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The City of Houston has selected planning, engineering and program management firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) to develop...
In 2005, Enviroquip, a division of Eimco Water Technologies (EWT), began operating two historic membrane bioreactor (MBR) plants—the Dundee WWTP in Dundee, Mich., and the McFarland Creek WWTP in Bainbridge Township, Ohio. These two WWTPs were existing conventional plants. Both needed to expand in order to meet future flows and demands due to overall growth and development in their respective areas.
In 2003, the village of Dundee began upgrading its plant. The decision to expand was made based on the modifications enforced by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), which mandated lower plant discharge limits due to water in the receiving stream not meeting federal quality standards. The McFarland Creek WWTP also had to expand its existing plant capacity by 50% due to continued regional growth. Both of the facilities’ engineering firms reviewed available technologies to determine the most suitable equipment for the expansion projects and concluded that MBR technology was the best option.
The technology proposed for both plants was an MBR system for the biological process and the PAD-K system (prethickened aerobic digestion with membrane thickener) for the sludge treatment process. The PAD-K system provides integrated operation of a Kubota flat-plate membrane thickener and two or more aerobic digesters. By operating these units as a combined system, improved treatment is achieved.
McFarland WWTP’s goals were to retrofit existing digesters and reduce sludge disposal cost by a minimum of 20%. For the village of Dundee, the main goal was to reduce sludge production by 30% and increase sludge storage capacity from 120 to 180 days. The upgrade from sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) to MBRs in combination with the PAD-K process was targeted to meet stricter effluent limits and handle a higher solids load without additional storage tanks.
The plant was upgraded from a rated capacity of 0.75 million gal per day (mgd)—the actual flow in the year 2003—to a full built out capacity of 2 mgd average daily flow and 4 mgd peak daily flow. In 2006, the actual flow into the MBR was an average of 1.5 mgd. The new MBR facility utilizes most of the existing tankage. The former SBR basins were used as the biological basins for the new system, and new MBR basins were constructed adjacent to the existing tanks.
The MBR facility uses a three-stage process: an anoxic zone for denitrification, a pre-air zone for nitrification and an MBR zone for additional nitrification and complete filtration. The existing aerobic digestion system was also upgraded by adding a membrane thickening basin (MBT) to the two existing aerobic digesters to form the new PAD-K system. Each aerobic digester forms a recycle loop with the MBT at a steady state.
The MBT operates in loop with a digester anywhere from eight to 24 hours per day, depending on the wasting rate from the MBR. During that time, the digester in loop continuously thickens while undergoing both nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification/denitrification is controlled using an oxidation reduction potential system. Blowers are on during nitrification and off during denitrification.
While the first digester is in loop with the MBT, the second is in isolation to provide additional volatile solids reduction and pathogen reduction to meet the requirements of Class B sludge. For Class B criteria, the actual volatile solid requirement is 38% and a standard oxygen uptake rate at 68°F (20°C) of less than 1.5 mg oxygen/hr/g total solids. Class B criteria also has pathogen reduction requirements, including fecal coliform density of less than 2,000,000 MPN/g total dry solids.
As a result, high quality permeate from the MBT attains concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total nitrogen (NH3-N and NO3-N) within the National Pollutant Elimination System permit and can be combined with MBR effluent. The second objective for the plant was to reduce the hauling to two times per year, as the system lacked sufficient storage volume to retain digested sludge throughout the winter.
The PAD-K process expanded the sludge holding capabilities of the existing digester basins significantly, and the MBT integrated into the digestion process continuously reduced the sludge stored in the digester basins. This reduction in sludge volume is beneficial to plant operations because it allows the sludge to be dewatered in less time, saving on sludge handling costs and operation of dewatering equipment. The PAD-K process was designed at 4.5°C and is capable of concentrating the waste sludge from a range of 3 to 5% solids, significantly expanding the solids retention capabilities of the digesters to 180 days.
A summary of yearly savings is presented in the sludge handling cost summary table (Figure 4). For 2003 and 2004, as well as the first part of 2005, the usage of a belt press was implemented due to the lack of storage space. Since the lateral part of 2005 (upon completion of the PAD-K system and operating for all 12 months in 2006), results clearly show a reduction of annual cost from previous years. For example, based on the sludge handling cost shown in Figure 4, when the flow to the plant was 0.75 mgd, the yearly cost was $56,880; in 2006, when the flow to the plant was 1.5 mgd, the sludge handling cost was significantly less—$32,739.
McFarland Creek’s upgrade
McFarland Creek WWTP was upgraded from 1.2 to 1.8 mgd using the existing tankage and footprint from the conventional facility, thus reducing construction costs and time. The McFarland Creek WWTP MBR system consists of a two-stage process: an anoxic zone and an MBR zone where two of the existing aeration basins were converted to two anoxic zones and four membrane basins.
The PAD-K system was incorporated in this plant by installing new membrane thickener systems in two existing digesters. Thickening, digestion and nitrification/denitrification occur in each digester. The system was designed to operate at 10 to 12°C, with a design solid concentration of 2.5 to 3% in Digester No. 1 and 3.5 to 4% in Digester No. 2, meeting the objective of Class B and reducing the sludge disposal cost by more than 20%.
Digesters in this facility are able to operate both in series and in parallel based on the loading rates to the plant and dewatering cycle. The plant gained exceptional solids processing savings of 41% reduction in cubic yards produced, 41% cost savings in polymer by using the MBT system and 41% savings in sludge disposal by using the PAD-K system.
Savings and control
EWT has 40 membrane thickener applications worldwide, with more than 25 PAD-K process-incorporated facilities in the U.S. and the remaining in the U.K. The PAD-K process is ideal for MBR applications or conventional processes, such as oxidation ditches and SBR processes designed to meet strict effluent nutrient limits of total nitrogen and phosphorus.
The flat-plate technology is being used as a simple and reliable way to thicken sludge and post-thicken digested product without the use of polymer addition. Cleaning frequency of membranes is limited to twice a year in-place without the need to drain the membrane-thickening basin. EWT has combined the PAD-K systems with the MBR permeate as a standard design in all recent installations.
Overall, by providing the option of a PAD-K process to the McFarland and Dundee WWTPs, the company provided the benefits of improved footprint, significant energy savings, sludge handling savings and ultimate nutrient control, providing the opportunity for blending with the MBR effluent. | <urn:uuid:c68c6b70-19ee-4ccf-90e6-e24ed8ab551a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.wwdmag.com/digestion-dilemma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00051-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95053 | 1,719 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Prof Emeritus and former Senior Economist at the World Bank, Herman Daly, gave a pre-recorded message for the 3rd annual Positive Money Conference “Modernising Money” which took place in London on 26th January 2013.
[youtube height=”390″ width=”640″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL2f4vOf7TU[/youtube]
“Under fractional reserve banking a constant money supply is not growth-neutral; it requires and pushes growth.”
“The growth has become uneconomic.”
“The fact that we have had such enormous financial failures and meltdowns on the basis of fractional reserve banking, should make the public much more eager to seek some sort of reform.” | <urn:uuid:3bc23f29-1a53-44ce-9070-8aa9568f88c4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://positivemoney.org/2013/02/former-senior-economist-at-the-world-bank-on-modernising-money/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.946311 | 166 | 1.53125 | 2 |
In the creative world, we spend a lot of time talking about “talent.” It’s that special sauce—a certain style, a certain perspective, a certain aesthetic. If you’ve got it, you’ve got it. And if you don’t, well… it can’t really be taught, right?
According to Stanford University’s Carol Dweck, the psychologist behind the much-praised book Mindset: The New Psychology for Success, the attitude that we bring to our creative work—and to mentoring our juniors—can play a huge role in shaping just how much of our inborn talents we realize.
If we believe that someone’s talent is fixed—including our own—we are effectively writing off any options for growth. But if we believe that talent, or intelligence, or any other ability, evolves as a result of how much effort we put in, the opportunities are endless.
I chatted with Dweck to learn more about how a “growth mindset” can impact creative achievement on a personal and a professional level.
When we’re children, we think we can do anything. Especially in terms of creativity, we don’t think about our skill set as being limited. Why does that stop at a certain age?
It can actually stop as soon as we become conscious of ourselves. We start thinking that our mistakes are failures—and that these failures tell us and other people that we are not competent, that we are not worthy. This process can happen quite young.
Fast-forwarding into adulthood and being out in the working world, how does being afraid of failure impact people’s ability to be creative?
It makes you afraid of being judged. Now, what innovation or creativity requires is that you do things that haven’t been done before. And that you stick to them until you succeed. If you have a “fixed mindset,” which is this idea that you have a certain amount of limited ability, you are afraid to choose hard tasks. You think: “What if I don’t succeed? People will think I’m not as smart as I want to be, as I want them to think I am.”
When we give adults the choice to go back to something they’ve already done well, or something they haven’t done as well at, the ones with the fixed mindset go back to things they already know. In that scenario, you are not stretching forward, or stepping out of your comfort zones. You are really just concerned with looking smart all the time.
Adults in a fixed mindset also think that great effort, great struggle, means that you are not smart. It’s the notion that: “If I were smart, if I were talented, it would just come to me.” But people in a “growth mindset” enjoy the effort, welcome the struggle. They understand that innovation requires it.
How do these two mindsets play out when we’re dealing with setbacks? When we don’t succeed right away?
In a growth mindset, you don’t always welcome the setback, you were hoping to move forward, but you understand that it’s information on how to move forward better next time. It is a challenge that you are determined to surmount. In a fixed mindset, a setback calls your ability into question.
Everything is about: “Am I smart? Am I not smart?” But if you’re always managing your image to look smart, you’re not taking on the hardest tasks, you’re not thinking about them in the most innovative ways, and you’re not sticking to things that don’t work right away.
How can we bring a “growth mindset” to giving people feedback on creative projects?
Whether we are praising or criticizing, my work suggests that you focus on the process not on the person. So if there is a success, even a great success, you don’t say, “You’re a genius! You really have talent!” because it puts people into a fixed mindset.
And then it makes them afraid of doing hard things or of making mistakes, which will dampen future creativity or innovation. If you are giving negative feedback, it should be about the process rather than the person. So you can praise what was good about the process, but then you can also analyze what was wrong about the process and what the person can do in order to increase the likelihood of succeeding next time.
Could you give me an example of how that language would actually play out if I were giving someone feedback?
A fixed mindset approach would be saying something like: “This project turned out amazing. You’re a genius. I knew you had the talent. This is proof of it.” As opposed to a growth mindset approach of, “Wow, this project turned out fantastically well. I loved the way you mobilized the team, the way you kept everyone focused, the way you brought it to fruition, the way you made everybody feel the ownership.” These are things you can replicate and that you should replicate the next time. Whereas, when I say, “You’re a genius!”…how do you reproduce that over and over?
And what about when you need to give someone criticism? Or point out an area that needs work?
As I mentioned, when you are giving criticism, you need to carefully critique the process someone engaged in and discuss what skills they need to learn and improve.
But I’ve also fallen in love with a new word—“yet.” You can say to someone who fell short: “You don’t seem to have this,” but then add the word “yet.” As in, “You don’t seem to have these skills…yet.” By doing that, we give people a time perspective. It creates the idea of learning over time. It puts the other person on that learning curve and says, “Well, maybe you’re not at the finish line but you’re on that learning curve and let’s go further.” It’s such a growth mindset word.
In the creative world, the notion of talent (as opposed to effort) is emphasized constantly. How can we break out of that cycle?
First, there is some great research on changing managers’ mindsets by Peter Heslin. In one workshop, managers were asked to think of examples from their own lives that illustrated a growth mindset—like “What are some things you thought you could never do, and then you did them?” Or writing a letter to someone who had been doing well but was now hitting a period of struggle, and mentoring that person in terms of a growth mindset.
The researchers then followed these managers for at least six weeks and compared them to managers who did not have the growth mindset training. The first thing they noticed was that the managers who had the growth mindset training were now much more open to feedback from their employees. They were also less likely to make snap judgments about who has talent, and who doesn’t.
They also found that the managers became much more willing to mentor. Because if you’re in a fixed mindset and you believe that some people have it and some people don’t, you think, well “I will just wait and see who has it and who doesn’t. Cream rises to the top.” But if you have a growth mindset, you understand that “Hey, I’m in the business of growing talent, helping it develop, not just sitting back and judging it.”
And how can an individual start to change his or her own mindset?
One thing I tell people is, just as a first step, start listening to the fixed mindset voice in your head. It’s always there, telling you: “Oh, are you sure you want to do this? You might make mistakes and, you know, people will find you out. You’re not going to look like the genius you want to look like.” Or if you start struggling, the fixed mindset says, “Oh, I told you so, but it’s not too late, you can still get out and save face.” For a while just do that, just start listening to the fixed mindset voice keeping score. And then over time: Start talking back.
If you’re with someone who is tremendously able and successful. Think: “What can I learn from this person? Yes, maybe I feel a little intimidated but this person could be a great mentor. I could learn a lot. Maybe I could get to know them, maybe they could take me under their wing. Maybe I want to know more about getting from where I am to where they are. What are their secrets?”
Start talking back and seeing all these things—challenges, setbacks, role models—as learning opportunities. Do it most of all if you still feel threatened, because we all have a little part of ourselves that is a little shy, a little threatened. Do it anyway! And see how well it works. | <urn:uuid:03e26735-626f-4ca7-8aa8-6d7423305a71> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://99u.com/articles/14379/talent-isnt-fixed-and-other-mindsets-that-lead-to-greatness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283008.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00082-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970423 | 1,954 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Looking for What Font Does Grammarly Use?…
Grammarly is a platform that is being offered by a small company called Intersect. It is a type of software application that utilizes Natural Language Processing technologies (NLP) to help enhance grammar and spelling abilities.
Grammarly provides you with an English grammar and spelling checker, writing style checker, writing sample, and a grammar and spelling checker. With these four tools, you can quickly and quickly resolve potential problems in your English composing and enhance your grammar and spelling. The reason this writing app has such a crucial function for a lot of writers is since it enables you to rapidly solve issues in your writing and ensures that your sentences are devoid of grammar and spelling mistakes.
Unlike other NLP-based systems, Grammarly takes a a lot more thorough approach to discovering grammar and spelling mistakes. Their innovation is consisted of a number of different mechanisms that use Natural Language Processing (NLP) strategies to suggest new ideas to users about spelling and grammar. For instance, if you have grammar and spelling problems in a document, the Grammarly software application will suggest possible repairs by suggesting alternative words and phrases.
Some of the recommended repairs in the Grammarly application consist of changing prepositions and names to fit a more standard English sentence structure. The main downside to Grammarly nevertheless, is that it just works for English sentences.
By purchasing the premium version of the Grammarly editor, you can immediately download the entire suite of desktop apps in one go. This makes the whole procedure of finding out how to remedy your grammar and spelling far more streamlined. Most of the functions within the Grammarly editor likewise come built-in within the desktop app, consisting of the suggestion center pointed out above. You can even import files from your word processing document or thesaurus, which will permit you to bring in additional examples and referral guides from somewhere else.
In general, the Grammarly desktop app is actually helpful for improving your grammar and spelling skills when you compose on the web or when composing easy files or e-mails. If you desire to be effective at writing in any other language, then you require to invest in a language discovering software application that uses you a wider range of language choices. What Font Does Grammarly Use | <urn:uuid:6d8e78e8-1814-41c2-b753-f4dceb42d654> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.thornbury-premium-partners.co.uk/what-font-does-grammarly-use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571056.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809155137-20220809185137-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.907062 | 470 | 1.625 | 2 |
Growing Leaders of Tomorrow: Mindsets, Diversity, and the Dream
Come join us as we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During this session we will extend discussions about mindsets held during the fall semester. Through his provocative poetry and positive rap, Mr. Dibinga will share stories about those who both hindered and fostered his journey into a growth mindset. He will then describe motivational tools that can be used to cultivate growth mindsets among all members of diverse communities. Come join us for what promises to be a useful and enlightening experience that is in keeping with Dr. King’s dream!
Please RSVP below. | <urn:uuid:d3778df1-8829-4b51-aaf7-de60426421fa> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://curry.virginia.edu/forms/mlk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285001.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00298-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933982 | 136 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Alberta has punted an ambitious plan to build a passenger rail link between Calgary and Banff back to the private proponents of the project – saying that as it stands, the financial risks for the province are too high.
The current plan underestimates the capital costs of the project – currently pegged at about $1.5-billion – and what will be required from the province in terms of an annual financial contribution, according to Alberta Transportation Minister Prasad Panda. It overestimates the potential ridership, he said, adding a construction schedule that envisions the service running in the mid-2020s is unrealistic.
“At this moment, as it’s presented, it’s passing on all the risk to Alberta taxpayers,” Mr. Panda said in an interview Wednesday.
In the past, the idea of the Calgary-Banff rail project has generated excitement from provincial officials, including Invest Alberta, the entity created to promote tourism, tech, energy, agriculture and other sectors.
The Transportation Minister said he likes the idea of the project, which could reduce the number of people driving to ever-more-crowded Banff National Park. It could help diversify the province’s economy by boosting the tourism sector. And proponents say it would lower greenhouse-gas transportation emissions by reducing the vehicles going to the park, and could be North America’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train system.
“Those things are good. But it shouldn’t be pie-in-the-sky,” Mr. Panda said.
The project’s private booster, Alberta-based Liricon Capital Ltd., along with co-developer Plenary Americas – owned by the giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec – have argued it is “uniquely low-risk to taxpayers.” They have said construction costs will be lower and timelines shorter than many big projects because of the existing railway corridor. In the past three years, the idea of the rail project has been a rare point of agreement for the provincial and federal governments.
But the financial implications for the province have come under recent scrutiny from Alberta’s transportation department and cabinet, including Premier Jason Kenney – who will leave provincial politics in October.
“We want a realistic proposal, a feasible proposal,” Mr. Panda said, adding his office has sent a letter to the proponents this week outlining its position.
“If they can assume those risks, and if they can raise private capital, without penalizing Alberta taxpayers, we’ll reconsider it.”
Mr. Panda added there’s still an outstanding question of what the federal contribution to the project will be. So far, it’s only the Canada Infrastructure Bank that has said it’s prepared to provide a loan for half the $1.5-billion capital cost.
The proposed rail service would mean building a dedicated passenger rail line as a twin to the existing Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. track to avoid impeding the near-constant shipping of freight. The line would begin at the Calgary airport and make stops downtown, and in Cochrane, the Morley reserve of the Stoney Nakoda Nations and Canmore.
Liricon and Plenary submitted a proposal on the Calgary-Banff rail project to the Alberta government and the Canada Infrastructure Bank in November. Under that plan, part of the capital costs and interest would be paid back – once the service is actually up and running – by the province. It would pay $30-million annually for 50 years. Alberta would eventually own the project, but a yet-to-be-named private entity would build and operate the service.
As envisioned by Liricon and Plenary, half of the $1.5-billion in capital required for the project will be provided by the Infrastructure Bank, with remaining 50 per cent being provided through a combination of debt from private lenders, and from Liricon and Plenary themselves.
Last month, Liricon managing partner Jan Waterous put out a news release that said a new ridership study that shows the $30-million in annual payments from the province might not be necessary if the park encourages mass transit-use with strategies such as raising the park entry fee for private passenger vehicles, or expanding bus and shuttle service between park attractions.
Ms. Waterous – who with husband Adam owns the Mount Norquay ski resort located in the park as well as the long-term lease on the Banff train station – said the study they commissioned found the train could carry up to 11 million passengers a year by 2035, five times more than originally projected in Liricon’s first proposal. The train system could be integrated with regional transit systems, and be a part of tourist packages with the country’s major airlines, she added.
In a message on Wednesday, Ms. Waterous said the letter from the province this week is part of the back-and-forth on the project.
“Not surprisingly, the Alberta government wants to reduce the cost to the taxpayer, and our ridership study shows that this is possible,” she said, adding she doesn’t believe the province has responded to all of the proponents’ updated plans.
“This is just part of the process of a complex project where ongoing dialogue with the government is paramount.”
However, Mr. Panda said the proponents want Alberta government to backstop early project development costs, and assume financial risks for the project that will be outside of the province’s control. He said the province’s annual costs, based on his department’s analysis, would be “much more” than $30-million – as would the upfront capital cost estimate of $1.5-billion.
Consultations and regulatory approvals are likely to take much longer than forecast. And Mr. Panda also highlighted that the proponents have yet to reach formal agreement with CPR. For instance, space is constrained in downtown Calgary, and new land will be needed to accommodate a second set of tracks.
We have a weekly Western Canada newsletter written by our B.C. and Alberta bureau chiefs, providing a comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its place in the issues facing Canada. Sign up today. | <urn:uuid:a837e6cc-711f-43b9-994d-2137cbc820db> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-alberta-sends-banff-train-proposal-back-to-private-backers-citing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572408.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816151008-20220816181008-00674.warc.gz | en | 0.947509 | 1,304 | 2.15625 | 2 |
The aftermath of the Johnstown Flood.
"Ruins from Site of the Hulburt House."
In: "History of the Johnstown Flood", by Willis Fletcher Johnson, 1889. P. 181.
Library Call Number M79.4 J71h.
Image ID: wea00785, NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) Collection
Location: Pennsylvania, Johnstown
Photo Date: 1889 June
Photographer: Archival Photograph by Mr. Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS
• High Resolution Photo Available | <urn:uuid:b534aa10-80f6-4fd6-bf5b-07d90f71ffae> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/wea00785.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00128-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.725971 | 113 | 1.835938 | 2 |
I agreed to participate at the Fifth Annual Statewide HIV/AIDS Policy Conference. The conference took place in Albany, New York late last year. This was my first time as a panelist, and I looked forward to exchanging ideas at the session titled "Alternative Treatments: Worth It or A Waste?"
I have had my share of experiencing both traditional Western medications and the holistic treatment approach. When I was first diagnosed I remember going into a heath food store and asking for anything antiviral. Through trial and error, sometimes costly, I learned some lessons such as the importance of using herbs under the guidance of an herbalist who is familiar with HIV. Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, has benefited my health by reducing stress, aiding my body in detoxifying itself and helping create an energy balance.
If you are considering any treatment, alternative or otherwise, it's important to gather and read as much information as you can on the treatment. There is usually two sides to every treatment for HIV. Know them both so that you can make an informed decision. Kevin Ergil, Dean of Pacific Institute of Oriental Medicine, emphasized the importance of an acupuncturists credentials. Is she or he licensed? Is she or he familiar with HIV/AIDS?
It's important to know that alternative medicine can be used to complement traditional medicine - for instance, it can help the body handle some of the toxic side effects of AZT. A major concern, however, is the disbelief that many western practitioners have regarding alternative therapies. Much of this disbelief stems from lack of knowledge and unwillingness to learn.
At a time when more and more people with HIV/AIDS are questioning the efficacy (how effective a drug is) of AZT, especially after the Concord study, there is interest in alternative treatments such as vitamin therapy, herbs, and therapeutic touch. Women need to communicate their interest in alternative practices with their primary caregiver and request that their bloods be monitored closely.
Factors to consider when incorporating any of these therapies into your regimen are cost, convenience and information. If it cost more than a car payment, it's too much! Is it convenient? How does it fit into your life style? For example do you have time for bitter melon retention enemas every morning? And perhaps the most important thing, how much is really known about it? Do you have solid information that it works?
Because most of these treatments haven't been in clinical trials, the emphasis has to be on gathering information from different sources yourself. Don't just listen to the company's sales pitch that's trying to sell you a new herbal formula. Talk to people that have tried it. Research the ingredients. And always be sure and tell your doctor if you add new treatments so that she or he can watch for new interactions and, hopefully, good results.
Marlene is affiliated with The Network, HIV Law Project, Beth Israel Women's Project, & Women Alive. First printed in "Treatment Data Network". | <urn:uuid:90f94fd3-b62c-4f72-b22e-922615d54edc> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.thebody.com/content/art80.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00239-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958589 | 606 | 1.960938 | 2 |
You’ve got a great idea, and you know how to tell it right, and need to make a video. But your video sucks. Something is off, but it’s hard to tell what is off exactly. Does it really matter?
This isn’t really a problem, is it?
Unfortunately, I regretfully must inform you, a poor video is a poor video and likely will not succeed, even if your message is smart. Why is this? What happens if a video feels low quality?
Due to very low attention spans today, if your viewer cannot easily see, hear and understand your video due to low quality, you will lose that viewer.
Worse… your viewer will likely click away to view your competition’s video!
The Good News: The Hard Part is Already Over
A lot of people get stuck before even hitting record, overwhelmed with the idea of creating a video and worried about details. (Note: there is no reason to get overwhelmed.. there are plenty of checklists to assist with getting everything you need done! That’s what they’re there for – guiding the process, one step at a time.)
Not being afraid of the camera is great, the gusto to get up and ‘film something’ should be encouraged!
While recording video is easy, and it can be inexpensive, actually making good video that viewers like takes a little bit of upfront effort to avoid looking amateur.
Smartphones and apps and fast wireless Internet opened the opportunity for video to quit being an elite newscaster-only tool; and to go mainstream. Then with active social apps such Snapchat, Facebook, Periscope, the general population knows that video is ‘easy’ now.
Sure, video is easy, but GOOD video isn’t just as simple as pulling out an smart phone, pointing it at oneself and tapping record – that’d just be a glorified selfie.
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Number 1. Newbie Mistake: Lack of a Proper Plan
An intention to record video is good, but a good camera operator and/or director knows why each video clip is being recorded and what that particular shot will be used for. A plan will cover the people, the equipment, the locations, the goals and the target audience the video will be distributed to.
Successful video producers complete; 1st, a creative brief in advance to sort out the goals for the video, and 2nd, a script written to have an overview blue print of the project, and 3rd a storyboard and shot list to cover ALL the bases to having a good plan for each shot used in a video. With a plan, your video will be a success.
Success Action Step: Cover all your bases of Why, Who, When, What and How by using the tools of a video professional. A Creative Brief, Storyboard and Script in advance of shooting your video to have a clear plan of what your video will be do – and make it easier and more fun.
Number 2. Newbie Mistake: Not Understanding ‘Production Value’
What does ‘production value’ mean? Explained in more detail, the phrase should be ‘high quality video production quality’, or professional quality, for short.
Professional Hollywood films cost millions of dollars. This money is spent on planning and filming to make the visuals and audio sound good and look the absolutely best they can (within the constraints of the budget).
Production Value Factors:
Production value is an assortment of variables, and here are some of the following aspects that play a role in the quality of a video.
- Video Resolution Quality (4K, 1080P HD, 720P, frame rates,)
- Camera Operation (stability, exposure, leveled, focus, movement)
- On-Location Sound Quality (clear voice, noise, levels, background sound)
- Image Quality (grain, noise, color correction, compression artifacts)
- Lighting Effectiveness (3-point light setup, quality, intensity)
- Sound Mix Quality (music, narration, background, sound effects)
- On-Screen Interviewee (professionalism, eye contact, speaking ability)
- Message Effectiveness (clear script, easy concept, call to action)
- Graphics and FX (design principals, balance, quality, professionalism)
- Distribution (ads or no ads, social sharing, effective channels)
Audiences are accustomed to spending as little effort as possible to watch and listen to video of this caliber, so the worse the visuals and sound are, the harder a video is to view. This is important because if there is a similar video with a similar message, but it looks and sounds better than yours, viewers will watch the better looking of the choices.
Success Action Step: Watch videos similar to one you wish to create to see what works – and what doesn’t! Write down the aspects that are important on your Creative Brief to help guide the process.
Number 3. Newbie Mistake: Improper setup of camera
The camera is the first link to the video – it acts as the eyes and ears of the viewer. Even if the camera is a high-end 6K camera, if it’s being used as a handheld camera, and shaky and bumpy will not make for a good viewing experience (and if it’s an online video, the viewer will likely stop watching and watch your competitors video instead!)
In comparison, a well-mounted iPhone filming in HD set on a stable level tripod with a smooth camera operator will make a world of a difference – the video will be far more pleasing, and the viewer is far more likely to continue to watch rather than jumping away to another video.
|The Manfrotto Compact Action tripod offers basic adjustment. Be sure to get a smartphone or tablet mount if shooting with those devices. Not useful to pan or tilt with though.||This is a portable, high quality tripod. It will work with smartphones and high-end production cameras. Very smooth pans and tilts. Great bag too!||This is a high-quality, heavy duty tripod. It can handle a light-weight “backpacker crane” jib system! Included spreader with the legs also supports more weight.|
Success Action Step: Use a tripod – there is a variety available, here are three different tripods for different budgets. Rest assured – all are professional, and all will help make your video better.
Number 4. Newbie Mistake: Failure to use sound and light properly
Any camera – be it a 6K RED or a regular iPhone – only capture two human senses – sight and sound. Modern cameras, while very good today, still cannot filter out background noise or poor light like our human brains can when we’re there, in a room with another person.
|The SmartLav+ is a quality wired lavalier clip-on microphone that works perfectly with an iOS device without needing an adapter.||The Polsen OLM-10 wired lavalier microphone offers great audio with no noise feedback. If used with smartphone, needs an adapter.
||This Sennheiser lavaier is a wireless microphone set. The EW 112-P G3 is more expensive because due to it's very high quality and being a two-part kit.|
While a human can easily have a conversation with another person on a busy subway platform and filter out all the background noise, hums, and uneven light, a camera will have difficulty. Setting up a camera in the best location possible for good light and sound will make a world of difference. With the first step, the planning stage, the best location to film will have been chosen to maximize the quality of the video.
Success Action Step: I encourage you to try this: record a test video clip in a busy location like this (dim light or nighttime too if you can) of a person speaking to the camera, and then record an alternate clip in a quiet – and well lit bright area. Play back both clips one after the other and see for yourself the differences.
Number 5. Newbie Mistake: Ineffective Distribution
‘Work’ is important. GSD (getting stuff done, or the other variation on the acronym). How does this tie in with distribution? An analogy I like to use is absolutely everyone is creative and most people have great ideas, but what separates people that are considered ‘creative’ from those who aren’t creative is that the creative people actually sit down and MAKE the idea happen. Without that step of the work, no good would come from the idea – it wouldn’t even exist.
A plan for a video is just an idea, just one step in the process. A video that is recorded is one more step too – it's not completed. Even a video that is edited is still not safe – unless the video is shared – and shared properly – it won’t ‘work’. Getting that video out there is a hugely overlooked step. Too often businesses invest in video – good video – and then have no distribution plan to get it seen. Marketing is key – ensuring that the video is put online, and in front of the correct eyeballs, is important.
Success Action Step: Your Creative Brief will address all the aspects that you need here too. It will help you to plan out who will see your video, and where they’ll see it, and what they’ll do after they view your video. Easy, right?
So as you can see, the first step sets all the other steps in motion in the planning stage. The channels for distribution will be chosen, the best locations for sound and lighting will have been identified. The camera will be setup correctly with a tripod, and a script, storyboard and creative brief will be on hand to guide the process. Oh, and have fun. | <urn:uuid:12840ac5-9f72-4188-a6a3-7f77ef1ec8ad> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://reeldesigner.com/common-newbie-video-production-mistakes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.923283 | 2,071 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Obey closed the morning session to a standing ovation. “The country you may save is your own.”
Tired behavioral health advocates shared stories from their Hill visits after having suffered the sweltering, near three digit temperatures and humidity. Their asks included a plea to oppose cuts to Medicaid as well as to support the Behavioral Health Information Technology Act and of Federally Qualified Behavioral Health Centers.
Though legislators consistently warn that the budget is the current priority in Congress, most were positive, such as:
- Colorado Senators Udall and Bennet who pledged support for all National Council initiatives during visit with the Colorado delegation.
- The Michigan delegation asked Senator Carl Levin what can be done to support behavioral healthcare: “Write the president and ask him to fight for revenue.”
While not all pledged support, legislators were receptive to hearing from their constituents about behavioral healthcare. Never underestimate the importance of Hill visits for even the most skeptical legislators. They need to hear from you!
500: The record-breaking number of passionate behavioral health advocates invading Capitol Hill
200: The number of legislators getting first hand reports on important issues affecting community behavioral health
310,000,000: The number of Americans impacted by behavioral health disorders. Roughly 125,000,000 directly and virtually everyone else indirectly through family and friends.
Hill Day 2011 came to a close with the Member Awards Reception. No one was surprised when Colorado won the award for having the largest delegation. State association executive director, George DelGrosso, graciously accepted the award, acknowledging that Colorado will soon lose out to other states as the state delegations grow. Several states doubled their size from Hill Day 2010, such as Connecticut. | <urn:uuid:39cce5ff-4942-4fe4-a325-2ad9a202aa9a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://mentalhealthcarereform.org/hill-day-2011/ | 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 | 0.956415 | 348 | 1.6875 | 2 |
We've all felt a great workout and we've all felt a crummy workout. The difference could be related to carbohydrate intake, or lack thereof. Get yourself a nice cup of tea, water, coffee, wine or your beverage of choice and find a cozy spot. This one's a doozy, as I want to present you with the details.
Main points: 1) It's important to eat/drink carbohydrates if exercising longer than one hour; 2) Varying the types of carbohydrate eaten during exercise increases absorption rate; and 3) To consume enough carbohydrates while exercising, a liquid or solid are both effective.
How Much Carbohydrate (CHO) to Eat DURING exercise?
If exercise lasts 1 hour or less, eating during exercise isn't as crucial. You can grab a bite to eat after your one hour workout.
If exercising longer than 1 hour, eat 30-60 grams of CHO within that hour (120-240 calories).
If exercise continues past 2 hours, increase your CHO intake to 45-90 grams of CHO per hour (180-360 calories) until you're finished exercising.
This amount of carbohydrate is approximately 20-40 ounces of a typical sport drink. One typical get packet provides around 20-25 grams of CHO.
One caveat: the amount of CHO an individual athlete consumes during exercise should be determined by trial and error, and strategies for CHO intake should always be developed on an individual basis.
What Type of Carbohydrate to Eat DURING Exercise?
Answer: Eat a Combination of Different Types of Carbohydrates DURING exercise
To maximize carbohydrate absorption during exercise, choose foods and supplements with a variety of different types of carbohydrate. Consuming a mixture of carbohydrate during exercise may speed absorption of carbohydrate in the gut. This is a good thing because it means your body is able to refuel more quickly.
Examples of CHO combination: glucose with fructose, maltodextrin and fructose, glucose with sucrose and fructose.
Carbohydrate from a single sugar source, such as glucose, can only be broken down at rates of approximately 60 grams per hour.
When a combination of carbohydrates are eaten (e.g., glucose and fructose) an amount of about 100 grams per hour can be broken down if large amounts of carbohydrate are ingested (i.e., >140 grams/hour).
Check out the ingredients on the food label to find the type of CHO in the product.
Pros and Cons of Liquid versus Solid CHO DURING Exercise
Pros of drinking CHO in liquid form
- Replace sweat losses
- Empty rapidly from stomach
Cons of drinking CHO in liquid form
- Large volume, difficult to carry
- Does not provide variety or satiety
Pros of eating CHO in solid form (e.g., gels, chews, banana, etc.)
- Compact, easy to carry
- Provide variety and satiety
Cons of eating CHO in solid form (e.g., gels, chews, banana)
- Require additional water for digestion
- Does not replace sweat losses
How Quickly Are Different Carbohydrates Digested DURING Exercise?
Rapidly Digested Carbohydrate (approx. 60 grams per hour)
- Glucose (a sugar formed by the breakdown of starch)
- Sucrose (table sugar - glucose plus fructose)
- Maltose (two glucose molecules)
- Maltodextrins (from starch breakdown)
- Amylopectin (from starch breakdown)
Slowly Digested Carbohydrate (approx. 30 grams per hour)
- Fructose (a sugar found in honey and fruits)
- Galactose (a sugar found in sugar beets)
- Isomaltulose (a sugar found in honey and sugarcane)
- Amylose (from starch breakdown)
Sports Drinks: Carbohydrate in Fluids
The focus is on preventing dehydration. As a general guideline, drink 4-8 ounces (roughly 4-8 gulps) of water or sports drink every 15-20 minutes during hard exercise.
Cool, flavored sports drinks containing 6% to 8% carbohydrate (6g of carbohydrate per 3½ ounces of fluid) in the form of sugars (glucose or sucrose) or starch (maltodextrin) have been shown to effectively provide fuel for immediate energy use and fluid for hydration. Note: ingesting a carbohydrate solution that’s very concentrated is likely to cause gastrointestinal discomfort.
Carbohydrate added to water improves palatability by providing sweetness, provides a source of fuel for active muscles, and stimulates fluid absorption from the intestines. If you need the carbs but don't want to add flavor, there are some flavorless carbohydrate powders you can add to your water. A couple brands I'm familiar with are Nature Smart Carbo-Pro and Unipro Carboplex.
More CHO in a drink is not necessarily better. More than 14g CHO per 8 ounce serving may decrease the rate of gastric emptying and fluid absorption, which can lead to a “sloshy” gut or a stomach or side ache.
Sodium in Fluids
The addition of sodium may help enhance palatability so you drink more, promote fluid retention in your body so you don’t lose as much fluid through sweating, and possibly prevent hyponatremia (low sodium blood levels) in individuals drinking excessively large quantities of plain water.
Drinking Water and Energy Gels
If you fall behind on your water intake during longer workouts, you run the risk of dehydration, lack of energy, and possible stomach irritation. Studies have shown even moderate dehydration can negatively impact your performance - therefore, it is recommended that an athlete learn to drink during long runs/rides - whether or not they are using an energy gel.
Water is the key to proper gel usage. Gels are absorbed in your small intestine, and water is the transport vehicle that allows this to occur.
Whenever you consume energy gel you should follow it with enough water to properly flush it down (usually a few swallows is sufficient). If you are properly hydrated before your workout you will already have water available in your stomach and intestinal tract that can be used to digest the gel. If you fail to replace this water over time then you will become dehydrated and your performance will suffer as a result.
If using multiple packs of gel during workouts, it is recommended to drink water between gel packs. Drink 4-8 ounces every 15 minutes during endurance events.
Since all this information can be slightly daunting, I wrote a blog with some practical examples for how to incorporate the carbs during exercise. Check it out at "How to Incorporate Carbs During Exercise."
What products do you use while exercising over a one hour time period?
In Health and Happiness,
Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods
1. Jeukendrup, A. E. (2004). Carbohydrate intake during exercise and performance. Nutrition 20(7-8):669-677.
2. Jentjens, R. L., and A. E. Jeukendrup (2005). High rates of exogenous carbohydrate oxidation from a mixture of glucose and fructose ingested during prolonged cycling exercise. Br. J. Nutr. 93(4):485-492.
3 Jeukendrup, A. E., and R. Jentjens (2000b). Oxidation of carbohydrate feedings during prolonged exercise: current thoughts, guidelines and directions for future research. Sports Med. 29(6):407-24.
4. Rosenbloom, Christine, PhD, RD. Sports Nutrition: A Guide for the Professional Working with Active People, 3rd edition. Chicago: American Dietetic Association, 2000. | <urn:uuid:65622b9c-0b4a-48db-a3bb-c0205ec1b3d4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://healthygoods.com/natural-health-blog/are-carbs-important-during-exercise | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280791.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00361-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904601 | 1,616 | 2.296875 | 2 |
I used the pen tool to draw around Sunflower Man’s features and clicked control and left clicked inside the bit I just drew around. I filled the path in then selected the colour I wanted to fill with. Sometimes I would click colour then go and click on the body part so that it stays the exact same shade and colour. After clicking OK I then deleted the path and it left me with a filled in character which was more cartoon like. However, the contouring is gone so looks less 3D.
I finished colouring in with the brush tool and added a white background. I attempted to contour and highlight areas to make it look slightly more 3D, however, I still need to make it appear more 3D and define some more features.
I began to colour in my characters figure using the paintbrush tool and then clicking on the colour I wanted for each body part. This gives the drawing a more animated touch and will give a 3D effect when i’ve shaded it. I also rubbed out any of the annotations that I made, then realising I could of just put a white rectangle over the image and moved the layer so it was underneath…
This is a student in my class who I asked to pose like my superhero and I printed it and drew over it to adjust the character so it looked for like Sunflower Man. Here is the finished piece. I used coloured pens to create this overall representation of my superhero which is colourful. | <urn:uuid:2713f0b2-dbd4-4f48-8f98-6e668120bf9d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://fernebryan.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280242.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00071-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964847 | 300 | 2.125 | 2 |
University of Guelph + STEM Camp
Supporting STEM learning and STEM initiatives in our Ontario community and beyond is important to us at STEM Camp, so when the Child Development Research Unit (CDRU) at the University of Guelph reached out to us to help them with their research we were excited to support them!
STEM Camp’s role is to inform and invite families in our STEM Camp community to participate in the various research opportunities that are currently underway or about to begin at U of Guelph. Read on to learn more about what critical research is happening, and how you and your family could be a part of it!
The Goal of the Child Development Research Unit (CDRU) at the University of Guelph
While the goal of each specific study varies, in general, the CDRU conducts research to identify the best ways to promote children’s safety. Currently, they have a number of studies that they are recruiting participants for. Some studies are conducted locally (and require participants to be in the Guelph area), while others are looking for participants from all over Canada! Following are details for each study.
Injury Prevention Research
As injuries are the leading cause of preventable deaths for children, the CDRU is conducting injury prevention research with families with children of various ages to reduce risk and promote safety, including:
2 – 4 year old children and their mothers: The CDRU is looking to speak with mothers of young children and learn more about their home-safety efforts and the kinds of hazards their young ones get into when at home.
5 – 6 year old children and their families: The CDRU has a program that teaches young ones about playing on playgrounds called ‘Cool 2 Be Safe’ – a fun and engaging playground safety program that children enjoy participating in. They are also doing research with this age group to identify the safest types of containers so children cannot access poisons.
7 – 9 year olds and their families: The program for this age uses virtual reality (very cool!) to teach children how to judge traffic and cross streets safely, called the ‘Safe Ped’ Training Program. Additionally, another project uses a fun indoor obstacle course aimed at understanding some of the risky things children do during play and when they are very excited.
Participants for the injury prevention research projects should be located in the Guelph area, as these are done in-person either at the University of Guelph, at a location in the Guelph area, or in the home. Depending on which injury prevention study you are participating in, the time commitment varies between a single, 1 hour session, to three, 2 hour sessions. In all cases, appointments happen at your convenience (appointments are available during the day, evenings and weekends).
Those who participate in the study will receive gift cards valued between $5 and $40, depending on which study you participated in.
For this study, the CDRU is recruiting adolescent skateboarders who have been injured while skating within the last year, for a research project on skateboarding and mental health. The aim of this research is to learn more about the relationship between skateboarding injuries and mental health in order to better support the psychological wellbeing of skaters, and to encourage skateboarding safety. Participation in this study involves a brief (45 minutes maximum) online survey that asks questions about how skateboarding influences mental health outcomes after injury, both positive (for example, the things skaters love and value about the sport), and potentially negative or challenging (for example, feelings of sadness or anxiety after getting hurt) as they recover from injuries.
To participate in this study, children must currently be living in Canada, be between the ages of 14 and 17 years, and have experienced a medically attended injury (that is, they needed to see a doctor, physiotherapist, etc.) when skateboarding within the last year.
Everyone who fills out the online survey will be entered into a draw to win XXXXXXX.
Safety Rule Negotiation Study
This online study investigates how pre-teens and teenagers negotiate safety rules with their parents as they are developing more independence, as well as looking at how parents negotiate these rules for their children within their own marital relationship. This study involves an interview, some questionnaires and some fun negotiation activities.
To participate in this study, families must be living in Ontario, children must be 11, 12, 15 or 16 years old, and both parents must be living in the same home. The study is completed entirely online, and the total time commitment is approximately 1.5 hours over XXXX sessions.
Parents will receive a $20 gift card and the child will also receive a $20 gift card for participating.
Benefits of Participating
In addition to gift cards received for participating in the various studies, additional benefits include:
- Parents will receive a newsletter outlining the results of the study after the results have been analyzed and published.
- Families will be helping the CDRU and others gain a greater understanding of parenting practices and child risk taking.
- Families will be helping identify the best ways to promote child safety.
- A fun experience! CDRU studies are highly engaging, and children have fun participating in the wide range of activities offered.
How to Participate
Interested families can contact the research team by telephone at 519-824-4120 x55033, or email email@example.com . Visit cdru.uoguelph.ca or read their newsletter outlining past findings for more information. | <urn:uuid:669438fa-410f-4980-bbed-f6cbe6b0e81c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://stemcamp.ca/community-partners/university-of-guelph/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571246.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811073058-20220811103058-00264.warc.gz | en | 0.955928 | 1,150 | 3.140625 | 3 |
How to Protect Your Mail Server from Being Blacklisted and What Reliable Email Solution Use to Send to Inbox
Blacklists are the most challenging issue for email marketers. You may follow best email marketing practices compliant with CAN-SPAM law and still end up in a blacklist. The worst thing is that you will not even know that you are blacklisted until you take some steps to investigate the issue.
So, in this article we’ll talk about the causes why you may get into a blacklist, examine the ways how you can determine if you’ve been blacklisted or not, and give several tips what to do if you got blacklisted.
A blacklist is a list of IP addresses, or domains, or emailers known or suspected of sending spam. Blacklists may be created by anyone who is receiving email, anyone who is processing email, and anyone at all. It’s possible to single out the following types of blacklists:
☠ Public blacklists (nothing special is required to start a blacklist; anyone can start it and publish; there are literally hundreds of public blacklists on the Internet);
☠ ISPs blacklists (large ISPs are likely to maintain their own blacklists of known spammers and problem senders);
☠ Server-side filters (anti-spam filters such as Brightmail and SpamAssassin reside on the mail server and use their own rules to catch messages suspected of being spam);
☠ Client-side filters (many recipients install software programs like Norton AntiSpam, MacAfee SpamKiller, or G-Lock SpamCombat to protect against spam at their own computer; these programs allow the user customize the rules by which incoming emails are filtered);
☠ Corporate blacklists (a server administrator in an organization can create an “internal” blacklist and use it to block emails originating from any sender or organization for any reason and for any period of time).
Top 3 Reasons Why You May Be Blacklisted
Each blacklist has its own criteria for the sender to be blacklisted. But the common reasons why email marketers end up on a blacklist are:
1. Spam complaints from email recipients.
Most of complaints are generated when a recipient hits the “This is Spam” button on an email. It is recognized that even 100% permission based email lists can entail spam complaints.
The recipients may report the email as spam intentionally (because they believe the email is spam) or unintentionally (by clicking on the “This is Spam” button instead of deleting the email by accident). Some email recipients do not trust the unsubscribe option. They prefer reporting the email as spam in order not to receive emails from this sender anymore.
Whatever the reason is, the ISP still counts a spam complaint. What ISPs and blacklists are watching is the high complaint rate which betrays spammers and sometimes good email marketers who are not following best email marketing practices.
2. Poor list hygiene: sending to bad and spam trap email addresses.
A certain number of bounced emails after each email campaign is normal. But if your bounce rate is higher than acceptable, you are a candidate for a blacklist. For most email service providers and senders like Amazon SES the acceptable bounce rate is 5%. If you exceed it, your account is suspended or blocked.
But the bigger threat is behind spam trap email accounts. Some ISPs turn abandoned email addresses into spam trap mailboxes. It’s assumed that no one will send emails at those addresses. Any message sent to a spam trap address is treated as spam. Continuous emailing at spam trap accounts is one more step to get blacklisted.
Most of the time spam trap email addresses are met in very old and harvested email lists. If you take a list that you have not emailed to for a year or two, it’s likely to contain many invalid and spam trap emails just like a list that you would scrape on the Internet.
3. Bad server and IP reputation.
If you don’t have your own SMTP server and send emails from a shared mail server, your reputation depends on that server reputation. If a sender also using that server is blacklisted, you will also be.
Sometimes ISPs blacklist the entire IP ranges. If an IP address from your IP block is suspected in spam activity, your IP may become blacklisted as well. It’s difficult to diagnose this situation because the permutation of IP address number combinations is almost infinite.
As you see being put on a blacklisted is not necessary the result of a spam-like sending activity. The mail server you use may become a victim of a bot or other technical problem.
How to Identify Whether You’ve Been Blacklisted or Not
When you are put on a blacklist, you are not notified about it. Most of the time your emails are deleted and either you or recipient know about it. And since a blacklist can be maintained by anyone, it’s impossible to identify every blacklist where you may be listed on. In addition, ISP and email clients’ blacklists are private so you can’t check up your blacklisting status with them.
But here are 4 methods you can try to find out if you’ve been blacklisted or not:
1. Check your opens/clicks stats by domain.
If you notice a decline in your overall open and click rates, it may be because you were put on a blacklist. You’ll want to examine your email tracking statistics for the key domains as a part of your regular audit. A blacklisting effect may not be visible on your overall stats if the portion of key domains in your list is small relative to the size of the whole list, but blacklisting problems will be clearly noticeable if you analyze opens and clicks at the domain level.
Setup a free account on G-Lock Analytics email tracking service if you don’t have it yet and start tracking opens and clicks for your email campaigns right away in order to diagnose possible blacklisting issues as soon as possible.
2. Monitor complaints from your recipients about not receiving emails.
Your most faithful subscribers will let you know if suddenly they stop receiving your emails. Be sure that your customer service does not ignore such complaints and alerts you immediately if someone tells they’re missing your newsletters.
3. Use blacklist research tools.
From time to time you can use the following tools to find out if your IP address is blacklisted in any of the public blacklists:
G-Lock Apps delivery and spam testing tools: signup at their web site and check your mail server’s IP address against DNS based blacklists. You can get summary email alerts if any problems are detected. In addition, G-Lock Apps tests your Inbox placement, spam scores, authentication issues, and delivery duration.
Spamcop: click on Blocking List tab at their website, type your IP address and SpamCop will tell you if you are listed on its blacklist.
4. Check your company’s email system for security gaps.
If you’re not using an ESP (email service provider) and sending emails directly from your company, spammers may use “botnets” to breach your security, access your mail servers and use them to send spam. This is when a group of computers is infected and commanded by outside software and the servers are programmed to perform other services without your company’s knowledge. Be sure your IT department is aware of possible security gaps and consider using an ESP.
What to Do If You’re Blacklisted
So what do you do if despite all precautions you’ve been blacklisted? First of all, try to find out if your IP address appears on a specific blacklist, or on an ISP blacklist. If you’re listed in an individual blacklist, don’t take it close to heart. But if you discover that your emails sent to a specific domain are not getting opened, your IP is most likely on a blacklist of the specific ISP and this case needs your attention.
If you’re using an ESP, contact them. Many ESPs are in good relationships with ISPs and major blacklists. If the ESP has a good reputation and allow only opt-in email marketers use their services, then the blacklist may take your IP off.
If you’re not using an ESP and send emails from a dedicated server, you’ll need to contact the ISP you’re blacklisted with yourself and go through the removal process.
But before you do it, try to identify the cause why you were blacklisted and eliminate the problem. Most of public blacklists usually publish the rules based on which senders are put on a blacklist. If you get familiar with those rules, it will help you better understand what you did wrong.
If you do not take this step, it may have a negative impact on your relationship with the blacklist providers and make it harder to be removed from the list in the future.
After you eliminated a possible cause of being blacklisted, go to the ISP website and search for the removal procedure rules. Each blacklist has its own procedure for requesting removal, so you’ll have to follow different instructions if you were blacklisted in several blacklists.
Be ready to provide the proves that you follow email best practices, i.e. use a valid and verified opt-in list, clean HTML code, etc. If you’re not using an ESP, make sure with your IT department that your servers haven’t been breached.
If you market certain products or services (luxury watches, medications, weight loss related products, etc.) which are often met in spam emails, you’re sentenced to be blacklisted and/or filtered. This makes it more important that you respect best email marketing practices, especially sender authentication aspect, and that you have a proof you’re a permission-based email marketer.
For example, when you collect opt-in subscribers, be sure to document the opt-in offer text, date and source of opt-in besides the actual opt-in information. Consider using a confirmed opt-in method instead of a single opt-in to reinforce your status of a good email marketer.
And the final question you are probably asking yourself is how you can permanently protect yourself against being blacklisted. The answer is – you can’t.
However, follow these steps to reduce the risk of being blacklisted and get your emails delivered into Inbox:
Send to a confirmed opt-in list. You can easily setup confirmed subscription process on your site using WPNewsman newsletter plugin. You can use the free version of WPNewsman to collect subscribers at your site and then use G-Lock EasyMail7 to send newsletters to your subscribers. Or, you can pay for the license for WPNewsman PRO version and use the plugin as a standalone newsletter system within your WordPress site.
Verify your list before sending. If you want to send to an opt-in list that was created a long time ago and suppose that a portion of emails may be already invalid, take time to check emails on the list for validity and delete invalid addresses. This way, you will reduce your bounce rate which is closely monitored by ISP and minimize your risk of being blacklisted. You can use G-Lock Email Verifier to clean your list from invlid email addresses before each campaign.
Use reliable email marketing software solution and SMTP server. Email software and SMTP server do matter too. G-Lock's EasyMail7 allows to send emails through any 3rd party SMTP server. This means that you can use your own SMTP server to send emails for FREE, or SMTP server of your Internet service provider, or you can use any 3rd party email sender like Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mandril, MailJet etc. to enhance deliverability in G-Lock EasyMail7.
Delete bounce and unsubscribed emails. It's mandatory that you monitor your bounce and unsubscribe emails and delete them from your list after each campaign. ISP can blacklist you for a high bounce and spam complaint rate. You can process bounced emails after your email campaigns using the Bounce Handler in G-Lock EasyMail7. The program determines hard bounce, soft bounce, mail block and abuse/fraud feedback reports bounce emails. The Bounce Handler can automatically unsubscribe or delete bounce emails from internal groups, update external databases, insert and delete bounce emails from external databases.
So, follow best practices and, as part of your regular email system auditing, take time to put blacklist detection methods we recommended into practice.
Here is a sample of an email placement and spam filtering test in in G-Lock EasyMail7:
Trackback from your site. | <urn:uuid:34e5128c-322b-4e07-8205-813dfb1c3200> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://easymail7.com/protect-your-mail-server-from-being-blacklisted/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570692.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20220807181008-20220807211008-00674.warc.gz | en | 0.924371 | 2,638 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Biofriendly Reasons You’ll Want to Unplug and Get Outdoors
Regardless of the time of year, it’s important you and your family figure out time to unplug and get outdoors on a daily basis. This is especially true now the kids are back in school and spending a good five to six hours, or more, in the classroom each weekday. If you work a typical eight hours a day (or even less, hopefully not more), you need to make sure you incorporate a little “downtime” every day and on the weekends as well.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”Anne Lamott
I mean, think about it, we’re so connected these days that sometimes even the idea of unplugging seems like too much. But, in reality, we don’t need to be plugged in all the time. It’s good to unplug, and since indoor air pollution is a definitely a health concern, it’s also important (for your health and overall well-being) you have time each day to get some fresh air, wind down, relax and enjoy all the benefits nature has to offer.
Benefits of Being Unplugged and Outdoors
Although we could probably come up with countless reasons as to why you should unplug and get outside, here are a few of the main benefits associated with being unplugged and outdoors:
- You’ll have time to really reconnect and talk, face-to-face, with friends and family
- You can take an interest in and interact more directly with your children, spouse or significant other
- You’ll be able to get some space and focus your attention outwards rather than always on a computer screen or other electronic device
- You can take your mind off work and/or any problems you may have
- You’ll get some time for yourself to reflect or recharge
- You can get some fresh air and a little exercise, which often aids in overall health as well as sleep patterns
- Many people have experienced a variety of health benefits from spending time outside, including a boosted immune system and lowered blood pressure
- You’ll have an opportunity to breathe deeply and even tap into some natural aromatherapy
- You’ll be able to really observe the world around you and soak in some of the beauty nature has to offer
- Many people feel less stressed and more energized when they unplug and get outdoors
- Instead of being focused on others (via social media), you’ll be able to focus on you
- You’ll have time to make dinner or do meal preps for the week in order to eat healthier
- You can plant an organic vegetable or herb garden to grow your own
- You’ll get a daily dose of natural vitamin D (from the sun)
- Studies have shown walking in nature boosts creativity
Needless to say, the biofriendly and health benefits of taking some time to unplug and get outdoors go on and on.
Being Outdoors Isn’t a Thing of the Past
If you ask your parents and grandparents, or you might even remember it yourself (I sure do), spending time outdoors is what kids did after school and on the weekends. The idea of having to be inside all afternoon/evening was unheard of. Parents almost had to drag their kids indoors when it was time for dinner or when it started getting dark. Nowadays, parents have to pretty much pry their kids away from their electronic devices (phones, video game consoles, laptops, etc.) in order to get them to go outdoors.
Being outdoors shouldn’t be a thing of the past though. It should be a thing of the present and of the future. Getting kids (and their parents) outdoors is one of the simplest ways to reconnect with nature. Going for a walk, taking a hike or riding your bike are all ways to enjoy the great outdoors and gain a little more respect for the environment at the same time.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”Native American Proverb
It’s vital we not only teach our children how to respect and care for the environment around them, but we also show them the benefits of unplugging and connecting with nature by the example we set. | <urn:uuid:66c67131-8237-4ae8-9a12-61ad16961f36> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://biofriendlyplanet.com/green-ideas/biofriendly/biofriendly-reasons-youll-want-to-unplug-and-get-outdoors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572063.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814173832-20220814203832-00666.warc.gz | en | 0.963494 | 914 | 2.109375 | 2 |
UOP licenses MTO technology to China's Shandong for coal-to-olefins project
Honeywell's UOP granted the third technology license for its breakthrough methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, which converts methanol from coal into key petrochemicals, the company said Thursday.
China's Shandong Yangmei Hengtong Chemicals will use UOP's advanced MTO process, which combines the UOP/Hydro MTO process and the Total Petrochemicals/UOP olefin cracking process to convert methanol from gasified coal into ethylene and propylene, building block materials used in the production of films, packaging, plastics and other petrochemicals.
China is the world's largest producer of coal, accounting for nearly half of global production, according to the US Energy Information Administration, making it an attractive alternative feedstock for in-country production of plastics building blocks.
"UOP's advanced MTO solution allows petrochemical producers in China such as Shandong to tap abundant and cheap coal resources, produce high yields of valuable petrochemicals, and reduce operating costs," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell's UOP process technology and equipment business unit.
"This technology will help Shandong meet growing demand in China for ethylene and propylene."
Shandong will use UOP's advanced MTO solution to produce more than 295,000 tpy of ethylene and propylene at its facility in Tancheng, Linyi City, China.
In addition to technology licensing, Honeywell's UOP will provide basic engineering, catalysts, adsorbents, specialty equipment, technical services and training for the project, which is expected to start up in 2014.
The MTO process, jointly developed by Honeywell's UOP and INEOS (formerly Hydro), converts methanol derived from crude oil and non-crude oil sources such as coal or natural gas to ethylene and propylene.
The process, based on proprietary UOP catalysts, is proven to provide high yields with minimal byproducts. MTO also offers flexibility in the quantity of propylene and ethylene produced, so producers can adjust plant designs to most effectively address market demands.
Shandong will also use the olefin cracking process, which boosts the total yield of useable ethylene and propylene by further converting olefins produced during the MTO process.
Previously, Honeywell's UOPannounced two other MTO projects. China's Wison (Nanjing) Clean Energy Company also licensed Honeywell UOP's advanced MTO solution, while China's Jiutai Energy (Zhungeer) Co. licensed Honeywell's UOP/Hydro MTO process.
The facilities are expected to produce 295,000 and 600,000 tpy of ethylene and propylene, respectively.
Shandong Yangmei Hengtong Chemicals Co. is a global chemical enterprise that produces urea, methanol, caustic soda, hydrogen peroxide and polyvinyl chloride. The company is based in Linyi, China, and operates as a subsidiary of Shanxi Yangquan Coal Industry (Group).
From the Archive | <urn:uuid:c6af2f53-53b9-4f34-b9d8-7fe6775c8206> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2012/11/uop-licenses-mto-technology-to-chinas-shandong-for-coal-to-olefins-project | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719468.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00530-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932612 | 687 | 1.664063 | 2 |
DETROIT, Mich. — A Michigan mom is on a crusade to make the checkout process at a local supermarket more healthy and kid-friendly.
Jane Kramer created an online petition hoping the store will get rid of candy and some trashy magazines in checkout aisles.
“Inappropriate reading material with nothing for kids to look at and just junk food,” she said.
Jane says she never realized these items were not kid-friendly until she adopted her son a few years ago.
She avoids the junk food aisle, but she can’t avoid the checkout lane.
Jane also says some of the magazine covers can contribute to body issues or are just plain tabloids with inappropriate topics.
She recalls one moment where she was left speechless.
“My son asked me about the word cocaine and, while I was going to introduce the topic of drugs to him at some point, I wasn’t ready to talk about that at that age to him in the checkout aisle.”
She created a petition on Change.org and it already has more than 400 signatures.
“Some people would argue that I’m taking away their choice, but I would argue that those things can still be in other areas of the store, but we should work harder at eating junk food.”
Other stores, like Target, are trying out healthier checkout aisles.
Jane says she contacted Meijer numerous times but hasn’t gotten a response.
“They are a good company, I just want them to take this extra step.”
Now, she is asking other shoppers to step up and sign the petition.
She added, “It’s not just about parents and kids. It’s about the health of everybody.”
Meijer released a statement on the issue:
Millions of customers come to Meijer each week and our goal is to ensure our offerings appeal to the needs of a very broad and diverse customer base. We are proud of the healthy choices we offer throughout our stores as well as the fact that our customers can count on us for all of their shopping needs, whatever their buying preference. | <urn:uuid:df40ea8b-6a26-46cd-b6aa-bf06603c445a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://myfox8.com/2017/01/04/mom-petitions-to-remove-candy-and-magazines-from-checkout-aisles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280128.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00389-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968811 | 455 | 1.765625 | 2 |
- Friday, 27 September 2013 11:14
Many of thee books I read or glanced at over the recent six months have not been too helpful in understanding the newly elected Pope, Francis. A recent publication, Pope Francis: Key to His Thought, has promise. Penned by Monsignor Mariano Fazio, Vicar of the Prelature of Opus Dei in Argentina since 2010, begins the substance of his narrative when he first met Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio in Rome in 2000. Fazio was then working at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross; he was rector there from 2002-2008.
The author’s thesis is based on many friendly meetings with Francis and thus sketches in a lively manner some of the key ideas that are fundamental in knowing who the Pope is as a person and as a shepherd. I think this perspective opens wider the door of our opinion of the new pope and hopefully engenders in us a spirit of greater collaboration based on something concrete versus the media hype that is prevalent these days.
Monsignor Fazio’s text covers Francis’ “urgency to defend human life and marriage, and the need to ‘go out to the periphery’ to meet people where they are. The latter concern is reflected in the strong encouragement given by Cardinal Bergoglio to the so-called “shantytown priests” for the envangelization of the poorest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. This effort was grounded on sacramental catechesis and educational projects that foster human dignity, and was never to be confused, Bergoglio always insisted, with an overly political ‘liberation theology.'”
As Fazio says, “I have three letters he sent me in recent years. Whenever I sent him anything, he would respond in writing, in his own hand. The format was always the same: a large card with an image of La Virgen Desatanudos (Our Lady Undoer of Knots), a title originating in Augsburg, Germany (Maria Knotenlöserin) that he had made known in Buenos Aires . . . In the blank space he writes in small letters, much like Benedict XVI, a few personal and affectionate lines. Here are some: ‘I wish you a holy and happy Christmas. May Jesus bless you and our Lady take care of you. And, please, I ask that you pray and have others pray for me’ . . . These notecards were always accompanied by two holy pictures: one of St. Joseph and the other of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, saints to whom he had great devotion . . . On the back of the picture of St. Joseph is the famous text of St. Teresa of Jesus about the efficacy of devotion to the Holy Patriarch. On various occasions when, having spoken with him, I asked for his blessing, he always invoked these saints and in addition placed me under the protection of St. Josemaria.”
Pope Francis: Keys to His Thought is available from Scepter Publishers.
- Monday, 20 August 2012 10:10
Bouncing around in Catholic religious orders for some time is the notion that one can be a member of the Jesuits or the Sisters of Mercy and “go beyond Jesus and the Church.” I can remember hearing from a Jesuit whom I respected in the early 1990s that he was a “post-Christian Jesuit.” I wondered how a member of the Society of Jesus, a son of Saint Ignatius, could be post-Christian. The former Dominican Father Matthew Fox tried the same line of thinking. In fact, he’s neither a Catholic nor a Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Preachers as he’s gone to the Episcopal Church and now some kind of new ager. Christ is optional for him. Not long ago a religious sister who teaches at CTU said that the sisters in the USA can go beyond Jesus. So the recent crisis in faith in religious orders reflects a deeper divide in Christian faith in the rest of society.
I try to wrap my mind around what it means to be a post-Christian American. Father C. John McCloskey III, priest of the Opus Dei wrote a piece, “Post-Christian America
,” which I am recommending. Father McCloskey is a Church historian and research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute (Washington, DC). The point of the article is not demonstrate America’s abandonment of Christian faith but to say how it happened.
- Thursday, 28 June 2012 10:30
Two “New Yorkers” advance in the study of their sanctity: Fulton J. Sheen and Mother Angelina Teresa.
Today, Pope Benedict XVI gave his permission for the promulgation of the decree concerning the “heroic virtues” of now Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979). Sheen was a great communicator of the faith in the 20th century. His winning personality and sincerity drew people to Christ.
A wonderful development is the recognition that Brigida Teresa McCrory (1893-1984) known as Mother Angelina Teresa, foundress of the Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirmed, lived a life of heroic virtue. This is good news because it highlights the good work these Carmelite sisters continue to do, notably around the corner from St Catherine of Siena Church (NYC).
Moreover, he did the same for the former Prelate of Opus Dei, the Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, Spanish prelate of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1914-1994). He was the immediate successor to Saint Josemaria.
Angelo Cardinal Amato SDB, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presented these and other causes for sainthood.
UPDATE: Cardinal Dolan writes about the 2 New Yorkers…
- Tuesday, 26 June 2012 16:43
Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love…Don’t flutter around like a hen, when you can soar to the heights of an eagle!
Saint Josemaría Escrivá
More info on the life and works of Saint Josemaría Escrivá can be found here.
- Saturday, 14 January 2012 10:14
At the new year the Hungarians passed a new constitution with some real changes that will affect the Church and other ecclesial communities, including non-Christian groups. The New York Times ran the article that outlines the changes giving the impression that even the Hungarians are unable to name all the changes. What caught my eye thanks to Brother Richard of OSB.org, when he first posted a note on his FB page that some venerable religious orders like the Benedictines and the Carmelites and a group like the Opus Dei are now downgraded in terms of the law. But why? What does the Hungarian government gain by doing such and what are the long-term implications for the Benedictines and Carmelites? Why weren’t the states of the Dominicans and Jesuits changed? Some of what happened is noted here:
new year, as the new constitution goes into effect, all petitions to the
[Constitutional] Court lapse and it becomes much harder for anyone to challenge
this law — or any other.
“But it is worth lingering on the newly
re-enacted law on the status of churches because it is one of the places where
we can clearly see the effects of the new constitutional order on the
protection of constitutional rights. What does the law on churches do? It
creates 14 state-recognized religions, and decertifies the rest. On January 1,
over 300 denominations lose their official status in Hungary — including their
tax exemptions and their abilities to run state-funded schools. While most of
the denominations are tiny, many are not. Among the religions that will no longer
be able to operate with state approval are all versions of Islam, Buddhism,
Hinduism and Baha’i, as well as many smaller Catholic orders including the
Benedictines, Marists, Carmelites, and Opus Dei, and a number of major
Protestant denominations including Episcopalians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh
Day Adventists, Mormons, Methodists, and all but one of the evangelical
churches. One each of the orthodox, conservative, and liberal Jewish synagogues
are recognized; but all other Jewish congregations are not” (The
A Benedictine from Hungary writes
that “religious orders are still part of the Catholic Church in my country
and being as such they will maintain their legal status — all other
problematic constitutional points nothwithstanding.” (see OSB.org) | <urn:uuid:cc5868d6-9a23-4b12-b63a-398e5e616c79> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/tag/opus-dei/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719468.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00530-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945275 | 1,871 | 1.53125 | 2 |
By JAMES MEEK [interviewed in the Los Angeles Review of Books] – It sometimes seems in this kind of northern European, northern American, post-Catholic world, you are either religious, in which case you are probably smug about having a moral code that has been given to you by God, by the Bible, or even the Koran, or you’re smug about not believing in that. But there’s a gap there, because if you are one of these nonbelievers, or almost-nonbelievers — agnostics, I suppose — then are you really just going to define yourself as somebody who doesn’t believe?
That’s not enough. I don’t believe myself, but I believe that the believers have a very good point when they say to the nonbelievers: Okay, you don’t believe in God, you don’t believe that Moses went up Mt. Sinai and broke the 10 Commandments, so what do you believe? Or where are you getting your sense of right and wrong from? And it’s never seemed more evident in my country, and I think it’s very much true in America, as well, that it’s as if everything else has fallen away and the real moral constraint now is the 11th commandment, as it’s jokingly called, which is “Don’t get found out.”
In all these scandals that we’ve had recently — whether it’s bankers rigging a key interest rate or the scandals involving care homes for the elderly where nurses treated the patients very badly, or the Jimmy Savile scandal — it’s as if the people who do it and the people who are trying to stop it happening again are all focusing on procedures and rules to make sure that people are found out. And that’s fine, that’s good, but it’s not enough. | <urn:uuid:1b852c98-bdc3-40fa-95ba-07dde745b2a9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2012/12/james-meek-dont-out-americas-11th-commandment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280891.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00160-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967093 | 405 | 1.742188 | 2 |
- This Act applies-
- to any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms or developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj
- to any person who is a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion, and
- to any other person domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion, unless it is proved that any such person would not have been governed by the Hindu law or by any custom or usage as part of that law in respect of any of the matters dealt with herein if this Act had not been passed.
- Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the members of any Scheduled tribe within the meaning of clause (25) of article 366 of the Constitution unless the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, otherwise directs.
- The expression Hindu in any portion of this Act shall be construed as if it included a person who, though not a Hindu by religion, is, nevertheless, a person to whom this Act applies by virtue of the provisions contained in this section. | <urn:uuid:78dac2fc-a132-44a5-ace2-37322a09dd2a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://devgan.in/hma/section/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571502.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811194507-20220811224507-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.95792 | 255 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Many prominent Congolese groups support the congressional law and further conflict-minerals reforms.
As they prepare for presidential elections in November, Congolese fear their country will become the next Ivory Coast.
“Find the mothers,” Leymah Gbowee told the Congolese activists.
In Belgium, a village of 267 Congolese were displayed, even after some died during the exhibit.
She was in the region to deliver 15,000 mosquito bed nets to several Congolese villages along the lake's mountainous shores.
When fighting between M23 and the Congolese army erupted last week, she was forced to leave Sake, as well.
The other bank (Congolese territory), was a deserted wilderness.
If the lot of the Congolese apprentices is to be bettered, the initiative must be taken at some capital other than London.
In the case of the Congolese administrators the State provided (doubtless unwittingly) an incentive to harshness.
We didn't want him to be tried, and the Congolese didn't want to try him if we didn't want him to be tried. | <urn:uuid:be2f29d2-d3af-460d-9d59-4e8e6179bfdf> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.dictionary.com/browse/congolese | 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 | 0.975323 | 239 | 2.125 | 2 |
Our favorite Ice Breaker Games for Zoom Meetings that will liven up your virtual classroom, company calls, or family gatherings!
Let’s face it, creating virtual engagement can be a bit of a challenge. Adapting in-person interaction doesn’t always translate very well virtually. Zoom
classrooms may struggle with students getting a case of the “zoomies” aka- restless energy, while remote teams may feel uninspired jumping from meeting to meeting. So what’s the solution to engage your meeting attendees? Ice Breaker
Games for Zoom Meetings
Why They Work:
Ice Breaker Games for Zoom meetings can be easily integrated into your curriculum or team meeting agenda to boost excitement and participation. They work wonders for energizing virtual or in-person meetings and help break the ice and create camaraderie.
We’ve rounded up our Top 3 Icebreaker Games
to encourage group participation and help break the ice in your next Zoom meeting!
Get to know each other with the Take Your Pick
deck that features 150 “This or That”-style questions. Need more ice breakers? Take Your Pick II is the sequel deck for an extra 150 cards of Q & A fun! Get them both for a total of 300 ice breaker cards!
How to play:
Draw a card and choose a meeting attendee as the subject. Ask them to pick one of the two statements featured on the card, for example: ” Marching Band or Rock Band”. Make sure they keep their answer to themselves! Next, the other Zoom meeting attendees must guess which statement appeals most to their subject. To streamline the game, type your answers into the chat or have players reveal their answers on a sheet of paper. Once all guesses have been given, have your subject reveal their chosen answer.
You can choose to keep score and offer a prize for the player with the most correct guesses at the end of the game for an added bonus of fun!
A few questions for ice breaker games featured in Take Your Pick II:
- Afraid of Needles or Afraid of the Dark?
- Over Think It or Snap Decision?
- Cupcake or Cookie?
- Feel the Beat or Listen to the Lyrics?
- Like to Drive or Like to Ride?
Perfect for 3+ players , ages 8 & up.
Load up on ice breaker questions with both Take Your Pick
and Take Your Pick II
. That’s 300 cards!
Although this Ice Breaker game is designed for families, the Family Stories Chat Ring
adapts perfectly to any social setting where creating group participation is the goal. Ninety-eight ice breaker questions are featured in this game to help your group get to know one another better and have a great laugh.
You’ll love that some of the best questions for ice breaker games are featured in one nifty little travel keyring!
A few questions for ice breaker games featured in Family Stories Chat Ring are:
- What is the most important thing you have learned about life so far?
- Name something that makes you happy?
- What has been the most memorable day this year?
Although, Word Bits
is not a Q & A Ice Breaker game, it’s a fun and zippy game that virtual teams or students can easily enjoy in a group setting.
How to play:
The Zoom meeting coordinator draws a category card from the deck and rolls the amount of dice indicated on the card. Using the category word on the card, players think on their toes to name words using the letters shown on the dice and the category on the card.
If your category card is “clothing” and your dice features a T and S, “shirt, skirt or tees” would be correct answers. To streamline the game, type your answers into a chat or have players reveal their answers on a sheet of paper.
How to adapt Word Bits for a Zoom Meeting Game:
The fastest player to find words for the category card earns a point, so make sure to have a scorekeeper! The player with the most points at the end wins the game.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How do I use Ice Breaker games at work?
Whether in-person or virtually, try starting or ending your gathering with a few minutes of Ice-Breaker games or trivia questions. You can even adapt a few questions to be work-related but try to focus on getting to know your attendees.
How do I use Ice Breaker games for small groups?
Smaller groups work just as well as larger groups, however, a smaller virtual meeting may require playing more rounds of the game but with 98 questions on the Family Chat Ring and 150 cards in Take Your Pick & Take Your Pick II, you’ll have no problem keeping the virtual fun flowing!
How do I use Ice Breaker games in the classroom?
Although the Take Your Pick decks, Family Stories Ring and Word Bits are perfect for all ages, they are kid-friendly. All questions are fun and simple to answer, and the perfect conversation starter.
How do I use Ice breaker games for remote teams?
Easy! Grab a Family Stories Chat Ring
, Take Your Pick
card deck or the Word Bits
game! If you are playing our Q & A Ice Breakers like Take Your Pick decks or our Family Chat Ring, call on your virtual attendees to answer questions at random. Just make sure to have a list of your attendees and ensure everyone gets their fair share of questions. | <urn:uuid:5a87920b-7e44-4202-a79a-56927e4b3419> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.simplyfun.com/pws/DanaPogue/tabs/blog-games-for-zoom-meetings | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571719.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812140019-20220812170019-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.924205 | 1,159 | 1.71875 | 2 |
|“||Don't you believe it!?||„|
|~ Tom when he gets a sarcastic result|
Thomas Jasper "Tom" Cat is a fictional character and the main protagonist/anti-hero of the Academy-Award-winning Tom and Jerry cartoon cat-and-mouse duo. He is a blue/grey anthropomorphic cat who first appeared in the 1940 Oscar nominated short Puss Gets the Boot. Tom was originally known as "Jasper" during his debut in that short, however, beginning from his next appearance in The Midnight Snack and onward, he is known as "Tom" or "Thomas". In Tom and Jerry: The Movie, he was voiced by Richard Kind, and serves as the main protagonist. He is occasionally the antagonist in most of the shorts.
Tom is a mute, Russian Grayish-Blue cat with green eyes and yellow in the whites of the eyes. Tom has a white torso and white hands and feet. The tip of his tail is also white. The rest of his body is gray.
His full name "Tom Cat" is based on the phrase "tomcat" which refers to male felines. He is very rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons. Although occasionally, he would make yawning noises and "Ouch!" noises if he is hurt. As well as saying "Don't you believe it?" in a low, monotonous voice.
Tom is portrayed as a normal cat that continuously chases after Jerry, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to himself rather than Jerry. Tom rarely sets out to eat Jerry, only to hurt or compete with him, going to great lengths in order to torment Jerry. However, Tom is shown to get along with Jerry sometimes. Multiple times the story will start with him having nothing against Jerry, and is merely chasing him out of fear of receiving abuse at the hands of his owner if he doesn't do his job as a cat.
Tom changed his personality remarkably over the years, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal and had normal cat intelligence. However, over the years, he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. When acting as the antagonist of Jerry. Tom is usually beaten at the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and beats Jerry.
Tom and Jerry: The Movie
Tom was one of the main protagonists in the film Tom and Jerry: The Movie alongside his usual enemy Jerry. Tom and Jerry started out as enemies, but upon meeting new friends Puggsy and Frankie a dog and flea respectively, the two try and start a form of friendship, but it's a rocky start. Tom imprisons Jerry in a flower pot to get food and is confronted by a gang of alley cats, upon fleeing he and Jerry, still not the best of friends yet, meet a little orphan girl named Robyn Starling who ran away. They accompany her back to her home, escorted by an officer and quickly after getting into a scuffle with the dog Ferdinand over food and finding out about Auntie Figg's evil plans, they are sent to a pound. They escape along with the other animals and reunite with Robyn, all of whom eventually end up at a carnival on an island. After the carnival owner, Captain Kiddie, sees the reward for Robyn, he attempts to hold her hostage, but they escape to Robyn's hideout where her father would be. Her father finds and rescues them as the house begins to burn. At the end of the movie they revert back to chasing and antagonizing each other heavily.
In a series of direct to video or DVD releases following the original movie, Tom often served as a protagonist along with Jerry, though there were antagonistic tendencies between the two throughout most every one of the movies.
Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring
Tom and Jerry start the film chasing each other in the home of a young wizard named Chip. Tom is assigned to guard the magic ring in his master's absence and he is warned that if anything happens to the ring, the cat will face eviction from the house.
Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars
Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers
Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes
Tom and Jerry are allies on the case to help solve the crime in London when a beautiful singer named Miss Red is framed for the thefts of the diamonds, and prove her innocence while finding the real culprit.
Tom and Jerry and The Wizard of Oz
Tom and Jerry live on the farm in Kansas with Dorothy Gale, her dog Toto, her Aunty Em and her Uncle Henry. Tom attempts to eat a baby chick, but he is stopped by Jerry each time. After the duo, Dorothy, and Toto are magically transported to Oz, the two help Dorothy face her fears and defeat the Wicked Witch of the West to get back home.
Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse
The story begins with Tom Cat as a spy for Prince John and a Squire for Maid Marian. He is hired by the Sheriff of Nottingham to capture Jerry to fish out the spy in the castle. Later in the film, after Robin Hood's arrest, Tom realizes in horror that the Sheriff of Nottingham plans to have Maid Marian executed when she refuses to marry him, he immediately discards Prince John's symbol from his shirt and turns to Jerry Mouse for help.
When the cat and mouse duo set out to free Robin Hood and his Merry Men from the dungeon but in order to do so, they must obtain the key from the Wolf guards. Their task goes rather awry when the mace lands on Tom's tail, causing him to Yelp in pain and accidentally swallow the key, so Jerry travels all the way down into Tom's stomach and takes a path to the tail in order to retrieve the key.
Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure
Tom and Jerry live in Storybook Town, a theme park owned by a boy named Jack and his mother who are at the risk of losing their theme park.
Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon
The story begins with Tom as a kitten and Jerry as a newborn baby mouse who are raised by a girl named Athena. The cat and mouse recover a dragon egg stolen by a Siamese cat trio Tin, Pan and Alley; not knowing what to do, they decide to take it home and raise it as their own.
Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest
He and Jerry team up with Johnny Quest and his pal Hadji on a mission to rescue his dad Dr. Quest from Dr. Zin, who threatens to take over the world.
Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz
In the sequel to Tom and Jerry and The Wizard of Oz, Tom, Jerry, Dorothy, and Toto are brought back to Oz by the Scarecrow, Tin-Man, and the Cowardly Lion to help them defeat the villainous Nome King.
Heroic Acts/Good Deeds
- Teams up with Jerry to take on very naughty and devilish triplet kittens; Fluff, Muff and Puff.
- Rescues Dorothy's dog, Toto from the clutches of Miss Gulch, with Jerry's help.
- Protects the family baby from dangerous situations while Jeannie, the baby's negligent and irresponsible babysitter, was too busy talking on the phone with her friends to bother keeping an eye on the baby.
- Rescues Miss Red from Professor Moriarty.
- Joins Johnny Quest on a mission to rescue his father from Dr. Zin.
- Protects baby dragon Puffy (who mistakes him for his mother) from Drizelda's evil henchcats Tin, Pan and Alley and manages to return him to his real mother.
- Helps Dorothy Gale and her friends defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and find the Wizard of Oz.
- Helps Jack save Storybook Town from a greedy billionaire named Mr. Bigley.
- Saves Jerry Mouse on certain occasions.
- Helps save a girl named Robyn Starling from her wicked Aunt Figg.
- Saves Quacker from suicide in "That's My Mommy."
- He is also evil and battles Jerry.
- He sometimes has a happy ending in some episodes but when Spike has a happy ending, Jerry will have a happy ending as well.
- In the debut cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, he was called Jasper instead of Tom.
- Richard Kind provides the voice for Tom in Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
- It is revealed that he has a younger sister (and a nephew) in one Tom and Jerry Tales episode, Babysitting Blues.
- In the Chuck Jones shorts, it is shown that Tom has a baritone voice and sings Italian Opera, including "The Cat Above and the Mouse Below," and "Cat and Dupli-Cat,"
- Judging from how Jerry easily outsmart him and destruction that both he and Jerry caused over the course of their appearance, Tom's main weakness while competing with Jerry was his tendency for being reckless. This was shown where every time he chases Jerry, he often hit/step on objects around him and damaged them by process albeit in accident, and also often, if not always, accidentally insults Spike, which made the bulldog often beat him into pulp for this and as well messing with his son Tyke. | <urn:uuid:e3d23c7d-18ec-416a-89dd-a46ae32eec40> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_the_Cat | 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 | 0.976034 | 1,958 | 2.03125 | 2 |
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two new studies provide somewhat conflicting data on the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss after COVID-19 vaccination. One found no link and the other found a marginally elevated risk after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
"Together, these two studies, involving almost 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, suggest that further investigation of the potential association between COVID-19 vaccination and sudden sensorineural hearing loss may be warranted," write the authors of an editorial published with the studies in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.
However, Dr. Angela K. Ulrich of the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, and co-authors, say the data "must be weighed alongside the known risks of COVID-19, including COVID-19-associated sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and the many reported benefits of COVID-19 vaccination."
In one study, Dr. Eric Formeister of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues investigated reports of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) after COVID-19 vaccination reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).
During the first seven months of the U.S. COVID vaccine rollout (mid-December 2020 to mid-July 2021), 185.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the U.S. and 555 VAERS reports met the definition for probable SSNHL.
The annual incidence of SSNHL ranged from 0.6 to 28.0 cases per 100,000 people, with no significant difference among the three vaccines.
"Our analysis found that, based on VAERS reports, the estimated incidence of SSNHL after COVID-19 vaccination did not exceed the reported incidence of idiopathic SSNHL in the general population," report Dr. Formeister and colleagues.
They note that while they could not identify any "population-level" association between COVID-19 vaccination and SSNHL, "an association among some individuals cannot be excluded without further research."
In the other study, researchers in Israel examined SSNHL cases among 2.6 million members of Clalit Health Services who received a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and 2.4 million members who received a second dose.
SSNHL after vaccination was diagnosed in 91 patients within 21 days after the first dose and 79 patients after the second dose, report Dr. Yoav Yanir with Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center in Haifa and colleagues.
The incidence rate (per 100,000 person-years) of SSNHL was 60.77 after the first dose and 56.24 after the second dose. This compares to SSNHL incidence rates of 41.50 in 2018 and 44.46 in 2019.
These rates correspond to an age- and sex-weighted standardized incidence ratio of 1.35 (95% CI,1.09 to 1.65) after the first dose and 1.23 (95% CI, 0.98 to 1.53) after the second dose compared with expected cases of SSNHL estimated from rates among the Clalit Health Services population in 2018 and 2019, the authors say.
While the findings hint at a link between the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and SSNHL, the effect size is "very small," Dr. Yanir and colleagues point out.
"Considering these findings along with the good prognosis for patients with SSNHL, we suggest that the benefits of the (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its potential association with SSNHL," they conclude.
The editorialists agree.
"COVID-19 vaccines are highly successful in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and in turn reducing the risk of transmitting the virus to others. The many benefits of COVID-19 vaccines substantially outweigh the rare risks associated with vaccination," write Dr. Ulrich and co-authors.
"COVID-19 vaccines," they add, "have undergone, and will continue to undergo, extensive safety monitoring by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. and by other national and international monitoring bodies in other countries. In clinical trials and post-market surveillance, COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be safe. Ongoing surveillance to detect rare adverse events after vaccination is important to ensuring the safety of these vaccines and engendering the public's trust."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3IrHOcP, https://bit.ly/3Iriovz and https://bit.ly/3K519kp JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, online February 24, 2022.
Reuters Health Information © 2022 | <urn:uuid:083eaf90-c0c5-4253-8d62-4c529336abc4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.staging.medscape.com/viewarticle/969463 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571989.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813232744-20220814022744-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.930803 | 998 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and Anritsu Corporation announce their collaboration on Taiwan’s WLAN Offload field implementation using the Anritsu MD8475A Signalling Tester, under the support of the “Accelerating Mobile Broadband Service and Industry Development — Construct the testing environments for 4G+ network access and application” plan by the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). The WLAN Offload testing services on this project are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016.
With this WLAN Offload field implementation, ITRI and Anritsu expect to provide a test environment required for testing related WLAN Offload features for Taiwan’s Wi-Fi® device manufacturers and smartphone makers, help them develop 4G traffic offload devices and products in compliance with international standards.
Anritsu’s MD8475A Signalling Tester supports ITRI, so it can successfully establish WLAN Offload implementation with two types of offloading access (Trusted / Untrusted) defined by 3GPP, to conduct tests of Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) / Controller and dual-mode LTE / Wi-Fi User Equipment (UE). This will validate Wi-Fi AP / Controller and dual-mode LTE / Wi-Fi UE under test to ensure the accurate performance of 3GPP-defined traffic offloading functions, and further accelerate product development and validation.
The Anritsu MD8475A Signalling Tester is a reliable and powerful all-in-one base station simulator supporting all the required wireless standards, and provides extensive support for testing 3GPP-compliant data traffic offload between different Wi-Fi AP and UE. The MD8475A Signalling Tester also includes SmartStudio, an easy-to-use graphical interface software enabling simple editing call parameters, and easy creation and execution of fully automated test sequences.
“With the increasing amount of network data traffic, new supported transmission technologies will be critical to enable successful networks and handheld devices. Anritsu has proven itself to be an ideal partner, through the excellent performance of the MD8475A Signalling Tester, so that ITRI could establish and fully implement a WLAN Offload test environment in the most effective manner,” said ITRI.
“Anritsu is honored to team with ITRI to enable WLAN Offload implementation. Our MD8475A Signalling Tester integrates numerous technologies and experiences from Anritsu’s long-term accumulation, thus effectively improving product quality and lowering costs, while helping to reduce time to market,” added Ivan Chen, General Manager of Anritsu Taiwan. | <urn:uuid:b2161294-b24f-42d3-af2f-b143a5d969fe> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.tmatlantic.com/news/index.php?news=36365 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571198.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810161541-20220810191541-00272.warc.gz | en | 0.849717 | 579 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Health should always be a priority, but it’s easy to lose sight of health goals with the daily grind — especially during a year as challenging as this one. Fortunately for all of us, it’s also a great time to evaluate the past year and refresh your lifestyle from top to bottom.
Many fitness goals fall short because they’re too broad. For example, making a promise to “eat better, lose weight, and build healthier fitness habits” is well-intended, but it’s too lofty and nonspecific to make a lasting impact in your life.
Instead try starting with one overarching goal, such as improving your physical health, and taking smaller, measurable steps to make it happen. If your goal is to build the best version of yourself, get started with these 10 achievable steps — today:
1. Stay Hydrated
Hydration is the foundation of great health. Drinking water is essential to basic body functions and will help power your body throughout the day.
Lack of proper hydration can lead to fatigue, overeating, mood swings, and serious health issues. On the other hand, drinking water regularly helps with:
- Improving brain function.
- Keeping your muscles strong.
- Hydrating and preserving youthful skin.
- Boosting your metabolism.
Staying hydrated is one of the easiest healthy habits to adopt; drinking about 8 glasses a day is an achievable goal you can start today!
2. Start the Day With a Healthful Breakfast
Eating a healthy breakfast can have a positive impact on your day. A great breakfast gets your body ready for the day by:
- Kick-starting your metabolism.
- Helping you focus.
- Giving you energy.
Eating well doesn’t have to be a chore — you can whip up an easy and healthy breakfast in just a few minutes.
3. Eat Often Throughout the Day
Don’t skip meals. While it may seem counterintuitive, skipping meals throughout the day can quickly derail your efforts to establish a healthy lifestyle.
Skipping a meal can:
- Lead to a dramatic dip in blood sugar; you won’t have enough energy to get through the day, let alone have an effective workout.
- Cause you to make more unhealthy food choices; when you’re starving or your judgment is clouded by an empty stomach, you’re more likely to overeat and stuff your body with junk food.
4. Eat When You’re Hungry
Let yourself eat or snack when you’re hungry. Making healthy snack choices when midday hunger strikes can save you from overeating or bingeing later in the day.
Taking small steps towards a healthier diet is all about preparing. If you typically get hungry in the afternoon, have an apple or bag of granola ready to go.
5. Learn How to Read Food Labels
Making healthier lifestyle choices can start with learning how to read and use nutritional labels. By learning about various nutrients and becoming more aware of what you put into your body, you’ll be taking a small but crucial step towards better health.
Take this step even further by logging how certain foods make you feel. Adjust your habits to fit your fitness goals and health needs. For example, some people swear by eating carbs only in the morning, while others focus on hitting macronutrient goals.
6. Make Small Adjustments
When it comes to food, making small adjustments can really add up. Some examples to small food choices that can make all the difference include:
- Using olive oil instead of butter.
- Choosing Greek yogurt over sour cream.
- Eating fresh fruits instead of candy or ice cream for dessert.
Small but meaningful dietary adjustments can make healthy eating feel like a natural habit.
7. Take More Steps Every Day
You don’t have to hit the gym and push yourself to the limit every day to be healthy. Simply standing up and taking a few more steps throughout the day can have a major impact on your health. Getting more steps in daily on your home treadmill can help you maintain a healthy weight, manage health conditions, strengthen your body, and even boost your mood.
Keep the great choices going by taking the stairs, parking farther away from the building, or walking or biking to the grocery store instead of driving.
8. Commit to a Daily 30-minute Workout
Committing 30 minutes every day — either broken up or all at once — to exercise is a great way to build a healthier lifestyle. Whether you’re spinning, rowing, or firing up the elliptical in your living room, simply taking the time to work up a sweat for half an hour each day can have a tremendous impact on your physical and mental health. Incorporating variety into your workouts, such as alternating strength training with cardio, can help keep you engaged and on track.
9. Get More Sleep
An often-overlooked element of a healthy lifestyle is getting enough sleep. As an adult, you should be clocking about 7 or 8 hours of rest each night. Turn off the television and stop scrolling about 30 minutes before you go to bed so you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the next day.
10. Find Your Motivation
Once you commit to making small healthier choices, your larger goals will seem much more achievable. Small lifestyle changes can be building blocks for more ambitious fitness goals:
- Healthy snack choices tend to lead to healthier meal choices.
- Taking more steps every day can make it easier to work out regularly.
- Getting more sleep will give you more energy to go about your day and
To encourage yourself, it’s helpful to explore your motivations and track your feelings. What healthy choices help you feel better? What exercises feel good to you?
Building a home fitness gym around the workouts you love the most is a great way to take your healthy choices to the next level. If you’re looking for affordable, high-quality fitness equipment, the experts at G&G Fitness can help you curate the equipment you need to build the healthiest version of you this year.
For more tips on achieving your fitness goals, we recommend: Fitness for Real Beginners, Resolutions Got You Down?, Get Fit in the Gym, Lose Weight in the Kitchen, 5 Tips to Stop Treadmill Static, How to Set Your New Year Fitness Goals, It’s Not About Getting Skinny Ab’s Aren’t Just for Show.
Are you ready to build the home fitness room of your dreams?
If you’re ready to take the next steps in your fitness journey, contact the experts at G&G Fitness Equipment today, use the chat feature on the bottom right of this window to connect live with a G&G expert, or stop into a G&G Fitness Equipment showroom and let us show you why we are the best specialty fitness equipment retailer in the northeast. | <urn:uuid:44e3920c-c6b3-485c-bfad-603ee2de3978> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fynefettle.com/small-steps-that-lead-to-a-healthier-you-gg-fitness-equipment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570977.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809124724-20220809154724-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.92284 | 1,441 | 2.5 | 2 |
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
Treasurer LaVerne Bloemker
presented the financial report for the period ending March 31,
Librarian/Researcher Elsie Wasser reported that we had several new books donated by Life Member Terry Harmon of Granite City, Illinois. She reported that she had received research requests from several people for the following families: Boyles, Busse, and others. She reminded those present that they should fill out a surname card in the genealogy room so that others researching the same families would be able to contact you.
Two guests were present: Mary Ann Bonneville, from Maryville, Illinois; and the speaker, Bill Wilson of Albers, Illinois.
Bill Wilson, President of Hill's Fort Society, presented a program titled Forts and Blockhouses in Illinois: Then and Now.
Mr. Wilson talked about the 160 plus known forts and blockhouses in Illinois. He first gave a definition of a blockhouse as either a fortified cabin or the structure, used as a lookout post, built in the corner of a log fort. The structures covered by Bill's presentation date from very early Native American "stone forts," which are generally just piles of stones used as shelter during battles, through the structures of the French and British eras, to the last ones built during the Blackhawk War of 1832. The presentation was illustrated with a computerized slide show of many sketches, models, old photographs, and modern photographs of the original sites and some reconstructed forts and blockhouses. His presentation was extremely informative and enjoyable. | <urn:uuid:59340d15-4262-428b-9343-2b8b36356919> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmadcgs/minapr08.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280065.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00541-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973469 | 329 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Tesseroids: forward modeling in spherical coordinates¶
A collection of command-line programs for modeling the gravitational potential, acceleration, and gradient tensor. Tesseroids supports models and computation grids in Cartesian and spherical coordinates.
Official site: http://tesseroids.leouieda.com
License: BSD 3-clause
Source code: https://github.com/leouieda/tesseroids
Latest release: v1.2.0 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.16033)
Tesseroids is research software. Please consider citing it in your publications if you use it for your research.
See the list of known issues for things you should be aware of.
The geometric element used in the modeling processes is a spherical prism, also called a tesseroid. Tesseroids also contains programs for modeling using right rectangular prisms, both in Cartesian and spherical coordinates.
Take a look at the examples in the Cookbook. They contain scripts that run Tesseroids and some Python code to plot the results.
If you’re the kind of person who likes to see the equations (who doesn’t?), see the Theoretical background and the references cited there.
For a more detailed description of the software, options, and conventions used, see the usage instructions.
Also, all programs accept the -h flag to print the instructions for using that particular program. For example:
$ tessgrd -h Usage: tessgrd [PARAMS] [OPTIONS] Make a regular grid of points. All units either SI or degrees! Output: Printed to standard output (stdout) in the format: lon1 lat1 height lon2 lat1 height ... ... ... lonNLON lat1 height lon1 lat2 height ... ... ... ... ... ... lonNLON latNLAT height * Comments about the provenance of the data are inserted into the top of the output Parameters: -r W/E/S/N: Bounding region of the grid. -b NLON/NLAT: Number of grid points in the longitudinal and latitudinal directions. -z HEIGHT: Height of the grid with respect to the mean Earth radius. -h Print instructions. --version Print version and license information. Options: -v Enable verbose printing to stderr. -lFILENAME Print log messages to file FILENAME. Part of the Tesseroids package. Project site: <http://fatiando.org/software/tesseroids> Report bugs at: <http://code.google.com/p/tesseroids/issues/list>
- Known issues
- Theorerical background
- Using Tesseroids
- A note about heights and units
- Getting help information
- Computing the gravitational effect of a tesseroid
- The -a flag
- Verbose and logging to files
- Comments and provenance information
- Generating regular grids
- Automatic model generation
- Calculating the total mass of a model
- Computing the effect of rectangular prisms in Cartesian coordinates
- Calculate the gravity gradient tensor from a DEM
- Simple prism model in Cartesian coordinates
- Simple tesseroid model
- Convert a tesseroid model to prisms and calculate in spherical coordinates
- Convert a tesseroid model to prisms and calculate in Cartesian coordinates
- Using tesslayers to make a tesseroid model of a stack of layers | <urn:uuid:214d8138-1d8c-4d42-b68a-b65e08adef10> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://tesseroids.readthedocs.io/en/v1.2.0/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571090.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809215803-20220810005803-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.754713 | 786 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Machine Learning for Asset Failure Prevention
We help you plan, optimize, execute and more when it comes to managing your equipment and facilities.
Helping to Move Water Utilities Into the Digital Age
NEER™ is a comprehensive integrated real-time water management platform. NEER™ uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically Machine Learning, to model and assess the risk condition of delivery assets within drinking water distribution, sewer, and stormwater collection systems. The NEER™ platform includes distinct modules for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater to plan, analyze, and manage different utility systems.
Trying to understand the lifespan of critical utility assets by using spreadsheets and maintenance reports creates an impossible challenge to utility engineers. Differences in operating conditions, maintenance intervals, equipment standards, asset service life, and environmental factors all contribute to this challenge. Utility engineers are stretched to their limits evaluating service conditions and planning asset replacement. Many utilities rely simply on age-of-asset and infrequent condition inspections to drive asset replacement.
As a result, utilities experience catastrophic asset failures in some areas of the delivery system, while other assets are replaced far too early in their lifespan. Root cause failures typically go undetected, and both operating and capital expenses exceed desired levels.
IWS delivers the NEER™ real-time utility management solution to improve utility asset insights. NEER consumes existing asset history and condition assessment results into Machine Learning A.I. for predictive maintenance recommendations. Our shared objective is to find the highest-consequence assets early during the Machine Language implementation, then continue refinement to improve on initial results. Insights from the ML analyses feed both maintenance and capital planning recommendations. IWS customers can start small with NEER™ and realize early benefits through recovery of operating expenses.
During these unprecedented times, small- to medium-sized utilities are under even more pressure to “do more with less.” Utilities must meet regulatory requirements and sustain operations even when revenue fails. Under these operating conditions, a “smart” utility management implementation can de-risk utility silos, clarify expenses, and optimize capital plans.
Let the IWS team’s industry experience help your organization realize the benefits of AI rapidly – IWS has a Small System Starter Plan designed to stretch operations budget and deliver ROI during the pandemic. Contact IWS to start saving today! | <urn:uuid:af6feab7-dfb2-4232-a369-c61012cc1e4c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://insightfulwatersolutions.com/services/machine-learning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.903015 | 477 | 1.617188 | 2 |
One hundred years ago, on May 21, 1912, Denver voters approved an amendment to the city charter permitting the city to acquire and finance land outside the city limits — and thus the Denver Mountain Parks were born. Soon after, the city hired renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to survey the mountain areas west of Denver and develop a plan for the park system.
The idea for mountain parks had first been proposed to the Chamber of Commerce in 1909 by John Brisben Walker, an energetic Denver businessman and self-made millionaire. Walker owned Red Rocks and had built an incline railway there. He had come to Denver in 1879, establishing the first successful large- scale alfalfa farm in what is now the Highland neighborhood and starting River Front Park, Colorado’s first amusement park. A visionary, Walker loved Colorado and believed mountain parks would showcase our scenery and help attract visitors and future residents.
Today, 22 mountain parks and 24 conservation/wilderness areas stretch across Clear Creek, Douglas, Grand and Jefferson counties — more than 14,000 acres in total and all safeguarded from development. In addition to Red Rocks, our mountain parks include the stunning vista of bison grazing in Genesee Park; Summit Lake near the top of Mount Evans; the international ski resort in Winter Park; Lookout Mountain, where Buffalo Bill is buried; and Daniels Park, where the legendary scout Kit Carson reportedly built his last campfire. Visitors can hike, ski, picnic or simply relax and enjoy magnificent mountain views in some of the most spectacular landscapes in Colorado — and, some would say, the world.
As we begin to celebrate the parks’ centennial, it is vital to imagine their second hundred years. What will the parks need to survive and thrive in the coming century?
In 1913, J.B. Walker argued that the full potential of the mountain parks was not being realized. For one thing, the park board wasn’t acting quickly enough to build roads to reach them. As a result, tourists and the dollars they could bring to Denver were heading south to Colorado Springs, where roads already linked the city to the mountains.
If Walker were writing about the parks today, he would describe different problems — and opportunities. Where once visitors couldn’t reach them because of poor or non-existent roads, now some parks are so well-loved they are overrun with cars and too many people who leave trash and trampled vegetation behind. Perhaps in the future, as is now true in some national parks, visitors will tour the mountain parks in buses, not in private vehicles.
Curiously, in other ways, the mountain parks are relatively unknown. Because they border county open space, many Denver area residents don’t realize the parks exist, even as they enjoy them. It’s even harder to grasp the benefits of the wilderness and conservation parks that preserve watersheds and mountain views. When driving on Interstate 70 along the foothills west of Denver, notice the contrast between open space and hillsides crowded with houses. Where you see open space, chances are you’re looking at a Denver mountain park.
Many people don’t realize the mountain parks need ongoing support in the form of political advocacy, money and volunteering. The mill levy tax passed in 1912 to provide dedicated funding to the mountain parks was eliminated in the 1950s. Now, the mountain parks compete with other city departments for limited resources. And because they are outside of city limits, they don’t have a city council representative to fight for their interests. A master plan, completed in 2008, details the challenges the parks face and recommends improvements, but much of the plan hasn’t been implemented due to lack of funds.
“Denver has not yet begun to comprehend what she possesses in the Park of the Red Rocks,” Walker wrote in 1913. It was true then, and it’s still true today. We have a treasure in all the mountain parks. If we want them to continue for the next 100 years, they will need more of the vision, dedication, hard work and funding that has sustained them thus far.
Erika D. Walker serves on the Bluff Lake Nature Center board of directors. She is J.B. Walker’s great-granddaughter. | <urn:uuid:3cfc0745-c924-4c3f-ac0a-747c97d44af9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.denverpost.com/2012/05/31/guest-commentary-denvers-mountain-parks-need-protection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284411.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00457-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961412 | 879 | 3.015625 | 3 |
GOP pushes back on cash governor seeks for voting machines
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers are refusing to commit to the millions of dollars sought by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to back up his demand that Pennsylvania’s counties buttress election security by replacing their voting machines before 2020′s presidential elections.
Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Legislature say that a roughly $34 billion budget counterproposal they are finalizing does not include the $15 million Wolf requested, and that they want Wolf to back off his stated intention to decertify voting machines in use last year.
Republicans never agreed to require counties to replace voting machines, and helping finance the purchases is Wolf’s problem, not theirs, said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre.
“This was a crisis that the governor created, and he needs to resolve it,” Corman said in an interview. “I feel bad for the counties, because he put a huge unfunded mandate on the counties, but that’s his responsibility.”
Wolf last year began pressing counties to buy machines with a paper-based backup, following warnings by federal authorities that Russian hackers had targeted Pennsylvania and at least 20 other states during 2016′s election.
Wolf’s administration has warned lawmakers that Pennsylvania could otherwise be left as the only state — and certainly the only presidential battleground state — without voter-verifiable paper systems that allow a voter to double-check how their vote was recorded.
Wolf’s office said in a statement Wednesday that the integrity of Pennsylvania’s elections “is everyone’s responsibility” and that it would continue pushing for lawmakers to support aid to counties.
“If they elect not to support protecting Pennsylvania’s votes, Governor Wolf will assess the best path forward for the commonwealth,” Wolf’s office said.
Pennsylvania is one of about a dozen states where some or all voters, until recently, have used machines that store votes electronically without printed ballots or another paper-based backup.
The so-called direct-recording electronic machines in wide use in Pennsylvania make it almost impossible to know whether they’ve accurately recorded individual votes or if anyone tampered with the count.
But Republican senators have complained that Pennsylvania is rushing to buy machines at considerable taxpayer expense when there are logistical hurdles and no legitimate example of an election irregularity in the state.
“This is sort of the governor buying into the whole national narrative that Trump stole the election,” Corman said. “There’s zero proof of that.”
Wolf’s administration, however, contends that the Trump administration supports its position.
Since 2016, a wide range of election integrity advocates and computer scientists, as well as former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have urged states to switch to machines that produce an auditable paper trail.
The total replacement cost could exceed $100 million in Pennsylvania. Wolf’s plan, issued in February, is for the state to pay $15 million to counties each year for five years, for a total of $75 million.
Information provided by Wolf’s administration Wednesday showed 33 of 67 counties, including Philadelphia, have plans to start using new voting systems on or before the April 2020 primary election. Several of the state’s most populous counties were not among them.
A particular sticking point for Republicans is Wolf’s administration forcing all 17 counties that already use machines with a paper-based backup to replace them.
Wolf’s administration has maintained that those machines are aging, lack continuing support for their software and hardware and will be more expensive in the future to replace. | <urn:uuid:3ae2131a-0677-4980-894b-7ef768b717bd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://apnews.com/541a2e66a2fc40c5a26c30c5f882e7e8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573399.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818185216-20220818215216-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.958361 | 768 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Microsoft: Linux violates a sea of patents
In an interview that appeared yesterday on CNNMoney.com, two executives from Microsoft’s legal department stated that some of the most popular open source software, including Linux and OpenOffice, violate over 230 patents of the big of Redmond.
According to data provided by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s legal advisor, 42 violations are borne by the Linux kernel , 65 of the Penguin GUI components, 45 of OpenOffice, 15 of e-mail programs, and 68 of various other software. The total is 235 “proven transgressions”. Smith failed to identify specific patents or disclose how they are infringed.
It is not the first time that BigM accuses open source software of containing technologies of its own: as early as November 2004, the CEO of the Redmond giant, Steve Ballmer, cited the results of a study drawn up by the Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) company. in which it was stated that Linux could infringe 228 patents 27 of which belong to Microsoft.
At the time, the Microsoft boss took the opportunity to throw a not too veiled threat to Linux users: “One day someone might knock on your door and ask you to pay the rights related to these intellectual properties.” Perhaps Ballmer hoped that SCO Group would fulfill his “prophecy”, but today the legal war launched by the latter against IBM and other Linux players seems destined to be wrecked.
Many members of the open source community they fear now that Microsoft is trying to do what SCO failed that is, leveraging its patents to keep the open source community in check and claim royalties from all Linux distributors and users.
A fear fueled by new statements from Ballmer , also reported in the CNNMoney.com article. “Microsoft’s rivals operating in the open source sector must play by the same rules followed by the rest of the industry,” said the famous executive. “What is right is right. We live in a world where we respect intellectual property and promote its respect “.
It should be noted that Microsoft, rattling off the numbers relating to patent infringements, has not limited itself to citing en passant data already in the public domain, as done by Ballmer in 2004, but has provided unpublished details, probably deriving from an internal study or on commission: this shows, according to some observers, that this time Microsoft is serious . However, not everyone is of this opinion. Others believe that a legal war “to the SCO”, but with an entity of the caliber of Microsoft as protagonist, it would give rise to a shock wave that would end up damaging, if not overwhelming, the entire software industry including the same company as Bill Gates.
Among the supporters of open source the most popular opinion is that the recent statements by Microsoft have the purpose of creating the so-called FUD that is a climate of fear and uncertainty capable of favoring the company’s recent strategies: strategies which, although aimed at collecting royalties from the open source world, do so in an underlying way, through agreements – such as those stipulated with Novell, Wal-Mart and most recently Samsung and Dell – which offer partners legal protection.
Often from this type of agreement Microsoft does not derive an immediate economic advantage, at least not significant, but in return it obtains exclusive commercial relationships, privileged access to the intellectual properties of its partner, exchange of technologies and various forms of collaboration. As also recently recalled, this policy is seen by many supporters of the Penguin as the attempt by BigM to control the Linux market by weakening all distributors and large companies that do not make deals with it.
Be that as it may, some go so far as to read Microsoft’s claims as the first major threat to open source. | <urn:uuid:76001e07-7a06-4d20-980c-d08bd99cb854> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://gamelen.com/en/microsoft-linux-violates-a-sea-of-%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bpatents/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570765.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808031623-20220808061623-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.958745 | 781 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Why is the cloud important? For procurement applications in the cloud there is an inherent “democracy.” Participants, without regard to role or particular software instance, effectively participate on the same platform. This does not in itself mean that there is a neutralization of benefit for one party or the other, but it does mean that while participating in the exchange of value, there may be a greater opportunity for collaboration or discovery. Moreover, cloud levels the playing field internally (for business users) and externally (for suppliers and trading partners). And it does so without regard for size, IT skills, experience and budget (within reason).
Defining Cloud Computing and Its Various Layers: Supply Chains in the Cloud (Part 2) [Plus+]
For full access to this Spend Matters Plus content: | <urn:uuid:4376f50d-c115-40f0-9e57-e3b3ed7dcfab> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://spendmatters.com/2016/06/07/defining-cloud-computing-and-its-various-layers-supply-chains-in-the-cloud-part-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00196-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915202 | 161 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Autopsies on the brains of military veterans who experienced traumatic brain injury from a blast showed pathologic similarities to the brains of athletes who'd had repetitive concussions that led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), researchers found.
Neuropathologic examinations of the brains of four veterans identified neurofibrillary and glial tangles containing the abnormal protein tau throughout various regions, including the frontal and parietal cortex and hippocampus, according to Lee E. Goldstein, MD, PhD, of Boston University, and colleagues.
There also was clear evidence of degeneration of axons in white matter adjoining the areas of tau deposition.
The brains of four athletes showed similar tau-based tangles and axonal loss, findings that were not present in the brains of four young adults who died from unrelated causes and with no history of brain injury, the researchers reported online in Science Translational Medicine.
"We uncovered evidence of CTE-linked tau neuropathology, including multifocal perivascular foci of neurofibrillary and glial tangles immunoreactive for phosphorylation-independent and phosphorylation-dependent tau epitopes in the brain of blast-exposed and/or concussive-injured veterans," Goldstein's group observed.
These injuries were "indistinguishable" from those seen in athletes like Dave Duerson, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after years of psychiatric deterioration following a football career characterized by multiple head injuries.
To explore the potential mechanisms of these changes, the researchers developed a mouse model of neurotrauma simulating the conditions of a blast from an improvised explosive device, such as those widely detonated throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
In this model, they were able to measure the strength of the blast wave, which had a Mach number of 1.26, followed by wind velocities exceeding 330 miles per hour, which is much higher than any naturally occurring gust of wind.
This blast wind led to oscillating acceleration-deceleration effects on the murine head, with radial acceleration reaching 954 krad/s2.
The acceleration-deceleration injuries, in turn, led to neuropathologic changes similar to those in the human cases, with phosphorylated tau, axonal dystrophy, and degeneration of the hippocampal architecture.
The researchers then looked at the effects of the structural abnormalities on function, and found that 2 weeks after the blast exposure the mice were showing impairments in learning and memory tasks, while gross neurologic function, as reflected in movement and exploration activities, remained intact.
These impairments persisted for up to a month, with memory retrieval measures being significantly worse (P<0.05) compared with effects seen in sham-blast control animals, suggesting a long-term loss of plasticity in the neuronal synapses.
Finally, because the experiments suggested that acceleration effects on the head might be responsible for the injury, they immobilized the animals' heads during a blast, and found that memory retention in that group remained normal.
The findings in this study "suggest that [traumatic brain injury] induced by different insults under different conditions can trigger common pathogenic mechanisms leading to similar neuropathology and sequelae," the researchers stated.
In addition, the study "raises concern that blast exposure may increase risk for later development of CTE and associated neurobehavioral sequelae," they warned.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and Steven T. DeKosky, MD, of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, noted that an estimated 285,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.
Gandy and DeKosky explained that they too have been studying brain injury and CTE among athletes, and noted that carriers of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele, who have an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, also may be more likely to develop CTE.
However, they argued that it would be premature to initiate widespread testing for the allele in schools or among military recruits at present, because little is known as yet about the life course of CTE and the influence of the allele and other factors.
Rather, they recommended setting up a network of research centers focusing on traumatic brain injury and CTE that would enroll adolescents exposed to sports head injury who have varying apolipoprotein alleles and different ethnicities.
The participants would maintain a lifelong diary of concussive injuries, and if possible, would use "smart helmets" that could measure the various impact forces on the head and brain.
The results could then be analyzed according to apolipoprotein ε4 status to estimate the genetic contribution.
Although the project would be lengthy and expensive, it ultimately might help prevent large numbers of cases of dementia, the editorialists suggested.
"If lifestyle modifications for APOE ε4 carriers -- such as avoiding high-impact sports or opting for military careers that do not put the brain at risk -- can reduce dementia prevalence in 2050 by even 1%, we would gain an annual savings of $10 billion in costs of care -- and immeasurable savings in terms of human suffering," they wrote.
One co-author is an advisory board member of Immunotrex Biologics, while all other authors had no competing interests.
- Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
Science Translational MedicineSource Reference: Goldstein L, et al "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in blast-exposed military veterans and a blast neurotrauma mouse model" Science Trans Med 2012; 4: 134ra60.
Science Translational MedicineSource Reference: Gandy S, DeKosky S "APOE ε4 status and traumatic brain injury on the gridiron or the battlefield" Science Trans Med 2012; 4: 134ed4. | <urn:uuid:0564af23-197a-4d3c-b795-e5bfc39bb660> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/headtrauma/32720 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00220-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945989 | 1,249 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Here is a snapshot of my workspace as “Arthur’s Day” comes to a close in Ireland tonight. “The Sharp”, a blogging Irish Bible scholar, posted a hilarious lambaste today about Arthur’s Day — a holiday I had not heard of before today. On reading this wiki article on Arthur’s Day, I saw that I was missing nothing. Indeed, I was immediately disappointed in Ireland’s secular culture — as is “The Sharp”.
I converted to Christianity just before heading off to college. Part of the reason for my conversion was the contrast I saw between Christianity and secular culture. I would only later discover the error of my thinking, but in my early college years, Christianity was my lifeboat in the sea of secular superficial commercialism. Christianity was my antidote to the curse of secular culture.
It was only in Christian circles that I saw careful thinking about “the good life”, efforts to nurture “healthy emotions” and an emphasis on the reflective life. So in my senior year of High School I embraced Christianity. Mind you, there were many other factors in my conversion, but the threat of valueless secular culture on entering college was one of them. Others were the death of a friend and a Christian girlfriend, so I don’t want to play those down, of course. 🙂
Moving in the other direction, then, a large part of my deconverting from Christianity was seeing that other religions did the same as Christianity: they offered healthy cultures also. Then even later I began to see how reflective, healthy secular cultures abounded too. My original choice for Christianity was based on a limited sampling — but I am grateful for how it served me in those years when all I saw offered by secular culture was careless attitudes toward objects, people and ourselves. Again, I now realize that I did not open my eyes very wide. Culture is redeemable without religion, but it ain’t easy.
Also, see my post on “Cultivating Positive Emotions“. | <urn:uuid:43e4ca8a-c5de-43a3-894e-74ca7c5b6e74> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://triangulations.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/the-curse-of-secular-culture/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280730.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00249-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978063 | 425 | 1.570313 | 2 |
It is the 100th anniversary of Metal Bulletin this year. We should congratulate all those who have been responsible for maintaining the magazine in its pre-eminent place in the market for all of that period.
Trevor Tarring – who is very definitely among those we toast – has been producing a fascinating series of pieces describing the atmosphere in the various decades of that century.
At any time during that illustrious history, one could have undoubtedly pointed at the changing face of news reporting and claimed it as revolutionary – a game-changer, if you will.
The arrival of the telegraph, for example, or the telex, or intercontinental telephone communication – all of these things changed the face of news gathering and dissemination in a profound way.
Nonetheless, two targets have been constant for Metal Bulletin.
First is the commitment to provide pricing information. This is an essential part of the market, and Metal Bulletin quite rightly regards the timely and accurate reporting of this data – either by distributing exchange reports or by relying on its own database and network of information-gatherers – as a vital part of its position in the business.
Market participants rely on this information to price deals, so the accuracy and timeliness of these assessments are of unquestionable importance. It is one of those things whose real value we would only miss if it disappeared, so effectively and efficiently is it done.
The other axiom the magazine is founded on is the importance of the gathering and circulation of news. This, I think, is where the process of technological change has a part to play.
At the moment, it is an interesting question as to where we find our news. The traditional media – newspapers, television, radio – are all still operating and in varying degrees of good health.
However, there is now another layer – social media – that makes a news reporter of everyone who has a smartphone. I heard of the Boston marathon bombings via Twitter, for example, well before I saw it on TV or heard it on the radio.
This could be considered as the commoditisation of news, and as we well know in the commodities business, it is the added-value part of any deal, rather than the underlying, which is often the most significant.
So how does a publication differentiate itself in a world where factual information is so widely available?
To begin with, it exploits the new media itself, to ensure it is at the forefront of any technological developments. Metal Bulletin has certainly done that – there are several Metal Bulletin Twitter accounts, which are used both to point readers towards fully-formed stories and also to put out immediate news items.
The other area is how the news is treated, beyond the initial factual report. The underlying factual accuracy is obviously essential, but it is the way those facts are interpreted which very often guides which publication we choose to follow.
This is where Metal Bulletin’s strength really lies. The inherent historic corporate knowledge is a great backdrop against which to work, but the real value is in the depth of understanding of the journalists, who take the raw news and give it context and relevance in terms of the market as a whole.
That is why the publication has been around for a hundred years. It is why Trevor Tarring can write about how it has succeeded in so many different environments and why those of us who read it as a first source of market information today are pleased to raise a glass to the current editor and staff, but also to their illustrious predecessors, all of whom have worked to keep the magazine at the top of its game for so long.
We look forward to the next successful 100 years.
(I should add at this point that I write this as a user of Metal Bulletin and as an occasional contributor. The views in this piece are entirely my own.) | <urn:uuid:d0b7f290-a0e0-487b-a86d-fa3aa42fc33f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://lord-copper.com/the-changing-face-of-metal-news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573118.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817213446-20220818003446-00679.warc.gz | en | 0.96606 | 778 | 1.539063 | 2 |
When the Great Recession kicked off in 2008, the Federal Reserve announced a stimulus program that bought up bonds by the trillions.
In a symbolic move that underlines the confidence the Fed has in the U.S. economy, today the Federal Open Market Committee said it was staying the course and ending the third round of economic stimulus, known as quantitative easing.
In a statement the FOMC explained:
"The Committee judges that there has been a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market since the inception of its current asset purchase program. Moreover, the Committee continues to see sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy to support ongoing progress toward maximum employment in a context of price stability. Accordingly, the Committee decided to conclude its asset purchase program this month."
As expected, the Federal Reserve also kept its benchmark short-term rate at near zero. According to the statement, the Fed expects to keep that rate at the historic low for "a considerable time."
But giving itself some wiggle room, the Fed said:
"However, if incoming information indicates faster progress toward the Committee's employment and inflation objectives than the Committee now expects, then increases in the target range for the federal funds rate are likely to occur sooner than currently anticipated."
"Chair Janet Yellen is completing two years of bond purchases that started under her predecessor, Ben S. Bernanke, as the Fed nears its goal for full employment. She must now chart a course toward the first interest-rate increase since 2006 while confronting risks from a slowing global economy and declining inflation. The FOMC repeated it will consider a wide range of information in deciding when to raise the federal funds rate, which has been held near zero since December 2008. Most Fed officials expect to raise the rate next year, according to projections released last month.
"The Fed said it will continue reinvesting proceeds from a balance sheet that swelled to a record $4.48 trillion in the course of three rounds of so-called quantitative easing that started in November 2008 during the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s.
"The latest round was announced in September 2012, with monthly purchases of $85 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The Fed began a step-like reduction of purchases in January 2014, cutting them by $10 billion per meeting." | <urn:uuid:2579d0b6-7ffa-4f12-b6f8-644792f00f35> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/10/29/359868045/federal-reserve-stays-the-course-ends-most-recent-stimulus-program?ft=nprml&f=359868045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571993.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814022847-20220814052847-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.966159 | 473 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Elon Musk’s plans for Tesla humanoid robot seem unlikely
“In the future, physical work will be a choice,” says Musk, who also warned about the dangers of super-intelligent technology outsmarting humans…
There’s a lot of maybes in this story but according to recent reports, Elon Musk will probably release a humanoid robot prototype next year. The billionaire has dubbed his latest innovation the “Tesla Bot”, which he says is designed to do “boring, repetitious and dangerous” work.
Looking at Musk’s record of releasing products we’re almost certain these details aren’t set in stone but according to the CEO, the robot will be 5ft 8in height, weigh 57kg and walk at a speed of 5mph. It will also be able to carry around 20kg, deadlift 68kg, and handle tasks such as attaching bolts to cars with a spanner or picking up groceries at stores.
The robot will use the same artificial intelligence that the electric car company uses for its vehicles and be built from “lightweight materials” with a screen embedded in the body-like casing to display information. The head alone will feature eight cameras and various sensors.
“Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company because our cars are like semi-sentient robots on wheels,” Musk said during the company’s AI Day event, which is designed to attract engineering and research talent to the company.
During the event, Musk also warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, a concern he has expressed several times over the past few years. Still, he has said that the Tesla bot is “intended to be friendly and navigate through a world built for humans.”
Of course, robots aren’t impossible but it somehow feels like controversial products are a surefire way to get attention when other, more legitimate but less blockbuster, announcements are being made. As well as the humanoid, Tesla announced an AI-optimised, custom computer chip called D1.
Interested in more discussions about Tesla’s inovations? Don’t miss V12 Sparks – Episode 1: Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1T.
The company is using this chip to create a supercomputer called Dojo, which intends to process vast amounts of camera and sensor data from Tesla cars to train the neural networks behind its self-driving technology.
Sure, Dojo is a great name, but it just doesn’t get the same attention as an AI-powered humanoid robot from the Tesla billionaire who likes to scaremonger about AI-powered humanoid robots. And considering Musk’s 2019 promise of unleashing a million autonomous “robotaxis” onto America‘s streets never materialized…the idea that a humanoid robot might appear by next year seems like a shaky promise at best.
Ready to make friends with robots? This one can be Human’s new best friend: the XGO-Mini robot dog. | <urn:uuid:bb6117dd-6149-4fbc-8e31-6aeb39b11792> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://designwanted.com/elon-musks-tesla-humanoid-robot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572063.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814173832-20220814203832-00669.warc.gz | en | 0.938764 | 631 | 2.0625 | 2 |
A company looking for lithium in hot springs in Cornwall has found the metal at "globally significant" levels.
Global demand for lithium, which is used in batteries for mobile phones and electric cars, is increasing.
Cornish Lithium has been sampling deep geothermal waters near Redruth and said initial tests indicated some of the world's highest grades of lithium.
Chief Executive Jeremy Wrathall said the results gave Cornwall "potential for a real new industry".
He said: "This is an exciting step towards the realisation of low-carbon lithium extraction from geothermal waters in Cornwall."
The company said samples taken from between 0.37 miles (600m) to 3.2 miles (5.2km) deep indicated the best overall chemical qualities for lithium encountered in published records for geothermal waters in the world.
Average lithium concentrations were found to be high at 220 mg/l with low concentrations of total dissolved solids - relative to other geothermal waters in the world - and "ultra low" concentrations of magnesium, a metal that makes processing more expensive.
Cornish Lithium and Geothermal Engineering Limited, the developer of the United Downs Geothermal Power Project, were recently awarded funding from the government to build a pilot lithium extraction plant.
The £4m project will trial direct lithium extraction, which removes dissolved lithium compounds from water without the need for the large evaporation ponds that are used in arid regions of South America.
Mr Wrathall said if the pilot was successful they were looking at three to five years before production could begin but "that coincides very neatly with when Britain really transfers to electric vehicles in a big way".
He said there was potential in Cornwall for combined geothermal and lithium extraction plants at other locations.
Two independent laboratories were asked to confirm the grades of lithium.
Rob Bowell, from SRK Consulting, which provides services to mining and exploration companies, said: "The lithium grades ... are globally significant."
Mr Bowell said it was "a fantastic opportunity for Cornwall to lead the charge on environmentally responsible extraction of this critical raw material". | <urn:uuid:25a656fe-25c2-4f58-bdc8-34003e9f4cf2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-54188071 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571987.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813202507-20220813232507-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.953798 | 429 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The Old West has held the hearts and minds of Americans from the beginning, both for the adventure it represents and the iconic firearms it inspired. While we, for the most part, no longer live like that, it is possible to own a modern reproduction, thanks to Cimarron Firearms.
Properties of Cimarron Firearms
All Cimarron’s firearms are authentic reproductions of real, Old West guns, from shotguns to rifles, to handguns. While the guns are manufactured in Italy by Uberti, Cimarron uses genuine articles to base all their firearms on, even down to mimicking the style of font used. The replicas are fully functioning, usable, and are meant to be taken into the field, not stored in a glass case.
Cimarron’s guns are CNC manufactured, so the precision machining offers greater function and reduces the risk of misfires. Even with the CNC machining, there is still a significant amount of work that is done by hand, ensuring the smoothest fit possible.
The finishes are often hand done, with multiple finishes if that’s what the original calls for. Many of these are done in the US since authenticity is a byword for Cimarron.
Why Choose Cimarron
Cimarron is a leader in quality reproductions in the US, with Cimarron even being the first stop when Hollywood makes a western movie. With a reputation not only for historical accuracy but for firing accuracy, it’s no wonder Cimarron is the first stop for those who dream of owning an authentic looking firearm.
As well as creating accurate replicas, Cimarron works to implement small changes to improve the safety of their firearms, as the originals were a little lacking in that area. An example of this can be seen in their single action handguns, where there is a short transfer bar, spring, and firing pin arranged inside. This prevents the hammer from being tripped until the gun is fully cocked.
Call us today to place an order, for technical support, or product information. | <urn:uuid:1b9fca4f-0073-494c-b87b-e828c5536d31> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ifatactical.com/cimarron-firearms-sterling-heights/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.947527 | 427 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Boeing is building a laser gun for the U.S. Marine Corps.
No, not that ray gun you see above -- that was the U.S. Air Force Airborne Laser. And no, we're not talking about Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser or its Laser Avenger projects, either. Respectively, those weapons systems require anything from the size of a Boeing 747 to a small tank to lug them around.
Boeing's newest laser weapon system, in contrast, is small enough to be transported by hand.
Boeing's new Compact Laser Weapon System (LWS), in four easily assembled parts. Image source: U.S. Marine Corps.
Well, by a few hands at least. According to a Boeing representative, the company's new Compact Laser Weapon System (LWS) breaks down into four parts, each transportable by one or two Marines. Boeing says these components include:
- a battery
- a water-cooled chiller
- a commercially available fiber laser
- an upgraded beam director, weighing 40% less than a previous model.
In total, the system weighs about 650 pounds and would probably be operated by a squad of eight to 12 soldiers or Marines.
Setting up a Compact Laser Weapon System at the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One exercise in Yuma, Arizona. Image source: USMC.
Able to be assembled in just 15 minutes, LWS is capable of generating an energy beam of up to 10 kilowatts that can, depending on the power level, be used to acquire, track, and identify a target -- or even destroy it -- at ranges of at least 22 miles. The weapon is designed specifically to track and attack moving aerial targets such as incoming artillery rounds, and low-flying aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
U.S. Special Operations forces are currently testing LWS, with "multiple" branches of the U.S. military expressing interest -- and no wonder.
According to Boeing, alaser gun such as LWS offers the military a "low cost per shot and an infinite magazine" -- both very attractive attributes. Indeed, in a press release, Boeing observed that "with a steady power supply, the Compact LWS can fire continuously." Such a weapon, once operational, might be used to sweep a battlefield, destroying everything it contacts, making it a significant force multiplier for dismounted infantry units.
Targeting image through the Compact LWS viewfinder at 37 km distance. Image source: USMC.
What Boeing's new laser gun means to investorsAs one of the smallest laser weapons currently in development, LWS could turn into a pretty big force multiplierfor Boeing's profits, too. According to a recent study by MicroMarket Monitor, the market for directed energy weapons in the U.S., including research and development funding, hit $3.1 billion in 2013. That number is expected to more than double (to $8.1 billion) by 2018, implying a long-term annual growth rate of 21.5% -- nearly twice the 12% profits growth rate that analysts project for Boeing.
Perhaps more important, Pentagon spending on laser weapons research, development, and -- eventually -- purchases -- holds the potential to reverse declines in revenue at Boeing's defense businesses. According to S&P Capital IQ, sales at Boeing's Network and Space Systems division (which includes lasers research) dropped 6% last year from 2013 levels. Military Aircraft, Boeing's most obviously bellicose division, saw revenues slump 12% in the same period.
Should Boeing capture even just a 25% share of Pentagon-directed energy spending, however (a not unreasonable goal, given how few major defense contractors we have left), these revenues could replace essentially all revenue declines Boeing Defense has suffered over the past year. Assuming steady 9.3% profit margins, a 25% share of the $8.1 billion laser weapons market in 2018 could potentially produce as much as $750 million in operating profit for Boeing -- amounting to 10% of the company's current operating profitability.
In short, Boeing's new Compact Laser Weapon System may be designed for easy portability and small size. The profits, however, could turn out to be very big indeed.
The article Boeing's New Laser Gun Could Be a Game-Changer for U.S. Soldiers originally appeared on Fool.com.
Rich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 331 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | <urn:uuid:a10fcd19-51e9-4d69-9834-9dff6f22f9d8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/boeings-new-laser-gun-could-be-a-game-changer-for-u-s-soldiers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.938954 | 1,034 | 2.28125 | 2 |
The days between Monday to Friday are known as "weekdays", these are the days we usually go to work. It's also important to know that "weekday" and "days of the week" are not the same thing. In "days of the week" we refer to all seven days of the week (Monday-Sunday.)
In some cases we have a holiday either on a Monday or Friday. This means the weekend is extended for extra days of rest. We call this a "long weekend." I wish we could have a long weekend every week!
As you can tell from the pronunciations above, we don't always pronounce everything the way it's spelled. For example, in "Wednesday," the "d" is silent. It's also important to know the common abbreviations of these days.
Not so difficult, right?! What's your favorite day of the week? | <urn:uuid:fb079ee0-794e-42f3-8444-8597eb5af77d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.theenglishstudent.com/blog/days-of-the-week | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280128.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00388-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972697 | 182 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Stop Waiting to Stand Up and Be the Leader.
Develop the Skills You Need Now!
A Self Made Leader
“Contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not a reserved position for a particular group of people who were elected or appointed, ordained or enthroned. Leadership is self-made, self-retained, self-inculcated and then exposed through a faithful, sincere and exemplary life.” ~… | <urn:uuid:1ba1cb8d-f52d-4b58-bf15-3e7d4c9ed771> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://medium.com/the-kickstarter/7-tools-you-must-have-in-your-leadership-tool-box-c2b55eaa1b98?source=post_internal_links---------5---------------------------- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572581.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816211628-20220817001628-00072.warc.gz | en | 0.948242 | 90 | 1.65625 | 2 |
This video says about itself:
Vulture Release Nepal, Krishna Bhusal. On the 9th of November this year Bird Conservation Nepal, working as part of the SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction) consortium, released six captive-reared white-rumped vultures
they can be recognised by the yellow plastic tags on their wings
into the wild, in a conservation first for South Asia.
Read more here. | <urn:uuid:842267f7-ddc8-4d71-b567-9329779d6853> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/captive-reared-vultures-freed-in-nepal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572089.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814234405-20220815024405-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.919961 | 95 | 1.992188 | 2 |
OREGON OUTBACK: Malheur in April
Buena Vista Ponds and Overlook in beautiful light
When the Olympic Peninsula’s spring rains get the better of me, my mind wanders to the high desert of eastern Oregon, where the wide open spaces and vast blue sky provide a particularly American salve for the soul. In that land of sagebrush, my favorite place is Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is located south of Burns, about 550 miles from my home. This year Karen and I spent a day on each end driving, plus three days, April 24 to 26, in and around the refuge.
I like Malheur in any season, but July can be a bit sleepy and hot. Late March is great for seeing thousands of Ross’s and Snow Geese near Burns; the sight of ten thousand white geese suddenly lifting off a marsh is enough to inspire my love of nature for years. This year our window of opportunity was late April; to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld’s crude comment: you go to bird with the time you have, not the time you might want.
Just over 100 years ago, Malheur was a hotspot for plume hunters. In the early 1900s, ladies loved to wear egret plumes on their hats with the same fashion intensity that twenty-somethings now feel for their eyebrow piercings. Bird populations at Malheur and the Everglades and other bird hotspots were mined for feathers by hunters who were as plume crazy as the ladies that lunch. To stop the slaughter in its bloody tracks, President Theodore Roosevelt created Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 1908.
It took another crisis and another Roosevelt to develop the refuge’s infrastructure. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, young men working in two CCC camps on the refuge built the beautiful stone headquarters complex, as well as two fire towers and the Center Patrol Road that so many of us now like to explore. You can thank Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency for this birding opportunity. Some say the 1930s social programs such as the CCC were makework jobs programs: don’t believe it for an instant. Everywhere across America our state and national parks and refuges owe much of their long-term success to this early, sensitive development by hard-working young men and the designers and foremen who led them. This program was the very model for success, and I would like to see a new version implemented today.
Birders know the key birding locations at Malheur, and there are plenty of guidebooks that tell the best places to see various birds. I’m not going to reiterate
The Center Patrol Road runs north and south through the heart of Malheur
these, but I’ll give a few impressions of our experiences at the hotspots. I’m also not going to list the species we saw, because I didn’t keep a list and I’m not much of a birder anyway; I’m more interested in photographing and observing intensely rather than seeing how many species I can see. I’ve never quite gotten the gestalt of bird identification that the best birders have.
Double-O Ranch is a favorite place. With water levels low in Harney Lake and elsewhere, the areas west of Double-O are blindingly white with salt crystals that
Alkali flats west of Double-O Ranch in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
look as if snow has blanketed the desert. It is truly an alien environment, but one Killdeer didn’t seem to mind. She laid her eggs in a shallow scrape in the salty soil; when we got too close, she tried to lead us away from the nest with her trademarked broken wing ruse. Which reminds me: about ten years ago we were on the Center Patrol Road and found a Killdeer nest on the shoulder of the gravel road. In this instance the Killdeer did not run away; instead, it attacked me and my lens with a ferocity that reminded me of insanity. I was able to get so close to this bird that I got full-frame pictures with a 24mm lens. It is possible that the bird was attacking its own reflection in the lens, but who knows what’s in a bird brain?
Double-O was also good for Willets and American Avocets and a variety of ducks this year. The small ponds are good for photographing these wading birds, using
American Avocet feeding near Double-O Ranch
the vehicle as a blind. In the past we have seen Short-eared Owls and Black-tailed Jackrabbits here, but not this year.
One late afternoon a windstorm arose. In most places a windstorm is unsettling and unpleasant for birding, but here the high winds reduce visibility dramatically. As the wind races across the abnormally dry expanses of Harney Lake and Malheur Lake, it picks up the salty dust from the lake surface. Dust devils twirl in
A dust storm created when wind whipped across a dry lakebed
happy abandon during the lighter winds, but in a heavy blow the dust rises in thick clouds from the dry lakes, reminding us of the dust bowl photos from the dry 1930s in Oklahoma. It is grim. The normally calm surface of Benson Pond turned into a severe chop that tested the seaworthiness of the Trumpeter Swans. Most of the Common Egrets in the area gathered together in the willows to ride out the storm on bucking branches. Fishermen out for opening day on Krumbo Reservoir had to give up the quest. Birders’ Subarus driving down the paved road sent up plumes of white dust. Fortunately, the wind settled down that evening.
Refuge headquarters is a good place for birders to stop. We always check out the visitor center whiteboard with recent bird sightings; in addition, the tall cottonwoods and nearby water attract all sorts of rarities each year. My favorite sight this year was seeing Yellow-headed Blackbirds and California Quail feeding at the seed feeder in front of the visitor center. A Red-tailed Hawk screeched obscenities at us from its high nest over the museum building. Belding’s Ground Squirrels appeared and disappeared like the groundhog star of Caddyshack.
Down the road at Buena Vista Overlook we watched lichens, which is much easier than watching birds but not quite as exciting. Though they may be even harder to identify. One chartreuse lichen, in particular, grew vividly on the north sides of volcanic boulders; the other sides must get sunlight too intense for this species.
A Ruddy Duck with a bill to match the clear desert sky
Down on the Buena Vista Ponds, Ruddy Ducks with their intense blue bills stole the show, though the Marsh Wrens and Cinnamon Teal competed for our attention. This year the light was wonderful on these ponds; sometimes when I’ve been here the ponds were dry, so this was beautiful.
One last favorite stop is at P Ranch. If we were here a month later we could see Bobolinks establishing territories in grassy meadows just to the north. This time, we saw dozens of Turkey Vultures coming in at sunset to roost in their traditional location: up and down the tall fire tower. P Ranch is a good place to watch for Great-horned Owls roosting in the cottonwood grove. One year we saw five porcupines feeding at sunset in the meadows near here. Each porcupine, backlit by the setting sun, had a quill halo that reminded me of a particular late ’60s Bob Dylan album cover. Kind of a prickly memory and an indicator of my age. Another year here I saw a Mule Deer with a fawn so fresh that the doe was still bloody from the birth.
I could ramble on about our Malheur nature experiences for hours, but my dear readers might abandon me wholesale. I will, however, mention that we also saw a weasel (my highlight for the trip!) along the Center Patrol Road that I attracted with my crude rendition of bird spishing. We also observed several pairs of Coyotes that ran away as if we were some rifle-toting ranchers; plus some Sandhill Cranes lifting off in their achingly graceful dances; and Wild Horses and Pronghorns gracing the sagebrush hills bordering the refuge.
If you’ve never been to Malheur in the Spring, you are depriving yourself of one of the great birding experiences in the West. Get in your car, do the un-green thing and drive hundreds of miles to the refuge, and have one of the finest birding experiences of your life. Malheur’s aura will stay with you for years.
Willows intense with spring color near Frenchglen and P Ranch
Sagebrush and willows along the edge of Benson Pond
To see my web site, which includes photographic prints for sale, please go to LeeRentz.com
To see thousands of my photographs in large file sizes for use in magazines or other printed materials or electronic media, go to my PhotoShelter Website
Click on the photographs below to see them in a larger size, with captions. | <urn:uuid:ad5fdbc7-da14-4782-8522-1f1911de45e3> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://leerentz.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/malheur-in-april/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280065.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00540-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954735 | 1,953 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The Data Validation tool is a great tool that allows you to control what gets put into a spreadsheet.
In the Requisitions column, create a Data Validation so that the same number cannot be used twice.
You can either create a separate column (D) and do a check using countif, then use data validation in Column A to check against column A.
Otherwise, build the check directly into the Data Validation (using the Custom format).
Now try and add some duplicate transaction numbers
Refer to the adjacent solution sheet in the spreadsheet
To see the full course contents click here. | <urn:uuid:b375401e-11ca-40f4-a359-9719f36efb03> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://online-excel-training.auditexcel.co.za/lesson/data-validation-example/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570921.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809094531-20220809124531-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.756027 | 124 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Support Change and the Cardano Blockchain
Earn a Passive Income
Clean Water Stake Pool supports Cardano's mission to bring a new standard in technology - open and inclusive - to challenge the old and activate a new age of sustainable, globally-distributed innovation.
Clean Water Stake Pool, a mission driven pool that donates 10% of pool profits to NGO clean water initiatives that help provide over 785 million people with access to clean water - supporting their health, education and economic vitality.
While cloud-based stake pools are important and are often the only feasible option for a stake pool operator, bare-metal servers improve the decentralization of the network and have more autonomy; Clean Water Stake Pool utilizes three bare-metal servers - a producing node in Germany, and relay nodes in France (1) and Canada (1).
Stake Pool Specs:
- Intel Xeon E3-1230 Quad Core/8 Threads
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Delegating to a Stake Pool
There are several factors to consider when delegating ADA to a stake pool -
ROS: Large Stake Pools vs. Small Stake Pools
- The Return on Staking (ROS) for large & small stake pools averages out.
- Large pools produce fewer rewards each epoch.
- Small pools produce larger rewards every few epochs
Stake Pool Pledge
The amount of pledge delegated to a stake pool can be an indication of the stake pool operator's commitment; additionally, the pledge amount can have an effect on a pool's block-production and ranking. Many suggest the minimum pledge should be 250k.
Stake Pool Margin
A stake pool margin has little effect on delegation rewards, e.g. - the difference between a 2% and a 3% margin for 500 ADA in equitable rewards is only 5 ADA; always consider the hosting environment, the pool mission, and the pool pledge when delegating to a stake pool. | <urn:uuid:20db77b9-ffeb-442f-b483-6133e0d9f583> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://thecardanoreport.com/p/cardano-clean-water-pool/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00072.warc.gz | en | 0.898496 | 441 | 1.65625 | 2 |
More than 40 million family caregivers each year provide unpaid care for aging parents, spouses, aunts, uncles, friends, or other loved ones so they can live independently at home, where they want to be (87%). These family caregivers assist with daily tasks—such as eating, dressing, bathing and transportation as well as medical/nursing tasks. The value of this unpaid care is about $470 billion dollars annually. In addition, about 3.7 million family caregivers provide care to a child under 18 because of a medical, behavioral or other condition or disability. The average family caregiver is a 49 year old female taking care of a loved one age 70-plus for about 24 hours a week.
Key findings of this national survey include:
- Across political parties, voters age 40 and older say Congress should improve resources for family caregivers who help seniors and people with disabilities to live independently. Further, these voters would be more favorable to members of Congress who want to do so.
- Across the board, family caregivers face significant challenges as they care for their loved ones—from emotional stress to balancing work and family to financial responsibility. Still, despite these challenges, family caregivers say keeping their family member or other loved ones at home is a priority.
- The majority of family caregivers age 40 and older (89%) who are registered to vote say access to services and resources would be important if their loved one needed help to remain living independently, and name priorities.
AARP commissioned a telephone survey of 1,200 registered voters nationwide, age 40 and older to learn about their experiences with family caregiving. This report highlights results from residents interviewed between February 13th and February 19th , 2015. The data in this report has been weighted by age and gender to reflect the United States registered voter population age 40 and older. This survey included both cell phones and landlines. For more information, contact Aisha Bonner at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:df9f4918-8fef-405c-8d09-ec8ae60241bf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/care/info-2015/national-survey-family-caregivers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283301.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00509-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962519 | 398 | 2.75 | 3 |
OUR dear friends, who do not believe in a future Millennium, attempt to prove that we are now enjoying the blessings of Christ's Kingdom, and point us to the Christian nations of the world, called "Christendom." They are greatly perplexed when we inquire why if Christ is King he should have different forms of government, and why his different governments for centuries have fought each other and today are wasting the blessings of our day on armies and navies and fortifications?
Alas! the name "Christendom" is a delusion. Satan is still "the prince of this world" and the term "Satandom" would be the truer title. But our "wily" Adversary is so crafty that he puts darkness for light and deludes the poor world. Thank God that soon Satan shall be bound for a thousand years that he may deceive the nations (peoples) no more, until the thousand years are finished.Rev. 20:3.
Meantime, however, some useful purposes are being served by the military expenditures. Employment is being given to millions of men not only in military and naval services, but also in the building of guns and forts and battleships,the mining of the ore, the smelting and rolling of the steel, etc. And not the poor, but the rich, foot the bills in taxes. The following from the Atlantic Monthly is interesting:
All the great nations are today facing deficits, caused in every case by the military and naval experts. Into what a tangle the finances of Russia and Japan have been brought by militarists is known to everybody. Germany has, in a single generation, increased her national debt from eighteen million dollars to more than one billion dollars. The German Minister of Finance looks wildly around in search of new sources of national income. Financial experts confess that France is approaching the limit of her sources of revenue. Her deficit is created by her army and navy. The British government is always seeking for new devices by means of which to fill a depleted treasury. Her Dreadnoughts keep her poor. Italy has for years staggered on the verge of bankruptcy because she carries an overgrown army on her back. Even our own rich republic faces this year a deficit of over a hundred million dollars, largely due to the one hundred and thirty millions we are spending on our navy. Mr. Cortelyou has called our attention to the fact that while in thirty years we have increased our population by 85 per cent. and our wealth by 185 per cent., we have increased our national expenses by 400 per cent.
Although the process of official separation from the Church is one of the greatest difficulty, delay and expense, it is computed that in Berlin alone considerably over 10,000 persons have severed their connection with the Church during the past year. So great is the number of those who are notifying [R4351 : page 83] their intention to terminate their membership that special offices have been opened in Berlin to receive their applications, which now number between 300 and 400 daily. These applications are almost altogether from members of the Lutheran Church, and hardly affect the Roman Church at all. Added to this is the significant fact that the numbers of communions, baptisms, and church marriages are rapidly diminishing. It is computed that for every five marriages celebrated five years ago in church and registry office only three are now celebrated in both places, the other two being satisfied with a civil ceremony alone.
Among the working classes, especially those attached to the Social Democratic party, there exists a bitter hostility to the clergy and all institutions which they control. The clergy have not shown themselves sympathetic to democratic wishes, siding on almost all occasions where conflict exists between poor and rich, between possessors and dispossesed, with the class in power. There is, moreover, a widespread feeling that the clergy are paid far too high salaries, yet notwithstanding this large additions have been made recently to their incomes.
Much dissatisfaction is also felt at the methods employed by the ecclesiastical authorities in collecting those dues assigned to them by law. Defaulters are as ruthlessly treated as though their debt were a civil one, and it not infrequently happens that defaulters' goods and chattels are sold to meet church demands.
But probably the chief cause of the movement against the Church is the spread of agnosticism among all classes of the population, and the fact that even in those universities where until recently an orthodox theology was taught, there are now few chairs from which ultra Liberal views are not proclaimed.London Daily Chronicle.
The newspapers far and near are publishing the following item, which can be understood only from the Bible standpoint, namely, that humanity is beset by the fallen angels ("demons") except as protected by the divine power. And that now, in the end of the age, as a part of the great test or trial of the world, the divine protection will be relaxed in considerable measure. And that as a result occult phenomena will increase human delusions with a view to various ensnarements, mental and physical. The "very elect" will be shielded by the Truth and by its holy Spirit, keeping their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Matt. 24:24.) We read:
"Fred E. Foskett, a young machinist of Orange, Mass., has attracted the attention of Prof. James, of Harvard, and other leading members of the Boston branch of the American Society of Psychical Research, who gave him tests recently.
"The first of the tests was held at the home of Prescott F. Hall on Saturday afternoon. Prof. Wm. James and several well-known professors were there, and test conditions as nearly perfect as possible were made. Foskett was seated in the center of a room before a small table. There he performed every feat of the Hindu fakir and the Buddhist adept.
"On the table was an ordinary kerosene lamp with a chimney and a flat wick, a pan and several quarts of alcohol. According to the reports of those present, Foskett succeeded in every test. The first test was made with ordinary sulphur matches. Foskett lighted half a dozen, one after the other, [R4351 : page 84] holding them with one hand so close to the fingers of the other that the flames curled around them. He then lighted the lamp and held his hands above the wick, while the flames curled over them and the soot completely blackened them.
"From one of these tests to another Foskett went, while the scientists held their breath and watched every motion until he came to the climax. In this he poured a quart of alcohol into the basin, lighted it and then washed his hands, bathing them for nearly ten minutes in the burning fluid, washing it up over his arms and to his faceliterally bathing himself in blazing alcohol. That completed the tests for Saturday. As soon as they were finished the physicians present examined Foskett, and they could not find the slightest trace of a burn or blister. Foskett then told them that the flames did not give him the slightest sensation of burning, that he felt comfortably warm and pleasant, and nothing more.
"The second tests were made at the home of Prof. James in Cambridge, and under the same conditions as the day before. Considerable mystery is thrown about them. Mr. Hall said they were so startling that he did not care to discuss them until they had been tried again. Another scientist who was there said that Foskett performed all of his experiments of the day before, and then 'ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY DEMATERIALIZED.'"
A brother in Present Truth had a peculiar experience lately. He was called to the house by cries of Fire! He found that the lighted lamp had fallen over on the bookstand. The oil was blazing over the little table, burning the books, etc. In desperation he carried the stand out and threw it, lamp, books and all, into the snow. The blaze encircled his arms and came into his face and he expected to be terribly burned. To his surprise not even the hair of his arms was singed.
After smothering the burning carpet he went to pick up the things thrown into the snow and found his WATCH TOWER Bible and Diaglott still burning, whereas the Bible of his wife (a Methodist) was not at all burned, though on the same table.
This reminds us of the case of a young man obsessed of evil spirits. A brother in the Truth heard of his case and called to advise him how to get rid of the evil spiritstaking along the Spiritism pamphlet and a copy of the WATCH TOWER. When he attempted to enter the room where the youth was, the latter became so agitated that the Brother retired. Later he entered without the literature all right. By conversation he got the youth to exercise his will against the spirits and finally got him reading.
Some who have visited the Bible House and participated in our morning hymn and prayer, and the subsequent thanksgiving at the breakfast table and reading of "The Vow" and discussion of the MANNA text offer a suggestion. They desire "The Vow" in some form convenient for reading with the MANNA, and to know the numbers of the hymns to be sung, that they may join with us in voice as well as in heart.
Undoubtedly this spirit of oneness and brotherhood will increase as we get the love of God more and more shed abroad in our hearts. The Bible House Familyhenceforth the "Bethel Home," deeply reciprocates these precious sentiments, and will sing and pray and discuss with the more pleasure because of this fresh evidence of the oneness of the family of God everywhere.
Our worship hour is 7:00 a.m., except Sundays, at 8:00 a.m. We have long given the choice of hymn to each in turn. Hereafter we will permit each to choose in advance and publish in advance the choice monthly, as follows:
(1) 19; (2) 121; (3) 155; (4) 105; (5) 198; (6) 193; (7) 7; (8) 179; (9) 176; (10) 224; (11) 263; (12) 307; (13) 312; (14) 233; (15) 208; (16) 325; (17) 119; (18) 87; (19) 144; (20) 268; (21) 114; (22) 273; (23) 116; (24) 63; (25) 313; (26) 4; (27) 72; (28) 194; (29) 93; (30) 217; (31) 264.
Some of the dear friends appear fearful lest Brother Russell should become popular and then vain. Take no anxious thought on the subject, dear friends. Leave matters in the Lord's hands. He can give you rest and keep you from stumbling either into cold opposition or even lukewarmness.
As already expressed, our expectation is that the Truth will have a very brief season of wonderful prosperity, which will draw the attention of Christendom to it through the pens and tongues of friends and foes. Even so it was in the close of our Lord's ministry, until the "rulers" said, "The world is gone after him," and took counsel to kill him. As the change of sentiment came quickly and those who hailed our Lord as King five days later cried out "Crucify him," so here the change may come quickly also.
What the Newspaper Syndicate now handling Brother Russell's sermons may sometimes say of him in laudatory terms, by no means represents Brother Russell's humble estimate of his own talents. Publishers must be allowed to use their own ideas of what they publish and how they introduce it. They recognize the fact that the sermons are striking a responsive chord with many of their readers; and they must make the unresponsive feel that there is merit and dignity in the service so that they will not oppose it.
Brother Russell has tried sending out the sermons without his namemerely as sermons from Brooklyn Tabernacle. But some of the newspaper publishers object to this, declaring that the personal feature is necessary. Let us then worry less over each other and specially guard our own hearts in this evil day; lest any root of bitterness and fault finding spring up to turn us aside. In a word, let us leave to God his supervising work and look for and thankfully use the opportunities he may be pleased to grant us in his blessed service. We "hold the Head" when we thus recognize the Lord's headship of his own work. Any other attitude is dangerous. | <urn:uuid:d003ec43-63f3-433f-b661-4c9ee48f9232> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://htdbv8.com/1909/r4350c.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571246.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811073058-20220811103058-00264.warc.gz | en | 0.975524 | 2,641 | 1.585938 | 2 |
News & Articles
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Rober Lillegard and daughter Ruby sell Duluth's Best Bread products at a fair. (Photo used by permission from Facebook.)
If the United States was a chessboard, most of us could be described as pawns alternating between three places. Home is your “first place,” work is your “second place.” The “third place” (as coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg) is a public space where you spend time mixing with all types of people on an equal basis.
Even if your housing sucks, having nice day-spot “third places” can still make you feel as hopeful as when, for example, you were reading East of Eden in the college library, right after acing that Quantum Mechanics final.
Meet the Lillegard Brothers (full-disclosure: my longtime friends and sometimes bosses) co-owners of Duluth’s Best Bread. In a small way, they are fighting this long historical trend of the destruction of the third place.
Digression alert! Wikipedia does say alternative newspapers like us are supposed to have “stylized reporting.” Strange as it may seem, the following wild trip through history goes wide but leads back to the Lillegards.
While the History Channel’s Men Who Built America were sort of grand chess masters who positioned their resources to control key spots on the map, my “Men Who Drew America” sort designed the board and rigged the game.
Throughout U.S. history, for right or wrong, small groups of men with godlike powers, created the lines of division and often endangered “third places.”
If the U.S. landscape was a canvas, the men behind the Land Ordinance of 1785 painted a grid across most of it. This theoretical grid gradually became visibly discernible on Google-Satellite views. The ordinance divided most lands not part of the original 13 states into gridded parcels that could be efficiently sold.
On Google Satellite, you can see the farms of post-ordinance-settled land are usually rectangular. On the other hand, for example, former colony Delaware has very irregularly shaped farms.
Also, especially in flat areas, roads often were conveniently built along these grid lines.
In the far west, one railroad baron, was dubbed the “Empire Builder” with the power to put down new towns like the map was a Monopoly Board.
These earlier Men Who Drew America shaped the spaces but didn’t really harm the “third place.”
The real destruction of the third place, as well as many communities, began about 100 years ago. Around the same time, the great depression and following, Robert Moses of New York City and the chessboard masters at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) were working hard to make the car supreme.
As virtual dictator of public works of NYC, Robert Moses built massive systems of highways and bridges, defunded public transit and destroyed historic neighborhoods with highways. Most other cities then did likewise. Around the same time came the interstate system, the powerful highway lobby and the great streetcar conspiracy.
From these forces a massive tidal wave of sprawl hit most U.S. cities. People had to have cars. Big auto and big oil were very happy. The FHA then continued this war against pedestrians at the local level.
It might seem strange that the federal government even has jurisdiction over what a street in suburban Topeka looks like. In an indirect way they do. The FHA offered people tons of low-interest loans but highly suggested builders put in winding streets, a lot of cul-de-sacs and almost identical houses and people (for a while, racist FHA policies kept black people from the suburbs.)
These policies segregated people by race and income. Zoning laws kept businesses out of residential areas. All this made it harder and harder to find a good third place.
Reversing this trend, Duluth’s Best Bread will have tables and coffee, making it an official “third place.”
“I’ve always liked hanging out at the Red Mug as you know,” said Robert. “Hang out spots are cool.”
Also even a nonfoodie like me can appreciate what a good baker Michael and staff are. The Lillegards are also good bosses who profit share with their employees.
Especially with tons of new remote workers, we need lots of businesses to become third places.
The Brothers Lillegard in front of new ovens at new location. (Photo by permission from Facebook). | <urn:uuid:b52d22c1-49e4-419a-aaa4-0d5620a608cd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://duluthreader.com/articles/2022/06/02/121799-duluths-best-bread-a-rising-force-opposing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572043.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814143522-20220814173522-00478.warc.gz | en | 0.967614 | 972 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Data from: Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? a prospective cohort study
Martin, Allan R. et al. (2018), Data from: Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? a prospective cohort study, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kk653rs
Objectives: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) involves extrinsic spinal cord compression causing tissue injury and neurological dysfunction. Asymptomatic spinal cord compression (ASCC) is more common but its significance is poorly defined. This study investigates if: 1) ASCC can be automatically diagnosed using spinal cord shape analysis; 2) multiparametric quantitative MRI can detect similar spinal cord tissue injury as previously observed in DCM. Design: Prospective observational longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Single centre, tertiary care and research institution. Participants: 40 neurologically intact subjects (19 female, 21 male) divided into groups with and without ASCC. Interventions: None. Outcome Measures: Clinical assessments: modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score and physical examination. 3T MRI assessments: automated morphometric analysis compared with consensus ratings of spinal cord compression, and measures of tissue injury: cross-sectional area (CSA), diffusion fractional anisotropy (FA), magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), and T2-weighted imaging white to grey matter signal intensity ratio (T2WI WM/GM) extracted from rostral (C1-3), caudal (C6-7), and maximally compressed levels (MCL). Results: ASCC was present in 20/40 subjects. Diagnosis with automated shape analysis showed area under the curve > 97%. Five MRI metrics showed differences suggestive of tissue injury in ASCC compared with uncompressed subjects (p<0.05), while a composite of all 10 measures (average of z scores) showed highly significant differences (p=0.002). At follow-up (median 21 months), two ASCC subjects developed DCM. Conclusions: ASCC appears to be common and can be accurately and objectively diagnosed with automated morphometric analysis. Quantitative MRI appears to detect subclinical tissue injury in ASCC prior to the onset of neurological symptoms and signs. These findings require further validation, but offer the intriguing possibility of pre-symptomatic diagnosis and treatment of DCM and other spinal pathologies. Registration: Not registered. | <urn:uuid:3e32df92-4a84-4094-af92-bccf72074c57> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://datadryad.org:443/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.kk653rs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.892424 | 534 | 1.515625 | 2 |
In recent weeks, Democrats have made expanding voting rights a top priority, an effort that recently failed to pass the Senate but will remain top-of-mind for congressional Democrats. Yet over the course of this discussion and public debate, the president and top federal lawmakers have completely ignored the lack of voting rights for the over 3 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico. If they are serious about voting rights for all Americans, they cannot ignore the undemocratic current territory status of Puerto Rico, which denies full voting rights to all island residents.
Even though Democrats knew that their voting rights bill was unlikely to pass, they spent an enormous amount of political capital on trying to move voting rights legislation in the Senate, with President Joe Biden visiting Georgia to champion the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed aggressively to carve out a filibuster exemption for the bill which was defeated by Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
Despite these efforts, top Democrats have failed to even mention one of the biggest voting rights injustices happening in America today, which is that the over 3 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico are denied the right to vote for president, have no representation in the Senate and are limited to a single House member without equal voting rights on the floor. This denial of equal representation to voters in Puerto Rico is made even more abhorrent by the fact that under the current territory status, Congress and the executive branch treat Puerto Rico unequally in federal laws, programs and regulations to the detriment of island residents.
The omission is particularly glaring given that voters in Puerto Rico have now rejected continuing under the unequal territory status and favored statehood among the viable non-territory options three times in the last decade. The most recent vote, held as recently as November 2020, demonstrated that a clear majority of Puerto Rico’s voters want to be admitted as a state of the union. Such a change would not only bring full voting rights to over 3 million Latino voters on the island, but would provide equal treatment under federal laws without which Puerto Rico cannot fully recover and reach its maximum economic potential.
That is exactly why congressman Darren Soto and Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón introduced the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act (H.R. 1522) which has now had two hearings in the House Natural Resources Committee, has substantial bipartisan support and is ready to be marked up. For the president and Senate majority leader to be consistent in their discourse and action, they must address the need to pass legislation in this session of Congress to definitively end Puerto Rico’s failed territory status. Such legislation, whether or not it ends up being H.R. 1522, must include a direct and implementable offer of admission to statehood for voters in Puerto Rico. Anything less would leave a gaping hole in the national agenda to protect and advance voting rights for all Americans.
Simply put, one of the most important ways that Congress can expand voting rights in America today is to respect the will of most voters in Puerto Rico who have already requested full equality and democracy through statehood.
The right to vote is sacred in American democracy. That is exactly why the president and all Democratic leaders in Congress should acknowledge the legitimate call for equal rights for the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico, and to support and join the ongoing legislative efforts happening in the House.
Puerto Rico has been under the American flag for 124 years, have been U.S. citizens for 105 years and have been denied equal voting rights in the federal government that makes and implements the laws we live under during that time. Generation after generation our sons and daughters have served in the U.S. military all over the world, with some paying the ultimate price, to defend democratic rights and freedoms that residents of Puerto Rico have been denied at home.
The debate on voting rights might be stalled in Congress for now, but Senator Manchin has an upcoming opportunity to make good on his commitment to work on issues where bipartisan agreements are possible when he takes up the topic of Puerto Rico in an upcoming hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
By working together, Congress can finally empower Puerto Rican voters to definitively decide their political status and future in relation to the federal government. When they do, Puerto Rico will be stronger and America will be stronger. The time to end unequal and unjust territory status for Puerto Rico is now.
George Laws Garcia is a former adviser to two governors of Puerto Rico and to Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in the House of Representatives. He currently serves as the executive… | <urn:uuid:7036265f-250e-4f8e-8ab5-6379d50e075c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://zanesvilletimes.com/2022/01/31/democrats-fighting-for-voting-rights-must-include-u-s-citizens-in-puerto-rico/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570741.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808001418-20220808031418-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.959117 | 934 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Mart recalled that after the Recruiter left, Levi and the farm help went back to their task of mowing the field, swish, swish, swish. Mart was a strong young man of twenty-two years, able to keep up the hardiest of his friends and neighbors, and able to do a long, hard day’s work. The words brought by the passing messenger echoed in his ears. It shouldn’t take long to whip the Rebels, and keep the country strong and secure.The scythe still hung from the maple when he returned from the war, and what remains of the blade is undoubtedly still there, embedded in the wood.
Levi’s daughter yelled across the field that it was time for dinner as they arrived back by the roadside. Mart hung his scythe in a young sapling maple tree, as the men went back to the farmhouse to eat dinner. He didn’t have much to say that day. He pushed back his plate and chair after eating the hearty dinner prepared by Ann Bartlett and her daughter, Ann, and reached for his straw hat. “I’ll finish the field when I get back,” he told them. “I’m going after that Recruiter!” [Source]
Trees can swallow up bullets, nails, barbed wire—even gravestones, given enough time (here's a Flickr pool featuring items "Eaten by Trees"). My father used to sharpen saws at a mill, and repaired the damage that hidden pieces of metal inflicted. The most impressive example was an entire peavey hook a tree had grown around. Out in his barn he keeps a section of that log with the hook still inside. | <urn:uuid:4771805c-b4f8-4a0c-9265-33961b0895ba> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2007/02/swallowed-by-trees.html | 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 | 0.983528 | 362 | 1.789063 | 2 |
World Homeless Week is organised by Church Homeless Trust as part of our mission to challenge, encourage, and support churches to help homeless people.
It embraces World Homeless Day on 10 October in solidarity with homeless people, and those who help them, world wide.
World Homeless Week is a chance to celebrate everything that churches and community groups do to help homeless people. It is an opportunity to support and encourage one another. It is also a time to consider, as groups and individuals, what more we can do to help.
Church Homeless Trust produces a free guide called ‘How to Help Homeless People’, and other educational and fundraising materials for you to use at your church, school, or community group. Please click here to download the materials. | <urn:uuid:8353d635-4eb7-4479-9caf-aec7a0e18aaf> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://churchhomelesstrust.org.uk/homeless/world-homeless-week-2018/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572043.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814143522-20220814173522-00478.warc.gz | en | 0.961425 | 151 | 1.875 | 2 |
6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL
Postgraduate - Unit
Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.
- First semester 2017 (Day)
This unit is part A of a two-part unit and must be taken in conjunction with part B (EDF5174).
This unit prepares pre-service teachers to teach physics in secondary schools and colleges both as a specialist subject in senior years (Years 11 and 12) and within the junior science curriculum (Years 7 to 10). A central focus of the unit is for pre-service teachers to develop and apply critical thinking and reflection. This enables them to build a deep understanding of the importance of developing and implementing an effective pedagogy for teaching physics that can be adapted and applied in diverse educational settings. The unit also builds an advanced knowledge of problematic physics content through an examination of the national and international physics education research literature and the application of evidence-based teaching approaches that successfully facilitate student learning. Pre-service teachers are assisted to trial and critique a wide variety of purposeful and effective teaching strategies including the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) skills and techniques considered essential for establishing a productive, diverse and sustainable secondary classroom.
In addition, pre-service teachers are introduced to local and national curricula (junior to senior years) and developments in global physics education so that they are confident about aligning and evaluating their teaching to successfully meet the demands of the curriculum. Throughout the unit, students are encouraged to work collaboratively while being challenged to consider the key issues and dilemmas impacting contemporary physics education in a variety of contexts and how these might be addressed and influence their professional classroom practice.
Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to:
- articulate and apply their understanding of a constructivist perspective of learning in physics
- link the everyday world of the learner with physics in ways that are meaningful, relevant and engaging
- interpret, critique and implement the language, content and assessment methods in senior physics curriculum documents critical for successful physics teaching in secondary schools and colleges
- develop confidence and a capacity to effectively communicate their advanced physics knowledge using a diverse range of appropriate methods, while planning lessons which encourage purposeful and critical thinking in their students
- demonstrate an awareness of the ways in which science education research helps inform teacher practice to enhance student understanding of physics concepts
- critically understand the principles of curriculum design, the content of current senior physics curricula and the pedagogy of physics education
- apply contexts for the teaching of physics content that accounts for the experiences and social and cultural backgrounds of their students
- use and creatively integrate information and communication technologies to enhance student engagement and conceptual understanding.
Written assignment including research report and lesson design (2000 words, 50%)
Class ICT presentation including reflective journal and discussion of problems (2000 words equivalent, 50%)
Minimum total expected workload equals 144 hours per semester comprising:
- Contact hours for on-campus students:
- 2-3 contact hours per week
- Additional requirements
- independent study to make up the minimum required hours per week
See also Unit timetable information
This unit applies to the following area(s) of study
Secondary health and physical educationSecondary health and physical education (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/secondary-health-and-physical-education/)
A minor sequence in physics (includes electronics) | <urn:uuid:ef831f5c-fab0-4c71-811f-534ab4e73735> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www3.monash.edu/pubs/2017handbooks/units/EDF5173.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00272.warc.gz | en | 0.914119 | 751 | 2.703125 | 3 |
App allows patients to access birth control, UTI treatment from home
Ann Arbor – Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI) has expanded its high quality health care to include online health services, allowing patients to access the care they need while staying safe and minimizing exposure to coronavirus.
“We know that sexual and reproductive health care can’t wait. Everyone is facing challenges and new stresses right now – getting your birth control or treatment for a UTI doesn’t have to be one of them,” said Lori Carpentier, President & CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan. “We’re doing everything we can to make it safe and easy for Michiganders to get the care they need.”
All Michiganders can now access care from PPMI’s trusted, expert clinicians using Planned Parenthood Direct. The app can be downloaded to mobile phones or other devices, allowing patients to get birth control or treatment for urinary tract infections (UTIs) without having to leave the comfort and safety of their home.
The app offers the same care patients are accustomed to during an in-person visit at one of our health centers. Technology improves the ease of communication between the patient and a provider, and minimizes barriers to care such as time, transportation, child care, and the availability to go to a health center appointment, all of which can delay or prevent patients from obtaining the health care they need.
With the Planned Parenthood Direct app, users now have access to low-cost contraception and UTI services.
Users can download the app for free from the Android and iOS app stores to request an annual prescription for birth control or treatment for a UTI. The app also offers information about the benefits, side-effects, and efficacy of other methods.
Here’s how it works — app users answer a few questions related to their health history securely through the app. A Planned Parenthood medical provider reviews the information according to established evidence-based protocols. Based on their health history, if the user is eligible to receive care online, the provider writes the prescription within one business day.
Patients can choose to pick up their prescriptions from a nearby pharmacy or have them delivered directly to their home. They can also sign up for automatic refills for the whole year.
- Patients must be 14 years of age or older for birth control and 18 years of age or older for UTI service.
- Patients who opt to pick up their prescription at a pharmacy may use insurance coverage. Pills delivered by mail cannot be covered by insurance at this time when using Planned Parenthood Direct.
- Visit fees are $25. The fee is waived for patients who select birth control pills delivered by mail.
- Cost for birth control pills: $25 per pack when delivered by mail. At the pharmacy, costs vary based on insurance.
- Cost for UTI medication at the pharmacy: $0-$50 based on your insurance.
- Pay with credit, debit, or prepaid card.
- Users can also make a health center appointment.
- Delivery time: 2-3 days.
- Automatic refills for 1 year.
To download the app or learn more, head to plannedparenthooddirect.org. | <urn:uuid:1054d4e2-bddd-4328-996e-0b1c5ae3e693> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-michigan/newsroom/planned-parenthood-direct-launches-in-michigan-increasing-access-to-care-across-the-state | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571584.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812045352-20220812075352-00677.warc.gz | en | 0.930247 | 664 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Deputy Secretary-General, Opening Voluntary National Review Segment of High-Level Political Forum, Urges Annual Stocktaking to ‘Keep the Promise’ of 2030 Agenda
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the 2021 high-level political forum on sustainable development’s first session of voluntary national review presentations, held today:
It is my pleasure to join you as the presentations of the 2021 voluntary national reviews begin. The [reviews] have become a centrepiece of the high-level political forum.
With 177 countries having presented at least one voluntary national review to date, they are a testament to the enduring commitment of national Governments to implement the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development] and achieve our global goals.
This year, 42 countries will be presenting their voluntary national reviews. I commend each of you for doing so.
These reviews speak to the social and economic devastation wrought by the pandemic. They take a hard look at efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, alongside, or as part of, efforts to overcome the pandemic and address its impacts.
They show the diversity or measures taken to ensure social protection, health care, vaccination, economic recovery, food security, education, mental health, inclusion or employment. And they highlight the need for debt relief, disaster resilience, digitalization and systems approaches to overcome multiple challenges.
The experiences presented by the 42 countries will allow the high-level political forum to discuss the kind of recovery plans or strategies that can get countries on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This may include integrating the Goals into national policy frameworks, budgets, stimulus packages, investments or evolving from emergency social protection measures towards inclusive social protection systems.
But, the voluntary national reviews are not simply a report or a presentation at the high-level political forum. They are a national process of in-depth review and consultation on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
We have seen countries use the preparations of their voluntary national review to strengthen their institutions or policies to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Some have consulted stakeholders and groups that were not previously engaged on national policies. Others have made new commitments or launched innovative initiatives to track their progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, or to increase transparency on their use of public resources.
The voluntary national reviews also often strengthen cooperation between ministries and statistical offices. Many countries have also become more ambitious and rigorous about their voluntary national reviews. This year, some [reviews] reflect independent analysis by specific institutions or stakeholders. A few build on voluntary local reviews.
I commend the more than 100 United Nations country teams that have already supported host countries in preparing voluntary national reviews, working in tandem with the reviews convened by [the Department of Economic and Social Affairs] each year. I would also like to commend the work of regional economic and social commissions for their support to voluntary national reviews.
Ultimately, voluntary national reviews create space for Governments and their partners to identify what is needed to keep the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The General Assembly, in its recent resolution on the high-level political forum, encourages countries to identify next steps and forward-looking accelerated actions in their voluntary national reviews. It is encouraging to see that this is already the case in a number of this year’s [reviews]. The “SDG Moment” that the Secretary-General will convene in September will provide a further opportunity in this direction.
In the coming weeks, we will work closely with delegations in New York to identify Heads of State and Government from voluntary national review-presenting countries that are eager to further elaborate on their plans, needs and priorities for the remainder of the Decade of Action.
United Nations country teams, under the leadership of resident coordinators, stand ready to support countries in this regard. As the General Assembly reviews the capacities and funding for the resident coordinator system in the coming weeks, we have an opportunity to ensure that we increase the share of assessed funding for the resident coordinator system and step up our support to sustainable development in this Decade of Action. This is an opportunity we simply cannot miss.
I look forward to your discussions this year, as you continue to enrich this forum with your contributions, experiences, ideas and dialogues. | <urn:uuid:db4e9138-ab22-4c56-b8ac-20ff9c4f721b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://press.un.org/en/2021/dsgsm1608.doc.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572033.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814113403-20220814143403-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.938373 | 876 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Here is my previous post on What is needed for research?
“Connectivism can draw much from research in related fields such as neuroscience for understanding biological basis of learning, AI for how neural networks function, sociology for external connections, psychology for conceptual formations, systems thinking for understanding how the entire system of education relates”
Thanks George for your insights. I agree.
There are both opportunities and challenges:
- Reinforce the theory of connectivism – especially a deeper understanding of the concepts and principles governing connectivism.
- Inform authorities and stakeholders (i.e. higher education in particular) of the theoretical framework of “emergent” connectivism
- Introduction of psychology for conceptual framework and connections would provide a leverage to connections, and a framework in understanding the dynamics of both strong and weak ties (at all three levels – neural, conceptual, external/social).
- Some critics viewed connectivism as a blend of different theories – including behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, social constructivism, complex and chaos theories, constructionism,..and are similar in certain ways to Actor Network Theories (ANT). How would such research be “integrated” given that each theory proponents have their own views on those theories? Extending those theories into connectivism would need to be considered under specific context. Will the findings be inconclusive? And I am not too sure when it comes a “virtual world” whereas some research findings may not be reflective of reality (will provide evidence based on url in coming threads). How would one overcome that?
- Which is more important in research? Applied connectivism? Empirical research? Cross discipline research?
- Will any of the researches be funded?
- Given that such researches may be based on individual initiatives (such as a PhD thesis), competition (in funding) rather than collaboration may arise.
- If the researchers are to form networks, will copy right (or plagiarism) be an issue? How original will such researches be?
- How will peer review be coordinated? Is it through institutions or networks? How will credentials be achieved?
- It’s difficult for novice to weave through the different theories, and any research on those other areas create conflicting views in connectivism (which may turn up to be a good idea).
I think getting research done in those areas is not too difficult, as there are already many PhD candidates doing research in this connectivism area. Getting coordinated results and collaborations amongst researchers would be the most difficult part of it. A “network” or “community of practice” approach would likely yield better result. But would it be easy to coordinate such efforts? Networking amongst researchers is never an easy task – note the ”autonomy of scholars” and “islands of researches” that has happened in the past.
Even by now, only you and Stephen are the main pioneers in this area, would we need more people to join? But again, this will add complications to the theory, as it is evidenced in this course, towards a learner centred approach, and as an emergent learning theory.
I am still learning…
Your comments please.
An update on the research into MOOC:
MOOC paper (27 Dec 10)
Here is post – Learning on MOOC by Rita.
Rita highlights the findings:
- Power relations on the MOOC
- Confidence levels of novice MOOCers
- The level of presence of participants and facilitators
- The willingness to help by all involved.
I have also briefly shared my observation and discussion here.
- Time and information management
- Personal learning and critical literacies
- Power and influence
Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? by Rita Kop and Adrian Hill
I have yet to digest the above researches completed, and how they relate to the findings on the Design and delivery of MOOC – PLENK that I am still working on.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to:
Dave Cormier, Bonnie Stewart, George Siemens, and Sandy McAuley
Rita Kop, Hélène Fournier
Roy Williams, Jenny Mackness
and many other researchers
for their sharing of various research findings. This would greatly help in consolidating the research into MOOC and PLENK.
I will likely take some more time in the analysis of results before I could publish. Will keep you posted on the progress.
Would integration of such findings in MOOC, PLENK be the greatest challenge?
Here is a challenge on Connectivism with wiki post. What could be concluded from such a debate?
What are the merits and demerits in applying a Contemporary Theory of Learning in this digital age?
Is the new learning model replacing the old learning models? What are the pros and cons with each model of learning?
What makes a valuable learning theory?
Would Connectivism be the Learning Theory of the Present or the Future? Why? Why not?
Or may be a New Learning Theory that could embrace the learning of both digital and non-digital citizen.
Postscript: Useful resource PhD thesis by Andres Meiszner: http://www.openedworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25:the-emergence-of-free-open-courses-lessons-from-the-open-source-movement&catid=4:latest-news).
Photo: source unknown | <urn:uuid:e7ee1bd5-74f4-4c7a-bdfd-13641e52a07e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://suifaijohnmak.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/cck11-research-into-connectivism-mooc-and-plenk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00272-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91953 | 1,155 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Billionaires fund group that's writing laws
There is a larger story to the “Stand Your Ground” law and it’s called ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group funded by the Koch Brothers and other large corporations. They are not a lobbying group. They write legislation in the form of templates and push them through conservative legislators whom they often support through campaign contributions.
In Iowa, House members’ ALEC dues are automatically paid for by taxpayers, according to the House clerk, Charles Smithson. A legislator must opt out of ALEC, rather than opt in. All of the Iowa Democrats in the Iowa House have opted out except for one, Brian Quirk of New Hampton. Many Republican House members are ALEC members and Gov. Terry Branstad is a founding member of ALEC. In the Iowa Senate, dues are not automatically paid by taxpayers so there is no way to find out if a senator is a member short of asking individual senators or submitting a freedom of information request.
If Iowans knew where some of these laws are coming from, they might have a different view of whether these laws are appropriate for our state. ALEC is responsible for pushing voter ID laws, union-busting laws and anti-education laws through state legislatures. It is important for the media to inform the public about where these laws are coming from. | <urn:uuid:40724b1d-123f-445a-a5a9-48118533a00c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.thegazette.com/2012/04/10/billionaires-fund-group-thats-writing-laws | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721141.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00417-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944936 | 274 | 1.773438 | 2 |
1 - 3 of 3 Results
The Rapid Gender Analysis seeks to draw attention to the gender dynamics in the war in Ukraine—both preexisting and emerging—and draws out recommendations for humanitarian leadership, actors and donors to ensure consideration of the gendered dimensions of risk, vulnerability and capabilities in response and preparedness to this crisis.
Midterm evaluation of the Ukrainian National Action Plan on implementation of UNSCR 1325 “Women, Peace and Security” until 2020
National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 (NAP 1325) can serve as important tools for governments, multilateral organizations and civil society organizations to support the translation of UNSCR 1325 into practical action and to strengthen women’s roles in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and security processes.
Gender Brief Albania 2016 gives an overview and analysis of gender equality in Albania. It captures on-going work, reviews progress and identifies gaps in implementing Albania’s international and national commitments on gender equality and the empowerment of women. To support EU policy makers in tailoring pre-accession assistance to the Government of Albania, it presents priority actions to improve the lives of Albanian women and girls in six key areas and identifies new, emerging sectors that require action. | <urn:uuid:78520c95-9fdb-4ae0-a5b4-ec326cfe9069> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://eca.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications?f%5B0%5D=resource_type_publications%3A2105&f%5B1%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1864&f%5B2%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1890 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.871702 | 260 | 1.976563 | 2 |
The Preeminent Importance of 9/11 by David Ray Griffin
IntroductionIn March 2007 the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun published an article by Professor David Griffin entitled "The American Empire and 9/11". This is in fact the first substantial 9/11 truth article ever published in a national magazine in the U.S., and is an excellent, succinct overview of the most powerful arguments for 9/11 being an inside job.
Prof. Griffin begins by noting that it is now generally acknowledged that there is an American empire, the only disagreement being as to its nature, whether benevolent and magnanimous, or aiming at a fascist domination of the world. He writes:
The historical evidence clearly supports [a] non-benign view of the American empire. Part of this evidence is the fact that U.S. political and military leaders have arranged “false-flag operations” as pretexts for war. We did this to begin the wars with Mexico and the Philippines and to begin the full-out attack on Vietnam.
After mentioning Operation Northwoods he raises the question as to whether in fact
[the] 9/11 attacks were false-flag attacks orchestrated by the Bush administration to enlarge the U.S. empire under the cover of the “war on terror.”
He states that an examination of the evidence provides a strong prima facie case for official complicity, and goes on to summarize the evidence in answers to six questions:
- How Could Hijacked Airliners Have Struck the WTC and the Pentagon?
- Why Did the Twin Towers and Building 7 of the WTC Collapse?
- Could the Official Account of the Pentagon Possibly Be True?
- Why Did the President and His Secret Service Agents Remain at the School?
- Why Did the 9/11 Commission Lie about Vice President Cheney's Activities?
- Did the Bush-Cheney Administration Have Motives for Orchestrating the 9/11 Attacks?
Interested readers (and who cannot be interested in solving the most heinous crime committed so far this century?) may read the evidence presented in Prof. Griffin's answers to these questions either in the article published on Tikkun's website here or in this PDF file (82 KB). The remainder of this web page contains the Conclusion from Prof. Griffin's article (which is followed by an Afterword, which is not reproduced here).
Conclusion: The Preeminent Importance of 9/11
The above evidence [presented in the answers to the six questions], plus the fact that all the “evidence” that seems to implicate the alleged hijackers, such as cellphone calls, airport photos, and discovered luggaqe and passports, appears to have been fabricated, leads to the conclusion that 9/11 was a false-flag operation orchestrated by the Bush administration for primarily imperial reasons.
If this conclusion is correct, then exposing the falsity of the official account of 9/11 should be high on the agenda of all people committed to reversing the present policies of the U.S. government, for at least four reasons.
First, 9/11 has provided the pretext for at least most of the malevolent and destructive policies carried out by the Bush-Cheney administration since that day. When any objection is raised to this administration’s illicit policies from illegal invasions to torture to illegal spying to weaponizing space to talk of a nuclear first strike the answer is always the same: “The critics fail to understand that the world changed on 9/11.” Until the truth about 9/11 is exposed, it will remain a blank check for virtually anything desired by this administration.
Second, the truth about 9/11 is one truth that the American people would not tolerate. They have proven remarkably, even disturbingly, tolerant of many other things such as the clear indication from the Downing Street memo that the Bush administration planned to “fix” the intelligence about Iraq’s WMDs that should have led to demands for impeachment. But the American people simply would not allow an administration to stay in power after learning that it had orchestrated the attacks of 9/11.
Third, the orchestration of the attacks of 9/11 goes far beyond any previous instance of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that have previously been cited as cause for impeachment. The attacks were in the words of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld themselves heinous crimes. Any U.S. citizens who participated in planning, carrying out, and/or covering up these attacks are guilty of treason, as defined by Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution, because these attacks were acts of war against the United States again, according to the assessment of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld themselves. If this treason is not publicly uncovered and prosecuted, there is little hope for the survival of the democratic forms we still have. If we fail to have a serious investigation of the prima facie evidence for such treason especially given the fact that this evidence, once examined, is overwhelming we will in effect be telling the perpetrators that they can get away with virtually anything.
Finally, to reverse the policies of the Bush-Cheney administration will require more than simply removing this administration from office something that could be legitimately done for any number of reasons. The attacks of 9/11 were orchestrated to further the project of creating an American empire of truly global scope and, as we saw earlier, this has been a long and bipartisan project. Differences have involved strategy, emphasis, and demeanor more than the goal itself. The replacement of the BushCheney administration by a Democratic administration for some reason other than 9/11 would probably simply result in a reversion to the subtler, more sophisticated, and hence more effective form of imperialism that the United States previously exercised.
What needs to be publicly recognized is that the bipartisan global domination project is, as I have put it elsewhere, “propelled by fanaticism based on a deeply perverted value system.” Those who read books and magazines about U.S. imperialism know that there has long been abundant evidence for this assessment. But the public revelation of the truth about 9/11 could have an educative value extending far beyond the circles of those who read policy-oriented books and magazines. If Americans came to see that the attacks of 9/11 were, in the minds of those who planned them, justified by the goal of creating an all-encompassing empire, this realization could lead to widespread revulsion against the goal itself and the values implicit in it values that are diametrically opposed to basic values embedded in all the world’s religions and ethical systems.
88 “False-Flag Operations, 9/11, and the New Rome: A Christian Perspective,” in Kevin Barrett, John B. Cobb Jr., and Sandra Lubarsky, eds., 9/11 and American Empire: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Speak Out (Northampton: Olive Branch, 2007).
89 For an analysis of the memo and the press coverage, see Mark Danner, “Why the Memo Matters,” New York Review of Books, July 14, 2005 (http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=3602).
90 In calling the evidence “overwhelming,” I mean the total evidence now available (much of which is contained in my five books on 9/11), not merely the brief summary given here.
91 See David Ray Griffin, John B. Cobb, Jr., Richard Falk, and Catherine Keller, The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006).
92 “9/11 and the American Empire: How Should Religious People Respond?” Originally on BookTV (C-Span 2), April 30, 2005; text published at 9/11 CitizensWatch, May 7, 2005 (http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=535). A somewhat revised version, entitled “9/11, the American Empire, and Common Moral Norms,” is in Griffin and Scott, eds., 9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out. I have used the term “demonic” for this value system in “The Divine and the Demonic,” chap. 8 of Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11.
Copyright 2007 David Ray Griffin
The World Trade Center Demolition and the So-Called War on Terrorism Serendipity Home Page | <urn:uuid:412ff121-26ab-41a4-87d7-c78511188ce5> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://serendipity.li/wot/importance_of_9-11.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718309.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00404-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938479 | 1,766 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Stiff heart syndrome occurs when amyloid builds up in the heart and affects the organ's ability to pump blood. Without treatment, the condition can lead to heart failure and death, the college said in a statement.
The new MRI technique, extracellular volume mapping (ECV), could help clinicians better identify and quantify amyloid in the heart and thus offer patients better and more effective care, said senior author Prof. Dr. Marianna Fontana of University College London in the U.K. in a statement released by the journal.
"Since MRI scans are widely available, by developing the use of extracellular volume mapping in a machine that already is used for these patients, we hope that its use can be made available to more patients to help improve their care," she said. "The aim would be to use these scans routinely for all patients with the disease to help doctors monitor the response to chemotherapy ... and improve patient survival, which is very poor in patients who do not respond to treatment."
Although heart amyloid may be relatively easy to discern, it can be challenging to measure the amount of amyloidosis -- and this can make it difficult to assess the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy, the first-line treatment for stiff heart syndrome, the team noted. To address the problem, over the past decade Martinez-Navarro and colleagues have developed cardiovascular MRI extracellular volume mapping to measure both the presence and amount of amyloid protein in the heart.
Improvement in cardiac amyloidosis demonstrated by cardiovascular MR (CMR) extracellular volume mapping (ECV) for amyloid. Baseline scan on top row; after six months of chemotherapy mid row; and one year after chemotherapy bottom row. There are progressive reductions in CMR (identified as T1 in column two) and ECV (column four) over the course of the treatment. Image and caption courtesy of the University College London.
To test its effectiveness, the investigators conducted a study that included 176 patients with stiff heart syndrome who underwent MRI using ECV at diagnosis and at six, 12, and 24 months after starting chemotherapy. They then tracked patient response by assessing changes in the presence of amyloid protein in the heart at each of these follow-up time points.
The MRI amyloid mapping technique was able to measure the effectiveness of chemotherapy among patients with stiff heart syndrome by assessing the amount of regression of the amyloid volume.
|Effectiveness of MRI-ECV in measuring chemotherapy effectiveness in amyloidosis patients
|Amyloid volume regression
|Amyloid volume progression
Of the patient cohort, 25% died during the follow-up period; the authors found that an individual's chemotherapy response at six-month follow-up predicted risk of death, with a hazard ratio of 3.82 (p < 0.001) in those who had progression of the disease. But on the positive side, the study also showed that ECV data indicated that at 24-month follow-up, chemotherapy was effective in almost 40% patients with this condition.
"The scans and data made available using this technique gave us the information to both see the amount of amyloid protein and also the regression in amyloid during the course of chemotherapy treatment," said study co-author Dr. Ana Martinez-Naharro. "This is incredibly valuable for clinicians. Knowing the amount, rather than just the presence of amyloid, means they can better guide treatment by more accurately deciding timing and protocol of second-line chemotherapy treatments."
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One of Sasquatch’s favorite past times is playing fisbee. It is a great way to get in some exercise, get some vitamin D and spend time with friends or family. As we look at getting outside during the Covid pandemic, it is important to remember the social distancing guidelines. This is a great option as you are typically across a field from your friend while playing frisbee. There are a few guidelines that are important if you choose to play this with someone you are not in quarantine with though.
One of the challenges you can face while playing this fun game outside is the light interfering with your game. Take your RLVNT sunglasses out with you and you will be able to perform to the best of your abilities. These glasses offer polarized lenses which cut through blinding glare and allow you to see what is actually there. With lens options like our freshwater collections, you can choose the color that best suites your environment.
Before doing any activity with people you are not in quarantine with, be sure you fully understand how the virus spreads. You may want to check out the CDC’s website for more information. If you choose to play, minimize risk by using hand sanitizer any time you touch your face. Get your supply of hand sanitizer here. For those who still decide to play rounds with people other than cohabitants, Jonas said that taking the following actions would make that choice as low-risk as possible:
- Keep your distance.
- Wipe the discs with disinfectant wipes or disinfectant.
- Don’t shake hands or give high 5’s.
- Wash your hands or use hand sanitizers.
There are a lot of other outdoor games you can play with friends while social distancing. See our fun list below for suggestions on new and fun games to try with your quarantined buddies.
- Bean Bag toss aka Cornhole. If you have the yard game at home, great but you can easily make one. See how on this link.
- Tic, Tac, Toe with sidewalk chalk. You could even get creative and color a “stained glass” type masterpiece while you are at it. Here are some ideas of chalk art you can do at home.
- Go for a walk (while social distancing) Get together with friends while walking the track at a local school or park.
- Go for a bike ride. One of Sasquatches favorite activities!
4. Go fishing! Be sure to look at local regulations about where you are able to go during park closures.
5. Bocce ball. If you don’t know how to play this fun game, check it out here. This is a great game to play while still observing social distancing suggestions.
Have some fun and get creative with your ideas for playing outside while we quarantine? Please tag us on social media and show us what you are up to during April’s 30 days to go play! | <urn:uuid:0cf2fc4f-6a63-4bba-bc61-ce54d10ad81b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://rlvnt.life/2020/04/17/frisbee-during-covid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573744.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819161440-20220819191440-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.954614 | 618 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Dialectic Journal of the poems "Beowulf", "Grendel", "Tyger", "The Snowman", and "Dreamers" focusing mainly on literary techniques.
"Sea against sand; they stowed away
In the hold of the ship their shining armor...
Will the seamen that sailed her sighted the land
Shining cliffs and coastwise hills," (p14, ln 74-83)
The use of consonance here repeats the sound of the wind. Beowulf and his men are going to go save the Danes. They must cross the sea and the wind acts very favorable and leads them to the way. The "s" sound imitates the sound of a swift and light wind, not a treacherous gust.
"Foam on her breast, like a bird she flew;" (p 14, ln79)
This quote uses personification and smile. The author personifies the ship c…
E-pasta adrese, uz kuru nosūtīt darba saiti:
Saite uz darbu: | <urn:uuid:258e3e0a-f08a-4a2b-b026-517bfed2fc56> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.atlants.lv/eseja/dialectic-journal-of-the-poems-beowulf-grendel-tyg-/104795/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281162.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00532-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890281 | 230 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The history of the lottery can be traced back to ancient China. Records indicate that during the Han Dynasty, the first lotteries were held to fund important government projects, such as the Great Wall of China. As time passed, the lottery was used by the Roman Empire for entertainment at dinner parties. Emperor Augustus eventually organized the first commercial lottery, with the profits going towards the repair of the City of Rome. It is currently the most popular game in the UK.
Unlike other forms of gambling, lotteries are run by the state, rather than by an independent organization. In fact, many countries have taken steps to ensure that they are run solely by state government. The lack of competition has led to lower quality services, which is unfortunate for lottery enthusiasts. In addition, they cannot take their winnings anywhere else. So if you really want to win big, you should join an official lottery. Ultimately, the odds of winning are almost zero.
The State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency is a governmental body with four divisions: gaming, licensing, and contract management. The Gaming Control Agency director serves as a non-voting member of the State Lottery and Gaming Control Commission. The state lottery is regulated by the State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (SLGA). The Director is appointed by the Governor and a Senate committee, and is tasked with overseeing the state’s gaming industry.
The history of the lottery in the US is a complicated one. The first official territory-wide lottery was created in Puerto Rico in 1934. Later, New Hampshire became the first state to offer lottery games. The Virgin Islands will start its lottery in 2021. Currently, 45 states and Washington DC have lottery games. Some states have both drawing and instant win games, and some even offer a variety of games. However, the New Hampshire lottery is the only online lottery that gives players instant payouts.
Licensed lottery sites are the safest and most secure options. Legitimate lottery sites are secured and run by state gaming authorities. Aside from providing direct entry into the lottery, licensed lottery sites also provide a wealth of promotions and other services. For example, they allow lottery players to purchase tickets online. They also offer the most comprehensive and secure payment options. If you are looking for a way to win a huge jackpot, try using an online lottery website.
The gambler’s fallacy is the false belief that random events affect each other. For example, lottery enthusiasts believe that previous draws affect future draws. They may choose numbers that were drawn in a recent draw because they believe they are more likely to win. These methods are ineffective in improving their chances of winning, and have a negative effect on the payout. Moreover, human beings aren’t good at picking random numbers. They are biased towards particular numbers, and this bias is very apparent in the lottery.
In addition to the United States, several countries in Europe offer their own lotteries. For instance, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania offer online lottery tickets. The number of countries offering online lottery tickets varies across Europe, but the most popular European lotteries are available through government websites. The government websites host the games, as well as the state-run ones. You can play lottery games online from these governments and win cash prizes, but you may need to visit the government websites in order to claim your winnings. | <urn:uuid:faa20e13-7a95-4ad4-9a49-d81fc3ecb180> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fellowshiphousecamden.org/index.php/2022/07/23/how-to-play-the-lottery-online-5/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570651.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220807150925-20220807180925-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.973491 | 684 | 2.546875 | 3 |
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Al writes "Researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with the ideal way to test a new peizo-electric device that efficiently harvests power from bio-movement — attaching it to a hamster. The device contains a series of zinc-oxide nanowires mounted on top of a flexible plastic surface. As the plastic bends, the wires generate around a nanowatt of power. The Georgia Tech team, led by Zhong Lin Wang, wanted to show that their device could produce power from irregular movements so they attached it to a tiny hamster jacket. They also tried attaching it to a volunteer's finger. Here's a video of the hamster wearing his piezo-power outfit." | <urn:uuid:80f4ea41-d0c0-473d-8370-fcfdff653a81> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/02/11/1945224/scientists-harvest-nano-power-from-hamsters?sdsrc=prevbtmprev | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280410.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00456-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959742 | 141 | 2.40625 | 2 |
HISTORIC PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHY ARTISTS:
Among all those great names in the history of Persian Calligraphy, four figures are the most famous ones: Mir-Ali Tabrizi, Mir-Emad, Kalhor, and Emad-ol-Kottab.
Mir-Ali Tabrizi: He lived in 14th and 15th century. He is known as father of Nas-Taliq because he invented this beautiful calligraphy style by means of combining two older styles together (Naskh and Taliq) and adding a flavor of nature into it. Therefore, this calligraphy style implemented natural curves rather than Naskh and Taliq styles.
A Sample of Mir-Ali’s Art Pieces (Louvre Museum - Paris)
Mir-Emad: He is probably the most prominent Persian Calligrapher ever! His full name is Mir-Emad Hassani and lived in 16th century. He was originally from city of Qazvin where he started learning calligraphy. Then he moved to the city of Tabriz where he attended Mohammad-Hossein Tabrizi's calligraphy classes. He modified Nas’taliq style and altered its structure.
A Sample of Mir-Emad’s Art Pieces
Mierza Mohammad-Reza Kalhor: He was born in1828 in city of Kermanshah, western part of Iran. His first mentor was his own cousin who had a nice hand-writing. As he moved to Tehran - capital of Iran - he worked on his calligraphy skill in Nas’taliq style and after a few years of hard work, his artistic talent impressed every one including his calligraphy teacher. He told Kalhor: "... to control your hand's movements is as if you want to train a wild horse. Now that you have done so, make it as perfect as possible; create your own style in such a way that without signing your master pieces people can tell that it is your work!...." He did so and became Nasser-eddin Shah's (king of Iran at the time) calligraphy tutor and met Amir-Kabir, his prime minister who promoted and encouraged Iranian scientists and artists and had a noticeable positive impact on the country's cultural affairs at his time. Kalhor had a special interest in Mir Emad's calligraphy style and followed his rules in calligraphy; but ultimately he had his own flavor in Persian calligraphy that makes his art different.
A Sample of Mirza Mohammad Reza Kalhor's Arts
Emad-ol-Kottab (1861-1936): He was born in city of Qazvin. When he was a young man, he had a hard time living in poverty until later on his artistic talent in calligraphy helped him as he became royal calligrapher and he hand-wrote Ferdowsi's -a famous Iranian poet who lived in 11th century- poem book for Mozaffar-eddin Shah, king of Iran at the time. A few years later he became Ahmad Shah's calligraphy tutor. Even after Ahmad Shah's era, when Reza Shah Pahlavi took over, he became his command writer. He also mentored his son who became second Shah (king) in Pahlavi's dynasty.
OTHER HISTORICAL PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHERS:
Soltan-ali Mashadi: He lived in 15th century and mentored a many calligraphy students who later on became prominent calligraphers themselves. He used his artistic calligraphy skills to re-write poem books of a few prominent Persian poets such as Hafez, Jaami, and Khaajeh Abdollah Ansaari.
Yaqoot Mosta'sami: His full name is Jamal-eddin Yaqoot Mosta’sami and he lived in 13th century. It is believed that he hand-wrote 364 full-versions of the holy book of Koran at his life time. Seven of his pupils became great masters of their own time and that is why Yaqoot is called master of the seven masters.
Mirza Qolam-Reza Esfahani : He was one of the most prominent historic figure both in Nas’taliq and Cursive Nas’taliq styles who lived in 19th century.
Darvish Abd-ol-Majid Taleqani: He is the most important historical figure in Cursive Nas’taliq style.
PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHERS OF LAST CENTURY
Hussein Mir-Khani: Born in 1905 in Tehran, he started his calligraphy lessons with his father. He is one of the founders of "Iranian Society of Calligraphers". Extreme progress and popularity of Persian calligraphy in Iran and even in the international community is because of tireless efforts of this great Persian Calligrapher. He mastered Nas’taliq and wrote the whole holy book of Koran two times.
Hassan Mir-Khani: Born in 1912 in Tehran, he also started his calligraphy lessons with his father along with his older brother, Hussein. He was a master in a variety of calligraphy styles, Nas’taliq , Cursive Nas’taliq , Sols, Naskh to mention a few.
Hassan Mir-Khani Hussein Mir-Khani
Ali-Akbar Kaveh: Born in 1933, he had a chance to attend Emad-ol-Kottab's calligraphy classes. Later on he became so prominent at his time that he is named as "Mir-Emad of Contemporary Time".
CONTEMPORARY PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHERS
Amirkhani: His full name is Qolam-Hussein Amirkhani and he was born in 1939. He is president of Iranian Calligraphers Committee and the most prominent contemporary master in Nas’taliq style. Amirkhani attended Hassan Mir-Khani and Hussein Mir-Khani's calligraphy classes until he mastered Nas’taliq and now it is more than 40 years that he teaches calligraphy in the Iranian Calligraphers Committee. He also has authored 12 books about Persian Calligraphy and conducted numerous international art exhibits. He is currently authoring a new comprehensive calligraphy book in which he explains his techniques in Nas’taliq . This book will be about 200 pages and soon will be released.
Master Amirkhani, the most prominent contemporary master in Nas’taliq
A Master Piece in "Nas’taliq" style by Amirkhani
Kaboli: His full name is Yadollah Kaboli Khansari. he is born in Khansar, a beautiful city in the central regions of Iran. Decades ago he and two other calligraphy masters and under Hassan Mir-Khani's supervision conducted a comprehensive research about Cursive Nas’taliq style. At the time, this beautiful style had gone into hibernation for half a century. By going through master pieces in the museums and in personal collections, he managed to revive Cursive Nas’taliq style. Learning from master pieces of "Darvish Abd-ol-Majid Taleqani" and others, he managed to make a combination of pure traditional art and contemporary graphical techniques to enhance Cursive Nas’taliq to perfection.
Master Kaboli, the most prominent contemporary figure in "Cursive Nas’taliq" style
A Master Piece in "Cursive Nas’taliq" style by Yadollah Kaboli | <urn:uuid:cdd1654b-1e7b-47b7-b4e4-80deae88fb6d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.persiancalligraphy.org/Famous-Calligraphers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00175-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974778 | 1,621 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Richard Van Eck: Games Based Learning Breakout Session6/07/2008 09:47:00 pm
This is the audio from Richard Van Eck's breakout session at the Microsoft Innovative Educators Conference. It's full of very practical ideas for how to incorporate using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games in teaching a variety of subjects in the K-12 curriculum. Rick's presentations are very grounded with very little flash in his slides but lots of good concrete ideas to take back to the classroom. The night before this session Rick gave a keynote presentation on games based learning. He was asked if the kind of learning kids do in games based learning transfers well to the content areas. He looked the questioner straight in the eye and said, loudly and clearly: No. Then he fleshed out that answer. I still might be able to track down the audio from the keynote. If I can get it I'll publish it here. In the mean time this is a very practical talk about how to begin using COTS games in your classroom.
At about 19 minutes in Rick tried to get online but was locked out. Thankfully, Chris Harbeck was there and had the password. ;-)
(Download File 14.6Mb, 30 min. 30 sec.) | <urn:uuid:f9b64ced-a30d-4dac-843b-444e448c7163> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://adifference.blogspot.ca/2008/06/richard-van-eck-games-based-learning.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719155.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00334-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963034 | 261 | 2.328125 | 2 |
“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” …”(Sisyphus) is superior to his fate. He is Stronger than his rock.” – Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It by Jennifer Michael Hecht is a history of suicide and the historical views of suicides though time. Hecht earned her PhD in the History of Science from Columbia University and studied at the Universite de Caen and Universite d’ Angers. She teaches poetry and philosophy in the Graduate Writing Program of The New School. Hecht has published three other books on history and two books of poetry along with numerous articles.
This is a book that I wanted to read but still harbored some hesitation about reading. Like the author, I lost a close friend through suicide just over six years ago. It is something that changes your views and begin to question many previously held ideas. I makes you think, “How could I have not seen this coming.” and makes you second guess many things. The reason I chose to read this book was on the expectation that a favorite writer’s work would be included: Albert Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus. Ironically, I first picked this book up at the library on March 14th. It would be a few days later I found out my friend killed herself that same day.
Suicide has been around since man has been around. From Socrates choosing to to drink hemlock before the state forced him to do so, to (although not covered in the book) a soldier diving on a grenade to save his colleagues lives in Iraq; it can be considered heroic. Other times it is viewed as a weak and cowardly act. Seldom it it viewed as a neutral act. Religion has played a role in stopping suicide. Islam expressly forbids it. Christianity has never embraced it except for a few instances. Martyrs who kept their faith rather than denying it and living were embraced. Augustine and later Aquinas both debated that Jesus’ death was in fact suicide, since he could have saved himself at any time but chose to give up his spirit. Otherwise suicide is considered stealing from God; God gave you life and only he has the right to take it away. Jews typically forbid suicide, but Masada is an exception. There always seems to be exceptions.
There are more suicides worldwide than murders. It is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. More people take their own lives than are murdered, but the news and TV drama shows are filled with stories of murder, but rarely suicide. When suicide is in the news it is usually a celebrity, which in turn causes a spike in suicides. Suicide Clusters are seen in sociological studies. Where one suicide takes place there is an increase in suicides nearby. There is also a link inside families. Sylvia Plath killed herself and forty-six years later her son killed himself. Likewise, Ernest Hemingway’s father killed himself, in 1961 Hemingway killed himself and in 1996 his granddaughter, Margaux took her own life.
Suicide is an issue that although most people, philosophers, and religions find wrong, there are always loopholes. No matter how hard we try to understand or just out right ban suicide, it is still with us. We seem no closer to finding a solution. In fact suicide rates are on the rise; 30% from 1999 to 2010. Hecht brings together some of the great thinkers and religions to bring rational thought to an act that most of us cannot understand and could not go through with. The writing is clear and well documented. Most importantly, she reminds the reader that no matter what, first chose to stay. | <urn:uuid:7be851de-be01-4a1c-a4da-aec540cd1ad1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://evilcyclist.wordpress.com/tag/suicide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571950.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813111851-20220813141851-00672.warc.gz | en | 0.982346 | 770 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Islam Revival - Part 1 - THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
There are five "pillars" of Islam or ways in which the Qur'an enjoins the Muslim to worship God. The first we saw at the beginning of this article, the Kalima or "declaration of faith": "There is no deity except God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God." This is the only declaration of belief needed for one to be accepted as a convert into Islam.
The second pillar is prayer (salat). The devout Muslim is called upon to pray five times a day, facing Mecca. The day of public worship is on Friday, when all the adult males gather together at the mosque.43
A period of fasting, called sawm, is the third pillar of Islam. It is to be observed throughout the entire month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar) from dawn until sunset.
Zakat or the "poor due" is the fourth pillar. This is a type of institutionalized alms-giving which consists of two and a half percent of the Muslim's total savings. The money may be given to the poor or go towards furthering Islam (e.g., mosques, religious schools, salaries for the mosque's imam or teacher, etc.).
The final pillar is the Hajj or the pilgrimage to Mecca. This is required of all Muslims at least once during their lifetimes, provided they have the means to do so.
- Hits: 18522 | <urn:uuid:2ee95059-5180-44c0-8cde-75329bd76d3e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.arabicbible.com/for-christians/revival/1355-islam-revival-part-1.html?start=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571692.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812105810-20220812135810-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.940471 | 319 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Siphakamise Ngxowa of South African student body COSAS displays a severed pigs head in the kosher food section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. Photo: COSAS
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel took another step into open antisemitism today when student activists in South Africa placed the severed head of a pig in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. The shocking gesture was aimed, the perpetrators said, at preventing “people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children.”
Jewish leaders were quick to condemn the act, organized by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS,) a body affiliated with the ruling African National Congress (ANC.) “Disregarding all standards of basic decency, the Congress of South African Students today chose to send an ugly message to the Jewish community of South Africa. This morning, as a protest against Woolworths for stocking Israeli products, COSAS members in Cape Town deposited a pig’s head in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths food store,” said the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. “The SAJBD regards this incident as a hate crime and is investigating its options regarding taking the matter further.”
A spokesman for Woolworths claimed after the incident that there “were no kosher food products on the affected shelf” at the retailers’ Fort Road store in the Sea Point district. “Placing a pig’s head in our store is unacceptable and offensive to our employees and customers, including Jewish and Muslim employees and customers,” Paula Disberry, Woolworths group director of retail operations said in a statement. “We are investigating this incident and we will consider our options to prevent such distasteful protests in our stores.”
A statement issued by Siphakamise Ngxowa, COSAS Western Cape provincial chairperson – who was photographed displaying the pigs head inside the store – read as follows:
As the Congress of South African students in the W.C. we note with disgust the injustices of killing innocent children in Palestine, firstly as COSAS we believe in a free and fair society in which people live together with equal opportunities and are enjoying human rights. Israel is a racist apartheid state, COSAS supports the calls for Boycott Divest and Sanctioning Israel. Killing children, even at schools is not acceptable.
We are not being bombastic when we say will bring the supporters of Israel pigs – we are being revolutionary.
It is unacceptable that people, especially those who claim to believe in God to buy products from supporters of Israel. We will not allow people who will not eat pork, to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children. Woolworths is NOT Kosher. We cannot allow food like this to be called halaal or Kosher. …read more
Source:: The Algemeiner | <urn:uuid:ff937fca-d5a3-4907-8e81-583083b8245b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://5tjt.com/south-african-bds-activists-target-woolworths-kosher-food-section-with-severed-pigs-head/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279489.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00012-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955118 | 647 | 1.84375 | 2 |
a unit of acceleration equal to one centimeter per second per second: used in gravimetry
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, compiled by the
editors of Webster’s New World Dictionaries. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:e17aa3ab-7727-4499-b891-cb299134f69d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00485-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.790988 | 79 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Hi; I had created a database in my pc, when i reinstalled another windows now there are lots of errors because there is no connection. how to rectify my database, and in case of reinstallation of windows what to do preventing the same problem? everytime should i install the sql server and recreate the tables or there is another solution?
if you are planning to reinstall os,it will be good you take the database backups on some seperate disk. so that you dont have to create the databases each time you install sqlserver.you could do a restore instead. | <urn:uuid:01f1ea5f-c8c0-4e8e-ad7d-069415eea281> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=184847 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280065.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00548-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901411 | 120 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Shoppers are changing the way they behave on the long Thanksgiving weekend, making Black Friday visits to bricks-and-mortar stores a somewhat less dominant force in the holiday shopping scene.
For years, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, reigned supreme in the retail world as shoppers spent the day braving long lines at the local mall to score bargains on Christmas gifts. But now, among other things, online commerce is playing an ever-increasing role.
Crowds in some malls and shopping districts were thinner than normal on Friday, according to initial reports from both Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. That was in line with a recent survey by the Deloitte consulting firm that found that among holiday weekend shoppers, 44 percent planned to shop in-store on Black Friday – a decline from 63 percent in 2012.
Retailing experts say factors that are reducing Black Friday’s role include:
• Online retailers starting holiday sales well before families sit down for their turkey dinner. Amazon started an eight-day promotion on Nov. 20 telling customers, “Skip the lines and shop Black Friday deals from anywhere, even your couch.”
• A national trend to include Thanksgiving Day in the Christmas shopping season – a movement that got going with Wal-Mart’s 2009 decision to open on Thanksgiving night. Many stores around the country were full on Thanksgiving evening, Reuters reported.
• A surge in e-commerce sales on Thanksgiving Day, as shoppers combine holiday eating with shopping online – so-called “couch commerce.” By 5 p.m. Thursday on the East Coast, $1.1 billion had been spent online, according to a report from Adobe Systems that was quoted by Bloomberg. Full-day online sales were projected to total $1.7 billion, a 22 percent jump from a year ago. A big demand for "Star Wars" toys helped drive the surge.
• A decision by some major retailers to make the most popular, traffic-building items – so-called “door busters" – available online before their bricks-and-mortar stores opened in an effort to compete with Amazon. According to The Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart made a majority of its Black Friday deals available online Thanksgiving morning, roughly 15 hours before its stores opened.
• The prevalence of mobile devices with fast online connections, meaning buyers can shop anywhere they are. Abode predicted that for the first time, mobile devices would overtake desktop computers on Thanksgiving to drive 51 percent of online shopping visits.
"People are no longer waiting until they get back to work to shop. I have a better connection on my phone right now than I do at my desk at work,” Steven Skinner, a senior vice president of Cognizant Technology Solutions, told Bloomberg News.
The four-day holiday period plays a key role in determining the outlook for merchants. Thirty million Americans shopped online or in stores on Thanksgiving Day, while 99.7 million will shop on Black Friday, the National Retail Federation estimates. Overall, the group predicts that 135.8 million people will shop during the long Thanksgiving weekend, versus the 133.7 million who did so in 2014. These purchases will account for 10 to 15 percent of total holiday sales.
Holiday sales account for as much as 30 percent of retailers' business for the year, the National Retail Federation says. The trade group is predicting that holiday sales will increase 3.7 percent in 2015 to $630.5 billion. That compares with a 4.1 percent increase in 2014 and an average increase over the past 10 years of 2.5 percent.
There are reasons for retailers to be concerned about the holiday spending outlook. Wage growth has been stagnant, with compensation for civilian workers increasing just 2 percent for the year ending September 2015. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that household spending grew 0.1 percent in October, only about one third as fast as economists had predicted. | <urn:uuid:1324af42-2552-484d-b705-f4bb78896599> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/1127/Five-reasons-Black-Friday-isn-t-the-shopping-juggernaut-it-was | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.951084 | 803 | 1.75 | 2 |
The second kind property is a variable saved property often known as maxInputLevelForAllChannels. This retains observe of the utmost input worth that has been obtained by any AudioChannel instance. It begins with an preliminary worth of zero. New brokers wanting paid training and on-the-job experience within the realty enterprise. The NAA Income and Expenses Survey might be the most comprehensive take a look at apartment housing operations data obtainable. With detailed native market and national financial evaluation, it presents house operators the monetary instruments they need to measure their effectivity in opposition to their friends.
I uncover it funny that tons of people have something to say about why others shouldn`t dwell in a Tinyhome, and yet I’ve by no means heard someone in a Tinyhome say you shouldnt dwell in a standard sized home. Love is Blind : Home’s mother, Blythe, appears to tell Home about her new boyfriend, Thomas Bell. Home goes to go to Blythe when she and Thomas are having sex. Throughout a cathartic dinner, Home accuses Bell of being his natural father. Nonetheless, a curious Wilson surreptitiously assessments Bell’s DNA and guidelines him out as House’s father as correctly. | <urn:uuid:bda56ede-f31f-4cd8-9948-e8515b151c43> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://twincitytelegraph.com/tag/mystery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572198.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815175725-20220815205725-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.963185 | 264 | 1.640625 | 2 |
This easy recipe is definitely worth putting at the top of the favorites list for family and friends. Just about everyone loves stuffed potatoes, as they are tastfully yummy and extremely easy to prepare. Not only are potatoes delicious, they and also healthy, and it is important for health conscious individuals to know that potatoes, when prepared in a healthful way, are an all-star addition to a balanced, healthy diet.
Healthy cooking methods for potatoes include baking and boiling. To make baked potatoes, scrub them clean, then use a fork to make several holes in the skin. Rub the skins with olive oil, and place the potatoes on a lined baking sheet. Cook for 60 to 70 minutes at 400°F until tender, rotating every 30 minutes. For boiled potatoes, add a pound of baby potatoes to a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes until tender. To make mashed potatoes, drain the boiled potatoes and mash them in the pot with a dash of milk and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Chefs regularly include mashed or baked potatoes as a base for a nutritious meal, topped with ground turkey, bean chili, and other lean proteins. Instead of sour cream, many will add a dollop of Greek yogurt or chunks of avocado. And let's not forget to eat the skins, as they are an excellent source of added fiber and nutrients.
Types and Benefits
There are many varieties of potatoes. Some of the most common include Russet, Yukon Gold, and baby red potatoes, while fingerling and purple potatoes are not as well known.
All potatoes provide energizing carbohydrates, mostly from starch, in addition to insoluble fiber concentrated in their peels. They are excellent sources of potassium, an essential mineral that’s important for healthy blood pressure, and also provide vitamin C and folate.
Furthermore, potatoes are rich in compounds known as polyphenols that act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from free radical damage that is associated with disease development. Red and purple potatoes get their color from anthocyanins, which may help fight inflammation in the body and lower blood pressure, among other benefits.
Cheese Stuffed Pototoes
6 large potatoes
1 large egg yolk
½ cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
⅓ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped bell pepper, red or yellow
½ cup crispy chopped bacon
½ cup fat-free ranch-style dressing
Bake potatoes at 400F for 60 to 70 minutes or until tender.
Slice off the top ½ inch of each potato and carefully scoop out the insides of the potato into a large mixing bowl.
To the potato, add dressing and cheeses, reserving a little of each to sprinkle over tops. Blend with an electric mixer.
Mound mixture into potato shells and sprinkle with reserved cheese, chopped onion, bell pepper, and bacon.
Return to oven for 10 minutes or until heated through. If desired, broil for the last minute of cooking time to brown cheese slightly. | <urn:uuid:5aac371b-d812-476e-8bbb-9ad24f05cbbe> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.homemakingsavvy.com/post/cheese-stuffed-potatoes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570977.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809124724-20220809154724-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.93096 | 653 | 2.34375 | 2 |
0.77% of China's population
|Regions with significant populations|
|People's Republic of China||10,410,585|
|Republic of China (Taiwan)||12,000|
|almost all Mandarin Chinese, very few Manchu|
|Mostly non-religious. Manchu shamanism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity|
|Related ethnic groups|
|Evenks, Nanai, Oroqen, Udege, Xibe
and other Tungusic peoples
The Manchu [note 1] (Manchu: ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ; Möllendorff: manju; Abkai: manju; simplified Chinese: 满族; traditional Chinese: 滿族; pinyin: Mǎnzú; Wade–Giles: Man3-tsu2) are an ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. They are sometimes called "red-tasseled Manchus", a reference to the ornamentation on traditional Manchu hats. The Manchus, are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in China and later established Later Jin (1616-1636), Qing dynasty (1636–1912).
Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China, forming the fourth largest ethnic group in that country. They can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. They also form the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region. Among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the population live in Liaoning province and one-fifth in Hebei province. There are a number of Manchu autonomous counties in China, such as Xinbin, Xiuyan, Qinglong, Fengning, Yitong, Qingyuan, Weichang, Kuancheng, Benxi, Kuandian, Huanren, Fengcheng, Beizhen[note 2] and over 300 Manchu towns and townships.
- 1 History
- 2 Etymology of the ethnonym
- 3 Population
- 4 Culture
- 4.1 Influence on other Tungusic peoples
- 4.2 Language and alphabet
- 4.3 Lifestyle
- 4.4 Names and naming practices
- 4.5 Burial customs
- 4.6 Traditional hairstyle
- 4.7 Traditional garments
- 4.8 Traditional activities
- 4.9 Literature
- 4.10 Folk art
- 4.11 Religion
- 4.12 Traditional holidays
- 5 See also
- 6 Notes
- 7 References
- 8 Further reading
- 9 External links
Origins and early history
The Manchus are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in China but as early as the semi-mythological chronicles of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors there is mention of the Sushen, a Tungusic people from the northern Manchurian region of northeast Asia, who paid bows and arrows as tribute to Emperor Shun and later to the Zhou dynasty. The Sushen used flint-headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted and fished, and lived in caves and trees. The cognates Sushen or Jichen (稷真) again appear in the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei during the dynastic era referring to Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe practiced pig farming extensively and were mainly sedentary, and also used both pig and dog skins for coats. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybeans, wheat, millet and rice, in addition to hunting.
Following the fall of Balhae, the Jurchens became vassals of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. The Jurchens in the Yalu River region were tributaries of Goryeo since the reign of Wang Geon, who called upon them during the wars of the Later Three Kingdoms period, but the Jurchens switched allegiance between Liao and Goryeo multiple times, taking advantage of the tension between the two nations; posing a potential threat to Goryeo's border security, the Jurchens offered tribute to the Goryeo court, expecting lavish gifts in return. In the year 1114, Wanyan Aguda united the Jurchen tribes and established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). His brother and successor, Wanyan Wuqimai defeated the Liao dynasty. After the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Jurchens went to war with the Northern Song dynasty, and captured most of northern China in the Jin–Song wars. During the Jin dynasty, the first Jurchen script came into use in the 1120s. It was mainly derived from the Khitan script.
The Jurchens were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture. They farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep and horses. Their farming way of life was very different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols and the Khitans on the steppes.
In 1206, the Mongols who were vassals to the Jurchens rose in Mongolia. Their leader, Genghis Khan, led Mongol troops against the Jurchens who were finally defeated by Ögedei Khan in 1234. Under the Mongols' control, the Jurchens were divided into two groups and treated differently: the ones who were born and raised in North China and fluent in Chinese were considered to be Chinese (Han), but the people who were born and raised in the Jurchen homeland (Manchuria) without Chinese-speaking abilities were treated as Mongols politically. From that time, the Jurchens of North China increasingly merged with the Han Chinese while those living in their homeland started to be Mongolized. They adopted Mongolian customs, names [note 3] and the Mongolian language. As time went on, fewer and fewer Jurchens could recognize their own script.
The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368. In 1387, Ming forces defeated the Mongol commander Naghachu's resisting forces who settled in the Haixi area and began to summon the Jurchen tribes to pay tribute. At the time, some Jurchen clans were vassals to the Joseon dynasty of Korea such as Odoli and Huligai. Their elites served in the Korean royal bodyguard. The Joseon Koreans tried to deal with the military threat posed by the Jurchen by using both forceful means and incentives, and by launching military attacks. At the same time they tried to appease them with titles and degrees, traded with them, and sought to acculturate them by having Korean women marry Jurchens and integrating them into Korean culture. Despite these measures, however, fighting continued between the Jurchen and the Koreans. Their relationship was eventually stopped by the Ming dynasty government who wanted the Jurchens to protect the border. In 1403, Ahacu, chieftain of Huligai, paid tribute to the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty. Soon after that, Möngke Temür, chieftain of the Odoli clan of the Jianzhou Jurchens, defected from paying tribute to Korea, becoming a tributary state to China instead. Yi Seong-gye, the Taejo of Joseon, asked the Ming Empire to send Möngke Temür back but was refused. The Yongle Emperor was determined to wrest the Jurchens out of Korean influence and have China dominate them instead. Korea tried to persuade Möngke Temür to reject the Ming overtures, but was unsuccessful since Möngke Temür submitted to the Ming Empire. Since then, more and more Jurchen tribes presented tribute to the Ming Empire in succession. The Ming divided them into 384 guards, and the Jurchen became vassals to the Ming Empire. During the Ming dynasty, the name for the Jurchen land was Nurgan. The Jurchens became part of the Ming dynasty's Nurgan Regional Military Commission under the Yongle Emperor, with Ming forces erecting the Yongning Temple Stele in 1413, at the headquarters of Nurgan. The stele was inscribed in Chinese, Jurchen, Mongolian, and Tibetan.
In 1449, Mongol taishi Esen attacked the Ming Empire and captured the Zhengtong Emperor in Tumu. Some Jurchen guards in Jianzhou and Haixi cooperated with Esen's action, but more were attacked by the Mongol invasion. Many Jurchen chieftains lost their hereditary certificates granted by the Ming government. They had to present tribute as secretariats (中书舍人) with less reward from the Ming court than in the time when they were heads of guards – an unpopular development. Subsequently, more and more Jurchens recognised the Ming Empire's declining power due to Esen's invasion. The Zhengtong Emperor's capture directly caused Jurchen guards to go out of control. Tribal leaders, such as Cungšan[note 4] and Wang Gao, brazenly plundered Ming territory. At about this time, the Jurchen script was officially abandoned. More Jurchens adopted Mongolian as their writing language and fewer used Chinese. The final recorded Jurchen writing dates to 1526.
The Manchus are sometimes mistaken as nomadic people. They are not nomads. The Manchu way of life (economy) was described as agricultural, farming crops and raising animals on farms. Manchus practiced Slash-and-burn agriculture in the areas north of Shenyang. The Haixi Jurchens were "semi-agricultural, the Jianzhou Jurchens and Maolian (毛怜) Jurchens were sedentary, while hunting and fishing was the way of life of the "Wild Jurchens". Han Chinese society resembled that of the sedentary Jianzhou and Maolian, who were farmers. Hunting, archery on horseback, horsemanship, livestock raising, and sedentary agriculture were all part of the Jianzhou Jurchens' culture. In spite of the fact that the Manchus practiced equestrianism and archery on horseback, the Manchus' immediate progenitors practiced sedentary agriculture. Although the Manchus also partook in hunting, they were sedentary. Their primary mode of production was farming while they lived in villages, forts, and walled towns. Their Jurchen Jin predecessors also practiced farming.
Although their Mohe ancestors did not respect dogs, the Jurchens began to respect dogs around the time of the Ming dynasty, and passed this tradition on to the Manchus. It was prohibited in Jurchen culture to use dog skin, and forbidden for Jurchens to harm, kill, or eat dogs. For political reasons, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci chose variously to emphasize either differences or similarities in lifestyles with other peoples like the Mongols. Nurhaci said to the Mongols that "the languages of the Chinese and Koreans are different, but their clothing and way of life is the same. It is the same with us Manchus (Jušen) and Mongols. Our languages are different, but our clothing and way of life is the same." Later Nurhaci indicated that the bond with the Mongols was not based in any real shared culture. It was for pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism," since Nurhaci said to the Mongols: "You Mongols raise livestock, eat meat, and wear pelts. My people till the fields and live on grain. We two are not one country and we have different languages."
Manchu rule over China
A century after the chaos started in the Jurchen lands, Nurhaci, a chieftain of the Jianzhou Left Guard, began a campaign against the Ming Empire in revenge for their manslaughter of his grandfather and father in 1583. He reunified the Jurchen tribes, established a military system called the "Eight Banners", which organized Jurchen soldiers into groups of "Bannermen", and ordered his scholar Erdeni and minister Gagai to create a new Jurchen script (later known as Manchu script) using the traditional Mongolian alphabet as a reference.
In 1603, Nurhaci gained recognition as the Sure Kundulen Khan (Manchu: ᠰᡠᡵᡝ
ᡥᠠᠨ; Möllendorff: sure kundulen han; Abkai: sure kundulen han, "wise and respected khan") from his Khalkha Mongol allies then in 1616 he publicly enthroned himself and issued a proclamation naming himself Genggiyen Khan (Manchu: ᡤᡝᠩᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ
ᡥᠠᠨ; Möllendorff: genggiyen han; Abkai: genggiyen han, "bright khan") of the Later Jin dynasty (Manchu: ᠠᠮᠠᡤᠠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ; Möllendorff: amaga aisin gurun; Abkai: amaga aisin gurun[note 5], 後金). Nurhaci then launched his attack on the Ming dynasty and moved the capital to Mukden after his conquest of Liaodong. In 1635, his son and successor Huangtaiji changed the name of the Jurchen ethnic group (Manchu: ᠵᡠᡧᡝᠨ; Möllendorff: jušen; Abkai: juxen) to the Manchu. A year later, Huangtaiji proclaimed himself the emperor of the Qing dynasty (Manchu: ᡩᠠᡳᠴᡳᠩ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ; Möllendorff: daicing gurun; Abkai: daiqing gurun[note 6]). Factors for the change of name of these people from Jurchen to Manchu include the fact that the term "Jurchen" had negative connotations associated with it, since the Jurchens had been in a servile position to the Ming dynasty for several hundred years and it also referred to people of the "dependent class".
In 1644, the Ming capital, Beijing, was sacked by a peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the establishment of the Shun dynasty. The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor, committed suicide by hanging himself when the city fell. When Li Zicheng moved against the Ming general Wu Sangui, the latter made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchu army. After the Manchus defeated Li Zicheng, they moved the capital of their new Qing Empire to Beijing (Manchu: ᠪᡝᡤᡳᠩ; Möllendorff: beging; Abkai: beging) in the same year.
The Qing government differentiated between Han Bannermen and ordinary Han civilians. Han Bannermen were made out of Han Chinese who defected to the Qing Empire up to 1644 and joined the Eight Banners, giving them social and legal privileges in addition to being acculturated to Manchu culture. So many Han defected to the Qing Empire and swelled up the ranks of the Eight Banners that ethnic Manchus became a minority within the Banners, making up only 16% in 1648, with Han Bannermen dominating at 75% and Mongol Bannermen making up the rest. It was this multi-ethnic, majority Han force in which Manchus were a minority, which conquered China for the Qing Empire.
A mass marriage of Han Chinese officers and officials to Manchu women numbering 1,000 couples was arranged by Prince Yoto and Hong Taiji in 1632 to promote harmony between the two ethnic groups. To promote ethnic harmony, a 1648 decree from the Shunzhi Emperor allowed Han Chinese civilian men to marry Manchu women from the Banners with the permission of the Board of Revenue if they were registered daughters of officials or commoners or the permission of their banner company captain if they were unregistered commoners. It was only later in the dynasty that these policies allowing intermarriage were done away with.
As a result of their conquest of China, almost all the Manchus followed the prince regent Dorgon and the Shunzhi Emperor to Beijing and mainly settled there. A few of them were sent to other places such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet to serve as garrison troops. There were only 1524 Bannermen left in Manchuria at the time of the initial Manchu conquest. After a series of border conflicts began with the Russians, the Qing emperors started to realize the strategic importance of Manchuria and gradually sent Manchus back to where they originally came from. However, throughout the Qing dynasty, Beijing was the only focal point of the ruling Manchus in the political, economic and cultural spheres of this era of Chinese civilization. The Yongzheng Emperor noted: "Garrisons are the places of stationed works, Beijing is their homeland."
While the Manchu ruling elite at the Qing imperial court in Beijing and posts of authority throughout China increasingly adopted Han culture, the Qing imperial government viewed the Manchu communities (as well as those of various tribal people) in Manchuria as a place where traditional Manchu virtues could be preserved, and as a vital reservoir of military manpower fully dedicated to the regime. The Qing emperors tried to protect the traditional way of life of the Manchus (as well as various other tribal peoples) in central and northern Manchuria by a variety of means. In particular, they restricted the migration of Han settlers to the region. This ideal, however, had to be balanced with practical needs, such as maintaining the defense of northern China against the Russians and the Mongols, supplying government farms with a skilled work force, and conducting trade in the region's products, which resulted in a continuous trickle of Han convicts, workers, and merchants to the northeast.
However, this policy of artificially isolating the Manchus of the northeast from the rest of China could not last forever. In the 1850s, large numbers of Manchu bannermen were sent to central China to fight the Taiping rebels. (For example, just the Heilongjiang province - which at the time included only the northern part of today's Heilongjiang - contributed 67,730 bannermen to the campaign, of which only 10-20% survived). Those few who returned were demoralized and often disposed to opium addiction. In 1860, in the aftermath of the loss of the "Outer Manchuria", and with the imperial and provincial governments in deep financial trouble, parts of Manchuria became officially open to Chinese settlement; within a few decades, the Manchus became a minority in most of Manchuria's districts.
Dulimbai Gurun ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ is the Manchu name for China (中國, Zhōngguó; "Middle Kingdom"). After conquering the Ming dynasty, the Qing rulers typically referred to their state as the "Great Qing" (Da Qing 大清), or Daicing gurun in Manchu. In some documents, the state, or parts of it, is referred to as "China" (Zhongguo), or "Dulimbai Gurun" in the Manchu tongue. Debate continues over whether the Qing equated the lands of the Qing state, including present day Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and other areas as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages. Some scholars claim that the Qing rulers defined China as a multi-ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas, proclaiming that both Han and non-Han peoples were part of "China", using "China" to refer to the Qing dynasty's empire in official documents, international treaties, and foreign affairs, and the term "Chinese people" (中國人 Zhōngguó Rén ; Manchu: ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ
ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠯᠮᠠ Dulimbai gurun-i niyalma) referred to all the Han, Manchu, and Mongol subjects of the Qing Empire.
When the Qing Empire conquered Dzungaria in 1759, they proclaimed that the new land was absorbed into "China" (Dulimbai Gurun) in a Manchu language memorial. The Qing government expounded in their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han Chinese like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han Chinese, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that the diverse subjects of the Qing Empire were all part of one family. The Qing government used the phrase "Zhongwai yijia" 中外一家 or "neiwai yijia" 內外一家 ("interior and exterior as one family"), to convey this idea of "unification" of the different peoples of their empire. A Manchu language version of a treaty with the Russian Empire concerning criminal jurisdiction over bandits called people from the Qing Empire as "people of the Central Kingdom (Dulimbai Gurun)". In the Manchu official Tulisen's Manchu language account of his meeting with the Torghut leader Ayuka Khan, it was mentioned that while the Torghuts were unlike the Russians, the "people of the Central Kingdom" (dulimba-i gurun 中國, Zhongguo) were like the Torghuts, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus.
It was possible for Han Bannermen and Han bondservants (booi) to become Manchu by being transferred into the upper three Manchu Banners and having their surname "Manchufied" with the addition of a "giya" (佳) as a suffix. The process was called taiqi (抬旗; "raising of the banner") in Chinese. It typically occurred in cases of intermarriage with the Aisin Gioro clan (the imperial clan) and the close relatives (fathers and brothers) of the concubine or Empress would get promoted from the Han Banner to the Manchu Banner and become Manchu.
Many Manchu Bannermen in Beijing supported the Boxers in the Boxer Rebellion and shared their anti-foreign sentiment. The Manchu Bannermen were devastated by the fighting during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, sustaining massive casualties sustained during the wars and subsequently being driven into extreme suffering and hardship. Much of the fighting in the Boxer Rebellion against the foreigners in defense of Beijing and Manchuria was done by Manchu Banner armies, which were destroyed while resisting the invasion. The German Minister Clemens von Ketteler was assassinated by a Manchu. Thousands of Manchus fled south from Aigun during the fighting in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, their cattle and horses were then stolen by Russian Cossacks who then burned their villages and homes until only ashes were left. The clan system of the Manchus in Aigun was obliterated by the despoliation of the area at the hands of the Russian invaders.
By the 19th century, most Manchus in the city garrisons no longer spoke Manchu, instead they spoke the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese or Standard Chinese- which still marked them out as distinctive compared to their Han neighbors in southern China who spoke non-Mandarin dialects. The fact that they spoke Beijing dialect (but not Manchu) made recognizing Manchus relatively easy. It was northern Standard Chinese which the Manchu Bannermen spoke instead of the local dialect which the Han people around the garrison spoke, so that Manchus in the garrisons at Jingzhou and Guangzhou both spoke Mandarin despite the fact that Cantonese was spoken at Guangzhou, and the Beijing dialect marked out the Manchu bannermen at the Xi'an garrison apart from other people. Many Manchu Bannermen got jobs as Mandarin teachers, writing textbooks for learning Mandarin and instructing people in Mandarin. In Guangdong, the Manchu Mandarin teacher Sun Yizun advised that the Yinyun Chanwei and Kangxi Zidian, dictionaries issued by the Qing government, were the correct guides to Mandarin pronunciation, rather than the pronunciation of the Beijing and Nanjing dialects. For teaching the Beijing dialect, Kyugaigo, the Japanese foreign language school, hired a Manchu in 1876.
The Han Chinese Li Guojie, the grandson of Li Hongzhang, married the Manchu daughter of Natong (那桐), the Grand Secretary (大學士). Most intermarriage consisted of Han Bannermen marrying Manchus in areas like Aihun. Han Chinese Bannermen wedded Manchus and there was no law against this.
As the end of the Qing dynasty approached, Manchus were portrayed as outside colonizers by Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-sen, even though the Republican revolution he brought about was supported by many reform-minded Manchu officials and military officers. This portrayal dissipated somewhat after the 1911 revolution as the new Republic of China now sought to include Manchus within its national identity. In order to blend in, some Manchus switched to speaking the local dialect instead of Standard Chinese.
By the early years of the Republic of China, very few areas of China still had traditional Manchu populations. Among the few regions where such comparatively traditional communities could be found, and where the Manchu language was still widely spoken, were the Aigun (Manchu: ᠠᡳᡥᡡᠨ; Möllendorff: aihūn; Abkai: aihvn) District and the Qiqihar (Manchu: ᠴᡳᠴᡳᡤᠠᡵ; Möllendorff: cicigar; Abkai: qiqigar) District of Heilongjiang Province.
Until 1924, the Chinese government continued to pay stipends to Manchu bannermen; however, many cut their links with their banners and took on Han-style names in shame to avoid persecution. The official total of Manchus fell by more than half during this period, as they refused to admit to their ethnicity when asked by government officials or other outsiders. On the other hand, in warlord Zhang Zuolin's reign in Manchuria, a much better treatment than the situation of Manchus in mainland China was reported. There were not any particular persecutions towards Manchus. Even the mausoleums of Qing's emperors were still allowed to be managed by Manchu guardsmen like it was in the past. In this case, many Manchus joined the Fengtian clique, such as Xi Qia who was a member of the Qing dynasty's imperial clan.
As a follow-up action to the Mukden Incident, Manchukuo, a puppet state in Manchuria, was created by the Empire of Japan which was nominally ruled by the deposed Last Emperor, Puyi, in 1932. Although the nation's name was related to Manchus, it was actually a completely new country for all the ethnicities in Manchuria, which had a majority Han population and was opposed by many Manchus like people of other ethnicities who fought against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War, too. The Japanese Ueda Kyōsuke labelled all 30 million people in Manchuria as "Manchus", including Han Chinese, despite the fact that most of them were not ethnic Manchu, and the Japanese-written "Great Manchukuo" built upon Ueda's argument to claim that all 30 million "Manchus" in Manchukuo had the right to independence to justify splitting Manchukuo from China. In 1942 the Japanese-written "Ten Year History of the Construction of Manchukuo" attempted to emphasize the right of ethnic Japanese to the land of Manchukuo while attempting to de-legitimize the Manchus' claim to Manchukuo as their native land, noting that most Manchus moved out during the Qing dynasty and only returned later.
In 1952, after the failure of both Manchukuo and the Nationalist Government (KMT), the newborn People's Republic of China officially recognized the Manchu as one of the ethnic minorities in 1952. In the 1953 census, 2.5 million people identified themselves as Manchu. The Communist government also attempted to improve the treatment of Manchu people; some Manchu people who had hidden their ancestry during the period of KMT rule thus became more comfortable to reveal their ancestry, such as the writer Lao She, who began to include Manchu characters in his fictional works in the 1950s. Between 1982 and 1990, the official count of Manchu people more than doubled from 4,299,159 to 9,821,180, making them China's fastest-growing ethnic minority. In fact, however, this growth was not due to natural increase, but instead people formerly registered as Han applying for official recognition as Manchu. Since the 1980s, thirteen Manchu autonomous counties have been created in Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei and Heilongjiang.
The Eight Banners system is one of the most important ethnic identity of today's Manchu people. So nowadays, Manchus are more like an ethnic community which not only contains the descendants of Manchu bannermen, also has a large number of Manchu-assimilated Chinese and Mongol bannermen. However, five ethnic groups which were considered as Manchu bannermen under the Qing dynasty (the Solon, Xibe, Daur, Evenki, Oroqen, and Hezhe) were registered as independent ethnic groups by the PRC government.
Since the 1980s, the reform after Cultural Revolution, there has been a renaissance of Manchu culture and language among the government, scholars and social activities with remarkable achievements. It was also reported that the resurgence of interest also spread among Han Chinese.
Etymology of the ethnonym
The actual etymology of the ethnic name "Manju" is debatable. According to the Qing dynasty's official historical record, the Researches on Manchu Origins, the ethnic name came from Mañjuśrī. The Qianlong Emperor also supported the point of view and even wrote several poems on the subject.
Meng Sen, a famous scholar of the Qing dynasty, agreed, too. On the other hand, he thought the name "Manchu" was also related to Li Manzhu, the chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens. It was just the most respectful appellation in the society of the Jianzhou Jurchens in Meng's mind.
Another scholar, Chang Shan, thinks Manju is a compound word. "Man" was from the word "mangga" (ᠮᠠᠩᡤᠠ) which means strong and "ju" (ᠵᡠ) means arrow. So Manju actually means "intrepid arrow".
There are other hypotheses, such as Fu Sinian's "etymology of Jianzhou"; Zhang Binglin's "etymology of Jianzhou"; Isamura Sanjiro's "etymology of Wuji and Mohe"; Sun Wenliang's "etymology of Manzhe"; "etymology of mangu(n) river" and so on.
Most Manchu people now live in Mainland China with a population of 10,410,585, which is 9.28% of ethnic minorities and 0.77% of China's total population. Among the provincial regions, there are two provinces, Liaoning and Hebei, which have over 1,000,000 Manchu residents. Liaoning has 5,336,895 Manchu residents which is 51.26% of Manchu population and 12.20% provincial population; Hebei has 2,118,711 which is 20.35% of Manchu people and 70.80% of provincial ethnic minorites. Manchu is the largest ethnic minority in Liaoning, Hebei, Heilongjiang and Beijing; 2nd largest in Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi and 3rd largest in Henan, Shandong and Anhui,.
Manchu autonomous regions
Manchu autonomous area in Liaoning.[note 7]
Manchu people can be found living outside mainland China. There are approximately 12,000 Manchus now in Taiwan. Most of them moved to Taiwan with the ROC government in 1949. One notable example was Puru, a famous painter, calligrapher and also the founder of the Manchu Association of Republic of China.
There are also Manchus who settled in the United States and Japan, such as John Fugh, Garry Guan and Fukunaga Kosē. 379 people reported "Manchurian" ancestry on the 2000 US Census. On some publications this number was included in the "Chinese" population.
Influence on other Tungusic peoples
The Manchus implemented measures to Manchufy the other Tungusic peoples living around the Amur River basin. The southern Tungusic Manchus influenced the northern Tungusic peoples linguistically, culturally, and religiously.
Language and alphabet
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The Manchu language is a Tungusic language and has many dialects. Its standard form is called "Standard Manchu". It originates from the accent of Jianzhou Jurchens and was officially standardized during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. During the Qing dynasty, Manchus at the imperial court were required to speak Standard Manchu or face the emperor's reprimand. This applied equally to the palace presbyter for shamanic rites when performing sacrifice.
"Beijing dialect" is one of the most commonly used. It was a mix of several dialects, since the Manchus who lived in Beijing were not only Jianzhou Jurchens, but also Haixi Jurchens and Yeren Jurchens. [clarify] the mingling of their accents produced Beijing dialect [clarify]. Beijing dialect is very close to Standard Manchu. Mukden dialect [clarify], is another popular dialect that was originally spoken by Manchus who lived in Liaoning and the western and southern areas of Jilin, having an accent very close to the Xibe language spoken by the Xibes living in Qapqal. Other dialects include Ningguta and Alcuka.
The Jurchens, ancestors of the Manchus, had created Jurchen script in the Jin dynasty. After the Jin dynasty collapsed, the Jurchen script was gradually lost. In the Ming dynasty, 60%-70% of Jurchens used Mongolian script to write letters and 30%-40% of Jurchens used Chinese characters. This persisted until Nurhaci revolted against the Ming Empire. Nurhaci considered it a major impediment that his people lacked a script of their own, so he commanded his scholars, Gagai and Eldeni, to create Manchu characters by reference to Mongolian scripts. They dutifully complied with the Khan's order and created Manchu script, which is called "script without dots and circles" (Manchu: ᡨᠣᠩᡴᡳ
ᡥᡝᡵᡤᡝᠨ; Möllendorff: tongki fuka akū hergen; Abkai: tongki fuka akv hergen; 无圈点满文) or "old Manchu script" (老满文). Due to its hurried creation, the script has its defects. Some vowels and consonants were difficult to distinguish. Shortly afterwards, their successor Dahai used dots and circles to distinguish vowels, aspirated and non-aspirated consonants and thus completed the script. His achievement is called "script with dots and circles" or "new Manchu script".
After the 19th century, most Manchus had perfected Standard Chinese and the number who knew Manchu was dwindling. Although the Qing emperors emphasized the importance of Manchu language again and again, the tide could not be turned. After the Qing dynasty collapsed, the Manchu language lost its status as a national language and its official use in education ended. Manchus today generally speak Standard Chinese. The remaining skilled native Manchu speakers number less than 100, most of whom are to be found in Sanjiazi (Manchu: ᡳᠯᠠᠨ
ᠪᠣᠣ; Möllendorff: ilan boo; Abkai: ilan bou), Heilongjiang Province. Since the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of the Manchu language among the government, scholars and social activities. In recent years, with the help of the governments in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, many schools started to have Manchu classes. There are also Manchu volunteers in many places of China who freely teach Manchu in the desire to rescue the language. Thousands of non-Manchu speakers have learned the language through these measures.
The Qing dynasty is mistakenly confused as a nomadic empire by people who wrongly think that the Manchus were a nomadic people, when in fact the Manchus were a sedentary agricultural people who lived in fixed villages, farmed crops, practiced hunting and mounted archery.
Names and naming practices
The history of Manchu family names is quite long. Fundamentally, it succeeds the Jurchen family name of the Jin dynasty. However, after the Mongols extinguished the Jin dynasty, the Manchus started to adopt Mongol culture, including their custom of using only their given name till the end of the Qing dynasty, a practice confounding non-Manchus, leading them to conclude, erroneously, that they simply do not have family names.
A Manchu family name usually has two portions: the first is "Mukūn" (ᠮᡠᡴᡡᠨ, Abkai: Mukvn) which literally means "branch name"; the second, "Hala" (ᡥᠠᠯᠠ), represents the name of a person's clan. According to the Book of the Eight Manchu Banners' Surname-Clans (八旗滿洲氏族通譜), there are 1,114 Manchu family names. Gūwalgiya, Niohuru, Šumulu, Tatara, Gioro, Nara are considered as "famous clans" (著姓) among Manchus.
There were stories of Han migrating to the Jurchens and assimilating into Manchu Jurchen society and Nikan Wailan may have been an example of this. The Manchu Cuigiya 崔佳氏 clan claimed that a Han Chinese founded their clan. The Tohoro 托活络 (Duanfang's clan) claimed Han Chinese origin.
Manchus given names are distinctive. Generally, there are several forms, such as bearing suffixes "-ngga", "-ngge" or "-nggo", meaning "having the quality of"; bearing the suffixes "-tai" or "-tu", meaning "having"; bearing the suffix, "-ju", "-boo"; numerals [note 8] or animal names[note 9].
Nikan (Han Chinese) was a common first name for Manchus. Nikan Wailan was a Jurchen leader who was an enemy of Nurhaci. Nikan was the name of one the Aisin Gioro Princes and grandsons of Nurhaci who supported Prince Dorgon. Nurhaci's first son was Cuyen, one of whose sons was Nikan.
Nowadays, Manchus primarily use Chinese family and given names, but some still use a Manchu family name and Chinese given name,[note 10] a Chinese family name and Manchu given name[note 11] or both Manchu family and given names.[note 12]
The Jurchens and their Manchu descendants originally practiced cremation as part of their culture. They adopted the practice of burial from the Han Chinese, but many Manchus continued to cremate their dead. Princes were cremated on pyres.
The traditional hairstyle for Manchu men is shaving the front of their heads while growing the hair on the back of their heads into a single braid called a queue (辮子; biànzi), which was known as soncoho in Manchu.
Manchu women wore their hair in a distinctive hairstyle called liangbatou (兩把頭).
The early phase of Manchu clothing succeeded from Jurchen tradition. White was the dominating color. To facilitate convenience during archery, the robe is the most common article of clothing for the Manchu people. Over the robe, a surcoat is usually worn, derived from the military uniform of Eight banners army. During the Kangxi period, the surcoat gained popularity among commoners. The modern Chinese suits, the Cheongsam and Tangzhuang, are derived from the Manchu robe and surcoat which are commonly considered as "Chinese elements".
Wearing hats is also a part of Manchu traditional culture, and Manchu people wear hats in all ages and seasons in contrast to the Han Chinese culture of "Starting to wear hats at 20 year-old" (二十始冠), . Manchu hats are either formal or casual, formal hats being made in two different styles, straw for spring and summer, and fur for fall and winter. Casual hats are more commonly known as "Mandarin hats" in English.
Manchus have many distinctive traditional accessories. Women traditionally wear three earrings on each ear, a tradition that is maintained by many older Manchu women. Males also traditionally wear piercings, but they tend to only have one earring in their youth and do not continue to wear it as adults. The Manchu people also have traditional jewelry which evokes their past as hunters. The fergetun (ᡶᡝᡵᡤᡝᡨᡠᠨ), a thumb ring traditionally made out of reindeer bone, was worn to protect the thumbs of archers. After the establishment of the Qing dynasty in 1644, the fergetun gradually became simply a form of jewelry, with the most valuable ones made in jade and ivory. High-heeled shoes were worn by Manchu women.
Riding and archery
Riding and archery (Manchu: ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠮᠨᡳᠶᠠᠨ; Möllendorff: niyamniyan; Abkai: niyamniyan) are significant to the Manchus. They were well-trained horsemen from their teenage years. Huangtaiji said, "Riding and archery are the most important martial arts of our country". Every generation of the Qing dynasty treasured riding and archery the most. Every spring and fall, from ordinary Manchus to aristocrats, all had to take riding and archery tests. Their test results could even affect their rank in the nobility. The Manchus of the early Qing dynasty had excellent shooting skills and their arrows were reputed to be capable of penetrating two persons.
From the middle period of the Qing dynasty, archery became more a form of entertainment in the form of games such as hunting swans, shooting fabric or silk target. The most difficult is shooting a candle hanging in the air at night. Gambling was banned in the Qing dynasty but there was no limitation on Manchus engaging in archery contests. It was common to see Manchus putting signs in front of their houses to invite challenges. After the Qianlong period, Manchus gradually neglected the practices of riding and archery, even though their rulers tried their best to encourage Manchus to continue their riding and archery traditions, but the traditions are still kept among some Manchus even nowadays.
Manchu wrestling (Manchu: ᠪᡠᡴᡠ; Möllendorff: buku; Abkai: buku) is also an important martial art of the Manchu people. Buku, meaning "wrestling" or "man of unusual strength" in Manchu, was originally from a Mongolian word, "bökh". The history of Manchu wrestling can be traced back to Jurchen wrestling in the Jin dynasty which was originally from Khitan wrestling; it was very similar to Mongolian wrestling. In the Yuan dynasty, the Jurchens who lived in northeast China adopted Mongol culture including wrestling, bökh. In the latter Jin and early Qing period, rulers encouraged the populace, including aristocrats, to practise buku as a feature of military training. At the time, Mongol wrestlers were the most famous and powerful. By the Chongde period, Manchus had developed their own well-trained wrestlers and, a century later, in the Qianlong period, they surpassed Mongol wreslers. The Qing court established the "Shan Pu Battalion" and chose 200 fine wrestlers divided into three levels. Manchu wrestling moves can be found in today's Chinese wrestling, shuai jiao, which is its most important part. Among many branches, Beijing wrestling adopted most Manchu wrestling moves.
As a result of their hunting ancestry, Manchus are traditionally interested in falconry. Gyrfalcon (Manchu: ᡧᠣᠩᡴᠣᡵᠣ; Möllendorff: šongkoro; Abkai: xongkoro) is the most highly valued discipline in the Manchu falconry social circle. In the Qing period, giving a gyrfalcon to the royal court in tribute could be met with a considerable reward. There were professional falconers in Ningguta area (today's Heilongjiang province and the northern part of Jilin province). It was a big base of falconry. Beijing's Manchus also like falconry. Compared to the falconry of Manchuria, it is more like an entertainment. Imperial Household Department of Beijing had professional falconers, too. They provided outstanding falcons to the emperor when he went to hunt every fall. Even today, Manchu traditional falconry is well practised in some regions.
Ice skating (Manchu: ᠨᡳᠰᡠᠮᡝ
ᡝᡶᡳᠨ; Möllendorff: nisume efime efin; Abkai: nisume efime efin) is another Manchu pastime. The Qianlong Emperor called it "national custom". It is one of the most important winter events of the Qing royal household, performed by "Eight Banner Ice Skating Battalion" (八旗冰鞋营) which was a special force trained to do battle on icy terrain. The battalion consisted of 1600 soldiers. In the Jiaqing period, it was reduced to 500 soldiers and transferred to the Jing Jie Battalion (精捷营) originally, literally meaning "chosen agile battalion".
In the 1930s-1940s, there was a famous Manchu skater in Beijing whose name was Wu Tongxuan, from the Uya clan and one of the royal household skaters in Empress Dowager Cixi's regency. He frequently appeared in many of Beijing's skating rinks. Nowadays, there are still Manchu figure skaters; world champions Zhao Hongbo and Tong Jian are the pre-eminent examples.
The Tale of the Nisan Shaman (Manchu: ᠨᡳᡧᠠᠨ
ᠪᡳᡨᡥᡝ; Möllendorff: nišan saman i bithe; Abkai: nixan saman-i bithe; 尼山萨满传) is the most important literature of Manchus. It primarily tells the process of how Nisan Shaman helps a young hunter revive. The story spreads not long among Manchus, but also in Xibe, Nanai, Daur, Oroqen, Evenk and other Tungusic peoples. It basically has four versions: the handwriting version from Qiqihar; two different handwriting versions from Aigun; the one which was written by a Manchu writer Dekdengge in Vladivostok (Manchu: ᡥᠠᡳᡧᡝᠨᠸᡝᡳ; Möllendorff: haišenwei; Abkai: haixenwei). The pilot of four versions are similar, but the version of Haišenwei has the most complete content. It is already translated in Russian, Chinese, English and other languages.
Octagonal drum is a type of Manchu folk art that was very popular among bannermen, especially in Beijing. It is said that octagonal drum originated with the snare drum of the Eight-banner military and the melody was made by the banner soldiers who were on the way back home from victory in the battle of Jinchuan. The drum is composed of wood surrounded by bells. The drumhead is made by wyrmhide with tassels at the bottom. The colors of the tassels are yellow, white, red, and blue, which represent the four colors of the Eight Banners. When artists perform, they use their fingers to hit the drumhead and shake the drum to ring the bells. Traditionally, octagonal drum is performed by three people. One is the harpist; one is the clown who is responsible for harlequinade; and the third is the singer.
"Zidishu" is the main libretto of octagonal drum and can be traced back to a type of traditional folk music called "Manchu Rhythm". Although Zidishu was not created by Han Chinese, it still contains many themes from Chinese stories, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber, Romance of the West Chamber, Legend of the White Snake and Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Additionally, there are many works that depict the lives of Bannermen. Aisin Gioro Yigeng, who was pen named "Helü" and wrote the sigh of old imperial bodyguard, is the representative author. Zidishu involves two acts of singing, which are called dongcheng and xicheng.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty, the influence of the octagonal drum gradually reduced. However, the Chinese monochord and crosstalk which derived from octagonal are still popular in Chinese society and the new generations. Many famous Chinese monochord performers and crosstalkers were the artists of octagonal drum, such as De Shoushan and Zhang Sanlu.
Ulabun (ᡠᠯᠠᠪᡠᠨ) is a Manchu storytelling entertainment which is performed in Manchu language. Different from octagonal drum, ulabun is popular among the Manchu people living in Manchuria. It has two main categories; one is popular folk literature such as the Tale of the Nisan Shaman, the other is from folk music with an informative and independent plot, and complete structure. Song Xidong aka. Akšan/Akxan (ᠠᡴᡧᠠᠨ) is a famous artist in performing ulabun.
The religions of the Manchus are diverse. Originally, Manchus, and their predecessors, were principally Shamanists. After the conquest of China in the 17th century, Manchus came into contact with Chinese culture. They were markedly influenced by Chinese folk religion and retained only some Shamanic customs. Buddhism and Christianity also had their impacts.
Shamanism has a long history in Manchu civilization and influenced them tremendously over thousands of years. John Keay states in A History Of China, shaman is the single loan-word from Manchurian into the English language. After the conquest of China in the 17th century, although Manchus widely adopted Chinese folk religion, Shamanic traditions can still be found in the aspects of soul worship, totem worship, belief in nightmares and apotheosis of philanthropists. Since the Qing rulers considered religion as a method of controlling other powers such as Mongolians and Tibetans, there was no privilege for Shamanism, their native religion. Apart from the Shamanic shrines in the Qing palace, no temples erected for worship of Manchu gods could be found in Beijing. Thus, the story of competition between Shamanists and Lamaists was oft heard in Manchuria but the Manchu emperor helped Lamaists to persecute Shamanists which led to their considerable frustration and dissatisfaction.
Jurchens, the predecessors of the Manchus, were influenced by the Buddhism of Balhae, Goryeo, Liao and Song in the 10-13th centuries, so it was not something new to the rising Manchus in the 16-17th centuries. Qing emperors were always entitled "Buddha". They were regarded as Mañjuśrī in Tibetan Buddhism and had high attainments. However, Buddhism was used by rulers to control Mongolians and Tibetans; it was of little relevance to ordinary Manchus in the Qing dynasty.
The belief in the Buddhist faith by the Mongols was viewed with disdain and thought to be destructive to Mongol identity by Huangtaiji in private, Huangtaiji said "The Mongolian princes are abandoning the Mongolian language; their names are all in imitation of the lamas.", although Huangtaiji patronized Tibetan Buddhism in public. The Manchus themselves like Huangtaiji did not personally believe in Tibetan Buddhism and did not want to convert, in fact the words "incorrigibles" and liars" were used to describe Tibetan Buddhist Lamas by Hung Taiji, however Huangtaiji patronized Buddhism in order to exploit the Tibetans and Mongols belief in the religion.
The Qianlong Emperor's faith in Tibetan Buddhism had been questioned in recent times because the emperor indicated that he supported the Yellow Church (the Tibetan Buddhist Gelukpa sect) just to "maintain peace among the Mongols" since the Mongols were followers of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama of the Yellow Church, and the Qianlong Emperor had this explanation placed in the Beijing Tibetan Buddhist Yonghe Gong temple on a stele entitled "Lama Shuo" (on Lamas) in 1792, and he also said it was "merely in pursuance of Our policy of extending Our affection to the weak." which led him to patronize the Yellow Church.
This explanation of only supporting the "Yellow Hats" Tibetan Buddhists for practical reasons was used to deflect Han criticism of this policy by the Qianlong Emperor, who had the "Lama Shuo" stele engraved in Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu and Chinese, which said: "By patronizing the Yellow Church we maintain peace among the Mongols. This being an important task we cannot but protect this (religion). (In doing so) we do not show any bias, nor do we wish to adulate the Tibetan priests as (was done during the) Yuan dynasty."
Chinese folk religion
Manchus were affected by Chinese folk religions for most of the Qing dynasty. Save for ancestor worship, the gods they consecrated were virtually identical to those of the Han Chinese. Guan Yu worship is a typical example. He was considered as the God Protector of the Nation and was sincerely worshipped by Manchus. They called him "Lord Guan" (关老爷). Uttering his name was taboo. In addition, Manchus worshipped Cai Shen and the Kitchen God just as the Han Chinese did. The worship of Mongolian and Tibetan gods has also been reported.
There were Manchu Christians in the Qing dynasty. In the Yongzheng and Qianlong eras, Depei, the Hošo Jiyan Prince, was a Catholic whose baptismal name was "Joseph". His wife was also baptised and named "Maria". At the same time, the sons of Doro Beile Sunu were devout Catholics, too. In the Jiaqing period, Tong Hengšan and Tong Lan were Catholic Manchu Bannermen. These Manchu Christians were proselytized and persecuted by Qing emperors but they steadfastly refused to convert. There were Manchu Christians in modern times, too, such as Ying Lianzhi, Lao She and Philip Fugh.
Manchus have many traditional holidays. Some are derived from Chinese culture, such as "Spring Festival" and Duanwu Festival. Some are of Manchu origin. For instance, Banjin Inenggi (ᠪᠠᠨᠵᡳᠨ
ᡳᠨᡝᠩᡤᡳ), on the 13th day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, is the anniversary of the name creation of Manchu. This day in 1635, Huangtaiji changed the ethnic name from Jurchen to Manchu. Food Extermination Day (绝粮日), on every 26th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, is another example which was inspired by a story that once Nurhaci and his troops were in a battle with enemies and almost running out of food. The villagers who lived near the battlefield heard the emergency and came to help. There was no tableware on the battlefield. They had to use perilla leaves to wrap the rice. Afterwards, they won the battle. So later generations could remember this hardship, Nurhaci made this day the "Food Extermination Day". Traditionally on this day, Manchu people eat perilla or cabbage wraps with rice, scrambled eggs, beef or pork.
- Also known as Man, Bannermen, Banner people, Tartars, red-tasseled Mongols (红缨蒙古), the Mongols of wearing red tassels (戴红缨的蒙古人) and the Tartars of wearing red tassels (戴红缨达子)
- Fengcheng and Beizhen are cities but treated as Manchu autonomous counties.
- e.g. Möngke Temür, Qing dynasty emperors' ancestor
- Cungšan was considered as Nurhaci's direct ancestor by some viewpoints, but disagreements also exist.
- Aka. Manchu State (Manchu: ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ; Möllendorff: manju gurun; Abkai: manju gurun)
- The meaning of "daicing" (daiqing) is debatable. It has been reported that the word was imported from Mongolian means "fighting country"
- Autonomous counties are shown in bright green. Counties with autonomous townships are in dark green, with the number of Manchu townshipin each county shown in red (or yellow). So are another 2 pictures
- e.g. Nadanju (70 in Manchu), Susai (5 in Manchu), Liošici(67, a Mandarin homophone) and Bašinu(85, a Mandarin homophone)
- e.g. Dorgon (badger) and Arsalan (lion)
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- e.g. Ying Batu, Ying Bayan, the sons of a famous Manchu director, Ying Da.
- e.g. Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun, a famous scholar of Khitan and Manchu linguistic studies.
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- In Manchu
- Dekdengge; Zhang, Huake; Guang, Dingyuan (2007). ᠨᡳᡧᠠᠨ
ᠪᡳᡨᡥᡝ (Full Edition of Tale of the Nisan Shaman). Yingyu Cultural Publishing House. ISBN 9789868212428.
- Crossley, Pamela Kyle (1991). Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00877-9.
- Crossley, Pamela Kyle. 1987. “Manzhou Yuanliu Kao and the Formalization of the Manchu Heritage”. The Journal of Asian Studies 46 (4). Association for Asian Studies: 761–90. doi:10.2307/2057101.
- Huang, Pei. 1990. “New Light on the Origins of the Manchus”. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 50 (1). Harvard-Yenching Institute: 239–82. doi:10.2307/2719229.
- Rawski, Evelyn S. (2001). The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22837-5.
- Shao, Dan (2011). Remote Homeland, Recovered Borderland: Manchus, Manchoukuo, and Manchuria, 1907-1985. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0824834456.
|Look up Manchu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manchu people.|
- Manchu (people) on Encyclopædia Britannica
- Manchu Association of Republic of China (traditional Chinese)
- Shenyang Manchu Sodality (simplified Chinese)
- Manjusa (simplified Chinese)
- Manchus.cn (simplified Chinese)
- Manchu Studies Group
- Fe Doro Manchu Archery
- Interactive Map of Minorities in China by The New York Times
- Manchu - Economy | <urn:uuid:bda142f1-b3a3-419b-80f0-89edf10502a8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280872.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00320-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.843721 | 24,912 | 3.234375 | 3 |
What is the State Board of Education?
The State Board of Education sets expectations and rules that help all students succeed in school and beyond. The statutory roles and responsibilities of the State Board can be found here.
Who sits on the State Board of Education?
The State Board of Education is comprised of nine elected representatives, one from each of the District of Columbia eight wards and one elected at-large. You can find your representative here.
Who leads the State Board of Education?
The State Board of Education selects new leadership annually. Jack Jacobson, Ward 2 Representative to the State Board, is the current president. Karen Williams, Ward 7 Representative, is currently serving as Vice President.
When was the State Board of Education established?
The State Board of Education was established by the "Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007."
Is the State Board of Education a part of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)?
No. In 2013, the State Board of Education became an independent agency from OSSE. The State Board works collaboratively with OSSE whenever possible.
Does the State Board of Education oversee schools?
No. The State Board of Education is not a local school board. The decisions to hire teachers, set curriculum, approve budgets, buy textbooks, or manage the daily operations of traditional or pubic charter schools is left up to each individual local education agency.
Who do I call if I want to complain about my school?
Starting in 2013, the State Board of Education will host the Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education. The Ombudsman can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at (202) 741-0888. However, before contacting the Ombudsman, you may want to discuss the issue with your principal first.
What is the Ombudsman for Public Education?
The Ombudsman for Public Education was re-established to respond to concerns and complaints from students, parents, and teachers. The Ombudsman can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at (202) 741-0888.
When does the State Board of Education meet?
The State Board holds regular working sessions on the first Wednesday of each month at 441 4th Street NW, on the 11th floor, from 4:30 pm-6 pm. The State Board of Education also holds a public meeting on the third Wednesday of each month at 441 4th Street NW, in the Old Council Chambers, from 5:30 pm-8:30 pm. These meetings are subject to change.
How can I get involved?
Everyone is invited to attend both working sessions and public meetings; however members of the public can only speak at public meetings. Individuals and representatives of organizations who wish to comment at a public meeting are asked to notify State Board staff in advance by phone at (202) 741-0888 or by email at [email protected], furnishing their names, addresses, telephone numbers, and organizational affiliation, if any, by the close of business the Monday prior to the meeting.
Public comments are not taken at working sessions, but they can be submitted via email at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:1ecd87ee-edec-4c37-9fe5-e56879d1d715> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://sboe.dc.gov/page/sboe-faqs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00112-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957056 | 648 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Have you got some previous branch loitering your home? Have you got some woods that want some trimming? Why would you need this sort of things to be performed? Simply because, a vintage tree branch can come falling down on the roof of your property or any individual below it. It can be very difficult to wash a garden that’s filled with dry leaves due to the tree in your backyard. Here are some other things you need to find out why having a typical tree service might be important
First, some trees are apt to have previous limbs that may fall off any moment. This could cause an accident when some body might be position under the tree and a branch comes off. Additionally, it may injury a component of your dwelling if the part is holding just above your house. Having a typical tree service to decrease previous branches minimizes the danger of incidents brought on by falling branches. Additionally, it may help the tree develop a brand new branch which is significantly sturdier than the one which has been cut.
Another reason why it is essential to possess this sort of service is that it gives artistic value to your yard or tree. Those providing the services may also be properly qualified as it pertains to designing your yard or trees. Having your Timberland Tree Services in your desired designed like a heart, a horse or perhaps a dice form really amazes people who see it.
There exist lots of benefits in choosing tree services. Among the primary reasoned explanations why one should employ such service provider is so it aids in sustaining security in one’s environment within and outside the home. Such provider will eliminate previous and diseased divisions that can create a risk in driveways, streets, and even electric wirings. If such branches are eliminated properly, cars can pass through streets properly and easily. Exactly the same is true with persons and/or pedestrians driving through the area. Therefore, one of many benefits of hiring the aforesaid provider is that one is ensured of protection as it pertains to the possible threats posed by unmaintained trees and vegetation.
The preservation of gardens and backyard can also be one of many advantages of hiring the said company. Besides the removal of overgrown shrubs, such companies will even help one in clearing up all the undesirable flowers within the home that obscure the view and the aesthetics of the same. Hence, one can also be ensured of beauty when hiring the company.
Irrespective of shaping unwelcome offices and eliminating needless shrubs in one’s garden, selecting the aforesaid skilled service also offers one options as it pertains to the trees one wishes to seed in one’s yard as a result provider also offers tree planting services. Such service companies have the necessary information and skills to seed and develop healthy trees. One is thus certain when one hope to buy and seed woods, such trees can develop sensibly; setting away fears of it not growing optimally as a result of flawed tree planting procedures.
The most important thing about having a tree service is that it helps your trees become livelier and actually causes it to be healthy. Some trees are like desperate because of certain conditions like the weather, pollution and the likes. One method to hold them as healthy looking as they certainly were, you’ll need some tree solutions which will look after your trees. Some service companies also use fertilizers that can support the tree grow as healthy because it can.
You can find other things why people hire tree services. Some of them may do it just for the benefit of getting a secure atmosphere while the others tend to keep their trees and garden as wonderful while they want. It could are expensive a lot more than performing the service your self, but you may be confident that the solutions will be done in an expert way. Just be sure you discover some body trusted and who can really make top quality benefits as an alternative of having the service to be achieved again by somebody else. | <urn:uuid:84b5ab03-2052-402b-8b9d-8250f343aa4d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.lucanashville.com/tree-service-businesses-do-far-more-than-only-removals__trashed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.969465 | 794 | 1.539063 | 2 |
There are two more years left in the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarters Program. Five states will get their quarters released this year and the last five next year. Have you ever heard of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts? And did you know that it is involved in the evaluation process of choosing the design for each state quarter? Just this past week, the Commission of Fine Arts weighed in on the proposed designs for the Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii state quarters.
What is the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and what does it do?
"The Commission of Fine Arts, established in 1910 by Act of Congress, is charged with giving expert advice to the President, Congress and the heads of departments and agencies of the Federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics, as they affect the Federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation's capital. The Commission consists of seven "well qualified judges of the fine arts" who are appointed by the President and serve for a term of four years; they may also be reappointed.
The Commission provides advice to the U. S. Mint on the design of coins and medals, and approves the site and design of national memorials, both in the United States and on foreign soil, in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act or the American Battle Monuments Act, whichever applies.
Within the District of Columbia community, the Commission advises on design matters affecting the Historic District of Georgetown, under the Old Georgetown Act, as well as other private sector areas adjacent to federal interests, under the Shipstead-Luce Act.
Lastly, the Commission administers the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program, which was created by Congress to benefit non-profit cultural entities whose primary purpose is to provide Washington with exhibition or performing arts."
Learn more about the Commission of Fine Arts.
To read more, check these titles in Chinook, the Libraries catalog. | <urn:uuid:b239c80e-56da-4adb-a031-df9b43261fe2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/2007/01/us-commission-of-fine-arts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280483.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00296-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962235 | 399 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Today energy and fuel's most versatile source is known as liquid petroleum gas so that as some would know as propane. Not too it is only useful for having barbecues on the Sunday at the backyard it has a lot of different uses like, giving capability to water heaters, stoves, dryers, refrigerators, oven, and even more.
It is a lot cheaper than gasoline yet as gasoline's costs rises as a source of energy, so does the price of propane. It is all about the equilibrium of the supply and demand, but the fluctuations between them causes the price to rise. In a year propane will be produced in a stable rate by plants or refineries which process gas thus the of propane increases since the demand for it also increases.
Propane only at that website was desirable to the people more than along with other energy sources in recent times due to some reasons. The first is that there are recent upgrades of propane furnaces and astonishing latest features for it to be more efficient and safer in operations. Also improved that propane delivers is preferable to electricity since the furnace with the propane is warmer capable to heat faster when compared to heat produced by a power heater. Finally, propane 's better to use in home since harm is lesser rather than a fire wood, coal or possibly a heating oil and it's also a clean fuel.
The costs of propane which are being set in industry are done by the suppliers, because the prices of propane aren't regulated by the government. Hence these suppliers are responsible for the rise or fall of the prices of propane thus retaining and attracting clients while making money along the way.
There are strategies in oil delivery to clients and using these different techniques for their respecting kind of customer can make the job easy for the producer and then make more profit. One is called the off route propane delivery or also known as a special delivery charge. The location where the amount a customer covers the delivery during regular hours is minimum. The emergency delivery charge, is done when a delivery is requested after regular business hours and expenses for it would be a little higher compared to the former one. There are some regular clients who requests regularly and customers who desires delivery control thus they're considered to pay delivery charges automatically. Paying this type of delivery charges automatically which enable it to sometimes save the consumer from unstable propane prices. | <urn:uuid:a42014a8-ed60-490c-b84d-b397c9ae0360> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.purevolume.com/PropaneDelivery6/posts/12084955/A+Guide+to+Delivering+Propane | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00117-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972393 | 484 | 2.4375 | 2 |
BC PLAN is a network of like minded organizations and individuals, who have come together from across the province to charter a communication network.
Together we promote increased access to post secondary credentials and skilled employment through the informed recognition of the skills and knowledge adults bring to post secondary institutions, to business, and to industries across the province.
The PLIRC Document Database is an initiative of the Prior Learning International Research Centre (PLIRC) at Thompson Rivers University. Intended for scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers, the database provides a free, full-text resource of research-related documents in the area of prior learning assessment and recognition.
PLA resources allows students to earn credit toward a course or program offered by a post-secondary institution if they can demonstrate, through a systematic and valid assessment process, that the learning is equivalent to that which normally would be acquired through conventional study at the post-secondary level.
Our Network – Our network includes representatives from post secondary institutions, provincial government, sector councils, and individuals working with adult learners in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Members are excited about the potential for growth of innovative PLAR partnerships in British Columbia and about the potential for a strong provincial network to encourage and support increased activity. | <urn:uuid:7992f1fe-b67e-45eb-92a3-a475104732fc> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://bcplan.ca/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00434-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935381 | 248 | 1.804688 | 2 |
PIC Program Accomplishments
- Purpose: Identify and correct sources of bacterial and nutrient pollution in the Lower Stillaguamish River valley west of Interstate 5
- Implementation Timeframe: November 2013 to September 2016
- Program Managed By: Snohomish County Public Works Surface Water Management
- Total Cost: Approximately $444,000 (Roughly $247,000 for Snohomish County and around $197,000 for Snohomish Conservation District)
- Funding Source: 100% funded by US EPA National Estuary Program grant and administered by Washington Department of Health in coordination with Washington Department of Ecology
- Program Partners: Snohomish Conservation District, Snohomish Health District, Washington Department of Agriculture, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Health, Stillaguamish Flood Control District, City of Stanwood, Stillaguamish Tribe, and Stillaguamish Clean Water District Advisory Board
Since the launch of the program in 2014, Snohomish County and its partners have addressed:
Snohomish County led quarterly meetings of its advisory committee to foster inter-agency cooperation on implementation of the Lower Stillaguamish PIC Program.
Water Quality Monitoring in the PIC Program Area
- Conducted monthly water quality sampling at nine sites within the program area with a focus on adjacent upland areas that drain to the Lower Stillaguamish floodplain.
- Performed short-term targeted investigatory water quality sampling in the Sunday Lake drainage area, based on the monthly sampling results.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) conducted monthly and targeted investigatory water quality sampling in the Miller Creek area of the Lower Stillaguamish floodplain.
Pollution Source Identification, Technical Assistance, and Enforcement
The Washington State Department of Ecology, Snohomish Conservation District (SCD), and Snohomish County:
- Worked with cooperating landowners to design and implement three agricultural best management practice (BMP) projects in the Silvana Terrace area.
- Identified several significant sources of bacterial pollution in both the Lower Stillaguamish River floodplain and adjacent uplands.
Clean-up for most of these sources is either underway or complete.
Education and Outreach to PIC Program Area Residents and Landowners
- Conducted 5 workshops/tours on BMPs.
- Hosted 10 community meetings.
- Promoted BMPs for on-site septic systems and livestock manure through various outreach activities.
- Responded to 27 site visit requests within the Lower Stillaguamish River PIC Program area, primarily related to technical assistance for livestock owners.
- Communicated regularly with local commercial dairy operators regarding ongoing water quality monitoring, pollution source identification, and regulatory requirements of the Washington State Dairy Nutrient Management Program.
Snohomish County Public Works: | <urn:uuid:61487aa7-069e-4215-8491-5cee6a5dd4f0> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/3691/PIC-Accomplishments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00273.warc.gz | en | 0.891163 | 612 | 2.453125 | 2 |
The healthy eating plan for adults on the Much better Overall health Channel is a guide to how you can strategy your meals to comply with Australia’s healthful consuming guidelines. But for the DIY diets, all you typically need are guidelines from a internet site or a book, or in some situations, an app. Healthful Meal Program has 10 years of knowledge taking care of everyone from new moms, busy bodies, seniors, athletes in education to those of you who just aren’t designed to ‘chef’. My loved ones and I have used eMeals for a couple of years—we’ve made use of their paleo and clean consuming meal plans. Weight discount tablets are a superior selection for those who are unable to shed weight by dieting and corporeal activity.
Individuals normally go to sleep soon just after they have dinner devoid of any physical exercise in amongst, which again can be bring about for worry and this is why it is even extra important for any person to watch their portion size when eating dinner.
Also making a load of ready healthier meals at the weekend and freezing, it really is a lot easier than most people think with a small preparing, and trust me I am a lazy sod at times. To hold items intriguing, you can obtain wholesome new suggestions at our recipe section , or give our colour meal wheel a spin. You are right-if we never keep up the regimen soon after weight loss, the weight will come back.
You may possibly want to write this up in a planner to support you to see where all of your events fall for the duration of your day. Our NEWEST Signature plan delivers the most seasonally caught wild fish, ALL Organic Poultry, Grass-fed fine cuts of meat, along with uncommon ancient grains, and the rarest farm to table vegetables.
The finest meal plans to adhere to incorporates healthy foods from all the significant food groups in a way that is satisfying and enjoyable to you. Keeping an best weight is a important concern as evidenced by the amount Americans spent annually on weight loss goods, foods and services—a whopping estimated $42 billion. For a complete list of what is in season and for lots of fantastic fruit and vegetable recipes, take a look at the Greater Health Channel healthier recipes page and opt for the In Season tab under Components. Generally speaking, Girls ought to consume a minimum of 1,200 calories per day and guys a minimum of 1,500 calories. | <urn:uuid:8e104124-0865-4f67-9390-be105a6cfbc8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://wayanadresorts.net/uncomplicated-strategies-for-preparing-a-healthier-eating-plan-and-sticking-to-it.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571584.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812045352-20220812075352-00674.warc.gz | en | 0.954018 | 499 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Point: Solve a ubiquitous problem by using a ubiquitous practice
Story: Four entrepreneurs found a way to generate free electricity in developing nations. The entrepreneurs – all women who had experience in developing countries – prototyped a soccer ball that “captures and stores energy during normal game play to be used later to charge batteries and LEDs,” said co-creator Jessica Lin. The soccer ball, called sOccket, generates and stores energy with every kick and bounce. The ball looks like a regular soccer ball, but inside “there’s a magnet that goes back and forth through the inductive coil, which allows a current to be captured in a capacitor and electricity to be stored,” said co-creator Hemali Thakkar. “About 15 minutes of kicking the ball allows us to use a single LED for three hours,” Thakkar said. After kicking the ball around, the person plugs their light, battery pack, cellphone or other small electrical gadget into a DC jack in one of the ball’s panels and enjoys the clean renewable power. A day of play can become a night of light.
The genius of the idea is that it takes a ubiquitous practice – soccer is the most popular sport in the world, especially in developing countries – and uses it to solve the common problem of the lack of electricity in those countries. The UN estimates that nearly 80% of people living in the 50 poorest nations have no access to electricity. By piggybacking electricity production onto the prevailing activity of soccer, the innovation lowers barriers to adoption. Customers don’t need to change practices to use the product.
The entrepreneurs got the inspiration for their idea from a dance floor in Rotterdam which uses the energy of the dancers’ steps to power the lights. In the developing world, sOccekt-powered lights would provide an alternative to kerosene lamps, which 1.5 billion people use today as a lighting source. Kerosene lamps sicken children through respiratory disease (breathing kerosene lamp fumes is the equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and produce carbon emissions equivalent to 38 million cars. In contrast, sOccket produces light from the naturally renewable energy of soccer-players.
The invention, named one of the breakthrough innovations of the year by Popular Mechanics will be distributed in a sustainable way as well. Rather than giving the ball away for free, which would ruin the existing businesses selling soccer balls in developing countries, local entrepreneurs in developing countries will assemble and sell the sOccekt balls themselves. This will help local economies while lowering the cost of the product.
- Find a common problem or need (e.g., lack of low-pollution lighting)
- Examine common practices or activities of the region/country/customerbase (e.g., soccer)
- Innovate at the intersection of the gap and the existing activity (e.g., energy production from playing soccer) to maximize adoption.
- Look for other ways to enhance adoption by using local resources (e.g., employing local entrepreneurs for manufacturing and distribution)
sOccket: Soccer Ball by Day, Light by Night. http://news.discovery.com/tech/soccket-soccer-ball-by-day-light-by-night.html
Electricity Onto the Field http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/soccer-ball-brings-off-grid-electricity-onto-the-field/65977/
Partying Helps Power a Dutch Nightclub http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/world/europe/24rotterdam.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=dance%20club%20electricity&st=cse
Harnessing the Power of Soccer http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00044&segmentID=5
Using Soccer to Supplant Kerosene Use? http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/using-soccer-to-supplant-kerosene-use/?scp=1&sq=Using%20Soccer%20to%20Supplant%20Kerosene%20Use?&st=cse
The Soccer Ball That Makes Electricity During the Game http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/gonzo/soccer-ball-that-makes-electricity-during-the-game | <urn:uuid:2d8798b9-a4e9-41e9-bd09-b69b14f078f3> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.workingknowledge.com/blog/2010/12/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285315.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00566-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895706 | 965 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Sustainable Economy Solicitors
Our lawyers are proud to advise clients who are leading the way in responsible business and welcome the move to a more sustainable global and UK economy. We are helping our clients to shape a better world.
What is a sustainable economy?
A sustainable economy aims to achieve long-term economic growth whilst preserving the planet's natural resources for future generations and protecting our communities.
Michelmores advises businesses, institutional and private investors, landowners and developers whose activities and financial objectives are aligned to a sustainable future.
Our work takes place against the backdrop of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, The Paris Agreement and the UK Government's legal commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
Legal advice in the sustainable economy sector
- We work with investors, boards, fund managers and foundations with strong ESG values or mandates to help them to build sustainable and responsible businesses or investment portfolios.
- We also offer cutting edge legal advice in Sustainable Agriculture and Technology. Combining our commercial, agricultural and regulatory expertise with specialist sector insight, we help our clients to fulfil their ambitious aims for food security and nature conservation.
- In addition, our lawyers are specialists in the fast-developing legislation around biodiversity and natural capital, its impact on landowners, farmers, developers and local authorities and their role in habitat conservation and carbon sequestration.
- We advise clients on low carbon property development, clean energy, green infrastructure projects and impact investing.
The availability of payments for the preservation of natural capital and associated environmental services offers many new opportunities to a wide range of landowners, investors and specialist advisers alike. We work with organisations and individuals who understand this new marketplace and care about how land management affects the environment. Find out more about our work on the country's first-to-market habitat bank for biodiversity net gain and expertise in Natural Capital.
Sustainable Agriculture and Agri-Tech
Sustainable Agriculture aims to repair the problems of climate change and the biodiversity crises. Using pioneering technologies, the sector also aims to find a solution to long term food security. Find out more about our work with WWF and Tesco exploring insect protein as animal feed, and our sustainable agriculture conferences in Sustainable Agriculture and Agri-Tech.
Impact investing challenges traditional approaches to generating return on investment. We advise on debt and equity investments into sustainable UK businesses and throughout the Global South on behalf of development funds and other impact investors. As well as delivering a financial return, these investments produce measurable positive impacts on society and the environment. Find out more about our expertise in impact investing.
Energy that harnesses the world's natural power is essential to delivering on net-zero commitments. Our Energy team is experienced in the generation, distribution and construction of clean energy projects, which use emerging new technologies and innovative financing or business structures. Find out more about our work with clients in the energy sector.
Sustainable Real Estate Development
A sustainable economy needs infrastructure, workplaces and homes that are climate resilient, energy efficient, technologically integrated and deliver societal, wellbeing or biodiversity benefits for users. It also needs smart solutions for managing waste and natural resources. We advise public authorities, investors, developers, landowners and planners on a wide range of sustainable infrastructure, real estate and resource management projects.
- The Building Safety Act 2022
- Trainee Blog: attending the Michelmores' Sustainable Agriculture Conference
- Food Standards Agency Confirms Edible Insects Can Once Again be Placed on the GB Market
- Michelmores joins Bristol's Week of Sustainability with its Sustainable Agriculture Conference
- The future of sustainable energy and heating webinar
- Nutrient Neutrality: the basics
- Biodiversity Net Gain: the basics
- Some top tips with sustainable commercial leases
- Electric Vehicles - The market is ready but are developers?
- Michelmores advises Environment Bank on pioneering solution for biodiversity net gain
- Michelmores provides legal guidance to the UK's first report on the future of feed
- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG): using business as a driver for positive change
- Planning & nitrate neutrality: Legal challenge to Natural England's guidance
- Delivering a sustainable food future
- Sustainable agriculture after the pandemic: what does a green recovery mean for farming?
- The Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution: proposals for the energy and finance sector
- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors and impact investing
- The post-virus economy: will the grass be green on the other side?
Get in touch
- Michelmores' Agricultural Team contributed to the UK's first report on the future of insect protein in pig, poultry and aquaculture feed, ‘The Future of Feed: a WWF roadmap to accelerating insect protein in UK feeds', produced by WWF and Tesco. The team provided guidance and support on the key legislation, regulations and recommendations that are laid out in the Roadmap.
- Advice to Triodos Bank in establishing its own crowdfunding platform offering a range of bonds and equities issued by organisations focusing on positive environmental and social impact.
- Advice to Natural Capital Research (NCR) on investment round led by Schroders and Oxford Science Innovation. NCR is a data-led science-based organisation which specialises in measuring natural capital assets globally.
- Working with a client to set up a trading platform to connect landowners with developers to enable them to purchase credits for nutrient neutrality and biodiversity net gain on their projects. Michelmores' team reviewed and advised on the draft agreements for the deals between developers and landowners.
- Acting for a large, landed estate to draft the legal agreements for a Landscape Scale Recovery Scheme with DEFRA and with multiple tenants, commons graziers and other occupiers. As part of the Environmental Land Management Scheme roll out, complex issues of land tenure, carbon ownership and apportionment of risk and reward between the stakeholders were addressed.
- Advice to InsPro Limited on waste and waste permitting, agricultural exemptions for business rates, tax, commercial and intellectual property. InsPro is a bio-conversion network with a mission to transform food waste into nutritious feed and fertiliser using black solider fly larvae.
- Advice to the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) on the establishment of Global Access Health (GAH), a social enterprise enabling access to affordable state-of-the-art medical technology for the Global South, and the subsequent acquisition by GAH of Mologic (a leading UK developer of lateral flow and rapid diagnostic technologies combatting high risk tropical diseases).
- Advice to Global Medical Investments GMI AB (GMI) on the sale of Sweden Ghana Medical Centre (SGMC), a provider of premium private cancer care treatment in Ghana to Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).
- Advice to Mama Bamboo on its EIS share offer for investors on the Triodos Bank UK Crowdfunding website. Mama Bamboo's award-winning sustainable baby products are made using 100% compostable bamboo fibre. The company is the only UK nappy brand to be B-Corp certified.
- Advice to rewilding charity Trees for Life on a bond issue on the Triodos Bank UK Crowdfunding website in order to raise £2m to part-fund the world’s first rewilding centre in the Scottish Highlands.
- Advice to Solar Growth Limited, managed by Armstrong Capital, on its acquisition of 39 commercial rooftop solar systems. The team advised on the due diligence, transaction documentation for the acquisition, and on the secured funding arrangements.
- Advice to Octopus Renewables on the acquisition of Innova Energy's portfolio of 57 commercial rooftop solar PV assets in the UK.
- Advice to Oxygen House's property division, Grenadier Estates, on all of its real estate and construction projects. Providing flexible precedent green leases and construction contracts with a commitment to sustainability from project inception to occupation which will encourage the adoption of energy efficient technologies and collation of energy data.
- Advice to Novo Holdings and DSM Venturing on their Series A investments into Deep Branch Biotechnology, a UK-based carbon recycling biotechnology company.
- Advice to Immune Macro Biotic Technology (IMBT) on a full range of commercial matters, including collaborative/joint venture arrangements and intellectual property related matters. IMBT are a UK-based research business focused on developing the use of anti-microbial peptides in insect farming.
- Advice to Bamboo Finance and DOEN Foundation on two rounds of investment into BBOXX, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of solar powered battery packs in the developing markets.
- Advice to Multibox Limited, a UK-based producers of insects for feed reared on vegetable waste, on regulations governing the use of animal bi-products and processed animal protein in animal feed, the use of insects in animal feed, waste and intellectual property. | <urn:uuid:1254b4c6-7088-4e2d-b7a5-23bcf3c51e7d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://michelmores.com/what-we-do/sectors/sustainable-economy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571210.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810191850-20220810221850-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.899364 | 1,836 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Michelle Cheng, Asian Art specialist in New York, on a rare and richly detailed Kangxi-period screen, the like of which has not been seen at Christie’s ‘in many years’
‘It’s one of the most beautiful coromandel screens I’ve ever seen,’ says specialist Michelle Cheng of the 12-panel lacquer piece to be offered on 14-15 September in our auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art in New York.
Cheng is quick to clarify that the term ‘coromandel’ is a misnomer. ‘Coromandel is a coastal region in the southeast of India. It was originally thought that these screens came from India, but in fact they come from southern China,’ she explains. Today the term has become shorthand for the technique used to create them: the application of lacquer, in even layers, over a softwood core. Once the lacquer has been applied designs are carved into the screen’s surface, and the recesses are filled in with coloured pigments to create vibrant scenes.
This particular piece dates from the Qing dynasty, specifically the Kangxi period (1662-1722), considered the apogee of this type of decorative screen production. ‘During this time we really see the most beautiful and precise painting and carving,’ Cheng explains, ‘and the most intricate details.’
Like all coromandel screens, this example features a continuous scene on the front that runs through all 12 panels — the maximum number of panels on screens of this kind — and a decorative border.
In the centre, we see a pair of beautifully rendered spotted deer beneath a large prunus tree, surrounded by flowering peonies and roses. ‘It’s so carefully worked that you can see the individual hair markings on the deer. The white spots are individually carved, and accented in black,’ the specialist points out. The deer is an auspicious symbol, representing longevity.
Just beside this scene, there’s a qilin — a mythical four-legged beast with dragon scales and a dragon’s head — that seems to be dancing on frothy waves. ‘The qilin was thought to bring peace,’ says Cheng. ‘This one is executed in gold, and you can see the fine scales and shimmering effect of the gold paint. I love the contrast between the right and left sides — between the real and the imaginary — that comes together in one continuous scene.’
Around the perimeter are the so-called ‘hundred antiques’ — objects found in antiquity, or other decorative pieces, such as a fang ding (a ritual bronze vessel), a brush pot, and vases with flowers. ‘When I first saw this screen, one thing that really struck me was how beautifully executed the antiques were,’ the specialist says. ‘In many cases, artists spent a lot of time on the central scene, while the borders are relatively perfunctory. Here, a lot of attention has been paid to carving the individual antiques, and the detail you get is really quite amazing.’
If the front of the screen stands out for its extraordinary attention to detail, the back sets it apart. ‘Many screens of this period feature inscriptions on the reverse celebrating birthdays, important events or a rise in social rank,’ explains Cheng. This screen is particularly unusual because, instead of these inscriptions, the reverse is decorated with panels that reference different kinds of Ming-dynasty painting, such as landscape and flower paintings, and which reproduce the calligraphic styles of famous Ming-dynasty artists, with examples of running script, seal script and standard script.
‘These references demonstrated the owner’s knowledge of art and history and changes in taste,’ Cheng explains. ‘If someone had walked into the home of the person who commissioned this screen, one would have known immediately that the owner was erudite, with a deep knowledge of calligraphy and painting.’
Coromandel screens were appreciated in both Asia and the West, and have been incorporated into European interiors for hundreds of years. ‘They were made for both domestic and export use,’ Cheng says.
In a modern interior, the specialist explains, these screens are generally divided into sections. ‘The full 12-panel screen can’t really be accommodated in, say, a New York City apartment. But interior designers often separate the screens. Each panel is affixed with hinges, and can be removed. So they’ll take three or four panels and space them out so that the entire screen fits within a room.’
For Cheng, it's a thrill to be able to bring this piece to market. ‘We haven’t seen anything like this in many years. Screens that we’ve sold in the past three to four years have generally been palace scenes, which show men and women in a garden setting. To have a landscape scene like this — particularly one with such vibrant colour and this level of detail — is rare.’ | <urn:uuid:20523f4a-acb2-4145-ac01-3e9447db0931> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.christies.com/features/Michelle-Cheng-on-a-twelve-panel-coromandel-lacquer-screen-8520-1.aspx?sc_lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.957447 | 1,078 | 2.15625 | 2 |
If you fancy yourself a historian of all things punk, then you’re going to need Ian Glasper’s The Scene That Would Not Die on your bookshelf. Published by Earth Island Books, it’s the fourth and final volume in Glasper’s loving, meticulous, and exhaustive chronicle of the UK punk scene(s) beginning with 1980. Following The Day The Country Died: A History Of Anarcho Punk 1980-1984, Trapped In A Scene: UK Hardcore 1985-1989, and Armed With Anger: How UK Punk Survived The Nineties, Glasper’s latest tome covers that last twenty years of punk and ends in the present day. It’s a history that bears witness to the dawn of social media and the early days of music streaming and finds contemporary musicians continuing to play the music they love while anxiously pondering its future in the shadow of Brexit and COVID-19.
First and foremost, The Scene That Would Not Die is a reference book. Explaining his decision to list the bands he profiles in alphabetical order, Glasper notes of his previous books that readers tend to “cherry-pick their chapters” and that “very few read the book from front to back.” Yet even though the book reads like an encyclopedia of bands whom — despite decades of dedication and, in many cases, by design — you’ve never heard of, the entries call out to each other like voices in the night as musicians cite their influences, jump from one band to another, or straddle multiple bands at once. What emerges is the story of a community bound as much by a love of hard-driving guitars and heavy, pounding drums as by a suspicion of mainstream culture and the trappings of a consumerist vision of success.
Not surprising, perhaps, is the fact that many of the bands featured in this volume are as dedicated to political issues as they are to their music; indeed, for most of them, the two go hand-in-glove. Veganism, anti-fascism, anarcho-syndicalism, and socialism are a few of the stances that the musicians profiled herein embrace. Nonetheless, as Justin Wood of two-piece anarcho punk band 51st State insists, the real joy of his brand of punk is that it’s “a little bit like a reset button that shakes you up from the consumerist negativity of our current culture and world.” What’s more, he adds, the punk scene on the whole “is a really broad church, and there is such a wide range of music within it… There is such a variety of bands, holding different views and politics, but all exist within punk, and this does mirror the broad scope of humanity in society; I think that even though this can be a frustration, it is probably human and it should be a nurturing and positive scene.”
The book also goes a long way toward replacing the shopworn Sid-Vicious-inspired stereotype of the punk-as-mindless-ne’er-do-well with an incredibly erudite and socially-conscious model. Take, for instance, the ruminations of Chris Dodd of Bad Breeding, who comes off as a cross between a scholar of Marxism and a character from a Don DeLillo novel when he discusses the future of not just punk but humanity as a whole: “For me, I’ve always seen a return to class analysis as the crucial tenet in pushing for radical deconstructions of the systems and frameworks that purport to govern our lives. This will become ever more apparent as the climate continues to rapidly evaporate and it becomes starkly obvious that our current economic mode runs counter to the existence of life on earth. There’ll be no time for navel gazing or liberal point-scoring when the earth is either ablaze or underwater.”
As the above and many, many other passages of The Scene That Would Not Die suggest, one of Glasper’s strengths as a historian is to let his subjects do the talking. When he does interject, it’s only to provide context so that the bands he’s chronicling can tell their owns stories, or to offer discographies and select-listening lists (including some very helpful URLs at the end of each entry). And while the ease of finding this music certainly signals the end of an era when to be aware of a band like Atterkop meant being neck-deep in a scene of like-minded individuals, the good news is that punk will never die. As unlikely as it may seem that punk can, in Glasper’s words, remain “relevant and meaningful to a risk-averse society in the face of such instant gratification,” the fact that the genre is always moving forward, “never past tense,” means that “as long as someone wants to stand up and ask ‘Why?’ or say ‘No!’ in a loud, angry voice, there will always be a place for this feisty subculture.”
Review by Marc Schuster | <urn:uuid:528ac96c-da14-4a02-9e15-bc83d428b735> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://smallpressreviews.wordpress.com/tag/51st-state/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573193.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818094131-20220818124131-00471.warc.gz | en | 0.953552 | 1,071 | 1.648438 | 2 |
DUSHANBE -- An outbreak of typhus has struck the settlement of Ganjobod, east of the Tajik capital Dushanbe, killing one teenager and sickening some 100 people.
Local health chief Shohmuhammad Sadulloev told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that all the infected patients are being treated in Dushanbe’s local hospital. He added that the main source of infection is thought to be contaminated spring water.
Local official Habibjon Azizov said the settlement has had problems for several years, since the administration of the settlement was transferred to the Tajik Industry and Energy Ministry.
Typhus can be fatal if not treated with antibiotics. | <urn:uuid:2717b5cd-4cda-42a3-bf17-f39cedd912aa> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.rferl.org/a/Typhus_Outbreak_Reported_In_Tajikistan/1517403.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721558.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00045-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959686 | 145 | 1.53125 | 2 |
(Beyond Pesticides, February 20, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct an “internal pilot” in conjunction with the agency’s Design for the Environment Formulator Program (DfE) to further explore a policy change that would allow claims of environmental preferability in regard to non-porous hard surface disinfectants and sanitizers. The agency’s plans were announced at a February 3 meeting of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) Work Group on Comparative Claims in Washington, DC.
“EPA’s announcement of the internal pilot is a positive step forward in developing an Agency policy that meshes with the demands of today’s green marketplace,” said Bill Balek, Director of Legislative Affairs of the Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association (ISSA).
According to Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, “Comparative claims and “green” standards can help consumers avoid poisonous pesticide products. EPA should through this program embrace its mission to provide the public with full disclosure of all pesticide product ingredients, potential hazards, inluding those known and untested, and information on product efficacy. Additionally, to maximize positive outcomes, this program should also assist the public with information on unnecessary and ineffective antimicrobial pesticide use, bacterial resistance, and “green” practices, such as cultural practices that can eliminate the conditions that invite harmful microbial activity without harmful pesticides.”
The purpose of the internal pilot program is to increase the understanding between EPA’s DfE scientists and the pesticide registration review staff as to what a review for environmental preferability entails and how that might interface with the pesticide registration process.
“The internal pilot announced by EPA is a prudent and necessary step in developing a ”˜green’ claims policy that ensures both the continued efficacy (performance) of disinfectants, and which allows purchasers to make informed decisions when selecting products with a preferred environmental, safety and health profile,” said Stephen Ashkin, President of The Ashkin Group.
The Work Group includes representatives from environmental, public health, education, user, and green cleaning groups, but the largest subgroup includes representatives from industry interests like Clorox, the Scott’s Company, and CropLife America. It was established for the purpose of making a policy recommendation in regard to allowing claims of environmental preferability for pesticide products including disinfectants. Current EPA policy prohibits such claims.
Under the internal pilot, both DfE and Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) staff will conduct concurrent evaluations of products previously recognized under the DfE program which mimic antimicrobial pesticide formulations. Upon completion of the evaluation, DfE and OPP scientists will discuss the results and consider modifications to the criteria and/or process of the review for environmental attributes. If, at that time, EPA sees benefit in continuation of a pilot program, the agency anticipates launching an “external pilot” that would presumably involve the participation of industry.
EPA also decided to evaluate a parallel approach by which “factual claims” could be made about a product’s ”˜green’ attributes and established a work group to develop options for further consideration.
For more information on antibacterials, including triclosan, visit Beyond Pesticides’ program page. | <urn:uuid:e952bd02-dea7-4c24-b506-c56528e37cf8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2009/02/epa-launches-internal-pilot-program-for-green-antimicrobials/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281162.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00535-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916994 | 692 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Clay County, located in eastern Kentucky in Appalachia, is one of the last places most folks would look for a grazing operation, but that’s exactly what Ronnie Bowling and his family is doing with their farm. The Bowlings live on a 91-acre property, and are managing about 60 acres of it for grazing. Their goal is to provide for their family in a sustainable way.Working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Bowlings recently installed fencing and watering systems and planted forage for the cattle.
The livestock on the farm include Angus cross cattle, Boer/Kiko cross nanny goats, a Kiko buck, 16 Katahdin sheep, 15 ewes and one ram. The operation also has 20 laying hens and produces 50 to 200 broilers a year. No antibiotics or supplemental growth hormones are used on the cattle, and their feed is not supplemented with grain—with the new pasture plantings, the cattle are able to live off the land.
Bowling says he’s used much less fertilizer, lime and fuel since he implemented the comprehensive grazing management plan. In fact, he hasn’t fertilized the fields in years. He explains, “If your pastures are working right, you are eliminating [the need for] all that.”
He has also noticed that his pastures are much more drought resistant than before, and he credits the new plant diversity he has established. Overgrazing shortens root depth, but managing the pastures well means deeper roots—and “if you’re growing roots, you’re growing forage,” he says. More water is being absorbed by the fields, which in turn means there’s less runoff from the farm entering nearby waterways.
Bowling advises beginning farmers to start with fewer animals and develop a grazing management plan with their local NRCS office. He says that starting a cattle operation thoughtfully decreases workload in the future. Bowling also recommends taking the Master Cattleman’s Training offered by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, as well as getting involved in any mentoring programs available.
This year Bowling has been recognized with the 2012 Kentucky Prescribed Grazing Hero Award by a partnership of conservation organizations including NRCS, Kentucky Division of Conservation, Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts and the Kentucky Soil & Water Conservation Commission. This award honors his distinguished efforts to improve soil quality through the adoption of prescribed grazing technology.
Check out more conservation stories on the USDA blog | <urn:uuid:0ec92c3e-b1f8-4699-a116-3578267a1bb0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/07/19/eastern-kentucky-cattle-operator-works-with-the-land-to-protect-natural-resources/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281574.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00026-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961367 | 524 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Antichrist vs Adventist
IT was either the battle of the Ages — Armageddon; the forces of good and evil range for war; the sun turns to ice, the moon to blood; the horsemen of the Apocalypse or 'Antichrist — the Opera'. The singing priest screeched the opening bars of the aria. I wait for the performance of a lifetime.
The 143,999 persons plus me caught up to be with the Boss in heaven — a ringside seat! A good fight among Christians; the derby of good men, who is holier than whom? The Adventists replied clinically and the moot had no traction — spoilsports! Nothing mars a good performance as an unmotivated villain.
We need a good war or good drama as the IMF is pure farce — mouthwater; the actors have been in the dressing room for ages and the audience has moved from "eagerly anticipating" to "bored"; we have clapped and no one takes the opening curtain, so the villain is now looking like the hero.
I hoped a battle among the faithful would put my taciturn people to the test. What does a Jamaican believe in? What would we die for? Wife? Politician? New Car? Faith? I say iPhone. We will never know, will we? So is there an Antichrist? Who are Catholics? Adventists? and the biggie, who or what is the Antichrist? We read it first in the Bible, so let's check it out.
The Bible may be God's word, but it was written by Jewish men between 400 BCE and 400 CE, and men make mistakes. When old men write stuff, things happen; "Please repeat that sentence, my God" or "Lord, capital "A" for abomination?" or "God, in do not covet thy neighbour's ass, is that his donkey or his derriere?"
God did not write the Bible. Last time He wrote on a wall "Mene, mene, tekel ...!" it was untranslatable and men ran in fear. Trust me, do not pray for God to write you. This book written by Jewish people about their Hebrew ancestors — tales, poems, visions; slavery, suffering, conversations with God; they disobeyed, He lost His cool and then the fist... Pow! — was written eons after events, edited many times, sections were taken out and put in. So what? It's their book about their people. Why do we care? Do you think some British or Kenyan could rewrite and interpret our "Philosophy of Marcus Garvey" to fit their society? War! Praise God the Bible copyright is expired.
Hebrew leaders tried to make their desultory, demoralised, itinerant people into a super nation. It involved carrot, stick and fear. The Antichrist is not a Hebrew Jewish construct but a Jewish Christian one (all early Christians were Jews) steeped in Levantine lore of beasts and dragons. Not from our culture or our African roots. What does Antichrist have to do with us?
Muslims also revere "Isa" (Jesus) who will kill the beast at his second coming. They are cousins to Jews and live in the same neighbourhood — that's cool. Mix Daniel's beast with Revelation's dragon, add John's Antichrist — really scary stuff. Who are dragons? After several vodkas I see dragons! My favourite dragon is "Puff the magic dragon [who] lived by the sea" as sung by the great prophets of the 60s, Peter, Paul and Mary. No one does scary like the descendants of Hebrews, and Spielberg is now the master of scary — Robopocalypse!
The Bible context is an oppressed people angling for a niche in an uncaring world by telling others and believing God chose them — I recommend self-promotion. This is a winning script and I am sorry we did not write it first; can you have two chosen races? Hebrews were not a master race — far from it; they had no colonial armies as Scythians, Babylonians or Levantine powers, just canny leaders and belief.
They were sufferers; craftsmen, wordsmiths; wrote a Bible which oppressed people made a best seller; a series of books variously authored, lovingly compiled to build pride, self-reliance and scare many off from bad habits like marrying strangers, sleeping with their daughters, killing a brother, chopping off heads of prophets, wearing clothing of mixed fabric, and masturbation — they are so Jamaican!
It worked, and Jewish people are now at the top of the intellect and money chain with most Nobel laureates and millionaires. Jews created Hitler's arsenal, America's spaceships and the Antichrist. Their past was slavery, exile; prophets, priests, judges, kings in a desert. Crikey! Bible writers were awed by cedars of Lebanon — big deal! What if they saw the rain forests of Brazil?
If Solomon had our mango, otaheitie, pineapple, star apple, june plum or tangerine groves he would have sung happier songs. We live in plenty, they in sand; they have camel and ass, we car and truck. We do the Bible an injustice if we expect it to fit our lives. The environmental and public health impact of daily faecal extrusion of 150,000 Hebrews wandering for 40 years would be massive were they not in a hot, dry land. A few scandal bags of dunder thrown in the gully nearby send us running to the KSAC.
The Bible is spiritual, not literal, and Antichrist may not be human — the internet? Dancehall music in Mona at 3:00 am? A deejay? Who do you think? — and to try to twist it is perverse and an abomination! It also speaks to building personal and national prosperity, not to running an already rich nation.
The Bible does not work well in prosperity. What Jews were in pre-history is sadly like us in 2013: "We jus a batta-batta!" so we love its every word. In Europe the Bible is spiritual, why? They don't pray for manna but call up the local council and "Meals on wheels" delivers. Were we educated and prosperous, we would not take the Bible literally, but just live by its values. Atheists exist in direct proportion to illiterate Christians. They justify them. Selah!
Father HoLung may live a vow of poverty but not of silence. This Antichrist riff is old. I saw paid adverts and wrote of my encounters with the ignorant faithful who called the Pope antichrist. No big deal, as in the Western Catholic Church the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) was the "badass Bishop" and called Antichrist by other bishops from the 12th century.
Some Christians today think Catholics, the conduit of our faith, are the Antichrist — disrespect! Ignorance of history! How did Adventists, Church of God, Mormon and new faiths find God? They got the Bible in a vision? Bishop, why did your church choose a Middle Eastern, Jewish Messiah? You chose the same Messiah as the Roman Catholics who were here 1,600 years before you, then cuss them, why?
The same as colonial masters? You even try to colour this Hebrew man black. This makes no freakin' sense! For God's sake, write your own book of creation and lifestyle myths and set it in Africa! That's why I love Rasta! Did your fathers have no deities?
So Jews killed Christ, Jew-on-Jew crime; he was their Homie, butt out, nigger! You ever see these macho, slick-suited black preachers with the lily white, blonde, androgynous Jesus picture (also a lie); don't they have a mirror? Is the Hebrew superior to our culture? The faith books of many people — Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, Muslim — exist, an African one? Next time we will check the Pope, Adventists and like a Bunraku puppeteer, voila Antichrist! Stay conscious, my friend!
Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist, project manager and advises the minister of education. | <urn:uuid:f7cb6eec-392d-4662-8cb9-07127d3aad64> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://m.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Antichrist-vs-Adventist_13355288 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00270-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962089 | 1,729 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Volvo is pulling 125,000 trucks in North America into the shop to fix an electrical fault that could cause fires, reports the AP. Volvo VN and VT tractors and its VHD dump trucks built since 2003 are being recalled. Volvo in 2006 recalled 42,000 VN and VHD models for a fire hazard involving their inlet pipes.
A Volvo spokesman called the problem in the main circuit breaker of the trucks’ lighting system “serious” and, without elaborating, said they’ve had reports of several incidents. The world’s second largest truck maker said the repair would be performed for free. | <urn:uuid:21b2dbd5-3007-41d5-b66d-f77ff42f369c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.newser.com/story/15032/volvo-recalls-125000-trucks-in-us-for-fire-threat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280730.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00255-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964616 | 130 | 1.625 | 2 |
Project DescriptionFROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The Camper Cabins in the newly constructed Whitetail Woods Regional Park are a hallmark feature intended to create extended patron experiences within the park. The user’s brief discussed numerous options for cabins, including a tree-house. Early community engagement validated the proposed concept based on the idea of touching the earth lightly like a tree-house, but accessible to all. In the park, three camper cabins reimagine the classic tree-house as a “house in the trees” supported by a bath-house a short distance away. Constructed through a local high school construction trades program with supervision from county workers to minimize cost, the cabins are the first three of 20 to be constructed in the parks master plan. As they were planned, the cabins have become a key feature and a community highlight.
As a camper cabin, the structures are simple, efficient and perfectly aligned with the camping experience. The cabins have been designed to utilize the natural environment. Because each cabin is situated in the solar sheltered woods, mechanical cooling has been eliminated and each cabin uses natural ventilation to handle building comfort. Building heating has been minimized by improved insulation for the cabin. | <urn:uuid:ec20ac91-43fb-42b1-8c58-2b57a06893bd> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/whitetail-woods-regional-park-camper-cabins_o | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281746.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00291-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946858 | 251 | 1.929688 | 2 |
This week, tension mounted in Senegal as President Abdoulaye Wade moved to introduce two major constitutional changes: the creation of a vice president position and a reduction in the threshold (25%, instead of the previous 50%+) necessary for a presidential candidate to win a first round victory. Protests broke out in major cities. Youth burned the homes of ruling party members. The EU and the US expressed concern. Then yesterday, the day that the amendment was due for a vote in parliament, Wade withdrew the plan to change the electoral threshold.
These developments have been well covered by Reuters, the BBC, VOA, the New York Times, and other outlets. What hasn’t received as much international coverage is the role of Senegal’s Muslim leaders. In a country that’s 95% Muslim, and where most of the Muslim belong to large Sufi brotherhoods legendary for their political influence (when they choose to wield it, that is), how did these leaders react to such a major political crisis?
A little background: the two largest Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal are the Tijaniyya and the Mouridiyya (with which Wade is publicly affiliated). Leadership of the brotherhoods is passed from one relative to another, typically from brother to brother before passing to the next generation. This structure in some ways encourages younger leaders, or marabouts, to build their own constituencies – younger marabouts who know that their turn as khalifa (head sheikh) is far off, or will never come, have some incentive to seek other avenues for exercising influence. These young marabouts don’t go so far as to create their own orders, but some have created their own distinct movements that exist (sometimes uneasily) within the larger brotherhood. This gives rise to a significant difference in style between the older marabouts, who have largely ceased giving explicit political directions to their disciples,* and the younger marabouts, some of whom do speak out.
The role of the older marabouts in the current crisis was potentially decisive. Wade’s Minister of Justice, Cheikh Tidiane Sy, cited the influence of religious leaders (Fr) as one reason Wade backed off his plan. The khalifas of the Mouridiyya and the Tijaniyya both called, through spokesmen, for calm. According to one source, both khalifas also sent emissaries to privately dissuade Wade from pursuing the amendment, and the Tijani leadership publicly condemned the amendment (Fr). These efforts, and particularly the appeal from the Mouride leader, are seen as the main factor in Wade’s retreat.
Meanwhile, some of the younger marabouts spoke out on the amendment who spoke out made headlines. A young Mouride sheikh (Fr), grandson of the order’s founder, expressed his support for the law, and in doing so said he was speaking for all of the Mouride leadership. If comments on the web version of this article are any indication (and they may not be), his support – and his claim to speak for others – were greeted with derision, including by Mouride youth.
Another young Mouride marabout with his own proper political following and a tendency for outspokenness, Modou Kara (Fr), contented himself with counseling his followers to stay home.
A Tijani sheikh who has built his own movement, Moustapha Sy (Fr), openly condemned the law.
Looking at the younger marabouts, I would point to both genuine religious beliefs and some element of political calculation in explaining their positions. There is theological support, both within Islam and within Sufism, for all three of the positions – supporting the leader in power, abstaining from political involvement, or speaking out against perceived injustice. I would not discount belief as a factor here. But political calculation plays a role as well: openly supporting or opposing Wade could have consequences both for a marabout’s relations with the state and his relations with his own disciples, and staying neutral has implications as well.
It might be tempting to read a Tijani-Mouride split into the behavior of the marabouts, and argue that it is politically easier for a Tijani marabout to attack the ambitions of a Mouride president than it would be for a Mouride marabout to do so, but I don’t see enough data yet to draw that conclusion. In any case, it will be interesting to watch how the younger marabouts of both orders intervene in politics during the months between now and Senegal’s February 2012 presidential elections, and interesting to see whether there are more discernible signs of older marabouts working behind the scenes to promote stability.
*Indeed, some opposition youth are warning Muslim leaders this year not to issue explicit voting instructions to disciples (Fr). | <urn:uuid:556d1644-9dc5-4122-836f-d32abf0240f9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://sahelblog.wordpress.com/tag/mouridiyya/ | 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 | 0.972288 | 994 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Presentation on theme: "S URVEY ON CHILD WELL - BEING INDICATORS IN I TALY Valerio Belotti Coordinator Italian Childhood and Adolescence Documentation and Analysis Centre."— Presentation transcript:
S URVEY ON CHILD WELL - BEING INDICATORS IN I TALY Valerio Belotti Coordinator Italian Childhood and Adolescence Documentation and Analysis Centre
Public Policies and Data G OOD P OLICIES G OOD D ATA ? ( IT S EASY !) G OOD D ATA..... G OOD P OLICIES ? ( IT S HARD !)... I N I TALY
Public Policies and Data G OOD P OLICIES G OOD D ATA ? G OOD P OLICIES......
TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE T HE NATIONAL CENTRE FROM 1997 TO TODAY : Find basic data concerning children, lost in the institutional statistics Organise all the basic data and indicators in the traditional academic and socio- demographic categories 170 facts and indicators on-line
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? ARE THEY USEFUL FOR TARGETED QUESTIONS ON A SPECIFIC THEME, ON A SPECIFIC PUBLIC POLICY (HOW MANY CHILDREN HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THEIR OWN FAMILIES ?) ARE THEY DIFFICULT FOR NON-EXPERTS TO CONSULT? T HE CONTEXTS IN WHICH THE DATA ARE COLLECTED ARE NOT MEANINGFUL FOR THE LIVES OF THE CHILDREN THEY DO NOT RESPOND TO THE OPINION MAKERS (WHO WANT STATISTICS IN SYNTHESIS (ARE THE CHILDREN BETTER OFF/WORSE OFF THAN BEFORE?) THEY DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THE BASIC DATA WHICH ARE MISSING OR ARE NOT COLLECTED THEY DO NOT HELP TO COMMUNICATE - TO BUILD A PUBLIC EVENT IN WHICH TO HIGHLIGHT THE CHILDRENS DAILY SITUATION
NEW OBJECTIVES Identify domains of meaning in which to aggregate the data and the indicators BUILD SYNTHETIC MEASURES TO MEASURE THE CHANGE IN THE CHILDRENS SOCIAL CONDITION Communicate synthetic and legible data to the mass media Contribute to highlighting in the public sphere the theme of childrens well-being Accompany public policies
I NDICATORS AND DIMENSIONS OF MEANING Indentification and calculation of the indicators AVAILABLE TODAY to distribute in the different dimensions of meaning
RESTRAINTS IN THE CHOICE OF INDICATORS: REFERRED DIRECTLY TO CHILDREN CONSISTENT IN THEIR RELATION BETWEEN THE INDICATOR AND THE MEANING OF THE DIMENSION AVAILABILITY IN TIME BOTH SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTIONAL SOURCES (I STAT, M INISTRIES, R EGIONS, C ENTRE, EU, WHO)
WELL-BEING CONTEXT NATIONAL R EGIONAL (n° 20) NATIONAL R EGIONAL (n° 20) NATURE OF INDICATORS AND TERRITORIES
D OMAIN OF MEANING AND INDICATORS Dimensions N° sub- dimensions N° Indicators N° only context N° well- being N° only national N° regional Relations and ties Material well-being Subjective well-being Social well-being Time Health School inclusion Safety and danger Social and educational services Social structure dimensions
SYNTHESIS OF OBJECTIVES A. Changes over time B. Performances of the different regional welfare services
Regional welfare performances: procedures The general map is reduced in size and in the indicators References to a two or three-year period due to a lack of annual data Summary indexes of indicators built from z-scores Summary indexes not based on a simple average but on a pondered average based on correlation coefficients between the various indicators
Relazione familiari: Applicazione dei pesi agli z-scores z-scores Relazioni familiari Regioni % di 3- 10enni che giocano con il padre nei giorni festivi % di 3-10enni che giocano con la madre nei giorni festivi % di 3-17enni che hanno genitori che non sono mai attenti ai programmi televisivi. videocassette/dvd visti dai figli % figli minori con affidamento congiunto e/o alternato (condiviso dal 2006) nelle separazioni % figli minori con affidamento congiunto e/o alternato (condiviso dal 2006) nei divorzi Figli affidati nelle separazioni per minori residenti Figli affidati nei divorzi per minori residenti % di assenso all'interruzione volontaria di gravidanza da parte dei genitori (2003) wkwk media pesata media semplice Piemonte Valle d'Aosta Lombardia Trentino-Alto Adige Veneto Friuli-Venezia Giulia Liguria Emilia-Romagna Toscana Umbria Marche Lazio Abruzzo Molise Campania Puglia Basilicata Calabria Sicilia Sardegna Relazioni familiari: Z-scores e Pesi
Final regional classifications Relations and ties Material well- being Health School inclusion Safety and danger ConsumptionServices Average positions Region E Region H Region D Region C Region K Region F Region I Region J Region A Region M Region B Region L Region N Region R Region G Region P Region Q Region O Region T Region S
Objective B. Changes over time : ….. We are still in the analysis phase …. Our intention is to establish, with a jury of experts, some (few) indicators for each of the dimensions of meaning and to propose annual variations ….
Problems and Opportunities We are still far from an ideal map, but we are beyond a simple starting point. Perhaps there is no other social condition in which, in Italy, there are so many regional indicators. Thanks to the impetus given by the Crc 89 Various indicators are available at a national level The continuous increase in surveys hinders comparison between different time periods The evident lack of some indicators serves to legitimate and promote specific statistical surveys Some indicators do not adequately represent certain dimensions of meaning (we need the courage to remove some of them) It is necessary to reinforce the monitoring/process evaluation of the policies in order to have more stringent and consistent indicators
Public Policies and Data... GOOD POLICIES ARE NEEDED TO PRODUCE GOOD DATA AS WELL AS SOCIAL RESEARCHERS OF COURSE, BUT THE QUESTION OF POLICIES IS ANOTHER MATTER! | <urn:uuid:0777f4b7-1beb-4a3a-8ed4-960fa28a27c4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://slideplayer.com/slide/189354/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00072-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.656294 | 1,477 | 2.375 | 2 |
Besides having a great landscape value, it also allows to know better the biological values of the area, since in certain points of the itinerary there are informative panels on the natural characteristics and on the animal and vegetal species that have their habitat in this Mediterranean strip.
You can see, both ornithological species linked to the Mediterranean, and different types of seagulls. Other examples of fauna in this environment are the millipede, the long-tailed lizard or the tenebrionid beetle. Greater wealth waits from the shores towards the sea, with small marine species among its rocky areas. Specifically, in the area known as intertidal ponds, urchins, octopi, mussels, barnacles or blennies await, which should never be captured, since they are, in many cases, the sustenance of birds that also have their habitat in this coastal strip .
In terms of flora, you can see from palm hearts to marine chrysanthemums, sea lily, among other unique botanical species, to be highlighted, near La Luna beach, there is a very interesting dune area . | <urn:uuid:b3c07b73-0900-4267-a9ad-6298a6aa439a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://calahondaeuc.com/calahonda/?page_id=2272&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570871.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808183040-20220808213040-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.936203 | 236 | 2.34375 | 2 |
What is a disciple?
A disciple is a learner, an apprentice who seeks to model his life after a master teacher. A disciple of Jesus Christ is a believer who has made a conscious decision to follow Christ (Luke 9:23). He is someone who lives with Jesus so that he may live like Jesus.
You may be wondering, "How do I get to know people and begin to grow in Christ?" Suggested steps for your discipleship journey in our church include:
• Join a Bible study class. This is your "neighborhood" in our small town. Our regular Saturday evening or Sunday morning classes should be your first point of contact. Seasonal Bible study guides with a full listing of classes are available at the atrium information desk.
• Contact the Director or Discipleship Director of your class to find out what courses or small groups/discipleship groups are starting up or meeting. Then, simply join a group!
• If you are a small group leader, please register your group by clicking here.
Sampling of Recommended Group Studies:
Essential Christianity - Learn what it means to really know Christ in this study written by Bill Hybels. In this six-week study you will discover how to grow spiritually and how to follow Jesus in a world that is anything but devoted to Him. The book includes leaders' notes.
The Disciple's Cross - This is the first book in the MasterLife series by Avery Willis; a 6-week study which includes Bible study, scripture memory and assignments. Develop a deeper relationship with Christ as you practice the six Biblical disciplines of a disciple.
Disciple's Prayer Life - This 13-week study is designed to help the growing Christian know the Father and walk with Him through prayer. Some key concepts include using the Bible in prayer, expressing gratitude in prayer and worshiping God in prayer.
1 & 2 Timothy - This is a 12-week study by John MacArthur. All of MacArthur's several book studies are recommended.
Having a Real Relationship with God - This is a six-week study by Kay Arthur. For more Kay Arthur studies visit the Precept Ministries International website.
For a full list of recommended group studies click here.
Contact us for assistance in forming your small group, reserving a room on campus and for answers to your general questions. | <urn:uuid:da55f289-f706-4af8-bef3-065c84b1e152> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.second.org/Woodway/Adults/SpiritualFormation.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00492-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946955 | 479 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Doctor insights on:
Bruise On Right Clavicle
If I press just under my right clavicle it is super tender. It feels like a major bruise, yet there is no visible bruise or swelling.
Continue to monitor: I would continue to monitor it. It depending upon where along the clavicle you are experiencing the tenderness it could be a bone bruise, muscle or joint sprain or even tender lymph nodes. In the absence of trauma, decreased function or worsening of symptoms, watching waiting would be appropriate. Certainly, see your primary care physician if it worsens. ...Read more
Bruises, or ecchymoses, are a discoloration and tenderness of the skin or mucous membranes due to the leakage of blood from an injured blood vessel into the tissues. Pupura refers to bruising as the result of a disease condition. A very small bruise is called a petechia. These often appear as many tiny red dots clustered together, and could ...Read more
Hard, painful (feels like a big bruise) lump in between breasts - seemingly on sternum. Does not move. 2-3in from clavicle. Should i get this checked?
Yes: Truly this hard, painful lump on your sternum could possibly be a hematoma (bruise). However, you would likely remember any trauma that may have caused such a lump. Without any recent trauma to the chest wall, i recommend having it checked asap. ...Read more
I think my daughter might have broken her clavicle but there's no bruising or swelling but when i touch that area she says it hurts ?
May not see bruise: The clavicle is one of the more common bones to break in the body.In kids it can crack & be maintained in place by its surrounding fibrous sheath & the only initial sx may be point tenderness at the point of the crack. Within a day or two a bump may arise over the surface of the bone.If the kid doesn't want to use the arm/shoulder & complains about that location it is worth a visit. ...Read more
My right clavicle is protruding out and I have neck pain on and off. It gets warm and tender at times. I didn't get hurt. Just woke up one day with it?
Swollen bump the size of a marble between the right spine of scapula and the clavicle, not tender and is kinda hard? Is it cancer? What is it pls help
Let me try to help: There is no way for me to till is not cancerous, but most likely not. Observe it for while and see the size and check it with family Doctor. ...Read more
Very Tender in the hollow area above my left clavicle and previously diagnosed with Costalchondritis in June that has not resolved. Should I be concerned?
Costochondritis: By now costochondritis should have resolved. Would check chest XR or chest CT and also may consider mammogram. Any pain on shoulder or arm movement? Any parathesias? Bumps or lumps? Coudl be LN, vascular sternocledomastoid pain ( pain on neck movement? ) rarely thoracic outlet (usually arm pain F/U with doc ...Read more
Really tender lymph nodes on the top/back of my head, and the back/side of my neck down to my clavicle for a week. Now tender nodes on ribs. Causes?
I am in severe pain, left neck, shoulder, & clavicle area. I have swelling about 3 inches across, in the cs joint area, very tender to touch. ?
Abscess: You may be describing an abscess or pus pocket eg painful swelling. Best to go see your Family Doc ASAP for evaluation & treatment as you may need to get swelling lanced & drained then started on antibiotics. Go to Urgent Care or ER if necessary. You may apply warmth/heat temporarily if necessary. In meantime, mark circumference of swelling w/indelible pen to give docs some idea of spread. ...Read more
Woke up w/a tender bump (size of a pea/marble) behind my rt ear i started to get a radiating pain down my neck that also sits on my clavicle/rt should?
Infected cyst: Most likely you have infected cyst , you will need antibiotics and I&D please see your doctor. ...Read more
Sternal end of clavicle is grinding after acromioclavicular joint decompression. Tender only when I move the arm certain ways?What could it be wrong?
Inflammation: It depends on how long ago your AC joint decompression was. If the surgery was recently, it may be irritated/inflamed from surgery (positioning?) or from certain rehab exercises or overcompensation to protect AC joint. If the surgery was several months/years ago, there could be a small cartilage injury or some arthritis in the SC joint. This joint can become lax and get excess motion too. ...Read more
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- Talk to a urgent care specialist online for free | <urn:uuid:247a5bc3-d762-4edf-b9de-94f4bb2a40a2> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.healthtap.com/topics/bruise-on-right-clavicle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721278.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00147-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91747 | 1,169 | 2.03125 | 2 |
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