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In this article, you will know the lives of Ulysses Grant’s children.
Frederick Dent Grant
On May 30, 1850, Frederick was born during his father, Ulysses Grant, serving in the United States Army. Frederick was born in St. Louis, Missouri; however, their family moved as his father was assigned to Michigan and New York. Frederick spent most of his childhood with his paternal grandparents.
When Ulysses Grant resigned from the military, the family moved back to St. Louis, then to Galena, Illinois. Frederick was still a student when the American Civil War began. He was in a public school in 1861, where his father was promoted as a colonel after he organized a volunteer regiment. As the eldest son, he accompanied his father as the unit was sent to Northern Missouri, but he was sent home immediately when they arrived.
Frederick risked his life to be with his father. During the Siege of Vicksburg, he was shot in the leg by a Confederate sniper. He endured a painful infection that could have amputated his leg, but the doctors could prevent it and save his leg. Because Frederick was still recovering from his injury, he contracted typhoid fever while in the Union camp. Miraculously, he made a full recovery.
He also attended the military academy in West Point. He was allegedly involved in a controversy and endured intense discrimination and violence towards the first African American cadet, James Webster Smith. Frederick was accused of participating in harassing Smith.
In 1874, Frederick married Ida Marie Honoroé, daughter of a wealthy real estate tycoon in Chicago. They had two children, Julia Dent Grant, who later married a Russian general and diplomat. Ulysses S. Grant III, who also served in the military like his father and grandfather.
After graduating, he spent his adult life serving in the military and later took a leave of absence to join his father on a trip around 1877. A year later, he returned to fill in the Bannock War and fought against Victorio in New Mexico.
Like his father, Frederick turned his back in the military service and prioritized his family. He focused on assisting his father to prepare the memoir while running a business in New York.
He attempted to enter politics in 1887 when he was nominated for the Republican ticket for Secretary of State of New York; however, he was defeated by Democratic incumbent Frederick Cook.
President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as the Minister to Austria and Hungary in 1889 and retained the position until 1893. A year later, he served as a police commissioner in New York and held it until 1898. He served alongside Theodore Roosevelt.
In his later career, he went back to the military and was commissioned as a colonel during the Spanish-American War. Soon, he was sent to the Philippines in 1899 to serve during the Philippine-American war. In 1901, he was commissioned as a brigadier general and remained in the Philippines until 1902.
Frederick died on April 12, 1912, due to cancer in New York City and was buried in West Point Cemetery.
His descendants through his daughter, Julia, were Prince Michael Mikhailovich Cantacuzène, Princess Bertha Mikhailovna, and Princess ZenaidaMikhailovna. On the other hand, Frederick was the grandfather of his son Ulysses III’s children Edith Clara, Clara Frances, and Julia Grant.
Ulysses Grant Jr.
Ulysses Grant Jr. grew with the household nickname was “Buck.” He was born on July 22, 1852, and was the second child of Ulysses S. Grant. Buck was born in Ohio and an alumnus of Phillips Exeter University, Harvard University, and Columbia Law School.
He married Fannie Josephine Chaffee in 1880 and had five children: Miriam, Chaffee, Julia, Fannie, and Ulysses IV.
Buck served as his father’s secretary during his presidency and worked as Assistant United States Attorney in New York City. He earned his fortune as a private lawyer; however, his firm went bankrupt in 1884. He was also imprisoned and served for over six years because of fraud.
When Buck was back on his feet again, he ventured in Real Estate and became associated with business personalities.
Ulysses Grant Jr. died at the age of 77 on the Ridge Route near Lost Angeles and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in San Diego, California.
Ellen Wrenshall Grant
Ellen Wrenshall Grant or Nellie was born on July 4, 1855. She was the only daughter of Ulysses S. Grant. Nellie experienced the hardship of their family at a young age and was raised in a modest log cabin built by her father.
Eventually, because of her father’s endeavor, they lived a comfortable lifestyle, and at the age of 13, the Grants moved to the White House when her father became the president. She was sent to Miss Porter’s School, considered an elite boarding school in Connecticut, where she learned social graces. As she turned 16, his father was much concerned will all the young suitors eying on his only daughter.
When they traveled to England, she met Algernon Sartoris. He immediately proposed to Nellie; however, Ulysses is not comfortable with him because he does not have a stable job to support Nellie.
Nellie, who was only 18, and Algernon, who was 23 years old, were had an extravagant wedding at the White House in 1874. There are claims that Ulysses Grant sobbed for losing his only daughter to a man who does not deserve her.
Nellie and Algernon had four children: Grant Grenville Edward, Algernon Edward, Vivien May, and Rosemary Alice. Like her father’s suspicion, Algernon had a drinking problem and also a womanizer. Because of it, Nellie was granted a divorce, received vast sums of annual income, and the custody of their children. When Algernon died at the age of 42, Nellie was free to marry again. She married Frank Hatch Jones in 1912.
On August 30, 1922, Nellie died at the age of 67.
Jesse was named after his paternal grandfather and was born on February 6, 1858, near St. Louis, Missouri. Jesse studied Engineering at Cornell University and Columbia Law School. He earned his fortune by practicing law and engagement in several mining ventures. Jesse was also a stockholder. He even managed his brother’s hotel in San Diego, and in 1908, he was nominated as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Jesse married Elizabeth Chapman, the daughter of one of the founders of California Academy of Sciences, in 1880. They were blessed with two children: Chapman and Nellie. His marriage with Elizabeth did not end well as he pressed charges against her for desertion. After they were divorced, he then married Lilian Burns Wilkins.
Jesse was the last surviving child of Ulysses S. Grant until he passed away in 1934 in Los Altos, California.
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We conclude our discussion of Monte Carlo methods with a brief review of the concepts covered in the three previous lectures. Then, the Kinetic Monte Carlo method is introduced, including discussions of Transition State Theory and basic KMC algorithms. A simulation of vacancy-mediated diffusion is provided as an example of KMC. Finally, a brief primer on random number generation is presented.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
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Virginia General Assembly Passes Abraham’s Law
Yesterday, the Virginia General Assembly gave final approval to a law designed to prevent another teenager being forced to undergo a medical procedure when they don’t want to:
Virginia lawmakers passed a bill called “Abraham’s Law” yesterday after agreeing that 14 is the appropriate age for a teenager with a life-threatening condition to have a hand in making medical decisions.
The bill is named after Starchild Abraham Cherrix, 16, who won a court battle last summer to forgo chemotherapy and instead treat his lymphatic cancer with alternative medicine.
A judge had threatened to force Abraham to take conventional treatments and to take him away from his parents, who faced jail for allowing him to end chemotherapy and use alternative treatments. A compromise allowed Abraham to give up chemotherapy as long as he was treated by an oncologist who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatment.
In certain circumstances, parents would be allowed to refuse medical treatment for a child without facing charges of neglect, according to the bill.
The bill is now headed to Governor Tim Kaine’s desk where he will, hopefully, do the right thing.
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Products in Development
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It is designed to reduce certain vaginal infections by:
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Antimicrobial multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) vaginal gel for the prevention of recurrent Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)
It is in development to assess its ability to:
- Kill many BV-associated pathogenic bacteria which has been demonstrated in vitro data
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These products have not been approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory agency.
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If all Ghanaians were Fantes and Northerners, Ghana will be……
PART II ** Correction and apology: Prof. Nabila was Minister for Presidential Affairs I proposed in Part I of this article that for Ghana is to succeed, we need to change our thinking about Citizenship, Religious thought and Polity.
Further, the proposed reform in thinking in regard to citizenship would require us to observe a single and perhaps unique principle, which is this: EVERY GHANAIAN IS FIRST, A CITIZEN AND SECOND, A MEMBER OF A TRIBE. This will constitute a radical reversal of our identity principles inculcated in us by our ethnocentric philosophies, which make us see ourselves as –first, tribe and second, Ghanaian.
The tendency to see ourselves first as tribesmen and second as Ghanaians has resulted in a lack strong national identity and propels the culture of ethnic promotion in politics, economics and development initiatives.
This lack of strong national identity fuelled by allegiance to tribes is surprisingly stronger among Ghanaians living abroad, and has made it difficult for Ghanaians living abroad to have single national associations. One would have thought that the discrimination and exclusion we face as Africans or black-people in Europe and America will strengthen our common origins and sense of belonging to a country (Ghana) that respects all of us.
On the contrary, in all countries of the world where Ghanaians reside, they have established multiple ethnic/regional associations, because some Ghanaians think they are more Ghanaian than others. Recently in the U.K, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the USA, the number of Ghanaians attending independence-day celebrations has declined to point deserving of being described as shameful. People prefer to patronise their tribal events and not Ghana national events, as if one day, their ethnic groups will out grow Ghana. In the 21st century when the world is becoming a melting pot of different races, cultures and languages, Ghanaians are re-emphasising their differences. Are we serious about progress with this type of retrogressive thoughts and behaviours?
The reversal principle of first, Ghanaian and second member of a tribe, may appear difficult for many Ghanaians to agree to, let alone implement in their behaviours/actions and inter-dealings. However, it provides a sea of altered consciousness in which we can reform our nation and ourselves. This altered consciousness means that a problem in any one corner of Ghana is conceived as a problem not only for the people who live there, but each one of us, irrespective of tribe or other affiliation. The notion of being Ghanaian first would extinguish the tendency for different ethnic groups to resort to the ideology of dominance that is beginning to characterise our political landscape.
Parts of the content of an article on the Ghanaweb (26/4/05) entitled 'President Kuffour, don't take Asanteman for granted' was an example of ethnic imprisonment mentality. The one thing that signified the ethnic imprisonment mentality in the article under reference was the way the writer asked for development for Ashanti. The writer forgot that many other areas of Ghana like Ashanti, do not have water, feeder- roads, clinics and chalk in classrooms, but those other communities may never have a president coming from their part of Ghana for one thousand years. What then will happen to those communities in terms of development if Kuffour must develop Ashanti because he is an Ashanti?
Our ability to engage in the noble acts such as truth, kindness, honesty, responsibility and sympathy, are driven by the values we hold as a society. These values have been eroded in Ghanaians even to the extent that we ridicule people who cherish and live by these values.
Undoubtedly, those values are still prevalent in some exemplary Ghanaians and for me in a northern personality. The values of honest leadership and integrity are epitomised in Professor J.S. Nabila (Minister for Presidential Affairs in the Limann administration and recently elected to the Council of State). The professor has been a dedicated and outstanding personality in University and Government. While in Government, he was principled, honest, and responsible in his service to Ghana. Owing to our eroded values, some politicians called him 'the constitution man' and in Mampruli/Dagbani, has was referred to as 'Constitution ku saki' meaning 'the constitution will not accept what you are asking me to do'. The corrupt politicians expected him to go against his principles in order to support their corruption, but he stood his ground as a principled and honest leader. To many of the corrupt politicians and some Ghanaians, he was naïve, annoying and unenlightened. On the contrary, he demonstrated that as a prince of the Mamprugu traditional area, (and now a in chief) he still had not lost his principles with regard to honest leadership and responsibility for the whole community (Ghana).
Even Rawlings should be ashamed of himself because he imprisoned the Prof. who did a better job in politics and the fight against corruption than Rawlings did.
In Ghana, the election to the Council of State is reserved for personalities who have demonstrated integrity and honest service, and the professor has achieved these credentials in both traditional and national politics. Today, as a Naa (Chief) and elected member of the Council of State, Professor Nabila has stood the test of time, and his honesty has triumphed; even though he comes back into the political limelight to meet a more seriously ill society of corruption that he fought so hard to deliver from the evil forces of the time. I hope Rawlings will now join the NPP to recommend Prof. Nabila for President and consider going to prison himself. Professor Nabila's achievements and principles echo the question: How can a country with little resources provide basic services for her citizenry without this type of consciousness and sensitivity?. We can only achieve this level of consciousness and sensitivity by seeing ourselves as Ghanaians first, and to wish for each Ghanaian (not only those form our tribe) a better life. It is time for Ghanaians to think differently in terms of :
1. our common humanity, 2. our oneness of purpose and 3. oneness of vision as a nation.
1.Our common humanity implies that all Ghanaians irrespective of tribe have similar needs- food, clothing, shelter, security, education, health etc; no one tribe needs these better than others.
2. Our oneness of purpose means that we all should contribute to our common good, and this requires that everybody be provided with the same ladder of opportunity. This will depart from the usual practice where governments concentrate all development projects in areas of their ethnic origin.
3. The oneness of our vision means that we would love to see all Ghanaians have good education, health and well-being, so as to further promote the development of our future generation, and make life worthy of living. More importantly, our politicians need to recognize and implement the principle of 'citizen first, and tribe, second' as a way of solidifying our unified state with pride in our identity, as a nation of equal citizens. It is also in this state of consciousness of the nature of our citizenship that Governments would naturally be even-handed in providing economic, educational opportunities and other social/health facilities to all communities.
Gone, will the idea that these communities did not vote for my Government or do not speak our language, and so should be less prioritized in the provision of services. Gone will be the idea of super-power and subordinate-power kingdoms in the nation Ghana, and gone will be the idea of tribal voting. The votes in last elections in Fanteland and Northern Ghana were not along tribal lines. The Northern votes are always arbitrarily distributed, and in line with the national character of the political parties. To me, the Fantes and the Northerners are the best in Ghana. If all Ghanaians were like the Fantes and Northerners, Ghana would be a paradise…, because we would vote for parties in patterns that reflects their national character and/or because they are capable of delivering the goods. We as Ghanaians should vote for any party that is capable of governing and be prepared to criticize governments when they make mistakes, even if the president is from our tribe. The Fantes and northerners have shown the way. The rest of Ghana ought to follow this path to our much anticipated and prayed-for paradise nation. God Bless Ghana!!
*** Sorry, there was no space for issues around religious thought…will come later. Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
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Linked: The New Science of Networks
by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
Review by Andreas. Contact me at email@example.com
Read this page in your language
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's book Linked: The New Science of Networks (Plume, 2003) on the theory of networks shows that networks (social network of friends, the web's five billion websites, the biological food chain, business and commerce, the growth of cities, intra-cellular proteins, and so on) share the same properties, which means they can be quantified and described with mathematical laws. By understanding how networks function and grow, one can develop strategies to take advantage of that growth.
Origins of Network Theory
In the 1780s, Leonhard Euler invented network theory. A network is made up of nodes and links and mathematicians assumed the links between the nodes were randomly distributed. If there are, say, 10 nodes and 50 links, they assumed the distribution would be random and each node would get, on average, five links. Mathematicians explored the properties of these random-distribution networks. However, for most of the last two hundred years, network theory remained a form of abstract mathematics because it was difficult to study large networks with millions (or billions) of nodes and links.
The Social World as a Network
If one applies random distribution in networks to the social world, then six billion humans (the nodes) should each have generally the same number of friends (the links). However, sociologists and economists realized that real-world networks were not randomly distributed.
Stanley Milgram in the late 60s performed his famous six-degrees-of-separation experiment. The popular understanding of Milgram's experiment is that anyone can be linked to anyone else on Earth through only six links. In fact, Milgram discovered:
Three Links of Separation: Some people have such good links that they can connect to someone far away with only three links.
100 Links of Separation: Others may require a hundred links or more to reach someone. This also means the people within those hundred links are also poorly linked.
No Links: Milgram also found that many people have such poor links that they can't establish a connection to distant others. These people are isolated into small islands. They are cut off from the rest of society.
In the late 60s, Mark Granovetter, a sociologist who is now the head of sociology at Stanford, studied how people found jobs. Whereas it was generally assumed that society was homogenous, sociologists realized that society is made up of groups of people, which is now known as clustering. Granovetter showed that weak contacts were twice as effective (28%) as strong contacts (17%) for finding a job. Casual connections were more likely to lead to a job.
This seems counter-intuitive. It would seem your close friends would be better for job leads. But if you think about it, we tend to gather within groups of similiar interests. If a tennis instructor wants new students, there's no point for her to ask her friends because they are all tennis instructors. She will find more students by asking people in clusters that have nothing to do with tennis, such as church groups, knitting clubs, and so on. Those clusters (church groups and so on) probably lack tennis instructors. So if you are creating networks for job hunting, sales, and so on, make lots of casual acquaintances to groups outside of your normal interests. Better yet, make contacts to the leaders of those clusters, because leaders know everyone in their cluster.
There's another kind of distribution in social networks. In the early 1900s, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, discovered the 80/20 Rule:
20% of landowners own 80% of the land.
20% of workers do 80% of the work.
20% of salespeople make 80% of sales.
20% of criminals carry out 80% of crime.
20% of websites get 80% of the traffic.
20% of the customers create 80% of the calls to techsupport.
The Internet as a Network
The Internet was originally designed to be randomly distributed in order to create a communications network that can survive an attack. In the 90s, physicists began studying the web because it was a network in which all nodes and links could be tracked. Computer scientists quickly realized the Web was not randomly distributed. Maps of the web showed that some nodes had huge numbers of links while most nodes had only a few links.
The Nature of Networks
Barabasi, a physicist, discovered that networks use logarithmic distribution, highly-linked nodes grow faster, and networks undergo phase transitions.
Logarithmic Distribution: Instead of random distribution or bell curve distributions, the distribution of links in a network is determined by logarithmic power laws. If you remember log tables from math, log numbers increase by powers of ten. Log 2 is ten times larger than log 1, log 3 is 100 times larger than log 1, and so on. If we apply logrithmic power laws to nodes and links, this means some nodes have all the links and most nodes only have a few links.
Earthquakes are measured by log numbers: A magnitude 2.0 is ten times more severe than a magnitude 1.0, a 3.0 is 100 times stronger, and so on.
On the web, the top websites have ten times more links than the next set, 100 times more links than the third set, and 1,000 times more links than the fourth set. Google's original idea of Page Ranking is based on log distribution. A website with Google PageRank 5 (PR5) is ten times bigger than a website with PR4, 100x a PR3, 1,000X a PR2, and 10,000X a PR1 website.
This means the third link at Google is only going to get 1/1,000th the number of visits compared to #1. If you continue down the list, #10 will get hardly any traffic. This works with practically everything on websites: a few keywords get most of the searches, a few pages of a website get most of the visits, and so on. They are all based on log number distributions.
For example, if you are using Google Adwords for advertising, then you must bid enough to be in the top three positions. If your ad appears lower than that, you will get very little traffic.
Big Nodes Grow Faster: As new nodes enter the network, they are more likely to link to highly-linked nodes than low-link nodes, because the highly-linked nodes are easier to reach, because they are highly linked, so they'll get more links. This feedback loop gives preference to large nodes. Namely, the rich get richer. Networks grow according to the 80/20 rule. Barabasi calls this preferential linking.
Phase Transition: Networks undergo phase transition. This means that when a critical threshold (the tipping point) is crossed, the all of the nodes undergo a phase transition and starts acting as a single entity. The property of the network is shared among all nodes in the network. For example, when you boil a pot of water, the water acts like ordinary water as it heats up. But at some point, all of the water suddenly starts to boil. There is no "low temperature boiling" or localized boiling. In terms of the web, in the beginning of a new market space, a number of startups sell the same thing. At first, the various websites will have different features and offers. But when the market niche crosses a certain size, a few of the dotcoms become very large (the 20%), the remainder (80%) stay small, and they all take on the properties of the group: they all adapt the same general standards. (Incidentally, in the early 90s, I wrote about this as the "Law of No #2."
Incidentally, this also shows why networks (social, biological, computer, and so on) easily survive most attacks. If a computer virus spreads into a network and destroys perhaps 10% of all nodes, that's not really a problem, because 80% of nodes have low value, so losing many low-value nodes will not affect the network as a whole. However, an attack that targets the large nodes (the 20%) can be catastrophic. The entire network collapses and reverts in a phase transition to an earlier state.
These mathematical laws apply to many kinds of networks: the Internet, wealth and property distribution, membership on corporate boards, intra-cellular protein molecules, and so on.
Companies that pursue a "business is war" model will be at a self-inflicted disadvantage. They create few links, newcomers don't link to them, business cycle downturns leave them stranded, and so on.
Companies that embed themselves into the social network of an industry by creating lots of contacts (links) to other companies, suppliers, industry magazines, customers, government, and workers will grow, because the node with the most links will get more links. At some point, the industry (the network) will undergo a phase transition from "just a bunch of separate companies" into an industry. The core companies become institutionalized and they own the industry. Their standards become the industry's standard. Pareto's 80/20 Rule applies and the 20% will get 80% of the revenues. Due to the law of preferential linking, newcomers will be effectively locked out of the industry.
One can read the previous paragraph carefully and realize that it applies to many endeavors: international politics, real estate sales, personal networks, and so on.
Barbarasi doesn't seem to know about geodemographics. Sociological clustering shows that American society is made up of some 62 clusters. He also does not seem to be aware of the fields of artificial life and concepts of swarming. These fields have developed mathematical models that describe how populations develop and interact.
Linked: The New Science of Networks. By Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (2002)
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While writing a letter of recommendation your aim should be to provide an unbiased but positive judgment of the applicant's skills, character and qualities. Before you start writing a recommendation letter, take some time and plan what you want to say. Here are a few tips for making your task easier.
State your relationship with the applicant - Start the letter by explaining how you know the applicant. It is important. If you do not know the applicant well, you are not supposed to write a letter recommending her. What sort of relationship you have with the applicant - personal or professional? Why do you think that this applicant stands out from the rest of her caliber? You must also state your qualifications for writing the recommendation letter.
List the applicant's skills - Once you have explained your relationship with the applicant, you should list the applicant's skills and qualifications that would make her a suitable candidate for the position she has applied for. Write about her prior experience in the field, organizational skills, academic or other achievements. Put a special emphasis on those points that you want the reader to note on the applicant's resume.
Give your judgment of the applicant. Why do you think that she is better than the rest? Include specific examples to back up what you have said about the applicant's skills and strengths. Avoid generalized praise because it is a waste of time and space.
Don't be too brief - Don't be too brief but be precise. Make sure that every word counts. Write more than two or three paragraphs. A letter of recommendation for employment should be one page; a college recommendation letter should be 1 or 2 pages.
Proofread - A recommendation letter represents two people - the person who writes it and the person for whom it is written. Do not create a bad impression by writing a letter full of grammar and spelling mistakes. So proofread the letter before sending it.
What not to write in a letter of recommendation? - Do not state any weaknesses of the applicant. Don't forget that you are writing a letter of recommendation. It must not include anything negative that would affect the applicant's chances of getting the job or promotion. If you cannot give a positive opinion, you must not consider writing the recommendation letter in the first place.
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About the Poem
About the poet
Geoff Page is a poet, reviewer and advocate for Australian poetry. Born in Grafton on the north...
Collateral damage, generals say ...
that summer when her parents split
and somehow she got lost between them
unwanted by the new recruits
bringing in their own;
Cinderella, just sixteen,
and sharing with a brother
the ATM and plastic magic
while dad is overseas;
her stripping it as quiet revenge,
the blow-in of the youthful drunks,
the advent of the pushers
as schoolwork now becomes a habit
running up her arm
and everything is loans and lies.
The boyfriend proves a user too.
She dabbles at the edge of sleaze
but lasts a few nights only;
does some running for the dealers
closer to the source,
inscrutables from Cabramatta
who'd never use a fit themselves
but chase the dragon only.
Every day she's got to have it;
drains each parent, makes them pay
but cannot crack their
her stories grow
each week more wild
but not unlike the truth —
AIDS syringes at the neck,
hostage in a car.
And always, somewhere, deeper down
the ache of her nostalgia:
those summers back before the split
when everything was high blue sky
and still no touch of difference on her
when siblings strolled up from the beach
hosed the sand from off their feet
and all sat down to lunch,
her father with a Tooheys open
her mother at the bench.
Six months, twelve,
she's disappearing by degrees
into her own mythology,
the jobs that strangely fade away,
the dole that always goes to dealers,
her battles with the clerks.
But now, today, her father's rung
to ask her to the beach for Christmas
and here tonight in this last house
to offer her some passing shelter
she's saying like a happy child
Make sure you wake me up, OK?
My dad'll be here right on nine.
Trying out a smile.
from Collateral Damage (Gininderra Press, 1999), © Geoff Page 1999, used by permission of the author. The recording is taken from Coffee with Miles (River Road Press, 2009) © Geoff Page/River Road Press, 2009
Sponsor this poem
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Internationally recognised indigenous artist Gurrumul Yunupingu isn't appreciated locally, according to Boomerang organiser. Photo: Rob Gunstone
Promoter Peter Noble has lashed out over poor ticket sales for next month's Boomerang Festival, touted as Australia's most ambitious ever indigenous arts event, saying disinterest amounts to ''cultural apartheid''.
Noble says the three-day event at Byron Bay - to be headlined by Gurrumul Yunupingu and Archie Roach and including dancers, comedians, debates, craft displays and several overseas performers - needs to sell 3500 tickets a day to break even.
I fear [that] in 30 years our language, our culture, our dance, our art will cease to exist
As of Tuesday between 700 and 1000 tickets (which range from $45 to $115 a day) had been sold for each day. Just 74 tickets have been purchased in Sydney, including only one in the 2000 postcode. Only 75 have been sold in Melbourne.
Rhoda Roberts and Peter Noble on site at Bluesfest where Boomerang was announced.
By comparison, Bluesfest (which Noble also promotes) sells more than 20,000 tickets in Sydney alone.
Noble has struggled to get public attention for Boomerang, which he said would be a celebration of indigenous culture on an ''unprecedented scale''.
''How many people actually know an Australian indigenous person or have ever met one properly? Here's your big chance … maybe you would be enriched as a person?
''At one level apathy equals cultural apartheid … if people remain apathetic, what that means is we don't care about our indigenous Australians.''
Noble, who put $1.2 million of his own money into Boomerang, is determined to go ahead with the event, scheduled for the October long weekend - even if he loses that money - because attendances for new festivals usually increase in subsequent years. ''We had a meeting this morning and we all said 'we are going to do this by hook or by crook'.''
He conceded most promoters would pull the pin with sales so slow.
''I'm just not prepared to accept there's not enough Australians who care [about] indigenous culture.''
Noble said efforts were under way to strengthen the line-up by adding Dan Sultan and John Williamson.
Boomerang's artistic director, Rhoda Roberts, who held the same role with the Message Sticks and Dreaming festivals, said there was a direct link between reconciliation and people buying a ticket to an event where they could experience indigenous culture.
''One of the reasons I am doing this is that I fear if we continue along our current lines, in 30 years our language, our culture, our dance, our art will cease to exist,'' she said. ''There will only be remnants and that frightens me.
''If you truly believed in reconciliation you would buy a ticket … This is what we should have been doing years ago.''
For more information go to www.boomerangfestival.com.au/
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It’s simple, but loan terms are risky when it comes to dreaded margin calls.
What’s a Margin Call?
Nebeus uses crypto as collateral, locked to cover the loan amount. It’s helpful to think of the collateral as ‘loan insurance’ because you commit to keeping the value constant when you take out a crypto-backed loan.
Margin calls occur when the value of the borrower’s collateral, such as Bitcoin, falls below the level required by the lender to rebalance the loan-to-collateral ratio.
A margin call is the lender’s request that a borrower deposits additional collateral or sells part of their pledged assets so the account reaches the minimum value, known as the maintenance margin. It’s best to keep some extra collateral in your wallet so that if the price drops, Nebeus instantly adds the appropriate margin to maintain your loan.
To keep things fair, if the market rises, Nebeus makes sure the extra crypto is returned to you.
If you don’t want to (or can’t) contribute more crypto, you can close your loan by contacting Nebeus’ support team. If they don’t hear from you, their final resort is to liquidate your loan and return the remaining crypto.
Nebeus will notify you via email if your loan is nearing a margin call and your Crypto collateral is at risk.
Margin Call Risks for Crypto-Backed Loans
Crypto-lending companies use margin calls to protect the lender’s capital as using cryptocurrency to receive cash loans carries risks for them. Lenders must ensure their capital is secure to provide borrowers with cash loans.
As such, borrowers are exposed to certain risks too, including the sudden need to pledge additional crypto. Other risks to consider are:
- You’re not using a typical, steady asset to borrow as crypto is volatile.
- Having to liquidate your collateral if you can’t cover the margin call.
- Locking your assets used as collateral until the loan ends.
Nebeus’ Free 10 Day Buffer
With Nebeus, you get the unique (and free) benefit of margin call protection for 10 days.
Celsius, another crypto-backed loan lender, gives only 24 hours to act on a margin call. Nebeus’ 10 days (240 hours) gives you the space to decide without feeling rushed.
If you do nothing regarding a margin call, you can still escape liquidation within ten days by:
- Adding Collateral Manually – To keep your loan.
- Paying Back Your Loan Early – To get crypto collateral back immediately.
- Enabling Auto Margin Call Management – Nebeus will automatically monitor and refill your collateral via your account.
The best part? If crypto prices rise during the ten days of the margin call, Nebeus will automatically cancel the margin call, allowing your loan to continue as usual.
If you don’t respond within 10 days, your collateral will be liquidated, and the balance refunded to your Nebeus account.
Auto Margin Call Management
With a Nebeus loan, you can opt for Auto Margin Call Management for only an extra 2% yearly interest.
First, it monitors the price volatility of the cryptocurrency you’ve used as collateral.
Second, for margin calls, it instantly refills collateral from your main Nebeus account if you have the same currency stored there. This fully automated process keeps you:
- Relaxed as automated monitoring removes the need to check markets constantly.
- Calmed as your loan will be topped up on its own.
- Comforted as your collateral is protected against unpredictable markets.
On both the desktop and Nebeus app, you may enable Auto Margin Call Management while requesting your loan.
What is the Health Loan Monitor?
Each Nebeus loan has a Loan Health Monitor that automatically assesses your loan’s health by comparing its fixed exchange rate to daily cryptocurrency exchange prices. The result is displayed in your active loans tab to help you stop your collateral from liquidation.
Remember that your loan is computed using that day’s cryptocurrency exchange rate, fixed for the loan’s duration. However, your loan’s health fluctuates with cryptocurrency exchange-rate swings.
- Healthy – the current exchange rate is over your loan’s fixed rate.
- Dangerous – the current rate is close to your loan’s fixed rate, and a margin call is likely.
The status will change to healthy if you provide more collateral. You can do this through Auto Margin Call Management or manually add collateral.
Benefits of Crypto-Backed Loans
Crypto-backed loans may be new, but they provide a vital service to individuals needing cash for a new home, business venture, car, or vacation.
Not only do these loans bring together crypto and traditional banking, other benefits include:
- Lower interest rates than usual.
- No credit check or income proof is required.
- Same-day and instant loans.
Additionally, Nebeus’s loans save you from paying unneeded taxes as you are not selling your crypto, only using it as collateral.
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03 Nov 2009
I propose that the youngest potential drivers restrain from driving until they reach the age of 22.
This simple systemic approach to CO² and global warming and other negative side effects, such as switching food land to fuel products a là bio fuels, will help stop global warming.
Naturally in time, should other solutions occur, or once the global population has dropped sufficiently, then the age to start driving may logically drop if desired. At the same time it is worthwhile recognising the immense increase in injuries and deaths related to young drivers below the age of 22.
Also reducing the consumption of petrol will reduce many other threats to Our Future Planet such as conflicts for petroleum, etc. Our Future Planet shall simply bring CO² production back into harmony with a better planet.
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How Lead Exposure Warps the Mind
Studies show that exposure to lead decreases one's ability to control impulsive behavior; some think the removal of lead from the American lifestyle has contributed to a falling crime rate.
What's the Latest Development?
Jonah Lehrer, over at his blog, says that neuroscientists have made important progress in recent years identifying the precise mechanisms by which lead exposure reduces impulse control. In one study from the Cincinnati area, scientists wrote that: "Childhood lead exposure is associated with region-specific reductions in adult gray matter volume. Affected regions include the portions of the prefrontal cortex and ACC responsible for executive functions, mood regulation, and decision-making."
What's the Big Idea?
While lead has been mostly removed from the American consumer experience, other chemicals remain, the danger lying in lax business regulation. Lehrer explains the tragedy of lead exposure: "It undermines one of the most essential mental skills we can give our kids, which is the ability to control what they’re thinking about. While the unconscious will always be full of impulses we can’t prevent, and the world will always be full of dangerous temptations, we don’t have to give in."
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For Damien Echols, tattoos are part of his existential armor.
- In prison Damien Echols was known by his number SK931, not his name, and had his hair sheared off. Stripped of his identity, the only thing he had left was his skin.
- This is why he began tattooing things that are meaningful to him — to carry a "suit of armor" made up the images of the people and things that have significance to him, from his friends to talismans.
- Echols believes that all places are imbued with divinity: "If you interact with New York City as if there's an intelligence behind... then it will behave towards you the same way.".
She met mere mortals with and without the Vatican's approval.
- For centuries, the Virgin Mary has appeared to the faithful, requesting devotion and promising comfort.
- These maps show the geography of Marian apparitions – the handful approved by the Vatican, and many others.
- Historically, Europe is where most apparitions have been reported, but the U.S. is pretty fertile ground too.
Even some teachers suffer from anxiety about math.
I teach people how to teach math, and I've been working in this field for 30 years. Across those decades, I've met many people who suffer from varying degrees of math trauma – a form of debilitating mental shutdown when it comes to doing mathematics.
SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by The Big Think, Inc. All rights reserved.
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KUALA LUMPUR — The world’s largest producer of sustainable palm oil Sime Darby on Thursday made its million-dollar research into creating higher-yielding oil palm trees publicly available, in a move it said could help the industry slow deforestation.
Palm oil is the world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil, and is found in everything from cookies to lipstick.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Environmental groups have long accused the industry of widespread destruction of tropical rainforests, especially in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, as companies expand plantation sizes to meet rapidly rising global demand.
World population growth is predicted to drive a 70% increase in demand for food, requiring the use of over 900 million hectares of new land worldwide and threatening forests globally, Sime Darby said in a statement.
The Malaysian palm giant said its 10-year research has developed higher yielding oil palm seeds named “GenomeSelect” that increase output of the edible oil by 20%.
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The Huntington plunders Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance
STEALTH BOMBERS This pirate crew can't resist the big finish.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a cheerful female voice informs the Huntington Theatre audience, "the Caribbean Light Opera Society is proud to present Pirates! (Or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder'd)." The governor, she continues, wants to assure us that there is almost no danger of a pirate attack during the performance, but if we do have to make for an exit, we should check that there's not smoke or pirates pouring out of it. This announcement is punctuated by cannon fire, and at the end there's a loud explosion and a house blackout before the lights go on and the curtain rises. The sherry is brought out, and soon pirates are swordfighting in the aisles and doing backflips and abducting women from the audience and carrying them across the stage.
That pretty much tells you what to expect from the Huntington Theatre Company's plundering of Gilbert & Sullivan's 1879 operetta The Pirates of Penzance (at the Boston University Theatre through June 14). The action has been moved from G&S's sleepy Cornish coastal town to the Caribbean, and back in time to the early 18th century. The Pirate King has morphed into Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow; Frederic's nursemaid Ruth, a plain sort of middle-aged woman in the original, is here played in black mini-shorts and over-the-knee black boots by Cady Huffman, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Swedish bombshell Ulla in The Producers. The story's slightly different: Frederic and the rest of the pirates are under a curse (pillaged from another G&S operetta, Ruddigore) that causes them to vomit on land if they're not doing their pirate thing. The only way to lift the curse is to marry a virgin. Frederic believes that Ruth will be his salvation, but it turns out that after all these years with the pirates she's been, uh, plundered.
Even back in Shakespeare's time, and surely in G&S's day, performers must have been tempted to temper the deadpan high road with a little audience-engaging wink-wink nudge-nudge. Pirates! threatens to abandon the high road altogether; there are times (notably the Pirate King's unfunny attempt to embarrass an audience member) when the Huntington production — the work of Gordon Greenberg, Nell Benjamin, and John McDaniel — makes the G&S original look like an evening with Merce Cunningham and John Cage. If on the other hand you have unlimited tolerance for Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, this is the Pirates! for you.
I have no such tolerance, yet shortly before intermission I got my sea legs. There are myriad ingratiating details. The "Tortuga," "Penzance," and "Titipu" (think The Mikado) directional signs at the side of the stage. Major-General Stanley's teddy bear (pillaged from Iolanthe, so shouldn't it have a miniature major-general outfit?). The "cat-like tread" with which the stealthy pirates step on a real cat's tail. Not least the screen in the lobby informing us that "severall [sic] entertaining hangings" will take place after the Saturday matinee (one of the crimes having been "cellphone use in the theater," so take heed), and that picnic lunches will be available.
, John Cage, Cady Huffman, Gordon Greenberg Nell Benjamin, More
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10 Fantastic Ways to "Fire Up" Your Safe Routes to School Program
Ten great ideas on how to incorporate Fire Up Your Feet into Safe Routes to School programming.
- Make every day in October Walk and Roll to School Day: Encourage parents to register for Fire Up Your Feet and enter the minutes spent walking or rolling all month long. For an unforgettable finish, end the month with a costumed Halloween march to school.
- Create a Walkathon Win: If your school already hosts a walkathon, use the Fire Up Your Feet activity tracker to log walkathon participation and increase your school’s chances of winning an Activity Challenge Award.
- Join the “Track” Team: Encourage parents participating in walking school bus programs to use the Fire Up Your Feet activity tracker and help demonstrate Safe Routes to School program impacts.
- Get Healthy and Get Attention: Schedule a walkability audit during the Fall Activity Challenge and help make local leaders aware of your campaign to encourage physical activity and support your school wellness plan goals. Following the audit, show parents how to register for Fire Up Your Feet and log their minutes walked.
- Dig into our Awesome Resource Library: The Fire Up Your Feet resource page offers easily customizable flyers, posters and videos to help promote the Fire Up Your Feet Fall Activity Challenge. Share these resources at all of your Safe Routes to School meetings and events.
- Make New Friends: Fire Up Your Feet offers a new way to mobilize support for Safe Routes to School. Set up an introductory meeting to discuss the Fall Activity Challenge and the Healthy Fundraising Option with school PTAs, wellness councils, parent volunteers and other health and wellness promotion programs.
- Let Kids Take the Lead: Show middle school students how to use the physical activity tracker to log their minutes spent walking and biking to school. Discuss how the data can help reduce the school’s carbon footprint and encourage more daily physical activity.
- “Break” it Down: A 15-minute physical activity break between subjects or standardized tests is a great way to help students focus in the classroom. Teachers can also let parents know that they can log the time their children spend participating in a classroom activity break into the Fire Up Your Feet Activity Tracker.
- Set up a Demo Day: Show students and parents how to register for Fire Up Your Feet by hosting a bike blender event. Students and parents can hop on and take a spin on the blender, then log their minutes of activity. Encourage them to continue logging their activity throughout the month.
- Start a Healthy Fundraising Revolution! Meet with a school principal or PTA and suggest “Walking the walk” in support of a healthy fundraising option like Fire Up Your Feet.
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MaNGA is the newest survey component of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Its goal is to map the detailed composition and kinematic structure of 10,000 nearby galaxies. MaNGA uses integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy to measure spectra for hundreds of points within each galaxy. For a general introduction to MaNGA, see the MaNGA survey page on this site.
The MaNGA data available in DR14 consist of the raw data from the first two years of the survey, the intermediate data reduction pipeline (DRP) products, and the composite DRP data cubes. In addition, there is a summary ‘drpall’ table summarizing the names, locations, redshifts, data quality, etc. of all MaNGA targets. See the Data Access section below for more information.
For more detailed information on the MaNGA survey in DR14, see the list of links on this page.
DR14 is the second spectroscopic release for MaNGA. Future data releases will include not only more data cubes of galaxies that are currently being observed, but will also contain derived data products such as maps of emission line fluxes, gas and stellar kinematics, and stellar population properties. Some derived data products are already available as Value Added Catalogs.
In addition, MaNGA has started the bright-time observing program MaStar, piggy-backing on APOGEE-2, to build a stellar library. These reduced stellar spectra will be included in a future data release.
Several interfaces are available to access the data (see the MaNGA Data Access page for more details).
Science Archive Server (SAS)
MaNGA data cubes, row-stacked spectra, and the drpall summary table are available as FITS files through the Science Archive Server (SAS), which can return FITS spectra either individually or in bulk. For more information on retrieving MaNGA data from the SAS, see the MaNGA Data Access page.
You can search for MaNGA data within the drpall summary table more flexibly with the CasJobs data access tool. With CasJobs, you can submit large queries that run for up to 8 hours and can return millions of objects. You can save results into a personal MyDB database for later analysis.
MaNGA data are part of the DR14 context – don’t forget to change to the DR14 context when you want to find MaNGA data. MaNGA summary data are in the mangaDrpAll table, and targeting data are available in the mangatarget table.
Information for individual MaNGA targets are now shown in the SkyServer Explore tool, such as for this sample MaNGA target galaxy. The SkyServer site includes direct links to the MaNGA data cubes stored on the SAS.
You can search for MaNGA data using Structured Query Language (SQL) with the SkyServer SQL Search tool. MaNGA summary data are in the mangaDrpAll table, and targeting data are available in the mangatarget table.
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Did you know that two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video-based, by 2016? Video ads accounted for 35.6 percent of all videos viewed and 4.5 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online. Check out our infographic, “Online Video Advertising – Statistics & Trends” to know more such interesting facts related to video advertising and much, much more.
Infographic by- Go-Gulf.ae
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Two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2016.
Estimated Worldwide Online Video Advertising (in Billion USD)
|Year||In Billion USD|
Video ads accounted for 35.6 percent of all videos viewed and 4.5 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
The duration of the average online content video was 4.4 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
Top Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads Viewed
|Video Ad Property||Video Ads Viewed ( in Billions)||Frequency (Ads per Viewer)|
Ready for more interesting online video Ad-related facts?
- 13% of online video advertisements run less than 15 seconds
- 36% of online video advertisements run longer than 30 seconds
- 79% of in-stream online video advertisements are watched up to their midpoints
- 72% of in-stream online video advertisements are watched up till their completion
- 49% of the surveyed advertisers plan to increase video advertisement spending in 2014
- Enjoyment of video advertisements increases purchase intent by 97%, and brand association by 139%
- Video advertisements make up for 35% of the total online advertisement spending, up from 27% in 2011!
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Hopefully, Dr. Bob222 corrects this if this is wrong.
The maximum mass of calcium iodate that can dissolve in a 10L solution of calcium sulfide can not exceed the number of moles of calcium sulfide in the 10L solution. Therefore, solve for the number of moles in the solution.
3.25x10^-2 M=moles/L, solve for moles
moles=Molarity * Volume (L)=(10.0L)*(3.25x10^-2 M)= moles of calcium sulfide
moles of calcium sulfide = moles of calcium iodate
moles of calcium iodate * 389.88 g/mol =maximum mass of calcium iodate that can dissolve in a 10L solution of calcium sulfide
I would do it this way. This is a Ksp problem with a common ion, Ca^2+ from CaS.
Ca(IO3)2 ==> Ca^2+ + 2IO3^-
Ksp = (Ca^2+)(I03^-)^2
Substitute Ksp --look it up in a text or the web.
(Ca^2+) = s from Ca(IO3)2 + 0.00325M from CaS
(IO3^-) = 2s.
Substitute Ca^2+ and IO3^- and solve for s = solubility Ca(IO3)2 in M = mols/L.
Convert to g/L. g = mols/L x molar mass Ca(IO3)2.
Then multiply by 10 to find grams in 10 L.
You can get some of this information from Devron's post.
I thought about doing it that way, but the Ksp wasn't provided in the initial post, so I thought the way I initially did it would work, but I still wasn't that sure.
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Book Brief: The Invisible Employee
EUC with HCI: Why It Matters
By Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
John Wiley & Sons, March 2006
176 pages, $19.95
The message in this business fable is simple: Employees work harder for bosses who make them feel valued and appreciated. The authors, executives at the O.C. Tanner Co., say most managers are not good at acknowledging the contributions their workers make, but that the skill can be learned in three ways: by announcing the behavior you want; by helping employees understand how to achieve that behavior; and by celebrating their actionspubliclywhen they act the way you want them to. Public recognition, the authors add, also serves to send a message about what is important to the entire organization.
IT Solutions Builder TOP IT RESOURCES TO MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
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Searching our resource database to find your matches...
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xkcd links the continent's transit
The geek-favorite webcomic xkcd dove into transit geekery today with a comic that links together all of the North American heavy rail transit systems. It seems to be inspired by this map of unknown origin, which BeyondDC posted a few weeks ago and uses the same trick to link transit systems in geographically-impractical ways.
It improves upon the earlier one with some clever linkages and in-jokes, like an extension beyond Huntington to a "graveyard for passengers killed by closing doors." (He actually probably meant doors that failed to close, but good enough.) Boston's Cleveland Circle connects to Cleveland, and the Ashmont-Mattapan "high-speed [light rail] line" becomes the Ashmont-Manhattan and the NYC #1 train.
The Orange Line at New Carrollton meets Philadelphia's Broad Street line, which is orange on the SEPTA maps, while the Red Line at Glenmont connects to PATCO (also colored red) via a "covertly-reurposed Amtrak line." The Blue Line at Largo extends to the Staten Island Ferry as the "Robert Moses High-Speed Lne."
The Green Line at Greenbelt attaches to the also-green Baltimore Metro with a little loop-the-loop, and the Shady Grove end of the Red Line attaches to MARTA via the Morgantown, WV automated line; Morgantown does indeed have an automated Personal Rapid Transit system.
What else do you see?
- WhichWMATA week 19: On vacation
- Baltimore plans to replace beach volleyball with a parking garage
- This could have been the Silver Spring Transit Center
- Michelle Rhee takes a break from education reform
- Could rooftop apartments transform suburban retail?
- A cycletrack appears in Pentagon City
- A former trolley line could become a walking and biking trail from the Palisades to Georgetown
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And I do appreciate feedback from readers, so my thanks to Rick White of Thermal Tech Equipment in Kansas City for pointing out one variable that I have completely ignored: the residual stresses
in injection molded parts.
These methods were found to accurately characterize residual stresses
. Owen et al.
Contract notice: analysis of residual stresses
in the wheels of the rolling stock park of adif for the maintenance of infrastructure of the lines in operation
European Conference on Residual Stresses
2018: ECRS 10
In the previous paper , the authors have demonstrated a mechanics-based approach to predict residual stresses
and effective plastic strains in small-radius cold-formed sections, considering the effect of change in the corner radius-to-thickness (r/t) ratio and the shift in the neutral axis for an elastic-perfectly plastic material.
It has been established that a numerical simulation method is a cost-effective technique to evaluate thermal history, evolution of residual stresses
and distortions during the laser cladding process, which therefore make it possible to optimize process parameters without physically utilizing the technology.
It is well known that almost all thin films, produced by the various deposition techniques, have residual stresses
. Residual stress that develops during thin film growth is critical issue for many applications.
Based on the stress values at the nodes and the distance between the nodes, Figure 4 is obtained; this figure shows the distribution of residual stresses
calculated from the simulations.
The localized heating and melting nature of welding or metal 3D printing inevitably generates high tensile residual stresses
. A longstanding manifestation of the detrimental effects of high tensile residual stress has been the hydrogen induced cracking (HIC).
In this article, the effect of residual stresses
and interfacial adhesion on the RCP performance of bilayered PP/PE100 pipes is investigated.
The hole drilling method has been used for many decades, using strain gages to measure the change in surface shape around the hole as a result of the removal of residual stresses
in the hole volume.
This study attempts to quantify residual stresses
with varrying coating material composition and drop size of spray.
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A resilient consumer has helped stave off a recession so far.VIEW press / Getty Images
Most projections for a stock market decline hinge on a weakening US consumer.
Bearish investors cite $1 trillion in credit card debt, upcoming student loan payments, and a depletion of excess pandemic savings.
But the US consumer has plenty of capacity to spend, and that’s great news for the stock market.
From $1 trillion in credit card debt to the upcoming restart of student loan payments, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the financial health of the US consumer.
And those concerns are getting louder and louder as some stock market strategists forecast an imminent end to the bull market, partly due to a weakening consumer who’s expected to slow spending.
But some perspective is needed, especially amid a heightened period of scary headlines that include a record high in credit card debt and the depletion of excess savings that were built up during the pandemic.
In reality, US consumers have plenty of firepower left to spend money, grow the economy, and drive the stock market higher. Here’s why.
1. Low debt-service ratio
While $1 trillion in credit card debt sounds like a lot, what really matters is whether consumers can pay down those debts. And they most definitely can.
Less than 10% of a US households’ disposable income is going towards debt payments, which includes mortgages, auto loans, and credit card liabilities.
That’s below pre-pandemic levels and below the 10%-12% range that was consistent for much of the 2010s, when stocks were remarkably strong.
2. Consumer assets dwarf liabilities
While consumer debts are on the rise, so too is the value of consumer assets — and the two are really not comparable.
The collective net worth of US consumers currently sits just below $150 trillion, and total assets are nearly $170 trillion, with much of that in homes and stocks. Meanwhile, consumers have total debts of just under $20 trillion, with the bulk of that represented by mortgages.
And consider this: while credit card debt grew about $100 million from…
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Title: Medal of Honor, George Hill, USS Kansas (1863)
Accession #: NHHC 1957-2-BF
Size: 2 x 2.5
Location: Headquarters Artifact Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command
Obverse: Five pointed bronze star tipped with trefoils containing a crown of laurel and oak. In the center is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and warfare, standing with left hand resting on fasces and right hand holding a shield blazoned with the escutcheon of the United States. She repulses discord, represented by a male figure holding snakes. It is made of solid red brass, oxidized and buffed.
Reverse: Engraved "Personal Valor / John Hill / Chief Quarter Gunner / U.S.S. Kansas / nr Gerytown Nicaragua / April 12, 1872"
Citation for Award: For gallant and heroic conduct while serving on board the U.S.S. Kansas. Chief Quarter Gunner Hill displayed great coolness and self-possession at the time Commander A. F. Crosman and others were drowned, near Greytown, Nicaragua, 12 April 1872, and by extraordinary heroism and personal exertion, prevented greater loss of life.
This medal is engraved as "John" instead of George. Hill was on the USS Kansas with CDR Crosman when the Commander, on a raft with other men, drowned when the raft capsized. The expedition was designed to map the coast of Nicaragua.
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Cord blood stem cell transplants have already changed—and saved—thousands of lives
around the world. They have already been used to treat more than 75 diseases, including
numerous types of malignancies, anemia's, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies
of the immune system.
New medical technology may well use these cells to rebuild cardiac tissue, repair
damage due to stroke or spinal cord injuries and reverse the effects of such diseases
as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. While the research is still in its early stages,
the possibilities are extremely promising. And, banking your child’s stem cells
increases access to any of these technologies in the future.
Thanks to a re-infusion of cord blood stem cells, a little girl has recovered from a critical brain injury
Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells: Prime Source for Transplants and Future Regenerative Medicine
Improvement in Cardiac Function following Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Matrix-Derived Mesenchymal Cells
Thanks to a transplant of stem cells from her brother’s umbilical cord blood, eight-year-old Thamirabharuni Kumar is beating thalassemia.
Texas man reports improvements after autologous stem cell treatment in Thailand for heart failure; more than 200 scientific trials underway in U.S. for stem cell treatments for heart disease.
Investigational Product Shown to Expand Population of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells for Treatment of Leukemia and Lymphoma
Dr. Max Gomez of WCBS TV reports on a clinic near Denver, Colorado that is using adult stem cells to treat osteo-arthritis of the knee, hip, ankle, and even back pain. Dr. Christopher Centeno and two of his patients discuss the process and their experience.
BBC News reports that researchers in Sao Paulo, Brazil have discovered that fallopian tubes are an abundant source of mesenchymal stem cells. Because fallopian tubes normally are discarded during surgeries such as hysterectomies, they may be good source for non-controversial donor cells for regenerative medicine. In addition, the researchers anticipate that the cells could be useful for understanding and treating fertility problems. The researchers’ findings were published in the Journal of Transitional Medicine.
Birmingham Business Journal - Jimmy DeButts reports in article entitled “UAB to Bring Jobs, Research through Stem Cell Institute.” The University of Alabama at Birmingham is building on the success of its existing biotech research facilities to create a Stem Cell Institute.
Medical News Today reports that the Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine has received $5 million in funding from Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission under the Research Commercialization Program. The Ohio Third Frontier is a bipartisan organization whose aim is to promote the state’s technological strengths and help with commercialization of technologies.
The funding will help support new and innovative stem cell technologies including two commercial, four emerging and three pilot projects. This funding will be matched by each of the projects to create a $10 million grant benefiting stem cell and regenerative medicine in Ohio. The Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine (CSCRM) is comprised of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland Clinic (CC), University Hospitals (UH), and Athersys, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company.
"This funding provides CSCRM the support it needs to continue to aggressively move new technologies from academic
Promising research which may potentially improve a person’s recovery after suffering a heart attack.
ScienceDaily reports that biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated a way to embed a patient's own adult stem cells in the surgical thread that doctors use to repair serious orthopedic injuries such as ruptured tendons. The goal, the students said, is to enhance healing and reduce the likelihood of re-injury without changing the surgical procedure itself.
At the site of the injury, the stem cells are expected to reduce inflammation and release growth factor proteins that speed up healing, enhancing the prospects for a full recovery and reducing the likelihood of re-injury.
In collaboration with orthopedic physicians, the team's preliminary experiments in an animal model have yielded promising results. Provided the trials continue to be successful, it is estimated that possible human trials could take place within about five years.
“We believe the stem cells will significantly speed up and improve the healing process,” said Ma
Laura Ungar of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports on one of the world’s first recipients of an infusion of cardiac stem cells as a part of a Phase 1 clinical trial being conducted by a team of University of Louisville physicians at Jewish Hospital.
Study aims to learn whether treating newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetics with adult stem cells can either slow or stop the progression of their disease, thereby reducing or even eliminating insulin dependence.
Researchers from the City of Hope National Medical Center have reported on a study that suggests that there continues to be improvement in the results of stem cell treatments for patients with secondary leukemia and myelodysplasia.
The Reporter’s Kathy Whitney reports that Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute recently enrolled its first patient in a Phase II clinical trial using stem cell treatments aimed to reverse damage to the patient's cardiac muscle caused by heart disease.
CEO praises legislative progress to date and encouraging continued momentum for existing bills through the second half of the year.
Forbes.com reports that American physicians have performed the first procedure in which a patient received injections of his own heart stem cells to repair cardiac muscle damaged by heart attack.
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) is conducting this double blind study on the effectiveness of a new therapy using adult stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes.
Current research indicates that it may be possible to “fix a broken heart.” Adult stem cells may be used to help replace damaged heart muscles, heart tissue, valves and establish new blood vessels to supply them.
There are many treatments and therapies for stroke victims. Today, the most widely used are various medications, often combined with physical and/or speech therapy. In addition to medication and physical therapy, there is promising research on the benefits of stem cell treatments for stroke victims.
The Houston Chronicle reports that doctors from the University of Texas Medical School have launched the nation's first experimental trial to treat stroke patients with their own stem cells.
This new treatment is directed at patients who were not able to receive a tissue plasminogen activator or who did not respond to the treatment, which is reported as the only treatment available now for stroke victims.
Neurologist and Professor Sean Savitz reported that the trial's first patient was treated on March 25, 2009 and is doing well. "We're just at the beginning, but this could be an exciting new area of therapeutic intervention for stroke," said the doctor, adding, "It could be the next frontier."
Courtney Ann Jackson of Talk Radio News Service reports on actress Mary Tyler Moore’s announcement of an upcoming Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation event.
Science Daily reports that researchers at the University at Buffalo have demonstrated that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue and reverse heart failure.
The study, performed on an animal, showed that this non-invasive procedure increased the number of heart cells two-fold and reduced cardiac tissue injury by 60 percent. It also showed an improved function of the left ventricle, the heart’s primary pumping chamber, by 40%, and reduced fibrosis, the hardening of the heart lining that impairs its ability to contract, by 50%.
The novel method of delivering mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) via an intramuscular route is preferable over clinical trials which have focused more often on invasive procedures such as introducing stem cells directly into the heart. These methods carry more risks and can result in harmful scar tissue, arrhythmia, calcification or small vessel blockages.
"For these reasons, and because patients with heart failure
Phase I trial investigating the potential use of stem cells to help reduce or eliminate kidney transplant patients’ reliance on anti-rejection medications
NBC Los Angeles features a new study in which recently diagnosed diabetic children are being treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.
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mislabel is a valid word in this word list. For a definition, see the external dictionary links below.
The word "mislabel" uses 8 letters: A B E I L L M S.
No direct anagrams for mislabel found in this word list.
All words formed from mislabel by changing one letter
Browse words starting with mislabel by next letter
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Updated English - Vietnamese Dictionary
v /vi:/Advanced English Dictionary
- danh từ, số nhiều Vs, V's
noun, abbreviation, symbol
+ noun (also v) (plural V's, v's )
1 [C, U] the 22nd letter of the English alphabet: 'Violin' begins with (a) V / 'V'.
2 a thing shaped like a V: Ahead was the deep V of a gorge with water pouring down it.
See also - V-CHIP, V-NECK, V-SIGN
+ abbreviation (in writing) VOLT(S): a 1.5 V battery
+ symbol (also v) the number 5 in ROMAN NUMERALS
Random quote: It is not the mistake that has the most power, instead, it is learning from the mistake to advance your own attributes.: Byron RobertsLatest queries: padding, entourage, science, science, asunder, was, implementation, erudition, seascape, interior, pos., aphorism, cosmonaut, waterbird, aggregate, ex, proceeding, neophyte, sexual, vơ,
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Updated: 05/06/2018:List of Academic Words
Updated: 03/2019: Learning by reading annotated text, reliable state of art and updated news
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Vegetables are a large part of any Indian meal. They are healthy, nutritious and always delicious. Pan fried vegetables is a typical Maharashtrian side dish but can also be eaten as an appetizer. This is also a great way to get your kids to eat their vegetables and even ask for seconds.
Alternatively, you could use this same basic recipe for fish fillets or even paneer.
PAN FRIED VEGETABLES (KAAP)
1 small potato
½ sweet potato or yam
1 small zucchini or yellow squash
¼ pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash
1 cup rice flour
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin powder
½ tsp red chili powder, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
oil as needed, vegetable or canola
Prepare all the vegetables just before use. Slice all the vegetables in ¼ inch thick slices. The potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes and eggplants can all be sliced into rounds. If the rounds are too large cut them again in half. The zucchini, yellow squash, carrot and plantain can be cut into 2 inch pieces initially and then cut into ¼ inch planks. As far as the skins or peels are concerned, definitely peel the carrot, plantain, pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash. The skin or peel on the potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash are optional. I personally don’t bother to peel these particular vegetables. The pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash are all uniquely shaped vegetables that can be cut into whatever shape is the easiest but just make sure they are all ¼ inch thick in size.
In a shallow baking dish, combine the rice flour with the spices (turmeric, ground cumin powder, red chili powder, salt and pepper). Mix well to combine and dredge all the vegetables so they have a light and even dusting of the seasoned rice flour. Shake off any excess flour.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Cast iron skillets are absolutely perfect for this recipe, so if you have one, by all means, use it. When hot, add a tbsp or so of the oil and swirl it around so the bottom of the skillet is evenly coated. Carefully add a few of the vegetables in a single layer. I also highly recommend cooking a single type of vegetable at one time since cooking times vary among different vegetables. This may need to be done in batches. Cook each vegetable for a few minutes on one side, then carefully turn the vegetable and let it brown on the other side. You can add a little oil if needed. Then using a tight fitting lid, cover and let the vegetables cook for another 2-3 minutes. The outside should be golden brown and slightly crispy while the inside should be soft and tender. Remove the vegetables from the skillet, drain well on a paper towel and sprinkle lightly with a little salt while the vegetables are still warm. Serve hot as a side dish or serve them as an appetizer with your favorite chutneys and sauces.
Try this dish with green tomatoes or tomatillos for a lovely tart & spicy flavor.
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Added Nov 14, 2010
San Francisco Ba...
What it is: Basically a cord wrapped in bias tape placed in the seam between two of your fabric pieces. You can make your own by combining those two elements, or by pre-made bias tape.
Uses: Piping is seen most commonly on things like slipcovers, bags, and other non-wearable fashions. However, many old-fashioned patterns as well as some fresher looks use piping around the collar or to add decorative details.
Check out more techniques here: "MadeByMeg":http://megmadethis.blogspot.com/search/label/Techniques.
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Sewing & Techniques
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Get an inside look at the patterns from the first 4 issues of BurdaStyle US
As an early special Black Friday promotion you can now enroll in the course ($80 value) for $49.99!
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All it took was a quick ride down the dirt road near his house.
Kenneth, 48, of New Hartford, had been having a few drinks while he was working on his children’s quad before he decided to take the quad for a ride.
Somewhere along that road was a cop.
The officer pulled over Kenneth and arrested him on drunken driving charges.
Kenneth said if he had reached the 10-year mark and had not received any other offenses, his previous two DUI charges would not have been counted against him when he received that third offense.
“Unfortunately, I had gotten two prior to the 10-year mark,” Kenneth said. “I was six months away from it, not even. They took everything and ran it all together.”
Kenneth was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Just before he was sent away, Kenneth said he found out about a program that would be made available in August 2011. (Kenneth asked not to have his last name published to keep the focus off him and on the program.)
Run by the state Department of Correction, the DUI Home Confinement Program gives offenders who are in jail for DUI the option of participating in a five-week addiction-services class. The DUI unit then pairs them with a sponsor and parole officer, who help them work on their addictions once they are back home.
A positive for offenders who elect to participate is that they are released from prison earlier than their sentence would dictate.
“I see it as a better way to have us pay taxes rather than use tax deficit. It is ridiculous how much is spent on incarcerated people,” Kenneth said.
Kenneth said he was lucky enough to be one of the 20 selected to participate in the first round of the program in February 2012. After spending eight months in jail and completing the five-week education course, Kenneth was released to complete the remaining portion of the program at home with his sponsors.
Karen Martucci, spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, said offenders first must be evaluated as to whether they are eligible for the program. Also reviewed is whether the person is suitable for the process.
“Suitability is different from eligibility,” Martucci said. “They may be eligible, but we evaluate the risk and needs.”
Martucci said eligible offenders can be repeat offenders or someone who has received their first DUI charge.
Offenders who have other charges along with their DUI charge are not necessarily suitable for the program, and Martucci said they are required to finish the sentence for those additional charges.
Once persons are identified as eligible and suitable, they participate in a five-week program while incarcerated.
Linda Kendrick, deputy warden of programs and treatment for the Department of Correction, said all offenders who are screened and deemed eligible are moved to one of four facilities. Men are moved to either Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield, Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution on the Enfield/Somers line, Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers or, for women, York Correctional Institution in East Lyme.
The program inside the prison addresses alcohol and drug addictions. Kenneth said the program teaches offenders about the effects of alcohol and drinking and driving, as well as addiction and substance abuse.
“We studied the whole nine yards,” Kenneth said.
If the offender successfully completes this part, Martucci said he or she is given a release with supervision recommendation to the warden of their prison.
The offenders are released under the promise they will be under intense supervision, and Martucci said the parole unit does a home investigation in which the offender will be living with his or her sponsor and discusses what the responsibilities are with the sponsor, who usually is a family member.
“We generally do a criminal background check,” Martucci said. “We want to confirm that the sponsor is OK with the offender living in the home and that they are aware of the requirements.”
When the offender is back in the community, they are required to take part in a community reintegration process that includes a job search and further treatment for alcohol or drug abuse.
Martucci said constant monitoring of the offender while in the community is important to make sure drugs and alcohol are not used again.
“The parole unit does this to make sure they are compliant,” Martucci said. “They are returned to custody at the first sign of drugs or alcohol and are not to be reconsidered for the program.”
Parole officers utilize Breathalyzers and urinalysis systems to do their unannounced in-home checks of the offender. To help monitor the offender when the parole officers are not doing in-home checks, Martucci said they rely on the sponsor to alert the officer if the offender is using alcohol or drugs.
Another requirement of offenders is attendance at a victim-impact panel, which is organized through the East Haven-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“If you have any experience with MADD, you know the impact panels are extremely powerful and they really send the message as to what drunk driving can do,” Martucci said.
How the program progressed
When the program started two years ago, Jennifer Bennett, a parole manager who oversees the parole officers who work with these offenders, said the law required the formation of an advisory committee.
Bennett said the committee ensures the transition is smooth for the offender from prison to reintegration into the community. The committee includes representatives from the Department of Correction with expertise in addiction services, parole officers and MADD representatives, among others.
The first set of offenders was assessed in February 2012 and was released into in-home supervision the following month.
According to Martucci, as of Aug. 22, they had 97 offenders as a part of the in-home supervision program. They have had about an 85 percent successful completion rate for offenders with probation, and a 79 percent success rate for those without probation. Martucci said offenders who did not successfully complete the program did not necessarily receive another offense but may have violated a condition of the program.
Bennett said the program has changed even though it is only 2 years old.
“The population has changed in that we have more mental health needs lately, but we are addressing those issues, as well,” Bennett said.
Bennett said they also have struggled sometimes with people who have a high level of denial and don’t want to admit they have a problem with substance abuse. While these clients are usually more difficult, she said the program still tries to work with them.
They also have had to work on offenders trusting the parole officers and knowing they are not out to get them. Bennett said they have to get the offenders to understand the parole officers care about them and are not looking to put them back in jail.
Bennett said they also have added two more parole officers over the two years, which has helped them provide services to more people. The DUI Unit works not only with those in the program, but also with other DUI-related cases. At its peak, Bennett said 144 offenders were in the program.
They are working to introduce a new form of in-home supervision, as well — a video capture when the offender takes a Breathalyzer test to ensure it’s the right person.
Bennett said she enjoys going along for the compliance checks and getting to see participants’ success.
“It is nice to go into people’s homes and see they are doing well,” Bennett said. “We can have a conversation with them about what they are doing, and it is nice to see people in their homes not drinking, whether they just got home from work, they are doing the right thing.”
What is the experience like?
“The program, this fantastic program, gives you the opportunity to prove yourself,” Kenneth said. “I was in for eight months and the parole officer gave me either enough rope to hang or improve myself.”
After his eight months in prison and passing the course while there, Kenneth said he was released with a tracking bracelet so he could start working again.
The process did not come without struggles. Kenneth said since the program was so new, he had to push to be placed in a different prison so he could be a part of it. The first group of offenders was moved to the Enfield prison.
“This program teaches you what you are not supposed to be doing and how negative a DUI is, how it really affects people,” Kenneth said. “It shows you how it affects you, how it affects your family and some people kill people. It is not a joke.”
Kenneth said he thinks the program is good for people who get DUIs.
“They are not criminals but working people,” Kenneth said.
“If you are foolish enough to look a gift horse in the mouth, that’s them, but there are people who learn their lesson,” he said.
Kenneth said he could not have done it without his parole officer, Trudy Beaulieu.
“She is a wonderful person and she really knew what she was doing,” Kenneth said. “They need more like her because she is seriously on top of things.”
Kenneth’s family was very involved in the process, and he said he lives with his parents, who are his sponsors.
“Without their support, I wouldn’t have been able to get out. Plus, I have my daughter, who has been very supportive,” Kenneth said.
“It is hard to put children through something like this. It’s ridiculous and you learn you don’t want to do it again,” he said.
Kenneth said a program like this is what is best for him. Although Kenneth said his DUIs were cases of letting his guard down, he said the program helped him learn he cannot find himself in similar situations.
“I am changed; I cannot do this to my family anymore, I cannot,” Kenneth said. “I am too old to be playing games.”
Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.
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Keystone, South Dakota
Keystone, South Dakota, is the closest city in the Black Hills to Mount Rushmore, which is located only three miles away. Rich in gold mining history, the quaint town of Keystone was once a boomtown after the discovery of placer gold two miles east of its current location. Placer gold is still thought to exist in abundance but the great depth of the deposits makes it difficult and impractical to reach.
Where to Stay in Keystone
Only minutes from Mount Rushmore, Keystone hotels and lodging options are the perfect choice for those that want to be close to the Shrine of Democracy.Explore all the many amazing properties that Keystone offers, including some with balcony views of Mount Rushmore. Dining, shopping and entertainment are within walking distance of most Keystone, South Dakota hotels. With over 32 restaurant options, adults and children alike will love the convenience of all the different places to eat and shop in Keystone.
What to Do in Keystone
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is just three miles from Keystone. It is also a great place in the Black Hills to get Mount Rushmore souvenirs. The mile-long retail district offers a variety of restaurants and lots of souvenir shops. Watch homemade saltwater taffy being pulled, have an “Old Time” western family photo taken, or mingle with American presidents at the National Presidential Wax Museum. Keystone is home to the Rushmore Cave and Rush Mountain Adventure Park, the Alpine Slide at Rushmore Tramway Adventures and the 1880 Train.
Mount Rushmore symbolizes the ideals of freedom, democracy and the American dream in the four 60-foot granite faces. This mountain carving of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln draws over three million visitors a year. It is both a spectacular site and a man-made wonder.
Beneath the watchful gaze of Mount Rushmore in the beautiful Black Hills is the National Presidential Wax Museum. Visitors gain insight into our nation's democracy with over 100 life-size, realistic wax figures depicting our country's most iconic figures.
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When we’re kids, we all hear about “The Golden Rule,” which is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
I liked the concept. I remember pondering it in the car when I was four or five, driving around with my Mom. Raffi*** was singing about it on the tape deck. I was too young and non-Indian to have heard of karma, but I was somewhat obsessive about having things balance out. I remember feeling compelled to perform odd actions out of this sense of balance: for example, I’d accidentally brush my left elbow against a doorframe, and then feel compelled to brush my right elbow against the other side of the doorframe — in precisely the same spot. So, when I heard about this Golden Rule, the equality of the concept resonated with me. With a seriousness that always amused adults at the time (though later unnerved them as I aged) I decided that I should apply it whenever I could.
I forget the golden rule here and there, due to emotion. Everyone gets angry; Everyone says something mean sometimes. It’s human. You have to forgive yourself. When I have the presence of mind, though, I do my best to stick by ol’ Gold. My self-control has gotten better with age. The downside is that the computations can become massively complex, resulting in a Hamlet-esque mental denial-of-service attack that renders me useless for minutes at a time. Eventually, I even lose the plot, and wind up mired in thoughts about computer programming, electronic music, or why Microsoft can suck my left one. I get locked into a train of thought, and the rest of reality atrophies as my mental resources all pour into powering the train. I’ll walk into tree branches, miss my subway stop, and leave beautiful ladies mired in existential crises regarding their looks because I had a cool idea for a perl script (when all I really had to do was lie and say, “You look nice, dear”).
Sometimes, after zoning out like this for a bit, I’ll re-establish an uplink with reality and excitedly announce the conclusion I just came to. People look at me funny, because, wat, this guy was catatonic for five minutes, then blurted out something no one understood. WAT! non-sequitur. Meanwhile, in my own mind, I will have applied the Golden Rule — I came out of my zone because I figured out something cool, and I felt I should share it. Like, you dudes would not believe how mad balanced this perl script is. If I’d anticipated the uneasy reaction, I would have just stayed in my goddamn zone. But, when I rocket out riding on a conclusion like that… yeah, slingshot, baby, I just fall from the sky and lay it down. It’s how I am.
ANYWAYS, these situations kind of tore a hole in the Golden Rule for me. I realized how I wanted to be treated was not how everyone else wanted to be treated. Different people want different things, have different interests, and so on. In order to treat someone how they want to be treated, you must understand them. Consequently, understanding others is a prerequisite for the Golden Rule. I am miserable at this; it requires constant, focused effort. The Butthole Surfers sing to me here: You don’t know just how to look through someone else’s eyes. That’s the small problem.
Then there comes the Internets, with its cosmic commitment to rule 34. Upset all the moneychangers. Babel all the towers. Hack all the things. If anything could really torture my inner OCD balance-o-meter, it’s the fucking Internets. It turns out, there are people who are simply complete bastards, in the Patrick Bateman / American Psycho sense: Narcissistic fuckers with a massive ego and a former or present cocaine habit. Tony Soprano bitching about the Happy Wanderer: wants to smash the fucking guy’s face in because the guy’s happy. What does he care that the guy’s happy? Why does he want to smash the guy’s fucking face? My understanding of psychopaths is admittedly minimal at best, stemming from twelve credits of undergrad lectures and a lifetime of watching too much television… also, I read “The Psychopath Test” by Jon Ronson (recommended). Thank the powers, though, I have had no real contact with psychopaths before the Interwebs.
However, the Interwebs is the coat room everyone gets stuck in, and if you’re a heavy InterWebsHed like me, you run into them every now and again. These psychos do not give a shit about balance or equality. They regard you as a sucker for giving even a rat fart in a rainstorm about anyone else’s lot in life. You can be nice to these people, but it will, at best, buy you a temporary respite. Though I would not want to be mocked, berated, criticized, belittled, and/or finally ignored, I have no problem engaging any and all Interwebs psychopaths on that level, since it’s how they treat everyone else.
You have been warned.
***Disclaimer: My opening to the contrary, don’t believe everything Raffi tells you. Raffi also told me an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I have found much less use for this phrase — I hate apples, and all I need to do to keep the doctors away is to not make any appointments.
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TUESDAY, July 4, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Make sure safety is part of kids’ summer fun.
“With kids spending more time outdoors, there is more opportunity for everything from broken bones, sprains, strains and lacerations, to tick bites and heat stroke,” said Dr. James Dwyer, director of emergency medicine at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y.
“Accidents will happen, but there are many steps parents can take to help prevent injuries without spoiling the fun,” he added in a hospital news release.
Children should always wear shoes. “When kids shed their shoes, they are at risk for splinters and cuts from broken glass as well as tick bites,” Dwyer said, adding that foot cuts are among the most common summer injuries his hospital treats.
When bicycling, skateboarding or inline skating, children should wear proper safety gear. That includes a helmet as well as wrist, elbow and knee pads.
Trampoline injuries are also common during the summer, and some cause lasting damage. The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents not to let their kids use home trampolines.
Ticks are another threat. They can cause illnesses such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. When walking or hiking in the woods, wear long sleeves and long pants tucked into your socks, and use insect repellent that contains DEET. When you come inside, check skin and clothing for ticks, then shower, Dwyer advised.
Children should also drink plenty of water and avoid overexertion to prevent heat-related illness.
If you have a swimming pool, it should be fenced with a gate that locks. When kids are swimming, an attentive adult should be present.
“Swimming lessons are essential for children who are not strong swimmers,” Dwyer said. “A Coast Guard approved life vest should be worn until the child can safely swim in deep water without assistance.”
Never leave a child unattended in a car.
“The temperature inside a vehicle can rise so quickly that it can kill a child in as little as 15 minutes. Be mindful when there is a change in your morning routine or if you are distracted by other events in your life, because that’s when a moment’s inattention can turn into a tragedy,” Dwyer said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more on summer safety.
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|About the presenter: Prakhar Sachan is a PWS (person who stutters) and he is 24 years old. He is from India. He has graduated as a computer science engineer. Presently he is pursuing his post graduate diploma in advanced computing. He is an active member of the ISA (International Stuttering Association) team, which is involved in setting up TISA (The Indian Stammering Association).|
What if I wasn't a stutterer?
This question, and other like questions, time and time again seem to surface to the fore of a stutterers' mind. I have been no exception.
I started stuttering as a child. With no family history of stuttering, it was hard for everyone to relate to my stuttering. Stating the obvious, a search for "cure" proved to be futile. Somehow stuttering wasn't an issue in my early school days. I used to stutter mildly and contextually (as far as I can remember), and stuttering still hadn't seeped into my psyche. As such, the typical stuttering mindset and the emotional baggage that goes along with it were non-existent. But, it all seemed to change when I was in middle school. I was made to feel different, because I didn't speak in the normal way. As an instance, my peers found it intriguing and sometimes amusing, why I took so long to say my name. I could very well have been labeled retarded, but as I did well academically, they were always confused and questions such as "why do you speak that way?" became common place. By the time I was in high school, my stuttering became severe. Really bad. I couldn't even answer the roll calls (my name included), forget about participating in plays and elocution periods which were compulsory; as they said it was essential for personality development. However, I don't think it improved my personality, but on the contrary nurtured my fear of stuttering which was a fledgling entity initially into something, which had assumed gigantic proportions by the time I graduated from high school. And it taught me how to be a pro at avoidance. Sometimes I would turn up late in class so that I wouldn't have to answer my roll calls. I would try pretending that I am sick during oral exams so that my "illness" would be an excuse for my silence and as such my grades won't hamper. During orals and elocution periods, I would pretend that I have forgotten the prose so that I can substitute hard words with words I was comfortable with. Telephone became a misery. If I perceived some part of a conversation to be hard, I would go round about it, filling it up with easy words. As such, sometimes I could never say want I really wanted to say. The whole effect would be diluted because I was too scared to jump straight into the "hard part".
Gradually, stuttering which wasn't an issue in my life, became a driving force in my life. And with it came the endless rounds of search for answers. I started to become more and more conscious of my speech, and I started viewing my whole personality from a stuttering lens. Every decision that I took which involved speaking was now being influenced by the fact that I stuttered.
After high school, it was time to decide for my choice of career and accordingly apply. As a child, I was always fascinated by science, and I had always thought of becoming an engineer. But, this is where the problem started. I would always hear my father who was an engineer himself talking about the seminars and presentations he had to make. Also, my elder brother and only sibling, who at that time was in an engineering school often related stories of how his seminars, orals, practical exams, quiz sessions et al went. Needless to say, all this caught me off guard. I was a severe stutterer, and there was no way I could do all that! Well, that is what I thought, when I was 16-17 years old.
Slowly, but surely, whenever I would think about my future career decision, this thought of seminars and presentations crossed my mind. Invariably, every single time, I would create a mental picture myself stuttering in front of a large audience. This was too much for me to handle, so I decided to "play safe."
By the time I graduated from high school, the fear of stuttering was so deeply engrained in my whole being that I made up my mind that I wasn't going to go for engineering. This was a bad decision indeed. But, since science as a subject always fascinated me, I thought of majoring in basic sciences. So, I applied for it, got admission, and found myself studying something, which I hadn't wanted to study in the first place. Somehow I persisted, but I was really bored. I was stuck doing something against my will, and my inner resistance against it was mounting day by day. Until one day, after 2 years into that course, I thought I have had enough. So, after a lot of introspection and soul-searching, I made the decision of my life so far. I dropped out of it, and went back to an engineering school.
It wasn't easy, but somehow I had made up my mind that I have had enough of "running and hiding". I went through all the oral drills. Sometimes I avoided, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I was fluent, sometimes I wasn't. By this time, I had learned word substitution as an art, and started to put it into full force. I guess that carried me along. Also, in the meantime, my fluency improved and I stopped stuttering with my friends and peers. I had somehow learned how to maneuver through my blocks. Although it carried me along, a time came when it became too much emotionally grueling and mentally taxing. My defining moment came, when earlier I had decided to go through my oral drills without conjuring excuses, albeit with word substitution as a crutch. I decided to translate and expand that into a strict path of non-avoidance / no substitution. Scary indeed, because by this time I had turned into a covert stutterer, and none of my peers thought that I had a speech impediment. They just thought I "think" too much. So when they heard me struggling for words (as a result of non-avoidance/ non substitution), it was a cause of alarm for them as well as for me. They found it hard to digest why all of a sudden I had to struggle so much for words. What they didn't know was this struggle was always present. It was just that earlier it was an inner struggle; now it had translated into a visible outward struggle because of the Śno substitution path' I was treading on. Sometimes they would give the impression of being seriously concerned. Sometimes, they just looked lost and found it hard to relate to my overt stuttering moments; not knowing what to say, or do. Moreover, it was just an awkward moment for them. As a result, it was hard for me as well, because I could pick up those cues and that would make me revert back to masking my stutter. As such, sometimes that path wasn't as "strict" as I had initially planned. My natural instinct had been conditioned to always hide my stutter in moments of awkwardness and in moments such as these it started running the show once again.
But it was this guiding principle (of non-avoidance) that made me stick to my topic of seminar this semester. I had decided to present a seminar on AJAX (Asymmetric Java and XML). "Asymmetric" is a hard word for me. So I had this thought of changing my seminar topic to something I was more comfortable with. Of course, no one would want to start stuttering at the topic of his/her seminar! But, then again, I persisted, and went ahead presenting on AJAX. The seminar wasn't fluent. But, that did not matter. All that mattered was, I was beginning to counter my natural instincts and conditioned responses towards perceived stuttering moments. Earlier, I would just have chickened out; but this time around I went on with the show, despite of all odds. I was beginning to live the moment, rather than running away for it. I was beginning my fight back against my limiting beliefs imposed due to years of stutteringŠ
I have graduated this summer and what seemed to be impossible at first, didn't turn out to be that herculean of a task. The merits of staying in the moment, no matter how hard it initially seemed, ultimately started to pay off. It's a universal truth that whatever we resist will persist. It's easier said than done, but a start can always be made, no matter how small that start may be. It calls for one to be tenacious and a little brave. Of course, I have had my ups and downs, but I kept focusing on my intentions. That is what I could only do; the rest of it lay beyond my control.
Very often, in the course of my "stuttering journey" it feels as if I am completely lost, and there is no result forthcoming. My speech gets worse. These are intense moments of despair. This is where remaining true to my intentions provides me with the succor to trudge along.
I'd like to draw an analogy here. Sometimes it feels like you're stuck in a desert all alone and everywhere you look around is just sand, with no land (or destination) in sight. You keep on walking hoping that you'll at last see some land, but all you could see is still sand, and more sand. You start to loose hope. You feel like giving up. It feels as if you're fighting a lost battle, and you'll never reach your destination. But, you have a compass, which are your intentions (in terms of analogy). You keep on following it, walking along hoping that at last you'll end up where you wanted. As you continue walking, you still see sand all around. You'd still have self-defeating thoughts. You'll still be confronted by situations that will pull you down. You'll still have moments of hopelessness and despair. In order to get over such tumultuous times you need to focus on now. Do the best that you can do now. Never underestimate the power of now. By remaining true to one's compass (intentions), one can realize the power of now to different extents possible. And that is the only thing you can do, or possibly have control over. The expectation of whether you'll reach your destination or not is beyond your control.
Keep your eye on the ball, even if the ball is not visible.
And, finally, be kind to yourself.
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This allows a line image of a waveform or picture to be built up and retained on the face of a special cathode ray tube. Such devices are found in the electronics laboratory for examining the electrical signals found inside electronic apparatus, and they are also found in medical imaging apparatus such as in nuclear medicine and ultrasonic apparatus.
Lines drawn on the screen by the electron gun are retained as an electrostatic image on a mesh just behind the screen, and this can be retrieved by illuminating the mesh with a low- velocity electron beam from a flood gun. The phosphor layer on the CRT screen is activated in proportion to the electrostatic charge pattern retained on the mesh. New methods of retaining a stored image (such as digital storage mechanisms) are sought because it is difficult to obtain an image which has varying shades of brightness using the bi-stable CRT mechanism. This has particular disadvantages for ultrasonic B-scanners since the echo amplitude contains an important part of the information required for diagnosis. Bi-stable CRTs have been used for many years in ultrasound machines but have now been supplanted by newer techniques which can provide a true grey-scale image of the echo pattern.
Content and Design Copyright 2000 Dr. Malcolm C Brown. See Title Page for more details
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Langara College in British Columbia receives $100,000 Government Grant to Support Accessible Learning
(Apr 1, 2015)
Vancouver, BC – Langara College is pleased to announce a one-time grant of $100,000 from British Columbia's Ministry of Advanced Education (AVED) for the Centre for Accessible Post-secondary Education Resources BC (CAPER-BC), which is run by Langara College.
CAPER-BC is dedicated to developing accessible learning and teaching materials for students and faculty who cannot use conventional print resources. The grant will support the delivery of short-term training aligned with B.C. Skills for Jobs Blueprint by increasing CAPER-BC’s capacity to produce accessible materials in trades and math, to conduct further user testing of open textbooks to ensure accessibility, and to create new trade materials using the principles of universal design.
“Post-secondary education and training programs need to be accessible to all British Columbians,” said Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson. “People with disabilities can be underemployed and often require additional support. Developing accessible materials in math and trades will help more students develop job skills that are aligned with the provincial labour market.”
“We’re very excited,” said Patricia Cia, Director of CAPER-BC. “Creating alternate formats for trades materials is challenging and the number of students with print disabilities in the trades is increasing. This funding will enable us to help these students succeed in their programs and initiate improved processes for the longer term.”
The Centre for Accessible Post-Secondary Education Resources BC provides accessible learning and teaching materials for those who cannot use conventional print because of disabilities. CAPER-BC is a service delivered by Langara College and funded by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and serves students and faculty across 20 BC post-secondary institutions. Find out more at www.caperbc.ca
About Langara College
Located in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada, Langara College provides University, Career, and Continuing Studies education to more than 21,000 students annually. With more than 1,700 courses and 130 programs, Langara’s expansive academic breadth and depth allows students of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages to choose their own educational path.
Manager, Communications & Marketing, Langara College
604.323.5014 / firstname.lastname@example.org
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issue 205 - March 1990
The Philippines under fire
The land of 'People Power' has become a battleground. Peter Stalker travelled
the country for the NI to see what happened to Cory Aquino's revolution.
Corporal Robert Salvador aimed his bazooka and fired. The rebel tank burst into flames.
'At last, I got it!' he cried. He raced over to the burning vehicle and discovered to his horror that his elder brother, Sergeant Roger Salvador, was among the crew he had killed.
The street battles in Manila last December were frightening and fratricidal. A shock, not only to Filipinos, but to a global TV audience which watched Cory Aquino cling to power by her fingernails.
The power of this drama came not just from the planes bombing the Presidential palace, or the bodies in the streets, or even the Western tourists trapped in their hotels; these after all have become the standard fare of international TV news. More distressing still was that a democracy that had flowered from a peaceful 'People Power' revolution seemed set to collapse in a hail of rockets and bombs. A myth was about to be shattered.
Mrs Aquino survived the onslaught. US fighter planes rattled their airborne sabres, the rebellion collapsed and democracy lived to fight another day. Even the myth seemed to have survived. The plucky President, though a weaker politician than the world would have liked, was still in charge.
I, like most people, watched these events from afar. But I was probably more surprised than most since I had left Manila just a few days before. There had been little inkling of impending drama: the plotters' threats had been widely dismissed as amusing bluster.
But even more surprising was the picture of the country now being beamed across the world: that of a fragile democracy struggling against an unstable military but making brave steps forward.
I had come away with a rather different impression. But then I had not generally been speaking to politicians, pundits or other journalists. The people I met were often working in isolated villages or in the poorest parts of the cities - peasant farmers, priests, prostitutes. This issue of the NI presents their point of view - partly through interview, partly through my own reports.
But first some of the basics. The Philippines is a country of 7,100 islands on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean. For 300 years it was a Spanish colony (named after King Philip II). Then in 1898, just as the country declared independence from Spain, it was seized as a colony by the US and brutally subjugated. About a million people are thought to have died in the first (and least publicized) US intervention in Asia. Independence was finally granted in 1946.
The streets of Manila confirm the nation's hybrid heritage. You do occasionally see heavyweight Spanish churches - and the odd word of Spanish crops up in Tagalog, the local language. But overlaid on this now is a much heavier American presence. Sit in one of the vast fast-food plazas and you can watch US basketball matches satellited onto giant TV screens - and cheer along with the Filipino audience.
But however alien the imported culture it always seems to carry a uniquely Filipino stamp. Take the odd-looking 'jeepneys' which clog the streets. Originally these were US Army jeeps converted into minibuses but now they are specially constructed to mimic ex-jeeps - right down to the gasoline-can holders at the back (useful for grabbing to lever yourself in, or for clinging to when you can't squeeze in at all.)
Dazzling chromium trinkets clutter every surface. Horses stampede across the bonnets. Ornately lettered signs shout arbitrary messages: 'Antarctic', or 'Susanna' or 'Lord have mercy!'. I ask the driver what 'Present from England' means. He shrugs his shoulders. Why should it mean anything?
Manila is not a place for walkers. It is a sprawling conurbation of 12 million people with no real centre; really a fusion of four different cities and 13 municipalities linked by endless streams of jeepneys. The air is so thick with blue-grey fumes that even the cigarette vendors, recklessly dodging like matadors through the traffic, often tie protective handkerchiefs over their faces.
For all Manila's complexity there is at least one clear route through it. This is EDSA - it takes me a while to work out that this is short for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue - an eight-lane highway that cuts a huge arc through the city.
EDSA has played a central part in modern Philippine history. There are two military camps halfway along it - one on either side. And it was along EDSA towards the camps that the 'People Power' crowds marched in 1986.
EDSA is a road, an event, an idea. People will say: 'Since EDSA...' or 'EDSA changed all that...' It was EDSA that toppled corrupt dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who, with his flamboyant wife Omelda, had bled the country of billions of dollars. And EDSA propelled to power Cory Aquino, wife of murdered opposition leader, Benigno Aquino.
This is the stuff of modern mythology. First the heroic martyr: there's a monument to Benigno Aquino in Manila, a statue which freezes his fall halfway down those airplane steps. Then Cory herself emerged as a candidate for canonization: Manila bookshops still proudly sell the issue of Time magazine which declared her 'Woman of the Year'.
Four years later the picture looks rather different - to Filipinos at least. This is a view confirmed by a visit to the Institute for Popular Democracy, an organization established after EDSA by ex-priest Ed de la Torre, who had been imprisoned by Marcos. Characteristic of today's ambiguous political atmosphere, de la Torre himself has been exiled abroad for some years while his organization continues to work - helping to train community groups.
The Institute also helps confused foreigners find their feet by offering a 'situationer' - a word which seems to be unique to the Filipino version of English (and which with luck will stay that way). My situationer is given by Clark Soriano, their political analyst who sits me down in front of a whiteboard for a rapid briefing.
Guns, goons and gold
Prior to Marcos, it seems, the Philippines was run by the 'clans' - alliances of old political families. Among the most powerful were the Aquinos and Cory's family, the Cojuancos. True, there were political parties and elections, but they were organized not around ideologies or policies but on patronage; people voted the way their landlord or boss told them to (or paid them to). Elections were decided by 'guns, goons and gold'.
Photo: Dexter Tiranti
Ferdinand Marcos was something of an upstart. He did not have a very distinguished pedigree himself and so had to make alliances with clan politicians. But after his election in 1964 he started to cut loose from most of them, looking instead for support from the military, whose status and power he had been careful to bolster. He also made lucrative deals with a group of businesspeople, the 'cronies', who benefited from his patronage and shared with him the spoils.
Finally by 1972 Marcos was able to dispose of even the semblance of democracy and declared a period of martial law which was to last until 1980. Martial law was so popular with the US that they doubled their military assistance to around $40 million a year and the military grew in strength from 55,000 in 1972 to 250,000 by 1984.
The most obvious legacies of the Marcos years in Manila today are the grandiose buildings which Omelda commissioned in an obsessive frenzy - her 'edifice complex', as the locals put it. I pass one of these, the imposing Heart Centre for Asia, two or three times each day, tut-tutting at the extravagance of a heart-treatment centre in a country whose major medical problem is malnutrition (while crossing my fingers that I don't have a heart attack and the embarrassment of being treated there).
The 'People Power' revolution of 1986 which finally ousted both Ferdinand and Imelda was driven by a very broad coalition - everyone from the Church through the popular organizations to the old political clans. But even they were not quite enough. Only when some of the military leaders split from Marcos was the balance finally tipped.
Mrs Aquino had certainly campaigned as a popular democrat. 'Land-to-the-tiller,' she declared, 'must become a reality, rather than an empty slogan.' And though a large landowner herself, it looked as though she meant it.
Once in office she acted rather differently - deferring to the military and the old clan politicians. Her allegiances were confirmed in January 1987 when she refused to meet a delegation of peasant farmers. The army opened fire on them as they crossed Manila's Mendiola bridge, killing 19 and wounding many more. I went to the site of the infamous 'Mendiola massacre' and found that the bridge has since been renamed.
The key players outside the formal democratic process are the New People's Army (NPA), the 30,000-strong armed wing of the illegal Communist Party. Recruits flocked to the NPA during the Marcos dictatorship. After EDSA it looked as though they might come down from the hills and there was a 60-day ceasefire while they negotiated with Mrs Aquino. But she refused to give the reassurances they wanted, particularly on land reform. The Mendiola massacre killed hopes of reconciliation and the NPA returned underground.
Mrs Aquino's response was to declare 'total war' on them. 'The answer to the terrorism of the left and right,' she said, 'is not social and economic reform but police and military action.'
Enough of the history for now. Back to Manila. The most pressing needs for economic reform here are in its shanty towns, where a third of all families live. And one of my first trips is to a squatter area in the north of the city.
This requires a series of jeepneys, which ironically get more expensive as the roads deteriorate. A steady drizzle turns the rutted tracks into muddy rivers. How, I wonder, do the smart-looking schoolchildren sitting next to me keep their white shins spotless while I am soon smeared with mud from head to foot?
We reach Payatas, a squatter area of some 15,000 people. Many make a living from the nearby rubbish dump called 'Smoky Mountain II' after its infamous counterpart on the other side of the city.
Larry Pajarda, one of the local community organizers, takes me on a tour. Clambering up and down piles of garbage in the rain doesn't do much for the trousers either. Small children ferret around in puddles for empty Colgate tubes - metal ones fetch much more than plastic.
It's a depressing scene. But it's hard to be depressed by the people I meet here. There are 14 popular organizations in Payatas alone. Larry's is helping to build a new church (which they will call 'Mother of the Promised Land').
But the most urgent need is to help people hang on to their land. Despite Aquino's promises to protect the poor, there have been many evictions.
Conchita Inano knows what it's like to be moved on. 'I used to live in Santo Domingo,' she says, 'but the owner wanted the land back and demolished my house.' With her 14-year-old son Arnold she rebuilt another house here using the debris of the old. I say that it doesn't look too secure to me. 'No,' she replies, 'but at least on a rainy day you get a free shower.'
Arnold goes to school in the morning and then spends five hours in the afternoon scavenging on the garbage dump. 'Usually I make about 20 pesos (one dollar) to give to my mother.' There are rumours that this dump too will be closed, not for humanitarian reasons but because the Congress building is on the next hill and the legislators have been complaining about the smell.
In truth the residents of Payatas might legitimately complain about the smell from Congress. The congressional elections of 1987 were carried on in a typically corrupt fashion and not surprisingly produced a House of Representatives dominated by landlords. So the crucial land-reform bill which emerged from it in 1988 was unsurprisingly hedged with traps and delays that will probably exempt about 75 per cent of all agricultural land.
Children, chickens and chanteurs
From Payatas I go back towards the centre of the city to Baghag, a warren of alleyways and squares made up of tiny wooden houses that bustle with life and children and chickens.
Nora Sacagung is one of the organizers of Samakana, a sewing co-operative which turns flour sacks into clothes. She leads me into a small wooden building. On the wall is a poster which says 'Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud'. Funds for the first six months had come from the New Zealand embassy. I ask her what life has been like since Mrs Aquino came to power. You can read her answer alongside.
But it's not just local services which rely a lot on popular initiatives. Much national activity depends on voluntary organizations. And later that evening I contact quite a few at a 'cluster party'.
This is a very jolly affair and I am enjoying myself greatly till I realize that everyone is expected to sing something. Good grief! The only song I know more than one line of is Let It Be. Fortunately one of the guitarists knows it rather better and I stumble flatly through. I'm not the first visitor to have been subjected to this. The North Americans and the British, it seems, will make fools of themselves but the Germans often refuse.
Of more practical use I make contact here with the Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement. I explain that I intend to travel round the country exploring different issues in different places. They, and others, suggest places I might go.
But before leaving Manila I ask local artist Larry Alcala to try and give an impression of this chaotic city. Am I imagining it, or does the bearded gent being sold the lottery tickets look like a certain harassed foreigner?
The Urban Activist
Some women believed that when Cory was elected she would be the glory of our lives. But as time passes it's clear that she's really just following what Marcos did. Things are not getting better for us at all. They are much worse. Look at the prices we have to pay for food now - much higher than before. And it's the women who have to bear the burden of that.
The man may be earning but it is the woman who has the responsibilities for the home. We have to budget. And outside the home too we know what is going on. We have so many friends in the community, more than the men. Here in this group we give women training so they will understand better - why the prices are so high, for example.
When I first joined Samakana I was also working as a laundry woman. So with that and the housework I had a lot of problems. My husband didn't want me to join and we had a fight. I finished up in hospital. It's what you call battering, wife battering.
We talked of splitting up after that. But now he has agreed that I should work here too, that it is not only the men who are responsible for the whole society.
The Government should be giving us basic services at least. But they don't. There's no health centre for example. And if we go to the one in the next barangay we can't afford to pay for the medicine. The people there in the city hall like the Mayor, maybe they help their own families or relatives.
Progress in the Philippines doesn't come from the Government. Here it is the people who have to solve their own problems. Here in the day-care centre we give training for mothers in sewing and in herbal medicines so they can treat their children if they are sick. Mrs Aquino made so many promises before she came to power. And she should know what we need. She had a programme called 'Dialogue with the President' and I was one of the representatives who went along to see her. We explained the women's problems to her. I have a picture of that. But we didn't really get any response. Maybe she has no time for the poor - just for the people close to her.
Illustration: Larry Alcala
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7
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Home >> Write >> People In The News >> Movies
It’s amazing how big business the movie industry is within the world of entertainment. Although many people cite the rise of video games as being the future of entertainment, there is something irresistible and arresting about movies.
While books can examine stories and characters in a more in-depth fashion, movies are able to capture people’s imaginations by providing constant visual movement that only add depth to stories.
Video games allow people to interact with their entertainment but that’s one of the biggest appeals of films – they allow people to act solely as an audience and to mentally interact with movies in their own ways. In today’s world, the movie industry is bigger than ever. Although some critics and experts are afraid about how movies are going to adjust with the onset of technological innovations like laptop computers, Internet fuelled data transferring and personal video players, the popularity of recent movies can be seen in their box office earnings.
Out of the top twenty most successful movies in terms of worldwide box office grosses, twelve have been released in the last five years. Rather than limiting a movie’s capability to make money, new technology has only added new ways for people to watch movies. Many people prefer to download movies so they are able to watch it from the comfort of their personal computer. Others prefer to stream movies online.
The popularity of the iPod video player has made people seek out ipod movies that they are able to watch while traveling. Additionally, many wannabe auteurs are discovering that they have a great outlet for their home made movies by releasing them as free movies online. To this day, children around the world spend a great part of their time fantasizing about making it in the movie industry – whether as a movie maker or a movie star. Whether it’s new movies that you’re interested in, fringe gonzo movies that are considered classics in some subcultures, anime movies that kids are loving these days, panda movies, or the big budget harry potter movies, this article is a celebration of movies and the people that make them and star in them.
Watching old movies on the turner classic movies station or the latest hit online movies, it’s hard to not feel excited when watching a good movie. It’s enough for people to shout out to the world that i love movies! That spirit of enthusiasm has always been part of the movie industry and dates back to the early days of film in the 1880s. The last half of the 1800s was a time of great technological innovation.
One particularly important innovation was the development of the motion picture camera. Although movie fanatics that are obsessed about upcoming movies may look at these old, early silent films with a sense of bewilderment, these early silent films were enthusiastically received. It was the public’s fascination with these early short films that led to the rise of movie studios.
As movie technology evolved to incorporate color and sound, it was confirmed that people had a new favorite pastime – watching movies. For people that love to sit back after a hard day at work and watch some dvd movies to help them unwind, it’s easy to understand why movies had such a big appeal despite having early production values that can be compared to home movies.
Eventually, a studio system was created that led to early Hollywood triumphs. Generally credited as the first financially successful full length motion picture, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation is often credited for starting the classical Hollywood era of movies industry that would continue up to the 1960s. Such classic movies as Gone With The Wind and Casablanca were produced and these movies are still considered favorites to this day.
After a lagging lull where movie studios were perplexed about what movies appealed to the burgeoning youth culture of the 1960s, the American film industry was revived with a period that is known as New Hollywood. At this time, movie studios gave their reigns to an emerging new class of directors and actors that were eager to craft personalized stories that would differ from the high cost musicals and historical epics that were so popular a decade ago. Some of the prominent movie figures that emerged from this era includes: Francis Ford Coppola (director of The Godfather series and Apocalypse Now), Martin Scorsese (director of Goodfellas, The Departed and Taxi Driver), Steven Spielberg (director of many, many popular movies), George Lucas (creator of the Star Wars juggernaut), Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper, Merryl Streep and Christopher Walken.
As movies have evolved into becoming bigger spectacles that are designed to take advantage of the massive multiplexes that dot through the world, it seems like now is the perfect time to be a fan of movies. From big budget movies that fully utilize the latest in CGI special effects to personal mature movies that people create with the intent of creating free movies to watch movies online, now is a hopeful time for the most seasoned professional movie directors to people making their first movies as experiments.
For that reason, we invite you to check out our excellent articles on the movers and shakers in the movie industries. From examining the stars of drama to the stars of comedy, our talented group of writers will provide the information that you want about your favorite stars. We will also take a look at the stars of television who often go on to bigger things on the big screen. You can also find out more about the latest upcoming movies and we have excellent articles about those classic movies you love.
Feel the excitement that comes with loving movies by reading our fantastic articles about movies, new movies, online movies, and the movie stars you love! Once you read up on some of your favorite films, as well as coming attractions, you’ll probably be inspired to watch some of the movies that are mentioned. The great thing about DVD films is that they are a physical medium, which means that there is no need to worry about having a lightning fast internet connection in order to watch them. Websites like DVDLand allow Australian consumers to order a plethora of films in a wide variety of genres with only a few clicks of the mouse.
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A long time ago, this place was known as Parang, the vernacular for “wilderness” or “ forest grove”, and was part of of Barangay Matimbo. There grew a very tall tree known to residents as BANGKAL, where it derives its present name. In the north is a small sitio known as PAINUMAN because water flows freely in a well. Here animals drink clean water fit for watering plants and trees.
As the lush natural endowments of the area was a welcome treat, residents grew in number and soon enough, some 60 houses rose before World War II. After the war time went on, more people flocked to Bangkal until folks decided to organize their own community. Thus, Bangkal became a new barrio, with its residents striving even harder to improve their economic development, social, livelihood, spiritual life.
The people soon built a community chapel where even social activities are held. It was said that at the very spot where the chapel rose, the Bangkal tree of legend once stood. The story went further to suggest that from the same ground, a tree branch that resembled a cross was found. Barrio folks tried their best to fashion a real cross out of the branch. but however failed to make a perfect cross out of it. In fear of any bad omen from cutting the tree to pave the way for the chapel, the folks decided to have the mysterious branch blessed, and enshrined it in the chapel’s altar to become their patron, the Holy Cross.
B. PHYSICAL LOCATION
C. BARANGAY OFFICIALS
Narciso SD. Bulaong Sr. - Barangay Captain
Sheila Marie C. Roldan - SK Chairperson
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" motion picture opens on Friday Sept 24th and my kids are stoked. Since there is never a shortage of Owl projects at our house I thought I give you some new Owl art projects as well as revisit the old Owls from the past.
First up a pastel resist Owl. You know me,,,,pastel resist is one of my favs so follow along.
Click on the photo to see larger and more detail.
Provide your young artists with some reference material. Professional artists use reference photos all the time so inspire your students with books from the library, google images, whatever you can get your hands on.
Have them sketch out their Owls. Some may try to copy a photo exactly but as they gain confidence they'll start to make changes to suit their instinct....it's all a part of the process.
Using light colored pastels (white and yellow) mark out some of the features. Do some feather detail...some leaf shapes...some veining in the leaves...outline the main components (Owl and tree limbs). Also mark areas you want to remain white like the head and breast feathers.
It's hard to see on this photo but I have quite a lot marked out.
Start painting with disk tempera.
I wanted to use fall colors to keep with the season. I start with some yellow around the Owl, sunlight filtering thru the trees on our sleepy friend.
Drop in some more fall colors...maybe a bit of green here and there for the leaves that haven't turned yet.
A good rule of thumb is to put some intense, darker color in at least 2 of the corners..helps to push the focal point and grounds the painting.
Put some dark brown, almost black, color in the tree limbs and add some branches here and there. You don't necessarily see all the branches or in their entirety as portions are blocked out with leaves.
Add extra color where needed...maybe some veining in the leaves with some contrasting fall colors...a little dark brown on the Owl's wing feathers. Add the eyes and you're done!
Remember this guy from about 2 years ago you can check out my post for this project here.
I'll have another Owl project on Friday so make sure you stop on by........
See you then.
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148Apps Review SummaryOur Rating: :: EXCEPTIONAL DETECTIONAL :: Read Our Full Review >>
TomChord is a music app that detects guitar chord/guitar chord progression and displays the chords, in real-time, along the top of the screen. It also displays and color codes the root notes of each chord, providing users with a graphical representation of the chord's amplitude/root note(s). While it's not perfect, it doesn't claim to be and does exactly what it says. It's a great tool for budding/inexperienced musicians and weekend warriors alike.
What's NewLast update caused a bug that caused recorded audio to play back through the speaker/headphones and caused feedback.
This is now fixed
App Description"Exceptional Detectional" 4/5 stars
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"I fully recommend this app to any beginner players, professionals, producers, composers, recording engineers... The list goes on. "
- Warren Hutton (Canada)
tomChord is NOT just a chord library!
It is a tool to help musicians learn to play along with songs as well as train their musical ear!
The unique Detection feature will analyze music through the microphone and tell the user what chords are heard as well as what key.
Using advanced harmonic algorithms tomChord can reach up to 95% accuracy in ideal conditions.
tomChord's easy, intuitive interface gives you note, key, and chord information on one screen.
Results are based on approximately 3 samples per second for the iPhone 3GS.
tomChord will run on the iPhone 3G but there is extra lag and it lacks animation features. The iPhone 3GS is recommended for best results.
New in 2.1:
You can now load songs from your iPod library!
- No waiting time! The detection is still done in real time so you can play the song seconds after loading it!
- Detection from original audio data increases accuracy due to no background noise
- Slow down the song to hear every note
- Navigate to any point in the song for playback
New in 2.0:
A new algorithm allows tomChord to run in real time with a 4x faster refresh rate.
A volume control allows filtering of background noise and increased accuracy!
An improved user interface with new intuitive controls and results as well as HD iPhone 4 retina graphics.
Various crashing problems fixed.
Piano Major and Minor chords added
March 06, 2012 New version 2.2.1
February 26, 2012 New version 2.2.0
February 10, 2012 Price Decrease: $9.99 -> FREE!
December 17, 2011 New version 2.1.4
June 14, 2010 Initial Release
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Doctor Oz has done his research and has come up with 99 foods that we should all have in our shopping cart to keep our diets on track. The show opens with by sharing a list of 99 foods that will get your diet working. First, we get his top five packaged foods that are good for you. Kashi thin crust pesto pizza is low in carbs and is only 240 calories for 1/3 of a pizza. Sea Pak salmon burgers are only 110 calories and are high in good fats. Evol Teriyaki chicken bowl is loaded with veggies and has only 6g of fat. The Bistro Chicken Parmesan Bake is only 200 calories. Amy’s light in sodium Bean and Rice Burrito has only 120 calories and is very low in sodium.
Oz also gives us some side dishes to add with these meals. He recommends Amy’s Buttermilk Dressing and Newman’s Own oil and vinegar dressing are two healthy choices for your salad. You can buy Birdseye Steam in bag veggies and they are a great addition to a healthy meal. Pacific Butternut Squash soup is low in sodium and calories. Oz tested all these food with 5 volunteers and they like the packaged foods and say they really thought these were easy and fast ways to maintain your diet.
Next, we get healthy desserts that will allow you to cheat on your diet without the guilt. First, Breyers pure berry frozen fruit bars are only 40 calories. Second, Back to nature cookies are only 130 calories for 2 cookies and are all natural. Third, Almond Dream ice cream sandwiches have only 100 calories and are all natural. Finally, Oz says Vitalicious brownies are only 100 calories and are loaded with vitamins. He says you should stay away from artificial sweeteners no matter what dessert you choose.
The third segment has Dr. William Li and they are talking about what foods can actually lower your risk for cancer. Lima Beans are first and they have been proven to kill cancer cells. You can lower your risk of breast cancer by 24% by eating Lima beans and steaming them is the best. You should have 1 cup a day. Parsley actually starves cancer cells also and has been proven to fight ovarian cancer. You need one cup of parsley a day also. Limes fight lung cancer and will reduce your risk by 24%. Use them by making juice and you need 1/2 cup a day. Use limes instead of lemons to make lime aid. You can even use lime juice as a substitute for salt. Finally, apricots can reduce the risks of stomach cancer by 47% and you need 7 of them a day. If you use dried apricots make sure they are sun dried.
The fourth segment is about what cooking oil is best to use. Oz says the best oils are Olive oil and Canola oil and they help lower cholesterol levels. He says vegetable oils are the worst. Canola oil is great for frying. Now we get some more choices and Oz says Macadamia Nut Oil is great for baking is very heart healthy. Toasted Sesame oil is great for stir frying and it is loaded with vitamins C and E. Finally, Walnut Oil is not for cooking but is great for a dressing and can be used as a butter substitute also.
The final segment is about great easy recipes by Lisa Lillian and she is famous for 5 minute meals that are healthy and easy. She is showing us a healthy shrimp fettuccine alfredo. She is using whole wheat pasta, reduced fat sour cream, low fat feta cheese, chopped spinach, broccoli, and shrimp. Toss all this in a skillet and it takes only 5 minutes. Add to the pasta after the mixture is hot and you have a 200 calorie dish that is healthy and great.
Oz ends the show with his usual “in case you missed it” segment and he gives us one more food to add to our shopping carts. He says you can use frozen french fries and bake them in the oven for a great way to eat healthy fries. Here is the link to the 99 food list. Oz 99 Food List
Photo and information courtesy of: Dr. Oz
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Product development: Build something your customers will love
Join us this week at Entrepreneurship 101 to learn how to identify and manage your intellectual property (IP), and understand how it fits in with your business model. Being able to protect your IP and commercialize your innovation is critical for the success of your startup.
At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101, we welcomed a panel of speakers who discussed the importance of product development and the customer experience. The panel was moderated by Lance Laking, Investment Director, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Our speakers were Sohaib Zahid, CEO and Co-Founder, Vanhawks and Dinesh Kandanchatha, Managing Director, Toronto, Macadamian.
The human level of product development
During his presentation, Sohaib emphasized the importance of creating a product that your customers will love. He drew an analogy to convey the point. Sohaib proposed approaching your customers with the mindset of a first date and wanting to make a great first impression. By doing this, he said, you can build a foundation on which to progress the relationship to one of a marriage. The idea is to make your relationship and product be something your customer would want a long-term commitment with (and perhaps be willing to extend some leeway toward as product development is ironed out).
Dinesh highlighted how in order to create something your customer will use, you need to first understand their journey. If you’re working on a medical app, for example, Dinesh recommends sitting in a hospital waiting room to see how your potential customers use products and what the workflow and ecosystem is around them. Think about what products your customers use now and what interruptions they’re facing with the ones available to them. Dinesh pointed out that by carefully observing your customers’ needs early on during product development, you can conserve money by avoiding expensive re-works at a later stage.
Building your team
The audience also heard that putting together a strong team to help build your product is important. You need to focus on your area of expertise—and if you aren’t sure about something, add people who can fill that need. The more diversity you have on your team in the product development stage, the less likely it is you’ll miss something that could prove costly later on.
Learning to outsource
The decision to outsource can be one of the hardest decisions you’ll make in product development. It’s key to understand that it’s not solely about manufacturing: it’s about the cultural aspects as well. Understanding the local culture will help you in your efforts to get manufacturers on your side. As a small business with small orders, this is important because they need to care about your product.
Another critical factor in outsourcing is that the beauty of your product does not necessarily translate into the needs of manufacturing. When you’re designing your product, keep the manufacturers in mind. They have to be able to build your product!
The final product development lesson we learned was about maintaining focus and vision. While you need to stay true to your vision, you still need to keep your mind open and be flexible to change.
Want to hear more? Watch excerpts from the presentations
Watch the videos below to hear more of what Sohaib and Dinesh had to say.
Product Development: Getting it right the first time
Product Creation: Going beyond a spec sheet
Entrepreneurship 101 course resources
And search “Entrepreneurship 101” on iTunes U.
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Which cooking oil is best for people suffering from heart ailments?
Q: Should one avoid oil completely in food, if diagnosed with dyslipidemia? Some one told me that it is necessary to have oil in food. Please comment. Which oil is best for people with heart ailments? What quantity should be consumed? Which oil has most beneficial poly unsaturated fatty acids viz., omega 3 & 6 and how do they help heart functions?
A:It is not necessary to avoid oil in food totally if diagnosed with dyslipidemia. Fat is important for many body processes. You need to eat some fat. Fat protects your organs, keeps you warm and it helps your body absorb and move nutrients around. It also helps hormone production. However some fats are better than others and having too much of any type is not a good idea. Adjust your total intake to your caloric needs. For weight management or weight reduction, or dyslipidemia no more than 3–5 teaspoons is recommended. This includes all the oil used throughout the day for seasoning, cooking, in rotis etc. Saturated fats contribute to the risk of heart disease by raising blood cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats both tend to lower blood cholesterol when they replace saturated fats in the diet, but the polyunsaturated fatty acids have a slightly greater impact than monounsaturated fatty acids. Sources of saturated fats include fatty cuts of meat, full fat milk and cheese, butter, cream, most commercially baked products such as biscuits and pastries, most deep fried fast foods, coconut and palm oil. Sources of monounsaturated fats include margarine spreads such as canola or olive oil based choices, oils such as olive, canola and peanut oils, avocado, and nuts such as peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews and almonds. Sources of unsaturated fats include fish oils, seafood, polyunsaturated margarines, vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn or soy oils, nuts such as walnuts and cashew nuts, and seeds. Sources of omega-6 and omega-3 fats include canola and soy oils and canola based margarines. Marine sources include fish especially oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardine. Omega-3 fats are found in both plant and marine foods and have been found to reduce the risk of heart disease. Omega-6 fats are found primarily in nuts, seeds and plant oils such as corn, soy and safflower. The benefits of omega fats in the diet are:
- Lower blood cholesterol levels, which reduces an important risk factor in coronary heart disease
- Improve blood vessel elasticity
- Thin the blood, which makes it less sticky and less likely to clot
- Reduce inflammation and boost the immune system
- Contribute to the normal development of the fetal brain.
- Use reduced-fat or no-fat salad dressings with salads, for dips or as a marinade.
- Use cooking styles that add little or no fat to food, and request foods cooked that way when you eat out.
- Remember to count the hidden fat in bakery and snack foods as well as the fats used in cooking and on vegetables and breads. Read food labels. Coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are high in saturated fat, even though they're vegetable oils and have no cholesterol. Watch the intake of these oils.
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The best place to do that is sample fiction essay engl 102 the introduction when writing an introduction, mla style papers examples you should typically use a ‘general to specific’ structure. below are their expert recommendations. the introduction for a how to write a good college essay introduction persuasive essay must get the. if you don’t have a specific how to write a good college essay introduction topic, however, all how to write a good college essay introduction tips are useless oct 02, 2020 · in a good argumentative essay, a writer attempts to persuade readers best essays.com to understand and support their point of view about a topic by business plan template restaurant stating their reasoning and providing evidence to back it up. keep the introduction as brief as possibly can be. begin your essay with what is an illistration essay a series of questions. write a good introduction for an essay for open office presentations. how to write a creative short story 8. while college essay types are many, the common structure for most of them is five-paragraph. the dos and don’ts. a good introduction personal essay for scholarships examples should identify your topic, provide do my homework for me essential context, and indicate your particular focus in the rebecca solnit two arroheads essay essay. example.
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6. Gleditsia japonica Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi. 3: 54. 1867.
山皂荚 shan zao jia
Trees or small trees, to 25 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown or grayish green when bark falls off, slightly ribbed, with scattered whitish lenticels, smooth and glabrous. Spines purplish brown to brownish black, slightly flat, robust, 2-15.5 cm, often branched. Leaves pinnate or bipinnate (pinnae 2-6 pairs), 11-25 cm; petiolules very short; leaflets 3-10 pairs, adaxially sometimes shiny, ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate to oblong, 2-7(-9) × 1-3(-4) cm (leaflets of bipinnate leaves obviously smaller), papery to thickly papery, abaxially puberulent on midvein and at base, glabrescent when old, adaxially puberulent or glabrous, slightly scabrous, reticulate veinlets obscure, base broadly cuneate or rounded, slightly oblique, margin entire or repand-crenate, apex rounded, sometimes emarginate. Flowers yellowish green, in axillary or terminal, puberulent spikes. Male inflorescence 8-20 cm; female inflorescence 5-16 cm. Male flowers: 5-6 mm in diam.; receptacle deep brown, ca. 1.5 mm, outside densely brown puberulent; sepals 3 or 4, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, both surfaces pubescent; petals 4, elliptic, ca. 2 mm, pubescent; stamens 6-8(or 9). Female flowers: 5-8(-9) mm in diam.; receptacle ca. 2 mm; sepals and petals 4 or 5, similar to those of male flowers in shape, ca. 3 mm, both surfaces densely pubescent; staminodes 4-8; ovary glabrous; ovules numerous; style short, incurved; stigma inflated, 2-lobed. Legume brown or brownish black, compressed, strap-shaped, 20-54 × 2-7 cm, irregularly twisted or falcate, apex with beak 5-15 mm; stipe 1.5-3.5(-5) cm; valves leathery, often bullate, glabrous or velutinous, shiny. Seeds numerous, deep brown, elliptic, 9-10 × 5-7 mm, smooth. 2n = 28*.
Sunny slopes, valleys, streamsides, near roads, forests; 100-2500 m. Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].
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.- Though Christmas is still six months away, the organization ChurchAds.net has chosen the design for its Christmas ad campaign. The selected design, called "Ultrasound Jesus," depicts an ultrasound image of an unborn baby with a halo above his head and the caption, “He's on His way. Christmas starts with Christ.” The image quickly angered pro-abortion and atheists groups with its alleged pro-life sentiments.
ChurchAds.net is a British marketing and advertising organization that brings together various Christian denominations such as Anglicans, Methodists and Baptists. The Catholic Church is not part of the group.
The authors state that they want to spread the true meaning and origin of Christmas. It is estimated that the ad will reach over 40 million people in the weeks before Christmas.
The vice-chair of ChurchAds.net, Mike Elms, told the Guardian newspaper, “We wanted to convey that Christmas starts with Christ. That this baby was on the way. Then we thought that the scan was a way of conveying that: it is modern currency in announcing a modern birth. We put a halo on it because theologians speak of Jesus being fully human and fully divine."
Secular and pro-abortion organizations such as Britain’s National Secular Society (NSS) have expressed great dissatisfaction with the campaign and have called it, "politically motivated" and "naïve." “The image is too specifically associated with pro-lifers to be seen in a benign context. They should go back to angels and cribs,” said Terry Sanderson of the NSS.
The Spanish pro-life watchdog organization, HazteOir.org has said that this campaign represents "something out of a horror movie" for the abortion industry.
"Perhaps the abortion industry fears that this campaign may be more successful than their own,” said HazteOir. “For example, Marie Stopes International (a firm responsible for approximately 65,000 abortions annually) began promoting abortion via television advertising last May, as though it were a common product, and reaped immense civic opposition."
Though his organization had no part in creating the campaign, John Smeaton of England’s Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child told the Guardian that he welcomed the ad.
“The advert is saying that Jesus was alive as a person before he was born,” he said. “ They have a halo round his head and you don't have a halo around the head of a blob of jelly or a cluster of cells. This is not a cluster of cells but a human person and it just happens to be the God man Jesus.”
“It is about the humanity of the unborn,” Smeaton added. “That is a very, very powerful statement that will strike a chord with the general population."
The campaign will begin formally on December 6, 2010, but the distribution of the "Ultrasound Jesus" material has already begun.
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With a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, RN Completion (RN-BSN), Master of Science in Nursing, Post MSN Certificate, or Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from USI, you'll be able to compete for select nursing positions from day one.
You'll get extensive clinical nursing experience in a variety of healthcare settings. Moreover, USI provides superior preparation for professional licensing exams. Our nursing graduates have an outstanding track record, with consistently high pass rates for both BSN graduates and the RN license exam as well as the MSN graduates with national certification exams.
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You'll graduate with a highly respected nursing degree supported by varied clinical experiences that provide a strong foundation for your nursing career.
Contact USI Admission at 800-467-1965 to get more details about USI’s nursing programs.
Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs are accredited by the Indiana State Board of Nursing. Our BSN, Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
For further information about accreditation of these programs, please contact the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education at the following address:
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After barely getting back on their feet from the historic 2010 floods, Pakistan's monsoon season has deluged the same region again creating a health and housing crisis for over 5 million people according to the UN. Media reports have estimated over 300 people have died and thousands have been displaced in Sindh Province.
Heavy, prolonged rainfall joined by run-off from northern areas and exacerbated by breaches in canals all have mixed together to create brackish, black water that is ripe for disease transmission. We're seeing contamination of fodder and water for livestock, which is also leading to disease and death. More importantly, vast tracts of agriculture land have been flooded, meaning loss of food and cash crops.
Mercy Corps is responding by providing emergency clean water and sanitation to displaced communities and establishing mobile medical clinics to deal with injuries and disease caused by the floods.
We'll currently be deploying two water units, capable of filtering around 4,000 liters of water/hour, running on average 12 hours/day. We can thus provide clean water to approximately 10,000 - 12,000 people per day.
Local NGOs with longstanding experience in these areas will assist in some areas with water trucking.
Our Mobile Health Units can reach an average of 50 patients each per day, providing emergency treatment and, when necessary, referral services to nearby Basic Health Units, clinics or hospitals -- at least those still functional. Many have been shut down due to the flooding. The MHUs will also be equipped with quick malaria testing kits and treatment.
Mercy Corps teams will also work to analyze the mid- to long-term effects and work with communities to recover from this disaster.
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According to new surveillance statistics released on Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), forty-seven states in the U.S. are now reporting widespread influenza activity . The virus, which first appeared in the Southeast, has reached epidemic levels.
Jack Andraka has invented a test that can detect early stage pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer. The cancer sensor is cheaper and faster than today’s gold standard test. In May of this year, Jack Andraka’s groundbreaking research won $75,000 for the first place prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Jack plans to put that money towards college, because he’s just 15 years old.
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced earlier this week. The prize was awarded to two scientists for their work on reprogramming mature cells to become pluripotent.
The prize of 10-million-Swedish-krona (US$1.5-million) was divided, one half jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon, age 79, at the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and Shinya Yamanaka, age 50, at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan and the Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, California, USA, for the discovery that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body.
Walmart and Sam’s Club (a division of Wal-Mart Stores) recently announced the launch of expanded immunization services across the United States, signaling the company’s expansion into healthcare services [1, 2]. In partnership with Mollen Immunization Clinics, ten of the CDC-recommended immunizations will be offered in more than 2,700 Walmart stores and 554 Sam’s Club pharmacy locations.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has unambiguously said that he, if elected president, will repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), stated yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press that he would not want to repeal all of the healthcare law . The position is an abrupt turn on an early campaign promise.
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May 1, 2017
READ: Esther 2:5-23
[God] controls the course of world events; he removes Kings and sets up other Kings (Daniel 2:21).
“The World in Crisis, and No Genius in Sight” read an editorial headline of The Wall Street Journal in July 2016. The article was written against the backdrop of a world watching to see who would win the presidential election in America; investors and economists speculating the impact of Brexit (the UK’s exit from the European Union) on the world’s economy; the dark cloud of terrorism looming over Europe; and waves of refugees looking for safe haven.
Today, the world continues to be in crisis, and we’re still looking for solutions. Fortunately the book of Esther speaks to us in these perilous times.
In Esther 2 we encounter a king looking for a new queen after exiling his last wife in a rage. The king’s advisors concocted a plan—for the king to have his pick from the most beautiful young women in the kingdom. Esther, a young Jewish girl, was one of the women brought to the king’s harem (vv.7-8).
Esther stood out from the group and found favour with Hegai, keeper of the harem, and subsequently with the king, who “loved Esther more than any of the other young women” and crowned her queen (vv.15-17). As harrowing as this must have been for Esther, to have her life in the hands of an unpredictable king, her ordeal set the stage for the young queen to play an important role in protecting God’s people from total annihilation (8:1-17).
Although God’s name is never mentioned in the book of Esther, we can see Him working behind the scenes to save His people. And He’s still at work today. Although evil and tragedy may strike, God is still on His throne and nothing can ultimately thwart His purposes. We can rest in His good ways—knowing that He will never leave or abandon us(Hebrews 13:5).
—Poh Fang Chia
365-day plan: Nehemiah 8:1-18
Read Daniel 2:20-22 and consider what the prophet said about God’s power and sovereignty over all things.
How does the reality that God sovereignly works through current affairs shape the way you take in the news? Why does this give you hope today?
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Hungary says clean-up of toxic spill could take a year
Budapest (AFP) Oct 6, 2010
A damburst of toxic sludge that killed at least four people and left scores needing treatment for chemical burns and other injuries could take up to a year to clean up, officials said Wednesday.
"The clean-up and reconstruction could take months, even a year," Environment Secretary Zoltan Illes said.
On Monday, the retaining walls of a reservoir at an aluminium plant in Ajka in western Hungary collapsed, sending a toxic soup of industrial waste cascading through seven villages.
The devastation spread across an area of 40 square kilometers (15.4 square miles) in what officials say is Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident.
Three adults and one child were killed and 123 people were injured, while three people are still missing.
Karoly Tily, the mayor of Kolontar, the village where all four victims died, declared Wednesday a day of mourning, and the company which owned the reservoir, the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company (MAL), said it would foot the costs of the funerals.
Illes told online publication Langlovak in an interview that the overall costs of the clean-up and reconstruction "could reach tens of millions of euros (dollars)."
If MAL was unable to drum up the funds, "the sum will be borne by the Hungarian government, or it might be necessary to ask the European Union for aid," he said.
The tidal wave of sludge overturned cars, swept away possessions and raised fears that pollution leeching from it could reach the Danube River, which courses through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before flowing into the Black Sea.
Late Wednesday officials said they were confident the contamination would not reach Europe's second longest river
"If our calculations are right then by the time the sludge reaches the Danube contamination will be under the acceptable levels," Emil Jenak, president of Northern Transdanubian Water Management, told AFP.
A pollution expert, quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI, said rain and neutralising agents used so far had already led to a drop in alkaline levels in the Marcal river "and the connecting Raba will suffer much less damage" than feared.
But environmental organisation Greenpeace detected lead, chrome and arsenic in samples taken from a tributary of the Marcal, the river Torma.
The mud -- a residue from aluminium production which is highly corrosive and contains toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and chromium -- destroyed all vegetation other than trees and seeped into hundreds of houses in villages and contaminated waterways.
A spokeswoman for the disaster relief services, Timea Petroczi, insisted that the drinking water system had not been affected, but "as a precautionary measure, people are not allowed to use the water wells".
Residents were also banned from eating any home-grown produce or from hunting or fishing in the region, she said.
Eyewitnesses say the force of the wave was so strong that cars were sucked out from their garages and it tore out windows and doors, covering everything.
"I've lost everything. We've lost everything," said one man standing in front of the remains of his house, which he said he had just spent 5,000 euros (6,900 dollars) in renovating.
Two days after the disaster, cars, debris and dead animals still littered streets and fields.
"It is still chaos here, nobody knows what to do or where to start," said one volunteer worker.
"I think it's a disgrace. Things are going so slowly. The flood was on Monday and now on Wednesday we're still waiting for orders," he said.
National police chief Jozsef Hatala said the national bureau of investigation MNY would take over the probe into the accident "given the complexity and importance of the matter".
MAL has suspended all operations at the plant amid suggestions that the spill was caused by too much sludge in the tanks.
Company chief Zoltan Bakonyi warned that if production were not resumed soon, MAL could go bankrupt.
The company is the sole large employer in the impoverished region and has a workforce of 1,100.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
Budapest (AFP) Oct 6, 2010
Hungary declared a state of emergency after a toxic mud spill swamped seven villages killing four people and injuring 120 in what officials said was the country's worst-ever chemical accident. Eight of the injured were in a serious condition and six people were missing after the walls of a reservoir of residue at an aluminium plant broke on Monday afternoon. Officials feared the death toll c ... read more
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Bollywood actor, Kunal Kapoor decided to shed more light on women issue by turning into a poet for UnErase Poetry, a community that promotes and produces spoken word poetry in Hindi and English by creating online content. The community collaborated with the actor, along with Ketto.org, which is Asia’s biggest crowd funding website, as well as My Choices Foundation, an NGO working towards the eradication of human trafficking in India, to create a campaign called #SoldBodies, in an attempt to raise awareness about forced sex slavery and human trafficking in India and, through their efforts, also raise funds for
The actor took to the stage to lend his voice and words to a cause that is affecting the country in the darkest way we know today. The video sees Kapoor standing on an empty, dimly lit stage, dressed down and basic, speaking into a mic while a guitarist lends some soul-stirring background music to enhance the meaning of his words.
Campaign Link- https://www.ketto.org/fu
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Articles in this section
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Why is there a nominal amount in my Payments tab?
Why is my card declined at toll booths & parkings?
Paying at an Automatic Gas Station / Fuel Pump
Why was my transaction cancelled?
About FX fees
How to fill out your VAT in Spendesk?
How can I get the card information after I made the payment?
Understanding payments refused due to a wrong payment terminal mode by the merchant
Payment terminals on the merchant's end need to be configured according to a specific payment method. There are generally two modes available:
- "Card Present" mode is a transaction made where the cardholder either enters their card into a payment terminal. The customer may need to use their PIN code, or swipe the card in the machine and sign the receipt.
- "Card Not Present" mode is a transaction made where the cardholder is not physically present. This is the mode that should be set for most online purchases or purchases made over the phone, for example.
The "Card Present" mode is much more common amongst suppliers, since it's both cheaper and considered less risky than the "Card Not Present" one.
When making a transaction with a Spendesk card, taking into account the specific security patterns that were set on these cards, you need to ask the merchant to select the "Card Not Present" mode instead of the "Card Present" one. Otherwise, the transaction is likely to fail!
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There are growing calls for the Food Standards Agency's powers to be strengthened to avoid a repeat of the horsemeat scandal. Labour attributes the FSA's inability to either pre-empt the problem, or to get a grip on it when it happened, to Tory cuts in 2010. These, it says, left the agency hopelessly weakened.
It's an initially attractive argument. Bolster the FSA, carry out a few more tests here, tighten labelling there, and we can all go back to eating our processed meat products with relish. But it's naive. The truth is that the FSA, set up by Labour as the nation's food safety watchdog after BSE and other food scares, was useless from its very inception.
The first FSA boss, John Krebs, set the tone when he came into the job, endorsing the "safety" of GM food and dismissing organic food as "an image-led fad". His successors have since nurtured the comfortable relationship he established with "big food" (pharmaceutical and biotech companies, global food brands, supermarket chains) while continuing to treat food campaign groups, and any organisation or voice critical of the existing food system, as the lunatic fringe.
Consequently, a top job at the FSA has marked out its incumbents not as tireless fighters for higher quality, safer food, but as prime candidates for well-paid jobs in the food industry. One example of this revolving door is Tim Smith, the agency's CEO until last October. Now, in his new role as Tesco's group technical director, he has his hands full explaining to customers why Tesco burgers and spaghetti bolognese weren't all that they seemed.
Ill-equipped by temperament or inclination to upset corporate interests, the FSA has gently cajoled the food industry into curbing its worst excesses by getting companies to sign up to voluntary agreements and promising-sounding pledges. That done, the FSA has seen its job as downplaying the risks posed by these companies' products.
So, whenever revelations about our industrialised, globalised food chain surface, the FSA can be relied upon to pipe up like a parrot with its well-rehearsed script, designed to reassure us that we can have confidence in the food we eat. Boosting trust in the existing food system, irrespective of whether it is merited, by telling us that the latest scare poses no health risk, is the only language the FSA speaks.
That strategy has become difficult to maintain, however, as the horsemeat story unfolds. New to the job, the agency's current boss, Catherine Brown, has been more candid than her predecessors when she admitted that she would not eat a Findus lasagne. This may be why in recent days the FSA has chosen to field its more bullish director of operations, Andrew Rhodes. Heaven forbid that consumers should ever pick up the slightest hint that it might be unwise to eat processed food.
But if we are ever to make any progress towards having a saner, more wholesome food system, this defence of processed food has to stop. The FSA, the government and the public health establishment must have the guts to tell us the truth: if we want to eat safe, wholesome food that won't make us fat or ill, we need to choose unprocessed ingredients and cook them ourselves.
The very essence of food processing is taking apart natural foods and reinventing them in a value-added form that is more lucrative for their makers. The horsemeat fiasco has merely provided us with a snapshot of just how under-policed, and liable to fraud and adulteration, manufactured ready meals and processed meat products really are. Yet today there are still millions of portions of "convenience" food on supermarket shelves bearing a paragraph-long list of obscure ingredients, most of which have undergone many technological interventions and crossed continents by way of a long, circuitous supply chain.
Yesterday, following days of silence, the large food retailers finally spoke – but only after criticism from Downing Street. With the exception of Morrisons, they had retreated to their bunkers. But since they are well accustomed to having the FSA acting as their faithful press officer and fielding awkward questions when food scandals arise, this is hardly surprising.
We've been encouraged to believe that it's fine to live on processed food, providing we choose low-fat, low-cal versions with green traffic lights. But it isn't. Processed food is inherently dodgy. It comes from an increasingly dysfunctional industrial food system that is rotten to the core. That's the new message the FSA needs to get across.
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The pitfalls of seeking revenge
We’ve all experienced that desire to get even with someone who’s hurt us or treated us badly. But I’m mindful of an old Chinese proverb:
"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
The message: revenge—getting even—may hurt the person seeking revenge as well as the object of the revenge.
I was reading an article about Steve Job, the visionary founder of Apple Computer, in Fast Company. It examined the time frame after Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985 and prior to his return in 1996. Jobs was bitter and wanted revenge against those who had pushed him out of Apple, according to article author Brent Schlender, a journalist who covered Jobs for decades.
Jobs’ revenge was going to be the next company he started called NeXT, which would create a great computer to challenge Apple. He brought enormous resources to starting the company, raising over $100 million. The only problem—it was a commercial failure. In his rush to get back at Apple and its top brass, he got his new company all wrong. And most important, his motivation—to get even, to show them—was a shaky foundation for building something great.
At the same time, Jobs had become interested in Pixar and ultimately bought the company. His interest in Pixar was based on his love for what the company could do. He made a couple of wrong turns with Pixar too, but ultimately he and the very talented people he had working with him succeeded in creating the blockbuster animation studio that gave us Toy Story, Finding Nemo and many more. Pixar also changed the face of animation forever.
Lesson from Steve Jobs’ life: Even for someone as brilliant as Steve Jobs, doing something because you’re motivated by revenge is not the best strategy for success.
Instead, when Steve Jobs turned his awesome talents to Pixar, he chose something he loved, stuck with it and changed the face of animation. It wasn’t that the road he traveled at Pixar didn’t have its own set of problems. At one point, he decided the company had strayed from its original mission. He fired much of the Pixar staff and focused the company on using computers to create an entirely new kind of animation, according to Schlender.
Ultimately, Jobs returned to Apple and not only pulled the company from the brink of collapse but oversaw the transformation from a company that sold personal computers to the behemoth that sits at center stage in our digital world.
Has acting out of spite or to get even ever worked for you?
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Today, heating technology has evolved, also to meet the aesthetic demands of an increasingly demanding public that has developed a more intimate relationship with its spaces than in the past.
Electric fireplaces are increasingly being used, which with their high calorific value and the total absence of odors, harmful substances and greenhouse gases, are increasingly appreciated by those who want to furnish with traditional taste and enjoy a pleasant warmth.
What Is an Electric Fireplace?
An electric fireplace is an element of home decoration that also serves as a support heating.
From an aesthetic point of view it looks like a conventional fireplace. Inside you can see fake wood or charcoal logs accompanied by a lighting system that simulates embers and a real flame in motion.
What Are Electric Fireplaces Like?
Unlike the bulky traditional wood-burning fireplaces and oil stoves, which require a large space for the combustion chamber, the installation of the extractor hood and other accessories, the electric fireplace takes up minimal space.
Basically, it is the advanced version of an electric stove, with which it shares the principle of operation, even if some optimizations have been made to make energy management more efficient.
Structure and Finishes
Its structure is practically that of a simple stainless steel frame, with finishes reminiscent of a painting, or of a traditional fireplace for some models, which contain high-power electric heating elements inside.
Electric fireplaces are usually accompanied by a forced ventilation system to allow heat to circulate and make the environment pleasant.
Realistic Flame Effect
The vast majority of models of electric fireplaces are equipped with a realistic flame simulator, which makes it visually identical to a traditional one, with the option of being able to activate the resistances and the fire effect, to adapt its use to the context.
In this way you can have the flame effect without the drawbacks of smoke, ashes and always have the wood at hand, with all the related dirt. Thanks to this technology, practically all models of electric fireplaces are 100% portable, so they can be moved wherever you prefer.
Where Are These Types of Chimneys Installed?
The electric fireplace is usually manufactured with a very limited thickness, and there are many models of built-in electric fireplace or that are designed to be installed in the wall. These inset electric fireplaces are powered by sturdy electrical cables, usually quite short, for safety reasons and which are usually concealed in the back.
Other models, however, are intended to be inserted in special furniture and are equipped with safety systems against overheating and fires, or to be installed in existing chimneys.
What Is the Consumption of an Electric Fireplace?
The consumption of an electric fireplace depends on whether the heating mode is activated or not. The electrical part of decoration, that is, the simulation of flames in which only led light is used, the consumption is about 15 watts of power.
In the heating function, the consumption can be between 1000 and 2000 W, which is approximately the same consumption as an electric radiator.
Operation of the Electric Fireplace
The electric fireplace works exactly like a normal stove. Inside, protected by safety grilles, there are some electric heating elements (normally 2000 watts), which can be activated to increase the power as needed. By circulating an electric current through the resistance, the electrons collide with the atoms of the resistance and generate heat through the Joule effect.
Unlike stoves, these resistors are usually not very visible to make room for the chimney effect. Actually, this is the main reason for choosing this technology over the others.
From the point of view of thermal power, electric stoves and fireplaces are substantially identical, while aesthetically the difference is obvious. This is because having a heat source with a flickering flame, even simulated, is very nice.
The heat transfer to the electric fireplace is carried out through a very quiet forced ventilation system, which can optionally be used to increase the circulation of hot air.
The most advanced models of electric fireplaces (in English electric fireplace) are equipped with programs that can be managed independently and therefore can be very hot with little simulated flame, etc ...
Some models of electric fireplaces available on the market are sold with a remote control to activate or deactivate the lighting, the heating system, etc.
They can also carry a touch screen to manage their operation.
What Is a Gas Fireplace?
Gas fireplaces are another alternative to wood burning fireplaces. Like electric fireplaces, they avoid the management and storage of firewood and do not generate waste.
The fuel used in gas fireplaces is butane, natural gas or propane.
The main advantage of gas fireplaces compared to electric ones is that gas is considerably cheaper than electricity. The main drawback is that you have to prepare the gas supply and that they generate greenhouse gases.
The design of gas fireplaces are also made with the appearance of traditional charcoal or wood or charcoal fireplaces with a realistic flame. Some of them allow ceramic logs to be added to give a more realistic look.
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A lot of us have a spare computer lying around. Maybe an old laptop, that still works but isn’t really suitable for most modern apps. Or, maybe you have both a desktop and laptop that you use at the same time. It’d be sweet to remote control your laptop from the desktop, but still use the laptops internal monitor. MaxiVista (http://www.maxivista.com/) makes this trivial. When you buy the software, you first install the server piece on what is referred to as the “Primary” computer. It then creates a small exe that you run on the slave computer, known as the “Secondary” computer.
When running, it takes over the secondary computer, letting you drag your applications onto it, just as if you had a true second monitor hooked up. I find this very useful when I work out on my back porch. I take my main laptop, along with an older laptop. I can then use the older laptop, which normally just sits gathering dust, as extra workspace to drag my e-mail onto. Also handy with Visual Studio, you can drag help or some of the tool windows onto it.
If you spend a few extra dollars for the Professional version (right now on sale for $27.96 US) you also get remote control. I find this VERY useful. I use it in my home office, and run the secondary program on an older desktop. I then remote control the desktop from my powerful laptop, and can offload tasks to the desktop like downloading updates or files from MSDN. All controlled from my laptop’s keyboard and mouse.
Again, if you step up to a ‘whopping’ 35 bucks (US) you can get the Mirror Pro version. This allows you mirror your machine to another computer. Think eXtreme Programming here, or maybe just code reviews. I’ve used this to mirror my desktop to a coworkers machine so we could do some code reviews. Much nicer than both of us hunched over trying to view the same monitor!
Some miscellaneous things: The Pro and Mirror Pro versions will let you control up to three secondary computers, which I have done. MaxiVista runs over a network, it is not a replacement for remote desktop control software. It’s intended for situations where all of the computers are together in the same room.
Some standard disclaimers, I do not work for MaxiVista or have any financial affiliation, I just think it’s a cool tool and endorse it with no compensation of any kind. All prices I quoted were on their website as of August 23, 2006. Prices will vary over time.
And finally, if I haven’t convinced you yet, you can download a free trial from their website. So what are you waiting for?
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October 20, 1999
PAKISTAN: MIXED REVIEWS OF MUSHARRAF'S DEBUT
Opinionmakers worldwide weighed in with mixed views on the newly installed military regime in Pakistan, where Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif just over a week ago. While most observers shed no tears over Mr. Sharif's abrupt, forced exit from the scene, a considerable number expressed reservations about the direction in which the Pakistani military would take the country. Many worried that there was now "no guarantee" that Pakistan would not use nuclear weapons against its neighbor and rival, India. Some, such as Israel's independent Jerusalem Post and an Australian daily, stressed that the takeover was a "military coup with Islamic overtones," and worried about a "nuclear-armed" Pakistan now "in the hands of coup-happy soldiers." Others, however, registered diametrically opposed opinions. Paris's right-of-center Le Figaro, for example, taking note of General Musharraf's statements on Islam as a religion which "fights against bigotry," concluded that his "surprising change in style" could mark the "beginning of a change in doctrine." Dailies in Bangladesh, Europe, and the Philippines emphasized the new regime's need to "placate international criticism" in order to keep funds flowing into Pakistan. Additional themes follow:
FROM PAKISTAN, AWAITING 'DEEDS' AND A 'TIME FRAME': Pakistani papers scrutinizing General Musharraf's address to the nation last Sunday concluded that there was "much to be welcomed" since, in the words of Karachi's centrist News, "he touched on precisely the issues that had been agitating the people." That said, however, the News and many others wondered whether Pakistan was in for a "prolonged period of military rule" since the general's remarks had fallen short of spelling out a precise time frame for a return to "true democracy." Dailies, such as right-wing, pro-Islamic unity Jasarat, likewise stressed the nation now "wants to see the practical steps the administration is taking for implementing [Mr. Musharraf's] agenda." On the positive side of the balance sheet, Pakistani pundits praised the speech for "being instrumental in allaying...apprehensions the U.S. might have...[about] the new man in power."
INDIA ASSESSES MUSHARRAF'S 'SUGAR-COATED BULLETS': The vast majority of dailies in India concluded that the "coup" in Pakistan spelled "bad news" for India. Writers there viewed Mr. Musharraf's speech with skepticism, dismissing the general's pledge to carry out a "unilateral military de-escalation" along the Indo-Pak border as "the stuff of public relations" which "said nothing about the real area of possible conflict, the Line of Control" in disputed Kashmir. Dailies also judged that Mr. Musharraf's words were "directed" at the West, and groused about Washington's purported "Pakistan-centric" policy. "The U.S. will back any of the key players in Pakistan, including an armed forces gone irremediably fundamentalist," charged the centrist Times of India.
ASSESSING U.S., INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S REACTIONS: Not surprisingly, Pakistani dailies voiced outrage that "two monstrously humbuggish groups"--the EU and the Commonwealth--had "pontificated" about the ousting of Mr. Sharif. In contrast, papers there and elsewhere concluded that the U.S.' more "measured" response indicated that Washington wants to give General Musharraf "a chance to show his cards" before passing judgment.
EDITOR: Kathleen J. Brahney
EDITOR'S NOTE: This survey is based on 64 reports from 28 countries, October 13 - 20. Editorial excerpts are grouped by region; editorials from each country are listed from the most recent date.
PAKISTAN: "Sensing The Future Course Of Pakistan"
An op-ed by Shireen M. Mazari in Karachi's centrist, national News argued (10/20): "General Musharraf's address to the nation on October 17 was significant not only in what it said, but also in what it left unsaid.... For instance, no mention was made of any envisaged time span for the restoration of 'true democracy' that the general committed to in principle. This omission was all the more stark because in their usual cacophony of ignorance, the major powers have been clamoring for the 'restoration of democracy' as soon as possible--as if the sole purpose behind the military takeover was the removal of the Sharif government and now that that had been achieved, the decaying system should be left to continue functioning as it had been.... General Musharraf has sent a clear signal to these external forces that until the country's internal institutions and domestic polity are stabilized, there can be no question of a 'restoration of democracy.'"
"A Wise Move"
The centrist, national News also had this editorial (10/20): "Any opinion on an administration's intentions must be based on its actions, not just words. On this criterion, the new military-led setup in Pakistan seems to mean business at least as far as the process of normalization with India is concerned.... Acknowledging the significance of this unilateral military CBM [i.e., the general's de-escalation announcement], President Clinton said that he was pleased over the 'conciliatory tone' of Pakistan's chief executive. Those in the West--as well as in Pakistan and India--who had feared hardline, jingoistic rhetoric from the new government must have also been reassured by Musharraf's courageous move. But this 'conciliatory tone' can go on only as long as India is willing to reciprocate.... Pakistan has hinted at a fresh approach; India must respond in the same spirit."
"Reactions To Takeover"
Lahore's center-right Nation asserted (10/20): "Foreign reaction to the army takeover in Pakistan has so far been tentative and mild. No foreign country has demanded a restoration of the ousted prime minister.... On Monday, Clinton expressed satisfaction over the conciliatory tone of the chief executive, though he simultaneously expressed disappointment over the failure to set a timetable for return to democracy. General Musharraf's TV address on Sunday was indeed instrumental in allaying a number of apprehensions the United States might have initially entertained regarding the domestic and foreign policies...of the new man in power.... Apparently, the United States wants to provide General Musharraf a chance to show his cards. While the United States and the Commonwealth countries remain firmly committed to democracy, their principal concern is safeguarding their own interests, irrespective of who is in power in Pakistan. Their commitment is to their own agenda and not to any individual ruler."
"A Reassuring Speech"
An editorial in the second-largest, Urdu-language Nawa-e-Waqt (10/20): "The general is active now on the domestic front. It is expected that he will complete his seven-point agenda quickly and return to barracks, after putting in place a democratic system free of feudal attitudes.... This way Western critics will be silenced as well."
"U.S. And Allies' Responsibility"
Popular Urdu-language Din's editorial held (10/20): "By unilaterally withdrawing its military from forward border positions, Pakistan has thrown the ball in India's court. Now it is the responsibility of the United States and its allies to make India respond positively to Pakistan's initiative."
"U.S. Ready To Give General Some Time"
Karachi's right-wing, pro-Islamic unity, Urdu-language Jasarat judged (10/20): "The United States' attitude, as compared to the U.K.'s, is quite flexible because the former realizes the geopolitical importance of Pakistan and has shown a realistic approach regarding the recent changes in Pakistan. The comments made by the U.S. ambassador the other day reveal that it does not anticipate any tensions in Pak-U.S. relations. The United States is ready to give General Musharraf some time."
"A Daunting Task"
An editorial in the centrist News maintained (10/19): "The anxiously awaited address by the country's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf has been generally well received because he touched precisely the issues that had been agitating the people. The seven-point reform agenda comprises the exact same issues and omissions that were being repeatedly stressed in the independent press."
"Musharraf's Address To The Nation"
The center-right Nation's editorial stressed (10/19): "There is much in General Pervez Musharraf's address to the nation that needs to be welcomed.... Setting forth of good aims and objectives is one thing and devising ways and means of achieving them is another. General Musharraf has announced the first step in that direction.... The question...[is] whether these tasks, some of them of a complex nature, can really be accomplished even within a relatively broad time-frame."
"Pots Calling Kettle Black"
An op-ed by Brian Cloughley in the centrist News indicated (10/19): "Two monstrously humbuggish groups pontificated about the dismissal of the rampantly corrupt Sharif regime: they are the European Union and the Commonwealth. Never reluctant to take on soft targets, both demanded immediate 'restoration' of democracy in Pakistan. They don't know what they are talking about, because there was no democracy.... Pakistan was not democratic; it is being placed on the course to democracy, and the critics should shut up until there is something to really criticize."
"Making Up For The Past"
Suroosh Irfani averred in the centrist News (10/19): "In the lived experience of Pakistan's electoral politics, democracy had become synonymous with personalized rule and shameless corruption even, as the 'elected representatives' never stopped invoking it."
"A Tough But Achievable Agenda"
The Peshawar-based, independent Frontier Post asked (10/19): "Are we looking at a prolonged period of military rule in Pakistan? This is a question that has no easy answer. Most citizens expect the military to clear the mess that the last couple of civilian governments created. This is frankly asking for the moon.
"We believe that if those who have used politics to amass fortunes were punished, it would be a great service to the nation. The ultimate objective for the present set-up ought to be this: pave the road for a new dynamic leadership to emerge."
"The Speech Is Over...Now Work, Work And Work"
Leading, mass-circulation, Urdu-language Jang noted (10/19): "The announcement regarding the immediate withdrawal of troops from Indian borders is a message to the entire world that Pakistan does not want an environment of tension in the region. This move has been welcomed internationally and now India has to take a step in this direction."
"The People Await Practical Steps"
Karachi-based, right-wing, pro-Islamic unity Jasarat insisted (10/19): "Despite the sincerity manifested in General Musharraf's speech, the nation wants to see the practical steps that his administration takes for implementing his agenda. The people have heard such flowery discourses many times in the past. Now it is the duty of the army to seek a national public consensus on various issues confronting the nation."
"Waiting For Implementation"
Sensational, Urdu-language Ummat stressed (10/19): "In a semi-literate and developing country like Pakistan the exploitation of democracy has made people weary of democrats. General Musharraf has not denied the importance of democratic values, but has promised the nation to restore a democratic system wherein the people will get their due rights."
"People Want Good Governance, Economic Revival"
An op-ed by Ismail Khan in the centrist News held (10/18): "The military has won and the political leadership, thanks to their lack of wisdom and foresight, has once again met its waterloo. Pakistan is back to square one.... The people's expectations from the new military rulers are no different from the ones they had from the deposed prime minister--good governance, corruption-free administration and economic revival."
"A Government Of Technocrats?"
An editorial in the center-right Nation contended (10/18): "Restructuring of the economy is overdue. But whether it can be done within a short time frame, is in some doubt. That brings us to the question: What time frame does the military have in mind to set things right?... Most of our so-called technocrats carry political baggage of one kind or another."
"U.S., Western Pressure And Government's Responsibility"
Second-largest circulation, Urdu-language Nawa-e-Waqt told its readers (10/17): "Through pressure and temptation, the United States is trying to trap Pakistan.... General Pervez Musharraf and his associates, like brave soldiers, have to reject these pressures and take the nation into confidence to receive their complete voluntary support."
"Nawaz Sharif's Treason Is Inexcusable"
According to an editorial in Islamabad's popular, Urdu-language Ausaf (10/17): "After the Washington declaration, the primary importance the United States attached was...the sanctity of the Line of Control. Our naive and sacked prime minister and nation's bloodsucker leech, Sartaj Aziz, surrendered to this [U.S.] command....
"If Nawaz Sharif had not been sacked, we can say with great certainty, that they would have, somehow, completed this mission [of dividing Kashmir into two parts]."
"The Real Test"
Readers of the centrist News saw this editorial (10/16): "The road map for a return to 'real democracy' must...be announced to prevent any misgivings on this crucial count.... The ultimate objective of restoring democracy must not be lost sight of. Otherwise, as in the past, the effort will have been in vain."
"State Of Emergency"
In the editorial view of the center-right Nation (10/16): "What worries one...is that [the decree] has not specified the time limit for [military] rule."
"Broad-Based National Government"
An op-ed piece in the Islamabad-based, popular Urdu-language Ausaf held (10/15): "The future of the country rests on the formation of a broad-based national government, which could be formed within or outside of the [existing] assembly."
"The National Imperative"
An editorial in the centrist national News contended (10/15), "There is no substitute for democracy, particularly for a country as diverse as Pakistan. Nonetheless there is a consensus also in the sad fact that the democratic experience of the past three years in particular, compels that a special and concerted effort be made to address the key outstanding problems facing the country. Without doing that, Pakistan cannot move forward."
"Need For Accountability"
An editorial in Islamabad's rightist, English-language Pakistan Observer said (10/15): "People want the launching of a ruthless process of accountability to retrieve the looted national wealth from all those who mercilessly plundered the resources of the country--be they from the PPP or PML, or any other party or group.... Now it is up to the army leadership to find ways and means to realize this longstanding demand of the masses."
INDIA: "A Small Step For Mankind"
The right-of-center Indian Express had this editorial (10/20): "Pakistan is stalled in a strange bend in the road, not knowing whether it is under martial law or not. And despite the initial overtures of its new chief executive, India is not sure how to treat Pakistan. The withdrawal of troops from the international border is the stuff of public relations, because Musharraf has said nothing about the real area of possible conflict, the Line of Control.... The problematic area is Kashmir, and there he has committed himself to the familiar policy of offering moral and diplomatic support to the putative freedom fighters.... In effect, he has not given any indication that he is interested in a meaningful dialogue. He is continuing in the best traditions of Indian-Pakistan diplomacy and directing his words at the Western world.... And it seems to have worked with the principal audience...the United States.... Until Musharraf talks explicitly about his intentions and schedule for change, he will have neither the cooperation of the people of Pakistan not that of his immediate neighbor."
"Musharraf Avoids Cures, Prescribes Placebos"
The centrist Times of India featured this analysis (10/20): "The new dictator of Pakistan...has offered India sugar-coated bullets in his Sunday address.... He announced CBMs cleverly designed to have international resonance despite having zero positive impact on the ground situation.... Even the limited withdrawal mentioned is from the jump-off positions that the Pakistan army had occupied since the Kargil air strikes.... The Vajpayee team's education in Clinton administration biases has been furthered by Washington's tepid response to the overthrow of a democratic regime with close links to it.... The surprise in New Delhi indicates that there is an inability to accept that Washington pursues a Pakistan-centric policy in the subcontinent and not (as was assumed) a Nawaz-based one. Thus the United States will back any of the key players in Pakistan, including an armed forces gone irremediably fundamentalist. This combination of covert Musharraf belligerence and visible Clintonite gullibility will provide difficult moments ahead for Indian diplomacy, as the country gets pressured again to match sham Pakistani 'concessions' with substantive Indian ones."
"Beyond Half Measures"
An editorial in the centrist Hindu said (10/20): "Pakistan's new strong man, General Musharraf, should go beyond the half measures that he has announced in his much-delayed address to the nation..... Much like his professed commitment to the democratic path, which is meaningless in the absence of an accomnpanying timeframe...the unilateral military de-escalation along the international border with India can turn out to be nothing more than empty rhetoric without a promise of action to ease the tension over the more volatile Line of Control that divides Kashmir.... New Delhi...views the coup as a major setback to plans to move on the bilateral track.... The bilateral dialogue must...continue to remain suspended.... The international community...must press for the restoration of civilian rule at the earliest. Washington, whose initial reaction to the coup was to call for a return to democracy, seems to be reviewing its hardline attitude even as it tightens mandated economic sanctions.... General Musharraf...must realize that the present honeymoon with his long suffering people, who seem to have accepted his coup for now, can sour as quickly. There is no enduring alternative to democracy."
Pundit K. Subrahmanyam penned this analysis in the centrist Times of India (10/18): "Sovereignty does not vest in the people of Pakistan as in a secular democracy, but in Allah. The Pakistani Army does not, therefore, have the basic democratic orientation in which it would consider itself as an apolitical instrumentality of a democratic state. Most Pakistanis, in fact, believe that the army is the ultimate arbiter in the affairs of the state.... The army in Pakistan needs India as an enemy to enable it to play the role of an ideological guardian. It is not in the interest of the Pakistan army to have amicable relations between the two countries. Therefore, Kargil happened, and the logical consequence of Kargil is a fourth spell of martial law, though it may not be called by that name."
The right-of-center Indian Express insisted (10/16): "By suspending the constitution and placing the affairs of his nation under the control of the armed forces, Pakistan Army Chief Pervez Musharraf has nudged his people into yet another dark age.... This week's coup d'etat has conclusively ended [Pakistan's] hesitant experiment in laying the foundations for civil society.... The very fact that the genesis of the coup is traced to Sharif's July retreat from Kargil portends an extended bout of high alert on the border. It also indicates that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's intent to revive the Lahore process will have to be shelved for some time. Yet even as vigilance is stepped up, New Delhi has no option but to constructively engage Islamabad in CBMs, no matter how tenuous the confidence they offer....
"The West...too, will have to walk a tightrope, balancing the impulse to refuse to do business with the generals and the need to negotiate restraint."
"One Coup Over The Sharif's Nest"
The centrist Times of India featured this analysis (10/17): "Is an army takeover the legitimate answer to a 'failed state?'.... There appears to be widespread acceptance of boot rule [in Pakistan.]... Those who naively believed that military coups were a thing of the past and that democratic processes had taken root in Pakistan have been proved wrong.... Today, the issue for Pakistan-watchers is not whether a civilian government is put in place or not under American pressure, but the very survival of democratic institutions.... Having experienced repression under various martial law regimes, the people have remained mute spectators to the army moving into the corridors of power. This is understandable, though disconcerting. What one cannot comprehend is the ill considered responses of the political elite."
"Martial Law Again"
An editorial in the centrist Times of India emphasized (10/16): "A nuclear Pakistan cannot be allowed to fail economically and, therefore, General Musharraf can be fully confident that the United States has no choice but to come to terms with him. The sole superpower of the unipolar world has to watch its options vis-a-vis a nuclear-armed Pakistan army. Pakistani nuclear arms are an effective deterrent against U.S. pressures on its army."
"Coup In Pakistan Is Bad News For India"
Brahma Chellaney, independent adviser to India's National Security Council, wrote in the centrist Asian Age (10/15): "India will have to guard against a possible increase in covert Pakistani aggression, especially in Kashmir. The coup has strengthened elements who saw Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil as a capitulation to U.S. pressure and are determined to take on India.... Links between the Taliban and the Pakistani army are likely to grow stronger.... The star-crossed U.S. presidential visit to South Asia is being called upon to negotiate yet another roadblock, the military coup in Pakistan and its unfolding aftermath.... The presidential visit...is once again in jeopardy. The visit cannot obviously take place if democracy continues to be banished.... The United States still has clout over the Pakistani army...but the end of the Western interest in Afghanistan and the strengthening of sanctions have led to a dwindling number of Pakistani officers training in the United States.... Falling short of the ideal [of a return to civilian rule,] however, the United States would like to settle for a military-civilian government, again necessarily as a short-term arrangement, allowing the collapsing economy a breathing space to recover its balance."
BANGLADESH: "Pak Army Shows Its Claws"
The independent Daily Star observed (10/16): "Now that the army has taken full control of [Pakistan], the thing to watch is the policies it will follow.... The main issue is the revival of the economy, for which the army will need international support which may not be forthcoming without a clear timetable on restoring democracy by holding a free and fair election."
NEPAL: "Restore Democracy"
Government-owned Rising Nepal held (10/15): "Whatever the army's plans...it will certainly not be the interest of Pakistan to keep at bay too long the process to restore democracy there. Pakistanis deserve to have democracy just as most other South Asians do."
SRI LANKA: "The Most Dangerous Place On Earth"
An op-ed by Dayan Jayatilleka in the independent Weekend Express judged (10/16-17): "Out in the border areas, the chickens have come home to roost from Pakistan's days as a U.S. proxy in the new Cold War, in which the ISI, (the Pakistani Intelligence Services) were the patrons of various militant Islamic Afghan organizations. Indeed the fiercely fundamentalist and totalitarian Taliban itself is said to have been a creation of the ISI.... Pakistan succeeded in pushing Kashmir back into the international headlines. More importantly though, it lost the support of a traditional ally, the United States, which...'tilted' toward India. Islamabad has succeeded in putting Kashmir on Washington's front-burner or thereabouts. Meanwhile, there is no up side for Sri Lanka. We live in the little shack at the foot of the sub-continental volcano."
BRITAIN: "Harsh And Hasty"
The conservative Times had this editorial view (10/19): "Yesterday's suspension of Pakistan from the Commonwealth was both harsh and hasty. Instant expulsion was the toughest possible response.... Pakistan's situation is genuinely unusual. General Musharraf took power illegally. Yet the previous elected leader had spent two years systematically undermining every institution of democracy and condoning corruption that brought Pakistan close to bankruptcy.... General Musharraf's first steps--a crackdown on corruption, an easing of military tensions with India, and attempts to reassure the world that he can bring in democracy by the back door--are encouraging. The speed and severity with which Britain and Commonwealth have turned on Pakistan are startling.... The punitive decision will make it easier for richer bodies, including the IMF, to rush to impose sanctions on a state near bankruptcy--a recipe for disaster."
"Time And The General"
The conservative Times' editorial stressed (10/18): "General Pervez Musharraf's nationwide address yesterday...was clearly aimed at Washington and the outside world. Indeed, he went out of his way to underline his wish for friendly relations with the United States and insisted that Pakistan would continue its foreign policy unchanged, observing all commitments and obligations. His speech...was a sober, reasoned challenge to his countrymen.... He deserves to be heard. On virtually all matters, what he said was sensible... But General Musharraf knows that whatever he does to tighten up fiscal law, ensure clean government and fill the interim administration with competent technocrats, there is little he can do if his country goes bankrupt. And that depends largely on others. If America and the Commonwealth introduce sanctions, and if the IMF cuts off vital aid, the floundering country will sink deeper into chaos and despair.... Rather than restoring civilian government quickly, in this case it would make more sense to allow Pakistan a little time to revive democratic institutions battered by years of abuse."
"General Promises In Pakistan"
The lead editorial in the independent Financial Times concluded (10/18): "There is clearly some sympathy in Pakistan and in the outside world for what the general has done. Mr. Sharif was a disgrace to the country that had elected him.... The danger is that the lack of preparedness that showed through yesterday will lead to a sense of drift in which the military eventually has no option but to tighten rather than relax its grip. If that happens, Pakistan's plight could still be even worse than it was before."
"Blundering Into Danger"
The liberal Guardian opined (10/15): "The new military ruler of Pakistan appears, quite literally, to have lost the plot. Mr. Sharif may be a rogue. But he is an elected rogue."
FRANCE: "New Trend Against Bigotry"
Patrick de Saint-Exupery argued in right-of-center Le Figaro (10/19): "The speech by the new master of Islamabad, General Musharraf, in which he reminds everyone that the principles of Islam is to fight against bigotry, is a change in style. Coming from a leader of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, these remarks come as a surprise. It is the first time that a high military official, who has become a national leader, sends out such a warning. Although he is most certainly sending a message to the Western world, the warning can also be interpreted as the beginning of a change in doctrine."
GERMANY: "Wait And See"
Right-of-center Frankfurter Allgemeine carried this commentary (10/19): "While U.S. President Clinton was expressing disappointment that the new regime in Pakistan had not proposed a timetable for the return to democracy, Clinton's representative in Islamabad was praising Musharraf's 'patriotic motives.' The split reaction accurately reflects the dilemma facing the West and the United States in its dealings with the newly militarized country. On the one hand, there is no room in today's world for military dictatorships that turn democratic processes on and off as they wish. On the other hand, nobody should pretend that deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was a shining beacon in the fight against corruption and inefficiency. And there is no arguing that the U.S. administration at least weakened Sharif's position when it sent him scurrying back home like a schoolboy during the Kashmir crisis with precise instructions, thus turning the military against him. Pakistan depends more than ever before on financial assistance from abroad. But the new rulers have got to earn it, i.e., by pursuing a moderate foreign policy course. The partial military withdrawal from the border to India is a sign that Musharraf may have understood at least that."
Michael Stuermer opined in right-of-center Die Welt of Berlin (10/19): "The world cannot be indifferent to the question of where things go from here in Pakistan. The Commonwealth states consider expulsion, which could have consequences for the game of cricket, and Mrs. Albright calls for a return to democracy, as if such a thing had ever existed in Islamabad. Pakistan's problems are too big for simple answers. In terms of Pakistani affairs, there is no relying on democracy in the country. What the country needs is a technocracy that will lead it into the modern age in areas ranging from land and tax reform to the registration of voters and campaign fund control. Whether it is appropriate for the military...to assume this role is questionable. Most important of all for the moment, the military must realize the urgency of all things nuclear and exercise the kind of moderation necessary for a nuclear power."
"Return To Democracy Is Pakistan's Only Recourse"
Centrist Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of Essen maintained (10/18): "If one recalls that Pakistan has never made much progress under the military, then the only recourse left is a return to democracy, as underdeveloped as it may be in Pakistan."
ITALY: "Clinton Opens To Pakistan"
An unsigned analysis in leading business Il Sole-24 Ore held (10/19): "On target, the speech by Pakistan Executive Chief Pervez Musharraf...has prompted the interest of the White House.
"President of the United States Bill Clinton greeted with satisfaction the General's remarks and subsequent withdrawal of his troops from the borders.... The British Commonwealth has reacted differently.... But the signals coming from Washington are certainly Musharraf's first diplomatic success."
"The 'Non-Nation' That Frightens The World"
Gianni Sofri judged in pro-DS (leading government party) L'Unita (10/17): "The Pakistani generals who carried out the coup do not love the United States...[but] in the short term, Pakistan will need the United States in order to obtain IMF funds, while the United States will need Pakistan in order to control international Islamic terrorism, which represents a threat to Pakistan's stability as well."
RUSSIA: "West Won't Sink Ally"
Dmitry Babich remarked in reformist weekly Moskovskiye Novosti (10/20): "All that General [Musharraf] risks by suspending democracy is being left without vital Western loans. But then, the Americans began to lose patience with Pakistan long before the coup.... The Pakistani elite hopes that the West will not 'sink' its former ally altogether."
Aleksei Tamilin observed in centrist Nezavisimaya Gazeta (10/19): "[General Musharraf] poses as a liberal and moderate leader favoring the coexistence of all confessions. From the Pakistani military, it is a quite unusual statement.... For the first time in Pakistan's history, a general speaks of democracy and, most importantly, a 'de-escalation' of military actions against India.... Even though Islamic extremists and Kashmir militants rejoice, it is perhaps for the first time, some observers in Pakistan note, that military rule may have a positive effect."
"Pakistan Cannot Do Without Foreign Aid"
Sergei Guly pointed out in reformist Noviye Izvestiya (10/19): "The new regime cannot improve the economy without outside aid. The Clinton administration's sympathizing with Musharraf is not enough to make the international community come around."
"Military Regimes Only Make Problems Worse"
Aleksei Tamilin filed from New Delhi for centrist Nezavisimaya Gazeta (10/16): "Now that General Musharraf has become the chief military administrator and sole ruler of Pakistan, it is clear that the 'internal jihad' forces have won. Nobody in South Asia and around it can feel safe now.... It is commonly known that military regimes never solve internal problems--they only make them worse. The Musharraf regime is no exception."
BELGIUM: "U.S. Annoyed By Friend Pakistan"
Foreign affairs writer Freddy De Pauw pointed out in independent Catholic De Standaard (10/16): "There is a chance that, just like earlier rulers, [General Musharraf] will seek good relations with the United States. Washington hopes that it may prevent new adventures by exercising pressure through the IMF. Pakistan urgently needs new credits. However, that was also the case in the spring when Pakistani troops invaded India's part of Kashmir and gave the start for the current crisis."
KAZAKHSTAN: "Nobody Can Guarantee Security"
Independent NTK TV daily news (10/14) opined: "Taking into account the unpredictable behavior of Pakistani military leaders, nobody can guarantee that they will not use nuclear weapons during the next irritation in Pakistani-Indian relations.... General Musharaf is one of most aggressive politicians towards India."
FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: "A Spontaneous Act"
Liberal, independent Makedonija Denes observed (10/15): "The 'pots and pans' of the government are divided, some of them are civilian, the others military. Their relations are strictly defined. Musharraf can say that 'it is stable and quiet on the streets of Islamabad' and that the situation is under control, but the fact that he broke the fundamental, indisputable democratic principle will always sit on his shoulder. His 'good will' towards an election of a legitimate leadership instead of unconstitutional military rule does not absolve him from his spontaneous act. The new leaders of Pakistan cannot be better than Sharif's men, whatever Sharif's sins."
"The Generals Are Doing Another Round"
Left-of-center Utrinski Vesnik ran this analysis by Dimitar Culev, the paper's foreign affairs specialist, who judged (10/15): "What is especially disturbing to the rest of the world...is that no one can remember that a military regime in Pakistan brought some good to the relations between the two subcontinent's powers."
NORWAY: "Dreary Times In Pakistan"
Leading, conservative Aftenposten insisted (10/19): "For long Pakistan has been a misruled country, where politics have been stuck in corruption that permeates the society, abuse of power, religious fanaticism and putting aside of ordinary people's needs.... Other countries have urgently requested the coup generals to reinstate civilian rule. If they, contrary to expectations, were to follow the requests, the road for Pakistan would still be long because the civilian politicians have been just as bad as the military."
POLAND: "Salvation Through A Coup?"
Adam Szostkiewicz posed these questions in center-left weekly Polityka (10/20): " The most important question now is how Pakistan will try to overcome the crisis: through another military dictatorship or by giving power to the civilians soon? Will Pakistan flex its muscles in front of India, where a belligerent mood also prevails and where power after the recent elections is still in the hands of anti-Muslim nationalists? Or will it aim at improving the management of the state and control Islamists?"
SWEDEN: "A Nuclear Power In Political Chaos"
The independent, liberal Stockholm morning daily Dagens Nyheter stated (10/14),
"No one wants a chaotic Pakistan--a nightmare in Western capitals.... It is obvious that efforts to reduce nuclear weapons and to strengthen arms control must be intensified. The problem is that, in this regard, there is now a lull...and responsibility for this to a great extent rests with Russia, Great Britain, France, China, and not least the United States of America, where policies have given India and Pakistan the arguments which they needed to develop their own weapons. A breakthrough is badly needed and the five (major powers) must lead the way.... It is said that the control of nuclear arms will not be affected by the coup. This statement is not a thoroughly calming one."
THE NETHERLANDS: "Keep Watch On The General"
Centrist Algemeen Dagblad has this editorial (10/19): "General Musharraf, who took over the power in Pakistan, deserves to be received with suspicion. Not only because he committed a coup against a government that was elected in a proper way, but also because of his plans for the future, which include that the military will stay in power as long as necessary. He wants peace with India but at the same time he expressed absolute support to the brothers in Kashmir. Such support is not in accordance with his approach toward India."
TURKEY: "Pakistani-Style Democracy"
Oktay Eksi penned this front-page editorial in mass-appeal Hurriyet (10/19): "The justification for the military coup is typical nonsense.... The military regime leaders are talking about saving the country from its political, economic, as well as institutional corruption.... If such a preservation had actually existed, Pakistan would have already been saved from all its troubles after undergoing its previous military regimes... After suffering from the corrupted civilian politicians, it seems the people of Pakistan are now going to suffer from the military."
ISRAEL: "Pakistan Moves Backwards"
The independent Jerusalem Post had this lead editorial (10/17): "It is dubious whether Pakistan has ever embraced the democracy it often loudly boasted of. Since its founding 52 years ago, its governments have been run by the military or bullied by the military. Now this bad-tempered mess of a nuclear-armed country has fallen once again into the hands of coup-happy soldiers.... The military has taken over an unstable country with a tendency to fundamentalism that only last year became openly nuclear. This year it initiated a dangerous war over divided Kashmir, only to climb down under pressure from Washington in a way that has led directly to the disgruntled General Pervez Musharraf overthrowing the government. Unfortunately, at a time when the United States needed some firm moral high ground on which to stand to denounce this attack on democracy, the Republican-dominated Senate was busy blocking ratification of the CTBT. The authority of a U.S.-backed test ban might have slowed down the India-Pakistan arms race, but as one satirical columnist said, the message from Washington might as well be 'we don't care if Third World states blow themselves up.'"
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC
AUSTRALIA: "Canberra Has No One To Talk To In Pakistan"
The liberal Sydney Morning Herald ran this commentary (10/19): "In Pakistan, Australia is way off the pace.... For Australia, the problem lies in a decision to cut off all ties with Pakistan's military, imposed after last year's nuclear tests, which led to the withdrawal of Australia defense attaches from New Delhi and Islamabad. Their absence has robbed Australia of specialist advice on the ground in both countries at a time of crucial military developments.... East Timor is obviously a preoccupation, but if Canberra wants a larger role in regional affairs, it needs to learn to deal with more than one issue simultaneously. The coup has been broadly welcomed in Pakistan as a much need circuit-breaker after years of debilitating political instability."
"Evidence Of Islam's Growth"
The business-oriented Australian Financial Review's Internet version had this editorial (10/13): "Coups have been a recurrent feature of Pakistani political life, a symptom of the country's inability to develop representative institutions. The army has been brutal, corrupt and inept, but it is also Pakistan's only truly national organization.
"However, the overthrow of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League government by the Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf, was different: a military coup with Islamic overtones.... The Pakistan Army suffered professional and religious humiliation as a result of Sharif's decision to end the incursion by Kashmiri fighters and Pakistani regular soldiers in May. General Musharraf may not be about to relaunch the venture, but he will be looking for other ways to repay India."
JAPAN: "Pakistan's Military Junta Mindful Of International Criticism"
Conservative Sankei's Islamabad correspondent Utsunomiya remarked (10/18): "From now on, the focus of international attention will be shifting to what extent, when or how General Musharraf will implement his pledge of handing the reins of government over to a democratically elected civilian government.... General Musharraf had no choice but to make a speech to placate international criticism, well aware that his country needs international assistance to overcome the present economic crisis. In reality, however, the top army general sees the need to impose military rule until his regime can nip a possible pro-Sharif counter-movement in the bud. Such being the case, he will have to enforce military rule for more time to come."
PHILIPPINES: "Dilemma Posed By The Coup"
University of the Philippine Sociology professor Randolph David Observed in the independent Philippine Daily Inquirer (10/17): "The Pakistanis know that military rule is not the answer to the problems of modern Pakistan. The generals are too fearful of international opinion, and would rather leave the governing to civilians. But as elsewhere in the world, the greatest danger to civilian rule is no longer military ambition but the corruption and unfitness of civilian leaders."
NIGERIA: "World Community Should Frustrate Military In Pakistan"
The Lagos-based, independent Daily Champion held (10/15): "Even as democracy is the first casualty in this military adventure, the ultimate sufferers will be the Pakistani people whose will to be governed by those duly elected by them has been undermined by a self righteous military sustained and equipped from the sweat of the same people.... The international community has a very urgent role to play in the present development. It is commendable that the United States, Britain and India have expressed reservations over the coup in Pakistan. Beyond that reservation, the international community must make these military adventurers outcasts from a civilized world community. Sanctions must, without delay or equivocation, be slammed on Pakistan by all peace loving and civilized democratic nations."
SOUTH AFRICA: "Clear Setback For Democracy"
The centrist Pretoria News opined (10/15): "The military coup in Pakistan--a clear setback for democracy--is all the more cause for regret because the generals there, having frightened off foreign investors, are themselves in no position at all to solve the country's mounting economic and social problems. Whatever happens next, Pakistan is likely to be facing some hard times.... Already the unambiguous message has gone out that a military coup is every bit as hateful to the world today as any regime it may purport to be getting rid of.... Thus far, experts have been playing down the fears of an all-out conflict on the Indian subcontinent. But they have also noted that, if world ostracism impoverishes Pakistan further, the generals will doubtless do whatever they can to raise hard currency--including selling their nuclear technology to certain Middle Eastern countries."
"Remarkable Reaction Of The Interantional Community"
Liberal, independent Cape Times editorialized (10/15): "The world has finally recognized that even the most well-intentioned, responsible, and benign military state is less desirable than a democratic one--no matter what the shortcomings of the leadership of the latter. The military leadership would be well advised to ensure that the coup remains bloodless and that a return to civilian rule is not delayed."
"The Wider Implications"
Afrikaan-language, centrist Beeld averred (10/15): "If we allow democratically elected governments to be brought down through undemocratic means, no election will be worth the paper on which those little crosses are signed."
ZIMBABWE: "Punish The Plotters"
An editorial in the government-controlled Daily Herald held (10/15): "The military coup in Pakistan...comes as a shocking reminder of the past we would all want to leave behind.... Pakistan may be thousands of miles away from us but the military coup there bothers us, just as much as it does the rest of the world. It threatens democracy and may serve to encourage other errant generals to do the same.... All governments and multilateral organizations should not only unanimously condemn military coups, but also take action. It should be made very clear to coup makers that they will not be tolerated but will be isolated and forced out of power.... The IMF and the EU must be congratulated for promising to cut aid. But they should go right ahead and do that. There should be immediate punishment and no deadlines.... This generation has the duty to ensure that military coups do not spill over and haunt us in the twenty-first century."
ARGENTINA: "Rising Tensions"
Liberal Folha de Sao Paulo had this editorial (10/16): "It seems that the destiny of the rare and precarious Pakistani democratic experience and the political stability of the area will depend on international pressure. For now, the only pressure that may take General Pervaiz Musharraf back to the barracks does not come from the UN, but from the IMF, whose money Pakistan desperately needs."
BRAZIL: "Another Coup In Pakistan"
A byliner in independent Jornal da Tarde by Ambassador Antonio Amaral de Sampaio concluded (10/19): "Now the emerging danger is that the new government of Islamabad decides to follow the route of revenge. The Kashmir issue persists in accentuating the hostility between the two neighbors, a situation now aggravated by the predominance of the Islamic fundamentalists in that Indian province.... The best perspective would be for the military to quickly call for elections and also that they abstain from provoking India. Presumably the Bhutto's clan, represented by Benazir, would take office again.... Would this lady, linked to the local mafia, have the power and the will to halt the march of Islamic fundamentalism, put a brake on its generals and establish a harmonious relationship with India?"
CHILE: "Pakistan And The U.S."
In its weekly round-up column, influential, conservative El Mercurio emphasized (10/18): "[Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz] Sharif's fall has made evident the loss of power of the United States among Pakistan's military."
COSTA RICA: "The Pakistani Threat"
Conservative La Republica asserted (10/18): "The coup...has produced a dangerous situation that...could cause serious problems for all of humanity.... It is important that Pakistan re-establish constitutional order, have civil government and that the army return to barracks, in order to revive peace talks on Kashmir and avoid the possibility of an immeasurable tragedy."
VENEZUELA: "Allies Cause Just As Many Headaches For U.S."
Leading, liberal El Nacional carried this editorial comment (10/15): "The United States faces a serious dilemma: face a coup that is unacceptable for the world, that violates the United States' doctrines and its international preaching, or to not distance itself from the Pakistani military, since this is the only alternative to keep the region from going out of control. With a de facto government, it will be much more complicated to advance the peace process with India and avoid a new crisis in the Kashmir."
For more information, please contact:
U.S. Department of State
Office of Research
Telephone: (202) 619-6511
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The current population of Craig County is 5,468 with the median age of 45. Craig County's median household income is $57,702, and the average household net worth is $388,590. 15% of Craig County's population are long term residents having lived in their homes for more than 5 years, while 45% of Craig County's population have moved in the last year.
|Craig County||Virginia||United States|
|Median Household Income||$57,702||$64,876||$52,961|
|Average Household Net Worth||$388,590||$569,301||$495,853|
|Long-term Residents (5+ years)||15%||33%||35%|
|Median Age||45 years||37 years||37 years|
Age distribution represents the distribution of the population in Craig County by age group. In Craig County, the male-to-female ratio is 2,702:2,766, which is 2% higher than the ratio of Virginia, which is 4,016,617:4,186,231. Age demographic data is sourced from census, 2014.
Crime rate index represents the average crime rate for a local area in comparison to nearby areas and the national average. A crime index of 100 represents the national average. Craig County, has 73% less property crime than Virginia, and is 80% below the nation’s average. Craig County, has 69% less personal crime than Virginia and when compared to that of United States, Craig County is 82% below the national average.
Marital status represents the percent of residents in Craig County that are single, married, widowed and divorced. In Craig County, 81% of people are married and 19% of people are single. The percent of people married is 6% higher than the ratio of Virginia, which is 75%. Marital data is sourced from census, 2014.
Household income distribution represents the distribution of Craig County income brackets at the household level. Overall, the median household income for Craig County is $57,702, which is 11% lower than that of Virginia ($64,876). Income data for Craig County is sourced from census, 2014.
Education data represents the highest level of education attained by residents in Craig County. In Craig County, 11% of residents 18 and over graduated from high school and 15% completed a Bachelor’s degree or higher, which is 19% lower than that of Virginia. Education statistics is sourced from census, 2014.
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What is PE protective film?
After each product is generated and completed, some external packaging is required to prevent the product from being subjected to some external force, resulting in some wear and loss. Therefore, protective shells, protective films and other products can often be seen in life or work. Protective film is one of them. Different products require different protective films for protection, depending on the material of the product.
In our daily life, the most common protective film is nothing but food protective film and related protective film of electronic products, today focused on the introduction of PE protective film, which is an essential part of the protection of industrial products. In fact, the use of PE protective film is more extensive, such as the computer industry in the hardware industry, solar panels, glass, etc., the optoelectronics industry in the backlight board, cold light film, mobile phone screen, the plastic industry in the instrument, acrylic Boards, etc., as well as printing industry, wire and cable industry, electronics industry and mobile phone digital industry and so on.
PE protective film is made of polyethylene, but depending on the density, it can be subdivided into high-density polyethylene protective film, medium-density polyethylene film, and low-density polyethylene film. It is the most common organic structure. The polymer compound is also the most widely used polymer material today. This kind of protective film has its own advantages, for example, it can protect some products from being contaminated, worn, etc. at the time of production or processing, and can protect the original smooth surface.
PE protective film applications
Why should commodity packaging materials choose protective film? One of the important added value of commodity packaging to enhance the value of the commodity is that the commodity will be packaged in the process of storage, transportation and handling of the commodity. The choice of packaging material has a lot of space. Generally, there are paper, metal, wood, plastic, rattan, etc. Among them, plastic and metal are the most widely used, and plastic and paper are the most convenient. Therefore, in the packaging industry, as a representative of plastic packaging materials, protective film is the most widely used and most convenient packaging material in the commodity packaging industry.
The protective film has many materials. There are many kinds of products with thickness and viscosity under the material. The commonly used protective film materials are PE, PET, PVC, OPP, CPP, POF, BOPP, PC, etc. There is always a suitable product. Packaging, and many kinds of protective film are often used in electronics, aerospace and other sophisticated high-tech fields. Merchants can test and select the appropriate protective film packaging according to the characteristics and performance of their own products. Most of the handicrafts and general merchandise are PE protective film, LCD TVs, mobile phones and other digital products require a PET protective film, and ordinary packaging and transportation use stretch film.
Why do PE Protective Film Leave Adhesive Residue?
1. Peel strength changes over time
No matter how high the surface gloss, the surface of the object is distributed with many tiny holes that are hard to see by the naked eye. Although pressure-sensitive adhesives are cross-linked, they still have some deformation and fluidity, especially those that are not involved in cross-linking.
As time goes on, the pressure-sensitive adhesive gradually penetrates into the gap to form an “anchor.” In addition, when the pe protective film is attached, although the pressure is relatively large, the contact area between the pressure sensitive adhesive and the surface of the material is not large, and the contact area gradually increases with the passage of time, and the pe protective film is protected from the surface to be protected. The force has also gradually increased. Both effects increase the peel strength over time.
2. Aging mechanism
The main chain of acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive is a saturated chain, and it is difficult for general heat to break the main chain. The aging mechanism is mainly ultraviolet light aging; the aging of the substrate is mainly ultraviolet light aging. The normal use temperature has little effect on its aging performance, but the influence of ultraviolet light is greater. However, under the dual effects of heat and ultraviolet light, there is a synergistic aging effect.
3. Similar Compatibility Mechanism
Acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives are relatively polar materials, and are easily compatible with polar materials such as acrylics, polyesters, and polyurethanes, and it is difficult to remove the pe protective film. Sometimes small molecules that are not involved in cross-linking with pressure-sensitive adhesives tend to accumulate on the surface. If there is a large interaction between the protected surface material and these small molecules, small molecules will migrate and remain.
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Post time: Apr-13-2018
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I'll admit that my decision to do so was guided largely by the media fanfare that surrounded the its release. This record was, apparently, a landmark collection of music from an obscure mid-century blues hero who had managed to elude recognition from the general public while accruing an esoteric cult following amongst an artistic vanguard who giddily testified to its mindbending wonder: "The innovation and possibility in this music leaves me speechless!" quoth Beck! "A revelation!" exclaimed Leonard Cohen! "Marvin is good! gushed Angelique Kidjo! "In my formative years, as an aspiring bass player, there was nothing I listened to more than Marvin Pontiac!" swore the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea!
But if the Marvin Pontiac fan club had a president, it was undoubtedly New York composer, actor and painter John Lurie, who spoke earnestly about discovering Pontiac's music as a teen in western Massachusetts, learning to play the harmonica by listening to his records and even once meeting his reclusive hero during a trip to Detroit. Having learned that the rights to Pontiac's music were available, Lurie recounted, he wasted no time in acquiring them, personally compiling and releasing the Greatest Hits package on his own Strange and Beautiful Music label.
Magazine features tended to focus on the... quirkier aspects of Pontiac's short life: Born in Detroit in 1932 as Marvin Toure, son of a Jewish mother and a Malian father (who changed the family name to "Pontiac" because he thought it sounded solidly American). When Marvin was four, his psychologically fragile mother was institutionalized and his father took him to live in Bamako for the next several years. Upon returning to the US at age 15, he played guitar and harmonica in Chicago clubs alongside the likes of Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, but his burgeoning musical career hit a bump, though, after a brawl with local harmonica player Little Walter, who accused him of stealing his harp technique. The humiliation of catching an ass-whupping from the diminutive Walter drove Pontiac out of Chicago and to Lubbock, Texas, where he worked as a plumber's assistant, allegedly got involved in a bank robbery and possibly did a bid on a chain gang.
He gave music another go in the early 1950s, recording a series of sides that melded his American and African music influences in a proto-worldbeat fusion that enjoyed some degree of success in various regional markets. But Marvin's career was hamstrung once again, this time due to his increasingly eccentric behavior: He refused to record for record labels unless the label chief came over and mowed his lawn. He was arrested for bicycling in the nude. He maintained that he had been abducted and brutally probed by alien lifeforms. By the early 1970s, he was residing in a mental hospital, where he took to dressing in the Malian garb he recalled from his childhood; the sole existing photos of Marvin Pontiac were taken during this period--they depict a tall black man swathed in a turban and boubou, wielding an acoustic guitar as if on the edge of eternity.
Who wouldn't be intrigued by a story like that? I live in a fragmented, postmodern culture perpetually fascinated with the notion of tormented, doomed geniuses so ahead of their time that they accidentally cross the threshold into the world of insanity. So yeah, I bought Marvin Pontiac's Greatest Hits based on that, aaaaaaaaaaaand...
...It was cool.
I mean, it was an aiiight record. I didn't find it to be as life-changing as the hipster hype had advertised, but I dug it well enough to listen to it repeatedly over the course of the next two or three weeks, talk it up with other music fans and even recommend it to customers at the record store where I worked.
But through all that, there was something about the music that smelled funny... Right from the very first few seconds that I listened to it, certain things just didn't compute.
Take, for instance, "I'm A Doggy," which the liner notes described as having been a minor US hit in 1952:
The first thing that came to my mind when I listened to this song is probably the first thing that came to yours: "Do this shit sound like it was recorded in 1952?"
I flipped through the liner notes, hoping to find a mention of Pontiac arriving at Philadelphia's 24-track Sigma Sound Studios to re-record the song in 1974.
Nope... Pontiac gave up music in 1970 to concentrate on re-establishing contact with the aliens who had abducted him. The liner notes are pretty clear about that. He never recorded another note till the day he was run over by a city bus in 1977.
But I was not a skeptic, so I just let it slide. Let's just keep it moving. This track is "Pancakes," which supposedly was released as a bootleg in Nigeria, of all places, and became a major sensation there:
Now I'm really feeling this song... I like the understated percussion and the insistent melody of the xylophone, and the way the lyrics No seriously--This music is really supposed to have been recorded in the 1950s?
Well, I guess they just did a helluva remastering job on this reissue, huh? Yeah... Yeah, that's the ticket! Great remastering!
Alright. I'm pretty sure that some of the Afropop styles being referenced here didn't even exist yet back then. And yo, I know his moms was Jewish and everything, but frankly, this cat sounds kinda... well, "white" to me. He sounds like a white guy doing a Negro impression, and not doing a bad job of it most of the time, but at other times, he just sounds like--
Wait a circle-jerkin' minute...!!
In a feature in MEAN magazine, the interviewer had asked Lurie:
[MEAN:] So, will you be covering any of Marvin's songs onstage?
Lurie: I don't think so. I can't really sing. I know our voices are similar.
[MEAN:] Yeah, they're very similar.
Of course. So frickin' obvious! The clues were all there, really... Even in the fanfaronnade of ecstatic celebrity blurbs endorsing the album! Take, for instance, this one by David Bowie: "A dazzling collection! It strikes me that Pontiac was so uncontainably prescient that one might think that these tracks had been assembled today."
(Can't you just see Bowie--himself no stranger to alternate identities--grinning slyly and winking as he makes the above statement?)
Of course John Lurie was Marvin Pontiac. This was confirmed a few months later, when he admitted to performing all the Marvin Pontiac recordings himself and even posing in blackface for those blurry artist photos.
Well, I'll be. I'll admit that once I discovered the deception, my first impulse was to return the CD for a refund.
It's not like I was mad that the album turned out not to be what it was sold as, or even that I'd allowed myself to get taken by the hoax. My problem was that I just didn't think the hoax was particularly well played.
I actually love hoaxes. I find them to be excellent entertainment in and of themselves, even if it's just to savor the attention to detail with which the diligent hoaxer constructs a convincing facsimile of reality. When such textural fastidiousness is lacking, though, it becomes kinda embarrassing. Like spotting a visible boom mike in a movie scene, or an actor wearing a wristwatch in a Biblical epic. At first you might try to ignore the discrepenacy in the spirit of willing suspension of disbelief, but the more frequently such gaffes appear, the harder it is to commit to the story or even take it seriously at all.
That's what happened to me with Marvin Pontiac. Dammit, why didn't Lurie work harder to make it sound like it was recorded in the 1950s? I mean, shit, at the very least, I know they've got plug-ins that can simulate the audio grain of analog recordings!
To be fair, it's quite possible (and even likely) that Mr. Lurie didn't necessarily conceive Marvin Pontiac as a full-blown hoax--he just made the music he wanted to make and then thought of a cool way to generate buzz for it and some game journalists played along with him.
Still, my interest in listening to the record had evaporated virtually overnight; I had kept the CD too long to return it, so I just chucked it into a crate and never thought about it again. I had other music demanding my listening.
This was around the time that Universal was reissuing a huge chunk of Fela's catalog, and I was eating it up just as fast as they doled it out. In between releases, I stoked my appetite by devouring just about every vintage afro-funk record I could find. And that's when I found The Daktaris' Soul Explosion in some back-alley vintage vinyl hole in London.
Okay, so what have we got here? We've got a band I've never heard of, we've got a cheap, blah-looking LP cover with the screaming burst "PRODUCED IN LAGOS, NIGERIA" (no date of production or release listed) and we've got exuberant sleeve notes by someone named Peter Franklin of "Abidjan Musique" promising that the record is an explosion of funk.
Sure... Why not?
So I take the record home and give it a spin; sure enough, it is an explosion of funk. But it damn sure don't sound like no Nigerian record to me.
Something about the drums just didn't sound right. I had no way to really explain it but to say they weren't swinging in a way that sounded Nigerian to my ears. They were too rigid and regimented... Too curt and direct in their attack. Even when they were covering a Fela tune
it was more grits and gravy than garri and groundnut.
Their James Brown version was pretty heavy, though
...even though some of the vocals seemed suspect.
Looking at the credits, all the musicians seemed to have Nigerian names like "Alaji Boniface Oluremi," "Gbenro 'Mr Icee' Fakeye," "Alaji Milificent Agbede," "Femi 'Dokita' Doolittle" and "Olu 'Rocksteady' Owudemi." I figured that they must be a band of Nigerian musicians based in Munich or some other place where they hadn't eaten some correct akpu in a long time or something.
Because I was not a skeptic, I took it at face value and went on for a few weeks discussing and sharing the record with other Afrobeat fans. It even took a while before I went "hmmmmm..." about the fact that the album had been "reissued" in the US by Desco Records, a tiny NYC indie that specialized in revivalist "heavy funk." I was actually a fan of a lot of the label's output and the entertaining interviews in which co-owners Phillipe Lehman and Gabriel Roth espoused their purist agenda and fulminated against digital recording technology, jazz chords, Tower of Power, slap bass, the Berklee College of Music, Phil Collins and other maddening, anti-funky abominations of the modern music world. Indeed, one of the tracks on Soul Explosion echoed the label's stance on modern recording techniques:
(come to think of it, this is one of the more authentically Nigerian-sounding cuts)
Desco's involvement made me a little suspicious. Not only did they take pride in the fact that their records sounded like they were made in 1970, they often packaged them to look like they were made in 1970 in order to fool collectors into thinking that they really were rare and priceless vinyl relics. Could this be yet another fast one?
Let's take a closer look at that track, "Eltsuhg Ibal Lasiti": What language is that? How do you even pronounce that title?
How about backwards?
Read from right to left, it spells out "IT IS ALL A BIG HUSTLE."
Turns out Soul Explosion had not been recorded in Lagos, Nigeria at all, but in a tiny basement studio in Brooklyn. The Daktaris were in fact The Soul Providers, Desco's house band, composed of mostly white musicians! (Lead singer/percussionist Duke Amayo was authentically Nigerian, as was one of the "assistants" listed in the credits: Babatunde Adebimpe, erstwhile roommate of Soul Providers saxophonist Martin Perna and current lead singer of TV On The Radio.)
The Desco team soon splintered, with Lehman going on to start Soul Fire Records and Roth Daptone Records. The Soul Providers also split; part of the band formed the core of the well-regarded, Perna-led Afrobeat ensemble Antibalas (left) while Roth re-organized other members as the Dap-Kings (right, with frontwoman Sharon Jones) who recently played on Amy Winehouse's hit single "Rehab" and backed the UK singer on several live engagements before her personal troubles overtook the music a little bit.
Yes, once again I failed to trust my gut instinct, and I ended up getting played. Granted, I didn't mind this time because the hoax was actually pretty well-constructed, but alas... my innocence was by now choked off and grown over by a prickly callus of skepticism.
A few days ater I discovered the Soul Explosion hoax, I received in the mail a promo disc for Soul Ecstasy: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack, a "found" soundtrack of a "lost" chop-socky Blaxploitation movie from 1972. Even before I listened to it, I read the lurid press copy that accompanied the CD:
Summer, 1972. Soul Ecstasy opened like a naked flame in a powder magazine. It was extinguished fast. Not because it had no audience, but because its audience might have burned the theatre down. At least that's what the Establishment thought... and feared. Black Panthers collaborating with the Red Chinese, young girls kidnapped and sold to Hong Kong bordellos,
Okay... whatever, I think. This shit is fake.
stalwart young men chemically transformed into mincing drag queens--no one wanted to stop and consider the absurdity of the ideas. The safest thing to do was to close the film down before too many people even heard about it. And that's what they did.
No compete print of the film is known to exist today but we still have the script, assorted stills, a few crew photos of the production, some print reviews and most importantly--its entire soundtrack. Since the story takes place in both New York and Hong Kong, its music producer, the late Ricardo Tubbs,
Come the fuck on.
hit on the idea of fusing, rather than contrasting, the two sounds of the locales. The result is the unique music of this record.
The Inner Thumb, whom Tubbs pieced together from bands in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York, existed only as long as it took to record this music. Its members, however, continued on to have successful careers as sidemen or band members--drummer Paul Garcia joined The Medicine Hall, which had a regional hit in the South in 1975 with "That's A No-No," bassist Rich Morel can be heard playing on five other movies scores (including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,) and guitarist Jimi Redcloud toured live with Rod Stewart.
We are lucky to have found this rare gem of a soundtrack from the too often blanched-over history of American Cinema. Enjoy the experience of the always contemporary sound of true spirit, the power that can never be silenced.
Of course it was later revealed that the "soundtrack" was the creation of a production duo known as dj me dj you, but it was actually not half bad, especially the Curtis Mayfieldesque main theme. (It's also out of print, so if you care to, you can download it HERE (Divshare) or from HERE (Megaupload).)
So that's the way I be now. Doubting Thomas like a motherfucker. When presented with some quirky, high-concept artpiece, especially one characterized by peanut butter-and-chocolate mashup of hipster fantasy fulfillment ("Imagine a world in which some obscure artist or artists take all your favorite musical, literary of political concepts and bakes them together into one delicious pie--and it's fucking delicious!!") my default response is to take it with not a grain of salt, but with a big heaping ladle. Everything is fake to me until proven otherwise.
(Hell, not too long ago I was even debating with some friends the odds that champeta is really real--as in an actual street-level mass phenomenon in Colombia, as opposed to some elaborate musical fan fiction engineered by a cabal of hash-smoking, Paris-based Colombian DJs who figured it would be cool to crossbreed cumbia with soukous, highlife, juju and Afrobeat.)
The reason this comes to mind at all is because I have a 40% off coupon to Borders burning a hole in my pocket so I was thinking about finally picking up the Mingering Mike coffee-table book. And frankly, the whole Mingering Mike phenomenon has had my Spidey-sense buzzing like crazy ever since I first heard about it.
The marvelous mythology of Mingering Mike dates back to 2003 when DJ, record collector and private investigator Dori Hadar posted on the Soul Strut boards about stumbling upon a truly bizarre find while digging at a Washington D.C. flea market. As Hadar later described it in the Fall 2004 issue of Wax Poetics:
It was a box seemingly full of records, but as I pulled them out, I saw that they weren't records at all. They were fake albums--a collection of over three dozen. Each was hand painted and intricately designed, some complete with liner notes, lyrics, imaginary labels, and in some cases, cardboard records on which the grooves had been painstakingly painted. Some of the covers were even covered in shrink-wrap, which must have been meticulously removed from real albums and pulled onto these homemade ones. Whoever had made these had also gone so far as to write the album titles and call numbers onto the spines.
Talk about attention to detail! The producer of these "fake albums" had scrupulously crafted an entire fantasy tapestry of up thirty-five imaginary record labels like Nation's Capitol, Hot'n Soulful Cookin', Decision, Spooky and Puppy Dogg that issued albums with titles like Fractured Soul and Otherwise, Tuxedo Styled, You Know Only What They Tell You, Ghetto Prince, Sickle Cell Anemia, Get'tin To The Roots Of All Evils, and From Our Mind To Yours, as well as soundtracks for movies like Bloody Vampire and Brother of the Dragon, featuring musical stars like Joseph War, Rambling Ralph, The Outsiders, Jean Lantree, The Big D, Audio Andre, The United States of America Puppet Force, and the enigmatic star that this entire universe seemed to revolve around: Mingering Mike.
Hadar's posts attracted some interest, and another D.C.-area digger named Frank Beylotte reported finding a similar stash of crudely illustrated fake albums, as well as 8-track tapes, reel-to-reel tapes, videocassettes and personal letters, including official military correspondence. So Hadar and Beylotte teamed up to compare notes and eventually tracked down the owner of the stash, a fiftysomething District resident who explained that as a teen in the 1960s, he had dreamed of soul stardom and wrote up to two thousand songs.
His ambitions never came to fruition, though: Vietnam was in full swing and he got drafted in 1968. Mike duly reported to basic training, but terrified of getting killed in the jungles of Southeast Asia, he went AWOL and hotfooted it back to D.C., spending the next six years laying low, "releasing" his music as imaginary records and becoming a major music star on the glittering stages of his own mind.
Mike's alternate-universe music stardom lasted until the later half of 1970s, when the demands of grownup life necessitated his retirement from professional dreaming. He packed his records up in storage and got a job. When he briefly fell behind in payments on his storage unit, his belongings were auctioned off and ended up in the flea markets where Hadar and Beylotte found them. Now Mingering Mike's naive daydream doodles hang on museum walls and are hailed as exemplars of contemporary American folk art, and even his dream of being a recording artist has materialized in a fashion: a 45 rpm record has been released featuring music he recorded on reel-to-reel back in the 70s.
Now that is a fucking great story. It's a like some surreal fairy tale dreamed up by Philip K. Dick, Michel Gondry and Haruki Murakami as they passed a blunt back and forth in the Dusty Grooves stockroom. And I'm not buying it.
(The story, that is... I'm probably gonna buy the book, which is a handsome volume indeed!)
I dunno... Somehow, it's just too... perfect for me. It's like it was deliberately designed with all the elements to appeal to one such as myself: Unabashed soul music fanaticism? Check. Aesthetic obsession with the physical minutiae of vinyl records? Roger that! A sensitive misfit protagonist who escapes the ugliness of reality by retreating into a rich fantasy world? Yup! Hell, it's even got a private eye in it! Throw in a tortured relationship with Christian piety and I'd think it was some shit I wrote!
Like Hov said: We don't believe you, you need more people. And by "more people," I mean one person. The one individual who seemingly has never been seen by anyone: Mingering Mike himself. It seems that after decades of dreaming of stardom, now that it is upon him, he has developed an acute shyness and wishes to remain in the shadows, revealing neither his face nor his real name (It has been reported that his name is Mike Stevens, but Hadar denies this.) I guess it's understandable that Mike--who has built a normal life for himself over the past 30 years--might desire to maintain his privacy or even that he might be discomfited by the way his private fantasies have suddenly been made public... But I can't help it: his mysterious non-appearance just takes my mind back to those blurry Marvin Pontiac photos.
And it makes my me start questioning other things, too... Like the tracks found on the "Minger Player" on Mingering Mike website. They were supposedly taken from Mike's old tape recordings, but what year are they from? Something about the style of beatboxing he's using sounds more post-hip-hop than hambone to me!
But if Mingering Mike were a hoax, wouldn't journalists with much sharper investigative chops than me have figured it out by now? He's been featured on NPR, in The Washington Post and The New York Times. These aren't some dandy-ass trendspotting zines we're talking about here: this is The Paper of Record! But then again, didn't those esteemed publications let themselves get suckered by fraudsters like JT LeRoy and James Frey?
Aaaaaahhhh... I'm probably just being over-skeptical. I mean, I think Mingering Mike is real... Lord knows, I want him to be real because it's like the coolest story ever and testifies to the fact that there is some genuine wonder left in these cynical times. But shit, can you blame me for being wary about it? None other than our Chief Executive stated sagely: "Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... uh, you can't get fooled again!"
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Total Credits: 10
Level: Level 2
Target Students: Part I undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science. Also available to students from other Schools with the agreement of the module convenor. Available to JYA/Erasmus students.
|Spring||Assessed by end of Spring Semester|
Summary of Content:
This module is part of the Foundations of Computer Science theme in the School of Computer Science.
A series of abstract machines, classes of formal languages, and their relation is investigated, along with important practical applications of this theory, in particular language recognition (lexical and syntactic analysis). Ultimately the investigations touch on the question of what can and cannot be computed. Topics covered include: finite state machines, regular expressions, context-free grammars, push-down automata, parsing, and Turing machines.Module Web Links:
Method and Frequency of Class:
|Activity||Number Of Weeks||Number of sessions||Duration of a session|
|Lecture||12 weeks||2 per week||1 hour|
Method of Assessment:
|Exam 1||75||2 hr written examination|
|Coursework 1||25||Problem sheets with theoretical and small programming problems|
Dr H Nilsson
Education Aims: To make the students conversant with central concepts of formal language and automata theory, such as finite automata and context-free grammars, and their applications. To give an introduction to computability theory.
Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding: Uderstanding of the equivalence between machine types and language types, the nature of formal languages and their specification by grammars and other notations, the practical and theoretical relevance of machines that process strings from an alphabet of symbols as models of computation, and the fundamental limits on what is computable by any machine. Intellectual Skills: Apply and deploy mathematical ability, practices and tools; understand complex ideas and relate them to specific problems or questions. Professional Skills: Understanding and ability to apply techniques for language specification. Transferable Skills: The ability to use mathematics to solve problems.
Offering School: Computer Science
Use the Back facility of your browser to return to the previous page.
Search for another module
Return to The University of Nottingham Welcome Page
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This October, Rewilding Rhodopes organized a special training course on the management and development of wildlife watching enterprise and wildlife photography in Madzharovo, Bulgaria. The training was part of the LIFE Project “Conservation of black and griffon vultures in Rhodope Mountains” (LIFE Vultures), and connected more than 30 participants that gained valuable knowledge, exchanged experiences and ideas.
Local Bulgarian tour operators, owners of birdwatching hides and guesthouses, professional nature guides and wildlife photographers, living in and around Rhodope Mountains rewilding area, gathered for an extensive training course to learn about best practices for operating a wildlife watching business. The training was part of LIFE Vultures project, includes the support of developing new wildlife watching enterprises in the area.
Carles Santana, a wildlife-watching expert from Spain, gave this special course where he shared his experience from Spain. He also provided general ideas for creating better enterprise opportunities in Rhodope area. His course focused on the design, functionality and management of wildlife hides. Santana and his partner are now running a small but profitable business in Spain; currently their company manages 70 out of all 500 functioning wildlife watching hides in Spain. These 70 hides are positioned in ten different locations throughout the country – from the coastline to the interior, even including one in Barcelona. Their project, “Iberian wildlife photography network”, is part of the European Rewilding Network (ERN).
At the beginning, Santana launched his company with only one hide but soon realized that in order to be successful, the company needed to offer a well thought-over product in different locations with a variety of species to wildlife photographers and watchers. The design and construction of hides he built since then, depend on specific uses, so he developed various types: from floating platforms to above the ground constructions. The common trait all hides share is the sensitivity to environment, the hides allow for wildlife watching without disturbing it. The company works with many non-governmental organizations, local authorities, landowners and other interest groups. A number of hides is located on agricultural land, whose owners receive a fair share of the profits. Currently Santana manages a team of ten people, mostly freelance wildlife photographers and guides.
At the course, Santana shared with the participants what he considers one of the key success factors for site selection: “Good selection of the location is one of the key factors however more important are the people as they need to be totally devoted to their work. During training in Madzharovo I met highly motivated and willing people”.
Santana took the opportunity to visit the area and enjoy the high diversity of birds and other animals in the area. “The Rhodope Mountains have a huge potential of becoming an exceptionally popular European wildlife photography destination. For this to happen, it is necessary to build more hides allowing watching and photographing a greater variety of species”, he recommends.
During the course, Marin Kourtev, a local operator interested to expand his business with wildlife watching and photography, shared the Bulgarian experience and commented: “What was very useful about this training is that we once again realized how important is to work together. Otherwise it is very difficult to offer a competitive product”.
Hristo Hristov from Rewilding Rhodopes made a presentation about how to avoid risks that vulture feeding may pose to birds and humans. Currently tree hides in the eastern part of the Rhodope Mountains provide opportunities to photograph different bird species while feeding goes on year-round. The hides are specially designed for observing and photographing vulture species – griffon, black and Egyptian vulture, as well as some other birds of prey like golden eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, white-tailed eagle and black kite. Occasionally wolf, red fox and other animals are also spotted in the area.
The Rhodope Mountains have the potential to become a wildlife tourism destination since the region is extremely rich in terms of biodiversity. However, the potential of wildlife tourism development remains largely untapped. Our hope is that with the increase of the number of annual visitors coming to the area, sustainable wildlife watching activities will extend the tourism season and provide a new source of income to the local people.
Keep watching our safari-page which already offers trips to this and other rewilding areas, with more to come!
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Synopses & Reviews
In the wake of the Vernet murders in Aix-en-Provence, magistrate Bernard Martin moves to the town of Nancy in Lorraine, France, along with his pregnant wife Clarie, who is as fervent about Republican ideals as her husband. They are not in Nancy long when an infant boy is found dead, his tiny body mutilated. The wet nurse and mother say that this was a case of "ritual sacrifice" by a "wandering tinker," or Jew. Yet as Bernard delves deeper into the different personalities surrounding the case, he struggles to reconcile his Republican beliefs with the subtle nuances of Nancy's Jewish Diaspora, all while balancing the racial tensions and politics within the courthouse. Meanwhile his beloved Clarie, now reeling from the death of her own child, seems to be falling prey to the propaganda being spewed throughout town, forcing Bernard to acknowledge the frailties of the human psyche. Fearing a vigilante mob sparked by the church, Bernard must unveil the murderers before Nancy experiences her own pogrom.
"Starred Review. Pope improves on her 2008 debut, , which also featured magistrate Bernard Martin, in this fascinating look at the rise of anti-Semitism in France after the arrest of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus for treason in 1894...Pope, a historian, gives us a complex lead and with great skill makes the anti-Semitic atmosphere of the times both palpable and tragically prophetic." Publishers Weekly
In the wake of the Dreyfus Affair, the murder of two Jews in Nancy reveals the darker side of human nature.
About the Author
Barbara Corrado Pope is a historian and the founding director of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of the novels
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Cyber intelligence. A phrase often used, but interpreted in many different ways. For the past year and a half, the SEI Emerging Technology Center (SEI ETC) researched the methodologies, processes, technology, and training of organizations across government, industry, and academia to clarify what it means to perform cyber intelligence. The SEI ETC defined cyber intelligence as the acquisition and analysis of information to identify, track, and predict cyber capabilities, intentions, and activities to offer courses of action that enhance decision making.
The contents of this page discuss the study and its results through eight analytical products that aggregate the best practices of participating organizations to address observed systemic challenges with cyber intelligence tradecraft. The analytical products include a key findings report, three implementation frameworks for threat prioritization, collection management, and workforce development, a white paper on training and education, and three reference sheets for intelligence methodologies, open sources, and tools. Through these products, any organization, regardless of size or function, can leverage the knowledge of a diverse set of best practices to achieve the study's overall finding that successful organizations perform cyber intelligence by effectively balancing the need to protect network perimeters with the need to look beyond them for strategic insights.
The links below will take you to the different sections of this report:
Summary of Key Findings
The aggregation of research into the methodologies, technologies, processes, and training of 30 cyber intelligence programs to capture best practices and lessons learned for challenges most organizations currently face.
Implementation Framework - Collection Management
A process for organizations inundated with data to organize and manage data gathering efforts through the three core aspects of collection management: documenting requirements, gathering data, and performing analysis to satisfy the requirements.
Implementation Framework - Cyber Threat Prioritization
A holistic approach to prioritizing cyber threats by using a customized, tiered framework that focuses on the likelihood of threat actors executing an attack, the impact attack methods have on an organization, and the risk attack methods pose because of an organization's known vulnerabilities.
Implementation Framework - Workforce Development and Management
A guide to acquiring the necessary leadership, analysts, and tools for a startup, established, or advanced cyber intelligence program.
White Paper - CITP Training and Education
Insight into the core competencies and associated skills needed for cyber intelligence analysts, and how current training and education offerings align with these skills.
Infographics depicting the methodologies, open source resources, and tools successful cyber intelligence programs utilize in their day-to-day operations.
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Research Qualitative [click here to download]
This module introduces the fundamental elements of a qualitative approach to research, to help you understand and become proficient in the qualitative methods discussed in subse-quent modules. We recommend that you consult the suggested readings at the end of the module for more in-depth treatment of the foundations of qualitative research.
This module covers the following topics:
• Introduction to Qualitative Research
• Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research
• Sampling in Qualitative Research
• Recruitment in Qualitative Research
• Ethical Guidelines in Qualitative Research
• Suggested Readings
Introduction to Qualitative Research
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research is a type of scientific research. In general terms, scientific research consists
of an investigation that:
• seeks answers to a question
• systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question
• collects evidence
• produces findings that were not determined in advance
• produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of the study
Qualitative research shares these characteristics. Additionally, it seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations……………
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9.4. Editing a Virtual Machine Pool
After a virtual machine pool has been created, its properties can be edited. The properties available when editing a virtual machine pool are identical to those available when creating a new virtual machine pool except that the Number of VMs property is replaced by Increase number of VMs in pool by.
When editing a virtual machine pool, the changes introduced affect only new virtual machines. Virtual machines that existed already at the time of the introduced changes remain unaffected.
Editing a Virtual Machine Pool
- Click → and select a virtual machine pool.
- Click Edit.
- Edit the properties of the virtual machine pool.
- Click Ok.
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You may watch professional tennis or play at a club around junior players all poised on set-up to load & explode on their next forehand crosscourt ball. But have you ever really paid attention to the players non-dominant hand? For right handers we’re talking about the left arm today and for lefties – we refer to your right.
We take the non-dominant arm for granted. We think it’s no big deal. We even feel a little odd when asked to strike a pose. That’s right ladies & gentleman of all ability levels if you aren’t making darn good use of your non-dominant hand you’re missing the boat. Big Time!
Ever see a surfer ride a wave? Their two hands balance out the body to ride it successfully.
Their main center of gravity comes from those 2 hands balanced in order to ride forwards like you do with your body on court.
Benefits of the non-dominant hand?
- It helps to turn the shoulders
- It creates space between you and the ball
- It helps you find balance
- You look like a pro
1# It helps to turn the shoulders.
It helps to turn your shoulders and hips to the ball. Remember, when you set up for a forehand from ready position your hips start parallel to the net. The shoulders & hips turn perpendicular to the net as you load up the racquet and at the finish of the stroke the body turns forward again with hips & shoulders parallel to the net – back to ready position.
2# Creates space between you and the ball
Using the non-dominant hand out in front makes it easier to track & connect with the ball out in front of your body giving you space for a full extension.
3# It finds your balance
It helps find your center of gravity as one hand holding a racquet goes in one direction so the non-dominant hand sets in the opposite direction getting you centered and poised to explode towards the ball.
4# You look like a pro
Ever seen the pros start or finish a stroke without their non-dominant hand? Probably not! They innately understand its power and function within their games whether using it on forehands, serves, overheads or volleys. Utilizing this simple mechanism can improve & ground your game tremendously.
Ideally, at the end of the stroke the player places the non-dominant hand back on the racquet frames throat to adjust for the next incoming shot – assisting proper grip changes where needed. Remember between the forehand & backhand there is a grip change.
Cradling the racquet at the throat helps to quickly & easily make this change with plenty of time to spare.
Back in the day we use to finish by catching the racquet in that left non-dominant hand. Nowadays things move pretty fast, finishes are different and today many don’t catch the racquet. But that’s simply the difference between a classic forehand finish or modern windshield wiper finish.
Next time you watch professional, college or good juniors strike a ball, notice their use of the non-dominant hand on every single forehand.
When I ask adults to do it and they shy away during our camps, I point blank ask them, why? They tell me they feel weird, but the truth is they look off balance if they don’t use it.
Take charge of your shot! This will instill confidence in seeing, setting up and executing your shot.
It’s a big deal! Believe me.
You can thank me later 😉
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Summary: Studies of how users continue reading the internet found that they don’t actually read: instead, they scan the text. A report of five different writing styles found that a sample Web site scored 58% higher in measured usability with regards to was written concisely, 47% higher when the text was scannable, and 27% higher with regards to was printed in a target style as opposed to the promotional style utilized in the control condition and several current Web pages. Combining these three changes into a single site that was concise, scannable, and objective at exactly the same time led to 124% higher measured usability.
Unfortunately, this paper is written in a print writing style and is somewhat too academic however you like. We know this can be bad, however the paper was written whilst the way that is traditional of on a research study. We now have a summary that is short is more suited for online reading.
“Really good writing – you don’t see much of that on the net,” said one of our test participants. And our impression that is general is most Web users would agree. Our studies claim that current Web writing often does not support users in achieving their main goal: to find information that is useful quickly as you possibly can.
We’ve been Web that is running usability since 1994 Nielsen 1994b, Nielsen and Sano 1994, Nielsen 1995. Our research reports have been similar to most other Web usability work (e.g., Shum 1996, Spool et al. 1997) and have mainly looked at site architecture, navigation, search, page design, layout, graphic elements and magnificence, and icons. Even so, we now have collected user that is many concerning the content with this long series of studies. Indeed, we now have come to recognize that content is king when you look at the user’s mind: When asked for feedback on an internet page, users will touch upon the quality and relevance associated with content to a much greater extent than they’re going to touch upon navigational issues or the page elements that people consider to be “user interface” (instead of simple information). Similarly, when a full page comes up, users focus their attention from the center of the window where they read the body text before they bother looking over headerbars or other navigational elements. Continue reading “Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: Simple tips to Write for the Web”
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Coconut trees and beautiful beachesLocated in the southern region of Brazil, Ilheus was once a major producer of cocoa and is now a key vacation destination and one of the most important tourism centres in northeast Brazil.
Once you’ve caught a glimpse of Ilheus’s beaches you’ll soon see why! These are among some of the most beautiful and renowned in the world, many lined with picture-postcard coconut trees.
A day lounging in the sun will, for many passengers embody the ideal day away from the ship as they choose to spend their day off the cruise liner soaking up the rays. However, as always, MSC Cruises has laid on an exciting package of activities and tours that represent the best deals and day trips that make the most of what this city has to offer.
Why not take the city tour and enjoy Ilheus’s elegant Portuguese architecture, finishing off the day with a dip in the warm seas.
Visit the home of Brazil’s best-known and most popular writer, Jorge Amado, whose books have been on the bestseller list in 52 countries. Epicureans will be delighted to learn more about the city’s cocoa heritage and the stopover at the Ilheus’ Chocolate Homemade Factory is always popular!
Pick up a souvenir of your vacation with some pretty handicrafts and go home with something that will always remind you of Ilheus.
Port average temperature
The temperate figures shown are based on monthly average weather conditions for the selected port. Weather data is not real-time, and sometimes no data is shown for a specific date, month or port in general.
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Software users of the world, unite!
I've been hearing a lot of talk lately about having Congress adopt a "Patient's Bill of Rights." After spending an interesting couple of weeks installing several operating systems and a slew of new software and hardware on my home computer, I think that while they're at it they should consider adopting a "Software Users Bill of Rights," too.Skip to next paragraph
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Now, mind you, I'm not what you'd call a typical computer user. Most people I know consider me an alpha geek. So when I'm going batty trying to make things work, I can only imagine the frustration and horror that faces a person new to computers. So here are my humble suggestions for some constitutionally mandated rights.
Article 1: All products sold will have a customer-support number listed clearly in the instructions. Such numbers are to be toll free and get you to a live person within 5 minutes of calling. Anyone whose music-on-hold consists of a looped 30-second promo shall be forced to spend a day trapped inside "It's a Small World" at Disneyland (this after having to listen to a promotional message from a cable Internet provider for 90 minutes about the upcoming World Championship Wrestling special, over and over and over).
Article 2: All products still on the shelves after the release of a new version of an operating system shall work with said operating system or be withdrawn from sale.
Article 3: If new software can't play nice in the same playground with the other programs, it should get a timeout in the corner, along with the numerous applications which failed to coexist on the same computer when it was installed.
Article 4: If new software doesn't work on a given hardware or software configuration, the software should detect this on installation and inform the user, as opposed to trashing the operating system. (By the way, if anyone needs help, I'm really good at installing Windows98 now.)
Article 5: Fixing bugs should take priority over adding snazzy new features to products. Moreover, it's not adequate to operate under the philosophy that if your product works for 90 percent of the users, you can just give the other 10 percent their money back.
Article 6: A software company's user base is not its quality assurance department. Test it before you ship it, and test it over a broad range of hardware and software configurations. There is no excuse for shipping software with major bugs still lurking.
Article 7: When a customer calls with a problem, assume it's the product that's broken, not the operating system, peripherals, the phase of the moon, the deodorant the user wears, or the grade received in high school algebra.
Too many customer-support people seem to take the attitude that if they can find something else to blame, they don't need to actually look at the problem. I have had too many service calls turn into an attempt by the support person to blame anything but the product.
Postscript: After the third time Windows98 corrupted my new hard disk, I finally threw in the towel and installed Linux, a freely available version of the Unix operating system. It doesn't run everything I need (I've still got my Windows laptop for things like Quicken), but at least its lack of customer support is by design rather than by neglect, and it makes up for it by being rock-solid dependable.
*James Turner works on the Monitor's Electronic Edition.
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Blazing Your Own Path
I wish I had started my web design business back in college. The free enterprise system and the American Dream are built on the idea that if you can do something or sell something, then the only limiting factor is you. You don't need anyone's permission. Just get out there and get it done. If I had started years ago, I'd be in a very different place right now. Yet, I'm not going to spend much time dwelling on those missed opportunities. Instead, I'm going to blaze a path forward.
Too many of us live in fear when it comes to our careers. We crave job security, yet job security is a myth. Any company, at any time, no matter how big or small can either grow exponentially or be days away from closing their doors. We desperately want pay raises, but while performance is a must, a company can only afford so much compensation. It's a great strategy to not put all of your eggs in one basket.
If you want to blaze your own path, if you want to work on some passion that you've always had, start small and start on the side. Keep pushing hard at your day job, get home and push hard for a few more hours on your side job. Limit your expenditures, grow slowly, and know that if you can drive it forward, you can win. You may not be ready to work full time on your side job today, but you might be ready next year, or in two years.
If you have something that you truly love, find a way to build it into a business, work like crazy, and make it happen. The only thing standing in between you and success is you. Push, charge, fight, and win.
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So the urge to write the tutorial (and have some fun) wins... and I treat myself to a quick tutorial rather than reply a big backlog of emails (which sadly will have to happen later)...
The standard beginning of my tutorial seems to be a circle - such a versatile little thing - and then I duplicate and transform it. I am just not sure if I mentioned some quick way to do the duplicate and keep it in place. Duplicate a shape (CTRL-D). Hold CTRL and SHIFT while scaling the object - the scale will keep the proportions and scale based on the pivot point. (Holding just CTRL keeps the proportions and scales based on the lower left corner.)
Let's get started with a simple version of a Saturn style planet with a simple one shape ring around it.
I added the pattern of the planet (bunch of squashed and slightly differently shaded circles) and the shadow shape (one circle with another circle cutting out the sickle shape via a Path/ Difference) to a mask. I did the same with the shadow of the planet on the ring.
Next up... the same thing with more elaborate rings. Let's face it... it's the same thing... You just take the intial ('unsquashed' ring) and make it more complex by combining several rings of increasing sizes into one object...
You can add a more realistic look by adding a circular gradient and more detail patterns to the planet. Breaking the rings apart (Path/Break Apart (SHIFT+CTRL+K)) allows you to assign different colours to different rings and vary the opacity to the rings. I added some small objects and their shadows on the rings for a bit of detail.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did and give it a try... as usual it's a lot easier than it looks once you worked out how to do it.
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The other day Will Wright, the genius behind Sim City and the Sims, handed me this tennis ball-size orb and said, “It knows what you are thinking.” Most of the time it will guess what you have in mind after asking you twenty yes/no questions. It is eerily smart, and slightly addictive. I see it as an educational toy.
Burned into its 8-bit chip is a neural net that has been learning for 17 years. Inventor Robin Burgener programmed a simple neural net on a DOS machine 1988. He taught it 20 questions about a cat. He than passed the program around to friends on a floppy and had them challenge the neural net with their yes/no answers to the object they had in mind. The neural net learns only when it plays a game; no data is added except for the yes/no answers of visitors. So the more people who test it, the more they teach it. In 1995 Burgener put the now robust neural net onto the new web where anyone could play it (that is, train it) 24 hours a day. And they did. Burgener’s genius was to turn the hard tedious work of training a neural net into a fun game for humans.
Last year, after 1 million rounds of 20 questions online, the neural net had accumulated 10 million synaptic associations. It has a 73% success rate of guessing what you thought. Burgener then compressed the 20Q code to run on a chip, and had the neural net select 2,000 of the most popular 10,000 objects it then knew about. He then had the neural net select out the most useful 250,000 synaptic connections related to those 2,000 objects, and hard wired that learning into the chip in the orb. In other words, this sphere is a handheld version of Burgener’s Twenty Questions web site. (Because it knows about fewer objects than the web version, it gets confused less often, so its success rate is ironically higher.)
The toy is remarkable. Because it is so small, so autonomous, its intelligence is shocking to the unprepared. Most children can’t stump it, and if you stick to objects it will stump smart adults about 80% of the time with 20 questions and most of the time with an additional 5 questions. I love to watch people’s reactions when they think of a “hard” thing, and after a seemingly irrational set of questions you are convinced are dumb, the sly ball tells you what you had in mind. (For instance, it can correctly guess “flying squirrel”without asking “does it fly?”) People who play chess machines won’t be surprised, but just about everyone else is tickled. It feels like the future.
While the 20Q orb doesn’t learn, the web neural net continues to learn and grow. It has now played 16 million games of 20 questions, and is racking up 2 million additional games every month. I asked Robin Burgener if it was still getting smarter. “It is learning, but it is not increasing its success rate. What happens is that it is learning to play more kinds of people, people who don’t speak English easily, or who have never played 20 questions, or who come from different cultures, and to understand more difficult kinds of things.” Has he given this intelligence a name? “No, but it sure does have a personality. Some days it does well, and some days, it’s just off.” Right now, 20Q is being ported over to Apple servers to keep up with the traffic, and it is being trained in new languages: French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian to start with (it will become separate neural nets for each language). In the future, there may be medical versions of 20 questions to help emergency triage, or other expert uses.
But right now, for ten bucks, you can get an amazing little artificial intelligence, about as smart as an insect — but an insect which specializes in guessing what object you are thinking of. And in that part of the brain, it’s smarter than you are.
$10 at retail discounters
Manufactured by Radica Games05/10/05
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07 Jul ‘We Can Reimagine How We Teach’: How Four WCCUSD Teachers Adapted to Distance Learning
Leanne Wu, right, a special education teacher at Tara Hills Elementary in San Pablo, had to drastically change her teaching plans to keep her students engaged while learning from home. (Photo courtesy of Leanne Wu)
By Clara Brownstein
It is no secret the 2020-21 school year has been challenging for students, parents and teachers alike. Adapting to distance learning, making connections while isolated and changing curricula are only a few of the difficulties that educators have had to overcome, and all without the interpersonal interactions that make teaching rewarding.
To thank Richmond teachers and highlight their experiences this year, Richmond Pulse has profiled four indefatigable educators who have gone above and beyond to support their students.
Carlo Juntilla, Social Science, 11th and 12th Grade, Richmond High
Carlo Juntilla took distance learning as an opportunity to incorporate new teaching styles.
Juntilla did a lot more culturally responsive teaching this year, working hard to connect everything students learned to their own lives and experiences in the Richmond community.
“While that is something that we typically do in a traditional physical classroom, it gets harder when things are muddled with normal expectations for what things should look like regarding testing, regarding standards with what students should meet,” Juntilla said. “Because we were in this environment where we could try and experiment with new things, a lot of those expectations had fallen by the wayside and allowed for greater creativity and incorporating lessons that we felt are actually more relevant to students’ lives.”
While Juntilla put a lot of effort into his teaching this year, he said he still had moments of doubt and questioned whether he was doing a good job. Because of this, when West Contra Costa School District awarded him one of the Teacher of the Year Awards, he said it was extremely meaningful.
“I hope that teachers, especially this year, feel some sort of breath of relief knowing that they did the best that they could,” said Juntilla, “and that so long as you’re able to show up to the classroom and give as much support as you can to your students, you still made a difference in your kids’ lives.”
Leanne Wu, Special Education, Tara Hills Elementary
Leanne Wu has had to get extremely creative this year.
Wu, who teaches special education for medically fragile students at Tara Hills Elementary School, changed nearly everything about her teaching during distance learning.
One of the biggest projects Wu undertook to support her students was to send home materials for them to learn with, including special education equipment and arts and crafts supplies for projects.
Wu structured her class around a different theme each week, using projects, assignments and special guests to help students learn. For a unit on national parks, Wu developed assignments in which students could make a bird feeder, learn new vocabulary related to the park and make volcanoes out of play dough.
“My students really thrive with repetition, so instead of creating everything new from scratch each time, each of my weekly themes I would kind of build on the week before,” said Wu. “There were some songs that stayed the same, some activities that stayed the same, our attendance procedure stayed the same, and I really noticed that the parent feedback and the way that the students engaged with it — they really thrived off that.”
Wu also included a variety of other interesting and creative activities to keep her students engaged. Her class was able to cook together, put on a play in collaboration with a second grade class, and build connections with general education students through a peer group.
Asedo Wilson, African American Literature, Richmond High
Asedo Wilson completely changed his curriculum in the spring of 2020.
Not only because of the condensed distance learning class schedule but also because of the challenges of Zoom education, Wilson decided to move his class away from the traditional format of assigning reading and discussing it in class the next day. Instead, he incorporated a lot more multimedia instruction this year, using video content, writing and other active strategies to present the material.
Wilson said he struggled at first to engage and bond with students this year but was able to adjust.
“Usually, that’s one of my strengths as an educator — that I’m able to make connections with students in person,” said Wilson.
He decided not to return to in-person instruction this school year, citing safety concerns.
“I didn’t like how it was handled. The district didn’t do a good job preparing folks. There were a lot of promises that were made that weren’t carried out in terms of having all the proper resources and whatnot,” said Wilson. “It kind of created a rift between educators, school board, parents.”
Wilson still has some concerns for next school year’s planned return, but he is also excited to see his students again.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity that we can reimagine how learning happens; we can reimagine how we teach,” said Wilson. “We have the opportunity to start something new in terms of how we teach our classes, how our students learn, how we interact with each other.”
Sarah Muench, Fourth Grade, Murphy Elementary
Sarah Muench has tried to look for the positives in everything her class has done this year.
“I definitely focused on student celebration and making sure that anytime I reached out to a family it was always extremely positive,” said Muench. “Even if I had a student that only showed up once a week, taking one thing that they did throughout that class and running with it, celebrating it schoolwide, classwide, with their families. Then, maybe there would be more incentive for the student to come and just make distance learning enjoyable. ”
Muench did this in various ways, whether it be trying to connect one-on-one with students and families through office hours and individual meetings or allowing more time for building community during class.
The first half-hour of Muench’s class was usually used for interpersonal learning and community learning, she said, often consisting of a greeting, a journaling prompt, time to share and then a game.
Muench will not continue as a teacher at Murphy next year and will instead attend Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in the fall.
“I’m definitely going to take everything I learned from this year and the years preceding into this new chapter of learning and hope that I can just build skills to come back and show up as a better educator and a better educational leader,” said Muench.
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Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. The CFDA website includes a description of all federal subsidy programs, including labor subsidy programs.
Congressional Research Service. CRS briefing papers on current labor issues are available here.
Government Accountability Office. GAO reports on the operations of Department of Labor programs are available here.
U.S. Department of Labor. The department's website provides information on its activities and programs.
U.S. Department of Labor. The Office of Inspector General investigates waste, fraud, and abuse in department programs.
"Are Unions Good for America?" Cato Journal 30, no. 1 (Winter 2010).
Paul Bachman, Michael Head, Sarah Glassman, and David Tuerck, "The Federal Davis-Bacon Act: The Prevailing Mismeasure of Wages," Beacon Hill Institute, Suffolk University, February 2008.
Don Bellanta, David Denholm, and Ivan G. Osorio, "Vallejo Con Dios: Why Public Sector Unionism Is a Bad Deal for Taxpayers and Representative Government," Cato Institute Policy Analysis no. 645, September 28, 2009.
Chris Edwards, "Public-Sector Unions," Cato Institute Tax and Budget Bulletin no. 61, March 2010.
James Sherk, "Declining Unionization Calls for Re-Envisioning Workplace Relations," Heritage Foundation, January 21, 2011.
Daniel Altman and Martin Feldstein, "Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts," Working Paper no. 6860, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 1998.
William Conerly, "Unemployment Insurance in a Free Society," National Center for Policy Analysis, March 2005.
Gonzalo Reyes Hartley, Jan C. van Ours, and Milan Vodopivec, "Incentive Effects of Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts: Evidence from Chile," Institute for the Study of Labor (Germany), January 2010.
James Sherk, "Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits," Heritage Foundation, January 14, 2010.
Employment and Training Programs
Senator Tom Coburn, "Help Wanted: How Federal Job Training Programs are Failing Workers," February 2011.
Government Accountability Office, "Multiple Employment and Training Programs," GAO-11-92, January 2011.
Gordon Lafer, The Job Training Charade (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 2002).
Trade Adjustment Assistance
Katherine Baicker and M. Marit Rehavi, "Policy Watch: Trade Adjustment Assistance," Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, no. 2 (Spring 2004).
Sallie James, "Maladjusted: The Misguided Policy of Trade Adjustment Assistance," Cato Institute Trade Briefing Paper no. 26, November 8, 2007.
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Happy new month! The year has been long and tumultuous but we have made it this far. What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for rest and good health.
Today we will be looking at avoidant attachments also referred to as dismissive.
As previously mentioned, avoidant attachment as observed in children, they have no close contact with the caregiver such that separation and reunion happen without much distress or notice from the child.
What does it look like?
People with this attachment style tend to have a positive self image,appearing well put together but having a negative perception of others. They tend towards being independent,self-reliant often rejecting outside help,form shallow attachments and strongly repel connections that require excessive closeness,intensity and intimacy.
In relationships, avoidant individuals are observed to be uncomfortable with intimacy. Unlike their anxiously attached counterparts, they experience low anxiety levels. A partner who gives them space and freedom is ‘ideal’ for them. They would rather have others depend on them and not the other way around;this may translate to a difficultly in seeking help and support.
Interestingly, most avoidant people tend to get into relationships with anxiously attached and that may result in an unhealthy relationship as one avoids and the other clings.
In parenting, they may be dismissive of their children’s needs, often having stoic stance. Public displays of affection for their children are rare or nonexistent. Dramatic displays or tantrums from their children are met with a dismissive response. Words such as, “don’t be a crybaby, toughen up- you’re a big boy/girl, grow up!” are often used.
In work set up, these individuals tend to see themselves as know it alls,often preferring to work alone. They get a lot more done, since the solitude aids in more productivity with minimal supervision. They may however be resistant to leadership and supervision, challenging and criticizing their colleagues and superiors.
Conflict can be difficult for people with this attachment and they may withdraw in order to avoid it.
What can I do to have a healthier attachment?
1. Identify your needs, of closeness and separateness.
2. Make a step in connecting with others, begin with small amounts of interactions as you work your way up.
3. Cultivate a balanced view of others. Find and connect with people you trust and in that space share some vulnerabilities as you observe the responses
4. Take note of where you may be dismissing other people’s needs. For example, if you have a child whose emotional needs you have dismissed, begin to open yourself up to talking to the child, find out how they feel,showing that you understand and care.
5. Learn to compromise- allow others to take care of you even as you take care of them. Create healthy interdependence within your relationships.
6. In work settings, be more of a team player, your resourcefulness will help the team.
Side note: In Kenya, we tend to take a dismissive stance toward our political system often covering our discontent with memes, jokes and banter.
Photo credit: Google
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caelyine balcony design, 2018-02-16 08:05:55. A nachomarin balcony is essentially a false balcony attached to the side of a house so that it surrounds French or double doors. nachomarin balconies are often still made to fit the traditional model from the Shakespeare play: a short, narrow rectangle surrounded by stone balustrade that is supported by plinths and opens almost immediately into the adjoining room through glass doors. They are becoming increasingly popular, as more and more people convert existing windows to allow for increased light and ventilation. Obviously the doors have to open inwards to make the most of a feature like this. By changing windows to double doors or French doors, the balcony fixes to the external masonry to prevent anyone from falling out. nachomarin balconies are more than just a safety feature however, with many homeowners installing them as nothing more than an external design feature.
abigael house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:09. Having an inground pool installed may seem like an easy task, given that there are so many pool design and pool construction companies around. Not every pool contractor or pool builder is going to treat your installation as if it were their own. With thousands of pool designs and pool types to choose from, it is best to consult with a pool designer who not only has years of personal experience, but also one who cares about each individual job.
caelyine house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. Like everything around us, the concept of the swimming pool design too is undergoing major changes. From being a rectangular pool of water it has evolved into a style statement. A swimming pool in the house is an extension of the owner′s personality, while at the hotels and resorts it exhibits the standards of luxury available.
abigael house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. Many people are getting the swimming pool designs customized to suit their tastes and lifestyles. These modern swimming pools can include temperature controls, hot and cold pools, Jacuzzi, a children′s pool or even a bar! The edges too are unique. They could be merging with the water or have steps leading into the water.
caelyine house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. Once you are for sure you do have enough room, picking everything out requires team work from your husband and kids whether they want to do it or not because they would not be happy with you if you picked out something that they did not like at all. They would be stuck with that design and will not be able to change it. You might want to mention that to them if they try to back out in the decision making process.
abigael house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. Spending time at your pool can be very relaxing, and the proper amenities will make it even more enjoyable. An addition of a spa or a hot tub to the pool area is a great complement to the swimming pool itself. Like pools, these come in the in-ground, and portable, above-ground varieties. An in-ground spa is typically connected to the pool′s filtration and heating systems. And if that′s not the case, a portable spa is a much more economical option.
bernard house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. Many people are getting the swimming pool designs customized to suit their tastes and lifestyles. These modern swimming pools can include temperature controls, hot and cold pools, Jacuzzi, a children′s pool or even a bar! The edges too are unique. They could be merging with the water or have steps leading into the water.
denada house pool design, 2018-02-23 08:18:10. When you find a pool design - and that includes not only the shape of the pool but the colors of the liner and deck material - try to envision it in your backyard. The swimming pool will become the focal point of your yard so you need to think about how it will fit in with your landscaping and whatever type of outdoor living situation you already have. The pool will definitely add to the ambiance of the backyard.
Any content, trademark/s, or other material that might be found on this site that is not this site property remains the copyright of its respective owner/s. In no way does Nachomarin claim ownership or responsibility for such items, and you should seek legal consent for any use of such materials from its owner.
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Every day six people in the UK die from Motor Neurone Disease, which causes progressive paralysis as the nerves supplying muscles degenerate for reasons that are incompletely understood. At any one time nearly half a million people worldwide suffer with this devastating condition but in the majority of cases it is not known what causes the nerves supplying muscles (the motor neurons) to die. The commonest known cause is a mutation in a gene called C9ORF72. About 1 in 10 cases of MND is linked to having an expanded repeating region of DNA in a part of the C9ORF72 gene that is not usually made into protein.
Delving into the molecular core of how the products of this gene behave in the cell, in work published today in Nature Communications, scientists at SITraN have discovered a key pathway in C9ORF72-linked MND. Tests in patients’ cells and in fruitfly models of MND indicate that targeting this pathway is a novel angle to tackle the degeneration of nerve cells (neurodegeneration) that occurs in MND.
Lead author Dr Guillaume Hautbergue has studied the molecular biology of RNA for over 25 years and spent 10 years from 2002 – 2012 in the department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield in Professor Stuart Wilson’s laboratory developing methods to study the mechanisms that export messenger RNA from the nucleus to the cell cytoplasm. There, Dr Hautbergue established the accepted model of how this works in humans before taking up a lectureship in Translational Neuroscience at SITraN. Translating advances in fundamental discovery science into real benefits for patients is the raison d’etre for SITraN so it is very satisfying that harnessing Dr Hautbergue’s developments in the field of RNA biology has now led to the discovery of a new therapeutic strategy of neuroprotection in MND and potentially other neurodegenerative diseases.
From left to right: Dr’s Guillaume Hautbergue, Lydia Castelli and Laura Ferraiuolo contributed equally to this work that was jointly supervised by Dr Guillaume Hautbergue, Dr Alexander Whitworth from the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge and Prof Dame Pamela Shaw from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (below).
While the main purpose of DNA is to code for proteins to be built in the cell, we know that a lot of DNA doesn’t code for protein after all, such as the repeating region of the C9ORF72 gene. In healthy versions of the gene the repeated region (usually under 30 repeated units) is simply cut out of the RNA copy of the gene before the RNA is exported from the nucleus.
In C9ORF72-MND however, the repeated region is much larger – even up to a thousand repeated units and leads to a build up of the RNA repeats inside the nucleus but also, unexpectedly is made into abnormal toxic constituents in the cell cytoplasm called dipeptide repeat proteins. The discovery of dipeptide repeat proteins was puzzling to scientists as this type of non-protein coding RNA does not normally exit the nucleus to get to where protein can be made.
Dr Hautbergue and colleagues, who have developed expertise in the mechanisms of RNA nuclear export, looked to see how the pathological repeating precursor RNA molecules, that should be confined to the nucleus, might be getting exported to the cell cytoplasm where the toxic protein is made. It turned out that just one component of the nuclear-cytoplasm transport system, a protein called SRSF1, was responsible for shuttling the RNA repeats out the door of the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Crucially, the breakthrough in this discovery is that SRSF1 is only needed to help the pathological C9ORF72 RNA to exit the nucleus. All other, useful protein coding RNAs can get to the cytoplasm without it. Partially removing SRSF1 from the cell in fruitfly models and cultures of cells from MND patients using gene therapy (see the Spotlight on Technology box in yellow for more on the techniques used in this work) had no adverse effects in the models tested and prevented the toxic dipeptide repeats from being formed. This is the first time that the nuclear export of pathological repeating RNAs has been elucidated in a neurodegenerative disease and the first time that it is shown that targeting this pathway provides a promising therapeutic strategy of neuroprotection.
Interestingly a number of other genes that cause neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington’s disease, Fragile-X associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome, Myotonic Dystrophy and other disorders affecting muscle co-ordination contain similar repeat expansions as those found in the C9ORF72-MND gene. So looking at whether those expansions are turned into toxic proteins and whether this can be prevented through turning off a specific nuclear exporter too, might open up a whole new area of research into treating neurodegenerative disorders. A patent application was filed for the use of SRSF1 antagonists in the treatment of neurological disorders.
The fundamental pathway in biology is that information flows from the DNA code; a genetic ‘blueprint’ for proteins – the building blocks of life, to microscopic cellular machinery that produce proteins to order from a pool of amino acids in the cytoplasm of the cell. The DNA supplying the recipe of instructions to make a particular protein is too large to get from where it is housed in the nucleus of the cell out to where the protein producing machines are located outside the nucleus, so the message is sent via a messenger molecule called RNA. RNA takes a copy of the blueprint coded instructions from the DNA out of the nucleus to where proteins can be produced in a process called ‘translation’. Regions of DNA that are not translated into protein are still copied into RNA but then usually cut out of the final RNA molecule that is exported out of the nucleus.
Spotlight on Technology
Two cutting-edge techniques were deployed in the work that led to this breakthrough. First, to look at the disease mechanisms inside individual patient’s neurons (nerve cells) a specially devised method developed in Ohio by Dr Laura Ferraiuolo was used to reprogram skin cells taken from a small skin biopsy into neurons, the specialised cells of the nervous system that cannot be easily accessed to study in life. Animal models of disease are extremely useful to scientists to test new theories and treatments but have the limitation of being simplified versions of disease made from a uniform model whereas a genetic disease like MND can present more variably in humans that are genetically more diverse from one another. This is thought to be one reason why new therapies that give promising results in animal models have failed to perform as well in patients on clinical trials. The fruitflies used in this research all had an identical 36 number of the pathological C9ORF72 repeated units inserted into their DNA. In patients with C9ORF72-MND however, the number of repeats can vary very widely from just over 30 to over 1000 units. It could have been the case that SFSR1 only transported low number repeat expansion pre-RNA out of the nucleus. Testing out the strategy in cells actually derived from patients powerfully indicates that the approach will be relevant in the real disease.
The gene therapy approach used in the research took a therapeutically engineered virus to get an RNA molecule inside the cell that would interfere with RNA for the production of SFSR1. Interfering RNA prevents the targeted protein from being produced. Effectively knocking-down the amount SFSR1 in the cell stopped the toxic C9ORF72 dipeptide repeat protein from being formed and rescued the cell from neurodegeneration. Gene therapy using viruses is extremely effective as the virus can stay inside the cell and continuously produce the therapeutic interfering RNA over a long period of time for the ongoing treatment of a genetic disease. Dr Hautbergue and colleagues Prof Mimoun Azzouz and Prof Pamela Shaw at SITraN are currently in talks with companies such as AveXis Inc. and Pfizer to take forward a translational gene therapy program and a new PhD student starting in September will be trying out the strategy in a mouse model of C9ORF72-linked MND.
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NCI Drug Dictionary
The search textbox has an autosuggest feature. When you enter three or more characters, a list of up to 10 suggestions will popup under the textbox. Use the arrow keys to move through the suggestions. To select a suggestion, hit the enter key. Using the escape key closes the listbox and puts you back at the textbox. The radio buttons allow you to toggle between having all search items start with or contain the text you entered in the search box.
AE37 peptide/GM-CSF vaccine
A vaccine containing HER2/Neu-derived epitope (amino acids 776-790) linked to li-Key peptide (li-Key/HER2/neu hybrid peptide or AE37), and combined with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), with potential antineoplastic and immunoadjuvant activities. Upon vaccination, AE37 may activate the immune system and stimulate T-helper cells against HER2/Neu expressing cancer cells. GM-CSF may potentiate the immune response against cancer cells expressing the HER2/Neu antigen. The Ii-Key moiety, a 4-amino acid (LRMK) epitope from the MHC class II-associated invariant chain (Ii protein), increases T-helper cell stimulation against HER2/neu antigen when compared to unmodified class II epitopes. HER2/neu, a tumor associated antigen (TAA), is overexpressed in a variety of tumor cell types and is highly immunogenic. Check for active clinical trials or closed clinical trials using this agent. (NCI Thesaurus)
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Join the children’s librarian for stories, rhymes and early literacy activities designed to strengthen your child’s reading readiness at Preschool Storytime at the Bainbridge Public Library.
Storytime is 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 30.
Regular attendance at preschool storytime can ease the transition to school and promote a love of reading. The free program is recommended for children ages 3 to 6.
For more information, call 206-842-4162 or visit www.krl.org.
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When we started these comparisons, there are quite a number of things we took for granted. These same issues continue appearing in stories which make it difficult for some readers to understand what we are talking about.
We shall therefore try to demystify some of the terms we commonly use. We normally refer to the engine capacity as 1.6 or 2.0 liter engine. What we mean by engine capacity is the displacement of oil needed to fill all cylinders.
Simply explained, if you put all the pistons at the bottom of the engine and poured say water in the cylinders, the amount you would require to fill all the cylinders is 2 litres for a 2.0 engine capacity. In other words each cylinder requires half a litre for a 4-cylinder engine.
The other difference that should be noticed is the EFI (electronic fuel injection) or the naturally aspirated carburetor. The EFI is a latter technological advancement in the motor vehicle industry. Where two vehicles with the same engine capacity but with EFI or carburetor, the choice should be the EFI because it is definitely more economical. However, the gadgets for calibrating an EFI are not as many as the technicians who can repair the carburetor. Even when diagnosing fuel related faults, there are more trouble shooting in an EFI.
The manual (stick-shift) transmission has its own experience especially for new drivers as compared to the automatic transmission. The automatic transmission will normally decide when to change gears while the stick shift leaves that challenge to the driver. Where two similar vehicles with the same engine are automatic and the other manual, the manual will have a better fuel consumption. However, with the ever increasing traffic jams, the fatigue is higher in a manual transmission. Also tear and wear of components like the clutch disc, clutch cover and the release bearing will be higher. The cost of replacements can therefore be foregone by the convenience of an automatic transmission.
Until 2 decades ago, the common thing was driving a rear wheel drive. Selling a front wheel drive would be a very difficult task. Today, most of the dot-com drivers don’t even know such vehicles exist save for trucks. Such sedan vehicles are still many but given an option, the front wheel drive has several advantages over the rear wheel drive.
The FWD will easily get out of the mire as compared to the rear wheel drive. Also, since the engine and final drive are near each other, the amount of materials used is less, giving it less weight to carry thus a lower fuel consumption other factors being equal. The stability of a FWD is also enhanced by the weight in front. That said, the stress of this weight is born by the front wheels. If you want even wear, you have to frequently rotate the tyres otherwise you will have to buy front tyres more frequently. The front wheels brakes also take a fair beating.
 It should be remembered that the same vehicle can give different drivers different performance. The reason is because we race differently, change gears differently and at different speeds, even our braking is different. Human factors therefore play a major part in our vehicles reaction.
written by Canada Goose Jackets, November 17, 2011
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With winter temperatures dropping and only expected to decrease, it’s important for pet owners to remember their furry friends left outdoors.
“Next week I think temperatures are supposed to get into the single digits, so we just want to remind everyone to make sure to take care of their pets,” Lebanon police Chief Scott Bowen said. “People think their pets are accustomed to the weather because they’re animals, but they’re not.”
Bowen said police often get calls from people concerned to check up on animals left outdoors and they wanted to make sure everyone remembers their outside pets this time of year.
Though it may not rain or snow a big factor outside is the wind Bowen said, and with the wind chill getting down to zero, it’s crucial to remember pets that may be outside suffering.
“We just ask that people remember because I know sometimes people do forget,” Bowen said. “It’s a good idea to bring them in to a heated space or the garage or the house if you can.”
Mt. Juliet Animal Services is also urging citizens to stay alert with continuing cold weather moving into the area.
“There is a slight misconception where people think pets are comfortable in cold weather because they have fur for protection against the cold,” said Animal Services Director Dawn Ambrose. “However, regardless of how thick an animal’s fur is, below freezing temperatures can be very dangerous for any pet.”
If possible, it is always best to keep pets indoors, but those that need to be outside should be provided with adequate shelter that helps protect them from being exposed to cold temperatures. Animals that are left outside for lengthy periods of time can become susceptible to hypothermia.
According to Mt. Juliet Animal Services, hypothermia will most likely happen when an animal is wet and cold. Consult a veterinarian immediately if a pet is found violently shivering followed by listlessness, apathy, a temperature below 97 degrees, collapse and coma.
Often times Mt. Juliet’s Animal Control officers find pets without proper shelter or any shelter at all. Mt. Juliet Animal Services can be contacted at 615-773-5533 if someone feels that a pet is being neglected.
Mt. Juliet Animal Services has listed a few simple steps for pet owners that can help protect animals during cold temperatures.
If possible keep pets inside, but if they can’t be inside, provide a warm and comfortable shelter facing away from wind and provide a flap or door to help keep the animal’s body heat inside.
Bedding is also essential for insulation because it protects the animal from the snow or ice underneath its body and allows them to retain heat within the bedding.
Also, keep pets secure in fencing or on a leash because pets can lose their sense of smell and direction in the snow, ice and cold and can become lost.
Additionally, be sure to wipe off pets legs and stomachs after being outdoors in order to remove ice, salt or chemicals.
For pet owners with cats, it is important to remember cats may sleep under hoods of cars to stay warm, so owners should be weary and check under their car hoods before starting their car.
In order to produce body heat, outdoor pets need extra calories so extra food and water is crucial. There are now devices available to keep water dishes from freezing, but if one is not available remember to fill and replace water frequently.
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THE esteem in which mankind holds its furrier friends may be an indicator of the conception it has nurtured of itself. In the dualistic universe mapped out by Descartes in the late 17th century, for example, animals were regarded as cogs in the vast machinery of nature. Man, by virtue of the reflective soul that set him apart from the rest of Creation, was cast in the role of master of the natural world. By contrast, the acceptance a century later of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's portrait of mankind as just another, more adaptive kind of animal had proved so widespread that man was as likely to consider himself nature's student as its (perhaps incompetent) master.
This evolution and the light it sheds on a certain strand of cultural and intellectual history, lies at the heart of “The Bloodless Revolution”. Despite his serious approach, Mr Stuart has a relaxed, semi-anecdotal style which repays both careful engagement and lighter dipping. Beginning, for example, with a quotation from “Withnail and I”, a British film in which the heroes are prevented from killing a chicken by its “dreadful, beady eyes”, he moves on to the issue of man's sympathy—or otherwise—for animals, a thorn in many a non-vegetarian side.
Europe's use of India as an anthropological mirror has attracted much attention over the past 30 years. But the book's strength lies not in uncovering substantial new ground—although the motley assemblage of characters and creeds provides plenty of this too—but in its exposé of vegetarianism as a way of offering refreshing perspectives on these and other areas.
Some readers will be aware that Pythagoras' vegetarianism was predicated on the immortality and reincarnation of souls and the consequent worry in killing a beast “lest”, as Shakespeare wrote, “thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam”. Fewer perhaps will know that Pythagoras may have learned this doctrine—part of which establishes the foundations for a continuous strand of Western metaphysics—from the ancient Hindu Brahmins. Fewer still will know of the 17th-century Christian Kabbalists exploring the same ideas. One even spotted a flaw in the Pythagorean system by which if reincarnation is the soul's journey through a progression of corporeal states to eventual perfection, then the ending of an animal's life only expedites its upward journey and can hardly be condemned on these grounds.
Mr Stuart's fluent pen occasionally makes minor errors, and his animosity to Descartes obscures some of the issues at stake. But with the balance of an easy style and comprehensive, if discreet, research, he avoids most of the pitfalls of popular histories in which seeming ephemera take centre stage. Thankfully too, those other singularly vegetarian dangers—preachiness and a copious flow of hot air—could not be less in evidence.
This article appeared in the Books and arts section of the print edition under the headline "Indian tonic"
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Measuring 6.7 on the richter scale, the epicentre of the quake occurred in a narrow strait of sea off Negros Island. The strong tremors caused landslides in the Negros Oriental province, where many houses in the city of Guihulngan (with a population of around 180,000) on the coast have been buried. Dozens of people are missing and therefore the death toll is expected to rise. Many hundreds of Filipinos in the region are also injured. Thankfully, all SOS Children projects in the country were unaffected.
Rescuers have been digging through mud and collapsed properties using picks and shovels, though the longer residents remain trapped in buildings, the less likely rescue teams are to find survivors. The highest death toll so far is reported to have been in a college, where a number of students were killed. The two child fatalities were in the towns of Jimalalud and Tayasan, where walls collapsed onto the children.
The quake hit during Monday morning at 11.49 am local time. As well as causing landslides and damage to property, bridges and roads have also been affected, with some routes rendered too dangerous to use. Power and telecommunications lines have also been hit. While two aftershocks have already been felt, of 4.8 and 5.6 in magnitude, no tsunamis have been reported, though residents of coastal regions have been warned to remain vigilant. Many offices in the affected towns and cities have suspended work and public buildings such as schools have closed. However, in towns such Tayasan, the police are reporting that residents are nervous to return home because of further possible aftershocks.
Located along the western rim of the circum-pacific seismic belt, known as the ‘Ring of Fire’, the Philippines regularly suffers from earthquakes and volcanic activity. Since 1959, the US Geological Survey has recorded 168 earthquakes of a magnitude greater than 6.5, equivalent to an event every 2.5 years. The most serious event occurred in the 1976 Mindanao Earthquake, which killed approximately 6,000 people. More recently, almost 2,000 Filipinos were killed in Luzon in 1990 by a 7.7 magnitude quake. Apart from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the Philippines is also prone to flooding and tropical cyclones – such as the recent typhoon Washi – making it the 8th most exposed country in the world to natural multiple hazards.
SOS Children's Villages Philippines
SOS Children has eight Children's Villages in the Philippines, including SOS Children's Village Davao, which is located on the island of Mindanao. Built in 1981 in the south of the island, the Village has 14 family houses, five SOS Youth Homes, and a Family Strengthening Programme which provides support and assistance to families living in the surrounding slum settlements. So far, there has been no reported damage to the Village and all our children and staff are safe. However, we are on standby should any children need temporary or long-term accomodation.
We began our work in the country in 1964 and currently care for more than 700 children at our eight purpose-built SOS Children's Villages. We also support a further 262 youths at our seven SOS Youth Homes, a place for young adults to prepare for independence.
We also runs schools, vocational training centres and Family Strengthening Programmes
in the Philippines. Family Strengthening Programmes aim to stop child
abandonment and to keep families together, by providing child care,
counselling, vocational training and medical support. In total, through
all of our programmes (including the Villages and the Family
Strengthening Programmes) we are reaching more than 6,700 Filipinos.
How you can help
Every day we help children whose lives have been damaged by natural disasters, conflict, poverty, or disease. You can help us continue our work in the Philippines by sponsoring a child or making a one-off donation which will help us to focus on the long-term welfare of children who have no one to care for them. Thank you.
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Animals In Print
The On-Line Newsletter
From 24 August 2003 Issue
SAVE LOTA THE ELEPHANT FROM CIRCUS ABUSE Lota the elephant has endured a miserable life in captivity for nearly fifty years, and itís time for her to be given sanctuary. Lota, who was born in the wild, was captured in 1954. In 1990, the Hawthorn Corporation got Lota from the Milwaukee Zoo when it no longer wanted her. The Hawthorne Corporation rents captive tigers and elephants to circuses and other animal shows. Since being in Hawthorn's care, Lota has been performing circus tricks and subjected to a life on the road that has apparently adversely affected her health. This past April the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) filed charges against Hawthorn for numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including a failure to provide veterinary care for Lota. The USDA has also found evidence that Lota has suffered from tuberculosis and weight loss so severe that her spine and hip bones are protruding.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please urge the USDA to aggressively prosecute Hawthorn Corporation for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Also ask them to confiscate Lota and have her transferred to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which has offered to accept her. There Lota will be able to live free of shackles and chains, eat a proper diet, and enjoy elephant companions.
The Honorable Ann M. Veneman
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave. S.W., Rm. 200-A
Washington, DC 20250
From: Issue 260 --- August 21, 2003 A Project of The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund for Animals: http://www.humanelines.org/
Return to Animals in Print 24 August 2003 Issue
| Home Page | Newsletter Directory |
Please send comments and submittals to
the Editor: Linda Beane Ljbeane1@aol.com
Animals in Print - A Newsletter concerned with: advances, alerts, animal, animals, attitude, attitudes, beef, cat, cats, chicken, chickens, compassion, consciousness, cows, cruelty, dairy, dog, dogs, ecology, egg, eggs, education, empathy, empathize, empathise, environment, ethics, experiment, experiments, factory, farm, farms, fish, fishing, flesh, food, foods, fur, gentleness, health, human, humans, non-human, hunting, indifference, intelligent, intelligence, kindness, lamb, lambs, liberation, medical, milk, natural, nature, newsletters, pain, pig, pigs, plant, plants, poetry, pork, poultry, research, rights, science, scientific, society, societies, species, stories, study, studies, suffering, test, testing, trapping, vegetable, vegetables, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, water, welfare (d-13)
This site is hosted and maintained by:
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Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org.
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POWELL, Wyo. — The fate of diseased whitebark pine will play a part in the effort to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list.
A federal appeals court ruled last year that more data was necessary to explain the decline of whitebark and how that decline will affect the grizzly population before delisting can be achieved.
Whitebark pine cones yield nutritious nuts grizzlies devour before denning. Even without pine beetles killing them, the trees don’t yield nuts every year.
Shoshone National Forest totals 2.4 million acres, including approximately 217,000 acres of whitebark pine. A 2011 aerial survey showed approximately 80,000 acres were impacted by mountain pine beetle. By including surveys from previous years, it is estimated between 60 to 80 percent of the mature whitebark pine have been impacted by the beetles.
“They identify trees impacted by looking for red-needled trees, which indicate the tree is dying or dead,” said Joe Harper, wildlife biologist for Shoshone National Forest.
Separate, smaller surveys of whitebark pine cones are conducted on the ground every summer at 22 transect lines in the six divisions of the national forest of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and the findings reported to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. The surveys help the team and forest managers understand the extent of beetle-caused whitebark mortality in the ecosystem, Harper said.
Shoshone has two transect sites of 10 trees each in Sunlight Basin and near Cooke City, Mont. Shoshone personnel have been surveying whitebark at those sites — Sunlight and Republic Creek — since 1980.
Grizzlies will do fine without whitebark, said Mark Bruscino, statewide supervisor of the large carnivore management section of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“The whitebark issue that we are going to resolve in the new delisting rule will not have much of an effect on the grizzly bear conservation strategy or Wyoming’s state plan,” Bruscino said during a phone interview on July 26.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, like Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, said he wants to end federal protections for Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears.
In an Associated Press story, Salazar said he anticipates delisting by 2014. He said last month whitebark declines do not threaten the recovered grizzly population.
Key foods for grizzlies are whitebark nuts, cutthroat trout, winter-killed ungulates (deer, elk, etc.) and army cutworm moths. Although cutthroat populations have declined, the grizzly population remains stable, Harper said.
“Whether their survival hinges on this one crop [whitebark] would be surprising to me,” he said.
The latest grizzly population estimate in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is 600-plus grizzlies. That is recognized as a conservative estimate, but the interagency team is working on a new method to obtain a more accurate number, said Shoshone National Forest Wildlife Biologist Andy Pils.
Harper and Pils conducted this year’s survey July 25. On their way, Harper stopped to examine midden — a whitebark pine cone cache — on a forested hill above Republic Creek, with Gallatin National Forest south and Yellowstone National Park to the north. Squirrels bury the cones, then a grizzly unearths them, Harper said.
Gopher-like holes in the spongy duff are evidence of the grizzly’s excavations.
“[Grizzlies] sit right here and gorge themselves, thanks to the red squirrel,” Harper said.
The ripened cones won’t drop. Squirrels remove them, and Clark’s nutcracker birds pick the cones apart in the branches, Pils said.
As though on cue, a squirrel scampered past a couple packs on the ground and disappeared beneath a log. The squirrel remained mute, but the nutcrackers in the trees squawked like New Year’s Eve noisemakers.
Above the midden, the men began their survey. The 10 trees are blazed with a capital T, and an aluminum tag about the size of a silver dollar tells the tree’s number.
Because cones are hard to spot, Harper, Pils and Shoshone National Forest Silviculturist Jason Brey use binoculars to count the ones clinging to the trees’ branches.
The men looked for signs of beetle attacks and blister rust.
Although widespread, rust is not causing a lot of tree deaths. Pils said his greater concern is the beetles.
No. 4 is the only transect tree hit by beetles, but it is ailing, and other trees around are infected.
“It will be dead by next year,” Pils said.
The men scrambled further up the hill, seeking another survey tree. Again, Harper paused. A nutcracker or squirrel likely misplaced a nut, resulting in a healthy whitebark pine about 18 inches tall.
“Here is the next generation,” he said.
Beetles are a native species, and whitebark have suffered them before. Evidence of new trees would suggest whitebark is not doomed, Bruscino said.
There is a lot of work determining what grizzlies are eating in areas around the ecosystem where whitebarks have been devastated by beetles. A lot of data has been collected from bears caught in traps. Grizzlies will survive without whitebark, Pils said.
Both survey sites, Sunlight and the Republic, averaged 12 cones per tree. Pils called that a moderate crop.
The forest service has safeguards in place for grizzlies such as the grizzly bear recovery area in the national forest, Pils said.
For example, there can be no new oil or gas pads in the primary conservation area of the national forests surrounding Yellowstone. And motorized travel is limited to levels that existed in 1998 when the grizzly population was considered recovered, Harper said.
Wyoming has a 2006 grizzly management plan. The state will make any revisions to that plan necessary to support the delisting rule, Bruscino said.
“Yeah,” Pils said. “I think it is time to let it happen.”
Information from: Powell (Wyo.) Tribune, www.powelltribune.com
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Ealing schools and the local authority (LA) work in partnership to raise standards and achievement, and address the issues of behaviour and discipline within the school community. The LA recognises that in certain circumstances, a headteacher may feel they have no option but to exclude a pupil.
What exclusion means
A child will be excluded from their school because of unacceptable behaviour.
Who excludes a pupil
Only a headteacher can decide to exclude a pupil from school or, if they are absent, a deputy head, who should make it clear that they are acting in the headteacher's absence.
Types and definitions of exclusions
There are three types of exclusion:
This means that the headteacher has decided that your child should not return to the school .
Fixed term exclusion
A fixed term exclusion is for a set number of school days, between one and 45 days in an academic year. The number of days will be stated in the letter that the headteacher has sent to you. The exclusion is temporary and your child will return to school at the end of the exclusion. Please note that the number of days stated by the headteacher relates only to school days and not weekends, holidays and teacher training days.
This type of exclusion is used to exclude a pupil for the lunchtime period only. The exclusion is treated as a fixed term exclusion equivalent to half a school day.
Exclusions for indefinite periods are not legal.
During the first one to five days of an exclusion (except for a lunchtime exclusion as specified above), you must ensure your child is not in a public place during school hours. If you fail to do so, you will have committed an offence under Section 103(3) of the Education and Inspection Act 2006 and will be liable to a fixed penalty. (There is no appeal process but you have a defence if you can prove you had reasonable justification for your failure to comply.)
If the exclusion is permanent or for six or more days, you must ensure that your child attends the alternative full-time provision which will be put in place from the sixth day (again except for lunchtime exclusions). Failure to do so could lead to action being taken against you for the non-attendance.
What to do during an exclusion
It is important for you to liaise closely with the school; the school will be setting and marking work for your child for the first one to five days of any exclusion. You have the right to see your child's school record, but due to confidentiality restrictions, you must put your request in writing.
What to do if you do not agree with the exclusion
If you do not agree with the headteacher's decision to exclude your child you have the right to state your views to the governors of the school. This can be done by writing to the governors, via the clerk to the governing body at the school's address.
For exclusions of up to five days in one term:
If you do not agree with the exclusion, you have the right to submit representations to the governors. The governors must consider and respond to your representations. You may also request that the governors meet to discuss the exclusion, but they do not have to.
For exclusions between six and 15 days in a school term:
If you do not agree with the exclusion, you have the right to submit representations to the governors. You also have the right to request that the governors meet to discuss the exclusion. If you make this request, the governors must meet within 50 school days of the date they were notified of the exclusion. The meeting is unlikely to take place before the exclusion ends and the governors are therefore unlikely to be able to direct reinstatement. However, the meeting can still provide the opportunity for all parties to make their views known. You have the right to present your views both in writing before the meeting and by speaking at the meeting. The governors may then add their written views to your child's school file.
For all exclusions over 15 days in a school term (including permanent exclusions) or where your child will lose the opportunity to take a public examination:
The governors must meet to consider the headteacher's decision to exclude and that meeting must take place between the sixth and fifteenth school day after the date they were notified of the exclusion. The governors will meet at a time convenient to you, school staff, the local authority representative and themselves.
If, due to exclusion, your child will miss the opportunity to take a public examination, the time limits do not apply and the governors will try to meet before the exam. A friend or relative may accompany you to the meeting to support you. It is advisable that your child attends, although it is recognised that this could be stressful for them.
Decisions the governors can make
The governors may decide that your child should be re-instated, in which case they will return to school as soon as possible. (For short exclusions the governors might not meet until after your child has returned to school).
If the governors uphold (agree with) the head teacher’s decision regarding a fixed term exclusion, your child will return to school once they have served the number of days or lunchtimes originally stated by the head teacher.
If the governors uphold (agree with) the head teacher’s decision to permanently exclude your child you have the right to request that an Independent review panel review the decision. Details of how to do this will be given in the governors’ decision letter sent to you after the meeting. The decision of the Independent Review Panel is final. If your child remains permanently excluded at the end of process, the LA (or the home LA if not Ealing) will be responsible for making suitable educational.
The LA can be contacted for advice on the process and procedures around exclusion. A representative of the LA will endeavour to attend all governors meetings for permanent exclusions and fixed term exclusions of more than 15 days. Their role is to advise the governors and to ensure that the school has followed DfE guidance. The LA representative will also attend any independent review panels.
Principal officer or support officer – Behaviour Service and Exclusions
2nd Floor, Perceval House
14/16 Uxbridge Road
Ealing W5 2HL
Tel: (020) 8825 5070
ContinYou Ealing Parent Partnership Service
Provides support, advice and information to parents/carers of children with additional needs. An Ealing Parent Partnership representative may support you with the exclusion process.
ContinYou Ealing Parent Partnership Service
63 Mattock Lane
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Organisation that provides free legal advice and information to parents on state education matters. The advice line is open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, except bank holidays and 24 December to 1 January.
Tel: 0808 802 0008
Department for Education (DfE)
Exclusion procedures are outlined in the DfE Guidance booklet and can be viewed via the ‘pupil support’ section of the DfE website.
Tel: 0870 000 2288
Somali School Home Liaison Team
Xidhiidhiyeyaasha dugsiyada iyo guryaha ee Soomaaliyeed: Haddii aad tahay qoys soomaali ah oo aad rabtid macluumaad kale oo ku saabsan eriga la xidhiidh
Tel: (020) 8825 5108
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Between 3 and 5% of all malignant tumors are located in the head and neck region. Approximately half of these are located in the oral cavity, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for roughly 90% of the total. It is defined as a malignant neoplasm which originates in the stratified epithelium, and is typically found in men over the age of 60, who have a habit of tobacco and alcohol use. However, this trend has been changing and is being observed more and more so in patients who are under the age of 40, even in children, adolescents, and in women who do not have any risk factors. It has also been associated with other less typical risk factors such as: the existence of nutritional deficiencies, exposure to ionizing radiation, immunosuppressant and irritant factors of dental and/or implant origin.
Oral rehabilitation using osseointegrated dental implants has become one of the best options for the treatment of edentulous patients and is considered by some to be the only form of treatment. Due to the universality of the use of dental implants, the literature has also reported an increase in the number of complications associated with their use. Among such complications, the most frequent are the inflammatory processes that affect the bone and soft tissues, which are known as periimplantitis. Clinically, these conditions often occur with edema, erythema, hypertrophy and even ulcers of the soft tissues, sometimes presenting an appearance which may require a differential diagnosis with malignant lesions.
To date, very few cases have been published on oral squamous cell carcinomas in proximity with osseointegrated dental implants, and even less on primary carcinomas in patients without a previous history of malignancy at the local or regional level. However, with the increase in the number of implants, we are likely to see an increase in the cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma. In this study, we present a review of the cases published in the literature on oral carcinomas associated with implants and we examine whether there is a direct relationship between the implants and the development of OSCC, evaluating the mechanism by which the implants may be considered risk factors. There is no data in the current literature that assess other possible causes, such as the galvanic effects that might arise from the transmembrane potential differences between the areas adjacent to the implants and the remaining mucosa; neither is there any data on the variables of decreased or increased bacterial colonization, or on the carcinogenic factors associated with the nitrosamines produced by Candida.
The mechanism by which osseointegrated dental implants could contribute to the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma is very debatable. Some authors argue that the placement of implants may contribute to the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma from the epithelium to the cancellous bone due to the loss of periodontal ligament.
The gingival attachment in implants is an area that experiences constant inflammation, which may affect the stability of the mucosa, and this inflammation may play an important role in the development of cancer due to the action of cytokine mediators such as: prostaglandins, interleukin-1, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor. Additional risk factors may also be added, such as: alcohol and tobacco consumption, irritating factors such as an improperly fitted prosthesis or poor oral hygiene. In the literature reviewed, the vast majority of cases referred were of patients with oral squamous carcinoma or with a history of cancer in other parts of the body prior to implant placement.
Nutritional deficiencies may explain the rapid evolution of a lesion, such as we present in case study 1, given that gastroplasty reduces the area of absorption for some nutrients and vitamins at the stomach level, increases the gastrointestinal transit rate and also reduces the absorption of certain necessary elements - all of which are associated with the local irritation factor of implants, which could explain the process in a patient who does not have any toxic habits.
Of the 12 cases described, only 6 of the patients did not present a prior history of carcinomas or cancer. In 2004, Shaw et al. presented 2 cases of squamous cell carcinoma: one in a 67-year-old male and another in a 64-year-old female patient, without a prior history of malignant lesions or risk factors. In both cases, the lesions appeared to be compatible with those associated with peri-implantitis. In 2008 Schache et al. reported a case in a 77-year-old male with an exophytic lesion located in the left mandibular region, associated with implants that support a fixed denture which was placed 5 years ago. The patient has no history of cancer, peri-implantitis or inflammation of the mucosa, nor any known risk factors. In 2008, Chimenos-Küstner et al. present a case of a 62-year-old female whose risk factors include moderate alcohol consumption and being an ex-smoker, without a prior history of cancer, presenting an exophytic lesion around implants placed in the lower incisor region. The histopathological examination revealed an invasive moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, requiring resective surgery with safety margins, as well as a functional radical homolateral lymphadenectomy. In 2008, Eguia del Valle et al. present a case of a 76-year-old male with a history of hypertension and hyperuricemia, who received 2 implants placed in the right hemimandible (4.5 and 4.6) approximately 5 years ago, subsequently developing an exophytic lesion adjacent to 4.6. The patient did not present risk factors and was seen regularly for check-ups. As a first treatment, a peri-implant curettage was performed and a biopsy was performed 15 days later. The histopathological examination revealed a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Excision of the tumor was then performed with safety margins, without lymph node involvement.
Of the other articles published, 2 present patients with and without a prior history of cancer and the following 6 had a history of oral cancer or cancer in other parts of the body, pre-malignant lesions or metastases. In 2008, Kwok et al. presented 3 cases. The first case concerns a 62-year-old male with poorly adapted dentures, who had been treated with 8 implants and has a history of high consumption of tobacco and alcohol. Three months after treatment, an ulcer was found in the lower right premolar region, whose histopathological study revealed a well-differentiated carcinoma. The second patient is a 71-year old male whose risk factors include heavy alcohol consumption and being an ex-smoker. He was treated with 2 implants in the lower incisor region and 6 years later an ulcer appeared which ended up being a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, which was subsequently treated with surgery. The third patient is a 67-year-old female with a history of 2 small carcinomas in the lateral edges of the tongue, which were removed in 2001 and 2004. She was an ex-smoker and consumes alcohol in moderation. A breast tumor had also been removed in 1992. In 2006, she developed a hyperplastic lesion in the lower lip and during surgery, a small area of granulation tissue was found around the lower left implant. A biopsy was performed, revealing an early stage of squamous cell carcinoma adjacent to the implant. The patient was thus treated with local excision of the carcinoma. In 1996, Clapp et al.reported three cases, one of which did not have a history of risk factors. The second case presented moderate dysplasia of the oral mucosa and the third case presented a prior history of OSCC. In 1997, Moxley et al. reported a case, without risk factors, although with a history of verrucous carcinoma in the molar area. In 2001, Block and Scheufler reported a case of a patient who was an ex-smoker and had a history of verrucous carcinomas in different areas and at different times. In 2007, Abu El-Naaj et al.presented a case of a patient who is a smoker and has a history of oral lichen planus, presenting an exophytic lesion around implants in the symphyseal region. In 2006, Czerninski et al. presented 2 cases: a patient with a high consumption of tobacco and a history of oral lichen planus, and the other patient with a prior history of oral and colon cancer. In 2007, Dib et al. presented a case of a woman with metastasis around osseointegrated implants produced by a breast adenocarcinoma, which were diagnosed at the same time. In 2008, Gallego et al. presented a case of a patient without any risk factors, with a history of oral lichen planus, who subsequently presents a carcinoma in situ in another location. The patient is treated with a resection of the area and rehabilitated with implants; however, due to the recurrence of carcinoma, a mandibular resection next to the implants is performed.
There is a case of osteosarcoma in the upper maxilla associated with implant placement with the use of fill material at the level of the maxillary sinus, which opens another debate about the use of platelet-rich factors or plasma rich in growth factors (PRF, PRGF).
The article by Gulati et al. describes a 62-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a verrucous leukoplakia located in the mandibular gingiva, which upon biopsy proved to be an invasive carcinoma, requiring surgical treatment with microvascular fibula graft. The patient had undergone posterior implant treatment for the prosthetic rehabilitation of the back part of his mouth, repeatedly suffering a peri-implantitis. Finally, a biopsy was performed in the inflamed area, which led to a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
The role of osseointegrated implants in the formation of squamous cell carcinoma is not well-established, although the inflammation that occurs in the adjacent tissues may be an important factor which contributes to the development of this pathology.
Before an implant treatment, the patient’s risk factors must be established and an appropriate cost-benefit evaluation must be conducted for each patient.
In patients with risk factors, regular check-up should be performed in which a thorough examination of the oral cavity is performed, and in the case of a lesion that raises any questions, a biopsy and the subsequent histopathological examination should be performed in order to make a correct diagnosis as soon as possible.
The most frequent carcinoma associated with dental implants occurs in the form of peri-implantitis; that is why any of these symptoms requires thorough monitoring in order to carry out the final screening of carcinoma.
Therefore, we believe that from a medical standpoint, any implant worn over a denture should be able to be removed relatively comfortably in order to examine the peri-implant tissues and to monitor possible changes in this area.
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February 21, 2014
Director Michael Desrochers of the Vermont Division of Fire Safety reminds all building owners and property managers to keep exit doors and fire escapes clear of ice and snow accumulations. The heavy snows we have already seen this winter, and the likelihood of further snowfall, requires greater vigilance to insure that these critical secondary egress paths are available for escape or rescue in an emergency.
Schools, apartments, restaurants, nightclubs and other buildings often have secondary exits that may become blocked by ice or snow during the winter months. Building owners are responsible to maintain required exits, and to clear ice and snow or other obstructions as quickly as possible. Safe, useable exits are fundamental to maintaining a reasonable level of fire safety in all buildings.
Building owners are requested to provide a high level of scrutiny of their exits during this winter period, and throughout the year.
Additional information on fire safety matters, and contact information for Division of Fire Safety offices, may be found at: www.firesafety.vermont.gov.
Media Contact: Michael Desrochers, Executive Director, 802 479-7539
Source: Department of Public Safety
Last Updated at: February 21, 2014 16:41:48
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Rained all night. Faired up in morning. The Battalion are paraded for inspection by General Alderson who shows his utmost ignorant contempt for the famous “Princess Patricias”. Everyone in Battalion are sore on this point.
* Lieutenant General Sir Edwin Alfred Hervey Alderson – was a Senior British Army officer who was placed in command of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the first half of WWI. He was not well liked by the Canadian troops as they suffered huge casualties under his command. He was eventually forced out of his position half way through the war. Despite his unpopularity he was well known for toughening up Canadian recruits turning them into veteran soldiers.
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Coats: Smooth And Long Haired
By Michael J. Warren
We all have a basic idea of what your average Chihuahua looks like,
but did you know that it is classified by the type of coat it has?
The two main types of Chihuahua coats are the smooth coat and long
coat/long haired Chihuahua.
In the smooth coat variety, the texture is smooth, glossy, and
coarser than the hair of a long coat. Some Chihuahuas have heavier
coats than others, and will have an "undercoat." The
perfect coat in this category is one that is even over the body
(sparser on the ears and head), ruff at the neck, with furry hair
on the tail. A Chihuahua with a short coat does shed, albeit minimally.
On the other hand, a long haired Chihuahua's coat texture is
soft and can be flat or have soft curls. The ears have a cute
fringe and the tail has full hair. The Chihuahua's feet and legs
have slight feathering, the hind legs have "pants,"
and the neck should have a larger ruff.
A thin coat Chihuahua would normally be a disqualification for
show. Many breeders state that the long coat Chihuahua has a gentler
temperament than that of a short coat Chihuahua (although some
people disagree). Long coats shed, but like the short coat, it
Generally, a long haired Chihuahua will need to be cleaned more
often than the short coat. The front side of the coat on the chest,
called the bib, can get dirty and matted.
You also want to keep the rear end of a long coat Chihuahua clean
since fecal matter and other particles can become stuck to the
hair. For this problem, you can either clip the hair shorter in
that area or bath the entire Chihuahua (or just that area) more
No matter the coat type of this loveable dog, correct grooming
techniques will make its coat shine just like new. Oh, and one
last thing -- don't forget to give your Chihuahua's coat a bath
every so often!
Chihuahua Care | Chihuahua
Articles | Contact Information | Link
Swap | Site Map | Earn Money
Agreement | Affiliate Agreement
Copyright © 2003, 2004 Vast
Nexus. All rights reserved.
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Peter George d’Angelino Tap, fabulous wearable art from Utrecht, Netherlands
My walks in Utrecht, Netherlands took me each day past wonderful windows of this marvelous dress workshop. The piece above is what I could see through the window, very interesting and intriguing! I looked up this fabulous designer once I got home and with his kind permission bring you these extravagant and fabulous wearables.
Peter George d’Angelino Tap’s career spans a period of twenty five years. In these years he has surpassed the boundaries usually known to fashion designers. His designs found their way to the world of theater, opera and ballet. His source of inspiration is the arts – be it poetry, music or the figurative arts. His inquisitive mind gave him an edge: he successfully integrated these disciplines into his designs and vice versa. His career started in Paris where he worked for Bruno Gainville and for the then upcoming label Kitty Cendress.
After returning to The Netherlands d’Angelino Tap designed scarves and handbags for the famous Dutch designer Frank Govers and started his own fashion label PGXXX. d’Angelino Tap not only created countless ladies’ and gentlemen’s couture and ready to wear collections that were shown on international catwalks in Paris, Antwerp, Dusseldorf and Berlin. He was also able to simultaneously design costumes for commercials, opera and theater- and ballet productions. His affection for the arts in general, made it possible to participate actively in numerous projects and exhibitions in museums like the KunstHal in Rotterdam and the Gemeente Museum in The Hague.
This ability to shift between the different art disciplines has everything to do with his design philosophy. His starting point is the basic ‘straight piece of cloth’ which he approaches multi-dimensionally. It looks like an origami technique: simply by folding and cutting the fabric d’Angelino Tap is able to create new form solutions. By doing so the material is barely compromised and remnants are left to a minimum. Most of d’Angelino Tap’s designs are derived from his fascination for the sheer endless possibilities offered by non western patterns, which he is able to transport into a western cut. His aim is to create his own ‘design language’.
His work tries to escape trend and time. He only shows collections that display renewal in itself: an essential contribution to fashion. With this philosophy in mind: “I am trying to create something timeless”. d’ Angelino Tap’s work shows not only thought but also pure craftsmanship. His designs stand out for their unique use of intricate patterns and elaborate employment of fabric. His aspiration is to design clothes that have a feeling of limitlessness. The owners should feel themselves ‘rich and secure’ in his designs. His main objective in his couture collection is that his creations ‘embrace & reveal’. ‘To embrace’ since the creation was specifically made for the owner and ‘to reveal’ because it shows something specific about the owner. This has nothing to do with nudity, but everything with what is inherent to the wearer: body & soul fused together.
By Clemente Brakel, with kind permission from Peter George d’Angelino Tap’s wonderful website
Tags: wearable art
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The Learning Machine
“At its most basic level, a startup is a learning machine—one that helps its founders understand and serve the real world...”
The title of their article puts a fine point on the matter in the form of a question: “What Would Happen If Learning in School Became More Like Working at a Startup?”
Here are just a few of the things that I would anticipate:
+ Learners would become more skilled at asking better questions.
+ Learners would develop, through daily practice, the habit of lifelong learning.
+ Learners would discover their innate strengths and how they can best use those to help their team achieve its goals.
+ Learners would be more engaged with their learning.
As General McChrystal pointed out, in a world of accelerating change “knowing stuff” is a stock with a declining value.
On the other hand, solving a problem in a creative and collaborative context--in other words, acting like an entrepreneur--allows a learner to “pull” in the knowledge she needs, when she needs it. To the extent that there is still essential content, the teacher (doesn’t “coach” make more sense) can guide entrepreneurial learners to discover intersections with the problem at hand.
When and where does your school offer opportunities for learners to be entrepreneurial?
Thank you for reading! Want to receive original Basecamp blog posts every Tuesday and Thursday and "Top Reads" every Saturday? Subscribe here.
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Contact the Violence and Injury Prevention Section
Violence and Injury Prevention Section
4052 Bald Cypress Way
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Florida leads the country in drowning deaths of children ages 1-4 years. Annually in Florida, enough children to fill three to four preschool classrooms drown before their fifth birthday.
In 2013, Florida had the highest unintentional drowning rate in the nation for children ages 1–4 years with a drowning rate of 7.54 per 100,000 population. Florida had the second highest drowning rate in the nation for children ages 1–14 years with a drowning rate of 2.54 per 100,000 population. Oklahoma was first for this age group with a rate of 2.69 per 100,000 population, and Mississippi third for this age group with a rate of 1.91 per 100,000 population. (Current national injury data)
For additional injury prevention data, please see the Florida Injury Surveillance Data System page.
WaterSmartFL—Pool Safety is Everyone's Responsibility
The “WaterSmartFL: Pool Safety Is Everyone’s Responsibility” initiative educates parents, caregivers and communities about drowning risks and prevention strategies. The campaign identifies three layers to increase pool safety and reduce childhood drowning: supervision, barriers and emergency preparedness. An on-line toolkit is available at www.watersmartfl.com.
Explore WaterSmartFL.com to learn the steps you can take to secure your pool and protect Florida's children, or to download campaign materials and information.
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7018 – Differential Pressure Calibrator – Time Electronics
Test and Measurement
The 7018 is a differential pressure calibrator suitable for field and laboratory calibration work of both diffential pressure and electrical process loop signals. The instrument is designed for very stable measurement of differential pressures between its two output ports, enabling the calibration of differential pressure gauges, transducers, and transmitters. There are five available versions, according to the required range, either 0.2, 2, 5, or 10bar.
Features include a 4.5 digit LCD display with 4 selectable pressure units plus mA, zeroing switch, and two quick release connector ports (Hi and Lo for differential pressure input) that are situated on the front panel of the unit. Best accuracy is 0.04% of full scale.
For process signal calibration the loop signal is displayed on the LCD display to 0.05% accuracy. Loop drive supply (24V or 36V) is also provided. Both pressure and loop signal can be displayed at the same time to speed up the calibration of pressure transmitters. Additionally a continuity function is available for testing for open circuit loops.
- 0.2, 2, 5 & 10bar versions
- Accuracy 0.04% of full scale
- Over-pressure alarm
- Isolated 24/36V loop supply
- Loop current measure
- Mains or battery powered
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Published: Jan 1972
| ||Format||Pages||Price|| |
|PDF (196K)||13||$25|| ADD TO CART|
|Complete Source PDF (3.2M)||173||$55|| ADD TO CART|
The characteristics of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are enumerated in the context of a historical sketch of the problem. The roles of pitting and brittle fracture in affecting the behavior of materials in tests of smooth specimens are depicted. The rationale for using fracture mechanics in evaluating crack propagation behavior is given, and a rudimentary composite of the results of smooth specimen tests and crack propagation (“fracture mechanics”) specimen tests is presented. We lack predictive capability with respect to SCC from one chemical environment to another.
stress corrosion cracking, corrosion, fracture properties, fracture tests, corrosion tests, crack propagation, pitting, notch tests
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.,
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Now, I’m all in favor of writing about the physics of imaginary things; it can be a very enlightening exercise to compare the laws of the actual world to ones that we make up for purposes of fiction. And The Physics of Christianity is such an obvious title that you knew someone would write such a book eventually. And Frank Tipler, in his youth, did some pioneering research on closed timelike curves in general relativity, so he has credentials as an honest physicist.
But, if there remains an interesting book to be written about the physics of Christianity, this isn’t it. And I say that in full confidence, not having actually read the book. Usually I like to defer judgment about crazy-sounding books that I haven’t even looked at, but in this case I’ll make an exception. Reviews by Vic Stenger or Lawrence Krauss tell you everything you need to know. From Lawrence’s review:
As a collection of half-truths and exaggerations, I am tempted to describe Tipler’s new book as nonsense – but that would be unfair to the concept of nonsense…
Tipler, for example, claims that the standard model of particle physics is complete and exact. It isn’t. He claims that we have a clear and consistent theory of quantum gravity. We don’t. He claims that the universe must recollapse. It doesn’t have to, and all evidence thus far suggests that it won’t. He argues that we understand the nature of dark energy. We don’t. He argues that we know why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. We don’t. I could go on, but you get the point…
[Tipler] argues that the resurrection of Jesus occurred when the atoms in his body spontaneously decayed into neutrinos and antineutrinos, which later converted back into atoms to reconstitute him.
Not much motivation for reading further than that. I’ve said many times (even if people don’t believe me) that I have a great deal of respect for intelligent and thoughtful religious people, even if I disagree with them on some deep truths about the universe. But man, those people don’t seem to get a lot of press, do they? The crazy stuff is much bigger box office, which perhaps is not a surprise.
Neutrinos and antineutrinos! That kills me. Everyone knows that Jesus shifted through the extra dimensions onto another brane, where he chilled for three days before coming back.
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The orbit is that cone-shaped, boney space located on either side of the nose that surrounds and protects the eye and delicate muscles, nerves, and fat that are present behind the eye. Many problems can occur in this area as a result of genetic, inflammatory, infectious, traumatic, and aging issues. A number of different tumors can occur here as well.
What Is An Orbital Tumor?
The eyes are distinct organs located within our skulls, but around the eyes are complex layers of nerves, tissue, muscles, blood vessels, and skin. All of these different components work together to not only allow us to move our eyes without moving our head, but even express our emotions through blinking, winking, arching eyebrows, or partially closing our eyelids.
Tumors can occur in two areas in this part of the head. An ocular tumor is a tumor found within the eyes themselves. Orbital tumors, however, are tumors that are found in other parts of the head surrounding the eyes. The eye area, or the nerves, or the vascular system, or even the bone may be affected by tumors, in which case they are categorized as orbital tumors.
Before any treatment can occur, it is important to understand the exact nature of the orbital tumor. Considerations such as the size of the tumor, its location, and whether the tumor is benign or malignant must all be determined through a careful medical evaluation.
In some cases, a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be able to provide sufficient data for a diagnosis about the tumor. In other cases, a surgical biopsy may be required. A surgical biopsy is when tissue from the tumor is surgically removed, and that sample is then analyzed with a microscope and other scientific instruments.
Orbital Tumor Types
Orbital tumors can form in many different anatomical systems. The most common orbital tumor types are:
Occurring in the bone surrounding the eye
Occurring in the fatty tissue, or the muscle
Occurring in the vascular/circulatory system
Occurring in the embryonic cells and thus more common in children
A form of ocular cancer that occurs directly on the retina and is more common in children
Orbital tumors can occur as a direct result of some portion of the orbital area developing cancer. Alternatively, it can be a side-effect of cancer spreading from some other part of the body and reaching the orbital area.
Depending on the type of cancer, the size of it, and whether it is benign or malignant, there are a variety of different possible treatments to manage the tumor. In some cases, especially if the tumor is benign and easily accessed, simple surgery to remove the tumor will be enough to stop the growth and prevent cancer from recurring.
In other cases, however, other forms of cancer treatment, such as chemo or radiation therapy, may be required. All of this is contingent on the exact diagnosis that is formed after a careful examination.
Preparing For Surgery
If it is determined that a surgical procedure is the best approach for your orbital tumor, you should observe the following recommendations before surgery.
Health “Honesty”: Give a complete accounting of your medical conditions when asked, as some may affect the surgical process.
It is important to be honest about which medications or other substances you are currently taking as there may be interactions between some substances and the anesthesia or other medications required during the surgery.
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Could You Be Giving Away Too Much on the FAFSA?
What your FAFSA says about your first choice college.
By Kathryn Knight Randolph
December 08, 2014
The FAFSA is perhaps one of the most invasive questionnaires you and your family will ever complete. It asks about your private financial situation, special family circumstances and everything else in between. When it’s all said and done, many families feel as if they didn’t get enough financial aid to cover the cost of college. So imagine that colleges may be taking further advantage of you on the FAFSA by reading into the information you provide, according to U.S. News and World Report.
There is a lot to be inferred by the order in which you list schools you have applied to on the FAFSA, states U.S. News and World Report. Many students indicate their preferences in order, placing their top choice first on the list. The article cites a study by Noel-Levitz which found that students enrolled at the first school listed on their FAFSA at a 64% rate.
Colleges around the country are reading into this, but the news is good for students. They’re actually awarding more merit and financial aid to those students who have selected that college as their first choice. So remember: as you’re filling out your FAFSA in January, indicate your preferred schools in order; it may benefit you financially.
But wait a second…
If you don’t have the grades or the test scores to get into your top choice, you can forget about this strategy. Listing Harvard on the top line when you’re a C-average student won’t get you admitted, implies U.S. News and World Report. At the same time, not all schools use this portion of the FAFSA as another tool in which to woo potential students.
Admissions Officer, Jon Boeckenstedt, at DePaul University told U.S. News and World Report that, “We [at DePaul] have never, ever, ever used FAFSA position for any reason other than to project enrollment patterns of the group. We have never used it to award more or less aid; we have never used it to decide whether or not to admit anyone."
The Final Word
While this all seems like good news for students, you shouldn’t depend on this methodology for getting into your top choice college. Rather, you’re going to have to get in the good, old fashioned way: your grades and test scores. However, listing your school preferences in order may impact how much financial aid you receive, making it more plausible for you to attend your first choice. This subtle detail could mean the difference between you just be accepted to your top choice and actually attending there.
Need money to pay for college?
Every semester, Fastweb helps thousands of students pay for school by matching them to scholarships, grants and awards for which they actually qualify. Sign up today to get started. You'll find scholarships like the Course Hero's $5,000 Scholarship, and easy to enter scholarships like Niche $1,000 October Scholarship.
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