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Eagle is a populated place located in Chester County at latitude 40.078 and longitude -75.688.
The elevation is 482 feet. Eagle appears on the Downingtown U.S. Geological Survey Map. Chester County is in the Eastern Time Zone (UTC -5 hours).
(< 0.1 mile)
Eagle, PA (< 0.1 mile)
Milford Mills, PA (2.4 miles WSW)
Anselma, PA (2.4 miles E)
Lionville, PA (2.4 miles SE)
Oppermans Corner, PA
(2.7 miles E)
Dorlan, PA (2.7 miles SW)
Dowlin, PA (2.7 miles SSW)
Ludwigs Corner, PA (2.7 miles N)
Wallace, PA (3.1 miles WNW)
(2.4 miles NE)
East Nantmeal, PA (3.9 miles NW)
West Pikeland, PA (4.1 miles E)
Rapps Corner, PA (4.3 miles E)
Belvidere, PA (4.3 miles SSE)
(4.7 miles SSE)
Woodbine, PA (5.1 miles S)
Ship Road, PA (5.6 miles SE)
Swedesford Road, PA (6.3 miles ESE)
Wilsons Corner, PA (6.4 miles NE)
The Demographic Data for the 5,962 Pennsylvania cities, towns, counties, ZIP Codes and Census Designated Places (CDPs) profiled in this gazetteer is updated annually. Last Update: July 1, 2014.
The ZIP Code maps and the data regarding the number of residential and business addresses in each ZIP Code are updated four times per year. Last Update: November 1, 2014.
The information on the 62,995 Pennsylvania Physical, Cultural and Historic Features is updated six times per year. Last Update: December 2, 2014.
The School Attendance Zone Maps for 2,283 Pennsylvania public schools are updated four times per year. Last Update: October 6, 2014. |
Adding multiple exposure capability to non-capable DSLR
Imaging and Photo Technology
School of Photo Arts and Sciences / RIT
One of the "features" of most film-type cameras was their ability to make multiple exposures on a single frame of film. This opened up not only creative possibilities but also technical ones where more than one image of an event needed to be recorded in relationship to a previous image.
Photographers deal with this situation in a variety of way. Some of these have their digital equivalents. The making of several photographs and their subsequent assembly by superimposing the negatives and printing the stack resulted in a final product that met the desired criterion albeit introducing artifacts associated with the stacking of densities contributed by each negative of the stack.
Another method consisted of sequentially printing a series of negatives onto a single sheet of photographic paper. This also had its drawbacks but under certain conditions yielded useful results. Multiple exposures on a single frame while holding the shutter open and flashing a flash several times with the subject in different locations is yet another approach.
There were several other possibilities and many can be essentially duplicated in the digital realm. However, true multiple exposure capability is currently not yet available on many digital single lens reflex cameras and while the above possibilities can be explored with analog as well as digital cameras the suggestion here is that multiple exposures can be relatively easily accomplished by the expedient of adding a surplus or obsolete self-cocking leaf shutter to the front of the DSLR (or film!) camera's lens.
The major problem is that of finding a shutter like the one shown in the illustration. It dates back to probably the 1950s or possibly even earlier although such shutters were made into the 1980's certainly and may still be made. For the purpose of this discussion however it will be assumed that you have located such a shutter. It should have as large an opening as possible. 25 mm is a fairly common diameter for these shutters that were at one time available on oscilloscope recording cameras and also on some models of Polaroid MP copy stands. The shutter need no winding-up. It operates each time the cable release or shutter lever is depressed.
Other leaf shutters, such as more readily available Copal (shown here) or Seikosha or Prontor and Compur shutters will also work but since most of them require re-cocking of the shutter mechanism they are a bit harder to use for multi exposures. On the other hand they usually have PC flash sync connectors buil-in allowing you to use them at the shortest exposure times with full-flash sync capability. They are also more plentiful these days!
To start the adaptation process first of all you will remove the optical elements that may be attached to the front and back of the shutter mechanism. Then, to adapt one of these shutters to the lens I simply glued a step-up ring to the back of the shutter using a a 2-part epoxy based adhesive such as JB Weld. I could also have used a "surplus" filter with the glass removed. The step up ring allows the attachment of the shutter by threading directly into the filter threads of the lens I would use the shutter on. It is best if such a lens is of the non-rotating type when you are focusing it but even the simpler rotating element to focus lenses can be used if some care is taken to not disrupt the focus setting while using the shutter. This is easiest with the self-cocking shutter of course.
Once the shutter is attached to the lens it becomes obvious that the view through the camera's viewing system is disabled and to focus, etc. one needs to set the shutter to B or T and then close it again prior to photography. An alternative is to use a separate optical viewfinder that one can improvise and attach to the hot shoe of the camera.
Once the scene to be photographer is arranged in front of the camera and multiexposure photography is about to begin, the DSLR's shutter speed is set to about the time it will take the subject to perform its action over the number of multiple exposures one desires to record onto a "frame". This might be 10 seconds or more. With today's DSLRs this is usually not a major problem. On the other hand, the leaf shutter is set to some appropriate time to minimize blur due to subject motion. This might be a 1/25 to 1/100 second. The shutter might even have flash sync capability and flash might be used to capture the image of the subject rather than using tungsten illumination.
Now the subject is placed in its initial position and the DSLR shutter is opened. Since the leaf shutter is closed nothing gets recorded bu the sensor in the DSLR.
The leaf shutter is "fired" and the first image of the subject recorded. The subject then continues in its motion to a subsequent location and at some point the leaf shutter is fired again. If the subject was in motion then the leaf shutter exposure time must be short enough to minimize blur but it is also possible to stop the subject in its tracks and make an exposure with the subject still. Then the subject moves to another location and the leaf shutter again fired and a third image is superimposed on the previous two. And so on until the DSLR's shutter closes terminating the making of the sequence.
In this first example a wooden figurine is moved from left to right and five exposures were made as it was dragged across the filed of view of the camera. The reason for the slight changes in density or brightness of the separate images is due to the fact that the background was not totally black and the cumulative exposures on the left side of the frame caused the overall exposure there to be a little more than where the background was darker as on the right.
This second example of multi-exposure is of the simple motion of a hand, showing the extension possible by the person lifting their hand from the top of a surface upwards while keeping the wrist planted firmly on the surface.
illustration yet to be made!
Could some of this be accomplished with digital "manipulation" of a set of separate photogrpahs of the action. The answer is yes. But there is a certain "elegance" in securing the sequence in-camera at the time the action takes place instead of during what might be called "post-production".
Are there any "hidden" problems associated with placing one of these shutters in front of you camera's lens? Well, yes. Bleeding" of the background through the individual multiple imags is one of them. This can be controlled by making the background as dark and light absorbing as possible and keeping any light off it. A second problem that may manifest itself is that the leaf shutter opening may cause vignetting of the image and this would manifest itself as a darkening of the corners of the photographs. This will probably only become apparent when you use wide angle lenses or zoom lenses at their shorter focal lengths. So don't use them at those focal lengths! Or exploit visually the resulting effect!
Hopefully the examples included in this brief article will give you some ideas for multiple exposure applications that have been difficult to achieve with digital (and maybe even film) cameras. The field of multi-exposure photography is there to be exploited by creative and inventive photographers.
If you found any of this of interest feel free to drop me an email at
Andrew Davidhazy, email@example.com |
In the run-up to the election, President Obama promised to place healthcare reform near the top of his agenda.
In an editorial published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Deepak Chopra argues that by bringing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) into the mainstream, the country could boost its citizens’ long-term wellness and effect considerable cost savings.
Currently, conventional medicine fails to provide sufficient preventive care, Chopra says. He also claims that the majority of doctors are too reliant on the influence of pharmaceutical companies when it comes to choosing a treatment path.
"The era of patient-centered, humane care has long passed," he writes. "Yet, in the face of burgeoning alternatives, official medicine shrugs its shoulders and shuts its doors."
He points to examples in which science has failed to uncover a satisfactory answer as to why some people get sick and others don’t.
Chopra proposes that the Obama administration should begin listening to those who promote and practice CAM, as it can offers answers to many of the nation’s chronic health problems.
Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, has in the past supported more exploration into the benefits of CAM. |
American Water In NJ Urges The Public To Ditch Plastic Bottles
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A local water company is challenging the public to put down the plastic bottle and drink only tap water.
American Water, based in Voorhees, N.J., is marking its 125th anniversary and the observance of Earth Day by urging consumers to drink only tap water in recognition of its environmental and economic values.
Denise Venuti-Free is manager of external communications for American Water. She says people are being urged to go on the company’s website and take the pledge to reduce their reliance on plastic water bottles.
“You’re asked how many bottles of water per week you purchase and consume. And then the computer tracks the savings to the environment over the course of a year.”
Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio |
Ralph 124C 41+ — A Romance of the Year 2660
Hugo Gernsback was an "American inventor (80 patents) and publisher who was largely responsible for the establishment of science fiction as an independent literary form. In 1926, Hugo Gernsback was the owner of a magazine called Modern Electrics. One day, he found that he had a blank spot in his publication, so he dashed off the first chapter of series called "Ralph 124C 41+." "Ralph" was an amazing success. The 12-part story was filled with all kinds of wild inventions unheard of in 1926, including television (he is credited with introducing this word), fluorescent lighting, juke boxes, solar energy, television, microfilm, vending machines, and a device we now call radar."
By the year 2660, science has transformed and conquered the world, rescuing humanity from itself. Spectacular inventions from the farthest reaches of space and deep beneath the earth are available to meet every need, providing antidotes to individual troubles and social ills. Inventors are highly prized and respected, and they are jealously protected and lavishly cared for by world governments. That support and acclaim, however—as the most brilliant of scientists, Ralph 124C 41+, discovers—is not without its price.
As the vibrations died down in the laboratory the big man arose from the glass chair and viewed the complicated apparatus on the table. It was complete to the last detail. He glanced at the calendar. It was September 1st in the year 2660. Tomorrow was to be a big and busy day for him, for it was to witness the final phase of the three-year experiment. He yawned and stretched himself to his full height, revealing a physique much larger than that of the average man of his times and approaching that of the huge Martians.
His physical superiority, however, was as nothing compared to his gigantic mind. He was Ralph 124C 41+, one of the greatest living scientists and one of ten men on the whole planet earth permitted to use the Plus sign after his name. Stepping to the Telephot on the side of the wall, he pressed a group of buttons and in a few minutes the faceplate of the Telephot became luminous, revealing the face of a clean-shaven man about thirty, a pleasant but serious face.
As soon as he recognized the face of Ralph in his own Telephot, he smiled and said, "Hello, Ralph." "Hello, Edward. I wanted to ask you if you could come over to the laboratory tomorrow morning. I have something unusually interesting to show you. Look!"
He stepped to one side of his instrument so that his friend could see the apparatus on the table about ten feet from the Telephot faceplate.
Edward came closer to his own faceplate, in order that he might see further into the laboratory.
"Why, you've finished it!" he exclaimed. "And your famous — "
At this moment the voice ceased and Ralph's faceplate became clear. Somewhere in the Teleservice company's central office the connection had been broken. After several vain efforts to restore it, Ralph was about to give up in disgust and leave the Telephot when the instrument began to glow again. But instead of the face of his friend, there appeared that of a vivacious beautiful girl. She was in an evening dress and behind her on a table stood a lighted lamp.
Startled at the face of an utter stranger, an unconscious "Oh!" escaped her lips, to which Ralph replied: "I beg your pardon, but "Central" seems to have made another mistake. I shall certainly have to make a complaint about the service."
Her reply indicated that the mistake of "Central" was a little out of the ordinary, for he had been swung onto the Intercontinental Service as he at once understood when she said, "Pardon Monsieur, je ne comprends pas!" He immediately turned the all shining disk of the Language Rectifier on his instrument till the pointer rested on "French."
"The service mistakes are very annoying," he heard her say in perfect English. Realizing, however, that she was hardly being courteous to the pleasant-looking young man who was smiling at her, she added, "But sometimes Central's "mistakes" may be forgiven, depending, of course, on the patience and courtesy of the other person involved."
This, Ralph appreciated, was an attempt at mollification with perhaps a touch of coquetry. Nevertheless he bowed in acknowledgment of the pretty speech. She was now closer to the faceplate and was looking with curious eyes at the details of the laboratory — one of the finest in the world. "What a strange place! What is it, and where are you?" she asked naively. "New York," he drawled.
That's a long way from here," she said brightly." "I wonder if you know where I am?" "I can make a pretty shrewd guess," he returned. "To begin with, before I rectified your speech, you spoke French. Secondly, you have a lamp burning in your room although it is only four o'clock in the afternoon her in New York. You also wear an evening dress. It must be evening, and inasmuch as the clock on your mantelpiece points to nine, I would say you are in France, as New York time is five hours ahead of French time."
"Clever, but not quite right. I am not French, nor do I live in France. I am Swiss and I live in western Switzerland. Swiss time, you know, is almost the same as French time." Both laughed. Suddenly she said: "Your face looks familiar to me. It seems I must have seen you before."
"That is possible," he admitted, somewhat embarrassed. "You have perhaps seen one of my pictures." "How stupid of me!" she exclaimed. "Why, of course! I should have recognized you immediately. You are the great American inventor, "Ralph 124C 41+." He again smiled and she continued: "How interesting your work must be, and just think how perfectly lovely that I should be so fortunate as to make your acquaintance in this manner. Fancy, the great Ralph 124C 41+, who always denies himself to society." She hesitated, and then, impulsively : "I wonder if it would be too much to ask you for your autograph?"
Much to his astonishment, Ralph found himself pleased with the request. Autograph-hunting women he usually dismissed with a curt refusal. "Certainly, he answered, "but if seems only fair that I should know to whom I am giving it."
"Oh," she said, blushing a little, and then, with dancing eyes, "Why?"
"Because," replied Ralph, with an audacity that surprised himself, "I don't want to be put to the necessity of calling up all Switzerland to find you again."
"Well, if you put it that way," she said, the scarlet mounting in her cheeks, "I suppose I must. I am Alice 212B 423, of Ventalp, Switzerland."
Ralph then attached the Telautograph to his Telephot while the girl did the same. When both instruments were connected, he signed his name and he saw his signature appear simultaneously on the machine in Switzerland.
"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed, and added, "I am really proud to have your autograph. From what I have heard of you, this is the first you have ever given to a lady. Am I right?" she asked. "You are perfectly correct, and what is more it affords me a very great pleasure indeed to present it to you."
"How lovely," she said as she held up the autograph, "I have never seen an original signature with the +, for there are only ten of you who have it on this planet, and now to actually have one seems almost unbelievable. . . ."
Review from Science Fiction Weekly
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo
The titular hero—a reclusive yet famous mental giant and strapping physical specimen, "one of the greatest living scientists and one of the ten men on the whole planet earth [sic] permitted to use the Plus sign after his name"—is encountered vividly in the opening sentences of the first chapter. Seated in his laboratory in the year 2660, Ralph is announcing—via picturephone connection to a comrade—yet another miraculous discovery. Suddenly, a glitch in the phone service puts him face to face with an unknown beautiful woman in Switzerland, Alice 212B 423. After some coquettish interplay, Alice suddenly finds herself at the mercy of a dreaded avalanche, which Ralph manages to vaporize long-distance, with Alice's plucky help.
This chance "meeting" leads to an encounter in the flesh, when Alice and her father arrive in New York to thank Ralph personally. The sheltered superman, a ward of the state, formerly disdainful of physical and emotional love, finds himself falling head over heels for Alice. He agrees to be her tour guide while she is in America. During the next several weeks (covered in Chapters II through IX), they visit scientifically run farms, floating vacation resorts, an anti-gravitational circus, stores, solar power installations, restaurants and a host of other institutions and places chosen by Gernsback to illuminate his future. Ralph lectures his new attentive girlfriend inexhaustibly for the whole tour, including a long explanation of the world's financial system.
But their idyll features more than intellectual discourse and shy courting. Ralph and Alice have jealous enemies. Two spurned suitors—the human Fernand 60O 10 and the humanoid Martian Llysanorh' CK 1618—are determined to steal Alice away from Ralph. Only thanks to Ralph's bravery and ingenuity does Alice narrowly escape an attack in Manhattan from an invisible assailant who eludes capture. A peaceful interval follows. But then Alice is kidnapped away into space, and Ralph must rescue her, defying the orders of the government, which fears for the safety of its prize superman. In Chapters X through XVI, Ralph pursues first Fernand's fleeing spaceship, then that of Llysanorh'. Alice's ultimate salvation seems doubtful right up to the end, and indeed Ralph reverses a tragic outcome only with scientific prowess and personal sacrifice back on Earth, insuring a happy ending for the lovers.
Yesterday's tomorrows inspire awe
First serialized in the pages of Hugo Gernsback's own magazine, Modern Electrics from April 1911, to March 1912, then printed in book form in 1925, this classic of futuristic fiction predates the real creation of the SF genre, born shortly thereafter with the first issue of Gernsback's Amazing Stories in April 1926. (In a curious twist of fate, this edition bears an introduction from pioneer Jack Williamson, whose first editor was Gernsback himself.)
At one time it was fashionable to deride Gernsback's novel—often without even having read it—as a primitive exercise in speculation, long since superseded by more sophisticated works. And while it's true that the novel would never pass muster as an original in today's scene, it's wrong to dismiss it as worthless. Here Gernsback laid so many templates for all that science fiction could accomplish, as well as codifying a few of the genre's more notorious sins.
Gernsback's style is transparent and concise. Characterization is minimal but more than sufficient. Explanations are delivered in logical soundbites illustrated by vivid comparisons. His speculations hit the mark more often than not. In the '50s, perhaps, cityscapes full of rollerbladers and acres full of solar collectors might have looked silly. Today, not so. And Gernsback's early concern for the natural environment balances his faith in the virtues and capabilities of technology. True, Ralph relies too easily on cobbling new inventions together instantly.
True, outdated paradigms—mainly the cosmic ether that was once thought to permeate space—are taken for granted. True, Gernsback equates easy achievements (illuminated ballparks) with difficult ones (antigravity and invisibility). True, he thinks that human nature is infinitely plastic and that people will unfailingly do what is deemed "good" for them by the authorities.
But on every page of this book—the plotting of which is masterful, including the climactic usage of a scientific technique introduced early on, then deliberately tucked into the background—the reader senses an earnestly striving mind at work, a scientific spirit for whom communication and education mattered above all.
Despite certain campy elements, I enjoyed this book from start to finish. We all owe Gernsback more than we can easily confess.
Hugo Gernsback [Wikipedia] |
Culturally Responsive Arts Education (CRAE) schools attended a professional learning session with Dr. Theresa Perry
On February 15, 2013, participating Culturally Responsive Arts Education (CRAE) schools (teachers and principals), Curriculum Supervisors, and Curriculum Writers attended a professional learning session with Dr. Theresa Perry.
Dr. Perry is a Professor of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College. Her research and work in schools has recently focused on the development of a theory of practice for African American Achievement and educational environments that normalize high achievement for Black students. She has worked with schools and school systems throughout the country.
During her session with PPS she shared several research studies and topics such as the counter-narrative, cultural capital, stereotype threat, and the importance of African American History, the essentials of culturally responsive curriculum, and a theory of practice for African American Achievement. Dr. Perry is working with our academic team (specifically content supervisors and curriculum writers) to enhance culturally responsive practices and resources in our curricula as they are revised to meet Common Core State Standards. |
(Phys.org) —Scientists may be a step closer towards the development of a vaccine against a virus that is killing scores of Asian elephants, many of them in captivity.
The majestic Asian elephant is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and illegal trade. There are believed to be around 40-50,000 animals left in the wild.
Zoos around the world are playing a vital role in conservation efforts. However, their work over the last 20 years has been severely hampered by a fatal haemorrhagic disease caused by elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs).
The disease is usually deadly for young elephants aged between one and four years, and while mainly a concern for captive elephants the virus is also found in wild animals. Anti-viral medications have been used to treat infected animals but their efficacy is unknown.
EEHVs were discovered 15 years ago and are known to have killed 80 captive animals but the viruses are difficult to study and none of them have been isolated in the laboratory.
However, now a team of scientists from the University of Glasgow, the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency and The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh has deciphered the genetic maps of the two most lethal kinds of EEHV.
The researchers used high-throughput DNA sequencing technology to map the genomes of two viruses and discovered many genes not found in other herpesviruses.
The findings will help scientists improve diagnostic tests and develop vaccines with the aim of helping protect the flagship species from extinction.
Dr Andrew Davison, of the Medical Research Council – University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, who led the study, said: "It is vital that we undertake successful conservation activities to prevent the extinction of these wonderful animals.
"However, despite the best efforts of conservationists around the world, attempts at breeding Asian elephants are being threatened by deadly EEHVs over which we have very little power at present.
"This research should bring us closer to improving diagnoses of infected elephants and more importantly help us develop vaccines against the viruses."
Mr Mick Watson, Director of ARK-Genomics, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded national capability at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh where the sequencing was carried out, said: "High throughput DNA sequencing is revolutionising the discovery, detection and analysis of all pathogens."
Prof Falko Steinbach, Head of the Mammalian Virology Group at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) said: "This is an excellent example of the power of collaboration between three institutions involved in virus surveillance and research."
The research is published in the Journal of Virology.
Explore further: Myanmar tallies 1,114 bird species, 20 previously unrecorded
More information: Wilkie, G. et al. Complete genome sequences of elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses 1A and 1B determined directly from fatal cases, J. Virol. 3 April 2013 , doi:10.1128/JVI.00655-13 , http://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2013/03/28/JVI.00655-13.abstract |
NASA names the successor to Hubble
Sep 16, 2002
The telescope that will take over from the Hubble Space Telescope has been named in honour of a previous head of NASA. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be built by TRW of Redondo Beach, California and launched in 2010. The Webb telescope will have six times the light-gathering capability of Hubble and will be able to see objects 400 times fainter than those observed by the best ground-based telescopes.
The telescope’s primary mirror will contain 36 semi-rigid hexagonal segments or “petals”. Once complete, the mirror will be 20 feet in diameter - the primary mirror of Hubble is 8 feet across. And the TRW design has to be perfect because, unlike Hubble, it will be too far from Earth for astronauts to service it.
Before and during launch, the mirror will be folded up. Once the JWST is placed in orbit, ground controllers will send a command telling the telescope to unfold its mirror petals. The telescope will carry a near-infrared camera, a multi-object spectrometer and a mid-infrared camera/spectrometer to study a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena, including star and galaxy formation, extrasolar planets, supernovae and supermassive black holes.
The telescope will operate at the second Lagrange point some 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, where the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Earth cancel each other out. It will be possible to keep the telescope and its instruments at low temperatures without complex refrigeration equipment because a single-sided Sun shield on one side of the observatory will be able to protect it from the light and heat of both the Earth and the Sun.
Naming the telescope after an administrator is an unusual move for NASA. Existing space telescopes have been named after famous astrophysicists like Edwin Hubble and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Webb led NASA between 1961 and 1968 and was responsible for more than 75 launches during his tenure. He died in 1992. |
This spoof advertisement from the mid-1980s shows an imaginary home power system called the Chernobyl Household Nuclear Generator. Here is a loose translation.
A gentle source of unlimited energy for the home
Reduce your monthly electric bill by 80% and enjoy a constant, stable supply of energy free from the fluctuations in supply that affect the oil market.
A single, user-friendly activation switch makes the Chernobyl Household Nuclear Power Generator simple to operate, even for children and the elderly. One small nuclear fuel rod (about 15 cm long) generates enough electricity to support the average household for six months. To dispose of a spent fuel rod, simply insert it into its special shielded case and discard it along with ordinary non-combustible household waste.
Main unit: 1.31 million yen [$5,450*] (plus tax)
Set of 3 fuel rods: 137,000 yen [$570*] (plus tax)
[* Dollar figures based on early '80s exchange rate of 240 yen/dollar.]
When using the power generator with direct current, people near the device may on rare occasions experience dizziness or a tingling sensation in the hands or feet. If you experience such conditions, temporarily discontinue use and consult a physician.
Nuclear batteries (Types AA, C and D)
500x longer lifespan than conventional alkali batteries!)
Safe, efficient nuclear power is now readily available for use in your home.
Chernobyl Household Nuclear Power Generator - Type 1
Nichigen Co., Ltd.
Nihon Shogata Genshiryoku Hatsuden, K.K.
("Japan Compact Nuclear Generators, Inc.") |
Seeing as I have not posted any articles on this site in quite some time, I thought I would take a moment and post my response here, for others of you who may have the same question. not that I think this post will be extremely useful, as far as “Plumbing Info” is concerned, but it is plumbing, and it is info, even if it is just my $0.02 on the topic…
As for copper vs Pex… This is a debate that I have mixed feelings on, to be honest. On the surface, Pex seems to be the superior product in almost every way. Still, I have my reservations.
One of the concens brought to me was the fact that copper is warrantied for 10 years, while Pex is warrantied for life. I gave lifetime warranties on all of my repipes, because I use only type “L” copper, and I do a quality job. By putting those two qualities together, I have never had to go back to a repipe customer and fix a leak.
A couple concerns with copper. First off, the flux residue that is left behind cannot possibly be healthy. It has been a code requirement here in the Bay Area, for years now, that “water soluble” flux be used. The problem there is that water soluble flux does not do as good a job of cl3eaning the pipe and sucking in the solder, which can make for imperfect joints that may spring a leak in the future.
Another problem with copper is that it is rigid. Land shifts, earthquakes, settling, etc. can all put stress on the joints causing the solder to break, causing leaks (it is very difficult, to near impossible, to break the copper itself, with the exception of 90′s).
Pex, on the other hand is flexible, and should not break. It is also a cheaper material than copper (with the exception of some of the fittings/manifolds), and takes a lot less labor to install (meaning cheaper labor costs). It is also a “food grade” material, so there is no chemicals to worry about ingesting (except, of course, for the overabundance of chemicals found in our water supplies).
A couple of concerns I have about Pex… I have done a full repipe in Pex, and a few partial ones, prior to retiring from the trade, and I have not had any problems (that I know of) with it springing leaks. I cannot help, however, but remember the whole Qest debacle. People’s homes were springing leaks from that stuff for years from failed fittings, connections, etc. I naturally distrust plastic pipe/fittings for that reason.
Another concern has to do with rodents. Rodents do not chew on copper. They do chew on plastic. I have repaired many ABS drain/sewage pipes due to rodents chewing through them. If a mouse wants to get somewhere, and a piece of Pex is in the way, I imagine that they would make short work of that pipe (at least up until the point where they get sprayed in the face). I have zero evidence to back that up, but that is what my gut tells me.
I will admit that I have not kept up much with plumbing practices, news, etc. since retiring, but there you have my thoughts.
Please don’t forget to like this post, or +1 it or something, if you found it remotely useful. |
This week's postcards offer two different views of one of my favorite intersections in all of Paris - Rue Soufflot at Boulevard St. Michel. This is right at the edge of the 6th and 5th Arrondisements, with the 6th behind you as you face the Latin Quarter in the 5th. If you were standing at this spot, the Jardins de Luxembourg would be behind you, with the Medici Fountain and all it's gorgeous lime walkways and chestnut trees.
I love this spot because it's a wonderful, colorful neighborhood that mixes families and students, parks and museums. The Sorbonne is just down the street, and the honored French of bygones past are held within the massive dome of the Pantheon. It's all very formal and informal at once. There's cafes, shops, tabacs, ice cream vendors with carts, and the best Sandwhich Grec (that's French for gyro) just up the way...
The first postcard is probably from just after World War I, judging by the clothes and the types of transportation. There's a bus, but there's also a few horse-drawn carts here and there... Meanwhile, the second one comes in much closer and shows a great reflection in the fountain of the roundabout. I'm assuming this shot is from the 1930s because of the cars. It also has a scalloped edge, and is from the famous postcard producer Guy.
As for Soufflot? He was the architect who built the Pantheon. Jacques-Germain Soufflot was the Controller of the King's Buildings in the final years of the Ancien Régime; he was also a representative figure in the artistic avant-garde of the Enlightenment. Several great national institutions wer designed by him (like the Louvre...) but the Pantheon is his greatest achievement. |
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An Easy Problem?!
It's raining outside. Farmer Johnson's bull Ben wants some rain to water his flowers. Ben nails two wooden boards on the wall of his barn. Shown in the pictures below, the two boards on the wall just look like two segments on the plane, as they have the same width.
Your mission is to calculate how much rain these two boards can collect.
The first line contains the number of test cases.
Each test case consists of 8 integers not exceeding 10,000 by absolute value, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4. (x1, y1), (x2, y2) are the endpoints of one board, and (x3, y3), (x4, y4) are the endpoints of the other one.
For each test case output a single line containing a real number with precision up to two decimal places - the amount of rain collected.
2 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 1 2
POJ Monthly--2006.04.28, Dagger@PKU_RPWT
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"Today is all about listening to you - we're not here to speak for the Met, nor to defend them," said Victoria Borwick, chair of the MPA's newly convened Civil Liberties Panel, opening this morning's public meeting. The scope of the meeting - an evidence gathering session on public order policing, and more specifically the G20 demonstrations in April - had been unclear to some. Many people had brought questions demanding immediate answers, but instead their concerns have been 'noted', with no clear idea if answers will be forthcoming.
It may seem late in the day for a data-gathering session on the policing of G20. Photos, video footage, eyewitness accounts and the Climate Camp Legal Report have been publically available for months. Hundreds of complaints have been submitted to the IPCC, although few have been considered. The HMIC and Select Committee on Human Rights have both compiled investigative reports. This morning, however, the human aspect of hearing personal testimonies felt significant. People spoke emotively and powerfully about their experiences. For many people, this meeting was their first chance to express their grievances publically to those with the authority to address them. The chair handled the flow of speakers well, and all the most significant points of concern were granted a hearing. Some members of the panel, even if they were already familiar with the issues, seemed surprised and affected by what they heard. While the lack of clear answers was frustrating, the opportunity for dialogue was nonetheless valuable.
Significantly, engagement and human points of contact were a theme of the morning's discussion. Some flagged up the breakdown of communication between police and protestors - sometimes, as with the Bishopsgate Climate Camp, despite the best efforts of activists. One speaker suggested text messages as a communication tool for police on the ground to maintain contact with police liaisons, and another pointed out that confiscating the loudspeaker used by the Bishopsgate camp prevented the protestors from discussion and making decisions amongst themselves. Police have a responsibility to respond to efforts from protestors to engage them in dialogue and to maintain that communication - as much to humanise the disagreements between both parties as for any resolutions that might be found.
Not only this, but we have the right to expect honest and trustworthy communication from the MPS, and not be subjected to the spin and lies which emerged through official channels in the wake of the G20. The Met Press Office should be flagged for review, given its inconsistences and inaccuracies both in recent statements regarding armed police patrols, and in the official reports following Ian Tomlinson's death.
Many of the grievances aired this morning demanded an immediate response. Ian Tomlinson's family believe they have not been fairly treated by the Met, and that there was a deliberate cover-up surrounding their father's death. The abuse of terrorism legislation, techniques of data-gathering and pre-emptive arrests were flagged as serious concerns. Many people brought up the issue of police ID and the apparent ease with which numerals are lost or obscured - after a frustrating non-reply from the chair about 'sub-standard velcro', both Dee Doocey and Jo McCartney said there was 'absolutely no excuse' for missing numerals, and on this point at least, improvement seems realistic. Other concerns raised included the conduct and deployment of TSG; the welfare of vulnerable or disabled people who have as much right as anyone to exercise their democratic right to protest; the misleading conflation of lawful with peaceful protest (unlawful civil disobedience can still be peaceful, and has been a necessary part of successful civil rights campaigns in the past); the rights of the press to access public demonstrations without hindrance or intimidation; and of course, the issue of whether kettling is justified in situations where the majority of protestors are not engaged in violent disorder.
But did this morning achieve anything more than a collective airing of grievances? The authority of the Civil Liberties Panel seems disappointingly limited. All this evidence will inform a report on public order policing to be released at the end of this year. The Panel seems largely sympathetic to the experiences of protestors, but the whole MPA has to approve its recommendations. Even the MPA are not involved with day-to-day or disciplinary policing issues, and can only advise on the overall framework of policy. Once made, it is unclear what power the MPA has to enforce its recommendations. Implementing change is a slow and frustrating process, steeped in bureaucracy, each stage of representation more distanced than the last.
The next stage is the full report from the HMIC, whose interim report earlier this month at least displayed a willingness to confront the issues. I doubt that many of the questions raised today will receive satisfactory answers. Preoccupied with improvements for the future, the Panel may not hold the Met accountable for past mistakes.
However, focussing on improvement is a good start. Police training was repeatedly raised as a key area for reform, a process that should be aided by continuing dialogue with activists. 'Soft skills' of negotiation and conflict resolution are needed to balance out the reactive nature of current police briefings, which focus counter-productively on worst-case scenarios. By training recruits to engage with protest in a more human and flexible way, the MPA may be able to successfully challenge the testosterone-fuelled culture of aggression prevalent in certain parts of the force.
Disappointing as it is not to receive satisfactory answers to our questions, I can see the sense in an approach founded on encouraging slow cultural change. The problems that led to the poor policing of recent protests were not one-off errors, but systemic issues which need to be addressed at root. We may not see improvement fast, but as it comes, we can hope it will be here to stay. |
WASHINGTON (CNN) - An emotional Nancy Reagan on Wednesday helped unveil a statue of her late husband, President Ronald Reagan, calling the 7-foot figure "a wonderful likeness."
Mrs. Reagan paused during her brief speech at the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, appearing to battle emotions as she mentioned her last visit to the marbled hall for Reagan's memorial in June 2004.
"It's nice to be back under happier circumstances," she said.
The statue is one of two from California in the National Statuary Hall Collection donated by states to honor significant figures.
Mrs. Reagan stood arm-in-arm with Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader from Ohio, to pull down the curtain from the statue. She thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California for making the event possible.
In her remarks, Pelosi noted that the former president's statue contains pieces of the Berlin Wall, "as a symbol of his commitment to national security and to his success." The wall was torn down shortly after Reagan left office.
The former president is credited with polices that led to the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the dismantling of the wall that divided Berlin as a symbol of Cold War politics.
James Baker, a longtime Republican who served in the Cabinets of Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, recalled that Reagan inherited some major problems when he took office in 1981.
Citing the former president's trademark optimism, he quoted from Reagan's first inaugural address that "we are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline."
Mrs. Reagan attended a White House ceremony Tuesday marking President Barack Obama's signing of legislation authorizing a Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission. The 11 member commission will plan activities marking Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday on February 6, 2011.
I'm a Dem, but this is truly and honor and Mrs Reagan is truly gracious. Might God Bless her and I'm sure Ronnie is looking down with a smile upon her...
The nation honors President Reagan and also Nancy Reagan. They, both, deserve the highest regard from we the people.
Yeah whatever – Reagan's economic plans of yesteryear screwed us over today. The only people who should be honoring him are employees of VISA & Mastercard.
Reagan's legacy may be crumbling along with our economy, but hey, at least he's got a 7 foot statue.
We love you Nancy. The strength and class of both you and our beloved Gipper will be forever remembered. You inspire us to this day.
wouldn't it be nice if a true Reagonite student and principled individual would rise up in our midst...
Kudos to Speaker Pelosi for her grace and courtesy to Mrs. Reagan. Too bad Repukes have to fight Mrs. Reagan on stem cell research.
Man, if history ever gave anyone a 'free' pass its Ronald Reagan. I know he is the conservatives' gold standard; therefore, out of a sense of magnanimity I am reluctant to trash him. Sometimes it is just better to bite one's tongue and let bygones be bygones.
I can see Nancy Reagan loving her husband but I am so sick of the Reagan adulation. He was not...I repeat over and over was not a good president. His so called reaganomics is what started us on ruin.
Gee why doesn't the Pope declare him a Catholic and at the same time raise him to Sainthood. But then the republicans have never had any president in the whole line of presidents that was any where near a celeb they have to latch on to this guy.
Forget the Berlin wall, maybe if the statute had Nancy Pelosi chained to its base, it would be better for the country
Good grief people. I was no fan of his either, but the man is dead, his wife is old, let her have her day for goodness sake. You guys are going to die from hate if you keep it up.
Another CNN headline to give people an opportunity to make hateful and mean-spirited comments about Republicans and Democrats. Of course, it could have read "The Sky is Blue Today" and it would get just as many stupid comments by people who love to hate! Blogs are such a waste! Just read the the news and then go out and do something positive with your life!
The libs attempt to smear and rewrite history about Regan has failed. I know it upsets many of you commenting here but the country was reborn under his leadership.
What a joke, Reagan supported death squads in South America. And the Soviet Union imploded by itself, Reagan didn't cause that.
AMEN CH! Also you may want to add Bill left three trillion in excess dollars for George Jr. to give away before he declared war to plunge us to where we're at today.
Yes Reagan has plenty to answer with all the arms, ammunitions, and money fed to Osama Bin Laden during the Iran-Contra Affair. They ought to water-board Ollie North and George Sr. until the truth comes out. This is exactly why we attacked Iraq with most of every thing we had because they was afraid they might take Osama Bin Laden alive if they went whole-heartedly after him. He has plently to tell. Snakes in a barrell sooner than later start biting themselves. Eventually the truth will be told. Reagan-Bush are the reasons behind 911. Tell it the way it is. All this praise heaped on Nancy is crap. She is an adulterer snob who snubbed Gorbachev's wife. I don't care that she did it, but is that the way a diplomatic wife should act. Michele Obama will be no better. She has already stated she wasn't proud of America until Obama won a primary. WAKE UP AMERICA YOUR LIVING A NIGHTMARE.
The losers here bashing Reagan are simply jealous that their savior John F Kennedy has fallen so far from grace since his assasination. And it's so sad that their political icons of Carter, Clinton and now Osamabama won't ever be in the same league as Reagan.
The Republican Party of Regan was not the same as the Republican Party today. I voted for Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and Obama, but I would still vote for a Republican if they were like Reagan.
@Kevin who wrote "during his term, he had taken away from the American people the write offs on credit card interests and automobile loan interests, this angered people to no end and still does today, it should be put back, this would help in the long term in the form of a bailout to people, but no, he wanted to go over there to make a name for himself to get a wall torn down."
Yeah, how stupid of him to concern himself with the freedom of millions of people in Germany...
Bailout, bailout, bailout. How about just not using your credit card then you won't have to pay the interest that you can't write off? Regan's philosophy was that your inability to manage your finances should not be subsidized by the rest of us and I agree with him.
BTW – did you know that the guy who shot the soldiers (1 killed, 1 wounded) in Arkansas was being tracked by the FBI for receiving jihad training in Yemen and that he had a list of targets in the southeast, NYC, and Philidelphia? No? You must only get your news from CNN because this information is being shared on other, real news outlets.
I am sure the statue to President Clinton is coming, but will take time. These things aren't a given, and have to be approved. Look how long it took to get an FDR Memorial, a Martin Luther King Memorial, etc. I think President Reagan very much deserves this and any other recognition DC sees fit, I also think President Clinton very much deserves one as well but all in good time.
Remember, one man's hero is another man's punchline. Both men will get the recognition they both deserve.
"But then the republicans have never had any president in the whole line of presidents that was any where near a celeb they have to latch on to this guy."
Not even Lincoln?
It is really sad to see some of the comments from you Dumocrats. To those libs who held your tongue, good job...it is a first that we didn't hear you whine. Wake up America, find another Reagan. If Obama gets a second term, we will see our inevitable decline.
Reagan wouldn't bow to a Saudi king. Reagan wouldn't use taxpayer money to fund a genocide in Africa...oops I mean teach about abortions. Reagan certainly wouldn't have nationalized GM and taken liberal approaches to the private sector.
Dang you George W for being such a bad Repub...I blame him for some of this Obama-mess....the rest is Obama and the administration's fault. Clean up in 2010 & 2012.
Thank you President Obama for recognizing the good on both sides of the isle, unlike many people on this discussion.
I can understand Nancy becoming emotional during the unveiling of the statue of Ron. She is human, and she was getting caught up in an emotional moment. I still think she's classy.
I can't understand why people trash her so. Jeez..... so nasty.
It is a tragic irony that the Marxist totalitarian system that President Reagan fought so hard against is once again rearing its ugly head in his own Country.
I guess It's only natural for Obama to honor the man who started the US spending spree and big goverment.... |
The Supreme Court has ruled that companies can no longer patent human genes. The decision will have huge medical implications, allowing companies to compete to develop genetics-based tests and treatments for a whole host of diseases.
The court unanimously struck down patents held by Myriad Genetics on two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which predict breast and ovarian cancer. Angelina Jolie recently had a double mastectomy after Myriad's test predicted an 87% chance she'd develop breast cancer.
The decision allowed other companies to develop genetic tests that predict whether women will develop the cancers. Until now, Myriad's patent on the genes allowed them to set the price at $3,000 for their test.
Their patent was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Association for Molecular Pathology and other scientists, who argued that patenting a gene shuts down scientific research and makes medical treatment inaccessible.
Myriad argued that without gene patents, companies would lack financial incentives to develop new tests and treatments.
The ruling will prevent companies from patenting genes in future. Judges made the distinction that companies can patent cDNA - DNA that has been synthesized - but not naturally-occurring DNA. |
MAYVILLE - While many applaud those first responders who gallantly arrive at an emergency, the same cannot be said about those highly trained individuals behind the scenes, the ones who not only make first contact with a victim, but who often tangle with moments of life and death right over the phone.
The emergency dispatchers of the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office are, in many ways, the "unsung heroes" of first responders.
Operating out of a darkened room, illuminated only by lamps and a vast array of computer screens, these men and women occupy a sort of nerve center at the department, one in which every 911 call - countywide - is directed.
Pictured is Corey Swanson, emergency dispatcher. The emergency dispatchers of the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office are, in many ways, the “unsung heroes” of first responders. Operating out of a darkened room, illuminated only by lamps and a vast array of computer screens, these men and women occupy a sort of nerve center at the department.
P-J photo by A.J. Rao
"The job can be stressful," said Corey Swanson, emergency dispatcher. "There could be times where you have a despondent person threatening suicide, and at the same time, a house fire that brings in 10 to 15 fire departments. You get constant radio chatter, phones ringing off the hook ... then you might get the old lady who locked her keys in the car."
Indeed, the diversity of 911 calls is perhaps indicative of the growing area of responsibility assigned to county dispatch. which now includes the Jamestown, Ellicott, Lakewood-Busti, Westfield and Carroll police departments as well as the local New York State Police.
In addition, the Sheriff's Office dispatches more than 40 local fire departments.
Only land line calls from Dunkirk and Fredonia are handled by separate dispatch centers.
"You never know when something bad is going to happen," Swanson said. "We could be sitting here twiddling our thumbs, and within 30 seconds, we get almost more than we can handle."
The dispatch center is split into two sections, with one primarily serving as a call center and the other composed of four main consoles, or computer stations, that are designated a set of agencies to dispatch. When a 911 call comes in, a call taker records the victim's information and sends it to the console responsible for the nearest unit.
These consoles, made up of multiple computer screens seemingly stacked up on top of one another, display a wide variety of information to the dispatcher, from what units are available to what calls are currently ongoing.
"We also have a (computer-aided dispatch) map," Swanson said. "The map will show the street numbers, house numbers and where all the fire hydrants are located (near the victim)."
Courtesy of GPS signals, dispatchers can also identify the longitude and latitude of victims using cell phones in a matter of milliseconds.
"Often times, victims will be on a thruway and not know where they are," Swanson said. "In these instances, these (map) tools can be very useful."
In other instances, dispatchers are forced to aid victims in critical situations over the phone, from heart attacks and injuries to choking and child birth. For these cases, dispatchers refer to a binder full of instructional cards, each one listing a set of steps and guidelines for a wide variety of emergency scenarios.
"Everybody who takes a call is able to talk anybody through CPR through reading these cards," Swanson said. "We don't make anything up we just read."
Swanson added, however, that the cards are still a supplement, and that all dispatchers are certified through an emergency medical dispatcher course. They also must complete a 40-hour telecommuting course.
Dispatchers are composed of both full-time and part-time employees, with most working 10-hour shifts, four days a week. At a minimum, four dispatchers can be working at a time, with a patrol sergeant - who oversees all dispatch operations - always present.
According to Joseph Gerace, Chautauqua County sheriff, the dispatchers at the department are not only highly trained, but are taking advantage of the available technology to quicken response times and ultimately save lives. |
IN THE PAST 25 YEARS, there have been two movies released with the title Leviathan: a totally ’80s underwater horror flick helmed by the venerable Greek schlock-meister George P. Cosmatos and a 2012 documentary co-directed by a couple of anthropologists from Harvard. And, wouldn’t you know it, the one by the Ivy Leaguers is scarier. A thick, bloody slab of post-verité shot on a fishing vessel off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s Hobbes-monikered monster swims powerfully against the current of commercial documentaries. Where most non-fiction productions attempt to make sense of the world, Leviathan revels in disorientation. Just as the filmmakers had to find their sea legs over the course of a stormy shoot, viewers are forced to adjust their expectations to the movie’s roiling rhythms.
Since its world premiere last summer at the Locarno Film Festival, Leviathan has trawled the festival circuit, snagging a few prestigious awards to go along with a string of sterling reviews. It’s easily the most successful film to date produced by Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL), a new department overseen by Castaing-Taylor. The SEL’s stated mandate is to foster “creative work and research that is constitutively visual or acoustic—conducted through audiovisual media rather than purely verbal sign systems.” In other words, the SEL’s array of films, videos, field recordings and gallery installations—which will be featured this fall in a comprehensive retrospective hosted by RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal)—are largely unconcerned with language, whether in the form of interviews, voice-over narration or on-screen text. Leviathan’s full-on audiovisual assault, in which an array of GoPro cameras are wielded ingeniously to provide seemingly impossible first-person perspectives (it’s as if the equipment had been possessed by demons), captures only a few shouted words of communication between the crew members. It’s a movie without speech that leaves its audience speechless.
This silence extends to the filmmakers themselves. Castaing-Taylor—whose previous feature, Sweetgrass (2009, co-directed by Ilsa Barbash), documented the last in a series of annual sheep-herding treks through Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth mountains—is famously reluctant to talk in detail about his practice. At a time when filmmakers of all kinds seem almost too eager to set the boundaries of how their work should be discussed, his reticence is almost refreshing. It should be noted that Castaing-Taylor was instrumental in organizing the interviews for this article, even if he politely declined to be interviewed himself.
At the same time, the SEL is an academic institution specializing in graduate-level instruction, and as the projects developed under its banner continue to garner international attention and acclaim, it’s only natural that journalists, critics, academics and audience members would be interested in gaining some insight into the theories and themes behind them. Those unconvinced by the SEL’s mission statement to work against the conventions of broadcast journalism and “art that [is] not deeply infused by the real”—a one-two punch implying that most non-fiction filmmaking is bogus—might want to hear a case for the defence.
”The SEL definitely grew out of anthropology, visual anthropology in particular,” explains Véréna Paravel, who emailed with POV on the eve of a trip to Japan. “We have become more and more concerned to explode the genre of ethnographic film, and visual anthropology— it is myopic, too mired in academia and anthropology alone. We have tried to open the SEL up more and more to art, without compromising our interest in ethnography.” There is a precedent for this hybridization of approaches between the poetic and the purely factual, and Paravel is the first to admit that the lab’s interests do not exist in a film-historical vacuum but rather extend back to the earliest days of the medium. “Many of the concerns of works coming out of the SEL go back to the beginnings of cinema, Lumière and Melies, to Flaherty and Grierson, to Mead and Bateson and Deren. They are not all new. I think that SEL films for the most part are in some ways in counterpoint to mainstream docs. They’re less discursive, less interpretive, more invested in aesthetic opaqueness and the interpretive agency of the viewer. But many filmmakers, whether part of the self-applied avant-garde or experimental traditions or not, also militate against the mainstream.”
There is indeed something militant about many of the SEL films, which truly earn the critical cliché of being “deceptively complex.” A film like Foreign Parts (2010), which Paravel co-directed with fellow SEL instructor J.P. Sniadecki, may appear at a glance to be relatively conventional: a verité exploration of a self-contained American enclave, in this case the scrap yards of Willets Point, New York. But despite its seemingly picaresque aimlessness, with the camera wandering between episodes featuring various local characters ranging from chop-shop workers to manic street preachers, Foreign Parts has a very pronounced point of view. Without ever explaining the situation via traditional techniques (narration, interviews or onscreen graphics), Sniadecki and Paravel suggest that Willets Point is a community on the precipice of mass gentrification.
Insofar as it strives to catalogue specific sights, sounds and experiences in a place that is considered to be an impediment to an institutionalized sort of progress, Foreign Parts is a political film. It turns its gaze on an environment forged not out of intention but systematized neglect, and the structuring absence is structure itself: more specifically, even a rudimentary sense of infrastructure. There’s little evidence that the city of New York cares much about Willets Point even in light of its unique status as a “destination” for citizens from other boroughs, or at least those looking to fix or augment their cars on the cheap. It’s not the least of the film’s ironies that the 39th Avenue neighbourhood is dominated by a structure located just beyond its purview—Citi Field, a potent symbol of 21st-century redevelopment (it replaced Shea Stadium as the home of the Mets) and also a pretty obvious signifier of economic disparity—a literally and figuratively concrete metaphor for a two-tiered social system.
Like Paravel, Sniadecki is a veteran of the SEL. After arriving at Harvard in 2006, he met Castaing-Taylor while the latter was “shopping” an introductory production course to new students. “For me, [the lab] was a godsend,” he says. “After going through the standardfare film and production classes in my undergraduate studies that encouraged more conventional forms of filmmaking, I finally found an infrastructure and a community to support and challenge and take seriously the creative output I was interested in pursuing.” Sniadecki’s other films for the SEL are more formally radical than Foreign Parts. The Yellow Bank (2010) is a study of the Shanghai skyline in the midst of a solar eclipse—a potent visual metaphor for a city shrouded in perpetual uncertainty—while the remarkable People’s Park (co-directed by Libbie Dina Cohn) snakes its way through a crowded public gathering in Sichuan in one single, unbroken shot: it’s verité by way of Aleksandr Sokurov, or maybe Brian De Palma. Among the many recent documentaries about contemporary Chinese society, Sniadecki’s films stand out not only for their patience and rigour but also their avoidance of obvious talking points. In lieu of trying to frame the “bigger picture” about a country whose complexities are nearly as myriad as its population, Sniadecki zeroes in on tiny, telling details that actually enlarge the scope of the work.
Sniadecki admits that there’s something rarified about the films he’s made for the SEL, and concurs with Paravel about the benefits of being trained to think about and produce non-fiction movies in a different way. He believes that the recent popularity of the SEL’s output on the festival circuit is not in spite of its conspicuous sense of difference, but because of it. “It seems to be the case that marginality or minority status grants a strength or power to a position or a movement,” he says. “It is the same for my Chinese peers and colleagues who produce independent documentaries on the margins of Mainland cinema and Chinese society itself. Their power and their politics gain strength and compel interest precisely because they form a counterdiscourse to the mainstream.”
Stephanie Spray, who was also one of the first graduate students at the SEL, confirms that there is a sense of solidarity at work but that claims of a “house style” are overstated. “It’s pretty intense,” she says over the phone from Cambridge. “I’ve found that I agree a lot with Lucien and Véréna aesthetically, and we tend to make similar observations. But the question of whether there’s a hallmark or a group style, or shared values…people produce all kinds of work here. The work that gets seen tends be of a certain kind, which leads people to believe that the Sensory Ethnography Lab is purely observational. But people have tried other things, with different kinds of cutting, or jump-cutting or playing with the image, but they haven’t been seen as much.”
Spray’s 2008 short Monsoon-Reflections is as calm and placid as Leviathan is fierce and ferocious, but it works similarly to create an intimate sense of proximity between the viewer and a very physical sort of labour. Its subjects are two female field hands in Lekhnath, Nepal, whose monsoon preparations play out as a sort of weary ritual, albeit one touched by beauty: an early close-up of a woman’s hands furiously rolling chili peppers has an uncanny quality. “The films that I’ve found the most interesting are the ones that give me time to look,” says Spray. “There’s always direction in how a film is shot and edited but I like when a shot develops on its own and gives me a sense of time and place. That’s something that I took away from the work I saw [in the lab].”
SPRAY’S NEW FEATURE, MANAKAMANA (co-directed by Pacho Velez), which was tapped for TIFF’s experimental Wavelengths programme, finds the filmmaker returning to Nepal; its serialized structure recalls the approach of James Benning. The film is comprised of 11 static shots taken inside the cab of a high-tech cable car that traverses a 1,300-metre mountain housing a religious temple; each sequence describes the journey up or down the mountain as experienced by the car’s human (or animal) cargo. “The whole film takes place in that space, so you never get to see the mountain as a whole,” explains Spray. “It’s limited to what you see through the window and what the people say.” The fixed-camera position ties into the idea that MANAKAMANA is more a piece of field recording than filmmaking, but Spray emphasizes that it’s a lot more complicated than simply flipping a switch and taking five. “A number of people have asked if we just left a camera rolling in there,” she says. “I don’t think that we would have achieved the same level of intimacy if we hadn’t been [present]. It almost feels like fiction, but it’s better than fiction because you couldn’t get actors to do this for you. You couldn’t get them to be this subtle. It’s the perfect conceit for studying people, for having an excuse to look at them as they look out at this landscape.”
Not all of the SEL’s works are visual studies. Ernst Karel, who is the lab’s manager as well as a lecturer, specializes in sound-based works. His course is called “sonic ethnography,” which he says is about analyzing sound recordings made in very specific contexts. His 2012 project “Materials Recovery Facility” is a streaming audio work comprised of recordings of a recycling plant in Boston, while 2011’s “Swiss Mountain Transport Systems” captures the various drones and tones of gondolas and chairlifts in Switzerland. “My dual background in anthropology and various aspects of sound and music production and postproduction struck [Lucien] as being interesting,” recalls Karel, who also works as a composer and a mastering engineer. “He’s always been attuned to the importance of sound in audiovisual work, and despite my lack of experience in video, he liked the idea of having someone in the lab who would think of sound issues first rather than, as is too often the habit in video work, last.”
Sound is everything in Leviathan: its collagist soundtrack is central to its skull-rattling impact. “I was never on the boat myself, but I got a sense of Lucien and Véréna’s impressions from experiencing roughcut screenings and walking past the door where they were editing,” say Karel, who is credited on the film as a “sound composer.” “Even before starting on the mix, [they] had combined several layers of sound, mostly from the GoPro cameras, so the sound was characterized by a very harsh digital edge from the extremely low-quality audio tech used in those cameras.” Leviathan’s stylized soundscape is remarkable for the way it both reinforces and heightens the feeling of realism. While the sound design is obviously more sophisticated than a mere field recording, the idea is to authentically represent the deafening aspect of shipping out under extreme conditions—which in this case means maxing out the soundtrack beyond the capabilities of some low-tech GoPro cameras.
Paravel says that there are a few misconceptions about Leviathan, namely that its cinematography was untouched by human hands. “One example of something I’ve seen repeated that is untrue is that we had an arsenal of cameras fixed to a trillion different places on the boat. This goes hand in hand with the fetishization of the new small digital technology, as if the filmmaker is neither here nor there. But we rarely had more than one camera rolling at one time, and every single shot in Leviathan — except for four of them — was attached to a body, ours or the fishermen. We’ve said this, somewhere, but whether anyone will take note or not, who knows. In any event, it’s not uninteresting to think about the reasons why critics might come away thinking that most of the shots were not filmed by a human.”
It will be interesting to see whether Leviathan will loom as large as its namesake over the documentary landscape (although it might be the hardest to imitate of any of the decade’s key non-fiction work). In the meantime, the SEL continues to grow and turn out films that hopefully will not be swallowed up by the behemoth in their midst but rather travel far and wide in its wake. “Lucien and I co-taught the main Sensory Ethnography class last year, and most of the [guests] that we invited were artists and filmmakers, not visual anthropologists,” says Paravel. “The hope is that the friction generated by bringing anthropology, art and cinema into juxtaposition with one another will continue to develop interesting work, in ways that we can’t predict— and certainly in ways we would not wish to forestall or control.” |
Can a cone biopsy affect my chances of getting pregnant?
A cone biopsy is a medical test that can help your doctor rule out whether you have cervical cancer. In this surgical procedure, a cone-shaped wedge of tissue is removed from the cervix and then examined in a lab to determine whether there are any cancer cells present. You’ll typically only get this test if an exam like a Pap smear reveals abnormal cells.
While a cone biopsy doesn’t usually affect your ability to conceive, the procedure can occasionally lead to problems with miscarriage. Though it’s not a very common occurrence, a surgeon who is overaggressive can remove too much of the cervix, leaving it unable to do its job in keeping everything inside that’s supposed to stay inside during your pregnancy (a condition known as an incompetent cervix). Rarely, the biopsy can lead to cervical stenosis, or a narrowing of the cervical canal, which can make it more difficult for sperm to reach their destination. The good news is that most women who have the procedure go on to perfectly healthy, normal pregnancies and deliveries. If you need to undergo a cone biopsy, it’s important to find a physician who does the procedure on a regular basis: The more surgeries she does, the better she’ll likely be at maintaining as much cervical tissue and avoiding as many complications as possible.
Plus, more from The Bump:
Cancer and Getting Pregnant
Cervical Cancer During Pregnancy |
pplane8 Phase Portraits The routine pplane8 is already loaded on all ITaP machines as standard software. (If you are using your own copy of Matlab you may need to download pplane8 from
Using pplane8, we can let Matlab handle the numerical approximation of solutions and instead focus on the meaning of the solutions and the way that solutions change as parameters are varied. 3
How to use pplane in Matlab Download Matlab from http://software. brown.edu/dist/sw-win.html (Windows) http://software. brown.edu/dist/sw-mac.html (Mac) Next, download pplane8 (which has been develped by John C Polking at Rice University) from http://www.dam.brown.edu/people/heijster/APMA0340 ...
Other sites you could try:
Find videos related to Pplane8 |
The Southeast Missouri Chapter of the American Red Cross is one of 19 chapters that will lead The Pillowcase Project, a pilot in-school and after-school program to teach third-graders and their families how to prepare for disasters. The Pillowcase Project curriculum follows three steps: learn, practice and share. Students will learn how to prepare for emergencies, practice what they have learned and share their knowledge. Community resilience coordinator Beth Seabaugh tells KZIM KSIM that the Red Cross has developed the curriculum in a way that they don’t really need to share the scary parts of disasters with the kids…
Seabaugh says the program teaches students how to create emergency supply kits by packing essential items in a pillowcase for easy transport during an emergency. They will bring The Pillowcase Project to Cape County schools, Girl Scouts and after-school programs.
For more information, call Seabaugh at 335-9471, extension 1306.
Return to: Local News Blog |
Bahar Dasgeb, M.D.
Two researchers, one a dermatologist with the Wayne State University School of Medicine, have tested a method that shows promise in bypassing the current biopsy practice and providing immediate results. Their study indicated that high-frequency ultrasound with elastography measurement of skin can determine cancerous skin growths.
"Dermatologists tend to biopsy any lesions that seem visually suspicious for disease," said co-investigator Bahar Dasgeb, M.D., a resident in the Department of Dermatology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Pinkus Dermatopathology Lab in Monroe, Mich. "Consequently, many benign lesions are needlessly biopsied in order to avoid the risk of missing a potentially deadly melanoma."
According to the American Cancer Society, physicians diagnose more than 1 million cases of skin cancer annually in the United States. The most serious form of skin cancer – melanoma – is responsible for 68,720 of those cases, and killed approximately 11,590 people in 2009.
"High-frequency ultrasound with elastography has the potential to improve the efficiency of skin cancer diagnosis," said lead author Eliot L. Siegel, M.D., vice chairman of the Department of Radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "It successfully delineated the extent of lesions and was able to provide measurable differentiation among a variety of benign and malignant lesions."
Dr. Dasgeb, also a radiologist, trained as a resident with Dr. Siegel. They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in December.
The study involved testing 56 lesions from 48 patients in the Detroit area. For the purposes of comparison, the lesions were measured with the ultrasound technique and samples were taken with conventional biopsy methods. In each case, Dr. Dasgeb said, the ultrasound technology matched the findings of the biopsy.
“It’s very rare to find a 100 percent match, so we were very surprised,” she said. “We don’t expect to see that rate in our next study group, but anything in the high 80s and 90s will indicate we have something that works.”
The ultrasound technology used by Drs. Siegel and Dasgeb was designed to examine muscle and bone, she explained. Hitachi, the maker of the device, is now interested in additional, broader studies, with an eye toward developing a higher-powered ultrasound technology designed for skin lesion differentiation and measuring.
The pair also established a scale of elastography – or skin elasticity – to distinguish between malignant and benign lesions. Cystic lesions (non-malignant) showed high levels of elasticity. Malignant lesions were significantly less elastic.
The combination of high-frequency ultrasound and elastography also appears to allow accurate measurement of the extent and depth of lesions below the skin’s surface.
The procedure is non-invasive, can be performed in a physician’s office and offers immediate results, which can lead to immediate treatment in the case of malignancies and the end of anxious waits for biopsy results. |
Welcome to the new platform of Programmer's Heaven! We apologize for the inconvenience caused, if you visited us from a broken link of the previous version. The main reason to move to a new platform is to provide more effective and collaborative experience to you all. Please feel free to experience the new platform and use its exciting features. Contact us for any issue that you need to get clarified. We are more than happy to help you.
Grab buffer and write it to a file
I wonder if anybody knows if there is a way to grab the buffered output that's created when using Response.Buffer=True and write it to a file?
<% Response.Buffer=True %>
<% 'maybe som ASP....
'Grab buffer and flush it into a file
'called buffer.txt or something like that
So basically I want to grab the entire HTML-output of an ASP-page and write it to a file.
"codito, ergo sum"
0 · · |
A Field Study Of Management And Husbandry Factors Affecting Reproductive Performance Of Dairy Cows In Malacca Malaysia
Manefield, Geoffrey W (1985) A Field Study Of Management And Husbandry Factors Affecting Reproductive Performance Of Dairy Cows In Malacca Malaysia. Masters thesis, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia.
The problem of poor reproductive per formance and lack of profit from small holders ' dairy cows in Halacca was addressed during the period July 1981 to May 1983 . Performance of 290 cows on 82 farms with varying feeding and management regimes were studied over a period of at least one year. Performance history and physical examination of the cows at repetitive visits provided data which was analysed for significant differences (P < 0. 05) in productive and reproductive performance against variations in husbandry , and population character is tics of cows and farmers. Increasing parity from one to three or greater decreased calving to conception interval mean by 4 . 2, median by 5.5 and for 90% of cows pregnant by 5.6 months at a level of feeding 0.5 NRC recommendations . With full feeding the corresponding figures were 1.8,1.7 and 2.1 ( but between parity one and two 2.7,3.0 and 4.9) . Parity exerted its great est effect between parity one and two . No increase in ( milk ) production peak occurred with increase in parity.
Repository Staff Only: Edit item detail |
Experiment Description: Mental Rotation
The study of mental rotation began with the classic work of Shepard
& Metzler (1971) and is described in detail in the first part of
Chapter 7 in Matlin (2005). Demonstration 7.2 involves the actual
three-dimensional stimuli that were used in Shepard and Metzler's
(1971) original mental rotation task. In their study, participants
were shown two shapes and asked to decide whether they were the same
shape or mirror images. As the figure in Demonstration 6.1 indicates,
the second shape was created by rotating the original object (or a
mirror image of the object) around a central axis (depth or picture
plane). Participants reported that to complete the task, they mentally
rotated one of the shapes to bring it into alignment with the
other. Consistent with their participants' reports, Shepard and
Metzler (1971) found that the greater the angle of rotation between
the two objects, the longer the decision (see Figure 7.1, p. 213). In
other words, just as it takes longer to physically rotate an object a
greater distance, the mental rotation of an imagined object follows
that same principle.
In this experiment, a normal letter or a reversed letter will be presented
in different angles of orientation and you will be required to indicate
whether the letter is normal or reversed as quickly as possible. There will
be eight different conditions that represent different angles of rotation.
You will test whether your reaction time to make your decision (i.e. the
dependent variable) is systematically related to the angle of rotation
(i.e. the independent variable). You will examine this relation between
rotation angle and response time for both positive responses (i.e. the letter
is normal) and negative responses (i.e. the letter is reverse).
Participant Instructions: Mental Rotation
On each trial in this experiment, a plus sign will appear briefly in
the center of the screen for 500 milliseconds followed by large
upper-case 'F'. The letter F will be presented at one of eight
orientations, and will either be a normal 'F' or a
reverse/mirror-image of an 'F'. Your task is to determine whether the
symbol is a normal or a reversed 'F', and to respond as quickly as
possible by pushing the "Z" key if the symbol is reversed, or the "/"
key if the symbol is normal. The computer key assignments will be
displayed at the top of the screen but you may also want to tape the
terms 'normal' and 'reversed' to the appropriate computer keys to help
you keep track of the computer key assignments.
If the response is correct, the next trial will begin in 1500 milliseconds.
If the response is not made within 5 seconds, or if the response was incorrect,
or if an invalid key was pressed, a brief tone will be presented and the next
trial will begin in 1500 milliseconds. The stimulus is equally likely to be
normal or reversed at each of the eight orientations.
There are 3 trials at each of the 8 orientations for each symbol
(reversed or normal) for a total of 48 trials per block. There are 5 blocks
of 48 trials but the first block is a practice block and will not be used
in the calculation of the summary data. Nevertheless, the practice trials
are important for you to focus on the task and practice making your
decision as quickly and as accurately as possible. You will have an
opportunity to take a short break between lists.
The raw data from the experiment (192 responses) will be placed in a file
called DROT.DAT on your computer and can be examined by using the View
Raw Data button.
To summarize this data, click on the Analyze Raw Data button to compute
the mean and standard deviation of the reaction times for correct responses
in each of the eight orientations for each type of response (reverse image
vs. normal image). This button will also calculate the number of valid trials
for each condition or the number of trials where a correct response was
The summarized data will be placed in a file called AROT.ANL on your
computer. To view the results, click on the View Summarized Data button. This
summary data is important and will be necessary to prepare an APA style figure
to include with your paper. AROT.ANL is a simple text file and can be read
and printed with any word processor. Please note that although the summary
data appear in tabular form, the format is not in APA style.
There should be 16 sets of data that will look like the following.
|Orientation = 0 Response Type = 1|
The first line specifies the condition by describing the Orientation and Response Type
using the legend below. The second line provides the actual reaction
time in milliseconds, standard deviation, and the number of valid trials. In the
example above, the average response time for the condition where the target was
a normal F in the vertical orientation was 1087.33 ms with a standard deviation of
182.33 based on 12 trials. As indicated earlier, there are eight different orientations
and two response types that produce 16 separate conditions.
|0 = 0°or vertical|
|1 = 45° clockwise from vertical|
|2 = 90° clockwise from vertical|
|3 = 135° clockwise from vertical|
|4 = 180° clockwise from vertical|
|5 = 225° clockwise from vertical|
|6 = 270° clockwise from vertical|
|7 = 315° clockwise from vertical|
|1 = Normal F|
|2 = Reversed F|
In your graph, plot the orientation variable on the abscissa (X axis)
with reaction time on the ordinate (Y axis). The abscissa should have 8 marks,
one for each angle of orientation. Use separate lines for the
normal and reversed figure responses.
To view the results of previous participants, click on the Display Group Data
button. This button will display the average reaction time for the three
conditions. You can use this information to compare with your own performance.
If you have successfully installed Java Web Start but you are still
being taken to the Java installation page, please click on this direct link to the experiment installer. |
Increasing demand for the limited water resources of the United States continues to put pressure on water-resource agencies to balance the competing needs of ecosystem health with municipal, agricultural, and recreational uses. In 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) identified a National Water Census as one of six pivotal future science directions for the USGS in the following decade. The envisioned USGS National Water Census would evaluate large-scale effects of changes in land use and land cover, water use, and climate on water availability, water quality, and human and aquatic ecosystem health. The passage of the SECURE (Science and Engineering to Comprehensively Understand and Responsibly Enhance) Water Act in 2009 was a key step towards implementing the USGS National Water Census. Section 9508 of the Act authorizes a "national water availability and use assessment program" within the USGS (1) to provide a more accurate assessment of the status of the water resources of the United States; and (2) to develop the science for improved forecasts of the availability of water for future economic, energy production, and environmental uses. Initial funding for the USGS to begin working on the National Water Census came with the approval of the U.S. Department of the Interior's WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) Initiative. The WaterSMART Initiative provides funding to the USGS, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Department of Energy to achieve a sustainable water strategy to meet the Nation's water needs. WaterSMART funding also allowed the USGS to begin the national Water Availability and Use Assessment, as called for under the SECURE Water Act.
Additional Publication Details
USGS Numbered Series
WaterSMART-The Colorado River Basin focus-area study |
Upper Elementary (3-5)
Accurately translates between decimals and commonly encountered fractions: halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, tenths, and hundredths (but not sixths, sevenths, and so on).
Examples Referencing Requested Benchmark
View all Examples
Chosen as a Selected Web Resource by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
NASA Official: Ralph A. Kahn
Webmaster: Susannah Pearce
: © 2015 Practical Uses of Math And Science.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Based on U.S. Government sponsored research |
In some parts of the city, the back door of the buses may as well have a "ride for free" sign on them.
Numerous times, our cameras caught lines of people avoiding the front door fare box by pushing through the back door.
"It's running rampant. There's millions of dollars being lost," said one bus driver, who agreed to talk to us if not identified.
He said fare jumping is spinning out of control.
Back door fare-beaters
"There's no police on the bus. There's no one there to stop them," he said.
Passengers know it. There's no need to "sneak or slip" onto the bus. The fare-beaters we observed made free-riding look routine, and the numbers seem to prove it.
New York City Transit admits at least 137-thousand passengers every week steal a free ride. That's a loss of more than one million dollars every a month. |
Former priest Stefan is desperate. His greatest desire is an end to his tortured existence as a vampire. He cannot commit suicide.
The punctuation in the third sentence makes the sentence awkward. I think you're using it here to mean a pause. Generally dashes meaning a pause are used as interruptions, from one speaker to another. The reason this doesn't work is what follows: the clause both morally and physically, he cannot act as his own executioner.
Do you mean he can't be his own executioner because of his vampiric nature? If so, his vampiric nature prevents it is the conclusion, not the start, of the sentence: He cannot act as his own executioner; his vampiric nature prevents it both morally and physically.
Stefan’s plan (what plan; so far all we know is his desire) is set into motion when he discovers an ancient dagger, the one used to slay the original vampire. He finds the dagger in the possession of William, a man painfully unaware of its value and origin. Stefan is exuberant when he discovers that William also has the bloodline to wield the dagger’s power. Now he must convince William to end Stefan's suffering.
This paragraph feels like a list of events. A query letter isn't like a recipe: beat one cup flour into one cup sugar and one cup butter. It's the overview: "bake a cake."
We don't need to know he discovers an ancient dagger and where. Or that William has the bloodline. Those are the ingredients. What we need to know is that Stefan has found a way to have himself killed.
Stefan lures William to Romania. William’s situation and aging mother have left William financially wrecked - a perfect situation for Stefan to take advantage of.
This makes William sound like he'd kill someone for money. Generally speaking that's not a quality one would deem sympathetic.
As the two grow close, Stefan is left torn. His desperation to his own misery could equate to eternal night for William, if blood is exchanged. The priest that still dwells within him cannot accept that fate for William, nor can he endure a gruesome, blood stained eternity.
The dilemma here is Stefan's: Can he bring himself to condemn William to "eternal night" (whatever the hell that is) to end his own suffering. You might actually want to lead with this because it makes Stefan MUCH more sympathetic than he seems at the start right now.
IMMORTAL DECISION is a 105,000-word urban fantasy debut. Thank you for your consideration.
I'm confused about who the antagonist is here. And the protagonist for that matter. Whose story is this? If it's Stefan's (and that would be my guess given we're hearing what he wants and why he can't get it) that makes William the antagonist.
If however, you're trying to have the antagonist be Stefan, in that he's trying to suck William into doing something evil, you're going to need William to be more than a cipher. He'll need to be much more developed here. He finds himself wooed by Stefan, persuaded to come to Romania by the lure of money, only to find the money is contingent upon him killing a vampire who wants to die. What could be so bad about a true mercy killing? Well, there is the fact it would send him into "eternal night" (whatever the hell that is) and make him a vampire as well.
This is a LOT better than the first query, but you've still got clunky writing and it's hard to see much story here.
A former priest, Stefan’s greatest desire is to end his two hundred years of tortured existence as a vampire. He knows his prophesized death is at hand, but two centuries have taught him that prophesies are often flawed.
Suicide is impossible.
Notice you've switched here from Stefan's POV, to an objective statement. You need to keep the same POV as much as possible. Consider: He can't kill himself. It means (mostly) the same thing, and keeps us with Stefan.
Vampiric natures prevent him from intentionally losing a battle.
Again, keep us with Stefan: His vampire nature prevents him from intentionally being killed in a battle.
The means to his end presents itself in the form of an American named William, a man possessing the very relic Stefan needs, and the heritage to use it.
While the end may present itself, it's a passive construction. Consider: he decides to use an American etc...
Stefan lures William to Romania with the promise of a substantial inheritance, an answer to William’s current debacle (debacle isn't really the right word here). Complications arise when Stefan grows fond of William, leaving him (which him?) torn. Stefan’s plan to end his own misery could mean eternal night for William.
Failure equates to an eternity of sunless, Godless existence that Stefan cannot suffer any longer.
IMMORTAL DECISION is a 105,000-word urban fantasy debut. Thank you for your consideration.
Form rejection: this is still awkward and I'm not really taken with either of the main characters.
Dear Agent seeking Queries low on the suckitutde meter, (ha!)
It's not clear that Stefan is a vampire (another
And don't get me started on rampant. I looked it up. It's not exactly incorrect, but it seems a strange word choice to me, one that is initially perplexing not illuminating.
He struggles with his duties recalling his days as a priest, but that hasn’t been since 1808.
This is a very awkward construction. You're trying to squeeze in information like it's Cheezewhiz going into a straw.
The executed has left a sizeable Romanian estate to contend with, and no heir. As Stefan searches through the victim’s lineage, a discovery compels him to contrive a plan.
"compels him to contrive a plan" One of the skills a writer must develop is being able to hear clunky constructions like this. One way is to read your work aloud sentence by sentence. I do that here in the office much to the dismay of the other reef-dwellers, but it's one of the most effective ways to hear clunk.
He sends for William, an American in possession of a relic lost since the 1600s: the crucifix of the Archangel Michael.
this is actually the start of the story ------>Stefan’s greatest desire is to end his two hundred years’ of tortured existence. Suicide impossible and vampiric natures preventing him from losing a battle, his options are limited.
All the stuff before this paragraph just gets in the way. Right here is where you've got the answer to a big questions: what does the protagonist want, and what's thwarting him?
Stefan manipulates the young man to read two hundred years worth of journals, concealing that he is the author. The mere human will fold reading the psychological warfare contained in the memoirs of a priest-turned-vampire. Fearful the young man may flee home to the states, Stefan, convinces a cohort to manipulate William into falling in love with a housemaid, cementing his desire to stay in Romania, at least until Stefan is dead.
This is clunky writing here but you're on the right track for what you should be talking about.
Upon completing the journals, William discovers Stefan is the vampire priest. Desperate to end his suffering, Stefan pleads with William to use the crucifix, and dagger contained within, to kill him. Stefan’s fate rests in the hands of William, who must choose if his pity for the priest is worth risking his life, or his mortality.
NO NO NO. NO! Did I mention no yet? Here, let me screech it again:
DO NOT write the entire plot and the ENDING in a query letter.
Write only enough to entice me to read on.
IMMORTAL DECISION is a 105,000 urban fantasy debut. Thank you for your consideration.
This is both better and worse. The writing is worse because it's hurried; you're rushing to revise and not letting it sit long enough. You've got typos and missing words. That's fixable.
Once you get rid of everything before "Stefan’s greatest desire" you've got the structure of the query in working order.
This is still a form rejection but it's better than it was.
Dear Query Shark,
It is 1808; a sadistic vampire stalks a priest and attacks him. Lying on the ground, the priest prays for the monster’s soul. Enraged, the vampire does the unspeakable, dropping his tainted blood into the mouth of the priest, turning him into a vampire. The priest keeps journals, from that point on, detailing his emotional struggle with what he has become.
This is all backstory saying essentially the priest is a vampire who keeps a journal. It's not really the start of the story.
Two hundred years later, William receives an unexpected inheritance, removing the black cloud of unemployment and poverty that has hovered over him for years.
A 200-year-old vampire receives an inheritance? From whom? His mom?
His new inheritance requires him to go to an acquired estate in Romania. He is summoned there by Stefan, the current resident and master at the estate and he knows more about William than he should.
The first sentence says the will or terms of the inheritance requires him to go to Romania. The second says he's summoned there by Stefan. That seems either contradictory or unclear.
Also, we're still not at where the story starts yet.
Stefan’s demeanor is frightening and he even admits to murder. Stefan has one request of William, and that is to read the journals of the vampire priest. William struggles to believe Stefan’s promise to keep him safe as he pours over the journals, and comes to grips with the reality of the supernatural world.
Wait. Wait. William isn't the vampire priest? I'm REALLY confused here. In the second paragraph you introduce "William" as though we've seen him before. I thought he was the priest.
Only now does it seem he's not (which also explains the inheritance snafu.)
We're still not where the story starts either.
Upon completion of the journals he comes face-to-face the reality that Stefan is the vampire priest and the real reason he has been asked to read the journals. The priest wants William to kill him, and he believes William needs to live through the gamut of the priest’s emotions.
Here's the start of the story ----->;William must decide whether to keep his soul and life intact, or to risk it all to end the suffering of the vampire priest.
I have this horrible feeling we're at the end of the book. If this is the first choice William has to make it's really where the story starts.
You've got the entire story listed here, instead of the enticing (we hope) first bit. Narrow down what you're going to tell me. Focus on the first choice William has to make so we get a sense of the plot.
Remember a query letter is not a synopsis. Entice me to read on, don't tell me everything that happens.
IMMORTAL DECISION is a 100,000 word debut fantasy novel. Thank you for your time and consideration.
I don't think this is a fantasy novel. I think it's urban fantasy, or paranormal suspense. This isn't my area of expertise though, so listen to what the commenters say.
I'm confused by who is what. The plot seems to start at the end of the novel.
This makes for a form rejection.
Dear Query Shark:
I am the author of (redacted), published by Publish America.
And that's where I stop reading. If you've had a book printed by any of these template houses that profess to publish but in fact do not offer any of the additional value of a publisher, for the love of Mike, don't mention it. Ever.
This is not a publishing credential. It's also a huge disadvantage. Once you've published a book, you're no longer a debut author. It's MUCH easier to sell a debut novel than a second or third from a writer who hasn't enjoyed robust sales.
Now that I am finished writing my next piece of work, I am seeking representation.
This is pointless. I know you're looking for an agent because you queried me. I know the work is finished because you know not to query before the work is done.
My point here is you have 250 words to get my attention. Don't waste them on warm up stuff that doesn't get us to What Is Your Book About?
Through my extensive search of the web, I discovered your blog.
You're joking right? If you needed an extensive search of the web to find this blog, I can't even imagine what keywords you started with. "Kind and gentle literary agent" probably. If you simply google Literary Agents my agent blog is #15.
More to the point though, this is again pointless. Unless you have a specific connection for why you found me or are querying me, you don't need to mention it.
My manuscript is a contemporary 114,000 word fantasy, that’s sure to please both male and female readers.
Because of course saying it would please "everyone" is too general right? This again says nothing.
People's reading tastes are more specific than gender. Not all women like the same book. Nor do all men. If you're trying to say it will appeal to men as well as women, that's slightly better but that's not what you said.
This is where you want to start your query. ------->Will is a thirty-four years old, dirt-poor, laid-off yet again, in the depths of depression and hoping for a better life when he is given the gift of a lifetime, an unexpected inheritance that changes his life.
With this new life comes a daunting task when he is whisked away to Romania to read two hundred years worth of journals. These are not journals of any ordinary man or woman, but a priest that was maliciously turned into a vampire.
Well, they're clearly not even the journals of an un-ordinary woman, since they are the journals of a priest. This kind of over writing is what kills a query. Hone your prose.
While Will struggles to wrap his mind around the reality of the supernatural world, his life and future hang in the balance.
Why? Here's where you actually get to the point that's interesting. Here's where the plot starts. Who's the antagonist? What choice does Will have to make?
For the journals lead Will to the truth about his future and the truth of those that surround him. Fate brings Will face-to-face with the Vampire Priest and is forced to make the Immortal Decision.
This is movie announcer phrases, and meaningless without visuals. What specifically is going on?
I appreciate your time and would be humbled if you would consider reading sample chapters of Immortal Decision.
NEVER EVER EVER dismiss yourself this way. Be humbled my ass. You are not a beggar. Don't act like one.
You've made every single mistake in the book, including being published by PublishAmerica but you are a writer, and as such you deserve courtesy and respect.
Pleased, sure. Grateful, ok. Humbled, no, no, no.
I never want to see this in a query from a writer EVER. I don't care if you ARE, don't ever say it. Don't even think it.
If you become my client, we are on the same team. We are colleagues. You're not a fucking supplicant.
This is form rejection for a lot of reasons, but mostly cause you didn't tell me what the book was about in a way that made me want to read it. |
A system in which groups of people are divided into layers according to their relative power, property, and prestige
Definition of Stratification
A status that you were born with
Often associated with the caste system
A status that you earn based upon your achievements
Often associated with the class system
What are Weber's components of social class?
Property, Power, Prestige
Sociologists that invented the structural functional theory of social stratification
Davis and Moore
A system of global stratification developed by Immanuel Wallerstein
World Systems Theory
Developed the world systems theory
Consequences of social class
Marriage and Political Preference
This consequence of social class states that as you go up the social class ladder, parents and others are more likely to assist the young person in their choice of a marriage mate
This consequence of social class states working class people are more likely to prefer Democrats who generally feel that the government should intervene in the economy to make citizens financially secure
The poor live in the _____.
West and South
What color are the poor people?
The poor people are ____.
What is the sex of the poor people?
The tendency of poor families to be headed by women
Feminization of Poverty
Essential characteristic is that some individuals own other people
Slavery was most widespread in ______.
Slavery was least common among _____, especially hunters and gatherers
Slavery was usually based not on racism but on one of three other factors
Debt, Crime, and War
Notes that women were the first people enslaved through warfare
What were women valued in slavery for?
Sexual purposes, Reproduction, and for their Labor
In some places, _____ was temporary
Slavery was not necessarily ______
Slaves were not necessarily _____
Powerless and Poor
In a _____, status is determined by birth and is lifelong
A ______ is built on ascribed status
Societies in a caste system practice ______, marriage within their own group, and prohibit intermarriage
_____ provides the best example of a caste system
Based not on race but on religion, the ____ has existed for almost three thousand years
Anyone who becomes contaminated must follow _____, or washing rituals, to restore purity
When slavery ended in the US, it was replaced by a ______
Racial Caste System
In the racial caste system in the US, all whites, even if they were poor and uneducated, considered themselves to have a higher status than ALL ______.
A _____ is much more open, for it is based primarily on money or material possessions, which can be aquired
A ____ goes into effect at birth, when children are ascribed the status of their parents, but, in this system, unlike the others, individuals can change their social class by what they achieve (or fail to achieve) in life
A major characteristic of the class system, then, is its relatively fluid boundaries. A class system allows ____, movement up or down the class ladder
In every society of the world, _____ is a basis for social stratifaction
_____ has a class system that can be divided into a lower, a middle, and an upper class
Great Britain's population is about evenly divided between _____
Middle class & Lower (Working) class
The most striking characteristics of the British class system are _____
Language and Education
A large group of people who rank closely to one another in property, power, and prestige
Comes in many forms, such as buildings, land, animals, machinery, cars, stocks, bonds, businesses, furniture, jewelry, and bank accounts
When you add up the value of someone's property and subtract that person's debts, you have what sociologists call _____
The ability to get your way despite resistance
Mills coined the term ____ to refer to those who make the big decisions in US society
Respect or regard
When grown-up children end up on a different rung of the social class ladder from the one occupied by their parents
Refers to changes in society that allow large numbers of people to move up or down the class ladder
This occurs when large numbers of people move up and down the social class ladder, but, on balance, the proportions of the social classes remain about the same
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Flashcards for the first review packet that we did in class.
same number of ..... but different number of ...
number of neutrons and number of electrons
1st degree structure of proteins
2nd degree structure of proteins
3rd degree structure of proteins
4th degree structure of proteins
monomer of carbohydrates
polymer of carbohydrates
functions of carbohydrates
examples of carbohydrates
starch, glycogen, cellulose, chitin, peptidogylcan
elements carbohydrates are composed of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
monomer of proteins
polymer of proteins
functions of proteins
transports, supports, metabolizes, defense, motion, regulation
examples of proteins
kerotine, actin, colegin, myocine
elements proteins are composed of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen
monomer of lipids
fatty acid and gylcerol
polymer of lipids
triglyceride, phospholipids, fats, oils, waxes
functions of lipids
stabilization, structure of membrane
examples of lipids
fats, oils, waxes, phospholipids
elements lipids are composed of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
monomer of nucleic acids
polymer of nucleic acids
DNA and RNA
functions of nucleic acids
ATP, bases of DNA
examples of nucleic acids
guanine, adenine, cytosine, thymine, uracil
elements nucleic acids are composed of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphate
what are nucleotides composed of?
phosphate group, pentose sugar, nitrogen base
what is the universal solvent?
examples of acids
stomach acid, black coffee, tomatoes, lemons
examples of bases
sodium hydroxide, household ammonia
hydrogen ions are what type of solution? (acidic or basic)
hydroxide ions are what type of solution? (acidic or basic)
ability of water molecules to cling to each other due to hydrogen bonding. what is this?
water molecules cling to other polar surfaces. what is this?
water has this:
a high heat capacity
when H2O freezes, its volume increases. what is this called?
bonds within a water molecule
bonds between water molecules
what is the pH of blood?
chemical reaction in blood:
H4 + HCO3
what is a chemical (or a combination of chemicals) that regulates pH to normal?
something that speeds up a reaction?
a protein that is a catalyst in human reaction?
energy is being released? (type of reaction)
energy is being absorbed? (type of reaction)
energy needed to start a reaction?
two atoms share electrons so each atom has an octet of electrons in its outer shell. what is this?
type of covalent bond in which the electrons are not shared equally?
polar covalent bond
type of covalent bond in which the electrons are shared equally?
nonpolar covalent bond
the smallest unit of matter?
union of 2 or more atoms of the same element?
substances that can't be broken down into substances with different properties?
substances having 2 or more different elements united chemically?
small molecule that is a subunit of a polymer?
macromolecule made of covalently bonded monomers?
a chemical process that combines severed monomers to for a polymer/polymeric compound? |
On March 18, 1969, the United States began a four year long carpet-bombing campaign in the skies of Cambodia, devastating the countryside and causing socio-political upheaval that eventually led to the installation of the Pol Pot regime.
During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Liberation Front and the PAVN used a network of supply routes that partially ran through Laos and Cambodia. As the War progressed, the U.S. ostensibly invaded both Cambodia and Laos in order to disrupt these routes.
The initial operation was authorized by then President Richard Nixon, but without the knowledge or approval of U.S. Congress. The bombings became public knowledge in 1973, after which they were stopped.
The United States dropped upwards of 2.7 million tons of bombs on Cambodia, exceeding the amount it had dropped on Japan during WWII (including Hiroshima and Nagasaki) by almost a million tons. During this time, about 30 per cent of the country's population was internally displaced.
Estimates vary widely on the number of civilian casualites inflicted by the campaign; however,as many as 500,000 people died as a direct result of the bombings while perhaps hundreds of thousands more died from the effects of displacement, disease or starvation during this period.
The Khmer Rouge, previously a marginalized guerrilla group, propagandized the bombing campaign to great effect; by the CIA's own intelligence estimates, the US bombing campaign was a key factor in the increase in popular support for the Khmer Rouge rebels. After their victory in 1975, the Khmer Rouge oversaw a period in which another one-to-two million Cambodians died from execution, hunger and forced labour.
After it became public, the bombing campaign was a subject of contention within the U.S. as opposition to the U.S. military project in Indochina intensified.
"Manufacturing Consent" Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Hermann |
Most Popular Articles
WPIG Makes a Huge Technological Leap
Facility Showcase, Feb 2010
The good folks at Logitek provide pre-wired cables to most flavors of termination blocks at different lengths. The option here was to terminate all the analog audio ins and outs into 66 blocks from the Logitek audio engine. The Logitek Audio Engine has the option for AES/EBU in and out. However, in this particular installation, the majority of our sources and destinations in the market were analog and the need for AES/EBU was small to none. Thus the Audio Engine was purchased without any AES/EBU cards in it. Though if need be, we can add AES/EBU functionality by the addition of an audio card in the Audio Engine.
Also added were 66 block terminations to the newly run cables to and from the three studios. While on the subject of the studio cable runs, traditional multi-pair shielded cables were used for the analog audio runs. Also included were CAT-5e 25-pair cables for computer network connectivity to the rooms and the RS-422 communication lines necessary for the Remora Consoles to communicate with the audio engine. These 25-pair cables were also terminated in 66 blocks that are CAT-5e compliant. The only computer network connectivity that did not take advantage of the cables was the automation network, which was set up for gigabit speed. Most of the automation network connections to the switch were kept in the rack room since many of the automation workstations were physically installed there. So the CAT-6 cables were kept short. For the workstations located in the studios for production, a commercially made CAT-6 cable was purchased and run into the rooms directly from the automation switch.
Punchin' and grinnin'
As a very good friend once said, “If you have all your terminations, it is time to be punchin' and a grinin'.” Yes, cross connecting was next on the agenda. Since most of the audio sources and destinations would remain in the rack room, cross connecting was short and to the point. On the automation side, the keyboards, video for the monitors, and the mice connections were remoted to the air studios with Avocent KVM extenders. Connectivity from the local to the remote KVM was accomplished through CAT-5e cables. In this instance, we utilized the 25-pair runs into the rooms. The only workstations that did not have KVM extenders on them were workstations designated for production. Here it was deemed better to have the workstations in the rooms so access to CD/DVD drives were available.
With everything in place, and all the cross connections made, it was time to cut over to the new systems. To accomplish this task without losing any air time, we had to run the on-air for each studio out of the production room one at a time for an evening each. The old equipment of each room was removed along with the old wiring. As I mentioned earlier, there was a heroic amount of legacy cables in the studios. They were all cut and pulled out to make room under the counter tops. Once the room was cleared, the new equipment was brought in and connected. Each room took approximately six to eight hours to strip down and then re-populate with the new equipment. Having everything pre-wired ahead of time also helped in this venture. For those of you keeping count, the production room was last in the upgrade scheme.
With WPIG and WHDL comfortably using the new consoles and automation system, the decision to go with an audio router-based console system definitely made the job go easier considering everything that had to be danced around. It gave us the ability to pre-wire 80 percent of the connections without affecting the legacy operation as most were kept localized to the rack room. The hard part was doing a dance with legacy equipment that had their dance cards all filled over the 20-plus years of operation.
Atkins is VP, director of engineering of Backyard Broadcasting, Buffalo, NY.
-- continued on page 4
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Also in the January Issue
- Trends in Technology: AES-X210, The "Missing Piece" of AES67?
- FCC Proposes Online Publc File Rules for Radio
- RF Engineering: Licensing AM Stations Using Method of Moments
- Field Report: Zoom H6 |
By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
Weekly Commentary | Chicago Sun-Times
Suddenly the crisis in Ukraine engulfs the US. As Russian troops move into Crimea, the White House goes into crisis management. Secretary of State Kerry takes off to the Ukrainian capital. Our media is barraged with 24/7 instant analyses. Republican Senators and retired generals call for moving American troops to the Polish-Russian border, placing missiles into the Czech Republic, dispatching a fleet to the black sea. Threats are issued and rhetoric escalates.
The Russian dispatch of armed forces to occupy Crimea is a direct and clear violation of basic international law. The moral force of America’s objection is weakened since we trampled international law ourselves in our unprovoked invasion of Iraq, but that does not justify the Russian invasion. The international community should speak clearly to condemn the invasion and to demand that the Putin regime remove Russian troops from the Crimea.
At the same time, the administration, increasingly bellicose Republican Senators and the legions of macho strategists should take a good look at reality.
Crimea is ethnically Russian speaking, and historically part of Russia itself. The Ukraine only became independent 22 years ago when the Soviet Union broke apart. It borders on Russia, and is intertwined economically, politically, and culturally with Russia. Crimea houses the Russian fleet on the Black Sea. Russia considers the Ukraine vital to its security, and is willing to pay a high price to keep it secure.
The Ukraine itself is divided, with the Western part looking towards Europe and the Eastern and Southern parts looking to Russia. The country is bankrupt and in a state of virtual collapse. The deposed government of Viktor Yanukovich was democratically elected. However unpopular or corrupt that government was, the demonstrators that ousted him overturned a democratically elected government. The current provisional government has neither popular mandate nor legal legitimacy.
The demonstrations, clearly encouraged by the US and the EU, began when Yanukovich abruptly turned away from negotiations to join the European Union. When Russian President Putin offered a tripartite arrangement, the EU insisted that the Ukraine choose between Russia and Europe. Putin put up $15 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine. The Europeans didn’t come close to matching that, and were insisting on an austerity regime that will wreck further misery on the country. That’s when Yanukovich pulled out of the negotiations.
Neither the US nor the EU is going to offer Ukraine the kind of resources that Putin has put on the table. The Republicans calling for massive aid will have a hard time rounding up a majority of their own members in Congress to vote for it. Nor should they. The US should not pretend to be the policeman of the world. We cannot afford to police every region or bail out every bankrupt country bordering a powerful neighbor.
Instead of escalating tensions and issuing threats, the US and its European allies should be engaged in trying to avoid war or the breakup the Ukraine. We should condemn the Russian violation of international law, and seek to organize international pressure on the Russians to get their troops out. At the same time, we should engage Putin, and seek to create the conditions for an easing of tensions: new democratic elections in the Ukraine, a revival of the Putin offer for a tripartite economic arrangement with Ukraine, the EU and Russia, and commitment not to integrate Ukraine into NATO or EU military planning in exchange for Russia reaffirming the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Dispatching troops, threatening economic sanctions, deploying missiles all feels muscular. But the US and our allies should be careful not to threaten nor promise more than we are prepared to do. A Mexican adage bemoans “Poor Mexico, so close to the US and so far from God.” That applies even more to the Ukrainians, far too close to Russia and too far from God. Neither this country nor the EU has the will, the resources or the desire to alter that reality. And before we end up in a war we don’t want or a new Cold War we don’t need, we ought to recognize that fact.
This column replaces an earlier version which was the draft of another writer published by mistake due to administrative error. |
Thursday, February 7, 2013
February Big Kid Pick: The Odyssey
There are times when you find a book in your hands, and you just know that it represents the best work of an author and illustrator. I think of it as a lifework. The Odyssey by Gillian Cross, illustrated by Neil Packer, is one of those books.
Gillian takes Homer's epic and makes it accessible to young and old. The story flows with beautiful pacing and language. Causing those words to resonate are Packer's masterful illustrations. With a nod to Greek vase painting and his own expressionistic style, the story blossoms. You can sit and stare at the detailed paintings, and then find, you have to share the amazing images with someone else.
Candlewick's production honors the creation. The paper quality is rich, thick, and smooth, while the larger book size lets the reader relish Odysseus's journey.
This work is a treasure, a must-have for your family. Find it.
retold by Gillian Cross
illustrated by Neil Packer
Candlewick Press, 2012 |
You can prepare by taking simple steps to protect your
home, family and business.
You can prepare by planning ahead and taking simple steps
to protect your home, family and business.
Prepare by taking steps to protect yourself and your
Check the local weather forecast and plan ahead before you set
The threat posed by terrorism is real and serious.
What can you do to help?
Take the quiz and get ready to protect yourself, your home, family and business
Follow us on Twitter
Get updates on Facebook. Like this page now for updates
If severe weather strikes are you prepared at home, on the road and in your community? It takes just a few simple steps to get ready.
If severe weather strikes are you prepared at home, on the move and in your community? It takes just a few simple steps to get ready for winter.
Flooding can happen at any time of the year, but there are simple things you can do to prepare.
If you are concerned about flu-like symptoms you should contact your GP for advice, or NHS 24 on 111
Utility companies in Scotland have contingency plans in place to deal with all kinds of emergencies.
The progress continues! Welcome to new followers. A wee re-tweet would help keep up momentum & promote all advice http://t.co/OGIpwuMRqx. Ta
RT @HighwayCodeGB When driving in icy or snowy weather keep well back from the road user in front. #uksnow http://t.co/OrZBe0IT1Z
RT @trafficscotland Morning,Bex here. We've had snowfall throughout the night but no on-going issues or restrictions on network #StaySafe …
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James Angus Anderson
Found 10 Records, 10 Photos and 9,198,618 Family Trees
Born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland on 9 Aug 1849 to Alexander Anderson and Betsy Allan. James Angus married Mary Kincardine Bowman and had 4 children. He passed away on 8 Mar 1918 in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland.
Ready to discover your family story?
Simply start with yourself and we'll do the searching for you.
Scottish and northern English: very common patronymic from the
personal name Ander(s), a northern Middle English form of |
(Red is the Spanish word for “network”)
This website is a portal, or clearinghouse, of Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) resources and information for those who are working with and for the migrant workers in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
Research and Analysis on
Public Legal Education &
Development of PLEI resources and tools on Migrant Workers Rights in British Columbia.
RED Legal is an all-volunteer, non-for-profit network of legal educators, legal advocates, legal interpreters, instructional designers and other professionals for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers in British Columbia, Canada.
Our approach is evidence-based: “education is empowerment”.
We contribute our capabilities and expertise to help migrant workers and the people who work with-and-for migrant workers. However, migrant workers are the true educators in our lives. Migrant workers, with their resilience and courageous struggles, have taught us and continue teaching us about justice, equality, fairness, and peace. |
How faith groups handle changes in their beliefs.
Past conflicts over interracial marriage.
Handling conflicts in religious beliefs:
Many of the world's great religions base their beliefs upon ancient written
sacred texts. For Christian
denominations, this includes the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (the Old
and New Testaments) in the Bible. The more conservative Christian faith groups often
believe that the Bible is inerrant, as a direct result of its
authors having been inspired by God to write free of error. Since the Bible's
message is considered fixed for all time,
and since God is believed to be unchangeable, Christian beliefs derived from the Bible are often considered equally fixed, and are taught as absolutes.
However, the historical record shows
that denominations actually do change their beliefs over time.
Religious groups use various methods to change their
beliefs. Sometimes, the texts which support the old beliefs:
- Are simply ignored;
- Are reinterpreted. Passages previously interpreted literally are now interpreted figuratively; Sometimes the reverse happens.
- Are regarded as having been valid at the era and/or the society in which they were
written, but are not meaningful for guidance for people today.
- Are considered to be ambiguous in their original language and are retranslated into English with a different meaning.
- Are unambiguous in their original language, but are intentionally mistranslated into English to give an ambiguous meaning. One example of this is to translate the Hebrew word for "slave" into the English word "servant" which can refer either to an employee or a slave.
Every age since Galileo has had at least one public debate with a religious component.
- Lately, the conflicts have often been between established religious organization(s) and a
secular movement which is promoting change. The latter may involve a physical science,
medicine, a social science, etc.
- Other times, the conflict is between a religion and a
group attempting to obtain equal rights and protection under law. In the 20th century,
this often involved conflict over discrimination on the basis of race, or gender. In the early
21st century it frequently involves equal rights for gays, lesbians
and bisexuals including the right to marry.
- In other recent cases,
the conflict has been mainly between liberal denominations and secular non-profits battling conservative faith groups as in the
case of abortion access and LGBT rights.
In 1898, Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918), a professor and co-founder of Cornell
University, wrote a rather notorious book called
"A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christendom."
1 He tracked many religiously-based conflicts, and showed that
they often take decades or even centuries to resolve. Although his book exhibits
a heavy -- sometimes quite intense -- bias in opposition to religion, he did notice what appears to be a
pattern in these conflicts. They often go through eight
stages before being finally resolved:
- Some individuals or groups will propose a new belief system that is in conflict with
established religious beliefs: For example, a belief that human slavery is immoral and should be eliminated, or that the Earth is old, or that species of animals evolved. The official religious institutions would generally ignore the claim.
- A growing number of people will start to disagree with church teaching.
- Churches issue statements which condemn the proposal, citing Biblical passages as
justification for their stance.
- Support for the proposal continues to grow among the public.
- Churches issue statements pointing out that belief in the proposal would negate the entire
Christian message, or at least would attack a fundamental Christian principle.
- Public support continues to grow.
- Churches begin to ignore the proposal. Sometimes, they start to ignore the Biblical passages that it once
quoted in opposition to the new idea and cite different passages with the opposite message.
- Many decades or centuries later, churches may incorporate the proposal into their
beliefs and begin to promote them as part of the Gospel message.
Thus, in the example of human slavery, many faith groups started off treating it as a normal cultural tradition. Now, centuries later, they organize with others to eliminate slavery worldwide.
Since the advent of the modernist/fundamentalist divide in Christianity,
religious liberals have tended to rapidly accept scientific findings and
incorporate them quickly into their theological beliefs and systems of morality. Thus, for new conflicts, White's eight step
process may no longer apply to all of Christianity, but mainly to its conservative
Past conflicts over interracial marriage:
According to the Encyclopedia Virginia, many states had anti-miscegenation laws in place to ban interracial marriages:
"At one time, as many as forty-one states had such prohibitions. Virginia's law had been passed in 1691 and, after being amended several times, reached its final version in the Racial Integrity Act, passed by the Virginia General Assembly ... in ... 1924. Although every state with such a law banned marriage between a white person and an African American, some laws, including Virginia's, went further and prohibited marriage between whites and other non-white ethnic groups such as Asians and Native Americans.
In the 1960's, many people in different conservative Christian denominations believed that racial
integration was against God's Law because it led to the "mixing of seed" -- relationships between two persons of different races that often lead to interracial marriage unless those marriages were forbidden by law. The Southern
Baptist Convention (SBC) and other fundamentalist and other evangelical denominations mounted boycotts against restaurants, hotels, and other companies serving the general public if they served
people of all races equally.
We highlight the actions of the SBC because:
- It was originally founded in the 19th century due to a north/south schism in the original national Baptist church over the issue of human slavery which the SBC supported at the time.
- It remains the largest Protestant
denomination in the United States today.
- It remains one of the most active faith groups opposing social and
legal change in gender-related topics such as same-sex marriage and equal rights for transgender persons and transsexuals.
Circa 1959, laws in 16 contiguous states in the American southeast prohibited persons of different races from marrying. Judge Leon Bazile was a trial judge at the Circuit Court of Caroline County, VA. He heard arguments in the case "Loving v. Virginia " which involved the marriage of a white man to a biracial (white and Native American) woman. They had been married in Washington DC where interracial marriages were legal. But they moved back to Virginia and were arrested in their home. In his ruling the Judge echoed a common conservative religious belief at the time. His ruling violated the principle of separation of church and state which is embedded in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Bazile wrote:
"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." 2
Today, his justification for a ban on interracial marriage sounds much more like a sermon one might hear in one of the rare remaining racist churches than a legal ruling heard in a court.
"Loving v. Virginia." was ultimately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1967, that court ruled that the 16 state anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. That decision made interracial marriages legal across the U.S.
few decades after the US Supreme Court ended racial separation in the schools and declared
anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, the scene is very different:
- Support among the public for the states to allow interracial marriage rose rapidly and opposition fell.
- Those Biblical
passages which were so often cited to condemn mixed-race marriages are now largely ignored or
- Multiracial Americans now form about 2.9% of the total population, and 5.6% of those under age 18. Asian women marrying White men form the most common form of interracial dating & marriage in the United States. 3
- Barack Obama (D) became the first openly biracial President of the United States in 2008, and was reelected in 2012.
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- A.D. White "A History
of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," Prometheus Books,
(Reprinted 1993) Read
reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
- Phyl Newbeck, "Loving v. Virginia (1967)" Encyclopedia Virginia, 2012-APR-03, at: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/
- "Interracial marriage in the United States, Wikipedia, as on 2013-SEP-28, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/
More objective and nuanced books on the historical interactions between science and religion:
Ian G. Barbour, "When Science meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers or Partners?, HarperOne, (2000). Read reviews or order this book
John H. Brooke, "Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives," Cambridge University, (1991). Read reviews or order this book
Gary B. Femgren, "Science and Religion," Johns Hopkins University Press, (2013). Read reviews or order this book
John C. Polkinghome, "Science and Theology," Fortress Press, (1998). Read reviews or order this book
Site navigation: Main paths
Copyright © 1996 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Latest update: 2013-OCT-08
Author: B.A. Robinson |
Prianto, Poppy Nuraeny (2005) The Failure of the lovatts to maintain their ideal family in Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child. Bachelor thesis, Petra Christian University.Full text not available from this repository.
This thesis discusses Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child, which takes the setting of England in the late 1960's. It is a story about establishing a family by young couple, David and Harriet, who have the same dreams of an ideal family, that is, having a lot of children and living in a big haouse. In my prior reading the novel, I find out tha david and harriet once reachj their dreams and have wonderful life together; yet at the end-as it is mentioned in the novel-they are torn apart. This becomes my reason for choosing the failure of the Lovatts to maintain their ideal family as the topic to be analyzed. The purpose of this study is to find out what have been the causes that make the Lovatts fail to maintain their ideal family. To answer this problem, I use literary approach, namely teh theory of characteristic and the theory of conflict. These two theories help me detech the present and potential conflicts. The findings shows tha david and harriet have financial problems as they are not able to pay the mortgage and to pay their children's school fees by themselves; yet they are able to carry on a happy famliy life until Harriet gives birth to her fifth child. Ben, the fifth child, becomes a monster of the family because he is phsically and mentally retarted and turns the family into weariness. Thus, ben is the utmost cause of David's and Harriet's failure to maintain their ideal family
|Item Type:||Thesis (Bachelor)|
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||maintain, failure, ideal family|
|Date Deposited:||23 Mar 2011 18:48|
|Last Modified:||30 Mar 2011 12:14|
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Medical history and the onset of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
Knowledge concerning the medical history prior to the onset of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) might provide insight into its risk factors and potential underlying disease mechanisms. To evaluate prior to CRPS medical conditions, a case-control study was conducted in the Integrated Primary Care Information (IPCI) project, a general practice (GP) database in the Netherlands. CRPS patients were identified from the records and validated through examination by the investigator (IASP criteria) or through specialist confirmation. Cases were matched to controls on age, gender and injury type. All diagnoses prior to the index date were assessed by manual review of the medical records. Some pre-specified medical conditions were studied for their association with CRPS, whereas all other diagnoses, grouped by pathogenesis, were tested in a hypothesis-generating approach. Of the identified 259 CRPS patients, 186 cases (697 controls) were included, based on validation by the investigator during a visit (102 of 134 visited patients) or on specialist confirmation (84 of 125 unvisited patients). A medical history of migraine (OR: 2.43, 95% CI: 1.18-5.02) and osteoporosis (OR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.17-5.14) was associated with CRPS. In a recent history (1-year before CRPS), cases had more menstrual cycle-related problems (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.16-5.83) and neuropathies (OR: 5.7; 95% CI: 1.8-18.7). In a sensitivity analysis, including only visited cases, asthma (OR: 3.0; 95% CI: 1.3-6.9) and CRPS were related. Psychological factors were not associated with CRPS onset. Because of the hypothesis-generating character of this study, the findings should be confirmed by other studies.
|Keywords||Comorbidity, Complex regional pain syndrome, Epidemiology, Medical history, Pathogenesis, Risk factor|
|Persistent URL||dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.002, hdl.handle.net/1765/14700|
de Mos, M, Huygen, F.J.P.M, Dieleman, J.P, Koopman, J.S.H.A, Stricker, B.H.Ch, & Sturkenboom, M.C.J.M. (2008). Medical history and the onset of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Pain, 139(2), 458–466. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.002 |
The Trade and Gender Interface: A Perspective from Pakistan
Introduction: News on Pakistan’s trade performance is rarely found side by side, or even associated with, headlines on gender equality. Yet both are burning issues for Pakistani society. This article aims at highlighting their connections. Put differently, it shows how the world market is tied to Pakistani stoves. Trade is important for Pakistan’s economy due to the country’s comparative openness. The country—like most parts of the subcontinent—is a late globalizer, as compared to, for example, East Asia or Latin America. Structural adjustment programs implemented since 1988 under the aegis of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been one catalyst for trade liberalization. Trade tariffs were reduced significantly, resulting in rising trade to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios. Today, the value of exports from Pakistan surpasses 21 billion U.S. dollars. Besides textile manufactures such as cotton cloth, bed wear, and knitwear, key exports include rice as well as leather manufactures, indicating the special role of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors for Pakistan’s trade. The main export destinations include the northern markets of the United States and European countries—such as the United Kingdom and Germany—as well as the Gulf states and Hong Kong (China).
|Note||Chapter in: Hard Sell. Attaining Pakistani Competitiveness in Global Trade, Washington, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2008|
Siegmann, K.A. (2008). The Trade and Gender Interface: A Perspective from Pakistan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/32313 |
Earth Day turns 40 today. And environmentalism is more chic than ever. Forty is the new 20, you know. But Earth Day reminds us of far more than the fact that it's cool to be green. It reminds us of all that needs to be done to ensure the health of the planet for many generations to come. Earth Day, April 22, also serves as a reminder of all the business opportunities being born from that necessity each and every day.
Much has changed over the past 40 years and environmentalism takes a much higher precedence in our consciousness than many could have imagined four decades ago. Today, many communities and businesses have effective recycling programs in place, and conservation and exhaust pollution are top of mind in many industries, including construction and equipment manufacturing, where EPA's Tier-4 emissions standards are now making their way into new equipment rolling off production lines and into rental fleets.
Awareness of climate change is more widespread than ever, yet the problem is still what seems to be an impossibly long way from being solved. But the challenge presents an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy going forward. And with the economy slowly fighting its way back from recession, rental companies have an opportunity to seize a share of the market in burgeoning environmental applications such as wind turbine maintenance, recycling center upkeep, hydroelectric dam and ethanol plant construction and maintenance, and many, many more “green” applications for their fleets of rental equipment.
In today's economy, the union of environmentalism and business opportunity makes good sense. RER is currently talking to rental companies throughout North America to learn more about the green applications that are putting construction equipment back to work. The market is full of opportunities and the necessity of such environmental work only promises to grow over the next 40 years and beyond. If your rental business is making a difference, and growing its business with environmental opportunities I'd love to hear from you. Send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org and tell me how your company is taking advantage of this growing niche of environmental applications. You may be featured in our upcoming June cover story.
Happy 40th anniversary Earth Day. Here's to 40 more and a markedly healthier planet in 2050.
For more information on Earth Day, visit www.earthday.org/. |
HLA‐Bw4 homozygosity is associated with an impaired CD4 T cell recovery after initiation of antiretroviral therapy
Rauch, A., Nolan, D., Furrer, H., McKinnon, E., John, M., Mallal, S., Gaudieri, S., Günthard, H.F., Schmid, P., Battegay, M., Hirschel, B., Telenti, A., James, I. and Swiss HIV Cohort Study, . (2008) HLA‐Bw4 homozygosity is associated with an impaired CD4 T cell recovery after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 46 (12). pp. 1921-1925.
*Subscription may be required
We assessed the influence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles HLA-Bw4 and HLA-Bw6 on CD4 T cell recovery after starting successful combination antiretroviral therapy in 265 individuals. The median gains in the CD4 T cell count after 4 years were 258 cells/μL for HLA-Bw4 homozygotes, 321 cells/μL for HLA-Bw4/Bw6 heterozygotes, and 363 cells/μL for HLA-Bw6 homozygotes (P = .01 , compared with HLA- Bw4 homozygotes). HLA-Bw4 homozygosity appears to predict an impaired CD4 T cell recovery after initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy.
|Publication Type:||Journal Article|
|Murdoch Affiliation:||Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical Statistics|
|Publisher:||University of Chicago Press|
|Copyright:||© 2008 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America|
|Item Control Page|
Downloads per month over past year |
Serological prevalence study of exposure of cats and dogs in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia to spotted fever group rickettsiae
Izzard, L., Cox, E., Stenos, J., Waterston, M., Fenwick, S. and Graves, S. (2010) Serological prevalence study of exposure of cats and dogs in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia to spotted fever group rickettsiae. Australian Veterinary Journal, 88 (1-2). pp. 29-31.
*Subscription may be required
A sero-epidemiological study of cats and dogs in the Launceston area of Tasmania, Australia was undertaken to determine the prevalence of antibodies to spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae. Results showed that 59% of cats and 57% of dogs were positive for antibodies, but there was no correlation between the animal's health and seropositivity at the time of testing, suggesting that rickettsial exposure is unrelated to ill-health in these two species of domestic animals.
|Publication Type:||Journal Article|
|Murdoch Affiliation:||School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences|
|Copyright:||© 2010 Australian Veterinary Association.|
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One of the first steps to change is identifying that there is a problem. If we can admit that we have a problem then we can open the door that leads to change. If a doctor tells a patient that he has an illness and the patient ignores the doctor he will inevitably get worse. If he agrees with the doctor and they come up with a treatment plan he can possibly be cured. When it comes to domestic violence it is critical to understand the power and control cycle and how we are caught up in it. When we can admit that we are in the DV cycle then we can begin to find the way out.
HOW IT STARTS
When we first initially enter into a relationship everything appears great. We may be deeply attracted to this particular person and feel the warm fuzzies inside when they acknowledge us or say something nice. After getting to know this person over a period of time, often brief, we may even engage in a sexual relationship with this other person. When this occurs we may begin to have stronger feelings and may "fall in love" with this person. This is what we call the honeymoon stage.
But something happens. It is inevitable. Tension arrives and begins to affect the relationship. Tension can arise from many things. Maybe one person loses their job, someone is annoyed because they are tired of doing all the housework, or maybe jealousy creeps in. Regardless of the reason, there is tension and every relationship will encounter it at some point. This is the tension stage.
What occurs in the domestic violence cycle is that one of the individuals (or both) begin to deal with this tension in an unhealthy and controlling manner. When tension is present the aggressor may begin to yell, criticize, mock, swear and/or level harsh insults at their partner. For some couples the yelling and harsh insults become the norm, or the language of the relationship. When the yelling and insults don't appear to work the aggressor may then resort to other power plays. He may use sarcasm, offensive language, and threats may be verbalized. And of course, if that doesn't work then the aggressor may begin to throw objects, destroy property, slam doors, and eventually use violence. All of these actions and behaviors are a part of the explosion stage.
After the explosion or explosions the aggressor may be remorseful. He may offer an apology or a peace offering (flowers, candy, a gift, etc.). This is where the couple makes up and reconciles and then the honeymoon stage begins again. But it is only a matter of time until tension arrives and the cycle begins all over again.
Power and Control Cycle
Honeymoon stage -------> Tension --------> Explosion --------> Honeymoon stage (starts again) |
Asking The Difficult Questions: An Article About Audit Committees For The IIA’s Internal AuditorBy Francine • Jul 5th, 2010 • Category: Latest, Pure Content, Writing for Others
Norman Marks asked me to write an article for Internal Auditor’s June 2010 issue.
Norman Marks, CPA, is vice president, governance, risk, and compliance for SAP’s BusinessObjects division, and has been a chief audit executive of major global corporations for more than 15 years. He is the contributing editor to Internal Auditor’s “Governance Perspectives” column.
This article is reprinted by permission with additional hyperlinks added that were not available in print editions.
Asking The Difficult Questions
Audit committees must proactively probe management and the auditors to gain insight and to make necessary oversight decisions.
by Francine McKenna
Audit committees have specific responsibilities with regard to their organization’s external auditors as a result of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The IIA’s Sample Audit Committee Charter emphasizes the importance of reviewing the proposed audit scope and approach for the audit, including coordination with internal auditing. Audit committees are expected to review the auditors’ performance and exercise final approval of their appointment or discharge. External auditor independence is required, thus any nonaudit services provided must be reviewed. Finally, audit committees are expected to hold regular private meetings with the external auditors to discuss important concerns.
External auditors also are required to communicate consistently and effectively with the audit committee. In the United States, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Interim Auditing Standard AU 380 requires auditors to determine whether all audit-related matters are communicated to the committee:
- The auditor’s responsibility under Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS)
- Significant accounting policies
- Management judgments and accounting estimates
- Audit adjustments
- The auditor’s judgments about the quality of the entity’s accounting principles
- The quality of the management discussion and analysis (MD&A)
- Disagreements with management
- Consultation with other accountants
- Major issues discussed with management before retention
- Difficulties encountered in performing the audit
Audit committees too often rely on the auditors’ required disclosures without comment. They sometimes lack the independence, experience, or determination to ask the probing questions. It’s critical, however, that audit committees seek answers to vexing questions and not accept the response, “But that’s the way management has always done it.”
When audit committees take for granted that important issues will be raised without prompting, they risk failing to exercise business judgment, which can be personally and professionally damaging. The issue is so important that the PCAOB is considering a proposed audit standard on communications with audit committees and related amendments to its interim standards. From the audit committee perspective, the most sensitive and highly challenging issues it will ever likely deal with are:
- Responding to reports of possible fraud by senior executives
- Responding to whistleblower reports
- Evaluating the likelihood of management override of internal controls
According to the Powers Report of the Special Investigation Committee of the Board of Directors of Enron Corp., the Enron board and its committees needed to significantly improve their monitoring of executives and the internal and external auditors: “The board, and in particular the audit and compliance committee, has the duty of ultimate oversight over the company’s financial reporting. While the primary responsibility for financial reporting abuses discussed in the report lies with management, the participating members of the committee believe those abuses could and should have been prevented or detected at an earlier time had the board been more aggressive and vigilant.”
It’s very difficult to detect management override of internal controls. Audit committees can address this risk by:
- Maintaining an appropriate level of skepticism
- Continually strengthening the committee’s understanding of the business
- Brainstorming with the internal and external auditors about fraud risks
- Using the code of conduct/ethics to assess the financial reporting culture
- Ensuring the support of a vigorous whistleblower program
- Developing a broad information and feedback network that includes the internal and external auditors
It’s essential to implement the automatic and direct submission of all complaints involving senior management, including whistleblower complaints, to the audit committee to effectively monitor management override of controls. This means direct access without filtering by management or the internal or external auditors.
A whistleblower hotline is a statutory responsibility of the audit committee and cannot be delegated to company officials. Section 301 of Sarbanes-Oxley requires that audit committees establish effective whistleblowing procedures. Unfortunately, a recent Ethics Resource Center survey that examines how employees choose to report misconduct reveals that only 3 percent take their complaints to a hotline.
When allegations are made, the audit committee must decide whether to initiate a formal investigation. Under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules, the committee can engage the external audit firm to carry out a forensic/fraud investigation. However, this may not be the best course of action.
The Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner’s Report says the Lehmann audit committee asked Ernst & Young (E&Y) to support Internal Audit’s investigation of allegations made in a May 16, 2008, “whistleblower” letter sent to senior management. On June 12, 2008, Lehman’s Matthew Lee informed E&Y about his company’s alleged use of “Repo 105” transactions to move US $50 billion temporarily off the balance sheet at the end of the second quarter of 2008. Lee stated that these transactions created a misleading picture of the firm’s financial condition. According to the bankruptcy examiner, E&Y failed to disclose that allegation to the audit committee at a meeting the following day (Lehman bankruptcy report, v3, page 945).
Lehman Brothers’ Internal Audit vice president was in charge of the investigation, not E&Y. Lehman “naturally” asked its trusted adviser, E&Y, to help. However, it’s poor practice to request that the external auditor lead or assist with internal investigations of potential fraud or illegal acts by top executives. In the Siemens’ U.S Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case, Siemens’ external auditor, KPMG, was initially asked to assist with the internal investigation of bribery and corruption of foreign officials. KPMG subsequently became a target of internal and SEC investigations and a defendant in shareholder lawsuits.
In the Lehman case, E&Y had reviewed the company’s policy with respect to the accounting for these off-balance sheet devices. Reportedly, they concurred with management’s proposed treatment. However, they did not inform the audit committee of the transactions, or their growing volume and materiality with respect to the financial statements — and key indicators of the company’s health, such as their liquidity ratios.
They also did not, according to the bankruptcy examiner’s report, require the company to disclose the accounting treatment and the magnitude of the transactions in reports filed with the SEC. The Lehman bankruptcy examiner did not find fault with the board or audit committee, because the information needed to understand the fact and extent of the misleading financial statements was supposedly withheld from them.
It is no longer sufficient for audit committee members to listen passively to general management and auditor presentations three or four times a year. Audit committee members are required to proactively probe management, internal auditors and external auditors to gain insight and to make oversight decisions that will hold up, if necessary, in court.
Audit committees need sufficient expertise and experience to ask the external auditors relevant questions and probe as needed into the answers.
Questions for the External Auditors
- What are the most significant risks to financial reporting at this company?
- How are you addressing the risks? What level of assurance do your procedures provide with respect to the annual financial statements?
- What level of assurance do your procedures provide with respect to the quarterly financial statements?
- How do you assess the competence of company personnel engaged in financial reporting and related processes? What influence does that have on your procedures, and how will you communicate your assessment to the audit committee?
- Does staff working on the higher risk areas have sufficient experience, training, and understanding of the business to perform quality work?
- How do you ensure your staff members and their managers understand the
- business and perform quality audit procedures?
- How do you ensure managers and partners reviewing the audit apply the appropriate judgment in more complex situations?
- When and how do you engage your specialists, including those with higher levels of technical knowledge and experience in IT, tax, technical accounting, and other matters?
- What is your process if one of your team members suspects inappropriate or fraudulent activity? At what point do you inform the audit committee?
- How do you coordinate and supervise work performed at other locations, including associate firms overseas?
- What is your process if you determine that although the financial statements comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, they are not a fair presentation of the company’s results and financial condition?
- What is the purpose of your review of MD&A in the filings with the regulator? How and when will you communicate any concerns to the audit committee?
To read Norman Marks’ blog on governance issues, visit www.InternalAuditorOnline.org, and click on “Marks on Governance.”
The following additional points did not make it into the published article due to space limitations.
Citigroup’s audit committee chairman, Michael Armstrong, stepped down in April of 2008 following accusations from shareholders that he failed to adequately oversee their risk-management process. Critics claimed that Armstrong was partly to blame for the bank’s mistakes and losses. Other Citigroup directors admitted they were unaware of the bank’s exposure until significant write-downs started accumulating.
Independence, perceived and actual, is often an especially difficult standard for Audit Committee members to achieve. A study published in March of 2009 entitled, Are Independent Audit-Committee Members Objective? Experimental Evidence, says Audit Committee members compensated with current rather than restricted stock prefer aggressive financial reporting. The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) currently encourages stock-based compensation for directors. Many companies compensate directors, including Audit Committee members, with both current and restricted stock grants to theoretically align their incentives with shareholders’.
Professional standards, however, ban auditors from owning stock in their audit clients to preserve independence. If owning stock can bias the external auditor can it also bias an Audit Committee Member? If auditors can’t own client stock, why don’t the same standards apply to Audit Committee members?
In August of 2008, the Financial Executives International (FEI) Task Force on Monitoring (TFM) responded to Guidance on Monitoring Internal Control Systems, a COSO Exposure Draft:
“In conducting its oversight role, the board should be proactive in seeking information from management, particularly on critical matters, in considering management’s assertions, and seeking information from other sources as appropriate. Importantly, the board should review all such information with requisite skepticism.”
The AICPA’s document, Managing the Business Risk of Fraud, tells us:
“An audit committee of the board that is committed to a proactive approach to fraud risk management…provides external auditors with evidence that [they are] committed to fraud risk management…”
Main page image was found here. |
Please use the website and Veracross. Using these sites is the best way to keep up-to-date if you are sick
or out of town. Also, please use my quizlet site to learn essential voabulary words and concepts.
E-BOOK WEBSITE: http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/myers9ein modules
Myers, David G. (2010). Psychology, Ninth Edition, in Modules (9th ed.). New York: Worth.
Straub, Richard O. (2010). Study Guide to Accompany Psychology (9th ed. in
Modules). New York: Worth.
Course Goals and Description
AP Psychology is a full-year course designed to provide students with a broad
overview of the diverse field of psychology and prepare students for the AP
Psychology Exam given in May. In order to achieve these goals, the majority of
class time will be devoted to lectures, discussions, and extensive review
sessions. However, time will also be allocated for demonstrations, experiments,
and class activities; the content of which may or may not be covered in the
text. Active participation in these activities will help clarify certain areas
of study and should add to everyone’s enjoyment of the class.
It is extremely important that all students in AP Psychology read all
modules in the Myers’ textbook. It is truly an excellent text. Unfortunately,
not all of the material in the text can be addressed in class due to time
constraints. Still, that material will appear on quizzes and exams. Therefore,
in addition to reading the text, I strongly urge you to use the study guide.
Course Requirements and Grading
Homework & Concept Quizzes (20% of grade)
Homework will be assigned throughout the term and will generally consist of
essays and critical thinking questions that will prepare you for the AP Exam in
May. It is absolutely imperative that you hand in your homework assignments ON
TIME. You will be docked 5% of the possible points for each day that
your homework is late. Due to the format of some assignments (e.g., matching,
fill-in-the-blank), you may NOT hand them in after I
have returned the graded assignments to the rest of the class. If you are
ill or out of town, you can get all homework assignments online and email your homework to me.
As part of your homework, (often daily) you will be given a Concept Quiz consisting of seven (7) psychological terms that you must define. I will
give you the terms the day before the quiz. (Check online if you are
absent). The quizzes will
typically be given during the first few minutes of class, so don't be
late. I do not give "make-up" concept quizzes. Therefore, if you are excused on the day of a concept quiz, I will drop your score of 0.
Unit Tests (20% of grade)
During each trimester, a short 25 point multiple choice test will be
given at the conclusion of each Unit. These tests only take about 15-20
minutes to complete. Therefore, class will be held following each test. These tests occur approximately once per week, so be prepared.
Exams (20% of grade)
Subsequent to the completion of every three or four units,
an exam worth 75-100 points will be given. These exams will consist of
multiple choice and free response questions. Often, these exams will be given over
a two-day period.
Final Exam (20% of grade) YES GUYS, YOU HAVE A
FINAL EXAM ALL THREE TRIMESTERS----THAT INCLUDES THIRD TRIMESTER!!!!!!!!!
A comprehensive final exam will be given at the end of each trimester. Each final exam will
account for 20% of your trimester grade. (The final exam given at the end
of the second trimester will include material from both the first and second
The final exam given during the 3rd trimester will consist
of a practice AP Psychology Exam. It will be administered over a two-day period
and will cover material from all three trimesters. It will be scored in the same manner as the "real" exam (i.e., you
will lose an extra ¼ point for every question you answer incorrectly). You
must take the exam on the scheduled days.
Research Paper (20% of grade)
As you will soon learn, RESEARCH IS THE FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOLOGY!!.
Therefore, during the yearlong course, you will develop, carry out, and report
on a simple research project of your own design. A detailed description of the
format and requirements of the research project will be provided in separate
handouts. THE RESEARCH PROJECT MUST BE COMPLETED, OTHERWISE YOU WILL RECIEVE AN INCOMPLETE FOR THE COURSE.
Extra Credit: When you hand in an assignment BEFORE the due date, you will receive 10% extra credit. However, extra credit points are considered to be "extra". If you are missing any assignments at the end of the trimester, you will lose any extra credit points you earned.
Each trimester, your letter grade for the class will be computed on a percentage basis as
described in your "Upper School Student-Parent Handbook".
Honor Code: I take the issue of cheating very seriously. If you are caught cheating,
it will be reported to the disciplinary committee. This doesn’t just involve
tests and exams. You are expected to do your own work when completing homework
assignments. In most cases I actually encourage you to "discuss" homework
questions with each other, but you must use your own words when completing the
written assignments. Don’t risk serious consequences by resorting to
something as stupid as cheating..
Also, no cell phones or MP3 players are allowed in class. You may not listen to music during class or during tests. Finally, use your computer outside of class. If I have an assignment that requires your laptop, I will let you know. Otherwise, no laptop activity during class.
You must read and respond to email at least twice daily.
Not knowing about a responsibility or assignment sent by email is not an excuse.
Also, since you have been provided with an external hard drive, it is your
responsibility to back-up your work.
Finally, you are required to take the AP Exam in May. Failure to take the AP exam as scheduled will result in:
1. Removal of the AP exam designation from the third trimester transcript, which will, in turn, remove the GPA "boost" given to AP classes.
2. Rowland Hall will notify colleges of the change to the final transcript.
3. The student must notify the college in writing explaining the incident. |
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Indian Education Association is asking schools to drop American Indian mascots and nicknames.
The organization sent a letter Tuesday to the 31 school districts it says still retain race-based Indian mascots, logos and team names asking the districts to change them out of respect for tribal nations.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill in December making it harder to force public schools to drop tribal nicknames.
Until Walker signed the measure, it took only a single complaint to trigger a state review of the mascot. The school district had to prove the mascot didn’t discriminate.
Under the new law, it takes a petition to trigger the review and the burden of proof falls on the complainants to prove the nickname or mascot is racist. |
Definition of Schemee
- (derogatory) Someone who lives in a council house estate or "scheme".
- (derogatory) Of or pertaining to a scheme or schemie.
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
You arrived at this page by searching for Schemee
The correct Spelling of this word is: Schemie
Thank you for visiting FreeFactFinder. On our home page you will find extensive articles covering
a wide range of topics. |
Sometimes, following the path scientific results take as they enter more mass media awareness really is like a game of telephone — you can scarcely recognize the original work in the final summary that ends up in the news media. And sometimes, you find that the scientists contributed to the ghastly mess.
Take a look at this silly story, “Could ‘Advanced’ Dinosaurs Rule Other Planets?”, illustrated with a picture of a T. rex stalking the landscape.
Yeah. Right. I’d like to know what kind of research is finding intelligent dinosaurs on other planets. All you have to do, though, is read beyond the first paragraph to discover that this is from an article published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, that it is entirely about the chirality of prebiotic chemistry, and that its primary speculation is that the predominance of left-handed, or L amino acids, in our biochemistry is a consequence of a bias in the delivery of extraterrestrial amino acids to Earth…that biology expanded on a bias in the handedness of the raw materials at the beginning of life.
This work answers some of the questions in the general idea that the unusual amino acids delivered to Earth by the Murchison meteorite and related ones could have led to the dominance of L amino acids and D sugars on early Earth that would permit life to start.
OK, it’s a kind of fundamental chemistry. I didn’t dig too deeply into the science, mainly because I was terribly put off by the abominable English in the paper. Try to make sense of that sentence above; it’s an abomination, a muddle that confuses a modern instance, the Murchison meteorite, with ancient sources, and also is a general tangle of referents. Don’t chemists have to take a writing course somewhere in their careers?
But the main point to notice is that it’s not about dinosaurs. It can’t be about dinosaurs. It has zero relevance to dinosaurs. But then, the author flippantly tosses in some patent nonsense about dinosaurs in his last paragraph.
An implication from this work is that elsewhere in the universe there could be life forms based on D amino acids and L sugars, depending on the chirality of circular polarized light in that sector of the universe or whatever other process operated to favor the L α-methyl amino acids in the meteorites that have landed on Earth. Such life forms could well be advanced version of dinosaurs, if mammals did not have the good fortune to have the dinosaurs wiped out by an asteroidal collision, as on Earth. We would be better off not meeting them.
Clumsy English again, but worse, it’s stupid biology. Animal-like creatures that might evolve on other worlds will not be and cannot be dinosaurs. There is no reason to imagine that a saurian-mammalian transition is anything but a particular quirk of our particular planet’s evolutionary history — it is not a universal. This is nothing but badly written nonsense.
It is published in JACS in their “just accepted” category, which means the science has passed peer-review, but hasn’t been edited or formatted or proofed by the author. I hope that stupid paragraph gets cut; I also hope someone competent at writing in the English language takes it apart.
But the author ought to be a bit embarrassed at his ignorance of biology, and Science Daily ought to be ashamed about taking an idiotic paragraph and turning it into sensationalistic garbage.
Although, you know, if you want to make your scientific research newsworthy, all you’ve got to do is toss in some babble about extraterrestrial super-intelligent T. rexes, and it will get lots of attention. Maybe you think it isn’t relevant to your research, maybe you do psychology or statistics or bioinformatics or epidemiology or ethology…it doesn’t matter. Throw it in anyway. That’s what happened in this paper, after all.
(Also on Sb) |
As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, How can we identify who might have served in the Civil War? Perhaps we know some of them, but maybe not all of them.
Here is how to Filter your file down to identify those people.
The first screen is in the People Workspace, Family View, with the Index in the Left Hand Panel. In this file, I have 8,252 people. At the Bottom of that screen is the FILTER feature.
Clicking on Filter, will bring up a window where we will start to Filter people who meet our parameters. The first thing we need to do, is to click on Include All. This will move those 8,252 people from the Left Window to the Right Window. This is like Selecting ALL or everyone.
Notice the same number is in both sides of the window. Now we want to Filter OUT certain groups of people. In this case, we will Filter Out all Females. So, select Sex from the list of Facts, then Equals, and select Female and click OK.
We have a new number (4,343) (see below). Our next Filter will be to Filter OUT everyone who was born BEFORE 1818, in this example. Selecting the Birth Fact, "is before", and entering 1818. (you can use any date you wish).
Again, we have a new number (3,101) (see below). Next, Filter OUT everyone who was born AFTER 1846. Again select the Birth Fact, "is after", and enter 1846.
Down to 2,491. Will Filter OUT anyone who Died Before 1861. Selecting the Death Fact, "is before" 1861 will do this.
Reduced to 2,338. Now to Filter OUT anyone without a Birth Date. Birth Fact, "is blank".
This reduced the 8,252 people in my file to 2,304.
To remove the Filter, remove the Check Mark, on the Filter Line, and that will restore your file to everyone.
Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington |
Application #25. Design of Tiltrotor Configuration
Taken from the following publication, available in the Publications area of the website:
Nielsen, E.J., Diskin, B., and Yamaleev, N.K., “Discrete Adjoint-Based Design Optimization of Unsteady Turbulent Flows on Dynamic Unstructured Grids”, AIAA 2009-3802, June 2009.
(Requires Flash player to view)
This example is a three-bladed tiltrotor configuration similar to that used by the V-22 aircraft and is based on the Tilt Rotor Aeroacoustics Model (TRAM) geometry. The grid used for this computation is designed for a blade collective setting of 14 degrees and consists of 5,048,727 nodes and 29,802,252 tetrahedral elements. The rotational speed of the rotor is held constant at a value corresponding to a tip Mach number of 0.62 in a hover condition. The Reynolds number is 2.1 million based on the blade tip chord. The physical time step is chosen to correspond to 1 degree of rotor azimuth, for a total of 360 time steps per revolution. The BDF2opt formulation is used with 10 subiterations per time step.
Figure 1. Forward Mach number and shaft angle schedule for TRAM rotor simulation.
For this test, the prescribed rigid mesh motion consists of 4 initial revolutions of the geometry designed to reach a quasi-steady hover condition, followed by five additional revolutions during which a 90 degree constant-rate pitch-up maneuver into a forward-flight mode is performed. A more realistic pitch-up scenario might consist of many more revolutions; however, the prescribed motion was chosen to keep the cost of the computation affordable on the current resources. During the pitch-up phase of the motion, an assumed forward-flight velocity profile based on a simple sine function is imposed through the mesh speed terms. The schedule for the shaft angle and forward-flight velocity is shown in Fig. 1, where the shaft angle is defined to be 0 degrees in the hover condition and 90 degrees in forward flight. The resulting motion is shown in Fig. 2. An isosurface of the second invariant of the velocity-gradient tensor, also known as the Q criterion, at the time step corresponding to 1440 degrees is shown in Fig. 3. The tip vortex system is maintained for 2 to 3 revolutions of the rotor.
Figure 2. View of TRAM rotor motion.
Figure 3. Isosurface of Q criterion for TRAM rotor at 1440 degrees.
The objective function for the current test case is to maximize the rotor thrust coefficient over the time interval corresponding to the pitch-up maneuver. The baseline thrust profile is shown as the solid line in Fig. 4. After the first four rotor revolutions, the thrust coefficient has reached a quasi-steady value of approximately 0.015, which is in good agreement with experimental data. The thrust coefficient shows a discontinuous behavior at the impulsive start of the pitch-up motion and gradually decreases to a lower constant value in the forward-flight condition. A subtle 3/rev oscillation in the thrust coefficient during the pitch-up maneuver can also be seen.
Figure 4. Thrust for TRAM rotor before and after design optimization.
The surface grid has been parameterized as shown in Fig. 5. This approach yields a set of 44 active design variables describing the thickness and camber of the blade geometry; thinning of the blade is not allowed. In addition, a single twist variable is used to modify the blade collective setting during the design.
Figure 5. Spanwise blade and design variable locations for TRAM rotor.
The convergence history for six design cycles is shown in Fig. 6. The optimizer quickly reduces the value of the objective function over the first two design cycles, after which further improvements are minimal. Closer inspection of the design variables indicates that the majority of values have reached their bound constraints, preventing any further reduction in the objective function. The final thrust coefficient profile is included as the dashed line in Fig. 4. Cross-sections of the baseline blade geometry are compared with the optimized geometry in Fig. 7. The optimization has increased the camber of the blade across the span, as well as the blade collective setting.
Figure 6. Objective function history for TRAM rotor.
Figure 7. Spanwise blade cross-sections before and after optimization of TRAM rotor.
This example has been performed using 128 dual-socket quad-core nodes with 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors in a fully-dense fashion for a total of 1,024 computational cores. The cost of each solution to the unsteady flow and adjoint equations for the current example is approximately 3.5 and 10.5 wallclock hours, respectively; however, due to frequent file I/O, this estimate varies with file system load. The optimization procedure requires twelve calls to the flow solver and six calls to the adjoint solver, for a total runtime of approximately 4.5 days of wallclock time or 110,000 CPU hours. The disk storage required for one complete flow solution is approximately 1.5 terabytes. |
I would recommend you to read A Theory of Fun for Game Design, written by Raph Koster, an experienced game designer who started as a writer.
He basically proposes that we humans are living things that love watching and learning patterns everywhere. We basically want to get better at things, and games are a powerful learning tool. Games offer simple mechanisms that add themselves up to enable players to do really complex stuff (e.g. see how a player who loves playing fighting games learns to play those games).
What makes a player to return to a game? A fun mechanism is vital, but there is also another ingredient. Remember when you learned how to play Tic-tac-toe? it was a pretty fun game until you understood how to play it, and what strategies you used to win or tie every time. When we begin doing any activity (being playing a game, playing an instrument, painting, etc.) we start to do exactly that: learn what are the best strategies to do best what we like to do. If the activity is simple enough to know those strategies quickly, then that activity becomes boring. If the activity is too complex, we also get bored and we opt out of it.
So there are two extremes, see? assuming that we like what we are doing, if it's very simple, we will get bored quickly because our brain concludes that it took everything he needed and can predict now the next steps. If it's very complex, we will also get bored because we are unable to grasp the concepts that enables us to win the game/paint nicely/play clarinet beautifully.
So games are especialized in that: they present an activity with a carefully balanced difficulty setting, so the game is easy on us when we learn the controls, but as we gain experience playing it, the difficulty keeps rising and rising.
When we get to this fragile state of mind, we call that being "in the zone". That's an important thing to achieve when designing a game, and watch people who play if they're in the zone, whether they're playing WoW or minesweeper.
You should also read the Princess Rescuing Application slides, by Daniel Cook, which also present an insight on how games trap us. |
Kolhorn is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. Anabaptism appeared here at a very early date. On 6 or 7 March 1534, during a raid on the Anabaptists, 11 of them from Nieuwe Niedorp were apprehended on the dike near Kolhorn. Leenaert Bouwens baptized 32 persons here in 1563-1565. At that time or soon after there was a Frisian congregation here, forming a unit with that of Barsingerhorn. The (lay) preachers of this congregation were Jacob Jacobsz Teeke (1714-1757), Frans Albertsz Vrijer (1721- ca. 1756) and his son Albert Fransz Vrijer (1741-1755). The preacher Daniel Hovens, who served here 1755-1757, had many difficulties with the Reformed ministers and government officials because he had given catechetical instructions to a Reformed girl. The old meetinghouse was restored in 1759. On 15 September 1788, when nearly the whole village of Kolhorn was destroyed by fire, the meetinghouse also burned down. In 1790 the small congregation, numbering hardly 20 members, erected both a meetinghouse and a parsonage. A large number of preachers served here between 1757 and 1784. In this year Claes Stuurman accepted a call; he was the last preacher of the Frisian congregation of Barsingerhorn and Kolhorn. His dedication sermon of the rebuilt church, 19 December 1790: Leerreden ter inwying van de nieuwgebouwde Doopsgezinde Kerk te Kolhorn, was published at Alkmaar in 1792. In 1826 Stuurman died, and in 1827 the congregation, then numbering 14 members, merged with the Waterlander congregation of Barsingerhorn and Wieringerwaard.
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1880): 81-96.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 521.
Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam. 2 v. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: I, No. 937; II, Nos. 1535-37.
Kühler, Wilhelmus Johannes. Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Doopsgezinden in de Zestiende Eeuw. Haarlem: H.D. Tjeenk Willink, 1932: I, 174.
Naamlijst der tegenwoordig in dienst zijnde predikanten der Mennoniten in de vereenigde Nederlanden. (Amsterdam, 1829): "Kerknieuws," 31.
|Author(s)||Nanne van der Zijpp|
Cite This Article
van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Kolhorn (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 25 May 2015. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kolhorn_(Noord-Holland,_Netherlands)&oldid=95594.
van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1957). Kolhorn (Noord-Holland, Netherlands). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 May 2015, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kolhorn_(Noord-Holland,_Netherlands)&oldid=95594.
Herald Press website.
©1996-2015 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved. |
DHS taps BAE Systems for geospatial imagery and analysis
The Homeland Security Department is looking to improve geospatial imagery and analysis to support emergency management and security planning for special events.
DHS’ Geospatial Management Office has selected BAE Systems to provide geospatial imagery for real-time intelligence as part of DHS’ Remote Sensing Services to Support Incident Management and Homeland Security contract, according to a company release. BAE Systems is one of four prime contractors in the $50 million, five-year IDIQ contract.
BAE Systems’ intelligence experts will use geospatial data and airborne imagery to produce high-resolution maps that reflect current environmental conditions, BAE officials said. The data will be used to produce real-time intelligence products to support a variety of DHS missions, including emergency management of natural and man-made disasters, and possibly security planning for special events. The geospatial intelligence products might also be used to assist public safety and law enforcement with tactical planning and incident response.
As part of the contract, BAE Systems’ supported the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its response to the tornadoes in Oklahoma. BAE provided high-resolution, color imagery along the entire path of destruction -- information that is critical to the recovery and cleanup efforts, a BAE official said.
BAE Systems works with geospatial firms, universities and government agencies on geospatial intelligence solutions as part of its Geospatial Operation for a Secure Homeland – Awareness, Workflow, Knowledge (GOSHAWK) program. GOSHAWK develops hybrid teams of data providers, systems integrators and IT professionals to rapidly transform geospatial data into actionable intelligence, company officials said.
In December 2012, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency awarded BAE Systems a multi-year 60 million dollar contract to provide Activity-Based Intelligence systems, tools and support.
BAE Systems’ ABI solution uses advanced software analysis tools and commercial, off-the-shelf computing infrastructures to automate the ingestion, storage and processing of large volumes of intelligence data across multiple sources. ABI helps intelligence analysts better identify adversarial activity patterns and gives them a greater understanding of the relationships between individuals, their activities and their transactions, company officials said.
Posted by Rutrell Yasin on Jun 12, 2013 at 9:39 AM |
You’ve slept everywhere: the European hostel circuit, Everest base camp, countless beaches, and world-class ski resorts. What’s next? How about 30 feet underwater?
In a sheltered seawater lagoon outside of Key Largo, lies a former research habitat that has been transformed into the world’s only underwater hotel. Whether you go for a three hour lunch tour or an overnight stay, you’ll be assured of bragging rights when you return to the office back home.
Accessible only by scuba diving, Jules Undersea Lodge (formerly known as the La Chalupa Research Lab) boasts all the creature comforts you’d expect in your average hotel suite – hot showers, a telephone, stocked kitchen, and a DVD library with requisite submarine titles like “Thunderball” and “The Abyss.” Two bedrooms comfortably sleep two couples and each has its own entertainment center, writing desk, and porthole window so you can watch fish nibbling at the barnacles on the outside of the thick glass.
Entering and exiting the lodge is like something out of a Bond film. You must swim under the lodge, which is supported on four legs anchored to the sea floor, and come up into the “moon pool“, an opening in the floor of the lodge. Once you emerge from the pool, you’re in a dry, warm room where you peel off your scuba gear and have a shower before entering the carpeted living quarters. Though the lodge is open to the sea via the moon pool, water is kept out by the constant air pressure supplied from the surface, which equals the water pressure on the outside of the lodge (were you paying attention during high school physics?). It’s so comfortable, in fact, that you might forget you’re underwater after a while. That is, until you see a four-foot grouper swim past the window.
All guest needs are attended to, and safety monitored by the “Mission Director” (more sci-fi fantasy fodder) who operates back on shore. The Mission Director also transports all meals and your dry clothes to the lodge in a watertight case. Alas, no booze or cigars allowed, but cameras monitor only the wet room, so you and your Bond Girl can explore other vices as you wish.
Cost: $800 (per couple) |
A hand-turned pen on Kickstarter? Yup. The creation of Bart Creasman and Chris Baltz, who met while at Davidson college, Baltz Fine Writing Instruments is born from a passion of traditional woodworking and avant-garde men’s accessories. Their Kickstarter project aims to bring their first pen, the Exemplar, to fruition by funding the cost of procurement of better tools and paying for manufacturing setup costs. The pen will be offered in three variants and is comprised of two complimentary pieces of wood spliced together, which are then carefully turned by hand and finished to accentuate the wood’s natural intricacies. It is then paired with a highly detailed, rhodium-plated metal clip and a custom designed SCHMIDT gel-ink insert for writing mechanicals. The target price for the Exemplar will be $150, but a $100 donation secures you your very own pen along with an obligatory warm and fuzzy feeling. Donations begin at $5.
Watch their project videos after the jump. |
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication it is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio and video in a standardized format. To put it simply, the creator of a blog puts an RSS program on his or her blog which then makes the content of the blog posts available to be aggregated by an aggregator, such as Google Reader. This process is sometimes referred to as syndication. The information that is aggregated is called a feed. It is my experience that aggregators come and go, so you might want to stick with the larger and more established ones. You might also see an alternative syndication format called "Atom." Both RSS and Atom may be present in the same website. Usually both formats are represented by the standard orange square with white radio waves, like this:
The advantage of using a reader or aggregator is that you avoid having to individually open the sources. Most aggregators provide some sort of preview mode, where you can read either the whole post or a portion before actually going to the website. If you monitor a large number of sites, you may begin to get overwhelmed with the number of feeds you receive each day. My suggestion is this, don't feel obligated to review every one, every day.
You can also use an online program such as WatchThatPage, to get feeds from web pages that do not have either type of syndication. |
Trying to Change the Tides
Both Leuchtenberger and Rib-X CMO Scott Hopkins, M.D., added that from their perspective, companies are still out there and are more encouraged than in the past. This is partly due to an improving regulatory climate and also because the discovery process is finally bringing forth some interesting compounds.
“The large companies are desperate for compounds,” Leuchtenberger remarked. Rib-X was in late-stage discussions with companies for in-licensing of its early-stage compounds, including companies that don’t have a historical stake in antibiotics, he added. “With some companies deemphasizing antibiotics and others moving in aggressively, what we’re seeing is really a changing of the guard.”
As for the FDA, at World Health Day, FDA commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., said, “We need better, more advanced strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of new antimicrobials once they are in development. This includes new clinical trial designs that reflect the need for important and robust scientific answers but are realistic about constraints such as the number of patients, the size and length of studies, and the cost of the trials.”
She further remarked that the agency would continue its efforts to streamline and modernize regulatory pathways “so that we can expeditiously review applications for new antimicrobial drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines when they come before us.”
Given the current funding climate it will definitely take time to work out the details. Scientists close to the antibiotic crisis say the U.S. cannot afford to wait, as workhorse antibiotics become useless in the fight against emerging resistant infectious organisms.
Some companies are indeed not waiting, leveraging innovative methods to combat the super-bugs. Their path to approval may not be simple, but the novel techniques provide some hope that developing antibiotics to fight against drug-resistance bacterial strains has not completely been forgotten. A future article will delve into some of these approaches. |
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 18, 2002
Statement by the President
Congolese Sign a Peace Agreement
I welcome the signing of the peace agreement that brings an end to four years of civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I appreciate the strong leadership and commitment of President Kabila to form a transitional government in Congo. I further commend all parties on their willingness to make the tough decisions to ensure a peaceful and democratic future for the Congolese people.
This peace agreement offers the Congolese people a critical opportunity to build lasting peace in a unified Congo. The United States will continue to work with Congo's Government, the Congolese Liberation Movement, and the Congolese Rally for Democracy and Civil Society to move forward on implementing the agreement, which will result in national elections.
I thank President Mbeki for his leadership and efforts on behalf of peace in the Congo and throughout Africa. The United States looks forward to working with the African Union and the United Nations to help the Congolese people realize their dream for national reconciliation and growing prosperity.
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
June 2, 2006
Mrs. Bush's Remarks at United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS
The United Nations
New York, New York
9:01 A.M. EDT
MRS. BUSH: Thank you, President Eliasson and distinguished guests, for the privilege of speaking with you today. This is a hopeful moment in our fight against AIDS, but our meeting is also tinged with sadness. Last month, we lost a dedicated public servant: Dr. J. W. Lee, Director General of the World Health Organization.
Dr. Lee recognized HIV/AIDS as one of the great humanitarian crises of our time. Around the world, almost 40 million people are infected. AIDS respects no national boundaries; spares no race or religion; devastates men and women, rich and poor.
No country can ignore this crisis. Fighting AIDS is an urgent calling -- because every life, in every land, has value and dignity.
At the Special Session on HIV/AIDS in 2001, U.N. member nations committed themselves to action. In the United States, our commitment took the form of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a five-year, $15 billion initiative to combat AIDS in 120 countries around the world. With increasing contributions each year, the American people are on track to meet or exceed this commitment.
The Emergency Plan works in partnership with the hardest-hit countries, and that partnership is saving lives. When President Bush announced PEPFAR at the beginning of 2003, only 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were thought to be receiving anti-retroviral treatment. Now, in PEPFAR's 15 focus nations, the United States has helped provide treatment for more than 560,000 people. Even more are being reached through America's contributions to the Global Fund.
This direct medical care keeps people in good health. And education is spreading hope. Millions are now learning to live with HIV/AIDS -- instead of waiting to die from it.
In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, new data shows that Africa's ABC model of AIDS prevention has led to dramatic declines in HIV infection rates in young men and women. Pregnant mothers with HIV now know that their unborn children don't have to inherit the disease.
These are important victories. But in order to defeat AIDS, much work remains.
All people need to know how AIDS is transmitted, and every country has an obligation to educate its citizens. This is why every country must also improve literacy, especially for women and girls, so that they can make wise choices that will keep them healthy and safe.
There are too few doctors and nurses to meet the demands of the AIDS crisis, so the United States is dedicating PEPFAR resources to train community health workers in African cities and villages. Many more are needed, and I encourage all member states to contribute to this effort. Every worker trained helps build a sustainable health care infrastructure -- one that can also help curb malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases.
But life-saving treatment never reaches people who do not know they're infected. So we must make sure more people know their HIV status. Here in the United States, June 27th is recognized as National HIV Testing Day. The United States will soon propose the designation of an International HIV Testing Day. I urge all member states to join us in support of this initiative. (Applause.)
I've met people around the world living with HIV/AIDS -- people like Babalwa Mbono. In 2002, Babalwa was pregnant with her second child when she discovered she was HIV-positive. Worried about her unborn baby, Babalwa sought counseling at one of Africa's Mothers-to-Mothers-to-Be Centers, where infected women receive treatment to keep their unborn children from contracting HIV. Babalwa's baby was born HIV-free -- and now Babalwa is a site coordinator for the Mothers Program, sharing her experience with other women.
Millions of people like Babalwa can now have a second chance at life. Their needs are great, but so is the inspiration they provide. And it's a privilege to stand with them.
Thank you for your commitment to defeating this pandemic. The United States looks forward to working with you, and to finally winning the fight against AIDS.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
END 9:06 A.M. EDT |
George Weigel's new book, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II -- The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, which was published by Doubleday on September 14, is the fulfillment of a promise the author made to Pope John Paul II less than four months before the pope died. In "A Promise To Pope John Paul II" ("The Catholic Difference" 9/17/10), Weigel gives his account of his parting words to the late Pope before his death:
The conversation over dinner was wide-ranging, and at one point, after the usual papal kidding about my having written "a very big book," John Paul asked about the international reception of Witness to Hope, his biography, which I had published five years earlier. He was particularly happy when I told him that a Chinese edition was in the works, as he knew he would never get to that vast land himself. As that part of the conversation was winding down, I looked across the table and, referring to the fact that Witness to Hope had only taken the John Paul II story up to early 1999, I made the Pope a promise: "Holy Father," I said, "if you don't bury me, I want you to know that I'll finish your story."According to Weigel, The End and the Beginning covers the last six years of John Paul II's life, including:
It was the last time we saw each other, this side of the Kingdom of God.
- -- Karol Wojtyla's epic battle with communism through the prism of previously classified and top-secret communist files
- -- the Great Jubilee of 2000 and his historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land
- -- September 11th, and the Pope's efforts to frustrate Osama bin Laden's insistence that his war with the West was a religious crusade
- -- the Long Lent of 2002, when the Church in America grappled with the twin crises of clerical sexual abuse and episcopal misgovernance;
- -- John Paul's ongoing efforts to build bridges of dialogue and reconciliation with the Churches of the Christian East
- -- his struggle with illness, "which brought him into at least one 'dark night' spiritually; and his heroic last months, in which his priestly death became, metaphorically, his last encyclical"
- Biographer sees two popes, one mission, by Bruce Nolan )Religion News Service) December 11, 2010.
- The Cold War Pope, by Mary Eberstadt. Policy Review No. 164 (December 2010)
- The Enduring Power of John Paul II’s Example Interview with Michael J. Miller. Catholic World Report October 2010.
- A Pope's Legacy: How John Paul II kindled the fire of evangelism - Interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez (National Review).
- "A pope for all seasons", by Don J. Briel. First Things [subscription required] |
So I have 490 consecutive daily rainfall shapefiles/.dbf files in a single directory. Each consists of a uniform even-spaced grid of 220 points having uniform pointIDs, number of records, field names and datatypes, and a field containing a daily recorded rainfall value (in inches) for each point/record.
I'm trying to read in the first 7 .dbf's from a list, read their rainfall values, sum them up for each record/point, create a new shapefile (ie. weeksum1.shp) having the same table structure as the daily files and containing weekly calculated sums for each record. Repeat for the next 7 .dbf's until 70 weeks (490/7) of data are created.
I've successfully done this by converting the shapefile's to raster, but I have to keep associated attributes for each point which I didn't foresee before spending a lot of time building scripts/models to work with rasters...
USING: ArcGIS 10 (ArcInfo) SP4 with all extensions, ArcPy, Excel 2007 |
New details are emerging about how Edward Snowden gained access to the classified NSA documents he would later leak to the press, and boy are they curious.
Reuters dropped a scoop late Thursday night that shows how shockingly low tech (read: no tech) methods enabled Snowden to gather up classified documents. Check this out: "Snowden may have persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers at the NSA regional operations center in Hawaii to give him their logins and passwords by telling them they were needed for him to do his job as a computer systems administrator, a second source said." The report notes that these coworkers were later relieved of their duties, though it's unclear if they were reassigned or fired.
So let's get this straight. A sort of pale-faced twenty-something contractor—not an NSA employee—waltzes into the Hawaii operations center asking people for their passwords, passwords that unlocked the country's deepest darkest secrets, and the NSA analysts just said yes? And not one or two of them—20 to 25! While giving up your password to a sysadmin is not unheard of, it's perplexing how Snowden ended up in such a position of power. Bear in mind that this happened after the CIA had let Snowden go for trying to break into classified documents and even written a warning note of sorts in his file, a note that the NSA apparently never saw.
So Snowden sort of went rogue, but good God, the NSA is a leaky ship. This latest revelation serves as further proof that Snowden didn't just stumble across the documents he later leaked but rather actively sought them out. In fact, Snowden himself said back in June that he took the contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton specifically because it "granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked." And evidently NSA employees unwittingly granted him access to everything else.
Now's the time when the "What if Snowden were a terrorist?" narratives start seeming a little more frightening. Because yeah, if an unknown sysadmin with a dodgy track record can trick two dozen NSA employees into giving up the keys to the castle, what else is possible? [Reuters] |
From urban heat island reduction to improved air quality and storm water management, the benefits of having a green roof are plentiful. Want to see one for yourself? Tours are available at most of the places listed here.
American Psychological Association
A re-roofing at the American Psychological Association incorporated a green roof and a meditation labyrinth with access for tenants, guests, and the public. Approximately 45,000 gallons of water will be retained on this roof during a typical year of average rainfalls. Public tours may be arranged by contacting Nancy Kiefer at firstname.lastname@example.org.
American Society of Landscape Architects
The green roof at ASLA includes two elevated “waves” formed from rigid insulation and covered with a green roof system. The waves create an attractive foliage-enclosed space and block the view of the rooftop HVAC systems. One of the waves is planted primarily with sedums; the other is planted with drought-resistant perennials and grasses as well as sedums. For an appointment to tour the roof, contact Keith Swann, email@example.com.
This popular Arlington restaurant’s 2,800 square foot roof deck and terrace, designed by Capitol Greenroofs, features arborvitae and perennials/herbs that are used for cooking at the restaurant; concrete pavers for protection and drainage; and a 70-gallon planter that holds an evergreen tree.
Sidwell Friends School
The platinum LEED certified Sidwell Friends School is home to one of the area’s best-known green roofs. The 7,000 square foot space, completed in 2006, has vegetation that holds and filters rainwater and gutters and downspouts that direct rainwater to a biology pond that supports native habitat. Herbs grown on the roof by students are used in the school’s cafeteria.
1425 K Street NW
This was the first residential retrofit in Washington DC installed by DC Greenworks in 2004. This 3,500 square-foot demonstration project is D.C.’s first high elevation greenroof in a high-density commercial zone. For bimonthly tours, call 202.833.4010 or contact firstname.lastname@example.org.
Residential green roofs are also sprouting up across the city including on Swann Street, Church Street, U Street, Seaton Place, Park Place, and more. Get a birdseye view here. |
Bio-Bug: A VW Beetle Powered by Sewage
- Aug 06, 2010 6:05 PM EST
- [num] Comments
While electric cars tend to grab all of the headlines, there are plenty of other alternatives to traditional fossil fuels, from biofuels like biodiesel and ethanol, all the way up to hydrogen. But Mohammed Saddiq, general manager of GENeco, has another idea, which would take something that's normally thought of as waste, and turn it into a way to power a vehicle. What's the magic ingredient? Sewage.
Saddiq and his team of engineers have developed what they call the Bio-Bug: a Volkswagen Beetle powered by methane gas, which is produced as part of the sewage treatment process. The team claims that the average waste produced by 70 homes in a year could power the car for 10,000 miles. Also, it apparently doesn't even smell.
Prior to the Bio-Bug, the Wessex Water company, which is the parent company of GENeco, used the same process to produce electricity for its sewage treatment facility.
"With the surplus gas we had available we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way," a company spokesperson said. "We decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK." |
|Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2012, used with permission|
He married Polly HEWITT on New Year's Day in 1812 and moved to Red Hook Landing, Dutchess, New York for two summers. It was a time when that area was more wilderness (with wolves) than North Stonington and the heat and sickness made them rethink this move and they came back to North Stonington. I think their first child may have been born in New York in October of 1812.
Eight children in this farming family must have made for a busy household. I have found that one daughter named Ann Elizabeth Stewart had descendants who owned a photo of her taken later in life. By the time the 1850 census listed all the people in the household, only the last child, a daughter named Julia was living with them. She was born in 1835 so she was 16 when he father was 64.
George Palmer Stewart died on 21 May 1851 at the age of 65 and is buried in the Stewart Hill Cemetery. |
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To learn more about GRAPHALLOY click on one of the links below: |
"Make no little plans,
Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912), an architect and city planner, is responsible for many of the features of Chicago today. Wacker Drive, and the parks along the lakefront were among the ideas in Burnham's Chicago Plan of 1909. Not all of the plan was fulfilled - Wacker Drive was meant to be encircle the Loop entirely, and there was to have been a civic center complex further west.
Burnham gained fame as the chief of construction for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Burnham's "White City" influenced a great many architects to favor the neoclassical style over the next few decades, in spite of Sullivan's claims that architecture in America had been set back years.
Burnham and his family are buried under natural glacial granite boulders on a small island near the northern end of Lake Willomere. Burnham's island is reachable via a permanent footbridge. |
Ride-sharing to the Big Box Store – Sign Me Up!
One reason why I drive much less than the average LA driver is that the thought of getting into my car and venturing out on those awful streets discourages me, even 5 years later after I moved down here from my revered Bay Area. I do my fair share of shopping at Costco and Target—not often, but enough to wish someone else could chauffer me. I hear the sustainability mafia snickering, but hey, if I shop less often, there are less greenhouse gas emissions emitted, right? Plus I don’t buy hot pockets or that rancid processed food—produce and healthy stuff make it from the Costco warehouse to my car trunk. But what if I didn’t have to take my car? What if I could ride-share? Carbon Voyage, which has a ride-share program for taking UK residents to local airports, is now launching a test program that will take shoppers to Tesco stores in the Manchester area. Working with the University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute, Carbon Voyage will analyze ridership patterns in the region, determine the benefits and barriers to such a system. Government data estimate that 84% of all automobile passenger trips in the UK have only one passenger in the car, so the resulting environmental, financial, and congestion costs are clear. Sign me up in LA. I’d love to be able to do my Trader Joe’s runs with someone else doing the driving. I may even have to use my social skills, which I often find lacking in Los Angeles--a result of being boxed into a car for hours a day, no doubt. |
|Asian longhorned beetle|
The free lecture, sponsored by The Green Society student sustainability club, will take place in the North Café and is open to the public.
Stelmack will provide an overview of the devastating effects of these pests, ways to identify infestation and precautions that can be made. Since the Asian longhorned beetle was detected in Massachusetts in 2008, local, state and federal entities have been working together to fight the infestation that has had devastating effects in Worcester and surrounding communities and has placed the entire Northeastern U.S. on high alert.
The emerald ash borer has destroyed millions of ash trees since it appeared in the U.S. a decade ago and was detected in the Berkshires in August 2012. |
The Charity Mission Create asked me to create for them a disk that would allow them to protect the information stored on computers that were donated to them. I’m sure this is a common problem as people want to be certain that when they donate a computer, their personal information will be protected. For that reason I am making this guide to show you how to perform a Zerowrite, to completely and permanently remove all data from a machine. This is much more thorough than a Reformat, which only marks the drive as Empty, rather than physically resetting every bit on information the drive.
Most people probably remember “Low-Level Formatting”. A concept that for years was the maximum security you could use to protect the data left stored on your hard-drive. Low-Level Formatting used to require special software from the manufacturer of your hard drive and has since become less common. Now a days the best way to completely wipe a drive is to do a “Zerowrite” or write Zeros in every spot on the drive, effectively removing all of the data. This is done according to the Department of the Defense’s standard. We are going to be using a commonly available tool called the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) to facilitate the Zerowriting of a drive.
FOLLOWING THIS GUIDE WILL RENDER ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE UNRECOVERABLE.
Once you have those installed you’re ready to Boot from the UBCD. To do this, put the CD in your drive and Restart the Computer. You should see this pop up on the screen. If this does not pop up, you may need to Reconfigure your Boot Device Priority. Often times when starting up the Computer you may see a message that says “To Boot from Another Device Press Fx” now. Whereas Fx is a F Key on your keyboard. Use that feature to select the appropriate Optical Drive.
Once you’re at this point, Press Enter to Continue.
Next you should see this Menu, using the Up and Down arrows, navigate to “Hard Disk Tools” and Press Enter
Next, Using the Up and Down arrows again go to “Wiping Tools” and Press Enter
Next using the same process, go to “Darik’s Boot and Nuke V1.0.7″ and Press Enter
If you see this screen, everything should be going as planned. It should take up to 60 seconds.
Once you see this Menu you will now have to select which drive you would like to Wipe. Using the J and K keys to navigate up and down, mark the drives you want to Wipe using the Space-Bar.
Once they are selected the [ ] Brackets should now say “wipe”. When You’re Ready, Press F10 to Start
Now you’re Wiping. Just let the process Finish then Restart. The drive should be entirely empty. Go ahead and reformat and repartition the drive to reinstall your operating system. |
|Image via Wikipedia|
Texas' new law stipulates that "A person commits an offense if the person uses an unmanned aircraft to capture an image of an individual or privately owned real property in this state with the intent to conduct surveillance on the individual or property captured in the image." The term "surveillance," though, is undefined in the statute. Most of these unmanned aircraft will inevitably be equipped with cameras that may capture "an image of an individual or privately owned real property" as they fly around. But while there are many exceptions in the statute to for law enforcement, utilities, oil and gas companies, etc., there's no exception for simple hobbyists like most of the folks who'll be attending the SXSW event.
I doubt law enforcement will come out to arrest DIY drone flyers at the Austin "Fly-in," but the fact that in theory they could shows why the statute was misguided, over-broad, and premature. When the law passed at the Texas Legislature, prosecutors predicted no one would ever be charged under it because the statute is too vague and contains many, often confusing caveats and exceptions that no one - either in the public or among law enforcement - really understands.
Arguably, DIY drones aren't engaging in "surveillance" but "sousveillance," or the recording of an activity by a participant in that activity. Texas' statute doesn't make such a distinction, but the realities of unmanned aircraft and the rapidity of their adoption for innumerable legitimate uses, many of which involve photography, show why the law as written really isn't ready for prime time. |
The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) is the government agency in New Zealand that is responsible for the classification of all films, videos, publications, and some video games in the country. It is similar to the Australian agency of the same name, however it is a completely separate entity and often ratings in Australia are different than in New Zealand. Additionally, the ratings themselves vary slightly from the Australian ones.
Grand Theft Auto game ratings
Every game in the Grand Theft Auto series apart from GTA Advance has been rated R18 by the OFLC in New Zealand. It is worth pointing out that a rating for GTA Advance is not found in their database, so its actual rating is unknown. Another noteworthy point is that the 2nd version of GTA San Andreas maintained its R18 rating.
The following games are rated R18
- Grand Theft Auto 1
- Grand Theft Auto: London 1969
- Grand Theft Auto 2
- Grand Theft Auto III
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
The following games' ratings are unknown
- BBFC, the British media rating system
- ESRB, the United States and Canadian computer and video game rating system
- PEGI, the European computer and video game rating system
- ELSPA, the former British computer and video game rating system, replaced by the PEGI ratings.
- USK, the German computer and video game rating system
- OFLC, the Australian media rating system
- CERO, the Japanese computer and video game rating system |
“the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35b)
When shopping for gifts at Christmastime, we encounter tricky questions. What is it they really wanted? What will make the kids eyes light up? What do you get for the person that has everything?
Actually this last question is interesting because the only person it could apply to literally is God. Could there be wisdom in exploring an answer to that question?
God is the greatest giver of all time. The presence of Christmas on the calendar is the result of the most wonderful act of gift-giving in history. Jesus is the greatest gift imaginable–grace for life, peace with God, salvation. Jesus is not only a gift to be received–to fill the longings of our hearts. More than that, He is a gift that compels a response: Giving our hearts and lives to him. So, what do we get the One who “has everything”? What does he want? What God wants for Christmas is you.
Here are a few tangible ways to give ourselves to him. We certainly cannot repay him for the gift of salvation, but we can get caught up in His spirit of giving. What would you add to this list?
Ideas for God’s Christmas Wish List:
- Our Stewardship. Give, but resist the temptation to go into debt if that is a temptation for you.
- Generosity to the Poor. Give generously, especially to those who have little. Gifts through our Angel Tree at church and through Christian organizations like the United Methodist Committee on Relief (www.umcor.org) and World Vision (www.worldvisiongifts.org) serve the poor and help advance the gospel.
- Our Relationships. I read a good piece of advice on child-raising recently that applies well to Christmas: “Spend twice the time and half the money.” Make lasting memories with family and friends. |
GW: In the News
Slide 1 — The Landsdowne Portrait
The famous Lansdowne portrait, named for the marquis of Lansdowne in England who received it, was painted in 1796 by American artist Gilbert Stuart. Stuart was already well known for his other portraits of GW, but this was his first attempt at a full-length view. Painted near the end of his second term as president, GW's letters reveal that he planned on sitting at least once for this portrait, which shows him addressing Congress.
When completed in the fall of 1796, the painting was well received by those in London anxious to have an image of the man so renowned for his leadership of the new country. Stuart then produced several other versions, with variations in the background and in the image of Washington himself.
The Lansdowne portrait has been in the news recently because Lord Harry Dalmeny, 33-year-old heir of the titled British family that owns it, wanted $20 million for the painting or its return. It has been on anonymous loan to the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution since 1968. It is currently featured in "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden" exhibit at the Museum of American History. On March 14th, a Las Vegas foundation donated $30 million to fund the purchase of the painting, a new display case and a tour of the Lansdowne portrait around the United States. |
There are awesome projects, and then there are things that make us drool on the keyboard. We just got done wiping up our mess after seeing this go-kart which uses four hub-motors as direct drive wheels. We’ll admit, this is more artwork than a hack as these guys are mechanical engineers and know what they’re doing. But how could we pass up sharing something like this?
The design is smaller than any of the other go-karts we remember seeing. The low-backed pilot seat is the biggest part, with a cubby-hole beneath it for the batteries and control hardware. Each of the hub-motors was hand wound and reading through the related blog posts it seems this was a huge and painful part of the build.
So it’s pretty fun to watch these guys tear up the hallways of one of the engineering buildings at MIT. But the footage of a two-kart race up a spiraling parking garage in the middle of the night is absolutely delightful. You’ll find both videos embedded after the break.
Continue reading “Drop everything and build this go-kart right now!”
There is a long tradition of hacking transportation to work on the rails. People have done it to all kinds of things for many reasons. Some are for rail maintenance, others are simply to enjoy the tracks. With as much unused railways as we have, it seems a shame to waste them. This hack turns a bicycle into into a rail bike with the use of some conduit, a cut up razor scooter, and a fork from another bike. After some tinkering with spacing to make the whole thing a little smoother on the rails, the whole thing seemed like a success. That is, until the front rail guide caught a railway tie and the rider was tossed. Not only that, the impact destroyed his bike frame.
So, does this wreck mark this as a failure? Or is this simply another step in the iterative process we all tend to use. The only difference is if he carries on to build another.
[Robovergne] wrote in to share his fantastic automated cat feeder with us. After researching the common commercial products he could find, he decided to build one that utilized a home made linear actuator to pull a certain amount out of a reservoir. Initially, he attempted to use microwave motors but ultimately found them to be too weak to force the bits of cat food should they get stuck. He was afraid this extra strain would cause motor failure before too long. Ultimately, he replaced the microwave motor with a fairly strong servo that seems to do the job just fine. He’s currently using an Arduino to time it all, but he does mention that he feels it is a waste of the arduino for such a simple task.
As you can see in the videos after the break, his mechanism seems quite solid. There isn’t a lot of play in the movement and the amount of food coming out seems to be fairly controllable.
Continue reading “Automated cat feeder with a view”
Summer is right around the corner and all the final projects from electronic design classes are rolling into the tip line. This time, we’ve got [Chaorong] and [Siyu]’s auto-composing keyboard from their time in ECE4760 at Cornell.
The keyboard has two modes: a ‘happy’ mode and a ‘tender’ mode, the difference being the tender mode is slower and sounds a little like a lullaby. After two keys are pressed, the ATMega644 figures out what key it should play in and starts generating a random-ish sounding song using a Markov probability matrix.
There’s a third option for the keyboard as well: play a short melody and the software will loop through a few permutations of the melody. After the break, you can see [Siyu] play Ode to Joy and have the autocomposer improvise around the tune. Very, very nice work and we can’t wait to see more senior design projects hit the tip line.
Continue reading “Keyboard composes its own music”
Although not a hack in the sense that it was made by a large corporation, check out this capacitive electronic disk that [danielbpm] wrote in about. Here’s a Wikipedia article about it, as well as a video (which didn’t embed correctly) about how it was made. The disks look like a typical audio record, and it was conceived of in 1964. A prototype was manufactured in 1972.
Unlike the more well-known Laserdisk format, the [Capacitive Electronic disk], or [CED] used an actual stylus to read the disks. Because of this, the [Wikipedia] article astutely points out that both systems were mutually incompatible. Somewhere there might have been a scratched Laserdisk next to the VCR with a sandwich stuffed in it. The computer with a broken coffee holder wouldn’t come for another few years.
Although it may have been a good format in it’s own right, like Betamax or HD-DVD, this system wasn’t destined to become the Blu-Ray player of it’s time. |
All grain brewing is a labor and equipment intensive endeavor, but it produces the highest quality beer compared to partial mash or extract brewing. [Jeff Karpinski] started out with the latter two methods, but as his enthusiasm for the hobby mounted he found himself brewing all-grain batches with just an electric kettle. He developed the system seen above as an easy method of automating the all grain process, and he managed to make it tidy enough to do in the kitchen.
All-grain brewing usually involves five or ten gallon (or more) boils. This type of volume is usually what demands that the brewing process move out of the kitchen. But since [Jeff] is the only beer drinker in the house he limits his sessions to three gallons. This means all of the equipment takes up less room. Here he’s got a five-gallon bucket, cooler, and brew kettle on just one small piece of the counter. In between the kettle and bucket you can see the controller box he built. This is responsible for switching power to the heating element in the brew kettle, and the electric pump in the bucket. The bucket has a permanent counterflow chiller which brings the wort down to a suitable temperature before pitching the yeast. It’s pretty amazing how well contained the liquid is from start to finish! |
On Wednesday March 6, Senator Rand Paul delayed the Senate confirmation of John Brennan as the new head of the CIA. He began his 13 hour filibuster, which was essentially a political show, by stating “I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan’s nomination for the CIA I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.” Paul added, The President says, he hasn’t killed anyone yet, and has no intention of killing Americans. But he might. Paul asks, “Is that enough? Are we satisfied by that? Are we so complacent with our rights that we would allow a President to say he might kill Americans? … No one person, no one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual. It goes against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country.”
After the filibuster, Attorney General Eric Holder, sent a letter to Rand Paul that reads: “It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: ‘Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?’ The answer to that question is no.”
Rand Paul found this answer to be acceptable, I do not! At first glance it appears that Eric Holder is saying the President can not kill an American on American soil. However, the statement deserves a closer look. The word combat can be both a noun and a verb. When used as a verb, combat is defined as “to fight or contend against; oppose vigorously.”
At this very moment, it could be construed that I am “engaged in combat” as I vigorously oppose the very existence of the federal government. I also vigorously oppose the the destruction of civil liberties, the foreign policy of the American government and the lack of fiscal responsibility. I contend that, based on the definition of combat as a verb, I, along with many thousands of others, could potentially be targets of domestic drone attacks. Despite the potential threat, I will not be silenced! |
Gross motor activities for kids are so incredibly important in the development of their gross motor skills. From what I’ve read and heard from experts, kids should work on developing their gross motor skills before working on fine motor skills because they need to build up the big muscles first and then the little muscles have a much easier time.
Doing activities to work on gross motor skills also help out in another area. Burning off energy. Every kid has excess, right? That’s always what I’m looking for!
Henry has always been a child with lots and lots of energy.
He took his first steps at 8.5 months. He always runs instead of walks. He spins instead of stands. He climbs. Coloring bores him. Crafts spend too much time sitting. Henry simply likes to move.
I am learning to
deal with embrace the energy instead of trying to hinder it.
Here are 4 ways to move that help with gross motor skills & the endless amount of energy:
- Rolling (or kicking) Eggs and Ball Painting
- Tape Jumping Game
- 32 Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Kids to Go On
- Walk through a maze of numbers
There’s even more Gross Motor Activities that we’ve done since — so keep on browsing!
Get the Gross Motor Go-To List Printable!
Here are 26 more gross motor activities for kids to burn off energy!
- Get Rolling Moving Smart
- Paint with your Feet The Imagination Tree
- Drive with Hula Hoops Sharin’ with Sharron
- Tumble and Wrestle Sharin’ with Sharron
- Mop with your Socks Kids Activities Blog
- Play Musical Chairs (with cards) Kids Activities Blog
- Indoor Activity Course hands on : as we grow
- Obstacle Course Imagination Soup
- Pretend to be Animals Toddler Approved
- Puddle Jump The Adventures of Bear
- Have Target Practice hands on : as we grow
- Build a Rope Bridge Let the Children Play
- Jump Boards Kleas
- Play Ball Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning
- Hopscotch Creativity My Passion
- Create Big Bubbles Come Together Kids
- Fly a Kite Maya Made
- Run Down a Hill Go Explore Nature
- Just Get Outside I Can Teach My Child!
- Go for a Ride Steady Mom
- Climb at the Playground Can you Come Outside to Play?
- Hop and Pop Inspiration Sounds Creativity Abounds
- Jump on the Bed Really, Are You Serious?
- Dance! Squiggle Mum
- Go on a Nature Texture Hunt hands on : as we grow
- Exercise Cube Little Family Fun
How do your kids burn off all their energy?For more inspiration: 40 more gross motor activities to get your kids moving, too!
5 weekly plans of activities for each one year olds, two year olds, and preschoolers (plus a learning one too!)
The ENGAGE eBook of 5 weekly plans of activities is perfect for the preschooler age. Fun ways to get the kids moving, work on fine motor, do arts and craft projects and have fun as a family! Each weekly plan includes a handy supply list and activities broken down to know exactly what to do in a simple sentence or two. |
Earmuffs are headgear designed to protect the ears and shut out sound. They are essential equipment in handling mandrakes as their screams are fatal to humans. Second year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry use earmuffs when learning to re-pot young mandrakes, as although the cries are not yet lethal, they can still render a person unconscious. In the 1992–1993 school year, the second years fought to not get stuck with the pink and fluffy earmuffs, in a scenario in which, for once, Neville Longbottom's luck was not all bad, and the Professor herself took the undesired items.
Behind the scenes
- In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, entering an earmuff wardrobe will give you earmuffs so you can smash crystals and glass cases with the mandrakes' voices.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- Harry Potter Trading Card Game |
Researchers See Link Between Dyslexia, Abuse
THURSDAY, July 10, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Adults with dyslexia are more likely to report that they were physically abused as children or teenagers than people who don't have the learning disorder, according to a new study.
Dyslexia, which affects up to 10 percent of people, causes problems with reading and writing. Researchers found that 35 percent of adults with this condition said they suffered physical abuse during their childhood, compared to 7 percent of those without dyslexia.
"Even after accounting for age, race, sex and other early adversities such as parental addictions, childhood physical abuse was still associated with a sixfold increase in the odds of dyslexia," study co-author Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, said in a university news release.
It's unclear if dyslexia makes children a more likely target for abuse or if physical abuse contributes to problems with learning, the study's authors said.
Study co-author Stephen Hooper is a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He said: "It is possible that for some children, the presence of dyslexia and related learning problems may place them at relatively higher risk for physical abuse, perhaps due to adult frustrations with chronic learning failure.
"Alternatively, given the known association between brain dysfunction and maltreatment, it could be that the experience of physical abuse may also contribute to and/or exacerbate such learning problems," Hooper said in the news release.
The study, published online recently in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, involved more than 13,000 adults who participated in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey.
Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that doctors should screen all children with dyslexia for physical abuse.
"Although we do not know if the abuse-dyslexia association is causative, with one-third of adults with dyslexia reporting childhood abuse, it is important that primary health care providers and school-based practitioners working with children with dyslexia screen them for physical abuse," Fuller-Thomson concluded.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about dyslexia.
SOURCE: University of Toronto, news release, July 3, 2014 |
The latest map of all the genes involved in a set of tumor cells exposes which mutations drive cancer and how to possibly treat them.
The Human Genome Project provided the first glimpse of the power of genetic maps, and ever since, sequencing the DNA code of not just people but also tissues like tumors has become an invaluable tool in medicine. Laying out the biological code that instructs a fertilized egg to mature into the cells, tissues, organs and body systems that define a human being has led to important discoveries about how we get sick when those directions go awry.
And applying that same technique to cancer cells, experts are exposing some of the critical factors that drive cells to divide out of control to form tumors. In the latest advance, researchers at the National Cancer Institute have sequenced all of the genes in a cancer-cell database that was designed to test promising new drug compounds. With the most complete map of tumor aberrations now available, they can determine whether some of the failed drug candidates discarded over the years — there are thousands of them — may actually be useful in treating certain cancers.
“There is an unlimited amount of matching anyone could do,” says Dr. Yves Pommier, chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology at the National Cancer Institute and lead investigator of the study, which was published in the journal Cancer Research. “As we integrate this data into the current process of molecular medicine, I think more links [to new drugs] will be made.”
Sequencing the DNA of tumors, and exposing their mutations, is a potent technique for understanding what fuels tumors to develop in the first place, as well as what keeps them going. But until recently, the cost and technology required to sequence all 20,000 or so genes in each of these cancer cells weren’t feasible. The process, says Pommier, “is easy to say, much harder to do,” and it took his team more than two and a half years to complete the maps for the 60 tumor-cell lines, representing nine different cancers, from breast, prostate, brain, lung, colon and kidney tumors. Mapping each of the genes from these cell lines tallied up 6 billion data points that Pommier’s team sequenced, aligned, curated and compared with normal cell genomes in order to come up with the most exhaustive dossier of all the mutations in a specific cancer-cell type to date.
Previous sequencing projects have focused on mapping specific genes or sets of genes known to be involved in cancer — the BRCA genes in breast cancer, for example. But the latest data set provides a complete look at the entirety of genes in a cancer cell, as well as how active those genes are in pumping out their respective proteins, which can include enzymes, signaling molecules and other agents that cancer cells rely upon to survive. Having information on all of the genes that may be involved in contributing to a breast cancer, for example, could lead researchers to identify new genes and new pathways that they hadn’t discovered before. The more complete set of genetic mutations could also yield clues as to which cancer cells might respond better to certain drug treatments.
“I think this is a wonderful addition to a very powerful data set,” says Dr. Gordon Mills, co-director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center, who was not involved in the research. “This is a necessary and important step forward, but it needs to be looked at as a step forward in a process that we need to have complemented by many other emerging technologies.”
The main issue is that Pommier’s team sequenced a relatively small set of cancer-cell lines, which may not represent the breadth of ways that specific cancers like those in the breast, prostate and lung can develop. Matching genetic mutations to the right drugs that might combat them, says Dr. Todd Golub, chief scientific officer at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University and investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, “is kind of like a cube. There are three dimensions — one dimension is the cell line, with the number of cell lines reflecting the diversity of the disease. Another dimension involves the genetic features of the tumor such as what the mutations are, which genes are turned on and which proteins are turned on. The third dimension includes what drugs are these cell lines sensitive to.”
The set of cell lines that Pommier and his colleagues used, known as the NCI-60, is an iconic panel of tumor cells that has led to the discovery of more than 300 Food and Drug Administration–approved anticancer drugs. The cells were created as a screen for promising drug candidates, to see whether new agents could effectively curb the growth of the cancer cells in the dish, and 16,000 compounds have been tested since the cells were generated in the late 1980s. “The NCI-60 concept was really ahead of its time,” says Golub. “It represented a pretty advanced concept that the field is now embracing, and that is the challenge of how to read off a cancer genome and use that information to predict what drugs will benefit that particular patient.”
In order to do that, sequencing more cell lines will be a priority in coming years, says Mills. “Characterizing just a few patients in depth is a wonderful first step, but the breadth of abnormalities behind cancer will only come out only as we start to characterize larger numbers of patient samples in a breadth and depth that we have never done before,” he says.
Combining the growing number of such data sets will also speed along the matching of new potential drugs to cancer-causing mutations. Golub and his group, for example, published a detailed atlas of 1,600 genes (out of the human genome’s more than 20,000) from a group of 1,000 different cancer-cell lines, and the National Institutes of Health are currently mapping with painstaking detail the sequence of 25 different tumor types from more than 6,000 samples. International efforts to map tumor genomes, including the International Cancer Genome Consortium and the U.K.-based Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer, or COSMIC, also contribute to the global move toward making cancer diagnosis and treatment more precise and personalized.
Pommier says that the latest addition of genetic-mapping data is available on a user-friendly website to any scientist — or even doctor — around the world without charge. The more people access the information and start to make connections between mutations and drug candidates, the sooner new therapies might emerge, he says. There’s no guarantee that cancer cells in a lab dish will act in exactly the same way as they do in a patient’s body, but teasing out these matchups in the lab first is necessary in order to isolate reliable weapons against cancer in the clinic. “This process will help us learn what is the core problem in cancer, and how that core relates to a tumor’s response to drugs,” he says. And that knowledge may ultimately produce more accurately targeted, potent anticancer medications that can stop tumors in their tracks. |
The former attorney-general Lord Goldsmith today outlined the next stage in the government's "Britishness agenda" in a report entitled Citizenship: the Common Bond. Much of the attention has so far focussed on his proposals for "citizenship ceremonies" in which school-leavers would be lined up and made (or possibly merely encouraged) to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen.
The general response has been sceptical, indeed derisive. And, indeed, the heart sinks at the prospect. If it was going to be like the Last Night of the Proms, with everyone waving flags and singing Rule, Britannia and watching a replay of the last-but-one Rugby World Cup (or even the last one, when we didn't win but did at least stuff the French) then there might be some point to it. I would even buy into something like the Matriculation Ceremony at Oxford, with the newbies dressed up in absurd outfits while an official spouts something in Latin. But knowing this dismal government the ceremonies will be yet another exercise in platitudinous tedium. Some local worthy reading out a trite little list of "British values", distinguished only by their lack of Britishness; a roomful of bored, and possibly antagonistic, teenagers; parents dragged along to take photographs and look proud; MPs getting in photo-opportunities for their election leaflets; and a lecture on the currently-approved manner of Being.
Who would pay for these occasions? What about those children with republican sympathies, or Scottish and Welsh nationalists? What about refuseniks, who simply didn't want to turn up? Would they not become citizens at all, or would they merely fail the compulsory citizenship courses the government also wants to introduce? And what then?
All most pressing questions. But the citizenship ceremonies actually form only a fairly small element in what looks like a thoroughgoing attempt at the nationalisation of the person. Goldsmith, he of the oddly flexible legal advice in the run-up to the Iraq War, seems to be worried about two things in particular. Firstly, he disapproves of the fact that there are many people living here, paying their taxes, obeying the law, being responsible members of society, even (if they come from Commonwealth countries) voting - some of them are members of the House of Lords - yet who nevertheless are not citizens.
This, thinks Goldsmith, weakens the notion of citizenship. So he proposes, firstly, to strip Commonwealth citizens resident in Britain of their right to vote. He also wants to make it impossible to live in Britain for any length of time without taking out citizenship, with all the attendant baggage of "citizenship classes" and ceremonies. He doesn't say whether or not he actually proposes to deport people who have lived here perfectly legally for decades if they don't want to sign up to his citizenship agenda. He does hint, however, that such plans are already fairly well advanced. At the same time, he admits that these proposals would not interfere with the rights of (you've guessed it) EU citizens.
Permanent residency blurs the distinction between citizens and non-citizens. We should expect people who are settled in the UK for the long-term to become citizens. Only people who cannot become citizens because they are citizens of a country that does not permit dual nationality should be able to settle long-term without seeking citizenship – and we should recognise their bond to the UK by calling them associate citizens.
Goldsmith's second concern is that the notion of citizenship (which is not the same thing as being "British", or feeling part of this society) has a relatively small emotional purchase on the individual. He claims, to begin with, that individuals in a large modern society relate to each other, and not just to the state, as "citizens".
Therefore, he thinks, people should be brought up to regard themselves first and foremost as "citizens". He wants volunteering and other activities to be brought into the umbrella category of "citizenship", for example by reducing the tuition fees of students who have undertaken voluntary work. He also wants retired people to "mentor" younger people, for community "mediators" to have a role in settling neighbourhood disputes, and for schools (including primary schools) to make "citizenship" a matter of engagement with the wider community rather than a series of lessons regarding the role of Parliament, local government and the courts. Particularly active citizens would be rewarded with membership of a "Citizenship Corps".
There's a sleight of hand at work here. While volunteering is certainly something to be encouraged, it has nothing whatever to do with citizenship. Citizenship is a legal relationship between the individual and the state. And, if we are to continue to live in a free society (something which looks daily more unlikely) it must remain primarily concerned with what the state can do for the citizen, not the other way around.
Goldsmith's contention that we relate to one another as possessors of a national, legally defined citizenship is surely nonsense. Where you are born is an accident, not a moral fact. If you continue to live in the country of your birth, then your obligations to the state are discharged by your payment of taxes and your obedience to the law. True, you also have obligations to others: to your family, to your work colleagues, to your employer or customers, to your religion (if you have one) and to the local area. But these relationships are not the "responsibilities of the citizen" and it is dangerous and illiberal to pretend that they are. Personally, I couldn't care less if my neighbour or my colleague has attended a citizenship ceremony.
Patriotism is a natural emotion, and it is fostered by a sense of belonging to a nation and a nation's history - neither of which are the same as the state. Nor is "society" the same as the state. That the government's notion of "Britishness" actually has little or no relationship to an organic and mythic community (John Major's warm beer and cricket pitches), but is rather something new and alien, is seen clearly in Goldsmith's proposals for a British "National Day", which he wishes to see implemented in time for that monument to overspending, the 2012 Olympics:
The date would need to be considered carefully and it may be advantageous to have a day without historical significance, specifically because the purpose of the day is to help to forge a new modern citizenship identity and to encourage the celebration of the widest range of citizens’ achievements.
If a "new modern citizenship identity" has little or nothing to do with British history, what is it to do with? The answer, so far as I can see, is the state. It is about reinforcing the notion that the citizen belongs to the state, is nourished and gets meaning from the state, is nothing without the state. Instead of the pluralism and informality of traditional British notions of citizenship Goldsmith wishes to mark out the citizen from the non-citizen in stark new ways. For the non-citizen, a loss of rights and status. For the citizen, a whole new slew of obligations, indoctrinations and heavy hints that they should be "doing something" to justify their possession of a passport. Thus, for example, Goldsmith's citizenship ceremonies would "mark the passage between being a student of citizenship and becoming an active citizen."
Active citizens are certainly to be applauded. But in a free society, one should have a perfect right to be an inactive citizen. Goldsmith's preachy and divisive ideas ("inter-faith action" is another, as though it should any business of the state how or why members of different religions interact with each other), far from promoting a modern conception of citizenship, seem rather to look back to nationalistic concepts that Britain has hitherto managed to escape.
It would be nice to think that this slightly Orwellian report will be left to gather dust. But as Nick Robinson notes today, "no-one should be in any doubt that the prime minister believes that government can and should play a role in helping shape people's sense of what it means to be British."
We have in this country become used, of course, to the horrors of New Labour statism. But this seems orders of magnitude worse. "Citizenship" will now be viewed, not as a birthright, but as something earned, something you have to do state-approved things to achieve, something conferred by (and, perhaps, able to be withdrawn by) the state. A state which condescends to allow you to dwell within its boundaries, a state in which you live and move and have your being.
And, of course, all this doesn't exist on its own. While it affects to be aimed as dealing with problems of social cohesion and immigration, the citizenship agenda belongs as much to the world of ID cards, databases, "transformational government", obesity targets and constant paranoia about terrorists. These profoundly un-British things - as un-British as national dress and national days and ritualised US-style flag-worship - would have horrified our ancestors who fought for our freedom. They knew who they were, and that being "British citizens" was hardly a part of it. |
Thanks to Blam’s Blog for this nice review of Hereville. It’s a nice review that reproduces plenty of art, but I have to admit my favorite thing about this is the title of the blog post: Braids Of Glory. That may be my favorite title of any Hereville review so far!
Another “best of” list — Graphic Novel Reporter’s. I’m especially thrilled to see Hereville on this list, because it’s not a specialty list — it’s not for kid’s graphic novels, or Jewish graphic novels, but simply a list of their favorite graphic novels. And the other cartoonists on the list are simply awesome!
Here’s the list’s description of Hereville:
In a word: brilliant. Barry Deutsch’s webcomic about a young girl in an Orthodox Jewish community gets wider exposure in this collection. Hopefully, as broad an audience as possible will find its way to this utterly clever book, which follows Mirka as she faces a witch, a mean pig, and a troll in an effort to win a sword…and begin her life’s mission of slaying dragons. The explanations of Jewish culture and language that run throughout the book are always helpful and never intrusive. This is another book for kids that adults will love too.
Thank you so much, Graphic Novel Reporter!
And it’s in some great company, too! Thanks, Good Comics For Kids!
The fantasy aspects of Hereville may be familiar, but Barry Deutsch’s deft treatment of the heroine’s religious heritage is not; he makes her upbringing in an Orthodox Jewish community fundamental to the story without sliding into caricature or didacticism. Crisp, evocative artwork and a memorable cast of supporting characters — including Fruma, Mirka’s wise if conventional stepmother — make Hereville a terrific read for teens and adults.
Thanks as well to Katherine Dacey, who wrote the Hereville review.
A new review, from the Association of Jewish Libraries:
Eleven-year-old Mirka has more on her mind than learning the “womanly arts” that her stepmother, Fruma, insists she acquire; she would like to slay a dragon. To fight a dragon, you need a sword and Mirka’s quest for a sword is the focus of this standout graphic novel. The bizarre adventure begins when Mirka stumbles upon a magical house in the woods in her Orthodox town, Hereville, where she sees a woman float through the air.
Eager to show it to her siblings, she convinces them to return to the house on their way home from school. While there, they discover grapes “as big as baseballs” growing in the yard of the house. Even though her sister, Gittel, or as Mirka calls her, “Little Miss Frum,” urges her not to try a grape because it would be stealing, Mirka can’t resist taking one. This innocent swipe sets off a kooky series of events that include a revenge-seeking pig and a knit-off with a troll.
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword is spirited, witty, and above all else, fun. Mirka is a clever, headstrong, and imaginative heroine who will appeal to a wide audience. Teens who feel like they don’t fit in will have no trouble relating to her attempts to balance what is best for her family with her desire to fight dragons.
Grounded in her religious beliefs, she is willing to put her fantasies aside to celebrate Shabbos. Although she desperately would like to ask Fruma how to kill a troll, she waits until the end of Shabbos because “troll-killing was not a Shabbos thing. Once the candles were lit, she would no more have asked about it than she would have deliberately sneezed on the khale.” The illustrations in the proof used for this review were in black and white (the published version will be in color) and they strike the perfect balance of showing a realistic Orthodox community, while creating the backdrop for a fairytale. Highly recommended for all libraries.
Awesome! Thank you very much, Ms. Lurie.
The AJL was also nice enough to publish an interview with me on their blog last month.
Okay, the title is an exaggeration — in fact, the first review is a positive review, and the second review is very negative, but has positive aspects (the writer says she enjoyed Hereville and is hoping for a sequel). These are, however, the two most critical reviews of Hereville I’ve read so far, which makes them interesting!
At The Whole Megillah, reviewer Barbara Krasner wrote an enormously positive review of Hereville, saying “This is the type of book a child (or adult) could read again and again and again without an ounce of boredom.” That’s what I like hearing! But she also wonders if Orthodox readers will be offended by Hereville.
That’s something I’ve worried about quite a lot. All I can say is that I’ve tried my best to be respectful (without being lifeless), and the reactions from Orthodox readers I’ve heard have been extremely positive. However, it’s of course possible that an Orthodox reader who was offended would choose not to contact me, so my “sample” may be biased.
Barbara also wondered about my Yiddish — specifically, “is it really ‘bistu’ or is it really ‘bist du?'” Barbara thinks it should probably be two words. My answer: I don’t know! The particular Yiddish-English dictionary I consulted said “bistu,” but one thing I quickly learned while writing Hereville is that Yiddish-English dictionaries frequently disagree on how Yiddish words should be spelled in English.
At Comic Attack, reviewer Daniella Orihuela-Gruber (who usually blogs at All About Manga) wrote:
I like Hereville overall, but as a Jew myself, I felt a little uncomfortable with a number of things.
First of all, the town of Hereville is essentially a shtetl, or a small town with a completely or near-completely Jewish population. Schtetls have more or less ceased to exist after World War II. Now, there are certainly large Jewish neighborhoods in cities or towns with a majority of Jews in them, but a town that is completely ultra-Orthodox…? Where it’s actually banned to read non-Jewish books and to have pigs? Maybe in Israel. (I don’t think Hereville is in Israel. Too much forest.) Ultra-Orthodox communities are still very insular, but I’ve never seen a community this cut off to the point where the kids don’t know what a pig looks like and they’ve never met a non-Jewish person before. If this had been a pre-Holocaust shtetl, I think I’d believe the isolation and homogenized local culture.
Second is the way Mirka behaves. Yes, she is capable of her own thoughts, will stand up to whatever torments her and kick its ass, but at the same time Mirka lets her sister bully her into submission so she won’t harm her family’s reputation and her sisters become unable to find good husbands. I realize that this is where my much more liberal Jewish beliefs clash with ultra-Orthodox ones, but it’s more than the fact that I think it’s dumb for an 11-year-old to think so seriously of marriage. Either way, Mirka is forced by those she’s closest with into keeping her adventures quiet.
There’s more — head over to Comic Attack to read the full review.
I don’t think it’s wise for creators to debate with reviews, so I won’t respond to Daniella’s criticisms. But I appreciated that she took the time to read and respond to Hereville, and I hope she does like the sequel better, when it comes out.
Just a quick thank you to Fragments of Life, Omphaloskepsis, Mar Dixon at BookRabbit, and The Velveteen Rabbi for their very nice reviews of Hereville.
A quote from The Velveteen Rabbi’s review:
I love this book for a lot of reasons: because it normalizes Orthodox Jewish life (the text is full of Yiddish words, which are translated in small print at the bottom of the page) and shows charming glimpses of things like separate-gender schooling and the tasks involved in preparing for Shabbat; because Mirka is a fabulous hero, as quirky and bright as Sara Crewe or Harry Potter; because the step-mother turns out to be at least as smart as the heroine, which means awesomeness doesn’t magically evaporate at adulthood.
Thanks to all four bloggers!
It’s that time of year — the time when people put out their lists! And I’m very happy that Hereville has been included on some of those lists:
- The American Library Association’s / YALSA’s “2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list.
- Kirkus Reviews “Best Books For Children And Teens” lists Hereville in three categories — “Graphic Novel,” “Fantasy and Science Fiction,” and “Fiction With Great Girl Characters.”
- School Library Journal’s “Good Comics For Kids” blog includes Hereville on their “best of 2010″ list. Thanks!
- Booklist included Hereville on it’s annual “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” list. Yay!
- The New York Public Library’s annual list of 100 notable children’s books includes Hereville! (PDF file.) (And I’m in some great company, including Smile and Origami Yoda and Athena.)
- Graphic Novel Reporter’s 2010 Favorites! Thanks, GNR!
- Comic Book Resource’s Top 100 Comics of 2010! (Hereville clocks in at #44.)
- Sequential Tart, a feminist comics site, included Hereville on their “Comics We Loved” 2010-in-review list.
- Bank Street College of Education Children’s Book Committee included Hereville on its annual Best Children’s Books Of The Year list — and it’s one of the relatively few books to receive their starred listing, for “outstanding merit.”
- Shelf Awareness was nice enough to include Hereville on their “Graphic Novel Holiday Roundup.”
Deutsch’s charming and energetic story takes the form of a classic hero tale, but its hero is, as the cover declares, “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl.” The depiction of an Orthodox community is smart and sympathetic, and Mirka’s struggles with bullies and boring chores, as well as a stepmother who turns out to be the opposite of wicked, will ring true to many kids. The twist at the end makes us hope for a sequel.
- I feel highly honored to be included in Flashlight Worthy’s “The Best Graphic Novels of 2010″ list.
This is a truly all-ages graphic novel, with plenty to hold the interest of teenagers and adults alike. Mirka is an 11-year-old girl who is comfortable in her life in an Orthodox Jewish community except for one thing: She wants to slay dragons someday. An encounter with a belligerent pig and a witch lead her to a final showdown with a troll in a surrealistic duel for a magic sword. At the same time she is negotiating these perils, she must contend with the usual stresses of friends and family—and a stepmother who is determined to teach her to knit, no matter how much she resists. Deutsch blends elements of folklore and modern life with a deft touch, and his creative use of panels to show what Mirka is thinking and doing brings this story beyond mere narrative into the realm of literature.
Thanks to writer Brigid Alverson for that mini-review. (And isn’t “Flashlight Worthy” a great name?)
- And on Stacked — another cool blog name — Hereville is included in a list of mini-reviews:
A charming graphic novel for middle-graders about Mirka, an eleven-year-old Jewish Orthodox girl whose life goal is to fight dragons. In her quest to find a sword of her own, she disagrees with her siblings, breaks free from the standards imposed upon her by her stepmother, thwarts the wild pig who has been making her life miserable, and fights a six-legged troll. Deutsch’s illustrations are bold and simplistic, Mirka is feisty and spunky, and the book is a wonderful introduction to Jewish Orthodox traditions. A great transition book for fans of Babymouse and Fashion Kitty.
Thanks to writer Jen Petro-Roy!
- The ComicsAlliance Chanukah Gift List: 8 Nights of Jewish Comics. I’ve gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so honored (and humbled) by the company Hereville is listed with — other books listed include comics by R. Crumb, James Sturm, Will Eisner, and Rutu Modan, among others. Thanks to writer David Wolkin!
- And last but not even slightly least, Elizabeth Bird’s 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2010. And once again, Hereville is in really great company, including one of my favorite graphic novels of 2010, Meanwhile.
In the Ohio Jewish Chronicle, writer Pam Spence includes Hereville in a list of this year’s “great books for Chanukah gifting.”
Barry Deutsch’s graphic novel for the pre-teen set is one of the most unusual offerings we have seen recently. The heroine of this work is Mirka, an 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl who has her sights set on slaying a dragon — with a sword. Got your attention? Mirka’s stepmother, Fruma, insists that Mirka learn the “womanly arts” — like knitting — but Mirka has other ideas. Mirka’s sisters insist that Mirka curb her unruly behavior lest she compromise all of their chances of finding a suitable husband, but Mirka has other plans.
In comic book style, Deutsch has nevertheless created a fully developed, complex character in Mirka who combats fantasy dragons as well as the dragons of real life: school yard bullies, unresolved grief, and boundaries of faith and culture.
In a column on books for kids, JT News (“The Voice of Jewish Washington”) gives Hereville a very nice mention.
For older readers (9 and up) comes the engaging and exciting graphic novel Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Portland graphic artist Barry Deutsch (Abrams, cloth, $15.95). While it features Orthodox characters in an Orthodox Jewish town, this book does not belong to the sub-genre of books aimed at only Orthodox readers.
Featuring “yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl,” Deutsch appeals to almost any reader with his heroine Mirka. She just wants to do something a little different, but ends up involved with a witch and a talking pig. The author cleverly incorporates explanations of cultural and religious values, along with a little Yiddish, in this clever blend of fantasy and reality.
The writer was Diana Brement. Thanks, Diana!
Marjorie Ingall has included Hereville in her annual listing of the year’s best Jewish books for kids! There’s also a mini-review of Hereville:
Perfect throughout is Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch. It’s a very weird, confidently drawn graphic novel about an 11-year-old Orthodox girl who fervently wants to fight dragons. Mirka Herschberg lives in a tight-knit community in an unknown time and place where boys have payos and married women cover their hair, but where the woods are full of trolls and witches and humongous crazed pigs. I love that the stepmother in this book is good instead of evil, and I love that Deutsch really knows how to tell a story in his chosen medium. Characters burst free of their panels; the interplay of image and text is flawless; the entire book is kinetic and action-filled, but thoughtful too. A must for graphic-novel fans.
Thanks so much, Marjorie! Check out her full list to see what great company Hereville is in! |
If you are starting at a community college and plan to transfer to one of the universities below to complete a bachelor’s degree, then click on that university and find the transfer guide for the bachelor’s degree you intend to complete. The transfer guide will tell you what courses to take at the community college as part of your associate’s degree that will transfer and apply to the bachelor’s degree requirements at the university.
Adams State University (updated 12/12/2013)
Colorado Mesa University (updated 1/23/2014)
Colorado School of Mines (updated 12/10/2009)
Colorado State University (updated 7/8/2014)
Colorado State University-Global Campus (updated 8/22/2012)
Colorado State University-Pueblo (updated 7/8/2014)
Fort Lewis College (updated 8/25/2014)
Metropolitan State University of Denver (updated 10/23/2013)
University of Colorado-Boulder (updated 7/2/2014)
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (updated 2/21/2014)
University of Colorado-Denver (updated 8/27/2010)
University of Northern Colorado (updated 7/2/2014)
Western State Colorado University (updated 8/19/2013)
Please note that these links will redirect to the institution's website. The Department of Higher Education does not maintain the content of these transfer guides. |
Michael Baigent has written an interesting and provocative book Racing Toward Armageddon. In it, he has portrayed the differing and yet similar obsessions that parts of the three major monotheistic religions have about the end of days. All three, Christianity, Judaism and Islam have seen over the past decades a significant growth in those within their religions who believe in a future messianic period heralded by great changes and in two of the cases a great battle.
Baigent starts with Judaism, which is different, then the others in that its fundamentalist does not discuss any great battles that will precede a new era, they merely want to rebuild Judaism ancient temple in Jerusalem. Of course to do that they need to destroy the mosques currently are built there, thus in there own way bringing about the holy war that the other religions talk about.
The religion that has the most developed view of an apocalyptical future is the fundamentalist Christians. They inspire their views from the last book of the New Testament- the Book of Revelations. In it, a future battle is foretold that takes place after the Jews return to their land- hence the support of many Christian fundamentalist for Israel. They have even concluded the location of the battle- Megiddo- located in the Jezreell Valley of Israel. That battle which will be the ultimate battle between good and evil will presage the return of Jesus. One of the frightening statistics that Baigent cites is that 58% of Americans say that they believe in these teachings. I am not sure that I buy that statistic, but even if the number is much lower, it is unsettling. Baigent also posits that over the last generation a number of Presidents have also been believers in some or all the fundamentalist worldviews. Biagent claims that both President Reagan and both Presidents Bush subscribe or subscribed to the fundamentalist worldview.
In some way even more frightening is Baigents description on the developing views within Islam toward an Armageddon like event. Among Shiite’s there are growing numbers of believers who believe in the coming if the 12th imam the final successor to Mohamed. His arrival according to the believers will be preceded by a great final battle. What is truly frightening about this is that one of most well known believers in this theory is the President of Iran, a man who is leading his countries relentless quest for nuclear weapons.
Racing Toward Armageddon is an engaging book. While I do not fully agree with the basic premise of the book: that these fundamentalist beliefs will inevitably lead the world toward Armageddon, it is clearly a book worth reading. |
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Seattle Neighborhoods: Green Lake -- Thumbnail History
HistoryLink.org Essay 2227
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In September 1855, surveyor David Phillips hacked his way through bushes to the muddy banks of a small lake north of Seattle's Lake Union, and found a tired, postglacial lake. His team entered the name Green Lake into their field logs, which eventually reached their employer, the Surveyor General of the United States. Their late summer visit coincided with the appearance of seasonal algae blooms and may explain the name they entered on the survey map. Area visitors have been talking about the foul smelling green stuff for the past 80 years.
The Green Lake neighborhood is contained within four of the one square mile sections surveyed by Phillips, with the Lake occupying a centerfold significance. Bounded on the west by the east slope of Phinney Ridge, on the north by N 85 Street, on the east by the I-5 corridor, and with a southern extension to N 50th Street, many of its 16,000 residents occupy 1920s-era houses originally owned by working class residents. The area had humble beginnings.
Green Lake John
In 1869, Erhart Seifried (1832-1899), a bachelor German immigrant, paddled across the Lake to the northeast shore and sank his shovel into a 132-acre homestead claim, becoming the first white settler in the area. He became known as Green Lake John. "Green Lake John" and later his wife Eltien mingled with Indians who had known the area for generations. The couple cleared a dense stand of trees and planted an orchard.
Other homesteaders arrived to claim and to prove up on the free land made available by the Homestead Act of 1862. Speculators, with more money than brawn, took up much of the land. An eastern businessman, Charles Waters, for example, held a 179 acre stand of timber at the southwest corner of the lake, which Guy Phinney (1852-1893) would purchase in 1889 and transform into a menagerie he called Woodlands, or Woodland Park (in 2000, Woodland Park Zoo).
The Choicest Suburb
Although the original land grab was over by the mid-1870s, population growth did not start until Seattle’s population boom in the late 1880s forced a northward and southward expansion beyond the city limits. Green Lake, like so many suburbs, owes its start to the cross-town trolley that enabled people to easily get to the area. In 1891, entrepreneurs E. C. Kilbourne (1856-1958) and future Seattle mayor William D. Wood (1858-1917) extended the trolley line from Fremont around the eastern shore of the lake to a terminus at the northwestern shore, near the present (2000) Bathhouse Theater. Not surprisingly, both men owned large tracts of raw land, which they logged, platted, and sold off as individual 30 x 100 foot lots at prices ranging from $50 to $200. Display advertising appeared in Seattle newspapers promising, “Green Lake will be Seattle’s choicest suburb.”
That same year, 1891, Green Lake annexed itself to the city. Wood had bought out Seifried’s holdings in 1887 for $15,000 and moved into the farmer’s unadorned, pioneer style home. Kilbourne and other business associates chose more lofty sites on which to build expensive homes, above the southeast end of the lake.
The Olmsted Touch
The panic of 1893 temporarily halted development of what was now the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. Four years later, gold was discovered in the Klondike, bringing renewed prosperity to the region and a new growth cycle to Green Lake. With city coffers full again, Seattle visionaries hired the Olmsted Brothers, an eastern landscape architecture firm, to design a 20-mile long necklace of parks and boulevards traversing the city. Green Lake was to become one of the pearls. However, by 1903, the year the Olmsted master plan was approved by the Seattle City Council, settlement had reached to the shoreline, providing little opportunity to expand the park. Therefore, in 1911 John Olmsted called for a lowering of the Lake, which added 100 acres of dry land. Olmsted also designed zoological gardens for Phinney’s estate, which the city had purchased from the Scotsman’s widow in 1899.
In the mid-1910s, weekend excursions to Green Lake were popular among Seattleites who wanted to escape the stifling air of the city. With such exposure, by 1920 little real estate remained undeveloped. The area boasted five elementary schools, a Carnegie library, churches, and a well-established business district. The Green Lake neighborhood had become a place in which to live, to work, and to play.
Algae and Itch
But civilization was taking its toll on the lake itself. Tree cutting, homesteading, elimination of the natural flushing of the Lake, and other human activities during the past century have hastened Green Lake’s natural geological succession to a bog and then meadowland. Lake goers have intervened in this process for the past 80 years. Verdant algae blooms, foul odors, and swimmers’ itch have plagued residents and visitors since the time of Olmsted’s vision. In 1921, Seattle’s health department closed the beaches and ordered water to be diverted into the Lake from two nearby reservoirs. Another closure five years later inspired creative, but ultimately rejected plans to convert Green Lake to a salt water lake, to drain the Lake and scrape away the millennia of muck bottom, or to strategically place an enormous aerating fountain. Instead, more reservoir water poured from the reservoirs into the Lake, and chemical algae retardants made their first appearance. A depression era dredging operation and yet more chemicals followed. Despite these efforts, algae and more recently, milfoil weed, continue to thrive.
Motor Boats and Fireworks
Although the Lake has been abused, it has also proven irresistible to people and their water born activities. Outboard motor racing became a national sport in the 1930s, and its small size and placid waters made Green Lake an ideal race course. But as speeds increased with larger engines, so did the noise and the crowds. In the 1980s, Green Lake residents had finally had enough and convinced the Park Board to ban hydroplane racing altogether. The same fate befell an annual 4th of July fireworks celebration, as well as the Bite of Seattle, a popular eating and entertainment event that, after three years, was banished from the ball fields south of the community center.
Quieter activities have prevailed. A seasonal ballet of shells and oarsmen has sliced the calm Green Lake waters since the 1940s, bringing regattas to Seattle that decide national championships in both women’s and men’s competitions.
The Aqua Theatre
In 1950, an open air stadium, the Aqua Theatre, opened on the Lake’s south shore to sellout crowds who came to see the Aqua Follies and Summer Opera Company productions such as Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, and South Pacific. Seattle fell in love with national luminaries such as Bob Hope, Bert Parks, and Gizele MacKenzie, who performed there under the stars (and under the rain clouds). The love affair with the Aqua Theatre lasted into the mid-1960s.
Seattle’s recent population growth has placed an increasing burden on Green Lake Park, now the busiest in the state at more than one million visitors a year. Walkers, joggers, skateboarders, in-line skaters, and bicyclists began to make competing demands on the narrow trail circling the Lake that was first asphalted in 1970. The new “speedway” brought increasing complaints and liability claims against the city as speedsters and heads-in-the-trees walkers clashed and crashed into one another. This led to a plan to widen and revamp the trail and to introduce a courtesy code. A boondoggle to many, the $2.6 million project was completed in 1997, improving safety, usability, and courtesy by Seattle citizens.
Coots, Widgeons, Willows
For many, Green Lake represents the soul of the surrounding neighborhood. The loss of a tree to disease or to the wind becomes a personal event. Threats to resident waterfowl bring vocal outrage. And efforts by area residents and friends to keep the ancient lake from dying remain ongoing. A spectacular late summer blue-green algae bloom in 1999 closed the Lake once again, bringing people together to discuss old solutions and propose new ones.
Despite many studies, biologists do not yet completely understand the complex, nutrient-rich ecosystem, which increasingly strains under human-influenced conditions. But like a dying matriarch, which often draws a family closer together, an aging Green Lake, born during the final retreat of the massive Vashon ice sheet eleven millennia ago, binds together the North Seattle community that is loving it to death.
Board of Park Commissioners, Annual Report (Seattle: Board of Park Commissioners, 1903); Don Sherwood file (unpublished histories of Seattle parks), Seattle Public Library; Cadestral survey field notes and plats for Oregon and Washington (Micofiche M-3066), University of Washington Library, Seattle; Green Lake News, November 26, 1903; Sidney Berland, "The Aqua Theater," Columbia, (Fall 1997), pp. 14-17; Seattle Parks and Recreation Archives, Seattle Municipal Archives.
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Green Lake, east side, Seattle, May 2000
Photo by Priscilla Long
Map showing location of Green Lake
Map by Chris Goodman
Bathing beach at Green Lake, 1930s
Biking along Green Lake, 1940s
Aerial view of Green Lake, Seattle, 1950s
E. C. Kilbourne (1856-1959)
William D. Wood (1858-1917), ca. 1906
Aqua Theatre at Green Lake, July 20, 1961
Green Lake, May 2000
Photo by Priscilla Long |
Long Before 1984 There Was We
"Tomorrow I'll see the same sight that's repeated from one year to the next, bringing new excitement each time: the mighty chalice of harmony, the people's arms reverently uplifted. Tomorrow is the day for the annual election of the Benefactor. Tomorrow we once more place the keys to the unshakeable fortress of our happiness into the hands of the Benefactor."
The words could have come from a public information minister in Iraq, but didn't. No, those are the words of the protagonist of a novel set in the future, in the twenty-sixth century, in the standardized land of OneState, but one that was written well before anyone had ever heard of Saddam Hussein.
The passage continues,"It goes without saying that this has no resemblance to the disorderly, unorganized elections in ancient times, when -- it's hard to say this with a straight face -- they couldn't even tell before the election how it would come out. To establish a state on the basis of absolutely unpredictable randomness blindly -- could there be anything more idiotic?"
The voice is that of the narrator D-503, in We, the dsytopian novel written by Yevgeny Zamyatin, a Russian naval architect who completed his masterpiece in 1921. We was soon translated into the languages of the world, yet not published in Zamyatin's homeland until 1988.
Zamyatin (1884-1937) had the honor, if it could be called that, of being exiled by both the tsarist and the Stalinist regimes. Concerned with the surrendering of the individual to some monstrous collective utopia of technology, in many ways, Zamyatin's work appeared before its time. In fact, George Orwell acknowledged his debt to Zamyatin for providing the inspiration to write 1984.
In We, D-503, a true believer, in reflecting on the election of the Benefactor of OneState, goes on,"I don't suppose it's necessary to say that here, as in everything else, we have no place for randomness; there can't be any surprises. And even the elections amount to little more than symbolism, to remind us that we are one, powerful, million-celled organism, that we are in the words of the ancient 'Gospel,' one Church. Because the history of OneState does not know of a single instance when so much as one voice dared to violate the majestic unison of that glorious day."
D-503 remarks that somehow, inexplicably, people in the past actually used to want to carry out elections in secret, and he is at a loss as to understand why:
"But we have nothing to hide or be ashamed of; we celebrate our elections openly, honestly, in the daylight. I see how everybody votes for the Benefactor and everybody sees how I vote for the Benefactor. And how else could it be, since everybody and I add up to one We? How much more uplifting, sincere, lofty this is than the cowardly, thievish 'secret' of the ancients! And how much more expedient it is, too. Because even if you suppose the impossible, by which I mean some kind of dissonance in our usual monophony, you've still got the concealed Guardians right there in our ranks ready at a moment's notice to stop any Numbers that might have gotten out of line and save them from making any other false steps -- as well as save OneState from them."
Unlike Orwell and Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, Zamyatin's work, his novels, stories and essays, have not received anywhere near the same recognition. The reason, rather simple: Orwell and Huxley published freely in the democratic West, while Zamyatin's writing was suppressed under the Stalinist regime, despite the fact that his first book, A Provincial Tale, published in 1913, was hailed by opponents of the tsar.
Part of the irony is that Zamyatin was an early member of the Bolshevik Party, one who was arrested in 1905 and exiled by the regime of Nicholas II. He returned to live illegally in St. Petersburg for a time, spent some time in Finland, and then was once again arrested and exiled.
Zamyatin returned to Russia, from England where he had been supervising the construction of icebreakers at a shipyard, with the coming of the October Revolution, which he supported wholeheartedly. His articles were published in Socialist newspapers under the name of M. Platonov and he even went on to lecture on writing at the"House of Arts," which was founded by the writer Maxim Gorky in Petrograd.
To his great dismay, however, Zamyatin soon found that his work would not be published by the leaders of the new regime which he had supported. The problem was that Zamyatin was never able to recognize that while he supported the principles and precepts of the revolution, criticizing the policies of Lenin's government was not acceptable, much less that of his successor Stalin, to put it mildly. As a result, Zamyatin soon found his works banned, his previously published works even removed from libraries.
Zamyatin lived his final years in poverty in Paris, where he settled in exile with his wife in 1932. He never relinquished his dream of returning to the land of his birth, a hope which was not to be fulfilled.
So, as hands are unanimously raised to the Benefactor in We, and Saddam Hussein predictably receives 100 percent of the vote in a referendum to rule for another seven years, one wonders about the unknown scribblings, the stories and novels that may have been written in Baghdad but as of yet not been discovered by those at home or abroad. Although one voice may echo through the halls in public, what's thought and said in hidden quarters can tell quite a different story, and often does.
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TC - 11/21/2002
In my opinion Alger is less "obsessed" by Saddamand Iraqthan are you by "Republicans" and "massive brainwashing." Iraq is a germane topic now and Iraq is in no way, shape or form the most "inspected" nation in the world; if it was the present crisis would not be happening. Yes I am a Republican and I support the President. No, I am not a brainwashed moron thank you.
TC - 11/21/2002
I had never heard of Zamyatin, but he sounds prophetic. The quotes that Alger uses from Zamyatin sound as if they could have been written by a contemporary observer of early twenty-first century America.
I always liked More's "Utopia" more than "1984." Although my opinion is most likely in the minority I thought that "Animal Farm" was a more enjoyable read than the tome on Big Brother.
Gus Moner - 11/12/2002
An otherwise interesting tale was spoilt by the use of Iraq and Saddam as examples. Why this obsession with Saddam in a piece about a literary precursor to 1984?
With al the crackpot dictators about, spread the criticism! Many threats are more immediately lethal (read N. Korea), and many other dangers are lurking, for example, in the ex-USSR. Why the fixation on the most observed and inspected man and nation?
Every evil thing, concept or deed seems comparable to Saddam or Iraq; this obsession seems the result of the massive brainwashing by the media and the Republicans. Ever more this sort of discourse seems to cast its shadow over all the land. Have we lost sight of the rest of the planet? If you want good examples of Benefactor worship akin to 1984 and We, Pyongyang, in my opinion, has the best. |
Peter Berkowitz: Conservative Survival in a Progressive Age
Mr. Berkowitz, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, is the author of "Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government and Political Moderation," forthcoming from the Hoover Institution Press in February. This op-ed is adapted from the book's conclusion.
Political moderation is a maligned virtue. Yet it has been central to American constitutionalism and modern conservatism. Such moderation is essential today to the renewal of a conservatism devoted to the principles of liberty inscribed in the Constitution—and around which both social conservatives and libertarians can rally.
"It is a misfortune, inseparable from human affairs, that public measures are rarely investigated with that spirit of moderation which is essential to a just estimate of their real tendency to advance or obstruct the public good," observed James Madison in Federalist No. 37. The challenge, Madison went on to explain, is more sobering still because the spirit of moderation "is more apt to be diminished than promoted by those occasions which require an unusual exercise of it."
In a similar spirit, and in the years that Americans were declaring independence and launching a remarkable experiment in self-government, Edmund Burke sought to conserve in Great Britain the conditions under which liberty flourished. To this end, Burke exposed the error of depending on abstract theory for guidance in practical affairs. He taught the supremacy in political life of prudence, or the judgment born of experience, bound up with circumstances and bred in action. He maintained that good policy and laws must be fitted to the people's morals, sentiments and opinions. He demonstrated that in politics the imperfections of human nature must be taken into account even as virtue and the institutions of civil society that sustain it must be cultivated. And he showed that political moderation frequently counsels rejecting the path of least resistance and is sometimes exercised in defending principle against majority opinion....
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Gordon Brown: A Historian in Office
In 1986, Brown published a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician, James Maxton, a major figure in his dissertation. His subsequent books include Where There Is Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain's Future (1989), Fair is Efficient: A Socialist Agenda for Fairness (1994), and Speeches, 1997-2006 (2006). Brown's Courage: Eight Portraits, with sketches of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Edith Cavell, Nelson Mandela, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi, Cicely Saunders, and Raoul Wallenberg, will be published next month. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.
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Nine scary bird attacks that really happened
posted at 5:31 pm on December 29, 2012 by Mary Katharine Ham
Yeah, I’m goofing around, but it’s the week after Christmas! And, the dismal suspense of the fiscal cliff isn’t enough to keep me going.
Last week’s Eagle-Steals-Baby viral video, which turned out to be a hoax, was an expression of a pretty common tall tale or legend. The Globe and Mail, in the country that brought us the hoax video, explains:
Stories about eagles carrying off people, especially small children, go back centuries and are found all over the world. In fact, the student’s digital prank is not the first film hoax of an eagle carrying off a baby; no less than Thomas Edison made an early film that depicted an eagle carrying off a baby, as did other early filmmakers. There are also drawings and paintings of eagles attacking children and scores of stories from all over the world with the same motif: It seems to be a falsehood we are compelled to return to.
Last week was an occasion for local wildlife experts to intone on the evening news about just how little danger your infants are in of imminent carrying off by birds of prey. I say pish-posh to all that quelling of fears. Let the panic begin!
Hence, my exhaustive search for bird attacks that really happened. There are two relatively famous American accounts of small children being carried away by large birds. Treated as credible in the cryptozoology community, your mileage may vary. First a newspaper report from the New York Herald-Tribune in 1929:
Somerset, Ky., Sept. 22— George Meece, eight years old, today narrowly escaped death from an attack of a bald eagle which swooped down to the hill on which he and four companions were playing, seized him by his overalls and took him about twenty feet into the air before dropping him. In falling, the boy, who weighs fifty pounds, landed on his head and was stunned. According to the boys, the eagle had about a ten-foot spread of wings. It is thought the shouts of Meece’s playmates frightened the bird and caused it to drop the lad.
The Somerset newspaper has since done enough research to determine the story originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and was misreported in the Herald-Tribune version. In the original account, it was the more plausible 35-lb Jim Meece who was picked up, with George among his watching playmates. Descendants of the Meeces believe the story.
The story of the 1977 Lawndale, Illinois Thunderbird had several witnesses, but resulted in not much other than ridicule for its purported victim, Marlon Lowe. Lowe’s family and several neighbors were at a summer cook-out when they report having seen the 10-year-old carried for a short distance by a giant bird that roughly fit the description of an Andean condor. Andean condors can have 10-ft wingspans but are South American and mostly scavengers. Lowe and his mother have stayed true to the story, however, retelling it for a Discovery Channel special in 1997, which is where I first heard about it.
Now, onto more recent attacks and mishaps at the hands of beautiful birds of prey.
Australia, 2007: Paraglider escapes death at hands of killer eagles: (Reported by Reuters)
Britain’s top female paraglider has cheated death after being attacked by a pair of “screeching” wild eagles while competition flying in Australia.
Nicky Moss, 38, watched terrified as two huge birds began tearing into her parachute canopy, one becoming tangled in her lines and clawing at her head 8,200 feet in the air.
“I heard screeching behind me and a eagle flew down and attacked me, swooping down and bouncing into the side of my wing with its claws,” Moss told Reuters this morning.
“Then another one appeared and together they launched a sustained attack on my glider, tearing at the wing.”
The encounter happened on Monday while Moss – a member of the British paragliding team – was preparing for world titles this month at Manilla in northern New South Wales state.
One of the giant wedge-tailed eagles became wrapped in the canopy lines and slid down toward Moss, lashing at her face with its talons as her paraglider plummeted towards the ground.
“It swooped in and hit me on the back of the head, then got tangled in the glider which collapsed it. So I had a very, very large bird wrapped up screeching beside me as I screamed back,” Moss said.
Moss said the attack ended after the second bird freed itself and the glider reached a height of only 100 meters from the ground, taking her outside the territory of the pair, who probably mistook her as a bird intruder.
Wedge-tailed eagles are Australia’s largest predatory birds.
Kazakhstan, 2009: Golden Eagle really doesn’t like the paparazzi
I verified this because the photo looked so incredible. The attack happened at a traditional eagle hunt on the steppe in Kazakhstan, where hunters are armed with Golden Eagles who search out small prey for them. One Golden Eagle did not appreciate his hunt being documented apparently and went after photographer Shamil Zhumatov.
Chicago, 2010: Billboard contractor slashed by red-tailed hawk (Reported by the Chicago Sun-Times)
Working on a billboard 60 feet in the air can be a hairy job — especially when a hawk dive-bombs into your head. Craig Busse, a 49-year-old Bartlett resident, would know.
Earlier this month, Busse was up on a catwalk preparing to change an advertisement on a billboard at Interstate 55 and Weber Road in Bolingbrook when he noticed a nest holding two baby hawks, as well as dead mice and rabbits without heads.
Busse moved to the other side of the board — away from the nest — and told co-workers: “Keep your eye out for the bird and move fast.”
Within minutes, a red-tailed hawk — apparently the mom — swooped down and flew full speed into Busse’s head as he knelt on the catwalk. The raptor’s talons sliced open the back of his head and left scratches around his ear.
“I felt like somebody punched me in the head,” said Busse, who went to the hospital for four stitches, a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
“You don’t realize how fast these birds are,” he said. “It shocks you. You’re 100 feet in the air and then next thing you know, you fall forward a little bit, and you’re like, what the hell?”
Luckily he was attached to a safety harness.
Philadelphia, 2000: Tourist attacked by hawk guarding Ben Franklin’s grave (Reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer)
On Friday, a red-tailed hawk, apparently guarding a nest high above the historic graveyard where five signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried, attacked an Ohio tourist.
On Thursday, an unidentified man reported that he was buzzed but not hurt by a similar hawk.
Police said both attacks occurred as each man stood in the upper levels of a six-story parking garage, just south of the Holiday Inn at Fourth and Arch Streets. “I’ve been attacked by one of your Philadelphia eagles,” Ray Thomes, 64, said on Friday night from Pennsylvania Hospital, where he received stitches on his left ear.
A stockbroker from Dayton visiting Philadelphia for the first time, Thomes said he had just parked his car and was on the top level of the garage shortly after 4 p.m., trying to pick out his hotel room window, when the bird attacked.
“It felt like somebody just slapped me on the side of the head,” he said.”I look over, and there’s this big bird sitting on the branch beside me.”
Thomes’ ear required six stitches, and he received a tetanus shot. He said he also had two talon marks on his head.
Boston, 2008: Hawk hates on young fan of America’s pastime (Reported in the Chicago Tribune)
A 13-year-old girl visiting Boston’s Fenway Park on a school trip Thursday was attacked by a resident red-tailed hawk that drew blood from her scalp. Alexa Rodriguez wasn’t seriously hurt.
California, 1992: It’s these golf shirts! She hates these golf shirts! (Reported by the Orange County Register)
Grohall said most golfers who have been attacked were wearing white shirts or white hats, and about three golfers per week have been attacked for the past several weeks.
“She comes down with her talons and kind of just takes a bite and swoops away,” Grohall said. “I had a playing lesson one day, and I was wearing white and the hawk started swooping, so we got out of there. ”
Grohall’s advice to those teeing off from No. 1: “I tell people to hook it off the tee. “
Scotland, 2012: Sheep farmers enraged by theft of lambs by sea eagles (Reported by the Glasgow Herald)
FARMERS and crofters up and down the west coast are increasingly complaining that sea eagles are taking their lambs.
Complaints were previously limited to isolated incidents, but the numbers have grown in recent months.
However, officials at Scottish Natural Heritage and the RSPB still insist sea eagle attacks on sheep and lambs are rare and not a recurring problem.
One crofter on Skye says he now keeps an almost sacrificial stock of sheep out on the hill to prevent the sea eagles coming lower down. Another says the huge birds of prey even try to take hoggs (young sheep) and leave them wounded.
Sea eagles are a close relative of bald eagles.
China, 2012: Revenge is a dish best served on a human’s head Take this one with a grain of salt bigger than a Thunderbird, reported by China Daily:
Two villagers in Muling county, Heilongjiang province, were attacked by a golden eagle several times within two years after they ate a young golden eagle, Heilongjiang Morning Post reported on Tuesday.
A golden eagle attacked a man named Yang for more than 20 minutes when he was harvesting wheat on Saturday morning. After Yang was helped into a police car, the golden eagle continued the attack, diving at the windshield and chasing the car for 700 meters, the report said.
Yang was badly injured in his face, neck and arms, but it was not the worst time he was injured by golden eagles, according to the report. In April 2011, when he was planting in the mountain, a golden eagle attacked him, cutting his head, and he got 21 stitches.
A fellow villager named Wu has also been attacked by the golden eagle several times since August 2010. In April 2011, he received gashes in his head and hands in an attack and piece of flesh was ripped from his forehead. Wu received more than 40 stitches to close his wounds from that attack, the report said. He moved out the village to avoid further attacks.
According to the report, Yang said they had stolen a young golden eagle from its nest and ate it in August 2010, because they heard that eating golden eagles could cure hemorrhoids. Villagers say the golden eagle is seeking revenge.
And, one for darkly comic effect.
Florida, 2002: Hawks traumatize Happiest Place on Earth with indiscriminate feasting on homing pigeons (Reported by the Sun-Sentinel)
Call it the circle of life — hungry hawks swooping in and devouring the pigeons released in a flourish at shows and weddings throughout Disney World.
The pigeons, used in shows such as Cinderella’s Surprise Celebration at the Magic Kingdom and Beauty and the Beast at Disney-MGM Studios, became sitting ducks when red-tailed hawks figured out they could count on an easy meal at the same time every day.
Disturbed by the thought of sending the birds to almost certain death, Disney this week stopped releasing the homing pigeons — ending a tradition that began about 30 years ago.
During the shows, the birds soared over the parks before returning to nearby roosts. It was during these flights that the defenseless birds were grabbed by the hawks’ sharp talons, Disney spokeswoman Diane Ledder said.
It was only recently that the savvy hawks began snatching the birds, Ledder said. No visitors complained about seeing the midair attacks, she added.
Red-tailed hawks, with their wingspread of about 50 inches, thrive in the undisturbed wilderness around the Disney parks, said Geri Hylander, education and volunteer program coordinator at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland.
Hylander said the hawks aren’t especially aggressive, but “they’re opportunistic.”
“When you release a group of birds like that,” she said of Disney’s pigeons, “it’s an invitation to a meal.”
The vast majority of birds of prey are law-abiding and won’t bother you if you don’t bother them, so I don’t think there’s any compelling reason to ban them despite these attacks. The Queensland newspaper in Australia, where apparently bird attacks are a big enough problem to write a piece on how to avoid them, suggests:
“You can also consider carrying an umbrella which can be raised to fend off a sustained attack, and if you’re riding a bike, getting off and walking can help reduce the chance of an attack.
“Don’t try to scare off the bird. Wildlife is protected and this type of action could lead to a more serious and sustained attack.”
Be careful out there, people.
Breaking on Hot Air |
A house is one of the basic necessities of a human being. They are made of different kinds of materials. Based on a person’s ability to construct a house, we can differentiate houses into so many types. Some of the traditional houses found around the world are as below:-
Suwon- This is a traditional Korean house with a heating system, or Ondol, on its base. The main feature of Ondol is the under floor heating system with mud on its top and stones below it. This type of house helps Koreans to keep their house warm during severe winter. Moreover, the entrance of the house will be made smaller. This will prevent the cold air coming into the house. How Ondol works? The heat from the stove in the kitchen goes through the pathway under the floor. This will light the Ondol on mornings and evenings, and the room temperature will remain at 15 degree Celsius. This helps them to sleep on the warm floor, even without wearing room socks.
Gel – This is one type of traditional nomad houses seen in Mongolia. These are transferable house. That means they will stick to a place till their domestic animals have enough food. The whole frame work of the house is covered with the white cloth filled with wool and hair of the domestic animals. Two main poles in the centre support the house. To protect themselves from the severe winter, Mongolians make a double cover on the ceiling.
Hakka Houses – These types of houses can be found in Fujian, China. A family named Hakka built houses with the hard soil walls. From that time onwards, the houses were known as Hakka houses. During the 12th and 13th century, Hakka family built such houses with hard wall to protect themselves from outsiders. Most of the Hakka houses are four storied and nearly hundreds of people are living together. It’s like one town house for the whole family with same last name.
Reed houses of Uros Tribe – This type of house can be seen in the Titicaca Lake of Peru. Reed houses are house of Uros tribes. They built their house with rootballs of the totora reeds. Each family brings one floating root block or quili. Then these quilis are tied together by rope and anchored by eucalyptus poles. To build the islands, many layers of reeds are interwoven on top of the quilis. This block the island from washed away. We can see nearly 50 artificial reed Islands made of floating reeds in the lake. It is estimated that about 2,000 Uros people lives in each reed island. The island, boats and houses are all made of reed.
Brick house of Berber Tribe – Berber tribes can be seen in the Sahara Desert of Morocco. Towards the southern part of the Morocco, we can see brick houses. To make brick houses they mix clay and water and put them into a mold and later dry under the sun. These sun dried bricks are pasted one over the other using the clay. Though such type of houses cannot withstand earthquakes, it can keep the room temperature at comfortable levels.
Water houses of Sabah fishermen- Most of the fishermen of Sabah of Borneo Island in Malaysia are living in the water village. They make the water village using the timber of mangrove tree. They are using the timber of mangrove tree, because it has the durability against the sea water.
It’s really interesting to know about the different types of materials people using for building their houses. I am fascinated about the type of houses people making all around the world. I am planning to search on websites connected with service from providers like Xfinity Internet to know more about the different building materials. |
This image from the Hubble Space Telescope CANDELS survey highlights the most distant galaxy in the universe with a definitively measured distance, dubbed z8_GND_5296. The galaxy's red color alerted astronomers that it was likely extremely far away, and thus seen at an early time after the Big Bang. A team of astronomers measured the exact distance using the Keck I telescope with the new MOSFIRE spectrograph. They found that this galaxy is seen at about 700 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was just 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years.
Object Names: z8_GND_5296, CANDELS/GOODS-N field
Image Type: Astronomical/Illustration |
Four Primary Hydroponic Growing Methods
In a soil garden, plants are rooted in the soil and draw nutrients from it. In hydroponics, a nutrient rich solution is fed directly to the plant roots. In some hydroponic growing systems an inert growing medium, such as perlite, rockwool or expanded clay pebbles is used in place of soil. These growing mediums are porous and absorb the nutrient solution, allowing the plants to use it as needed.
In other hydroponic systems, like the NFT system, no growing medium is used and the plant roots are suspended in a grow channel.
The four most common methods of hydroponic gardening include
I think that we can all remember the feeling of eager anticipation a childhood Christmas morning. The rush to the packages. The tearing of paper. The elation of seeing that one incredible toy you had coveted for the preceding 12 months, lying there before you. The utter devastation brought on by three small, heartbreaking words-“Batteries. Not. Included.”
The day your new hydroponics kit arrives is much like Christmas, regardless of the time of year. The same devastation can arrive with your kit as arrived with that awesome batteryless toy on that long ago Christmas morning, if you haven’t done your homework!
The key to a happy day and a quick start to your hydroponics growing is to make sure that the kit you decide on is complete. A complete kit will include the following equipment: lighting, reservoir, pump, growing chamber or tray, delivery system, and a timer. It will also include your nutrients, growing media, mesh pots, and possibly a means of testing pH. Read the description carefully, ask your vendor questions, and make sure that all these components arrive at your home at about the same time to avoid the anxiety of needing “one more part!” before starting your system up.
Before you even order your system there are several things to consider. The list runs something like this- “What do you want to grow? How much do you want to grow? How much space do you have available? How much do you have to spend on the project? How much time do you have to spend operating and maintaining your system?”
The answers to this first list of questions will lead you to another set, but fear not! The answers to the first questions will inform some of the answers to the next questions. The round two questions will run like this- “What kind of lighting will I use? What kind of venting and heat dissipation will be required? What type of system will I use? What growing media will I use? What nutrients will I need?”
In my case, I want to grow vegetables, salad greens, and herbs. I am not a sport fisherman, although I don’t frown upon it. I fish to eat, and to me, flowers and ornamentals are like catch and release gardening (please don’t tell my wife I said that!). I want a maximum yield in a minimum space with little in the way of maintenance and operating time. So I am going to look at an ebb and flow system with High Intensity Discharge lighting capable of using both High Pressure sodium and Metal Halide bulbs. This lighting scheme provides the flexibility to maximize growth at both vegetative and fruiting stages, while the ebb and flow system is simple to operate and low on maintenance. Remember though, there are other lighting options and there are at least five other types of hydroponics systems.
Your needs may be different than mine, so be sure to do your homework ahead of time. With a little planning and research, the day your kit arrives can be the day your system goes into operation. Just don’t forget the batteries!
Listed below are some of the common kits available to get you started. |
I am studying Matthew, and came to 11:6:
και μακαριος εστιν ος εαν μη σκανδαλισθη εν εμοι
This is my first time seeing εν used to mean cause. I am trying to learn more about this usage, and more generally, how to search for grammatical patterns/structures/uses of meaning. I know how to search for morphological codes and specific English translations from a Greek word (e.g. εν translated to "because," but that search is too specific--I want to make sure there are not other structures with εν that mean "because" yet do not use the word "because; or εν translated to NOT "in" AND NOT "with," etc. etc., but that search is too broad--there are over 2000 uses of εν ), but I do not know how to search for... I don't know what they are called (which is part of my problem)--"clausal structures"?
I have an intermediate NT Greek grammar (Daniel B. Wallace) and he says εν can be used:
b. With Dative
• Spatial: on, upon, against, at, near
• Temporal: at, at the time of, during
• Cause: on the basis of
(Wallace, Daniel B. (2009-05-18). The Basics of New Testament Syntax: An Intermediate Greek Grammar (Kindle Locations 3545-3546). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.)
How can I search for or learn more about εν used in that third way (so that I can accurately understand what Jesus meant by "stumbled/offended εν me"--why did He use εν instead of some other structure of "because"? Which translation is most accurate--"in," "on account of," or "because"?)?
26:33 is another use, but it's so similar that it's not as helpful as a different context would be. Moreover, I am trying to figure out if stumble/offense is the only idea used with εν/because.
(26:33 αποκριθεις δε ο πετρος ειπεν αυτω ει παντες σκανδαλισθησονται εν σοι εγω [δε] ουδεποτε σκανδαλισθησομαι)
Thank you so much
ps I am not a student, not a pastor, haven't taken Greek courses--this is just my daily reading--but am willing to do what it takes to understand this. Thanks again. |
Some Idaho lawmakers are looking to put new limits on urban renewal districts, which are special taxing areas that divert some property tax dollars from traditional areas such as schools and local government to fund development and business projects.
Several lawmakers got a dose about the potential problems of urban renewal at a presentation by Randall O’Toole with the Cato Institute that was sponsored by the Idaho Freedom Foundation. O’Toole said he doesn’t think urban renewal is necessary and can harm cities efforts to grow.
Any city or county in Idaho has the power to start an urban renewal district. There are 65 in Idaho, by O’Toole’s count. The district chooses land it considers a blight or underdeveloped. It then figures out the property tax value of the land and caps that amount to go to traditional taxing districts. Any added property taxes in subsequent years then go to the urban renewal district in an effort to develop that land. Usually districts get bonds for those future tax collections to start improvement projects.
Urban renewal districts don’t directly lead to property tax hikes, but as the districts develop and require more local government services, such as schools or police protection, the burden to pay for those costs is shifted to property outside the urban renewal district.
O’Toole said across Idaho, urban renewal districts bring in $50 million a year for development and that much of that money is going into the pockets of developers. He singled out Post Falls in north Idaho, which has six urban renewal districts that make up 30 percent of the city’s land.
“It’s clear they’re just creating districts all over the place, and developers are saying ‘we’re not going to develop unless you give us a new district and give us more subsidies,’” O’Toole said. “Although urban renewal is supposed to be good for the economic growth of the city, it actually does more harm for the city.”
The Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency says on its website that it has created nearly 3,000 jobs thanks to its funding, which has improved the city’s infrastructure. In a short marketing video funded by the agency, several business leaders praise the urban renewal system.
“The urban renewal district in the state of Idaho is the best tool that we’ve had to try to develop all commercial ground,” Bruce Cyr, property manager of Riverbend Commerce Park, says in the video.
Some lawmakers say the power of urban renewal needs to be curbed. “There appears to be some momentum to make some changes,” said Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, who attended O’Toole’s presentation and said he’s still learning about urban renewal.
“It was music to my ears to find out it was bothering other people besides me and people in my district,” said Sen. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian. She said she couldn’t predict if the Senate would take action on urban renewal, but that the House could.
Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, who leads the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee, said any legislation would likely need to start in the House and that he’s not sure how the Senate would act. “I know, like everyone in the state knows, that there’s some interest in that,” he said. Stegner said he’s aware of the criticism but doesn’t want to get rid of urban renewal districts.
O’Toole recommended some new limits, including requiring a popular vote to create or expand an urban renewal district and limiting the amount of property taxes that can go to urban renewal. Other ideas being discussed in the Statehouse include limiting how many years urban renewal districts can issue bonds for future tax revenues.
O’Toole said he will be releasing a detailed study on Idaho’s urban renewal districts with his full recommendations next week.
Note: IdahoReporter.com is published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
- /wp-content/uploads/2011/01/OToole.jpg, /wp-content/uploads/2011/01/OToole.jpg
- Image Caption:
- Randall O'Toole with the Cato Institute, Randall O'Toole with the Cato Institute |
Brooklyn, New York
"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."
- Michael Jordan
Where to begin, six (count 'em 6) NBA championships and more regular season and playoff MVP awards than we can count. Offense, defense he did it all. Michael Jordan owns more records than Imelda Marcos owns shoes! Not to mention having his own line of shoes -- what young man didn't want a pair of Air Jordans at some point in his life!
Michael Jordan BiographyMichael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, but his family decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina when he was still a toddler. Michael Jordan is the fourth of five children, having two older brothers and an older and younger sister. Michael Jordan's dad worked hard at an electric plant while his mom labored full-time at a bank. Michael Jordan's parents worked hard to provide him and his siblings with a comfortable lifestyle.
As a child, Michael Jordan played baseball, basketball and football. His preferred sport at the time was baseball, but after he began spending a lot of time on the basketball court, his outlook changed. Because his older and taller brother, Larry, continuously kept beating him when they played one-on-one, he was determined to become a better player.
Ironically, in 1978, when Michael Jordan attended Laney High School in Wilmington, he was cut from the varsity team. Instead of giving up, however, he fought through adversity and became the greatest basketball player in the world.
Between the 10th and 11th grade, Jordan grew from 5'11" to 6'3", and because he had improved greatly as a player, he made the varsity team the following year. Michael Jordan played so well in his junior season that he was invited to attend the Five-Star Camp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the summer before his senior year.
By the time Michael Jordan finished his senior year at Laney, he had grown to 6'5" and attained a basketball scholarship from the University of North Carolina. Michael Jordan's ever-growing popularity began at UNC, where he made a last-minute game-winning shot in the NCAA championship game.
michael jordan in the olympicsIn the summer of 1984, Michael Jordan played on the U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team under head coach Bobby Knight. The team had such college players as Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin (NBA players weren't allowed to compete in the Games until 1992). Michael Jordan's plays quickly awed the other teams as he led the team in scoring with an average of 17.1 points per game. Two months after the Olympics, Michael Jordan played his first regular-season game with the Chicago Bulls.
michael jordan in the nbaMichael Jordan immediately proved that he belonged in the big leagues, and his acrobatic moves and hang-time won him the infamous nickname Air Jordan. His basketball skills and allure made him the perfect key figure to market both Nike products and the NBA.
Michael Jordan led the Bulls to three consecutive World Championships (1991, 1992 and 1993). He retired from the NBA preceding the 1993/94 season after the mysterious death of his father and after rumors about his gambling addictions began to circulate.
michael jordan plays baseball with the chicago white sox After proving that he was the best basketball player in the world, Michael Jordan sought a new challenge and decided to try his hand at professional baseball. He played outfielder for the Birmingham Barons, affiliates of the Chicago White Sox. Michael Jordan quickly realized that he was not cut out for baseball after a disappointing season.
In 1995, Michael Jordan made a surprise return to basketball right before the playoffs, but the Bulls unfortunately lost the Championship. In 1996, Michael Jordan led the Bulls to their best regular season record and the fourth Championship title in six years. He also took a shot at the silver screen, where he starred alongside Bugs Bunny in the animated comedy Space Jam.
Michael Jordan decided to retire after winning his last Championship in 1999, mainly due to his decision to dedicate his life to his wife Juanita and their three children, Jeffrey, Marcus and Jasmine.
michael jordan returns to the nbaAfter partly returning to the game as president of basketball operations with the Washington Wizards (he owned a stake in the team), Michael Jordan announced his return to the NBA, this time, as a Wizard. Michael Jordan might have been back, but in 2002 he suffered a knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for the rest of the season, and experienced stormy wedded bliss when wife Juanita announced her desire to file for divorce (they reconciled briefly, but officially filed for divorce in December 2006).
michael jordan retiresMichael Jordan's final NBA game was on April 16, 2003, in Philadelphia. Michael Jordan scored only 13 points in the game and went to the bench with four minutes and 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter and with his team trailing. Just after the start of the fourth quarter, the crowd began chanting "We want Mike!" After much encouragement from his coach, Michael Jordan finally rose from the bench and re-entered the game with 2:35 minutes remaining. At the end of the game, Michael Jordan received a three-minute standing ovation from his teammates, his opponents and a crowd of 21,257 fans.
Michael Jordan was one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He has been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI. An academic study found that Michael Jordan’s return to NBA resulted in an increase in the market capitalization of his client firms of over $1 billion. |
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The authors describe and apply a reliability evaluation approach for comparison of the reliability respectively availability of different types of HVDC converter stations taken into account limited statistical data, insufficient information, and differences in technology. To overcome these difficulties the idea of MIL-HDBK-217F ("Part Count Reliability Prediction"), established for electronic and microelectronic devices based on "well-defined" components and well-known base failure rates, is applied in a similar sense to HVDC converter stations. Nevertheless, differences of such two distinct areas have been considered. The components in electric power stations are usually custom designed, and can be regarded as abstract units (macro components with possibly different technology, structure and protection), therefore, statistical data can be very limited due to data complication and compilation. The described approach is not only restricted to the described HVDC converter stations but can be regarded as a (extensible) procedure for similar problems, especially in early design stage. |
Flour tortillas are popular in northern Mexico and in many parts of the U.S. They are easy to make and require no special equipment.
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How To Make Homemade Flour Tortillas
Flour tortillas are the very popular dish in North Mexico and other parts of U.S. You can easily make this flour tortillas at home as no special equipment is required. Check out the video for more detail.
Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe, How To Make Homemade Flour Tortillas |
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