-art design to provide a far better filter. They frequently utilize what is described as ion exchange to lower pollutants.There are various advantages to purchasing an oem luftrenser, yet they do have some disadvantages. Several of these are listed here. You ought to recognize that although an OEM air purifier is normally a lot more pricey, that cost can vary due to where you acquire it. One of the main negative aspects of purchasing an OEM air cleaner is that you are purchasing from an outside supplier. Because of this you are not able to return the product if it does not meet your assumptions. That implies if you select to buy one from a Chinese factory, you might find that it is substandard to the various other items offered on the market.An added downside to the OEM air purifiers is that they often do not fulfill the EPA's health division standards. That indicates acquiring one is not always going to enhance your indoor air high quality. The only means to guarantee that you get the most effective interior air cleaner is to guarantee that you purchase one from a well-respected company such as a Chinese manufacturing facility. You will obtain exceptional outcomes and also you can feel confident that your purchase is made from a reliable company.Among the reasons that you need to take a look at buying an OEM air filter is since they come with a warranty. What most people do not realize is that a guarantee is not something that you get when you acquire an air cleaner, it is something that you can ask for. If for whatever factor the product does not measure up to your high expectations, then you can ask for that your cash is reimbursed. Most business will do this for you in most cases. That suggests if you wish to enjoy undisturbed exceptional indoor air high quality without having to worry about getting in touch with an expensive air conditioning repair service firm after that you must look into getting your Chinese importer's manufacturing facility directly and also save yourself a lot of trouble.One more advantage to purchasing from a Chinese importer is that you are able to enjoy several of the benefits of odor control. Oils utilized in air purifiers can bring in airborne smells and also these odors can make the spaces in which they are stored odor awful. By utilizing these filters you can reduce the amount of air-borne contaminants that find their way right into the spaces in which you as well as your family members live. It also implies that by utilizing them you will certainly help to remove all the undesirable smells from your residence. This is a specifically vital point, if you have children. Most children will locate certain smells fairly offending as well as the use of these purifiers can help to decrease the amount of offensive odors that they discharge from their space. Examine https://www.olansidk.com/oem-odm.html to find a lot more on the air purification system.Along with making use of these air filters you can additionally get entirely accumulated systems that purify your entire home. These systems are typically created with a double purpose in mind; that firstly, the purifiers are there to take the odors out of the air, and second of all, the system will kill any germs or germs that could be living within your home. These kinds of interior air cleaners typically have multiple filters inside them as well as the system will certainly purify the air throughout your house and exterminate any kind of nurturing germs that can be in the air. These sorts of purifiers can be fairly pricey but are normally a vital part of a general system that is taking on the air inside your home.The most preferred kind of purifiers often tend to be those that are manufacturing facility direct replacement established. This is because it is less costly to buy the purifiers directly than it is to purchase them on the aftermarket, such as via a wholesaler. By doing this you understand that the purifiers are fresh when you obtain them which they function well to regulate the smells in your house. It additionally means that you do not have to fret about them getting damaged as they are factory straight and also therefore you are not required to acquire additional accessories such as substitute filters and so on. The drawback is that you can not truly go off selling them on family and friends as you would certainly if you acquired them manufacturing facility straight and had them changed with aftermarket replacements.
What I look for in a Dive Operator:
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Plan Your Adventure > | <urn:uuid:d3eec70e-048c-4606-8ad5-cfd4e30ca413> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.divephotoguide.com/user/maritapollard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.974777 | 1,091 | 1.835938 | 2 |
A roadmap for understanding the business challenges and opportunities in China
By 2025, China and India will be two of the world's four largest economies. By then, economic ties between them should also rank among the ten most important bilateral ties worldwide. Their leaders are well aware of these emerging realities. In May 2013, just two months after taking charge, Premier Li Keqiang left for India on his first official trip outside China, a clear signal of China's foreign policy priorities.
The Silk Road Rediscovered is the first book ever to analyze the growing corporate linkages between India and China. Did you know that:
India's Mahindra is the fifth largest tractor manufacturer in China?
Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover unit is the fastest growing luxury auto seller in China?
India's NIIT is the most influential IT training brand in China?
China's Huawei has its second largest R&D center in Bangalore and employs over 5000 people in India?
Shanghai Electric earns its largest revenues outside China from India?
As these developments illustrate, pioneering Indian and Chinese companies are rediscovering the fabled Silk Road which joined their nations in ancient times. Winning in each other's markets is also making them stronger and whetting their appetite for further global expansion.
This book examines how Indian companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra Tractors, NIIT, Tata Motors/Jaguar Land Rover and Sundaram Fasteners have figured out how to win in China. Their experiences may inspire and offer lessons to other Indian companies. The book also examines how Chinese pioneers such as Lenovo, Huawei, TBEA, Haier and Xinxing have made a strong commitment to India and are beginning to realize the fruits of this commitment. The key lessons that emerge from these analyses are: the odds of success go up dramatically when executives adopt a global rather than local-for-local perspective and are skillful at learning on the ground. | <urn:uuid:99597a42-3dd3-4701-ae9e-85dffc756963> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/the-silk-road/9781118895931/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00320-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941388 | 397 | 1.804688 | 2 |
To offer a well-balanced meal for your chickens, most chicken feeds contain protein and carbs. The very last point you have to do when you open a bag of poultry feed is black bugs in chicken feed. There are a number of bugs that establish their homes in grain products. Because wild birds eat insects, the extra protein is unlikely to hurt your hens. There seem to be a … [Read more...] about How to Identify Bugs in Chicken Feed? | <urn:uuid:5ddeba8d-250f-4098-868b-6e99ec7f3806> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.efindanything.com/tag/chicken/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.957 | 93 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Reading Group books are available from Left Bank Books in St. Louis, MO at a 20% discount.
The Magnificoes! are interested and interesting folks who gather once a month to talk plays, poems, criticism, history, and fiction! The group began in May of 2012 just in time for that year’s production of Othello #InTheGlen by Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. Our long-term goal is to read all of the plays in the canon (38 of them) while enjoying the many creative works written that illuminate, complicate, and build on them. By December, we’ll have read 28 of the plays; our plan is to finish the canon in 2020.
2018 marks our 3rd year performing a staged reading as part of Shake 38!
If you are interested in joining this group or have any other questions, please email Shane email@example.com
We usually meet the third Tuesday of every month.
**This group is meeting virtually on Zoom for an invitation to join email firstname.lastname@example.org**
2022 Reading List
Tuesday, January 18th, 7pm: Henry V by William Shakespeare
Tuesday, February 15th, 7pm: A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke
Tuesday, March 15th, 7pm: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Tuesday, April 19th, 7pm: The War of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones
Tuesday, May 17th, 7pm: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Tuesday, June 21st, 7pm: How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education by Scott Newstok
Tuesday, July 19th, 7pm: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Tuesday, August 16th, 7pm: William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth by Ian Doescher
Tuesday, September 20th, 7pm: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Tuesday, October 18th, 7pm: Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future by James Shapiro
Tuesday, November 15th, 7pm: The Sonnets and Other Poems by William Shakespeare
(Will be reading Venus and Adonis and other selected sonnets to be announced)
Tuesday, December 20th, 7pm: Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy by Paula Marantz Cohen | <urn:uuid:a4ea4a56-6808-4b72-a039-0054a96cbacf> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.left-bank.com/shakespeare-festival-reads-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572221.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816060335-20220816090335-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.938015 | 512 | 1.585938 | 2 |
If you have ever used a fish finder during your fishing trips, you know very well what a world of difference such a device can make when you need to find the best fishing spots and observe the movement of fish schools. However, for ice fishing, you might need an ice fishing fish finder because there are specific characteristics this type of unit has that cannot be seen in regular models.
First of all, such units are portable, and they don’t have to be mounted on a boat. Secondly, they are designed to deal with the extreme temperatures and conditions associated with ice fishing. In case you are wondering why you would need a fish finder when ice fishing, here are some strong reasons to help you decide to purchase one.
You will find the best spots for drilling your holes
A fish finder created for ice fishing is not that different in scope and design when compared to a regular model. It usually comes with a more powerful transducer since it needs to see what lies in the cold water underneath the ice sheet. To give you an idea about how such a tool is used, here are some guidelines.
For your ice fishing fish finder, you will have to drill a separate hole from the one you will use to fish. Actually, experts recommend drilling several holes for this purpose, as you may want to move the fish finder around until it can get accurate readings. This should be the preparation stage when you observe what happens under the ice sheet with the help of the fish finder.
By using different holes for the fish finder than the one you will use for the actual fishing, you make sure that you don’t disturb the fish. Also, using this strategy will help you notice the movements of fish under the ice.
In the end, that’s the most crucial purpose of a fish finder: to help you locate those areas that are the richest in fish. Even if there is a thick sheet of ice between you and the fish, you can still identify where they are with the help of a powerful transducer, as indicated earlier. A model designed for ice fishing will also come with a display and other conveniences so that you can use it with ease.
You will be able to find where the fish are with increased accuracy
Fish can be a type of prey that is more challenging to catch than others because you can’t see it directly – which is all the more true for ice fishing – and also because it moves a lot. Water temperature changes, currents, and other things can tremendously influence the movement of the schools of fish, which can make fishing a challenging activity.
This is where having a fish finder can make a significant difference. Models created for ice fishing come with temperature sensors so that when you lower the unit into the water through the holes you dug for it, they can interpret what is going on under the ice. A good quality ice fishing fish finder will react to the changes in temperature and show you where it is more likely that the fish goes when that happens.
With such a unit, you map the environment that lies under your feet and the sheet of ice, and you will have a clear idea about what is going on there. You wouldn’t know such information without a fish finder, which is why more and more fishers today don’t want to leave home without their trustworthy fish finder.
Don’t forget that ice fishing is much more demanding an activity compared to traditional fishing. There is no possibility for you to observe what lies under the surface with the naked eye, so you will have to depend on what the unit can tell you. Without a doubt, such a device will work much better than your intuition.
You will be able to catch the type of fish you want
There is a wealth of information a fish finder offers, which will be the foundation of your fishing strategy. For instance, let’s say that you’re interested in catching a particular fish species. The fish finder will give you information on the water temperature, which will help you establish if the species you target could be present there.
It is well known that various fish species prefer different water temperatures, and that’s a valid point for ice fishing, all the same. Also, the temperature values are not the only useful information when building your strategy for catching fish. The fish finder will also offer you details on the size of the fish that moves under the ice.
Since you may be after some trophy fish or simply want to catch fish that is large enough to provide satisfaction, this kind of info is what you need, and the fish finder will be able to give you. At first, it may feel like the display of your fish finder is some kind of puzzle that you need to figure out, but that’s easy to learn by using the instructions offered by the manufacturer.
When shopping for a fish finder, besides establishing whether it is suitable for ice fishing or not, you will need to check the features. If the unit is capable of giving you information to help you identify the type and size of fish that lurks under your feet, that’s a winner, and you should go for it.
You will receive up to date information all the time
No matter how seasoned an angler might be, he or she must use a combination of past information, experience, and intuition to identify where the fish might be. There is no such guessing work when you’re using a fish finder. You will know, all the time, what happens under the sheet of ice, what kind of fish is there, and if it’s there or not anymore.
A fish finder is a sophisticated device that gives you a lot of details on the way the waters beneath look. You even get information on the bottom of the body of water, with all its structures, soil types, and possible hiding places all the time. While some elements don’t change that easily, others, like water temperature and currents do.
Plus, let’s not forget that fish schools are always on the move. Their exact location is not something even the most experienced anglers could give you. That’s where the fish finder comes into play and helps you identify where the most fish is, without a doubt. Following the information provided by your fish finder, you are more likely to make your fishing trip successful than when using nothing but your instinct and luck.
You will be able to save a lot of time using modern technology
A fish finder is many things, including a GPS, a map, and a screen on which you can read the information provided. While some people might worry that using the means of modern technology in this manner could be considered cheating, if you’re not enlisted in a competition, there is no reason to think that way.
A lot of anglers today use fishing as a means to unwind and spend a few days away from the madding crowd. If they manage to catch something, they get a sense of fulfillment that might not be easy to achieve in everyday life. When you put a fish finder to work, you can save time and catch something before going back home.
Modern devices come with a plethora of features. You will be able to examine your surroundings in ways that have never been possible before. You will know where the fish schools are, and where it would be the most indicated place for drilling your ice hole to start fishing.
Also, when you need to select what type of fish to go for, the device will tell you what you will find around. Taking decisions fast is something that any passionate angler can appreciate being able to do. Imagine that you have only a couple of days to spend ice fishing, and you end up spending most of the time searching for fish in the blind. A fish finder can make the difference between wasting your time and spending your vacation in the most fruitful way possible. | <urn:uuid:5e40490e-69fb-4908-9adf-2b9438d0d1ad> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fisherpants.com/5-reasons-why-you-need-a-fish-finder-when-ice-fishing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572908.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817122626-20220817152626-00067.warc.gz | en | 0.953593 | 1,638 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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Mount Bromo is one of the highlights of East Java, Indonesia and is one of the the most visited natural attractions in South East Asia. The immediate gateway to Mount Bromo for tourists is from the city of Surabaya although there are increasingly more tourists visiting it from Bali.
Mount Bromo Facts
Known affectionately by the locals as Gunung Bromo, Mount Bromo is an active volcano located in East Java, Indonesia. Although it stands at only 2.3km and nowhere near the highest mountain in Indonesia, it is probably one of the most well known and definitely the most visited tourist attraction in East Java.
Located in the middle of 'Sand Sea' (Lautan Pasir), Mount Bromo is part of the protected reserve, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.
Our team feels that the beauty of Mount Bromo Sunrise is second only to Tibet's Mount Everest Base Camp Sunrise. It is truly magical, magnificent and memorable!
Mount Bromo Tips & Guides
- Whenever possible, visit on a weekday to avoid massive crowds during the weekends (Saturday & Sunday)
- Most of the Mount Bromo sunrise tour will start from Mount Penanjakan to catch the breath-taking sunrise. However, not many people know that you could actually consider going to Kingkong Hill instead. It's much lower than Mount Penanjakan but offers equally great view of Mount Bromo
- Bring along your own necessities and supplies: water, tissue, towels, and even light snacks if you need to. If you need get anything during the whole sunrise tour, you could only pray to get them from some of the warung (tiny local shops), that is if they even have what you're looking for!
- Wear your most comfortable and sturdy shoes. You will do quite a bit of walking and climbing around Mount Penanjakan and Mount Bromo. You want to be comfortable and safe throughout the journey
- Bring sunglasses. Sometimes it might get windy and when you're down at the 'Sea of Sand', dust / sand might get into your eyes
- As the temperature around the mountain can go down to below 10 degrees, bring along extra / winter clothing to keep yourself warm
- Bring some Rupiah along as you might need to pay for the entrance fee, horse ride, tour guide, and even some necessities purchase
- Last but not least, be respectful of the local culture and surrounding. Dress and behave appropriately. Locals there still believe in spirits guarding the volcano giving respect to mother nature
Getting around Mount Bromo
Most visitors to Mount Bromo come for the sunrise tour. If you would like to avoid the crowd, you can consider staying near Mount Bromo. An option would be to stay in one of the hotels at Cemoro Lawang village (e.g. Lava View Hotel).
The usual sunrise tour itinerary will start at 3:30am. You will take a jeep to the nearby Mount Penanjakan to catch the magical sunrise. Once you're done taking pictures and videos of the sunrise and the surrounding scenery, take the jeep down to the 'Sandsea'. Once you reach the 'Sandsea', the objective is to now reach Bromo crater, either by foot or by a pony ride.
It may take up to 1 hour to walk by foot to the crater. A pony ride which will save some time and it will cost you IDR 80,000 (S$8, MYR24, USD6). For a 2-way pony-ride, it will cost you IDR 160,000 (S$16, MYR48, USD12).
Once you are done with your sunrise tour, you may want to consider visiting Madakaripura Waterfall. Located 1 hour 30 minutes away (30km), this beautiful waterfall will make you feel like you are a part of the Jurassic Park movie.
Best Time to Visit Mount Bromo
The best time to visit Mount Bromo for its sunrise is during the dry season, between April and October. During this time, May to August is the best months with the least chance of rain and least amount of clouds.
How to get to Mount Bromo
Start of your journey by getting on a Damri bus from Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport to Bungurasih (Purabaya) bus terminal in Surabaya city centre. It will cost you IDR 25,000 (S$2.50, MYR8, USD1) and will take not more than 35 minutes (9 km away).
From Bungurasih bus terminal, look out for PATAS express bus and hop on your way to Probolinggo. The price per person for 1 way will cost you IDR 40,000 (S$4, MYR12, USD2). Do beware of touts that may overcharge you! Some even go the extra mile by dressing in nice batik shirts to deceive you.
Upon reaching Probolinggo, you can take green mini-buses leaving for Cemoro Lawang. For your info, Cemara Lawang is a small town located near Mount Bromo. The mini-buses are usually park near the terminal and will only leave when there is a full capacity. If there are not enough passengers, you may have to wait for a couple of hours before leaving. If this is not an option for you, you will need to pay the full amount to the driver. It will cost you an additional IDR 250,000 (S$25, MYR75, USD18).
Please take note that recently, there are several on-going scams at Probolinggo (for your departure back to Surabaya city). One such example is that there are several non-PATAS buses with PATAS signage at the front of the bus. Remember to only take the official PATAS bus from Bay Number 1 only.
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Planning for the future after a diagnosis of dementia
All of us want to be in control of our lives – to have the ability to make decisions about our future. Planning for the future after a diagnosis of dementia enables people to play a key role in making important decisions on their care needs and financial and legal affairs.
A diagnosis can raise many challenges (from working and driving to medical and care support and living arrangements). There are no easy answers, but discussing and planning for the future will help prevent difficult and often stressful situations arising later.
The benefits I’ve found from raising the Power of Attorney is that I can contact the medical staff and financial staff [about] my wife’s affairs without any problems otherwise I’d have to go through a lot of rigmarole. I also believe that by getting in early with the Power of Attorney this has helped me.Carer speaking on the ‘Coping with dementia: money and legal matters’ video, produced by NHS Health Scotland.
A care worker should be aware of these issues and encourage a person with dementia to think about their future and plan ahead, and to seek professional guidance (or help from someone the person trusts) to ensure their personal and financial interests are protected.
For detailed information on the above, see the Dementia and decision-making section focusing on what can be done to help people make their own decisions, who should assess a person’s capacity to make decisions, making ‘best interests’ decisions and advanced care planning.
Employment can be one of the most difficult issues to tackle (particularly if a person has young onset dementia and has a mortgage, young family and other financial commitments). On the key issue of how long someone can expect to keep their job following diagnosis, the Alzheimer’s Association says: ‘It depends on the degree of impairment, the demands of the job, the tolerance of an employer, and the acceptance of co-workers.’
The potential difficulties facing a person with dementia at work are explained by the Alzheimer’s Association in ‘Challenges you may face’. It says a person may have difficulties concentrating, forget meetings and appointments (or show up at the wrong times), have difficulty in retaining information or mastering new tasks, have problems in multi-tasking, and feel uncertain about making complex decisions.
The person should be encouraged to talk to their employer about the advantages and risks of continuing work, the possibility of reducing their working hours or perhaps taking on a different role for a temporary period. In time, dementia will make a job too difficult to do and the person (who would face the same difficulties if self-employed) will eventually have to give up work.
Employment advice should be sought (particularly relating to special support packages, early retirement and potential redundancy and pension schemes). Advice on what benefits may be available if someone has to stop work can be provided by Citizens Advice and by organisations including the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer Scotland.
For many people, work not only provides the income to enable them to have a home and pay the bills, it also gives a structure to their lives and a sense of value and identity. The loss of a job can be devastating to them, their partner and families. A care worker can help provide emotional support and encourage a person with dementia to talk to their employer and seek expert advice.
For many people, being able to drive a car is an important part of living an independent life, particularly if they live in remote rural areas with no public transport. Having to give up driving can have a dramatic impact on how – and where – we live and our freedom to do things important to our everyday living.
A person with dementia may have to give up driving immediately (that is, because their insurance no longer covers them) or a limited time after diagnosis. This can cause great distress, particularly if the person is the only driver in the household and lives in an isolated area or miles away from bus and train stations.
A person with dementia must, by law, tell the DVLA if they want to continue to drive. The DVLA will make a decision on whether the person can continue to drive after seeking permission to obtain medical reports. It may ask the person to undergo a driving assessment and if it agrees that the person can drive, will issue a new driving licence (which is usually valid for a year).
In an NHS Health Scotland video (‘Coping with dementia – safety in the home’), a wife tells how she tried to get her husband to stop driving after he was diagnosed with dementia. ‘He wouldn’t listen. I even tried hiding the keys but he just got angry and in the end my sons took a vital piece out of the engine so it wouldn’t start’.
For related content, see the feature Dementia and decision-making.
Coping with losing a driving licence
A care worker can help by encouraging the person to talk about their concerns and discuss potential benefits (such as the savings that can be made by not having a car) and possible solutions (say friends and family being able to provide transport). A care worker can also encourage the person to see their GP, and notify the DVLA and insurance company.
Alzheimer Scotland, commenting on driving and dementia, says there is a positive side to being without a driving licence:
Owning a car is expensive when you count the cost of the car, tax, insurance, maintenance and petrol. Car owners often admit they use the car even for very short journeys, when walking would be better for their health and for the environment. And if you don’t have a car, at least you don’t have to worry about all the things that could go wrong with it.
Some people feel self-conscious about having to stop driving because of dementia. But remember, it’s a medical condition like any other. Many people have to give up driving, especially as they get older, for medical reasons. For example, some people can’t drive because of cataracts or epilepsy. So you’re not alone.
Money is probably the last thing on someone’s mind when they are diagnosed with dementia. But organising financial and legal affairs at an early stage can help ensure that the person makes the right decisions about their future. Early planning enables the person to put their papers in order (for example a mortgage, insurance, banks accounts, pension and tax affairs), to put together a will and arrange a power of attorney (which allows a named person to manage their financial and legal affairs and make decisions on their behalf when they are unable to do so). It also allows them to explore the welfare benefits they or their family carer may be entitled to (such as attendance and carers’ allowances).
A care worker should not become involved in any way with a person’s financial or legal affairs. However, reassurance can be offered as well as encouragement to seek expert advice, help and support (such as from social services, the Citizens Advice or a solicitor).
For detailed information on financial and legal affairs, see the Dementia and decision-making section.
After a diagnosis, a person with dementia may need help around the home (for example with cleaning, washing and ironing clothes and with gardening), and assistance with shopping and getting to social and other events. This is usually the point at which a care worker first comes into contact with a person with dementia, family members and ‘significant others’.
For all of us, our home is a very personal place. It is where most of us feel comfortable and relaxed, it reflects our personal tastes and preferences, how we go about our everyday activities and how and when we like them done (from cooking to cleaning and changing the beds). So accepting help or support in our home from a person we don’t know can be very difficult.
Home care workers can play a significant part in helping people to accept care and support in their own home by taking time to get to know the person, their personal preferences, hobbies and interests and, most importantly, to start building a meaningful relationship based on trust and understanding. Care workers should always encourage people to maintain their independence and work within their abilities; they should listen to a person’s concerns and fears, provide reassurance and be aware of other people who can help.
A person with dementia and their family should be encouraged to talk about their present and future care needs. Depending on individual circumstances, this may well involve a range of people (with the GP and members of the community mental health team taking the health lead and social care managers covering welfare rights, income maximisation and legal issues; dementia advisers can also play a key role).
One common area of consideration is around where the person may live. This will vary according to individual needs and circumstances. However, it is important that they are given the opportunity to explore the options and implications. The more common options are remaining in their own home, living with family, in sheltered housing or extra care facilities, or in residential or nursing homes.
Consideration also needs to be given to what help is immediately available and what support can be put in place when a person is no longer able to care for themselves. When it is appropriate, consideration also needs to be given to palliative and end of life care. While this is a difficult subject to approach, it is important that personal preferences are expressed and recorded.
Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, people (in England and Wales) have a statutory right to refuse treatment through an ‘advance decision’. This allows a person to say what kind of treatment they would or would not like in the event that they are unable to decide for themselves in the future. A care worker needs to be aware of the Act and understand individual wishes.
For detailed information on the above, see the Dementia and decision-making section.
Access and download additional resources
Further reading Open
Alzheimer Scotland (2003) ‘Driving and dementia’, online information.
Alzheimer’s Association. ‘Challenges you may face’, online information.
Alzheimer’s Society (2009) ‘Decision making and advanced planning’, online information.
Alzheimer’s Society (2011) ‘Advance decisions and advance statements’, Factsheet 463, London: Alzheimer’s Society.
Alzheimer’s Society (2012) ‘Driving and dementia’, Factsheet 439, London: Alzheimer’s Society.
‘Coping with dementia: safety in the home’: This NHS Health Scotland film includes general advice on driving, and one woman’s experience of how her husband was stopped from driving his car.
‘Coping with dementia: money and legal matters’: This NHS Health Scotland short film on planning for the future covers power of attorney, wills, medical care, living wills and welfare benefits.
‘Dementia: Lesley’s story’: This Alzheimer’s Society film features Lesley, who lives with dementia, talking about her life working with children, the work she continues to do and her many hobbies. This film is part of the Society’s ‘Remember the person’ campaign, which asks people to think about the individuals living with dementia and not just the diagnosis.
NHS Health Scotland (2008) ‘Facing dementia’. Edinburgh: Health Scotland.
‘Legal and financial’: This section on the Alzheimer’s Society website includes a wide range of information on this topic, including ‘Frequently asked questions’, ‘Direct payments’, and the Mental Capacity Act.
Useful links Open
The Alzheimer’s Society produces a range of resources, including the 2013 publication The dementia guide (available online and in hard copy) aimed at people with dementia and their carers immediately following diagnosis. The Society also publishes over 80 factsheets including After a diagnosis (471), Coping with memory loss (526), Staying healthy (522) and Staying involved and active (505).
This 2008 Health Scotland publication is written for people newly diagnosed with dementia. It covers topics such as ‘Staying well’, ‘Practical support’ and ‘Planning for the future’.
Living well with dementia: practical tips and advice
In this NHS Scotland film a number of people with dementia share practical tips for managing day-to-day living with dementia, such as putting up signs and instructions in the kitchen for safer meal preparation.
The Dementia Diaries project involves people living with dementia keeping an audio record of their daily life with dementia. Contributions cover a number of themes: care and support, public perceptions, family and friends, living well with dementia, daily challenges, and policies and service provision. The project is the work of the non-profit communications organisation On Our Radar working with DEEP.
An NHS Choices film about memory cafes and how they offer people with dementia and their carers the chance to socialise and share information. Here, one group talks about what the experience means to them and how the specific activities offered at the café benefit them.
Still going strong
This online booklet by the Mental Health Foundation is for people who want to find out more about living with dementia. It is particularly useful if you have recently been told you have dementia and want to know more about what this might mean. The material covers ‘Is it dementia?’ ‘Living with dementia’, and ‘Planning for the future’ and includes a section on strategies that people with dementia have found useful.
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Transporting a family always presents parents with a dilemma, the bigger the family the bigger the dilemma. Many parents have resorted to driving their families in big, heavy four-wheel drives, which seem to have become the station wagon of the 21st century.
But there are other, more efficient means of getting the family members to where they need to be. Vehicles like the Holden Zafira compact peoplemover, which was cleverly conceived to transport up to seven people, large and small, as well as the gear they need to take with them in a flexible package that covered most family transport needs.
While four-wheel drives, some people call them SUVs or Sports Utility Vehicles, have become the fashionable mode of family transport they come with lots of downsides. They’re big, heavy, and with all of that four-wheel drive gear underneath they guzzle fuel like there’s no tomorrow.
Having bought them many families fall out of love with them when they realize they steer like the Queen Mary and are about as big as the mother ship when they have to navigate their way through the morning school rush or the supermarket grand prix.
If that’s not enough to put the wind up them, the shock that comes with every stop at the servo is surely enough to put them off their juggernaut. Of course they always have the ability to drive their four-wheel drive offroad on that long dreamt of trip of a lifetime, the one they never seem to get around to.
In the meantime they’re driving the extra drive gear under the front of the car, and using up fuel for no reason. Four-wheel drives, SUVs, are an inefficient, expensive way of getting the family around if you don’t need to leave the blacktop.
Holden’s Zafira was conceived by Opel in Europe, but built in Thailand, before undergoing a badge transplant and an ‘Australianisation’ program to emerge as a Holden. It’s the European interpretation of family transport.
The Zafira was based on the Astra platform with its compact external dimensions, but the compact exterior didn’t compromise the interior efficiency, which boasted a flexible seating layout that would accommodate up to seven in three rows of seats.
Holden called it the ‘Flex 7’ seating system because it could be altered to be a two-seater, a five seater or a seven seater through a simple, but clever folding system. By folding one or more of the seats the Zafira’s interior could be rearranged to accommodate all sorts of items of luggage, sports gear, camping equipment or whatever was needed to transport home from the shops, hardware store or wherever. Being based on a passenger car platform the upright Zafira was relatively easy to get in and out of, there was no climbing up into the cabin as there is with a high-riding four-wheel drive.
There was one engine, a 2.2-litre double overhead camshaft four-cylinder, offered in the Zafira. Its peak power was 108 kW developed at 5800 revs, while it developed its maximum torque of 203 Nm at 4000 revs. It could be linked to either a five-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic.
For a family’s peace of mind the Zafira came with an impressive complement of features, both safety and comfort. Among them were ABS antiskid brakes, traction control, dual front airbags, air, cruise, power steering, power windows and mirrors, adjustable steering wheel, central locking and six-speaker CD sound.
An update in 2003 brought even more interior flexibility with a 40/20/40 split-fold second row seat. Comfort was improved for the driver with a height adjustable seat. At the same time Holden released an additional model, the Equipe, a limited edition model with extra gear, including 15-inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps, roof racks, power rear windows, trip computer and a cargo blind for security.
ON THE LOT
While some families realized the value of the compact size and flexible interior of the Zafira it didn’t capture the attention of the wider driving public who seemed to have decided the SUV was for them. For that reason the Zafira wasn’t a huge seller for Holden and was dropped in 2006. It still represents value when a regular wagon can be found for $12,000 (2001) to $20,000 (2006). A limited edition 2003 Equipe will cost $16,000-$17,000.
IN THE SHOP
Owners say they have little trouble with the Zafira, which suggests it was a well-built car that is holding up well as time goes by. The camshafts in the 2.2-litre engine are chain driven so there’s no maintenance required as there would be with a belt. Check cars thoroughly for wear and tear caused by tots; also check for collateral damage from its life in the tough unforgiving world of the school and supermarket.
IN A CRASH
The Europeans rated the Zafira three out of five in their NCAP test, which is a pass, but not a great result. The Zafira does have a comprehensive package of passive and active safety systems, including ABS antiskid brakes, traction control, and dual front airbags. It also has lap/sash seat belts for all occupants, as well as pyrotechnic seat belt pretensioners and belt force limiters. Child restraint anchor fittings were standard.
AT THE PUMP
Around town you could expect the Zafira to return around 11 L/100 km, but that should drop to around 8 L/100 km once you hit the highway.
Rodney Teague bought his Zafira Equipe manual in 2004 after determining what he wanted the car to do. At the time he had one child aged four and another one on the way, and wanted a small car with plenty of space for the kids and their gear, and enough room left for the family when they visited. It would be used mainly for local trips with an occasional trip around his home state of Tasmania. He found the Toyota Avensis motor was too small, the Honda Odyssey was too expensive and the child seat attachments were impractical, station wagons were too large, and other cars like the Daewoo Nubira had too little space. The Zafira was by far the most practical car for the Teagues at the time. It’s now four years old, having done 40,000 km. The car has been excellent for all jobs, he says. It goes well, has good torque for the local hills around Hobart and is fuel efficient on the longer trips, especially using the cruise control. Being high sided and with an upright seating position the Zafira is not too long so it is good for city parking etc. and with 650 kg trailer towing capacity it is easy work for the small towing job like landscape supplies etc.
With three children, and often a friend along for a ride, Cathy Cockshott wanted a Zafira from the moment she saw the ads on TV. Eventually she bought a one-year-old car, and says she loves it. It's so versatile, with its flat-folding rear seats, and semi-flat-folding second row, it can even be used to transport small items of furniture! It's very simple to change the seating arrangements to suit your passenger load and/or luggage space. She says the only problem has been with a catalytic converter that was replaced under warranty. She likes the looks and finds it much easier to maneouvre than the Magna she previously owned. It fits into tight parking spaces and visibility is good.
Barry Hofert and his family are very impressed with the performance, economy and ease of handling of their 2003 Zafira. He says they find that the seat height is great for entry and exit, and the shape of the body makes it easy to park. Fuel economy averages about 8.6 L/100 km. The only complaints they have are the thick A-pillars that cut into visibility and the hardness of the seats on a long trip.
• good visibility from upright driving position
• very flexible interior
• capable of carrying seven
• good performance
• average fuel consumption
• easy to manoeuvre
• Toyota Avensis – 2001-2006 – $16,000-$28,000
• Mazda Premacy – 2001-2003 – $12,000-$17,000
• Renault Scenic – 2001-2005 – $9000-$24,000
THE BOTTOM LINE
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Students are placed in shiurim and tracks that are geared to the appropriate level for each of them, thus ensuring optimal educational success. In this division, each shiur and class adapts the objectives of the programs outlined earlier to its particular level, some going into greater depth and/or breadth than others. The students’ educational needs determine the extent of these adaptations, and the faculty and administration regularly assess and monitor the successful implementation of each segment of the program.
There are three major objectives that define all of our Torah Studies shiurim in helping to guide our students to a lifetime of learning. The first objective is to foster within the students a passionate love for and commitment to Torah study, accompanied by a conviction that he can attain Torah greatness. This is possible when a student feels a sense of confident mastery and ownership over the material, and thus the second objective is to develop methodological skills through a progression over the course of four years. Finally, skills alone are insufficient if not applied to a breadth of knowledge, and so the third objective is to expose the students to a critical mass of yedios, Torah concepts. When a student attains these objectives, he is drawn to the majesty that is learning, and he is able to see how Torah beautifully applies to all aspects of life.
Torah study is not limited, however, to the formal classroom shiurim. The warm rebbe-talmid relationships that are fostered, the special mishmar programs, the chagigos and shabbatonim all contribute to the nurturing of our students in a supportive learning environment. In addition, the cooperative chavrusa programs with older students in the Mazer Yeshiva Program and with the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and its kollelim and Beis Medrash provide both a resource for our high school students as well as superior role models for them to emulate. A host of yemei iyun programs together with special presentations to our students by the revered Roshei Yeshiva of RIETS help to complete an all-encompassing, living Torah environment for our students.
In our ongoing commitment to educational excellence, many of our rebbeim and teachers participate in staff development seminars lead by professors from Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate Institute for Jewish Education. These programs are characterized by cutting edge pedagogic methodologies and stratagems. The close relationship that YUHSB shares with Yeshiva University ensures that our school environment is a true learning laboratory where the students are the ultimate beneficiaries.
One of the goals of the four-year Gemara programis to equip students with the methodological skills necessary for proficiency in the classic style of learning. Students in younger grades learn how to read the lines of the Gemara, that is, the methodology of how to “make a laining.” Through a development of vocabulary, grammar and syntax rules, students progress toward mastery of independent Gemara study. The focal point of this methodology is the Gemara itself, Rashi, and Tosafos. Eventually, the students are taught how to “extract” the unspoken assumptions in the sugya, and to develop the conceptual basis for each machlokes, havah amina and maskanah, and kushya and terutz in the Gemara. Specific methodologies include how to identify the “pivotal point” of each dichotomy, and how to use deduction and induction in the creation of a sevara. Gemara research skills are taught as well, with the use of additional rishonim and of classical acharonim, as appropriate. In addition, students are exposed to the breadth of Gemara through a bekius class, either as a part of their regular morning shiur, or as part of a session in the Beis Medrash; this class culminates with a festive school-wide siyum at the end of the year. In general, MTA follows a three-year cycle of Nashim, Nezikin, and Moed. The specific Masechta studied in any given year is chosen in consultation with the rabbinic faculties of RIETS, since the high school students are often paired with the older, more advanced boys of MYP and RIETS, and an overlap in study promotes greater academic unity.
Through the combination of the iyyun and the bekius Shiurim, talmidim gain insight into the depth and breadth of Shas. Each Shiur is, of course, geared to the level and the needs of that particular group of students and the specific Shiur curriculum is meticulously designed to reach each talmid in accordance with his ability, so as to instill a love of Torah and an appreciation for learning in every student at every level. In addition to learning from our own outstanding and accomplished Rebbeim— all talmidei chachamim, mechanchim and role models of note—our students have the unparalleled opportunity to benefit from the tutelage and camaraderie of members of the RIETS Beis Medrash and its Kollelim, as well as from consistent exposure to Yeshiva University’s esteemed and world-renowned Roshei Yeshiva, who visit and interact with the High School on a regular basis.
The Halacha curriculum seeks to prepare our talmidim to embrace the world armed with the knowledge and understanding of how to live life fully according to the will of Hashem.
- All classes learn Halacha with their Gemara rebbeim.
- At the end of four years, students are exposed to laws related to daily living, tefillah, shabbos, kashrus, and life cycle events.
- Aside from learning the practical laws, students are also able to appreciate how the halacha emanates from the Talmud.
The course is designed to develop Jewish literacy by an investigation of major Jewish literary works within the context of their historical period. The time line for the course spans the ancient and classical periods through the modern era. Thus, for example, students will study the formation of the mishnah, the writings that reflect the Rabbanite -Karaite schism, and the letters of Rav Shimshon Rephael Hirsch, zt”l amongst many others.
The objectives of this course consist of the following:
- Understanding our heritage and the great, classical works as they fit into the world around them.
- Analysis of major trends in Jewish history and in the contemporaneous world history.
- Seeing the Yad HaShem as the divine force of the fabric of historical development.
- Critical thinking and research skills as applied to the social sciences.
- Applying the lessons of history to appreciate and understand how we fit into the greater world community.
- Primary and secondary sources are read and analyzed as a tool to achieve the above objectives.
Jewish History education continues outside the classroom through extra-curricular and in-school programming that enables our students to “live” the history through consistent exposure to the ideas, people, and thoughts from the Jewish past.
The richness of Torah SheBikhsav is taught in shiurim of Chumash and in shiurim of Nakh. The methodological skills in which students are guided, dependent on their level, involve seven areas, as follows:
- Reading –– translation, textual skills, particularly the use of the ta’amei hamikra in understanding the peshat of the pasuk.
- Analysis- – understanding themes, literary patterns, conceptual frameworks, particularly using parshanut hamikra to guide us.
- Rashi –– extracting the unspoken question behind the commentary, that is “what’s bothering Rashi?” and understanding the lesson which the commentary seeks to teach.
- Targumim- – understanding how to extract the hidden ideas that unfold when the targum deviates from the peshat. » Parshanut- learning to appreciate the unique style and approach of each of the classical meforshim.
- Halakhah- – investigating to see how halakhah ultimately derives from the text.
- Hashkafah / Relevance- – learning the great lessons from Torah and seeing how they speak to us today, throughout our lives.
Many students participate in a chavrusa program in these shiurim with older students from the RIETS programs, under the supervision of the regular rebbe.
Beis Medrash Katan (BMK)
The Julius Wrubel Beis Medrash Katan program is designed to afford qualified students an exceptionally intensive learning experience, thereby transitioning them into the world of Beis Medrash learning in which they will continue to thrive in Eretz Yisrael, in Yeshiva University and/or in other mekomos ha-Torah thereafter. These boys are exposed to the very best of the traditional “yeshiva atmosphere” and study at a level not often made available to high school students.
At present, the 12th Graders in the BMK learn in the YU Beis Medrash, where they spend most of their morning preparing for Shiur under the close guidance of Rabbi Tanchum Cohen, one of YUHSB’s outstanding Rebbeim. Rabbi Cohen delivers his advanced level Shiur following the morning iyun Seder, much as at YU and at leading yeshivos in Eretz Yisrael. In addition, the boys in the BMK program are required to spend several nights a week learning at a night Seder, held in local community Batei Medrash. They also benefit from an extended night Seder in YU’s Glueck Beis Medrash under the supervision of two shoalim u-meishivim provided by the high school, both members of the prestigious Kollel Elyon at RIETS. These talmidim also dedicate a portion of their time to independent and group study of mikra and machshavah. On occasion, the BMK has organized trips to communities where the talmidim have functioned as mentors to middle school students. In 2015, the boys traveled to Detroit, MI and Windsor, Ontario.
A form of this intensive and advanced learning program is now available to talmidim in Grades 9-11 as well. Several Shiurim on those levels are offered an afternoon Seder, which is spent learning in the YU Beis Medrash (alongside the 12th grade BMK boys) with RIETS students, under the supportive supervision of their own Rebbeim. In addition, several of those Shiurim have adopted a graduated model of the iyun Seder be-chavrusa in a Beis Medrash followed by an iyun Shiur, and those talmidim commit to a night Seder program, as well. | <urn:uuid:59db0a90-fdd0-45ae-8eee-e083596cfec2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://yuhsb.org/academics/limudei-kodesh/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817032054-20220817062054-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.93847 | 2,295 | 2.28125 | 2 |
4 November 2021
Over the last eight years, the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) has accumulated a substantial toolkit of standards and policies that aim to enable the responsible sharing of genomic data. The Genomics in Health Implementation Forum (GHIF) was born out of the need to facilitate the implementation of these products into real-world practice.
Through collaboration with initiatives from around the globe, the forum helps initiatives reduce duplication of efforts by sharing infrastructure and technical solutions. In addition to promoting the collection of compatible clinical genomic data and health information to enable data sharing, specific projects from the community aim to support accurate data interpretation, gene curation, and quality control of whole genome sequence data. A by-product of this forum is the collection of real-world insights that feed back into the development of standards to support genomic data sharing.
The GHIF began as a series of workshop meetings between National Initiatives all aiming to implement genomics into their countries’ healthcare systems. These meetings focused on sharing resources, identifying common challenges, and pinpointing opportunities for collaboration.
“We were going from show and tell to engaging in pilot projects of genomic and clinical data sharing across national borders,” said Kathryn North, Director of Murdoch Childrens Institute and Vice Chair of GA4GH, describing the evolution of the GHIF. As this “National Initiatives” group shifted towards actively implementing GA4GH standards, the community was formalized in early 2020 into what we now know as GHIF.
On November 16 & 17, 2021, the GHIF will be hosting their bi-annual working meeting. Initiatives from around the world will convene to discuss current data sharing opportunities and challenges, as well as updates in relation to GA4GH standard implementation. Newcomers and current members alike are invited to explore the ways in which GA4GH standards are changing the face of global data sharing and human health. Register for the GHIF working meeting here. | <urn:uuid:376f0fb8-d50b-47c5-9b0e-d8d11ddb2131> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ga4gh.org/news/genomics-in-health-implementation-forum-ghif-bi-annual-working-meeting-advancing-human-health-through-the-implementation-of-ga4gh-standards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571745.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812170436-20220812200436-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.949035 | 402 | 2.28125 | 2 |
START Could End US-Soviet Arms Talks
Soviet reformers say emphasis may shift to joint action, while hard-liners aim to block ratification of treaty
NEXT week Presidents Bush and Gorbachev will stand in an ornate Kremlin room and put their pens to what some here believe will be the last Soviet-American arms control treaty.The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) culminates more than nine years of negotiations. But taking the failed SALT II pact into account, the two superpowers have been trying to reach an agreement on strategic nuclear weapons since 1974. While both sides have spoken of a follow-up treaty, most Soviet analysts discount this as an unrealistic proposition. "It is clear that the two countries are exhausted by the current START negotiations," comments Sergei Blagovolin, who heads military studies at the prestigious Institute of World Economy and International Relations. "I don't think another treaty negotiation now is really very important for the future of our relations." Instead, liberals like Mr. Blagovolin envision a shift away from the cold war preoccupation with preserving a balance of power to joint action, even including military cooperation. "The main idea," the expert predicts, "will be establishing a real cooperative security structure between the Soviet Union and the West." The two sides will focus more on threats to their mutual security from other sources, including "the dramatic rise of new threats from the south," as well as instability in Europe, as seen in Yugoslavia, he explains. Such Soviet policymakers want to extend the kind of initial steps away from the cold war taken during the Gulf war when the Soviet Union gave tacit support to the Western war against Iraq. The new agenda, says Vladik Zubok, an expert on United States-Soviet relations at the USA-Canada Institute, includes cooperating to limit arms transfers to third-world nations, barring the proliferation of nuclear weapons and conversion of defense industries to civilian use. "It's too early to bury arms-control summits," Mr. Zubok believes. But these discussions will no longer be a purely US-Soviet affair. Broader meetings such as the one in London last week between the Group of Seven Western leaders and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will gradually replace bilateral summits, he asserts. This does not mean military issues will disappear from the table. From the post-cold-war point of view, the two sides might begin a discussion of a "mutually acceptable restructuring of military forces," suggests Blagovolin. Such talks could even extend to creating a future military division of labor between the NATO alliance and the Soviet Union, he adds. Such ideas are by no means confined to Soviet think tanks. Concrete proposals along these lines were contained within the detailed annex which Mr. Gorbachev attached to the letter he dispatched to the London summit. The annex provided detailed proposals for cooperation in a number of fields, of which first place was given to defense conversion. Alongside proposals for Western firms to develop civilian aircraft and other commercial products, Gorbachev suggests a number of joint military projects, all of a carefully "defensive" nature. The most striking is the idea of joint development of early warning systems "to prevent unauthorized or terrorist operated launches of ballistic missiles." The proposal is aimed at potential nuclear powers such as Iraq and echoes the idea, proposed by Blagovolin and others, of joint development of Star Wars-type sp ace-based warning systems. The Gorbachev package also suggests development of technologies to safely eliminate chemical, nuclear, and conventional weapons and to process nuclear waste, including from nuclear submarines. As part of this London package, the Soviets are looking for the US to remove the long-standing COCOM (Coordinating Committee on Export Controls) restrictions on the flow of high technology to the Soviet Union. "The COCOM limitations continue to be a serious obstacle to economic cooperation between Soviet enterprises and foreign companies," Gorbachev wrote. Observers here expect some of these ideas, particularly for defense conversion, to be on the summit agenda next week. Quite a different challenge to classical arms control comes from the other end of the political spectrum, from those conservatives who argue that the process has benefited only the West. Sources close to senior government officials predict that as soon as the START treaty is signed, a concerted campaign will begin to block ratification by the Soviet parliament of both START and the treaty to reduce conventional forces in Europe (CFE). Signs of that effort are already present. An article written by a Foreign Ministry official and published in the conservative daily Sovietskaya Rossiya July 13 has provoked considerable comment among officials. The article attacks former Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and the three treaties negotiated largely under his direction - the 1987 pact to eliminate intermediate nuclear forces, the CFE treaty signed last November, and START. The military was betrayed by Mr. Shevardnadze and his fellow liber als, the official says. "Now for many of our reactionaries in the [Armed Forces] General Staff, in the [Communist] Party structure, in military industry, it is quite clear the implementation of these treaties will mark a turning point," comments Blagovolin. It will mean a major reduction and reorganization of the military, moves which will ultimately "shatter the military-industrial complex." For these circles, "it is not a question of the security of the nation, but their own security." But the Soviet military is not uniform in its views. The final stages of START were negotiated directly by the Chief of the General Staff, Mikhail Moiseyev, whose views are considered more flexible than those of Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov and Gorbachev's military adviser and former chief of staff, Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev. Soviet sources say some influential officers at the level of deputy military district commanders back Mr. Moiseyev and favor far more concerted military reform. These pro-reform circles have their counterparts in the defense industry. Managers in some of the most high-technology sectors, such as the aircraft industry, are eagerly pursuing joint ventures with Western firms. They recognize the need both for opening up to the West and for sharp reductions in defense spending. Whether by necessity or craft, Gorbachev made what some think is a clever move by getting Moiseyev's imprimatur for the START agreement. By involving Moiseyev and others like him, says Zubok, "you show them they're in the loop. Sometimes that's enough." | <urn:uuid:f5c5d77d-1903-4c95-9754-3f77f32c4d22> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://m.csmonitor.com/1991/0726/26011.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719908.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00159-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958178 | 1,317 | 2 | 2 |
The White House Office of Management and Budget released a draft Category Management Circular, which will enable agencies to make purchases as a group rather than as an individual agency.
“The proposed Category Management Circular aims to institutionalize the principles that are making the Federal supply chain more effective, efficient, and streamlined,” said Anne Rung, who recently left her job as U.S. chief acquisition officer. “The Circular establishes the broader organizational vision needed to accelerate and successfully manage the many dimensions of interagency collaboration that must occur for the Federal government to buy as one.”
In the past two years, the government has saved more than $2 billion by using category management and is projected to save $3.5 billion by the end of next year.
Rung worked to change the Federal marketplace through category management, innovation, and strong relationships with vendors, before she left the Federal government on Friday to work for Amazon Business. The Federal government appointed 10 category managers and 350 supporting team members, who created policies that help process the $8 billion in annual spending for IT software, hardware, and mobile services and devices.
“The progress to date has made significant headway in making the acquisition of common goods and services more efficient and reducing duplication and fragmentation in government purchasing,” Rung said. “And by leveraging our posture as the world’s largest buyer, we’ve also been able to send a clear and convincing market signal that we’re committed to achieving our socio-economic goals.”
The Federal government has used its supply chain to impose regulations to protect LGBT rights, enforce fair pay and safe workplaces, create a minimum wage, work to prevent human trafficking, include small businesses in Federal contracting, and strengthen environmental stewardship, according to Rung.
“The progress we’ve seen to date makes a very strong case for the benefits of category management, and we remain committed to institutionalizing this proven and effective practice so it continues to benefit Americans,” Rung said. | <urn:uuid:8bd66c97-19b0-4a0d-b47b-9ccaaf8ca479> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://origin.meritalk.com/articles/feds-save-2-billion-on-purchasing-in-last-2-years/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00677.warc.gz | en | 0.954417 | 418 | 1.539063 | 2 |
All users need web antivirus to avoid viruses by infecting their devices. Laptop viruses are malicious code components that reproduce themselves. They can damage a computer program and delete all the data. Many viruses get spread around through email-based attachments, net downloads, and iPhone software. You should never wide open e-mail parts from untrusted https://cybertrashbox.com/ options. And you should definitely avoid installing new applications from unidentified sources. You can discover cyber anti virus solutions designed for Windows and Mac here.
These malevolent software programs are referred to as malware. The goal of these kinds of programs is usually to collect very sensitive information and use it for deceptive purposes. Attacked computers and smartphones may possibly run slow than usual and possess trouble beginning certain applications. Some viruses can even adjust personal information. These types of malicious program can cause large financial and privacy damage. Using web antivirus to safeguard your system is crucial. You can down load free anti-virus program from respectable sources. But cyber anti virus programs usually are perfect.
Anti virus software functions by scanning your computer for noted viruses, trojans, and other harmful program. It also scans the darker web for brand spanking new threats. Cyber-attacks are becoming more common and even more severe. Internet antivirus is essential for every computer system user. What exactly is choose the right cyber antivirus software program? Here are some primary advantages of downloading a free of charge web antivirus. They can secure your computer by all sorts of threats, from infections to trojan horses. This software protects your data via external and internal dangers. | <urn:uuid:098411b9-63a8-469a-8273-01e245bee122> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://euroautomaticdoors.co.uk/uncategorized/how-come-cyber-anti-virus-is-essential-for-each-and-every-computer-customer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571246.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811073058-20220811103058-00275.warc.gz | en | 0.917411 | 327 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Could the tape drive avoid it's predicted death and stay on top? Though tapes are still the premier backup method used in large and small businesses alike, optical media is quickly catching up in capacity and availability, with all signs pointing towards tapes being replaced. IBM, however, who have always pushed the idea of tape, have come up with a way to massively increase capacity on tape, by a factor of 15. Using a new process they have found a way to squeeze nearly 800MB of data onto a single square inch of tape, which could potentially boost the size of tape drives as well as the speed at which they can be written to / read from. The new technology, called “LTO”, will feature cartridges up to 8TB in size once it is available in retail markets (assuming it makes it that far). It could also make tapes that hold larger capacity, but are much smaller in size, reducing the space that many companies have to spend in storing arrays of tapes. Interesting. | <urn:uuid:e958a4c6-c541-42e5-90e1-ba0c308583b9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.techspot.com/news/21617-ibm-develops-tape-media-capable-of-8tb.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283301.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00510-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977471 | 201 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Upper River Douglas flood alert area
We'll update this page when there's a flood alert in the area, which means flooding to low lying land is possible.
Flood alert area: The River Douglas from Horwich Star Vale to Appley Bridge including Adlington, Blackrod, Wigan, Standish, and Gathurst
Latest river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels
There are around 3,500 measuring stations, and most are along main rivers and the coast. These levels can help you understand your flood risk now and over the next few days. | <urn:uuid:f731a862-3812-413f-a763-3bebdab9c5a8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/target-area/012WAFUD | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570921.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809094531-20220809124531-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.946546 | 115 | 1.695313 | 2 |
At Hearing & Speech Nova Scotia, it’s important to us that each person gets easy-to-understand information about the challenges they’re facing. Below is a glossary of words on this website and hearing and speech terms that could be confusing.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in a limb, or slurred speech. ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe.
Arthritis: Inflammation of a joint.
Assessment: Evaluation. Includes formal and informal procedures.
Audiology: The study of hearing and balance problems.
Audiologist: A health care professional concerned with the diagnosis, assessment, rehabilitation, and prevention of hearing loss and balance disorders.
Audiometer: An electronic instrument designed to measure the sensitivity of hearing.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication: An approach designed to support, enhance, or supplement the communication of individuals who are not independent verbal communicators in all situations.
Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and non-verbal communication.
Bilingual: The ability to speak two or more languages fluently.
Bilirubin: Is formed when red blood cells breakdown in the body. The liver helps to filter bilirubin out of the body. High levels of bilirubin can lead to jaundice which is a yellowing of the skin and eyes. Too much bilirubin in the blood can be harmful to the body and brain as well as the inner ear.
Calibration: The process of adjusting the values of the readings given by an instrument (by known standards).
Cervical Vemp (cVEMP): Very loud sounds not only stimulate the cochlea but another part of the inner ear involved in balance. This sound can produce electrical activity in several muscles in the neck and eyes. This activity can easily be recorded with sticky electrodes on the neck or near the eyes. The response is referred to as a vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP). A VEMP recorded from the neck is called a cervical VEMP.
Chemotherapy: A drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells (typically cancer cells) in your body.
Cleft lip and palate: Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that occur when a baby's lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy.
Clumsiness: Poor coordination or movement.
Cochlear implant: A small electronic device that is surgical implanted and helps to improve hearing in children and adults with severe to profound hearing impairments.
Communication: The act of conveying meanings with the use of mutually understood signs, symbols or sounds.
Communication boards: A communication board is a board with symbols or pictures that is used to facilitate communication. It can be used by pointing and gesturing or gazing at the various symbols and pictures.
Dietitian: A person who specializes in nutrition.
Dizziness: Used to describe a range of sensations like feeling faint, woozy or unsteady.
Ear infection: An infection that affects the ear.
Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor: A doctor that treats disorders of the ear, nose and throat.
Fatigue: Weariness or exhaustion from labour, exertion, or stress.
Fiberoptic Endoscopic Examination of Swallowing (FEES): A fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) test is a procedure used to assess how well you swallow. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) or doctor passes a thin, flexible instrument through your nose. Then the SLP views parts of your throat as you swallow.
Francophone: French speaking.
Gesture: Movement of any part of the body to express an idea, emotion or function
Hearing loss: Any degree of impairment in the ability to understand sound.
Hearing protection: A device used to protect the ears from loud sounds. Devices can be placed over the ears or in the ears. Hearing protection can be bought from a store or can be custom made.
Hormones: Hormones are your body's chemical messengers. They are secreted directly into the blood, and they are carried to different parts of your body to exert their functions. There are many types of hormones that act on different aspects of bodily functions and processes.
Huntington’s disease: Huntington disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements, emotional problems, and loss of thinking ability and difficulty speaking.
Impaired: Something that has been weakened or damaged.
Meningitis: Meningitis is an inflammation in the covering of the brain. The meninges are the three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis can occur when fluid surrounding the meninges becomes infected
Milestones: An action or event marking a significant change or stage in development
Modified Barium Swallow (MBS): A procedure to determine whether food or liquid is entering a person's lungs.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS): A chronic illness that can affect your brain and spinal cord. It can cause problems with vision, balance and hearing, muscle control, and other basic body functions. The effects are often different for everyone who has the disease.
Nasal: Pertaining to the nose.
Nasal tone: A type of speaking voice characterized by speech with a "nasal" quality. It can also occur naturally because of genetic variation or can be caused by other factors.
Noise level assessment: A detailed measurement and monitoring of levels of sound (air pressure waves) in a particular area. The assessment will determine the frequency (pitch) and amplitude (loudness) of the sound. These type of assessments are often completed to determine if hearing protection or other modifications in the area are required to keep people safe.
Nutrition: Energy (nourishment) that is obtained from food consumed.
Ocular Vemp (oVEMP): Very loud sounds not only stimulate the cochlea but another part of the inner ear involved in balance. This sound can produce electrical activity in several muscles in the neck and eyes. This activity can easily be recorded with sticky electrodes on the neck or near the eyes. The response is referred to as a vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP). A VEMP recorded from near the eye is called an ocular VEMP.
Ototoxic: Drugs that are poisonous to the ear.
Paralysis: The loss of muscle control in part of your body. It happens when something goes wrong with the way messages pass between your brain and muscles. Paralysis can be complete or partial. It can occur on one or both sides of your body. It can also occur in just one area of the body, or it can be widespread.
Parkinson’s disease: A disorder of the brain that leads to shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with walking, balance, and coordination. The symptoms usually begin slowly and get worse over time. As the disease worsens, people may have difficulty walking and talking.
Pediatric: Infants, children, and adolescents.
Pneumonia: An infection in one or both lungs that can be caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The infection makes it difficult to breathe.
Posturography: A test of balance used to measure postural control in upright stance in either static or dynamic (changing) conditions.
Radiation: High energy particles or waves. Radiation is a type of cancer treatment where high doses of radiation are delivered to cancerous tumors in the body.
Recurrent: Something that occurs frequently or often.
Sign language: A language that uses a systems of manual, facial and other body movements to communicate.
Speech Language Pathologists: Health care professionals who work with both children and adults to prevent, assess, diagnose and manage (through treatment and counselling) speech, language, voice, and swallowing disorders
Swallowing: To allow something (food or drink) to pass down the throat.
Syndrome: A condition characterized by a set of associated signs and symptoms.
Tai Chi: An exercise that involves a series of movements performed in a slow, focused manner and accompanied by deep breathing.
Tinnitus: Hearing ringing, buzzing or other sounds in your ears or head. Tinnitus can be caused by wax, certain medications, trauma, infection, loud noises and rarely tumors.
TORCH Syndrome: A baby contracts a TORCH infection in the uterus when the mother catches the disease and carries it through her bloodstream to the baby. The developing baby is at risk for the infection because its immune system is not yet strong enough to fight off infection. Since the developing baby cannot completely get rid of an infection, the child's organs and brain may not develop correctly.
Unsteadiness: A feeling of almost falling, or the result of bumping into things.
Vertigo: A symptom where a person has the feeling of moving or surrounding objects moving when they are not. It may feel like a spinning or swaying motion. It can be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties walking. It is usually worse when the head is moved.
Video Head Impulse (vHIT): Is a test used to diagnose reduced or poor vestibular (balance) function in one ear versus the other ear. The audiologist moves the head back and forth and special goggles monitor the eye movements.
Videonystagmography (VNG): Is a group of tests used to study your balance system. A camera attached to a pair of goggles records your eye movement under different situations - as a series of lights move on the wall in front of you and after having water (warm and cool) introduced into your ear canals. This test assists the doctor in determining the cause of dizziness or vertigo and in monitoring vestibular function over time. Also known as Electronystagmography (ENG).
Vocal fold: In humans, vocal cords (also known as vocal folds) are folds of tissue in the throat that are important in creating sounds when we speak.
Vocal fold injury: Any injury to the vocal cords which may include excessive screaming, smoking, alcohol, disease, trauma or paralysis.
Voice: The sound produced in a person's throat and uttered through the mouth, as speech or singing.
Voice box: Also called the larynx, is the portion of the respiratory (breathing) tract containing the vocal cords which produce sound.
X-ray: An image taken of internal body structures (bones and soft tissue) to help see an injury or disease. | <urn:uuid:48571143-2248-4179-a69c-2a8c3a8e26d3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.hearingandspeech.ca/definitions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00273.warc.gz | en | 0.933813 | 2,256 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Office managers in automotive stores have many of the same responsibilities as most retail store managers, but they also have an extensive knowledge of vehicle parts for cars, trucks, SUVs and vans. Some automotive stores also perform small repairs and replace parts for customers, so store managers oversee repairs to ensure customers are satisfied with their service. Automotive store managers interact with the public at large, but they also work closely with auto dealers and auto mechanics to service their automotive needs.
Keep the Shelves Stocked
Automotive store managers maintain necessary inventory levels, so customers have the parts they need. Even though automotive stores can't stock every part for every vehicle, they often keep high-turnover parts and parts that fit multiple models on hand, such as batteries, windshield wiper blades, light bulbs, automotive fluids, belts and hoses. Managers must keep records of sales, often with electronic or computerized equipment, so they can track inventory and order new parts when supplies get low. Because auto manufacturers release new vehicle models on an annual basis, car store managers must continually update their inventory lists.
Create Work Schedules
Most automotive stores open early and close late to accommodate in-store customers, automotive dealers and mechanics. Some auto dealers and mechanics pay delivery fees to have supplies and parts shipped or delivered to their stores. Managers must hire an appropriate number of employees and create work schedules to ensure the store is operational, without having unnecessary payroll expenses, such as overtime. For example, they often schedule more workers during peak hours and reduce the workforce in the evenings. In addition to scheduling workers, some managers are responsible for issuing payroll. Some use accounting software to ensure sufficient payroll taxes are withheld and issue payroll checks straight from the store. Others have off-site main offices that handle payroll.
One of an automotive manager's main responsibilities is ensuring that staff are educated, well-trained, efficient, helpful and responsible. Managers provide training on diagnostic equipment, cash and credit transactions, sales techniques, customer service, catalog research, parts ordering, parts installation and store cleanliness. Automotive store managers often host weekly employee meetings to discuss sales, customer service tips, equipment updates and new inventory. Managers also hold one-on-one meetings with employees if particular situations must be addressed or reprimands are warranted.
Report to Upper Management
Automotive store managers who don't own their own stores report to senior management. They often provide sales reports, damage, theft or loss reports, payroll expenses, customer lists, inventory logs, expense reports, employee reports and store recommendations. Senior managers and company owners want reassurance that budgets are being met, stores are profitable and managers are doing a satisfactory job with personnel and store operations. Senior managers might perform on-site store inspections or evaluations to ensure that store managers are fulfilling their responsibilities.
- Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:67b48b72-7a60-4d30-ad5e-d42d289afe17> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://work.chron.com/job-description-office-manager-automotive-store-26872.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00324-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95473 | 582 | 2.03125 | 2 |
James Baldwin: Transatlantic Commuter Conference (Montpellier, France: June 5-7, 2014; abstracts due 9/15/13)
James Baldwin, the most prominent African American author of the mid-twentieth century, left America in 1948 for Paris. It was to be the first of his sites of expatriation: from Switzerland, to Turkey, to his final decades in St.-Paul-de-Vence, and frequent returns to New York, the American South, and San Francisco, Baldwin was, to use his term, a "transatlantic commuter." The Atlantic runs in many directions, and has many currents, not unlike Baldwin, an author of immense depth, mystery, and variety. This conference, emphasizing the way Baldwin combined engagement and exile, will add to a burgeoning body of Baldwin scholarship as scholars attempt to understand and appreciate one of American literature's most fascinating figures.
Please send 500-word abstracts by September 15, 2013 to conference organizers D. Quentin Miller (firstname.lastname@example.org) and Claudine Raynaud (email@example.com). You may contact either of the organizers with questions or queries. | <urn:uuid:292b761c-7aef-417c-a653-e92319cc3516> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/51323 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280266.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00492-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923819 | 245 | 1.710938 | 2 |
At its monthly meeting yesterday, OPEC+ accelerated its monthly quota increases by 50% in the summer months, a gesture of reconciliation to the US while keeping Russia at the heart of the cartel.
The White House quickly welcomed the deal, which came after months of diplomatic pressure on Saudi Arabia to mitigate the surge in energy prices. The US hailed OPEC+ for accelerating oil production increases and singled out Saudi Arabia, as President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to cool surging fuel prices. Washington “welcomes the important decision from OPEC+ today,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “We recognize the role of Saudi Arabia as the chair of OPEC+ and its largest producer in achieving this consensus amongst the group members.”
Ultimately, Biden was hoping that this move would send oil prices sharply lower. It did not.
What happened? As Bank of America's Christopher Kuplent writes this morning (in a note available to professional subs), contrary to earlier press reports, OPEC's "increase" does not mean an overall increase of OPEC+ output targets previously designed to reach pre-covid levels by the end of September 2022. Instead, the decision merely brings forward September’s planned increase of 432kb/d – to be spread across both July and August (thus growing by 648kb/d each).
And while this acceleration by OPEC+ may be designed to alleviate inflation into this summer’s driving season, or at least make Biden happy, BofA sees limited upside in refining utilization – implying oil product supply constraints persist.
As BofA elaborates, OPEC+ compliance against production quota was already running a record net deficit of 2.78mb/d (“over-compliance”) in April: OPEC crude supply increased marginally 50kb/d to 28.67mb/d as increased production from Saudi Arabia and Iraq offset a 200kb/d decline from Libya. Meanwhile, non-OPEC production stood at 14.45mb/d – a m/m decrease of 1.08mb/d mainly driven by Russian losses.
As a result, Kuplent sees around 2mb/d of spare capacity remaining (mainly in Gulf states and excluding Iran), with more supply disruptions in Nigeria (TTE most exposed), Kazakhstan (ENI most exposed) and Libya (OMV most exposed) afoot – as BofA believes that a growing number of OPEC+ members face acute social and political headwinds to boosting output.
Meanwhile, Russian production outlook remains uncertain: after falling only 50kb/d in March during the first month after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian oil production fell by 900kb/d in April to 9.1mb/d to now 1.3mb/d below the country’s OPEC+ quota. The IEA expects a further loss of 600kb/d in May as sanctions tighten and a lack of storage forces producers to shut in still more wells –
taking Russia’s overall production decline since February to ~1.6mb/d (here, JPM disagrees and sees Russian output spiking on the back of Chinese and Indian orders).
Worse, the IEA predicted that Russian losses could stretch to more than 2mb/d in June and deepen to close to 3mb/d from July onwards if "existing sanctions deter further buying or should the embargo on Russian oil expand" As the chart below shows, Russia now accounts for ~50% of OPEC+ over compliance.
After consistently producing above quota limits until December 2021, Russian contributions towards overall OPEC+ quota compliance have rapidly deteriorated: In April, Russia accounted for ~50% of total OPEC+ over-compliance. Exhibit 3 illustrates that, the Russian quota deficit was 500 kb/d greater than the entire OPEC-10 figure and 800 kb/d above Nigeria, the second-largest contributor to group over compliance, and a country which has struggled with record theft, sabotage and downtime.
Looking ahead, the IEA expects a further loss of 600 kb/d in May as sanctions tighten and a lack of storage forces producers to shut in still more wells – taking Russia’s overall production decline since February to ~1.6 mb/d. However, Russia’s energy and Prime Minister Novak recently commented “In April, we cut production by some 1 million barrels a day, and in May we have increased it by 200,000 to 300,000 barrels,” he said. “We expect a further recovery in June.”
EU Sanctions package to cut off 90% of Russian imports by YE22: On Monday this week, the EU agreed to sanction all seaborne Russian oil imports (>65% of all Russian oil imports). Imports by pipeline benefit from a temporary exemption. However, the bulk of the current pipeline deliveries are to Germany and Poland, which have signalled they will wean themselves off Russian oil imports regardless of any EU action, which would cut 90% of Russian crude oil sales to the EU by year-end. Pipeline oil supplied to landlocked Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via Druzhzba is set to be sanctioned at an unspecified later point, however will require unanimous agreement – something Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said may be found at the EU's next summit on June 23-24
As for the IEA, the energy agency sees up to 3mb/d losses from July, supporting oil prices In their May Oil Market Report, the IEA predicted that Russian losses could stretch to more than 2mb/d in June and deepen to close to 3mb/d from July onwards if ‘existing sanctions deter further buying or should the embargo on Russian oil expand’.
JPM agrees with BofA, writing that the oil cartel’s recent decision to increase production quotas in July and August won’t be sufficient to make a difference in global oil balances. The banks wrote that increased output "won’t offset heightened demand at seasonal peaks alongside China’s reopening" and warned that "risks to bank’s supply estimates are skewed to the downside."
Putting it all together, Bloomberg's Sungwoo Park writes that the price action following the latest OPEC+ meeting reinforces the argument that oil’s rally has room to run: "Brent crude is showing its resilience by rebounding quickly from losses after the alliance’s decision to boost the size of its monthly output hike by 50% for July and August. This may be counterintuitive, but it’s a testament to strong market fundamentals, which means the hike is simply not enough."
As Park adds, "doubts grow that actual output may fall short of the headline number as some members struggle to meet targets. Add to that Europe’s partial ban on Russian supply and the demand picture improving with China easing Covid curbs and the US driving season underway."
All that also explains why oil futures curves remain in backwardation — a bullish market structure, and why the 3-2-1 NYMEX spread just hit a record high $62, as the bottleneck is no longer how much oil is producer but how much refining capacity there is…
… or rather isn't. | <urn:uuid:eeeb3102-5ff6-4571-93e5-ec0ce82f7f84> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.philstockworld.com/2022/06/03/oil-soars-as-traders-realize-what-opec-did/?amp=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00272.warc.gz | en | 0.955837 | 1,490 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Tea for Two (1950) starring Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Eve Arden, Billy De Wolfe, S.Z “Cuddles” Sakall
Synopsis of Tea for Two
An aspiring actress takes a bet that she can answer “no” to every question for 24 hours. If she can, she’ll win the opportunity to finance and star in her own Broadway musical. Based on the 1920’s stage play and film, “No, No, Nanette”. The score features songs by George & Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Al Dubin and Harry Warren.
Doris Day is a sunny sensation in this flapper-era musical romp, with costars Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson on hand to help provide songs, dance and romance. Skilled farceurs Eve Arden, Billy De Wolfe and S.Z “Cuddles” Sakall deliver lots of laughs. And the Gershwins, Vincent Youmans, Harry Warren and other Tin Pan Alley greats supply wonderful melodies, including the title tune, “Do, Do, Do,” “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “I Want to Be Happy” and lots more.
Songs in Tea for Two
- Charleston – lyrics by Cecil Mack, music by James P. Johnson
- I Know That You Know – lyrics by Anne Caldwell, music by Vincent Youman
- Crazy Rhythm – lyrics by Irving Caesar, music by Joseph Meyer and Roger Wolfe Kahn
- I Only Have Eyes for You, lyrics by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren
- Tea for Two – lyrics by Irving Caesar, music by Vincent Youmans
- I Want to Be Happy – lyrics by Irving Caesar, music by Vincent Youmans
- Do, Do, Do – lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
- Oh Me! Oh My! – lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by Vincent Youmans
- No, No, Nanette – lyrics by Otto A. Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans
- The Call of the Sea – music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Irving Caesar
Editorial review of Tea for Two courtesy of Amazon.com
Wealthy, stagestruck Nan Carter strikes a bet that she can say “no” to everything for 48 hours. If she wins, she gets the $25,000 to back a Broadway musical vehicle for herself. She’s determined, even if it means saying “no” when the fella she loves pops the question. Nan doesn’t know it yet, but her fortune has been wiped out in the Crash of ’29. | <urn:uuid:d15909fd-d38f-42c2-9154-c888d6ee75e5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://family-friendly-movies.com/musical/tea-for-two/?amp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573193.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818094131-20220818124131-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.919215 | 581 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Hinc apparently means ‘next,’ though Forb. understands it “ex hac (alia) parte.” ‘Agamemnonius:’ Serv. says that Halaesus was variously represented as the bastard son and as the companion of Agamemnon. Virg. can hardly have considered him the former, unless he is inconsistent with himself 10. 417 foll., where he speaks of Halaesus' father in language that could not apply to Agamemnon. The epithet may well be used loosely, just as the Trojans are called “Aeneadae.” Whether any extant author speaks of Halaesus as Agamemnon's son is questionable. Ovid, who mentions him twice (3 Amor. 13. 31 foll., F. 4. 73 foll.), is not more express than Virg., unless we read “Atrides” with Heins. in the latter passage. Ov. makes him the founder of Falerii (for the etymology see on v. 716 above), which is inconsistent with Virg. ‘Troiani nominis’ like “nomen Latinum.”
Curru iungit Halaesus equos like “Armentarius Afer agit” G. 3. 344, an abnormal rhythm adopted for variety's sake (see Munro, Lucr. vol. 1. p. 309, 3rd ed.). Cerda, after Scaliger, fancifully supposes that it is intended to express the time taken in harnessing a chariot. ‘Turno’ ‘for Turnus.’ “Populosque ferocis,” above v. 384., 1. 263, of Italian nations.
“Mille rapit densos acie atque horrentibus hastis” 10. 178. “Bacchi Massicus humor” G. 2. 143. ‘Massica’ neut. pl. like “Ismara” G. 2. 37. ‘Felicia Baccho’ more prob. dat. (E. 5. 65） than abl. (6. 784). ‘Vertere’ of breaking up the ground G. 1. 2.
Patres used in its ordinary sense: comp. 2. 87. Med. (2nd reading) has ‘senes,’ from v. 206 above. ‘Aurunci’ is used in its narrow historical sense for the nation inhabiting Aurunca and afterwards Suessa (Dict. G. ‘Aurunci’). The Sidicini of Teanum and the people of Cales were their neighbours. The construction of ‘Sidicinaque iuxta aequora’ is not clear. Either we may borrow ‘patres’ from the preceding clause, so as to make it “quos misere patres iuxta Sidicina aequora (habitantes),” or suppose that Virg. has written loosely, meaning “qui iuxta Sidicina aequora habitant,” or lastly, with Mr. Long, make ‘Sidicina aequora’ nom., ‘iuxta’ being adv.
Accola: Virg. apparently forgets that the different nations he mentions are constructed in app. to ‘populos’ v. 725. Wagn. comp. Aesch. Pers. 33 foll., where there is a similar change of construction. Comp. also v. 741 below, 10. 497. ‘Saticulus’ apparently for “Saticulanus,” the town being Saticuli. ‘Asper’ is explained by Serv. “asper moribus;” by Heyne with reference to the probable position of the town under Mount Tifata. The place gave some trouble to the Romans during the Samnite wars (Dict. G.), which may account for the epithet.
Serv. says ‘aclydes’ are a species of weapon so ancient as not to be mentioned in military accounts: they are said however (he continues) to be clubs a cubit and a half long, studded with points, and furnished with a thong, so that they can be recalled by the thrower. See further Lersch § 40. They are mentioned by Silius and Val. Flaccus, the one making them a Spanish, the other an Oriental weapon, but neither describes them in any way. ‘Teretes,’ see on v. 665.
Cetra is defined by Serv. and Isidorus (18. 12. 5) as a shield made wholly of leather. It seems to have been used by Africans, Spaniards, Achaeans and Britons: see passages in Lersch § 31. 4. Yates (Dict. A.) identifies it with the target of the Scotch Highlanders. Caligula (Suet. Calig. 19, quoted by Lersch) rode in state on a bridge built over the sea at Baiae, “insignis quernea corona et cetra et gladio aureaque chlamyde.” ‘Falcati comminus enses’ seems to mean ‘in close quarters their weapons are scimitars:’ the verb being supplied by a strong zeugma from ‘laevas cetra tegit.’ ‘Falcati enses’ = ἅρπαι (Serv.). | <urn:uuid:c876e10f-efda-44fa-8bf7-ca4f8abc5e23> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0051%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D723 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280065.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00542-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919422 | 1,207 | 2.4375 | 2 |
The Center consists of three major groups.
Condensed matter physicists that lead the project have diverse Research interests ranging from magnetism and magnetic materials, to superconductivity and Josephson junctions, to ultrafast processes, strong electron-phonon systems, biological physics, nonlinearity, to metamaterials. This group consists of both theorists and experimentalists having a very good international track record and various collaborations both in Research and education. Additionally two experimentalists from Atomic Physics with compatible interests participate and contribute in the Research activities.
The Quantum Field Theory group has significant contributions in major areas of field theory, string theory, gravitation, etc.
The Applied Physics group consists of experimentalists that focus on micro and nanoelectronics and perform Research in the inhouse Micro/Nano-electronics facility that contains state of the art equipment.
Research Group Members: | <urn:uuid:9db00195-87d9-43c9-b24a-1fa435f9ee46> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://qcn.physics.uoc.gr/content/research-groups | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572161.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815054743-20220815084743-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.928336 | 178 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A PIECE of abandoned Droitwich wasteland which was transformed into a community garden has been given a prestigious national award by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
More than £10,000 of Big Lottery Funding and hundreds of hours have been spent by pupils from St Peter’s CEVA First School, the third Droitwich scouts, residents and youngsters from a children’s garden club on creating the spectacular area.
The plot, on Charles Henry Road, has been awarded level three by the RHS in the Britain in Bloom Neighbourhood Awards.
The area, owned by Fortis Living, has given residents, especially children and their families, the opportunity and chance to enjoy the outdoors and learn how to grow their own vegetables, fruit and flowers.
A lot of the vegetables grown in the garden have been donated to residents staying with The Herriotts, Fortis Living and at the Clarence Park Village, in Malvern.
Paul Edwards, Fortis Living’s community officer for Droitwich, who has overseen the project from the beginning, said everything had come together very nicely.
He added how they started planning everything around 12-months ago but did not start planting until March and April.
Paul said they had also done what they could to attract wildlife into the garden and had been helped by the scouts to build bug and bird boxes as well as to grow sunflowers to lure bugs in.
“We can not produce enough for them they love it.
“We have one child who comes up, we give him a load of tomatoes to take home but they never make it back, he eats them all on the way.
“It certainly is the project everyone is talking about at the moment.
“Everyone keeps stopping us to congratulate us on turning it from a jungle to a beautiful garden.”
He added, although it had involved a lot of hard work, it had been really enjoyable and what had been grown had made it all worthwhile.
“Twelve months ago the garden was a piece of wasteland but it has now bloomed into a focal point for the whole community.
“It’s been an amazing transformation and we are really pleased to receive this recognition from the RHS.”
Catherine Boldwin, a teacher at St Peter’s CEVA First School responsible for Eco, said: “The children were thrilled with how their flowerbed turned out.
“It was so lovely to have the opportunity to walk out of the school and be actively involved in a community scheme.”
She added she hoped the plants which had been put in during the summer would also turn into beautiful blooms and get the green-fingered thumbs up.
Anyone wanting to get involved can call Paul on 01905 823148 for more.
Fortis Living’s community officer Paul Edwards, Les Goodman – president of the Heart of England in Bloom and two Fortis Living residents Liz Pettican and Nigel Collins. | <urn:uuid:5a7ff142-21ac-4e08-9bdd-bb9103ba794c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.droitwichstandard.co.uk/news/disused-droitwich-jungle-becomes-award-winning-community-garden-3688/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573540.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819005802-20220819035802-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.980964 | 621 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
40 Presidential Drive
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Arizona v. United States raises several cutting edge questions about federal preemption of state laws. These questions derive from Arizona’s “mirror image theory” of the case. That is, Arizona argues that its statutes are a mirror image of federal statutes, and therefore that no preemption problem exists. In arguing against that theory, the federal government has voiced what has been unflatteringly called “preemption by executive whim.” That is, that preemption can be created by federal executive branch enforcement (or, non-enforcement) priorities that essentially ignore enforcement of the statutes being mirrored. What do those competing claims mean in preemption analysis where, traditionally, courts have looked to the law as written/established, rather than as enforced?
Another big question here is whether a state may have specific policies where either (1) the federal government does not, or (2) the federal government is perceived to have failed in its policies. Arizona has expressly adopted a policy of “attrition through enforcement” in regard to illegal aliens. The federal government, on the other hand, has not ever adopted such a policy. As Ilya Shapiro put it, the national immigration system “is a remnant of various half-baked ‘reforms’ going back decades, it’s a schizophrenic set of laws that don’t advance any particular goal or mission.” Does a “policyless” federal system conflict with a state system that has a policy? Does it matter if that policy is “attrition through enforcement” or “sanctuary cities”? Moreover, does the federal government’s “failure” to have a workable or actual policy free a state to derive its own policy, at least where that vacuum of federal power is seen as having specific negative effects on the state? This panel was featured at the Sixth Annual Western Conference on January 28, 2012.
Federalism and State Immigration Policy
2:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Prof. Gabriel “Jack” Chin, UC Davis School of Law
- Prof. John Eastman, Chapman University School of Law
- Mr. Joe Sciarrotta, General Counsel to Governor Jan Brewer, Arizona
- Prof. Margaret Stock, Counsel, Lane Powell LLC
- Moderator: Hon. Edwin Meese, The Heritage Foundation and former U.S. Attorney General
- Introduction: Mr. Eugene B. Meyer, President, The Federalist Society | <urn:uuid:8bcc8fde-2b38-4460-b15d-3fbc5984d53d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fedsoc.org/conferences/the-sixth-annual-western-conference | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570651.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220807150925-20220807180925-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.945195 | 543 | 1.96875 | 2 |
The Municipality of Jasper is unique because of its location within a national park. Governance is shared between the Municipality of Jasper and the Parks Canada Agency. The Specialized Municipality of Jasper was formed by the Province of Alberta on July 20, 2001.
The Municipality of Jasper operates under an agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage, giving it authorities over all municipal matters with the exception of land use planning, development, and environmental matters. The Municipality of Jasper assumed responsibility for specific jurisdictional matters from the Parks Canada Agency on April 1, 2002.
Jasper is represented by an elected Mayor and 6-member Council. The current Council and Mayor were elected to office on October 21, 2013 for a 4-year term. | <urn:uuid:3f2d44b5-1a4e-4633-9ac2-3c54a3dc62af> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://jasper-alberta.com/2295/Mayor-Council | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00029-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96868 | 149 | 1.992188 | 2 |
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