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Top 10 Probation Articles
Top 10 Probation Articles
Probation may seem glamorous at first because so many celebrities have been sentenced with it. Lindsay Lohan, Chris Brown, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Amanda Bynes, and 50 Cent are just a handful of famous people that have been placed on probation in lieu of a harsher sentence. While these celebrities may make probation seem like no big deal, it is more than just a judge telling a convicted criminal to not screw up in the future.
Although there are different kinds of probation, they all involve suspending harsher sentences. Additionally, all kinds of probation have conditions attached that must be followed. This Top 10 list of probation articles explain what probation really is without all of the hype of celebrity scandals and tabloid magazine drama.
Most people do not know the difference between parole and probation, which is usually because they have never had to deal with probation or parole before. This is a good thing, since it implies that most people have not committed a crime. If you are curious as to what the difference is between the two, then you should read this article to find out.
Probation often comes with a set of conditions attached to it that the person on probation must follow. Thanks to Lindsay Lohan’s inability to follow her probation requirements, everyone knows that if you violate your probation, you may end up in jail. This article goes over how people can violate their probation and what can happen when they do.
Being a grown-up generally means that you do not have to worry about constantly checking in with another person and avoiding alcohol. However, all of that changes if you are placed on supervised probation. You should read this article if you have recently been placed on supervised probation so that you know what may be expected of you.
If you have managed to get supervised probation, then you should consider yourself fortunate for avoiding a prison sentence. However, you still are not completely free and clear of all punishment for your criminal conviction. In order to learn how supervised probation is still a punishment in its own right, you need to read this article.
Lots of people have been required to surrender their probation after violating it, including Chris Brown, Paris Hilton, and Khloe Kardashian. Once you have chosen to violate your probation, you will be required to give up that probation and freedom. You need to read this article to learn what it means to surrender your probation before you decide to do so.
So, you have decided to emulate Amanda Bynes and violate your probation. Now, you may be wondering what will happen next following your violation. This article will tell you exactly what you can expect to have happen as the court goes through the process of punishing you for violating the terms of your probation.
Punishment is not always just "one size fits all." Rather, judges try to make sure that the punishment fits the crime, which is why there are several different types of probation. You should read this article if you want to know what the differences are among them.
Even though going to prison may be a complete nightmare, you can still work to be released earlier than originally anticipated. Many states have implemented some form of an early release program that gives people time off for good behavior. If you are interested in how you can be released early from prison, then you need to read this article.
While the government may be tracking your every move like a cat chasing a laser from a laser pointer, records made about you by your probation officer are for your eyes only. Thus, you do not have to worry about anyone else seeing them without your permission. This article goes over what probation information is protected and how it is protected.
Imagine if you could elect to go to a prison that has all of the comforts of home. Luckily, you can if you are sentenced to house arrest because it makes you a prisoner in your own home, literally. If you are presented with that option as part of a plea bargain, you should read this article to learn exactly what house arrest entails before agreeing to it.
Consult a Lawyer - Present Your Case Now!
Last Modified: 11-25-2013 04:11 PM PST
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the nation's premier civil rights legislation. The Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote. It did not end discrimination, but it did open the door to further progress.
Although the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments outlawed slavery, provided for equal protection under the law, guaranteed citizenship, and protected the right to vote, individual states continued to allow unfair treatment of minorities and passed Jim Crow laws allowing segregation of public facilities. These were upheld by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1895), which found state laws requiring racial segregation that were "separate but equal" to be constitutional. This finding help continue legalized discrimination well into the 20th century.
Following World War II, pressures to recognize, challenge, and change inequalities for minorities grew. One of the most notable challenges to the status quo was the 1954 landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas which questioned the notion of "separate but equal" in public education. The Court found that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and a violation of the 14th Amendment. This decision polarized Americans, fostered debate, and served as a catalyst to encourage federal action to protect civil rights.
Warren K. Leffler, LOC, LC-U9- 10361-23
1963 was a crucial year for the Civil Rights Movement. Social pressures continued to build with events such as the Birmingham Campaign, televised clashes between peaceful protesters and authorities, the murders of civil rights workers Medgar Evers and William L. Moore, the March on Washington, and the deaths of four young girls in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. There was no turning back. Civil rights were firmly on the national agenda and the federal government was forced to respond.
Following Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, both Martin Luther King, Jr. and newly inaugurated President Lyndon B. Johnson continued to press for passage of the bill – as King noted in a January 1964 newspaper column, legislation "will feel the intense focus of Negro interest...It became the order of the day at the great March on Washington last summer. The Negro and his white compatriots for self-respect and human dignity will not be denied."
The House of Representatives debated H.R. 7152 for nine days, rejecting nearly 100 amendments designed to weaken the bill. It passed the House on February 10, 1964 after 70 days of public hearings, appearances by 275 witnesses, and 5,792 pages of published testimony.
Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office
Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen nurtured the bill through compromise discussions and ended the filibuster. Dirksen's compromise bill passed the Senate after 83 days of debate that filled 3,000 pages in the Congressional Record. The House moved quickly to approve the Senate bill.
Within hours of its passage on July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson, with Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Height, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders in attendance, signed the bill into law, declaring once and for all that discrimination for any reason on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was illegal in the United States of America.
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BRUSSELS — When Anders Fogh Rasmussen took over at NATO, the alliance was struggling to contain a growing insurgency in Afghanistan, and some predicted it would soon follow its Cold War foe, the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, into the dustbin of history.
Five years later, as Rasmussen wraps up his tenure as the 12th secretary general in NATO's history, the U.S., Canada and their European allies are again squaring off against the Russians, and must confront a more diverse and bewildering array of threats to Western security than ever.
"We should be prepared to address all of them, whether it is a conventional threat against our territory, or what I would call hybrid warfare as we have seen in Ukraine — a sophisticated Russian mix of conventional military operations and information and disinformation campaigns — or terrorism as we see it in Iraq, or cyber-attacks or missile attacks," Rasmussen told The Associated Press in a farewell interview.
"All this is part of today's security environment and NATO must stand ready to protect our societies and our populations against all those threats," said Rasmussen.
The 61-year-old Dane's last day as the U.S.-led defense alliance's top civilian official is Sept. 30. In one of his last official acts, he was scheduled to deliver a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday.
On Rasmussen's watch, NATO continued to wage what has been the longest and most extensive military operation in its 65-year history in Afghanistan, a campaign that is supposed to come to an end this December.
"Rasmussen played a valuable role in helping convince NATO members to contribute additional forces to President Barack Obama's surge strategy," said Jorge Benitez, senior fellow for trans-Atlantic security at the Washington, D.C.-based Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. "This was a major accomplishment because the momentum had been for allies to decrease their commitments in Afghanistan."
Rasmussen, a former center-right prime minister of Denmark, was also in charge when NATO provided air cover to the rebel militias that brought down Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
An important lesson he drew from that conflict and the ensuing chaos, Rasmussen told AP, was that the international community must get involved faster when a repressive regime is overthrown, in order to improve the chances for a desirable and stable outcome.
Earlier this year, when Russian's military occupied and annexed Crimea, then began what Western governments called a "stealth invasion" of eastern Ukraine, Rasmussen loudly and repeatedly voiced his outrage — and worked hard in public and behind the scenes to help forge trans-Atlantic unity and an effective and credible military response.
Europe's most acute geopolitical crisis since the demise of the Soviet Union was a reminder that NATO's original mission — defense of its own members against Russian aggression — was still urgently relevant, and Rasmussen rose to the challenge, one Dutch analyst said.
"He took the opportunity to put NATO on the map," said Margriet Drent, senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. "Until then, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO was still looking for its purpose."
It may take time to determine the ultimate effectiveness of many changes enacted during the Rasmussen years. These include the alliance's new "strategic concept," or mission statement, approved in 2010, and the "smart defense" initiative to foster greater cooperation among the 28 NATO member countries in acquiring and using military capabilities.
Similarly, it is difficult to predict the future of Afghanistan, where a 13-year-old war against the Taliban continues and two rival candidates for the nation's presidency have just reached a power-sharing agreement. Some have also questioned whether NATO has done enough to discourage the expansionist ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rasmussen told AP he has no regrets.
"We have reformed our alliance, streamlined structures, so all in all it's fair to say we have cut fat and built muscle during my tenure as secretary general," he said. "And I hope and I trust it will be remembered for some years."
He will be succeeded at NATO by a former Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who takes office Oct. 1. To achieve a seamless transition, he and Rasmussen have been talking by phone — as Scandinavians, they understand each other's language — and alliance officials have been flying to Oslo to bring Stoltenberg up to speed.
Earlier this month, Obama and the other NATO heads of state and government met in Wales and issued an ambitious to-do list which includes a plan to reinforce the defenses of alliance members in central and eastern Europe skittish about Putin's intentions and to deter any hostile moves by the Kremlin.
A key component of the plan is creation of a highly mobile multinational "spearhead" force that could be sent at short notice to Poland, the Baltic states or any other NATO member at risk. Implementing that plan "will be the first very important issue for Mr. Stoltenberg," said Rasmussen.
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Asthma is a leading cause of chronic illness in children, impacting heavily on their daily life and participation in physical activity. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the evidence for the use of physical therapy to improve pulmonary function and aerobic capacity in children with asthma. Furthermore, the review aims to update previous literature on the effect of exercise on health related quality of life.
A search was conducted for randomized control trials (RCTs) using the electronic databases Medline, Embase, SPORTDiscus, AMED, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Studies were included if the participants were asthmatic children aged 6–18 years participating in any mode of physical exercise. Studies were reviewed for study quality, participant details, exercise intervention details, and intervention outcomes.
A total of 16 studies and 516 subjects met inclusion criteria for review. Severity of asthma ranged from mild to severe. No improvement in pulmonary function was observed. Physical training led to an increase in aerobic capacity as measured by VO2max (mL/kg/min).
Findings suggest that physical training does not improve pulmonary function in children with asthma, but does increase aerobic capacity. The small number of studies investigating quality of life suggests that physical training does improve health related quality of life; however further well designed randomized control trials are needed to verify these findings.
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Chapter 15 (I. Maccabees)
Antiochus son of King Demetrius addressed a letter from the Mediterranean Isles to Simon, priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to the whole nation; 2 this was how it read: 'King Antiochus to Simon, high priest and ethnarch, and to the Jewish nation, greetings. 3 'Whereas certain scoundrels have seized control of the kingdom of our fathers, and I propose to claim back the kingdom so that I may re-establish it as it was before, and whereas I have accordingly recruited very large forces and fitted out warships, 4 intending to make a landing in the country and to hunt down the men who have ruined it and laid waste many towns in my kingdom; 5 'I now, therefore, confirm in your favour all remissions of taxes granted to you by the kings my predecessors, as well as the waiving of whatever presents they may have conceded.
6 I hereby authorise you to mint your own coinage as legal tender for your own country. 7 I declare Jerusalem and the sanctuary to be free; all the arms you have manufactured and the fortresses you have built and now occupy may remain yours. 8 All debts to the royal treasury, present or future, are cancelled henceforth in perpetuity. 9 Furthermore, when we have won back our kingdom, we shall bestow such great honour on yourself, your nation and the sanctuary as will make your glory known throughout the world.' 10 Antiochus invaded the land of his ancestors in the year 174 and, since the troops all rallied to him, Trypho was left with few supporters.
11 Antiochus pursued the usurper, who took refuge in Dora on the coast, 12 knowing that misfortunes were piling up on him and that his troops had deserted him. 13 Antiochus pitched camp outside Dora with a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men and eight thousand cavalry. 14 He laid siege to the city while the ships closed in from the sea, so that he had the city under attack from land and sea, and allowed no one to go in or come out. 15 Numenius and his companions, meanwhile, arrived from Rome, bringing letters addressed to various kings and states, in the following terms:
16 'Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greetings. 17 'The Jewish ambassadors have come to us as our friends and allies to renew our original friendship and alliance in the name of the high priest Simon and the Jewish people. 18 They have brought a golden shield worth a thousand mina. 19 Accordingly, we have seen fit to write to various kings and states, warning them neither to molest the Jewish people nor to attack either them or their towns or their country, nor to ally themselves with any such aggressors. 20 We have seen fit to accept the shield from them.
21 If, therefore, any scoundrels have fled their country to take refuge with you, hand them over to Simon the high priest, to be punished by him according to their law.' 22 The consul sent the same letter to King Demetrius, to Attalus, Ariarathes and Arsaces, 23 and to all states, including Sampsames, the Spartans, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Arados, Gortyn, Cyprus and Cyrene. 24 They also drew up a copy for Simon the high priest. 25 Antiochus, meanwhile, from his positions on the outskirts of Dora, was continually throwing detachments against the town. He constructed siege-engines, and blockaded Trypho, preventing movement in or out.
26 Simon sent him two thousand picked men to support him in the fight, with silver and gold and plenty of equipment. 27 But Antiochus would not accept them; instead, he repudiated all his previous agreements with Simon and completely changed his attitude to him. 28 He sent him Athenobius, one of his Friends, to confer with him and say, 'You are now occupying Joppa and Gezer and the Citadel in Jerusalem, which are towns in my kingdom. 29 You have laid waste their territory and done immense harm to the country; and you have seized control of many places properly in my kingdom. 30 Either now surrender the towns you have taken and the taxes from the places you have seized outside the frontiers of Judaea,
31 or else pay me five hundred talents of silver in compensation for them and for the destruction you have done, and another five hundred talents for the taxes from the towns; otherwise we shall come and make war on you.' 32 When the King's Friend, Athenobius, reached Jerusalem and saw Simon's magnificence, his cabinet of gold and silver plate and the state he kept, he was dumbfounded. He delivered the king's message, 33 but Simon gave him this answer, 'We have not taken foreign territory or any alien property but have occupied our ancestral heritage, for some time unjustly wrested from us by our enemies; 34 now that we have a favourable opportunity, we are merely recovering our ancestral heritage. 35 As regards Joppa and Gezer, which you claim, these were towns that did great harm to our people and laid waste our country; we are prepared to give a hundred talents for them.' Without so much as a word in answer,
36 the envoy went back to the king in a rage and reported on Simon's answer and his magnificence, and on everything he had seen, at which the king fell into a fury. 37 Trypho now boarded a ship and escaped to Orthosia. 38 The king appointed Cendebaeus military governor of the coastal region and allotted him a force of infantry and cavalry. 39 He ordered him to deploy his men facing Judaea, and instructed him to rebuild Kedron and fortify its gates, and to make war on our people, while the king himself went in pursuit of Trypho. 40 Cendebaeus arrived at Jamnia and began to provoke our people forthwith, invading Judaea, taking prisoners, and massacring.
41 Having rebuilt Kedron, he stationed cavalry and troops there to make sorties and patrol the roads of Judaea, as the king had ordered.
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Students at the Holy Trinity School Church of England School are celebrating a record-breaking year in their GCSE results today (Thursday, August 21).
A total of 73 per cent of students gained five or more GCSE grades at C and above including English and maths with 78 per cent of students gaining five or more GCSE grades at C and above in all subjects.
Sarah Soloman cried with joy after she saw she got nine A or A*s at GCSE.
Sarah, 16, of Woodfield Road, Northgate, said: “I’m really proud about all of my A*s.
“I was very nervous, a bit uncertain about a couple of my subjects because of how the exams went.”
The following students all achieved at least ten GCSEs at A* or A grade: James Bartholomew, Oliver Brown, James Butler, Arielle Johnson, Samuel Lashwood, Meghana Mandala, David Mcgill, Holly Merchant, Shreena Nayee, Shriya Patel, Catherine Sleeman, Thomas Styles, Matthew Thomas and Christopher Walker.
Facts and figures
107 students gained ten subjects at A*-C (51 per cent of the year);
127 gained nine or more A*-C (60 per cent of the year);
141 gained eight or more A*-C (67 per cent of the year);
14 students gained ten-plus GCSE grades at A* or A (7 per cent of the year);
29 students gained eight-plus GCSE grades at A* or A (14 per cent of the year);
53 students gained ten-plus GCSE grades at A*-B (25 per cent of the year);
76 students gained 8+ GCSE grades at A*-B (36 per cent of the year).
In addition, 80 per cent of all grades were C or above, 51 per cent were B or above and 25 per cent were A or A* – all of which are new school records.
Head teacher Paul Kennedy said: “I am delighted that the hard work and dedication of our staff and young people has resulted in such excellent outcomes for our young people.
“Our target for five-plus GCSE at C or above including English and maths was 65 per cent so this year we have smashed through that!
“These must rank amongst some of the best GCSE results the school has ever achieved and I am very proud of all the students and staff.
“This is a just reward for their effort.
“I am particularly delighted for the English – 77 per cent C-plus – and maths – 83 per cent C-plus – departments who have both achieved amazing results this year.”
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on 27-07-2010 21h44
My house was built in the early 1970s and as far as I can tell has no master socket. The line comes into the loft from a pole, attaches to a small plastic box below the eves and a white cable is threaded into the loft through the brickwork. It then disappears through the loft insulation and somehome finds its way into two normal sockets within the house with no sign of a standard BT master socket.
Is this normal for the age of property and does anyone know how its resolved? I don't really need one right now but need to make wiring changes for a new socket and need to know where their bit ends and the internal wiring starts.
Solved! Go to Solution.
on 27-07-2010 21h57
The section in this link marked No NTE5 Master Socket plus the associated information might help you?
on 27-07-2010 22h18
Thanks - I think that might be it.
I'm going to take the faceplates off tomorrow to look for a yellow capacitor - however does anyone know what BT's attitude would be to (them obviously) creating a new master socket in the loft? If one of the existing sockets proves to be the master it will be very tricky to run new sockets off it wheras new sockets from a master in the loft will be very straightforward as we have quite a few conduits running from the loft for TV etc and these will easily take new phone lines.
on 27-07-2010 22h49
The primary reason for the master socket is for the split of the ringing voltage and current from the main telephone line. This is transferred to wire connection 3 on the internal telephone line. Wire connection 2 and 5 are for the audio and will work without any of the other lines with the exception that the telephone extension will not ring.
The OpenReach people as a bit fussy if you have more than one master socket as it tends to confuse their line testing as they use the electronics in the master socket.
The typical master socket can support up to 5 telephone extensions with ringing telephones. This depends also on the rating of the telephone used. On the label of the phone, usually underneath, there is a REN number. This is typically 1. The total REN number in the house should typically not exceed 5.
It is best to install secondaries instead and just wire connections 2, 3 and 5. You can connect the secondary sockets in series so all the different extensions don't have to come from the master socket. Secondaries are cheaper then masters but if you already have masters you can convert them to secondaries by cutting out the capacitor (yellow thing), diode (usually silver with blue around it) and resistor.
on 27-07-2010 23h01
Sorry my mistake - I didn't mean an additional master I meant a replacement one.
Right now I have a cable coming into a nice open loft that has mulitple conduits running from the loft into various rooms for TV/satellite cables etc. I also have (probably) the BT cable running though the floors and plasterwork to what is probably an old-style master socket near the front door.
Running extensions from that master is going to be a pain. There's no conduit running there (no need for TV in the hall) and even if I do run a new conduit I'd be running phone lines back up to the loft only to run back down again. Seems a bit of a palava and not a tidy solution.
On the other hand a new master socket in the loft (cutting off the exisitng socket) would give me a simple socket off which to run new lines to new extensions next to each of the conduits in the rooms downstairs.
But - do BT do that sort of thing?
on 28-07-2010 18h31
That sounds logical to me. All I really know is that BT like to have their master socket located as their external cable enters the property. Essentially, on their cable. If it is not then they can pass any problem onto you.
From what you have explained there does not seem any reason why it cannot be done. The only problem you may have is BT like to install only their master socket by only their technicians. This is the way it has become since BT sold off OpenReach. If it has been installed by them then they take responsibility for the fault. If it has been installed by someone else, then it is your responsibility.
The next thing that I will expect is BT will try to charge you for a new telephone installation. To be fair this is not BT but OpenReach that will charge this. I believe it is approaching around £200 to have this done.
If it is an old socket, it would be to BT's advantage to change the socket. However, they will probably be reluctant to do that unless their is a fault as they have to pay OpenReach to do it.Then if you report a fult then they will only replace the socket in its present location.
If the moderator is reading this he or she may be able to suggest something or pass you on the the correct people.
I am sorry about the doom and gloom but this is the way BT has become and what I am telling you is based on experience people I know have had.
on 28-07-2010 20h04
The plot thickens!
Turns out that the socket in the hall is not the master even though its the one with various wires attached snaking off into the plasterwork. Its the bedroom socket that's the master (has the yellow capacitor from the link above). The bedroom socket though is a plain vanilla socket - only a phone attached to it and no internal cables leading to an extension.
Looks like I have a seriously non-compliant system!
on 14-08-2010 0h28
I seem to be in the same boat with regards to a non compliant system. I've had a good look round online and am now pretty sure most of it is circa 1970!!!!
The external box attatched to the outside of the property has a cable going in to it. That cable is then connected to a small junction box (about the size of a match box) inside. All the cable up to that point is thick black cable. Then a piece of white cable runs along the floor to a white socket on the wall about 3 feet away.
I was just wondering if you found any sort of a solution? Or could offer any advice?
on 14-08-2010 4h52
Yeh i'm in the same pickle as well, i've got this in my living room http://img245.imageshack.us/i/p1000336k.jpg/ i believe that this is a drop line box but the wire that leads off it goes to a cut line. (inside) http://img814.imageshack.us/i/p1000338.jpg/
Up in my loft i also have this box http://img818.imageshack.us/i/p1000340k.jpg/ it has three wires going into it.
I do have this in my living room http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/images/LJU3_1A_rear.
So do i actually have a master socket? could i get one fitted or make an extension of one of those boxes above?
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As provocative questions go, it’s hard to think of a more provocative or more insulting one than Adam Boulton’s on Sky News last week. ‘You’re a load of incompetent, middle-class, self-indulgent people who want to tell us how to live our lives?’ said the veteran political correspondent to a young climate protester who was trying to explain the rationale behind the Extinction Rebellion protests in London.
In a society governed by the rule of law, it’s inevitable that the police need to take action against protesters who bring the capital to a standstill, and I will go a long way to defend the right of journalists to grill all sides in a debate. But no-one should be under any illusion that these protests were coming, in fact we had ample warning of them more than 30 years ago. That’s why I feel my twentysomething alter ego is on the streets of London with the Extinction Rebellion folk (appalling name, but my generation weren’t exemplars of style either).
We all have our moments when we really ‘get’ something. I ‘got’ the environment in a lightbulb moment in my student days. It wasn’t about any of the buzzwords of the time – ‘the greenhouse effect’, ‘acid rain’, ‘hole in the ozone layer’, etc. It was a simple realisation that one of the strata of the earth that had taken millennia to form (I had the cross-sections emblazoned on my subconscious from school geography lessons) was being sucked out of the ground and simply burned, to no effect other than immediate gratification, and with no legacy other than a growing concern that we might be warming the planet.
That stratum was oil. The environmental debate is far more complex than just the impact of taking oil out of the ground to allow us to fly from London to New York in half a day, but it was the alarming simplicity of what we were doing that told me the environment was the crucial issue. Not the only issue – others like education and health were of great importance – but that without a healthy environment all else was secondary.
That was in the mid-1980s, and, as the months passed, the evidence grew that we were being profligate and irresponsible with our use of resources – yet very little happened. I regularly said to my then girlfriend ‘Why doesn’t the world see what’s blindingly obvious?’ In hindsight the answer was easy – there were too many big businesses who thrived off our fossil fuel economy.
In early 1987 I got a job in Switzerland, which opened my eyes to what a country can do when it takes the environment seriously. The culture there was to walk or take public transport unless it was hard not to, the local supermarket put my three cheeses in one bag to save packaging (something the generally responsible Waitrose doesn’t even do today), and we didn’t dare throw used batteries in the bin. When I returned to London in December 1988, I had a pitiful exchange in an electrical shop: I asked the shopkeeper ‘Do you do safe battery recycling?’ He looked at me mystified: ‘Chuck ’em in the bin like everyone else, mate!’ he replied. I got straight onto Friends of the Earth, asking whether I should report this pariah of the environment, only to be told that, while my indignation was entirely justified, regrettably it was common practice in Britain to throw batteries in the bin.
But there were signs of hope. In September 1988, Margaret Thatcher made a genuinely progressive speech about the environment, which gave the debate mainstream credibility. Eight months later, the Green Party polled 15% in the European elections (whether the Greens had policies that would have helped is questionable, but people frustrated about the environment often vote Green simply because they feel they’re sending a signal). It seemed there was no going back.
At the same time, the Channel Tunnel project was agreed. Initially it would be rail-only, but there was talk about there being a road link from about 2003 onwards. I knew that was a non-starter, because by 2003 it would be so clear that road transport’s future was dodgy that no-one would think of building a road tunnel under the Channel. I got that half-right, but only half.
Risk of eco-authoritarian regimes
And I wrote a very bad novel, which I later turned into a very bad play, depicting life in a UK society that had not tackled climate change and had therefore fallen into the hands of an authoritarian regime that had to severely limit energy use among the people. When working out the timeline that led to this society, I decided people would surely realise the threat of climate change by 2010, but played safe and decided that 2019 would be the year in which the world’s governments met to agree drastic energy quotas that simply could not be violated, which in turn led to the eco-authoritarian regimes.
We’re now in 2019, and governments have still not woken up to the climate threat. We have national treasures and respected scientists making it clear we’re heading for the scenario I described in my bad novel/play, yet governments still act with only the most cautious steps. Little wonder we have young demonstrators blocking central London with a pink boat, yet our response is to smile for a day, then move them on, and allow respected political interviewers to abuse them.
The twentysomething I was in the 1980s predicted this. I’m no clairvoyant – it was just blindingly obvious. Yet we chose to look away and carry on our life of blissful damaging ignorance. That’s why my alter ego is on the streets of London, and why the young demonstrators are indeed protesting in my name.
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Sufferers of headaches know just how debilitating they can be. Headaches occur in millions of individuals across the country, and they have a myriad of different causes. The consumption of different foods can be the cause and the cure of headaches. Food allergies and sensitivities are a leading cause of headaches and migraines, and the symptoms are not only pain, but can include vertigo, fatigue, malaise, and auditory and visual auras.
Individuals who suffer severe headaches and migraines may find themselves bedridden from the pain. A condition called chronic migraines sees sufferers in pain more than 50-percent of the time. There are a variety of medications available to treat headaches, but some people find that medication does not lessen the severity of their pain. Alternative treatments include lifestyle changes, stress management, and dietary changes. Improper nutrition can easily be the cause of a headache. Here are 15 foods that could relieve your headache and get you back to feeling good in no time.
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If you wake up with a pounding headache from partying too hard from the night before, your pain may be in part from dehydration. One great meal to make to help rehydrate yourself is salad. Lettuce and spinach leaves are high in water and fiber, which will make your body feel great.
Iceberg lettuce has a high water content but low level of nutrients, so consider a blend of different lettuce types, such as butter lettuce, spinach, arugula, romaine, or escarole. For instance, romaine lettuce long pale-green leaves are super crisp in texture. However, the crispest and most flavorful section of a romaine plant are the lighter leaves closest to the center, known as romaine hearts. Butter lettuce is the crunchiest variety of lettuce with small, round, loose leaves with a soft, buttery-textured that go from pale green to pale yellow-green on the nearer to the plant’s center.
In moderation, coffee can be a great fix for a pounding headache. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, which means it can reduce the size of blood vessels. In excess, this can cause a headache. However, one cup of coffee could help tame a difficult migraine. If your headache is caused by seasonal allergies, coffee will have an even greater effect.
Coffee can reduce the release of histamine in your blood, which will calm allergic reactions and save your head from pounding pain. Research points out that this allergy-fighting super power comes from the high antioxidants, or phytochemicals, in coffee, which is a plant-based food that protects our cells from free radical damage that cause disease.
Bananas are a great food to eat when trying to relieve a stubborn headache. They are high in magnesium, which can relax your blood vessels and ease head pain. They are also high in potassium, which is an essential part of your electrolyte balance. A night of heavy drinking can leave you with a painful hangover and you may need to replace your lost electrolytes due to dehydration.
Akin to athletes who eat bananas because they contain high levels of potassium, bananas deliver the same potassium boost to cure a hangover. Replenishing lost potassium stores when you’re hungover, or before you drink, can prevent nausea, headache, and muscle fatigue, and quicken the recovery process after drinking too much.
If seasonal allergies or the flu have your head pounding, try snacking on spicy foods. Consuming spicy foods can relieve congestion, which will reduce sinus pressure and open up your airways. Chili powder is also packed with vitamin E. This nutrient can relax your blood vessels, helping give relief to a sore head. Vitamin E supplements pills can cause headaches, so consult with your doctor before taking high doses of this vitamin.
In a study published by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the effects of vitamin E (as a prophylactic agent) were monitored when prescribed 72 women with menstrual migraine were given a vitamin E softgel tablet or a placebo. Those women who took the vitamin E supplement reported a significant reduction in pain severity and pain disability compared to those women on the placebo.
Whole grain bread is a great food for people suffering from headaches or migraines. The unprocessed grains release carbohydrates slower than white bread, which can replenish your physical energy. If you have started a new diet, headaches can be common as your body gets used to its new fuel sources. Remember to consume healthy carbohydrates for complete nutritional health. Some simple toast with butter could be the ticket to a pain free head.
A 1983 study conducted at Hospital for Sick Children, in London, England monitored the effects of an elimination diet on 88 children with severe, chronic migraines. The children ate a so-called “pain free” food diet that included brown rice. Findings reported that after the diet was completed, 78 of the children no longer experienced migraines while four children in the group improved substantially.
Enjoy your potatoes with their skin on for the best headache relief. The skin of a large potato is packed with potassium. Potassium deficiencies are very common, with the majority of people never reaching their daily recommended levels of the vitamin. A diet with excess salt can further exacerbate the problem. Enjoy potatoes, with their skin, as a potassium rich food for easy headache care.
Akin to bananas, potatoes are also high in potassium, which can help restore electrolyte balance, particularly after a night of heavy drinking. If you become dehydrated due to lack of fluids or exertion, those lost electrolytes can cause a dehydration-related headache. However, potatoes eaten after a workout or night of drinking can relieve nausea, headache, and hasten the recovery process.
Having a snack high in calcium can help relax your body and take care of a sore head. Low calcium levels can cause painful headaches, so make sure you are consuming your daily recommended doses of this vital nutrient. Yogurt is a delicious way to get a boost of calcium. Look for 0-percent fat Greek varieties for one of the healthiest yogurt available. Yogurt with berries for breakfast would be an ideal way to start battling a tough hangover.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK, linked women who consumed a minimum of 4.4-ounce servings of Activia yogurt daily for a month to reduced inflammation (including bloating and headache). Specifically, the study reported a 78-percent decrease in overall inflammation due to good bacteria, or probiotics, in yogurt.
Start helping your sore head by eating a handful of almonds. This healthy snack is high in tryptophan, an amino acid that helps release serotonin, the feel good brain chemical. Turkey is another great option for consuming this amino acid. Almonds are also full of magnesium, which can relax your muscles and blood vessels. Physical pain and mental stress can cause tension headaches, which would benefit from consuming extra magnesium.
Although nuts are a trigger for migraines in some individuals, almonds are often used as a non-drug remedy for tension-type headaches. This is due to the high salicin content, a common agent in many over-the-counter painkillers. If you feel a headache coming on, a quick handful of almonds may ward it off.
Watermelon is a delicious way to quickly rehydrate and consume healthy sugars. Watermelon has a very high water content, thus its name. You can enjoy watermelon cut up, frozen, or blended into drinks. Dehydration can quickly cause a pounding headache so if you find it difficult to drink enough water throughout the day, try snacking on high water fruits and vegetables.
This is especially important in the summer months when heatstroke is a danger. And luckily, watermelon is a fruit that is not only high in water content, but also one that is super cooling to eat as well as light on the tummy during really humid days when you don’t feel like eating much. Watermelon also provides a touch of natural sweetness so it makes the ideal light after meal dessert.
Mushrooms are high in vitamin B2, also called riboflavin. This nutrient is important in making celular energy. Riboflavin deficiencies can occur due to poor diet or genetic predisposition. Eating a diet high in B2 can help relieve and prevent headaches. Mushrooms have high levels of riboflavin, along with broccoli and spinach. Many cereals also come fortified with B2.
In fact, scientific research shows that riboflavin encourages the production of red blood cells, which can explain why many migraine sufferers also have a vitamin B2 deficiency. Riboflavin also boosts energy absorption from foods like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, to ensure migraine sufferers are properly energized.
Diets high in healthy fats have been shown to help relieve chronic headaches. Salmon contains a large amount of omega-3 fatty acids, which can reduce inflammation and stop a sore head. Other healthy fats include olive oils, avocado, and other fish products. Sardines are a great option. Some studies have found that regularly consuming olive oil can reduce the number of headaches, the length they last, and the severity of the pain.
According to research published by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, fish oils (those found in fatty fish, like salmon) contain naturally occurring anti-inflammatory and nerve protecting benefits, which substantially reduce the frequency and pain of migraines. If you’re not a salmon fan, omega-3 compounds (DHA-EPA) can be taken in supplement form.
Prevent getting headaches in the first place by drinking water throughout the day. Cucumbers are a great high water vegetable that can quickly rehydrate a sore body. If you’re battling a painful hangover, make a green smoothie to start your day. Blend together cucumber, apples, and spinach for a high water, high nutrient drink. Other high water foods include berries, tomatoes, and celery.
Similar to watermelon, cucumber is a water-rich vegetable that can easily be incorporated into many foods–such as salads, sandwiches, and smoothies. Getting that extra bit of hydration in before a night of heavy drinking can prevent a hangover and keep hydration levels stable. Typically, the most common source of a hangover is dehydration.
Beef liver is very high in vitamin B3, also known as niacin. Slight deficiencies of niacin can cause pounding headaches and migraines. Niacin is a water soluble vitamin, which means that you can eat it in excess without worries of overdoses. Enjoy liver as an entree, sausages, or as pâté. Liver fried with onions is a popular home style dish served at diner restaurants. This healthy food is also high in B6, B12, folate, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin K.
Researchers from the University of Maryland Medical Center claim that foods high in vitamin B3, like beef liver, has shown success in treating chronic migraines.The best food sources of vitamin B3 are beef liver and kidney, as well as beets, salmon, sunflower seeds, and peanuts. Many types of cereals are also fortified with niacin (or B3).
This health food is a popular new food on the market. Quinoa is a seed, not a grain, which means it’s high in protein and relatively low in carbohydrates. Quinoa is also high in magnesium. This nutrient is of great benefit to women suffering from menstrual migraines. Other foods high in magnesium include sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, and brown rice.
Research from the U.S. National Institutes of Health have linked magnesium to the relief of migraine headaches. Several clinical studies show that magnesium can affect serotonin receptors as well as a combination of other migraine related neurotransmitters. In fact, findings report that during an acute migraine attack, approximately 50-percent of sufferers experience decreased levels of ionized magnesium.
Spinach is a powerhouse of migraine relief. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure, which can prevent chronic headaches. It can also help tame a killer hangover. Spinach is also high in magnesium. This leafy green has a high water content, which can help with dehydration or hangovers. Enjoy this vegetable raw in a salad or lightly cooked. Overcooking this green could destroy some of the beneficial nutrients.
As mentioned, several clinical studies, including a collection of findings from the U.S. National Institutes of Health find that magnesium is related to the relief of migraine headaches due to its effect on serotonin receptors and other migraine-related neurotransmitters. One NCBI study found that half of acute migraine sufferers also have low levels of ionized magnesium.
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The principal entrance to the park is up the Nisqually River at the south. Here entered the pioneer, James Longmire, many years ago, and the roads established by him and his fellows determined the direction of the first national-park development. Longmire Springs, for many years the nearest resort to the great mountain, lies just within the southern boundary. Beyond it the road follows the Nisqually and Paradise valleys, under glorious groves of pine, cedar, and hem-lock, along ravines of striking beauty, past waterfalls and the snout of the Nisqually Glacier, finally to inimitable Paradise Park, its inn, its hotel camp, and its public camping-grounds. Other centres of wilderness life have been since established, and the marvellous north side of the park will be opened by the construction of a northwesterly highway up the valley of the Carbon River; already a fine trail entirely around the mountain connects these various points of development.
But the southern entrance and Paradise Park will remain for many years the principal centre of exploration and pleasuring. Here begins the popular trail to the summit. Here begin the trails to many of the finest view-points, the best-known falls, the most accessible of the many exquisite interglacier gardens. Here the Nisqually Glacier is reached in a few minutes’ walk at a point particularly adapted for ice-climbing, and the comfortable viewing of ice-falls, crevasses, caves, and other glacier phenomena grandly exhibited in fullest beauty. It is a spot which can have in the nature of things few equals elsewhere in scenic variety and grandeur. TOn one side is the vast glistening mountain; on the other side the high serrated Tatoosh Range spattered with perpetual snow; in middle distance, details of long winding glaciers seamed with crevasses; in the foreground gorgeous rolling meadows of wild flowers dotted and bordered with equally luxuriant and richly varied forest groves; from close-by elevations, a gorgeous tumbled wilderness of hills, canyons, rivers, lakes, and falls backgrounded by the Cascades and accented by distant snowy peaks; the whole pervaded by the ever-present mountain, always the same yet grandly different, from different points of view, in the detail of its glaciered sides.
The variety of pleasuring is similarly very large. One can ride horseback round the mountain in a leisurely week, or spend a month or more exploring the greater wilderness of the park. TOne can tramp the trails on long trips, camping by the way, or vary a vacation with numerous short tramps. TOr one can loaf away the days in dreamy content, with now and then a walk, and now and then a ride. TOr one can explore glaciers and climb minor mountains; the Tatoosh Range alone will furnish the stiffest as well as the most delightful climbing, with wonderful re-wards upon the jagged summits; while short climbs to points upon near-by snow-fields will afford coasting without sleds, an exciting sport, especially appreciated when one is young. In July, before the valley snows melt away, there is tobogganing and skiing within a short walk of the Inn.
The leisurely tour afoot around the mountain, with pack-train following the trail, is an experience never to be forgotten. One passes the snouts of a score of glaciers, each producing its river, and sees the mountain from every angle, besides having a continuous panorama of the surrounding country, including Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, Mount Baker, Tacoma, Seattle, Mount Olympus, the Pacific TOcean, and the Cascades from the Columbia to the international line. Shorter excursions to other beautiful park-lands offer a wide variety of pleasure. Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground, Van Trump Park, Summerland, and others provide charm and beauty as well as fascinating changes in the aspect of the great mountain.
Of course the ascent of the mountain is the ultimate objective of the climber, but few, comparatively, will attempt it. It is a feat in endurance which not many are physically fit to undertake, while to the unfit there are no rewards. There is comparatively little rock-climbing, but what there is will try wind and muscle. Most of the way is tramping up long snow-covered and ice-covered slopes, with little rest from the start at midnight to the return, if all goes well, before the following sundown. Face and hands are painted to protect against sunburn, and colored glasses avert snow-blindness. Success is so largely a matter of physical condition that many ambitious tourists are advised to practise awhile on the Tatoosh Range be-fore attempting the trip.
“Do you see Pinnacle Peak up there?” they ask you. “If you can make that you can make Rainier. Better try it first.”
And many who try Pinnacle Peak do not make it.
As with every very lofty mountain the view from the summit depends upon the conditions of the moment. TOften Rainier’s summit is lost in mists and clouds, and there is no view. Very often on the clearest day clouds continually gather and dissipate; one is lucky in the particular time he is on top. Frequently there are partial views. Occasionally every condition favors, and then indeed the reward is great.
S. F. Emmons, who made the second ascent, and after whom one of Rainier’s greatest glaciers was named, stood on the summit upon one of those fortunate moments. The entire mountain in all its inspiring detail lay at his feet, a wonder spectacle of first magnitude.
“Looking to the more distant country,” he wrote, “the whole stretch of Puget Sound, seeming like a pretty little lake embowered in green, could be seen in the northwest, beyond which the Olympic Mountains extend out into the Pacific Ocean. The Cascade Mountains, lying dwarfed at our feet, could be traced northward into British Columbia and southward into Oregon, while above them, at comparatively regular intervals, rose the ghostlike forms of our companion volcanoes. To the eastward the eye ranged over hundreds of miles, over chain on chain of mountain ridges which gradually disappeared in the dim blue distance.”
Notwithstanding the rigors of the ascent parties leave Paradise Inn for the summit every suitable day. Hundreds make the ascent each summer. To the experienced mountain-climber it presents no special difficulties. To the inexperienced it is an extraordinary adventure. Certainly no one knows his Mount Rainier who has not measured its gigantic proportions in units of his own endurance.
The first successful ascent was made by General Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump, both residents of Washington, on August 17, 1870. Starting from James Longmire’s with Mr. Longmire himself as guide up the Nisqually Valley, they spent several days in finding the Indian Sluiskin, who should take them to the summit. With him, then, assuming Longmire’s place, Stevens and Van Trump started on their great adventure. It proved more of an adventure than they anticipated, for not far below the picturesque falls which they named after Sluiskin, the Indian stopped and begged them to go no farther. From that compilation of scholarly worth, by Professor Edmond S. Meany, President of the Mountaineers, entitled “Mount Rainier, a Record of Exploration,” I quote General Stevens’s translation of Sluiskin’s protest:
“Listen to me, my good friends,” said Sluiskin, “I must talk with you.
“Your plan to climb Takhoma is all foolishness. No one can do it and live. A mighty chief dwells upon the summit in a lake of fire. He brooks no intruders.
“Many years ago my grandfather, the greatest and bravest chief of all the Yakima, climbed nearly to the summit. There he caught sight of the fiery lake and the infernal demon coming to destroy him, and fled down the mountain, glad to escape with his life. Where he failed, no other Indian ever dared make the attempt.
“At first the way is easy, the task seems light. The broad snow-fields over which I have often hunted the mountain-goat offer an inviting path. But above them you will have to climb over steep rocks over-hanging deep gorges, where a misstep would hurl you far downdown to certain death. You must creep over steep snow-banks and cross deep crevasses where a mountain-goat would hardly keep his footing. You must climb along steep cliffs where rocks are continually falling to crush you or knock you off into the bottomless depths.
“And if you should escape these perils and reach the great snowy dome, then a bitterly cold and furious tempest will sweep you off into space like a withered leaf. But if by some miracle you should survive all these perils, the mighty demon of Takhoma will surely kill you and throw you into the fiery lake.
“Don’t you go. You make my heart sick when you talk of climbing Takhoma. You will perish if you try to climb Takhoma. You will perish and your people will blame me.
“Don’t go ! Don’t go ! If you go I will wait here two days and then go to Olympia and tell your people that you perished on Takhoma. Give me a paper to them to let them know that I am not to blame for your death. My talk is ended.”
Except for the demon and his lake of fire, Sluiskin’s portent of hardship proved to be a literal, even a modest, prophecy. At five o’clock in the evening, after eleven hours of struggle with precipices and glaciers, exhausted, chilled, and without food, they faced a night of zero gales upon the summit. The discovery of comforting steam-jets in a neighboring crater, the reality perhaps of Sluiskin’s lake of fire, made the night livable, though one of suffering. It was afternoon of the following day before they reached camp and found an astonished Sluiskin, then, in fact, on the point of leaving to report their unfortunate destruction.
Stevens and Van Trump were doubly pioneers, for their way up the mountain is, in general direction at least, the popular way today, greatly bettered since, however, by the short cuts and easier detours which have followed upon experience.
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Everything the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department are trying to do to stem the tide of the self-destructing U.S. financial system is a stopgap. They are locking the barn door after the horse—many horses—have already escaped, and they know it.
They also know the cause of the crisis is not subprime mortgage lending—that was just the trigger. Cries to re-regulate the failed financial industry are coming from Congress, the media, and investors around the world. But lax regulation is not the cause of the problem either.
For now, all the Federal Reserve can do is loan more “liquidity” into the system that must eventually be collateralized by Treasury debt—that is, debt incurred by taxpayers—to cover bad loans made previously with credit which the banking system created out of thin air.
The Federal Reserve and Treasury are trying to forestall and cover up the bankruptcy of the entire U.S. economy, which already is looming. But the injection of liquidity into the system only means more loans and more interest. With more foreclosures and bankruptcies, it also means that more assets pass into the bankers’ hands.
No doubt the decision makers hope to prevent a cataclysmic meltdown, at least until after the November presidential election. President George W. Bush is being deeply discredited, because it happened on his watch. Republican presidential candidate John McCain looks more out-of-touch and clueless with each passing day.
But even though all the attention has been focused on “Wall Street”; i.e., financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, and AIG—with more to come—none of these would have gotten into so much trouble without the nation’s banks having acted to leverage speculative investments with money they themselves generated as electronic ledger entries.
And it’s the banks—or at least some of them—that may be the next to go.
You see, the catastrophe was accomplished with money lent on margin. Only a small fraction of funding by investment banks, mortgage companies, brokerages, equity funds, hedge funds, commodities futures speculators, etc., comes from actual investor capital. The rest—up to ninety-seven percent, in the case of commodities futures contracts—is credit self-created by the banks.
Where did the banks get this credit? The answer is that they simply cranked it out through their fractional reserve privileges derived from their government charters. In fact the only way money comes into existence in this day and age is through a loan from a bank which must be repaid with interest. The loan is secured by the borrower’s collateral or promise to pay. But the cumulative interest load on the economy grows exponentially. As a part of the federal budget, for instance, interest on the national debt is around $500 billion a year and growing.
Now, even more Treasury debt is needed to stopgap the bailouts, debt which will be added to the existing $9 trillion national debt. Some are saying this is socialism, but it is not socialism at all. Socialism is government ownership of the means of production. Building roads and operating public schools is socialism—of a benign and necessary form.
This is where we come to the real problem. The debt-based monetary system, with a debt pyramid in the tens of trillions of dollars, has been made even more dysfunctional with our loss of societal purchasing power due to the outsourcing of jobs to cheaper labor markets. When the geniuses who run our country decided to do this, they condemned our whole society to a second-class existence. The wealth of our nation is now ratcheting down to that level, even though the financial shenanigans since the 1980s postponed the day of reckoning.
Today a lot of commentators want to wag their fingers and blame ordinary working people for living beyond their means. But people have to survive and take care of themselves and their families. If they have to borrow to live, then that is what they will do. Until the loans dry up, as is happening now. We are now seeing that the economic policies of the last generation have made us an increasingly impoverished nation.
Richard C. Cook is a former U.S. federal government analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury Department. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have appeared in numerous websites and print magazines. His book on monetary reform, entitled We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform, will soon be published. He is the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by one reviewer, “the most important spaceflight book of the last twenty years.” His website is www.richardccook.com. Comments or requests to be added to his mailing list, or for information on his Special Report entitled “Election 08: Crime Family Food Fight or Threat to Mankind?” write •••@••.•••.
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From: Emil Dotchevski (emildotchevski_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-22 18:52:01
> Emil Dotchevski <emildotchevski_at_[hidden]> writes:
>>> OK. But that doesn't really address my initial point: implementing
>>> call_once> in terms of the POSIX pthread_once is a bit pointless if you
>>> need to implement> pthread_once separately anyway. If you don't have
>>> pthread_once, I would write> call_once (or, equivalently
>>> and implement pthread_once in> terms of that.
>> Pthread is a C interface that has been implemented on many platforms
>> and I don't see why you think anyone would implement it over std::thread.
>> just won't happen.
> ****If you don't have Pthreads available*** it might make more sense to
> implement it in terms of the (more feature-rich) C++ API than vice-versa,
> you need to write both.
It might make more sense but it just won't happen. Pthread has already been
implemented on Windows; we don't need another pthread implementation, unless
it is The Official Microsoft Implementation, which will happen only if
pthreads becomes part of the C++ standard, and that's N2178.
>> Pthread is there, standardized, proven in practice, so why not make use
>> it? In addition, there is a lot of legacy pthread code which N2178 makes
>> compatible with future C++ <thread> based code. I consider both to be
> If Pthreads is not available, then you can't make use of it.
> Having an implementation of <thread> based on <pthread.h> is a Good
> Thing. Being able to implement <thread> without <pthread.h> is also a Good
In N2178, you can implement <thread> without having <pthread.h>, by
implementing <pthread.h> first. :))
Seriously though, N2178's <thread> is a no-brainer if <pthread.h> is
available, and <pthread.h> is not harder to implement than any of the
proposed <thread> abstractions -- simply because they are all abstractions
of the same thing.
> If you don't have <pthread.h>, being able to implement <pthread.h> in
> terms of <thread> might also be a Good Thing --- if you want it, you have
> write it somehow.
Lets assume that pthread is not adopted as part of the C++ standard. In that
case, of the 2 possibilities -- rewriting existing <pthread.h> on Unix to
use <thread> and rewriting existing <pthread.h> on Windows to use
<thread> -- which one is a Good Thing?
Boost list run by bdawes at acm.org, david.abrahams at rcn.com, gregod at cs.rpi.edu, cpdaniel at pacbell.net, john at johnmaddock.co.uk
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MARY VIRGINIA MARLAND, CIRCA 1920
Mary Virginia Marland was a social leader in the community and was loved by many. She can open her magic traveling trunk to revel artifacts from the 1920s used in the home for a fun show-in-tell of sorts. Contents include women’s and men’s personal items and some household kitchen items. The presentation is given in show-n-tell fashion as Mary Virginia Marland takes each item one by one out of her truck and asks the audience to “guess” what each item is and how it was used. A lively discussion then follows with factual information on the rest of the story. Accompany Mary Virginia around the home as she describes the life and times of E.W. and Mary Virginia Marland and their adopted niece and nephew, Lydie and George Marland.
MOLLIE AND JOE MILLER, CIRCA 1920
The Miller Brothers were famous entertainers and ranchers in the early 1900s living just southwest of Ponca City. They traveled with the likes of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show with their own equally famous 101 Ranch Wild West Show. This colorful pair, Joe Miller and mother Mollie, will share stories of the largest diversified farm and ranch in the United States, a city unto itself for the time.
E.W. AND LYDIE MARLAND, CIRCA 1928
E.W. Marland and second wife, Lydie Marland, will regale you with stories of how Marland Oil came into power and what life was like in Ponca City in the 1920s during the oil boom era when Polo and Fox Hunting were popular pastimes. Share in their adventure from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma, from first wife Mary Virginia Collins Marland to second wife(and adopted niece) Lydie Roberts Marland.
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This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch.
Nearly 60 million acres of national forests were put off-limits to motor vehicles, road building and logging during the Clinton administration.
Last week, a bill was introduced that would turn that rule into law.
According to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a sponsor of the bill along with U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee D-Wash., the Roadless Area Conservation Act would protect "hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country."
Various forms of this bill have been introduced by Inslee and Cantwell since 2002.
"There is an urgent need to safeguard the remaining undeveloped forest lands as a home for wildlife, a haven for recreation and a heritage for future generations," Cantwell said.
But not everyone is convinced. And one California congressman wants to make sure that bill never sees the light of day. Instead, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., introduced a bill - the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act - in April that would release about 43 million of those acres to be used for oil and gas development, motorized recreation and logging.
"Millions of acres of land across the United States are being held under lock and key unnecessarily," McCarthy said. "My bill acts on recommendations made by government agencies managing these lands so they are opened up for increased public use."
The recommendations upon which McCarthy's bill relies are from a 1979 U.S. Forest Service report [PDF] that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had called "inadequate because of its use of unsupported and undocumented statements, its lack of related data on demands for resources, and its unbalanced economic approach."
The report recommends keeping 15 million acres protected, allocating 36 million for non-wilderness and holding an additional 11 million aside for further planning.
"This is just common sense," McCarthy said. "By opening these lands up to the residents of our local communities and across the country for their use and enjoyment, we can help create jobs, boost local economies and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires."
Joe Walsh, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said the document is not one the Forest Service uses anymore.
"Science changes," Walsh said. "We like to use the latest science we have, so we're always on the cutting edge."
According to the 1979 report: "Resource trade-offs were compelling reasons for allocating a roadless area to either the wilderness or non-wilderness category."
"Areas with high oil and gas potential were normally not allocated to wilderness," the report stated, adding that "high timber values have been used as reasons to allocate an area to non-wilderness."
Andrea McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Kevin McCarthy, said it makes sense to allow local land managers to have a say in how to use these resources.
"These decisions should be made on a local level, not left up to bureaucrats in D.C.," she said. She added that the bill "does not terminate existing, congressionally designated wilderness areas, nor does it release wilderness study areas or roadless areas deemed suitable for wilderness."
The roadless rule, which was issued in 2001 by President Bill Clinton, was the result of the largest public lands review process in U.S. history. It also has been in the courts since its inception.
Five months after it was implemented, a federal court in Idaho blocked it. Then, in 2005, the Bush administration repealed the rule and replaced it with a state petition process.
Attorneys general in California, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington sued, and in 2006, a federal judge ruled in their favor. The case then went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of the Clinton rule.
In 2008, a federal judge in Wyoming blocked the rule. That was then sent to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which last month ruled again in favor of the Clinton rule.
With two agreeing rulings from the circuit courts, the rule will stand - unless a new law is made.
"The courts agree on the ruling," said Paul Spitler, a policy expert with The Wilderness Society, "but Congress trumps rulings. And if McCarthy's bill gets through, these rulings are irrelevant."
The Wilderness Society supports the Clinton rule.
Spitler said McCarthy's bill is a "wholesale attack on values that Americans hold dear and a grand giveaway to great corporate polluters."
Susanne Rust is an investigative reporter for California Watch, a project of the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting. Find more California Watch stories here.
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(CNN) -- A Chinese-registered ship that ran aground Saturday off the coast of Australia was more than 17 miles off course when it ended up on a shoal in the Great Barrier Reef, prompting concerns of an oil spill near the world's largest coral reef system, a maritime safety spokesman said Monday.
A tug boat with a tow rope was helping Monday to stabilize the ship, called Shen Neng 1, and a second was on its way to the area to assist, Adam Nicholson, a spokesman for Maritime Safety Queensland, told CNN.
A small oil slick generated from the ship's grounding did not appear to be threatening the Great Barrier Reef after crews sprayed dispersants on it and surface netting helped to contain it, Nicholson said.
The slick was a result of oil leaking from the ship's fuel lines and engines, but "the good news is that the (fuel) tanks remain intact," Nicholson said.
"Very little if any oil is leaking into the water at the moment," he said.
Salvage crews were on board the ship Monday to assess the vessel's structural integrity and determine the best way to move it off the shoal -- a combination of shell and sand -- near the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Reef, just north of Great Keppel Island.
The ship was carrying about 65,000 tons of coal to China from the Australian port of Gladstone when it ran aground at about 5:10 p.m. Saturday, according to a Queensland state government statement. About 950 tons of oil were on board.
Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh expressed strong concern about a spill in a critical environmental area.
"This is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and any oil is unacceptable," she said.
She added, "I suspect that this incident will now give even sharper focus on whether or not permanent pilots (to guide ships) should be in this area."
However, Nicholson said the ship's captain had a 10-mile-wide channel to navigate through in an area where pilots aren't needed -- a relatively wide open section of sea, 70 kilometers (43 miles) off shore and away from the larger mass of coral most people associate with the Great Barrier Reef.
"He got 15 nautical miles (17.3 miles) off course, which is just outrageous," said Nicholson, who likened it to a car veering off a 2-mile wide road.
"We have thousands of boats moving in that same space every year and nothing has ever happened like this," he said.
A review of the incident is under way, Nicholson said.
The Great Barrier Reef is made up of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 island spanning over 2,600 km (1,600 miles) off the coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea.
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Print version ISSN 1519-6984
Braz. J. Biol. vol.61 no.4 São Carlos Nov. 2001
BIOLOGY OF Anicla infecta (OCHSENHEIMER, 1816) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE, NOCTUINAE), UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS
TESTON, J. A.,1 SPECHT, A.1,2 and CORSEUIL, E.1
1Programa de Pós-graduação em Biociências, Área de Zoologia, PUCRS, C.P. 1429, CEP 90619-900, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
2Curso de Agronomia, Unisul, C.P. 370, CEP 88704-900, Tubarão, SC, Brazil
Correspondence to: José Augusto Teston, Faculdade de Biociências, PUCRS, Laboratório de Entomologia, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, C.P. 1429, CEP 90619-900, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Received June 20, 2000 Accepted August 28, 2000 Distributed November 30, 2001
(With 1 figure)
Larvae of Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) (Noctuidae) feed upon many grasses and may be harmful to cereals and fodder of economic importance. This study was developed aiming to contribute to knowledge of the biology of this species. The rearing was done in an environmental chamber with the following settings: temperature of 25 ± 1ºC; relative humidity of 70% ± 10%, and photoperiod of L14: D10. The larvae fed on ryegrass, Lolium multiflorum Lam. The results express the mean and standard error for the length of every stage in days. For each stage we observed the following time of development: egg 3.2 ± 0.09; larvae 18.7 ± 0.07; pre-pupae 3.3 ± 0.04; pupae 12.6 ± 0.14; and adult longevity was 12.1 ± 1.03. Also the pre-egg-laying period was 4.4 ± 0.59; the egg-laying period was 8.1 ± 0.84; and the post-egg-laying period was 0.3 ± 0.14. The mean number of egg-laying cycles per female was 6.7 ± 0.73; that of eggs per cycle was 77.5 ± 4.37; and total eggs per female was 521.4 ± 47.36.
Key words: development, Insecta, Lolium multiflorum, ryegrass.
Biologia de Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae), sob condições de laboratório
As lagartas de Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) alimentam-se de gramíneas, podendo tornar-se nocivas a cereais e forrageiras de importância econômica. A fim de contribuir com informações para o conhecimento de sua biologia, foi realizado um experimento com criação em câmara climatizada a 25 ± 1ºC; 70% ± 10% UR (umidade relativa) e fotofase de 14 h. As larvas foram alimentadas com azevém, Lolium multiflorum Lam. Os resultados expressos pela média e pelo respectivo erro-padrão para os períodos de cada fase, em dias, foram: ovo 3,2 ± 0,09; lagarta 18,7 ± 0,07; pré-pupa 3,3 ± 0,04; pupa 12,6 ± 0,14; e adulta: longevidade 12,1 ± 1,03, pré-oviposição 4,4 ± 0,59, oviposição 8,1 ± 0,84 e pós-oviposição 0,3 ± 0,14. O número médio de posturas por fêmea foi 6,7 ± 0,73, ovos por postura, 77,5 ± 4,37 e ovos por fêmea, 521,4 ± 47,36.
Palavras-chave: azevém, desenvolvimento, Insecta, Lolium multiflorum.
The larval stage of most Noctuinae (= Agrotinae) is characterized by underground habits, voracious feeding, and use of several host plants (Scoble, 1995). Larvae of Anicla Grote, 1874, however, do not rest on the ground but on their host plants which are mainly grasses.
Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) was originally described for Europe (Poole, 1989), but it also occurs throughout the Americas (Crumb, 1956). The larvae feed on several native and cultivated plants, including potatoes, onions, and especially grasses (Biezanko & Bertholdi, 1951; Crumb, 1956; Biezanko et al., 1974). This species has been listed in inventories of economically important insects, along with key-pests (Silva et al., 1968; Biezanko et al., 1974; Corseuil & Cruz, 1975). Between 1972 and 1975, A. infecta was represented in 98.6% and 69.4% of monthly samples using light traps in Jaboticabal and Piracicaba, SP, respectively (Lara et al., 1977). In Santa Maria, RS, between March 1971 and February 1973 it was present in 65% of the samples (Link, 1977). Its wide geographic distribution and broad morphological variation both in the adult (Köhler, 1945) and larval stages (Crumb, 1956) explain the large number of synonyms known for this species.
The continuous practice of extensive monoculture of cereals and fodder often increase insect population growth to pest level. The efficient management of this problem requires biological understanding of the organisms that integrate these agrosystems at the population and community levels. Recent studies on A. infecta include sampling of specimens using light traps in Rio Grande do Sul (Carvalho et al., 1971; Tarragó et al., 1975; Link, 1977; Specht, 1996), ecological estimates of noctuid communities in São Paulo (Lara & Silveira Neto, 1977; Lara et al., 1977; Silveira Neto et al., 1977), and descriptions of early stages plus new distribution records for Chile and Ecuador (Angulo & Olivares, 1997). The study by Foerster & Mello (1996) investigated the biology of this species [cited as "A. infecta (Guenée)" sic]. The author's suggestion that larvae of A. infecta are similar in size to those of Pseudaletia sequax Franclemont, 1951 raised the question of whether the material studied by Foerster and Mello had been properly identified. Examination of the voucher specimens in the Foerster collection confirmed our suspicion and revealed that the species studied by Foerster & Mello (1996) was in fact A. ignicans (Guenée, 1852).
Our study aims to elucidate the biology of A. infecta. In the laboratory, we measured several aspects of its adult (e.g., longevity and fecundity) and larval biology (e.g., number and duration of each instar). Our findings broaden previous knowledge of the genus Anicla in particular, and contribute to the understanding of the biology of grass-associated insects in general.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Our study is based on 11 mating pairs from stock maintained in an environmental chamber at 25 ± 1ºC; 70% ± 10% humidity and 14 h of photophase; and the progeny that was obtained from these pairs. The methodology for studying adults and eggs followed Melo & Parra (1988). The stock originated from Salvador do Sul, RS.
For the purpose of our research, the life cycle was divided into adult, egg, larval, pre-pupal, and pupal phases. In the adult phase we examined longevity, oviposition period (including pre and post-oviposition), number of oviposition events, total number of eggs, and the average number of eggs per oviposition event and per individual. The pre-oviposition period is equivalent to the number of days required for females to start laying eggs following eclosion and mating, and the post-oviposition period refers to the number of days they survive after oviposition has terminated. The mean values of the adult longevity and pupal dimension were compared through a t test (p = 0.05). The correlation between pupal length and width was calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient.
For the study of immature stages, groups of larvae were placed in plastic containers (12 cm diameter by 20 cm height) covered with a nylon screen. The host plant, ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), was provided ad libitum and changed daily. The number of days required for the completion of each phase of development was recorded. To identify and count the number of larval instars, a control group was used from which 10 caterpillars were daily killed in boiling water and preserved in ethyl alcohol 70%. Head capsules of preserved caterpillars were measured under a stereo microscope provided with an ocular micrometer, and the measures corresponding to different larval instars were grouped by frequency distribution (Parra & Haddad, 1989). We estimated the duration of the larval period taking into account two separate phases; that in which the insects are actively feeding (hereafter called larval phase), and the pre-pupal phase.
By definition, the pre-pupal phase begins when the larva stops feeding, and ends with pupation (Parra, 1992). During this phase; larvae were maintained on a piece of moist filter paper in a plastic container (10 cm diameter by 7 cm height) covered with a nylon screen.
Pupae were kept in a plastic container (14 cm diameter by 10 cm height), and following sex determination (Butt & Cantu, 1962), we measured pupal length and width using digital calipers with a precision of one hundredth of a millimeter. We used a Chi-square test (c2) (p = 0.05) to test for deviations of the 1:1 sex ratio.
Six adult males and five females voucher specimens were deposited in the collection of the Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), reference numbers MCTP 7566 and 7567, respectively.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The mean duration of each phase of development of A. infecta is presented in Table 1, and the proportions (%) are illustrated in Fig. 1. The complete life cycle of A. infecta was 49.9 days, of which 3.2 days were required for egg development, 18.7 for larval, 3.3 for pre-pupal, and 12.6 days for pupal development. The pre-pupal phase is a particularly delicate period of development in which larvae remain motionless in the soil and their cuticle is less resistant than that of pupae, yet 3.3 days are needed for the completion of this phase of development. The egg, larval, and pupal phases of A. infecta were slightly shorter than those of A. ignicans kept at 26ºC (egg: 4 days; larva including pre-pupa: 24.4 days; and pupa: 15.4 days, as reported in Foerster & Mello, 1996).
The mean duration of the adult phase was 11.4 days for males and 12.8 for females, and the difference between these values was not statistically significant (Table 1; t = 0.96). Eight of 11 studied females died soon after their last oviposition, and the other three died one day after the event. The mean number of oviposition events per female was 6.7, and each female laid on average 521.4 eggs, resulting in 77.5 eggs per oviposition event.
A comparison between our results for A. infecta and those of Foerster & Mello (1996) for A. ignicans (as A. infecta, see Introduction) allowed us to verify whether these two species had similar biological characteristics. Anicla ignicans was reared on ryegrass at 22ºC and 12 h photophase; and female longevity, oviposition period, and the duration of the egg, larval, (including pre-pupal) and pupal phases were recorded (Foerster & Mello, 1996). The correlation coefficient corresponding to the two sets of parameters for the two species was r = 0.96 indicating that A. infecta and A. ignicans have similar developmental characteristics despite the differences in the temperature regime between our study and that of Foerster & Mello (1996).
We recorded the mortality rate for A. infecta eggs and larvae, including the pre-pupal phase. In the laboratory, egg mortality was 13.2%, i.e., 3,347 larvae eclosed from 3,652 eggs. Of 472 larvae studied, 211 reached the pre-pupal phase and 78 pupae were obtained. The high mortality rate in the larval phase is possibly due to the temperature at which the larvae were raised (ryegrass is a winter culture). Because A. infecta pupates in the soil, high mortality in the pre-pupal phase may reflect our inability to reproduce required conditions for pupation (e.g., appropriate humidity level).
Mean widths of head capsules of 210 larvae are presented in Table 2. The larval period of A. infecta was constituted of six instars, and the growth rate of 1.53% follows the rule of geometric growth (Dyar, 1890).
Head capsules of A. infecta were slightly smaller than those of A. ignicans studied by Foerster & Mello (1996), but the growth rate was similar between the two species.
Pupal length and width are in Table 3. Males were significantly larger than females. The correlation between pupal length and width was 0.84 for female and 0.91 for male, suggesting that allometric proportions are maintained in pupae of different sizes.
The obtained sex ratio was 0.41, which does not differ significantly from a 1:1 ratio (c2 = 1.6, p < 0.05).
This study addresses the complete life cycle of A. infecta, including adult longevity and fecundity, time of development for all life stages, and measurements of body size for caterpillars and pupae. We found that the previously published description of the life cycle of A. infecta (Foerster & Mello, 1996) actually refers to A. ignicans. A comparison of our results with those obtained by Foerster & Mello (1996) for A. ignicans indicated that the two species have similar developmental characteristics.
Anicla infecta is a polyphagous species that has high morphological variation, and is widely distributed in the Americas, occurring with accessory species in different crops. The present study explores important biological characteristics of this species, and will be useful for future comparison with other noctuid species.
Acknowledgments We thanks Ph.D., Carla M. Penz, for careful translation, suggestions, and review of the manuscript.
ANGULO, A. O. & OLIVARES, T. S., 1997, Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816): pupa, larva y nuevo registro (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). Bol. Soc. Biol. Concepción, 68: 47-52. [ Links ]
BIEZANKO, C. M. de & BERTHOLDI, R. E., 1951, Principais noctuídeos prejudiciais às plantas cultivadas em arredores de Pelotas. Agronomia, 10(4): 235-247. [ Links ]
BIEZANKO, C. M. de, RUFFINELLI, A. & LINK, D., 1974, Plantas y otras sustancias alimenticias de las orugas de los lepidopteros uruguayos. Rev. Centro Ciências Rurais, Santa Maria, 4(2): 107-148. [ Links ]
BUTT, B. A. & CANTU, E., 1962, Sex determination of lepidopterous pupae. USDA, Washington, 7p. [ Links ]
CARVALHO, S., TARRAGÓ, M. F. S. & LINK, D., 1971, Captura de noctuídeos através de armadilha luminosa. I Resultados preliminares. Rev. Centro Ciências Rurais, Santa Maria, 1(3): 15-22. [ Links ]
CORSEUIL, E. & CRUZ, F. Z. da, 1975, Insetos nocivos à cultura do trigo no Rio Grande do Sul. Rev. Faculdade Agronomia UFRGS, Porto Alegre, 1(1): 19-28. [ Links ]
CRUMB, S. E., 1956, The larvae of the Phalaenidae. Technical Bulletin n.1135, USDA, Washington, 356p. [ Links ]
DYAR, H. G., 1890, The number of molts of lepidopterous larvae. Psyche, Berlin, 5: 420-422. [ Links ]
FOERSTER, L. A. & MELLO, M. E. F., 1996, Desenvolvimento e sobrevivência de Anicla infecta Guenée (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) em diferentes temperaturas. Anais Soc. Entomol. Brasil, Piracicaba, 25(1): 33-38. [ Links ]
KÖHLER, P. E., 1945, Los «Noctuidae» argentinos. Subfamilia Agrotinae. Acta Zool. Lilloana, Tucumán, 3: 59-134. [ Links ]
LARA, F. M. & SILVERA NETO, S., 1977, Flutuações populacionais de noctuídeos pragas, na região de Jaboticabal, SP. Científica, Jaboticabal, 5(3): 262-270. [ Links ]
LARA, F. M., SILVERA NETO, S. & FORTI, L. C., 1977, Constância e diversidade de espécies de noctuídeos coletados em Jaboticabal e Piracicaba com auxílio de armadilhas luminosas. Científica, Jaboticabal, 5(2): 144-151. [ Links ]
LINK, D., 1977, Abundância relativa de alguns Noctuidae, em armadilha luminosa, em Santa Maria, RS. Rev. Centro Ciências Rurais, Santa Maria, 7(4): 331-351. [ Links ]
MELO, A. B. de P. & PARRA, J. R. P., 1988, Biologia de Diatraea saccharalis em diferentes temperaturas. Pesq. Agropec. Bras., Brasília, 23(7): 663-680. [ Links ]
PARRA, J. R. P., 1992, Técnicas de criação de insetos para programas de controle biológico. FEALQ, Piracicaba, 161p. [ Links ]
PARRA, J. R. P. & HADDAD, M. de L., 1989, Determinação do Número de Ínstares de Insetos. FEALQ, Piracicaba, 49p. [ Links ]
POOLE, R. W., 1989, Noctuidae. In: J. B. Heppner (ed.), Lepidopterorum Catalogus. Brill, New York, 1314p. [ Links ]
SCOBLE, M. J., 1995, The Lepidoptera: form, function and diversity. Oxford University Press, New York, 404p. [ Links ]
SILVA, A. G. A., GONÇALVES, C. R., GALVÃO, D. M., GONÇALVES, A. J. L., GOMES, J., SILVA, N. M. & SIMONI, L., 1968, Quarto catálogo dos insetos que vivem nas plantas do Brasil, seus parasitos e predadores. Parte 2, Tomo 1. Min. Agricultura, Rio de Janeiro, 622p. [ Links ]
SILVEIRA NETO, S., LARA, F. M. & FAZOLIN, M., 1977, Quociente e porcentagem de similaridade entre as comunidades de noctuídeos amostradas em Jaboticabal e Piracicaba, SP. Científica, Jaboticabal, 5(3): 257-261. [ Links ]
SPECHT, A., 1996, Dinâmica populacional de noctuídeos (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) e inimigos naturais, em lavouras de azevém e milheto, no município de Salvador do Sul, RS, Brasil. MSc. Thesis, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, 85p. [ Links ]
TARRAGÓ, M. F. S., CARVALHO, S. & LINK, D., 1975, Levantamento da família Noctuidae através de armadilhas luminosas, em Santa Maria, RS. Rev. Centro Ciências Rurais, Santa Maria, 5(2): 125-130. [ Links ]
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By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… There is a recipe for cooking a frog. You place the frog in warm water and slowly turn up the heat until he is boiled to death. Let me suggest that the American people are in slowly warming water. Unconstitutional laws are being passed and the American people are saying that’s okay because it makes us safer and more comfortable.
After 9/11 the president was given War Powers without the declaration of war. This was under the War Powers Act passed during Vietnam to curb some of the arbitrary decisions about the conflict in that country under President Johnson. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows for War Powers other than the President is the Commander-In-Chief of the military. Many say the unconstitutional usurpation of power is okay because it makes us safer but it is not Constitutional. As people become more comfortable, they sacrifice freedom for that comfort.
Adolf Hitler did not just get up one morning and move Jews into death camps. He slowly eroded their rights and restricted the Jews’ position within the country. Hitler forbade Jews the right to own a gun.
Laws were passed moving them into ghettos, uprooting them to concentration camps, and finally setting up death camps. All of these programs, with the exception of the death camps which were denied, were pitched with the idea that they made the Jew safer and more comfortable in a hostile society. Each time a new program was instituted, the Jews accepted it as the law of the land and not much of an intrusion into their life.
One might ask: Could something of this happen to the general populace in America?
No one asked me but… We now have a federal judge who feels that the Constitution must not be mentioned in her courtroom even if it is in defense of an American citizen.
Judge Gloria Navarro cannot even stand the sight of the Constitution. She apparently melts like the Wicked Witch of the West if the Constitution is mentioned in her courtroom.
She has ruled that while a defendant may carry the document, it must not be carried where it can be seen as the Constitution.
This judge violated the Sixth Amendment rights of the defendants by not allowing them to present “witnesses in his favor.” The judge took testimony that was favorable to the defendant out of the hearing of the jury and then ruled it could not be presented to the jury. She has tread on the Fifth Amendment rights “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb” when she continues to call for retrials when a jury cannot come to a unanimous guilty decision.
In violation of the Fifth Amendment, this same judge allowed the use of a video statement against a defendant which was obtained under false pretenses by federal agents. The Fifth Amendment clearly states that a defendant cannot “…be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” The self-incriminating statement was made after agents got the defendant drunk and and questioned him without reading him his Miranda Rights.
This was the basic information that lead Navarro to sentence him to what amounts to a life sentence; not for what he did, but for what he thought of doing.
In this same case, one might well argue that the judge violated the Eighth Amendment on many fronts. When she decreed no bail would be allowed, one might argue that no bail in this case was “excessive”. What amounted to a life sentence “was unusual punishment” for the crime committed. And the $1.5 million fine was an “excessive fine.” All of these are prohibited under the Eighth Amendment.
Let us add another Constitutional issue to the Bundy case. Amendment Six guarantees the right to a “speedy trial.” It has been three years since the incident and the judge has once again postponed the trial for Cliven Bundy and his sons.
That the judge would not allow any reference to the Constitution is understandable since apparently she finds the document repugnant and a hindrance to her kangaroo court.
Fortunately, the Sixth Amendment guarantees “a public trial, by an impartial jury in the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed”. The jury stepped up and found two of the defendants not guilty of all charges. The jury found the other two not guilty of all but two of the ten charges. Even on those two charges it has been reported the jury hung on a vote of 11-1 for acquittal
The “emotional” judge is not willing to give up. She has indicated she will retry the remaining two defendants for a third time in hopes of getting a conviction. She once again will tread on their Fifth Amendment rights “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”
My attorney friends may tell me that since the jury hung, they can be retried. I see nothing in the Constitution that says in case of hung jury the defendant may be tried again. Maybe Judge Navarro will contend three times is not twice.
It is time for Judge Navarro to hang her robe up. It is time for the BLM to drop all charges against the Bundys. If they want Bundy’s cattle off their land the BLM should abide by the Taylor Grazing Act.
No one asked me but… A short time ago there was a news article alleging that when Bundy’s attorneys asked the BLM for their records on the standoff, they stated all the records had been destroyed. This was done, they said, because they were afraid their headquarters were going to be overrun by Bundy supporters.
It is interesting to note that the leadership for the rustling of Bundy’s cattle was located in Las Vegas. The field command was never threatened. One must wonder if the destruction of evidence was before or after the defense’s request.
On August 24, 2017, a short article appeared in the Review Journal alleging that BLM agent Daniel Love took valuable stones held as evidence and gave them out like candy to friends. It is further alleged that he used his position with the BLM to score tickets to the Burning Man Festivals for his friends.
Yes, this is the same Daniel Love that headed up the illegal collection of Bundy cattle.
Thought of the week… As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.
– Adlai E. Stevenson
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the plangent sea to the prairie,
From the slum to the heart of the Wild.
From the red-rimmed star to the speck of sand,
From the vast to the greatly small;
For I know that the whole for good is planned,
And I want to see it all.
To see it all, the wide world-way,
From the fig-leaf belt to the Pole;
With never a one to say me nay,
And none to cramp my soul.
In belly-pinch I will pay the price,
But God! let me be free;
For once I know in the long ago,
They made a slave of me.
In a flannel shirt from earth's clean dirt,
Here, pal, is my calloused hand!
Oh, I love each day as a rover may,
Nor seek to understand.
To ENJOY is good enough for me;
The gipsy of God am I;
Then here's a hail to each flaring dawn!
And here's a cheer to the night that's gone!
And may I go a-roaming on
Until the day I die!
Then every star shall sing to me
Its song of liberty;
And every morn shall bring to me
Its mandate to be free.
In every throbbing vein of me
I'll feel the vast Earth-call;
O body, heart and brain of me
Praise Him who made it all!
The Soldier of Fortune
"Deny your God!" they ringed me with their spears;
Blood-crazed were they, and reeking from the strife;
Hell-hot their hate, and venom-fanged their sneers,
And one man spat on me and nursed a knife.
And there was I, sore wounded and alone,
I, the last living of my slaughtered band.
Oh sinister the sky, and cold as stone!
In one red laugh of horror reeled the land.
And dazed and desperate I faced their spears,
And like a flame out-leaped that naked knife,
And like a serpent stung their bitter jeers:
"Deny your God, and we will give you life."
Deny my God! Oh life was very sweet!
And it is hard in youth and hope to die;
And there my comrades dear lay at my feet,
And in that blear of blood soon must I lie.
And yet . . . I alm
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1970—2018 Interviews with Med Hondo, the first volume in a three-part publication, brings together seventeen interviews conducted with Med Hondo over a period of almost half a century, most of the interviews originally published in French were translated into English. The book originated in the long-term project Cours, cours, camarade, le vieux monde est derrière toi—Run, comrade, run, the old world is behind you—The Cinema of Med Hondo.
The institution of the ethnological museum seems to be in the midst of a serious crisis of choking. The delicacies that most of these museums have acquired, which is to say co-opted, which is to say ingested, seem to have collectively missed the track to the oesophagus and got stuck in the respiratory tract. They have been stuck there for as long as the history of mass collections, acquisitions and looting, for as long as the ruthless and ongoing extraction of cultural property in the former colonies outside of Europe. A twelve-act essay on the maintenance of supremacy, the ethnological Museum and the intricacies of the Humboldt Forum.
L’institution du musée ethnologique semble traverser une véritable crise d’étouffement. Les mets délicats acquis, ou plutôt cooptées, pour ainsi dire ingérées par la majorité de ces musées, semblent avoir été dépistés de la route vers l’œsophage et s’être coincés dans les voies respiratoires. Toutes ces choses y sont coincées depuis l’acquisition, le pillage, de ces objets. En somme, depuis l’impitoyable déracinement des biens culturels qui perdure jusqu’à nos jours dans les anciennes colonies hors d’Europe. Un essai en 12 actes sur la préservation de la suprématie, le Musée Ethnologiques et les complexités du Forum Humboldt.
Die Institution des Ethnologischen Museums scheint sich in einer ernsten Krise des Erstickens zu befinden. Die Delikatessen, welche die meisten solcher Museen meist unter zweifelhaften Bedingungen erwarben, mit anderen Worten genossen und verschluckt haben, scheinen kollektiv den Weg in den Oseophagus verpasst zu haben und blieben stattdessen im Atmungsapparat stecken. Sie hängen dort schon so lange fest, wie die Geschichte von Massensammlungen, Erwerbungen, Plünderungen; so lange wie der rücksichtslose und fortwährende Abbau von Kulturgut in den ehemaligen Kolonien außerhalb Europas bereits andauert.
A conference, hosted by the International Center for the Arts José de Guimarães, borrowed its title from an unfinished film stored in an archive in Bissau. 'Luta ca caba inda' (The struggle is not over yet) was conceived as a documentary film on post-independence Guinea-Bissau, but was abandoned in the editing process in 1980. The archive testifies to a decade of collective and internationally connected cinema praxis in the country, as part of the people’s struggle for independence from Portuguese colonialism.
Instead of passing off art as a model for a better politics, we wish to test it for the signatures, the markers and forms of these deeply antagonistic relations of which art itself is a material part: we are concerned with art as a class language, as well as with class languages in art; with art’s room for maneuver as well as with its limits and restrictions, curatorially, in writing and debate.
Conflict Atlas looks at history through the perspective of the Falklands Islands/Islas Malvinas. Global events are mirrored to local proceedings on the archipelago. Through this method it explores trade routes, colonial enterprises, patterns of migration, questions of identity, strategies in warfare and the role of the climate in social issues. Conflict Atlas comprises texts, maps and archival materials. Starting from the case of the Falklands/Malvinas it aims to create a field of tensions by the multiplication and stratification of geographical sites, historical times and subjective views.
Stonemasons, cinema staff, a climbers’ cooperative, a group of 1970s militants. These communities testify to a period of upheaval that swept across Europe from the late 1960s to 1989. The fragments of biographies and the social relationships that Cora Piantoni depicts, are episodes in the context of this historic narrative: the legacy of anti-fascism in Italy, political dissent in the former Eastern Bloc, the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The publication takes a fresh look at Aby Warburg’s prominent Mnemosyne Atlas. Reflecting on the fact that research, be it art or science based, is a historical and anthropological procedure that is closely related to colonialism, the film and the two essays rethink how Warburg creates a relational and trans-cultural methodology. Inhuman and animating forces of images, things, animals, people, minerals, amulets and dices, solar and lunar eclipses, intestines, magic stones and starry heavens stemming from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Jordan suggest exploring Mnemosyne Atlas outside of European cultural history and the imagination of itself.
Eser is a comprehensive publication on Judith Raum’s works, installations and lecture performance texts from 2011 to 2014. It is also a theoretical reader and material collection on the semi-colonial advance of German entrepreneurs and bankers into the Ottoman Empire before World War I in connection with the construction of the Anatolian Railway. In this frame, the logic of capitalism and geopolitical interests connected the engineers’ tasks with less obvious efforts: to get a hold of Anatolian agriculture, archaeology and the working conditions in the country. Judith Raum’s work suggests that gestures and rhetoric of power and domination are the consequences of an economic principle that did not end with the colonial era and in fact persist today. Her works and texts take her research on site and in archives as a starting point, they exhibit an autonomous aesthetic dimension, however, and as such suggest an alternative approach to ‘artistic research’.
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Why Tax Revision Is an Inexact Science
When Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton announced a wide-ranging tax plan last month, he said that the changes would net the state $2 billion over the next two years. That number wouldn't exist, however, if it weren't for a flourish of ingenuity from analysts in the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Currently, clothes are exempt from Minnesota's sales tax, but Dayton wants to eliminate the exemption for any item of clothing that costs more than $100. There was just one problem, says Susan Von Mosch, assistant commissioner for tax policy in the Department of Revenue. No one knows how much Minnesotans spend on clothing that costs over $100. The data doesn't exist.
The Department of Revenue's method of coming up with an estimate was to extrapolate based on data from New York State, which exempts from its sales tax clothing that costs $110 or more. The new Minnesota clothing tax, the department predicted, would bring in $55 million in the first year it's fully implemented. That, anyway, is the best guess right now.
The sales tax on clothing is a relatively small piece of Dayton's plan, but it illustrates a much bigger issue: When states make substantial changes to their tax codes, it's often difficult to know how much money they'll end up collecting. States have been burned when they swapped one tax for another, then found themselves with far less revenue than expected.
Numerous governors are in the process of selling their legislatures and their voters on tax cuts, tax increases or revenue-neutral tax reform—with specific dollar figures attached. Yet, to a greater extent than most governors acknowledge, those projections come with significant uncertainty. In places where major tax changes pass, the accuracy of the advance numbers will go a long way toward determining whether or not budgets are balanced in the years ahead.
Already, 2013 is shaping up as the year of the tax swap—or at least the year of the tax swap proposal. Governors in Massachusetts, Ohio and Virginia all have major schemes to cut one tax while raising others. Besides altering the sales tax, Dayton's plan would also make substantial changes to personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, property taxes and cigarette taxes. Perhaps most ambitiously, Republican governors in Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska are talking about increasing sales tax revenue—by raising rates, cutting exemptions or both—and using the difference to eliminate their income taxes entirely.
In doing so, they'll hope to avoid following in the footsteps of South Carolina or Texas. Prompted by a state Supreme Court ruling, Texas in 2006 traded lower property taxes for a higher cigarette tax and a new business tax. Together, these were supposed to make up much of the depletion in property tax funds. The cigarette tax has brought in the money the state expected, but the business tax has never lived up to its end of the bargain. Instead, it's fallen about $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year short. Part of the problem, explains Dale Craymer, president of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, is that that the tax is complicated—businesses get to choose among various exemptions they want to take—which has made accurate forecasts difficult.
The overly optimistic projections were a significant contributor to Texas' deep budget problems in 2011. They're also part of the reason a Texas judge ruled earlier this month that the state's schools have been unconstitutionally underfunded, setting up the possibility of another politically wrenching, court-mandated overhaul of the state's tax structure.
The same year Texas made its ill-fated tax swap, South Carolina approved a swap of its own known as Act 388. For most homeowners, the law ended property taxes for school operations entirely. To make up the difference, it raised the sales tax by one cent per dollar. The changes were supposed to be revenue-neutral. Instead, the sales tax quickly began falling about $100 million a year short of what was needed to make up for the property tax cuts, placing greater stress on the state's general fund.
Act 388 came with other unintended consequences, including more dependence on property taxes paid by businesses. Yet changing the law has proven to be a political non-starter. “Most of our public-policy makers in the state will tell you that they made a mistake,” says Otis Rawl, president and CEO of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, “but they don't know how to fix it without getting themselves unelected.”
South Carolina and Texas aren't exactly typical cases, but they do reflect the numerous challenges states face when they project the effects of restructuring their tax systems. For example, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman's tax plan calls for eliminating the income tax and replacing it with a sales tax that applies to a far broader range of transactions. Nothing would seem easier than projecting the cost of the total elimination of a tax: all the revenue you had been collecting from the tax will be gone.
Yet the Nebraska Legislative Fiscal Office and Nebraska Department of Revenue have two different projections for how much eliminating the income tax will cost. In the 2017 fiscal year, the legislative office thinks the move will cost almost $170 million more than the Revenue Department expects. The reason: The offices have different assumptions for how fast personal income will grow. In percentage terms, the gap between the two estimates is relatively small, but it's the difference between Heineman's plan being revenue-neutral, which is how he's presented it, and turning into a revenue-losing tax cut.
The unpredictability of economic forces in general, of course, can throw off states' forecasts even when their tax structures don't change. But there are much bigger complications when states consider the big swaps governors are talking about this year.
In Nebraska, despite the competing forecasts on the income tax, the portion of Heineman's plan that may be susceptible to the greatest error is the package of sales exemptions he wants to lift. The trouble a state like Nebraska faces is that when it hasn't been taxing a transaction, it often hasn't had a reason to collect data on it.
Nebraska, like most states, regularly produces a “tax expenditure report” with estimates for how much the states' various tax exemptions, deductions and credits cost. These numbers, however, often represent best-guess extrapolations.
For example, Nebraska used data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services to estimate how much it would raise from applying its sales tax to medicine and medical equipment. But when medical groups testified on Heineman's legislation, LB 405, Doug Ewald, the state's tax commissioner, was surprised. “I'll be completely honest with you,” Ewald says, “we learned that we think some of our estimates are low based on the testimony we heard on LB 405.”
Like Heineman's proposal, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's plan—which he is still formulating—will call for removing sales tax exemptions to pay for ending the income tax. He has said the plan will be revenue-neutral. Jindal has good reasons for that: He's pledged not to raise taxes, but a tax cut likely wouldn't fly in the legislature given the state's serious recent budget troubles. So neutrality may be the only politically viable option.
However, achieving even approximate revenue neutrality won't be easy. “Nobody knows exactly what people pay for haircuts in Louisiana. Nobody knows exactly what the beauty salons earn,” says James Richardson, a Louisiana State University economist and veteran member of the state's revenue estimating conference. “The numbers that are out there are very tentative. We'll essentially not know until we actually tax them how much is actually there.”
The estimates also generally don't account for another factor: the way tax changes could alter how taxpayers act. States usually assume that cigarette tax increases will reduce smoking rates because the link is so clear, but when it comes to other behavior-related tax revisions, there often aren't any reliable estimates at all. States also often assume 100 percent compliance with new taxes, even though they are sometimes difficult to enforce or administer. “I don't think there's any state out there that does dynamic forecasting,” says Von Mosch, of the Minnesota Department of Revenue. “Behavioral changes are not part of our estimates.”
This unpredictability isn't likely to stop governors and legislators from proposing big changes to state tax structures anytime soon. Democrats, Republicans, business groups, social service advocates and tax policy wonks all may disagree on what precisely is wrong with state tax codes, but, almost invariably, they all believe that something is wrong. Some uncertainty is the price of improvement.
What the people doing the estimates say is that the uncertainty points to the need for care and caution. Some states are going to great lengths to make sure their numbers are credible. For example, the Louisiana Department of Revenue has hired the consulting firm of Ernst & Young to a six-figure contract to make sure that Jindal's plan is, in fact, revenue-neutral.
In Minnesota, Von Mosch says the Department of Revenue has been working on Dayton's tax plan for months. Yet they're continuing to refine the estimates for the tax on clothing. “We are still working on that number,” Von Mosch says.
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Speaking after the meeting between food manufacturers, retailers, foodservice providers and UK, Scottish and Welsh ministers, Richard Lockhead said: “I highlighted that in my view there is an absolute need for supply chains to be shorter and easier to track and for high quality local produce to be used whenever possible.
"What was very clear, was that everyone in the room wants to resolve this issue as quickly as possible so that consumers regain the confidence and trust they have always had in Scottish and UK food providers.”
Lockhead added that it was reassuring that the vast majority of tests for horse meat proved negative. But he added: “We cannot be complacent and a precautionary approach will continue to be taken.”
Processed meat products
Meanwhile, retailers attending the meeting told the environment secretary Owen Paterson that the vast majority of tests on processed beef products would be completed by Friday (February 22).
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said, after the meeting, that retailers were doing all they can to “establish the extent and causes of failures in the supply chain”.
Helen Dickinson, BRC director general, said: “Test results have continued to come in over the weekend. The labs are working flat out and our members are confident that the vast majority of testing will be completed by Friday. We were very pleased that the secretary of state recognised the hard work of retailers in progressing their testing programmes so quickly.”
Speaking after sources close to the Prime Minister slammed supermarkets for their "silence" on horse meat on Friday (February 15), Dickinson said: “Retailers take their responsibilities very seriously and are doing everything they can to maintain consumer confidence and increase surveillance. Members are meeting every day with the Food Standards Agency and working around the clock to understand what has happened and act on lessons learned.”
Dickinson added that the BRC’s top priority was to continue to engage with our customers and reassure them that retailers had effective solutions to contamination scandal. Retailers were using every available channel − from social and traditional media to answering questions in-store – to communicate with customers.
“It’s clear that there will be things that need to change for the future as a result of these incidents,” said Dickinson. “Retailers are scrutinising their systems and processes, alongside intelligence gathering and sharing to identify practical improvements that will turn the lessons learned into action.”
A former government chief scientific adviser accused the government yesterday (February 17) of contributing to the crisis by "disembowelling" the Food Standards Agency.
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I've just started to learn about electrical work, and today I mapped the circuits in my home. However, I have one light switch (a ganged device with one switch and one empty spot) that doesn't control anything. I removed the cover and got out my circuit tester (without killing the power at the service panel) because I wanted to see if the wires are hot. I'd like to figure out why I have this inactive switch in my house. I also did some research ****** about how to test for hot wires.
I believe that the switch is a simple dipole, as it has only two screw terminals on it (aside from the green grounding screw). I was able to determine that the wire at top is hot by touching one probe on my circuit tester to it, and the other to the box (which must be grounded, because the light came on on my circuit tester). However, I noticed something strange--there are two wires attached to the top screw terminal. When I tried to touch the probe to the second wire (still with the other to ground), I received a big flash, and the end of the metal probe of my circuit tester has taken some serious damage.
Now I'm really confused. For one thing, I'm feeling pretty nervous about working with electricity again! Also, I don't understand why I was able to touch one wire safely, but not the second wire. Shouldn't they be at the same potential when they're attached to the same metal terminal? And, why on earth would two wires be attached to the same terminal on a dipole switch? This doesn't match any diagram in my electrical book.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
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One of the world's most body-conscious countries, Brazil is now threatened by growing obesity rates, with half of the population already overweight.
As a result of an unbalanced diet and a rise in more sedentary lifestyles, Brazil, which moved 30 million people out of poverty and into the middle class over the past decade, is paying a heavy price for its frenetic growth.
Official statistics corroborate the alarming rise in the number of overweight or obese people in the world's sixth largest economy.
Nearly half of the country's 194 million people are overweight and 16 percent obese, according to a health ministry report released in April.
The percentage of overweight people jumped from 42.7% in 2006 to 48.5% in 2011, while the obesity rate increased from 11.4% to 15.8% in the same period.
The most overweight section of the population are men aged 35-45, of whom almost two thirds are fat, and women aged 45-54.
"It is high time to reverse the trend so as to avoid becoming like the United States, where nearly 35.7 percent of the adult population is obese," Health Minister Alexandre Padilha warned.
"Brazilians have a poor diet. They could eat green vegetables but they prefer beans and fat," said Solange de Goncalves, a 38-year-old from Rio who weighs 123 kilos (271 pounds) and is among Brazil's 30 million obese citizens.
Overweight since her childhood, she also suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes and concedes that her life is not easy.
"People look at you in the street. You cannot find clothes matching your size. Once I even got stuck in a bus turnstile," she told AFP, her voice cracking with emotion.
Goncalves is envious of the celebrities who make headlines or star in telenovelas, like Suede Junior, a male model sporting a "Made in Brazil" tattoo on his chest.
"To go to the gym, take good care of one's body is something common in Rio," he told AFP on Ipanema beach.
After a 12-year wait, Goncalves had a gastric ring inserted in July, a procedure covered by her public health insurance.
"I am happy. I already lost 15 of the 50 kilograms I want to lose," she said.
With the operation, which reduces the size of the stomach, a patient can lose 80 percent of his excess weight but must be monitored by a surgeon, an endocrinologist, a psychologist and a nutritionist for the rest of his life.
"The key to a successful treatment is dieting. The surgery is meant to help the patient, but if he drops the diet, he will regain weight," explained Octavio Falcao, a specialist who carries out the surgery.
The number of Brazilians undergoing the ring procedure soared 275 percent between 2003 and 2010 to 60,000 a year.
After enduring 10 years of obesity, Jederson Edealdo das Dores finally decided to undergo the 45-minute operation by coelioscopy, the most common procedure used by private doctors.
"I used to be thin. I want to be normal again," said Dores.
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The research, published this week in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, identifies the protein families expressed during tissue regeneration in the common North American newt, laying the groundwork for research into what particular sets of genes are used for this purpose. This is the first comprehensive map of all RNA molecules — called the transcriptome — expressed in regeneration.
For 250 years, scientists have believed old age and repeated amputation weaken a newt's ability to regenerate. They were wrong. And that's good news for humans.
Panagiotis Tsonis, director of the University of Dayton's Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton (TREND), said his discovery will benefit the entire field of regeneration research and brings us one step closer to a complete understanding of how newts regenerate, which could one day enable humans to replicate the process.
Nature Communications published Tsonis' research July 12, 2011. The study shows even after surgically removing the lens from a newt 18 times over 16 years, the newt was still able to regenerate a perfect lens. Tsonis' findings overturn long-accepted theories proposed by regeneration scientists, including Charles Darwin.
"When would a person benefit from regeneration most? It's when they are older," Tsonis said. "This shows the newt is an excellent source for finding answers to regeneration, particularly as it relates to old age. It has the ability to protect and preserve regeneration."
Genome Biology - A de novo assembly of the newt transcriptome combined with proteomic validation identifies new protein families expressed during tissue regeneration
Notophthalmus viridescens, an urodelian amphibian, represents an excellent model organism to study regenerative processes, but mechanistic insights into molecular processes driving regeneration have been hindered by paucity and poor annotation of coding nucleotide sequences. The enormous genome size and the lack of a closely related reference genome have so far prevented assembly of the urodelian genome.
We describe the de novo assembly of the transcriptome of the newt Notophthalmus viridescens and its experimental validation. RNA pools covering embryonic and larval development, different stages of heart, appendage and lens regeneration, as well as a collection of different undamaged tissues were used to generate sequencing datasets on Sanger, Illumina and 454 platforms. Through a sequential de novo assembly strategy, hybrid datasets were converged into one comprehensive transcriptome comprising 120,922 non-redundant transcripts with a N50 of 975. 38,384 putative transcripts were annotated and around 15,000 transcripts were experimentally validated as protein coding by mass spectrometry based proteomics. Bioinformatical analysis of coding transcripts identified 826 proteins specific for urodeles. Several newly identified proteins establish novel protein families based on the presence of new sequence motifs without counterparts in public databases, while others containing known protein domains extend already existing families and also constitute new ones.
We demonstrate that our multistep assembly approach allows de novo assembly of the newt transcriptome with an annotation grade comparable to well characterized organisms. Our data provide the groundwork for mechanistic experiments to answer the question whether urodeles utilize proprietary sets of genes for tissue regeneration.
SOURCES- University of Dayton, Youtube, Genome Biology
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks
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Article by Category
The "Belles of the Ball Game" were a hit with their fans
By Jack Fincher
This web page contains a magazine article contributed by Elizabeth Martin from the July 1989 Smithsonian, v20 pages 88-97 "The 'Belles of the Game' were a hit with their fans" by Jack Fincher.
The "Belles of the Ball Game" were a hit with their fans,,
When the Girls of summer played for pay, they proved women did not have to sacrifice their femininity to excel in a man's world.
Visitors to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, were mystified one weekend last fall to behold an ebullient throng of older women trooping around the place as if they owned it. Which, in a manner of speaking, they did. Once, those senior citizens were the glamorous Girls of Summer - stars of the only professional female baseball league this country ever had. Playing for teams with such unabashedly sexist names as the Chicks, the Peaches and the Lassies, they swung for the fences, barreled down the base paths and signed autographs for their adoring fans just like the big-league ballplayers. But they weren't merely shadows of their male counterparts. They added dash and excitement to the national pastime and, in so doing, made it uniquely their own. Sportswriters dubbed them the "Queens of Swat" and the "Belles of the Ball Game." They called each other "Moe" and "Tiby," "Nickie" and "Pepper," "Jeep" and "Flash." They rode stuffy buses from city to city, played six games a week and doubleheaders on Sunday, and dreaded the day in September when the grueling season would come to an end. Now, aging in body but ageless in spirit, they were in town to attend the unveiling of a new permanent exhibition in their honor.
Dedicated to "Women in Baseball," the intriguing collection of uniforms, photographs and trophies salutes the 545 athletes from the United States, Cuba and Canada who were part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from its inception in 1943 to its demise 12 years later. It is an impressive tribute, and one so richly deserved that most of the heretofore unsung heroines can't understand what took so long. As one of them pointedly noted in Cooperstown: it doesn't say "men's Baseball Hall of Fame," does it?
No, it most assuredly does not. But then, the Girls of Summer didn't always play as if they were destined to be enshrined in any hall of fame, men's or women's. Take, for example, the chilly night in June 1943 when the Racine, Wisconsin, Belles took the home field against the South Bend, Indiana, Blue Sox.
The setting was Horlick Field, a windy old wooden stadium near Lake Michigan with a hand-posted scoreboard and dim floodlights. At that early stage of the league's development, the girls were playing modified softball, not hardball. The distance between the bases was a little longer, there were nine players on a side (instead of the usual ten), and a runner was allowed to take a lead off base and steal. The Racine and South Bend pitchers pinned the high-hemmed skirts of their one-piece uniforms, so as to take nothing away from their speed and control, but they still had trouble getting the ball over the plate and holding runners on base. The fielders had problems, too, and when the comedy of errors was over the Blue Sox had drawn nine walks, made seven miscues, stolen 17 bases and won 12 to 6. "A crowd of 683 cash customers turned out despite the cool weather," reported the Racine Journal Times, but the temperature was nothing compared to the chill they received from the two hours and 35 minutes of how not to play.
That, as it turned out, was the exception to the rule. The league went on to include as many as ten teams and attract more than a million enthusiastic fans a season. The pitching shifted to overhand in 1948, the ball got smaller, the base paths got longer and the caliber of play got better and better. Max Carey, a Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer who managed the Milwaukee Chicks and was the league president for six years, called the 14-inning contest between the Rockford, Illinois, Peaches and the Racine Belles the "greatest" game he had ever seen, male or female.
It was the final meeting of the 1946 championship series. Pitcher Carolyn Morris of the Peaches had a no-hitter going for nine innings, but in the 12th inning Rockford manager Bill Allington took her out. Pitching for the Belles was Joanne Winter, who had survived one close call after another. "I was getting banged all over the place and watching my teammates make these tremendous plays behind me," recalls Winter, who now teaches golf in Scottsdale, Arizona. "They got 13 hits off me but never scored." The game was decided in the bottom half of the 14th inning when the Belles' scrappy second baseman, Sophie Kurys, slid across home plate with the winning run. "I got a base hit, stole second and was on my way to steal third when Betty Trezza [the Belles' shortstop] hit it into right field and I slid into home," says Kurys, a retired businesswoman also living in Scottsdale. "It was real close, but I was safe." Kurys stole 201 bases that year, a professional record no one in any league has even managed to approach.
It wasn’t all fun and games
Ken Sells, the AAGPBL's first president, is a robust, 83-year-old retiree living in Paradise Valley, Arizona, not far from where several major-league baseball teams stage their spring training. He maintains that although female baseball players enjoyed themselves and made reasonably good money, they had a serious mission to accomplish. "They proved," he says, "that women didn't have to sacrifice their femininity to be standouts in what was then a man's world."
That's one of the things Philip K. Wrigley had in mind when he decided to start up a women's league in 1942. The chewing-gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team was afraid the wartime draft might shut down the major leagues altogether; a number of minor-league teams had already been forced to suspend operations. If the big leagues did fold, Wrigley reasoned, it might be possible to transfer a professional women's league into those parks. But the major leagues got through the war years intact and consequently the AAGPBL remained in a number of smaller Midwestern towns and cities, where factory workers had money to spend but couldn't travel much because of gas rationing.
In the early 1940's amateur softball leagues for women were thriving in thousands of communities all over the country. Wrigley decided to skim the best players off those teams, whittle the candidates down to a select few, and then use that reservoir of talent to set up his new play-for-pay league.
Wrigley contributed the major share of the start-up costs and also footed half the operating expenses of each team (Local supporters in the four charter cities - Rockford, Illinois; Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin; and South Bend, Indiana - guaranteed the other half.) As a savvy baseball man and shrewd entrepreneur, he knew what he wanted and he understood how to go about getting it. He drew upon the Cubs organization for executive talent and scouts, and he persuaded his friend Branch Rickey, the respected general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers ( and later the Pittsburgh Pirates) to serve as an advisor and trustee.
Wrigley also understood the importance of image. His league would have nothing to do with the kind of short-haired, mannishly dressed toughies then touring the country on several all-girl barnstorming teams. As one of Wrigley's associates put it, the new league's athletes would be expected to epitomize "the highest ideals of womanhood." The order went down to Ken Sells, the Cubs' assistant general manager and head of the AAGPBL: at the league tryouts in Chicago that spring, Mr. Wrigley expected to see nothing but healthy, wholesome, "All-American" girls.
In May 1943, more than a hundred of the best female softball players in North America registered at the Belmont Hotel in Chicago, and then assembled for tryouts and spring training at the Cubs' Wrigley Field. Most of them were underage, overawed, homesick and as green as the outfield grass. Jane (Jeep) Stoll, presently a resident of Phoenix, went to Chicago as a recent high school graduate from rural Pennsylvania. "I had never ridden on a train," she says "I sat up all night in a Pullman car because I didn't understand how that seat was gonna be my bed."
Sophie Kurys was 17 when she showed up in Chicago, a taciturn Polish Ukrainian from Flint, Michigan. "It was raining when I got there. I told them I wanted to turn around and go right back home. They moved me in with some older girls, and probably told them to mother me a bit. The next day the sun was shining and I felt fine."
Girls. It was always "girls," never "women," and in their recollections it remains so today.
Oh my, what nice eyes you have
The players soon found that they were in for more then they had bargained for. After getting up at dawn and working out all day, they were required to attend charm school in the evening. The classes were conducted by representatives of the Helena Rubinstein cosmetics company, who taught the athletes how to put on makeup, get in and out of a car, and put on a coat with seemly grace. The girls also learned how to enunciate correctly and how to charm a date (look right at him and say: "Oh my, what nice eyes you have"). To avoid getting dirt under their fingernails when sliding on the base paths, they were told to scratch a bar of soap before the game.
Charm school fit right in with the league's so-called femininity concept. It produced a lot of good publicity but it was also a big pain in the neck, or knee, or calf. "It wasn't easy to walk around in high heels with a book on your head when you had a charley horse," remembers Lavonne (Pepper) Paire Davis, who played shortstop and catcher for three teams and is now enjoying retirement in Van Nuys, California.
At the end of that first training camp, Wrigley's four managers selected the 60 best players and divided them up, as equally as possible, into four teams. Then it was time to "play ball." The players were paid between $65 and $125 a week. The 108-game "split" season lasted for three months with the winner of the first half playing the winner of the second half in a championship series at the end.
The slugger who became a nun
That premiere season had barely gotten under way before a new generation and gender of baseball personalities began to shine. One of them was a statuesque redhead named Ann Harnett. She hit the ball well enough to finish as one of the league's best batters in 1943. Eventually the charismatic slugger became a nun and coached a boys' team at a Catholic school. One day, a former AAGPBL executive recalls a nun dropped by and asked, "How're the boys upstairs?" She was referring, or course, to Wrigley and his associates.
For a decade, the AAGPBL teams - each consisting of 15 players, a manager, a chaperone and a driver - rattled around the heartland, trailblazing a path of equal opportunity where no women's professional sport had ever gone before. Everywhere they went, they won new fans - and kept them. "Maybe at first the men came out to see the legs," says Pepper Paire Davis. "But they stuck around when they realized they were seeing a darn good brand of baseball."
For managers, the league reached into the ranks of old-time ballplayers, many of whom came and went trailing faded dreams of glory. Bill Wambsganss of the Cleveland Indians, the only man ever to pull off an unassisted triple play in the World Series, always carried around a Yellowed press clipping to prove it. Others, like the famous Red Sox slugger Jimmie Foxx, preserved their cherished memories in a bottle.
Chaperones protected the morals of the players at home as well as on the road. The girls were officially forbidden to drink, gamble, violate curfew, wear shorts or slacks in public, or go out on dates alone without permission and an interview of the prospective swain. A good thing, too. "My mother wouldn't let me play until I convinced her we'd be chaperoned," remembers Betty (Moe) Trezza of Brooklyn.
Quite a few of the girls were underage and the league kept a particularly close eye on them. Thelma (Tiby) Eisen, who was an outfielder with three different teams between 1944 and 1952, had an admirer when she was a rookie who followed her on a road trip. He checked into the same hotel one night and invited her up to his room before they went to dinner. "I wasn't there three minutes before there was a knock at the door," Eisen says. "It was the house detective wanting to know what was going on."
Some chaperones knew their baseball; others did not. We had one who was famous for yelling things like, 'Hit a home run, honey, and we win!' Sophie Kurys recalls. "The only trouble was, we would be four runs behind in the bottom of the ninth with two out and the bases empty." Some chaperones had other priorities. Shirley Jameson of Albuquerque remembers going to bat in a tense situation only to be restrained by her chaperone. "Oh, my dear," the woman exclaimed. "You don't have your lipstick on!"
Off the field, chaperones sometimes had their work cut out for them. Maddy English, a third baseman for the Racine Belles who now lives in Everett, Massachusetts, once told a sportswriter who wouldn't stop pestering her: "If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to jump in Lake Michigan." He didn't. She did, and had to be fished out. Other infatuations were less threatening. Sophie Kurys had a fan club of 11- and 12-year-old boys in Racine, one of whom invited her home for a pork chop dinner one afternoon before a game. Faye Dancer, an exuberant center fielder for the Fort Wayne Daisies who now resides in Santa Monica, California, got a letter from a GI in France after her picture appeared in Life magazine. "I am not proposing," he wrote, "but I have about $1,000 and old jalopy in New Jersey, I am footloose and fancy free, and I can settle anyplace."
"Dolly got beaned behind the ear"
On the field, there were times when the Girls of Summer could have used some protection from one another. Action was replete with daring plays along the base paths, brush backs at the plate and painful "strawberries" from sliding hard in short skirts. One day Dolly Pearson Tesseine was playing shortstop for the Daisies when the opposing pitcher came barreling into second base and spiked her. "Next time you do that, I'm going to jam the ball down your throat," Dolly said. When Dolly came up to bat, the pitcher knocked her down instead. Nobody got hurt that time, but when Dolly was batting in an exhibition game one day, she was hit right behind the ear by a pitch.
The players acted like women on and off the field. Pretty June Peppas of the Kalamazoo (formerly Muskegon) Lassies performed a little shimmy when batting that her fans called the "Peppas wiggle." But some times in the heat of a game the girls played just as recklessly as men. Once Alma (Ziggy) Ziegler of the Grand Rapids Chicks was playing second base when the batter hit a ground ball to the shortstop with a runner on first. The shortstop tossed the ball to Ziggy for a force-out at second and Ziggy threw to first for the double play. The runner, however, came into second base standing instead of sliding; the ball smacked into her and she was called out for interference. "I didn't throw at her," Ziggy recalls innocently. "She ran into the ball."
So intense was the play, sometimes even the umpires weren't safe out there. Pepper Paire Davis will never forget the time she knocked down Lou Rymkus, a hulking future all-pro football player who was moonlighting as an umpire. After sliding in at second, she whirled around to protest Rymkus' call and her fist inadvertently caught him square on the chin. The big guy ended up flat on his back. "I guess you know, Pepper," Rymkus murmured apologetically as he looked up at her, "that I gotta throw you out." Pepper knew.
In the scant free time they had to themselves, the players managed to raise a little hell every now and then. Joanne Winter got together with a teammate one night and tried to pass off two ladies of the evening on their manager as the new rookies he was expecting. Pepper Paire Davis and Faye Dancer occasionally hoisted a few beers together in a local cemetery to escape the prying eyes of townspeople, who tended to regard the players as kid sisters. "We were just kids having fun," recalls Dottie Collins of Fort Wayne, Indiana. "Not until it was all over did we look back and realize we had been pioneers."
It was clear, too, that ultimately they played with great skill and polish. After watching shortstop Dorothy Schroeder of Sadorus, Illinois, work out one day, Cubs manager Charlie Grimm said, "if she was a boy, I'd give $50,000 for her." Wally Pipp, one of the best glove-men in the business when he played first base for the New York Yankees in the early 1920's, called Dorothy Kamenshek of Anaheim, California, "the fanciest fielding first baseman I've ever seen-man or woman." Fort Lauderdale of the Florida International Baseball League once tried to buy her contract form the AAGPBL. Not long ago, after watching rare film footage of the league at its peak, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research enthused, "The way they were throwing the ball was unbelievable. It looked as though they were as good as men." They weren't quite. They lacked the requisite power. No one in the league ever hit more than 16 home runs (though, granted, the fences in most ballparks were never moved in). But some old-timers remember seeing Triple-A players take practice cuts at the plate against the likes of Jean Faut Eastman (who posted 140 wins in eight years with the South Bend Blue Sox and had a combined earned run average of 1.23) and come up empty.
"Casey’s mother played center field"
The league's second year, 1944, was the last for Wrigley and Sells, since it became obvious the war wasn't going to close down the majors after all. Wrigley sold his interest to Art Meterhoff, his Chicago Advertising man, and Gradually ownership passed on to local boards in each town. Franchises at first flourished but then attendance sputtered fitfully until after the Korean War, when televised big-league baseball finally killed the AAGPBL forever. Whereupon the players, most still in their athletic prime, put down their bats and balls and gloves and went on to raise families and often to coach their children. (It has been said of Helen Callaghan St. Aubin's son, Casey Candaele of the Houston Astros, that he "runs just like his mother." That's a complement. His mother played center field for the Daisies.) They also started energetic careers in everything from pro golf, pro bowling and school teaching, to anesthesiology and statistical analysis.
The game seemed forever behind them. To most people they met, in fact, it was as if such a thing as women's baseball could never exist. When the subject came up, as Pepper Paire Davis told Sport Heritage magazine in 1987, "They'd do a double take and say, 'you mean softball.' And I'd say again, 'No, I mean baseball.' And after I'd say it about the fourth or fifth time, they'd say, 'You mean...baseball? Like men's baseball? Like with a hardball?' And from the look in their eyes, I could see that they still didn't believe me. You can look 'em right in the eye and say 'baseball,' and they'll look right back and say 'softball.'"
Not until 1982 did persistent letter writing and spur-of-the-moment phone calls result in the league's first official reunion in Chicago. A second followed four years later in Fort Wayne, were, after a chorus of "The Old Gray Mare," the Fort Wayne Daisies' veterans defeated the Michigan-Illinois- Wisconsin team 8-3 in four innings. About that same time, the more active members of the league launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at persuading the curators at Cooperstown to develop a special exhibit recognizing their contributions to baseball. The players association organized in 1987 and then came a third reunion last year in Scottsdale, complete with the kind of high jinks the Girls of Summer were famous for--shorting sheets, shave-creaming cars, coating light bulbs with Limburger cheese, filling Oreo cookies with toothpaste and posting a teammate's phone extension on the motel bulletin board under "Room Service - All Hours." Out of all the comradery emerged a serious sense of purpose about making the Baseball Hall of Fame, a dream that was realized last fall. Now some league supporters have their sights set on a commemorative postage stamp. But more than that, as life's bottom of the ninth approaches, many want somehow to pass their overflowing goodwill and shared remembrances on to another generation of women athletes--athletes like Julie Croteau, for example, a freshman who started at first base this past spring on the men's varsity baseball team at St. Mary's College, a liberal arts school in Maryland. This summer she's sharpening her skills as a member of a semiprofessional team. "If there was a women's league today," she says, "I'm sure I'd be in it. But it's hard for me to think of playing baseball with girls. I've been playing with men all my life."
The "Women in Baseball" exhibition at Cooperstown seems to suggest that immortality in sports need not be limited to the newspaper clippings of a Bill Wambsganss. Or even to the poignant newsletter wish list crafted one recent Christmas by Pepper Paire Davis. With the same verve she once employed protesting close calls at home plate Davis wrote:
Give us the lust back,
In the loving and the living.
And the joy back
In the sharing and the giving!
Put the glow back in our face,
That shows we enjoyed the race.
The laughter back in our hearts.
The youth and the strength,
Till death do us part!
No one ever wins that kind of appeal in an argument with the ump, of course. But as every ballplayer knows, if you raise enough hell this time, the next decision just might go your way.
Contributed by: Elizabeth Martin
Copyright: July 1989 Smithsonian Magazine
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Here's a view of the moon you'll never see from Earth. This is a picture taken by astronaut Soichi Noguchi while on-board the International Space Station. The photo demonstrates how the crew's position relative to the Moon and Earth's atmosphere create bizarre illusions where the Moon appears to be squished like a beanbag chair.
When Noguchi snapped this picture back in May of 2010, he was observing the moon through the thickest part of Earth's atmosphere. The squishing effect is the result of the air surrounding the Earth acting like a lens; light from the moon passing through the atmosphere on its way to the ISS is bent, resulting in this pancake effect.
Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait provides the diagram below to help illustrate how the Earth's atmosphere behaves like a lens, and explains some of the other features of the illusion, including why the bottom half of the moon appears redder and smooshier than the top half:
The more air you look through, the more junk (particles, smog, and so on) there is, and this stuff tends to scatter bluer light...In this case, the blue light from the Moon gets scattered away, and only the redder light gets through - that's the same reason the setting Sun can look red. The closer to the Earth's horizon you look, the more air you're looking through, and the redder the Moon looks.
You can see that in the diagram here; the ISS is on the right, the Moon on the left, and the Earth with its atmosphere is in the middle. Light from the bottom of the Moon passes through more air as seen by the ISS, so the effects are greater.
In the picture you can also see ripples at the top of the Moon. That's from different layers in the atmosphere having different temperatures, bending the Moon's light by different amounts.
Moonrises are not uncommon on the ISS (the space station orbits the Earth about once every 90 minutes, meaning astronauts on-board can observe up to 16 moonrises and moonsets each day), so views like this one from the ISS aren't exactly rare; but Plait claims that this photo, in particular, presents the most dramatic example of the effect that he's ever seen.
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Hong Kong’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 per cent for May to July, 0.4 percentage points lower than the previous three-month period ending in June.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said the revival of local economic activities and the government’s wage subsidy scheme had contributed to the improvement in the labour market.
The Census and Statistics Department revealed in a statement on Wednesday that the number of unemployed people in the city had decreased by around 10,400, from 178,600 between April and June to 168,200 over the past three months.
The unemployment rate for food and beverage service sector fell by 1.6 percentage points to 7.0 per cent, and that of the retail sector dropped by 0.3 percentage point to 6.3 per cent.
Most other sectors also experienced a drop in unemployment rate, including the transportation as well as the arts, entertainment and recreation sector.
The underemployment figures dropped, too, 27,300 to 84,300 in the period from May to July. According to the latest figures, underemployed people accounted for 2.2 per cent of the labour force.
Chris Sun said in the statement that the further revival of local economic activities was expected in the coming months, “[p]rovided that the local epidemic situation remains under control, with the support from Phase II of the Consumption Voucher Scheme.”
Separately, the Social Welfare Department announced on Wednesday that the number of unemployed people who received the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance saw a continuous decrease from 18,866 in March to 18,642 in July.
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A retired federal judge warned Friday against blind faith in the secret court deciding the scope of U.S. government surveillance. During a panel discussion on constitutional privacy protection in the wake of a leaked Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decision that revealed widespread NSA data collection, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner stood up in the audience to counter the statements of conservative law professor Nathan Sales that secret surveillance requests are subject to meaningful judicial review. She cautioned:
As a former Article III judge, I can tell you that your faith in the FISA Court is dramatically misplaced.
Two reasons: One … The Fourth Amendment frameworks have been substantially diluted in the ordinary police case. One can only imagine what the dilution is in a national security setting. Two, the people who make it on the FISA court, who are appointed to the FISA court, are not judges like me. Enough said.
Gertner, now a professor at Harvard Law School who teaches criminal law and criminal procedure, was a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer before being confirmed to the federal bench in 1993. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Gertner explained that the selection process for the secret national security court formed in 1978 is more “anointment” than appointment, with the Chief Justice of the United States — now John G. Roberts — selecting from a pool of already-conservative federal judges those he thinks are most suited to decide national security cases in secret:
It’s an anointment process. It’s not a selection process. But you know, it’s not boat rockers. So you have a [federal] bench which is way more conservative than before. This is a subset of that. And it’s a subset of that who are operating under privacy, confidentiality, and national security. To suggest that there is meaningful review it seems to me is an illusion.
Gertner, an attendee at the American Constitution Society’s national convention, stood up during a panel discussion to make her comment after Sales, a law professor at George Mason University, suggested that individuals have some protection from excessive government surveillance because the Internet Service Providers who field government requests for information have the opportunity to challenge those requests before the secret court. “This isn’t a a paper tiger,” he said. “This is a court that engages in judicial review.” Gertner urged the audience to be skeptical about the court’s oversight, both because of its severely conservative make-up, and its secrecy. The judge whose order was leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was Judge Roger Vinson, who authored the error-riddled federal court decision striking down the Affordable Care Act that even his fellow conservatives rejected.
Gertner also questioned the need for a secret court, noting that national security protections exist within the civilian court system:
I’m very troubled by that. When you get cases in court, in regular civilian court that have national security issues that have classified information, we developed a process whereby the parties would develop security clearances and it could be presented to the court without it being disclosed to anyone else. It is not entirely clear to me why a civilian court with those protections that is otherwise transparent couldn’t do the job. That’s the way we did it before. Then we moved to this national security court. The notion that we have to have a conversation about major incursions on civil liberties and that we have step back and say we don’t really know, we haven’t seen the standards, we haven’t seen the opinions is extraordinary troubling in a democracy.
The surveillance court has authorized almost every request for government surveillance since 1979, and flat-out rejected just .03 percent of the government requests, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. In the wake of the leak, the secret court held Wednesday that its own rules did not prevent the release of its decisions, should a federal court order their release. The plaintiffs will now have to continue their lawsuit to make one particular decision public. Senators introduced a bill this week to require the Attorney General to declassify all major FISC decisions.
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Home Page . Services / Contact Information . Parenting Articles . Separation/Divorce Articles . Video Clips . Links
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Dog Do You Feed?
New data revealed by the Canadian government is unequivocal. Punitive parenting practices gives rise to aggressive children.
Take 2,000 two to three year old children and interview their parents. Ask them about their parenting practices and their children’s behaviour. Wait 6 years when the kids are now eight to nine years old and interview the parents again and the children. The degree to which the parents were more punitive, as defined by spanking and yelling, the more likely the children were to be aggressive with their parents, siblings and friends. Further, those parents who scored high as punitive in the first interview but changed to a more positive parenting style had children whose aggressive behaviour diminished over time. In other words, children’s aggressive behaviour is linked to parental discipline and it is never too late to undo the effects of a punitive parenting style.
The challenge for those parents, whose style of discipline is punitive, is to adopt a more positive style. Some parents feel that without resorting to yelling and spanking, they have no other tool with which to shape, correct or discipline their children.
Parents are well advised to learn the riddle of “The Two Dogs”:
Imagine there are two dogs inside of you, inside of everyone. Imagine that one is striped and one is polka-dotted. They are of equal age and equal strength. They are fighting and fighting constantly. Which one will win the struggle? Which one will win the fight? ...The one you feed! Why? Because food strengthens the dog, giving it an advantage.
works the same way. The behaviour you feed is the behaviour you
strengthen. However, the food of behaviour is attention. Whatever
behaviour we attend to, even if the attention is punitive, we wind up
feeding it. This is why parenting experts spend so much time suggesting
alternate and more positive parenting strategies such as redirection,
ignoring and even time out. When we redirect a child’s behaviour we
ignore the misdeed, hence we do not feed it and yet help the child to then
focus on more desirable behaviour and activity. Some parents forget that
telling a child what not to do, does not mean the child will know what to
do. Redirection to a desired activity is thus necessary to help a child
get on the right track. Once on track, the parent is advised to feed that
behaviour. This is where feedback or praise comes in. We catch a child
doing good and tell them how nicely they are playing or behaving. We
feed the right dog!
When we redirect, ignore or even discuss misbehaviour with our children, we demonstrate positive strategies for getting along with others. As we teach, children learn and pick up on our behaviour and then use our strategies in their social interactions, be it with us, brothers and sisters or friends or classmates.
Knowing that children’s behaviour is tied to parents’ behaviour, we then have a tremendous responsibility to use positive parenting practices. If we want our children to play and get along nicely, we must demonstrate the behaviour that encourages and models acceptable behaviour too.
read the StatsCan report, click here:
Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
For information on Direnfeld's book, Raising Kids Without Raising Cane, click here.
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20 Suter Crescent, Dundas, ON, Canada L9H 6R5 Tel: (905) 628-4847 Email: email@example.com
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When flooding struck Elnora a year ago this week, there were about 750 people in the town. When the water receded and town council president Jerry Beck took a head count, there were about 40 fewer — the people weren’t the casualties, their homes were. Even National Guard troops, firefighters, Amish farmers and the town’s population itself could not fill enough sandbags — and they did manage to fill 10,000 of them — to keep water from overrunning this small town, which is split down the middle by State Road 57 and sliced into quadrants by railroad tracks at its north end. Beck has lived in and around Elnora since the late ’60s, serving at different times on the town board, on the school board and as fire chief.
Drive around the town with Beck and it’s clear the community is close-knit — he waves at everyone he meets and can tell the story of seemingly every home ravaged by water it couldn’t control a year ago.
But a year after the water made its way back from the farm fields of Elnora to the White River, Beck’s focus is on stopping the flooding from happening again. Pointing to a computer screen in his office, he said it’s a pressing concern, because it’s happening more often.
“The top ten in history,” Beck said, “Six of them has been since .”
The reason, he’s come to believe, is a changing floodplain in central Indiana, brought about by rapid development in and around Indianapolis, whose northern suburbs have ballooned in size in the last 20 years. David Knipe with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources division of Water says Beck may not be all wet.
“The existing floodplains are pretty much out of date,” Knipe said.
Knipe is currently heading up a project to modernize maps of the state’s floodplain, which he saidsorely need updating.
“The existing floodplain maps are anywhere from 25 to 30 years old in many cases, so it’s really a modernization project.”
Modernization, like water, can move at a trickle in places like Elnora, while there’s a torrent upstream in places like Hamilton County. Knipe said when he talks to city planners seeking to expand their towns, the questions he gets are not about how a city’s watershed will affect surrounding areas. In fact, he said, they’re quite the opposite.
“We do get some questions on occasion where a community is concerned about what’s going on upstream of them and how that’s going to impact the water coming down *on* them,” Knipe said. “But most of the local communites are more concerned about what’s going on in their community.”
Beck doesn’t begrudge success and growth in other areas, but he said it can have a deleterious effect on towns like his.
“It’s hard to get much attracted here,” he said. “When you have the threat of the flood and people see it everywhere — it’s on the internet. It makes you wonder where does it stop and where does some responsibility take place? Sometimes my big question that I ask myself is ‘Why do we pay for the better times from the building and the expansion and economic growth up there when it comes down through here and destroys farm land?’”
But just one year removed from the worst storms in recent memory, Beck marvels at what’s become commonplace: one home on the southern edge of town appears frozen in time — its white shingles now green with mold, the name of the family which once occupied it still etched in a wooden sign just outside the front door. A porch swing sits idle at the rear of the house. A garden hose snakes along the driveway past stone planters which are now sprouting, albeit with weeds.
“It seems like a year later it’s not thought of as much,” Beck said.
But Beck insists the town is going to have to think about it, or face the most dire of consequences.
“It’s really big picture, but I think someday it’s going to have to be addressed or someday this town may have to move.”
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3D laser scanning and modeling: an efficient solution for BWT retrofits
Lack of precision while measuring ballast water treatment system installation space can result in the equipment not fitting exactly as planned, leading to unforeseen costs.
Watch Jurrien Baretta's presentation of 3D scanning on YouTube
(If YouTube is unavailable in your area, please try the Vimeo version to the left).
To avoid unexpected complications during the installation process, Goltens Green Technologies recommends laser scanning of the installation space, followed by 3D modeling and prefabrication. Laser scanning provides an accurate and efficient solution for fitting a ballast water treatment (BWT) system onboard. It also eliminates most of the risks associated with manual measurement and fabrication onboard without prefabrication.
Often, particularly for older vessels, existing drawings are inaccurate, and having a 3D laser scan ensures that the subsequent engineering design is based on the actual configuration of the ship.
Depending on the ship size, Goltens Green Technologies experts often need less than 10 hours onboard a vessel to scan the entire area where the BWT system will be installed. The scan does not disturb the vessel’s operation and it is not even necessary for the crew to leave the engine room during the scan.
The laser scanner has an accuracy of 2 millimeters, allowing for precise measurements and the creation of highly detailed three-dimensional images of the engine room.
As the scanner rotates, the laser beam hits the surface of an object, generating a measurement in both distance and angle. One complete turn of the scanner creates a point cloud of 10 million dots containing information that is used to create a 3D image. The scanner is moved around the engine room to ensure all areas are captured by the laser beam. Afterwards, all the images taken from different points are pieced together to create a complete 3D image of the space.
Processing the scan results
The point cloud generated by the scan is put directly into a 3D CAD program to start modeling the BWT system into the existing space. At this point, it becomes possible to see exactly how the BWT system would fit and whether there would be sufficient space left to walk around it and service it. It is also possible to compare different options in case the shipowner has shortlisted more than one BWT system and is not sure which one would fit best. Shortlisted systems can be modeled to show which would be the optimal solution in terms of fit.
One of the advantages at this stage is that both shipowner and chief engineer can clearly see how the system will fit before any further actions are taken. They can voice their thoughts and suggestions if they want anything to be rearranged, and Goltens Green Technologies experts will look into the options for implementing their requests.
Due to the high accuracy of the laser scanner, it is possible to make production drawings directly from the scan results. The high accuracy of the process makes even the use of fitting pipes unnecessary in most cases.
It is common to use steel for BWT system installations, which is normally left ungalvanized to allow for adjustments. When all the adjustments are done, the steel can be welded and galvanized. This means, however, that about five extra days need to be calculated into the schedule, allowing time for the steel to return from a galvanizing plant. Laser scanning and accurate prefabrication allows for these pipes to be galvanized prior to installation onboard and can save this valuable time that would be otherwise needed onboard.
Goltens Green Technologies experts also prepare drawings for the foundations. Furthermore, a laser scan can provide shipowners with a comprehensive overview of all the parts needed for an installation, which can save time and effort. This is especially important when installing a system at sea where the delays and logostics with putting the piping ashore for galvanizing presents an additional challenge.
It is important to realize that the production company should have the same accuracy as the laser scan used to make an onboard survey. Otherwise, the advantage of having such a highly accurate scan is lost. For instance, if a shipyard can’t make the pieces fit, they have to remake the pipes. This is a very costly exercise as it requires the shipyard to install, uninstall, refabricate and reinstall all of the piping. This costs the yard and the owner precious time and money.
Goltens Green Technologies specialists also prepare a detailed material list. This way, the shipowner gets a complete production package that they can use at any shipyard of their choice. This also helps keep track of the costs by projecting a realistic price estimate based on the amount of materials needed. This makes it easy to compare estimates from different shipyards and to choose the optimal solution.
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Exxon said that more than 500,000 gallons of heating oil--not 5,000 gallons--may have leaked from its underwater pipeline into the Arthur Kill shipping channel at Linden, N. J. Coast Guard spokesman Jeff Crawley said the company put the size of the spill at between 420,000 gallons and 546,000 gallons. The Coast Guard at first estimated the leakage of No. 2 oil, discovered Tuesday morning, at 5,000 gallons. Meanwhile, emergency crews worked to contain the floating oil with booms and traps and were vacuuming the surface of the channel, which separates New Jersey from Staten Island, N.Y. Divers found a gash 4 feet long in the pipeline.
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The debate with whether a PC (personal computer) or video game console is better for the video game experience as a whole has been going on for years. Even before the market-changing Xbox 360 was released in 2005, many have debated if PC or consoles are better. With the debate going on up until today, many people have started to band together to debate with the other side. In my previous post, I spoke about Reddit, an online forum for anyone and everyone. On Reddit, there is a subreddit (a sub-forum) called PCMasterRace (I won’t get into the “master race” idea as that is a whole different issue). Within this forum, many users will post pictures of comments from “console peasants” (people who prefer consoles over a PC) and discuss them further. Many users will sometimes make fun or put down the ideas of the person who prefers the console. What is most interesting about this, aside from how mean one can be to someone that is not even hearing the comment, is that the idea of the PC as a superior gaming device is picked up by thousands of people, and without ever meeting one another, or even truly discussing the idea, they all band together around the same idea.
The same goes for the other side of the debate. People who prefer consoles also band together to fight back against PC lovers. One exceedingly interesting idea that I found was that many of these supporters, whether it’s PC or Console, will have the same arguments, will have the same counterpoints. This is interesting because there is no place anywhere on the Internet where these ideas are explicitly written. These users have created large communities based off of ideas, based off of an age old debate, that have never really been explicitly said.
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The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) today announced the publication of a new National Standard of Canada (NSC) that will help ensure that infrastructure built in Canada’s North is adequately prepared for the uncertainties of a changing climate.
CAN/BNQ 2501-500, Geotechnical Site Investigations for Building Foundations in Permafrost Zones, is the fifth standard developed through the Northern Infrastructure Standardization Initiative (NISI). It establishes a consistent methodology for performing geotechnical site investigations so that the results can be used to design building foundations with due consideration—in a risk management framework—of the conditions prevailing at the building site, including the distinctive characteristics of permafrost and the seasonal and interannual climate conditions as well as the projected climate conditions over the service life of the building foundations.
In the long term, it is expected that this standard will help reduce maintenance issues which, as a result of climate change or improper site evaluation, can cause permanent damage to structures.
To date, five NSCs were developed under Phase I of NISI with the support of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. NISI standards address the unique circumstances found in Canada’s North, providing mechanisms to help adapt and reduce the vulnerability of northern infrastructure to the impacts of climate change. Building on the success of Phase I of NISI, SCC has embarked on a second phase that will continue to address critical issues relevant to Canada’s North amidst a changing climate.
Taken together, these standards will help building owners and operators and those responsible for public and community infrastructure build and maintain resilient infrastructure in a changing climate.
By engaging communities and experts from across the North, SCC is providing standardization solutions that are effective in addressing climate change impacts to northern infrastructure, planning and management. In the process, we are helping to protect the health and well-being of Canadians, communities and the economy.
- BNQ, a standards development organization accredited by SCC, was selected by SCC in February 2015 to develop the fifth NISI standard.
The previous NSCs published under Phase I of NISI include:
- Community drainage system planning, design, and maintenance in northern communities;
- Thermosyphon foundations for buildings in permafrost regions;
- Moderating the effects of permafrost degradation on existing building foundations; and
- Managing changing snow load risks for buildings in Canada’s North.
NSCs published under Phase II of NISI will include:
- Operating, maintaining and decommissioning of wastewater treatment systems;
- Selection of foundation types for buildings in permafrost;
- Fire resilient building design and materials;
- Techniques for dealing with high winds as it pertains to infrastructure; and
- Erosion protection in permafrost.
- The NISI standards address the effects of climate change on new or existing infrastructure in the North, as well as on retrofits, operations and maintenance.
“The Northern Infrastructure Standardization Initiative is an excellent example of how SCC brings stakeholders together to identify and develop progressive standardization solutions that protect the safety and well-being of all Canadians. This fifth NISI standard will provide much-needed guidance for planners in Canada’s North to mitigate the risks of a changing climate.”
- John Walter, CEO, SCC
“BNQ is proud to publish this National Standard of Canada, which provides a framework for conducting geotechnical site investigations in permafrost zones. The application of this standard should contribute to reduce the vulnerability of Canada’s Northern infrastructure to the impacts of climate change.”
- Jean Rousseau, Senior Director, Bureau de normalisation du Québec
- Northern Infrastructure Standardization Initiative (NISI) program page
- CAN/BNQ 2501-500 information page on BNQ website
The Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) has acted as a central standardization and certification organization for over 50 years. BNQ takes the lead in developing measures to support business, manufacturing, social and regulatory communities with its normative innovations. For more information: www.bnq.qc.ca.
About the Standards Council of Canada:
SCC is a Crown corporation and part of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada portfolio that leads and facilitates the development and use of national and international standards and accreditation services in order to enhance Canada's competitiveness and well-being. For additional information on SCC, visit www.scc.ca.
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A balance has to be struck between so many capitals that the eyes dance and so few that the reader is diverted more by our style than by our substance. The general rule is to dignify with capital letters organisations and institutions, but not people. More exact rules are laid out below. Even these, however, leave some decisions to individual judgment. If in doubt use lower case unless it looks absurd. And remember that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Use upper case for ranks and titles when written in conjunction with a name, but lower case when on their own. Thus President Bush, but the president; Vice-President Cheney, but the vice-president; Colonel Qaddafi, but the colonel; Pope Benedict, but the pope; Queen Elizabeth, but the queen.
Do not write Prime Minister Blair or Defence Secretary Rumsfeld; they are the prime minister, Mr Blair, and the defence secretary, Mr Rumsfeld. You may, however, write Chancellor Schröder.
All office-holders when referred to merely by their office, not by their name, are lower case: the chancellor of the exchequer, the foreign secretary, the prime minister, the speaker, the treasury secretary, the president of the United States, the chairman of Coca-Cola.
The only exceptions are
(1) a few titles that would look unduly peculiar without capitals, eg, Black Rod, Master of the Rolls, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Chancellor.
(2) a few exalted people, such as the Dalai Lama and the Aga Khan. Also God and the Prophet.
Some titles serve as names, and therefore have initial capitals, though they also serve as descriptions: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Emir of Kuwait, the Shah of Iran. If you want to describe the office rather than the individual, use lower case: The next archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman. Since the demise of the ninth duke, there has never been another duke of Portland.
ORGANISATIONS, ACTS, ETC
Organisations, ministries, departments, treaties, acts, etc, generally take upper case when their full name (or something pretty close to it, eg, State Department) is used. Thus, European Commission, Forestry Commission, Arab League, Amnesty International, the Scottish Parliament (the parliament), the Welsh Assembly (the assembly), the Household Cavalry, Ministry of Defence, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Treasury, Metropolitan Police, High Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Senate, Central Committee, Politburo, Oxford University, the New York Stock Exchange, Treaty of Rome, the Health and Safety at Work Act, etc.
So too the House of Commons, House of Lords, House of Representatives, St Paul's Cathedral (the cathedral), Bank of England (the bank), Department of State (the department), World Bank (the bank).
But organisations, committees, commissions, special groups, etc, that are either impermanent, ad hoc, local or relatively insignificant should be lower case. Thus: the subcommittee on journalists' rights of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, the international economic subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Oxford University bowls club, Market Blandings rural district council.
Use lower case for rough descriptions (the safety act, the American health department, the French parliament, as distinct from its National Assembly). If you are not sure whether the English translation of a foreign name is exact or not, assume it is rough and use lower case.
Congress and Parliament are upper case, unless parliament is used not to describe the institution but the period of time for which it sits (so This bill will not be brought forward until the next parliament). But congressional and parliamentary are lower case, as is the opposition, even when used in the sense of her majesty's loyal opposition. The government, the administration and the cabinet are always lower case. In America acts given the names of their sponsors (eg, Glass-Steagall, Helms-Burton, Sarbanes-Oxley) are always rough descriptions and so take a lower-case act.
The full name of political parties is upper case, including the word party: Republican Party, Labour Party, Peasants' Party. But note that some parties, such as Greece's New Democracy, India's Congress, Indonesia's Golkar, Turkey's Justice and Development, etc, do not have party as part of their names. It should therefore be lower case.
Note, too, that usually only people are Democrats, Christian Democrats, Liberal Democrats or Social Democrats; their parties, policies, candidates, committees, etc, are Democratic, Christian Democratic, Liberal Democratic or Social Democratic (although a committee may be Democrat-controlled). The exceptions are Britain's Liberal Democrat Party and Thailand's Democrat Party.
When referring to a specific party, write Labour, the Republican nominee, a prominent Liberal, etc, but use lower case in looser references to liberals, conservatism, communists, etc. Tories, however, are upper case.
A political, economic or religious label formed from a proper name—eg, Gaullism, Paisleyite, Leninist, Napoleonic, Wilsonian, Jacobite, Luddite, Marxist, Hobbesian, Thatcherism, Christian, Buddhism, Hindu, Islamic, Maronite, Finlandisation—should have a capital.
In finance and government there are particular exceptions to the general rule of initial caps for full names, lower case for informal ones. Use caps for the World Bank and the Fed (after first spelling it out as the Federal Reserve), although these are shortened, informal names. The Bank of England and its foreign equivalents have initial caps when named formally and separately, but collectively they are central banks in lower case (except those like Brazil's and Ireland's, which are actually named the Central Bank). Special drawing rights are lower case but abbreviated in small caps as SDRs, except when used with a figure as a currency (SDR500m). Deutschmarks are still known just as D-marks, even though all references are historical. Treasury bonds issued by America's Treasury should be upper case; treasury bills (or bonds) of a general kind should be lower case. Avoid T-bonds and t-bills.
After first mention, the House of Commons (or Lords, or Representatives) becomes the House, and the World Bank and Bank of England become the bank, just as the IMF may become the fund. Organisations with unusual or misleading names, such as the African National Congress and Civic Forum, may become the Congress and the Forum on second and subsequent mentions. But most other organisations—agencies, banks, commissions (including the European Commission and the European Union), etc—take lower case when referred to incompletely on second mention.
Use upper case for definite geographical places, regions, areas and countries (The Hague, Transylvania, Germany), and for vague but recognised political or geographical areas: the Middle East, South Atlantic, East Asia (which is to be preferred to the Far East), the West (as in the decline of the West; adjective, Western), the Gulf, the North Atlantic, South-East Asia, the Midlands, Central America, the West Country.
Lower case for east, west, north, south except when part of a name (North Korea, South Africa, West End) or part of a thinking group: the South, the Midwest, the West (in the United States, but lower case for vaguer areas such as the American north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west), the Highlands (of Scotland), the Midlands (of England). If you are, say, comparing regions some of which would normally be upper case and some lower case, and it would look odd to leave them that way, put them all lower case: House prices in the north-east and the south are rising faster than those in the midwest and the south-west.
Europe's divisions are no longer neatly political, and are now geographically imprecise, so use lower case for central, eastern and western Europe. But North, Central and South America are clearly defined areas, so should be given capitals as should Central, South, East and South-East Asia.
The Basque country (or region) is ill defined and contentious, and may include parts of both France and Spain, so lower case for country (or region).
Use West Germany (West Berlin) and East Germany (East Berlin) only in historical references. They are now west or western Germany (Berlin) and east or eastern Germany (eastern Berlin).
South Africa is a country; southern, central, east, west and north Africa are regions.
The third world (an unsatisfactory term now that the communist second world has disappeared) is lower case. If in doubt use lower case (the sunbelt).
Use capitals for particular buildings even if the name is not strictly accurate (eg, the Foreign Office).
Lower case for province, county, river, state, city when not strictly part of the name: the Limpopo river, New York state, Washington state, Cabanas province. But we will now make exceptions for the River Thames, Mississippi River—and Guatemala City, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuwait City, Mexico City, New York City, Panama City and Quebec City, even though City is not an integral part of their names, as it is in Dodge City, Kansas City, Quezon City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City.
Avoid the western hemisphere. Unlike the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, it is not clear where the western hemisphere begins or ends. The Americas will usually serve instead.
Communist (if a particular party)
Parliament (the institution)
Quartet (United States, EU, Russia, the UN)
Social Security (in American contexts only, where it is used to mean pensions, not what is usually understood by social security elsewhere, which is welfare in the United States). See Confusing terms.
SOME HISTORICAL TERMS
Thirty Years War
Year of the Dog (but new year)
TO AVOID CONFUSION
Use capitals to avoid confusion, especially with no (and therefore yes). In Bergen no votes predominated suggests a stalemate, whereas In Bergen No votes predominated suggests a triumph of noes over yeses. In most contexts, though, yes and no should be lower case: “The answer is no.”
Hoover, Teflon, Valium, Walkman
The usual rules apply for the full, proper names. Thus:
Treaty of Rome
Treaty on European Union
Informally, these become:
the Rome treaty
the Maastricht treaty
The IGC is an inter-governmental conference, the CAP is the common agricultural policy and the ERM is the exchange-rate mechanism. Remember EMU stands for economic (not European) and monetary union. When making Euro- or euro-words, always introduce a hyphen, except for Europhile, Europhobe and Eurosceptic. Prefer euro zone or euro area (two words, no hyphen) to euro-land.
MISCELLANEOUS (UPPER CASE)
Anglophone (but prefer English-speaking)
CD-ROM (should be set in small capitals)
Coloureds (in South Africa)
the Cup Final
the Davis Cup
Earth (when, and only when, it is being discussed as a
planet like Mars or Venus)
Francophone (but prefer French-speaking)
House of Laity
Mafia (the genuine article)
Mecca (in Saudi Arabia, California and Liberia)
New Year's Day
New Year's Eve
Pershing missile (because it is named after somebody)
the Queen's Speech
Stealth fighter, bomber
MISCELLANEOUS (LOWER CASE)
19th amendment (but Article 19)
amazon (female warrior)
civil war (even America's)
constitution (even America's)
euro (the currency)
first world war
junior (as in George Bush junior)
mafia (any old group of criminals)
mecca (when used as in Jermyn Street is a mecca for
lovers of loud shirts at high prices)
new year (but New Year's Day)
Olympic games (and Asian, Commonwealth,
parliament (meaning the term during which
second world war
senior (as in George Bush senior)
world wide web
Indian castes are lower case italic, except for brahmin, which has now become an English word and is therefore lower case roman (unless it is mentioned along with several other less familiar caste names in italic).
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Definition of patronized
imp. & p. p. - of Patronize 2
The word "patronized" uses 10 letters: A D E I N O P R T Z.
No direct anagrams for patronized found in this word list.
Adding one letter to patronized does not form any other word in this word list.Words within patronized not shown as it has more than seven letters.
All words formed from patronized by changing one letter
Browse words starting with patronized by next letter
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My research goes all over the place. My research stems from work that I've done with my wife, Naomi Eisenberger, on how we experience social pain, and I did that for several years. Now I a lot more of my questions focus on social thinking—how we understand other people and ourselves, and how our brain seems to be strongly predisposed to get us into the mindset for thinking about other people. It's not just one of many different programs we can call up. We can do that, too—I'm going to think about algebra now, I'm going to think about history—but one of the things that's really intriguing to me is that it seems like the brain, of all the things it could choose, seems to choose by default bringing up a way of thinking about the world socially, and perhaps getting us ready to walk into the next moment of our lives to think socially. That's pretty surprising, and it's something I don't think we would have known without looking at the brain. There's an argument to be made that we don't actually know that yet, but there's some really intriguing hints to suggest that that's what the brain is doing.
There's a whole line of work looking at how there's a specific set of machinery that is designed for thinking about the minds of other people. If you're playing poker with someone and you're trying to figure out if they're bluffing or not, what you're really trying to do is peer inside their mind and figure out, despite what they're showing on their face, despite what they've bet, what they really think, what they really believe. And we do it there. We do it when we're trying to empathize with a child who's suffering, or someone halfway around the world who's suffering that we see on TV, we're trying to mentally travel into their world and understand the world as they see and experience it.
We have lots of machinery that seems to be dedicated for that, suggesting it's really important. It helps us in enumerable ways in our daily lives, but it seems to have this tendency to come on and have a certain kind of primacy over other kinds of thinking. That's really interesting and that's one of the major thrusts of the work we do, and we have various different explorations there.
The other major thing that we are focusing on these days is thinking about how messages spread, and that could be in various different ways. That can be in the old notion of persuasion—showing you advertisements, what makes an advertisement sticky, what makes an ad that you see on TV make you change your behavior. We're bombarded with constant advertisements from people trying to get us to go see this movie, or buy this beer. In the case of the work we do—it's usually public health—getting people in Los Angeles to use sunscreen, helping people to quit smoking. People who are overweight and at risk for diabetes and cancer, how do you increase their daily activity levels? And so we're really interested in that.
You might think that the things that get people to change their behavior are things that are memorable, that they can use their analytical brain to set down a long-term trace, or even just emotional, but surprisingly what we see is the brain regions that seem to be involved in successful persuasion. We can predict who will use more sunscreen next week based on how their brain responds to an ad today. The brain regions that seem to be critical to that are brain regions involved in social thinking, in thinking about yourself and thinking about other people. So this seems to be more about our identity and the identities that we're capable of trying on. If I can't try on the identity that you're suggesting to me—being a sunscreen-using person, or a nonsmoker, or something like that—the ad is much less likely to stick. At least that's what we think is going on there. So we're interested in that straight-up kind of persuasion.
In the modern world, often what you're really more interested in is making messages spread, go viral, what's sticky, what has buzz. There again, we don't see the parts of the brain that are involved in analytical thinking or memory, we see the parts of the brain that are involved in thinking about other people's minds—the social brain. If I want to persuade you of something, what I need to be thinking about is not the merits of the thing itself that I'm trying to persuade you of, but rather how are you going to experience whatever I say to you? What am I going to say to you that makes you think it will be cool for you to be the guy to tell the next person, and so on, in the game of telephone that we play with new jokes, or new stories, or old stories. We've seen this work, suggesting that it's the more social parts of the brain that seem to be involved in helping to spread information virally. We can predict which messages, which advertisements will spread and get people to go on Facebook and tell their friends about a movie trailer that they just saw. We can predict that reasonably well from looking at their brains when they don't realize it.
You can also think about it from the context of increasing education. Education is all about the spread of messages, and we're very interested in that as well. How do we use what we're learning about the social brain and the fact that it helps people make messages more sticky? How can we use that to enhance education in, say, eighth grade? This, to me, is a national crisis. That's when we lose kids. I have a seven year old. All of his friends love school. Then they hit puberty and they have no interest in school any more. They tune out. They're interested in their friends. The teacher becomes the enemy. I think part of it is that we're not necessarily tapping into what are some more evolved historical ways to get people to learn better. Historical learning was all about story telling, and not just story telling, but knowing that you yourself would be responsible for telling that story to others. There's old behavioral work, and work that we're doing that looks at the ways in which we can get someone to think of themselves as a storyteller, to actually learn science and math better than if they think of themselves as an end receiver, who will never have to do anything other than take a test.
This is an opportunity, among many others, to really change the way certain kinds of education may be done. Obviously, the nation is very worried about having more well-trained scientists, and mathematicians, and engineers, and so on.
Those are some of the big questions that we can answer with data. There're always the questions that I have trouble thinking about how to answer with data. That's why I became a psychologist and not a philosopher, which was my original path in life. I think there're questions that we don't do a good job of answering with data because we don't know how to get close to the question. So those questions are still on my mind 35 years after I first was exposed to them from various philosophers, but I don't know that we're any closer to answers.
There's a huge problem in our society with educational interests and attainment dropping off. In every metric that comes out we're falling behind lots of the other industrialized countries of the world. They're either catching up faster than we're moving, or they've already moved past us in math, science, and reading. I think some of these things are predictable.
We are a much more comfortable country than we were 50 years ago. When you're multiple generations into immigrants in a country that the kids are more comfortable than the parents, who are more comfortable than their parents, there is an easing off. Perhaps maybe you start to emphasize personal happiness or your children's personal happiness more than you emphasize more societally mandated metrics of success, which usually benefits society more than the individual, in my opinion a lot of the time. There're a lot of doctors who do a lot of good for other people, and who aren't very happy being doctors, and I think that's part of what the social contract really is. You agree to do stuff that's going to help us, and you'll be compensated, but you might have made a different choice if you knew how all this was going to play out.
In a place like all the BRIC countries, and China, in particular, there's so much aspiration, there's so much expectancy that the next generation is going to take China to even greater heights than they already seem to be reaching. I don't think we expect that of our children, and I don't know that we should. I'm not sure that almost young adult adolescent phase of nationhood is necessarily the greatest thing. It does lead to, in America's case, inventions and inventiveness. It doesn't seem to be that way in China so much. It leads to a lot of activity, but it also leads to a lot of unhappiness. It leads to a lot of midlife crises and so on, and I'm not sure that's the ultimate goal, to get the country to be the most productive. I'm not really interested in gross domestic product as a real indicator of how my family is doing.
I was raised in the shadow of both my parents being young hippies in the sixties and early seventies, and so a lot of my life is either a continuation or a reaction. What they were doing was a response to growing up in the early fifties, and so on. I just think you can see those things recapitulated either in new immigrant groups coming to America or in other countries.
In terms of raising my child I do think about it quite seriously, and I'm a bit more authoritarian than I might have guessed. The data suggests that young children do need sort of authoritative guidance. I'm always happy to admit that I know a small, small portion of what can be known, and that he already knows things I don't know and will ultimately possibly know far more than me. I don't try to portray myself in any way as flawless, but I do say this is the rule, and you have to do this because you have to do it, and that's part of my job.
I spent a lot of time visiting drug rehab family group meetings at an earlier point in time in my life and it was fascinating to watch the guy who ran those, and to watch the kids. It was all boys. The boys who came in, you would think these were kids who had grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, and there were some, but many of the kids were the kids who had grown up on the right side of the tracks and had never been told no their entire childhood. So now, as young adults, they didn't know what to do with themselves. They had no direction, they had no incentive, and they had no self-control. So they got into drugs, and they were fooling their parents.
The guy who ran this facility was authoritative. He was authoritarian, and he basically said, "I care for you more than you understand, but doing that means not doing what's best for you today, it's about figuring out how to get you to be someone who can go live for the next 50 years."
The world of psychology these days is a strange one. When I got into psychology, and, of course, as a graduate student you probably just don't know some of the things that are going on, but when I got into psychology the internet didn't really exist yet. It just seemed like there were a lot of people turning the final screws on what their advisors had done, and their advisor's advisors. I work in social psychology, where technically that's about understanding other people and how they function, but a whole lot of social psychology is really just about understanding our own everyday experiences.
Clinical psychology studies maladaptive experiences—when you're too anxious or too depressed. Cognitive psychology studies isolated parts of mental processing—memory, reasoning. Social psychologists, for whatever reason, tend to be the folks who want to understand how we get along in everyday life. It's not always about social stuff, you can still be a social psychologist and study things that aren't social at all. For instance, how do you change your own attitudes? That's a social psychological thing. It should be a cognitive thing, but it's not. It's social. There are these tribes, and whatever members of the tribe do, that's still part of social psychology.
When I got into the field it didn't seem like there were any career-threatening giant debates going on, and now it just seems to be all over the place. Every 20 to 30 years my field of social psychology seems to go through another crisis. There was a crisis in the fifties, where somebody published a paper and it killed the most exciting area of research in social psychology for 20 years.
Then in the seventies there was something actually called "the crisis of social psychology." Now there's "the replication crisis," which is a replication crisis in science, if it's even a crisis. It's just that we need to be reminded sometimes that when you see the first flashy study published in science or psych science, it's just an anecdote. It's a scientific anecdote, and we should go collect some more. It can be a really exciting one that you want to tell all your friends about, but it's one little tiny piece of data. We've perhaps taken to assuming those things were facts, and then we're shocked when those things don't replicate in study number two.
There's a lot of stuff going on where there's now people making their careers out of trying to take down other people's careers. The replication isn't necessarily an unbiased process, as it's presented. There are camps, and suddenly now failing to replicate someone else is really seen as an indictment, in many people's eyes, of the person who did the original research, rather than saying there's expectancy effects. If I expect not to replicate someone's work, that's going to influence how I design my study, the measures I look at, it's going to influence how I interact with my participants. I've heard stories about participants saying that they've been told, "Oh, you're just in a replication effort, so it doesn't matter if you know more than you should." There are things going on, and it is troubling to me.
I haven't been targeted in those, but watching John Bargh, whose work I've admired for 20 years, be attacked in that way is hard to watch, and other folks in that camp as well.
These days the person who I think has most been in the crosshairs of the whole replication world that's bubbling up in social psychology is Simone Schnall. She's a professor at Cambridge. She's done work on what's called "embodied cognition," which is getting at the idea that certain kinds of concepts that we have might be linked to other representations that we might not expect. So the idea of being morally dirty may somehow be linked to our concepts for being dirty in the literal sense.
There are studies suggesting that washing your hands can affect your sense of being moral or immoral, and so on. These studies are very interesting. They're very counterintuitive, which I think leads lots of people to wonder whether or not they're legitimate, and that's a reasonable thing to wonder about whenever you see something that sort of confounds intuition. That's the way science works. I've never run studies in that area, so I don't really have a real horse in that race other than it's really interesting stuff. When it's really interesting I kind of always hope it turns out to be true, because that's more interesting, but we don't know. She's done work that seems to me to be a very good. Other labs around the world, not just she herself, but other labs have replicated versions of the work that she's done. That seems reasonably compelling to me, and then there's this ongoing replication effort. I do have some issues with the process of selecting who's going to do the replications—what their qualifications are for doing those things, have they done successful work in that area previously—because if they haven't shown that they can successfully get other priming effects, or other embodied cognition effects, how do I know that they can do this? I wouldn't go and try to do chemistry. I don't know anything about doing chemistry. There are issues like that.
There are issues with screening out people who have expectations that run against the original hypotheses, because we've known for 60 years that those expectations are going to guide results, and that needs to be taken into account. Be that as it may, her study was replicated in this effort, and it was unsuccessful; it didn't replicate her results. Some of what was done seemed very good. They got in touch with her. They tried to work with her to make sure that they were replicating her methods, and I think that the early steps in the process seemed great. Then at a certain point they seemed to have said you're out of the process, and the journal that was publishing all this work had pre-accepted all the paper. They didn't go through peer review, and that is very troubling. It's very troubling when the people who have the power to damn the original research aren't getting peer reviewed. I don't think they should have been reviewed by Simone. I'm a journal editor; I can always get someone else who's impartial and doesn't care which way the results come out to review these things, but it needs to be reviewed.
Had it been reviewed maybe it would have come out just the way it was, but with something this sensitive it's important to get the process right, and I think there's some recognition that the process wasn't right. What happened was that this all blew up on Twitter, something that couldn't have happened 30 years ago in one of these scientific crises. It spreads out into the world, the neuro-skeptics and can grab a hold of this and spread it, and it can spread in an uninformed way, and it can get nasty. People say things that they wouldn't say if they were in the room with each other, necessarily. Maybe they would, and they act as if they don't realize they're being watched, but they are, and so both sides have said things that maybe shouldn't have been said. And now there's this deeper motivational division, and there are people taking sides.
My first impulse—because I've been attacked before by folks who didn't understand the way we do our neuro-imaging work, and they didn't really take the time to get to know what we were doing—was to be very defensive for anyone whose work was unsuccessfully replicated, because I saw some of the personal ambition come in on the other side of trying to create a career out of a failure to replicate someone. Not create a career, enhance a career. And that concerns me. It will be interesting to see how this goes forward. Anyone who says that replication isn't absolutely essential to the success of science is pretty crazy on that issue, as far as I'm concerned. Making a public process of replication, and a group deciding who replicates what they replicate, only replicating the most counterintuitive findings, only replicating things that tend to be cheap and easy to replicate, tends to put a target on certain people's heads and not others. I don't think that's very good science that we, as a group, should sanction.
If we're going to do it as a group, we should perhaps have a set of nominated studies every year that should be replicated. Those studies should be assigned to labs that say, "I'll take whatever study you assign to me, and here are my qualifications," and we assign them to the qualified labs. We get them to give their predictions before they're assigned anything so we know what their predictions are, we know what their expectancy effects might be, and then maybe we do it that way.
Or maybe we do it the old-fashioned way, which is when studies are interesting people go replicate them, because they want to go build on them. If they don't work, then that brings attention to them not working.
When it's come to the replication crisis, as it were, in social psychology, what's made it distinctive from past issues in social psychology is the way that it's being played out on social media. Everyone quickly goes to these sound bites, and the sound bites are all exclamations. They're rarely genuine questions. They're rarely really thoughtful. This leads to an escalation on both sides very quickly. I said things that I probably shouldn't have said, things that I certainly wish I hadn't said, even just on Facebook, thinking that only my friends and colleagues would see those things and then suddenly it turned out that one person passed that on to the other camp, and suddenly I'm in the crosshairs when I didn't imagine that I'd possibly would be. It's a very leaky, fast-moving process.
Then there is this tendency for each of us to take to our blogs. I have a blog, lots of my colleagues have blogs, and they are unfiltered, they're unedited. When John Bargh was first criticized because a paper had come out not replicating his most famous priming study, I wrote a blog about it and it got a fair bit of attention. It is rewarding in a way that writing a book isn't … the fast and easy high versus the slow, perhaps long high. Writing a blog and getting attention, and even getting the other side riled up, is a way to \get that quick, fast burst that is, and can be, somewhat addictive, and bad for everyone involved.
On the other hand, blogging is a way to try to share science in a way that makes it interesting to a much broader audience, without having to wait for a book to come along to synthesize 200 different studies. Like everything—every weapon and every technology that's ever been developed—there's good and there's bad, but in the replication effort issue we've all, myself included, been responsible for some of the bad outcomes.
At this point we haven't done any studies on social media addiction or the high that comes from engaging in social media processes. We're looking to get a full-sized typing keyboard that you can take into the MR scanning environment, and at that point you can have touch typists who can't see their fingers, but could still fully engage with a Twitter feed or Facebook, and so on. We're very, very interested in seeing what happens when we see different kinds of people re-Tweeting something that we've re-Tweeted, or their responses to our Tweets.
For anyone who's engaged this is something that can take on a real big part of your life, and be very, very rewarding. There's a new thing that just came out in some biological journal called the Kardashian Index, in which you plot the number of times your scientific papers have been cited against the number of Twitter followers you have, and if you are an outlier on the Y Index, it may mean you have too many Twitter followers relative to the amount of science you're producing. So if Danny Kahneman has a whole lot of Twitter followers, that's okay, because he's been cited more than anyone else, but if you're a graduate student it's not okay, because you should be producing more science and not talking about it.
I don't buy that, but it sort of speaks to this idea that there is appeal to being famous for being famous, that the Kardashians seem to have. On Twitter you can become that, both because you're the right kind of DJ for the information and really do a good job of spreading certain kinds of ideas, but also because you can have a lot of fun going after people. There are a lot of people out there who love seeing anyone go after and take down anyone else in science. We're in a phase right now where there's a lot of taking down, and I don't think that's as useful as the constructive idea generation, which almost never comes out of such fights.
When I think about the next five years and what I want to accomplish, there's two different goals. The one goal is to try to develop more basic science in areas that are underdeveloped. For instance, here is a relatively radical area: If you look at the brain while it's dreaming, the regions of the brain that are most likely to be active are the social regions of the brain. We're learning some things that suggest that the social regions of the brain may be involved in developing and putting into memory new social information. Perhaps a big part of what sleep is about is making us more socially at ease with the social world that we live in during the day. No one has looked at this in any way.
That's something that we would like to go look at, and that would just be very, very basic science in a new area that hasn't been looked at. On the other hand, I am very, very interested in how we take the work that we and others have already done and figure out a way to go do something that's useful now or in the near term that can change the way we do education with kids, change the way that people in the military get training about other cultures, or get training about just the basic procedures of doing things so that anyone can learn to do their job better.
I'll tell you about my new favorite idea, which like all new favorite ideas, is really an old idea. This one, from the 1960s, was used only in a couple of studies. It's called "latitude of acceptance." If I want to persuade you, what I need to do is pitch my arguments so that they're in the range of a bubble around your current belief; it's not too far from your current belief, but it's within this bubble. If your belief is that you're really, really anti-guns, let's say, and I want to move you a bit, if I come along and say, "here's the pro-gun position," you're actually going to move further away. Okay? It's outside the bubble of things that I can consider as reasonable.
We all have these latitudes around our beliefs, our values, our attitudes, which teams are ok to root for, and so on, and these bubbles move. They flex. When you're drunk, or when you've had a good meal, or when you're with people you care about versus strangers, these bubbles flex and move in different ways. Getting two groups to work together is about trying to get them to a place where their bubbles overlap, not their ideas, not their beliefs, but the bubbles that surround their ideas. Once you do that, you don't try to get them to go to the other position, you try to get them to see there's some common ground that you don't share, but that you think would not be a crazy position to hold.
There's the old Carlin bit about when you drive on the road: anyone going faster than me is a maniac and anyone going slower than me is a jerk. That that's the way we live our lives. We're always going the right speed, and everybody else is missing the boat. We don't take into account that I’m going fast today because I've got to get to the hospital, or I'm going slow today because I know I had something to drink, and I shouldn't have, so I'm going to drive real slow. We don't take those things into account. We just think whatever I'm doing is the right thing, and we have to recognize there's this space around those, and if we can find that overlap we can get some movement. And so that's not a nudge idea, per se. It's really about finding when people are in a mental space where they're more open to other ideas, and what is often going on there is you're trying on identities.
William James said long ago that we have as many identities as people that we know, and probably more than that. We are different with different people. I'm different with my son than I am with you. We have these different identities that we try on, and they surround us. With some friends I can be more of a centrist, and with other friends I might be more of a liberal, depending on what feels like it would work in that moment, and they can all be authentic positions that I really believe at different points in time. I'm really interested in looking at that as a mechanism of persuasion when it comes to regular old persuasion, when it comes to education, when it comes to public health, and when it comes to international issues as well. It's finding that latitude of acceptance and finding out how to use it successfully.
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Why does everyone hate poor Ian Morris, all of a sudden? They did nothing but crow and give awards to the Stanford archaeologist and historian’s last book, Why The West Rules – for Now. His newest book, War! What is it Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, seems to be making all sorts of unpleasant hoopla.
He wrote a short explanation of his thesis in the Washington Post over the weekend, in an article titled “In the Long Run, Wars Make Us Safer and Richer.” An excerpt:
“Take the long view. The world of the Stone Age, for instance, was a rough place; 10,000 years ago, if someone used force to settle an argument, he or she faced few constraints. Killing was normally on a small scale, in homicides, vendettas and raids, but because populations were tiny, the steady drip of low-level killing took an appalling toll. By many estimates, 10 to 20 percent of all Stone Age humans died at the hands of other people.
“This puts the past 100 years in perspective. Since 1914, we have endured world wars, genocides and government-sponsored famines, not to mention civil strife, riots and murders. Altogether, we have killed a staggering 100 million to 200 million of our own kind. But over the century, about 10 billion lives were lived — which means that just 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population died violently. Those lucky enough to be born in the 20th century were on average 10 times less likely to come to a grisly end than those born in the Stone Age. And since 2000, the United Nations tells us, the risk of violent death has fallen even further, to 0.7 percent.
“As this process unfolded, humanity prospered. Ten thousand years ago, when the planet’s population was 6 million or so, people lived about 30 years on average and supported themselves on the equivalent income of about $2 per day. Now, more than 7 billion people are on Earth, living more than twice as long (an average of 67 years), and with an average income of $25 per day.
“This happened because about 10,000 years ago, the winners of wars began incorporating the losers into larger societies. The victors found that the only way to make these larger societies work was by developing stronger governments; and one of the first things these governments had to do, if they wanted to stay in power, was suppress violence among their subjects.
“The men who ran these governments were no saints. They cracked down on killing not out of the goodness of their hearts but because well-behaved subjects were easier to govern and tax than angry, murderous ones. The unintended consequence, though, was that they kick-started the process through which rates of violent death plummeted between the Stone Age and the 20th century.
“This process was brutal. Whether it was the Romans in Britain or the British in India, pacification could be just as bloody as the savagery it stamped out. Yet despite the Hitlers, Stalins and Maos, over 10,000 years, war made states, and states made peace.”
Now, on Tuesday, the article is still the Number #1 Heavy-Hitter at the Washington Post. Typical of the comments: Jose Benitez writes: “No doubt, you are Republican and love to watch Patriot Games with Harrison Ford. You also probably supported George W. Bush when cheating the Americans about the weapons of mass destruction supposedly had Iraq and sent thousand young fellows to die. You are an Iceman.” I very much doubt Ian knows Harrison Ford at all, let alone watches DVDs with him. Cheryl Ann writes: “what is that? joke of the day for societal disconnects? Ian Morris, you are an unevolved, tribalist monkey.” Joel R. Stegner wrote: “This is undoubtedly the most insane idea I have ever seen in any newspaper, ever. Only a person who doesn’t value life can advocate this perspective. What next? A column from a serial killer on how to achieve notoriety? Let us hope that no aspiring Hitler buys into this quality of thinking.”
Reussere obviously thought a moment, and wrote:
I am one of those that hate war in every possible way. War in my mind is the epitome of evil.
To say I was put off by the title is putting it mildly. In fact, the first time I saw it, I refused to even read it.
Having read it however, and having the overall facts presented in the proper historical light, it is clear that the author has a very valid point. No matter how evil wars and their brutal aftermath is, the truth is that what emerges afterword are often larger, more cohesive and peaceful societies with lower homicide rates. This is certainly not always true, but it is the growth of large societies and the protections that afford their citizens has grown inexorably since the stone ages and the result has been a reasonably steady decline in one on one or few on few homicides.
Please read the article and analyze what the author is actually saying instead of reacting childishly and walk away with an entirely false distortion of what is being said.
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First, test your RAM:
2. BIOS must be set to boot from the DVD or USB before your Hard Drive (drive order)
3. Run the FULL test for at least two hours (or until an error)
If you get errors, test one stick at a time (see motherboard manual for single RAM placement). If one stick tests bad, and one stick tests good then run Windows with one stick to see if you get the BSOD.
*Reinstall Windows on a hard drive that has been tested with its diagnostics software. If you use the current drive it will wipe out the data. I still recommend using a different hard drive if possible.
If you still get BSOD after the new Windows install, then it's likely a hardware issue at which point you'll need to troubleshoot by swapping components. It's RARE, but occasionally your RAM can cause issues even if Memtest does not show them. You can confirm by lowering the RAM speed in BIOS (just choose the lowest speed).
Most common causes of BSOD:
1. Bad Memory.
2. corrupted software
3. bad hard drive
4. bad Power Supply
5. bad Motherboard
*You should try using a LIVE CD of Ubuntu and open/close applications in it for a while. It's not conclusive, but if it doesn't crash it could mean either your BSOD in Windows is the HARD DRIVE or corrupted SOFTWARE (either way, I'd reinstall Windows on a different hard drive, then run full diagnostics on that hard drive later).
If it DOES crash, then your BSOD is likely a failed piece of Hardware from my list.
ya it was the ram new egg was great about the rma sorry not enough specs first timer here. just found out also that the sandy bridge boards have had a recall, apparently some of their sata 3 ports are faulty. Thanks for your suggestions!
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Many people know they should stretch—but they don’t know exactly why. As a result, stretching is often neglected. But there are a host of reasons why stretching is a great practice. We’ll go over them below. \
First and foremost, stretching improves flexibility—the ability of a joint to move through a full range of motion without pain. Short, tight muscles restrict the movement of joints, which can cause pain, reduce mobility, and limit athletic performance. Think about the overhead squat, which requires many joints to go through a large range of motion with an object held overhead. Tight muscles around the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists can limit joint movement and throw the whole system out of whack.
This is why so many people struggle with the overhead squat and other movements that require flexibility. Stretching can help preserve or improve flexibility and it also allows you to build strength across a joint’s full range of motion. For example, if very tight muscles prevent you from squatting to depth, you might struggle to rise if you sit in a very low chair. But if increased flexibility allows you to train the full range of motion, you’ll have more strength to rise from a low seat.
In other cases, a lack of flexibility can prevent you from getting into “safe” or mechanically sound positions. For example, it’s common for people to hurt their backs when lifting boxes because they can’t get their joints into optimal positions to lift. But if their muscles allowed them to set up properly, their backs would be just fine (a coach can teach you how to lift!).
With these examples in mind, you can imagine how tight muscles will affect balance as the joints struggle to get where they need to go. Going back to the squat, imagine one hip is very tight and the other is not. This imbalance can cause shifting, unequal loading and loss of balance. When pairs of joints have equal and full ranges of motion, the body can work naturally, and balance and coordination improve.
When you think of tight muscles and restricted joints, you probably think of tension, stress, discomfort, and even injury. All these things are common. For some, short muscles restrict movement and cause significant pain. The situation often becomes worse when the inflexible person moves abruptly by accident and the muscles aren’t prepared for it. Imagine what happens when such a person trips and suddenly has to move quickly to break the fall. Or what if that person engages in a fitness or sports activity without warming up and has to react or move into a certain position with speed?
Want to learn more or work with a coach to help you? Book your FREE Intro today!!!
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In 1962, Michael Harrington wrote about the Other America saying "The millions who are poor in the United States tend to become increasingly invisible. Here is a great mass of people, yet it takes an effort of the intellect and will even to see them."
Today, nearly 50 years later, the Census shows us the largest number of people living in poverty in America in the 52 year history of the Census.
The numbers are intolerable, inexplicable, incomprehensible, and they fill us with outrage.
At The Culture Zone we ask - what would Michael Harrington say? What would YOU say?
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: COMMAND AND
HISTORY OF THE POST OF
Two Palo Alto Square
served as a major command and supply center for the
Army’s operations in support of the settlement of the West during the final
half of the nineteenth century. This
command center role was reestablished on a grander scale during the post World
War II period and into the 1990s through the presence of the headquarters of the
Strategic Air Command and the Strategic Command.
The purpose of this narrative is to examine the origin and role of
’s military posts in performing their command and support function.
The need to maintain coast to coast communication generated the creation of
the Military District of Nebraska in November, 1862.2
, the territorial capitol, was designated as headquarters by Commanding General
's proximity to the eastern terminus of the
and its accessibility from the east via the
provided the rationale for his selection. Craig’s
primary mission was the protection of the mail-carrying stagecoaches and the
lifeline of the nation, the telegraph line.
He was also tasked with protecting the westward flow of emigrants and
The District operated from rented buildings.
Craig used the Herndon House, a major hotel, as his headquarters.3
When Company D of the 2nd
arrived in April 1863 to relieve Company H of the same regiment, the scarcity
of rentable buildings necessitated the use of the territorial capitol building
as quarters for the company.4
During that April, General Craig indicated to his superior, Commanding
General Samuel R. Curtis of the
Department of the Missouri, that Omaha was the depot for supplies for the
District and that one company was needed on a continuing basis to guard the
supplies.5 A company of
the 2nd Nebraska had been stationed at Omaha since the creation of the District.
Thus, it is likely that in early 1863 the post was formally established
to separate the mission and administration of the District headquarters from
that of the cavalry company assigned to protect the supplies, act as prison
guards at the District’s prison, and to patrol the streets of
to help maintain order.
The “Post at Omaha” was officially established when six companies of the
7th Iowa Cavalry reported into the District on August 19, 1863.6
Most of the companies of the regiment were destined to be spread across
almost 600 miles of the Overland Road.7
Company C, which had been directed to establish the post, remained at
Omaha until early January, 1864 when it was relieved by Company A of the
fledgling 1st Battalion Nebraska Cavalry. Companies
of this Battalion garrisoned the post until January 1865.
The flurry of attacks along the
in August 1864 created an additional role for the post; protectorate of
. A daring Indian raid on some stock
owned by the Overland Telegraph Company about twenty miles west of Omaha8
probably initiated the early October, 1864 construction of a company-sized post
at the military bridge over the North Omaha Creek.
This post was located in the vicinity of 25th and Cumings Streets which was
then the western edge of Omaha.9
These structures were likely the first built solely for military purposes
plateau. The post served as an
effective deterrent throughout the hostilities of 1864 and 1865.
It provided a psychological boost to Nebraskans in the vicinity,
especially to those who had fled to
from the contested areas along the
and Little Blue Rivers.
The remains of the soldiers who died at
during the Civil War were buried at the Omaha City Cemetery.10
Shortly after the end of the war the post again functioned in rented
buildings in “downtown”
, although the “attached Camp at the
, N.T.” remained in existence through mid-1866.
Many of the volunteer soldiers awaiting muster out were housed or tented
The 1st Nebraska Cavalry Regiment maintained a company at
throughout 1865 except for July, August and part of September during which the
responsibility was assumed by the newly arrived 12th Missouri Cavalry.
The 11th Ohio Cavalry and the 5th U.S. Volunteer Infantry11
furnished the garrisons during the post’s existence in 1866.
Captain George Bailey of the 5th, the last commanding officer, provided
the only excitement in 1866 by helping break up an organized band of horse
thieves and counterfeiters operating in the vicinity of the post.
It appears that most of the victims were Army horses and gullible
his Memoirs, General Sherman wrote,
construction of the Union Pacific Railroad was deemed so important that the
President, at my suggestion, constituted on the 5th of March, 1866, the new
Department of the Platte, General Phillip St. George Cooke Commanding,
headquarters at Omaha, with orders to give ample protection to the working
parties and to afford every possible assistance in the construction of the road
. . . . 12
General Cooke established his headquarters in the capitol building and
sought approval for the construction of a Department headquarters building and a
company-sized post at
but General Sherman disapproved his proposal.
to be too far to the east of the contested areas to allow effective command and
resupply of operations. The last
order issued at the Post of Omaha is dated May 5, 1866.13
The abandonment of the Bozeman Trail posts and the completion of the Union
Pacific to the
in the spring of 1868 persuaded General Sherman to change his position.
have never had resources on hand for the clamors that always open with spring,
and instead of pushing our troops out so far I am convinced he [General Augur,
then commanding officer of the Department of the Platte] should have a regiment
in winter to send out on the railroad to meet these cases.
Instead of building these expensive posts out here, I will recommend that
we build cheap barracks for one regiment in or near
. . . . 15
The site selected for the post was three miles north of Omaha.16
The eighty-two and one-half acre rectangularly shaped tract was purchased
in part and the remainder leased from Augustus Kountze, then a prominent
banker. Kountze was acting as
trustee for a civic group which supported the establishment of a post because of
the economic benefits its presence would bring to
. Because of legal technicalities
involved in the transfer of title of the purchased forty acre tract,
construction did not begin until September 1, 1868.
The first occupants, Battery “C” of the 3rd Artillery, arrived from
on November 20th, five days after the contractual completion deadline.
They found the barracks complete but “damp and cold even with the
stoves roaring.” Many of the other
buildings were not complete.
In mid-November General Order 34 of the Department of the
was issued which named the new post “Sherman Barracks” in honor of the
General. However, the Department of
the Platte was subordinate to the Division of the
and its orders were subject to review by the Division Commanding General, one
William Tecumseh Sherman. The
General disapproved and the post was renamed “
Barracks.”17 This name
The frame buildings of the post surrounded and faced a rectangular parade
ground. On the level ground on the
east side were the post headquarters, guardhouse, bakery, storehouses and
sutlers store. Ten single-story
barracks were constructed to accommodate an equal number of companies, ten being
the number of companies which then comprised a regiment.
Five of the barracks were on the north end of the parade ground and the
other five on the south end. The
hospital was built northwest of the north barracks.
The first death at the post on December 24, 1868 necessitated the
establishment of a cemetery. Like
its predecessor, a section in the Omaha City Cemetery was selected and purchased
for use as a cemetery.18 In
the spring of 1869 trees were planted along the sides of the parade ground and
by 1871 a regimental band barracks, ice house and quarters for laundresses and
married enlisted men had been added.
Although the Department of the
headquarters was in the city, Omaha Barracks housed the department reserve.
From its inception until 1875 the post served as headquarters and winter
quarters for four different regiments. The
27th Infantry, with the exception of one company, spent the first winter there.
The headquarters of the 2nd Cavalry arrived during the summer of 1869 and
most of its companies and several companies of the 9th Infantry spent the next
three winters at the post. In late
1872 the 9th Infantry assumed responsibility for the post and most of that
regiment wintered at Omaha Barracks until 1874 when the 23rd Infantry assumed
The soldier who wintered at
was warmed by drill and fatigue duty during the day, the stoves of his barracks
at night and, during his limited free time, by the liquor of the saloons that
always sprang up just outside a military reservation.
Hopefully, the officers of the regiments headquartered at the post used
the long winters to carefully read a two part article in the Army and Navy
Journal during mid-1871 entitled “Hints for Frontier Service.”19
They would be given abundant opportunities to make use of those
Each spring or early summer companies were distributed across the plains to
protect the Union Pacific and the frontier settlements, to function as a
deterrent to hostilities and to serve as a reaction force as needed.
When the summer camp was along the Union Pacific it was named for the
station it protected; Plum Creek Station, Ogalalla Station, O’Fallon’s
Station, etc. When the patrol base
was located elsewhere, it was named after a terrain feature, prominent
individual, the commanding officer or the troops “favorite” sergeant.
Some camps were never given names.
Fred M. Greguras
All Rights Reserved
1977, 1999, 2000
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I am trying to make use of wikipedia API to retrieve links that has Template:Persondata embedded in it from an article in single call.
e.g. all people's articles that the article "George Clooney" links to.
I am getting the list of articles using prop=links param
then checking the templates of each article to see if it contains Template:Persondata.
I know that by using list=embeddedin query we can get all articles of specific Template but it is used to filter all articles in Wikipedia.
is it possible to use something similar to filter a list of articles I am getting in step 1? or is there a better way?
Thanks in advance
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Shutdown UPS by command line
I want to know about UPSes from American Power Conversion
I have a Smart-UPS RT 6000 XL connected with a Linux Server by network cable and a Network Management Card 2 AP9631.
I have too a Smart-UPS 3000 XL connected with another Linux Server by 940-0127E FCI cable (USB).
My whole system is based in Linux OS (Fedora).
My problem is: I want to know how I can, by command line (by terminal, shell), shutdown these two UPSes.
I've tried PowerChute, but PC Server and Console Edition run just in Windows, right?
By the way, i'd want a command that I could turn on the UPSes, after they be shutted down, just pressing the power button(by physical way).
Thank you all!!
(Sorry about my english, its very defective)
(I want to do this for protection's issues)
I don't believe you can shut down the UPS's (unless the battery dies) via terminal. I may be wrong though. I'll have to do a little more research.
Most solutions out there allow the UPS to gracefully shut down the servers/desktops when power has failed and/or has not been restored after a period of time. Some examples of this include the following which you can look into:
upsmon(8): UPS monitor/shutdown controller - Linux man page
Apcupsd, a daemon for controlling APC UPSes
APCUPSD User Manual
You might also want to look into sending SNMP commands to the 6000 via the network. You'd use 'snmpset' from the netsnmp tools. But you'll probably have to install an APC MIB and work out the correct OID first... this method isn't as simple.
read.pdf use thier software for network management and have UPS on a lan of the computer you want to control
Hey, thanks for the answer!
Well, heres my entire problem: I need to shutdown a few servers AND the two UPSes when the temperature get high in the room.
(Understood? sorry about the english lol)
BUUUUT, I just have Linux OSes. I have no Windows for the Server or Console PowerChute.
About the AP9631 command lines, there is a command(ups -c off) that just turn the OUTPUT POWER off. Could this be a shutdown command?
|All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:09 AM.|
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This week I’ve written a little post about my experience using QLab and a few (hopefully) useful tips particularly geared towards theatre composers and musicians. Although to avoid boring you to tears it does gloss over the absolute basics and assumes a basic working knowledge of the program. If you’re a first timer I would heartily recommend having a read through QLab Show Control by Jeromy Hopgood as it also includes loads of practical examples and ideas.
Anyway, to the tips!
Tip #1 – QUICKLY ADDING SLICES FOR DEVAMPING
By far the easiest way to add slices to a cue is by inserting markers with whichever DAW you’re using to compose. Where you place the markers depends on context and the type of music you’re writing, but as a rule of thumb try and place them as frequently as possible whilst retaining a piece’s musicality.
In the example below I’ve inserted slices every bar, but for a devamp cue that needs to be precisely timed with a particular action you might want to go as frequent as a marker on every beat. Sometimes this isn’t possible as it’ll make the music sound jumpy, but it works particularly well for repetitive or percussive music – so bear this in mind whilst composing the cue.
QLab won’t pick up on the markers if you import the file as an MP3 so stick with a trusty WAV, AIFF, or CAF file instead and you can’t go wrong!
Also, annoyingly, you can’t use both infinite looping and slices in the same cue. I really hope they address this in future versions, but for the time being you can just slice up a REALLY long cue so the performers never run out of music.
TIP #2 – OFFSETTING SLICES
Still on the subject of slices, I quite often use a technique borrowed from video game audio that leads to silky smooth transitions. This time I’ve tried to demonstrate it with music notation instead:
The red lines are slices (or where you would insert markers in your DAW). Instead of being exactly on the bar, they are offset to the beat before. Then in the devamp cue I would add some sort of pickup melody that leads into the next part of the song.
To make it sound EVEN smoother, add a fade cue that subtly fades out Cue A when Cue B is triggered, that way you won’t get a jarring transition between the two.
And finally, make sure the lead in / pickup melody in Cue B doesn’t clash with the harmony of Cue A as there will be a brief moment where they both play together. Usually I’ll just have a melodic lead in and then any bass / harmonic lines or percussion will come in at the start of the next bar. That way you get a very fluid and musical transition without anything sounding discordant.
TIP #3 – Intro + LOOP
Sometimes it’s a bit boring to just have a plain ol’ loop so an easy way to make it sound more interesting (and more musical) is to use an intro first. This will then automatically switch to the loop, as long as they have both been composed to seamlessly work together. But if you’re ok creating a seamless loop, you’ll have no problems tweaking the intro to be seamless too!
Obviously you want the intro to follow on from the loop automatically, so make sure ‘auto-follow’ is turned on and that either ‘play count’ or ‘infinite loop’ is selected in your actual loop.
Also, you’ll need to make sure the end of your intro matches the end of your loop to make the transition completely seamless. But with all that you can have a much more dynamic intro to the cue but still retain an infinite loop.
TIP #4 – MODULAR CUES IN REHEARSALS
If I ever bring a new piece of music into rehearsals for a scene that is likely to rapidly change I’ll export a normal version and a version split into various separate stems or sections.
For example I might split a song into short sections and then use auto-follow in QLab during the rehearsal. That way you can easily remove a section or change the order around as the choreography or staging changes. Then you don’t have to always export a new version of the song from your DAW which can be time consuming and ruin the focus of performers.
Of course once the timing has been finalised remember to bounce down the sections to a single audio file. Even if the mind boggling web of connected sounds makes sense to you in the rehearsal room, it probably won’t a few months down the line or if a touring stage manager needs to make changes on the road.
TIP #5 – SOUNDCHECK
And finally something that has come in handy numerous times, especially for touring shows that need to be quickly and easily mixed for multiple venue sizes, is to add a soundcheck cue.
I would include an audio cue that individually targets each speaker your show uses to test they’re plugged in correctly and outputting sound.
Also it’s handy to have your loudest and quietest cues from the show so you can set the overall audio level based on room size. Usually the quietest cue will be something like ambience but you might want to include a quiet musical cue as well. Bear in mind an empty theatre sounds different to one with an audience, so you’ll generally want to turn the levels up a tad louder when soundchecking to compensate for this.
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The Olympus mZD 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO lens on Micro Four Thirds equates to an ultra-wide angle 14-28mm zoom on full frame, and thankfully, the f/2.8 aperture allows sufficient light to create lovely astroscapes with very nice star shapes for such a wide angle lens which render the Milky Way very nicely indeed.
I have previously discussed the specs of this lens and compared it to the Olympus ZD 7-14mm f/4 lens for Four Thirds dSLRs in which I point out that thanks to the shorter sensor-lens flange distance by removing the clunky mirror of dSLRs, wide angle lenses can now be made much smaller and lighter – this lens is one stop faster at f/2.8 yet is substantially smaller, lighter and less expensive than the Four Thirds version.
How to get the shot:
When using a 14mm field of view lens in 35mm full frame terms for astroscapes where you don’t want to see star trailing and you don’t want to be using an equatorial mount to track the stars and offset the rotation of the earth, all you need do is the following:
- find a location with minimal light pollution
- preferably find an interesting foreground – and perhaps bring a torch to light it
- choose a night without the moon in the sky
- choose a time of year when the Milky Way is visible – for us in southern Australia, Sept-Oct is great as the southern Milky Way will be on the western part of the sky before midnight and the night temperatures are not as chilly
- choose a wide angle, wide aperture lens with minimal coma aberrations and minimal purple fringing which is also sharp to the edges – now this is hard – Canon do not make such lenses for full frame, so full frame users generally resort to the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, for micro Four Thirds users, we now have this Olympus mZD 7-14mm f/2.8 or the new Olympus mZD 8mm f/1.8 fisheye
- set camera to Live Boost (II if using the newer Olympus cameras) – if you don’t use Olympus cameras, you are out of luck, you may need to focus on a distant subject before it gets dark
- manually focus on stars – this is hard unless you have a wide aperture lens and Live View Boost such as with Olympus cameras (the E-M5 mark I really needs a lens wider than f/2.8, but the newer cameras have Live Boost II which allows f/2.8 lenses to view and compose stars in the viewfinder)
- set camera on a sturdy tripod
- initially you may wish to use the superb EVF instead of the screen to manually focus and compose
- compose your image – in the Southern Hemisphere look for the two transverse stars of the southern cross and follow them past the pointers (Centaurus) and this will lead you to the centre of the Milky Way in Scorpio and Sagittarius
- optionally, use the flip out LCD screen to monitor the rest of the image taking and reviewing of the image
- set your camera to RAW – you will be doing a bit of post-processing to optimise the image (reduce light pollution, etc), thus a jpeg just won’t cut it.
- ensure your camera is set to do an automatic dark frame thermal noise subtraction (in Olympus cameras, this is in the menu under CogsG, Noise Reduction – set it to Auto (can leave it here for all your photography)
- set your camera to white balance – perhaps sunny WB – not critical as you are shooting in RAW
- turn off image stabilisation as you are using a tripod
- set self timer on to 2secs
- set your exposure mode to Manual
- set exposure to f/2.8 (if using an f/1.8 Olympus fisheye use f/1.8), 20-30secs (if you use longer, you will get star trailing unless you use a fisheye), ISO 1600-3200 (this is probably the optimum range)
- take the shot (NB. as we already know optimum exposure, no need for Live Time setting in Olympus cameras which updates you visually on your exposure)
- when you get back home, post-process to your heart’s content eg. adjust WB, darken blacks, apply gentle noise reduction, etc
My quick Milky Way astroscapes:
then along came a train at the end of a 30sec exposure to light up the scene, while the signals turned green:
The above was taken at a location with still quite a bit of light pollution from the nearby towns as well as the city of Melbourne which was around 60km away.
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From haunted saloons and bizarre museums to junk cathedrals and a strange take on the game of bingo, these attractions help prove that Texas’s lovable capital is just as quirky as the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan makes them seem. Get ready to get weird in Austin!
Mean Eyed Cat Bar
The Mean Eyed Cat Bar is another great stop for music and beer lovers. It’s dedicated to the late, great Johnny Cash, and got its name from his song “Mean Eyed Cat.” The bar features loads of Cash memorabilia, but it boasts an assortment of chainsaws and blades, too: The building was originally the home of a chainsaw repair shop, and the décor pays tribute to its unusual past.
Little Longhorn Saloon
Little Longhorn Saloon, a modest, steeple-topped shack, is your first stop on your trip across weird Austin. This totally authentic drinkery is one of the few remaining five-star dive bars in the country, and it boasts live music (this is Austin, after all), a menu of beer and not much else. If that’s not weird enough for you, then at least stop by for a game of “Chicken Shit Bingo,” which involves letting a chicken loose and waiting to see which number it… well, you know, poops on. Don’t worry, it sounds a little less crazy after a few beers. People come from around the world to experience this insanely quirky local phenomenon. For just $2 you get a ticket with a bingo number, and then Ginny let's the chicken loose on and the crowd cheers it on waiting for it to poo on a number.
Mueller Sunflowers, a public art installation that is powered by the sun, is an enchanting spot worth checking out, even in a city filled with offbeat art. The flowers, created by Mags Harries and Lajos Héder, feature a powerful combination of energy and sustainability… and they’re just as pretty as they are eco-friendly. The flowers are positioned along a hiking trail, so you can stroll among the metal giants.
Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata
The Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata offers fleeting viewings of impermanent collections. The museum has five separate exhibitions dedicated to things such as Celebrities, Naturalia & Artificialia, Urban Phantasmagoria, Snow Globes and Sleep. The museum allows the public to share both objects and stories, and showcases the importance of collecting. It’s one of the last in-home, family-run museums in the United States. The entrance fee is a voluntary monetary donation; it’s suggested that you contribute anywhere from a dime to $5.00, and the experience is well worth the price.
Museum of the Weird
A down-home, Austin-style version of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the Museum of the Weird is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. The museum hosts a variety of old-school sideshows, including a sword swallower, a guy who hammers a nail into his nose, and even a performer who puts his hand in a bear trap! The gift shop is the perfect place to pick up a “Keep Austin Weird” shirt, or simply snap a photo with their giant King Kong statue as a souvenir.
TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls
Since 2001, the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls have been avid proponents of the “Keep Austin Weird” mentality. The Rollergirls were founded by four free-wheelin’ (pun intended) ladies who wanted to shake up the sport of roller derby. The league now consists of a group of women ages 21 to 45, with enough members to make up five teams. Tickets to watch the Rollergirls compete are $15.00 (kids under 12 get in free) and can be purchased on their website. Their adrenaline-pumping events usually take place once a month, but in summertime, there are events twice a month.
Cathedral of Junk
Invisible from the street, the Cathedral of Junk is one of Austin’s greatest oddities. Located on a quiet suburban street, the cathedral was founded in 1988 and is now a testament to both creativity and junk. From CD string lights to rooms dedicated to a specific color to the very structure itself, which is three stories and composed entirely of junk, there is something to see in every direction. You must make a reservation ahead of time to visit the cathedral, and be sure to bring the suggested donation of $10.00 to support the artist’s growth.
From “Chicken Shit Bingo” to strange museums and art displays, it’s not hard to add a touch of weird to (or get full-on bizarre on) your next trip to the Lone Star State’s capital!
Contributed by Roadtrippers.
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Chaco is a Python package for building interactive and custom 2-D plots and visualizations. Chaco facilitates writing plotting applications at all levels of complexity, from simple scripts with hard-coded data to large plotting programs with complex data interrelationships and a multitude of interactive tools. While Chaco generates attractive static plots for publication and presentation, it also works well for interactive data visualization and exploration. Chaco is part of the Enthought Tool Suite.
Chaco includes renderers for many popular plot types, built-in implementations of common interactions with those plots, and a framework for extending and customizing plots and interactions. Chaco can also render graphics in a non-interactive fashion to images, in either raster or vector formats, and it has a subpackage for doing command-line plotting or simple scripting.
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January 27, 2011
Notes on design: Design on the edge
by Christopher King
A book designer is responsible for every aspect of the way a book looks and feels, from the jacket art and title page down to the page numbers and line spacing. Even the edges of the book have to be considered—you’ve probably encountered a book with deckle edges (where the pages are left untrimmed, creating a rough edge) and anyone who’s ever read a Bible is likely familiar with gilded edges.
It’s far less common, however, to encounter a design on the edge. The Boston Public Library’s online exhibition of books with fore-edge paintings contains more than 200 examples of this seldom-seen art. According to the exhibit’s introductory essay, the fore-edge painting was first developed in the sixteenth century by a Venetian artist named Cesare Vecellio, and it became most popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in England. Many of the paintings feature pastoral scenes related to the books’ settings, but others contain portraits of their authors or characters, and some even depict moments of action.
Most intriguing was the technique discovered by an English bookbinder named Samuel Mearne in the seventeenth century which allowed the fore-edge paintings to be “hidden” in the book.
“Imagine a flight of stairs, each step representing a leaf of the book. On the tread would be the painting and on the flat surface would be gold. A book painted and gilt in this way must be furled back before the picture can be seen.” (Kenneth Hobson, 1949). This is how a fore-edge painting works. When the book is closed, you do not see the image because the gilding hides the painting. But, when you fan the pages to show the painting at its best and hold them between your fingers or in a display press, the colorful picture appears as if by magic.
Today you’re unlikely to encounter such a painting at your local bookstore, but the technique hasn’t disappeared entirely: book design legend Chip Kidd’s 2001 novel The Cheese Monkeys is printed with a hidden message on the fore-edge (which spells “Do you see?” when the pages are fanned one way and “Good is dead” when they’re fanned the other), and a new YA novel from the James Frey factory, I Am Number Four, has a message of its own (unfortunately, not “You got scammed”):
Christopher King is the Art Director of Melville House.
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Obama's decision to not issue a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline meant "we were denied the ability immediately to reduce prices at the pump."
-- State Rep. Mike Dovilla
Both houses of the Ohio General Assembly approved resolutions in the past 10 months urging Congress to ask Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve the controversial TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline project from Alberta to Oklahoma.
The Ohio House acted last June. The Senate passed its resolution in January, as President Obama announced he was putting the project on hold by extending the deadline one year to rule on a permit for pipeline operator TransCanada.
One of the sponsors of House Resolution 97, State Rep. Mike Dovilla, a Republican from Berea who represents the 18th District, wrote to the Strongsville edition of Patch.com that he would introduce a new resolution supporting the pipeline.
Delaying the project hurt U.S. energy security and cost "the ability to create over 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs," he said. Obama's decision to not issue a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline meant "we were denied the ability immediately to reduce prices at the pump."
With the price of gas bubbling under $4 a gallon and becoming a political football, PolitiFact Ohio was interested, immediately, in his statement that permit approval would immediately reduce pump prices.
You can see the full story there. Then come back here to comment.
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How does accrued vacation work
The employer does not have to include paid vacation time when calculating overtime compensation for the week. Assume that the employee regularly works 40 hours for $10 an hour or a fixed weekly salary of $400. Her regular rate is $10, and her overtime rate for four extra hours is $15. For the week, she should receive $460 for her hours worked, plus $80 for paid vacation. The employer cannot credit any vacation pay toward its overtime liability.
Alternatively, employers may choose to treat paid vacation time as hours worked. This may benefit an employer that is contractually obligated to pay premium rates for daily overtime or weekend work, for example. Then the premium may be treated as true overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and credited against overtime compensation.
PTO or paid personal leave?
Designating an absence as PTO or personal leave probably does not matter, but be aware that neither the FLSA nor enforcement policy are clear on the point. The rules state that
an employer for overtime-pay purposes may exclude from hours worked paid absences due to "vacation, holidays, illness, insufficient work or similar causes." Does paid personal time qualify as a vacation or a similar cause?
When the rules were written, most people took vacation in one- or two-week increments and, perhaps, had a certain number of sick days. Employers rarely paid nonexempt workers for personal or partial days of absence. Over the years the Wage and Hour Division has designated funeral leave and other reasons as "similar causes." However, personal business is not one of them.
Neither regulations nor the Division's opinion letters say much about today's broader PTO policies. The agency said that compensatory time used by public employees may be excluded from overtime-pay calculations. This statement may be the best indicator that the agency would treat all time off under a no-fault PTO plan in the same manner. Until there is more explicit clarification, however, employers may want to avoid creating a separate category for paid personal leave.Source: hr.cch.com
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"It breaks my heart," Pamlyn Millsap, the Eureka Police Department's homeless liaison, said Tuesday while talking about the struggles of a schizophrenic veteran living on the streets and how her department plans to join Humboldt County mental health staff to create a Community Mobile Response Team to better assist the mentally ill.
"He's a young individual who was in the military when he had his first psychiatric break," she said. "Officers have had numerous contacts with him, and he frequently goes to jail because community members call and say he's been drinking. He doesn't have a blanket, sleeps outside and doesn't use the Eureka Rescue Mission. He has family in Arizona and Texas who love him, but because of his mental illness, he doesn't have a phone and can't arrange by himself to get home."
Millsap said the man was taken to the Hope Center today instead of jail because he wasn't drunk. She said services offered by the center, which is supported by the county's Department of Health and Human Services mental health division, are what the police department and mental health division staff are trying to get more mentally ill people homeless people in contact with through their development of the response team.
"They have folks there who can hopefully stabilize him," Millsap said. "Often, these people are left alone without resources, and we're hoping the collaboration reduces the number of mentally ill individuals on the street."
Health and Human Services Director Phillip Crandall said of the 440 individuals admitted to the mental health division's Psychiatric Emergency Services in the last six months, 183, or 42 percent, were homeless. He said within the next one to three months, officials from the EPD and the mental health division will collect data on numbers such as law enforcement responses, assessments and referrals to treatment.
"We don't have an official start date for the team but are working on hiring a mental health clinician and case manager through the county hiring system where we go off existing lists that have already been developed, get the top names from human resources and interview them," Crandall said. "It represents a new era of collaboration between the city of Eureka and county of Humboldt in terms of trying to make a positive impact on this segment of the homeless population in a way that's humane and improves their safety and that of the community."
Crandall said because of such events as prison realignment, the community is faced with new populations that pose threats to public safety.
"We need to have new partnerships with law enforcement, and this is one of first efforts to try and come together to address issues that neither entity can address alone," Crandall said.
Once the Community Mobile Response Team is in full swing, mental health division staff will join officers on calls for people who are possibly severely mentally ill and assist the police in the field, as well as during transitions to psychiatric services if necessary, Crandall said. Upon release from the services, a mental health clinician and case manager will establish a discharge plan addressing the person's needs. This includes linkage to necessary services, which might include outpatient mental health counseling, medication support, alcohol and other drug services, housing and programs such as CalFresh, when eligible.
"Initially, the costs of the team will be relatively low. The law enforcement side is largely funded already through the city, and ours is funded through existing budget units," Crandall said. "Over the next six months, we'll be looking at what the data tells us and possible expansion of the budget that would come from mental health realignment dollars, which are state funds, or Mental Health Services Act funding, which are state dollars that are a result of a voter initiative to give counties more resources for those who are severely mentally ill."
Jillian Singh can be reached at 441-0509.
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Animal Capture and Removal
Florida animal control: Wildlife capture and removal is of course, an essential part of nuisance wildlife control. While most people appreciate nature, they do not always appreciate the destruction of property, disturbance of peace, or health risks that wild animals in and around the home cause. The goal of AAAnimal Control is to quickly and humanely eliminate the animals causing the problems. The goal is not to eliminate every animal in the neighborhood, just the target ones causing you the headaches. For example, if a raccoon is living in your chimney, AAAnimal Control will not set traps on the ground, which may catch any number of non-target raccoons or other animals. AAAnimal Control will go right for the target animals in the chimney. There is no area AAAnimal Control can't reach. I have dealt with all animals in all situations, and am aware of the proper methods of capturing the target animals only. Once captured, the animals will be released at an approved area far from the capture site, or euthanized in a humane manner, as the situation dictates.
Check out these animals:
The capture and removal of nuisance animals in the home is only half of the problem. If the entryway to the house is not found, a new animal will take the old one's place. This is particularly true of the spaces under porches, decks, and sheds. These areas provide ideal habitat for a number of animals. AAAnimal control can make sure that no animals invade your space again. Our exclusion barriers are built to last, and are 100% effective at keeping unwanted critters from getting back in.
WARRANTY: If any animal gets past an AAAnimal Control exclusion barrier, AAAnimal Control will catch the animals and repair the damage for free.
Please see this page for photos of damage repairs that we have done.
Animals can do a surprising amount of damage to your home. Whether it be the chewing of rodents,
the removal of screening by a raccoon, the droppings of a colony of bats, or the digging of an
armadillo, AAAnimal Control can fix the damage, and eliminate the source of the problem. Be aware
that all rodents chew -including electrical wires- a potential fire hazard.
AAAnimal Control will work with residential owners and managers of condominiums, apartment buildings,
church and school grounds, etc. to pest proof affected areas, secure livestock from predation, provide
Canada goose control, control of digging animals in cemeteries, etc. This often involves habitat
modification to make your property, once an attractive home to wildlife, less prone to pests.
Noises in Walls or Attic
One of the most common complaints involving nuisance wildlife is the noise they can produce in a home.
Many home owners may be unaware that they even have an unwanted visitor in their home if not for the
noise. Certain animals may spend their time crawling around (and doing other things) in their
newfound home (your attic, soffits, walls, garage, etc.). The scurrying scratching, chewing, or
vocal noise that you hear may be most unwelcome, particularly from nocturnal animals. The primary
culprits are raccoons, squirrels, rats, and mice, but other creatures may be at work. Give me a
call, and I will identify the source of the noise, as well the means by which the animals are entering
the structure. Get the problem fixed, and you will sleep better at night!
Some nuisance wildlife situations can be classified as emergencies. This includes exposure to
potentially dangerous animals, such as rabid raccoons or poisonous snakes. Some people carry phobias
toward certain animals as well, and may consider a sudden unwelcome visit by a bat, for example, as
an emergency. Or perhaps an animal is loose in your house and causing damage. If you are in an
emergency situation, I can come at any time, day or night, as quickly as possible.
Nuisance animals cause odor problems in a variety of ways. Their excrement is a primary source of
odor problems, and often quite noticeable if an animal has taken up residence somewhere in your home.
Animal carcasses are another source of odor. Skunks present a whole other dimension in odor problems.
I can identify the source of animal odors, and eliminate both the current source of the odor (for
example, excrement removal) and the underlying cause (the animal's entry into your home). This
work may be covered by homeowners insurance.
Dead Animal Removal
EXAMPLE: You smell a dead animal somewhere in your attic.
Dead animals attract all matter of vermin and disease, not to mention new nuisance animals which wish
to feed on the carcass. Of course, the smell and sight are also offensive. If an animal has died on
your property and you do not wish to dispose of it yourself due to health concerns or other reasons,
I can remove it for you and dispose of it in a proper manner for a small service fee. If the dead
animal(s) is within the architecture of your house I can find its location and remove it. This may
involve some dismantling, for example, the removal of drywall behind which a dead carcass is located.
Charges for animal removal within houses varies depending upon the difficulty of the removal.
Describe your problem in detail, and I can provide an estimate.
Lawn & Turf Services
Certain animals can wreak havoc on your yard, specifically moles, voles, and armadillos. If you have raised ridges throughout your yard, that's the work of moles. They can swim through the dirt like it's water, in search of earthworms, grubs, and other food. A single mole can litter your yard with tunnels. The raised ridges you see are surface tunnels. AAAnimal Control can kill the moles in your yard, and treat it with a non-toxic substance that will prevent moles from coming back.
Voles dig skinny pathways through your yard. They also eat the roots of plants, often killing the plant and destroying your landscaping. AAAnimal Control can catch the voles and treat your property so that new ones won't come in.
Armadillos love to dig (in search of food), and can fill your yard with divots and holes. AAAnimal Control can treat your yard with Armadillo Away, a non-toxic substance which makes their food less appealing - and causes the armadillo to search elsewhere.
Attic Deodorization & Decontamination
EXAMPLE: After capture and removal of rats in attic, the urine/droppings/pheromones must be cleaned.
I will thoroughly treat the contaminated area with a special enzyme-based biological decontaminating agent,
applied with an electric atomizer. This will neutralize the odors and pheromones the animals leave behind,
as well as aide in the decomposition of organic matter, helping to decontaminate the affected area.
Also, check out Ballard Pet Sitting and house sitting services. If you need an Orlando exterminator specializing in critter removal click here, or check out Orlando pest control specializing in rat control and wildlife.
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Are you building a patio and want to know how to make easy brick paver patterns to up the look of your landscaping? No matter how handy you are with DIY projects around your home, there is always something new to learn to enhance your home.
You can do patio bricks in a plethora of different patterns in your outdoor space. But the pattern is solely for aesthetics and won’t alter the performance of your brick surface. Easy paver patterns for beginners should not require you to cut the bricks or paving stones. It should be simple to layout and easy on the eyes as well.
Read on to discover how to make easy brick paver patterns for beginners. We will cover what you need before you get started and a step-by-step guide to walk you through the process of making a gorgeous paver patio or brick path!
What You Need
One of the easiest and appealing brick paver patterns would be the checkerboard pattern. For this, you need the width of two bricks to be the same as the length of one. So the perfect size of paver to use for this project is 4 inches by 8 inches long.
The easiest way to install a brick paver patio is to use the sand set method. Top a layer of compacted gravel with landscape fabric and a soft sand layer. You then lay the bricks on top. Once you lay the bricks, you have to brush sand into the cracks between the paver bricks to lock them firmly into place.
Materials You Need
- Brick Pavers
- Edging for brick patio
- Compactible gravel
- Landscape fabric
Step-by-Step Guide to Make Brick Paver Patterns
1. Mark out the patio edges
Before you start excavating, you want to make sure you mark where you want the patio. You can use stakes to create the basic layout for the patio. These lines show where the outer edges of the brick and not the actual edging. Using only four stakes, you can create the outer layout.
2. Bind strings to enclose the space
Now it’s time to string the stakes together to create the space you plan to install your patio pavers! Adjust the string so that it won’t get in the way when you start excavating.
3. Excavate the patio area
Excavate the area about 8 inches deep. Start along the sides and then move toward the center, ensuring that the entire area is level from side to side.
4. Pour the gravel base
Next, pour the compactible gravel inside the area until it’s about 4 inches deep. Rake the gravel out to smooth and level it. Use a hand tamp to tamp the gravel until it is compacted.
5. Position paver edging
You can now install edging along the patio perimeter. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions because it varies. Standard plastic edging is compatible with brick patios and will be mostly hidden when you secure the bricks in place. You have to use metal spikes to install this edging. Line up testing bricks along the sides to ensure the placement is accurate and then remove the test-fit bricks, leaving the edging in place.
6. Add a layer of sand
Pour landscape fabric over the smoothened down gravel. This fabric will suppress pesky weeds and separate the gravel layer from the sand.
Once the fabric is neatly laid, pour 2 inches of sand on top. Smooth the sand as you go, ensuring it’s level. Leave 2 inches between the top of the patio edging and the sand. Once the sand is in place, you can now remove the layout stakes and strings from the first two steps.
7. Lay down the first row of bricks
Starting in one corner and moving along the edging, lay down the bricks row by row. Alternate the bricks so that two are horizontal, then two art vertical and so on, to complete this checkerboard easy brick paver pattern! Press the bricks into the sand, placing them as close as you possibly can to each other. Use a rubber mallet to settle them into the sand as needed.
To make sure it’s straight, run a mason’s line across the first row and pull the line tightly. Straighten the first row of bricks as needed before you move onto the next step.
8. Lay the rest of the bricks one row at a time
Lay down the rest of the bricks, row by row. Move the mason’s line for each row to make sure it’s straight. Pro tip: lay a sheet of plywood on top of the bricks that you can kneel on while you work on the next rows to prevent moving the installed bricks. The last row should be snugly fit against the installed edging.
9. Firm bricks into place with sand
Once you are done laying the bricks, pour sand over them and sweep it over the surface using a push broom to settle the sand into any cracks. Reach all the cracks and add more sand as you move along, until every crack is filled and snug. Use a hose to spray the patio and settle sand in the cracks. Pour more sand and sweep it into the cracks and spray again. You want to repeat this step until all the cracks are filled and the sand is settled.
10. Complete the edging
Once you finish laying the bricks, pour sand over them and sweep it across the surface with a push broom to settle the sand into any cracks. Reach all the cracks and add sand as you go until all the cracks are filled and snug. Spray the patio with a hose to settle sand in the cracks. Pour and sweep more sand into the cracks and spray again. You want to repeat this step until you fill all the cracks and the sand settles.
So many people are choosing to install paver patios by themselves. It cuts down on the cost dramatically and gives you a home project to keep busy this summer! Making brick paver patterns doesn’t have to be something difficult that you let the professionals take care of anymore.
If you are a beginner, we hope this step-by-step guide has motivated you to make easy brick paver patterns for your patio without the help of professionals!
Good luck and have fun!
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High-Red-Meat Diet Raises Mortality Risk
The findings support the research of other scientists, as well as the advice of several health groups, that people should tend to avoid diets rich in red meat, such as hamburger, and processed meats, such as hot dogs, cold cuts and bacon.
In the study, the scientists examined over 545,000 people in the 50-71 age category through a questionnaire on their eating habits. The subjects were followed for 10 years, in which time there were more than 70,000 deaths, said lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute. In analyzing their data, the scientists accounted for other risk factors, such as smoking, high body mass index and family history of cancer.
The participants who consumed the most red meat ate the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger a day, while those who consumed the least ate just 5 ounces a week.
The researchers found that, over the 10 years, the men who were heavy red-meat eaters had a 22 percent higher chance of dying of cancer and a 27 percent greater chance of dying of heart disease. The women who took in the most red meat were 20 percent more likely to die of cancer and 50 percent more likely to die of heart disease than the women who ate the least red meat.
With processed meats, the rise in mortality risk was generally a bit lower than with red meat. Participants who tended to eat more white meat, such as chicken and fish, had lower death risk.
Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., counseled Americans to make subtle dietary changes in the direction of eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.
“I’m not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians,” she said. “Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character.”
Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association was skeptical about the findings, saying that lean meat is healthy, provided it’s part of a balanced diet, exercise and avoidance of smoking.
300 Longwood Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Call: (617) 355-7686
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Detroit, MI 48202
Call: (313) 556-8865
600 N. Wolfe Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21287
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Bronx, NY 10469
Call: (718) 732-4000
525 E 68th St # F-739
New York, New York 10065
Call: (212) 746-5145
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Oil on canvas 63.5 x 48.5 cm Framed. Signed and dated 'G. Schrimpf 2.5.' in dark brown lower left (faintly legible). Verso inscribed on the stretcher "Georg Schrimpf Stilleben mit Kaktus" in pencil by an unknown hand. - Professionally cleaned; with occasional localised retouchings, primarily to the margins.
The author of the catalogue raisonné had previously known this painting only through a photo in the unpublished dissertation by Adamiak. Due to its stylistic closeness to the still lifes of 1924, the present work was chronologically associated with these - quite rare - examples. The arrangement is very similar to the few painted compositions created before it (cf. “Kakteenstilleben” and “Stilleben mit Gummibaum”, Präger 1924/9, 1924/10). Here the familiar basic elements (exotic plants in an interior, in front of a view through a partially cropped window) are once again taken up and reinterpreted in a puristic style. In the narrowed vertical format (the painted canvas has been folded back at the right), the objects in the painting are presented within a strict structure and in only a few - as though savoured - nuances of colour, which receive additional emphasis through the elegant distribution of lighting contrasts, of illumination and shadow. Within Georg Schrimpf's oeuvre, the present painting is among the “highest quality works of the twenties” (Christmut Präger, expertise). The essence of his art seems to naturally crystallise in the still life: as in his best figure paintings, the objects reflect a distanced privacy and magical stillness.
The succulents, which were fashionable in the 1920s, stand in an interior with reddish cherry-wood furniture. There seem to be almost imperceptible, subtle allusions between references to the contemporary period and elder tradition. Eberle once stated that, in an epoch shaken by violence, social turmoil and chaos, Schrimpf held fast to “what seemed to him to be worth preserving, holding on to: moments, states of an only barely still attainable, only barely still discoverable happiness - as endangered, rare and fragile as it may be. [...] If we follow Freud's argumentation, then it lies outside the reality principle. In Schrimpf's case, past and future are suspended in a calm present that is free of intentions. This makes his figures seem as though frozen, motionless and construed. They are set against time.” (Mathias Eberle, Gegenüber Neuer Sachlichkeit und Romantik, op. cit., p. 13).
Hofmann/Präger 1924/11 o.D. (without indication of dimensions, attributed to 1924)
With an expertise by Christmut Präger, Heidelberg, dated 30 March 2015, the painting will appear in the second edition of the catalogue raisonné under no. "1925/14".
Old German private collection, Rhineland; since then in family possession
Josef Adamiak, Georg Schrimpf. Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Neuen Sachlichkeit (dissertation Humboldt University Berlin, unpublished manuscript), Berlin 1961, p. 71 with illus. 109; cf. Mathias Eberle, Gegenüber Neuer Sachlichkeit und Romantik. Notizen zu Georg Schrimpf, in: Wolfgang Storch, Georg Schrimpf und Maria Uhden, Leben und Werk, Berlin 1985, S. 12 f.
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|This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2012)|
Heat therapy, also called thermotherapy, is the use of heat in therapy, such as for pain relief and health. It can take the form of a hot cloth, hot water, ultrasound, heating pad, hydrocollator packs, whirlpool baths, cordless FIR heat therapy wraps, and others. It can be beneficial to those with arthritis and stiff muscles and injuries to the deep tissue of the skin. Heat may be an effective self-care treatment for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
Heat therapy is most commonly used for rehabilitation purposes. The therapeutic effects of heat include increasing the extensibility of collagen tissues; decreasing joint stiffness; reducing pain; relieving muscle spasms; reducing inflammation, edema, and aids in the post acute phase of healing; and increasing blood flow. The increased blood flow to the affected area provides proteins, nutrients, and oxygen for better healing.
- Direct contact
Moist heat therapy has been believed to be more effective at warming tissues than dry heat, because water transfers heat more quickly than air. Clinical studies do not support the popular belief that moist heat is more effective than dry heat. Moist heat results in the perception that the tissue is heated more deeply. In fact, recent studies indicate that vasodilation, the expansion of the blood capillaries (vessels) to allow more blood flow, is improved with dry heat therapy. Expansion of the blood capillaries is the primary objective of heat therapy. Heat therapy increases the effect on muscles, joints, and soft tissue. Heat is typically applied by placing a warming device on the relevant body part.
Newer breeds of heat therapy devices combine a carbon fiber heater with a cordless rechargeable lithium battery and are built into the specific body wrap (i.e., shoulder wrap or back wrap) for targeted heat therapy. Such devices can be used as alternatives to chemical or plugged-in heating pads, but have not been shown to improve the clinical benefit. All devices primarily provide heat to promote vasodilation.
- Infrared radiation
Infrared radiation is a convenient system to heat parts of our body. It has the advantage over direct contact in that radiation can heat directly the area where the blood capillaries and neuron terminals are. When heat comes from a direct contact source it has to heat the external layer of the skin, and heat is transferred to the deeper layer by conduction. Since heat conduction needs a temperature gradient to proceed, and there is a maximum temperature that can be safely used (around 42 °C), this means lower temperature where warming is needed.
IR-A, from 0.78 to 1.4 μm.
IR-B, from 1.4 to 3 μm.
IR-C, from 3 μm to 1 mm.
IR radiation is more useful than the visible radiation for heating our body, because we absorb most of it, compared to a strong reflection of visible light. Penetration depth of infrared radiation in our skin is dependent of wavelength. IR-A is the most penetrating, and reaches some millimeters, IR-B penetrates into the dermis (about 1 mm), and IR-C is mostly absorbed in the external layer of the epidermis (estratum corneum). For this reason the infrared lamps used for therapeutic purposes produce mainly IR-A radiation.
Mechanism of action, and indications
Because heat is a vasodilator, it should be avoided in tissues with inadequate vascular supply, in case of acute injury, in bleeding disorders (because heat would increase bleeding), in tissues with a severe lack of sensitivity, in scars.
Another use is the treatment of infection and cancers by the use of heat. Cancer cells and many bacteria have poor mechanisms for adapting to and resisting the physiological stresses of heat, and are more vulnerable to heat-induced death than normal cells.
Heat therapy can be used for the treatment of headaches and migraines. Many people who suffer from chronic headaches also suffer from tight muscles in their neck and upper back. The application of constant heat to the back/upper back area can help to release the tension associated with headache pain. In order to achieve heat therapy for headaches, many use microwaveable pads which can often overheat, potentially leading to injury, and lose their heat after a few minutes. Some new products use heated water, running through pads, to maintain a constant temperature, allowing headache sufferers to use hands-free heat therapy in the treatment of their headache pain.
- Infrared radiation, one means for delivering heat
- Migraine#Cryotherapy and Thermotherapy
- TDP lamp
- Thermotherapy for treating rheumatoid arthritis, from Cochrane Library
- Prentice, William E. Arnheim’s Principles of Athletic Training: a Competency Based Approach. New York. McGraw-Hill. 2008.
- The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). "ICNIRP Statement on Far Infrared Radiation Protection". Health Physics Society. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
- Raj, P. Pritvi, Practical Management of Pain. Mosby. 2.000. ISBN 978-0-8151-2569-3.
- Israel, Beth. “Pain”. Stoppain.org. 2005. Date Assessed: 28 April 2009.
- "Deep Heat Treatment.." CRS - Adult Health Advisor (Jan. 2009): 1-1. Health Source - Consumer Edition. EBSCO. Kent Library, Cape Girardeau, MO. 30 Apr. 2009
- Scott F. Nadler, DO, FACSM, Kurt Weingand, PhD, DVM, and Roger J. Kruse, MD. “The Physiologic Basis and Clinical Applications of Cryotherapy and Thermotherapy for the Pain Practitioner”. Pain Physician. 7 (2004): 395-399.
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Seroprevalence, correlates, and characteristics of undetected coeliac disease in England
- J West1,
- R F A Logan1,
- P G Hill2,
- A Lloyd2,
- S Lewis3,
- R Hubbard3,
- R Reader4,
- G K T Holmes5,
- K-T Khaw4
- 1University of Nottingham, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK
- 2Department of Chemical Pathology, Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Derby, UK
- 3University of Nottingham, Division of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Clinical Sciences Building, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham, UK
- 4Clinical Gerontology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
- 5Department of Gastroenterology, Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Derby, UK
- Correspondence to:
J West, University of Nottingham, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK;
- Accepted 31 January 2003
Objective: To examine the seroprevalence, correlates, and characteristics of undetected coeliac disease in a large adult population sample in Cambridge, UK.
Methods: The Cambridge General Practice Health Study invited individuals from 12 general practices, aged 45–76 years, to attend for a health survey that included a bone density measurement, between 1990 and 1995. A total of 7550 participants’ serum samples were tested for antiendomysial antibody (EMA). Seroprevalence of undetected coeliac disease was based on EMA positivity. Differences between EMA positive and negative participants of various physiological correlates and reported characteristics were estimated by multivariate logistic and linear regression and adjusted for age, sex, social class, and smoking behaviour.
Results: The seroprevalence of undetected coeliac disease in this general population sample aged 45–76 was 1.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9–1.4). EMA positive participants (n=87) were on average slightly lighter by 2.2 kg (p=0.08), were more likely to have reported their general health as being “good or excellent” (odds ratio (OR) 1.76 (95% CI 0.90–3.46)), and were less likely to report being a current smoker (OR for current versus never 0.36 (95% CI 0.14–0.90)) than EMA negative participants. EMA positivity was associated with an 8% reduction in mean serum cholesterol (0.5 mmol/l; p<0.01) and reductions in mean haemoglobin (0.3 g/dl; p<0.01), total protein (1.0 g/l; p<0.05), and corrected serum calcium (0.02 mmol/l; p<0.05). There was an increased risk of osteoporosis in EMA positive participants (OR 3.1 (95% CI 1.3–7.2)) and of mild anaemia (OR 4.6 (95% CI 2.5–8.2)) compared with EMA negative participants.
Conclusions: Undetected coeliac disease is likely to affect approximately 1% of the population of England aged 45–76 years, a value similar to several other countries. Those affected report “better health” but they do have an increased risk of osteoporosis and mild anaemia. In contrast, they have a favourable cardiovascular risk profile that may afford protection from ischaemic heart disease and stroke.
- EMA, antiendomysial antibody
- tTGA, human antitissue transglutaminase antibody
- ELISA, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
- BMI, body mass index
- BMD, bone mineral density
The development of serological tests for the diagnosis of coeliac disease, including tests for endomysial and tissue transglutaminase antibodies, has made screening for coeliac disease a realistic possibility.1,2 Several studies, mainly from Europe but also from South America and Australasia, using various tests, have shown that considerable numbers of people may have undetected coeliac disease.3–11 The implications of this diagnosis are unclear as currently the few reported data on the morbidity and physiological characteristics associated with previously undetected disease are from small selected case series.12,13 Most adult screening studies in the general population have identified only small numbers of previously undiagnosed cases and have therefore been unable to examine these issues.
We have studied a large adult general population sample recruited from the Cambridge area to quantify the seroprevalence, characteristics, and physiological correlates of undetected coeliac disease.
The Cambridge General Practice Health Study identified all individuals irrespective of health status aged 45–76 years registered with 12 general practices and invited them for a health survey and bone density measurement between 1990 and 1995.14–16 Briefly, all those consenting completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire that included questions on occupation, past medical history, cigarette smoking habit, and whether they rated their general health as “excellent, good, moderate, or poor”. They were also asked about known illnesses, for example self reported cardiovascular disease was defined as reporting of any one or more of the following conditions: heart attack, angina, high blood pressure, and stroke. Participants then attended for a physical examination, including measurement of blood pressure and bone mineral density (BMD), the latter measured at the total hip, and total spine by dual energy x ray absorptiometry, using the Hologic QDR-1000 densitometer (Hologic, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA). Blood samples were obtained by venepuncture and serum lipids were measured in fresh samples at the Hinchingbrooke Hospital biochemistry laboratory. All participants have been flagged at the Office of National Statistics for mortality and have been followed up to the end of May 2001. Death certificates were coded according to the 9th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases. We were unable to gain access to participants for the purposes of duodenal biopsy. The study was approved by the Cambridge District Local Research Ethics Committee.
We used IgA class antiendomysial antibody (EMA) as our marker of undetected coeliac disease as it has a reported specificity of 99%.17 As there is the possibility of false positive results, we used a second serological marker, human antitissue transglutaminase antibody (tTGA), to validate the positive samples. All sera (n=7550) were investigated for the presence of EMA using indirect immunofluorescence on commercial monkey oesophagus sections (The Binding Site, Birmingham, UK), using a 1 in 10 serum dilution. A positive control was included with every batch of 40 samples. Samples positive for EMA were further tested for tTGA using a commercially available quantitative ELISA kit (Celikey; Pharmacia Diagnostics AB, Freiburg, Germany). We considered results of <3 U/ml to be negative based on the experience in our laboratory. We measured total serum IgA in all sera and considered results of <0.05 g/l to indicate selective IgA deficiency.
We defined undetected coeliac disease as those participants without self reported coeliac disease that were EMA positive. Definitions for the presence or absence of coeliac disease in participants are given in fig 1.
Social class was coded from the highest reported occupation of the participant or their spouse and grouped as: professional and managerial, lower professional (group 1); non- manual skilled, manual skilled (group 2); partly skilled, unskilled, armed forces, inadequately described, housewife/homemaker, retired (group 3).
Participants were defined as having osteoporosis if their BMD measurement was 2.5 standard deviations (SD) or more below the young adult mean. Participants were categorised into those who were anaemic and those who were not (anaemia=haemoglobin in men<13 g/dl and in women <11.5 g/dl)
Fisher’s exact test, χ2 tests, and χ2 tests for trend were used to examine the association between smoking, sociodemographic, and other binary variables, and EMA positivity. Comparisons between EMA positive and EMA negative participants with regard to laboratory, anthropometric, and bone density variables were examined using independent sample t tests. Multivariate analyses were performed to adjust for age, sex, smoking, social class, and other potential confounders using logistic regression for binary and multiple linear regression for continuous dependent variables. We tested biologically plausible interactions, particularly those with sex, by adding multiplicative interaction terms to the multivariate linear regression model. Where data on confounders were missing, these data were modelled as separate categories to ensure nested models contained the same number of participants. All significance tests were two sided and analyses were performed using SPSS version 9.0.
A total of 20 314 individuals were mailed an invitation to participate. Of those mailed, 8515 (42%) agreed to participate. Of those who participated, there were 7550 (89%) with blood specimens available for serological testing. An overview of the number of participants in the study is shown in fig 1. There were a total of 7527 participants not previously diagnosed with coeliac disease included in the analyses. Mean age of these participants was 59 years (SD 8.9) and 4444 (59%) were female. Of the 7440 EMA negative participants, nine had evidence of selective IgA deficiency. Estimates of the seroprevalence of undetected coeliac disease are shown in table 1. The overall seroprevalence of undetected coeliac disease was 1.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9–1.4) based on EMA positivity alone (n=87) and 1.0% (95% CI 0.8–1.3) based on EMA positive and abnormal tTGA results (n=77). Seroprevalence showed little variation with age or sex. Table 2 shows the distribution of tTGA results in EMA positive participants considered to have undetected coeliac disease. In 75% of EMA positive participants, tTGA results were unequivocally abnormal (>6 U/ml). EMA positive participants were less likely to have reported being ex or current smokers (table 3) compared with EMA negative participants, and also showed a trend towards higher social class, although this was not significant at the 5% level (χ2 for trend, p=0.08). Mutual adjustment and adjusting for age and sex did not appreciably change these associations.
In univariate analyses, EMA positive participants had lower mean haemoglobin, total protein, corrected calcium, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, triglyceride, diastolic blood pressure, and weight (all p<0.05) (table 4). Mean body mass index (BMI), hip and spine BMD, systolic blood pressure, mean cell volume, and albumin were all slightly lower in participants with undetected coeliac disease but these differences were not significant at the 5% level. Both alanine aminotransferase and platelet count were higher among EMA positive participants. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, and social class, differences in weight and diastolic blood pressure were not significant at the 5% level.
In the multivariate analyses, undetected coeliac disease was associated with a reduction of 0.5 mmol/l (95% CI 0.3–0.8) in cholesterol and 0.3 g/dl (95% CI 0.1–0.5) in haemoglobin. For BMD, the mean difference at the hip was −0.02 g/cm2 (95% CI −0.05 to +0.02) and at the spine 0.03 g/cm2 (95% CI −0.07 to +0.02). There were significant interactions between the effects of EMA result and sex on corrected calcium (p=0.001). Mean corrected calcium was reduced in EMA positive participants among women only (−0.05 mmol/l (95% CI −0.07 to −0.02)).
There were no statistically significant associations between undetected coeliac disease and reported morbidity but having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, angina or a heart attack, diabetes, or bronchitis/emphysema all appeared to be less common in those who were EMA positive (table 5). In 75 of 85 (88%) EMA positive participants and 5527 of 7015 (79%) EMA negative participants, general health was reported as “good or excellent”, giving an odds ratio of 1.76 (95% CI 0.90–3.46) adjusted for age, sex, social class, and smoking status. There was no difference in the proportion of deaths recorded (EMA negative 591 (7.9%); EMA positive 5 (5.7%); χ2 p=0.6). Underlying causes of death given for the five EMA positive participants were carcinoma of the pancreas, acute myeloid leukaemia, ischaemic heart disease, carcinoma of the cervix, and B cell lymphoma (not otherwise specified).
Fourteen of 87 (16.1%) EMA positive participants and 315 of 7425 (4.2%) EMA negative participants were found to be anaemic, giving an odds ratio of 4.56 (95% CI 2.53–8.21) adjusted for age, smoking status, sex, and social class. Of the EMA positive anaemic participants, nine were women (haemoglobin range 10.1–11.3 g/dl) and five were men (haemoglobin range 11.6–12.8 g/dl). In seven of 58 (12.1%) EMA positive participants and 311 of 5024 (6.2%) EMA negative participants, BMD at the hip showed osteoporosis, giving an odds ratio of 3.08 (95% CI 1.31–7.25) adjusted for age, BMI, smoking status, and social class.
Our study shows that undetected coeliac disease, as assessed by EMA positivity, affects approximately 1% of this general population sample aged 45–76 years. In comparison with earlier screening studies, the number of EMA positive participants was sufficiently large to use data collected at recruitment for comparisons with EMA negative participants. Although positive participants were more likely to assess their own health as good or excellent than negative participants, some were mildly anaemic (16%) or had evidence of osteoporosis (12%). In contrast, they had a more favourable cardiovascular risk profile in terms of lower cholesterol levels, slightly lower blood pressure, and smoking less than EMA negative participants.
Limitations and merits
Unlike earlier studies, it was not possible to confirm the diagnosis of coeliac disease by intestinal biopsy in EMA positive participants. The validity of our findings therefore is dependent on the specificity and sensitivity of the EMA test. In routine clinical practice the test has proved to be extremely accurate, with a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 99% quoted recently.17 Recent data from our laboratory in Derby (unpublished) has estimated a specificity of 99.8% based on 1468 EMA tests. In earlier screening studies a total of 57 participants were found to be EMA positive and in all but three a diagnosis of coeliac disease was supported by abnormal biopsy findings.3,6–11 The recent introduction of the human tTGA assay in our laboratory allowed us to confirm that 89% (77/87) of EMA positives also had an abnormal tTGA level. Therefore, while it is possible that a few of the EMA positive participants did not have abnormal intestinal histology, the results of the tTGA assay indicate this is likely to be at most 11%. In addition, the sensitivity of the EMA test means that approximately 5% of those with coeliac disease will not have been detected.
We chose not to restrict our analyses to those positive for both tests for two reasons. Firstly, the sensitivity of human tTGA is not yet well established; a value of 96% has been estimated recently.18 Secondly, tTGA testing was performed only on EMA positive subjects whereas EMA testing was performed on the whole sample. When we compared those with both EMA positive and abnormal tTGA results to EMA negative participants, the associations presented here were of similar magnitude and in the same direction. None of the associations was changed towards the null.
Although this was a general population sample, there were greater numbers of women and those from higher social class groups, which is likely to be a consequence of the response rate to the original mailed invitation. We have no information about non-responders but it seems unlikely that those people who agreed to participate were, in some way, more likely to have undetected coeliac disease and therefore biased our findings towards an overestimate. Indeed, our seroprevalence estimate is similar to the findings of others who have performed smaller screening studies in the UK.4,19
As might be expected with undetected coeliac disease, mean haemoglobin, corrected calcium, and total protein levels were lower in EMA positive participants and 16% had a mild anaemia compared with 4% of EMA negative participants. Increases in serum alanine aminotransferase and platelet counts were small but similar to those found in clinically diagnosed coeliac disease.20,21 While there have been reports of significant decreases in BMD in screen detected or subclinical coeliac disease, we found only a small non-significant decrease in BMD.12,13 However, the prevalence of osteoporosis defined according to World Health Organisation criteria was 12% in EMA positives, twice that of EMA negatives.
EMA positive participants did not regard themselves as unwell; indeed, the numbers reporting good or excellent health were greater than in EMA negatives, although this difference was not statistically significant. Reported morbidity was no greater in positives and there was a trend towards less cardiovascular morbidity. Our finding of an 8% reduction in serum cholesterol among EMA positive participants would be expected to have a significant impact on cardiovascular morbidity. It has been estimated that a 0.6 mmol/l lower cholesterol will confer a 25% reduction in the incidence of ischaemic heart disease.22 Our data suggest that undetected coeliac disease may afford protection from ischaemic heart disease, a hypothesis first raised by Whorwell et al some 25 years ago.23
We found that few of the EMA positives were smokers and that as a group they reported much less smoking in the past. Three published case control studies have examined the relationship between cigarette smoking and coeliac disease. While two found a positive association between not smoking or never smoking and having coeliac disease, the most recent study did not.24–26 In these studies it was not clear how much of the association might be accounted for by selection and reporting biases and by cases stopping smoking after diagnosis. Such considerations do not apply here and our findings suggest that this is indeed a causal relationship, probably analogous to that seen in ulcerative colitis.
In conclusion, we found that undetected coeliac disease is likely to affect approximately 1% of the general population in England. Although these participants are at increased risk of mild anaemia and osteoporosis, they do not regard themselves as unwell. The important finding of a favourable cardiovascular risk profile in these individuals suggests that any screening programme of the general population would need to be carefully evaluated in terms of risks and benefits before its introduction.
We thank Kathleen Eley, Lesley Bird, and Sylvia Attah for their help with processing the blood samples. KTK and RR were responsible for the original study in Cambridge. JW, RFAL, PGH, GKTH, and AL designed and managed the study in Derby. JW, SL, and RH planned and performed the statistical analyses. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript. We thank Coeliac UK and the Wellcome Trust for funding.
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BARD Offshore 1
|BARD Offshore 1|
Location of BARD Offshore 1 in North Sea
|Construction began||March 2010|
|Commission date||26 August 2013|
|Distance from shore||90 km (56 mi)|
|Hub height||90 m (295 ft)|
|Rotor diameter||122 m (400 ft)|
|Units operational||80 x 5 MW|
|Make and model||BARD 5.0|
|Nameplate capacity||400 MW|
BARD Offshore 1 is a 400 megawatt (MW) North Sea offshore wind farm with 80 BARD 5.0 turbines. Construction was finished in July 2013 and the wind farm was officially inaugurated in August 2013. The wind farm is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of the isle Borkum in 40 metres (130 ft) deep water.
Laying of cables to connect the wind farm started on 23 July 2009. The 200 km connection is the longest of its kind in the world. It is also the first connection of an offshore wind park realized as HVDC-transmission. Construction of the wind turbines began in March 2010. The first turbine became operational at the beginning of December 2010. Construction was assisted by the purpose-built Wind Lift 1 barge / platform, which placed the 470 ton, 21 meter foundations on the sea bed.
The project has run into serious and unclear problems, including being three years behind schedule and, at a cost of €3 billion, run significantly over budget. A diver and a worker died during construction. The farm was supposed to go online in August 2013, but a series of setbacks, including a fire at a transmission station in March 2014, have delayed its activation. BARD went bankrupt in November 2013. Problems include overvoltage and harmonics between BARD and the BorWin 1 grid link and BorWin Alpha HVDC converter platform.
BARD's original owner had decided to make all components within the company, and troubles from the custom transformer are unrelated to standard equipment used elsewhere.
In September 2015, StatKraft and Ocean Breeze extended their contract for two years.
By May 2016, the company website stated that the wind farm had produced 3 TWh, and was running stable at full capacity.
- Press release: Pioneering wind farm project BARD Offshore 1 successfully completed on the high seas
- German Federal Minister Inaugurates BARD Offshore 1
- 5-MW BARD Near-shore Wind Turbine Erected in Germany
- DDP: Laying cables to wind farm started (in German)
- Wind farm in the ocean ready to go (in German)
- "Tauchunfall im Windpark" Diving accident in the wind farm Die Welt, 27 July 2010. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
- Pressemitteilung der BARD-Gruppe vom 27. Januar 2012 (PDF; 117 kB)
- Mitteilung der DGzRS, abgerufen am 4. Februar 2012
- Germany's Expensive Gamble on Renewable Energy by Matthew Karnitschnig, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2014.
- "Bard is bankrupt". renewablesinternational.net.
- "Rätselhafter Defekt legt größten Windpark lahm" Enigmatic defect paralyzes largest wind farm Die Welt, 3 September 2014. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
- Knight, Sara (29 May 2015). "Politics block German offshore wind link". windpowermonthly.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015.
- "Größter deutscher Meereswindpark fällt aus" The largest German offshore wind park falls out Die Welt, 7 July 2014. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
- "Im größten Meereswindpark dreht sich wenig" In the largest offshore wind park little turns Die Welt, 26 January 2015. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
- "Statkraft vermarktet Strom aus Bard Offshore 1 für weitere zwei Jahre". windmesse.de.
- Technical information
- Official Site
- BARD Offshore I Wind Farm, North Sea, Germany
- LORC Knowledge - Datasheet for BARD Offshore 1
- BARD Offshore 1 on 4c
- Cable details
- Current position and photos of Wind Lift 1
- Bird density
- Media articles
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This infographic contains just about every piece of information you would ever need to know about a Formula 1 car. How much it costs, down to each individual part, including how much it costs to own an F1 car over the entire time you won it, how the car works, and how much it costs to run an F1 team. I’m not going to get down to the nitty-gritty, since everything is explained so well in the infographic. I’ll just mention a few key facts and get to the scorecard.
This is a UK infographic, so all the numbers are in Pounds. All in all, it costs almost five million pounds to buy and run an F1 automobile. Why are they so expensive? Each piece is designed for optimum performance. Certain parts of the car are designed to reduce drag, and 80% of the car’s grip comes from aerodynamics.
A Formula 1 car can go from 0 to 124 mph in 2.21 seconds.
As for running a racing team, you have to pay racer salaries in the millions, travel costs in the millions, fuel costs in the millions, and pit crew salaries on top of everything else.
These impressive cars come with a hefty price tag, but they are super cool and so is this infographic.
I didn’t love the color choices, but I liked the layout.
Who knew? Loads of great information on Formula 1 cars.
Source: “This excellent F1 infographic was provided by Louis Rix from Netcars.com. Louis also co-owns Car Finance 247 who are based in Manchester, UK.”
Download this infographic.
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Last Saturday, more than 120 people of all ages made their way to the ImaginAsia classroom in search of love. First, visitors viewed a digital slideshow of images of love in Asian art. Then it was time to roll up their sleeves. Participants used printing blocks that say “love” in more than a dozen Asian languages as well as symbols of love to print vivid Valentines to take home. Languages included Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Tamil, Thai, and Turkish.
No matter how you say it, Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Everyone is unique. So is every tumor. Tumors can be hard to reach and treat. However, CyberKnife® offers unsurpassed accuracy and the ability to adjust to tumor size and location anywhere in the body, offering new hope for patients.
Mercy Cancer Center offers Iowa’s only flexible stereotactic radiosurgery system (SRS). CyberKnife® is the only SRS system that utilizes robotic technology combined with image-guidance to administer precision radiation treatments to previously inoperable tumors without the need for rigid patient restraints or undue patient discomfort. The CyberKnife® Center provides hope for some patients who may have received the maximum allowable dose of radiation or have been told their condition is untreatable.
The CyberKnife® delivers radiation to difficult-to-target sections of the body including the brain, spine, liver, lungs, head, neck and other areas that traditional methods or systems, such as radiation therapy or the gamma knife, cannot reach. This non-invasive method requires no anesthesia and does not present the same risks as traditional surgery.
The revolutionary CyberKnife® procedure has proven successful in removing cancers, tumors, lesions and treating functional disorders for more than 35,000 patients worldwide.
Incidences of cancer in Iowa are expected grow as the elderly population grows by 72 percent by 2025. The CyberKnife® Radiosurgery Center of Iowa is expected to play a primary role in treating previously inoperable tumors and offering hope of cancer survival.
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|Peach and cream silk evening gown c.1910-1915 |
Ryerson Fashion Research Collection
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2012
Clothing is material memory, carrying the imprints of our body, absorbing sweat and stains, and straining with the stress of wear, especially at seams, hems and closure points. Although museums and study collections generally seek to collect items in near-perfect condition, there are stories hidden in the marks and stains of living. In a poetic essay, Peter Stallybrass describes how the clothes of his late colleague Allon White triggered sensory memories. “He was there in the wrinkles of the elbows, wrinkles that in the technical jargon of sewing are called ‘memory’; he was there in the stains at the very bottom of the jacket; he was there in the smell of the armpits” .
The Ryerson University Fashion Research Collection is a repository of several thousand garments and accessories acquired by donation, with the oldest garments dating back to 1860. For several years, this collection was dormant and largely unknown by the student body, and in editing the collection I examined each and every item within the storage facility. It was during the process of handling of each piece that I was haunted by the traces of the makers in the hand-stitching and the turns of the hem, and by the traces of the owners in the faint sweat stains under the arms and the worn patches at the elbows. There is such poignancy in these pieces, because they are still beautiful, but not to a pristine, museum-like standard. Some of these garments are in an advanced stage of decomposition, literally crumbling into dust due to the presence of weighted silk, and embody a duality of beauty and decay, life and death, emptiness and nostalgia, memory and transience. These fragments, which mirror the fragmentary nature of the records, became the source of my curatorial obsession.
In this project called Memories of a Dress, I created a series of photographs focusing on the rare historic garments in the Collection, and manipulated those images to suggest narratives that evoke the concepts of memory, fragility and transience. Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida defined photography as an artistic medium that was intimately linked with death as “a witness of something that is no more”, and this project fixes the process of decomposition in time, marking a moment that has already passed as the items continue on their trajectory into dust.
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In an interview on NPR, Charles Blow was discussing his recently published memoir that contains traumatic subject material. He dismissed a great deal of the commentary that has surrounded the subject matter, labeling it “lazy binary.” The binary refers to the digital world of “0’s” and “1’s” that excludes the use of any other terms. The literary practitioner of the lazy binary is guilty of ignoring shades and subtlety, but also of a logic fallacy of insisting that there are two equidistant views of a controversy that resides in the middle between them.
Subtlety is not convenient. In the tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) world of digital media, readers skim rather than read through the text. Subtlety requires paying attention and following an argument step by step as it moves from broad statement to specific points of explanation. Subtlety takes time and focus. Subtlety is the victim of sound bites and twitter. Most would agree that the world does not need more sound bites.
Subtlety has a long history of being ignored or denigrated but the logic fallacy is actually more pernicious. This insistence that there are two equally worthy opposing views on any given assumption is a favorite tool of partisans, ideologues, fanatics, and hell bent capitalists. In a given circumstance, there may only be one legitimate point of view but an opposing view is given equal billing because it seems fairer or reads better. Given a forum, a self-serving ideologue can do a lot of damage.
I feel like we are discussing elementary school. Subtlety does not exist because the young minds have not developed enough. The idea that a controversy may have more than one side is also an early academic grades lesson too. So is the corollary that not all sides are equal.
Why then do we have to constantly remind ourselves now of these early lessons? Lazy binary, indeed.
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Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)
The decision to start your own business is a great step in life, and we are here to help. To be successful entrepreneurs need:
- A great service or product to provide to the public
- Guidance to find the intelligent way to structure the business
Poorly thought out business structures, often a Sole Proprietorship sometimes called a "Schedule C", can have taxes drain the life out of the core business, and expose the investors other assets to dangerous external liabilities. Fortunately, we have a tool that gives us great flexibility — the Limited Liability Company.
The Limited Liability Company
Forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) should be considered when you are deciding to start a business, as for many startups it is the best choice. Instead of just following the herd, take the time to discuss the matter with us—your business success is our fundamental objective.
LLCs are puzzling and intimidating for many. Most do not use this legal entity to the fullest, and some dangerously abuse it. The LLC offers the limited liability of a corporation, while allowing tax flexibility, as well as simpler requirements than traditional corporations regarding managing the business and organization.
Like the shareholders of a corporation, LLC owners are protected from personal liability for business debts and claims. This means that if the business itself cannot pay a creditor—such as a supplier, a lender, or even a landlord—the creditor cannot legally come after any LLC member's house, car, or other personal possessions. Since only LLC assets are used to pay off business debts, LLC owners losses are limited to the assets that they have invested in the LLC. This feature is often called "limited liability."
However, like all corporate structures, abuse of the entity's provisions can "pierce the corporate veil" and can expose careless LLC owners personally. One of the most common mistakes made, is the intermingling of personal and corporate funds, and in effect turn the LLC into your alter-ego instead of its own discrete entity. To help ensure that this does not happen you should open a new bank account and credit cards in the name of the LLC only, and continue to keep your personal accounts completely separate. Keep in mind that by allowing a member,as an individual, to co-sign on a loan or another account, you could be exposing the member's assets. Of course as your company produces profit, funds will be transferred to the members personally, but it needs to be done in the correct manner as dictated by the LLC's tax structure.
Treatment of LLCs from a Tax Perspective
LLCs have been called “pass-through entities”, this means that as business income passes through to the LLC members who then report their share of profits or losses on their individual income tax returns. However, this statement is only partially correct. An LLC can be taxed four different ways: like a C Corporation, S Corporation, Partnership, or Sole Proprietorship. You need only to understand and consult with your tax accountant to decide the best taxation for your business venture.
The LLC management can be handled in two ways, member-managed or manager-managed. Member-managed is the most widely used LLC management structure. Member-managed simply means that the LLC is managed equally by all of the owners. Manager-managed means that you designate one or more owners or even an outside person to take responsibility of the managing of the LLC. The non-managing members simply share in the LLC profits or losses. The Manager-managed structure only allows the named managers to vote on management decisions of the LLC.
While some have decided to file the necessary forms with a state themselves, it is critical to ensure that a proper and appropriate operating agreement is in effect. Thus we recommend that you use a qualified legal service or attorney with our assistance.
The LLC offers business owners flexibility and financial protection, while being cost effective and uncomplicated to start. It is the best choice for many kinds of businesses, including some of the largest in the United States. We hope that this has shed some light on the LLC structure and that you do what is right for you and your business.
To protect yourself make sure that:
- Your LLC is correctly setup
- You do not commingle funds
- You do not abuse the entity's provisions
- You understand and follow your operating agreement
Additional Questions to Discuss:
- Do I need to setup the LLC in the state that I am doing business in?
- How does state that I choose affect my financial privacy?
- Would it ever be beneficial to use multiple LLCs for my business?
- What other types of entities, or trusts naturally complement LLCs?
- What else can I do to harden my LLC so that a member is best protected?
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Citizens of Virginia enjoy many rights, but also have civic responsibilities. Virginia's Constitution provides that all people are equally free and independent. Government exists to uphold "the common benefit, protection and security" of our citizens, who are entitled to vote in "frequent, certain and regular elections." Virginia citizens have the right of assembly, and the right to a free trial. They have the right to own property and to freely exercise their religions. Children are provided a public education.
Our citizens enjoy a stable economy with job opportunities, bountiful natural resources, historic and cultural attractions, and recreational opportunities. In exchange for these rights and privileges, Virginia's citizens are expected to obey laws made for the public good, to pay their fair share of taxes and to help others in the community. These principles are the foundations of good citizenship.
WAI Level A Compliant
© 1998 - 2013 Virginia.gov
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A bit of Bereza family lore: It is 1945. The Nazis are still everywhere, made murderous by defeat. Grandma Bereza has escaped from the work camp near the Czechoslovakian border, where she and other Polish women stitch uniforms for the German Army. Her best friend is the mistress of the factory manager; he has given them civilian clothes and two train tickets. They are walking to the station in thick woolen dresses, two pretty young women, extremely thin, Poles. They do not speak. A few hundred yards from the ticket booth, they spot an SS officer on the other side of the street.
"His uniform was very crisp and he wore a hat," Grandma Bereza says. "They all wore hats. He was looking at us steadily while we walked. His eyes were just under the brim of his hat." She pauses. She has told this story many times. It is, in some sense, her only story.
"I thought with one word I would be dead. That's how it was at the end. So I decided. I was determined to face the man who was going to kill me. I turned my face up and looked him in the eyes. My family was dead already. In a few hours everyone in the camp would be dead. We knew that."
Grandma Bereza says nothing about the look they exchanged. She does not speculate as to what might have been going through the mind of the German officer. It is possible he was tired, or even embarrassed. A man can run on hate for only so long before embarrassment sets in. Her story, in fact, is over. There is nothing more to say. She lived. The others died.
So we leave her there, back in 1945, a young woman hurrying toward the train station, though tonight she is an old woman, short of breath, her cheeks flushed by vodka. She lives in Wroclaw, once a German city. The buildings are damp and stained with ash. Down below are the streets the Russian tanks occupied a decade ago. Grandma Bereza is smoking long thin cigarettes, staring out the window into the night, and her reflection is staring back at her and she feels precisely as she did then. She is proud of her courage and sorry to be alive.
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Art Wolfe: How Horizon Placement Affects Depth
This is an excerpt from The New Art of Photographing Nature: An Updated Guide to Composing Stunning Images of Animals, Nature, and Landscapes (Amphoto Books, $29.99). A book by world-renowned photographer Art Wolfe, and writer and photo editor Martha Hill, with digital imaging expert Tim Grey. Available in bookstores everywhere and on the Art Wolfe website.
How Horizon Placement Affects Depth
One of the most common errors I see in portfolio reviews is the placement of the horizon in the middle of the photograph. In my opinion, this flattens out the image, creating less of a sense of depth. Placing the horizon high or low in the frame can create a dynamic that allows the eyes to wander through the image far more easily.
In the first image (above), with the horizon in the middle, the eye just stops. In the second (below), the high placement of the horizon allows me to add more foreground, showing the expanse of beach and tide. There is a nice play between the forms of sand and the drama of the setting sun.
In the third shot (below), with the horizon low in the frame, the focus is on the sun and how it reflects on the water, giving greater emphasis to the clouds overhead. High and low horizons create less predictable images and, to my mind, a greater sense of depth and drama.
Because the horizon line is so straight, it cuts the picture space into definite sections and has to be factored into what you want to emphasize. In each of these images, we get a slightly different sense. Placing the horizon in the middle might be desirable if stability and tranquillity are what you want to convey. However, it relies on a very dramatic sunset to make a powerful statement.
With a horizon placed high in the frame, the foreground becomes more important and requires either a texture or an interesting detail. However, if the drama of the sky is more powerful, then lowering the horizon is a better option.
Despite what I said earlier about drama and depth, there are definitely instances when I will put the horizon right down the middle to create a sense of symmetry. If there are two elements in equal balance, placing the horizon in the middle works well, as does dividing the image in half using a strong vertical line.
In the image shown below, the graceful boughs of an alder tree reach down and touch the surface of Lake Crescent on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. I wanted to give greater play and emphasis to the way the lines meet at the water’s surface. Rather than trying to create a sense of depth, I wanted to emphasize the reflection, and the abstraction it created, by drawing the viewer’s eye to the precise spot where the lines converge.
In the next image, I was able to take advantage of the perfectly still waters in a canyon in western Australia. Not only is the darter sitting on the rock perfectly reflected, but the red canyon walls give the image a coppery glow.
The important centerline may not be the actual horizon line, or shoreline, but the line dividing the reflection. With the Lake Crescent image, I’ve made a symmetrical composition, like a Rorschach inkblot, by putting the mirror-image reflection in the middle on the horizontal axis. However, it is not symmetrical in the vertical, and that is what gives the picture its dynamism. The heavier branch on the left creates a strong sweeping line, complemented by the more delicate arc of the right side.
In this darter image, I placed the bird and rock centrally on the vertical, but not the horizontal. The weight of this image is slightly lower in the frame, just far enough off the middle to make it interesting. In both of these images, this slightly off-balance tension enhances the visual interest.
Generally, the horizon line has the character of strength and stability; it dominates the composition and demands to be straight. Because our expectation is always for a level horizon, a tilted horizon is disconcerting to the eye. Images with- out enough room to correct this problem would not be publishable.
Placing the Horizon Off Center
By placing the subject directly in the middle of your frame, you effectively flatten the image, making a more abstract statement. However, in many cases, this is not the desired effect. And once you remove the horizon from the middle, it is possible to create a much greater sense of depth and dynamics.
Punch Bowl Falls is a very famous feature in the Columbia River Gorge. In the first image (above), I placed the horizon in the middle of the frame; the eye goes directly to the waterfall and stops. In the second image (below), I selected a wider angle, placing the waterfall in the upper quadrant of the image. This allows me to incorporate the reflective water owing toward me and, using a polarizing filter, show the submerged rocks. The interest created by the rocks and water balances the waterfall and creates a depth to the photograph that is absent in the first image.
For the image of Torres Del Paine (below), I chose to lower the horizon to accentuate the dynamic, vertical sweep of a lenticular cloud.
In the second image, the placement of the waterfall higher in the frame creates a sense of depth by drawing the viewer into the picture space. Because the eye travels deep into the picture to the waterfall, it is as if we are re-creating the experience of finding this scene on our own. The version with the centered placement may be the more normal perspective, but it lacks the enhanced sense of discovery of the second composition.
The horizon is, by definition, horizontal. Enclosed by a horizontal frame, its energy seems to spread sideways. When a landscape with a horizon is photographed vertically, interesting possibilities arise. The eye’s attention is more easily drawn to the upper or lower portion, depending on where the horizon is placed. Certain tall vertical elements, such as trees, often demand to be photographed vertically to create the proper impression of height or majesty.
In the third image, the low placement of the horizon gives the cloud maximum emphasis and creates a wonderful energy. It actually feels as if the cloud is pushing down the rugged landscape beneath it, which, by its darkness and solidity, gives weight to the picture and anchors it. This is a landscape of high winds and rapidly changing climatic conditions, and this photo captures a sense of that power.
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This course is an introduction to sales and use taxes as they apply to local governments in Minnesota, such as cities, towns, school districts or counties. It is designed for bookkeepers, purchasing agents and accountants who need a working knowledge of the law and how to meet their obligations. The course is free and requires no preparation or prerequisites.
In this class, we'll cover:
Sales and Use Tax basics for Minnesota and its local tax jurisdictions
Who must register to collect and pay sales and use taxes
How the law applies to various business activities within governmental agencies
How and when to use or accept an exemption certificate
Managing your use tax liability
Key documentation you need for Sales and Use Tax records
How to complete a Sales and Use Tax return
Resources to answer your questions
Continuing Professional Education
You can get Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits when you finish this class.
The Minnesota Department of Revenue is registered with the National Association State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. View details about our CPE courses and NASBA.
Amy Skog (St. Paul), Bill Sumner (St. Paul), Deanna Statz, Erin Martin (St. Paul), and Penny Demko.
View Instructor Bios
You must register in advance for these classes. All classes are free. You will get an email confirmation. We may cancel a class if there aren’t enough registered participants; if that happens, we’ll notify you five days before the class.
We offer classes at the locations listed below. All classes are offered from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. To register for a class, click on the location you would like to attend.
All sites are handicap accessible. Reasonable accommodations are available for anyone with impaired vision or hearing. Please let us know of any necessary accommodations during your registration.
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Title: Drive On! A Social History of the Motor Car.
Publisher: Palawan Press
Publication Date: 2002
Book Condition: Brand new 12 x 10 hardback.
312 pages, 300 illustrations. Emphatically not just another book of cars. Some writers have previously studied what the car has done to society, but they have invariably taken a view that has been either geographically too narrow or historically too short. None has studied what society has done to the car, until now. LJK Setright, the most eminent motoring writer of our age, has written the definitive text from both these aspects and personally chosen over 300 surprisingly diverse pictures to illustrate it. Drive On! is a book that the enthusiast for motoring can read with pleasure, the critic with growing understanding, the historian with some surprise, and the scholar with satisfaction. 37167B. Bookseller Inventory # 38115
Synopsis: Stimulating, informative, provocative, and witty, Drive On! charts the international history of the car, decade by decade, examining how cars have adapted as a result of what society has demanded of them. While some chapters are devoted to quirky topics like “Where to Stop? and “What to Wear,? others look at the technological changes of the last century, from wooden wheels to computer control. Along the way, L.J.K. Setright, who is considered one of the world?s foremost and most forthright writers on the subject, offers fascinating divagations on everything from the origins of the word “dashboard? to the maximum speed of a raindrop.
About the Author: L. J. K. Setright has been writing for Car magazine for 33 years, is a world expert on tyres and expresses forthright views on such things as speed limits, taxation, and pollution, and offers fascinating divagations on anything from the origins of the word 'dashboard' to the maximum speed of a rain drop (18mph, unaided by wind).
This bookseller accepts the following methods of payment:
AbeBooks Bookseller Since: December 5, 2001
Hello! Nice to see you. You can buy with your credit card through Abebooks, or you can visit us at www.runforcoverbooks.com, where we accept Visa and Mastercard on our secure server. If credit cards are not your thing, you may also place an order and then send payment by check, money order or by PayPal to firstname.lastname@example.org.
DOMESTIC SHIPPING RATES: For all books, DVDs, CDs, audio books and video tapes: USPS media mail shipping (which usually takes 1-3 weeks and can sometimes take longe...
Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.
Store Description: Run For Cover! is an Internet seller of new, hard-to-find, and used books. We don't have a physical store, but we welcome your browsing online and are happy to answer your questions by email to email@example.com. We want to provide good books at good prices, to send them out promptly and for us both to feel good about the experience. We do all we can to that end. You can also browse or search our stock at www.runforcoverbooks.com.
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When the iPad 3 was launched, I talked a bit about how it was a godsend because the extremely sharp QXGA Retina display, with its very high pixel density, made reading books and websites easier for people experiencing presbyopia -- the inability to focus on close objects.
The Retina display doesn't "cure" presbyopia. There are some new surgical procedures such as intraocular lens implants, PresbyLASIC and conductive keratoplasty, all of which may or may not be suitable or necessarily effective for some types patients.
Typically, this problem is dealt with by having multiple pairs of corrective eyeglasses -- one for distance vision, and one for reading. Some use bifocals or progressive eyeglasses, which is considered to be something of a trade-off in vision correction.
If you use any of these eyeglass products and are tired of the compromise, there's a new solution. It's called Superfocus, and it was designed by a brilliant inventor named Stephen Kurtin.
Kurtin, who did his undergraduate studies at MIT got his PhD from Caltech in Applied Physics, has been working in the computer industry since the late 1960s and has patented a number of inventions, including a number of imaging, audio and display technologies.
When he hit his 40's, however, Kurtin began experiencing presbyopia and thought about what it would take to solve the problem. By 1992, he had invented a technology called VariFocus, which allows for users of eyeglasses to manually adjust the focus.
Kurtin has spent the last 20 years perfecting the special Superfocus glasses. The technology itself is relatively simple to understand, but it has been a significant engineering challenge.
The Superfocus glasses have two sets of lenses for each eye. The lens in front is a regular prescription lens, which is magnetically attached to the frame assembly. The lens in rear is a sandwich of regular glass, plus a flexible polymer (a baloon essentially) filled with a clear saline-like solution.
When you use the slider mechanism on the bridge of the eyeglasses, the rear glass pivots on a hinge on the frame and deforms the flexible polymer, essentially replicating "squinting" inside your eye.
The results are nothing short of incredible. I've been wearing these glasses for about two weeks, and I can now experience extremely sharp vision regardless if I am doing distance vision (driving, etc.) or reading my iPad or Kindle.
To give you an idea of how impressive this is, I thought I was really blown away by the iPad 3's Retina display before I wore these glasses. But now I can lay down on my bed, read text, and focus so sharply I can actually distinguish pixels on the Retina display when I am looking at it close up. I couldn't do that before.
So, what's the drawback to using these glasses? Well, they aren't cheap. My prescription plus regular lenses (the company also offers various tinting and scratch resistant options as well as Transitions) came out to $729.00, including shipping. It can go a bit higher depending on which types of frames you choose and what options you add.
However, as I understand, this isn't much of a premium over owning regular plus reading glasses, or owning a good pair of bifocals or progressive glasses.
Another disadvantage is that if you have a large head, and you normally wear large aviator-style frames with large lenses, you may find that your peripheral vision might suffer a bit because your eyes may wander outside the reach of the Superfocus lenses. I spoke with Kurtin about this and the company is going to consider a larger lens option for bigger/wider heads in the future.
There's also another "disadvantage" -- they look really retro-geeky. As in, the lenses have to be circular for the VariFocus technology to be effective, so you end up having the John Lennon, Steve Jobs, Teddy Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Ozzy Osbourne, Harry Potter or Colonel Klink look.
Given that these glasses are likely to become popular with the technology crowd, I suspect that this look may very well end up becoming a fashion statement. Magician/Comedian Penn Jillette is the company's poster child. And while the company will never admit to it publicly, two very well known computer industry billionaires have been on their client list.
The Superfocus glasses also really need to be fitted by a professional optician when you get them, otherwise they will ride too close to your face and get smudged up too easily. The glasses are easily cleaned by rinsing them in soapy water, and should the front lenses get smudged on the inside facing the deformative layer, they can be removed, cleaned and re-attached magnetically.
Minor disadvantages aside -- I think Superfocus is a great product and it's going to revolutionize the eyewear industry. The company has taken the Dell direct-sales approach in order to minimize costs to the consumer, so you can order them directly from their web site. The company also does about 25 percent of its sales in the traditional eyewear channel, so your optician/optometrist may be able to get them for you as well.
The company offers a 30-day money back guarantee if you aren't satisfied, so it's not exactly a high-risk proposition.
Are you currently using or considering the purchase of Superfocus glasses? Talk Back and Let Me Know.
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Unlock the secrets to financial literacy and discover the crucial role of financial education. Alleviate Financial offers a comprehensive guide to navigating these services, empowering you to make informed decisions for a debt-free future.
Financial literacy is a crucial aspect of modern life, impacting individuals’ ability to make informed financial decisions. In an era where managing finances has become increasingly complex, the need for financial education is more significant than ever. Learn more about the importance of financial literacy and explore why educational initiatives are essential for individuals in achieving debt relief.
The Importance of Financial Literacy
Understanding the fundamentals of financial literacy is akin to having a compass in the vast sea of economic decisions. It involves grasping concepts like budgeting, saving, investing, and comprehending financial instruments. Without a solid foundation in these principles, individuals may find themselves adrift in a sea of confusion, often resorting to reactive measures rather than proactive financial planning.
Financial literacy isn’t just about balancing a checkbook; it’s a tool for empowerment. It enables individuals to make informed decisions about debt and investments, ultimately paving the way for a secure financial future.
The Role of Education in Debt Relief Services
Debt relief services play a pivotal role in assisting individuals burdened by financial obligations. However, without a proper understanding of how these services operate, individuals may inadvertently find themselves in a quagmire. Financial education becomes the guiding light, illuminating the path toward effective debt resolution.
Understanding the Spectrum of Debt Relief Services
To navigate the diverse landscape of debt relief, individuals must be aware of the array of services available. Here are some key debt relief services that can provide a lifeline for those grappling with financial challenges:
Debt consolidation involves combining multiple debts into a single, more manageable payment. This can simplify the repayment process and, in some cases, result in lower interest rates. However, it’s crucial to understand the terms and potential impact on credit scores.
Debt Settlement Programs
Debt settlement programs aim to negotiate with creditors on behalf of the debtor to reduce the total amount owed. This can lead to a more affordable repayment plan, but it’s essential to recognize the potential impact on credit scores and tax implications.
Credit counseling services provide professional guidance on managing finances and developing a budget. These services can also negotiate with creditors for lower interest rates or more favorable repayment terms, offering a holistic approach to financial stability.
In extreme cases, individuals may consider filing for bankruptcy as alternative to debt relief or their last resort. Bankruptcy services help navigate the legal process and determine the most suitable type of bankruptcy (Chapter 7 or Chapter 13). However, the implications on credit are substantial, and it should be approached with careful consideration.
Debt Management Plans (DMPs)
DMPs involve working with a credit counseling agency to create a structured repayment plan. The agency negotiates with creditors for lower interest rates and manageable monthly payments. Adhering to a DMP can help individuals regain control over their finances.
Student Loan Debt Relief
For those burdened with student loan debt, specialized relief programs may be available. These could include income-driven repayment plans, loan forgiveness programs, or options for deferment or forbearance. Understanding the intricacies of these programs is crucial for effective management.
The Pitfalls of Financial Ignorance
Financial illiteracy can lead to a myriad of pitfalls, often manifesting in detrimental consequences for individuals and their financial well-being. Let’s explore some of the critical pitfalls associated with a lack of financial knowledge:
1. Falling Prey to Scams
Without an understanding of financial basics, individuals are more susceptible to falling victim to scams and fraudulent schemes. Scammers often exploit the ignorance of individuals, promising quick and unrealistic returns. Financial education serves as a shield, empowering individuals to recognize and avoid potential scams.
2. Uninformed Investment Decisions
Investing can be a powerful wealth-building tool, but without knowledge, it becomes a risky venture. Ignorance may lead individuals to make uninformed investment decisions, resulting in financial losses. A sound financial education provides the necessary tools to assess investment opportunities, manage risks, and make informed choices aligned with one’s financial goals.
3. Struggling to Break Free from Debt
Financial ignorance can contribute to the perpetuation of debt cycles. Without a grasp of effective debt resolution strategies, individuals may struggle to break free from the shackles of debt. Financial education empowers individuals with the knowledge to navigate debt relief services wisely, ensuring a path toward financial recovery.
4. Limited Financial Planning
Financial planning is a cornerstone of a secure financial future. Without the ability to create a budget, set financial goals, and plan for the future, individuals may find themselves living paycheck to paycheck. Financial education equips individuals with the skills to create realistic financial plans, fostering long-term financial stability.
The Ripple Effect of Financial Literacy
To address the pressing need for financial literacy, various initiatives have emerged. Schools, community organizations, and online platforms offer resources to enhance financial knowledge. By actively participating in these programs, individuals can equip themselves with the tools necessary to secure their financial future.
Financial literacy is not confined to personal benefits; it has a ripple effect on communities and the economy at large. When individuals are financially literate, they are more likely to contribute positively to their communities, make informed purchasing decisions, and bolster the overall economic landscape.
Choose the Right Path to Financial Literacy with Alleviate Financial Solutions
Each debt relief service has its own advantages and considerations. Financial education empowers individuals to assess their unique financial situation and choose the most suitable path. It’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario, and understanding the nuances of each service is key to making informed decisions.
As you embark on your journey to financial stability, consider the comprehensive support offered by Alleviate Financial Solutions. Our tailored debt relief services, including debt consolidation, settlement programs, and personalized financial counseling, are designed to guide you through the maze of financial challenges. With a commitment to transparency and client success, Alleviate Financial stands as a beacon of hope on your path to a debt-free future.
Don’t let financial burdens hold you back. Take the first step towards financial freedom by exploring the solutions Alleviate Financial has to offer. Your journey to a brighter financial future starts by contacting 800-308-2935 for a free consultation today!
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4. METHOD OF SOLUTION
GOMESH treats meshes with triangular basic elements. The program uses the same punched cards as those required for the input to the 'STAG' series of stress analysis codes and can prepare three basic mesh diagrams which differ in their mode of numbering. One objective of using these diagrams is to show up errors in the card deck by making them visually recognisable.
Furthermore, digital tests are made within the program to check that certain requirements have been observed in the production of the lattice. The program 'GOMESH', can provide, superimposed in the graphical representation, stress and temperature values in numerical form, can represent the displacement of the mesh before and after a specified irradiation time, and give the directions and sense of the principal stresses occurring in the individual elements, in the form of arrows of varying length.
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While all the vitamins and minerals are a great bonus, the real star here is cauliflower‘s cancer-fighting compounds, glucosinolates. These phytochemicals are responsible for cauliflower’s sometimes-bitter flavor, but they have also been shown to prevent damage to the lungs and stomach by carcinogens, potentially protecting against those cancers. And thanks to interactions with estrogen, cauliflower may also help prevent hormone-driven cancers like those of the breast, uterus and cervix.
Try it: Roasted Cauliflower with Herb Sauce via The Meaning of Pie
Greatist is the fastest-growing fitness, health and happiness startup. Check out more tips, expert opinion and fun times at Greatist.com.
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mimicryArticle Free Pass
Significant aspects of mimicry are discussed in Wolfgang Wickler, Mimicry in Plants and Animals (1968; originally published in German, 1968); Bastiaan J.D. Meeuse, The Story of Pollination (1961), on insect–flower relationships; Hugh B. Cott, Adaptive Coloration in Animals (1940, reprinted 1966); Bertil Kullenberg, Studies in Ophrys Pollination (1961), on mimicry in orchids; and Denis Owen, Camouflage and Mimicry (1980). More research is described in Thomas Eisner and Edward O. Wilson (comps.), Animal Behavior: Readings from Scientific American (1975), and The Insects: Readings from Scientific American (1977). Types of mimicry are discussed in G. Pasteur, “A Classificatory Review of Mimicry Systems,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 13:169–199 (1982). A series of articles in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, analyzes the mechanism of specific Batesian mimicS: Cyril A. Clarke, Philip M. Sheppard, and I.W.B. Thornton, “The Genetics of the Mimetic Butterfly Papilio memnon L.,” 254:37–89 (1968); Cyril A. Clarke and Philip M. Sheppard, “Further Studies on the Genetics of the Mimetic Butterfly Papilio memnon L.,” 263:35–70 (1971), and “The Genetics of the Mimetic Butterfly Hypolimnas bolina L.,” 272:229–265 (1975). Other journal articles on mimicry include J.R.G. Turner, “Adaptation and Evolution in Heliconius: A Defense of Neo-Darwinism,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 12:99–121 (1981); on plants, D. Wiens, “Mimicry in Plants,” Evolutionary Biology, 11:365–403 (1978); Spencer C.H. Barrett, “Crop Mimicry in Weeds,” Economic Botany, 37:255–282 (1983), and “Mimicry in Plants,” Scientific American, 257(3):76–83 (September 1987); and on birds, P.K. McGregor and J.R. Krebs, “Song Learning and Deceptive Mimicry,” Animal Behaviour, 32:280–287 (1984).
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THE WINTER strawberry season is in full swing.
Do you know exactly what goes into that juicy strawberry you see at the supermarkets?
Every strawberry season, researchers from the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program trial, taste and assess thousands of new varieties of strawberry developed through natural breeding to identify the best tasting and yielding fruit for Australia. Funded by Hort Innovation in partnership with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the program supports the Australian strawberry industry by giving them access to improved, locally adapted superior varieties.
The current program began in 2018 and continues the work of previous research which saw the commercialisation of 12 new varieties in recent years.
Hort Innovation Research and Development Manager, Dr Vino Rajandran said “The strawberry breeding program strives to develop elite varieties for both Australian consumers and growers by combining the best of both natural breeding techniques and cutting-edge science to improve fruit quality and flavour.”
“The program, in collaboration with Australian strawberry growers, breeds for the best tasting and yielding varieties that are suitable for sub-tropical, temperate and mediterranean climates, covering most of the strawberry production area of Australia.
“Last year more than 80% of strawberry plants grown commercially in Queensland were varieties developed by the program, so if you bought a punnet of Australian-grown strawberries from the supermarket tomorrow, you are buying an Australian product that has been perfected for both our climate and taste-buds.”
Strawberry breeder Dr Jodi Neal said, “We’ve started screening our strawberries for the presence of aromatic compounds that contribute to that sweet peach flavour in strawberries and the presence of genes that contribute to this.
“We are also producing white and pale strawberries – like strawberries and cream. We will soon be looking for a commercialisation partner for these varieties. The varieties are pure white on the inside and taste a bit like pineapples.
“We are also working on a new darker variety that’s the colour of red wine.”
Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said, “The highly successful breeding program continues the Queensland Government’s proud support for strawberry growers.
“Queensland is Australia’s largest strawberry producer with an average industry value of $171 million over the past five years and the breeding program can be credited with a large part of this success.
“The program’s strawberry varieties had an estimated national farm gate value of $201 million in 2018-19 and now make up 80 per cent of strawberries planted in Queensland, supporting jobs and enhancing Queensland’s well-earned reputation for producing the world’s finest produce.”
Not only do strawberries taste good, they are good for your health too.
Hort Innovation Accredited Dietitian Jemma O’Hanlon said, “Strawberries are nutritional powerhouses. They contain a whopping 170% of our daily intake of vitamin C, which supports our immunity as well as enriching our skin from within. Strawberries also contain folate, potassium and powerful antioxidants to fight off free radical damage. They are very low in kilojoules, so they make the perfect snack for those managing their weight and they are also perfect straight from the punnet, just as nature intended, and the gut-loving fibre will keep you fuller for longer.”
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Games aren’t a waste of time. Don’t let their fun facade fool you: they’re changing us, enabling to defeat with complex problems and navigate strange spaces. They’re improving and educating the people who play them, transmitting radical political ideas, hard-wiring untested neural connections. In Japan games are being sold as anti-ageing devices, while in Europe and America scientists are just beginning to realise that games can be used as training simulators that have no precedent in human history. Videogames are going to be used by teachers to make the next generation of schoolchildren pay more attention in class and get smarter faster. They’re already creating a generation whose visual skills and information-processing talents far exceed those of their parents. The military want gamers to pilot their helicopters and fighter jets, but for many gamers their encounter with games has led in entirely different directions. We’re becoming skilled surgeons who learn with gamepads, we’re becoming motivated politicians who fight inequality with digital worlds, and we’re becoming human computers – nodes in a future of brain-powered processing we could barely have imagined just a few years ago.
Gamers will save the world, and that process is only getting started. Don’t believe us? Read on.
[This article first appeared last year in issue 172 of PC Gamer UK magazine.]
There is a very strong reason to spend time at your PC: it’s making you into a better, faster human being. Videogames are a new and important part of a rounded regime of brain exercise. You might think of them as athletics for the nervous system. What they do to the brain is unprecedented in nature: forcing us into spatially weird situations, and dumping abstract puzzles on us in a relentless and thrilling fashion. Reading, talking, and watching movies all exercise different areas of the brain, and videogames likewise provide us with unique stimuli, pushing the brain to become stronger and more flexible.
Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York have been looking at exactly how continued videogame-use influences our visual processing. The Rochester researchers intended to see whether habitual game-playing improved the visual skills of gamers, and they came up with a number of tests to measure this against nongamers. They reported that “videogame players were found to outperform non-videogame players on the localisation of an eccentric target among distractors, on the number of visual items they could apprehend at once, and on the fast temporal processing of visual information.” Or, in common-speak: gamers are better at using their eyes, and better at understanding what they see and doing something about it, than non-gamers.
The Federation of American Scientists has been doing similar work, and they think that games can improve our general idea handling and planning. Their 2006 report on the medium concluded that “videogame developers have instinctively implemented many of the common axioms of learning scientists. They have used these approaches to help game players exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly demanded by employers in a wide range of industries.” Translating again: games teach us techniques for problem solving that are very close to the scientific method of coming up with a hypothesis and then testing it.
The implications of this are enormous. Videogames are helping people become better translators and negotiators by giving them videogame characters to interact with – such as using the classic graphic adventure Grim Fandango to teach Spanish, or the US military simulator Tactical Iraqi to teach soldiers how to behave in Arab countries. We’re becoming better pilots, better navigators, better drivers, and we can learn in a safe environment: the British School of Motoring is following the lead provided by flight simulators by creating its own range of in-store driving simulators, enabling firsttime drivers to make their first foray behind the steering wheel in complete safety.
It’s long been a given that hand-eye co-ordination is improved by gaming, but in recent years there has been some significant evidence for this provided by medical practitioners. One crucial example is the work carried out by New York’s Dr James Rosser. A surgeon who works in the field of ‘minimally invasive surgery’, Rosser seems about as far from the slacker archetype of a gamer as possible. Nevertheless Rosser makes use of games – for him they are as much a practical tool for improving your hand-eye coordination as they are entertainment.
Rosser’s trainee doctors are instructed to play several hours of Super Monkey Ball each week, a tactic that the surgeon insists is an essential part of the success of his ‘Top Gun’ training programme. Surgeons who played at least three hours of Super Monkey Ball each week made 37% fewer errors, according to Rosser’s studies. Even if you don’t believe in the power of games as training tools, just think of them as useful distractions. The PC-powered virtual reality game Snow World has been made available to hospitals across the world. The simple game, in which you explore a snowy world using a VR headset, acts as a powerful attention distracter for children who are suffering from burns that must be regularly and painfully treated by hospital staff. Just taking a child’s mind off their injuries is enough to help them bear the pain. Without games technologies this kind of non-medicinal relief would not exist.
A BETTER WORLD
Those people who think that games are a waste of time might point out at this point that merely becoming faster and brainier through playing games is a bit selfish. What about helping other people? Games have got that covered too. Improving the world around us with games that educate, train, or make political statements has become routine for game developers.
Consider Food Force – a downloadable game made by the UN. Intended to educate people about the challenges the UN faced in feeding disaster-stricken people, it was one of the most downloaded games of 2006. Six million players, and counting, have tried it out. If even a fraction of those players decide they need to help disaster victims, either by donating to or joining relief efforts, lives will be saved. That ability to reach so many people, politicians and opinion formers are discovering, is a fantastic tool for introducing their messages to new audiences.
As more of us turn away from film, radio and TV in favour of interactive experiences, so the people who want to educate and influence will adapt and find a place in gaming worlds. Every major US political party has invested in free-to-download playable propaganda games, with varying results. The Republican party funded a simple parody in the form of John Kerry Tax Invader (George Bush’s head shot back at the evil Democratic leaders coming to steal US tax dollars), while the Democrats responded with the Howard Dean for Iowa game, a sophisticated title that demonstrated how to canvas for support, how campaigning works, and how voters have to get involved in campaigns if they want to win.
It’s not just mainstream politicos who are using games to spread their messages: radicals, extremists, and protesters all see the value. There are games being developed that tell the story of the people deemed ‘terrorists’ by the West. A Hezbollah sympathetic coder designed the game Special Force in 2003 to promote anti-Israeli sentiment and to stir up Lebanese nationalistic fervour – the clunky first-person shooter portrayed a Hezbollah soldier as the hero fighting Israeli and US soldiers.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the world, the Half-Life mod Escape From Woomera spectacularly exposed the conditions suffered by people in Australia’s immigration detention camps. The project website explained their ‘subversive’ intentions: “With a first-person, 3D adventure game we invite gamers to assume the character, and ‘live’ through the experiences, of a modern day refugee. The effective media lock-out from immigration detention centres has meant that the whole truth about what goes on behind the razor-wire at Woomera, Baxter, Port Hedland, Maribyrnong and Villawood remains largely a mystery to the Australian public. “We want to challenge this by offering the world a glimpse – more than that even: an interactive, immersive experience – of life within the most secretive and controversial places on the Australian political and geographical landscape. In this way, Escape From Woomera will be an engine for mobilising experiences and situations otherwise inaccessible to a nation of disempowered onlookers. It will provide both a portal and a toolkit for reworking and engaging with what is otherwise an entirely mediated current affair.” Not bad for a mere ‘game’.
Videogames can deliver subtler but equally politically charged messages. Take the Flash game Airport Insecurity: it’s a simple puzzle game about getting people through airport security checkpoints, but it rapidly becomes a satire about how uptight and absurd airport restrictions have become over the past decade. Getting your traveller through airports becomes increasingly difficult, with irate passengers, ludicrous restrictions on what you can have in your luggage, and the constant danger of being humiliated by a public strip-search – all of which (including the time you spend queuing) is based on real events in US airports.
Or take September 12th, in which you fire laserguided missiles at terrorists in a crowded Middle Eastern marketplace. The mechanics beautifully illustrate the point: every civilian you hit will spawn three more terrorists. By the end of the game the entire market is ranged against you. These are pioneering projects that only have a limited bearing on mainstream gaming, but as the medium matures and finds how best to deliver its messages we could soon find mainstream games taking up the same political gauntlets as novels or films. How long, you have to wonder, before games have their own Syriana or Good Night And Good Luck?
A SMARTER POPULACE
And then there are the games that are being used in classrooms to teach subjects as varied as sociology and mathematics. Games, it seems, grab the attention of younger students for much longer than standard textbook and blackboard routines (who’d have guessed?) and they’re increasingly being adapted to classroom uses by progressive and gaming-savvy teachers. It’ll be a long time before off-the-shelf games arrive on standard curricula, but they’re already making headway. James Paul Gee’s book ‘What Videogames Have To Teach Us About Learning And Literacy’ has become a popular subject for reference in academic and scholarly circles, and the news is starting to filter down to everyday teachers too. Gee argues that games teach us “proactively”: they ask gamers to do something, and we want to do it. This is, he suggests, rather different to the way students respond to the way they are taught in schools. Gee looked at dozens of games and identified teaching principles in them. The way they use a minimal amount of verbal instruction, for example: people are generally poor at following verbal instructions and games recognise this. Try remembering complex directions given to you when you’re trying to find somewhere: anything more than two lines is usually too much.
Games generally only deliver verbal instruction when absolutely necessary. Gee also noted that games encourage us to learn by enabling us to master skills and then use them, before providing us with new challenges. Think about how you learn to use a particular unit in an RTS like Command & Conquer, before later having to come up with new solutions to defeat a counter-unit that thwarts you. Standard learning doesn’t usually give us time to master something and use it before we move on to something else. Gee also recognised that games are, as Sid Meier described them, “a series of interesting choices” and as such stimulate quite different responses from the people who play them to those invoked by textbook and blackboard teaching, especially when combined with investment in a character. Gee suggests that if we could be taught science by identifying with a ‘scientist’ character in the same way we’re taught to identify with a game character, we might be a little more committed to learning about science. Gee is not alone in his quest Software association ELSPA has made a number of attempts to illustrate how games and learning are linked. Their 2006 paper ‘Unlimited Learning’ sets out the argument for games as tools in the overall process of learning and education in schools. We could imagine, for example, a boardgame or pen and paper roleplaying game based on running a school, but add to this a computer, 3D planning systems, and the ability to control realtime calculations of costs as they will be encountered in the real world and you suddenly have something both accessible to children and complex enough to teach adult ideas.
One school in Birmingham opted for exactly this kind of approach. A contributor to the ELSPA report explained how it worked: “We were originally going to use SimCity 4 but thought it too detailed for the one-and-a-half hours we had the children. School Tycoon [a commercial product] allowed us to get the children to develop their spatial thinking skills, fiscal skills, numeracy and even social awareness. Many did not realise the jobs that are entailed in running a school and how essential they are. The pupils were given cards to make their own ‘physical’ school within a budget and were then shown the software. They were allowed to play in the ‘sandbox’ mode for an hour and then we print-screened the final school with financial and academic results to determine who had been successful.”
Dr Stephen Heppell, the CEO of learning foundation Ultralab, and one the authors of the ELSPA paper, had this to say about games and learning: “My own research work has revealed that a very clear set of strategies has evolved by children playing computer games. To succeed in even the simplest platform game, children have to lock their problem-solving into a tight cycle of observe, question, hypothesise, test. Curiously, this exactly matches the scientific method that education has been trying to embed in young scientists since the birth of science. The problem back in the early 1990s was that because teachers and policymakers didn’t play those early games, they had no idea just how sophisticated their young learners’ iterative strategies were. As a result, the opportunity to build on those strategies and bring science to life was missed.” The message from academics who are serious about games is clear: games teach us to learn, and they do so in a fun way.
BUILDING THE FUTURE
Games are changing. They’re finding uses that no one could have anticipated in years past. Take youthful Dutch genius Luis Von Ahn and the Games With A Purpose project. Von Ahn’s games entertain, yes, but they also process information. It’s what Von Ahn calls ‘human computing’ – the idea of making use of our collective brainpower by stealth. The ESP Game, Von Ahn’s masterpiece, gets people to match descriptions of an image while avoiding the most obvious words. If it’s a picture of a dog then the world ‘dog’ will not be valid. The pairs of gamers have to separately come up with other relevant descriptions of the image. When this data, taken from thousands of individual games, is compiled, it allows Google to label internet images with startling clarity.
More sophisticated versions of the game could even allow image searches to identify where certain things are in a picture. All of this is achieved for free, by getting people to play the image matching game. It’s good fun too. What is exciting about Von Ahn’s work isn’t just that Google can label images better, but that games can be explicitly developed for ends other than pure entertainment. They can be used to compute, to solve problems that normal computing methods would find impossible. Another example was raised by epidemiologists after the ‘plague’ in World Of Warcraft, where an infectious debuff got out of hand and spread across whole servers. The game could, theoretically, have been used to map movements in a more ‘human’ way than normal computer models. Where as computers can only manage averages, a live MMO, full of real people, has the same kind of randomness that we find in real life. MMOs could, with a bit of work, allow for far more accurate models of how infectious diseases spread than current computing techniques.
Gaming is creating tools that no one had previously even been able to imagine. Take, for example, the work of World Without Oil (world withoutoil.org), an alternate reality game that intends to educate people about what will happen when the oil reserves begin to run dry. It’s a problem that no one really wants to think much about, and fewer still really understand the implications of. This is literally a game that’s trying to save the world: a game that is using the power of modern media to make sure we’re prepared for the coming changes. And make no mistake: we are not prepared. World Without Oil will tell you what we need to do. The final point is one far closer to home, and far closer to your day-to-day concerns. There’s something else about gaming that is more important than anything else we’ve talked about. It’s this: playing games is about building the future. If you play World of Warcraft, or Second Life, or EVE Online, or Garry’s Mod, or any number of other innovative, creative games, then you are contributing to a trend towards a new form of creativity, which in turn will give rise to the culture and language of the future.
Gaming is changing how we communicate, how we do business, express ourselves, and meet new people. Collaborative gaming, where thousands of us are working together to create projects in game worlds like EVE Online, Second Life, A Tale in the Desert, or any number of other emerging worlds, forges new ways of playing, and new ways of learning. This is a phenomenon that is changing the world right now, and it’s happening without us really noticing. Furthermore, we are, by funding games and gaming-related research, creating the 3D web, the ‘metaverse’ – or the grid of information that will serve us in the decades to come. Moreover we are guaranteeing the propagation of a medium that engulfs cinema, architecture, music, animation, sculpture, sport, indeed all of culture. Games are a brave new frontier of imagination, art and science, and they’ve only just begun.
And is that a waste of time?
The Games That Are Changing The World…
Teachers at West Nottinghamshire College modded Neverwinter Nights to improve the attention and commitment of students in literacy and numeracy classes. The game was also reworked for the purposes of the University of Minnesota’s Journalism courses, enabling its students to run a virtual newspaper.
SimCity 4 maps have been used to illustrate urban planning lessons at a Boston high school, while the original SimCity has been used in many American schools to instruct children in the value and mechanics of public transport.
Tim Rylands, a Somerset-based teacher, has been using Myst to teach the joys of creative writing to children aged 7-11.
University College London has been adapting Oblivion to use in architectural rendering, making a cheap tool for architecture students looking for a way to visualise their work using computer graphics.
Half-Life 2 has also been used heavily in architectural circles, with one student creating a Counter-Strike map based on the Kaufmann House – Falling Water’ – by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a version of Grim Fandango that teaches gamers Spanish – appropriate given that it’s based on Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
THE SIMS 2
The same MIT team have been using The Sims 2 to develop interactive foreign language learning tools. The Sims 2 has also been modded for use in health and social development by New York-based teacher Bill Mackenty, and adapted for teaching sociology by David McDivitt.
The Cyberpsychology Lab at the University of Quebec in Ottawa created the Max Payne mod Overcoming Arachnophobia as an alternative therapy for treating people with a crippling fear of our eight-legged friends. Their Withering Heights mod is a VR therapy designed to help people overcome their fear of heights.
ROME: TOTAL WAR
Rome: Total War has been used extensively in creating visuals for programmes on the History Channel, such as Decisive Battles and Modern Marvels. It was also used in the BBC2 historical battles programme, Time Commanders.
Researchers at the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, intended to show that depression is linked to the same areas of the brain that control spatial memory. They used Duke Nukem to create a spatial navigation test to prove this hypothesis. And indeed, depressed people’s navigation skills were notably worse.
California’s Virtual Reality Medical Centre uses a version of Midtown Madness (complete with steering wheel control) to treat those afflicted with a fear of driving, which, in America, is probably the most crippling disease that you can suffer from.
The Canadian Army is developing a virtual battle lab’ in the form of a SWAT 4 mod called Canadian Forces: Direct Action. The mod will teach small arms tactics and useful urban conflict assault techniques. Hey, it’s cheaper than playing paintball.
Second Life has been used to teach all kinds of things – a schizophrenia simulator and a virtual courtroom are just a couple of the educational tools to be found in the game. It has also been used by the US government to plan for major disasters (after the mess they made of saving New Orleans) and has been used to promote awareness of the terrible crimes being perpetrated in Darfur, Sudan.
EUROPA UNIVERSALIS II
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen were interested in seeing whether games provided a better basis for teaching history than traditional methods. Both students and teachers found they underestimated just how complex a simulation of the historical period the game would provide.
PhD student Kurt Squire introduced Civilization III to tough American schools to see whether it would have an affect on teaching history. Unsurprisingly, allowing kids to replay history for themselves, and then discuss it, held their attention for far longer than traditional lessons.
THE ESP GAME
This free online multiplayer game, where players had to match descriptions of an image without using a certain set of obvious words, has been used to process images for Google’s image search. The game enabled Google to label images with uncanny accuracy, and for free.
Even our console chums are getting in on the saving the world lark. The Nintendo DS game Brain Age has been recommended by doctors at a number of hospitals in Japan as a means of fighting off senility and the other brain-deteriorating effects of ageing. Portable games have also long been used in hospitals as a means of distracting patients from pre-operation anxiety, or during the treatment of painful wounds.
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Hiking: Excellent for both long and short walks as the 300 km-long coast offers several reasonably scenic trails (known as LAWs) through sand dunes and nature reserves.
You can even walking across the mud flats at low tide in the Wadden Sea – between north coast and the Wadden islands. ‘Wadlopen’ (mud walking) is very popular and Dutch take this dirty business seriously.
Alternatively try following the tulip trail between Haarlem and Sassenheim or a windmill trail along Kinderdijk, or the Zaanse Schans area.
Dutch cities are compact and usually have suggested walking routes so the best way to explore is on foot. Get information and maps from the VVV (Tourist Office).
Canal cruises: There are loads of pretty canals and rivers in most urban centres so it’s easy to find cruises and boat hire.
Canoeing: is fantastic way to get close to Netherlands nature, for instance marshlands of the Hollandse Biesbosch National Park, south of Rotterdam. Guided tours are available as well as just canoe rentals.
The Netherlands most popular beach at Scheveningen. Photo by Random.
Holland is one of the most cycle friendly countries on the planet as the land is almost flat, about 85 % of Dutch people get around regularly by bike and most of the time cycles have priority over other vehicles.
There are said to be more bikes than inhabitants (16 million) in the Netherlands. It has about 17, 000 km (including 20 long distance routes totalling 6, 000km) of well-marked cycling paths/lanes and every local VVV will provide appropriate information.
Commercial cycling packages/tours are frequently on offer, too. Detailed cycle maps are available at book stores. Netherlands Railways are cycle friendly as bikes can be carried on trains or rented/ parked/ repaired or even bought at more than 100 stations throughout the country. Check out bike-rental vouchers at the station.
Try the windmill trail, the flower bulb trail (see hiking section), North Sea and Wadden Sea, 2 long coastal routes or riding white bikes for free in Hoge Veluwe National Park.
Do not forget to lock up your bike, these are the most stolen items in the country!
p. s. It is an offence to be drunk and in charge of a bicycle; this is taken seriously by the police.
Skating: Cycle paths are also good for inline skating or join Amsterdam’s skating evening touring the city on Fridays; meet at the Vondelpark.
Watersports/Beaches: the province of Zeeland in the south has 175 miles of mostly sandy beaches and is popular holiday destination. Good surf can be found easily, too.
Coffeeshops: weed, ready-rolled spliffs, space cake and so on as well as coffee are available from many ‘coffee shops‘ around Holland, not just Amsterdam, though new regulations sadly mean they may be obliged to shut down access to foreigners.
Some coffeeshops are cute, some are quaint, some are weird and some are just sad and squalid.
It’s legal to buy and use small quantities of wacky baccy or its resin derivative. But for how long?
late Feb: Holland Flowers Festival, a must-see garden show that takes place at the Greenery complex, covering 4, 500 sq. m in Wervershoof; this event is known for its creative landscape designs on display.
March: TEFAF Maastricht, the European Fine Art Fair, one of the world’s leading art and antiques fairs that attracts dealers and collectors globally.
April 30: Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), a national celebration with massive, mad street party in Amsterdam. It is also known as Orange day and many people wander about dressed in orange, the royal colour representing the House of Orange.
late May/June: Holland Festival, Netherlands’ largest performing arts festival held mainly in Amsterdam and The Hague since 1947.
The 2nd weekend of July: North Sea Jazz Festival, one of the best and arguably the biggest jazz event in the world, with world-class artists and 23, 000 visitors a day. Previously held in the Hague, it has been held in Rotterdam since 2006. 3 days.
The first weekend of August: Amsterdam Pride is one of Europe’s largest gay/lesbian festivals. The world famous Canal Parade, with a hundred decorated boats and music, is a must-see.
For some precise dates, more suggestions and information see European Festivals or Arts Festivals
Rotterdam’s cube housing. Photo by Hanselpedia.
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Definition of godlily
adv. - Righteously. 2
The word "godlily" uses 7 letters: D G I L L O Y.
No direct anagrams for godlily found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after godlily (in bold), or to dgilloy in any order:
n - dollying
Shorter words found within godlily:
dig dill dilly diol do dog dogy doily dol doll dolly gid gild gill gilly go god godly gold golly goy id idly idol idyl idyll ill illy li lid lido lily lo log logily logy od odyl oil oily old oldy oy yid yill yo yod yogi
List shorter words within godlily, sorted by length
All words formed from godlily by changing one letter
Browse words starting with godlily by next letter
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(JTA) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Jewish community leaders that he would build a controversial Nazi occupation monument despite their opposition.
Orban presented his firm position on Wednesday during a meeting with leaders of the the Mazsihisz Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, the news site www.nol.hu reported.
Mazsihisz believes the monument of an eagle attacking an angel whitewashes the prominent role that pro-Nazi Hungarian governments had in the murder of more than half a million Jews during the Holocaust by presenting Hungary as a mere victim.
The federation has pulled out of government-led activities in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion into Hungary, and has boycotted the planned unveiling of the statue at Budapest’s Freedom Square on May 31, pending talks with the government on replacing it with an alternative monument.
But during the meeting Wednesday, Orban said “there is no room for maneuvers” on the design, according to nol.hu. Andras Heisler, the president of Mazsihisz, told Hungarian media that he had a “frank discussion” with Orban that day but would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, Orban published an open letter defending the monument that he addressed to Katalin David, a lecturer on art and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts who had criticized the plan to unveil the statue.
“It is striking how quickly the assumption that the angel is analogous with Hungary has gained ground,” Orban wrote. “I, for instance, see in the angel the innocent victims and not some kind of innocent state.”
In his letter, Orban reiterated his government and previous governments’ recognition of widespread collaboration with the Nazis on the part of the Hungarian governments during World War II.
On Sunday, Heisler said he was “shocked” by the recent decision of the Holocaust Memorial Center, a government institution established in 1999, to cooperate with the newly established Veritas Historical Research Institute.
In January, the government appointed another controversial historian, Sandor Szakaly, to head Veritas. Szakaly said in an interview that month that the 1941 deportation and subsequent murder of tens of thousands of Jews was an “action of the immigration authorities against illegal aliens.”
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The Maine Constitutional Revision Election Amendment was a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment on the September 15, 1908 ballot in Maine, where it was approved.
This measure modified The Maine Constitution to provide for legislatively-referred constitutional amendments to be voted on in September elections.
| Question 2|
| Yes|| 47,981|| 67.47%|
Official results via: All proposed Maine constitutional amendments, 1820-present
Text of measure
The language that appeared on the ballot:
Shall Section Two in Article Ten of the Constitution, as amended by the resolved of the fifty-eighth legislature passed March fourth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and adopted September eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, be further amended by striking out the words: "in the manner prescribed by law, at their next biennial meeting in the month of September," and inserting in place thereof the words: "to meet in the manner prescribed by law for calling and holding biennial meetings of said inhabitants for election of senators and representatives on the second Monday in September following the passage of said resolve;" so that the section as amended shall read as follows:
"Section 2. The legislature, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, may propose amendments to this constitution; and when any amendment shall be so agreed upon, a resolution shall be passed and sent to the selectmen of the several towns, and the assessor of the several plantations, empowering and directing them to notify the inhabitants of their respective towns and plantations, to meet in the manner prescribed by law for calling and holding biennial meetings of said inhabitants for election of senators and representatives on the second Monday in September following the passage of said resolve, to give in their votes on the question, whether such amendments shall be made; and if it shall appear that a majority of the inhabitants voting on the question are in favor of such amendment, it shall become a part of this constitution", the same being the question to be submitted for the action of the legal voters under the provisions of Chapter 238 of the Resolves of the Legislature of the State of Maine approved March 28, 1907.
Those in favor of this amendment will vote "Yes", those opposed will vote "No", upon their ballot.
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How To Build A Grass Tennis Court
By keeping some basic guidelines in mind, you can learn how to build a grass tennis court. While a standard sized tennis court can fit easily into most American backyards, consider building a singles court if your yard is small.
- Spray paint
- Measuring tape
- Rammer or steamroller
- Grass seed
- Tennis net
- Find the perfect location for your tennis court. Ideally, the court should be positioned in a spot that is as flat as possible. Measure out an area that is 78 feet by 36 feet for a standard court. However, if you don't have access to an area this large, make the width of the court only 27 feet, and build a singles court.
Remove any obstructions from the area, including rocks, tree roots or branches. Remove the grass with a large garden shovel, and till the soil thoroughly, making sure the dirt is exposed. Remove any rocks or debris that may have been overturned through this process.
Rent a rammer or steamroller from a local hardware store. Pack the soil of the tennis court thoroughly, making sure it is as hard as possible. Spread a thin layer of grass seed over the exposed soil, and water according to the instructions on the bag.
Monitor the grass. Once it has reached a height of 19 mm, it is ready for use. At this point, you can mark the court. Use a can of spray paint to make the perimeter of the court, which should be easy to identify as it has new grass. Draw a center line at 39 feet, which will serve as a marker for the net. In addition, mark lines 21 feet out from both sides of the net, which serve as a boundary for the service court lines. Finally, make sure to draw a line in the center of the length of the court, dividing it into right and left sections.
Purchase a tennis net. These can typically be found at most sporting goods stores.
Dig two holes on either side of the court at the center line. Place the net poles into the holes. Mix up the cement in a wheelbarrow, and fill the remainder of the holes with the cement. Let the cement dry for at least two days before using the court.
Posted on: Jun. 05, 2010
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To help keep movie and television production in California, the Legislature and former celebrity Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Hollywood $500 million in tax credits in 2009.
Now Brown has to weigh a proposal to give the industry $200 million more, where companies can use up to 25 percent of certain expenses to offset taxes instead of going to state coffers.
A coalition representing the Teamsters Union and others in film say the first tax break has created 39,000 jobs and provided $325 million in state and local tax revenue in the three years it's been in effect.
In contrast, the Milken Institute says in the decade prior to the tax credit, California lost 36,000 production jobs and $200 million in tax revenue. Just last month, San Francisco was able to snag Woody Allen's new movie.
"We want to keep it in California, and we're facing a lot of competition from other states and countries that provide similar kinds of incentives," said Barry Broad with the Teamsters Union.
But the state is broke. Critics think the money could be better spent on programs that have been drastically cut during this bad economy.
A UCLA study found for every dollar the state gave in film credits, California got back $1.04, and it might be even less than that, according to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office.
Educators say public schools could use the money. They can create jobs too by hiring more teachers or they could buy new textbooks.
"So while we're cutting public education to the bone, and we're making all these really tough choices, and we're giving away $200 million to Hollywood for something that doesn't have a return. We can't afford that," said Kevin Gordon, a public schools budget advisor.
Supporters of extending the Hollywood tax break say the studies don't take into account the big picture.
"There's a multiplier effect for each of these dollars. Many more dollars are spent, but those are not always measured in these reports," said Broad.
The Governor must act on the proposal by the end of the month.
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Photo by Michelle RattingerAlmost ten years ago on Sept 11, 2001 USS John C. Stennis was conducting routine flight operations off the balmy coast of Southern California when our lives were instantly shattered.
On that gray September day, I woke up like any other, switched on the remote to see whether my Braves still remained on top of the Major Leagues and whether the Chargers would start Drew Brees or Doug Flutie as quarterback.
Strange, I thought, as I started my morning ritual of shaving, brushing and dressing. One of the twin towers was hit by an errant airplane. What kind of idiot would do that?
In the wardroom, I polished up my eggs and bacon while participating in the obligatory morning gossip with friends. How were the Padres doing?
When I arrived, my entire division of three journalists and a Senior Chief were horrified by what was on the news. The second tower was now ablaze and the sky all around southern Manhattan was filled with a huge plume of smoke. For the first time in a while, I started to cry. As expected, we would not be heading home that day. Our ship was assigned to watch over the skies of Southern California as part of Operation Noble Eagle.
Less than two months later, the 5,000 plus Sailors and Marines as part of the USS Stennis, Carrier Air Wing 9 and the Destroyer Squadron battle group would be heading towards the epicenter to hunt for Bin Laden and to destroy the Taliban.
We came really close to getting him. We believed that he was hiding in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora. F-14 and F/A-18 jets from Carrier Air Wing 9 attacked the Taliban stronghold in Tora Bora -- the Taliban forces was obliterated, but Bin Laden was no where to be found -- he had gotten away.
That is why, when I got home tonight after studying hard with classmates at George Washington University, I was shocked beyond words. What happened? Did DC finally win a professional championship?
It all started with jubilant students from George Washington, Georgetown, AU, George Mason, Maryland, Howard et al., who flocked to the White House to celebrate the good news. Despite it being finals week, no exam was as significant as real world events happening literally in front of us. Broadcast TV aired the amazing footage and social media gave it the spark to go viral.
I was overjoyed by the fact that Americans and tourists from all over were out celebrating in front of the White House. People had stormed Lafayette Square as if it was V-J day all over again.
"USA, USA!" they chanted. People had climbed trees, waving flags, singing the National Anthem. Jubilant fans were hanging out windows, hollering "God Bless America." Many were still in sports jerseys embracing perfect strangers. They had stepped out of a Washington Capitals playoff game loss and would be out here celebrating till the wee hours of the night.
I was proud to see so much patriotism and love for our country displayed by our younger generation -- the generation that were just kids a decade ago-- the generation that will be around holding our flag a lot longer than the rest of us during this tumultuous, event-filled century.Despite having a busy day ahead of me, I had to physically be in front of the White House to witness history been made. Everything else took second fiddle. This was our version of the falling of the Berlin Wall. Would it mark a pivotal moment in history where freedom would advance and al-Qaeda would be defeated?
Dialogue with San Diego Union Tribune reporter who queried me re: the rally outside the White House.
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The legs are shortened by the extra height of heels. Even if you only wear a 1-inch shoe, your calves will look slimmer. If you’re worried about the appearance of your calves, it’s a good idea to wear heels all the time.
- Does wearing heels shape your legs?
- Do heels make you look more attractive?
- Do heels make your legs look slimmer?
- Do skinny legs look longer?
- What type of heels make your legs look longer?
- Are there any benefits to wearing heels?
- Does exercising in heels help?
- Do heels help posture?
- Do guys prefer heels or flats?
- What do high heels symbolize?
- Why do heels make your bum look bigger?
- What kind of heels make you look thinner?
Does wearing heels shape your legs?
Girls who wear heels know that a good pair of pumps make them feel confident. Enhancing the legs, lifting our thighs and glutes, and instantly transforming an outfit into chic are some of the benefits of high heels. After a full day of wearing high heels, our feet and legs take a big hit.
Do heels make you look more attractive?
The attractiveness of walkers was found to be higher in heels than in flat shoes, according to the study. Both males and females preferred high heels over flat shoes.
Do heels make your legs look slimmer?
Women with thicker legs are more flattered by the fact that they have more space in their feet. If you want to get better results and make your figure look more slender, it’s a good idea to wear a heel that is thicker at the base and thinner as it falls.
Do skinny legs look longer?
A lot of experts recommend that you wear skinny jeans or narrow straight-legged pants to give your legs a longer appearance. This is especially effective when the pants are worn with heels in the same shade as the boots.
What type of heels make your legs look longer?
There are animals such as Mules. mules are similar to nude pumps in that they blend in with the skin. Try to get a pointed pair of shoes.
Are there any benefits to wearing heels?
Studies show that wearing heels strengthens the ankle joints and reduces the risk of women developing arthritis when they are older. Women tend to have more issues with their legs as they get older, and it was thought that heels were the cause.
Does exercising in heels help?
It has been shown that walking in high heels can help shape the calves. Heels can help strengthen muscles and make them stronger. High-heel wearers can improve their balance by doing lunges, squats and lifting weights.
Do heels help posture?
High heels are not good for standing up straight. The curve in your lower back is accentuating because of them. This puts strain on the muscles that are trying to get upright positioning.
Do guys prefer heels or flats?
Men are attracted to the back arch heels because of their angle between the back and bottom. The men were shown pictures of women in tight clothing, but their feet and faces were not shown in the picture.
What do high heels symbolize?
The Persian cavalry needed high-heeled shoes to keep their shoes in their stirrups, so they wore them in the 10th century. Men’s heels have a variety of cultural meanings, from symbolizing high social stature, military prowess, and refined fashionable taste, to the height of ‘cool’.
Why do heels make your bum look bigger?
It looks like you have had a lift with the heels on. Your lower back arches slightly when you wear heels. Your butt might protrude a little more due to the result. The shape of your butt is more shapely, but not bulkier.
What kind of heels make you look thinner?
If you want to get the illusion of slimmer legs, nude pumps are your best bet. Pick a nude that’s close to your skin tone and you’ll be able to see the effects on your stems.
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How We Define ESG: Environmental: Prioritize companies that leverage a key environmental advantage vs. their peers. Significantly lower carbon footprint vs. benchmark. Social: Emphasize companies that promote societal benefits. Client-driven restrictions on companies involved with controversial products or services. Governance: Focus on board structure, compensation, shareholder rights, audit & accounting risk.
Objective The objective of the ESG SMID Cap strategy is to consistently outperform the Russell 2500™ Index over a complete market cycle, while emphasizing Environmental, Social, and Governance characteristics as part of the security selection process. Portfolios are comprised of a combination of SMID cap growth and SMID cap value stocks with attractive ESG profiles, resulting in portfolios with characteristics in-line with those of the Russell 2500™ benchmark. ESG criteria are utilized to identify securities for both divestment and investment.
† Not Annualized. Source: Advent APX.
*The UNPRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. It works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The six Principles for Responsible Investment are a voluntary and aspirational set of investment principles that offer a menu of possible actions for incorporating ESG issues into investment practice.
Although the statements of fact and data in this report have been obtained from, and are based upon, sources that the Firm believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee their accuracy, and any such information may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions included in this report constitute the Firm’s judgment as of the date of this report and are subject to change without notice. This report is for informational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security. A complete list of all securities recommended by KCM in the preceding year, a fully compliant GIPS composite report, and the list of composite descriptions are available upon request from KCM at 10829 Olive Blvd., Suite 100. St. Louis, MO, 63141.
Kennedy Capital Management LLC (“KCM”) is a Missouri corporation registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration with the SEC does not imply any level of skill or training. Clients of the Firm include U.S. corporations, pension and profit sharing funds, colleges and universities, trusts, not-for-profit organizations, foundations, and individuals. KCM claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). GIPS® is a registered trademark of CFA Institute. CFA Institute does not endorse or promote this organization, nor does it warrant the accuracy or quality of the content contained herein. (GIPS®) are a set of standardized, industry-wide ethical principles that provide investment firms with guidance on calculating and reporting their investment results to prospective clients to ensure fair representation and full disclosure of an investment firm’s performance history.
ESG SMID Cap Composite is invested in securities of value and growth companies that have a market capitalization ranging from small cap to midcap, generally reflective of the Russell 2500™ Index. The Investment Manager places an additional emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria as part of the portfolio construction and stock selection process. We generally look for value companies that trade at an attractive relative valuation on a price-to-earnings and price-to-cash flow basis, and growth companies that have opportunities to grow assets at returns above the cost of capital. The U.S. Dollar is the currency used to express performance.
Composite specific data provided within this presentation has been calculated from accounts that are discretionary as defined in this paragraph. The assets shown are derived only from discretionary accounts. Non-discretionary accounts, as defined by KCM, are accounts that are not included in the composite due to one or any combination of the following criteria: there were significant cash inflows or outflows within the account; the account’s asset level did not meet the minimum requirement to remain in the composite; the account assets are managed by others using our non-discretionary model. The temporary removal of such an account occurs at the beginning of the month and the account re-enters the composite the month after the criteria has been met.
Returns are presented gross and net of investment advisory fees and include the reinvestment of all income. Gross of fee returns reflect the deduction of transaction costs and custodian fees but do not reflect the deduction of investment advisory fees. Net of fee performance is calculated using gross returns less the actual applicable annual management fee applied monthly. Past performance is not indicative of future results. A client’s return will be reduced by the advisory fees as described in Form ADV Part 2A and other expenses incurred by the account. For example, an annual advisory fee of 1% compounded quarterly over 10 years will reduce a gross 14.44% annual return to a net 13.32% annual return. Form ADV Part 2A is available upon request.
The performance figures reported herein are unaudited, may be based upon information obtained via electronic data sources (“feeds”) and may be subject to change. Data feeds from many of KCM clients’ selected custodians are obtained through third party sources and are used to compare custodial data to KCM’s client account records as frequently as daily. Monthly, KCM reviews clients’ account holdings along with cash and share quantities against the custodial statements. In some instances, variances may exist between final audited custodial information and the information KCM obtains via such data feeds. Generally, any such variances are researched and reconciled within thirty days of the period end.
Russell Investment Group is the source and owner of the Russell Index data contained or reflected in this material and all trademarks and copyrights related thereto. The presentation may contain confidential information and unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, dissemination or redistribution is strictly prohibited. This is a presentation of Kennedy Capital Management. Russell Investment Group is not responsible for the formatting or configuration of this material or for any inaccuracy in Kennedy Capital Management’s presentation thereof.
The Russell 2500™ Index measures the performance of the small to mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe, commonly referred to as “smid” cap. The Russell 2500™ Index is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index. It includes approximately 2500 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell 2500™ Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive and unbiased barometer for the small to mid-cap segment. The Index is completely reconstituted annually to ensure larger stocks do not distort the performance and characteristics of the true small to mid-cap opportunity set.
The Russell 2500™ Index are used as the benchmarks. The Indexes are unmanaged and represents total returns including reinvestment of dividends. The benchmarks are used for comparative purposes only and generally reflects the comparable risk or investment style of the Firm’s strategy. The investment portfolios underlying the Indexes are different from the investments in the portfolios managed by the Firm. Certain accounts may also use other benchmarks not listed in the GIPS composite report. The Verification and Performance Examination Report does not cover the benchmark returns included in the GIPS composite report.
Carbon Emissions (Scope1 Wtd. Avg., mt.) is a weighted average of companies’ reported or estimated Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions measured in metric tons. Scope 1 emissions are those from sources owned or controlled by the company. The assessment is sourced from MSCI’s Carbon Metrics database. Companies not included in the MSCI Carbon Metrics database are not included in the weighted average calculation for the portfolio or the benchmark. The fund is assessed quarterly compared to the weighted average emissions (reported or estimated as sourced from the MSCI Carbon Metrics database) of the Russell 2500™ index. The fund’s weighted average emissions aims to be at least 80% lower than that of the index.
The Governance Score refers to the ISS Governance QualityScore, which is derived from publicly disclosed data on a company’s governance practices and for which a lower score is preferable. The Score is calculated as a weighted average for the fund and compared to the weighted average score for the Russell 2500™ index. Companies not included in the ISS Governance QualityScore database are not included in the weighted average calculation for the portfolio or the benchmark. The QualityScore provides an indication of relative governance quality supported by factor-level data. The fund’s weighted average QualityScore aims to be at least 15% lower (better) than that of the index. Companies receive an overall QualityScore and a score for each of four categories: Board Structure, Compensation/ Remuneration, Shareholder Rights, and Audit & Risk Oversight. A score in the 1st decile indicates relatively higher quality governance practices and relatively lower governance risk, and, conversely, a score in the 10th decile indicates relatively higher governance risk.
Portfolio Manager, Research Analyst
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KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has dismissed suggestions that his country could descend into the same chaos as Iraq when US-led troops pull out and leave the national police and army to impose security.
Both countries have been at the centre of US wars, and are plagued by insurgencies fighting against local security forces trained by the American military. The seizure of several major cities by jihadist rebels has taken the Iraqi government by surprise and alarmed the international community, leading to fears that Afghanistan could one day face the same fate. "Never, not all" Karzai told the BBC when asked whether what was happening in Iraq could happen in Afghanistan.
In an interview released on Wednesday, he said that the Al-Qaeda militant group no longer had a presence in Afghanistan. Karzai will soon step down, ending his rule, which began in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. The NATO combat mission in Afghanistan will end in December after 13 years of fighting the Taliban insurgency.
The next president will be under pressure to open talks to bring peace, and Karzai said that he was in daily communication with the Taliban. "There is even an exchange of letters, meetings, and desire for peace," he said. Both candidates to succeed Karzai have vowed to sign an agreement to keep some US troops in the country after this year -- in contrast to a similar deal that broke down in Iraq, leading to a complete US troop withdrawal.
But Washington recently said that the only 10,000 US troop would remain next year and all would be pulled out by the end of 2016.
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Macrocytic anemia refers to macrocytosis (mean corpuscular volume (MCV) greater than 100 fL) in the setting of anemia (hemoglobin less than 12 g/dL or hematocrit (Hct) less than 36% in nonpregnant females, hemoglobin less than 11 g/dL in pregnant females, or hemoglobin less than 13 g/dL or Hct less than 41% in males). It is divided into two forms, megaloblastic (hypersegmented neutrophils) and non-megaloblastic. The megaloblastic form is due to impaired DNA synthesis from folate and/or vitamin B12 deficiencies, while the non-megaloblastic moiety occurs from multiple mechanisms.
Earn CME credit as you help guide your clinical decisions.
Megaloblastic anemia occurs from deficiencies in folic acid and vitamin B12. Folate deficiency is due to diminished intake (alcohol abuse or malnutrition), increased consumption (hemolysis or pregnancy), malabsorption (familial, gastric bypass, or medications like cholestyramine or metformin). Vitamin B12 deficiency appears in diminished intake (malnutrition), malabsorptive states (atrophic gastritis either autoimmune or non-autoimmune from Helicobacter pylori or Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, Diphyllobothrium tapeworm infection, gastric bypass, ileal resection), or the presence of antagonists (nitrous oxide). Drugs that impair DNA synthesis are folic acid analogs (ex. methotrexate, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole), nucleic acid analogs (5-fluorouracil, zidovudine), and others (hydroxyurea, pentamidine, phenytoin, pyrimethamine, sulfasalazine, triamterene).
Non-megaloblastic anemia, the absence of hypersegmented neutrophils, occurs in a variety of settings. Benign conditions are alcohol consumption (RBC toxicity), hereditary spherocytosis (impaired volume regulation increases red cell size), hypothyroidism and liver disease (due to lipid deposition in the cell membrane), and marked reticulocytosis from states of excess RBC consumption such as hemolysis or turnover in pregnancy or primary bone marrow disease (reticulocytes are larger than the average RBCs).
Some cases of macrocytosis are normal variants associated with a genetic predisposition or found in infants, patients with Down syndrome, and pregnant women. Others are spurious findings include hyperglycemia concentrates the blood, and when diluted, the RBCs swell with volume, leukocytosis and paraproteinemia increase sample turbidity for overestimates of RBC size, or operator error from occlusion of microscope aperture or sample left out at room temperature too long.
Macrocytosis affects 2% to 4% of the population, 60% of whom have anemia. Alcohol use accounts for the majority, followed by deficiencies in folate and vitamin B12 and medications. Autoimmune causes are more common in middle-aged women. Hypothyroidism and primary bone marrow disease account for more cases of macrocytic anemia in older patients. The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency increases in patients older than 60 years.
Mild macrocytic anemia (MCV 100 fL to 110 fL) is more likely to be caused by benign conditions compared to marked macrocytic anemia (MCV more than 110 fL), the latter of which is due to primary bone marrow disease or megaloblastic anemia from folate or vitamin B12 deficiencies.
The equation for mean corpuscular volume [MCV (fL) = Hct (%) X 10 / RBC (106/microgram)] explains how macrocytic anemia represents large red blood cells (RBCs) in comparison to total amount. Folate and vitamin B12 are necessary for RBC nucleic acid synthesis. Without DNA or RNA, erythropoiesis is ineffective with nuclear/cytoplasmic asynchrony, resulting in larger erythrogenic precursors with abnormal nuclei (ex. hypersegmentation) but normal cytoplasms. Anemia occurring in the presence of macrocytosis and hypersegmented neutrophils is known as megaloblastic anemia. The absence of hypersegmented neutrophils characterizes non-megaloblastic anemia. This occurs from mechanisms discussed earlier: abnormalities involving the RBC membrane, excess erythrocytic precursors, increased cell volume, or RBC toxicity.
Daily folate needs are 100 to 200 micrograms, and the body can absorb 400 micrograms/day. Healthy patients have stores for 4 months. Folate is largely absorbed in the small bowel. In comparison, daily vitamin B12 requirements are one microgram, and the body can absorb 2 to 3 micrograms/day. Most patients have several years of B12 stores. Vitamin B12 is absorbed in the ileum when bound by an intrinsic factor (IF), a protein produced by the gastric parietal cells. Abnormalities in these cascades cause deficiencies in folate or vitamin B12, respectively.
Macrocytic anemia that is megaloblastic contains hypersegmented neutrophils and macro-ovalocytes on peripheral blood smear (PBS) (figure "macrocytic anemia"). Anisocytosis and poikilocytosis are not uncommon due to ineffective erythropoiesis. Bone marrow evaluation will demonstrate hypercellularity with abnormal maturation and proliferation of myeloid cell lines, particularly the erythroid lineage.
Nonmegaloblastic macrocytic anemia will not have hypersegmented neutrophils; instead, its PBS will show round macrocytes or macro reticulocytes, in addition to other cells representative of the underlying etiology (acanthocytes from liver disease, myeloid dysplasia or immaturity in primary bone marrow disease, polychromatophilic RBCs with reticulocytosis, schistocytes from hemolysis, or spherocytes in inherited hemolytic anemias such as hereditary spherocytosis).
History and Physical
The presentations of macrocytic anemia are dependent on the underlying cause. Patients with vitamin B12 deficiency complain of mood disturbances and neurologic symptoms like loss of balance, memory loss, paresthesias, peripheral neuropathy. The remainder of symptoms is specific to the underlying cause (constitutional symptoms from primary bone marrow disease, gastrointestinal upset from enteral malabsorption, or hypoactive metabolism from hypothyroidism). Folate deficiency has common features except neuropsychiatric complaints. Prior surgeries include a gastric bypass for weight loss or ileal resection for colonic pathologies. Family or personal medical histories reveal autoimmune diseases or hemolytic anemias. Certain medical conditions require at-risk medications. Review of dietary intake reveals excessive alcohol consumption or limited food choices (“tea and toast”).
Physical exam may reveal nonspecific anemia findings (conjunctival pallor), neurologic deficits if vitamin B12 deficient (impaired proprioception or vibration, positive Romberg sign), and stigmata of underlying diseases (glossitis from autoimmune atrophic gastritis, hepatosplenomegaly from familial hemolytic anemias, hypopigmentation from vitiligo, or jaundice and spider angiomata from alcohol abuse).
Initial evaluation of macrocytic anemia includes a thorough history and physical followed by limited labs (PBS, reticulocyte count, and serum B12). Pure RBC indices will underestimate the presence of macrocytosis by 30% because MCV represents the mean distribution curve of all RBCs and fails to identify smaller macrocytes. If the PBS is normal, no megaloblastic RBCs, order additional testing for liver and thyroid diseases (aminotransferases and thyroid stimulating hormone), the most common causes of non-megaloblastic anemia. If there are megaloblastic RBCs on PBS, check the reticulocyte count: less than 1% indicates underproduction, while greater than 2% is associated with hyperproliferation due to hemolysis or hemorrhage (commence hemolytic anemia work-up). If hyperproliferative, look at the B12 level. Values less than 100 pg/mL indicate deficiency. Order RBC folate level (not serum folate due to lack of sensitivity) for B12 above 400 pg/mL; low levels indicate folate deficiency and normal ones may need further investigation with bone marrow evaluation. Measure homocysteine and methylmalonic acid (MMA) in patients with B12 100 pg/mL to 400 pg/mL; these are biochemical compounds important in pathways involving cell metabolism and use folate and vitamin B12 as cofactors. Both or MMA only are elevated in vitamin B12 deficiency; homocysteine is elevated in folate deficiency. Normal values may warrant hematology consultation for bone marrow studies. Specialist consults are recommended in patients with abnormal myeloid morphology on PBS (disordered immaturity, hypo-granulated or hypo-segmented neutrophils, or additional cytopenias).
Work-up for specific causes of megaloblastic anemia should be based on presentation. Antibodies for intrinsic factor or parietal cells are indicative of pernicious anemia. The Schilling test, once used to measure vitamin B12 uptake before and after administration of intrinsic factor, has fallen out of favor.
Treatment / Management
Treat macrocytic anemia by replacing folate or vitamin B12 and targeting the underlying cause. Give folic acid orally, 1 mg to 5 mg daily, and encourage diets with foods rich in folate (fortified cereals, leafy vegetables). Patients who are taking folate antimetabolites or pregnant women (especially those with a history of neural tube defects or taking antiepileptics) should take daily supplements to prevent deficiencies. It is important to not overlook vitamin B12 deficiency as a cause for macrocytic anemia, treatment of folate deficiency but not vitamin B12 deficiency will resolve the anemia but not the neurologic effects. Prescribe 1000 micrograms oral vitamin B12 daily for 1 month followed by 125 to 250 micrograms daily or administer 1000 micrograms intramuscular B12 every week for 4 weeks then monthly to replace vitamin B12 stores, the latter of which is preferred for patients with pernicious anemia or altered gastrointestinal anatomy. Clinicians may prescribe empiric folate supplementation (400 micrograms to 1 g/day) in patients receiving vitamin B12 replacement. Reticulocytosis will improve within 1 to 2 weeks, and anemia should resolve after 4 to 8 weeks. There is no need to monitor RBC indices or recheck folate or vitamin B12 levels and their metabolites during active treatment, though some physicians check yearly complete blood counts in patients taking long-term vitamin B12 therapy. Neurologic symptoms from vitamin B12 deficiency take longer. Macrocytosis related to alcohol use resolves with abstinence. Other non-megaloblastic anemias improve when the underlying conditions are treated.
- Folate deficiency anemia
- Anemia due to liver disease
- Myelodysplastic syndrome
With early identification and treatment of underlying cause, the prognosis for macrocytic anemia is excellent. Specialist referral is rarely needed unless anemia is resistant to therapy or there is evidence of underlying myelodysplasia or leukemia.
Patients with chronic megaloblastic anemia from vitamin B12 deficiency can develop permanent neurologic damage referred to as subacute combined neurodegeneration. Patients will have gait ataxia, memory loss, peripheral neuropathy, and psychiatric disturbances. Patients with macrocytic anemia from underlying conditions will experience complications of their respective diseases.
Deterrence and Patient Education
Macrocytic anemia is a special blood disorder in which the body is not able to form enough blood cells because it lacks necessary nutrients. Some patients do not eat enough foods with these nutrients (folate or vitamin B12), while others cannot absorb it or have an underlying condition that makes it difficult for the body to keep up with its needs. Patients may feel tired, have memory or mood disturbances, or notice tingling in the arms and legs. Physicians can diagnose the anemia during an office visit and lab work. Treatment involves addressing the underlying cause and nutrient supplementation.
Pearls and Other Issues
With early identification and treatment of underlying cause, the prognosis for macrocytic anemia is excellent. Specialist referral is rarely needed unless anemia is resistant to therapy or there is evidence of underlying myelodysplasia or leukemia. This anemia is the most underestimated of all forms and physicians should not hesitate to treat due to its unique side effects.
Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes
Today, healthcare workers encounter many cases of macrocytic anemia than in the past. Further, as the population ages, many more cases of macrocytic anemia are likely to be seen in the future. The other thing of note is that there are many causes of macrocytic anemia including medications; thus the management of these patients is an interprofessional. It is important to educate the patient that some of the more common causes of macrocytic anemia include deficiency of folate and cobalamin. In addition, several reverse transcriptase inhibitors used to treat HIV can also cause macrocytic anemia and hence the pharmacist should encourage the patient to regular blood tests. Another common cause of macrocytic anemia is alcohol abuse; however, with abstinence, this anemia is rapidly corrected. Finally, patients should be educated about foods that are rich in folate and cobalamin.
When the cause of the macrocytic anemia is dietary, the condition can be reversed with dietary changes. For those who fail to comply with diet, they are at risk for anemia related cardiac complications, neurological damage, and defects in fetal development. When the cause is a malignancy, the prognosis is guarded.
(Click Image to Enlarge)
Lanier JB, Park JJ, Callahan RC. Anemia in Older Adults. American family physician. 2018 Oct 1:98(7):437-442 [PubMed PMID: 30252420]
Válka J, Čermák J. Differential diagnosis of anemia. Vnitrni lekarstvi. 2018 Summer:64(5):468-475 [PubMed PMID: 30193515]
Phillips J, Henderson AC. Hemolytic Anemia: Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis. American family physician. 2018 Sep 15:98(6):354-361 [PubMed PMID: 30215915]
Arshad M, Jaberian S, Pazouki A, Riazi S, Rangraz MA, Mokhber S. Iron deficiency anemia and megaloblastic anemia in obese patients. Romanian journal of internal medicine = Revue roumaine de medecine interne. 2017 Mar 1:55(1):3-7. doi: 10.1515/rjim-2016-0046. Epub [PubMed PMID: 27648630]
Stouten K, Riedl JA, Droogendijk J, Castel R, van Rosmalen J, van Houten RJ, Berendes P, Sonneveld P, Levin MD. Prevalence of potential underlying aetiology of macrocytic anaemia in Dutch general practice. BMC family practice. 2016 Aug 19:17(1):113. doi: 10.1186/s12875-016-0514-z. Epub 2016 Aug 19 [PubMed PMID: 27542607]
Oo TH, Rojas-Hernandez CM. Challenging clinical presentations of pernicious anemia. Discovery medicine. 2017 Sep:24(131):107-115 [PubMed PMID: 28972879]
Long B, Koyfman A. Emergency Medicine Evaluation and Management of Anemia. Emergency medicine clinics of North America. 2018 Aug:36(3):609-630. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2018.04.009. Epub 2018 Jun 12 [PubMed PMID: 30037447]
Nagao T, Hirokawa M. Diagnosis and treatment of macrocytic anemias in adults. Journal of general and family medicine. 2017 Oct:18(5):200-204. doi: 10.1002/jgf2.31. Epub 2017 Apr 13 [PubMed PMID: 29264027]
Green R, Datta Mitra A. Megaloblastic Anemias: Nutritional and Other Causes. The Medical clinics of North America. 2017 Mar:101(2):297-317. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2016.09.013. Epub 2016 Dec 14 [PubMed PMID: 28189172]
Adam MP, Mirzaa GM, Pagon RA, Wallace SE, Bean LJH, Gripp KW, Amemiya A, Sako S, Tsunogai T, Oishi K. Thiamine-Responsive Megaloblastic Anemia Syndrome. GeneReviews(®). 1993:(): [PubMed PMID: 20301459]
Goonewardene M, Shehata M, Hamad A. Anaemia in pregnancy. Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology. 2012 Feb:26(1):3-24. doi: 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2011.10.010. Epub 2011 Dec 3 [PubMed PMID: 22138002]
Dai L, Mick SL, McCrae KR, Houghtaling PL, Sabik JF 3rd, Blackstone EH, Koch CG. Preoperative Anemia in Cardiac Operation: Does Hemoglobin Tell the Whole Story? The Annals of thoracic surgery. 2018 Jan:105(1):100-107. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2017.06.074. Epub 2017 Nov 8 [PubMed PMID: 29128046]
Martinsson A, Andersson C, Andell P, Koul S, Engström G, Smith JG. Anemia in the general population: prevalence, clinical correlates and prognostic impact. European journal of epidemiology. 2014 Jul:29(7):489-98. doi: 10.1007/s10654-014-9929-9. Epub 2014 Jun 21 [PubMed PMID: 24952166]
Gräsbeck R. Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome (selective vitamin B(12) malabsorption with proteinuria). Orphanet journal of rare diseases. 2006 May 19:1():17 [PubMed PMID: 16722557]
Iltar U, Göçer M, Kurtoğlu E. False elevations of vitamin B12 levels due to assay errors in a patient with pernicious anemia. Blood research. 2019 Jun:54(2):149-151. doi: 10.5045/br.2019.54.2.149. Epub 2019 Jun 25 [PubMed PMID: 31309095]
Khera S, Dhingra S. Co-existing Iron Deficiency and Compliance Issues in Nutritional Macrocytic Anemia in Children. Indian pediatrics. 2023 Feb 15:60(1):152 [PubMed PMID: 36786187]
Ismail S, Eljazzar S, Ganji V. Intended and Unintended Benefits of Folic Acid Fortification-A Narrative Review. Foods (Basel, Switzerland). 2023 Apr 11:12(8):. doi: 10.3390/foods12081612. Epub 2023 Apr 11 [PubMed PMID: 37107407]Level 3 (low-level) evidence
Williams BA, McCartney H, Adams E, Devlin AM, Singer J, Vercauteren S, Wu JK, Karakochuk CD. Folic acid supplementation in children with sickle cell disease: study protocol for a double-blind randomized cross-over trial. Trials. 2020 Jun 29:21(1):593. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04540-7. Epub 2020 Jun 29 [PubMed PMID: 32600389]Level 1 (high-level) evidence
Socha DS, DeSouza SI, Flagg A, Sekeres M, Rogers HJ. Severe megaloblastic anemia: Vitamin deficiency and other causes. Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine. 2020 Mar:87(3):153-164. doi: 10.3949/ccjm.87a.19072. Epub [PubMed PMID: 32127439]
Manrai M, Dawra S, Kapoor R, Srivastava S, Singh A. Anemia in cirrhosis: An underestimated entity. World journal of clinical cases. 2022 Jan 21:10(3):777-789. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i3.777. Epub [PubMed PMID: 35127894]Level 3 (low-level) evidence
Yang J, Yan B, Yang L, Li H, Fan Y, Zhu F, Zheng J, Ma X. Macrocytic anemia is associated with the severity of liver impairment in patients with hepatitis B virus-related decompensated cirrhosis: a retrospective cross-sectional study. BMC gastroenterology. 2018 Nov 1:18(1):161. doi: 10.1186/s12876-018-0893-9. Epub 2018 Nov 1 [PubMed PMID: 30384828]Level 2 (mid-level) evidence
Zhao TY, Cong QW, Liu F, Yao LY, Zhu Y. Nonlinear Relationship Between Macrocytic Anemia and Decompensated Hepatitis B Virus Associated Cirrhosis: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study. Frontiers in pharmacology. 2021:12():755625. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.755625. Epub 2021 Sep 20 [PubMed PMID: 34616304]Level 2 (mid-level) evidence
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22 CFR 203.6 - IPVO conditions of registration.
There are eight Conditions of Registration for international organizations. The first four Conditions relate to whether an organization meets the definition of an IPVO, as set forth in § 203.2(e), while the last four Conditions establish standards by which the IPVO is evaluated. An applicant must be registered with USAID as an IPVO if USAID finds that the applicant has satisfied all of the following Conditions:
(a) Condition No. 1 (Non-U.S based). Is non-U.S. based in that it:
(1) Is organized under the laws of the country in which it is domiciled; and
(2) Has its headquarters in the same country.
(c) Condition No. 3 (Voluntary). Is a charitable organization in that it:
(1) Is nonprofit and tax exempt under the laws of its country of domicile and operation;
(2) Is not a university, college, accredited degree-granting institution of education, private foundation, hospital, organization engaged exclusively in research or scientific activities, church, synagogue, mosque or other similar entity organized primarily for religious purposes; and
(d) Condition No. 4 (International Program Activities). Conducts, or anticipates conducting, program activities in one or more countries other than its country of origin and that are consistent with the general purposes of the Foreign Assistance Act and/or Public Law 480.
(e) Condition No. 5 (Board of Directors). Has a governing body:
(1) That meets at least annually;
(2) Whose members do not receive any form of income for serving on the board; and
(3) Whose majority is not composed of the IPVO's officers or staff members.
(f) Condition No. 6 (Financial Viability). That it:
(1) Accounts for its funds in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or generally accepted accounting standards of IPVO's country of domicile.
(2) Has a sound financial position;
(3) Provides its financial statements to the public upon request; and
(4) Has been incorporated for not less than 18 months.
(g) Condition No. 7 (Program Activities vs. Supporting Services). That it:
(1) Expends and distributes its funds in accordance with the annual report of program activities;
(2) Does not expend more than 40 percent of total expenses on supporting services; and
(3) In order to maintain its registration, conducts international program activities within the last three years. For example, if an IPVO did not have any international activities for 2004, the current year, or 2003, but did have activities in 2002, then it would remain registered. However, if it did not have any international activities in 2005, USAID would remove it from the Registry in 2006 because for the previous three years (2003, 2004, 2005), it did not conduct any international activities.
(h) Condition No. 8 (General Eligibility). It is not:
(1) Suspended or debarred by an agency of the U.S. Government;
(2) Designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended; or
(3) The subject of a decision by the Department of State to the effect that registration or a financial relationship between USAID and the organization is contrary to the national defense, national security, or foreign policy interests of the United States.
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Rockefeller introduces bill to extend CHIP funding
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., a longtime supporter of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, introduced a bill Wednesday that would ensure the program’s funding for several years after Rockefeller retires at the end of this year.
Today, the CHIP program helps nearly 2 million children who would have no other access to affordable health care. The program also helps another 8 million children, including 37,000 children in West Virginia, get access to health care and services they need, according to Rockefeller, who played a key role in the bipartisan creation of CHIP in 1997 and has participated in efforts to extend and strengthen the program since then.
Rockefeller’s bill, called the Children’s Health Care Insurance Program Extension Act of 2014, would extend CHIP funding through 2019. Without an extension, funding would expire on Sept. 30, 2015.
“When I first came to West Virginia in 1964, I worked with kids who’d gone without seeing a doctor or a dentist because their families had no way of accessing affordable health care services,” Rockefeller said in a news release. “That experience led me to push for greater access to care, including my work to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has significantly reduced the number of uninsured children since its enactment nearly two decades ago.”
The new bill would make several improvements to existing CHIP legislation, Rockefeller said, including covering former foster children until they reach the age of 26, even if they change their state of residence; enrolling newborn children automatically, as is done in Medicaid; and improving access to preventive medical services, such as immunizations and screenings, that CHIP does not currently cover.
In 2009, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and former Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, helped Rockefeller pass legislation that preserved the program.
“I am so proud of all this program has accomplished, though we still have work to do until every child in this country has access to the care they need for a healthy start in life,” Rockefeller said.
CHIP legislation also gives states incentives to enroll CHIP-eligible children who are still uninsured, to increase access to dental care and to improve services that specifically help pregnant women.
Under the new legislation, states could also raise the eligibility level of children to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. It would also increase access for coverage for children with special health needs.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at firstname.lastname@example.org or 304-348-5164.
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The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located just below the protrusion of cartilage at the front of the neck region and which secretes vital hormones for the body. If it is a thyroid nodule; They are lumps or abnormal masses of different structures and sizes that occur within the thyroid tissue. Although it is a common problem, what is important is the diagnosis and treatment of the nodules, which can be cancerous.
Fine needle aspiration biopsy from the lump is the most important diagnostic procedure in thyroid treatment. Four possibilities that may arise as a result of the biopsy; It is sorted into 4 groups as good, doubtful, bad or unidentified. If the lump is benign, no surgery is needed. However, bad or suspicious nodules are in the group that should be operated on.
In the unidentified group, if an unidentified structure is seen three times in a row on biopsies, they are also operated on. Thyroid surgery begins with an incision of approximately 4 to 5 cm in the anterior region of the neck. First, the thin muscles just under the skin are opened to reach the thyroid gland. Since the thyroid gland has two wings like a butterfly, first one wing and then the other wing separates from the trachea. In the meantime, it is necessary not to damage the nerves that pass right behind the thyroid and go to the vocal cords, and also not to remove the rice-sized parathyroid glands located just behind the thyroid. The surgery takes about two hours and the patient is often discharged after an overnight stay in the hospital.
The most important risks that can be encountered during thyroid surgery are bleeding, damage to the nerve that stimulates the vocal cords that causes permanent changes in the voice and damage to the parathyroid glands by regulating the level of calcium in our body, which causes hypoparathyroidism.
Thyroid surgery must be performed by experienced surgeons who have received special training in this regard. Complication rates are lower after surgery performed by surgeons who frequently perform thyroid surgery.
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An ear infection is caused by an accumulation of fluid and bacteria in the middle ear, which come from the narrow passageway connecting the ear to the throat called the Eustachian tube. Normally this tube protects the middle ear from mucus and germs in the back of the nose. Young children, however, have a short, floppy, and horizontal tube that reduces this protection, which can lead to ear infections if germs travel up the tube and reach the middle ear. Drinking while lying down can also have the same effect. Children 2 years old and younger are the most likely to suffer ear infections due to a shorter and more horizontal Eustachian tube and weaker immune system. The risk tends begins to subside gradually after age 4.
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Linux based server domain configuration
This project received 35 bids from talented freelancers with an average bid price of £29 GBP.Get free quotes for a project like this
Project Budget£10 - £30 GBP
I need to configure my linux based dedicated server to connect it with domain from godaddy service. Server have installed a lot of components which may be required to configure it.
Basically, now i have access to to files on server by : ip address of server/path
i need it to work with: specific domain/path
I also need to change home folder.
After everything, i need to receive short tutorial how to change current domain to another.
I think it will be easy job for someone with good knowledge about linux servers.
For more details, please send message.
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- The New York Times
- Wall Street Journal
- Times Online
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Shareholder meetings are a compliance requirement for companies in Thailand, and are held to address the company’s performance or issues to be approved. This guide provides an overview of the types of shareholders in a Thailand company.
There are two types of shareholder meetings in Thailand, which are:
- General meeting of shareholders
- Extraordinary shareholder meeting
General meeting of shareholders
When is the general meeting held?
According to the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, the company’s first general meeting is held within six months after the company is incorporated. The following general meetings should be held once a year.
What matters are discussed at the general meeting?
Some of the matters that are discussed at a general meeting are:
- Approval of the minutes of the previous ordinary shareholder meeting
- Report the company’s activities during the past year
- Appoint new directors to replace directors who will be terminated
- Approve the company’s balance sheets and profit and loss statements
- Decide on dividend payments
- Appoint of auditor and remuneration
Notice of the general meeting
The notice of the general meeting must be published in a local newspaper no more than seven days before the date of the meeting.
Notice shall also be sent by registered post to shareholders whose names are listed in the register of shareholders seven days before the meeting, or if the notice is for a special resolution, the notice should be sent 14 days before the general meeting.
The notice of the meeting should include:
- Location of the meeting
- Date and time of the meeting
- Nature of the business to be carried out
- Details of the proposed special resolution if the notice is for a special resolution to be made in the meeting
Quorum requirements for the general meeting
The general meeting can only be held if shareholders representing at least one-fourth of the company’s capital are present.
If the meeting was summoned upon the requisition of shareholders and the required quorum are not present within an hour from the appointment time of the meeting, it will be dismissed.
If the general meeting was not summoned upon the requisition of shareholders, another general meeting must be held within 14 days, and no quorum is required.
Chairman of the general meeting
According to section 1180 of the TCCC, the chairman of the board of directors shall preside at every general meeting of shareholders.
If there is no chairman or he is not present within 15 minutes of the appointed time, the shareholders may elect one of their members to be the chairman.
Never miss an important deadline with our detailed compliance calendar.
- Get a clear picture of all the accounting, tax and HR deadlines
- Avoid penalties and late fees
- Keep your accountants or accounting firm accountable
Extraordinary shareholder meeting
Extraordinary shareholder meetings are only held when an urgent issue has occurred, and the shareholders need to be held to approve any changes.
What issues are discussed at the extraordinary shareholder meeting?
Matters that are decided at an extraordinary shareholder meeting include:
- Changing company directors
- Amending the company’s articles of association
Who can call an extraordinary shareholder meeting?
According to section 1172, directors may call for an extraordinary meeting when appropriate. Directors must summon the meeting immediately when the company has lost half of the amount of its capital to inform shareholders of the loss.
Extraordinary meetings may also be summoned if shareholders holding not less than one-fifth of the company’s shares call for a meeting in writing.
When shareholders call for a meeting, the directors must, without delay, summon the meeting. If the extraordinary meeting is not held within 30 days, shareholders holding the required amount of company shares may summon it themselves.
Voting by proxy at shareholder meetings
Shareholders may vote by proxy, and shareholders are required to appoint a proxy in writing.
To appoint a proxy, the following information must be included in the notice:
- Number of shares held by the shareholder
- Name of the proxy
- Meeting(s) which the proxy is appointed
The notice must also be dated and signed by the shareholder.
There are two types of shareholders’ resolutions: an ordinary resolution and a special resolution.
An ordinary resolution is applied in any shareholder meeting. On the other hand, special resolutions are required by the law.
The following actions require a special resolution by law:
- Amending the Memorandum of Association or Articles of Association
- Increasing the capital by issuing new shares
- Decreasing capital
- Dissolving or merging the company
Thai companies require two types of shareholder meetings: the general shareholder meeting held once a year to discuss matters that need approval regarding the company and the extraordinary shareholder meeting held as soon as possible to discuss urgent matters. If you need any advice on operating a business in Thailand, do not hesitate to contact Acclime.
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From the CEO
As our nation strives to expand access to health care, improve health outcomes and reduce costs under the Affordable Care Act, psychologists have increasingly important roles to play. Through our research, education and training, and our clinical work focused on integrated health care, we can help reduce health disparities and decrease the incidence of such major health problems as obesity, heart disease, cancer and substance use.
As part of our effort to broaden opportunities for psychologists in the evolving health-care system, last year APA launched its Center for Psychology and Health to coordinate efforts across the association on a key goal of APA's strategic plan — to expand psychology's role in advancing health.
Over the past year, with valuable input from APA's directorates, divisions and other partners, we've focused our efforts in four main areas:
- Education and training to expand opportunities for graduate education and professional development.
- Advocacy to urge policymakers to increase access to care and reimbursement rates through the work of the APA Practice Organization (APAPO), among other issues.
- Public education and outreach highlighting psychology's critical importance to health care.
- Member communications to keep you informed of our efforts and aware of opportunities to get involved.
So far, we've made significant progress on these goals. Specific highlights include:
- Launching the center's website as a resource for psychologists and the public on the vital contributions psychology as the science of behavior makes to health care. The site includes information on training opportunities for psychologists who want to work in integrated care, such as a directory of doctoral programs, internships and postdocs. It also includes a list of health psychology CE programs, links for those who want to learn more about and get involved in state-level health-care reform implementation, and ready access to health-related APA journal articles and other publications.
- With the much appreciated contributions of APA's Interdivisional Healthcare Committee, producing a series of briefing sheets and related products (such as Q&A documents and podcasts) for health professionals, policymakers and the public, to increase these key constituencies' understanding of how psychological interventions can promote health. Briefing sheet topics include the role of psychology in integrated health care and primary care, as well as in treating such health conditions as chronic pain, obesity, cancer and heart disease. Eight additional briefing sheets will soon be posted, with more planned for the coming year.
- With the APAPO, working with the American Medical Association and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to revalue psychotherapy services, resulting in an 8 percent increase to the total Medicare payments allotted for psychologists' services this year. This is the first such increase in nearly a decade. This essential advocacy work will continue under the auspices of the center's Office of Health Care Financing, which aims to ensure that psychologists are included and fairly compensated for their services, including those provided as part of integrated primary-care health teams. And the APAPO is also working to remove barriers to integrated care, such as state corporate practice of medicine laws that prevent psychologist-physician partnerships.
- Developing strategic partnerships within and outside APA, including with key APA divisions such as Div. 38 (Health) and the Interdivisional Healthcare Committee, as well as with outside organizations, such as the Society of Behavioral Medicine. APA staff who support the work of the center also serve on the executive committee of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a national coalition advocating for integrated care through the patient-centered medical home model. These alliances will help us raise psychologists' visibility in the health care system and increase opportunities for psychologists in integrated care.
We invite you to follow our work on the center's website and expand your professional horizons to assume new roles in our new, emerging health-care system.
Letters to the Editor
- Send us a letter
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In part 1 of this article, Joanne wanted to know if she could connect her SmartTV to her home router. Yesterday, I explained how the process worked. Today, I’ll walk you through it step-by-step.
When you are first setting up a smart TV, you should connect it to a wireless network to gain all the benefits of owning one. Usually, there are menus on the TV that will assist you with set up. My television happens to also be a Samsung, so the menus may be similar to what you see, but also could be completely different. I started by pressing the Menu key on my TV remote. This brought up a menu with various options, one being Network. I navigated down to this and found the following menu.
Under Network Settings, it will ask you to set up your wireless using the build in LAN adapter. Then, it will search for your router. This is where you will need to know the SSID that your router is using. If your wireless comes from your Internet provider, this was determined and configured when the router was installed. The SSID may even be listed on the bottom of the router, or been on a card given to you at the time of installation, if you never changed from the default settings. If it is provided by your Internet provider, you may be able to call them to find that information. If you set up (or someone else helped you set up) your own wireless, then whoever set it up needed to record this information. As you can see, my search brought up a list of various routers the TV found nearby.
Choose the network you want to connect to, and you will be asked to enter the security key, which I imagine is what you are calling the pin. This is the password for the network, or in other words, your router. Again, if you have never changed the settings on your network, this will also be listed on that sticker or card, or known by whoever set up your wireless. If you’re not sure you know that password/pin, it’s the same one you use to connect all your devices to the wireless network that you use, such as your laptop, phone or tablet.
Once you correctly enter that pin/key, your TV will confirm that you are connected to the network. Once you’ve done this once, the TV will automatically use that network from then on.
If you or no one else knows that password/pin, and you really want that TV on your wireless, then you may want to log into your router and reset your wireless password. Now, please bear in mind, changing this will require you to re-enter the password for each device you use to connect to the wireless network, so this isn’t something to do without taking that into consideration. But without knowing the password to the network, there’s not a lot more you can do to connect that TV into the network, unless you have a wired connection near the TV somewhere to connect onto your network.
However, once you do have your WiFi set up, you should have the ability to open up web pages and applications, such as NetFlix, Hulu, and YouTube, directly from the menu on your television. For example, my Samsung TV has a built in SmartHub that easily lets me open up different applications simply by using my remote.
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Stained Glass OrnamentsFrom tuilelaith 7 years ago
How to make it
- Prepare Basic Cookie Dough; divide into 3 pieces.
- Flatten each piece into a disk; wrap each in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight, until firm enough to roll.
- While dough is chilling, place each color hard candy in separate heavy-duty plastic bag. Place 1 bag on towel-covered work surface or floor. With meat mallet or rolling pin, lightly crush candy into small pieces about the size of coarsely chopped nuts, being careful not to crush until powdery. Repeat with remaining candy.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line large cookie sheet with foil. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, roll 1 disk of dough 1/8 inch thick. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. With 3- to 4-inch holiday-shaped cookie cutters, cut out as many cookies as possible. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet. Cut out centers of cookies with 1 1/2- to 2-inch cookie cutters. Remove and refrigerate trimmings and cutout centers.
- Bake cookies 7 minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven; fill each cookie's center with 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy. Return to oven and bake 3 to 4 minutes longer or until cookies are lightly browned and candy is melted. Cool cookies on cookie sheet on wire rack. With metal spatula, remove cookies. Repeat with remaining dough, trimmings, and candy.
- Store cookies in tightly sealed container at room temperature up to 2 weeks or in freezer up to 3 months.
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Baron Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), a French scientist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, was the first to propose the idea of extinctions. Around 1800, his work with mammoth and mastodon bones (although they were not labeled as such until later) found in North America led to his theory of extinction. He showed that these creatures recently went extinct, refuting claims that all creatures that ever existed were still alive today and that fossils were just evidence of as-yet-undiscovered species living elsewhere on the planet. Cuvier is considered to be the father of modern paleontology and comparative anatomy. His confirmation of the extinction process led to the study of even more ancient animals—the dinosaurs.
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WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee on Wednesday advanced legislation that aims to speed up the government’s review of pipelines and power lines that cross U.S. borders into Mexico and Canada, over the objections of environmentalists and the Obama administration.
Bill supporters, including Democrat Gene Green of Houston and Michigan Republican Fred Upton, said the measure is necessary to put Congress’ stamp on a presidential permit process for border-crossing energy infrastructure projects that has developed from executive orders issued over decades.
The measure effectively would require federal agencies to approve proposed border-crossing energy projects within 120 days unless they are deemed to be against the national security interest of the United States — a lower bar than the public interest threshold generally in place today.
The House Energy and Power Subcommittee voted 19-10 to approve the bill, sending it on to the full Energy and Commerce Committee for further debate. Green and Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., were the lone Democrats to cross party lines and vote for the legislation.
While the measure would not affect TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, it was inspired by the 6-year-battle over that project to connect oil sands projects in Alberta with refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Upton said the federal regulatory regime has failed to keep up with a domestic energy renaissance that requires changes to the network of pipelines and transmission lines criss-crossing North America.
“These projects, along with the jobs and economic growth they will help generate, may be sitting on the sidelines for years due to the precedent and uncertainty set with the Keystone XL pipeline,” Upton said.
Supporters say the bill would leave largely unchanged other government reviews beyond any presidential permit decisions prompted by the border-crossing status. Bill backers fought off Democratic amendments that would have forced broader reviews of the environmental consequences and climate change effects posed by proposed border-crossing energy infrastructure projects.
“We’re looking out for the public interest of Canada and Mexico, but what about the United States?” questioned Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Waxman said the narrower national security standard proposed by the bill would block a high-level review of the potential effects of proposed projects.
“This would prevent federal agencies from even considering whether the project might have an adverse effect on communities and landowners on the potential route,” he said. “Just because it came from Canada or Mexico shouldn’t preclude us from looking at the safety.”
Green noted the disparity in government reviews today for all forms of transporting crude and gas across borders; for instance, while pipelines currently must get a presidential permit and survive State Department reviews, trucks and rails are not subjected to the same scrutiny. Either way, Green said, the fossil fuels are moving through the United States.
Green said pipelines are “inherently safer,” and that the products eventually will come to Gulf Coast refineries one way or another. You can bring that product in by a less-safe way,” he said. “Why would we not make it safer?”
Administration officials and government regulators have been skeptical of the legislation. The director of energy projects at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told lawmakers last month that the measure could curtail environmental assessments beyond the presidential permit stage.
Green and Upton have insisted their goal is to focus on streamlining the presidential permit part of the process — not further down the line. On Wednesday, Upton pledged to work with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., on new language that would preserve existing requirements for environmental assessments of the energy projects inside the United States.
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Growers hope for perfect weather as nuts start to flow
By TIM HEARDEN
DAIRYVILLE, Calif. -- Shakers are making their way through orchards and hullers are working at full speed as the harvest of early walnut varieties has begun in California's Sacramento Valley.
Vina and Tehama varieties are coming off the trees, and growers expect to be busy for the next month as harvesting Chandlers -- the bulk of the crop -- gets started in early October.
"By the third week of October, we'll have the bulk of this done," said Rick Buchner, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Red Bluff.
In an orchard operated by Crain Orchards in this community just south of Red Bluff, harvesters had cleared Chico and Vina walnuts and started on Howards as of Sept. 26, farm manager Jud Pray said.
"It's still early, but the crop's good," Pray said. "We'll get into a really big volume by next week."
Growers are working diligently to prevent a repeat of last year, when nearly a week of early October rain in Northern California caused walnut processing plants to grind to a halt. The series of storms washed many nuts off the trees and onto the muddy orchard floor, and growers had to wait until the ground dried to collect the nuts.
Some weather models forecast a chance of rain in Northern California around Oct. 6.
However, Pray was just as concerned about another weather development -- heat. Walnuts tend to do better in cooler, more humid conditions, Pray said. A hot, dry day can deplete moisture from the nuts as trees become stressed, he said.
"It doesn't really help us," he said of the heat.
The walnut harvest begins as almond and pistachio harvests have pressed forward in the Golden State. Good quality was reported for pistachios, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service office in Sacramento.
Walnut output in California is expected to increase this year, as NASS projects 470,000 tons to be produced compared with 461,000 tons in 2011.
This year's estimate suggests the second-largest crop on record for California walnuts, which account for 99 percent of the U.S. commercial supply and roughly three-quarters of world trade.
California's walnut production set records in three consecutive seasons before last year's disappointing crop, which was made worse by the early rainstorms.
This year's crop was bolstered by favorable weather during pollination and ideal spring conditions, NASS reported.
Crain Walnut Shelling Inc.: http://www.crainwalnut.com/
UCCE Tehama County: http://cetehama.ucdavis.edu/
California Walnut Commission: http://www.walnuts.org/
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