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October 07, 2008
Union First, Country Second - My visit with a union leader
Labor Union’s Institutional Narcissism - My visit with a big city union local president
By Daryl L. Hunter
In August (2008) by chance, I met the president of a large labor union of a major city who was on vacation where I live. After finding out he was the president of a union I steered the conversation to politics and the upcoming election, the conversation was alarming yet enlightening.
I will not mention the union, the city, nor the union presidents name because I did not tell him I was a blogger and he would not have been forthcoming had I told him. He was a nice man and I wouldn’t want to get him into hot water for a casual conversation. It would be my assumption that to become president of a union local you have to be smart and analytical, using that as a baseline I questioned:
Me: Considering these times of jobs moving overseas aren’t you concerned every new wage and benefit demand might be the straw that breaks the camels back forcing your industry to ship production overseas.
Union President: Yes but it is my job to get all I can for my members.
Me: We are in a world economy and the demands unions in America are making on U.S. corporations make them uncompetitive. Does that concern you?
Union President: Yes but it is still my job to get all I can for my members.
Me: Democrats don’t want to drill for oil yet industry is reliant upon it, doesn’t this worry you since union jobs depend upon industry being healthy.
Union President: Yes, this is troubling.
Me: I realize that Democrats are friendlier to the unions than Republicans but Republican tax policies are better for commerce and industry, if industry is crippled unemployment is sure to follow, so isn’t it risky for unions to back Barack Obama considering his proposed punitive taxes on Industry in this shaky economy?
Union President: Obama says many things but I hope that he can’t achieve them.
Me; So, as union president you put union first and the America’s economy second.
Union President: Yes.
This conversation although alarming reinforced something I have suspected for a long time; labor union’s institutional narcissism puts union self-interest ahead of country. A lifelong friend of mine is in a law enforcement union, and he votes union before country also. The same blue collar union members who proudly will send their sons into battle to protect our freedoms will go into a voting booth and vote their self-interest over that of their country’s and this confounded conundrum confuses me.
I was in the Alaska Teamsters during the construction of the Alaska Pipeline, and I had never seen so much money wasted in my life. When I was a cross-country trucker, I always knew when I was in a union warehouse because fifteen-minute card game at break time always lasted forty-five minutes. When the longshoremen went on strike in 2002, I thought it was terribly unpatriotic and hurtful to America during a time of our national economic crisis right after 911, but it was very important to the longshormen to preserve archaic shipping methods that saved jobs at the cost of efficiency.
I hope that for the sake of the country that rank and file union members can take a look around them, take a look at the economy and dig deep for the real reasons for our economic meltdown and vote for the candidate that will preserve Industry by keeping industry profitable at home.
I am a 200+ pound expendable mass of protoplasm that realizes that I don’t want to bankrupt the treasury of this land of exceptionalism for some pompous presumption that I am important in the scheme of things. I believe in the ownership society and reject the Nanny State Democrats are trying to foist upon our treasury. Our founding fathers created a near perfect model of government, but it isn’t beyond our ability to bankrupt it because we want stuff!
It is dangerous to vote for change especially when influential union leaders are advocating for institutional narcissism while they hope the candidate they are promoting, Barack Obama, can't deliver on his promises.
Addendum 9/2012
It would be interesting to have an honest talk with this Union President today. Obama has enacted much of what this man feared yet hoped wouldn't happen. Four years later the economy is still in the tank and this has hurt his union members.
A good economy is the best thing for the workers of the United States of America not the overreaching arm of todays unions. Unions were once an important asset for workers but today working conditions aren't like they were back when unions were needed for workers rights.
Today unions overreach sends manufactures to places where they aren't considered the enemy of the worker. My grandfather was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the same as the union president above, and sometimes for fun I will phone up the IBEW and try to get my grandfather posthumously removed from the union rolls, I know they can't do it but it is fun to explain why I want him removed. My grandfather would be appalled at what unions have become.
Anonymous said...
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Does Potting Soil Go Bad?
Good Question
Q: This may not be a "good" question so much as a "silly" question, but I really don't know. I've had a bag of potting soil sitting in my entryway for a good 8-9 months. I'm looking to start (yet again) an indoor garden for the summer, and I'm wondering if it's okay to use that soil. Or does it dry out? Do the nutrients disappear? I have no idea. I'm a gardening newbie. Thanks!
Asked by Elle
Editor: Suggestions for Elle?
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Photo by Shane Harms
Activists say ‘no’ to Amazon foie gras sales
Ballard weighs in on animal cruelty
May 21 -- Over 20 demonstrators with the Mercy for Animals (MFA) organization demonstrated against Amazon’s sale and distribution of foie gras in front of the Seattle Repertory Theatre (155 Mercer St.) where Amazon’s annual Meeting of the Shareholders was being held.
They were there to greet the shareholders before the meeting wielding posters depicting Jeff Bezos’ mug along side a gruesome scene of a duck being force-fed at a foie gras farm.
The group demanded that Amazon recognize the force-feeding of geese and ducks to produce foie gras is animal abuse and that Amazon should follow the lead of companies like Costco, Target, Whole Foods and Wolfgang Puck and stop the sale and distribution of the product.
MFA’s national campaign coordinator Phil Letten was at the demonstration and said that the production of foie gras is blatant animal abuse and that by selling the product Amazon is perpetuating animal cruelty and nefarious exploitation of animals.
“At Amazon, buying products that result from blatant animal abuse is just a click away. It’s time for Amazon to follow others in refusing to sell foie gras. …The practice of ramming a metal rod down a duck’s throat three times a day is so inherently cruel that it has been banned in California and a dozen countries,” said Letten.
Indeed. Israel, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Poland have banned the production of foie gras. Other countries have banned the force feeding of animals include Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
“We’ve spoken with numerous people walking by and they have expressed their support and drivers are honking their horns giving us the thumbs up. … Most people are opposed to animal abuse and when they learn about the horrific treatment that these birds endure to be sold as foie gras on the Amazon site they are horrified, and they want Amazon to stop.”
In 2004 California also banned the production and sale of foie gras and implemented the law in 2012. Letton was asked if he thought that same action could be taken in Seattle or Washington.
“I think that people would overwhelming support that, but the focus today is on Amazon. Not only do they have the power but also the responsibility to help end one of the cruelest factory farming practices in existence by ending the sale of foie gras.”
In the U.S. most foie gras is made with Mallard ducks. The process by which foie gras is made consists of inserting a long tube into the throats of geese or ducks and pouring a corn and fat feed into their digestive chamber. The feeding happens up to three times a day and because of the way the fowl digests food the process fattens the liver. The method dates back to Egyptian practice and is designed to mimic the birds’ natural behavior of “fattening up” before migration.
The end product is described as rich and buttery in flavor and a fatty, tender consistency and is prized by many food aficionados. The material can be prepared in many ways but is commonly seared and served along side dishes such as steak. It's also used to make pâté or mousse.
According to the USDA, a 100-gram serving of foie gras has 462 calories, 43.84 grams of total fat, 150mg of cholesterol, 697mg of sodium and 11.4 grams of protein. There are also vitamins A and C, as well as calcium and iron.
The end product is far removed from the process, and activists in Seattle say it’s unnecessary and cruel.
“We can all agree that all animals deserve at least minimal welfare protections which include not ramming a metal rod down a duck’s throat to induce a diseased liver,” said Letten.
MFA and many other animal rights groups content the practice is cruel siting at PETA study that examined the practices of Hudson Valley Farms, a New York based producer and Amazon supplier of foie gras. Hudson Farms is the largest producer of foie gras in the U.S.
PETA reported farmers aggressively handled fowl, and the birds developed fatal injuries to the throat, extremities, and internal organs. They also reported that some of the fowl were conscious when their throats are incised to end the living part of their production phase.
However, Hudson Valley was praised for their humane treatment and for producing quality foie gras by food writer and the television personality of “No Reservations,” Anthony Bourdain.
On the Amazon website Hudson Valley foie gras sells for $3.71 an ounce.
In Ballard, where foodies are beginning to flock to award winning restaurants, chefs prepare froie gras in many different dishes.
However, Bastille Café Chef and Stoneburner Owner/Operator/Chef, Jason Stoneburner, said,” “We do not serve foie gras at Bastille, mostly because of the somewhat misunderstood farming practices associated with the product.”
“There are duck farms where good husbandry is the focus and the ducks’ natural tendancy to overeat is organically facilitated. I always look at a producers’ farming method before I commit to using their product. It’s important to Bastille, rather than explaining to diners why a particular duck farmer who produces foie gras isn't harming their animals,” said Stoneburner.
August Graube, 32, is a North Seattle resident and frequent patron at many Ballard restaurants. Graube said, “I've always been on the fence with how I feel about foie gras. I'm a meat eater, and I assume that the majority of the meat that I consume probably comes from mass production farms.”
“I doubt that those cattle, chickens and pigs are treated much better than the final 12 to 15 days of a goose's life when it's being force fed. Because of this, and also because it's bad for the environment in many ways, I try to limit my overall meat consumption, and I very rarely order foie fras,” said Graube.
As the largest food distributor in the world, Amazon’s course of action could affect Ballard and Seattle chef’s choices in their dishes and a global culture as well.
The Ballard News-Tribune reached out to Amazon for comment but they have not responded.
“It's certainly a very touchy issue; one that I'm not even sure about, so I couldn't fault Amazon for either remaining in, or pulling out of the foie gras marketplace,” said Graube.
“I will say that I would like to see these protesters/groups focus their energy on the worst violators, like the industrial farming methods used by the chicken industry,” said Stoneburner.
However, Letten shares a slightly more aggressive view.
“If Amazon executives abused dogs and cats in the same way foie gras suppliers abuse ducks, they would be jailed on grounds of animal cruelty. As a civilized society it’s our moral obligation to protect all animals, including ducks from needless animal cruelty,” said Letten.
| <urn:uuid:b72eba31-7250-48dd-93bb-ba69c0c6b805> | http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2014/05/29/news/activists-say-%E2%80%98no%E2%80%99-amazon-foie-gras-sales | en | 0.953505 | 0.01964 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Types of natural hairs used
for Calligraphy brush hairs production.
There are three main types of brushes: soft, hard and mixed. Mixed brushes, as the name itself suggests, are those made of both soft and hard hairs. They are usually more suitable for beginners.
The softness of the brush depends on the type of hairs used in production. The most common animal hair brushes are as follows:
Chinese goat wool brush (羊毛, youmou). Those brushes are flexible, durable, yet soft and very absorbent. The best hairs used for manufacturing those brushes are nearly transparent and of amber colour, with sort of a yellow-brown shading. They are also difficult to control, therefore not recommended for beginners. Soft brushes used skillfully deliver very interesting and, to an extent, unpredictable lines. Yomou brushes are of the most expensive of all. Long and thick, made of soft superb quality wool, they can easily cost over $15000 USD. Japanese goat brushes are of inferior quality due to lower flexibility of the hairs, for which reason the wool for their production is being imported from China.
Weasel hair brush (鼬毛, itachike). It has exactly the opposite features of a wool brush. The hairs are hard and yet amazingly flexible. Even if fully loaded with ink the brush’s tip will move fast and with accuracy. Weasel hair brushes are not cheap, though they are not as expensive as the youmou ones. For brush making, weasel torso hairs are used. There are three main countries supplying weasel hair. These are China, Japan and Korea. The best quality hairs are from Chinese weasels (most flexible, the longest and with most durable hair ends).
Racoon dog hair brush (狸毛, rimou). Since the tail hairs have a tendency to shrink, mainly spinal (black) and abdominal hairs (white) are used. Japanese racoon dog brushes have better hair ends yet weaker flexibility than the Chinese ones, therefore are not suitable for calligraphy brushes (only painting brushes). Chinese racoon hairs are suitable for all brushes except fine-point ones.
Mountain rabbit (山兎毛, yamausagike). The hairs are fairly short but have fantastic flexibility and very strong hairs ends. They are suitable for manufacturing brushes for small character writing or drawing fine lines in sumi-e (ink painting). Mountain rabbits are rare and therefore the brushes made of their hairs are quite pricey.
Horse hair brush (馬毛, umake). They are made of any kind of horse hair from any part of the body, although not all of them are suitable for calligraphy. For instance, hair from horse’s back is softer and it is used for manufacturing mixed brushes (the outer layer of the tuft). Other parts, such as torso hair, are usually longer (up to 20cm) and they are used for large size brushes. Hair from other parts have weaker flexibility and are used for making painting brushes.
Bird feathers (鳥毛, torike). Mainly chicken feathers are used, although there are brushes made of guinea fowl, green pheasant, etc. Those brushes are extremely soft and absorbent, thus very difficult to control. However, they give a spectacular effect of a “shredded” line, which adds a certain ambience to a given work.
Exotic brushes such as those made of rat, mouse, cat or even tiger whiskers are also available. They usually are very small and are used for drawing fine lines in sumi-e (墨絵, ink painting) or writing small scale calligraphy.
Other hair such as that of a cat, squirrel, pig, or cow are of a lower quality and are not being considered in the above classification. Human hair is only used for traditional brushes made from a hair of newly born baby. Due to low flexibility, and weakness they are not suitable for writing.
Continue to Calligraphy Brush Sizes
Back to Calligraphy Brushes
Check out the Magazine for the most up to date news | <urn:uuid:3ab9625e-f42a-4cf4-b529-2cb03504af69> | http://www.beyondcalligraphy.com/calligraphy_brush_hairs.html | en | 0.968419 | 0.022675 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Celebs and their plastic surgery
Articles about Luke Perry
Luke Perry – plastic surgery
Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Question: How can we make Luke Perry look like the Dylan McKay of old?
Answer: Some Botox in his forehead and crow’s feet. This would remove the wrinkles in these areas and…voila! Dylan McKay again…almost.
Photo source: dlisted.com
Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D. | <urn:uuid:97278b84-15fb-4456-81cf-9d647f92708f> | http://www.celebcosmeticsurgery.com/category/luke-perry/ | en | 0.890818 | 0.149583 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Cuisine emerges from a culture and its environment.
Or so we're told, anyway. Self-styled "foodies," members of the slow food movement and agitators who decry globalization tend to be rather scathing in their opinion of processed meals, super-sized orders and other aspects of mainstream American cuisine. They somehow forget that potatoes--a staple in Eastern Europe--grew originally in Central America, that Romans introduced wine to France, that the unique flavors of the Caribbean developed as waves of Europeans and Africans descended on the islands, merging their own understanding of food preparation with local ingredients.
They also ignore the fact that American cuisine of the Swanson's or McDonald's variety is the product of a culture devoted to efficiency and mass production.
Sure, we understand fresh, locally produced goods generally taste better than prepackaged items. But as a people, we've grown used to convenience. "Americans are instant gratification people," says Chris Pyun, executive chef at Jeroboam. "If it's not good the first time, they are not going to try again." At the same time, he points out, the diversity of our culture drives much of our tinkering with new products and different ideas. "Americans are more open to trying other things than people in most countries. My dad's from Korea; he won't try a pizza."
What we're saying is this: People get a lot of things wrong, particularly when they try to characterize food as proper or improper, palatable or totally inedible. "For each culture, it's their version of what they want," explains Aaron Staudenmaier, chef at Jasper's, describing the tendency for people to twist foreign ingredients to suit their own particular tastes. Olive Garden barely resembles true Italian cuisine, a troubling thing only to haughty perfectionists. "There's curry all over England. It's different than Indian curry, but everyone's happy."
This week's query sent the Burning Question crew on a whirlwind trip overseas determined to test items in places with downright iffy reputations and uncover...well, let's just admit it. They serve some downright wicked drinks in Europe, and we intended to test them all. Imagine discovering a cache of absinthe, a potent green liqueur banned in the United States, downing a significant volume of the stuff and waking up days later inside a crumbling Soviet-built apartment block somewhere in Lithuania.
Fortunately for our research, Lithuanian cuisine is frightening at times. They serve potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes, often doused with bacon grease and sour cream. Other faves include raw bacon, pickled herring, pig ears and fresh wild mushrooms sautéed beyond recognition in a mess of bacon grease and sour cream. Oh, and smoked fish, complete with heads and bones.
"I think that's a peasant tradition where nothing was wasted because food was hard to come by," says Michael Zeve, chef at Sevy's.
Aficionados of regional cuisine either enjoy it or learn to appreciate its origins. The Burning Question crew relied on heavy doses of vodka. Our visit to the Baltic country left us with gastric ailments, severe hangovers and wives. More than the law allows.
"In Eastern Europe, you have to look at how they've lived the last 80 years," Pyun reminds us. "They didn't have the wherewithal to develop their cuisine. You have to look at the history of a country, the availability of product, everything."
Well, at least Lithuanians whip up a very enjoyable cold beet soup. And vodka is both cheap and plentiful.
Of course, the Baltic states attract few tourists. Most world-wise travelers, when asked about dining in Europe, rave about Paris, Tuscany, the French countryside, Rome, Madrid...but look askance at English cuisine. After all, anyone who ever suffered through greasy fish and chips rolled in an old newspaper, steak and kidney pie, boiled beef or a cold tomato and butter sandwich could find little charming in a British restaurant.
Local chefs, however, defend British dishes. "England is a working-class country," Pyun snaps, "the meat-and-potatoes people who rescued the French." We cut him off before he launched into the "why do French tanks have five gears?" routine. "A lot of people say English cuisine is horrible," Staudenmaier adds. "There are different things there that freak us out, like mushy peas." Yet he points out that appreciation of food is subjective. "Even French is terrible if it's prepared poorly."
We tried some old British staples--such as pigeon--prepared by Norman Farquharson of The Tenth on Kensington High Street in London, if only to rack up more expenses and confirm that English cuisine defies criticism. His creations are remarkable, drawing flavors from across the globe.
And that is the point. It's a small world, and people throughout Europe and the United States encounter new flavors and traditions as trade expands. "I don't think you can put a broad label on any cuisine," Pyun says. "It comes down to personal taste."
And you can always kill the flavor with a few shots of vodka.
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Category Book Review DJ Patil Data Jujitsu: The Art of Turning Data into Product
Data Jujitsu: The Art of Turning Data into Product
O'Reilly recently released one of their free Radar Reports titled Data Jujitsu: The Art of Turning Data into Product by DJ Patil. This short (24 pages) report is packed with interesting insights and actionable information that will change the way you look at your next project. It's very much worth the minimal investment in time to download and read.
Data Jujitsu; Use Product Design; When In Doubt, Use Humans; Be Opportunistic For Wins; Ground Your Product In The Real World; Give Data Back To The User To Create Additional Value; No Data Vomit; Expect Unforeseen Side Effects; Improving Precision And Recall; Subjectivity; Enlisting Other Users; Ask And You Shall Receive; Anticipate Failure; Putting Data Jujitsu Into Practice; About The Author
The author thoroughly knows his topic, as he is a data scientist with real-world experience working on well-known sites such as LinkedIn. That is an example of a site that is driven heavily by data and connections between data. Observing what the site is actually used for, as well as what people attempt to accomplish, is what adds the additional value over time.
Given that this is a report rather than a "book", I found that the ideas and actionable content could be found on nearly every page. I thought his approach to solving the data issue prior to solving the application problem both refreshing and insightful. Why spend a fortune (both time and money) to create a product only to find out that no one has the problem you want to solve? Or worse, you spend far too much time solving the wrong problem (usually the more complex and "interesting" one) rather than the one that people would spend money to have solved. A cheap and usually non-scalable approach to collecting the data is preferable, as it allows you to figure out what needs to be the focus and what can be ignored. An example of that approach is Amazon's Mechanical Turk. MT can be a quick way to use humans to solve a problem (such as visual recognition) instead of spending untold amounts of time building a computer-based visual recognition system that may be tangential to the actual problem you're trying to solve.
Another interesting point was to have a conversation with the user instead of just having them fill in data. If you can design the interface to help the user enter "clean" and relevant data, while at the same time giving them feedback and value, they become your partner in finding answers and relevant links between data points.
Finally, I can't let my favorite title for a chapter/section go unmentioned... Data Vomit. It's what happens when you decide to focus on the amount of data coming back instead of focusing on what people are doing with it. Focus on actions, not volume of data returned. This hits home as it's very common to have users ask if we can generate data in formats x, y, and z. When you ask *why* they want that feature, the answer is often "I just thought it might be nice to have." Instead, I need to focus on what they actually want to accomplish, not on how many different contortions we can twist the data into...
Go ahead and download the report from either Amazon or O'Reilly. It'll take less than an hour to read, and you'll get far more than that in return.
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free
Book Review - Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez
Category Book Review Daniel Suarez Kill Decision
A picture named M2
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free
Book Review - Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired by Brian Doherty
Category Book Review Brian Doherty Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired
Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired
It seems like today's politicians will pretty much say and do anything to get elected these days. If it's convenient to flip-flop on a position to gain a few more votes, count them in. One of the few people who seems to have a set of beliefs that don't change a whole lot is Ron Paul. You may not *like* them, but at least he's consistent. To find out a bit more about Paul, I picked up the book Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired by Brian Doherty at the library. While it did fill in some gaps in my understanding of the man and his positions, I was expecting something a bit more balanced in the pros and cons of his policies and career. This book is tilted firmly in the direction of the "pros" side of the equation. It *is* a well-written book... just don't take it as everything you need to make an intelligence choice.
If I had paid a bit more attention to the author's bio, I would have been able to adjust my expectations accordingly. Doherty's writings and appearances on TV are solidly in the conservative/libertarian camp. That would have given me a clue that this book would be very sympathetic to the Paul movement. He uses the 2012 campaign for President as the framework for much of the narrative, using incidents and people to fill in the history of Paul and his major policy beliefs. Because the media largely ignored Paul, Doherty has room to show parts of the 2012 campaign that 99.5% of the public knows nothing about. That's one of the main takeaways for me in the book... If a candidate can't be slotted into a convenient stereotype or category, they are written off as not relevant.
What I was looking for when I picked up the book was more of an exploration of how certain ideas and policies would play out if Paul was elected. For instance, it's one thing to say that a return to the gold standard would "fix" the problem with our massive debt and unchecked government growth. In reality, what would it mean for a leading world economy to go against how every other nation manages money supply? One set of problems would be solved, but another whole set would be introduced. In addition, a President can do little without the support of Congress. Would a President with the policies of a Ron Paul be so out of sync with both the Republican and Democratic parties that *neither* side would support him? No easy, simple, or consistent answers exist any longer to our problems.
Paul fans will love this book, as it will reinforce the view that Ron Paul has answers that resonate with the American public once they have a chance to hear them. If you're part of the majority of people who haven't had the chance to hear what Paul stands for due to marginalization by the media, rEVOLution will help you get the basics about the man and his message. Just remember this book is very Paul-friendly, and you need to take this information and weigh it against other views to get a full picture of what a true Libertarian agenda would bring to the country.
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
An adjustment...
Category Everything else
Based on an email exchange I had this evening with someone whose input is important, I've decided that talking about GBS is something I'm going to shelve. I haven't changed the way I feel about GBS as a company or the direction it's headed. What I feel *was* a valid point is how my comments were interpreted.
To be clear... I do not wish ill will on the employees of GBS, nor will I be (nor am I) happy that the company is having financial difficulties.
I went through the Enron debacle, had part of my severance pay tied up in court bankruptcy proceedings, and I got laid off 11 days before September 11th. Emotionally, I was convinced I would never get another job again. I would not wish that hell on anyone. I was fortunate in that things worked out well, and the changes I had to make put me on a path that was far better than what I ever dreamed. Many others didn't end up that way. That experience is why I started tweeting about Lotus job openings and why I update and post the lotusjobs.wordpress.com site. I'm not looking for Lotus jobs, and I'm very happy with what I'm doing and learning with my current employer. I do this because being unemployed and feeling like you have no options is one of the worst experiences I've ever had. If I can help one person avoid or escape that, then the time I spend posting those jobs is worth it.
One of the few things I've figured out about myself is that when I take a shot at someone or something, quite often it's because someone or something I care about about is being threatened in some way. In this particular case, many people I know and respect will end up getting hurt if GBS has to take drastic steps to change their situation. I bristle when corporate happy-talk about exciting opportunities in the market ignores the fact that the bottom line tells a completely different story. If the livelihood of people I care about is threatened, I push back.
I commented on Volker's blog about the announcement today regarding the change in GBS leadership. I was told that there *are* personal reasons for the change, and that I was wrong in calling it corporate-speak for resigning instead of getting fired. After thinking about that, I realize I *do* owe Mr. Ott an apology. I don't know him or the situation, and my comment was based on far too many corporate press releases where "personal reasons" is a general phrase that means someone left not of their own accord. I know I would be furious if I left to deal with medical issues in my family (not a stretch) or something similar, and it was suggested that I was forced to leave. I'm sorry for that comment.
The reason I'm shelving the GBS topic is that when it comes to the bottom line, the ultimate success or failure of GBS as a company doesn't affect what I do. I'm not converting Notes applications to XPages, I'm not a business partner, and I'm never going to be working for GBS in any of those capacities. I still care deeply about my friends and colleagues who *are* affected by the company, and I'll always be there to help them in any way that I can regardless of where they work and who they work for. Others who are more inclined and qualified to dig through the financials can analyze and offer opinions. The numbers are what they are, and time will tell as to how it all unfolds. In my case, this really is one more area and topic that I can eliminate from my circle of distraction.
So... to the person who emailed me, thank you for the input. I may well appear to be and act like an @$$ at times, but I *will* listen to feedback (in most cases). You were right, and I was wrong.
Book Review - F My Life World Tour: Life's Crappiest Moments from Around the Globe
Category Book Review F My Life World Tour: Life's Crappiest Moments from Around the Globe
This is the book you need to read if you think you're having a bad day... F My Life World Tour: Life's Crappiest Moments from Around the Globe by Maxime Valette, Guillaume Passaglia, and Didier Gudej. It won't change what happened to cause your bad day, but you *should* end up laughing at others who haven't exactly enjoyed their day either. I finally had to leave the room as I kept interrupting my wife with "let me read you just one more..."
F My Life (yes, it's the F word, but the acronym commonly used is FML) is a web site where people can send in their FML gems that prove that people (and life) can often be cruel... and funny for those reading about it. Each page in this book has from four to six FML moments from around the globe. Some are embarrassing, such as "Today, I broke my little toe. It got stuck in my underwear as I struggled to get a leg through. FML". Some are sad, such as "Today, I got stuck in a hospital elevator from 10:30 to 11:45. I'm now the proud father of a daughter named Maria. She was born at 10:55. FML." Many are cruel, like "Today, it's been three days since I ran into my boyfriend's scantily clad sister in his apartment. Today, I realized that he doesn't have a sister. FML" But nearly all of them are laugh-worthy, for instance... "Today, my girlfriend looked through the contents of my refrigerator and started with her usual 'You're a pig, you never clean up' routine. She said, 'Look at this egg, it makes me want to throw up, it's black, covered in fur, AND THERE'S EVEN HAIR ON IT!' I took a look: It was a kiwi. FML"
I realize it's not nice to laugh at other peoples' misfortune, and you definitely don't want to laugh at them in their presence. But if they shared it online, I think it's fair game, and F My Life World Tour is perfect for plenty of laughs. It may also be pretty cheap therapy to help you realize that Life pretty much dumps on everyone at some point. :)
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
Book Review - Subduction by Todd Shimoda
Category Book Review Todd Shimoda Subduction
I picked up Subduction by Todd Shimoda from the library earlier this month, expecting something different than what I ended up getting. I don't recall where I first noticed the book, but the description was along the lines of a seismological murder mystery. At its core, that's technically accurate. In reality, it's more a story of how a person's actions from the past continue to cause tremors in the lives of others over the years. Add in the cultural aspect of the story being set on a tiny Japanese island, and I experienced a bit of a jolt (pun somewhat intended) in terms of pacing and motivations.
The story revolves around three individuals who find themselves on a Japanese island where the small fishing village has seen better days. The government would like to move the aging population off the island due to the danger of earthquakes in the area, but the villagers would prefer to simply be left alone. They don't trust the newcomers, and that trust factor colors everything that happens.
Mari Sasaki is on the island to record the stories of the islanders for a potential documentary. She's done a relatively good job getting people to open up to her, and she knows how many of the lives interconnect on the island. Aki Ishikawa is the seismologist trying to develop an early warning system for the earthquakes that plague the island. He left a wife and child to pursue his research, but he's not very open as to why he felt compelled to do this. Jun Endo is the primary character, and he's stuck on the island for the next four years. He was a first year intern who took the fall for a mistake by the head resident that resulted in the death of a patient. The island exile is his punishment.
Due to curiosity and boredom, Endo tries to befriend Sasaki and Ishikawa. He senses that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to a possible history between the two, and it may be that Ishikawa is jealous over the time he's spending with Sasaki. Endo's also trying to understand the open hostility from various islanders, and whether those feelings might be responsible for deadly actions, both past and present. Each new revelation twists the story in another direction, and it becomes increasingly difficult to know who to trust... if anyone.
I think my confusion about how I view this novel is based on expectations. As a murder mystery, it moves very slow. In fact, the actual crime could be viewed as secondary to the real purpose of the writer. As a story about people and motivation, it's layered and intricate. Endo draws you into his world of obligation and frustration over how he ended up in such a lifeless location. The other characters are more difficult to get to know, as you are working from the same lack of knowledge as Endo. Patience is the key in letting things emerge at their own pace.
While Subduction isn't a bad book in any sense, I probably would not have been so quick to read it had I known a bit more about the style. Shimoda is a very good writer, but the book wasn't what I would normally move to the top of my recreational reading list.
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
Book Review - Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson
Category Book Review Jenny Lawson Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
In terms of bizarre, "I-have-to-read-this-to-you", laugh-out-loud funny, it doesn't get much better than this... Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson, a.k.a "The Bloggess". Generally when I read material I consider humorous, I'll smile as I go along, not disturbing anyone around me. With Let's Pretend, I wasn't ten pages into the book before my wife had to ask me what was so funny and what was I reading. I don't know what parts were "mostly true" and I'm sure there's an amount of artistic license taken in the stories, but it really doesn't matter. It's fun any way you look at it.
I'm late to the Bloggess fan club, so I didn't come into the book with much in the way of pre-conceived notions or background history of who Lawson is. After a couple of blog articles I read about her and the book, the concept sounded interesting and I added the book to my library hold list. Good decision on my part... Her book is generally a "memoir" of her life to date (she's not very old) with liberal doses of random insanity along the way. She had an... interesting family and childhood, complete with a wacky father who was disturbingly fascinated with animals (live, dead, stuffed... didn't matter). Add in the fact that she lived in Wall, Texas (*very* rural), and the unimaginable becomes reality. Never one to fit in with the normal or popular kids, she wasn't helped by incidents such as a "pet" turkey (her father insisted it was a quail) that stalked her occasionally on the way to school. What happens one day when the turkey brings along some "friends" and explores the school shouldn't happen to any child... but you have to laugh anyway.
Based on her blog and the book, it's clear she suffers from social anxiety and a few other emotional imbalances. It's a common theme in her stories, and her long-suffering husband Victor must wonder what he did in three previous lives that he's having to atone for here. But instead of withdrawing into a shell and "suffering", she's turned her fears and quirks into stories that leave you in tears from laughing so hard. Without going into details, her story about overdosing on chocolate Ex-Lax in an effort to improve her anti-depressant medications is unforgettable... literally. :)
If you're easily offended by crude language, don't read Let's Pretend This Never Happened. You won't like it at all. It's also probably not a good idea to read it if you're not entertained by extreme snarkiness or if you're unable to laugh with someone who is looking at life through her own unique set of glasses... not sure what the tint color is on her pair... it's definitely not rose. :) But if neither of those warnings put you off, get a copy of Let's Pretend and clear out a few hours. You probably won't be getting much else done once you get started.
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
Looking for advice/input...Does anyone have experience in sponsoring a cycling team?
Category Everything Else
So here's the deal... If you've followed my blog/Facebook/Twitter account, you might know that Cameron (my 24 year old son) is an avid bike racer. His speciality is track racing, and in the three or four years since he's been racing as part of various teams, he's worked his way up to being a highly competitive category 3 rider. There are three other riders who are constants on the team, comprising a mix of gender and racial diversity. All of them are committed and continue to move up the ranks, and I'm a proud dad when I look at how hard he's worked and on some of the decision he's had to make to stand up for others.
But's here's the rub... he and the team have done most everything on a self-funded basis. They buy their own bikes, pay their own fees, design and buy their own skinsuits, etc. Cycling isn't a cheap sport, and what Cam and his team have accomplished with 2nd-hand equipment while also trying to live on his own as a delivery person (on a bike, naturally) is nothing short of amazing to me. However, they've reached a point where to make the jump to the next level, they really do need to get sponsorship at some level. Many of the local teams here in Portland Oregon have sponsors that provide new bikes (*that* isn't cheap). Sponsors can also cover race fees, provide outfits and kit, and so on... Some sponsors are local (like local pubs and restaurants), some are tied to the sport (various bike shops), and some are even names that would be known internationally (like being sponsored by Guinness, but likely through a local distributor). Even the local power company here in Portland sponsors a bike team.
I would love to work with Cam's team to try and secure solid and tangible sponsorship. On the other hand, publicity and marketing are not my forte. On top of that, I can't sit down right now and rattle off a sponsorship plan of what it would cost, how many levels, what that would be used for, and how the team would promote the name. That's the stuff I have to learn if I want to help him out at all.
I know there are a number of people who read my writings who are cyclers and/or who are part of teams with sponsorship. I'd be very interested in getting some feedback on your experiences in this area, and any recommendations on how to test the waters. If you want to drop me an email using my duffbert AT gmail.com account to start a conversation, I'd be forever grateful for the education.
And while it wasn't the *main* idea of this post, if you own or work for a company who would love to have a cycling team that you could hug and squeeze and call George, *please* get in touch with me.
Their need for sponsorship is very real. My role is helping them secure some part of it may or may not work out. But in this case (biased as I am), I'd love to see all their hard work, effort, and commitment take them up to the levels I know they're capable of.
This is why I reject *both* parties in American politics... (rant coming... change the channel if you'd like)
Category Everything Else
Politics is one of those topics you're not supposed to discuss in polite company because it's divisive and often generates more smoke than heat. It's also right up there next to religion in terms of beliefs that people will adhere to and identify with regardless of whether a particular element makes sense or has been shown to be completely false. It's why we can have a thousand cable and satellite channels of programming... people will do anything to get their daily dose of confirmation bias.
However, now that I'm into my second half-century of life on earth, I'd like to think that I'm finally questioning more and blindly following less. I know there are still values and beliefs I hold true, but I'm more open to realizing that no one group has the right, adequate, or practical answers to everything. There are times when you have to admit and accept that answers that address the "greater good" can come from anywhere, even from the groups that you claim to despise and that you decry as idiots.
I've been feeling this for a while now, but it clobbered me over the head this evening when I read this:
Let's get some housekeeping out of the way first... I'm registered as "non-affiliated" as an Oregon voter. It used to be "independent", until someone had the bright idea to create an official Independent Party in Oregon, and the government thought it'd be a good idea to let people think that non-affiliated and independent were synonymous terms. I work for a health insurance company. I think the current system is horribly broken and unsustainable. I have a son with a life-threatening condition who will be uninsured in a few weeks unless I find something to replace his coverage on our insurance. And finally, I believe that a certain baseline level of universal coverage is a moral obligation of a society... not "I deserve access to have access to $100K treatments to survive three more months", but "someone shouldn't die because they can't afford insurance for type 1 diabetes *and* buy food". Also, spare me the libertarian "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" crap. Sometimes life deals someone a really shitty hand through no fault of their own, and "too bad, I guess you die" isn't what this country was morally founded upon. I realize there's a line that needs to be drawn somewhere in that "baseline universal coverage" belief. No, I don't know where it is, nor whether it's stationary and doesn't ever shift. I'm also not sure I trust anyone to be wise enough to determine the line's placement. Sometimes decisions are like that...
Now, back to the topic at hand...
Read the article I linked to (since you chose to read this blog entry in the first place). Read the whole thing. It's more than 140 characters, but hang in there.
Get down toward the end to this part:
The paragraphs following that are mind-boggling to me. Republican (and I'll argue that you can generalize this to "Political") leadership is not trying to solve the issue of health care. They're not trying to do what's best for the country or for society. They're focusing on one frickin' thing... getting elected in order to stay in power. Mind you, it's not an attempt to get elected (or stay elected) so that they can *then* focus on the larger problems. To them, the only larger problem is how to stay in power and keep their jobs.
I'm sure there are Republican (and political) officials who truly believe the lies (yes, *lies*) that were exposed in this article. It's not as if we haven't seen plenty of examples of stunning stupidity from city, state, and federal senators and representatives from *both* parties this year. Unfortunately, that means we either have sheeple (sheep people) leading sheeple and doing what they're told by *their* leaders, or we have leaders who will lie at any and every opportunity to have power and the money that comes with it. I'll be drastic and let you amputate a finger of mine for every honest and selfless politician you can find who is doing that job because they are willing to sacrifice and labor to better their constituency. I'm guessing I'll still be able to use my keyboard quite well when you're finished.
And in case it appears that I'm beating up on Republicans for sport, let me offer the following in counterpoint:
Obama says under Mitt Romney, "Medicare could end as we know it, leaving Julia with nothing but a voucher to buy insurance, which means $6,350 extra per year for a similar plan." (FALSE)
"Under the Romney/Ryan budget, interest rates on federal student loans would be allowed to double." (FALSE)
I could keep going, but hopefully you get the idea. And if you want to argue that PolitiFact.com is biased (in which case you missed the *entire* point of this post), then check out FactCheck.org (they also don't trust either side).
Bottom line... this "politicians lie" is not a new revelation for me. It's just appearing much more pervasive and blatant now (thank you, Internet). And I don't want any sympathy over insurance woes that I may have. Ultimately, it *is* my crap to deal with.
If I could wish for anything good to come from this post, it's simply that you stop parroting stories and statements from Democrats, Republicans, Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or any other source that condenses an intricate and complicated issue into 300 words, 3 minutes, and a sound bite for a 30 second story on the radio. THINK FOR YOURSELVES! These are problems and issues that will determine the world that you and your children live in for the rest of your lives. Do you really not think that deserves more than 60 seconds of thought and effort on your part before you form an opinion and take action?
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Thomas "Duffbert" Duff
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Monthly Archives | <urn:uuid:1f948b33-d33c-44e7-928d-7d51d5df8bc4> | http://www.duffbert.com/duffbert/blog.nsf/archive?openview&type=Month&key=2012-7 | en | 0.970219 | 0.074774 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
A Little Sunshine
by | July 2007
In September 2000, in Pine Hill, New Jersey, Robert Taurus was escorted out of a council meeting by the local police chief and issued a summons for disorderly conduct. His offense: He wanted to videotape the proceedings for his records.
Taurus wasn't exactly an impartial observer: A longtime Democratic activist, he had grown disenchanted with the council's Democratic majority over a nepotism dispute, switched his registration to Republican, and become the council's signature critic. He saw his video camera as a deterrent to official misdeeds. "People act differently when they're in front of the camera," Taurus explained. "They're not as apt to do the sleazy stuff."
The mayor told a local newspaper that the council couldn't permit "private people" to film meetings. Then he added, in apparent contradiction, that if Taurus were "a decent resident, we would have no problem."
There's no dispute that Taurus was fond of causing trouble. Still, it was a bit of a stretch to describe what he did as "disorderly." And there wasn't much to disrupt. The main council business that night was a ceremony honoring a local girls' softball team.
Taurus decided to sue the council. In fact, he spent the next seven years arguing his case, all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court. This past March, he won. The court held that the public's right of access to governmental proceedings includes the right to videotape, though video-tapers may be held to reasonable restrictions. "It was bigger than just me," Taurus says. "I was tired of them having the attitude, 'I am the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. I make the rules, and you don't need to know about what happens behind the curtains.'"
The Taurus case is part of a modest but growing revival of interest around the country in open-government issues and sunshine laws. It reverses a clear trend toward secrecy that prevailed at all levels from 2001 to 2005, stimulated by the actions of the federal government and fueled by concerns about terrorism and identity theft. "We've been getting governors and mayors who think they're running little White Houses," says Charles Davis, director of the Missouri-based Freedom of Information Coalition. They had support from Washington in their efforts. In the wake of 9/11, the federal government created an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act that preempted state sunshine laws. Under the Homeland Security Act, state governments were forbidden to release "critical infrastructure information" in the name of national security.
But while exemptions to state open-meetings and -records laws continue to be proposed by the hundreds, the pendulum has begun to swing back in the direction of access. State-level freedom of information coalitions are proliferating and becoming more influential, especially in states that have relatively weak anti- secrecy laws on the books. The media are providing much of the momentum, but citizen activists, some of them as persistent as Robert Taurus, are beginning to play a more visible role. "There's a general recognition that we've gone too far," Davis contends.
The most significant signs of change are coming from what might seem an unlikely place: governors' offices. Newly elected chief executives Eliot Spitzer of New York and Charlie Crist of Florida both signed sunshine-related executive orders during their first week in office, sending powerful signals about their interest in transparency. Freedom of information advocates in New York and Florida credit both governors with cultivating a "culture of access" in their states. "It has been a sea change," says Barbara Petersen, president of Florida's First Amendment Foundation. Under Jeb Bush, Crist's predecessor, she says, both citizens and reporters were having a hard time getting records. Now, Petersen insists, "the air is different up there; people are just so much more open."
But public access to government proceedings and records remains a complex issue, and in many ways, the Taurus case is emblematic of that. After Taurus was thrown out of the council chamber in Pine Hill, the mayor justified his exclusion on grounds that the recording would be edited manipulatively and then widely distributed. That may or may not have been true, but it raises interesting questions. Does the right to videotape a meeting carry with it a right to edit in whatever way the editor prefers? Should the entire proceeding be fodder for bloggers and webcasters? What recourse might a legislative body have if someone taped speeches with the deliberate intent to distort their meaning? The answers to those questions remain unclear.
Policy makers less than enthralled with open government have long been able to take solace in the difficulty of its practical application. Citizens and journalists have had to show unusual interest in a public record to subject themselves to the lengthy and sometimes costly process required to access it. Weeks or even months can pass, depending on the rigidity of the state's laws, before someone in an agency pulls the proper file from the proper file cabinet and hands it over for review. Occasionally, the records do not materialize and, in some states, a citizen's only recourse has been to sue.
Now, however, technology can make the process relatively painless, even for the citizen who is less than zealous about monitoring public events. Meetings can be videotaped and cataloged on the Internet easily and cheaply, complete with tags for easy navigation. Records requests can be made and filled out online. Google has started offering free help to state and local governments that want to optimize their Web sites for public searching. Arizona, California, Utah and Virginia have already taken up this offer, and others will likely follow. "For years," says Davis, "the information has been 'practically obscure,' to use the legal term. Now, anybody can get to it sitting in their pajamas at 2 a.m., and that alarms some policy makers."
While privacy can be used as an excuse for needless government secrecy, the Google-ability of public records does pose legitimate concerns. An aspiring identity thief is unlikely to file a freedom of information request to obtain personal information that was revealed, perhaps unintentionally, in a government meeting. He is much more likely to scour the Web for it.
This is an especially challenging problem when it comes to court proceedings. State judicial systems have been grappling with whether to make court records available online; some have been redacting information or limiting the types of files available, arguing that information is sometimes discussed at a trial that no one involved in the case would wish to make public. Sunshine advocates think this is overreacting. "If a document is available in a file cabinet, it should be available electronically," says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press. "The really troubling development is that some states are saying, 'Well then, we're not going to make it available in the file cabinet anymore.'"
The new administrations in New York and Florida are taking the view that transparency is worth the risk, even with the complications created by emerging technology. They argue that transparency makes for more efficient use of government resources.
In New York, Spitzer's inaugural executive order requires state agencies to webcast all proceedings that are covered by the state's open-meetings laws. This builds on a measure enacted last year, near the end of the preceding Pataki administration, that allows citizens to request and receive records by e-mail. State agencies are required to release records electronically whenever possible, so that those making the request do not have to pay a 25 cents-per-page fee for photocopies.
In Florida, Crist has created an Office of Open Government, which reports directly to him. The office fields questions about open- meetings and -records laws from agencies and citizens, and fills executive office records requests. In April, the average turnaround time for citizen requests was one day. The office also has a centralized list of key contacts for public-records issues in every state agency, with their e-mail addresses and phone numbers available to citizens on the state Web site.
California has moved in what seem to be conflicting directions on the sunshine issue. In 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order requiring agencies to designate particular staff members to handle record requests and train them in how to do it. Last fall, however, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required all state agencies to develop online forms to handle the requests. Sunshine advocates, citing the governor's frequent calls for transparency, called this a betrayal.
In many states, failure to move further in the direction of open government has less to do with outright resistance than with anachronistic laws that make no provision for the digital age. Most state open-meeting and -records laws were enacted in the 1950s and '60s, and offer no guidance at all on how agency officials should respond to the Internet. "The laws were created in a paper-based world with metal file cabinets," Davis says, "before word processors were part of the equation, let alone teleconferencing." Any law that is more than five years old, Davis points out, is unlikely to say anything about technology.
In the absence of modern statutory guidance, technology has actually been a hindrance to freedom of information advocates as often as it has been a help. "When computers first began to be widely used in government, there was a big jolt backwards," says Bill Chamberlin, director of the Citizen Access Project at the University of Florida. When public records were first digitzed in the 1970s and '80s, many records custodians took the position that a database isn't technically a record and thus isn't subject to open- records laws. Such arguments are almost never heard anymore, but a reminder of them still exists in the hefty fees some states continue to charge for the retrieval of digital records.
And while 21st-century technology keeps creating new opportunities for transparent government, it creates new possibilities for evasion as well. E-mail and teleconferencing can be used as a way to meet without technically "meeting." Some states have been updating their laws to close these loopholes, but the tempo of technological advances makes it difficult to keep up. Eight states require that e-mails be subject to their open-records laws, and four prohibit the use of e- mails as meetings.
Tightening the laws to close technological loopholes sometimes requires nanolegislating. In Massachusetts and Florida, members of a public board may send other members a private electronic meeting agenda but may not invite comment or include personal notes about policy matters. Teleconferences are prohibited in Nevada, although statewide bodies are allowed to hold videoconferences if at least one member is present in front of the public.
No doubt the next few years will produce other examples. Can a text- message exchange be considered a meeting? In all likelihood, a court somewhere will eventually have to rule on that question. "Unless the state legislature has been extremely farsighted," says Jane Kirtley, a media ethics professor at the University of Minnesota, "it's inevitable that technology will continue to provide new ways to dodge." Still, she believes, the current move toward greater openness is going to expand in the years ahead, not contract. "Government officials and government employees," she advises, "should be starting from the presumption that everything that they do is public information."
More from Politics | <urn:uuid:1358bf4f-de7c-488f-8fc7-f1f95a6da0eb> | http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/Little-Sunshine.html | en | 0.969114 | 0.041805 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Stop ammo hoarding
Mar 12, 2013
It saddens me that in what is supposed to be a well educated and respectable area of Michigan, people are actually falling for fake sci-fi happenings. I am almost sure that these people are the ones who make fun of teenage girls falling for beautiful-sparkly vampires, because vampires aren't real. By all means do whatever you please and makes you comfortable, but this weirds me out.
You know what weirds me out? Somebody who's handle is Self Luver and talks about sparkly vampires. You do realize there's more article below the date right? Yikes.
I hope that the editorial board at the Tribune include ALL parties in their plea to stop ammo hoarding - that would include President Obama's Department of Homeland Security, which has purchased over 1.6 Billion rounds, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm, and millions of rounds of 38 caliber.
Other agencies have also begun buying large quantities of ammo, including the National Weather Service’s order of 46,000 hollow point rounds, and 174,000 .357 magnum rounds ordered by the Social Security Administration. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition.
Although much of these purchases are clearly attributable to training and other legitimate needs, the massive purchases by the Department of Homeland Security have never been explained, and it is hard to believe that such huge purchases have not played a role in the current shortages noted by the Tribune.
Certainly, another cause of the alleged "hoarding" are the threats to the Second Amendment posed by liberal democrat politicians. Some of the honest ones have admitted that the end game of the incremental gun control measures is the banning of private gun ownership.
Oh - the vapors are a terrible thing to behold! Perhaps you will take comfort in the knowledge that Twinkies and Wonder Bread will be back in the summer.
The Federal Government has recently purchased 2 billion rounds of ammunition. We can't BUY ammunition. There isn't any. I don't know why the Department of Homeland Security needs that many bullets. Do you?
I read on some website that the purchase of ammo by the Feds was to prepare for the imminent confiscation of our guns by the newly-formed Corp of Young Militia Boys, while Obama simultaneously shreds the Constitution in the same White House shredder that Dick Cheney used for his fake WMD documents, then the plan is to follow up with homeland drone attacks.
This comment is a great example of the liberal/progressive approach to political argument and protecting Barack Obama, borrowed from a great teacher at Columbia Law School named Jerome Michael, who taught a course in appellate advocacy:
If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table. If you don't have a table, pound President Bush and Vice President Cheney.”
FYI. Vlad - My comment which you have replied to as being "great", and I am now replying to, is based on information I gleaned from a website you yourself provided as a link in another post a few weeks back. Could it be you were being duplicitous? And with your towering intellect and all!
Disclaimer: I did make up the silly part about Obama using the exact same WH shredder as Cheney...I mean really, how will we ever know?
While we're playing the Pounding Game, don't forget Kruschev pounding the table with his shoe. In addition, I am, once again, a little offended by your implication that I am somehow speaking ill of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. I find them to be literally a bottomless pit of resource material, and in fact use their quotes frequently, such as VP Dick Cheney's quote, "Deficits don't matter".
2nd amendment 4 life
Not to mention that hollow points were banned by the Geneva convention in the war theatre, therefore they must be used domestically. Now why is the government stockpiling all this ammo. More importantly, why is the grandhaven tribune criticizing those citizen who are stockpiling? But not the federal government? Pathetic. Liberal news articles like such disgust me.
retired DOC
Most do not practice with hollow points. One report has the goverment buying enough hollow point rounds to shoot everyone 5 times.
Slow news day in GH???? Who are you (Tribune Staff) to tell anyone when, how much and what to buy? As others have pointed out, our own government is "hoarding" (as you call it) ammunition. Last I checked this is a free country and people can buy what and how much they want from the free market. There is nothing illegal about buying mass quantities (no matter how much) of anything.
I can see it now, the next "Our Views" will be telling people to stop extreme couponing. You have too much toilet paper, and chips......
Who needs a wife when you have the Grand Haven Tribune to tell you what to do?
Go here for real-time internet ammo purchases.
That site pretty much proves their point here...Over 50% of the ammo on there is not even in stock.
Im going to start an ammo producing company..
better start a primer, bullet, and casing company to!!!!
You should have bought stock a few months back....
Maybe the Gubment should start hoarding stupidity so there is a shortage....oh wait that process was started in 2008!
I agree, Wing - that was the year the Tea Party got started, and there's been a shortage of common sense and rational thought ever since....
...Funny they control nuttin in Gubment and you want to pin stupidity on them! Huh?
I'm not pinning anything on anybody....I merely correlated the year the Tea Party was started and the lack of common sense and rational thought in government. Coincidence? I let the reader draw their own conclusion.
You know I find it hard to believe that a business person and someone as engaged and articulate as yourself would blindly fall into the political hyerbole that we have witnessed the last few years. Both parties are to blame for the mess we are in. Your choosen one and his party in the lead, owning more of the mess now, then others. (That statement, and your reaction, will immediately confirm my assesment of you, sorry)
It takes two to tango. I am not afraid to call out Republicans on wrong direction. Those like you on the left, and right, that know when your guy or party is off course but refuse to be honest with yourself and blindly follow, are the problem with our country. You are dangerous, because you feed politicians narcissistic egos with support when their hunger for power becomes disconnected from what is right for the people and disconnected from our founding documents.
If you cannot see the peril our country is in with the leadership problems we have, there probably is nothing I will say here to change your mind.
Our country usually has the right leader come along at the right time to strengthen and lead our country. Lets hope and pray that is soon. We have been of course for too long.
"A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is a power without right." - Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
Wait what?! Me dangerous?...haven't heard that one for a while! Wing - you need to relax and not be so paranoid....I've found lake air, a few pale ales, and Rolling Stones does wonders.
Seriously, I think we both agree that our political culture in the country right now is a mess. I happen to think wealth inequality and the unprecedented increase in wealth/power among the super-rich and the stagnation of the middle class is the root evil, while you think the blame goes to the libs. Being a centrist, I see your more extreme viewpoint the sticky wicket.
But I do always respect your opinions....let's hope and pray our politicians can put country before politics sometime in this century.
What have I just said that is extreme? Your slash and burn doesn't play here anymore. You want to spew wealth inequality and stagnation of the middle class as something the left are protecting when in fact the very policies they enact are keeping the inequaties and stagnation in place. Then with the help of the media, spin the reason for these problems onto the opposing party. Amazing manipulation to gain votes from the uninformed to maintain their power and wealth. When voices rise up and point out the inconsistencies, we hear such words as extreme, paranoid applied. You are dangerously misinformed and placing blind trust into one party. You are a confused "centrist." Your words are not centrist, your regurgitation of left talking points are not centrist, so drop the facade.
So if you truly see danger in the political culture and future, start calling out all both sides when they step in it and I will join you for that beer summit and enjoy some old time rockin n roll to soothe your soul.
Lan, research FEMA Camps and then, without much commone sense, one should be able to draw conclusions of what our Government is up to with all this ammo purchasing. If you were ever to get your political way, this is where most of us will end up when the people revolt against gun confinscation, Health Care implementation & fines, or massive loss of freedoms in this country. Can't you see the danger in your loyalty to a political party and movement that is using you as a useful idiot to promote their agenda? I can tell by your articulation of many post, that you are much smarter than this.
You know what's funny about this is that it's been brought up many times about how the Government is "hoarding" of ammo and there has been no retort from the left. The followers of this administration can easily see the oddities of all this yet they just keep following without questioning. They just see no wrong with these decisions nor could they fathom that the chosen one could possibly not be perfect. Scary.
dyankee - Actually, I was born and bred a Repub....a point of pride in the family is that mother and dad actually were nearly the spitting image of Gerald and Betty Ford. I've been a registered Repub for 40 years, and consider myself a faithful, patriotic American who loves this country. I happen to think Obama governs to the center right, and whose record is more conservative than Reagan, Nixon, and probably George H.W. Bush. I know - this isn't what you've been told, but check it out for a good laugh! It's true!
Interesting, you could of been a Ford Lanivan. Sounds like a family luxury vehicle with poor gas mileage. lol(sorry, off task). Obama does not govern Lan, he campaigns, demonizes, and character assassinates his opponets. However, to indulge in your observation of BO's performance I'd definately characterize our President as an edge of the cliff straight ahead type guy. Any President that grows the national debt by 7 trillion in 4 years is niether a Democrat nor Republican, but a subscriber to the Socialist or Fascist party. 7 trillion is more debt added by this president than ALL THE US PRESIDENTS COMBINED!! Can you get your arms around that because I still struggle? By way of correction, George H.W. Bush was not a conservative nor was W. Bush or Gerald Ford for that matter. Nevertheless, any Patriotic American whom loves this country would not allow this type of Presidential behavior to continue. There is a reason our Founding Fathers designed 3 branches of government and Article II of the Bill of Rights to allow for a well regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. There is more sustaining brilliance in that paragraph than I have seen from my President in nearly 5 years. Our Forefathers planned for a Barack Obama Presidency from 237 years ago and I refuse to believe that you can't see this threat to our country right now.
I gotta give you credit, dyankee, every once in a while you come up with a really good one - the Ford Lanivan! Clever - what fun I (and others) could have with that one..."sharp but high maintenance", etc.
You and Wing are just too extreme....and I don't know where you get your facts. Maybe too much Fox and Rush? Don't misunderstand me - I certainly don't think Obama or any political party is blameless. However, as far as recent gun public safety measures and this ridiculous concern about government "hoarding" of ammunition goes, my concern is not the alleged challenge to the Constitution, but the paranoia of good people that it is.
Were you concerned when Bush signed the Patriot Act? How about starting a trillion+ war that killed and maimed thousands, all based on lies. How about the Medicare Part D deal with Big Pharma, that cost our country billions?
I do understand and respect your concerns. I see a threat to our country too, but our opinions on what those threats are couldn't be more different.
Whoa....WHO started those wars?? Seems to me your forgetting a small detail in your spin unless bombs were placed (1st attack on the trade centers for you low information voters) and planes flew themselves into buildings on 9/11. Unless you are going to tell me it was an inside job, which would be extreme left folly dont you agree? Both parties signed onto those wars based on the same intelligence data.
The patriot act makes me queasy and I didn't like it then and don't now!
Hopefully your centrist views allow you to see the error in your statements, right?
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Why would you use these?
The Horse Forum > Horse Tack > Horse Tack and Equipment
Why would you use these?
This is a discussion on Why would you use these? within the Horse Tack and Equipment forums, part of the Horse Tack category
• Why use splint boots on horses
• Why splint boots?
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09-10-2011, 09:04 PM
Why would you use these?
So I am just wondering why you would use splint boots, polo wraps, bell boots and things like those? Some lesson horses use them but I was wondering why and hoe you decide whether to use them or not?
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09-10-2011, 09:13 PM
Some horses are prone to whacking their own legs together because of conformation or laziness. Also, horses in hard work might wear boots/wraps because they are using their body in a more extreme manner and we don't want them to accidentally hit themselves because then they may not try as hard the next time. Think horse learning to do an extended trot. When they are still finding their balance they might swipe their legs together accidentally and then decide not to try to extend to their full extent again because they remember that it hurt the last time they did. Or think of a horse learning true collection and maybe overstepping and clipping their front leg with a hind hoof during a strong half-halt.
I don't do much jumping at all, so I don't know how this relates to that. But the above is what I'm learning doing dressage. Also, a horse in clean white polo wraps does look fancy. ;)
09-10-2011, 09:18 PM
To add to what IslandWave said, for jumping, it's mostly about impact. Wraps/boots help minimize the stress on the joints and give more support.
09-10-2011, 09:24 PM
Originally Posted by RockandRide
Most of the time folks use splint boots while schooling green horses that haven't quit figured out how to carry themselves and have a tendency of striking themselves on the legs. Bell boots are used for horses that have a very active hind end and tend to clip(over reach) the front heels with the toe of their hind hooves. Polo wraps and splint boots are also preventive way to avoid strain in the lower legs.
The best way to tell if you need them is to watch your horse move while being lunged. Sometimes while ridding a horse that tends to over reach you can actually hear them kick the bottom side of the front hoof when they step under themself with their hind leg/hoof.
Someone may correct me if I'm wrong or if I forgotten something. These are the reasons I've used them for while riding/lunging. Some people choose to use them and some don't. Just depends on the horse and owners preference.
09-10-2011, 09:28 PM
Guess I didn't type mine quick enough because now I have echoed everyone's response...Oh well :P
09-10-2011, 10:54 PM
Thanks everyone!!!! Do some peoples horses wear bell boots 24/7 like even when they are in the field?
09-10-2011, 11:00 PM
Yes. Some people use the bell boots for the reason: over extending the back legs and clipping the back of the front legs. And also if a horse has front shoes. I know someone had a thread about it a few months ago because their horse would catch the back hoof on the back of the front hoof and tear off shoes. The bell boots prevented that.
09-11-2011, 10:42 AM
I used to have Excel in bell boots 24/7 because he was tearing shoes off like crazy from overreaching.
09-11-2011, 10:58 AM
I have my horse turned out in bellboots at all times. He has a tendency to clip his heels and twist shoes, so it really helps. Really he lives in his bell boots anytime out of the stall because he has a generous reach with his hind end. Makes me nervous when I take them off for a dressage test. Originally he was always booted up or wrapped on all fours, but now that he's better balanced, I only use brushing boots when jumping above 3' or going XC.
09-11-2011, 12:14 PM
Green Broke
I use bell boots everytime I ride, right now my boy is really learning to use his butt after loads of incorrect riding. However when I compete I always try to put on either SMB boots or atleast splints to help the impact of turns and such (thats only once a month though)
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Sterile victims stand up, decry legacy of eugenics
Dahleen Glanton / Chicago Tribune | September 7 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- It is hard for Elaine Riddick to talk about how the state of North Carolina sterilized her without her knowledge at the age of 14, changing her life forever. But she manages to wipe away the tears and garner the strength to tell her story to anyone who will listen.
Thirty-eight years later, Riddick, a 52-year-old with a quiet demeanor, has emerged as a voice for thousands of victims of state-sponsored sterilizations that were part of the eugenics movement in the United States from the 1920s to the 1970s. Riddick and others are coming forward and forcing states to address their roles in a controversial social experiment that went awry.
"What they did to me was totally inhumane. Death would have been better because it would have been over," said Riddick, who has battled depression. "This is a story that must be told. So I pulled myself up from the hole . . . where I had hidden for many years. And when I told the story, I could hold my head up high for the first time."
The idea behind eugenics, a concept embraced by Nazi Germany, was to wipe out future poverty, crime and other social ills believed to result from genetic flaws.
By sterilizing the feeble-minded, mentally retarded, insane and epileptic, eugenicists believed they would ensure that undesirable traits would not continue through generations.
`It was welfare reform'
"It was welfare reform," said Paul Lombardo, a law professor at Georgia State University and an authority on biomedical ethics. "There would be no need for a welfare system if there were nobody in it. So they said, `If you let us sterilize people, we will cut your taxes.'"
North Carolina had one of the most active and long-running programs. At least 7,500 poor African-Americans and whites, many of them welfare recipients, were tricked or forced to undergo sterilizations from 1929 to 1975. Throughout the United States, an estimated 65,000 people--overwhelmingly women--were involuntarily sterilized, Lombardo said.
"This was really genocide," said North Carolina state Rep. Larry Womble, who has fought unsuccessfully to get the General Assembly to provide financial reparations to 2,800 North Carolina victims believed still alive. "It cut off their bloodline and took away all of their dignity."
For decades, few spoke of the practice that targeted unwed teenagers, women with multiple children and some men, most of whom were on welfare, poor and illiterate and who lived at a time when authority was less likely to be questioned.
But in recent years, as victims have put aside their shame and broken their silence, several states, including Virginia, South Carolina, California and Oregon, have acknowledged their roles.
While 33 states established eugenics boards, Illinois never did, despite repeated efforts to get a bill through the General Assembly.
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley in 2002 offered an apology and set up a study committee--the first of its kind in the nation--that recommended a state memorial, counseling and educational programs for the victims. The governor also approved a recommendation that information about the program be included in public school curricula.
State officials said they are working to establish an educational exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, but so far the General Assembly has not designated money for any of the proposals.
Riddick, who attended the apology ceremony at the state Capitol where she and other victims received a standing ovation, is still waiting. And she continues to tell her story.
Riddick grew up in Winfall, N.C., a small cotton-farming town near the coast, with alcoholic parents who were in and out of jail. When she was 13, she said, her siblings were sent to an orphanage and she ended up "on the street" after her mother was sent to prison for attacking her abusive husband. And, Riddick said, an older man in the neighborhood repeatedly sexually assaulted her, getting her pregnant.
When she went to the hospital to have her baby, she was 14, fitting the profile for the eugenics board, which during its course sterilized more than 2,000 children, some as young as 10.
Her grandmother, who was illiterate, and her father, who often was drunk, were coerced into signing papers to have her sterilized, she said. Her grandmother later told Riddick that the state had threatened to send Riddick to an orphanage if she didn't comply.
"There were rumors that I was running around late at night and that I was promiscuous. But the problem was that I was illiterate and I had nobody to turn to. I was left on the street with no one to look after me," said Riddick, who lived off and on with her grandmother.
"They gave me a C-section and while I was there, they clipped, burned and tied my tubes so I could never have another child," said Riddick, who gave birth to a son whom her grandmother helped raise. "They just did it, with no medical follow-up or anything."
She said her son is now a successful businessman in North Carolina.
A year later, she began hemorrhaging and almost died, she recalled.
Comprehension at age 18
"I went to the doctor, and he told me I had been butchered." But Riddick still didn't fully understand what had been done until she married at age 18 and attempted to have a baby.
"It ruined my marriage and took away something God gave me as a woman--to bear children," said Riddick, who lived for a while in New York and later settled in Atlanta, where she held several jobs and is now unemployed.
"They decided when I was only 13 that I would never be able to take care of myself, and no amount of money will make me forgive them for that."
Though state boards ordered thousands of sterilizations, experts said many more occurred during that time, though not part of state-mandated programs.
Many women still don't know whether they were affected. In North Carolina, the official records of the program are sealed in state archives.
Women who believe they were victims of the eugenics program are asked to call the Department of Health and Human Services and place their names on a list. So far, officials said, they have received fewer than 70 inquiries; because of a lack of staffing, they have not begun to look into them.
"It some states, it is much harder to track because the paperwork no longer exists," said Johanna Schoen, a University of Iowa professor who exposed the eugenics program in North Carolina while working on her doctoral dissertation.
"I have come across several women who thought they were in the program and weren't. But that does not mean they were not sterilized, and it does not mean the state had nothing do with it," Schoen said.
Eighty-seven-year-old Addie Lee Anderson of Fayetteville, N.C., is one of them. She doesn't know exactly why she was sterilized in 1950. All she remembers is that the woman who owned the farm where Anderson and her husband were sharecroppers told her she wouldn't have any more children as she drove her from the hospital after giving birth to her eighth child.
At the time, Anderson fit the profile. Her husband was in jail, she was poor and she had more children than the state thought she could care for.
"During that time, I felt like a slave. When the lady told me that, I didn't know what to say," Anderson said. " . . . But I have come a long way now, and I know what they did to me was not right."
States out of eugenics business
No states now have eugenics programs, but Lombardo said there are lessons to be learned, especially as DNA becomes a widely used scientific tool.
"With DNA tests, we can actually identify specific diseases that are really hereditary, not just terms like feeble-mindedness which you can assign arbitrarily," Lombardo said.
"The concern is: Are we bracing for a new form of eugenics and would the government again get in the business of telling people whether they can have children or not based on their health status?"
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Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition VN7-791G-74SH Gaming Laptop 4th Generation Intel Core i7 4720HQ (2.60 GHz) 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 4 GB GDDR5 17.3
• Verified Owner
• Owned For: 1 day to 1 week
Pros: The screenshots make the characters look fully opaque though when the light is dimmed you CAN see the characters backlit, not just the edges of the characters.
Full right shift key in a combo with backlit keyboard is HUGE as 80% of the market uses those dinky right-shift keys and I kept hitting up instead of shift.
Unlike my Lenovo the alternative function keys (volume, brightness, etc) aren't poorly placed (I no longer increase the volume and instead unload 50+ tabs).
HD screen is a LOT better than my Lenovo's 1366x768 screen.
F2 for bios though you must MANUALLY enable the boot menu (F12 I think) in the bios. Remember to enable "legacy" mode to boot from a DVD if you're installing Windows 7/optical drive.
Doesn't force alternative functions as primary functions, GOOD! I loathe pressing ALT+F4 and having the calculator appear on other laptops. >__>
No pointless auxiliary keys; the only way to improve the keyboard would be the 4x4x4 macro keys from the Logitech G110 which is THE power-user keyboard because of it's superior physical layout.
Not Asus which TEN YEARS later others are dealing with refurbished replacements for brand new overpriced products (did two RMAs in 2005 and will NEVER buy from them again).
The quad core (is this still 2008?!?!) does have hyper-threading so there are eight threads total.
The drivers on Acer's website ARE Windows 7 64 bit compatible for the most part (except the bluetooth though there are several).
With the TB Samsung Evo (not pro) the system boots Windows 7 by the end of the logo animation (roughly 15 seconds).
The power cord doesn't wrap around the wide power brick so that is a bit of a pain but we are talking a 47 watt CPU.
Cons: About 30% of the nightmare of upgrading [insert your worst Mac client SSD upgrade instead of paying 400% margins], way too many screws, difficult to access the hard drive (I only popped the plastic TOP (keyboard, NOT the bottom like most laptops) except the back as I didn't want to deal with figuring out what cable ribbons plugged in to etc. The ONLY disassemble video is in Dutch or German; you start by removing the optical-drive and carefully popping off the plastic-TOP and work your way counter-clockwise.
Mechanical hard drive with Windows 8 so slow and as anti-user as it gets; replaced it with a TB Samsung SSD and my highly cleaned up/customized Windows 7.
Non-American tech support; while they were friendly and identifying themselves for call recordings they were simply unable to answer any questions like Windows 7 drivers.
Fedex decided to deliver on a Friday instead of Thursday so I blew through an extra $150 to buy the SSD locally as I need this for work on Monday, not Newegg's fault but I'd lose a lot more than 150 if I skip a day of work.
Acer doesn't think anyone is going to dump 8 for 7 so it was a waste of time talking with their support. My last laptop becomes my backup and since I can't afford too much down-time I bought the third-party American-based support which answered the phone in 57 seconds FLAT!
If you want (?mSata or Ms2?) I think you'll have to buy the more expensive version and dump the measly 256GB SSD; that was a big though not dealing-breaking disappointment, leave the IO in place!
I have done one repair on an LCD screen about nine months ago, some punk claimed I dropped it though the product was fragile, called back and they DID competently replace it though said my warranty then expired so again I'd recommend going third party; laptops aren't like other parts that just COME with 3-5-7-10 year warranties (very very rarely a 2 at best) so while I don't like gambling I will bet on Murphy's law by default until I don't HAVE to work.
Lenovo provides a program to switch between low power, balanced and high performance which force-overrides the clocks; no such utility seemed to be provided when I tested the default mech drive for basically just blue screens and base functionality (yes, loaded with lots of pre-installed software).
1.35 watt RAM running at 1, Intel provides HD 4600 for the curious, the 860 only sports a 128 bit memory interface though reviews seem to say it'll do 1920x1080 at medium-high for most games.
No cover provided for web cam (does have indicator light) though I don't trust it so it's covered with black electrical tape.
Other Thoughts: I'm a power-user and I PHYSICALLY needed the laptop to have a competent keyboard layout and wasn't going to get another $500 range laptop for web development work for my clients (it will double for some LAN games on the side). Decided to buy it as I lost more money not having a second laptop to work on while waiting on some putz who ordered a part for my previous laptop via 5-day shipping (I can still use it as a backup system). This does NOT replace my desktop.
Just not enough time to benchmark anything (though the Windows 7 performance index WITH Samsung SSD: 7.7, 7.7, 7.3, 7.3 and 7.9 might help) because they threw my/this EXACT model on the Shell Shocker less then a week after I purchased it so at least there is A review versus none. The next cheapest laptop that I physically liked after searching for a week was an Asus and again if it breaks you're out of luck because Asus cares about flooding the market.
Acer should be offering this model with Windows 7 though I know some people absolutely must have the latest version, completely ignore the OS and just open a desktop icon for a game.
After Crucial SSDs would not non-boot RAID 1 in my desktop and a single-boot in a client's Toshiba laptop I decided to go Samsung and it just works.
If you want benchmarks just look up the CPU/GPU combo since they're extremely common.
Bottom line: I'm a very selective power user / web developer / gamer and I was able to mod (albeit with some hassle) the laptop in to something usable. I'd recommend it mostly on the physically keyboard layout especially if you've never bought a laptop before. Performance is great and I'm fairly happy.
Maglite M2A016 Black Mini Flashlights
• Verified Owner
• Owned For: 1 week to 1 month
4 out of 5 eggs It's a flashlight 12/08/2014
This review is from: Maglite M2A016 Black Mini Flashlights
Pros: It shoots highly concentrated amounts of photons in the form of an adjustable beam.
Cons: It doesn't have that double/triple click feature that you can use to give people seizures.
Other Thoughts: Someone I know has a Maglite flashlight with the triple click bit, this one you twist the front. The original batteries still work so it's not some cheap flashlight that is horribly inefficient. I use it for working on my computer and taking the dog out at night.
Crucial M550 2.5
• Verified Owner
• Owned For: 1 week to 1 month
2 out of 5 eggs AMD Chipset SATA controller does NOT support RAID! 11/20/2014
This review is from: Crucial M550 2.5" 512GB SATA 6Gbps MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT512M550SSD1
Pros: 411MB min | 413MB Max | 412MB Average Read, full capacity test
302MB | 379MB | 376MB average write speed / 10GB test
In comparison to the 512GB Samsung drives that replace them the benchmarks tend to be a bit more stable/consistent as far as numbers goes visually however the fact of the matter is I needed these to support RAID 1 on the AMD SATA controller (trying to get RID of the PCI-Express addon cards (yes plural)) as the boot time gets killed with having two extra controllers.
Moderately fast in single drive mode, probably faster in RAID mode like the Samsung replacements when I tested RAID 0 though I wouldn't because...
Cons: First RAID and then HALVED read speeds...
These drives are NOT recognized in Windows 7 64 Bit on two different socket AM3+ 990FX motherboards: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5. 8350 CPU.
The UD5 has a separate internal controller with two ports that I'm using to boot from a 750GB Samsung SSD and my Blu-ray optical drive in AHCI mode. The AMD SATA controller sees these drives in RAID and the BIOS/UEFI see the RAID no problem. After numerous attempts (different ports, motherboards, wires (data/power), etc I called Crucial and the tech confirmed that it is a known issue with absolutely no ETA on a fix or IF there would be a fix.
READ SPEEDS were HALVED immediately after performing HD Tune Pro write test in single drive mode (again RAID won't work) down from a 412MB read average to 250MB average read speed. While relatively speedy not acceptable. I used the erase tab and was able to recover most of the read speed back to an extent but still that is ridiculous.
Other Thoughts: Rating two eggs because if it was one you'd skip this review just like how I read 2|3|4 egg reviews first.
My setup...
C:\ 750GB Samsung single SSD.
D:\ 512GB RAID 1 Samsung Pro, My Documents (reg hack with two users, thanks MS >__>)
E:\ 1.5TB RAID 1, old mass storage.
F:\ 4TB RAID 1, newer mass storage but grey screens in VLC so will replace with 5400/7200 RPM 4TB drives.
I like redundancy and speed. The Samsung drives just worked without any of the hassle and I had thought for years that motherboard controllers simply didn't competently support RAID.
I wasn't wild about spending the extra money for Samsung but the fact that they work is key and the performance is good. Would have opted for $200 more to double to 1TB RAID 1 but just can't stretch it that far just yet, the prices will keep coming down.
If you're looking for a single drive I'd still go with a different controller, I've bought nothing but SandForce based SSDs for clients (no RAID setups there yet) and after chancing it with the Samsung I'm happy with the performance and results.
My advice is that if you're squeezing your money to do a RAID to CALL the manufacturer first and ask them if there are any chipsets that the drives you are interested have any compatibility. Do NOT specify which chipset you have or CPU platform (AMD/Intel); always see if the tech knows what they're talking about and it could help save you losing the shipping costs and much worse, the time spent. I do appreciate the tech's honest answer. It *MIGHT* be a possibility that a firmware update has or will correct this issue though there were no firmware updates for my SPECIFIC model available on the official website. I do NOT know if the issue is with the SSD's Anand Tech reports this SSD's controller is a Marvell 88SS9189 for those who REALLY don't appreciate the controller not being listed here OR Crucial's website. SSD controllers are the video card memory interfaces of SSDs, relatively speaking.
John B.'s Profile
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The rise of online platforms in China has given the Chinese people an unprecedented capacity for self-publishing and communication. Because they speak in a heavily monitored environment, however, these "netizens" must often voice their demands for greater freedom in coded language and metaphors that allow them to avoid outright censorship. Chinese cyberspace has given rise to a surprising number of new terms for exposing, criticizing and ridiculing the Communist Party. Largely invented by young gadflies, this lively...
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Lale Andersen in her garden, ca. 1952, in Zollikon
A memorial to Lale Andersen and "Lili Marleen" in Langeoog, Germany
Lale Andersen (23 March 1905 – 29 August 1972) was a German chanson singer-songwriter[note a] born in Bremerhaven, Germany. She is best known for her interpretation of the song "Lili Marleen" in 1939, which became tremendously popular on both sides during the Second World War.
Early life[edit]
She was born in Lehe, now part of Bremerhaven[note b] and baptized Elisabeth Carlotta Helena Berta Bunnenberg.[1]
In 1922, aged 17,[note c] she married Paul Ernst Wilke (1894–1971), a local painter.[note d] They had three children: Björn, Carmen-Litta, and Michael. Shortly after the birth of their last child, the marriage broke up. Leaving the children in the care of her siblings Thekla and Helmut, Lale went to Berlin in October 1929,[2] where she reportedly studied acting at the Schauspielschule at the Deutsches Theater.[3] In 1931, her marriage ended in divorce.[4] Around this time, she began appearing on stage in various cabarets in Berlin.[5] From 1933–1937, she performed at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich, where she also met Rolf Liebermann,[6] who would remain a close friend for the rest of her life. In 1938, she was in Munich at the cabaret Simpl, and soon afterwards joined the prestigious Kabarett der Komiker (Comedians Cabaret) in Berlin.[5]
"Lili Marleen" and the war years[edit]
While at the Kabarett der Komiker, she met Norbert Schultze, who had composed the music for "Lili Marleen". Lale recorded the song in 1939, but it would only become a hit when the Soldatensender Belgrad (Belgrade Soldier's Radio), the radio station of the German armed forces in occupied Yugoslavia, began broadcasting it in 1941. "Lili Marleen" quickly became immensely popular with German soldiers at the front. The transmitter of the radio station at Belgrade, was powerful enough to be received all over Europe and the Mediterranean,[4] and the song soon became popular with the Allied troops as well.[7]
Andersen was awarded a gold disc for over one million sales of "Lili Marleen" [HMV - EG 6993].[8] It is thought that she was awarded her copy after hostilities ended. HMV's copy was discarded during renovations to their flagship store on Oxford Street, London, in the 1960s where, hitherto, it had been on display. The disc was recovered and is now in a private collection. Nazi officials did not approve the song and Joseph Goebbels prohibited it from being played on the radio. Andersen was not allowed to perform publicly for nine months, not just because of the song but because of her friendship with Rolf Liebermann and other Jewish artists she had met in Zurich. In desperation, she reportedly attempted suicide.[9]
Andersen was so popular, however, that the Nazi government allowed her to perform again, albeit subject to several conditions,[3] one of which was she would not sing "Lili Marleen". Goebbels did order her to make a new "military" version of the song (with a significant drum) which was recorded in June 1942. In the remaining war years, Andersen had one minor appearance in a propaganda movie and was made to sing several propaganda songs in English.[10] Shortly before the end of the war, Lale retired to Langeoog, a small island off the North Sea coast of Germany.
Career after World War II[edit]
After the war, Andersen all but disappeared as a singer. In 1949, she married Swiss composer Artur Beul.[11] In 1952 she made a comeback with the song "Die blaue Nacht am Hafen", which she had written the lyrics for herself.[12] In 1959 she had another hit "Ein Schiff wird kommen...", a cover version of "Never on Sunday", the title song from the movie of the same name, originally sung in Greek by Melina Mercouri.[13]
Both songs won her a gold album each in Germany. In 1961, she participated as the representative of Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder", which only reached 13th place with three points. Fifty six years old at the time, for over 45 years, she held the record of the eldest participant at Eurovision---surpassed only in 2008 by the 75-year-old Croatian entertainer 75 Cents).[3]
Throughout the 1960s, she toured Europe, the United States and Canada, until her farewell tour Goodbye memories in 1967. Two years later, she published a book Wie werde ich Haifisch? – Ein heiterer Ratgeber für alle, die Schlager singen, texten oder komponieren wollen (How do I become a shark? - A cheerful companion for all who want to sing hit songs, write lyrics, or compose music), and in 1972, shortly before her death, her autobiography Der Himmel hat viele Farben (The Sky has many Colours) appeared and topped the bestselling list of the German magazine Der Spiegel.[3]
Lale Andersen died of a heart attack in Vienna, aged 67. She was buried on her beloved Langeoog.
• Note a: ^ Lale Andersen often wrote her own lyrics, usually under the pseudonym Nicola Wilke.[12]
• Note b: ^ Lehe at the time of her birth was an independent municipality. It is now part of Bremerhaven. In 1924 Lehe was amalgamated with the neighbouring Geestemünde to become the city of Wesermünde. Bremerhaven, which was founded in 1827, was merged into Wesermünde in 1939. In 1947, Wesermünde became part of the state of Bremen and was renamed as Bremerhaven.[14]
• Note c: ^ Although some online resources give 1924 as the year of the marriage,[11][13] Lehrke's book contains a copy of the wedding announcement that had appeared in the Nordwestdeutsche Zeitung on 1 April 1922.[1]
• Note d: ^ In her early career, Lale Andersen was sometimes billed as Liselotte Wilke.
1. ^ a b Lehrke, G.: Wie einst Lili Marleen—Das Leben der Lale Andersen, Henschel Verlag, 2002; ISBN 3-89487-429-5. In German.
2. ^ Nordsee-Zeitung of 10 August 2002.
3. ^ a b c d D'heil, S.: Lale Andersen, URL last accessed 16 January 2006.
4. ^ a b Lale Andersen und Lili Marleen, last accessed 16 January 2006.
5. ^ a b Deinert, M.: Lale Andersen: Werdegang, last accessed 16 January 2006.
6. ^ Lale Andersen, last accessed 16 January 2006.
7. ^ Ciceran, M.: "Lili Marleen", last accessed 16 January 2006.
8. ^ Lili Marleen gold disc"
9. ^ Deinert, M.: Lale Andersen: Verfolgung und Auftrittsverbot, last accessed 16 January 2006.
10. ^ Deinert, M.: Lale Andersen: Englische Propagandalieder, last accessed 16 January 2006.
11. ^ a b Probst, E.: Lale Andersen; URL last accessed 16 January 2006.
12. ^ a b Nitschke, R.: Andersen, Lale: Der Wachtposten und das Meer, SWR 4, March 2005. URL last accessed 16 January 2006.
13. ^ a b Müller, P.: Stadtgeschichte Bremerhavens: Lale Andersen, last accessed 16 January 2006.
14. ^ Lehe homepage, last accessed 16 January 2006.
Further reading[edit]
• Ahlborn-Wilke, D.: Wie Einst: In Memoriam Lale Andersen 1945–1972, Gauke Verlag, 1978; ISBN 3-87998-023-3. In German.
• Ahlborn-Wilke, D.: Lale Andersen. Erinnerungen - Briefe - Bilder, 4th ed.; Gauke Verlag, 1990; ISBN 3-87998-058-6. In German.
• Magnus-Andersen, L.: Lale Andersen, die Lili Marleen, Universitas Verlag, 1985; ISBN 3-8004-0895-3. In German.
External links[edit]
Preceded by
Wyn Hoop
with Bonne nuit ma chérie
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
Succeeded by
Conny Froboess
with Zwei kleine Italiener | <urn:uuid:a2d25a85-c1b0-4eb1-8389-9f2dfe84c1f0> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lale_Andersen | en | 0.916518 | 0.030838 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
This is my attempt to do a story loosely based upon the plot of Power Stone 2. The chapters will be a little short, but there should be lots of them if all goes according to plan.
But first, a little background for my version of the Power Stone story and that game's version of Earth for you.
First of all, in this story power stones are rare, but there are more than seven. They are essentially another recently discovered element on the planet.
Second, this story, while loosely sticking to this Earth's history in the 19th century e.g. the height of the European colonisation of North America, will also have its own historical events that will explain aspects of, and hopefully add some depth to, the story.
Thirdly, magic exists (as it may or may not do on our own Earth) in the Power Stone Earth and is being currently quickly overtaken by technology. Evidence of magic in the world of Power Stone exists in the numerous magically infused weapons in the game and within this story.
Lastly, at this time period in the story, mankind has developed some forms of high technology (aircraft, submarines, more advance firearms etc.) but not others (computers, subways, space travel and more)
I think that's about it, If you have any questions e-mail me at and I'll endeavour to answer them. Aside from that, read on and enjoy!
It was the 19th century and every nation on Earth was in turmoil. This was the century of technology. So many advances had been made in so few years and it was truly amazing. Man could now fly, travel under the sea. Technology had seemingly made the archaic force of magic obsolete. It was truly an awe-inspiring time, when heroes were heroes and the game of politics did not hold more sway in government than ethics and kept promises did.
But on the descent from the peak of a few years of technological innovation the world had been swept up into another hurricane of discovery and romantic adventure for a genius, Doctor Erode by name, had made a discovery that may well have rocketed mankind into the future more quickly than could be expected, or indeed sooner than nature intended.
Dr. Erode's discovery was a new element, named Erodium after who had discovered it but more commonly referred to as power stones.
Power stones were gems of every hue of the rainbow. And numerous experiments by Dr. Erode and his team of scientists revealed it to be the most versatile of the elements so far discovered. The stones generated energy that could power most machines. Their natural beauty meant that when cut in the same manner as diamonds, they made the most dazzling jewellery and ornaments imaginable. Due to their rarity, they were considered more valuable than gold and were mined for by prospectors on virtually every square inch of land that was believed suitable for the power stones to be found in.
However these properties were not the strangest of their properties.
The power stones held the mysterious property to 'fuse' their molecules with those of the people who held them while concentrating the mind on them. This fusion had the effect that if a fusion were successful, the person's physical power would be exponentially increased. However, this power was not without limits. Once a person fused with three stones, the body would be unable to contain the power generated by the essence of the stones and would undergo a forced temporary evolution in order to better manage the energy. These 'power fusion forms' had incredible abilities, including but not limited to energy manipulation. Eventually the body would expel the stones in order to retain its normal form and the extra power would fade away.
By observing these power fusion forms, Dr. Erode formed a theory that the form and abilities gained by a person were not just defined by the body, but also by the mind, and even the soul. He alerted the global powers-that-be to this fusion property and accordingly strict regulations forbidding the use of power stones for fusion purposes, under penalty of imprisonment, or even in some countries, death.
Eventually, Dr. Erode retired with his fortune to a private castle, and went from being known as the world's most famous scientist and innovator, to the world's most famous recluse and hermit.
And so, the rush for the stones began. And at the forefront was a motley collection of "stone seekers" whose own varied talents they hoped would secure power stones to further their own individual goals. This is their Story. | <urn:uuid:4a555bcc-65b3-423b-9b8f-6101ad426e97> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/567076/1/Power-Stone-a-novelisation | en | 0.979855 | 0.282307 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
CPAN Ratings: Video-Xine reviews CPAN Ratings: Video-Xine reviews en-us 2000-08-23T07:00+00:00 Perl 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 1 daily Stephen Nelson I've attempted to address Mr. Rothenberg's issues. This module did fall by the wayside for a long time, for which I apologize. The documentation examples have been fixed, and I've tried to make it clearer about how to integrate Video::Xine with X11::FullScreen. There are also example programs that use Video::Xine both as a player (bin/xine_play) and to find out the length of a media file (bin/xine_length). I've also made X11::FullScreen a requirement. It was only listed as a recommendation before, since Video::Xine is still useful without it as an audio player and a file metadata reader, but I understand that that can be confusing. This module does not use Params::Validate or List::MoreUtils. I'd like to thank Mr. Rothenberg for his reviews, both here and of other modules on CPAN. Stephen Nelson Robert Rothenberg Rating: 1 stars Missing explicit mention of prerequisites like Params::Validate, List::MoreUtils and X11::FullScreen. Examples in synopsis are broken: it's not clear where variables come from, or there they are lowercase in one line and uppercase in another. Even when all that is sorted, and the program runs with no errors, no window is displayed showing the video. Considering that it's not been updated in almost two years, I've given up on it. Robert Rothenberg | <urn:uuid:48dab241-9db8-4a1c-a5b6-4eaba76f7a17> | http://cpanratings.perl.org/dist/Video-Xine.rss | en | 0.930662 | 0.094729 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Lumber Baron Starts Anew in Green Springs East of Ashland, Ore.
Jan 24, 2014
Starting out at age 17 as a horse trader, James Everett Henry spent a lifetime building a lumber empire, buying forests in his native New Hampshire, building lumber and paper mills and power stations to run them and railroads to ship their products. In his late 70s he retired around 1908 and handed his business empire to his three sons. They sold the business for millions in 1917, and one of them, John H. Henry, retired to Pasadena, Calif., with his wife, daughter and son, John B. Henry.
The mother of John B. Henry, John B. for short, paved the way through life for him. She founded a local military academy and when John B. graduated from that she founded a preparatory school, where he graduated and went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. His mom couldn’t have planned for what happened next. During semester break, John B. hired on as a mill hand. When it became obvious he wouldn’t be returning to college, his father left the comforts of retirement in 1927 and bought 4,000 acres in the Green Springs area east of Ashland, Ore., where he and John B. built a new lumber empire. | <urn:uuid:f9eddfe3-c5f3-4453-96fb-6b82c4857946> | http://ijpr.org/post/lumber-baron-starts-anew-green-springs-east-ashland-ore | en | 0.969017 | 0.068115 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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While I doubt that either Death Star required aluminum siding or roofers, Randal has a fair point in Clerks. While Imperial Stormtroopers are enlisted from all across the galaxy, many of them would come from backgrounds which did not include construction.
Is there any evidence (C-Canon or up) of just who built the Death Star?
From the Clerks script:
Not just Imperials, is what you're getting at.
share|improve this question
Or what about Droids? Star Wars Wikia says parts were built by slaves on various prison planets: – zipquincy Jul 31 '14 at 20:29
They certainly used contractors for the catering. – Wikis Jul 31 '14 at 20:36
Here's the manual they used to build it. – Wikis Jul 31 '14 at 20:38
@Wikis - +1 for mentioning Eddie Izzard. – Wad Cheber Aug 27 at 0:18
I don't understand why the construction process would have made use of a living workforce at all - droids don't need to eat, sleep, rest, etc - why not use droids exclusively? – Wad Cheber Aug 27 at 0:21
4 Answers 4
up vote 10 down vote accepted
George Lucas actually specifically discusses this Clerks quote in the commentary for Episode II
So Word of Lucas is that Geonosians were the ones who would have been killed, and we should be okay with that because they're insects. I find that explanation uncharacteristically xenophobic in a universe where we're supposed to care about giant furry Wookies and squidish Mons Calamari, but it is what is.
But I think Lucas misunderstands the scene you quote from Clerks (besides getting the characters wrong). Randall was talking about the second Death Star, which was still under construction when it was destroyed. Presumably the completed Death Star (the one the Geonosians would have worked on) had very few construction workers on it when it was destroyed.
Wookiepedia describes the second Death Star as being primarily constructed by droids:
Methods of faster construction had been developed in the years since the original station's conception, added to the fact that Imperial engineers made sure to allocate enough space on the station for the maximum possible amount of self-replicating construction droids.
Their source for that claim is an official book called Star Wars: Complete Locations.
share|improve this answer
The first Death Star, according to the novel Death Star (now of questionable 'canonicity'), and mentioned in many of the other EU novels, references Wookies being used in large numbers to construct the Death Star (presumably doing work Geonosians could not) – SSumner Jul 31 '14 at 22:46
Note that in Earth navies throughout history it has been common for ships to sail with civilian contractors on board to finish installing equipment, etc, during the first leg of a deployment. It makes for really great billable hours, gives the contractors a free trip to somewhere potentially desirable, and it's all at government expense. I know that when I was in the U.S. Navy we always had contractors on board for the first leg from Frisco to Pearl. I doubt that the Imperial Navy would be any different. – Bob Jarvis Aug 1 '14 at 2:09
Nice move by Lucas, using the Clerks dialogue like that – Suman Roy Aug 1 '14 at 5:28
the emperor clearly and explicitly calls the second death star fully operational. This always led me to believe it was complete, or at least as complete as it was intended to be for the trap the empire set for the rebels at Endor. – jwenting Aug 1 '14 at 7:59
@jwenting I always interpreted "fully operational" to be referring specifically to its offensive capabilities (the fuller quote being "fully operation battle station"); all exterior shots quite clearly show that construction of the overall station is nowhere near complete -- basically they finished installing the lights and hooking up the electricity and even installed the burglar alarm, but they haven't even erected the studs on the south wall yet, let alone finished installing the drywall! – Kromey Aug 1 '14 at 15:48
Wookieepedia has a reference to at least some construction of the first Death Star being done in the Geonosis system, presumably by Geonosian Industries (they cite the Essential Atlas) for this fact. It's up to you if you consider them to be a contractor; personally I'd lump them under "slave labour".
Most of the other references refer to individual scientists working on designing particular components (the superlaser, for instance), not to the general construction.
share|improve this answer
Yes, they did. There is the obvious Geonosian reference, already mentioned in the other answers, from Attack of the Clones. In the novella Shadows of the Empire, the crime-lord Prince Xizor has several discussions with both Palpatine and Vader regarding the use of his front business, Xizor Transport Systems, to assist in logistical issues related to the construction project. Specifically, XTS helped tranport some computer systems.
In addition to the above, the short story Therefore I am, by Kevin J. Anderson, features Imperial assassin droids (the IG series, including IG-88) being constructed by a private contractor, Holowan Laboratories, at the Empire's request. The same Imperial who headed that program also headed up some of the transport and logistics for the second Death Star project, which again implies some sort of outside contractors.
A likely theory is that the Empire had different contractors performing different duties, with none of them - except Xizor, who may have known more due to his friendship with Palpatine than anything official - knowing exactly what the various components they produced or transported were going to be used for.
share|improve this answer
There is no sensible way everything could have been done in-house. Government by its very nature becomes more and more inefficient with size; logistics are difficult if not impossible to manage at scale. In this day and age we're still sending soldiers into combat without basic, functional gear.
Once you've attained intergalactic jurisdiction, it's hard enough to get basic paperwork done, much less the creation of two Death Stars plus replenishment of the endless amounts of personnel and materials the rebels kept destroying. But it's a hell of a lot easier to sign those procurement papers than to manage these sorts of projects internally.
Governments hire contractors. That's just what they do; it's expensive, and quality control is suspect, but if you actually want things to ever get done, it's what you do.
I realize this probably violates some EU explanation or another, but here's my take on what likely happened, coming from someone who works with government purchasers:
• The Empire has a pool of purchasing agents who operate under the guise of shell corporations. They go around to the different planets and vendors, securing requisite materials from whoever's selling without alerting anybody as to who's asking. Thus, construction of the Death Star can begin without anybody even knowing about it until someone up high either leaks or someone else literally stumbles across it.
• The Empire isn't going to outright employ slaves on chain-gangs to work assembly lines or weld girders on the Death Star. It doesn't make logistical sense (too many opportunities for sabotage/escape), and while they do take prisoners, they're not in the slavery industry. The Empire purchaser would have contracted with a manufacturing firm on Geonosis who in turn used Geonosian labor to crank out widgets and droids that nobody would have questioned the ultimate purpose of, lest Oskar Schindler-types deliberately sabotage the product.
• The fatal design flaw on the first Death Star? One man may have had the idea for the concept and presented it, but this is basic technical sales-- promise the concept first and figure out how to deliver it after the fact. No way did he sit down and draw the schematics himself. He would have had a team of people collaborating on the final presentation, and nobody saw the glaring "bug" in the design because everybody assumed someone else would notice such a thing. It's how glaring security holes find their way into collaborative, complicated software projects without being caught.
• The concept of self-replicating droids seems like a retconned explanation conceived in recent history and doesn't make any sense. If self-replicating droids were a thing, just build an exponentially self-replicating army instead of the Death Star, and use that to remove the sentient element altogether. Or just have the DS design drafted by a droid. Everybody knows machines don't make mistakes.
• The second Death Star was built faster, yes, but it's more likely because they already had established their supply chain and had a better idea of what to expect the second time around. If you build a Lego tower and someone crushes it, once you stop crying you'd rebuild it faster, even without technological advances.
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Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:eb91ee14-ddbb-4be1-9b26-1cb2e9320cac> | http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/64537/did-the-empire-use-independent-contractors-to-build-either-of-the-death-stars | en | 0.963347 | 0.513807 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
RAMALLAH, West Bank - For a while now I've wondered why there's been no Third Intifada. That is, no third Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, the first of which helped to spur the Oslo peace process and the second of which - with more live ammunition from the Israeli side and suicide bombings from the Palestinian side - led to the breakdown of Oslo.
You get many explanations from Palestinians: They're too poor, too divided, too tired or that they realize these uprisings, in the end, did them more harm than good, especially the second. But being here, it's obvious that a Third Intifada is underway. It's the one that Israel always feared most - not an intifada with stones or suicide bombers, but one propelled by nonviolent resistance and economic boycott.
But this Third Intifada isn't really led by Palestinians in Ramallah. It's led by the European Union in Brussels and other opponents of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank across the globe. Regardless of origin, though, it's becoming a real source of leverage for the Palestinians in their negotiations with Israel.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid told Israel Army Radio on Monday that if no two-state solution is reached with the Palestinians, "it will hit the pocket of every Israeli." Israel's economy depends on technology and agricultural exports to Europe and on European investments in its high-tech industries.
According to Lapid, even a limited boycott that curbed Israeli exports to Europe by 20 percent would cost Israel more than $5 billion a year and thousands of jobs. That's why he added: "Israel won't conduct its policy based on threats. But to pretend that the threats don't exist, or that they're not serious, or it's not a process happening in front of us, is also not serious."
Just recently, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Netherlands' largest pension fund management company, PGGM, "has decided to withdraw all its investments from Israel's five largest banks because they have branches in the West Bank and/or are involved in financing construction in the settlements." And The Jerusalem Post reported that Danske Bank, Denmark's largest bank, has decided to boycott Israel's Bank Hapoalim for "legal and ethical" reasons related to its operating in the settlements.
The first two intifadas failed in the end because they never included a map of a two-state solution and security arrangements.
The replacement of Ahmadinejad by the negotiation-friendly, Holocaust-recognizing Hassan Rouhani is much more problematic for Israel. But my gut also tells me that the death of Mandela has left many of his followers looking for ways to honor his legacy and carry on his work. On some college campuses, they've found it: boycotting Israel until it ends the West Bank occupation.
Israelis are right to suspect some boycotters of using this cause as a cover for anti-Semitism, given how Israel's misdeeds are singled out. But that doesn't mean that implanting 350,000 settlers in the West Bank and turning a blind eye to dozens of wildcat settlements - that even Israel deems "illegal" - is in Israel's interest or smart.
Unlikely, I know.
| <urn:uuid:0914deeb-8c0e-4470-aeee-3035a1704c6f> | http://www.chron.com/news/article/Friedman-It-may-be-time-for-a-Third-Intifada-5205357.php | en | 0.968056 | 0.043015 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Christian Financial Advice and Biblical Stewardship
Six Things We Can Do to Fix This Economy
• Mary Hunt Debt-Proof Living
• 2010 27 Jan
Six Things We Can Do to Fix This Economy
It's a mess out there. Unemployment is higher than it's been in 60 years, and the U.S. dollar is losing value at an alarming rate. If that's not bad enough, fears abound that taxes will be heading north for all workers, even while the United States continues to find itself in a deep, protracted recession.
On that happy note, let's turn to the subject at hand. What can we do, you and I, individually, to turn this economy around? In a word: Nothing. What you spend this week, how much you save or burn up in gasoline is not going to make one bit of difference to the U.S. economy.
But we can make a big difference for our individual economic pictures. Add that to what our friends, families, neighbors, colleagues and communities do, and we're looking at the cumulative effect, which can make a difference.
Here is a list of specific things that all of us can do, starting today, to get things back on track in our personal lives. That is how we will affect the larger picture:
Stop living on plastic. Please, just stop spending more money than you have. No matter now difficult your financial picture is right now, adding to your debt is like pouring gasoline on a fire. It is going to make things even worse.
Get out of debt. I'm talking about your unsecured consumer debt. Nothing but higher interest rates and increased fees are coming down the pike. You cannot afford to be in debt. Make a commitment today to do whatever you must to remove that financial bondage from your life.
Rein it in. Yes, you've cut your expenses. Sure you are becoming more frugal than ever. Great. Now, double your efforts. I'm serious. Whatever you are doing now, you can do better. Challenge every expense, every purchase. Is it really necessary? Can you do something else instead? Can you at least wait a few more days? Get tough on yourself. What you do not spend is money you can use to build your emergency fund or pay down debt.
"No" is the word. Place it firmly on the tip of your tongue during the new year: "No!" Use it often when you are tempted to spend foolishly. Just say "No!" to anything that you cannot buy with cash. Say "No!" to anything that will impede your efforts to save and pay off debt. Keep it handy. It will save you a lot of grief, and allow you to make economic progress this year.
Work more. Forget early retirement. Instead, figure out how you can work more, and even years longer. This is going to be a year of extra effort, not a time to ease off.
Buy American. We need to get manufacturing and production to return to the USA as soon as possible. When it fits within your budget to buy goods and services, let's do everything we can to buy American. Look for companies that are producing products for homes and families at websites like and
Do you have ideas on how we can work together to help the economy? Join the conversation at my blog, Money Rules, Debt Stinks!
February 3, 2010
| <urn:uuid:5428b4fc-23ab-4c50-ae25-4ee108fe39ab> | http://www.crosswalk.com/family/finances/six-things-we-can-do-to-fix-this-economy-11625524.html | en | 0.950492 | 0.072958 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
• Of course! It's just very, VERY different than what you think
There are many problems, they just aren't the ones you think. Often trying to rid us of sexism, we have gone too far in the other direction, or we just ignore it. In many cases, women are not put in positions of power as in many cases as men are. But, women do NOT earn less than men. People misunderstand the gender pay gap. When all men's pay is averaged, and all women's pay is averaged women earn 77 cents for every man's dollar. But, if a man and a women with equal education, experience, and references were to apply for the SAME job, women actually ear 1.02 for every mans dollar. I know, surprising right? Also, women only clubs are fine, but a man only club is "sexist". Gender is still an issue in America, going both ways, and it needs to be fixed.
• Male Dominance is Still Present
The mere fact that women make only 77 cents for every $1 a man makes shows the lingering presence of gender inequality in the US. Salaries should be based on quality of work and the person, not their gender. It is absolutely BEYOND me how a woman could be working twice as hard as a man but would still not make as much as him. Until this gets fixed, I don't understand how this nation could be seen as gender-inequality-free.
• Gender Inequality Still an Issue in America
Yes, gender inequality is still an issue in the United States of America. There is still a "glass ceiling" in which women are given positions such as CEO far less than are men. On the other side, men are still not granted paternity leave for a child's birth. Both are examples of gender inequality.
• Women vs. Men
People believe that men are the only ones capable of doing the heavy lifting and grunt work. People expect the girls and women to stay back and stick to the housework and frilly jobs. Women are regarded at a lower level than men, and it truly surprises people when women are capable of doing 'men's jobs'.
• Gender Inequality All Around
There are still many examples of gender inequality. Some Examples: Law abiding, loving fathers are less likely to receive custody of their children. Men on average serve more prison time than women for THE SAME CRIMES. Men typically are the ones who have to pay child support payments regardless of the wife's income. Society expects a certain behavior from men and men who do not exhibit this behavior are often deemed unworthy. Women often receive less payment for the same work done. Women are often the victims on domestic abuse cases. Gender inequality is real but women are not the only victims here. Its time to WAKE UP.
• Job Payment Inequality
When a woman has a job she is paid a certain amount, then she leaves and a man replaces her. He is paid at least a third more. I have had experience with this. I had a job and then gave it to a male friend of mine, they paid him around 50-60$s more.
• Hello! Yes, it is still a problem!
Today, women are less likely to get a job, if they are in competition with men. Today, women are paid less than men, and they are mostly the ones who need the money. Single moms are in need of money, not only for themselves, but their children. You wonder why schools lack Men teachers; its because men are getting the higher paying jobs, where women have to pick up the slack.
• obviously we are not yet equal
Women are still being subjected to domestic violence and sex trafficking even in the us. Women in the work place are not able to work and be a mother with the laws in america and women are still being paid less then men and are having a harder time getting into good colleges because more females apply.
• Women are targeted in crimes and feminine qualities, like compassion and visible displays of emotion, are considered weak.
At bars, men target women for date rape and rape in general. Men who show emotions by crying or other methods are often considered weak or girly. Anything feminine is something that, if a man does it, automatically makes him an outcast (such as knitting and housework.) Although this view is slowly changing, women are required to assume masculine qualities in order to achieve any equal level of success.
• Yes, we need equality .
Men outnumber women at a rate of 73% vs. 27% in all sectors of employment for science and engineering as of 2009. No state has ever achieved federal or state judgeships gender equality. Women held only 23% of all federal judgeships and only 27% of state judgeships in the year 2010.
• Nope, not a problem
Women aren't meant to be in the work force. They are meant to be a housewife. That their job is to take care of the family and house. Not to be bringing home the "Bacon". It has been a waste of tax payers money trying to fix equality in America. That women should have no say or take part in anything that the male population says that women shouldn't take part of.
• We should strive for equality in OPPORTUNITY, not quality in results.
Women have just as much opportunity as men these days and if you don't land yourself whatever career you are dreaming about it is really no one's fault but your own. 1920 was 80 years ago, stop looking for things to blame your lack of success on and go out and make a difference. Didn't get hired? Start a god damn company of your own then!
• TIme to look at the truth
Women don't want equality they want superior benefits at the expense of men and children. To achieve these advantages, they have spent hugh amounts of money and time to corrupt the legislature. Women now have advantages in the work place unheard of in any other nation. Don't think so? Research the number of women on scholarship in college vs. men. Research the number of women employed vs. men. Research the benefits consumed by women vs. men. Compare the harshness of women vs. men for the same crimes. Women have gone overboard. To reach equality, women have to be stripped of some of their perks.
• The problems stated are overinflated
Although the accusation that women make $0.77 for every man's $1 is true, key facts are missing from this accusation. A key part is the fact that five highest paying specialization's, are dominated by males, except for one. Petroleum Engineering (over 80%), Aerospace Engineering (over 85%), Chemical Engineers (70%), and Math/computer science (over 60%). The only one that has more females (55%) is pharmacist's. While on the other hand, women choose some of the lowest paying college majors: Psychology (almost 75%), Early Education (95%), Human Services (almost (80%), Social Workers (90%), while males only dominate one of the five lowest; Theology (65%). This doesn't even begin to explain the other lower jobs many choose to work such as: being a nurse when many have the potential to be a doctor, being the assistant instead of striving to be the boss.
Another point is the fact that the wage scale for the same job isn't mentioned. Male vs. Female High School Teachers collect the same average: $42.000. Although Male nurses get about 10% more than female, they are much rarer and needed in cases where gender is an issue. The biggest point though, is that Stay-At-Home-Mom's also effect the pay scale. Making up a large part of Americans (about 20%) making $0 and relying on someone else to pay for survival.
Now for the good stuff. Young women 22-30 years old, who are childless, out earn childless men by 8%. The average man spends about 14% more time at work, and are nine times more likely to die there (hard labor jobs, stressful jobs ect.) And the biggest part: Men worked 146,332 million hours in 2009, while women worked 111,782 million hours. 111,782 is 76% of 146,322.
Contributing in the ideas just presented, the gap is only about 6%, and is almost optimal for the workplace.
• Why make it gender based
Life is crappy. This is just a fact. Its hard, its boring, and its incredibly bias. And this is the same for everyone. Antifeminism was an issue in the 1950's. So we combatted it. As women gained their rights, they were able to make the world fairer at a greater rate. So now, the world is fair. Life sucks in different ways for both genders, but as you can see, gender is only brought up in cases involving women. Why is this? Because we naturally feel the need to protect women. So true "equalitism" involves leaving gender out of it and solving the worlds problems one at a time
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Is Beachfront Property Really Worth Having?
Well, we came back from Hilton Head, South Carolina the other day where we spent some time looking at how the real estate market was doing there with the housing slump fully underway. I must say that I have always wondered why people buy oceanfront property or even off-beach housing as an investment as it seems so risky and expensive.
What we saw were a lot of rental signs with price tags that still seemed too high (to me anyway). For example, the condo we stayed in at the beach would sell for around 1.65 million -- even though the rent on it was pretty low, nowhere near enough to cover the mortgage even if it rented steadily. Apparently, some investors don't think that prices are too high. According to one real estate paper, Palmetto Previews, baby boomers are looking to buy second homes, vacation properties and retirement venues in the "red-hot South."
In addition to the boomers, big corporations, the paper says, are starting to buy properties in bulk and these corporations include a recent influx of buyers from Canada and Europe, including Eastern Europe. A real estate veteran in Hilton Head, Billy Baldwin, attributes the trend in foreign sales to greater buying power. "The softening US prices combined with favorable exchange rates makes homes here big bargains for many Canadian and European buyers."
But are these properties really going to stay good investments? Potentially not, according to the book Cash-Rich Retirement, that I am reading for an upcoming podcast.
The author, Jim Schlagheck, says that the recent boom in real estate prices are not "business as usual:"
It is the result of an unprecedented surge of people looking for homes and "quick flip" investment opportunities as never before.... Boomers have so far had a resounding impact on consumer spending, investing, and asset prices. They have been a powerful locomotive, contributing to strong economic growth and substantially higher investment valuations.
That, of course, brings us to the million-dollar question: What is going to happen when this same mass of people enters retirement and begins selling off assets to raise cash? How will mass boomer retirements impact asset values?
I sure don't know the answer to that question. But regardless of what happens, I think I'll just stick with renting a beachhouse--it seems cheaper and safer than investing in this market.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bloggers on the Road
It's amazing how many bloggers come through Knoxville--today it was Dr. Wes, the blogging electrophysiologist and his wife, Diane, a clinical psychologist who both run
We met up for appetizers and talked about blogging, commenters and whether someone could hack an ICD. The answer was "yes" but it would be hard. Anyway, it was terrific meeting another blogger, especially a fellow health service provider who loves writing and posting. By the time it's all said and done, maybe I'll meet almost all of them at some point. I sure hope so.
The Lone Libertarian
I read with interest a short question and answer session with John Stossel in TownHall magazine on how he became the lone libertarian in broadcast news. One question posed by Mary Katharine Ham asked "Is the media as hostile to conservative ideas as a lot of conservatives seem to think, or does your success belie that idea?"
Stossel replies, "I would say it's as hostile as most believe it is. Remember, I came in as a liberal, and I was trying to be what I thought was objective. I certainly did not do the point-of-view reporting as I do now. I'm the, to my knowledge, lone libertarian in the mainstream media, and I take some heat for that. To my knowledge there are zero conservatives...on the networks."
Wow, zero, that's unbelievable. Imagine what would happen if there were zero women or minorities in broadcast news, what a ruckus that would be. There is already an uproar that there are so few but what if there There is no excuse for zero conservatives except censorship and discrimination. There is no other explanation. If you are conservative or libertarian and want to go into broadcast news-- what are your chances? Zero or possibly a tiny percentage being that there is one libertarian. So why bother--but then, isn't that the idea?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I can Quit Anytime I Want....
Do you have Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) (Hat tip: Mecurior)?:
If you’re a blogger, you could soon find yourself labeled with the newest mental disorder: Internet Addiction Disorder.
IAD has actually been proposed for inclusion as a psychiatric diagnosis in the next issue of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
Shouldn't The New York Times be notified that rather than successes, these bloggers are sick addicts?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
John Hawkins at Right Wing News posts on Blogging While Female-Part 2.
Do Bloggers Ever Take a Break?
Well, sometimes they do. Glenn and I are on a working "vacation" in Hilton Head, South Carolina and when I get a break, I go fly a kite on the beach:
Glenn on the other hand, doesn't take much of a break, here he is being photographed for an upcoming story by a New York Times freelance photographer on the beach--about blogging of course. Well, I did work as the grip for this shoot but didn't get paid, does that count as work or stupidity?
Women who kill get light sentences in Tennessee. Read this and decide if it's becoming a trend.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Ask Dr. Helen: Are Hybrid Owners All That?
My PJM column is up:
Do our choices in cars really reflect our true personality traits? That’s what they say, but Dr. Helen Smith isn’t sure.
Does your car reflect your personality? Do you drive a hybrid and have a mindset like this?
You can read the column and respond there or here.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Jewish/Israeli Carnival is up--go take a look.
Is There Really Such a Thing As "Positive Discrimination?"
Apparently, the Equalities Minister, Harriet Harman in the UK thinks so (Hat tip: Mecurior):
However, she believes radical changes are needed to help talented black and female candidates break through barriers in business and public life. The positive discrimination plan [my emphasis] would apply only in cases where two equally qualified candidates were after the same post, allowing the employer to tip the balance in favour of the minority candidate on grounds of race or gender.
And I love this:
Employers can currently specify that they welcome applications from minority candidates, and promote themselves to specific groups. However, Avon Fire Service, whose firefighters are 97 per cent white and male, triggered a storm of protest this year when it barred white applicants from an open day.
White applicants were barred? Is there really such a thing as "positive discrimination?" I say absolutely not. What goes around comes around. When I get thoroughly disgusted and think there is no justice in the world, I try to remember what Thomas Jefferson (or someone since Wikipedia says this quote was misattributed to Jefferson) said many years ago that still rings true:
At some point, the very laws that are supposed to promote "equality" by discriminating against certain people are usually the very ones that end up harming those they intended to help in the end--it's just a matter of time. I will not be so eloquent here as the above quote is regarding government "intervention," but I hope that laws like the above will come back to bite the very people who make them in the ass. | <urn:uuid:f82eacee-644f-417b-b7de-0cc113d8f4f1> | http://www.drhelen.blogspot.com/2008_03_16_archive.html | en | 0.968307 | 0.138053 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Next: , Previous: , Up: Semantic Internals [Contents][Index]
3.4 Analyzer Internals
The Semantic analyzer is a complex engine which has been broken down across several modules. When the Semantic analyzer fails, start with semantic-analyze-debug-assist, then dive into some of these files.
The core analyzer for defining the current context. The current context is an object that contains references to aspects of the local context including the current prefix, and a tag list defining what the prefix means.
Provides semantic-analyze-possible-completions.
The analyzer debugger. Useful when attempting to get everything configured.
Various support functions needed by the analyzer.
Local context parser. Contains overloadable functions used to move around through different scopes, get local variables, and collect the current prefix used when doing completion.
Calculate scope for a location in a buffer. The scope includes local variables, and tag lists in scope for various reasons, such as C++ using statements.
The typecache is part of semanticdb, but is used primarily by the analyzer to look up datatypes and complex names. The typecache is bound across source files and builds a master lookup table for data type names.
Interactive Analyzer functions. Simple routines that do completion or lookups based on the results from the Analyzer. These routines are meant as examples for application writers, but are quite useful as they are.
Speedbar support for the analyzer, displaying context info, and completion lists. | <urn:uuid:3c2ddf5a-9e4a-4d02-af9e-b513c184279e> | http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/semantic/Analyzer-Internals.html | en | 0.806199 | 0.365404 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
I am teaching an Intro to Economics class this spring at NYU’s (School of Continuing and Professional Studies). The syllabus for the class is about done, but it is not yet etched in stone.
I am starting with the basic law of Supply and Demand, Incentives, then on to Utility for individuals and Profit Maximizing for firms, Smith’s Invisible Hand. Then, its on to the amorality (versus immorality) of capitalism, a history of economic schools of thought. Micro vs Macro, What is Inflation?, Paper currency versus Gold, Real Estate, Commodities, the role of the Fed, Monopoly & Anti-Trust, Free Trade & Globalization, Competition & Creative Destruction, Banking and Debt, Capital markets, and Economic Cycles, finishing up with behavioral economics. I also want to address the idea that there is "no free lunch" throughout the class. (The course is 6 weeks)
I want this to be less boring than the Econ classes that put me to sleep in college, and less technical than the Economics and Anti-Trust classes I took in law school.
Here’s my question for y’all: If you were to take a course such as this, what
would you want taught? What topics and specific subjects would you like to see
discussed? I am looking to balance current topics with historical examples. Some theory is fine (hey, its economics)
Any ideas?
UPDATE March 29, 2006 4:20pm
Wow — huge inflow of suggestions — Many thanks.
The books I am going to recommend — note these are not textbooks — are Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan, and New Ideas from Dead Economists by Todd G. Buchholz . . .
Category: Economy
91 Responses to “Econ 101 Class”
1. enrico says:
i think that money is the most interesting economic subject.
We’re not taught about that enough in Italian Universities, and i wish i was. Dont know about that in the US.
So i think i would like to hear about that a lot.
2. Big Boi says:
What knowledge level will your students have prior to taking your class (and how many are there because it is a requirement they have to get out of the way versus they are there because they really want to learn)? The composition of your students will make a big difference in what to teach.
3. terry says:
I always liked elasticity and externalities and I think that those are two concepts that explain why economists get it wrong so often and why after the fact, things seem so obvious.
4. Matthew says:
How about some game theory? Some experimental economics can be fun if the class is general enough for some games.
5. jab says:
My 2 cents. Less is better – you listed out alot. All good stuff but I think you would be making a more important impact on the students if you could just teach them a few things very well so that they understood it completely and instinctively. My choice would be the basic supply – demand curves. There is so much to teach just on that – how P&Q are determined – the effects of taxes and subsidies, etc. If they would really understand this they will be so much further along than most people. Give them references for things like gold vs. paper money – a great subject to be sure. I know it is tempting to give them a flavor of everything but my question would be do you want them to understand everything a little bit or really understand the back bone of economics and from here go on to the rest. My thoughts for what it is worth.
6. Bonddad says:
Free-floating currency and the elements that effect exchange rates.
Something on the trade deficit. I realize this is an intro class, but a general explanation would be great.
I’m not sure I would be interested in an overview of anti-trust, but that is just me.
7. curmudgeon says:
comparative advantage and international trade
public goods vs. private goods
money and inflation (instead of paper currency vs. Gold and the role fo the Fed)
limitations to economic theory (instead of ‘amorality’ and behavioral theory)
Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers is a good source for the history/schools of thought.
8. Reve BM says:
Would like to see comparative statistics of the US or another market economy such as Japan compared with the Soviet Union, to the extent statistics are available. Although the Soviet Union obviously fell apart, is there a way to show its comparative weakness versus a market economy using data? Also, is there a framework for analyzing China?
9. rob says:
can you recommend any books explaining how Germany fared during the 1930s depression? i never understood how Nazis had the money to re-arm after hyperinflation.
i have no economics background.
10. john says:
If you want to play a nifty game hold up a Nr 2 pencil and ask the class to list out all of the factories that were involved in collecting the raw materials that went into building it, the factories that actually produced it, and the factories that produced the transportation methods (i.e. planes and trains and ships and autos). The get them to explain how interest rates (up or down) impact on the Nr. 2 pencil “infrastructure”. Then ask them how, after all of this a pencil can still be sold for about a dime and everyone make a profit.
Try this yourselves – don’t forget that pencils no longer use lead. And very few use a wooden body. And don’t forget the eraser.
11. dm says:
the only time math made any sense was in econ…especially calc…remember the slope of functions at certain points? Econ is great for taking a snapshot of any one time or place in our world but its mainweakness is moving beyond this and your experience is what can make this interesting to them. I only got supply/demand graphs. Your perspective on forecasting can make the future seem accessible to young people confused about their future. first they have to think they can…
12. Chris Pepin says:
For a textbook, I would look at “Real World Macro” and “Real World Micro” at:
These tend to be on the mainstream “left” (say Swedish social democratic), but I think they are extremely well-crafted.
I hope that you can bring the insight and depth of your website to the classroom. You ability to find obscure yet valuable items of information on the Web is a rare gift (buttressed I am sure by hundreds of hours of work).
13. rob hone says:
dump the econ classics and build the whole thing around 2 current stories. 1. world energy prices and the roll of traders. 2. The fall of GM and the roll of globalization.
14. Barry
I went to NYU undergrad AND returned to get my MBA there (Finance maj) – so I know the inside.
As for what to teach — it depends on what “discipline” of economics you want to focus on – Macro (Suupply and Demand, Game theory yada) or Micro (Monetary Policy, Keynsian etc).
to me a blend of both is useful –
* Basic Supply and Demand is a must; show monoplies pricing power, dead weight loss etc.
* HUGE — comparative advantage — this has shaped my thinking and recommend: how it makes sense (mathematically) to trade “services or goods” when one has a relative advantage — applies from everyting to Global Trade in – use “Beer and Pretzels” example; to Hiring a Secratery because its a better trade to pay her to give me free time (to make more $$_
– Macro Side — much to cover –
* Forget the name — the equation for Spending = Consumption. How Government Spending + Consumer Spending + Investment = GDP ; Important info that makes you go wow when you realize the impacts
* Interest rate to investment relationship (equation)
* Too Deep: IS-LM curves, Kensian Theory — maye. All these curves and theorems give big time insight into effects of monetary and fiscal policy — deep, but relevant.
10 mins of lecture, followed up by 10 mins of 1:1 or “team” excercises, followed by Q/A and Discussion (Then a 5 min break) — is a great guideline; theory –> application –> discussing/learning – then a digestion period (and pee break).
hope this helps. just a give back – for the great BLOG;
15. JWC says:
I took an economics class while I was in my 40′s and finishing my degree. I can’t remember a thing they taught except the concept of elasticity. You will be teaching adults and I think your basic theme of “There is no such thing as a free lunch” is GREAT! I agree with the idea of keep it simple, better to cover a few themes and have them retain it.
Adults will be taking Econ as a requirement, probably for a general management or business degree. They need the skills to be able to practice critical thinking when the read/watch the spin that we are surrounded with every day in regards to this countrys economy. They also need to be able to see the big picture when they are involved in bugdget issues as a manager.
(I worked in health care and the nurse managers were never able to grasp how macro changes in reimbursement policies made it impossible to give them everything they wanted for their area.
Good luck. I’d love to take a class taught by you. The one I took was basically worthless.
16. Robert Cote says:
Compounding, both debt and investment. Expand into the time value of money.
17. WDD says:
Another important topic to cover are economic profits.
18. algernon says:
Amorality of capitalism? There is a great deal of morality inherent in voluntary exchange & the honesty required to make capitalism work.
19. mmcginley says:
Perhaps some basics on Austrian economics. The trade deficit and the ramifications of spending more than we produce.
20. Chad K says:
I’d just say one thing… don’t push any politically based economic beliefs in any way… it’s the pefect way to alienate somewhere near 50% of your class.
One of the things I love is hearing unintended consequences of seemingly common-sense economic views pushed on the public.. and comparing those by showing the many unargued ways they can be balanced out by positives.
Like more fuel efficient cars being a gurantee for a better US economy, based on less foreign reliance. While that’s most likely the truth, the unintended consequences are lower tax revenue on gasoline for states that push this stuff, or have more adopters (Oregon, Washington). So now we’re out of money to build and maintain roads, putting large contractors in a rut… less gas station jobs (with pay-at-the-pump, it happens anyway)… The likelihood of less US exploration for oil, leading to, once again, greater reliance on foreign oil…
Advantages may be that a newer technology (hydrogen) or an older one (diesel) may take hold, causing new infrastructure, creating jobs, etc. Less polution, causing fewer health issues, lowering total health cost per capita… thus lowering the potential coming burden of medicare/medicaid… lowering tax burden on citizens… allowing more money into the economy, and more jobs…
It’s always interesting when you use current events that most people are familiar with to explain ideas. If immigration reform is still on the table, a non-biased view of the imigrants role in our economy would be nice. What it would mean if we deport a large number of them… and what it would mean if many of them became legal… tax ramifications? legal? expense (medicare, soc sec, etc)
21. here’s my favorite quote on the subject:
- Lord John Maynard Keynes.
22. Tom says:
The role of innovation in economic growth.
23. Someone mentioned it already, but you left out comparative advantage. There is so much you can do with that. On the macro side, real vs. nominal interest rates is a favorite point of mine because you can go right from that to talking about what the what the Fed does to influence inflation expectations and so on.
You’ll have a really tough time covering all of that in any depth in 6 weeks. I would really want to know my audience for something like this. Are they part-time bachelor’s degree seekers? Are they getting ready to do an MBA? Other?
Once you know who you’re talking to, this could be a really fun course.
24. Dan B says:
If you want to keep them interested make it dramatic. Asian contagion & global economic metdown. Beggar thy neighbour and competive devaluation. Latin America collapse, over banking & the birth of emerging markets, war & trade, a pound of flesh. Great blog!
25. S says:
I think a few things would be interesting. A historical look at gold standard, bretton woods and the current regime in placve – see MArtin Wolf editorial in FT this morning.
I also think a robust discussion of comparitive advantage and “free” trade in light of our move to an intellectual economy is wothwhile. The migration would seem to demand the same freedom of movement for labor as for widgets if we have any chance of success? I might sprinkle in a discussion backed by data points illuminating the nominal wealth gains USA is getting from the “marginal” free trade deals ala CAFTA. Since we live in a world where externalities will persist, why are we so steadfast in beliveing ceterus paribus theories?
26. Becky says:
My econ professor at Oberlin taught by the Socratic method and we got into fascinating discussions. I think your subject matter is great but see if you can teach by asking them questions that make them THINK!
27. Alex Khenkin says:
Economics has become too abstract, laden with useless math (Samuelson’s fault?). Take a colony of 100 people and show how production, division of labor, savings, money, trade and banking really work. Similar to Austrian approach, I guess. A lot of gobbledegook clears away once one has to figure out how it would play in such an environment.
28. Alex Khenkin says:
Oh yeah, have two small colonies trade and see how long a current account deficit can be sustained…
Small Investor Chronicles
29. jl says:
- government statistics – how they are altered, why they are discontinued (M3)
- Keynesianism vs. Monetarism
- Multipliers
- Relation of aggregate savings/investment, marginal prop. to save/consume
30. Mike says:
How about touching on how the trade deficit is extending the overdone bull market in the sense of foreign money coming back into this country and buying up our assets. It is real obvious in Florida where Americans bought their goods and now their(our) money is coming back into this country and buying up real estate and building homes like crazy. First it was euros, now it is moving toward asian currencies. This is my opinion why this market hasn’t corrected big time.
31. JSchreiber says:
We have way too many Keynesians in this country… I recommend an Austrian perspective.
32. MIchael L says:
I was an Econ major in College. The thing that really fascinated me was charting supply and demand of oil and showing how price controls made things worse under Nixon.
Do the old Boy Scout approach. See one, do one, teach one. So a combination of lecture, small groups, and make them get up and explain their work.
33. bg says:
Comaprative Advantage. Definitely. Also, the theories that support supply side and demand side policies with examples. This will help the lehman wade through the punditry written everyday about the subject and be able to call BS when needed.
34. JW says:
Having taken a continuing-ed class at NYU which started at 6pm, I can attest to the fact that heading into a classroom after a long day at work is a chore. The brain and body slip into autopilot and the time blurs. To counter this, I would suggest weaving the lessons of economics into discussions of contemporary, real world topics. For instance, your insights on the music industry vs the internet, et al, are straight out of econ 101, but have the foundation to prompt questions and sustain discussion. I’d sit in if I could!
35. Hugh Harmon says:
I think you should consider a little economic history lesson on investment returns through the centuries ala Peter Bernstein. I think you students will benefit from this perspective especially in relation to expectations vs market reality.
Thanks for sharing you perspectives – your students surely will learn alot if they will listen well. Good luck!
36. I’d include the role of prices as a theme rather than as a specific topic. Recommended text – Sowell’s Basic Economics.
37. roscoe ii says:
How about contrasting the Keynesian approch ( Bernanke) vs. the Chicago Schol ( Friedman) vs Austrian school ( Hayek, von Mises/ Skousen) on several different issues
Examples below would give 3 distinct views on same topic
and what those differences mean
Skousen’s book VIENNA vs CHICAGO does a great job in explaining these contrasts.
38. mh497 says:
Request: Can you go teach this to our politicians?
39. anna says:
Include the ambiguities. For example you use supply and demand in setting prices then touch on real world markets such as stocks. Maybe go into examples of how it does correct over time like a pendulum. Give some sense of the distortions.
I think “here’s the theory and here’s the actuality, but the theory does have power, but…” Especially with stocks or something relevant they are curious, but also strangely enough putting the anstraction wihin real world complexity helps lots of us grasp, sort of, the abstraction, then talk about the idea of perfect information and it doesn’t exist.
I think to some extent it can all build organically because everythings connected. Feel free to ramble with good stories.
40. Drew Yallop says:
Free trade and globalization. There is a wealth of bullshit among the young today propagated mostly by the academic left. Remind them that Keynes was a supporter of open markets and so are anti-Bushey economists like Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman. A few facts should make for interesting classroom discussion.
41. Banner Moffat says:
Teach them that overly simple economic explanations such as what politically motivated people (or media)often throw around are usually incomplete, misleading or wrong. You shouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with timely and interesting examples.
42. zac says:
I agree wholeheartedly that you should start with Comparative Advantage,– this is fundamental to understanding Globalization of Production. This will lead you to discuss the evolution of capital markets and cost-of-funding arbitrage that it enables: Discuss in 10 minutes how all credit used to be sourced from banks lending, and therefore was subject to the Monetary Policy lever Alan Greenspan pulled (ie higher interest rates means fewer borrowers, less money in circulation, inflation can be regulated)… but that now, capital market sophistication and liquidity means that banks are not the primary supplier of corporate credit, which means that there are a bunch of new questions in Economics that remain unanswered– complexity is present, hence the field is vibrant and compelling, not stodgy and fixed.
I think most acolytes to Economics come thinking that it is complete, and that they are getting exposed to it for the sake of “understanding the classic liberal education”. I think it is important to explain in general terms that Economics is more like Medicine– very complex, and always changing, always requiring new insights and constant vigilance.
43. noname says:
1) The impact of US deficits on Investment and future productivity
2) The role of reputation and expectations in fed policy 90s vs 70s.
44. jeffolie says:
In the last 6 years the market in MBSs, CDOs and derivatives have exploded. The systematic risk is immense. Address this in your class. For example:
Housing bubble
credit derivative
Mortgage lending
45. im1dc says:
I’m not an economist or academically tainted by it.
That gives me a special but easy to ignore insight to share here:
There are real everyday economics going on everywhere all over the globe and then there is the study of Economics by ‘Economists’ who purport to explain by detailed study and analysis what is going on in all that everyday real economics.
The academics first theory is Macro versus Micro Economics. HUH?
Let’s get real, this distinction is really just to make work in university Economic Depts. for all the Ph.D’s they graduated that could not find a job after graduation.
The Micro, Macro–and every other flavor of Economist–attempts to explain what they do by developing ‘Economic theories’ for us to use to understand “economics”.
Their many ‘Economic Theories’ come with a even greater multitude of exceptions, explanations and provisios. (That’s because the theories don’t work very well, if at all)
The reason is that ‘Academic Economics’ and ‘economics’ are not the same things.
Therefore, I recommend that you teach that, i.e., Economic Theories fall short of the critical Validity and Reliability Tests of Science for Predictability.
To be kind you can say Academic Economics is in its infancy.
Though with ‘Freakonomics’ irrevelant take on economic activity and Economics there is hope for this professionial pursuit yet.
Here’s my proof of all the above: Cover the history of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Link: http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/
The ideas for which Nobels have been handed out in the field of Economics can best be described, imo, as embarassing but realistically described as variously contradictory, ineffective and gobbledygook.
If they only worked!
Oh, wait if you do mention and review the history of the Nobel Economic’s prize then you’d have to explain how Samuelson, Friedman, Merton, Scholes, Kydland, Prescott and Hayek each got a Nobel.
Better skip the Nobels, you don’t want eager students to note the absolute contradictions in Economics too soon.
Or, do you?
As ‘jab’ posted early on, ‘Keep it Simple but thorough’.
Yea, stick to ‘Supply and Demand’, toss in Lord Keynes, Comparative versus Competitive Advantage, tell the students that it was Academic Nobelist Economists who created and then bankrupted the Hedge firm LTCM (and almost the global banking system) and these men are still ‘out there’ in different firms or universities peddling their ‘theories’ and looking for “investors” in their ‘new theories’, then mention that there are far more LTCM-type global financial Hedge Funds now than then (and far greater risk now to the world’s global financial system), and for the ‘Final Test’ I suggest you teach and ask only the meaning and application of “caveat emptor” with its proper application to your recommendations for making money today.
You should include Jim Cramer’s classic disclaimer: “DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK”.
You may have guessed I am not overawed or even awed by Economists, Economics, Academic or Applied. All true.
I do enjoy reading their fictions however.
46. donna says:
When I took my college econ course, I asked if we were going to talk about Austrian economics and when the prof said no, I just turned off my brain for the rest of the year.
But that’s just me.
47. rick says:
A small model of the US economy would demonstrate the interrelationship of the parts; durables, interest rates, inventories, X-M, gov’t spending etc. You could show your students how that old equation from high school y=mx + b can actually be of use in describing an economic entity all in probably half a lesson.
Great Blog by the way!
48. Matt says:
Don’t spend much time drawing lines and graphs!
For my bachelors in Economics, I learned all about graphs and diagrams and got really good at memorizing formulas, but I didn’t learn a thing about how to apply the concepts to current events or even how to speak intelligently about the subject.
In fact, in hindsight, I’m pretty angry with my university for focusing so much on memorize-and-forget formulas and so little on how to actually *understand* the field. I guess that’s why we have blogs.
49. Bam says:
Have you seen PBS’ Commanding Heights? Maybe you can pick chunks of some of the episodes so make the class more interesting and give yourself breaks between lectures…
50. Big D says:
What are the dates, and where do we sign up?
51. miami says:
You didn’t say anything about bonds or the overwhelming importance, globally, of bond markets in your list [I think.] I would definitely spend some time on that, how they tie into FX markets and gov’t policy, how you can fix IR or FX but not both unless you completely restrict currency flows, etc.
52. D. says:
Each economic theory is a product of its time but when I took economics not one single teacher showed us how the economic backdrop influenced the evolution of economics theory.
I suggest incorporating a little history when explaining different theories.
53. psh says:
The math of compounding: Ke**rt and discounting, including perpetuities. A clear sense of those relationships can protect you from corporate predation and marketing manipulation and do more for your quality of life than anything else in the discipline.
54. heatherette says:
Podcast it please or publish the syllabus. I read alot of current books (right now Joseph Ellis) and understand the modern market but never took an econ course. I would want to understand all the basic terminology, but I wouldn’t want to bother with any theories that don’t really apply practically to my real life outings with money. Nothing too existential just the facts sir and to see how they apply in real life settings.
55. trader75 says:
Teaching an Economics Class! Do you ever sleep? Oh well, not like you have much else going on (hedge fund, blog, paid research service, TV gigs, Real Money, music scene)… ;p
Seriously though: Charles Whelan’s “Naked Economics” could be a great textbook… Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics,” could provide balance for those who consider Whelan a tad left wing… and how about a look at Austrian economics. Smackdown, Hayek vs Keynes.
56. Larry Nusbaum, Scottsdale says:
Post the MLB standings every day, along with team payrolls and player salaries.
Hope this helps……..
57. Daniel Secrest says:
A book that you have mentioned here, “Ahead of the Curve” by Joseph Ellis, provides an excellent introduction to how the economy works, and how to interpret the mass of data that comes out on a daily basis. I highly recommend using this book.
There is even a website that accompanies the book — http://www.aheadofthecurve-thebook.com/ — which provides updated charts tracking economic data and relationships described in the book.
It’s a common sense approach to understanding our economy that your students will find useful right out of the box…
58. fiat lux says:
Initial impression: You can’t fit all that into 6 weeks. Narrow your list down to between 4 and 6 key concepts and focus on getting those across.
59. Actually, the two books I was thinking of were New Ideas from Dead Economists, and Naked Economics!
They are both readable and cover most of the basics.
60. Ironman says:
“They is readable and cover most of the basics.”
Don’t let the NYU English department hear you talk like that!
But seriously, the texts you’re considering will work as pretty good primers. I would add one more: Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, since it really drives home some of the key insights of economic thinking, even though its examples are somewhat dated.
If you hadn’t already narrowed down your reading selections, I would second the Unknown Professor’s recommendation of Sowell’s Basic Economics.
61. Economan says:
I think you should definitely cover supply side economics. This is underappreciated and certainly undertaught.
62. Jim says:
Game theory! If I had known that something that interesting was a part of economics I never would’ve gotten stuck with this lousy Linguistics degree.
63. Larry Nusbaum, Scottsdale says:
“Wow — huge inflow of suggestions — Many thanks.”
63 out of 64 ain’t half bad…….
64. Robert Cote says:
And don’t forget economist jokes…
The three handed economist.
The $20 bill on the sidewalk.
65. todd says:
Just never say the word “widgets.”
that world provokes a reaction out of me not unlike a loud noise does to a Fainting Goat:
66. monica gagnier says:
How about “Freakonomics” and John Kenneth Galbraith’s “The Great Crash 1929″? I suggest the first because it demonstrates to the layman who economics is at work all around us, and the second, because many people don’t understand that there was a time when faith in capitalism was completely shaken.
67. monica gagnier says:
68. Marty says:
I would think Menger’s Principles Of Economics would be a good text.
69. Mark says:
Here’s THE KEY to a good economics class.
Have each of your students bring in at least two articles each time a relevent economic figure is announced (Takes 5 minutes to search and print these out).
Use the stories to teach relevent topics. This will immediatly apply lessons to what’s happening in the world, instaed of just the academics.
I had a professor who did this, and it started a life long habit of following economics. It also usually leads to some anecdotal discussion on what’s going on in the world, which ties economics to world events… that’s a good connection to make for students, and will deliver true value for those included to recieve it.
Love The Big Picture. Read it every business day. Thanks!
70. javasoy says:
sounds very boring, unfortunately.
I think I remember learning all the things you mentioned from High School Economics class. And I went to Canarsie High in Brooklyn, not exactly the best in the city. If I learned that in school, I am sure millions other have already gone through it at least once. If they haven’t learned back then, what makes you think they will learn now? I think the only difference now is that they are at least self-motivated.
71. mz says:
It seems like you’ll be trying to cram a lot of material into a month and a half. All of the material will keep the class fresh and exciting. At the same time, this might be a lot to throw at students in an introductory class and it’s really a lot of stuff to cover in 6 weeks. No free lunch, opportunity cost and comparative advantage are topics that should be brought up whenever possible- since they provide the framework for analysis and decision making in all facets of life.
I think you should also cover speculative bubbles especially since they pop up every once in awhile in every possible place. The first time I heard about the idea of a bubble was during a lecture on exchange rates and currency speculation. This brings me to a broader topic that I would want to learn about: Foreign exchange. The different types of exchange rate regimes- what’s all the hubbub about China’s exchange rate?
Use the least amount of math possible- in an intro class you will lose 98% of your students. Try to get people to think intuitively about topics.
Try to incorporate as much applied material as possible- it will improve the learning process more than anything else. It should be easy to incorporate stuff from your site.
72. Fewlesh says:
I’m a engineer by trade, CS major by schooling, and armchair economist by fun, and I have TA’d lots of classes.
The most I ever learened is when I had to make something and compete versus my fellow peers.
My ideal Econ class would not have me read any books, jawbone about Nobel this and Nobel that, do homeworks with tiny problems, make pretty excel graphs on company X, etc. My Ideal Econ class would be:
Using software create virtual economic environments that mimic historical lessons. The professor would provide resources to read/learn, but not much.
Students form groups and compete to make the most money by writing algorithms and having them compete in these problem sets. Assign winners, and discuss results. Every 2 weeks, a new game.
The desire to win will push these students to expand and learn like never before, and give them concrete skills they can use in the finance world.
For example, lots of massively multiplayer worlds have advanced economies that sprang into being from nowhere. Why not create your own economic worlds and test theories, etc.
73. PC says:
How about a subject about whether it’s possible to make money in markets with economics/economic models? Whether economics can really be applied to markets in “practice”. Use standard economic models to try to predict interest rates or currencies and see if you can profit from them. Now that would be interesting.
74. todd says:
I don’t understand all this talk about which text to use… When teaching ANY kind of college course you’re suppose to write your own book and make your students buy it!
75. jm says:
It seems to me that the most important aspect of economics is an understanding of markets, and since markets are fundamentally feedback-regulated systems, it’s vital to understand the strengths and limitations of feedback control. But some years ago, wondering whether I was mistaken in being unable to remember having seen even a word about it in the texts I’d read, I went to a used bookstore and bought about five textbooks to see whether I was right about that, and found that I was.
Moreover, I found that one made a flat statement that market price _is_ the price at which the supply and demand curves cross. Now, in certain respects that can be considered a truism, in that one could claim that the instantaneous local supply and demand correspond to that price, but the concepts of supply and demand then become nearly meaningless. If one thinks in terms of the demand curve representing real demand for the good or service in question at particular prices in the absence of boom-market speculative belief that it can be bought for more and sold to greater fools at a profit (or bust-market unwillingness to buy at attractive prices out of fear they will sink even lower), then this isn’t so.
Feedback control theory makes it clear why markets with the long loop deadtimes of housing go through boom-bust cycles. You’ll see exactly the same kind of violent limit-cycling oscillation in a long-dead-time industrial plant control loop if you mistune it, and we know why. We also know what has to be done to make such loops work better; the same general concepts work in markets, too, and if more people came out of economics course with some understanding of these things the world would work better.
76. PrestoPundit says:
Three thoughts.
1. Make sure you’ve identified the problem of economic order correctly for your students. Most economists have little idea how to identify the central problem of economics. Reading a bit of Hayek helps a great deal here. Hint — the division of knowledge is central.
2. Don’t leave out the central causal element in the explanation for economic order — dynamic learning by entrepreneurs and consumers in the context of changing relative prices.
3. Don’t fail to explain that a mathematical construction is just that. It’s just a mathematical construciton — it ain’t nothing real. A mathematical construction is _not_ “an economy”. Key thing to emphasize here — the central causal element in the explanation of economic order — dynamic learning by entrepreneurs under conditions of real uncertainty within subjective contexts — cannot be captured by a mathematical construction.
77. Jason C says:
What core textbook are you planning on using? I would highly recommend G. Mankiw. During my undergrad studies I sadly missed out on him.
78. __earth says:
You definitely need to throw in some case study and touch a bit econ-related current affair (like negative externality). Those politically-minded ppl would probably wake up to take.
79. pseudolus says:
Might I suggest _Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds_ as a book of some worth to explore?
80. paperlion says:
Ever see GOD WANTS YOU TO BE RICH by Paul Pilzer? Theology meets economics. Check it out.
81. SoftwareNerd says:
Teach them to look beyond the immediate economic consequences; teach them to anticipate the less visible consequences, as in Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson”.
82. kharris says:
The nition offered early in the list that there is too much too teach if probably correct, so I won’t add to the list. However, I do have a suggestion for use with each topic you teach. Offer one result that is not obvious, and then debunk one common assumption or press story, based on the lesson of the day. In some cases, that may not be possible, or lead to something so obscure that it isn’t really interesting. In such cases, there will still be intellectual conflicts that can be highlighted. The point is to show that the lesson being taught is more than just dry theory, but actually is a valuable analytic tool for figuring out real-life stuff.
Leisure is a “good” while labor is not, but politicians put an enormous amount of effort into talking about jobs as if they are goods. Why is that? Do politicians have it wrong, or are economists benighted about labor and “goods”? Backwards bending labor supply curve – or not – means what in this context?
Firms maximize profits? GM has no profits. Google, for a very long time, had no profits. Dog versus diety. How come?
In paring down topics, if that is what you choose to do, I recommend soul searching. Which topics are included because your beliefs do not fit the common Econo 101 cirriculum? Would your students be better off getting a firm grasp of the standard stuff, and doing without your favorite topics? Gold/commodities/real estate, for instance, may be more appropriate to a personal finance course than an intro course in economics. “Creative destruction” is one guy’s expression, but has taken on a cliche life of its own. Does it really need to be a free-standing topic, when comparative advantage is not? The mechanics of comparative advantage have been used to explain lots of the things that go on around us. I have never seen “creative destruction” applied as anything but a label, similar to “globalization” or “fair trade” or “pornography.” Know it when I see it, but can’t use it as an analytic tool.
83. Brock says:
Real world examples, especially spectacular successes and failures to drive the point home
84. cactus says:
I adjunct an econ class, and I get a lot of response when I use data to discuss things where the real world just doesn’t behave the way everyone believes it does.
As an example, I use OECD data on healthcare outcomes (http://ocde.p4.siteinternet.com/publications/doifiles/012005061T003.xls) and and healthcare expenditures (http://ocde.p4.siteinternet.com/publications/doifiles/012005061T002.xls) to show that we get very poor bang for the buck in the US compared to countries with “socialized medicine” despite the fact that everyone knows we have the best system in the world.
Or, go to the OMB page when discussing taxes and surpluses… students are amazed when they find out the data is actually there. You get a lively discussion going about whether tax cuts or spending increases were the main cause of the deficit, and then you spring this on ‘em: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/sheets/hist01z2.xls
The class goes nuts. ’cause all of a sudden they’re no longer repeating what their favorite left or rightwing asshole commentator spews out on the radio, but looking at the data, which tells its own story.
Goodl luck.
85. wilburpup says:
One of the main things most people don’t understand about economics is that it is not (usually) a zero-sum game. Would be a good idea to provide examples from everyday life and the stock market of why this is not so.
86. Molly says:
I know that I’m always interested in the “it” companies and how they’re doing: Wal*Mart, McDonalds, Google. Maybe the networks.
87. Ken says:
Just took Prof. McKenzie’s Microecon for Managers class as part of my EMBA program. Thought it was very well done. Great class. He also wrote the book.
88. Nathan says:
May I also suggest “The Armchair Economist” by Stephen Landsburg. In my opinion its a little better at explaining economic principles through unconventional examples. Better on principle than Freakanomics (which is interesting, but in a different way, because its more statistical). | <urn:uuid:8171fe82-eb07-4680-919f-c091381ed2c6> | http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2006/03/econ-101-class/ | en | 0.946957 | 0.022167 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Port Huron Statement Turns 50
As we wait for the definitive manifesto of Occupy Movement to be written—if that is possible given the diverse range of opinions and voices that are associated with it—this is arguably an opportune moment to look back 50 years at another radical grouping, which did succeed in putting together and consolidating its ideas in published form.
June 11, 1962 may not be recorded in many history books or memories as a particularly important date. Yet, the 60 or so people who gathered in a nondescript union training center in the rural outskirts of a small lakeside Michigan town were about to make a major impact on the U.S. political landscape.
Five days later, the meeting had ended and the Port Huron Statement (named after the town) had been written. The 24,000-word document did not have a huge circulation but it did express a set of influential ideas for a whole range of 1960’s groups struggling for change. Anti-Vietnam war protestors, Civil Rights activists and students dissatisfied with the materialist and conformist values of their institutions, all looked to Port Huron for a set of ideas and a language with which to express their hostility to the society that surrounded them and for a program with which to create a better one.
Even at the time, the Port Huron participants—members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and other progressive organizations, plus a small number of older leftists—sensed the significance of what they were doing. Starting with a first draft written by Tom Hayden—imprisoned Freedom Rider, SDS leader and editor of the University of Michigan campus newspaper—the assembled activists put their democratic beliefs into action. Spread around the United Auto Workers central hall and cluster of cabins, small groups worked tirelessly on developing the arguments of what would become the final version of the Statement. As views were exchanged over coffee and meals, in a process that sometimes led to fierce debate and disagreement, the 60 activists began to put together a progressive agenda that would shape the new left politics of the coming decade. “We all thought we were making history,” says Paul Booth, one of the participants.
The Port Huron Conference participants were not influenced by any one single person or text. True, Tom Hayden was an enthusiastic disciple of the radical sociologist C. Wright Mills, the news of whose early death on the very day on which he completed the first draft of the statement, was devastating. Mills had recognized that a new mass society meant that traditional class-based loyalties and forms of action were increasingly outmoded and that new types of protest—including those of American students—were increasingly relevant. However, other contributions are also important, including such figures as academic Arnold Kaufman, who had first stated the idea of participatory democracy; French writer Albert Camus, whose La Peste focused on the necessity to resist evil; and 1950s intellectual Paul Goodman, who judged American institutions as incapable of providing meaning for ordinary citizens. The influence of the Beats and early Dylan suggest interesting links between an embryonic counter-culture and the more politicized student movement.
A number of strands then—some academic, some more broadly cultural and artistic—are woven into the final statement. As such, it might be better to read it less as a straightforward political manifesto and more as a creative attempt to make sense of the state of the nation at a particular historical moment while identifying its deep divisions and failings and finding ways forward that would improve the lives of the majority. Not only does the document address basic issues of poverty and national security, but also more intangible matters related to what it means to live a fulfilled life in a rapidly changing world.
The document’s description of what is wrong with America is certainly inclusive. Big inequalities between rich and poor, serious problems with party political arrangements, and a misguided approach to foreign relations are all key strands of the diagnosis, which has, at its heart, the recognition that living a meaningful life in an advanced country is out of reach for most Americans because of the de-personalization and commodification to which they are subject. With unfulfilling jobs and bombarded by “hard-sell, soft-sell” lies from a manipulative advertising industry, individuals, it is argued, are treated more as economic units, rather than as human beings possessing “unrealized potential for self-cultivation, self-direction, self-understanding, and creativity.”
This is less the language of political scientists and conventional economists and more the language of political philosophers influenced by Freud and early Marx and the soon-to-be-published One Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse.
The impoverishment to be found in mainstream American life is reflected within the university campus. Made passive by “inner emigration,” students concentrate on “playing it cool,” abiding by the rules and obtaining the conventional markers of academic and social status. In words that echo those of David Riesman’s influential, The Lonely Crowd (1950)—there is “no real conception of personal identity except one manufactured in the image of others.”
Yet, the Port Huron activists were concerned with more than matters of philosophy and social psychology. Connected to them and connected to each other, were the topical political issues of the day—racial discrimination, the Cold War, Vietnam, poverty. Living in an economy dominated by the “military-industrial complex”—a phrase borrowed from Eisenhower— one of their major themes is the psychological impact of the nuclear bomb on American life. Instead of an open society, citizens hide behind a “shell of moral callous,” confusing dissent with disloyalty. The arguments of the supporters of deterrence—arguments still heard today—are acknowledged in the statement, but are also exposed as inadequate. The key point is powerfully made: “The symmetry of threat and counter threat leads not to stability, but to the edge of hell.”
If nuclear conflict is one shaping force within American culture, race is certainly another. Refusing the easy liberal approach that things are improving, albeit slowly, the Port Huron participants recognized the role of the wider colonial struggle in stirring the anger and aspirations of Southern blacks against oppression—an oppression that also meant that the white man and woman, fearful of moving outside their “immediate close-up world…loses his [sic] personal subjective freedom.” The latter insight reveals how novelists like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison repeatedly make telling links between the political and the psychological.
Toward the end of the statement, the question of whether it is possible to change things for the better is raised. The broken political system—with its internal party splits, its localized organization, its disenfranchised groups and unrepresentative lobby interests— seems to pose too much of an obstacle to progress. What increasingly counts is the “politics of personality and image” rather than the politics of practical policy-driven reform. Yet, while acknowledging the difficulties, the Port Huron activists also offer hope, setting out what the “major goals of a domestic effort would be” and “an alternative to helplessness.”
In proposals that resonate today, the authors argue for:
• creation of democratic institutions to campaign on key issues
and the elimination of those that promote “fear and apathy”
• limitations on the irresponsible power of corporations
• regulations on the market to meet people’s needs
• an educational system that faces outwards to the world
Admitting that the goals are longterm, the Port Huron activists saw new directions for the radical groups in society seeking change. The recent switch of the Southern civil rights movement to voter registration and legal remedies, it was argued, were two potentially effective responses to the evil of institutionalized racial discrimination. Similarly, they call for the peace movement to take on a more mainstream role in American life and become “an opposition viewpoint within the centers of serious decision-making,” forging relationships with local communities.
Furthermore, a revitalized labor movement was to “constitute itself as a mass political force” by speaking to the nation as a whole rather than to narrow interest groups. Lastly, the Democratic Party, compromised by its “tolerance of the perverse unity of northern liberalism and southern racism,” requires a “new spirit.”
One final and most important source and resource for reform was to be the university—an institution that can serve as a “potential base and agency” for social change. Cooperating with other liberal forces in society, a “new left” of students and faculty must “wrest control of the educational process” and help people “see the political, social, and economic sources of their private troubles and organize to change society.”
What is striking 50 years later is that, despite occasional lapses into the trite and the mystical and despite an almost total blindness to the situation of women, the Port Huron analysis of American society, together with its program for action, still has relevance.
Writing in 2002, Tom Hayden and Dick Flacks are right to remind us that the 1962 document was regarded at its conception as “living…open to change with our times and experiences” and to claim that it still spoke “to all those trying to create a world where each person has a voice in the decisions affecting his or her life.” Times have certainly changed, but radical groups working outside the political system, such as the Occupy movement, can continue to look to the statement for ideas and inspiration.
Mike Peters teaches literature and other subjects in the adult education sector. He lives in the UK, on the outskirts of London. | <urn:uuid:9b8da015-8818-4643-82a4-eae415d79daf> | http://zcomm.org/zmagazine/the-port-huron-statement-turns-50-by-mike-peters/ | en | 0.961312 | 0.031576 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hardening-off seedlings
So, you planted your seedlings, then up-potted them already, right? Now it's time to harden them off and get them ready for planting!
I already put the lettuce seedlings (the ones I up-potted in the last post) in the ground last week and they're doing pretty good! The tomato seedlings however were limping along (they're the things that look like sticks in the back of this picture):
I added a heat mat to the mix, and then boom, those suckers took off! I up-potted them recently and they were doing well. One of the huge perks of our rental house is that there is a sun porch on the northeast side of the house. It doesn't get sun all day, but it warms up and acts like a hot house. Troy installed some ropes in there so that I use it to line dry our laundry during the warmer months.
So thankful to finally have space to line dry sheets!
But it's also been a great way to get the seedlings out of my dining room, and in to a place where they stay toasty and have room to grow.
Sunday was a very nice day in our neck of the woods, and I put the seedlings outside to get some fresh air and to catch some natural breezes. I've had a fan blowing on the seedlings for the last month or so, but getting them outside in to the elements ensures that they don't become little bitches once you plant them in the ground. I also use a very diluted fertilizer every 2-3 weeks, and fertilize using the water reservoir (watering from the bottom).
Sack up guys. The real world doesn't have heat mats or grow lights.
Once they put on some more "girth", I'll likely up-pot these suckers one more time and keep transferring them back and forth from the sun porch to the outside until some time in June when conditions are better in our zone for sun slut plants like tomatoes to be outside and in the ground.
And next year I'm totally planting my tomato seedlings about a month earlier. I feel like I'm kind of behind! | <urn:uuid:c765d9d9-2900-459f-8701-84385a246ad7> | http://beingfrugalbychoice.blogspot.com/2012/04/hardening-off-seedlings.html | en | 0.971203 | 0.101964 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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This Instrumental Teacher Needs Help With Sight Singing Materials
In order to help their sightreading and music theory skills, and support general musicianship, I would like to start teaching my private cello and chamber music students to sight sing, and I'm looking for suggestions on what would be an excellent, graded sight singing method for students who are already fluent at reading notes. My youngest cello kids read only bass clef, but some read treble, also, and some read tenor (so all three clefs). My chamber music students read different clefs, too, of course. I don't know how much of a problem that is in terms of finding a method. I'd like to have a method which works in treble and bass, at least. I'd love a method which eventually utilizes all key signatures, and lots of time signatures and intricate rhythms. The girl who originally inspired my request here is also a jazz sax player, and has just started to scat, so if there's a slightly jazzy sight singing method, all the better. I will appreciate your replies very much. The only material I can remember was our four-part sight singing book at conservatory, and I need something which starts at the very beginning (except that we do already read music).
Replies (4): Threaded | Chronological | <urn:uuid:84457f4f-7e60-4ac6-88fc-e78103f405c8> | http://www.choralnet.org/view/434686 | en | 0.94607 | 0.024282 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
JPA : Entity Manager
As you read in the guide for EntityManagerFactory, to control the persistence of your objects you will require at least one EntityManagerFactory. Once you have obtained this object you then use this to obtain an EntityManager. An EntityManager provides access to the operations for persistence of your objects. This short guide will demonstrate some of the more common operations.
Important : An EntityManagerFactory is designed to be thread-safe. An EntityManager is not
You obtain an EntityManager from an EntityManagerFactory as follows
EntityManager em = emf.createEntityManager();
In the case of using container-managed JavaEE, you would instead obtain the EntityManager by injection
EntityManager em;
In general you will be performing all operations on a EntityManager within a transaction, whether your transactions are controlled by your JavaEE container, by a framework such as Spring, or by locally defined transactions. In the examples below we will omit the transaction demarcation for clarity.
Persisting an Object
The main thing that you will want to do with the data layer of a JPA-enabled application is persist your objects into the datastore. As we mentioned earlier, a EntityManagerFactory represents the datastore where the objects will be persisted. So you create a normal Java object in your application, and you then persist this as follows
This will result in the object being persisted into the datastore, though clearly it will not be persistent until you commit the transaction. The LifecycleState of the object changes from Transient to PersistentClean (after persist()), to Hollow (at commit).
Persisting multiple Objects in one call
When you want to persist multiple objects with standard JPA you have to call persist multiple times. Fortunately DataNucleus extends this to take in a Collection or an array of entities, so you can do
As above, the objects are persisted to the datastore. The LifecycleState of the objects change from Transient to PersistentClean (after persist()), to Hollow (at commit).
Finding an object by its identity
Once you have persisted an object, it has an "identity". This is a unique way of identifying it. When you specify the persistence for the class you specified an id class so you can create the identity from that. So what ? Well the identity can be used to retrieve the object again at some other part in your application. So you pass the identity into your application, and the user clicks on some button on a web page and that button corresponds to a particular object identity. You can then go back to your data layer and retrieve the object as follows
Object obj = em.find(cls, id);
where cls is the class of the object you want to find, and id is the identity. Note that the first argument could be a base class and the real object could be an instance of a subclass of that. Note that the second argument is either the value of the single primary-key field (when it has only one primary key field), or is the value of the object-id-class (when it has multiple primary key fields).
Deleting an Object
When you need to delete an object that you had previous persisted, deleting it is simple. Firstly you need to get the object itself, and then delete it as follows
Object obj = em.find(cls, id); // Retrieves the object to delete
Deleting multiple Objects
When you want to delete multiple objects with standard JPA you have to call remove multiple times. Fortunately DataNucleus extends this to take in a Collection or an array of entities, so you can do
Collection objsToRemove = new HashSet();
Modifying a persisted Object
To modify a previously persisted object you take the object and update it in your code. When you are ready to persist the changes you do the following
Object updatedObj = em.merge(obj)
Modifying multiple persisted Objects
When you want to attach multiple modified objects with standard JPA you have to call merge multiple times. Fortunately DataNucleus extends this to take in a Collection or an array of entities, so you can do
Object updatedObj = em.merge(coll)
Refreshing a persisted Object
When you think that the datastore has more up-to-date values than the current values in a retrieved persisted object you can refresh the values in the object by doing the following
This will do the following
• Refresh all fields that are to be eagerly fetched from the datastore
• Unload all loaded fields that are to be lazily fetched.
If the object had any changes they will be thrown away by this step, and replaced by the latest datastore values.
Getting EntityManager for an object
JPA doesn't provide a method for getting the EntityManager of an object as such. Fortunately DataNucleus provides the following
EntityManager em = NucleusJPAHelper.getEntityManager(obj);
Level 1 Cache
Each EntityManager maintains a cache of the objects that it has encountered (or have been "enlisted") during its lifetime. This is termed the Level 1 Cache. It is enabled by default and you should only ever disable it if you really know what you are doing. There are inbuilt types for the Level 1 (L1) Cache available for selection. DataNucleus supports the following types of L1 Cache :-
• weak - uses a weak reference backing map. If JVM garbage collection clears the reference, then the object is removed from the cache.
• soft - uses a soft reference backing map. If the map entry value object is not being actively used, then garbage collection may garbage collect the reference, in which case the object is removed from the cache.
• strong - uses a normal HashMap backing. With this option all references are strong meaning that objects stay in the cache until they are explicitly removed by calling remove() on the cache.
You can specify the type of L1 Cache by providing the persistence property datanucleus.cache.level1.type. You set this to the value of the type required. If you want to remove all objects from the L1 cache programmatically you should use em.clear() but bear in mind the other things that this will impact on.
Objects are placed in the L1 Cache (and updated there) during the course of the transaction. This provides rapid access to the objects in use in the users application and is used to guarantee that there is only one object with a particular identity at any one time for that EntityManager. When the EM is closed the cache is cleared.
The L1 cache is a DataNucleus plugin point allowing you to provide your own cache where you require it. | <urn:uuid:fafc7ccd-6aff-48e0-8958-d09bcb8277c4> | http://www.datanucleus.org/products/datanucleus/jpa/em.html | en | 0.87118 | 0.498723 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
LOCAL >Taksim Gezi Park reopened at midnight after police crackdown
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Istanbul's Gezi Park was reopened for the second time yesterday night following a harsh police crackdown to empty the park and to disperse people gathering in Taksim after a decision to close the park on the same day.
The park was opened to public use again at around 11:45 p.m. Around 500 people entered the park following the second opening and shouted slogans to protest the government.
Harsh police crackdown empties Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Taksim Square
Riot police used tear gas, water cannon, and plastic bullets to disperse people who had arrived at Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square yesterday night, despite the park earlier being officially opened to public.
A 17-year-old boy was severely injured in the head by a gas canister yesterday on İstiklal Avenue, daily Hürriyet reported. A quarrel had occurred between the protesters and business owners when the police intervened with tear gas.
During the police crackdown, around six gas canisters were fired into the garden of the British Consulate off a sidestreet near İstiklal Avenue. British Consul-General Leigh Turner tweeted a picture showing a gas canister within the grounds of the consulate.
Many people, including members of NGOs such as the Taksim Solidarity Platform and the Turkish Doctors Association, were taken into custody in the crackdown.
Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu told television reporters that 37 people were detained, including seven Taksim Solidarity Platform members, after the police began dispersing people from Gezi Park and Taksim Square.
Witnesses suggested dozens of people had been detained, including Mücella Yapıcı,a spokesperson for the Taksim Solidarity Platform and a representative of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB), and Ali Çerkezoğlu, general secretary of the Istanbul Medical Chamber, according to daily Radikal.
A man who was caught on camera firing his gun into open at July 8 Gezi Park protests is currently detained, according to Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu.
Three hours after the reopening ceremony, police closed entrances not only to the park, but also the roads leading to the city center, including Harbiye, Gümüşsuyu and İstiklal Avenue, the most populated point of the city.
The park had been emptied and closed off in a brutal police crackdown on June 15.
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India Vs South Africa
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As it happened, India A vs South Africa A 2nd unofficial Test, Day 4
Hendricks got eleven wickets in the match, while Harmer got seven as India A lost to South Africa A by 121 runs in Pretoria.
Catch the Live Updates from day four of the second unofficial Test between India A and South Africa A in Pretoria.
India A second innings:
It's all over. After losing their first five wickets for just 18 runs, India A lost the remaining five for just seven, losing the contest by 121 runs. Last man to depart was Siddarth Kaul, who became the third victim of offspinner Simon Harmer.
End of over 65: Three more India A wickets fell in quick succession as they stared at defeat. Stuart Binny (4) failed yet again, going down to offspinner Harmer, while Parvez Rasool (1) was trapped leg before by Hendricks, who got his sixth wicket of the second innings. Harmer struck again, cleaning up Ishwar Pandey (0). India A 185 for 9
End of over 62: Beuran Hendricks was brought back into the attack and he got an immediate reward, getting his fifth wicket of the second innings, bowling Ajinkya Rahane for 86. Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha (76*) shared 160 runs for the sixth wicket and helped India recover from a precarious 18 for 5. India A 183 for 6
End of over 56: Rahane drove offspinner Simon Harmer through long-off for four while Saha fine swept the same bowler for a boundary as the two batsmen continued the good work. Saha fine swept again, this time to medium-pacer Andrew Birch, as India moved closer to the 200 mark. India 173 for 5
End of over 47: After Rahane, Saha too got to his fifty. Considering the situation that India A had been at one stage - 18 for 5 - this could be one of the best first-class innings that the two Indian batsmen would have played so far. India A were still far off from the winning total of 307, but the stand between Saha and Rahane had given the tourists at least some hope of saving the match. India A 146 for 5
End of over 38: Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha both scored a boundary each after lunch as India A continued their recovery after being five down for 18. Both smashed pacer Kyle Abbott to the long on fence. India A 115 for 5.
End of over 31: Ajinkya Rahane scored a half-century, while Wriddhiman Saha approached his fifty as India A reached 97 for 5 at lunch. Both the batsmen played with lot of grit, especially as they lost five wickets for just 18 on the board. India A 97 for 5
End of over 22: Ajinkya Rahane stroked the ball well as he moved to 32 off 51 balls, including five boundaries. He had been accompanied by Wriddhiman Saha, who is batting on 7 off 43. India 51 for 5
End of over 10: What's happening to the India A batting here? They are falling like a pack of cards. After Pujara's departure in the very first over, nightwatchman Shahbaz Nadeem (5) and Dinesh Karthik (0) were dismissed in the same over of Beuran Hendricks, who followed it up with another wicket of Ambati Rayudu (1) in his next over. Exemplary bowling by Hendricks who has now got four wickets in the second innings to go with five in the first. India A 20 for 5
End of over 5: India got off to the a bad start, losing captain Cheteshwar Pujara, who was run out for 2. The visitors had lost Murali Vijay for a duck on Monday. India A 4 for 2
Cheteshwar Pujara (2*) and nightwatchman Shahbaz Nadeem (0*) set to resume India's chase on day four.
Day 3 Roundup:
India A were on Monday set a stiff target of scoring 307 runs to win the second and final unofficial Test after South Africa A declared their second innings at 166 for 5 on the third and penultimate day.
At stumps on day three, India A were 3 for 1 from the four overs they faced in their second innings, needing 304 more runs to win the Test with nine wickets in hand. India A need to at least draw the game to win the two-match series as they had won the first Test. | <urn:uuid:6593bf4c-24a2-4834-81a1-147ccccd2b69> | http://www.ibnlive.com/cricketnext/news/india-a-vs-south-africa-a-live-score-2nd-unofficial-test-day-4-417573-78.html | en | 0.97195 | 0.028286 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
A gay hairdresser has been jailed for two and a half years after he stabbed a man with a pair of scissors due to a homophobic remark.
Lee Howett, 26, from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, lashed out at the man because he was subjected to anti-gay abuse at Basildon rail station in Essex.
The incident took place at around 11.15pm on Sunday 24 June.
Howett had been drinking heavily and was sitting on a bench waiting for a train to arrive at the station when a group of three men carrying pints of beer joined the platform.
The Mail reports Howett, who was already in an emotional state after confronting an ex-partner, became annoyed with their rowdy behaviour and shouted at them to shut up.
A scuffle then broke out, during which a homophobic comment was made by the victim, who also sustained a bite mark from Howett.
The Essex hairdresser then went back to the bench and took a pair of hairdressing scissors out of his bag and subsequently attacked the victim with the instruments.
It was heard in court that Howlett had been subjected to homophobic abuse since his school days and had recently left a “volatile relationship” with his ex-partner.
He pleaded guilty to one count of wounding with intent.
Judge David Owen Jones sentenced Howett to two and half years in prison.
Addressing the defendant, he said: “It may be and I accept it probably was the case that one of the young men made a homophobic comment towards you.
| <urn:uuid:e9f68f3d-bd14-4f11-9429-db7d9cfa5b1c> | http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/06/essex-gay-hairdresser-who-launched-scissor-attack-after-receiving-homophobic-abuse-is-jailed/ | en | 0.990175 | 0.039845 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
[Nameplate] Fair ~ 63°F
High: 82°F ~ Low: 59°F
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015
Speakout 4/16
Friday, April 16, 2004
A while back, there was an item in SpeakOut about a group of people who build ramps and things for low income people. It was called "Habitat" for something. If you have the phone number, please let me know or put it in SpeakOut again.
Sikeston needs bicycle racks in every park, at every public building. It would encourage people to use an alternate means of transportation. It would also possibly expand our community life somewhat.
Does anyone know how to clean a white collar that is attached to a dress of a very bright color? I need to get it white again because it's kind of yellowed and I need to know how to do it safely without damaging the dress.
The best way to tell that this Iraqi thing is going bad is to listen to what Bush and Cheney are saying. First we heard, "mission accomplished." Then Bush tells the Iraqis to "bring it on." Now after the hanging of four Americans from a bridge, Bush is silent. Where was Bush while this catastrophe unfolds and Americans are dying? He's down at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, filming a fishing show with Roland Martin and having a barbecue with Ducks Unlimited and the NRA. Americans die and Bush is in way over his head. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a clue on how to fix this quagmire.
How in the world can anyone vote again for George W. Bush when he has literally destroyed our country in three years? One more year would about do it in. Please, please get him out of office. He has done nothing but cause trouble.
When are these Republicans going to quit blaming Bill Clinton for the mess this country is in? We didn't have all this stuff until George W. Bush came into office. Please get him out. He is nothing but a troublemaker.
This is response to the April 11 SpeakOut where a caller spoke about the city enforcing the no tolerance law. It's time for the city to do that. I live by people who have junk vehicles in their yard, they don't care. They keep getting a slap on the wrist. I'm glad the city is finally standing up and saying "enough is enough." It's time we cleaned this town up and take a step in the right direction. Those people who don't like it, maybe they need to move out of town. That's where they should be anyway, the ones who want to keep their yards junked up. | <urn:uuid:f4e5e8ff-abb1-4c6e-98a3-bcf46f476e85> | http://www.standard-democrat.com/story/1331545.html | en | 0.981261 | 0.077727 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Fresh Finds Coupons
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The online world is great for many things, but perhaps one of the most useful and efficient is being able to find things that are hard to find elsewhere. Whether you’re in search of retro items from the past, hard-to-find designer fashions or even unique gifts that others will love, searching online is a guaranteed way to find just what you’re looking for and a lot more. Fresh Finds fits this category because it specializes in supplying unique home décor and kitchen products for an affordable price. At Fresh Finds, you can find everything from kitchen wares, cooking tools, and stylish home accents to cleaning and organizing home solutions. As if that wasn’t enough to send you into a shopping frenzy, customers can also find outdoor furniture, gardening accessories, seasonal decorations and solar lighting. Additionally, get an up close and personal look at the Fresh Finds inventory by visiting the company website and signing up for a free catalog. | <urn:uuid:34b361ec-b643-428e-a002-0e3f95232463> | http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/coupons/fresh_finds_coupons.htm | en | 0.935002 | 0.049167 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
U.S. Pharmacist
Gastrointestinal Bleeding: An Alarming Sign
Manouchehr Saljoughian, PharmD, PhD
Department of Pharmacy Services
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
Berkeley, California
US Pharm
. 2009;34(12):HS12-HS16.
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding can originate anywhere from the pharynx to the rectum and can be occult or overt. It differs from internal bleeding, where blood leaks from the blood vessels in such a way that the bleeding cannot be seen outside of the body. GI bleeding has a variety of causes, and a review of patient medical history and a physical examination can distinguish between the macroscopic and microscopic forms. The manifestations depend on the location and rate of bleeding, from nearly undetectable to acute and life-threatening. Upper endoscopy or colonoscopy are generally considered the best methods to identify the source of bleeding.1
History of present illness should be reviewed to ascertain quantity and frequency of blood passage. However, quantity can be difficult to assess because even small amounts (5-10 mL) of rectal bleeding or modest amounts of vomited blood are alarming to a patient. Whether blood was passed with initial emesis or only after several nonbloody vomiting episodes could indicate different causes.1
To evaluate the patient, there are a number of symptoms that need to be reviewed after GI bleeding. These include presence of abdominal discomfort, weight loss, easy bleeding or bruising, previous colonoscopy results, and symptoms of anemia (weakness, fatigue, dizziness). Past medical history should also inquire about previously diagnosed or undiagnosed GI bleeding, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), bleeding diatheses, and liver disease.
Several drugs increase the likelihood of bleeding, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), warfarin, and heparin. Chronic liver disease due to excessive use of alcohol can also cause bleeding. GI bleeding may also precipitate hepatic encephalopathy (brain and nervous system damage caused by liver failure) or hepatorenal syndrome (kidney failure secondary to liver disease).2
Types of GI Bleeding
Upper GI Bleeding: Hematemesis is vomiting of red-colored blood and indicates upper GI bleeding, usually from an arterial source or varix. It is considered a medical emergency, and the most vital distinction is whether there is blood loss sufficient to cause shock. The bleeding is similar to dark brown emesis, with granular material that resembles coffee grounds. This results from upper GI bleeding that has slowed or stopped, with conversion of red hemoglobin to brown hematin by gastric acid.3
There are many causes for hematemesis, including irritation or erosion of the lining of the esophagus or stomach; bleeding ulcer located in the stomach, duodenum, or esophagus; vomiting of ingested blood after hemorrhage in the oral cavity, nose, or throat; vascular malfunctions of the GI tract; and tumors of the stomach or esophagus.
Minimal Blood Loss: In this case, the patient is administered a proton pump inhibitor such as omeprazole, given a blood transfusion, and kept nil per os (Latin, “nothing by mouth”) until endoscopy can be arranged for further investigation.
Significant Blood Loss: In a hemodynamically significant case of hematemesis (e.g., hypovolemic shock), resuscitation is an immediate priority to prevent cardiac arrest. Fluids and/or blood are administered, preferably by central venous catheter, and the patient is prepared for emergency endoscopy. If the source of bleeding cannot be identified endoscopically, a surgical option is usually sought for laparotomy.3
Lower GI Bleeding: Hematochezia is the passage of gross blood from the rectum and usually indicates lower GI bleeding. It is distinguished from melena, which is stool with blood that has been altered by the gut flora and appears “tarry” black. It is also different from bright red blood per rectum, which is caused by hemorrhoidal or fissure problems and is a local rectal bleeding. Hematochezia might also result from vigorous upper GI bleeding with rapid transit of blood through the intestines. Most common causes in adults are diverticulosis and hemorrhoids, both relatively benign, although this bleeding might be a warning sign for colorectal cancer.
Hematochezia in newborn infants may be due to swallowed maternal blood at the time of delivery. In the most serious cases, it can also be an initial symptom of necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious condition affecting premature infants. In young adults, IBD, particularly ulcerative colitis, is a serious cause of hematochezia that must be further investigated for rapid treatment.1-3
Melena: Melena is a black, tarry stool that is caused by GI bleeding. The black color is due to the oxidation of blood hemoglobin during the bleeding in the ileum and colon. Melena also refers to stools or vomit stained black by blood pigment or dark blood products and may indicate upper GI bleeding. Bleeding from a lower source that occurs slowly enough to allow for oxidation is also associated with melena. About 100 to 200 mL of blood in the upper GI tract is required to cause melena, which can remain for several days after bleeding has stopped.4
Black stool that does not contain occult blood may result from ingestion of iron, bismuth, or various foods and should not be mistaken for melena. Peptic ulcer disease is the main cause of melena, but secondary causes include bleeding from the upper GI tract as in gastritis or esophageal varices or even from the ascending colon. Overdosing of certain drugs (e.g., warfarin, clopidogrel, or long-term use of NSAIDS) may also be a cause. Melena is not considered a medical emergency, but patients should be carefully monitored to find the cause and assessed for further treatment.3
GI bleeding of any cause is more likely and severe in patients with chronic liver disease from alcohol abuse or hepatitis. It also occurs more commonly in patients with hereditary coagulation disorders or in those taking certain drugs. Drugs associated with GI bleeding include heparin, warfarin, aspirin, certain NSAIDs, clopidogrel, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which cause platelet depletion and reduce the ability to form clots. About 20% to 30% of GI bleeding is due to duodenal ulcers and gastric or duodenal erosions.4
Varices and erosive esophagitis are responsible for 10% to 20% of upper GI bleeds. For the lower GI, the bleeding depends on the age group, but it is mainly due to anal fissures, diverticulitis, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and colonic polyps or carcinoma.5
Evaluation and Diagnosis
The first step in the diagnosis of GI bleeding is to stabilize the patient’s airways and administer IV fluids or transfuse blood. Bloody nasogastric aspirate indicates active upper GI bleeding, but about 10% of patients have no blood in the nasogastric aspirate.4 Then the focus should be on vital signs and any indication for hypovolemia (e.g., tachycardia, tachypnea, oliguria, confusion) or anemia (e.g., fatigue, pale skin, headache, coldness in the hands and feet, diaphoresis). In cases of lesser bleedings, the tachycardia and orthostatic changes (i.e., pulse, blood pressure) are milder but need immediate attention, especially in the elderly.6
When the patient is stable, the signs and symptoms of external bleeding disorders, such as black and blue spots on the skin (petechiae, ecchymoses), are sought. Other signs to look for are ascites and erythema (chronic liver disease) and splenomegaly and dilated abdominal wall veins (portal hypertension).
In all patients with GI bleeding, a digital rectal examination is necessary to search for stool color, masses, and fissures. Anoscopy is done to diagnose hemorrhoids. Chemical testing of a stool specimen for occult blood completes the examination if gross blood is not present. In about 50% of patients, peptic ulcer can be the cause of GI bleeding.4 Epigastric abdominal discomfort that is relieved by food or antacids suggests peptic ulcer disease. These patients may or may not have pain.6
Bloody diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain suggest ischemic colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, or an infectious colitis. Fresh blood only on stools suggests rectal hemorrhoids or fissures, whereas blood mixed with the stool indicates bleeding from a distal or farthest area of the colon. Occult blood in the stool may be the first sign of a polyp, particularly in middle-aged patients. A CBC should be obtained in patients with occult blood loss.6
With more significant bleeding, coagulation monitoring such as platelet count, prothrombin time (PT), and partial thromboplastin time (PTT), and liver function tests such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and albumin, are done in certain patients. In most cases, one or more diagnostic procedures are required.
Although endoscopy is therapeutic as well as diagnostic, it should be done rapidly for significant upper GI bleeding. Angiography is useful in the diagnosis of upper GI bleeding and permits certain therapeutic maneuvers (e.g., embolization, vasoconstrictor infusion).
Flexible sigmoidoscopy and ano-scopy may be all that is required acutely for patients with symptoms typical of hemorrhoidal bleeding. All other patients with hematochezia should have a colonoscopy, which can be done electively after routine preparation unless there is significant ongoing bleeding. If colonoscopy cannot visualize the source and ongoing bleeding is sufficiently rapid (>0.5 to 1 mL/min), angiography may localize the source.5,6
Endoscopy is the preferred choice for occult bleeding, because diagnosis of this type of bleeding may be difficult, due to heme-positive stools from bleeding anywhere in the GI tract. Double-contrast barium enema and sigmoidoscopy can also be used for the lower tract when colonoscopy is unavailable or the patient refuses the procedure.4
Both hematemesis and hematochezia should be considered an emergency. Admission to an intensive care unit, with consultation by a gastroenterologist and a surgeon, is recommended for all patients with severe GI bleeding. General treatment is directed at maintenance of the airway and restoration of circulating volume. Hemostasis and other treatments depend on the cause of the bleeding.7,8
Airway: A major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with active upper GI bleeding is aspiration of blood with subsequent respiratory problems. To prevent these issues, endotracheal intubation should be considered in patients who have inadequate gag reflexes or are obtunded or unconscious—particularly if they will be undergoing upper endoscopy.4
Fluid Replacement: IV fluids are initiated for any patient with hypovolemia or hemorrhagic shock. Patients requiring further resuscitation should receive transfusion with packed red blood cells (RBCs). Transfusions continue until intravascular volume is restored and then are given as needed to replace ongoing blood loss. Platelet count should be monitored closely, since platelet transfusion may be required with severe bleeding. Patients who are taking antiplatelet drugs (e.g., clopid-ogrel) and aspirin may have platelet dysfunction, often resulting in increased bleeding. Platelet transfusion should be considered when patients taking these drugs have severe, ongoing bleeding. Fresh frozen plasma should be transfused after every 4 units of packed RBCs.4
Hemostasis: Early intervention to control bleeding is important in order to minimize mortality, particularly in elderly patients. Specific therapy depends on the bleeding site. For peptic ulcer, ongoing bleeding or rebleeding is treated with endoscopic coagulation. Nonbleeding vessels that are visible within an ulcer crater are also treated. If endoscopy does not stop the bleeding and medical management does not control gastric acid secretion, then surgery is performed.4
Severe, ongoing hematochezia from diverticula or angiomas can sometimes be controlled colonoscopically by electrocautery, coagulation with a heater probe, or injection with dilute epinephrine. Polyps can be removed by snare or cautery. If these methods are ineffective or unfeasible, angiography with embolization or vasopressin infusion may be successful.4 Angiography can also be used to localize the source of bleeding more accurately. Surgery may be used in patients with continued bleeding, but localization of the bleeding site is very important. Acute or chronic bleeding of internal hemorrhoids stops spontaneously in most cases. Patients with refractory bleeding are treated via anoscopy with rubber band ligation, injection, coagulation, or surgery.8
Typically, a healthy person can endure a loss of 10% to 15% of the total blood volume without serious medical difficulties, and blood donation typically takes 8% to 10% of the donor’s blood volume.4
GI Bleeding in the Elderly
In the elderly (age ≥65 years), hemorrhoids and colorectal cancer are the most common causes of minor bleeding. Peptic ulcer, diverticular disease, and angiodysplasia are the most common causes of major bleeding. Approximately 35% to 45% of all cases of acute upper GI hemorrhage occur in elderly persons. These patients increasingly account for the 10% of deaths that result from a bleeding episode each year.4
Elderly patients tolerate massive GI bleeding poorly. Diagnosis must be made quickly, and treatment must be started sooner than in younger patients, who can better tolerate repeated episodes of bleeding.9
Endoscopic Safety
Although upper endoscopy and colonoscopy are generally considered to be safe in the elderly, the risk of complications (including hemorrhage, aspiration pneumonia, myocardial infarction, and perforation) is greater than that with younger patients. Approximately 30% to 40% of patients who undergo GI endoscopy are older than 70 years.4
On an emergency basis, therapeutic endoscopy is generally riskier than diagnostic endoscopy. Therefore, elderly patients—especially those with such comorbidities as obesity and cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, hepatic, metabolic, or neurologic disorders—require careful evaluation before, and intensive monitoring during, the procedure. Endoscopy can be done in patients taking aspirin or NSAIDs who do not have a preexisting bleeding disorder.
1. Ghosh S, Watts D, Kinnear M. Management of gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Postgrad Med J.
2. Rockey DC, Auslander A, Greenberg PD. Detection of upper gastrointestinal blood with fecal occult blood tests. Am J Gastroenterol. 1999;94:344-350.
3. Marignani M, Angeletti S, Filippi L, et al. Occult and obscure bleeding, iron deficiency anemia, and other gastrointestinal stories. Int J Mol Med. 2005;15:129-135.
4. Gastrointestinal bleeding. MedlinePlus. www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
2002;78:4-14. gastrointestinalbleeding.html. Accessed November 4, 2009.
5. Raju GS, Nath SK. Capsule endoscopy. Curr Gastroenterol Rep. 2005;7:358-364.
6. Triester SL, Leighton JA, Leontiadis GI, et al. A meta-analysis of the yield of capsule endoscopy compared to other diagnostic modalities in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005;100:2407-2418.
7. Carey EJ, Fleischer DE. Investigation of the small bowel in gastrointestinal bleeding—enteroscopy and capsule endoscopy. Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2005;34:719-734.
8. Gastrointestinal bleeding. Mayo Clinic. www.mayoclinic.org/
gastrointestinal-bleeding. Accessed November 2, 2009.
To comment on this article, contact rdavidson@jobson.com.
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"You didn't get ME jewels!" Samantha cries. She feels shafted because she wants the heart necklace we bought Bobby's mom for Mother's Day. (Leave it to Samantha to make Mother's Day about her.) But Samantha's outburst got me thinking—who is Mother's Day about?
Bobby and I love our moms dearly, and we share the day with them, but as we settle into this blooming month of May, I think of the nurturing role other moms play in our kids' lives.
More From Woman's Day
I look at the circle of dynamic women I know who happen to be moms, and I'm in awe of their beauty, smarts, warmth and strength. I'm grateful to the mothers who give love, attention and guidance to my children. The logistics alone can be tricky when raising three kids. It truly takes a village.
Through playdates, car rides and visits, my children have a circle of mothers around them whom they don't hesitate to turn to if they need something. If Josh walks into your kitchen and opens the cupboards himself to look for a snack, he doesn't mean to be disrespectful. He's just comfortable in your home. You've made him feel that way. If Samantha asks you to polish her nails or wants to hold your hand, understand that she enjoys being around you. My children know they can run into the arms of my friends—happy or sad.
Yes, my kids are safe and fed when they are with my mommy friends. But I also believe that they are loved. I share the same love with my friends' kids. And the village thrives.—Julie Weingarden Dubin
How have your mom friends been there for you or your children? Do you feel motherhood would be more difficult if you didn't have friends experiencing it with you? Share your thoughts in Comments.
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Old 07-30-2013, 07:18 AM #42
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Ken Levine talks BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea
Two-part detective story where you play as Booker and Elizabeth in Rapture.
Eurogamer: Let's talk about Burial at Sea, because that's the curve ball today. What can you say about it at this stage? What's the premise and where are you going with it?
Ken Levine: At the very beginning, you're Booker, private detective in Rapture, in your office and this woman comes in, and you two don't seem to know each other, and we don't explain that. We always like to put people in a place where there's a story that ends up making sense, but we don't want the obvious... We like people immediately having a sense of wondering what's going on.
Eurogamer: Sort of displaced and confused a little bit.
Ken Levine: Yep, and it all will make sense eventually. The story takes place on New Year's Eve, 1958, which is the night that the bombing happened in the original Rapture and the revolution started, and we were really excited, having done all the work on the population - a living, breathing population in Columbia - because Rapture was a tomb, y'know? Originally we wanted to show Rapture when it was fully alive, but do it in the context of an interesting story, not just to go back and talk about Midi-chlorians, you know? To do it in a sort of integrated way, but to tell a story we thought was important to tell with these characters as well.
Eurogamer: So you've got quite a few little goals going on there all at once.
Ken Levine: Yeah. For DLC it's pretty ambitious, I think.
Eurogamer: It's your usual layered approach, but in a new context, I guess.
Ken Levine: From a resource and work standpoint, it's effectively like making a small part of a new game. Almost all the Rapture elements are newly created for the engine. The city outside you saw is actually a 3D structure, whereas in the original game it's 2D images. I think every single environment is created from scratch. There's maybe a few objects we brought over, but really everything is new.
Eurogamer: So you're playing as Booker, you start off with Elizabeth coming into this office...
Ken Levine: A classic noir. A woman comes into your office and offers you a job. And she's got the femme fatale kind of look, and you two don't seem to know each other, or you don't seem to know her, and...
Eurogamer: And she presumably tells you about some problem she's having.
Ken Levine: Yes, and related to a problem you have. Like all story things, I'm going to be sort of vague about things, but the experience takes you both through a part of Rapture that's pristine and you'll meet some characters... You know, this is about a year before the events of BioShock 1, and so you'll meet some characters before they've gone as deeply crazy as they have [in BioShock]. Some fan favourites, but they're not just cameos - they're deeply integrated into the story. And then there's a...
Eurogamer: Can you be specific at all?
Ken Levine: I'd rather surprise people. I think people won't be disappointed.
And then there's a fair amount of the action takes place in... After Fontaine's business was taken over by Ryan, he had to put all of Fontaine's people somewhere. A lot of the action takes place in an old department store - a Fontaine department store - that's been sucked to the bottom of the ocean. They're all sort of put in there as basically a sort of Alcatraz. So part of the action takes place in a very traditional BioShock 1 kind of feeling with lots of splicers and broken, screwed-up stuff, and part of it takes place in a very pristine Rapture, so you really get to see both of those experiences.
Eurogamer: What kind of gameplay implications are there? What's coming in from Infinite, from BioShock? What's new?
Ken Levine: So, it is built upon Infinite, but we have made a lot of changes, and the amount of changes to style of gameplay vary from when you're Booker in the second one [Clash in the Clouds being the first DLC pack] to Elizabeth in the third one. It's more stylistically and gameplay tuned like BioShock 1. Infinite generally had a lot of big, epic-scale encounters, where BioShock 1 was more about you observing splicers in their natural habitat and being able to set up combat a little more, so we've really pushed back toward that a lot.
Eurogamer: Are you bringing the Big Daddies back?
Ken Levine: I think people would be pretty unhappy if there were no Big Daddies. I won't say exactly how, but yes, they are involved in a certain way, and the combat will probably feel more like BioShock 1 combat, but there's a new weapon and a new vigor plasmid in each of the DLCs. Well, let me think - I don't want to talk too much about the third one, but certainly for the second one there's a new weapon and vigor plasmid. I think we really tried to modify the gameplay so it felt more like a Rapture experience.
Eurogamer: Are you going to try to rationalise it with the events of Infinite, or is it considered a completely separate episode, splinter, whatever?
Ken Levine: I think it's safe to say we will integrate everything.
Eurogamer: You mentioned that you didn't want to just go back to the cutting room floor, but why not?
Ken Levine: You're sort of in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation, but at the end of the day you just have to do what you think is the right thing to do. And for us, we had the opportunity to... The idea for this, we had the idea for this, and we knew it was going to be way more expensive and way more complicated, because instead of just taking all the assets from Infinite and never even modifying them, we have to do a whole bunch of work, you know?
But it was so appealing to us that... The story idea was so appealing that we really wanted to do it, but we knew it was going to take time, and we knew people were going to get impatient and frustrated, but at the end of the day you have to kind of do what you think is going to be right for them in the long run. At the end of the day, people got mad when the game was delayed, but if we released it when it wasn't ready, it wouldn't have served anybody.
So you have to sort of take your lumps there, and this one is sort of frustrating because gamers want it to be new, but they don't realise it takes real time, and it's been tough, because people haven't really got... I haven't really been on much of a vacation since, and it's stressful, but you want to balance between getting something great - well, you never know if something's going to be great, but you want to give it the chance to be great - and something timely. So Clash in the Clouds is sort of a compromise between timeliness and scale.
Eurogamer: Yeah, my first thought was it sounds cool but it's probably a stopgap to give you some cover to do this.
Ken Levine: Yeah, it's $5, and there are people who really like the combat. I think for $5 it's a really good value. It's not as ambitious as the other two - I don't think we're pretending that it is - but that's also why we want to say it's out tomorrow [30th July]. Here it is, it's $5, it's out tomorrow, we're not going to have this huge build-up to it - it's just fun, go play it.
Eurogamer: Before I came out here, everyone who was allowed to know I was coming out here was saying, ooh, I wonder what they'll do - will it be Saltonstall or Preston Downs or more of the Luteces or whatever. You weren't tempted to go back and do things there? You must have had content that had come quite a long way.
Ken Levine: You know, here's actually what happens, Tom. There's content that... And this is sort of the tragedy. You know the term unintended consequences? People feel so passionately about stuff on the cutting room floor, that even stuff we legitimately cut from Infinite just because it wasn't working or it evolved and we didn't want that, but it would have fit in well in Clash in the Clouds, we have to be careful of putting it in, because then people would say we did it to hold it back.
So in fact there's stuff that's not in there that we could have put in there, because of this particular notion, and I think you're seeing that people get so... There's so little trust towards the developer that you sometimes have to just say, well, you leave that permanently somewhere. It's a shame, because there could have been maybe a couple of characters they hadn't seen before, but they were technically done before, so we have to be careful we don't do any of that.
Eurogamer: It's interesting, because you don't strike me as someone who's intimidated or scared of abuse on the internet...
Ken Levine: It's not that. It becomes a distraction, and then you end up... The conversation becomes so much about that that you run out of space to talk about the actual thing. And, so no, listen, trust me, the amount of s*** I get over how long this is taking? But that, for me, I will take that forever, because I'm like, I'm going to make it better, and I know when people, when we show it to people, people are going to have a smile on their face. If you like BioShock, I can't see how you couldn't.
Me, when I saw... We worked a lot on that scene [in the Burial at Sea trailer]. The first street you see when you come out of Booker's office in the beginning, when I saw that street finally done, I had a huge smile. You know, the whale going on outside and all of that stuff. How can you not? When I saw... When we finally got Elizabeth in her femme fatale look, and working on that. I had a huge smile on my face, so I know that.
But there are fights I'm willing to have for something that's a huge amount of value, and I know at the end of the day will be positive. But no, look, trust me, you can't be in the position I'm in and be worried about your feelings. It's about how much time gets diverted from the actual product, and that's why I care about it, because I want people focusing on the things that are actually interesting.
Eurogamer: Will the DLC be out by the time the next-gen consoles are out?
Ken Levine: I'm not going to say any dates until we're absolutely positive. I imagine some of it will slip past the... At least some of it will slip past the... First one won't.
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Wednesday, February 22
Game Night: Hawks
Tree Rollins: Not expected to play tonight.
Biggie said...
The Hawks are a model that the Sonics should use, yeah they get their ass beat alot but their roster makes me drool. They are 2 pieces away from being a contender. When they get those 2 pieces they are going to be nasty. Btw, the Hawks are going to beat our ass. In the second round of the last draft did the Supes have a shot to get Salim Stoudamire?? If so and we didn't do it, wtf??
Lance Uppercut said...
That picture makes it look like Tree is shitting out that white kid in the stands.
Paul Merrill said...
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Scare trade: Halloween candy you can feel good about
By Claire Thompson
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
For most of us, Halloween has a strong association with candy. When you're little, you get to dress up and run around your neighborhood collecting it for free. When you're a bit older, you get to dress up, get drunk, and buy it steeply discounted on Nov. 1. And when you're a parent, you get to supervise kids on their candy-collecting mission, and sneak some after bedtime. Along with all this candy is the sense that, however old you get, Halloween signals a brief return to innocence.
"They've long claimed that certification transparency is not possible, or [they] can't verify what's happening on the ground," says Evans. "But I think what Equal Exchange and other fair trade companies have shown is that you can [verify it]."
Equal Exchange sources organic cacao beans from small-scale family farming cooperatives in Latin America. And, while Evans acknowledged that it would require a transition period for a large chocolate company to change its practices, she pointed out that there's currently an abundance of farmers with fair-trade ingredients to sell.
So what can you do to spread the word about Big Chocolate's dirty secret? Boycotting Halloween would be a major buzzkill -- and might actually hurt more than it would help. "It's definitely a heavy, scary topic that is not as much fun to talk about for a product that's seen as such a source of joy," Evans said. That's why Equal Exchange has teamed up with human rights organization Global Exchange to promote the fifth annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign, which invites families to trick-or-treat as usual, but hand back small fair-trade chocolates in exchange for their loot -- a simple public awareness campaign with added power because the message comes from children whose peers on the other side of the world are enduring a real-life hardship.
"It's a creative way to approach a big, complex, and depressing problem," adds Evans.
If you really can't bring yourself to spring for fancy chocolate (or maybe you're one of those rare weirdos who doesn't actually like chocolate), you can at least go visit their site and download cards and flyers instead.
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AVADirect Now Offers 48GB of RAM In Select Systems
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AVADirect Now Offers 48GB of RAM In Select Systems
AVADirect Now Offers 48GB of RAM In Select Systems
The powers that be have decided to add a gratuitous amount of RAM to four of our non-ECC RAM-based configurators. How much? 48GB worth; WOW! You might be asking yourself at this very moment, "Who is going to need 48GB of non-ECC?" The answer is quite simple; enthusiasts, gamers, engineers, scientists, artists, extremists, those who care for bragging rights and this list could go on for a few more lines but I'll spare you the rant. The point is we allow you to choose that amount of RAM in select configurators, should your heart just happen to desire it. RAM is the one specification that is maxed out at the point of purchase. This is usually to keep the system relevant to current software demands, and convenience so you don't have to go running around like a chicken with your head cut off looking for the exact same RAM kit you purchased X years ago to upgrade your system. Besides, RAM prices are the cheapest they have ever been in years so you might as well load up your machine with as much resource as you can. Don't be shy, and don't ask why...add 48GB of RAM to your computer and throw it in your friend's faces, or the developers' of those resource-hungry applications that seem to think it's okay to bog your system down from chowing down on your resource like there's tomorrow. You can view the select configurators that offer the 48GB non-ECC RAM with the links below.
Workstation PC Six-Core Core™ i7 3-way SLI® CrossFireX™ Graphics Computer Workstation
Gaming PC Core™ i7 X58 3-way SLI® / CrossFireX™ Custom Gaming System
Gaming PC Core™ i7 NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Surround Gaming System
Silent PC Coreâ„¢ i7 X58 Low-Noise Custom Computer System
AVADirect2011-08-23 15:56:10
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Relative to the ground, a car has a velocity of 22.6 m/s, directeddue north. Relative to this car, a truck has a velocity of 21.6 m/sdirected 48.0 ° south of east. Find the (a)magnitude and (b) direction of the truck'svelocity relative to the ground. Give the directional anglerelative to due east.
I was able to get the magnitude this problem in the book (18 m/s,22.8 m/s, 52.1d) but couldn't get the same tactics to work on thefirst number above.
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When Jack Graham announced his “big dream” to build a new football stadium on the academic campus at CSU, there had been no investigation, no feasibility studies, no conversation with the city nor vetting that normally precedes decisions about a project of this size, impact and expense.
He announced that donors would “give” us this stadium. Yet these athletic donors provide just 14 percent of the athletic budget and do not pay for the millions of deficit spending for football.
Although faculty had been on pay freeze for four years, Jack Graham spent around $4 million to find and pay 10 football coaches. More than half the athletic department’s revenue comes from student fees and university subsidy.
Half the athletic budget pays for football. In a nationwide trend, attendance at football games has been declining. At Colorado State University, athletic ticket sales are less than 8 percent of revenue.
The $125 million stadium guesstimate doubled, yet the Board of Governors determined these donors need to raise just half the money, not including costs imposed on CSU and the city. City councilman Wade Troxell estimated the stadium would impose $30-$50 million in city infrastructure adaptations.
CSU will move dorms, streets, greenhouses and agricultural research plots and pay for debt. There is also the value of 15 acres of public taxpayer land diverted from education to the athletic department.
PR, visionary speeches and marketing have substituted for rigorous scrutiny. After-the-fact feasibility and economic impact reports generated from the builder directly conflict with economic analysis and studies. Last September, Dr. Andrew Zimbalist, a foremost sports economist, spoke at the main library regarding college football and stadiums with special reference to CSU. The Coloradoan chose not to cover his talk.
Yet they published a misleading headline claiming $142 million in economic impact. Half of this was temporary construction. The other report ignored the impact of Hughes stadium, escalated attendance figures and predicted employment of 750 people, not professors or adjuncts.
Added classroom space is lipstick on a pig. More students require more high-tech classroom space, offices, professors/adjuncts, laboratories and dorms; everything associated with education, research, growth and improvement of CSU as an institution of higher education. That land should remain dedicated to this outcome.
According to CSU budget reports, faculty generates at least 85 percent of operational revenues for CSU. Another 7-10 percent comes from the state taxpayer.
Why have athletic donors been granted such power and leverage to dictate development of CSU and Fort Collins?
Students borrow to get a college degree. The quality of the faculty, departments and student services determine the quality of the education. Highly ranked, profitable schools, such as Harvard and Northeastern, do not have big time football. These schools spend less on athletics while supporting more student athletes, more fairly balanced between genders and among sports.
Claims that CSU needs football and a new stadium for visibility, donations and to attract students is exactly backwards: It is faculty and staff who are vital to the success of CSU. They run the educational, service and research programs that define CSU, inspire donations and generate the revenues that pay for athletics and football. They provide the economic stimulus.
Leadership at CSU should keep the focus on providing quality in higher education, where the money is. They should raise funds to renovate Hughes instead, just as other universities do with their aging stadiums.
Deborah Shulman lives in Bellvue.
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thumbnail Hello,
The Gunners legend has been linked with a return to his former club on a short-term deal but the French boss says he remains "cautious" on any potential move
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that he still retains an interest in a loan move for striker Thierry Henry.
And Wenger has admitted that he has not yet ruled out a third Gunners stint for Henry, with the 35-year-old's current club, the New York Red Bulls, out of action during the MLS off-season.
40/1 Arsenal are 40/1 to win the Champions League with Bet365
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Possible tropical system in Gulf may rain on Florida this week
An area of disturbed weather hovering near Yucatan, Mexico, could affect the weather in Southwest Florida this week, AccuWeather.com reports.
The system is likely to produce a swath of heavy rain from parts of the Florida Peninsula into portions of the mainland South this week. Depending on the track of the system, a dose of heavy rain is possible in portions of the eastern mid-Atlantic and New England toward the weekend.
Drenching showers and locally gusty thunderstorms were affecting western Cuba, the Keys and the eastern coastline of Yucatan, Mexico, at midday Monday. Rainfall will gradually propagate northeastward over the next couple of days impacting more of Central and South Florida.
"There will be a window of opportunity for the system to develop tropically during the middle of the week as it begins to drift northeastward," said Dan Kottlowski, tropical weather expert for AccuWeather.com.
Kottlowski said that strong upper atmospheric winds, which are currently hindering development, could drop off enough to allow more of a circulation near the surface of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical systems are storms that inhabit the lowest part of the atmosphere. Since they are warm weather storms, they can strengthen over warm water and tend to weaken over land or cold water. Strong winds near the top of the storm can also disrupt development or tear a tropical storm or hurricane apart.
Indications are that steering winds will guide the system, whether it has fully developed tropically or not, on a general northeastward path during the second half of the week into the weekend.
The first name on the list of tropical storms and hurricanes for the Atlantic Basin 2013 season is Andrea.
While the exact path will depend on how much development occurs, rainfall along parts of the Atlantic Seaboard from Florida to New England could be enhanced as the system moves along.
"It is possible this system never has enough time to become a well-organized tropical storm or hurricane," Kottlowski said.
The first stage of development of a warm core would be a tropical depression. However, even if the system were to reach that phase, it does not guarantee that a tropical storm or hurricane would follow.
Even weak tropical or sub-tropical systems can bring tremendous rainfall, on the order of several inches or more. Weak systems can also bring locally severe thunderstorms and dangerous surf conditions.
"The system is likely to pick up forward speed later in the week and over the weekend, which should work to shorten the duration of the rainfall and could lessen problems caused by flooding farther north," said Henry Margusity, expert senior meteorologist for Accuweather.com.
Flooding is a concern in the southeastern corner of the nation, where slow movement is likely. However, some areas could handle a dose of drenching rain, as long as the rain does not continue for days on end.
Naples Daily News polls | <urn:uuid:b0a3ef08-5f23-4cab-a142-6f3d55d9bc90> | http://www.naplesnews.com/tablet-showcase/possible-tropical-system-gulf-may-rain-florida-wee | en | 0.961881 | 0.033118 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sleep Habits: How You Might Be Unintentionally Sabotaging Your Sleep
Home >> Sleep News >> Sleep Habits: How You Might Be Unintentionally Sabotaging Your Sleep
If you're experiencing excessive sleepiness, poor sleep habits are often the cause. It's important to review your routines, schedules, and the environment you're sleeping in so you can spot potential problems and make adjustments.
Another reason for excessive sleepiness is a change in schedule, which could be caused by work or school responsibilities. In particular, shift workers, who keep nontraditional hours and often switch schedules, are at high risk for excessive sleepiness. This is because it's difficult to sleep 7-9 hours when those hours are not in line with traditional nightfall, but it's also because when your schedule changes, it takes your body a long time to adjust. Sometimes by the time the adjustment happens, your schedule has shifted yet again. Taking care of your sleep by making sure your bedroom is quiet and dark during your sleep time, exposing yourself to light when you wake up if possible, and trying to keep as regular and consistent a sleep pattern as possible will help. If you've tried to take care of your sleep habits and still find yourself drowsy during the day, it's important to talk to your doctor and ask for a referral to a sleep specialist. | <urn:uuid:49a6531e-e7af-4b20-bca0-af620f273792> | https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/sleep-habits-how-you-might-be-unintentionally-sabotaging-your-sleep | en | 0.953063 | 0.281819 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Petition Closed
Petitioning President of the United States
Stop Killing More Sea Turtles in the Hawaiian Longline Swordfish Fishery
Leatherback captures - increased from 16 to 20 per year.
Loggerhead captures - increased from 17 to 34 per year.
Letter to
President of the United States
Please immediately reverse the rule to allow the deadly Hawaii longline fishery for swordfish to capture or kill more sea turtles.
The weakening of protections for sea turtles in the fishery contradicts findings from your own scientists at National Marine Fisheries Service that Pacific loggerheads are at risk of extinction due in large part to capture in longline fisheries. They are now listed as endangered.
More than 50 percent of what’s caught in the Hawaii longline fishery is not swordfish, but sea turtles, humpback whales, false killer whales, seabirds and vulnerable fish species including sharks and big eye and yellow fin tuna.
A federal court previously closed the fishery down for four years due to excessive capture of sea turtles, but reopened in 2004 with requirements to use experimental circle hook technology and special bait that the government claimed would drastically reduce the injury and mortality of sea turtles.
However, even with the modified gear, the fishery was closed down early in March 2006 and 2011 for capturing its limit of endangered sea turtles.
Fewer than 5,000 nesting western Pacific leatherbacks remain and only 1,500 North Pacific loggerheads still nest. With declines of more than 90 percent for these leatherbacks and 80 percent decline of the loggerheads, there is no scientific justification to increase the death toll for these species as they swim across the ocean.
Even worse, half the U.S. population - women and children - are warned by the FDA to never eat swordfish due to high mercury levels. That's why Americans are eating less swordfish than ever before.
President Obama, please reverse this terrible action by your federal fisheries agency before the swordfish fleet, with its millions more longline hooks, makes an irreversible impact on sea turtles in USA waters offshore of your birthplace in Hawaii. | <urn:uuid:0c4cb61c-ed74-4b85-bdd1-600096fd4047> | https://www.change.org/p/stop-killing-more-sea-turtles-in-the-hawaiian-longline-swordfish-fishery | en | 0.942507 | 0.018434 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
August 2008
"If you run over my shoes, I'll kill you."
"If you mess up my wheels, I'll kill you," Dean contends. Jess considers this and nods.
"If you could park right behind Sam so that he can't turn and run, that'd be great."
"He's not gonna run," Dean says patiently. "Not until I tell him that I've lost the rings, that is. Okay, bad timing, bad timing," he adds hastily. "No jokes. Sorry."
"Why am I marrying into this family?" Jess whines. She looks stunning, as Dean's already told her- whilst he's supressing about sixteen different 'virgin bride' jokes, white is very much her colour. She decided against getting a huge gown, and the long, closely-fitted dress she picked instead was a very good choice on her part.
There are bridesmaids flitting all around Jess, and guests are already collecting in the garden. As the best man, it's apparently Dean's job to make sure Sam has his shit together, but they've started treating him as a kind of messenger boy- they're determined that, as tradition demands, Sam won't see Jess until her father's walking her down the altar. That means that Dean's spent his morning relaying messages about everything from the flower arrangements to what they're having for dinner tonight, and frankly, he's getting sick of it.
"Has Cas still-"
"Yes, Cas has still got Oscar," Dean interrupts. "We'll hang onto him until after the ceremony, don't you worry."
"Thanks, Dean," Jess says, flashing him a tight smile. Oscar Dean Winchester was born on the 7th of April, after eight hours of labour during which Jess nearly broke Sam's hand. She was right about the baby's sex, but Sam was too busy tearing up to care. They named him 'Oscar' after Jessica's father, and 'Dean' after… well. Oscar has his mother's eyes and, unfortunately for the kid, Dean strongly suspects he's inherited Sam's hair. Dean calls him Ozzy and plays him Black Sabbath when Sam and Jess aren't around.
"You should be with Sam," Jess says. "It's nearly time."
"Gotcha," Dean says, and he grins. "Let's get this show on the road."
Dean doesn't remember ever going to a wedding before, so he feels a little like he got thrown in at the deep end, but somehow it all works out. The ushers all do as they're meant to, no one drops the rings, and nobody suddenly bursts through the doors in objection (Dean had had his concerns about Becky). Ozzy's on his best behaviour, Jess and Sam say their vows without stumbling once, and Sam cries. Again. When they come out of the church, Dean throws a handful of petals directly into Sam's face for good measure.
There are about four different kinds of salads at the buffet, all of which Dean looks at distastefully.
"Lettuce," he tells Oscar, "is not natural."
"What do you mean, it's not natural?" Sam says. "It's like, the most natural thing there is."
In theory, he's sitting next to Dean, but his and Jess' seats have stayed fairly empty- they keep being pulled from crowd to crowd by hoards of people desperate to wish them well or impart advice. Dean's on babysitting duty, Ozzy balanced on his lap.
"Nah," Dean says. "It's green. Never trust green food," he advises Ozzy, who blinks up at him.
"You're such a great role model," Sam says.
"I'm the best godfather there is."
Sam rolls his eyes. "There's other food too, you know. I think there are some canapés that have bacon on top."
"Can you get me some?"
"Do it yourself."
"But I'm a sad and lonely crippled man."
"No, you're a lazy idiot." The woman sitting opposite Dean looks at Sam in horror. "You've got hands, Dean. Use them."
"Not around Ozzy," Sam hisses, panicked- and then adds "Jerk" out of the side of his mouth.
Dean grins. "It's okay, Cas is bringing me something."
Sure enough, after Sam's disappeared, Cas arrives holding two plates. "Were there bacon things?" Dean calls.
"There were," Cas says, setting a plate down in front of him. "Now there's an empty plate."
"See?" Dean says, showing Ozzy one of the canapés. "This is why we love your uncle. Uncle-in-law? Kinda?" Dean shrugs. "Let's just go with 'the bacon guy'."
"I would really rather we didn't."
Dean tries one of the bacon things and finds there's cheese and pastry in there too, so it's really a good deal all around. He accidentally catches the eye of the bridesmaid sitting a few seats over- one of Jess' friends, Dean doesn't know her name- and nods and smiles.
"Hey," she says. "I'm Lisa."
"Dean," he introduces himself. "This is Cas."
"Nice to meet you," Lisa says. "I'd introduce my boyfriend, but he's…" She cranes her neck and looks around. "Getting drunk, apparently. It was a gorgeous ceremony, wasn't it?"
"Guess so," Dean agrees. "Good job, uh, bridesmaid-ing."
Lisa laughs. "Good job best man-ing," she says approvingly. "You're Sam's brother, right?"
"Caught me. How do you know Jess?"
"We went to the same yoga place," Lisa says. "She moved on, but I stayed, and now I work there."
"Follow your dreams, huh?"
"Beats retail," she says. "Do you work?"
"Yeah, actually," Dean says. "I tell people their cars suck for a living."
"He's a car advice specialist," Cas supplies, "and he's very good at it."
"I run a website with a woman named Charlie," Dean explains when Lisa looks confused. "She does the tech stuff, I do the car stuff, and there are a couple of other people who help out too. We pretty much just give people advice on cars. How to buy them, maintain them, repair them, sell them, whatever."
"Does it pay well?"
"Could be worse," Dean shrugs. "We don't charge that much, but we make money in other ways- we've got links with a few companies that offer discounts and then pass the saved money onto us, that kind of thing. It's early days, but it's looking good."
It had been the people on the car forum who gave him the idea. "I wish everyone was as helpful as you," somebody had written. "I'd seriously be willing to pay for your help, and I know other people would too." Before Dean knew it, Charlie was drafting the skeleton of a website, and Dean was looking into fundraisers to get their idea off the ground.
He doesn't tell Lisa about his other job, the one that gives him an extra cash injection once a week. He has the car forum to thank for that too- a reply to a post from another ex-motorhead coming to terms with a spinal cord injury had a stranger messaging Dean a few days later, offering him a column on her website.
It's a depression-slash-self-help thing that answers messages and questions from people who want somebody to talk to, publishing them with the best advice they know how to give (plus a long list of useful links and phone numbers). There are a bunch of different people who help out, but the majority of the bereavement, illness and injury related messages come Dean's way. Cas, Sam and Jess know the truth, but nobody else knows the identity of the sympathetic- if slightly brusque- man who seems to 'get it' so damn well.
"Are you part of the website?" Lisa asks Cas, who shakes his head.
"I'm a tax accountant, but I'm training to be a teacher," he says.
"Good luck," she whistles. "You always wanted to teach?"
"No, my brother gave me the idea." Cas and Inias talk a couple of times a week, and in a few weeks' time Inias is travelling down to stay with them for a while. Dean is torn between excitement about meeting Inias, and irritation that he's going to have to go a whole five days without sex; being caught by Cas' kind-hearted, pure-souled older brother really is not worth the risk.
"Cool," Lisa nods. "What subject are you interested in teaching?"
"Languages- Spanish, probably, but I could do others. There's a school nearby that caters exclusively to disabled or chronically ill children. I'd like to work there."
Lisa and Cas chat a while longer, and Sam swoops in to reclaim Ozzy. After a while, Dean catches Cas squinting at him.
"You're quiet," Cas states.
"Well, the nice lady in the corner's been staring at me for the last ten minutes," Dean says. Cas turns to look, not bothering with subtlety, and the woman immediately looks away. After a few seconds, though, her eyes flicker back to Dean. The grimace on her face is not a pleasant one.
Dean is distracted when Cas leans over and kisses him, his hand cupping the back of Dean's head. It lasts a solid five seconds- pretty weird, considering neither of them are the PDA type. Dean kisses back, because he's pretty sure that being inappropriate is like half the point of weddings, but he's still confused. He gestures so at Cas.
"I thought I'd give her something to stare at," Cas says, with a slight, unapologetic shrug. The woman is now averting her eyes completely, her face beet red. As far as solutions go, Dean's heard much worse.
Someone taps him on the shoulder, and he twists around to see Jess. "If you can put Cas down for five minutes, it's your speech soon."
"Gotcha. When?"
"Three o'clock," Jess says. It's ten to three now, so that gives Dean some time. He nods and she moves off, seeking out Sam and their son.
"If you do car stuff, you should talk to my boyfriend," Lisa says to Dean. "I think he probably drives the worst car in the world."
"Nope," Dean says immediately. "Cas has that covered."
"You like my car," Cas sighs, pushing a mouthful of pasta salad into his mouth. The conversation is an old, comfortable one, like a pair of jeans you keep meaning to throw out but can never quite bring yourself to.
"I kind of do," Dean admits. "It's like vehicular Stockholm syndrome."
"It can't be that bad," Lisa says comfortingly.
"It's green."
"Matt's is yellow."
"I am so sorry." Lisa sniggers, and Dean eats the last canapé on his plate. Say what you want about Sam's prissy catering choices- whoever he got, they're good with bacon.
"My car's better," Dean comments, brushing crumbs from his suit.
"You drive?"
"Hand control, baby. Goes like a dream."
"A nightmare, maybe," Cas grumbles. "Dean does not believe speed limits apply to him."
Dean still sees Benny every week- PT is very much an on-going thing, and if he wants his hands to stay as good as he's got them, it probably always be. Dean likes Benny too much to complain. Andrea is pregnant again, and Dean is enjoying hearing his tales of My Pregnant Wife Made Me Buy Grape Kool-Aid At 2AM; Jess had been disapprovingly level-headed throughout her own pregnancy.
Dean sees Ellen and Jody occasionally, Ava rarely, and Jo when she feels up to it. She's still getting sicker, and it hurts to see. It hurts a lot, actually, but there's nothing anyone can do about it. For now, Jo can still insult him, and make him laugh, and complain when he visits without bringing her something chocolate-based, and Dean focuses on those good things like bright stars in a dark sky. He still sees Tessa regularly, and as much as it may not feel like it, that's a good thing too. Life is not easy. It is, however, life- it is his, it is real, and it is so very worth it.
Jess reappears, Sam by her side and Ozzy on her hip. "Yo, bro," she says, handing him a microphone. "Your time has come."
Sam has drained of colour. "I'll be kind," Dean promises, but he doesn't think the grin spreading across his face is very reassuring. Sam sits down with Dean on one side and Jess and Ozzy on the other, and Dean taps the microphone a few times. When it seems to be working, he bangs it on the table.
"Sorry, but I can't exactly stand up," he says when everybody jumps in shock. He wheels himself back a little to give him a better view of the room and clears this throat. "I'm the best man and brother of this pain-in-the-ass you see before you, so apparently I've got to give a speech or something. I don't really do speeches, but you all know how Sam gets his panties in twist when things don't go to plan, so I'll give it my best shot."
In the audience, people titter and chuckle. Sam looks like he's about to pass out.
"When Sam was four," Dean begins, "he wanted to be a princess. No, don't deny it, I literally heard those words come out of your mouth."
"I didn't know what it meant," Sam says mournfully to Jess, who shushes him.
"He says he meant 'prince', but he says a lot of things. Like how it wasn't him who clogged the motel bathroom with army men when he was six, and it wasn't him who let the neighbour's dog out and ended up getting the other neighbour's dog pregnant, and it wasn't him who got so drunk in high school that he ended up passing out in a flowerbed and- you know what? Ask me about that one later, it's not age-appropriate. Anyway, Sam'll tell you that none of that was him. Nope. No way.
"So now that we've established he's a lying asshole- whoops, sorry kids, pretend you didn't hear that- I'll tell you that Sam doesn't think he's a good person. That he doesn't think he's made the right choices, and that he doesn't think he's a good brother or a good friend, and that he won't make a good father." The mood's more sombre now, laughter dying down and all eyes fixed on Dean.
"Now, I don't think he's lying about believing those things. I think he genuinely believes them, and I can't even begin to say how friggin' ridiculous that is. My brother is one of the kindest, smartest, most selfless men you will ever meet, and somehow- and I really have no idea how he did this- he found a wife who's just as good as him. I know, I wouldn't have thought it was possible either. They're gonna be kickass parents, because they've been a kickass brother and sister, and I could not ask for any better. I owe a lot of things to a lot of people-" and he glances at Cas now, only for a fraction of a second but that's long enough for Cas to notice- "and Sam is very much one of those people."
Dean smiles, a huge, happy thing that he can't seem to control. "Have a great day, little brother, and have a great life. I'm pleased to say that I'm gonna be around bugging you for a long, long time." He pauses. "And seriously, people, ask me about the flowerbed story."
Dean puts the microphone back on the table as the room erupts into applause. Jess looks like she might be crying- Sam does too, but that's hardly shocking.
"That was beautiful," Cas says quietly, and he raises a hand to Dean's face. Dean leans into the touch, smiling lazily as one of Cas' knuckles ghosts down the back of his neck.
"What can I say?" Dean says. "I'm that kind of guy."
One of Sam's college friends approaches their table, and Cas' hand drops to close around Dean's.
"Can I help you?" Dean says pleasantly when the friend reaches the table. Sam's already switching from 'tearful gratitude' to 'frantic pleading' mode, and Ozzy giggles delightedly at his father's misfortune. Jess holds him in her lap and smiles like she doesn't ever plan to stop.
"About the flowerbed-" the guy begins.
Dean pats the empty chair next to him. "Why don't you sit down?" he grins.
It is a good day, Dean thinks, to be alive.
- Rabindranath Tagore | <urn:uuid:23b46157-6343-4489-ac4e-5961b23c57fb> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9751617/7/The-Breath-Of-All-Things | en | 0.98684 | 0.071274 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Given its high rate among UK cities for employment in IT and programming, Dundee is fast becoming one of the most plugged-in places in Europe. High-profile employers are attracting digital talent from across the continent and assuring its status as a prospering city. Hire a car in Dundee and you too will be drawn to this vibrant city which also offers a great shopping district and some great nightlife; youll find us on Marketgait ready to help you get your car trip underway. The City of Discovery awaits you with many things to see and do in Dundee. | <urn:uuid:cd3286e5-43b8-45cd-b9a4-14247d20a480> | https://www.hertz.co.uk/p/car-hire/usa/illinois/dundee | en | 0.966032 | 0.019103 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Next Kilometer
The next kilometer is a son of a bitch. It is always in my head when it ought not be. It’s that embarrassing thing that happened when I was a teen. It’s that thing my friend said before he died. It’s the persistent worry that I will run out of money before I run out of time. It runs over and over and over, a pedal stroke, a free wheel, an absurdity.
The next kilometer is at least two kilometers long. It’s twice as steep as it was last time I was there, and I will surely blow up as soon as I get to it. There are monsters around every bend. There are potholes. The next kilometer is impossible, theoretical physics, antimatter, a unicorn.
This kilometer is hard enough. It deserves more of my attention. Honestly. I’m pedaling squares here. I’m slumped over like a drunk at closing time. How am I supposed to breathe like this? I’m going to crush these goddamned handlebars too. Loosen up, jackass. You’re burning watts with that death grip. Yes. Yes. This kilometer deserves much more attention.
The next kilometer is the cart, and I am the horse. It is the chicken, and I am the egg.
This kilometer is harder than it ought to be. Why am I so off today? Did I not eat enough? Did I not sleep well? Am I just off form? What the hell does that really mean? What is my form? Am I getting tendonitis in my knee? If this kilometer doesn’t give it to me, the next one probably will. Bernard Hinault had tendonitis in his knee. I am not Bernard Hinault.
The next kilometer. Is there a more pure expression of the future? In this present, everything is going worse in the future. It is going like it is going now, but more so. I don’t even dare think about the kilometer after the next kilometer. That would be pure hubris. That would be murder. Cain and Abel. Or worse, plucking that ancient apple and taking a bite. The stupid snake. Never trust a lizard with no arms.
The great mercy of cycling is that, at some point, the next kilometer becomes this kilometer enough that you run out of things to worry about, and you can slink off to the shower, pull on a fresh, clean shirt and some dry underpants, and begin the necessary process of revising the past, all those killer kilometers, into one nice smooth ride. Done. Dusted. And easy.
1. P Poppenjay
Thanks, Robot. I thought I was doing my last kilometer two years ago today. Turns out I was wrong. I’ve done two more and today I became 71 years and plan many more kilometers. Kilometers and expression of future? You bet!
2. todd k
P Poppenjay: Glad to hear you were wrong!
Fortunately when I failed that next kilometer yesterday the stakes were not high. I turned it into a recovery ride and that made everything better. And then I revised history a bit: “This was always a recovery ride. I always intendeded it to be a recovery ride. I was just joking around and goofing off a few moments ago when I put in that little bit of effort back there. If anything I am just a bit foolish for not adhearing to my recovery pace. But now I am doing some serious recovery riding. Like I always intended…”
3. Pingback: The Goat » Blog Archive » Suffering in the Saddle — The Gift that Keeps on Giving
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| <urn:uuid:b006a677-29a5-4c44-93bc-afda613157f4> | http://redkiteprayer.com/2011/11/the-next-kilometer/ | en | 0.961736 | 0.01981 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Recording: Edith Mathis, soprano; Brigitte Fassbaender, alto; Peter Schreier, tenor; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, bass; Karl Engel, piano [DG 449 641-2]
Published 1884.
Brahms’s return to the genre of mixed voices with piano accompaniment reflects the more mature style heralded by the masterpieces of the late 1870s and early 1880s. These quartets are quite different from the earlier dialogue-based quartets and duets (including the Liebeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder waltzes), and are more tightly argued than the first two of the Op. 64 quartets, with which they share aesthetic similarities. The pieces are unusually unified in mood, all having a very atmospheric or nocturnal quality. They also form a natural complement to the contemporary unaccompanied part songs, Op. 93a. Some of these also share the elegiac quality of Op. 92, and both sets end with a setting of a brief, aphoristic text by Goethe. The first quartet is the composer’s penultimate setting of Daumer, the poet whose words he used more often than any other. One of his most gorgeous creations, the quartet’s rapturous harmonies and gloriously illustrative piano writing set it apart, as does its exceedingly romantic mood. The second quartet is as melancholy as the first is rapt. Its distinctive, turning triplet melody exudes sadness and regret, although there is a hopeful major-key ending. The third quartet returns to the warmly nocturnal mood of the first, including the adventurous harmonies at the end of the second stanza and the magnificent ending, whose decreasing activity without decreasing speed is a trademark Brahmsian technique. The final Goethe setting uses unstable harmonies, restless rhythms, and intricate counterpoint to set its titular question. The response, which sets most of the poem in a new meter and tempo, transforms a melodic figure heard near the end of the “question” section and turns it into the main melody of the “answers.”
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck)
No. 1: O schöne Nacht
No. 2: Spätherbst
No. 3: Abendlied
No. 4: Warum?
1. O schöne Nacht! (O Lovely Night!). Text by Georg Friedrich Daumer, adapted from a Hungarian source. Andante con moto. Rondo form (ABAB’CA’). E MAJOR, 3/4 time.
German Text:
O schöne Nacht!
Am Himmel märchenhaft
Erglänzt der Mond in seiner ganzen Pracht;
Um ihn der kleinen Sterne liebliche
Es schimmert hell der Tau
Am grünen Halm; mit Macht
Im Fliederbusche schlägt die Nachtigall;
Der Knabe schleicht zu seiner Liebsten sacht -
O schöne Nacht!
English Translation
0:00 [m. 1]--Introduction. The piano begins with a large arpeggio reaching up from a very low opening pitch and stretching up four octaves in three beats over the chord of E major. This leads to a bar of gentle syncopations of a third in the right hand after the beat. The arpeggio and thirds are repeated a third higher, still outlining the same chord.
0:10 [m. 5]--Stanza 1, line 1 (A). Brahms treats the title line as a refrain. The four voices enter and move very narrowly, propelled by the downward-turning line in the bass. The soprano and tenor follow this and expand it slightly. Under the voices, the piano arpeggio is heard again, still another third higher. This time the piano breaks into reiterated octave E’s after the beat. After the voices drop out, these octaves continue, with the bass of the piano echoing the line of the vocal bass before reaching upward with two-note harmonies. The right-hand syncopations also imitate the very narrow vocal motion, still in octaves.
0:26 [m. 13]--Stanza 1, lines 2-5 (B). The bass presents the second and third lines with a leisurely melody that simply outlines the E-major chord at the beginning before gradually moving to the harmony of the “dominant” chord. The piano accompaniment consists of the continuing two-note harmonies in both hands, the left hand playing on the beat, moving upward, and the right hand after the beat, moving down. The right hand abandons the previous octaves in favor of thirds, sixths, and fourths such as those in the left hand.
0:42 [m. 21]--The tenor takes over for the fourth and fifth lines with a slightly more active melody that leaps up and down. The piano begins to play triplet arpeggios in the left hand with somewhat more filled out motion in the right, still placing the most emphasis after the beat. The tenor repeats “liebliche Genossenschaft,” beginning with a slight syncopation. He also ends his line on the “expectant” dominant.
0:55 [m. 28]--Stanza 1, line 1 (Refrain, A). The tenor leads into the refrain with another slightly syncopated entry. After he states “O schöne,” the other three voices enter for their presentation of the line as at the beginning (including the piano arpeggio). The tenor must repeat “schöne” after his lead-in. The small piano interlude that followed the first presentation of the refrain is omitted.
1:05 [m. 33]--Stanza 2, lines 1-3 (B’). The alto sings the first line (twice) and the first part of the second line to the same melody the bass had used at 0:26 [m. 13]. Revealingly, the piano accompaniment under her is almost exactly the same as the music of the interlude that had preceded the bass entry! After this “interlude” music is complete, the right hand breaks into a more flowing syncopated line as the alto completes her phrase.
1:20 [m. 41]--The soprano takes the rest of the second line and the third line, beginning in a similar manner to the tenor at 0:42 [m. 21]. The soprano line quickly diverges, however, repeating “mit Macht” and expanding to six leaps to the top note (the tenor only had two). She is much more exuberant and does not settle to a gentle half-cadence as he did. The piano part is completely new, breaking into a much faster motion with left-hand arpeggios and right hand trills that graphically illustrate the singing of the nightingale. The name of the bird (“die Nachtigall”) is repeated.
1:28 [m. 45]--As the soprano completes “die Nachtigall” with the expected motion to the keynote E, the harmony in the piano makes a strong and sudden motion (in a so-called “deceptive” cadence) to the distant key of C major. The cascading right hand arpeggios are in faster groups of six. The piano very quickly quiets down in preparation for the next line.
1:32 [m. 47]--Stanza 2, line 4 (C). Brahms marks that this passage should be quite subdued (sotto voce in the piano and mezza voce in the voices). The tenor and bass present the line with a rapt C-major duet. There is a distinct countermelody in the top voice of the piano above fast arpeggios in the right hand and slower ones in the left. The word “sacht” (“quietly”) is repeated four times, with rests between the repetitions. The piano breaks into triplets alternating between the hands, the right hand playing on the vocal rests. This creates the effect of two 4/4 bars superimposed on 2 bars (plus 2 beats) of the prevailing 3/4. The first and third statements of “sacht” are over a mysteriously dissonant “diminished seventh” harmony.
1:46 [m. 54]--The last beat of the bar [m. 53] restores the 3/4 meter. The tenor and bass continue their duet, leading into the repetition of the line by all four voices. When the women enter, they sing to the harmonized countermelody heard in the piano with the previous tenor/bass duet. The piano itself begins the previous tenor melody in its top voice, later imitating this in its bass. This is a very elegant alternation of music between voices and piano. Because the tenors and basses led into the repetition, they repeat the word “seiner” and the line is extended by one bar. The repetitions of “sacht” are the same as before, except that the women join the harmonies and the piano right hand is an octave lower.
2:01 [m. 62]--Stanza 2, line 5 (Refrain, A’). The voices enter strongly on the last beat of m. 61, restoring again the 3/4 meter and holding their chord for another full bar. With the piano, which begins playing the faster arpeggios again, they sing another “diminished seventh” harmony. This helps them to pivot very smoothly back to the home key of E major. They then settle down and continue their statement of “O schöne Nacht” as before, but holding one chord longer and repeating “schöne” to extend it by yet another bar. More left hand arpeggios are also added under the extended right hand after-beat octave syncopations.
2:14 [m. 68]--The bass leads into a second statement of “O schöne Nacht” that emphasizes the “dominant” harmony and swells in volume, increasing the tension. The soprano repeats no words, the alto and tenor “schöne,” and the bass “schöne Nacht.” The piano continues its now moving (not repeated) octave after-beat syncopation with short left-hand arpeggios.
2:22 [m. 71]--The soprano now leads into a final statement of the refrain that settles to the close with heavy cross-rhythms, the soprano singing a beat before the others. The piano returns to its repeated octave E’s, still after the beats. All voices except the soprano begin with “schöne” and all voices repeat “O schöne.” The warm final chord, which brings the voices together, is supported by the familiar E-major arpeggio, which is then reiterated with a faster rolled chord.
2:43--END OF QUARTET [76 mm.]
2. Spätherbst (Late Autumn). Text by Hermann Allmers. Andante. Varied strophic form. E MINOR, 3/4 time.
German Text:
Der graue Nebel tropft so still
Herab auf Feld und Wald und Heide,
Als ob der Himmel weinen will
In übergroßem Leide.
Die Blumen wollen nicht mehr blühn,
Die Vöglein schweigen in den Hainen,
Es starb sogar das letzte Grün,
Da mag er auch wohl weinen.
English Translation
0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza 1, line 1. Low bass piano octaves set the song in motion. The lower three parts, in repeated chords, lead into the faster melody presented by the soprano. The piano begins a characteristic accompaniment with detached triplet arpeggios in the bass and chords or octaves, also detached, in the right hand. The effect is imitation of plucked strings. The soprano, on “tropft,” introduces a highly characteristic downward turning melody in triplets. The alto, harmonized by the tenor, imitates the turning melody.
0:14 [m. 6]--Stanza 1, lines 2-3. The soprano leads into a statement of the downward turning “triplet” melody a step lower, on “Wald.” The soprano moves faster than the other parts. The bass skips the word “Wald” to catch up to the soprano, while the alto and tenor again trail her with a harmonized imitation. The bass and soprano proceed with line 3 as the alto and tenor complete their line with “Heide.” Line 3 is a gently arching melody. The alto and tenor still lag behind with the text. The piano continues its pattern.
0:26 [m. 11]--Stanza 1, line 4. The soprano swells to a passionate high note on “Leide,” where she again sings the downward turning figure. As she finishes her line, she drops out. The alto catches up with the text in time to imitate the downward turning figure on “übergroßem.” The tenor does not harmonize it in rhythm this time, and sings on slower notes, sometimes moving with the bass. The bass himself has sung “übergroßem” on much longer notes so that he can add a second trailing voice behind the alto on “Leide.” The lower three parts finish the word “Leide” together as they settle down, the bass having held it from the imitation. The soprano, alto, and bass have sung the same triplet melody in a chain of descending octaves.
0:40 [m. 16]--Stanza 2, line 1. The piano briefly breaks its constant motion for the lead-in from the lower three voices. It is much shorter this time, only a beat and a half before the soprano enters. Her line is the same as in stanza 1, but the other three parts are different, especially the tenor, who harmonizes not only the alto
s imitation of the triplet melody, but also the soprano’s first presentation (on “wollen” and “nicht”). The piano right hand is also changed. It has longer connected chords instead of detached chords and octaves.
0:48 [m. 20]--Stanza 2, lines 2-3. Again, the soprano is the same as in stanza 1. The alto is very close. The tenor and bass are again quite varied, with the tenor harmonizing both the soprano and the alto in the triplet melody (on “schweigen” and “in”). The piano right hand still plays connected chords. The parts all come back to their stanza 1 forms during line 3.
1:01 [m. 25]--Stanza 2, line 4. With the exception of the smooth piano chords in the right hand, line 4 begins exactly as in stanza 1 in all four parts, with the triplet melody on “weinen” in the soprano and “auch” in the alto. But at the point where the bass imitation would be expected, there is a change. The alto instead repeats her triplet melody, now on “weinen,” and makes a beautiful shift to the major key. The soprano does not drop out. This extends the line by a bar. The bass follows with a varied version of the triplet melody. The piano, in an inner voice, doubles the triplet melodies of the alto and bass. The top three parts repeat “auch wohl weinen,” the bass “wohl weinen,” with the second “weinen” on his triplets.
1:14 [m. 30]--The trailing alto and tenor add an extremely gentle, lilting cadence in the major key. The bass extends his line with a third “weinen” and is in fact the last voice to end. The piano breaks its pattern and inserts rests. These subvert the triple meter in the final bars of postlude that trail the vocal cadence.
1:31--END OF QUARTET [33 mm.]
3. Abendlied (Evening Song). Text by Friedrich Hebbel. Andante. Two-part form with common opening passage (ABA’C). F MAJOR, 4/4 time.
German Text:
Friedlich bekämpfen
Nacht sich und Tag:
Wie das zu dämpfen,
Wie das zu lösen vermag.
Der mich bedrückte,
Schläfst du schon, Schmerz?
Was mich beglückte
Sage, was war's doch, mein Herz?
Freude wie Kummer,
Fühl ich, zerrann,
Aber den Schlummer
Führten sie leise heran.
Und im Entschweben,
Immer empor,
Kommt mir das Leben
Ganz wie ein Schlummerlied vor.
English Translation
0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza 1 (A), lines 1-2. The piano establishes the pattern that will be constant throughout the stanza. The left hand bass is played in octaves with a constant two-bar formula, first a rising arpeggio, then a broken downward cadence gesture. This is moved according to the harmonies. The right hand follows the octaves with descending chords after the beat. After a two-bar introduction establishing the pattern, the voices enter with the first two lines, all singing together in gentle harmony with a descending melody. The bass voice somewhat follows the piano bass, and the inner voices trail behind at the end of each line.
0:15 [m. 7]--Stanza 1, lines 3-4. The piano follows the same pattern, but now the right hand after-beat chords arch up and down. The voices still sing together. Line 3 makes a striking harmonic motion to D major, but line 4 quickly restores the home key of F after the soprano reaches her highest pitch. This line swells dramatically in volume. The words “zu lösen vermag” are repeated (the soprano nearly an octave lower) to confirm the cadence and settle back down. The two-bar introduction is then repeated.
0:33 [m. 15]--Stanza 2 (B), lines 1-2. The piano suddenly drops out. The bass presents a descending melody on line 1, imitated by the alto and tenor harmonizing in sixths. The piano then enters in stark bass octaves, also imitating the descending line of the vocal bass. The lower three voices then sing line 2 in very quiet, mysterious harmony, the piano still playing only bare bass octaves. The questioning line is repeated, growing very strongly in volume. These lines also move to D, first minor, then major.
0:48 [m. 21]--Stanza 2, line 3. The piano drops out again as the voices reach their high point. The soprano, who has rested, enters on a high note (F), as the others sing their last “Schmerz.” The voices come together and become quiet again. They move back again to the home key (F), the soprano singing plaintive half-steps. The voices reach a dissonant “diminished seventh” on “beglückte.”
0:53 [m. 23]--Stanza 2, line 4. The voices continue to sing on unstable, tension-filled, but very quiet diminished seventh chords. The piano enters, again playing the bare octave bass line. After “Sage,” there is a pause from voices and piano. When they re-enter, the piano is still on bare bass octaves. The voices have diminished sevenths on “was” and “doch,” then pause again before finally resolving to a half-cadence on “Herz.” A piano bridge with arpeggios in contrary motion leads back to the opening music.
1:09 [m. 29]--Stanza 3 (A’), lines 1-2. The music is as in stanza 1, lines 1-2, but without the introduction.
1:18 [m. 33]--Stanza 3, lines 3-4. These lines begin similarly to the corresponding lines in stanza 1, but instead of moving to D, the goal is a half-step lower, D-flat, with darker colors. To help with the transition back to F, the word “leise” is stretched out with long held notes. The following descent is also slower, roughly doubling the values of the corresponding moment on “lösen” in stanza 1. The rise and fall in volume is much less dramatic, the previous forte not indicated here by Brahms.
1:30 [m. 39]--Stanza 4, lines 1-2 (A’, continued). For the first two lines of the last stanza, Brahms lengthens the material of A. The lower voices enter on a long upbeat, and all sing in a narrow range. The soprano’s entry sweeps down on line 1, then back up on line 2. Also in line 2, the piano finally begins to break from the constant pattern, holding bass notes over bar lines.
1:39 [m. 43]--Stanza 4, lines 3-4 (C or Coda). For these lines, the motion gradually decreases. This has already begun with the piano bass. The right hand chords after the beat are reduced to thirds, and they are sustained. The piano bass begins to be more static, placing emphasis on a descending octave F. The voices, propelled by soprano and bass, sing gently rocking phrases. They pause after “ganz” and again after “wie.” The piano right hand also inserts pauses there. The piano drops out for the florid “Schlummerlied.”
1:55 [m. 49]--At “vor,” the voices avoid a full arrival and lead into a very quiet repetition of the two lines. The melody is a third lower. The piano accompaniment is reduced to longer chords on weak beats, the bass now only playing the rising and falling octave F’s. The moving line is now in soprano and tenor, and the soprano adds extra rests after “mir” and in the middle of “Leben.” “Schlummerlied” is again sung without piano, but the moving lines are now in alto and tenor instead of soprano and alto.
2:14 [m. 56]--The voices finally reach their full cadence on “vor.” The piano enters with them for a postlude. The bass is the same two-bar pattern used in stanzas 1 and 3, but with note values twice as long. The right hand, entering after the beat, plays figures recalling the gentle rocking motion in the last section. Finally, the bass is reduced to one falling octave with a right hand response on the second half of each bar. A warm, rich rolled chord ends this extremely atmospheric setting.
2:36--END OF QUARTET [60 mm.]
4. Warum? (Why?). Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Lebhaft (Lively)--Anmutig bewegt (Gracefully moving). Two contrasting sections, the second of which contains three subsections resembling varied strophes. B-FLAT MAJOR, 4/4 and 6/8 time.
NOTE: This piece is not to be confused with the great motet Op. 74, No. 1, also often called “Warum?”
German Text:
Warum doch erschallen
himmelwärts die Lieder?
Zögen gerne nieder
Sterne, die droben
Blinken und wallen,
Zögen sich Lunas
Lieblich Umarmen,
Zögen die warmen,
Wonnigen Tage
Seliger Götter
Gern uns herab!
English Translation
SECTION 1 (Lebhaft--4/4). Lines 1-2
0:00 [m. 1]--The piano ascends in powerful, vigorous chords on the “dominant” harmony of the home key. They play in dotted (long-short) rhythm. At the last moment, the harmony is diverted unexpectedly to G-flat major, where the voices enter together powerfully on the question word “Warum.” The soprano continues with the question on a wide melody (a downward arpeggio and a dissonant upward leap), moving from G-flat to B major. The strong chords of the piano in dotted rhythm are heard again under her line.
0:10 [m. 6]--The voices all enter again on “Warum” as the soprano finishes her line. The alto, overlapping with the soprano, begins her own statement, moving to C major. When the other voices enter again, overlapping the alto, the men state “Warum” and the soprano repeats the second line with the continuing alto. The bass then begins his statement of the line, with a more conventional motion from C to F major. The dotted-rhythm piano chords again underpin both the alto and bass lines.
0:18 [m. 11]--The tenor’s presentation of the line is quite different. All voices enter together again, with the tenor beginning his line while the bass finishes it. Things settle down, however, the piano being reduced to F-major chords, then bass octaves. The women repeat “Warum” twice, then continue with “doch erschallen,” as does the bass, who only states “Warum” once and trails them slightly. The tenor’s moving line introduces a new, wider-ranging downward-upward leaping sequence. The motion is home to B-flat.
0:25 [m. 15]--The soprano takes over the tenor’s leaping sequence, bringing it to the forefront. All voices sing “himmelwärts die Lieder,” the soprano and tenor repeating “himmelwärts” twice. Under all of this, the piano begins a new, less assertive accompaniment in flowing arpeggios. The music has settled on B-flat.
0:31 [m. 18]--The voices, after a pause, present two more isolated statements of “die Lieder.” The soprano does not sing in the second one. The harmony of both these and the piano arpeggios becomes active. Through a so-called “augmented sixth” chord on the first “die Lieder,” the key moves to D major. This change of key places the final question mark on the inquiry. The piano, under the last “Lieder,” moves to oscillating bare octave D’s in both hands, continuing them in a one-bar bridge to the second section.
SECTION 2 (Anmutig bewegt--6/8). Lines 3-11
0:42 [m. 23]--Subsection 1, lines 3-5. The answers all begin with “Zögen,” a subjunctive word meaning “would pull,” “would lure,”
“would draw,” “would entice,” etc. The voices enter in the new meter in gracefully flowing block harmony, in the main key of B-flat. The main melody is the leaping sequence sung by the tenor and the soprano around 0:25 [m. 15]. The piano plays flowing, arching arpeggios. These break apart into isolated rising arpeggios in lines 4 and 5. The men lag slightly behind the women in line 4. Line 5 moves to F major.
0:56 [m. 30]--Subsection 2, lines 6-7. The piano bridges to the next subsection and back to B-flat. It begins as had the first one., with line 6 slightly varying line 3. The piano right hand plays melodic octaves before “Lunas” is repeated, with the men trailing the women. The music moves to G-flat major, a key heard early in Section 1. The piano breaks as “Lunas” leads into line 7, then plays isolated rising arpeggios again.
1:14 [m. 38]--Subsection 3, lines 8-10. The piano bridge is similar to the previous one. The motion back to B-flat is more abrupt. Line 8 is similar to line 6. In line 9, the women begin before the men, but stretch “wonnigen” out, the soprano holding a long note and the alto repeating the word. Under this, the piano breaks again, as it had at the corresponding spot in subsection 2. The music changes keys again, this time to D major, another prominent key in Section 1. After two rising arpeggios, the piano breaks again under line 10, where the voices sing together, the bass lagging slightly behind. The piano enters again under “Götter.”
1:32 [m. 46]--Subsection 3, line 11. For the last line, Brahms breaks apart the men and women, who sing in canon (direct imitation), both pairs singing in thirds. The women’s entrance moves back to B-flat. The men enter as the women reach their last note and syllable. The piano plays the isolated rising arpeggios from here until the end.
1:40 [m. 50]--The women enter before the men sing “herab.” They lead a second canon on the line. This time, rather than moving in strict thirds, the alto has a beautifully leaping and sighing line on “gern.” The men imitate them with only a short breath at a much closer distance than in the first canon. The bass has the leaping, sighing line. The women hold “uns,” allowing the men to catch up. All four voices sing the final sonorous “herab” together. The final piano arpeggios under the last vocal chord quietly slow to the end.
2:12--END OF QUARTET [55 mm.] (runoff after 2:03) | <urn:uuid:e825b560-134c-45eb-b830-ccfec18fa6e2> | http://www.kellydeanhansen.com/opus92.html | en | 0.848433 | 0.0721 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Kalanga rock art, Zimbabwe
This art tradition is painted using the finger and in white. It found at a number of rock art sites in and around the Matobo Hills of Zimbabwe.
Like most other rock arts of Bantu-language speakers this art was made for mnemonic purposes during an initiation ceremony, in this case a boy’s initiation ceremony.
Each image was a symbol that could be recognised only by the initiated. Outsiders could see the painted subjects such as giraffe and elephant, but they could not penetrate the secret symbolic meanings and teachings encoded in the subjects.
Search the database | <urn:uuid:569ba568-24d8-44c8-b122-da2455123126> | http://www.sarada.co.za/traditions/african_farmers_/kalanga_rock_art_zimbabwe/ | en | 0.93528 | 0.020924 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Issue: November 2008 Evidence Supports New Approaches for Reducing the Risk of Macular Degeneration
Evidence Supports New Approaches for Reducing the Risk of Macular Degeneration
Learn about the pathogenesis of MD, how to identify patients at risk and prevent it through diet and nutritional supplementation.
By Lloyd I. Snider, OD
Advances in science and modern medicine have increased life expectancy. Living longer, however, implies nothing about the quality of life. The aging of the baby-boomer generation coincides with an expected epidemic rise in vision impairment caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Current estimates report that 30 million people worldwide have AMD, and the number is expected to double or triple in the next 20 years. The associated costs are astronomical. As gatekeepers for vision care, eyecare practitioners can play an important role in preventing vision impairment from AMD and reducing healthcare costs by proactively screening their patients for risk and taking appropriate measures to reduce that risk.
Prevention represents a paradigm shift from the traditional model of "sick" health care. This is of particular importance because the public is relatively unaware of what AMD is, and that it's 2.5 to 3.5 times more prevalent than glaucoma.
An important component of this paradigm shift is the elimination of the words "age-related" from age-related macular degeneration. AMD is a misnomer (hereafter referred to as MD). Although the disease may present itself late in life, current thinking suggests that ocular changes begin decades before the onset of signs or symptoms.
The words "age-related" imply that younger people don't need to be concerned about the disease, creating a false sense of security. This false sense of security hinders the ability of eyecare practitioners to drive home the concept of screening, detecting, intervening and preventing.
The MD Patient
Clinicians don't see the problem of MD the way patients do. We look into their eyes, but they must look out of them. It's easy to become jaded when the involvement is through peripheral experience. For the MD patient, life is altered far beyond the examination room evaluation. Visually, aside from the loss of central visual acuity, patients experience a loss of contrast sensitivity, color vision, depth perception, glare recovery, facial recognition as well as reading and driving ability. Practitioners need to be more sensitive to the emotional toll that vision loss takes on the lives of their patients. MD patients experience a sense of loneliness, isolation, helplessness, depression and a loss of independence. It can be a devastating experience. Understanding all of the disease's ramifications will propel every eyecare professional to the highest level of commitment in a common effort to prevent the continued rise in MD cases.
Theories of MD Pathogenesis
Although the exact mechanism of MD has yet to be determined, two very strong theories for its pathogenesis have come to the forefront: oxidative stress from cumulative blue light damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage.
An evolutionary theory of MD is worthy of mention. Because the basis for evolution is reproduction, once we're beyond the reproductive years, dormant genes could become active. These genes could set in motion the aging processes that lead to MD by promoting light-induced oxidative stress and ROS damage.
The macula is a unique and miraculous structure. It's arguably the most at-risk part of the human body. Not only is it sensitive to light stimulation, but the light that reaches it is focused to a high intensity. The eye is particularly vulnerable to blue light damage, also known as high energy visible light (HEV). HEV encompasses light from 400 nm to 500 nm.1 The abiotic effects of HEV-induced damage are permanent and cumulative over a lifetime. The delicate macular tissue is also among the most active of tissues in our body, which necessitates a high rate of cellular metabolism. Supporting this high rate of metabolism is the critically located blood-rich choriocapillaris and, to a lesser extent, the perimacular retinal arcades and a cilioretinal artery (present in 25% of eyes). The byproduct of an accelerated rate of metabolism is the production of a large number of ROS.
ROS and Free Radicals
ROS encompass all of the unstable molecules produced as a result of HEV photochemical reactions, as well as normal cellular metabolism for the creation of cellular energy, including retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) phagocytosis and the photosensitizers. The high oxygen level present in the macula, coupled with its high metabolic rate, creates an extreme number of ROS that need to be quenched. An ROS subcategory, called free radicals, consists of atoms or molecules high in energy and in need of electrons, such as superoxide, nitric oxide and the hydroxyl ion.2 Free radicals aren't too particular about where they take the electrons from, and damage to molecules needed for proper cellular structure and metabolic processes results.
ROS also encompass other atoms or molecules, such as singlet oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid, which even with a full complement of electrons are unstable. In the macula, the production of an excess of ROS, beyond the quenching capability of the existing antioxidants, leads to photoreceptor phospholipid (polyunsaturated fatty acids or "PUFAs") oxidation (an easy source for electrons) and damage. This phospholipid oxidation leads to the formation of lipofuscin, which when accumulated, is commonly known as drusen. The oxidized phospholipid, now in need of an electron, continues a cascade of electron stealing.2 Lipofuscin is an aggregate of nondegradable oxidized lipids (known as A2E) and protein particles. Recently, oxidative damage also has been implicated as an inducer of an inflammatory response that can hasten the entire process.3
The predominant antioxidants available to the retina include vitamins A, C and E, and the three macular carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin. Collectively, lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin make up the macular protective pigment (MPP). Zinc is present in the macular tissue, but it facilitates the process of eliminating the ROS and isn't an actual antioxidant.
A recently published study4 describes a breakthrough discovery as to how antioxidants protect the photoreceptors and other retinal cells. The study shows how A2E, which doesn't break down, can build up in the cells. The creation of A2E, a component of lipofuscin, is a natural byproduct of cellular metabolism. In the presence of HEV-induced oxidative stress, A2E disrupts the normal functioning of mitochondria, and cells die. A cell can't sustain viability without adequate energy production. The study showed that antioxidants could counter the damage. This appears to be evidence-based validation of the protective role of MPP.
The European Eye Study5 similarly concluded that exposure to blue light and a low serum level of antioxidants is associated with the development of MD.
Other evidence recently has surfaced concerning the protective role of carotenoids. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study6 on the effects of oral lutein and zeaxanthin on skin, a mechanism of action for carotenoids has been clearly demonstrated. Women given 10 mg/day versus placebo were found to have four significant beneficial changes. They experienced measureable increases in skin hydration, elasticity and lipid content and a decrease in skin lipid peroxidation. The decrease in lipid peroxidation would appear to be the same mechanism and benefit that MPP carotenoids provide in the macula.
High-Energy Visible Light Hazard
Exposure to blue light can accelerate aging of the eye because the damage threshold for the RPE is lowest for blue light.7 The primary mechanisms for blue light damage are thermal and high energy (actinic). Absorption of blue light in the RPE and choroid can cause an increase in temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage. Likewise, HEV at low levels, with extended duration, can cause photochemical damage. It doesn't take many of these very high-energy short-wavelength photons to produce permanent biological damage over time.8 HEV, outside of blue, isn't known for causing significant rises in temperature. Studies have shown that blue light can cause macular hypopigmentation, as seen in MD. The potential for damage is increased for individuals who spend a significant amount of time outdoors, don't wear appropriate solar-blocking eyeglasses and don't wear hats. Consideration must be given for indirect and scattered blue light exposure. This applies even more for children, who spend a great deal of time outdoors and whose ocular pigmentation hasn't achieved adult protective levels.
Risk Factors
Many risk factors have been associated with the development of MD. There have been some conflicting studies, but the general consensus classifies them as follows:
1. Nonmodifiable risk factors. Age, family history/genetics, female gender, light iris color/pigmentation, hyperopia and diabetes.
2. Modifiable risk factors. Carotenoid/dietary deficiency, smoking, obesity, lifetime sun exposure, cardiovascular disease, diet lacking in antioxidants, elevated serum lipids, alcohol consumption and a sedentary lifestyle.
A common thread runs through most of these risk factors: a decrease in serum carotenoid and antioxidant levels, or a decrease in blood perfusion through the perifoveal retinal arcades and/or choroidal capillaries, which would have the same effect. Age has its own associated decrease in carotenoid levels and blood flow. Smoking is thought to increase the risk for MD by decreasing blood flow, oxygen and serum carotenoid levels and the level of antioxidants while increasing ROS.9 Likewise, excessive alcohol consumption decreases serum carotenoid and antioxidant levels.10
Dealing With HEV, Free Radicals
The human eye at birth is void of the protective pigment layer, consisting of carotenoids that deal with HEV and ROS. The introduction to carotenoids comes from a mother's milk. Humans don't possess the ability to manufacture them. Out of the more than 600 carotenoids that exist in nature, only three are found in the macula: lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin. These three carotenoids make up the MPP, which is the yellow layer known as the macula lutea (yellow spot).
Carotenoids must be consumed to enter the blood stream and be actively transported to, and accumulated in, the center of the macula. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a chemical analysis that separates and measures individual molecule quantities, performed on tissue from autopsy eyes has shown the presence of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin. Serum analysis, however, only shows the presence of lutein and zeaxanthin, leaving the source of meso-zeaxanthin a mystery. In one study involving carotenoid-deprived monkeys, one group had only lutein introduced to the diet, while another group had only zeaxanthin introduced. Post mortem evaluation showed that those given lutein had both lutein and meso-zeaxanthin in their macula, while those given zeaxanthin had only zeaxanthin.11 This indicates that meso-zeaxanthin is created in the center of the macula from lutein. The exact mechanism of conversion has not yet been determined, but speculation is high that the process is enzyme-mediated.12 Carotenoids have been shown to be safe and nonmutagenic.
Powerhouse Carotenoids
Researchers have long been aware of the existence of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin, but the bulk of information, published in chemical and research journals, has only recently become more widely available. Many new research projects are on the horizon and are expected to lead to an explosion of new articles. MPP has been linked to a decreased risk of heart disease and cancer and the prevention or slowing of cataract development. Carotenoids are water insoluble and transported by lipoproteins.13 Therefore, they need fat to be absorbed. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is the good cholesterol that's elevated as a result of statin drug therapy. HDL is thought to be the main lipoprotein vehicle for transporting lutein in serum. The possibility of statin intervention and carotenoid supplementation synergy is an intriguing area of ongoing research.
Critical Location of MPP
MPP resides in the Henle photoreceptor axon layer and the inner and outer plexiform layers of the macula and is bound there by the common structural protein tubulin.14 The optically dense MPP is ideally situated to protect the macular tissue. This critical location places it anterior to and independent of the melanin-rich RPE (Figure 1). The MPP is likened to a "shield" protecting the tissue below. The macular carotenoids are architecturally positioned for maximal antioxidant and light filtration activity. In addition to cellular protection, the MPP is thought to enhance vision by decreasing chromatic aberration and removing atmospheric blue haze. The macula is the only place in the human body where the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin accumulate at a concentration 10,000 times that found in blood. Amazingly, it's the only site in the human body where meso-zeaxanthin exists.15
Figure 1. The optically dense macular protective pigment (MPP) is located anterior to and independent of the melanin-rich retinal pigment epithelium, making it ideally situated to protect macular tissue below.
Macular Carotenoid Distribution
Across the macula, MPP distribution takes the form of a mountain, peaking centrally at the foveola and declining to nil at an eccentricity of 7°. Meso-zeaxanthin concentration is greatest at the peak of the mountain (Figure 2) and decreases rapidly away from the peak. The concentrations of lutein and zeaxanthin are higher at the lower elevations and decrease to nil as they approach ground level, at 7° eccentricity. The favorable positioning of meso-zeaxanthin is discussed below.
Properties of Meso-zeaxanthin
Meso-zeaxanthin resides directly over the center of the macula, where light is focused and where the strongest need for hazardous actinic blue light protection exists. It's the strongest antioxidant of the three, and it allows for a wider range of blue light filtration. In nature, meso-zeaxanthin has been isolated in shrimp, certain turtles and yellow fish skin.16 Although not normally a part of our diet and undetectable in blood serum, meso-zeaxanthin is of such importance to the eye that it's exclusively manufactured there. As a result of meso-zeaxanthin supplementation, increased macular protective pigment density (MPPD) has shown the carotenoid to be actively transported to and accumulated in the macula.17
An MPP deficiency can result from an insufficiency in dietary carotenoids, an inability to absorb them or a lack of ability to convert lutein into meso-zeaxanthin. The inability to create meso-zeaxanthin is a theory that is gaining in popularity. Using a densitometer, which measures carotenoid levels at varying degrees of eccentricity, a dip was discovered in some patients at the MPP mountain top, where meso-zeaxanthin should be located. Further research involving a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study will soon be conducted at the Waterford Institute of Technology, Macular Pigment Research Group, in Waterford, Ireland. This study should give credence to or debunk this theory.
Measurement Instruments
Currently, two devices are available for measuring low MPPD, one of the primary risk factors for MD: the MacuScope (MacuChek, West Bloomfield, Mich.) and QuantifEYE (ZeaVision, Chesterfield, Mo.). The MacuScope has been validated as a true heterochromatic flicker photometry (HFP) device. Its accuracy has been matched to other research instruments, such as Raman spectroscopes, scanning laser ophthalmoscopes and densitometers, which have been shown to be too expensive and cumbersome for practical use.
Attributes of HFP
HFP utilizes two alternating light sources: a blue light at a wavelength of 460 nm and a green light with a 540-nm wavelength. The blue wavelength is absorbed solely by the MPP, present only in the central macula, while the absorption of the green wavelength is unaffected by the MPP.18
To determine the amount of blue 460-nm light absorbed by the MPP, testing is split into two threshold measurements that must be taken. One is through the center of the fovea where the highest concentration of MPP is found. The second is at an eccentricity of 8° where the MPP doesn't exist (Figure 3). It's critical that the second reference point be determined to accurately measure MPPD. Without this control measurement taken and subtracted, only an estimated MPPD will result.
Figure 3. The MacuScope, using heterochromatic flicker photometry, takes two measurements. One is through the center of the fovea where the highest concentration of macular protective pigment (MPP) is found. The other, a reference point, is at an eccentricity of 8° where the MPP is nil.
When the alternating blue/green stimuli is viewed, green isn't perceived. The colors are fused into a blue pulsating light. For each part of the test, a circular neutral density filter is rotated in calculated steps of increasing density, or decreased light transmission for the blue stimulus. This is done until the patient identifies the null point or minimum level of pulsation. The null point occurs when the brightness (luminance) of the blue 460-nm stimulus matches the brightness of the green 540-nm stimulus. The difference in luminance between the two measurements has a logarithmic relationship to the MPPD, which is calculated and quantified in units of absorption. Remember that the MPP filters out and removes some of the blue 460-nm light; therefore, more blue light is required for the fovea measurement than for the parafovea measurement.18 Only one eye needs to be tested, because no statistically significant difference between the two has been found, even though one eye may develop MD earlier.
The resulting printout contains the two measurements, the calculated difference (MPPD), and an automatically calculated grading based on a normative database. The scale for the normative database also is printed out. The eyecare practitioner determines the need for interventional supplementation therapy based on MPPD and other risk factors for MD the patient may have.
Taking a psychophysical (subjective) test requires a patient who can understand the instructions, fixate steadily and make a fine discrimination. The test requires a visual acuity of 20/40 or better, can accommodate +6.00D to -6.00D uncorrected refractive error, or can be done with contact lenses or eyeglasses. HFP has been proven to be accurate and repeatable. In addition, clinicians can use the MacuScope to detect acquired MPP loss over time and monitor the impact of therapeutic intervention.
Effective Supplementation
For patients with a low MPPD or a low average MPPD coupled with other risk factors, practitioners can prescribe an oral supplement that contains all three carotenoids. Currently, MacuHealth with LMZ3 is the only available triple carotenoid supplement (Table 1). It contains lutein-10 mg, meso-zeaxanthin-10 mg and zeaxanthin-2 mg (proprietary formula). It doesn't contain the AREDS formula, which is only indicated for patients with significant drusen. In addition, it doesn't contain any of the long list of ingredients (up to 45) found in many designer-type supplements. Patients need to take just one LMZ3 capsule per day, not multiple capsules multiple times, which fosters compliance. Because carotenoids are absorbed through fat intake, patients should take the capsule with the fattiest meal. LMZ3 has no known drug interactions, side effects or contraindications. Patients get excited that the effects of supplementation can be measured, which results in family referrals.
Table 1. MacuHealth with LMZ3 is the only available triple carotenoid supplement. It contains lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin and has no known drug interactions, side effects or contraindications.
Studies have shown that increases in MPPD can be measured in 6 months, at which time the patient should have their MPPD rechecked.19 Most patients will plateau at approximately 2 years. At that time, clinicians should give consideration to cutting back from daily to every other day, and check the patient periodically for an MPPD decline.
AREDS Report 2220 focused on the 4,600 participants from the original AREDS study. Each of the participants had one of the four stages of MD. The researchers gathered extensive dietary information and evaluated dietary consumption of vitamins A, C, E and carotenoids to determine if any correlation existed between their intake and progression of MD. The conclusion was that only the dietary intake of carotenoids correlated with a decreased rate of progression for any of the four stages of MD. This makes a very compelling case for placing every patient at any stage of MD on a triple carotenoid supplement. Unfortunately, the AREDS 2 study (due for completion in about 5 years), which is evaluating the possible benefits of lutein and zeaxanthin and omega-3 fatty acids in combating MD progression, doesn't include meso-zeaxanthin.
The average Western diet contains fewer than 3 mg of lutein and zeaxanthin daily.21 Approximately 20 mg of carotenoids per day are needed to effectively repigment the macula. That translates to about a bucket of green leafy vegetables per day. It would be very difficult, or next to impossible, to raise MPPD through diet alone.
In studies to date, once the macula is repigmented, some patients have experienced improvements in their visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color appreciation and glare recovery time.22 Patients who have had photo-documented macular drusen and low MPPD have been treated with LMZ3. Their MPPD significantly increased, and subsequent retinal photographs showed a disappearance of central drusen (Figure 4 and Figure 5). More cases are being collected.
Figures 4 and 5. In some patients treated with a triple carotenoid supplement, macular protective pigment density (MPPD) has increased and central drusen have disappeared.
Science Supports Nutrition
The old mantra of eating well to stay healthy is finding new and convincing support. The eye is under constant assault from blue light, ROS, medications, pesticides, genetics, ozone, pollution, alcohol and tobacco. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Aside from sunglasses and hats, diet and nutrition appear to be the best strategy for preserving and maintaining good vision for a lifetime. Along with some key nutrients, it's the antioxidants and the dual role of the carotenoids serving as both antioxidants and blue light filters, that appear to be the key protectors of healthy vision.
A broad spectrum of antioxidants has been indicated as protective of the macula. They include vitamins A, C and E, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, L-glutathione and beta-cryptoxanthin. Other nutrients linked to playing a key role in macular health are zinc, copper and selenium. Microvascular blood flow increase has been associated with ginkgo biloba and bilberry extract. Polyphenols and the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) exhibit anti-inflammatory and macular protective qualities.
Most likely, the dual action of the dietary carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin represent the 1–2 combination punch for protecting the macula.
Looking Ahead
Eyecare practitioners should take a more proactive role in educating patients about the lifestyle choices that can put their vision at risk. This conversation should go beyond sports, sun exposure and occupational needs. Lifestyle issues such as diet and nutrition, smoking and obesity must be addressed.
Ongoing research, in the United States and abroad, likely will determine in the near future that multiple definitive links exist to further tie MPP supplementation and macular repigmentation to protecting the macula from MD development and progression. Preventive care via risk assessment, coupled with effective early intervention, may end the battle against MD that leads to permanent vision loss. OM
Dr. Snider is in private group practice in Bloomfield Twp., Mich. He's a consultant for MacuChek and has a minority interest in MacuHealth, LLC. Dr. Snider has written and lectured on macular degeneration prevention, screening and supplementation.
1. Ham WT, Mueller, HA. The photopathology and nature of blue-light and near-UV retinal lesion produced by lasers and other optical sources. In: Laser Applications in Medicine and Biology. New York, NY: Plenum Press; 1989;191–246.
2. Beatty S, Hui-Hiang K, Phil M, Henson D, Boulton M. The role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Surv Ophthalmol. 2000;45:115–134.
3. Hollyfield JG, Bonilha VL, Rayborn ME, et al. Oxidative damage-induced inflammation initiates age-related macular degeneration. Nat Med. 2008;14:194–198.
4. Vives-Bauza C, Anand M, Shirazi AK, et al. The age lipid A2E and mitochondrial dysfunction synergistically impair phagocytosis by retinal pigment epithelial cells. J Biol Chem. 2008;283:24770–24780.
5. Fletcher AE, Bentham GC, Agnew M, et al. Sunlight exposure, antioxidants, and age-related macular degeneration. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126:1396–1403.
6. Palombo P, Fabrizi G, Ruocco V, Fluhr J, Roberts R, Morganti P. Beneficial long-term effects of combined oral/topical antioxidant treatment with the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin on human skin: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2007;20:199–210.
7. Boulton M, Dontsov A, Jarvis-Evans J, Ostrovsky M, Svistunenko D. Lipofuscin is a photoinducible free radical generator. J Photochem Photobiol B. 1993;19:201–204.
8. Glickman RD. Phototoxicity to the retina: mechanisms of damage. Int J Toxicol. 2002;21:473–490.
9. Armstrong, RA. Is smoking a risk factor for AMD? Optometry Today, Feb. 21, 2003:42–45.
10. Ritter LL, Klein R, Klein BE, Mares-Perlman JA, Jensen SC. Alcohol use and age-related maculopathy in the Beaver Dam Eye Study. Am J Ophthalmol. 1995;120:190–196.
11. Johnson EJ, Neuringer M, Russell RM, Schalch W, Snodderly DM. Nutritional manipulation of primate retinas, III: effects of lutein or zeaxanthin supplementation on adipose tissue and retina of xanthophyll-free monkeys. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005;46:692–702.
12. Bone R, Landrum J, Friedes L, et al. Distribution of lutein and zeaxanthin stereoisomers in the human retina. Exp Eye Res. 1997;64:211–218.
13. Yemelyanov AY, Katz NB, Bernstein PS. Ligand-binding characterization of xanthophyll carotenoids to solubilized membrane proteins derived from human retina. Exp Eye Res. 2001;72:381–392.
14. Bernstein PS, Balashov NA, Tsong ED, Rando RR. Retinal tubulin binds macular carotenoids. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997;38:167–175.
15. Khachik F, de Moura F, Zhao D. Transformations of selected carotenoids in plasma, liver, and ocular tissues of humans and in nonprimate animal models. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2002;43:3383–3392.
16. Maoka T, Arai A, Shimizu M, Matsuno T. The first isolation of enantiomeric and meso-zeaxanthin in nature. Comp Biochem Physiol B. 1986;83:121–124.
17. Bone RA, Landrum JT, Cao Y, Howard AN. Macular pigment response to a xanthophyll supplement of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin. Nutr Metab. 2007;4:12.
18. Bone RA, Landrum JT, Heterochromatic flicker photometry. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2004;430:137–142.
20. Age-related Eye Disease Study Research Group. The relationship of dietary carotenoid and vitamin A, E, and C intake with age-related macular degeneration in a case-control study. AREDS Report No. 22. Arch Ophthalmol. 2007;125:1225–1232.
21. Nebeling LC, Forman MR, Graubard BI, Snyder RA. Changes in carotenoid intake in the United States: the 1987 and 1992 National Health Interview Surveys. J Am Diet Assoc. 1997;97:991–996. | <urn:uuid:77e47651-8d18-4ce8-8d09-024950e0e6b8> | http://www.visioncareeducation.com/article.aspx?article=102340&a=om | en | 0.907957 | 0.062627 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
AMPL > >Faqs
Sets and Indexing
Why doesn’t AMPL interpret the expression T..1 as I expect?
In general, AMPL interprets a..b as {a, a+1, a+2, ..., b-1, b}. Thus when T is greater than one, T..1 is an empty set. To specify the ordered set that goes from T down to 1, write T..1 by -1.
Why does “set S := 50 .. 70″ give me a set of only 3 members?
You have declared set S in your model and set S := 50 .. 70 in your data. Set expressions are not recognized in AMPL’s data mode, however. Instead AMPL tries to recognize 50 .. 70 as a space-delimited list of members of S, with the result that it has found three members: the numbers 50 and 70, and the string "..".
To define S to equal 50 .. 70 by use of your data file, first declare S in your model by
param begin;
param end > begin;
set S := begin .. end;
Then state in the data file:
param begin := 50;
param end := 70;
Alternatively, it’s legal to give set S = 50 .. 70 as your declaration of S. This is a less desirable approach, however, because it moves some of the specific data values into the model.
I have declared “set S” and “param b {S}”. How do I write an AMPL expression for the arg min of b[i] — that is, the s in S such that b[s] equals the minimum of b[i] over all i in S?
There’s no specific arg min operator in AMPL. However, proceeding directly from the definition, you can define the arg min explicitly by a set expression like
{s in S: b[s] = min {i in S} b[i]}
This expression gives a subset of S, however, containing all of the members of S that achieve the minimum. To get just one member representing the arg min, you can define this to be an ordered set,
set b_argmin ordered := {s in S: b[s] = min {i in S} b[i]};
Then first(b_argmin) is guaranteed to be one member of S that minimizes b[i].
As an alternative, you can use AMPL’s for and if commands to write a script that loops over S to compute the arg min explicitly:
param bmin;
param imin symbolic in S;
let bmin := Infinity;
for {i in S} {
if b[i] < bmin then {
let bmin := b[i];
let imin := i;
In general this is a slower alternative than defining b_argmin as above. It admits a greater variety of generalizations in complex cases, however.
How can I get AMPL to index over the “power set” consisting of all subsets of a set?
AMPL can index model components by objects (numbers and character strings) but not by sets of objects. Hence you can’t model a power set directly. You may be able to get the same effect, however, by constructing a numbered list of subsets.
As an example, suppose that you want to index over all subsets of the set of the first n nonnegative integers. You can declare:
param n integer > 0;
set S := 0 .. n - 1;
set SS := 0 .. 2**n - 1;
set POW {k in SS} := {i in S: (k div 2**i) mod 2 = 1};
Since there are n members of S, there are 2**n subsets of S. Hence there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the members of the set SS := 0 .. 2**n - 1 and the subsets of S. By use of a simple encoding, you can make this correspondence explicit; the indexed collection of sets POW above is declared such that POW[k] is the kth distinct subset of S. (To see the whole power set, type display POW.)
Much the same can be done for an arbitrary ordered set S:
set S ordered;
param n := card {S};
set SS := 0 .. (2**n - 1);
set POW {k in SS}
:= {i in S: (k div 2**(ord(i)-1)) mod 2 = 1};
Either way, you can use indexing over POW to get the effect of indexing over the power set. In the following example, each member s of S has a weight Wt[s], and the average “weight” of all members of any subset of S is constrained not to exceed n/2:
var Wt {S} >= 0;
subj to MaxWt {k in SS}:
sum {i in POW[k]} Wt[i] <= (n / 2) * card(POW[k]);
A more involved example, which represents a traveling salesman problem as an integer program, is provided in tsp.mod. Constraints like this can be useful for studying and testing certain formulations of combinatorial problems, provided that the underlying set (S in our example) is kept to a reasonably small size.
subject to balance0 {j in PROD}:
Why do I get an “invalid subscript discarded” message when I display an AMPL parameter?
Either a data table gave values for the parameter with incorrect subscripts, or the parameter’s indexing set changed, causing some previously valid subscripts to become invalid. For example, in the diet.mod + diet.dat example (Figures 2-1 and 2-2) of the AMPL book, values of parameter cost are supplied for all eight members of set FOOD:
ampl: display cost;
cost [*] :=
BEEF 3.19 FISH 2.29 MCH 1.89 SPG 1.99
CHK 2.59 HAM 2.89 MTL 1.99 TUR 2.49
If you remove the member CHK from FOOD, using for example a let command, then you get a message that cost["CHK"] has also been dropped from the data:
ampl: let FOOD := FOOD diff {"CHK"};
ampl: display cost;
Error executing "display" command:
error processing param cost:
invalid subscript cost['CHK'] discarded.
cost [*] :=
BEEF 3.19 HAM 2.89 MTL 1.99 TUR 2.49
FISH 2.29 MCH 1.89 SPG 1.99
Since cost["CHK"] has now been dropped, no further error message will appear if you type display cost again.
To avoid error messages of this sort, you can define a more flexible set structure for your model as shown in dietflex.mod and dietflex.dat. The auxiliary set DIET_DROP defaults to empty, so that the problem is solved for all foods; but you can change DIET_DROP to {"CHK"} to solve without member CHK:
ampl: model dietflex.mod;
ampl: data dietflex.dat;
ampl: option show_stats 1;
ampl: solve;
8 variables, all linear
6 constraints, all linear; 47 nonzeros
1 linear objective; 8 nonzeros.
MINOS 5.4: optimal solution found.
13 iterations, objective 118.0594032
ampl: let FOOD_DROP := {"CHK"};
ampl: solve;
7 variables, all linear
6 constraints, all linear; 42 nonzeros
1 linear objective; 7 nonzeros.
MINOS 5.4: optimal solution found.
3 iterations, objective 117.3218891
Changing FOOD_DROP does not affect the set FOOD_ALL, and consequently all of the subscripts in the data remain valid. | <urn:uuid:e24cf3c1-e2fb-4af4-987a-43a151c7a83a> | http://ampl.com/faqs/category/setsindexing/ | en | 0.842939 | 0.257405 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
1. Got another tweet from Dale Murphy last night. Which is a dream come true. As a kid back in the 80s I’d watch him play on TBS and think, “Wow, I’d love to get a tweet from him.”
2. Grammar rules are for the little people. We can’t say ‘midgets’ anymore, right?
3. This week I’ve eaten quiche twice, drank hot tea, read a poem and started Jane Eyre. I’m afraid Driscoll is going to tweet, “Farewell Matt Redmond.”
4. You don’t think Murph thinks I’m the Christian singer, do you?
5. I go back and forth with Gingrich…I mean sometimes I’m reminded of Monty Python but sometimes I immediately think of fruit cookies.
6. I may or may not be looking over my wife’s shoulder while she peruses Pinterest right now.
7. Not all that glitters is glitter.
8. Wait, do Mormons listen to CCM?
9. My wife showed me a bacon recipe on Pinterest and didn’t pin it. I don’t even know her anymore.
10. The laughter of my children has all the magic of stars at eye-level. | <urn:uuid:df62bbbf-51bd-413a-bdb1-9380fb26b891> | http://mattbredmond.com/2012/01/19/thursdays-random-thoughts-30/ | en | 0.922377 | 0.056755 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Thursday, 22 November 2012
When I Needed Sunshine I Got Rain
Random picture of a water lilly, taken on our honeymoon
Yesterday morning the rain came down as if someone had left the tap on 'upstairs', but by the afternoon it was brilliant sunshine. Yesterday morning I didn't even really feel like getting out of bed (I had too - toddlers are pretty effective at dragging you out), but by the afternoon everything was right with the world and I felt like I could actually get something done (the reality of having two small children is very different, but hey, the thought was there!). Today, the good old 'can't be arsed' fairy is fluttering round my head and yep. it's windy, grey and cold out there.
I've never been diagnosed with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but like many people I do get very down in the winter due to the lack of sunlight. I have thought about investing in one of those UV lights, but to be honest the ones that actually work cost a lot more than I can justify at the moment.
The house is frankly a disaster zone, with so much needing sorting, but with the fairy of can't be arsed in near-permanent residence, that's way down the list. In fact, I don't even particularly feel like doing anything I actually enjoy as something started usually ends up as something never finished!
Even this post was going to be longer, but I'm not really managing to put my finger on what I actually want to say. I'm not even sure what I am trying to say, really!
Our situation isn't great at the moment (not that we are any different from many others) and we just seem to be in limbo, unable to make any kind of move, which is what's so frustrating.
Anyway, hopefully I'll be back soon with happier things to say and share. Thank you if you've made the effort to read this x
pastcaring said...
Liz, I struggle with motivation too, and often let stuff become overwhelming by putting off dealing with it. I know this is a bad strategy, and I always feel better for DOING something, even if I don't love doing it at the time! Just getting through the day with 2 small kids at home is hard work, so try not to feel too bad.
Small steps will get you there. xxx
Vix said...
Krista swears by her light box, I know they're expensive but it's probably a darn sight cheaper than my bi-annual return flights to India!
I think you do brilliantly considering you've got two little 'uns! xxx
delia hornbook said...
im really sorry your struggling. I to get low during the winter months i struggle with the dark nights and the cold etc. We have decorated our frontroom and i have lots of pinks, purple and yellow flower fabrics in it and put white on the walls and it may sound daft but it makes me feel so much better as its a bit more light and summery in here. If i could jet off during the winter months goodness that would be heaven. Having little ones is hard to but they give you a great reason to get up and going. Don't be to hard on yourself and remember your not on your own with the way your feeling. Big hugs to you, dee xx
KatGotTheCream said...
The can't be arsed fairy is most definitely in residence at my place a lot of the time at the moment. But I do feel better when I get stuff done. It's just getting started that's the problem. Let's not beat ourselves up too much x
Misfits Vintage said...
Hope you feel better soon. Sarah xxx | <urn:uuid:62136708-6b6d-43d2-9d14-b4dcde3f03a3> | http://pacificrobin.blogspot.com/2012/11/when-i-needed-sunshine-i-got-rain.html | en | 0.981826 | 0.069039 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Archive - blogs RSS Feed
Wine and facebook; all very two point oh
Web2.0, Wine2.0, Life2.0
I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that just as anything and everything became eAnything, then iAnything, we now have Anything2.0.
The simplest way to make your product sound ‘hip and with-it’ (unlike that phrase) is to add that 2.0 at the end, but what does it really mean? Wine2.0 is something that is being quoted more and more often, especially by bloggers who see themselves as those leading the new revolution in wine. I have recently joined various groups of fellow wine bloggers on facebook, and this is one of the topics for discussion.
Well, actually it isn’t. It is apparently assumed we know what this all means, and this is what lets such developments down. If we don’t know what we are doing, how can we do it together?
Some of the leaders of this group, and organisers of an event actually entitled Wine2.0, have described the reasons for it as follows:
“We set Wine 2.0 up to draw a line in the sand that divided the first batch of wine companies founded during the dotcom boom (most died a horrible death, some several times over), from a new generation of entrepreneurs rejuvenated by their love of wine and the prospects of fresh, new and creative thinking.”
I find that uninspiring, as it would seem to boil down to “we are doing the same as before, just better”.
What is it that characterises truly “new” developments in wine, worthy of a “next generation” label such as Wine 2.0?
Most of the past developments, even on the web, were really just new forms of retail. They may have included more information than before and new ways to select preferences (e.g. Virgin Wines as was), but essentially they did the same job as before the world wide web arrived in the wine world.
The real differences are emerging in the areas of wine blogs, community tasting note sites, interactive cellar management, and even collaborative wine making schemes.
The difference is the involvement of the consumer in many more aspects of the business of making, branding, tasting and selling wines. It is very difficult to actually make your own wine (well) so the vast majority of consumers have absolutely no understanding of this process. It is magic. As long as wine retains its mystique, this might be a positive thing, but it also helps to keep pressure on prices.
Now, anyone can read the thoughts and about the daily routines of winemakers on their blogs, and even ask them questions. There are videos to watch about viticulture and the harvest, sites to read, watch and share tasting notes, and even schemes to allow you to make your own wines. I suspect that this will transform wine in a much more fundamental manner than the wine trade currently expect; it is ever thus with revolutions.
The missing link is how to make this a seamless part of everyday life (not a chore), AND KEEP IT FUN. Also, any site that wants to build on trends and links needs to reach a critical mass, fast.
This is where facebook comes in. Whatever brings you to facebook (scrabble, finding old school friends, searching for a date, political activism, …) the power of the site is its ability to build communities from shared interests. If you want to find someone else who likes music by Imogen Heap, simply click on her name in your profile (I got over 500 matches in my London network). The application even logs all the music I play and builds a “neighbourhood” of people that have similar tastes to me which I can share through facebook.
It is quite easy to see how this could, in theory, translate to wine. Wine has not got there yet, but it will. Those who establish themselves early are likely to become highly influential and it will be very interesting to watch it happen.
One tip, look out for a certain Mr Vaynerchuk as he is likely to be a player.
Next, some thoughts on how wine bloggers are using facebook.
| <urn:uuid:c9dbafe4-9045-44a8-85db-dee9942053a1> | http://wineconversation.com/category/blogs/page/34/ | en | 0.972574 | 0.022916 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Holdin’ Out… For a Real Hero
Shrek - Holdin' Out For A Real HeroThe release of the highly anticipated and much praised HTC Hero on Sprint left me nothing but underwhelmed. After writing my post about making a decision between Sprint’s first two Android offerings (see The Great Debate), I came to the agonizing decision that I just wasn’t ready to commit. No, I’m not saying that I’ve given up on Android, heaven forbid… but, I just can’t bring myself to buy the Hero.
A mere day after the Hero’s release, I moseyed on over to my local Sprint store to get my hands on this sweet li’l piece of hardware. Here are my thoughts…
[begin rant]
1. The “back” button
For something that’s used more frequently than a urinal at Wrigley Field, I can’t fathom why HTC and Sprint decided to put the back button where they did. It’s in the hardest possible position to reach. Unless you control your phone with two hands (which, to me, is just weird, unless you’re typing), the back button could give you arthritis of the thumb in a matter of months. My cousin says, “You get used to it.” Well, I don’t wanna get used to it! I don’t want the problem in the first place! You don’t buy a bed that hurts your back just because you’ll eventually get used to it. That would be moronic.
Why is the search button above the back button? That’s where the back button should have gone. I don’t know about you, but I use the back button far more than the search button. It has to be closer to the bottom of the screen. It just has to. This is a huge design flaw. Way to go Sprint. Maybe next time, you could look at the other Android phones in our universe before you evoke your, self given, right to sit on your lazy butt and ignore the problem with the original Hero’s terrible back button position. Most other Android phones were done right… MyTouch 3G, Galaxy, Tattoo, Cliq, Moment, Xperia 3, Liquid, and Droid. Why not the Hero?
2. The browser
Okay, so I don’t really have the right to complain about this since it’s the same on all Android phones, but why can’t you pull up the address bar by scrolling up to the top of a web page (like on the iPhone)? Wouldn’t that be easier than having to click a hardware “menu” button, and then making another selection?
Not only that, but the lack of an on-screen “back” can make someone mad. It’s not that hard to implement. Maybe they could add gestures to the browser. That would be nice. A fast swipe to the right or left could be used to easily navigate your way across the Interwebs.
The multi-touch was also kinda slow, but I think that was because the Flash content never fully loaded, causing pages to respond like a comatose turtle. I’ll be nice though… at least it has Flash. Kudos there.
For the most part, this is an Android problem, and not really the Hero’s fault, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. I just figured that if HTC is going to make improvements to the browser, they might as well do it right. I also figured that after Sprint decided Android wasn’t good enough for them to use, maybe they’d have taken the time to spice it up a bit more. Hear what I’m saying?
3. The processor
What in the blazing saddles of Hades was Sprint thinking when they released a phone with a 528 MHz ARM11 processor right smack in the middle of Snapdragon (and Hummingbird) phones being announced? Don’t you dare say they didn’t know those phones would be announced, because they have people who are paid to know these things. Don’t they realize how badly they need to attract new subscribers? Don’t get me wrong–I love Sprint; but this is just a dumb move. Sure, the Moment will be much faster, but it’s still no Snapdragon. It’s just a faster ARM11. Come on guys…
After seeing Verizon’s Droid phone (running a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8), I wonder what the future holds for Sprint’s Android line. According to people who have used Droid, the thing is barely thicker than the iPhone, yet it still manages to pack a QWERTY keyboard, 5 MP camera with flash, and is crazy fast. That’s pretty insane! If Verizon didn’t want me to take out a second mortgage to pay for their ridiculously overpriced phone plans, I would for sure switch over. Droid does. The ads don’t lie.
For Sprint’s sake, I really hope they have some Snapdragon or Hummingbird based phones in the pipes because I’m growing impatient. I need to have a phone that can handle future upgrades–and handle them well. The ARM11 processor (in Hero and Moment) just doesn’t cut it. It’s outdated (designed in 2003, by the way). It barely seems capable of handling the Hero’s robust interface. 2010 will usher in the faster droids, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the money to upgrade twice.
To understand more about the processors, see… Engadget – Core Values: The silicon behind Android
[end rant]
I’m not saying that the Hero isn’t a good phone. I think it has a lot going for it. In spite of all the above mentioned problems, I still really like it. If I had one, I would love it, cherish it, and brag about it to all my friends, making them feel as if nothing else can compare to the amount of coolness that it bestows upon me. It’s feature-packed, fun to use, and not to mention, a slick lookin’ li’l devil.
I just don’t get Sprint’s strategy. Shouldn’t they be trying to raise the bar? Isn’t Android their chance to do that? Why settle for the Hero? Why not release a phone with a little more juice and a better design? Why not storm the market with the best of the best? Hey, Verizon’s doing it. Even shots of their version of the Hero (yet to be confirmed) have the back button in the right place. My money will continue its slumber in the dark depths of my pocket until Sprint releases a phone that’s worth me giving up my $30 SERO plan. Sprint, it’s your move. Don’t let me down.
And yeah, I may need a hero… but this just ain’t it.
About author
AndroidGuys 4670 posts
• Nedjo
really don't understand why you rant on Sprint, and all you do is speak about HTC hardware?
Sprint doesn't decide where do buttons go, or what type of processor does manufacturer puts inside!
Regarding the processors, in the article youre mentioning you can find clear explanation why does HTC uses Qualcomm MSM 7201A – it's indefinitely cheaper than any Cortex-A8 chip out there, and one more thing – Qualcomm doesn't have Cortex-A8 processors, and HTC only uses Qualcomm!
Yes HD2 uses Snapdragon, but that's completely another league when it comes to prices + I reckon that proper Snapdragon optimization with in Android will arrive only with 2.0, and that's not an option for Time-to-Market goals that Sprint and HTC had for Hero!
Finally Hummingbird is Samsung's customization of Cortex-A8 core (actually done by Intrinsity for Samsung) , and we're yet to see proper SoC based around Hummingbird…
hope these explanations bring some peace to you 😉
• Benjamin Rubenstein
Look, I'm a huge Sprint fan. In my opinion, they are, hands down, the best cell phone provider in the US. But we have to look at facts. To say that Sprint doesn't have a say in the designs of their phones is bull. Sprint chose to have their version of the Hero redesigned, that much is obvious. They could have done it however they wanted, and they chose a terrible button layout.
Regarding the processor, you make a very good point that I didn't even think about. Thank you for bringing it up. I learn something new everyday, but that doesn't change the fact that the Hero can barely handle Android with Sense a few apps running. Sprint didn't wanna release an Android phone until it was ready for prime time. Yet, they released the Hero, which is clearly lacking in many areas (for whatever reason). That's why I "rant on Sprint." They failed in what they set out to do. Maybe they shouldn't have went with HTC if they couldn't get enough juice outta them. That's a whole 'nother debate.
I agree with your points, but these are the issues that bothered me after my initial encounter with the phone. I have been waiting for a SprintDroid for a long time now, and sadly, the Hero let me down. Sorry, but I had to let it out somewhere… Thanks for listening :)
• Stefan
I think you're mistaken – the Hero isn't a sprint phone. It's been out in europe for like 6 months now, and is basically an attempt by HTC to make itself seen as real phone designer, as opposed to a cheap provider for carriers. Looking at pictures I don't see differences between the euro version and the sprint one…
Not really related, but I think the arrangement where the carrier designs the phone is the real bull. They're a carrier ! They carry your bits ! What if your internet provider tried to design and sell you computers ? Or the post office tried to design and sell pens and office furniture ? That would be bad, that's what :p
Sure, we get subsidies and that was good for a while, but … you see where I'm going. Something like, don't want to give up your plan ? Buy your own phone !
• aversusb
The article was well presented until you brought up the SERO plan. I am SO tired of SERO legacies complaining. I understand you like your great rate plan…but you have to get with the times if you want the top of the line phones.
• Benjamin Rubenstein
I agree 100%. I'm totally cool with upgrading to a more expensive plan, but for me, someone on a tight budget, I'd like to keep my SERO until an upgrade worthy phone comes out. For me, the Hero isn't quite there. I wish it was…
• YungFavor
Exactlyyy!! and why is the Droid so superior to the cliq??? moto gave the Droid a faster proccesor, bigger screen, flash (camera), and 2.0 donut?!?!?!?!
• Benjamin Rubenstein
My point exactly. If Verizon can do it, why can't Sprint? After all, Sprint needs it much more. Don't they?
• http://twitter.com/zuggy @zuggy
The hero isn't a new phone, it's been out in Europe for almost as long as the G1 has been out in the US. My point being HTC didn't release a new phone with a 528Mhz processor, it's just the first time the Hero has come across the pond.
There are also other browsers. Although not exactly what you're looking for, Steel is a big improvement in UI over the default browser.
• http://twitter.com/kylepozan @kylepozan
The phone is plenty quick. It benefits greatly from the 288MB of RAM.
In addition, most people don't pay attention to processor speed when purchasing a phone. Only people like us. That is why Sprint released a phone with the 528Mhz ARM 11 processor. Nobody knows any different.
• Matt
Had to comment: that's one terrible Photoshop. -1 for the picture.
• Benjamin Rubenstein
LoL. Thanks. I didn't think it was THAT bad. I actually thought it was pretty good :(
-1 for your comment. Wassssup!!!
• Vale
Oh come on. You call this a rant? Give me a break! You only complained about three things and one of them is Android-based, not exclusive to the Sprint Hero. The first complaint is trivial. Sure, they could have placed it on the upper-right where the search button is — it would have made much more sense. But yeah, you get used to it in MINUTES.
You want a real rant?
1. Sending text messages using the native Messages app kills battery life. When you send a text using the native app, your phone never goes back to sleep even when the screen is off. Battery life is quickly depleted. The solution? Download a third-party SMS app, turn off notifications for the native Messages app, reboot your phone and never use Messages again. Total BS that one has to do this in order to conserve battery life and make sure the phone is genuinely sleeping during sleep mode.
2. The phone is "awake" and not in sleep/standby mode when it is charging, whether the screen is on or off. I mean, seriously? Way to eat into resources.
I could go on and on, but this is a comment I'm writing and not a blog post.
• Benjamin Rubenstein
I know I didn't go all out with this rant, but that's because this is just my first impression based on a half hour in the Sprint store fiddling around with the phone. If I had used the phone for an extended period of time, my rantings would have probably caused a temporarily shutdown of the entire Interwebs. Yeah, that bad… Good thing for everyone that I didn't have enough hands on with it, right?
My cousin has been complaining a lot about the Hero since he got it a li'l over a week ago. He's been saying the same things you are. I'm surprised that Sprint allowed the phone to be released in its current state. The battery life thing is a huge problem. You'd think, the larger battery would at least get you through the day (regardless of the fact that CDMA uses more power than GSM). Oh, and his texts are screwed up too.
Next rant is all yours buddy… Good thing your 30 days aren't up yet.
• Macj
Ahem – One word that will wake you up from Verizons Droid – LAG.
I played around with it a few days back and the thing's lag is so friggin irritating.
Sprint's Hero isnt the greatest but its miles better than Verizon Droid.
Good luck combating lag issues on your droid.
• Benjamin Rubenstein
For real? Everything I read about it says that the lag is virtually non-existent and that Android 2.0 runs ridiculously smooth. Oh man… That stinks.
Wait… how'd you get to use it? Was it a prototype or the final model? That could make a difference. Do tell…
Oh, and I don't need luck. I ain't getting the Droid. I hate Verizon. Oooo, next rant topic. [evil snickering]
• Macj
I work for a company that writes help manuals, we specifically asked them if this was the final product being shipped to customers and the answer was it was.
Sorry but both the cliq and droid have lag issues, you can take a look at the video on youtube, you'll see lag just swiping between screens, it gets worse when you try to multi task.
The other writer had one that would not get back from home screen#3 you had to turn off and turn on again , that was certainly a bug.
• Benjamin Rubenstein
Wow, that's pretty messed up. BGR seemed to love it. It just goes to show you how desperately the world needs Snapdragon and Hummingbird processors. Is Android 2.0 nice though? Do you find it to be more polished and feature rich?
• Rich
My HTC Hero review and comments to the reviewer!!!!!!
One thing you might be overlooking is that in nearly every application including Browser, When you press the menu key….there is a pop-up menu, with forward and back arrows and other options including bookmarks.
Hit Menu in nearly every app and "voila"….more options…fast and just what you need….like a genie in a cell phone.
Too many reviews with too many fly by night people that seem to only know half of what the device can do.
I have spent over a week 8 hours a day loading apps, trying fixes for improving battery life, (thanks to countless posts on Sprint discussion forums and others) including getting rid of any Advanced Task managers because the phone manages apps fine and app conflicts with the Droid functions.
Switching to Handcent or Chomp and killing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and mobile data….not only save battery life but after doing a reset (i.e. turning the phone off with the end call button and then turning it back on will reset the awake tine……so you can monitor IF the phone is actually turning off……I am getting 9-20% awake time depending on usage now.
Go to Menu, Settings, scroll to About Phone, tap, taps on Status, scroll to bottom and compare Up Time to Awake Time to monitor your battery drain. Note: you can hit end call after noting the “awake time” and check it in a few minutes..and if it doesn’t change….then your Hero is sleeping like it should.
Also, adding too many apps at any one time WILL overload the memory temporarily and eventually KILL the phone function and begin a series of force close tabs….You will not get the phone back without deleting apps…and may not be able to access a forced reset.
Get X-Uninstaller and delete the last 5-6 apps you downloaded…and the phone comes back….give it a rest for a day and then slowly add a few apps at a time.
So far, I have over 75-100 apps and my Hero flies…..no widgets except "Quick Settings'…an "all in one management" app – with all the widgets in one – that need to be turned off when not necessary to save battery life…….I also have Handcent, Fast Call, Voicemail, and a screen dimmer APP called Brightness Level on my main page and that’s it.
Also, My Backup Pro is pretty powerful for saving data and apps to the SD card and restores after resets if they are absolutely necessary.
Flexillis Mobile Security is an extremely good app to keep your device safe. It has anti virus scanning/protection plus a firewall. Its backup function will backup your contacts, photos, call log, mms, sms's and pretty much anything else you want it to their online site. And there is a phone locater also as part of this app.
Continued below
• Benjamin Rubenstein
Re: "fly by night people"
I hear what you're saying, but just because I only used the Hero for 1/2 an hour doesn't make me a n00b. I know my way around Android like you know your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. True, this review touches on some issues that are Android problems and not specifically Hero related.
Re: "Hit Menu in nearly every app and "voila"….more options…"
I don't like using the Menu button to pull that stuff up. Why can't there just be an on-screen back and forward button when browsing the web? Why does it require 2 clicks? I just don't get. Sure, the Menu button makes sense for other options, but for basic navigation? Come on… I just felt that if they re-made the browser for Sense, then they should have re-made it right (with 1-click, on-screen, buttons).
Re: All the rest
Why should I have to do all of that stuff in order to get decent performance out of a phone that I just paid $180 for? Shouldn't a smartphone be intrinsically better than a dumbphone? I don't think performance and battery life are a fair trade-off for looking cool and running lots of apps. The fact that you have to spend a million hours optimizing your phone is ridiculous.
• Rich
Power Manager is great for battery monitoring.
There's so much this phone can do and it seems that way too many novices flying by the seat of their pants are in a rush to get on you-tube with their video reviews, in addition the bloggers and so called tech journalists offering VERY limited knowledge of EVERYTHING the HERO does.
And comparing it to the IPhone. The IPhone is great, but droid just may challenge Apple to reinvent themselves. And we benefit from the tech wars. Something new has come along and bashers and defenders are slinging their opinions and more. Why not just do comparisons, take the high road and lay off the slams. You don’t and I DO! Tech is as diverse as people, We are all different. What a concept. Diversity!
Verizon’s Motorola Droid will have a bigger screen and 2.0 firmware, but will not be that much faster. The Moment will please some desiring a real keyboard. And then the differences get into personal preference.
As more people start adding apps and crashing due to what I have already mentioned, they will either give up or exchange for a simpler phone……or stick with it and "get it"! Play with it for a few weeks and then read the MANUAL. And then start researching on Google. There’s a ton of droid info. Opps, did I say GOOGLE? Yes my HTC Hero says that on the back, made in mid September. Rev A.
Have fun. It took me 3 phone lockups and hard resets to "get it' and then two more phone lockups….BUT this time I started deleting the last 5 or 6 apps I installed and now I am back up in 10 minutes instead of days…..ALL that to get to where I am now. Cruzin' with a killer phone and sticking with HTC and Sprint.
A slightly bigger screen and faster processor would be nice in a Gen 2 phone, but I can wait. So much to do with this amazing piece of technology, it will take months to exhaust the possibilities" and push it and the addition apps to the max.
By the way, I am one torqued off Palm Treo 650 user who was abandoned when they went stupid and lost the PDA/Smartphone race several years ago. The Pre is promising but too small a screen for my 59 year old eyes. I wish them well, but are they listening to what the market wants? NOT!
I was so close to an IPhone, researched everything for weeks and then researched the Hero and android operating system. WinMo lost. They're dead and need a new mission statement and goal.
Just a few thoughts from someone who's lived with the Hero and decided to stick with Sprint like I have for the past 7 years.
And I am not a paid reviewer, endorser or even work in the tech industry. I just played with, crashed and kept on looking for answers till I feel like I am the master of my HERO, and NOT the other way around!
Best of luck to all the "Droid" pioneers. Droid DOES!!!!
• Benjamin Rubenstein
Well written and well said. Being a master of your own phone is a great thing and I commend you for it.
The thing is, many people out there want to enter the smartphone market but aren't tech-savvy enough to master their own devices. These people are controlled by their technology, leaving people like you and me to assist them. The iPhone works for these people because it's fool-proof and simple to use. It's locked down to the point where any simpleton can use it.
Perhaps this is where Android is still lacking. It's still a power user's phone OS. Maybe that's the underlying problem. Hmmm… I never thought about it that way.
• http://www.htc-hero.nl My Hero
Wow, I've read some interesting postings here, I could spend half a day just reading the comments here! In Europe the Hero has ben welcomed with pretty much the same skepticism. The main complaint is that because of the Sense UI the phone is just to slow which is because the Hero's processor is just not fast enough. So what people do, the make use of the recently opened source code, and remove Sense so that the htc Hero runs a little faster. The next step will probably be adding a 1GHZ (or even more at that time) processor and making use of the enormous HD2 touch screen.
• JustHadtoSay
MacJ, just played with the Droid today. No lag whatsoever. Fastest phone I have seen out there, even with multiple apps open, such as Google Sky, maps, and browser.
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When passenger jets mysteriously disappear
Story highlights
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared early Saturday with more than 200 aboard
• Peter Bergen says passenger jet disasters lead often to conspiracy theories
• He notes that people questioned government findings on TWA Flight 800 and Pan Am 103
• Bergen: The truth will come out after a careful and lengthy investigation
In the absence of hard information to explain such disasters, people look for answers, and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 early Saturday could prompt the same response.
TWA Flight 800 fell out of the sky on July 17, 1996, shortly after leaving JFK International Airport, killing all 230 people on board.
Recovery and investigative efforts were hampered because TWA 800 went down in the Atlantic.
Peter Bergen
Some soon posited that terrorists armed with surface-to-air missiles had brought down the plane.
This theory seemed to be bolstered by eyewitness accounts such as that provided by Naneen Levine, who said she saw something streaking up toward the doomed plane. "I thought it was something on the beach going straight up."
Three months after the TWA crash, former ABC News correspondent Pierre Salinger, who had once been President John Kennedy's press secretary, weighed in at a news conference that a U.S. Navy ship had brought down TWA 800 with a missile. Salinger came to this conclusion because of a document on the Internet making this claim.
Is Flight 370 similar to past mysteries?
Is Flight 370 similar to past mysteries?
Is Flight 370 similar to past mysteries?
Is Flight 370 similar to past mysteries? 02:12
Bob Francis, the former vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said of Salinger, "He was an idiot. ... He didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible."
Opinion: Why so few clues about missing Malaysia flight?
After a four-year investigation, the NTSB ruled that the TWA 800 crash was caused by "an explosion of the center wing fuel tank, resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank."
Missing jet spawns conspiracy theories
Missing jet spawns conspiracy theories
Missing jet spawns conspiracy theories
Missing jet spawns conspiracy theories 02:59
Quest: Odd to lose contact while cruising
Quest: Odd to lose contact while cruising
Quest: Odd to lose contact while cruising
Quest: Odd to lose contact while cruising 03:40
International crews search for plane
International crews search for plane
International crews search for plane
International crews search for plane 03:55
Questions swirl after airliner vanishes
Questions swirl after airliner vanishes
Questions swirl after airliner vanishes
Questions swirl after airliner vanishes 01:57
Three years after TWA 800 went down, EgyptAir Flight 990 left JFK International and soon plunged into the Atlantic, killing more than 200 people on board.
Two competing theories about what happened emerged. The NTSB, widely regarded around the world as the most authoritative investigator of plane crashes, concluded after a three-year investigation that one of the Egyptian pilots, Gameel al-Batouti, had intentionally downed the plane.
NTSB pointed to the fact that the downward trajectory of the plane was inconsistent with mechanical failure. Based on the recovered cockpit voice recorder, NTSB also underlined al-Batouti's constant use of the phrase, "I rely on God," and his lack of surprise when the passenger jet suddenly began descending.
In Egypt, this was not a popular view, and Egyptian officials pointed to supposed mechanical failure as the cause of the crash.
The conspiracy theories that developed around TWA 800 were caused by unreliable eyewitness accounts and Internet rumor-mongering. In the case of EgyptAir 900, Egyptian officials would not accept that an Egyptian pilot would commit suicide, killing many others, and came up with an alternative explanation for which there was scant evidence.
In the case of the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, there was a deliberate effort to inject a conspiracy theory into the narrative of the events.
Pan Am 103 blew up over Scotland on December 21, 1988, because of a bomb in the hold, which killed 270 on board and others on the ground.
Juval Aviv, who presented himself as a former Israeli counterterrorism official, was hired by Pan Am to investigate what happened.
In his report, Aviv claimed to have proof that the murder of the passengers on Pan Am 103 was the result of a CIA sting operation that went awry, an assertion for which there was not a shred of evidence.
Yet a piece partly based on Aviv's fairy tale then ended up as a cover story in TIME magazine. The U.S. government later concluded that the attack was ordered by the Libyan government, something the Libyans would eventually concede was, in fact, true.
The TWA 800, EgyptAir 990 and Pan Am 103 cases represent the likely range of reasons that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: mechanical failure, pilot actions or terrorism.
Based on these past cases, we should be careful not to allow conspiracy theories about what happened to get too much play. The truth will come out only after a careful and lengthy investigation.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
• nr intv moni basu husbands quiet suffering flight 370_00020822.jpg
An empty space on earth
Is this the sound of the crash?
Search back to square one
Bring in the lawyers
Credit: CNN
Pings likely not from Flight 370
Underwater search on hold
An MH370 movie already?
• The story of the search
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Soldier of Fortune: Payback
Activate turban boost.
The Soldier of Fortune games have clung to the slender thread of infamy for one reason only - gore. A product of the late '90s FPS boom, the selling point of the original was that you could shoot the limbs off enemies using an arsenal of lovingly recreated weaponry. It wasn't bad, as such things go, but there were clearly better games around and they justifiably attracted most of the attention. A similarly average sequel followed in 2002 and now, apropos of nothing, here's a third instalment.
Once again, the only reason people will talk about is...the gore.
So let's talk about it. As in the previous games, your enemies are apparently made of plasticine and held together with sticky tape since they fly to pieces at the first hint of a bullet. And, as in the previous games, this gives the proceedings a certain ludicrous amusement factor. For about five minutes, at least.
See, the damage model doesn't seem to have changed since 2000. Every leg, every arm, blows off in the exact same way. Shoot someone in the head, and it vanishes. I mean, the head literally disappears and is replaced with a "spurting neck" polygon model. While the initial hilarity may be high, pay even the slightest bit of attention to the graphical detail or animation quality and an incredibly crude mechanism is revealed.
They're foreign and therefore evil.
This shoddy craftsmanship is carried across to the physics model on the whole. If something explodes near a crate or barrel, the crate or barrel sails through the air. That's about as detailed as it gets. Anything more complex is either ignored (witness the impressive array of indestructible wooden fences) or simply breaks the graphics engine. There's a bit right near the start of the very first level where a truck filled with enemies races past you and comes to a stop around the corner. I lobbed a grenade at it, and the whole thing exploded. Pretty cool, thought I. When the smoke cleared, the truck was still there. Suspended in mid-air. Playing the same level again later, the exact same thing happened. Magic floating truck. Pretty stupid, thought I. Even the multitude of body parts splashing about the place are not exempt from the vagaries of this juddering physics simulation. Half the time, some rogue arm or leg will become embedded in the scenery and stick there, vibrating like a tuning fork forever. Ditto for the torsos and scenery that fall through the floor and thrash about like a goldfish on the carpet. Textures are clumsily painted in as you approach, and the frame rate frequently drops for no apparent reason, even when you're crawling through a dark tunnel with no enemies in sight.
Such quirks might be acceptable if the game itself was a cavalcade of entertainment, but it's possibly the blandest console shooter in years. Arriving after a period of innovation and excitement for the genre, when stacked up against BioShock, Resistance: Fall of Man, The Orange Box, Halo 3...Payback is left looking hilariously outdated. Levels are linear to a fault, full of doors that never open, buildings with nothing inside and passages that lead nowhere. You're funnelled forwards by pre-determined shoot-outs against enemies that only spawn when you reach a certain point. Your next objective is always marked by a floating white icon, so you just head for that, shoot everything in your way...and that's it.
Look at him. He's definitely evil. And foreign.
The game uses the same health system as Gears of War, so you can soak up damage until the screen starts to turn red, and then you die. While this worked in a duck-and-cover game like Gears, in a game where your only defensive posture is crouching it renders the game incredibly easy. Your health recharges in about three seconds, so it's possible to just run around, back-pedalling and blasting away without ever really being in any danger. The only times the game catches you out is when enemies spawn right behind you - there's no map or radar - and its then you discover how the developers have attempted to make up for the lack of tactical challenge. There's no save option, and checkpoints are placed horribly far apart. Die, and you can expect to play a huge tediously scripted chunk of the level again. It's all horribly imbalanced, lurching between insultingly easy and frustratingly unfair with no real purpose.
Given such shortcomings, its no surprise that multiplayer is a waste of time. The expected game modes are present, but with only five maps and gameplay that rarely ventures beyond mindless run-and-gun screeching, there's no real need to check it out.
And then there's the question of morality. This is a game that is very much in love with the idea of shooting naughty brown people. The wafer-thin plot blabs on about terrorism in a macho gruff voice and uses real world locations, but it's little more than an excuse to mow down hundreds of cartoonish ethnic bogeymen, who come rampaging towards you, gibbering in their offensively impersonated accents. When you're not decimating these people, you're patronising them. Such as the subservient, fawning Asian slave who helpfully (and inexplicably) thanks you for not murdering him by handing you a keycard that accesses a vital oil "piperine". Yes, that's "piperine". Because he's Asian, you see. Me so velly solly. There's even an evil African warlord called The Moor. I guess they figured that just calling him The N-word would be too obvious, so let's be thankful for small mercies.
Actually, these guys are OK. Nah, just kidding. They're evil foreigners. Lets kill them.
It's not the gore that's offensive here, it's the whole tone of the game. It's no surprise that Payback arrives on European shores with little fanfare since; despite being coded in the Slovak Republic, this is a game obviously designed to appeal almost exclusively to the American market. Specifically, those people who actually read Soldier of Fortune magazine, consider the Third World to be little more than a ragged, backwards sub-human terrorist factory and still believe that Saddam Hussein personally steered planes into the World Trade Center. The fact that you're playing a mercenary just makes it even more dubious - this is a man who kills for money, but here he is as a paragon of justice, delivering the payback of the title on behalf of a bloodthirsty passive audience that simply wants the vicarious thrill of gunning down some goddamn ragheads. The whole enterprise makes America's Army look like a subtle and objective exploration of world events. After five levels of violently dismembering dirty foreigners while my lumbering mercenary avatar growled about freedom and revenge, I honestly felt more than a little queasy.
Games set in and around the War on Terror are an inevitable fixture on the gaming landscape, but at least the likes of Call of Duty 4 and Full Spectrum Warrior couch their politicised narrative in a sense of reality, responsibility and - let's not forget - some pretty great gameplay. When Soldier of Fortune Payback isn't being generic and shallow, its being utterly crap and thus does nothing to mitigate its gleeful and deliberate xenophobia. This is gaming as lowest common denominator, feeding off a very unpleasant human urge. Whether you dislike the politics, or just don't like playing lousy games, there's absolutely no reason to give this gruesome farce your time or money.
3 / 10
Read the reviews policy Soldier of Fortune: Payback Dan Whitehead Activate turban boost. 2007-12-31T07:00:00+00:00 3 10
Comments (61)
| <urn:uuid:141b1a29-d0d9-4e57-a6ed-66c01799ecb3> | http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/soldier-of-fortune-payback-review | en | 0.957656 | 0.297365 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Letter writers sound off about police staffing, recycling bins, guns and more
Todd Fettig | By Todd Fettig | The Grand Rapids Press
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on September 13, 2012 at 5:30 PM
G0210OFFICERAWARD7Our letter writer has advice for Grand Rapids leaders considering cutting the number of police officers: Don't do it.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Johnny Brann Sr. says Grand Rapids leaders shouldn't even think about cutting the police force.
"Our police officers risk their lives daily for compensation that is not in line with the importance of their jobs, and you are looking to make our city and our police officers less safe?" writes Brann in a letter to the editor, published below.
RELATED: Consultant calls for 29 fewer Grand Rapids cops
Also on letter writers' minds:
• Out-of-place recycling and trash bins.
• A Senate bill about coal ash.
• Guns.
• Capitalism.
• President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.
• Teachers in Chicago.
• And saluting our nation.
No good outcome if city reduces number of police officers
The recent articles in The Grand Rapids Press in regards to reducing the number of Grand Rapids police officers in the field protecting the residents of our city are absurd. A research firm was even hired to weigh whether fewer officers on the streets would make our city less safe. Pay me; I can give you the answer. Yes, our city would be less safe.
RELATED: Editorial: No easy answers when evaluating police and fire services
In my opinion, competency research should be done — assessing the ability of city officials that would even consider this.
I ask the city officials supporting this research: What would you do if you had an intruder breaking into your home late at night? I believe I know the answer. You would call 911, and the police would respond as fast as possible — with every second seeming like 15 minutes to you and your loved ones.
You would hear the sirens, and when you saw the officers and you and your family were safe, you would then look at the idea of reducing Grand Rapids officers differently.
A life could be lost, slowing down response time. Our police officers risk their lives daily for compensation that is not in line with the importance of their jobs, and you are looking to make our city and our police officers less safe?
Brilliant? No. Asinine? Yes.
City must spell out rules for trash and recycling bins
I was wondering why the city of Grand Rapids has done nothing about the recycling containers left out after collections for days on end, and some that are never returned to the homeowner's property week after week? The containers sit on the curb and are even being used to hold parking spots on the street for tenants who are not provided off-street parking.
What are we going to do when we have to have actual trash containers for our regular trash pickups? The city has provided us with a great recycling program, and people do not take care of the containers now. When the new trash rule starts, heaven help us.
I was under the impression that containers are to be put out of view until collections and not left on the sidewalk or parked on the front lawns of homes. The downtown, the Heritage Hill, East Hills and Eastown areas are starting to looks like trash dumps lately.
I hope the rules are spelled out better in the future. People need to be held more responsible when provided such services. Absentee landlords should also have rules for their tenants regarding this. The city could make a fortune in fines on this if it were enforced.
GENE MAZUR/Grand Rapids
Coal ash bill would expose communities to toxins
A terrible bill is nearing action in the Senate. The Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act would leave hundreds of communities unprotected from the toxins of coal ash.
In Michigan, there are 46 holding ponds for residue of our coal industry. The bill would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from providing protections from the toxic effects of coal ash dumps. This is part of the federal transportation bill, on the verge of becoming law.
It is urgent that Congress understand the dangers of coal ash dumps.
Don't emotionalize gun debate by calling them assault rifles
The Aug. 30 Grand Rapids Press contained almost a full page of discussion of gun issues. It repeated, over and over, inaccurate information. Those are NOT assualt rifles any more than your family car is a NASCAR race car just because they cosmetically look the same.
You cannot purchase an assualt rifle in this country — even if you are a law enforcement agency. Understand: Automatic weapons have not been legal to manufacture, own or sell in this country since the 1930s. Pictured are cosmetic look-a-likes.
Go to any gun store that you can reach, in any state, and try to buy an automatic weapon. Just try. Hunters used repeating rifles and self-loading rifles for 50 years before the military adopted the M1 Garand. Would you — and be honest — want to hunt a grizzly bear with only one shot?
There are things we need to do about guns, but we aren't going to make any progress so long as the people who control the media and public opinion continue to distort and emotionalize the issue.
Assault rifle is ineffective against oppressive governments
Just ask any rebel in Syria how effective an assault rifle is against a military canon firing exploding missiles from a mile or two away. A fighter jet being shot down from anything other than a Stinger Missile or another jet fighter is extremely rare.
Spraying machine gun fire at the army of a rogue government that is out to kill you is sure to get you only one thing: quickly in the cross hairs of a few army snipers, who would surely survive random machine gun fire. The most effective killers in the Balkans around Sarajevo were hidden snipers.
The assault rifle as an effective self-defense weapon, as stated by letter writer Rick Dolphin in The Grand Rapids Press, is not based on fact and history. It is fantasy.
Spraying bullets is a poor excuse for anyone who can't see their target and has not taken the time and effort to sight-in a scope on a deer rifle and make each bullet count. The machine gun is the weapon of choice of “people” like James Holmes.
The recent Republican platform, which supports the possession of assault weapons and their unlimited capacity magazines, was influenced by a gun lobby that lives in a fantasy world.
Capitalism has too much control
It is unfair that our fellow Americans involved to change this nation with the Occupy Wall Street movement got so little response from the top 1 percent.
The uncertainty in the economy comes from the 1 percent itself. If the 1 percent controls 40 percent of the nation’s wealth and it is not being invested, the economy will remain stagnant. Giving them tax cuts add fuel to the fire.
I believe the total currency of the nation was for each of us to have our needs met and work at that wage. The economy is so controlled by total capitalism that never could have been imagined at its start. Also, the wealthy do no work hard. Computers of high sophistication practically give investors the answer. Get real. It is 2012.
Nation's laws should not be optional
The Obama adminstration announced it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act.
If this precedent is allowed to stand for this administration and for succeeding administrations, we are on the road to legal chaos and eventual anarchy.
President Reagan said, "We are a nation of laws." These laws established by our founders are based on Judeo-Christian ethics and the 10 Commandments.
If defense of properly established laws is optional based on the wishes of a president, we are no longer a nation of laws.
"Elections have consequences," says President Obama. Let’s prayerfully and carefully vote this November!
RAY DYKSTRA/Georgetown Township
Obama is clear choice for middle class
Voters must decide in November whether they believe in investment in America or a slash-and-burn approach to handling the progress we have attained as a middle class.
President Barack Obama trusts investment in our country as the path for prosperity for all. He is fighting for job development here and a return of jobs from abroad, for expansion of health care and protection for those dependent on Medicare and Medicaid, for Social Security, for improving our infrastructure and utilizing new clean energy. Obama wants young people to be able to afford a college education.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, would cut what he views as unnecessary: assistance for domestic industries, living wages, collective bargaining, Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, road and bridge projects, clean energy, college scholarships and more.
President Obama is clearly the correct choice for the middle class in November.
Chicago teachers set bad example for students
The Chicago teachers strike is a classic example of a bunch of spoiled brats trying to get their parents (the taxpayers) to give them more than they deserve or what the parents can afford.
They can hide in numbers and run around like jerks — but at the end of day, while their union leaders laugh all the way to the bank — the kids are learning a wonderful lesson: If you don't get what you want, just scream.
CARLTON DYKSTRA/Georgetown Township
An invitation to veterans: Stand and salute
This is in response to Tom Basarabski's letter letter to the editor.
I just want to let you know there is at least one high school sports announcer that invites the military veterans to render the hand salute at their sporting events. I dont know his name, but he announces the game at Cedar Springs High School. I thank him very much for doing that.
I am a Vietnam veteran and I am very proud to render the hand salute at ALL sporting events when our national anthem is played. Not very many people comment about me doing that, but they do know I am a veteran and proud to let them know that.
I invite and encourage ALL veterans to do the same at sporting events. I see maybe one or two veterans render the salute, and I am quite certain there are more in attendance.
Please join in with the rest of us and honor our nation, our flag and our national anthem.
BOB WASOSKI/Grand Rapids | <urn:uuid:824a735a-87c8-4a1c-94f0-a9f1365ce36e> | http://www.mlive.com/opinion/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/letter_writers_sound_off_on_ev_1.html | en | 0.954055 | 0.022063 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Blaze (UAB mascot)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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University University of Alabama at Birmingham
Conference C-USA
Description European dragon
First seen January 6, 1996
Blaze is the mascot of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's athletics teams. He is a fire-breathing European dragon.
UAB's athletic history goes back to 1977, when Gene Bartow was named the school's first athletic director. In January 1978, a campuswide vote bestowed the nickname "Blazers" on the team, hoping that the teams would "blaze" a new trail in college athletics. Originally, there was no official mascot, but that changed in 1995, when a European dragon was chosen as the mascot.
On January 6, 1996, "Blaze" was introduced at a basketball game. "Blaze" is considered a member of the spirit squads, and appears at all football and basketball games. Blaze's head has appeared on the sides of UAB's football helmets since 1996, when the team moved up to Division I-A.
UAB chronology
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:dde0aedf-ab5e-483d-a54c-0d71f6173bfe> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaze_(UAB_mascot) | en | 0.960333 | 0.018946 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Khulna District
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
খুলনা জেলা
Location of Khulna in Bangladesh
Location of Khulna in Bangladesh
Coordinates: 22°21′N 89°18′E / 22.35°N 89.30°E / 22.35; 89.30Coordinates: 22°21′N 89°18′E / 22.35°N 89.30°E / 22.35; 89.30
Country Bangladesh
Division Khulna Division
• Total 4,394.45 km2 (1,696.71 sq mi)
Population (2011 census)
• Total 2,318,527
• Density 530/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Literacy rate
• Total 57.81%
Time zone BST (UTC+6)
Postal code 9000
Khulna District (Bengali: খুলনা জেলা , Khulna Jela also Khulna Zila) is a district of Bangladesh. It is located in the Khulna Division. It has an area of 4394.45 km² and is bordered on the north by the Jessore District and the Narail District, on the south by the Bay of Bengal, on the east by the Bagerhat District, and on the west by the Satkhira District.[1]
Khulna is named after a goddess of the Hindu religion, Khulleshwari. In 1947, the district of Khulna had a slight Hindu majority of 52% but was included in Pakistan rather than India (see Radcliffe Line). Now the district's total population is about 80% Muslim. Now it is the third largest district in Bangladesh.
Geography & climate[edit]
Major rivers of Khulna District are the Rupsa (continuation of the Bhairab and Atrai), Arpangachhia, Shibsa, Pasur, and the Koyra.[1]
1. Terokhada Upazila
2. Batiaghata Upazila
3. Dacope Upazila
4. Dumuria Upazila
5. Dighalia Upazila
6. Koyra Upazila
7. Paikgachha Upazila
8. Phultala Upazila
9. Rupsa Upazila
10. Dacope Upazila
11. Koyra Upazila
12. Paikgachha Upazila
13. khanjahan ali upazila
Khulna is a port city. It is the most increasing city in the south. Mongla is the major sea port of the country. In Daulatpur there are several jute mills. By road, railway and riverway it is connected to other parts of the country. This infrastructure plays a vital role in the city's economy, which also depends upon fishing and salt industries. Khulna has a newsprint mill that will about reopen in the near future. The Khulna shipyard receives limited support from the Bangladesh Navy by building small, ocean-going ships. The Khulna textile and hardboard mills will reopen soon under private ownership.
Khulna is under the jurisdiction of the Jessore Education Board. This board varies the SSC and HSC standard.
Khulna Zilla School, Brajalal College, Khulna University, KUET, Khulna Medical College etc. are the prominent educational institution in Khulna district.
Places of interest[edit]
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b Sandipak Mallik (2012). "Khulna District". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. | <urn:uuid:3d636fa8-bca2-460a-ae8c-152f0d52baf6> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khulna_District | en | 0.858328 | 0.074011 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Vowel shift
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A vowel shift is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.
The best-known example in the English language is the Great Vowel Shift, which began in the 15th century. The Greek language also underwent a vowel shift near the beginning of the Common Era, which included iotacism. Among the Semitic languages, the Canaanite languages underwent a shift in which Proto-Semitic *ā became ō in Proto-Canaanite (a language likely very similar to Biblical Hebrew).
A vowel shift can involve a merger of two previously different sounds, or it can be a chain shift.
One of the several major vowel shifts that is currently underway in the US is the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. This change pattern is characterized by the longer and lower vowels moving forward and upward, while the shorter vowels move downward and backward. This vowel rotation, for example, is noticeable as the vowel sound in “coffee” is moving toward the vowel in “father.” While there are undoubtedly several other change patterns that define the shift in the Northern Cities, they are diffusing throughout the North in a unique manner, and are inherently different from dialect shifts taking place in other regions.
In addition to the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, the dialect change patterns that are taking place in the South also indicate undeniable pronunciation changes in the region. In contrast to the changes in the North, however, the Southern Cities Vowel Shift is characterized by the shorter, front vowels moving upward and adopting the characteristics of traditionally longer vowels. To exemplify this Southern vowel change, the vowel in the word “bed” is commonly used, as the “e” moves upward and gains a glide and causes the word to be pronounced more like “beyd.”
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
Wolfram, Walt and Natalie Schilling-Estes. American English: Dialects and Variation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Print. | <urn:uuid:71f05d98-aa94-4aec-b22e-09f5571c8536> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_shift | en | 0.918982 | 0.690298 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Dependence on the land has long been a source of conflict in Burundi. Its soil can’t keep up with the rate of population growth—among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa—and the courts are crowded with cases of conflicting claims to property.
At the root of the problem is the fact that many Burundians’ livelihoods are tied to agriculture while the land is increasingly infertile, says Triphonie Habonimana, AFSC program officer. Food shortages, combined with high unemployment rates, spur conflict.
Other African countries with these problems have turned to nonagricultural industries in response, developing areas of the economy other than farming where prospects for generating jobs and income are better.
With a need for both basic services and jobs, Burundi would like to do the same.
To learn firsthand from entrepreneurs who have found success and to give Burundians a chance to exchange ideas with their peers from other countries, AFSC recently organized a workshop focused on income-generating activities.
Participants came from eight countries, including Benin, Mali, and Burkina Faso—where there has been a nonagricultural focus for some time—and Zimbabwe, where AFSC has worked to train educators who can help entrepreneurs start businesses in areas like manufacturing and services that meet the needs of their communities.
The workshop participants discussed best practices, areas where entrepreneurs’ time is best spent, and what kinds of training are needed to help entrepreneurs become self-sufficient. On their list of activities for generating income was everything from transportation services such as motorbikes and taxi cabs to manufacturing and a range of crafts—pottery, carpentry, hairdressing, and recycling iron for use in kitchen utensils or water cans.
Of course, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions.
Needs vary by region, so the type of businesses that can be successful in an area really depends on what resources and unmet needs a community has. “For instance, in a rural area, it would be impossible to do photocopying services or word processing because there is no light in the majority of places, and there are not many people who need those services,” explains Triphonie.
Burundians live in rural areas for the most part and they are on the move, traveling as far as 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) on foot to reach transportation that can take them to jobs. In such areas, a taxi service could flourish and make a real impact on the local economy by making it easier for people to get to jobs.
Being able to identify the right business opportunities is a big part of the equation.
“I think it's a matter of being trained and being able to identify a true income-generating activity that may work in a particular environment,” says Triphonie. “Another thing that makes businesses fail is [a lack of] variety… in a distance of one kilometer, you can find five small shops with the same articles,” she says.
With more trainings and opportunities to exchange ideas, AFSC will continue to teach strategies for developing sustainable small businesses that prove more fruitful for Burundians. | <urn:uuid:3698a481-b785-4a56-8273-137213c04131> | https://www.afsc.org/story/seeds-economic-growth-security-lie-beyond-agriculture-many-africa | en | 0.955872 | 0.0192 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
How do Local molehills Become National Moutains? Health Care
This article is a Part 2 of “How Local Mole Hills Become National Mountains” series. (Part 1 HERE)
A “molehill” is a problem. It’s not a fun problem or an easy problem to handle, but it is a smaller problem than say 1 million molehills stacked on top of each other. In other words, a mountain.
Health care is a molehill.
It is a personal, family, market (global) and possibly a local community issue, specifically with regard to common health problems in a local community. This health care molehill simply requires a patient with a health need, and groups of health professionals and wellness industry leaders with capabilities to meet the need. Health Care, aka Sick care, is NOT a national mountain requiring national earth movers supplied by Congress and regulatory agencies.
Local, decentralized solutions serve individuals better.
I travel about half of my work life, and without fail, I see people during my travels. I mean, they are everywhere! On the road going to the airport, waiting in line at the airport coffee stand, sitting next to me on the flight, flying the plane, walking around my arrival city, sitting at the hotel. I could go on and on. And it’s really great to see people, because for the most part, I enjoy them. Occasionally, the feeling is even mutual. People come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, to be sure, but there are some common physical and physiological themes I’ve become keenly aware of. One hundred percent of them have a head, presumably with a functioning brain controlling a lot of automatic functions in their body, including a pumping heart, muscle movements, digestion, elimination and so forth.
The “American People” and ObamaCare
I find it interesting to hear all the media pundits claiming that the “American People” are against a government shut-down and blame Republicans for using ObamaCare as a negotiation tool.
If the States that are united were founded on a principle of a consolidated nation, where a “National” government ruled over them, then it is possible the pundits may have it correct. However, that is not how the founding generation envisioned our union of States. We are made up of individual and sovereign entities that united to form a more perfect union. These States then delegated certain limited authority to the Federal government. It was very clear to nearly everyone involved that the States would retain the majority of their sovereign powers. This is one of the reasons that the Tenth Amendment was inserted into the Bill of Rights. What does it say?:
Who were those people? The people of the individual States, not the people of a giant conglomerate. If any self-respecting news journalist or historian for that matter, would take the time to read the debates of the several States during their ratifying process they would then understand the principle.
Pictures from Nullify Now Raleigh
Here’s a first set of pictures from Nullify Now! The event was fantastic, with speakers like Tom Woods, Mike Church, Publius Huldah – plus staples like Mike Maharrey and Jason Rink. These are from our Instagram account – expect to see more soon! We’re very grateful for the sponsorship from folks like Dr. Dan’s Freedom…
NSA Postponed Phony Oversight Measures Because of Phony Shutdown
So much for the idea of the federal government reforming itself.
During the so-called government shutdown, Politico reported that the NSA’s surveillance panel, supposedly established to remedy the agency’s illegal behavior, went on hiatus.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was slated to head up the panel. You might remember he infamously lied under oath about spying allegations. Now that the government is back open for business, it still remains uncertain when, or if, the panel will resume operations.
And even if it does convene, does anybody actually think Clapper and company will do anything to protect the people?
Originalism and the Supreme Court’s 2013 Term
At the National Constitution Center’s “Constitution Daily” blog, Doug Kendall and Tom Donnelly (Constitutional Accountability Center): Big Battles Brewing over the Constitution’s Original Meaning. From the introduction: For decades, debates over the Constitution divided along familiar lines. Progressives professed faith in a “living Constitution,” while conservatives claimed fidelity to originalism. In recent terms, however, this dynamic…
South Carolina Pinball Law: Null and Void
Does nullification work?
Some argue that it does not. Sometimes they call it ineffective political posturing. Sometimes they claim we simply can’t overcome a powerful government through nullification strategies. Sometimes they don’t even have a reason; they just swear it won’t work.
But here’s the thing…it has!
First we need to understand the goal of nullification. Ultimately, we simply want to render a law unenforceable and irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if the law remains on the books. If the authorities can’t or simply won’t enforce it any more, we can claim success.
But does it really work?
Marco Simons on Originalism and Daimler v. Bauman
Fusion Centers: Big Brother’s Infiltration Into Your Communities
Fusion CenterIn the midst of the never-ending NSA spying revelations, it is easy to lose track of all of the unconstitutional acts committed by the so-called intelligence community – and the ways that NSA spying, and mentality behind it, permeates law enforcement at all levels.
One troubling aspect recently revealed is the fact that the feds give warrantless, illegally-collected information to local law-enforcement agencies for their investigations. This is done through something called “Special Operations Division,” and through Fusion Centers.
The Fusion Centers act as a conduit for Big Brother – they’re a place to simply receive data collected, with or without a warrant, by federal agencies like the NSA. That information is passed on to local law enforcement and often used in day-to-day criminal investigations.
Fusion Centers were set-up under the Bush Administration to “help keep America safe” after 9/11. The Patriot Act removed barriers that prevented the feds from sharing intelligence information with local law enforcement. This was meant to facilitate communication between agencies so decisions could be made quickly in order to “prevent another terrorist attack.” At least that’s how it was sold. Unfortunately, this practice has been abused and focused on the whole American population – not just terror suspects.
Given the penchant the feds have for using their power to harass political opponents, these spying programs have a pernicious chilling effect on the First Amendment of the Constitution.. | <urn:uuid:a069f7fa-7c5c-4008-858a-5544010a55da> | http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/10/page/4/ | en | 0.939927 | 0.044413 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Losing face? The symbolism of facial mutilation
22 Nov, 2012
Facial mutilation is a repugnant crime, but its medieval use as a punishment may have had some symbolic significance. Penny Bailey explores a Wellcome Trust-funded project on the history of facial disfigurement as a punishment.
In August 2010, ‘Time’ magazine’s front cover featured a photograph of a young Afghan woman, Bibi Aisha, whose nose had been hacked from her face by her in-laws as punishment for fleeing her abusive marriage.
The world was appalled. At Swansea university, historian Dr Trish Skinner was struck by references to the ‘medieval’ nature of the act. “It got me wondering whether facial mutilation really was a typically ‘medieval’ act, and how we tend to apply this term to modern cases without really considering what separates us from the Middle Ages.”
With a Wellcome Trust fellowship, she now plans to examine the comparison more closely by looking at punitive facial mutilation in the Middle Ages: what crimes it punished, what theories of government, justice and religion underpinned the penalty, and what the people of the time thought about the practice.
An important strand of the project will explore what medical recourse people had if they were wounded or mutilated. There were two kinds of medieval medic: ‘learned’ physicians, concerned with analysing humoral imbalances and the effects of the elements or seasons on the body as per the classical texts, and surgeons (often barber-surgeons), who did the urgent, bloody, practical work of setting bones and sewing up wounds. Skinner will be exploring the extent of the overlap between the work of these two types of practitioner (which medical history has tended to see as entirely separate).
Empire in the East
The emperors of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire had to look as ‘godlike’ and perfect as the heavenly authority they represented, making facial mutilation an ideal political weapon. In 695, Justinian II’s political opponents cut off his nose, displacing him from the imperial throne for ten years; when returned, he wore a gold prosthesis. And a century later, Empress Irene had her nine-year-old son Constantine blinded so that she wouldn’t have to relinquish power to him.
The choice of mutilation in each case is interesting. While blinding and nose-cutting were both disfiguring, blinding had the additional pragmatic advantage of severely disabling someone, so they couldn’t effectively lead an army or wield a weapon. Why did Justinian’s enemies not blind him and prevent his return to power?
The answer may lie in the deeper symbolic meanings that different body parts had in the Middle Ages. “There was a real sense that the eyes are the window to the soul,” says Skinner. “Lips could be cut or slit for blasphemy, and the nose had very, very strong associations with betrayal in medieval times. I’ve also found later associations between the nose and penis in the literature.”
Justinian’s missing nose may therefore have acted both as a symbol of emasculation and as a warning that he would betray the people’s trust in him if allowed to rule. “Facial mutilation as a punishment wasn’t just about looking awful or disabling someone physically, it meant much more than that. That’s why you have to be very cautious drawing very simple comparisons across time.”
Kingdoms in the West
The Western Roman Empire had disintegrated by the fifth century and barbarian tribes had taken over its former territories, forming Europe’s first kingdoms. The new rulers were determined to assert their royal authority, and nose-cutting and blinding were common, widely recorded penalties for treason – specifically for rebellion against the king.
How did their new subjects respond? With apparent equanimity, on the whole, it seems. “The reports of many chroniclers and clerics of the time are very matter-of-fact. They say things like: ‘So-and-so’s son-in-law challenged him and was blinded.’ That’s the end of the matter.” Whether this means such acts were widely accepted as normal, Skinner has yet to determine.
One writer did express a degree of concern that might resonate with us today. Gregory of Tours, a Frankish bishop living in seventh-century Gaul, chronicled the events he witnessed, including cases of facial mutilation, in ten volumes of early Frankish (Merovingian) history.
“It’s a really intelligent text to read,” says Skinner. “Gregory thinks about what he sees going on, and he lets you know when he thinks things are right or wrong. As a bishop he doesn’t like the tortures and mutilations he witnesses. But he sees it’s justified sometimes.” He appears to condone the penalty when three rebels who attempted to assassinate King Childebert II had their noses cut off and were set free to be ridiculed. “They’re expected to survive and act as an example to deter other people from treason.” Elsewhere, however, Gregory sees facial mutilation as an indication of the ruler’s excessive cruelty, condemning King Chilperic for ordering all ‘criminals’, regardless of the crime, to have their eyes torn out.
His mixed feelings made him unusual for his time. “Gregory sometimes seems to share our modern horror of facial mutilation, but I’ve yet to find anyone else who is as explicit in their condemnation.”
Crime and punishment
To complicate the issue further, at the same time it was being used as a punishment for treason, facial mutilation also became a punishable crime. To curb the violence endemic in their kingdoms and establish public order, Europe’s new kings turned for help to the Empire they had helped bring down.
“All of these peoples had invaded somewhere that already had a tradition – more or less – of Roman law,” says Skinner. “And one of the things they all seem to think they have to do, if they’re going to look like legitimate kings, is to mirror that tradition and issue written laws, rather than continue their own traditions of tribal courts.”
The first of these early law codes appeared in the Frankish Kingdom in the fifth century – setting out fixed financial penalties for specific misdeeds. “One of the crimes in these law codes that comes up again and again is deliberately injuring somebody else. They go into absolutely amazing detail about which bit of the body it is you’re injuring – face, head, skull, hair, down to literally fingers and toes.” Mirroring our modern notion of justice, the state began to step in and impose a solution, to ‘keep the King’s peace’.
Yet while his subjects could be fined for it, facial mutilation remained a punishment a king could lawfully order for high treason or attempts on his life. This contrast has prompted medieval historians to debate the motivations behind these purportedly ‘anti-violence’ laws. Did they really represent the king’s view of justice? Or were they simply an assertion of power?
An eye for an eye
The tensions inherent in medieval notions of crime and punishment, justice and law, echo across the centuries to today. In Afghanistan, Bibi Aisha’s in-laws argued that, in the tradition of their Pashtun tribe, a dishonoured husband was said to have ‘lost his nose’. Her punishment in kind was therefore a ‘just’ one, endorsed by tradition and tribal ‘law’.
But the state intervened – as it did in medieval times to stop people taking the law into their own hands – and the punishment became a crime. Bibi’s father-in-law was arrested, and the provincial police chief made a statement to the global media, declaring the act to be “against Afghan-ism, against Afghan and sharia laws”, and spoke of bringing the perpetrator “to justice”.
What that justice would involve remains to be seen. Sharia law sanctions eye-for-an-eye retributive justice – ‘qesas’ – for intentional injury or murder (qesas can’t be used to punish other crimes, including unintentional bodily harm). A prominent example is the case of Majid Movahedi, who in 2009 was sentenced by an Iranian court to be blinded in both eyes for throwing acid in the face of a woman who rejected him. (His victim was to carry out the sentence herself, dropping five drops of sulphuric acid into each of his eyes – but she pardoned him at the last minute.)
If ordered by a sharia court, the blinding of Movahedi or cutting off the nose of Bibi’s father-in-law would – by definition – be legal. But that wouldn’t settle the question of whether it would be just. Is it right to cut off someone’s nose for having done so to someone else – or to blind someone with acid for having thrown acid in someone else’s face?
On some gut level, the punishment does seem to fit the crime, and it’s understandable that a victim might feel that no other penalty could really be adequate. On the other hand, it’s hard to feel entirely easy about the idea of judicial mutilation, whatever the crime. Movahedi’s sentence, when first announced, was condemned by media and human rights organisations around the world as ‘barbaric’ and ‘medieval’.
The latter comparison isn’t entirely accurate: punitive blinding and nose-cutting in the Middle Ages seem to have been a less precise match between crime and punishment, normally used for treason. It may be, however, that the symbolic meanings of body parts in the Middle Ages imbued such punishments with a sense of inherent legitimacy. Skinner’s research will shed further light on how notions of crime and justice underpinning facial mutilation have evolved or persisted over the centuries.
This feature also appears in issue 72 of Wellcome News
Image: A barber having cut a customer’s nose off, 1895. Credit: Wellcome Library.
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using xCode for C++?
Discussion in 'Mac Programming' started by letaalio, Jan 2, 2007.
1. macrumors member
Nov 15, 2006
Can someone tell me how can I use xCode for C++ development? In the preferences menu it only allows me to select AppleScript for the default languange and I can't save files in any other formats...
I wan't an editor + compilator (like xCode is..?) which works for C++. Where I could run the code, maybe? (Something like DevC++ in Windows)
I am coming from the Linux/Windows world and I know I can use g++ in the Terminal to compile files, but i don't think that is the most comfortable way.
First week of using a Mac :) and not a native english speaker so don't be too harsh on me.
*update: it's nothing professional, just some stuff for the university
2. macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2002
Austin, TX
It is Xcode, not xCode (this is not X-windows land).
Xcode is meant for working on projects, C/C++/objC projects.
You want to create a new Project instead of File via the File menu. There you can pick what type of code you want to write.
3. Moderator emeritus
Jun 25, 2002
Gone but not forgotten.
You'll want to select New... from the File menu and then, select a C++ tool project.
Remove the code you don't want and replace it with the code for your assigment. You can build and run and it should work fine.
You could also compile and run on the command line, but it's much easier to create a project and edit the files in Xcode.
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Hello, I'm asking this question for a second time because the answer I got for the first time was so poor. So please, if you answer this, then please provide an EXPLANATION, not simply a list of formulas with number plugged in.
Here is the question: A wooden boxcar is moving along a straight railroad track at speed v1. A sniper fires a bullet (initial speed v2) at it from a high powered rifle. The bullet passes thought both lengthwise walls of the car, its entrance and exit holes being exactly opposite each other as viewed from within the car. From what direction, relative to the track, is the bullet fired from? Assume that the bullet is not deflected upon entering the car, but that its speed is decreased by 20%. Take v1 to be 85 km/h and v2 = 650 m/s.
I know the answer is 93 degrees. However, that is all I know. I don't even know how to begin setting up this problem. So a step-by-step guide on how to solve this problem is needed.
Want an answer?
No answer yet. Submit this
question to the community. | <urn:uuid:23b33f8f-4e78-4ce4-af24-89db54a4c4dc> | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/hello-m-asking-question-second-time-answer-got-first-time-poor-please-answer-please-provid-q937356 | en | 0.969698 | 0.999932 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Next: , Previous: Numerical Error, Up: ode
8.7 Running time
The time required for ode to solve numerically a system of ordinary differential equations depends on a great many factors. A few of them are: number of equations, complexity of equations (number of operators and nature of the operators), and number of steps taken (a very complicated function of the difficulty of solution, unless constant stepsizes are used). The most effective way to gauge the time required for solution of a system is to clock a short or imprecise run of the problem, and reason as follows: the time required to take two steps is roughly twice that required for one; and there is a relationship between the number of steps required and the relative error ceiling chosen. That relationship depends on the numerical scheme being used, the difficulty of solution, and perhaps on the magnitude of the error ceiling itself. A few carefully planned short runs may be used to determine this relationship, enabling a long but imprecise run to be used as an aid in projecting the cost of a more precise run over the same region. Lastly, if a great deal of data is printed, it is likely that more time is spent in printing the results than in computing the numerical solution. | <urn:uuid:d5800a20-5886-469e-9315-430aa204e696> | http://www.gnu.org/software/plotutils/manual/en/html_node/Running-Time.html | en | 0.92898 | 0.580555 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Mul Names
A large range of Irish names begin with the prefix "Mul". Examples include Mulcahy, Mulvihill, Mullaly, and Mullan. These names have no familiar connections, but like the names beginning with "Gil", all have their origin in a common name form. They almost all derive from the Gaelic word "Maol" meaning follower, servant, or devotee. The name was invariably preceded by "O" as exemplefied by O'Maol Mhichil, follower of St. Michael, now anglicized as Mulvihill; O'Maol Challan, follower of St. Callan, now Mulholland; O'Maol Mhire, follower of Mary, now Mullery. Other examples are Mulqueen (servant of St. Caoine), Mulrennan (follower of St. Brendan), Mulrooney (follower of Ruanaidh), Muldowny (servant of the church), Mullarkey (follower of St. Earc), Mulhern (follower of St. Ciaran), and Mulcahy (follower of St. Cathac). The precise derivation of some of the Mul names is not understood. For example, Mulvaney or Mulvenna is thought to be derived from Maol Mheana. The "Mheana" is question is probably the river Main in Ulster. The names Mulgrew or Mulcreevy are derived from Maol Chraoibhe, which literally means follower of the branch. Exactly why there was such devotion to these subjects is unclear. A second root of the name is from the Gaelic word "Maol", which also means bald. However, this is responsible for only a small number, such as Mullan and Mulligan. Several of these names have been further shortened by dropping the "Mul". Notable among these is O'Mulryan which is almost always shortened to Ryan, Mulrooney, often shortened to Rooney, Mulholland, sometimes shortened to Holland (there are other sources for this name), and Mulconry, sometimes shortened to Conry or Conroy, although once again there are other potential roots for the latter name. The O'Mulconrys were the hereditary poets and historians to the O'Connor Kings of Connaught, and many were noted scholars, including Fearfasa O'Mulconry, one of the scholars who compiled the Annals of the Four Masters, a history of Ireland up to 1616. Maurice O'Mulconry was the author of a beautiful illustrated copy of the Book of Fenagh in 1519. Notable "Muls" include Hercules Mulligan, the "confidential correspondent" to George Washington who, as a rebel and resident of New York, was a member of the quaintly named "Revolutionary Committees of Correspondence and Observation". In this capacity he kept the American Rebel Army informed of the strengths of the British Army defending that city in 1776. In the Rebel Army there were 40 Mulhollands, including Lieutenant William Mulhollen of the 3rd Regiment, Maryland line. One of the Union heroes of the Civil War was St. Augustine Mulholland (1839-1910) who was born in Lisburn, County Antrim and fought at Fredericksburg, led the 140th Pennsylvania volunteers at Gettysburg, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor in another engagement. He later became Philadelphia's Chief of Police. Another prominent Mulholland is Andrew Mulholland (1791-1866) who was a progressive Belfast cotton and linen miller and the first to introduce machinery for flax spinning. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1845. William Mulholland (1855-1935) was born in Belfast and, after years as a sailor, settled in Los Angeles where he became Chief Engineer. He foresaw the growth of the city and the need for water supplies. He was responsible for the building of the aqueduct from Owens Point, which was the largest in the world at the time, and many other projects. He retired in 1928 and in his 50 years in the job he "watered" the city of Los Angeles in its growth from a population of 9,000 to 1.25 million. William Muldoon (1852-1932), born in New York City, was a champion wrestler but also a prominent organizer of wrestling and boxing. He is credited with introducing Graeco-Roman wrestling to the United States, following an international tour of his troupe of wrestlers. He was John L. Sullivan's trainer, and donated, with Gene Tunney, the trophy for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Other notable "Muls" include William Mulready (1786-1869), who was born in Ennis, Co. Clare. After the family emigrated to London, he studied painting and became a popular artist, whose work is still exhibited in the National Gallery of Ireland and in several major British galleries. Another painter was Thomas James Mulvany (?- 1845), who was one of the founders of the Royal Hibernian Academy and was appointed its keeper in 1841. His son George F. Mulvany (1809-1869) was also a painter and generally acknowledged as a superior artist. Like his father, he played an important part in the development of arts in Ireland. He also became keeper of the RHA and played a prominent part in the foundation of the National Gallery of Ireland, and was made its first director in 1862. General Richard Mulachy (1886-1971) was a member of the rebel Irish Volunteers and an active rebel in the Irish rebellion of 1916. He later became chief of staff of the Rebel Army. He was later a Minister for Defense in the first government of the Irish Free State, and in several later Irish governments. Other people with "Mul" names are the Irish poet Paul Muldoon and the actor Dermot Mulroney of My Best Friend's Wedding. There have been two "Mul" heads of state, Robert Muldoon who was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, and Brian Mulrooney, who has been Prime Minister of Canada. The name Mulrooney has often been shortened to Rooney, and famous bearers of this name include Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, and William Rooney, the United Irishman writer and poet. Another rebel writer and poet was the young Irelander William Mulchinock (1820-1864). He is best remembered as the author of one of Ireland's most famous songs, "The Rose of Tralee". | <urn:uuid:21211a2b-0c0d-4a32-8e32-b355922b3b3b> | http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/the-mul-names-3188-237621401.html | en | 0.978585 | 0.042306 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
English fluency and alligator pits
When I used to teach English at university, I was sure to leave an impression on my students on their first day of class. I’d tell them that as Japanese speakers, they could only speak with a mere 130 million people. But if they could learn English, they would be able to communicate with 500 million to 1 billion people. This is why you need to learn English, I told them. Heads invariably nodded, and students turned to each other and exclaimed “naruhodo!” (Indeed!). I had caught their attention.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The average person could never communicate with 130 million people, let alone 1 billion. Most people have meaningful interaction with only a few hundred. Perhaps thousands in an entire lifetime. You may reach millions via media such as TV or Twitter, but if one-way communication is all you’re after, you could get a translator to do that for you. Even Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara had people translating their message throughout the world via the media.
But one thing I learned as a teacher was that students were only as good as I expected them to be. If I expected them to do nothing, they would do nothing. Expect them to scale Mount Everest, however, and they would try, even with no specialized climbing skills. And they would get frostbite trying.
So it’s no surprise that I wake up sweating some nights. The nightmare is always the same: an irate student, forcing her twisted frostbitten fingers into a fist, and holding it to my face while screaming, “You promised me a bright future if I learned English! You said learning English would help my employability and that I’d gain an international perspective! You and your haughty institution lured me to your school with glossy brochures showing Japanese students sharing conversations with beautiful blue-eyed foreigners, suggesting that their beauty and worldliness would rub off on me, or that at least I’d get a date with one of them. I believed those TV commercials with Ryo Ishikawa saying Speed-Learning had helped him rise to the top of his golf career. I was led to believe that I’d be a better person, a more beautiful human being, a successful golfer — all if I could just learn English! Yet look at me now. I speak fluent English, I’m unemployed, ugly and un-datable. Besides that, I have a terrible personality. No one will even play golf with me.”
One thing Japanese people don’t seem to have considered is the possibility that English communication savvy depends more on your personality and social skills than it does on language skills. Which is why so many Japanese people who speak beautiful English languish in the sidelines of the more robust, debate-laden English conversation that foreigners speak.
It’s not the language that’s so hard to acquire, it’s the culture. Once I understood the power of the word “hazukashii” (shy) and its importance to Japanese society, I realized most students don’t have a chance when it comes to English conversation with foreigners. In Japan shy is cute, shy is polite and shy is good manners. Indeed, it is one of the factors that makes Japan so docile and bearable. No verbal diatribes, no imposing demands, no road rage. People are patient and wait their turn without complaint. Students will never question their teacher’s judgment.
Unless a Japanese person lives abroad for at least a year, it’s tough for them to shake the notion that this weak, unimposing persona is a virtue. And one can hardly expect them to change personas on demand every time they speak English.
But even if you speak only broken English, if you can jump over that cultural barrier, you can make yourself understood better than the person sitting patiently on the sidelines for a chance to get in a word of articulate English.
Usually, it is those Japanese who have spent time abroad who learn English conversation techniques needed for robust English interaction. They learn to debate, how to disagree, how to accept compliments, and when to throw consensus out the window.
Bilinguals don’t seem to have this problem — they automatically change personas when switching between two languages. Why can they do this so easily? Because they’re not second-language learners! The fact that they are bilingual, and learned both languages as native languages, allows them to sail across the cultural alligator pit.
So it’s no wonder more Japanese are heading to Southeast Asian countries to live, with one of the goals being to give their children an international experience where they can learn English in a competitive environment. Once in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand or the Philippines, they enroll their children in international schools with the confidence that their children will not only learn the English language, but will also learn how to use it in an international environment. They understand that the cultural is just as important as the language when it comes to jumping over alligator pits.
It was once widely believed that English fluency was the answer to Japan’s problems. Maybe it was, when Japan was headed towards internationalization and had a chance to make fundamental changes. But it’s a different world now. Japan is a nation in decline. No amount of English is going to cure the larger ills of corruption, a stagnating economy, and population decline.
If we’re going to teach college students English, we need to also teach them cultural skills needed to apply their English. Like a good coach who knows theory but must also make sure his players have the skills and experience to play the game, teachers must prepare students with the skills necessary to implement their English. Going a step further, we should also be grooming students in English ethics, economics, immigration, and of course, alligator wrestling.
Because English on its own is just that — English. If that’s all it is ever going to be, then I suggest a change in curriculum. We may as well replace the English classes with knitting classes. | <urn:uuid:81cd3464-1f0e-4caf-b5ad-099b2fb5fe72> | http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/05/05/community/english-fluency-and-alligator-pits/ | en | 0.970881 | 0.02825 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Surgical procedure)
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This article is about the medical specialty. For other uses, see Surgery (disambiguation).
Surgery (from the Greek: χειρουργική cheirourgikē (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via Latin: chirurgiae, meaning "hand work") is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance or to repair unwanted ruptured areas (for example, a perforated ear drum).
An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply surgery. In this context, the verb operate means to perform surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments or surgical nurse. The patient or subject on which the surgery is performed can be a person or an animal. A surgeon is a person who practices surgery and a surgeon's assistant is a person who practices surgical assistance. A surgical team is made up of surgeon, surgeon's assistant, anesthesia provider, circulating nurse and surgical technologist. Surgery usually spans minutes to hours, but it is typically not an ongoing or periodic type of treatment. The term surgery can also refer to the place where surgery is performed, or simply the office of a physician, dentist, or veterinarian.
Surgery is a technology consisting of a physical intervention on tissues, and muscle.
As a general rule, a procedure is considered surgical when it involves cutting of a patient's tissues or closure of a previously sustained wound. Other procedures that do not necessarily fall under this rubric, such as angioplasty or endoscopy, may be considered surgery if they involve "common" surgical procedure or settings, such as use of a sterile environment, anesthesia, antiseptic conditions, typical surgical instruments, and suturing or stapling. All forms of surgery are considered invasive procedures; so-called "noninvasive surgery" usually refers to an excision that does not penetrate the structure being excised (e.g. laser ablation of the cornea) or to a radiosurgical procedure (e.g. irradiation of a tumor).
Types of surgery[edit]
• Based on timing: Elective surgery is done to correct a non-life-threatening condition, and is carried out at the patient's request, subject to the surgeon's and the surgical facility's availability. Emergency surgery is surgery which must be done promptly to save life, limb, or functional capacity. A semi-elective surgery is one that must be done to avoid permanent disability or death, but can be postponed for a short time.
• Based on purpose: Exploratory surgery is performed to aid or confirm a diagnosis. Therapeutic surgery treats a previously diagnosed condition. Cosmetic surgery is done to improve the appearance of an otherwise normal structure.
• By type of procedure: Amputation involves cutting off a body part, usually a limb or digit; castration is also an example. Resection is the removal of all or part of an internal organ or part of the body. Replantation involves reattaching a severed body part. Reconstructive surgery involves reconstruction of an injured, mutilated, or deformed part of the body. Excision is the cutting out or removal of an organ, tissue, or other body part from the patient. Transplant surgery is the replacement of an organ or body part by insertion of another from different human (or animal) into the patient. Removing an organ or body part from a live human or animal for use in transplant is also a type of surgery.
• By body part: When surgery is performed on one organ system or structure, it may be classed by the organ, organ system or tissue involved. Examples include cardiac surgery (performed on the heart), gastrointestinal surgery (performed within the digestive tract and its accessory organs), and orthopedic surgery (performed on bones and/or muscles).
• By degree of invasiveness of surgical procedures: Minimally-invasive surgery involves smaller outer incision(s) to insert miniaturized instruments within a body cavity or structure, as in laparoscopic surgery or angioplasty. By contrast, an open surgical procedure such as a laparotomy requires a large incision to access the area of interest.
• By equipment used: Laser surgery involves use of a laser for cutting tissue instead of a scalpel or similar surgical instruments. Microsurgery involves the use of an operating microscope for the surgeon to see small structures. Robotic surgery makes use of a surgical robot, such as the Da Vinci or the Zeus surgical systems, to control the instrumentation under the direction of the surgeon.
• Excision surgery names often start with a name for the organ to be excised (cut out) and end in -ectomy.
• Procedures involving cutting into an organ or tissue end in -otomy. A surgical procedure cutting through the abdominal wall to gain access to the abdominal cavity is a laparotomy.
• Minimally invasive procedures involving small incisions through which an endoscope is inserted end in -oscopy. For example, such surgery in the abdominal cavity is called laparoscopy.
• Procedures for formation of a permanent or semi-permanent opening called a stoma in the body end in -ostomy.
• Reconstruction, plastic or cosmetic surgery of a body part starts with a name for the body part to be reconstructed and ends in -oplasty. Rhino is used as a prefix for "nose", therefore a rhinoplasty is reconstructive or cosmetic surgery for the nose.
• Repair of damaged or congenital abnormal structure ends in -rraphy. Herniorraphy is the reparation of a hernia, while perineorraphy is the reparation of perineum.
• Reoperation (return to the operating room) refers to a return to the operating theater after an initial surgery is performed to re-address an aspect of patient care best treated surgically. Reasons for reoperation include persistent bleeding after surgery, development of or persistence of infection or, more insidiously, retained foreign objects.
Description of surgical procedure[edit]
At a hospital, modern surgery is often done in an operating theater using surgical instruments, an operating table for the patient, and other equipment. Among United States hospitalizations for nonmaternal and nonneonatal conditions in 2012, more than one-fourth of stays and half of hospital costs involved stays that included operating room (OR) procedures.[1] The environment and procedures used in surgery are governed by the principles of aseptic technique: the strict separation of "sterile" (free of microorganisms) things from "unsterile" or "contaminated" things. All surgical instruments must be sterilized, and an instrument must be replaced or re-sterilized if it becomes contaminated (i.e. handled in an unsterile manner, or allowed to touch an unsterile surface). Operating room staff must wear sterile attire (scrubs, a scrub cap, a sterile surgical gown, sterile latex or non-latex polymer gloves and a surgical mask), and they must scrub hands and arms with an approved disinfectant agent before each procedure. There is moderate-quality evidence that usage of two layers of gloves compared to single gloving during surgery reduces perforations and blood stains on the skin, indicating a decrease in percutaneous exposure incidents.[2]
Patient Safety[edit]
The Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality suggests that patients should ask your doctor questions.
Preoperative care[edit]
Main article: Preoperative care
Prior to surgery, the patient is given a medical examination, receives certain pre-operative tests, and their physical status is rated according to the ASA physical status classification system. If these results are satisfactory, the patient signs a consent form and is given a surgical clearance. If the procedure is expected to result in significant blood loss, an autologous blood donation may be made some weeks prior to surgery. If the surgery involves the digestive system, the patient may be instructed to perform a bowel prep by drinking a solution of polyethylene glycol the night before the procedure. Patients are also instructed to abstain from food or drink (an NPO order after midnight on the night before the procedure), to minimize the effect of stomach contents on pre-operative medications and reduce the risk of aspiration if the patient vomits during or after the procedure.
Some medical systems have a practice of routinely performing chest x-rays before surgery. The premise behind this practice is that the physician might discover some unknown medical condition which would complicate the surgery, and that upon discovering this with the chest x-ray, the physician would adapt the surgery practice accordingly.[3] In fact, medical specialty professional organizations recommend against routine pre-operative chest x-rays for patients who have an unremarkable medical history and presented with a physical exam which did not indicate a chest x-ray.[3] Routine x-ray examination is more likely to result in problems like misdiagnosis, overtreatment, or other negative outcomes than it is to result in a benefit to the patient.[3] Likewise, other tests including complete blood count, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, basic metabolic panel, and urinalysis should not be done unless the results of these tests can help evaluate surgical risk.[4]
Staging for surgery[edit]
In the pre-operative holding area, the patient changes out of his or her street clothes and is asked to confirm the details of his or her surgery. A set of vital signs are recorded, a peripheral IV line is placed, and pre-operative medications (antibiotics, sedatives, etc.) are given. When the patient enters the operating room, the skin surface to be operated on, called the operating field, is cleaned and prepared by applying an antiseptic such as chlorhexidine gluconate or povidone-iodine to reduce the possibility of infection. If hair is present at the surgical site, it is clipped off prior to prep application. The patient is assisted by an anesthesiologist or resident to make a specific surgical position, then sterile drapes are used to cover all of the patient's body except for the head[citation needed] and the surgical site or at least a wide area surrounding the operating field; the drapes are clipped to a pair of poles near the head of the bed to form an "ether screen", which separates the anesthetist/anesthesiologist's working area (unsterile) from the surgical site (sterile).
Anesthesia is administered to prevent pain from incision, tissue manipulation and suturing. Based on the procedure, anesthesia may be provided locally or as general anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia may be used when the surgical site is too large or deep for a local block, but general anesthesia may not be desirable. With local and spinal anesthesia, the surgical site is anesthetized, but the patient can remain conscious or minimally sedated. In contrast, general anesthesia renders the patient unconscious and paralyzed during surgery. The patient is intubated and is placed on a mechanical ventilator, and anesthesia is produced by a combination of injected and inhaled agents. Choice of surgical method and anaesthetic technique aims to reduce risk of complications, shorten time needed for recovery and minimise the surgical stress response.
An incision is made to access the surgical site. Blood vessels may be clamped or cauterized to prevent bleeding, and retractors may be used to expose the site or keep the incision open. The approach to the surgical site may involve several layers of incision and dissection, as in abdominal surgery, where the incision must traverse skin, subcutaneous tissue, three layers of muscle and then peritoneum. In certain cases, bone may be cut to further access the interior of the body; for example, cutting the skull for brain surgery or cutting the sternum for thoracic (chest) surgery to open up the rib cage. Whilst in surgery health and safety is used to prevent infection or further spreading of the disease. The surgeon will remove hair from the face and eyes, using a head hat. Hands, wrists and forearms are washed thoroughly to prevent germs getting into the operated body, then gloves are placed onto the hands. A PVC apron will be worn at all times, to stop any contamination. A yellow substance – typically an antiseptic iodine solution – is lighly coated onto the located area of the patient's body that will be performed on, this stops germs and disease infecting areas of the body, whilst the patient is being cut into.
Work to correct the problem in body then proceeds. This work may involve:
• excision – cutting out an organ, tumor,[5] or other tissue.
• resection – partial removal of an organ or other bodily structure.
• reconnection of organs, tissues, etc., particularly if severed. Resection of organs such as intestines involves reconnection. Internal suturing or stapling may be used. Surgical connection between blood vessels or other tubular or hollow structures such as loops of intestine is called anastomosis.
• Reduction – the movement or realignment of a body part to its normal position. e.g. Reduction of a broken nose involves the physical manipulation of the bone and/or cartilage from their displaced state back to their original position to restore normal airflow and aesthetics.
• ligation – tying off blood vessels, ducts, or "tubes".
• grafts – may be severed pieces of tissue cut from the same (or different) body or flaps of tissue still partly connected to the body but resewn for rearranging or restructuring of the area of the body in question. Although grafting is often used in cosmetic surgery, it is also used in other surgery. Grafts may be taken from one area of the patient's body and inserted to another area of the body. An example is bypass surgery, where clogged blood vessels are bypassed with a graft from another part of the body. Alternatively, grafts may be from other persons, cadavers, or animals.
• insertion of prosthetic parts when needed. Pins or screws to set and hold bones may be used. Sections of bone may be replaced with prosthetic rods or other parts. Sometime a plate is inserted to replace a damaged area of skull. Artificial hip replacement has become more common. Heart pacemakers or valves may be inserted. Many other types of prostheses are used.
• creation of a stoma, a permanent or semi-permanent opening in the body
• in transplant surgery, the donor organ (taken out of the donor's body) is inserted into the recipient's body and reconnected to the recipient in all necessary ways (blood vessels, ducts, etc.).
• arthrodesis – surgical connection of adjacent bones so the bones can grow together into one. Spinal fusion is an example of adjacent vertebrae connected allowing them to grow together into one piece.
• modifying the digestive tract in bariatric surgery for weight loss.
• repair of a fistula, hernia, or prolapse
• other procedures, including:
• clearing clogged ducts, blood or other vessels
• removal of calculi (stones)
• draining of accumulated fluids
• debridement- removal of dead, damaged, or diseased tissue
Blood or blood expanders may be administered to compensate for blood lost during surgery. Once the procedure is complete, sutures or staples are used to close the incision. Once the incision is closed, the anesthetic agents are stopped and/or reversed, and the patient is taken off ventilation and extubated (if general anesthesia was administered).[6]
Post-operative care[edit]
After completion of surgery, the patient is transferred to the post anesthesia care unit and closely monitored. When the patient is judged to have recovered from the anesthesia, he/she is either transferred to a surgical ward elsewhere in the hospital or discharged home. During the post-operative period, the patient's general function is assessed, the outcome of the procedure is assessed, and the surgical site is checked for signs of infection. There are several risk factors associated with postoperative complications, such as immune deficienty and obesity. Obesity has long been considered a risk factor for adverse post-surgical outcomes. It has been linked to many disorders such as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, atelectasis and pulmonary embolism, adverse cardiovascular effects, and wound healing complications.[7] If removable skin closures are used, they are removed after 7 to 10 days post-operatively, or after healing of the incision is well under way.
It is not uncommon for surgical drains (see Drain (surgery)) to be required to remove blood or fluid from the surgical wound during recovery. Mostly these drains stay in until the volume tapers off, then they are removed. These drains can become clogged, leading to retained blood complications or abscess.
Postoperative therapy may include adjuvant treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or administration of medication such as anti-rejection medication for transplants. Other follow-up studies or rehabilitation may be prescribed during and after the recovery period.
The use of topical antibiotics on surgical wounds does not reduce infection rates in comparison with non-antibiotic ointment or no ointment at all.[8] Antibiotic ointments will irritate the skin, slow healing, and greatly increase risk of developing contact dermatitis and antibiotic resistance.[8] Because of this, they should only be used when a person shows signs of infection and not as a preventative.[8]
Through a retrospective analysis of national administrative data, the association between mortality and day of elective surgical procedure suggests a higher risk in procedures carried out later in the working week and on weekends. The odds of death were 44% and 82% higher respectively when comparing procedures on a Friday to a weekend procedure. This “weekday effect” has been postulated to be from several factors including poorer availability of services on a weekend, and also, decrease number and level of experience over a weekend.[9]
Of the 38.6 million hospital stays that occurred in U.S. hospitals in 2011, 29% included at least one operating room procedure. These stays accounted for 48% of the total $387 billion in hospital costs.[10]
In total, there were over 15 million operating room procedures performed in U.S. hospitals in 2011. The overall number of procedures remained stable from 2001-2011.[11]
A study of data from 2003-2011 showed that U.S. hospital costs were highest for the surgical service line; the surgical service line costs were $17,600 in 2003 and projected to be $22,500 in 2013.[12] For hospital stays in 2012 in the United States, private insurance had the highest percentage of surgical expenditure.[13] Mean hospital costs in the United States in 2012 were highest for surgical stays.[13]
In special populations[edit]
Elderly people[edit]
Older adults have widely varying physical health. Frail elderly people are at significant risk of post-surgical complications and the need for extended care. Assessment of older patients before elective surgeries can accurately predict the patients' recovery trajectories.[14] One frailty scale uses five items: unintentional weight loss, muscle weakness, exhaustion, low physical activity, and slowed walking speed. A healthy person scores 0; a very frail person scores 5. Compared to non-frail elderly people, people with intermediate frailty scores (2 or 3) are twice as likely to have post-surgical complications, spend 50% more time in the hospital, and are three times as likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility instead of to their own homes.[14] Frail elderly patients (score of 4 or 5) have even worse outcomes, with the risk of being discharged to a nursing home rising to twenty times the rate for non-frail elderly people.
Other populations[edit]
Surgery on children requires considerations which are not common in adult surgery. Children and adolescents are still developing physically and mentally making it difficult for them to make informed decisions and give consent for surgical treatments. Bariatric surgery in youth is among the controversial topics related to surgery in children.
Persons with health conditions
A person with a debilitating medical condition may have special needs during a surgery which a typical patient would not.
Vulnerable populations
Doctors perform surgery with the consent of the patient. Some patients are able to give better informed consent than others. Populations such as incarcerated persons, the mentally incompetent, persons subject to coercion, and other people who are not able to make decisions with the same authority as a typical patient have special needs when making decisions about their personal healthcare, including surgery.
In Low and Middle Income Countries[edit]
In 2014 the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery was launched to examine the case for surgery as an integral component of global health care and to provide recommendations regarding the delivery of surgical and anesthesia services in low and middle income countries.[15] The primary conclusions of the study were as follows:
• Five billion people worldwide lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Areas in which especially large proportions of the population lack access include Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia, and to a lesser extent, Russia and China. Of the estimated 312.9 million surgical procedures undertaken worldwide in 2012, only 6.3% were done in countries comprising the poorest 37.3% of the world's population.
• An additional 143 million surgeries are needed each year to prevent unnecessary death and disability.
• 33 million people face catastrophic payments for surgical and anesthesia care each year.
• Investment in surgical and anesthesia services is cost-effective, saves lives, and promotes economic growth
• Surgery is an indispensable part of health care.
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus, an Egyptian surgical treatise
Sushruta, the author of Sushruta Samhita, one of the oldest texts on surgery
Ancient Egypt[edit]
Surgical treatments date back to the prehistoric era. The oldest for which there is evidence is trepanation,[16] in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intra cranial pressure and other diseases. Prehistoric surgical techniques are seen in Ancient Egypt, where a mandible dated to approximately 2650 BCE shows two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth. Surgical texts from ancient Egypt date back about 3500 years ago. Surgical operations were performed by priests, specialized in medical treatments similar to today.[17] and the use of sutures to close wounds.[18] Infections were treated with honey.[19]
India and China[edit]
Remains from the early Harappan periods of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BCE) show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years.[20] Susruta[21] was an ancient Indian surgeon commonly credited as the author of the treatise Sushruta Samhita. He is dubbed as the "founding father of surgery" and his period is usually placed between the period of 1200 BC - 600 BC.[22] One of the earliest known mention of the name is from the Bower Manuscript where Sushruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.[23][23] Texts also suggest that he learned surgery at Kasi from Lord Dhanvantari, the god of medicine in Hindu mythology.[24] It is one of the oldest known surgical texts and it describes in detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments, as well as procedures on performing various forms of cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery and rhinoplasty.[25]
Instruments resembling surgical tools have also been found in the archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty, along with seeds likely used for herbalism.[26]
Hippocrates stated in the oath (c. 400 BC) that general physicians must never practice surgery and that surgical procedures are to be conducted by specialists
Ancient Greece[edit]
In ancient Greece, temples dedicated to the healer-god Asclepius, known as Asclepieia (Greek: Ασκληπιεία, sing. Asclepieion Ασκληπιείον), functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing.[27] In the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, some of the surgical cures listed, such as the opening of an abdominal abscess or the removal of traumatic foreign material, are realistic enough to have taken place.[6] The Greek Galen was one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye surgery—that were not tried again for almost two millennia.
12th century medieval eye surgery in Italy
In the Middle East, surgery was developed to a high degree in the Islamic world. Abulcasis (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi), an Andalusian-Arab physician and scientist who practised in the Zahra suburb of Córdoba, wrote medical texts that influenced European surgical procedures.[28]
Early Modern Europe[edit]
In Europe, the demand grew for surgeons to formally study for many years before practicing; universities such as Montpellier, Padua and Bologna were particularly renowned. In the 15th century, Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, laying the foundation for modern Western surgical manuals. Barber-surgeons generally had a bad reputation that was not to improve until the development of academic surgery as a specialty of medicine, rather than an accessory field.[29] Basic surgical principles for asepsis etc., are known as Halsteads principles.
Ambroise Paré (ca. 1510–1590), father of modern military surgery.
There were some important advances to the art of surgery during this period. The professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, Andreas Vesalius, was a pivotal figure in the Renaissance transition from classical medicine and anatomy based on the works of Galen, to an empirical approach of 'hands-on' dissection. In his anatomic treatis, De humani corporis fabrica, he exposed the many anatomical errors in Galen and advocated that all surgeons should train by engaging in practical dissections themselves.
The second figure of importance in this era was Ambroise Paré (sometimes spelled "Ambrose"[30]), a French army surgeon from the 1530s until his death in 1590. The practice for cauterizing gunshot wounds on the battlefield had been to use boiling oil; an extremely dangerous and painful procedure. Paré began to employ a less irritating emollient, made of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine. He also described more efficient techniques for the effective ligation of the blood vessels during an amputation.
Modern surgery[edit]
Hieronymus Fabricius, Operationes chirurgicae, 1685
John Syng Dorsey wrote the first American textbook on surgery
The discipline of surgery was put on a sound, scientific footing during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. An important figure in this regard was the English surgical scientist, John Hunter, generally regarded as the father of modern scientific surgery.[31] He brought an empirical and experimental approach to the science and was renowned around Europe for the quality of his research and his written works. Hunter reconstructed surgical knowledge from scratch; refusing to rely on the testimonies of others he conducted his own surgical experiments to determine the truth of the matter. To aid comparative analysis, he built up a collection of over 13,000 specimens of separate organ systems, from the simplest plants and animals to humans.
He greatly advanced knowledge of venereal disease and introduced many new techniques of surgery, including new methods for repairing damage to the Achilles tendon and a more effective method for applying ligature of the arteries in case of an aneurysm.[32] He was also one of the first to understand the importance of pathology, the danger of the spread of infection and how the problem of inflammation of the wound, bone lesions and even tuberculosis often undid any benefit that was gained from the intervention. He consequently adopted the position that all surgical procedures should be used only as a last resort.[33]
Other important 18th and early 19th century surgeons included Percival Pott (1713 -1788) who described tuberculosis on the spine and first demonstrated that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen - (he noticed a connection between chimney sweep's exposure to soot and their high incidence of scrotal cancer). Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841) first performed a successful ligation of the abdominal aorta, and James Syme (1799-1870) pioneered the Symes Amputation for the ankle joint and successfully carried out the first hip disarticulation.
An operation in 1753, painted by Gaspare Traversi.
Modern pain control through anesthesia was discovered in the mid-19th century. Before the advent of anesthesia, surgery was a traumatically painful procedure and surgeons were encouraged to be as swift as possible to minimize patient suffering. This also meant that operations were largely restricted to amputations and external growth removals. Beginning in the 1840s, surgery began to change dramatically in character with the discovery of effective and practical anaesthetic chemicals such as ether, first used by the American surgeon Crawford Long, and chloroform, discovered by James Young Simpson and later pioneered by John Snow, physician to Queen Victoria.[34] In addition to relieving patient suffering, anaesthesia allowed more intricate operations in the internal regions of the human body. In addition, the discovery of muscle relaxants such as curare allowed for safer applications.
Infection and antisepsis[edit]
Unfortunately, the introduction of anesthetics encouraged more surgery, which inadvertently caused more dangerous patient post-operative infections. The concept of infection was unknown until relatively modern times. The first progress in combating infection was made in 1847 by the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis who noticed that medical students fresh from the dissecting room were causing excess maternal death compared to midwives. Semmelweis, despite ridicule and opposition, introduced compulsory handwashing for everyone entering the maternal wards and was rewarded with a plunge in maternal and fetal deaths, however the Royal Society dismissed his advice.
Until the pioneering work of British surgeon Joseph Lister in the 1860s, most medical men believed that chemical damage from exposures to bad air (see "miasma") was responsible for infections in wounds, and facilities for washing hands or a patient's wounds were not available.[35] Lister became aware of the work of French chemist Louis Pasteur, who showed that rotting and fermentation could occur under anaerobic conditions if micro-organisms were present. Pasteur suggested three methods to eliminate the micro-organisms responsible for gangrene: filtration, exposure to heat, or exposure to chemical solutions. Lister confirmed Pasteur's conclusions with his own experiments and decided to use his findings to develop antiseptic techniques for wounds. As the first two methods suggested by Pasteur were inappropriate for the treatment of human tissue, Lister experimented with the third, spraying carbolic acid on his instruments. He found that this remarkably reduced the incidence of gangrene and he published his results in The Lancet. [36] Later, on 9 August 1867, he read a paper before the British Medical Association in Dublin, on the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, which was reprinted in The British Medical Journal.[37][38][39] His work was groundbreaking and laid the foundations for a rapid advance in infection control that saw modern antiseptic operating theatres widely used within 50 years.
Lister continued to develop improved methods of antisepsis and asepsis when he realised that infection could be better avoided by preventing bacteria from getting into wounds in the first place. This led to the rise of sterile surgery. Lister introduced the Steam Steriliser to sterilize equipment, instituted rigorous hand washing and later implemented the wearing of rubber gloves. These three crucial advances – the adoption of a scientific methodology toward surgical operations, the use of anaesthetic and the introduction of sterilised equipment – laid the groundwork for the modern invasive surgical techniques of today.
The use of X-rays as an important medical diagnostic tool began with their discovery in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. He noticed that these rays could penetrate the skin, allowing the skeletal structure to be captured on a specially treated photographic plate.
Surgical specialties[edit]
National Societies[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes and references[edit]
2. ^ Mischke, Christina; Verbeek, Jos H; Saarto, Annika; Lavoie, Marie-Claude; Pahwa, Manisha; Ijaz, Sharea; Verbeek, Jos H (2014). "Gloves, extra gloves or special types of gloves for preventing percutaneous exposure injuries in healthcare personnel". doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009573.pub2.
3. ^ a b c American College of Radiology. "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question". Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American College of Radiology). Retrieved August 17, 2012 , citing
4. ^ American Society for Clinical Pathology, "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American Society for Clinical Pathology), retrieved August 1, 2013 , which cites
6. ^ a b Askitopoulou, H., Konsolaki, E., Ramoutsaki, I., Anastassaki, E. Surgical cures by sleep induction as the Asclepieion of Epidaurus. The history of anesthesia: proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium, by José Carlos Diz, Avelino Franco, Douglas R. Bacon, J. Rupreht, Julián Alvarez. Elsevier Science B.V., International Congress Series 1242(2002), p.11-17. [1]
7. ^ Doyle, S. L., Lysaght, J. and Reynolds, J. V. (2010), Obesity and post-operative complications in patients undergoing non-bariatric surgery. Obesity Reviews, 11: 875–886.
8. ^ a b c American Academy of Dermatology (February 2013), "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American Academy of Dermatology), retrieved 5 December 2013 , which cites
• Sheth, V. M.; Weitzul, S. (2008). "Postoperative topical antimicrobial use". Dermatitis : contact, atopic, occupational, drug 19 (4): 181–189. PMID 18674453.
9. ^ Aylin P, Alexandrescu R, Jen MH, Mayer EK, Bottle A (2013). "Day of week of procedure and 30 day mortality for elective surgery: retrospective analysis of hospital episode statistics". BMJ 346: f2424. doi:10.1136/bmj.f2424. PMC 3665889. PMID 23716356.
12. ^ Weiss AJ, Barrett ML, Steiner CA (July 2014). "Trends and Projections in Inpatient Hospital Costs and Utilization, 2003-2013". HCUP Statistical Brief #175. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
13. ^ a b Moore B, Levit K and Elixhauser A (October 2014). "Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2012". HCUP Statistical Brief #181. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
14. ^ a b Makary MA, Segev DL, Pronovost PJ, et al. (June 2010). "Frailty as a predictor of surgical in older patients". J. Am. Coll. Surg. 210 (6): 901–8. doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.01.028. PMID 20510798. Lay summary (28 December 2010).
15. ^ Meara JG, Leather AJ, Hagander L, Alkire BC, Alonso N, Ameh EA, Bickler SW, Conteh L, Dare AJ, Davies J, Mérisier ED, El-Halabi S, Farmer PE, Gawande A, Gillies R, Greenberg SL, Grimes CE, Gruen RL, Ismail EA, Kamara TB, Lavy C, Lundeg G, Mkandawire NC, Raykar NP, Riesel JN, Rodas E, Rose J, Roy N, Shrime MG, Sullivan R, Verguet S, Watters D, Weiser TG, Wilson IH, Yamey G, Yip W (2015). "Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development". Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60160-X. PMID 25924834.
16. ^ Capasso, Luigi (2002). Principi di storia della patologia umana: corso di storia della medicina per gli studenti della Facoltà di medicina e chirurgia e della Facoltà di scienze infermieristiche (in Italian). Rome: SEU. ISBN 88-87753-65-2. OCLC 50485765.
17. ^ Shiffman, Melvin. Cosmetic Surgery: Art and Techniques. Springer. p. 20. ISBN 978-3-642-21837-8.
18. ^ R. Sullivan "The Identity and Work of the Ancient Egyptian Surgeon". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 89, no 8 (1996): 469.
19. ^ James P. Allen, "The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt". (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005), 72.
20. ^ "Stone age man used dentist drill". BBC News. 6 April 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
21. ^ Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit Dictionary (1899)
23. ^ a b Kutumbian, pages XXXII-XXXIII
24. ^ Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit Dictionary, s.v. "suśruta"
25. ^ History of plastic surgery in India. Rana RE, Arora BS, - J Postgrad Med
26. ^ Hong, Francis (2004). "History of Medicine in China" (PDF). McGill Journal of Medicine 8 (1): 7984.
27. ^ Risse, G.B. Mending bodies, saving souls: a history of hospitals. Oxford University Press, 1990. p. 56 [2]
28. ^ biography from accessed 16 April 2007.
29. ^ Sven Med Tidskr. (2007). "From barber to surgeon- the process of professionalization". Svensk medicinhistorisk tidskrift 11 (1): 69–87. PMID 18548946.
30. ^ Levine JM (March 1992). "Historical notes on pressure ulcers: the cure of Ambrose Paré". Decubitus 5 (2): 23–4, 26. PMID 1558689.
31. ^ Moore, Wendy (2005). The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery. Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
32. ^ "John Hunter: "the father of scientific surgery": Resources from the collection of the P.I. Nixon Library". Retrieved 2012-12-17.
33. ^ "John Hunter: ‘Founder of Scientific Surgery’". Retrieved 2012-12-17.
34. ^ Gordon, H. Laing (November 2002). Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811–1870). The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4102-0291-8. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
35. ^ Robinson, Victor. The Story Of Medicine. Kessinger Publishing. p. 420.
36. ^ The Lancet, "On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observation on the conditions of suppuration".
5 articles running from:
Volume 89, Issue 2272, 16 March 1867, Pages 326-329 (Originally published as Volume 1, Issue 2272)
Volume 90, Issue 2291, 27 July 1867, Pages 95-96 Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 2291
37. ^ Lister J (21 September 1867). "On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery". The British Medical Journal 2 (351): 245–260. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.351.246. PMC 2310614. PMID 20744875. . Reprinted in Lister, BJ (2010). "The classic: On the antiseptic principle in the practice of surgery. 1867". Clinical orthopaedics and related research 468 (8): 2012–6. doi:10.1007/s11999-010-1320-x. PMC 2895849. PMID 20361283.
38. ^ Lister, Joseph. "Modern History Sourcebook: Joseph Lister (1827-1912): Antiseptic Principle Of The Practice Of Surgery, 1867". Fordham University. Retrieved 2 September 2011. Modernized version of text
39. ^ Lister, Joseph. "On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery by Baron Joseph Lister". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2 September 2011. E-text, audio at Project Gutenberg.
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schubade (schubade ) wrote in myhairneedshelp ,
Need Help - Top layer of hair brittle, dry, frizzy
Hey. I'm crossposting this plea for help in three communities because I'm desperate, lol.
So, this is my problem:
My hair naturally very thick and pretty wavy. I've kind of always had problems with it being a little frizzy and unmanageable, but it's never been as bad as it has been for the past two years or so.
Basically, the outer layer is like... super damaged, really frizzy, brittle, scraggly, wispy... just terrible. And the inner layer, basically everything that's untouched by friction or weather, is smooth, wavy, and nice. I can literally separate the crappy portion from the good portion when its in a ponytail.
I'm sure I'm not helping the matter - I always play with my hair because I shed a lot, so I'm constantly pulling loose hairs out of my ponytail, it's become like a habit at this point. Also, I have my hair up a lot, so the scrunchie is probably pretty abrasive. I did get a new scrunchie to fix the problem - it's thicker and softer seeming, but I'm not sure if it's helped at all.
I've done at home oil treatments and bought this Henna and Placenta stuff from CVS, which actually does have something of a noticeable effect, but more on the already healthy hair than the damaged hair.
I can't just simply cut it off - the only way to really start over with my hair at this point would to cut it super super short (and even then, I'm not sure how far up the damage goes), and I'm really not willing to do that just yet. At the moment, my hair is a few inches past my shoulders, pretty much just above my chest I would say.
I also use shampoo and conditioner that is specifically for frizzy hair. I use a leave in conditioner that claims to make it more manageable as well.
I'm just getting really sick of this. It's just bushy, rough, and terrible. And when my hair is up in a ponytail, the disparity is really obvious.
So yeah... help, please. =[
I am at school right now, but I will probably edit later with pictures, just in case that helps.
ETA: I let my hair air dry. I have used a straightener pretty sparingly in my life, and only once in like the past couple of years. I have also dyed my hair maybe like three times, and that was years ago. And I pretty much never blow dry my hair.
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The Rise of Mad Masculinity
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...full text also available at Truthdig
The first quarter of 2011 has ushered in the year of the “mad man.” From Charlie Sheen to Chris Brown to George Lopez to Jared Loughner and David Prosser we’ve seen it all: everything from attempted murder to assault and battery, to polygamy, to verbal and emotional abuse against women. Sadly, this idea of mad masculinity is being turned into a commodity that can be consumed repeatedly across a range of media outlets.
What’s sadder is that these examples could be multiplied many times over and aren’t limited to stories on TMZ or headlines of mainstream newspapers. As Phil Molé details in a thorough and important post, “the worst cases of misogyny in the world today are rarely even deemed newsworthy.”
But whether we’re talking about India or Indiana, what remains striking is how little we seem to know or care about the frequency of discrimination against women, physical or otherwise. What’s more is that in the US we seem to be entertained by an increasingly blatant contempt for women. Why is Chris Brown invited to return to “Good Morning America” after his morning-show meltdown regarding questions about his assault on Rihanna? Why is Charlie Sheen slated to make $7 million from his upcoming national tour, aka "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option Show"? Why does George Lopez feel it’s all right to call Kirstie Alley a pig on his talk show? Why don’t we talk about the hateful sexist slurs Loughner wrote on letters from Gabrielle Giffords before he shot her in January? Why is Prosser allowed to use slurs as truth against Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson?
When mad men rear their heads in mainstream media—as in the cases of Sheen, Brown, Lopez, Loughner and Prosser—they are largely dismissed. Or, worse, they are turned into a joke. And when mad men like Loughner or Prosser attack women in politics, it rarely commands serious scrutiny or analysis. Mad men are treated as individual bad men and not as part of a society that devalues women. The recent focus on mad misogynist men as entertainment also appeals to an escapist impulse on the part of audiences. More important, it suggests that we’ve become desensitized and are either unable or unwilling to address discrimination against women in a serious and political manner.
In the cases of Brown and Sheen, misogyny disappeared in favor of a focus on differential treatment among mad men who assault women. In the cases of Lopez and Prosser, misogyny disappeared in favor of a focus on how the men’s careers will be affected. And in Loughner’s case, misogyny disappeared from the conversation in favor of a focus on his own history of mental illness.
These images of mad men work hand in hand with reality shows like TLC’s “Sister Wives,” E! Investigates’ “Husbands Who Kill,” and MTV’s “Jersey Shore” and mask the ugly truth that misogyny isn’t entertaining. They also mask the fact that misogyny--whether it comes in the form of violent outbursts, assaults or sexual domination--isn’t new. What’s new is that contemporary popular culture turns misogyny into marriage proposals, modeling contracts, and millions of dollars. And, as Anna Holmes puts it in the New York Times, today’s pop culture makes “assault and abasement seem commonplace, acceptable behavior, tolerated by women and encouraged in men.” Apologies aren’t deemed necessary.
Instead of acknowledging what’s making men mad and why women appear to be tolerating discrimination we have allowed misogyny to come out of the contained spaces of homes and workplaces and invade mainstream media without any substantial critique. Men who won’t “man up” are called “pussies.” Women who won’t submit are called “total bitches.” And so-called ugly women are referred to as “grenades” and “pigs.”
Framing this kind of woman-talk as scandalous gossip and entertainment allows audiences to feel better because we would never dream of using those terms. And even if we secretly would use that kind of language, we are still better than those crazy men with their crude manners who use that kind of language in public. We fail to realize our power to turn these images off and demand that different and more humane images of men and women be the norm. Even more tragically, we fail to acknowledge that consuming these images implicates us in the rise of mad masculinity and misogyny, regardless of how genuinely we wish they did not.
rise of mad masculinity
There should be more respect for all well intentioned men. If not, mysogyny should continue. I'm glad this is happening. Personally I am tired of seeing efforts of men defecated on by women who only see a man as either as a walking wallet, dildo, or an emotional punching bag. No more.
Exactly right!
Exactly right! Why do you think the actions of "Mad Men" aren't more harshly criticized --because it resonates with many other men. Women are raised as precious commodities, while men are seen as disposable "women and children first" etc. No wonder so many women are arrogant narcissists... On match.com, women get MANY more emails than men. Men are sick of it, period. | <urn:uuid:33699ffc-dc34-4d32-ad66-9c9402210bee> | http://www.marciadawkins.com/blog/2011/03/31/rise-mad-masculinity | en | 0.941643 | 0.194236 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
N.J. needs to reform its bail system: Editorial
Bail bonds businesses across from the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack. (Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)
on December 08, 2013 at 5:59 AM, updated December 09, 2013 at 12:28 PM
It’s past time we fixed the serious flaws in New Jersey’s broken bail system. First of all, it’s deeply unfair. Our county jails are jammed with suspects who can’t afford even a nominal bail, which means the poor get nailed and the rich do not.
Second, by law, judges setting bail are only supposed to consider the risk that a person will flee before trial; not the risk to public safety. In practice, judges will sometimes consider public safety, but do so with a wink and a nod.
The end result is that we are detaining crowds of low risk suspects at a high cost to taxpayers, while letting more threatening people go free — simply because they have the cash to post bail.
We need to build a better system, one that protects the public by allowing judges to order the confinement of dangerous suspects, and one that treats rich and poor equally.
That discussion is underway in New Jersey. The state’s chief justice, Stuart Rabner, has appointed a committee to study bail reform. Assemblyman John Burzichelli has proposed a bill modeling the federal system, and Gov. Chris Christie sensibly wants to give judges more power to deny bail for repeat violent offenders.
Our hope is that New Jersey looks to states that have already fixed this problem. Kentucky is among them. Low-risk defendants are released without bail; under supervision, if necessary. Those who pose a moderate risk of flight are released after posting bail with the court, which is refunded if they show up to trial. And the highest risk people are simply kept behind bars.
This saves big money in the long run. It costs about $70 a day to hold a person in jail, but only about $7 a day to supervise that person under pretrial release. Now consider the average length of time someone sits in our jails awaiting trial: 10 months — with a bill to taxpayers of about $30,000 per inmate.
Sure, we’d pay more to hold dangerous suspects in jail, but that is a solid investment in public safety. Monitoring those at moderate risk would cost money as well, but not much. We’d save overall by releasing the flood of low-risk defendants who would otherwise be warehoused in our jails, solely because they can’t afford bail. A study in April found that 40 percent of the people in our jails fall into that category. It’s the modern version of debtors prisons.
The push-back is coming from bail bondsmen, who typically post bail in return for a cash payment from defendants of 10 percent, or less. If the suspect fails to show up at trial, the bondsman loses his money, and has a powerful incentive to track down the defendant. They argue that this is an effective way to ensure that defendants show up at trial. But in this system, defendants lose the 10 percent payment even if they do appear in court.
In Kentucky, suspects must pay bail to the court itself, not to a middle-man, and they get the money back if they show up at trial. If they do not, law enforcement officials track them down.
The point is that we need a system that treats rich and poor alike, and one that better protects the public safety. This discussion is long overdue. | <urn:uuid:ed9faaae-8a76-4ec3-9b27-b170eb352858> | http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2013/12/nj_needs_to_rethink_its_bail_s.html | en | 0.947255 | 0.018435 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
Geography of Saskatchewan
By: Randy Widdis
Near Shackleton.
David McLennan
The view of Saskatchewan held by many Canadians is dominated by a number of images: wheat-filled elevators overlooking flat fields of grain; children with toques pulled over their ears playing a game of shinny on a frozen slough in -30° weather; parents standing at their small town’s bus depot with their eyes full of tears, waving goodbye to a departing coach as it carries their child off to build a life elsewhere. While these symbols represent selected features of the place, they are illusory in the sense that they convey an image of a society that is as simple and amorphous as the horizontal landscape with which many people also associate Saskatchewan. But Saskatchewan is a more heterogeneous place than many people think, and geography serves as an insightful disciplinary canvas upon which to paint a more compelling picture of the province. This is an overview of the geography of Saskatchewan, identifying its major physical and cultural components but also examining the evolving connections between place and identity, in order to develop a more dynamic understanding of the province as it has transformed over time.
Place, Region and Identity
Geography seeks to understand the nature of place. Geographers systematically analyse the social, economic, political, and environmental processes operating in a place in order to provide an integrated understanding of its distinctiveness or character. The answer to the question, “What makes Saskatchewan unique?” requires a geographical approach that focuses on integration in place and interdependencies among places. In this context, it is important to consider interactions taking place over time within the province, and also those relations developing between Saskatchewan and the rest of Canada and the world.
Traditionally, the nature of and identification with this place have been built on the linked characteristics of rurality, agriculture, and isolation. However, the traditional culturally identifiable references—small towns and a Wheat monoculture—are diminishing in importance: indeed, the iconography of the province, so dominated by a rural agricultural sector, experiencing decline in the face of global restructuring, is increasingly irrelevant. This raises the question, “What is this place becoming?” and emphasizes the need to shift conceptions of the province from an image mostly connected with a rural Euro-Canadian past to a present and future in which Aboriginal presence, urban dominance, and an evolving economy can be meaningfully articulated.
Spatial isolation resulting from physical barriers such as the Canadian Shield and the Rocky Mountains as well as great distances have combined with cultural separation to act as divisive forces within Canada, and have fostered attachments to province and region. The role played by geography is significant: Saskatchewan as region/place has evolved from the constant re-creation of society through human actions and interactions with a changing environment. These were carried out in historically and geographically specific contexts, but the transformations that took place also occurred in wider contexts of political, economic and social relationships with the rest of the country and the larger world.
Figure 1. This map shows Saskatchewan's geographical isolation. The Great Plains region, outlined in black, stretches from Canada's Northwest Territories through the mid-United States and into eastern Mexico
Canadian Plains Research Center Mapping Division
A central tenet of geography is that location is key to understanding a wide variety of processes. Social and geographical isolation has historically played a role in the development of the province and, arguably, still functions to make this place unique. Its relative location within Canada, far from the largest markets, has always hindered the development of secondary manufacturing and, for many years now, has discouraged the in-migration of other Canadians and foreign-born alike. In a larger context, Saskatchewan is part of a greater North American international region (the Great Plains) that is primarily extractive, economically limited by its peripherality, and politically under-represented because of its small population1 (Figure 1). While geographical isolation continues to affect the pace of development, revolutions in Transportation and communication technology have reduced the costs associated with relative inaccessibility and generated scope for the development of high-tech and location-free industries. These include Biotechnology and petroleum-based research, linked to the traditional agricultural and petroleum industries already prominent in the province.
The Physical Environment
Geographic research on the distinctiveness of place also focuses on the nature of relationships between humans and their physical environment. Saskatchewan has a number of distinct physical environments, and their peopling at different times has resulted in variable settlement experiences. Many Canadians are unaware of this diversity because most of those who pass through the province travel along the Trans-Canada Highway, across a part of the province that is flat: this reinforces the common perception of Saskatchewan as a place dominated by horizontal and monotonous landscapes. Those who take the time to explore the province know differently.
Geographers apply the concept of ecozone, defined as a spatial unit that describes particular biophysical features and underlying relationships, to illustrate the regional variety of physical environments. Saskatchewan has four ecozones—the prairie, boreal plains, boreal shield, and taiga shield—and three natural vegetation regions—grassland, parkland, and forest.2 The Shield is comprised of ancient, mostly crystalline rocks of Precambrian age (see Precambrian Geology). Younger sedimentary rocks cover this crystalline basement in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin that underlies the southern portion of Saskatchewan. The relatively flat landscape of this region is referred to as the Interior Plains. Prairie and boreal plains ecozones cover this region. (See ecoregions).
Grasslands dominate the drier prairie with Trees only growing near rivers where they can get enough moisture. The prairie is divided into tall and short grasses, the latter now concentrated in the drier southwestern part of the province. The parkland, a transitional zone separating the grassland and boreal forest, is covered with trees interspersed with grassland. Deciduous trees (aspen, poplar and birch) dominate in the south; conifers (spruce and pine) are more prevalent in the north. The parkland merges into the southern boreal forest as areas of grassland diminish and finally disappear. Black and brown Soils often derived from glacial deposits left during the last ice age are ideal for the cultivation of crops in the grassland and parkland. (See also Grasses and Grasslands, Native; trees; soils).
The southern part of the boreal forest lies within the Interior Plains; but to the north lies the Precambrian Shield, comprising crystalline basement rocks and the somewhat younger sedimentary rocks of the Athabasca Basin, which together represent more than three billion years of Earth history. glacial erosion scoured this land, creating a poorly drained region dotted with thousands of lakes, rivers and bogs. Agriculture is almost impossible because of thin grey soils, rocky and swampy terrain, and short growing season. Hardier coniferous trees prevail in this region. The taiga shield in the far northeastern part of the province is a transitional zone between the boreal forest to the south and the treeless Arctic tundra to the north. The black spruce and jack pine in this cold environment are widely spaced.
The entire province, with the exception of the Cypress Hills in the extreme southwest, was affected by Glaciation. glacial deposition during the retreat of the ice sheets left behind a landscape of moraines, glacial spillways (e.g., the Qu’Appelle Valley), drumlins, and other related landforms. The last ice cap left a moraine-capped escarpment (the Missouri escarpment) running from 100 km west of the Manitoba border, angling northwestward to Swift Current and then north-northwest into Alberta. In many parts of the prairie are deposits formed on the floor of former proglacial lakes, creating the large expanses of flat land so prominent in southern Saskatchewan.
The Cypress Hills are the highest point in Canada between Labrador and the Rockies.
Canadian Plains Research Center Source: Ecoregions of Saskatchewan (1998)
The Cypress Hills, a plateau bypassed by the glaciers, reach as high as 1,392 metres, the highest point in Canada between Labrador and the Rockies. Cooler temperatures and greater precipitation than the surrounding Prairies produce a mixture of wet grasslands, aspen parkland and fescue prairie, as well as aspen, lodgepole pine and white spruce forest. Other distinctive landforms include the badlands of south-central Saskatchewan, characterized by unusually shaped rocks, sandstone bluffs, and cliffs. The Athabasca Sand Dunes, along the south shore of Lake Athabasca in the northwest, form the largest dune fields in Canada. Other sand dune areas occur in the Great Sand Hills, Douglas Provincial Park, and Good Spirit Lake.3
Saskatchewan’s Climate can be classified a number of different ways. Generally, the southern areas (especially the southwest) are drier, while the north has cooler summers and colder winters. The province’s continental position and the unencumbered invasion of cold Arctic air masses from the north and warm Gulf of Mexico air masses from the south usually ensure both long cold winters and hot dry summers. The prevailing westerlies that come from the Pacific are dry because they lose most of their moisture in the form of orographic precipitation as they cross the Rockies.
Because Saskatchewan depends so much on agriculture, it is understandable that climate is a subject that engenders much discussion. In this context, the issue of climate change is one that attracts considerable attention. Most climate change scenarios for the prairie provinces, predicated on increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, indicate a rapid increase in temperatures, a reduction in soil moisture because of higher evapo-transpiration, and a greater incidence of extreme climate events. While predicted increases in temperature would lengthen the growing season, higher temperatures and lower soil moisture could adversely affect agriculture, particularly in the drier regions of the province. The potential impact of climate change on agriculture, forest ecosystems, recreation and tourism, wildlife and biodiversity, aquatic ecosystems, water supply and demand, and other aspects of Saskatchewan’s economy and environment, is a topic for debate. The perceived inevitability of this change, regardless of its nature and dimensions, is something that concerns many. (See Climate Change: The Future).
Historical Geography
Widely divergent soil types, vegetation, and surface features at the local and regional scales as well as significant differences in climate between north and south produced a variable setting for the historical evolution of the province. In the far north, the last glacier receded about 9,000 years ago. As the ice disappeared the land was colonized by plants, animals, and people. The early forest cultures that followed established hunting and gathering societies based on moose, woodland caribou, beaver, waterfowl, and fish. In the sub-Arctic climate zone of the taiga shield, people hunted the barren ground caribou as they migrated between the Arctic tundra in the summer and the northern edge of the boreal forest in the winter. In the south the glaciers had receded several thousand years earlier. The first grasslands peoples, belonging to the Clovis material culture, hunted Pleistocene species such as mammoth, prehistoric bison and horses during the period 11,500 to 10,500 years before present (see archaeology). A number of cultures followed, and with the extinction of the Pleistocene species the subsistence economies of these groups became focused on Bison. The development of the bow and arrow facilitated large-scale, communal bison hunts during the Late Plains Indian period (2,000 to a little over 300 years ago).4
It is generally believed that Henry Kelsey, a Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) agent who followed the Saskatchewan River from Hudson Bay in 1690–91, was the first European to enter present-day Saskatchewan. At that time, the Denesuline (Dene) were the only cultural group in the far north. Woodland peoples belonging to the Cree culture lived in the boreal forest. Atsinas (Gros Ventre) inhabited the grasslands of west-central and southwestern Saskatchewan, while Nakota (Assiniboine) bands occupied the eastern half of the grasslands at that time.5 The Dene are believed to have obtained some European goods as early as the 1620s, procuring them from Cree who lived further south and east. By 1682 the HBC had established a post at Port Nelson on Hudson Bay, and endeavoured to establish permanent trade with the Dene. In 1717, Fort Churchill was built at the mouth of the Churchill River and Dene from northern Saskatchewan came to trade there. Following Samuel Hearne’s travels to Lake Athabasca in 1769–72, Peter Pond in 1779 supervised the construction of the first HBC trading post in the region, about 50 km from the mouth of the Athabasca River. Ten years later, this post was replaced by Fort Chipewyan, which was built on the southwestern shore of Lake Athabasca.6
The Plains Cree were originally a woodland group who adopted the horse-bison culture when they moved into central and southern Saskatchewan in the early 18th century. With the beginning of trade with the English and French on James Bay and Hudson Bay in the late 17th century, the western Cree and Nakota of present-day northwestern Ontario and Manitoba no longer had to rely on the Ottawa and Ojibwa for European goods (e.g., steel traps, guns) they wanted. Almost immediately, the Nakota and western Cree began building trading networks toward the grasslands/parkland region.7 By this time, the horse had been reintroduced to the North American plains from New Mexico, and was quickly integrated into the economic and social life of the Indians of the region.
Firearms and the fur trade had an indelible impact on the Plains Cree and the Dene. Within a short period of time, Natives prized European goods for both utilitarian purposes and as new forms of wealth. They exchanged furs (beaver and buffalo) and meat for trade goods, and gradually adopted more of the Europeans’ food, clothing and technology. While western Aboriginal peoples originally travelled to Hudson Bay to trade, they eventually persuaded both the French and the English to establish trading posts in their territories: Cumberland House was built in 1774 to include the Saskatchewan area.
Recent research challenges the traditional interpretation of this trade, which assumes that First Nations peoples fell into a subordinate and dependent relationship vis-à-vis the Europeans. The revisionist position is summarized by Thistle, who states:
Natives in the region were numerically superior and knowledgeable enough to maintain a significant degree of control over their participation in the production of fur and in the transportation and provisioning systems, as well as the strategic balance of power. The social and political systems of First Nations peoples clearly served as the basis for the structuring of the early fur-trade periods as it is apparent that changes in the Native material culture was predicated on their own needs and world views. On the other hand, it was Europeans who adapted themselves […] to the “customs of the country.” During the period from 1690 to 1840, Europeans were clearly unable to impose their own conditions on the relationship with Native peoples and, therefore, found it necessary to adapt themselves to the existing social, political, technological, and economic systems of the First Nations peoples of the regions.8
Despite the efforts of the French and English to manipulate the conditions of trade and rival bands to their advantage, Native peoples took advantage of the rivalries between the Europeans before 1763, and between the trading companies after that date, to attain as advantageous a position as possible within the system. Over time, however, the continued expansion of the Fur Trade resulted in differing paths of development and relationships with the trading companies. Parkland Cree and Nakota intensified their hunting of bison to meet the growing provision requirements of the HBC and North West Company, and consequently became less dependent on the trapping and trading of furs to obtain goods. This transition from a woodland- to a grassland-based economy gradually reduced their reliance on the trading companies, as they found that the bison would meet many of their requirements for survival. Those groups remaining in the Forests, however, faced a different situation. Over-hunting meant that the Woodland Nakota, Cree, and Ojibwa had to rely increasingly on trapping—in spite of the fact that the fur resource was declining. Increased trapping intensified their dependence on European ammunition, axes, traps, cloths, blankets, and other equipment.9
Yet eventually, the parkland and grassland tribes would lose their advantage. Missionary activity challenged traditional forms of leadership, and Native peoples concentrated around permanent settlements. The impact of disease and the near extinction of the buffalo had a devastating effect on Native groups. It was at this time that the nature of the relationship with Europeans changed from that of parity and, arguably, control, to dependence.10 The HBC was not prepared to replace the bison with another food source for the Plains Indians: instead, the Canadian government provided sustenance, but required these nomadic hunters to relocate and settle on reserves.11
During the mid-19th century, British and Canadian expeditions, the former led by John Palliser and the latter by Henry Youle Hind and Simon Dawson respectively (see Palliser and Hind Expeditions), explored the prairies. Both expeditions divided the western interior into two zones: a fertile belt appropriate for agricultural settlement, which loosely followed a trajectory along the NORTH SASKATCHEWAN RIVER from the Red River Settlement to the Rockies; and an arid area (Palliser’s Triangle) south of that arc which was seen as suitable only for grazing. Both parties failed to explore the far southwestern part of present-day Saskatchewan, choosing instead to make second-hand references to this area as the northern extension of the Great American Desert.12 The impact of these expeditions and the subsequent and more favourable report of John Macoun were significant. The region was no longer viewed as a wilderness suitable only for the fur trade, but as an area with great potential for agriculture. Indeed, as one historian maintains, the information contained in their reports “provided the basis for the redefinition of the geography of the North West.”13
In 1868, legislation was passed enabling the Crown to accept the surrender of Rupert’s Land (see Rupert’s Land Purchase). This was followed in 1870 by an Order-in-Council that set out the details of transfer to the Dominion government and the entry of Manitoba into Confederation, after which the lands of present-day Saskatchewan and Alberta were administered as territories (see boundaries).14 After the exile of their leader Louis Riel, disillusioned Métis from southern Manitoba began to settle land along the South Saskatchewan River. Métis buffalo hunters previously had temporary camps throughout southern Saskatchewan, including the Qu’Appelle Valley, Duck Lake and Batoche areas, and later returned to these places, establishing permanent agricultural settlements to supplement traditional hunting. It was as this time that the Canadian government began negotiation of treaties with the Native peoples in preparation for an expected influx of settlers.
The salient features of Canadian land policy in the west—homesteads, land survey, and railway land grants—were transplants from the United States. The sectional survey system, with its geometrical design, was intended to get settlers on the land as cheaply and quickly as possible. Although western Canada’s first Homestead Act was passed in 1872, the region failed to attract the hundreds of thousands of Europeans and North Americans moving westward. Between 1870 and 1896, adjacent American lands were filling up while the Canadian prairies remained largely empty of White settlement. The lack of rail connections to export points limited development before 1879, but the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1886 and the extension of its subsidiary, the Soo Line Railway, to the Canadian border removed this barrier. Yet settlement still proceeded slowly: less than 170,000 people settled in the three North-West Territories (Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta) between 1881 and 1886.15
The Métis of the Saskatchewan Valley had settled the land before the survey was begun, and dreaded the prospect of White settlement. Appeals to the government to have their river lots legally recognized were only partially successful: established lots were acknowledged, but new areas needed for expansion would only be surveyed under the sectional system. The Métis believed the land was theirs by right of their Indian parentage, and objected to having to wait three years for title as immigrants did.16 They asked Louis Riel to return to Canada to lead the protest for land rights. Ottawa ignored their demands, and in 1885 the Métis and their Indian allies proclaimed a provisional government. Following an armed skirmish at Duck Lake between the Métis, Natives, Mounted Police and White volunteers, Ottawa sent an armed force under General F.D. Middleton to quell the revolt. They eventually succeeded, Riel was executed, and the Métis were forced to live under the new order.17
Only by 1896, when lands to the south had largely filled and the worldwide recession of the 1890s was ending, did significant numbers of settlers begin to flow into the region. The British were the largest immigrant group (N=562,054) between 1900 and 1910, although the numbers of Americans (N=497,249) and, to a lesser extent, continental Europeans (N=394,088) increased dramatically at the end of the decade. While many of the British were attracted to the developing industrial heartland of Ontario and Québec, Americans and continental Europeans were more responsive to the opportunities presented by settlement in the west. Between 1897 and 1910, 32% of arrivals from continental Europe and 42% of arrivals from the United States made homestead entry in western Canada.18 This influx of population and the development of an economy based primarily on agriculture played a direct role in the creation of Saskatchewan as a province in 1905.
Eight-horse One Way, June 1947.
Everett Baker (Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society)
A basic fact of immigrant life in Saskatchewan and in the west was the inherent tension between the centrifugal forces of new social patterns on the one hand, and the centripetal attractions of nucleated settlement and cultural retention on the other. The Rural Settlement Patterns of the region as well as the associated Urban Geography were influenced by a variety of factors including soil quality, land availability, and access to markets and railways. But for large numbers of Europeans and transplanted European migrants from the United States, settlement was also shaped by social factors: kinship and kith affiliation, and ethnic congregation were primary migratory forces. Communities in the west were centred on ethnic institutions that served as a basis for social ties. In the resultant ethnic bloc settlements, family, church and community structured local society and relationships.
Despite the competing pulls of the novel and the familiar, allegiances both to the new nation and to transplanted cultural traditions could coexist in Saskatchewan, although at times this relationship was uneasy. Ethno-cultural groups were influenced by Anglo-conformity, but also by transplanted and re-institutionalized cultural practices. While the availability of “free”19 homestead land enabled cultural groups to congregate in space, it also created economic opportunities which reduced the potential for conflict that arises from scarcity. Thus, while segregation did occur to some extent in Saskatchewan and the west, evidence shows that “neighbourly contacts with families of different ethnicity but from the same region, as well as interaction with English-speaking groups in the marketplace, precluded the emergence of mono-cultural blocs… Bloc settlement could thus be regionally homogeneous but ethnically diverse.”20
Other factors—the National Policy (1879) and low freight rates established under the 1897 Crow’s Nest Pass Agreement, and the new strains of wheat developed to grow in the harsh climate of the prairies—also played a role in developing the economy and attracting settlers to Saskatchewan. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Saskatchewan was Canada’s fastest growing province: between 1900 and 1930, there were 303,000 homestead entries. The population grew from 91,000 in 1901 to 922,000 in 1931, and during this interval the number of farms increased from 13,000 to 136,000.21 A linear pattern of service centres emerged across the prairies, controlled and directed by the railways: stations with Grain Elevators were established 8–18 km apart, thus easily accessible to most farmers. Other services were soon established, catering to the farmers’ needs. Those centres most favourably situated, chosen as the location of government or commercial enterprises, or benefiting from the energy and acumen of local leaders, moved quickly to the top of the urban hierarchy.
The development of the province and the western region in general, both during the fur trade and agricultural settlement periods, occurred in wider contexts of political, economic and social relationships that Swainson contends were characterized by dependence and exploitation:
The area and its resources were controlled from outside, for the benefit of several distant centres, whose relative importance changed from time to time. London, Montreal and Toronto, the major and competing metropolises, were flanked by such lesser competitors as Minneapolis-St. Paul, Benton and Vancouver. A prime result of this pattern of development has been a continuing resistance to outside controls. At the same time, the character of western people and institutions has been heavily influenced by forces outside western control.22
For example, Potyondi argues that during the fur trade era, Native peoples and Métis were “in the vanguard of the assault on the very resources that gave their cultures meaning. In turning their profound knowledge of the regional ecosystem to monetary advantage, they quickly depleted the natural resources of the plains to satisfy a far-off, metropolitan-based demand that they scarcely understood.”23
External influences on development were also evident in the federal control of public lands and natural resources in the three prairie provinces, which lasted for twenty-five years after Saskatchewan and Alberta achieved provincial status. Ironically, the three provinces gained control of their lands and resources just as the Great Depression brought dreadful conditions for western grain farmers, already heavily indebted to eastern banks and trust companies. Thousands declared bankruptcy, and anger was directed towards federal policies that prevented farmers from taking advantage of cheaper American farm machinery and consumer goods during a time when their grain was sold on world markets at abysmally low prices. This frustration translated into the creation of social movements and political parties (Progressive Party, the United Farmers of Canada, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Social Credit Party) which assailed eastern capitalists and politicians.24 During the 1930s, Saskatchewan experienced drought, falling grain prices, out-migration, farm consolidation, the beginning of rural-urban migration, and the decline of rural communities. Although economic conditions improved during the war years with increasing yields and grain prices, the population continued to decline, falling by more than 100,000 during the 1930s and 1940s.25
A notable feature of Saskatchewan is the prevalence of Co-operatives across different economic sectors (see Co-operatives in saskatchewan). The first co-operative was organized by wheat farmers in the early 1900s to help market and distribute crops. The largest today is the now publicly traded Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, which operates grain elevators and terminals, livestock yards, and many other facilities. Other co-operatives are active in retailing, wholesaling, housing, banking, and other service industries. This co-operative consciousness also made its way into politics. The socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which was organized in 1933 during the nadir of the Depression, emphasized the need for government intervention in the economy in general and the importance of Crown corporations specifically. The party designated Health Care and agriculture as the primary issues in the 1944 election, and swept to power on the basis of overwhelming rural support. The first “socialist” government in North America put into place policies that have persisted, in spite of changing administrations.
Forestry, the Oil and Gas Industry, the Potash Industry and uranium mining spurred economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s. This, in turn, triggered the development of the service sector. As a consequence, agriculture, although still the most important industry in the province, gradually decreased in terms of its primacy. International trade of primary resources continued to be the lifeblood of the Saskatchewan economy during the last few decades of the 20th century, but gradually the economy diversified.
Human Geography
Figure 2. Percentage of Population 65+, Canada, provinces and territories, 2001.
Canadian Plains Research Center
Any consideration of population in Saskatchewan has to take into account the context of socio-economic trends such as increased farm size and mechanization, declining farm incomes due to agricultural restructuring and decreasing prices, increasing loss of community services, and greater mobility resulting from improvements in the transportation system. The population of the province has displayed only minimal growth since the middle of the 20th century, and most projections maintain that growth will continue to be slow in the immediate future. Among the provinces, only Newfoundland and Labrador exhibited lower growth than Saskatchewan during the period 1981–2001. Compared with the other provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest elderly dependency ratio (Figure 2)26: this is a consequence of a declining fertility rate and a significant out-migration of the young. Interprovincial Migration has resulted in a net population loss for most of the last thirty years, as both young and old leave the province in record numbers. The result will be fewer people in the workforce, more people collecting pensions, and greater demands on the health care system. Saskatchewan also has relatively low attraction and retainment of immigrant rates when compared to other provinces.27
Yet, while the overall population of Saskatchewan is experiencing slow growth, the same cannot be said for the Aboriginal sector of the province. Registered Indians, living on and off reserves, increased to 90,797 in 2000 from 74,095 in 1996—an increase of 23%. In January 2001, approximately 143,000 registered and non-registered Aboriginals comprised about 14% of Saskatchewan’s population of just fewer than one million people. The net growth of this population sector is currently about 5% per year,28 and projections made of the Aboriginal population in 2045 range from 434,000 to just less than one million. Even using the lower estimate, Aboriginals are expected to make up approximately 32.5% of Saskatchewan’s population at that time, compared to 13.3% in 1995.29
Northern Saskatchewan’s population differs from the south in that the relative proportions of First Nations (Cree and Dene) and Métis are greater. Yet Aboriginal people from both northern and southern reserves and communities are joining non-Natives in-migrating to the province’s largest cities. In 2001, Saskatoon was the country’s youngest metropolitan area, due primarily to the fertility of its large Aboriginal population. Regina also had a much younger population than most other cities in Canada, for the same reason.30
The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce has identified population growth as a priority for the province. Migrants tend to be young, skilled, and in their family-raising years. Depopulation creates a vicious downward spiral that erodes the foundation of rural communities: those who remain are proportionately older and poorer than urban populations, and struggle to maintain basic services. Fewer people mean fewer businesses, fewer tax dollars, and a deteriorating infrastructure. These conditions combine to repel both businesses and people from locating in these centres, and drive out those who would seek better prospects elsewhere. Many are also pulled to neighbouring provinces by the promise of a better living standard: in 2001, Alberta and Manitoba had better job creation records than Saskatchewan (64,787, 17,499, and 4,268 respectively). Saskatchewan’s greater dependence on agriculture, primary resources and a less diversified economy means that the province feels the effects of poor markets and low commodity prices more than the other prairie provinces.31 (See also Population Trends.)
A struggling farm economy and resultant community decline have fuelled rural-urban migration within Saskatchewan: more and more, people are moving to the larger centres, particularly Saskatoon and Regina, where greater opportunities for employment exist. In addition, improved transportation has increased the attraction of larger communities, and shopping patterns for rural people have shifted from nearby rural communities to regional shopping centres, where more businesses, greater variety, and lower prices are available. This circumvention of small- and mid-sized communities discourages new commercial development from locating in these centres, and hastens their decline.
Economic Geography
The economy of the province remains highly export-oriented and includes the traditional resource-based industries (agriculture, forestry and mineral extraction), a limited manufacturing base, and a small but growing high-tech sector focusing on industries such as biotechnology, aerospace, and petroleum-based research. As is the case elsewhere, non-industrial sectors of the economy have expanded more than industrial sectors. The prices for primary products fluctuate significantly, but increasing diversification of the economy has served to offset somewhat the downturns in primary prices and sales that occur from time to time. The relative prosperity of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, a period that witnessed some declines but was generally characterized by modest growth, gave way in the 1980s to more severe recessions: “World overproduction of small grains, coupled with the failure of GATT to restore order in international grain markets, resulted in several successive years in which prices received were at or below the cost of production.”32 Smaller subsidies, a leaner safety net, and the termination of the Crow Rate, which resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of shipping grain, hurt agriculture. All this took place within the context of a global restructuring of the industry, resulting in a shift away from grain farming to a more diversified crop and livestock base.
In most rural communities, agriculture is no longer the major direct employer, and farm mechanization and amalgamation have substantially reduced the demand for farm Labour. The number of farms has decreased; average values of farmland have fallen; farm income has shrunk relative to the average income per worker in other sectors; farm debt has risen; and wheat prices have declined. Rural communities in general and farmers in particular are desperately trying to adapt to new institutional arrangements of global restructuring. While the 1990s were kinder to Saskatchewan, particularly because of the emergence of a new economy made possible by agricultural diversification, limited manufacturing growth and the expansion of new technologies especially in Saskatoon and Regina, hundreds of rural communities experienced significant decline and some even became extinct. Saskatchewan enjoys a low unemployment rate—5.6% in January 2004, the third lowest in the country—but this figure is tempered by the out-migration of those people who might otherwise find it difficult to gain employment.33
Table 1. Saskatchewan Exports outside of Canada ($ millions) by Industry and Total, 1995 to 1999
Canadian Plains Research Center
Despite some modest diversification, the Saskatchewan economy is still reliant on primary exports and therefore remains strongly affected by global trends (Table 1). In 2001, total exports of $22 billion accounted for 73% of Saskatchewan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a figure that sustained and/or created 220,000 jobs. The largest trading partner for both Canada and Saskatchewan is the United States: in 2002, the province shipped $6.9 billion worth of products to the US.34 The most important exports—non-durum and durum wheat, oats, barley, and canola seed—are sold primarily to the West Coast (California, Oregon and Washington) and the Midwest (Illinois and Minnesota). Saskatchewan Agriculture is attempting to expand its markets in Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, and in Japan.35 Drought, a higher Canadian dollar, and BSE (Mad Cow Disease) have recently reduced agri-food exports; but exports still increased by 5% between 2002 and 2003 owing to export sales of energy, minerals, industrial goods, forestry products, and machinery and equipment.36 In total, Mineral Resources now account for a larger proportion of export value than agriculture. In the future, agriculture will further diversify, with greater emphasis on cattle and hog raising; processing grains into foods, feeds, alcohol and ethanol; and the development of nutraceutical and dermaceutical industries (organic food, vitamins and minerals, herbs).
Saskatchewan’s strongest inter-provincial trade ties are with Ontario, the neighbouring prairie provinces, and Québec. With the exception of the Atlantic region and the Territories, Saskatchewan had trade deficits in the 1990s with every major region of Canada, a point that reflects the relatively underdeveloped state of the province’s manufacturing sector. Between 1992 and 1998, Ontario was the province’s primary domestic trading partner, accounting for $2.1 billion (33%) of total inter-provincial exports and $3.9 billion (37%) of inter-provincial imports. Major imports from Ontario include Automobiles, pharmaceuticals, food products, and computers.37
As agriculture declines in relative terms, oil and gas extraction is playing a greater role in the economy of southern Saskatchewan: in January 2004, some 400 companies employed 22,000 people directly or indirectly in this sector. Saskatchewan is the second-highest oil-producing province, with 20% of all Canadian crude oil and equivalent production. It is also the third-highest gas-producing province. Refineries in Regina and Lloydminster upgrade the heavy, viscous oil that is dominant in Saskatchewan.38 In addition, the province is the largest world producer and exporter of potash.
Mining and forestry, so important in the northern half of the province, have also been features of the post-war economy. Saskatchewan is the world’s largest Uranium producer; this is the most important export from the north, but there has also been extraction of base metals such as copper, nickel, and zinc, as well as of Gold, silver, and other precious minerals. Exploration for diamonds could generate future mines. Total mineral sales in 2001 were $2.4 billion, about 6% of the provincial GDP.39 During the 1960s, the increasing demand for paper and other wood-based materials resulted in the expansion of forestry: more than half the province is forested, and in 2003 the industry put more than $750 million into the provincial economy.40
The development of forestry and mining in the north disrupted the land base of Aboriginal peoples, and precipitated a change in the relations between traditional hunting and gathering societies and non-Natives representing both provincial and external capital interests. Increasingly, First Nations, Métis and non-Natives, both northerners and from elsewhere, were employed as wage labourers in a resource sector. In addition, many new businesses have been created in the service sector through government, First Nations and corporate investment. However, wages in these industries are generally low.
A relatively rapid transition from a hunting and gathering periphery to an extractive industrial periphery has occurred in northern Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, forestry and mining are subject to the vagaries of the world market: this fact, combined with the significant multiplier leakage associated with these industries, results in high rates of unemployment and dependency. This dependency is exacerbated by the reality that external interests control the primary flows of capital into and out of the region. Despite the traditional importance of resource extraction and production, it is the tourism industry that many northern communities look to as the key to development, notwithstanding the considerable obstacle presented by geographical isolation.
As the First Nations population increases relative to the rest of the population, its role in the provincial economy is becoming more crucial. Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) agreements are slowly providing the capital needed by First Nations to purchase land and engage in economic activities, a significant development in light of the fact that the Aboriginal population is growing faster than the Aboriginal employment rate. The funding received as a result of these agreements is often invested in a manner that reflects a collective approach to economic development. This approach, according to Robert Anderson, serves three purposes: “the attainment of economic self-sufficiency as a necessary condition for the realization of self-government at the First Nation level; the improvement of the socio-economic circumstances of the people of the First Nations; [and] the preservation and strengthening of traditional culture, values and languages, and the reflection of the same in development activities.”41 Yet while many advocate a collective approach, there is disagreement among First Nations people regarding economic development, especially in areas of forestry and gaming. Those who are business- and politically minded want to take charge of economic opportunities that exist in the larger society. Others oppose this type of development, which they view as essentially foreign to Indian culture, preferring instead to leave the land in its natural state and strive for alternative forms of growth.
Culture and Landscapes42
Landscapes reveal and evoke the personality of a place. Geographers argue that landscape is more than the visible, concrete elements associated with human occupation: it may also be conceptualized as a metaphorical text which, like a book, can be read and written by individuals and groups for different purposes and with many different interpretations. Geographers contend that landscapes reveal much about alienation, power relations, and dependency.
There are a number of cultural landscape images that give us lasting connections to the place called Saskatchewan—symbols and metaphors that dominate artistic expressions of the province in a variety of media. The visible and perceptual imprint of humankind that is most associated with the province, both within and without, is the agricultural landscape, a landscape where the sectional survey ensures that geometry triumphs over geography, at least in the south. Traditionally, southern Saskatchewan was dominated by the isolated, dispersed farmstead: the product of a settlement pattern created by a survey system designed to get people on the land quickly, with little regard for the isolation that it produced. However, the countryside was and still is interspersed with pockets of clustered farm settlements, where various ethno-cultural (e.g., Ukrainians, Germans) and ethno-religious (e.g., Hutterites, Mennonites) groups have located together in order to maintain their culture and communal ways of life.
Table 2. Saskatchewan's Ethnic Ancestry, 2003
Canadian Plains Research Center
Saskatchewan is made up of people from more than fifty ethnic and racial origins. In the 2001 Census, 963,150 Saskatchewanians reported ethnic ancestry in the groups shown in Table 2. The imprints of this ethnicity on the cultural landscape—sometimes striking, more often subtle—are revealed in the Architecture, language, Religion, and dress, as well as the settlement pattern, of Saskatchewan’s ethno-cultures. With a few exceptions, ethnicity is more visible in rural parts of the province, where sites and buildings closely associated with particular ethnic groups stand out because of lower surrounding densities.
While the rural portion of southern Saskatchewan is defined largely by the agricultural landscape, despite the significance of potash mining and the growing importance of the energy sector its counterpart to the north is characterized by a more rugged natural environment and a small, dispersed population. Yet the human imprint is still very much evident in the boreal forest. Northern Saskatchewan is varied topographically, and challenges the clichés of the flat prairie. Forestry and its associated pulp and paper production, and uranium and other mining activities have given rise to structures and communities that sometimes have a limited life span (e.g., Uranium City). The exploitation associated with this primary activity has profoundly affected the natural landscape, but there is also evidence of the more recent efforts of humans to inject sustainable principles into their development.
Community as place and value is the symbol most associated with the rural landscape. Yet the rural landscape is no longer secure, and is increasingly marred by an imposed relic landscape of abandonment: see-through houses litter the landscape; barns, churches, schools, businesses, and train stations stand empty of both people and animals.
Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of St. Elia, built in 1953, is a long-recognized landmark in east central Saskatchewan. Located in Wroxton, approximately 40 km eastof Yorkton, the traditional onion-domed design of the church clearly reflects the ethnicity of the community.
David McLennan
The cities present a number of different cultural landscapes that reflect successive phases of capitalist development. Both Regina and Saskatoon grew rapidly as service centres, and neither developed much of an industrial base: as a result, the industrial landscape so prominent in other major centres in North America is not much in evidence in either city. Notable exceptions include the oil refinery and steel mill in Regina. In both Regina and Saskatoon, the present cityscape bears evidence of what has been termed the post-Fordist era of capitalism, in which factories are small and more flexible in their methods of production. In addition, research and development are carried on in Research Parks present on university campuses in both cities.
These changes in the cityscape prompt reflection upon what these places are becoming. Certainly, there is much evidence of the construction of landscapes that are increasingly distant from the environment and the history of the region. It seems that all cities, not just those in Saskatchewan, are being taken over by developments (e.g., strip malls, fast food and clothing chains) that are built on a national and very often American-based model, and are insensitive to local cultural and visual traits. Efficient they may be, particularly in this automobile-dominated society, but to many they are blight on the landscape. The continuing expansion of capitalism is accompanied by countervailing tendencies towards homogenization; a trend most clearly expressed by the large “box” businesses (e.g., Wal-Mart, Home Depot) that now dominate the landscape of the suburbs. This kind of development is occurring at the expense of the central business districts, and decay in the form of vacant buildings is very much evident in Saskatchewan’s cities.
Old bank and fire hall in Liberty, Saskatchewan, are an example of the province’s “relic landscape of abondonment.”
David McLennan
The most significant paradox evident in the cultural makeup of Saskatchewan is that which exists between Native and non-Native societies. The immense social changes that indigenous peoples have experienced are reflected in both the rural and urban landscapes. The Indian reserve can be interpreted as a landscape of segregation, the result of a colonial process of subjugation and a cultural ideology of racism; alternatively, it can be viewed as a landscape of congregation, a place where cultural identity is ensured, ironically, by geographical and social isolation. No matter how it is interpreted, the reserve, with a few exceptions, is a place of poverty: the reserve system isolates people from the larger economy, and the result for the most part has been disastrous poverty and social ills.
Research Park, University of Regina.
University of Regina, Photography Department
Increasingly, Saskatchewan Native groups have left impoverished reserves to find jobs in cities, so that today over 50% of Aboriginal people in the province reside in urban areas. Yet while cities and towns are home to the majority of Native and Métis people, there is little in the urban landscape that is reflective of their traditional rural-based ways of life. While many who left the reservation have enjoyed the “benefits” of city life—better employment and Education prospects, improved housing, better transportation and communication, and so on—for others, the cycle of poverty continues as much in the city as it did on the reserve. Standards of Aboriginal housing are often below what is required for basic health, safety and comfort, and Aboriginals frequently find themselves segregated within urban ghettos. Yet the Native urban landscape is undergoing change: Treaty Land Entitlement has resulted in the purchase of a number of urban reserves that present greater opportunities for economic development. The newly constructed campus of the First Nations University of Canada in Regina bears witness to this change, and serves as a symbol for a new kind of place-making in which Aboriginal people no longer feel alienated.
This overview has emphasized to a considerable degree the complex and dynamic nature of Saskatchewan, a place of varied landscapes and ecosystems with a society where different races and cultures overlap. The real Saskatchewan is no longer rural, dominated by flat fields of wheat and by small towns; it is a place undergoing economic, social, cultural and political transformations. The traditional icons associated with the province no longer reflect the place that it is becoming. It is a place of dualities: Native/non-Native, urban/rural, grasslands/forest, north/south. Within this context the historical myth of an unlimited future, promised in the propaganda images of “A Garden of Eden” and “The Last Best West,” must be juxtaposed against a present and future reality of a province whose development has been, and will continue to be, confronted by geographical, demographic, economic, social, and political challenges.
1. Joel Garreau, in his book The Nine Nations of North America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981), included southern Saskatchewan within a greater North American nation that he identified as the “Bread Basket,” and the rest of the province within an international nation called the “Empty Quarter.” In the former, southern Saskatchewan was linked with the American northern plains, the upper Midwest states, southern Manitoba and southern Alberta, on the basis that each region within this “nation” is based on a renewable economy and a productive agricultural sector. In the latter, the rest of the province is linked with the central and northern parts of Manitoba, Alberta and the mountain west states of America on the basis of small populations, rich energy resources, and vast wilderness.
2. David Gauthier and Ed Wiken, “Ecoregions of Saskatchewan.” In Peter Jonker, John Vandall, Lawrence Baschak and David Gauthier (eds.), Caring For Homeplace: Protected Areas and Landscape Ecology (Saskatoon and Regina: University Extension Press and Canadian Plains Research Center, 1997), 4.
3. Information on the physical environments of Saskatchewan comes primarily from: Gauthier and Wiken, “Ecoregions of Saskatchewan”; Jeffrey Thorpe, “The Life: Vegetation and Life Zones.” In Henry Epp (ed.), Three Hundred Prairie Years: Henry Kelsey’s “Inland Country of Good Report” (Regina: University of Regina, Canadian Plains Center, 1993), 11–16.
4. David Meyer, “People Before Kelsey: An Overview of Cultural Developments.” In Epp, Three Hundred Prairie Years, 54–73.
5. Ibid., 70–71.
6. “Human History in Far Northern Saskatchewan” (February 17, 2004): 2–4. Canoe Saskatchewan Site:
7. Arthur J. Ray, “Some Thoughts About the Reasons for Spatial Dynamism in the Early Fur Trade, 1580–1800.” In Epp, Three Hundred Prairie Years, 115.
8. Paul Thistle, “Dependence and Control: Indian-European Trade Relations in the Post-Kelsey Era.” In Epp, Three Hundred Prairie Years, 128–29.
9. Arthur J. Ray, Indians in the Fur Trade: Their Role as Hunters, Trappers and Middlemen in the Lands Southwest of Hudson Bay, 1660–1870 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974), 147.
10. Thistle, “Dependence and Control,” 129.
11. James Dempsey, “Effects on Aboriginal Cultures Due to Contact with Henry Kelsey.” In Epp, Three Hundred Prairie Years, 135.
12. Barry Potyondi, In Palliser’s Triangle: Living in the Grasslands, 1850–1930 (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 1995), 39.
13. Douglas Owram, Promise of Eden: The Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West, 1856–1900 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), 65. An insightful treatment of the British and Canadian Scientific expeditions is presented by John Warkentin, who in his book entitled The Western Interior of Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964), includes excerpts from the journals of Palliser and both Hind and Dawson as well as from other accounts and reports written by Explorers of the western interior of Canada between 1612 and 1917.
14. Much of this discussion of settlement is drawn from R.W. Widdis, With Scarcely A Ripple: Anglo-Canadian Migration into the United States and Western Canada, 1880–1920 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1998), 290–336.
15. John Culliton, “Assisted Emigration and Land Settlement,” National Problems of Canada, Economic Studies 9 (Montréal: McGill University, 1928), 23.
16. John Archer, Saskatchewan: A History (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1980), 81.
17. Ibid., 84–98.
18. Minister of the Interior, Immigration Facts and Figures (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1910).
19. Homesteaders had to pay a $10 settlement fee and clear a minimum number of acres within the first three years of settlement before they were awarded title to land.
20. Dirk Hoerder, Creating Societies: Immigrant Lives in Canada (Montréal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999), 158.
21. Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert, Saskatchewan’s Communities in the 21st Century: From Places to Regions (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2002), 1.
22. Donald Swainson, “Canada Annexes the West: Colonial Status Confirmed.” In R. Douglas Francis and Howard Palmer (eds.), The Prairie West: Historical Readings (Edmonton: Pica Pica Press, 1985), 120.
23. Potyondi, In Palliser’s Triangle, 42.
24. Tom Flanagan, “From Riel to Reform: Understanding Western Canada.” Working paper of the fourth annual Seagram Lecture, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (1999), 2.
25. Stabler and Olfert, Saskatchewan’s Communities, 2.
26. The elderly dependency ratio is the population aged 65 and over expressed as a proportion of the total population.
27. Doug Elliott, Demographic Trends in Saskatchewan (Regina: Saskatchewan Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs, 2003), v–viii.
28. Mario DeSantis, “The Aboriginal People are our Forgotten People” (2001):
29. No author, “The Impact of Saskatchewan’s Growing Aboriginal Community.” Saskatchewan Indian 30, no. 2 (2000): 18.
30. Andrew Ehrkamp, “Aboriginal Population Growing.” Regina Leader-Post (Wednesday January 22, 2003).
31. Ibid.
32. Stabler and Olfert, Saskatchewan’s Communities, 3.
33. Government of Saskatchewan, The Saskatchewan Economy (February 16, 2004):
34. Ibid.
35. Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization (Regina: Saskatchewan Agriculture, 2002):
36. Export Development Canada, http://www.edc/ca/docs/news/2003.
37. Trade Patterns and the Economy of the Northern Great Plains: A Baseline Report (2000):
38. Government of Saskatchewan, The Saskatchewan Economy.
39. Customs Brokers, International Trade Bulletin (February 17, 2004):
40. Ibid.
41. Robert Anderson, The Business Economy of the First Nations in Saskatchewan: A Contingency Perspective (Regina: School of Business and Public Administration, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, n.d.), 310–11.
42. Much of this discussion comes from Randy Widdis, “Place, Placelessness, and Placemaking as Evidenced in Saskatchewan’s Cultural Landscape.” In Jonker et al., Caring For Homeplace, 19–26.
Randy Widdis
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Trying to Get Diagnosed
k_ann posted:
I have had a hunch for awhile that I have Type 2 Diabetes. It was about a year ago that I went to have my anual exam, and found out what I thought was normal was actually a yeast infection. After some research I found out that a common cause of yeast infections is diabetes. Then I realized that these cuts on my legs have been with me for about a year. Asked the doctor about it, but my blood work was normal.
Went through some problems with my heart, and when I started taking some magnessium things started to get a little better. My scraps started to heal, but they still have not completely healed. Magnessium helps turn insulin into energy.
After having doctors blow off the fact that it could be diabetes I am struggling how to get a proper diagnosis. I am not overweight, eat healthy (gluten and sugar free), and am active. Needless to say I don't fit the typical Type 2 category.
Just bought a blood glucose meter. Have good days below 100 and other days above 120. What are some suggestions to get the medical attention that I might need. Hoping that the meter will give me a leg to stand on when I see the doctor at my next visit.
DavidHueben responded:
First, I don't believe insulin is converted to energy. Insulin facilitates the uptake of blood glucose into the cells.
Second, the diagnostic standards for Type II diabetes are two fasting glucose tests (done by a lab) that are greater than 126. Done on separate days. The A1C test can also be used. The diagnostic standard is varies, but is generally greater than 6.5%.
Home tests are helpful, but not diagnostic.
- Winston S. Churchill
Debsbears responded:
I have a few ?'s to ask. Why would you want to be diagnosed with Diabetes? Does diabetes run in your family?
There could be a number of reasons why people don't heal. People might need Magnesium for different reasons as well.
I never got yeast infections before until recently but mine is not caused by diabetes but because my kidneys do not filter my fluid proper. No Dr. ever blamed my UTI's on diabetes.There are a number of reasons why people get UTI's.
Home tests can help you know what your sugars are but it isn't a diagnostic tool. For a proper diagnosis you need to have lab tests done especially the A1C and at least 2 random fasting blood glucose 126 or more.
Please do not wish your Dr tells you that you are diabetic.
I shall wait upon the Lord and renew my strength.
Come follow my life's journey at:
k_ann replied to Debsbears's response:
Thank you for your responses. Really appreciate them.
If I do have diabetes I would rather be able to manage it and be healthy instead of letting it get out of control like my uncle. My family has a history of avoiding health issues, and I will not do that for myself. So yes there is a history of diabetes in my family.
I am taking magnesium to help my arrhythmia. I have done so much research on magnesium, and have found that it can help control diabetes.
After seeing how much it helped me I started to eliminate sugar out of my diet. Saw the improvement from that as well. With both of these I can still see my blood glucose spiking at times. I have had readings in the 120 to 150 range at times. I also have readings down to 80 and 90 at times. Is that normal to have normal and high within the same day?
Fully aware that home tests are not diagnostic. I am just trying to get a better feel for what is going on so I can get something figured out with my doctor. I have only had the fasting blood test, but that only gives your glucose at that moment in time. I think I am going to need the A1C test to determine what my level has been over 2 to 3 months. Just frustrating, because I know something isn't right and it needs to get under control.
DavidHueben replied to k_ann's response:
You don't mention at what times you are testing your glucose (except fasting). In addition to testing fasting glucose, you should also test TWO hours after the conclusion of a meal.
It would be perfect normal to have a FBG in the 80 -90 range and be in the 140 range two hours after a meal.
The A1C test actually measures the percentage of hemoglobin molecules that have become glycated (glucose attached) in the 2 - 3 month period. From that percentage, the average blood glucose can be approximated.
Your numbers appear normal to me. Are you searching for a problem that does not exist?
- Winston S. Churchill
Debsbears replied to k_ann's response:
K-ann I am in agreement with David. Your readings are normal but the question remains when are you testing?
If you are suspecting you have diabetes why are you "waiting" for a diagnosis to do something about it? Change now. You said diabetes runs in your family - that tells me you also know how to control it, you have seen what diabetes can do.
Why wait - quit worrying about a diabetes diagnosis and get on with your life. nobody needs a diabetes diagnosis to live their life. Just continue to watch what you eat, exercise and drink plenty of water, what you are doing seems to be working just stick to it.
I shall wait upon the Lord and renew my strength.
Come follow my life's journey at:
mhall6252 responded:
K_ann - you've received great advice. You're doing all the right things, according to what you've told us. Just keep it up and you'll know you've done everything you can to prevent diabetes. A healthy lifestyle is a good thing, regardless of any diagnosis.
Diabetic since 5/2001
Follow my journey at
Smile and the world smiles with you.
auriga1 replied to k_ann's response:
k_ann, it's not just sugar you need to watch if you are concerned about diabetes. It is the carbohydrate intake that diabetics need to be concerned about. Diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate metabolism. Carbohydrates are converted into glucose once ingested and broken down by the digestive system.
Nearly everything we eat except for fats and proteins contain carbs. With diabetes, you need to watch WHAT you eat and HOW MUCH you eat. Portion control is a good thing. Look at nutrition labels when purchasing foods. The line you need to look at is TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES. If there is sugar in the food, that number is included in the TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE line.
If you are worried, take care of it. Get the tests done.
Anon_999 responded:
Hi I don't post much but read alot here. Just wondering what is happening? Did you get your tests done? How did it turn out.
It seems like many have given you great advice in helping you to avoid Diabetes. But then it does run in your family which gives you greater chances of getting it. I hope you continue to eat right by watching what you eat..
Phototaker123 responded:
I agree with most everyone else, but what I do when I'm worried or concerned about something is have the test taken. I also have diabetes in my family. My blood sugar levels change from 90 and can go very high if I'm not careful about what I eat. I started off not taking any medicine for my diabetes and was pretty strict. I had an A1C of around 5.8-6.1 at those times. Now, it's up to 6.7. I would get an A1C test taken at the doctors. That should give you an idea of what your diabetes average is...It won't tell you if you go into the 200 range, so if you find yourself eating a high amount of carbs at one time, definitely check two hours afterward to see how high you're going. Mine will go into the 200 range if I'm not careful, even with my low dose of Metformin.
I agree that you should eat like you're a diabetic, just in case.
It certainly will keep you healthier. For me, I didn't get diabetes until I was around 60. I held it off for a long time, until I was stressed and ate unhealthy for a year. I was teaching and had a really hard class that year. I stress ate.
I also have arrhythmia and take medicine. I've thought about taking Potassium. Did your heart doctor recommend that for your condition? Always check with your doctor when taking supplements. Mine makes me take "all" my medicines, aspirin, vitamins, and others when I see him.
You have a right to ask for an A1C. Insist on it, especially if you're seeing any numbers over 150, two hours after you ate.
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Since the nineties, Minnesota has been one of the few states that provided Medicaid-funded abortions. Following the 1995 case Doe v. Gomez, Minnesota’s supreme court ruled that if the state was to cover costs associated with pregnancy, it must also cover those associated with abortion, or it would place “undue financial constraints,” on women seeking out terminations, essentially limiting the right to an abortion only to those with financial means.
The state’s anti-choice politicians have taken aim at the ruling before, attempting legislation to end “taxpayer funding” of abortions in an attempt to challenge Doe, but even in the most recent attempt, when the state had the greatest number of anti-choice legislators in history, the legislation was vetoed by the governor. Now, Minnesota Family Council, one of the biggest opponents to Doe’s decision, has found a new way to try and change the law. Start a new lawsuit.
Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense League) have filed a suit alleging that Minnesota has wrongfuly paid for as many as 37,000 abortions since the year 1999 that should not have been covered.
According to their press release:
There’s one glaring error, however — Minnesota does not say that its funds can only be used for “medically necessary” abortions. In fact, even their own anti-choice allies, groups such as Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, admit that there are no restrictions on Medicaid-funded abortion in the state.
In its 1995 Doe v. Gomez decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that women have an absolute “right” to abortion. The Court also ruled that taxpayers must pay for abortions performed on women who cannot afford them. Consequently, our state’s abortion policy is the most extreme in the nation!
Why is Alliance Defending Freedom then filing such an obviously frivolous lawsuit, and one based on such a glaring lie that even their advocates know is false? Obviously, this is a stunt intended to “remind” citizens that Doe exists, and that state funding is used to pay for abortions, a fact that anti-choice factions hope will generate sympathies for their side since so many other restrictions have lost them supporters.
The press release itself is charge with racial overtones, mentioning from the start that the plaintiffs are African American and drawing up data that a large section of the Medicaid-funded abortions are provided to women of color—a statement that should surprise no one considering they represent a larger share of Medicaid recipients than they do of the state population.
Is the lawsuit an actual, meaningful challenge, or just a ploy to get “taxpayer funding” and a “abortion focuses on minorities” talking point out in the media? Considering the escalation that anti-choice activists have enacted after their massive election day losses, it’s fairly safe to assume it’s the latter.
Follow Robin Marty on twitter: @robinmarty
• lisac
I would point out that Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life is as prone to lying as the ADF. I’m not a lawyer, but I am looking at the Doe v. Gomez case right now, and it doesn’t say there is an “absolute” right to abortion. Rather, the Court says that Minnesota has a tradition of extending greater rights than the US constitution does, and it appears to invalidate laws that restrict abortion prior to viability. (I say “appears to” because I’m not a lawyer and don’t want to imply that my reading is authoritative). I suppose that pro-lifers call that an “absolute” right to abortion because they think that anything that is not a 100% win for them is perforce a 100% win for the other side. But their juxtaposition of the (false) “absolute right to abortion” claim with the statement that the “taxpayers must pay” for poor women’s abortions implies that state Medicaid therefore must pay for all legal abortions. That’s not true (again, if my reading of the court decision is correct). Rather, the court says:
We emphasize that our decision is limited to the class of plaintiffs certified by the district court and the narrow statutory provisions at issue in this case. Specifically, we hold that the State cannot refuse to provide abortions to MA/GAMC-eligible women when the procedure is necessary for therapeutic reasons. Contrary to the dissent’s allegations, this court’s decision will not permit any woman eligible for medical assistance to obtain an abortion “on demand.” Rather, under our interpretation of the Minnesota Constitution’s guaranteed right to privacy, the difficult decision whether to obtain a therapeutic abortion will not be made by the government, but will be left to the woman and her doctor.
Substitute “medically necessary” abortion for “therapeutic abortion” and ADF’s statement is otherwise an accurate reflection of the law (again, assuming that I’m reading the case right). That doesn’t make ADF’s claim true, because a “therapuetic abortion” does not need to be medically necessary, but rather, only beneficial (I think). But if the ADF were able to show that “elective” abortions were being covered by state Medicaid, it would be right.
Of course, the only way to prove that the abortions were elective would be to access the patients’ records, and I suspect that is the ADF’s ultimate goal. It potentially gives them examples of “frivolous” abortions that will somehow be leaked to Bill O’Reilly or the like and read on-air, leaving the women who have had abortions to fear that people who know them could identify them by the case, and intimidating women who are contemplating abortion, because they will be afraid that their case will eventualy end up on national TV.
• arachne646
This is a good point. Just another way to victimize women to make a point. Also to make Minnesotans pay more to defend a frivolous lawsuit.
• baron-davis
In terms of that matter, a reliable litigation support services from reputable legal firms must be appointed into that issue lawsuit.
• Pingback: Advocates Go to Court to Protect Medicaid Funding of Abortion Care in Minnesota | RH Reality Check() | <urn:uuid:a7aea95b-aef7-4e15-b465-89fde99ec59d> | http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/28/anti-choice-activists-file-frivilous-lawsuit-to-remind-people-that-minnesota-allo/ | en | 0.949549 | 0.019931 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Comment (Score 1) 348
The Dems complained about Bush bypassing the intent to keep things on record. The Democrats made a big deal about using government computers in the name of transparency. Rules were made for the State Department to use sanctioned computers. People were fired during Clinton's term as head of the State Department for not following this policy. The new rules and being a hypocrite in not following them herself is the issue.
Comment Re:7zip (Score 1) 215
I have 3 Meg DSL when the weather is good. An electric co-op for a rural area is putting fiber in to get 1 gig to the home over a 5 year rollout. It unfortunately will stop about 1/2 mile from my current location. If I move to the middle of some farmland I'll have far better Internet - that's just weird.
Comment GPU (Score 1) 150
If you're considering GPU look through any bitcoin mining forum. Setting up a reliable GPU farm is a nice tech challenge if you really want to grow your own. A few years ago I ran out of power at 50 GPUs, they're hogs. Heat is a whole other problem as the previous posted made note of. For a business use you may want to just use AWS or GPU appliances.
Comment Re: The Golden Path (Score 1) 234
The son's stuff was a pure and simple cash grab. It's like the Star Wars prequels but far worse, changing the entire tone and actually reason behind the original novels. I suffered through them as supposedly there were notes left behind by Frank Herbert outlining the last book. The conclusion of Dune the son wrote tied up things by including people and events from the various prequel trilogies he wrote and it wasn't satisfying or even believable in context of the original novels. I can only think the supposed finding of notes about the conclusion of Dune was an outright marketing ploy.
Comment Re:Well done FCC (Score 2) 234
I agree - all the tax money put those lines in and the baby bells are a government mandated monopoly. A level playing field would be amazing. When the FCC rolled back many of the '96 telco reform act the small ISP could no longer compete. Wholesale rates were higher than the telco was offering retail rates to the end user.
For a good first step how about the telco's having to live up to their $400 billion in broken contracts. One agreement had every house in NJ to be on fiber by mid 2000s.
Comment Re:Tech isn't the problem... (Score 1) 183
I've seen many of those 'stupid laws still on the books'. (I see exists, amusing. "A woman isn’t allowed to cut her own hair without her husband’s permission.") Why do those even still exist?
It seems like all laws need some time limit, if no one has been successfully tried for something illegal for X number of years the law becomes void.
I'm not sure about your #3 of Loser pays. That may stop someone bringing a case against a GM or other mega corp if they spend millions on lawyers. I see the intent but it could really shaft the little guy.
Is there any website that actually shows the law including all revisions? Instead of the various further laws that are worded like "change part 2, subsection A, paragraph 3 from 'shall' to 'will'" it'd be nice if any changes showed the actual entire new wording
Neutrinos are into physicists. | <urn:uuid:7760f773-e48a-43c2-98f2-8e67f987af3d> | http://slashdot.org/~witherstaff/tags/nsa | en | 0.970687 | 0.095009 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
home > web.py Sessions
web.py Sessions
Other languages : français | ...
Sessions are a way to store information between requests, thereby making http stateful. They work by sending the user a cookie, which maps to a session storage object on the server. When the user requests a page, the client sends the cookie back with the request, web.py loads the session based on the key, and code can request and store information in it.
Sessions are convenient because they allow a programmer to store user state in native Python objects.
Storage types
web.py sessions allow for multiple ways to store the session data. These methods include:
• DiskStore. Session data is pickled in a designated directory. When instantiating, the first and only argument is the folder where the session information should be stored on disk.
• DBStore. Session data is pickled and stored in a database. This can be useful if you want to store session data on a separate system. When creating, the DBStore takes 2 arguments: a web.py database instance, and the table name (string). The table which stores the session must have the following schema:
session_id CHAR(128) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
atime DATETIME NOT NULL default current_timestamp,
data TEXT
• ShelfStore. Data is stored using the python shelve module. When creating, the ShelfStore takes the filename that should be used to store the data.
The storage methods have various performance and setup tradeoffs, so the options allow you to choose what's best for your application.
The following code shows how to use a basic DiskStore session.
import web
urls = (
'/', 'Index',
'/login', 'Login',
'/logout', 'Logout',
web.config.debug = False
app = web.application(urls, locals())
class Index:
def GET(self):
if session.get('logged_in', False):
return '<h1>You are logged in</h1><a href="/logout">Logout</a>'
return '<h1>You are not logged in.</h1><a href="/login">Login now</a>'
class Login:
def GET(self):
session.logged_in = True
raise web.seeother('/')
class Logout:
def GET(self):
session.logged_in = False
raise web.seeother('/')
if __name__ == '__main__':
Sessions and Reloading/Debug Mode
Is your session data disappearing for seemingly no reason? This can happen when using the web.py app reloader (local debug mode), which will not persist the session object between reloads. Here's a nifty hack to get around this.
# Hack to make session play nice with the reloader (in debug mode)
if web.config.get('_session') is None:
session = web.session.Session(app, db.SessionDBStore())
web.config._session = session
session = web.config._session | <urn:uuid:217a8807-6ed4-47ef-bc02-3d8005ea2ce2> | http://webpy.org/docs/0.3/sessions | en | 0.687381 | 0.55037 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Cutting government in a time of “natural” disasters
Krugman has some words for it (Sandy vs. Katrina):
Given this experience, you might have expected George W. Bush to preserve Mr. Clinton’s gains. But no: he appointed his campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, to head the agency, and Mr. Allbaugh immediately signaled his intention both to devolve disaster relief to the state and local level and to downgrade the whole effort, declaring, “Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level.” After Mr. Allbaugh left for the private sector, he was replaced with Michael “heckuva job” Brown, and the rest is history.
Like Mr. Clinton, President Obama restored FEMA’s professionalism, effectiveness, and reputation. But would Mitt Romney destroy the agency again? Yes, he would. As everyone now knows — despite the Romney campaign’s efforts to Etch A Sketch the issue away — during the primary Mr. Romney used language almost identical to Mr. Allbaugh’s, declaring that disaster relief should be turned back to the states and to the private sector.
The best line on this, I have to admit, comes from Stephen Colbert: “Who better to respond to what’s going on inside its own borders than the state whose infrastructure has just been swept out to sea?”
Ted Rall has a drawing
Rall's viewpoint arguably is less political and richer in environmental detail, but also more difficult to contextualize and/or verify.
Add yours ↓
Comments are closed. | <urn:uuid:28e0053a-cabd-4cbe-9038-00916a072cfd> | http://www.achangeinthewind.com/2012/11/cutting-government-in-a-time-of-natural-disasters.html | en | 0.954403 | 0.029154 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Public Release: Stem cell breakthrough: Bone marrow cells are the answer
New research in the FASEB Journal shows that bone marrow cells fuse to different types of cells, including embryonic stem cells, creating new hybrids that may evade immune rejection
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
"Our study shows that transplanted bone marrow cells fuse not only with bone marrow cells of the recipient, but with non-hematopoietic cells, suggesting that if we can understand the process of cell fusion better, we may be able to target certain organ injuries with the patient's own bone marrow cells and repair the tissues," said Nicholas Zavazava, M.D., Ph.D., a University of Iowa researcher involved in the work.
Although the study holds great promise for future embryonic stem cell therapies, the results may be even more far reaching. Zavazava and colleagues used two different mouse strains, one as the donor and the other as the recipient. When bone marrow cells were engrafted into the recipient, they tested for the presence of both donor and recipient cells and found three different types of cells: donor cells, recipient cells, and fused cells that had DNA from the donor and recipient. They then discovered that these cells could fuse with many different types of cells in addition to embryonic stem cells, including those from the liver, kidney, heart, and gut. Although more work is necessary to determine the exact clinical outcomes, the discovery raises the possibility that bone marrow cells could be fused to transplant organs to reduce the likelihood of rejection. They could also be fused to failing organs to support regeneration.
"Unlike machines where the same part can be used for several different makes and models, each of us is custom built, and our immune system does the quality control," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "As a result, human replacement parts, or organs, need to closely match the tissue of the recipient. This research uses bone marrow cells to fuse with a patient tissues so that nothing transplanted is rejected by our immune systems, and brings universal graft survival closer to reality."
Receive monthly highlights from The FASEB Journal by e-mail. Sign up at The FASEB Journal ( is published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The journal has been recognized by the Special Libraries Association as one of the top 100 most influential biomedical journals of the past century and is the most cited biology journal worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB is composed of 23 societies with more than 90,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. FASEB enhances the ability of biomedical and life scientists to improve-through their research-the health, well-being and productivity of all people. Its mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
Details: Sabrina Bonde, Mehrdad Pedram, Ryan Stultz, and Nicholas Zavazava. Cell fusion of bone marrow cells and somatic cell reprogramming by embryonic stem cells. FASEB J. 2010 24: 364-373.
| <urn:uuid:d4945635-76b2-4940-b265-8222581d974a> | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/foas-scb012810.php | en | 0.936438 | 0.022908 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Yahoo announces a new CEO, and Wall Street promptly tanks its stock. Here are three reasons to take a second look.
By the end of Wednesday, Wall Street had rendered its verdict on Yahoo's new CEO: The company's share price dropped 3.1%, and at least one respected analyst said he was downgrading his recommendation from Buy to Hold.
Wall Street was unhappy for several reasons. It had been hoping the company would be sold, so investors could get some money out of their shares. But now it looks like that won't be the case. So given that new reality, Wall Street would have liked Yahoo to at least select someone with media or turnaround experience. But it went 0 for 2 on those counts as well. Scott Thompson, until now PayPal's president (pictured right), has neither.
Instead, Thompson, is an ex-CTO who has now been hired to lead a company that has purportedly declared it is no longer a technology company. And while Thompson has a stellar record of building on top of a company that was already working well (he boosted PayPal's user base to 100 million and has set it up to bring in as much as $13 billion in 2013), Thompson has yet to prove that he can take a struggling company like Yahoo and make it work.
And yet, despite all that, there are a few reasons to give Thompson a chance:
Yahoo Might Not Actually Need As Much Of A Turnaround As People Think
Yahoo has come across as a veritable train wreck for the last few years. The lack of meaningful improvements on the company's front end have led many to believe that Yahoo is out of ideas. But the lack of movement on the customer-facing side has been largely due to the fact that the company backburned those while it retrofits the back end. Under the hood, Yahoo used to be a balkanized mess of individual sites that made it impossible to deploy enhancements across the entire Yahoo universe with any kind of ease or efficiency.
So the company has spent the last year and a half or so fixing that—rearchitecting so the company's sites all operate on more or less the same infrastructure. That project was only completed toward the end of last year. With the cleanup behind them, now when the company wants to institute something new, it can roll it out with the metaphorical flick of a switch. That's why, for example, it was able to roll out its new Facebook integrations globally in December, just three months after it first started trying them out on U.S. sites.
Meanwhile, Yahoo teams have been busy developing new offerings, like its IntoNow iPad app. And now that the back end has been tidied up, we might actually see the company start rolling out more front-end offerings that will, in fact, revolutionize the way content is delivered and consumed.
If that's the case, if Yahoo actually does have a viable roadmap, then the company won't so much need someone who can turn it around as someone who can execute flawlessly, which is, in fact, what Thompson has proven himself to be skilled at doing.
Yahoo Might Not Need A Media Guy
Some of Wednesday's grumbling centered around the fact that Yahoo has positioned itself as a media company, and Thompson has no media experience. Before leading PayPal, he was that unit's CTO. And before that he was CTO at a Visa division. And before that at a Barclays unit. So what, Wall Street was wondering, can a guy with consummate experience in payments and financial services bring to a media company?
Perhaps not a whole lot of domain expertise. But then, Yahoo tried that once before. Remember Terry Semel, the former head of Warner Brothers who brought with him a trunk-load of conventional notions of how media and entertainment should work—and then failed miserably when he tried to slap them onto the emerging digital world? Yahoo doesn't need to do that again. It doesn't need to bring in someone with a depth of experience in an industry that is undergoing radical change, someone who is so far inside the box they can't see how it doesn't work in the new world.
Instead, they need folks like IntoNow founder Adam Cahan, who stepped outside the box and came up with some crazy new ideas about how people might like to discover and consume media. And then give those guys their heads and see what wild ideas they come up with. And once those Young Turks have traveled out to the far edges of the known universe and brought back news of what the future looks like, then you can bring in an experienced hand like Thompson to help decide what's worth doubling down on, and how to make it work at scale.
Meanwhile, on the advertising side, Thompson will certainly have to get up to speed. But he has strong lieutenants, like Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's executive vice president of the Americas, at his side. And so the situation is perhaps not as dire as it might initially seem.
In a call with investors on Wednesday, Thompson said "data" will be key to Yahoo's future success. "My instinct says that down in that data we will find ways to compete and innovate that the world hasn't seen yet."
Sure, that sounds like one of those Business Administration 101 answers that any good executive would reach for reflexively. But to believe that he's on to something, you first have to understand that Thompson is probably not talking about simple dashboard data, like advertising performance among different demographics. More likely he's talking about "big data"—the emerging field that lets people find game-changing insights in humongous data sets.
And humongous data sets Yahoo does indeed have. The company has 700 million users, of all ages, around the world. (Even Facebook isn't that far ahead—its latest public reports puts its user base at 800 million.) Every day, those 700 million souls log in to the Yahoo universe and start making their way around its sites, moving from story to story to story to story—effectively giving Yahoo a media mogul's dream: the largest petri dish in the world to understand what sorts of content appeal to which sorts of people and what sorts of things will make them likely to consume more and more.
The company has already used the insights it's garnered from this data—and the algorithms it's built on top of them—to nab one billion clicks a month on its home page alone. And now it's in the process of rolling those insights out to its other properties in an effort to similarly accelerate traffic there.
So what does this have to do with the new CEO? Thompson already has experience working with large data sets at PayPal. And he recently joined the board of Splunk, a new tech company that has figured out how to harness operational intelligence from massive amounts of data—in real time.
"At PayPal, we were able to create an unbelievably compelling business because we used data to understand risk and fraud better than anyone on earth," Thompson told AdAge on Wednesday. "I am more than 100 percent convinced that there is the same opportunity in the data that is the core of Yahoo's business. I don't know exactly what that is right now, but I am certain that the battle of the next generation of Internet businesses will be made up of who has more data and who knows how to use it better than anyone else."
And if he's right, and if he is indeed able to extract game-changing insights from Yahoo's ever-burgeoning reams of data, he might yet unlock some secrets that turn Yahoo from has-been into media pioneer.
The Bottom Line
There are still many reasons why Yahoo might nevertheless sink like the proverbial lead zepplin. The company might yet be more of a mess than even someone like Thompson can make right. And certainly, Wall Street's just going to have to sit tight, at least for now. But still, there's no need to give up on the company just yet. It's worth giving Thompson a shot. He may yet surprise us all.
Add New Comment | <urn:uuid:4412422d-5d37-47b2-8c9e-e20e40c6333a> | http://www.fastcompany.com/1805756/data-darlings-why-new-yahoo-ceo-scott-thompson-has-fighting-chance | en | 0.973616 | 0.061684 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hoo doggy. First we thought that we were definitely getting TomTom for the iPhone, giving us 3D, realtime navigation. Then we heard that the iPhone SDK explicitly prohibits just that sort of application. We weren't worried, though, because TomTom told us we'd get it and we, you know, trusted them.
Turns out TomTom was, like many a GPS manufacturer, "Scared [expletive]-less" by the thought that the new iPhone would have 3G, so when a Reuters reporter asked them about it, they said "sure, we'll make some software for it. It'll be grand." So writes Joel Johnson of BoingBoing Gadgets, adding that an anonymous source within TomTom let them know that there's no internal development yet and no prototypes either.
Bummer? Bummer. Here's our worst fear: that line in the SDK agreement is there specifically so that only one company can create turn-by-turn 3D GPS navigation: TeleNav. TeleNav is nice and all, but it costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 a month and they have agreements with AT&T that lock down the GPS on many handsets (we're looking at you, Verizon BlackBerry!) so they can only access the GPS via TeleNav. We at least know that the GPS works in Google Maps, but will Apple really prohibit other companies from using it to make full GPS apps? Are they jonesing for some kickbacks revenue sharing now that they're not getting that from AT&T anymore? | <urn:uuid:bb2fdfec-1132-4016-87d7-53e9777bb0d9> | http://www.imore.com/tomtom-on-iphone-not-so-much-now | en | 0.964745 | 0.240978 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
a laptop sound card upgrade?
Hear me out before you think about commenting.
Ive got my LG R405 here, and i really like it, i added line out to it and use my sub with it.
its all good, but some songs (whether the sub is plugged in or not) make my sound card cut out. (IE it'll make some white noise then stop producing sound) i have to skip the song before my sound will come back online.
I was wondering what could i do to fix this? im guessing its something with the capacitors, being SMD caps, they might not be able to let the sound control chip handle the big changes in sound frequencies or something, im not too sure.
dont try and tell me its impossible to resolve this issue. it is not a software problem, it is a hardware problem. i need to upgrade something, be it the capacitors, or maybe the amount of current supplied to the sound driver chip.
if its capacitors, where should i be upgrading them? on the outputs or the input voltage?
sort by: active | newest | oldest
lemonie3 years ago
If you genuinely believe the hardware is defective: replace the card.
Your problem sounds like you're overloading the card, so you should replace it. Or alternatively add another amplifier between the line-out and the sub'.
Fiddling with bits on what you've got is the wrong approach.
SM - means that the component is not mounted with legs/pins into the board, they sit on the surface. Capacitors are generally not SM- and replacing them won't up your power output.
zack247 (author) lemonie3 years ago
the sound card is soldered onto the mainboard, but im not looking for more power, nor did i say it was defective.
i was asking how i can maybe make it more capable of doing its job.
it doesnt matter what the volume level is at, some of the songs just make it stop working.
im fully aware that SM means its soldered on the surface of the board though.
lemonie zack2473 years ago
I've never seen a card soldered onto a mainboard - is that "on board" sound where it's part of the mainboard?
Your messages are confusing, you say "it is a hardware problem" and you want to fiddle with hardware. Then you're not looking for more output and it's just certain tracks - i.e. it's not hardware, or is it?
I think your problem is in the line-out-sub arrangement, some tracks may be worse than others but hardware doesn't have taste in music.
What exactly have you got connected to line-out?
zack247 (author) lemonie3 years ago
itll happen whether i have my sub connected to line out or not.
laptops have the soundcard as part of the mainboard,
what im looking for is a better capability to handle the outputs so the sound doesnt fizzle out.
on another note, if i set my bass frequencies to run louder, the fizzling occurs more often.
lemonie zack2473 years ago
Have you checked the Windows Master volume panel for levels that are whacked-up to the top?
nurdee13 years ago
Here is a neat little thing you can plug into a usb port and it will give you a headphone output and a microphone input.
Vyger3 years ago
Did you check to see if its the songs that are bad? They might be defective MP3's
zack247 (author) Vyger3 years ago
ive tried several different files of one of the songs, but it always makes it fizzle out.
frollard3 years ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but is your 'sound card' not integrated to the motherboard? If so, you can't just replace the card.
I've never heard of a card failing on a song-by-song basis, makes me think software issue (despite your insistence).
You can however pick up an inexpensive usb sound card. Their quality varies from total crap to really good.
Also available are peripheral sound cards that fit in the pcmcia mini slot.
Your sound output pins only supply line level signal, only slightly amplified, so since its not directly driving a speaker (except headphones sometimes) then it isn't NEEDING much current. That's the beauty of line-level/headphone level outputs. | <urn:uuid:4d973ef6-f50e-4de0-bc14-40acc39d35c6> | http://www.instructables.com/answers/a-laptop-sound-card-upgrade/ | en | 0.942035 | 0.412579 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
My cats eat better than I do.
Their dry food, which is advertised as “natural and holistic,” contains whole grains and vegetables, plus a blend of vitamins and minerals that are cold-formed to retain maximum nutrition and blah blah blah. It also costs $15 for a small bag.
In the past, Rosie Jones, the energetic, long-haired tabby named after a Buck Owens song, has needed prescription food from the veterinarian's office for stomach problems. Why limited-ingredient cat food made of mashed chicken and rice requires a prescription and costs $2 a can is beyond me, but I dutifully bought it. She's my cat, after all.
Like many pet owners, I spend a lot of time, energy and money trying to keep my pets healthy and happy. As indoor-only cats, Rosie and her equally mischievous sister, Maya, depend on me for their food, so I want to make sure they're getting what's best for them.
The pet food manufacturers are all too willing to cash in on our love for our pets. Recently, I received a press kit for Merrick dog food with a large box filled with samples of their fancy fare, including a bag of grain-free kibble made with duck and sweet potato and a can of Grammy's Pot Pie food made with chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas and apples.
My cats' food doesn't contain duck or apples — does that make me a bad mom?
Several of my colleagues gathered around the box of samples in hopes of scoring some snacks, until we realized it was for canines, not humans (and even then, a few of the guys still seemed interested).
Whether that says more about how sophisticated pet food has become or how journalists will eat any free food they can find, I'm not sure.
Meanwhile, I try to eat healthfully, but the effort I put into my cats' diet is disproportionately larger than the efforts I put into my own diet.
And do they appreciate it? What do you think?
They eat their pricy food, but Maya also likes gobbling up pieces of stale popcorn that have fallen under the coffee table. If I'm eating something crunchy, such as saltines, she looks up at me mournfully like a dog, hoping for some scraps to fall.
And if I'm not careful to close the door to the kitchen pantry, Rosie chews a hole in the cheap jumbo bag of store-brand cat food I keep on hand to feed strays and the rare possum that wander onto my back porch.
For dessert, both of them enjoy noshing on hapless moths or click beetles that find their way indoors.
Likewise, dog owners know full well the disgusting, unspeakable things their pets will eat gleefully, which I will not list here in case you're reading this over breakfast.
Choosing to eat junk when better options are available? Maybe animals and people are more alike than we thought. | <urn:uuid:3a71123a-50a2-4b19-9625-6a0e5e4bf72a> | http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/life_columnists/jessica_belasco/article/Even-cats-like-their-junk-food-3794243.php | en | 0.970388 | 0.191852 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Silent Films Festival revisits early ages of motion pictures
Chico's Third Annual Silent film Festival begins Friday at the Chico Women's Club.
Chico >> It's hard to believe now but at one point silent film was once the cutting edge of modern technology. It remains engraved in cinematic history and continues its legacy with Chico's third annual Silent Film Festival being held at the Chico Women's Club beginning 6 p.m. Friday.
Now more accessible than ever thanks to the Internet and the public domain, silent movies were the forerunner to the film industry. From production to distribution everything was built from the ground up.
"Every good film that has been produced has some root in the silent era," explained festival coordinator Debra Lucero. "People have watched, in awe, at what was created without the benefit of sound effects or digital effects or sound systems or green screens."
Starting out as just an idea by film preservation expert David Shepard, now a festival that has been working with the Shasta County Arts Council for the past three years has expanded into a family community event for all to enjoy. Shepard will also provide short commentary about the films.
This year's festival will set a primary focus on films starring the pioneer of silent acting Charlie Chaplin. The festival celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Little Tramp, the famous iconic mustached character.
The ingenuity of the Tramp character is that each and every one of us can relate to him. He is the mailman the brings the envelopes to a viewer's door, the secretary who answers phone calls, or the cashier who rings up costumers. It is a genuinely human portrayal of a the struggling American dream.
"The story it's always about the story, we need to keep telling the stories of hardworking people," Lucero explained. "The Tramp plays a factory worker literally gobbled up by the grinding gears of industry."
Although silent films had no dialogue they weren't necessarily silent. Music is dominant and can evoke emotions that sometimes words simply can't explain so they were accompanied by elegant soundtracks.
Along with the silent films to be shown on a 16 mm projector, special guest pianist Frederick Hodges will provide live accompaniment. Hodges will be playing tunes of the jazz and ragtime era.
"You have a world-class pianist who interprets the film as it's happening whether it's walking up stairs or falling down or falling love or falling out of love," Lucero said. " There is no constant assault of sound on your body like many experience in modern theaters it's the kind of sound that rumbles deep in your chest."
The festival will run through March 29. Tickets are $10 for adults for individual sessions or $25 for an all festival pass. Children 12 and under are $2, and children 5 and younger are free.
For film schedule: | <urn:uuid:91475717-c916-4874-8d53-b21b6df1d2e9> | http://www.paradisepost.com/arts-and-entertainment/20140326/silent-films-festival-revisits-early-ages-of-motion-pictures | en | 0.961305 | 0.108381 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Rediff News All News » Sports » Talasha Prabhu denies Richa sprint gold
Talasha Prabhu denies Richa sprint gold
February 15, 2011 20:42 IST
Richa Mishra was again the day's star performer as five records were shattered in the pool in the 34th National Games in Ranchi on Tuesday.
The Delhi girl picked two gold medals with record timings to make it six in sum by the end of day three. However, she had to settle for second place, behind Goa's Talasha Prabhu, in the sprint event, at the Veer Budhu Bhagat Aquatic Stadium.
Indian swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade rewrote his earlier record in the heats and went on to improve upon it in the final to emerge the fastest swimmer of the meet.
Promising Karnataka youngster Gagan A P and compatriot Rohit Havaldar smashed the other two records to fall on Tuesday.
It was again a memorable day for Maharashtra and Karnataka who clinched two gold medals each.
Battling a stomach upset, 27-year-old Delhi girl Richa clocked 05.09:47s to better a nine-year-old record of 05.09:91s in the 400m individual medley, while Karnataka bagged silver and bronze through Pooja Alva (05.25:03) and Sushaka Pratap (05.30:21) respectively.
Richa smashed her four-year-old record (02.29:34s) in the 200m backstroke when she clocked 02.26:82s.
Richa trailed Ananya Panigrahi of Maharashtra over the first 50 metres, but the ace swimmer slowly went ahead and stretched the lead before eclipsing her previous best.
Ananya had to be content with silver with a timing of 02.29:22s, while her statemate Aarti Ghorpade took the bronze, clocking 02.32:04s.
But Richa's hopes of completing a hat-trick on the day were dashed in the 50m freestyle, as Talasha lived up to her reputation in the sprint to claim the gold, clocking 27:95s.
Richa clocked 28:22s for the silver, while A V Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu clinched the bronze in 28:66s.
Asian Games bronze medalist Khade had no problem winning the 50m freestyle. The Kolhapur boy clocked 23:08s en route to his third gold.
In the morning session's heats, the 19-year-old had bettered his four-year-old record (23:92s) with a timing of 23:81s.
Arjun J P of Karnataka bagged the silver, stopping the clock at 24:65s, while Anshul Kothari (24:96s) took home the bronze.
Showing a lot of promise, 19-year-old Karnataka youngster Gagan smashed Rehan Poncha's four-year-old record (04.44:32s) with a superb timing of 04.40:08s in the 400m individual medley to start the proceedings in swimming.
Delhi bagged the silver through Merwyn Chen who clocked 04.46:56, while national record holder Sandeep Sejwal, representing Madhya Pradesh, won the bronze with a timing of 04.51:89s.
In diving, Maharashtra clinched the gold through Hrutika Shriram, who logged 200.95 points in the high board en route to the gold, while her statemate Jagruti Satarakar logged 159.50.
Bengal's Tanuka Dhara bagged the bronze with 153.45.
| <urn:uuid:d8175475-7c55-4159-a97e-bb46147a40e6> | http://www.rediff.com/sports/report/national-games-talasha-prabhu-richa-mishra-virdhaval-khade/20110215.htm | en | 0.938517 | 0.019722 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Rapture
Heavenly bawdy: Donna Minkowitz fumbles toward ecstasy.
Sylvia Plachy
Donna Minkowitz's Ferocious Romance was especially helpful to me because I've been worried my loss of interest in sado-masochism means I'm not cool anymore. Like her, I'm amazed to learn that love is subtler than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Minkowitz, a former Voice writer highly regarded as a lesbian journalist, is best known for her infiltration of the religious right, especially a piece she wrote for Ms. about attending a Promise Keepers rally, concealed successfully in male drag. In Ferocious Romance, her first book, she draws strong parallels between the search for ecstasy among Christian fundamentalists and her own now transcended devotion to s/m. That's actually not much of a stretch, but, for those who find it so, Minkowitz offers a flat-footed subtitle: What My Encounters With the Right Taught Me About Sex, God, and Fury.
Having grown up in the right wing, I don't have to infiltrate, I just have to go home, and it is precisely for this reason that I find Minkowitz's bravery as a reporter so extraordinary. As a lesbian, I can't imagine daring face-to-face debate with media representatives for Focus on the Family, or invading the Promise Keepers, or getting saved in a charismatic service; her chapters about these subjects are strong because her material and point of view are original. However, she's a better reporter than she is a writer, and that's too bad, because this could have been an important book, and instead it's just an interesting one.
Minkowitz opens with a service at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, a fringe group even among charismatics, where people are "spiritually drunk," make animal noises, and writhe on the floor, providing unobscured evidence that getting saved is a lot like having sex with the "Heavenly Daddy," which means that it also carries the added heat of incest. Moved despite her cynicism, Minkowitz goes forward to the altar, where she starts "to feel a profound shaking in my chest, and if I were one of the Torontans, I'd be sure it was the Holy Spirit knocking." It may not be the Holy Spirit knocking, but something real is happening to her that can't be accounted for with the physiological write-off she first offers. In my own experience, spiritual ecstasy, like orgasm, involves momentary destruction of the self, and those who haven't had it don't know what you're talking about; those who do tend toward denial, and have difficulty creating a trail of words.
The book's weaknesses come when she is trying to describe her own experiences, especially with s/m. Conceptually, Ferocious Romance was a major opportunity to tease out the entwinements of pleasure and pain. Instead Minkowitz stumbles repeatedly into the potholes of narrative nonfiction: overanalysis and overstatement. On page after page I scribbled in the margins, Too interpreted. "All of us have something in us like the desire to exploit starving boys, the desire to abuse little girls. The impulse to beat up prostitutes, menace wimps, degrade lovers, just because it feels so mysteriously satisfying to treat people like dirt." Maybe that's so for Minkowitz (and even for me), but I don't think it's true for everyone, and I've been around the block a lot. If she'd said "many of us" or even "most," her assertion might wash, but "all" tips her hand--it's preachy.
The desire to preach taints Ferocious Romance, but hearing a sex radical use terms like "Old Nick" or "the Afflictor" for the Prince of Darkness is endearing. And her reporting is full of kicky information. At one event--for women only--she describes getting saved combined with a makeover. You could writhe on the floor and get your colors done. In her encounter with Focus on the Family, where she lets the smartest of the fundamentalists lay out their analysis, she achieves some of her finest writing. In return, they listen carefully to her, and
I feel what I can only describe as divine grace--as an incalculable gift from Somewhere. . . . Getting to tell these men my "wrath," as Blake would put it, means that I can love them without fear. I hear Kurt Cobain in my head. . . . "As a tramp, as a friend," he sings joyfully to a potential lover. "No, I don't have a gun! No, I don't have a gun!"
Connecting Blake, Cobain, fundamentalists, a direct experience of grace, and her own rage is a writing tour de force, successful because she doesn't create a scaffolding of argument and leave it stuck all over the scene.
Minkowitz came out in the context of queer liberation rather than in the feminist movement, so, like Dorothy Allison, she rode the razor's edge of anonymous sex and lesbian sado-masochism. Yet her writing about subjects like s/m and places like New York's Labia Lounge, "where all you had to do was ask and you would receive," is sketchy and unsatisfying. Carrying language into the darkness is difficult, of course, but the real problem is that Minkowitz just doesn't have the technical chops yet for the autobiographical disarmament she desires. A great deal of her self-analysis is smart and very honest: " . . . the connection between my sex and my rage terrifies me. . . . I have never really understood why people find sexual sensations pleasurable. I find arousal mostly frightening and torturous. . . . " But when it's necessary to make s/m scenes live on the page, she either fails or shies away. One clear, detailed scene would have provided both menace and shimmer for the issues she's addressing and would have helped her avoid statements like this one:
Those who have never attempted it usually don't understand that sadism . . . involves . . . an attempt to be good. Tops in S/M land don't do what they do simply for the joy of punishing, but also for the joy of punishing without hurting. . . . In fact, most S/M scenes have no genital contact for the top. If there is an orgasm . . . it is much more likely to be the bottom's.
Again, I found myself questioning this generalization. Maybe she didn't take s/m far enough.
Minkowitz has the talent and courage to be a much better writer, but first she will have to absorb her theoretical armament, get her defenses down into her core, like, say, Joan Didion, who looks passive but can be devastating. Minkowitz may lay claim to meanness, but, as the above passage indicates, she is closet-tender, a cream puff. Study of Didion's essays might teach her how to seduce and violate the reader's point of view.
Minkowitz ends Ferocious Romance like this: "I've had to disarm myself to get inside this land. I took off my weapons, and my incense too. And as my feet dipped in the velvety grass I could see that there was no redeemer. No enslaver. Only other people. I approached them with great joy." Lyrical as these lines are, they're also cryptic and ungrounded, and oddly reminiscent of science fiction. The reader doesn't know whether Minkowitz's velvety grass is in the fields of the lord or in her own backyard or both, and, by God, the question matters.
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Maybe you just remembered it's your turn to host bridge night. Or your mother-in-law called to announce she's dropping by. Whatever the reason, your home needs to be straightened up, stat! If you don't have time for a floor-to-ceiling cleaning—and really, who does?—follow our room-by-room tidying guide, which offers expert tips that bring order in a hurry.
More From Woman's Day
Entryway: Make Room for Visitors' Things
Use a laundry basket to gather loose accessories, shoes and stray personal items, suggests Stacey Platt, author of What's a Disorganized Person to Do? Straighten out what's left; tuck jackets into the closet and close the door. Gather any loose mail, tossing junk mail and catalogs into the recycling bin.
Living Room: Do a Quick Pickup
Grab your laundry basket from the entryway and toss in books, clothing, shoes and whatever else belongs in a different room. Have a few minutes to spare? Vacuum the floor and sofa cushions. Donna Smallin, author of A to Z Storage Solutions, suggests making a new family rule when your company clears out: "If you own something in the basket, you need to do a chore to get it back."
Bathroom: Clear Clutter
First, drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into the toilet, a trick favored by Platt. While the citric acid fizz is working its magic, grab a basket to corral hair and beauty products that have migrated to the countertops and then stow it under the sink. Use a couple of squirts of glass cleaner to wipe down any mirrors. After, run the cloth over hardware in the sink. Come back to flush the toilet in about 20 minutes.
Kitchen: Clear the Countertops
Stash dirty dishes in a dishpan under the sink and toss takeout menus and magazines in a basket. If you have time, wipe the front of appliances with a dishcloth that's been dipped in hot, soapy water and wrung out; dry with a dishtowel. In the future, follow Smallin's guideline for appliances: "If you use it every day, it gets to stay on the countertop. Otherwise, put it away."
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Dining Room: Dust
"When a room isn't used often, dust buildup will make it look messy," Smallin says. Start with lighting fixtures or ceiling fans. Next, dust the tables, chairs, windowsills and other flat surfaces. Use a microfiber cloth or glove and you can skip the polish. If you have time, set the table, which will deter your family members from using it as a dumping ground.
More From Woman's Day
Bedroom: Make the Bed
"You should be able to make a bed in two minutes or less," Smallin says. "Knowing that should make it a less dreaded chore." Toss any clothing that's lying around into a hamper or closet. Sweep clutter off the tops of dressers and nightstands into drawers.
Kids' Room: Close the Door
Often children's rooms are too far gone for a quick tidying-up. Smallin suggests that whatever you do, don't start picking up after them, otherwise they'll come to expect it. When you get a chance, buy clear plastic containers for underbed storage so art supplies, books and toys can be tossed inside at the last minute. Smallin suggests creating more space by placing the bed on risers.
Office: Straighten Out the Desk
"Gather scattered papers into piles, which look infinitely neater than when they're blanketing your desk," Platt says. If you have a few extra minutes, divide your papers into manila folders with labels like "To Do", "To File" or "To Pay." Collect sticky notes and business cards in a single stack, and put pens in a drawer or holder.
Laundry Room: Hide Supplies
Platt suggests putting detergents, fabric softeners and stain removers behind closed doors. If you don't have a cabinet, gather them in a basket. Clothing should be in baskets, too, divided by lights and darks, if you have time.
Guest Bedroom: Freshen Up
Assuming this room is rarely used, it should be clean for the most part. Start by clearing dust off surfaces using a microfiber cloth. To really impress guests, Platt suggests leaving a vase of flowers on the bedside table—as long as they aren't allergic—or an individually wrapped piece of chocolate on the pillow. Keep a basket of travel-size toiletries under the sink so you can pull it out (dust-free) before visitors arrive.
What do you think? | <urn:uuid:5d1be3fa-c9da-4358-9f8b-99c85e076616> | http://www.womansday.com/home/organizing-cleaning/tips/a1353/wds-guide-to-tidying-up-in-a-hurry-104191/ | en | 0.930773 | 0.021453 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Paper Chase
Cell. Dec 24, 1987;51(6):1001-8.
Chung J, Sussman DJ, Zeller R, Leder P.
Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
The first exon of the c-myc gene has unusual properties that suggest some further role in gene regulation. It encodes a large, evolutionarily conserved leader exon that is transcribed more frequently than the remaining exons of the c-myc gene. In what follows, we provide a possible explanation for these observations. We find that the major promoter of the c-myc gene is bifunctional; that is, it supports transcription by RNA polymerases II and III (pol II and III). Both enzymes initiate in vitro transcription from the major c-myc initiation site (P2), but pol III is completely blocked near the 3' end of the first exon while pol II, though partially blocked, transcribes through this region. These superimposed transcriptional activities suggest a potential regulatory mechanism by which one polymerase system could influence the activity of another. | <urn:uuid:137f0128-9dad-4d8f-bc75-83691067ce2d> | http://hms.harvard.edu/research/paper-chase?pcq=3690658&destination=research/paper-chase%3Fpcs%3D%26pcq%3D%26pci%3D435 | en | 0.924703 | 0.048183 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Is The Affordable Power Meter Finally Here?
• By Aaron Hersh
• Published Jan 28, 2013
• Updated Dec 30, 2014 at 9:04 AM UTC
A new company in Boulder, Colo. may be bringing the ability to measure power to the masses.
SRM, PowerTap, Quarq, Look and others all make power meters that do roughly the same job. They all directly measure power—the rider’s output—with the goal of precisely dosing effort in training and races. Why create another system that does something similar?
We posted the following question to Inside Triathlon’s Facebook page: “Weigh in: Do you ride with a power meter or without? If not, why not?”
72 percent of respondents agreed: They cost too much. PowerTap has been the cheapest option, and its power meters start at $1,400. As reader Matthew Fleisher put it in a Facebook comment, “It looks like we have a consensus. No accessories that cost more than the bike.” Fair enough.
Measuring power is tricky, so the hardware is expensive, limiting the number of triathletes who benefit from this invaluable tool. And while PowerTap offers the most affordable model, it is built into the rear wheel, preventing the athlete from training and racing on different hoops. SRM ($2,045 and up) and Quarq ($1,600 and up) both cost even more.
Stages Cycling is breaking down the cost barrier, selling a power meter for $700-$900 (without a head unit, which runs another $200 or so, depending on the model) that can be used on multiple bikes or with different wheels.
Power meters function by measuring the torque applied to the bike multiplied by the speed at which it is rotating. The speed component comes from cadence, but force is the difficult aspect. To measure force, all direct measurement power meters use strain gauges to measure the miniscule amount of flex in the component. In the case of Stages, this means the non-drive side crank arm.
Stages’ system has one big drawback compared to other direct-measurement power meters—it only measures power created by the left leg. All the others record both legs. By ignoring the right leg, Stages looses the ability to measure total power as accurately. While they claim a range of +/- 2%, similar to the others, this only accounts for one leg. The error in accuracy introduced by only measuring one leg is greater. Accuracy, however, is arguably a power meter’s overrated attribute.
Accuracy is defined by Wikipedia as “the degree of closeness of measurements to the quantity’s actual value.” Precision, “the degree to which repeated measurements under unchanged conditions show the same results,” is what really matters. Spitting out the same power number from the same effort produced by the rider makes a power meter a useful training tool. Whether or not the numbers generated are accurate is less important.
Its other stated objective is to make power easier to use. “There’s a ton of complexity [to power measurement],” says Stages senior vice president Pat Warner. “If we strip it down to what the rider needs, can we achieve the core functionalities without that level of complexity?”
To do that, Stages created a system that just measures power. It can’t do right leg/left leg balance or any other esoteric function. Stages didn’t make a head unit (SRM and PowerTap offer their own), deferring to Garmin and other cycling computer specialists instead. The system doesn’t have to be reset frequently, known as zero-offset, to ensure accurate readings. Andy Lull, the engineer in charge of developing the power meter, says zero-offset needs to be done only “as often as you feel comfortable,” not before every ride, giving the impression zeroing is a mental comfort as much as a mechanical necessity.
Temperature has a big influence on the degree the crank arm flexes under the same amount of force, so every strain gauge-based power meter needs to correct for temperature. Stages calibrates its systems by measuring flex at two different temperatures before sending the power meters out of the factory, and Lull maintains this method gives the Stages Cycling meter the ability to adapt to any temperature without losing accuracy. This is one of many claims we will vet during a long-term ride test.
Embedding the strain gauges in the crank arm instead of the spider means Stages can only instrument alloy crank arms. Carbon is out. The company is creating power meters out of left crank arms supplied directly by Shimano, SRAM and Cannondale for road, track and mountain. For triathletes on the cutting edge of fit using short cranks, Stages has options as short as 165mm.
Although Stages has yet to ship a single power meter to a customer, their operation in Boulder, Colo. is fully functional—this is not a garage-based start up. They are a branch of a company that provides 24-Hour Fitness and Life Time Fitness gyms with stationary bikes, some of which are equipped with a different power meter. Stages is stocked with product and know-how. They’re new to the outdoor power meter, but they’re cycling engineering veterans.
The hardware is tiny. A plastic shell barely bigger than a thumb drive contains the battery, a thermometer, ANT+ and Bluetooth transmission devices and the strain gauges. The complete hardware package, not including the head unit, weighs less than 20 grams. Placing it on the frame side of the non-drive crank arm protects the hardware from banging against any foreign objects in a crash. ANT+ transmission allows it to work with current computers from Garmin and others, and Bluetooth is a hedge against future technology, preventing head unit technology from outpacing the power meter. The very first units are shipping this week, and we will start wear testing one at the same. A more detailed analysis is to come on If Stages lives up to the billing it created, training and racing with power is about to become a real possibility for a whole new sector of triathletes.
RELATED: The (Very Near) Future Of Bike Gear And Tech
FILED UNDER: Bike / Gear & Tech TAGS:
Aaron Hersh
Aaron Hersh
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Subscribe to the FREE Triathlete newsletter | <urn:uuid:fac801e2-33ab-4634-9e02-eb5c6d4c37fc> | http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/01/gear-tech/is-the-affordable-power-meter-finally-here_69839 | en | 0.938393 | 0.047148 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Unstable Manifold. Janet Frame´s Challenge to Determinism
Document type: Monographs
Author(s): Karin Hansson
Title: The Unstable Manifold. Janet Frame´s Challenge to Determinism
Series: Lund Studies in English
Year: 1996
Pagination: 149
ISBN: 91-7966-352-4
ISSN: 0076-1451
Publisher: Lund University Press
City: Lund
Organization: Blekinge Institute of Technology
Department: Dept. of the Humanities (Institutionen för humaniora)
Dept. of Humanities S-371 79 Karlskrona
+46 455 780 00
Authors e-mail:
Language: English
Abstract: The New Zealand writer Janet Frame has become known to the reading public mainly through her autobiographical trilogy comprising "To the Is-land", "An Angel at My Table", and "The Envoy from Mirror City". To a large extent critical attention has been autobiographically oriented, or otherwise focusing each of her eleven novels separately.
This study concentrates on the theme of adaptation and evolution in her entire oeuvre. Applying a more interdisciplinary and scientific approach than is usually practised in leterary criticism, it considers Frame´s anti-Darwinian stance as "a Challenge to determinsim" calling material progress and adaptability into question. Novels like "Intensive Care", "Scented Gardens for the Blind", and "The Carpathians" are prophetic in picturing a cataclysmic end to human culture and civilization, it is true, but they also celebrate the power of imagination, memory and creativity. frame foresees not only horror and loneliness "at the edge of the alphabet" but also the possibility of a restoration of humanity and language after an era of unconditional adaptation.
Subject: The Humanities\English
Keywords: Literary criticism, New Zealand | <urn:uuid:ae41455c-2da6-4652-974b-ac89970a7027> | http://www.bth.se/fou/forskinfo.nsf/all/ac889cc50ddac8e8c12568a3002cab03 | en | 0.858715 | 0.182377 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Section III Part 5: Library Systems' Goals
The overriding goal of library systems is to integrate the library's electronic resources in such a way that they can be most effectively used. The key word here is seamlessness. When a search interface works efficiently, the researcher is never made aware that the system is pulling its information from various vendors, platforms, and/or databases. The current mantra is to prioritize "ease of use," with the inherent belief that ease of use improves research effectiveness. While discovery systems allow easy access to all library resources, they overwhelm students, and they do little to help students discern between formats and types, which will lead to research that is inefficient and ineffective.
Therefore our goal is not to simplify for simplicity's sake, but to simplify only to the point at which efficiency and accuracy are not compromised. Achieving this goal will require extensive research into the conventions and accepted research norms of each discipline, careful planning, and meticulous usability testing. The development of our new liaison program will aid in this endeavor, as now each discipline has a library staff member who is devoted to working with faculty to make sure that the library has the preferred resources of the discipline, and that the reference team understands fully how researchers in the discipline think, what types of resources (taking into account criteria such as format, currency, authority, and the like) they prioritize, and what types of final products the discipline dictates they produce.
Alumnae Library strives to be an outcomes based environment. To that end, library staff will prioritize not ease and speed, but accuracy and efficiency. Supporting those priorities is the main goal of systems. To that end, the following is a list of our systems goals and objectives:
1. The systems librarian will partner with vendors, consortia, and IT to develop a common look and feel in the design of the library's search interfaces, when the technology allows for such.
2. The liaisons will investigate and critically evaluate next generation discovery tools for cross-database or multi-resource searching for their efficiency and accuracy, as well as their appropriateness to the research needs of the discipline, not solely for their ease of use.
3. In conjunction with IT and Marketing, the systems librarian will investigate third party content management systems to assist in developing the library web site.
4. Library staff, under the guidance of the special collections librarian, will develop expertise in digital asset management and position the library to provide leadership on the Elms campus for the preservation of digital assets.
5. The systems librarian will use newly available technology to manage licensing agreements and produce usage information, to better guide purchasing.
6. The library director will reach out to IT and Marketing to create a mutually beneficial technological partnership with both.
7. Library staff will explore and implement methods and open-source standards to enhance library services and resources. | <urn:uuid:74ecd3e2-ffef-4a0a-b62a-5fa1162aee26> | http://www.elms.edu/alumnae-library/x1646.xml | en | 0.935351 | 0.057913 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Aggregation (linguistics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Aggregation is a subtask of natural language generation, which involves merging syntactic constituents (such as sentences and phrases) together. Sometimes aggregation can be done at a conceptual level.
A simple example of syntactic aggregation is merging the two sentences John went to the shop and John bought an apple into the single sentence John went to the shop and bought an apple.
Syntactic aggregation can be much more complex than this. For example, aggregation can embed one of the constituents in the other; e.g., we can aggregate John went to the shop and The shop was closed into the sentence John went to the shop, which was closed.
From a pragmatic perspective, aggregating sentences together often suggests to the reader that these sentences are related to each other. If this is not the case, the reader may be confused. For example, someone who reads John went to the shop and bought an apple may infer that the apple was bought in the shop; if this is not the case, then these sentences should not be aggregated.
Algorithms and issues[edit]
Aggregation algorithms must do two things:
• Decide when two constituents should be aggregated
• Decide how two constituents should be aggregated, and create the aggregated structure
The first issue, deciding when to aggregate, is poorly understood. Aggegration decisions certainly depend on the semantic relations between the constituents, as mentioned above; they also depend on the genre (e.g., bureaucratic texts tend to be more aggregated than instruction manuals). They probably should depend on rhetorical and discourse structure.[1] The literacy level of the reader is also probably important (poor readers need shorter sentences).[2] But we have no integrated model which brings all these factors together into a single algorithm.
With regard to the second issue, there have been some studies of different types of aggregation, and how they should be carried out. Harbusch and Kempen describe several syntactic aggregation strategies. In their terminology, John went to the shop and bought an apple is an example of forward conjunction Reduction [3] . Much less is known about conceptual aggregation. Di Eugenio et al. show how conceptual aggregation can be done in an intelligent tutoring system, and demonstrate that performing such aggregation makes the system more effective (and that conceptual aggregation make a bigger impact than syntactic aggregation).[4]
Unfortunately there is not much software available for performing aggregation.[citation needed] However the simplenlg system[5] does include limited support for basic aggregation. For example, the following code causes simplenlg to print out The man is hungry and buys an apple.
SPhraseSpec s1 = nlgFactory.createClause("the man", "be", "hungry");
SPhraseSpec s2 = nlgFactory.createClause("the man", "buy", "an apple");
NLGElement result = new ClauseCoordinationRule().apply(s1, s2);
External links[edit]
1. ^ D Scott and C de Souza (1990). Getting the Message Across in RST-based Text Generation. In Dale et al (eds)Current Research in Natural Language Generation. Academic Press
2. ^ S Williams and E Reiter (2008). Generating basic skills reports for low-skilled readers. Natural Language Engineering 14:495-535
3. ^ K Harbusch and G Kempen (2009). Generating clausal coordinate ellipsis multilingually: A uniform approach based on postediting. In Proc of ENLG-2009 28:105-144. [1]
4. ^ B Di Eugenio, D Fossati, D Yu (2005). Aggregation improves learning: experiments in natural language generation for intelligent tutoring systems. In Proc of ACL-2005 pp 50–57. [2]
5. ^ A Gatt and E Reiter (2009). SimpleNLG: A realisation engine for practical applications. Proceedings of ENLG09 [3] | <urn:uuid:98aa3fba-155b-44b0-9aad-89327b4c2e6d> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_(linguistics) | en | 0.9124 | 0.522728 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Home News Testimony Sunset Provisions of the USA Patriot Act
• Robert S. Mueller, III
• Director
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Sunset Provisions of the USA Patriot Act
• Washington, DC
• April 05, 2005
Good morning Mr. Chairman, Senator Leahy and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today with the Attorney General to talk with you about the ways in which the USA Patriot Act has assisted the FBI with its efforts in the war on terror. For almost three and a half years, the USA Patriot Act has changed the way the FBI operates. Many of our counterterrorism successes are the direct result of the provisions of the Act. As you know, several of these provisions are scheduled to "sunset" at the end of this year. I firmly believe that it is crucial to our national security to renew these provisions. Without them, the FBI might well be forced into pre-September 11th practices, requiring us - agents, analysts and our partners - to fight the war on terror with one hand tied behind our backs.
Section 201 & 202 - Expanded Title III predicates
These provisions expanded the predicate offenses for Title III intercepts to include crimes relating to chemical weapons (18 U.S.C. § 229), terrorism (18 U.S.C. §§ 2332, 2332a, 2332b, 2332d, 2339A, and 2339B), and felony violations of computer fraud and abuse (18 U.S.C. § 1030). Later amendments to this portion of the statute expanded the Title III predicates to also include 18 U.S.C. § 2232f (Bombings of places of public use, Government facilities, public transportation systems and infrastructure facilities) and 2339C (terrorism financing).
Section 201 brought the federal wiretap statute into the 21st century. Prior to its passage, law enforcement was not authorized to conduct electronic surveillance when investigating crimes committed by terrorists, such as chemical weapons offenses, killing U.S. nationals abroad, using weapons of mass destruction, and providing material support to terrorist organizations. Section 201 closed an existing gap in the Title III statute. Now Agents are able to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism related crimes.
Similarly, Section 202 brought the criminal code up to date with modern technology by adding felony offenses under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, such as computer espionage, extortion and intentionally damaging a federal government computer, to the list of wiretap predicates in 18 U.S.C. §2516(1). This provision eliminated an anomaly in the law and now permits Agents to obtain wiretap orders to monitor wire and oral communications to investigate serious computer crimes.
Section 203 (b) & (d) - Information sharing for foreign intelligence obtained in a Title III and criminal investigations.
Section 203(b) authorizes the sharing of foreign intelligence information obtained in a Title III electronic surveillance with other federal officials, including intelligence officers, DHS/DOD/ICE officials, and national security officials. If Section 203(b) were allowed to expire, FBI Agents would be allowed to share certain foreign intelligence information collected through criminal investigative wiretaps with foreign intelligence services, such as MI-5, but would arguably not be allowed to share that same information with the CIA. This result would be inconsistent with the spirit of the recently enacted Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which included many provisions designed to enhance information sharing within the federal government. Section 203(d) authorizes the sharing of foreign intelligence information collected in a criminal investigation with intelligence officials.
The information sharing provisions are overwhelmingly heralded by FBI Field Offices as the most important provisions in the USA Patriot Act. The ability to share critical information has significantly altered the entire manner in which terrorism investigations are conducted, allowing for a much more coordinated and effective approach than prior to the USA Patriot Act. Specifically, the Field Offices note that these provisions enable case agents to involve other agencies in investigations resulting in a style of teamwork that enables more effective and responsive investigations; improves the utilization of resources allowing a better focus on the case; allows for follow-up investigations by other agencies when the criminal subject leaves the U.S.; and helps prevent the compromise of foreign intelligence investigations.
Even though the law prior to the USA Patriot Act provided for some exchange of information, the law was complex and as a result, agents often erred on the side of caution and refrained from sharing the information. Clarification of information sharing abilities, due in part to Section 203, eliminated that hesitation and allows agents to more openly work with other government entities resulting in a much stronger team approach. Such an approach is necessary in order to effectively prevent and detect the complex web of terrorist activity. As a result, our Field Offices report enhanced FBI liaison with State, Local and other Federal agencies, resulting in better relationships. Even Legal Attaches (Legats) notice improved relationships with intelligence agencies. If even a portion of the information sharing capabilities is allowed to 'sunset' or terminate, then the element of uncertainty could be re-introduced and agents will again hesitate and take the time necessary to seek clarification of complicated information sharing restrictions prior to sharing information. This hesitation will lead to less teamwork and much less efficiency.
Experience has taught the FBI that there are no neat dividing lines that distinguish criminal, terrorist, and foreign intelligence activity. Criminal, terrorist and foreign intelligence organizations and activities are often interrelated or interdependent. FBI files are full of examples of investigations where information sharing between counterterrorism, counterintelligence and criminal intelligence efforts and investigations was essential to the FBI's ability to protect the United States from terrorists, foreign intelligence activity and criminal activity. Some cases that start out as criminal cases become counterterrorism cases. Some cases that start out as counterintelligence cases become criminal cases. Sometimes the FBI must initiate parallel criminal and counterterrorism or counterintelligence cases to maximize the FBI's ability to adequately identify, investigate and address a variety of threats to the United States. The success of these cases is entirely dependent on the free flow of information between the respective investigations, investigators and analysts.
Ongoing criminal investigations of transnational criminal enterprises involved in counterfeiting goods, drug/weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activity depend on close coordination and information sharing with the FBI's Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Programs, as well as the Intelligence Community, when intelligence is developed which connects these criminal enterprises to terrorism, the material support of terrorism or state sponsored intelligence activity. In one such case, information from a criminal Title III and criminal investigation was passed to Counterterrorism, as well as intelligence community partners, because the subject of the criminal case had previously been targeted by other agencies. Information sharing permitted each agency to pool their information and resources to investigate the interplay of criminal and foreign intelligence activity.
In one instance, a terrorism case initiated in Minneapolis was subsequently transferred to San Diego and converted to a criminal case. The investigation focused on a group of Pakistan-based individuals who were involved in arms trafficking, the production and distribution of multi-ton quantities of hashish and heroin, and the discussion of an exchange of a large quantity of drugs for four stinger anti-aircraft missiles to be used by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The operation resulted in the arrest, indictment and subsequent deportation of the subjects, Syed Mustajab Shah, Muhammed Afridi, and Iiyas Ali, from Hong Kong to San Diego to face drug charges and charges of providing material support to Al Qaeda.
Criminal enterprises are also frequently involved in, allied with or otherwise rely on smuggling operations. Alien smugglers frequently use the same routes used by drug and contraband smugglers and do not limit their smuggling to aliens, smuggling anything or anyone for the right price. Terrorists can take advantage of these smuggling routes and smuggling enterprises to enter the U.S. and are willing to pay top dollar to smugglers. Intelligence developed in these cases also frequently identifies corrupt U.S. and foreign officials who facilitate smuggling activities. Current intelligence, based on information sharing between criminal, counterterrorism, and counterintelligence efforts, has identified smugglers who provide false travel documents to special interest aliens, deal with corrupt foreign officials, and financially support extremist organizations, as well as illegitimate and quasi-legitimate business operators in the United States, who not only use the services of illegal aliens, but are also actively involved in smuggling as well.
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, a reliable intelligence asset identified a naturalized U.S. citizen as a leader among a group of Islamic extremists residing in the U.S. The subject's extremist views, affiliations with other terrorism subjects, and his heavy involvement in the stock market increased the potential that he was a possible financier and material supporter of terrorist activities. Early in the criminal investigation it was confirmed that the subject had developed a complex scheme to defraud multiple brokerage firms of large amounts of money. The subject was arrested and pled guilty to wire fraud. The close interaction between the criminal and intelligence cases was critical to the successful arrest of the subject before he left the country and the eventual outcome of the case.
Section 204 - Clarification of Intelligence Exceptions from Limitations on Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral and Electronic Communications
Section 204 is essentially a technical amendment. It clarifies that the law which governs the installation and use of pen registers and trap and trace devices will not interfere with certain foreign intelligence activities that fall outside the definition of "electronic surveillance" in the FISA statute. The provision also clarifies that the exclusivity provisions in Title 18 section 2511(2)(f) apply not only to the interception of wire and oral communications, but also to the interception of electronic communications.
Section 206 - Roving FISA Surveillance
With this provision, when a FISA target's actions have the effect of thwarting surveillance, such as by rapidly switching cell phones or even meeting venues, the Court can issue an order directing an as yet unknown cell phone carrier or other company to effect the authorized electronic surveillance. This allows the FBI to go directly to the new carrier and establish surveillance on the authorized target without having to return to the Court for a new secondary order.
Section 206 has been extremely helpful especially with regard to international terrorism and foreign counterintelligence investigations where targets move quickly and often act evasively to avoid detection. Field Offices have observed counterintelligence targets change services for hard-line telephones and cell phones numerous times. The roving authority allows us to continuously monitor these targets without interruption. By minimizing the need to return to the court for additional authorizations, it also has allowed agents to more expeditiously conclude investigations.
In one case, a roving FISA on a subject's cellular telephone was approved for the subject of a counterintelligence investigation who, per the usage of tradecraft, is directed to change his cellular phone at regular intervals. The roving FISA allows us to continue coverage on all cell phones the subject obtains.
Section 207 - Extended Duration for Certain FISAs
Section 207 extends the standard duration for several categories of FISA orders. Before the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, FISA orders for electronic surveillance targeted against agents of a foreign power had a maximum duration of ninety days and could be extended in 90-day increments, and orders for a physical search could be issued for no more than 45 days, unless the target was a foreign power, in which case, the order could be issued for one year. This provision allows orders for physical searches to be issued for certain agents of foreign powers, including United States persons, for ninety days, and authorizes longer periods of searches and electronic surveillance for certain categories of foreign powers and agents of foreign powers that are not United States persons. Specifically, initial orders authorizing searches and electronic surveillance may apply or extend for periods of 120 days, and renewal orders can be extended for up to one year.
Section 207 has led to reduced paperwork in certain categories of cases. In addition, it has resulted in a more effective utilization of available personnel resources and the collection mechanisms authorized under FISA. It has allowed agents to focus their efforts on more significant and complicated terrorism-related cases and to spend more time ensuring that appropriate oversight is given to investigations involving the surveillance of United States persons.
Section 209 - Seizure of Voice Mail with a Search Warrant
Section 209 clarified that voice mail could be obtained with a search warrant under 18 U.S.C. § 2703 (similar to e-mail). Previously, some courts had required a Title III order to obtain stored voice mail.
Section 209 of the USA PATRIOT Act has modernized federal law by enabling investigators to access more quickly suspects' voice-mail by using a search warrant. The speed with which voice-mail is seized and searched can often be critical to an investigation.
Section 212 - Emergency Disclosures of E-mail & Records by ISPs
Section 212 created a provision that allows a service provider (such as an Internet Service Provider) to voluntarily provide the content and records of communications related to a subscriber if it involves an emergency related to death or serious injury.
Service providers have voluntarily provided information under this provision. Such disclosures often included both e-mail content and associated records. This provision has also been utilized to quickly locate kidnaping victims, protect children in child exploitation cases, and to quickly respond to bomb and death threats. Legats have also utilized this provision to assist foreign law enforcement officials with similar emergencies, such as death threats on prosecutors and other foreign officials. Where time is of the essence, giving service providers the option of revealing this information without a court order or grand jury subpoena is crucial to receiving the information quickly and preventing death or serious injury.
In one instance, an FBI Field Division received a bomb threat after hours. After clarifying that the bomb threat was to the local airport and that the FBI had until noon to meet the caller's demands, the FBI JTTF Agents began working with various communications providers to locate the caller. The caller was identified as a result of an emergency disclosure pursuant to this provision. An interview of the subject was conducted and the threat was determined to be non-credible by 11:00 a.m.
In a kidnaping case, a 14- year-old girl was abducted. As a result of the FBI's use of this provision, the suspect was quickly identified and interviewed. He admitted to picking up the girl and took agents to the truck stop where he had left her. Because of this provision, additional harm to the girl was prevented and she was returned to her family in a matter of hours. This is but one example of how essential this provision is for child abduction cases.
Section 214 - FISA Pen/Trap Authority
The FBI may now obtain a FISA pen/trap and trace order from the court if "the information likely to be obtained is foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person, or is relevant to an ongoing investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution." This provision eliminated the previous requirement that the application also contain specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the targeted line was being used by an agent of a foreign power, or was in communications with such an agent, under specified circumstances. This provision now more closely tracks the requirements to obtain a pen/trap order under the criminal provisions set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3123. The provision also expands the FISA pen/trap to include electronic communications, comparable to the criminal pen/trap provision.
The results from these pen/trap orders often help agents to determine links between the subjects of different terrorism investigations, identify other unknown associates of the subject, discover contacts for potential assets, and develop the subject's personal profile. When pen/trap orders are quickly obtained, they allow agents to more quickly identify the associates tied to the subject of international terrorism investigations than if the agents were required to wait for service providers to respond to subpoenas for toll records, which can take several months. The old standard required more fact gathering to meet the threshold to obtain the pen/trap order, making this technique less effective and sometimes even preventing the use of this technique altogether if the window of opportunity was missed. The FISA pen/trap orders that have been obtained have been used on both terrorism and counterintelligence cases.
In one terrorism case, the only phone that the Field Office could prove was used by the subject was his associate's phone. Additionally, the Field Office had insufficient information that this associate was an agent of a foreign power. Thus, under the previous standard for a FISA pen/trap, the office may not have succeeded in obtaining the FISA pen/trap order. The standard established by Section 214 allowed the agents to obtain the pen/trap order by demonstrating that the information to be collected was relevant to an ongoing terrorism investigation. The information obtained by the pen/trap was valuable because it demonstrated the extent that the subject and his associate were communicating with subjects of other terrorism investigations.
In another example, use of this section allowed FISA pen/trap authority based on the fact that information was likely to result in foreign intelligence information. This provision allowed the Field Office to collect data on target lines even when the subject was out of the country and provided valuable intelligence information regarding the subject, the organization and terrorism- related matters.
Section 215 - Access to Business Records under FISA
Section 215 changed the standard to compel production of business records under FISA to simple relevance (just as in the FISA pen register standard described above) and expands this authority from a limited enumerated list of certain types of business records (i.e. hotels, motels, car and truck rentals) to include "any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution."
Obtaining business records is a longstanding law enforcement tool. Ordinary grand juries for years have issued subpoenas to all manner of businesses for records relevant to criminal investigations. Section 215 authorized the FISA Court to issue similar orders in national security investigations. It contains a number of safeguards that protect civil liberties. Section 215 requires FBI Agents to get a court order. Agents cannot use this authority unilaterally to compel any entity to turn over its records. In addition Section 215 has a narrow scope. It can only be used to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. It cannot be used to investigate ordinary crimes, or even domestic terrorism.
Section 217 - Interception of Computer Trespasser Communications
The wiretap statute was amended to explicitly provide victims of computer attacks the ability to invite law enforcement into a protected computer to monitor the computer trespasser's communications. In the past, the law was ambiguous on this point and left open the possibility that a court could hold that a victim of computer hacking could not invite law enforcement in to monitor the intruder in an effort to prosecute and stop the intruder. The USA Patriot Act also established specific requirements and limitations that must be met before the use of this provision.
Under this provision, the FBI was able to monitor the communications of an international group of "carders" (individuals that use and trade stolen credit card information). The group utilized a variety of methods to conceal their identities. The owner of the hacked computer was not aware of the misuse, and considered all individuals misusing its computers to be trespassers. The monitoring provided leads that resulted in the discovery of the true identity of the subject. The subject was indicted in September of 2003. Without the ability to monitor these communications, it would have been unlikely that the FBI could have identified the trespassers.
Section 218 - Change in the "Primary Purpose" Standard of FISA
Section 218 amended FISA to require a certification to the FISA Court that obtaining foreign intelligence gathering is "a significant purpose" of the FISA surveillance or search, rather than a "primary purpose" of such surveillance. Section 504 amended FISA to clarify that personnel involved in a foreign intelligence investigation can consult with law enforcement officials in order to coordinate efforts to investigate or protect against attacks, terrorism, sabotage, or clandestine intelligence activities, and that such consultation does not, in itself, undermine the required certification of "significant purpose." These changes were intended to eliminate "the wall" between criminal and intelligence investigations. They now allow FBI agents greater latitude to consult criminal investigators or prosecutors without putting their investigations at risk.
As stated above, FBI Field Offices overwhelmingly herald the information sharing provisions as the most important provisions in the USA Patriot Act. Section 218 is an essential component to these changes. This provision makes it clear that prosecutors can be involved in the earliest phases of an international terrorism investigation. AUSAs are often co-located with the JTTFs and are able to provide immediate input regarding the use of criminal charges to stop terrorist activity, including the prevention of terrorist attacks.
The ability to have criminal prosecutors involved in the earliest investigative phases of terrorism cases allows counterterrorism investigators to utilize the full selection of both intelligence and criminal investigative tools, enabling them to select and interchange these tools to meet the investigative demands of each particular case. Field Offices use criminal prosecution, or the threat thereof, in furtherance of the intelligence objective to disrupt and dismantle terrorism, towards the ultimate goal of preventing terrorist acts. One Field Office notes that if 218 were allowed to "sunset," its aggressive and effective investigative approach toward terrorism would be "severely crippled."
Section 220 - Search Warrants for Electronic Evidence
Section 220 of the USA Patriot Act enabled courts with jurisdiction over an investigation to issue a search warrant to compel the production of information held by a service provider located outside the district, such as unopened e-mail. Previously, the search warrant had to be issued by a court in the district where the service provider was located. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703.
The FBI routinely relies upon this provision when a search warrant is used to obtain the content of e-mail messages and other related information from Internet service providers (ISPs) in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 2703.
Prior to the USA Patriot Act, if an investigator sought a search warrant to obtain the content of unopened e-mail from a service provider, the investigator was required to obtain this search warrant from a court in the jurisdiction where the service provider was located. To accomplish this, the case agent would brief an agent and prosecutor located in the ISP's jurisdiction on the facts of the case so that they might appear before the court and obtain the search warrant. This was a time and labor consuming process. Furthermore, because several of the largest ISPs are located in a few districts such as, the Northern District of California and the Eastern District of Virginia, these offices were faced with a substantial workload just to obtain search warrants for other offices.
While the USA Patriot Act maintained the legal standard of probable cause that must be met before the search warrant could be issued, it eliminated the additional bureaucratic paperwork necessary to obtain that warrant in a different jurisdiction than the investigation itself. This eliminated the need to involve additional agents and prosecutors located in the same jurisdiction as the ISP. Therefore, this provision expedites the process and minimizes the labor involved without altering the privacy protection afforded the e-mail and other associated records.
Field Offices repeatedly stated that this was very beneficial to quickly obtain information required in their investigations. The information obtained from these search warrants often leads to additional electronic evidence that is otherwise easily and quickly lost. Minimizing the time required to obtain the initial information from the ISPs is a significant asset to the investigations.
In the "Virginia Jihad" case, six subjects pled guilty and three were convicted of charges including conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to the Taliban. They received sentences ranging from a prison term of four years to life imprisonment. As a part of this case, court orders were issued to Internet Service Providers throughout the country to obtain information that resulted in valuable intelligence and criminal evidence used in the successful prosecution. Due to Section 220, all the court orders were issued by the district court where the prosecution occurred making the process much faster and more efficient.
This provision is regularly used in child pornography cases as agents obtain information from ISPs regarding those trading sexually exploitive images of children. This expedites the investigative process and minimizes the number of FBI, U.S. Attorney, and judicial personnel involved in the process, freeing them to more aggressively pursue investigative matters.
Section 223 - Civil Liability for Certain Unauthorized Disclosures
Prior to the passage of the USA Patriot Act, individuals were permitted only in limited circumstances to file a cause of action and collect money damages against the United States if government officials unlawfully disclosed sensitive information collected through wiretaps and electronic surveillance. Thus, while those engaging in illegal wiretapping or electronic surveillance were subject to civil liability, those illegally disclosing communications lawfully intercepted pursuant to a court order generally could not be sued. This section remedied this inequitable situation by creating an important mechanism for deterring the improper disclosure of sensitive information and providing redress for individuals whose privacy might be violated by such disclosures.
Section 225 - Immunity for Compliance with FISA Wiretap
Pursuant to FISA, the United States may obtain wiretap or electronic surveillance orders from the FISA Court to monitor the communications of an entity or individual as to whom the court, among other things, finds probable cause to believe is a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power, such as an international terrorist or spy. Generally, however, as in the case of criminal wiretaps and electronic surveillance, the United States requires the assistance of private communications providers, such as telephone companies, to carry out such court orders. Prior to the passage of the USA Patriot Act, while those assisting in the implementation of criminal wiretaps were provided with immunity, no similar immunity protected those companies and individuals assisting the government in carrying out wiretap and surveillance orders issued by the FISA Court under FISA. This section ended this anomaly in the law by immunizing from civil liability communications service providers and others who assist the United States in the execution of such FISA surveillance orders, thus helping to ensure that such entities and individuals will comply with orders issued by the FISC without delay.
In an FBI Field Office, a case agent was able to convince a company to assist in the installation of technical equipment pursuant to a FISA order by providing a letter outlining the immunity from civil liability associated with complying with the FISA order. The target was an espionage subject.
Section 213 - Delayed Notice Search Warrants
While not scheduled to sunset, the USA Patriot Act's delayed notice provision, Section 213, has been the subject of criticism and various legislative proposals. The FBI believes that Section 213 is an invaluable tool in the war on terror and our efforts to combat serious criminal conduct. It is important to note that delayed notice warrants were not created by the USA Patriot Act. Rather, the Act simply codified a common law practice recognized by courts across the country and created a uniform nationwide standard for the issuance of those warrants. The USA Patriot Act ensures that delayed notice search warrants are evaluated under the same criteria across the nation. Like any other search warrant, a delayed notice search warrant is issued by a federal judge only upon a showing that there is probable cause to believe that the property to be searched for or seized constitutes evidence of a criminal offense. A delayed notice warrant differs from an ordinary search warrant only in that the judge specifically authorizes the law enforcement officers executing the warrant to wait for a limited period of time before notifying the subject of the search that a search had been executed.
As I have described above, the USA Patriot Act has been invaluable in providing the FBI with tools that it needs to fight terrorism in the 21st Century. This committee has been one of our strongest supporters in this effort and for this the men and women of the FBI are grateful. Having said that, I would like to address another area in which the FBI needs the committee's support in order to continue to fulfill its primary mission of protecting America from further terrorist attacks.
Administrative Subpoenas
Planning, funding, supporting and committing acts of terrorism all are federal crimes. For many years, the FBI has had administrative subpoena authority for investigations of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to health care fraud to child exploitation. Yet, when it comes to terrorism investigations, the FBI has no such authority.
Instead, we rely on two tools – National Security Letters (NSLs) and orders for FISA business records. Although both are useful and important tools in our national security investigations, administrative subpoena power would greatly enhance our abilities to obtain information. Information that may be obtained through an NSL is limited in scope and enforcement is difficult. FISA business record requests require the submission of an application for an order to the FISA Court. In investigations where there is a need to obtain information expeditiously, Section 215, which does not contain an emergency provision, may not be the most effective process to undertake. The administrative subpoena power would be a valuable complement to these tools and provide added efficiency to the FBI's ability to investigate and disrupt terrorism operations and our intelligence gathering efforts. It would provide the government with an enforcement mechanism which currently does not exist with NSLs. Moreover, it would bring the authorities of agents and analysts investigating terrorism into line with the authorities the FBI already has to combat other serious crimes. I would like to stress that the administrative subpoena power proposal should provide the recipient the ability to quash the subpoena on the same grounds as a grand jury subpoena.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, the importance of the provisions of the USA Patriot Act I have discussed today in the war against terrorism cannot be overstated. They are crucial to our present and future successes. By responsibly using the statutes provided by Congress, the FBI has made substantial progress in its ability to proactively investigate and prevent terrorism and protect lives, while at the same time protecting civil liberties. In renewing those provisions scheduled to "sunset" at then end of this year, Congress will ensure that the FBI will continue to have the tools it needs to combat the very real threat to America posed by terrorists and their supporters. In addition, by giving the FBI administrative subpoena authority, Congress will enable the FBI to be more efficient in its Counterterrorism efforts. Thank you for your time today. I am happy to answer any of your questions.
Recent Testimonies | <urn:uuid:e9b0a591-1a81-449f-a5b6-9b3791c8d0ff> | https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/sunset-provisions-of-the-usa-patriot-act-1 | en | 0.942154 | 0.034655 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
4 Replies Latest reply: Feb 7, 2012 11:03 PM by artoonie RSS
Possible to automatically import, apply develop settings, then export?
Is it possible to completely automate the process of:
1. Import an image
2. Apply some develop settings to the image
3. Export the image
Without any user interaction?
(Gnarly workarounds are acceptable, as long as it's fully automated.) | <urn:uuid:7a3bdf05-5936-4dd7-a495-5370a8023bfc> | https://forums.adobe.com/thread/918646 | en | 0.876042 | 0.230209 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Audubon's perspective on coyotes
DEDE ARMENTROUT, Regional Vice President, Southwest Region, National Audubon Society, 2525 Wallingwood, Suite 1505, Austin, TX 78746
The National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is a charitable, non-profit citizens’ scientific and education organization. We were formed in the early 1900s as a coalition of independent outdoor nature groups who banded together to conserve many species of birds which were being destroyed by an unregulated market on meat and feathers.
In 1904, feathers from some of the long legged wading birds were literally worth their weight in gold: $32.00 an ounce. As a consequence of the high price, no education programs, and no regulatory apparatus, parent birds were being hunted year round, including when they had young in their nests. Especially during nesting seasons they were easy prey because of their reluctance to leave their young. Nesting colonies of birds were rapidly destroyed.
By hunting nesting birds, the profiteers of the feather trade were inadvertently, but seriously affecting the likelihood that subsequent generations of those species would survive.
The Audubon Society used 4 tactics in its campaign to protect long legged wading birds from the plume trade. First, they used education and publicity; publishing notes, articles, editorials, adds, and poems; giving speeches, taking decision makers and opinion leaders to the sites of concern. Second, they used land stewardship, buying important roosting sites or informing coastal states of the importance of coastal nesting sites when sites were publicly owned. Third, they used market pressures, urging consumers not to buy products that hastened the extinction of the beautiful bird species of concern. Finally, they used legislation to provide a regulatory apparatus of protection.
The wild bird plume trade has been gone from the United States since the early 1900s. Decorative feathers now come from domestic or pen-raised birds and have for almost a century. The egrets, spoonbills, and herons, once in such peril, recovered and provide Texans and millions of tourists with thrilling sights along the Texas coast and elsewhere.
The Audubon member
Audubon members are still outdoor nature enthusiasts. They spend a lot of time in the field. They are active outdoor people who supplement what they see with studies and readings in areas of interest to them.
Our average member is in his/her early 40s, has a few years of college past a Bachelor’s degree, has a combined household income just over $60,000, and is active in church and/or a civic organizations in addition to Audubon. In Texas, 20% of our members are rural or in small towns. The rest reside in or near one of Texas’ major municipalities.
Audubon staff
Audubon’s staff in the Southwest are predominantly young adults with middle-aged supervisors. Professional staff have a Master’s Degree or higher. Most are only one generation (or less) removed from a farm or ranch background. The new president of the National Audubon Society grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota. Many staff are still engaged in agriculture. I raise Angora goats and my partner and I are among very few Texas certified organic peach growers. I came from a family which was agrarian on both sides until my parents’ adult lives. Most of my peers in the mainstream environmental community in Texas have similar backgrounds.
How Audubon views coyotes udubon has a membership which probably spans all views of coyotes (Canis latrans). Audubon’s staff views coyotes as biologically appropriate predators in most of the Southwest. We believe that they can be an asset to a well-managed ranch, but that they can also cause localized depredation which must be answered.
Our members value predators, including coyotes, for their natural role in ecological systems, including their influence on prey species. Many of our members travel broadly and spend money to view wildlife, and consider it a treat to see and hear coyotes.
Politics and coyotes
The points that I would like to address relative to this predator’s politics include both real and perceived problems. A general outline to my discussion is attached (Table 1).
Table 1. An outline of political issues related to coyotes.
1. People’s perceptions of coyotes
1. What gives value to wildlife (or anything)
1. Market system (what’s it worth?)
2. Economic value of coyotes
1. Ecotourism
2. Film & photographs
3. Elimination of competitors for range resources
5. Souveniers
3. Totem value of coyotes
1. Romantic symbol of wild west
2. Symbolic of cleverness and resourcefulness
3. Symbolic of the beleagured but unconquered
4. Value by rarity
1.Hard to see
2. Perceived to be diminishing
3. Perceived to be disappearing (i.e., “can’t do it now, but soon will be able to”)
4. Valued for perceived “place” in the system
1. “Place” is dynamic, but often not perceived as such
2. Valued because it is “owned” in common
2. Political versus biological decisions
1. Do coyotes deserve the expenditures to control them?
1. Should those expenditures be borne by the general public?
2. Do coyotes deserve the energy to protect them?
3. Are there vigorous efforts to eliminate/protect them?
3. Topical political issues related to coyotes
1. Coyotes are publicly-owned resources (issues of public responsibility as well as public rights)
2. Coyotes may affect privately-owned resources (adversely or positively)
3. Coyote control may impact other publicly- owned resources (e.g., other wildlife, water quality, safety, local, state and national budgets)
4. Coyotes may be scapegoats for other problems (e.g., other sources of mortality and economic woes beyond the control of the producer)
4. Perception issues with coyotes
A. Perception is reality
B. Depredation disagreements in perception
1. Whether there is depredation by coyotes or not
2. Degree of depredation
3. Significance of depredation (mortality versus compensatory mortality)
4. Degree of responsibility for the depredation
1. To be borne by the producer/ public
C. Which control is appropriate
1. Prophylactic versus reactive
2. Lethal versus non-lethal)
D. Degree to which control is possible
1. Importance in its niche (biological)
2. Importance as a totem (social)
E. Bias in data
1. Data collection is political
2. Data interpretation is political | <urn:uuid:9616effd-8135-4328-b42e-7b66dafd6f89> | http://agrilife.org/texnatwildlife/coyotes/table-of-contents/audubons-perspective-on-coyotes/ | en | 0.948902 | 0.627291 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |