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- Bargaineering - http://www.bargaineering.com/articles -
Median Homes Require $85k Annual Salary
Posted By Jim On 01/12/2007 @ 8:50 am In The Home | 11 Comments
A nonprofit, the Center for Housing Policy, recently did a research study into the 2007 median home price in 202 of the largest metropolitan areas and discovered that the median home price of $248,000 meant that the owner would need to earn $85,000 a year in order to afford it (based on 10% down and that the owner would pay 28% of his income to the loan). The bigger part of the story is that the increase in home prices has not been matched by an increase in salaries. The study said that to combat higher prices, families have been moving farther away from metropolitan centers or going with cheaper options like condos and townhouses.
Some eye-poppers for you:
While I think it’s unfortunate that a home costs so much, there’s a reason why they cost that much… people are willing and able to pay for them. I don’t know if the 10% down and 28% per month is a reasonable benchmark anymore because so many people can get 0% down loans and are willing to stretch their budgets to get into a home. Homes will sell for what the market will bear and while the market has softened, it’s still able to support prices that make the median numbers look unreasonable.
Source: CNN Money
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Thank you for reading! |
Aids Awareness Week Planned for Nov. 15-17Nov. 9, 1995
AIDS Awareness Week will be held Nov. 15-17 at Baylor University with several events and speakers scheduled. The week is coordinated to promote awareness of the disease and honor those who have died from it.
The keynote speaker will be Amy Dolph Leonard, a 26-year-old Pasadena resident who is HIV positive. She will address Chapel-Forum at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15 in Waco Hall. She will discuss "HIV Positive Perspectives" again at noon during the Brown Bag Luncheon in the Barfield Drawing Room of the Bill Daniel Student Center.
Leonard works as a juvenile outreach coordinator at the AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc. and is a member of the Women's HIV Coalition of Houston. She makes presentations throughout the country discussing AIDS related issues. She has made numerous appearances on talk shows, special television presentations and radio spots and has written AIDS-related stories for magazines and newspapers. She received the Counseling and Testing Services Volunteer of the Year award in 1995.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt Display will be in the Student Center Wednesday through Friday. The Waco division of the NAMES project donated the two panels of the quilt. The quilt has patches made by the friends or family members of people who have died from AIDS. These panels and others from the NAMES projects have been displayed nationwide at similar events.
The "Make a Wish" Christmas tree in the den of the Student Center also honors those who have died. Red ribbon ornaments to hang on the tree may be purchased for $1 with proceeds going to McCARES (McLennan County AIDS/HIV Resources Education Services.)
For more information, call 755-3520. |
Norfolk How Hill 'Hitler's oak' Olympic gift saved
- 28 December 2013
- From the section Norfolk
An "historically significant" oak tree given to a 1936 Berlin Olympics gold medal winner by Adolf Hitler has been saved for future generations.
The "Hitler's oak" sapling was given to Norfolk helmsman Christopher Boardman, who planted it at his home in How Hill.
The How Hill Trust decided to pollard, or prune, the tree despite being told it was "unsafe" having never recovered from the 1987 Great Storm.
"It looks slightly odd, but it's done remarkably well," said a spokesman.
'Overtones of Hitler'
The oak saplings were given to all gold medal winners at the 1936 Olympics and received their nickname because of the Nazi leader's association with the Berlin Games.
Four came to the UK after the games to mark gold medals in yachting, double scull rowing, 4x400m relay athletics and 50km walk athletics.
Mr Boardman, who died in 1987, was the helmsman of the British yacht Lalage, which won the gold medal in the 6-metre class.
Simon Partridge, director of How Hill Trust, which now looks after the estate on the Norfolk Broads, said: "This tree is historically significant to the UK.
"Some people do think it's got the overtones of Hitler and the Nazis, but the Hitler oak originated from the '36 Olympics and that was prior to World War Two.
"The oak that came here was only one of four that came out of Berlin to Britain in '36 - it's the last one standing and it was in pretty poor condition."
Tree surgeon Ashley Clarke said the tree was pollarded in early summer and "looked pretty drastic" when the work was complete.
"It was worth putting the effort in to save something like this," he said.
"If it had been any other tree we'd have just felled it, but because of it's historical value we were determined to try save it.
"As soon as you cut the top of the tree it will go in to survival mode. Basically we're shocking back to life, that forms another canopy and if it's properly managed it should easily outlive us all."
Mr Boardman, one in a crew of five, refused to go to Berlin to collect the tree and his gold medal as he "didn't like what was going on in Nazi Germany", said Mr Partridge.
"One of the crew members who did go also picked up the sapling and they decided that as Christopher was the helmsman it should come here so it was planted at the rear of the house in September '36."
Long before the gale force winds of 1987, Hitler nearly destroyed the tree by blowing it up during World War Two.
Holly farmer Peter Boardman, 81, the Olympian's nephew, said: "I was away at school at time but a bomb was dropped about 25 yards from the tree, it made a big hole in the ground. There was shrapnel embedded into the house, it was very close.
"I'm very proud of the tree and so glad it's still alive. I'll admit, after the '87 storms I remember walking up the hill here to see how the tree was.
"Pollarding of oak trees is a jolly good thing to do."
How Hill remained in the Boardman family until Mr Boardman's father, Edward, died in 1950 and the estate was split up.
Eventually in 1966 the marshes, woodland and gardens were bought, along with the house itself, by Norfolk County Council Education Department.
It came under the control of the How Hill Trust in 2002.
After pollarding the oak produced "a good crop of acorns", said Mr Partridge.
They have been stored in the hope of "setting them early in the New Year and continuing the line". |
31400 Hebrews - Lesson 6
An important concept in Hebrews is Rest. It is wonderful to rest in the finished work of Christ for us. Is there such a thing as resting in a day-by-day walk with God as a believer?
To e-mail a BBNBI staff representative, click here |
It isn’t something of which most of us are aware, but we human beings are “marked” with a certain strange feature: and that is…we want to change.
Perhaps you’re thinking: “What’s so strange about that?” After all, who amongst us isn’t familiar with this ever-present longing (of ours)? Granted, taken by itself, this desire doesn’t seem so strange; that is, until we realize the obvious: we are always changing. In fact, not a single moment goes by where who — and what — we are remains the same.
Statistics vary, but in less than seven years there won’t be a single cell left in any of our bodies that’s the same cell there today. This means that any human being who “wants” to change is like a mountain river wanting to reach the valley floor. It’s a done deal; that’s what mountain rivers do, and “changing” should be our first nature. Yet…
Any true longing we have to change is born of our innate wish to transcend our present level of being: on the one hand to know, consciously — unmistakably — that we are fulfilling some unseen, but higher reason for our very existence; and, at the same time, as a pre-requisite to this invisible mandate, to rise above those prevalent and often quite dark parts of us that drag us down, and that soil or spoil our relationships with others. Few would argue these points. Yet, this longing to participate in the perfection of our being has been subverted and, perhaps more truly spoken, stolen from out of our hands… [to be continued] |
Patrick Guilfoile: Humans as walking Petri dishes
By one reckoning, we are about 10 percent human. The prodigious number and variety of microbes in and on our bodies outnumber our human cells about 10:1. (Don’t take this news too hard. Since bacterial cells are so tiny in comparison to our cells, by volume, we are still mostly human.)
In recent years, it has become clear that our microbial companions are not just passive travelers with us on our journey through life. There is evidence that the particular complement of bacteria, fungi and viruses we harbor might affect our propensity to get sick or become obese, and determine how we smell, which in turn helps determine our attractiveness to other people.
As a first step in better understanding the role of microbes in and on our bodies in health and disease, scientists for the past several years have been engaged in a massive research undertaking called the Human Microbiome Project. Using newly developed techniques, scientists read genetic “bar codes” to decipher the collection of microbes found at 15 or 18 different sites on the body of more than 200 different people. They also probed more deeply and identified all the genes present in some of the microbes located in different sites on the body.
Altogether, the project generated 3,500,000,000 pieces of genetic information. (This is equivalent to about 3500 sets of the Encyclopedia Britanica.) Based on the researchers’ analysis, about 50,000 different kinds of bacteria were found in or on the subjects’ bodies.
One of the key findings from this massive project was that each person tested had a unique bacterial flora — no two people harbored the same collection of microbes. In spite of these differences, it appeared that microbes in a given site in the body had a similar function. For example, the collection of bacteria in the mouth appeared to have a common function of breaking down sugars and starches, regardless of the specific actors found in an individual. The researchers also found that many healthy people harbored potentially harmful bacteria. For example, about a third of people in the sample had Staphylococcus aureus in their nostrils, a microbe that can potentially cause serious, even fatal, infections.
This research will provide a baseline for better understanding the role of our microbial companions in health and disease. By understanding the microbes that make a living in and on our bodies, we will gain insight into the complex ecosystem that is a human being. Ultimately, this work could have profound effects on the way we think about and treat many human ailments.
More information is available in: Li K, Bihan M, Yooseph S, Methé BA (2012) Analyses of the Microbial Diversity across the Human Microbiome. PLoS ONE 7(6): e32118. doi:10.1371
Huse SM, Ye Y, Zhou Y, Fodor AA (2012) A Core Human Microbiome as Viewed through 16S rRNA Sequence Clusters. PLoS ONE 7(6): e34242. doi:10.1371
Pennisi, E. Microbial Survey of Human Body Reveals Extensive Variation. Science 336: 1369-1370 June, 2012.
PATRICK GUILFOILE has a Ph.D. in bacteriology and is currently an interim associate vice president at Bemidji State University. |
For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
] By "the Son of man" is meant, not any man, as some have thought; for no mere man is lord of any law, moral or ritual, natural or positive; or has a power of disposing of it, and dispensing with it at pleasure; but Christ himself; which is the constant sense of this phrase in the New Testament, and is a character of the Messiah in the old, ( Daniel 7:13 ) who, as he was the institutor of the sabbath among the Jews, that being a ritual, and of mere positive institution, could dispense with it, and even abrogate it at his pleasure. The Jews so far agree to this, that he that commanded the law of the sabbath, could dispense with it; they say F26, that
``the day on which Jericho was taken was the sabbath day; and that though they slew and burnt on the sabbath day, (tbv llxl hwu tbvh le hwuv ym) , "he that commanded the observation of the sabbath, commanded the profanation of it".''And since Christ is greater than the temple, and has all the perfections of the divine nature in him, is equal to the Father in power and glory; and even as mediator, has all power in heaven and earth given him; so as he is Lord of all other things, he is of the sabbath, and has a power of dispensing with it, and even of abolishing it; see ( Colossians 2:16 Colossians 2:17 ) and since the Lord of the sabbath had a power of dispensing with it, and made use of it in the cases of David and his men, and of the priests in the temple formerly; the Pharisees ought not to think it strange, that the Son of man, who is equally Lord of the sabbath, dispensed with it in his disciples now.
F26 R. David Kimchi in Josh. vi. 11. |
My dearly loved brothers, understand this: everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
References for James 1:19
for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.
Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil excess, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.
References for James 1:21
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror;
References for James 1:23
for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was.
But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts-this person will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone thinks he is religious, without controlling his tongue but deceiving his heart, his religion is useless.
References for James 1:26
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
References for James 1:27 |
Focus on Relevant Quality Indicators
The clinical divisions in the Department of Medicine have developed divisional performance dashboards, which focus on quality indicators deemed to be highly relevant to the individual clinical discipline.
The data presented in the divisional dashboards are extracted from:
- Electronic medical records
- Administrative billing system
- Disease-related patient registries
- Pharmacy and laboratory databases
- Patient surveys
- Other information systems, including an incidence reporting system and an adverse event management system
The data collected and analyzed in the dashboards allow each division to:
- Evaluate its performance over time
- Perform a comparative analysis with internal and external sources of benchmarking data
- Identify areas for improvement and areas of best practice
These efforts now include divisional multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, and other groups invested in improving care delivery, who work together on numerous improvement projects.
Successful Divisional Performance Projects
To following are examples of successful divisional performance improvement projects in the Department of Medicine:
Mark D. Aronson, Naama Neeman, Alexander Carbo, Anjala V. Tess, Julius J. Yang, Patricia Folcarelli, Kenneth F. Sands, and Mark L. Zeidel. A Model for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Programs in Academic Departments of Medicine. Am J Med. 2008 Oct;121(10):922-9. |
New Test For Skin Sensitization Without Using Animals, Chemical Research in Toxicology Reveals
3/28/2013 8:18:52 AM
In an advance in efforts to reduce the use of animals in testing new cosmetic and other product ingredients for skin allergies, scientists are describing a new, highly accurate non-animal test for these skin-sensitizers. Their study appears in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
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Q. Why does my African grey chew on his toenails?
By Lisa A Bono
There are two main reasons why a grey would chew on their toenails. The first reason would be part of the natural grooming process. African grey parrots are ground feeders and forage for food near swamp areas in their native land. After a good scratch in the dirt, they will groom, clean and chew on their nails to keep them in shape. Sharp nails are better for climbing, landing, scratching and holding food. While grooming toenails, the grey will also groom their legs and preen feathers in a relaxed and somewhat peaceful manner.
The second reason it a bit more ominous and usually reserved for pet African grey parrots vs. their wild cousins. A wild or flighted grey will instinctually flee from whatever is making them nervous. When we chose to clip and cage, we took that hardwired option to flee away from them. When an African grey parrot is nervous or overwhelmed, very often it will resort to chewing on its toe nails. There is a definite difference in the grooming (as mentioned above) and the nervous aspect. A grey showing signs of nervousness will often lift its foot to its mouth and chew on one toe nail in a quick and hard manner. This may happen after a growl has failed to serve as a warning. An extremely nervous grey may lift its foot to its beak, droop its wings a bit, and actually pull on its lower beak. The grey may shift from leg to leg and repeat the same action. If the nervous warnings aren't heeded, you may end up with a grey who will throw themselves to the floor to get away.
Remember to watch body language and keep your grey feeling safe and secure. If you see your pet African grey is chewing on his toe nails, take a step back, look around and see what could be causing this nervous reaction.
Q. What common non-talking sounds should I expect from my grey?
By Lisa A Bono
Greys are notorious for learning sounds and being able to repeat what they have heard. Some learned sounds are just for fun while others have meaning behind them. Because there are so many different sounds my own greys have mastered, I thought I would ask people on my grey forum to see what the most common learned sounds are.
Many greys were quick at learning simple beeps such as an answering machine, microwave, video games and a phone being dialed. Greys that lived in multiple species households often learned the language of another species, such as a dog, cat, chicken or duck. Many greys will learn other bird species calls as well.
When African grey parrots live with humans, they also learn our noises, and I mean ALL of them. Many grey owners reported their greys copied the noise which made them sound as if they had coughed, sneezed, cleared their throats, burped, sniffled, laughed, passed wind, was blowing their nose or spitting. Some noises would not make it past the editor's desk, so I urge you to be aware of the words and noises you are using around your incredibly intelligent little grey. Some may come back to haunt you over a holiday dinner.
Everyday household noises seem to be favored by greys as well. Many have learned to reproduce a knock on the front door, simulate the phone ringing, coffee pots brewing, water dripping, soda cans opening, cabinets closing or squeaky shoes on the floor.
According to Dr Irene Pepperberg, associate professor at the Dept. of Psychology at Brandeis University, even Arthur the youngest bird at the Alex Foundation (alexfoundation.org) has a favorite sound. Arthur makes a "water" sound, just like the faucet!
Some of the outdoor noises that catch their attention and are often repeated are police cars with sirens blasting, fire trucks, car alarms, barking dogs or the occasional blue jay. You may ask why the blue jay? Because our greys like to play with sounds and more often than not sounds are amplified. Imagine the noise from a 100lb blue jay echoing through your house. Believe me, it's not pleasant.
Most of the noises I mentioned are learned and used for fun. There are sounds that are learned and remembered so our greys can use them to communicate with us.
Many people reported kissing noises from their greys as they were put to bed, or when their beak touched the owners face. Some greys will make chewing sounds as their owners are eating to remind them they too, would like some.
Taboo is a Congo grey on my forum who likes to add noises to human movement such as whenever anyone sits down or bends over to pick something up he will grunt for them. If you happen to take a drink in front of him, Taboo will make a gulping sound as well as finish it off with an "AHHHHHHH" after the drink is done.
Jennifer who resides in Jordan with Congo grey Ku-Ku, responded that "Ku-Ku makes a tsk, tsk, noise that people in the Middle East use to show displeasure about something & his timing is remarkable!"
My own little grey, Emma Lynn, has her own set of sounds she uses as a way of communication with family members. Emma does not talk. Perhaps because of her twisted neck the syrinx (organ at the end of a parrots windpipe that produces sound) or the tubes that push air into the syrinx are constricted. Emma has short sounds or screams she uses and I understand them all. She will bob her head up and down for "yes" and throw a raspberry sound to show displeasure or to answer "no". Emma has a click that I have determined to mean I love you, because she will lean in to me and click, when I say "I love you" to her. She has a scream when they boys, Stirling and Sydney, are misbehaving and another one for when my husband wanders off the couch and out of her view. So with that said, keep in mind if your grey never learns to say a word, there are many other ways they will and can communicate with us.
Why does my grey like to put his beak in the corner of the cage and kick behind him?
By Lisa A. Bono
We see African grey parrots of all ages and both sexes do this strange little maneuver. When African greys are babies, we often see them in a corner and believe they may be attempting to scratch their way out of their enclosure. As adults in the wild, they would be using this to forage for food near the swamp areas. When they are ready to mate, they will use this technique to clear out holes in trees and make nests. This also comes in handy when cleaning out soiled nests.
During a recent conversation about "scratching" with Maggie Wright, creator of the "Grey Play Round Table" magazine and author of "African Grey Parrots" (Barron's) commented, "It's probably for other things, too. Whatever their smart brains can think of to use it for, just like the crow."
Within my own home, Stirling, my African grey that is in his late twenties, seems to be the most active with his digging. He will forage around his cage to eat, and when he has his fill, he will wander out to venture down onto the floor. He squeezes himself into the corner of the room and starts kicking. So with that said, he is not looking for food. He is not attempting to get out of his enclosure. My thought is he's trying to dig his way to China. All joking aside, I do not believe any of us really have a definite answer as to why African grey parrots do this little chicken scratch other than they can.
How do African greys like to forage?
By Lisa A. Bono
Foraging ideas are as unlimited as your imagination. There are puzzles, acrylics, woods and shredables. After polling several African grey owners, acrylics and items that can be shredded come out on top as most enjoyed by the African grey parrot.
If your pet African grey is not used to foraging, start slow. If you overwhelm your pet African grey with a difficult task, it will lose interest quickly. If your pet African grey does not show interest in one, try another, or forage together.
An easy way to start your grey out on foraging is to let your pet African grey parrot observe you hide a favorite treat in something that is easily shredded, like a paper towel or untreated coffee filter. Place the foraging toy in a favorite dish for your pet African grey to explore. Once your pet African grey figures out the foraging toy challenge, you can add another step. Place the treat inside the paper towel and then inside a small paper bag. From there you can move on to multiple foraging areas with varying stages of difficulty within a cage or play area.
Last April, I was able to attend a "Foraging Lab" hosted by the Mid Atlantic States Association of Avian Veterinarians. The key note speakers were Brian Speer, DVM, ABVP and Scott Echols, DVM, ABVP. When I returned back to my store, I shared what had been taught with my clients and set up my own little experiment. Starting out slow with simple foraging ideas has had positive results, has reported by several of my clients. All the African greys have since moved on to more complex acrylic toys and keep their owners occupied with filling their various foraging stations.
Disclaimer: The posts and threads recorded in our message boards do not reflect the opinions of nor are endorsed by I-5 Publishing, LLC nor any of its employees. We are not responsible for the content of these posts and threads. |
The Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management have produced a range of publications, briefing papers and e-Bulletins.
Briefing papers 2015
CHASM BP 8-2015 [PDF]
Responsible Banking Ordinances for the UK: Making banking competition a 'race to the top'
CHASM BP 7-2015 [PDF]
Who bears responsibility for the financial crisis?
CHASM BP 6-2015 [PDF]
Is there (still) a problem with payday lending?
Karen Rowlingson, Lindsey Appleyard, Jodi Gardner
CHASM BP 5-2015 [PDF]
Financial Inclusion: Review of the 2015 General Election party manifestos
CHASM BP 4-2015 [PDF]
Financial Inclusion: Review of Coalition Government Policies 2010-2015
CHASM BP 3-2015 [PDF]
Tax Behaviour: A review of existing research
by Ekta Bhayani
CHASM BP 2-2015 [PDF]
SMART pensions in the UK: salary sacrifice andauto-enrolment
by Margaret May
CHASM BP 1-2015 [PDF]
New survey research on public attitudes to wealth taxes
by Karen Rowlingson, Andy Lymer and Rajiv Prabhakar |
THIS memento of the First World War shows how everyone, even the music hall entertainers of the day “did their bit” for the war effort. It is a flier, brought to us by Roy Beddall of Amblecote, Stourbridge, with the words from a patriotic monologue that was performed in theatres at the time. It originally belonged to Roy’s grandfather, who copied out the words to send to a friend, and has been carefully preserved for nearly 100 years.
The Dawn of Peace was written by music hall performer Albert Voyce and we have uncovered a few details about him. We don’t know when he was born or where he came from but his career appears to have begun in the 1890s in partnership with Sydney Verno, as Verno and Voyce the Fin-de- Cycle Bicyclists, or the Singing Cyclists.
Verno died in 1897 and Voyce continued the act with a Barney Stuart but by 1905 the pair had dropped the bicycles and were performing as sketch vocalists and singing comedians. They never topped the bill and were performers of the middle rank but by 1914 Voyce was appearing solo as a character comedian, performing “Rip van Winkle the Second”.
Also around this time Voyce became chairman of the Variety Artistes’ Federation and in 1923 he was quoted speaking out against black performers appearing at British music halls.
His patriotic monologue The Dawn of Peace is undated but from references made in it we can assume that it was written after July 1916.
In line 24 he refers to “Nurse Cavell” – Edith Cavell (1865- 1915) – who was executed by firing squad by the German army on 12th October, 1915, for helping Allied soldiers to escape from occupied Belgium.
Then on the next line Voyce refers to “brave Fryatt”. This is Captain Charles Fryatt (1872- 1916), a merchant seaman and non-combatant who was executed by the Germans on 27th July, 1916, for attempting to ram a German u-boat that was attacking his passenger ferry, the SS Brussels.
Voyce begins his monologue by referring to the “peaceful message” of Pope Benedict XV (r.1914-1922) who declared the neutrality of the Holy See and attempted to mediate between the warring nations in 1916 and again in 1917.
Voyce then goes on to imagine an encounter between the kaiser and a mocking Satan.
In his speech the Devil mentions Heligoland, two small islands in the North Sea, 29 miles from the German coast.
For much of their history they were Danish territory but in 1814 the Danes ceded the islands to Britain. They remained under British rule until 1890 when the German Empire was given the islands in return for concessions in Africa.
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9th November, 1918. The next day he fled to the Netherlands, where he would remain for the rest of his life.
George V referred to his cousin as “the greatest criminal in history” and there were calls for him to be hanged but the Allies, guided by US President Woodrow Wilson, judged it better for world peace if he was not prosecuted.
In 1920 Wilhelm Hohenzollern, as he was then, moved to a grand house in Doorn, in the central Netherlands, furnished from his palaces in Germany.
He always hoped the German monarchy would be restored, preferably with his grandson as kaiser, but Adolf Hitler and the Nazis held Wilhelm in low regard, blaming him for Germany’s defeat in the First World War.
When Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940 Winston Churchill offered the exkaiser asylum in Britain but he chose to remain.
Wilhelm died on 3rd June, 1941, aged 82, and was buried in the grounds of his home in Doorn.
The Dawn of Peace by Albert Voyce
I’d been reading the Pope’s peaceful message, sent out to the Nations from Rome,
Was considering the losses and suffering of our loved ones abroad and at home;
In my old arm-chair I sat thinking, alone in the firelight gleam,
Till the chains of slumber bound me, and I had a weird, strange dream:
I looked down on a desolate valley, amid ruin and smoke and mud,
I saw thousands of shattered homesteads, and a winding river of blood;
And each side of that horrible valley was as steep as a mountain fell –
Crimson’d, shattered and torn and blistered ... It looked like the mouth of hell!
From below came the roar of cannon, and the fumes of a poisonous gas,
And I noticed a gaunt-like figure slowly climbing a desolate pass:
Around him were threatening shadows, from which he vainly sought release;
Then – I caught a glimpse of his features, ’twas the Kaiser looking for Peace!
Madly begging the God of the Germans to uphold his name and race,
When the Devil flew up from the shadows and laughed in the tyrant’s face.
“Who wants peace?” cried the Master of Evil. “What, you! the King of the Huns –
After training your millions of soldiers, and constructing your giant guns?
Come, now, think how you fooled the English when they ’ceded you Heliogoland,
And remember your promise of friendship – when you gave them your withered hand!
And why did you build such a Navy, and then boast of your might and worth?
Was it simply for Peace that you did it? No, you were greedy and wanted the Earth!
That is why you invaded Belgium, and commanded your Huns to destroy –
To burn, rape and shoot without mercy, while you gazed on the scene with joy!
Why, even I cannot count the victims that you’ve murdered on land and wave,
But, men will remember Nurse Cavell, whom you sent to a martyr’s grave;
And they’ll curse you for shooting brave Fryatt, when your body lies cold and still –
You may try to forget that murder, but history never will!
Were you thinking of Peace when you ordered your Zepps and your ’planes to creep
Over peaceful city and hamlet, and murder women and babes in their sleep?
Was it Peace bade your submarine pirates sink innocent souls ’neath the flood?
Why through YOU both the land and the ocean have been crimson’d with human blood.
Now you call on your God for protection, beg for Peace like a coward dismayed,
But the Peace that you’ll get is not in Heaven – it’s down there in the Hell that you’ve made!
Thro’ its bottomless depths you shall travel, amid torments that never shall cease,
And the flaming tongues that scorch you shall herald the dawn of Peace.” |
Tracy Nye, 50, says he was forced out of early retirement last year after losing $1.5 million on privately placed investments—largely unregulated equity and debt securities not listed on an exchange. The Boise (Idaho) resident says he put $1.1 million into debt securities issued by Medical Capital Holdings, a financial firm, and $400,000 into Shale Royalties, an affiliate of energy company Provident Royalties. In July 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the firms for fraud, and most of the investments were wiped out.
Most private placements are offered to individuals under the SEC's Rule 506, which allows sales to "accredited investors"—those with net worth of $1 million or $200,000 in annual income—as well as institutions. The rule assumes that they have the sophistication to evaluate the investments. The problem is that the SEC established the requirements in 1982 and hasn't adjusted them for inflation. As a result, says Jennifer Johnson, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., some investors, especially retirees who qualify, may not understand the risks. The financial overhaul bill enacted in July directs the SEC to exclude primary residences from the net worth calculation and to study the accredited investor standards.
Private placements allow companies to raise money without going through the extensive financial disclosure required by a public offering. Neither the SEC nor state regulators routinely review them. Most offerings aren't fraudulent and can be lucrative for appropriate investors, says Jay Turo, chief executive officer of Growthink Securities, which helps private companies raise capital.
Still, the lack of information can put investors at a disadvantage, says Manning Warren, a law professor at the University of Louisville's Brandeis School of Law. "At best they don't get enough disclosure to understand the risks involved, and at worst, these investments turn out to be totally bogus," he says. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees brokers and their firms, says complaints about private placements have jumped 35 percent so far this year on top of a more than 50 percent increase in 2009.
Investors lost more than $1 billion by purchasing private placement securities issued by Medical Capital, which offered financing to health-care providers awaiting payment of bills, and about $485 million from Provident Royalties, an oil and gas investment firm, according to the SEC's estimates. The SEC said the firms made misrepresentations and misappropriated money. Both companies are in receivership and the cases are pending.
Nye, the Idaho investor, says that brokers at Jackson McClenny Investments, the firm that sold him Medical Capital and Shale Royalties, were clear about the illiquidity of the investments without emphasizing the risks involved. Formerly in the construction business, he's now operating a restaurant that sells smoothies and sandwiches instead of enjoying his early retirement. The phone number listed for Jackson McClenny in Boise has been disconnected, and the firm doesn't appear in Finra's BrokerCheck, an online database.
The bottom line: Some retirees who qualify as accredited investors based on their assets may lack the expertise to evaluate private placements. |
Is the consumer spending machine running out of gas? One sign the tank may be close to "E" was the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a regional survey of economic activity through Jan. 6, which said "reports on consumer spending were consistently weak." Another indication: The December employment report showed a sharp drop of 101,000 jobs, while the jobless rate remained at an eight-year high of 6%. These job trends--evidence that businesses are still not confident enough to start hiring again--are critical to the outlook because of two economic truths: Labor markets ultimately drive consumer spending, and consumer spending has been the linchpin of this recovery.
Thus, the outlook depends on nonlabor factors filling in the gap until hiring improves. It's a growing chasm, but one that can be bridged with help from expanding buying power, fiscal stimulus, mortgage refinancings, and the gradual, although volatile, recovery in the stock market.
The labor markets remain critical to the outlook and bear watching, but the positives for household finances still argue that consumers can keep this recovery going until the business sector kicks into gear. After all, despite sagging car sales, retail still grew fast enough in the fourth quarter to fuel a 1.5% to 2% annual rate of growth in real consumer spending (chart).
THE BIGGEST PLUS for consumers in 2003 will be continued income growth. Despite the loss of 181,000 jobs over the course of 2002, hourly wages rose by 3%. With inflation running below 2%, the buying power of the average paycheck is still expanding. Add in other earnings, such as salaries, interest, and government assistance, and it is likely that real disposable income will grow by 2.5% this year, a solid support under consumer shopping.
Another key positive are the tax proposals. Forget the debate over dividends. The bigger payoff to households will come from accelerating the tax-rate reductions, originally scheduled for 2004 and 2006, adding bigger child tax credits and ending the marriage penalty. According to James Glassman, economist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., these proposals cut personal taxes by $82 billion. The total impact of the package would be about $100 billion, which would lift economic growth by one percentage point from mid-2003 to the end of 2004.
The consumer outlook is also benefiting from the continued wave of mortgage refinancings. A survey by the Federal Reserve, published in the December, 2002, Federal Reserve Bulletin, studied refis done in 2001 and early 2002, prior to the record volume of activity in the second half of last year. The Fed economists found that lower mortgage rates enabled the average borrower to cut mortgage payments by $98 per month. Allowing for a slightly longer loan maturity bumped the monthly savings to $135.
The real boost to consumer spending, however, comes from the home equity tapped during a refi. The Fed study showed 45% of refinancers took money out of their homes, and those cashouts averaged $26,723 in 2001 and early 2002, up substantially from the $18,240 taken out in 1999. Borrowers used that money for a variety of purposes (table).
The study concludes that the refi-financed purchases added perhaps 0.5% to the annual growth rate of real consumer spending, and that home improvements lifted residential investment by 8.3%. Given that mortgage refis surged in the second half of 2002 and remained high into the first weeks of 2003, consumer spending should get help from refis this year as well, so consumers can continue to carry the recovery.
IT IS EQUALLY CLEAR, THOUGH, that the margin of error in the consumer outlook has narrowed considerably over the past year. The biggest uncertainty remains the growing geopolitical tensions. Possible war with Iraq is the largest overhang, followed by the nuclear standoff with North Korea, both of which are cutting into consumer confidence.
Plus, the Mideast turmoil and the strike in Venezuela are raising energy costs at a time when state governments are hiking taxes and fees to balance their budgets. Both trends will crimp household spending.
Global uncertainty is also hurting household spending because it is freezing the decision-making process among companies. That paralysis is holding back hiring and capital spending. Businesses' reluctance to add workers was clear in last month's employment report. Private payrolls fell by 115,000 workers in December, after a loss of 104,000 in November.
Almost all the December decline was in retail jobs, and that at least offers a glimmer of hope for January jobs. In the past two years, retailers added far fewer workers during the holiday season than they historically have. After the Labor Dept. seasonally adjusted the December numbers, the retail sector showed a huge job loss (chart). But retailers won't have to lay off as many workers this month. So the next labor report could show a large gain in retail payrolls. That's what occurred in January, 2002, when retail employment jumped by 78,000.
UNFORTUNATELY, MANUFACTURING JOBS won't stage a similar turnaround. They fell by 65,000 in December. But that's not necessarily a sign of weak factory activity. Goods-producers continue to use improved productivity and flexible working hours, rather than new hires, to increase output. In December, the factory workweek rose by 18 minutes, to 40.9 hours, and overtime edged up by 12 minutes, to 4.2 hours. Both were the highest readings since August. The longer workweek suggests industrial production increased last month for the second month in a row. That gain would echo the December rise in business activity reported by the nation's purchasing managers.
Although factory productivity probably did well in the fourth quarter, the same can't be said of overall output per hour worked. That's because the labor report showed a record rise in self-employed workers. This might reflect laid-off professionals who turned to consulting or free-lance work. The jump in self-employed workers increased the total number of hours worked in a quarter when output grew only modestly, probably holding back any gain in productivity in the fourth quarter.
But the favorable trend in productivity, which grew 5.6% in the year ended in the third quarter, means the 94% of workers still on the job will garner pay raises this year that outpace inflation.
Even so, the consumer outlook carries more risks now than at any time since the recession began. Expanding paychecks, along with a smaller tax bite, suggest that shoppers can keep spending this year, even if unemployment stays around 6%. But that's only if geopolitical risks don't cause the consumer
engine to stall out. By James C. Cooper & Kathleen Madigan |
Richard Serra Wins Art Prize Awarded by Heir to Spanish Throne
Serra, 70, uses industrial materials such as lead, steel and concrete to create minimalist, large-scale pieces, often weighing tens of tons and designed for specific sites.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation called Serra “one of the most relevant avant-garde sculptors” of modern times. In a statement announcing the award, it praised his “innovative vision of incorporating urban spaces in pieces of art that inspire people to reflect.”
Among Serra’s most spectacular works are “Clara-Clara,” which was on Paris’s Place de la Concorde, and “The Matter of Time” at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. His work is on display in museums from Iceland to New Zealand, according to the Gagosian Gallery, which represents him. New York’s Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of Serra’s work in 2007.
The record auction price for a Serra sculpture was paid at Sotheby’s in New York in 2008, where “12-4-8,” a 1983 work consisting of three steel plates, sold for $1.65 million, according to the Artnet price database. |
SSAB AB engages in the manufacture and sale of steel products worldwide. Divisions The company's divisions include SSAB Strip Products; SSAB Plate; SSAB North America; Tibnor; and Other. SSAB Strip Products The Strip Products Division manufactures strip products in the Nordic region. It also offers advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) in Europe. Its production capacity amounts to approximately 3 million tonnes per year. Advanced high-strength steels can be used in various applications to reduce weight and extend product life. Hot-rolled advanced high-strength steel is used in the automotive industry, primarily for trucks, and in areas, such as cranes and containers. Cold-rolled advanced high-strength steel is used primarily for safety components in the automotive industry. Galvanized extra and ultra high-strength steels are used in applications that require a level of anti-corrosion protection. Ordinary strip steel is used primarily within the engineering, construction, and automotive industries. Its product range includes strip in thicknesses ranging from 0.1 mm to 16 mm, with a maximum width of 1,600 mm. The products are marketed under the Domex, Docol, Dogal, Dobel, and Prelaq brands. SSAB Plate The SSAB Plate Division manufactures quenched steels, which are used in construction machinery and mining equipment, as well as in the manufacture of cranes, bridges, and offshore equipment. The division’s main products are abrasion-resistant steels and construction steels, sold respectively under the Hardox and Weldox brands, as well as Toolox and Armox. SSAB North America The SSAB North America Division supplies plate in North America. The operations include two steel works in which production is based on scrap metal with integrated rolling, one in Montpelier, Iowa and one in Mobile, Alabama. The operations also include three cutting lines in Texas and Minnesota in the United States; and Ontario, Canada. The two steel mills have an annual total capacity of approximately 2.5 million tonnes of crude steel. SSAB North America’s customer base includes steel service centers and OEM’s (original equipment manufacturers). Within the energy sector, its customers are windpower plants. Tibnor The Tibnor Division engages in steel distribution in the Swedish market. Tibnor’s traditional core business lies within the areas of steel and stainless steel in which industry is supplied with a range of commercial steels, strip products, plate, specialty steels, pipes, and stainless steel. In addition, the business operations include the sale of non-ferrous metals and building-related steel products. Tibnor’s foreign subsidiaries supply the customers in their respective countries with a selection of steel and non-ferrous metal products. Tibnor offers resources for pretreatment of materials, such as splitting and cutting to size of strip steel at its own facility in Gothenburg. Tibnor supplies reinforcement products to construction companies. Other The Other Division includes Plannja, Lulekraft, Oxelosunds Hamn, and SSAB Finance Belgium. Plannja: Plannja is wholly owned by the company and produces building sheet, with a geographic focus on the Nordic and Baltic regions, as well as central and eastern Europe. The product range consists of a range of flat and profiled building sheet, sheet roofing tiles, rainwater run-off goods, and sandwich-type wall panels. Plannja’s products are based overwhelmingly on metal-coated strip steel. Lulekraft: Lulekraft operates a combined heat and power plant in Lulea and is owned by the company (50%) and the municipality of Lulea (50%). Oxelosunds Hamn: Oxelosunds Hamn conducts port operations in Sweden. Oxelosunds Hamn is owned by the company (50%) and the municipality of Oxelosund (50%). SSAB Finance Belgium: The wholly-owned subsidiary, SSAB Finance Belgium, is in development stage that would engage in currency trading, liquidity management, and other financial operations. Markets The company's export sales from Sweden are focused primarily on Europe. It also has operations in North America, Asia, and rest of the world. Acquisitions In 2008, the company acquired Plannja SRL, the Romanian distribution company. Dispositions In 2008, the company’s subsidiary, SSAB North America, sold its tubular business. The sale covered 13tubular mills, the steel mills in Regina and Koppel, which supply the tubular business, as well as related scrap metal plants. Competition The company's main competitors within advanced high-strength steel are ThyssenKrupp and ArcelorMittal. Its main competitors within the quenched steels sector are ThyssenKrupp and Dillingen in Europe, as well as ArcelorMittal and Algoma in North America. SSAB North America’s competitors include Nucor Steel, Inc., ArcelorMittal, Essar Steel Algoma Inc., and the Evraz group. Tibnor competes with BE-Group and Ruukki. History SSAB AB was founded in 1978.
ssab ab-a shares (SSABA:Stockholm)
Klarabergsviadukten 70, D6
PO Box 70
Stockholm, 101 21
Phone: 46 84 54 57 00
Fax: 46 84 54 57 25www.ssab.com
|AK Steel Holding Corp||$2.90 USD||+0.38|
|APERAM SA||€37.92 EUR||+0.49|
|Outokumpu OYJ||€4.18 EUR||+0.108|
|Salzgitter AG||€32.48 EUR||+0.286|
|Yieh United Steel Corp||7.18 TWD||-0.01|
|View Industry Companies|
|Price/Cash Flow||NM||Not Meaningful|
Sponsored Financial Commentaries
To contact SSAB AB-A SHARES, please visit www.ssab.com. Company data is provided by Capital IQ. Please use this form to report any data issues. |
An unusual small tree with green leaves in spring and summer which turn a glorious plum purple, red and orange in the autumn time before falling. The bark on an established trees tends to flake over time, leaving a very attractive patchwork of steely grey and white.
Parrotia persica 'Vanessa' has arching branches and a more upright, narrow habit than the classic Parrotia persica and grows to be an eye-catching, small garden tree.
Vanessa is a genus of butterflies which includes Vanessa atlanta, the Red Admiral and Vanessa cardui, the Painted Lady. It is after these colourful butterflies that this cultivar was named, reflecting the myriad of different autumn colours!
Supplied Size: 3L / 4L pots (approx 40 - 60 cm tall)
The Parrotia persica 'Vanessa' in our woodland gardens (taken in early October 2010).
Customers who bought this plant also bought: |
Title: The Chaperone
Author: Laura Moriarty
In the years just prior to 1920, huge changes for women were beginning to take shape. Short skirts, bobbed hair, no corsets! All evidences of the freedom on the horizon. In Wichita, Kansas, word went out that a chaperone was needed for the rebellious and outrageous 15 year old Louise Brooks as she went to New York to study dance with the famed Ruth St. Denis.
This was the chance for Cora to go to NY for her own reasons. Her marriage had taken a strange turn causing her to question everything she thought she had. Her own background was a mystery as she had been part of the Orphan Trains operating in the Midwest at that time. She knew that she had been in the New York Home for Friendless Girls and was hoping for more information.
The season in New York brought many experiences for both of the women, changing the direction of their lives forever.
This book is so well written, combining fact with fiction and pulling in the historic changes and freedoms opening to women of that era. I highly recommend this book. You will be caught up in the crazy and ultimately tragic life of Louise Brooks through her Hollywood and Parisian years, while sharing the life of the quietly untraditional Cora.
Review by: Dianne |
Ah, they are wonderfully beautiful! There are such rich moonlights and dusks in the “Challenge” and the “Combat,” and in that long flight of birds across a lake in the subdued flush of sunset (or sunrise, for no man can ever tell t’other from which in a picture, except it has the filmy morning mist breathing itself up from the water), and there is such a grave analytical profundity in the face of the connoisseurs; and such pathos in the picture of a fawn suckling its dead mother on a snowy waste, with only the blood in the footprints to hint that she is not asleep. And the way that he makes animals’ flesh and blood, insomuch that if the room were darkened ever so little, and a motionless living animal placed beside the painted one, no man could tell which was which.
I interrupted myself here, to drop a line to Shirley Brooks and suggest a cartoon for Punch. It was this: in one of the Academy saloons (in a suite where these pictures are) a fine bust of Landseer stands on a pedestal in the center of the room. I suggested that some of Landseer’s best known animals be represented as having come down out of their frames in the moonlight and grouped themselves about the bust in mourning attitudes.
He sailed January 13 (1874.), on the Paythia, and two weeks later was at home, where all was going well. The Gilded Age had been issued a day or two before Christmas, and was already in its third edition. By the end of January 26,000 copies had been sold, a sale that had increased to 40,000 a month later. The new house was progressing, though it was by no means finished. Mrs. Clemens was in good health. Little Susy was full of such American activities as to earn the name of “The Modoc.” The promise of the year was bright.
THE REAL COLONEL SELLERS-GOLDEN DAYS
There are bound to be vexations, flies in the ointment, as we say. It was Warner who conferred the name of Eschol Sellers on the chief figure of the collaborated novel. Warner had known it as the name of an obscure person, or perhaps he had only heard of it. At all events, it seemed a good one for the character and had been adopted. But behold, the book had been issued but a little while when there rose “out of the vasty deeps” a genuine Eschol Sellers, who was a very respectable person. He was a stout, prosperous-looking man, gray and about fifty-five years old. He came into the American Publishing Company offices and asked permission to look at the book. Mr. Bliss was out at the moment, but presently arrived. The visitor rose and introduced himself.
“My name is Eschol Sellers,” he said. “You have used it in one of your publications. It has brought upon me a lot of ridicule. My people wish me to sue you for $10,000 damages.” |
What can you do to shape the city of your dreams?
Weaving out a trillion dreams in a dream city and nourishing a better place of workmanship will be in my best efforts to carve out the reality to be in a city of my dreams. It starts from the pillars of ecosystem and buildings binding its value. Our resorted means has to be disinvested to meet the infra funding of the modern corridor towards every road to the a better place of prosperity for all. This starts right with one day effort and panel of letting out the better picture of dreams living from the street dwellers and empowering them to participate in emcompassing the instrument of harmony. We can do towards the better place of this effort.
Everyday in bangalore I see on my roadways a mother and arms with a child begging to feed her little one in the middle of the street. From my hearts of hearts I wanna give her some resources that this infant will be fed and she has more resort in nourishing these kids. I dont know whether she is being motivated by an agency but least I can understand the economics of poverty and where will hunger reach out of corridors for this helpless women and her tender heart. In my city of dreams I will empower every organization whether it be religious, non-profit or business enterprise to keep ahead in building the milestone what can put forth the social responsibilty to be captiable in all forms to build up a milestone. When religious organization can shape their perfection of the worship and may proclaim that bread alone is fittest for surival there is the word and today my approach will be cardinal and glory to the word and also eventually treat that the word is made for humans. Human empowerment can be made perfect only if every cause can be understood. I had some money in my hands and I wanted to pay that women her kindness for that young born and I couldnt pay because it doesnt been motivated to be effective today and I wanted that mother to understand myself when the true nature I am spending even for sometimes to satisfy my fundings is not what I am earning. I can understand that if I want to do something for that little kids I should do it today but I can understand that I should not be a pupet before the society. If I have to practice out of feeling to build up a city of my dreams I can asset my fortunes in hope and perseverance till the end that it is realistic and whatever I have been doing to realise this dream should start from a iron chest to check out what is beating inside to flush out better practices towards the logic of effectiveness and efficiency starting from my dreams help possibily only by helping out today. On the second day when I really felt bad while travelling in an auto I took an one ruppee coin and wanted to give it to that lady but I could notice that she had lost track of people in that traffic mess and couldnt notice anyone. This is not only one incidence. There are lot of people who are wandering in my city without homes. There are people who are dying of freezing cold temperature and being burried in the ice because they have no home. In daravi, mumbai city, the largest slum in the world the people and politicians doesnt have means to the know how of how it could be transformed into urban dreams and every time anyone comes to power and are they diverting issues within measures of welfare to the equality and sharing the little girls burden to pay Rs. 100 for vegetable oil to cook. We see that development starts and end with no backbone even to complete into results. We have the best innovators and today it is upto the world to do their best out of their godliness. Development from all areas are a star and we have to share the earnest need of our own generation without which who the future generation can live with. Poverty or its cause has always been evil. Today our young generation has wide access of knowledge let us make it a safer place towards framing the best practises viably and interestingly. There can be no development without making some policies. And the forum of politics has a larger role to play because our leaders know to run an economy with bigger picture of making tender unlimited wants and limited resources.
I want to see another side of the story. We are by means and equation in puzzles and how vibrant it can captivate the finance of building up trust. This trust in words are meaningful between countries if we have enough knowledge managment programs right from the base levels and our measure of base level is this dream city. We have concerns and that would be appreciated in peaceful strikes. I want to have a big city where dreams are made into real goal of human nature. This suspectiably is learning towards glorious past and sharing experience with enemy. My city has a dream of better governance and priceless banner of the virtue why it is a valuable city of my dreams.
My city needs energy and that too from renewable resources. It has to adhere towards meeting the needs of the march towards freedom from its borders and borderlessly realising the measure of why it is guest who will be served a splendid reasons to believe ahead. I hope that my city will devote to organic farming and create value that could curve out disbelief that what cannot be harvested can only be made powerful for the people to engage with true realism of where this is a city which stands ahead from the rest.
Today I can reassure what world bank and other international financial institution has made possible through a collective participation of why it stands for the less priveladged and developing third world nation. It has been mentors of real framework of modern age. There is a time in history where the truth come in hand for my home state Kerala. Right from funding for any bigger ventures your particpation in emerging global trends to bring forth the real side of the story and its manpower made realised in the hands of few who could just those realities. In my city I will make everyone full right for personal privacy and freedom of expression in all fronts. We dont need barriers and we need time to understand why exactly our institutions are made for. How they must divest whatever can be applicable in time and space towards in all real moves would be made into the standards of eliminating communication barriers.
There is another side of the world where the land full of deserts and the old farmer ploughing out of the deprivation to survive. I dont say that they should not do the work they are intented to. I would want the administrators to earn them the package not waiting till there will be reported farmer suicides. Where humans and intelligent systems have achieved the maximum perfection in working under any conditions we need to harvest the best solution to the inch of human perfection. Why cant we build more of the infrastructure to meet the required and giving the rural economy a boost. When I used to listen to innovators in Dordarshan when I was a kid I often accomplished my thoughts to focus why we are here. Tomorrow the ground resources are viable to capsulate the great dream foundation and the history of why I was basically motivated to pursue my MBA program in The Indian Institute of Planning and Management and why we are made to realise the city of my dreams taking and breathing the every move we have understood. Our heritage is this world and its inhabitants where we must remember why we are made for. I want to speak out and go forward to realise a borderless world both ootside in our lives and inside to have a best picture in this manual. Perfection one element of human gesture can be seen in my dream city. Everyone will have the access to medical insurance and provided the general basic treatment for any cause free of cost according to their basic source of revenues and income.
Let my city have wireless connectivity and made ethically use those fraction for geniune reasons we can affort. Among the competitive world I dont want to find it anywhere there will be unbaised media to limit and enhance coverage effectively. We cannot be able to discover why every child is born to win. I want my city to be neat and tidy with effective, efficient and ecofriendly waste disposal and sewage treatment plants even for manufacturing industries and cooperate them to find funds in upbringing why they should not cause polution. There should be standards of tolerating the pollution from vehicles and when govt and private institution can cooperate with industries to build up more ecofriendliness in making this initiative to a reachable goals. Everyone has dreams of making priceless mechanism to be in force and where at an individual roles I happened that it wont be practical why this was a long dreams always wished to be acceptable for consideration. There is lots of corruption in every ongoing global establishment. It must not be seen from a personal perspective because today in my dream city I want this to be made practicable for the reach of every networked environment. I happened to realise when we become aware of the cause we are the jury who will have to promote and proclaim the verdict of peace. In a national level I stand for the nation I could be there to believe the truth and head a better panel towards the infinite possibility of making the bridge between nations to the world. And for every city needs the city of a smaller globe and innovative worship for the bigger part of life.
I am a student in the art of life and my dream city will make every dream towards the best reason why we have invested time towards its lines of reformation. I shall state that the words are reasons why there is a special child in every one of us and every child is truly precious. My city would start from family and each home would be the binding force. If we can spend our rest of the time in making a dream true for reshaping the destiny and giving its name history that would be my city. Today we have a dream and those ideas will be innovators to build a wiser scenario forever. It will be a miracle for the trust of every young dreams woven in the windings of hearts and those young generation will make the step to learn from managing, acquiring and translation of the knowledge we are making in the picture of life. We have seen barriers of having a tight secure law enforcement made to attain the simplicity of the cause aware. And I would say they will have to be more equipped with the latest devices and maintain the journey to cultivate beyond history for reasons. Water the support system of life of universe and can we not fade it into its resources limitation and harnessing its potential of making it more attainable as safe for use. I will build up my city to conserve, preserve and prevent damages to this valuable natural resources.
There are lot of bright teachers who have helped me assist my journey till now and always will, I want to let them have in their old ages to continue in their age through transforming their study room to a resourceful e-learning platform. It has always been seen that medical practioners in Govt. Hospitals has to be left out of no role in their best times of career and it could be remarkable if they are able to let their corners of life invested more productively in being driven for the benefit of a larger society and they continue towards advisory roles in govt administration. My city administration heirarcy would be knowledgable motivated people who knows to play politics for why its meant for. About the hospitals, there are lots of efforts needed to continuously ugrade facilities and basic infrastructure and most importantly there is free rice for the poor patients and if possible free treatment. My concept of poor people would be both on their means of sources of revenue and income. There is another area where we can vitalise poor and would be without proper knowledge or accidentally or driven by mental coherance to understand. We can provide guidence and in the state of better segments guard on course why they are also the part and parcel of the better status of this small globe.
I would have an interest of the spirit of sports and would have the people of all ages to align totality mobilizing their efforts for a spirited health. I would love entertainment to mature on the global scenario and entertain participants from all across the world to be a part of the brighter picture and why we stand for as a globally made better place to be. From schools to colleges we are going to hunt our talents for brighter picture and make it bigger for the world. We from the makers of mentors would question the message broadcasted to all levels and involve corporate world collective participation from the grassroot. Our banking mechanism would not tolerate discrimination towards lower income group and boost its infrastructure by mobilising the whole of economy. In my city online will be a safer place to captivate both business and learning of understanding from the best records.
I would always love participation to make my city a greener and safer place to be. We would take more initiative to plant more trees. Water it day by day and believe it been those buds of the seed that just wanna sprout words into reality. I would have a better treatment towards animals as we need more forests and landscape and more greenery. I would initiate that our heritage has been for endrossing the need why it cant find no more renovation unless we want it to be for the future generation.
I would invite all people of this priceless city cooperatively resume improving feedback to the deepest of the soul and have been for the better segment to market wider for global advantage.
What can you do to shape the city of your dreams? |
ALBURY Council has launched an all-out assault on slow paying water users to recoup more than $1 million in unpaid bills.
Next month council staff will start installing water flow restrictors on properties where there is a significant amount owing.
The devices will restrict water flow to just two litres a minute.
The council is in charge of Albury’s water supply, unlike in Wodonga where North East Water is the responsible authority.
Albury mayor Kevin Mack makes no apologies for the drastic action.
He said all previous efforts to recover outstanding accounts had not worked.
“We’ve got 484 customers who each owe more than $600 in unpaid water accounts,” Cr Mack said.
“We simply can’t write this off.
“We’ve exhausted all avenues, including debt recovery.”
Households with a flow restrictor will still be able to fill a glass of water, flush toilets and have enough water for cooking.
But some appliances, including dishwashers, won’t work.
Cr Mack appealed to those with large amounts outstanding to pay up or talk to the council’s customer service team about a payment plan.
He said customers experiencing financial hardship who had made arrangements to pay and were meeting those arrangements may escape a flow restrictor.
Households identified for a flow restrictor will have received their latest water bill, a reminder notice, a final notice and will shortly receive an “intent to restrict” notice.
They will have 14 days to pay or to make a suitable arrangement.
If no payment is forthcoming, flow restrictors will be installed by a qualified technician, along with an additional fee of $133.50.
They will be removed when outstanding balances have been paid in full. |
Standing before a smudged bathroom mirror, Aaliya Saleh, the 72-year-old narrator of “An Unnecessary Woman,’’ warns: “I begin this tale with a badly lit reflection.” Reader beware, but also be enchanted: What follows is the opaque self-portrait of an utterly beguiling misanthrope who suffers from arthritis, insomnia, constipation, incontinence, and, though she will not admit it, solitude. Alone in a book-congested Beirut apartment she has occupied for more than 50 years, Aaliya, who has just finished translating “Austerlitz’’ into Arabic, offers the kind of “exquisitely disconsolate” meditative prose that she admires in W.G. Sebald.
She has in fact already translated 37 books from a Babel of languages — excluding English and French, since, she figures, Lebanese can read those languages themselves. Aaliya, who knows only English, French, and Arabic, produces her translations through a somewhat tortured system of her own design — using either a French or an English translation to render into Arabic works by Sebald, Roberto Bolaño, Italo Calvino, Sadegh Hedayat, Knut Hamsun, Bilge Karasu, Imre Kertész, Danilo Kiš, Cees Nooteboom, José Saramago, Bruno Schulz, Leo Tolstoy, and other literary masters.
As soon as she finishes a project, she exiles the manuscript into storage, since the translation of a translation has no prospect of publication. For Aaliya, translating her favorite authors is a spiritual discipline. The pointless process is more important than the product.
“An Unnecessary Woman’’ takes its title from its narrator’s sense that she is de trop, a nonessential speck in the cosmos. She is keenly aware of “how alone I am, how utterly inconsequential my life has become, how sad.” In one of many literary allusions that pepper a piquant text, Aaliya quotes the final sentence of Joseph Roth’s “Flight Without End’’: “No one in the whole world was as superfluous as he.”
However, she claims primacy in superfluity. Aaliyah’s own mother, after all, rejected her, and her only friend died 40 years ago. “I am my family’s appendix,” she proclaims, “its unnecessary appendage.” Her marriage, at 16, to an impotent man she continues to despise, lasted only four years. Like Peter Kien in Elias Canetti’s “Auto-da-Fé,’’ perhaps the one notable work of fiction not alluded to in this novel, she is a proud outsider, monastically absorbed in her books, reflections, and memories. Aaliya’s thoughts — about genocide, war, marriage, sex, suicide, and fiction — provide the drama for a narrative in which walking down the street constitutes significant action.
Lebanon attained independence in 1943, which means that, like Salman Rushdie’s Saleem Sinai, who enters the world at the moment that an independent India is born, Aaliyah is coterminous with her country. Its capital, her native Beirut, she describes as “the Elizabeth Taylor of cities: insane, beautiful, tacky, falling apart, aging, and forever drama laden.”
But she records the violent history of Lebanon, which she disdains as a “pygmy state,” primarily in terms of the sieges and power outages that interrupt her task of translation. Of the Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Palestinian, and Israeli fighters who leave corpses strewn on nearby sidewalks, Aaliya wishes a plague on all their houses. Though many of her favorite writers are Jews (her favorite philosopher is the maverick Spinoza), she complains that: “Israelis are Jews who have misplaced their sense of humor.”
Home for Rabih Alameddine, the author of four books before “An Unnecessary Woman,’’ is divided between Beirut and San Francisco. Publication in 2008 of “The Hakawati,’’ a lavish Chinese box of stories about storytelling, propelled Alameddine, whose native language is Arabic, into the company of Louis Begley, Edwidge Danticat, Ariel Dorfman, Ha Jin, Aleksandar Hemon, Dinaw Mengestu, and Gary Shteyngart — translinguals who have enriched contemporary American literature through their deft handling of adopted English.
Whereas “The Hakawati’’ overwhelms through profusion, Alameddine’s new novel achieves potency through pith. Its epigrammatic elegance is apparent in Aaliya’s observation about a timorous young man she knows who ostentatiously takes up with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: “There is none more conformist than the one who flaunts his individuality.”
Aaliya notes that: “Reading a fine book for the first time is as sumptuous as the first sip of orange juice that breaks the fast in Ramadan.” You don’t have to fast first (in fact it helps to have gorged on the books that Aaliya translates and adores) in order to savor Alameddine’s succulent fiction.Steven G. Kellman is author of “The Translingual Imagination’’ and recipient of the National Book Critics Circle’s 2006 Balakian Award for Excellence in Reviewing. |
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent
Throughout President Barack Obama’s first four years in office, he prided himself on his ability to bounce back when much of Washington thought his presidency was in peril.
But the political challenge posed by Obama’s disastrous health care rollout is far greater than those he overcame during the nasty debt ceiling fight with Republicans, his stumbling campaign debate in 2012 or even the painful recession.
This time, the president is fighting to regain trust and credibility with the American people. Those are the same qualities that helped keep him afloat during those earlier battles.
As bad as things are for Obama, they may be worse for many members of Congress.
Democrats in both the House and Senate worry the health care problems could dim their re-election chances next year. Republicans are saddled with historically low approval ratings and an internal debate over the direction of their party, though the heath law woes have proved a lifeline following the GOP’s much-criticized handling of the government shutdown.
With Republicans sensing an opportunity in Obama’s free fall, the president is sure to face a struggle in getting their support, particularly in the House, for White House priorities such as an immigration overhaul or broad budget deal.
Without success on other fronts to counteract the health care failures, Obama will have fewer chances to change the public’s view that Washington, and the president himself, are ineffective.
Obama’s health care calamity began with the flood of computer problems that crippled HealthCare.gov, the website that had been billed as a quick and easy way for people to purchase insurance.
Those troubles were compounded when at least 4.2 million people started receiving cancellation letters from their insurance companies despite Obama’s repeated assurances that anyone who liked his or her insurance plan could keep it.
The widespread problems have spurred questions about the normally cool and confident president’s management style and his competence. It has also shaken his allies.
Why was the White House so poorly prepared for the long-anticipated rollout of Obama’s major legislative achievement? Why did the president seem personally unaware of the extent the problems until they became publicly known?
For the public, those failures are changing how they view the president.
Many polls now show that Americans say Obama isn’t honest or trustworthy, or a strong leader. For example, Quinnipiac University’s poll of registered voters conducted this month found just 44 percent thought Obama was honest and trustworthy, down 10 points since earlier this fall. Only 48 percent felt he has strong leadership qualities, a low point in his presidency.
The polling is a blow for a White House that long has relied on the public’s personal fondness for Obama to carry him through rough patches in his presidency. It’s also made it harder for the president to dismiss criticism of the rollout as standard politicking from Republicans and Washington’s chattering class, as his aides derisively refer to the pundits in the nation’s capital.
Obama’s advisers need only recall the Oval Office’s last occupant to see the lasting damage that could be done if those numbers don’t recover.
President George W. Bush’s credibility and trust took a tumble as the public grew weary of the Iraq war and angry over the government’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina. His presidency never recovered and he left office with negative job and personal approval ratings.
The comparisons to Bush already are percolating.
Democrats are well aware that they could be caught up in that web if the health care problems aren’t solved quickly.
Even after Obama announced a change in the law aimed at helping some people whose coverage has been canceled, 39 House Democrats voted for legislation opposed by the White House that would let insurers sell individual health coverage that doesn’t meet the law’s new standards to anyone who wants it.
Obama’s mea culpa in the White House briefing room Thursday was a first step in trying to reassure his party and recapture the public’s trust.
Shortly after he spoke, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, went to Capitol Hill to try to soothe concerns from worried Democrats. On Monday, Obama planned to try to shore up support from some of his strongest supporters in a conference call hosted by his political arm, Organizing For Action.
But the president knows it will take more than words to save his second term.
Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson and Josh Lederman and AP Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC |
North Platte, city, seat (1867) of Lincoln county, west-central Nebraska, U.S. It lies at the point where the North Platte and South Platte rivers join to form the Platte River. Founded in 1866 on the Union Pacific Railroad (of which it became a division headquarters), North Platte developed as a centre for the Nebraska Sand Hills cattle industry and the produce of the irrigated Platte valley. Railroading is the basis of the contemporary economy. The North Platte area’s major agricultural products include corn (maize), alfalfa (lucerne), wheat, beans, oats, sorghum, soybeans, and cattle. Business services and the manufacture of doors also contribute to the economy. North Platte Community College, a part of the Mid-Plains Community College system, was established there in 1965, and a University of Nebraska agricultural-experiment station and a state walleye fish hatchery are nearby. Immediately northwest is Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, site of the ranch that was home for more than 30 years to Col. William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) Cody and where he assembled his Wild West Show in 1884. Inc. 1873. Pop. (2000) 23,878; (2010) 24,733.
Nebraska, United States |
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Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Gaia hypothesis - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
controversial theory stating that Earth acts as a superorganism with ability to regulate environmental conditions needed to sustain itself, much as the human body keeps its water content, temperature, and other conditions at relatively constant state to keep body alive; theory formulated in about 1970 by English inventor and geochemist James Lovelock; was developed and promoted by U.S. cell biologist and evolutionist Lynn Margulis during 1980s. |
human sensory system...In general, however, the chemical senses are more directly involved in physiological survival—e.g., warning that a putrid fish is dangerous to eat. Physical well-being also rests heavily on proprioceptors (for sensing bodily position) and on the sense of balance. These structures, monitoring bodily orientation in space, provide crucial sensory feedback for guiding movements
nervous system...aspects of movement are continuously reported to the central nervous system by receptors sensitive to position, posture, equilibrium, and internal conditions of the body. These receptors are called proprioceptors, and those proprioceptors that keep a continuous report on the position of limbs are the muscle spindles and tendon organs.
work of Sherrington...(1906), he distinguished three main groups of sense organs: exteroceptive, such as those that detect light, sound, odour, and tactile stimuli; interoceptive, exemplified by taste receptors; and proprioceptive, or those receptors that detect events occurring in the interior of the organism. He found—especially in his study of the maintenance of posture as a reflex activity—that...
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photochemical reaction experiments...humans. The ground state of molecular oxygen is very unusual in that it is a triplet; hence, it can accept electronic energy from more-energetic triplet states of other molecules in a process called quenching (as in the case of the space shuttle wing described above). When this occurs, the donor molecule begins in its triplet state and undergoes a change in spin to its singlet ground state. The...
Physics and chemistry
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United House of Prayer for All People, Pentecostal Holiness church in the United States. It was founded by Bishop Charles Emmanuel Grace (1881/84?–1960), an immigrant from Cape Verde whose birth name was Marcelino Manuel da Graca. After leaving a job as a cook on a Southern railway, he began to preach. Da Graca assumed the byname “Daddy Grace”—he would later adopt the byname “Sweet Daddy Grace”—and proclaimed himself “bishop.” He established a house of worship in 1919 in West Wareham, Mass., and later moved to Newark, N.J. He claimed to be an emissary of God with authority to grant or withhold salvation. The death of Grace led to temporary difficulties for the group over tax litigation and the succession to Grace’s leadership. The key to the success of this church was that the many offerings went directly to Daddy Grace to advance the sale of his healing-power products: soap, stationery, tea, coffee, cookies, toothpaste, facial creams, talcum powder, hair dressing, and Grace Magazine. The church is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has a reported membership of 50,000.
United House of Prayer for All People
American religious organization |
- Here in Jerusalem, we stand saddened and appalled by the EU ministers who condemn construction projects that are well within the municipal borders of Jerusalem, while ignoring calls from the leader of Hamas for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel.
- Isn't it ironic that many in Europe who recently celebrated 25 years of the reunification of Berlin are at the same time calling for the division of another capital on another continent?
- By 2030, the city's population will expand to one million residents from 800,000 today (33% Muslim, 2% Christian and 65% Jewish). Where does the world suggest we put these extra 200,000 residents?
- The expansion of Jerusalem's residential areas is essential for the natural growth of all segments of our population. It enables Jewish and Arab families alike to grow and remain in the city. The capital of a sovereign nation cannot be expected to freeze growth rather than provide housing to families of all faiths eager to make their lives there.
- As for "E-1," this land has always been considered the natural site for the expansion of contiguous neighborhoods of metropolitan Jerusalem. "E-1" strengthens Jerusalem. It does not impede peace in our region.
- Jerusalem has been and forever will be the heart and soul of the Jewish people. It is also the united and undivided capital of the State of Israel.
The writer is the mayor of Jerusalem.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Jerusalem: Division Impossible
This videobite is well done and informative
A Divided Jerusalem Will Not Stand - Nir Barkat (Wall Street Journal) |
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the seven habits of highly effective people®
Dr Stephen Covey's inspirational book - 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People®
Dr Stephen Covey (1932-2012) was and remains a hugely influential management guru. Covey's most famous book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, became a blueprint for personal development when it was published in 1990. The principles may be used for life in general - they are not limited to workplaces, management, leadership, etc. Covey's concepts actually can help people to grow, change, and become more effective in really any other aspect of human responsibility that you might imagine.
Covey's Seven Habits are easy to understand, but like all the best and simplest models, can be a little more difficult to apply in practice. The 'Habits' seem very simple, and in many ways they are, yet to varying degrees they may entail quite serious changes to thinking and acting.
Be inspired by Covey's ideas nevertheless. They are wonderful.
The 'Seven Habits' are a remarkable set of inspirational and aspirational standards for anyone who seeks to live a full, purposeful and good life, and are applicable today more than ever, as the business world - and life beyond business and work - become more attuned to humanist concepts.
Covey's values are full of integrity and humanity, and contrast strongly with the authority-driven process-based ideologies that characterize management and leadership thinking in earlier times. Indeed Covey's methods extend and adapt with increasing relevance to many more areas in the modern world, for example parenting, relationships, mediation, counselling, etc.
Stephen Covey, as well as being a renowned writer, speaker, academic and humanist, also built a huge training and consultancy products and services business - Franklin Covey which has a global reach. Stephen Covey at one time or other also consulted with and provided training services to most of the world's leading corporations.
Covey produced a substantial body of educational and teaching work. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was his first significantly popular creation, and probably remains his greatest.
Here is a quick summary. I encourage you to explore and use his ideas.
Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People®
habit 1 - be proactive®
This is the ability to control one's environment, rather than have it control you, as is so often the case. Self determination, choice, and the power to decide response to stimulus, conditions and circumstances
habit 2 - begin with the end in mind®
Covey calls this the habit of personal leadership - leading oneself that is, towards what you consider your aims. By developing the habit of concentrating on relevant activities you will build a platform to avoid distractions and become more productive and successful.
habit 3 - put first things first®
Covey calls this the habit of personal management. This is about organising and implementing activities in line with the aims established in habit 2. Covey says that habit 2 is the first, or mental creation; habit 3 is the second, or physical creation. (See the section on time management.)
habit 4 - think win-win®
Covey calls this the habit of interpersonal leadership, necessary because achievements are largely dependent on co-operative efforts with others. He says that win-win is based on the assumption that there is plenty for everyone, and that success follows a co-operative approach more naturally than the confrontation of win-or-lose.
habit 5 - seek first to understand and then to be understood®
One of the great maxims of the modern age. This is Covey's habit of communication, and it's extremely powerful. Covey helps to explain this in his simple analogy 'diagnose before you prescribe'. Simple and effective, and essential for developing and maintaining positive relationships in all aspects of life. (See the associated sections on Empathy, Transactional Analysis, and the Johari Window.)
habit 6 - synergize®
Covey says this is the habit of creative co-operation - the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which implicitly lays down the challenge to see the good and potential in the other person's contribution.
habit 7 - sharpen the saw®
This is the habit of self renewal, says Covey, and it necessarily surrounds all the other habits, enabling and encouraging them to happen and grow. Covey interprets the self into four parts: the spiritual, mental, physical and the social/emotional, which all need feeding and developing.
Stephen Covey's Seven Habits are a simple set of rules for life - inter-related and synergistic, and yet each one powerful and worthy of adopting and following in its own right. For many people, reading Covey's work, or listening to him speak (now in recordings, videos, etc), literally changes their lives. Covey's thinking is powerful stuff indeed and highly recommended.
This 7 Habits summary is just a brief overview - the full work is fascinating, comprehensive, and thoroughly uplifting. Read the book, or listen to the full audio series, which is particularly impressive because it features Covey speaking to an audience.
In his more recent book 'The 8th Habit', Stephen Covey introduced (logically) an the eighth habit, which deals with personal fulfilment and helping others to achieve fulfilment too, which aligns helpfully with Maslow's notions of 'Self-Actualization' and 'Transcendence' in the Hierarchy of Needs model, and also with the later life-stages in Erikson's Psychosocial Life-Stage Theory. The 8th Habit book also focuses on leadership, another distinct aspect of fulfilment through helping others. Time will tell whether the The 8th Habit achieves recognition and reputation close to Covey's classic original 7 Habits work.
N.B. Various phrases on this page are registered trade marks belonging to Stephen Covey.
Stephen Covey's principles are protected intellectual property and feature strongly in the Franklin Covey organization's portfolio of products and services.
Other inspirational concepts explained on this website, for attitude to life and personal development, for example:
- Cherie Carter-Scott's 'If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules'
- Don Miguel Ruiz's 'The Four Agreements'
- Sharon Drew Morgen's selling and communications methodologies |
Lately I have been grappling with a question: I keep hearing that once "non-conventional oil" is accounted for, we have trillions of barrels of oil.
Counting coal-seam methane we have gas for centuries. Based on recent claims we probably have enough coal to build a bridge to the moon and enough iron to run a 20-line railway to Mars and back.
Of course this does not consider production rates – but given these forecasts, should we really worry about production rates? Given the technologies at hand, what would cause the production rate of a resource to peak? In a world of networked resource dependencies, what would be the consequences?
All resources can be found in any required quantity if there is enough energy input available. For example:
- Most elements are present in seawater. Want gold? You can extract it by the ton from sea water.
- Oil can be synthesised from any organic compound.
So why shouldn’t production rates increase pretty much indefinitely?
This question led me into a tangled series of questions about the modes of failure of networked resource production. How does failure occur and how is imminent failure signalled?
I have three conclusions:
1. There is a theoretical limit to how long a networked resource system can continue to function.
2. This limit is reached with little warning.
3. Even after the limit is approached and the squeeze on networked resources starts, the nature of the problem is not apparent to the resource producers, who are likely to say "there is still plenty of our resource available - we just need more inputs and better price signals"
All three conclusions are surprising. Why should there be a theoretical limit? Why would the warning signs be hidden? Why would the problem be difficult to diagnose even after the first impacts are felt?
But before I get to this, I should answer the question "What is a network of produced resources?"
The process of extracting resources from the ground has become more complicated. During the Iron Age the production of iron required some bog-iron ore, a hot fire, and a lot of muscle. Now the production of iron requires an immense list of reagents, catalysts, fuels, and processes. If any of these inputs is absent, production stops.
In modern times, the production of resources is an interlinked chain of mutual dependencies.
But resources aren’t just networked because of these interconnected dependencies - in some cases, when a resource is in short supply, one resource will even be used as a substitute for another. For example when oil is in short supply organically-sourced substitutions (such as alcohol) are possible.
So sometimes one resource will substitute for another.
If we assume a technical ability to synthesize, extract and substitute, is Peak Production of any given resource even a theoretical possibility? I’d like to come back to that question. For a start, we should look at what to look for when/if we start to bump into a global resource constraint. Oil is an obvious candidate for this examination.
Local Peak Vs World Peak – Different Signatures.
In many parts of the world we have seen oil fields display a peak in production. Although it is a gross simplification, I am going to say that early in the history of oil field depletion this peak appeared to take the form of a Bell Curve – a gradual ramp up of production, a peak in production, and a gradual ramp down.
Phoenix observed recently that this relative symmetry was as much a product of economics as it was of geology. If low-cost oil is available from a field in the next county, there is no incentive to invest money in a declining field to squeeze out a few extra high-priced barrels of oil. It makes economic sense to simply let the field run down slowly.
More recently the shape of a depleting field has shown a distinct skew, with a sharp peak, decline, and then a "fat tail".
Why? Because if oil is in short supply, then the price of oil tends to rise. At higher prices it becomes economic to use sophisticated drilling and production techniques to push the production of a field higher, past where it would normally have peaked. This extracts more oil and gets the oil out faster, but as a consequence, when the field declines it declines suddenly. The decline is arrested (though at a lower production level) by "Enhanced Oil Recovery" (EOR) techniques. These techniques cannot push a field’s production levels back to peak levels, they simply create a fat tail.
In summary: In an open, global market, the shape of a production graph will depend on the degree of constraint of the resource. When constraint is present, the price goes up. As the price point grows higher the production peak is pushed higher and the decline is sudden, followed by a fat tail. |
At the site of this disaster, they erected a sign that said in part that he loved nothing so much as nature, which prompted the writer to note wryly that the memorial said nothing about whether that included the last 60 seconds of his life.
This came to mind on the release of freelance journalist Jill Carroll after several months of captivity by Iraqi insurgents. During interviews her friends said she had come to love Iraq and felt completely comfortable there. One could only wonder whether she still felt that way after surviving an ordeal any number of Westerners and Iraqis alike have not.
The truth is that Iraq may be the most dangerous place on Earth today, particularly for ambitious and intrepid youngsters who wander about without the proper protection and support, gleaning what they can to sell to news organizations not willing to spend the money to send their own reporters there or provide the expensive security necessary to those like Carroll with whom they contract.
It is all very glamorous and exciting to be a "war correspondent," a latter day Ernie Pyle or Marguerite Higgins, who wrote for major news organizations in far different kinds of wars. The camaraderie with other reporters and the sharing of danger are seductive. But without the proper backing and understanding of where not to go, it is also foolish and irresponsible and often harmful to others. In this case her unescorted forays cost the life of her interpreter, who was shot while apparently attempting to make a call for help while she was being chased.
Carroll, 28, is probably technically a good enough journalist to handle the overseas assignment, although her judgment makes that questionable.
She should have known better
Traveling the streets of Baghdad or into the countryside with only a driver and an interpreter is proof of that. The fact that she spoke Arabic better than most Westerners and was wearing the headscarf and garb of an Iraqi woman clearly fooled no one. She obviously had been targeted sometime before her capture.
But the message that no one is safe from these criminals shouldn't have been lost on this young lady considering that even a prominent British humanitarian with a long record of helping the Iraqi people and who was married to an Iraqi was captured and murdered by the religious fanatics there.
That Carroll is bright was made clear not only by her quick grasp of the difficult language but also her willingness to say whatever her captors wanted to save her life and secure her release. She did exactly what she should have and quickly renounced her statements after she was out of harm's way, hopefully putting to rest speculation about her becoming sympathetic to the cause of those who held her, the so-called Stockholm Syndrome.
Young journalists, as is the case with youth generally, often regard themselves as indestructible, and that aura of invincibility increases the more they survive dangerous situations. It is up to the older, wiser heads among their employers to refuse them permission to conduct certain activities and to supply them with the support that gives them the best chance of surviving. The Christian Science Monitor, which was buying Carroll's material without providing the security and guidance she needed, should not have been. It is just that simple.
Fortunately for Carroll, the Monitor is run by the kind of people who immediately saw their responsibility and never let up in their efforts to secure her freedom. It has been a tough lesson for this distinguished organization and one that hopefully will make it think long and hard about such relationships in the future. Thankfully it ended well.
Covering a war carries with it the potential for disaster under the best of circumstances. Sending men and women into these precarious situations always results in a lot of sleepless nights. Having been there and done that on too many occasions, I can testify to the strain.
While no story is worth the loss of a life, it is bound to happen. Lessening the chances of that occurring is about the only thing one can do.
Being intrepid is a great quality in a journalist but too often it is a synonym for being foolish.
Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.
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NCI Drug Dictionary
The NCI Drug Dictionary contains technical definitions and synonyms for drugs/agents used to treat patients with cancer or conditions related to cancer. Each drug entry includes links to check for clinical trials listed in NCI's List of Cancer Clinical Trials.
A heterocyclic antineoplastic antibiotic isolated from the bacterium Actinomycete strain J907-21. Elsamitrucin intercalates into DNA at guanine-cytosine (G-C)-rich sequences and inhibits topoisomerase I and II, resulting in single-strand breaks and inhibition of DNA replication. Check for active clinical trials using this agent. (NCI Thesaurus)
Code names: BBM 2478A
Chemical structure: benzo(h)(1)benzopyrano(5,4,3-cde)(1)ebnzopyran-5,12-dione,10((2-O-(2-amino-2,6-dideoxy-3-O-methyl-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl)-6-deoxy-3-C-methyl-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)oxy)-6-hydroxy-1-methyl |
What are the best natural sleep aids?
Do your work hours affect your sleep? Here's what to do.
Benefits and risks of dependency with OTC sleep aids.
One of the more popular medications for the treatment of insomnia, trouble sleeping and interrupted sleep these days is Lunesta. A prescription medication, Lunesta is not available to all people, but for those who can acquire the product, there is a lot to consider before committing to it. Lunesta is not an all natural product like many herbal options available are, and as such, does not work as well with the body's natural rhythms as one would hope. Only a short term solution, Lunesta poses some risk to those who choose to take it, and anyone interested in obtaining a prescription for Lunesta should carefully evaluate the product as well as all other options available.
When you fall to sleep naturally, it is due to melatonin and serotonin, two substances produced naturally within the body that encourage the body to drift to sleep naturally as well as prolong the restful, deep sleep periods of the sleep cycle. Oddly, Lunesta contains neither of these ingredients, nor any ingredients designed to take advantage of the body's natural chemistry. A more easily obtained, less expensive quality herbal sleep aid product will most often contain both.
Instead of natural ingredients, Lunesta contains Eszopiclone as an active ingredient. The Eszopiclone contained in Lunesta makes the product fall solidly into the category of medications referred to as hypnotics and sedatives. As a sedative, Lunesta does not rely on the body's natural processes, but instead, completely overrides them to force the body to sleep quickly. While trouble falling asleep is a common complaint that Lunesta is designed to address, disrupting the natural cycles of sleep does not promote the restful and rejuvenating sleep needed to feel awake and alert in the morning.
Lunesta has some low grade side effects that should not present too much of a hassle to those who are seriously in need of a sleep aid. For example, Lunesta has been shown to cause an unpleasant taste in the mouth, headache, dry mouth or drowsiness. Oddly, unlike many similar products, Lunesta has also been shown to occasionally cause heartburn or viral infections, like urinary tract infections.
More seriously, some people who are sensitive to strong or harsh medications have experienced more severe side effects from the use of Lunesta such as chest pain, strange behavior, hallucinations or even suicidal thoughts. There are also sexual side effects such as decreased libido, breast enlargement in men and painful monthly periods for men. Lunesta offers a long and potentially painful or harmful list of side effects that are not present when choosing a more natural, herbal solution for sleep disturbances.
One of the main obstacles presented by Lunesta is that it is a prescription only product. This means doctor visits, follow ups, time off work, loss of pay or vacation time as well as just the plain aggravation and annoyance of waiting to be seen by a doctor. That is all on top of the cost of the visit to the doctor as well as the cost of the Lunesta itself. For those who do not have medical insurance, whose medical insurance declines to cover Lunesta, or who do not have prescription coverage, Lunesta is even more expensive, difficult or impossible to obtain. Some doctors may be able to offer a short term free sample of Lunesta, but the cost of the prescription will depend totally on the medical insurance of the person holding the prescription. Out of pocket, without medical insurance, Lunesta, like many medications, is prohibitively expensive.
Lunesta cannot be considered as a long term solution for any kind of sleep troubles or disturbances. By disrupting the natural sleep rhythms even more than they already had been, Lunesta creates a cycle of dependence upon the sleep aid by helping the user get to sleep, but not actually providing any restful sleep. Many who take Lunesta awake even more tired, distracted, confused and uncoordinated than they were when they went to sleep.
Aside from the fact that Lunesta only provides a patch solution instead of a long term solution, there are the side effects to consider. Possibility of infection, breast growth in men, painful heartburn or headaches is just a few of the negative side effects that are possible with Lunesta. All in all, those who take the time to look closely at Lunesta are likely to find that they will be happier and healthier in the long term with a more natural, herbal product to solve their bedtime troubles. |
Treatment is aimed at the cause of the pseudotumor.
A lumbar puncture can help relieve pressure in the brain and prevent vision problems.
Other treatments may include:
Fluid or salt restriction
Medications such as corticosteroids, acetazolamide, and furosemide
Shunting procedures to relieve pressure from spinal fluid buildup
Surgery to relieve pressure on the optic nerve
Patients will need to have their vision closely monitored. There can be vision loss, which is sometimes permanent. Follow-up MRI or CT scans may be done to rule out hidden cancer.
Sometimes the condition disappears on its own within 6 months. About 10-20% of persons have their symptoms return. A small number of patients have symptoms that slowly get worse and lead to blindness.
Vision loss is a serious complication of this condition.
Calling your health care provider
Call your health care provider if you or your child experiences the symptoms listed above.
DeAngelis LM. Tumors of the central nervous system and intracranial hypertension and hypotension. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Textbook of Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 199.
Haslam RHA. Pseudotumor cerebri. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 604.
Dhungana S, Sharrack B, Woodroofe N. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension.Acta Neurol Scand. 2010;121(2):71-82. Epub 2009 Nov 23.
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by Joseph V. Campellone, MD, Division of Neurology, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. |
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Calls for Clemency
for Troy Davis
Sept. 19, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta....Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called today on the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to reverse its decision to deny clemency to Troy Anthony Davis, convicted for an alleged murder of a Savannah police officer in 1991. "This case illustrates the deep flaws in the application of the death penalty in this country," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. "Executing Troy Davis without a real examination of potentially exonerating evidence risks taking the life of an innocent man and would be a grave miscarriage of justice. The citizens of Georgia should demand the highest standards of proof when our legal system condemns on our behalf a man or woman to die."
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied the clemency appeal despite serious new doubts about Mr. Davis' participation in the murder of which he was accused. Serious flaws during Davis' trial and post-conviction phases warrant reconsideration of his conviction and sentence. There was no physical evidence against Troy Davis, and the weapon used in the crime was never found.
The entire case against Davis was built on witness testimony, which contained inconsistencies at the time of the trial. Recently, seven of nine prosecution witnesses either recanted their stories or admitted to being pressured by police officers to testify against Mr. Davis. One of the other witnesses has been an alternate suspect for the murder.
Additionally, Davis' family members and close friends were not able to testify at his trial, preventing the jurors from hearing sympathetic facts, leaving them to rely only on the prosecutor's characterizations of Davis and his life. |
Bone metastases presenting with pain and body-ache may be the first presentation of carcinoma in about a fourth of patients with cancer. Radiologically majority of the metastases are osteolytic and multiple. Sometimes these may be confused with infective or inflammatory conditions, particularly in young individuals, and degenerative conditions of the spine and hip in elderly, which may delay the diagnosis and treatment leading to poor outcomes.
A 30 year old non-smoking male teetotaller presented with intermittent, high-grade nocturnal fever with night sweats of one year. He also had low back ache over his right hip. We found him febrile, pale and his long bones, ribs and pelvis were tender. He had a 3 × 4 cm tender and hard swelling over the upper part of his sternum. Another firm, non-tender swelling about 4 × 5 cm was seen in the right iliac region. Radiographs of the skull, spine and pelvis revealed multiple variable sized lytic lesions. A metastatic malignancy or disseminated tuberculosis was considered. His anti-tubercular therapy was intensified Fine needle aspiration from sternal lesion showed inflammatory cells. A bone marrow biopsy showed infiltration by tumor cells suggestive of metastatic adenocarcinoma. Patient's condition continued to deteriorate and he died within a fortnight of his hospitalization.
Although masquerading as tuberculosis lytic lesions might be an evidence of malignant metastatic. Although, treatment is ineffective in this stage palliative efforts to improve quality of life should be made.
Multiple lytic lesions are a common radiological finding. Differential diagnoses are diverse and include infective, inflammatory and primary and metastatic malignancies. The skeletal system is the third most common site for distant metastases, following lung and liver. Bone metastases may be the first presentation of carcinoma in about 25 per cent of patients. Pain is the common clinical presentation, which ranges from a dull ache to a deep, intense pain that is exacerbated by weight-bearing. Occasionally, the pain is worse at night and is not relieved by rest. Radiologically majority of the metastases are osteolytic and multiple. Sometimes these may be confused with infective or inflammatory conditions, particularly in young individuals, and degenerative conditions of the spine and hip in elderly, which may delay the diagnosis and treatment leading to poor outcomes. Here we present the case of a young man with multiple lytic bone lesions.
A 30 year old non-smoking male patient presented with intermittent, high-grade nocturnal fever with night sweats of one year. He also had low back ache over his right hip. Prior to hospitalization, he had received four-drug anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) based on right sacro-ileitis seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). No change in symptoms was observed during one year of therapy and he lost 10 kg weight. He also developed a tender swelling over sternum about a month before presenting to us. We found him febrile, pale and his long bones, ribs and pelvis were tender. He had a 3 × 4 cm tender and hard swelling over the upper part of his sternum. Another firm, non-tender swelling about 4 × 5 cm was seen in the right iliac region. He had mild anaemia with normal liver/renal functions, serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase.
Radiographs of the skull (Fig 1a and 1b), spine (Fig 1c) and pelvis (Fig 1d) revealed multiple variable sized lytic lesions affecting all visualized bones. T1 weighted MRI images of pelvis (Fig 2a) revealed a hypointense mass lesion involving the right iliac bone extending into the sacrum (arrow). T2 weighted MRI images (Fig 2b) revealed that the lesion in right iliac bone was hyperintense (double arrows).
Figure 1. Radiographs of the skull (a, b), spine (c), and pelvis (d) showing multiple variably sized lytic lesions affecting all visualized bones.
Figure 2. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T1W (a) image shows a hypointense mass lesion involving the right iliac bone extending into the sacrum (arrow). T2W MRI image (b) shows that the lesion in right iliac bone is hyperintense (double arrows).
Plain chest radiograph (Fig 3a) of the patient revealed an ill-defined mass in the left mid and lower zones, along with multiple patches of consolidation in the right lung. Multiple lytic bony lesions were also seen (arrows). CT scan of chest (Fig 3b and 3c) showed the lung masses (solid arrows) and lytic lesions were observed in the sternum and the vertebra (double arrows).
Figure 3. Chest radiograph showing an ill-defined mass in the left mid and lower zones (star), alongwith multiple patches of consolidation in the right lung. Multiple lytic bony lesions can also be seen (arrows). Computed tomography (CT) images (b, c) show the lung masses in detail (solid arrows). Also note the lytic lesions in the sternum and the vertebra (double arrows).
A metastatic malignancy or disseminated tuberculosis was considered. His anti-tubercular therapy was intensified by addition of a quinolone and aminoglycoside to the existing regimen. Pain was controlled with NSAIDs. Fine needle aspiration performed from sternal lesion showed inflammatory cells. A bone marrow biopsy was taken from iliac crest and this showed infiltration of marrow spaces by tumor cells as shown in figure 4. The tumor was present in acinar architecture. The cells were polygonal in shape. The nuclei were hyperchromatic and showed moderate degree of nuclear pleomorphism. They had moderate amount of cytoplasm. The section also showed areas of procedural haemorrhage. These features are suggestive of metastatic adenocarcinoma. Patient's condition continued to deteriorate and he died within a fortnight of his hospitalization.
Figure 4. Section examined from bone marrow biopsy showing a metastatic adenocarcinoma.
Bone is the favoured site for metastasis. Most metastases are osteolytic and multiple. Although several tumors like lung (10%), renal cell (10%) thyroid (5%) and adenocarcinoma (5%) are associated with osteolytic lesions, breast is the most common (50%). The radiographic appearance of osteoarticular tuberculosis can mimic metastatic tumors or some primary osseous lesions, such as eosinophilic granuloma, especially if multiple destructive lesions are present. The classical presentation of renal-cell carcinoma includes the triad of flank pain, hematuria, and a palpable abdominal mass in an adult male. Lung carcinoma is seen usually in male smokers, although small cell carcinoma can be seen in non-smokers and also females. Tissue biopsy from lesion can differentiate between benign and malignant as well as the histopathological nature. In metastatic adenocarcinoma, as in this patient, identification of primary neoplasm proves difficult. In our case, lung was the probable primary focus although this cannot be said with confirmation.
The treatment of metastatic bone disease consists of either systemic or local therapy depending upon patients' performance status. Systemic treatment can be chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, administration of radionuclides, or bisphosphonate therapy. The type of chemotherapy varies depending on the type of carcinoma. Bone lesions that progress during chemotherapy should be treated either with local irradiation or both operatively and with irradiation. The duration of survival after the diagnosis of metastatic bone disease often depends on the histological characteristics of the primary carcinoma. Patients who have metastatic bone disease secondary to breast carcinoma have a better prognosis for survival (34 months) than do those who have metastatic bone disease secondary to carcinoma of the prostate (24 months), cervix (18 months), colon and rectum (13 months), or lung (<12 months) or those who have it secondary to melanoma (about 3 months).[6,7]
Tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in this part of the world, involving 1.5% of our population. Skeletal tuberculosis can present with articular/epiphyseal, articular/metaphyseal, metaphyseal without joint or flat bone involvement. It also can present as soft tissue swelling. The morphologic appearance can be similar to that of a lytic tumour or a destructive joint lesion. Soft-tissue TB presents as an abscess. On the basis of radiologic appearance, it can be difficult to differentiate peripheral osteoarticular and soft-tissue TB from other degenerative, inflammatory, or neoplastic disorders. To prevent a delay in diagnosis, bone metastases should be considered in the differential diagnosis of multiple destructive skeletal lesions, even in young patients. If patient is not showing any improvement after about 6–8 weeks of ATT then alternate diagnosis should be strongly considered. In our patient ATT was continued for about 12 months despite no response and because of this crucial time was lost before a diagnosis of malignancy could be made. If diagnosed earlier, patient may have benefited from appropriate chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
In conclusion, our case is unique because he taught us several lessons not only in the management of bone pains and body ache, an often neglected complain, but also in the humane care of a dying young patient. Although masquerading as tuberculosis lytic lesions might be metastatic lesions from a malignant source. Treatment is usually ineffective in this stage of disease. Palliative efforts to improve quality of life may go a long way in comforting the patient.
TB: Tuberculosis; CT: Computed tomography; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; ATT: Anti-tubercular therapy
The patient expired during the course of his treatment during hospitalization. Further attempts to obtain consent from the patient's immediate family members and relatives have proved futile because they are not traceable.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
VH wrote the first draft of the manuscript. NKV provided intellectual inputs and was responsible for immediate patient care during hospitalization. AG provided continuous inputs and changes for modification to final manuscript and layout. RS was responsible for over-all patient care and provided final inputs in the manuscript. VJ analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the radiological picture. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Bulletin du cancer 1988, 75(9):845-57. PubMed Abstract
The New England journal of medicine 353(23):2477-90.
2005 Dec 8;PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text
J Bone Joint Surg Am 1993, 75(9):1276-1281. PubMed Abstract
Breast cancer research and treatment 1992, 21(3):173-80. Publisher Full Text
Acta Radiol 1996, 37(4):512-6. PubMed Abstract |
Lamenting an “impoverished cultural view” which sees sex as a merely recreational activity, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a document this week aimed at addressing questions of sex, marriage, and contraception.
The Document titled, “Married Love and the Gift of Life,” acknowledges that, “God’s plan for married life and love is far richer and more fulfilling,” than the view offered by many today. In God’s plan, the bishops say, “sexuality is the source of a joy and pleasure that helps the spouses give themselves to each other completely and for their entire lives.”
In the Document, which was presented to the main body of bishops by Baltimore’s Cardinal William Keeler and the Committee for Pro-Life Activities, “the Church teaches that the sexual union of husband and wife is meant to express the full meaning of love, its power to bind a couple together and its openness to new life.”
“Married love differs from any other love in the world. By its nature, the love of husband and wife is so complete, so ordered to a lifetime of communion with God and each other, that it is open to creating a new human being they will love and care for together,” the document continues.
That being said, the document continues, when contraception is used, “when married couples deliberately act to suppress fertility… sexual intercourse is no longer fully marital intercourse. It is something less powerful and intimate, something more ‘casual.’
The use of contraception, the bishops said, not only denies part of the inherent meaning of sexuality, but it actually “does harm to the couple’s unity.”
The bishops admitted that many couples “through no fault of their own, have not heard (or not heard in a way they could appreciate and understand)” the Church’s teaching on the harms of contraception. “But as many couples who have turned away from contraception tell us, living this teaching can contribute to the honesty, openness, and intimacy of marriage and help make couples truly fulfilled.”
The document goes on to explore, in depth, the Church’s teaching on married sexual relations open to life and notes the benefits of natural family planning, which the bishops note is not simply based on a calendar date, but a series of scientifically observable signs in the woman’s body.
“Living God’s design for human sexuality in marriage can be difficult,” the bishops conclude, “But husbands and wives have not been left alone to live out this fundamental life challenge...The Church’s teaching on marital sexuality is an invitation for men and women—an invitation to let God be God, to receive the gift of God’s love and care, and to let this gift inform and transform us, so we may share that love with each other and with the world.”
To read the bishops’ document in full visit the USCCB website at www.usccb.org. |
Alright guys, are you ready for another book-torial?!! (If you missed the first tutorial on how to cover books with fabric, be sure to check it out here.)
Today we're making a top secret book safe for all your pretty little treasures. Shall we get started?
HERE'S THE HOW TO:
Stuff You'll Need:
Book (I used one of the books I made with the DIY: Covered Book tutorial.)
Ruler (I used a square ruler, as shown above.)
Piece of cardboard
1. Mark where you'd like the hole to be inside the book. You'll want to leave an edge that is at least 3/4 of an inch thick.
2. Use the knife and your ruler to cut through the pages along the outline you drew. I liked using the square ruler because it helped me create neat corners while cutting.
3. When you get close to the last pages insert a piece of cardboard between the pages you want to cut and the book cover. This will prevent you from accidentally slicing through the book cover.
4. Once you finish cutting you will want to touch up the rough spots. I fine tuned the edges with some scissors and a piece of sandpaper.
5. Now, it's time to glue the pages together. I brushed Mod Podge along the page edges both on the inside of the hole I cut out and the outside of the book. It is important to only use a little bit of Mod Podge to keep the pages from wrinkling due to the moisture.
6. Place some wax paper between the wet pages and the book cover to keep the book from becoming glued shut. Stack some heavy books on top to apply pressure so that the pages will dry flat. (Note: You'll need to do several coats of the Mod Podge to securely adhere the pages together. Be sure to allow each coat to dry before applying the next.)
Ta-da! That's pretty much it. I'm still trying to figure out what type of closure to use. I'm thinking magnets might do the trick, but I haven't found any that were super thin and strong enough to keep the book closed. Do you guys have any suggestions? If so, you rawk! :)
So, what will you be hiding in your book safe? |
The current employment market has created an environment of unprecedented significance for new law school graduates. In an attempt to assist new lawyers, the CBA created Columbus Bar inc.
The "inc" is short for "incubator" - a program intended to accelerate the successful development of new lawyers in an environment that provides an array of business support resources. The Columbus Bar Association provides an office facility, office equipment, access to attorney mentors, training on a variety of law practice management issues, and specially designed networking opportunities to help new lawyers build a successful practice based on sound business principles.
In exchange for the services provided by the Columbus Bar, participants agree to accept at least one pro bono case during their one-year term, creating an additional source for serving the unmet legal needs in central Ohio.
The Columbus Bar Association was the first bar association in the country to develop an incubator program for new lawyers interested in establishing a solo law practice. The program has received praise both locally and nationally.
Columbus Bar inc Limited
In addition to Columbus Bar inc, the CBA now offers Columbus Bar inc Limited, an abbreviated version of the award-winning incubator program. Columbus Bar inc Limited provides similar support services (mentoring, training, networking opportunities) without the added expense of an office. The program is intended for attorneys 0-5 years in practice who are hanging a shingle for the first time, or looking to redirect their career.
What are former participants saying? |
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§ 24. The Diocletian Persecution, a.d. 303–311.
Eusebius: H. E. Lib. VIII. – X; De Martyr. Palaest. (ed. Cureton, Lond, 1861); Vita Const. (ed. Heinichen, Lips. 1870).
Lactantius: De Mortibus Persec. c. 7 sqq. Of uncertain authorship.
Basilius M.: Oratio in Gordium mart.; Oratio in Barlaham mart.
Baronius: Annal. ad ann. 302–305.
Gibbon: Chrs. XIII., XIV. and XVI.
Jak. Burckhardt: Die Zeit Constantins des Gr. Basel, 1853, p. 325.
Th. Keim: Der Uebertritt Constantins des Gr. zum Christenthum. Zürich 1852. The same: Die römischen Toleranzedicte für das Christenthum (311–313), in the "Tüb. Theol. Jahrb." 1852. (His. Rom und das Christenthum only comes down to a.d. 192.)
Alb. Vogel: Der Kaiser Diocletian. Gotha 1857.
Bernhardt: Diokletian in s. Verhältnisse zu den Christen. Bonn, 1862.
Hunziker: Regierung und Christenverfolgung des Kaisers Diocletianus und seiner Nachfolger. Leipz. 1868.
Theod. Preuss: Kaiser Diocletian und seine Zeit. Leipz. 1869.
A. J. Mason: The Persecution of Diocletian. Cambridge, 1876. Pages 370. (Comp. a review by Ad. Harnack in the "Theol. Literaturzeitung" for 1877. No. 7. f. 169.)
Theod. Zahn: Constantin der Grosse und die Kirche. Hannover, 1876.
Brieger.: Constantin der Gr. als Religionspolitiker. Gotha, 1880. Comp. the Lit. on Constantine, in vol. III., 10, 11.
The forty years’ repose was followed by, the last and most violent persecution, a struggle for life and death.
"The accession of the Emperor Diocletian is the era from which the Coptic Churches of Egypt and Abyssinia still date, under the name of the ’Era of Martyrs.’ All former persecutions of the faith were forgotten in the horror with which men looked back upon the last and greatest: the tenth wave (as men delighted to count it) of that great storm obliterated all the traces that had been left by others. The fiendish cruelty of Nero, the jealous fears of Domitian, the unimpassioned dislike of Marcus, the sweeping purpose of Decius, the clever devices of Valerian, fell into obscurity when compared with the concentrated terrors of that final grapple, which resulted in the destruction of the old Roman Empire and the establishment of the Cross as the symbol of the world’s hope."4545 So Arthur James Mason begins his book on thePersecution of Diocletian.4
Diocletian (284–305) was one of the most judicious and able emperors who, in a trying period, preserved the sinking state from dissolution. He was the son of a slave or of obscure parentage, and worked himself up to supreme power. He converted the Roman republican empire into an Oriental despotism, and prepared the way for Constantine and Constantinople. He associated with himself three subordinate co-regents, Maximian (who committed suicide, 310), Galerius (d. 311), and Constantius Chlorus (d. 306, the father of Constantine the Great), and divided with them the government of the immense empire; thereby quadrupling the personality of the sovereign, and imparting vigor to provincial administration, but also sowing the seed of discord and civil war4646 Maximian (surnamed Herculius) ruled in Italy and Africa, Galerius (Armentarius) on the banks of the Danube, and afterwards in the East, Constantius (Chlorus) in Gaul, Spain, and Britain; while Diocletian reserved to himself Asia, Egypt, and Thrace, and resided in Nicomedia. Galerius married a daughter of Diocletian (the unfortunate Valeria), Constantius a (nominal) daughter of Maximian (Theodora), after repudiating their former wives. Constantine, the son of the divorced Helena, married Fausta, the daughter of Maximian as his second wife (father and son being married to two sisters). He was raised to the dignity of Caesar, July 25, 306. See Gibbon, chs. XIII and XIV.5. Gibbon calls him a second Augustus, the founder of a new empire, rather than the restorer of the old. He also compares him to Charles V., whom he somewhat resembled in his talents, temporary success and ultimate failure, and voluntary retirement from the cares of government.
In the first twenty years of his reign Diocletian respected the toleration edict of Gallienus. His own wife Prisca his daughter Valeria, and most of his eunuchs and court officers, besides many of the most prominent public functionaries, were Christians, or at least favorable to the Christian religion. He himself was a superstitious heathen and an oriental despot. Like Aurelian and Domitian before him, he claimed divine honors, as the vicar of Jupiter Capitolinus. He was called, as the Lord and Master of the world, Sacratissimus Dominus Noster; he guarded his Sacred Majesty with many circles of soldiers and eunuchs, and allowed no one to approach him except on bended knees, and with the forehead touching the ground, while he was seated on the throne in rich vestments from the far East. "Ostentation," says Gibbon, "was the first principle of the new system instituted by Diocletian." As a practical statesman, he must have seen that his work of the political restoration and consolidation of the empire would lack a firm and permanent basis without the restoration of the old religion of the state. Although he long postponed the religious question, he had to meet it at last. It could not be expected, in the nature of the case, that paganism should surrender to its dangerous rival without a last desperate effort to save itself.
But the chief instigator of the renewal of hostility, according to the account of Lactantius, was Diocletian’s co-regent and son-in-law, Galerius, a cruel and fanatical heathen.4747 Lactantius (De Morte. Persec. c. 9), calls him "a wild beast, " in whom dwelt "a native barbarity and a savageness foreign to Roman blood." He died at last of a terrible disease, of which Lacantius gives a minute account (ch. 33).6 He prevailed at last on Diocletian in his old age to authorize the persecution which gave to his glorious reign a disgraceful end.
In 303 Diocletian issued in rapid succession three edicts, each more severe than its predecessor. Maximian issued the fourth, the worst of all, April 30, 304. Christian churches were to be destroyed; all copies of the Bible were to be burned; all Christians were to be deprived of public office and civil rights; and at last all, without exception, were to sacrifice to the gods upon pain of death. Pretext for this severity was afforded by the occurrence of fire twice in the palace of Nicomedia in Bithynia, where Diocletian resided 4848 Lactantius charges the incendiarism on Galerius who, as a second Nero, endangered the residence for the purpose of punishing the innocent Christians. Constantine, who then resided at the Court, on a solemn occasion at a later period, attributes the fire to lightning (Orat. ad Sanct. c. 25), but the repetition of the occurrence strengthens the suspicion of Lactantius.7. It was strengthened by the tearing down of the first edict by an imprudent Christian (celebrated in the Greek church under the name of John), who vented in that way his abhorrence of such "godless and tyrannical rulers," and was gradually roasted to death with every species of cruelty. But the conjecture that the edicts were occasioned by a conspiracy of the Christians who, feeling their rising power, were for putting the government at once into Christian hands, by a stroke of state, is without any foundation in history. It is inconsistent with the political passivity of the church during the first three centuries, which furnish no example of rebellion and revolution. At best such a conspiracy could only have been the work of a few fanatics; and they, like the one who tore down the first edict, would have gloried in the deed and sought the crown of martyrdom.4949 Gibbon, ch. XVI., intimates the probability of a political plot. In speaking of the fire in the imperial palace of Nicomedia, he says: "The suspicion naturally fell on the Christians; and it was suggested, with some degree of probability, that those desperate fanatics, provoked by their present sufferings, and apprehensive of impending calamities, had entered into a conspiracy with their faithful brethren, the eunuchs of the palace, against the lives of two emperors, whom they detested as the irreconcilable enemies of the Church of God." The conjecture of Gibbon was renewed by Burkhardt in his work on Constantine, pp. 332 ff, but without any evidence. Baur rejects it as artificial and very improbable. (Kirchengesch. I. 452, note). Mason (p. 97 sq.) refutes it.8
The persecution began on the twenty-third day of February, 303, the feast of the Terminalia (as if to make an end of the Christian sect), with the destruction of the magnificent church in Nicomedia, and soon spread over the whole Roman empire, except Gaul, Britain, and Spain, where the co-regent Constantius Chlorus, and especially his son, Constantine the Great (from 306), were disposed, as far as possible, to spare the Christians. But even here the churches were destroyed, and many martyrs of Spain (St. Vincentius, Eulalia, and others celebrated by Prudentins), and of Britain (St. Alban) are assigned by later tradition to this age.
The persecution raged longest and most fiercely in the East under the rule of Galerius and his barbarous nephew Maximin Daza, who was intrusted by Diocletian before his retirement with the dignity of Caesar and the extreme command of Egypt and Syria5050 See Lactant., De Morte Persec. ch. 18 and 19, 32, and Gibbon, ch. XIV. V. (vol. II. 16 in Smith’s edition). The original name of Maximin was Daza. He must not be confounded with Maximian (who was older and died three years before him). He was a rude, ignorant and superstitious tyrant, equal to Galerius in cruelty and surpassing him in incredible debauchery (See Lact. l.c. ch. 37 sqq.). He died of poison after being defeated by Licinius in 313.9. He issued in autumn, 308, a fifth edict of persecution, which commanded that all males with their wives and servants, and even their children, should sacrifice and actually taste the accursed offerings, and that all provisions in the markets should be sprinkled with sacrificial wine. This monstrous law introduced a reign of terror for two years, and left5151 See on this edict of Maximin, Euseb. Mart. Pal. IX. 2; the Acts of Martyrs in Boll., May 8, p. 291, and Oct. 19, p. 428; Mason, l.c. 284 sqq.0 the Christians no alternative but apostasy or starvation. All the pains, which iron and steel, fire and sword, rack and cross, wild beasts and beastly men could inflict, were employed to gain the useless end.
Eusebius was a witness of this persecution in Caesura, Tyre, and Egypt, and saw, with his own eyes, as he tells us, the houses of prayer razed to the ground, the Holy Scriptures committed to the flames on the market places, the pastors hunted, tortured, and torn to pieces in the amphitheatre. Even the wild beasts, he says, not without rhetorical exaggeration, at last refused to attack the Christians, as if they had assumed the part of men in place of the heathen Romans; the bloody swords became dull and shattered; the executioners grew weary, and had to relieve each other; but the Christians sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving in honor of Almighty God, even to their latest breath. He describes the heroic sufferings and death of several martyrs, including his friend, "the holy and blessed Pamphilus," who after two years of imprisonment won the crown of life (309), with eleven others—a typical company that seemed to him to be "a perfect representation of the church."
Eusebius himself was imprisoned, but released. The charge of having escaped martyrdom by offering sacrifice is without foundation.5252 Lightfoot vindicates him in his learned art. Euseb. in Smith and Wace, Dict. of Christ. Biogr. II. 311.1
In this, as in former persecutions, the number of apostates who preferred the earthly life to the heavenly, was very great. To these was now added also the new class of the traditores, who delivered the holy Scriptures to the heathen authorities, to be burned. But as the persecution raged, the zeal and fidelity of the Christians increased, and martyrdom spread as by contagion. Even boys and girls showed amazing firmness. In many the heroism of faith degenerated to a fanatical courting of death; confessors were almost worshipped, while yet alive; and the hatred towards apostates distracted many congregations, and produced the Meletian and Donatist schisms.
The number of martyrs cannot be estimated with any degree of certainty. The seven episcopal and the ninety-two Palestinian martyrs of Eusebius are only a select list bearing a similar relation to the whole number of victims as the military lists its of distinguished fallen officers to the large mass of common soldiers, and form therefore no fair basis for the calculation of Gibbon, who would reduce the whole number to less than two thousand. During the eight years5353 Or ten years, if we include the local persecutions of Maximin and Licinius after the first edict of toleration (311-313).2 of this persecution the number of victims, without including the many confessors who were barbarously mutilated and condemned to a lingering death in the prisons and mines, must have been much larger. But there is no truth in the tradition (which figures in older church histories) that the tyrants erected trophies in Spain and elsewhere with such inscriptions as announce the suppression of the Christian sect.5454 As "Nomine Christianorum deleto; superstitione Christiana ubique deleta, et cultu Deorum propagato." See the inscriptions in full in Baronius (ad. ann. 304, no. 8, 9; but they are inconsistent with the confession of the failure in the edict of toleration, and acknowledged to be worthless even by Gams (K. Gesch. v. Spanien, I. 387).3
The martyrologies date from this period several legends, the germs of which, however, cannot now be clearly sifted from the additions of later poesy. The story of the destruction of the legio Thebaica is probably an exaggeration of the martyrdom of St. Mauritius, who was executed in Syria, as tribunus militum, with seventy soldiers, at the order of Maximin. The martyrdom of Barlaam, a plain, rustic Christian of remarkable constancy, and of Gordius, a centurion (who, however, was tortured and executed a few years later under Licinius, 314) has been eulogized by St. Basil. A maiden of thirteen years, St. Agnes, whose memory the Latin church has celebrated ever since the fourth century, was, according to tradition, brought in chains before the judgment-seat in Rome; was publicly exposed, and upon her steadfast confession put to the sword; but afterwards appeared to her grieving parents at her grave with a white lamb and a host of shining virgins from heaven, and said: "Mourn me no longer as dead, for ye see that I live. Rejoice with me, that I am forever united in heaven with the Saviour, whom on earth I loved with all my heart." Hence the lamb in the paintings of this saint; and hence the consecration of lambs in her church at Rome at her festival (Jan. 21), from whose wool the pallium of the archbishop is made. Agricola and Vitalis at Bologna, Gervasius and Protasius at Milan, whose bones were discovered in the time of Ambrose Janurius, bishop of Benevent, who became the patron saint of Naples, and astonishes the faithful by the annual miracle of the liquefaction of his blood, and the British St. Alban, who delivered himself to the authorities in the place of the priest he had concealed in his house, and converted his executioner, are said to have attained martyrdom under Diocletian.5555 For details see the Martyrologies, the "Lives of Saints, " also Baronius Annal. This historian is so fully convinced of the "insigne et perpetuum miraculum sanguinis S. Januarii," that he thinks; it unnecessary to produce; my witness, since "tota Italia, et totus Christianus orbis testis est locupletissimus!"Ad ann. 305 no. 6.4
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Patient Notification Toolkit
A word on the scope of this toolkit
As stated in the introduction section, this toolkit is intended to be used after a healthcare facility or health department has made the decision to conduct a patient notification. Guidance on how to determine if a patient notification is warranted will not be covered in this document. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a qualitative assessment of lapses in infection control to better inform patient notification and testing decisions. This approach relies on collaboration among stakeholders including infection control experts and public health officials to assess the risk a particular infection control lapse or scenario might have posed to patients. Please see the resources below for additional information on factors to consider when determining the need for a patient notification. If additional assistance is needed, please contact CDC at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Resources for Determining the Need for a Patient Notification
Patel PR, Srinivasan A, Perz JF. Developing a broader approach to management of infection control breaches in health care settings. AJIC 2008;36:685-690.
Dudzinski DM, Hébert PC, Foglia MB, Gallagher TH. The Disclosure Dilemma — Large-Scale Adverse Events. N Engl J Med 2010; 363:978-986.
Once the decision to notify has been made, it must be determined whether the healthcare facility or the health department will be leading the notification. In a recent study (Schneider et al, J Patient Saf 2013:9;8-12), patients expressed a preference for the notification to come from the healthcare facility. However, this is not always feasible and in certain circumstances it may be preferable for the outreach to come from the health department. These circumstances may include notifications involving smaller facilities that do not have the resources to manage a notification event or notifications involving providers who are not fully cooperative or capable of objectively and effectively managing the process themselves. Regardless of who is leading the notification, both the health department and the healthcare facility should work together to assure consistent messaging and to make the process as easy as possible for affected patients. Included in this toolkit are examples of notification materials that originated from healthcare facilities and health departments.
The CDC would like to acknowledge the thoughtful comments and feedback on toolkit contents that were provided by individuals from the following organizations:
- APIC – Long Island
- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
- Gastroenterology Consultants
- HONOReform Foundation
- Jefferson County Health Department
- Justin’s Hope
- Montgomery County Health Department
- National Association of County and City Health Officials
- Nevada State Health Division
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- New York State Department of Health
- New York State Nurses Association
- NYS Chapter of American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- Premier healthcare alliance
- Pulse, New York
- Southern Nevada Health District |
President Barack Obama’s proposal to provide quality early childhood education to all children, including preschool for all 4-year-olds, would mean a significant expansion of those programs in Maine, where only about 60 percent of public school districts offer pre-kindergarten classes.
Under the president’s plan, the federal government would partner with states to fund public preschool for any child whose family income is at or below 200 percent of poverty, or $47,100 for a family of four.
Obama also is proposing letting communities and child care providers compete for grants to serve children 3 and younger, starting from birth. Once a state has established its program for 4-year-olds, it can use funds from the program to offer full-day kindergarten.
“Study after study shows that the earlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But here’s the thing: We are not doing enough to give all of our kids that chance,” Obama said Thursday at a childhood education center in Decatur, Ga., where he unveiled the details of his plan.
Nationwide, fewer than 3 in 10 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program, he said.
In Maine, about 1 in 3 children due to enter kindergarten are in public school pre-kindergarten programs.
For the 2012-13 school year, there are 4,769 pre-kindergarten students in Maine public schools, compared to 13,699 kindergarteners. Many other children attend private pre-kindergarten programs before entering the public school system.
The biggest public pre-kindergarten program in the state is in the Lewiston School District, which has 217 pre-kindergarten students.
“I’m a strong advocate of pre-K programs in public schools,” said Superintendent Bill Webster said. In addition to providing a learning environment, pre-kindergarten gives children a chance to play and learn from each other.
“There seems to be fewer chances for socialization these days,” Webster said. “We’re having more children coming in with less experience in knowing how to interact with other children, not understanding why they can’t just have the truck. Pre-K is filled with a whole slew of social norm training. Our kindergarten teachers really see the difference in those children who have had that experience.”
Webster said he hopes to add more classes over the next two years.
“No matter what happens in Washington, my goal is to have universal preschool in Lewiston in two years,” Webster said.
Portland is in the first year of its pre-kindergarten program, which serves 83 children at five sites.
“I was incredibly excited to hear (Obama’s) commitment to early childhood education,” said Longfellow Elementary School Principal Dawn Carrigan, who shepherded the pre-kindergarten launch for the district.
“(Pre-kindergarten) has had the most significantly positive impact on student progress that I’ve seen in my 32 years in education,” Carrigan said. “I think 4-year-old programming should be the priority of every elementary school in the nation.”
However, even as Portland plans to offer universal pre-kindergarten eventually, the school board is looking to slash up to $3.8 million for the upcoming budget cycle.
“It’s about funding,” Carrigan said. “It’s about educating the public and education leadership about the value and importance of (pre-kindergarten) and the need to find the money to fund expansion.”
No budget figures were included in the president’s proposals, which he first brought up in his State of the Union address; although it said the pre-kindergarten program funding would be distributed to local school districts and partner providers, while grants would be direct to local communities and providers.
Obama will outline details about the plan’s cost next month when he sends his 2014 budget proposal to Congress, administration officials said Thursday.
Republicans already were lining up against the proposals, according to The Associated Press. House Speaker John Boehner said involving the federal government in early childhood education was “a good way to screw it up.” The Republican chairman of the House committee overseeing education policy, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., was cool toward the proposal and was unlikely to support new spending on it.
Gov. Paul LePage’s office did not respond to calls for comment.
Head Start providers in Maine praised Obama’s plan for increased investment in early Head Start programs, which serve children from birth through age 3, and the new competitive grants for providers.
“We’re very pleased,” said Doug Orville, chairman of the Maine Head Start Directors Association. “Assuming the money comes, it would be a great investment.”
There are about 3,000 children in Maine Head Start programs, and a waiting list of about 1,400 children, as of a few weeks ago, Orville said.
Head Start in Maine serves children from birth to age 5 whose family income is at or below 100 percent of the poverty level, or $19,538 for a family of three. One million children are served by Head Start programs every year nationwide. They receive services including dental and health screenings, home visits to help families, and up to two full meals a day.
Last year, the state cut Head Start funds by $2 million, prompting some programs to lay off child care providers and shutter classrooms.
That was the case at Educare Central Maine in Waterville, where the president’s plan was welcome news Thursday.
“I am very excited to hear that (early childhood education) is on the top of his agenda,” site manager Rhonda Kaiser said.
That program serves about 200 children and has a waiting list of more than 50 infants and toddlers. The state cuts forced the program to cut staff, leaving three classrooms empty at the state-of-the-art facility, despite the demand.
The empty rooms are an example of how difficult funding an ambitious early education program can be, officials say. The demand is there, the facilities exist, and trained staff are available; but finding the money is hard, Kaiser said.
“The bottom line is the funding,” she said. |
John Gartland, 10x Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, explains a simple drill that will get your athletes to lean from their ankles and improve their approach, leading to higher jumps. This drill will improve the flexibility in the ankles of your athletes and make them think about their approach footwork in an easy-to-follow way.
Gartland shows you how to set-up the drill, which is based on each individual jumper’s approach. A circle is drawn in chalk or tape on the track and athletes perform the drill while the coach provides feedback. This drill will help your athletes keep their speed at an optimum during their approach, because your jumpers will learn to not lose speed from the approach. This drill can be performed during any part of the season and will be a useful addition to any track coach’s high jump drills progression. |
U.S. financier Warren Buffett, already one of his country’s largest investors in clean technologies, says he’s prepared to double his stake in renewable energy. Speaking June 9 in Las Vegas, he noted that his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, already had invested about $15 billion in clean energy enterprises, and added that he has “another $15 billion ready to go, as far as I’m concerned.”
Earlier in his career, Buffett tended to invest in high-return businesses, but more recently he has said that he likes the renewable energy industry because it’s ripe for reinvestment and broader acquisitions. A prime example is an energy holding company in Iowa with an expansion that Buffet funded in 2000.
That company, now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy, runs electric grids in Britain, gas pipelines that cross the United States, and electrical utilities in several U.S. states. It keeps all its earnings unlike many other energy companies, meaning it has on hand plenty of money — about $30 billion — to invest in the coming years.
“We’re going to keep doing that as far as the eye can see,” Buffett told the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention. “We’ll just keep moving.” |
Check-Six Online Museum
Land / Terrestrial Wing
Graphite from the World's First Atomic Reactor in Lucite
On November 16th, 1942, construction started on the world's first nuclear reactor, '''Chicago Pile-1''', shortened as '''CP-1''', built on a racquetball court under the abandoned west stands of the Alonzo Stagg Field stadium on the University of Chicago campus. Operation of CP-1 was terminated in February 1943 and the nuclear reactor dismantled and moved to the laboratory's Palos Park site A, since a labor strike prevented the construction of the piles at a laboratory in the Argonne forest preserve. It was reconstructed using CP-1 materials but enlarged with a radiation shield and named CP-2. It began operation in March 1943.
The reactor was a pile of uranium and graphite blocks, assembled under the supervision of the renowned Italian physicist Enrico Fermi. It contained critical mass of the fissile material, together with control rods, and was built as a part of Manhattan Project research done by the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.
The piles consisted of uranium pellets as a neutron–producing "core" separated from one another by graphite blocks to slow the neutrons. Fermi himself described the apparatus as "a crude pile of black bricks and wooden timbers." The controls consisted of cadmium-coated rods that absorbed neutrons. Withdrawing the rods would increase neutron activity in the pile to lead to a self-sustaining chain reaction. Re-inserting the rods would dampen the reaction.
On December 2, 1942, Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) was ready for a demonstration. Before a group of fifty, including dignitaries, a young scientist named George Weil worked the final control rod while Fermi carefully monitored the neutron activity. The pile went critical at 3:25 p.m. Fermi shut it down 33 minutes later. In 1943, he rebuilt the pile as CP-2 at the Argonne Laboratory. Today, the 12-foot bronze sculpture, by artist Henry Moore, stands on the site
Measuring 4 inches length, 4 inched wide, and an inch in height, this lucite paperweight encapsulates a 1/2" by 1/2" wafer of the original graphite used to contain the first nuclear reaction.
Concrete Core Sample from the Mackinaw Bridge
It was while working on a renovation project for the Mackinaw Bridge, the "A Bit of History" company founders discovered they had an opportunity to obtain a limited supply of original bridge material. They cut and finished some of this material, thinking the pieces might make good gifts for family and friends.
They soon discovered the immense popularity of the this type of historical monument would make these items extremely popular. After some research and experimentation, they discovered that they could offer a variety of certified collectables that were both attractive and affordable enough for everyone to own "a bit of history..."
The "Mighty Mac" is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere (over 26,000 feet long) and is a favorite landmark in the state of Michigan, where it connects the upper and lower peninsulas of that state. Opened to traffic in 1957, in weighs over a million tons
For more information about the Mackinaw Bridge, click here
First Production Chips from the Construction of the Fast Flux Test Facility
The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) is a 400-megawatt (thermal) liquid-metal (sodium) cooled fast neutron flux nuclear test reactor owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The facility is located in the "400 Area" of the DOE's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The construction of FFTF was started in 1970, and completed in 1978, with initial operation began in 1980. From April 1982 to April 1992, the FFTF operated successfully as a national research facility to test advanced nuclear fuels, materials, components, nuclear power plant operations and maintenance protocols, and reactor safety designs. During this time, the FFTF also produced a wide variety of medical and industrial isotopes, made tritium for the U.S. fusion research program, and conducted cooperative international research work.
In December 1993, DOE ordered the FFTF to begin shutdown due to a lack of economically-viable missions at that time. From 1994 through 1997, fuel was removed from the reactor vessel for storage in fuel storage vessels and above-ground dry storage casks, and 23 of 100 FFTF operating systems were put into lay up. However, in January 1997, former Secretary of Energy, Hazel O'Leary, announced that the FFTF would be maintained in standby condition, pending an evaluation of the reactor for possible use in the agency's tritium production strategy. As a consequence of FFTF being placed in standby, facility transition work was limited to activities that would not preclude reactor restart, and the TPA milestones were no longer achievable. In December of 2001, the DOE announced the decision to permanently deactivate FFTF. (Text Source: DOE and FFTF website).
These millings, encased in a wedge of lucite, come from the first piece milled especially for the Fast Flux Test Facility. Milled in December of 1970, they represent the first step in bringing nuclear technology to applied medical applications. The paperweight is 2 inches in height, sloping down to only one inch, 2 inches in width, and 3 inches in overall length. The silhouette of the FFTF, as well as the lettering, is reflective.
Statue of Liberty Medallion Made From Materials Removed During the 1986 Restoration
The Statue of Liberty renovation was indeed one of the greatest undertakings of the twentieth century, requiring $230 million in private funding. The Statue of Liberty's many corrosion problems were associated with thousands of holes pitting the copper surface caused by a century of salt-air exposure, distortion of the iron framework produced by continuous stress and fatigue, & the previous repair attempts that created different problems and more deterioration
The French-American Committee for the Restoration of the Statue of Liberty was established in 1981. Following an initial diagnostic report for the NPS, it was determined that substantial work needed to be done. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation was then formed to raise the needed funds and to oversee the restoration of both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Again, as in the past, private contributions were the backbone of the foundation's success: More than $295 million was collected, with $86 million going to the statue's restoration.
On July 4, 1986, America threw a birthday party for the Statue of Liberty that will not soon be forgotten. With a golden sunset glowing in the background, President Ronald Reagan declared, "We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see." Later that day, the president pressed a button that sent a laser beam across the water toward the statue. Slowly, dramatically, majestically, a light show unveiled Liberty and her new torch, and the most spectacular fireworks show America had ever seen exploded across the sky. With an entire nation watching - along with 1.5 billion television viewers around the world - and thousands of people filled with gratitude, one wonders how Bartholdi and Laboulaye might have felt as Liberty enlightened the world that historic night.
The medallion was crafted from authentic materials from the Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island National Monument. These valuable materials were made available by the Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation, through their official licensee, the Gold Leaf Corporation. The Gold Leaf Corporation certifies the authenticity of these materials removed during the restoration of the Statue of Liberty from 1982-1992.
Historical records make no mention of the source of the copper used in the Statue of Liberty. In the town of Visnes, near Stavanger, Norway, tradition holds that the copper came from the French-owned Visnes Mine. Ore from this mine, refined in France and Belgium, was a significant source of European copper in the late nineteenth century. In 1985, Bell Laboratories used emission spectrography to compare samples of copper from the Visnes Mines and from the Statue of Liberty, found the spectrum of impurities to be very similar, and concluded that the evidence argued strongly for a Norwegian origin of the copper.
|Section of Barded Wire from 'The Iron Curtain'|| |
The "Crusade for Freedom" was sponsored by the "National Committee for a Free Europe, Inc"., an organization which operated Radio Free Europe as an independent counterpart of the government operated Voice of America. The Campaign was launched by General Eisenhower on Labor Day, 1950, with General Lucius D. Clay, former military governor of Germany, as its national chairman. The purpose of the Campaign was to offer all Americans an opportunity to play a personal part in a demonstration of the "free world's determination to resist Communist aggression."
Activities sponsored by the Campaign include a drive to secure signatures on a Freedom Scroll, which was enshrined in the Crusade's Freedom Bell in Berlin; fund raising for Radio Free Europe; and "Winds of Freedom," an operation which launched thousands of balloons carrying millions of leaflets into Czechoslovakia and Poland.
However, the "Crusade for Freedom" was later publicly discovered to be conduit for the Central Intelligence Agency to both secure & launder money for their radio networks, as well as provide a positive spin and its activities in eastern Europe. Although the Crusade for Freedom never raised enough money to actually fund Radio Free Europe (it could only finance a third of its budget), its advertising slogans such as "Help Truth Fight Communism," along with parades, public forums, and other events, served to mobilize support for America's cold war policies.
At some point during the group's time, the organization produced, as an award of sorts, small sections of barded wire, encased in lucite, from 'The Iron Curtain' to present to donors and others associated with their activities. This is one of those lucite displays. It reads: " This authentic barded wire from The Iron Curtain is awarded in recognition of distinguished service to Crusade For Freedom".
Given to all the Warner Bros. employees at the Warner Bros. Burbank studio back around 1990. The studio had installed two large pieces of the Berlin Wall outside the company store. All employees of the studio were given these commemorative paperweights at that time. I was an working there at the time and this was the one I received. It is very nice, about 4" across and 3" deep.
The piece of the wall encased in the lucite has the authentic stamp on it which states 'Authentic Berliner Maurer' with an image of the Brandenberg Gate. Text around the bottom says This is a remnant of the Berlin Wall, which stood as a barrier against the free exchange of ideas, information and culture. You helped bring this wall down. On the bottom of the paperweight is the Time Warner logo from that time as well as the words Time Warner. |
In this timely and urgent work, Hans Kung reminds us: - Every minute, the nations of the world spend 1.8 million dollars on military armaments; - Every hour, 1500 children die of hunger-related causes; - Every week during the 1980s, more people were detained, tortured, assassinated, made refugee, or in other ways violated by acts of repressive regimes than at any other time in history; - Every month, the world's economic system adds over 7.5 billion dollars to the catastrophically unbearable debt burden of more than 1.5 trillion dollars now resting on the shoulders of Third World peoples; - Every year, an area of tropical forest three-quarters the size of Korea is destroyed and lost; - Every decade, if present global warming trends continue, the temperature of the earth's atmosphere could rise dramatically with a resultant rise in sea levels that would have disastrous consequences, particularly for coastal areas of all the earth's land masses. In 'Global Responsibility', the author offers important new approaches and concludes that: - There can be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. - There can be no peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions. - There can be no ongoing human society without a global ethic.
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Rent Global Responsibility 1st edition today, or search our site for Hans textbooks. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Wipf and Stock. |
Before there were Chesterton, Portage, Valparaiso or Kouts, before Native
American settlers, Porter County -- like most of the world at the time --
had a lot of ice around.
There were other things around too that were a little more peculiar – a big
cat with 12-inch long canines and a ground sloth the size of an elephant.
In its newest featured exhibit, “Prehistoric Porter County”, the Porter
County Museum of History in downtown Valparaiso gives visitors a personal
tour of what the county was like more than 50,000 years ago and the lost but
not forgotten beasts like the 10-foot tall Mastodon and the short-faced
Museum Director Kevin Pazour said the idea for the exhibit started more than
a year ago when members of the Porter County Historical Society wanted to
give residents a better idea of how their community was formed, from the
beginning, before written history.
“Everything we do at the museum is to show how Porter County fits into the
big picture,” Pazour said. “We have natural, local and military history
exhibits that show how we fit in, not just in our community, but the global
The trip back in time starts with shelves of primitive tools used by the
Native American tribes that inhabited Porter County for centuries. There are
quite a few pointed arrowheads to see and stone carvings believed to be more
than 7,000 years old. Although not original to Porter County, the display
features a 12,000 year-old stone carving from the Inuit tribes who crossed
the land bridge from Asia into Alaska and Northern Canada.
From the southwest tribes is an artifact a little more modern to our time –
an eagle talon necklace comprised of silver, turquoise and an eagle talon
Next, visitors can make their way down what appears to be a dark, porous
cave into the dawn of mammals. It may be difficult to believe you are in
50,000 B.C. but it may be more difficult to believe you are in the former
Porter County Jail. Museum volunteers have transformed the cell quarters
into caverns complete with stalactites and stalagmites.
To give it a chilly effect, the path through the cave is lit with black
light UV as wanderers are asked riddle clues leading to the identity of
mammals which inhabited the area.
As you make your way around, skull replicas of the Saber-toothed cat, the
29-foot long giant ground sloth that could grow to 4 tons in weight, the
dire wolf, and an early species of the peccary that bears a resemblance, but
is not an ancestor to, the modern-day pig.
Nearby are the great grandparents of the ox called the Musk Ox, an ice age
survivor, and more familiar specimens that are still very much a part of our
outdoor world -- the coyote, the mink, the beaver and the muskrat.
Designers of the Prehistoric hallways were Zach Gipson, a Chesterton native,
and Garth A. Conrad of LaPorte. The two designers were also responsible for
the museum’s previous temporary exhibits: “Tools of the Trade,” which has
been extended until the end of this year, and “Masks” – the museum’s first
temporary exhibit -- which ran last fall.
Last but certainly not least in the exhibit are the bones of Mastodons found
here in Porter County.
Pazour said there have been three reported instances of Mastodon fossils
found in the boundaries of the county. The first took place in 1911 near
Koselke Ditch in Washington Twp. followed in 1949 by another discovery on a
Boone Grove Farm with a more complete set of bones and tusks.
The next Mastodon remains showed up just outside of Hebron fairly recently
in 2004 and were given to the Indiana State Museum.
“Who knows what you’ll find in your own backyard,” said Pazour.
Drawing a pattern, Pazour said the best chance to find Mastodon bones or any
other prehistoric ice-age creature would be close to waterways. He said the
lands along the Kankakee River have seen the most success.
Slightly different from Woolly Mammoths, who were ground grazers, Mastodons
died out nearly 20,000 years ago in the final stages of the last ice age.
But even before that, at about 50,000 B.C., glaciers spread across Porter
County. While this was happening throughout many places on the globe, Porter
County is unique in the fact that glaciers stopped halfway through the
county producing sand hills and glacial tills like the Valparaiso Moraine
and the fertile runoff soils of the Kankakee River.
The Moraine not only rises in Valparaiso but wraps around Wisconsin to
Michigan. It was formed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciations.
Pazour said the Prehistoric exhibit will run until the museum relocates to
the former Valparaiso police station a half a block away, probably in the
next two years.
The exhibit will continue to be a work-in-progress as more fossil replicas
are added. The giant land sloth and short-faced bear skull replicas are the
newest additions having just arrived last week.
Each fossil is a replica except for the Mastodon bones.
The replicas are created by a company in California which specializes in
taking models from real-life fossils, said museum volunteer Paula Ramos.
Pazour said acquiring real fossils is out of reach for the museum’s budget
and the replicas help illustrate the different mammals that once roamed the
Joanne Urschel, secretary for the Porter County Historical Society, said the
exhibit holds something of interest for every resident in Porter County. The
Historical Society promotes the message that the museum is for all Porter
“We’re not only looking at the Ice Age but the entire Porter County
experience,” said Urschel.
to be updated
current undertaking is to renovate the war exhibits, specifically the
collection of WWII artifacts.
exhibits include the American Civil War and a combined World War I and
Spanish-American War exhibit.
Much of the
renovation will be complete by the museum’s open house on Sept. 8 for the
Valparaiso Popcorn Festival.
located at 153 Franklin Street in Valparaiso next to Courthouse Square, is
open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 12 p.m. to 5
p.m. on Sundays. |
Militiamen use kids as shields in clash with peacekeepers in Congo
Militia fighters using women and children as human shields battled with UN peacekeepers Monday in northeastern Congo, a UN spokesman said.
Clashes between militiamen and more than 200 Pakistani and Bangladeshi peacekeepers broke out Monday south of Bunia, capital of the violent Ituri province, after peacekeepers attempted to search and dismantle a militia camp, UN spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The fighters responded by firing mortar shells, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at peacekeepers, Saiki said.
"They were also using women and children as human shields," said Saiki. No further details of the battle were immediately available.
Peacekeepers were backed by an Mi-25 helicopter gunship in a firefight that lasted most of the day, said UN spokesman Mohammed Wahab, speaking by telephone from Bunia.
"While we don't have an exact militia death count at the moment, the peacekeepers inflicted considerable damage," said Wahab.
Battles between UN peacekeepers and Ituri militia have left 12 peacekeepers dead this year, while peacekeepers have killed nearly 75 militia members.
Since last September, about 15,000 militia have voluntarily surrendered their weapons to peacekeepers and government troops. However, UN officials fear many militia have begun to rearm and organize.
Since 1999, clashes between ethnic Lendu and Hema militia have killed more than 50,000 people, aid groups say. Fighting in December forced more than 100,000 people into squalid displaced camps in the green hills, with dozens dying each day of cholera, diarrhea and measles.
The Ituri conflict was a bloody spin-off of Congo's larger five-year war that ended in 2002 after drawing in six African armies and leaving nearly four million people dead, mostly through war-induced starvation and disease.
Congo's shaky transitional government - with the help of over 17,000 UN peacekeepers - is attempting to shepherd peace throughout the vast former Belgian colony. |
, the French Institute for research in computer science and control, is the only French public institute entirely dedicated to research in information and communication science and technology (ICST). Throughout its 8 research centres, INRIA has a workforce of 3,800 (2,800 of whom are scientists from INRIA and its partner organizations). INRIA has an annual budget of 186 million Euros, 20% of which comes from its own research contracts and development products. As its strategy closely combines scientific excellence with technology transfer, it develops collaborations with the economic world through strategic industrial partners and the creation of more than 90 companies since 1984. INRIA is a partner in more than 120 FP6 projects (90 in the IST priority) and 50 FP7 projects in the ICT Cooperation programme.
Researchers of theproject-team at INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt will contribute to CHOReOS, bringing expertise in the area of software architecture and middleware for pervasive computing/ambient intelligence systems. Relevant research results for CHOReOS include service-oriented middleware for pervasive computing that allows rigorous description of pervasive services, while enabling efficient location and composition of semantic services. Members of ARLES have contributed to a number of European and industrial research projects investigating new system and middleware architectures for emerging networking technologies, among which flagship European projects OZONE and AMIGO on system infrastructures for ambient intelligence, FP6 PLASTIC project on services engineering for pervasive networks, and FP7 FET CONNECT project on next generation middleware architectures.
INRIA ARLES will leverage its expertise on service-oriented architectures and middleware for pervasive computing, further making evolve the paradigm towards service-oriented computing in the Future Internet embedding the Internet of Things. INRIA ARLES will in particular contribute to the development, from design to prototype implementation, of the service-oriented middleware solution targeted at the Internet of Things. INRIA will further contribute its knowledge on software architecture and dynamic adaptation, contributing to and leading the WP on the elicitation of the CHOReOS architectural style for ultra-large-scale choreography-centric systems and studying middleware solutions to the dynamic adaptation of choreographies.
CHOReOS is a project of the FP7 European program: FP7-ICT-2009-5 - Objective 1.2 (grant agremment n° 257178) |
Tonya - posted on 06/12/2011 ( 25 moms have responded )
I have a 4 year old (5 in 2 months) son and i've always felt something could be wrong. I have started having him tested and this is what they came up with...sensory intergration disorder, ADHD, insomnia. He was tested for speech and this is what they said.. speech defect distrbance, speech delay and expressive-receptive language disorder.He is about 2 years behind in all test. I just got results from IQ testing and he said the test was invalied because he could not understand my son enough and my son didnt understand what was being asked of him. He also said it sounded like it could be PDD? What does all this mean??? Thank you for any help or ideas on what my next move shoud be. |
July 13th 1863 – July 16th 1863
The New York Draft Riots were the result of the decree that officially demanded that every able-bodied man in the Union be conscripted into the army was set in place by the president. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States of America, made the landmark act a law in order to fund the war chest of troops that was be needed to squash the rebellion in the South.
On March 3rd, 1863, President Lincoln signed and put in effect The Enrollment Act of Conscription.
The citizens of New York, mostly Irish immigrants from Dublin, wanted no part of the act.
They felt that the blacks that were freemen in the states of the North were their direct competition for the low-paying jobs that were available to them. This was a slap in the face to be forced to fight and die for the same people that they had no favor with.
Racial tensions were high even in the free North, with both sides upset at each other yet realizing that the President would not back down from this act. President Lincoln desired 300,000 fresh troops to instill a heavy dose of “Yank-convincing” to the upstart Rebels.
By the time the New York Post released the names of the conscripts in the daily paper, the streets were already filling with incensed Irish immigrants, many whose names appeared in the paper. The Irish were out for blood and they attacked and beat even lynched blacks before the Army of the Potomac was called in to quell the riot.
The New York City Draft Riots caused 1.5 million dollars worth of property damage at a time when 1.5 million was the sum of most developing nations, combined GNP’s. The loss of life was the real disaster as upwards to over 75 people, most of them the targeted, innocent, and black freemen of the city.
The loss of both property and life seemed to have little effect on the Union war movement as the riots did nothing to stop the induction of over 150,000 Union troops into the Civil War front-lines.
The Union and President Lincoln had devised an effective plan of recruitment, albeit through force, the necessary troops that would be needed to win the war. Highly criticized and lambasted at every turn, The Conscription Act had one fatal flaw and that was in the manner that it let the wealthy slip through the cracks.
There was a loophole in the act that allowed the wealthy to buy their way out of military service for the Union. This did not sit well with the poor and the down trodden who were sent to battles to kill and be killed. The poor go to war. That’s the reality of the situation and little had changed since the freedom of oppression at the hands of the colonial British.
Nothing changes when it comes to enlistment of the poor in any country. The Union had its required troop strength and the South was at the ready for the final push to the eventual end of the war. |
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Though Carl Philipp Emmanuel is widely regarded as the most
important of J. S. Bach's sons, three others gained musical prominence during
the early Classical period and still retain a certain degree of respect in
modern times as important musical figures of the later 18th century.
Among them is Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Bach's ninth son and second from
his marriage to Anna Magdalena. So as to avoid confusion with other members of
the Bach family, he is often referred to simply as "Friedrich" or the
"Bückeburg" Bach because of his long tenure there. Born on June 21, 1732 in
Leipzig, he was given his first music lessons from his eminent father, but also
received tutoring from his father's cousin, Johann Elias Bach. He attended the
St. Thomas School, and later briefly studied law at the University of Leipzig.
Under his father's supervision, Friedrich became keyboard virtuoso, making
music a far more rewarding career path to the young lad than law.
In 1750, the same year as his father's death, Friedrich was
offered the position of harpsichordist, in the service of Count Wilhelm of
Schaumberg-Lippe, at the Bückeburg court. Nine years later, he would be
elevated to Konzertmeister. Though a respected performer, Friedrich's efforts
as a composer seem to have been somewhat overlooked. The arrival of the poet
and philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder at the Bückeburg court in 1771,
however, sparked a creative period in Friedrich's compositional efforts, and
the two collaborated on several vocal compositions, including Michaels Sieg and Die Kindheit Jesu.
In 1778, Friedrich took a leave of absence from his post
and, with his son, travelled to London to visit his brother Johann Christoph.
While in London, he was exposed to the music of Mozart and the burgeoning
Classical style. After his return to Bückeburg, the music he heard in London
served as an influence in his later works. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach died
on January 26, 1795.
As a composer, Friedrich Bach is regarded today as a
transitional figure between the late Baroque and Classical styles, occupying a
position alongside his brother Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Georg Philipp
Telemann. His early works, like those of his famous brother, show the influence
of his father's teachings. The Italianate tastes of Count Wilhelm forced
Friedrich Bach to assimilate the characteristics of that style into his own
music, and thus his middle period works fall into the galant style. As
mentioned earlier, his later works show a progression towards the maturing
Classical style, influenced by the music of Haydn and Mozart. Regretfully, much of Friedrich Bach's music, which starting in 1917 was
kept at the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung
(State Institute for Music Research) in Berlin was destroyed during World War
Copyright 2008-2014 Classical Connect, LLC |
Richard Neville Towle is the director of music of Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, which sits between the castle at one end of the royal mile and the Palace of Holyrood at the other. This majestic church is also where Towle's conducts the period instrument ensemble that he founded in 1997, Ludus Baroque.
"It has a wonderful acoustic," he explains, "It's the sort of acoustic where you can play a flute note or sing a high soprano note and it just floats away, it floats up into the acoustic. So it's a lovely place to make music and quite an atmospheric place to listen to music." This enchanting place was also the setting for the newest release by Ludus Baroque featuring Handel's Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 7; his miniature cantata, Look Down, Harmonious Saint, and the Song for St. Cecilia's Day honoring the patron saint of music and musicians.
"We are exploring Handel's lesser known works," says Towle. "Handel is a wonderful composer who has a great gift for working with language. In both our first disc, Alexander's Feast, and this second disc, A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, he works on poems by the great English poet John Dryden. And the words alone capture the most fantastic atmosphere. For example, the Song for St. Cecilia's Day, written in 1687, begins with the words: 'From harmony, from heavenly harmony this universal frame began when nature, underneath a heap of jarring atoms lay and could not heave her head, the tuneful voice was heard from high — arise, ye more than dead.'
"Then it goes on to tell the story through the various instruments that Dryden describes and that Handel uses so vividly to bring the music alive. And then right at the end, we hear that St. Cecilia herself hears the music... we hear 'the bright Cecilia raised the wonder higher, when to her organ vocal breath was given an angel heard and straight appeared' — listen to this line — 'mistaking earth for heaven.' "
Ed Lyon is the tenor soloist on Song for St. Cecilia's Day, and the mini-cantata, Look Down, Harmonious Saint. Richard Neville Towles really loves working with this Baroque tenor. "But of course making music is an exchange of ideas. And when Ed first came along, his and my ideas were so... not dissimilar, but... they complemented each other but were different. And Ed was able to take the ideas that we discussed as a group and immediately, like a magician, turn them from ideas into what actually worked. So I thought of him as a magician right from that first moment we worked together. And you can hear from his work on the disc how astonishingly articulate he is. He has such clarity of diction and relishes the words themselves. And of course that wonderful voice — so he's got that tremendous instrument. But the intelligence and the magicianship to bring the whole text so alive. So he's a great storyteller."
Richard Neville Towle loves everything about Handel's Song for St. Cecilia's day. When pressed, he does admit he has a favorite section. "For me, I think the 'sacred organ' has to be the moment that I treasure most. The girl Jan Waterfield who plays the organ is another magician. Continuo players, the organ and the cello who provide the sort of bedrock for the group, are of course fundamental, they're vital. They are the inner heart, the inner drive, the inner pulse of the music making. But one very rarely hears them on their own. And I think in the 'sacred organ,' when you just hear Jan improvising around these very simple chords that Handel has given her, it draws us in to a world of utter magic from which we can then leap away for that fantastic final chorus."
One of my favorite sections is the final chorus. Towles says what Handel is asking for in that final chorus is actually tough to pull off, "Because he's asking for a declamatory soprano, almost hymn-like, to set the scene. And then the choir and the orchestra echo these first what appear to be quite... quite almost reverential, almost hymn-like, solemn statements. I took the view that it doesn't want to sit back on itself. It doesn't want to sound sluggish and slow and pompous but it wants to move forward. And the whole chorus just takes off, doesn't it? I mean, it just goes for it." |
We all know that DVDs are protected or encrypted to prevent being copied. The purpose of copy protection is to stop piracy. But it make restrictions for backing up the contents of DVDs.
Some people may think they should be able to open a DVD in DVD burner and copy it like copying a CD. But it is different. You need a DVD copy software to copy a protected DVD.
DVD copy software appeared several years ago, and they were tutorial guides rather than DVD copy software. There were many steps for you to follow, and a lot of assistant software were needed. To copy a DVD is very slow, tedious and restless.
Lucky enough, with today’s advanced technology, copying a DVD movies (even CSS encrypted and copy protected DVDs) is not that complex. It becomes a easy thing that every one can master it well. So once you have the right DVD copy software, it is so easy that anyone can make a clone of any DVD.
And today, there are many DVD copying software that allow you to copy a protected DVD, the problem is which is the best suits your purpose. I find a matchless one - CloneDVD. It is the world best and easiest-to-use DVD copy software to copy / burn / rip / encrypt any DVD movies by removing all existing DVD protections automatically. CloneDVD supports to compress/shrink DVD9 to DVD 5, copy DVD9 to DVD9 and DVD5 to DVD5 perfectly, split or divide DVD9 into 2 DVD5 and even convert DVD to MP4, DVD to 3GP, DVD to AVI, etc.
Simply insert the DVD into your computer, click the START button, and that’s it! |
Many people may dream of becoming wealthy. Some say having a certain type of mindset can actually help to create affluence.
Deepak Chopra, physician, educator and best-selling author, is a firm believer. He offers three strategies that can help you visualize your financial dreams and turn them into reality.
First, be grateful for wealth, not only in monetary terms.
"You want the kind of wealth that will make for a better life for you and for those that you love," Chopra told CNBC. "Be grateful for whatever you have, even if it's very little. When you express your gratitude and you count your blessings, that opens the window to what I call abundance consciousness. And then it opens up opportunities for you."
Next, focus on your "abundance consciousness." |
If this sounds like a tall order for Google - renowned for its elitism - it's because it is. Yet a call for humility is precisely what Google CEO Eric Schmidt seems to believe will keep Google firing on all cylinders, according to the New Yorker.
[Google is] run by three computer scientists we're going to make all the mistakes computer scientists running a company would make. But one of the mistakes we're not going to make is the mistake that non-scientists make. We're going to make mistakes based on facts and data and analysis. What kills a company is not competition but arrogance. We control our fate.
What Schmidt conveniently forgets is that, in fact, scientists commit the "mistake" of arrogance all the time. Every day. It is precisely Google's techno-arrogance that has increasingly made it seem less messiah than privacy pariah, for example. "It's just data" is a really poor way to view real-world, real-people concerns.
Can Google change? Sure. Does it feel the need to change? The jury is still out on that one. |
Watching weather on Earth-like planets
By Richard Stenger
(CNN) -- Advanced space telescopes designed to look for terrestrial-like planets could distinguish weather patterns, landforms, rotation speeds and possibly life signs on distant worlds, according to astronomers.
U.S. and European space agencies expect within decades to launch powerful orbiting observatories to scan the heavens for other planets comparable in mass and chemical composition to Earth.
Both spacecraft would use advanced spectroscopic vision to observe and analyze the spectrum of reflected light to determine whether so-called exoplanets have atmospheres similar to ours.
The technology would require highly precise observations, a daunting challenge considering that the light sources often would be extremely weak.
But another method that focuses on variations in light patterns over time could provide valuable information about such worlds, including those too dim to study through spectroscopic means.
"If everything is perfect, we would want to use both techniques. But ours might be done more quickly than spectroscopy," said Eric Ford, who with Princeton University colleagues outlined his work in the Thursday edition of the journal Nature.
"Things we could identify with reasonable confidence would be the rotation period and the weather," he said.
Imagine looking at the Earth from a great distance. An observer would see great variations in the reflected light for numerous reasons: changes in cloud cover, rotating land and oceans, different levels of planet illumination, ranging from a thin crescent to an entire half.
"We found that a majority of the light reflected comes from a small percentage of the surface," said Ford.
Should a Sahara desert or Asian forest come into the spotlight as a planet rotates, considerable and measurable changes in the reflected light would result, he said.
Even low-precision readings of scattered light could reveal daily and seasonal variations on terrestrial-like planets, providing insight into their meteorological and geographical characteristics.
Add basic color filters and astronomers might be able to identify the presence of life. On Earth, plants reflect infrared light much better than red light. If similar life forms exist on other worlds, the same light reflection pattern could be observed, Ford said.
When will such a search be possible? NASA hopes to launch the Terrestrial Planet Finder as early as 2011. The European Space Agency expects to send up Darwin no earlier than 2015.
But the missions, which would fly multiple spacecraft in precise formations and focus their searches between 30 to 50 light-years, require the development of many unproven technologies.
Ford, a 23-year-old graduate student, knows he may have to wait for a great while.
"I'll be happy if data comes back in my lifetime."
|Back to the top| |
In justifying the appointments made on Wednesday, Jan. 4, while the Senate was in pro forma session, Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said that the Senate was “effectively” in recess because “no Senate business is conducted.”
“The Senate has effectively been in recess for weeks, and is expected to remain in recess for weeks,” Pfeiffer wrote on the White House Web site on Jan. 4. “In an overt attempt to prevent the President from exercising his authority during this period, Republican Senators insisted on using a gimmick called ‘pro forma’ sessions, which are sessions during which no Senate business is conducted.”
However, the Senate did conduct business during a pro forma session, with Majority Leader Reid leading the unanimous consent proceeding to pass the two-month payroll tax extension.
Reid went to the floor and made the following statement, asking that when the House passed the compromise two-month extension that it be considered as passed in the Senate as well.
“I ask unanimous consent that if the House passes, and sends to the Senate, a bill which is identical to the text which is at the desk,” Reid said Dec. 23, “the bill be considered read three times and passed.”
Obama – claiming the Senate was in recess during a pro forma session – appointed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and filled several other vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, Jan. 4.
While the president does have the power to make recess appointments, he can only do so when the Senate is actually in recess. In this case, the Senate was not in recess, but was holding pro forma sessions once every three days because they had not gone into formal recess.
Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution requires presidential appointees to be confirmed by the Senate before they can take office unless the Senate is in recess or if the appointments are to inferior offices that Congress has legally given the president the power to control. When the Senate is in recess, the president can make temporary appointments that last only until the end of the next session of Congress. |
The air carries a crisp edge and a tang that means one thing to outdoorsmen: hunting time. The Northwest fall hunting season is just getting started, and enthusiasts across the region are preparing to take down deer, elk, black bears, cougars and game birds. If you haven’t already geared up and gotten your permits squared away, now is the time to do so.
Between season dates, reporting requirements and the latest hunting safety regulations, hunters have a lot to keep track of. Following are some hunting tips and online resources to help you get ready for the fall hunting season.
Choosing the right gear not only makes you more efficient in the field, but it’s an important part of practicing good hunting safety. Here’s a checklist of things to bring on your fall hunting trip:
Blaze orange clothing. Most states require hunters to wear some sort of orange clothing, usually a vest. Not only can it prevent you from becoming an inadvertent target, but it’s a way for hunters to keep tabs on each other in the field.
Hunting knives. Experts recommend you bring at least two good hunting knives and a sharpening stone for field dressing as well as basic survival gear.
Flashlight. Another essential survival tool, an LED flashlight can bail you out of a lot of situations.
Other hunting gear. Other important items to include on your fall hunting checklist include a small hand saw, 50 ft. of nylon rope, water, batteries, matches, maps, compass, whistle, a small mirror, firearm and ammunition, bows and arrows, food to last at least one day, orange flagging ribbon, $20, first aid kit, emergency blanket, cell phone, mechanical alarm clock, and binoculars.
Online Hunting Resources
Fish and wildlife agencies. The best resources for the Northwest fall hunting season are often found on your state’s fish and game website. Not only do these sites act as hubs for obtaining licenses and permits, finding season start and end dates, and getting updates on the latest regulations, but they’re often packed with useful forecasts, news and resources. For example, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife website includes the newly improved Oregon Hunting Map, which shows access locations by species. You can also track your hunt from start to finish with the new My Hunter Information site, which logs your preference points, controlled hunt application status, draw results, season closures, tag sale deadlines, and results reporting status of your tags all in one place.
Other Northwest fish and wildlife agencies:
Hunting Washington. This hunting forum is a place where hunters can share tips and information, discuss their quarry, and post photos and stories. You can also discuss guns, gear, hunting knives and exchange your favorite secret recipes with other seasoned hunters.
Northwest Sportsman. The online edition of Northwest Sportsman magazine is a great place to keep abreast of the latest Northwest fishing and hunting news. It also offers hunting tips and advice from experienced hunters.
HuntingNet.com. Although it doesn’t focus specifically on the Northwest, this website features a wealth of information, including news, journal entries, articles and advice from the pros. There’s also a community forum where hunters can share their experiences.
As any experienced hunter knows, preparation is an important key to success in the field. Whether you’re wet behind the ears and just starting out or looking to further hone your skills, the abundance of hunting information available online can help you stay on top of your game.
~Ben Anton, 2010 |
Board Approves Plan To Rebuild Flooded Clarkdale Elementary School On New Site
Clarkdale Elementary School, destroyed by floodwaters last fall, is on its way to being rebuilt. The Board of Education has approved a plan to construct a new Clarkdale Elementary on a relocated site adjacent to Cooper Middle School, between Ewing Road and Flint Hill Road in Austell. The plan encompasses construction of a larger school with up to 53 classrooms and redistricting that will relieve overcrowding at Hollydale, Sanders and other nearby elementary schools. Before its vote, the Board included an amendment that will require Board approval of a site plan for the project before it is bid.
A massive flood destroyed the original school on Sept. 21, 2009, filling the building with water from floor to ceiling. Since that time students have been divided between two nearby schools (kindergarten through second grade at Compton Elementary and grades three through five at Austell Intermediate).
Approval of the plan follows several months of discussions and negotiations with insurance, the Federal and Georgia Emergency Management Agencies (FEMA/GEMA), as well as state and county planning authorities.
Construction of the new school is expected to take at least 18 months. Read more on the District Web site.
The good news story of SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) continues for Cobb County taxpayers. The following agenda items approved by the Board of Education are SPLOST-related and/or involve the use of SPLOST funds. In February 2010, the School Board:
• Authorized extension of Bid 08-12, Fiber Components and Installation Services to NetPlanner Systems and Graybar Electric from March 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011. Approval of the bid will allow the District's network infrastructure to continue to be refreshed. The estimated annual expenditure is $225,000.
• Approved a one-time waiver of Board Policy FEB - Selection and Employment of Architectural and Engineering Services, to allow selection of an architect for the Smyrna replacement elementary school by issuance of a Request for Propsal. The waiver will allow the District to determine the market rate for architectural services.
• Approved appointment of Chapman, Griffin, Lanier & Sussenbach of Atlanta, GA as architect for Lassiter High School theater addition/modifications, at an estimated cost of $809,960.
• Approved appointment of Cunningham, Forehand, Matthews & Moore, Architects, Inc. of Atlanta, GA as architect for the Clarkdale Elementary replacement school.
• Approved contract for demolition of North Cobb Vocational Building, awarded to Nix Fowler at a cost of $235,510.
These projects were part of the SPLOST III program approved by Cobb County voters in 2008. To view the agenda items for the projects, please click here. To view the proposal for the SPLOST III referendum approved Sept. 16, 2008, please click here. |
This week's book giveaway is in the OO, Patterns, UML and Refactoring forum. We're giving away four copies of Refactoring for Software Design Smells: Managing Technical Debt and have Girish Suryanarayana, Ganesh Samarthyam & Tushar Sharma on-line! See this thread for details.
A lot of the postings in this section of Java Ranch strike me as worrying about performance far too early in the system's life cycle.
"We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil." (Knuth, Donald. Structured Programming with go to Statements, ACM Journal Computing Surveys, Vol 6, No. 4, Dec. 1974. p.268.)
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way. - Heraclitus
Well the problem here is that the novice coder tackles a problem that they CAN understand. It is better,in general, for the struggler/juggler of all the re-invent-the-wheel to contemplate code path efficiency than to tackle improvements to com.eaio.stringsearch.BoyerMooreHorspoolRaita or design a DAWG [...edit: deletion so this sentence can be read...] before selecting an application subject for coding. This may be why problems ( selected areas of study ) are presented in the class-room setting.
It is my observation, backed by comments from other supervisors, that the insight ( abilitiy to concept reality ) evidenced by incoming class composition is declining at a chaotic drop, see: Seth Lloyd's hardcover words on this in "Programming the Universe:A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos". In that work, the author makes metaphor using screwdriver. My observation is that today's harvest of souls is being reaped by a brain-stem nullifier in the form of a birrage of ahem, idiomatics, (that ninja warriors would probably study) resulting in the use of the word screwdriver eliciting video aftereffects of some belief system contradistincted to visualizing traffic on a pair of 16-U Rack Rails for 19" routers. [ February 10, 2008: Message edited by: Nicholas Jordan ]
"The differential equations that describe dynamic interactions of power generators are similar to that of the gravitational interplay among celestial bodies, which is chaotic in nature."
Originally posted by Nicholas Jordan: Well the problem here is that the novice coder tackles a problem that they CAN understand.
My point is that they should focus on making the code work. Understand that. Then make it clean and extensible. Perfect the javadocs. Build JUnittest cases. etc. etc.
Optimization should be about 30th on the list of things to do.
Joined: Sep 17, 2006
Originally posted by Pat Farrell:
My point is that they should focus on making the code work. Understand that.
I believe they are trying to do that, ( I understood the implied effort to make the code work ) and sought to build on your bravery. When the novice coder tackles a problem that they CAN understand, they are doing exactly that. Then on with javadocs, JUnit test cases, decisions of hashing v lists etc, all of which I have coming together right as a write this ( no phonics intended ) minute, and there is just an awful lot of real-world experience that allows me to juggle SecureRandom v Random v RandomIntGenerator by Horstmann in depth and reliability that cannot be challenged by today's wave when it comes to something like the YF-23 Black Widow II Advanced Fighter - which would have prevented something in Afghanistan that the India government may have laughed at. As well, a billion tons of mineral in Train Scheduling Problem is, in my opinion - which can stand moderate rebuttal - not effectively grasped by today's, ahem, 'crop' ~ which defines pretty much everything by concepting spoon-fed through a tube ( the tube ) and distinctly removed from Baryonic matter as far as their minds can be stretched.
I have to deal with them every day, I have sought to word this response to invite further work on the matter as it is well known in computer security that the greatest challenge is the human mind and the greatest risk comes from within. Because failure reduces Performance, premature failure is the root of all evil
Going back to the original statement, I think the word "premature" figures in greatly to the quote. If the design is not scalable enough, you may be doomed to a rewrite.
I agree that the low level optimizations we often get questions about in this forum are premature. However, all early optimization isn't premature. Then again, "optimization" probably isn't the best word for it.
Originally posted by Jeanne Boyarsky: I agree that the low level optimizations we often get questions about in this forum are premature. However, all early optimization isn't premature. Then again, "optimization" probably isn't the best word for it.
Agreed that design for scaling is not optimization. Or even design for performance.
Its the frequent questions about trivial stuff, like whether an array is faster than an ArrayList, that are premature.
Knuth's books are all about optimization. Just not about worrying about it before you get the basics right.
Joined: Sep 17, 2006
Originally posted by Pat Farrell: If you have rookies writing code for "YF-23 Black Widow II Advanced Fighter" you have far more serious problems. 'tis a bit of a red herring.
For serious code, one tends to have two, five, or even ten times as much test code as code under test. Optimizations must be done after the code works.
Well, yes - that's about the size of it: Though I exaggerated greatly to draw out exactly that point. It's just something that is a 20,000 pound elephant on a $20 trycycle for me. I realized it would be taken as a red herring but clearly I made may point whether rational or not. My point would be that coders looking at ...whether an array is faster than an ArrayList,... instead of load time response of the disk heads or whether the data set is coming in on OC-1 are not going to be able to do effective testing unless the supervisors have a firm grasp on the hardware/software relationship.
As for the original centerpoint of the topic, jr stylizes strictly for the beginner so we would expect some form of this question style. My point is that as I code today, I am using work attained when I first sat down and wrote the first few lines of code. At that time, I determined a 64 byte datatype would be my fundamental unit, just a feel for how machinery operates. Given some leeway for bragging, that translates into 2048 bit which sorta fits in nicely with my work over the last few days enciphering a cleartext using JCE. Note I realize you will be leery of commenting on that because you are trained, my point - as I originally hoped to make - was that selection of a 2048 bit data block when I could not code int someint; is and was based on a feel for machinery generally.
It is the lack of this skill in the contemporary selection set that motivates me to draw the overblown parallel, but I note for the record that voice-recognition is being studied for the equipment because of some noteworthy human failures. 20,000 feet at 1,200 knots ( probably very cold and noisy ) in something that would make a doorway look roomy is removed from say perhaps a class 4 datacenter. If the beginner efforts appear misplaced, I respond that the true basis of that misplacement is isolation from reality - not lack of effort in the beginner's motivation.
A risky position perhaps, nothing ventured / nothing gained. [ February 10, 2008: Message edited by: Nicholas Jordan ] |
Fall 2013 Seminar Series in Neuroscience
Location of Seminars: Muenzinger E214 (See map and directions)
|Tuesday Sept. 10th, 4-5 pm
Dr. Sheryl Beck, Research Associate Professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute|
TITLE: “Vulnerability and Resilience: Control By Serotonin and GABA Neurons In the Raphe“
Abstract: The serotonin neurotransmitter system is involved in physiological homeostasis. Alterations in the serotonin system have been shown to lead to changes in basic functions such as sleep, circadian rhythm, heart rate or blood pressure, respiration, cognitive functions, and learning and memory to name a few. Dr. Beck's laboratory has been investigating the physiology, anatomy and behavioral functions mediated by the serotonin system for over 15 years. The majority of the serotonin neurons that influence cortical functions are located in an area of the brain called the dorsal and median raphe. In recent years our investigations have focused on the development of these serotonin neurons and perturbations of the development during the critical period between postnatal days 0-21. Changes in the development of the raphe leads to anxiety and maladaptations in social skills as an adult. In addition we have determined that GABA neurons within the raphe have a major impact on the physiology of the raphe neurons and their output. These inhibitory neurons seem to act as a rely between forebrain nuclei and the raphe, and inhibition of these neurons can make a vulnerable or anxious mouse into a resilient one following chronic stress. Therefore both the serotonin and GABA neurons are important within the neural circuitry of the raphe, which has pronounced control over forebrain structures involved in stress regulation and etiology of mood disorders.
|Tuesday Sept. 24th, 4-5 pm
Dr. Monika Fleshner, Professor, Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder|
TITLE: "Protecting Our Troops From Damaging Stress"
Abstract: Members of the military, especially warfighters, are exposed to a plethora of stressors that include negative affective states (i.e., fear/anxiety), physical stressors (pain, injury, environment) and sleep deprivation/disturbances. The stressors suffered by our warfighters are often complex and include a combination of acute, chronic and repeated stressors. The negative impact such stressors have on the cognitive, emotional, and physical well being of our warfighters is irrefutable. Warfighters suffer high incidences of depression, anxiety and anger/impulsivity disorders, and PTSD. Although some progress has been made in treating these disorders, it would be valuable to find ways to prevent the development of the problems in the first place. In this presentation I will present the results from a series of animal studies supported by the Army Research Office (DARPA) and designed to test the impact of repeated exposures to complex stressors on physiology, and to search for physiological markers that may be predictive of the "tipping point" i.e., when the stress response changes from adaptive to maladaptive (stress sensitization).
|Tuesday Oct. 8th, 4-5 pm
Dr. Isabel Muzzio, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
TITLE: “Encoding of Emotional and Neutral Contexts Along the Longitudinal Hippocampal Axis: Evidence From Single Cell Population Coding”
Abstract: The hippocampus has long been implicated in the contextual gating of aversive events. Yet, the ways in which information is stored in this region and the contribution of different hippocampal areas to this process are still not fully understood. Lesion and neuroanatomical studies indicate that the dorsal hippocampus specializes in spatiral processing while the ventral hippocampus is more involved in emotion and anxiety. However, it is currently unclear if these regions work as independent modules processing distinct types of information or if emotional and spatial inputs are integrated along the longitudinal axis. To investigate this question, my lab has conducted in vivo recordings from freely moving mice while animals form and retrieval contextual representations of different emotional valence. We have found evidence that space is coded in both the dorsal and ventral regions in different manners. In the dorsal hippocampus, single cell representations change in response to the altered valence of a context, whereas in the ventral hippocampus space is represented through population coding and emotional valence is coded through changes in firing rate. Our data indicate that spatial and emotional information are integrated along the longitudinal hippocampal axis to properly encode episodic events.
|Tuesday, Oct. 22nd, 4-5 pm
Dr. Bruce McEwen, Alfred E. Mirsky Professor, Harold and Margarat Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Rockefeller University
TITLE: "The Brain On Stress: Role of Glucocorticoids In Resilience and Pathophysiology Via Novel Mechanisms
Abstract: The brain is the central organ of stress and adaptation to stressors and it is a plastic and vulnerable organ throughout the life course. Among the many interacting mediators that affect brain and body function, glucocorticoids stand out because they are involved in so many different processes via multiple cellular and molecular mechanisms, in which epigenetic mechanisms are prominent. Their actions follow a U-shaped (hermetic) dose reponse relationships and they have both trophic and protective effects at one end and damaging-facilitating effects at the other. This will be discussed in relation to the role of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex in effects of acute and chronic stress in animal models and humans. Implications for therapy of stress-related disorders will be discussed.
|Tuesday, Nov. 5th, 4-5 pm
Dr. Gregg Stanwood, Assistant Professor, Investigator, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University|
TITLE: “Neurotransmitter Modulation of Forebrain Development: Implications for Neuropsychiatric Disorders”
Abstract: Developmental dysfunction in brain catecholamine systems contribute to the origins and expression of brain disorders and mental illness. Our laboratory focuses on examining the developmental influences of dopamine and other trasmitters on the formation and function of the forebrain. These neurotransmitters are expressed early in brain development, prior to the formation of synapses, and modulate neuronal differentiation, circuit formation, and Biobehavioral development during sensitive periods. In this seminar, I will present data demonstrating how specific dopamine and serotonin receptors can influence dendritic morphology, interneuron differentiation, and behavioral and emotional responses. Disruptions in these signaling mechanisms produce significant behavioral, cognitive, neuroanatomical and pharmacological changes, sometimes for the lifetime of the organism.
|Tuesday Dec. 3rd, 4-5 pm
Dr. Christopher Lowry, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder|
TITLE: “Can We Vaccinate Against Anxiety and Affective Disorders?”
Abstract: In 2006, Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, highlighted that mental health research is far behind research in cardiovascular disease and other fields, where researchers have made progress in identifying risk factors and formulting strategies for prevention. In a provocative article, he proposed a need for transformative approaches to mental health research, including approaches for prevention of anxiety and affective disorders.
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Activists in Selma, Alabama have been fighting for more than a year to stop the construction of a new 12-foot monument dedicated to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War* and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, attorney Faya Rose Toure will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday in jail after being arrested for protesting at a Selma City Council meeting.
Tarana Burke, one of the activists who's been protesting the statue's construction, told Colorlines why the fight matters."I feel like allowing this monument to be erected is disrespectful to people who fought and died for our civil liberties," she said. "What kind of message does it send to our children? We can't just being complicit in our own oppression; it's disgusting."
Toure has reportedly been offered bail, but has refused in protest of the statue's construction.
Burke has started a Change.org peition calling the construction "unacceptable."
*Post has been updated since publication. |
By Karen Davis and Kristof Stremikis
As U.S. federal policymakers embark on the much-needed expansion of our system of health insurance coverage, it is important to also examine how we organize and deliver health services. Looking closely at delivery will ensure both the best possible health outcomes for Americans and the most value for what we spend on health care.
Today, the U.S. health care delivery is disorganized and rife with examples of missed opportunities and waste. The high rate at which patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge is particularly alarming. Working within a payment system that doesn't encourage quality or efficiency, hospitals and post-acute providers often fail to properly coordinate services throughout the course of a patient's treatment and follow-up. This practice leads to hospital readmissions that are not only wasteful and costly but also potentially dangerous. To break this cycle, the U.S. needs to realign health care providers' financial incentives. Offering a "global fee" that covers a bundle of "best-practice" services for hospitalization and 30-day post-hospital care has great potential to improve care, reduce complications, and generate savings to finance health reform.
Hospital readmissions are a key indicator of overall health care quality. Commonwealth Fund-supported work has repeatedly demonstrated the troubling prevalence and costs of hospital readmissions in Medicare, as well as the wide variation in rates. A recent examination of fee-for-service claims data by Stephen Jencks, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues found that one of five people with Medicare who was discharged from a hospital in 2003 and 2004 was readmitted within 30 days (Exhibit 1). While there is no doubt that some of these readmissions were unavoidable, it is likely that many could have been prevented with appropriate discharge planning, follow-up treatment, and post-acute care. In Dr. Jencks' study, half of the people who were hospitalized for reasons other than surgery were re-hospitalized without having seen an outpatient doctor for follow-up.
In its most recent national scorecard, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System found that the average 30-day hospital readmission rate for Medicare beneficiaries remained constant between 2003 and 2005, suggesting that we have not made needed improvements in post-acute care coordination and efficiency.
Fund studies have also uncovered wide variation across hospitals and geographic areas. The national scorecard revealed that the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries readmitted within 30 days (for 31 selected conditions) ranged from 14 percent for the 10 percent of hospital referral regions with the lowest readmission rates to 21 percent for the 10 percent of regions with the highest rates (Exhibit 2).
Finally, hospital readmissions are expensive and drive significant variation in Medicare spending, ultimately contributing to unsustainable growth in national health care expenditures. Dr. Jencks and colleagues estimated that the cost of unplanned hospital readmissions accounted for $17.4 billion of the $102.6 billion in total hospital payments made by Medicare in 2004. Analysis by Commonwealth Fund board member and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Chairman Glenn Hackbarth, J.D., has shown that a significant proportion of variation in Medicare spending can be traced to variability in readmissions and post-acute care. For example, spending on readmissions can vary from hospital to hospital by 54 percent and by as much as 71 percent for post-acute care for coronary-artery bypass grafting with cardiac catheterization, a common procedure. The Commonwealth Fund Commission documented the high correlation between hospital readmissions and total Medicare spending per beneficiary in its most recent state scorecard (Exhibit 3).
Recent proposals in President Obama's budget blueprint, the Commonwealth Fund Commission's "Path" report, and Senator Max Baucus' white paper on health reform would realign financial incentives to encourage greater coordination by bundling hospital payments for inpatient care, as well as post-acute health services for a predetermined number of days following hospitalization. Under the President's proposal, bundled payments are combined with reduced reimbursements for hospitals with high rates of 30-day readmission. The Administration expects this combination of incentives and penalties to save $8 billion through reduced readmissions and $18 billion through increased efficiency in post-acute care, totaling $26 billion in savings over the 10-year, 2010-2019 period.
The Commonwealth Fund Commission also recommends applying new payment methods to acute-care episodes to encourage hospitals and other providers to collaborate in developing the capacity to provide high-quality and efficient care for their patients. Offering a bundled acute-care payment (a global fee covering hospitalization and a specified set of services for 30 days following discharge) would give hospitals and other providers an opportunity to share the savings from their efforts to reduce complications of treatment and lower numbers of readmissions and would allow them more flexibility in allocating their resources. Over time, spending would slow as efficiency savings were shared between Medicare and providers. The Lewin Group estimated that within the context of comprehensive insurance expansion and other system-wide reforms, the bundled payment approach proposed by the Commission would reduce national health expenditures by $301 billion and save the federal government $211 billion over the 11-year, 2010-2020 period.
Senator Baucus' "Call to Action" on health reform includes a proposal for reducing hospital readmissions that utilizes global-care case rates and a phased strategy similar to the bundled payment approach outlined in the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's June 2008 Report to Congress. Both the Senator and MedPAC call for initially disclosing readmission rates and resource use only to hospitals and physicians, allowing providers to understand spending levels and improve performance before releasing such data to the public. The Senator further recommends reducing reimbursement to hospitals with high rates of readmission for a small number of conditions before expanding the program to include a full range of services. Finally, the proposal includes support for additional testing and implementation of bundled payment policies among participants in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acute Care Episode demonstration.
Evidence suggests that health care providers can follow a number of proven strategies to reduce hospital readmissions and increase efficiency. With support from the Commonwealth Fund, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) recently completed a survey of the published evidence on effective interventions to reduce rehospitalizations and a compendium of 15 promising initiatives already underway. In their review of the literature, IHI identifies four common themes among successful interventions: 1) enhanced care and support during transitions; 2) improved patient education and self-management support; 3) multidisciplinary team management; and 4) patient-centered care planning at the end of life.
The IHI compendium includes four interventions with very strong clinical trial or program evaluation evidence, seven with very good evidence, and four that have potential but require additional data. For the interventions bolstered by very strong evidence, patient education, post-discharge care planning, and provider coordination were among the factors that contributed to reduced rates of rehospitalization. Initiating reminder calls for preventive care, empowering nurse practitioners to work as care managers, and utilizing multidisciplinary clinical teams were all effective components of programs with very good evidence of reducing hospital readmissions.
Through its health plan, Geisinger Health System, on whose board of directors I serve, has pioneered testing payment of a global fee for a basket of best-practice services for various surgical procedures and obstetrical care. Beginning in 2006, Geisinger used American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology guidelines for coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) to develop and implement 40 verifiable best-practice steps in performing this procedure. It increased the proportion of patients receiving all 40 best-practice steps from 59 percent to 86 percent within three months, and then reached and maintained 100 percent performance, with few exceptions. Its Geisinger Health Plan offered a global fee "with a warranty" covering pre-operative, operative, post-operative, and rehabilitative services for 90 days post-discharge. Complications declined by 21 percent, readmissions declined by 44 percent, and the average length of stay declined by half a day. In short, this change in delivery and payment was a win-win: it improved patient outcomes and reduced cost. Geisinger has subsequently extended this strategy to other areas, including hip replacement, cataract surgery, obesity surgery, and prenatal care and delivery of newborns.
Offering a global fee for a package of best-practice services covering hospitalization and care for 30 days following discharge will reduce our overall hospital readmission rate, as well as the hospital and geographic variation in readmissions and post-acute-care spending. By realigning financial incentives to reward quality and efficiency, policymakers can eliminate the barriers to coordination among hospitals and post-acute providers built by the current fee-for-service payment system. Instead, providers will be encouraged to collaborate and rewarded for providing a continuum of care throughout the entire course of a patient's treatment and follow-up.
This is indeed a win-win strategy. The current health reform debate calls for bold hospital payment reform to enable hospitals, physicians, and post-acute care providers to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients, hold providers accountable for improving care and realizing the potential savings, and reward providers for doing so. Medicare should quickly replace its current hospital payment system with a global fee including post-discharge care.
New health insurance plans developed as part of health reform to cover the uninsured should similarly be encouraged to adopt innovative payment methods. Hospitals should be permitted to keep a share of the savings as a reward for better care, but the net savings to the federal government should be dedicated to covering the uninsured. Such savings could increase the $634 billion health reform reserve fund already proposed by the President over the 10-year period from 2010-2019 by more than $100 billion. These resources will help ensure that all Americans have affordable health insurance coverage. Lower premiums would also ease financial burdens on employers by $75 billion over 2010-2020. And premium savings for workers will provide financial relief in these difficult economic times. It is time to transform our current system of payment and delivery of health care into a system that not only provides better quality care but also bends the health-care cost curve.
We are interested in your feedback. Please take advantage of our commenting feature by clicking on the "Post a Comment" button. |
Issue No.09 - September (1988 vol.37)
DOI Bookmark: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/12.2257
The dynamic resource sharing that is a characteristic of store-and-forward computer/communication networks allows efficient use of the communication channel but may result in congestion and unfairness with high utilizations. A flow control algorithm is presented to prevent these effects by fairly allocating input rates to the users of the network. The allocation of rates is posed as an optimiza
incentive compatible; flow control algorithm; rate allocation; computer networks; dynamic resource sharing; communication channel; optimization; computer networks; optimisation; scheduling.
B.A. Sanders, "An Incentive Compatible Flow Control Algorithm for Rate Allocation in Computer Networks", IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol.37, no. 9, pp. 1067-1072, September 1988, doi:10.1109/12.2257 |
The basis for this work was the nearshore benthic habitats maps (less than 100 ft depth) created by NOAA's Biogeography Program in 2001 and NOS' bathymetry models. Using ArcView GIS software, the digitized habitat maps were stratified to select sampling stations. Sites were randomly selected within strata to ensure coverage of the entire study region. The habitat stratification was divided into three major habitat types: hardbottom which includes reef, pavement, etc. inside STEER; softbottom which consists of sand and seagrass, and mangrove. In addition, two harbottom areas outside STEER of interest to STEERs Core Team were included as a separate stratum. Using standardized protocols of NOAAs Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Project, the fish and benthic habitat survey was conducted by two scientific divers. During each dive one diver quantified the species and size of fish within a 25 x 4 m transect while a second diver characterized the habitat and invertebrate community.
Data are collected on the following: 1) Logistic information - diver name, dive buddy, date, time of survey, site code, and meter numbers at which the quadrat is placed.
2) Habitat structure - to characterize the benthic habitats of the dive site, the habitat diver first categorizes the habitat structure of the site: hard, soft or mangrove.
3) Proximity of structure - on seagrass and sand sites, the habitat diver records the absence or presence of reef or hard structure within 3m of the belt transect. A score of zero (0) indicates that no reef or other hard structure is present; one (1) indicates that a reef or hard structure smaller than 4m2 is present; and (2) indicates that a reef or hard structure larger than 4m2 is present within 3m of the diver. The point-count diver also uses this scoring system to record the absence, presence, and proximity of reef or hard structures within their cylinder.
4) Transect depth profile - the depth at each quadrat position. Depth is measured with a digital depth gauge to the nearest 1ft.
5) Abiotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 1 percent) of sand, rubble, hard bottom, and fine sediments within each quadrat position. Rubble refers to rocks and coral fragments that are moveable; immovable rocks are considered hard bottom. The percent cover given as a part of the abiotic footprint should total 100 percent. In a seagrass area for example, despite the fact that seagrass may provide 50 percent cover, the underlying substrate is 100 percent sand so this is what is recorded. To estimate percent cover, the habitat diver first positions the quadrat at the chosen meter mark along one side of the transect tape, alternating sides of the transect for subsequent quadrats. Next, the habitat diver lays the quadrat along the substrate (regardless of the slope) and estimates percent cover based on a two-dimensional (planar) view (e.g. if bottom is sloping, the quadrat is not held horizontally). Also, the diver should try to use the same planar view for all estimates of percent cover. The habitat diver then estimates, for each quadrat, the height (in cm) of the hardbottom from the substrate to get a sense of bottom relief. Note: Height is collected for all hardbottom substrates, excluding rubble; height is not collected for softbottom substrate.
6) Biotic footprint - defined as the percent cover (to the nearest 0.1 percent) of algae, seagrass, live corals, sponges, gorgonians, and other biota (tunicates, anemones, zooanthids, and hydroids) within each quadrat position. The remaining cover is recorded as bare substrate to bring the total to 100 percent. Again, the diver must use a planar view to estimate percent cover of the biota. Seagrasses and gorgonians should not be stacked upright. For example, if a single seagrass blade crosses 10 squares, then total seagrass coverage should be the sum of the area taken up by that blade in all 10 squares instead of the area covered if the blade was held upright. Species covering less than 0.1 percent of the area are not recorded. Taxa are identified to the following levels: stony coral-species, algae-morphological group (macro, turf, crustose, rhodolith, filamentous, cyanobacteria), sponge-morphological group, and gorgonians-morphological group. When estimating percent cover, it is important to realize there is a balance between precision and time. For stony corals, the approximate area covered by living coral tissue is recorded. Coral skeleton (without living tissue) is usually categorized as turf algae or uncolonized substrate. Data on the condition of coral colonies are also recorded. When coral is noticeably bleached, the entire colony is considered affected and is recorded to the nearest 0.1 percent. Coral colonies are reported as entirely bleached if they contain any portion of white, blotchy, mottled, or pale tissue. This protocol assumes stress throughout the colony and estimates maximum bleaching impact. Diseased/dead coral refers to coral skeleton that has recently lost living tissue because of disease or damage that is still visible, and has not yet been colonized by turf algae. Turf algae include a mix of short (less than 1cm high) algae that colonize dead coral substrate.
7) Maximum canopy height - for each soft biota type (e.g., gorgonians, seagrass, algae), structure is recorded to the nearest 1cm at the quadrat level.
8) Number of individuals - for sponges, gorgonians and "other" biota type (non-encrusting anemones and non-encrusting hydroids) the number of individuals at the quadrat level is recorded.
9) Rugosity - measured by placing a 6-m chain at two randomly selected positions along the 25m belt transect. The chain is placed such that it follows the substrate's relief along the centerline of the belt transect. Two divers measure the straight-line horizontal distance covered by the chain. The chain is placed on top of any hard substrate encountered, but not on top of soft corals or sponges since we are measuring hard bottom rugosity. Data on rugosity are collected for reef sites only. Rugosity measurements typically are made by the point-count and belt-transect divers while awaiting the completion of other benthic habitat measurements by the habitat diver. Upon completion of the dive, the rugosity data are transferred from the fish data sheet to the habitat data sheet by the habitat diver.
10) Abundance and maturity of queen conchs (Eustrombus gigas) - a count of the total number of conch encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect are enumerated. The maturity of each conch is determined by the presence or absence of a flared lip and labeled mature or immature, respectively. If conch abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect conch data should be made prior to entering the water.
11) Abundance of spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) - a count of the total number of lobsters encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If lobster abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect lobster data should be made prior to entering the water.
12) Abundance of long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum) - a count of the total number of urchins encountered within the 25 x 4m belt transect. No measurements are taken. If urchin abundance is counted by a fish diver, the data are then reported to the habitat diver. The decision of who will collect urchin data should be made prior to entering the water.
NOTE: If rugosity, conch, lobster or urchin data are collected by a fish diver, data must be transferred to the habitat data sheet. The habitat diver is responsible for transferring the data to their data sheet; however, the fish diver should assist the habitat diver with this task by reporting the data once the dive concludes.
13) Marine debris - type of marine debris within the transect is noted. The size of the marine debris and the area of affected habitat is also recorded along with a note identifying any flora or fauna that has colonized the debris.
14) Acropora presence - mark if A. palmata or A. cervicornis are seen along the transect or at the site.
15) Photography - the point count or habitat diver will take at least two photos in different directions at each site to maintain an anecdotal and permanent visual description of the sites that were sampled. Proper care and maintenance is necessary for all camera and camera housings. It is important to maintain the cameras and housings before, after and in between dives.
Data Caveats: Due to water quality concerns and low visibility, a portion of Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay were excluded from the study area. In addition, extra precautions were taken in the area where the ferries traverse. |
- Andar un ojo al cristo – to be careful
- Buscar pelos en la sopa – to nitpick
- Comer en olla grande – to have an overweight girlfriend or wife
- Día del tata – Father’s Day. Actually the correct term is el día del padre.
- Fumigar –literally means to fumigate but can also mean to end a relationship or murder someone.
- Hacerle cabeza a – to think. The verb pensar is the most widely verb used when saying “to think.”
- Melos – slang for gemelos which means twins.
- Nachas – buttocks. Careful! This term sounds like the Mexican food nachos
- Pato de la fiesta or el hazmereir – a person who is the laughingstock
- Ser todo un pegue – to be a success or hit
- Ser una pipa – to be very intelligent
- Vivir cagado de risa – to laugh all the way to the bank
- Volar rueda – to drive a vehicle
The word break has many translations in Spanish. Here are some of the misty common ones.
- Al amanecer – at daybreak
- Amortiguar – to break or cushion a fall
- Arruinar – to go broke
- Batir – to break a sport’s record
- Cambiar – to break or change a bill ($)
- Colapso nervioso – a nervous breakdown
- Cubrir los gastos – to break even
- Dar una oportunidad – to give someone a break or chance
- ¡Déjame respirar ! – Give me a break!
- Descanso – a break (rest)
- Descomponerse – to break down, like a car or an appliance.
- Domar – to break in a horse
- Fractura – a break or fracture like a bone
- Fugarse – a jail break or an escape
- Golpe de suerte – a lucky break
- Punto de ruptura – breaking point
- Romper or quebrar – to break something.
- Romper el hielo – to break the ice (figurative)
- Romper filas – to break ranks or fall out
- Romper lazos – to break ties with someone or something
- Vacaciones – a break like summer break, spring break, etcetera
- Violar – to break the law
There are countless more meanings and uses of “break” in Spanish.
Tiquismo – Romperle la madre a alguien – to kick someone’s ass
By the Georgetown University Medical Center news staff. A new study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests people who speak two languages have more gray matter in the brain.
In past decades, much has changed about the understanding of bilingualism. Early on, bilingualism was thought to be a disadvantage because the presence of two vocabularies would lead to delayed language development in children. However, it has since been demonstrated that bilingual individuals perform better, compared with monolinguals, on tasks that require attention, inhibition and short-term memory, collectively termed executive control.
This bilingual advantage is believed to come about because of bilinguals’ long-term use and management of two spoken languages. But skepticism still remains about whether these advantages are present, as they are not observed in all studies. Even if the advantage is robust, the mechanism is still being debated.
“Inconsistencies in the reports about the bilingual advantage stem primarily from the variety of tasks that are used in attempts to elicit the advantage,” says senior author Guinevere Eden, director for the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University Medical Center.
“Given this concern, we took a different approach and instead compared gray matter volume between adult bilinguals and monolinguals,” she said. “We reasoned that the experience with two languages and the increased need for cognitive control to use them appropriately would result in brain changes in Spanish-English bilinguals when compared with English-speaking monolinguals. And in fact greater gray matter for bilinguals was observed in frontal and parietal brain regions that are involved in executive control.”
Gray matter of the brain has been shown to differ in volume as a function of people’s experiences. A prominent finding of this type was a report that London taxi drivers have more gray matter in brain areas involved in spatial navigation.
What about being bilingual leads to these advantages? To address this question the team went one step further. “Our aim was to address whether the constant management of two spoken languages leads to cognitive advantages and the larger gray matter we observed in Spanish-English bilinguals, or whether other aspects of being bilingual, such as the large vocabulary associated with having two languages, could account for this,” explains Olumide Olulade, the study’s lead author and post-doctoral fellow.
The researchers compared gray matter in bilinguals of American Sign Language and spoken English with monolingual users of English. Both ASL-English and Spanish-English bilinguals share qualities associated with bilingualism, such as vocabulary size. But unlike bilinguals of two spoken languages, ASL-English bilinguals can sign and speak simultaneously, allowing the researchers to test whether the need to inhibit the other language might explain the bilingual advantage.
“Unlike the findings for the Spanish-English bilinguals, we found no evidence for greater gray matter in the ASL-English bilinguals,” Olulade said. “Thus we conclude that the management of two spoken languages in the same modality, rather than simply a larger vocabulary, leads to the differences we observed in the Spanish-English bilinguals.”
The research team says their findings adds to the growing understanding of how long-term experience with a particular skill — in this case management of two languages — changes the brain.
- A puro huevo – with a lot of effort
- Colado – a part crasher or someone who has not been invited
- Culo de gasolina – a woman who will not go out with a guy unless he owns a car (vulgar).
- Enjachar – to make a face at someone. Hacerle una cara means the same.
- Estar como una uva – to be well
- Famositico – famous
- Guato – dog Perro, Gua-gua and zaguate are also used here
- Lámpara – an excuse
- Maricucha – slang for marijuana
- Mechudo – long, unkept hair
- Perol – an old car on a jalopy
- Ponerle pecho en tierra – to arrest. Literally it means to put someone facedown on the ground.
- Ratero – a thief
- Resfriado – literally means to have a cold but it can also mean to be resentful
- Sacarse la rifa – to screw up
- Sacarle el menudo a alguien – to amaze someone
- Ser un jamón – to be easy. Jamón can also mean an odd job or ham.
- Troles – slang for feet
- Zarandear – to scold
Every country has its own slang and Costa Rica is no exception. Tiquismos and Pachuquismos are two types of local slang which are spoken by many, especially the country’s young people. In fact, in Costa Rica prison inmates actually have their own separate jargon that is used for almost any daily situation they may encounter.
Here are some of the terms used in the country’s prisons.
- Abanico is the entrance to any cell block where the guards are stationed.
- Abaniquero is the guard who works at the abanico.
- Arrollado is when an inmate is kicked out of a cell block.
- Barco is used to describe a newly arrived prisoner.
- Barco can also mean drugs or any other item that is smuggled into a jail illicitly.
- Bomba actually means “bomb” or “pump” in proper Spanish. However, in jail slang it is anything people on the outside bring to a person in jail like food or clothing.
- Bombero is the officer or guarda who delivers food.
- Cable is any document sent to a prisoner form the jail’s administrators.
- Cabo is any prisioner who works for another.
- Campana is any individual who warns others if a guard is approaching or a type of look out.
- Cobacha is a sheet inmates use to make a type of tent with which they cover their bunks to have privacy.
- Galeta is a place where things are hidden.
- Jachudo is the inmate who is the leader of a cell block.
- Mandadero is an errand boy.
- Mandarse is a verb used when two prisoners have a fight with a knife.
- Nicho is the bottom part of a bunk.
- Palomar is the top part of a bunk.
- Pasarela is when a guard makes an unannounced visit to a cell.
- Pasonazo is someone who transports something illegal from one place to another like drugs.
- Los perros are the inmates who protect Jachudo or head of all of the inmate population.
- Rancho is any type of prison food or meal.
- Rayado is the head of security in a jail.
- Seño is a female guard. |
Isaiah 65:17-19, 25 “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth—so
wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad;
rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place
of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard
no more. The wolf and lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the
ox. Poisonous snakes will strike no more. In those days, no one will be hurt
or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Isaiah 11:6-9 "In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard
and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions,
and a little child will lead them all. The cattle will graze among bears. Cubs
and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do.
Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put
its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. Nothing will hurt
or destroy in all my holy mountain. And as the waters fill the sea, so the
earth will be filled with people who know the Lord."
Revelation 21:1-4 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any
sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I
heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with
them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be
their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
The wolf and lamb feed together, lions eat grass and an end to poisonous
animals. Some may say this is not meant to be taken literally, but others
believe these are clear prophesies; in the new earth there will be no more
death, animals and mankind will live in harmony as vegetarians, restored to
how it was in the beginning. No death or pain - creation restored.
However, this interpretation isn't compatible with
Theistic Evolution, as there
isn't a restoration point when everything was good.
Think of it like a computer restore point. Operating systems create "restore
points" when the computer is working properly so that if a problem such as a
virus is introduced, the computer can be restored back to health. Sin and
death is the virus of the world. According to the Young Earth creationism
model there is a restore point, when everything was perfect in the garden of
What if the computer is infected with a virus from when it was created (the
Theistic Evolution model)? Then it wouldn't be possible to restore back to a
point when it was free from the virus. |
Coda: A Highly Available File System for a Distributed
M. Satyanarayanan, James J. Kistler, Puneet Kumar, Maria E. Okasaki, Ellen
H. Siegel, David C. Steere
Coda is a file system for a large-scale distributed computing environment
composed of Unix workstations. It provides resiliency to server and network
failures through the use of two distinct but complementary mechanisms.
One mechanism, server replication, stores copies of a file at multiple
servers. The other mechanism, disconnected operation, is a mode
of execution in which a caching site temporarily assumes the role of a
replication site. Disconnected operation is particularly useful for supporting
portable workstations. The design of Coda optimizes for availability and
performance, and strives to provide the highest degree of consistency attainable
in the light of these objectives. Measurements from a prototype show that
the performance cost of providing high availability in Coda is reasonable. |
Computer Science Department News
'Disruptive Technologies' Seminar Popular with Young Students
Snippet from article:
Where do big ideas come from? Can students be taught to think outside the box? Is coming up with a big idea enough, or is it just as important to know how to communicate it? Nikos Chrisochoides, ODU's Richard T. Cheng Professor of computer science, decided last year to develop a 100-level seminar that would explore those questions.
"Computers in Health Care" was his title for the seminar, which seemed appropriate enough for this course, which is offered through the Department of Computer Science in conjunction with the ODU Honors College. But Chrisochoides was interested in students with a variety of interests and career goals, and the six students he ended up recruiting for the spring 2013 seminar are focused on biological sciences, psychology, business and physical therapy.
Chrisochoides is an outside-the-box thinker himself, known internationally for his expertise in medical imaging computing. Last year, he was elected a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom, which cited his contributions in "exascale mesh generation and runtime systems for medical imaging." Much of the ODU professor's work has been in cooperation with prestigious medical schools in the United States and China, and has involved cutting-edge strategies in computer image-guided neurosurgery.
You can find the full article here. |
The US recognizes two types of olive oil: ``virgin'' olive oil and ``pure'' olive oil. Grading olive oil is a tricky business. There are legal definitions, based on acidity, and also casual definitions, says food writer Michele Anna Jordan. Even within designated categories, quality can vary. The best way to test olive oil is by taste. A few helpful definitions:
* VIRGIN OLIVE OIL is oil obtained solely by physical or mechanical methods (as opposed to chemical) and can have an oleic-acid level of no more than 3 percent. Oleic acid is one of the mono-unsaturated fatty acids in olive oil. Virgin olive oil is further classified by percentage of acid:
Extra-virgin olive oil is considered top-of-the-line, offering the widest range of flavor and aroma. It contains no more than 1 percent oleic acid. First pressing and cold pressing (usually with granite stones) of hand-picked olives yield the most superior oil.
Super-fine, fine, and semi-fine virgin olive oils are not commonly found in the US. They contain more oleic acid than extra-virgin olive oil, respectively, but no more than 3 percent.
* `PURE' OLIVE OIL, is still 100 percent olive oil, but it is a blend of refined olive oil and virgin olive oil - to add back some flavor and color that the refining process removed. |
US job losses spread to small firms
The economy shed 697,000 workers last month, a new ADP report finds.
The US lost 697,000 jobs last month, according to a new private report, with a pronounced decline in small-business jobs suggesting that the recession is deepening.
The job loss was the highest ever reported by the ADP National Employment Report, which was released Wednesday morning. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the official unemployment figures for February, which are also expected to show spreading unemployment.
"As bad as this is, it's not a surprise," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which produced the report in conjunction with Automatic Data Processing. But "this is no longer a story about big multinational companies cutting fat.... You're seeing large declines of employment in small- and medium-sized firms."
Normally, small firms are the least vulnerable to cyclical ups and downs in the economy. But last month, they shed 262,000 workers. Medium-sized firms lost 314,000 workers; large companies lost 121,000.
"For small businesses, something happened last fall," Mr. Prakken said. "The financial crisis worsened. The holiday season failed to ride to the rescue.... A lot of small businesses threw in the the towel and decided they weren't going to be able to scrape by this time."
Overall, the manufacturing sector lost 219,000 workers last month, the report said, marking three years of consecutive month-to-month declines. |
More Record Heat for Phoenix, but Relief Is on the Horizon
There’s hot, and then there’s Phoenix in June of 2017.
Even by Phoenix’s typically hot standards in the month of June, this month has been particularly scorching, and the warmth continued with another weekend torch show. Temperatures on Sunday soared to a high of 116°, which made it the ninth straight day with highs at 110° or above in the city. That, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Phoenix, ties it for the sixth-longest such streak on record, and it’s expected to be extended early this week.
An excessive heat warning is in place through Monday night in the Phoenix area, with temperatures expected to once again top out at 110°+. But after Monday, temperatures should start to fall, if only ever so slightly.
That (somewhat) cooler weather is finally on the horizon, starting in earnest on Wednesday, with high temperatures expected to drop below 110° by Wednesday. Overnight lows should be around the 80° mark, a good 10° lower than where those lows have been.
Hey, at least it’s a start for a city whose average overall temperature in the month of June is 94.1°, a full 3.9° above average.
A dominating ‘ridge’ of high pressure has consistently locked in the heat across the desert Southwest this month. In a few weeks, the annual monsoon season will begin, bringing in near-daily chances for showers and thunderstorms across the Southwest, and that often brings the heat down from its typical peak in late June.
Stay cool, Phoenix. Remember to drink water constantly, even when you might think that you don’t need it.
For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Chris Bianchi |
Better Mental Health Through Sleep
Everyone knows that getting enough sleep is crucial to proper health. Despite this, however, Business Insider Australia says that 40% of Australians are still sleep deprived, which unfortunately costs the entire country a total of $66 billion per year in medical and property damage expenses. A huge chunk of this comes from accidents on the road caused by sleep-deprived drivers who lose focus or completely fall asleep while behind the wheel. Sounds like a compelling reason to get enough sleep, right?
But improved driving skills is not the only benefit getting enough shut-eye brings. According to Chesapeake ADHD Center of Maryland Director Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., lack of sleep can cause ADHD-like symptoms, so making sure you get enough of it should help you concentrate better. Needless to say, better concentration should, in turn, help you become more productive throughout the day.
Alleviate the effects of mental illnesses
Medication and therapy have traditionally been the go-to treatments for mental illnesses like schizophrenia. New studies, however, are starting to bring to light the potential of getting enough shut-eye in helping patients better manage the various effects of their condition. In fact, a recent experiment found that sleep is effective in reducing the hallucinations and delusions caused by psychosis. While more controlled tests are needed to confirm the extent of the role of sleep in improving the overall condition of mental health patients, the results of this experiment have clearly shown its promise.
Finally, studies have also shown that getting more sleep can lead to increased happiness. It probably has something to do with how when you are well-rested, your body functions at its peak, keeping everything—including the many different chemicals in your brain—perfectly balanced. In addition, people who get enough sleep also tend to have more energy throughout the day so they do not get tired and stressed as quickly.
The bottom line: a great day starts the night before
When was the last time you woke up actually feeling good? If getting up in the morning and making it through each day is a constant challenge for you, then it’s probably time to make a change in your sleeping habits. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, the better the quality of your sleep, the happier, healthier, more energetic and more focused you’ll be when you wake up the following morning. |
In Charlotte, U.S. Housing Chief Unveils Plan To Roll Back Fair Housing Rule
Federal housing secretary Ben Carson unveiled plans Tuesday in Charlotte to roll back an Obama-era rule aimed at preventing racial segregation in housing. Carson announced a new rule that he says would increase housing choices for families.
The Trump administration already has suspended parts of the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, or AFFH. It required the more than 1,200 local governments that get federal housing funds to report how they're addressing housing segregation and discrimination.
But Carson said it has discouraged affordable housing development.
“The old 2015 AFFH rule created a veritable ABC of unacceptable harms, including adverse outcomes, burdensome obligations, and cookie-cutter solutions,” he said.
Carson announced the proposed rule change after joining local officials on a tour of the federally subsidized Renaissance West Community Initiative off West Boulevard. That mixed-income development was completed in 2016 on the site of neglected Boulevard Homes. It includes a school, a day care, and social services for residents.
Housing and civil rights advocates had previously sued HUD unsuccessfully to halt the rule's suspension. Some now say they're concerned the new rule would water down fair housing protections.
The changes include eliminating the current 92-part fair housing survey and instead asking local officials to identify at least three major obstacles to affordable housing. The new rule also would relax where subsidized housing can be built.
Carson used the phrase "red-lining," a term normally used to describe discriminatory housing practices, to argue for more affordable housing in low-income areas.
"Cities like Charlotte, low-income areas were actually red-lined out of affordable housing development plans and federal resources were redirected to high-income areas," he said.
Charlotte formerly had rules that discouraged affordable housing in areas that already had it -- a policy designed to expand affordable housing throughout the city. Those rules have since been revised to promote housing near jobs, transit and shopping.
LOCAL OFFICIALS ABSENT
A spokesman said Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, was not familiar with the proposed rule change and not available for comment. She was not at Tuesday's event, and the spokesman was not sure if the mayor had been invited.
City housing director Pamela Wideman also was missing and was not available for comment. Last year, the city completed a more than 100-page assessment that outlined factors that contribute to housing discrimination in Charlotte, from discriminatory lending practices to a lack of housing in areas with higher economic opportunity.
Democratic City Council member Malcolm Graham, who chairs the council committee that oversees housing, said he was not invited. He expressed concern about the proposed rule, saying it's another example of the Trump Administration's efforts to undo the work of President Obama.
"We need more help from D.C. versus less help," Graham said. "And as it relates to anti-discrimination protections for families, we need to make sure those statutes are staying in place."
Officials at Inlivian, formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority, agreed. Spokeswoman Cheron Porter, who did attend the event, said they're reviewing the changes, and hope they do not jeopardize anti-discrimination efforts.
"We are supportive of any efforts that encourage the creation and preservation of quality affordable housing while not jeopardizing essential anti-discriminatory protections for the families we serve —households that are most vulnerable to these challenges," she said.
The proposed rule still must be published in the Federal Register. The public then would have 60 days to comment.
Jan. 7, 2020, HUD.gov press release, "HUD Issues Improved Fair Housing Rule" |
Three marshals are already in post with more being currently recruited and the group are due to be on the streets in November.
They will be deployed into hotspot areas and offer advice to the public, making them aware of restrictions such as social distancing and face mask wearing.
Marshals are not being granted any specific powers, but as they will be council officers they will have access to local authority legislation. For example, the council has the power to deal with businesses who fail to follow Covid-19 compliance measures.
The marshals will work very closely with the police to report breaches and to request action either at the time or retrospectively. The marshals do not have the power to deal with breaches outside businesses such as people on the streets or in their homes. These instances would be police matters.
The council marshals will also be supported by volunteer marshals for specific events where it is appropriate, for example, these volunteers were used for the re-opening of shops back in the summer.
Rob Hill, the council’s assistant director for community safety, said: “Our overriding priority is to keep our city and communities safe and we welcome the additional grant from government to enable us to continue the positive strides we have already made.
“We already have officers out on our streets in the areas where we know from data that we have the highest risk.
“While most of these patrols are advisory and are resulting in improved engagement and understanding, there are instances where we are taking enforcement action against businesses and people on the street not adhering to the rules. These measures will continue and be boosted by the marshals.
“Since the start of the pandemic the council has been leading a Rapid Response Team (RRT) which is overseeing all of our local outbreak activity and working together to limit the spread of the virus in Peterborough. The marshals will sit within this team and work alongside the other initiatives we are using, such as community engagement and education.
“They will help in the planning of public events – giving organisers health advice and will support pop-up testing centres and the newly opened centre on Gladstone Street. They will also support contact tracing in Peterborough where our work has seen us achieve consistently higher contact with people who the national scheme had been unable to reach. We currently have around a 90 per cent success rate.” |
Why This Class
Is your student learning to play a classical instrument? Or improvising instruments out of thin air? Do they like to listen to and play with music, or to create their own pieces? If you answered yes to any of these, this second course is just the ticket to deepen your student’s appreciation of the beauty, complexity, and potential of music.
Students in this self-paced course study the mechanics of string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Using enhanced composition techniques, students write and perform their own song. Next, they tour genres—from country to jazz to musical theater and more—to develop critical listening skills. Finally, students analyze the cultural impact of music through a personal lens by taking an in-depth look at their own musical autobiographies.
Students emerge from this course with an enhanced appreciation for music and its impact on human beings and culture. They readily identify great compositions and are eager to participate in and enjoy the ongoing evolution of music. |
A Video Graphics Array (VGA) driver is a type of software on a Personal Computer (PC) or cellphone that controls a video device. A driver is essentially a set of digital instructions that enables the Operating System (OS) to communicate with the physical hardware. VGA drivers specifically are used to control information that is sent to a monitor or other visual display.
VGA drivers are specific to Microsoft Windows® compatible computers and cellphones that use a Windows® OS. They support graphics with a standard resolution of 640 pixels horizontally and 480 pixels vertically, and can display up to 256 different colors. By most modern standards, this is a low level of resolution, since many newer drivers can support horizontal resolutions of 1,024 pixels or more. For this reason, these drivers are often considered to outdated for use on PCs, but are still commonly used on mobile phones, which have smaller screens.
A VGA driver is still commonly included on PCs, despite being dated. It acts as a backup, allowing the computer to display visual information if no other driver is installed, or if a monitor is attached to a computer and uses a standard that the computer doesn’t recognize. The standard 640 by 480 resolution is also used to display system information during the boot process, when the computer is first turned on.
Some mobile devices also come with this type of driver. The small screens found in cell phones and other portable units do not require high resolutions, so VGA is often sufficient for these devices. Manufacturers typically include the correct display driver within the mobile operating system, so that users do not need to install it themselves, but there are downloads available for phones that don't come with them.
There are also different types of VGA drivers that are compatible with different types of software — for instance, Windows® XP or Windows® Mobile — that can be downloaded for both PCs or phones. A person might need to download these if he or she updates the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) or changes to a different OS that doesn't come with a VGA driver already installed.
Computers also come with the ability to run in VGA mode, in which it only uses the VGA driver instead of any other type of graphics display system. This can be useful if there is a problem with one of the other display drivers, or when changing a graphics card, which can cause Windows® to not boot properly. If this happens, the user can put the computer in VGA mode, bypassing the problem and still allowing the display to work so that he or she can use the computer to fix the problem. This mode can also be used diagnostically, since a user can be pretty sure that there's a problem with the VGA driver if he or she tries to put the computer in VGA mode and can't. |
Crohn’s disease is an incurable chronic type of disease and even with today’s great leaps in medical technology and science and even if Crohn’s disease can be healed, there is still no known cure for this condition. There are different kinds of symptoms that may manifest this disease making it easy to diagnose it.
Crohn’s disease can produce symptoms that may directly affect the personal life and work of the sufferer – it can impact his/her quality of life as well. This disease can cause arthritis that can lead to pain in the large joints, cause lesions in the eyes, thrush in the mouth and create biological disturbance in the liver.
The drugs that are used to treat Crohn’s disease can end up causing side effects or other types of problems in the body. Different kinds of treatments are available to heal this condition but still no full-fledge treatment has ever been invented to cure it.
One of the more popular forms of alternative treatment for Crohn’s disease is acupuncture. This therapy can heal but cannot cure this disease. Originating in China, acupuncture has a lot of traditional therapies that can be used to treat a number of illnesses like Crohn’s disease.
Acupuncture works by stimulating energy channels in the body known as meridians and the nervous system. It is a treatment wherein ultrathin needles are inserted in various parts of the body to stimulate brain cells. The needles cause the body to release encephalins and endorphins. These two are the body’s own natural painkillers that strengthen the immune system of the body. They also help the mind to calm down and the body to relax. Acupuncture is considered to be the best way to heal psycho-physiological health conditions.
As mentioned before, acupuncture does not have any side effects on the body and is a very safe form of treatment. It is used to treat both irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease. Acupuncturists focus their treatment on the central nervous system processing, gastrointestinal motor and gastrointestinal sensory aspects to treat Crohn’s disease. The performance and effectiveness of the treatment may differ due to the manifested symptoms of each patient.
Nowadays among Western societies, acupuncture is widely accepted for curing certain kinds of bowel infections and gastrointestinal conditions. Even if there is scarcity of evidence showing acupuncture’s effectiveness in treating Crohn’s disease due to limited studies done, it can be stated that acupuncture therapy combined with other conventional and alternative modalities can effectively treat the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
Scott Paglia is a licensed and board certified acupuncturist in Bellingham, WA and provides master level pulse diagnosis, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture in Whatcom County, WA. |
by Durand Seay
"Are we there yet" or "where do we go" answered through architecture design.
| Well, where is the door? How do you get in? Where do you go? Yep you guessed it, I think. To not know where you are going is about one of the worst feelings a person can have unless they are just doing the “go with the flow;” that is if there is a flow. We drive around and around in our cars, looking for something that will guide us to our destination. Funny how water towers, church steeples, gas stations, points of references, all help to determine what direction to take and reach our “are-we-there-yet” destinations. The frustrations of this process are always reduced with the use of a map or the GPS these days. We just want to know where to go to reach our goals. Therefore, architectural elements of any kind to help us to have a guide are essential.
The first element of direction is the placement of the front door, the entrance. To a house this is crucial. This defines one of the most important references we have to who we are socially. It is our branding so to speak. Is it more recognizable or does the garage door take president? How unfortunate with so many homes that have been built place the garage door as the most important feature. This said, I suppose how many cars we own is more important as to how to define to others what our home is about. The front door is an after thought, secondary, and we really don’t want anyone to visit as they search for the welcome mat.
The front door can be placed front and center, off to the side, but the front door defines entry and should be celebrated with whatever accoutrement we can put to it. A front porch is always great to provide shelter, a way station before we enter. A pediment, you know those triangular shaped architectural adornments usually held up visually by columns or pilasters and an architrave will bring attention to the door. Add a few side lights and viola, we have defined entrance. Direct the visitor’s attention with pathways, landscaping and lighting at night.
Let’s look especially at a view of a house which has more than one door to understand also the importance of clarity. The design is to tell people this is the one “we will welcome you”. In memory of a house attended for a reception, it had three arched top French doors, side by side, as the front door. The most interesting aspect of this was how visitors would hesitate as to which door to open. It didn’t matter, you still came into the same space, but it created a moment of disconcerted confusion, the ”I’m not sure” moment of hesitation. All it took was to incorporate some feature, visual signals that would set the middle set apart to make one sure and leave no doubt. Maybe just a different use of textured or colored glass would be all that they needed.
How pathways are organized inside a home is the second element which defines a clear direction. Pathways should respect, facilitate and incorporate the hierarchy of spaces from public to private. They should give us no doubt as to where we need to go or where we should not go. The word flow is has been coined by many in this regards. Like several sets of glass doors in a living room, adjacent the next outdoor loggia creates flow. They draw your eye to views beyond, connecting the two defined spaces functionally.
Paths must respect how spaces are used to avoid slicing rooms into smaller less functional areas. A for instance, within a living room or den, if the pathway to the next space is defined (by a doorway to another doorway) diagonally through that room, the room no longer provides for all occupants to be engaged consistently throughout. By others moving along that path, those engaged in conversation are interrupted. The room functionally gets split in half. So set pathways to the sides of rooms. In home remodeling, take advantage of moved doors so the flow is out of everyone’s way. Literally, there was one experience where this was the problem and the home owner concluded as the only solution was to add another room. Regardless of the fact all rooms were being remodeled, moving the door was too expensive.
Pathways inside the home too should be celebrated like a front door. Introduce windows at the end of hallways for the views beyond. Bring in light with windows to the sides create rhythms for the eye to follow. Establish points of interest with highlighted paintings or a niche to give the user references, like that water tower in the drive to get to your destination. All of this seems like simple concepts, for which they are. However, it takes someone to bring it to your attention and state the importance, so that you know what makes a home work right with a clear direction. |
Dennis Hughes, Chief of Safety Programs for the Wisconsin State Patrol, says there were fewer traffic fatalities last month since the state Department of Transportation began keeping track 70 years ago. Hughes says 27 fatalities occurred in 26 crashes.
Hughes attributes several factors to the low number. During wintery conditions less people are out including drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists. Also people tend to drive slower on snowy, slick roads meaning collisions aren't as severe when they occur.
But along with upcoming warm weather that will likely change. More people will be out and motorists will be driving faster.
"But it's really a return of bare pavement and we'll see travel speeds start to pick up again with the driving conditions improve and speed does kill."
He offers the classic advice for drivers: buckle up, slow down and don't drink and drive. |
Lake Orta (Italian: Lago d’Orta) is a lake in northern Italy, west of Lake Maggiore.
It has been so named since the 16th century, but was previously called the Lago di San Giulio, after Saint Julius (4th century), the patron saint of the region. Its southern end is about 35 kilometres (22 miles) by rail, to the northwest of Novara on the main Turin-Milan line, while its north end is about 6 kilometres (4 miles) by rail south of the Gravellona-Toce railway station, halfway between Ornavasso and Omegna.
Its scenery is characteristically Italian, while the San Giulio island has some very picturesque buildings, and takes its name from the local saint, who lived in the 4th century.
Located around the lake are Orta San Giulio, built on a peninsula projecting from the east shore of the lake, Omegna at its northern extremity, Pettenasco to the east, and Pella to the west.
It is supposed that the lake is the remnant of a much larger sheet of water by which originally the waters of the Toce flowed south towards Novara. As the glaciers retreated the waters flowing from them sank, and were gradually diverted into Lake Maggiore. |
We have developed a communication software package, LinkforSap, that enables direct connection between the SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and the CENTUM production control system. We also offer software packages for the manufacturing execution system (MES) that close the information gap between the ERP system and production control system and also serve as a real- time business model of the manufacturing enterprise. LinkforSap is a key component of these MES software packages. This paper describes the features of and introduces the functions of LinkforSap.
The business world surrounding the manufacturing industry is undergoing rapid and drastic changes. Achieving production activities that can respond swiftly to such environmental changes has become an urgent task. This trend has focused attention on the integration of information between the ERP system and production control system. Information integration has become an important issue for applying the enterprise business model to real-time management.
Now, customers can benefit from Yokogawa's Manufacturing Execution System (MES). MES links up the ERP system and production control system in order to realize the information integration. The following is an overview of a software package developed by Yokogawa as a key component for MES and its role as a direct, hot communication link between the two systems.
|Figure 1 Presence of Gap
Problems in System Architecture in Production Field
Due to structural changes in the industry, the automation and labor-saving systems in the production site of the process industry are now highly advanced. While business systems at management headquarters have indeed expanded to cover production management, i.e., so called logistics, the ERP system at management headquarters and the production control system in the plant site have advanced separately and become quite different, from the viewpoint of an overall enterprise system hierarchy. Not only this, but since each division is responsible for adopting its own system, no consideration has been given to the exchange of information between systems. The lack of compatibility between the systems means that there is an information "gap domain," as is shown in Figure 1.
Information Integration by Manufacturing Execution System
As the solution for this problem, namely, the solution for closing the gap between the systems, Yokogawa offers to eliminate the differences in information and the suspended information flow between the enterprise resource planning system and production control system. This will be achieved using the MES function shown in Figure 2 and by flexibly connecting these functions to each other.
AP R/3 Enterprise Resource Planning System Package
Recognizing that a package achieving on-line communication between the ERP system and production control system was required and would therefore become the key component of the MES packages, Yokogawa decided to develop the package as a product.
Yokogawa focused on the SAP R/3 from SAP AG, Germany as the ERP system, since it is one of the best selling ERP packages in the world and is presently used in major industries all over the world. SAP R/3 has Production Planning for Process Industries (PP-PI) which covers continuous and batch processes in the manufacturing industry. Yokogawa's CENTUM distributed control system, the production control system, also boasts a huge number of users worldwide in the field of process control. Thus, we have developed and released LinkforSap, a software package directly connecting a CENTUM production control system and the PP-PI of SAP R/3.
Figure 2 Solution for Process Industry
The first version of LinkforSap was designed to develop functions that will cover continuous and batch processes since they are the most common in the process industry. Therefore, data that can be accessed in the control system are set as the data in Yokogawa's Exaview process data acquisition package for continuous processes and the data in Yokogawa's CS Batch integrated batch management package which complies with ISA SP88 batch process control standards. Despite this current specification, LinkforSap has a modular structure so that communication functions for other control systems (especially for discrete process control systems) or customized functions for particular job requirements can be added easily.
The standard functions mean that a user program is unnecessary, as simply setting up the parameters using the object- oriented configurator tool will realize the communication data transfer. For the communication protocols, open protocols such as the remote function call (RFC) and file transfer protocol (FTP) are used, assuring the high system-compatibility and reliability.
Hardware Platform The LinkforSap communication package is designed to run on the same hardware with Yokogawa's MES packages. In order to run both packages at the same time with the closely related packages such as the Exaview plant data acquisition package and the CS Batch batch management package, an HP9000 is selected as the hardware platform.
Software System Configuration
Figure 3 LinkforSap Software Configuration
Figure 3 shows the software configuration of LinkforSap. For communication with the PP-PI of SAP R/3, the remote function call (RFC) and transactional RFC (tRFC) based on the TCP/IP are used according to the proposal by SAP AG. These RFC and tRFC protocols have functions enhanced from those of conventional RFC, and feature the communication re-connection function and measures against transient errors which both lead to high reliability.
The dynamic data exchange (DDE) server function on the side that communicates with the control system, is supported by the Exaview process data acquisition package as an open data access interface for a client PC and is used for communicating with Exaview. A file transfer protocol that is supported by the CS Batch package with the same standard features as the protocol, is used for communicating with a supervisory computer.
LinkforSap is composed of three kinds of modules:
The first version of LinkforSap has two interface adapter modules: the Exaview interface adapter for connection with the Exaview, and the CS Batch interface adapter for connection with the CS Batch package. This modular structure of LinkforSap allows interface adapters to be added according to possible requirements in the future to connect various other control systems. Besides, considering additional interface adapters and special requirements that cannot be met by the standard package functions, the application interface adapter libraries are supplied to facilitate the development of additional adapters.
The functions of the SAP R/3's PP-PI module are introduced briefly and then the functions of LinkforSap are outlined.
Functions of SAP R/3's PP-PI
|Figure 4 Functional Overview of SAP R/3's PP-PI|
Figure 4 illustrates the functional overview of the SAP R/3's PP-PI module. The PP-PI module calculates the required quantities of individual products based on the sales and order records using the manufacturing requirement planning (MRP) module. Based on the promotional campaigns of the manufactured products and the information on resources such as the processes and personnel, the calculated manufacturing requirement quantities are broken down into a detailed production schedule by product batches, and manufacturing orders are generated accordingly. The PP-PI module issues manufacturing orders to the production control system as the manufacturing schedule data. The production control system that controls the manufacturing processes returns the manufacturing results data to the PP-PI module, which assesses and manages production data in reference to the production plan.
Functions of LinkforSap
As mentioned previously, the functions of LinkforSap are composed of the LinkforSap common communication management functions, CS Batch interface adapter functions, Exaview interface adapter functions, LinkforSap configurator functions, and so on. For data transmissions with the SAP R/3's PP-PI, data structures called categories which are designed according to the object-oriented technology, are defined as the communication protocols. Each communication application selects a category pattern (transfer tray). The communication method is thus standardized.
LinkforSap Common Communication Management Module
The main function of this module is to connect the RFC of the SAP R/3's PP-PI module, that is, to perform as the communication common adapter. This common module distributes communication data to each interface adapter module and controls both the communication flow and communication line. Up to 16 SAP R/3 systems can be connected when multiple SAP R/3s are used, and up to 32 different interface adapter destinations can be assigned.
Exaview Interface Adapter
The Exaview interface adapter is designed to connect multiple Exaview systems to the SAP R/3. Namely, a single Exaview interface adapter can connect the distributed Exaview databases using the Exaview remote data access adapter option. By connecting the Exaview, acquisition data such as manufacturing results and stock quantities, and the trend data of specified points can be uploaded. Exaview acquisition data can be uploaded by specifying parameters such as the tag name (measured point name) of the data, the data type (snapshot data, average, integrated value, etc.), and the data acquisition and data saving schedule (snapshot, hourly, shiftly, etc.). Figure 5 shows the flow of data when uploading from the Exaview interface adapter. Periodic data transmission requests can also be set up. In addition, event messages such as process messages and operation messages can be uploaded.
Figure 5 Data Flow at Exaview Interface Adapter
CS Batch Interface Adapter
This interface adapter module is used to download production schedule data to and upload manufacturing result data from the CS Batch management package. Like the Exaview interface adapter, this single adapter can also connect multiple CS Batch systems—up to eight. The process instructions from the SAP R/3 and the recipe data in the CS Batch package (complying with ISA SP88) differ in structure and expression. Hence, the adapter needs to perform data conversion and match these two. This involves making the phases in the hierarchical data structure of the SAP R/3's process instructions correspond with the unit recipes in the hierarchical data structure of the CS Batch package recipes.
In the PP-PI, all data are handled in units of blocks within data structures called phases. The data mapping function of LinkforSap can make the unit recipe data in the CS Batch package and the data in phases of the SAP R/3 correspond. The data for each recipe can be exchanged through a virtual dummy phase prepared inside the SAP R/3.
(1) Download of control recipe
A control recipe sent from the R/3 PP-PI to the CS batch interface adapter may consist of control recipe parameters, a result data request, a status message request, and so on. Control parameters are sent using the process instruction called "process parameter" in a control recipe, while a result data request and a status message request are sent using the process instruction called "process data request" or "message reservation" in a control recipe.
- Control recipe parameters
Process parameters in a control recipe are converted to a fixed-schedule file and sent to the CS Batch package via the CS Batch scheduler interface for the supervisory computer. This file contains two kinds of data: the schedule data including the recipe name, unit name, and scheduled starting time, and the setup data which includes the scheduled production quantity, estimated consumption, and phase parameters. Figure 6 shows the flow of data.
- Control parameter request
A control parameter request sent from the R/3 PP-PI before the start of production specifies what kind of data the CS Batch package should upload as the result data. The process instructions made by the PP-PI include a result data request, trend data request, production result data reservation, consumption result data reservation, and quality inspection result request. When a unit recipe corresponding to a phase has been produced in the CS Batch, uploading of the specified data starts.
- Status message request
When the status of the recipe changes, the control recipe status, operation status, phase status, and other statuses are uploaded to the R/3 PP-PI.
Figure 6 Data Flow at CS Batch Interface Adapter
(2) Uploading of result and status data
The specified data are fetched from a file in the supervisory computer interface of the CS Batch's information management system and uploaded to the R/3 PP-PI as a process message. Such data include the batch result data, batch trend data, and statuses of the control and unit recipes. Uploading is performed when the production of the control recipe or unit recipe which is defined by its correspondence with the operation or phase in the control recipe, is complete in the CS Batch package.
Figure 7 A Configurator Window
for Exaview Interface Adapter
- Batch result data
Among the recipe data collected when a control recipe or unit recipe is produced, the result data, quality inspection data, production result data, consumption result data, etc. are uploaded to the R/3 PP-PI.
- Batch trend data
The trend data of the specified data items collected by the CS Batch package are uploaded at once.
- Statuses of control and unit recipes
The control recipe status and unit recipe status are converted to the operation status and phase status of the PP-PI formated, and then uploaded to the R/3 PP-PI.
|Figure 8 A Configurator Window
for CS Batch Interface Adapter
Complete configurators are included so that the user can build up the LinkforSap functions without having to develop a new program. The functions provided with the configurator windows include setting up, starting and stopping communication; and configuring the Exaview's process data transmission and the CS Batch data transmission. Figures 7 and 8 show the configurator windows for transmission of the Exaview interface adapter and CS Batch interface adapter.
Reliability is considered crucial in the design of the function so that the system is durable for continuous operations over the long term. Process result data must never be lost even when the system is shutdown for a long time during upgrading of the SAP R/3 system for example. LinkforSap can retain the backup result data for up to 30 days. The user can issue the start, stop, and other instructions to each interface adapter address via a configurator window. LinkforSap is designed to allow continuous operations to be carried out without losing any data during a short-term shutdown such as an instantaneous power failure. Historical data such as the error log and system log can be saved to a file to allow analyses of transient error, thus assuring high maintainability. In addition, LinkforSap can support the redundant batch database structure of the CS Batch package.
One of the main features of the current version of LinkforSap is that it supports connection to a Yokogawa DCS. We will expand the connections as necessary to cover factory automation systems (i.e., discrete control systems) and various production support systems such as schedule management, quality management, and facility management. This will enable us to pursue true information unification. |
What Makes a Bribe Different to a Gift: Etiquette of Offering and Receiving Gifts
Comforting Others at times of Distress: The Etiquette of Offering Condolence
Title: What Makes a Bribe Different to a Gift: Etiquette of Offering and Receiving Gifts
In the following video Mufti Abdur-Rahman discusses the etiquette of offering and receiving gifts, and points out what makes a bribe different to that of a gift. He is supporting his teaching via a book by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi titled Aadaabul Muaasharat: Etiquettes of social life.
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Business indicators help executives gauge the health of their business and evaluate its performance. Some of these indicators include gross margins, market share, customer satisfaction, and so on. It goes without saying that without this kind of business intelligence, making timely and accurate decisions would be a huge challenge for the top level management of any organization.
There are two key missions that indicators help fulfill- one, to ensure that the business is on line to achieve its goals, and two, to tweak the goals and mission of the business in line with its emerging potential. There is little doubt that these composite metrics are a very critical tool in the business executive’s arsenal. However, it is also a fact that the most important indicators are those that include a people component as well.
Your Workforce – The life blood of any business
No business can operate without the critical contribution of its workforce. The smallest of businesses needs at least a minimum number of staff to ensure that all the activities are being carried out in time and in the right way. There is no fully automated business and this is exactly why it is simply not smart to ignore the human aspect when trying to evaluate business performance.
To give an example, a company’s sales figures have zoomed after a new marketing campaign has been launched. It is important to understand that the marketing staff who developed the new campaign, the sales team that implemented it, the production team that stepped up to handle the extra demand- all of these people have contributed immensely to the success of the campaign and ultimately the admirable sales figures. If just one of these teams were to be removed from the business and replaced with an entirely new team, the same results may not be achieved even if everything else is unchanged.
A campaign performance indicator that has both a business and people component will help you understand exactly why the sales improved and what factors supported the phenomenon. As a result you are better equipped to rework the same magic at a future date.
Business + People Component = Valuable Metric
Let us look at another example that pertains more to operational efficiency. A valuable indicator that contains both a business and people component would be one that lets you measure:
Monitoring this indicator and adapting based on its results would help you achieve your business objectives of keeping labor cost at minimum levels while ensuring that production levels are maintained at optimum levels. In short, you could use it for labor management and sales target achievement, which makes it a very valuable one indeed. This would not be possible with an indicator that encapsulates only a business component since the critical aspect of employee productivity, which can hamper or escalate operational efficiency, is not taken into consideration at all.
Determining the relationship between the workforce and business outcomes
People-comprised business indicators play another critical role by telling management more about the relationship between people and the business’s performance. This measurable relationship helps management tweak practices and systems so that more efficiency can be achieved within the organizational structure. Your most significant indicators should provide quantifiable evidence of how valuable the human factor is to business outcomes and how this critical information can be leveraged in ways to benefit the organization. |
Microsoft and its supporters have a long history of applying all kinds of FUD to any discussion of free and open source software. Whether it's Linux or other free alternatives to Microsoft's high-priced products, it seems no conversation can take place without the inevitable insinuations about higher total cost of ownership, lack of support, and other baseless fearmongering.
Such claims are, of course, nothing more than deliberately perpetuated myths designed to scare customers into Redmond's malware-infested arms, as I recently pointed out.
This week, however, we have a shining new example: A video on YouTube designed specifically to attack OpenOffice.org.
Could the sweat on Steve Ballmer's brow be any more evident?
It has been clear for some time now that free and open source software has Microsoft running scared. Last year, for instance, the company made plain the fact that it was worried about Linux's growing popularity and the detrimental effect that might have on the Windows empire.
And no wonder: Given the high prices, malware risks, and vendor lock-in associated with Microsoft's products, it has plenty to fear. Linux blows Windows away on both the desktop and the server--let's not even mention Microsoft's mobile track record--and open source productivity applications are apparently putting a serious dent in Microsoft's bottom line too.
Why else would the company bother to create this FUD-filled video? Titled "A Few Perspectives on OpenOffice.org," it features a series of "horror stories" from customers who tried the open productivity suite and purportedly suffered as a result.
‘Exorbitant Cost, Limited Support'
"We originally installed Linux-based PCs running OpenOffice to save money in the short term," an unseen voice begins. "But we quickly found that the exorbitant cost and limited availability of support left us worse off."
Such concerns, of course, play upon the fourth and eighth myths described in my recent post on the topic, and are straight out of Microsoft's standard playbook. They also fly in the face of the fact that OpenOffice.org has set download records on new releases, and likely accounts for about 10 percent of the overall office suite market today. I guess all those millions of users are just suffering in silence!
A Better Alternative
Today, of course, there's not just OpenOffice.org--which Oracle recently pledged to continue supporting--but also LibreOffice, as well as a number of other business productivity alternatives. Amid all the increasing competition, one glaring question emerges: If Microsoft Office is so superior, better-supported and cheaper, then why the desperate attack video?
The answer is simple: Microsoft's products aren't superior, better-supported or cheaper. They're flaw-ridden, vulnerable and expensive, and they lock your company into a future of more of the same. Isn't it time you tried something better? |
Where are you going to school? What are you going to study? These are the most common questions youth get asked during their senior year of high school.
Rather than ask if we plan to continue going to school, everyone assumes you will be because they think you have to. Saying you’re not going to continue studying after high school typically leads to disappointed reactions, and these disappoint me.
They never even ask what my plans actually are.
Instead, I typically get a judgmental look that tells me what they’re thinking. People jump to conclusions based solely on a few of our decisions. They typically assume that either you aren’t smart enough to continue school or you made a bad decision in not continuing. It’s disappointing that society has collectively created a stereotype that youth need to go to college to have a successful life. The pressure high school youth get to go to college is unreal—it’s presented as your only post-graduation option.
I’m not saying that attending college is a bad thing. On the contrary, I believe it’s a great option for anyone who wants to take that path. And that’s exactly it.
College is an option, not an obligation. You shouldn’t have to feel bad or guilty for making the decisions you believe are best for you. Some people don’t want to continue studying and others can’t continue studying. No one should be made to feel less than anyone else for that.
Schools definitely create a lot of that pressure by giving this mindset to students from a young age. Schools are a huge influence on students’ desired paths after high school. Schools should help students understand that there are many different options in life, and any of them can be considered the right path. It could help youth’s mental health in so many ways.
Giving youth more options would be better than just pressuring them into going to college. Instead of being pressured into one path, youth should be offered opportunities to pursue numerous options after high school. Youth do not need to be given the mindset that only college will give them a good future.
Calafia is yli’s statewide youth policy journal that amplifies the narratives of young people on topics and issues important to us and our communities. As we prepare our final print publication, the Calafia fellows are proud to present The Story of My City series as a way to bring you closer to the worlds we live in. Stay tuned for our publication later this year! |
The field of project management emerged as a best practice for the completion of one-time, temporary endeavors intended to develop a unique result, typically outside of a company’s day-to-day business. Usually built around a single outcome, projects tend to cross company departments, requiring cooperation and input from various groups who may not normally interact in the regular course of business.
Project management occurs naturally in any successful and progressive business, though it emerged as its own discipline during the the mid-20th century. With this formalization came both theory and models of operation that were designed to guide projects from conception through completion. Project proposals and project outlines, although sometimes used interchangeably, cover different aspects and purposes in the project management cycle.
The Origin of a Project
Typically, a project begins when the need for change is recognized. This may be, for example, to develop a new product to expand a sales line, or to troubleshoot a production bottleneck. Projects are defined by these changes, which then become the project goals. Either a project proposal or outline may be the next step in the project process, depending on how the project itself is formally created.
The Project Proposal
Since there is often more than one approach to achieving a project outcome, project proposals may be solicited before one course of action is chosen. The project proposal then addresses each aspect of an approach and its projected impact on the project outcome. These aspects could include a variety of impact observations, such as cost, sales or production analyses.
Project proposals may also be part of a funding process, such as with projects undertaken by not-for-profit organizations, for example. The project proposal in this instance would serve as a document to influence funding decisions.
The Project Outline
Generally, an internal document, the project outline serves as the working plan that guides the collective steps of the project. It is possible that the project outline may come before proposals, after proposals or even with no proposals. It’s rare, however, that a managed project proceeds without an outline. The outline may serve as the basis for timelines and action items necessary for on-time completion.
The project outline is more likely to be a technical document and therefore more steeped in company jargon and internal culture than a proposal may be.
Message and Tone
Perhaps the most fundamental difference between project outlines and project proposals can be summed up with “how” and “why.” Outlines are principally focused on procedure, or how the outcome will be accomplished, whereas the proposal deals more with why the outcome is necessary. There are overlaps, since proposals may need to include steps to justify the decision making process, but the intent of each document generally defines it as an outline or proposal.
With degrees in Photography and Recorded Music Production, Scott spent over 20 years as an Operations Manager with Kodak before starting a second career as a freelance content creator specializing in business, accounting and tax topics. Periodicals include FIVE Magazine and Your Business for the Your Magazines Canada group and online clients include TurboTax, Office Depot, Hyundai USA and VISA. www.shpak60.ca
John Rowley/Digital Vision/Getty Images |
Each time we visit Seoul, we are struck by the number of grinning faces we are met with. Plenty of those are of the human variety, because Koreans are, after all, a very friendly people. But take the people out of the equation, and there’s still lots of grinning going on — on sculptures, paintings, signs, door knockers, temple decorations, palace decorations, lanterns, fountains, and even subway benches.
It’s become sort of like a scavenger hunt for us to see how many grinning non-humans we can spot when we’re out and about. It’s not hard. Korea is one of the few cultures in history known for “smiling monsters.” Monsters with a sense of humor? I love that. They’re everywhere, especially around the palaces and temples.
We don’t even count those anymore. Too easy. But there are plenty of other “benevolent beasts” around, as we like to call them, both old and new. It’s a tradition that seems to be alive and well in contemporary Seoul. Have a look.
Wait . . . there’s more.
And just in case you need one more reason to smile, even the socks in Korea are grinning!
I hope, by now, you are too. |
|One satellite of a possible constellation. Photo c/o CSA.|
by Brian Orlotti
On Nov 1st, the Canadian government released a Request for Information (RFI) for the Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) project, the polar-orbiting communications and weather satellite system considered crucial to maintaining Canada's arctic sovereignty in the coming decades.
The decision is a follow-on to the February 2013 Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announcement that it was seeking partners (including other Canadian government agencies as well as international partners) to help finance the system, expected to cost roughly $600Mln CDN.
But although the RFI is generally perceived of as moving PCW a step forward, there are many hurdles still to be overcome. As outlined in the June 25th, 2013 post, "Will the Polar Communications and Weather Mission (PCW) Receive New Funding?" the current funding for the program is essentially limited to a $4.3Mln contract awarded to PCW prime contractor MacDonald Dettwiler for the preliminary phase "A" mission design in 2009 and a $5.7Mln CDN contract to ABB Canada to develop a multi-spectral imager for the PCW as part of the Space Technologies Development Program (STDP) in 2011.
Curiously enough, the ABB contract was awarded just after an October, 2011 incident in which a bad software update on Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite caused a 16-hour outage across 56 northern communities. During the outage, hundreds of people lost internet and long-distance phone service, 1000 First Air passengers were stranded over the Thanksgiving long weekend by delayed or cancelled flights, and the RCMP lost field radio communications. Although Telesat quickly notified its customers and eventually restored service, the incident was a potent reminder of how critical satellite communications are to northern Canadians.
PCW is envisioned as a constellation of at least two (and perhaps more) satellites in molniya orbits, a type of highly elliptical orbit named after the Soviet/Russian Molniya (Russian for "Lightning") communications satellites which have used it since the mid-1960s.
Satellites in a molinya orbit, due to their high altitude at apogee (the point at which they are closest to Earth) can cover parts of northern Canadian territory inaccessible to geostationary satellites. A northern ground station will link the PCW constellation to communications satellites in geostationary orbit as well as other segments of Canada’s telecom infrastructure. The lifespan of each satellite is estimated at 15 years.
|Typical molniya orbit. Graphic c/o Wikipedia.|
- Providing high data rate communications services for both military and commercial use.
- Providing advanced weather monitoring capability to support global weather and sea ice forecasting.
- Providing space weather monitoring capability (i.e. tracking of space debris and solar storms) The RFI has been taken as a sign of the Canadian government’s willingness to proceed with the project which, though first announced in 2009, has languished for years under a fog of political and fiscal uncertainty.
The complete RFI with requirements and initial system details is available for download at the Public Works Canada website.
In the coming decades, as the Arctic ice shrinks and the northern frontier provides greater opportunities for shipping and resource extraction, issues of sovereignty will increasingly take centre stage. The Canadian government, after years of paying lip service to these issues, now appears to be moving to address them. Space will continue to be the key to Canada’s north, enabling us to understand, exploit and protect it. |
During the summer of 2017 articles from our growing archive will be republished. This one was first published in January 2013.
Fredrika Gullfot and her colleagues grow algae. Two thousand square meters of abandoned greenhouses in Hammenhög in southern Sweden have been transformed from cultivating flowers and other plants to the production of single-celled algae. “We grow algae in a large number of five centimetre-wide glass tubes. The algae need light, carbon dioxide, some nutrients, and of course water, “says Fredrika Gullfot, who is CEO of the company.
“By growing in glass tubes, we optimize the availability of light. Bubbling occurs as we lead air into the pipes. Our algae farm is the first of its kind in Sweden, but abroad algae oil is a growing trend,” adds Gullfot. “Under Swedish conditions, growing algae yields 22 times more oil per hectare compared to the cultivation of rapeseed.”
Oil from algae
Plankton is a single-celled plant that lives in fresh and salt water all over the earth. Simris Alg starts from their own or purchased stock cultures and in vessels proliferate algae by cell division. It is quite slow in the beginning but after a few weeks, the algae culture grows up and is ready to be harvested. Algae mass is dried and ground, and through bio-refining, various chemical products are isolated like enzymes, fatty acids, pigments, antioxidants, proteins and amino acids. Algae oil can be used as feedstock for biofuels and the residual mass can be digested into biogas. When the algae are used for fuel production, the wastewater can provide nutrients for growth.
The global interest in what can be extracted from algae has increased. Among other things, the aerospace industry sees opportunities with algae to replace fossil fuels. A future scenario adopted by U.S. President Barack Obama aims to have 17 percent of the country’s fuel needs coming from cultivated algae. Swedish municipalities also see algae as a source of biogas. The food industry has its eyes on algae to produce dyes, fatty acids and antioxidants. Plankton can for example be used to extract the omega-3 fats used in food supplements.
“Algae oil can replace fish oil to limit overfishing,” says Gullfot. “A half a billion crowns of Omega 3 fish oil is sold in Sweden per year” Globally, 100,000 tons of fish oil is produced per year and demand is growing by 8 percent per year. “The food industry is also looking for environmentally friendly products that can substitute palm oil. The day the technology is mature enough to produce algae oil cheap in a really large scale will open up another huge market for Simris Alg and others.”
Algae can be grown in a relatively small area and the raw materials are almost free. One problem to solve is energy. Running pumps, greenhouse lights and dryers consumes a lot of electricity. “We established ourselves in southeast Skåne to get access to as much sunlight as possible. We have also been involved in an international project called AlgaePARC. The project seeks to make large-scale algae cultivation more energy efficient and therefore economically viable for the production of biofuels,” says Gullfot.
“Profitability is already available for the production of food ingredients, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, but the production of biofuels at competitive prices is a challenge. The project, which is operated in the Netherlands is run together with the chemical company BASF, food company Unilever and energy company Exxon Mobil,” says Gullfot.
Acclaimed business idea
Simris Alg has received much attention in Sweden and internationally. The idea came from Fredrika Gullfot and Tony Fagerberg, students at KTH in Stockholm and Lund University, respectively. They had followed the international trend and were convinced that cultured microalgae could contribute to the development of renewable energy and the transition to sustainable food production. Their vision was to build a cutting-edge facility for the cultivation and production of microalgae, and to establish Simris Alg as a powerful drive motor in the development of microalgae technology in Sweden.
So far it has gone well and the basic idea has become a reality. The main focus of Simris Alg is to use algae to develop diet and feed supplements for both humans and animals. Even horses, dogs and cats need omega-3 fats. In time, the activities also will also cover the development and production of biofuels. The Explanatory Memorandum to Region Skåne’s 2012 Environmental Award, which was awarded to Simris Alg, noted that “Simris Alg works with a key technology to replace today’s fossil fuels and is a key player in environmental engineering in Sweden.”
Sweden also has the firm Asta Real specializing in algae cultivation. The company is owned by the Japanese company Fuji Chemical Industry and produces antioxidants used in foods, animal feed and cosmetics.
The article was published in March 2013 |
5G Leadership Skills: Dynamic Leadership (CE ARRT)
Leaders motivate people to work collectively to achieve personal and organizational goals. Developing personal leadership skills is the key to career success. Leadership style is fluid and should be adapted to the particular demands of the situation, the people involved and the challenges/opportunities presented. This Competency helps individuals identify their own leadership qualities and those of others. They will understand different styles of leadership and how to apply them. Participants make the connection between dynamic leadership and improvements in: team performance, communication and trust and support levels among colleagues. Dynamic and Transformational Leadership, when adopted by an organization, results in positive outcomes including: enhanced individual and organizational experience of well- being, increased job satisfaction, greater engagement, and improved performance.
Course Completion Process:
To complete courses in this track you will need to take both the interactive on-demand lesson, and an online live scheduled session.
To complete the live session, go to the “Live Session Scheduling” Chapter of the course. From here you can either choose to join a session that has already been scheduled, or request a new time for a session. If you request a new time, all certified facilitators will be notified and if one is available they will accept your session. We want to make our program fit your schedule!Learning Outcomes:
- Learn leadership’s essential characteristics.
- Define and apply traditional styles of leadership and decision making.
- Explore transformational leadership and its potential impact.
- Tie leadership characteristics to worker morale and bottom-line impact |
Before the sankalpam (inauguration) the floor is cleaned with cow-dund, a square piece of new cloth is spread over it, after decorating it with muggulu with four of five colours. Rice is spread as a layer upon the cloth and a kalasam of silver, copper, brass or clay is kept and covered with mango leaves or betel leaves and a piece of new cloth. A small image of Lord Satyanarayana swamy made prerferably with gold or silver is kept on the cloth after abhishekam in panchamruham. Afterwards, Vighneswara, Lakshmi, Parvati, Siva, Navagrahas and Ashta Dikpalakas are worshipped in order. After wards Lord Satyanarayanaswamy is invoket and worshipped. The Satyanarayana prasadam prepared with plantains, cow's milk, cow's ghee, ravva of wheat or sojji and sugar or jaggery is offered to the Lord as naivedyam and distributed to the friends and relatives invited for this sacred vratham .The priest who conducts the puja is given dakshina. Satyanarayana Vratha Katha (legend about the efficacy of the vratham) is recited and listened to with rapt attention by all including those gathered to witness the vratham. It is said.
"Kathmva Srunuyadyasthu Pasyedwam
Thasya nasyanthi papani SatyadevaPrasadithaha."
When one cannot perform the vratham, even witnessing the vratham or listening to the story would remove the troubles and wash off the sins. The Satyanarayana Vrathams at the temple are generally commenced at 6-00AM, and go on upto 6-00PM., almost every day. On festival day vrathams have to be conducted even in the night s in spite of elaborate arrangements in spacious halls for as many as 1,500 vrathams at a time. The devotees, who want to perform vratham, pay the requisite fees for the Satyanarayana Vratham, purchase the tickets and get ready for the Satyanarayana Vratham. They are allowed one by one to the rows of seats in the vratha halls where everything is kept ready. A purohit, (or pujari) comes to each seat and attends to the reciting of the sankalpam (purpose of the vratham along with the name, gotram,etc., of the performer). After wards, the purohit stands at the head of the rows and dictates to the performers the detailed process with mantras, etc., as they go on doing the worship to his instruction. Thus the vratham or puja is conducted by batches of devotees at a time. This is a somewhat interesting feature here.
|Sl No||Seva Description||Ticket Rate
|Persons Allowed||Prasadam (if any)||Place of Performance|
|1||Sri Swamy Vari Vratham||300||Couple/Single Person||500gms Bhogam Prasadam||Radhapath Surrounding|
|2||Sri SWamy Vari Special Vratham||800||Couple/Single Person||600gms Bhogam Prasadam, Bangi 150gms||Raja Gopuram Inside|
|3||Sri Swamy Vari Visista Vratham||1500||Couple/Single Person||600gms Bhogam Prasadam, Bangi 150gms and Kanduva, Blouse Piece||Sri Swami Vari Dwaja Stambham|
|4||Sri Swamy Vari Visista Vratham (AC)||2000||Couple/Single Person||600gms Bhogam Prasadam, Bangi 150gms and Kanduva, Blouse Piece||AC Vratham Hall| |
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View Titus 3 in the note window.
With respect to the conduct of Christians towards the world, grace has
banished violence, and the spirit of rebellion and resistance which
agitates the heart of those who believe hot, and which has its source in
the self-will that strives to maintain its own rights relatively to others.
The Christian has his portion, his inheritance, elsewhere; he is tranquil
and submissive here and ready to do good. Even when others are violent and
unjust towards him, he bears it in remembrance that once it was no
otherwise with himself: a difficult lesson, for violence and injustice stir
up the heart; but the thought that it is sin, and that we also were
formerly its slaves, produces patience and piety. Grace alone has made the
difference, and according to that grace are we to act towards others.
The apostle gives a grievous summary of the characteristics of man after
the flesh-that which we once were. Sin was foolishness-was disobedience;
the sinner was deceived-was the slave of lusts, filled with malice and
envy, hateful, and hating others. Such is man characterized by sin. But the
kindness of God, of a Saviour-God, His good-will and charity towards men
(sweet and precious character of God!) [see note #2] has appeared. The character
that He assumed is that of Saviour,
a name especially given Him in these three epistles, in order that we
should bear its stamp in our walk, that it should pervade our spirit. Our
walk in the world and our conduct towards others depend on the principles
of our relationships with God. That which has made us different from others
is not some merit in ourselves, some personal superiority: we were sometime
even as they. It is the tender love and grace of the God of mercy. He has
been kind and merciful to us: we have known what it is, and are so to
others. It si true that in cleansing and renewing us this mercy has wrought
by a principle, and in a sphere of a life, that are entirely new,, so that
we cannot walk with the world as we did before; but we act towards others
who are still in the mire of this world, as God has acted towards us to
bring us out of it, that we might enjoy those things which, according to
the same principle of grace, we desire that others also should enjoy. The
sense of what we once were, and of the way in which God has acted towards
us, combine to govern our conduct towards others.
Now when the kindness of a Saviour-God appeared, it was not something vague
and uncertain; He has saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy by washing and renewing us. This is the
double character of the work in us, the same two points which we find in
John 3 in the Lords' discourse with Nicodemus; except that here is added
that which has now its place because of the work of Christ, namely, that
the Holy Ghost is also shed on us abundantly to be the strength of that new
life of which He is the source. The man is washed, cleansed. He is washed
from his former habits, thoughts, desires, in the practical sense. We wash
a thing that exists. The man was morally bad and defiled in his inward and
outward life. God has saved us by purifying us; He could not do it
otherwise. To be in relationship with Himself there must be practical
But this purification was thorough. It was not the outside of the vessel.
It was purification by means of regeneration; identified with the
communication of a new life no doubt, which is the source of new thoughts,
in connection with God's new creation, and capable of enjoying His presence
and in the light of His countenance, but which in itself is a passage from
the state we were in into a wholly new one, from flesh by death into the
status of a risen Christ.
But there was a power which acted in this new life and accompanies it in
the Christian. It is not merely a subjective change, as they say. There is
an active divine Agent who imparts something new, of which He is Himself
the source-the Holy Ghost Himself. It is God acting in the creature (for it
is by the Spirit that God always acts immediately on the creature); and it
is in the character of the Holy Ghost that He acts in this work of renewal.
It is a new source of thoughts in relationship with God; not only a vital
capacity, but an energy which produces that which is new in us.
It has been a question, When does this renewal by the Holy Ghost take
place? Is it at the commencement, or is it after the regeneration [see note #3] of
which the apostle speaks? I think that the apostle speaks of it according
to the character of the work; and adds "shed on us"
(that which characterizes the grace of this present period) to shew that
there is an additional truth, namely, that the Holy Ghost, as "shed on us,"
continues in order to maintain by His power the enjoyment of the
relationship into which He has brought us. The man is cleansed in
connection with the new order of things; but the Holy Ghost is a source of
an entirely new life, entirely new thoughts; not only of a new moral being,
but of the communication of all that in which this new being develops
itself. We cannot separate the nature from the objects with regard to which
the nature develops itself, and which form the sphere of its existence and
It is the Holy Ghost who gives the thoughts, who creates and forms the
whole moral being of the new man. The thought and that which thinks, cannot
be separated, morally, when the heart is occupied with it. The Holy Ghost
is the source of all in the saved man: he is ultimately saved, because this
is the case with him.
The Holy Ghost does not only give a new nature; He gives it us in
connection with an entirely new order of things ("a new creation"), and
fills us as to our thoughts with the things that are in this new creation.
This is the reason, that, although we are placed in it once for all, this
work-as to the operation of the Holy Ghost-continues; because He ever
communicates to us more and more of the things of this new world into which
He has brought us. He takes of the things of Christ and shews them to us;
and all that the Father has is Christ's. I think that the "renewing of the
Holy Ghost" embraces all this; because he says, "which shed on us
abundantly." So that it is not only that we are born of Him, but that He
works in us, communicating to us all that is ours in Christ.
The Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly by means of Jesus Christ our
Saviour, in order that, having been justified by the grace of this Saviour,
we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I think that the
antecedent of "in order that" is "the washing of regeneration and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost;" and that the sentence, "which he shed on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour," is an accessory parenthesis
introduced to shew us that we have the fullness of the enjoyment of these
things by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Thus he has saved us by this renewing that we may be heirs according to the
hope of eternal life, It is nothing outward, earthly, or corporeal. Grace
has given us eternal life, In order to this, we have been justified by the
grace of Christ. [see note #4] Thus there is energy, power, hope, through the
rich gift of the Holy Ghost. In order to our participating in it we have
been justified by His grace, and our inheritance is in the incorruptible
joy of eternal life.
God has saved us, not by works-nor by means of [see note #5] anything that we are,
but by His mercy. But the He has acted towards us according to the riches
of His own grace,
according to the thoughts of His own heart.
With these things the apostle desires that Titus would be occupied-with
that which brings us with thanksgiving into practical connection with God
Himself and makes us feel what our portion is, our eternal portion, before
Him. This acts upon the conscience, fills us with love and good works,
makes us respect all the relationships of which God Himself is the center.
We are in relationship with God according to His rights; we are before God,
who causes everything that He has Himself established to be respected by
Idle questions and disputes on the law Titus was to avoid, together with
everything that would destroy the simplicity of our relationship with God
according to the immediate revelation of Himself and of His will in Jesus
Christ. It is still the Gnostic Judaism setting itself up against the
simplicity of the gospel; it is the law and human righteousness, and that
which, by means of intermediate beings, destroys the simplicity and the
immediate character of our relationship with the God of grace.
When a man tried to set up his own opinions, and by that means to form
parties in the assembly, after having admonished him once and a second
time, he was to be rejected; his faith was subverted. He sins, he is judged
of himself. He is not satisfied with the assembly of God, with the truth of
God: he wants to make a truth of his won. Why is he a Christian, if
Christianity, as God has given it, does no suffice him? By making a party
for his own opinions he condemns himself.
We have, at the end of the epistle, a little glimpse of the Christian
activity which the love of God produces, the pains taken that the flock
should enjoy all the help with which God supplies the assembly. Paul wished
that Titus should come to him: but the Cretans needed his services; and the
apostle makes the arrival of Artemas or Tychicus (the latter well known by
the services he had rendered to Paul) the condition of the departure of
Titus from the field in which he was laboring. We find too that Zena, a
lawyer, and Apollos, who had also displayed his active zeal at Ephesus and
Corinth , were disposed to occupy themselves in Crete with the work of the
Observe also that we have the two kinds of labourers: those who were in
personal connection with the apostle as fellow-laborers, who accompanied
him, and whom he sent elsewhere to continue the work he had begun, when he
could no longer carry it on himself; and those who labored freely and
independently of him. But there was no jealousy of this double activity. He
did not neglect the flock that were dear to him. He was glad that any who
were sound in the faith should water the plants which he had planted. He
encourages Titus to show them all affection, and to provide whatever they
needed in their journey. thought suggest to him the counsel that follows;
namely, that it would be well for Christians to learn how to do useful work
in order to supply the wants of others as well as their own.
The apostle ends his epistle with the salutations that christian love
always produces; but, as we saw at the beginning, there is not here the
same expansion of heart that we find in Paul's communications to Timothy.
Grace is the same everywhere; but there are special affections and
relationships in the assembly of God. |
In my latest New Books in Historical Fiction interview, Pam Jenoff answers a question about the main characters in her latest bestseller, The Lost Girls of Paris, by noting that she likes writing books with multiple points of view.
I too like writing books with several points of view, as readers of my Legends of the Five Directions novels, especially The Golden Lynx, can attest—and I say that even though my current series uses a single first-person point of view instead. But what are the virtues of choosing one point of view over another?
First person is immediate and intimate (you’re right inside another person’s head). If the author is dealing with a difficult, guarded character—like my Juliana in Song of the Siren—first person opens up the character by revealing what she would never admit to anyone else. But first person is also limited, since no one can be everywhere or do everything. The reader knows only what the narrating character can know. For certain stories, that too can be an advantage, keeping the tension high by hiding plot points and motivations until the right time comes to reveal them.
But a novel like The Lost Girls of Paris absolutely demands not just third person but several points of view. Grace Healey, the first character we meet, has no connection to the main story, except that she discovers a set of photographs and sets out to uncover who the subjects are. She initiates the search, and she exemplifies the world after the war, its long-term effects and memories. But because Grace lives in the United States and we meet her in 1946, she observes past events, acting only at a distance. The role of onsite participant is left to Eleanor Trigg and Marie Roux, each of whom contributes in her own way to the events.
Eleanor supplies context. As the woman in charge of recruiting agents, she understands the larger structure, the planning, the choices being made. It is Eleanor who eventually uncovers the darkness at the heart of the operation—and because of her position it could only be Eleanor. Marie, in contrast, is on the ground, sent behind enemy lines and forced to deal with the consequences of executive decisions in which she has no say and factors that no one, including the heads of the operation, can control.
To oversimplify, Eleanor represents the agency’s brain, whereas Marie is its hands and feet and Grace speaks for its legacy. It’s the shift back and forth among these three perspectives that gives the novel its power, not least because the three women together can go places that each one could not go alone. Each of them also has her own take on the war, based on those experiences, and the blending enriches our perspective as well. That’s the other great benefit of multiple third person: the ability to contrast the insights of different characters, thus giving readers a broader picture of the whole than is possible for one person alone.
For another example of fluid, expressive use of multiple perspectives, don’t miss Yangsze Choo’s new novel, The Night Tiger—the subject of a New Books in Fantasy interview conducted by Gabrielle Mathieu and cross-listed on the New Books in Historical Fiction link below. You can also check back here next Friday, when Yangsze has graciously agreed to answer my questions.
But don’t forget to read the books as well. They’re quite different, but both wonderful—and definitely well worth your time.
As usual, the rest of this post comes from New Books in Historical Fiction.
Although World War II has long been a favorite subject in both literature and history, a new interest seems to have developed in the multiple roles played by women during the war. In The Lost Girls of Paris (Park Row Books, 2019), Pam Jenoff examines from three different fictional perspectives a little-known, real-life British secret service called the Special Operations Executive (SEO). Originally developed to send male saboteurs and radio operators behind enemy lines in France, the SEO had to change its focus when unexpectedly high casualties revealed that men had become so scarce in rural France that its agents were instantly identifiable as people who did not fit in. The director then chose to recruit and send women instead.
The novel opens from the perspective of Grace Healey, detoured into Grand Central Station on her way to work. Grace discovers a suitcase sitting by itself under a bench and, while she’s trying to find out where it belongs, extracts a set of photographs. When she goes to replace them, the suitcase is gone. Grace’s curiosity is piqued, especially when she realizes that a connection exists between the photographs and Eleanor Trigg, whose death in a car crash caused Grace’s detour in the first place.
Eleanor, the second point-of-view character, turns out to have been the head of the female agents at SEO, a job for which she recruits the third character we meet, Marie Roux—a single mother forced to choose between spending time with her daughter and financially supporting her child while serving her country. As we move ever closer, from Grace’s distance in time and place to Eleanor’s founding role to Marie’s experiences on the ground, the danger and the potential for betrayal confronting the SEO agents become increasingly clear. |
Population growth will challenge agriculture
To reduce their GHG emissions linked to food, people will have to modify their habits:
-Consume less meat or eat meat vegetal substitutes, as meat calories emits much more GHG than vegetables calories.
-Reduce their organic waste, which generates methane.
Especially, higher life expectancy and high fertility rate (i.e., still high in Africa) will increase pressure on mother nature if current habits persist. |
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