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The Mini Bible College curriculum consists of 4 major components:
Audio Lessons: These are easy to understand lessons, ideal for small group or individual study. Some languages are Audio-only, particularly where the literacy rate is low.
Leaders Guides: These are booklets designed to help those leading groups that are studying MBC together. The first chapter of any course contains extra information just for the leader, followed by a series of questions for small group discussion. The Leaders Guides include answers marked in bold.
Student Workbooks: These are booklets designed to guide Students of MBC through each lesson. They contain a short synopsis of the lesson and the main scripture verses used, plus the same questions as seen in the Leaders Guide (The answers are not marked in the Student Workbooks).
Study Booklets: The Study Booklets are provided as additional background material and commentaries for group leaders. These booklets do not follow the exact same flow as the Audio lessons, but the information within is valuable and enriching to help your study of the Bible. The best way to use Study Booklets is to read them as a commentary on an entire course (for example, Genesis-Exodus, or Sermon on the Mount).
What about the Bible? Many people ask MBC for a list of Bible chapters and verses that can be read before each lesson. This Study is not a verse-by-verse Bible study, but often uses material from an entire book in a single lesson. The best way to read the Bible with MBC is to read for the entire course that you are studying. For example, when studying the New Testament Course ""Acts-Romans," set out to complete the reading of both of those books in the time it takes you to listen to all of the Audio Lessons. | <urn:uuid:15fd0a28-da59-4b6b-84e7-dd952534203c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://mbc.icm.org/HowTo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.940395 | 364 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Amateur cybersleuths have been hunting malware, raising firewalls and fending off mock hack attacks in a series of simulations supported in part by Britain's eavesdropping agency.
The games are intended to pull badly-needed talent into the country's burgeoning cybersecurity sector, according to former security minister Pauline Neville-Jones, who spoke at a closing ceremony held Sunday at the Science Museum in the English port city of Bristol.
"The flow of people we have at the moment is wholly inadequate," she said, warning of a skills gap "which threatens the economic future of this country."
The exercises, dubbed the Cyber Security Challenge, are intended to help bridge that gap, drawing thousands of participants who spent weeks shoring up vulnerable home networks, cracking weak codes and combing through corrupted hard drives in a series of tests designed by companies such as U.K. defense contractor QinetiQ and data security firm Sophos.
The challenge was supported in part by British signals intelligence agency GCHQ and Scotland Yard's e-crimes unit - a sign of the government's concern with supporting a rapidly-developing field.
The government is spending 650 million pounds (about $1 billion) to boost its electronic defense capabilities. Britain's military recently opened a global cyber-operations center in the English market town of Corsham, and last month police announced the creation of three new regional cybercrime units.
Event organizer Judy Baker warned there weren't enough skilled people to work in the newly created jobs, complaining that cybersecurity was barely on the radar of high school guidance counselors and that too few universities offered degrees in the field.
"The front door into cybersecurity is not clear at all," she said.
The competition was closed to cybersecurity professionals, so many of the 4,000-odd participants - such as the 19-year-old winner, Cambridge University student Jonathan Millican - were aspiring computer scientists. Others were engineers or hobbyists.
Senior GCHQ official Jonathan Hoyle made a brief speech Sunday, inviting Millican and other prize-winners to come visit the secretive organization's headquarters in Chelthenham, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of London.
Millican was excited by the prospect, saying: "It's not somewhere many people just go." | <urn:uuid:f65066aa-915d-449e-92ee-c5c2b99370b1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/amateurs-battle-malware-hackers-in-uk-cybergames/story-wJ8rtKA726UTE88RIaTuwM.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00482-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963578 | 465 | 2.109375 | 2 |
There Are No Procedural Moral Rights
Mayor:thief :: juror:vigilante
In other words, Richard argues, instutional actions are sometimes justified, even though these same actions--if commited by an individual citizen--would be unjustified, because there are procedural safeguards (rule of law, trial by jury) present when an institution acts that are not present when an individual acts.
This misunderstands the purpose of the parable in two ways. Parables like Hanover are primariy used by libertarians in response to love-it-or-leave-it arguments. When a libertarian objects to, say, social contract theory justifications for the state on the grounds that she never signed any social contract, the love-it-or-leave-it response is that her continuing presence in the territory to which the state claims jurisdiction over itself constitutes consent to the social contract, and therefore justifies the state's jurisdiction. If she doesn't like the rules, she is free to leave (or change them through electoral participation).
But the love-it-or-leave-it response is entirely circular. It assumes the very thing it is attempting to prove - the legitimacy of the state's jurisdiction over a given territory. Unless we first assume that the state is the legitimate owner of the territory in question and can therefore set the rules (and if we assume that, we have already assumed our conclusion), the freedom to leave the territory is no freedom at all. Your neighbor can't come over to your house and tell you to wear a funny hat or feel free to leave, because it's not his house to begin with.
The second misunderstanding is that procedural safeguards are not moral rights. Procedural safeguards are justified on practical, epistemic grounds, not on ontological, moral rights grounds. There is nothing inherently rights-violating about vigilantism, so long as the vigilante happens to be right about who commited the crime. We may think the vigilante reckless, but not that he has violated any moral right of the person he punishes, if the person he punishes happens to have commited the crime.
Robert Nozick failed to recognize this distinction, and thought that he could justify the state on the grounds of procedural rights. Randy Barnett demonstrated Nozick's error:
Though only the innocent party may rightfully use self-defense, it is often unclear to neutral observers and the parties involved just who is innocent. As a result there exists the practical problem of determining the facts of the case and then the respective rights of the disputants. But I must stress here that this is a practical question of epistemology not a moral question. The rights of the parties are governed by the objective fact situation. The problem is to discern what the objective facts are, or, in other words, to make our subjective understanding of the facts conform to the objective facts themselves.
The crucial issue is that since rights are ontologically grounded, that is grounded in the objective situation, any subjective mistake we make and enforce is a violation of the individual's rights whether or not a reliable procedure was employed. The actual rights of the parties, then, are unaffected by the type of procedure, whether reliable or unreliable. They're only affected by the outcome of the procedure in that enforcement of an incorrect udgment violates the actual rights of the parties however reliable the procedure might be. ...
Nozick's epistemic considerations are relevant to whether one who indiscriminately takes restitution from people he's not sure are aggressors (but happens by chance to be right) is a good man. This is a question of morality, not rights. Epistemic considerations are also relevant when we realize that we are likely to aggress against innocent people and be responsible to them if we aren't careful about who we "punish." This is a practical question, not one of rights. ...
We may take as our moral goal or end a certain state of affairs. Anything which enhances this state of affairs we may do provided we don't violate certain moral side constraints on our actions. Nozick correctly argues that the protection of rights is not a moral goal since this would allow us to violate the rights of a few in order to generally enhance the rights of the many. For example, one may not torture the innocent person to gain information which will prevent the explosion of a bomb even though this would generally enhance the goal of protecting peoples rights (in this case the rights of the potential victims). Rights of individuals are moral side-constraints. We may strive to achieve our goals in any way which does not violate an individual's rights.
I would adapt this view to our discussion here. For practical and moral reasons, procedural fairness and knowledge by enforcers of the guilt of their suspects are moral goals to be striven for. Our efforts to achieve them, however, cannot violate the rights of any individual. To punish a victim for taking restitution from his actual aggressor just because he wasn't sure it really was his aggressor is a violation of that victim's right of self-defense and, therefore, a violation of our moral side-constraint. The right of self-defense, then, dictates that procedural fairness and epistemic certainty are goals, not constraints.
- Randy Barnett, "Wither Anarchy? Has Robert Nozick Justified The State?" Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1. pp 15-21 Pergamon Press, 1977
The lesson of Hanover still stands: taxation is theft.
(Incidentally, I notice that Richard rejects the deontological notion of side-constraints in favor of some version of utilitarianism. As it happens, so do I. So Richard is free to reject this second argument, but I think the first is still valid.) | <urn:uuid:c6513658-254e-4577-a906-f877bbac343c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://distributedrepublic.net/archives/2008/04/23/there-are-no-procedural-rights/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721558.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00046-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950235 | 1,180 | 1.625 | 2 |
[Demetra Aposporos, narrating] Most people have heard of Washington D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood—it’s the place Jackie O. called home after she left the White House.
Hi, I’m Demetra Aposporos. Welcome to Old-House Live.
Georgetown is one of the nicest addresses in Washington, and it’s also one of the oldest. It actually existed before the city itself.
Today we’re going to tour the Halcyon House, one of Georgetown’s finest examples of architecture.
History of Halcyon House
Halcyon House is one of the oldest and grandest homes in Georgetown. Located in an area where many wealthy ship owners constructed mansions, the house was built by Benjamin Stoddert, a tobacco exporter who became the first Secretary of the Navy.
It started off as a great example of Federal architecture, with details like a richly detailed entrance topped by a pediment supported on pilasters, and a dentilated cornice. The front door opened to an unobstructed view of the Potomac River when the house was built, and boasted an original parterre garden designed by Pierre L’Enfant.
But around 1900, Halcyon House took a turn in a different direction, literally. It was purchased by Albert Clemens, a nephew of Mark Twain, who put an enormous addition onto the house in the Georgian style, more than doubling its size, and also added wings of apartments on both sides. The new façade, tacked onto the back of the original house, faced away from the river and onto Prospect Street.
By the time the family of sculptor John Dreyfuss purchased the house in the late 1960s, it had been deteriorating for years. John, who studied architecture, set about trying to bring back the original details while respecting many of the Clemens additions, which are now historic in their own right. The result is a cohesive, impressive building that’s an homage to classical architecture.
[Demetra to John Dreyfuss] So John, how did this room come together? It’s so fantastic.
[John Dreyfuss to Demetra] Well, the most extraordinary thing about living and working in the Washington, D.C. area and the Tidewater area is that if you can stay up, keep the project going for long enough, you tend to be a magnet for extraordinary craftsmen, and this house was no different.
[John continues] This was a brick room that was leaking and had all of the problems that you have with a home that’s 200 years old. Everything that you see here was here originally in the bones. They really paid special attention to the way that this room connects to the 18th-century house, and it’s just a lovely place to be and we hope that we got it right.
[Demetra, narrating] Inside the music room, a high-set row of bull’s-eye windows brings plenty of light into the grand space with soaring, 15 foot high ceilings.
The living room’s fireplace is punctuated by a towering overmantel with a swan’s neck broken pediment.
And the library, a Clemens addition, has an enormous pediment along one wall, and pilasters and a triglyph-and-metope frieze encircling the room.
While Dreyfuss focused on the past to attend to the house, his career as a successful sculptor places him squarely in the present. As the light plays off his statues, you’re reminded that this grand house is no museum, it’s a home—one that’s lived in, worked in, and enjoyed by the man who gave it new life.
I’ve seen a lot of old houses, but this one is truly memorable, not only in the way it’s been meticulously restored, but also in the way it’s lived in and enjoyed every day. I’m Demetra Aposporos; see you next time on Old-House Live. | <urn:uuid:8077e700-e20a-4fc3-9895-5a95686bb9c6> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.oldhouseonline.com/halcyon-house-video-tour-in-historic-washington-dc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00066-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964808 | 879 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Viewing articles tagged 'server'
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The WebGo free SSL promotion is available for existing customers only who successfully refer a... | <urn:uuid:76ae9c65-b3ba-46c5-8ad4-35d455ec1364> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.webgo.com.au/knowledgebase/tag/server | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00077.warc.gz | en | 0.898749 | 304 | 2.3125 | 2 |
- Features captivating TIME For Kids content to motivate readers
- Includes engaging layouts, high-interest photos, sidebars and more
- Engaging material makes reading a fun adventure for students
- Written in Spanish and designed for 3rd-graders
Shell Education TFK Spanish 2nd-grade 30-Book Set Printed Book - Book - Grade 2 - SpanishShell
Reading is an adventure with these engaging books written in Spanish. Each book features engaging layouts, TIME For Kids content, high-interest photographs, informational text, vocabulary and sidebars. Books are designed for second-graders.
|Unit||Set of 30| | <urn:uuid:e1b7d555-8a9d-4191-8201-448174fafd6f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://shop.os2inc.com/shell-education-tfk-spanish-2nd-grade-30-book-set-printed-book---book---grade-2---spanish/pi/SHL18390-3022848-30.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817001643-20220817031643-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.837508 | 157 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Creating Inner Peace & Balance
Sara Gibbs, NCMT
November-December 2017 • Vol 3, No 95
What is a Chakra anyway? Defined in Sanskrit, Chakra means disc or wheel, and refers to the energy centers in our bodies. Chakras are universal, although some cultures refer to them more than others. Everybody has Chakras, the same as we all have a physical anatomy that includes organs and blood. There are seven primary chakras as mentioned in this article, which are located from the top of the head, down the spine, to the base of the sacrum.
The chakras are an essential part of our energy anatomy that connects the energetic body—including our mental, emotional, memory, and spiritual bodies—to the physical body. When we are working toward our mental and emotional well-being, we always include the balancing of the Chakra system.
Read full article » | <urn:uuid:7bc3ac81-e119-457a-9631-08dba511f034> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.naturallifenews.com/chakra-crystal-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571502.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811194507-20220811224507-00067.warc.gz | en | 0.96299 | 188 | 2.953125 | 3 |
One of the best parts of owning a video display is uncovering what it can do for not only your games but for your school. Michael Krill, the Film & Literature teacher at Oconomowoc High School, located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, realized early on that there was more to the display than just showcasing scores.
“Once we became familiar with the systems and basic functions, we soon realized we could develop very specific and engaging content. This included homecoming announcements, welcomes, intro videos and even digitizing our mascot,” said Krill.
Anything the class dreamed up could be put on that display. Knowing this, Krill and his class went to work.
“We wanted to use the display to offer more than just play-by-play and simple advertisements. Although play-by-play was our first goal, we soon discovered we could create and generate very engaging content to encompass all aspects of the game,” said Krill.
Krill started an inductive learning process with his students that included three phases. The first phase, “Gathering,” is where students learn design, advertising, visual and sound design and best practice. Phase two, “Take Action,” allows students to explore and practice with the display. Phase three, known as “Make it Happen,” is a more professional approach to the first two phases.
“We want to encourage students to embrace the events that take place at the stadium. The more the students understand the culture, the more successful our video enhancements will be,” added Krill.
Krill is currently working on creating a mentorship program to help build a collaborative community among students where the 9th graders “intern” from those grades above them. Eventually, he’d like the class to work with local businesses to create short commercials to showcase throughout the games as well as create player profiles with stats and personalized sound effects using green screen technology.
“We’ve found interest levels have increased from students who are involved in similar courses. Word of mouth is the best way to get students involved,” said Krill.
To read more success stories like this one, search the “Follow Trends” tag on our blog’s homepage. | <urn:uuid:eb2dcb62-6ee1-4631-b996-1c6cad348ed9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://blog.daktronics.com/2017/03/09/it-all-starts-with-a-dream/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573760.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819191655-20220819221655-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.964585 | 475 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Medicare is a federally funded health insurance
program for people age 65 or older, some people with disabilities under age 65,
and people with End-Stage Renal Disease. Medicare has 2 parts, Part A and Part
B. Part A is hospital insurance - most people do not pay for Part A coverage.
Part B is medical insurance - most people pay monthly for Part B coverage.
If you qualify for Medicare, you also have the
option of choosing a Medicare + Choice plan, which is a managed care plan
administered by a private company that replaces your Medicare coverage.
There are limitations on a number of services
and items covered by Medicare and Medi-Cal, depending on the plan you have. You
are responsible for copayments, deductibles, and other services not covered. If
your Medicare or Medi-Cal coverage is through an HMO, it is important that you
bring this to our attention. | <urn:uuid:6825508c-e6f2-4fb3-b00c-c283afd98f54> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.kaweahdelta.org/content.aspx?id=11971 | 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 | 0.952319 | 194 | 2.125 | 2 |
I’ve been working on a project that’s written in Python, it continuously communicates with some external industrial equipment. It will poll the status of this equipment 4 times per second and also sends commands to them when requested to. My job this week was to raise the update rate to 5Hz…. I needed to make sure I had enough time to do this!
I decided before doing anything I should profile the code to find out how much time the main loop needs to run and what methods take the longest time. That way I’d know if the code can support 5Hz and if not what I can do about it.
Once again the Python standard library comes to the rescue, the cProfile module will monitor the execution of your program and generate a report. Below is an example of how to use it.
import cProfile cProfile.run("main()")
from __future__ import division import time class stats(object): def __init__(self): self.msMin = 1000 self.msMax = 0 self.msTime = 0 self.fpsMin = 1000 self.fpsMax = 0 self.fps = 0; self.updates = 0 self.startTime = int((time.time()+0.5)*1000) self.prevTime = int((time.time()+0.5)*1000) def begin(self): """Calling the method signifies the start of a frame """ self.startTime = int((time.time()+0.5)*1000) def end(self): """Calling this method signifies the end of a frame """ now = int((time.time()+0.5)*1000) self.msTime = now-self.startTime self.msMax = max(self.msMax, self.msTime) self.msMin = min(self.msMin, self.msTime) #print "ms: %i (%i - %i)" % (self.msTime, self.msMin, self.msMax) self.updates = self.updates + 1 if now > (self.prevTime + 1000.0): self.fps = round((self.updates*1000.0)/float(now-self.prevTime)) self.fpsMax = max(self.fpsMax, self.fps) self.fpsMin = min(self.fpsMin, self.fps) print "stats: %i fps (%.i fps - %i fps)" % (self.fps, self.fpsMin, self.fpsMax) self.prevTime = now self.updates = 0 return now def update(self): self.startTime = self.end()
Simply add a call to begin() to the start of your loop and a corresponding call to end() at the end of your loop. Now I get a nice counter that tells me how the code is performing. As I work on the code I can see how this affects the main loop performance.profiling programming python tips | <urn:uuid:e36fae9e-be70-4832-9d59-7e030603eb50> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://jnorth.net/tag/profiling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571097.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810010059-20220810040059-00275.warc.gz | en | 0.760787 | 670 | 2.515625 | 3 |
261 people received a liver transplant at UPMC between July 2008 and December 2010. Of those patients, 42 died. Nation-wide averages indicate fewer than 29 where expected to die. But, Christopher Hughes, UPMC's surgical director for liver transplants, said that's not due to negligence on the hospital's part, but rather to deficiencies in the way transplants are reported.
"If there's one thing I can criticize our program about, it's our self-reporting of data," said Hughes.
He said data reported to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients often doesn't reflect how sick patients really are. He pointed to one case in which a woman had to undergo heart surgery and a liver transplant, but in the data the severity of her illness and risk level weren't reported.
"Transplant centers that are very aggressive in this country are getting penalized because the severity of illness of our patients is not risk-adjusted enough to compensate for the risk that we're taking trying to save them," Hughes said.
But, he said, that is expected to change. Next week, Hughes will travel to Washington, DC where he'll be part of a discussion on risk adjustment. He said the United Network for Organ Sharing is starting to recognize that the measurement of severity of illness in patients is lacking. Hughes will join transplant center personnel from around the country for the three-day meeting.
Aside from changing reporting practices, Hughes said there are no plans to change other aspects of the liver transplant program, which he added is one of the most aggressive in the nation.
"I think we need to continue to maintain our heritage and not turn away people because we think they're a challenge just to protect data," he said.
Hughes said in the last 6 months no UPMC patients have died after having a liver transplant. | <urn:uuid:34a15b5a-28d1-47e1-94c3-8d8e2a4db50a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://wesa.fm/post/deaths-upmc-liver-transplants-still-high-officials-say-reporting-practices-blame | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284411.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00462-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975528 | 376 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A comet discovered on August 17, 2014, by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy has brightened just in time for prime-time viewing in Los Angeles. Through the rest of January, Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is expected to remain bright enough to be seen through ordinary binoculars in spite of the glow of city lights. It is also visible to the unaided eye from wilderness locations free from artificial lights.
This image was made with the historic 12" Zeiss telescope at Griffith Observatory by Astronomical Observer, Anthony Cook, January 5, 2015.
Comet Lovejoy is well placed for viewing during the first half of the night. Through January 11, it is between 10-20 degrees to the right of Orion the Hunter. It then glides to the west of Taurus the Bull, past the Pleiades star cluster on the 19th, and then moves into the stars of Andromeda the Chained Woman.
Photographs show the comet has a half-million-mile-wide green coma, or head. This tenuous atmosphere contains diatomic carbon and surrounds the comet’s invisible frozen nucleus. The comet’s blue tail is comprised of glowing ions of carbon monoxide carried away by the solar wind. Ion tails are difficult to see visually, so Comet Lovejoy will likely continue to appear as a fuzzy round cloud without a long tail.
The comet orbits the sun about every 14,000 years in a path that is inclined 80 degrees to Earth’s orbit. It is now between the orbits of Earth and Mars. It was closest to Earth, 44 million miles away, on January 7, 2015, and comes closest to the sun, 119 million miles, on February 1, before it heads out for another 7,000 years on a 110-billion-mile trip back to the far reaches of the Kuiper belt.
Griffith Observatory’s free public telescopes will be trained on the comet, weather permitting, between 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, through January 24, 2015. | <urn:uuid:94b2228d-711a-4a3c-9c10-3ec1c1c12d08> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://griffithobservatory.org/events/Comet_Lovejoy_2014.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280872.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00311-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939896 | 428 | 3.5 | 4 |
Finding Your Purpose
Do you know what is driving you? Why are you working so hard and doing so much to get what you want? Do you know your purpose for being here?
Whatever your dreams may be and whatever you want to achieve, it is important to analyse the reasons for those things. The reasons for what you want to have and to achieve are your “why.” Your why is intimately tied to your purpose in life.
Finding your purpose – the reasons for achievement
It seems strange that most of the time we wonder through life without any real purpose of our own. At times we do achieve great things and have the appearance of having a wonderful life. We may even have every material thing we could ever want and be successful at our careers, businesses and every thing else. But, as many who have achieved success will tell you, you can still feel empty inside and your life can still lack real meaning.
Imagine, for a moment, that you have achieved your dreams. You are famous. So what? You have lots of luxury cars. So what? You are number one in your area of expertise. So what? You have the biggest or best company in the country. So what? You are wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. So what?
Achievement, wealth and recognition in themselves are useless if they do not answer the “why” question. Why? Because the reason for doing something is ultimately more important than what is done.
Finding your purpose – everything has a purpose in life
Everything has a purpose in life. The trees, ants, bees, birds and every living thing have a purpose for being. Each plays its own little part in the delicate architecture of life. Every good invention or good tool answers a question. Technology answers the why question – it’s an answer to someone’s problem.
Human beings, whatever you believe their origin to be, are the greatest of all of nature’s wonders. Why are most of them so purposeless in their existence? The Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius asks: “Everything, a horse, a vine, is created for some duty...For what task, then, were you yourself created?”
A substantial number of us exist simply to exist. We live year in and year out as though living itself is our ultimate goal. If we make enough money and have enough things to get us through to the next year we are satisfied. Surely, there is more to our lives than that? How can something so wonderfully made and endowed with potential as you are simply be here to just exist? What is your contribution to the world? Is your being here making any difference to anyone?
Finding your purpose – the why factor
The answer to these questions lies partly in your why. Your why is the strong reason you desire something. It is not what you desire, but the strong reason why you desire it. If you examine it further you will find that your why is closely tied to your purpose in life: the thing that you are here to do.
So who determines your why and your purpose? Very simply – you do. George Bernard Shaw said “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.” Trouble is, if you are anything like most people you are probably waiting for some miraculous experience that will tell you why you are here and what you must do. Such moments do occur for some people, but they are the exception and not the rule. The fact is, most people already have the starting point for knowing their purpose in life.
It may be something that interests you, excites you, inspires you, or just that small voice in the back of your head that tells you you ought to be doing something. These are often the clues that hold the answer to finding your purpose. Unfortunately, they are often the clues we tend to ignore or suppress. Yes, they may not be complete clues. Certain pieces of the puzzle may be missing. But these pieces can only be found once we decide to set off on the journey.
Finding your purpose – decision is always the starting point
What is the starting point of that journey? As with most things in life, it is decision. Decide that there is purpose to your life. Then decide to commit yourself to finding your purpose. Without these two decisions being settled in your mind you will wonder through life like 97% of everybody else out there: busy achieving nothing.
Deciding to find your purpose will set you on the right track and make your mind receptive and ready to see every day things in a new light. However, you have to seek out the answers. Read books that make you think, watch inspiring movies, spend time with the right people, develop your interests and passions and, most importantly, read your Bible. All this is part of keeping your mind in the right environment, an environment that is right for revelation and inspiration.
Finding your purpse - simplicity is often the answer
There is no way in the world anyone can do what I have just described to you and end up living a meaningless life. One piece at a time the puzzle will become clear and complete. You will discover your purpose, and when you do, it will likely not be some experience where you got hit on the head and nearly knocked out by the revelation. It will come naturally. It will be something that combines most of your life’s experiences and your abilities into one perfect purpose. It will be something you probably had a clue about all along.
However, don’t ever make the mistake of wanting to know everything before you start anything. Start where you are with what you have and what you know. Would you dare write a novel without first learning the alphabet? Take the first steps and you will be on your way. If you follow the process you will mature into the person you are meant to be. You will fulfill your purpose, one little step and one little piece at a time.
Finding your purpose – conclusion
Leo Buscaglia stated that “It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of (man)kind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
You are all you can be. Go on and be it.
Return from Finding Your Purpose to Articles on motivation for serious dreamers
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Other Books By Dr. Moses:
"Powerful And Life-Changing Lessons On How To Maximise Your Potential And Live Your Dreams"
Power Principles for Fearless & Abundant Living
"How To Let Go of Fear and Embrace Prosperity"
In the POWER PRINCIPLES series of books, Dr. Moses Simuyemba, "Africa's Success Coach", shares his knowledge, experience and insight to help you in overcoming your personal challenges and limitations and inspire you towards the life you desire and deserve: a life of greater purpose, free of fear and full of abundance. | <urn:uuid:eb87b2fa-dcb0-4993-b766-e9b278dd95b5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.motivation-for-dreamers.com/finding-your-purpose.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00193-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963127 | 1,494 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I have recently read a book by Mustafa Akyol titled "Islam without extremes", which is trying to answer the great mystery in Islam. The author quotes David Forte who makes the following statement:
There is a great mystery in Islam. Islam should have been the first civilisation to have abandoned slavery; it was the last.Islam should have been the first to establish complete religious liberty; today, non-muslims siffer egregerious persecution in Muslim lands. Islam should have been the first to establish social equality for women. Instead, women who stray outside the family's code of behavious are murdered with impunity. Islam should have been the foremost civilisation to observe humanitarian laws of war, but its empires have been no different from others; some claim they have been worse.
The author then goes about discussing this paradox, first starting with what went right - the early Islamic period followed by what went wrong.
The first thing to get out of the way is that this is not a text book - it is a person's opinion and analysis of the past and rpesent and it should be taken as that.
The book is divided into three parts, the first is early Muslim history starting in the times of the prophet and moving forward. The author seems to be a major fan of the mutazilite school of thought and sees their presence in the early Muslim history where they presented rational and liberal arguments as being important to the early Muslim society.
The book then moves forward at how the early muslim dynasties supported one or another group of Muslims - the Ummayad caliphate had a major problem with legitimacy in the eyes of the people so they favoured another school which did not consider free will as highly important and said "if God had not wanted the Ummayaads to rule, they wouldn't be, but the very fact that they are in power proves their legitimacy as they are there by God's will."
In a similar way, other dynasties also supported or opposed various schools of thought and law, but over time the libertarian and rational schools started to "lose" as they generally would be opposing the ruling elite.
Of the 4 schools of fiqh, the author mentions that he considers Imam Abu Hanifa the most rational and almost goes to the extent of suggesting that he would ignore hadith and not consider them too important, which seems strange to me.
He continues that it was Imam Shaf'i who gave ahadith greater prominence in rule making and that methodology to a greater or lesser extent was eventually taken up by all the schools or influenced their behaviours.
A question that had been posed on tribune by another person who read the opening chapter was "does the author reject hadith outright?" as the opening chapter seemed to indicate the liberty expressed in the qur'an and then contrasted with the strictness in a specific hadith.
The answer to this question is "no" but with the caveat that while he considers the hadith important for matters of morality, he does think that the amount of fabricated ahadith and their lack of contextualisation require them to be analysed. He also mentions how in Islamic history due to the number of fabrications it was possible to find a hadith to support any view that anyone had.
From the 4 Imam's the author is pretty disparaging of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who's views he considered least rationalist and very rejecting of opposing views where his followers would generally avoid transacting with other muslims to avoid "corruption" and "pollution" of themselves, something he find similar to modern day extremist phenomenons.
He goes on to mention how he considers the famout hadith relating to bid'ah to have been fabricated in this later time period, but does not provide his justification for it.
Mustafa Akyol charts the pretty early Muslim world which he considered to be more libertarian minded (and also less sexist), but charts how the ideas of liberty and tolerance (and trade) over time gave way to other ideas that were less liberal, and less tolerant of trade (the elite found it easier to tax land compared to trade and so after about the third century, the tax system gradually morphed to favour agricultural society instead of a business oriented one, something that was only confronted in the 19th century, but the return to classical reforms was a little too late).
From here, Mustafa Akyol jumps to the later part of the ottoman empire and the early part of the Turkish state.
He contrasts how muslim intellectuals of the late 19th century ad the early 20th century were almost unanimously liberal, while the secular forces of the turkish state found at the fall of the ottoman empire often were not - and that this trend continued in turkey even after the fall of the Ottoman empire, which was unique compared to other places because the author believed that because (eastern) Turkey had not been occupied by western powers, the people there did not need to resist the western world and all it stood for - even if the ideas were initially from Islamdom.
It was interesting to read how the attempt of reforms in the late ottoman period giving equal rights was resisted by the christian clergy who wanted none of it. (and how previously they had been greateful for the Ottoman empire which was tolerant of them unlike many european states).
The author contended that many reforms were not completed or failed mainly because the ottoman empire in the late 19th century was weak and suffered great existential threats.
The author mentioned the attempts at codifying existing shariah laws into one book in order to simlify things - something called the "mecelle" (does not return any google search results), something that remained law in many places, including Israel until the 1980's.
The final section chapters is based on modern problems that Muslims face and discusses his solutions to them, covering topics such as the Khilafah - according to him not needed, the state of Madinah was secular. Furhter he considers the trend to try and force a "religious theocracy" as a knee jerk reaction to the western domination of the past century where the proponents are often arguing for things that were never there in the past - he mentions how a certain group in the UK is calling for the imposition of shariah in the UK and eg the banning of alcohol for all people - something that has never happened in the Muslim world.
A further concern of the author is how proponents of such regimes favour systems that are not religious, but material and that the ultra enforcement of the rules forces people into the underground. He mentions in his support on the one hand that a prayer prayed without force is more likely to be from the heart than one to keep up appearances (somehting which is criticised in the quran to the level that hypocrisy is seen as worse than disbelief). Secondly he mentions how the ultra enforcement of segregation has resulted in a phenomena of lesbianism.
The author mentions how many Muslims are able to be more practising Muslim in western countries that Islamic ones.
The author also defends the right of people to sin as without this, the world is no longer a place where people are tested, which is something from life and mentions how the quranic verses referring to the hajj mention that the people must not hunt - and that they will be tested on their journeys even where the catch would be a hands length or so away.
All in all, I think it is an interesting read.
"Islam without extremes" should now be available from all good bookshops. | <urn:uuid:ccf850e1-58c1-4763-a5ed-e5ad7d91f123> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.therevival.co.uk/blogs/you/book-review-islam-without-extremes-mustafa-akyol | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00026-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97991 | 1,549 | 1.78125 | 2 |
ENVIRONMENTALLY COMPATIBLE APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
10 Optimisation of the analytics of nanostructured layers
Field of work:Thermoelectricity
In order to achieve the prospective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to increase the use of regenerative energy sources and to use waste heat more effectively. Thermoelectric generators are especially suited for energy conversion because waste heat can be converted into electric energy. Suitable material systems for thermoelectric generators should exhibit a thermal conductivity as low as possible and a high electric conductivity. With nanostructuring it is possible to some extent to modify electric and thermal properties independently. The decisive factor for the systematic optimisation of thermogenerators is a precise knowledge of the thermal and electric conductivity of thin and nanostructured layers.
The goal of this project is to provide a combination package of analysis processes which are primarily based on scanning probe microscopy methods to support the development process of material systems for the use in thermoelectric generators.
For this purpose, high resolution analysis processes are to be developed at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology to perform characterisation and error analysis of thermogenerators. Most importantly, this involves the optimisation of scanning probe microscopy methods in order to determine thermal and electric properties of materials and thin layers. Numeric simulations based on finite element methods support the development of measurement methods. In addition to the spatially resolved determination of material parameters, a measurement setup was established to determine the macroscopic thermal conductivity of thin layers. Previously, this method could only be used to measure layers with a thickness of more than 300 nm. With the modifications to the measurement setup developed as part of the project, layers with thicknesses of 50 nm or less can now be studied. To do so, the existing substrate must be modified by depositing a 10 nm thin insulation layer (SiO2). The project partners deliver material systems which are deposited on this layer. Thus, the heat conductivity of these materials can be determined. | <urn:uuid:30a2ad2b-0bd4-43f9-b86f-5a3a42194217> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bayfor.org/en/bavarian-expertise/bavarian-research-associations/associations/project/umweltnanotech/10-optimisation-of-the-analytics-of-nanostructured-layers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.894664 | 434 | 2.703125 | 3 |
20 speeches or interventions made at the following forums in 2012:
- Asian Disaster Reduction and Recovery Network Annual General Meeting (Phnom Penh - February) – Keynote.
- Humanitarian Briefing to Member States (Thailand - February) - Keynote
- IOM/MOFA organized Conference on Assistance to Foreign Nationals During Disasters in Japan (February).
- International Seminar on Civil – Military Cooperation on Disaster Management (Thailand - March) – Keynote.
- Press briefing at the Japan National Press Club (Tokyo - March)
- ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Intercessional Meeting on Disaster Relief (Brisbane - April).
- To officiate at and attend the INSARAG SAARC Familiarization Workshop (Bangladesh - May).
- Asia Public Policy Forum - Disaster Management in Asia (Singapore, May) – Keynote.
- ECHO 20th Anniversary Panel Debate (Thailand, May).
- Lecture at World Law Academy of Japan on the Great East Japan. Earthquake and international humanitarian system (Kyoto – May).
- Workshop on Private Sector Innovation and Humanitarian Action (Singapore - June).
- OIC meeting on the Rohingya Issue (Kuala Lumpur - August).
- Lecture at United Nations University on the international humanitarian system and the role of the UN (Kanagawa – September).
- ODI Humanitarian Policy Group Round Table Meeting on the situation in Myanmar (London - September).\
- Humanitarian Futures Programme meeting on engagement with the private sector (London - September).
- ASEAN Workshop on Environmental Hazards (Singapore - September)
- Workshop on the Rehabilitation of Rakhine Province (Myanmar - September).
- Philanthropy in Asia Summit presentation on The Potential and Related Obstacles of Preparing Countries in Asia for Major Disasters (Singapore - September).
- Meeting on the Rohingya issue (Qatar - October).
- Lecture at a South-South Training Course on Meteorological Hazards at Nanjing University (China - October) – Keynote.
- International Disaster Reduction Forum, Kobe (Japan - October).
- China Academy of Governance Institute for Emergency Management (China - November).
- Presentation and Panelist at Rikkyo University on Humanitarian Assistance and Crisis Management (Tokyo – November).
- 2012 International Conference on Assistance to DPRK (Thailand - November) - Keynote.
- Asia-Pacific Cooperative Forum discussing the role of cooperatives in natural disasters (Kobe – November) – Keynote.
- Presentation and panelist at Osaka University on Disaster Management, Recovery and International Cooperation (Osaka-December). | <urn:uuid:c3b556c0-e18e-4356-8f26-431d4261cc6f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.unocha.org/annualreport/2012/roap | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00191-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.744876 | 566 | 1.5 | 2 |
Perhaps the abstract was once a brief summary of the full paper. That is now largely history. In these days of the information explosion the abstract’s purpose is to let the reader know whether they want to spend the time reading your whole paper – which may possibly involve them in the hassle of downloading it and even fighting a paywall.
So there are two aspects: you want to make it inviting: you want the right peer group to read and heed it, and in some cases you want the conference organisers to select it for a talk or poster. `But you also need to inform those who wouldn’t find it relevant that they’d be wasting their time going further.
So it is not a summary. It is not a precis. It does not have to cover everything in your paper. You cannot assume the potential reader (who is probably scrolling down a long list of many such abstracts) will read your abstract all the way through: they will take a glance at the first couple of lines and only read further if you’ve caught their attention.
After writing and reading (and not reading) many abstracts, I have come to rely on the 4 sentence system. It gives a sure-fire mechanism for producing high quality abstracts, it does not involve any staring at a blank sheet of paper waiting for inspiration, and it is also flexible. It works for experimental and theoretical papers, and for simulations. It is good for the reader and the author.
The 4 Sentence Abstract
What you did. This is the opening which will catch the reader’s eye and their attention. Keep it short and specific. Don’t mention your methodology. “We describe the 4 sentence system for writing an abstract.”
Why this is important. This is why you chose to work on this topic, way back when. The core specialist readers will know this, of course, but will be happy to have their views confirmed and reinforced: for those in the field but not quite so specialised it may be necessary to justify the work you’ve done. “Many authors find it difficult to write their abstract, and many paper abstracts are long and unhelpful.”
How your result improves on previous ones. This is your chance to big-up what you’ve done. You have more data, or better apparatus, or a superior technique, or whatever. Now you can mention your methodology, insofar as it’s an improvement on previous work. “Our technique provides an easy-to-use methodical system.”
Give the result. If possible, the actual result, particularly if it’s a relatively straightforward measurement. If (but only if) you are submitting an abstract to a future conference and you havn’t actually got your results yet, you may have to paraphrase this as “Results for … are given.” People using it spend less time writing, and the abstracts they produce are better.”
This is a starting framework which can be adapted. The 4 “sentences” can be split if necessary, their relative length and emphasis varied according to the paper they describe. But it fits pretty much every situation, and it gives a thematic organisation which matches the potential reader’s expectation. (You can write it in the first or third person, active or passive, depending on your preferences and the tradition of your field, provided you’re consistent.)
There is a lot of advice about abstracts around on the web. Many of them are, to my mind, unhelpful in that they see the abstract through the eyes of the author, as a summary based on the paper, rather than through the eyes of a potential reader. I’ve taken to using the 4 sentences: what we did, why it matters, how it’s better, and the result. I now find writing abstracts quick and straightforward, and the results are pretty good.
As a new lecturer, in the early 1980’s, I soon learnt that the first meeting of the 3rd year examiners was the focal point of the physics department’s year. All the academics would be there: attendance was higher than at any seminar. Because this was the meeting that mattered.
Exams were over, and the marks had been collected and aggregated. Now the final-year students were to be awarded their degree classifications – a decision defining them for the rest of their lives. This was done to a clear scheme: 70% or above was a first, 60% a 2-1, and so on. Anyone making the threshold when all their marks were added got the degree, no question. But what about those just below the line with 69.9% or 58.8%? We reckoned we couldn’t mark more accurately than 2%, so anyone within that margin deserved individual consideration. The external examiner, plus a couple of internal assistants, would examine borderline candidates orally, typically going over a question in which they’d done uncharacteristically badly, to give them the chance to redeem the effects of exam panic or taking a wrong view. It was grim for the students, but we did out best, talking science with them, as one physicist to another, trying to draw out the behaviour characteristic of 1st class (or 2-1 or…) student.
But not all students in the borderlines could be interviewed. There were too many, not if the examining panel was to do the thorough job each candidate deserved. So a selection had to be made, and that’s what this meeting was for. Starting with students scoring 69.99 and working down the list, the chair would ask the opinions of those who knew the student – their tutors, director of studies, and anyone who had been in contact with them during their 3 year course – whether they thought this candidate was in the right place, or if they deserved a shot at the rung above. Those of us who knew an individual would give our opinion – usually in the upward direction, but not always. Medical evidence and other cases of distress was given. On the basis of all this information, the meeting would decide on the interview lists.
As we worked down from 69.99 to 67.00 the case for interview got harder to make. Those with inconsistent performance – between papers, between years – got special attention. This was done at all the borderlines (and in exceptional circumstances for some below the nominal 2% zone).
We were too large a department for me or anyone to know all the students, but we would each know a fair fraction of them, one way or another, with a real interest in their progress and this, their final degree. So it mattered. We were conscientious and careful, and as generous as we could be. At the end of the meeting, which would have lasted more than 2 hours, there was the cathartic feeling of a job well done.
The 2nd meeting of the 3rd year examiners would follow some days later. This was also well attended and important, but there was little opportunity for input. The interviews would have taken place, and the panel would make firm recommendations as to whether or not a students should be nudged up or left in place. The degree lists would be agreed and signed, and we would be done with that cohort of undergraduates and start preparing for the freshers who would replace them.
The university decided that exam marking should be anonymised. The most obvious effect was that the scripts had numbers rather than names, removing the only mildly interesting feature of the tedious business of marking. But a side effect was that the students in the examiners’ meetings became anonymised too. And if candidate 12345 has a score of 69.9%, I have no way of knowing whether this is my student Pat, keen and impressive in tutorials but who made a poor choice of a final year option, or Sam, strictly middle of the road but lucky in their choice of lab partner. There was no way for us to give real information about real people. The university produced sets of rules to guide the selection of candidates for interview, all we could do was rubber-stamp the application of the rules. People gave up attending. Eventually I did too.
By this point some readers’ heads will have exploded with anger. This tale of primitive practices must sound like an account of the fun we used to have bear-baiting and cock-fighting, and the way drowning a witch used to pull the whole village together. Yes, we were overwhelmingly (though not completely) white and male, though I never heard anyone make an overtly racist or sexist comment about a candidate, and I am very sure that anyone who had done so would have been shouted down. We were physicists judging other physicists, and in doing that properly there is no room for any other considerations. There may have been subconscious influences – though we would, by definition, be unaware of that. I can hear the hollow laughter from my non-white and/or female colleagues when I tell them the process wasn’t biassed. But it wasn’t very biassed – and it could not move people down, it could only refrain from moving them up. Although the old system had to go as it was open to unfair discriminatory prejudice, I don’t believe that in our department (and I wouldn’t be prepared to speak for anywhere else) we were unfair. But perhaps you shouldn’t take my word for that.
So the old unfair system based on professional judgement has been replaced by a new unjust system based on soulless number-crunching. There is no good solution: while we draw any line to divide individuals into classes – particularly the 2-1/2-2 border in the middle of the mark distribution – and while we measure something as multidimensional as ‘ability’ by a single number, there are going to be misclassifications. I had hoped that when, thanks to data protection legislation, universities had to publish transcripts of all the student’s marks rather than just the single degree class, that the old crude classification would become unimportant, but this shows no signs of happening.
There is no question that anonymous marking was needed. But any positive reform has some negative side effects, and this was one of them. The informed judgement of a community was replaced by a set of algorithms in a spreadsheet. And replacing personal and expert knowledge of students by numerical operations with spreadsheets is bound to bring injustices. Also a rare instance where the department acted as a whole, rather than as a collection of separate research groups, got wiped from existence.
It is amazing how simple computation can have profound complexity once you start digging.
Let’s take a simple example: finding the average (arithmetic mean) of a set of numbers. It’s the sort of thing that often turns up in real life, as well as in class exercises. Working from scratch you would write a program like (using C as an example: Python or Matlab or other languages would be very similar)
sum += x[j];
which will compile and run and give the right answer until one day, eventually, you will spot it giving an answer that is wrong. (Well, if you’re lucky you will spot it: if you’re not then its wrong answer could have bad consequences.)
What’s the problem? You won’t find the answer by looking at the code.
The float type indicates that 32 bits are used, shared between a mantissa and and exponent and a sign, and in the usual IEE754 format that gives 24 bits of binary accuracy, corresponding to 7 to 8 decimal places. Which in most cases is plenty.
To help see what’s going on, suppose the computer worked in base 10 rather than base 2, and used 6 digits. So the number 123456 would be stored as 1.23456 x 105 . Now, in that program loop the sum gets bigger and bigger as the values are added. Take a simple case where the values all just happen to be 1.0. Then after you have worked through 1,000,000 of them, the sum is 100000, stored as 1.00000 x 106 . All fine so far. But now add the next value. The sum should be 1000001, but you only have 6 digits so this is also stored as 1.00000 x 106 . Ouch – but the sum is still accurate to 1 part in 106 . But when you add the next value, the same thing happens. If you add 2 million numbers, all ones, the program will tell you that their average is 0.5. Which is not accurate to 1 part in 106 , not nearly!
Going back to the usual but less transparent binary 24 bit precision, the same principles apply. If you add up millions of numbers to find the average, your answer can be seriously wrong. Using double precision gives 53 bit precision, roughly 16 decimal figures, which certainly reduces the problem but doesn’t eliminate it. The case we considered where the numbers are all the same is actually a best-case: if there is a spread in values then the smallest ones will be systematically discarded earlier.
And you’re quite likely to meet datasets with millions of entries. If not today then tomorrow. You may start by finding the mean height of the members of your computing class, for which the program above is fine, but you’ll soon be calculating the mean multiplicity of events in the LHC, or distances of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, or nationwide till receipts for Starbuck’s. And it will bite you.
Fortunately there is an easy remedy. Here’s the safe alternative
mean += (x[j]-mean)/(j+1);
Which is actually one line shorter! The slightly inelegant (j+1) in the denominator arises because C arrays start from zero. Algebraically they are equivalent because
but numerically they are different and the trap is avoided. If you use the second code to average a sequence of 1.0 values, it will return an average of 1.0 forever.
So those (like me) who have once been bitten by the problem will routinely code using running averages rather than totals. Just to be safe. The trick is well known.
What is less well known is how to safely evaluate standard deviations. Here one hits a second problem. The algebra runs
where the n/(n-1) factor, Bessel’s correction, just compensates for the fact that the squared standard deviation or variance of a sample is a biassed estimator of that of the parent. We know how to calculate the mean safely, and we can calculate the mean square in the same way. However we then hit another problem if, as often happens, the mean is large compared to the standard deviation.
Suppose what we’ve got is approximately Gaussian (or normal, if you prefer) with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 1. Then the calculation in the right hand bracket will look like
10001 – 10000
which gives the correct value of 1. However we’ve put two five-digit numbers into the sum and got a single digit out. If we were working to 5 significant figures, we’re now only working to 1. If the mean were ~1000 rather than ~100 we’d lose two more. There’s a significant loss of precision here.
If the first rule is not to add two numbers of different magnitude, the second is not to subtract two numbers of similar magnitude. Following these rules is hard because an expression like x+y can be an addition or a subtraction depending on the signs of x and y.
This danger can be avoided by doing the calculation in two passes. On the first pass you calculate the mean, as before. On the second pass you calculate the mean of (x-μ)2 where the differences are sensible, of order of the standard deviation. If your data is in an array this is pretty easy to do, but if it’s being read from a file you have to close and re-open it – and if the values are coming from an online data acquisition system it’s not possible.
And there is a solution. It’s called the Welford Online Algorithm and the code can be written as a simple extension of the running-mean program above
The subtractions and the additions are safe. The use of both the old and new values for the mean accounts algebraically, as Welford showed, for the change that the mean makes to the overall variance. The only differences from our original running average program are the need to keep track of both old and new values, and initially defining the mean as the first element (zero), so the loop starts at j=1, avoiding division by zero: the variance estimate from a single value is meaningless. (It might be good to add a check that n>1 to make it generally safe).
I had suspected such an algorithm should exist but, after searching for years, I only found it recently (thanks to Dr Manuel Schiller of Glasgow University). It’s beautiful and its useful and it deserves to be more widely known.
It is amazing how simple computation can have profound complexity once you start digging.
I just posted a tweet asking how best to dissuade a colleague from presenting results using Excel.
The post had a fair impact – many likes and retweets – but also a lot of people saying, in tones from puzzlement to indignation, that they saw nothing wrong with Excel and this tweet just showed intellectual snobbery on my part.
A proper answer to those 31 replies deserves more than the 280 character Twitter limit, so here it is.
First, this is not an anti-Microsoft thing. When I say “Excel” I include Apple’s Numbers and LibreOffice’s Calc. I mean any spreadsheet program, of which Excel is overwhelmingly the market leader. The brand name has become the generic term, as happened with Hoover and Xerox.
Secondly, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Excel itself. It is really useful for some purposes. It has spread so widely because it meets a real need. But for many purposes, particularly in my own field (physics) it is, for reasons discussed below, usually the wrong tool.
The problem is that people who have been introduced to it at an early stage then use it because it’s familiar, rather than expending the effort and time to learn something new. They end up digging a trench with a teaspoon, because they know about teaspoons, whereas spades and shovels are new and unfamiliar. They invest lots of time and energy in digging with their teaspoon, and the longer they dig the harder it is to persuade them to change.
The first and obvious problem is that Excel is a tool for business. Excel tutorials and examples (such as that above) are full of sales, costs, overheads, clients and budgets. That’s where it came from, and why it’s so widely used. Although it deals with numbers, and thanks to the power of mathematics numbers can be used to count anything, the tools it provides to manipulate those numbers – the algebraic formulae the graphs and charts – are those that will be useful and appropriate for business.
That bias could be overcome, but there is a second and much bigger problem. Excel integrates the data and the analysis. You start with a file containing raw numbers. Working within that file you create a chart: you specify what data to plot and how to plot it (colours, axes and so forth). The basic data is embellished with calculations, plots, and text to make (given time and skill) a meaningful and informative graphic.
In the alternative approach (the spade or shovel of the earlier analogy) is to write a program (using R or Python or Matlab or Gnuplot or ROOT or one of the many other excellent languages) which takes the data file and makes the plots from it. The analysis is separated from the data.
Let’s see how this works and why the difference matters. As a neutral example, we’ll take the iris data used by Fisher and countless generations of statistics students. It’s readily available. Let’s suppose you want to plot the Sepal length against the Petal length for all the data. It’s very easy, using a spreadsheet or using a program
Using Apple Numbers (other spreadsheets will be similar) you download the iris data file, open it, and click on
Sepal Length column
Petal Length column
In R (other languages will be similar) you read the data (if necessary) and then draw the desired plot
Having looked at your plot, you decide to make it presentable by giving the axes sensible names, by plotting the data as solid red squares, by specifying the limits for x as 4 – 8 and for y as 0 – 7, and removing the ‘Petal length’ title.
Going back to the spreadsheet you click on:
The green tick by the ‘Legend’ box, to remove it
Axis-scale Min, and insert ‘4’ (the other limits are OK)
Tick ‘Axis title’
Where ‘Value Axis’ appears on the plot, over-write with “Sepal Length (cm)”
Tick ‘Axis title’
Where ‘Value Axis’ appears, over-write with “Petal Length(cm)”
Under ‘Data Symbols’ select the square
Click on the chart, then on one of the symbols
‘Fill Color’ – select a nice red
‘Stroke Color’ – select the same red
In R you type the same function with some extra arguments
So we’ve arrived at pretty much the same place by the two different routes – if you want to tweak the size of the symbols or the axis tick marks and grid lines, this can be done by more clicking (for the spreadsheet) or specifying more function arguments (for R). And for both methods the path has been pretty easy and straightforward, even for a beginner. Some features are not immediately intuitive (like the need to over-write the axis title on the plot, or that a solid square is plotting character 15), but help pages soon point the newbie to the answer.
The plots may be the same, but the means to get there are very different. The R formatting is all contained in the line
whereas the spreadsheet uses over a dozen point/click/fill operations. Which are nice in themselves but make it harder to describe what you’ve done – that left hand column up above is much longer than the one on the right. And that was a specially prepared simple example. If you spend many minutes of artistic creativity improving your plot – changing scales, adding explanatory features, choosing a great colour scheme and nice fonts – you are highly unlikely to remember all the changes you made, to be able to describe them to someone else, or to repeat them yourself for a similar plot tomorrow. And the spreadsheet does not provide such a record, not in the same way the code does.
Now suppose you want to process the data and extract some numbers. As an example, imagine you want to find the mean of the petal width divided by the sepal width. (Don’t ask me why – I’m not a botanist).
Click on rightmost column header (“F”) and Add Column After.
Click in cell G2, type “=”, then click cell C2, type “/”, then cell E2, to get something like this
(notice how your “/” has been translated into the division-sign that you probably haven’t seen since primary school. But I’m letting my prejudice show…)
Click the green tick, then copy the cell to the clipboard by Edit-Copy or Ctrl-C or Command-C
Click on cell G3, then drag the mouse as far down the page as you can, then fill those cells by Edit-Paste or Ctrl-V or Command-V
Scroll down the page, and repeat until all 150 rows are filled
Add another column (this will be H)
Somewhere – say H19 – insert “=” then “average(“,click column G , and then “)”. Click the green arrow
Then, because it is never good just to show numbers, in H18 type “Mean width ratio”. You will need to widen the column to get it to fit
It’s now pretty clear that even for this simple calculation the program is a LOT simpler than the spreadsheet. It smoothly handles the creation of new variables, and mathematical operations. Again the program is a complete record of what you’ve done, that you can look at and (if necessary) discuss with others, whereas the contents of cell 19 are only revealed if you click on it.
As an awful warning of what can go wrong – you may have spotted that the program uses “mean” whereas the spreadsheet uses “average”. That’s a bit off (Statistics 101 tells us that the mode, the mean and the median are three different ‘averages’) but excusable. What is tricky is that if you type “mean(” into the cell, this gets autocorrected to “median(“. What then shows when you look at the spreadsheet is a number which is not obviously wrong. So if you’re careless/hurried and looking at your keyboard rather than the screen, you’re likely to introduce an error which is very hard to spot.
This difference in the way of thinking is brought out if/when you have more than one possible input dataset. For the program, you just change the name of the data file and re-run it. For the spreadsheet, you have to open up the new file and repeat all the click-operations that you used for the first one. Hopefully you can remember what they are – and if not, you can’t straightforwardly re-create them by examining the original spreadsheet.
So Excel can be used to draw nice plots and extract numbers from a dataset, particularly where finance is involved, but it is not appropriate
If you want to show someone else how you’ve made those plots
If you are not infallible and need to check your actions
If you want to be able to consider the steps of a multi-stage analysis
If you are going to run the same, or similar, analyses on other datasets
and as most physics data processing problems tick all of these boxes, you shouldn’t be using Excel for one.
In any description if the Standard Model of Particle Physics, from the serious graduate-level lecture course to the jolly outreach chat for Joe Public, you pretty soon come up against a graphic like this.
It appears on mugs and on T shirts, on posters and on websites. The colours vary, and sometimes bosons are included. It may be – somewhat pretentiously – described as “the new periodic table”. We’ve all seen it many times. Lots of us have used it – I have myself.
And it’s wrong.
Fundamentally wrong. And we’ve known about it since the 1990’s.
The problem lies with the bottom row: the neutrinos. They are shown as the electron, mu and tau neutrinos, matching the charged leptons.
But what is the electron neutrino? It does not exist – or at least if it does exist, it cannot claim to be a ‘particle’. It does not have a mass. An electron neutrino state is not a solution of the Schrödinger equation: it oscillates between the 3 flavours. Anything that changes its nature when left to itself, without any interaction from other particles, doesn’t deserve to be called an ‘elementary particle’.
That this changing nature happened was a shattering discovery at the time, but now it’s been firmly established over 20 years of careful measurement of these oscillations: from solar neutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, reactors, sources and neutrino beams.
There are three neutrinos. Call them 1, 2 and 3. They do have definite masses (even if we don’t know what they are) and they do give solutions of the Schrödinger equation: a type 1 neutrino stays a type 1 neutrino until and unless it interacts, likewise 2 stays 2 and 3 stays 3.
So what is an ‘electron neutrino’? Well, when a W particle couples to an electron, it couples to a specific mixture of ν1, ν2, and ν3, That specific mixture is called νe. The muon and tau are similar. Before the 1990s, when the the only information we had about neutrinos came from their W interactions, we only ever met neutrinos in these combinations so it made sense to use them. And they have proved a useful concept over the years. But now we know more about their behaviour – even though that is only how they vary with time – we know that the 1-2-3 states are the fundamental ones.
By way of an analogy: the 1-2-3 states are like 3 notes, say C, E and G, on a piano. Before the 1990s our pianist would only play them in chords: CE, EG and CG (the major third, the minor third and the fifth, but this analogy is getting out of hand…) As we only ever met them in these combinations we assumed that these were the only combinations they ever occurred in which made them fundamental. Now we have a more flexible pianist and know that this is not the case.
We have to make this change if we are going to be consistent between the quarks in the top half of the graphic and the leptons in the bottom. When the W interacts with a u quark it couples to a mixture of d, s and b. Mostly d, it is true, but with a bit of the others. We write d’=Uudd+Uuss+Uubb and introduce the CKM matrix or the Cabibbo angle. But we don’t put d’ in the “periodic table”. That’s because the d quark, the mass eigenstate, leads a vigorous social life interacting with gluons and photons as well as Ws, and it does so as the d quark, not as the d’ mixture. This is all obvious. So we have to treat the neutrinos in the same way.
So if you are a bright annoying student who likes to ask their teacher tough questions (or vice versa), when you’re presented with the WRONG graphic, ask innocently “Why are there lepton number oscillations among the neutral leptons but not between the charged leptons?”, and retreat to a safe distance. There is no good answer if you start from the WRONG graphic. If you start from the RIGHT graphic then the question is trivial: there are no oscillations between the 1-2-3 neutrinos any more than there are between e, mu and tau, or u, c, and t. If you happen to start with a state which is a mixture of the 3 then of course you need to consider the quantum interference effects, for the νe mixture just as you do for the d’ quark state (though the effects play out rather differently).
So don’t use the WRONG Standard model graphic. Change those subscripts on the bottom row, and rejoice in the satisfaction of being right. At least until somebody shows that neutrinos are Majorana particles and we have to re-think the whole thing…
William Of Ockham is one of the few medieval theologian/philosophers whose name survives today, thanks to his formulation of the principle known as Occam’s Razor. In the original latin, if you want to show off, it runs Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate, or Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity, which can be loosely paraphrased as The simplest explanation is the best one, an idea that is as attractive to a 21st century audience as it was back in the 14th.
Now fast forward a few centuries and let’s try and apply this to the neutrino. People talk about the “Dirac Neutrino” but that’s a bit off-target. Paul Dirac produced the definitive description not of the neutrino but of the electron. The Dirac Equation shows – as explained in countless graduate physics courses – that there have to be 2×2=4 types of electron: there are the usual negatively charged ones and the rarer positively charged ones (usually known as positrons), and for each of these the intrinsic spin can point along the direction of motion (‘right handed’) or against it (‘left handed’). The charge is a basic property that can’t change, but handedness depends on the observer (if you and I observe and discuss electrons while the two of us are moving, we will agree about their directions of spin but not about their directions of motion.)
Dirac worked all this out to describe how the electron experienced the electromagnetic force. But it turned out to be the key to describing its behaviour in the beta-decay weak force as well. But with a twist. Only the left handed electron and the right handed positron ‘feel’ the weak force. If you show a right handed electron or a left handed positron to the W particle that’s responsible for the weak force then it’s just not interested. This seems weird but has been very firmly established by decades of precision experiments.
(If you’re worried that this preference appears to contradict the statement earlier that handedness is observer-dependent then well done! Let’s just say I’ve oversimplified a bit, and the mathematics really does take care of it properly. Give yourself a gold star, and check out the difference between ‘helicity’ and ‘chiralilty’ sometime.)
Right, that’s enough about electrons, let’s move on to neutrinos. They also interact weakly, very similarly to the electron: only the left-handed neutrino and the right-handed antineutrino are involved, and the right-handed neutrino and left-handed antineutrino don’t.
But it’s worse than that. The left handed neutrino and right handed antineutrino don’t interact weakly: they also don’t interact electromagnetically because the neutrino, unlike the electron, is neutral. And they don’t interact strongly either. In fact they don’t interact full stop.
And this is where William comes in wielding his razor. Our list of fundamental particles includes this absolutely pointless pair that don’t participate at all. What’s the point of them? Can’t we rewrite our description in a way that leaves them out?
And it turns out that we can.
Ettore Majorana, very soon after Dirac published his equation for the electron, pointed out that for neutral particles a simpler outcome was possible. In his system the ‘antiparticle’ of the left-handed neutrino is the right-handed neutrino. The neutrino, like the photon, is self-conjugate. The experiments that showed that neutrinos and antineutrinos were distinct (neutrinos produce electrons in targets: antineutrinos produce positrons) in fact showed the difference between left-handed and right-handed neutrinos. There are only 2 neutrinos and they both interact, not 2×2 where two of the foursome just play gooseberry.
So hooray for simplicity. But is it?
The electron (and its heavier counterparts, the mu and the tau) is certainly a Dirac particle. So are the quarks, both the 2/3 and the -1/3 varieties. If all the other fundamental fermions are Dirac particles, isn’t it simpler that the neutrino is cut to the same pattern, rather than having its own special prescription? If we understand electrons – which it is fair to say that we do – isn’t it simpler that the neutrino be just a neutral version of the electron, rather than some new entity introduced specially for the purpose?
And that’s where we are. It’s all very well advocating “the simple solution” but how can you tell what’s simple? The jury is still out. Hopefully a future set of experiments (on neutrinoless double beta decay) will give an answer on whether a neutrino can be its own antiparticle, though these are very tough and will take several years. After which we will doubtless see with hindsight the simplicity of the answer, whichever it is, and tell each other that it should have been obvious thanks to William. But at the moment he’s not really much help.
British democracy was created in the 19th century, like the railways. Like the railways it was, for its time, truly world-leading. However after 150 years, like the railways, it is showing its age. People, technology and society have come a long way, and a system which worked yesterday needs to be adapted and improved for the different conditions of today.
One flaw which is becoming increasingly apparent is the way it stifles minorities. Under the first-past-the-post system the winner takes all and the loser gets nothing. Democracy has to be more than that. Even in a simple two party system, 49% of the voters may have no say in how the country is run – and in a multiparty system the ruling party may have the support of well below half of the population. In a balanced system where the pendulum of power swings to and fro this may not matter too much, but when the difference is structural a large minority is rendered permanently powerless, which in the long run invites revolution.
These arguments are well rehearsed and various schemes to improve proportionality are suggested: the party list system, as was used in the Euro elections, the additional member system, as is used in the regional assemblies, the alternative vote and the Single Transferable Vote. Pundits with spreadsheets discuss the improvements in ‘proportionality’ given by the various schemes. I want to make a point in favour of the STV scheme which has nothing to do, directly, with proportionality. It gives voters the chance to choose their MP from within party list.
Let’s take a town of 200,000 people. Under STV its voters elect three MPs. Suppose, for simplicity, there are only two parties: Left and Right. The town is fairly evenly balanced, and elects 2 Left and 1 Right MP in some elections and 2 Right and 1 Left in others, depending on the way the political wind is blowing.
Now, although each party knows that the best it can hope for is 2 seats out of 3, they will put up 3 candidates. Not to fill the slate will be seen as a sign of weakness. This happens. To take an example close to home, in the last Euro elections (2019) here in the North West region all the parties (Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Brexit, Change, UKIP and the Greens) all put up full slates of 8 candidates, although they knew that they were never going to win all of them. The picture was the same in other regions. Parties will put up as many candidates as there are seats to be won.
So when a voter in this hypothetical town goes into the polling booth their ballot paper has six names, and they rank them in order (and although the mechanics of counting STV votes are complicated, its use by voters is really simple). A staunchly pro-Left voter will write 1, 2 and 3 against the Left candidates and 4, 5 and 6 against the Right candidates: a pro-Right voter will do the reverse. In doing so they are not only expressing their allegiance to a party, they are also expressing their preference for the candidates within that party. And that preference carries through to the result.
Let’s see how that works. Suppose that Smith, Jones and Robinson are the candidates for the Left party, which is doing well this time, while Brown, Green and White are standing for the Right party, which is lagging. Smith (a prominent local character) is more popular than Jones (a relative newcomer of whom little is known), while Robinson (whose controversial twitter stream has annoyed many people) is least popular of the three. As the votes are counted the popular Smith is the first to reach the quota (more than one quarter of the votes cast). Smith is elected, and surplus votes are diverted to the Jones pile.
Even with that boost, perhaps neither Jones nor anyone else makes quota. For the lagging Right party, Brown is the most popular candidate, followed by Green and then White, so the unfortunate White has the smallest number of 1st preference votes and is eliminated, their votes going to Brown who now makes quota. Robinson is eliminated next, their votes going to Jones who narrowly beats Green. Yes, proportionality has worked, after a fashion, in that the town has elected two Left and one Right MP, but it has done more than that: it has chosen between the candidates within the parties.
Everybody’s vote counts. There may be cases where a ballot is not counted for the voters preferred party – because the candidate made quota or dropped off the bottom – but their 4-5-6 ranking is used to express a preference as to which candidate of their non-preferred party gets elected. And so far we’ve ignored cross-party voting, which will strengthen the effect: voters are not tied to party allegiance and may vote for a popular individual despite their party.
STV also gives a much-needed voice to the majority. There is much – valid – complaint that in a ‘safe’ seat, voters for the losing parties have no say. But voters for the winning party have no say either. The candidate is appointed by a small selection committee, or by party headquarters. With STV it may still be effectively built-in that a party is bound to get a seat, but which of the candidates benefits from this is in the hands of the voters. Candidates – and sitting MPs – are going to realise this. They will be aware that they are answerable to the electorate rather than the party machinery. Today a Tory MP in the shires or a Labour MP in the industrial north knows that it would take major misbehaviour on their part to make voters switch party and thereby lose their seat, but with STV they will need to fear a switch in preference within the party ticket, and will treat their voters with much more respect.
This will change the dynamic of elections. Candidates will have to appeal to the electorate not just for their party but for themselves. Bright young SPADs who work the system within the party organisation to get onto the candidate list will also have to appeal to the electors if they’re going to get elected. It’s worth noting that this dynamic is the opposite to the ‘party list’ system. You sometimes hear people object to PR because it gives control to the party rather than the voter; this applies to the list system but for STV it’s just the opposite.
Hopefully, in 100 years time “safe seats” will have gone the way of rotten boroughs and be consigned to history. STV can make that happen, giving choice to the people rather than the party machinery.
This is a classic puzzle which, like all such, comes in the form of a story. Here is one version:
Alice and Bob are criminals. No question. They have been caught red-handed in a botched robbery of the Smalltown Store, and are now in jail awaiting trial.
The police have realised that Alice and Bob match the description of the pair who successfully robbed the Bigtown Bank last month. They really want to get a conviction for that, but with no evidence apart from the resemblance they need to get a confession.
So they say to Alice: “Look, you are going to get a 1 year sentence for the Smalltown Store job, no question. But if you co-operate with us by confessing that the two of you did the Bigtown Bank heist then we’ll let you go completely free. You can claim Bob was the ringleader and he’ll get a 10 year sentence.”
Alice thinks a moment and asks two questions.
“Are you making the same offer to Bob? What happens if we both confess?”
The police tell her that yes, they are making the same offer to both of them. And if both confess, they’ll get 6 years each.
OK, that’s the story. All that circumstantial detail is just to lead up to this decision table, which Alice is now looking at:
That’s the problem in a nutshell. Before we look at it there are maybe a few points to clear up
Alice and Bob are not an item. They are just business partners. Each is aiming to minimise their own jail term, and what happens to the other is irrelevant for them.
‘Go free’ really does mean that – there are no vengeful families or gang members to bring retribution on an informer.
Whether they actually committed the Bigtown Bank job is completely irrelevant to the puzzle.
OK, let’s get back to Alice. She reasons as follows:
“I don’t know what Bob is going to do. Suppose he denies the bank job. Then I should confess, to reduce my sentence from 1 year to zero. But what if he confesses? In that case, I’d better confess too, to get 6 years rather than 10. Whichever choice Bob makes, the better option for me is to confess. So I’ll confess.”
Bob will, of course, reason the same way. If Alice denies, he should confess. If Alice confesses, he should confess. 0 is less than 1, and 6 is less than 10. Therefore he should confess.
The logic is irrefutable. But look at that table again. The prisoners have firmly chosen the top left box, and will both serve 6 years. That’s a terrible result! It’s not only the worst total sentence (12 years), its the next-to-worst individual sentence (6 years is better than 10, but much worse than 0 or 1). Clearly the bottom right is the box to go for. It’s the optimal joint result and the next-to-optimal individual result.
That is obvious to us because we look at the table as a whole. But Bob (or Alice) can only consider their slices through it and either slice leads to the Confess choice. To see it holistically one has to change the question from the Prisoner’s Dilemma to the Prisoners’ Dilemma. That’s only the movement of an apostrophe, but it’s a total readjustment of the viewpoint. A joint Bob+Alice entity, if the police put them in one room together for a couple of minutes (but they won’t), can take the obvious bottom-right 1+1 choice. Separate individual Bob or Alice units, no matter how rational, cannot do that.
This is what the philosophers call emergence. The whole is more than just the sum of its parts. A forest is more than a number of trees. An animal is more than a bunch of cells. It’s generally discussed in terms of complex large-N systems: what’s nice about the Prisoner’s Dilemma is that emergence appears with just N=2. There is a Bob+Alice entity which is more than Bob and Alice seperately, and makes different (and better) decisions.
There’s also a lesson for politics. It’s an illustration of the way that Mrs Thatcher was wrong: there is such a thing as society, and it is more than just all its individual members. Once you start looking for them, the world is full of examples where groups can do things that individuals can’t – not just from the “united we stand” bundle-of-sticks argument but because they give a different viewpoint.
I should stockpile lavatory paper in case there’s a shortage caused by people stockpiling lavatory paper.
When recruiting skilled workers it’s quicker and cheaper for me to poach yours rather than train my own.
My best fishing strategy is to catch all the fish in the pond, even though that leaves none for you, and none for me tomorrow.
If I get another cow that will always give me more milk, even though the common grazing we share is finite.
This tells us something about democracy. A society or a nation is more than just the individuals that make it up. E pluribus unum means that something larger, more powerful and – dare one say it – better can emerge. So democracy is more than just arithmetical counting noses, democracy provides the means whereby men and women can speak with one voice as a distinct people. That’s the ideal, anyway, and – even if the form we’ve got is clunky and imperfect – some of us still try to believe in it.
The Xenon1T experiment has just announced a really interesting excess of events, which could be due to axions or some other new particle or effect. It’s a nice result from a difficult experiment and the research team deserve a lucky break. Of course like any discovery it could be a rare statistical fluctuation which will go away when more data is taken. They quote the significance as 3.5 sigma, and we can actually follow this: they see 285 events where only 232 are expected: the surplus of 53 is just 3.5 times the standard deviation you would expect from Poisson statistics: 15.2 events, the square root of 232.
This is all fine. But the press accounts – as in, for example, Scientific American, report this as “there’s about a 2 in 10,000 chance that random background radiation produced the signal”. It’s nothing of the sort.
Yes, the probability of exceeding 3.5 sigma (known as the p-value) is actually 2.3 in 10,000. But that’s not the probability that the signal was produced by random background. It’s the probability that random background would produce the signal. Not the same thing at all.
What’s the difference? Well, if you buy a lottery ticket there is, according to Wikipedia, a 1 in 7,509,578 chance of winning a million pounds. Fair enough. But now you meet a millionaire and ask “What is the chance they got that way through last week’s lottery?” it’s certainly not 1 in 7,509,578.
There are several paths to riches: inheritance, business and of course previous lottery winners who havn’t spent it all yet. The probability that some plutocrat got that way through a particular week’s lottery depends not just on that 1 in 7,509,578 number but on the number of people who buy lottery tickets, and the number of millionaires by who made their pile by other means. (It’s then just given by Bayes’ theorem – I’ll spare you the formula.) You can’t find the answer by just knowing p, you need all the others as well.
There is a 1 in 7 chance that your birthday this year falls on a Wednesday, but if today is Wednesday, the probability that it’s your birthday is not 1 in 7. Your local primary school teacher is probably a woman, but most women are not primary teachers. All crows are black, but not all black birds are crows. Everyday examples are all around. For instance – to pick an analogous one – if you see strange shapes in the sky this could be due to either flying saucers or to unusual weather conditions. Even if a meteorologist calculates that such conditions are very very unusual, you’ll still come down in favour of the mundane explanation.
So going back to the experiment, the probability that random background would give a signal like this may be 1 in 20,000 but that’s not the probability that this signal was produced by random background: that also depends on the probabilities we assign to the mundane random background or the exotic axion. Despite this 1 in 20,000 figure I very much doubt that you’d find a particle physicist outside the Xenon1T collaboration who’d give you as much as even odds on the axion theory turning out to be the right one. (Possibly also inside the collaboration, but it’s not polite to ask.)
This is a very common mistake – every announcement of an anomaly comes with its significance reported in terms of the number of sigma, which somebody helpfully translates into the equivalent p-value, which is then explained wrongly, with language like “the probability of the Standard Model being correct is only one in a million” instead of “the probability that the Standard Model would give a result this weird is only one in a million”. When you’re communicating science then you use non-technical language so people understand – but you should still get the facts right.
In a million and one grad student talks the second slide looks like this: the table-of-contents or the outline-of-the-talk. It may be a bit more colourful, with banners and logos and exciting pictures, but it’s basically the same, and the speaker will repeat the traditional phrases “After an introduction and a survey of the literature, I’ll describe the methodology we used…”
By this stage, one minute into the talk, the members of the audience are all thinking “Here’s another grad student talk like a million others… so predictable. ” and their attention will wander to their unanswered emails, or their plans for dinner, or an attractively-filled T shirt two rows in front, and the poor speaker has got to work really hard to get them back.
Do you need a contents slide at all? It’s not compulsory. Even though some presentation packages provide it almost by default, with sections and subsections, you don’t have to have one. Before you include it you should weigh up the reasons for and against.
It cuts into your time allocation.
It disrupts the flow of the talk as, by definition, it stands outside the narrative.
It will tend to shift the focus onto you as the speaker rather than on the material
On the other hand:
It can give structure to an otherwise amorphous talk
It can help the audience keep track of a complicated sequence of ideas
So its inclusion or exclusion depends on the talk length, the nature of the material, the links between you and your audience, and your personal style. In a 10 minute conference oral where you’re developing one idea it’s almost certainly not wanted. In a one hour seminar covering disparate but linked topics it could be really useful. If you’re going to include an outline, that should be a conscious decision, not just something you feel you ought to do.
If you do decide to include one, then make it work for you. Refer back to it during the talk, showing the audience where they’ve got to on the map you set out at the start. (There are some Beamer themes that do this automatically – Berkeley is a standard. UpSlide does it for PowerPoint. But it’s easy to do it by hand.) If you’re including an outline then make full use of it.
The final point is: if you’ve decided to include a table of contents then customize it. Make it your own and unique so that it’s not just the same as every other grad student talk. Here’s a revised version of that original outline slide (with some invented details). It’s the same slide: the first bullet is the introduction, the second is the literature search, and so on. But don’t call them that. Fill in your details in the generic slots, and that will keep the audience engaged and attentive and get them into your world and your language from the start. | <urn:uuid:2f5675bc-7455-4bfb-a718-1c7a5c207d6b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://rogerjbarlow.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808213349-20220809003349-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.95357 | 12,119 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Ritzar bez bronya (1966)
1h 25min · Drama, Family · 14 February 1966
Impersonating a knight is one of the favorite games of nine-year-old protagonist. Now as Don Quixote, now as D'Artagnan he is fighting evil, he is searching for justice and defending the weak. Together with his friends, packed in cardboard armor, they play all day long. As he is playing, however, he unwittingly witnesses the relation between his parents and gradually comes to understand that the world of the adults is far removed from the canons of knightly honor. His parents love him, but never seem to find the time to listen to his concerns. The deceit, corruption and luck of respect in his own family alienate the small boy. The only adult, whom the boy trusts, is his uncle to whom he is attached by a genuine, equal, man-to-man friendship. He takes him to the cinema and theater performances and talks to him like with his peer. Will this sensitive kid ever succeed in building an internal armor against selfishness and rudeness?
- Written by | <urn:uuid:f1dbcd95-abbb-4bb5-b272-aa414a68b02c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://nachostime.net/ritzar-bez-bronya | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719843.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00292-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983594 | 233 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Motorcycle LED Lights series is so simple that it only uses a few components, but the results are very satisfactory. Power consumption is small enough 6 Volt course is suitable for your motorcycle.
The 555 circuit lower than is a flashing bicycle light powered with four C,D or else AA cells (6 volts). Two sets of 20 LEDs yearn for alternately glimmer by the side of approximately 4.7 cycles for every flash using RC morals publicized (4.7K pro R1, 150K for R2 and a 1uF capacitor). epoch intervals for the two lamps are in this area 107 milliseconds (T1, high LEDs) and 104 milliseconds (T2 junior LEDs). Two transistors are used to provide extra current away from the 200 mA limit of the 555 timer. A single LED is placed in vogue run with the center of the PNP transistor so with the aim of the inferior 20 LEDs ride inedible at what time the 555 output goes superior in the course of the T1 instance interval. The high output level of the 555 timer is 1.7 volts fewer than the supply voltage. | <urn:uuid:47a5e684-1aca-4f73-891b-e0bbafa7e485> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.elcircuit.com/2012/06/motorcycle-led-lights-circuit.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720238.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00188-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90016 | 227 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Dr James Hodge
We are interested in how neural circuit activity underlies behaviour including circadian rhythms, sleep, memory and movement. We study these using Drosophila, molecular genetics, electrophysiology and optogenetics. We study the fundamental biology of behaviour and how they are affected by ageing, drugs and diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Down’s, schizophrenia and neuropathies. We also studying the effect of neonicotinoid insecticides on fly and bee circadian rhythms and sleep.
1) Circadian rhythms and clock neuron excitability. How does light and temperature entrain the clock? How is time of day information communicated through the clock? What is the role of neuronal activity in circadian rhythms? What are the components of the membrane clock and how do they interact with the molecular clock?
2) Sleep and electrical activity in the brain. How is sleep regulated by circuits in the brain? What is the role of synaptic transmission and homeostasis in sleep? Which ion channels and receptors mediate sleep neuron electrophysiology and regulate sleep? Can sleep be artificially enhanced or suppressed?
3) How is neuronal excitability, circadian rhythms, sleep, memory and movement affected by ageing, drugs and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Down’s and schizophrenia. Can novel mechanisms be identified and lead to new drugs?
4) What effects do insecticides have on insect neuronal excitability, circadian rhythms, sleep, memory and movement.
1) Electrophysiology. Whole cell current- and voltage-clamp of defined neurons recorded in the whole brain or in vivo. Synaptic recordings to measure transmission and plasticity. Measurement of spontaneous vesicular transmitter and evoked release, short-term depression and paired pulse recordings.
2) Optogenetics. Electrophysiology and behavioural characterisation of large range of different optogenetic and thermogenetic activators and inactivators. GCaMP6f and membrane potential reporters.
3) Behaviour. Drosophila activity monitors, Drosophila arousal tracking system and for bees, Bee activity monitors, RFID monitoring of bees. Olfactory shock or sugar conditioning assay for adults and larvae. Judgement bias task. Locomotor assays for adults and larvae. Longevity assays.
4) Imaging. Confocal imaging, neurodegeneration assay for eye and central neurons.
5) Genetics. Forward and reverse genetics. Full range of promoter systems including inducible. CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing.
6) Molecular biology. Westerns, DNA gels, PCR and qRT-PCR.
7) Mathematical modelling. Dynamic clamp, Hodgkin-Huxley models of neurons and small network models.
We are collaborating with clinicians and industry to test new drugs for neurodegenerative disease. We perform regular internships with policy makers and industry. We support schools and BBC4 Christmas lectures perform Drosophila experiments. We deliver wide ranging public engagement talks, music and fly demonstrations at open days, Festival of neuroscience, Pint of science and with Guerrilla Science at the Eden Project, Secret Garden Party, Boomtown and Shambala festivals, Royal Shakespeare Company and Science Museum Late.
Curran JA, Buhl E, Tsaneva-Atanasova K, Hodge JJL.
Neurobiol Aging. 2019 Feb 2;77:158-168. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.01.025. PMID:30825692
Neuronal overexpression of Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome associated DYRK1A/minibrain gene alters motor decline, neurodegeneration and synaptic plasticity in Drosophila.
Lowe SA, Usowicz MM, Hodge JJL.
Neurobiol Dis. 2019 May;125:107-114. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2019.01.017. Epub 2019 Jan 28.
Drosophila PINK1 and parkin loss-of-function mutants display a range of non-motor Parkinson's disease phenotypes.
Julienne H, Buhl E, Leslie DS, Hodge JJL.
Neurobiol Dis. 2017 Aug;104:15-23. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2017.04.014. Epub 2017 Apr 21.
Quasimodo mediates daily and acute light effects on Drosophila clock neuron excitability.
Buhl E, Bradlaugh A, Ogueta M, Chen KF, Stanewsky R, Hodge JJ.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Nov 22;113(47):13486-13491. Epub 2016 Nov 7.
Drosophila Ionotropic Receptor 25a mediates circadian clock resetting by temperature.
Chen C, Buhl E, Xu M, Croset V, Rees JS, Lilley KS, Benton R, Hodge JJ, Stanewsky R.
Nature. 2015 Nov 26;527(7579):516-20. doi: 10.1038/nature16148. Epub 2015 Nov 18.
View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system.
2021-,"Rare inherited neurological conditions; using Drosophila models to study disease mechanisms." University of Bristol funding with Dr Anirban Majumdar, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, £20000
2021-, “Testing the effectiveness of L-type calcium channel blockers as new repurposed Alzheimer disease drugs” Alzheimer’s Research UK small grant, £5000.
2020-, “Functional screening of novel genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease to investigate
new mechanisms, therapeutic targets and drugs” Alzheimer’s Research UK project grant, £250,000
2017-2021, “Optogenetic imaging and remote control of a fly electrical clock”, Leverhulme project grant, £210,844.
2019, “In vivo characterisation of novel risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease identified by Epigenome Wide Association Studies” Alzheimer’s Research UK small grant, £5K.
2018, “Modelling the relationship between sleep and memory Alzheimer’s disease using Drosophila” Alzheimer’s Society undergraduate grant, £2K.
2017, “Characterising a novel Alzheimer candidate gene using Drosophila” Alzheimer’s Society undergraduate grant, £2K.
2015, “Harnessing CRISPR/Cas9 technology to develop new models of Alzheimer’s” GW4 accelerator grant, £75K.
2013, “How does light control the activity and electrical properties of neurons integrating arousal behaviour, circadian rhythms, and sleep?” BBSRC research grant, £430K.
2009, “The role of PDZ scaffold dCASK and CaMKII signaling in synaptic plasticity and learning” BBSRC New investigator research grant, £542K.
2008, “Potassium channel mediated mechanisms of learning and memory in Drosophila” EU Marie-Curie International Reintegration Grant, £75K.
2008, “Using Drosophila to dissect the molecular connection between potassium channels and cancer” Royal Society Research Grant, £15K.
2006, “The role of Shaw K+ channels in Drosophila circadian rhythms” EMBO Fellowship, £7K.
Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience Postgraduate Research Director.
Pharmacology programme – 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year and MSci lectures, practicals, tutorials and personal tutor.
Medical programme – tutorials.
Veterinary programme – lectures.
Dental programme – lectures.
MSc in Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences and Molecular Neurosciences lectures and research projects.
BBSRC panel of experts
Editor of Frontiers in Neuropharmacology and Frontiers in Physiology
School Research Committee member
Postgraduate Teaching Committee member
Organiser of South West Fly meeting, Bristol and UK clock clubs
- Dr Edgar Buhl, Postdoc, Clock neuron electrophysiology and optogenetics, circadian rhythms and sleep
- Dr Bangfu Zhu, Postdoc, Alzheimer disease, molecular biology, imaging and behaviour
- Hannah Clarke, PhD student with Dr Gaynor Smith (DRI, Cardiff University), Alzheimer disease, molecular biology, imaging and behaviour
- Jessica Foley, PhD student with Dr Stephen Montgomery, "An insect model of cognitive decline and extended longevity", bioinformatics, transcriptomics, behaviour and imaging
- Tom Parsons, MRes student, Alzheimer disease, molecular genetics, behaviour and imaging.
- Nicola Hill, MRes student, Parkinson disease, molecular genetics, behaviour and imaging.
- Amy Preston, MRes student, Alzheimer disease, molecular genetics, behaviour and imaging. | <urn:uuid:7209b33c-bf4a-4a55-b76a-af3309ddfe82> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/phys-pharm-neuro/people-new/hodge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572127.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815024523-20220815054523-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.802478 | 1,948 | 2.984375 | 3 |
How Remembering To Reach Out Can Make Someone’s Day
Recently I came across a message about giving, that reminded me of just how important it can be to the recipient and to the giver.
Jeff Haddon’s article on unselfish things says so much about what we sometimes do, and what we sometimes forget to do. He suggests speaking up to help others, on the job, at home, out in the world, wherever we see they are needed. Help make another person feel welcome whenever you can. All of us have felt this when we started something new, and seen it when we saw someone floundering.
Imagine just how hard it was for person who never exercises, to show up at a busy gym for the first time. Or how much pushing it takes to go to that new watercolor class for that very first time with no experience. Then if someone steps up, smiles and lends a hand, what a relief it can be.
Or, tell someone how good their work is. Too many times I have seen workers giving their best and doing really good work, but not getting much applause. If you see that too, do something about it. Send them a note applauding them. Or invite them out for coffee and sit down and really talk about the job, making them understand that they count.
What Haddon is suggesting I think, is a little extra, day to day, effort that says we care enough to take the time to reach out. He also reminds us to offer hope and encouragement to people starting new jobs, and give whatever assistance we can to those in need.
In our spin along world that never seems to pause, these little things can get lost. But if you watch for that surprised smile, or relieved expression that just blossoms when you do help someone, you will know these things do still count. Actually they count everywhere, at home with our spouse and our kids, out on the job, with new people, and longtime workers. Add a little thoughtful input and watch for the difference. Sometimes we assume people know how we feel, but it is always good to put it into words to make sure.
I think it can make the difference between good groups and great groups, and good moments and extraordinary ones. Sometimes I mean to say or do something, but get caught up and let the chance slip away. But when I do take the time to reach out, it can be an amazing reminder of what reaching out can do. Everything slows down just a bit, and brightens up a lot.
Look around and see where you can help. See where you can make someone feel they belong, or know that they are doing a great job. Then say so! Those extra smiles can be amazin | <urn:uuid:c4b31ec9-0f8b-4dc9-a818-ab8da393201d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.thejoint.com/arizona/phoenix/arcadia-48011/how-remembering-to-reach-out-can-make-someones-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.970389 | 564 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Chips Ahoy!, Oreos attacked; List rips worst school snacks
WASHINGTON (AP) While children need to exercise to keep their waistlines trim, schools could do their part by offering healthier snacks in school in place of junk food and sodas, activists say.
As part of a campaign to reduce the number of sugary soft drinks and candy bars sold in schools, the Center for Science in the Public Interest put out a list Monday of some of the healthiest and worst snacks for children. (Also: School lunch tips)
Chips Ahoy! and Oreo cookies, high in fat, topped the list of the worst snacks, followed by Pepsis and Coca-Colas, artificial fruit juices, Hostess snack cakes, and Keebler Club & Cheddar Sandwich Crackers. The group also deemed candy bars like Kit Kat Big Kat and Snickers as bad snacks, along with Starburst Fruit Chews.
Although milk would seem to be a healthy alternative to soda, the center noted that chocolate whole milk and flavored whole milk are high in saturated fat.
Margo Wootan, the center's nutrition director, said schools should substitute for the unhealthy snacks nutritious items such as unsweetened applesauce, fruit cups, Nestle Nesquik fat-free chocolate milk, lowfat and fat-free milk, bottled water, 100% orange juice, traditional Chex Mix, Nature Valley crunchy granola bars and raisins.
Children should cut back on sweet and fatty food to help curb the nation's growing obesity problem and to prevent development of diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses associated with being overweight, Wootan said.
Fifteen percent of children age 6 to 19 are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wootan noted that children can easily take in hundreds of calories in one product. A 20-ounce bottle of cola alone, for example, contains 250 calories.
"Although physical activity is critically important to children's health and to maintaining a healthy weight, a 110-pound child would have to bike for 1 hour and 15 minutes to burn off a 20-ounce Coke," Wootan said.
She said parents should encourage children to reach for a 20-ounce bottle of 100% orange juice instead of soda because it offers nutrients like Vitamin C and some contain calcium.
Still, a table put together by the group acknowledged that the orange juice contains 25 more calories than Coke. Even a 20-ounce glass of 1% lowfat milk has 5 more calories.
The food industry responded with assertions that there's room in everyone's diet for all foods, including sweets.
"There are no good foods and bad foods," said Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America.
CSPI has repeatedly called for Congress to give the Agriculture Department authority to restrict food sold in school vending machines and school cafeteria lines.
The industry opposes the idea on the ground that decisions about what children eat outside the cafeteria should rest with school boards and parents.
Childs warned that government restrictions would lead children to go to convenience stores for snacks. Bush administration officials have echoed those arguments.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:37cbaf7e-803f-4740-9fa6-407a984a080a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-09-16-school-snacks_x.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280891.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00153-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945669 | 672 | 2.375 | 2 |
An experimental facility is built up to investigate the abrasive wear behavior of EMC particles. The parameters explored include particle impacting velocity and impacting angle. The results show that the erosion rate depends on both the particle impacting velocity and impacting angle. A higher velocity will cause more erosion whereas a smaller impacting angle will cause more erosion, especially at higher impacting velocities. Furthermore, the morphology of the eroded particles is irregular in shape and a smaller impacting angle will result in a larger dimension of the eroded particles. | <urn:uuid:75616e00-f836-42c8-baa3-8ce848e7d40d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.scientific.net/AMR.126-128.559 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00491-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87548 | 100 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Atmospheres of Productivity
Atmospheres of Productivity
October 19, 2016
You may feel conscientious and diligent today and driven to focus on your responsibilities and personal projects. The distractions that may have plagued you in the past will likely hold no sway over you. You may have arrived at a level of maturity that allows you to focus your wholehearted attention on your tasks. Putting a routine into place in your day-to-day life could help you become better able to fulfill your obligations while still leaving you time for more pleasurable pursuits. At this point in your life, you may be better at caring for yourself while taking on challenges than ever before. Today can be a great time to assess your responsibilities and determine how to optimize your time.
Having a routine to guide you through life can help you use your energy more effectively and efficiently. Your routines give certain activities a concrete sense of beginning and ending that allows you to move to your next activity without feeling rushed or haunted by unfinished business. You can maximize your time and often have time left over to pursue personal goals. The sense of structure you feel can help you exercise more control over your life. You can also adapt more quickly when new variables are presented to you because you have a structure in which to place them. Chaos and uncertainty are abolished, and you'll never feel you are expending energy and accomplishing nothing. Adopting a routine today will allow you to complete your day's tasks with energy to spare.
DailyOM Course Spotlight
by Andrew Harvey
Prayer is at the core of spiritual life. Even when circumstances prevent you from being able to do more elaborate forms of spiritual practice, even when you are broken down and depressed and on the verge of being hopeless or overwhelmed by the pain and tragedy of the world, you can always pray. Being able to pray brings deep peace and relief. Think of Jesus in Gethsemane and how in those terrible hours all he could do was to pray. And think of our increasingly dramatic time, how many of us find it hard to meditate or to do complicated visualizations or walking meditations and how even in stressful situations- (and they are going to get more frequent) we can still and always... pray. So what is prayer? The great English poet George Herbert described prayer as "something understood". What is understood in prayer is that we are always linked to the divine presence inside us and around us- directly, nakedly, beyond concept or dogma or even the words that we are using. And it is this connection, this "something understood" that opens for us a door into direct empowerment from the divine in the core of life. | <urn:uuid:c05b46a1-a0f5-413b-b8cc-7f84c32bdd9c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/articledisplay.cgi?aid=55282 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281226.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00380-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958687 | 540 | 1.671875 | 2 |
With summer coming up you can start getting your arms ready for those swimsuits, tanks and sun dresses! If you are looking for some easy ways to get your arms fit and toned, I’ve got some exercises to tone upper arms so you will still get wonderful results as if you followed some hard workout!
1. Sitting upper arm exercise
If you are stuck sitting at a desk all day, try this upper arm exercise while you give your eyes a break. Sit in your rolling chair and lift your legs. Keeping your legs elevated, roll yourself towards and away from the desk. That easy move will help tone your lats and biceps for a toned and tight upper body.
2. Arm circles
Another exercise to tone your upper arms and your shoulders is to do arm circles. I often do them while watching TV or while I’m on the treadmill. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and stretch your arms out to your side at shoulder height. Keeping your shoulders down, do 15-20 circles backward and forward.
3. Side plank
This is another great exercise to tone your upper arms. With this exercise, you will not only tone your upper body, but also improve your flexibility. Start in a regular plank position, raise your right arm straight up to the ceiling and press into the edge of your left foot while rotate your hips and stack your feet. Try to hold this position for at least 15-30 seconds.
4. Wall push ups
Standing in front of the wall, stretch your arms out at shoulder level. Now, place your palms flat on the wall, bend at your elbows as if you’d do regular push-ups, and do at least 20 reps. The best thing about this exercise is that you can do it almost everywhere and as many times as you want!
5. Biceps curl
This is a classic exercise to tone your upper arms and it really works! For this exercise you will need some hand weights. Standing with your feet shoulder width apart and with your hands holding the weights down by your sides, bend your arms at the elbows to curl your weights up toward your shoulders stopping at chest height. Lower your back slowly to the starting position and do at least 15-20 reps.
6. Steering wheel press
Place your hands on the steering wheel and press them inwards to strengthen your chest. Now, press your palms outward to work your rear deltoid muscles. Try to hold every press for at least 10-20 seconds and tone your upper arms while you fight traffic and boredom!
7. Walk-out exercise
This is a great exercise that can help you tone up your core, chest and triceps. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and squat down and walk your hands out till your hands are under your chest. With your fingers angled in, lower your chest and walk your hands to your feet. Do at least 10-20 reps.
Just because these exercises don’t require lots of equipment or weights, it doesn’t mean that they are not effective. What is your favorite exercise to tone your arms? Share your thoughts, please! | <urn:uuid:e7abe329-9480-421d-9ece-fc608d7270cf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://en.amerikanki.com/exercises-tone-upper-arms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283301.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00504-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925332 | 642 | 1.5 | 2 |
E-pass Mandatory to travel from Tamil Nadu to KeralaVijayan Sankar (Author) Published Date : Mar 08, 2021 15:16 IST
Due to the increasing number of Corona Virus in Tamil Nadu in recent days, the state government of Kerala has made mandatory E-pass to Tamil Nadu vehicles for the visit to Kerala.
The Kerala health and family welfare department has initiated the E-pass procedure considering the people's health and to stop the spread of Covid 19.
The necessity of E-pass is not mandatory to Puducherry, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Since the spread is under control in the states mentioned above, the government of Kerala has not made the compulsion of E-pass.
The spread of the virus is increasing in the state of Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai. Taking initiatives for the control of COVID 19 with precaution is much needed in the present days, and therefore E-pass had made mandatory to the Tamil Nadu vehicle. | <urn:uuid:ed72359f-281d-4f66-b7e5-decf04915550> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.newsbricks.com/india/e-pass-mandatory-to-travel-from-tamil-nadu-to-kerala/00562 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.949215 | 200 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Online shopping has arrived in North Korea, though it's as isolated from the rest of the world as the country itself, and the vast majority of North Koreans lack the technology to use it. The website Okryu, aimed at smartphone users, offers North Korean products including women's clothing, bags, shoes, medicines, cosmetics, furniture, and food. Payment, in local currency only, is taken from the main North Korean debit card system. To keep it all hermetically sealed, the site works only on North Korea's own intranet known as the "domestic web"; it's been around for years, but not used very much, largely because very few have personal-use computers that can go online at all.
Smartphone use, however, is growing, and Okryu's presence suggests that the government does not consider the technology a threat. While cellphones are still largely absent from the countryside, it has become common to see people using them in the capital. By 2013, the number of mobile and smartphones mushroomed to about 2 million, or nearly one for every 10 North Koreans. It's impossible to say how popular Okryu (pronounced ong-yu) is or if the average North Korean shopper is even aware of it, and foreigners—inside or outside North Korea—are barred from using it. North Koreans who can access it, however, may find it particularly useful that they can compare prices—a luxury because advertising in the country is nearly non-existent and traveling to do bargain-hunting can be difficult. | <urn:uuid:27ff4a64-8a88-4a94-a834-7f4538a7c20b> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.newser.com/story/206461/north-koreas-latest-feat-shopping-site.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718278.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00241-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965682 | 313 | 2.15625 | 2 |
How to Act: A Guide for the Untalented
For every person in the world there is a passion to be found, a god-given gift of potential excellence, whether it be in writing, or athletics, or one of those other things people do. For each of us willing to nurture these skills and pursue the passion wholeheartedly, success waits with open arms. For anyone who thinks that sounds like a lot of work, there is acting.
Sometimes the best life-goals don't have hurdles.
The beauty of acting is that it has no quantifiable metric and no one ever asks you to show your work. Consequently, you are just as likely to be talented as to be mistaken for being talented. Still, there are some tricks that, if performed correctly, will confuse everyone into thinking you are a true thespian, without fail. Most performers don't want you to know these tricks, partially because they like to insist that being a good actor is simply feeling the truth of a scene, but also because actors are conniving and genuinely want you to fail. I, however, have no vested interest in you, and in the world of theater that makes us something like friends. So here you go.
Create a Secret for Your Character!
Actors love to throw around an old analogy equating the characters they play to a drifting iceberg; they will tell you that an audience should only see 10 percent of what's really there beneath the surface. This comparison is flawed for two reasons: 1) It suggests that actors only need to make unpredictable choices to be good; and 2) playing an iceberg would be the easiest role in the world.
I say your character should be at least five times more interesting than a block of ice. You can achieve this by creating a strong back-story for any part you play. "But Soren," you will say because you don't mind interrupting and because you don't understand how reading an article is different than a conversation, "if I wanted to do a bunch of work, I would have just become an obstetrician or something." Well I'm sympathetic, and I have a shortcut to offer. The trick to avoiding a bunch of extra work creating a back story is to just choose one secret from your character's past he/she doesn't want anyone to know. Then, you can allow that secret to drive the character's action in every scene. Watch:
There we are. Could you tell what my secret was? If you guessed that I was adopted, you're right! I chose to make my character a foster child which was a great source of embarrassment for him growing up since all his friends had real parents. I allowed this little nugget to simmer in the scene and really drive my reactions, specifically the way I emoted when I was drilled in the face by that masonry bit.
Channel an Animal!
Another great way to surprise and entice your audience is by choosing an animal you want your character to personify. Careful though, a little goes a long way. You don't want a character that's 100 percent shark! That would be confusing. The animal should only add a subtle accent to the role, try playing 90 percent human and 10 percent animal. For really intense moments, like courtroom scenes and love scenes, you can shift the percentage to favor the animal. It's also best to choose a creature that lends itself to your character. For example, an actor playing a timid secretary would probably choose a mouse, just as an actor playing a serial rapist would naturally choose a Shetland pony. To truly understand the value of channeling an animal, it's easiest to see the process at work.
Aaaand scene. Can anyone guess which animal I was? If you said, arctic fox, you're absolutely right. You no doubt sensed the layers of the character, you could feel the creature trying to free itself from the hunter's trap of self-control. For this particular scene I was playing 35 percent human and 65 percent arctic fox which was the main reason it was so easy to tell which animal I had chosen. As you act, find your own and experiment with the ratio. I have one final warning from personal experience: Should you choose to channel a large predator in a production, no one will tell you afterward how interesting or unique they thought it was when you mauled the female lead, even if she did forget her lines and was generally kind of a bitch.
Find a Moment From Your Own Life!
Audiences are fickle, they either want to believe the lines you are reciting, or they want you to be devastatingly attractive as you recite them. Rarely do they want both. If you are cursed with a body designed for stationary pursuits or your face was caught in some kind of mechanical accident, then right off the bat an audience won't trust you. You will have to win them over with your ability to emote. Now, sometimes you will be forced into scenes you can't possibly relate to because the situation is so far removed from your everyday life. How are you supposed to embody the anguish of servitude when you personally keep your servants so happy and well fed? The secret is pinpointing the emotion you are supposed to feel in the scenario and substituting a moment from your life that elicits the same emotion. So, if the scene calls for you to cry after a breakup, you can think back to that wolf you trained one summer in the Yukon and then left behind when you had to go back to boarding school. As far as an audience is concerned, the sadnesses are interchangeable. The following is a perfect example of emotional substitution.
Did you see it? Once you are looking for the substitution it is easier to spot. In fact, sometimes you can tell what drove the actor's emotion despite knowing nothing about his/her life. In this scene, I had to switch between two emotions: I had to be angry enough to kill and then transition effortlessly into dead. The scenario was foreign to me because I have never been dead and I have never wanted to kill someone else on purpose. Before we shot this scene, I found an accessible moment in my own life from which to draw my anger. As a child, my family was visiting Greece and my au pair thought I was too young to take a ferry by myself to the see the remnants of Troy, even though my parents later said that would have been fine and that they didn't care one way or another. Needless to say, I was furious. So if you saw "robbed of a cultural experience" written across my face then you were right!
In conclusion, acting is a craft that carries with it tremendous power and surprisingly little responsibility. With these tricks up your sleeve, there is little need to hone your skill, after all, you have been training your whole life for this. In the words of the immortal bard, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Hopefully this guide will help you on your meteoric rise to success, or, at the very least ensure that you get in on some of those theater department massage trains.
You know the ones. | <urn:uuid:2c715910-9c1d-41e7-866c-ff5b4b3fb9e7> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.cracked.com/blog/how-to-act-guide-untalented | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571472.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811133823-20220811163823-00674.warc.gz | en | 0.977399 | 1,469 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Aside from being the birthplace of Paella, the City of Valencia is also famous for the Las Fallas festival.
The Las Fallas festival is a traditional commemoration of one St Joseph (day of the father) and represents one of the two most famous events in Valencia annually. This year held from 1st to 19th March 2013.
The festival is thought to have started many centuries past when the city’s carpenters used to burn old pieces of scrap wood and worn out wooden utensils collected through the winter as celebration of the feast of St Joseph.
The modern Las Fallas was created in the 19th century when prizes were awarded for the most creative use of leftover materials. Over time, there have been occasions when the Fiesta was banned as in 1870 when some of the images were not well received by local political representatives.
Nowadays, every year the ‘Fallas’ are created by numbers of different groups established specifically for the purpose of creating sculptures including puppets or dolls made from pappier mache to be burned on the last night of the festival. Up to 700 examples of these Fallas are created annually.
Some of the Ninot (dolls or puppets) are up to 20ft tall and will be mounted on their own Fallas as representation of religious, historical and political figures. The groups tasked with creating these wonderful pieces are known collectively as Casal Faller.
The first day is when the competing Fallas all have to be ready to display and any not completed will not be included in the judging. The second and third days are dedicated to a Catholic Procession called La Ofrenda where flowers will be brought to the central plaza and added to a wooden framed statue of Mary and the bands will play music with a sassy Latin flavour. .
There are 5-days of continuous partying processions and residents and visitors to the area are treated to a variety of firework displays every day and the streets are littered with pyro debris. There are representatives from around Europe all assisting in the lighting of the massive amount of pyro on offer.
Each day of this festival begins at 8.00am with a wake up call from the brass bands marching down the streets of Valencia and surrounding districts and they are followed by the fallers throwing large firecrackers in the street as they go.
The Mascleta is a pyro-musical display which takes place in each neighbourhood at 2pm daily. The pyro-technicians compete for the honour of providing the finale ‘Mascleta’ of the Fiesta.
El Castillo is the final night of the festival and at Midnight, a display of fireworks which lights up the sky and will contain several tons of pyro makes this a magical place to be.
The finale night of the festival is known as the ‘Crema’ (or the burning or cremation). All of the Ninots are then placed back onto there Fallas where the fireworks are lit first before the fire begins, reducing it all to ashes.
This year of course the festival has the added facet of having had a new Pope elected during the festival and as the festival is mainly for the Catholic faith, I am sure that the event will be more relevant than ever. | <urn:uuid:c3923911-222b-469a-935f-062889f92880> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://epicfireworks.com/blog/2013/03/las-fallas-festival-of-fire-in-valencia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280410.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00448-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968812 | 669 | 2.6875 | 3 |
By Brendan Foster
The pandemic makes daily life a struggle for many Pennslyvanians. Rather than help their constituents, opportunists in the legislature aim to make life even harder for some of the most vulnerable citizens of the Commonwealth.
Last year, Representative Barbara Gleim of Cumberland county introduced HB 972, which successfully passed committee last month. The bill bans public schools and colleges from allowing transgender women and girls to compete in sports designated for women.
As the name implies, the ostensible purpose of the bill is to protect cisgender women from competing against trans athletes, whom Gleim claims have an unfair advantage against their cis peers. However, like similar bills introduced nationwide, it actually uses trans women as pawns to ride a wave of backlash against advances in trans rights.
This bill is only one of a record-shattering 238 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in state assemblies nationwide. While many restrict or ban vital treatment for transgender youth against the recommendations of medical and psychiatric experts, 25, including HB 972 restrict or ban trans women from women’s sports.
Supporters of these bans often claim they are only recognizing the reality of biology, and Rep. Gleim is no different. At the same Education Committee meeting, she gave several examples of advantages trans women have over their cis peers, such as muscle mass and lung size. While this might make it seem like the science is settled, actual scientific studies show that things are not so clear.
A 2021 paper from the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) and the European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations (EFSMA) states that, while testosterone levels do give athletes an advantage, regulations for trans women must be written on a sport-by-sport basis. Nowhere do the authors recommend a total ban on trans women in women’s sports like HB 972 proposes.
Another 2021 statement from FIMS argues that, while there is consensus on regulations for testosterone levels, there is a “distinct lack of sports performance data to inform and update sports policy” for transgender athletes. In other words, there is currently no scientific consensus supporting HB 972 or any regulations on trans women athletes beyond testosterone levels.
Clearly, the existence of trans athletes in Pennsylvania must be an urgent crisis for lawmakers to so blatantly ignore the scientific consensus. Which begs the question: where are the trans women dominating women’s sports?
Gleim could not answer that at last month’s committee meeting, likely because trans people represent a tiny section of the population: A 2016 survey found 1.4 million American adults are trans, while more recent experimental data found around 2 million, a little more than 1% of the adult population. That means there are approximately 96,000 trans adults in the commonwealth.
In addition, intersexed people, people born with sex characteristics or genetics that do not fit into the male-female sex binary Gleim assumes, make up 1.7% of the population– about the same number of red-haired people. The bill does not say where they go, despite being just as big a population as the trans people Gleim finds so threatening.
If this is purely an issue of preserving fairness in sports, which it is not, this might be the most inefficient way of going about it possible.
There is also the question of how Gleim wants to enforce the ban in the first place. Her ignorance of the available scientific data is once again demonstrated by the fact that the bill offers no guidelines regarding testosterone levels for trans women, as experts recommend; it simply states that sex is determined by the reproductive anatomy and genes. This language potentially subjects trans as well as cis students, including minors, to invasive sex tests to prove they fit a pre-determined definition of feminity.
As Lancaster high school student Olivia Heim stated in a speech for the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, the femininity of girls that are simply naturally taller and stronger might be challenged, subjecting them to sex tests to prove their bodies fit a narrow definition of what a female body should look like. Ironically, instead of protecting women and girls, HB 972 reinforces a system that takes a purely fictional idea of what a woman is, and uses it to crush and suppress any woman, cis or trans, that does not fit into it.
There is serious doubt that, even if passed by the General Assembly, the bill would last very long. Not only did Gove. Wolf state that he would veto it, similar bills have been struck down or blocked in federal courts. If attempting to pass the bill is so pointless, it is unclear why Gleim would propose it.
The simple answer is that Gleim, like other Republicans and conservative politicians nationwide, is attempting to ride a trend in the culture war by attacking one of the most vulnerable and maligned groups in Pennsylvania.
Trans people attempt suicide at a rate of 40%, and sports can create a sense of camaraderie and belonging for people who feel like outsiders. Defeating this bill is not just a fight for the right to belong, it is a fight for life itself.
Brendan Foster is a journalist based in Harrisburg, Pa. | <urn:uuid:04052bbc-d46c-4d89-b3a8-2226ae8648a3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://giftwrapplus.org/where-are-the-trans-women-dominating-womens-sports-opinion.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570913.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809064307-20220809094307-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.946233 | 1,058 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsky, Russia in 1840. At the age of four, he composed his first song and soon began piano lessons. When Tchaikovsky was 19, his studies for a career in law gave way to his childhood love of music to which he would devote his life. In 1861, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and by 1866, Tchaikovsky had begun to teach theory of composition in Moscow and became a local celebrity with his compositions.
In 1876, Tchaikovsky was able to turn his attention fully to composing through the patronage of Nadezhda von Meck. With the aid of her funding, he completed many of his most well-known works including Eugene Onegin, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, among others. In 1890, von Meck suddenly announced that she was bankrupt and could no longer support Tchaikovsky. Her claim was false and although the composer was no longer financially dependent on her, it was a shattering blow to his self-esteem. This occurred during his writing of the score for The Nutcracker and added to the difficulties he was having composing for what he considered an uninspiring scenario.
The last three years of Tchaikovsky’s life were filled with great despondency and he did not live to see the success of The Nutcracker.
Tchaikovsky died on 6 novembre, 1893. | <urn:uuid:0b0ba738-684e-44a5-8985-137fe65fdce6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fr.national.ballet.ca/Meet/Creative-Team/Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570741.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808001418-20220808031418-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.993132 | 311 | 3.125 | 3 |
The End Of Illusions Essay, Research Paper The end of illusionsMichael March: If you were a painter, how would you paint the 20th century? What colours would you use?Arthur Miller: Red, really, for the blood. I don’t think there’s any other time in history when so many were killed. Murdered by armies, by state forces, and so on.
The End Of Illusions Essay, Research Paper
The end of illusionsMichael March: If you were a painter, how would you paint the 20th century? What colours would you use?Arthur Miller: Red, really, for the blood. I don’t think there’s any other time in history when so many were killed. Murdered by armies, by state forces, and so on. Look at the second world war. Look at Vietnam, Korea, Rwanda, the Balkans… We’re savages. Yet science has achieved incredible feats of imagination within shouting distance of the killing fields. The mind can’t absorb this; we’ve managed to put it aside. The movies get made and the rock music goes on, painters are painting pictures and I’m writing plays and everybody’s going around as though it’s OK. I don’t think it’s OK. I really do think that there are plenty of motivations available to justify the destruction of this civilisation.MM: What are your feelings for this new century?AM: I can’t get rid of the idea that it is within the range of possibility for someone in a small boat to bring an atomic bomb into New York harbour, figuring he’s going to go straight to heaven. To me, this is possible. About 50 years ago this could not be thought, except by a lunatic. Certainly a maniac like Saddam Hussein is perfectly capable of justifying this act. You know, they’re messing around with Israel, which has atomic bombs. And the Israelis are not going to be destroyed before they destroy somebody else. We’re standing on the edge with India and Pakistan. In my plays I search for illumination, but I’ve lost any illusion of safety. I’m not paranoid, it’s perfectly real. You have a billionaire at the end of the Arabian desert pouring money into training people to do this. The point is that they have an ideological and religious justification for the whole thing. So they’re as reasonable as we are.MM: Yasunari Kawabata, the Japanese writer, said that “the grave is a work of art”.AM: I know a couple in Connecticut who had bought a grave, a space, in a particular small cemetery up in the country, because they liked the view. And it was serious. They wanted the good view. My grandfather asked to be buried in one of the cemeteries in Brooklyn, jam-packed, very crowded, and he asked that he not be buried on the aisle, because he didn’t want people stepping over him to get to where they were going. He would rather be off in a corner somewhere where nobody would be bothering him. What weird things we are.MM:What death would your salesman affect today?AM: First of all, Death of a Salesman is produced more now than it ever was, and people say it’s more reflective of reality now. In the old days the main character simply represented an extreme to which the majority was remotely connected: now it’s the majority. And, moreover, there’s an interesting thing here. One of the proposals of Mr Bush is that money be removed, billions of dollars, from the pension funds, to be invested in the stock market at the behest of the owners of such funds. So Bush would make gamblers out of everyone who had not yet tuned into this – people who simply wanted to be reassured that they would not starve in their later years. They want to free up that money so that these people become investors, which is really a nice word for gambling. Now, in the last year the market has lost a substantial amount of its value. So what would have happened to all these people and their pensions if the government had already done this?MM: We travel from evil to power: forces that deprive man of his dignity and work, impoverished through this dream, through the illusion of wealth, a form of evil in the investment of power.AM: I agree with that. It’s what they’re doing or trying to do, it’s not yet been done, but it could very well happen. They’re trying to make unreal what at least had a certain amount of reality. This spreads unreality into the masses from the smaller class of people who are gambling on the stock market.MM: And social security?AM: The more detailed you get about this system, the more illusionary, and in many cases the more hallucinatory, it becomes. The big resistance to this new tax proposal – which would give even more benefits to the wealthiest 1% of the population – is coming from a small group of extremely rich people, like Bill Gates, probably the richest man in the world, who object to this proposal on the grounds that it would make them somewhat richer, but reduce the amount of charitable donations. That way it will create a class of heirs who, no doubt, will be idle and unworthy. MM: For the moment they feel secure in their wealth. AM: They feel that this will cause a degeneration of the system from which they benefited so greatly, and that it will create a class of people who simply stand with a big basket and all the money falls in – who are not necessarily moved to invent or work or do anything else. The question you have to ask yourself is: whence comes this idea? From a brand-new president. And I can only imagine that, since he is in the oil business, and the oil business is notoriously predatory – don’t go where the oil is, even if it’s in your bathroom – they figured that their man could extract more money from the tax department. And to hell with everybody else. MM: Travelling backwards, we could say that art mummifies life. Through mummification, we receive a sense of reality. It’s extremely ironic.AM: Basically, that is what its function is now. It’s just to stop time. You stop time. That massive flow of images that floods every country, with no meaning, no definition – art stops it. Long enough for you to say, “Oh, that’s what the hell it is!” It gives you a moment of recognition. But all you get is that moment. If I can generalise from my small experience with younger people, they know something is missing. They’re quite conscious of it. They think – in relation, let’s say, to my work or the work of my generation – that this something once existed. They long for an emergency. An emergency that will give them values; in other words, things you have to do. Ideas you have to understand in order to survive. They don’t have any such ideas. Every idea is something they choose to have or not have. Everything they do is arbitrary. There’s no necessity in anything. That’s a very common situation now, probably the most common situation, really forced upon us by an apparent culture which throws up an endless string of meaningless images. MM: We’ve reached a state where the communicable world is lost.AM: I don’t know what the reason is, but I do know what the effect is: that economic man is all there is. There isn’t a culture. And I’m wondering whether it was destroyed by the many wars of the last 100 years or so. A religion, for example, which offers itself as a means of dignifying humanity, and blesses, but does not condemn a Holocaust, finally evolves into vapour in the human mind. Religion in this country is like a football game. People get together in large institutions and cheer the minister. The idea of changing one’s life by turning towards some set of values is very remote. The only value is that we’re all together. That’s the value. We’re all together. We’re all singing together and we’re all praying together.MM: We’re all together on a sinking ship.AM: Yes. The one thing about this country which you can be sure of is that it’s gonna change. That’s the only certainty I know. Whatever is today will be somewhat different tomorrow.? Michael March, 2001· Michael March runs the Prague Writers’ Festival.
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|◯||War Poems Essay Research Paper QuestionIn what| | <urn:uuid:59978271-3c6c-472f-9590-9c72800ae60a> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://mirznanii.com/info/a83344_the-end-of-illusions-essay-research-paper | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718957.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00436-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958372 | 1,991 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The National Center to Advance Peace for Children, Youth and Families (NCAP) was created in response to the reality that involvement in the child welfare and child custody systems can cause irreparable harm to survivors of domestic violence, especially those from Black, Indigenous, and Latinx families and because we believe our communities have the capacity to solve our own problems. As a result, the NCAP is a partnership with Black and Indigenous communities and partners that include Ujima National Center on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, the Alaska Native Women Resource Center, and Futures Without Violence.
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The National Center to Advance Peace for Children, Youth and Families aims to
Deliver training and technical assistance (TA)
We offer tailored training and TA that combines content expertise, critical and analytical thinking skills, and identification and development of tools and resources to help solve problems facing those who work with survivors of domestic violence.
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- For up-to-date, shareable information relevant to the field, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or connect with us on LinkedIn for building network!
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Improve analysis and access to effective research, evaluation, and policy
We promote policy that outlines appropriate, trauma-informed, survivor-centered responses and use research and evaluation to strengthen programming and policy that encourages transformational collaborations and systems change.
Ujima is a clearinghouse for research literature, webinars, national issue forums, regional trainings, community-specific roundtables, blogs, articles, and on-site technical assistance.
Providing national leadership to end violence against American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian women by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty.
Futures Without Violence is a health and social justice nonprofit with a simple mission: to heal those among us who are traumatized by violence today – and to create healthy families and communities free of violence tomorrow.
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Please call our Resource Line at this number to instantly connect with team members for critical thinking discussions and relevant cutting-edge materials, solutions, referrals, and resources in English and Spanish. Team members can communicate with callers who speak other languages and those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The production of this website was supported by Grant 90EV0531 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Its contents are solely the responsibility of Caminar Latino-Latinos United for Peace and Equity and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. | <urn:uuid:b72a8a0a-f277-4652-8acd-b7a53a32e7a7> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://caminarlatino.org/center-to-advance-peace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572161.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815054743-20220815084743-00479.warc.gz | en | 0.91845 | 681 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Probability vs. odds
FAQ# 1466 Last Modified 23-March-2009
Chance can be expressed either as a probability or as odds. In most contexts, there is no particular reason to prefer one over the other. Most scientists tend to feel more comfortable thinking about probabilities than odds, but that is a matter of training and custom, not logic.
The distinction is simple:
- The probability that an event will occur is the fraction of times you expect to see that event in many trials. Probabilities always range between 0 and 1.
- The odds are defined as the probability that the event will occur divided by the probability that the event will not occur.
A probability of 0 is the same as odds of 0. Probabilities between 0 and 0.5 equal odds less than 1.0. A probability of 0.5 is the same as odds of 1.0. Think of it this way: The probability of flipping a coin to heads is 50%. The odds are “fifty: fifty,” which equals 1.0.
As the probability goes up from 0.5 to 1.0, the odds increase from 1.0 to approach infinity. For example, if the probability is 0.75, then the odds are 75:25, three to one, or 3.0.
If the odds are high (million to one), the probability is almost 1.00. If the odds are tiny (one to a million), the probablility is tiny, almost zero.
Converting between odds and probability is straightforward:
- To convert from a probability to odds, divide the probability by one minus that probability. So if the probability is 10% or 0.10 , then the odds are 0.1/0.9 or ‘1 to 9’ or 0.111.
- To convert from odds to a probability, divide the odds by one plus the odds. So to convert odds of 1/9 to a probability, divide 1/9 by 10/9 to obtain the probability of 0.10. | <urn:uuid:3f8516ed-1194-430a-a2bd-b88fbd20a247> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.graphpad.com/support/faqid/1466/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00177-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948096 | 429 | 3.671875 | 4 |
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These 5 Entrepreneurial Apps You Must Own
|Date Added: August 09, 2011 09:13:34 PM|
|Author: James Helliwell|
|Category: Organizational Tools|
For any entrepreneur, there are a number of smart phone apps that one must have. These apps help with the person who is often on the go and requires powerful tools in his everyday life.
The cost of commuting and traveling to various business meetings can prove to be quite costly. In a global economy, being able to make inexpensive and easy conferencing calls is essential. Powwownow gives users the ability to easily schedule conferences and make cheap calls through the app. The only fees associated with the app would be regular phone charges for the calls. This app also features a simple one touch call connection as well as call scheduling and alerts.
Ideas and inspiration can come at any time. To be able to ensure that these ideas are not lost, Evernote is a helpful app. One is able to record messages and capture pictures with this app. There is an online feature as well so ideas and thoughts can be viewed on the computer once back at home or in the office. For organizing those random ideas and thoughts, Evernote is great.
Many people keep in touch through the use of instant messaging. One app that is able to work with and access many different IM clients would be Meebo. This app allows users to connect through various providers such as AIM, Google, Yahoo and more. Through one simple app, a user can be certain to not miss any messages. Since the app also features push notifications, alerts will show up on the phone even when the program is not running.
Typing on a smart phone is not always the easiest task. When on the go, one often needs to type out lengthy e-mails or documents. Through the use of Dragon dictation, one can quickly and simply dictate any message or e-mail. This can then be copied into another program, emailed directly from Dragon or posted to Facebook or Twitter.
For individual calls and messaging, Skype is extremely handy. Simple video chats and messaging is free through this app. Users also have the ability to get voice mail messaging features and the ability to call land line phones through Skype. These additional features are relatively inexpensive.
Smart phones are amazing tools and the entrepreneur who is on the go is able to be productive and stay connected through these great apps. | <urn:uuid:7f925b59-7640-4aa8-9b48-3ba92313e53e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.meetingapps.com/articles/these-5-entrepreneurial-apps-you-must-own-58.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282140.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00129-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929192 | 568 | 1.625 | 2 |
Pacheco refugees leave large legacy in San Juan
GIANTS OF SAN JUAN
On July 2, 2011, hundreds of the more than 1,600 descendents of Willard Richard and Hattie Black Guymon will gather in Blanding to celebrate the passage of 147 years since their common Grandfather and Patriarch, “Will” (as he was known) was born in l864.
Will and Hattie’s life was a struggle by today’s standards. Will was a small man standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and never weighing more than 150 pounds.
But he met every adversity with courage and faith and today presides over a posterity that would be the envy of kings.
From Will’s writings, we are allowed a brief look back into his youth: “I was born at Fairview, Sanpete County, UT on September 20, 1864. My first recollection is of the town of Fountain Green, Sanpete County, where we lived. I, with 15 other boys from age eight to twelve, would meet together and practice singing Christmas songs. Then when Christmas came, we would go all around town and sing.
“We would circle the door and our leader would give the signal and, I will tell you, we thought we were ‘just the boys’!
“The good old Danish women would come out with a pitcher of root beer and a pan of cookies and then away we would go for the next place. Those were the happiest days for me.
“I got what little education that I had from going to school with teachers that had a very meager education themselves. My occupation, until I reached the age of twelve, was herding the cows along with the other boys of my own age or thereabouts. From that time in life until the present, I have worked at every honest occupation.
“When I was a boy 16 years old, there was a crowd of us about the same age and we went around the town turning cows out. We would take people’s cows and put them over in some other man’s corral, changing cows with them like that.
“Once we took a man’s buggy. We got long ropes and threw them over the meeting house and tied them to the buggy. We put two poles up on the edge of the roof, and we drew that buggy right up and put it right straddle of the meeting house roof.
“We then went off down the road like we didn’t know nothing about anything. We met a man that owned the buggy and he said, “Have you seen some boys up there in town? They came here and took my buggy and put it somewhere and I can’t find it to save my neck. I have hunted all over town for it.’
“We were standing right even with the meeting house and I said, ‘Why Brother Kramm, there’s your buggy right up there on top of the meeting house.’
“Well, he said, “Did you ever see such a thing in your life? How in the world did they ever get that buggy on top of that meeting house?’
“‘I have some long ropes over home there. We have been branding cows and I believe we could throw a rope over and get that buggy down for you.’
“Mr Kramm said, ‘Do you really think you could do that?’
“I said, ‘I believe we can.’ (I guessed we could since we put it up there). So’s I clumb on top of the meeting house and tied the rope to the wheel, and sure ‘nuff we got it down.
“‘Oh,’ he said, ‘you are the best boys I ever saw to do a good thing like that for a man.’
“I said, ‘Well we wanted to be good to you since we knew you couldn’t have done it yourself.’”
In those days, a prank like that was talked about and laughed over and became part of the history of small towns. And you could bet that Will Guymon was part and parcel of most of the memorable events of Fountain Green history.
When Will was 18 years old, the family moved to Huntington, Emery County, where his father bought a large herd of sheep. Will, and his brother Albert became sheepherders until their father sold the flock.
They then dabbled in the mercantile business. Later, Will and Albert purchased farmland and went into farming for a living.
While working in Huntington, Will met a beautiful girl by the name of Annie Rowley. They kept company for a year and decided to get married. Will and Annie and four other couples, each in their own wagon, made the long trip to the Logan Temple, where Will and Annie were married on October 1, 1886 by M. W. Merrill.
Everything went along fine until five days after Annie gave birth to their first child, a girl they named Katie. Annie died of birth complications on December 29, 1887.
Will felt like the bottom had dropped out of his world. Annie’s mother and her sister, both of whom lived in Huntington, raised Katie. She married Theadore LeRoy and was the mother of ten children.
After Katie died, Will met another special girl in Huntington. She was the 18-year-old daughter of William Morley and Annie Marie Hansen Black. Her given name was Harriet Drucilla Black and was lovingly known as Hattie.
They started dating, but not alone. In those days a chaperone was usually along. When Hattie accepted Will’s proposal of marriage, they traveled for three days in a buggy to the Manti Temple and were married on September 25, 1889 by Apostle Daniel H. Wells.
While living in Huntington, Will and Hattie had four children: Ethel (Joseph T. Cooley) born July 11, 1890; Rachel (Mark Kartchner) born February 22, 1892; Willard Morley (Anna Eleanor Jamison) born November 5, 1893 and Roxie Marie, who died of pneumonia on October 6, 1896 at the age of six weeks.
Hattie’s parents returned from Old Mexico to be with the family at Roxie’s passing. While there, they talked Will and Hattie into moving to where they lived in Mexico. Will took Hattie and the three young children to Price to catch the train to Mexico shortly after Hattie’s parents had gone back. Will had to stay in Huntington to harvest crops and dispose of his property.
Hattie recalled: “After we had been about a half hour on the train, Morley, who was four years old, went to sleep. When we awoke he said, ‘Where’s papa?’
“I told him Daddy had to stay home for a while and Morley began to cry. It took three days and nights on the train to get to Mexico and Morley cried most of the time. Finally a man who was sitting near us asked Morley to come sit with him. He gave Morley a silver dollar and that seemed to do the trick.”
Hattie and the children arrived in Pecheco, Mexico on September 14, 1897. They lived with her parents in their home nestled among the tall pines.
In December, Will joined his family. It was a joyous reunion. Hattie was expecting her fifth child in February and Will was grateful to be there to help her with the new arrival.
In the middle of January, he had to go to the Mexican customs house to see about his team and wagon and furniture. For reasons not made clear, Will was held up there for almost two months.
Their daughter, Hazel, was born on February 26, 1898 and she was six weeks old before Will got to see his wife and new baby daughter. While waiting at the customs house, Will ran out of money and had to eat the same ground corn he fed his horses.
When Will finally got his belongings to Pacheco, he was broke. He rented a farm and raised livestock. He kept a garden and raised a large crop of corn, which became the food staple in their home.
They ate cornbread for breakfast, Johnnycake for lunch and corn mush and milk for supper. When they had enough money, they would buy a sack of flour so they could “show off a little,” Will said.
They lived that way for 15 years. The family kept increasing. Even though times were hard and jobs were scarce, Will usually managed to find employment. Often, however, he would have to either leave his family behind or move them to a new location in Old Mexico in his search for good employment.
While living in Old Mexico, Will and Hattie were blessed with five more children: Lawrence on March 20, 1900; Lee (Louvene Perkins) on May 14, l902; William Rollo (Nelda May Riding) on September 17, 1905; Ervin Richard (Elizabeth Mary Park) on October 13, l907; and David Lavar (Freeda Perkins) on February 10, l910.
When Lawrence was 10 years old, he died of typhoid fever.
After 15 years in Mexico, word came to the Mormon Colonies that Pancho Villa was leading an army of rebels and they were coming to kill the Mormons.
Everyone who could was advised to leave the country as soon as possible. Will and Hattie took four horses to pull their two wagons loaded with the essentials of life and their eight children. They left everything else they had worked so hard for behind.
What broke their hearts, however, was having to leave Lawrence in his grave. They headed for the train in Pierson. However the rebels had burned all the bridges and the trains in that area were stopped.
Hattie’s Brother, Dave Black, took them to Columbus to find an operating train. They had traveled 50 miles when they were accosted by a force of 500 Mexican soldiers. They were forced to stop. They were interrogated. Luckily Dave spoke good Spanish and the family felt that is what saved their lives.
It took several more unsuccessful attempts before the family finally got out of Mexico. On the way, Will met a fellow Mormon (Brother Lamb) and they had a good visit.
When they arrived at the Blue Water station, where the family got off the train in the middle of the night, they found themselves in six inches of snow with the nearest sleeping accommodations six miles distance.
Fortunately, Lamb also got off at that station and seeing the predicament the family was in, invited them to his home where they stayed for three days. “Nobody could have been treated better than we were by Brother Lamb and his family,” Will said.
After many other trials and another month of hardships, the Guymon Family arrived in Grayson, UT. (Later renamed Blanding).
They were so grateful that their lives had been spared and that they were finally in a place where they could feel safe.
There were 20 families living in Grayson when the Guymon family arrived. Jens Nielson, hearing that a good farmer had moved to town, immediately contacted Will and asked him if he would like to run his farm. Will was so thankful for the offer and agreed to do it for $150 a month.
Several months after arriving in Grayson, Will and Hattie’s eleventh child was born. Another precious little girl, who they named Hattie (Cardon De Jones), was born December 20, l912.
The Guymon family loved their new home and the wonderful people in Blanding. Will and Hattie were life-long members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, holding many church positions over the years. Will loved to grow a large garden, which he shared with everyone who needed a helping hand.
Hattie’s sister, Myrtle Black Palmer, was a mid-wife in Blanding and helped bring more than 200 babies into the world. Hattie assisted Myrtle with that endeavor and knitted more than 300 pairs for booties for the babies that were born in Blanding during her lifetime.
At the age of 91, Will’s health began to fail. He spent the last three years of his life in his favorite rocking chair. He always had a smile and a hearty greeting for those who came to visit.
In his 95th year, he contracted bronchial pneumonia and passed away eight hours later at their home at 800 South and 300 West in Blanding on December 10, l958.
Their eight living children and many of the 50 grandchildren attended Will’s funeral on December 13. He is buried in the Blanding Cemetery.
Hattie continued living in Blanding and other places with several of her children until she too passed away at the age of 93 on March 4, l965. She was buried next to her beloved Will in Blanding.
The most precious possession of Will and Hattie were their testimonies of Jesus Christ, their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their beloved family. Today, in the fifth and sixth generations, their posterity numbers more than 1,600 souls.
Even though they endured and overcame many obstacles in their lives, they were living examples of “Where there is a WILL there is a way.”
Writers note: I am indebted to VerDonne Blake and Bev Vowell for their assistance in writing this article. | <urn:uuid:f11f245a-7eef-449b-bb13-3d21f2e60936> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://sjrnews.com/giants-san-juan/pacheco-refugees-leave-large-legacy-san-juan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571989.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813232744-20220814022744-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.991315 | 2,864 | 2.21875 | 2 |
ERIC Number: ED172145
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1975-Feb-26
Reference Count: 0
New Words for the Communication Skills Lexicon. Technical Note.
The sources used, the procedures followed, and the results obtained in updating the kindergarten through grade six communication skills lexicon are covered in this report. The final list of 322 new terms included in the lexicon are appended. (Author)
Publication Type: Reference Materials - Vocabularies/Classifications; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: Southwest Regional Laboratory for Educational Research and Development, Los Alamitos, CA. | <urn:uuid:18fb7a24-02f9-4102-ad20-e9befe180412> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED172145 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280292.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00339-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.790721 | 139 | 2 | 2 |
From the inception of Outerknown, Kelly Slater has communicated a clear commitment to sustainable business practices, and while we’ve gotten a few details around the logistics involved, today the brand released a video revealing more insight around their partnership with Econyl, which claims to turn waste from products like fishing nets into “first grade nylon” through a six-step regeneration process.
“What if there was a better way to make clothing?” asks Slater. “What if there was a way to use fewer resources in manufacturing? I had this question, ‘What are we wearing? Where is it coming from? And who are the people making it? What’s the process that goes into it?”
And he’s finding out firsthand.
When the product line was first unveiled for public consumption, the brand received significant backlash from surfers offended by the high price point. After all, a $500 coat and a $300 sweater sit far beyond the reach of most of Kelly Slater’s core surfing fan base. A friend of mine likened the situation to Cal Ripken announcing his brand new line of expensive ascots. A swing and a miss for blue collar Cal Ripken fans. But I’ve long suspected (and hoped) that Kelly has a clear vision for how we would like to see an American apparel company operate, and he’s not willing to cut corners in order to make that dream a reality.
Don’t want to compromise on labor practices, materials, sustainability? That costs money.
It puts any incarnation of his clothing range at a price point few lower or middle class consumers are comfortable with supporting. So it goes. Slater’s vision isn’t one mired in disposable cotton tee-shirts. That market’s covered. As consumers, we benefit from market pressures that drive prices to the rock bottom while exploiting anything and everything in the way. And if Kelly wants to change how American companies operate (which seems to honestly be his intention), he’s got to start somewhere. And that starting point looks like a $300 sweater made sustainably from recycled fish nets. Maybe that price will drop one day. He’s signaled an intention to make that happen.
“For us, we’re not looking at it like, ‘Okay, people like this color this month. And they like that shape we put on this print or whatever,'” said Slater. “We wanted to make nice, respectable clothing that lasts. This brand is an extension of me and my thought process…and a whole bunch of other people putting their two cents and putting our heart into something we believe in and making it work.” | <urn:uuid:e788fb5b-51b5-4404-ba8c-628366105a8d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.wearesurfer.net/2016/02/kelly-slater-explains-how-outerknown.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00065-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957529 | 561 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Potential application of palm ash as raw materials to produced green glass
Faizul, Che Pa
Noorina Hidayu, Jamil
Ruhiyuddin, Mohd Zaki
Che Mohd Ruzaidi, Ghazali, Prof. Madya
Mohamed Faisol, Mohamed Nor
MetadataShow full item record
Oil Palm Ash is one of the abundance agricultural wastes found in Malaysia. This wastes need to be disposed properly. Oil palm ash contains compounds needed to produce glass. Most of raw materials (especially silica) used to produce existing commercial glass are imported; therefore it is the best time to highlight the potential of local natural waste as the raw material in glass production. In this study, raw material characterization, glass production and glass product evaluation has been done. A few parameters have been recognized to have effect on green glass production such as mixing compositions and firing temperature. Oil palm ash has been washed and dried then sieved to get uniformity of particle size. Then, oil palm ash is mixed with other glass materials such as alumina and flux and undergone melting process at 14000C. Through the experiments, the best glass compositions are as follows: 80% palm ash, 10% kaolin and 10% feldspar or 10% dolomite while the suitable temperature being used for sintering process to produced end product is range between 1150°C to 1200°. | <urn:uuid:ac2ef89a-d914-4532-841a-ac934c01a2fc> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/handle/123456789/29376 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571190.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810131127-20220810161127-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.908131 | 315 | 2.265625 | 2 |
In early July 1942, after Margot Frank received a letter ordering her to report to a work camp in Germany, Anne Frank’s family went into hiding in an attic apartment behind Otto Frank’s business, located at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam. In an effort to avoid detection, the family left a false trail suggesting they’d fled to Switzerland.
A week after they had gone into hiding, the Franks were joined by Otto’s business associate Hermann van Pels (1898-1944), along with his wife Auguste (1900-45) and their son Peter (1926-45), who were also Jewish. A small group of Otto Frank’s employees, including his Austrian-born secretary, Miep Gies (1909-2010), risked their own lives to smuggle food, supplies and news of the outside world into the secret apartment, whose entrance was situated behind a movable bookcase. In November 1942, the Franks and Van Pels were joined by Fritz Pfeffer (1889-1944), Miep Gies’ Jewish dentist.
Life for the eight people in the small apartment, which Anne Frank referred to as the Secret Annex, was tense. The group lived in constant fear of being discovered and could never go outside. They had to remain quiet during daytime in order to avoid detection by the people working in the warehouse below. Anne passed the time, in part, by chronicling her observations and feelings in a diary she had received for her 13th birthday, a month before her family went into hiding.
Addressing her diary entries to an imaginary friend she called Kitty, Anne Frank wrote about life in hiding, including her impressions of the other inhabitants of the Secret Annex, her feelings of loneliness and her frustration over the lack of privacy. While she detailed typical teenage issues such as crushes on boys, arguments with her mother and resentments toward her sister, Frank also displayed keen insight and maturity when she wrote about the war, humanity and her own identity. She also penned short stories and essays during her time in hiding. | <urn:uuid:32489572-ee44-474f-b427-e141edf61f54> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280763.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00521-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987613 | 431 | 3.34375 | 3 |
153. Memorandum for the Presidentʼs File1
- President Nixonʼs Meeting with USSR Foreign Minister Gromyko on September 29, 1971 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. in the Oval Office of the White House (List of participants is attached)2
The President opened the conversation by noting that it had been one year since he had last met with the Foreign Minister. Since that time some progress had been achieved in a number of fields, notably in the Berlin problem and in some aspects of arms control. The President thought it would be very useful to get Mr. Gromykoʼs evaluation of where we stood and what needed to be done now. He would also give the Minister his ideas in order to see how we could get things moving.
Foreign Minister Gromyko suggested that the discussion follow the lines of their talk last year, i.e., that one question after another be taken up with each side expressing their respective views and positions on that question before going on to the next. President Nixon agreed to this procedure.
Mr. Gromyko said that first of all he wanted to carry out the pleasant task of conveying to the President the personal regards of the Soviet leadership, Mr. Brezhnev, Mr. Kosygin and Mr. Podgorny.
[Omitted here is discussion of bilateral relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, SALT negotiations, the European Security Conference, and the Middle East.]
The President raised one other subject which was of serious concern to us now. He believed that Mrs. Indira Gandhi was presently visiting Moscow and she would be visiting here later. He wanted to [Page 425] strongly emphasize his concern over the possibility that the situation involving East Pakistan, the refugees and Indians, could explode into a conflict. He believed it was in our mutual interest to discourage the Indian Government in every possible way from taking action that could explode into war in that area. Having said that, he would point out that he was aware of the fact that Pakistan was in no position to fight a successful war with India, because it was outnumbered. However, the situation in that area was so fraught with historical hatreds that if the Indians pushed too hard, the other nation might willingly commit suicide. He believed that the Soviet Union had played an important role in keeping the peace in that area in the past and hoped the Soviet Government would do all it could to prevent an outbreak of war in this crisis.
Mr. Gromyko said he had understood what the President had said in regard to American interests in the area and moreover he would say that he was gratified to learn the U.S. did not want to see a clash between India and Pakistan. He could assure the President that the Soviet Government also did not want the conflict to break out into war. Moreover, perhaps the President knew that the Soviet Union had taken steps in the present situation to rule out the possibility of a confrontation. Of course, Pakistan was by far the smaller country, but he would point out that to provoke a conflict one did not necessarily have to have superior size and strength. To do so it would be enough if there was a lack of restraint and insufficient understanding of oneʼs responsibilities. For these reasons, it was Soviet policy to do everything possible to prevent a confrontation and the Soviet Government had said so in its conversations with Mrs. Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister. Mrs. Gandhi had assured the Soviet Government that India would do nothing to precipitate a clash with Pakistan. It was true the Pakistani leaders were conveying the same thoughts to the Soviet Government, but here the Soviets did not have as much confidence as in the case of the Indian leadership. Once again, he was gratified to know that the U.S. was interested in averting a war between those two countries and that it stood on the position of counseling both sides to exercise restraint. If this was so, this was one policy that our two countries had in common. On the whole, he would sum it, that the country that should be restrained first of all was Pakistan, at least this was the conclusion the Soviet Government had come to on the basis of what they had observed. The President said we would need to keep in close touch with each other on this situation.
[Omitted here is discussion of economic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.]
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 492, Presidentʼs Trip Files, Dobrynin/Kissinger, 1971, Vol. 7, Part 1. Secret; Nodis. Prepared by Kissinger. The full text of this memorandum is in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XIII, Soviet Union, October 1970–October 1971. The conversation was tape recorded, with a slightly different time indicated than that noted on the memorandum. Kissingerʼs record of the conversation adheres closely to the recording. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Recording of conversation among President Nixon, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, Secretary of State Rogers, Ambassador Dobrynin, and National Security Assistant Kissinger, September 29, 1971, 3:03–5 p.m., Oval Office, Conversation No. 580–20)↩
- Attached but not printed. The participants were Nixon, Rogers, Kissinger, Gromyko, and Dobrynin.↩ | <urn:uuid:f34368d9-e604-4551-818c-0099cfee32a5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v11/d153 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572127.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815024523-20220815054523-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.98272 | 1,119 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Total # Posts: 5
1. Mark is trying to determine his firm's average cost per unit of production. He finds that the cost for all labor and materials is $80,000 and fixed overhead expenses are $40,000. If the company produces 20,000 items in the time period, the average cost is __________. $...
April 12, 2012
Chemistry --really need help!
5 mol of ammonia were introduced into a 5 L rxn chamber in which it is partially decomposed at high temperatures. 2NH3(g)<--> 3H2(g)+ N2(g) at equlilibrium at a particular temperature, 80% of the ammonia had reacted calculate kc for the rxn
February 19, 2010
0.872g sample containing only NaBr and KBr gives 1.052g AgBr. what's the % of each salt? This is the type of problem that cannot be answered without other information. I think you have made a typo in your problem I worked through it and I get negative numbers for the mass ...
December 12, 2006 | <urn:uuid:37466314-f075-48d7-97f9-9e2d94babd7b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.jiskha.com/members/profile/posts.cgi?name=Hayat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281226.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00384-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953845 | 230 | 2.671875 | 3 |
As part of celebrating Tongan Language Week: Uike Kātonga’i ‘o e Lea Faka-Tonga (1-8 September) the Pacific Cultures team are highlighting some of the Tongan items in Te Papa’s collection. This is the fourth blog in our series.
Tongan ngatu also known as tapa cloth is an important part of Tongan art and tradition. Te Papa’s collection of about 60 ngatu range in style and use. Some ngatu include symbols of the Tongan royal family, while another records the sighting of Halley’s comet in 1910 (see below).
Other ngatu have words and names inscribed on the cloth. These give us a clue about the people who were once associated with the ngatu. For example a ngatu dated 1932 has the name ‘Siaosi Taufa’ahau’ and images of cricket cups and the crest of Tupou College (see below). The name referred to the late King Tāufa’āhau Tupou IV when he was a school boy at the College.
Another style of tapa cloth is called ngatu ‘uli (black tapa cloth) where the cloth is intensely dyed using candlenut soot, although other dyes are also applied. The ngatu ‘uli below has what appears to be a layer of red clay underneath the candlenut soot.
In 2009 for the exhibition Tapa: Pacific Style, Te Papa worked with the Otaota Fahina Society led by Reverend Sitili Tupouniua and his wife, Lolohea to film Tongan tapa-making in Auckland. To view some of the footage and interviews, click on the links below: | <urn:uuid:69fd0781-ff1a-4154-817e-8a8fd3db624c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2012/09/06/tongan-ngatu-tapa-cloth/ | 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 | 0.919733 | 364 | 2.9375 | 3 |
A Korean fashion student has become the 13th cyclist to be killed in London this year, reports the Evening Standard, following yet another incident of a young female having her life taken away after being struck by a lorry.
Min Joo Lee, aged 24, was crushed under the wheels of the lorry in the incident which took place in the Kings Cross gyratory system close to the junction of York Way and Pentonville Road at approximately midday on Monday. The exact circumstances of the collision have not been reported.
The same day, a 25-year-old female cyclist was taken to Charing Cross Hospital with serious head injuries after she was struck by a van nearby on Fulham Palace Road, reports the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle.
As stories here on road.cc repeatedly demonstrate, lorries are responsible for a disproportionate number of deaths of cyclists, particularly female ones, on London’s roads.
According to the London Cycling Campaign, despite accounting for just 5 per cent of the capital’s traffic, lorries are responsible for more than half of cyclist fatalities in London. Its ‘No More Lethal Lorries’ initiative is just one of several high profile campaigns and initiatives launched to try and address the issue.
Another is the See Me Save Me campaign launched by the family of Eilidh Cairns, killed when she was hit by a lorry in Notting Hill in 2009. Earlier this year, MEPs adopted a Written Declaration that lorries to be fitted with safety equipment to detect cyclists.
As reported here on road.cc last week, the European Commission is now being urged to take the appropriate action, and as this week’s events show, each delay sees more cyclists at risk of death or serious injury as a result of their sharing the road with HGVs.
In October 2009, Mayor of London Boris Johnson came under strong critcism from road safety campaigners after he decided to withdraw Transport for London funding from the Metropolitan Police’s Commercial Vehicle Education Unit (CVEU).
The CVEU had undertaken inspection of lorries in the capital, but Mr Johnson insisted that the voluntary Freight Operators’ Registration Scheme (FORS) provided an adequate safeguard.
Although the CVEU has since been reconstituted by the Met as the Commercial Vehicle Unit, based in Alperton in North West London, it does not have the same level of either resources or manpower as it previously enjoyed.
Critics of the FORS say that because it is a voluntary scheme, that in itself means that it will fail to pick up the shadier operators whose vehicles are though to be involved in a disproportionate number of collisions involving HGVs in London.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes. | <urn:uuid:08ea78ba-507b-4032-a94b-0f520910b532> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://road.cc/content/news/45682-female-korean-student-killed-lorry-13th-cyclist-die-london-year?quicktabs_2=1&quicktabs_4=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280410.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00458-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975771 | 688 | 1.5 | 2 |
by Cheryl Yanek
Lots of travelers spend time investigating ways to cut their travel expenditures, and most people soon find out that hosteling is a great way to do that. Hostels used to be the domain of backpacking kids in their teens and early 20s – they even used to be called “youth hostels.” But these days, although some hostels still retain the “youth” in their name, very few still have age requirements. This makes hostels an excellent option for anyone traveling on a budget – backpackers, gap year travelers, couples, families, even retirees!
But if you’ve never stayed in a hostel before, there are some things you should know before you make your first hostel trip. Hostels are cheap places to sleep. Yes, some hostels can be dirty, loud, and they can lack privacy. But the truth is that hosteling is not that rough. I’ve never slept on a dirt floor, and I’ve always had some sort of mattress and running water. And if you aren’t into the whole dorm thing, most hostels these days have private rooms available.
Hosteling is more than just a great way to save money while traveling, however. Staying in hostels allows you to save money, meet new friends, perhaps even provides you with a kitchen to cook in or a bar or café to eat and drink and socialize. Staff will usually provide directions, advice, and often a map. But even with all of these pluses, hosteling is a really different experience from being in your own space. Back home, my bathroom has so many toiletries it might seem as if more than one person lived with me. My family likes to make jokes about my large wardrobe. I can be a picky eater, and my kitchen pantry is often brimming with food.
So while I am not the ideal backpacker candidate, and my previous understanding of a hostel was vague – I had only stayed in a hostel once, in a private room with my boyfriend – I spent four months backpacking around Europe and stayed in hostels nearly every place I visited. Yes, I was in for a shock. Hosteling is great, but it can be bad (but those times usually make for the best travel stories).
To help you deal with those moments when staying in a hostel seems like the last thing on earth you want to do, I have some advice to share.
Here are my tips for how to survive hosteling:
- When you get down, if you can afford it, spoil yourself by getting a private room of your own – with your own bathroom. Some private rooms in hostels have amenities like television and air conditioning, which obviously jack up the price, but it might be just worth it – you decide. Solitude and privacy are two things you will value at the end of your trip.
- Twenty people sharing one toilet can be dirty and annoying. In some cities, two people can easily afford a budget hotel or private hostel room – often for less than the price of staying in a hostel dorm. Opt out of the larger dorms for the smaller rooms of four or six people with an en-suite bathroom – smaller rooms are usually more quiet and cleaner.
- Hostels can be noisy, even at night. Snoring, disrespectful roommates, and drunken shouting can wake you. Earplugs and headphones are extremely helpful when drowning out noise. Eyeshades are good for those roommates who decide to turn on the lights at 3am. You’ll be sleeping in the same room with many different people from different places on different schedules. Earplugs and eyeshades also provide a sense of privacy.
- Take advantage of everything your hostel has to offer. Cook in the hostel kitchen, hang around the bar and lounge chatting people up, ask staff for recommendations, watch free movies, go on walking tours, borrow a bike – whatever the hostel offers, go for it.
- If you get sick of all of the English-speaking people at your hostel and feel as if you aren’t getting a flavor for local life, ditch the hostel. Hang around town – find out where the locals go and befriend them. Remember: friendships can be accomplished, regardless of language barriers that might exist.
- Act like the hostel is your home (within reason, of course). Do the things you would do back home like paint your nails, pluck your eyebrows, pray, or sleep with your teddy bear. Your routines will make you feel more comfortable.
- When times get hard, spoil yourself. Eat at a nice restaurant where there are no backpackers, ordering several courses. Skype or Facetime with family and friends back home. Go to a department store and spray yourself with perfume. Go to a yoga class – just do something to cheer yourself up.
Hosteling isn’t always easy, especially if you’re a solo traveler staying in dorms, but I’ve really come to love it. I’ve ended up discarding much of my clothes and toiletries upon my return home, as I find that like being lower maintenance now.
Halfway through my trip, I met an American about to go home. He was depressed. He told me, “Most of all, I’ll miss meeting new people every night. I’m going to go home and it will just be me in my apartment.” Hosteling is a brilliant way to make new friends – friends who live around the world.
Photo credits: L.B. Imaging | <urn:uuid:c670d806-6799-44f7-8804-d8cd80a64394> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://toolkit.bootsnall.com/accommodation-travel-guide/how-to-survive-hostelling.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00198-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958757 | 1,169 | 1.648438 | 2 |
An English country garden proposed to bridge the Thames by Heatherwick and Arup
A period of public consultation has begun for a new Garden Bridge proposed to cross London’s River Thames. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick with Dan Pearson Studio and engineers Arup, the concept has been developed in response to a call from Transport for London to enhance pedestrian links across the river.
When original proposals surfaced in June 2013, Heatherwick said: “With its rich heritage of allotments, gardens, heathland, parks and squares, London is one of the greenest cities in the world. In this context, we are excited to have been selected by Transport for London (TfL) to explore the opportunity of a pedestrian river crossing. The idea is simple; to connect north and south London with a garden.”
This is not the first time that the designer has been inspired by the rich horticultural heritage of England’s capital as is most explicitly shown in his UK Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo in 2010.
The Garden Bridge is 360m in length and adopts a curving outline, widening and narrowing to create a series of five spaces for different habitats and miniature landscapes. The foliage incorporated into the design will be seasonal, including mature trees, shrubs, grasslands and perennial plants. Two potential building materials have been mentioned in the plans, both of which offer neutral hues to blend with the neighbouring architecture: a copper-nickel alloy and a reconstituted stone with a warm colouring and texture.
As well as celebrating the impressive green heritage of London, the bridge is designed to enhance connections between the Southbank and Temple and onwards to Covent Garden and Soho. An analysis of pedestrian footfall in the area has shown that journeys beyond Southbank, with its wide array of cultural attractions, are limited, and it is hoped that this new elevated garden will encourage users to venture further and explore new areas of London within the local vicinity.
A period of public consultation is now underway, overseen by new charity The Garden Bridge Trust. The charity and TfL are welcoming all comments on the designs which will be open to critique from the public until 20 December 2013 (see here). | <urn:uuid:e018022c-6113-4160-9eaa-251dd8c842de> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/project/2013/23539/thomas-heatherwick/garden-bridge-in-london.html?region=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00279-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949628 | 449 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Black trans lives matter, too
There have been 14 murders of transgender people in 2020.
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Ever since the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, people all over the country have been fighting for Black lives. When Black men are unjustly murdered, the Black community mobilizes themselves quickly on the streets and on social media.
But that same energy isn’t always given for Black women, especially Black trans women.
According to a study conducted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in the Americas, trans women of color have a life expectancy of only 30 to35 years.
On June 8, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, a 27 year old Black trans woman was found dead in Philadelphia, and the next day, the body of Riah Melton, a 25 year old Black trans woman was found in Liberty Township, Ohio.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, Fells and Milton are believed to be the 13th and 14th transgender murder victims this year.
Many activists on Twitter were upset with the lack of outrage and action over the murders of Fells and Milton.
“Y’all were LOUD last week for George Floyd but I hear almost nothing about Dominique Fells and Riah Milton, two Black trans women that were murdered this week. Your anti-racism is performative if it doesn’t include trans folks,” one commenter wrote.
Another, in response to the Supreme Court decision regarding LGBT workers rights, said “we cannot claim an LGBTQ+ victory if we do not acknowledge that in the same week two Black trans women were murdered.”
On Sunday June 14, the nation decided to acknowledge it with tens of thousands of people protesting. In New York City, thousands of people gathered at the Brooklyn Museum, and about 25,000 marched along the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Organizers in NYC urged protesters to wear white to pay homage to an anti-racism protest in 1917, where men wore black and women and children wore white. White was also worn for symbolic reasons, as it represents a fresh start.
“Another part of our incentive for folks to wear white was to help the public understand a new, visual way to imagine our community, the dawn of a new era that would not just include Black trans and gendernonconforming people, but put them at the front where they belong,” said Fran Tirado, one of the organizers.
Community organizer, Milan Nicole Sherry, is the founder of the hashtag #BlackTransLivesMatter. In an interview with Buzzfeed, she said she wants people to start fighting for Black trans women while they are alive.
“When we die, everybody takes to the streets, and they rally, they protest,” she said. “But where was that same energy when that lady was alive? We could have prevented that death.” | <urn:uuid:349ec898-29c1-4d52-9179-686dd99a441e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://aldianews.com/en/culture/heritage-and-history/black-trans-lives-matter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571056.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809155137-20220809185137-00666.warc.gz | en | 0.962518 | 617 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Thailand starts phasing out shackles in prisons
16 May 2013 Last updated at 17:02 BST
Thailand's government is phasing out the use of shackles in prisons in a move aimed at improving its international human rights standards.
Hundreds of inmates convicted of major crimes in the country had to wear shackles on their hands and feet. Some shackles can weigh as much as five kilograms.
The move has been welcomed by inmates and human rights campaigners.
Tom Bayly reports. | <urn:uuid:c47d8687-2991-42fd-8b98-1f4249c5c2c4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22555030 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00125-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956935 | 101 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The theory behind the popular blood-type diet is false, new research shows.
Popularized in Peter D’Adamo’s book Eat Right for Your Type, the theory claims an individual’s nutritional needs vary by blood type.
“Based on the data of 1,455 study participants, we found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet theory,” says Ahmed El-Sohemy, an associate professor and chair in nutrigenomics at the University of Toronto and senior author of the study published in PLOS ONE.
“The way an individual responds to any one of these diets has absolutely nothing to do with their blood type and has everything to do with their ability to stick to a sensible vegetarian or low-carbohydrate diet,” says El-Sohemy.
Researchers found that the associations they observed between each of the four blood-type (A, B, AB, O) diets and the markers of health are independent of the person’s blood type.
The theory behind the diet is that the ABO blood type should match the dietary habits of our ancestors and people with different blood types process food differently.
According to the theory, individuals adhering to a diet specific to one’s blood type can improve health and decrease risk of chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease. The book was a New York Times best-seller that has been translated into 52 languages and sold over 7 million copies.
How the study worked
The researchers took an existing population of mostly young and healthy adults who provided detailed information about their usual diets and provided fasting blood that was used to isolate DNA to determine their ABO blood type and the level of cardiometabolic risk factors, such as insulin, cholesterol, and triglycerides.
Diet scores were calculated based on the food items listed in Eat Right for Your Type to determine relative adherence to each of the four blood-type diets.
El-Sohemy says that a previous lack of scientific evidence doesn’t mean the diets didn’t work.
“There was just no evidence, one way or the other. It was an intriguing hypothesis so we felt we should put it to the test. We can now be confident in saying that the blood type diet hypothesis is false.”
Last year, a comprehensive review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no evidence to support the blood-type diet and called for properly designed scientific studies to address it.
Source: University of Toronto | <urn:uuid:53f36db1-0dc7-413c-925c-2269a017bab8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.futurity.org/blood-type-diet-doesnt-work-study-finds/?amp& | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00274-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940288 | 516 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Academic complex to feature new laboratories, study spaces, Food Services facilities
On Sept. 22, Fotenn Management Inc. unveiled plans for a new six-storey science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academic complex at the University of Ottawa.
The site envisioned for the STEM Complex will be located in the southwest portion of the U of O campus at 150–160 Louis Pasteur Private, according to Fotenn Management Inc.
Although the project is in its early planning stages, the urban design firm proposes to include classrooms, laboratories, offices, teaching spaces, study rooms, and a lecture theatre in this new building. The main level is designed with an open corridor at the front, containing study stations, social spaces, and Food Services facilities.
The plan also includes the development of basement levels that will be reserved for more intensive purposes. A hydraulics lab reservoir and a structures lab workspace are proposed for the lowest level, with additional laboratories, workspaces, storage, and mechanical rooms on the first basement level.
However, the new STEM building will not have any surrounding parking facilities to promote safety and prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists, as well as reduce traffic in the area.
According to Fotenn’s development plan, the former parking lot adjacent to the site is proposed to be converted into an open space named Marion Square that showcases hard and soft landscaping features and street furniture.
Patrick Abou Sleiman, a third-year computer engineering student at the U of O, told the Fulcrum that his main concerns about the current layout of campus is the lack of quiet study rooms in the SITE building.
“Now they are closing the one (quiet room) in engineering … so we don’t have a place to study quietly at SITE.”
With the proposed complex, Sleiman hopes to see changes to student spaces, along with labs to enrich their learning experience. This includes a “workshop place for students where they can experiment with their courses, for (them) to be able to experiment with computers, build and design software or hardware and for engineers to be able to practice the theory.”
He also hopes that this new complex will bring about more spaces for students “to be able to study and not to roam the university to get to places. For example, not to walk from SITE to Morisset just to find places because it’s super crowded.”
As the plan is currently in its early stages, the U of O did not comment on when the construction for this new building would begin or when the complex will be opened. | <urn:uuid:841e2bab-1744-406b-a0e1-ba0f29b47e66> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://thefulcrum.ca/news/plans-laid-new-stem-building-campus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.959111 | 540 | 1.851563 | 2 |
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Clavaseptin is known as a potentiated antibiotic. It contains two ingredients which work together to significantly increase the effectiveness against certain bacteria. The main antibiotic ingredient (amoxycillin) can be inactivated by certain types of bacteria, rendering them resistant. However the second ingredient (clavulanate) prevents the bacteria from inactivating the antibiotic, allowing the antibiotic to kill the bacteria. Hence Clavaseptin is active against a wide range of bacteria and this combination has become one of the main antibiotics used in veterinary medicine. Tablets are normally given twice daily at a dose rate of 12.5mg/kg bodyweight.
Three tablet strengths are available: Clavaseptin 50mg Palatable Tablets containing 40mg Amoxicillin (as trihydrate) and 10mg Clavulanic Acid (as potassium salt). For use in cats and dogs.
Clavaseptin 250mg Palatable Tablets containing 200mg Amoxicillin (as trihydrate) and 50mg Clavulanic Acid (as potassium salt). For use in dogs.
Clavaseptin 500mg Palatable Tablets containing 400mg Amoxicillin (as trihydrate) and 100mg Clavulanic Acid (as potassium salt). For use in dogs.
Excipient: Brown Iron Oxide (E172)
In dogs: treatment or adjunctive treatment of periodontal infections caused by bacteria susceptible to amoxicillin in combination with clavulanic acid i.e. Pasteurella spp, Streptococcus spp and Escherichia coli.
In cats: treatment of skin infections (including wounds and abscesses) caused by bacteria susceptible to amoxicillin in combination with clavulanic acid i.e. Pasteurella spp, Staphylococcus spp, Streptococcus spp and Escherichia coli.
The recommended dose of Clavaseptin Palatable Tablets is 10 mg amoxicillin/2.5mg clavulanic acid/kg twice daily by the oral route in dogs and cats according to the following table.
50mg tablets 1 tablet per 4kg bodyweight every 12h
250mg tablets 1 tablet per 20kg body weight every 12h
500mg tablets 1 tablet per 40kg bodyweight every 12h
Duration of treatment:
- 7 days for the treatment of periodontal infections in dogs
- 7 to 14 days for the treatment of skin infections in cats (including wounds and abscesses). The clinical status of animals should be re-evaluated after 7 days and the treatment prolonged for a further 7 days if necessary.
To ensure the correct dosage, bodyweight should be determined as accurately as possible to avoid under-dosing.
Administration is made easier by the palatable nature of the tablet.
Do not use in case of hypersensitivity to penicillins or other substances of the β-lactam group.
Do not administer to gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas.
In animals with impaired liver and kidney function, the use of the product should be subject to a risk/benefit evaluation by the veterinary surgeon and the posology evaluated carefully.
Caution is advised in the use of Clavaseptin in any other small pet (non food-producing) herbivores.
Use of the product should be based on susceptibility testing.
Inappropriate use of the product may increase the prevalence of bacteria resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Use of the product should take into account official and local antimicrobial policies.
Vomiting and diarrhoea may be observed. Treatment may be continued depending on the severity of the undesirable effect observed and a benefit/risk evaluation by the veterinary surgeon.
Hypersensitivity reactions (allergic skin reactions, anaphylaxis) may be observed. In these cases, administration should be discontinued and a symptomatic treatment given.
The safety of the product has not been established during pregnancy and lactation. Laboratory studies in rats have not produced any evidence of teratogenic, foetotoxic or maternotoxic effects. Use the product only accordingly to the benefit/risk assessment by the responsible veterinarian.
The bactericidal activity of amoxicillin may be reduced by the simultaneous use of bacteriostatic substances such as macrolides, tetracyclines, sulfonamides and chloramphenicol.
At three times the recommended dose for a period of 28 days, diarrhoea was observed in dogs. In the event of an overdose, symptomatic treatment is advised.
Penicillins and cephalosporins may cause hypersensitivity (allergy) following injection, inhalation, ingestion or skin contact. Hypersensitivity to penicillins may lead to cross reactions to cephalosporins and vice versa. Allergic reactions to these substances may occasionally be serious.
1. Do not handle this product if you know you are sensitised, or if you have been advised not to work with such preparations.
2. Handle this product with great care to avoid exposure, taking all recommended precautions.
3. If you develop symptoms following exposure, such as skin rash, you should seek medical advice and show the doctor this warning. Swelling of the face, lips or eyes or difficulty in breathing are more serious symptoms and require urgent medical attention.
Wash hands after handling the tablets
Shelf-life of the veterinary medicinal product as packaged for sale: Clavaseptin 50 mg Tablets 2 years; Clavaseptin 250 mg and 500 mg tablets 3 years.
Shelf life after first opening the immediate packaging: 12 hours.
Do not store above 25°C. Store in the original package.
Return any halved tablet to the opened strip-pack and use within 12 hours.
Any unused product or waste material should be disposed of in accordance with national requirements.
Clavaseptin 50mg Palatable Tablets: 10 and 50 blisters of 10 tablets
Clavaseptin 250mg Palatable Tablets: 10 and 25 blisters of 10 tablets
Clavaseptin 500mg Palatable Tablets: 10 blisters of 10 tablets.
Amoxicillin is an aminobenzylpenicillin from the β-lactam penicillin family which prevents the bacterial cell wall formation by interfering with the final step of peptidoglycan synthesis.
Clavulanic acid is an irreversible inhibitor of intracellular and extracellular β-lactamases which protects amoxicillin from inactivation by many β-lactamases.
Amoxicillin/clavulanate has a wide range of activity which includes β‑lactamase producing strains of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobes, facultative anaerobes and obligate anaerobes.
Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics is mainly mediated by β-lactamases which hydrolyze antibiotics such as amoxicillin. It is mostly shown in Pseudomonadaceae (81.25%) and in Enterobacter spp. (55.5%).
After oral administration at the recommended dose in dogs and cats, the absorption of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid is fast. In dogs, the maximum plasma concentration of amoxicillin of 8.5 µg/ml is reached in 1.4 h and the maximum plasma concentration of clavulanic acid of 0.9 µg/ml is reached in 0.9h.
In cats, the maximum plasma concentration of amoxicillin of 6.6 µg/ml is reached in 1.8 h and the maximum plasma concentration of clavulanic acid of 3.7 µg/ml is reached in 0.75h. Elimination is also fast.
After repeated oral administration of the recommended dose in dogs and cats, there is no accumulation of amoxicillin or clavulanic acid and the steady state is reached rapidly after first administration.
Clavaseptin 50mg Palatable Tablets: Vm 08007/4113.
Clavaseptin 250mg Palatable Tablets: Vm 08007/4114.
Clavaseptin 500mg Palatable Tablets: Vm 08007/4115.
Clavaseptin 50mg 10 x 10
Clavaseptin 50mg 50 x 10
Clavaseptin 250mg 10 x 10
Clavaseptin 250mg 25 x 10
All prices include VAT where applicable. *The freephone number is free from most UK landlines only, mobiles are usually charged so we'd recommend calling our landline from your mobile or internationally.
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VioPoints are a way for us to say thank you for purchasing from VioVet.
You will receive VioPoints by purchasing this product, which can be redeemed for a discount on future purchases. For each 1000 points redeemed at the checkout, you will receive a 20p discount.
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Terms and conditions apply. | <urn:uuid:d0dd156e-a21f-4ce6-89e0-e0ba21e842bf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.viovet.co.uk/Clavaseptin_Palatable_Tablets/c624/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00465-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.865372 | 2,025 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Keeping the board of directors informed of what’s happening with your business is a key part of stakeholder management and helps keep your business operations running smoothly. Before you address your board, prepare for how they’ll react to your news and prepare your presentation so you’re not blindsiding them with anything unexpected. Sound professional and engaging and you’ll have a good chance of getting the desired result.
Know Your Audience
Nothing about the people who sit on your board of directors should surprise you. Know what their motivations are and tailor your news to the way it's likely to be received. For example, if you’re proposing a new project and know that one board member rankles when the business increases its costs, come prepared with detailed information on how your proposed effort will increase revenues. If another focuses attention on IT issues, anticipate how your proposals will impact that area.
No Surprise Party
A board meeting is not the time to spring something unexpected on your board, such as a proposal to shift lines of business or change your headquarters location. An ill-informed board is not a board that will be inclined to offer you support. Distribute an agenda and any presentation slides ahead of time, and use the board meeting to build on those topics rather than hiding big news in the “New Business” area.
Stay on Message
Time at a board meeting is precious and nobody has much of it to waste. Keep focused on what you want the board to hear about that day, rather than a more general overview of the business or a laundry list of accomplishments. When in doubt, be strategic. Don’t show off all that you know about the business; the board members already expect you to be knowledgeable. If you’re advocating for a new software solution, don’t get into the weeds about all the ways the program works; talk about the value it brings to the company. You can always provide the technical details if asked.
Staying on message is a lot easier if you know precisely what you want to say and how to say it. Even if you enjoy extemporaneous public speaking, a board meeting is not the time to wing it. Know how much time you have, prepare material with that constraint in mind, and practice several times before actually addressing your board.
Keep Members Engaged
Most boards have some members eager to be engaged in your business or organizational operations, but others who are disengaged and tougher to draw out. Keep a conversational tone when you can. Look board members in the eyes when you talk and focus on those who don’t seem to be getting the message or whose eyes are glazing over. Asking for their input at various points throughout the address can help, as that forces them to participate rather than simply being lectured to.
Justify Your Actions
Your board of directors wants assurances that operations are running smoothly and producing the desired results. Be focused on the bottom line and show how the actions you’re taking are helping the company grow. That’s the ultimate takeaway that the board will want to hear.
- Goodshoot/Goodshoot/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:05680c27-cfc4-4b49-8270-1ac9dd366b56> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://smallbusiness.chron.com/address-board-meeting-73660.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280242.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00081-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953801 | 648 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), or SB 2681, is gaining traction, as a House subcommittee voted to advance the bill yesterday. Like the now-defunct bill in Arizona, SB 2681 would similarly provide business owners with a "license to discriminate" against patrons who are LGBT.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi's profile of RFRA states:
"In its original and amended form as reported, this bill could allow people to argue that their religious beliefs exempt them from complying with laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, and national origin. . . Because there is no “substantial burden” requirement, religious exemption challenges could be made to any law, policy, regulation, government action, or decision that affects religious exercise—no matter how minor, incidental, or indirect the alleged burden."
While this bill cites religion as its motivation and justification, religious leaders in the state have spoken out, strongly condemning its discriminatory essence. Baptist pastors Revs. Stan Wilson, Bert Montgomery, and Rusty Edwards co-signed a letter with Methodist reverends Rob Hill and Bruce Case, addressed to state legislators. In it, they wrote:
As people of faith, we are ardent supporters of religious freedom for all Americans. We know that it is the religious freedom to worship as we choose that makes our country and our state great. Religious organizations have a long established First Amendment ability to operate according to their own beliefs and we as faith leaders hold that right as sacred and will do all in our power to preserve it.
However, we also know that there is a difference between sacred space and commercial space. When providing a service to the public, businesses cannot pick and choose whom to serve and whom to deny. This is basic discrimination and it has nothing to do with religious freedom.
This legislation will have immense and negative consequences on all communities, including religious communities. First, it sends the message that one’s particular religious interpretation can become the law of the land. Second, as religious leaders we know that families are harmed when legislation unfairly opens up members of our communities to discrimination. As a state, we know we can do better than that.
Local organizations are also working to protect Mississippi's LGBT residents from the proposed law. Campaign for Southern Equality has provided 4 simple ways for in-state residents, as well as those outside of the state, to take action against SB 2681 by making your voice heard before the House votes—this could happen any day between now and March 14.
According to LGBT Movement Advancement Project (MAP), Mississippi has several anti-LGBT laws and policies in place already, including ones against marriage and relationship recognition, joint adoption, stepparent adoption, and school safety.
In addition to Mississippi's RFRA, similar bills are on the table in Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, and South Dakota. | <urn:uuid:6c2f85a1-7e03-4496-9ed4-93efeb594929> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.glaad.org/blog/religious-leaders-equality-advocates-stand-against-discriminatory-bill-mississippi-house | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280221.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00235-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968173 | 594 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Blue X wave energy device moves closer to deployment
Edinburgh-based start-up Mocean Energy has made great progress on the construction of its Blue X wave energy device which is nearing completion ahead of spring deployment in Orkney waters.
The half-scale Blue X prototype device has been moved earlier this week from AJS Productions in Fife, where it had been under construction throughout 2020.
The device was transported in three pieces to Mocean Energy’s quayside site at Rosyth Port in Scotland where the fabrication will be completed.
After that, Mocean Energy will carry out ballasting and wet commissioning, before moving the device to Orkney for sea trials at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).
The completed device will be transported in March 2021 to be tested at EMEC’s Scapa Flow test site, the managing director of Mocean Energy Cameron McNatt confirmed.
Jon Clarke, Mocean Energy’s Project Manager, said: “We are thrilled to be testing our Blue X prototype wave energy converter at EMEC’s Scapa Flow test site this coming spring, and we are also developing plans to test the device at the Billia Croo full-scale testing site following the Scapa Flow test”.
The deployment and demonstration of the Blue X at EMEC is being funded by Wave Energy Scotland, and supported by Interreg North-West Europe’s OceanDEMO project.
The Blue X prototype device is a hinged raft wave energy converter with a novel geometry that improves performance and increases survivability by diving through the largest waves.
The prototype will use a purpose-built power take-off (PTO) generator, C-GEN, designed and built by Edinburgh University – also a recipient of a Wave Energy Scotland grant.
C-GEN is a novel direct-drive generator said to be highly efficient over a wide range of wave conditions.
Tim Hurst, Managing Director at Wave Energy Scotland, said: “This is a great milestone for Mocean Energy and the Wave Energy Scotland programme. We are fortunate to be able to deploy and test our innovative wave energy devices locally at a world leading test site”.
Blue X represents a stepping stone towards the company’s products – Blue Star, aimed at providing power for subsea equipment, and Blue Horizon meant for utility-scale clean power production. | <urn:uuid:2ca01f03-8bcd-4091-8c57-5c9e13e867a6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.offshore-energy.biz/blue-x-wave-device-moves-closer-to-deployment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571198.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810161541-20220810191541-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.93518 | 491 | 1.625 | 2 |
Florida's same-sex marriage ban was struck down Thursday by a federal judge, who stated that the law violated constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle found Florida's gay marriage prohibition unconstitutional because it denies gay couples the fundamental right to marry without any legally defensible justification. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Hinkle is the fifth judge to rule against Florida's gay marriage ban in the past six weeks; however, he's the first federal judge to do so, and his ruling is the first to have statewide effect.
What can Floridians expect from this latest gay marriage ruling?
Laws Violate Fundamental Right, No Suspect Class
In many ways, this Florida federal ruling is similar to dozens of other federal court rulings striking down marriage bans across the nation. Like Oklahoma's gay marriage ruling, Judge Hinkle declined to give gays and lesbians suspect classification -- the higher standard of review afforded to racial minorities or religious groups -- because of binding precedent.
In 2004, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a law preventing gays from adopting children, finding that homosexuality was not a suspect class. Despite this, the Florida federal court still found that the gay marriage ban must be viewed under strict scrutiny, because it infringed on the fundamental right to marry.
Judge Hinkle found the arguments other than moral disapproval for gay marriage were simply "make-weight" and didn't stand up to constitutional scrutiny. And since moral disapproval can't be the sole legal justification for such a law, Hinkle struck it down as unconstitutional.
In striking the ban, Judge Hinkle poignantly noted that "[l]iberty, tolerance, and respect are not zero-sum concepts," affirming that opposite-sex marriages are in no way harmed by expanding rights to same-sex couples.
No Same-Sex Nuptials Yet
Although Judge Hinkle judged that the Florida gay marriage prohibition was unconstitutional, he imposed an immediate stay on his decision while stays in Virginia, Utah, and Oklahoma's gay marriage decisions are still imposed. The Supreme Court stay in Virginia's case was issued right before Judge Hinkle's ruling, making it unlikely that Florida gay marriages will begin until the Supreme Court tackles the issue of gay marriage again.
However, Judge Hinkle's stay did make one exception: One of the plaintiffs, Arlene Goldberg, is allowed to have her name listed as "spouse" on her wife's death certificate, allowing her to access Social Security survivor benefits.
- Federal judge: Florida gay-marriage ban unconstitutional (The Miami Herald)
- Challenging Laws: 3 Levels of Scrutiny Explained (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
- Federal Judge Tosses Fla.'s Gay Marriage Ban: 5 Takeaways (FindLaw's U.S. Eleventh Circuit Blog)
- Search FindLaw.com's Lawyer Directory for an attorney who's right for you (FindLaw) | <urn:uuid:fa1611f4-c59c-4248-ab49-2e01d19224f9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2014/08/fla-gay-marriage-ban-struck-down-by-federal-judge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00487-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947431 | 601 | 2.125 | 2 |
The Mandir is located on 30 acres of land and the estimated cost is $19 million. The temple will serve around 1000 devotees in the Atlanta Metropolitan area and around 7000 devotees in the region during festivals.
An amazing fact is that no steel or metals have been used in the construction.
The Swaminaryan Mandir houses the idols of Shri Akshar Purushottam Maharaj, Shri Ghanshyam Maharaj, Shri Harikrishna Maharaj and Shri Radha-Krishna Dev, Brahmswarup Bhagatji Maharaj, Brahmswarup Shastriji Maharaj, Brahmswarup Yogiji Maharaj, Pragat Brahmswarup Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Shri Sita Ram and Shri Hanumanji, Shri Shiv Parvati and Shri Ganeshji.
Some details of BAPS Swaminarayan Temple at Lilburn,
- It is one among the top ten largest traditional Hindu Vedic stone temples outside
- The largest temple of the BAPS Swaminarayan sect in
. United States
- The temple is located on 30 acres of land.
- The total area of the mandir is 22442 sq. ft
- The exterior of the Mandir is made of Turkish Limra limestone.
- The main floor is made of Italian Carrara marble.
- The ground floor and basement is made of Indian Sandstone.
- Smallest stone 15 gm to largest stone of 5.2 tones.
- Total stone material is 8430 tones.
- Total 40,000 stone pieces.
- Total stone structure 85,000 cu. Ft
- The length of the Mandir is 213 feet
- The width of the Mandir is 122 feet
- The height from the ground is 78 feet
- The width of main dome is 23’ 3”
- The Mandir has tapered ceiling.
- Inside and outside ‘parikarama’ for devotees to circumambulate around deities.
- Number of Shikhars (pinnacles) is 5.
- 4 Small Pinnacles (Samaram)
- Number of small domes is 6 and one large dome.
- Number of Torans (arches) is 129.
- Number of Zarukhas (balconies) is 4
- Number of Sinhasans (throne) is 9.
- Number of windows is 14.
- Number of Pillars is 151.
- 75 ceilings with 39 different designs
- Apart from this the Mandir has numerous windows and pillars, which are intricately carved, and also marble steps.
- Central heating and cooling.
- Under floor heating with Gel tubing.
- Fiber optic lighting.
- Estimated cost of the Swaminarayan temple is $19 million.
Other Interesting Facts
- The pillars of the temple are intricately hand-carved and each pillar depicts a famous incident from Hindu scriptures.
- The construction of the Mandir is based on ‘Shila Shastras’ – ancient Hindu text dealing in building and sculpture techniques.
- Some stones like marble and limestone were imported from the respective countries to
- The stones were hand-carved in
and later imported to India . United States
- Intricate geometric patterns, rosettes, feathers, leaves and other designs which number to more than 500 were hand-carved in
- Each section of the temple weighing from 50 grams to five tons after carving in
had a bar code. India
- Each section thus imported was then assembled in Lilburn – just like playing the jigsaw puzzle.
Volunteer Work by Swaminarayan Devotees
The backbone of any project is the volunteers who apart from financially helping the project contribute many hours of dedicated work. The dedicated work of the volunteers has helped in keeping down the cost of the Mandir.
Many of the Swaminarayan devotees have helped in polishing stones and in other non-technical works including cooking for the construction workers. The volunteers have also planted more than 40,000 plants for the landscaping.
It is estimated that there are more than 900 regular members in Atlanta Swaminarayan sect. During festival days nearly 6000 devotees used to gather at the old BAPS Swaminarayan temple in
With the arrival of the new temple, devotees in the region will have a family activity center with a prayer hall, which is part of the Mandir. The Mandir complex will also have administrative offices and classrooms for music, discussions and youth activities.
The Reflecting Pool at the Swaminarayan Mandir
Another unique feature of the temple is the reflecting pool. It is a focal point of the main entryway that will stretch to the steps of the temple. The pool will reflect the magnificence of temple architecture, people, and sky and the melding of each in the water. The bottom of the pool is lined with black granite to maximize reflectivity of the water.
The area surrounding the pool will provide a place for contemplation and quiet meditation. The sidewalls of the pool are capped in white limestone. Waterfalls at the either end of the pool cascade down white stone-clad steps. Bronze elephants are installed at the main waterfall. This part of the Mandir is done with the help of Lilburn city council.
Details as found on BAPS webiste, newspapers and Lilburn city council web site. | <urn:uuid:ab31f38d-d463-4bd9-85eb-d4dc56997271> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.hindu-blog.com/2007/08/swaminarayan-mandir-in-atlanta-united.html?showComment=1225186440000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988725475.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183845-00509-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928321 | 1,141 | 1.945313 | 2 |
A complaint may be lodged in person, via telephone, electronically or sending a letter or form. There are various complaint channels.
The stages in submitting a formal complaint are as follows:
Stage 1 - Lodgement
- The complainant advises, orally or in writing, their complaint to the Complaints Coordinator. An acknowledgement will be sent to the complainant within 5 working days of its receipt. In most cases the NGA will resolve the complaint within 15 working days of receipt. If this is not possible, an update will be provided to the complainant as soon as possible specifying the likely time frame for resolution.
- Complaints will be registered and acknowledged by the Complaints Coordinator in the Governance and Reporting Section before being forwarded to the relevant Senior Executive Team member who will identify an appropriate action officer. The Senior Executive Team member will use his/her discretion to determine whether the complaint should be brought to the Director’s attention.
- If the Senior Executive Team member considers the complaint is frivolous or vexatious, he/she will advise the Complaints Coordinator of this assessment, and the reasons. The Complaints Coordinator will then seek the Deputy Director’s approval to dismiss the complaint and advise the complainant accordingly. The decision to dismiss a complaint as frivolous or vexatious cannot be made without the decision maker ensuring they have a complete understanding or the nature, scope and extent of the complaint. This may include seeking additional information from the complainant.
Stage 2 - Assessment
- The complaint will be assessed according to the circumstances and the available evidence. The person making the complaint may be contacted for more information if necessary, and if the complaint is not made anonymously.
- Gallery staff against whom a complaint is made will be provided with all details of the allegation, and their comments sought.
- A response to the complaint will be provided to the complainant outlining any actions to be taken. The response will detail the reasons for the decision. A copy will also be provided to the subject of the complaint.
Stage 3 - Review
- If the complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily, the complainant may apply to the Director for a review to be undertaken. Depending on the circumstances, the Director may appoint a Review Officer. A review must be requested within 28 days of the complainant receiving the response.
- Other rights of review include the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, if relevant to the nature of the complaint. These avenues would normally only be pursued after all other avenues have been exhausted.
The Complaints Coordinator
Governance and Reporting Section
National Gallery of Australia
GPO Box 1150
CANBERRA ACT 2601
If the complaint is about the Complaints Coordinator, the complaint should be forwarded to the Gallery’s Assistant Director at the same postal address above, or telephone (02) 6240 6439. | <urn:uuid:a8687e58-f7c3-4791-af4c-487573fb3f0d> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.nga.gov.au/ContactUs/feedback/formalcomplaint.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719027.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00302-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910861 | 578 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Government expenditure is tied to long-term oil
prices and borrowing is limited to 1 percent of gross domestic
product. However, this system faces criticism at a time when the
economy, hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine, risks entering
"Now it is evident that this mechanism has ceased to satisfy us
fully," Ulyukayev wrote in the daily Vedomosti.
"We have denied ourselves possibilities for stimulating the
economy with the help of fiscal policy at a time when we are
close to recession. When it is necessary to activate measures
aimed at softening the negative consequences from the rise of
Ulyukayev's article is the latest salvo in a battle between
fiscal conservatives, led by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov,
and officials such as Ulyukayev who advocate using looser fiscal
policy to boost economic growth.
Official data released on Friday showed that the economy had
contracted in annual terms in both July and June. This slowdown
coincided with a surge in capital outflows and slumping
investment, linked by analysts to the Ukraine crisis and the
impact of western sanctions.
Western nations have imposed a range of sanctions on Russia over
its role in Ukraine's conflict, with Moscow retaliating by
introducing some trading curbs of its own.
Ulyukayev argued that if the deficit were raised to 2 percent of
GDP, the central bank could help finance it through more active
open market operations, increasing its balance sheet through the
purchase of government bonds from banks.
Russia should also aim to raise more long-term debt finance from
Asia, he argued. If the extra spending was aimed at reducing
bottle-necks in "productive" sectors and infrastructure it would
not be inflationary, he said.
Such views are likely to be opposed by the finance ministry,
which argues that the existing caps on spending and borrowing
should be retained given limited financing and the risk of
falling oil prices that could hit budget revenues.
(Reporting by Jason Bush; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:1b1f92ed-0bd8-45f7-bc1c-b69a0013b2c3> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Aug/25/News/business_M.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280929.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00423-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948092 | 475 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Optima 1 fonts
|Preview||Font name and styles||Price|
|Optima™ 1 Volume||$118,80|
Background: Optima ™ is a Linotype font family with 14 classical styles and designs. Some of these styles are Optima Italic, Optima Medium, Optima Medium Italic and so on. It was created by Hermann Zapf between 1958-1985. Optima is an exclusive copyright and trademark of Linotype GmbH which may be registered and used in certain jurisdictions. The letterforms were designed in the proportions of the Golden Ratio. Optima was produced in matrices for the Linotype typesetting machines and released in 1958.
Designed 1958-1985 by Hermann Zapf.
Old Fashion, Old Style, Old Times, Olimpus, Oliver, Olympian, Omegalomania Package, Omer, One AM, Opaque, Opera, Optima, Optyx, Orange, Orbital, Orbus, Organda, Orgasmia, Ori, Original Garamond CE, Original Garamond Multilingual, Original Script Package, Ornament Collection, Ornament Special | <urn:uuid:5c0db8d9-62e2-4143-b80c-f3dd0f9b3fe8> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.fontseek.com/fonts/optima_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721278.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00149-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.841341 | 239 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Kierkegaard and the Three Modes
A philosopher’s conjecture leads him to a universal law discussed in the Bhagavad-gita.
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is perhaps best known for his theory of the three stages of human existence: the aesthetic stage, the ethical stage, and the religious stage.
The aesthetic stage is not about being an aesthete, as one might suspect. Rather, a person in the aesthetic stage pursues pleasure and avoids commitment. This stage, says Kierkegaard, begins and ends with despair.
A person in the ethical stage is committed. He or she has a sense of duty, labors for family and society, and pursues universal goals. In this stage the feverishworker usually loses his individuality, becoming a cog in the work-a- daymachine of life.
The religious stage, according to Kierkegaard, generally comes after repeated frustration with working hard for society, the rewards seeming limited and meager. At this point, says our Danish philosopher, a person moves beyond the universal to the specific and starts to worship God.
Not all people go through all three stages. Kierkegaard says that in a person’s life, one stage will predominate and usually engulf a person until the day he dies.
Anyone who is familiar with theBhagavad-gita and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness will notice how Kierkegaard’s three stages correspond to the three modes of material nature. These three modes—sattva (goodness, virtue), rajas (energy, passion, turbulence), and tamas (inertia, ignorance)—are an integral part of the Hare Krishna world view.
Mode is a translation of the Sanskrit word guna, which literally means “thread” or “rope,” implying that goodness, passion, and ignorance are the ropes that bind one to the material world. According to the Gita, these three modes, or qualities, underlie everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Permutations of these qualities make up the world, mixing like the primary colors to produce countless variations.
Sattva controls virtues and qualities such as joy, wisdom, and altruism; rajas controls greed, anger, ambition, and frustration; tamas controls sloth, delusion, and idleness. Sattva clarifies and pacifies; rajas confuses and impels; tamas obscures and impedes.
Lord Vishnu, the supreme Godhead who maintains the cosmic manifestation, is naturally the master of the mode of goodness; Brahma, the creator, controls passion; and Siva, the destroyer, presides over ignorance.
As in Kierkegaard’s system, the Gita explains that a particular mode will predominate in a person’s life, influencing the way he or she behaves. And while we might achieve relative happiness by understanding how the modes condition us and interact with our consciousness, we should aspire to become detached from all three modes, even goodness, which embodies finer material qualities. Such qualities are still material and can serve as “the last infirmity of a noble mind,” as Indologist A. L. Basham has articulated it, “causing the soul to cling to wisdom and joy as opposed to God consciousness proper.”
The Gita devotes one hundred of its seven hundred verses to a systematic analysis of the modes of nature. According to the Gita, God, as the creator of the modes, is naturally above them (Bg 7.13); but the modes bind the ordinary soul to the body through conditioning (Bg 14.5); once we understand how the modes work and discover what lies beyond them, we can become free of conditioning and devote our pure mind to the service of God (Bg 14.19).
The fourteenth chapter of the Gita outlines the general characteristics of the modes, and the seventeenth chapter teaches how to perceive the modes in types of worship, food, sacrifice, austerities, and even charity. By analyzing how the modes affect people, Bhagavad-gita helps us understand distinct personality types.
The Gita mainly discusses how the modes influence a person’s character, behavior, and approach to life. For example, if goodness predominates, one will aspire for (and generally achieve) long-term happiness, even if one must accept temporary inconveniences. The person overtaken by passion is usually satisfied by short-term happiness and doesn’t expect much more out of life. And the person dominated by ignorance rarely achieves happiness at all.
In applying the three modes to food, the Gita says that a person in the mode of goodness leans toward healthy and nutritious food, which increases strength and longevity. Persons in passion like overly spiced foods with powerful flavors, temporarily enjoying tasty cuisine that brings on sickness and disease. A person in ignorance has little taste left and tends to eat rotten food that quickly causes ill health.
The Gita summarizes: Goodness leads to lasting happiness that begins by tasting like poison but ends by tasting like nectar. Passion leads to short-term happiness that begins like nectar but ends like poison. And ignorance (at best) leads to happiness that is illusory in both the long and the short term, being the result of sleep, idleness, and negligence. In this way the Gita analyzes various aspects of life and shows how the modes influence all living beings and the world.
Other traditions have elaborated on three-part processes that correspond to personality types. Plato, for example, discusses the rational soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul. These refer respectively to the intellectual, contemplative person, the pugnacious, overly active person, and the selfcentered braggadocio. Plato acknowledges that all three personality types can be found in everyone but inevitably (as with the three modes of nature) one personality type will predominate.
Modern psychology acknowledges three somatotypes, or body types, namely ectomorphy (thin), mesomorphy (muscular), and endomorphy (fat). These are said correspond to certain mental dispositions: cerebrotonia (brain-oriented), somatotonia (muscle-oriented), and viscerotonia (stomach-heart-oriented). Scholars of Indian religion, such as A. L. Herman, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, have noted that while this classification does not directly correspond to the three modes of material nature, the similarity warrants further research. Nonetheless, as Herman acknowledges, the Gita provides one of the most consistent and far-reaching psychological analyses of people and their conditioned responses to the material world. Therefore the Gita, with its in-depth study of the three modes of material nature, offers us indispensable clues about the true nature of the world around us. Taking these clues to heart may enable us to become happy in this life and in the next one as well.
A Step Further
Kierkegaard would probably have appreciated the analysis of the modes set down in the Gita. In fact, after reading the Gita he could conceivably have added a fourth stage to his three stages of life: the transcendental stage. The Gita explains goodness, the highest mode, in about the same way that Kierkegaard explains his religious stage. But what exists beyond the religious stage? What does one do after going through the despair associated with the mode of ignorance (the aesthetic stage), the work ethic associated with the mode of passion (the ethical stage), and the abandonment of all prior conceptions to come to the mode of goodness (the religious stage), where one lives happily and begins to serve God?
When one meets a pure devotee, one moves beyond religious generality and becomes absorbed in true transcendence. Srila Prabhupada spoke about this often: ordinary religiosity versus transcendental religiosity. The science of how to transcend the three modes, and thus to transcend Kierkegaard’s three stages of life, is found within the sacred pages of Bhagavad-gita. | <urn:uuid:c0fd8e49-7444-4914-9205-906aa1a14c04> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://krishna.com/kierkegaard-and-three-modes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00191-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926978 | 1,698 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The story of a Diablotin found at Padu, 2007
Although Dominica is a relatively small island, we currently boast two iconic species of wildlife. Our Mountain Chicken features on our country's coat-of-arms and on the logos of the National Bank of Dominica and the Dominica State College. The Sisserou Parrot, the largest of the Amazon parrots, is even more iconic, featuring more prominently on our national flag, coat-of-arms, and the badge of the Dominica Cadet Corps. The Sisserou Singers is named after that parrot, the country's second highest award is named after this bird, and this species also inspires a wide variety of craft work.
Several other local birds lend their names to places such as Morne Fregad (after the Magnificent Frigatebird), Morne Crabier, Morne Rammier, Petit Coulibri Estate, Grand Coulibri, and Pointe Touterelle. And probably the most majestic of all of our natural features, Morne Diablotin – the tallest peak in the OECS – was named after the Diablotin bird a.k.a. Black-capped Petrel.
At one time, Dominica had a healthy population of Diablotin birds, but for several years the bird was thought to have been "extinct" from the island. No one had seen a Diablotin for six decades, until a bird was found one Monday morning near Peebles Park on 2nd May 1932. That bird was then cared for in captivity, but died twenty-four days later. The next positive sighting of a Diablotin on Dominica was almost seventy-five years to the month after the 1932 sighting, when a bird was found in Trafalgar. The story of that bird follows
It was the morning of Monday 14th May 2007, and Vincent Theophile, an employee of the local electricity company DOMLEC, left the company's Head Office to undertake a work-related assignment at the Padu Power Station, at the entrance to the village of Trafalgar. Interestingly, DOMLEC's Office is located near the site where the Diablotin was collected in 1932. On entering Padu, Vincent saw this strange-looking bird "walking like a duck" on the edge of the road.
Shortly after, Vincent collected the bird, took a good look at it, and realised that he had never seen such a creature before. He then put it in a cardboard box, which he placed at the back of his pick-up truck and proceeded to undertake the assignment that he had come to perform.
Upon completion of his task some time past mid-day, Theophile proceeded to return to Roseau and, en route to his office, stopped off at the Botanic Gardens to bring in the bird (still in the cardboard box at the back of the pick-up) to the Forestry & Wildlife Division, and arrived there during the lunch hour. Asst. Forest Officer Stephen Durand, then Forest Trainee Nigel Harve and the under-signed were present when Theophile came into the office carrying the box. Upon examining the contents of the box, we too noted that none of us had ever seen such a bird before.
Stephen then proceeded to check a bird book, while I took a few photographs of the bird, which was held by Vincent. We subsequently thanked Vincent, and kept the bird in the box in a cool location in the office. Later that afternoon, Stephen emailed the photographs to Dr. Adam Brown of EPIC and Dr. Paul Reillo of RSCF, requesting assistance in identifying the species.
About 7:15 p.m. or thereabout, I returned to the office to do some paper work and met Stephen at his desk, also doing paper work. We checked the bird and it was still alive, as we had heard movements in the box. However, about an hour later, when we again checked in the box, we found that the bird had died. The dead bird was subsequently placed in a freezer.
The next day, Stephen received responses to his emails: What Mr Theophile had collected was in fact a Black-capped Petrel (i.e. a Diablotin bird)! Unfortunately, the Division overlooked issuing a Media Release. However, by coincidence, the bird was found during Dominica's observance of the Caribbean Endemic Birds Festival (CEBF), and its "discovery" and subsequent identification were first reported in the Division's 2007 CEBF Report, which was submitted to the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB); that organisation has since been renamed BirdsCaribbean.
The carcass of the 2007 Diablotin remained "on ice" for 33 months until petrel specialist Dr. David Wingate, who had accompanied members of EPIC to Dominica in February 2010 to collect information and data for the production of a "Seabird Breeding Atlas of the Lesser Antilles", examined the carcass with his team in preparation for preserving the bird, and found that it was actually a female with a brood patch, i.e. it had been sitting on eggs around the time it unfortunately ended up at Padu.
Dr. Wingate and his team success-fully prepared a "skin" of the bird. SignMan provided the Forestry & Wildlife Division with a quantity of plexi-glass which was used to construct a display case for the specimen, which was first displayed to the public at the 2010 CEBF Public Presentation event, which was held at the University of the West Indies Open Campus. The preserved specimen/skin has since been put on display at the Division's Visitor Information Centre at the Botanic Gardens in Roseau.
Now, a few weeks after the preparation of the Diablotin skin – and probably even before the display case was constructed – the Division decided to make a token presentation to the man who had collected the bird, for his very important and historic gesture of taking the bird down to the Forestry & Wildlife Division. But it turned out that on 14th May 2007, neither Stephen nor I had taken note of Vincent's name, and although his hand was in the photos holding the bird, we focused on the bird and so his face was not in any of the photographs. Subsequently, after a failed first attempt to get in touch with him, with the assistance of another staff member of DOMLEC contact was made with Vincent, who was then invited to attend the 2010 CEBF Public Presentation, where he was presented with the token award comprising of a plaque and a copy of the Dominica's Birds book.
By Arlington James | <urn:uuid:37f2c837-8575-460d-a44b-004bcac131db> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://sundominica.com/articles/the-story-of-a-diablotin-found-at-padu-2007-2611/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573197.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818124424-20220818154424-00665.warc.gz | en | 0.979265 | 1,375 | 2.5 | 2 |
From now on, the smartphone is an integral part of our daily lives. If it allows us to stay connected with our loved ones, some uses of the device can be harmful. This is the case of waking up, which can be detrimental to our quality of life and our health. We should ban the alarm clock on our cell phone. Find out why.
Instant messaging, work, organization are all activities that we can do with a smartphone. The latter also has the alarm clock option that many use to start their day. However, if it is a very common practice today, this habit is harmful to your health.
When you want to get up early in the morning, you may need a more or less loud alarm clock. Most people use a cell phone alarm, but this is a harmful habit. Experts explain why it is recommended to ban it from your daily life.
Why it is not good to use your mobile phone as an alarm
The majority use their smartphone to set the alarm in the morning. It is a very common habit as many are convinced that it is the best way to wake up. However, using the phone as an alarm clock can affect your quality of life and your sleep.
Studies show that 5 out of 20 use their mobile phone alarm to wake up. Specialists are sounding the alarm to warn that this is not recommended.
The reason is extremely simple. According to specialists, sleep is seriously affected by the presence of mobile phones or other electronic devices on or next to the bed. The blue light emitted by these affects the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. In other words, the more you use your cell phone before bed, the more difficult it will be for you to fall asleep and have restful sleep.
Researchers from the Northwestern University of Chicago also recently discovered that exposure to light emitted from phones and computers at night can also lead to weight gain. If many rely on the alarm of their phone, the latter can discharge and therefore not wake us up. That’s why there is a trick to make sure you can get up on time.
The trick to hearing the alarm phone with a glass | <urn:uuid:96120cb3-80d2-4c0f-a4d5-64f602b86bb9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://ontechedge.com/do-you-use-your-phone-as-an-alarm-in-the-morning-stop-doing-it-its-not-recommended/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571502.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811194507-20220811224507-00067.warc.gz | en | 0.966482 | 435 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The shifting dynamics of global workforces in the wake of the pandemic, the gig economy, and hybrid work models are forcing managers to stay on their toes. This is further aggravated by an aging population, and the great resignation in recent months, that saw millions of workers quitting their jobs.
In light of these events, it is clear that the balance of power is shifting from the employer to the employees. In order to remain competitive while accommodating a wide range of demands such as work-from-home, BYOD, or flexible scheduling, employers have to constantly revisit their human resource planning, with a wide range of new best practices to help deal with hybrid workers.
Tech workers are expected to stay nimble and keep up with the ever-changing nature of their work, but even here changes aren’t free from resistance. IT leaders have to constantly work with their teams to educate, persuade, and facilitate transitions in a smooth manner to win the cooperation of their employees.
Given the complexities that come with such demands, coupled with the various different approaches to scheduling, tracking, and performance management, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Here are some common mistakes managers make while presiding over delicate transitions and workplace changes, to help you better understand what to avoid.
Absence of Clear Workplace Culture
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. This famous quote by Peter Drucker points out the human factor that pervades every facet of an organization. In an ever-changing workplace, especially in the IT industry, culture plays a critical role in anchoring it to a common set of goals, visions, beliefs, and attitudes.
This isn’t about comfy or flashy interiors, themed parties, or happy hours in the office. Culture defines how your team works together, collaborates, takes key decisions, and responds to various challenges. Do they improvise and just get things done? Or do they wait for updates from higher-ups?
Managers often make the mistake of trying to create a workplace culture, but in reality, culture can only be developed over time as people work and spend time together. As a manager, you can only get the ball rolling by aligning work with culture drivers such as leadership behavior, systems, and symbolism.
That’s more difficult when it comes to remote or distributed teams, and in such cases leaders can promote virtual breakrooms and watercooler conversations as safe spaces to build cultural cohesion in an organization. This also builds better rapport among team members, resulting in better engagement in virtual meetings.
Two years into the pandemic, IT employees have started lamenting the lack of physical connection with co-workers, along with the absence of the plush environment and perks that have since defined culture at most tech firms. Companies like IBM have started addressing this with a ‘Work From Home Pledge’, specifying how employees should support one another in balancing work and life. Zapier has released a 180-page book on doing remote right, containing various tips to avoid burnout, and sustain a workplace culture without an actual workplace.
Lack of Communication & Collaboration
The frictions that arise when dealing with changes in the workforce almost always boil down to inadequate communication. Not keeping relevant individuals in the loop, or failing to address concerns will inadvertently result in failed transitions, along with the alienation of team members.
Managers should maintain clear lines of communication with their teams, and ensure everyone is aware of the future changes and how it affects them. The use of collaborative tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Flock can add plenty of value in this regard, keeping all key developments visible to related parties, while enabling and supercharging agile processes.
Organizations are increasingly worried about losing touch with their teams, putting enormous pressure on systems, structures and processes, especially at times of substantial changes. However, despite the innumerable tools to facilitate communication and collaboration, it ultimately comes down to leadership.
Not Seeking Feedback or Ignoring Resistance
Resistance to change is inevitable, and the hallmark of leadership is acknowledging such apprehensions and getting people on board through persuasion. Not seeking feedback from the team or ignoring such resistance is one of the most common mistakes that only serve to derail transitions.
In a vast majority of cases, employees resist change because they lack complete information about what to expect. They are fed with tids and bits of information through the grapevine, and the best way to take control of the situation is to keep them updated through official channels. Whether it is a shift to a new development environment or team restructuring, people are wired to resist and show discontent.
Recently, the adoption of RPAs or robotic process automation faced internal resistance across various organizations. However, by putting people at the center of automation, getting rid of the mundane to make way for the creative, along with upskilling efforts, workers were ultimately sold on the idea.
Taking feedback from each and every individual, and addressing their concerns is proven to be highly effective in getting people on board. This also gives employees a sense of control over their work lives, and boosts morale, resulting in them being actively involved in making workforce changes a success.
No matter how many tools, systems, and frameworks are at your disposal, dealing with workforce changes ultimately rests on the quality of leadership. Leaders have to remain hands-on to track issues, address concerns, and take corrective actions to ensure seamless transitions.
A common mistake in this regard is inconsistent leadership, when there is an absence of leadership presence or a lack of presence all through the transition process. Workforce changes cannot be dictated, they can only work with education and persuasion which is possible with a strong leadership presence.
An ideal leader should remain active and visible throughout the process, taking feedback, addressing concerns, and showing empathy to keep morale high. If workers get the feeling of abandonment, they will no longer feel vested in the process, giving rise to discontent. When transitioning from a legacy IT system or tech stack, managers need to take stock of utilization rates, variances, and downtimes at regular intervals, to stay involved and keep spirits up.
Oversimplifying, Downplaying, or Underestimating The Magnitude of Change
In the face of big changes in the workforce, managers often tend to oversimplify or downplay the magnitude of change to avoid resistance. This is often counterproductive, as it not only thwarts planning but also affects morale, creating distrust between managers and employees.
By underestimating the nature and impact of these changes, management remains unaware of the planning and training requirements for workers to execute on the ground. It’s also the reason why the plan has to be made in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. If your organization plans a change in its tech stack, leaders need to be aware of the learning curve and plan measures for a smooth transition without any substantial downtime.
Such oversimplification of changes can also result in frustration and anger, as it could be seen as negating or downplaying individual feelings. Such strategies may help you overcome resistance momentarily, but will result in employees viewing future changes with distrust and low regard for managers.
If there is anything we’ve learned over the past few years, it’s this – the change is the only constant. Dealing with and adapting to changes in the workforce is the hallmark of effective executives, and by extension an organization.
Change management and workforce scheduling are specialized fields on their own, which managers can only pick up with extensive study or experience. These mistakes should provide a brief understanding of what executives commonly face when dealing with workforce changes in their organizations.
About the author:
Derek Jones (VP Enterprise Strategy, Americas)
Derek spearheads key initiatives at Deputy, a global workforce management platform for employee scheduling, timesheets and communication. With a focus on workforce, Derek helps business owners and workforce leaders simplify employment law compliance, keep labor cost in line and build award-winning workplaces. Derek has over 16 years’ experience in delivering data-driven sales and marketing strategies to SaaS companies like MarketSource and Griswold Home Care. | <urn:uuid:0b617b25-765b-48c3-ad87-827347e6131e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.apollotechnical.com/dealing-with-changes-in-the-workforce/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572043.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814143522-20220814173522-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.949284 | 1,657 | 1.710938 | 2 |
It was a tough week to be traveling and have two out of my three kids sick. I could have planned better on the travel piece knowing how busy this time of year is for students hearing back about Early Decision and Early Action results. But I had no control over one kid getting Viral Meningitis last week and another one ending up in the ER yesterday afternoon.
The good news is that Max is completely recovered from that scary "M" diagnosis, and after fluids and lab work, Dotsie Bea is on the mend. As I recover from jet lag, mommy guilt, and the ER visit, I am hearing from students who didn't receive definitive answers like the Harberson family got. Deferred students are wondering why they were deferred from a top choice college, what it means, and how they should recover from this past week.
Recovery comes from knowledge. For anyone who has been deferred, here's what you need to know.
1. Read through your deferral letter.
The college usually provides key information about the applicant pool in the "early" round and how to update your application in the coming months.
2. Do a Google search on the college's Early Decision or Early Action results to find out more details.
"To find out more details about a college's Early Decision or Early Action results, Google it!" TWEET THIS | <urn:uuid:94d4ab73-5d61-4e82-b0a4-6a648e41423c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.saraharberson.com/blog/all-the-deets-on-getting-deferred | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572063.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814173832-20220814203832-00667.warc.gz | en | 0.966492 | 281 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Tarryn and Chris were married in Spain. They arrived in style with a beautiful black horse. The journey was eventful because the horse decided to take a lap around the seventeenth and eighteen green before they could alight to wow their guests.
If the eleven plus examinations are at your child’s school then you will know just how long it takes from waking to breakfast to leaving and then arriving. Naturally you want to arrive on time.
Some children do the 11+ test at a local grammar school so this involves different sets of traffic lights. You timing is changed. In years to come this might become a very familiar route – but you can’t afford to gamble on the day of the actual examination.
Simply drive the route a few times, ahead of the day, to make sure you are aware of local traffic conditions.
The last thing you want is your anxiety about arriving on time to rub off on your child. Remember too, that any unforgivable signs and words may be repeated at the most inopportune moment.
Avoid any or all discussion or last minute advice about examination technique and timing. Your last words, and in fact your only words on the subject all morning, just need to be: `Good Luck. Just do your best – we will love you what ever happens.’
You will of course have followed an action plan where the countdown started a full 24 hours before:
Pencils and general stationery
Keeping yourself calm
Not harping on about the examination
After exam snack
The list is endless. Good luck!
Do you remember the discussions about transport to your wedding? How fast will the horse go? Can we rely on the driver? What happens if we arrive early? Does the horse need food? Where can the horse get a drink? How do we recompense the driver?
Arriving at an 11+ examination needs just the same amount of scrutiny. Tarryn (my niece) and Chris arrived relaxed and unflustered. We hope you do the same. | <urn:uuid:6f67c205-5a44-4e52-93d7-52250db492a3> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://blog.elevenpluscourses.co.uk/2006/10/get-me-there-on-time.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572043.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814143522-20220814173522-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.943513 | 431 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Minister of Health of Costa Rica, Dr Daisy Corrales, aims to strengthen the AIDS response among key populations at higher risk in her country, which is where the epidemic remains concentrated. During a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on 6 November at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva, Dr Corrales highlighted the focus of her Ministry in developing HIV communications and educational strategies for organizations working with male sex workers.
“We need to develop our strategies to reach male sex workers with HIV information and education that is relevant to their needs and in agreement with their particular work schedules,” said Dr Corrales.
Costa Rica’s HIV prevalence among adults 15 to 49 years of age is 0.3%. The country’s HIV epidemic is concentrated among key populations at higher risk of infection such as the migrant indigenous population, men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers and their clients. A study conducted in 2010 found HIV prevalence among MSM of 10.9% and 11% among female sex workers.
“It is not always easy to talk about men who have sex with men, sex workers or drug users but we have an obligation to ensure they have access to HIV services that are free from stigma and discrimination,” said Mr Sidibé.
Full text of article available at link below – | <urn:uuid:073ff75c-7bec-4098-b801-dccfdfe3379a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://msmgf.org/costa-rica-to-develop-hiv-strategies-to-reach-male-sex-workers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279224.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00476-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963322 | 277 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Legal organisations are calling for Governments at both a state and federal level to consider Indigenous-led solutions for the countries high incarceration rates of women.
The calls come after the ABC's Four Corners broadcast an investigation into the high incarceration rates of women, which revealed that up to 90 per cent of women imprisoned around the country have been victims of sexual and domestic violence.
But Indigenous justice organisation Change The Record says the revelations are nothing new - the organisation released a report alongside the Human Rights Law Centre two years ago detailing the issues and proposed solutions.
“It’s again telling the story that we all know and that we’ve been saying for many years about the concerns that we have about the women in our prison system. I think it’s important to highlight that Change The Record in 2017 released the over represented and overlooked report, which has identified those issues for women in prison," Change The Record co-chair Cheryl Axleby told NITV.
"Change The Record have been a very strong advocate, we’ve also developed a blueprint for change for the government to actually look at building communities and trying to defer our people away from the justice system and particularly our women, and particularly women who are living with violence."
Factors around ‘offending’ often include arrest warrants for minor offences, including vagrancy, and non-payment of fines, as there have been multiple examples of in Western Australia, where the controversial 'time-to-pay' law still exists. In some cases, women have called the police on an abusive partner, only to find themselves getting locked up.
Ms Axleby has urged the government to start looking at the causal factors of the offending, and has proposed Indigenous-led solutions to work with women on a community level.
"We maybe need to look at alternatives at what can be done in the community like out there in community corrections - looking at investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities so there are strengths based options for women who come into the prison system and have diverted them away form even coming into the prison system and actually build programs out in the community that the women can undertake."
Meanwhile on a state level, the Human Rights Law Centre in Victoria has urged the Andrews Labor Government to change 'unfair' bail laws, which are driving up remand rates. Incarceration rates of women in Victoria have increased by almost 50 per cent since being implemented, with almost 70 per cent of those women behind bars being mothers.
“Premier Andrews cannot ignore the injustice of women’s over-imprisonment that his government’s bail reforms turbo-charged. The Andrews Government introduced draconian bail laws in response to a particular violent man’s offending, but it is women who are paying the highest price,” Human Rights Law Centre Advocacy Director, Ruth Barson, said.
Housing instability and homelessness are also significant factors in incarceration rates of women. A recent example of this was the state government's shutting down and selling off of public housing estate 'Gatwick' to Channel Nine's television show The Block, which saw at least 32 women charged and imprisoned for vagrant-related offences.
“Nobody should be in prison simply because they don’t have a home, are struggling with addiction or because they have nowhere safe to go. The Andrews Government must create stable housing for women so that they can be safe and rebuild their lives,” Megan Pearce, manager of Women Transforming Justice said.
“The housing situation in Victoria is so desperate that many women entering prison are homeless, and when they leave prison they are forced to stay in dangerous rooming houses, or sleep on the streets once again. The Andrews Government must commit to sustained investment in housing." | <urn:uuid:6d6d4985-6d48-4965-9236-51bb7703f528> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/02/27/homelessness-domestic-violence-blame-high-incarceration-rates-women1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571536.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811224716-20220812014716-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.965122 | 772 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Ok, so my sister Tania has shared with you 3 simple steps to living a happy life, and she gave me an assignment (yeah, that's what older siblings do to the younger ones, lol) to kinda pick up where she left off. So here I am :) But instead of continuing with number 4, I'm gonna share with you a few important habits or traits of people who live a happy life.
I'm sure you have helped others in many different ways big or small. Did you notice how you felt afterwards? I bet you were happy! So you should make this a habit.
It doesn't have to be anything big like helping someone with a major project. It can be something as simple as carrying someone's bag or opening the door for them. Practice random acts of kindness. Yes, even to strangers!
How else can you make another person happy? By sharing your own happiness with them. In fact, all you need to do is show you're joy by laughing or smiling. Did you know that smiling at others is one of the simplest ways to show kindness? Happiness is contagious. When you see someone happy you will become happier yourself.
You can also tell good jokes or act silly and make others laugh.
2. Express your feelings.
If you like something or someone, let others know about it like, "Wow, look at that beautiful flower!" or "You certainly look gorgeous!"
We all know things don't always go well all the time. Even happy people get upset or sad from time to time, and that's perfectly normal. The key is to turn around as quickly as possible so we get back to our natural state of joy. But here we have to be careful when expressing or feelings to others that we don't actually escalate any negative situation.
When your sad don't be afraid to cry. Yes, this goes for guys too! You don't necessarily have to cry in front of others if that embarasses you. Go to your room or find a private place and cry you're heart out :)
Its kinda funny how people sometimes ask me, "Do you ever cry?" because I'm always happy when I'm with them. I often answer them with another question, "I'm a girl, what do you think?" and they usually laugh. Crying is a great way to release negative emotions and bring you back to joy.
3. Practice self discipline
When you were little you're parents and teachers often disciplined you and make you do things that you didn't like but they said were important or good for you. As you grow older this happens less often but you may still experience it at work or school like when you have to meet certain deadlines. Your forced to do certain things or suffer the consequences.
But what happens when your by yourself, when there's nobody to tell you what to do? Its easy to just let things go and do whatever you like, but often times it ends up with regret when you have to deal with the consequences.
I can say this from personal experience. I used to procrastinate alot and not do my homework or study for a test until the very last minute, and as a result I would fail the test and get a bad grade. That itself made me feel terrible, and the endless scolding from my parents made me miserable. I wasn't a happy camper then! :)
So over time I have developed self discipline. Well ok, I'm not perfect yet as I still procrastinate every now and then, but I'm much better now, lol. I can tell you self discipline is not the easiest thing but the reward is great, and with practice you can do it!
4. Avoid exposure to negative energy.
There are different sources of negative energy, and each of us is affected differently, so you need to know what things turns you off or puts you in a bad mood, and make an effort to avoid them. But there's one source of negative energy that's quite common and affects alot of people, and that's TV! Many people are addicted to it and they don't even know that its negatively affecting them in many ways.
The news is especially bad (surprised?) because like 90% of it is negative, from your local crimes and accidents to natural disasters to wars and terrorism. Then there are shows that promote violence or invoke anger, fear or sadness. All of that is not conducive to living a happy life.
Tania and I could have had a TV in our rooms as our parents actually offered it to us when we were older, but we chose not to have it. We told them the reason and they were like surprised but agreed with us, and said they could also learn something from us kids :) They actually considered getting rid of the TV in they're room. Well, they decided to keep it but they watch it less often. At least that's what they told us, lol.
Tania and I do watch TV on occasion but we go to the media room, and only watch shows that are educational or entertaining in a positive way.
The same can be said about the internet although there are plenty of wonderful things on there as well. So be discreet and choose wisely what websites you visit, what videos you watch, and what games you play. Also, avoid being addicted to the internet.
I know its easier said than done, especially with smartphones and everything, and Tania and I are guilty of it ourselves as were often glued to our phones even when were with others. Mom always scolds us when we do it like in a restaurant or when other people are talking. She says its disrespectful and takes away from the joy of sharing the moment with people we care about. We agree but its a hard habit to break :)
5. Be spiritual
If you belong to a particular religion, that's fine. Practicing your faith is one way to be spiritual. But you don't even have to believe in a god to be spiritual. If your non-religious (like my family and myself), you can do it in different ways.
Meditating is a great way to achieve that. We don't go to church or anything, but our family meditates together every morning for about 20 minutes before breakfast, and I do it on my own for like 10 minutes every night before bed. Many studies have shown that meditation has numerous benefits both physical and spiritual. I won't go into the techniques as there are many resources online. Just look it up and give it a try.
If meditation is not your thing, you can still develop mindfulness by like walking in nature and feeling the serenity, and just appreciating all that's available to you in life. This will increase the level of your happiness.
Learning personal growth/personal development (which is what this blog is all about) and finding your life purpose are also forms of spirituality. So yeah, you can still be spiritual and derive happiness from it even if your an atheist.
From paradise Hawaii this is Sharleen (a.k.a. Lynn) reminding you that life is magical. So...
Aloha, and let's make it a magical day! | <urn:uuid:89aa8338-982a-478f-8dd6-2df534434639> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://personaldevelopmentmagic.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283008.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00081-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978636 | 1,466 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Vermont’s new Journey Farmer Program is a two-year program designed to support beginning farmers who are in the first few years of running their own enterprise. Offered by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), the program provides resources and opportunities for aspiring new farmers to increase their knowledge base and continue developing the skills they need to farm successfully.
The Journey Farmer Program offers a range of services and benefits including connecting participants with a farmer mentor, a $500 educational stipend, free admission to NOFA-VT workshops and conferences, business planning support and technical assistance from NOFA-VT staff, and access to NOFA-VT Revolving Loan Fund. In addition, Journey Farmers become part of a learning community of other aspiring farmers and farmer mentors. For more information, download this overview of the program.
Applying: NOFA-VT reviews Journey Farmer applications once a year with a February 29th deadline, and will notify applicants at the beginning of March. Applications are available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NOFA-VTJourneyFarmer2012 or in hard copy by request.
The Journey Farmer Program was started in 2011 with funding from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Agricultural Innovation Center, and is currently supported by the USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. | <urn:uuid:f1de7c62-6b8b-4fb0-aef3-4d3e5205b700> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://blog.uvm.edu/wagn/2012/02/15/journey-farmer-program-supporting-start-up-success/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00047-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933282 | 270 | 1.59375 | 2 |
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Behavioral studies of human language, Other Subject
Behavioral studies of human language
Today, there is a wealth of information about human language and the underlying neural mechanisms. A lot of that information has been accumulated in studies on language deficits exhibited by neurological patients with focal brain lesions and, more recently, in non-invasive neuroimaging studies with healthy volunteers. Prior to development of modern non-invasive neuroimaging methods, however, behavioral experiments in healthy volunteers have been carried out in a rather ingenious manner to reveal important aspects of human language functions. Examples of how behavioral methods have been utilized in human language studies are described in the following.
The vocabulary of the human language (also called “mental lexicon”) is highly excessive with, depending on the language, the amount of words ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. The relative size of the vocabulary depends on how one counts and the nature of the language in question, for instance, whether only root words are counted (in which case so-called isolating languages appear to be larger than other languages) or whether one counts only words that are currently used. Nonetheless, vocabularies of each of the human languages are extremely rich, yet one is able to access
each word relatively effortlessly, given that the words are produced and comprehended with an approximate rate of three per second (there is, of course, variability between languages in the average length of a single word).
The organization of the mental lexicon has been a topic of numerous behavioral studies (as well as that of neuroimaging studies, as will be described later in this chapter). As a simple example of how recording of reaction times could be used to study mental lexicon is measurement of reaction times to words that begin with different letters of the alphabet to answer the question of whether the mental lexicon is organized in an alphabetical order like any ordinary dictionary. If this were true, one would expect longer reaction times to words as a function of serial position within the alphabetically organized dictionary (i.e., longer reaction times for words that begin with letter “w” than for words beginning with letter “a”). In reality, of course, the mental lexicon is not organized in an alphabetical order.
Rather than alphabetic organization, it has been observed that words which are more frequently used in daily life are accessed faster than less frequently used words (Forster and Chambers, 1973). Incidentally, it also seems that the more frequently used words are the ones that evolve slowly. For instance, across European languages the words for “two” are rather similar. In contrast, the words for “tail” are rather different (Pagel et al., 2007). In addition to frequent words, words that are more unique in how they sound are accessed faster than words that are acoustically less unique (e.g., words “eight”, “late”, and “rate” sound alike; homophones such as “too” and “two” are the prime example of this).
Semantic networks of words
Behavioral studies have suggested that words which are semantically close to one another also seem to be close to one another at the level of brain representations. These so-called priming studies are based on a relatively simple experimental design where two words are presented in close succession. The first word is a prime and the second word is a test word. The test word is either a real word or a pseudoword (i.e., a string of letters that resembles a real word but does not mean anything such as “tacke”). The task of subjects is then to press, as quickly as possible, a reaction time button if they judge the test word to be a real word. If the first word is semantically close to the test word, the reaction times are significantly faster than if the two are semantically unrelated (Neely, 1977). For instance, truck-car pairing results in faster responses than rose-car pairing.
Based on results from these studies, it has been possible to construct semantic networks of words (see Figure 9-1), where semantic concepts are nodes of the network and there are links between the nodes representing semantic associations between the nodes. The distance in the network (i.e., number of links between two concepts) reflects distance in the semantic space. It is assumed that presentation of a word or a concept results in spreading of activation across the semantic network, thus explaining the priming effects. For an early review on the behavioral studies on semantic language networks, see (Collins and Loftus, 1975).
Posted Date: 7/7/2012 6:38:01 AM | Location : United States
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I need help for assignment help?
Linear programming, #question.A paper mill produces two grades of paper viz...
#question.A paper mill produces two grades of paper viz., X & Y. Because of raw material restrictions, it cannot produce more 400 tons of grade X paper & 300 tons of grade Y paper
Sentence, how would you fix this sentence... The fact that he is in an alle...
how would you fix this sentence... The fact that he is in an alley, bleeding on the ground, a couple of things are going through his mind; one is “That was a fierce rumble. They go
True or false, #Busing is the practice of school districts sending students...
#Busing is the practice of school districts sending students from one school to another to achieve greater racial balance?
IT Security Governance., 1. What is IT Security Governance? 2. 2. What (com...
1. What is IT Security Governance? 2. 2. What (commonly) governance activities should gauge? 3. 3. Who is responsible for information security and why? 4. 4. List all steps of Nine
Informaion technology, impacts of information technology in the developing ...
impacts of information technology in the developing countries
Management Information Systems, Does the experts have any knowledge with MI...
Does the experts have any knowledge with MIS and security issues
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Take stress seriously
I just came across this article which provides a very shot, but very insightful analysis of some of the main caused of work stress:
I think stress is, by its very nature, always negative. Pressure may create stress, but pressure is not negative in itself. Some pressure is even enjoyable, getting the blood racing and the mind whirring. What turns pressure into stress may be any of these added factors:
- Tiredness. Lack of time or opportunity to relax between bouts of pressure. Almost any stimulus, if continued for too long, become unpleasant or painful. It’s the same with pressure.
- Fear. If the outcome of the situation causes you anxiety or dread, there is no way it can remain a positive experience. A great deal of workplace pressure comes into this category, since there is often an implied threat if you fail to produce whatever is required, on time and to order.
- Haste. Doing things in a rush tends to make you feel anxious. You may fear you have not had time to do a good job, or that you have been forced to cut too many corners for comfort.
- Riskiness. Pleasurable pressure is usually either risk-free, or comes with the kind of risk people enjoy taking (like skiing fast downhill). Stress arises when the risks produce real anxiety and apprehension.
- Feeling out of control. No one can avoid stress when they feel that their lives are being forced down a path over which they have no control. Feeling that you are no longer in control of important parts of your well-being is inherently stressful.
- Excess. We all have a natural tolerance level for pressure. As soon as it increases beyond that level, we start to feel stress. It’s like an aircraft wing. It is designed to withstand a certain range of pressures, plus a safety margin. If the pressures on it increase beyond the design limits, stress results. Too much stress and the wing will break off.
Many people dismiss the idea of slowing down, or taking work/life balance seriously, out of a mixture of bravado and the idea that pressure is natural. It is, and so is stress. We can all withstand some level of stress, especially if it comes in short bursts, with gaps in between for recovery. What leads to burnout and sickness is long-term, unrelenting levels of stress. When that happens, things go badly wrong and may not be recoverable. | <urn:uuid:9978d696-09cc-4c4f-b4bc-784faa4a173b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://steves.seasidelife.com/2006/11/10/take-stress-seriously/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571982.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813172349-20220813202349-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.959844 | 504 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Meet Vive Medical Spa in Tijuana, the best place for Botox, with certified doctors who can advise you on the best treatments to eliminate wrinkles and skin imperfections.
Botox is the trade name for Botulinum Toxin Type A, a substance used in aesthetic medicine since the 1980s to beautify the face and remove wrinkles.
Its action consists of relaxing the muscles to erase the lines of expression because it blocks the nerve impulses that generate a muscle contraction. Therefore, its application in controlled doses allows the elimination of marks and furrows on the face.
See the seven points about Botox that you should know.
One: The younger you are, the better the effects, and the less Botox you need.
The preventive application of Botox from the age of 20 is called Baby Botox. What Botox does is relax the muscles and prevent them from generating wrinkles over time.
With this, you improve your appearance and avoid wrinkles.
Botox is not only to fight the effects of the age. Besides, it helps to relax the muscles on the face that causes wrinkles at any age.
Using Botox from your twenties, you may free your facial muscles and avoid the lines of expression that the time forms during the entire life.
Two: Botox does not give volume or cause facial paralysis.
It is false that Botox increases your lips or any other area. Botox is not a filler but a muscle softener.
The action of Botox consists of relaxing the muscles that cause wrinkles
The doctor injects Botox according to the goals of the patient, at the exact point, and depth needed.
The effect is not a paralysis of the muscles but the softness of the skin, giving beauty and young appearance.
Three: Time of effect.
Botox gives immediate results, but you will start to see the main changes within 3 to 10 days and in the following months.
The full effect of Botox comes after six months. Then, the active substance will be naturally absorbed by the body without any adverse effect.
The doctor will tell you how many sessions you’ll require in a year, for having the best results.
Four: There are several techniques to apply Botox.
You should ask your doctor who specializes in injections to find out which type of application is best for you.
They can be small incisions or a single one that allows dosing in a large area, with a fan or line technique.
The doctor uses a small syringe to apply the exact dose to the right positions in the face. The goal is to reach the points where the wrinkles develop and to get free the muscles of any tension.
Five: Botox attacks the expression lines.
What you can improve with Botox: Erase expression lines, crow's feet, forehead furrows, frown lines, and others.
Every facial gesture has its wrinkles. Look at yourself in the mirror and make your expressions: laugh, get angry, cry, or be surprised. You will see which points on your face you should pay attention to, right now!
In those points, you'll have wrinkles, or lines of expressions.
The forehead lines are formed by the action of several muscles, mainly to express emotions, like a surprise, fear, or disgust. Through time, those lines remain permanently, due to the loss of skin elasticity.
Six: Botox prevents sweating
Dou you have heavy perspiration?
Botox is the solution for those who have the problem of excessive sweating. For people who always have their shirt wet, even in cold weather, or have wet hands!
Botox is a medical solution to avoid sweating because it blocks the nervous impulse top the sweating glands. You can be dry all day without having collateral risk.
Besides, Botox is an excellent option in cases of patients with nervous tics, strabismus, or headache. The muscle block helps them to improve their life.
Seven: Did you know that there are several brands and prices?
Botox is actually in the most famous commercial name of Botulinum Toxin Type A, the substance that erases wrinkles and relaxes muscle tension.
You can also found the same substance in different presentations and formulas according to the effects you want.
Some types of Botox may last longer; others are softer for thin lines, deeper, to heavy folds, and others have immediate effect. Ask the Doctor! | <urn:uuid:09f34ee9-a041-496f-8f9d-20b629674f83> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://vivemedicalspa.com/the-truth-about-botox-you-should-know/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.930068 | 910 | 1.59375 | 2 |
|Institution:||University of Oslo|
|Full text PDF:||http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-25002
The dissolution of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990 left the multi-ethnic republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a difficult position. This thesis is presenting the political situation that emerged in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the League of Communists of Yugoslavia dissolved to the end of the first democratic election held in November 1990. The focus is put on various actors’ vision: what sort of Bosnia and Herzegovina they wanted and what was possible to arrange. Many feared that importation of nationalism from Serbia and Croatia could lead to disastrous consequences and that this republic might even be carved up. On the other hand there were those who believed that Bosnians-Herzegovinian’s would reject the nationalist doctrine and continue fostering the notion of “brotherhood and unity”. Democratic elections already held in Slovenia and Croatia in the spring months provided regime change with nationalist colouring. In Serbia the nationalist doctrine had replaced the communist one in the mid-1980s. All of this had enormous impact on the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. When it was clear that mono-ethnic parties could register and participate in the election, the fear that Bosnia and Herzegovina would follow the path already seen in neighbouring republics became even greater. The outcome of the election result brought a new political elite in power: one that was of anti-communist approach. The three largest mono-ethnic parties -the Party of Democratic Action, Serb Democratic Party and Croatian Democratic Union- formed a coalition. They assured the Bosnian-Herzegovinian citizenry that they could work together and thus excluded the possibility of a civil war. However, although they managed to divide the power between themselves after the election their coalition was short-lived since they differed in their view of what status Bosnia and Herzegovina should have in the Yugoslav context, as later events showed. | <urn:uuid:074f388a-2930-4e53-bdf1-fcfab2044ffd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://dissertation.com/abstracts/1279653 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00667.warc.gz | en | 0.960208 | 521 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Has anyone come across "Evolutionary concepts in the nineteenth century.
Natural selection and Patrick Matthew" by W. J. Dempster? I picked up a copy
the other day (it's just come out as 2nd edition).
Seems as though Matthew outlined Natural Selection (in a form) in an appendix
to a book called "Naval Timber and Arboriculture". The author seems to be
trying to affect an academic style, but only (on the basis of the first 80 or
so pages) seems to circle around a number of derogatory comments about Darwin
and his friends.
Anyone heard of this guy Dempster? | <urn:uuid:d0bfc850-a016-4249-bf6b-7e51d4de9ad2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.bio.net/hypermail/mol-evol/1996-April/004399.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573540.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819005802-20220819035802-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.96243 | 137 | 1.867188 | 2 |
As Valentine’s Day grows near, the store shelves are filled with chocolate hearts and stuffed animals. They’re sure to delight your little one, but sometimes it’s more about the things you do all year long, rather than on this day of love. Here are five, less obvious, ways to show your child just how much you care.
1. Teach your children how to swim. We live in a warm climate along the coast. During the spring, summer, and fall our kids spend countless hours the pool and ocean. I’ve had my own close call, so when I tell you the unthinkable can happen in only minutes, even amongst many adults, believe me. The good news is that many of the local recreation, fitness, and aquatic centers offer year-round swim lessons for all ages and abilities. It’s never too early to start and you shouldn’t stop until the level after you feel your child has really got it.
2. Take your little one to the library. Our area is filled with them and I’ve been a fan of their wonderful youth programs for years. The librarians start with story-times for the little ones and go with gaming hour and book clubs for the older patrons. Typically membership is free and so are their events. Through the library you can bring your child an endless supply of words, colors, imagination, and interaction.
3. Maintain your health. There are so many reasons why we’re too busy or it’s inconvenient to eat right, exercise, and see a doctor. Think about it. Who would fill your shoes if you were ill? Who would go to work or get up in the middle of the night to comfort away a bad dream? As parents, we tend to put our family’s needs above our own. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the intention to workout only to fill that time with a child’s request.
Look at this as an investment. Protecting the time it takes us to shop for and prepare good food keeps our bodies healthy, as well as increases the chances that we’re feeding our family well. Exercising reduces stress, boosts our cardiovascular capacity for more stamina, and increases our flexibility which reduces the risk of injury. Last, seeing a doctor routinely makes it more likely that any issue will be caught and dealt with quickly. You and your family are worth that time spent.
4. Nurture your relationships. Kids can tell when their parents aren’t connecting. Conversations are short. Touching is minimal. And while the machine of your household is moving smoothly, everyone knows it could be better.
I was that mom who had tons of offers from Grandmas to watch the baby, but I didn’t take them up on it for several months. Now I’m a fan of the regular outing sans children. While I adore them, I crave time with my husband where I don’t have to play tic-tac-toe on the kid’s menu, cut someone’s food, or take anyone to the bathroom. We don’t have a “no talking about the little ones” rule or anything, but we do fully appreciate the ability to chat about anything without interruption. We had a relationship long before the children were born and I have no guilt over enjoying that again. It almost always leads to more courtesy and kisses – something everyone appreciates.
5. Act like a kid. Seriously Mom, lighten up. Ditch most of the rules and get dirty finger painting, play flashlight tag until the mosquitos come out, spin in circles and get dizzy, or have a parade around your house complete with clanging pot lids as cymbals. The responsibilities our lives bring have our children seeing us “on the job” most of the time. Imagine how much joy they get when we let our hair down and just play! The smiles and giggles are contagious on Valentine’s Day or any other.
Photo credit: BenSpark and Fanny
As printed in the February 2013 issue of Parent News.
Want to read more? Check out the latest on the Myrtle Beach for Families blog. | <urn:uuid:1fd0968a-dd6d-4438-be09-b26873d9f4bb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.myrtlebeachforfamilies.com/2013/02/the-valentines-day-gifts-your-kids-really-want-they-just-dont-know-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571911.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813081639-20220813111639-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.965666 | 885 | 1.898438 | 2 |
For profit organizations other than small businesses,
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education,
Private institutions of higher education,
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recognizes that preventing and ameliorating youth violence requires a shared framework to address the factors that impact violence and victimization at the individual, peer, family, community, and societal levels and promote child and youth well being and that grantees who work in partnership with OJJDP to address these issues will benefit from targeted technical assistance, including enhanced peer-to-peer support, that will assist them to reach their short- and long-term goals.
This site is supported by Grant/ Cooperative Agreement No. 1UF2CE002359-04 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. | <urn:uuid:73656e84-e873-44c2-92cb-39a14b639d3c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.nsvrc.org/opportunities/funding/2014-youth-violence-prevention-technical-assistance-program?qt-sidebar_qt_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280929.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00422-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941575 | 211 | 1.960938 | 2 |
BUILD is one of those architecture companies that has something interesting and inspiring in all its works. We already wrote about several houses that the team has designed and here is one more work they’ve recently done. Plywood Re-usable Christmas Tree Prototype is based on the classic Frasier Fir, often used for Christmas trees in the Pacific Northwest. It stands 5’-0” tall and is fabricated in two leaves that slide together with a slip-notch. When not in use, the leaves slide apart and can be flat packed for efficient storage. 1/8” Diameter holes and 1/2” grooves allow for the addition of lights and ornaments. The profile is cut from 1/2” thick apple-ply for its strength and crisp laminated edges. The prototype dimensions have been engineered so that a plywood tree can be cut from one 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood. The final tree is a very nice modern Christmas tree alternative. | <urn:uuid:befb0a8e-dc34-4df7-b94d-0042fc047e6d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.digsdigs.com/modern-plywood-christmas-tree/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00241-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963965 | 206 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Don't miss your chance to join the First Family for the 136th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The big event is on Monday, April 21 and more than 30,000 people will join in on the fun. Guests will have a chance to participate in activities including games, stories, singing, dancing, and of course, the traditional egg roll - all on the White House South Lawn.
This year's theme "Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape," encourages children to lead healthy, active lives in support of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative. In addition to the fun and games, the day's activities will help educate families on smart ways to incorporate healthy eating and exercise choices into their daily routines.
Starting today, you can enter the lottery at www.recreation.gov for a chance to join in on the fun. The event is open to children ages 13 years and younger and their families. Be sure to enter the lottery before it closes on Monday, March 10 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Families and schools who can't make the trip to Washington, D.C. but want to participate in the festivities can enter the annual poster contest. The First Lady will select the winning design to be used as part of the White House 2014 Easter Egg Roll program.
The Easter Egg Roll tradition dates back to 1878 and the wooden White House Easter egg first became part of the Easter Egg Roll tradition in 1981, when President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan hosted a hunt for wooden eggs that bore the signatures of actors, actresses, famous politicians, and athletes. This year the 2014 souvenir eggs come in four bright colors and and include the stamped signatures of the President and First Lady. A commemorative purple "Bo and Sunny" egg is included only in the 2014 5-pack Collector's Egg Set. Visit Recreation.gov to learn more about the official White House keepsake eggs.
Make sure to stay tuned for additional information about the 2014 White House Easter Egg Roll by following along at #EasterEggRoll and visiting WhiteHouse.gov/EasterEggRoll. | <urn:uuid:7e58a116-d9b2-401f-8e2b-dcf3219c0da1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/03/07/opening-today-2014-easter-egg-roll-ticket-lottery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720000.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00025-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956095 | 429 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Too few pondering the future of park
How about it, teachers, town boards and clergymen – do your students or people know about the history and future of the Adirondack Park? The future of the park is being considered in many places.
Maybe you could ask forest rangers, state Department of Environmental?Conservation officers, state officials and officials with the Adirondack Park?Agency to give talks in schools. After all, it’s going to be their park. I think there are people and students who don’t realize what’s going on.
I hiked back to a remote pond and caught four nice trout – no one goes there. This is one example of what we will lose if the state lets new snow-machine or all-terrain-vehicle trails into wild forest areas.
I also think trappers and hunters who care the most about the park and animals are the most restricted from it.
I was raised at a time when venison and fish were a big part of meals. I would like to see the deer and moose built back up to where they used to be.
I’m thinking of people and students in the future. I’m hoping they can hunt and trap like I have done. It’s over for me; I’m 73. We need tourists and ATV trails, but not in wild forest.
There are people who think by bringing the same atmosphere that is in Central Park – tourists, blacktop, trails, park benches, easy access and money – to our small towns and wild forest that this will solve all their problems. In my opinion, if you mix New York City and wild forest together, you will end up with their problems. What we do now, good or bad, we will pay for in the future – good or bad.
LEWIS N. PAGE Sr. | <urn:uuid:dead7287-15ff-4b57-97fb-f6c354705476> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://content.leaderherald.com/?p=559054/Too-few-pondering-the-future-of-park.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282202.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00546-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962464 | 394 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Currently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 only provides the
cachefiles caching back-end. The
cachefilesd daemon initiates and manages
/etc/cachefilesd.conf file controls how
cachefiles provides caching services. To configure a cache back-end of this type, the
cachefilesd package must be installed.
The first setting to configure in a cache back-end is which directory to use as a cache. To configure this, use the following parameter:
Typically, the cache back-end directory is set in
/var/cache/fscache, as in:
FS-Cache will store the cache in the file system that hosts
. On a laptop, it is advisable to use the root file system (
/) as the host file system, but for a desktop machine it would be more prudent to mount a disk partition specifically for the cache.
File systems that support functionalities required by FS-Cache cache back-end include the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 implementations of the following file systems:
The host file system must support user-defined extended attributes; FS-Cache uses these attributes to store coherency maintenance information. To enable user-defined extended attributes for ext3 file systems (i.e.
tune2fs -o user_xattr /dev/
Alternatively, extended attributes for a file system can be enabled at mount time, as in:
/path/to/cache -o user_xattr
The cache back-end works by maintaining a certain amount of free space on the partition hosting the cache. It grows and shrinks the cache in response to other elements of the system using up free space, making it safe to use on the root file system (for example, on a laptop). FS-Cache sets defaults on this behavior, which can be configured via cache cull limits
. For more information about configuring cache cull limits, refer to Section 11.4, “Setting Cache Cull Limits”
Once the configuration file is in place, start up the
service cachefilesd start
cachefilesd to start at boot time, execute the following command as root:
chkconfig cachefilesd on | <urn:uuid:9c24bc56-b07e-44a3-9e56-95e9651874a2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/rhel6/rhel_6_storage_admin/rhel_6_storage_fscachesetup.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572163.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815085006-20220815115006-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.796927 | 515 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The simple idea behind PayPal -- using encryption software to allow people to make financial transfers between computers --
has turned into one of the world's primary methods of online payment. Despite its occasionally troubled history, including fraud,
lawsuits and zealous government regulators, PayPal now boasts more than 86 million accounts worldwide.
PayPal is an online payment service that allows individuals and businesses to transfer funds electronically.
You can use it to pay for online auctions, purchase goods and services, or to make donations. You can even use it to send cash to someone.
A basic PayPal account is free. You can send funds to anyone with an e-mail address, whether or not they have
a PayPal account. They'll get a message from PayPal about the funds, and then they just have to sign up for their own account.
Funds transferred via PayPal reside in a PayPal account until the holder of the funds retrieves them or spends them.
If the user has entered and verified their bank account information, then the funds can be transferred directly into their account.
Signing up for PayPal is quick and doesn't even require you to enter any bank account information, although a checking account
or credit card are required to use many of PayPal's features. From the PayPal homepage, just click on the "Sign Up Now" button.
At the next page, you'll choose whether you want a personal, business or premier account. If you just plan to use PayPal for the occasional
ebay auction or online purchase, a personal account is the right choice. If you intend to use PayPal to accept payments for your own business,
then a business or premier account would be more suitable. If you select a personal account, you can upgrade in the future.
rom there, you will go to a page that asks for your basic personal information -- your name, address, telephone number and email address. You will also be required to enter two security questions in case you lose your password, and you have to enter a randomly generated series of letters and numbers, which help prevent fraud. Once you confirm your account by following instructions you'll receive via email, the signup process is done.
Adding a valid, current credit card to your account will allow PayPal to confirm your address (if it matches where you receive your credit card statements). Having a confirmed address shows both buyers and sellers that you are less likely to be a scammer. You can also use your credit card for PayPal's Expanded Use service, which allow you to draw money from the credit card, instead of just from a bank account.
If you want to add funds to your PayPal account from your checking account, or vice versa, you need to enter and verify your bank account with Paypal. When you enter your account number and routing number, PayPal will make two micropayments to that account. These payments are usually about $0.05. PayPal will then ask you to enter those amounts in order to verify the account (they'll show up on your bank statement). After you enter them, your bank account will be ready for use.
Article Extracted from How Stuff Works Website | <urn:uuid:5433256f-ad8c-4316-90eb-51c419fe443e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://modelbuffs.com/modelbuffs_payment.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280730.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00250-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92924 | 639 | 2.34375 | 2 |
' Violet Mackerel has a new theory.
It is the theory of helping small things.
'Violet Mackerel quite likes helping. She particularly likes to help small things. So when Violet makes friends with a tiny ladybird called Small Gloria, she wants to give her a Helping hand. But sometimes it's hard to know the best way to help a Small thing - especially when it's not in its Natural Habitat.' (Publisher's blurb) | <urn:uuid:958768a7-758e-474d-bde8-a37b94e4de2d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C801116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280504.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00138-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964509 | 96 | 1.921875 | 2 |
- In Alerts 2003
- Post 03 June 2003
- Last Updated on 03 June 2003
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Mark Curtis first came to our attention with his extraordinary book, The Ambiguities of Power - British Foreign Policy Since 1945 (Zed Books, 1995). Using formerly secret government documents, Curtis demolished many of the myths surrounding British foreign policy.
In 1953, for example, Britain sent a cruiser, two frigates and seven hundred troops to its colony, British Guiana, and overthrew a democratically elected government, the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The Colonial Secretary in the House of Commons explained in October 1953 that the PPP was "part of the deadly design to turn British Guiana into a totalitarian state dominated by communist ideas," such that Britain was "faced with part of the international communist conspiracy".
Curtis revealed, however, that privately the British government's Commonwealth Relations Office stated in September 1953 that the PPP "was in fact elected to power on a mildly socialist programme, the implementation of which would have been in general of great value to the territory". The PPP's programme was, it noted, "no more extreme" than that of the British Labour party: "It contains none of the usual communist aims and it advocates industrial development through the encouragement of foreign capital."
No matter, the propaganda paved the way for military intervention in pursuit of a ruthless hidden agenda. In 1964, The Latin American Bureau reported that, with the PPP out of the way in British Guiana, the sugar transnational Bookers was assured of "a remarkable degree of control over the economy, both through its dominant position in the sugar industry and through its interests in fisheries, cattle, timber, insurance, advertising, and retail commerce".
In his foreword to Curtis's latest book, Web Of Deceit - Britain's Real Role in the World (Vintage, 2003), John Pilger writes:
"Mark Curtis's brilliant, exciting and deeply disturbing book unwraps the whole package, layer by layer, piece by piece. Not since Noam Chomsky's Deterring Democracy, has there been such a disclosure, whose publication could not be more timely."
Curtis demolishes the rhetoric behind the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, revealing how they fit a pattern, not of humanitarian intervention, but of control of 'Third World' natural resources and markets through the installation of US-friendly 'democratic structures'.
No one who reads 'Web of Deceit' can doubt that Tony Blair has long been "duping" the British public. At the Labour party conference in 2001, Blair declared:
"I tell you, if Rwanda happened again today as it did in 1994, when a million people were slaughtered in cold blood, we would have a moral duty to act."
The media reported Blair's words without challenge, omitting to mention that the British government had +contributed+ to genocide in Rwanda, as Curtis points out:
"Britain used its diplomatic weight to reduce severely a UN force that, according to military officers on the ground, could have prevented the killings. It then helped ensure the delay of other plans for intervention, which sent a direct green light to the murderers in Rwanda to continue. Britain also refused to provide the capability for other states to intervene, while blaming the lack of such capability on the UN."
This information is publicly available, but mainstream media and the academic community have simply chosen to look the other way.
Similar subservience to power can be seen regarding the murderous war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), costing some four million lives. Curtis notes:
"Britain sold arms to Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola, who intervened to support the DRC regime, at the same time as supplying Uganda and Rwanda, who were fighting the DRC and its allies."
The International Institute for Security Studies in South Africa has commented on the impact of British greed: "Britain is inflaming the situation by arming both sides."
Such awful examples - which represent the norm, not exceptions - do not fit the exalted image of benign states wielding power in the defence of "all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom" (Bush), or in order to uphold "values of justice, tolerance and respect for all regardless of race, religion or creed" (Blair).
We know only too well what a difficult and vitally important achievement it is for Mark Curtis to publish such an honest piece of work via a mainstream publisher. We strongly urge you to buy this book - a must-read, if ever there was one - and so support a rare and precious voice of dissent in our society.
David Edwards and David Cromwell
Editors - Media Lens
THE CONCEPT OF "BASIC BENEVOLENCE"
By: Mark Curtis
The ideological system promotes one key concept that underpins everything else - the idea of Britain's basic benevolence. Mainstream reporting and analysis usually actively promotes, or at least does not challenge, the idea that Britain promotes high principles - democracy, peace, human rights and development - in its foreign policy. Criticism of foreign policies is certainly possible, and normal, but within narrow limits which show "exceptions" to, or "mistakes" in, promoting the rule of basic benevolence. Government statements on its always noble intentions are invariably taken seriously and rarely even challenged, let alone ridiculed. These assumptions and ways of reporting are very deep-rooted.
Thus Guardian editors can write of "Britain's reputation as both a respecter and champion of human rights". One of its regular columnists can write that "the foreign policies of democratic states, beyond the basic requirement of ensuring physical security, are now based firmly on two pillars - trade advantage and human rights". In their book on the New Labour government, two Guardian writers can refer to Blair as "a high minded champion of human rights". Similarly, an academic can write of "Britain's commitment to third world development" - a fact, requiring no justification. The list could go on, and cover the entire mainstream.
Indeed, it is only we who are benevolent. As the New Statesman's John Lloyd has written: "the defence of human rights - or more accurately, the aggressive promotion of human rights in an arena, such as Kosovo, where they are being brutalised - is a posture confined to the rich and secure world".
Beneath this overarching concept of basic benevolence stands a set of pillars - key strategies promoted by the elite that are assumed to contribute to Britain's benevolent role in the world and promotion of high principles. These strategies make up the single ideology on which there is consensus across the elite, as outlined in chapter 13 - such as strong support for the US, in the context of a special relationship, promotion of global economic "liberalisation", support for key elites, and a strong military intervention capability. Reporting and analysis that fall outside this construct - and certainly that directly challenge it - will tend to get excluded.
The ideological system gears into particular action during war, providing justification for the government's resort to force and backing its (always noble) aims. In war, the public is in effect actively mobilised by the various components of the elite in support of state policy. Television news functions even more extremely ideologically at these times, in practice usually abandoning any pretence of objectivity and acting simply as the mouthpiece of the state, though trying to preserve a facade of independence. Only rarely is real dissent possible in such crises in mainstream newspapers and never on television.
Consider how the media supported the Blair government during 1999 in mobilising the nation to bomb Yugoslavia supposedly in defence of the highest humanitarian values. This was no easy task since it soon became clear to any independent onlooker that it was the NATO bombing that precipitated, rather than prevented, the humanitarian catastrophe. At the same time, as noted in chapter 7, our allies in Indonesia were engaged in atrocities in East Timor similar to those of Milosevic; while a few months later the same values were still relevant as Putin's Russia was committing crimes in Chechnya greater in scale than those of Milosevic in Kosovo. But in these cases the values that provided the pretext for bombing Yugoslavia needed to be buried. After a few obvious parallels were drawn between the situations in the media, the previous humanitarian pretexts used for Kosovo were indeed safely forgotten in these other conflicts.
Criticism in the mainstream of British wars tends to be restricted to the tactics used to achieve the assumed noble aims, and whether the government has chosen the right strategy to discharge its high nobility or whether it will make "mistakes".
The debate in the mainstream on bombing Yugoslavia over Kosovo, did involve argument over whether it was a "just war" or not; but both sides of this debate generally accepted that the government was seeking to achieve its stated humanitarian aims. That the government may have been acting out of other motives entirely was almost never questioned, despite the evidence.
The same goes for much media coverage of Iraq. Most reporting assumes that British aims are basically benevolent - the more regular criticism is whether government strategy is the right one to achieve noble objectives. This contrasts with reporting on US policy, where US aims of controlling Iraqi oil, or of installing an undemocratic, pro-US regime, are more openly discussed than British involvement in the same. This said, media reporting on Iraq in 2002/3 has involved many more dissenting views than was the case over the bombing of Yugoslavia. The reason is that there is no elite consensus on war with Iraq, which is rather being promoted by a small band of people around the prime minister. Many parts of the establishment are opposed to war (for tactical reasons to achieve British objectives, not for moral reasons, which are irrelevant to them). Therefore, the media framing can be much wider and include many more critical voices.
The Guardian's coverage of the war in Afghanistan was a real exception to normal reporting, in that a series of comment pieces over several months put various critical perspectives and exposed much of the reality of the war and its motives. This unusual occurrence was due to one comment editor, Seumas Milne, who allowed a diversity of views - evidence in fact of how individuals can help change even well-established systems. This did not, however, stop some other reporters from toeing the state line in numerous cases elsewhere in the newspaper.
It is interesting to note that there is only one British military intervention over the past fifty years that has been severely criticised and government motives questioned in the mainstream - the invasion of Egypt in 1956 (usually called the "Suez crisis" or "fiasco" in the ideological system). Since there are many horrible British interventions worthy of attention and condemnation, with effects worse than in Egypt in 1956, why is this singled out for criticism? The reason is obvious - Britain lost. It therefore deserves a lot of soul-searching within the elite. Other interventions where we successfully blasted the nips deserve no such criticism, since we won, therefore what could possibly be the problem?
A leading US analyst of the media and foreign policy, Edward Herman, has said that "it is the function of experts and the mainstream media to normalise the unthinkable for the general public". This role sanitises quite terrible policies and presents them as "normal", current examples of which include hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq through sanctions, war crimes in Yugoslavia and mass civilian deaths in Afghanistan. When presented in the mainstream media, none of these outcomes tend to elicit the horror they deserve; all are normal.
The French philosopher Jean Guehenno has said that "the worst betrayal of intelligence is finding justification for the world as it is". But this is often the role played by experts, to explain the everyday as normal, justifiable, requiring little change, but rather "stability" and few upsets to "world order" unless controlled by us. In fact, the everyday is a horror for many people - the half of the planet that lives in absolute poverty, as well as the victims of torture and repression in the US and British-backed client states, for example.
Elites throughout history have presented their policies as in the natural order of things, which helps to obscure the pursuit of their own particular interests. An important aspect of the ideological system is rendering a single view dominant or "natural", presenting current policies as inevitable, and undermining the possibility of alternatives. "Globalisation" is presented by elites as such a natural phenomenon, and critics ridiculed as Luddites who cannot stop the inevitable march of history. These curiously Marxist, determinist views mask the elite's goal under globalisation of promoting total global economic "liberalisation" - a far from inevitable outcome, but a strategy chosen by the liberalisation theologists of New Labour, and their allies among the transnational elite.
If the current horrible policies are "normal", the alternatives are "unthinkable". Even to mention the indictment of Tony Blair for war crimes, to oppose British cooperation with the US because it is a consistent supporter of human rights abuses overseas, or even to end arms exports is "unthinkable" in the mainstream and would invite ridicule.
Take the Guardian's Ian Black, who writes that a key aim of the International Criminal Court is to avoid: "politically motivated or frivolous investigations - what one expert calls the 'nutcase factor': for instance, of the possible pursuit of [Northern Ireland secretary] Mo Mowlam or Tony Blair for crimes against humanity". Only "nutcases" could possibly believe Our Leader could ever be guilty of crimes against humanity. (One such "nutcase" is former US Attorney General, Ramsay Clark, who lodged a complaint against Britain in July 1999 for war crimes during its assault on Yugoslavia.)
A customary way for the elite to deflect criticism is to term it a "conspiracy theory", which is common across the ideological system. There is a good reason for it. British elites have built a fundamentally secretive political system for which they are minimally accountable to the public. As noted in chapter 13, they believe the public should have only a marginal say in this system outside elections, and - to judge from some of the views expressed in the Scott inquiry - neither do they think the public should even know what the decision-making processes are. Elites are especially keen to deflect criticism exposing how the system works, which is more threatening than criticising specific policies (which can be dismissed as "exceptions"). The term "conspiracy theory" is often deployed once criticism has moved beyond the specific and is closer to exposing how the system as a whole works.
My view is that "ordinary people" - and I count myself as one of these - generally distrust their sources of information and know, ultimately, not to believe what they read or see. This is partly because ordinary people, in my view, have a much healthier scepticism of those in power than those closer to power or those aspiring to the political class. People have little stake in the elite and therefore have no reason to trust it.
But I do not believe that people can be aware of the extent to which to which they are being misinformed. Foreign policy is different from domestic issues, where you only have to spend time in a hospital or have a child who goes to school, to know the state of public services. But with foreign policy people are overwhelmingly reliant on news rather than personal experience, which makes indoctrination much easier. Even if people have enough self-defence mechanisms to avoid being directly told what to think, it is very likely that the media tells them what to think about.
It is not that one cannot discover much about the reality of government policy. All the sources I have used in this book are public. But you have to make a real effort, and spend considerable time, which is simply not possible for most people. It involves proactively looking for alternative sources of information, usually a variety of different sources, to piece together an accurate picture, and then weighing these against mainstream sources.
It also involves what the great Kenyan novelist Ngugi Wa Thiongo has called "decolonising the mind". Ngugi was referring to Africans needing to free themselves from ideologies often subconsciously adopted under colonialism. The British public needs, in my view, to do the same thing, and consciously unlearn most of what we have been informed about and "educated" on regarding Britain's role in the world. This applies not only to the media, but to school and university too. Again, these are not easy tasks.
Overall, I believe that people are being indoctrinated into a picture of Britain's role in the world that supports elite priorities. This is the mass production of ignorance. It actively works against our interests, which is precisely why the ideological system is critical to the elite, who essentially see the public as a threat.
The basic fact is that anyone who wants to understand the reality of Britain's past and current foreign policies cannot do so by relying on the mainstream. As the chapters on Kenya, Malaya, British Guiana, Iran and others have shown, the reality of British policy is systematically suppressed; whole episodes in Britain's history have become severely ideologically treated. Interpretations of history that accord with the preferences of elites are the dominant ones. Given the extent of this ideological treatment of the past, what has happened is akin to the destruction of history. The task of any independent historian is to reconstruct real-life history, to rescue it from a self-serving web of deceit.
This is an extract from Mark Curtis's Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World, published by Vintage. To order the book, telephone 01206-255777 or go to www.amazon.co.uk. ISBN - 0099448394. Mark Curtis can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org. His website is at www.markcurtis.info. | <urn:uuid:e5830827-812a-4c63-ae84-525296cba4c3> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2003/275-guest-alert-basic-benevolence-an-extract-from-web-of-deceit-by-mark-curtis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285289.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00143-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959214 | 3,654 | 1.96875 | 2 |
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Vector maps set. High detailed 28 maps of European Union countries (member states) with administrative division and cities. Political map, map of Europe , world map, globe, infographic elements. | <urn:uuid:676ac9de-d981-4e01-9de7-d6eabfab05cb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://vector.me/search/european-union | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.657509 | 128 | 1.679688 | 2 |
(Reuters Health) - - Exhausted shift workers may be safer driving home at night when they're exposed to bright light before they hit the road, a small study suggests.
To test the effect of light therapy on driving, researchers did a series of three experiments with 19 adults. In two scenarios, participants spent a night being sleep-deprived in a lab and then spent 45 minutes in dim or bright light before a driving test. For a third test, people got a good nights' sleep at home and then went to the lab for 45 minutes of bright light exposure before a driving test.
After sleep deprivation in the lab, five people exposed to dim light therapy got in car accidents during the driving simulations. None of the people who slept at home crashed, and neither did any of the sleep-deprived people who got bright light therapy before getting behind the wheel, the study found.
"We experience severe sleepiness toward the end of the night shift, and this may overlap with our commute time," said senior study author Dr. Ralph Mistlberger of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
"Sleep deprivation makes this worse of course, and together with the clock, this conspires to impair our ability to sustain attention to task (e.g., driving), and avoid distraction, and react quickly to external stimuli like traffic lights, brake lights in front of you, road signs, etc," Mistlberger added by email.
"Bright light is alerting," Mistlberger said.
Sleepiness is a leading risk factor for automobile accidents because it can make drivers less vigilant, slow reaction times and dull cognitive abilities, researchers note in Sleep Medicine.
Shift workers with chronic sleep deprivation also face an increased risk of accidents. Strategies like drinking coffee or soda, napping before a drive or blasting music or rolling down the windows in the car may help increase alertness behind the wheel, but none of these strategies is fool-proof.
For the current study, researchers wanted to see if bright light might help reduce driving impairments related to sleep deprivation.
They found participants had lower body temperatures after spending a sleep-deprived night in the lab, as well as longer reaction times and increased sleepiness.
Exposure to bright light didn't appear to improve reaction times or sleepiness. But light was associated with better driving.
Beyond its small size, other limitations of the study include the reliance on lab conditions for sleep deprivation and light exposure, which may not match what shift workers would experience on the job, the authors note.
"There is evidence that the use of bright light at the office (or even at home directly prior to beginning the work shift) may be beneficial in preventing sleep deprivation-related motor vehicle collisions," said Russell Griffin, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who wasn't involved in the study.
"That said, there is not enough evidence to date to fully suggest the use of bright light therapy to avoid collision," Griffin added by email.
The proven way to avoid the effects of sleepiness on the road is to consistently get enough sleep, said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who wasn't involved in the study.
"Drowsy driving is perhaps the most under-recognized cause of serious crashes and sadly, the evidence is not there on how to counter it," Winston said by email.
More research is needed on the potential of bright light therapy to make exhausted drivers safer, said Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a researcher at the University of Toronto who wasn't involved in the study.
But there are still things drivers can do now to stay safer on the road.
"Safety strategies while driving can include minimizing distractions, stopping at stop signs, respecting speed limits, yielding right-of-way, buckling a seatbelt, signaling all turns and not driving after drinking alcohol," Redelmeier said.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2ghLalo Sleep Medicine, online November 16, 2016. | <urn:uuid:32ed547c-1f73-4e0e-b26c-be1828b9ef37> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://in.reuters.com/article/us-health-driving-sleepiness-idINKBN13R2LU | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00245-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953627 | 823 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Ravensburg State Park
Open: Open from mid Apr through late Oct
Number of Sites: 21
The park lies in a cozy, steep-walled gorge carved by Rauchtown Run through the side of Nippenose Mountain. A northern hardwood forest blankets the bottomland along this spring-fed stream. Talus (rock) covered slopes and interesting rock formations are interspersed among a stunted oak forest growing on the steep mountainsides and ridges. This pretty valley is especially beautiful when the mountain laurel blooms in late June and during the fall foliage of early October.
The 215,000-acre Tiadaghton State Forest nearly surrounds Ravensburg State Park’s 78 acres. The state forest has hunting, fishing and wildlife watching. A short drive away is Bald Eagle State Forest and the Mt. Logan and Rosecrans Bog natural areas.
Camping: tents-only, modern campsites
The forested campground is open from the first Friday in May through the last Sunday in September. Each of the 21 sites has a picnic table and a fire ring. This campground does not accept reservations. Pets are permitted.
Hiking - Picnicking - Fishing - Hunting - Camping
Currently there are no reviews of this campground.
Classic Rock Climbs No. 26 McConnell's Mill State Park, Pennsylvania | <urn:uuid:da03e947-9a08-447a-82c7-e73b67e9c8ce> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.camping-usa.com/campdetails/19780/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00171-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895413 | 278 | 1.5 | 2 |
At the height of the battle for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and early 1980s, opponents like Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum made several arguments against the ERA. In addition to saying that the ERA would mandate single sex bathrooms and give gay couples the constitutional right to marry, Schlafly argued that the ERA would require women to be drafted into the military.
With memories of the Vietnam War still fresh in the public’s mind—the first war to be played out in real time on the nightly news—thoughts of women in combat alarmed many Americans. By generating fear, the argument diverted attention from the real opposition to the ERA—business interests that would no longer get away with cheating women out of wages and opportunities, and overcharging women for insurance.
So isn’t it ironic that a national commission established by Congress recently recommended that women be required to register with the Selective Service for any future military drafts, while at the same time the Trump administration is blocking certification of the ERA after the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Amendment voted to do so earlier this year?
“A qualified and capable force means we must extend the registration requirement to all Americans, men and women,” said Debra Wada, vice chair for military service of the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service. She continued, “By leveraging the skills, abilities and talents of all Americans, regardless of gender, qualified men and women alike will be able to fill any and all personnel needs.”
Women have served in the military for over a hundred years. The first woman to enlist was Loretta Walsh in 1917. Women became a permanent part of the military services in 1948 and the military academies admitted women in 1976. Women are now 16 percent of the enlisted forces and 18 percent of the officer corps.
Moreover, despite the limitations long placed on women in combat positions, women have always served in combat because a missile doesn’t know the difference between a woman serving as a cook or nurse in a military unit and the male combat soldiers. Nevertheless, women had to wait almost 50 years to gain access to all combat positions in the military.
In 2015, Congress fully opened up the U.S. military to women, including front-line ground combat positions.
“They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat,” announced Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter at a press conference following the decision. “They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men.”
“When I became secretary of defense, I made a commitment to building America’s force of the future,” Secretary Carter told reporters at the time. “In the 21st century that requires drawing strength from the broadest possible pool of talent. This includes women.”
Jonathan Silk, a retired Army major who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as a cavalry scout, reported that he had observed integrated military police units facing ferocious attacks during the insurgency.
“That is where I encountered female soldiers that were in the same firefights as us, facing the same horrible stuff, even if they weren’t technically in combat units. They could fight just as well as I could, and some of those women were tremendous leaders. It gave me such respect.”
Two years later, Congress formed an 11-member, bipartisan Commission to examine the question of whether women should be required to sign up for the Selective Service and issue recommendations. The Commission held dozens of hearings across the country in 42 cities and 22 states. In March, they issued their final report recommending that women be required to register with the Selective Service.
Right now, men between ages 18 and 25 are required to register with the Selective Service System. If they don’t, they are ineligible for federal student aid, federal job training or a federal job, and they may be prosecuted and face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or jail time of up to five years. Women may soon be subject to these same requirements—yet still be denied equal constitutional rights.
Polling shows that most Americans support the ERA, but men and women remain divided on the draft. While 76 percent of women support the ERA, only 38 percent agree with extending draft registration to women.
On the other hand, 70 percent of men support the ERA and 68 percent believe women should have to register for the draft (generally, men are more supportive of a draft: 36 percent of men versus 21 percent of women).
Ironically, conservatives who oppose the ERA are supporting draft registration for women. The director of foreign and defense policy studies at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Kori Schake, testified in May to the Commission, “It’s insulting to suggest America’s mothers and wives and daughters couldn’t contribute. America’s daughters should be slotted into service as their physical and emotional suitability proves capable of, just like America’s sons.”
Yet, at the same time, AEI Fellow Ramesh Ponnuru recently called the ERA a “zombie Amendment” that “cannot be reanimated.”
Similarly, the National Coalition for Men, an anti-feminist organization, has sued to challenge the male-only Selective Service registration. A federal district court judge in Texas last year ruled that requiring only males to register violated the Constitution.
“If there ever was a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’” wrote Senior Judge Gray Miller of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, “that time has passed.”
The case is currently under appeal before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Maybe it’s time to resurrect the slogan during the Vietnam War used by advocates for the Constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 18: “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.” Apparently, we can fight their wars—but god forbid we get equal rights.
Oh yeah, and by the way, today same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry—and yet women are still without the ERA. | <urn:uuid:02fea416-0089-40a0-bcc8-eb72fc47ed98> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://msmagazine.com/2020/05/14/women-military-draft-you-can-die-for-your-country-but-forget-equal-rights/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572021.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814083156-20220814113156-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.960642 | 1,329 | 3.046875 | 3 |
What does the face of God look like? Could you recognize it if you saw it?
When I consider this question, I remember the story of a little girl who was drawing a picture.
When her teacher asked her, “What are you drawing?”
She looked up and said, “I’m drawing God.”
Then another little girl said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”
To that the little artist replied, “Well, they will when I finish this picture!”
That little girl was confident. She just knew that she — and others — would know the face of God when they saw it.
This Sunday we continue our Listen for Grace Lenten Worship series with “The Face of God: Grace is Reconciliation.” Our scripture reading is the well-known story of Jacob and Esau — a story that clearly illustrates grace extended. This is a story of wrestling with God — and with oneself. It’s about the grace extended when Jacob really doesn’t deserve it. And even though that grace is being extended by another person, it is such a powerful experience that Jacob recognizes in it the face of God.
The idea of “God’s face” is a mixed bag in scripture. In some places, to look upon God’s face is to die. And yet, it takes on another meaning in most places — the image of God’s face is also a metaphor for grace. Consider the priestly blessing: “May God lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Or the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and seek my face . . . ”
In this story of Jacob and Esau, you’ll remember that Jacob gets a name change after he wrestles all night with God. His new name is Israel, which translates to “one who struggles with God.” So here’s Jacob, about to face the brother who has vowed to kill him, wrestling with God. And by now, Jacob is probably struggling with himself, too. Jacob has not been the most upright, forthright person, and of course it was probably weighing heavily on his mind that the last time Jacob saw his brother, Esau vowed that he would kill him.
So with all that’s gone before, Jacob is facing quite an ordeal the next morning, and he’s up all night in this well-known, epic struggle. And then, the next morning when he does face his brother, Esau instead embraces him and accepts him. This was such a profound experience for Jacob that he felt like he was looking right into the face of God.
What’s surprising in this story is how Jacob recognized this grace in the moment he experienced it: “Seeing your face is like seeing God’s face, since you’ve accepted me so warmly.” I think that phrase really speaks to this idea of grace as reconciliation.
In this passage, Genesis 33:1-10, Jacob recognizes the face of God — the favor of God — and therefore the grace of God in this brother because of how graciously Esau accepts him. And, because of this grace-filled moment, these brothers are unexpectedly reconciled, which was the farthest thing from what Jacob was expecting when he was doing all that wrestling. So the whole experience captured in this scripture was infused with God’s grace and how the experience of God’s grace comes in the struggle — and in the reconciliation with another person.
Have you ever experienced this kind of reconciliation with another person? A time of reconciliation in which you experienced the grace — and the face — of God? Have you ever experienced that kind of reconciliation within yourself?
I look forward to exploring with you all these levels of grace as reconciliation this Sunday in the Sanctuary.
Grace and Peace,
Dr. Tim Bruster
Genesis 32:22-31, 33:1-10
Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”
But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”
Jacob also asked and said, “Tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” and he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel, “because I’ve seen God face-to-face, and my life has been saved.” The sun rose as Jacob passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh.
Jacob looked up and saw Esau approaching with four hundred men. Jacob divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two women servants. He put the servants and their children first, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last. He himself went in front of them and bowed to the ground seven times as he was approaching his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, kissed him, and they wept. Esau looked up and saw the women and children and said, “Who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God generously gave your servant.” The women servants and their children came forward and bowed down. Then Leah and her servants also came forward and bowed, and afterward Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed.
Esau said, “What’s the meaning of this entire group of animals that I met?”
Jacob said, “To ask for my master’s kindness.”
Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what’s yours.”
Jacob said, “No, please, do me the kindness of accepting my gift. Seeing your face is like seeing God’s face, since you’ve accepted me so warmly. | <urn:uuid:f3db4cb2-0dd3-4f8e-9d64-030621afe3ae> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://fumcfw.org/reconciliation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571210.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810191850-20220810221850-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.976332 | 1,436 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Stephen Wolfram Wants To Make Computer Language More Human
At South By Southwest, programmer and scientist Stephen Wolfram showed off more of his Wolfram Language software.
Last month, Stephen Wolfram–scientist, founder of Wolfram Research, and the closest thing Big Data has to a rock star–unveiled Wolfram Language, a “symbolic” computer language more than 25 years in the making.
The system is designed for faster, more intuitive coding** **and loaded with encyclopedic knowledge of the world; its maker promises it to be a more human form of programming by being able to interpret and use images, data scraped from websites, and other less-mathematical information. The response has been both enthusiastic and skeptical. Supporters say it could be an entirely new way of building software, while writer and software engineer David Auerbach at Slate dared to call it snake oil.
At South By Southwest, Wolfram doubled down on his latest work in a series of live demos.
Perhaps you’ve played with Wolfram Alpha, a database for answering factual questions posed like a human would ask them, or the more technical program Wolfram Mathematica, which mathematically plots and analyzes information. Wolfram intends to combine both services into his new system. It’s knowledge-based, he says, with as much baked-in data and commands for wielding that information. Want data from Facebook? You can input a certain phrase like “cats are awesome,” and it’ll know, with a certain probability, what you’d want out of the social netoworking service.
At the talk, Wolfram took a photo of himself and typed some commands to the computer, transforming the selfie into a mosaic of blocks, and then turned that mosaic into a block-pattern video. Why is that function useful? No idea. But it did make for a dynamic demonstration–and gives you a sense of the kinds of processes the language can manage.
Some other jobs it can tackle: figuring out when the sunset is (command: “Sunset [Today]”) and the local temperature (“AirTemperatureData [Here]”). But the linguistic processes are more interesting. Type in “neighbors of Ukraine,” for example, and you get a grid with Ukraine’s bordering nations. If you’re not sure what you want, you can define a goal in the system and it’ll tell you what the best algorithm to complete the goal is. For example, a Wolfram engineer showed me it identifying algorithms to determine which emails are spam, and flagging text as containing profanity.
Wolfram also showed, for the first time, how the system behaves while connected to the Internet. He created an object in the code, and then shipped it off to the cloud as an image. With a couple of such lines of intuitive code, you could make a map of a city, or even ideal travel routes between cities. If you try to map “NYC” to “banana” it’ll tell you, in so many words, “Banana isn’t a city, dummy.” The weirdest example: In about a minute, Wolfram created a web-based generator to translate images into what a dog might see. By applying before-and-after photos of dog-vision to the program, he was able to find random images and have the computer blur and color-alter them into a dog’s-eye-view.
Most impressively, the program created an object in a virtual space (in the dog example, a ball), and Wolfram manipulated it with a simple slider, zooming and crushing and rolling it around. The entire process took about 30 seconds.
His demo wasn’t without hiccups. One awkward moment came when Wolfram drew the numeral eight and asked the computer to recognize it; it decided it was the numeral four.
It’s fascinating, if still a little on the wonky side, and indicative of where computer language is heading. What’s uncertain is how it’ll be used. What doors might Wolfram Language open for programmers, and the people who use their works, that haven’t been opened before? Or will it make software work faster? Perhaps more like we’d want software to work? That’s less clear, and we’ll have to wait until the language is released in the next few weeks to find out for sure. | <urn:uuid:33b4c6b7-0042-480d-8a38-33b6d1302f42> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.popsci.com/article/technology/stephen-wolfram-wants-make-computer-language-more-human/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572021.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814083156-20220814113156-00072.warc.gz | en | 0.933174 | 951 | 2.546875 | 3 |
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Sufism for Today is a very timely intervention on spirituality. It cuts across the traditional view of Sufism as a Islamic religious sect and shows it as feature of its own, which is older than recorded history and the essence of all the spiritual and religious modalities known to mankind.
The author accepts that the term Sufi is indeed a branding that came out of the depiction of the devout and ascetic followers of Muhammad which particularized itself within the Islamic cultures. However it is not bound to it, and its essence can be found in Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and even the non-religious secular experience of many renowned scientists and philosophers.
Sufism for Today breaks open the traditionalist view and practices nuanced to secrecy because of religious and intellectual bigotry, which has historically maligned and persecuted those with spiritual insight. The author believes as a part of natural human evolution, the Western world in particular has progressed to be able to openly embrace a practical truth that has remained hidden under the cloak of tradition.
This little book is one step to open the doors to unleash the unlimited and omnipresent source of power that lurks within the soul of every human. The author believes that once we as a human family stand up as a collective and embrace our true spiritual heritage, we will reach a mass consciousness that can reshape the planet and bring peace and the formulas for future progress in this universe.
Keywords:- Sufism, Mysticism, Spirituality, Gnosticism, Enlightenment, Religious Philosophy, Self Help. | <urn:uuid:f86943bf-3021-4406-aaac-55367585d030> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://epubco.com/shop/products/sufism-for-today-by-khalid-a-wasi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571909.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813051311-20220813081311-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.950671 | 349 | 1.929688 | 2 |
In recent years the question of whether or not marching band is a sport has been brought up time and time again for various reasons and by various groups. On one side you have the YES crowd who says that marching band is competitive, physically demanding, and every bit as much a team event as any traditional sporting event. On the other side of the coin are those who say no, that marching band is NOT a sport and it is a musical pursuit that happens to involve coordinated movements. Both sides are right, but to make a final decision we need to look deeper into the facts. Read on to find out what they are!
Is Marching Band A Sport? What Criteria Can We Use To Make That Judgement?
I'm a teacher by trade so the first thing I have to turn to in this debate is the dictionary. The definition of sport is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment." If you use that definition as the basis for the whole "is marching band a sport" argument then we can break it down by those specific criteria:
Criteria #1- Is Marching Band An Activity Involving Physical Exertion?
The answer to this one is based solely on where you live and what your marching band does during the season. There are some marching bands that don't really do much during the year other than march in step down the street in a parade. While it's a nice walk, except in extreme cases this isn't really an exercise in physical exertion.
On the other side of the coin though are marching bands that go beyond street marching and do organized drills on the football field. They perform coordinated movements in multiple directions rather than in a straight forward line. They vary their speed, the size of their steps, and depending on the tempo of the song it can get pretty intense. At the same time they also perform music that is more complicated and lengthy than a standard parade performance which adds to the physical exertion as the player has to not only move but exert more power just to play the notes. This type of activity already seems to be much more along the path toward requiring physical exertion, and in most cases this discussion would stop here. However, for those who don't believe that marching band can be a physically exerting activity we should clarify things by refering to the literature and scientific research that has been done about it.
In 2013 a study by Vallee and Leander titled "The Effects of Participation in Marching Band on Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in College Aged Men and Women" used the same kinds of measurements that we use every day to evaluate professional athletes. What happened? While all members of the ensemble exerted themselves if the performer was a percussionist the exertion was even more pronounced. As a result of these findings there are a large and growing number of school districts across the country that have begun to offer physical education equivalent credit to their marching band members during the marching band season.
As further visual evidence of the physical nature of competitive marching bands, in a video produced in 2005 as a part of the Drum Corps International World Championships (broadcast on ESPN2 no less), a band member is hooked up to a heart rate and breathing monitor and his vitals were recorded as he performed his part of the show. At the end the exertion data of the performer was evaluated, surprising even the person doing the testing. It showed that at some points during the show the performer's metabolic rate was up on par with that of a marathon runner and that his heart rate in particular stayed elevated for extended periods of time.
Based on this information there is little doubt that the first criteria of classifying Marching Band as a sport has been met, and that marching band does indeed require physical exertion.
Criteria #2- Does Marching Band Require Skill?
This point requires little discussion as the bare minimum to be able to play music at the level of most high school aged marching bands requires at least four to five years of practice and training on the instrument alone. Add to this the difficulty of performing coordinated movements around the field at the same time and you have little doubt that playing in a marching band does indeed require skill.
Criteria #3- Individuals or Teams Compete Against Each Other For Our Entertainment
While perhaps not fully developed in some areas of the country in the vast majority of the United States marching band competitions are numerous and take place on almost every weekend throughout the fall marching season. In semi-professional organizations such as the member groups of Drum Corps International, competitions will take place nearly every single night throughout the summer with bands travelling from city to city all across the country to participate. In most cases the performances are judged and awards are given based on the musical performance and general effect of the show. This is directly comparable to the weekly games that an organized football, baseball, or any other team might perform in. For an visual, video example of just how competitive and intense DCI competitions can get be sure to check out a series called Clash of The Corps that is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
Additonal Facts Supporting That Marching Band Is A Sport
Well Defined and Publicly Accessable Rule Structures
While not a part of the dictionary definition additional evidence that marching band is a sport include the fact that the majority of marching organizations such as Drum Corps International, Bands Of America, and other such groups have well defined and publicly accessable rules governing both the performance competitions and the behavior of the musical atheletes who participate in them. Also to be considered is the fact that in most schools the rules for academic performance, drug or alcohol use, etc. that are often incorporated into a school's eligibility policies are also applied toward band members, prohibiting them from performing if their grades fall below a threshold or if they get in trouble with the law.
So Why Do Some People Say The Marching Band Is Not A Sport?
With all of these many validations to the fact that marching band is essentially a sport, why do many people still fervently disagree? For many it may come down to a deeply ingrained personal bias and no facts or figures can make them change the way they perceive this issue. Those that tend to think that playing in the band is not "cool" or that "the uniforms look stupid" will likely hold that frame of thought.
Many musicians however will also make the claim that marching band is not a sport, and it is my personal belief that a vast majority of those musicians who agree may have other more subtle and intrinsic motives for taking that stance. Primary among these is the simple desire among many musicians to not allow themselves to be lumped in with athletes. In some cases a music student may feel that they have been persecuted by "jocks" for pursuing their musical craft and this negative connotation in their minds of what athletes are comes back to taint their views. For these people being called an athlete leaves a sour taste and goes against the self image that they have built for themselves as a professional.
Today, in most schools with active, competitive marching band programs, there is little doubt that marching band should be classified as a sport. As mentioned though this varies from program to program and the individual decision should be based on both the physicality of the program and the educational and musical rigor to which it is held. If the program meets those criteria then regardless of personal bias or emotions marching band should indeed be classified as a sport. | <urn:uuid:8f1740aa-ebe9-4868-a0cc-a1e97d4a4cb9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.musicedmagic.com/tales-from-the-podium/11796-is-marching-band-a-sport-the-pros-cons-and-a-reality-check | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571222.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810222056-20220811012056-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.970952 | 1,526 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Coffee is among the most popular beverages on Earth, widely consumed not only for its taste but the energizing caffeine it contains. In recent years, because of its popularity and improved understanding into how it affects the body, coffee has also become a common vehicle for other functional ingredients, from pre- and probiotics to protein and CBD.
A recent study conducted by researchers from England’s Northumbria University, in conjunction with PHMR Ltd. and PepsiCo, indicates an often-discarded part of the coffee plant may also be beneficial in boosting alertness, as well as improving mood: the coffee berry (Nutritional Neuroscience, 2021).
The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study examined 46 healthy men and women with an average age of 23 years old. Each participant was assigned to one of four groups: 1,100 mg coffee berry extract; 1,100 mg coffee berry extract plus 275 mg apple extract; 100 mg coffee berry extract plus 275 mg apple extract; or a placebo. A cognitive and mood assessment weas given before ingestion, as well as one, three and six hours after consumption. These trials were conducted on four separate occasions.
After analyzing the data, the researchers concluded “Analysis revealed a consistent pattern of alerting effects following 1,100 mg coffee berry extract.” Participants in the 1,100 mg group also reported increased vigor, as well as decreased fatigue and negative mood. The authors stated coffee berry’s caffeine content, while low (about one-fifth that of a cup of coffee), may have contributed to those observed effects. The researchers did note only a limited effect on cognitive function, with little difference between the high- and low-dose coffee berry extract groups.
“Polyphenols from coffee berry (chlorogenic acid) and apple (flavanol) have been shown to improve mood and increase cerebral blood flow in healthy humans,” the authors wrote. “In line with previous findings, 1,100 mg coffee berry engendered increased arousal.”
Food & Beverage Insider insights
Coffee is among the world’s most-consumed beverages, and recent innovations have only made the old standby more versatile and in-demand. The energizing boost of caffeine inherent in coffee continues to be a major motivator, with Matthew Barry of Euromonitor International writing, “High-caffeine products were already seen prior to the pandemic but have increased in intensity recently. The fast growth of highly caffeinated brand Death Wish Coffee Co. is perhaps the clearest example, but other coffee and tea brands are either dialing up caffeine levels or adding ingredients like guarana (Paullinia cupana) or ginseng (Panax ginseng) to provide an additional boost.” Barry also noted that, from 2015-2020, sales of decaffeinated or reduced caffeine coffee and tea fell by 3%.
In addition to caffeine, recent research also indicates coffee may possess other benefits. One recent study pointed to coffee, as well as tea, potentially lowering the risk of stroke and dementia (PLOS Medicine, 18(11): e1003830). Another study noted coffee’s potential to lower the risk of cardiac arrythmia (JAMA Intern Med. 2021;181:1185-1193).
With more than 60% of American adults consuming at least one cup of coffee every day, expect the popular beverage to continue to be researched and innovated, both as an ingredient unto itself and as a vehicle for others. | <urn:uuid:34699ab8-9ea5-443d-9b9b-b0e28b936808> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.foodbeverageinsider.com/beverages/study-indicates-coffee-berry-extract-may-boost-mood-alertness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571147.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810040253-20220810070253-00471.warc.gz | en | 0.947542 | 739 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Leuven, Belgium C According to estimates there are 85,000 Alzheimer patients in our country and approximately 20,000 new cases every year. This spectacular increase is due to the increasing ageing population. Unfortunately it is still unclear precisely which ageing process forms the basis of this spectacular rise in the occurrence of the disease. VIB scientists affiliated to K.U.Leuven have discovered an important molecular link between Alzheimer's disease and the development of the typical plaques in the brains of Alzheimer patients. This discovery is an important breakthrough in the fundamental research into the cause of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease: a growing problem
Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that slowly and gradually destroys brain cells, is the most common form of dementia in the Western world. The way in which it affects the memory and mental functioning makes it one of the most frightening disorders. Over the last 15 years the amount of research worldwide into this still incurable disease has grown considerably: faster diagnosis of the disease and better treatment are essential!
Amyloid plaques and Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is associated with amyloid plaques C i.e. abnormal accumulations of protein fragments C that form in the brain cells. A few years ago Bart De Strooper and other researchers unravelled the process by which these plaques develop in the familial form of Alzheimer's disease (less common form). -secretase, which cuts proteins at a specific location C plays an important role here. Sometimes the secretase cuts in the wrong place, which results in a by-product and thus the formation of plaques. In the most common form of the disorder the same sort of plaques are found, but there is still little known about their development mechanism.
BACE1 or A-secretase
In patients with the most common form of Alzheimer's disease the brain cells show an increase in the protein BACE1 or A-secretase. VIB researcher Sabastien Hubert and colleagues, under the direction of Bart De Strooper and in collaboration with international experts, looked into the cause of this increase.
To this end the VIB researchers checked the expression profiles of certain microRNA's, i.e. the short pieces of RNA that regulate protein production. In patients where there was an increase in the BACE1 protein, there was a significant reduction in miR-29a and miR-29b-1. This observation suggests the possible role of certain miRNA's in the increase of BACE1 and in the formation of plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
On the one hand this research raises hopes for a better diagnostic test. Timely prescription of certain medicines for Alzheimer's disease results after all in a better response, and thus a better quality of life for the patient. On the other hand there is the question of whether these microRNA's could in the future form the basis of a new drug.
|Contact: Evy Vierstraete|
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) | <urn:uuid:ac2284ed-ce52-4093-868b-24d6226b2601> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Ground-breaking-new-insight-into-the-development-of-Alzheimers-disease-17437-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718866.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00003-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923813 | 628 | 3.203125 | 3 |
A multi-centre prospective trial for lung cancer screening
Funded by an NHS development contract, Owlstone Medical is conducting research into the diagnosis of lung cancer by measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in patients' exhaled breath. Phase I of the project is complete and Phase II is underway.
We established that Owlstone Medical’s FAIMS technology can detect biomarkers with a promising sensitivity: detecting at threshold concentrations ten times lower than previously reported. An initial analysis identified that successful introduction of a lung cancer screening programme using ReCIVA and FAIMS could could save approximately 3,200 lives per year and £82M in treatment costs in the UK alone.
The second phase of the study is funded by a £1.1m SBRI grant from the UK National Health Service and aims to validate detection of lung cancer biomarker by FAIMS in clinical practice. The final phase of the study will be a population based screening trial. You can read the LuCID infographic here.
Lonestar enables FAIMS-driven detection of disease biomarkers in clinical sampleslearn more about Lonestar
Taking part in the clinical trial
To be able to take part in this study the patient must be under clinical suspicion of having lung cancer, be aged 18 or older and agree to provide written consent to taking part in the clinical trial. Patients who attend a clinic that is registered for the trial may be invited to take part; it is not possible to volunteer for this study.
2015.00Start of the LuCID clinical trial
1760.00Total numbers of participants to date
26.00Total number of clinical sites the clinical trial is taking place in
4000.00Patients taking part
A nurse will explain the study to you and answer any of your questions. If you are happy to proceed, the nurse will fill in a questionnaire with information about you and your health and take a sample of breath using Owlstone Medical’s ReCIVA breath sampler. This sample will be analysed by Owlstone Medical in its Cambridge Breath Biopsy Laboratory. These results, along with other information that we get from your doctor such as whether the tumour is cancer, will be used to develop a new test to screen for lung cancer.
An international multi-centre prospective study designed to evaluate breath analysis in a clinical setting
To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of a breath test for lung cancer
Patients, aged 18 or older, in secondary care with a clinical suspicion of lung cancer
What to expect
After a briefing and agreeing to take part a nurse will take a sample of breath using ReCIVA
Analysed using Owlstone Medical's propriety Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry technology
The test uses patient information and breath biomarkers to predict whether a patient has lung cancer
Led by Dr Robert Rintoul at Papworth Hospital near Cambridge UK, the study investigators are recognised experts in lung cancer at some of Europe’s leading hospitals and clinics. Clinical sites across 5 different countries are participating in the clinical trial. | <urn:uuid:702c62ee-20f3-4e1f-958a-8bcc2def091e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.owlstonemedical.com/clinical-pipeline/lucid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571056.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809155137-20220809185137-00672.warc.gz | en | 0.912536 | 681 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Salvator Mundi by Leonardo Da Vinci (authorship issues aside) is a gorgeous painting. The technical details are marvellous, but most of all, Salvator Mundi is a canvas of mysteries. I look at it, and struggle to discern Leonardo Da Vinci’s intention or meaning. Jesus Christ wears Renaissance Italy dress while holding a celestial orb. He raises a finger, making the sign of the Cross, another point of Da Vinci’s brilliance. So many areas of the painting are eye-catching. It’s timeless, a masterpiece from a genius.
This post aims to explain the brilliance of Salvator Mundi, and convey the importance of it. References will be given to other Da Vinci artworks, but the focus is on Salvator Mundi. Note: this article is written on the presumption that Salvator Mundi is the work of Da Vinci.
I understand some art historians refer to Bernardino Luini, who worked with Leonardo Da Vinci during the High Renaissance.
The Timelessness of Christ
Christ wears Renaissance clothing. Why is this significant? Remember, the Renaissance took place in 1300 – 1600 AD. Jesus’ death was over a thousand years ago. However, we must remember a core part of Christian theology. The presence of a resurrected Christ lingers over, until he ‘comes again’ (Book Of Revelations). By Leonardo Da Vinci featuring Christ in Renaissance clothing, he is suggesting two things. One, that Christ has a presence in Renaissance Italy and in any time until he comes again. Two, Jesus Christ can’t be understood through the lenses of time. Christ is with us, in a way unlike anyone who has died before.
In Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, the dressing is more murky. Renaissance or Ancient Rome?
We know Renaissance Italy prided itself on the references to the classical world. But we must remember the importance of Christianity in shaping the Renaissance. The presence of Christ is featured in the Roman Empire, but not to the extent of the Renaissance. A focal point of Christianity is seeing Christ, and God, in everything. Past, present and future. And art, naturally, will reflect that.
What’s striking about the Last Supper is how alone Christ is. His disciples are nearby, but are caught up in other matters, or concerned with betrayal. He appears sad, too. Both in Salvator Mundi and the Last Supper, Jesus Christ is in the centre point. Although different emotions are conjured, we witness the importance of Christ, and His timelessness.
Eyes With A Thousand Meanings
What’s striking about Da Vinci’s painting are the eyes of Jesus Christ. On first glance, they convey little emotion. But look closer. The eyes have a potent, foreboding feel… as if Christ is watching you with all his wisdom. The greatest portraits immerse the viewer into the scene. Imagine in Christ is looking at you the same way in Salvator Mundi. How would you react? The lips of Christ are shut, and with that, the viewer is left wondering what Christ would say to them.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s artworks frequently have this power. In one of his most well-known drawings, Vitruvian Man, various degrees of ‘motion’ are suggested to the viewer. What I love about Vitruvian Man is the fusion of science with art. Da Vinci’s devotion to anatomy matches well to his knack for perfect circles, fine figures and detailed features. The eyes are the centrepoint of this. Yes, they appear angry and aggressive. This adds to the unsettling mystery of Da Vinci’s work. He is an artist unafraid to question, and to confront the viewer.
When you look at a Leonardo Da Vinci work, you are witnessing all humanity offers.
The Sign of the Cross is a core part of Christianity, crucial to understanding how Christians practice their faith. Here, Christ is directly communicating to the viewer / the subject. Although other artists, such as Titian, add more tension to Christ’s blessing (see below), Da Vinci prefers to subdue the energy of Christ’s right hand.
One of the most attractive features of Salvator Mundi is the blank space above the highest finger. Da Vinci knows how to make the most out of limited space.
This is particularly true in The Virgin Of The Rocks. Alot goes on in Da Vinci’s paintings, but he never overwhelms the viewer’s senses. That takes true skill and mastery.
Leonardo Da Vinci was skilled at drawing and painting. His artworks are proof of that. With Salvator Mundi, we witness Da Vinci’s technical prowess, his unflinching commitment to detail and his dramatic structure of light & darkness. Although the proportions of Jesus have proven controversial: art historians such as Frank Zöllner point out the ‘modern’ style of hair ringlets, where others focus on the marks above Christ’s eyes.
Less than twenty paintings by Da Vinci have been discovered, frustrating many art historians. We can assume during his time, Da Vinci painted far more. The point is: it’s difficult to fully understand how Da Vinci approached the ‘technical’ side of art. Salvator Mundi has been manipulated throughout its existence. However, I’d argue Salvator Mundi is a masterpiece. This is because of the dramatic tension, particularly in Christ’s eyes and in his right hand. To go further, I have no issue with Leonardo Da Vinci earning acclaim as one of, if not the, greatest artist to ever live.
Often, people assume Da Vinci is overrated because of the praise heaped on the Mona Lisa. But that’s only a small portion of Da Vinci’s genius, and honestly, I prefer Salvator Mundi. The Mona Lisa is proof of Da Vinci’s skill with a brush, and the dimensions of the woman are perfection. However, there’s more drama and energy in Salvator Mundi, Saint Jerome Of The Wilderness and the Adoration of the Magi. But Mona Lisa is still excellent, just not the greatest work by Da Vinci.
The Three Stories Of Leonardo Da Vinci
A painting’s strength lies in what stories it tells. There must be ‘motion’ or some form of transition or evolution. Looking at Salvator Mundi, it’s easy to presume a lack of story with a motionless Christ. But look further, and ask yourself. What is the most eye-catching aspect of Salvator Mundi? Is it the celestial orb, the space above Christ’s right hand or his eyes? As stated previously, the eyes have a raw intensity about them. The orb is mysterious, whereas the space above Christ’s right hand is uncertain.
Through the painting, various stories emerge. The first one is of Jesus Christ. This is obvious, and it is impossible to understate Christ’s presence, here. The second story is The Renaissance. Although we live in a so-called ‘postmodern’ world, we must acknowledge the influence Christ had in shaping the Renaissance. And finally, the last story features the end days. Where Christ comes again as the Saviour Of The World. This is a crucial point about Christianity. In many ways, Christians are urged to understand Christ’s death and resurrection (the past), but also him coming again (the future). Because of that, Salvator Mundi is the story of Christ.
A Celestial Orb With Prophecies Of Old
Christ, in his left hand, holds an orb. Orbs have multiple representations throughout history. One may associate a crystal ball with fortune-telling or scrying (seeing images in the orb). Pop culture blockbusters such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter contribute to these ideas. But we should consider the shape of the orb, a sphere. This could represent the earth, the sun or the moon. To go further, we should look at celestial orbs.
Celestial orbs were developed by Eudoxus, Plato, Aristotle, and others to better understand the cosmological motion of stars and planets. Although belief in celestial orbs did not survive the Scientific revolution, they were common knowledge during the Renaissance. The use of celestial orbs contributed to ongoing debates about theology and philosophy, and questions about God’s place in issues of time. Some drawings of spheres included angels and heaven. Also, in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Beatrice and Dante stare the highest heaven in Paradiso.
Leonardo Da Vinci does not validate any of these answers, of course. One can look at the orb and come to their own conclusions about what messages Da Vinci intended. That’s the strength – and beauty- of it. The celestial sphere means a thousand different things, which adds to the richness and depth of the image.
The Saviour Of The World
Salvator Mundi translates to ‘Saviour Of The World’ in Latin. The concept is well-known in Christian eschatology (about the end times). That explains the ‘mystical’ qualities of Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. You can see ‘divine’ influences in the artwork (the blessing), as well as earthly ones (the orb). When one considers the end of the world in the context of Salvator Mundi, one may confuse themselves in whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about the end times.
In Da Vinci’s artwork, Jesus’ presence feels almost ominious, and it’s not because Christ is unsettling as a figure. Rather, it’s because Salvator Mundi reveals how little we actually know about the universe and what is to come. Because of that, a Christian may appreciate Christ in Da Vinci’s artwork due an association of calm with Jesus. One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s strengths as an artist is to fuse these conflicting experiences together.
Salvator Mundi is a canvas of mysteries. We do not know the full story behind the painting and its representations. One can look at Christian iconography, Renaissance-era theology or eschatological thinking in the sixteenth century. Either way, the power of Da Vinci’s masterpiece is its fusion of ideas, unsettling emotions, technical skills and religious references.
What are your thoughts on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi? Do you have a favourite work by Da Vinci, or any other Renaissance artist? Comment below! | <urn:uuid:90bb5e63-e808-4c3a-8ae8-762e200a3e3f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.snowyfictions.com/the-salvator-mundi-painting-the-mystery-of-leonardo-da-vinci/?replytocom=119 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571745.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812170436-20220812200436-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.932245 | 2,245 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Described as “one of the most significant movements in post-World War II architecture” (source), the Case Study House Program “included the building and design of 36 experimental modern prototypes single-family homes in Southern California.” The Program’s announcement stated that it was “important that the best material available be used in the best possible way in order to arrive at a ‘good’ solution of each problem, which in the over-all program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live.” (source) Case Study House No. 22, “L.A.’s original dream home”, was made famous by photographer Julius Shulman. The houses in Peter Bialobrzeski’s Case Study Homes are also “good solutions”, affordable to live in, but they lack the cool and glamour of Case Study House No. 22. They are ramshackle contraptions, erected in a place called Baseco, a squatter camp near Manila, home to maybe 70,000 people. Nobody knows, there is nobody to count them. It is hard to say whether these houses are dream homes for their occupants - I’m tempted to think they are not.
A typology of sorts, Case Study Homes is intended to serve as more than a visual study of huts made from whatever might be available. In his introduction to the work, the photographer talks about who is living in the Basecon slum (migrant workers from the Philippine countryside), and he talks about images produced by FSA photographers in the 1930s.
Such is the power of photography: It conjures up other images, it allows the making of connections, it asks questions, it will bring about interpretations. I can think of countless ways to tie these photos in with issues, historical and contemporary. Case Study Homes is one of those cases where this is better left to the viewers.
Peter Bialobrzeski is well known for a certain photographic style (large-format work, usually taken at dusk or dawn), but Case Study Homes deviates from it - the photography is done as matter-of-factly as possible. It would be a grave error to mistaken this with assuming the photographer’s detachment from these houses. Talking of how people in his Hamburg neighbourhood “take a rather folkloric approach to the third world” (let’s not kid ourselves that this phenomenon is limited to that particular neighbourhood in that particular Western city!), Bialobrzeski writes that “these images remind me of something completely un-hip: the long-forgotten word ‘humility.’”
Humility. Maybe we can bring some of it back, and Case Study Homes might just serve very well as a starting point.
Case Study Homes, photographs by Peter Bialobrzeski, 84 pages, Hatje Cantz | <urn:uuid:8ea1b701-aa34-4a65-986f-57c93989194d> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2009/11/review_case_study_homes_by_peter_bialobrzeski/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720941.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00519-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958481 | 619 | 2.4375 | 2 |
KENTUCKY — A four-year-old Kentucky law imposing strict new limits on abortions in the state remains on hold even after the U.S. Supreme Court handed supporters of the legislation a significant legal victory this week.
Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center is a procedural case, and won’t have an immediate impact on abortion laws in the state of Kentucky.
“It is very important for folks to realize even after yesterday’s decision nothing has changed in Kentucky today in terms of access to abortion,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project and lead counsel for EMW Women’s Surgical Center.
“Abortion remains legal and safe and available in Kentucky and we’re going to fight to keep it that way,” Kolbi-Molinas said.
EMW Women’s Surgical Center is an abortion provider in Louisville that successfully challenged a 2018 Kentucky law that would severely restrict abortions in the state. The law generally made it illegal for doctors to use the “dilation and evacuation” method, which is the standard method to end a pregnancy in the second trimester.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, could defend the law after two lower-courts overturned it.
“We now have the green light to defend the law,” Cameron said during a press conference. “We will return to the Sixth Circuit court of appeals and ask for reconsideration of its adverse ruling on House Bill 454.”
Although two lower courts have blocked the Kentucky law, calling it unconstitutional, the legal landscape has shifted since then. The U.S. Supreme Court has become more conservative and appears more open to upholding state laws and imposing significant new limits on abortions. | <urn:uuid:df4b5be2-7a5b-4ba6-b951-28689716367e> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/politics/2022/03/04/supreme-court-rules-cameron-can-defend-kentucky-abortion-law | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572304.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816120802-20220816150802-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.944753 | 388 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Permaculture design is a powerful tool for creating systems that meet our human needs but also support the ecosystem as a whole. It applies ecological principles to designing gardens, farms, community projects, even entire human settlements. The standard seventy-two-hour Permaculture Design (PDC) course is taught all over the world to farmers, gardeners, design professionals, and world changers who want to practically create a healthier, more equitable planet.
Rosemary Morrow offers evidence for permaculture’s effectiveness and describes each unit of the PDC’s curriculum. This fully revised and updated edition contains a wealth of technical information for teaching permaculture design and includes new findings in emerging disciplines such as regenerative agriculture. Earth User’s Guide to Teaching Permaculture is of key relevance to teachers and students of architecture, landscape design, ecology, and other disciplines like geography, regenerative agriculture, agro-ecology, and agroforestry, as well as permaculture design. It leads the reader step by step through a recommended course structure, providing a flexible approach that encourages the adaptation of the materials for specific bioregional and cultural conditions. With advice on teaching aids, topics for class discussion, extensive reading lists, and tips on teaching adults, this book is bound to be an invaluable friend to the experienced and novice teacher alike. | <urn:uuid:3cb7218b-8ea2-45ba-afca-1fb0c10e1890> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.chelseagreen.com/the-earth-users-guide-to-teaching-permaculture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719908.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00158-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912258 | 277 | 3.453125 | 3 |
There's been a lot of post-election hand-wringing about how the Republicans can "reach out" to minority voters. If they can't win just by energizing their shrinking base of white people, what's next? Immigration reform? Marco Rubio? What's it going to take?
At the same time, you have former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan blaming the Romney loss on voters from "urban areas." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but if one chunk of your party is talking about reaching out to minority voters, and another chunk is publicly talking about minority voters in code, you are on the fast track to nowhere. And if your national candidates are using racial euphemisms in public, don't act surprised when people who aren't white don't want to vote for you.
Filing petitions talking about secession from the Union doesn't help, either. Um, Party of Lincoln? Hello?
The Republicans have made their political living for a generation on the racial dog-whistle, the coded appeal that comes across loud and clear to white racists but not to whites who don't like to think of themselves as racist. Lee Atwater famously explains the procedure:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
Couldn't be clearer. But here's the problem for the Atwaters of the world now that more than a quarter of the electorate isn't white:
Racists aren't the only people who can hear the dog whistle. Minorities hear it clear as a bell.
When people say that people who aren't racists don't hear the dog whistle, they mean other white people can't hear it. And that conflation of "other white people" as "people" is part of the problem.
This is where a term like "white privilege" becomes useful. A white person who isn't actively hostile to other races, but has the luxury of not noticing racist hostility is enjoying white privilege in a pretty clear way. Does that make them racist? No. But giving yourself permission to remain clueless does pretty clearly help maintain the problem. And when white people bend over backwards to avoid offending anybody by calling an unrepentant dog-whistler a racist, that's white privilege in a pretty toxic form.
The Atwaterite Republican strategy is to say things that get the racist elements in their base worked up but that other whites will give them a pass on. (And, if anyone tries to call them on their BS, they take elaborate umbrage on cable news, and accuse their critics of "playing the race card." Obviously, white people who don't notice the dog whistle think "playing the race card" is a terrible, terrible thing.)
But getting away with your B.S. on cable TV isn't enough when we're talking about an electorate that's 25%-30% non-white. They won't give people a pass. They know a dog whistle when they hear it. They can't afford not to.
Time to go back to the drawing board, fellas. How about "Party of Lincoln?" It's worked before. | <urn:uuid:b6ea09f8-4eaf-47c8-b2e8-72e2228405cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://doctorcleveland.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-death-of-dog-whistle.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721174.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00281-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971146 | 790 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Dist::Zilla::Plugin::AutoPrereqs - automatically extract prereqs from your modules
In your dist.ini:
[AutoPrereqs] skip = ^Foo|Bar$ skip = ^Other::Dist
This plugin will extract loosely your distribution prerequisites from your files using Perl::PrereqScanner.
If some prereqs are not found, you can still add them manually with the Prereqs plugin.
This plugin will skip the modules shipped within your dist.
Note, if you have any non-Perl files in your
t/ directory or other directories being scanned, be sure to mark those files' encoding as
bytes with the Encoding plugin so they won't be scanned:
[Encoding] encoding = bytes match = ^t/data/
This is the name of a FileFinder whose files will be scanned to determine runtime prerequisites. It may be specified multiple times. The default value is
finder, but for test-phase prerequisites. The default value is
finder, but for configure-phase prerequisites. There is no default value; AutoPrereqs will not determine configure-phase prerequisites unless you set configure_finder.
finder, but for develop-phase prerequisites. The default value is
This is an arrayref of regular expressions, derived from all the 'skip' lines in the configuration. Any module names matching any of these regexes will not be registered as prerequisites.
The relationship used for the registered prerequisites. The default value is 'requires'; other options are 'recommends' and 'suggests'.
This is an arrayref of scanner names (as expected by Perl::PrereqScanner). If present, it will be passed as the
scanners parameter to Perl::PrereqScanner, which means that it will replace the default list of scanners.
This plugin was originally contributed by Jerome Quelin.
Ricardo SIGNES 😏 <firstname.lastname@example.org>
This software is copyright (c) 2016 by Ricardo SIGNES.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. | <urn:uuid:7da00bd9-5046-4fb4-ad22-fb4a53d4116d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://search.cpan.org/~rjbs/Dist-Zilla/lib/Dist/Zilla/Plugin/AutoPrereqs.pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00488-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.765079 | 457 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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