text
stringlengths 166
589k
| __index_level_0__
int64 1
312k
|
|---|---|
DIR, Adobe Director Movie (.dir)
The DIR Video file format
DIR files are, while belonging in the video file category, no proper video files. They are rather project files created by the Macromedia Director program, a movie editing and animation program that was later acquired by Adobe. Unlike "proper" video files like AVI or MP4, DIR files can not be played using any video playing software. DIR files can only be accessed and opened in Adobe Director.
Technical details of DIR files
Since DIR files are project files of a movie or animation created and edited in Adobe Director, they do not contain actual video data. Instead, the files contain information about all the project's resources. This includes links to the resources used (images, music, videos), code and a timeline that states in which order the single files are arranged to form the movie.
More information about the DIR file format
Download example.dir file (14.82 KiB)
|Associated programs||Adobe Director (Windows & Mac)|
|Useful links||More about Adobe Director and DIR|
| 223,339
|
[PC-BSD Testing] HP LaserJet 1022 Information
sebastian.rehne at web.de
Thu Nov 17 09:15:26 PST 2011
thanks for your hints concerning my printing issue.
Unfortunately the additional hp-tools don't include a appropriate driver.
"hp-setup" failed with the following message:
"no ppd found for model laserjet_1022 using old algorithm.
no appropiate print ppd file found for model hp_laserjet_1022"
In consequence i was't able to configure the printer via the cups-webgui.
The output of "hp-check -t" is attached to this email.
Next sunday i will make an other trail with your
recommendations concering foo2zjs and the informations
On Mittwoch, 16. November 2011 15:14:58 Ian Robinson wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 3:00 PM, Sebastian Rehne wrote to
> <testing-request at lists.pcbsd.org> saying:
> 6) I can't configure the printer: Printer: LaserJet 1022
> I didn't found a appropiate driver, generic etc. didn't work.
> The HP LaserJet 1000 series of printers (including the 1022) connect to the
> computer with a USB cable. This is probably caused some of the difficulty
> getting drivers to work.
> PCBSD includes the HP Linux Imaging and Printing software (HPLIP). On the
> one hand, a HPLIP FAQ suggests that drivers are not available when it says:
> Question: Are drivers available for . . . LaserJet 1000 . . . ?
> Answer: These are non-standard host based printers. Currently there are no
> plans to support these printers in HPLIP.
> [Source: http://hplipopensource.com/node/93 ]
> On the other hand, that information may be outdated because HPLIP reports
> that the HP LaserJet 1022 is a supported printer according to the table
> this page:
> You can go to a terminal and type "hp-check -t" (without the quotes) to get
> an output of which printer-related programs are installed and running on
> your system and whether anything is missing. You might want to post the
> output for some knowledgeable person to review.
> Mac OSX users had problems getting a LaserJet 1000 series to work for lack
> of drivers, but the Linux Foundation (link below) put together a couple of
> programs to make the thing work:
> Mac OSX Downloads Required:
> #1 - hpijs-3.10.6
> #2 – foomatic-RIP
> #3 – ghostscript
> #4 – foo2zjs
> The how and why are detailed here:
> Although the link relates specifically to Mac OSX and Darwin, the source
> code might offer insight FreeBSD.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Size: 11461 bytes
Desc: not available
More information about the Testing
| 127,865
|
Having developed very rapidly in recent decades, international tourism has become one of the world economy's major industries.
In 2012 international tourism hit a record high as for the first time more than one billion tourists traveled internationally within one single year. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the tourism and hospitality industry is generating 9% of the global GDP and approximately 10% of total world employment.
Yet, managing international tourism demands a serious commitment: it is challenging and one must take into account a variety of different economies, institutions, legal systems, languages, and cultures. To strike a fair balance between the various elements at play - the tourist industry, the tourist, the local community, the environment - entrepreneurs and operators need to have an excellent grasp of several (even fairly disparate) disciplines, highly professional skills, a strategic and essential view of phenomena, with a strong sense of responsibility.
This Master aims to be part of a new wide-ranging form of training that is strongly oriented towards a multidisciplinary approach to contents and methods by covering the following fields:
- Economics and Management (of tourism, of tourist business, of culture, of territory and environment);
- Communication (in tourism, tourism marketing, information technologies, and human sciences);
- Politics, Institutions, and International Relations.
The MT program trains professional figures with qualified management career prospects in the foremost sectors of international tourism, as for instance:
- Government, Industry Associations, and Research;
- Destination Management and Marketing;
- Travel Trade (Tour Operators and Travel Agencies);
- Transportation and Accommodation;
- Events and Conferences.
This school offers programs in:
Last updated December 27, 2017
| 168,271
|
Humanities Research Institute, Gell Street, Sheffield, S3 7QY
'On Bees, Hives and the Human - Part 1 - Professor Francis Ratnieks This seminar 'On Bees, Hives and the Human' was chaired by Dr Helen Pheby, Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and was hosted by the University of Sheffield. This seminar included contributions from a scientist, a cultural historian and a practising artist. Common themes emerged regarding the relationship of bees to human social, cultural and environmental concerns. There were also difference in emphasis as the balance of creative, scientific and cultural concerns was different for each speaker.
| 276,506
|
If this isn't the cutest time-lapse video of two panda twins' first 100 days, then please send us the link to whatever video you're watching. It sounds precious.
Zoo Atlanta's baby pandas, the first panda twins born in the United States in 26 years, have officially turned 100 days old, which means that they have been given names. To celebrate, Atlanta released this squee-worthy time-lapse video.
"One hundred days of ‘Cub A' and ‘Cub B' are over and the twin giant panda cubs have officially been named Mei Lun and Mei Huan," Zoo Atlanta announces alongside the video.
For the first 16 days, they look SO WEIRD. Like little pink aliens. By day 25, they actually start to look like pandas and by day 40 they're adorable. By day 95 we want one. Right now. To cuddle.
The baby boys, born two minutes apart on July 15 to mother Lun Lun and father Yang Yang, are not only the first pair of twins born in the U.S. in over two decades, but the first surviving set of giant panda twins born in the U.S. ever.
"In the wild, giant panda moms typically care for only one cub when twins are born. Thus, it is normal in the wild for only one of the twins to survive," Zoo Atlanta explained in the comments of the YouTube video.
They continue, "Giant panda twins have survived in zoos within and outside of China. Usually this is accomplished by rotating the cubs with the mother for the first few months. However, giant pandas are born very tiny, and there is a high risk of mortality in the first few months."
As the video is time-lapse, featuring only a few seconds of every 10-or-so days, we miss a lot of Mei Lun and Mei Huan's milestones. Thankfully, Zoo Atlanta gives updates on their site (which also features a panda cam, just FYI!)
Zookeeper Jennifer A. says, "Both cubs are getting really good at standing... Their movements are still pretty clumsy, and sometimes when they try to walk they appear to be making frog-like or inchworm-like movements all around the nest box."
Which sounds adorable.
Meanwhile, Curator of Mammals, Rebecca Snyder, PhD, explains, "A few PandaCam viewers have asked when we can expect Mei Lun and Mei Huan to start urinating and defecating on their own. They'll start to do this on their own at around 4 months of age."
OK, who asked that last one? Fess up. Stop asking about the pandas pooping!
| 70,951
|
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 17 to 23 September 2012
The first five days of the week was the end of a 10 day long period of winds up to gale force from the sector south to east and ice drift to the northwest in opposite of the general Transpolar Drift direction. During this weather situation, temperatures were just below freezing and one instance of a heavy rain shower. Water collected (3 cm) on top of the 10 cm thick ice on the melt ponds and snow on the ground melted and became to some degree water logged. The temperature dropped to minus 12 C mid-week on the 20 Sept. and remained cold since. In terms of visibility, we had three days of complete white-out, two days with 5-7 hours of visibility and one Arctic dream day with a blue sky and sunshine all day.
During the last four days of the week we have met a very large field of ice rubble with blocks twisted in all directions and not penetrable by hovercraft. We have searched for paths through with no success so far and the progress during this period has essentially been the limited to the general ice drift.
Downloaded a satellite image from 22 September where the ice edge is well defined. The closest ice edge is 90 nautical mile to the southeast at 20 degrees East, but the challenge so far has been finding ways through the ice rubble in this direction. If we compensate for ice drift since early August, and consider our position relative to the sea ice cover, we are now roughly in a latitude sense where we had our first ice problems on the way north. However,we went north about 100 km to the east of where we are now. By now, we have spent 1/3 of the fuel obtained from ODEN - remaining fuel is 1800 liters.
Position: 84 13' N, 00 23' W. Temp. minus 1 Centigrade (corrected), wind 7 knots from southeast, low cloud cover, white-out all day, heavy rain for 10 minutes at 0620 hours. Ice drift is still to the northwest at 200 m/hour. The 10 cm thick ice on the melt water ponds now have nearly 3 cm of water on top. Snow thickness is on average 8 cm and on large flat areas the melt has given the snow surface a brownish tint.
Position: 84 09' N, 00 13' W. Temp. minus 4 Centigrades (corrected), wind 5 knots from the southeast, overcast, but clear sky near the horizon in the morning, the sun cleared the horizon at 0630 hours. Ground fog came and went before noon, and white-out after 2000 hours. Ice drift is to the northwest. This is the first time in six days the sun has been visible and also light conditions for driving. Had five hours of useable visibility. Saw a sea gull (brownish in colour)
Position: 84 10' N, 00 33' W. Temp. minus 4 Centigrades (corrected), winds from the southeast 6-10 knots, low clouds and white-out all day. Another day with low clouds and white-out. Not much to do about that.
Position: 84 02' N, 00 09' W. Temp. minus 12 Centigrades (corrected), winds 5 knots from the southeast, broken clouds, the sun visible all day, good driving condtions. An Arctic Ocean dream day in terms of visibility, but cold. Saw an ismåke" today.
Position: 84 00' N, 00 42' W. Temp. minus 7 Centigrades (corrected), winds 7 knots from the east-northeast and in the afternoon from north-northeast, a complete lid of low clouds and white-out all day. The good news is that after 11 days of continuous northward ice drift, the wind direction has changed and today, the ice drift turned west-southwest. The speed is about 200 m/hour. No sign of animal life.
Position: 83 54' N, 01 36' W. Temp. minus 10 Centigrades (corrected), winds 0-6 knots from the north, fog and white-out until noon, usable visibility from 1300 -2000 hours with sunshine from a clear sky. The area has ice rubble in all directions except north, made only five minutes of latitude south after having to detour and go north again three times. Ice drift is due south at 200 m/hour. Saw a seal in a lead.
Position: 83 52' N, 01 41' W. Temp. minus 12 degrees, wind 2 knots from the north, partly clouded, good visibility until noon when ground fog arrived. Light snow fall from 2000 to 0200 hours. The sun was over the horizon at 0730 hours. No sign of animal life in the white landscape.
All is well, we are delayed, that is all.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 10 to 16 September 2012
The week began reasonably well with a total of 4 hours of usable visibility for driving and the hovercraft moved 17 nautical miles due south to 84 N with underway ice thickness measurements. Continuous low clouds and white-out conditions persisted from noon Wednsday September 12 and throught the rest of the week with winds from the south and later southeast (8-23 knots). During this period, the ice moved 28 nautical miles to the northwest and we have just crossed the Gakkel Rift Valley beneath and will be crossing the geographic Greenwich Meridian shortly.
Temperatures have been between zero and minus 3 Centigrades. We have had 4 days with 1-4 hour periods of light rain this week. The thickness of the snow cover is in the range 5-13 cmm. It is melting and melt ponds all have 1-2 cm of water on top of the 10 cm thick new ice.
We had a polar bear aound the hovercraft on Wednsday evening. He moved away as the engine was started, but seemed to keep the hovercraft under surveillance.The following night he paid an unnoticed visit. Instead of taking interest in the three boxes with food on deck, the animal chewed up the serial connectors joining two sections of the data cable from the EM ice thickness instrument. The damage was later successfully repaired. We observed two seals and one snow bunting during the week.
Position 84 12' N, 03 28' E. Temp. 0 Centigrades (corrected), no wind, white-out through the morning until 1030 hours. After 1400 hours white-out and dense fog moving in. Ice drift is to the south at 200 m/hour. Had 2 hours of useable visibility and moved 6 nm in southerly direction with ice thickness measurements and two calibration stops.
Position: 84 01' N, 03 54' E. Temp. - 3 Centigrades (corrected), wind 6 knots from the west-southewest, partly clouded with sun visible from 0730 hours, ground fog on and off during the day and complete white-out after 1800 hours.
Position: 84 00' N, 03 38' E. Temp. minus 3 Centigrades (corrected), no wind, clear sky from 0800 hours, but ground fog and no visibility. Fog lifted for one hour at about 1100 hours. In the evening overcast and white-out. Light rain between 2000 and 2400 hours.
Position: 84 04' N, 03 20' E. Temp. minus 1 Centigrade (corrected), up to 17 knots wind from the south-southeast, overcast and dense fog all day.
Position: 84 08' N, 02 45' E. Temp. minus 1 Centigrade (corrected), wind from the south reaching gale force (22 knots) at 0800 hours, but generally more than 12 knots all day. Wind direction changed to southeast from the afternoon on. Low clouds and white-out all day, light rain between 1700 and 1830 hours.
Position: 84 12' N, 01 22' E. Temp. minus 2 (corrected), winds 16-22 knots from the southeast, low clouds, white-out, light rain 0800-1000 hours. Pressure ridges are being formed.
Position: 84 13' N, 00 22' E. Temp. minus 1.5 Centigrades (corrected), winds 8-12 knots from the southeast, overcast, fog coming and going, white-out, light rain 1100-1200 hours.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 03 to 09 September 2012
The first four days of the week were spent drifting over the Gakkel Rift Axis with three instruments placed in a triangle 5 km on the side, each with a hydrophone in the water to record the sound, and at one site a broadband seismometer. On Tuesday, we felt and heard the rumble of a local earthquake and recorded our nicest event to date. Several small ones followed. One of the instruments was over the rift valley floor and the two others 5 km away, up over the southern flank. This is where the rift valley is the deepest (5400 m) area in the Arctic Ocean. On Sept. 7 the instruments were picked up and the hovercraft moved to 84 23' N, 03 54' E and parked to wait for icebreaker ODEN to arrive. At this point the hovercraft had only 100 liters of diesel left after an unplanned period of over five weeks with no access to fuel.
A total of 19 days of operational monitoring of the microearthquake activity on Gakkel Ridge with three deployments on two contrasting sections of the rift valley, was very successful. Several hundred events were recorded. In terms of operation, it has involved only two people, and the opportunity to continuously monitor progress and respond with action needed to optimize the science. It has demonstrated the usefulness of hovercraft as an alternative logistic science platform for projects which involve relatively light weight equipment (few hundred kilos) in a joint operation with an icebreaker.
ODEN arrived on Saturday 8 Sept. at 0830 hours, and made a deep CTD cast and biological station while the hovercraft received 2654 liter diesel, some minor food items, we had a shower, discussed ice conditions and the transit south. The Danish UNCLOS work had been very successful. Among the achievements were about 300 kilos of rocks recovered by dredging from the slopes of Lomonosov Ridge. These are to the best of our knowledge the first samples of Lomonosov Ridge basement ever obtained.
Due to notorious white-out conditions, the option of taking the hovercraft on the deck of ODEN for the return transit south, was seriously considered and generously offered in spite of marginal crane capacity for loading and unloading. However, the ice thickness measurements that can be obtained with the hovercraft is a unique scientific contribution at a time when health of the Arctic Ocean ice cover is in a state of flux. We obtained a continous ice thickness profile from the ice edge to 85 N on the way north, and would also like to do so on the way south. However, there are some less attractive consequences. We will be severly delayed in reaching the ice edge due to poor light conditions for driving dominated by white-out.
Therefore the crew member Gaute Hope, boarded ODEN for the return to Longyearbyen in accordance with the stipulation laid out in the FRAM-2012 cruise plan. Yngve Kristoffersen drive the hovercraft back to the ice edge and carry out the underway ice thickness measurements. This opportunity will also be used to shoot a seismic profile drifting between 83 N and 82 N across a major sediment drift banked up against the northern flank of Yermak Plateau. This sediment drift is a target for future scientific drilling in the Arctic Ocean as it contains a record of the strength of inflow of Atlantic Water into the Arctic Ocean. The extent of this work will be adjusted according to how well progress is made.
NORBJØRN's sailing schedule suggest possible pick-up at the ice edge at about 27 September or 10 October. The hovercraft's food provisions may last until mid-October.
Position: 84 4' N, 03 30' E. Temp. +4 centigrades, winds 4 knots from the west, overcast, useful visibility from 1000-1800 hours, otherwise white-out. Light snow fall 1300-1400 hours. Ice drift was 200 m/hour to the south moving over the center of the rift valley wall.
Position: 84 36' N, 03 24' E. Temp. +2 centigrades, winds 8 knots from the northwest, overcast, useful visibility from 1600-1830 and after 2100 hours, otherwise white-out.
Position: 84 30' N, 03 15' E. Temp. +2 centigrades, winds 12 knots from the north-northwest, overcast. From 0900-1500 hours, the visibility was fair, but the diffuse light rendered no clear definition of surface features, otherwise white-out all day. The ice drift was 11 km due south over the last 24 hours.
Position 84 26' N, 03 13' E. Temp. + 1 Centigrades, wind 6 knots from northwest, white-out all day and snow fall after 2200 hours. Ice drift is due south at 200 m/hour and away from the rift axis.
Position 84 23' N, 03 54' E. Temp. + 2 Centigrades, wind 7 knots from the north. Good visibility from the early morning 0700 hours until 1400 hours.Picked up the remaining two seismic buoys and moved about one degree of longitude to the east (10.5 km) and parked to wait for ODEN.
Position 84 20' N, 03 57' E. Temp. 0 Centigrades, wind 5 knots from the east, overcast and fog. NOTE! Comparison between the more accurate temperature monitoring system on ODEN and the hovercraft shows the temperature sensor on the hovercraft is giving readings which are + 4 Centigrade too warm!!! Hereafter, our stated temperature is corrected accordingly.
Position 84 18' N, 03 16' E. Temp. -2 Centigrades (corrected), calm and white-out all day. Ice drift is to the west at 200 m/hour. Run up on a ridge late last night in deteriorating visibility and came off in the early morning after 7 hours work.
No sign of animal life during the whole week
All is well.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 27 August to 04 September 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
As the week began, we were in the third day of drifting and listening for earthquakes at a particular section of Gakkel Ridge characterized by no volcanism and no earthquakes recorded by the global network of seismigraph stations. This is peculiar as the widening of the Arctic Ocean here is the same as at the nearby volcanic section of the ridge.
At first the ice drift took us from the north across the rift valley, then a U-turn and back towards it just 2 km off, and then paralell to it for over 15 km and then away. At the end of the week we picked up the instruments at the three sites and move them upstream to the north of the rift valley again. Here, they were placed in the pattern of a triangle with 5 km long sides. This is our final deployment during FRAM-2012.
We have recorded about hundred microearthquakes during the week and 25% of them were very well defined events (signal to noise ratios 30-40). The Jan Mayen earthquake was also recorded.
As mentioned in earlier reports, the light condition, mainly white-out is our daily consern. We keep a 24 hour watch observing the visibility. For the last week, the total number of hours with sufficient visibility for driving has been 33 hours, i.e. less than 20% of the total time.
Our imposed decision to abandon pursuit of ODEN and our Lomonosov Ridge objectives, implied that we unexpectedly faced a period of more than 5 weeks without access to fuel. Fortunately, the direction of ice drift throughout the whole period has been much to our advantage and we have avoided major sacrifices in terms of science opportunities. Usable fuel left now with one more week to go, is about 300 liters i.e. 15% of fuel capacity.
No signs of animal life during the whole week.
Monday 27 August
Position: 84 37' N, 03 56' E. Temp. +9 Centigrades, wind 5 knots from the southwest, overcast and white-out all day. The drift was straight south at 200 m/hour and we were about 6 km south of the rift axis.
Tuesday 28 August
Position: 84 37' N, 03 25' E. Temp. +4 Centigrades, wind 10 knots from the westnorthwest, overcast and white-out all day, light snow between 1600 and 2000 hours. The ice drift made a surprising U-turn in the early morning and took us back towards the rift valley, now 3.5 km away.
Wednsday 29 August
Position: 84 40' N, 04 08' E. Temp. +3 Centigrades, wind 15 knots from the southwest, overcast and white-out until 1900 hours. We moved parallel to the rift valley with the center of the instrument array about 2 km away from the rift valley floor.
Thursday 30 August
Position: 84 39' N, 04 26' E. Temp. +4 centigrades, wind 4 knots from southeast, ground fog in the morning, shunshine at noon and overcast and white-out in the evening. The ice drift was very slow all day; mostly 200 m/ hour or less and in a direction along the ridge. This day was special; we saw the sun for the first time in a week! Have had to work on the assumption it should be there.
Friday 31 August
Position: 84 40' N, 03 38' E. Temp. +2 centigrades, wind 10 knots from south, overcast and diffuse light with poor ground contrast until noon, complete white-out in the evening. Rain between 1700 and 2200 hours. Winds from the south drove the ice over 2 nautical miles to the northwest during the day.The rainfall in the evening turned the white snow surface into a more bluish water saturated appearance.
Saturday 1 September
Position: 84 42' N, 03 14' E. Temp. +4 centigrades, winds 5-15 knots from southwest, overcast and diffuse light with poor ground contrast until 1000 hours, then the sun broke through the clouds and good visibility until white-out conditions again in the early evening.Light rain in the early morning hours. Winds were from the southwest and ice drift is to the northeast and much to our favour, parallel to the rift axis.
Sunday 2 September
Position: 84 42' N, 03 24' E. Temp. +4 centigrades, winds 8 knots from the west, overcast and white-out. Light snow fall around noon. A very quiet day with the ice drifting at c. 200 m/hour towards the rift valley. Our current position is on the north slope and about 4 km off the rift axis with the nearest instrument.
All is well.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 20 to 26 August 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
We are drifting with the sea ice over the Gakkel Ridge - the place where the Arctic Ocean constantly widens at a rate of less than 1 centimeter per year. The ridge has a deep, less than 2 km wide rift valley (up to 5400 m depth) flanked by steep mountain sides which rise 1 km shallower over a distance of just 2 km. Our mission is to contribute to the knowledge of how this widening is accomodated by rocks which constitute the Earth's crust.
We have just completed 9 days of drift, listening with instruments placed in a triangle 2.8 km on the side and the hovercraft in the middle of the triangle with another instrument and a broadband seismometer. The result of this was a record of several hundred potentially useful microearthquakes.
As this week began, we were in the process of picking up the last instrument and move to another segment on the ridge. However, gale force winds and white-out conditions during the first solid four days, prevented us from anything else, but wait it out.
On Friday, when the weather conditions had finally improved, we deployed the instruments within 2 hours over a section of the rift valley where no earthquakes have ever been recorded by distant stations. The direction of ice drift for the next days were along the rift valley, exactly where we wanted it to be. Only one earthquake was recorded the first 24 hours, but later several dozens small earthquakes followed.
At the end of the week, winds from southwest were associated with exrtaordinary warm air (+8 C) for this time of the year near 85 N.
Only animal life sighted is an occasional single sea gull.
Monday 20 August
Position: 84 56' N, 10 24' E. Temp. +2 Centigrades, wind 18 knots from the N with blowing snow, about an hour of usable visibility in the morning, but white-out the rest of the day. Gale force winds (>22 knots) for a brief period in the afternoon. Waiting on visibility to improve to pick up the last seismic buoy and move to another location.
Tuesday 21 August
Position: 84 50' N, 09 13' E. Temp. +2 Centigrades, wind 16 knots from NNE, low clouds, white-out, occasional snow. Waiting for improvement in visibility.
Wedn sday 22 August
Position: 84 46' N, 07 51' E. Temp. +2 Centigrades, winds 16-24 knots from NE, low clouds, white-out. Gale force winds most of the day and white-out conditions. Waiting for improvement in visibility for safe driving.
Thursday 23 August
Position: 84 44' N, 06 11' E. Temp. +2 Centigrades, winds from NE at 21 knots in the early morning coming down to 15 knots in the evening, white-out until noon, and finally good visibility in the afternoon. Found the last seismic buoy and started driving towards the rift valley for a new instrument deployment.
Friday 24 August
Position: 84 47' N, 4 51' E, Gakkel Rift Valley - non-magmatic zone Temp. +4 Centigrades, wind 8 knots from the northeast, white-out during the night and marginal visibility during the day. Deployed buoys and broad-band seismometer in a section of the Gakkel Rift Vally which is characterized by no magmatism and from here no earthquakes are recorded at teleseismic distances. Array geometry is a triangle with sides 2.8 km.
Saturday 25 August
Position: 84 44' N, 4 15' E, Gakkel Rift Valley - non-magmatic zone Temp. +6 Centigrades, wind 6 knots from the west, overcast and white-out on and off all day. The ice drift in on an ideal course right down the rift axis - could not do better even if we had the ability direct the ice drift.
Sunday 26 August
Position: 84 40' N, 03 58' E, Gakkel Rift Valley - non-magmatic zone Temp. +8 Centigrades, wind 6 knots from the southwest, overcast all day and white-out on and off, light rain first 1/3 of the day. Plus eight degrees and rain at the end of August at 85 N! The ice drift has slowly turned south and we are heading out of the rift axis after moving 15 km in a straight line within it.
All is well.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 13 to 19 August 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
This week was spent at 85 N drifting passively with the ice over the Gakkel Ridge, a mountain range which in the center has a deep (>4600 m), 10 km wide valley, the Gakkel Rift Valley, and is flanked by mountains which rise over 1 km higher over a distance of 5 km away. This mountain range extends from northeast of Greenland to the Siberian continental margin and is where the Arctic Ocean slowly widens.
Three seismic instruments each recording the signal from a hydrophone in the water are placed in a triangle with sides 2.8 km. The hovercraft is parked in the middle of the triangle with another listening hydrophone.
On Sunday 19 August, we were about 15 km south of the rift valley and decided to recover the seismic buoys and the broadband seismometer and move upstream. We picked up 3 out of 4 before the light conditions turned to white-out and no terrain contrast by midnight.
This deployment lasted for 9 days and the drift path mainly followed the rift valley as hoped for. About 30 well defined microearthquake events and maybe hundred smaller ones have been recorded. We are both very pleased with how Gaute's self designed and self built instruments have worked.
Monday 13 August
Position: 85 14' N, 10 25' Ø. Temp. +10 Centigrades, wind 5 knots from N, low clouds and poor visibility until early afternoon, in the evening sunshine from a cloud free sky.
Tuesday 14 August
Position: 85 12.9' N, 10 27' E. Temp. +7 Centigrades, calm, broken clouds, good visibility. In the afternoon, ground fog, above is a clear sky, wind 10 knots from SW.
Wednsday 15 August
Position: 85 10.4' N, 10 15' E, Gakkel Rift Valley. Temp. +5 Centigrades, calm , ground fog with poor visibility, but clear sky above. After noon, 10-14 knots wind, partly clouded, good visibility.
Thursday 16 August
Position: 85 05.6'N, 10 13' E. Gakkel Rift Valley. Temp. +5 Centigrades, wind 10 knots from NW, low clouds, fair visibility, but diffuse light which gives low contrast.
Friday 17 August
Position: 85 02' N, 09 57' E. Temp. +8 Centigrades, wind 5 knots from NE, low clouds, white-out.
Saturday 18 August
Position: 85 03' N, 10 23' E. Temp. +4 Centigrades, wind 10 knots from SW, white-out for most of the last 24 hours and light rain in the evening.
Sunday 19 August
Position: 84 59' N, 10 58' E. over southern flank of Gakkel Rift Valley Temp. 5 Centigrades, wind 6 knots from the west, white-out until afternoon, but by 2000 hours sunshine from a partly clouded sky until midnight and then back to white-out.
No seals have been sighted this week. Have daily seen a single sea gull. Woke up at 0500 hours on Sunday by the alarm from the motion detector where the food was buried in a small ridge - we had a bear visitor. To our surprise, he did not touch the food. Started the engine and he showed us his behind, but stayed at 100 m distance the rest of the day until we left the site to pick up instruments.
All is well.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 06 to 12 August 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
Monday 06 August
Position: 85° 02' n, 11° 06' E. Temp. +3° Centigrades, wind 10 knots from SE, overcast and fog.
No visibility all day for driving. By late afternoon ODEN would be 100 nm ahead of us, a distance equivalent to two days of driving under optimum conditions. Obstructions represented by ice fields can be worked at and around, but downtime from poor visibility and light conditions are totally out of our control. Under present circumstances, we anticipated ODEN would probably have to transit a minimum of two days roundtrip in order to provide us with fuel at the start of their first seismic line. We need the fuel to make the last third of the transit to Lomonosov Ridge. This being the case at the beginning of our field season and in all likelihood no improvement in general light conditions, further pursuit of the original cruise plan would require ODEN time for our support far beyond what was stipulated in the contract between LOMROG 2010 and FRAM-2012 expeditions. Also, excessive need of ODEN's time would be at the expense of Danish UNCLOS work. We therefore reluctantly decided that the most responsible scenario would be to remain on the Gakkel Ridge and carry out the planned earthquake monitoring project awaiting ODEN's return journey. ODEN and NPD were informed by e-mail about our decision.
Tuesday 07 August
Position: 84° 58' N, 11° 58' E. Temp. +4° Centigrades, wind 8 knots from SE, low clouds, ground fog, visibility 300-400 m, improving after lunch. Got 1.5 hours of driving during a window of improved light conditions in the early afternoon and found a way out of the field of ice rubble towards NE. While moving over severe melt pond terrain, the front-mounted boom broke off and EM instrument for ice thickness measurements fell into a melt pond. Recovered everything.
Wednsday 08 August
Position: 85° 04' N, 12° 35' E. Temp. +6° Centigrades, wind 4 knots from SW, low clouds, light snow and white-out conditions. Proceeded during two 1-1.5 hour visibility windows in the earliest morning. Got stuck on a ridge and came off after 6 hours work.
Thursday 09 August
Position: 85° 21' N, 11° 32' E. Temp. +6° Centigrades, wind 4 knots from SW, ground fog, light conditions on and off until 1800 hours when the fog partly lifted. Arrived at position on Gakkel Rift Valley north flank for deployment of seismic buoy #1 just before midnight.
Friday 10 August
Position: 85° 23' N, 11° 30' E. Temp. +6° Centigrades, wind 4 knots from SW, bright sunshine from a cloud-free sky. Deployed the three seimic buoys in a triangle with 2.8 km legs in 5 hours. The hovercraft is positioned in the middle of the triangle with a fourth station. The array records several small earthquake events pr hour.
Saturday 11 August
Position: 85° 18' N, 10° 57' E. Temp. +10° Centigrades, wind 6 knots from the E, ground fog, but cloud free sky above. Drifting parallel to the rift valley at 0.2 knots and monitoring. Several nice near events recorded.
Sunday 12 August
Position: 85° 17.8' N, 10° 50' E. Temp. +8° Centigrades, calm, partly clouded,light snow. Still drifting parallel along the flank of the rift valley at 0.1 knots, turning southwards after lunch. All equipment works well.
Four consecutive days with poor light conditions for driving subsequent to our decision to remain on Gakkel Ridge underscore the problem of keeping up a planned progression at this time of the year in the Arctic pack ice. We reluctantly acknowledge that the decision was most likely correct, and express our disappointment for not reaching our primary geological objectives on Lomonosov Ridge within the imposed time constraints, i.e., time constraints determined by the availability of fuel.
Why monitor earthquates from the Gakkel Rift Valley?
The Earth's surface is divided into plates that move relative to one another - a physical expression of how the Earth looses its internal heat. As the plates are moving, parts of their boundaries are associated with zones of compression (island arcs f.ex. Japan) or expansion (mid-ocean ridges f.ex. Mid-Atlantic Ridge). The Gakkel Ridge is the northward extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the site where a constant widening of the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean takes place. At the mid-ocean ridge, the widening is associated with: i) volcanic activity where new material from the Earth's interior fill the void or ii) by faulting and stretching of the crust that is already there. These processes at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge can be observed in Iceland. The Gakkel Ridge is special, because it represents a case where rate of opening is slowest in the global ridge system; the opening rate decreases from 1.3 cm/year northwest of Svalbard to 0.6 cm/year at the Laptev Sea continental margin. As the opening rate becomes slower, we expect less heat is involved and less volcanism. A large international effort in 2001 (AMORE) with two icebreakers surveying and recovering rock samples from the Gakkel Rift Valley from its western end to about 85 E (ca. 900 km), suddenly made this ridge segment one of the best surveyed in the world's ocean. One major finding was no simple decrease in volcanism and and hydrothermal vent fields as you move towards east along the Gakkel Ridge and the opening rate decreases.
Earthquakes are expressions of rocks failing under increasing stresses associated with the plate motion. In the rift valley, this is mainly related to faulting assosiated with magmatism or amagmatic faulting associated with stretching of the crust. With the new AMORE precise multi-beam bathymetry and reconnaissance mapping of rift valley petrology, it is now possible to directly relate the shallowest seismic activity to tectonic movements assosiated with specific features of the rift valley topography and the dominant seabed rock type. Deeper seismic events within the crust or upper mantle tell us about the depth extent of relatively cold and strong lithosphere. Four microearthquake field campains have so far been carried out at other locations along the Gakkel Ridge by German colleagues in order to study how the crust extends at ultra-slow spreading rates.
In the context of FRAM-2012, the microearthquake survey was originally planned as an add-on activity to the primary work on Lomonosov Ridge.
This was accomodated by 2 weeks earlier departure from Longyearbyen ahead of ODEN. The objective was to test new seismic buoy technology integrated into a local area network for seismic work from drifting sea ice, and apply it:
- to a microearthquake survey case to expand earlier studies on Gakkel Ridge. Then use the data base of recorded earthquakes to invert for crustal structure and earthquake source mechanisms, and
- later during work on Lomonosov Ridge, to acquire 3-D seismic reflection data which is a new level in Arctic Ocean exploration.
All this including instrument design and construction are the subject of a M.Sc. thesis of the crew member Gaute Hope. All experiments will now be carried out at the Gakkel Ridge spreading center.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 23 to 29 July 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
Monday, 23 July
Position 83° 18' N, 14° 16' E Temp. + 6° Centigrades, wind 9 knots.The sun broke through at midday and we got a total of four hours of driving before visibility deteriorated and we parked. Average speed in a north direction was 5.5 knots.
Tuesday, 24 July
Position 83° 38' N, 13° 38' E Temp. + 6° Centigrades, wind 10 knots from NE. Got almost two hours of driving in the early morning, before terrain contrast deteriorated and it started to rain lightly. This condition persisted until next morning. Average speed in a north direction 2.8 knots.
Wednsday, 25 July
Position 83° 43' N, 12° 38' E. Temp + 4° Centigrades, wind 10 knots from the east, visibility improved at 1000 hours. Got about six hours of driving. Average speed in north direction was 4.2 knots before lunch and 3 knots after lunch. Stopped at 1700 hours due deteriorating visibility and ice getting more broken up and difficult.
Thursday, 26 July
Position 83° 58' N, 11° 39' E. Temp. +6° Centigrades, wind 8 knots from NE. Started off at 0500 hours, had relatively good driving conditions, but got stuck three times and in one case the rear end of the craft swiped an ice block and the skirt was torn from the bottom to the deck. Repair work took four hours. When driving, northward progression was 6 knots before we came into a very complicated area and had to loop three nautical miles south again to get out of it. Have about 1000 liter diesel remaining.
Friday, 27 July
Position 84° 17' N, 11° 28, E. Temp. + 8° Centigrades, calm, light rain, acceptable visibility after 1200 hours. Visibility cleared by noon and got 7.5 hours of driving. Average progression northward was at 3 knots.
Saturday, 28 July
Position 84° 39' N, 12° 01' E. Temp. + 6° Centigrades, no wind, clear sky - a beautiful day. After driving over long stretches of 3-4 meter thick level ice, we hit an area which was broken up in all directions. Climbed to the roof of the hovercraft to scan the horizon for less rugged terrain. We had to turn south again to search for openings. As we moved over a small but very deep melt pond we got stuck on a ridge in the middle since we moved too cautiously and had insufficient momentum. The craft got a 30 degree list to port with the starbord skirt hanging up to 1 meter above the ground. Built a wall of iceblocks, cut by chain saw to trap the air cushion and also had to remove some ice under the keel before we regained lift and moved off. The job took 15 hours. After a short rest, we got only one hour of driving before fog moved in. As we parked for the night we experienced skirt control failure.
Sunday, 29 July
Position: 84° 40' N, 12° 34' E. Temp. + 6° Centigrades, wind 3 knots, fog. Worked on locating the fault and established that the charge splitter which distributes the charge from the alternator between our two sets of batteries was burnt and the alternator dead. Completed the remaining assembly of our new powerful roof mounted windmill and got it online for charging. Spare parts may reach ODEN before departure from Longyearbyen. To what degree the charge from the wind mill is sufficient for extended periods of driving will be tested as soon as driving conditions improve.
The general ice thickness increases noticably north of 83° N, and occurrences of thicker 2-3 m ice become more frequent. With this, the frequency of melt ponds increases dramatically, in places to more than 50% of the surface and the difference in level between water and ice up to 0.5 meter. The hovercraft is very suceptible to surface slope and the meltwater pond topography makes an otherwise level area difficult to drive in as you have to go relatively slow.
North of 84° 20' N, the ice was consistently 3-4 meters thick (up to more than 6 meter), with no leads. For stretches of up to a mile, the surface of thick ice was free of pressure ridges. These relatively extensive flats were separated by smaller pressure ridges until, at about 84° 37' N, we came into a very messy area with broken up thick ice in all directions. We are still in this situation, but see conditions in the northeast as the most promising direction to continue as visibility again improves. Getting an overview is a problem, your only option is to climb the roof of the hovercraft and scan the horizon using binoculars.
We have had difficulties with sufficent power for the EM instrument measuring ice thickness, and decided to cannibalize the power pack of an ARGOS buoy to keep it going until we meet ODEN and get a permanent solution.
Ice stained with algae is frequently observed. We encounter an occasional sea gull almost every day and have seen two seals this week but no polar bears. Now, with the windmill going, we assume polar bears will keep at a distance.
Passed an old rusty fuel drum on the ice, no discernble markings.
Remaining fuel is for 6-7 hours of driving and will be spent to get in position for rendevous with ODEN.
FRAM-2012 Expedition: Weekly Report, 17 to 22 July 2012
Yngve Kristoffersen and Gaute Hope
The air cushion boat SABVABAA left Longyearbyen Monday, July 16 at. 2230 on the deck of the boat NORBJØRN goods. The air cushion vessel was set on the water and bunkered Wednesday, July 18 at 0830 in position 80° 52 ' N, 15° E.
It was scattered ice, fog and weak winds in the area. SABVABAA encountered close ice (8-9/10) at 81 ° 03 'and started the measurements of ice thickness with an electromagnetic (EM) sensor mounted in front of the vessel. After 3.5 hours drive 22 nautical mil north of the ice we met with LANCE Stig Falk-Petersen and a group of biologists. Here we were invited to dinner. There were problems with the power supply to the EM sensor and LANCE helped with spare batteries until we get a permanent solution when ODEN arrive.
Wednesday, July 18
Overcast, but good visibility, + 6° C, still, an ice thickness ±0.1 m, much smooth ice sheets, efficient run-time 5.5 hours, effective average speed of 6.7 knots northerly direction, parked and stayed in position 81° 28 'N, 15° E.
Thursday, July 19
Clear, good visibility, + 6° C, still, ice thickness from 1 to 1.5 m, but is keyed more frequent, efficient run-time 6 hours, effective average speed in the northerly direction 4.3 knots, parked and stayed in position 82° 20 'N, 14° 47' E.
Friday, July 20
Fog until lunch, later partly cloudy, + 7° C, wind 6 knots from the NW, ice thickness from 1 to 1.5 m, more frequent element of 2 to 2.5 m thick ice, the ice is much keyed up and messy, efficient run-time 5 hours, effective average speed of 3.5 knots northerly direction, parked and stayed in position 82° 58 'N, 14 ° 49' E.
Saturday, July 21
Sol first part of the day, fog and poor visibility afternoon, no wind, elements of 2 - 4 m thick ice and meltwater ponds frequently large and covers more than 50% of the surface, came into the area really keyed up and had to turn and detour run twice, effectively driving 6.5 hours, effective average speed of 2.75 knots northerly direction, parked and spent the night in position 83° 18 'N, 14° 32' E.
Sunday, July 22
Fog, quiet, light rain, + 10° C, for poor visibility to drive. The day was used for processing of ice thickness measurements and maintenance.
The air cushion boat pushes hard ice in an impressive manner. The is reasonably easy to find usable gaps in long pressure ridges. The important limiting efficient driving is visibility. The importance of visibility lies primarily in avoiding run into areas that are completely keyed in all directions because the radar image of pack ice is too complex that it is practical use. It is most profitable to exercise patience and wait for adequate visibility, because the alternative is that you often run out onto ice ridges and uses time gains to come loose.
A diesel-powered icebreaker on the way from the ice to the North Pole holding a effective average speed in the northerly direction at about 3 knots.
Spring effective average speed in the northerly direction is 3-4 knots and includes all maneuvering through pressure ridges and reduced speed over landscape of the melt-water ponds. South of 82° N there was little meltwater ponds on the ice and on flat stretches, it was possible to holding 10 to 15 knots. Farther north increased frequency of meltwater ponds and north of 83° constitute at least 50% of the surface, and represents up to 0.5 meters deep depressions in the ice surface. This means that the average speed drops because we can not keep more than approx. 7 knots because of the size and the distance between meltwater ponds in relation to the length of the boat results in a pitch movement that would otherwise be too noisy. Glacial dams do it is also difficult to steer the boat effectively. It is less than 10 cm granular snow on the ice, and air cushion boat slips easily - too easily. A thicker layer of snow had better friction and made it easier to maneuver.
At 83° N, we had covered half the distance to the first target range of 85° N and had a little over half (approx. 1400 liters) of diesel inventory back. ODEN arrive at 85° N to ca. two weeks. We have been over 1 ton lighter because of the fuel consumed and the marked on the driving performance of the boat. The measurements of ice thickness is very good. We have now completed the first 250 km of the profile from the ice to the North Pole. Gaute Hope made a preliminary processing of the results and made two plots: a showing the distribution of ice thickness from the ice edge and LANCE's position (81.0° N-81.4° N) and one from our far northern section (82.95° N-83.1° N).
Otherwise all is well. Circadian rhythm is determined by the fog. In the first target of 85° N, we set out 5 buoys on the ice within an area with a radius of approx. 4 km to listen for earthquakes up to when ODEN arrives.
| 232,253
|
Submitted by SUNY Oswego
Lenuta Giukin of SUNY Oswego’s modern languages and literatures faculty won a five-month Fulbright Scholarship last fall to Moldova in Eastern Europe, where she taught and did research on the burgeoning film industry in the Romanian- and Russian-influenced nation.
As a representative of the William J. Fulbright Scholar Program — the United States’ flagship academic exchange effort — Giukin also organized a roundtable at the Moldova Institute of International Relations and participated in seminars and workshops sponsored by the U.S. State Department there and at two other Moldovan universities.
Giukin, who teaches courses in the French program at SUNY Oswego and was its coordinator from 2003 to 2011, is a native of western Romania’s Banat region. Yet her homeland — influenced by Germans, Slavs and others — is in many ways worlds apart from Maryland-sized Moldova, a 22-year-old nation between northeast Romania and southern Ukraine.
“I felt familiar being there, but at times I felt as a foreigner,” said Giukin, who has been in the United States for 26 years. “In a way, Eastern Europe today is not a familiar territory to me.”
Moldova, which includes most of a region known as Bessarabia, formerly was the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The country gained independence in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It has preliminarily agreed to associate with the European Union, causing friction with Russia.
The growing Moldovan film industry, increasingly successful in international film festivals, reflects the cultural push-pull. “Theirs is a transitional type of culture with an interesting cinema industry in both Romanian and Russian,” Giukin said.
Exchange of ideas
As a Fulbright Scholar in the capital of Chisinau, Giukin said she was able to interview a variety of filmmakers, producers and distributors. She attended two premieres, Igor Cobileanski’s “The Unsaved” and the documentary “Chisinau from Dawn to Dusk.”
Recently returned to the Oswego area, Giukin already has scheduled one conference presentation on the past and present state of Moldova’s cinema, at the Northeast Modern Languages Association’s conference in April, and is working on scheduling two others.
Giukin said her teaching in Chisinau — she was asked to deliver an American-style experience for her students at the Institute of International Relations — came as a culture shock to the 45 students who took “Gender and Genre in Cinema” in either English or French.
She talked of individuals’ rights and such topics as gay marriage, and showed and discussed 11 films, two of which some conservative Moldovan students found “too strong.”
“Most found (the course) useful,” Giukin said. “I explained that the role of academia is to promote a safe and open exchange of ideas.”
Giukin, who also taught a course on English for managers, said she received positive feedback on offering the cinema course in languages other than Romanian or Russian and incorporating critical thinking skills and a class website.
“One student who was also a professor said she felt free for once to speak French, because I was not stressing language mistakes, only communication,” Giukin said. “It was a great experience for me to work with students who were so interested in the topic.”
One of the challenges she and other higher-education faculty in Moldova face is the poverty of students, many of whom are from rural areas and have to work in order to continue their schooling in a nation known as Europe’s poorest.
“It is a challenge to find a way to help these students stay in school and find a way to focus on their studies rather than working so hard to survive,” Giukin said.
| 208,734
|
DominicB - | 2,709 18 Oct 2017 #181@kaprysAnother anachronism is not realizing how daunting these distances were at that time. It's 300 miles from Ostrava to Gniezno. And there were essentially no roads, just tracks. And often not even that, so that one had to travel through thick forest and swamps. And forget about bridges. And you had to pitch camp every night as settlements were few and far between. On foot, fit males traveling very light could cover this distance in three to four weeks under the best of circumstances. A lot longer when transporting goods. Even on horse, an unencumbered messenger would need about a week. Poland at that time wasn't anything like France or England where the Romans left good road systems behind. If the weather was bad. you could double or triple those times.
| 159,917
|
Commentary on Egyptian Politics and Culture by an Egyptian Citizen with a Room of Her Own
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
AP Photo. Lawyer Rab'a Fahmy at the Prosecutor's office on 30 May holding aloft her torn skirt from referendum day (25 May).
"Dr. Mo'mena Kamel, head of the Women's Secretariat in the National Democratic Party, clarified that president Hosni Mubarak is the one who uplifted the woman and empowered her politically and economically," al-Ahram, 2 June 2005.
| 141,033
|
Fundamental / Technical Analysis - 315 EMA Strategy - How To Use Effectively in STRATEGIES & PLANS - SMA: A simple, or arithmetic, moving average that is calculated by adding the closing price of the security for a ...
06-24-2011 12:47 AM
315 EMA Strategy - How To Use Effectively
SMA: A simple, or arithmetic, moving average that is calculated by adding the closing price of the security for a number of time periods and then dividing this total by the number of time periods.
EMA: A type of moving average that is similar to a simple moving average, except that more weight is given to the latest data.
The first step is to understand what is 315, its advatages and disadvantages.
The second step is to understand some rules I have derived to use it effectively. Rules are related to effective entries, effective SL management, effective profit bookings, effective re-entries and in the end effective money management or effective safeguarding the capital.
In this post I would focus on step 1 i.e what is 315 etc.
315 Strategy for swing trading
315 is a simple swing technique which tries to identify a trend very early. In this strategy we use only EMAs name EMA 3 & EMA 15 (hence the name 315).
People ask me why EMA 3 and EMA 15 . For me last 3 days define the immediate average price. To find the slightly longer term trend i use the factor of 5. This is becuase 5 has an interesting relevance to markets. We have approximately 5 hours of trading everyday, 5 trading days in a week, almost 5 trading weeks in a month. So I simply multiple 3 by 5 to get my 15 EMA which defines my medium term average price.
Now in simple terms, if our immediate average price is higher than the medium term average price that means we are entering in a bull swing and visa versa. Hence the strategy entries are:
- Enter Long when 3 EMA goes above 15 EMA (When the "Green" line shoots over "Red" line in below chart)
- Enter Short when 3 EMA goes below 15 EMA (When the "Green" line dips below "Red" line in below chart)
Live Chart - The below chart is, live last 15 days chart and is valid whenever you are seeing it.
Advantages of following 315 strategy
Disadvantages of 315 Strategy
- A simple technique using just 2 EMAs, no other oscilattors or indicators required. NO advanced charting softwares required.
- System is based on following the ULTIMATE indicator available i.e price action.
- Keeps a trader in the trend, lets the full swing to complete. Never gets a trader against the trend.
- Since we are just following price action, we dont need to worry about divergences etc.
- Works brilliantly in a trending market but can whipsaw in extremely ranging markets. However this can be overcome by certain rules and money management to be explained later in this thread.
So this is what the strategy is folks, do some chart reading and see how it works on EOD charts. Do post any questions you have here.
Visitors found this page by searching for:
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS EMA 315 FOR INTRADAY,
effective ema for stock market,
ema 3 15 for trend ,
moving average 315,
3 - 15 ema strategy,
best nifty stragety sma ema,
stock analysis 315,
ema 155trading secret,
5ema trading system,
3day ema strategy,
nifty trading system using ema and sma,
stock trading 315 strategy,
315 ema technical analysis,
nifty stocks above 5 ema,
how effective is using ema to buy and sell stocks,
how to calculate 3ema and 15ema,
best ema trading strategy,
ema trading strategy
Tags for this Thread
| 281,429
|
Japan officially leaves the International Whaling Commission and stops whaling in Antarctica and the North Pacific for scientific purposes. Instead, it will now be able to start commercial fishing in its exclusive economic zone of those whale species whose numbers are not in danger. So far, the quotas and types of whales, the fishing of which will be allowed, have not been made public.
Since 1988, Japan, as a member of the International Whaling Commission, voluntarily refused commercial whale fishing, reserving the right to fish for scientific purposes. All this time, the Japanese government attributed the appearance of a small amount of whale meat in stores to the fact that it is a kind of “by-product” of the research of whales, which require an indispensable study of the state of their stomachs, for which their killing is necessary.
In the past 10 years, Japan has been heavily criticized by environmental organizations, primarily Australian and New Zealand, for catching and killing whales. The explanations of the Japanese side that fishing occurs within the limits of the quota allowed by the commission were not taken into account. In the early 2010s, a serious war began with the use of water cannons and incendiary bottles between the Japanese whalers and the Sea Shepard organization.
In the last year of its membership, Japan tried to convince its colleagues on the commission that of the 86 species of whales, many are not on the verge of extinction and their fishing within reasonable limits will not affect their numbers. However, the organization was adamant. Then Japan went to the last step – announced its withdrawal from the commission, which automatically blocks its access to catching whales in the Antarctic and the North Pacific, albeit for scientific purposes, but instead opens up the possibility of “home” fishing in its economic zone , but in the quantities in which it deems necessary.
The history of the use of whale meat in Japan has about 400 years. It is often argued that at the expense of a limited area, Japan lacks plant and especially animal species of protein. Since ancient times, the natural source of protein in the diet of the Japanese was fish and whale meat as part of marine resources. The ban on fishing and fishing for whales, and even from countries that do not eat whale meat, is overwhelmingly perceived by the Japanese at all levels as an encroachment on national culture and dictate.
The only final concession Japan made before starting fishing is a one-day delay. She could formally announce permission to fish certain species of whales in her waters on Sunday. But Japan decided to postpone it until Monday, waiting for the end of the G20 summit, which was held in Osaka from June 28 to 29, in order not to expose itself – the country presiding at the forum – criticized by partner countries.
| 224,735
|
Do you find that your allergies are at their worst during the summertime? Spring may be the most common time of year to experience allergy symptoms, but that doesn’t mean that the warm summer air isn’t full of things that make you sniffle, sneeze, and wheeze.
The best way to determine the cause of your allergies is to know what the most common culprits are. Today, we’ll take a look at some of the worst summer allergy instigators.
When springtime rolls around, all of the trees begin to shower the world in their powdery pollen, which can be a nightmare for allergy sufferers.
In the summertime, there are a number of different weeds and grasses that produce the same sneeze-inducing substance. Grass and weed pollen are so common that they are actually the number one culprit for summer allergies.
If you’re stuck sniffling and sneezing as June rolls into July, keep an eye out on the pollen count and do your best to avoid the outdoors when they are at their worst.(more…)
| 150,638
|
How Rajesh Mehta Found His Midas Touch During Recession
Image: Mallikarjun Katakol for Forbes India
Name: Rajesh Mehta
Profile: Chairman, Rajesh Exports
Rank in the Rich List: 57
Net Worth: $1.1 bln
The Big Hairy Challenge Faced in the Last One Year Expanding retail footprint. To finetune a model to help grow revenues from 3.5 percent in 2011 to 55 percent in 2016
The Way Forward Wants to expand retail outlets to 500 by 2015 across India from the current 80; expects to start gold mining in Rwanda next year
The headquarters of Rajesh Exports (REL) in Bangalore looks worn, a far cry from what you would expect from India’s leading exporter of gold jewellery. The nameplate, too, is shorn of frills, with black fonts painted on a cheap, white tin board. Inside the founder’s room is a fax machine that’s at least a generation old. The cellphone the 48-year-old uses is a low-end Nokia. “It serves my purpose,” says Rajesh Mehta, the protagonist, with a poker face. Mehta’s son, in charge of strategy and investor relations at Rajesh Exports, sits in a small room that housed computer servers not long ago. It’s still labelled ‘server room’.
Tightfisted? Yes. Hard times? Hell, no. The numbers will tell you why. The revenues of REL jumped from Rs 8,187 crore in March 2008 to Rs 25,653 crore in March 2012. That’s an increase of over 213 percent in five years. During this period, its profits doubled from Rs 206 crore to Rs 412 crore, weathering the slump in 2009 and 2010, when profits dropped as REL cut its credit lines to customers and started offering discounts.
The company also boasts of the biggest manufacturing facility of gold jewellery in the world—with a capacity of 250 tonnes—and is the top exporter of gold jewellery in the country. Behind the native frugality of the man hides the story of an entrepreneur who goes about his business with aplomb. “We don’t believe in showing off. We believe in our business, we believe in stretching our assets, and we believe in growth,” says Mehta. Last year, he ranked the 57th richest man in India with a net worth of $1 billion. This year, he is holding on to the rank but his net worth has gone up to $1.1 billion.
Mehta waded into the world of business in his teens. He was a good student, but chose business over university education. He started by helping out his father, who had moved to Bangalore from Gujarat and was running a business of supplying accessories and artificial gems to jewellers. Mehta visited his father’s customers to supply goods, collect money and so on. A keen observer, he soon realised there was inefficiency everywhere. He sniffed an opportunity to provide efficient services and make money.
In 1982, Mehta borrowed Rs 2,000 from his brother and another Rs 8,000 from a bank and took his first steps as an independent businessman. He went to Chennai, bought silver jewellery from the local smiths and sold his wares to shops in Gujarat. He notched up a profit of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, quite a big sum those days. With that money, Mehta bought jewellery from Gujarat, returned to Bangalore and earned a neat sum selling newer designs. From Bangalore to Chennai again and the cycle continued. Each trip made him richer, and he began to wonder why no one manufactured jewellery from a centralised location to benefit from the economies of scale.
When he asked around, jewellers told him it was because of the regulations. One day, he read up the Gold Control Act and realised that though it prohibited manufacturing of ornaments that had more than 14 carat purity, and put restrictions on primary gold a dealer can hold (400 grams to 2 kg, depending upon the number of goldsmiths he employed), all these norms were relaxed in case of export. So, he set up a small plant in Bangalore and visited the UK to get orders. He stayed with a distant relative and made tours to London retailers, promising them a good price and delivery on time. The dealers were initially reluctant, but he got some orders. And that’s how his business took off.
As REL expanded and the Gold Control Act was repealed, he went for an IPO, raised money, set up a bigger plant, and by 2000 was thinking of setting up an even bigger one. The 250-tonne capacity unit started production in 2003. The scale gave him the economy. While the global average of wastage in gold production is 3 percent, for REL, it’s 0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, the domestic market for gold was booming. India buys 850 tonnes of gold every year, and nine-tenths are consumed in the form of jewellery. It reaches the customers through four lakh retailers (and 8.5 lakh goldsmiths). The market was fragmented and 96 percent of it was unorganised. But since 2005, the organised sector began to grow at 40 percent a year. So far, Mehta made most of his money from exports. By now, he was ready to enter the frontend with his unique proposition: Offer a price that nobody can imitate.
DV Harish, who runs Davanam, a small chain of jewellery stores in Bangalore, and who has known Mehta for close to 25 years, says he always had the ambition of building an organised retail chain. “He used to talk about it in early ’90s, even before we had the likes of Tanishq and Reliance.”
Typically, when a jeweller wants to expand, he sets up a large format store in a key commercial district with much fanfare. For example, when Joyalukkas (brand based in the UAE) came to Bangalore, it took a prime property on MG Road. One of its stores in Chennai’s T Nagar, which sprawled over five floors, won a place in the Limca Book of Records as the world’s largest jewellery showroom.
But Mehta came up with a model that placed him on the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of building huge showrooms or convincing businessmen to invest in new shops under a franchisee model, he approached existing small-time retailers (neighbourhood jewellery shops) catering to a local clientele. That’s how ‘Shubh’ was born in 2010. While REL supplies the inventory and takes care of the advertising, the stores were rebranded and started to earn a commission for selling the wares at a price fixed by REL.
Mehta believes the key selling point of his plan is the pricing. Usually, jewellers charge more than the quoted gold price on account of wastage, making, and other expenses. At Shubh, the customers will be charged actual rate per gram (the weight multiplied by quoted price). As of today, the number of retail outlets has increased to 73 (apart from seven stores that came as a part of REL’s Oyzterbay acquisition in 2007). Son Siddharth (22), who is in charge of strategy, says the company plans to expand to other southern states and eventually make its foray into north India.
| 149,833
|
“One should not have to die
to know what death is like,
should not have to eliminate love
from his life because of someone’s confusion
about skin color and esoteric ideologies.”
––T.J. Reddy from “Sky Blue Messages and Wall Hangings”
The poems are remarkable for the restraint they exhibit. It would have been easy to understand if this book had been filled with one page after another spilling over with militant diatribes condemning the racism responsible for the author’s imprisonment. His pen instead more often chooses to affirm the power of his own spirit to give positive meaning to negative circumstances. These short stanzas from the title poem demonstrate the kind of inner resolve and resilience that made the triumphs of African America’s Civil Rights Movement possible:
Take away my paints and brushes,
I resort to colors in clay and flowers.
Try to limit me from learning,
mind’s eye images keep on transcending…
Lock me away with no way to move,
Body into yoga, my soul is soothed.
Almost as if to confess that it knew Reddy was a great deal more than it claimed him to be, the North Carolina penal system at various times–– throughout the ordeal of battling for his freedom––allowed him to work in positions that many felt testified to his true character. These included work as: a field representative for the N.C. Cultural Arts Coalition, Artistic Director of the Spirit Square Cultural Center, and counselor for the Offender Aid Program.
Building on Lessons of the Era
Members of the Charlotte City Council in November 1978 concluded that enough had been too much already where the imprisonment of the Charlotte Three was concerned. They submitted a resolution in which they stated, “The turmoil and social upheaval evident in the country during that era can never be eradicated or forgotten. Neither can we erase the history of the so-called Charlotte Three case. But we can build on the lessons that that era of our history has taught us all.”
In their own attempt to build on those lessons, the council members requested commutation of the men’s sentences. “The release of the Charlotte Three,” they noted, “would allow a man of such talent as T.J. Reddy to continue in making the positive contribution to the Charlotte community that has been so evident over the past two years.”
By the time Governor Jim Hunt did commute their sentences in 1979, Reddy had spent nearly a decade battling for his life and freedom. The creative disposition that allowed him to transform those struggles into articulations of poetry and art instead of calculated violence may rightly be described as miraculous.
An Impressive Nelson-Mandelaian Example
As engaging as the writings in Poems in One-Part Harmony are, they represent only a fraction of Reddy’s creative output. In fact, the greater share of his energies would appear to have gone to the visual side of his artistry and into his work as an educator. Where his visual art is concerned, he has proven as steadfast and productive as those heroes of the Harlem Renaissance whose work he admires. His valued achievements as an artist have been acknowledged in many ways, such as with numerous exhibitions, the inclusion of his work in private and public collections, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, and a N.C. Artist Project Grant. Moreover, as an educator he has helped many to forge paths of fulfillment in their own lives.
In one metaphorical sense, Reddy’s most breathtaking literary and visual work of art just might be the life he fought to reclaim and shape into such an impressive Nelson-Mandelaian example of endurance and triumphant grace. That lesson is an important one for the millions struggling to survive these “times of austerity” and it is only one very good reason to make Reddy’s writings and art as accessible through republication and more exhibitions as possible.
author of Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black
and co-author of ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love
More on T.J. Reddy and Aberjhani’s Text and Meaning Series
- Text and Meaning in T.J. Reddy’s Poems in One-Part Harmony Part 1
- Text and Meaning in T.J. Reddy’s Poems in One-Part Harmony Part 2
- Text and Meaning in T.J. Reddy’s Poems in One-Part Harmony Part 3
- T.J. Reddy Official Website
- Text and Meaning in the Life of Nelson Mandela Part 1
- Text and Meaning in Robert Frost’s Dedication: For John F. Kennedy Part 1
- Text and Meaning in Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus Part 1
- Text and Meaning in Langston Hughes’ The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain Part 1
- Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Part 1
- Text and Meaning in MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech Part 1
| 204,489
|
NASA`s Dawn spacecraft finds hydrogen on asteroid Vesta
Washington: Vesta, the giant asteroid, has its own version of ring around the collar, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has revealed.
Two studies based on observations from the low-altitude mapping orbit of the Dawn mission, show volatile, or easily evaporated, materials have coloured Vesta’s surface in a broad swath around its equator.
The volatiles were released from minerals likely containing water. Pothole-like features mark some of the asteroid’s surface where the volatiles boiled off.
Dawn did not find actual water ice at Vesta. However, it found evidence of hydrated minerals delivered by meteorites and dust in the giant asteroid’s chemistry and geology.
One study, led by Thomas Prettyman, the lead scientist for Dawn’s gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., describes how the instrument found signatures of hydrogen, likely in the form of hydroxyl or water bound to minerals in Vesta’s surface.
“The source of the hydrogen within Vesta’s surface appears to be hydrated minerals delivered by carbon-rich space rocks that collided with Vesta at speeds slow enough to preserve their volatile content,” said Prettyman.
Another study, led by Brett Denevi, a Dawn participating scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., describes the presence of pitted terrain created by the release of the volatiles.
Vesta is the second most massive member of our solar system’s main asteroid belt. Dawn was orbiting at an average altitude of about 130 miles (210 kilometers) above the surface when it obtained the data. Dawn left Vesta on Sept. 5 EDT (Sept. 4) and is on its way to a second target, the dwarf planet Ceres.
Scientists thought it might be possible for water ice to survive near the surface around the giant asteroid’s poles. Unlike Earth’s moon, however, Vesta has no permanently shadowed polar regions where ice might survive. The strongest signature for hydrogen in the latest data came from regions near the equator, where water ice is not stable.
In some cases, space rocks crashed into these deposits at high speed. The heat from the collisions converted the hydrogen bound to the minerals into water, which evaporated. Escaping water left holes as much as six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) wide and as deep as 700 feet (200 meters). Seen in images from Dawn’s framing camera, this pitted terrain is best preserved in sections of Marcia crater.
“The pits look just like features seen on Mars, and while water was common on Mars, it was totally unexpected on Vesta in these high abundances,” said Denevi.
“These results provide evidence that not only were hydrated materials present, but they played an important role in shaping the asteroid’s geology and the surface we see today,” he added.
GRaND’s data are the first direct measurements describing the elemental composition of Vesta’s surface. Dawn’s elemental investigation by the instrument determined the ratios of iron to oxygen and iron to silicon in the surface materials.
The new findings solidly confirm the connection between Vesta and a class of meteorites found on Earth called the Howardite, Eucrite and Diogenite meteorites, which have the same ratios for these elements. In addition, more volatile-rich fragments of other objects have been identified in these meteorites, which support the idea the volatile-rich material was deposited on Vesta.
The findings appeared in the journal Science.
More from India
More from World
More from Sports
More from Entertaiment
- UPSC announces Civil Services Examination 2014 results; women bag top four positions
- Five guerrillas, one soldier killed near LoC
- 3rd Test, Day 2: Sri Lanka rattle Pakistan in decider
- Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova cruise into last 16
- Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal indicates Islamic State will help him get out of jail soon
| 4,946
|
A quick payday loan or cash loan is a tiny, short-term loan this is certainly designed to fill the borrower up’s income gap between paydays. Pay day loans are also often described as payday loans, though that term also can relate to cash supplied against a prearranged credit line such as for instance a bank card. The loan is normally offered in cash and guaranteed because of the debtor’s post-dated be sure includes the loan that is original and accrued interest.
The readiness date often coincides utilizing the debtor’s next payday. From the readiness date the financial institution processes the check usually or through electronic withdrawal through the borrower’s bank account in the event that debtor doesn’t first repay or program the mortgage face-to-face. Payday lenders typically run small shops or franchises, but large financial providers additionally offer variants in the pay day loan.
Pay day loans are an alternative to bouncing checks, pawning individual home, or borrowing funds from friends and family. Customers could also make use of loans that are payday avoid late-payment charges and negative markings on credit scoring. Preferably, people have cash saved from each paycheck to organize for economic shortfalls or unanticipated expenses. Realistically, lots of people have regular significance of short-term assistance that is financial. Whenever used responsibly, payday advances can offer assistance that is valuable these short-term money requirements. but, you ought to assess the expenses and benefits of all alternatives before borrowing. Other styles of short-term credit which may be more affordable include that loan from another organization, credit cards advance loan , a merchant account with overdraft security, or an income advance.
Personal Cash Advance could be the way that is fastest to get safe, online advance loan and payday advances. Using and qualifying for a cash advance is fast and simple, and in some cases there are not any
papers to fax. When you’re approved for the money advance, the businesses electronically deposit the loan that is payday straight into the individuals checking account or by sening a demend drat within the name o the persom who sent applications for exactly the same. Numerous an organization now offers versatile repayment choices and discrete service that gets you the bucks you will need at this time. Online pay day loans are short-term cash advances made to satisfy your crisis needs that are financial. Payday advances are also perfect for those occasions when you need just a little cash that is extra unforeseen bills or unique occasions. The charge for the cash loan is $25.00 for almost any $100.00 lent.
These times a lot of companies are getting on their own involved to the company of money advances or pay day loans, whatever we term it since. The primary objective of those businesses would be to handle a service that is online customers can buy a cash loan with all the utmost confidentiality and convenience. They attempt to empathize using their clients’ requirements and keep maintaining a customer friendly connection that is clear to see. The firms work is to deliver economic solutions that meet with the consumers requirements by giving fast, helpful, and customer service that is outstanding. As an ongoing business, they will certainly attempt to increase their clientele regularly by satisfying the customers, and motivating their future company. Therefore their objective is usually to be the top cash advance business available in the market through commitment, time and effort, and client loyalty.
needs for a payday loan/ cash loan:
– you really need to have a bank account this is certainly at the least three months old.
– you need to be presently used, making at the very least $1000 web PAY every month.
– should be a U.S residents over 18 years.
– No outstanding loans that are payday.
No credit checks are done because of the businesses so that you can offer cash loan but, however, check writing/loan history with nationwide databases are among the things which are confirmed before you go ahead for payday loans.
2) Elect to pay for the minimum amount and expand the mortgage having a brand new contract.
3) Elect to pay for more then your minimum amount and expand the mortgage by having A contract that is new.
Now, issue might arise, thaw ha is he prerequisite for having an advance loan in order a solution into the question, imagine this a bill that is unexpected appeared. There is no need money that is enough clear off the exact exact same and also to make the situation a whole lot worse, your credit just isn’t good adequate to help you get sanctioned for a persona loan. Until you spend it on time you might find yourself getting struck with really a costly ate charge. This kind of a situation asking for the money from buddies can be quite much embarrassing; waiting around for the next paycheck can hamper your credit; and begging your creditor for mercy just wont work. This kind of circumstances, advance loan shall maybe not disappoint you. It happens to everyone minute that is-last, unforeseen bills, unforeseen costs. There is no need time and energy to bother about in which the cash is originating from, the manner in which youare going online installment loans Kentucky to obtain it, with regards to will show up. You need Urgent advance loan! If you a necessity for many urgent money in a flash, cash advance payday loans will be the perfect method to protect unanticipated costs or even augment your earnings throughout a economic dry spell and never having to be concerned about banking fees, creditor belated fees or coping with the embarrassment that accompany asking your loved ones to identify you the money. Payday loans can be obtained for you 365 times a for a fraction of the cost of late fees and other damages year. A lot more notably, it is possible to submit an application for them without ever needing to keep the coziness of your personal house! Payday loans have quite easy loan needs making it possible for almost any person to obtain approved for an cash advance that is online. For as long as you’ve got a reliable job and a dynamic checking you ought to be qualified.
Addititionally there is an extremely typical question that just how much does advance loan price The charges of he payday loans will vary according to the level of your hard earned money advance additionally the lender. Your loan provider will inform you associated with the fee that is exact your loan at that time the application is submitted. It really is well well worth noting that payday loans were created for the emergency money requirements and are usually often more affordable than check costs, belated fees as well as other costs you could incur as a result of payments that are late.
The businesses continue steadily to set the industry standard using the greatest level of information safety to guard the customers private information, plus the latest technologies in order to make their customers satisfaction level better yet. So unwind, and luxuriate in. Life now is easier with payday loans.
1. most readily useful cash advance Bad Credit Personal LoansWhen do individuals need a wage advance solution|advance that is payday Consumers take a payday loan to fulfill unex. 2. armed forces cash advance Payday lending is really a predatory kind of lending that flourishes regarding the unsuspecting and gullible portion of the Ameri. 3. bad credit payday loan Bad Credit Instant Approval Loan: financing without WorriesFinance must basically take close reach of the debtor.
| 125,888
|
Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation, by Philip Cafaro and Eileen Crist (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2012)
Life on the Brink asks the question, “Do humans have a right to take all resources of the earth?” The book reflects a universalist perspective that extends beyond humans to include all biological species. It is the problem of human overpopulation that threatens the existence of other species.
Is this assessment of human population fair? Is it necessary to include other species in our area of concern? If we include other species in our area of concern, should we treat other species as equal or unequal in importance in our behavior and public policy? Do other species have interests that should be recognized as rights that are enforceable within human institutions?
The authors of this collection include some 25 important and diverse environmentalist voices, including Lester Brown, Paul Ehrlich and Richard Lamm. The several authors, with their several specific areas of expertise and concern over the effects of human population size, all agree on a common assessment that humans are a destabilizing cancer on the ecology of the Earth. The human swarm is overwhelming biodiversity through human appropriation of habitats and resources. Only human restraint can stop this, and restraint requires curbing human numbers.
Humans have a genetic compulsion to reproduce, but the earth is finite and humans cannot flourish (in land, health or biodiversity) without limits on human reproduction. To move this conversation forward, the editors have engaged the environmental community in the discussion. This discussion involves addressing racist, sexist, speciesist and colonialist views in us all.
Population growth is a major force behind all of the serious ecological problems of the earth (climate change, habitat loss and specie extinctions, air and water pollution, food and water scarcity). From 7 billion to 12 billion humans on the globe is not sustainable or compatible with human flourishing.
In history, humans as a species have shown self-control in modest quantity, but self-control is not presently engaged regarding human over-population. Unfortunately, the book is soft on suggestions for specific policy solutions to strengthen human self-control. The Chinese one-child policy hovers in the background.
A particularly challenging essay is that by Staples and Cafaro, “For a Species Right to Exist”, which makes the practical implementation of a universalist perspective concrete and practical. It is doable with the will, to the benefit of all species including humans. The editors provide a helpful index for the book, and modest endnotes and short bibliographies after each essay.
Queries for our readers:
The easy way is to dismiss or ignore the idea that human overpopulation is the problem and hope that it will fade away. However, if you are persuaded by these essays that human overpopulation is the problem, what is the Quaker universalist response? What is the Quaker universalist testimony about public policy to implement population limits? Is there a place for Quaker leadership?
Several suggestions include:
- Live simply, but propagate at will?
- National human population quotas that preserve the ratio of ethnic groups to the current status quo?
- Limit propagation to one child per woman, with saleable permits?
- Expand birth control technology research?
- Expand access to birth control tools to all?
- Curtail neonatal survival efforts by suppressing research and use of special measures for premature births?
- Promotion of abortion?
- Immigration is neutral regarding population, except for the need for birth control?
If Quakers do not like one or more of these suggestions, what can we say as effective alternatives to meet the goal of limiting human population?
Cafaro and Crist’s book is provocative, and it pushed my thinking toward 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
What can you say?
| 311,250
|
How to Make Your Own Festive Christmas Cactus Decoration
You might have seen some cute Christmas cactus tree pictures floating around on Facebook recently. Amazon has these novelty decorations available to purchase. As someone who loves cacti and all things tropical, I immediately declared that I needed one. Once I noticed the price, however, I quickly retracted my statement. $130 for a novelty item just isn't reasonable in my book. Instead of taking out my credit card, I decided to make one myself using materials I already had on hand. It turned out to be a fairly simple craft to create and I am thrilled with how it turned out.
Instead of shelling out a lot of money, why not gather up a few supplies, turn on some music, and customize your own festive Christmas cactus?
What You'll Need
- Wire Hanger or heavy duty wire
- Pot or container
- Gorilla tape or super glue
- Bubble wrap or old newspaper
- Box cutter or utility knife
- Side cuts or a wire cutter
- Needle nose pliers
Process PhotosClick thumbnail to view full-size
- Unhook your wire hanger and using your pliers, straighten it out. You want the wire to be as straight as you can get it.
- Place your wire next to your container to gauge where you need to cut. I used an old planter pot and cut my hanger a little more than halfway up. Once you know how high you want your cactus to be, use your wire cutters to cut your wire.
- Wrap your leftover piece of wire around the longer section of wire about 3/4 of the way down to create your cactus form. I looped my wire around the longer section and wrapped the bottom section of the longer piece around it to create a secure loop.
- Tightly wrap Gorilla tape around your loop to secure it in place. Alternatively, you could use a few drops of super glue.
- Use your pliers to arrange your form into a pleasing cactus shape. I made one side a narrow curve and the other side a larger curve to give my cactus a more natural look.
- Bend each of the top three points down to create a hook with your pliers.
- Set your form aside. Place your container upside-down on a piece of cardboard. Trace the outside of your container onto the cardboard and cut out your circle.
- Place a chunk of styrofoam in the container and place bubble wrap or newspaper around it to hold it in place.
- Slide your form into the styrofoam. Pull it back out and mark where your hole is. Line your cardboard up and carefully cut a hole in the middle to match the one on the styrofoam.
- On one side, begin wrapping your garland around the cactus form. Start by winding it around the hook and securing the end by wrapping the length of the garland around it.
- Continue tightly wrapping the garland around the wire. I started at one side and continued all the way to the other side, doubled back down the second curve to the top middle stem, and back down. Be sure to stop wrapping where your form meets the top of your container. I left a small section of wire exposed on mine. To secure the garland, wrap it back up to the middle and tuck the end in. If needed, you could add a drop of super glue to make sure it stays.
- Slide the cardboard circle onto your wire and then place your cactus in your container.
- Decorate your cactus anyway you choose! I placed a string of old red beads around the base to hide the cardboard. I also tied an old ribbon around my planter to jazz it up and make my cactus festive.
Bonus Tip: If you have a string of battery operated LED lights, you could wrap them around your cactus to make it look even more festive. This is something I'm planning on adding to my cactus later on.
Final TouchesClick thumbnail to view full-size
Questions & Answers
© 2019 Alyssa
| 178,219
|
Previous abstract Next abstract
Session 66 - Radio - Loud AGN & Extragalactic Jets.
Oral session, Thursday, January 08
We have obtained images of 255 3CR radio galaxies and quasars by conducting a snapshot survey with HST's WFPC2 through a broadband red(F702W) filter. This is the third in a series of papers resulting from this survey, describing and presenting the basic data. Here, we focus on the 47 radio galaxies at redshifts less than 0.1 which we have imaged. There are a total of 56 galaxies in the 3CR with redshifts less than 0.1; thus we present data for 84% of the low redshift 3CR.
The images show that on the 0''.1 scale of the HST observations there is a wealth of detail visible. Roughly 45% of the galaxies show obvious dust in the form of either dust disks, patches, or filaments. By and large the host galaxies show profiles consistent with those of elliptical galaxies, but multiple nuclei are seen, as are highly flattened systems and apparent mergers. Some galaxies show nearby small galaxies which may be companions. From the images presented here, obvious optical jets are found in five sources (3C 15, 3C 66B, 3C 78, 3C 264, and 3C 274) and potential optical jets (which may also be simply the result of differential dust obscuration) are found in four additional sources (3C 88, 3C 129, 3C 353, and 3C 371). Thus, these data indicate that between 11-19% of low redshift 3CR radio galaxies show optical jets.
Program listing for Thursday
| 106,668
|
an electric circuit that can be connected to other circuits only at certain specially provided terminals, called poles. The representation of individual parts of a complex electric circuit as a multiterminal network often facilitates calculation, since the method requires determination only of the voltages between the poles and the currents in the poles, rather than of the currents and potentials for all components of a circuit, the number of which may be large. This is entirely sufficient for the solution of many practical problems.
A multiterminal network is called active if it contains independent power sources whose effects are not mutually compensated. If all poles of such a multiterminal network are opened, potential differences will exist among all or several poles as a result of the existence of internal power sources. Multiterminal networks not containing any independent power sources are called passive.
Multiterminal networks are classified as linear or nonlinear. In linear networks, linear relationships exist between current and voltage, and the superposition principle can be used for computations; in nonlinear multiterminal networks the principle cannot be used. Multiterminal networks are called reversible or nonreversible based on their conformance or nonconformance to the reciprocity theorem. According to the number of poles, multiterminal networks are called three-terminal networks, four-terminal networks, and so on.
| 310,663
|
Markings on highways have important functions in providing guidance and information for the road use. Major marking types include:
- pavement and curb markings
- object markers
- colored pavements
- channelizing devices
In some cases, markings are used to supplement other traffic control devices such as signs, signals and other marking, while other times markings are used alone to effectively convey regulations, guidance or warnings in ways not obtainable to the use of other devices.
Pavement markings can enhance roadway delineation with the addition of audible and tactile features such as bars, differential surface profiles, raised pavement markers or other devices intended to alert the road user that a delineation on the roadway is being traversed.
| 224,697
|
Budget SSD's here at last?
Aimed at the low cost PC market, Samsung have introduced a series of solid state drives, with lower densities but offering higher performance. With a footprint 30% smaller than the 2.5" SSD's, Samsung say they are highly cost efficient to manufacture. They are due to hit manufacturing next month and will be available in 8, 16 & 32Gb densities. The new low density SSD's use the same SATA II controllers as their big brother - the MLC based 128Gb SSD. There were no details on pricing given.
The 32Gb model is touting sequential read speeds of 90MB/s and sequential write speeds of 70MB/s, which Samsung say offers performance levels much greater than low-density SSDs on the market today. The 16GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 45MB/s, while the 8GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 25MB/s.
Jim Elliott, Vice President of Samsung Memory Marketing had the following to say about the new drives:
| 100,429
|
Việt Nam tops the list of countries where the media is most trusted in terms of COVID-19 coverage, according to the YouGov survey. Photo chinhphu.vn
Việt Nam has received plaudits from around the world for the way the country, its Government and people have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the country returns to some sort of normality, elsewhere in the world people are looking on in envy at how well we are doing.
This week another huge pat on the back was dished out, this time to the country’s media outlets and journalists after a YouGov survey put Việt Nam top of the list of countries where the media is most trusted in terms of COVID-19 coverage.
High praise indeed in the social media-driven world we live in for the hardworking and dedicated staff in newsrooms nationwide entrusted with the job of reporting the news.
Rewind three years to 2017. This was a momentous year for wordsmiths. Collins, publishers of the dictionary, voted the phrase of the year to be “fake news”.
Lexicographers said usage of the term had increased by 365 per cent since 2016. Today those two words are very much part of our everyday language.
But really it’s nothing more than a cop-out. An excuse used if something you are reading, watching or listening to doesn’t fit in with your usual way of thinking. If you don’t agree with what’s being said, then it is simple to dismiss it as nothing more than “fake news”.
Its origin doesn’t need explaining. We all know who coined the phrase and helped elevate its usage.
But really, if you think long and hard about it, it’s a dangerous and almost lazy expression to use.
I don’t like this, it's fake news.
I don’t agree with this, it's fake news.
This doesn’t comply with anything else I believe in, no matter how wrong I am, therefore it has to be fake news, right?
Today, as the world desperately tries to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, news needs to be anything other than fake.
Journalists in whatever medium they work must strive to provide accurate information to keep the public abreast of exactly what’s going on. There is no room for fake news.
Stories need to be on-point. Reports need to be clear, transparent and paint the entire picture.
That’s why the YouGov survey result is not just a feather in the caps of the country’s press, it’s a big, shiny badge of honour that should be worn with pride.
Journalists often, for want of a better phrase, get a bad press. We are an easy target, more so now because of the ease at which our reports can be dismissed using the above-mentioned phrase.
But let’s face facts here. We are not employees of a company that clocks on at 8am and finishes at 5pm with an hour’s lunch in-between.
We are the guardians of accuracy. We have a duty to educate, entertain and inform the world exactly what’s what.
We do not have a job, we have a responsibility. And for those looking in from the outside, we don’t just make things up. We don’t just report what we think you want to hear and we don’t just take a slap-dash approach when it comes to writing stories.
We are up at the crack of dawn and in the office long after the sun has set.
The entire world right now has one thing on its mind. Whether you are locked down in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil or staring out of your window in downtown Liverpool in the north of England, there is only one thing you are thinking about – COVID-19.
These are unprecedented times that require a completely honest style of reporting. That’s why we are not here to sensationalise, exaggerate or provide misinformation.
Việt Nam’s National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control needs our help. They tell us twice a day, every day, how many new cases have been detected, where those cases came from, and where those individuals have been.
We then become their mouthpiece, giving the country vital information they need to know to help reach our one common goal – winning the war against coronavirus.
And then there is the human side of the COVID-19 coverage that needs reporting too. The elderly woman who, despite being in her 90s, gives up her free time to make face masks for the poor. The deaf and dumb teenager who paints amazing pictures to sell to raise money for the cause.
And, of course, the frontline staff. Those heroes without capes serving and protecting a nation in the face of a deadly enemy. Putting their lives on the line so we can all sleep soundly at night.
These stories are uplifting, heart-warming and must be told.
There is no room right now for fake news and we at Việt Nam News, just like everyone in newsrooms from Hà Nội to HCM City are not in the business of misleading you just for the sake of clicks and likes.
If you don’t believe us, just check the statistics from YouGov, which put this great nation at the top of the world when it comes to trustworthy journalism on COVID-19.
And there’s nothing fake about that. — VNS
| 295,664
|
How can we design a safe dining experience for students with allergies?
User Research • Service/Experience Design • Product Design
Project Overview, the EDI ‘17 cohort, partnered with Dr. Ruchi Gupta and her lab to research food allergy awareness on campuses.
Within that scope, our team of 3 developed a physical prototype to reduce cross-contamination in salad bars. This process entailed initial formative user interviews to define a design direction, ideating upon that design direction and finally converting that direction to a physical design.
Initially I was responsible for leading user interviews. Once our team developed insights from those user interviews, I developed the below frameworks to better visualize and understand those insights. Finally, I prototyped the final design that was presented to Dr. Gupta and her team.
After initial user interviews, we found an opportunity within dining halls. Specifically that students with allergies often have to compromise between safety and food variety at dining halls.
Within that scope, we identified salad bars as an opportunity space, since majority of issues can be solved by eliminating cross-contamination
In order to understand where our team could make an impact we mapped out the different points cross-contamination could occur. We identified a pain point at the end of the consumption chain when students use salad bars.
Based on our insights we developed design direction of elimination, not mitigation. This drew from the Japanese manufacturing philosophy of PokaYoke – where the process eliminates makes mistakes, such as cross-contamination impossible.
To further flesh out our design direction, we created a low fidelity prototype to visualize the design constraints an allergy safe salad dispenser would need to meet – namely zero-contact dispensing, a modular replacement mechanism and an air-tight lid.
Finally, we presented our work to Dr. Ruchi Gupta and her lab in which we outlined a list of design constraints salad bars should employ in order to instill confidence in students with food allergies
| 59,989
|
By Israel Drazin
Obviously, most people will answer “yes”; but is this a proper answer? If a church or synagogue or mosque is holy, when does the holiness enter the building: when the last stone is placed? Does earth change in one instance from dirt to holy ground? Can a man or woman be holy? If yes, when does the person become holy: at birth, after teen-age years, following years of study? What is the definition of “holy,” kodesh in Hebrew?
Jacob ran from his home in Be’er Sheva, in Genesis 28, fleeing his brother Esau’s anger over his taking their father Isaac’s blessing, and rushes for safety to his uncle Laban’s home north of Canaan, in Haran. On the way, he happens upon an unidentified place and decides to sleep there. He has a dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder whose base is on the earth, but it reaches as high as the heaven. While apparently frightened when he lay down to sleep, he awoke feeling confident. He said, “Surely the Lord is in this place” (28:16). What turned the site into holy terrain, containing God?
The Babylonian Talmud (Chullin 91b) states that the place where Jacob happened to stop, sleep, and dream was the same ground where Abraham obeyed God and nearly sacrificed his son Isaac in Genesis 22. The Talmud identifies the soil as Mount Moriah where the two temples would be built in Canaan, the first by King Solomon, the second by Jews from Babylon who returned to Judea, as the land was called at the time, after years of exile following the destruction of the first temple. Many classical Jewish commentators such as Saadia Gaon, Ibn Ezra, Radak, Rashbam, and Ibn Kaspi recognize that there is no basis for this identification of the area.
It is understandable why the talmudic sages wanted to emphasize the religious significance of Jacob’s dream that night by homiletically linking the location in which it occurred with the site of extraordinary biblical events, the story of Abraham and Isaac and the building of temples. This is a good sermon, which can provoke many ideas. But the rabbis go further than just establishing a homelitical link. They seem to say that the gravel upon which Jacob slept and dreamed was holy. Do all Jews believe that earth can become holy? When Jacob said that he sensed God in the area, was he saying that the soil turned holy?
Scholars inform us that the Hebrew term kodesh, usually translated “holy,” actually means “separate.” When some people say that their nation, group, or a person is “holy,” they mean that their nation, group, or person has a separate role; while others may act or think in a certain way, the holy group or person must do or is doing something else, such as living a lawful and moral life and thereby showing others proper behavior.
Maimonides put it this way: Places, objects, and people are not holy per se. Nothing enters objects or persons; there is no physical change. Holiness is the result of actions. It exists when people use things to improve themselves and society. The Sabbath is not holy per se, but only holy if the individual observes the Sabbath in a proper way. The site of Isaac’s near sacrifice, of Jacob’s dream, the temples, is not holy. Abraham created a holy situation by obeying God’s instruction. Jacob came to realize through his dream that he need not fear the future, he felt that God would be with him; this realization was a holy moment: it determined how he would act. The temples, as the prophets would later proclaim, is only holy when the people learn from it how to act properly, feeding the needy, not harming others. Holiness is the adding of religious significance through proper behavior. Thus, too, Mount Sinai is only holy if people observe the laws revealed there, and is only holy to the extent of their behavior. Cemeteries where pious people are buried are sacred grounds only when people follow the ways of the pious; it does not help to simply pray there.
| 39,923
|
With student loan debt becoming the teetering tower of Jenga blocks that it is; it makes a lot of sense to be practical and major in something that has a reputation for high-earning potential. Computer science, engineering, accounting, and business are all noble majors that hold the promise of interesting work and a nice fat paycheque to fund a decent lifestyle. But there’s something to be said for a liberal arts degree.
Liberal Arts: “You’re majoring in what?”
I was recently reading a Forbes article, written by an Engineer with an MBA incidentally, that talks about the value of a liberal arts degree. He says great things about the technical and professional degrees like engineering and computer science, but he says the graduates of the future have liberal arts degrees.
He points out that today’s economy shows a trend towards outsourcing jobs to India and China , jobs ranging from computer programming to behind-the-scenes finance stuff that can easily flutter off into the sunset to happily roost in Asia somewhere. If that’s the case, learning a specialized set of skills might not always have the bright and shiny future you originally thought it would – due to that outsourcing possibility.
If we are to survive in a more expensive “knowledge economy”, we must become more than ‘ers (engineers, bankers, computer programmers etc.). The economy will demand people who can think creatively and critically, those that not only think outside the box but can then build another box if the first one fails. Liberal arts majors are trained to do just that in their degree.
Critical thinking and advanced communication skills are the degree’s product – not a specialized set of skills or knowledge base like accounting or computer science degree. A careerbuilder.com article talks about good writing skills as a make or break situation with cover letters and resumes, citing that one out of five people get bounced from job competitions due to bad writing. Liberal Arts majors come out with superior skills on this front due to the endless challenge of writing papers on obscure topics (“Discourse on Gender Influences in Bioethics” was a random paper I wrote in my final year).
More importantly, it’s the ideas that a lot of managers at blue chip companies are interested in – innovation, creation, and “off the wall” solutions that separate Liberal Arts majors from our more left-brained counterparts. Honestly, you try connecting ideas like the 1739 War of Jenkins’ Ear to the sociological implications of farming in the West Indies for four years and see if you don’t come out with cock-eyed view of the world.
Liberal Arts: “So what job are you planning to get with that degree?”
For some, this is an easy answer: nursing students will become nurses; accounting students will become accountants; and a management student will become a manager. Liberal arts majors do not have the luxury of a linear path from school to career goal. Usually the answer is a glib, “do you want fries with that?”, or maybe an honest, “I’m not sure”, or a plan to enter a field that does not promise a high income. Either way, we usually end up finding our own success – quite successfully.
In an Academia article, the writer points out that while liberal arts majors have a slightly higher risk of being employed immediately after graduation and with lower entry level salaries, they tend to catch up by mid-career with their technical career colleagues. Referring to a 2008 Payscale.com mid-career survey, he points out that philosophy majors were likely to be making $81,000 compared to accounting majors at $77,000, nursing at $67,000 and biology at $65,000. Naturally, there will always be technical salaries that blow these figures away but I think for a degree that’s been declared “useless” over and over again, it’s pretty sweet.
Liberal Arts: Modern citizens of the world
So far we’ve only been using one measuring stick to measure success and that’s money. This is important because that’s what people want to go to college for – to get a good job and make more money (according to a 2011 Gallup poll that my Acadamia friend quoted).
There’s also the added benefit that Liberal Arts breeds better citizens – we educate ourselves in politics and vote intelligently; we critically assess newspaper articles and write letters to the editor; and we’re keen to involve ourselves in social causes to make the world a better place. Okay, obviously not all of us.
This is not to suggest that our left-brained technical colleagues aren’t involved and concerned citizens – it’s just that liberal arts trains you specifically to think and act like this whereas the technical degrees do not. If it does happen that you are exposed to these ideas while in training – this is a byproduct of and not the purpose of your education.
To use an Academia article example, a civil engineer may intern at an organization that is creating a more sustainable, eco-friendly neighbourhood – the civil engineer may become more concerned about the environment as a result of this internship but it was not the primary purpose of that experience.
In sum, there are some definite benefits to having a clear cut answer for the almighty “What are you doing after your done school?” question. If you do what moves you, and you’re smart and work-hard, chances are you’ll find a way to make your passion work for you.
Personally, I know an Accountant who actually does bridal & model make up on the side – it’s quite a lucrative side-business for her. I also know a firefighter who creates beautiful bridal fascinators and other creations as a side business, as well.
I work in the health care system and I write this blog on the side. Where there’s a will – there’s always a way.
Yakezie Carnival hosted by Growing Money Smart
Jones, N. (n.d.) Liberal Arts, and the advantages of being useless. Academia. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/2454947/Liberal_Arts_and_the_Advantages_of_Being_Useless on May 18, 2013.
Morsch, L. (2007, Sep 24). Why employers like Liberal Arts grads. Careerbuilder.com, Retrieved from http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-415-Getting-Hired-Why-Employers-Like-Liberal-Arts-Grads/ on May 18, 2013.
Ranadive, V. (2012, Nov 13). A Liberal Arts degree is worth more than any trade. Forbes, Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/vivekranadive/2012/11/13/a-liberal-arts-degree-is-more-valuable-than-learning-any-trade/ on May 18, 2013.
Santo, C. (2012, June 6). Top ten obscure wars. Listverse, Retrieved from http://listverse.com/2012/06/06/top-10-obscure-wars/ on May 18, 2013.
Matt Becker says
Great contrarian take to a lot of what’s being written out there. I think there can be great value in any degree. In my mind, what matters is having a sense of purpose with what you’re doing. I think a lot of people stumble through liberal arts educations just because it’s the “next step”, which is where a lot of the criticism comes from. But it’s just as possible to stumble through an engineering or accounting degree without any passion or real sense of what that degree will help you achieve.
Lindsey D says
Laugh – Too true, Matt, it is contrarion. You are right that a lot of people stumble through a liberal arts degree – or whichever degree. It can happen to the best of us.
I wonder though, if there’s something to be said about not being sure about something. Financially, it makes a lot of sense to be sure before starting college. You don’t want to waste that much money on something you’re not going to use, right?
But, all our best laid plans in life are guess work. Who ever really knows? I didn’t go into college with a clear understanding of what I wanted but I knew I was on the right track with pursuing a psychology degree. I still work in the field and am passionate about what I do – most days of the week.
Sometimes the beauty is the finding your way through the mess – not the place you end up at afterwards. I am now done with my cliches.
Thanks for stopping by
| 79,927
|
I love writing haiku.
Contrary to what many people believe, it is much more than a short poem written in three lines of 5 - 7 - 5 syllables. In fact, many English language poets have moved away from this misinterpreted rule. Contemporary poets even write one-line haiku.
For me, however, the true essence of haiku has nothing to do with the syllable count or how many lines it is comprised of. It is more about the intrinsically calming effect of the process.
Writing haiku urges the poet to slow down and shift his/her awareness to the present moment. It fosters an appreciation for nature and of simple everyday moments. While for the reader, a well-crafted haiku can linger in the heart and mind like the soothing warmth of a cup of tea.
It is poetry for the soul and can sketch joyous, funny, as well as melancholy moments, such as Bashõ's popular autumn dusk haiku:
on a bare branch
a crow has settled
Another wonderful thing about penning haiku is that it’s an ideal way to hone writing skills since strong word choice is essential when dealing with such a short form. There is no room to use two words if one will suffice.
I also find deep satisfaction in sitting down for an hour and ending up with two or three completed poems. Now, some haiku take time to perfect, but sometimes they come through like lightning bolts; as if they were picked off the ether.
Those moments are wonderful.
The process of creating and submitting haiku is also short compared to most other forms of writing and is an excellent way to add a little balance and variety to your writing routine. It is a perfect way to acquire experience and confidence in the submission process.
So, why not try penning a haiku or two? There are many wonderful resources out there to get you started. And I’m sure once you do, you will be captivated by this wonderful form.
To learn more about writing haiku, I recommend the following resources:
Jane Reichhold’s Bare Bones School of Haiku
Writing and Enjoying Haiku, by Jane Reichold
Essays by Michael Dylan Welch
You can also check out these online magazines for inspiration:
A Hundred Gourds
The Heron’s Nest
Or check out the #haiku or #3line hashtags on Twitter and join the fun!
| 89,246
|
Marie Selipha "Sesenne" Descartes
Place of Birth: La Pointe, Micoud
Sesenne Descartes is the grand dame of St Lucian folk culture. A chantwelle of extraordinary talent, Sesenne captivated the imagination of all who heard her and as a result she was a central figure in the revival of the folk song and dance traditions of St Lucia that had threatened to fade into obscurity.
'Today Sesenne's influence has filtered through and inspired the recent achievement of two singing groups, "The Helenites" and "The Hewanorra Voices," both of which have recorded a long playing record of St. Lucian songs. She is undisputedly the Queen of St. Lucia Folk singing and wrapped in that petite little bundle of Marie Descartes is the graceful stiffness of the French Court, the warm folksiness of the Patience soil, the spontaneous gaiety of the St. Lucia countryside and the deep religious fervor of the St. Lucia Catholic - all in all, there is something that represents the quintessence of St. Lucia "soul" in Sesenne.' - The Crusader, Saturday March 18, 1972
Armelle Mathurin, Saint Lucia Special Edition, December 2000 writes:
In the St. Lucian context, the name of Sesenne is synonymous with culture. Say "Sesenne" and you talk about culture. Think about her and you are thinking about culture. See her perform or hear her sing and you are held spellbound in captivated admiration of one of the most talented daughters of the land; Sesenne! "Queen of Culture in St. Lucia!"
Born in a rural community in the days when "manners made the man", Sesenne grew up in the rich cultural environment of her home at La Pointe, Micoud. She was born on March 28th, 1913. She learned and enjoyed the stories, songs, dances and ring games from her parents, her grandmother and the general community of her youth. Her youthful and impressionable mind sopped up all forms of the folklore, songs and dance like a sponge. Having absorbed a rich repertoire of our cultural heritage and having a fund of great natural talents, Sesenne gave all back to her native land. Her gifted performances and her prominence in the cultural field provide a glimpse of the St. Lucia of our great-grand-parents.
Sesenne, whose real name is Marie Clepha Descartes, became a common household name, throughout the Micoud area. She was first singled out for her outstanding vocal talent when she was about eighteen years old. At that time, her father was the reigning La Rose King and her mother was the Queen of La Rose. Her father needed a 'chantwelle,' so he chose her because of her impressive vocal ability. He never regretted the choice. That decision introduced and established Sesenne as a vocalist and entertainer.
In her own words, Sesenne explained that her voice rose above and could be clearly heard in a choir of about 300 people. Full of zest for life, the vibrancy of youth and a deep and intense love for all that was gay, happy and joyful, she sang lustily and untiringly to the delight of all who heard her.
La Rose was not the only area in which she gave her vocal talent. She took part in all forms of dances; Débot, Kontwidance, Konte, La Commette, Belair and Ring Games as a very accomplished dancer with body co-ordination that was a marvel to see. She won many prizes for best performance at dances and singing competitions. Sesenne was also responsible for the invention of many dance steps to local and other tunes, chief of which was the Bonjé, s Spanish song brought to La Pointe by her brother Welson Charlery from Cuba.
Sesenne remained a local entertainer in Micoud for many years, until she was discovered by Miss Grace Augustin (a local proprietress of Patience, Micoud) who ran a guest house known as "The Hotel" on the Castries/Micoud highway. The innovative spirit of Miss Grace Augustin led her to organize a group of local performers to entertain her guests. Sesenne was chosen as the principal performer. She had a wonderful band made up of violin, guitar, mandolin, quartro, banjo and chak-chak. The quality of praise given to Sesenne and the appreciation expressed to her and her band motivated Miss Augustin to introduce them to the management of Blue Waters Hotel and other hotels in Castries.
One event lead to another and very soon Sesenne and her band were introduced to Harold Simmons, whose role, as if by instinct, was that of avant garde - "The Father of St. Lucian Culture." Sesenne made an immediate impact and impression on Mr. Simmons, who besides making many live recordings of her performances spent much time projecting her as an accomplished and gifted artiste.
It was as a result of Simmons' recordings that Sesenne's voice became well known nationally and that she was subsequently considered to be the most suitable all round artiste to represent St. Lucia at Expo 67; a precursor of the Caribbean Festival of Arts. Expo 67 was held in Grenada.
She had to be found for the purpose. The job of finding the owner of the voice was given to Mr. Eric Brandford, who after a long and careful search from Praslin to Patience, finally met with Sesenne at her home in La Pointe. He appraised her of his mission and sought her consent to be party to the representative group of St. Lucian performers to travel to Grenada. She agreed after a mild hesitation as she had never traveled abroad before.
The result of the journey to Grenada was that Sesenne won the crown for St. Lucia with her famous immortal song, simply known as "WHY". Sesenne herself described the event thus. By the time she had sung the first few bars of Namai-la-di-why, she noticed people moving up and down in their seats like so many yo-yos. She sang the verses and the audience chorused "Why!" At the end of the rendition there was a deafening resounding round of applause. That was repeated three times until finally she was rescued off the stage by someone.
The uniqueness of Sesenne's peerless vocal quality was revealed by her account of the efforts made by so many singers and chantwels to sing WHY but without success. Some sang too high and some sang too low. They were incapable of mastering the wide range of pitch and tone crystalized in that song. They concluded that only Sesenne could sing WHY with credibility. Anyone wanting a proper rendition of WHY would have to hear Sesenne as she alone could sing it. Sesenne compared her voice to the sound of a saxophone and claimed to have more than five vocal pitches.
Her tour of Grenada brought her into contact with other well known cultural personalities like Eric Adley and Joyce Auguste with whom she shared a very warm friendship.
Those of use who have not had the good fortune to see Sesenne in action as singer, dancer, storyteller have not been left totally unexposed to her great talent, as much of her work was recorded and can be retrieved on tape. In fact she can still be heard on radio particularly during the La Rose Festival or at Christmas time when many of her songs are replayed.
Sesenne's greatest asset was the warmth of her personality, her generous disposition and her attitude of service before self. She was truly warm-hearted, outgoing and vivacious; a truly gracious woman with a Creole eloquence that can be compared to the best in the land.
Had she had the opportunity Sesenne would have made a fortune from trading her talent and would have earned enough to bask in luxury and comfort. Rather, she spent the better part of her life sharing herself and her God-given talents with her people. The mother of a family of nine children, Sesenne still found time from her busy and packed scheduled of baker, mother, and housewife to participate in social activities of her community with singular devotion and steadfastness. She organized and carried out house to house prayer meetings long before the days of the charismatic renewal. She instructed candidates for first communion and confirmation. She joined in an assisted at fetes, deaths, funerals, illnesses and cases of emergency. She gave her help at parish bazaars and La Rose Festivals. Sesenne was extremely sensitive and soft-hearted and would breakdown under sorrow and sadness as easily as would rise to elation in the face of joy.
Sesenne's personality was charismatic. She wished and tried to impart her expertise to any willing pupil or followers. But there was no one person who could absorb so much distinguish talent and ability by mere imitation and practice. Artistes like Sesenne are few and far apart and some about once in so many generations. The most that could have been done was to enjoy and preserve the best of her productions so that the younger generation of St. Lucians could savour and imbibe her indigenous art.
Sesenne had many a glorious moment in her career as a renowned entertainer. She was awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M) in 1972. But no moment brought more joy and satisfaction to her as the night of October 28, 1984 when before a packed audience in the Catholic Church of Mon Repos in her immediate community, she was publicly acclaimed and proclaimed "Queen of Culture in St. Lucia", a tribute well deserved and graciously received.
Wikipedia entry on Sesenne:
Wikipedia entry on St Lucian Music Traditions & Sesenne:
The Government of St Lucia cites Sesenne:
Press release for Sesenne's 94th birthday:
| 212,262
|
hmmm... that was one often requested feature. So to enable hyperlinks in RichTextBox all that is needed is to set the property IsDocumentEnabled on the RichTextBox.
Type the following in XamlPadX and you have the hyperlink navigation working.
<RichTextBox IsDocumentEnabled="True" xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation' xmlns:x='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml'>
<Hyperlink NavigateUri="http://club.live.com">Live Games</Hyperlink>
A couple of things to notice here:
1> The Navigation is possible only on a Ctrl Click operation
2> There is no tooltip to indicate that navigation is possible. You could add this to the Hyperlink. A simpler alternative is to just subclass the Hyperlink and add the tooltip in the constructor
public class MyHyperlink:Hyperlink
this.ToolTip = "Ctrl Click to Open";
this.RequestNavigate += new RequestNavigateEventHandler(MyHyperlink_RequestNavigate);
void MyHyperlink_RequestNavigate(object sender, RequestNavigateEventArgs e)
NavigationWindow window = new NavigationWindow();
window.Source = e.Uri;
So why the event handler... In the case where the RichTextBox is hosted in a NavigationWindow thats not required. However, if the RichTextBox in not in a navigation control such as Window, then we need to explicitly navigate to the link.
PingBack from http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2007/08/09/35-features-enabled-hyperlinks-in-richtextbox/
Why subclass? Why not use templates/styles to do this?
William, yeah you can definitely use templates and styles. However, if you are having some code behind in the case of events a subclass works better.
| 27,449
|
Sign up for updates in your city.
Submitted by KAT on Thu, 04/26/2007 - 5:47pm.
Factory farms are incredibly efficient powerhouses of pollution; they simultaneously sully our air, soil and water.
I always assumed the CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) could get away with dumping so much toxic waste and generating all those greenhouse gases because enforcement of environmental regulations is so lax.
But in Michigan, the factory farms are free to spew all the noxious sludge and fumes they create. Call it the No Particle Left Unpolluted Act. From the Muskegon Chronicle:
Ah, but there’s a new sheriff in town; on Wednesday, Michigan Democrats introduced legislation intended to halt the CAFOs’ unrelenting assault on their surroundings. One bill would impose a moratorium on construction of CAFOs. Another would give the Department of Environmental Quality more clout.
The pro-CAFO contingent claims that if it can’t pollute, it can’t compete. The Farm Bureau immediately cried foul, claiming that the right to foul our land, air and water is essential in a global economy:
It all makes sense when you think about it. Our demand for cheap food compels us to ship more and more of the foods we eat from China, where pollution is just the cost of doing business.
If we hold Michigan’s farmers to a higher standard, they’ll have to pass the cost of compliance on to the consumer. Currently, they’re passing the costs off to the environment and the next generation. Talk about “unfair.”
Submitted by KAT on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 1:45pm.
The consumers have spoken, and the message to Monsanto is loud and clear: we don’t want yer stinkin’ recombinant bovine growth hormone. Sales of organic dairy products have skyrocketed as people steer clear of rbST for fear that it’s harmful to consumers and cows alike.
If you’re not up to speed on the controversy, watch the video Stephen Colbert aired last week from “the Prescott Group, America's leading agri-pharma- petro-chemico-militaria-industrial corporation.” A public service announcement disguised as a parody of corporate propaganda, it surely curdled rBST-tainted milk sales even further.
Given the choice, we’d prefer not to be guinea pigs for a hormone whose side effects on humans are unknown. What we do know about rbST is that the cows injected with it suffer from painful udder infections which then require massive doses of antibiotics.
So Monsanto is fighting back the only way it can: by attempting to deny us that choice. The multinational biotech behemoth has filed a complaint with the FDA which claims that “rBGH-free” labels on dairy products “deceptively imply negative health effects from rBGH.”
It may well be that rBGH is, in fact, perfectly safe for humans. But it’s definitely bad for bovines. “Dairy cows are already bred for high milking output, and the artificial boost from rBGH takes a toll on their bodies,” notes Christopher Wanjek, who covers the “Bad Medicine” beat for LiveScience. “For animal welfare reasons alone, consumers have the right to know how their milk is produced.”
Monsanto has been waging a pr battle on behalf of rBGH ever since the FDA approved its use back in 1993. When Fox News assigned two investigative reporters to do a four part series on rBGH for a Florida affiliate in 1996, Monsanto provided Fox executives with talking points that totally contradicted the reporters’ own research.
The reporters, Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, were ordered by Fox executives to air Monsanto’s false claims. They refused, and threatened to report Fox to the FCC. Fox responded by firing them. Akre and Wilson sued.
A Florida jury found Fox guilty of wrongful dismissal under Florida’s whistle blower protection laws, but Fox appealed, and in February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals ruled in Fox’s favor. Why? Because it turns out that there’s no law against a news media outlet deliberately distorting or falsifying news. In other words, no laws were broken, and therefore, the reporters were not, technically, whistle blowers.
For the record, Fox News never denied that it pressured its reporters to broadcast a false story. Fox’s entire defense rested on the premise that the First Amendment grants broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports.
I guess it shouldn’t be a shock that companies like Monsanto and Fox are in cahoots, conspiring to peddle their tainted products. Birds of a feather. May an avian flu-like pox plague both their houses, and the FDA's, too, if they cave in to this agribiz avarice.
Submitted by KAT on Tue, 04/24/2007 - 8:34am.
Apparently, we Americans are too stupid to tell the difference between real chocolate and the cheap, waxy “chocolatey” concoctions that food manufacturers fabricate out of artificial sweeteners, milk substitutes, and partially hydrogenated oils (i.e. those toxic trans fats). Or so the Chocolate Manufacturers Association is hoping.
Real chocolate is made, of course, from cocoa beans. But thanks to global warming, cocoa bean crop yields are dropping as temperatures rise. The specter of parched cocoa plantations has sent the cost of cocoa beans up about 28% in recent months.
So the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, whose members include Hershey, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, are lobbying the FDA to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute cheap vegetable oils for cocoa butter.
But vegetable oils and cocoa butter are two entirely different ingredients. As Brad Kinstler, the CEO of See’s Candies (one of Warren Bufffet’s tastier acquisitions), told Bloomberg News, “If the margarine manufacturers could call their product butter instead of being required to call it margarine, wouldn't it strike the consumer as being odd?''
Yes, and it would strike this consumer as another egregious example of Big Food’s utter contempt for the American public. The “citizens’ petition” these multinational corporations have submitted to the FDA presents this proposed redefinition as a boon to consumers. As Hershey’s spokesman, Kirk Saville, told Bloomberg News:
Ah yes, “flexibility”--i.e., the option to use cheap, toxic trans fats instead of antioxidant rich cocoa butter. As today’s NY Times notes, “Eating dark chocolate may be almost as effective at lowering blood pressure as taking the most common antihypertensive drugs.” The fat found in cocoa butter is, like olive oil, one of the “good” fats.
The partially hydrogenated oils the Chocolate Manufacturers Association wants to substitute, on the other hand, constitute a known health hazard. But Hershey, Nestle et al insist that Americans don’t actually care what goes into the food we eat, as Cybele May, founder of candyblog.net, noted in an LA Times op-ed. She cites a passage from the petition:
So switching from costly, heart-healthy cocoa butter to artery clogging trans fats constitutes a “technical improvement” or “manufacturing efficiency.”
May points out that it’s perfectly legal for manufacturers to sell their cheap chocolate flavored confections. They just can’t call them “chocolate.”
But Big Food insists that cocoa butter and vegetable oils are interchangeable. In theory, this means that if you’re trying to butter up your sweetie with a fancy box of chocolate, you could save yourself a few bucks by bucking the Scharffen Berger and springing for the Whitman’s Sampler instead.
In actual practice, of course, this could incite a 21st century Valentine’s Day Massacre, with hordes of furious females hurtling boxes of bargain basement bonbons at their cheapskate dates. Because nothing says “I’m just not that into you” like a box of crappy, waxy candy.
And nothing says “We work for the corporations, not the consumers” more than the FDA’s willingness to consider the merits of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association’s petition. As a nostalgic nod to the democracy we once were, the FDA allows the public to provide feedback on these matters, and tomorrow, April 25th, is the very last day for us to tell the FDA to take its greasy palms off our chocolate.
You can take a catastrophically mismanaged war, tie a ribbon around it and call it a victory for democracy, but it’s still a disaster and a defeat. And a box of partially hydrogenated, artificially flavored candy can never be a box of chocolates. It wouldn’t even fool Forrest Gump.
Submitted by KAT on Mon, 04/23/2007 - 1:11pm.
Earth Day brought us a smorgasborg of sustainable sound bites, a bull horn of plenty, if you will. I’m sure I missed a few, and no doubt so did you, so I’d like to take this opportunity to steer you to some of my favorites.
Bill Maher delivered a stinging rant about our embattled bees at the end of last Friday’s New Rules; the transcript’s on Huffington Post, and it will be rebroadcast on HBO tonight at 8, but here’s a highlight:
Speaking of pesticides, CBS Sunday Morning ran a terrific profile of Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring single handedly got Americans rethinking our cavalier use of chemicals back in the 60’s. You have got to see the creepy, Bela Lugosi-like spokesman for the chemical industry who denounces Carson in wildly melodramatic fashion:
This hilariously histrionic snippet is followed by Robert Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist/lawyer himself, noting that when his uncle, who was President at the time, read Silent Spring, he said, 'I'm gonna appoint an independent commission to investigate whether it's true or not. “ The commission met for almost a year, and determined that “essentially everything in Rachel Carson's book was true."
We’ve got a current day Carson in the person of Bill McKibben, but the odds of his latest plea for environmental sanity, Deep Economy, landing on Dubya’s nightstand are, sadly, nil. Yesterday’s NY Times Book Review summed up McKibben’s clarion call to reduce our consumption and renew our communities as follows:
McKibben’s premise got some scientific validation in an article from last Friday’s Washington Post, “Baby Boomers Appear to Be Less Healthy Than Parents”:
Yeah, like living well. Which, contrary to the conventional wisdom, isn’t so much about how much stuff you have. He who dies with the most toys doesn’t win. If he’s accumulated all that crap at the expense of spending time with family and friends, he might just be one of the bigger losers.
Submitted by KAT on Sun, 04/22/2007 - 7:29pm.
Submitted by KAT on Fri, 04/20/2007 - 10:15am.
This week’s cavalcade of catastrophe and carnage lent credence to T.S. Eliot’s adage that April is the cruelest month. It started with some biblically bad flooding, followed by massacres at home and in Iraq, a Supreme setback for women, a cornered Wolfie snarling at the World Bank, and an addled Attorney General bravely facing his critics despite a crippling case of amnesia. Or is it Alzheimer’s?
Oh, how we longed for just one story with a happy ending. But even the saga of Sludgie, the baby whale who wandered into Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, turned into a tragic fish-out-of-water tale.
So, in the spirit of the classic kitten-on-a-limb “Hang in There!” poster, after such an unrelentingly grim week, I’m thinking this might be a felicitous time for some feline fooling around.
Here, for your amusement, I offer a series of shots of our resident Libertarian, the laissez-faire Zuzu, with one of her favorite toys, a catnip-enhanced Newt Gingrich. She never tires of biting him and batting him around, but she wasn’t the only one taking swats at the former Speaker of the House this week.
Gringrich is trying to persuade his fellow conservatives that global warming is real, but all he’s managed to do is inflame the red-staters, as my fellow Kossack greendem hilariously documented in a diary on Daily Kos yesterday. Greendem ventured over to the far right corner of the blogosphere to harvest some howlers from the climate change naysayers, and wished Gingrich well in his thankless task of trying to counter years of disinformation from fossil fueled don’t-think tanks:
Jason Jones interviewed one such “end-of-times” wacko for a segment on last night’s Daily Show entitled “Apocalypse How?” Oh, how I love the smell of wingnuts roasting in the evening.
Back to cat-tales, I offer for your viewing pleasure “Kittens and Bacon,” an amusing allegory of kittens, mittens, lobbyists and larded legislation. Thanks to our friend Andrew for sharing it. We need all the laughs we can get right now.
Submitted by KAT on Thu, 04/19/2007 - 11:59am.
Why are we treating our kids like cattle? We herd them into school cafeterias and pump them full of grain-based by-products, and confine them to classrooms to cram for all those No Child Left Behind tests. It’s like a federally mandated feedlot for tots, a government sanctioned program whose goal seems to be No Child Left Without a Big Behind.
And then we wonder Why Johnny Can’t See His Feet. “Eat more fruits and vegetables!” they tell him. “Get out and play!” they say.
Surely, nourishing our children well is a high priority for our government when it crafts a new farm bill every five years.
Except that it’s not. Our agricultural policies push “commodity” crops like corn and soybeans at the expense of so-called “specialty crops,” i.e. all those fruits and vegetables they tell us to feed our kids. So we fatten the bottom line of industrial agriculture, which in turn fattens our collective waistline and fosters an epidemic of obesity related illness.
As a bonus, industrial agriculture also poisons our environment, pollutes our waterways, depletes our soil, abuses animals, squanders fossil fuels, and exploits workers. Your tax dollars at work.
And yet you’ve probably never even thought about our nation’s farm bill. It sounds both too bureaucratic and too bucolic to have any real relevance to your life.
Well, wake up and smell the CAFOS. Michael Pollan, on the frontlines of the “real food” revolution, tells us why the farm bill matters to every American in a NY Times Magazine article entitled “You Are What You Grow:”
But Pollan’s optimistic that this year’s farm bill will be different, because the good food movement is gaining steam, giving even perennial pessimists like me reason to hope. Much of my newfound optimism comes courtesy of my colleagues in the New York City Food Systems Network, a coalition of nutritionists, anti-hunger activists, farmers’ market advocates, sustainability scholars, and other fine folks dedicated to changing the way we grow our food and feed our families.
One of the driving forces behind the NYCFSN, Hilary Baum, also founded the Baum Forum, a non-profit dedicated to promoting local agriculture, better food in schools and a healthier food system for everyone.
Her Baum Forum regularly hosts stellar-paneled conferences that feature the finest foot soldiers in the battle for better food, and she’s got another amazing conference lined up for this Saturday, April 21st: “Schools, Food and Gardening: Cultivating a Healthy Future,” a day-long conference at Columbia University co-sponsored by the Nutrition Program at Columbia’s Teachers College.
We’ll get the sustainable scoop from organic pioneer Joan Dye Gussow, whose memoir This Organic Life persuaded me to plant paw paws, and a dose of post-Katrina progress from Anthony Recasner, who heads the charter school that’s home to the New Orleans Edible Schoolyard.
And I can’t wait to see the demonstration of those self-watering Earth Box planters, so efficient at growing produce that the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has adopted them as part of The Growing Connection campaign to help communities all over the world grow their own food.
If you’re in our neck of the woods, we hope you’ll join us, but you can board the real food bandwagon wherever you are. Get up to speed by reading Daniel Imhoff’s Foodfight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, with a forward by Michael Pollan. Imhoff’s taken a dry topic and made it wry with his well-illustrated and entertaining compendium of all the collateral damage our misguided agricultural policies have wreaked on ourselves and our environment.
But Imhoff doesn’t just diagnose the many sicknesses of our food system, he offers the antidote, which, not surprisingly, calls for a massive dose of citizen activism:
And who wouldn’t be in favor of all that? I mean, aside from Archer Daniels Midlands, Cargill, Monsanto, and all their Big Food buddies. Do we live in a democracy, or a cornarchy?
Submitted by KAT on Wed, 04/18/2007 - 12:52pm.
Farmers markets are the fastest growing segment of our food industry, and the “buy local” boom is sure to get a big boost from stories like this one from the AP today:
Thanks to our globalized food chain, we’re eating more imported foods than ever, much of it from countries with lax food safety standards.
It would make sense, then, to allocate additional funds for the FDA to step up its inspections. But no:
I’m no mathematician, but my dad is, and I’m sure he’d be the first to admit that divvying up our food safety dollars in this fashion is utterly assbackward—except that my father, gentleman and scholar that he is, would never use such a vulgar term, and wishes I wouldn’t, either (sorry to keep disappointing you, Dad.)
Given a choice between food from far off places that’s been OK’d by an overworked, faceless bureaucrat, or the locally grown “food with a face” that Michael Pollan champions in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, many Americans are opting to put their food dollars right in the callused hands of the farmers who plant the produce that fills their eco-friendly reusable canvas totes.
But as more shoppers flock to the farmers markets, the food-with-a-face movement is facing a new dilemma. As the LA Times noted last week, the extraordinary growth of the farmers’ markets means that farmers have to spend more and more time at the market, which eats into the time they need to spend back on the farm actually growing the food.
“It's like a chef having to stop cooking in order to hand-deliver every plate,” adds the LA Times.
Well, yeah, when you put it like that, it does sound pretty inefficient.
Howell Tumlin, executive director of the Southland Farmers' Market Association in Southern California, told the LA Times that farmers will have to find better ways to get their produce to consumers, such as CSA’s or selling through local supermarkets.
And maybe that’s not so bad, because it would make more local foods available to folks who can’t make it to the farmers’ market.
Tumlin acknowledges that “the face-to-face interaction with farmers is one of the benefits that draws customers to the market.” Ironically, that’s one draw we stand to lose as the farm stands’ popularity skyrockets.
The sad reality, according to Tumlin, is that we’re destined to look back wistfully on the days that we could “still stand across a battered piece of plywood and have a conversation with the folks who grew your food. It's a shame, but it just doesn't make sense as a way to do business."
So get to know your local farmers now, because their rising star may keep ‘em down on the farm in the future.
Submitted by KAT on Tue, 04/17/2007 - 2:07pm.
It’s official. Those of us who watch Comedy Central’s fake anchors are better informed about current events than viewers of Fox news. What a topsy turvy world we live in when satirical shows intended to entertain us are more edifying than “straight” news broadcasts. Now that network news divisions and cable news channels are all about the profits, a well-informed populace is a luxury our culture apparently can’t afford.
So it’s entirely fitting that the Reverend Billy, a fake preacher, offers us true redemption through his Church of Stop Shopping. If you’re not familiar with Reverend Billy, you will be soon, when Morgan Spurlock’s What Would Jesus Buy? hits the theaters. Reverend Billy’s companion book by the same name warns of the impending “Shopacolypse:”
Kurt Vonnegut was less forgiving of our wasteful ways, telling Jon Stewart back in 2005, “I think we are terrible animals, and I think our planet’s immune system is trying to get rid of us, and should.”
But Reverend Billy’s message to Stop Shopping and Start Loving lifted vinegary ol’ Vonnegut out of his Thinking Man’s Andy Rooney routine just long enough to bless the front cover of Reverend Billy’s book with this beyond-the-grave blurb:
We were amongst the enraptured on April 14th, when Reverend Billy brought his greenhouse gasp gospel to Manhattan’s Battery Park to ignite the Step It Up 2007 Sea of People rally against global warming.
After Reverend Billy got the crowd all hot and bothered about our compulsive buying, Step It Up founder Bill McKibben took the stage to make his own pitch for more mindful living.
McKibben’s been trying to tell us for, like, 18 years—since the publication in 1989 of his watershed book, The End of Nature—that we’re irrevocably altering our environment (and not for the better.) But his Methodist madness is just too mild mannered to hammer the message home with the efficacy of a fictitious firebrand like the Reverend Billy.
That’s why, as my regular readers know, I’ve been trying to harness the power of The Secret to get McKibben his place in the sun, aka Oprah’s sofa. Evidently I need to wish even harder, though, because so far, I’ve only managed to get him booked on last Friday’s Newshour With Jim Lehrer, where he told Ray Suarez:
And they’ve had plenty of help from Rush Limbaugh, “Global warming's most popular denialist,” as James Wolcott notes in his brilliant, must-read lambasting of Limbaugh in the current Vanity Fair. With all the brouhaha over Don Imus’s ho-paux, I wish people could work up a fraction of that outrage over the way Rush Limbaugh has brainwashed millions of listeners into believing that global warming is a liberal elite hoax. As Wolcott notes:
But there’s a ray of hope on the horizon. I saw it on Saturday, when Tiffany Cordero, a preternaturally self-possessed 12 year-old New Yorker, took the Step It Up stage to declare “A lot of people are thinking just of now. But we won't have a 'now' if we don't focus on the future.”
Why is it that a 12 year old can connect the dots, while doddering Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, can’t? Stevens admitted to NPR’s Steve Inskeep on April 10th that climate change is altering Alaska’s environment, but Stevens blew a gasket when Inskeep asked him if one of his pet proposals, drilling in ANWAR, might exacerbate the problem:
The question is, how could you not? But then we’re talking about a guy who thinks that the Internet is “a series of tubes.” And Senator Stevens was the driving force behind the $315 million dollar Bridge to Nowhere. Which is exactly where his kind of “leadership” will take us. I think I’d rather cast my lot with Reverend Billy’s carbon-curbing congregation.
Submitted by KAT on Mon, 04/16/2007 - 2:29pm.
Oh, how the blue bears begged us to let them join the “Sea of People” who flooded lower Manhattan on Saturday to rally Congress to “Step It Up” and cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050. A thousand-plus blue-clad activists united in an undulating human chain more than a mile long to mark how our waterlines could rise if the world keeps heating up.
Coincidentally—or not?—today finds the tri-state area in a state of emergency thanks to the Nor’easter that’s dumped a record-breaking 8 inches of rain on our region. It’s wreaking havoc all over, the AP reports, with residents from Long Island to New Hampshire being evacuated and several hundred thousand households in New York and New England losing power.
"There's something ironic about the fact that we were down on the Battery yesterday, forming a line to show where the new tide line will be in New York with rising sea levels," Step It Up 2007’s founder, Bill McKibben, told the New York Sun on Sunday. "Today, Bloomberg is issuing emergency flood warnings for Lower Manhattan."
Clearly, polar bears aren’t the only ones imperiled by global warming. As the Sea of People demonstrated on Saturday, rising sea levels could leave lower Manhattan submerged under 10 feet of water. That would make for a mighty soggy stock exchange.
Can you see Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe wearing wellies to work? On the bright side, we wouldn’t need to rename Canal Street; we’d just have to get used to hailing a gondola instead of a cab.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to take action now, rather than be forced to adapt to rising floodwaters? We think so, and that’s why we joined the Sea of People to try to persuade Congress that we need to seriously step up our efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
And, in the end, even the blue bears got to attend the rally; after all, a little ursine urgency can make a big splash, as Knut, the world’s cutest polar bear cub, demonstrates on the cover of Vanity Fair’s green issue, on the newsstands now. After Annie Leibovitz shot Leonardo diCaprio posed pensively on an Icelandic glacier, Vanity Fair dispatched her to the Berlin zoo to snap a portrait of Knut, who was then Photoshopped into the picture to share the cover with Leo.
And if we don’t Step It Up now, we face a future where Photoshop will be the only way to get a photograph of a polar bear on an ice cap. Chilling, isn’t it?
Chapter leaders... Please login here.
Subscribe to Blogging Liberally
| 263,566
|
What makes your mobile phone so precious?
We all know the exceptional importance of our mobile phones in our modern day lives. They’ve become some of our most treasured possessions; essential for communication, entertainment and, with the advent of the app economy, all manner of everyday activities. For some of us, they may even have become an extension of ourselves.
But we’d like to invite you to have a deeper think about what exactly is so precious about your mobile – what makes it special?
For us here at Fairphone, we also think about what goes into building your phone – not just what it does for you as a finished product. For us, it’s also about the materials – which are often labelled “precious”. We call them precious, because we value them not only for what they allow us to achieve technologically but also what they could allow many people in poorer countries to achieve socially and economically – if only there were a fairer playing field. They could allow many people in poorer countries to achieve socially and economically – if only there were a fairer playing field.
As an initiative, Fairphone is already actively catalyzing change in Tin and Cobalt production – two major precious materials that your mobile phones contain today. We’re aiming to give a fairer deal to those at the heart of sourcing these materials – enabling them to really gain from a process that they are, at best, getting minimal value from at the moment.
And we’ve got even bigger plans for a larger array of other precious materials in the very near future, aiming to save the environment tonnes of toxic waste. Think about, for instance, using bio-plastics for the phone casing and sustainable materials developed at the cutting edge of technology.
We invite you to join our quest towards making sure that all the stuff that goes into your phone and makes it so precious to you – all the various elements, metals and things you probably rarely think about but without which your phone could not be built – also ends up creating even more, real, lasting precious value for the local communities surrounding the mines where these materials ultimately come from.
| 166,392
|
2015 International Valuation Handbook - Guide to Cost of Capital
The 2015 International Valuation Handbook-Guide to Cost of Capital, authored by Duff & Phelps, is a must-have publication that includes data through December 2014 and March 2015 and builds on the same rigorous country-level
cost of capital analysis previously published in the Morningstar/Ibbotson “international” reports. It includes country-level country risk
premia (CRPs) and country-level equity risk premia (ERPs) which can be used to estimate country-level
cost of equity capital globally, from the perspective of investors based in up to 56 different countries.
Country-level country risk
premium for up to 188 countries globally,
from the perspective of investors based
in up to 56 different countries.* The models applied in the International Valuation Handbook-Guide to Cost of Capital include:
Country credit rating model
Country yield spread model
Relative standard deviation model
Long-horizon and short-horizon
ERP data for 16 countries based in
USD and “local” currency. ERP estimates include:
ERP data previously available in the
Morningstar/Ibbotson “international” reports
Pablo Fernandez’ survey of ERPs
for a variety of countries
Long-horizon and short-horizon ERP data in USD and “local” currencies
One optional semi-annual update includes data through June and September and is available for an additional fee.
*Depending on data availability; some countries may not include all data points.
Author/Editor: Duff & Phelps
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published: June 2015
| 214,022
|
paper, 434 p., $21.95
This outstanding book might well displace every other popular work on the subject. It is a thorough and sound text for use in the home, office or field by anyone — meaning all of us — who needs to be better informed on weeds. Starting with Emerson's definition of a weed as "a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered," the knowledgeable authors familiarize the reader with the major facts about these plants and why they are, or should be, of concern. Fine color plates add a welcome new dimension, with photographs of seeds and seedlings of each species. It is hard to imagine anyone who would not benefit from the use of this incipient classic.
— John Swenson
| 254,518
|
HMS Dakins K550 (DE 85)
Named after Captain Dakins of the Advice during the Dutch Wars.
- Laid Down
- 23rd June 1943 at Bethlehem Steel Hingham MA
- 18th September 1943
- 23rd November 1943
- Date returned to US Navy
- Not returned to the US Navy
- Struck a mine Northwest of Oostend Belgium 25th December 1944. Written off as CTL & sold for scrap in Holland on 9th January 1947.
- Commanding Officers
- Lt R.S.Blacker RN November 1943
Lt Cdr F.Brock RCNVR November 1944
Lt M.G.H.Arbuthnot RNVR February 1945
Click here to return to the top of the page.
Valid xhtml1.1 : Valid css : ICRA labelled
Author: Roy Tynan © 2003
Designer: Peter R Tynan
| 37,133
|
Chickens and their rising cost could soon join the list of censored topics in Iran.
Over the weekend, police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam criticized state-controlled television for broadcasting images of people eating chicken. He suggested such footage could spur the underprivileged to revolt against affluent Iranians.
“Films are now the vitrine of the society, and some individuals witnessing this class gap might say, ‘We will take knives and take our rights from the rich,'” Ahmadi Moghadam warned during a July 14 press conference by law-enforcement officials.
In Iran, the government fixes the price of chicken at a point lower than the market rate, which has risen by some 60 percent since last year, presumably as a result of inflation and unprecedented tough Western sanctions imposed on Tehran for its controversial nuclear program. Nowadays Iranians pay as much as $5 for a kilogram of chicken. Pre-sanctions prices hovered around $2.
Long lines of people waiting to buy the government discounted chicken is now a common sight in Iranian cities, and people have been known to stand in queues for more than 14 hours in high summer temperatures.
What some Iranian media have taken to calling the “chicken crisis” is being blamed on delays in chicken-feed imports caused by the sanctions.
WATCH: Amateur video reportedly shows Iranians running into a state cooperative to buy chicken at lower price:
The tough situation is another indication of the plight of ordinary Iranians in the face of sanctions and Iranian officials' mismanagement of the economy.
One Tehran man told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that many people expect tougher days ahead.
“We have given up on buying chicken," he said. "[Iranian leaders] have created so much poverty that we can barely buy potatoes. This year chicken is banned from films, six months later potatoes will be banned in films, and by next year there won’t be any bread.”
On July 16, the head of the central Tehran branch of Iran's Islamic Azad University, Ferdows Hajian, announced a one-day chicken boycott in protest against the rising cost of the meat.
"The Central Tehran Branch of the Islamic Azad University symbolically will not buy chicken and meat on Tuesday [17 July] due to high prices and as a way of supporting the government and the people," Iran’s student agency ISNA quoted Hajian as saying.
Hajian blamed the rising prices on middlemen looking to make a profit.
Iranian officials have so far not offered any concrete solution to the soaring prices of food staples. Their method of choice for now seems to be censorship.
Last week, Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini warned the media against publishing reports on the impact of Western sanctions. "The situation regarding sanctions and other pressures, especially in economy ... requires more cooperation by the media so the country is not hurt," Hosseini said, adding that Iran is not in a position to allow reporting that is not compatible with the country’s national interests.
The warning by Hosseini and Ahmadi Moghadam came after the EU activated an embargo on Iran’s key oil industry on July 1.
In response to the censorship efforts, some Iranians have begun posting images and cartoons of chickens on social media.
Arash Ashourinia, a well-known Iranian photographer, updated his photo blog with several photos of chicken dishes
, explaining that he decided to post the photos before their publishing would be banned in Iran.
Vahid online, a prominent Internet activist, wrote sarcastically on Facebook that in the future movies on Iran’s state television will include a warning: "This program contains images of cooked chicken."
-- Golnaz Esfandiari
| 231,587
|
Forex Trading for Beginners can be difficult. Generally, this is because of impractical yet common assumptions among newbies to this market. Whether we are discussing forex trading for newbies in the UK or share trading for newbies, a number of the standard principles overlap. In this write-up, we’re going to concentrate on Forex trading. However, several of the same techniques, terms and basic ideas also put on share trading.
By the end of it, you’ll understand all one of the most important terms utilized in Forex trading so you will not be perplexed at any type of point while you learn to trade. You’ll discover all the fundamentals, including which platform you utilize, how to implement a trade, 10 Forex trading tips for novices that want to make, approaches, and also a lot more.
This write-up can be considered a free forex trading training course for novices. We suggest documenting some of the important things you learn below later as a collection of Forex trading notes that you can quickly refer back to. It may take a while to bear in mind everything we cover.
What is Forex Trading for Beginners?
Before we start this Forex trading for novices guide and also learn just how to trade Forex, we will swiftly address the concern, ‘What is Forex trading?’:.
The fx (FX or forex) market is a global market where traders exchange nationwide currencies.
Just How to Forex Trade for Beginners.
The next concern that involves everyone’s mind is: just how to discover Forex from square one? Can I instruct myself to trade Forex? Do not worry, this Forex trading for newbies guide is our conclusive manual for all facets of Forex and basic trading. By the end, you’ll comprehend the essentials of trading Forex and also exactly how to begin.
Trading terms: Forex trading notes for newbies.
Here’s where your Forex trading notes for newbies can begin. I’m mosting likely to begin this trading for newbies guide in the UK by presenting a few of the most usual terms you’ll encounter in trading that you’ll need to recognize.
1. Area Forex.
This form of Forex trading involves acquiring and selling the actual currency. For instance, you can get a particular quantity of extra pound sterling and exchange it for euros, and then when the value of the extra pound increases, you can trade your euros for pounds again, getting more money contrasted to what you initially invested in the purchase.
The term CFD stands for “Contract for Distinction”. It is an agreement utilized to stand for the movement in the rates of monetary instruments. In Forex terms, this suggests that rather than buying and selling large quantities of currency, you can take advantage of rate activities without having to possess the property itself. In addition to Forex, CFDs are likewise available in stocks, indices, bonds, assets, as well as cryptocurrencies. In all cases, they enable you to trade in the price movements of these tools without needing to buy them.
If you are interested in recognizing just how CFDs operate in higher information, we recommend the complying with write-up that describes CFD trading for newbies: What is CFD Trading?
A pip is the base device in the rate of the currency pair or 0.0001 of the quoted cost, in non-JPY currency sets. So, when the bid rate for the EUR/ USD pair goes from 1.16667 to 1.16677, that represents a difference of 1 pip.
The spread is the distinction in between the purchase price and the sale price of a currency pair. For the most prominent currency sets, the spread is commonly reduced, in some cases also less than a pip! For sets that do not trade as commonly, the spread tends to be much higher. Prior to a Forex trade ends up being profitable, the value of the currency pair have to surpass the spread.
What are spreads.
Margin is the cash that is kept in the trading account when opening up a trade. However, because the standard “Retail Forex Trader” does not have the required margin to trade at a quantity high sufficient to make an excellent profit, many Forex brokers supply their clients accessibility to leverage.
This principle is a should for novice Forex traders. The leverage is the funding offered by a Forex broker to enhance the quantity of trades its customers can make.
The face value of a contract or lot amounts to 100,000 systems of the base currency. In the case of EUR/USD, it would certainly be 100,000 euros.
If you use a 1:10 leverage rate as well as have 1,000 euros in your trading account, you can trade a currency pair with a $10,000 position dimension.
If the trade achieves success, leverage will increase your profits by a factor of 10. Nonetheless, keep in mind that leverage likewise increases your losses to the same degree.
For that reason, leverage should be used with caution, regardless of whether we are speaking round trading for novices or specialists. If your account equilibrium drops below zero euros, you can ask for the adverse balance policy supplied by your broker. ESMA controlled brokers supply this security. Utilizing this security will certainly imply that your balance can not move below zero euros, so you will certainly not be indebted to the broker.
7. Bear Market.
This is a term used to define the stock exchange when it is moving in a downwards pattern. To put it simply, when the prices of stocks are falling. If a stock rate drops deep as well as quickly, it’s taken into consideration extremely bearish.
8. Bull Market.
The opposite of a bear market is a bull market. When the stock exchange is experiencing a period of increasing stock costs, we call it a Bear Market. A private stock, along with an industry, can also be called favorable or bearish.
A metric indicating the partnership between a stock’s cost about the whole market’s motion. If a stock has a beta measuring 1.5, this indicates the when the marketplace moves 1 factor, this stock relocates 1.5 points, as well as the other way around.
A broker is a person or company that assists promote your trading of an instrument via their platform (when it comes to an online broker). They normally bill a payment.
The bid is the cost traders want to pay per share. It is set against the ask cost, which is the cost vendors are willing to market their shares for. What do we call the difference between the quote as well as the ask price? The spread.
This is a place where trades are made. 2 popular stock exchanges are the NASDAQ and also the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
This is the at which an exchange shuts and also trading quits. Normal trading hours for the NASDAQ as well as the NYSE are from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. After-hours trading continues till 8 p.m.
14. Day Trading.
This when investors deal within a day. Day trading is a typical trading strategy. Nonetheless, if somebody day trades, they may additionally make long-term investments as well (a lasting portfolio).
The following two terms just put on share trading:.
A percentage of the revenues of a firm that is paid to its investors, the people who own their stock. These dividends are paid out either quarterly (4 times per year) or yearly (as soon as annually). Not every company pays its shareholders dividends. As an example, companies that offer penny stocks likely do not pay dividends.
16. Blue Chip Stocks.
These are stocks in huge, industry-leading firms. Several traders are attracted to Blue chip stocks as a result of their credibility for paying secure returns payments and demonstrating long-term audio fiscal monitoring. Some think that the expression ‘excellent’ derived from heaven chips utilized in gambling establishments, which are the highest possible denomination of chips.
Free Trading Webinars with Admirals.
If you’re simply beginning with Forex trading as well as are interested in stepping up your trading video game, there’s no much better method than to so than with Admirals FREE on the internet Forex 101 trading training course. It’s one of the most effective ways to learn because each lesson is very carefully crafted and also provided by two leading industry professionals. With all 9 lessons offered online, you can quickly fit your learning around your life. Discover to trade on your commute, in a cafe, or after work – it’ s approximately you!
Click the banner listed below to register:.
Forex 101 – Free Online Forex Trading Course.
How to Trade Forex for Beginners – Making trades.
The following section of this Forex trading for newbies detail covers points to think about before making a trade. Before you make a trade, you’ll require to decide which type of trade to make (short or long), how much it will cost you and also just how large the spread is (difference between ask and also bid cost). Understanding these elements will aid you determine which trade to enter. Listed below we define each of these facets thoroughly.
Cost and Quote.
When you trade Forex, you will certainly see Ask and Quote rates.
Bear in mind, the ask cost is the cost at which you can get the currency.
And also the bid price is the rate at which you can sell it.
Among the important things you should keep in mind when you want to learn Forex from square one is that you can trade both long and also short, but you need to be aware of the dangers involved in taking care of an intricate product.
Getting a currency with the assumption that its value will certainly enhance as well as earn a profit on the distinction between the purchase and list price.
long trade eurusd.
Disclaimer: Charts for economic tools in this short article are for illustrative objectives and does not constitute trading suggestions or a solicitation to purchase or offer any type of financial tool provided by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past performance is not always a sign of future efficiency.
Long CFD trade instance.
You offer a currency with the assumption that its value will certainly lower and you can redeem at a lower worth, benefiting from the distinction.
short trade eurusd.
Please note: Graphes for economic tools in this short article are for illustratory purposes and does not comprise trading guidance or a solicitation to buy or market any type of financial instrument offered by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Previous performance is not necessarily an indicator of future performance.
The cost at which the currency set trades is based on the present exchange rate of the currencies in both, or the quantity of the 2nd currency that you would certainly get in exchange for an unit of the very first currency (as an example, if you might trade 1 EUR for 1.68 USD, the acquisition and also sale price your broker gives will certainly get on either side of this number).
Short CFD trade example.
If the method brokers earn a profit is by accumulating the distinction between the deal rates of the currency pairs (the spread), the following logical concern is: How much can a particular currency be anticipated to relocate? This relies on what the liquidity of the currency is like or how much is bought and sold at the same time.
One of the most fluid currency sets are those with the greatest supply and demand in the Forex market. It is the financial institutions, firms, importers, merchants and traders that generate this supply and also need.
The significant currency sets have a tendency to be the most fluid, with the EUR/ USD currency set relocating 90-120 pips on a typical day as well as as a result supplying the most possibilities for short-term trading. In contrast, the AUD/ NZD pair moves in between 50 and also 60 pips per day, and the USD/ HKD currency pair only moves at approximately 32 pips daily (checking out the value of the currency pairs, a lot of will certainly appear with 5 decimal points).
The main Forex sets have a tendency to be one of the most liquid. However, there are likewise numerous possibilities between small and also unique currencies, especially if you have some specialist understanding regarding a certain currency.
Just how to read Forex charts for novices.
No Forex trading for beginners post would be complete without reviewing charts. When watching the exchange rate in live Forex charts, there are 3 different options available to traders utilizing the MetaTrader platform: line charts, bar charts or candlestick graphes. When in the MetaTrader platform you can toggle between these various graph types by picking Sight -> Toolbars -> Common alternative. In the toolbar on top of your display, you will currently have the ability to see the box below:.
candlestick graph sight alternative.
Please note: Graphes for financial tools in this write-up are for illustrative purposes and also does not comprise trading recommendations or a solicitation to buy or market any financial instrument offered by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past performance is not always an indication of future efficiency.
A line chart connects the closing rates of the moment frame you are seeing. So, when seeing a day-to-day graph the line links the closing rate of each trading day. This is one of the most standard kind of chart used by investors. It is generally made use of to recognize bigger photo trends but does not offer much else unlike several of the various other chart kinds.
OHLC bar charts.
OHLC bar charts.
Please note: Graphes for economic instruments in this post are for illustratory functions and also does not constitute trading guidance or a solicitation to get or sell any type of economic instrument supplied by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past efficiency is not always an indication of future performance.
An OHLC bar chart shows a bar for each and every amount of time the trader is seeing. So, when taking a look at a day-to-day graph, each upright bar stands for someday’s worth of trading. The bar graph is unique as it supplies far more than the line graph such as the open, high, reduced and also close (OHLC) worths of the bar.
The dash on the left represents the opening rate and the dashboard on the right stands for the closing cost. The high of the bar is the highest cost the market traded while period chosen. The reduced of the bar is the most affordable rate the marketplace traded while duration picked.
The green bars are called customer bars as the closing cost is above the opening rate.
The red bars are referred to as vendor bars as the closing price is below the opening rate.
In either instance, the OHLC bar charts assist traders recognize who is in control of the marketplace – purchasers or vendors. These bars form the basis of the next chart type called candlestick charts which is the most preferred type of Forex charting.
Disclaimer: Charts for financial tools in this short article are for illustrative objectives as well as does not make up trading recommendations or a solicitation to acquire or market any type of economic instrument given by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past performance is not always an indication of future efficiency.
Candlestick graphes were first made use of by Japanese rice investors in the 18th century. They resemble OHLC bars in the truth they likewise provide the open, high, low and close worths of a particular amount of time. Nevertheless, candlestick graphes have a box between the open as well as close price worths. This is also known as the ‘body’ of the candlestick.
Several investors find candlestick graphes the most visually appealing when viewing real-time Forex graphes. They are additionally very popular as they supply a range of cost action patterns made use of by investors throughout the world.
Nothing will certainly prepare you much better than demo trading – a risk-free mode of real-time trading to get a better feel for the marketplace. It is extremely recommended that you study trial trading first and just after that get in live trading. The outcomes will speak for themselves.
trial trading account admirals.
Learn just how to trade Forex for newbies – Forex trading systems.
Now that you know how to begin trading in Forex, the next step in this Forex trading for novices guide is to choose one of the most effective Forex trading systems for newbies. Fortunately, financial institutions, corporations, investors, as well as speculators have been trading in the markets for years, indicating that there is already a large range of sorts of Forex trading techniques to pick from. You may not remember them all after your initial read, so this is an excellent area to add to your Forex trading notes. These systems include:.
Currency Scalping: Scalping is a sort of trading that consists of buying and selling currency sets in very short amount of times, typically between a couple of seconds and a few hours. This is a very practical method that includes making a multitude of tiny profits in the hope those profits build up.
Intraday Trades: Forex intraday trading is an extra conventional method that can match beginners. It is focused on four-hour or one-hour cost patterns. Trades can be open in between one and also four hrs. In general, they concentrate on the primary sessions for each Forex market.
Swing Trading: Swing trading is a medium-term trading technique that focuses on bigger cost motions than scalping or intraday trading. This means that traders can keep a trade open for days or a couple of weeks. This sort of trading is a good choice for those who trade as an enhance to their day-to-day work.
To compare every one of these methods we suggest reviewing our post “A Contrast Scalping vs Day trading vs Swing trading”.
Top Forex trading systems for newbies.
Allow’s consider some of the very best Forex trading systems for newbies. In addition to selecting a broker, you should also research the currency trading software and also systems they offer. The trading platform is the main element of your trading and your main job tool, making this area an indispensable part of your Forex trading notes. When examining a trading system, specifically if we are talking about trading for beginners, ensure that it includes the following aspects:.
Do you trust your trading platform to supply you the outcomes you expect? Being able to trust the accuracy of the priced quote rates, the speed of data transfer and also the quick implementation of orders is necessary to be able to trade Forex effectively. Even more so, if you plan to use extremely short-term methods, such as scalping.
The info has to be offered in real-time and also the platform has to be offered in any way times when the Forex market is open. This makes certain that you can make the most of any kind of opportunity that emerges.
Will your funds and personal information be secured? A reliable Forex broker and a great Forex trading system will certainly take steps to guarantee the security of your details, together with the capability to support all key account details.
It will additionally segregate your funds from its own funds. If a broker can not show the actions they will certainly require to shield your account equilibrium, it is much better to find another broker.
Independent account monitoring.
Any kind of Forex trading system should allow you to manage your trades as well as your account separately, without having to ask your broker to take action on your behalf. This makes sure that you can act as quickly as the market moves, capitalise on opportunities as they develop and control any type of open position.
Does the platform provide ingrained evaluation, or does it use the tools for independent basic or technical evaluation? Numerous Forex traders trade making use of technical indications and also can trade far more successfully if they can access this details within the trading platform, as opposed to having to leave the system to discover it. This need to include graphes that are updated in real-time and also access to updated market information as well as news.
MetaTrader Supreme Edition.
A screenshot of the MetaTrader Supreme Version provided by Admiral Markets.
Disclaimer: Graphes for monetary instruments in this short article are for illustratory functions and does not constitute trading guidance or a solicitation to purchase or offer any type of financial instrument given by Admiral Markets (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past efficiency is not necessarily an indication of future performance.
Automated trading performance.
Among the advantages of Forex trading is the capacity to open a setting and also established an automatic stop loss and revenue level at which the trade will be closed. This is a key idea for those learning Forex trading for beginners. One of the most innovative systems need to have the functionality to perform trading approaches in your place, when you have actually specified the specifications for these approaches.
At Admiral Markets, the platforms are MetaTrader 4 and also MetaTrader 5, which are the easiest to make use of multi-asset trading platforms worldwide. They are two of the most effective platforms that provide the most effective online trading for novices. Both platforms can be accessed via a variety of gadgets including computer, Mac, iOS as well as Android gadgets, in addition to, internet browsers through the MetaTrader WebTrader platform for MT4 and MT5.
These are fast, receptive platforms that provide real-time market data. Additionally, these systems supply automated trading alternatives and also advanced charting capacities as well as are highly secure, which aids novice Forex traders.
MetaTrader 5 is the current variation and has a variety of extra functions, consisting of:.
Accessibility to thousands of monetary markets.
A Mini Terminal that uses complete control of your account with a single click.
38 integrated trading signs.
The capability to download and install tick history for a variety of instruments.
Real volume trading information.
Free-market information, information as well as market education.
Trade on MetaTrader 5 with Admiral Markets.
Admiral Markets uses the capacity to trade with MetaTrader 5 in your web browser, or to download and install the entire system completely free! Gain access to real-time market information, technological analysis, understanding from specialist trading professionals, as well as countless trading instruments to trade and attach. Start your trading journey the proper way. Click the banner listed below to begin:.
metatrader 5 mt5 admirals.
Is forex good for newbies? Threats every novice should recognize.
There are various types of risks that you must understand as a Forex investor. Maintain the complying with dangers in your Forex trading notes for newbies:.
Leverage Threat: Leverage in trading can have both a positive or negative effect on your trading. The greater your leverage, the bigger your benefits or losses.
Interest Rate Danger: The moment that a country’s rates of interest surges, the currency could reinforce. The increase in toughness can be credited to an increase of investments because nation’s cash markets because with a stronger currency, greater returns could be likely. But if the rate of interest drops, the currency may weaken, which may lead to even more capitalists withdrawing their financial investments.
Deal Threat: This danger is an exchange rate danger that can be associated with the moment differences between the various countries. It can take place sometime in between the beginning and end of a contract. There is a chance that during the 24-hours, exchange rates will change even prior to working out a trade. The purchase threat raises the higher the time difference in between going into and working out an agreement.
| 233,348
|
“Having an experience with a hallucinogenic substance, you understood how drugs could change your material state. That got me interested in how the mind works.”
Jeffrey A. Lieberman
Jeffrey Lieberman was a child of the ’60s. As a college student in 1968, he dropped acid and “when he came down,” he began to think about its effect on his cognition and the chemistry of his brain. When he was in medical school, he decided to specialize in psychiatry. His book, Shrinks, is about the history of that specialty. Our conversation has been edited for length.
Shrinks is a word we all understand as slang for psychiatrist, but we don’t know the origin of the word.
The term is not the most eloquent. It’s like calling dermatologists pimple poppers or orthopedists bone crunchers. But it is the term people use most often to describe psychiatrists.
In the late 1940s, in Hollywood, it originated with a studio executive trying to control the oversized ego of a temperamental actress. Studios were making adventure movies at the time and the witch doctors they depicted would shrink the heads of their enemies.
The next reference is from Hopalong Cassidy, a cowboy film star, who made reference to the term when he was being profiled in Lifemagazine. He said, “If anyone ever thought when I was growing up that I would become a movie star and a household name, they would need to see a shrink.”
H.L. Mencken also included it in a response to a letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun.
The idea is that your head is being shrunk.
The reason I think it stuck is because it has so many useful connotations. First, you know the expression “to name it is to tame it.” A psychiatrist is a mysterious and somewhat scary notion. Giving it this name in the vernacular helps to demystify it.
Also, it is a kind of derogatory reference and it reflects the disdain society has for it.
You note in your book that your profession remains “the most distrusted, feared and denigrated of all medical specialties.” So why did you want to become a psychiatrist?
I was fascinated by it. I was always an intellectually curious person. In college I studied Freud and that became like a window opening. Freud was a brilliant theoretician and writer.
It was also the age of the counterculture and mind expansion. Having an experience with a hallucinogenic substance, you understood how drugs could change your material state.
That got me interested in how the mind works.
This is a personal question. The mother is often blamed for her children’s neuroses or psychoses. Is the stain on poor Mom ever going to be eliminated?
Blaming the mother was one of the dark spots in psychiatry’s history. It grew out of the psychoanalytic tradition. At a fundamental level it may be rooted in the same kind of biases, the prejudicial attitudes we are now dealing with in sexism and in preventing full equality for women.
Attributing responsibility for psychopathology to the mother was unfortunate, inaccurate and very damaging.
Freud isn’t taken seriously today, but his theories about the mind were brilliant. He really was the father of psychiatry.
Freud was not a villain. He was the most famous and heroic figure and calamitous rogue. He was a towering genius who had brilliant insights, every bit as extraordinary as Einstein’s theories.
He made two mistakes, though. The first was by dint of his personality: he was overly controlling. He permitted no deviation of his theory and no modification of the method he was applying to his cures. He permitted no empirical verification of his theories.
There was no research done on the brain to see if his theories were valid. His theory in the end was about how the mind was structured, the unconscious, the conscious, defence mechanisms. But it didn’t really have relevance for mental illness. It often prevented people from getting treatments that would work.
For years it was believed you could “cure” homosexuality and this led to terrible consequences. Even today, in Russia, to be gay is to be threatened.
The idea that homosexuality was a sexual deviation and could be treated was an unfortunate period in the history of psychiatry. Psychiatry was being used as an instrument of society to explain its moral attitudes. In Russia it is being used to explain its political attitudes. Homosexuality has become a political issue there.
You include autism as one of the neurological ailments we are trying to treat today. Why has there been such a rise in autism? I never heard of it when I was a child.
This is a classic example of what I call hiding in plain sight. It isn’t a new condition; it is not like AIDS or Ebola, (which) have recently emerged. It’s been around for millennia but it wasn’t recognized until 1943 when it was described in the medical literature by a pediatric psychiatrist.
It took until the 1990s, when prominent people began to agitate for help because their children or grandchildren didn’t seem right. They mobilized advocacy movements. So 95 per cent of what is being seen as an increase in autism is seeing it where we didn’t before. We didn’t choose to see it. These kids were considered weird, funny, mentally retarded, mute.
There seem to be fewer psychiatrists today; most people see social workers or psychologists when they have problems. Many psychiatrists merely write prescriptions for antidepressants or sleeping pills, but you don’t lie on the couch and tell them your dreams. Is psychiatry dying?
Psychiatry is not dying but economics is having an impact on it.
In the book I try to make the point, empathetically, that psychiatry should not become a specialty that focuses just on the biological aspect of a patient’s illness. It needs to be pluralistic and include genetics and other sciences that impact the brain.
Psychiatrists take your history and learn about the overall state of your life. But it is changing. There is progress in developing laboratory-type tests.
But other professions do that, too.
How do you distinguish between psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, spiritual counsellors? Psychiatrists are physicians trained in the illness of the brain. Psychologists are social scientists who treat the problems of living. They treat what we call the worried well.
The number of psychiatrists hasn’t gone down. I think there is more demand. There is still a stigma but it is not as quite as oppressive. People are becoming aware there may be better care for what they seek. Psychiatrists are the most expensive of health professionals and governments try to use their time in a more economical way.
Psychiatrists have to see more patients for a limited period of time. For talk therapy or cognitive rehabilitation or marital therapy, patients will be encouraged to use a less expensive social worker or psychologist or trained lay therapist do that work. The supply of psychiatrists has gone up but health budgets don’t want to pay more.
I say, OK, you pay a little more in the short run by expanding the benefits, but in the long run you save. The secret to health-care reform and cost is better mental health care.
| 130,957
|
Have we told you how much we appreciate you? Truly, we do. You make our lives so much richer for your existence and the mutual sharing of heartfelt experiences and joy. Thank you for joining us on this journey of meaning, compassion and gratitude.
As I write my eyes continually wander to the door bathed in sunlight. The sun wanes and the black walnut in my view holds the last of the rays. What am I doing inside? Sitting down indoors challenges me more with each passing day. I love the coziness of a wood-warmed house, but I feel constantly that I am missing the most important moment of my life. What is happening outside? Who is heading south? Is the blue wood aster still blooming?
Are the robins gathering and chatting in the top of the maple? Is there another American woodcock probing in the recently moistened Earth beneath the rough-leaved dogwoods?
The gift of persimmons sit on our table waiting: giving us great joy in their presence, in their delicious flesh and in their hope-filled seeds.
Our refrigerator houses baggies of these persimmon seeds from our second annual autumnal pilgrimage to our Indiana homeland, marking an important ritual to gather these delicious native fruits and to revere big trees, limestone-weathered Earth, good people doing good work and the ecology of the land.
George Donaldson: you are one of our heroes; please know you made a difference. You preserved a piece of Indiana that we very much needed to see and that gives us such hope.
Caterpillar lives continue to mingle noticeably with our lives and teach us almost daily that it truly is the greatest miracle that we are all alive and that we get to bear witness to other lives and gift one another with appreciation and love.
American Dagger on a long journey...
Virginia Ctenucha benefiting from the long fall...
Possible Tufted Thyatirin feeding on hazelnut...
Brown-hooded Owlet from aster...
Syncronicity of spirit or intuition? I am not sure which, but this box turtle reminded me to listen to what cannot be heard. A venture off trail to visit some pawpaws in search of any lingering fruit inspired me to tell Steve to make sure to watch for box turtles....a few minutes later look who we found.
The kitties tolerated our traveling and are learning to appreciate new lands and new experiences. It's a joy to not leave part of our family behind and to feel new opportunities opening in front of us.
Meeting Carolina Buckthorn and Seedbox again thrilled us.
Spending time with old trees strenthened us and heartened us in ways that is as necessary as breath, but is as hard to understand as tides and moon cycles.
Our travels out into the world always inspire such action on our little patch of Earth. They ignite something deep within and we get lit, I mean LIT, on fire. We come home and we visit the plants we share space with and we plant more and we dream about persimmons and learn about native foods and dream some more and then form plans.
American Chestnuts will rise again and we vow to support their rise. The local economy of native foods is so damn satisfying and we feel like there is giant bright spot before us, if we just open our eyes, look around and support others on their life paths doing meaningful, important and most certainly imperative work.
Winter hardy greens in a junk built lean-to cold house...
and homegrown saffron...
offer nutrition and satisfaction. That's a key piece of life isn't it? To feel satisfied and proud of your life and at peace with what is and what is not.
We savor autumnal light like it might never return again. "Yes fence, we will continue removing you. First though, we must lay on Mother Earth (Mother Shelter, Mother Shelteress; thank you Anais Mitchell), feel her strength and soak up the rays." Weakening rays, but still our mightiest and most longed for winter friend.
Mother Shelteress, creator of perfect mud homes. There is much to admire here: beauty, builder, earth materials, innate know-how, protection of young...
remnants of what was and what will return once again to yes, Mother Earth, Mother Shelteress. We humans have much to learn.
We wish you joy, more and more "awake" moments and meaning-filled discoveries.
j and s
Find an extension of our travels and some more of our joy here.
| 91,446
|
Very good article from Drew Rob (Thank you !) over at the EnterpriseStorageForum.
On the surface, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) seems like a no-brainer: a lot less hardware, cabling, installation, and management, and less expensive, to boot.
“When you take switches, cabling and adapters into account, FCoE is 33 percent cheaper to deploy than traditional networks and holds the promise of 50 percent savings on power and cooling,” said Bob Laliberte, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).
He said FCoE is typically deployed in a “top-of-the-rack” configuration, which means there is an FCoE-enabled switch sitting on the top of the rack (instead of an FC switch and an Ethernet switch). This configuration would assume the use of converged network adapters (CNAs) or a universal LAN on motherboard (LOM) capable of supporting FCoE. If the applications warrant the support, there will usually be redundant connections — i.e. at least two FCoE connections for each server to the top of the rack FCoE switch, (as opposed to 2 FC and 2 Ethernet connections per server). The top of the rack switch would then send the Ethernet traffic to the LAN and the FC traffic to the SAN.
Read on here
| 237,373
|
Europe Approves Gradual Embargo on Iran's Oil
European governments have approved an embargo on Iranian oil to pressure that country to cease its nuclear program. However, they advocated a gradual phase-in of sanctions because of the toll the debt crisis is taking on the European economic situation.
Iran Threatens Oil Blockade Over Sanctions
Iran threatened to cut off oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. follows through on its threat to impose economic sanctions. Oil markets dismissed the rhetoric.
| 224,386
|
“SE15, SW9; is that why people are dying? Because of a couple of numbers? A couple of letters from the alphabet?”
I heard these words at an XLP Arts Showcase some years ago and I will never forget them. Their power lay in the fact they were spoken not by a politician or even a youth worker, but a 15 year old girl personally affected by the culture of fear that pervades some of London’s streets for many young people. The words remain as relevant and poignant now as they have ever been, with the Metropolitan Police publishing that three people were killed or seriously injured by knives every day in London in 2016.
As young people are struggling to find that sense of belonging amidst the challenges of educational failure, family breakdown, poverty and mental health issues, a postcode can provide identity. Sadly however this mentality can cause untold grief as conflicts and tensions arise with other neighbouring areas.
Kelly, who used to be on the edge of gangs, told me once that hearing about other young people carrying knives led her to carry a kitchen knife if she had to walk through a rough area. She said, “I’m not that type of girl, but I wanted to feel safe, especially if I was in a different area. I wanted to feel protected and that meant either being in a gang or carrying a knife.”
I sometimes ask the young people we work with why the conflicts started and none of them know. It is a reality they have grown up with and, irrespective of its beginnings, the fear remains very real for them. These young boys and girls often do not feel able to even travel on a bus through a rival area for fear of the consequences.
Any mental health expert will tell you of the effect that this constant paranoia can have on your mental wellbeing and understanding this context can help reveal what lies behind their behaviour.
In London we are in the very fortunate position of being surrounded by a huge level of diversity, in backgrounds, religions and outlooks. However we should never forget that there is more that unites us than divides us. Sadiq Khan, as London's first Muslim Mayor, is in a great position to model this attitude of uniting and not dividing and I hope he takes the opportunity. True faith will always want to serve the common good and this offers great potential to see this capital changed for the better.
In my experience, prejudices and fear exist most strongly when people are isolated from each other. Sometimes at XLP we take young people from different areas away together on a camp; at the start of the week the tension is always palpable but before long they find that despite their postcodes they have lots in common. By the end of the week they have often made long-lasting friendships. To achieve lasting peace in London we must break down the ‘them and us’ mentality and get to know the ‘other’ in our communities, whoever they are. This challenge applies not just to our young people but to all of us.
Patrick Regan OBE
Founder & CEO of XLP
| 191,250
|
Yammer is a private social network for organizations that is built around open communication. Yammer can be used to efficiently resolve support issues, gather feedback, spread best practices, participate in threaded discussions and loop customer and vendors into conversations. Just like other social media networks, you can like, share and reply on Yammer posts. Users can organize into specific groups to share information. Instead of getting locked away in scattered email threads, information is always shared, archived and searchable.
Benefits of Microsoft Yammer:
- Easy to Connect and Engage Across Your Company: Yammer is the next-level collaboration tool that keeps you connected and a part of the company, wherever you are. Find and build on the work of co-workers in different departments and time zones with a smarter search. Yammer makes it easy to become aware of and solve any customer problem as soon as they arise.
- Group Collaboration:With Yammer, you have the ability to form a public or private group whether it’s based on a department, project, or topic of interest. Groups make it easy to work together, share information and drive discussion in a central workplace. All information and conversations are threaded, so context is preserved for any future needs.
- External Collaboration:Yammer allows you to add partners, customers, and vendors to group conversations to ask questions, suggestions or get specific input. For ongoing external collaboration, you can create dedicated external groups/networks to encourage stronger relationships.
Contact us today for more information!
We Customize Technology Solutions for the Following Industries:
Small / Mid-size | Enterprise | Education | Government | Financial
| 69,558
|
All this week we're bringing you stories about the chemical company responsible for the PBB tragedy in Michigan. Michigan Chemical accidentally contaminated the state’s food supply in the 1970s, but the legacy of that company is still very much with us today.
Michigan Chemical – which later became Velsicol Chemical – made more than just PBB, and it left these toxic chemicals behind in St. Louis, Michigan.
One woman insists something is wrong with the birds
Teri Kniffen and her family moved to St. Louis in 1994. She had heard about Velsicol Chemical and the PBB tragedy in Michigan, but when they bought their house, they didn't realize they were moving right next to where the old plant site was buried.
In 2001, she started noticing dying robins in her yard.
“When I’d go out in the backyard, and get near them, they wouldn’t move," says Kniffen. "They just would stagger around the yard, and they’d end up dying.”
Kniffen said she would find around 10 to 12 dead birds a year – mostly American robins. She said she tried to get officials from the MDEQ and the EPA to test the birds, but they mostly ignored her. An MDEQ official told her to collect the dead birds in her freezer, but she says by the time they came to collect them four years later, she was told the birds could not be tested.
So two years ago, Kniffen had the birds tested herself at MSU, and the birds tested positive for acute DDT and DDE poisoning.
Kniffen videotaped the birds as well. Here's what she and her neighbors would see (this video might be disturbing for some viewers):
Velsicol Chemical leaves its mess behind
For more than 40 years until it closed in 1978, Velsicol Chemical made all kinds of chemicals – including DDT. The company is long gone. The story is a familiar one. It was bought out, and then the company that bought it, Fruit of the Loom, went bankrupt.
So the old company ceased to exist, but its chemicals are still here in this small town in the center of the Lower Peninsula.
Air deposition is one way people believe the chemicals spread. People who lived in St. Louis at the time the plant was in operation often describe a white dust that would settle on the neighborhood at times. That could be one way the chemicals from the plant got into the ground. Others tell stories of the company offering free fill dirt to neighbors.
Birds tell a story of what's underground
Matt Zwiernik is a wildlife toxicologist at Michigan State University. He tested the two birds Kniffen first brought to MSU in 2012. Then in 2013, his team studied the birds and their nests in and around St. Louis.
All the adult birds they collected in a nine-block area around the old chemical plant had also been poisoned.
“These concentrations from my literature search are the greatest ever reported in wild birds,” says Zwiernik. “When they arrive in May and by June they’re dying of convulsions, and they’ve got ten times the concentration in their brain that causes death in laboratory animals, you can assume that DDT caused it.”
More interesting, Zwiernik notes, are their findings on the birds' nests. They monitored 60 nests in the nearby neighborhood, and downstream from the chemical plant.
The team found low hatchling success rates, meaning the robins had a hard time reproducing in these areas.
Zwiernik recently presented his findings at a conference. He said people were shocked that this was happening in 2014.
“I was shocked as well. I’ve been doing this for 15 years now…. Many, many studies over seven years, trying to find subtle differences … and in this one it really just hits you over your head. You don’t need a giant study design to get your answer. You can test your hypothesis in one year with 29 samples. It’s nothing like I’ve seen in my career.”
Cleanup was planned, but bird study helped score funding
Zwiernik’s study was paid for by a community group pushing for more cleanup in St. Louis. The Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force gave Zwiernik $15,000 for his study.
The EPA and the state have known about the nasty chemicals in the neighborhood since around 2006. Some areas had been fenced off because the DDT levels were unsafe for people.
And before MSU's bird study, officials had decided that the yards in the nine-block area should be cleaned.
But federal Superfund money is tight. What money there is goes to the worst sites first. News of the dying robins helped build the case that this place needed the money.
The EPA is cleaning up the yards now. It will likely spend around $12 million to excavate and replace soil in the affected areas.
Fifty-two homes had their soil excavated and replaced this year. The EPA hopes to complete another 45 homes next year.
The EPA believes, through its soil testing, that most of the contamination sits in this nine-block area, but it's beginning to test the soil outside of this neighborhood.
Searching for the boundary of pollution in St. Louis
In the meantime, volunteers in the community continue to collect the birds they find. The 2013 study found a couple of robins outside the nine-block area that had elevated levels of DDT. Those birds were collected by a mailman in St. Louis.
Zwiernik doesn't have the funding to continue his study, so the birds that are collected now are tested by the state.
Last July, I went out with Terry Jelenek to collect a dead robin.
The robin that he was collecting was young, a fledgling. It sat outside the nine-block area, but less than a mile from the old chemical plant.
Jelenek put the bird in a sterilized bottle, and recorded all kinds of data. He and other volunteers were trained by Zwiernik in how to collect the samples.
Then, the bird goes in a freezer so it can later be tested. In 2014, three birds were collected. One inside the nine-block area likely died of neurotoxicity from DDT. One was too decayed to do analysis on, and the one collected in the photo showed signs of DDT exposure, but likely did not die from the chemical.
“This study has been great for St. Louis, cleaning it up," says Jelenek.
The EPA and the state will be here for a long time trying to clean things up, and the robins arriving in the spring could help pinpoint where the problems are.
Tomorrow, we continue our series on the legacy left behind by the Velsicol Chemical Corporation. We'll hear how the chemicals are affecting the town's water supply. You can find more on our series here.
| 269,494
|
0.0 In Stock
"City, transformed" has shown how Europe's cities have developed over the last 50 years. The European Investment Bank has adapted alongside them, building a greater, more focused role in urban development that takes it into truly innovative areas. Future cities need to face up to challenges in climate, productivity, knowledge, social mobility and resilience. Here's how the EU bank is setting up to be a partner on that path.
Related collections and offers
About the Author
Professor Greg Clark CBE is an honorary professor at University College London and Chairman of The Business of Cities, an urban intelligence firm that works in more than 100 cities worldwide each year. He holds thoughtleadership roles at The Brookings Institution, the Urban Land Institute, and JLL Cities Research Centre, and is a Board Member of Transport for London and the London Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). He is author of ten books including Global Cities: A Short History (Brookings Press), and London 1991–2021, The Making of a World City. With a PhD from the University of Bristol, Dr Tim Moonen is responsible for the strategic management of The Business of Cities research and advisory projects. He has co-authored more than 50 reports, books and chapters on global city competitiveness, governance and performance. Jake Nunley is a lead researcher at The Business of Cities. He studied at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University.
| 119,685
|
Savings from health benefits dwarf the estimated $14 billion cost of a cap-and-trade program. At the other end of the spectrum, a transportation policy with rigid fuel-economy requirements is the most expensive policy, costing more than $1 trillion in 2006 dollars, with health benefits recouping only a quarter of those costs. The price tag of a clean energy standard fell between the costs of the two other policies, with associated health benefits just edging out costs, at $247 billion versus $208 billion.
"If cost-benefit analyses of climate policies don't include the significant health benefits from healthier air, they dramatically underestimate the benefits of these policies," says lead author Tammy Thompson, now at Colorado State University, who conducted the research as a postdoc in Selin's group.
Most detailed assessment to date
The study is the most detailed assessment to date of the interwoven effects of climate policy on the economy, air pollution, and the cost of health problems related to air pollution. The MIT group paid especially close attention to how changes in emissions caused by policy translate into improvements in local and regional air quality, using comprehensive models of both the economy and the atmosphere.
In addition to carbon dioxide, burning fossil fuels releases a host of other chemicals into the atmosphere. Some of these substances interact to form ground-level ozone, as well as fine particulate matter. The researchers modeled where and when these chemical reactions occurred, and where the resulting pollutants ended up in cities where many people would come into contact with them, or in less populated areas.
The researchers projected the health effects of ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, two of the biggest health offenders related to fossil
|Contact: Andrew Carleen|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| 53,487
|
Modern baseball fans are used to hearing stories about the legendary Babe Ruth, but Bernando LaPallo had the privilege of actually meeting him. The 111-year-old fan was the guest of honor at Saturday’s New York Yankees game, and said the visit was “the greatest day of my life.”
A lifelong Yankee fan, LaPallo has been watching the Bronx Bombers since he was 9-years old, MLB.com reports. He’s old enough to remember the opening of the first Yankee Stadium in 1923, but he never thought that he’d get a chance to watch a game at the team’s new field.
On Saturday, LaPallo’s dream of meeting the current Yankees roster came true. He was allowed onto the field before the team’s matchup with the Boston Red Sox, watching Robinson Cano and Mark Teixiera take batting practice.
LaPallo also met New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi and had an extended conversation with team captain Derek Jeter. “I spoke about his accident and hoped he would get back to hit more homers and steal more bases,’’ LaPallo, who has lived in New York for 90 years, told the New York Post.
LaPallo's used to hanging out with Yankees legends. He can still recall meeting legendary slugger Babe Ruth 93 years ago. "I shook his hand and he said, 'My greatest admirer, my youngest admirer,'" LaPallo told MLB.com. "I remember that like yesterday."
While LaPallo’s century-long span as a baseball fan has landed him in the news, it’s merely a footnote in his life. In 1928, he earned a culinary arts degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, MLB.com reports. He also lived in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, fought in World War II and ran a massage therapy business.
Nowadays, LaPallo works as an author. He wrote his first book at the age of 107 and a second work, titled “Beyond 100 -- How To Live Well Into Your Second Century,” is scheduled to be released on his 112th birthday.
| 169,413
|
Archbishop William E. Lori
In my first weeks as archbishop of Baltimore, I find myself surrounded by history. I live in the shadow of the Basilica of the Assumption, the nation’s oldest cathedral, whose cornerstone was laid in 1806. Beneath the basilica are buried many archbishops, including John Carroll, the nation’s first bishop. On the walls of my residence are portraits of my 15 predecessors, many of whom were pivotal in the growth of the Church in the United States and in defending the freedom and reputation of the Church amid an anti-Catholic culture.
As I walk around my new home, the words of Cardinal James Gibbons, who served this archdiocese for more than four decades before his death in 1921, ring in my ears: “I belong to a country where the civil government holds over us the aegis of its protection, without interfering with us in the legitimate exercise of our sublime mission as ministers of the Gospel of Christ. Our country has liberty without license and authority without despotism.”
Cardinal Gibbons defended the proposition that one could be both a loyal American and a good Catholic. Now we are called to be loyal Americans precisely by being good Catholics. The words Blessed John Paul II spoke when he visited Baltimore in 1995 remain true: “The challenge facing you, dear friends, is to increase people’s awareness of the importance for society of religious freedom; to defend that freedom against those who would take religion out of the public domain and establish secularism as America’s official faith.”
THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES
During his visit here, Blessed John Paul II prayed in a small private chapel in my new home. Many former archbishops of Baltimore have offered Mass and prayed in the same chapel, and this inspires me when I consider the current challenge we are facing in defending religious liberty in the United States and throughout the world. The prayerfulness of my predecessors reminds me that this struggle will not be won only by planning and political action. Something more is needed.
In the Gospels, Jesus teaches that he is the vine and we are the branches. Just as a branch cannot survive when cut off from the vine, he says, “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). We need to take this to heart in our struggle to defend religious liberty. If we want to preserve, uphold and foster religious liberty as understood and taught by the Church, and hold fast to the legacy of the Founding Fathers of the United States, then we need to pray diligently as communities, as families and as individuals.
With this in mind, the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty has suggested that we have a “Fortnight for Freedom.” This is to be a special period of prayer in the two weeks leading up to the Fourth of July. During this time, the Church will celebrate a number of feasts days — including the feasts of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, who courageously laid down their lives when King Henry VIII arrogated to himself the leadership of the Church.
And there are many other ways that we can observe this fortnight for freedom in our liturgies: Petitions for the preservation of religious liberty can be offered at Mass; special prayers that have been composed for this time can be prayed, perhaps as a conclusion to the general intercessions; votive Masses for civil needs can be offered; and homilies on the Church’s teaching regarding religious liberty can be delivered.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRAYER
The fortnight for freedom is an ideal time to grow in our understanding of what the Catholic Church teaches about religious liberty.
We should make it a point for 14 consecutive days to thank God for the freedoms with which he has endowed us and commend to the Lord those who have died in defending our liberty. Freedoms erode when they are taken for granted by citizens. Religious freedom erodes when, in the face of an increasingly secular culture, believers stop going to church and cease to bring convictions born of faith into family life, daily work and social settings. Conversely, when we consciously thank God for our freedoms, we will be more apt to protect them.
The fortnight for freedom will be an opportunity for every Knight and his family to set aside a little time each day to pray for religious liberty. Consider praying a family rosary, other devotional prayers or Archbishop John Carroll’s “Prayer for Government.” You might also set aside some time at dinner to discuss religious liberty. Ask family members to read parts of the bishops’ document titled “Our Most Cherished Freedom” (published in the May 2012 issue of Columbia) and be prepared to talk about it in light of current events.
Finally, what if we used spare moments during our day to pray for religious liberty? It might be as simple as having a prayer card in your pocket that you can pull out at a moment’s notice.
Years ago, Mother Teresa visited the seminary I attended, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. We all expected her to tell us about what she and her sisters were doing for the poorest of the poor around the world. Instead, she told us about the parable of the vine and branches. She helped us see that anything important requires prayer. So please, pray for religious liberty — at church, in K of C council meetings, at home and when you are alone.
| 260,862
|
As one of the country’s largest philanthropies, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has focused a lot of energy and resources toward the message that health is influenced by every aspect of our lives—our communities, personal behavior, education, and employment. It follows that supporting programs aimed at giving everyone a fair chance to live as healthy as possible is a big part of what we do.
That is why in 2013 we helped found the Executives’ Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, which works to erase systemic barriers facing our nation’s men and boys of color. And it’s why we enthusiastically joined the Alliance’s campaign to make sure formerly incarcerated men and women get a fair shot at finding work. Like the Department of Justice, which designated April 24–30 as National Reentry Week, we believe that helping people successfully reintegrate into their communities is good for society as a whole. We also know how important a job is to reaching and maintaining good health. People with criminal records should have a fair chance at getting one.
One of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to help this group find employment is to get rid of the box on job applications that asks about criminal history. We back this initiative wholeheartedly. So, imagine our surprise when we checked our own Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) application forms. There it was, right on Page 1: “During the last 10 years, have you ever been convicted of, or pled guilty to, a crime other than a minor traffic offense?
Job discrimination against people with criminal histories contributes to poverty, recidivism, and poor health, especially for black men, who make up 37% of the federal prison population. In fact, nearly half of people with criminal records report no annual income even several years after their release. That makes it hard to afford healthy foods, safe housing, and high-quality medical care.
Two programs funded by RWJF address this issue directly. The EMS Corps in Alameda County, California, helps train high-risk young men, many of them youths of color with criminal histories, as emergency medical technicians. Their new skills put them on the path to better job prospects and healthier lives. And the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Oregon, created 450 local jobs with a business that reclaims and recycles discarded materials. A significant number of its workers have criminal records, and through this program, they are now earning a living, contributing to their community, and enjoying health insurance.
How could it be that even as we funded fair-chance programs like these, our own hiring policy created barriers for the very same population?
Today, RWJF “bans the box,” along with more than 40 other philanthropies that took up the Alliance’s challenge. It is a small step toward fixing a big problem: Over 70 million people in the United States have arrest or conviction records that can show up in background checks. A multi-state survey found that having to disclose those records at the outset, before even being considered for a job, presents a serious barrier to employment.
Employers have much to gain by banning the box: Researchers found that in 2008 alone, barriers to employment kept more than 1.5 million workers with criminal records out of the U.S. labor market and cost the nation $57 billion in productivity. A fair shot for everyone means more people earning incomes, paying taxes, contributing to the economy, and leading productive, healthier lives.
Twenty-one states and over 100 cities and counties have taken steps to remove barriers to employment for qualified workers with criminal records, as have large employers like Starbucks, Facebook, and Target. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recommends that employers consider individuals case by case instead of using across-the-board exclusions. President Obama is moving toward banning the box in the federal government’s hiring practices.
Now, our nation’s philanthropies are rising to the challenge. But we can do more. Shouldn’t all employers ban the box in order to help build a Culture of Health that provides a fair chance at prosperity and well-being for everyone?
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO
Dwayne C. Proctor, Director and Senior Adviser
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working with others to build a national Culture of Health enabling everyone in America to live longer, healthier lives. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
| 93,212
|
This week on the podcast we tackled the issue of jealousy in answer to the following question…
Is jealousy healthy in a relationship? Or else, is the absence of jealousy unhealthy or even possible? If it is, how do we get there? If it’s not, what do we do to manage it? And how do we know whether it comes more from us or the behaviour of other person?
Here’s a summary of what we had to say:
Staying with feelings
The main thing with any emotional response – as we’ve talked about several times on the podcast – is to stay with the feelings. We often have a narrative – or storyline – about our emotions, and the idea is to try to let go of that as much as possible and to actually feel the feelings in our body. Narratives generally involve blaming outwards (the other person) or blaming inwards (yourself) in an attempt to escape, avoid, or eradicate the feelings. If we can drop these stories and stay with the feelings we learn more about what the feelings are (e.g. there may be insecurity, loss, rejection, fear, or anger in there) and what the experience means to us. There’s more about staying with feelings in this zine by MJ.
Spot the cultural scripts
The usual wider cultural script about jealousy is that it’s a response to another person’s bad behaviour and – if we feel jealous – it shows how much we love them and they should stop doing whatever it is they did to ‘make us’ feel jealous. Alternatively, in some non-monogamous and polyamorous communities – the script is that jealousy is a bad thing that we shouldn’t feel, and if we do feel it we should ‘own it’ as our own feeling and work on it rather than blaming anybody else for it.
Again, both of these approaches – ‘you made me feel jealous’ and ‘own your jealousy’ – are a way of trying to escape the feelings. An alternative approach is to see emotions as being relationship – as happening between people and within a certain culture – rather than viewing it through the binary of ‘their fault’ or ‘my fault’.
Stay with each other’s feelings
Perhaps even more challenging that staying with your own feelings is staying with another person’s feelings, especially when they are about an issue between us. Again we have a strong cultural script that if someone we’re in relationship with feelings ‘negative’ feelings because of something we’ve done then either they should stop feeling those unreasonable feelings, or we should stop doing the thing that’s hurt them.
If they don’t feel able to express their feelings we’ll probably pick up on them anyway and this will cause problems between us. If they do express their feelings we may override our own needs and boundaries because we feel to blame and like we have to fix it, and that could also cause problems as we’re not treating ourselves consensually.
The challenge is to be with each other, to express our feelings, and to show that we hear each other’s feelings, without closing anybody down. If we can welcome all feelings instead of seeing some as ‘good’ and some as ‘bad’ it is easier to do this. Make the aim of the conversation to hear and understand each other, rather than to fix anybody or solve a problem.
Treat emotions as sensible
To do this it’s important to welcome all emotions to the relationship rather than only some. As Justin said on the podcast, happiness is overrated. A relationship where only happiness is allowed will probably become quite bland or difficult over time. Can you welcome the ‘difficult’ emotions when they come up as inevitable and helpful rather than trying to shut them out or seeing them as a huge problem? It might be useful to check in regularly about which emotions are allowed in your relationship, and which not so much. Might you welcome in the ones that aren’t present a bit more?
Consider relationship patterns
So never having any jealousy in a relationship could be an issue as it may mean you’re not allowing all emotions to flow freely. But feeling it a lot over many relationships could be a sign it’s something you struggle with in particular. If that’s the case it might be worth doing some work around it – e.g. with a therapist or supportive friend – considering your relationship patterns through childhood and adulthood.
If jealousy does come up for you it can also be a good moment to revisit relationship agreements. Did a boundary get crossed? Are you still on the same page? Is trust shaken in a way which needs some rebuilding? Our Relationship User Guide zine can be helpful for figuring out your agreements. Remember that jealousy happens in friendships and other kinds of relationships as well as erotic and romantic ones, so these conversations are just as relevant there.
In this episode we started off a little twitter competition (we’re also now on Instagram). If you retweet any of our tweets about this podcast and say why it is you like listening to us, we’ll put your name in a prize draw. You could win all of our zines, signed and coloured in (a bit).
© Meg-John Barker & Justin Hancock, 2018
| 37,559
|
||Environmental Technology Verification Report: ETV Advanced Monitoring Systems Center. VJ Technologies IXS High Frequency Integrated X-Ray Generator Alternative Technology for Sealed Source Radiography Cameras.
A. D. Battelle
||Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Research and Development.
Environmental Technology Verification(ETV)
||Most EPA libraries have a fiche copy filed under the call number shown. Check with individual libraries about paper copy.
||The EPA is charged by Congress with protecting the nation's air, water, and land resources. Under a mandate of national environmental laws, the Agency strives to formulate and implement actions leading to a compatible balance between human activities and the ability of natural systems to support and nurture life. To meet this mandate, the EPA's Office of Research and Development provides data and science support that can be used to solve environmental problems and to build the scientific knowledge base needed to manage our ecological resources wisely, to understand how pollutants affect our health, and to prevent or reduce environmental risks. The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program has been established by the EPA to verify the performance characteristics of innovative environmental technology across all media and to report this objective information to permitters, buyers, and users of the technology, thus substantially accelerating the entrance of new environmental technologies into the marketplace. Verification organizations oversee and report verification activities based on testing and quality assurance protocols developed with input from major stakeholders and customer groups associated with the technology area. ETV consists of six environmental technology centers.
||Order this product from NTIS by: phone at 1-800-553-NTIS (U.S. customers); (703)605-6000 (other countries); fax at (703)605-6900; and email at firstname.lastname@example.org. NTIS is located at 5301 Shawnee Road, Alexandria, VA, 22312, USA.
|PUB Date Free Form
||68; 99A; 94J
| 30,722
|
Rob McCaleb Testifies about Proposed FDA Supplement Labeling Rules.
On March 25, HRF President Rob McCaleb testified at a congressional
hearing called to examine the role of the FDA in implementing
the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). The hearing,
entitled "DSHEA: Is the FDA Trying to Change the Intent of Congress?"
is the first of a planned series on this topic. McCaleb's testimony
at the hearing summarized HRF's objections to FDA's proposed supplement
labeling rules (Docket #98N-0044). These proposed rules recommend
sweeping changes to the way in which dietary supplements are regulated
and include a redefinition of the term "disease."
The FDA's proposed redefinition of disease would classify any
deviation from a state of "normal" as a disease, even if that
deviation is universal or a normal part of aging, such as onset
of menses or menopause. Under the proposed new definition of disease,
any dietary supplement with virtually any effect on the body could
be classified as a drug.
According to McCaleb, the proposed FDA rules run counter to the
letter, spirit, and intent of DSHEA. By reversing the major provisions
of DSHEA, the rules could prevent the use of most statements of
nutritional support on supplement labels, with an end result of
negating the public's right to access truthful information about
the known effects of supplements. McCaleb also objected to FDA's
proposal that labeling should be regulated according to what is
implied in a label statement, rather than what is actually
"DSHEA is producing exactly the kinds of changes that we envisioned
in supplement research, development, and use of dietary supplements.
A better-informed public is using the best-researched supplement
ingredients to produce real gains in public health. It is time
for the FDA to abandon its continuing battle against dietary supplements
and against the right of the public to access truthful information
about the known effects of supplements," McCaleb stated in his
At the hearing, McCaleb was a member of a panel that also included
Dr. Edward Croom, Research Associate Professor and Associate Professor
of Pharmacognosy at University of Mississippi; Dr. Margaret Gilhooley,
Professor of Law at Seton Hall University; James L. Turner, representative
for Citizens for Health; and attornies Scott Bass and David Kracov.
The panel was questioned by Congressmen Dan Burton (R-Indiana)
and Stephen Horn (R-California). FDA Director Dr. Jane Henney
McCaleb was one of several panelists who discussed regulation
of alternative medicine in general, and specifically the availability
of treatments or practices that do not yet have government approval.
Asked about research prioritization, McCaleb responded that "a
rational strategy for botanical research in the United States
would begin with a look at the best-researched European phytomedicines."
The next hearing in the series was tentatively scheduled for May 27
or June 8. For a transcript of the March 25 hearing or more information
about upcoming hearing dates, contact Beth.Clay@mail.house.gov
or www.house.gov/reform. -
Christine Meadows, HRF
| 67,213
|
Secretary of State John "Human Ambien" Kerry's facility with French is well-known, even if he keeps his cunning linguistics hidden when he's on American soil.
But did you know he spoke German?
Kerry: [in German] Very good, thank you. All is well. Your shoes are fantastic, yes? [...] No, no, I can only speak a little German. But I would say, it is wonderful to be back herein Berlin. Thank you. And now I will speak in English because it's easier. [end of German]
Kerry thanked Prime Minister Mario Monti in Italian for his "spirit of friendship."
[Kerry] won praise from his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide, who said after talks at the State Department that Kerry "can even speak quite impressively Norwegian phrases."
Eide added, "Secretary Kerry made a very good poi– Zzzzzzzzzzzz…"
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Tags: France, Germany, Italy, John Kerry, Norway, Secretary of State
Now that Hillary Clinton is out of office, it's like the @huffingtonpost doesn't even care what the Secretary of State wears anymore.
— Evan J'daté Kessler(@EvanJKessler) March 7, 2013
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Huffington Post, Secretary of State, Tweet Untweet, Twitter
With Hillary Clinton racking up a record number of frequent-flyer miles during her stint as Secretary of State, there's almost no way for John Kerry to visit more countries than she did. Unless he invents some new ones! Perhaps his first destination will be "Kyrzakhstan," a country Kerry invented while thanking U.S. diplomats for their work in -stan-ridden Central Asia.
Some things you may not know about Kyrzakhstan:
Tags: Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Secretary of State, State Department
* The New Yorker discusses Clinton's legacy.
* American Voices ponder her last day at work.
* For some, Hillary Clinton is that kind of friend.
* At least she'll never have to be First Lady again.
* Nicolas Cage's hair has never looked so good.
* There are so many Hillary Clinton crafts on Etsy.
* Clinton is the kind of woman you want to have a beer with.
Hillary Clinton said she was proud to be Secretary of State. Sure, like how NFL players are just proud to watch the Super Bowl.
— Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) February 1, 2013
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, Sports, Super Bowl, Tweet Untweet, Twitter
| 187,074
|
The Wildlife Leadership Academy enriches Pennsylvania teens and empowers them to become certified Conservation Ambassadors through attending one of our 5-day residential summer field schools: white-tailed deer, brook trout, ruffed grouse, turkey, or bass.
Our students gain extensive knowledge about wildlife and conservation, leadership experience, and communication skills.
Please consider helping us continue to build a network of inspired and dedicated young leaders for conservation to ensure a sustained wildlife legacy for future generations.
Our Conservation Ambassadors receive:
- Letters of Recommendation from the Executive Director for college applications;
- Certification of community service work, and,
- Certificates designating them as Conservation Ambassadors.
PLUS, Conservation Ambassadors are also eligible to:
- Receive 3 College Credits from Cedar Crest College;
- Apply to become a Youth Mentor and return to the program tuition free the following year;
- Compete for college scholarships;
- Attend college visit days at colleges and universities that have wildlife and conservation programs; and,
- Join an Academy Alumni Network of wildlife, fisheries, and conservation professionals.
We are looking for highly motivated students between the ages of 14 and 17 to join one of our 5-day residential summer wildlife/fisheries focused field schools to begin their journey to become Conservation Ambassadors. Students should have demonstrated interest in the outdoors and in wildlife and/or fisheries conservation.
| 57,111
|
This morning I enjoyed reading the piece (linked at the bottom) by John Diliberto, host of the Echoes radio show and writer of the Echoes blog, celebrating the incomparable John Cage in honor of his 100th birthday. (Hmm, Cage and Woody Guthrie were both born in 1912 – an interesting musical legacy left by those two.) I especially liked that Diliberto highlighted Cage’s manifesto to listen to the world around you. It reminds me of one of the best pieces of writing wisdom I ever received, from the poet Galway Kinnell when he was brought in for a reading by my writing teacher Bill Minor at Monterey Peninsula College. I asked him what advice he could give to a young writer (I was 19 or 20 at the time, in 1983 or ’84) and Kinnell answered with something along the lines of, “Listen. Listen to the sounds of nature, to the machines, to people, to your own breath – listen to everything around you and you’ll hear the music and poetry of life.” Maybe he was a fan of John Cage? It was memorable advice that resonates with me to this day.
I don’t even know Cage’s music all that well, but I’ve always admired the way he fearlessly explored the further boundaries of musical expression and opened new frontiers for musicians that have followed in his footsteps and now seek new paths themselves. He was infamous for his avant garde work but he could also write exquisite melodies. I have an old copy of John Cage’s book, Silence, that I’ll delve into after this.
As I write this morning, I’m listening to the second YouTube piece linked on Diliberto’s blog post, Cage’s 1948 composition “In a Landscape,” as performed by pianist Stephen Drury. If you have a spare 9:49 to listen to this, even in the background, I encourage you to do so. It’s simply beautiful. I have the window open and can hear the birds and the crickets and the hum of the air conditioner and the far off sound of cars on the streets, and now a dog barking, all playing along with the tune, making the music and poetry of life…
by John Diliberto
The John Cage Centennial – and much more info at the official John Cage Trust website.
Music Is Everywhere: John Cage at 100 – a nice audio story by Tom Vitale that I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered evening news after writing this post.
The John Cage Century – by Alex Ross at The New Yorker.
Happy Birthday to John Cage, Who Made a Lot of People Angry - a nice brief discussion of his most infamous work, 4:33, at the Smithsonian blog.
Silence and Sound: Five Ways of Understanding John Cage – by Anastasia Tsioulcas at NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog.
33 Musicians on What John Cage Communicates – compiled by Max Blau at NPR Music.
John Cage Recital? Take the A Train – by Allan Kozinn at the New York Times.
From Russia with Love…for John Cage – by Stephen Smoliar – a look at Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov’s new recording, John Cage: As it is, on ECM Records – at the Examiner.com.
| 164,923
|
Hiding organizational units (OUs) is not a game of hide and seek. It's not even a configuration setting that disables the display of OUs from users. Instead, hidden OUs are created through intelligent Active Directory container layout and design. The primary purpose of hidden OUs is to prevent an administrator from one OU from being able to view, access, or alter another OU. Hidden OUs are often used in environments that offer network application services to internal departments or external customers. It allows for a solid separation of duties without requiring separate domains or forests.
If you are working with Exchange 2000, for example, and are offering e-mail services to several external companies, you need to separate logically each customer's data from the others. Often, one or more users from each company are granted some level of administrative control over their company's e-mail system. You only real solutions are separate forests or hidden OUs. Because separate forests imply a significant increase in cost, primarily for hardware, hidden OUs offer a cost-effective yet secure solution.
A hidden OU is little more than an OU placed on the same logical level as other OUs that you wish to hide from. An administrator from a parent OU can always see the presence of all child OUs. However, an administrator from a peer OU cannot see the presence of other peer level OUs. For example, suppose a company has a domain named xyzcorp.main. It then
Along with placing the hidden OU at the same level as other peers and properly assigning access rights, you should also avoid standardized naming conventions. Your hidden OU should have an irregular name. Otherwise, administrators may be able to deduce or infer the name of the hidden OUs.
James Michael Stewart is a partner and researcher for ITinfopros, a technology-focused writing and training organization.
This was first published in July 2003
| 205,996
|
The set contains three models: a relief map of China with surrounding area, a separate relief cutout of the state area, and a separate plain cutout of the state outline.
The map projection is Lambert Conic Conformal 110/40/15/65. Geographic extents: W:82; E:140; S:10; N:55.
The 3D relief is taken from reprojected NASA shuttle radar topography data, with the elevation exaggerated. The relief is baked into a 750x687 mesh with 1036353 polys, 519632 vertices (for the main map).
An additional 16-bit bump texture is used for fine-grained detail.
The texture is rendered from color processed NASA satellite images. Included are borders, cities, rivers and water areas.
Separate b/w texture masks are included for:
- state area - state exterior - land/ocean areas - rivers and inland water areas - cities - borders - ocean floor depth
A multi-layered material (3ds Max version only) together with the provided texture masks allows extensive changes to the appearance of the map. Possible customizations include different colorings or complete removal of separate features like cities or borders, or different colorings for the state area and the surroundings.
A description of the multi-layered material and texture masks can be found in the accompanying PDF-manual.
Previews are rendered with mental ray, but the project uses only standard materials.
The .obj and .fbx versions will require new texture assignments after import. The .obj format is exported as triangles.
| 146,984
|
By Christian Foday Sesay Jr. PV Correspondent, Texas.
Public enterprises at the time of their creation were expected to play a fundamental role in the socio-economic developments of Sierra Leone. However, Many of them failed to live up to their expectations due to gross mismanagement and undue political interference – ultimately, paving the way for a free fall from grace to grass.
The problems of parastatals in Sierra Leone dated as far back as the colonial era - although the few parastatals that existed were not as badly managed as most of the ones that are currently in operation. When the colonial government decided that it was time to end colonialism in the early sixties, parastatals like the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLPMB) and the Sierra Leone Selection Trust (SLST) later renamed National Diamond Mining Company (NDMC), were in a healthy financial state at least for a while until problems started surfacing towards the end of the Albert Margai era.
This does not in anyway suggest that colonialism did not contribute to the problems that are identifiable today in the management of parastatals. For instance, the problem of inadequately trained administrative and technical personnel began from the colonial era. The type of education acquired during this period did not prepare Sierra Leoneans enough to face the challenges of the current global technological demands.
Also, the creation of certain parastatals was to partly service the home country of the imperialists. Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLPMB) was to mainly export agricultural products to the home of the colonial masters, Britain, which were used as raw materials for their industries. Raw materials were processed and manufactured and sent back to Sierra Leone as finished products and sold at higher prices.
In the case of the Sierra Leone Railway, it was constructed as a way to ease the problem of transportation by linking the provinces to the city. That was why the railway services were made available to the cocoa and coffee producing regions, products of which were in high demands by British industries. The implication of this is that most development ventures undertaken during colonial era were in the interest of the colonial government.
Outside the problems inherited from the colonial masters, the blames for the bulk of the other problems could be placed squarely on past regimes.
With an estimated population of about four million populations then, and an area covering approximately seventy-two square kilometers, Sierra Leone is amongst the smallest states in the West coast of Africa, one that is blessed with rich mineral deposits, as well as abundant amount of offshore fishing and very fertile lands. At independence, there was much hope that Sierra Leone, having inherited an efficient civil service and productive public sectors, would become a model of economic power and prosperity in Africa.
During the transformational period from colonialism to independence, it became obvious that the nationalistic government under the nation’s first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, had in mind a clear role for Public enterprise as a symbol for the promotion of national development. As father of a new nation and leader of the Sierra Leone’s People Party, Sir Milton Margai wanted to maintain and in some other cases expand on these forms of governmental administrative organization.
With the death of Sir Milton Margai in 1964, came into power his half brother, Albert Michael Margai. Unfortunately, he was not able to pursue the nationalistic vision his late brother had for public enterprises. Subsequently, the role of this highly regarded sector began to diminish slowly.
In 1967, the rule of the tantrum prone Prime Minister, Albert Margai was narrowly defeated by Siaka Steven’s All People’s Congress due to allegations of excessive corruptions of government officials and political interference of government parastatals. Up until the 1967 elections, Sierra Leone had been an exemplary democratic, post-colonial state. However, the campaign strategies pursued by Albert Margai would forever alter this trend. He was against any candidates from the opposition running against candidates from his own party. This sounds familiar! Margai refused to dignify accusation of corruption with a response. Riots broke out across Sierra Leone and the actual handing over of power was briefly interrupted by a military intervention that led to the declaration of a state of emergency.
The swearing-in of Siaka Stevens as the third Prime Minister of Sierra Leone did little to salvage the pride of government parastatals either. In fact, if anything, it exacerbated its free fall. Thus, the vicious cycle of orchestrating the demise of the public sector continued unabated.
In the late colonial and early independence era (1950-1972), it will be recalled that Sierra Leone experienced an average annual growth rate of 7%, which was one of the highest amongst the economies of the West African sub-region. This growth was accompanied by rising incomes in agriculture, mining, and the manufacturing sectors. Mining and agriculture remained the twin pillars of economic growth particularly in the export sector.
Under the watchful eyes of Siaka Stevens in the 70’s, the country’s economic performance became poor on most macro economic indices. By this period, the growth rate had slumped to around 3% a year from its 7% and by the second half of the decade, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had sunk to under 2% a year.
But Some of these problems were not without the influence of what was going on in the world at that time. The OPEC oil price fiasco in the 70’s and the ensuing inflationary pressure inflicted on the economy had a huge impact on the direction public enterprises in Sierra Leone were going.
The terms of Trade of Sierra Leone’s export became worsened and the depletion of the rich iron ore deposits to the Sierra Leone Developmen Company (DELCO) ceasing production of iron ore in Marampa in 1975 were all catastrophic for the economy. The policy of under-valuing peasants prices of products sold to SLPMB encouraged farmers to smuggle their products to neighboring Guinea and Liberia with the aim of receiving better prices and in some cases paid in “hard” currency.
After 1980, with the public sector badly plaqued by economic mismanagement and corruption, the economy experienced a steep decline. The mining, agricultural and manufacturing parastatals came to a near halt. One consequence of the down turn in economic activities was a fall in government revenues leading to the crises of recurrent revenue. The net result of this budget crises was to increase the money supply thuis unleashing hyper-inflation. By the late 1980’s. inflation was running at 171%.
By 1986, the baton of leadership skipped S.I. Koroma and was passed on to a young and seemingly vibrant soldier in the name of Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh. Thanks in part to the thick and thin sense of loyalty demonstrated to Siaka Stevens all through his reign. With the battered state of the economy in his mind, he went on to label his own regime the “New Order” in a bid to disassociate himself from the old gang. As optimistic as the people of Sierra Leone are, J.S. Momoh got the nation’s blessing. This meant that Sierra Leone should turn to a new page – a page with hope for a prosperous nation.
In view of this “New Order” tag that the Momoh administration became known for, the International Monetray Fund (IMF) was quick to dish out a loan to the tune of $40.5 Million. But as it is always expected, the loan came along with conditions, consequently, the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP) in Sierra Leone.
Structural Adjustment Policies are economic policies which countries must follow in order to qualify for new World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and help them make debt repayments on the older debts owed to commercial banks, governments and the World Bank.
As part of their conditions, the Momoh government agreed to devalue the Leone against the dollar; lift import and export restrictions; balance their budgets; keep a cap on spending; and remove price controls and state subsidies.
The effects of the agreement that President Momoh and his bandwagon of ill economic advisers had, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. What the devaluation of the Leone did was to allow cheaper prices for Sierra Leone’s product and practically made foreign imports more expensive. In principle it made Sierra Leone wary of buying expensive foreign equipment. In practice, however, the IMF actually disrupts this by rewarding the country with a large foreign currency loan that encourages it to purchase imports.
They were also required to balance the national budget and this can be done by one of two ways: Raising taxes, which the IMF discourages a government from doing, or by cutting government spending, which it definitely recommends. The Momoh administration really had no choice here but to go for the latter and cut down on expenditure.
The result of this move saw deeper financial cuts made in education, health and social care. This single act sets in the motion for the abysmal decline in education and health in Sierra Leone today. Also, the removal of subsidies designed to control the price of basics such as food and milk was embarked on. So the government’s action, through its weak grasps on basic economic principles, was enough to hurt the poor most because they depend heavily on these services and subsidies.
By the end of 1987, owing to J.S. Momoh’s failure to accelerate the devaluation of the Leone, and his government inability to honor its debt leading to the accumulation of arrears, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspended the agreement after using about one-quarter of the loan ($11.5 million).
By devaluing the Leone and floating it and simultaneously removing price controls, Sierra Leone witnessed an insane hike in prices of up to three times or more in some cases, increasing poverty, worsen the social and economic infrastructure and intensify scarcity of essential commodities like petrol, rice, flour, oil sugar to such an extent that it became intolerable for the masses. Foday Sankoh and his RUF thugs used the failure of J.S. Momoh and the collapse of Sierra Leone’s economy as a war platform upon which he will attempt to brutally settle an old political score.
It is against this background that the National Provisional Ruling Council under Captain Valentine Strasser overthrew the Momoh regime (29th April, 1992). In a desperate bid to combat the prevailing economic stagnation and usher in economic growth, the military government eye-marked privatization as the only viable means towards achieving their goals.
The concept of privatization of government enterprises as a way out of the economic malaise was a new phenomenon in Sierra Leone for its run contrary to much of the country’s tradition and history. As a result of this novelty, the Public Enterprise Reform and Divestiture Commission (PERDIC) was created by the NPRC regime to set the framework for privatization in 1993.
Between 1961 and 1992, the number of government parastatals has increased from six to forty-six. Initially, this surge presented a new problem for the NPRC government. The rapid increase in the number of public enterprise is itself an evidence of the general expansion in the scope of government. The overall result of increasing government intervention is declining productivity and inefficient utilization of resources.
The puzzling irony of the NPRC regime with regards to privatization was that, whilst privatization efforts were carried out by PERDIC, the Junta’s irrational and, at times perverse behavior of policy makers, leave much to be desired. As political creatures, these policy makers were subject to military influences. Where logical reasoning says, “stop”, military influence orders the system to “proceed at full speed”. Conversely, where the entrepreneurial minds in the corporations suggest speedy decisions, the overwhelming military mind of the policy makers in the regime most frequently weave a network of obstruction to allow for consultations with vested interest. What the people of Sierra Leone witnessed here was “double standards” at its best. The insincerity and hooliganism of the NPRC regime prevented it from making use of the golden opportunity to revitalize the public sector.
Through the 90’s, the rebel war in Sierra Leone did not create the kinds of economic environment that could have bolstered the commission’s effort towards privatization. Coupled with poor market conditions, inaccessibility to some of the parastatals and weaknesses in capacity and implementation, PERDIC was short lived, thus, paving the way for a transfer of its mandate to the Public enterprise Unit at the Ministry of Finance. By then, a total of about twenty-four smaller parastatals had been divested living the bigger corporations like SLPMB and SLRTC to continue as liabilities to the government.
In 2001, after the ten-year civil war, the Tejan-kabbah SLPP government restarted the divestiture process by approving the Strategic Plan for the Divestiture of State Enterprises and re-inventing the wheels when it established the National Commission For Privatization (NCP) to implement its policy. The NCP acts as the shareholder of state enterprises with a mandate not that different from PERDIC–to privatize them.
Today, almost forty years after the alarm bells sounded on weak parastatals in Sierra Leone, the nation is still polarized between keeping public enterprises and privatization. The problems of parastatals are not new. The nation did not wake up one morning to find much of its public sector in disarray. It began as a systemic process of government political interference from the era of Albert Margai.
What we have today in Sierra Leone is a situation whereby practically everybody wants to exercise authority over public enterprises, but will shy away from accepting responsibilities for failures. Political functionaries in and outside government circles, the various departments of civil service, and the competing interests within each enterprise, from independence to date – all of these make different demands on public enterprises.
The issue of corruption, political interference, autonomy and control became the central problem confronting too many of these public enterprises. But as the goose laying the golden egg, they were not destined to survive. The attitude of profound governmental and political interference completely wrecked the morale and productivity of public enterprises consequently hampering the economy of the country as a whole.
| 94,164
|
Many scleroderma patients show an “excellent” response to a kidney transplant and such surgery should be considered for those with end-stage kidney disease, a study exploring the procedure found.
But its researchers also noted that scleroderma patients with lung involvement were the most likely to die after a kidney transplant, indicating that lung health need be included in transplant considerations. A comprehensive analysis of those patients most suitable for the procedure, however, was not part of the study’s scope.
The study, “Kidney transplantation in patients with systemic sclerosis: a nationwide multicenter study,” was published in the journal Transplant International.
A multicenter effort, it was led by researchers at the University Hospital Center of Rouen in France. They analyzed the medical records of all patients who had a kidney transplant due to end-stage kidney disease caused by scleroderma between 1987 and 2013. In total, they identified 34 patients who received 36 transplants.
In the majority, or 76.4 percent, a scleroderma renal crisis led to the need for a new kidney. In contrast to earlier data showing scleroderma patients fare more poorly after transplant than people with other kidney diseases, these patients did surprisingly well. After one, three and five years, 100%, 90.3% and 82.5% were alive, respectively.
None of the patients who died did so as a consequence of transplant surgery. Rather, the most common causes of death were heart disease and infection.
Three patients had a recurrent scleroderma renal crisis after the surgery. Among surviving patients, 97.2 percent showed no signs of kidney rejection at both one and three years post-transplant. After five years, 92.8 percent of the new kidneys were still functioning; those that stopped working largely did so because of immune rejection.
The research team also mapped symptoms in organs other than the kidneys. After a mean time of 65.7 months (almost 5.5 years), they found that skin, lung, and rheumatic symptoms in most patients either remained stable or improved. Heart disease worsened in five out of 11 patients, and digestive symptoms in five of 18.
In an analysis considering all types of symptoms, however, only lung involvement turned out to increase the risk of death.
“In our study, patient and graft survivals after kidney transplantation can be considered as excellent. On this basis, we propose that in the absence of extra-renal contraindication, SS [systemic sclerosis] patients presenting with ESRD [end-stage renal disease] should be considered for kidney transplantation,” the team concluded.
| 55,979
|
Science Online started Wednesday and hundreds of incredibly talented science writers descended on my city for it. This is my first year at Science Online and I’m having a blast! I’ve gotten to meet a few of my science writing heroes, talked about citizen science with a lot of people, and have learned all sorts of new things in the sessions. There are several bug bloggers here (more about that shortly) and all five of my photo submissions made it into the SciArt show. Super fun! Then there is the swag… Oh, the swag! I wish all conferences gave you science books! That’s a whole lot better, at least to me, than all the water bottles I never use and bags that I end up giving away because I have too many. Free science books are always welcome!
But let’s go back to the things I’ve learned. I’ve been live tweeting as much as possible while trying to check Twitter and write notes and send an occasional e mail (Scio13’ers seem to be masters of online multitasking!), so if you’ve been following me on Twitter the last few days you know that I’ve had some revelations. I’ll try not to repeat too many of those here, but let’s start with this one:
1. Science raps done by a white guy with a degree in medieval literature are darned funny!
Baba Brinkman performed some of his science raps today during the morning session as well as last night during the open mike. I absolutely loved them! They were witty, had an excellent beat, and were shockingly educational. I will be the first to admit that I am not a lover of rap. At all. But I think I’m going to buy one – possibly all – of Baba’s albums because his songs are awesome. We had a room of 450 mostly white people yelling “I a African!” That’s really something to see – and it even made sense based on the lesson about evolution conveyed in the song. :)
2. Using personal narrative in science writing can be a great way to bring people into the story and make them appreciate science.
I went to a session on the role of personal narrative in science writing and I loved it! Partly I was excited because I was sitting two seat back from Carl Zimmer, only a few seats away from Ed Yong, and Alex Wild was directly in my line of sight, but it was great to hear so many well-respected, amazingly skilled science writers talk about how they have used personal stories to draw people into the science and see the relevance of the science to their own lives. I think I enjoyed this session partly because I like to tell these kinds of stories already, though I have a new idea about how to write them that I’m going to try. Having so many very well-respected science writers validate a writing style that I love to use, however, made it seem so much more legitimate.
3. The ethics surrounding citizen science are Much more complicated than I would have expected – and it is something that all citizen science project leaders should think about.
I am very aware of privacy issues related to my Dragonfly Swarm Project and all personal data that I collect is seen by me and no one else, and never will be shared with others. That said, we discussed several things that I hadn’t ever even thought about in the session about ethics in citizen science. For example, if you have people sign consent forms, they often don’t read them, yet sign them. (Guilty!) There are tricks you can employ to force people to read the forms, such as giving a test based on what they read, but I hadn’t ever really considered that you might need to do that. A lot of what we talked about in the session were related to studies that involve human subjects (such as the face mite project I participated in on Wednesday – had my face scraped with a little metal spatula to try to find mites in my pores for the newest and upcoming Your Wild Life project), but I came away with a lot of new things to think about.
4. People who have been blogging a long time have great ideas for how to keep your blog going strong
I love blogging and hope I will be able to do it for a long time. But, every now and then you just don’t feel like writing, life gets in the way, or you can’t find the time. I attended a session on blogging for the long haul yesterday that offered a lot of great tips. These included carving out special time for blogging, blogging according to a schedule (I do this!), keeping lists of ideas when they come to you and writing about your favorite, and making the most of super productive times when you write a ton of posts by spreading them out over several weeks or months so that they give you a buffer against writer’s block. I thought this session was incredibly helpful, and the Scio13 organizers recorded it. I don’t know if/when/where it will go up online, but I’ll post the link if it goes online. A lot of people could benefit from it. I took copious notes too, so let me know if you want to hear any more of the tips shared!
5. Bug bloggers are an incredibly fun group of people!
There are a lot of familiar faces at Scio13, especially bug bloggers that I have either met in person (largely via Bug Shot) or have been following online. We got together for dinner tonight and it might be the highlight of the conference for me. There’s something about sitting down with a group of people who all have the same eclectic interest as you, who get all the seriously nerdy jokes you tell, and who understand why you do the kinds of things that you do, that is just indescribable. We had to scream across the table to be heard at the noisy bar, but we laughed so hard my stomach muscles still ache. Cheers especially to Alex Wild, Bug Girl, Morgan Jackson, Maryanne Alleyne, Matt Bertone, and Holly Menninger for the great evening!
It’s hard to summarize all the things I’ve learned and discovered at this conference in five bullet points, but this is a taste of what I’ve been doing for the last few days. I’m having a great time, but I’m learning so much at the same time. What a great experience! I’m so happy I am a part of it this year.
| 286,150
|
A Cellarful of Noise
|Published||1964 (Byron Preiss)
1 June 1998 (reprint)
A Cellarful of Noise is the title of Brian Epstein's 1964 autobiography. His assistant, Derek Taylor, was the ghostwriter of the book, which describes the early days of The Beatles, whom Epstein managed.
Epstein asked John Lennon what he thought the book should be called, and Lennon suggested "Queer Jew". Lennon was later quoted as saying that the book should have been titled, "A Cellarful of Boys" in reference to Epstein's homosexuality.
In the 1978 film All You Need is Cash, a book by Leggy Mountbatten—the manager of the Rutles and a parody of Epstein—is titled A Cellarful of Goys, a reference to Epstein being Jewish ("goys" sounding similar to "noise").
- "A Cellarful of Noise [Paperback]". Byron Preiss. 1998-06-01. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- "Derek Taylor". All Media Guide, LLC. 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- Spitz (2005) pp. 273–74
- Cross (2004) p255
- "The Rutles Story". Haber, David. 1997-09-01. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- Gilliland 1969, show 27, track 5.
- Gilliland 1969, show 29, track 2.
- Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company (New York). ISBN 1-84513-160-6.
- Gilliland, John (1969). "The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The U.S.A. is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu.
|This article about a biographical or autobiographical book on musicians is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
| 278,563
|
Lately there have been mutliple noticeable reports about people in the USA stealing reclaimable plastics (and other materials) to sell illegally for their scrap value, in, for instance, Los Angeles and in the state in which I grew up, Michigan.
The raw scrap value of chunky products like plastic pallets is enough for these thieves to risk prison time for. Waste plastics’ value is also high enough for legal collection by (often-underappreciated) scavengers around the world, a topic I covered a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, children in Texas are being incentivized to treat their humble and hated plastics bags as valuable materials for recycling, as described in last week’s Plastics News cover story.
So what about everyone else? There’s still some disconnection between beliefs and behavior out there, in terms of recycling. Recyclables continue to go unrecycled, amounting to billions of dollars of value being buried in landfills. And meanwhile, the trash is stacking up, with the amount created each year expected roughly to double within the next dozen years or so. Along with paper, glass, and so forth, packaging made from plastic plays a role in this drama – and a sobering realistic role at that.
Mike Tolinski is the author of Plastics and Sustainability, published in Oct. 2011 by Wiley-Scrivener, and he is Contributing Editor for Plastics Engineering magazine of the Society of Plastics Engineers in the USA. His views have been shaped by his engineering, university, and journalism experience in the plastics and manufacturing industries over the past 22 years. You can follow Mike and be alerted on blog updates via Twitter.
| 233,800
|
Critical Essays on Cultural Transformations and Social Dynamics
Publication Year: 2003
Published by: University of Iowa Press
Title Page, Copyright
Download PDF (24.3 KB)
Download PDF (28.7 KB)
Notes on Orthography, Pronunciation, and Acronymns
Download PDF (28.5 KB)
Quichua orthography is close to that of Spanish, with some exceptions: [w] is used instead of [gu] or [hu] as in wasi (house) except when the word is widely recognized by its Spanish spelling, as in ayahuasca (soul vine). This is to facilitate correct pronunciation by English readers and speakers. Unless diacritics are added, emphasis...
Preface and Acknowledgments
Download PDF (61.9 KB)
Millennial Ecuador became visible worldwide on January 21, 2000, when thousands of indigenous and nonindigenous peoples from all over the republic “took” the Legislative Palace in Quito, the country’s capital. There, in the democratic heart, soul, and cerebrum of the nation, portals of power were opened to them by the Heroes...
Download PDF (185.8 KB)
The coup of January 21, and the symbolism of respect for diversity that it condensed, epitomizes the drama that marks millennial Ecuador. At 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, January 21, 2000, on a signal from the national police, the armed forces guarding the empty Legislative Palace in Quito pulled back from the doorways and allowed...
2. The Modern Political Transformation of the Secoya
Download PDF (114.5 KB)
Since the 1970s, the small Secoya population of northeastern Ecuador has been transformed from an invisible minority into a recognized political entity on the provincial, national, and international scenes. This transformation has seen the Secoya move from scattered and autonomous settlements to a centralized political system...
3. Haunting the Present: Five Colonial Legacies for the New Millennium
Download PDF (109.7 KB)
The Republic of Ecuador has been politically independent for approximately 170 years. By contrast, the Kingdom of Quito, its colonial antecedent, was subject to Spanish rule for much longer, almost three centuries. Thus, Ecuador has been a nation-state for roughly half as long as it was a colony. Given this fact, one might expect to encounter...
4. The Catholic Church, Ritual, and Power in Salasaca
Download PDF (118.4 KB)
Many years ago there was a drought in the province of Tungurahua. The people of Salasaca gathered together, bringing maize beer, mote (hominy), drums (bombos) and flutes (quenas), and ceramic vessels full of water to pour onto the sacred mountain Quinchi Urcu. It was like a minga (collective work force) in which each person had to...
5. Purgatory, Protestantism, and Peonage: Napo Runa Evangelicals and the Domestication of the Masculine Will
Download PDF (100.1 KB)
There is considerable variation in the cultural dynamics and political processes in cases of native Amazonians incorporating Christian identities. Donald K. Pollock (1993:166, 191) has written that one main feature of the native Amazonian Christianity is its “rarity” and association by indigenous peoples as being “the problem, not the solution”...
6. The Devil and Development in Esmeraldas: Cosmology as a System of Critical Thought
Download PDF (128.3 KB)
Western Christian cosmology is often portrayed as divided into a secular and sacred earth system, with hell below, heaven above, and, in some systems, purgatory as a mediating sector between the earth and heaven (e.g., Corr, this volume; Uzendoski, this volume). Afro-Esmeraldian people of northwest Ecuador have reworked this system to make...
7. Return of the Yumbo: The Caminata from Amazonia to Andean Quito
Download PDF (133.9 KB)
On April 24, 1992, the phone rang in the Whittens’ home in Urbana, Illinois. “¿Causanguichu gumba?” (Are you living, compadre?), asked Marcelo Santi Simbaña, our longtime indigenous associate in Amazonian Ecuador. He went on to say, “We are here in Quito;...
8. Indigenous Destiny in Indigenous Hands
Download PDF (110.7 KB)
This chapter is based on the life and activities of Dr. Luis Alberto Macas Ambuludí, who became Ecuador’s minister of agriculture on January 15, 2003. He was an early participant in the development of national literacy and bilingual education programs in Ecuador. He participated in the founding of CONAIE and served as its president between...
9. Actors and Artists from Amazonia and the Andes
Download PDF (132.3 KB)
While residing in Amazonian Ecuador during 1972 and 1973, Norman and Dorothea (“Sibby”) Whitten were asked by the director of the Museums of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Hernán Crespo Toral, to make a large collection of indigenous-made artifacts for the museum in Quito. In return, we were given permission to take home a sizable...
10. Tigua Migrant Communities and the Possibilities for Autonomy among Urban Ind
Download PDF (97.9 KB)
Achieving political-territorial autonomy has become a foundational principle of indigenous movements in Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, and elsewhere in Latin America. Fighting for the right to shape their economies, cultures, and politics according to their values within their own communities and towns, indigenous people claim space,...
11. Racist Stereotypes and the Embodiment of Blackness: Some Narratives of Female Sexuality in Quito
Download PDF (116.8 KB)
In this chapter, I focus on the way sexuality, a fundamental aspect of identities, has been negotiated and renegotiated by Afro-Ecuadorian women within what I call the Ecuadorian “racial-spatial order” from the perspective of the particular local context of Quito at the end of the 1990s. The premise is that identities are multiple, multifaceted, and...
12. Mothers of the Patria: La Chola Cuencana and La Mama Negra
Download PDF (128.0 KB)
On Friday, May 30, 1997, a Listserv catering to expatriate Ecuadorian professionals received an enthusiastic e-mail from one of its members in the United States with the heading, “Desde Flushing, NY.” Upon entering a park frequented by immigrants on a Sunday afternoon, Luis Franco had suddenly found himself immersed in familiar sights, sounds...
Download PDF (92.0 KB)
The gala Ceremony of Hope to celebrate the inauguration of President Lucio Edwin Guti
Appendix: General Information on Ecuador
Download PDF (70.4 KB)
Download PDF (51.9 KB)
Download PDF (32.3 KB)
Download PDF (69.5 KB)
Page Count: 437
Publication Year: 2003
| 249,384
|
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan forces have taken over the lead from the U.S.-led NATO coalition for security nationwide, President Hamid Karzai announced Tuesday in a significant milestone in the 12-year war.
The announcement came amid a grim reminder of Afghanistan's daily violence. A few miles from where Karzai was speaking a bomb targeted a prominent lawmaker, missed him but killed three civilians.
In another key announcement, Karzai said he will soon send representatives to the Gulf state of Qatar to discuss peace with the Taliban. The talks in Doha would follow the planned opening of a Taliban political office in the Arab country.
The handover of responsibility marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months.
"This is a historic moment for our country and from tomorrow all of the security operations will be in the hands of the Afghan security forces," Karzai said at the ceremony, held at the new National Defense University built to train Afghanistan's future military officers.
On the ground, this means U.S. and other foreign combat troops will not be directly carrying the fight to the insurgency, but will advise and back up as needed with air support and medical evacuations.
The transition also comes at a time when violence is at levels matching the worst in 12 years, fueling some Afghans' concerns that their forces aren't ready.
Karzai said that in the coming months, coalition forces will gradually withdraw from Afghanistan's provinces as the country's security forces replace them.
In announcing the fifth and final phase of a process that began at a November 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Karzai said "transition will be completed and Afghan security forces will lead and conduct all operations."
He also said he would send representatives of his High Peace Council to Doha for meetings with Taliban representatives once their office is open.
"We are hopeful that if the opening of the office is today or if tomorrow the negotiation for peace starts sooner between the High Peace Council and the Taliban," Karzai told reporters after the ceremony.
Karzai visited Qatar last week and discussed his country's stalled peace process and the possible opening of the Taliban office. Both Afghanistan and the United States support the opening as part of an effort to rekindle talks with the insurgent group. But first, Kabul and Washington say, the Taliban must renounce all ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and accept Afghanistan's constitution.
"We are hopeful that after starting negotiations in Qatar, immediately the negotiations and all peace process should move into Afghanistan. Afghanistan shouldn't be center of the discussions outside of the country," Karzai said.
The Taliban have for years refused to speak to the government or the Peace Council, set up by Karzai three years ago, because they considered them to be American "puppets." Taliban representatives have instead talked to American and other Western officials in Doha and other places, mostly in Europe.
But there are indications the Taliban sent a message to Karzai late last month through the United States that they were now willing to talk to the peace council, and that American officials were trying to find ways to facilitate how the talks would take place.
"We don't have any immediate preconditions for talks between the Afghan peace council and the Taliban, but we have principles laid down," Karzai said, adding that they include bringing an end to violence and for talks to be moved to Afghanistan so they are not exploited by other countries.
Karzai also lauded the work of NATO to help Afghan forces reach the point where his military is ready to take responsibility for the country's security.
"This has been one of my greatest desires and pursuits. And I'm glad that I as an Afghan citizen and president have reached this objective today. To have the Afghan forces in command of themselves and in service of the country," Karzai said.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the coalition will help militarily if and when needed but will no longer plan, execute or lead operations.
Alliance training since 2009 dramatically increased the size of the Afghan National Security Forces, bringing them up from 40,000 men and women six years ago to about 352,000 today. After transition, coalition troops will move entirely into a supporting role — training and mentoring, and in emergency situations providing the Afghans backup in combat, mainly in the form of airstrikes and medical evacuation.
"Ten years ago, there were no Afghan national security forces. Five years ago, Afghan forces were a fraction of what they are today. Now you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police. A formidable force. And time and again, we have seen them dealing quickly and competently with complex attacks. Defeating the enemies of Afghanistan, and defending and protecting the Afghan people," Fogh Rasmussen said.
Afghans will now have the lead for security in all 403 districts of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Until now, they were responsible for 312 districts nationwide, where 80 percent of Afghanistan's population of nearly 30 million lives. Afghan security forces were until now carrying out 90 percent of military operations around the country.
Foreign forces will continue to support Afghans on the battlefield when they require it, but the Afghan army and police will be responsible for planning and leading military operations against the insurgency.
"As your forces step forward across the country, the main effort of our forces is shifting from combat to support. We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed. But we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations. And by the end of 2014, our combat mission will be completed. At that time, Afghanistan will be fully secured by Afghans," Fogh Rasmussen said.
The handover paves the way for coalition forces — currently numbering about 100,000 troops from 48 countries, including 66,000 Americans — to leave. By the end of the year, the NATO force will be halved. At the end of 2014, all combat troops will have left and will replaced, if approved by the Afghan government, by a much smaller force that will only train and advise.
President Barack Obama has not yet said how many soldiers he will leave in Afghanistan along with NATO forces, but it is thought that it would be about 9,000 U.S. troops and about 6,000 from its allies.
"From 2015, a new chapter will begin. We need to sustain, and build on, the progress we have made. And NATO is ready to play its part, Fogh Rasmussen said.
Called "Resolute Support," Fogh Rasmussen said the goal of the new mission "is to train, advise and assist Afghan forces."
"Afghanistan does not stand alone, now or in the future," he added.
The U.S. and its allies have already pledged to fund the Afghan forces in the immediate years after 2015.
Miles from Tuesday's ceremony, a bomb attack targeted Afghan politician Mohammed Mohaqiq, a prominent ethnic Hazara lawmaker who is a former Cabinet member. He escaped the assassination attempt but the explosion killed three civilians, the police said.
Associated Press writers Amir Shah, David Rising, Rahim Faiez and Kay Johnson contributed to this report from Kabul.
Copyright 2015, Deseret News Publishing Company
| 86,699
|
The RELAX NG book from the animal series is what you’d expect for one of these books. It is a comprehensive coverage of the topic, with relevant examples, lots of text, and few graphics. Animal books get to the point and are, for the most part, geared to the geeks – or the geek at heart.
This isn’t to say that the coverage of the topic is cryptic or difficult to follow, or dry. After all, I’ve written a few animal books myself and I hope my books don’t fit that description. But they aren’t fluffy books, and make little use of graphics as an aid to understanding. The aid in these books tends to be the examples.
The Head First series is completely the opposite, and about as far as you can get from the animal books. There is still comprehensive coverage of the material, but how it’s covered is completely different. If the animal books are text, the Head First books rely on graphics. A great deal of graphics.
I’ve looked at both members of the series, Head First Java and Head First EJB, and my initial reaction to the Java book, was lukewarm. Part of that can be that I’m used to more traditional computer books to learn a programming language; part of it could be that, like many people, I prefer learning programming languages by example.
The Head First into EJB book, though was different. EJB – Enterprise Java Beans – is a framework and a set of related behaviors, and the graphic nature of the book captured this very nicely. In fact, it was the first time I’ve ever enjoyed reading a book on EJBs. I didn’t think it was possible to be entertained by a book on EJBs, but this book did.
(I think what won me over was the two page behind the EJB scenes graphics on pages 8 and 9. Any book that make me laugh about EJB is some kind of miracle.)
It could be me, but I see a Head First book being better suited toa framework than a programming language; the former is hard to get your head around sometimes, but the latter is easily broken into sample code and with some text to explain what’s happening, you get what’s going on without having to rely on the pictures.
However, if you’re a heavily visual person, you’re going to like this series.
The last book is the Mac OS X Missing Manual (Panther Edition), and this book fits about right in the middle between the animal books and the Head First series, in the ratio between use of graphics and text.
These purpose of this series is to provide more comprehensive information about a specific product than usually comes with the manuals (if any manuals are even provided). Visually, the Missing Manual makes more use of graphics and graphical breaks in the text than the animal series, but far, far less use of graphics than the Head First series. This makes for a book that’s less intense than the animal books, and more comfortable to read, especially if you don’t see yourself as particularly ‘geek like’. Additionally, it is more business like than the Head First series, though again, that doesn’t mean that the writing is dull or uninteresting – it’s just not quite as otherwordly.
I found the Mac OS X one to be very helpful, and I discovered all sorts of new and intersting things about the Mac OS X environment that I hadn’t taken the time, previously, to learn. And since Mac OS X manuals are not what one would call particularly helpful, I can definitely recommend this book for new or intermediate Mac OS X users.
Now the question: Would I write a book in these series
Well, I have written books in the animal series, and would do so again. However, my emphasis lately has been directed more to the non-geeks than the geeks, and that’s not necessarily a good fit for an animal book.
I would not do a Head First book. I wouldn’t know how to do a Head First book. Having to incorporate all those graphics in and around the text, and having to find the appropriate graphics – it would drive me nuts. It would take a special person to do a Head First book.
I would be comfortable doing a Missing Manual style of book. It fits the direction I’m going, which is more towards the interested or engaged or adventurous person rather than intensely directed towards the geek.
You know: someone who drinks lattes rather than Mountain Dew.
| 104,450
|
In his review of an exhibition of Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s at the Brooke Alexander Gallery in New York, Robert Kushner described the critical no-man’s-land that Plimack Mangold’s landscapes have long occupied. “Realists don’t know what to do with Mangold’s intellectual clarity and scrappy nonprettiness,” he wrote. “Hard-core abstractionists can’t embrace the subject matter. The gloom-and-doom contingent find the life-affirming qualities of her work a little uncomfortable. This leaves Mangold in an artistic arena of her own creation, where rules are defined and broken according to her uncompromising demands on herself and the profound integrity of her paintings.”
Sylvia Plimack Mangold was born in 1938 in the Bronx and studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in Manhattan before receiving her BFA from the Yale University School of Art in 1961. At Yale she married Robert Mangold, who would later become a pioneer of minimal painting. After their schooling, the couple moved to New York, where they managed an apartment building to make a living. Their friends included Sol LeWitt and Carl Andre, sculptors who were investigating primary forms and eliminating illusionist references to the real world, and sculptor Eva Hesse, a forerunner of a movement later called antiform. In this climate, Plimack Mangold began painting pictures of floors, searching, she has said, for “visual consistency” and “a structure of a system that defined space.” In order to keep focused on literal space, she sometimes included in her compositions the image of a ruler or of masking tape defining a rectangle. Illusion became a “by-product” of her investigation of three-dimensional space.
After leaving New York City in 1971, she and Robert Mangold moved first to the Catskill Mountains and then to the Hudson River Valley. It was there that Plimack Mangold began painting landscapes, allowing three-dimensional space to become the pure goal of her work. Though in method and spirit her art is traditional, heir to that of nineteenth-century painters, the fact that she came into her own at a time when abstract expressionism was occupying much of the attention of the international art world instilled her approach with a very modern intellectual rigor. It is this seeming paradox that makes her landscapes so powerful. “Plimack Mangold’s intention is not either/or,” Kathan Brown wrote in her 1999 book Why Draw a Landscape? “She can intend to investigate painting as a process, and she can also intend to observe the trees. In pursuing these two approaches simultaneously, she has hit on a way of painting that is distinctly hers.”
Sylvia Plimack Mangold is represented by Alexander and Bonin in New York and by Annemarie Verna Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. Her work is the collections of more than fifteen American museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1993 a retrospective of her works on paper traveled to six university art museums.
-Rachel Lyon, Crown Point Press
| 216,503
|
The Emirati had embarked on a skiing expedition to the North Pole "unsupported and unassisted" (two terms used in polar expeditions, denoting use of natural means and without any kind of assistance). The voyage was scheduled to take around three weeks.
Departing from the Russian ice station Borneo at 89ºN, Elham's trek saw her cross the final degree of latitude by cross-country ski - currently the preferred method of unsupported travel across the Arctic Ocean.
Al Qasimi used natural human means of propulsion, i.e. legs and arms, as apposed to expeditions that use non-human means such as motorised equipment.
"Elham's mission will be ski-assisted. In polar exploration, ski-assisted usually means embarking on an expedition without any re-supplies or other assistance once on the ice. Therefore all supplies to last the hundred or so nautical miles that she will ski to reach the North Pole will be carried on a sled pulled by herself," according to the www.elhamalqasimi.com website.
Elham was born in July 1982 in Dubai, UAE. She earned a degree in Business and Marketing at the American University in Dubai in 2004, and then moved to London to study at the London School of Economics for an MSc in Management of NGOs. On graduating with a Distinction for her thesis, Elham took an internship at the Overseas Development Institute, a leading think tank for international development.
Until she resigned to focus completely on her North Pole expedition, Elham Al-Qasimi was an investment manager at the Impetus Trust, according to her website.
Al Qasimi has recorded her experiences in the form of a journal on her website.
| 137,211
|
Judaism after the Temple
Coping with destruction and building for the future.
The Babylonian Talmud relates the dramatic story of Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakkai's escape from the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E.
Before the Romans breach the walls of the city, Ben Zakkai abandons the spiritual and governmental capital of the Judean state, even while the Temple is still standing. He foresees the fall of Jerusalem, and so he has himself smuggled out of the city in a coffin. Through flattery, and by humbling himself before the Roman general, he is able to negotiate a deal, allowing him to establish a new center of learning in the city of Yavneh (Gittin 56b).
The historical veracity of this tale is questionable, but the talmudic narrative encapsulates an important shift in the political and religious life of the Jewish people following the destruction of the Second Temple. The story of the founding of Yavneh represents the birth of rabbinic Judaism, a way of life focused on Torah and Jewish law, rather than Temple worship or political sovereignty.
From a distance of 2,000 years, it appears that this shift in priorities enabled the spiritual wealth of Israel to become migratory, based on Torah study, not on the location of an altar or a King’s palace--Jerusalem to Yavneh, to the North of Israel, to Babylonia, and finally throughout the Diaspora. Were the rabbis willing to remodel the former Jewish kingdom into a wandering people unified only by a shared text? Were they enthusiastic about this shift, which empowered scholar over priest and King? Or was the founding of Yavneh a contingency plan, meant to preserve Jewish identity during the years of Roman rule, always awaiting a return to Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel?
The stories told in the Talmud and Midrash offer a window into the rabbis’ perspectives, many of whom were already living comfortably in the Diaspora at a distance of hundreds of years from the Temple’s destruction.
The Bar Kochba Rebellion
If the story of the founding of Yavneh suggests that the rabbis were content to leave the institutions of Statehood and Temple in the past, the figure of Rabbi Akiba--who lived two generations after Ben Zakkai--complicates this narrative.
Akiba supported the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136) and even believed that Bar Kochba himself would be the Messiah. In one famous vignette in the Talmud, Akiba is walking with a group of his colleagues near the ruins of the Temple. The group witnesses a fox running over the desolated Holy of Holies. While his companions cry, Rabbi Akiba laughs. The other sages balk at his reaction, but he explains: "Now that I have seen the prophesies of destruction fulfilled, I believe that the prophesies of redemption will be as well" (Makkot 24b).
For Akiba, the promise of redemption is very real--and, indeed, lurking right around the corner. The paradigm of destruction followed by Messianic redemption was deep-seated in rabbinic thought. Their expectations were molded by the experience of the destruction of the First Temple, which led to the Babylonian exile but was swiftly followed by a return to Israel and the building of the Second Temple. Some historians suggest that the supporters of Bar Kochba were anxiously anticipating Bar Kochba’s victory to lead to such a restoration.
However, Akiba's support for the rebellion is judged foolhardy by the majority of sages. In response to Akiba's belief in the Messiah's nearing, one colleague scoffs: "Akiba, grass will grow out of your jawbones [out of your grave], and he will still not have come." (Lamentations Rabbah 2:5 & Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit 4:8). Lamentations Rabbah briefly records Rabbi Akiba's optimism, but the narrator swiftly crushes this spirit by brutally recounting the story of the defeat of the revolt, as well as criticizing Bar Kochba.
Did you like this article? MyJewishLearning is a not-for-profit organization.
| 62,838
|
The latest review in our Clinical Practice series comes from Dr. Thomas Hooten at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Urinary tract infection is the most common bacterial infection encountered in the ambulatory care setting in the United States, accounting for 8.6 million visits in 2007. The self-reported annual incidence of urinary tract infection in women is 12%, and by the age of 32 years, half of all women report having had at least one urinary tract infection.
• What are the risk factors for uncomplicated sporadic and recurrent cystitis and pyelonephritis?
Risk factors for uncomplicated sporadic and recurrent cases of cystitis and pyelonephritis include sexual intercourse, use of spermicides, previous urinary tract infection, a new sex partner (within the past year), and a history of urinary tract infection in a first-degree female relative. Case-control studies have shown no significant associations between recurrent urinary tract infection and precoital or postcoital voiding patterns, daily beverage consumption, frequency of urination, delayed voiding habits, wiping patterns, tampon use, douching, use of hot tubs, type of underwear, or body-mass index.
• Which organisms cause the majority of uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis in women?
In women, E. coli causes 75 to 95% of episodes of uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis; the remaining cases are caused by other Enterobacteriaceae, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, and gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Streptococcus agalactiae (group B streptococcus). However, the latter two organisms, when isolated from voided urine from women with uncomplicated cystitis, often represent contamination of the voided specimen.
Morning Report Questions
Q: What are the classic symptoms of cystitis versus pyelonephritis and how does one approach the diagnosis?
A: Cystitis is usually manifested as dysuria with or without frequency, urgency, suprapubic pain, or hematuria. Clinical manifestations suggestive of pyelonephritis include fever (temperature >38 degrees C), chills, flank pain, costovertebral-angle tenderness, and nausea or vomiting, with or without symptoms of cystitis. Dysuria is also common with urethritis or vaginitis, but cystitis is more likely when symptoms include frequency, urgency, or hematuria; when the onset of symptoms is sudden or severe; and when vaginal irritation and discharge are not present. The only finding on physical examination that increases the probability of urinary tract infection is costovertebral- ngle tenderness (indicating pyelonephritis). Results of a dipstick test for leukocyte esterase or nitrites provide little useful information when the history is strongly suggestive of urinary tract infection, since even negative results for both tests do not reliably rule out the infection in such cases. A urine culture is indicated in all women with suspected pyelonephritis but is not necessary for the diagnosis of cystitis. Studies have shown that the traditional criterion for a positive culture of voided urine (10(5) colony-forming units [CFUs] per milliliter) is insensitive for bladder infection, and 30 to 50% of women with cystitis have colony counts of 10(2) to 10(4) CFUs per milliliter in voided urine. Since most clinical laboratories do not quantify bacteria below a threshold of 10(4) CFUs per milliliter in voided urine specimens, a culture report of “no growth” or “less than 10,000 CFU” in a woman with urinary symptoms should be interpreted with caution.
Q: How should episodes of recurrent cystitis be treated?
A: Episodes of cystitis that occur at least 1 month after successful treatment of a urinary tract infection should be treated with a first-line short-course regimen. If the recurrence is within 6 months, one should consider a first-line drug other than the one that was used originally, especially if trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was used, because of the increased likelihood of resistance. The authors’ recommendations for first-line therapy include nitrofurantoin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, fosfomycin, and pivmecillinam. Urinary symptoms that persist or recur within a week or two of treatment for uncomplicated cystitis suggest infection with an antimicrobial-resistant strain or, rarely, relapse. In such women, a urine culture should be performed, and treatment initiated with a broader-spectrum antimicrobial agent, such as a fluoroquinolone.
| 67,176
|
From Marie of Flo-Pac, LLC. For more information, please vist www.flo-pacllc.com.
While the introduction of the Bell & Gossett Circuit Setter revolutionized the way plumbing experts calibrate a water system to achieve balance, manual balancing valves still have a number of key advantages over their fancier cousins. Keeping a balanced water system ensures optimum heating or cooling performance, and choosing the right valves for the size and shape of your project helps keep costs low and resources well-used.
Though often hailed as the best valve available for water systems, circuit setters have a balance valve built into the device and calibrate the proper water pressure to keep the
system in balance automatically. Circuit setters also feature a number of additional benefits, including monitoring and measuring points as well as a shutoff valve system. This allows users to shut off water to one part of the system, effectively keeping the rest of the system closed and in balance while saving energy by eliminating water flow to one area of a building. This is most useful for water heating systems in large buildings, when one wing of the building might be undergoing renovations or otherwise out of commission. Circuit setters also make it easy to add additions to a building without fumbling too heavily with the existing water system.
Circuit setters, however, are simply not suited for residential purposes. A house or smaller building would be better served with a manual balancing valve. Manual balancing valves are positioned throughout the water system to keep it in balance, with each valve custom-calibrated and positioned by the installer. In a small home water system generally unaffected by changes or construction, the fact that the valves must be
calibrated individually does not pose a problem – and manual balancing valves offer a much cheaper alternative that automatic balancing valves or circuit setters.
In thinking about technical equipment, people tend to regard terms like “manual” or “automatic” in terms of manual options being more old-fashioned than automatic. For
example, most Americans prefer to drive automatic vehicles – but manual stick-shift cars still require less gasoline and offer the driver more complete control, making them a better choice for many drivers. Manual balancing valves have a similar place in water systems, and they are often more useful depending on the needs of the installer and the building owner.
| 259,738
|
History of Brown's Velvet Ice Cream Company
In 1991 or 1992 Floyd and Maxine Brown were guest speakers for History Club, and they ended their program by serving wonderful ice cream treats for the group. In those early years of History Club, notes weren't taken on the presentations, so this history of Brown's Velvet Ice Cream was submitted in 2007 by Mary Brown, wife of manager Kevin Brown, and transcribed by club secretary, Barb Ostlund.
In 1916, dairyman Carl Brown began the ice cream business by carving out large ice blocks and storing them in cool, shade tree shacks. Carl and his sons could keep plenty of French Lake's freeze through the dog days of August and into November. When mixed with Carl's fresh buttermilk and some wild berries, that ice became the frosty ingredient in a rich and smooth ice cream.
At first, it took quite awhile to make a small batch. But the smiles on kids' faces told Carl the effort was worth it. And when word of the taste spread into the counties, he used horse-drawn carts to bring his treat -- which came to be known as Brown's Velvet Ice Cream -- to others.
Grandson Floyd Brown continued the rich and creamy ice cream making along with his son Kevin, until 1990 when Floyd retired. Brown's Velvet Ice Cream was then purchased by Larry Sorenson, owner of Upper Lakes Foods from Cloquet, Minnesota.
Kevin and another full-time worker turned out between 135,000 and 150,000 gallons of ice cream per year. They made close to 50 flavors of ice cream alone including much loved sherbet and yogurt.
As a family business, Brown's used to sell to retail stores, but Upper Lakes decided to market only to wholesalers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
According to manager Kevin Brown, vanilla was by far the biggest seller, and everyone had their own favorite flavors. One customer by the name of Archie -- Kevin never knew his last name -- came in and held up one or two fingers. They didn't have to ask him what flavor. After vanilla, maple nut sold the best in Annandale, and mint chocolate, caramel cup cashew and French silk chocolate were very popular.
In the spring of 2005, the plant shut down when the shaft on an ammonia compressor snapped because of its age. Instead of purchasing new equipment, Upper Lakes decided to close its doors on the family business which for almost 90 years had delighted all who tasted Brown's Ice Cream.
This remembrance appears in "Memories of Annandale" by Lotus Williams, 1983. A second edition of "Memories of Annandale" was published in 1987 by The Annandale Advocate. Copies may be purchased at the Advocate office.
History of Brown's Creamery (as told by Miss Doris Brown in 1982).
"Carl John Brown and his wife came from Sweden and settled near French Lake in the late 1800s. They had six sons and three daughters. Around 1906, C. J. Brown purchased the Farmers Creamery in Annandale to give his sons a business in addition to the home farm.
"John, the eldest son, and Oscar, the next son, were the first to leave home. John learned the art of butter making from the Knapp Creamery, as butter was the first product made. Then in 1909, Carl Brown initiated a milk route serving Annandale and the surrounding area. John and Ole Larson were the milkmen. Milk and cream were purchased from the local farmers. Carl and his brother Axel also offered a pick-up service to the farmers. At that time, milk cost five cents a quart. Cream was ten cents a pint and butter milk was five cents a gallon.
"Victor Brown, the youngest son, remained on the farm for a number of years, then joined his brothers at the creamery. It was about 1916 that C. J. Brown and Sons started making ice cream. They also supplied the dining car on the Soo Line Railroad passing through Annandale, with chickens, eggs, milk, butter and ice cream.
"At first, in the process of making ice cream, they could make only ten gallons at a time. The mixing container was a ten gallon stainless steel cylinder inside a wooden tub. The wooden tub would be filled with crushed ice and rock salt. A large paddle turned by belts running from the line shaft would churn the mixture as the ice brine froze it. The line shaft was powered from the coal or wood-fired steam engine. When it was partially set, it was run into the smaller horizontal freezer with continually flowing ice brine around it until it was harder, then into five-gallon and ten-gallon ice cream tubs.
"Deliveries of the ice cream were made in trucks which were designed with ice brine freezing compartments that would keep the ice cream frozen all day. In about 1930, automatic refrigeration trucks were purchased, making deliveries much less complicated.
"Cheese was another dairy product that was made at Brown's Creamery starting in about 1930. Cheddar cheese was the kind of cheese they made and sold, mainly to Kraft. They were fortunate in securing an experienced cheese maker, Oliver Nelson. He said his family moved to Annandale from Wisconsin and he remained with the company until they discontinued making cheese.
"In the early days of the business operations, Alfred Brown was the president and in 1928 the company decided to expand with another plant in Minneapolis. Alfred left Annandale to operate this plant and Axel followed sometime later. John Larson moved to Minneapolis in 1941 to work in the plant, which operated until the early 1960s.
"For many years we could see a Brown Ice Cream float in the Fourth of July Parade. Another tradition, which is still carried on, is the giving away of ice cream cones at Christmas time. Since World War II, Clifford Fredericks, the son-in-law of John Brown, has been a valued and much appreciated worker. Floyd and Doris Brown are the present owners and wish to add, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
Carl John Brown 1852-1925
Annandale Advocate, August 10, 2005 - Brown's ice cream melts into history - Company closes after 99 years in Annandale Annandale and the Upper Midwest have had their last luscious lick of the original Brown's Velvet Ice Cream.
"Browns, one of the oldest businesses in Annandale, has closed its doors for good after 99 years, an official of its parent company, Upper Lakes Foods of Cloquet, said last week.
"The plant at 110 Excelsior Ave. S., shut down about the beginning of June when a part broke, and Upper Lakes decided about three weeks ago to close it permanently rather than buy costly new equipment to keep it going.
"The decision ends a family business that began manufacturing butter in 1906, made its name making ice cream for many years, and was sold to Upper Lakes in 1990." .... In 1990, Floyd Brown and his sister Doris, now deceased, sold the business to Upper Lakes. It was either sell or go under, Kevin Brown, Floyd's son, said. Upper Lakes bought it on condition he stay on and run the plant. In the end Brown's turned out between 135,000 and 150,000 gallons of ice cream per year, he said, compared to the millions of gallons a company like Blue Bunny makes each month. Brown's made close to 50 flavors of ice cream alone and 62 flavors when you include its sherbet, yogurt and gelato... Vanilla was by far the biggest seller."
Note: C. J. Brown's Ice Cream Parlor opened at the Mall of America in Bloomington April 25, 1994, and was in business for a few years.
Please Contact Us with comments, questions, corrections and suggestions.
HOME | Events |
Civic Groups |
Government | City |
Library | Chamber
| 219,085
|
Your Favourite Photoshop Tutorials in One Place
Making the Incredible Artwork of Hulk
Under Drawing Effect, Photoshop Tutorial
Digital painting is an incredible way of creating awesome arts. In this tutorial you will learn how to create a hulk digital painting by following these simple steps.
To make your idea into a cartoon art, you may start from a draft and then paint. You need to well plan your cartoon artworks e.g. style and color for your objects. In addition, to stand out your objects, you need to work out a great background to complete it.
This tutorial will show you the steps of making a nice cartoon scene in an easy way. You can create your own cartoon artwork based on this skill which is about how to arrange the color layers for your artwork. It will demonstrate you how to use brushes to carry out the painting works.
You may wonder how to draw a proper portrait using computer software such as Photoshop. Even you are a good artist, without good Photoshop skills, you will find it very difficult to draw. Thus, you have to practise and get familiar with the Photoshop skills on drawing the portrait.
Some objects are very common for paint. This tutorial will teach you skills to create a few objects including fire, splashing liquid and wounds Painting fire, slimes and wounds in one go using brush blending modes in Photoshop.
It is not easy to draw a human image as it is time-consuming and require advance skills in order to make it realistically. Using Photoshop brushes, the story is much easier as you just need to paint it following your sketch and no need to have high level of skills.
To create a dreamlike abstract work as enthralling as this, you need some polished techniques. This tutorial will teach you how to compose lines, shapes and patterns to captivate the viewer with a work made out of softened geometric shapes.
Designing a smart car is like other objects. You need to work on a sketch first. Most of you can draw out a car, however, you may find difficult to carry out a nice painting. Here will illustrate you steps of painting for the car, then you can have an idea for the painting process. You may apply the same for drawing 3D objects.
| 240,063
|
Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index is the premier resource for access to articles about gardens and plants. Topics include horticulture, botany, garden and landscape design & history, ecology, plant and garden conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy. A highlight of the database is its focus on environmentally sustainable horticultural and design practices. This index and abstract product is designed for gardening enthusiasts, professionals, and students of horticulture and of garden and landscape design & history. Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index covers a wide range of serial titles including general gardening titles of national, international, and regional interest, and titles devoted to specialty gardens and plant groups. Indexed and abstracted are more than 300 core titles, the majority of which are published in English. Coverage for many titles extends back further than a decade. Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index is a unique resource that brings together articles about plants and gardens into a single source, and it includes titles that are not available in any other index.
| 58,707
|
Skip to page content
Hi can anyone tell me what this little guy is? After doing some research the closest i found was a bee beetle but it just doesn't look like the right one, the antennae are shorter on the bee beetle. Many Thanks
This is a Judolia cerambyciformis, a longhornbeetle (Cerambycidae).
It's true that the antennae are longer than the bee beetle, a simple way to identify a longhornbeetle is the long antennaes.
Thanks very much for that, i continued to look and found the spotted longhorn which looked similar but your identification is spot on, thanks :)
| 118,424
|
The American Society of Mammalogists
The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was established in 1919 for the purpose of promoting interest in the study of mammals. In addition to being among the most charismatic of animals, mammals are important in many disciplines from paleontology to ecology and evolution. We, of course, are mammals and thus are in the interesting position of studying ourselves in quest of a greater understanding of the role of mammals in the natural world. The ASM is currently composed of over 2,500 members, many of whom are professional scientists. Members of the Society have always had a strong interest in the public good, and this is reflected in their involvement in providing information for public policy, resources management, conservation, and education. It publishes the highly-ranked periodical Journal of Mammalogy and Mammalian Species, as well as Special Publications.
A majority of my service is directed towards the American Society of Mammalogists. This primarily entails working as an Associate Editor (subject editor) for the Journal of Mammalogy. I Chair the Public Relations Committee, and serve on the Conservation Awards Committee and Publications Committee. I also serve as an evaluator for student presentations at the ASM Annual Meeting.
Thorn Creek Nature Center and Preserve
The Thorn Creek Nature, Center seen in the picture at left, is an early 20th Century church with numerous natural history exhibits. The Church serves as a focal point for the 1,250-acre preserve. I currently serve as Vice-president of Friends of Thorn Creek, a local citizens group involved with operations of the Nature Center and Preserve. I also serve on the Thorn Creek Scientific Advisory Panel. There are currently eight research projects within the Preserve; the Panel reviews all proposed projects for scientific quality.
Regional High School Groups
I periodically host groups of high school students at the GSU field station. This provides students with a "hands-on" learning experience in field biology. Because of our proximity to Chicago, many of the students come from highly urbanized backgrounds. The opportunity for them to observe mist netting, participate in plant sampling, or get involved with aquatic chemistry is a unique experience.
I have served as a reviewer for Journal of Mammalogy, ACTA Theriologica, American Midland Naturalist, Ecology, and the National Science Foundation.
I currently serve on two committees at the University: (1) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Chair, and (2) GSU Doctorial Program Development Committee.
| 4,256
|
Child abuse is a serious but potentially preventable public health problem that victimizes way too many children in this country every year and costs billions of dollars to our society. Today on Line One, host Dr. Woodard discusses child abuse, its causes and sequela, in the first of a two part program. Child psychologist, Dr. Laura Jones; founder of Facing Foster Care in Alaska, Amanda Metevier; and Anchorage CASA Program Coordinator, June Haisten join Dr. Woodard in the studio to take your phone calls.
- Alaska CASA: Facing Foster Care in Alaska
- Child Welfare League Association
- National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- Anchorage Community Mental Health Services, Inc.
Download Audio (MP3)
- American Psychological Association: report on Child Maltreatment
- CWLA National Data Anlayasis System: Alaska child abuse data trends (PDF)
- Alaskan Foster Care Alumni Study (PDF)
HOST: Dr. Thad Woodard
- June Haisten, Anchorage CASA Program Coordinator (a state employee at the Office of Public Advocacy)
- Dr. Laura Jones, clinical child/adolescent psychologist
- Amanda Metevier, founder, Facing Foster Care in Alaska
LIVE BROADCAST: Mon, March 30, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
REPEAT BROADCAST: Mon, March 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
- Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast
- Send e-mail to email@example.com before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air)
- Post your comment or question below (comments may be read on air)
- Get Line One: Your Health Connection updates automatically by e-mail, RSS or podcast.
DR. WOODARD’S FAVORITE HEALTH AND SCIENCE LINKS:
- Science Based Medicine
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Super Smart Health
| 279,892
|
Please Report Any Broken Links Or Trouble You Might Come Across To The Webmaster.
Please Take A Moment To Let Us Know So That We Can Correct Any Problems And Make Your Visit As Enjoyable And As Informative As Possible.
|Click On Image
For Full Size Image
By And/Or Copyright
|65k||Plan view of the Onondaga.||USN photo courtesy of"Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 19, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.|
|145k||Deep Bottom, Va., vicinity. Transport Linda of Philadelphia and a monitor, possibly the Onondaga on the James River, 1864.||LOC photo LC-DIG-cwpb-01767, courtesy of lcweb2.loc.gov.|
|90k||Onondaga at anchor on the James River, Virginia, during the Civil War, circa 1864-65. Photographed by Brady and Company. The original glass plate negative is in the Brady Collection, U.S. National Archives.||Text courtesy of U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 63173. Photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.|
|128k||Onondaga on the James River, Virginia, circa 1864-1865. Photo mounted on a stereograph card. This photograph has been somewhat retouched, most notably to emphasize the flag.||U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 43067.|
|105k||Onondaga anchored off Aikens Landing in the James River, Virginia, in 1864-1865. Note the barges at the wharf in the foreground. Aikens Landing, near Dutch Gap, was the site of prisoner of war exchanges. Photo mounted on a stereograph card, published by E. & H.T. Anthony & Company, New York.||Photo from National Archives & Record Administration (NARA), Record Group 19-N, Box 33. Courtesy of Dan Treadwell.
Text from U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 100989.
|506k||The officers gathered on deck of the Onondaga. Image taken on the James River, Virginia, in 1864-65.|| Image # 524460a from the National Archives at College Park, (NARA) courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
Photo added 03/31/13.
|409k||Onondaga on the James River, Virginia, in 1864-65. Note the pulling boat at her stern, with oars manned. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization.|| Photo # HD-SN-99-01857 courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil, Defense Visual Information Center.
Text from U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 111-B-40.
|92k||Onondaga in the James River, Virginia, 1864-1865. Note the rowboat in the foreground, manned by Union Soldiers, and the obstructions across the river in the right distance. Photograph taken by Brady & Company.||U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 60210.|
|71k||Colored lithograph of the Onondaga by Parsons, published by Endicott & Company, New York, circa 1865.||Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51902-KN.|
|91k||Federal ironclads in the James River, Virginia photographed circa early 1865, probably in Trent's Reach. Ships are (from left to right): Saugus, Sangamon (probably), Atlanta and Onondaga. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization.||Photograph from the Collections of the U.S. National Archives. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 111-B-1961.|
|120k||Federal ironclads in Trent's Reach, James River, Virginia photographed circa early 1865. Nearest ship is Saugus, with a mine sweeping "torpedo rake" attached to her bow. Next monitor astern is probably Sangamon. Visible just to the right of her is either Mahopac or Canonicus. Last two ships are Atlanta and Onondaga. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization. Note the log boom across the river in the foreground and the signal tower atop the hill in the right distance.||Photograph from the Collections of the U.S. National Archives. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 111-B-80.|
|59k||Sepia wash drawing of the Onondaga by R.G. Skerrett, 1899.||Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 57816.|
|52k||Watercolor of the Onondaga by Oscar Parkes.||Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, London, England, 1936. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59545.|
|66k||Engraving of the Onondaga published in "Harper's Weekly", 3 February 1866 as part of a larger print entitled "The Iron-clad Navy of the United States.||U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 61428.|
|608k||Double turreted ironclad monitor Onondaga on the James River sometime between 1864 and 1865.||Photo coiurtesy of the Library of Congress, LOT 11486-F, no. 11 via Mike Green.|
|58k||Onondaga at Brest, France, circa the later 1860s or the 1870s. She was originally the Onondaga, commissioned in 1864 and sold to France in 1867.||Courtesy of William H. Davis. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 60211.|
|376k||A guest studies a painting depicting the history of battleships. The artwork was painted by George Skybeck and presented to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association during their annual banquet at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 8 December 1991.||USN photo # DN-SC-92-05391, by PHC Carolyn Harris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.|
|Back To The Main Photo Index||Back To The Battleship Photo Index Page|
| 63,108
|
Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that affects the innermost lining of the large intestine (colon) and rectum.
Patients with this condition have chronic inflammation of the colon and ulcers that gradually worsen, and can bleed and produce pus.
Types of ulcerative colitis
There are 3 types of ulcerative colitis depending on its location:
Ulcerative proctitis. This is the mildest form where inflammation is confined to the rectum. Rectal bleeding is usually the only sign of the disease.
Left-sided colitis. This involves inflammation from the rectum extending further into the colon. Symptoms include bloody diarrhoea, pain and cramping in the left side of the abdomen, and significant weight loss.
Pancolitis. This involves inflammation of the entire colon. Symptoms include bloody diarrhoea that is severe, pain and cramping in the abdomen, fatigue, and significant weight loss.
Ulcerative colitis can weaken your body. There is no cure for this condition yet. However, with careful treatment, you can have periods of remission with no symptoms.
What are the symptoms of ulcerative colitis?
Ulcerative colitis symptoms vary depending on the severity and location of the inflammation. They include:
Abdominal pain and cramping
Pain and bleeding in the rectum
Recurring diarrhoea with blood or pus
The urgency to pass stools but an inability to do so
Extreme tiredness, loss of appetite, and weight loss
The exact causes of ulcerative colitis remain unknown. Possible causes that have been suggested include:
Immune system malfunction. An abnormal immune response may cause the immune system to attack its own digestive tract cells.
Heredity. Ulcerative colitis is more common in people who have family members with the disease.
What are the risk factors for ulcerative colitis?
Factors that may increase your risk of developing ulcerative colitis include:
Age. Ulcerative colitis commonly develops in people under the age of 30 and over 60.
Ethnicity. Ulcerative colitis is more common among people of European descent and rare in people from Asian backgrounds.
Family history. Having a close family member with the disease increases your risk.
What are the complications and related diseases of ulcerative colitis?
There are several possible complications related to ulcerative colitis, including:
Inflammation of the skin, joints, and eyes.
Damage to the colon, such as severe bleeding, tearing or perforation of the colon.
Severe dehydration, as the inflamed intestines cannot absorb fluids effectively.
Osteoporosis (bone loss). This can develop due to prolonged use of corticosteroids or from dietary changes such as avoiding dairy products.
An increased risk ofcolon cancer, especially among those who have the severe type of disease or inflammation involving most of the colon.
Toxic megacolon (rapid swelling of the colon). This is a rare and serious complication of severe ulcerative colitis. In toxic megacolon, colon inflammation traps gas, resulting in an enlarged and swollen colon.
Blood clots in the veins and arteries.
How do you prevent ulcerative colitis?
Though there is no firm evidence that dietary changes can prevent ulcerative colitis symptoms, you may consider the following dietary lifestyle changes:
Avoid trigger foods, such as spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine.
Limit dairy products. This has been found to help with symptoms such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and gas.
Limit fibre. High-fibre foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains may make symptoms worse in some people. Steaming, baking, or stewing raw fruits and vegetables may help.
Eat small meals and drink plenty of water. Breaking meals into 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day may be helpful.
Manage stress by exercising regularly, resting, relaxing, or meditating.
These changes may help you to control your condition (e.g. lengthen the remission period and prevent flare-ups) and get the nutrition you need.
Tip: Keep a food diary to record what and when you eat. This can help you identify and eliminate food items that trigger flare-ups.
| 124,499
|
Demand increases for computer-science and technology majors
University officials are working to increase the number of students majoring in computer-information technology.
According to a press release from the Learning Net, U.S. companies are having trouble filling vacancies with U.S. technology workers.
Despite the increasing demands for workers, enrollment in the field unstable. Officials at each of Iowa’s regent universities recognize the need to recruit more students to study computer science and information technology to fill increasing vacancies in the workforce.
Alberto Segre, the head of the University of Iowa Computer Science Department, said students carry a huge misconception about the field.
Computational thinking is normally understood as thinking like a computer scientist, but he said it’s more than that.
“It’s a shame for undergraduates and graduates today without an exposure of computational thinking,” Segre said. “It’s not just the skill of using computers, but there hasn’t been a field that hasn’t been used by computation.”
Today, roughly 500 students study in the UI Computer Science Department, which is divided into two majors of around 300 people in computer science and 200 in informatics.
Segre said there was a large number of students in the field in the 1990s, and then there was a large drop. The pattern of growing and dropping has been continual.
“It’s a national phenomenon,” Segre said. “It’s waves of interest. Now, numbers increased to 30 percent of the last two years, but I don’t know how many later.”
Johnny Wong, a professor and associate head of the Computer Science Department at Iowa State University, said computer-science skills assist students in virtually any subject.
“The field of computer-information technology is similar to reading, writing, and arithmetic,” he said. “Computational thinking is a very important, too, for highly skilled workers of any modern society.”
There are roughly 200 computer-science students at the University of Northern Iowa and roughly 120 pre-computer-science, 190 computer-science, and 180 software-engineering majors at ISU.
Jaehyung Kim, a third-year computer-science major at the UI, said he plans to apply the skills he’s learned when he moves into the medical field.
“I realized the field is completely different from what I understood in the first place,” he said.
According to a U.S. Department of Labor report, employment in the field of computer and information research is anticipated to grow by 19 percent between 2010 and 2020.
Students who graduate with the skills and knowledge in this field not only face numerous job opportunities, they also receive good pay.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports the median annual wage for the field was $100,660 in May 2010, the lowest 10 percent earning less than $57,630 and the top 10 percent earning more than $153,120.
However, companies are concerned about the quality and appropriate measure of minimum training requirements of the workers, which brings difficulties when finding a proficient worker.
“The issue here is U.S. students,” Segre said. “If we leave the foreign students aside and look at the U.S.-based students, not a lot of them gravitate toward computer science and engineering.”
One UI official says there are not enough specialized people in the United States currently to fill those jobs.
“Technology companies are looking for highly skilled people,” said UI computer-science Professor James Cremer. “Their offense is they cannot recruit people from the U.S.”
One way in which the federal government responds to this need is by issuing temporary visas to skilled foreign workers in order to fill the vacancies.
Wong recognizes that higher-education institutions need to recruit more students who are interested in computer science and information technology.
“We should continue to recruit more undergraduate and graduate students in the computer and information technology field and computer science to solve the IT workforce shortage,” Wong said. “For the meantime, it might mitigate the shortage problem by providing working visas for some highly skilled foreign workers.”
In today's issue:
| 46,987
|
timing of sealant placement
traffic damage to uncured sealant
joint design and construction
freeze-thaw cycling and deicing chemicals
A combination of several of these factors is suspected to cause these dramatic failures.
There is a definite need to know how widespread these failures really are and whether our current PCC joint sealant policies are adequate. It is also extremely important to determine if there is some fundamental flaw in silicone joint sealants.
| 233,538
|
Although Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, had come to Iraq on an “important visit” Tuesday, Oct. 20, his C-17 aircraft was forced to circle overhead for two hours waiting for permission to land at the Al Taqaddum air base near Baghdad.
The airbase control tower first informed the C-17 cockpit that unspecified conditions on the ground did not permit landing and they would be notified when conditions cleared.
But notification never materialized even after repeated requests for landing permission.
Dunford landed about half an hour later than planned in Irbil, capital of the semiautonomous republic of Iraqi Kurdistan, after his military aircraft was rerouted by air traffic controllers in Baghdad.
This episode recalled another pointed insult directed at a top US official not long ago. In June 2014, US Secretary of State John Kerry was kept cooling his heels for six hours in the waiting room of the Saudi royal palace before King Abdullah deigned to receive him.
For his first Middle East trip since his appointment, America’s top soldier found he had stepped into a strange landscape.
First snub when US top soldier prevented landing in Baghdad
DEBKA Weekly’s military and intelligence report that the Russian-Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian military coordination center established in the Green Zone of Baghdad earlier this month is operating as a full-scale combined command with authority to regulate flights in Iraqi air space.
It was this center which refused to clear Gen. Dunford’s C-17 to land.
But the campaign of snubs was not over. .
On Oct. 20, the US general played down the chances of Iraq asking Russia to run an air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq in the near future as “no longer in play.” He asserted that “even in Baghdad, the Russians were not believed to be ready to conduct any substantial air missions.”
Two days later, the Iraqi government authorized Russia to target Daesh convoys coming from Syria after coordination with Russia, Iran and Syria.
Hakem al-Zamli, chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, commended the step as helping to weaken the Islamic State by cutting off its supply routes.
What official Iraqi spokesmen omitted to reveal was that their government had granted the Russian Air Force use of the Al Taqaddum Airbase at Habbaniyah, 74 km west of Baghdad, for mounting air strikes. Moscow was earlier allocated by Bashar Assad the use of the Al-Hmeineem air base near the coastal Syrian town of Latakia.
Prime Minister Abadi obeys “Security Quartet”
Vladimir Putin has thus gained an overarching presence in the two beleaguered countries.
According to some sources in Baghdad, Abadi has handed over to Moscow much more than an air base. They say that some state decisions attributed to the prime minister were actually authored by Iran’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Al Qods Brigades chief, who officiates as senior coordinator of Iranian and Russian military operations in Syria and Iraq.
Since his appointment, Soleimani is constantly flitting in and out of Moscow, Latakia and Baghdad.
The Iraqi air base shortens the distance Russian bombers must cover to hit ISIS concentrations in northern Iraq. But more significantly, Moscow’s military intervention is elbowing the US and its forces out of their positions in the region.
The Russians are making no bones about their triumphal return to Baghdad twelve years after they were kicked out by the US invasion of April 6, 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Both Washington and Moscow prefer to forget that three weeks later, US fighter jets strafed the Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko’s convoy, which was also carrying to safety members of the Russian intelligence rezidentura in Iraq, its deep-cover double agents and documentation covering the entire range of military and intelligence collaboration between Iraq and the US.
Ironically, some of those Iraqi double agents are now serving ISIS forces fighting the Russians in Syria.
Russia’s return to Iraq transforms Mid East power balance
Moscow’s return to Baghdad transforms the Middle East positions of the United States, Russia and Iran in five respects:
1. A brand-new Russian military, air and naval edifice now stands foursquare in the Middle East designed to present all other military forces working in the two countries with no option other than to maintain operational liaison with its command headquarters – either at the Al-Hmeineem air base in Syria or the combined “Security Quartet” command center in Baghdad.
The coordination and hot line arrangements the US, Israel, Turkey and Jordan set up with Moscow have, in a word, evolved into their recognition of Russia’s resuscitated military role in the region, as well as the Russian-Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian axis, however much they dislike the notion.
2. Washington is striving to convey the impression that cooperation with Moscow in the campaign against ISIS is in its infancy. In actual fact, the Russians are running ahead. Sources in Iraq’s parliamentary security committee report “intensive” Russian flights in all strategic parts of the country. They say the “Security Quartet” in Baghdad is “very active.”
One source commented with satisfaction, “We could not have cleaned Baiji of ISIL without the help of the new intelligence center which includes the Russians.”
DEBKA Weekly reported previously that Iranian forces fought a long, unsuccessful battle to dislodge ISIS from this important refinery city.
US forces move out, replaced by Russians
3. Middle East sources monitoring the battlefields of Iraq have discovered some of the US officers and Special Operations units engaged in operations for recovering Baiji, Ramadi and Anbar, had either exited the country or pulled back to other areas, mainly the semiautonomous Kurdish Republic in northern Iraq.
Russian officers and forces have moved in to take their place.
However, if Russian aircraft start bombing ISIS targets in Iraq, the US military will rethink its presence there, Top US soldier Gen. Dunford warned Tuesday.
4. The Russians are also lobbying Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE, for stronger military ties, making inroads on these American spheres of influence.
5. Vladimir Putin has already reaped valuable dividends from its intervention in Syria – and latterly Iraq:
- Russia has made itself the military protector of Iran’s land bridge to Syria and the Lebanese Hizballah.
- A Russian military foothold is established firmly on two strategic coasts – the eastern Mediterranean and the northern Persian Gulf.
- Russian forces now stand directly opposite the frontiers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.
- They are a short step from the region’s primary oil fields.
- Iraq shares frontiers with the Caspian and southern Russian regions. By establishing a military presence there, Moscow has gained a highly prized asset for its counterterrorism and military campaigns in the Muslim republics of the Caucasus and southern Russia.
| 57,182
|
AMONG the day's most talked-about stories is this New York Times piece on the effect of government austerity in Ireland.
“When our public finance situation blew wide open, the dominant consideration was ensuring that there was international investor confidence in Ireland so we could continue to borrow,” said Alan Barrett, chief economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland. “A lot of the argument was, ‘Let's get this over with quickly.' ”
Rather than being rewarded for its actions, though, Ireland is being penalized. Its downturn has certainly been sharper than if the government had spent more to keep people working. Lacking stimulus money, the Irish economy shrank 7.1 percent last year and remains in recession.
Joblessness in this country of 4.5 million is above 13 percent, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed — those out of work for a year or more — have more than doubled, to 5.3 percent.
For its trouble, Ireland has suffered rising borrowing costs alongside Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. An early austerity push did nothing to convince markets that Irish government debt was a safer bet than southern European debt. Ireland has succeeded in cutting labour costs, but with consumers and businesses retrenching everywhere, this hasn't turned into an export bonanza (devaluation against Europe would help but is obviously an impossibility for any euro zone nation). As recovery proves illusory, a steady stream of Irish are leaving the country for greener pastures elsewhere.
What this should illustrate is that austerity alone won't necessarily lead to economic salvation (eventually). Positive experiences with budget cuts are almost always associated with devaluations, which are off the table for euro area members. They're usually combined with structural reforms, but Ireland has already rid itself of much of the burdensome economic rules that held back its economy in earlier decades. Austerity can also boost growth by reducing interest rates, but this isn't helpful when markets shrug off the cost-cutting (as they have where Ireland is concerned) or when rates are already low (as they are in America and Britain).
And one reason markets might not be buying what Ireland is selling is that it's far from clear that austerity can ultimately lead to growth in an environment where global demand remains weak and many countries are simultaneously making fiscal (or other economic) adjustments.
Economists observed high debt levels and market panic and seemed to assume that austerity for every country with a big deficit was the right prescription. That may well prove to have been a big mistake.
| 144,421
|
This deed that proves that the Thomas Reynolds, "high sheriff" of Ann Arundel Co. did not die in 1719 as reported in some genealogies but after 1725.
To All Christian People to whome these Presents shall Come We Thomas Reynolds Senr: and Eliza. Reynolds of Ann Arundel County send Greet.g in our Lord God Everlasting know ye we the said Thomas Reynolds & Eliza: Reynolds for and Inconsideration of the love good will & affection which we have & doe bare Towards our Loveing son in Law Amos Simpson & Loving Daughter Levina Sympson of the County Aforesaid have given & Granted & by these Presents do freely Clearly & Absolutely give and Grant to the Said Amos Sympson & Levina Sympson the Lawfull begotten heirs of their Bodies for Ever two hundred and ten Acres of land being Part of a tract Called (food Plenty Containing Eight hundred & thirty Acres- lying in Ann Arundell County According to the Certification of Survey Begining att two four Notched Red Oaks Standing at the End of the twentieth Course of the said Land and Runing Reverse upon the Originall Courses South Eighty five Degrees West fourty four Perches then North Seventy four Perches then North Eighty two- (Degrees) Degrees west fifty four Perches then North thrity four degrees west fifty Eight P:rches then North Sixty two degrees East Seventy four P:rches then North forty four degrees west seventy two P:rches then North thirty three degrees East fifty two Pr:ches then North Eighty nine degrees East Sixty Perches then North Eighty one degrees East Sixty Six Perches then South Eighty two Degrees East fifty five Pr:ches then with a Straight line to the Beginining trees Containing and now laid out for two hundred and ten Acres more or Less now Called Amoses Lott out of food Plenty TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the Af:d Tract of Land w:th all the Appurtenances there unto belonging unto the Said Amos Sympson and Levina Sympson and their heirs for Ever from hence forth as their Proper Estate of Inheritance for Ever Absolutely with out any manner of Condition & further know ye that we the said Thos: Reynolds & Eliza. - Reynolds have Put the Afsd: Amos Sympson & Levina Sympson into Peasable Possession of the Afsd: Land Appurtanances as Aforesaid by Delivery to Each of them at the Ensealing of these Presents one Coined peice of Silver Called Sixpence in Wittness- Whereof we have hereunto Sett our hands and Seals this twenty Second day of Aprill in the Elventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King George by the Grace of God of Great Brittaine &c.: and in the year of our Lord God 1725.
Signed Sealed and Delivered
in the Presence of
On the Back of the foregoing deed is thus Endorsed Vizt.-
Aprill the 22:d 1725./
Then Came before me the Subscriber Chief Justice of his Lordships Prov:ll Court of Maryland the wthin Named Thomas Reynolds and Eliza. his wife & Acknowledged the within deed and the lands therein Mencone4d to be the Right of Amos Sympson and Levina his wife and their heirs for Ever According to Law The Said Eliza: being Privately Examined out of the hearing of her husband before me
5/4 Sam:ll Young
Recorded May the 13th: 1725
Source:Maryland State Archives, MD State Archives Documents Collection, MSA SC 1878-154-1 and 1878-154-2.
Return to the Document Index Page
| 289,453
|
London (Dec. 15)
(Jewish Telezraphic Agency)
The first showing in England of the Cecil de Mille production, “King of Kings” at Covent Garden Opera House has called forth overwhelming critical opinion. The majority of those who have witnessed the film declare that they consider it a dull presentation, historically inaccurate and greatly distorted.
Many prominent London Jews who saw the film declare that it contains unfriendly features.
The “lie of lies” is the epithet used by the “Jewish World” to describe the picture. It is striking that all the unfavorable figures are presented as Semites, while the saintly and devout are depicted as Aryans.
| 109,088
|
Last updated on December 21st, 2015 at 06:53 am
To store backups on tape, RMAN requires media manager software, a third party software program that writes, reads, and manages sequential media such as tapes to backup and recover data. In the case of backup, RMAN starts the Oracle Server session which reads data and sends it to the media manager which writes the data to the tape device. In the case of restore, the media manager software reads the data from the tape and sends it to the Oracle Server session which restores data to the disk.
The SBT API is the interface through which RMAN interacts with the media manager. The API defines the functions that create backup files, write to/read from the backup media, and search for/remove backup files. Management of backup devices and media is handled by the media manager, and is outside the scope of the SBT API.
The core of the RMAN and media manager software integration is the media management library, supplied by the backup vendor. This library contains an implementation of the SBT API functions, and is linked in with the Oracle server binary. In Oracle 8.1.6 and below versions, the library must be explicitly linked in with the Oracle server binary before starting RMAN. In Oracle 8.1.7, the library is implicitly loaded by the OS on the start of the Oracle server session. In Oracle9i and 10g, the library is automatically loaded when RMAN channels are allocated.Oracle calls these SBT functions to back up and restore data files to and from media controlled by the media manager.
The commom media manager software with RMAN are
| 311,239
|
Muslims must give thanks to the internet, because it is cyberspace that has allowed the ummah to finally come of age.
The Muslim nation, ummah, described in the Quran as a fundamental part of the Islamic faith, aims to be a global, borderless community that feels the sufferings and joys of its members no matter where they are. The internet has dissolved the barriers of time, distance, culture and ethnicity and has finally made available with immediacy the spiritual love and social consciousness that underpin the notion of ummah.
No longer are Muslims located in unreachable territories and lands, but rather the e-ummah is at the tips of your fingers. You can access instant news coverage from across the Muslim world and diaspora, often picking up stories that are not carried in mainstream publications.
During the invasion of Iraq, it was the voices of online citizen journalists that let us hear the authentic words of those under siege. The recent elections in Iran and subsequent turmoil were punctuated by the fact that young activists were trying – despite the government’s best efforts – to get their stories out via Facebook and Twitter. In December of last year during the bombing of Gaza, Al Jazeera experimented with combining the stories that their reporters in the Gaza Strip were filing along with their GPS co-ordinates in order to create an online map of the war zone.
For those with spiritual, religious or artistic interests, they can watch videos, lectures and new Islamic music and rap on YouTube, reflecting the growing globalised nature of Islamic content, products and services. Religious scholars, too, are accessible by e-mail, and if you need an Islamic edict on any subject from an imam of any school of thought, it just takes a couple of clicks to gain a fatwa.
The search for love is always looking for new methods to help the lonely, and online matchmaking and matrimonial services have been extraordinarily popular, with thousands of profiles posted by love-hungry Muslims, or worry-laden parents, in the pursuit of a happy marriage. Young people are no longer willing to meet their spouse-to-be on the wedding night, but instead want to find someone who shares their views without having to engage in “western-style” dating. The internet seems perfect – access to countless prospects, within the framework of a formalised marriage search.
As for those who want to know more about the world around them, no longer do they have to wait for the epic travelogues of the likes of Ibn Battuta; instead, you can get to know those who share your interests and faith on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. No longer is your circle of friends bound by your location – a real trial for those brought up in faraway small towns with few or no other Muslims.
You can read blogs with news, opinion and sometimes information that has been previously restricted to you from anywhere in the world – Canada, France, China, Russia, Indonesia, Ghana, South Africa, Mexico – as though you were talking to a fellow Muslim who lives next door.
This is a particularly important step forward for Muslims along with other minorities who feel excluded from the mainstream press in western countries. Breaking into the media is tough anyway, and promoting an alternative view harder still. Joining the e-ummah is at last a way for them to be heard on their own terms.
In majority Muslim countries it has been even more critical, slowly chipping away at tight controls over the media. How will governments cope? It will be interesting to see the impact of increased political knowledge and awareness in countries where an official line is often the only information available.
Governments in general have been slow to talk to their populations in cyberspace, but this is more so in Muslim countries. In an Economist Intelligence Unit survey of e-readiness among 70 countries, the UAE was the highest ranked among Muslim-majority countries, coming in 34th, with Malaysia at 38 and Turkey at 43. This should come as no surprise given the significant focus in the Emirates on the internet, as well as developments in new media laws.
Nonetheless, not enough attention has been paid to the massive social change that the internet and the related groundswell of opinion and energy that the e-ummah is creating. The internet has too often been seen either to be peripheral, or so subversive that it must be stifled and its proponents dealt with heavy-handedly. What leaders need to do is realise that the mobilising cross-boundary power of the internet is unstoppable and use it instead as a force for dialogue and reform.
This democratisation of the news, participation and influence has brought positive benefits to those who have been traditionally excluded from the spheres of religion and politics. In both the corridors of power as well as in mosques, it is women and youth who have been denied access. But within the broad, welcoming e-ummah they have found a place for expression and belonging. There is the opportunity to ask questions, challenge social mores and explore ideas without the fear of being judged.
There are pitfalls to this flat structure – how do cybercitizens recognise true expertise and credibility if they are looking for direction and truth? And those who are ordinarily vulnerable can become even more so. The e-ummah – much as it is distasteful to admit – is also full of charlatans and misanthropes. The anonymity which is the hallmark of the internet offers many the room to explore ideas and learn about themselves, but it is sadly exploited by others to hurl abuse and foul language. The codes of conduct we observe in ordinary life are crushed in a stampede to be as obnoxious and offensive as possible and to stir up racial and religious hatred on the most spurious grounds.
People forget that in fact the e-ummah doesn’t really exist, and that for those who take their religion seriously, it is critical to engage in the physical rituals and human interactions that are the foundations of Islamic activities. Without the internet, it is true that many people would be isolated from any community with whom they feel a sense of spiritual belonging. However, the physical presence required in congregational prayers, at the Haj and in other social activities is for a reason. The internet should not be allowed to make people too lazy to go out and interact with other human beings.
This nascent nation is a community of purpose, brought together by its interests and principles, eschewing the constraints of geographic boundaries in favour of a shared world view called Islam. Traditional scholars in early Islamic history divided the world into Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb, an easy split to make in a world where Muslims were connected by where they lived, even though they exhibited great variation in culture.
Today, scholars, academics and experts on all sides of the political divide busily occupy themselves with the debate over whether these divisions are still relevant and how these notions affect mindsets, politics and even wars. Those distinctions are irrelevant today, for it is in fact Dar al Internet that will be at the vanguard of creating social, spiritual, religious and political change in the Muslim world.
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is a British commentator on Islam and author of Love in a Headscarf, a new memoir of growing up as a Muslim woman
| 247,043
|
Stay safe by recognizing your tires’ problem areas
It is not uncommon for improperly maintained tires to cause a New Jersey car accident. Poor tire maintenance is a leading cause of car wrecks and injuries. One of the reasons why so many accidents happen because of tires is because most drivers do not know what to look for when evaluating the safety of their tires. This article will discuss what you should be looking for when examining your tires.
Check for over-inflation and under-inflation. While it is good to have air in your tires, it is not good to have too much or too little air in your tires. Having too much air causes just the middle part of your tire to have contact with the road, meaning you will have less traction in wet and slippery conditions and while braking. Under-inflation results in just the outer edge of your tires making contact with the road. This causes uneven tire wear and also leaves you with less traction on the road.
Also, check to see if your tires are wearing unevenly, which is a sign that they may need to be re-aligned to correct the issue. Check for erratic tread wear as well. This is could mean the wheel is off-balance or that your shock absorbers need to be replaced. Additionally, a raised part of sidewall or treading could be a sign that some of the tires belts have begun to separate from the tread — which means it is time to replace your old wheels and get newer, safer ones.
Whenever evaluating the safety of your tires, be sure to use common sense. If you see anything that appears out of the ordinary with your tires, a qualified mechanic may be able to help evaluate your tire situation. It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to tires. Indeed, if a driver’s negligently maintained tires leads to an injurious car crash, victims will have the right to seek damages against the driver who failed in his or her duty to maintain a safe vehicle.
Source: AAA, “Tire Safety and Maintenance,” accessed Oct. 14, 2015
| 75,527
|
State Advisory Council (SAC) Resources
Resources developed for the State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care (SAC).
- Access to Quality: Early Learning for California Preschoolers in Subsidized License-Exempt Settings (PDF; 1MB)
Summary of findings and policy recommendations on improving access to school readiness experiences for preschoolers in license-exempt care in California. This project examined: 1) the reasons why parents choose license-exempt child care, and their knowledge of the options that may be available to them; 2) the opportunities for and barriers to improving school readiness experiences for at-risk children who attend full-time, license-exempt child care; and 3) how license-exempt providers, and school readiness and preschool programs, might better coordinate and blend their offerings for families.
- All About Young Children: Information for Families on Children's Early Development
The online publication All About Young Children: Information for Families on Children’s Early Development provides resources for families based on the California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations and the California Preschool Learning Foundations. Parents and family members can find out what skills help children from birth to five learn, how they learn language, how they learn about feelings and relationships, how they learn about numbers, and how they become skillful at moving their bodies.
- California Comprehensive Early Learning Plan (PDF; 7MB)
California's Comprehensive Early Learning Plan (CCELP), or the "Plan," provides key direction for the State in the development of a high-quality birth-to-age-five system that provides all children with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve long-term success. The Plan is based on extensive research and stakeholder engagement, and it suggests changes that, if implemented, would make California's early learning system more coherent and effective.
Background Information on the development of the CCELP
- Condition of Children Birth to Age Five and Status of Early Childhood Services in California
A meta-analysis of the existing research on the condition of California‘s young children and the status of the state’s early childhood services.
- Neuroscience Research: How Experience with One or More Languages Affects the Developing Brain
- Cognitive Consequences of Dual Language Learning: Cognitive Function, Language and Literacy, Science and Mathematics, and Social-Emotional Development
- Program Elements and Teaching Practices to Support Young Dual Language Learners
- Family Engagement in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Families of Dual Language Learners
- Assessment of Young Dual Language Learners in Preschool
- Early Intervention and Young Dual Language Learners with Special Needs
- Local Quality Improvement Efforts and Outcomes Descriptive Study
A study to support the state of California and its counties in their efforts to build robust, evidence-based quality improvement systems.
Return to SAC Main Page
Early Education and Support Division | 916-322-6233
| 209,027
|
One novel on his list:
The First Men in the Moon, by HG WellsRead about another Moon journey on Mullan's list.
An industrialist, Bedford, and an eccentric scientist, Cavor, travel to the Moon together. The trip is made possible by Cavor's discovery of Cavorite, a substance that negates the effects of gravity. They discover that the Moon has a breathable atmosphere and is inhabited by the Selenites, insect-like aliens living in cities beneath the moon's surface. They turn out not to be friendly...
The First Men in the Moon also appears on Ted Gioia's list of six great moon novels.
| 141,686
|
Baking Soda: Clean for the Environment, the Kitchen, the Bathroom, and You
Baking Soda is an excellent alternative to most cleaning and hygienic products which contain toxic chemicals which are harmful to the people who use them as well as the environment. Concern about the damaging chemicals in cleaning and hygienic products has been recently justified by frightening revelations such as triclosan being found in dolphins and paraben being linked to cancerous tumors.
Parabens are a man-made chemical preservative which is cheap to produce and can be found in almost all shampoos, moisturizers, gels, lubricants, toothpaste and food additives. Parabens are particularly dangerous to women, as they can mimic the hormone estrogen. Parabens have been found in tumors removed from breast cancer patients. It is likely that parabens also damage to reproductive systems of males, in the July 2002 Archives of Toxicology a study was published by Dr. S. Oishi of the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, which showed a causal relationship between parabens and adverse effects to the male reproductive system in newborn male mammals.
Triclosan is an antibacterial agent commonly found in cleaning products like dish detergent. A 2005 study published in Environmental Pollution documents how blood samples taken from bottlenose dolphins in South Carolina and Florida showed that an average of 27 percent of the animals from various locations in both states contained triclosan. The presence of triclosan signals that not only has the health of the dolphins been affected, but also the water has been contaminated. So every time we wash our hands, dishes, and clothes triclosan is entering the wastewater and residual remains of triclosan leak into rivers and estuaries despite the water treatment process.
Fortunately, baking soda, known scientifically as sodium bicarbonate, is a multifaceted, multipurpose substance, which can clean and deodorize your home and your body without damaging your health or the health of the environment. Baking soda regulates pH and when baking soda encounters either an overly acidic or overly alkaline-based substance baking soda’s natural reaction is to neutralize that pH. Beyond that, baking soda also acts as a buffer by preventing further changes in pH balance. Baking soda’s dual properties of buffering and neutralizing make it a sustainable product with many helpful uses.
In your home, baking soda can be used to clean the toilet, the walls, mirrors, countertops, and other surfaces. By using baking soda in your toilet you can improve the flow of your whole septic system. Baking soda removes grease from dishes, can dry wet furniture and carpet, remove scratches and marks from floors and walls, and can be combined with water to polish chrome and stainless steel. Baking soda can also clean appliances like microwaves and coffee pots and has the ability to clean and unclog your drains and stoves (it can unclog gas stoves!). Baking soda can also deodorize and clean your trashcan, cat’s liter box, cutting board, drain, dishwasher, lunch boxes, dishrags, ashtray, refrigerator, carpets, cars, footwear and even stuffed animals. You can even make fresh cut flowers last longer by adding a teaspoon of baking soda to the vase.
Baking soda is also incredibly helpful to aiding you in hygienic needs. For instance, you can apply baking soda to your underarms with a powder puff to act as deodorant, which cuts back on the use of harmful parabens and can prevent more plastic waste from being put in landfills. Baking soda can be used to make toothpaste when mixed with a half a teaspoon of peroxide paste. You can use baking soda to scrub your body and face. If you add it to a bath it will soften your skin. Baking soda can be used for fresh breath or canker sores if you gargle with it using a mixture of water. Baking soda can even be used to alleviate pain from insect bites, sunburn, diaper rash, poison ivy rashes, windburns, and jellyfish stings. If added to a vaporizer or humidifying, baking soda can relieve a stuffy nose.
Other helpful uses include washing vegetables and fruit with baking soda and water. If you are a hunter you can remove the gamey taste from your food using baking soda. If you sprinkle your tomato plants with a little baking soda it will sweeten the tomatoes produces. If you sprinkle soil in your garden with baking soda it will repel rabbits and can be used in your home as well to repel cockroaches and ants. If applied to a windshield it will repel rain.. You can even create modeling clay with baking soda by mixing it with 1 ¼ cup water and 1 cup cornstarch.
All of these helpful tips and more can be found at care2.com,where Melissa Breyer has compiled a through list, as well as on lifehackery.com. To encourage a stricter labeling process on items such as cosmetics that contain harmful toxins, sign this petition on ForceChange.com.
Photo credit: maine.gov/spo/recycle/images/clipart/hhw/vinegar.gif
| 172,071
|
Twenty Percent of Miamians Don't Have Bank Accounts: Highest Rate of Any City
A higher percentage of Miamians don't have bank accounts than any other large city in America. A new survey finds 20.1 percent of Miamians have neither a checking nor a savings account. Another 21.4 percent are considered "underbanked," meaning while they do have a bank account, they rely more on things like check-cashing stores and payday loans to help pay the bills.
These statistics, of course, reflect the high rates of poverty and large number of working poor in South Florida. The Miami Herald reports that those less likely to have accounts are the unemployed, low-paid workers and immigrants who don't yet trust banks.
Miami is followed by Detroit (20 percent), El Paso (17.4 percent), Cleveland (17 percent), and Memphis (16.7 percent). Dallas, Houston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Baltimore round out the top ten.
However, the rest of the cities in the top ten have higher percentages of citizens who are "underbanked" than Miami. That's likely in part because Miami already has such a high population that is "unbanked."
Just another reminder that Miami remains a poverty-stricken economic hell hole, but hey, at least we're building new high-rise condos!
Get the Weekly Newsletter
| 109,179
|
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and pray to thy Father which is in secret. Matthew 6:6.
Jesus did not say—‘Dream about thy Father in secret,’ but ‘pray to thy Father in secret.’ Prayer is an effort of will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thing that conflicts is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is the overcoming of mental wool-gathering. We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on wilful prayer.
We must have a selected place for prayer and when we get there the plague of flies begins—This must be done, and that. “Shut thy door.” A secret silence means to shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God. God is in secret, and He sees us from the secret place; He does not see us as other people see us, or as we see ourselves. When we live in the secret place it becomes impossible for us to doubt God, we become more sure of Him than of anything else. Your Father, Jesus says, is in secret and nowhere else. Enter the secret place, and right in the centre of the common round you find God there all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.
| 190,655
|
Semi-Finished Plastic Products
Semi-finished or semi-finished products are made of various plastics and designate products with the simplest of geometries. Usually a single material is used, which is formed into the desired shape by forming or machining.
Machining of semi-finished plastic products
We manufacture many types of products from semi-finished products made of thermoplastics and thermosets as well as laminates — by mechanical processing, cutting or non-cutting. The versatile application of plastics results from their excellent mechanical, chemical and electrical properties. In addition, the high strength combined with low weight and the possibility of further processing by bonding, welding or hot forming offers a wide range of applications for our semi-finished products.
Your projects will be realized in close cooperation with the respective production departments, so that your requirements will be implemented constructively. We will advise you individually and according to your application-specific requirements.
Special material requirements:
- food compatibility
- chemical resistance
- resistance to radiation
- outgassing properties
- steam sterilization
We offer among others the following materials in the field of semi-finished plastic products:
| 42,986
|
[FFmpeg-devel] pthread_t is a struct on win32 so it cannot used as truth value
michaelni at gmx.at
Sat May 14 13:28:58 CEST 2011
On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 07:31:22AM +0200, Gianluigi Tiesi wrote:
> right now compilation of libavformat/udp.c
> is broken on win32 because thread_t is used as truth value
> at line 537.
> not a good idea anyway since linux manual page of pthread_create says:
> On success, pthread_create() returns 0; on error, it returns an error number, and the contents of *thread are undefined.
thx, locally fixed
Michael GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB
Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves? -- Diogenes of Sinope
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
More information about the ffmpeg-devel
| 210,480
|
Statute in Full:
§ 17-268. Game, non-game, fish and endangered species fund
A. A game, non-game, fish and endangered species fund is established to be used by the commission for game, non-game, fish and endangered species purposes. Monies in the fund are subject to annual legislative appropriation pursuant to § 35-143.
B. Monies received by this state pursuant to § 43-615 shall be deposited, pursuant to §§ 35-146 and 35-147, in the fund.
C. On notice from the commission, the state treasurer shall invest and divest monies in the fund as provided by § 35-313, and notwithstanding § 17-262, monies earned from investment of the game, non-game, fish and endangered species fund shall be credited to the fund.
Added by Laws 1984, Ch. 76, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1985. Amended by Laws 1988, Ch. 70, § 1; Laws 2000, Ch. 193, § 121.
§ 17-296. Definitions
In this article:
1. “Public access” means providing entry to publicly held lands for recreational use where such entry is consistent with the provisions establishing those lands.
2. “Sensitive habitat” means the specific areas within the geographical area historically or currently occupied by a species or community of species in which are found those physical or biological features essential to the establishment or continued existence of the species and which may require special management, conservation or protection considerations.
3. “Endangered species ” means a species or subspecies of native Arizona wildlife whose population has been reduced due to any cause whatsoever to such levels that it is in imminent danger of elimination from its range in Arizona, or has been eliminated from its range in Arizona.
4. “Threatened species” means a species or subspecies of native Arizona wildlife that, although not presently in imminent danger of being eliminated from its range in Arizona, is likely to become an endangered species in the foreseeable future.
5. “Candidate species” means a species or subspecies of native Arizona wildlife for which habitat or population threats are known or suspected but for which substantial population declines from historic levels have not been documented.
6. “Urban wildlife” means the wildlife that occurs within the limits of an incorporated area or in close proximity to an urban area that receives significant impact from human use.
7. “Environmental education” means educational programs dealing with basic ecological principles and the effects of natural and man related processes on natural and urban systems and programs to enhance public awareness of the importance of safeguarding natural resources.
8. “Habitat evaluation” means the assessment of the status, condition and ecological value of habitat and subsequent recommendations of management, conservation or other protection measures, or mitigation measures, including but not limited to, recommendation of reasonable alternatives for the proposed projects that might otherwise affect the habitat under assessment.
9. “Habitat protection” means the process of protecting the quality, diversity, abundance, and serviceability of habitats for the purposes of maintaining or recovering populations of Arizona wildlife.
Addition approved election Nov. 6, 1990, eff. Nov. 26, 1990.
§ 17-298. Expenditures from fund; purpose and amounts; annual report
A. Five per cent of the monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent on public access, including maintenance and operation expenses.
B. Sixty per cent of the monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent on the identification, inventory, acquisition, protection and management, including maintenance and operations, of sensitive habitat. At least forty per cent of the monies available under this subsection shall be spent on the acquisition of sensitive habitat utilized by endangered, threatened and candidate species. The commission may dispose of any lands acquired for use as habitat by an endangered, threatened or candidate species under this subsection when the species no longer qualifies as an endangered, threatened or candidate species. The Arizona game and fish commission shall dispose of the land in a manner consistent with the preservation of the species of concern. The disposal may include conservation easements and fee simple transfers with associated instruments of protection. The commission shall follow the guidelines established pursuant to § 37-803 relating to the disposition of real property by a state agency. In addition, disposal shall include a written agreement between the commission and the purchaser requiring the purchaser to incorporate management actions to ensure proper maintenance of the species of concern. Management actions may include maintenance of habitat, selective control of nonnative species, maintenance of genetic viability, monitoring of populations and habitat, coordinating conservation activities, funding conservation actions and assessing conservation progress.
C. Fifteen per cent of the monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent on habitat evaluation or habitat protection.
D. Fifteen per cent of the monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent on urban wildlife and urban wildlife habitat programs.
E. Five per cent of the monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent on environmental education.
F. All monies earned as interest on monies received pursuant to § 5-522 shall be spent only in the percentages and for the purposes described in subsections A through E of this section or for costs of administering the Arizona game and fish commission heritage fund in such amounts as determined by the Arizona game and fish commission.
G. On or before December 31 each year the commission shall submit its annual report to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives and the chairmen of the senate and house of representatives committees on natural resources and agriculture, or their successor committees. The annual report shall include information on:
1. The amount of monies spent or encumbered in the fund during the preceding fiscal year and a summary of the projects, activities and expenditures relating to:
(a) Property acquisition.
(b) Identification, inventory, protection and management of sensitive habitat.
(c) Habitat evaluation and protection.
(d) Urban wildlife.
(e) Environmental education.
(f) Public access.
2. The number and location of parcels of property acquired during the preceding fiscal year.
3. For personal and real properties acquired with fund monies during the preceding fiscal year, the amount of property tax revenue paid to each taxing jurisdiction during the last full tax year prior to acquisition.
4. The amount of money spent from the fund during the preceding fiscal year for employee personal services.
5. The number of full-time employees employed in the preceding fiscal year in connection with property acquisition, including survey, appraisal and other related activities.
6. The total number of full-time employees employed in the preceding fiscal year for the programs listed in subsections A through E of this section.
7. A list of the grants awarded during the preceding fiscal year including information on the recipients, purposes and amounts.
Addition approved election Nov. 6, 1990, eff. Nov. 26, 1990. Amended by Laws 1991, Ch. 42, § 1; Laws 1992, Ch. 111, § 1; Laws 1995, Ch. 203, § 1; Laws 1997, Ch. 16, § 1; Laws 1998, Ch. 52, § 7.
§ 17-298.01. Decennial performance audit
Beginning in 2001 and every tenth succeeding year thereafter, the auditor general shall conduct a performance audit, as defined in § 41-1278, of the programs and expenditures of the Arizona game and fish commission heritage fund pursuant to this article. The auditor general shall submit copies of the performance audit to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives and the chairmen of the senate and house of representatives committees on natural resources and agriculture, or their successor committees.
Added by Laws 1997, Ch. 16, § 2.
§ 17-314. Civil liability for illegally taking or wounding wildlife; recovery of damages
A. The commission or any officer charged with enforcement of the laws relating to game and fish, if so directed by the commission, may bring a civil action in the name of the state against any person unlawfully taking, wounding or killing, or unlawfully in possession of, any of the following wildlife, or part thereof, and seek to recover the following minimum sums as damage:
1. For each turkey or javelina ..................................... $ 500.00
2. For each bear, mountain lion, antelope or deer, other than
trophy ........................................................ $1,500.00
3. For each elk or eagle, other than trophy or endangered species .. $2,500.00
4. For each predatory, fur-bearing or nongame animal ............... $ 250.00
5. For each small game or aquatic wildlife animal .................. $ 50.00
6. For each trophy or endangered species animal .................... $8,000.00
B. No verdict or judgment recovered by the state in such action shall be for less than the sum fixed in this section. The minimum sum that the commission may seek to recover as damages from a person pursuant to this section may be doubled for a second verdict or judgment and tripled for a third verdict or judgment. The action for damages may be joined with an action for possession, and recovery had for the possession as well as the damages.
C. The pendency or determination of an action for damages or payment of a judgment, or the pendency or determination of a criminal prosecution for the same taking, wounding, killing or possession, is not a bar to the other, nor does either affect the right of seizure under any other provision of the laws relating to game and fish.
D. All monies recovered pursuant to this section shall be placed in the wildlife theft prevention fund.
Added as § 17-246 by Laws 1977, Ch. 78 § 1. Renumbered as § 17-314. Amended by Laws 1978, Ch. 185, § 1; Laws 1985, Ch. 51, § 2; Laws 2006, Ch. 238, § 6.
| 114,756
|
Ask any mom and she’ll confirm the fact that children’s interests shift constantly. One day they’re busy trying to convince you that they’re a sheriff and a week later their new obsession is dinosaurs. With their ever changing minds at work, it only makes sense that when remodelling your child’s room, you choose a décor that can be easily converted and customized to your child’s needs.
There are a few things you will want to consider when making the decision to remodel your child’s room.
- How old are the children?
- How many children will be occupying the room?
- What color scheme would you like to use?
- What is your budget?
- How many accessories will you be purchasing compared to the amount you will be reusing?
If you are remodelling your child’s room on a budget, chances are you want the improvement to last for some time before having to do it all over again. A great way to ensure that this plan works is to avoid sticking to a theme. This can mean more work for you. It also means that all your hard work may sadly be wasted when your child grows tired of the theme.
Another pitfall of decorating your child’s room could be the strong urge to decorate the room with all the things that capture your child’s attention at their present age. You may want to reconsider this. Creating a bedroom that is too age-specific leaves little room for the bedroom to grow as the child does.
Rather than painting images onto your child’s walls, which could require you to repaint when your child has fallen out of love with the design, opt for posters and figurines to decorate your child’s room. This is an easy to manage alternative that leaves a lasting impression in you and your child’s mind and not on their walls.
The same idea can be applied to the dilemma of whether or not to create a themed bedroom. Choose furnishings that are fun, but versatile. Get your child involved by having them pick out wall art and toys to use as décor. When the time comes to update your child’s room once more you can reuse these pieces to help decorate a room that has taken on a more mature look.
Bunk beds are a popular choice for children’s bedrooms. As a safety precaution it is a good idea to have children under the age of seven sleep on the bottom bunk. Choose a bunk bed that has safety rails on both sides and a safety ladder. If you are shopping for a crib then it is important to look for those that have slats/bars too close together for a baby’s head to get caught.
Other safety concerns such as exposed electrical outlets, can be solved by plugging outlets with safety caps. These caps can easily be found at a hardware or home improvement store.
Remember these tips
- You can save a lot of money by visiting thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets to pick up cute accents and storage items for your child’s room.
- School-aged children will benefit from an area where they can comfortably complete their homework.
- When searching for the right color to use in your child’s room, remember that soothing colors such as lavender, help to promote sleep.
- Create pops of color in a girl’s room with flowers from your own yard.
- If you have a little artist on your hands you can paint an area of your child’s room with chalkboard paint. Now they have a designated area where they can draw on the walls.
AUTHOR BIO: Karla Jennings is the writer and owner of The Home & Moms, a DIY decorating and home improvement blog. She is also a freelance writer for Maid Brigade, the leader in home maid services.
| 128,974
|
My friend said that we can send mails to a gmail ID omitting the '.'. Still it goes to the same person.
He said he verified this with his account. When he tried to send using the second email id the mail got landed in his inbox. is it a real feature of gmail or there is some error in this.
For e.g the real email id is firstname.lastname@example.org. Instead of using email@example.com in the To field he used firstname.lastname@example.org
| 76,423
|
NY State Senator Simcha Felder is fighting to increase penalties for criminals that choose to disrespect and vandalize the final resting place of our loved ones. Recently the New York State Senate unanimously passed legislation sponsored by Senator Felder (s1109), which makes even “minor” damage from cemetery desecration a class E felony. The bill also establishes a far more serious punishment for second-time offenders.
Every year, hundreds of cemeteries suffer crimes of toppled stones, graffiti, desecration of remains, and outright demolition. In the United States last year, more than 1,800 individual markers were affected, costing at least $488,000 to repair.
“The consequences of cemetery vandalism are not limited to property damage, but can result in emotional trauma to the relatives and friends of the departed whose grave has been desecrated,” said Senator Felder. “It’s about time New York State got tougher on the individuals who commit these horrific crimes.”
Cemeteries need to be respected as places of memorial and remembrance, free from attack and defilement. Senator Felder will continue to safeguard our community by penalizing criminals that defile our cemeteries.
| 200,812
|
Entertainment Magazine: Education
Is an online degree a better option?
Online degrees make career change or advancement convenient.
If your job makes it hard to get to a campus, then online study can help you get the career education you need. Just make sure your online degree is from an accredited program.
If you are searching for a school to further your education, browse through our selection of well known educational institutions.
On the EMOL.org Entertainment Magazine site, link to request complimentary enrollment information from our affiliates.
Expand your horizons with a degree, upgrade your skills, or explore a new career.
SCHOOLS & CAREERS BY CATEGORY
Search A School Near You. A full list of schools in your area will let you check out each campus before you request information. Update Your Degree. Get Certified in hundreds of degrees in Auto, Digital, Dental, Film, Health, Nursing and more.
Culinary arts degree from the Art Institute cooking schools
Call The Art Institute Now:
Call DeVry University:
Search for a Job at Beyond.com
Find a New Job with the Beyond.com Career Network, the world’s largest network of niche career communities providing access to thousands of top-tier industry and local web sites. Free Job Seeker Tools - Click here to start now!
Health-related Education & Career Information: Administration, Billing, Coding, Surgical Tech
Dental education opportunities
What does it take to be a good, basic auto mechanic? Those who don't graduate from auto mechanic school may find themselves earning less than half of what their better-educated counterparts make.
For those facing unemployment, the idea of retraining for a new career can seem daunting--especially for adults who don't have the luxury of attending a two- or four-year college. America's career-training institutions can offer hope, though. Here are six careers you can become certified for in six months or less:
Computer Technician: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that careers in the IT field will increase by 27-53% by 2016. In fourteen states, ComputerTraining.com offers accelerated, classroom-based courses to prepare students for Microsoft Certification (MCP, MCTS and MCSA) in six months.
Medical Careers: According to the Department of Labor, Medical Assistant is one of the fastest-growing fields in America. Training programs to become a Medical Assistant, Dental Assistant, Medical Billing Technician or Phlebotomist vary in length depending on certifications, starting at eight weeks.
Culinary Arts: Schools now offer training in classic culinary techniques and pastry arts in as little as six months.
Cosmetology: Courses have evolved beyond one-year courses in hairstyling and now include shorter, specialized courses beyond hairstyling, including accelerated courses for manicures, facials, or makeup application.
Massage Therapist: A massage therapy education is typically based on hours, rather than weeks or months, of experience. Most students are ready for the exam in as little as 300 hours and certified after 1,000 hours--about the equivalent of six months of full-time work.
Pharmacy Technician: Pharmacy Technicians can receive on-the-job training, but employers favor candidates who have completed a formal education and certification process.
Affiliate Marketing: earn commissions and referral fees from web sites as a business model. Work with affiliate marketing networks and online advertisers.
Jerry Collins, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ComputerTraining.com says he's already seeing an increase in inquiries. "As the recession has spread, we've seen more and more people looking for new career choices, rather than simply waiting for an old job that might never return," he said. "Even people who have earned college degrees for their former jobs are retraining for opportunities created by changing technology."
For 13 years, ComputerTraining.com (www.computertraining.com) has provided accelerated classroom education programs designed to help students achieve Microsoft Certification in six months. All classes are lead by experienced instructors and all of the campuses that are eligible for ACCET accreditation are accredited. Graduating students may earn any combination of MCP, MCTS and MCSA certifications. Source: ComputerTraining.com. ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Md., Jan. 14, 2009 /PRNewswire/ --
| 233,185
|
The Sketchy Edge Vignette
A painting can dissolve into sketchy lines, giving us the feeling of an informal sketchbook page. Dutch illustrator Rien Poortvliet often used a sepia penline to establish his vignette illustrations, in this case from the book “In My Grandfather’s House.”
And Dean Cornwell lets his preliminary brush-drawn lines hang out, finishing the figures above the sketchy edge.
The Cutback Vignette
The silhouette shapes of JC Leyendecker’s figures are painted first on a toned canvas. Then he cuts back with white paint, using long strokes and a slippery medium. This is just a study, but it shows his method in action.
This more finished cover is done in the same way, leaving a few spaces between strokes where the toned canvas can be seen.
The Wraparound Vignette
A wraparound vignette sets up the detail around the outside edge of the design, leaving the white of the page open for type. Jon Whitcomb establishes a feeling of firelight and moonlight.
The blacksmith shop of Volcaneum in the first Dinotopia book was conceived in the same way, with the white space used for text.
Breakaway VignetteIn this last vignette strategy, the form pops out of the rectangular panel. It's perfect for explosive action, but it calls attention to itself, so it should be used sparingly. This one appears in Dinotopia: The World Beneath.
I used a similar idea in an unused sketch for National Geographic, where I wanted to convey the sense of speed and danger of a chariot race.
To recap, the ten types of vignettes are soft blur, torn paper, fadeaway, form-link, real white, spillover, sketchy edge, cutback, wraparound, and breakaway.
Read the whole series:
Vignetting, Part 1
Vignetting, Part 2
Vignetting, Part 3
More on vignetting in my book: Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist
Thanks to the following this week:
John Flesk, link.
Roger Reed of Illustration House, link.
Leif Peng’s Flickr sets, link.
Jim Vadeboncoeur’s illustrated books, link.
100 Years of Illustration, link.
Armando Cabrera, link.
Illustration Art, link.
Tomorrow: Fresh Out of Mummies
| 41,643
|
Locally known as Gwangjang Sijang (“Gwong-jong Shi-jong”), Gwangjang Market is located in a network of alleys just off the main street near Dongdaemun market in Seoul, South Korea. With countless food stalls open until 10 PM every day of the week, you are not likely to find yourself hungry or bored even late on a Monday night!
When you walk down the main alley entrance and reach the middle of the market, all you can see is food stalls for as far as the eye can see. The countless customers are drinking soju and snacking on simple Korean dishes.
Gwangjang Shijang is the perfect place to sample such well-known street food at a low cost. Many items are as cheap as 4,000 Won (about 4 USD).
The ahjummas (older women) cooking and serving are friendly and curious of foreigners. They provide a great opportunity to practice your Korean if learning the language. If you are very good at pronunciation, they might even assume you’re an English teacher—that you live in Korea!
Foreigners frequent Gwangjang Sijang, but be assured plenty of locals do as well. Catching a bite to eat at this market is sure to give you the flavor of Seoul night life!
- Jongno 5-ga Station (Subway Line 1), Exit 8.
- Euljiro 4-ga Station (Subway Line 2, 5), Exit 4.
To get attention, call out “jeogiyo” (“excuse me”; lit. “over there”).
At Gwangjang Market, priced menus in both English and Korean are posted on some stalls. If you know the name of the food already or can read the menu, say the name and then “juseyo.” This is a polite way to say “give me.”
If you must point at what you want, you can either say “juseyo” or be more specific and say “geugeo juseyo” (please give me that) or “igeo juseyo” (please give me this). You can also try using English words. Working in such a tourist attraction has helped many of the workers learn English.
“Kamsahamnida” means thank you.
To ask for the price, say “Eolmaeyo?” (How much?)
The stall worker will reply quickly, so listen carefully. If you hear a “cheon” (thousand) as in “sam cheon won” (3,000 Won), then you should give them a 10,000 Won bill or less because it costs less than 10,000. If you hear “man” as in “i man pal cheon won” (28,000 Won), then if all else fails just hand them more 10,000 bills until you have reached the amount for them to give you change.
What would you like to know about food in Korea? Please leave a comment below. Want more Asia travel tips? Stay updated by hitting the subscribe button and or following Melissa at @mdwrites on Twitter.
| 219,395
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.