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- Residential Market - Light Commercial Market - Commercial Market - Indoor Air Quality - Components & Accessories - Residential Controls - Commercial Controls - Testing, Monitoring, Tools - Services, Apps & Software - Standards & Legislation - EXTRA EDITION But is the future bright for other young people coming into the HVAC trade - if there are enough young people coming into the trade? According to Renee Fiorelli of Peterson Service Co. Inc., Medford, N.J., “The future can be summed up in the following: increased use of computerized tools and diagnostic systems, the lack of skilled labor going into the trade, more time should be spent educating the kids in high school, and the apprenticeship program should complete with an accredited degree.” Attracting young labor probably will continue to be an Achilles’ heal for the HVAC trade. “It is not easy being a young person in this very demanding industry,” said 33-year-old Tim Schires of Air Associates Inc., Sussex, Wis. “It is especially difficult when you are the level of someone who should be in their 40s or 50s. “The obstacles us young guys face today certainly differ from those of past generations. The industry moves at a much faster pace, with technology changing daily.” Changing technology may be the real key to bringing in future generations of HVAC owners and managers. It will take more than lip service. “The future of the industry lacks good, qualified employees,” said Aaron Ollinger of Chuck Ollinger Plumbing and Heating, Erie, Pa. “I would like to be involved in a mentor program geared toward the younger generation, to let them truly see the opportunities present in the trades. When I was in high school, the tech school kids were looked down upon. “We need to present the whole picture to kids - let them know that being a skilled technician is a desirable career. I think that tech schools should also incorporate the business basics to tie together with the skills kids learn. Even the most skilled technician may have no clue on what to charge and how to manage a business. A program that encourages learning both the business basics and HVAC is a must.” TRAINING IS A KEYWhat do some of the young guns feel is the best way to learn the many nuances of working in the field? For most interviewed by The NEWS, a solid classroom understanding of HVAC, combined with a heavy dose of on-the-job-training, is the best combination. Giving a young person the opportunity to touch and feel HVAC equipment could be the deciding factor in their career choice. “The tech of today needs an equal portion of both field and classroom training,” said Jeffrey Lane of JTL Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. “There is so much new stuff coming out every day, and if you are not sending your people to classroom training, you will be tomorrow’s out-of-business contractor. “It shows employees that their company believes in them and is willing to invest money to see they get the training they need to reach their full potential.” A good blend of classroom and field training can also keep young people from being discouraged, hopefully preventing that “thrown-to-the-wolves” feeling. “The foundation of technical training and customer service training should start in the classroom, but a mentoring program is a good way to move into the field,” said Steven Long of Gastonia Sheet Metal, Heating, Air Conditioning & Roofing, Gastonia, N.C. “Most new persons in the industry are thrown into the field too soon, out of desperation to have someone out there getting something done,” Long said. “This causes a domino or cyclical effect, where poor-quality work results. The individual becomes discouraged about his employer and the industry and moves on to something else.” “I help my company by continually educating our employees in the latest technology, and to let them know that they are working with a company that is on the cutting edge,” Poole said. “This has changed our company’s climate into a more employee-friendly place, and has in turn sparked more interest among our mechanics. This interest has had a positive effect on younger people who start working here, by letting them know how rewarding it can be to work at a company that values employee growth just as much as we value turning a profit.” Successful young guns have found that not only is it important to train young people about HVAC and their own company procedures, it is just as important to maintain an ongoing training program. The HVAC trade will continue to remind young people that training does not stop with a degree or certificate. In fact, it never stops. “In my company, ongoing training is not only encouraged, it is mandatory,” said Rich Morgan of Magic Touch Mechanical Inc., Gilbert, Ariz. “Even my service manager, who has almost 20 years of field experience, is required to earn continuing education credits. The technician who feels he is beyond even basic refresher courses is foolish. “We pay for and require training from trade schools, manufacturers, trade organizations, etc. It is a win times three as far as I’m concerned,” Morgan said. “The consumer, company, and technician all benefit from it, and the knowledge gained more than pays for the cost.” “Our company requires each employee to attend weekly on-site training classes,” said Tommy Sinn of The Service Company, Greer, S.C. “Once technicians have proven they can and will do the job, we invest in sending them to week-long classes where they work 50 percent of the time in a classroom and 50 percent of the time on mock installation/service scenarios.” Keeping up with changing technology can have financial rewards for young guns. “Most of our field personnel will go through no less than 50 hours of ongoing training each year with our organization,” said Jeffrey Ford of Columbus/Worthington Air & Columbus Mechanical, Hilliard, Ohio. “Whether they are on a jobsite with a manager, in the office with a manufacturer’s rep, or sent to a manufacturing facility for class work, they are constantly learning and keeping ahead of technology. “Not only does this training improve their skill sets and allow for more growth in the HVAC trade, but it increases their own personal net worth. This is a win-win in my book.” GOOD ADVICEMany young gun contractors make it a practice to pair up new employees with seasoned veterans who can mentor them on how to work better and smarter. Mentoring is also an important part of business owners’ and managers’ regular routines. Some choose to network with their peers; others are happy to give advice freely to up-and-coming business owners. “Number one is maintaining a good attitude,” said Adam Sater of Commercial Service of Bloomington Inc., Bloomington, Ind. “Without a good attitude and the right focus, you will not succeed. There are many trying times in this industry, or with any service you provide to a customer. There will be times in which you must bite your tongue to save face so to speak. “Number two is work hard,” he said. “Hard work pays off, right? It has for our company and me. “Number three is loading the bus,” Sater said. “That is a term I was taught by my mentor. Understand that you must have the right people on your team in order to grow and maintain your existing work. Don’t turn down a qualified technician/installer with good skills and experience, and say you don’t have the work. Hire the person and find the work!” Steve Breitkreuz of Ace Plumbing, Heating, & Electric, Saint Joseph, Mich., said, “Work hard and compliment your workers daily. Working 8-5 Monday-Friday will not cut it if you want to succeed in today’s business climate. I never work less than 10-12 hours each day. When you get a customer, keep them at all costs - unless they don’t pay you. If they don’t pay, recommend them to the guy who talks trash about you. They will be a perfect match for each other.” Michael Goater of Air Conditioning by Jay, Mesa, Ariz., advised young people to hook up with forward-thinking HVAC business owners and managers. “There are no young guns without the culture and vision of a solid general manager and owner,” he said. “I once heard that ‘a fish stinks from the head.’ This makes a lot of sense when you look at HVAC contractors. You can never outgrow your leadership’s vision.” Good leadership and a good business plan are keys to successful HVAC contracting. So is maintaining high-quality work. “We live in an area that has a lot of small, close-knit communities, and word of mouth has been our best friend and our competition’s worst enemy,” said Kevin Smith of Total Comfort Systems, Rhinelander, Wis. “Our prices are generally on the higher end of the business,” he continued, “and it doesn’t seem to cost us too much work. People in this area would rather pay more to have it done correctly, than always looking for the cheapest price.” “Stay focused on the small goals that are set in front of you,” advised Scott Crescenze, Crescenze Cooling & Heating, LLC, Massillon, Ohio. “The large goals will eventually fall into place. It may seem like a rollercoaster ride at times. Be prepared to make a lot of time and financial sacrifice. “You must be able to step up when cash flow is slow,” he said. “Treat customers with great respect and knowledge. Good word of mouth will take its course. It consumes many hours of my time just for the business, but when another job is completed and another customer is impressed, there is no greater satisfaction. It makes it all worth it to be a young gun.” Publication date: 06/25/2007
I couldn't believe it when I heard it. I still can't. It takes a reminder on how the big world works and how crazy some people are to make some sense of the story. U.S. senator Joe Lieberman came up with proposed legislation that would grant the president of the U.S.A. power to turn off the Internet. To shut it down. To make it not working. See? They never stop to amaze with their batshit crazy ideas. He said that, for all its allure, the internet could also be a "dangerous place with electronic pipelines that run directly into everything from our personal bank accounts to key infrastructure to government and industrial secrets". Scared with this unexpected revelation, Lieberman thought it would be a great to have a switch and in he case of a cyber attack the president simply turn the thing off and everybody is safe and happy. How old is he? Four? I don't even want to think what would happen if somebody pull the plug of the Internet. It's not just that I'll have to print this blog on the paper and send it to all of you via snail mail, that there will be no Wikipedia nor LOLcats… no e-mails, IM chat (dammit we'll have to use the phone for chatting again!). Billions of dollars worth businesses will go dead. Security systems worldwide will go dead. Traffic systems and all the banking… Dead. If you think that nobody is crazy enough to abuse such power, think again. That switch is supposed to be in the office from which somebody sent planes to drop a couple of nuclear bombs 65 years ago. There are some really scaring freaky people out there. photo by Lenore Edman But is it really possible to turn the Internet off? I can't be 100% sure but I'd say no. Sure, one country can isolate itself from the rest of the world quite easily. Cut the main links to the Internet backbone and you're off. But the rest of the world will still happily networking. Problem in this case is that most of the essential Internet infrastructure is located in the U.S. Bjorn Landfeldt, University of Sydney associate professor says: Unfortunately, too much of the core of the internet resides in the US – let's put it this way, they cannot shut down machines in Australia, but they can completely isolate us and shut down certain core functions like the DNS… they can render the internet fairly useless for the rest of the world. So if the U.S. disconnects itself from the rest of the world we might get in trouble. Surely, it's possible to skip over those obstacles. E.G. your bookmark will point to 220.127.116.11 instead of www.acidzen.org (except that both of those are pointing to a server located in Texas, but you get the point). But it would take at least few days to remap the network and make things functional again. And few days is too much. We'll survive few days without daily dose of fun, but some serious services our lives depend on are Internet based too. photo by Miguel Angel But what the group that Lieberman represents is really after? I simply can't buy the story of security. Cutting oneself from the Internet to prevent terrorist attack means executing even more devastating self attack. He's not that stupid. But having such a switch is a nice threat to the rest of the world. Like having a really huge and powerful nuke. A really terrifying weapon that you maybe don't plan to use but which is a great asset for negotiation dictating the world politics. We've seen lots of that in the past century. North Korea and Iran are playing the game now, but they are late and out of fashion. Latest fashion of the evil guys is not nuclear but information power: Do as we like or your airports will stop functioning, your army units will become disconnected from each other and all your business and education will be dead. We're even going to kill each and every plant and animal in your Farmwille. At the same time, on the other side of the planet, and the other side of the sanity, Finland declares broadband access to the Internet to be a legal right of every individual. Like freedom of thought and expression. Like voting. And while some might find this exaggerated, it's right to the spot. Access to the Internet IS that important. Cut somebody off the Net and they are cut off the society. Both Finland government and senator Lieberman know that. But their ideas what to do with that knowledge are very different.
home > voting rights & elections Statement on the Voter Redistricting September 24, 2001 This week, a Special Legislative Session will be held to approve voter redistricting plans based on 2000 Census data. Experts and politicians agree: redistricting is probably the most powerful political maneuver available in our electoral system today, and it remains vulnerable to the designs of the dominant political party. The ACLU of Utah is not currently taking a position on the legality of the patently partisan redistricting plans approved by Utah’s Legislative Redistricting Committee. Instead, we take this opportunity to point out the fundamental fairness and constitutional issues raised by partisan gerrymandering, and to outline several viable electoral alternatives now existing in other states along with those proposed by legal and political scholars and politicians nationwide. Fundamental Fairness and Constitutional Issues The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires the State to govern impartially. “Election rules which serve no purpose other than to favor one segment ... or to disadvantage a politically weak segment of the community violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.” The U.S. Supreme Court has also stated: “unconstitutional discrimination occurs ... when the electoral system is arranged in a manner that will consistently degrade a voter’s or a group of voters’ influence on the political process as a whole.” Redrawing voting districts in a manner that can only be justified by partisan considerations is political gerrymandering that interferes with the right to vote, and is used by the legislature to dilute votes and influence the outcome of the elections, thereby impairing the fundamental rights of citizens. Gerrymandering, by its very nature, classifies people, whether by race, religion, or political affiliation and fails to aspire to any interest higher than mere partisanship. Viable Alternatives Resulting in Free and Fair Elections Experts agree that redistricting rules are difficult to understand and follow; however, for the Legislature to ensure institutional integrity, maintain the confidence of the citizens, increase voter participation, and achieve the object of fundamental fairness, there are at least three viable alternatives to partisan gerrymandering: 1) mandate the use of neutral criteria using political subdivisions and natural boundaries when redrawing district lines; 2) use non-partisan commissions to draw voting district boundaries; or 3) use alternative electoral schemes known as “proportional The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that even if citizens establish a case of unconstitutional gerrymandering, a state could “justify the discriminatory impact of the redistricting plan by showing that the plan had a rational basis in permissible neutral criteria.” If the legislature’s redistricting scheme was held to the traditional measures of compactness, use of political subdivisions, and communities of interest, the result would more likely be districts that serve the voters fairly and would also be easily drawn and manageable. To obtain neutral divisions, political subdivisions, such as cities and counties should be used first; then if these are too large, divisions can be determined by neutral criteria such as natural boundaries marked by rivers, mountains, canals, highways, and major thoroughfares. Further divisions could take into account bus routes, library districts, etc. Such neutral criteria could not be manipulated for illegitimate reasons. This would enhance natural communities, which have been formed by the conscious migration of individuals into areas of people with common interests. Another alternative is using “census blocks,” which provide larger, organic units. Census bureaus draw census tracts to represent socially homogeneous populations; their borders also tend to be easily recognizable natural or man-made features. Census tracts are neighborhoods defined by actual shared interests. This neutral criteria alternative has three important results: 1) creates a judicially manageable standard (the state would have to justify a deviation); 2) meets the “compact,” “contiguous,” and “community of interest” standards already in existence; and, 3) leaves redistricting in the hands of the Legislature and allows it some flexibility. Non-partisan commissions are currently used in several states. For example Arizona passed a constitutional amendment to create a balanced citizen based Independent Redistricting Commission. Their five member Appellate Court Appointments Commission reviewed 311 applications and nominated 25 candidates: 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats and 5 people not registered with either party. This ensures non-partisan redistricting. Independent commissions can also be given the neutral criteria of population equality, plus those outlined above: contiguity, compactness, unity of counties and cities, and use of natural The redistricting experiences of states that have adopted such commissions were exceptionally smooth and plans were passed into law well before the other states. The term “proportional” comes from the principle that any group of voters, as defined by their cohesive voting behavior, should be able to elect representatives in proportion to their support in the electorate (e.g., if a group earns 20% of the vote, that group or party wins 20% of the seats). The U.S. Congress has before it four bills, and more than a dozen state legislatures are considering legislation, regarding proportional voting and/or instant runoff voting. These electoral proposals are designed to enhance the opportunity of voting minorities to win representation in accord with their voting strength. This would ameliorate the “winner-take-all” aspect of traditional at large elections, where up to 49.9% of voters may not elect a candidate of their choice. Much scholarly work is available delineating standards that courts or legislatures can use to evaluate and choose between these alternative electoral systems, which include preference voting, cumulative voting, limited voting or instant runoff voting. Proponents note that proportional representation has been used successfully in nearly every other full-fledged democracy, including most of Europe; states could combine proportional representation and “neutral criteria” representation; it is the only system that fully accommodates both majority rule and minority representation; and it increases voter turnout and decreases cynicism and apathy because a diversity of viewpoints is proportionally represented. Short Term Remedy Although the use of proportional voting or a non-partisan commission is highly advised, it will take time to study and develop. More immediately, it would be entirely possible to hold off final approval (by Special Session or by the Governor) of the existing redistricting plans and re-draw districts using the neutral criteria standards. This would allow politicians to avoid lawsuits, regain the faith of all of their constituents, and enhance the vitality of a multi-party electoral system in Utah.
By Daniel J. Foley, CEO, ACCIONA Energy North America I hear a lot of talk about a great desire to include renewable energy into the national energy mix, if it weren't for the issue of intermittency. Sure, we can control the costs to build a wind farm or a solar plant, but the fuel supply is truly in the hands of Mother Nature whenever she decides to make the wind blow or the sun shine. As the CEO of a renewable energy company with more than 500 MW of wind and solar installed in North America, I know we only build renewable energy projects in areas with the best wind or solar capabilities within a given market. But still, it is not possible to know exactly when Mother Nature will smile on us. Unfortunately, this challenging characteristic of renewable energy has become the foremost excuse for utilities to restrict or block the addition of renewable energy resources to our energy mix. I would argue that intermittency itself is not the immediate issue for utilities, but rather how they are looking at the larger energy pool in total. Instead of focusing on intermittency roadblocks, utilities need to consolidate into more modern and broader markets that diversify management of the intermittency issue and ensure competitive access to the power grid. The nation's power grid is actually a mesh of smaller grids owned and controlled by several large and small regulatory bodies. Some portions have been organized into markets that are controlled by relatively large independent market operators, but a patchwork quilt of many smaller utilities controls other portions. Each entity, large or small, is required to control its grid boundaries by matching its generation resources to consumer demand for electricity at all times, day or night. Consumption of electricity is also somewhat intermittent, changing minute by minute, influenced by random events and Mother Nature. It is generally much more challenging for a small utility to continually balance generation with consumption, minute by minute, hour by hour, season by season, than for a larger market operator. The intermittency of renewable energies like wind or solar introduce new challenges that are much greater for smaller utilities to manage. Think of intermittency as a big rock being thrown into a small pond if you are a small utility. That same intermittency becomes a little pebble being thrown into a big lake or even the ocean if you are a broad independent market leveraging the advantages of consolidated grid operating benefits. To realize efficiencies, some portions of our nation's mesh of power grids have consolidated and organized into broader market operating. These markets tend to span large geographic areas with centralized operating centers and highly integrated operating protocols. The result is that intermittency is diversified and managed across a larger market with a broader set of tools. The wind might not blow in one corner of the region, but maybe the sun is shining in the other corner. Diversifying the region tends to reduce the effect of (or cancel out) intermittency, allowing a larger portion of power to come from renewables instead of coal, gas or oil. While clearly this makes a lot of sense in regards to integrating renewable energy, it makes even more sense in terms of driving down the cost of electricity. In 1999, a dozen or so utilities operating their respective grids formed the Midwest Independent System Operator and began to slowly consolidate key operating functions leading up to the launch of the Midwest ISO market in 2005 (other key centralized operating functions have been added or enhanced between 2005 and 2011 and the market continues to improve.) As the Midwest ISO market has evolved, it has demonstrated increasing efficiency and cost savings. According to MISO's 2010 Value Proposition Report, it realized adjusted total net benefits of between $648-$874 million dollars for their members as a result of the efficiencies realized by consolidation. Interestingly, $34 to $42 million of those savings are directly related to wind integration. This is not just specific to Midwest ISO. Other markets that have organized in the U.S. and other countries issue annual reports that demonstrate that consolidation realizes greater day-to-day grid management efficiencies, reductions in overall seasonal and daily reserve requirements, and greater grid growth management efficiencies, resulting in annual savings of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. Amid a national discussion of federal and local budget deficits, it's time we revisited the value proposition for the greater consolidation among grid operators as we discuss growth of renewables within the contexts of a cleaner environment and energy independence. There are federal power agencies conducting studies to increase their individual utilization of renewables, but not much talk of consolidating control into independent markets. Consolidation will help establish a modern foundation for a more diverse national energy portfolio, has the potential to save hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars over a broad regional area, and will more dramatically open up our grid to a cleaner energy future. Daniel J. Foley is the CEO of ACCIONA Energy North America where he oversees the operation of more than 700MW of wind and solar energy in the US and Canada and the development of more than 1,000MW of wind and solar energy.
He and his colleagues conducted simulations by shooting various shapes into a pipe and measuring the pressure waves on exit. The data showed that the ideal shape for the nose of the bullet train was almost identical to a kingfisher’s beak—problem solved! The engineers probably would have had a much more difficult time finding the solution if they had relied solely on their training and experience as mechanical engineers. The solution was found only when one of them looked elsewhere. One of the problems with problems is that we tend to rely too much on our own abilities and experience to solve them, when God often has a better idea. It takes faith to stop trying so hard on our own and turn to God for help, but that’s usually what it takes for Him to get through to us. Faith is to problems what the kingfisher’s beak is to water. When obstacles present themselves, the sudden added resistance to our plans or routine can give us quite a jolt, but faith helps us find solutions quicker and with less wear and tear on our nerves. Faith doesn’t eliminate all our problems, but it lessens their impact. How to handle anything There are well-meaning people who believe that life is too harsh. They would like to plan and arrange the world so that no one need suffer. But without struggle, how could the end result of personality be developed? How could a person become rounded and mature and strong? As tough and unpleasant as difficulty may be, it is the source of potential development. Surround every difficulty with prayer, with faith, and with straight thinking. Then let enthusiasm build power under it. On this basis, you can handle any situation that can ever develop.—Norman Vincent Peale
The UAW is made up of local unions throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, including our own local. Locals are organized into geographic regions: we are in Region 9A. Our local's elected delegates participate in the UAW Constitutional Convention, where the UAW leadership (the International Executive Board - IEB) is elected. This board legislates for UAW and carries out the mandates of the convention. In addition, there are conventions and programs for all sectors of the union. Our delegates participate in the programs of the Technical, Office and Professional Department of the UAW, including the Academic Council. As one of largest and most diverse unions in North America, the UAW is known for its dedication to organizing so-called hard-to-organize workers. Founded in 1935, the UAW has always been on the forefront of progressive union organizing. In the 1930s and 40s, the UAW organized workers in the then cutting-edge industrial fields of automotive and aerospace production. Today, the union continues to reinvent itself in order to face the challenges of an We joined the UAW because of its history and track record in higher education, and because it is one of the most progressive unions in the country. We encourage you to read the UAW's Solidarity
Circuit design / programming at IDivideByZero.net (Anywhere) I’ve got a small project for someone, and I would like to see who is up to the challenge. I’ve got a small data center, and I’ve seen our cooling costs explode with the amount of servers we have added recently. I’d like to be able to take advantage of free cooling at night (when the air is cool) but using an electronically adjustable louver door and a set of fans. I am basing this project (for the fan control) off of Alan Parekh’s idea for a PMW fan controller based on temp. (http://alan-parekh.com/projects/pwm-fan-controller/) I am looking to have sets of these plates, but for our prototype we will start with one. What I would like to have is a set of 12V, 0.23A 3-pin fans set in a plate, and then have a louver on one side (to be able to close and open the openings to the fans based on temperature). I would also like to have the fans obey a set of simple rules, too. • IF [(internal temp of room) >= 70F] AND [(external temp) >= 70F] THEN [do nothing, keep fans off, louver closed] • IF [(internal temp of room) >= 70F] AND [(external temp) < 70F] THEN [open louver, turn on fans] • IF [(internal temp of room) < 70F] AND [(external temp) >= 70F] THEN [do nothing, keep fans off, louver closed] • IF [(internal temp of room) < 70F] AND [(external temp) < 70F] THEN [do nothing, keep fans off, louver closed] The current PWM Fan project setup is about 80% of what I need, as you can set temps and then have fans go on and off at those temps. What I need to be able to do (and this is where I would call on your expertise) would be to have the chipset send out a signal to a DC motor (maybe relay) as needed (as all of this is going to be powered by 12DC wall wort adapter) to turn on (to open the louver door), and then stop once the louver was all the way open (like it hits a switch once it is open 100%). When it needs to close the door, it sends a reverse signal to the motor, and then the louver doors shut, until they are 100% closed, and then the motor shuts off. The space for the plate is 43” x 10”. I’ve already assembled and mounted the fans, the holes have been cut in the plate, and I have a space for a project box at the top to keep the prototype electronics in. I have purchased the 5 fans (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3477329), and I have a power supply from a dead device that gives 12V DC, 1.7A. I can get more power if needed from another adapter, as I have plenty. I don’t care about individual fan speeds or individual fan control on this. This is for a startup company data center. I’d prefer to bring in a good contractor rather than a firm for this. I like to get creative, keep things in-house, and fund projects to keep all of us here active, learning, and expanding our minds in areas we haven’t seen before. I would like to learn some PIC programming along the way if you are so inclined to use a PIC, or maybe an arduino? I am quite handy, (drill, solder, weld, cut, some programming, etc) so the physical work and assembly I can take care of. I leave to you the circuit and chip programming :-D Budget is negotiable, but it will be determined by your depth of understanding, experience, and of course after we communicate. What do you say?
Khayalan File Splitter and Joiner (KFSJ), as the name suggests, is an application for splitting and joining files. Other than providing file splitting and joining features, it comes with additional options that are not found in conventional applications of its kind, e.g., it enables comparing two different files by their checksum or size. KFSJ can assist and facilitate file separation, merging, checksum calculation and comparison. It also provides a number of encryption types to encrypt files that are to split, including Blowfish, Twofish, Des, Ice, etc. A file can be easily be split by selecting the file, file splitting mechanism (e.g., by number or by size), output name and output directory. Optionally, you can also delete the source file, and encrypt file data with Des, Blowfish, Twofish, Cast (128/256), Ice, RC (2-6), Rijndael, Serpent or Tea. Similarly, you can join files by selecting the different file parts and the destination directory. Unlike other file splitting applications, like Axe and Cryogenic, KFSJ delivers a comprehensive set of options to verify file integrity, and to compare files by performing a checksum or file comparison via the Compare File tab. On the contrary, you can select the maximum buffer size, adjust application priority and enable system tray minimize from the Configure tab. It must be noted that the interface of KSFJ does have some issues, as the interface elements seem to overlap a bit, and some buttons appear almost hidden, especially the file splitting and joining button that requires either hitting the Enter key, or require some effort to click on them. Hopefully, the developer will resolve these issues in upcoming versions. Khayalan File Splitter and Joiner is available with both an installer package and in portable form. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
- THE MAGAZINE - INFO FOR... - ASI Store - ASI Top 25 - Product & Literature Showcases - Services Marketplace - List Rental - Market Research - Custom Content & Marketing Services Through research made possible via a grant from the United Soybean Board (USB), Franklin Adhesives & Polymers has developed two bio-modified adhesives. The Franklin International division incorporated a soy derivative into polyvinyl acetate (PVA) to create high-performance, bio-modified adhesives for use in the manufacture of engineered hardwood flooring (hardwood plywood). CharacteristicsFranklin first developed Multibond MX-100, which uses the renewable resource soy to create an environmentally friendly adhesive. The bio-modified crosslinking PVA adhesive contains no added formaldehyde and meets California’s CARB Phase 2 limits on formaldehyde emissions. At the same time, Multibond MX-100 brings superior performance and ease of use to wood flooring manufacturers. This one-part adhesive requires no mixing, which helps speed up production at the plant. It also offers good tack and a high percentage of solids (47-50%) for faster set times. In addition, it meets ANSI-HPVA HP-1-2004 Type II and ANSI/HPVA EF 2009 testing for water resistance on most wood species. Soy extends the open time of this adhesive, making it ideal for use in prepress operations. Multibond MX-100 can go from the prepress to the hot press without the need for special mixing equipment. The parts come out of the prepress very tacky with the product. Multibond MX-100 also has demonstrated easy handling in a variety of climate conditions. Multibond MX-200 performs well in immediate (direct-feed) hot press laminating operations that do not have a prepress. Like MX-100, it cannot be cold pressed. Formulated with bleed-through resistance, it is a fast, easy-to-use adhesive. Green DevelopmentFranklin Adhesives & Polymers has been active in the development of environmentally safe products for decades, and offers a full line of adhesives to meet CARB and other global formaldehyde emissions standards. The division pursued soybean research because it is a renewable resource that reduces reliability on petrochemicals, extends open times, is free of formaldehyde and offers physical flexibility. “We are grateful to the USB for its role in supporting research that led to the development of these adhesives and future products that use soy,” said Michelle Tobbe, wood adhesives technical director. “I think our customers will agree that we have developed the ideal blend of synthetic and natural materials to create environmentally friendly, cost-effective adhesives that are easy to use and perform very well.” For more information, phone Franklin Adhesives & Polymers at (800) 877-4583, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org or visit www.franklinadhesivesandpolymers.com.
Among the least understood, most underutilized features in Adobe Illustrator are the 3D effects. Introduced in Illustrator CS, 3D effects are not tools for drawing in 3D (use Google SketchUp for that); instead, they're a way to apply 3D effects to 2D drawings. This distinction will become clearer as I introduce you to 3D effects and mapping techniques—and then lead you on a quest to wrap a map of the earth around a 3D effect. To make sure that you get your money's worth from this article (I know, it was free for you, but time is money and all that), I'll cram two separate tutorials into one: a) applying extrusion and beveling to type, and b) the headline act—mapping a vector image of the earth onto a rotatable sphere. 3D Effects: The Concept Before we dive into generating 3D effects, keep in mind that 3D effects are effects. Like all Illustrator effects, they're applied to a path, but they only affect the appearance of that path, not its actual definition. One implication of this fact: When you edit the underlying path from which a 3D object was generated, you reshape the generated 3D effect. To visualize the concept, let's jump to what will be the focus of this article—a project in which I show you how to wrap a map of the earth around a sphere by using the Illustrator CS4 3D Revolve effect, with mapping. By the way, mapping is literally what we'll explore in this article, but it's a generic term for wrapping any artwork around a generated 3D effect. So, for example, in the project that is the focus of this article, a semicircle will be generated using 3D effects, and a map of the world will be the mapped object. Here's another example of mapping onto a 3D effect that might help you grasp the concept: Think of text written on a balloon—the text stretches and warps as the balloon is inflated. Similarly, text mapped onto a 3D effect in Illustrator stretches and warps to fit the effect onto which it's mapped.
An interpreter by profession, Aline Pínina Tayar is a descendent of the famous Jewish business family Tayar Ė many will remember their shop where Markís and Spencers now stands in Valletta- who lived and thrived in Malta for over a century. She has written a fascinating book, full of telling anecdotes, tracing her extended familyís lives in Malta, and around the Mediterranean. The book also provides a compassionate, wry insight into social mores on the island, especially regarding Maltese and Jewish relations. She gave a talk in Malta recently and answered some questions Gillian Bartolo put to her. Why did you write this book? began writing How Shall We Sing? A Mediterranean Journey Through a Jewish Family (Australia: Pan Macmillan/Picador, 2000) in my mid-40s, when I was going through a difficult time (partly the result of the deaths of a number of friends) which suddenly created a crisis of identity in me. Like most people from large families, I had a vast store of family stories and anecdotes and it seemed to me that the time had come to put them down in writing. At first that appeared to be sufficient, but then it very gradually became obvious that if I was going to publish these stories I needed to give them a structure. After countless drafts and re-drafts, I found that the structure would come from the theme of identity - both my own identity and the identity of the different branches of my family within the different Mediterranean communities they lived in. As someone who had lived in so many places, I felt that at that particular juncture in my life (with all the terrible losses) I needed a sense of belonging and since I could not/cannot say that I belong wholly to any specific nation nor do I have religion to fall back on (I was brought up without any religion at all though I was always aware that I was a Jew culturally), finding my place within my vast and far-flung family emerged as the theme of the series of stories told in How Shall we Sing? Can you give me a brief history of your family in Malta? My great great grandfather Rabbi Josef Tajar (later generations changed the spelling to Tayar) came to Malta in 1846 from Tripolitania. The Jewish community having grown large enough (to about 100 people) to support a rabbi part-time, Josef set up a congregation on what was then known as the Strada Reale. ( Expelled from Malta and Gozo by Spanish in 1492, Jews had not been allowed to establish residence in Malta throughout the 350 years the Knights ruled the islands. When Napoleon expelled the Knights and more especially after the British took over, Jews started to settle in Malta again.) The Jews were allowed to practice their religion though from time to time they did feel under threat - the fact that there were many poor Jews arriving on the island, particularly after the 1848 revolutions all over Europe, made the local authorities nervous and when they called for a census to be taken the Jews became afraid that the purpose was to eventually drive them all out. In the 1890s the Blood Libel against the Jewish community led them to appeal for protection from London, but on the whole ordinary Maltese were not unkind, mostly (in my opinion at least) because they didn't really know what Jews were - the story of mm grandmother's' neighbours bringing the statue of Mary to her house when she was dying is an example of how even in modern times the Maltese didn't quite know what the Jews did or did not believe in. (My aunts were horrified and sent the kind women Relations with the Church however were not so easy. I recount in How Shall We Sing? how when my uncle Oscar announced he was going to marry a Catholic girl, the poor young woman was summoned to the Bishop's Palace in Valletta and subjected to a real inquisition. At the same time, my grandmother Rachele, in a state of shock that my uncle was planning to 'marry out', took to her bed for a My grandmother's father, Jacob Israel, arrived in Malta in the 1860s from Corfu. His wife Giulia was from Sfax in Tunisia from where she'd arrived in Malta with her widowed father, a rabbi, following a famine in the south of the country. And the next generation? Rabbi Josef Tayar's children were mostly businessmen and settled all round the Mediterranean. My great grandfather Cesare opened a shop on Palace Square which my grandfather Abraham (Banino) inherited and in which he set up his tailoring business (my aunts Ondina and Margot kept the shop running after he died and went on selling fine cloths for suits until the shop was bought up by Marks & Spencer's). Irene, Banino's sister, was the mother of George Tayar and married to Achille Tayar, a first cousin (allowed in Judaism and certainly not unusual in a small Jewish community which didn't look for husbands or wives outside their religion). Achille was a very successful merchant, with an impeccable reputation for honesty. Of that generation, one cousin was British Consul in The Of my father's generation, George was a well-know businessman and philanthropist (a street in Kappara is named after him as a result of the latter). He was always happy go lucky and is still remembered for the permanently open house he kept - and also for his support of Labour. My uncle Oscar was the first Jewish civil servant on the island. Ondina, one of my father's five sisters, was one of the first women to graduate (in Pharmacy) from University of Malta. Margot was also a civil servant. Three sisters, Yolanda, Doris/Juliette and Lilla (also a Pharmacy graduate) left the island when they married and ended up respectively in Tunis, Argentina then Canada, and Florence. My father, Duggie was an officer/interpreter in the 10th Baluch Regiment, a part of the Eighth Army during WWII. On his return from India in 1947, he became a Customs Officer. He married my mother, Lina Lumbroso, in Tunisia in September 1947. What sort of political allegiances did In the 1930s - my father's family were very pro-British in spite of the fact that they spoke Italian at home, a legacy of my grandfather Banino's mother Corinna Coen who came to the island from Florence when she married Cesare (see above). When Mussolini attacked Abyssinia, they ceased speaking Italian at home and switched to Maltese. Ondina (whose published short stories I only have a photocopied couple of) switched from writing in Italian to writing in Maltese. In my book I recount an anecdote of my father being ordered to change his name from Douglas to Alberto by his pro-Italian headmaster. Professor Victor Griffiths told me only last Saturday that the same thing happened to him. His father and my grandfather both protested to the British Governor and both boys had their proper names re-instated. Achille, George's father, on the other hand, remained pro-Italian for quite some time, until he saw what the Fascists were doing to the Jews in Italy, but that was already quite late into Mussolini's 'reign'. What was your familyís opinion of the Maltese? Although my family always spoke of the Maltese as 'they', it was more of a habit than anything else. My aunt Ondina was a fellow student of Censu Tabone's and remained friends with his family ever after - she always told us how poor Censu had been and how she often gave him some of her sandwiches and Censu recently told me that the brass plaque which is still on his door in St. Julian's and which reads V. Tabone M.D. was actually made by Ondina - he was too poor to have one made professionally. Margot was a good friend to Maria Tabone, helping her with her many children during all of Censu's long absences from the island when he worked for the WHO. The above sounds a bit like name-dropping - sorry! There were many other Maltese friends, but when Ondina fell in love with a Catholic, religion emerged again as the thing that ultimately divided the Tayars from the people around them. She did not have the courage, like my uncle Oscar, to cross the religious battle lines and marry, something she always regretted, even up to the last weeks of her life(she was 91 when she died and still repeating how regretful she was). Why did your family emigrate to Israel when you were 18 months old, and why did they leave for Australia a few years later? My family emigrated to Israel because my father, as a socialist and idealist, wanted to live in a commune, which is basically what a kibbutz is, a society without money and minus the usual (he thought) keeping up with the Jones's. My mother too was keen to settle in Israel to get away from the small and stifling communities she'd lived in first in La Goulette/Tunis and then, upon her marriage, in Malta. What they discovered is that there's no more stifling a hothouse than a kibbutz. Our kibbutz was also a particularly left-wing one - to the extent that alongside the Hatikvah, they played The Internationale at kibbutz meetings, something my parents did not agree with especially in the light of revelations about what had happened in Russia under Stalin. They also didn't like the hierarchy that existed between older and new members in the kibbutz. The deep division between Ashkenaz (Jews of central and eastern Europe and their descendants) and Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spain and Portugal and their descendants) within the kibbutz soon led to their complete disillusionment with the whole kibbutz ideal, which they felt had been corrupted. When my father broke his back and was no longer able to do hard physical labour my parents decided to leave Israel. The move to Australia was purely because the Australian government was offering an assisted passage. My parents had also applied to go to NZ and Canada and the US. Anywhere, to get out of the kibbutz! Why did you come back to Europe? back to Europe as part of that great exodus of Australian youth in the 1960s and 70s - Australia seemed so far away and so isolated culturally and many of us wanted to experience something different. As a language graduate, I also wanted to try living in France and Italy. Nothing to do with my roots at all - in fact when I first arrived and went to live with my mother's brother in Paris I found that Tunisian Jewish Diaspora totally alienating. parents thought that by going to Australia they could remove us from all the divisions they'd experienced in the places they'd grown up in and, disappointingly, also in Israel. We had no connection with any ethnic community in Sydney - neither the Maltese, nor the Italian and especially not the Jewish community which mostly congregated on the other side of the harbour anyway. Besides which they were principally Ashkenaz and we were Sephardic so our customs, food, tastes were very very different. At school, it was hard to be an outsider however - my father did not want us to attend religious instruction (for which, by the way, these days I'm eternally grateful!) and this made my brother and me oddities. Kids, as you know, are conformists. My brother hated this non-conformity and even I at first found it hard - one should remember that Australia in the 1950s still required people looking for jobs to state their religion (and when my father refused to state his religion but put down that he was born in Malta people automatically assumed he was Catholic and denied him work Ė what irony!). The odd thing was that at school I often gravitated towards Jewish people - though in primary school there were only two Jewish girls in my class, in high school there were about a dozen. At university, my best friend was a Polish Jewish student who like me had grown up suffering from the confusions of 20th century history - speaking Polish, the language of the people who'd driven her parents out of Poland after WWII, and also with no religious Many non-Jews think that all Jews are by definition religious. But this is obviously not the case. This lack of religious belief probably seems strange to you as it does to many Christians - how can you call yourself a Jew when you don't believe in God? The answer was given by Rabbi Hillel, of whom Jesus was a follower. Rabbi Hillel was once asked to stand on one leg and recount allJewish beliefs in one go. Which was a cinch since it took him no time to encapsulate what Judaism was about. 'Do not do unto others what you do not wish them to do to you' he said. No mention of God. This is the central precept and no more is needed, not even a belief in God. Jesus, by the way, took the precept and turned into something slightly different 'Do untoothers what you would wish to be done to you.' That precept is precisely what my parents tried to instill in both my brother and me rather than a belief in an all-powerful deity. Have you discovered your identity at last? At the end of my search for who I am and what I am, I have discovered that rather than seeing my multiplicity of origins as a burden,I can use them to my advantage. I can be whatever I want to be and have an 'in' into a huge variety of cultures and ways of living. I am both an outsider in the places I have lived in and an insider because I have lived in them. For some time, you have visited Malta every year. Do you feel a strong connection with the island? that only my uncle Oscar is left on the island, I feel that my connections with the island are disappearing. I have in the last two years been trying to learn Maltese, not for work, but just to keep the connection with the island going - as a linguist by profession, learning Maltese seemed a logical step. If only someone would organise a course for foreigners in Maltese, I'd be back like a last visit to Malta was very sad for me, having to draw up an inventory of my aunts' belongings in their old house in St. Julian's and living for several days with their ghosts and the ghosts of all the people who'd lived in or passed through the house which I have always loved in spite of its rundown condition over many many years - it became too difficult for my ageing aunts to keep it in good order. I'd be very sorry if the property developers were to carry out their usual depredations and pull the place down to build some more ugly apartment Aline Pínina Tayarís book can be bought from leading book sellers in Malta or over the published on The Malta Independent on Sunday (22.5.05)
Maria had just gotten married, and being a traditional Italian she was still a virgin. On her wedding night, staying at her mother's house, she was very nervous. Her mother reassured her; 'Don't worry, Maria, Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take care of you. Meanwhile, I'll be making pasta.' So, up she went. When she got upstairs, Tony took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest. Maria ran downstairs to her mother and says, 'Mama, Mama, Tony's got a big hairy chest.' 'Don't worry, Maria,' says the mother, ' all good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs. He'll take good care of you.' So, up she went again. When she got up in the bedroom, Tony took off his pants exposing his hairy legs. Again, Maria ran downstairs to her mother. 'Mama, Mama, Tony took off his pants and he's got hairy legs!' 'Don't worry! All good men have hairy legs. Tony's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll take good care of you.' So, up she went again. When she got there, Tony took off his socks and on his left foot he was missing three toes. When Maria saw this, she ran downstairs. 'Mama, Mama, Tony's got a foot and a half!' Her Mama said, 'Stay here and stir the pasta.' Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste) read more blogs!
The economics of the debt ceiling are complicated, but the bottom line is that the ceiling is far more forgiving than is commonly understood. When the ceiling is reached, little happens except that spending slows down. Revenues continue to flow into the federal Treasury and are massively more than needed to pay interest on bonds and principal coming due (which then, of course, enables reissuance of new bonds under the ceiling). So, there need not be any default. But like a person on a credit card spending spree who reaches their limit, the U.S. government has to establish spending priorities. Unthinkable, of course, would be to default, so it’s other spending that has to conform. So-called entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare are probably at the head of the line, followed by discretionary spending such as providing for defense, running the government and doling out grants. Spending in this category is easier to limit. Such programs typically require authorizing legislation, appropriations and available cash. The first establishes the program in theory, the second provides money for the program, again in theory, and the third — well, you get the picture.
Renewable Natural Gas (Biogas) Biogas—also known as biomethane, swamp gas, landfill gas, or digester gas—is the gaseous product of anaerobic digestion (decomposition without oxygen) of organic matter. In addition to providing electricity and heat, biogas is useful as a vehicle fuel. When processed to purity standards, biogas is called renewable natural gas and can substitute for natural gas as an alternative fuel for natural gas vehicles. Biogas is usually 50% to 80% methane and 20% to 50% carbon dioxide with traces of gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. In contrast, natural gas is usually more than 70% methane with most of the rest being other hydrocarbons (such as propane and butane) and traces of carbon dioxide and other contaminants. More than half the gas used in Sweden's 11,500 natural gas vehicles is biogas. Germany and Austria are targeting 20% biogas in natural gas vehicle fuel. In the United States, biogas vehicle activities have been on a smaller scale. Biogas is a product of decomposing organic matter, such as sewage, animal byproducts, and agricultural, industrial, and municipal solid waste. Biogas must be upgraded to a purity standard to fuel vehicles and be distributed via the existing natural gas grid. Biogas from Landfills Landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States. Methane can be captured from landfills and used to produce biogas. Methane gas collection is practical for landfills at least 40 feet deep with at least 1 million tons of waste. Find examples of landfills using biogas for vehicle fuel from the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. Biogas from Livestock Operations Biogas recovery systems at livestock operations can produce renewable energy in cost-effective ways. Animal manure can be collected and delivered to an anaerobic digester to stabilize and optimize methane production. The resulting biogas can be used to fuel natural gas vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 8,200 U.S. dairy and swine operations could support biogas recovery systems with the potential to generate more than 13 million megawatt-hours and displace about 1,670 megawatts of fossil fuel-fired generation collectively per year. Biogas recovery systems are also feasible at some poultry operations. An example of converting livestock manure to biogas to fuel vehicles is the Western United Resource Development project. After biogas is produced, it must be refined for pipeline distribution to use as a vehicle fuel. Refining biogas means increasing the proportion of methane and decreasing the proportion of carbon dioxide and contaminants through absorption, adsorption, membrane separation, or cryogenic separation. Renewable natural gas can be distributed via existing natural gas distribution routes. Because these technologies are not developed and tested fully yet, distributing renewable natural gas via the pipeline grid is not common practice. Biogas can be an alternative to conventional transportation fuels. The benefits of biogas are similar to the benefits of natural gas. Additional benefits include: - Increased Energy Security—Biogas offsets non-renewable resources, such as coal, oil, and fossil fuel-derived natural gas. Producing biogas creates U.S. jobs and benefits local economies. - Fewer Emissions—Biogas reduces emissions by preventing methane release in the atmosphere. Methane is 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. - Better Economics—Biogas reduces the cost of complying with EPA combustion requirements for landfill gas. - Cleaner Environment—Producing biogas through anaerobic digestion reduces landfill waste and odors, produces nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer, and requires less land than aerobic composting. Research and Development Research and development efforts are reducing the costs of biogas production and purification, producing higher-quality natural gas from biogas, and evaluating the performance of biogas-fueled vehicles. Some federal and state programs assist in these efforts, including EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program and AgSTAR Program. Learn more about landfill gas research and development projects from the Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum. Learn more about methanol from the links below. The AFDC and U.S. Department of Energy do not necessarily recommend or endorse these companies (see disclaimer). - A Biogas Road Map for Europe (European Biomass Association) - Biogas Technology (Oregon Department of Energy) - Biomethane from Dairy Waste (CALSTART) - California Biogas Industry Assessment White Paper (WestStart/CALSTART) - Cooperative Approaches for Implementation of Dairy Manure Digesters (USDA) - Franklin County Sanitary Landfill - Landfill Gas (LFG) to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project - The Future of Biogas in Europe III (European Parliament) - International Energy Agency - Bioenergy Task 37 - Biogas Production and Utilisation - Biogas Upgrading to Vehicle Fuel Standards and Grid Injection - Landfill Gas (Energy Information Administration) - Landfill Gas Fact Sheet (Waste Management) - Renewable Natural Gas: Current Status, Challenges, and Issues (Clean Cities) - Sequestering Greenhouse Gases from Landfills, Animal Waste, Sewage, and Other Sources Via Biomethane Production (Natural Gas Vehicles for America)
Subscribe to AfterDawn's weekly newsletter. VPN (stands for Virtual Private Network) is a technology that is commonly used to connect remote workers and telecommuters to main office's local area network, securely. Using a VPN connection between remote workstation and an office network will create a secure connection between the two and typically the telecommuter using VPN client can see the office network exactly as he/she could see the network when being connected locally to the network (i.e. all shared drives, servers, printers, etc are visible). Keywords: vpn virtual private network secured lan remote connection
A recent study just came out that seemed important. It showed that some children [thirty-six percent] with an Autism diagnosis had significantly higher serum S100B protein levels than healthy controls and that those with severe autism had significantly higher serum S100B protein than children with mild to moderate autism. The study was looking at levels to determine autoimmunity in Autism and since my daughter has both severe symptoms of Autism and has been positive for autoimmunity on the antinuclear antibodies test, this study seemed very relevant. Though 36% does not seem like a huge number, there may be factors involved lowering it. It seemed reasonable to explore this more as to why this would be. More data can be obtained too too, it appears-- "Elevated S100B levels in biological fluids (CSF, blood, urine, saliva, amniotic fluid) are thus regarded as a biomarker of pathological conditions, including perinatal brain distress, acute brain injury, brain tumors, neuroinflammatory/neurodegenerative disorders, psychiatric disorders. In the majority of these conditions, high S100B levels offer an indicator of cell damage when standard diagnostic procedures are still silent." This S100B, according to the Autism study, "...is a calcium-binding protein that is produced primarily by astrocytes. Increased serum S100B protein levels reflect neurological damage. Autoimmunity may have a role in the pathogenesis of autism in some patients. Autoantibodies may cross the blood–brain barrier and combine with brain tissue antigens, forming immune complexes and resulting in neurological damage......"Furthermore, S100B protein may act as a cytokine [46,50,51], and in vitro studies have shown that, at high levels, S100B protein can induce the neuronal expression and secretion of proinflammatory IL-6. Elevated levels of S100B have been detected in the CSF of MS patients during acute phases or exacerbations of the disease , and it has therefore been proposed that elevated S100B protein may be indicative of active cell injury and can reflect an axonal and glial pathology." Now that would seem to be the end of this topic, bleak and uncertain as to the source of the high levels, but the fact that more severely affected children had higher levels warranted me to check it out. A picture emerged that related back to my investigation of melanin and its connection to Autism and other neurodegenerative diseases, including Cancer and interestingly yet alarmingly, Melanoma Some research to make that point: - "S100 proteins as cancer biomarkers with focus on S100B in malignant melanoma: " Circulating S100B levels very sensitively detect metastatic growth of malignant melanoma, particularly in stage IV disease where S100B is certainly superior to other laboratory parameters. S100B concentrations reflect tumor mass. - "Role of serum S100B and PET-CT in follow-up of patients with cutaneous melanoma:" Disease progression was confirmed in 81.7% of patients (in 86.5% of patients with clinical signs of disease progression and in 69.7% of asymptomatic patients with elevated S100B) " - "Tumour Marker: Protein S100B" (HERE) Protein S100B is a member of a family of calcium binding proteins. S100B is present in astrocytes and glial cells in the brain and also in melanocytes. .... The plasma concentration of S100B has been shown to be related to tumour burden Now this is not the first time that I have paired Autism with Cancer and that is a frightening concept. I don't want to create panic but where is the alarm and furor to research and help our very sick children? Since studies has shown mercury in the recipe of regression, into an Autism diagnosis, that seemed to be another avenue to investigate with this protein, S100B: "Cerebrospinal fluid S100B increases reversibly in neonates of methyl mercury-intoxicated pregnant rats." (HERE) The increment of CSF S100B in neonates exposed to MeHg reinforces the view that increased S100B is related to damage in the nervous system and that S100B could be a marker for MeHg-neurotoxicity. Although the cellular mechanism related to MeHg-induced increase in S100B content in CSF remains unknown, our results suggest the use of S100B as a peripheral marker of brain damage induced by MeHg. "Methylmercury increases S100B content in rat cerebrospinal fluid" (HERE) Our data show that the amounts of S100B increased in CSF of rats after chronic MeHg exposure. In this regard, several studies have demonstrated the existence of a correlation between some injuries of CNS and S100B levels in CSF and serum (Ingebrigtsen et al., 1999;Wong et al., 1999;Wunderlich et al., 1999; Walz et al., 2000; Lara et al., 2001; Portela et al., 2002). However, studies dealing with the correlation between S100B levels and metal-induced neurotoxicity are scarce.... These data reinforce the view that increased S100B protein content in CSF is related to damage in CNS.Concluding, the present study shows, for the first time, an increase of S100B levels in rat CSF after chronic exposure to a neurotoxic metal. From a toxicological point of view, these new data are extremely important because introduce S100B protein as a new marker for MeHg-induced neurotoxicity...taking into account the relationship between S100B levels and MeHg exposure, it is possible that, in the near future, this glial protein could become a useful marker for biological monitoring of individuals occupationally/environmentally exposed to this neurotoxicant." I wondered if Thimerosal, the vaccine mercury that is still in use today in some vaccines, like the Flu vaccine here in the states and around the world, could also cause an increase in S100B. This study seemed to indicate that it was very possible, so I asked Boyd E. Haley, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky Chemistry Department, what his thoughts on S100B were, based on this research. His reply, "Yes, the data on thimerosal and mercury effects on S100B levels in blood look like a good marker for both toxic metal exposure and ASDs. It should definitely be studied as a potential biomarker for ASD.” His thoughts mirror mine in that it doesn't seem like enough work in this area has happened in regards to Autism and possible biomarkers yet here were possible puzzle pieces showing a connecting picture. It appears that some pharmacological researchers are looking into S100B inhibition in both neurological diseases and cancer -- their product goal -- "ameliorates increases in pathology in response to injury and environmental toxins." If there is a possibility that there are other ways to obtain S100B levels, it may be helpful to explore. If cancer, tumors and Autism are coming up with high S100B levels, then it seems very important to see if this subset of children with diagnoses of Autism might actually be under-reported, as blood serum levels may be only telling us a small part of a bigger picture. Why is it that NIH and more specifically NIMH, steering the research for Autism via the IACC (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committe) under Dr. Tom Insel, is not looking into any of this environmental research and biomarkers for Autism? If mercury and Thimerosal can cause brain damage and S100B is a marker of that, it is a very sad day in our country that a government agency, responsible for research of cause and treatments in this epidemic of Autism, is negligent and appearing derelict on their job. Autism Speaks, though not a government agency but a private, public-friendly organization, securing millions of dollars a year from families, organizations, businesses and loving friends and families to thousands of affected children, has, like IACC, used donated or grant money for research that is often disgracefully and ridiculously not even close to the correct science of Autism research. If someone were to pick obsolete and incongruent studies to hunt for the cause of Autism, one would not have to look further than the gems IACC has funded and researched. The blatant ignorance and avoidance of environmental involvement in the "neurological damage" that is being shown in these studies is horrendous. It should not be tolerated anymore. We must speak out against this active avoidance of the truth. Teresa Conrick is Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
More farmland is being purchased with debt-financing Farmers are buying more land. While that may not be a surprise, they are not only using cash, but have increased their borrowing from lenders to finance the purchases. The trend toward increased debt is indicated by the recent reports on agriculture from the Chicago and St. Louis Federal Reserve Banks. The Chicago Fed includes Iowa, the northern two-thirds of Illinois and Indiana, as well as Michigan, and the agricultural area of Wisconsin. The St. Louis Fed includes the balance of Illinois, Indiana, Western Kentucky and Tennessee, Arkansas, Eastern Missouri, and northern Mississippi. Subsequently, farmers from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River Delta are incurring debt, while crop insurance provides some level of comfort, and while they enter another year of weather uncertainty. The Chicago Fed Agricultural Letter and the St. Louis Fed Agricultural Finance Monitor are both compiled from surveys and interviews with commercial bankers in the districts who were reporting on land values, credit conditions, and land financing practices. St. Louis District The St. Louis survey specifically found that farm income and spending were equal to or higher than year earlier levels in most of the district. But it noted that levels were particularly higher in the southern part of the district because high yields also combined with high prices. The bankers also cited high levels of indemnity payments from crop insurance provided additional capital. While loan demand in the Memphis sector is 150% of the fourth quarter of 2011, loan demand is slightly less than 2011 fourth quarter numbers in the balance of the district. The bankers are expecting greater loan demand in the first quarter of 2013 compared to year earlier demand, quantified as 125% of what was expected a year ago. Whether farmers in the St. Louis District were paying cash or financing a large portion of their land purchases, the bankers reported that 73% of land purchases were made by farmers and 94% of land purchases, whether by farmers or non-farmers, were prompted by an investment opportunity. Across the district, 14% of the purchase was made by cash, 39% involved commercial bank financing, 45% involved Farm Credit System financing, and 2% by insurance companies. In the Chicago Fed District, where farmland values have risen 52% over the period of 2010-2012, bankers told the Fed they anticipate an expansion in the volume of farm real estate loans. Of the bankers surveyed, 43% anticipated higher levels of land purchases in 2013 than in 2012, with 7 of 10 anticipating steady values in the first quarter of 2013. Fed economist David Oppedahl says, “And although the District’s annual increase of 16% in the value of “good” farmland for 2012 was a little lower than that for 2011, it was still the third-largest increase since the late 1970s.”
Gear oil respect Gear lubricants are not so much ignored as they are misunderstood. Most of the time they are considered a lower performance lubricant as opposed to hydraulic oil. “That's understandable, because some people think it's not like gear oils are working in high temperatures or high pressures,” says Walt Silveira of Shell Lubricants. “But gear oils actually must be able to provide lubrication in both situations (high heat and pressure) and not fail.” Complicating these requirements is the fact that the gearboxes on today's machinery are required to transfer more power and be more durable than their predecessors. Teeth and bearing loads in gearboxes are certainly higher, says Tim Copper of Lubrizol Corporation. Higher loads can result in higher temperatures from friction. This, then, accelerates the oxidation process, which degrades the lubricant and produces sludge, varnishes, gums, and acids. A common mistake is considering gear lubes no different than engine oil. That is somewhat understandable, as all lubricants are formulated with a base stock oil enhanced with additives. Beyond that simple fact, Silveira says gear lubes differ from other lubricants because they are formulated to provide a film that separates the metal surfaces of gears and bearings. More specifically, gear oils are designed to provide for elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL). This describes a condition in which metal surfaces that contact each other have a low degree of conformity and high contact pressures. In the case of intermeshing gears in a gearbox, the surfaces in motion trap the lubricant film under extreme pressure. When this happens, gear oil's viscosity actually increases to the point where the lubricant forms a pseudosolid film. This almost-solid film separates the surfaces of intermeshing gears. As long as operating conditions (such as speeds, loads, and temperatures) are not excessive, surface contact between gears may never occur due to this remarkable characteristic of gear oil. But during periods of cold start-up, extremely high operating temperatures, or high shock loading, this full fluid film can be destroyed. Unless a boundary lubricant is present in the gear lubricant when this fluid film is destroyed, wear can take place. Mark Betner of Citgo explains that many lubricants for manual gearboxes and differentials are hypoid gear oils. These oils contain extreme pressure (EP) additives and antiwear additives. EP gear oils are capable of performing well in a wide range of temperatures, speeds, and gear sizes to help prevent damage during starting and stopping. The additives used in EP oils are rarely used in motor oils since they can react with water and combustion by-products to form acids that corrode engine parts. For example, the additive sulfur-phosphorus brings antioxidants, demulsifiers, friction modifiers, viscosity modifiers, and metal deactivators to gear oil.
The term “Appropriate Placement” was introduced in Pinch Analysis during the 1980s to indicate how special unit operations should be correctly integrated with the background process to ensure maximum energy savings. Pinch Analysis has provided guidelines for the design of heat exchanger networks as well as the Appropriate Placement of distillation columns, evaporators, heat engines and heat pumps. These guidelines are based on insight about the process Pinch as a bottleneck for heat recovery, and a fundamental decomposition effect by temperature level into a heat deficit region above Pinch and a heat surplus region below Pinch. Glaviè and co-workers while considering the Appropriate Placement of chemical reactors also made statements about operation of compressors, however, without completing the discussion and without developing a methodology based on insight from thermodynamics. This paper will conclude on this issue and provide very accurate guidelines for the correct integration of compressors and expanders, such as optimal inlet temperatures. The discussion in the paper assumes that streams subject to heat integration also may undergo pressure changes. In subambient processes, even streams with the same supply and target pressure may be utilized as utility streams by a sequence of compression and expansion to provide refrigeration for the process. Established design guidelines for rotating machinery suggest to operate compressors at low temperature (possibly with inter-stage cooling) to reduce work consumption and to operate expanders at high temperature (possibly with inter-stage re-heating) to increase work production. Based on insight developed in this paper that in turn relates to principles from Pinch Analysis, design guidelines are presented that are the opposite of the established ones. Compressors provide additional heating to the heat recovery system and should be placed above the Heat Recovery Pinch. Likewise, expanders provide additional cooling and should be placed below Pinch. The extended problem definition (vs. the classical heat recovery problem) for systems of process streams that may undergo changes in both temperature and pressure is the following: Given a set of process streams with a supply state (temperature, pressure, and the resulting phase) and a target state, as well as utilities for power, heating and cooling; design a system of heat exchangers, expanders, pumps and compressors in such a way that an objective function is minimized. The objective function could be based on economics (such as minimum Total Annual Cost) or thermodynamics (such as minimum irreversibilities or exergy losses). The operating cost is related to consumed and produced shaftwork and external heating and cooling (both at different temperature levels). An evaluation of or comparison between design alternatives will have to deal with both mechanical and thermal utility systems, and the obvious solution is to use a parameter that measures the quality of different energy forms. Thus there is a motivation for using exergy, and in this paper a newly developed Exergetic Transfer Effectiveness (ETE) is used to measure exergy efficiency of the design alternatives. As indicated above, compression and expansion are used deliberately in below ambient processes to provide refrigeration as cold utility. For these types of processes, and in developing the ETE, the true exergy sources and sinks of a process were identified through a proper classification of exergy types and the decomposition of these exergy forms into exergy components. The paper will use a case study to conclude its discussion by identifying the optimal inlet temperature for compressors and expanders that are part of a heat recovery system. It should be no surprise that these optimal inlet conditions are the hot or cold Pinch temperature depending on whether the actual process stream that is subject to pressure change is a hot (to be cooled and/or condensed) or a cold (to be heated and/or evaporated) stream. In addition, the paper will discuss the importance of the Heat Recovery Pinch concept when process streams not only change temperature but also pressure. With changes in both these state variables, the path from supply to target state is not fixed and will be determined as part of the search for a system that satisfies the objective of the design exercise. Would you like to access this content? No problem. You just have to complete the following steps. You have completed 0 of 2 steps. You must be logged in to view this content. Log in now. Purchase Technical Presentation You must purchase this technical presentation using one of the options below. 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We want complex technologies and systems to be easy to use for humans. That is why we are so obsessed with service design, customer’s experience, UX and UI design. Over the years, we’ve been tweaking our design processes to make users smile and bring ROI to our customers. Here’s how we have achieved excellent results. It doesn’t take long to write a good design brief, but it is probably one of the most essential steps. There is no secret magic in making one, but we are happy to help our clients put together one. This is also the perfect chance to meet the teams and set the joint goals. We work together with the customer’s team and end-users. We spend time on qualitative and quantitative research. If needed, we will go out there and observe the business and users or take the end-user role ourselves. We collect and analyse the data to make sure the product will do the right thing and fits the market. Digital products are used in the real environment. Scenarios describe how and why personas use the application, whereas stories will focus on the functionality of the product itself. Storymapping helps to identify the minimum viable product. The goal is to learn about the state-of-the-art in the field, who are competitors, what’s the value proposition and how can we build uniqueness for our clients. Here, we make the low-fidelity design that translates scenarios and stories into UX/UI flows and layouts of an actual digital interface. We iterate, test and change as much as we need to create consistency, ease of function, predictability – things that make the product easy to use. We add look-and-feel to the low-fidelity design – the colours, the visual identity and the specifics of the platforms like Android or iOS. As we’re using the design thinking process, this is a moment to prototype and test again. The goal of this step is to deliver design assets and guidelines to the engineering team. For our team, this means a 2-way communication so that despite technical limitations, the best of the best designs will be released with the product. Check out our engineering process for more. The secret sauce that most of our clients benefits their product management process. In this step, we describe reusable UI elements and guidelines to be utilised in the future. That’s how we keep the product consistent and future updates effective.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and appeared on the 1947project. July 29 is Elizabeth Short’s birthday—she would have been 81. Although horoscopes were a regular feature in the Examiner in the 1940s, The Times didn’t begun running them until Jan. 8, 1951, when Carroll Richter’s Astrological Forecast appeared next to the weather report. The Times, however, was certainly in the vanguard in offering star charts for pets. Although The Times didn’t have a horoscope, it ran a daily Bible verse on the editorial page, right below the masthead. Here’s the one for Elizabeth Short’s birthday: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy—St. James, III, 17 The daily Bible verse disappeared from The Times’ editorial page Oct. 23, 1970.
Scarlett is a short film depicting the inner struggle of a girl who lost a leg to cancer. Amputation takes as much of an emotional toll as a physical one - especially for a child. We believe in the power of entertainment media to empower children through storytelling and role models. Visibility in media offers these children hope and a sense of belonging at a critical time where they may feel isolated. Music & Sound Design,
\|Electronics can't even begin to explain the rise in despair!\| Physicians noted that the increasing use of electronics and social media may be playing a major role in the growing number of depression cases, especially in younger patients. “Increased use of electronics, video games more commonly in boys and social media/texting more commonly in girls, can lead to increased conflict both within the home and with peers,” Dr. Karyn Horowitz explained. “High users of social media have been linked with higher rates of social isolation than low users,” Haywood added.I think electronics is a little shallow for an explanation to the hopelessness so ingrained in our culture that leads so many to embrace death as a way out. Electronics are only one more "drug" like alcohol or cocaine used to dull the despair. It's nihilism, atheism, liberalism, materialism, evolutionism, and all the other "isms" that tell us life is meaningless and not worth living... kill yourself to end your pain and suffering. So what's the answer? God knows! But I'm convinced that faith and hope are foundational. They respond to the statement that "Life is meaningless" with a loud cry of, "That's a lie!" But many can't hear the message and in a black moment, I suspect impulsively they do what cannot be undone. The Church recognizes in the catechism that, "Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide." And Wiki goes on to point out that, "The Catholic Church prays for those who have committed suicide, knowing that Christ shall judge the deceased fairly and justly. The Church also prays for the close relations of the deceased, that the loving and healing touch of God will comfort those torn apart by the impact of the suicide." Ah, those two words -- "torn apart." They can't even begin to describe it. The hole left by a loved one who abandons the family in despair is like a black hole pulling everything into the darkness of grief, guilt, and regret. I'm convinced that only the gravitational pull of God's love can prevent annihilation of everyone touched by suicide. In the aftermath, the question arises. What can one do for the survivors? For the children especially. I have a few suggestions for grandparents. Dull your own pain by pulling the young ones into your arms. Spend more time: - throwing rocks in the river - sharing happy memories of the loved one who's gone - baking cookies together - playing lots of cards and other games - taking walks and hikes together - working together in the yard -- young teens love to drive the tractor - going for ice cream - talking and ending with a short prayer over your grandchildren blessing them and asking their guardian angels for protection - spending lots of time together doing just about anything as long as the smart-phones, video games, etc. are resting on the shelf And above all -- pray for them. Pray every day. Pray for them specifically by name. Hold them close to your heart and close to the heart of Jesus and His Mother Mary. Right now, the Seven Sorrows of Mary are my constant prayer companion. I pray them when I wake up in the night. I pray them at adoration. I pray them as I go about my work during the day. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, wounded by our sins, have mercy on us. Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, pray for us. St. Joseph, patron of a good death, pray for us.
Human Development and Family Studies Journal or Book Title Encyclopedia of Human Relationships One of the most important and earliest relationships is the parent-child relationship. During infancy, this relationship focuses on the parent responding to the infant's basic needs. Over time, an attachment forms between the parent and child in response to the these day-to-day interactions. During toddlerhood, parents attempt to shape their children's social behaviors. Parents play various roles for their toddlers, including acting as teacher, nurturers, and providers of guidance and affection. Throughout childhood, children become more interested in peers. However, parents continue to influence their children through their parenting styles. In addition, parents serve as providers of social opportunities, confidants, coaches, and advisors. Although this relationship evolves throughout development, the parent-child relationship still exerts considerable influence over the child. Leidy, Melinda S.; Schofield, Thomas J.; and Parke, Ross D., "Parent-Child Relationships" (2009). Human Development and Family Studies Publications. 86.
Aortic Perfusion Pressure and Protein Synthesis Cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory mechanism utilized when the heart must do additional work. Immediately after imposition of an increased pressure load, an acceleration in the rate of protein synthesis must depend upon increased efficiency because sufficient time has not elapsed to allow for synthesis of increased numbers of ribosomes and other components of the pathway. Efficiency of synthesis refers to the rate at which amino acids are incorporated into protein when expressed as a function of tissue RNA, whereas capacity refers to the quantity of RNA present within the heart (Waterlow et al., 1978). When the effects of increased pressure load were studied in vitro, incorporation of amino acids into heart protein was accelerated by higher work loads in working heart preparations or by increased perfusion pressure in Langendorff preparations (Schreiber et al., 1966; Hjalmarson and Isaksson, 1972a; Morgan et al., 1980). In these circumstances, increased synthesis was thought to be related to development of higher levels of ventricular pressure. KeywordsProtein Synthesis Perfusion Pressure Aortic Pressure Myocardial Oxygen Consumption Coronary Perfusion Pressure Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. - Hjalmarson, A., and Isaksson, O., 1972a, In vitro work load and rat heart metabolism. I. Effect on protein synthesis, Acta Physiol. Scand., 86:126.Google Scholar - Schreiber, S. S., Oratz, M., and Rothschild, M. A., 1966, Protein synthesis in the overloaded mammalian heart, Am. J. Physiol., 211:314.Google Scholar - Waterlow, J. C. , Garlick, P. J., and Millward, D. J., 1978, “Protein Turnover in Mammalian Tissues and in the Whole Body,” North Holland, New York.Google Scholar
* DOWNLOAD THIS RESOURCE FOR FREE * Repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment: A Step Toward the Restoration of Federalism in America by Virginia M. McInerney The form of government instituted in the United States has been extolled throughout history by natives and foreigners alike. John Adams said: “What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?”1 In his Farewell Address, Andrew Jackson stated that “our country has improved and is flourishing beyond any former example in the history of nations.”2 The well-known French scholar, DeTocqueville, and English commoner, Gladstone, have issued equally notable praises.3 The United States Constitution which defines this remarkable form of government, is built upon certain enduring principles. These principles are espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Framers gave them form in the United States Constitution.4 Speaking of these immutable principles, Thomas Jefferson said: These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.5 As with all governments, it becomes necessary, from time to time, to reacquaint ourselves with its basic mechanics of operation. The Founding Fathers gave posterity a written constitution to aid in this process.6 When there are doubts as to its meaning, one must study its original intent to discern proper application, for “the intent of the Lawgiver is the Law.”7 Current events in this nation have provoked citizens and scholars to perform this assessment — to “retrace our steps” — in yet another area: the principle of federalism. Simply defined, federalism is a system that combines States retaining sovereignty within a certain sphere with a central body possessing sovereignty within another sphere, and a third sphere where concurrent jurisdiction (exists].8 After years of silence on the matter, a resurgence of interest in federalism is evident. President Reagan’s “New Federalism,” “The Federalist Society,” and a report on federalism issued by the Domestic Policy Council9 are just some of the manifestations of this increasing concern. The reason for this interest is that America is reaping the fruit of centralized government. Contrary to the Founding Fathers’ original vision of separate spheres of jurisdiction between the people, the states, and national government, our current system is now dominated by the national government. The United States Constitution, as drafted by the Founding Fathers, clearly enumerated the limited powers of the national government. All other powers were reserved to the states or the people. The 10th Amendment affirms this noting: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The separate spheres of jurisdiction of the national and state governments have gradually been eroded. The national government has increasingly usurped the reserved power of both the people and the states. It has been documented that States, once the hub of political activity and the .very source of our political tradition, have been reduced — in significant part — to administrative units of the national government ….10 As a result of this erosion process, both the national government and the state governments are crippled in their effectiveness. The national government, having taken on too much power, is unable to properly administer all the areas it has arrogated unto itself. On the other hand, the state governments are impotent in legislating and executing the will of the people because they are subject to unpredictable subjugation by the national government. Our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, proclaims as self evident the proposition that “all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” and that “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” When state governments so instituted become impotent, then it is their right and duty to reacquire the appropriate power in order to fulfill the purpose for which they were originally established. In order to assist state governments in this task, this thesis will analyze Article I, Section 3 of the United States Constitution and the Seventeenth Amendment which modified it. Article I, Section 3 was designed to protect the exercise of a state’s constitutionally reserved power against anticipated national encroachment by requiring Senators to be appointed by the legislatures of their respective states.11 This method of election was changed in 1913 by the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment.12 That Amendment called for direct election of United States Senators by popular vote of the citizens of the respective states. This modification has materially weakened the voice of the states as states within the national government and contributed to their present condition of national subjugation. Subsequent to an examination of these provisions, remedies will be proposed to assist the states in regaining their constitutional place in our federal system of government. * Copyright © 1987 Virginia M. McInerney. Used with permission. 1. John Adams. “Inaugural Address.” published in James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages of the Presidents, 1789-1897, 20 vols. (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897), 1:219. 2. Andrew Jackson, “Farewell Address,” published in Ibid., 4:1512. 3. William Gladstone said that “the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” Quoted in James Beck, The Constitution of the United States, with a Preface by The Earl of Balfour (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1922), p. 29. Alexis DeTocqueville was so impressed with the governmental systems in America that he wrote a two volume work entitled Democracy in America to explain its workings and praiseworthy attributes. 4. Those principles were given form in various state constitutions as well, particularly after the Resolution of May 15, 1776. Issued just prior to the Declaration, it urged the colonies to form separate governments for the exercise of civil authority within each colony. This was because the colonies were no longer ruled by the crown, being in a state of war with the same. Many of the men who helped formulate these early constitutio n were instrumental in issuing the Declaration of Independence, and later, the United States Constitution. 5. Thomas Jefferson, “First Inaugural Address,” published in Richardson, 1:312. 6. For a discussion on the significance of a written constitution, see: Edwin Meece, Address before The Federalist Society, 30 January 1987, Washington, D.C., pp. 5-15, (Typewritten). Explains the significance of a written constitution. 7. Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address,” published in Richardson, 7:3207. See-also, Ibid. for a discussion on original intent. 8. U.S., Domestic Policy Council, Working Group on Federalism, The – Status of Federalism in America, (November, 1986), p. 8. See – also James Madison, The Federalist-Papers No. 45, with Introduction by Clinton Rossiter (New York: New American Library, 1961; reprint ed.. McLean edition, 1788), pp. 292-293. 9. President Reagan issued a “Statement on Federalism Principles” on April 8, 1986. During his administration, he has endeavored to reinstitute some of these principles within the national government structure. His plan, referred to as “New Federalism” incorporates federal budget cuts on domestic programs and the redirecting of federal programs such as education, housing, and transportation to state and local levels. Robert Beneson, “Federalism Under Reagan,” Editorial Research. Reports 1 (24 May 1985):379-384. It can be considered a compromising strategy to restore constitutional federalism. The Executive Office is involved in a “Working Group on Federalism” established in 1985 by the Domestic Policy Council. This group consists of representatives from nine agencies and the White House. Their purpose is to develop a strategy to reinstill “basic constitutional federalism principles” into federal law and regulations. See, Working Group on Federalism, title page. In November of 1986, the Working Group on Federalism published a comprehensive report on the contemporary status of federalism in America. The Federalist Society was founded in April, 1982, by a group of law students from Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. It is now comprised of lawyers and law and public policy students and faculty who desire to work toward the restoration of the rule of law and corresponding traditional values in American society. 10. Working Group on Federalism, p. 2. 11. Art. I, Sec. 3 of the United States Constitution reads in part as follows: - The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 12. The Seventeenth Amendment of the United States Constitution reads as follows: - The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. - When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. - This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
On 16 October 1834, two careless workmen set fire to the Houses of Parliament. The sprawling medieval complex was almost entirely destroyed in perhaps London's most famous conflagration between the Great Fire and the Blitz. The charred remains would eventually be cleared to make way for the grand Neo-Gothic buildings that still stand. Tomorrow, historian Caroline Shenton, author of The Day Parliament Burned Down, will recreate that fateful day on Twitter. She'll tweet out the key developments, as they happened in real time, beginning with the causal balls-up at 6.30am. Follow along on @parliamentburns, and contribute to the discussion with hashtag #parliamentburns.
My uncle Howard killed himself in college. He was a grad student in Ann Arbor, engaged to be married, and, according to my family, well-liked. He suffered from depression worsened by tensions with his father. My grandmother knew this, yet she struggled to understand her son’s suicide for the rest of her long life. When Howard committed suicide in 1968, he did it in private inside a school chemistry lab, but he clearly wanted to be found, because he was sending a message. When 18-year-old Océane ended her life in May, 2016, she streamed the incident in real time, jumping in front of a suburban Paris subway train while strangers watched and commented. At The Guardian, Rana Dasgupta tells Océane’s story and tries to understand why a young ailing woman could both criticize social media and use social media to communicate her message. Océane was wounded by trauma and haunted by the sense that no one cared, a fact that social media only amplified. Examining this central contradiction, Dasgupta teases out the allure of escape in the depressed Parisian suburbs, the way disconnected youth seek connection, and the way celebrity, even internet celebrity, drains people of life. For a generation so fully embedded in social media, celebrity was not remote or atypical. It was latent in everyone. Schoolgirls debated with each other how they would deal with its burdens – paparazzi, extreme wealth, film-star boyfriends – when they grew up. And this was not surprising. Social media, after all, supplied a publicity machinery with a reach and power previously available only to truly famous people, and now the condition of the celebrity was everyone’s condition. Suddenly everyone was broadcasting their life to the world, and measuring their worth on the basis of the libidinal pulses that came back – as only celebrities had before. Suddenly, the celebrity’s grief over privacy was everyone’s, and everyone was afflicted by her insecurity: do people realise there’s nothing behind it all except my own frail and disappointing humanity? Océane was wired like everyone else. Like many other teenagers, she had often tried to make her image conform to that of the triumphal media funster: there were images of her on Twitter V-signing in a short skirt and sunglasses on a rooftop in Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign glowing in the distance (“You’re a real film star,” her friends commented, obligingly). This did not stop her being judgmental of everybody else’s online affectations, but that, of course, was the inherent paradox. Surveying the great online pageant of self-promotion and superficiality, social media users were led to believe they were the only ones in the world to have authentic feelings and opinions. “Fakes” was an English word imported by Océane’s French generation, which they used to describe, essentially, everyone other than themselves. On Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, there are only fakes. All the same, there was also no question of opting out. Océane was very much in – she had several Twitter accounts – and even as she railed against what happened on social media, it was on social media that she chose to do it. The only true significance came from mediatisation, and even discontent, if it was to have any meaning, had to be liked and shared. The problem was that, for the most part, it did not matter how widely broadcast your discontent was: no one cared. The great majority of celebrities – in this new world where even nobodies were celebrities – were lacking in that basic attribute of the celebrity, which was fame. They were half-creatures – unfamous celebrities, anonymous superstars – and unlike their fully-formed counterparts, their thoughts and feelings were lost in the infinite cacophony. This was why there was a constant inflation of strategy and contrivance; for even those whose message was “Authenticity!” found themselves inventing stunts of their own in order for it to be heard.
There are few things that shock me, but this information stopped me in my tracks: Each year 70 thousands dogs are tested on in facilities located here in the United States. I am told the preferred breed of dog is the Beagle. According to Peta and Beagle Freedom Project, the dogs are tested on because of their kind, docile nature. The tests include experimental surgical procedures, toxicology tests, and over the counter drugs. I am also told that most of the dogs are actually bred to be a “lab rat.” They live in a cage their entire lives never seeing the sunshine or stepping on grass, (much like Puppy Mill dogs). It is legal to test on dogs in the United States, just as it is legal to test on cats, rabbits, primates and rats, but animal activists that I have interviewed and discussed this issue with are fighting back. Their reports claim some of the facilities beat and kick the dogs, and leave them living in deplorable living conditions. In fact, just last week, a North Carolina grand jury indicted four facility workers on 14 felony cruelty to animal charges. It is the first time in U.S. history that workers have faced felony cruelty charges for their treatment of animals in a lab. There is not much we can do about it. Believe me, I have tried to figure out how this madness could be prevented, but there are choices we can make as consumers. We can make these choices daily, and encourage our friends and family to do the same. Please learn more and educate others about these practices. Together we can make a difference.
- One of seven species of parasitic Gymnosomid flies, this one the red-butted variety. In the event you're not yet hooked into this little essay, here's a few things to think about when it comes to flies: First, they are the only insects that have only one pair of wings, all the others have two. To make up for the missing two wings, flies possess balancers, known as halteres, which are actually gyroscopes. Instead of having a centrifugal gyroscope to keep it stable in flight, the fly has an oscillating gyroscope. Didn't know that did you...? Gnats are flies. Birds and bats eat gnats by the krijillions. Without gnats, a whole lot of birds and bats would go hungry. Some gnats look like mosquitoes, while others have such charming names, as: "love bugs," "moth flies," "march flies," scuttle flies," and so on. There are also "kissing bugs." The most common fly we are all familiar with is the so-called "housefly." Houseflies touch everybody and everything. Their mouth is like a sponge, literally, and they spend their entire adult lifetime sticking their nose into everyone's food, garbage, poop and business, and the majority of these flies begin life as a maggot eating something dead. Mom was right; wash your hands! From a "maggot," they eventually change into the "adult" stage, a process known as "complete metamorphosis," the three stages of insect life. However, there are few flies in which the female hatches her eggs inside and then places her little darling maggots exactly where she wants them, like in a dead body. Some female flies, however, hatch their eggs inside their bodies. The fully developed fly is then "born"-no metamorphosis necessary. Crane flies are huge, and falsely known as "giant mosquitoes," "daddy long-legs," and "gully nippers." Most crane fly maggots spend their life in the soil eating the roots of plants, and some take up to four years to become adults, while some crane fly larva are cannibalistic predators and eat other crane fly larva. Among the midges are the infernal "black flies," and "no-see-ums," those pesky little suckers that really bite! "Sucker" is a literal term, they poke their proboscis into one's tender skin, leaving their saliva behind that itches like all get out. And then there's another fly, the infamous mosquito. Everyone knows what mosquitoes have done to the human race over time, but if you want to read about the man who tamed the spread of malaria by mosquitoes (the only way that dreaded disease can be transmitted), look up Dr. Charles A. R. Campbell and his "bat towers." He became a millionaire building towers all over Texas to house bats that ate mosquitoes which in turn eliminated malaria and left behind bat guano (manure). Dr. Campbell sold the guano for fertilizer, and wrote a book about it entitled, Bats, Mosquitoes and Dollars. "Deer flies" and "horse flies" are also fierce biters. If they were the size of hawks they'd suck us dry in minutes. There are over 100 known species of horse flies in the Genus Tabanus, one of which is the species, americanus that comes with a blue abdomen. Guess where the song, "Blue-tailed Fly" came from? There are "soldier flies, "snipe flies," "small-headed flies," and "robber flies." Robber flies are the F-16 fighter jets of the Out here in the West, we have a wonderful selection of "flower-loving" flies. They are drawn to flowers like bees to honey. And speaking of bees, there's a whole passel "of bee flies" as well. They look like bees, fly like bees and feed in flowers like bees, but do not have pollen baskets, and can't sting. The males are territorial, and some of them actually patrol a piece of sky around their favorite flower patch. One of my fondest memories of being out in the wild with my oldest son, Dean, is giving him my macro camera outfit and carrying him around on my shoulders as he tried to get photos of a flower fly hovering in its territorial airspace. "A little left, dad...no...more to the left...now right..., that's it, no... go forward, now back up a little..." he'd whisper (as if the fly could hear him). All the time I could hear the old Pentax motor-drive going like a machine gun-and that was back in the days of film when we didn't have the marvelous "delete" function on digital cameras of today. It's in the flower flies and wasp mimics that you find the "surphid flies," the larva of which are aphid-eaters from the word go, a boon to gardeners everywhere. The adults look like inflated wasps. It is here that I get to preach my sermon. We should really know the Good Guys from the Bad Guys, and understand what happens when we use chemical warfare. There are also yellow-jacket mimics that look so much like the real thing they scare your pants off, you just know you're going to be stung. Then there's the Bot flies; they are miserable things that burrow under the skin of cows, horse, dogs, cats and other warm-blooded animals. The tachnid flies, like the one pictured above, are parasites on other insects, especially butterflies and moths. Many a butterfly going into the chrysalis stage never becomes an adult because a tachnid fly has laid its eggs inside the caterpillar, and that's all she wrote for that unlucky insect. The tachnid pictured above is a specialist, parasitizing stink bugs. The list of how flies occupy a particular niche in the world of nature is long and complex. For anyone thinking of a career in the world of living things, there is enough missing information regarding flies to keep one busy for a lifetime, and the chances of getting one named after you is more than possible-but it might be a "stink bug."
'Not a disaster, but it's not good news': CBR analysts predict price increase and economic slowdown The 2% VAT increase is to blame for it Central Bank analysts have assessed the pros and cons of the VAT increase: due to the increase in tax by 2%, the government will find money for the implementation of the May Decree, but it will casue a jump in prices and, perhaps, economic slowdown. According to analysts, the change in VAT rate can add to inflation up to 1,25% and take away up to 0,5% from GDP. Read more details in the material of Realnoe Vremya. By increasing the VAT rate from 18% to 20% from 1 January 2019, the government will find most of the money for the strategic part of the May Decree — these costs are estimated at 8 trillion rubles in 2018-2024. But for this, the population will have to pay by inflation growth. This is claimed by analysts of the Central Bank of Russia in the bulletin ''What trends tell'' (not necessarily reflects the official position of the regulator). According to the bulletin, the VAT rate covers about 70% of the entire consumer basket. At the very most, the rate increase of 2% may add 1,16% to the inflation. But usually producers do not shift the tax burden entirely to prices, so the average impact on inflation is estimated to be between 0,8% and 0,95%. However, in addition to the direct effect, there may be secondary one, analysts say. They are connected with the growth of inflation expectations. Taking into account these effects, the overall impact of the VAT increase on inflation can be +0,8-1,25%. The price increase will be tangible in 3-6 months after the tax increase, most likely, within one quarter. This is evidenced by the experience of reducing VAT in Russia in 2004, as well as increasing sales tax in Japan in 2014. Whether the Central Bank should respond to tax changes depends on the stability of inflation expectations and the strength of secondary effects, the authors of the bulletin state. In the Czech Republic, before the tax increase, the regulator considered the secondary effects insignificant and did not react in any way; the national banks of the UK, Poland and Romania considered them an argument in favour of a more stringent monetary policy. ''In Russia, inflation expectations are not anchored, so there is a high probability of secondary effects. Therefore, the Bank of Russia at the last meeting pointed to the growth of taxes as an important reason for maintaining the key rate,'' the analysts remind. In June, the growth rate of consumer prices temporarily slowed to 2,3% year-on-year, but in July they are likely to return to the level of previous months (2,4% in March-May). Now the inflation rate is still below the target of the Central Bank of 4%, but the gap with the goal has been significantly reduced — in the second quarter it was minimal since the beginning of 2017. Inflation expectations are increasing. The reason, in addition to the announced increase in VAT, is the increase in gasoline prices and the earlier weakening of the ruble. The growth of long-term inflation expectations may delay further reduction of interest rates, the authors of the bulletin claim. Inflation growth is not the only consequence of the VAT increase. The second possible consequence is an economic slowdown. Practice shows that changes in consumption taxes are quickly reflected in GDP growth. According to the Central Bank, for Russia, an increase in the rate of such taxes by 1% can mean a decrease in GDP by 0,9-1%. The direct negative effect of the 2% VAT increase threatens to be minus 0,5% from GDP, but the total effect may even be positive, given the increase in spending according to the May Decree. Estimates of Central Bank analysts on inflation more or less similar to the truth, says economist, Associate Professor at Ranepa Sergey Khestanov. Today, about three-quarters of all goods are subject to the 18% VAT. Based on this, with the increase in the rate by 2%, the price growth can be about 1,5% — which, given the error, roughly coincides with the vision of the regulator. However, Khestanov considers the forecasts for economic growth deceleration to be too positive: ''The impact on GDP should not be underestimated; most likely, the situation will be worse than the Central Bank expects. I think a reasonable estimate is minus 1% (excluding additional effects, which we do not yet understand). It's certainly not a disaster, but the kind of thing that doesn't make anyone happy.'' According to the experience of countries that have recently increased VAT (for example, Georgia), we can say that the increase in the rate by 2% can move inflation up by 0,5-0,75%, said Anton Tabakh, chief economist at Expert RA Agency; in general, much will depend on the actions of the Central Bank. Not only the Central Bank is talking about the consequences of the VAT increase. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation in early July said that by the end of this year the inflation will accelerate to 3,1%, and a year later it will go beyond the target of the Central Bank, amounting to 4,3%. In addition, the ministry reduced the forecast for GDP growth in 2018 from 2,2% to 1,9%, in 2019 — to 1,4%. Expert RA also reduced the forecast for GDP growth due to the increase in VAT. Now, as well as the Ministry of Economic Development, it expects that economic growth in 2019 will not exceed 1,4%.
Following is part two of the talk given by writer and activist Ann Pancake in May 2016 at the University of Hawai‘i. I’ve now been involved in the fight against mountaintop removal for 16 years. What I’ve witnessed in sixteen years is extraordinary success in the Appalachian environmental movement’s educating people not only all over the country about mountaintop removal, but people all over the world. That education has fueled enormous outcry against the destruction, including myriad efforts through lawsuits and legislation to halt the mining or at least slow it down. Scientific study after scientific study have been published proving the deleterious effects of mountaintop removal on all forms of life, including human, along with economic studies that point out this type of mining’s lack of viability in the long-term. Yet mountaintop removal has juggernauted on. I remember something a man named Willard said to me fourteen years ago when I was interviewing him. Willard’s property was surrounded on three sides by mines when I met him. His house had cracks all over the interior walls from the blasting, and he was enduring crippling health problems which he suspected came from his well being poisoned. What Willard said summed up perfectly what I would come to feel after a few more years as an activist: “We just keep fightin and fightin and fightin, and it seems we can’t get nothing done.” Mountaintop removal mining has slowed only recently not because those in power have decided to listen to the majority of Americans and Appalachians who want their environment protected, but because coal is being challenged by natural gas as America’s fossil fuel of choice. So in Appalachia we are trading one devastating environmental practice—stripmining—for a different one—hydrofracking. So. This fightin and fightin and fightin and never getting nothin done—well, that’s changed me almost as much as witnessing all the ruination and heartbreak caused by mining has changed me. I’ve gone through deep periods of despair about it. Periods of cynicism. Other times, I’ve just become apathetic, and have fought the impulse to isolate myself, insulate myself. I’ve wallowed in these states. I’ve struggled with guilt over my paralysis. But I have had one insight that helps break up that paralysis: Periods of disintegration most often contain within them profound possibilities for creation. Things generally have to break down before something new is born. Following that logic, an era like this one, precisely because of the scale and scope of its dissolution, offers tremendous opportunities for sweeping systemic change. I’ve come to believe that the only solution to our current global mess is a radical transformation of how people think and perceive and value. And I MEAN radical transformation of how people think and perceive and value. I mean we have to look beyond current dominant Western epistemologies, which, I would argue, are restricted by Cartesian logic, by mechanistic understandings of science, by anthropocentrism, and by a blind devotion to technology. I’m not advocating throwing these out entirely; but I don’t think these ways of knowing, by themselves, are viable any longer. And by “viable,” I mean we can’t physically survive as a species if we hang onto them to the exclusion of other ways of knowing and seeing. I believe we must revolutionize our interiors. And now I come back to that question that Frank asked me to address for this talk: what is the responsibility of the artist to her place and community, given current global crises, in particular, environmental crises? And I think of something I heard Barry Lopez say in a talk he gave in Homer, Alaska, four years ago: What we need now, Barry said, is not more science—but more art. I believe the revolutionizing of interiors is exactly what art can do better than anything else at our disposal, aside from spirituality and certain kinds of direct experience which are not as easily available as art. One way to start revolutionizing interiors is by educating people, and art that does documentary work, does that truth-telling, can contribute to that kind of education. But given our dire circumstances, I believe we artists must open ourselves wider to how art serves society beyond the ways art bears witness. Take, for instance, art’s power to exercise, develop, and revitalize the imagination, the imaginations of both readers and writers. In our culture imagination is impoverished and misdirected at a time when we desperately need new vision and ideas. The literary arts, especially fiction, make more extensive and sustained demands on a reader’s imagination than perhaps any other form of media. Admittedly, the imaginative effort a person must make to read literature means some won’t bother to engage with it at all. However, those who are willing to participate can come through the interaction deeply imprinted precisely because they had to engage their imaginations so energetically. And that exercising of the imagination can help readers and writers imagine better in other parts of their lives. Following is the last part of Ann Pancake’s talk. I want to point out, too, the way literature and art in general all art can reunite an individual’s conscious and unconscious. This re-uniting happens in both the artist and in the artist’s audience. I can’t emphasize how imperative I think this reunion is. I would argue that many of our contemporary ills are caused or made worse by our culture’s rending the conscious from the unconscious, then elevating the conscious—the intellect, rationality—to the complete neglect, if not outright derision, of the unconscious. This is disastrous not only because such psychic amputation cripples people, contributing to feelings of emptiness, insatiability, depression, and anxiety. It’s also disastrous because within that castoff unconscious—in intuition, in dreams—dwell ideas, solutions, and utterly fresh ways of perceiving and understanding that we need urgently in this era of transition. I, like all artists, know the power of the unconscious because it’s where I’ve gone for decades for my fiction writing. I know how boundless that realm is, and I know my unconscious is eons ahead of my intellect, worlds larger in vision than my rational mind. This is exactly where we’ll find the materials and the fuel for that transformation of psyche I’m talking about. And our very business as artists is trafficking between the conscious and the unconscious. We’re actually one of the very last groups in this culture who have a sanctioned day-to-day relationship with our unconscious, with our dreams and intuition. Now I’ll go a little further with this notion of artists’ reintegration of the conscious and the unconscious, by proposing, too, that artists are translators between the visible and invisible worlds. Intermediaries between the profane and the sacred. How is this pertinent to the case I’m making for art’s ability to create change in the world? Only by de-sacralizing the world, over centuries, have we given ourselves permission to destroy it. In order to protect and preserve life we must re-recognize its sacredness, and art helps us do that. Art re-sacralizes by illuminating the profound within the apparently mundane. Art can restore reverence and wonder for the everyday. Art heightens our attentiveness and enlarges our compassion. And for most of human history, storytellers, along with shamans, were the community members who moved between worlds and found ways to translate into language concepts and emotions and energies that transcend ordinary human language because they originate in worlds that are not human. I want to say here a few words about the contributions of Hawaii and its culture and its ethics to the revolutionizing of interiors, to the revising of conventional Western epistemologies, that I’m talking about. I hesitate to say much about this, because I know so little about Hawaii. And I hope that during our discussion following this talk you can tell me more of your perspective. But from what I can discern from the times I’ve visited Hawaii and from what I’ve read about it, many Hawaiians, of all ethnicities, still carry a living sense of this land being sacred. That sense is not nonexistent on the Mainland, but, as you know, is largely absent there, except as rhetoric. However, I think even many Mainland tourists leave Hawaii with at least a slight insight into how you perceive the land as sacred. And, again, I don’t want to presume too much because of how limited my knowledge is, but I can see Hawaii and its particular belief systems as extremely important to this revolution in thinking and feeling I believe dominant Western culture must undergo. Both Barry and I have arrived, separately, at the conviction that Western industrialized people, if we are to survive, need to take very seriously certain values and certain kinds of knowledge that pre-industrial indigenous peoples had and still carry now for us now. As you do here in Hawaii. This is not some naïve romanticized belief that we can and should return to pre-industrial culture, but the understanding that we must essentially re-learn from those cultures how to have sane and healthy relationships with the natural world. I had the wonderful opportunity on Saturday to go to the East Maui Taro Festival in Hana. I can’t tell you how moved and inspired I was by the passion of the people there for reviving traditional fruits and vegetables and sustainable ways of farming, along with the dedication to protecting the land on Eas Maui. The whole festival was infused with this love and enthusiasm for the land and the ocean. I’ve seen nothing like that on the Mainland, not at a festival where people from all walks of life were just there, celebrating taro and having a good time. On the Mainland, I’ve only seen this kind of thing at events put on and attended by people who identify as environmentalists of some sort. Another quality of Hawaiian culture that seems critical to me, but which I don’t understand at all within its Hawaiian context, is aloha. Love. Again, I’d really like to learn more about what Hawaiians mean by “aloha” during our conversation later. In addition to Barry Lopez, another contemporary environmental writer who pushes the envelope in ways I think are imperative is a man named Jack Turner, who wrote a nonfiction book called The Abstract Wild. Turner insists that only genuine love of our environment will motivate us to save it. Further, he believes that aside from direct experience, only art can make us fall in love with the world. “Mere concepts and abstractions,” like those in science and public policy, Turner writes, “will not do, because love is beyond concepts and abstractions. And yet the problem is one of love.” (89). And, like Barry, Turner insists it’s not more science we need, but “stories, stories that produce love.” (106) Art holds other powers for rattling stagnant paradigms, but I’ll just address one more, one that at its best would pull together much of what I’ve already said: the power to envision alternative future realities. My biggest disappointment in my own novel is that it does not provide much concrete vision beyond the contemporary situation in central Appalachia. I have learned that it’s much easier to document a political situation in literature than it is to propose alternatives, to dream forward, without falling into pollyanna-ism or dystopia. But I’ve come to believe that my greatest challenge now—and a challenge for many twenty-first century artists—is to create art that imagines a way forward that is not idealism or fantasy, not dystopia or utopia, but still turns current paradigms on their heads. I’m going to close this evening by reading for a while from a chapter in my novel that features a character who is struggling with what he knows intuitively about the sacredness of the land he lives on and what he’s been taught about the land his whole life through his culture, primarily his church and the economic system. One of the many complex tragedies of the decimation of the land in Appalachia is that Appalachian people are actually deeply attached to that land and to their place, much more so than many non-indigenous people in the United States. I say this attachment is complex because Appalachians are also deeply complicit in destroying their own land, a paradoxical complicity I won’t have time to talk about tonight. This is from a chapter narrated by a character named Mogey, who is a disabled miner in his fifties. He was an underground miner, not a strip miner, and a part of the mine roof fell on his head and he still suffers from that injury. He and his wife live in a small house that has mountaintop removal mining all around it. Mogey as a character is a composite of several people I met in southern West Virginia while doing research for my sister’s documentary and my novel.
Prana and the Self Since the Vedic period, at least two thousand years before Christ, Self-knowledge has been in India not only the theme of sages and philosophers, but also the highest ideal of kings. Most of the early Hindu monarchs were, indeed, the great spiritual teachers of the country, although they did not belong to the Brahmin caste. There is a prevailing idea that the Brahmins were the only teachers of spiritual Truth in the beginning, while the duties of ruling and fighting were confined to the Kshatriya or warrior caste. Yet in the great epic Mahabharata it is told that some of the Brahmins fought battles, commanded the army and showed remarkable powers, courage and ability, though they did not become rulers of the country. As in the Bhagavad Gita read of Drona and Kripacharya, who were Brahmins by birth, yet who became noted generals, served on the battlefield, and were the teachers of the Kshatriyas in military science as it was known at that time. On the other hand, we find in the Upanishads and in the epics that the Kshatriyas were the first teachers of the Brahmins in higher spiritual truths; Krishna, Rama, Buddha were all Kshatriyas. The Kshatriyas, being of the warrior caste, were bound by duly to protect the country, govern the nation, fight the enemies and establish the reign of peace, justice and righteousness among the people. They were entitled, however, not only to become soldiers, commanders of the army and to sit on the throne, but likewise to impart Self-knowledge to all sincere and earnest souls. The Hindu rulers of those early days were not like the monarchs of today. They regarded life as something that had a meaning, and for them this early existence w-as not worth living until that meaning had been realized. Even in that early age these royal seekers after truth felt that those who perform the duties of their daily lives without knowing who they are and what they are in reality, are dwelling in absolute darkness. Therefore, after fulfilling their duties as Kshatriyas and rulers of the country, they still found time enough to devote themselves to the pursuit of Self-knowledge. There was a great Hindu monarch of ancient India, by name Divodasa, who lived in Benares. Benares was the Indian Athens of those days. It was the seat of education, and the center of religion, science and philosophy. From prehistoric ages it had been the cradle of oriental civilization and culture. Even at the time of Buddha, five hundred years before Christ, it was the stronghold of Hindu philosophy and religion; and Buddha could not have done anything if he had not been able to convince the learned scholars of Benares. Divodasa, this famous and powerful ruler of Benares, had a son, who became renowned by defeating his fiercest enemies. It is said that he even conquered the Devas, the mythological gods or bright spirits. In the third chapter of the Kaushitaki Upanishad there is a story which describes how this young prince, Pratardana, by his wonderful courage and prowess conquered all the great ones on the human plane and then came to the abode of the ruler of the Devas. According to Hindu mythology, Indra, the god of Thunder, became the ruler of the Devas through his righteous works and wisdom. Pratardana, the son of the mighty king Divodasa, went to the abode of Indra, dwelling in his heaven, with a desire to conquer him. He told how he had destroyed his enemies and vanquished the Devas. Indra was somewhat dismayed at the sight of so great a hero, and did not know how he ought to receive him and what he should do to please him. So, after hearing the description of his powers and victories, Indra said to Pratardana’I am well pleased with thee and wish to give thee a boon. Choose a boon and I will be happy to grant it to thee.” The prince answered: “Do thou thyself choose that boon for me which thou deemest most beneficial for a man.” He did not know for what to ask, but he knew that there was something which would be most helpful to all. Having in his mind the thought that people who are dwelling in ignorance and self-delusion and who do not understand the true nature of Being, ought to have something that would make their life worth living, he said: ‘Grant me that boon which thou thinkest best for a man.” Indra replied: “That is not right; thou must choose thine own boon; no one who chooses, chooses for another.” The prince insisted, saying: “The boon chosen by me is no boon for me.” He would not choose because he did not know what would be most helpful to mankind, therefore he left it to Indra. Then Indra said to him, “I am bound by my promise and I must be true to my words, so I must grant thee the highest boon that would be helpful and useful to all mankind.” “Know me only; that is the highest and most helpful for man. Know me, my true Self.” He meant by this, not his powers, not his glory, but his real Self—that which is signified by all such expressions as “I, me, mine,” and “thou, thee, thine.” He who has known this true Self gains unbounded power. If he commits any wrong, that wrong does not affect him. The knower of Self is the greatest of all, he is greater than kings, greater than the mightiest emperor; he possesses all the virtues that are described in the Scriptures of the world and nothing can make him fall from the glory of Self-knowledge. Then Indra praised Self-knowledge by saying: “I have conquered all the demons, I have destroyed those demons who had three heads, one hundred heads. I have done many cruel deeds, but all these horrible acts could not affect me, because I possess the knowledge of the Supreme Self. Although I have performed many inhuman deeds, yet see my glory, strength, and power; not a single hair of my head has been injured by them. He who knows me thus is never harmed in his life by any sinful act, neither by theft nor by the murder of his father, mother or a wise Brahmin. If he is about to commit a terrible sin, the expression of his face does not change.” Thus Indra praised Self-knowledge. He did not mean that the knower of Self should ever perform all such sinful, cruel and inhuman deeds. He wanted to show that the power of Self-knowledge is greater than any other power that exists anywhere in the world; that it purifies the heart and soul of the worst sinner and washes off the most horrible sins that a human being can commit. The murder of either father, mother, or both, or the revered spiritual master, all these unpardonable sins cannot corrupt the Divine power of Self-knowledge, which purifies the souls of all who possess it. After praising Self-knowledge, Indra said: "I am Prana, know me as Prana, life. Worship me as the conscious Self, the source of intelligence." Prana is the Sanskrit word for life-force; life and intelligence are inseparable; wherever there is life, there is intelligence in some form or other. "Meditate on me as life and intelligence. Life is Prana, Prana is life; life is immortality and immortality is life." Here we must understand that life never dies. Life in itself is immortal and indestructible; it cannot change. We do not see life growing from less life. Life in the abstract is always the same whether or not it expresses itself outwardly. The expressions may vary, but the life-force is one and unchangeable. When we do not see the manifestation of life we say it is dead; but life-force does not die. Very few people can understand this. Where life is, death cannot exist. We may say a child is born, a child grows, but the h’fe of the child is not subject to growth; if it were subject to birth and growth, it would be changeable, it would be mortal. That which we call life-force is free from birth, decay and death; all these changes take place in the forms through which the immortal life-force manifests itself. We speak of a child or a plant as growing, but from the very beginning the life-force is the same; the manifestations of some other powers with which life is attended, appear in different ways at various stages of the evolution or growth of the animal or vegetable organism. "Prana is life, life is immortality; as long as the Prana dwells in the body, so long there is life. By Prana one obtains immortality in the other world." If we know what true life is, and feel that we are one with life and inseparable from it, then we can realize that we are immortal, because life does not die, it does not proceed from non-life. If we try to trace the origin of life, going back in imagination as far as we can, we shall never be able to discover as its cause non-life or something dead. Life always proceeds from life. It has existed from the beginningless past, and we cannot think of its ever being subject to death or destruction; therefore it is eternal. But so long as life-force manifests itself through a body, the body appears as living; this is the secondary expression of true life-force. Here we do not think of the life-force or Prana, but of the form which moves and does certain work. He says, “he lived so long,” “His lifetime consisted of so many years, three or four score;” all these expressions, however, signify the secondary manifestation of Prana. Life in its primary sense is immortal. When that Prana or life-force expresses itself, then the organs are alive, the senses perform their functions, the mind thinks, and the intellect acts. Again this Prana or life-force is inseparable from intelligence; we cannot separate intelligence from the force which makes everything of the universe move. The Self has two powers, which express themselves as intelligence and as the activity of Prana or life-force. Intelligence is that which is the source of consciousness; there is no English term by which we can express it. It is called in Sanskrit “Prajna.” It cannot be translated as “knowledge,” because knowledge means understanding, which is a function of the intellect; but Prajna refers to the source of all knowledge and consciousness. Indra continued: “He who knows me as one with life (Prana) and intelligence (Prajna), as immortal, indestructible and unchangeable, has life to its fullest extent on this earth, and after death resides in heaven and enjoys everlasting life.” Here Indra used the word “Prana” for life-force, but the young prince thought that he must have meant sense-powers, because Prana is also used to signify the power of seeing, hearing, smelling tasting or touching, the power of speech, the powers of seizing, moving, excreting and generating, and that by which all the organs of the body perform their functions. Therefore, he said: “Some say that all the Pranas or sense-powers become one; for otherwise no one could see, hear, speak, and think, at the same time. After having become one, each of the senses perceives separately.” Thinking that by Prana was signified the activities of the sense-organs, he wanted to know which of these was particularly meant by Indra. He maintained that although life or Prana was one, still the sense-organs performed their functions separately in succession. Two sense-perceptions do not occur at the same moment, there must be a minute interval of time between them. For instance, when we see a sight and hear a sound apparently at the same time, proper analysis will show that the one sensation is followed by the other; we cannot have various perceptions simultaneously. According to the phychologists of ancient India, mind perceives the objects of sensation one at a time. When one sense organ performs its function, others remain quiet; the interval may be infinitesimally small, we may not grasp it with ordinary attention, still they rise in succession leaving between them a very minute interval of time. So the young prince did not understand what particular sense-activity was referred to by Indra. After raising this question, he kept silence. Indra replied: “It is true that all these senses perform their functions at certain intervals and that each one of them is great; but nevertheless there is another force which is higher than all the sense-powers. That force is preeminent among all other powers.” It is not the power of seeing or hearing that makes us alive. Blind and deaf persons do not see and hear, but still they live. The power of speech does not manifest itself in a dumb man, yet he is alive. A man may live having lost the power of smelling, tasting or touching. Infants and idiots live though deprived of the thinking-power of the mind. One may not have memory, still one will be called living. All this shows that that which makes one alive is not the same as the power of seeing, hearing, speaking, smelling, lasting, touching or thinking. Again, a man may lose his arms and may not be able to seize anything, still we do not call him dead. The loss of one’s legs or other organs of work does not, as we see around us, destroy the life-force or the Mukhya (higher) Prana. Therefore, the life-force is distinct from the power of perception or sense-activity. Yet at the same time these sense-organs will not perform their functions if they are separated from the life-force. The life-force or Mukhya Prana is something independent of the sense-powers, but the sense-powers are dependent upon life-giving Prana. Where life-force is unmanifest , the sense-organs may remain perfect, but there will not be any expression of the sense-powers in the form of perception of sensation. The eye of a dead man may be perfect, the optic nerve may be in good condition, the brain cells may be in a normal state, but as the life-force is not working in that body, the sense-organs must remain dead, without performing their functions, without producing any sensation. Thus we can see that all the sense-organs remain active in the body because Prana, the source of all activity, is there, and because the life-force governs and regulates all the senses. Therefore, in the Vedas it is said: “One should worship Prana, the life-force, which keeps the universe alive.” If you can understand what that life-force is you have understood the secret of the universe as well as that which keeps you alive. All the scientists, anatomists, and evolutionists are trying to know the nature of that life-force, but have they succeeded? No. Some say it is a molecular attraction, others believe that it is the result of physico-chemical forces; but are they sure of what they say? What progress has science made in her attempt to find out the source of life-force? Self Knowledge by Swami Abhendanada published 1905
Camila Vallejo’s fight for better education mirrors South Africa’s own cause for change. Two weeks ago Camila Vallejo, the main spokesperson of the Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech) and the most visible leader of the 2011 Chilean student protests, was elected to Congress. The 25-year-old woman, a member of the Central of Committee of the Communist Youth of Chile, was elected on November 17 and will take over next March as the Deputy of the Chamber of Deputies for the 26th district. The unconventional leader–a woman in her twenties, who rocks a nose ring and just finished her degree in geography–turned to Twitter after hearing the news: “We’re going to celebrate our triumph on the streets of La Florida,” referring to Santiago. If you haven’t heard of Vallejo, here’s a rundown: Her rise as an influential, political leader came in the heat of the Chilean student protests. For three years thousands of students, including Vallejo who was head of the University of Chile’s student body, participated in marches, sit-ins and other protests in an effort for free and improved education. The protests were covered nationwide by The Guardian, The New York Times, and other publications. Vallejo said it was the key to breaking “the cultural hegemony of the neoliberal model imposed on Chile during the military dictatorship.” It also shaped the 2013 electoral campaign: Michele Bachelet (Chile’s first female president and current leading nominee) promised, if elected, “to implement tax reforms to finance an overhaul of education.” “We were elected because Chile changed,” Vallejo told foreign correspondents in a meeting held last last week. “Given the result of the elections, we have a majority that allows us to make structural changes.” Vallejo got involved because education wasn’t just a student issue; it was a symptom of what was wrong with Chile. Can the same be said about education in South Africa? Twenty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa still remains the hub for unequal education, between white, black, and coloured people, and between affluent and poor areas. “Transformation in schools such as infrastructure and quality education is a painstakingly slow process and the school children suffer the most,” explains Lusisipo Piyose, a SANGONeT Volunteer. “This is especially true in township and rural schools where little has changed since the apartheid regime, and not just in terms of school resources but in the quality of the education students receive.” A recent report by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) released on 20 August, titled, A proposal for undergraduate curriculum reform in South Africa’ found that less than 5 percent of African and coloured students in higher education complete their studies whilst on average white students’ completion rates are 50 percent higher than African students. The report also highlights that over 50% of first year entrants do not complete their studies. Even The World Economic Forum’s competitiveness index for 2012–2013 ranked South Africa’s overall education system at 140 out of 144 countries, and its maths and science education at 143 out of 144. “It is an uncontested fact that there are vast disparities in the quality of education provided to children at different public schools in South Africa,” states Pierre De Vos’ in his article, “Unequal education: The Problem with Providing Learning for All. He continues, “How to address this injustice has become one of the most intractable but emotionally laden issues in South Africa.” There are non-governmental organisations such as Equal Education that promotes the right for students to have access to equal quality education regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. The organisation comprises of community members and students. But what about student-based organisations? Within schools are Student Representative Councils (SRCs), which are elected by the students and are supposed to represent any grievances made by the students. They are usually in the forefront of student protests in their schools. Contrary to media reports, protests are usually the last resort for students when they have not been heard by teacher or the school governing bodies, according to Piyose. One organisation that has seen progress through protesting is the South Africa Students’ Congress (SASCO), who strives to achieve a non-sexist, non-racial, working class biased and democratic education system. Mirroring Vallejo’s own efforts, last July, SASCO embarked on a nation-wide march across the Republic of South Africa. The march began with campus protests in all SASCO branches in the country, followed by provincial marches in all provinces. The national march, initially directed to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DhET) head office in Pretoria, to get the minister of education Angie Motshekgwa to attend to the Norms and Standard Act for infrastructure in schools, was post-posted. The marches remained peaceful with students singing and cheering. In various articles, the two names mentioned to represent the group was SASCO provincial secretary, Sello Nkatho, and deputy secretary-general Luzuko Buku. Nkatho told Times Live that it was unacceptable that higher learning institutes increased their fees between eight and 12 percent every year.” These two student leaders have the potential to cause as much buzz as Vallejo has. “South African students need a vibrant national student organisation that is visible and resourceful, that I don’t think is found with SASCO. One that will effectively deal with student grievances in primary schools and high schools,” suggest Piyose. Nkatho has joined student leaders in other debates for better education, including UCT’s DA Student’s Organisation (DASO), which is made up of 18-22 year-old students. In a debate in March 2012, on UCT’s admission policy, DASO and SASCO fought for students with a similar background and education to be able compete on the same terms for a spot at UCT. UCT’s admissions policy uses race as a proxy for classifying students as disadvantaged. ”Too often student organisations are not given the power to address their issues resourcefully or even get access to relevant government bodies,” says Piyose. The government has recently made an effort to change that. In October, the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande sent out a press release explaining the launch for the South African Further Education and Training Student Association (SAFETSA), which has the potential to fill the gap between students and government. Their hope is to limit student protests in the sector and to provide a platform for students to engage on issues in a more civil scenery. Piyose thinks its too soon to tell if SAFETSA will be effective for students: “I do hope that this is not a one-off occasion but one that remains a permanent body as this will improve communication between government and stake holders which will also improve education policies and education in general.” She continues, “Hopefully this will be a platform where students get to be heard and not be intimidated by bureaucratic government structures.” Vallejo’s seat in congress not only represents the significant impact she’s had on Chilean citizens, but the Chilean citizens decision to vote in a radical direction. The nation-wide coverage that made its way to America, Europe, and South Africa, showed people just how much a new generation will work for the next generation’s future. (Besides Vallejo, three other 20-year-old students from student organisations have been elected to congress.) But what can South Africa do? Vallejo told foreign correspondents that “social movements are pressuring many sectors that were not in favor of change before and that have now changed their mind.” Is the answer to South Africa’s education problem a need for stronger social movements? If Vallejo’s success has showed us one thing, it’s that a strong voice and national recognition are powerful tools. After all, the world is rooting for progress.
Solidarity with the Timorese people On May 24, East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and the speaker of East Timor’s parliament Lu’olo sent a letter to the governments of Australia, Portugal, Malaysia and New Zealand as well as to the United Nations asking for assistance in the form of a military presence in order to respond to civil disorder in the East Timor capital Dili, and surrounding areas. The disorder had developed out of a dispute within the East Timorese armed forces The Australian government, which had already made an offer to send a force, was particularly enthusiastic in agreeing to the request, eager to ensure stable governance of East Timor to facilitate its ongoing theft of East Timor’s oil and gas. The move will also be used to justify Australian imperialism’s interventionist foreign policy in the region, a strategy that involves the Australian military, police and financial advisors interfering in the running of a number of Australia’s small, poor neighbours in the interests of Australian business and at the expense of the people of those nations. With Australian military officers stationed in East Timor, it is likely that Canberra had intelligence indicating that the divisions inside the armed forces were more serious than was being publicly admitted to. The general East Timorese population and the full spectrum of political forces support the presence of the international troops in East Timor. This includes the progressive NGO sector as well as the Timorese Socialist Party (PST). “The presence of the international forces is important”, PST general secretary Avelino da Silva told Green Left Weekly. “Otherwise the people will be living in fear of being terrorised by armed gangs, not knowing who is a friend or who is an enemy.” East Timor is governed by the political party Fretilin, led by its current president, Alkatiri, and personalities such as Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta, all of whom also played preeminent roles in the struggle that successfully won independence in 1999. They have inherited a society traumatised as well as severely physically damaged as a result of more than two decades of Indonesian military occupation. Timor has experienced almost no economic development for several centuries and is listed as the poorest country in Asia. Since formal independence, Timor has been robbed of access to much of its oil and gas resources, having been pressured into accepting a deal ceding a major portion of the wealth from that oil and gas to Australia, which has no right to it. Australia’s imperialist policies towards East Timor have not helped the nation’s development and have contributed to the current situation of crisis. The political and economic strategy that the East Timorese leadership has pursued since independence has been modelled on a traditional capitalist parliamentary system. It has relied on developing foreign-trained professional bureaucracies, standing army and police, with minimum direct involvement of the people. The leadership has not relied upon the people — the major resource available — for political and economic development. This strategy has proven inadequate to deal with recent conflict within the armed forces and the ensuing civil disorder. With high levels of frustration among the population at the slow progress made in social and economic development and no organised and mobilised population as a source of authority, the political elite must rely more and more on the authority they won as leaders of the liberation movement before 1999. Within the armed forces, this was already proving inadequate with the disaffected soldiers demanding the resignation of well-know former guerrilla leaders such as Taur Matur Ruak. As a result, the government has been forced to rely upon the Australian defence forces instead. Since the early period of independence, and even during the national liberation struggle, there has been a strong tendency in the Timorese leadership to rely on the support of the governments of imperialist countries. This was unavoidable in September 1999 when the Indonesian army and militias were ravaging the country. However, even after stability was achieved, there was no perspective to promote self-organisation among the masses as the primary basis for further development. Such a perspective was articulated only by the PST and the progressive sections of the non-government organisations, which represented a minority current. Among the political elite, the political figure who has been the most resistant to falling into reliance on the outside has been Alkatiri. He has, for example, resisted pressure to accept foreign loans and has diversified international aid, accepting medical aid from Cuba. However, in the current crisis, having no active and mobilised base among the people — although there is no doubt that Fretilin has been accepted so far as the legitimate ruling party by the majority of the people — and having been unable to resolve the crisis within the armed forces, even Alkatiri has been forced, no doubt reluctantly, to rely on outside support. In an interview with SBS television on May 25, when asked whether he was prepared to take the lead in resolving the situation, Alkatiri asserted that he had already done so by initiating the request for foreign troops by bringing the proposal to Gusmao. In Alkatiri’s view, the disorder was provoked not simply by a struggle over soldiers’ grievances or for control of the army: he views the rebellious acts of at least some of the disaffected soldiers as a coup attempt. East Timor is a poor country, grossly underdeveloped with a weak, under-resourced and completely new state apparatus and a small and weak capitalist class. In these conditions, without raising the political consciousness, organisation and mobilisation of the whole population as direct participants — the perspective advocated by the Timorese socialists and progressive campaign activists — a reliance on outside forces is likely to continue in one form or other. In this situation, there is a special responsibility on the progressive and democratic sectors in Australia and all friends of the East Timorese people to work closely with the organisations of the East Timorese people to ensure that Australian government, commercial and other interests do not exploit this situation in a way that harms the interests of or violates the rights of the Timorese people or nation. In Australia, organisations such as AidWatch have already been monitoring Australian economic aid to East Timor. A broader forum, drawing on the full solidarity and friendship movement in Australia to jointly campaign with East Timorese groups against unwanted Australian policies may be useful. The Australian government, representing the Australian capitalist class, has long pursued its own imperialist interests over those of the East Timorese government and people, such as on the issue of oil and gas, and indeed in its support for the Indonesian occupation of East Timor between 1975 and 1999. These new developments can weaken the bargaining position of the East Timorese in any future dispute. Already Prime Minister John Howard is opportunistically using the crisis to politically attack the East Timorese leadership, hoping to weaken it, while not admitting the Australian government’s culpability in the crisis. Within East Timor, such a crisis as this will also no doubt open up opportunities for intensified conflict between different elements of the East Timorese political elite, although this is not yet clear. In any case, such developments are for the East Timorese to handle. In cooperation with East Timorese democratic forces, we must expose any attempts by the Australian government to exploit or manipulate the situation. In the longer term, only the development of a political movement fully mobilising the Timorese people as direct participants in its political and economic life will stop the current kind of scenario reoccurring. As an important step towards resolving the immediate problems in East Timor, the Australian, US and British governments must provide the material and financial assistance that East Timor requires to provide all its people with adequate health, education and other social services and infrastructure. This should be acknowledged as a form of war reparations, for the years of complicity in blocking the East Timorese peoples’ right to self-determination during the 24 years of Indonesian military rule. The Australian government must also immediately cease the theft of oil and gas that rightfully belongs to East Timor and repay the total amount stolen under the current deal as well as under arrangements between Australia and Indonesia during East Timor’s occupation. These three governments should at the same time also seek to assist and provide resources for the creation of an international war crimes tribunal that can investigate and bring to account those responsible for human-rights abuses in East Timor during the Indonesian military occupation, including former US, British and Australian ministers and leaders involved in formulating policies that supported this illegal occupation.
Having to undergo surgery can be frightening, but a surgical error can change a patient forever. Most people know that before a surgical procedure is undertaken, the patient is typically informed about the risks of the procedure. While almost every surgery carries risks, such as an anesthesia reaction, infection, or healing complications, a risk of the procedure does not include having to anticipate surgical errors. Recoveries involving Surgical Errors Unfortunately, surgical errors are not as rare as we are led to believe. Thousands of people are injured and die every year due to the complications of surgical errors related to medical negligence, and these injuries can cause some of the most devastating of all medical consequences. Common Surgical Errors include: Lack of Proper Pre-Operative Planning Before any surgery is undertaking, it is considered a surgical error if the doctor does not fully consider his patient, why the surgery is needed, and if the surgery should be done in the first place. Examples include the doctor’s failure to fully investigate or understand the patient’s medical history, the patient’s ability to undergo the operation, and whether it is in the best interests of the patient to have the surgery. Proper planning can help stop future problems after surgery. Surgical Errors During the Operation The majority of surgical errors occur at this point; that is during the procedure. Examples include making incorrect incisions, damaging nearby organs or causing nerve damage. Other examples include prolonged surgeries due to unanticipated complications which can lead to anesthesia complications, brain damage, cardiovascular problems and death. The most obvious surgical errors are when a doctor operates on the wrong part of the body or leaves a sponge or other type of medical instrument in a patient, causing post-operative damage, pain and further unnecessary surgeries. Surgical errors also include those injuries that occur post-operatively, because many times it is an error during the surgery that causes post-operative complications. This includes infections, delayed healing, or the need for other, unanticipated further surgeries. Medical malpractice is a terrible thing, and surgical errors can be devastating. Because our firm has taken these types of cases to trial, our attorneys have gained a working knowledge of the medical facts and complex issues involved. This background enables them to be better prepared to take on the hospital and insurance company experts opposing them at trial. Additionally, our firm has developed our own network of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals with whom we work closely on these matters. We are extremely comprehensive in every aspect of our preparation and completely dedicated to achieving successful results that will make a real difference in the lives of our clients. If you or a loved one has been the victim of surgical error or other medical malpractice, contact one of the attorneys at Harry S. Cohen & Associates, P.C. We will evaluate your claim for free and represent you on a contingent fee basis, which means you don’t pay attorneys’ fees unless you recover on your claim.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles became the biggest city in the United States to officially approve a plan to implement a $15 minimum wage. The Los Angeles Times reports a city council measure to raise the minimum wage in the city from its current $9 an hour base wage to $15 an hour by the year 2020 passed by a sweeping 14-1 vote. The new regulations could eventually affect as many as 800,000 employees. The measure easily defeated a competing proposal to raise the city's minimum wage to $13.25 by the year 2017. According to the Los Angeles Times, City Attorney Mike Feuer will have to prepare an ordinance for final approval next month. Current Mayor Eric Garcetti has committed to approving the bill into law. The background: Los Angeles' historic decision followed months of nationwide protests organized by workers for major fast-food chains demanding $15 hourly compensation. In recent years, American workers have seen stagnant wage growth, while researchers estimate that 95% of income growth since the 2009 Great Recession has gone to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. While the coalition of activists has been asking for a $15 minimum wage for years, before Tuesday's announcement in LA, the only major city to openly adopt the idea was Seattle. The New York Times cites credible analyses of the LA labor market indicating that up to 50% of the city's workforce makes less than the new minimum, meaning that the wage increase will likely be the biggest shock to the city's labor market in recent memory. "Make no mistake," city Councilman and key backer Paul Krekorian said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Today the city of Los Angeles, the second biggest city in the nation, is leading the nation." What it means: The bill in Los Angeles dwarfs President Barack Obama's ongoing effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, an objective which has consistently been thwarted by Republican opposition in Congress. While the president has seen limited success raising the wages of federal contractors to that level via executive order, proponents of a higher minimum wage that better reflects skyrocketing worker productivity have enjoyed limited support on the national level. Los Angeles' $15 minimum wage seems poised to shatter the perception that paying workers at the bottom end of the income scale a decent income is a pipe dream. But with widespread opposition among the business community and its friends in D.C., the city's experiment in income equality will likely face high scrutiny moving forward.
Cool Down Your Sunny Patio It’s June, and summer is upon us! Many Austinites are preparing for the heat by making improvements to their outdoor living spaces. Patio shades can create more useable square footage by turning your existing, sun-drenched patio into a cooler, more inviting space for you and your family. On average, patio shades can reduce the temperature on your patio during the direct sun by 10 degrees or more. Plus, the right patio shade can help protect against bugs and even the stray golf ball. Here are some considerations to think about when planning for your patio shade project: While selecting color, keep this in mind: As with clothing, darker colors absorb the heat while lighter colors reflect it. With screen shades, however, darker colors have a crisper view-through, while lighter colors have a more obscure view, even at the same opacity. This is due to light reflecting off the material. The opacity you choose will determine the percentage of UV rays allowed to pass through it, as well as the amount of view-through that is remaining. The most common opacity with our largest vendor is a 3 percent screen material, which blocks about 97 percent of UV rays. On bright days, you should be able to still have a clear view through the screen, while knocking down the sun and heat. Opacity and color both come into play, as a 3 percent dark material will have a clearer view-through than a 3 percent light material. If you have a small space that doesn’t get high gusts of wind, there are several manual control options available. This includes continuous cord loop stainless steel chain or a hand crank. If your space is large and/or more susceptible to high winds, there are options that can be secured on the sides with either guide cables or side tracks. These shades are motorized and typically plug into an exterior outlet or are hard-wired by a licensed electrician. When deciding what patio shade will be the right choice for your space, many factors come into play: How large is the space you want to cover? How much wind is that space exposed to? How will you be using your space? Are you near the golf course and occasionally catch a flying golf ball on your patio? All of these things come up during the initial consultation to determine the best patio shade for your particular space. And, once you made your choices and installed your exterior screen shades, you’ll find they are a great investment in your outdoor living areas, allowing you to use your patio all year!
Today is National Limerick Day, and Annette has encouraged us (she does this so well!) to write a Limerick: Annette Rochelle Aben’s Blog Now I’m a bit of a novice at Limericks but I have written one once before on my blog – Easter Eggy Limerick so this is attempt no. 2 so be kind, be gentle with me!! There are some rules -: Limericks, like all poetic forms, have a set of rules that you need to follow. The rules for a limerick are fairly simple: - They are five lines long – keep it short…. - Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another … - Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other…. More Tricky. - They have a distinctive rhythm, oh my goodness! That goes da dum-ing along like this: da DUM da da DUM da da DUM, da DUM da da DUM da da DUM,’ da DUM da da DUM, da DUM da da DUM, da DUM da da DUM da da DUM You get the idea….. I’m da dum da da dum …ing along here!!!!! - They are usually funny. I hope ….. The Old Dog From Loch Ness There was an old dog from Loch Ness, He got in to such a big mess, He ate his big paw, Fun-gal… ‘fec-tion an’all! He stopped for a mo’ to digest. No! Stop it terr-ior ! There’s no way! I like them their paws, Ness did say! The old dog did flop, He said, ‘Do have a pop?’ Then Ness said yes, do let me play! Dog tipped his cap said, ‘eat my best,’ Then old Ness protested, ‘is this a test?!’ Old Ness was no fool, But grub made him drool, Sly Dog he did woof,’ be my guest!’ What hap-pens next you can but guess, The dog’s a flee he is a pest, A mag-ic mon-ster, A beast! What a cur! Old Ness’s skin was soon dog-gie vest! © Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved. Hope you like my limerick! Have you written one, or are planning to write one? Do let me know in the comments… Bye for now, Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
A few months back I heard Nathan Englander talk about his new Israel novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth, and concluded that it was not very serious as a political commentary. Then a friend wrote to tell me the novel is subversive. It’s incredibly anti-Israel while also being sympathetic. But the most sympathetic characters are Palestinian. In the end, Englander lays all the blame on American Jewish Zionist propaganda. It’s a quick read. Much of interest for you in it, I think. So I got Englander’s novel and read it. Englander is an entertainer of a high order. He’s a story-teller. He means to keep his reader enraptured by a group of characters whose fates will all be decided in the last pages, and this he does very well. The writing is elegant and unpretentious. No plot turn is overtold, every character is under-sketched. I’m extremely sensitive when it comes to clattering words; and this book was all pleasure to read. As for the book’s politics, Israel/Palestine is the ultimate field for any Jewish or Palestinian artist, Englander knows this, and he aimed to say something– though, not a lot. The best part of the book is the spiritual portrait of the Israelis. It’s not a happy country. Everyone is narcotized or unconscious or belligerent. The book’s central character is a young American who was brainwashed by his beautiful Hebrew school teacher to believe Israel was his birthright, and so he made aliyah, and became a black-ops warrior, only to find that Israel was committing indiscriminate massacres. So he turns against his adopted country, and pays a terrible price for it: imprisonment and complete invisibility. There is one sympathetic Israeli character actually. Shira is a patriot and in love with a Palestinian negotiator who works for Mahmoud Abbas, and is willing to pay any price to see him. Abbas flits through the book. So do Shimon Peres, David Ben-Gurion, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat. The central historical actor is the late Ariel Sharon, a big and wildly-imagined character, dark and remorseful and riddled with violence, including responsibility for his son’s death in 1967 while playing with a rifle at the house, and for scores of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank village of Qibya in 1953. “He is more golem than man,” Sharon brags on himself. “The General cannot be stopped when he is out avenging Jews.” And Sharon is forgiven. “A murderer, Mother. A butcher,” an Israeli man says to his mother, Sharon’s nurse. She responds: “I know what he did in the past, same as you. But that same General saved this country from certain destruction many times.” “No one disputes that.” That is the nihilistic Israeli perspective of the book. These people have not figured anything out but how to kill Arabs and control their own people. The Palestinian characters are thin. As for the imagined politics of the tale, the understanding to which Englander would take us to redeem us from this grinding conflict– he can’t really do it. No, it’s the same old two-state solution, with land swaps and that (hideous) tunnel to connect Gaza and the West Bank; and of all people former U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman emerges as the book’s political star. “She was a stern and clearheaded negotiator, all business, and also strong enough not to fear, in quiet intermissions, being kind.” Englander thanks Sherman in his acknowledgements, and his salute is more a payoff to her than the reader. Dinner at the Center of the Earth is a great pageturner, but I wanted more.
Ofir Haivry’s account of demographic trends in Israel is as heartening and uplifting as his picture of trends in the rest of the Western world is bleak and depressing. Inextricable from his argument about the meaning of Israel’s high fertility rates is his analysis of how the country’s cultural norms, which include a specifically Israeli style of parenting, may contribute to its fertility bonanza. In pursuing this point, Haivry contrasts the situation in affluent cultures, where “the material and even the spiritual well-being of individuals is connected to the limit they place on the number of their children,” with the situation in more traditional societies where “large numbers of offspring [are regarded] as the single best measure of success and status.” Yet neither element in this binary juxtaposition quite accounts for most Jewish Israelis, whose family size continues to grow alongside the kind of Western drive that enables both parents and children to prosper in the modern world. Although Israeli parents marry later than they once did, are more educated than they once were, and continue to prioritize education and career advancement—all characteristics of affluent societies—they still continue to produce and to nurture sizable families. The Israeli example thus invites a reconsideration of some settled assumptions about childrearing in the modern world. The American landscape is saturated with best-selling literature about ideal forms of parenting: French parenting, Danish parenting, Asian parenting, attachment parenting, free-range parenting, and more. One wonders whether an Israeli analogue is due, perhaps something along the lines of “How Israelis Remain Educationally Advanced and Psychologically Stable While Actually Exceeding the Fertility Replacement Rate.” What’s their secret? Among other underlying motivators, Haivry points to a twinned pair: the strong sense of Israeli national solidarity and the family-oriented nature of much of Jewish religious life. Is it possible to replicate the Israeli birthrate in other parts of the world but without a corresponding value system that itself models how, and more importantly why, to raise a large family? However hard it may be to imagine self-interest ever being trumped by other values, some attempts have been made. One such attempt was mounted in 2011 by Bryan Caplan, a professor of economics at George Mason University and the author of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. The American statistics cited by Caplan are in some ways even more dramatic than those cited by Haivry. In 1976, about 20 percent of American women in their early forties had five or more children; in 2006, 30 years later, the number had shrunk to less than 4 percent. With the two-child family the median for American families, as well as the size most commonly said to be ideal, it’s unlikely that the average American will so much as encounter a family with five or more children, let alone realistically envision such a family for himself. This, Caplan writes, coupled with the inevitable fact that for various reasons many individuals won’t have any children at all, portends major challenges to the sustainability of America’s economy. As a social scientist, Caplan is less interested in investigating underlying cultural or spiritual causes and more focused on the perceived practical or economic impediments that, alongside such factors as parental age, inhibit people from having more children. Since, absent any imposed mandate, the rule will inevitably prevail that “the pain outweighs the gain,” the task becomes one of overcoming sidestepping that very rule. Sign Up For Our E-Mail List Get the latest from Mosaic right in your inbox Advocating a solution based on “enlightened self-interest,” Caplan therefore stresses the long-term pragmatic benefits of having more children. Granted, there are those initial drawbacks—sleep deprivation, burdensome expenses, etc.—but these are only temporary and need to be weighed against the great pleasures and satisfactions of being surrounded by grandchildren, of having many added occasions for joy in one’s later years, of knowing there will be hands to support one and sustain one’s spirits in times of need, and the like. And that’s not all. On the early side of life, Caplan seeks to dispel the conventional wisdom that a child’s success rests on an intense investment of parental time and attention. Delving into the nature-nurture controversy, he cites studies of identical twins to argue that, since most aspects of a child’s development are determined by genetics and not by how the child is raised, parents and prospective parents should relax: there’s no need to drain emotional and financial resources in pursuit of a parenting perfection that will be largely irrelevant to a child’s actual success in life. Given the crazed appetite for parenting manuals of the kind I mentioned earlier, it’s hard not to sympathize with this last point. That aside, however, the sheer ubiquity of plummeting birthrates across the Western world, including in the United States, should be enough to make one question the efficacy of such finger-in-the-dike proposals, if not to persuade one that an argument for parenting that’s based on individual self-interest is itself just another symptom of the problem rather than any viable path toward a solution. This past summer, a sense of curiosity about these issues, as well as some personal questions relating to my own children, led me deep into a ḥasidic neighborhood in Monsey, New York for a five-day intensive parenting seminar. The speaker was the Israeli parenting guru Sima Spetner, who is largely unknown outside her devoted worldwide following of mainly ḥaredi Jews along with an eclectic mix of non-ḥaredi Israelis. Spetner, daughter of one prominent rabbi and wife of another, is herself a mother of fourteen. Her approach is built on a “positive parenting” philosophy that derives in part from the influential rabbi and educator Shlomo Wolbe as well as the groundbreaking Israeli child psychologist Haim Ginott. Spetner’s classes purvey advice that would not be out of place in any modern parenting workshop: embrace difference and the unique strength of each child; recognize that emotional needs can be just as potent as physical needs; reconfigure “punishment” not as discipline but rather as an opportunity to encourage pathways for growth, and so forth. Yet her approach diverges from the contemporary Western model in two main ways. One relates to family size. Most of the women taught by Spetner run large households. Accordingly, she places high priority on making sure the home is calm and orderly, governed by a firmly imparted if gently expressed sense of hierarchy and authority. Contrary to the general Western assumption that the fewer the children, the more time and focused interest will be invested in each one and the greater the consequent rewards, larger families require and often manifest a higher quotient of consistently attentive parenting and general harmony. Which makes sense: a household with two children who are inconsiderate, unhappy, or oblivious of their parents may be mildly tolerable; a home with six such children would be unlivable. Spetner’s approach thus aims to strikes a balance between cultivating each child’s unique talents and personality and helping all to thrive in a miniature society that is not fundamentally oriented around each individual psyche. And that brings us to the second difference, which relates to the realm of values and purpose. For Spetner, a strong emphasis on individuality does not come at the expense of traditional Jewish religious values but rather augments and supports those values. The lesson for parents: since children can apprehend insincerity from a mile off, mothers and fathers intent on preserving and transmitting to their children a strong Jewish identity should actively work on their own Jewish practice. For me, one highlight of the seminar was Spetner’s discussion of “overflow”: that is, the way in which children imbibe and internalize a taste of what truly animates their parents during moments that can’t be engineered or planned in advance. As one example of overflow, Spetner described for us her childhood experience of being with her rabbi father in northern Israel, close to the border with Syria, early in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Her father was teaching at a yeshiva where students combine study with military service. As they hurriedly prepared to rush off to the front, his students were pelting him with religious questions pertinent to combat or frantically giving him messages to pass on to their parents in the event of their death. As he ministered to them, he gripped Sima’s hand tightly in what seemed to be fear. Even as a young girl, Spetner understood how risky it was for her father to remain in a community so close to a combat zone, especially with a child. But he was unwilling to abandon his students. At that moment, he may not have been the “best” parent, but he imparted something to her that would influence and direct the rest of her life: great parenting isn’t only a parent intently focused on his child; it can also be a parent raising his eyes heavenward and the child following his gaze. Pragmatic measures, whether in the form of the libertarian ideas presented by Caplan or of family-friendly government policies like mandatory maternity leave and the like, will never be enough by themselves to reverse the West’s falling birthrate. If we don’t believe in something beyond us, then having large families will inevitably be seen as more hassle than it’s worth. This only further underscores the conclusion from Israel’s contrary experience that the democratic West, as many have argued, is indeed undergoing a deep cultural or spiritual crisis of which the demographic crisis is less a cause than a particularly severe symptom. Unfortunately, rebuilding a family-centered culture is vastly more difficult than tearing one down. To the legions of committed Jews in Western countries who care for their families’ and communities’ future welfare, Ofir Haivry’s essay issues a stark call to weigh in the balance the current trendlines of social, cultural, and spiritual health in their various lands of residence. Sign Up For Our E-Mail List Get the latest from Mosaic right in your inbox Sign up now for unlimited access
The summer heat just lends itself to a nice cold drink! However, moderation is extremely important when it comes to consuming alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, they can really hijack the results that many people are working for and it’s important to understand some of the effects that alcohol can have on performance. What Constitutes A Drink? - A 12 ounce beer at 5% alcohol content - A 5 ounce glass of wine at about 12% alcohol content - A 1.5 ounce shot of 80 proof liquor It’s also significant to note that different types of beer, wine, and liquor can vary greatly in their alcohol content. Serving sizes at bars and restaurants are very large and can be more than twice a single serving and double the amount of alcohol that you are consuming. Alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories and sugars. The alcohol alone contains 7 calories per gram. Liquid calories can be consumed very fast and contribute to weight gain. Even worse, it’s much more likely to make poor food choices when under the influence of alcohol. Negative Effects of Alcohol - Weight gain. - Reduced blood flow to muscle. - Increased conversion of testosterone to estrogen causing more fat deposits and fluid retention. - Imbalances in blood glucose. - Build-up of fats in the bloodstream. - Reduced oxygen supply to the brain. - Depressed central nervous system. - Reduced reaction time, accuracy, hand-eye coordination. - Decreased endurance. - Diuretic effect increasing risk of dehydration. - Sleep disorders by way of disrupting the sequence and duration of sleep states. - Altered total sleep time and the time required to fall asleep. - Inhibits the breakdown of nutrients into usable substances by decreasing the secretion of digestive enzymes from the pancreas. If you want to increase muscle mass, decrease fat, manage weight, or improve general health, it is in your best interest to abstain from drinking alcohol, or do so in moderation. If you are looking to make lifestyle changes to reduce your alcohol consumption, see if these steps can help. Steps to Cut Back - Start tracking how much alcohol you are consuming. You may be having more than you realize. - Pay attention to serving sizes. You could be consuming 2-3 servings in every drink you have. - Set goals for how much you are allowed to have in a given week. Are you only going to allow yourself a drink once per week? On that day, what are you going to limit yourself to? - Pace yourself. Drink slowly and drink water too. - Include food. Drinking on an empty stomach allows it to absorb more quickly. - Find healthy alternatives to drinking related events. Going for a walk might relax you as much as you think a drink will. - Avoid triggers. It’s not uncommon for many people to drink when they hang out with particular people or go certain places. - Find social support. Let others know that you are trying to cut back and start spending time with people who lead a healthy lifestyle. Even small levels (1 drink for women, 2 for men) can be too much. There are certain situations when alcohol should be avoided altogether. Do not drink alcohol under the following circumstances: - You should never consume alcohol if you are going to operate machinery or a vehicle of any kind. - If you have a medical condition or are taking medication. - If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. - If directed by a health care provider.
If you are a parent, grandparent, godparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, etc. you have probably had those moments when you have to fight to keep a straight face when the little cherub in front of you says something incorrectly and it is absolutely hysterical. A few times a day he greets me with “Tip on the day, Olive.” No matter how hard he tries he cannot remember to say “Top of the Day, Olive” on the first try. Once he says it he usually knows it isn’t right and it takes two or three more tries to say it correctly. (he heard it on a tv show called Olive, the Ostritch) But the real corkers are his misreadings. I remind you (and myself) he is on four and a half! must resist urge to overcorrect him. - canyon is crayon (this one was actually at age 3) - Farkle is farkely - Google is goggle (gets the le right here, but not the oo) - Gospel is goose-pell (there is the oo sound! almost choked trying not to laugh when he said this during Mass) - spine-tingling is spine-tangling - 1 + 1 = ? is “one plus one equals why writer.” Explanation of part of the last one we were reading this book and I taught him plus and equals and the final equation is the one above. Cute, fun book by the way. A “why writer” is a reference to Super Why (yet another PBS Kids show). And for his latest trick – he can read cursive! He read this card he recieved from his grandparents yesterday with no help, including my Mother-in-Laws writing. His brain amazes me! He can’t shut his mouth for 5 minutes to allow himself to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night, but he can read just about anything!
You may only think that dishwashers are purely for washing dishes but in fact the dishwasher can be used for many interesting and quirky things. Some we aren’t so sure about… Bake salmon fillets Yes, this is true. You can cook salmon fillets in the dishwasher. Start by wrapping your salmon fillets in foil, then placing them on the top wrack and run a normal cycle, without soap (obviously). Keep food warm Again, the dishwasher keeps on giving. Your dishwasher can double as a warming oven. To keep your freshly cooked food warm in the dishwasher, choose the “heat-dry cycle – no water”. Rinse fruits and vegetables Instead of hand washing all your fruits and veggies, throw them in the dishwasher and run a cold (soap-free) rinse cycle. To protect your more delicate items, such as tomatoes and peaches, place them on the top rack. Heavier produce like potatoes can go on the bottom. Are your families shoes looking a little grubby? Place them on the top rack of the dishwasher, add a little baking soda, and send them through a cycle. Just make sure the heat-dry setting is off to avoid messing with the rubber, and be sure to run an empty cycle to get rid of any lingering shoe gunk before washing your next load of dishes. Shine hubcaps and wheel covers Again, another quirky idea. Banish any grime from your hubcaps and wheel covers by running them through the dishwasher. Make your kids toys shine. Send their plastic toys through the dishwasher to get red of those nasty germs. De-germ cabinet knobs Yes, there’s a good chance your cabinets knobs may be crawling with germs. Get rid of those germs by sending them through the dishwasher, but stick to ceramic and metal knobs – nothing painted, plated, or enameled.
What did scientists discover? We observe a topological excitonic insulator in double-quantum-well semiconductor devices. By applying electric fields to the device, MagLab users tuned the electron and hole densities to such low values that electrons in one quantum well pair up with holes in the other layer. They measured the resulting excitonic insulator energy gap and quantized edge states. The energy gap and edge states exist in an in-plane magnetic field up to 35 teslas, where interlayer tunneling is eliminated. Persistence of the insulating state into this high-magnetic-field regime confirms that the energy gap originates from the exciton insulator state. Why is this important? The physics that produces an excitonic insulator is a form of pairing of quasiparticles, similar to that which produces a superconductor. These results address a question posed in physics some fifty years ago and verify a recent prediction regarding the potential topological properties of this double quantum well system. Who did the research? Lingjie Du1, Xinwei Li1, Wenkai Lou2, Gerard Sullivan3, Kai Chang2, Junichiro Kono1, Rui-Rui Du1 1Rice University; 2Chinese Academy of Sciences, CN; 3Teledyne Scientific and Imaging Why did they need the MagLab? To confirm the excitonic insulator gap and its topological origin, researchers needed to apply a large (35 T) magnetic field in the plane of the quantum wells to adequately separate electron and hole energy bands in momentum space. The study also relied on the ultra-low temperatures at the MagLab, instrumentation that partners with the MagLab’s ultra-high magnetic fields to enable this research achievement. Details for scientists - View or download the expert-level Science Highlight, 2D electron-hole "superconductor": topological excitonic insulator - Read the full-length publication, Evidence for a topological excitonic insulator in InAs/GaSb bilayers, in Nature Communications This research was funded by the following grants: G.S. Boebinger (NSF DMR-1157490); L. Du (DOE DE-FG02-06ER46274); Li, Kono(NSF DMR-1310138); Lou, Chang (NSFC 11434010); R. Du (NSF DMR-1207562 and DMR-1508644) For more information, contact Tim Murphy.
AstraZeneca opened a $224m (£145m) drugs factory near Moscow today, strengthening its long-term commitment to building business in Russia. The British pharmaceutical firm will use the facility to manufacture and package medicines, allowing it to domestically manufacture over 60 per cent of the drugs it sells In Russia. In an attempt to encourage local industry, Moscow has imposed tough limits on the number of medicines that can be imported into Russia from other countries. This makes it difficult for companies like AstraZeneca to supply drugs without having factories present in the country. Based in the Kaluga region to the south-west of the capital, the new operation is expected to reach production capacity two years from now, resulting in the creation of around 850m tablets ranging across 30 different medicines every year. In 2011 the company said it was planning to increase medicine production in Russia as part of its wider strategy to expand into emerging markets. The plan seems to be working so far – in the first half of 2015, its sales in Russia went up 30 per cent to $116m. AstraZeneca’s factory represents the biggest foreign investment made into any pharmaceutical facility across Russia.
By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS It’s old news that flu season is coming, and you need to get vaccinated. But this year, the news comes with a twist: The nasal spray vaccine, FluMist, is not recommended. You need to get a shot. And here’s the cardiac news: For anyone with any kind of heart condition, the flu vaccine is especially vital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has embarked on its annual campaign to persuade Americans to get vaccinated against the flu – and not to underestimate the need to avoid what can be a deadly virus. “Flu is serious. Flu is unpredictable. Flu often gets not enough respect,” said Tom Frieden, M.D., the CDC director. “It is not the common cold … . Flu each year sends hundreds of thousands of people to the hospital and in a bad year, kills up to 49,000 Americans, including elderly, people with underlying conditions and infants.” The CDC recommends flu vaccine for nearly everyone over 6 months old. Although the figures have trended upward in recent decades, the number of Americans who got vaccinated actually declined slightly in the 2015-2016 flu season. The CDC calculates that about 140 million people, or 46 percent of the eligible population, took its advice last year. Getting those numbers up faces a new challenge this year. About 15 percent of those vaccinated a year ago opted for the nasal spray vaccine over the syringe. But the CDC and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases have declared the spray to be ineffective. “There were concerns about its effect against some flu viruses in the last three seasons,” said Lisa Grohskopf, M.D., of the CDC’s Influenza Division. “For reasons we still don’t completely understand, it didn’t work well against H1N1 viruses that were circulating. Those viruses are expected to circulate again this season so we recommend that FluMist not be used this season.” The injectable vaccine didn’t have those problems, so children and needle-averse grownups need to gather their courage, have their lollipops or other inducements ready – and get a shot. “I didn’t even feel it,” Frieden said with a smile as he took his annual shot for the cameras at a Sept. 29 news conference. Belonephobia, a fancy word for fear of needles and other sharp objects, is only one obstacle in the persuasion campaign. “A lot of people say, ‘I never got the vaccine and I never got the flu, so I don’t need it,’” Grohskopf said. “You never know when it’s going to be your year.” Elliot Davidson, M.D., director of the Akron (Ohio) General Center for Family Medicine, said that if a patient has misgivings about the vaccine, he’ll listen “and I’ll counter any objection they might have.” He stresses that the flu shot can’t give you the flu because the viruses injected have been killed and that any side effects are minor and temporary. Although the vaccine is never 100 percent effective because flu viruses are constantly changing, Davidson said, it’s the best chance to prevent a miserable couple of weeks. “People don’t realize how sick you get when you get the flu,” he said. “You think you’re going to die or you’re afraid you might not.” A small number of people can’t get the vaccine, including babies under 6 months, people allergic to its ingredients and anyone who has had Guillain-Barre Syndrome. They need to rely on what is called herd immunity, meaning that enough people around them are vaccinated so the virus is unlikely to spread. But the vaccine is especially crucial for young children, pregnant women, people over 65, and people suffering from asthma, diabetes, cancer and other diseases. That certainly includes heart patients, said Michael Rothkopf, M.D., an interventional cardiologist affiliated with Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Irving, Texas. “If you get the flu with an underlying heart condition, it’s going to be much more severe and much more complicated to get well,” he said. “It could actually precipitate a heart attack because of underlying coronary disease.” That is because flu can lead to respiratory distress or pneumonia, Rothkopf said. “Your oxygen levels can drop. In a coronary patient, you need to avoid stress on the heart. Increased heart rate, low blood pressure or reduced oxygen can cause that.” “It’s synergistic in a bad way,” he said. In his Northeast Ohio family practice, Davidson said most of his patients take his advice and get vaccinated. “There’s always going to be some holdouts. I’m not going to twist their arms. But as a last resort I’ll tell them, ‘Our doctors here get graded on this (how many patients get vaccinated). You’re going to make me look bad,’” he said. “We’ll use any angle we can get,” said Davidson. “It’s that important.”
Autism Preschool Group at U of A Has Openings The Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of Arkansas is recruiting preschool-aged children to participate in the fall semester of the autism preschool group. This free program meets from 9 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from Aug. 28 through Nov. 29 on campus. Children who participate in the program are taught in a preschool learning environment using the methods of Applied Behavior Analysis. Each preschool child is assigned a graduate student in ABA to work with them throughout the program. Children must meet the following criteria to attend the preschool group: - Between 2 and 4 years old - Have a diagnosis of autism, developmental disability, or demonstrate behaviors consistent with such a diagnosis, and be on a waiting list for an evaluation - Have minimal to no vocal communication skills Interested parents and guardians should contact Elizabeth Lorah, assistant professor of special education, at firstname.lastname@example.org. Heidi S. Wells, director of communications College of Education and Health Professions Canada is Arkansas' largest trading partner and best customer, a relationship that supports 66,000 Arkansas jobs.. Bid Day will take place at 10 a.m., Aug. 18, in the Chi Omega Greek Theatre and will be broadcast live by UATV on Facebook and Twitter. Volunteers are needed during several time slots before, during, and after both events. All volunteers will receive a free t-shirt. The 84th annual campaign begins Oct.1, but preparations have already started and volunteers are needed now. Nick Hopkins and Jaclyn Johnson work as hourly clinical instructors for the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, and both are U of A graduates of the nursing school.
San Francisco Landmarks Willis Polk designed this house for George W. Gibbs, one of the leading producers of iron and steel on the west coast. Polk drew largely from Italian Renaissance sources, then at the height of fashion in New York. The massing recalls that of a Tuscan villa, with details adapted from Raphael's Palazzo Pandolfini and a portico inspired by the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. The San Francisco Examiner pronounced the Gibbs House to be "the first classical residence in San Francisco." The house was among the city's earliest houses constructed entirely of stone and that almost no dwelling of comparable size matched the restraint of its exterior. In a metropolis of wood, the Gibbs house became an instant symbol of grandeur and permanency. Adapted from On the Edge of the World: Four Architects in San Francisco at the Turn of the Century by Richard W. Longstreth
I don’t know if it is about getting older but I find myself craving for some of the more traditional foods for comfort. I’ve always been into soups; something hot in my belly has always given me a warm feeling of wellbeing and sufficiency. So when I had some friends over recently I made duck and salted vegetable soup. This soup, to me, speaks of the best of traditional Chinese cooking. The gaminess of the duck meat balanced by the saltiness of preserved mustard greens and the sour tang of the soup plums. If that is not a flavour bomb, I don’t know what is. In fact, Asian food is held together by a delicate counterpoint of different primary tastes – sweet and sour, savory and tangy, salty and sweet. I think our tastebuds mature with time as I remember as a child being entranced with just sweets and today I would be repulsed by the cloying sweetness of what I used to crave. It was only later that I started to appreciate the bitter flavours common in Asian cuisine such as bittergourd or belinjau crackers. And the complexity of Asian flavour profiles, I suppose, becomes more appreciable with age and maturing tastebuds. The duck soup was a hit. I think my friends completely identified with the soup – I have truly no idea what the origins of duck and salted vegetable soup are – I think it may be Hokkien (hence the common colloquial name “kiam chye ark”) although I know it is also a Peranakan staple (“itek tim”). It often has a presence in big family dinners and is a universal crowd pleaser. And my guests were confounded by the fact that one could get such depth of flavour from half an hour of pressure cooking in the Instant Pot. I love being a kitchen maven and a master of traditional Chinese cooking when actually cooking this dish was literally just throwing everything into the pot and walking away! Instant Pot Duck and Salted Vegetable Soup - 1/2 duck - 300-400g salted vegetable (“kiam chye”) - 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly smashed - 2 large pieces of ginger 4-5 cm long (about 80-100g), peeled and sliced about 1/2 cm thick - 6 small dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes - 3 sour plums - 1 carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds - 2 tomatoes, cut into 6 wedges each - 1 red chili, sliced in half and deseeded - About 4 L water (or up to the maximum mark of the inner pot) - Clean the duck and discard the head and feet. Strip off the skin. Chop the duck into smaller pieces (2-3 cm thick for the breast or back cuts). - Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the duck in about 3-5 minutes. Drain and discard the water. - Soak the salted vegetables for about 1/2 hour, changing the water several times. Cut the vegetables into 4-5 cm pieces. - Place the duck, salted vegetables, sour plums, garlic, ginger, carrots and mushrooms into the Instant Pot. Fill the pot with water up to the maximum mark. - Seal the pot and put on manual high pressure for 30 minutes. Do natural pressure release. - Add the tomatoes and chili and put the pot on sauté mode for 10 minutes. - Serve hot.
The Assessment Department is responsible for placing an assessment on each parcel of land and all real property in the town for the purpose of equalization of the tax base. The Town Assessor administers the assessment roll in accordance with the New York State Real Property Tax Law, the Code of the Town of Victor, and Rules and Regulations promulgated by the State Board of Real Property Services. The Assessment Department maintains an inventory of all parcels in the Town of Victor in order to establish an assessed value for the equitable distribution of property taxes. Assessments are made at 100% of the market value and assessment rolls are filed in accordance with the assessment calendar. The assessment roll and property inventory data is maintained using the Real Property System (RPS V4) developed by the NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services. The Town Assessor is appointed by the Town Board and must be qualified as required by the NYS Real Property Tax Law. In accordance with rules and regulations set forth in New York Real Property Tax Law, the Town of Victor participates in the cyclical reassessment program. Cyclical reassessment involves the analysis of all properties in the municipality every three years to determine if they reflect current market values and making adjustments where necessary. Assessment changes may also be made due to change in use, and/or issuance of a building permit for new construction, remodeling or demolition. Assess This: Opinion appearing in Washington Post, February 2005: Why You Should Stop Whining and Learn to Love the Property Tax Uniform Assessment Standard (Pub 1025): The NYS Board of Real Property Tax Services adopted these Uniform Assessment Standards to provide a set of principles to guide individual assessing units in assessment administration. A History of the Real Property Tax and Equalization in the State of New York: A fascinating seven part series looks all the way back to colonial days at the history of real property taxes in New York State. Originally published by the NYS Office of Real Property Services. Assessment Study Presentation January 27, 2009: PDF file of a power point presentation of the Assessment Study to the Ontario County Financial Management and Government Operations committees.
The World Trade Center We will never forgot those who lost their lives on 911, ever. And nothing will ever replace the Twin Towers in the hearts of New Yorkers who saw them shining in the morning light or was overwhelmed by the view from the Observation Deck. However, the new One World Trade Center is a visual work of art like none other, and we are happy to see it grace our skyline and remind us that lovers of freedom may fall, but others will rise up and take their place. What To Do At This Venue: The World Trade Center site is a work in process, but there are several things to do at this venue: - The National September 11 Memorial Plaza - The 8-acre Memorial Plaza is a homage to the thousands who lost their lives on 9/11 as well as the WTC buildings themselves. The Memorial Pools built in the original footprints of the Twin Towers are beautifully crafted with the names of the every person who perished during the attacks etched in bronze along the rim. The manmade waterfalls are a serene sight to behold that create a peaceful atmosphere for reflection on what the events of that day meant, not just for New Yorkers or Americans, but all peace loving inhabitants of this world. - 911 Memorial Museum - Through the use of state-of-the-art multimedia exhibits, archives and monumental artifacts, the 911 Memorial Museum presents historical information that pays tribute to those who perished in the attacks, those who survived and those who continued to work at the site for months after that day. There's much to see, and the guided tours that take place daily really are informative and will enhance your experience of the museum. - One World Observatory - See New York City and the surrounding area in all its glory from the 100, 101 and 102 of One World Trade Center. The elevator or "Skypod" that will whisk you 1,250 feet to the Observatory in 60 seconds is an amazing thrill ride. LocationThe World Trade Center 285 Fulton Street New York, NY 10007 - At the corner of West and Vesey Streets 911 Memorial Museum - Adult $24, Senior $18, U.S. Veterans $18, U.S. College Students $18, Child 7-17 $15, Under 6 Free One World Observatory - Adult $32, Senior $30, Child $26 E train to the World Trade Center Station or the A, C, 1, 2, 3 to Chambers Street to Chambers Street. R R train to Rector Street Station. Take the M5, M20 or the M22 Bus. From New Jersey, take a Path Train heading for the WTC. Official Website911 Memorial.org and One World Observatory.com World Trade Center Facts, History & Trivia The Twin Towers were completed in April 4, 1973. At the time they were the tallest buildings in the world with 110 stories standing at approx 1,368-feet-tall. The entire World Trade Center site cost $400 Million to build and took 10 years to complete. The original WTC complex had 13,400,000 square feet of office and retail space. On February 26, 1993 terrorist attempted to destroy the Twin Towers by setting off a truckbomb in the parking garage. Their plan failed, but 6 people were killed and 1,042 injured. On September 11, 2001 both the North and South Towers (One and Two World Trade center) were struck by jet airplanes in a terrorist attack. Both towers collapsed destroying the complex and nearby structures. 2,977 innocent people lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on 911. They will never be forgotten. Venue Visit on 2/15/2015 by Lainey
When buying a recreational vehicle (RV), you have the choice to choose a motor vehicle that comes with a gasoline generator a treadmill that uses solar energy. These options are important because it supply the power needed to charge the on board battery bank. Normally, a wind mill system will contain 5 blades is pump out energy you r. The height of the system depends mainly on your needs. For example, you may need to have a taller tower if you’re in a low-wind zone, or use a short tower if reside on the coast. The luxury of Wind Power that you may store up energy for future use and countless uses for flash to power a range of household devices. The second benefit may very well be clean of those resources, the solar energy resource is one of the most cleanest energy resource within our planet. So, you help save you your money as well as keep your environment and youngsters when you use these types of energy. wind power in bc and wind power are great, but occurs when the sun is gray and the wind dies down? Offer what is a magnetic generator such the idea. Things parents teach their kids is oftentimes what they believe for that rest from their lives. Can you see how nice it be to enjoy clean air in atmosphere? Do you worry constantly which our water is deadly? It’s to possess a food supply that isn’t treated with chemicals, and maybe we would become healthy once once more. Although we’re more comfortable with typical argument for using prescription drugs, we must learn to trust green medicine. People are bit by bit start to understand that taking responsibility for specific health is a much better alternative than prescription medicinal drugs. It goes without saying, taking too much of anything can be bad for you. By all means this caution applies to herbs. Focus on a recommend dosage or smaller dosage to find out how tide power certain herbs may affect you, and experiment right after. Or better yet, follow error to choose of a reliable. Now there is a simple guide that can have you strategies about how to make solar batteries for much cheaper than the retail the price tag. This will help you build ones own solar table. You will learn the right way to make sun power panels which generate up to 120 w. In addition, you can join these panels together to produce more than 1 KW of power. You aren’t going to obtain huge results with just buying one Solar Power Pest Killer – Landscape Light . You might have to buy 2-3 to get great solutions. I’ve been enjoying the Solar Power Pest Killer – Landscape Light for only a few months my partner and i enjoy having it regarding. It makes my outside experience a great deal more pleasurable dinner . $13, it’s a lot much better than spraying OFF all over you skin cells.
Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Online Games For Toddlers and other Online Game topics. There are plenty of free online preschool games that will teach computer skills, recognition, counting and other necessary skills to your active preschooler. Some of the games are geared for parents to play along, while others are meant for your preschooler to experience alone, so they can interact with the action on the screen and build useful skills. Free online preschool games should keep your child interested, so you should look for sites that offer a wide variety of games. If they get bored, they can just choose another that looks interesting. In addition, look for good quality graphics and sounds that won't strain little eyes and ears. Many of your favorite television shows, like Sesame Street, offer their own free online preschool games, so check out sites you trust for the best in free online preschool games.
Construction crews in Indiana were shocked to discover a time capsule from 1958 at a former mental hospital. The most exciting part? It contains a film with a message to the future–a message about electroshock therapy and psychiatric drugs. Frustratingly, much of the audio from the film has been lost. What were they saying in the damaged parts of the film? Was it a warning? Did they know something that we don’t?!?! “When the psychiatrists of the future open this time capsule, only they will be able to tell how well we’ve solved our treatment problems,” one unnamed man says to the camera near the end of the 6-minute movie. So maybe not. The film begins with silent footage of the time capsule ceremony and the crowd that showed up to watch. Then we see two men addressing the camera with their message for the future. Based on the audio that’s survived, they’re talking about some pretty heavy things: electroshock therapy, and the “problems of the future.” But there are large segments where we can’t hear what they’re saying, which is incredibly frustrating. The man on the left begins talking about the new part of the hospital: Today marks the cornerstone laying ceremony of the Bahr Treatment Center. This is a building that we have been working on for two years. It’s a building which we have spent much time in attempting to foresee the future — the things that are going to be coming up in the way of treatment programs. How well do you think we’ve solved the problems of the future? At this point the man on the right starts to speak but we can’t hear what he’s saying. He speaks for a good 30 seconds before the guy on the left starts talking again. But now we can’t hear him either! Both men address the camera, taking turns for a good minute and a half before the audio returns. And it’s a bit disconcerting, given what we might have missed: ...electric shock treatment, as it is today. And it also will serve as a rest area in the day clinic period. Now, because of the space, the way it’s laid out, this will be able to function under any circumstances that you might develop for treatment or program. For instance, we may some day — and only the people who open this time capsule will be able to say... we may go back to insulin shock, or the development of some other drug techniques and so forth. Here’s where we need to take a break and mention that insulin shock therapy was where psychiatric patients were pumped with large doses of insulin on a daily basis to induce a coma that could last for weeks. Whereas electric shock treatment has unjustly gotten a bad name, insulin shock therapy was not a procedure that showed much in the way of help for those suffering from mental illness. The man on the right continues: Let me repeat, that because of the development of this program with Dr. Williams, that we have developed a building which is completely flexible in all aspects to keep up with the changing face of the mental health program. The camera then goes back to the guy on the left: It’s our hope to use this building for the admission of all patients, where the patients will be admitted, receive all of their examinations, and the treatment program outlined for each patient. We hope that we’ll be able to treat and improve many patients, so they’ll be able to go home from this building. Now those who do not improve sufficiently to go home from this building, may have to have continued treatment in other parts of the institution. We are designing this building an outpatient clinic, which is the first outpatient clinic designed for this hospital. We trust that this will add much to our treatment program — that possibly we may be able to treat patients on the outside without requiring hospitalization. The man on the left then addresses the psychiatrists of the future, but we again lose large parts of the audio. When the psychiatrists of the future open this time capsule, only they will be able to tell how well we’ve solved our treatment problems, not only today but in the future. We are sincerely appreciative... ...they’ll have cameras at that time that they can run this film. The entire 6-minute film discovered in the time capsule is on YouTube: The Bahr hospital was closed in 1992, and the site is currently being converted into business and residential properties, according to WFYI in Indianapolis. The time capsule that the construction crews uncovered also included other things you’d expect, like newspapers and photos. But this film for the future (as damaged as the audio may be) is one of those rare finds that we time capsule nerds love to hear about. The missing chunks of audio are lost to history, but hopefully they weren’t a warning about something potentially life-saving, like a new cancer vaccine or a cure for Trumpism. God help us if this damaged film was our only chance. Update: Apparently there were a couple more badly damaged film reels found in the time capsule. Both are silent. One shows the placement of the cornerstone: And the other shows a large crowd and more cornerstone shenanigans:
Going to Pieces: Valuing Users, Subscribers and Customers 46 Pages Posted: 22 May 2018 Last revised: 27 May 2018 Date Written: May 23, 2018 In conventional valuation, we usually value businesses as aggregated entities, estimating total revenues, earnings and cashflows, across the different businesses and customers that the company has, and then discounting those cash flows back at a discount rate that reflects the weighted risk across the entire company. The reasons for doing so are two-fold. First, the information that we are provided in financial statements, as investors, is often on the aggregated company and not on its constituent parts. Second, again as investors, we are ultimately investing in entire companies, not in their disaggregated units or customers. However, businesses are not only increasingly marketing themselves to investors on the numbers of users, customers and subscribers that they have, but they are building their business models around these constituent parts. While many of them contend that conventional valuation approaches don’t work in this new world order, we disagree and this paper attempts to extend intrinsic value and pricing approaches to value a user, subscriber or member, using Uber, Amazon Prime, Spotify and Netflix as examples. In the process, we lay bare some of the holes in information disclosure and examine the dynamics that drive user/subscriber value. Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
“I used to think peppermint was an ‘old person’ flavor when I was a kid,” a colleague recently remarked. “Now I’m hooked.” Surely, we have all felt similarly toward some food as we were growing up, before our taste buds evolved. As children, with our freakishly high tolerance for sugary syrups, we typically opted for bubblegum over spearmint. Our only foray into Mint City was for the Girl Scout cookies, rather than hot tea. If it’s been a few decades since you tried peppermint, I suggest you do it now. It’s delicious! And good for you. A cross between water mint and spearmint, peppermint has shown promise to alleviate a number of health conditions, most notably irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). According to a New York Times health blog, “The peppermint plant has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy. It is thought to have the ability to relieve some gastrointestinal problems by blocking the flow of calcium into muscle cells in the intestines, which in turn reduces muscle contractions.” In addition to IBS treatment, WebMD points to a host of other medical discomforts peppermint has shown to help, including morning sickness, nerve pain, inflammation, and toothaches. The World’s Healthiest Foods website described peppermint as an anti-microbial oil, blocking the growth of bacteria like salmonella, E. coli, and MRSA. However, the University of Maryland Medical Center warns of possible interactions peppermint could impose on a compromised intestinal system: “Do not take peppermint or drink peppermint tea if you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD: a condition where stomach acids back up into the esophagus), or hiatal hernia. Peppermint can relax the sphincter between the stomach and esophagus, allowing stomach acids to flow back into the esophagus … By relaxing the sphincter, peppermint may actually worsen the symptoms of heartburn and indigestion.” As you enjoy those home-cooked meals this winter, take the digestive miracles of pure peppermint oil into account. Better yet, incorporate it into your holiday potluck: Candy Cane Cookies Makes: 30 cookies o 1 c butter or margarine o 1 c sifted powdered sugar o 1 egg o ½ tsp vanilla o ½ tsp peppermint oil o 2 ½ c flour o ½ tsp red food coloring - Preheat oven to 375°. Beat butter until soft. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, peppermint, and a dash of salt. Beat well. - Add flour. Beat until well mixed. - Divide dough into two parts. Add red food coloring to half. Chill dough for 30 min. - Shape cookies by taking 1 tsp of each color dough and rolling into long round cords. Twist cords around each other and bend at top to make cane shape. - Bake for 8-10 min.
Never under estimate the power of a prayer. At times, we need to look outside of ourselves to see how God works His wonders. We tend to concentrate too much on our needs (humanly speaking) without realising the spiritual need that God is fulfilling in each of us every moment. We tend to think that our prayers, to be fulfilled, has to be met in our conditions, yet God’s thoughts is not ours to fathom. And in His great mercy, He doesn’t meet our conditions but always provide us our specific needs. To be used by God to help others is not a cause for us to boast but it is humbling and unworthy of us to play a part in salvation’s history and what a grace that He finds us to do His will. Even if we disregard the prompting of the Spirit, the other’s prayer will be answered in His ways beyond what we can imagine. Yet to be able to follow the prompting of the Spirit is not by our own strength but that which the grace that God gives us, the heart that He molds and moves. All prayers are effective as God hears them and He moves heaven and earth to fulfil His will.
Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a type of thyroid cancer that is rare and aggressive. It affects the thyroid gland and most especially its function. The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland located on the front of the neck just below the Adam’s apple area. Its function is to regulate metabolism and cellular use of energy. Out of all thyroid cancers reported, anaplastic thyroid cancer only makes up a small percentage ranging from 1 to 5%. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is diagnosed due to a large lump found in the gland. The lump grows rapidly and may eventually infiltrate the trachea making it difficult for one to breathe. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is also known to be a type of thyroid cancer that can quickly metastasize or spread to other parts of the body. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is most common in men over the age of 65 than in women. Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Symptoms Anaplastic thyroid cancer symptoms include a mass in the neck or thyroid area that often gets enlarged rapidly, coughing, difficulty in swallowing, coughing up blood, hoarseness or change in the voice, and some difficulty in breathing. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is usually treated with surgery to remove the lump or tumor. There are also times that the anaplastic tumor may become attached to the vital structures within the neck or may infiltrate in the trachea, making it impossible to be removed. Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Prognosis When an anaplastic tumor has already infiltrated the trachea or windpipe, a surgery may be needed to insert a tube into the throat to ease breathing. This surgery is called tracheotomy. In some cases, chemotherapy is needed for metastatic disease. However, anaplastic tumors are not responsive to chemotherapy. The prognosis for anaplastic thyroid cancer is poor. Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Treatment Anaplastic thyroid cancer cannot be cured by surgery alone. Most anaplastic thyroid cancer patients opt to completely remove their thyroid gland; however it does not help prolong their lives. The highly advised anaplastic thyroid cancer treatment is radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy. This anaplastic thyroid cancer treatment provides significant benefit. Tracheotomy or a surgery that places a tube into the throat to ease breathing and gastrostomy or a surgery that puts a tube into the stomach to help with eating may also be needed as part of anaplastic thyroid cancer treatment. Some anaplastic thyroid cancer patients also opt to enrol themselves in a clinical trial of new thyroid cancer treatments as an option. Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Survival Rate Possible complications of anaplastic thyroid cancer include spreading of the anaplastic tumor within the neck and spreading of the cancer to other body tissues and organ. Since the prognosis for anaplastic thyroid cancer is poor, only less than 5% patients survive in a span of 5 years. 10% of patients are alive in the first 3 years. However, in most cases, most patients are not able to survive for more than 6 months and 80% do not survive over a year. 25% of anaplastic thyroid cancer patients already have tracheal infiltration that compromises breathing during the initial diagnosis, while 50% of anaplastic thyroid cancer patients have anaplastic thyroid cancer spread to the lungs by the time they are diagnosed. Thyroid Guide & Links to Related Articles \|There are four parathyroid glands that are normally having the size of a single rice grain. In some normal cases, they can be as big as the size of a pea.\| \|Also called underactive thyroid, hypothyroidism is a disorder that is characterized by abnormal level of thyroid hormones in the body, which is too low.\| \|The thyroid is a butterfly (pear)-shaped gland, it consists of 2 symmetrical lobes joined by a central isthmus that normally covers the 2nd & 3rd tracheal rings.\| \|Congenital hypothyroidism is a thyroid gland disorder that may lead to deafness or mental retardation if left undetected.\| \|Hypothyroidism can cause depression. Most people don?t realize that this feeling is depression caused by the thyroid gland not functioning as it should.\| \|Papillary thyroid cancer is one of the thyroid cancer types. This type of thyroid cancer arises from the follicles in the thyroid gland.\| \|The thyroid gland is located immediately below the larynx on each side of and anterior to the trachea. It is one of the largest of the endocrine glands\| \|These thyroid hormones are responsible in regulating the body?s metabolism, which is how much food will be broken down into useful energy for consumption.\| \|When the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone, one may suffer from hyperthyroidism.\| \|The thyroid stimulating hormone is produced by the pituitary gland. The thyroid stimulating hormone promotes the growth of the thyroid gland.\| \|Thyroid hormones are chemical substances produced by the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is located in the front of the neck.\| \|Natural thyroid supplements are helpful as a remedy to thyroid disorders. Its natural ingredients assure one of its safeties in taking it.\| \|The thyroid gland is an endocrine gland that is the primary responsible in regulating the body?s metabolism.\| \|Thyroid surgery is used to treat people with thyroid problems such as thyroid cancer, thyroid nodules and hyperthyroidism.\| \|Thyroid tests or thyroid function tests are done to check the thyroid function in one?s body. A doctor will be able to determine and diagnose the thyroid disorder.\| \|Treatment for thyroid disorders should be done to prevent unwanted results caused by the severity of the condition. Consult a physician for more of these treatments.\| \|Thyroidectomy is a surgical process wherein the whole or a part of the thyroid gland is removed. This surgical process is used to treat thyroid disorders.\| \|Having an underactive thyroid is a minor problem but it seeks proper attention to avoid further health problems. Consult a physician about any thyroid problem.\| \|Low thyroid, also known as hypothyroidism, is a condition where the thyroid gland is under active.\| \|Following a healthy meal plan, exercise and proper medication goes hand in hand to treat hypothyroidism. Consult a physician for a more individualized plan.\| \|Each thyroid cancer treatment depends on the type of thyroid cancer and the extent or stage of the thyroid cancer one is suffering from.\| \|Parathyroid hormones are considered to be the most important endocrine regulator. It basically regulates the calcium and phosphorus concentration in the body.\| \|Studies show that since 1925, the standard treatment for parathyroid disease is to surgically remove the parathyroid gland(s) which are overproducing parathyroid hormones.\| \|Parathyroid adenoma is a small tumor of the parathyroid gland and is known to be the most common disorder of the gland.\| \|Medullary thyroid cancer is one of the types of thyroid cancer. This type of thyroid cancer is more common in women than in men.\| \|Most people don?t feel any symptoms. Others can just lose weight and just feel depressed for no reason at all.\| \|Suppose you go in for a routine checkup and your doctor decides to test your thyroid function. You?ve experienced no thyroid disease symptoms\| \|Hypothyroidism develops for over a long period of time. It?s normally from several months to even several years.\| \|People who are suffering from hypothyroidism are advised to get plenty of exercise and have a balanced and healthy diet. The diet must be rich in protein and iodine.\| \|Self medicating one?s thyroid disorder with hypothyroidism diet pills without proper information of the diet pill does not address the problem.\| \|Hyperthyroidism is when the thyroid gland is overactive and produces too much thyroid hormones more than the body needs.\| \|Hypothyroidism is one of the chronic diseases in the world. Hypothyroidism is also known as underactive thyroid; hypo means under or below normal.\| Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer \|Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a type of thyroid cancer that is rare and aggressive. It affects the thyroid gland and most especially its function.\| \|Problems arise if the thyroid gland is overactive or underactive. There are three common thyroid disorders. These are hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and the thyroid nodules.\| \|Hair loss may happen for so many reasons but it is commonly associated to thyroid problems such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.\| \|Thyroid Function Tests are the different tests conducted to assess and determine the cause of an individual?s thyroid problems.\|
Or listen now… Play therapists often focus on protocol, technique, and, of course, toys. But what’s below all this? Engaging the right-brain and allowing yourself to feel are the keys to helping your clients inside and outside of the playroom. :55 Lisa gives an overview of the Lessons from the Playroom webinar series 1:20 What does getting under mean and how does it facilitate the healing process? 3:33 Why does it limit us when we get caught up in the meaning of toys? 4:25 It’s not the doll or ball that heals; the toy only acts as a conduit 5:00 How can we go “under” the toys? 5:30 When a child throws something at the wall, what is happening under the play? 6:20 Analyzing play is a safe process but what happens when we allow ourselves to feel? 7:04 Experiencing a situation as a child experiences it 7:50 The story is just a story 8:23 What’s the somatic activation that’s locking the story into place? 9:20 How does attaching meaning to experience create patterns and sensations within the body? 10:20 Why is working with implicit memory important? 11:18 What is the clinician’s story in the playroom? 12:12 Protocol is just protocol – therapists must bring it to life 13:33 The work is underneath – it’s in the feelings 14:44 You will never know what a moment requires until that moment arises 15:24 If you’re caught up in the protocol, you’ll miss what’s underneath 15:50 You must be willing to feel and be open 16:00 Why are you caught up in technique? 17:00 How can we feel what a moment is trying to reveal to us? Why is this important? 18:15 How does left brain only limit us? 19:48 Can we find a place to just be? Don’t forget to join us on August 21 at 2:00 (MST) for our free Lessons from the Playroom webinar. We’ll discuss The Ethics and Practice of Touch in Play Therapy. If you can’t watch live, sign up anyway and we’ll send you a 24-hour playback the night of the webinar. Register today!
Building up the Body of Christ While consecrated religious may be first responders of a sort, I have arrived at the fast-burning Twitter brushfire of HeresyLetterGate (wherein Ross Douthat suggested that Massimo Faggioli might be a heretic and Faggioli in turn questioned Douthat’s credentials) at a more medieval pace. While the thorns have now burned away, leaving only scorched grass that withers and fades, I remain consumed by Katie Grimes’s powerful coda to the affair, in which she rightly exhorts us to “build a church in which black lives truly matter and to whom white supremacy appears anathema.” Indeed our guilt must be set out and we must gain wisdom of heart, but I would like to turn Catholic theologians’ attention to the specifically Christological and ecclesiological terrain of Grimes’ exhortation. In order for teachers of theology to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12 NRSVCE), we must be able to distinguish the place of teaching among the other gifts of Christ with regard to the end that “all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (v13). A body wracked and bent by racism is far from full stature, but what are the contributions of theology to its maturation? This is closely related to Rod Dreher’s question: Why study academic theology? Does one do it to shore up the master’s house, and maybe to add new rooms onto it, based on the experience of living in it during a different time? Or does one study academic theology to tear the house down and build something more modern on the footprint? Only in light of the aims of theology can we understand its nature well enough to ascertain who should be doing it and what rules are necessary for its mature practice in a way that transcends the narrative of polarization. The knowledge of the Son of God Kevin Ahern reminds us that “Catholic theologians, as with all other Christians, are called to serve God with all our hearts, minds, and actions in life,” but notes that this “does little to really guide the specific responsibility or vocation of the academic theologian.” Given Katie Grimes’s affinity for his thought, I suggest that “specific responsibility” can be elaborated with reference to Aquinas’s principle that theology, or Sacred doctrine, being one… considers in each [thing] the same formal aspect, namely, so far as they can be known through divine revelation. Hence…sacred doctrine includes both [speculative and practical aspects]; as God, by one and the same science, knows both Himself and His works…it is more concerned with divine things than with human acts; though it does treat even of these latter, inasmuch as man is ordained by them to the perfect knowledge of God in which consists eternal bliss. Theologians thus aim at knowledge given by God, both for the sake of union with God and the salvation of humans, made possible by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Word who is God. Indeed Katie Grimes, Ross Douthat, and Rod Dreher all yearn for eternal bliss, the fullness of friendship with God, both for themselves and for others. The unity of the Faith If, as Katie Grimes clarifies, theology is not limited purely by academic credentials, we need this understanding of the aims of theology to resolve Elissa Cutter’s question “about who has the authority to teach in the modern Catholic Church”—one shared by the Cardinal Newman Society. In the body of Quodlibet III, q4, a1, Thomas Aquinas says that because the theology professor does not receive pre-eminence, but only an opportunity to convey their knowledge, it is eminence of knowledge that is required for the theologian, and seeking to teach without knowledge makes a theologian presumptuous. That certainly justifies Grimes’s call for real expertise, but since theological knowledge is of divine things, it exceeds what can be known by the natural light of intelligence and therefore, according to Aquinas, “it proceeds from principles [the articles of faith] established by the light of a higher science, namely, the science of God and the blessed” which we know only by special revelation. In order to be truly theological, then, expertise must include knowledge of the faith, held by faith. This knowledge criterion, rather than being used to exclude, is the basis for Aquinas’s strident argument against theology being restricted to those of one particular state of life. He says that restriction “deserves censure inasmuch as it detracts from that unity in the Church” since per the Gloss (on Rom 12:5) “we are of service to each other, and are in need of the assistance of one another”…“for among many students some will know or understand that, of which others are ignorant.” As Vanessa White puts it, “The moves to visibility, the return of peoples’ ‘stuff,’ the release of entrapped necks begins in our classrooms…It begins with the challenge to be attentive to whose voice is not a part of the conversation, whose face is not a part of the movement, whose perspective is lost in the process.“ Equipping the saints for the work of ministry Having established the aims of theological discourse and who should participate, what rules ought there be for such discourse? Daniel Cossachi and Kevin Ahern give three criteria for successful theological work: - “thorough argument” supported with “ample evidence” - “faith seeking understanding” by “adding to the literature in provocative ways” while sticking “close to the tradition” - calls for conversion from injustice These are excellent heuristics, but must be understood more richly than Cossachi and Ahern elaborate. The ample evidence necessary for theological claims can only be, foundationally, that of revelation. Furthermore, the gift of the Holy Spirit to understand and expound this revelation comes with criteria stricter than merely sticking “close to the tradition”; as Aquinas notes, commenting on 1 Pet 4:10-11: “Let him stand in fear, lest he teach anything contrary to the will of God, the authority of Scripture, or the good of his brethren; or, lest he be silent, when he ought to speak.” To fail to speak according to the will of God, the authority of Scripture, or the good of the brethren is in some real sense to not know how to speak, since theological knowledge cannot be attributed to oneself, and the faith itself is one. In breaking these rules of theological discourse, a theologian corrupts the aim of theology and disqualifies themselves from the expertise needed to speak. Furthermore, they separate themselves from the body of Christ in which we are members “under our Head, the Roman Pontiff” from whom “must we learn what we are to believe and uphold” as Aquinas (probably mistakenly) quotes Cyril of Alexandria (ad 8). Those unjustly silent should also fear this fate, as when theologians ignore the racism that shackles black bodies and has been repeatedly condemned by the Holy See. Aquinas justifies this further insofar as theologians, in virtue of their gift of knowledge, have a duty to the whole body of Christ: Now as in the physical body there are eyes, so in the mystical body of the Church there are teachers. Hence the Gloss understands the text in the Gospel of St. Matthew (18:9): “If your eye scandalizes you” etc., to refer to ecclesiastical doctors and counsellors. Physical eyesight is useful to the whole body alike, and one limb serves another in its functions. For, as St. Paul says (1 Cor 12:21), “the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not your help; nor again the head to the feet: I have no need of you.” Therefore, everyone who undertakes the office of teaching must perform it for the benefit of all men, of whatsoever condition they may be. Indeed, as Fr. James Martin points out, this duty towards charity and against injustice must also be extended to other theologians. The call to convert from injustice cannot only, however, be for the benefit of both sinners and those human persons they sin against. The greatest injustices from which we must convert are those committed against God who “infinitely surpasses all things and exceeds them in every way” in sins against religion. The first and greatest commandment of Jesus is to love God—but love of neighbor is like it, and “on these two commandments hang all the law” (Mt 34:40). There can thus be no competition between on the one hand resisting “every wind of doctrine,” “people’s trickery,” and “their craftiness in deceitful scheming” and on the other “speaking the truth in love” whereby “we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph 4:14-15). May God give success to the work of our hands as we join M. Shawn Copeland this Lent in a praxis of redemptive love (“other-regarding, neighbor-loving, selfless to the point of self-sacrifice, fearless and loving in the face of persecution, open, and hopeful”) “sustained only through prayer, self-discipline, and remembrance of the Body of Christ broken for the world. This is another expression of solidarity in the here-and-now anticipating the eschatological healing and building up of the broken body of God’s people.”
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. Evidently, breaking politically imposed bonds can threaten the established order. This illuminating story of Luke’s shows twice how broken bonds can threaten political control. Furthermore, Luke invites the reader to supply a third example of bonds that need breaking, although such action may disrupt social order. We’ll start by looking at how Luke 8:26-39 is a political story on many levels. To do so, we must look at the context. Jesus arrives “opposite Galilee” “at the country of the Gerasenes.” It is no accident that Jesus arrives in Gerasa. Jesus didn’t just happen by; he chartered a boat intentionally to go to that country opposite Galilee. As one of the ten cities of the Roman Decapolis, Gerasa has political significance. Within such a context, “Legion” takes on multiple meanings. Not only does legion mean a vast multitude, but in this ancient Roman context it would also carry the immediate connotation of the Roman army—a distinctly political connotation. This connotation is strengthened by the fact that the townspeople act toward the man with demons in ways consistent with an army’s responsibilities—they repeatedly guard him and bind him with chains and shackles. This play on words and actions brings an interesting tension into the text: do the townspeople control the man with demons, since they perform activities consistent with a legion, or do the demons control the town, since they are identified as Legion? Perhaps both. First, Luke shows how the Gerasene man with demons breaks bonds. This is an ongoing story of the complexity of oppression and breaking free, because it is clear that the man is repeatedly bound and repeatedly breaks free. Unfortunately, breaking free is complicated. Even though he “would break the bonds” many times, the breaking of the physical chains and shackles was not yet enough to provide true liberation, for as soon as he would break the chains, he would be “driven by the demon into the wilds.” The townspeople are threatened by his breaking free. Although they have worked out a system of guarding him and keeping him bound, their established practice has not yet delivered a controllable person or a solution to their perceived problem. The townsfolk continue to sense threat to the organization of their society. Secondly, Jesus breaks politically imposed bonds. It appears that Jesus’ first order of business is to address this man—presumably not the order of welcome the town would have planned for their visitor. The power structures the townspeople were working to preserve through guarding and binding were challenged by the next sequence of events. The powers (Legion) address the Power (Jesus). Legion identifies Jesus as “Son of the Most High God.” Legion cowers under the might of Jesus’ approach and begs for some landing place other than “the abyss.” As the townspeople look back on the event, they palpably perceive Jesus’ address to their social world order and glimpse his address of the cosmic order. Jesus’ next action breaks bonds and liberates on both the social and cosmic levels. He breaks the bond that Legion holds on the man and, granting Legion permission to enter the herd of swine, forces Legion to leave. This addresses the social order of the town by restoring the man to his town and neighbors. This addresses the cosmic order as Legion flees in the face of Jesus’ power. Jesus’ action doesn’t simply restore a social order, it also threatens the townspeople’s established order. We can tell because observing the man “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” does not comfort the people or lead to celebration. This change of social order leads them to be “seized with great fear” so that they ask Jesus to leave them. The depth of this passage becomes even more apparent when the reader can also perceive the cost to the townspeople of Jesus’ dramatic, liberative, bond-breaking action. Can’t we as the readers also feel the frustration and loss experienced by the swineherds whose livelihood is washing up on shore? The tension created by our ability to perceive both the freedom and then loss stemming from these particular broken bonds lets us wrestle with the complexity and intersectionality of this text in real time, for, I suspect, each reader has their own actual “bond” that they are dismantling. If one’s own effort at breaking an oppressive bond is truly at the level of systemic change of the social order, then there will be tension, for one’s actions and the results of one’s actions will not be one-dimensional; rather, there will be several real freedoms and several real pains that accompany any challenge to the established order. The Gerasene and Jesus’ examples of breaking bonds are overt in this text. Yet, there is more. One subtle example of bond-breaking is left. Luke’s literary form suggests that you will provide it. Here’s how Luke literarily accomplishes this: - he lays out the chapter to anticipate participation in God’s life-giving word, - he provides a cliff-hanger without adequate resolution, and - he sends the protagonist back into the thick of it. At the outset of chapter eight, Luke presents a vision of an ever-expanding group of disciples spreading the word of God. Specifically, they are “proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” It is not just Jesus proclaiming good news. Luke is specific: Jesus is joined in proclamation by “the twelve.” Yet not only the twelve; Luke wants the reader to know that others are proclaiming as well. Mary, Joanna, and Susanna are bringing the good news of the kingdom of Jesus (8:1-3). Next we hear a parable about how plants are seeded and grown (8:4-15), which is followed by a story of letting light shine unhidden from a lampstand (8:16-18). Then Jesus challenges traditional assumptions and expands the meaning of family, saying, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (8:19-21). Finally, they are out on the turbulent sea, where Jesus rebukes the raging waves and asks the disciples, “Where is your faith?” (8:22-25). Luke’s expansion of the circle of those who get to proclaim the good news opens the possibility of the reader becoming one of the proclaimers. Do the intervening verses equip proclaimers? - You plant the seed; God grows it. - Light is meant to shine forth, unhidden. - Jesus’ family are those who do the word. - Your faith is operative. In this context, Luke begins to invite the reader to contribute a third example of bonds that need breaking. Luke creates the need for your contribution of a third bond-breaking example by offering an inadequate resolution to the story at Gerasa. Luke’s conclusion to the layered, bond-breaking story ends abruptly: “the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.” This non-conclusion regarding two of the story’s internal questions—“What will become of Legion?” and “What will become of the swineherds given their loss of livelihood?”—leaves the reader in discomfort and with cognitive dissonance. Sure, the pericope has more to say about the calm man and the fearful townspeople, but it offers no assistance answering these other driving questions. Like a song that leaves off its concluding chord, the hearer is put in the position of resolving the discordance themselves. Return of the Protagonist Luke has yet another literary strategy that makes the hearer address the unresolved questions and provide her/his own completion of the sequence. The reader is invited to share a third story of bonds in need of breaking. Luke has made the reader identify primarily with the man, now freed of Legion. The man would like to escape this story and travel back to Galilee in Jesus’ boat, but Jesus sends him back into the thick of it as one of his expanding group of proclaimers of the good news of the kingdom of God. The protagonist in the story, with whom Luke literarily sets the reader up to identify, is sent back to Gerasa to finish the story of what God has done. Through these three literary devices, Luke suggests that the reader may be among the ones sent to proclaim the good news about God’s liberative power in the face of bonds that need breaking. Perhaps the following two voices of faithful, ongoing participation with God’s call to break bonds and proclaim the good news coming from people who grew up in Central and South America can stand as models of this path forward: “The great biblical tradition…bids us break the bonds of injustice and oppression, which give rise to glaring and, indeed, scandalous social iniquities.” Pope Francis, speech in the Philippines on January 16, 2015 “The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.” Archbishop Oscar Romero, proclaimed on November 27, 1977. (epigraph in book Violence of Love) Jan Schnell Rippentrop is the Axel Jacob and Gerda Maria Swanson Carlson Chair in Homiletics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where she also serves as the Director of the Master of Arts Programs. Working ever at lively intersections, she is a liturgical theologian whose scholarship focuses on homiletics and a political theologian whose scholarship is informed by communities suffering from the stifling effects of poverty.
Computer systems are becoming increasingly complex. Active assistance from the human-machine interface is required to exploit this growing sophistication fully. Traditional methods of providing assistance are inadequate in two ways. first, they are passive, requiring the human to detect (perhaps implicit) problems and assuming the human will make "appropriate queries". Secondly, they are static and so must explain everything in great detail. Active assistants are required to recognize what information is most important and make it prominent. This thesis explores a small part of this problem. A computer coach unobtrusively monitors user performance, attempts to recognize inefficient use of unawareness of important facilities, then suggests alternatives. Various design issues are discussed. The implementation of a prototype coach built for the Emacs text editor is described. Informal evaluation shows that the detection of unused concepts is a powerful yet easily implemented technique for generating helpful advice. The recognition of instances of pre-stored sub-optimal sequences of operations is shown to be less prolific and more difficult to implement, but to provide a greater degree of situation sensitivity. We are currently acquiring citations for the work deposited into this collection. We recognize the distribution rights of this item may have been assigned to another entity, other than the author(s) of the work.If you can provide the citation for this work or you think you own the distribution rights to this work please contact the Institutional Repository Administrator at firstname.lastname@example.org
9. Web Rings – A web ring is a group of blogs with a common interest that refer traffic to one another. There are many of these dedicated to blogging on a variety of topics. They don’t bring heaps of hits, but I have found a few great blogs by being a part of such rings. Rings generally involve adding some code too your blog template, but once this is done its not something you have to do anything for to upkeep. There are literally thousands of webrings you can be a part of, take a look at WebRing to find one that suits your blog – or if you can’t find one start your own. As per usual, moderation is the key, if you join too many you might clutter your page with them. 10. Add an RSS feed to your blog – This is also known as Syndication and is a little technical. Its not something I fully understand. However I know that my RSS feed is responsible for sending an increasing amount of traffic my way from readers using News Aggregators. I’m not the best person to explain this so I’ll refer you to this article about syndication. It is longish and a tad technical, but if you follow the instructions its not that hard and well worth the effort. 11. List your site on Portals – There are a growing number of sites which exclusively list blogs. If you want people to find you its worth submitting your blog to be listed on them. Some focus on specific topics while others list blogs on a wide variety of topics (like Eaton Web and Globe of Blogs). Other portals like BlogShares and Blog Street also list a lot of blogs in different ways which might increase your blogs profile.
PK113 – PS 132 The Shining Star of Williamsburg Newsletter week of Februaruy 1st, 2016 Groundhog Day is Tuesday, February 2nd. Trip to Puppet Works is on February 4th. Chaperones have been chosen and notified. If you were not selected, there will be other opportunities to assist the class in the future. We have yoga on Mondays. Please dress your child in easy on/off shoes Chinese New Year is Monday Februaruy 8th, – No School Animals, the letter “Ee,” writing first and last name Books We Are Reading: Wake-up Groundhog!, Guess Whose Shadow?, Animal Opposites (smooth and rough), My First Chinese New Year, THe Very Hungry Caterpillar Words to Know: Math and Fun Activities: continue learning ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) continue writing and illustrating our animal books continue making groundhog puppets Practice writing first and last name, the number 5, and the letter Ee. Parent Involvement: If possible, please watch the Groundhog Ceremony on Tuesday morning with your child. Will Phil see his shadow? If he does, then we’ll have 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, then we’ll have an early Spring.
The stress is a silent enemy that can end up hurting us a lot. Not only does it affect our mood, making us more anxious and irritable, but in the long run it can also change the brain functioning and trigger psychosomatic illnesses. In everyday life we expose ourselves to many situations that can generate stress, from an exam and a job interview to a deadline or the loss of a loved one. However, now neuroscientists at the University of Calgary suggest that the stress suffered by others can also affect our brain since it is a contagious emotional state. The stress of the others modifies the brain functioning The researchers analyzed the effects of stress in pairs of mice. They exposed one of them to a mild stress situation and then they returned it to its partner. Next, they examined the responses of a specific population of cells related to the hormone CRH that controls the brain’s response to stress and that is also found in people. They discovered that the neural networks of the brain of both animals responded in the same way; that is, the stress was contagious and caused changes in brain functioning. The team discovered that the activation of this hormone stimulates the release of a chemical signal, an “alarm pheromone” with which the stressed animal warns its partner of a possible danger. Therefore, it would be a key mechanism for the transmission of relevant information that could be critical for the formation of social networks in various species. The researchers also discovered that there are gender differences when it comes to cushioning the stress. Apparently, the female gender has a greater capacity to reduce by half the residual effects of stress, something that was not appreciated in the male gender. Empathic stress: The contagion from one person to another These neuroscientists believe that their findings can be extrapolated to people because we also communicate the stress to those around us. It is an ancestral warning mechanism, similar to that of animals, but a little more sophisticated. In fact, a study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the Technische Universität Dresden proved that being close to a stressed person, be it a loved one or a stranger, has the power to alter our physiological responses in a remarkable way. In this experiment, people were paired with loved ones or strangers of the opposite gender and then divided into two groups. One group had to solve relatively complex mathematical problems and undergo an interview, two tasks designed to generate direct stress. The other group simply observed the test and the interviews through a mirror and video transmissions. As expected, 95% of the people tested showed signs of stress. However, the curious thing was that 26% of the observers showed a significant increase in cortisol, the stress hormone. The empathic stress affected up to 40% of the people when the one who underwent the tests was his partner, although it was also contagious from strangers, but to a lesser extent. This is not the only study that reveals the contagious reach of stress. Another research developed at the University of British Columbia evaluated the stress level of elementary school teachers, and then measured the stress of their students by taking saliva samples to assess the amount of cortisol. They discovered that when teachers experienced emotional exhaustion and stress, the cortisol levels in their students were higher, compared to classes led by more relaxed teachers. Take care of your relationships as if it were yourself This series of investigations reveals that we must pay much more attention to our interpersonal relationships. Since we are empathic by nature, since the capacity to feel the emotional state of another person is a key piece for the creation and development of social bonds, it is not strange that we end up infecting ourselves with the stress of others. In fact, it is likely that on more than one occasion you have perceived it physically, as a “tension in the environment” or a “sense of urgency” that you cannot explain. In those cases, what you perceive is the stress of the others. Therefore, if you are often emotionally exhausted, irritable or “accelerated” but you do not find the cause, it is likely to be an empathic stress, so the origin could be in a close person. You must be careful because that stress could get to hurt you as much as direct stress. Sterley, T. L. (2018) Social transmission and buffering of synaptic changes after stress. Nature Neuroscience; 21: 393–403. Oberle, E. et. Al. (2016) Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science & Medicine; 159: 30-37. Engert, V. et. Al. (2014) Cortisol increase in empathic stress is modulated by social closeness and observation modality. Psychoneuroendocrinology; 45: 192-201.
Inversion for Shear-Wave Splitting A global optimization technique based on a Genetic Algorithm is applied to the problem of inverting shear-wave splitting estimates from an Azimuthal VSP experiment recorded at the Conoco Borehole Test Facility, Oklahoma. The optimal model derived from the inversion is in excellent agreement with a-priori measurements. The inversion results indicate that the shear-wave splitting observations can be interpreted in terms of a dipping fracture set or an orthorhombic structure constructed from a vertical fracture set embedded in a equivalent anisotropic fine layering medium. Resolution of this non-uniqueness cannot be achieved with the available data, however with an appropriate acquisition geometry these two solutions may be differentiated.
Trachyandesite rocks, occurring over an area of about 1 km2 in the southwest part of Limnos Island, Greece, are altered mainly to halloysite. The samples were collected and analysed by polarizing microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analysis. The alteration of plagioclase to halloysite follows seven discrete stages that are described in detail. The geochemical evaluation of the data shows enrichment of the light REE (LREE) over heavy REE (HREE) as expressed by the (La/Yb)n ratio. The σLREE range from 206.44 to 272.30, while the sum of HREE varies from 11.01 to 26.26. The (La/Yb)n ratio ranges from 9.72 to 27.64. Fractionation among LREE expressed as (La/Sm)n and between middle REE (MREE) and HREE is shown as (Tb/Yb)n ratios. The most altered rocks close to the fault zone have high (Tb/Yb)n ratios and low (La/Sm)n and Eu/Eu* ratios. Although mineralogy and clay mineral textures indicate hydrothermal genesis of halloysite, the geochemical data are not conclusive due to a secondary weathering effect.
Released March 2, 2017 An emotional issue that has pitted Native Americans and environmental activists against the Federal Government and oil industry is the focus of this year’s Visions In Leadership program sponsored by the Quinebaug Valley Community College Foundation. The Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.7 billion project that crosses four states, would connect oil-rich areas of North Dakota to Illinois, where the crude oil could be transported to refineries. Depending on who you ask, the 1,172-mile pipeline could be an economic boon that decreases the U.S. reliance on foreign oil or an environmental disaster that threatens the water supply and destroys sacred North American sites. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been at the forefront of massive and prolonged protests over the pipeline. On Thursday, March 23, two women who have played instrumental roles in the No Dakota Access Pipeline Movement will share their perspectives about what is at stake if the pipeline is constructed. Waniya Locke is from the Ahtna Dene, Dakota, Lakota and Anishinaabe tribes and currently resides on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. She was a Lakota Language Education Action Program (LLEAP) student. This is a college-level intensive Lakota language course for educators of Lakota language. Waniya attended Sitting Bull College and the University of South Dakota. Jessye Stein is a founding member of People Over Pipelines, an organization started by concerned citizens to support direct action against illegal and immoral pipeline construction across the United States. A graduate of Boston University with a BA in philosophy and political science, she was a founding teacher at the Pine Ridge Girls School and a computer teacher and bus driver at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets to the evening event, which starts at 5:30 p.m., must be purchased in advance and are expected to sell out. The cost is $50 per person and includes dinner, dessert, the presentation, and a silent auction. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Monique Wolanin at 860-932-4174 or firstname.lastname@example.org. The Foundation recognizes this protest as a highly debated current event. The views expressed by the speakers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the QVCC Foundation.
Raising a family can sometimes feel like a tough slog. Late nights and early mornings can make for long hours. We can get lost in the details and lose sight of the reason we wanted to get married and/or have children in the first place. Being a mom can feel lonely, aggravating and just plain hard. Sometimes, the temptation to run away can seem almost overwhelming. There are things we can do as parents to help run our homes, create systems for maintaining all the things that are needed, and still raise happy, healthy children. First, set goals. A good goal is a SMART goal. SMART is a common acronym describing that goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timed. - A specific goal is one that is about one particular thing. Rather than saying “Start meal planning,” try stating “Create a weekly dinner plan.” - A measurable goal doesn’t just say what you want to accomplish, but how much. It isn’t just “Create a weekly dinner plan.” but “Create 4 differently weekly dinner plans, to rotate each month.” - An actionable goal is one that tells exactly how the goal will be achieved. So “Create 4 different weekly dinner plans to rotate each month.” becomes “Create 4 different weekly dinner plans to rotate each month by using theme nights.” - A realistic goal is one that is actually achievable, and not just wishful thinking. Our goal of 4 weekly dinner menus needs to be checked against past track records to see if it’s possible to do, especially in light of: - A timed goal has a time limit. A goal without a deadline is just a wish or a dream. Saying “someday” doesn’t make things happen, but saying “Create 4 different weekly dinner plans to rotate each month by using theme nights by Valentine’s Day,” does. Now you have motivation. Second, create a plan of action steps towards your goal. Action steps are small, pinpointed things you can do in concrete periods of time. For our SMART goal of “Create 4 different weekly dinner plans to rotate each month by using theme nights by Valentine’s Day,” actions steps could be things like: create a list of our top-10 favorite dinners; sign up for a recipe newsletter; join a Facebook meal planning group; figure out 5 dinner themes like Mexican or soup night; or any combination of the above. Action steps are what turn goals into reality. It isn’t enough to just set a goal, but you have to actually do something regularly to achieve it. A plan of action gives you frequent, consistent tasks you can do towards the goal. Nothing creates momentum better than knowing exactly what and when you need to do something, and then being able to check it off the to-do list. Third, track your behaviour — and the results you get. Just taking action towards your goals will get you no where if that action isn’t creating the right outcome. Just joining a Facebook group or signing up for a recipe newsletter isn’t going to create a menu plan if you don’t have a place or system to save those meal ideas. What isn’t working? What is working? Tracking your behaviour and results will help you fine tune your actionable plan, and keep the momentum going. Nothing spurs us on like seeing success! Fourth, remember to take breaks. Breaks are so tempting to forgo, especially when you start seeing some momentum happening. It seems counter-intuitive to stop when things are happening. But taking a break is essential to keeping up your momentum. If you work constantly without a break, you’ll burn out. You’ll become tired, bored and eventually that momentum slows and stops. You can take different kinds of breaks. Try a mini-break during a long session of working. Just 10 minutes to drink water (or coffee?), stretch, take a deep breath, before diving in again can improve concentration and creativity. After a few days or a week of long sessions, try taking a longer break. Give yourself a day off to enjoy nature, go shopping, catch up with friends, or just relax with a movie or good book. And if you’ve been working hard for months, you need to take a vacation! Studies show that vacations make us happier, more creative, healthier, more focused, and even smarter. Not too long — not too short! The trick is to not take too long a break or too short a break. Too long and you’ll find it hard to pick up where you left off. Too short, and well.. it doesn’t really feel like a break, and you’ll get no benefit at all. Keeping momentum means taking time off, but just enough — not too much or too little. Fifth, find the joy in your family. Think back to when you first met your partner or got that positive pregnancy test. What do you enjoy most about the people you live with? The truth is, if you hate it, you won’t be a good parent or partner, your home won’t be what you want it to be, and you’ll be miserable. If something isn’t working for you, maybe it’s time to take a good long hard look at your family situation and see what needs to be changed. Maybe it’s just some bad habits that you’ve let slide (like kids not doing chores?) or maybe there’s a serious issue going on (like an abusive relationship — you do not have to stay in a relationship that is hurting you or your children!!). Talk to someone about how you’re feeling — your doctor, your pastor, your mother, a therapist (or you can email me!) Sixth, reward yourself. Those goals and action steps that you set for yourself make perfect opportunities to create momentum through a reward. We love to work for a visible, tangible prize! For our goal of 4 different weekly dinner plans, when that first one is finished, my reward is a nice dinner out. For the 2nd, I plan on taking time off (see step number 5!), ordering takeout and reading a good novel. A 3rd, and I will reward myself with gourmet coffee. When I finish number 4, I plan on getting a cleaner to clean my house, at least just once! Rewards are great motivators, and seeing that success that comes with achieving goals — and winning the prize — builds huge momentum! Finally, make mistakes. Try some new things. Look for ways to improve the efficiency of your process or to improve your mindset and productivity. Even though just like trying different strategies in a chess or video game can sometimes mean you’ll lose faster (oops!), trying new strategies in your home can mean you’ll lose out on things that worked before. But it will always be a learning experience, and you’ll be better for that. And maybe that themed dinner night will be the perfect way to create meal plans. You won’t know until you try. Momentum is built by trying out new things, and experimenting. The successes will spur you on, the failures will simply motivate you to try again, and the novelty will keep you coming back for more. Being an mom can be a frustrating, irritating, annoying process. It can be hard to find all the hours in the day to do everything you want to do for your family, and still get enough sleep, food and time for yourself and your personal goals in your life. But setting goals, creating actionable plans, tracking the results, taking breaks, finding the joy again, rewarding yourself and experimenting can all help keep you going. Build the momentum in your home, and you’ll build up your family. Take control of your life Enter your email for full access to the New Year Get Organized Challenge.
If you are not familiar with the concept of The Hedgehog and The Fox, please read Who makes a better entrepreneur – the Hedgehog or the Fox? “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Have you had to answer this question as a kid? I got asked this all the time. There are expectations that you will choose a specific career objective. All through our school and college years we are constantly goaded to come up with a clear and precise view of what we want to be and then to focus diligently and unwaveringly on getting there. Our education system is designed to make you conform, to train you in a structured way towards your career objectives. It teaches you how to think about a problem in a certain way and to apply known principles or patterns to arrive at an expected answer or solution. Think of all the Engineering and MBA classes that you may have taken and tell me if I am wrong. And then comes our worklife. Here again, the mantra that we are asked to follow is to figure out a career path for ourselves and then work hard to move along on that path rapidly. We are expected to be disciplined and to stay focused on the course that has been charted out. If we are to do well on this journey, we have to align with the corporate culture and to focus on its mission. Our success in our worklife is determined by our ability to deliver towards a well-defined purpose within the company’s organizational structure. Have you ever gotten promoted for not fitting in? As I ponder over the concept of the hedgehog and the fox, it appears to me that our educational system and corporate structures are designed to produce hedgehogs. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Hedgehogs accomplish big things in a structured manner. They produce predictable results and don’t waver from the core value proposition even in the face of grave challenges. The hedgehog approach is organized, consistent, disciplined and trainable. Wouldn’t you prefer that over chaotic, erratic, etc.? Foxes are the rebels, the mavericks who don’t live by the rules. They operate outside the structures created by the hedgehogs. They don’t care for the accolades and rewards that are reserved for the hedgehogs. They are the exceptions and that’s how it should be. Imagine what would happen if everyone in the system is a fox. How would you organize a company where everyone is a fox? Would it even be possible to have repeatable processes with predictable results if everyone in the system is a fox? So, then the question is do we need foxes at all? After all, if hedgehogs can accomplish big things and are incredibly focussed even in challenging times, why tolerate the foxes? Is that why we hammer the foxes into hedgehog moulds? Are we making our hedgehog factory become 100% pure hedgehog? In my next blog, I will make a case for having a cohort of foxes in your hedgehog factory.
Bachelor’s degrees are becoming a more basic qualification. To become a teacher, one must need a Bachelor’s degree, a teaching certificate from an accredited institution, or a combination of both. As mentioned in Higher ROI for Less Education, the average cost of tuition for a Bachelor’s degree is nearly $40,000. By reviewing the average salaries for different Bachelor’s degrees, one can see that a degree in education is not valuable at all. In fact, it seems nearly impossible to pay back $40,000 of debt when an individual only receives $35,000 per year, especially if he or she is trying to support a family. A Job Nobody Wants I do declare that teachers have the worst jobs for a position that is supposed to mold and prepare future generations, and our education system proves that. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, states that the median salary for high school teachers was $58,030 in 2016. Not bad, right? Now think about it. Keep in mind median is not average, it is the middle. The average may be a lot lower than that. The BLS states that “High school teachers prepare students for life after graduation by teaching lessons and skills students will need to attend college or enter the job market.” That seems like an important job, yeah? But hey, importance does not mean satisfying. Our country is constantly short on teachers. In 2016, there were over 1 million teaching jobs available and nobody wanted them. Why is that? A Colorado school district, District 27J, has recently enforced a four-day school week in an attempt to save money and retain overworked and qualified teachers. Let me clarify once again, THE SCHOOL MUST TAKE A DAY OFF, BECAUSE TEACHERS DO NOT HAVE AN ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF TIME TO PREPARE THEIR LESSONS. What! Insane in the membrane! A Dangerous Position In addition, teaching is now being viewed as a more dangerous position in the wake of all the school shootings. They may not be on the front line of danger (like a fire fighter or police officer), but schools certainly do not provide enough protection for teachers and students. I have a friend who is a teacher at a high school in St. George, Utah. Over the weekend, she expressed how many of her students and fellow colleagues were concerned about their safety while attending the school. There needs to be a better handle on safety and security within schools. Does that mean better gun control? Not necessarily. Does it mean that teachers need to conceal? Nope, not that either. (How many teachers would be brave enough and willing to shoot an intruder in room full of children, anyway?) However, there are little things like: - A pull-down shade, so intruders cannot easily see into classrooms. - Moderate classroom sizes, so less kids are crammed in a small area. - Accurate school records, so administrators know when and where students go. Some of these might be available within the wealthier districts, but the poor districts are the ones that need the most attention. It is incredibly naive for a country that has recently taken the motto of “Make America Great Again” to show no support for teachers or the safety of our students.
In the old days, a cover letter had to accompany a resume because the job postings were placed in newspapers and weeks might have gone by since it was published. Now we apply for jobs that were posted 5 minutes ago. This is not an exaggeration You can set up your resume and alerts with indeed.ca to be notified when jobs are posted and use your phone to apply on the fly. So what about the cover letter? First, follow the instructions. Many ads actually contain specific instructions on how to apply or what information to include. Pay attention to this. You may be eliminated from consideration if you don’t apply in the right way or provide the information requested, no matter how qualified you are. Be really careful composing cover letters/emails on your phone. The auto correct is not kind and spelling mistakes are not easily forgiven. If there is nothing in the posting, then you need to make your cover letter brief and specific. This is not the place for your life story. Two or three details about how you are suited for the role and anything exceptional such your interest in relocating at your own expense or your recently completed MBA. It should not be longer than one thumb scroll on a smartphone. That’s all the attention it will get. Your cover letter should be enough of a tease to get the reader to open your resume. That’s all it is. A door opener. Keep this in mind and stop yourself from pouring your heart and soul into it. Today, the cover letter is the equivalent of a digital handshake. If yours is clear, strong and dry, it will do what it is supposed to do.
"The new Siberian ice diamond is an engineering marvel in this industry which is going to be a game-changer. The cost of Siberian ice diamond is just around 1 to 2 per cent of a real diamond and that is why it would never pinch the pocket of a common man," Nine Jewels Managing Director Adish Shah told PTI. Shah, who was on a tour of Hong Kong to attend a meeting of diamond industry players, said, "Siberian ice diamond is as bright and flawless as a real diamond. This makes it practically impossible to differentiate between the two by the naked eye. It is very hard, like diamond, and can even scratch glass." "It is the best and closest alternative to real diamonds than its competitors like Cubic Ziranic (CZ), American Diamond (AD), moissanite, CVD and Swarovski," Shah added. He also said that he was in touch with Russian counterparts to introduce this invention in India. This would not only give an impetus to the sluggish market, but also create job opportunities. "We are eying setting up a lab that scientifically creates such diamonds in our country. Certainly this will be a revolution in the diamond industry in the coming few months and would be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders," Adish said. According to a recent study of Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), rough diamonds imported in India between April-May 2015 were worth about Rs 17,040 crore, a drop of 20 per cent compared to Rs 21,135 crore during the same period last year. Sanjay Shah, another industry expert and member of Mumbai Diamond Merchant Association (MDMA), expressed hope that when Siberian ice diamond hits the Indian market, investors and common buyers, specially from Maharashtra and Gujarat, would be the biggest gainers.
This section contains a selection of teaching resources that were produced by the Met Office education team for Key Stage Five (ages 16 - 18) Climate is average weather and its variability over a period of time, ranging from months to millions of years. The World Meteorological Organization standard is a 30-year average. You can find out more about the climate averages elsewhere on the Met Office website Because the atmosphere interacts with the underlying surface - oceans, land, and ice - the term climate system is used to encompass both the atmosphere and the influence of the Earth's surface on climate. The climate system consists of five elements: the atmosphere; the ocean; the biosphere; the cryosphere (ice and snow) and the geosphere (rock and soil). You can find out more about the climate system in the Met Office Climate Change Centre Weather is always changing and the climate in different parts of the world is a combination of all the factors that affect the weather in any particular locality. In some regions of the world there are marked differences between summer and winter climates and here in the UK the climate is very changeable at all times of the year. Many factors can affect the climate. These include: Distance from the equator World climates can be divided into categories This type of climate is predominantly dry. There are however, three distinct temperature ranges - hot, warm and cold. Hot and dry climates are usually desert regions such as the Sahara and the Arabian. These hot deserts have little rain at any season and no real cold weather, although temperature drops sharply at night. Sand or rocks in direct sunlight will easily reach 60 °C to 70 °C (140 °F to 160 °F). But at night temperatures may drop to below freezing. Warm and dry climates can be found in places that are semi-desert or dry grassland (tropical steppe) such as the Sahel region of Africa or the drier parts of India. In these regions, although there is a rainy season, the rains can fail several years in succession, causing severe drought. Cold and dry climates can be found in the central parts of Asia, such as the Gobi desert. These cold deserts occur in higher latitudes in the interior of large continents and have a climate that is very hot in summer, but bitterly cold in winter. Most equatorial and tropical parts of the earth have tropical climates characterised by high temperatures and high humidity throughout the year, and frequent rain throughout most of the year. This region can be split into two distinct types: Tropical wet - there is no distinct wet or dry season, rainfall is distributed throughout the year. This type of climate is characterised by lush tropical forests like the Amazon rain forest, central parts of Africa and Indonesia. Tropical wet and dry - there is a distinction between a wet and dry season. The wet season is usually influenced by monsoon winds that bring large quantities of moisture to a region. Countries like Bangladesh and the eastern side of India have this type of climate. Temperate climate zones lie between the tropics and the polar circles. In these regions the changes between summer and winter are generally subtle - warm or cool rather than extreme; burning hot or freezing cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather. One day it may be sunny, the next it may be raining, and the next it may be cloudy. These erratic weather patterns occur in summer as well as winter. Temperate climate zones can be split into two distinct types, depending on temperature: Warm temperate - can have rain all year with the wettest weather in summer months, with temperatures ranging from warm to hot all year. Eastern China and the south-eastern states of the USA, such as Florida, are good examples. Mediterranean areas also have a warm wet climate in the winter, but summers tend to be dry with little or no rainfall. Places around the Mediterranean, and some parts of central Chile, California and Western Australia have warm and dry temperate climates ideal for tourism and agriculture. Cold temperate - climates can be wet or dry. Cool and wet climates are places where there is rain every month, but no great extremes of temperature throughout the year. The climates of the British Isles, much of northwest Europe, New Zealand and coastal North America are of this type. The weather can be very changeable and strongly influenced by large moving weather systems called depressions or lows, and anticyclones or highs. Cold and dry climates are places where the weather is dominated by warm summers and cold winters. Regions such as central Europe are of this type. Cold polar climate is subdivided into Tundra climate and Ice Cap climate. Tundra regions have very short often hot summers followed by bitterly cold and long winters (mean temperature of warmest month between 0 and 10°C). Areas of Canada, northern Russia and Siberia, extending to the Arctic are of this type. Ice cap or polar climate is characterised by very low temperatures (mean temperature of warmest month below 0 °C), strong winds and year-round snow cover. This type of climate can be found on Greenland and at the Antarctic. Mountain climate can be found in mountainous areas anywhere in the world, where land rises above permanent snowline, generally above 3000m in height. These areas often have cold winters and mild summers. Due to their elevation, temperatures are lower than you would expect for their latitude and the main form of precipitation is snow, often accompanied by strong winds. These areas can be found in the high mountainous areas such as the Andes in South America, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Climate change is a change in the climate's mean and variability for an extended period of decades, or more. You can find out more about climate change, climate science and impact in the Met Office Climate Change Centre By placing a booking, you are permitting us to store and use your (and any other attendees) details in order to fulfil the booking. We will not use your details for marketing purposes without your explicit consent. You must be a member holding a valid Society membership to view the content you are trying to access. Please login to continue. 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Garment workers in Los Angeles marched through the streets of the city’s garment district on Saturday, November 25, to call for a boycott of 13 major clothing retailers this holiday season. Organizers chose the day after Black Friday, which they have dubbed “Anti-Sweatshop Saturday,” to announce the boycott. Their goal is to bring attention to wage theft and other documented labor violations at garment factories in L.A. Rise Up: Be Heard is a journalism training and mentorship program at FMG for young people living in California’s most underserved and health-challenged communities. The program is made possible by a partnership with The California Endowment.
The Mississippi was in flood the day we arrived in Hannibal, Missouri. The “Big Muddy” was definitely swollen, fast, and muddy. Hannibal is famous as the hometown of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), but we had another interest in the region. The area around Hannibal is known for its maze caves, and as cavers ourselves we were eager to have a look. There was a campground at Mark Twain Cave, so we made that our base. Climbing the high bluff overlooking the city of Hannibal we passed a sign to “Lover's Leap.” We turned around to check it out. Perched high on a flag-straight-out windy bluff over the Mississippi River, Lover's Leap is an outstanding vantage point to see a several mile reach of the Mississippi. There is a monument to the legend of the ill-fated Indian lovers for whom the site was named. It offered the account of one romantic version of the legend, but a bit of research revealed many different versions of the legend. The is also a monument to the tragic story of three young boys that went missing in 1967 – apparently exploring caves. Roger remembered that time when cavers from all over the country joined in the search of the many caves in the area, hoping to find the boys. Fifty years later is is still a mystery. No trace of the boys was ever found. We continued to Mark Twain Cave and Campground, where we found we had just missed a special afternoon performance of a one man Mark Twain show. The attendees said it was outstanding. We got a ticket to a upcoming tour of Mark Twain Cave. Unfortunately, Cameron Cave, its larger companion nearby across the valley is not open for tours until after Memorial Day. As a bat cave, it is closed from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Cameron Cave does not have artificial lighting, so tours are by lantern light. Mark Twain Cave (originally called McDowell's Cave) was frequently visited by Samuel Clemens and his childhood friends. He was intimately familiar with the cave and used it as his model for MacDougal's Cave in the novel Tom Sawyer. Our guide pointed out places from the book, like where Tom reacted in horror when he saw Injun Joe. The cave is a classic maze cave, mostly walking, all on one level with junctions everywhere. The plan of a maze cave resembles a checker board rather than a river. Mark Twain Cave is not nearly as extensive as Cameron Cave (where Roger was briefly lost) and would be hard to stay lost in for very long. Like the majority of show caves in Missouri, Mark Twain Cave claims to have served as a hideout for Jesse James after a robbery. The cave does have a wall signature of Jesse James – perhaps a real one – so maybe there is some truth to the story? Toward the end of the tour, the use of colored lights made for some very flamboyant looking cave. It didn't really even look like a cave! Although we have sometimes seen commercial caves using colored lights, the effect is quite startling. Mark Twain Cave has an interesting history and is a easy (and level) tour. Even non-cave aficionados would even this short cave trip. If you have never seen a maze cave, this is a good example of one. We would like to return and visit Cameron Cave during the summer months.
Billiards! – Surprise Use Of RollerFoot Knee Scooter If you can play professional billiards on the RollerFoot knee scooter, imagine how many other jobs can benefit from this true hands free concept. RollerFoot knee scooter is indispensable for so many “standing” professions that the list is almost endless. We have realized long ago that RollerFoot will benefit many “standing” professions, such as doctors, hairdressers, cooks, bar tenders, machinists, etc., but who could have thought that there would be more as people keep discovering RollerFoot on the web. Jason, a professional pool (Billiards) player, contacted us recently about purchasing a RollerFoot so that he can keep practicing during his rehab time. It turns out that as a pro he must practice daily to stay competitive. We were intrigued to have Jason as a client since we have never seen a RollerFoot being used for playing billiards. A few days later Jason sent us his video with him rolling on the RollerFoot around the pool table doing all these crazy shots. It is truly amazing! Other Crutchless Options And Knee Scooters? Can you imagine anything else besides RollerFoot that Jason could have used in his situation? Crutches? Steerable Knee Scooters with a handle bar? No way! There is nothing on the market that can free up your hands and keep the weight off your foot and do it as effectively as the RollerFoot. You might argue that the stump iWalkfree might work. Well, maybe. Let’s see. But first, we’ve heard so many times that regular customers switched from iWalkfree to RollerFoot, simply because of convenience and ease of use. Our client Dr. Maura reported that walking on iWalkfree is unnatural in motion, makes you clumsy, hard to get on and off. Plus, you’re still doing that pendulum motion with your injured leg that is painful because that motion causes the rush of blood into the injured foot. RollerFoot, on the other hands, carries your injured leg very smoothly and gently, without any locomotion of iWalkfree, that causes additional pain. But even convenience aside, iWalkfree must be strapped to your thigh so you can’t bend your knee once you’re strapped. Not so on the RollerFoot, you can freely bend your knee adjusting your posture as needed during use. So, Jason could bend his knee in the RollerFoot and lean forward over the table. You can see how he’s doing that in that video. Also notice how well he is at maneuvering the RollerFoot. And really, you can bend forward and pick up things from the floor on the RollerFoot! But you can’t lean forward on a iWalkfree! Case closed. Now enjoy Jason’s video. It’s really fun!
This short post covers my use of Audacity to edit sounds. Because I am downloading royalty free sound effects for this game I need the ability to edit these sounds. As they may not be up to standard to to my specification for this task I will use Audacity. Audacity is a free open source sound editing software capable of not only cutting sounds but also making adjustments to them such as fade, pitch or volume. To illustrate how I will be using Audacity, I have created a production log of me editing just one sound within the game. If you listen closely to looped sound in the video below you can clearly hear an click or artifact on each loop. This artifact is down to bad editing, essentially the volume at the start or end of the loop is not zero so it does not seamlessly loop. I will therefore use Audacity to fix this, the process is illustrated below. Once the file is open in Audacity a wave will be displayed, this wave represents the peaks and troughs of the sound. By zooming(Ctrl + 1) into the begging or end of the sound wave we can see it more detail. The images above show the zoomed view of the sound wave, the first image represents the very start of the sound as shown the volume comes in at 0 and then begins to change. However, the second image represents the end of the sound and this does not end on a volume of 0 and therefore the sound will not loop as the volume will jump from some value to 0 instantly as the sound starts. To fix this then we can use Audacity’s fade feature to fade out the volume at the end. By using Audacity’s Fadeout tools we have managed to cancel any volume at the end of the sound wave, the same process can be used for the beginning if need be. The resulting fixed sound can be heard below. Audacity has range of audio tools which I will utilize during the development of this game. This post shows only one of these processes, buts demonstrates my typical use of Audacity.
“Come as you are” is another lie from church! Come to the altar and be saved is an unscriptural lie from the enemy. No one may come to the altar unclean! It is the responsibility of Priests in Yah to clean people up before presenting them at the altar. How do we clean them up? With the Torah! Teach people about repentance, immersion and being filled with the Set-Apart Ruach so that they will not be blind and stumble but walk upright according to His instructions. Mal 1:6 A son honors his father and a slave his master. And if then I am the father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?’ says YaHuWaH of hosts to you temple officials who despise My name. And you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ Mal 1:7 Offering polluted food on My altar and they say, ‘In what way have we polluted You?’ By saying, ‘The table of YaHuWaH is despised.’ Polluted fruit means presenting people at the altar who are unclean. People who are not in covenant with ABBA. Mal 1:8 And when you approach with the blind for slaughter, is it not evil? And when you approach with the lame and sick, is it not evil? Bring it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept your presence?” says YaHuWaH of hosts. Mat 3:1 Moreover in those days Yahuchanan the Immerser came preaching in the wilderness of Yahudah Mat 3:2 and saying, “Repent! For the kingdom of the sky has come near!” Mat 3:3 For this is who was spoken of by the prophet YashaYahuw saying, “A voice crying aloud in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of YaHuWaH! Make His paths straight!” Luk 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, Luk 24:46 and said to them, “Thus it has been written, and so it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day, Luk 24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning at Yerushalayim. Act 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Yisra’El know for certain that Elohim has made this Yahusha, whom you impaled, both Master and Messiah.” Act 2:37 And having heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Kĕpha and the rest of the emissaries, “Men, brothers, what shall we do?” Act 2:38 And Kĕpha said to them, “Repent, and let each one of you be immersed in the Name of Yahusha Messiah for the forgiveness of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit. Act 2:39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as YaHuWaH our Elohim shall call.” Act 2:40 And with many other words he earnestly witnessed and urged them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Act 2:41 Then those, indeed, who gladly received his word, were immersed. And on that day about three thousand beings were added to them. Act 2:42 And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. There is a pattern from Adam until now where repentance, immersion and being filled with ABBA’s Set-Apart Ruach. The Set-Apart Ruach leads and guides us into all truth and helps us to stay on the path and endure until the end. ღღ ╠╣ＡＬＬＥＬＵYＡＨ !!
A Whale of a Tale!: All about Porpoises, Dolphins, and Whales The Cat and Co. take to the high seas and introduce readers to almost 20 different species of aquatic mammals known as cetaceans--including whales, porpoises, and dolphins. Full color. Illustrated. Dr. Seuss. We Also Recommend The Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God's Gift of Purity with Audio CD
AVIATION / FULL DAY Activities may include—physics of flight experiments, flight simulators, epic multiplayer dogfights, R/C planes, building & painting scale models, designing paper airplanes and gliders, meeting working pilots, and discovering careers in aviation. Field trips included, often to places the general public is not allowed to go! Please see Week 2 for the full Aviation experience. Instructor: Michael Clark ~ 12-16 yrs / ($290 + $45 material & admission fees) Total Cost $335 SPYHOP PARTNER CAMP: MOVEMENT AND FILM / FULL DAY Explore a unique collaboration between Salt Lake Arts Academy and Spy Hop as we bring together the art of movement and the media arts to create short films based on site-specific dance pieces and original music. You will have hands-on experience with music composition, stage rigging, lighting techniques, and the art of cinematography. Drop camper off at Salt Lake Arts Academy by 9:00 am and pick them up at Spy Hop at 4:00 pm. Transportation between sites is provided. Instructors: Karen Fenn and SpyHop teachers ~ 9-12 yrs / Total Cost $325 AM Immersion classes WEAVING WONDERS / AM We'll have yards of yarn for finger and needlework to keep those fingers busy! See what hand-made creations you can make as you learn crafts that have engaged crafters for centuries. Instructor: Carrie de Azevedo-Poulsen ~ 10-16 yrs / ($145 + $20 material fee) Total Cost $165 WINDS, STRINGS, & OTHER THINGS: A MUSICAL WORKSHOP / AM Come meet other musicians and create beautiful music. We'll do a little classical, a little improv, and some more toe-tapping fun! Bring your strings, your winds or your drums, and we'll have a great time jamming all morning. Instructor: Corinne Cummings ~ 10-16 yrs / ($145 + $10 material fee) Total Cost $155 PM Immersion classes RECYCLED CITIES / PM We'll start with the visual, cultural and practical aspects of a city to discover each student's "ideal" city. Drawing blueprints and designs and learning about the exciting possibilities and challenges of city planning, we'll then use recycled materials (cardboard, Styrofoam, corks, spools, etc. to build a 3-D model of the city to display publically. Make a thoughtful connection to your urban community by digging into city life in a new way! Instructor: Elizabeth Eve King ~ 10-16 yrs / ($145 + $15 material fee) Total Cost $160 GLASS ART: FUSING FUNDAMENTALS / PM Here is a new dimension to creating unique fused glass art! Students will make three or four small projects, such as (but not limited to) a 4" x 4" plate, pendant necklace, magnet, yard art, or a kiln formed mosaic sun catcher. (No open toed shoes) Instructor: Sarinda Jones ~ 12-16 yrs ($145 + $30 material fee) Total Cost $175 A WEEK WITH HARRY AT HOGWARTS / PM A celebration of all things Harry Potter — We’ll read some Tales of Beetle the Bard and make some of our own illustrations while sharing unique days at “Hogwarts”. Visit Diagon Alley to enjoy some yummy ButterBeer and create your own wand, play Quidditch in Liberty Park, enjoy a Potions day with cool chemistry experiments, maybe ones you can eat, or with fascinating effects! And who will top our Potter trivia contest? Instructor: Bonnie Cooper ~ 10-16 yrs ($145 + $30 material fee) Total Cost $175 Salt Lake Arts Academy EXPERIENCE! / all day Experience a week-long program where each day will include either an art class or mini-course for half the day and an outing for the other half of the day, loosely modeling the structure of our regular school year (without the grades, quizzes or homework!). You will select a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for your Mini-course (to help determine half of your day) a few weeks prior to the start of your selected week. Some Mini-courses over the summer may include: Geocaching, Yoga, Lego, Architectural Design, Photography, Artist Discovery, Book Club, Book-Making, Frisbee Golf, Puppetry, Hair & Make-Up for Stage, Chess, Watercolor, Mixed Media Makers, Sound & Movement Explosion, Wordplay, Illustrative Arts, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cartooning, Mystery Club, Harriet the Spy, Creative Writing, Poetry Corner, Shrinky Dinks, Bowls & Boxes, Tennis lessons at Liberty Park, Stop-Motion Shorts .... and much more. ~ 10-16 yrs / ($285 + $25 material fee) Total Cost $310
Whether the UK should leave the EU ETS is a complex question, and ultimately will be decided by the broader political context of the type of Brexit the UK pursues and the overall deal that is achieved. Our analysis shows there are a range of options for moving forward – but on balance we believe the UK should attempt to stay in the scheme. Whatever approach the Government decides, it is clear that the current level of ambition in the traded sectors is not in line with the Paris Agreement – in the EU or the UK. On the 14th March Sandbag gave evidence at the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee meeting to discuss our findings. Debbie Stockwell, Sandbag’s Managing Director, represented Sandbag, alongside Silke Goldberg (Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills) and Lawrence Slade (Chief Executive of Energy UK). Without new agreement, the default is a UK exit from the EU ETS on the 29th March 2019. This would trigger, among other things: - recalculation of the EU emissions cap and auctioning shares; - a requirement to develop new UK policy to cap power and industrial emissions, with a new regime for business to implement and a possible hiatus before a scheme us put in place; - an impact on some of the solidarity mechanisms built into the system e.g. value of the Modernisation Fund - the need for a change to the accounting of traded sector emissions under the UK carbon budgets; - possible damage to international climate action if there is a decrease in ambition in either the remaining EU ETS and/or UK action to reduce emissions in the traded sector; and - possible loss of UK-based auction house and carbon traders. We believe it would be more straightforward for the UK to remain in the scheme, because of the time it is likely to take to negotiate an alternative UK scheme, and the fact that they UK has always been a key proponent of the EU ETS and pushed for increased ambition. There is a real risk that the scheme will be less ambitious after the UK leaves. Added to that, the EU ETS provides mechanisms to ensure that the UK Treasury spends the auction revenue on climate measures and enables allowances to be put towards an innovation fund. Of course a UK scheme or carbon tax could do all of these things, but there is a considerable risk that they will not. However, we recognise that the UK Government will not have the same opportunities to influence the scheme and will have to do more indirectly, and that if the UK leaves the single market and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, then additional measures will need to be negotiated and agreed for the scheme to work, as has happened in Switzerland. This may take some time and ultimately may tip the balance to the UK setting up its own scheme. In between the options of the UK being fully in the EU ETS and setting up a stand alone scheme there are a range of ways to maintain a linkage with the world’s largest carbon market. This spectrum of possibilities is set out below: \|UK remains part of the EU ETS\|\|As now\|\|Depends on overall Brexit deal UK likely to have less influence over future form Would UK have access to NER and Innovation Fund? Difficult if UK leaves single market \|UK is linked to the EU ETS (‘Norwegian model’)\|\|UK continues to issue allowances under an agreement\|\|EEA countries are all part of the single market EU may be less willing to extend membership to an external country Likely not to need CJEU jurisdiction but needs some kind of dispute resolution framework Much bigger share of cap then current EEA members \|No\|\|Like EEA countries – Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein\| \|Two way linking with a UK ETS (‘Swiss model’)\|\|UK establishes own ETS, most likely with recognition of each others allowances\|\|Linkage may be contentious if the coverage of UK ETS is different Have previous experience of UK ETS Dispute resolution may be difficult The setting of caps may cause delays \|Yes\|\|Like Swiss model or Western Climate Initiative (California, Quebec and Ontario)\| \|One-way linkage\|\|Allowing EUAs as compliance in a UK carbon pricing system up to a limited percentage\|\|May not require formal EU27 agreement Involves transfer of funds to EU Doesn’t need a UK ETS, could apply under a carbon tax \|Yes\|\|Former Australian model or early Norwegian model\| \|One-way linkage with limited scope\|\|Allowing EUAs as compliance in a UK carbon pricing system up to a limited percentage, restricted to certain sectors\|\|Same as above, but apply to limited sectors like those on carbon leakage list, allowing them to comply with their obligations by surrendering EUAs Reduces competitiveness concerns so may reduce concerns about transfer of funds The volume of allowances bought would not be a large proportion of the system \|Complete separation (the default option)\|\|The UK separates from the EU ETS with no linkages\|\|Most straightforward option, but requires creation of UK’s own climate policy Decisions would be needed on what would happen to unallocated allowances A link between a separate UK ETS and the EU ETS is a possibility, but experiences in linking other carbon markets internationally have shown the process is not instantaneous. The EU ETS and Swiss ETS linking negotiations began in 2010 and are expected to conclude with a link in 2019. Ontario joined the Western Climate Initiative carbon market this year, following discussions that began in 2007. However, the UK has previously operated a separate market, and so the process could be considerably quicker. A broader carbon tax is another option the UK could pursue. The UK’s Carbon Price Floor (around ~€30/tCO2 in total) has been extraordinarily successful at cutting emissions from coal – and there are signs that this will soon be replicated by European neighbours. However, this only affects the narrow range of emissions from the power sector: other policies would still be required for industry and other sectors. If the carbon tax applied to these sectors this would require substantial change in the regulatory framework. Additionally, taxes like this entail political risk; the UK carbon price floor was conceived as an escalator, which was quickly frozen, and is currently only guaranteed until 2025.. Should I stay or should I go now? In the near term, the UK should agree to a transitional arrangement to remain in the EU ETS at least until the end of Phase III (May 2021). This will reduce complexity of leaving if that decision is eventually taken, and allows time for a UK alternative system to be developed. Leaving in March 2019 is likely to cause significant disruption to business, a loss in auction revenues (the UK government received €604 million in 2017), and a fall in the carbon price as operators sell allowances in the run up. Whatever happens the EU ETS still needs reforms. The cap needs to be based on actual emissions. In the longer term, the EU ETS is still not resilient to all emission scenarios, as the cap continues to be disconnected from real emission levels. A widespread coal phase-out, for instance, would keep the ETS allowance surplus high, the carbon price low, and prevent the system from driving a cost-effective transition. If the review of the Market Stability Reserve and the EU ETS as a whole in the early 2020s do not deliver this reform then the UK should look again at designing its own more effective climate change policy for the traded sector in the 2020s.
Animal registration fees are used to provide for the public safety as well as housing of stray and unwanted animals. These vital animal control services cannot be adequately provided without these funds. Every owner of a dog and cat between 3 and 4 months of age should have each dog and cat inoculated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian. Every owner of a dog and cat 4 months or more of age is required by law to have each dog and cat inoculated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian. Every dog and cat shall have a second rabies vaccination within one year of the first and every subsequent year. The Department of Public Health shall collect a registration fee for dogs and cats. Dogs and cats under the age of one year shall be exempted from paying the higher fee in order to allow owners an adequate period of time in which to have their animal spayed or neutered. Proof for spayed and neutered dogs and cats over one year of age must be furnished upon registration in order to pay the reduced fee. Registration fees can be paid through your veterinarian when vaccinations are administered or by visiting: Sangamon CountyPublic Health 2833 South Grand Avenue East Springfield, IL 62703
ReachOut Schools provides free educational resources, digital tools and practical tips to encourage the development of positive mental health and wellbeing across schools, and extend the impact of existing programs. The service features easy-to-understand information on a full range of mental health and wellbeing issues. Our school resources include innovative digital apps and online games to help students learn to take control of their mental health. Staff and parents can use ReachOut to better understand the issues young people face and as a safe place they can recommend and refer students to. School professionals can also access a range of professional development webinars and information, with resources added throughout the year. Schools professionals can register for updates at ReachOut.com/Schools. Features of ReachOut Schools include: Free and accessible: Free and available 24/7, ReachOut Schools’ mobile-first design means schools can access resources where and when they need them. Co-designed with school professionals: Insights from school professionals across Australia contributed to the design of the program. Complementing the curriculum: ReachOut Schools extends the impact of your current wellbeing and mental health program, with additional online resources and tools. Our free action packs are mapped to the Australian Curriculum. Evidence-based support: ReachOut Schools is based on the latest research evidence and has been developed in consultation with experts. ReachOut Orb: A positive psychology game, in a visually stunning world, with an easy-to-use curriculum mapped resource to engage Year 9 and 10 students. Available free in multiple formats for iPad and Desktop. About ReachOut Australia ReachOut is Australia’s leading online mental health organisation for young people, providing practical support to help them get through everything from everyday issues to tough times. ReachOut has been changing the way people access help since launching as the world’s first online mental health service nearly 20 years ago. Everything they create is based on the latest evidence and designed with experts, and young people or their parents. This is why ReachOut’s digital self-help tools are trusted, relevant and easy to use. An extension to ReachOut’s service for young people was launched in 2016 to help parents and carers improve the mental health and wellbeing of the young people within their family environment. Available anytime and pretty much anywhere, ReachOut.com is accessed by 132,000 Australians each month. That’s more than 1.58 million people each year.
IIT offers significant financial assistance, up to full scholarships, room and board, for students in chemistry. Chemistry is the “central science,” and it’s a great springboard into many different careers. The American Chemical Society describes nearly 40 career possibilities. Whether you want to do research in a university, become a doctor or pharmacologist, work in energy or environment, food, or cosmetics, there is a path for you. See the following salary and and field growth chart for more information. As this article explains, “The vast majority of science majors and practicing scientists are excelling in every major indicator of labor market success, in comparison to their peers.” In May 2012, the median annual wage for chemists was $71,770. The median annual wage of materials scientists was $88,990 in May 2012. Salary and Field Growth \|2012 Median Pay\|\| $73,060 per year \|Work Experience in a Related Occupation\|\| \|Number of Jobs, 2012\|\| \|Job Outlook, 2012-22\|\| 6% (Note: national average is 11%) \|Employment Change, 2012-22\|\| Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Chemists and Materials Scientists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-and-materials-scientists.htm (visited April 16, 2014).
If you've been assigned a shoebox diorama for a book report, you will need to create a scene from the book in three-dimensional picture form. That means that the people in your scene are going to have to stand up. By attaching them to your shoebox in a pyramid shape, you can make them stable enough that they won't fall over during the trip to school or while they're on display in your classroom. Fold your piece of card stock paper in half, and turn it so the fold is at the top. Your person's head is going to be by the crease, so make sure you have enough room under it for your person. Draw your person on the card stock. Put his head at the top, touching the fold, and his feet at the bottom. Leave about 1/4 inch of space on the paper under his feet. Create his features and clothes using the markers or colored pencils. With the card stock still folded, cut your person out. Do not cut across the crease at the top, and do not cut off the extra 1/4 inch of paper below the feet. When you have finished, you should have two layers of card-stock in the shape of your person, joined at the top of the head. Separate (or open) the two layers so that they are about 1/2 inch apart at the bottom. Fold the 1/4 inch excess card stock at the feet inwards, creating a pyramid with the folded-in tabs as the base. Glue the foot tabs to the floor of your diorama, with the colored side of your person facing front. This will allow your character to stand very stably. Draw and color your person completely before you stand him up.
by Johnathan Thayer, SCI Senior Archivist This summer I spent 45 days at sea acting as Ship’s Librarian on SUNY Maritime’s training ship Empire State VI. As a novice sailor and librarian, I observed and participated in life at sea for the very first time from a unique perspective. Here are four things that I learned along the way. SHORE LEAVE IS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT After spending up to 16 consecutive days slowly crossing the Atlantic, I discovered how valuable shore leave is, especially for seafarers, some of whom work much longer stretches of time without setting foot on land. The simple act of ordering a coffee from a cafe, or being able to go shopping for supplies becomes a transformative luxury. Every year, the Seamen’s Church Institute conducts its Shore Leave Study to measure seafarers’ access to shore leave in U.S. ports, and to identify the most common barriers preventing seafarers from getting off their ships. Fortunately for me, this process was relatively straightforward. Negotiations with port customs officials were taken care of by the very competent (and largely cadet-run) security detail. I received a TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Credential) card in the spring, and therefore had permission to come and go from the pier. And, a simple laminated “Liberty Card” was distributed to me at the gangway when I disembarked in any port, and collected upon my return in order to track who was on ship at any given time. There is a long legal precedent that has established shore leave as a fundamental right that all seafarers should be entitled to. As I experienced this summer, this is with very good reason. SHIPS ARE INFORMATION SILOS There are many deprivations at sea. But given that most of my shipmates were young enough that they were practically born with a mobile device in their hands, isolation from information must be among the most challenging. For most of the cadets and crew, our ship at sea was an information silo; we worked with what we had on board. No internet and strictly-limited email meant turning to encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, and old fashioned books on shelves. It also meant shared hard drives and local networks to exchange digital files. Laptops loaded prior to cruise were worth their weight in gold. At the sight of any speck of land the rails would crowd with bodies huddled over cell phones, trying to discern a signal. I heard that the Captain kept us just far enough out of range intentionally in order to keep us away from our cell phones as long as possible, so that cadets could acclimate to life at sea. As the ship's librarian, news from home and the wider world came to me in a simple email from the campus library which I would print out: one copy for the library, one copy for the officers’ mess. HEALTH AND WELLNESS CAN BE IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE DAILY ROUTINE Ship life, for me, simplified every aspect of my daily routine. Each day I would wake up, spend an hour or so reading in my room, head down to the library for my first shift, eat lunch, return to the library for my second shift, eat dinner, return to the library for my third shift, and then head to my room for bed. This left about two or three hours of free time during the day. Options for how I spent that time were limited; I could watch a DVD, read a book, or chat with shipmates. Fortunately, there were three separate gyms on ship, and I chose to use the cardio room for about an hour almost every day. Food services were regular and predictable, so that amidst all of the other deprivations at sea, cutting out simple things like dessert or carbs did not feel like an enormous personal sacrifice. The takeaway for me was that ships do have the capacity to facilitate the personal health and wellness of seafarers on board, but that capacity depends on resources being made available. SAFETY AT SEA IS PARAMOUNT I stood on deck of the T/S Empire State staring at the bottom of lifeboat #2, hanging from its davits, for about half a dozen hours during fire and emergency drills this summer. During these drills my thoughts drifted back to the 1915 La Follete Seamen's Act, also known as the "Magna Carta of Seamen's Rights,” that Congress passed in the wake of the Titanic disaster. The 1915 Act set regulations for continuous watches and musters, dedicating about 2/3 of its text to specifications for the strength, buoyancy, capacity, weight, and equipment of lifeboats. Even the davits were scrutinized. Many of these provisions remain intact even today, as was evident onboard the tightly regimented Empire State. Since we were a training ship, we usually did not have a tight schedule to follow as a commercial ship typically would, and we were able to avoid storms and poor conditions at sea. Most seafarers are not in such a fortunate position, and encounter working environments that surpass any of the challenges and discomforts that I experienced this past summer. Safety at sea for these seafarers is not abstract historical legislation, but a way of life on ships.
Heritage is not only related to past, but also to our own time: heritage is about being selective on past artifacts, memories, traditions relevant for present identity and belonging to particular socio-cultural context. Heritage sites are “historical witnesses”, but they are also subjects to inevitable change over time. What do places of heritage witness of our own epoch? I am an architect, working and investigating about and around cultural heritage for a decade. This blog is an informal, but important methodological tool to complement, document and dynamize my current research process. Contact me at: firstname.lastname@example.org P.S. Photo credits: 1 – me; 2 – certain Vitor Manuel from the Facebook page named Porto a Melhor Cidade do Mundo.
IN THE NEWS Online Hacking. You Are A Target. Congratulations. You haven’t been hacked yet. The bad news? You probably will be. While online companies promise to keep your information private, recent history suggests it’s pretty much an empty promise. Think Zappos – about 30 million accounts hacked. Living Social – 50 million. Oh, and by the way, a majority of breaches occur for financial accounts. And that’s just a tiny sampling. Scary, huh? As the saying goes there are only two types of online companies: those that have been hacked and those that are about to be. That means you have been or likely will be attacked – Really. Truly. No fooling. So what to do? One nifty program, MaskMe, is an easy to use browser add-on and mobile app designed to protect your email account, your phone number and your credit cards and your passwords. It acts as your personal, kung-fu bodyguard, so to speak. Cnet and others give it high marks. Abine, the company who created MaskMe, is also the creator of “Don’t Track Me,” another useful program to prevent online retailers, thieves, social networks, etc from tracking you as you browse the internet. The moral: while you may not care if your tweets get hacked, you really don’t want your bank account, your credit cards, or your personal identity in the hands of the evil-doers! So do yourself a favor, and do something now. Oh, and by the way. At the very least, check out our previous article on basic Password Strategies. SiteVision’s Statewide Hosting Award – Customer How To Guide. As we’ve mentioned, SiteVision was honored to be awarded a VITA (Virginia Information Technology Agency) statewide contract for the Commonwealth’s electronic government (eGov) services. The contract is for advanced Hosting and related technologies. All Virginia public bodies, including state agencies, universities, school systems and localities, can use the eGov contracts. In addition to traditional hosting technologies, SiteVision offers customized solutions such as GIS, Cloud, Data-Driven, SAAS and IAAS options. Now, to help customers transition more easily, we’ve provided a useful “How To Get Started” guide that provides step-by-step assistance. You can find it by visiting SiteVision and download the PDF. In addition, you can contact SiteVision with any questions you might have, or ask us for guidance on how best to accomplish your hosting goals. As always, we’re anxious to make your hosting experience the best it can be! Did Google’s “ChromeCast” & New Nexus 7 Get the Drop on Apple? And did Google’s nifty little streaming gadget wow? Oh, yes! While there’s room for improvement, what’s not to like about a little $35 thumb-drive sized USB streaming device that plugs into your HDMI TV and uses almost any of your devices as a remote control. For example: open your Netflix or the You Tube app on any device and stream away. The app doesn’t steam. It’s sends a signal to the ChromeCast device. It’s amazingly simple and easy to set up according to reviews. And did we say this innovative little streaming device is about as inexpensive as you can get? TechCrunch is among those who really like it. The new Nexus 7 was another show stopper. It sports the highest resolution to date of any tablet out there – a simply gorgeous screen. Apple, did you hear that? Cnet calls it “ . . . the best small tablet you can buy.” The basic specs? Android 4.3, a 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display, 2GB of RAM, a rear camera, a quad-core processor and wireless charging Pricing is quite impressive as well – $229 for a 16G with wifi; 269 for a 32G with wifi. No doubt there are a few discounts (or will be) beyond the published pricing from Google. Welcome New Hosting Customers! dcr.virginia.gov — VA Dept of Conservation mrc.virginia.gov — VA Marine Resources Commission dof.virginia.gov — Virginia Department of Forestry vbbe.virginia.gov — Virginia Board of Bar Examiners dma.virginia.gov — VA Dept of Military Affairs mvdb.virginia.gov — Motor Vehicle Dealer Board dyslexiadash.com — Dyslexia Dash buyvrabonds.com — Virginia Resource Authority virginiaresources.org — Virginia Resource Authority A Reminder: Google Publishes Online Phishing and Malware Scams Google has said it will begin to regularly publish Internet security data on malware and phishing scams that infect computers and steal consumer information. The weekly reports will include the number of offending sites and their map locations. The company said it finds about 10,000 such sites a day. Google will also disclose government and law enforcement requests for user data. The data will be included in Google’s Transparency Report. The data comes from Google’s Safe Browsing program, which the company uses to find and flag malicious sites across the Internet.
5G Networks. The Race Is On! As connected devices move from about 5 billion in 2015 to an anticipated 25 billion by 2020, the race to provide superfast networking is on. 5G is set to deliver a 100-time speed increase. It’s also destined to be much smarter depending on how it’s accessed and by reacting to various scenarios such as driving a smart car or lounging at home with a streaming movie. The Chinese firm Huawei, claims to have field tested 5G delivering speeds of 3.6Gbps. If that number doesn’t mean much to you, think about downloading a feature film to your phone in a little more than a second. So other than speed, are there any other advantages? Enthusiasts would say absolutely. 5G is scheduled to deliver not only enormous capacity gains, but reduced latency, and the ability to reach areas current technology doesn’t permit. There is no agreed upon standard for 5G, so researchers are exploring the technology required to deliver the promise. What seems fairly sure is that 2020 is a reasonably collaborative target date and that 5G may well be a transformative technology for all of us. Seth Feldkamp Joins SiteVision SiteVision welcomes Seth Feldkamp as Senior Web Application Developer reporting to Phillip Molaro, Development Manager. As a senior developer Seth will be responsible for web application governance, development, and maintenance, and will function as a team leader in technical growth, new systems, training and research. A Motorcycle That Takes To Water Like A Duck No matter whether you plan to buy – take a trip to the site for a visual spin! An earlier video introducing his sporty, street-ready aquatic vehicle called the Aquada is worth a view! Office 2016 or Google Docs? Cnet takes a swipe at comparing the two. One of the best features of Google Docs, of course, is that it is a convenient, online, biz-worthy product that’s free. Sharing and collaboration are noteworthy. On the other hand, Microsoft’s Office 2016 is a mature product with a definitive edge in most areas. It goes without saying, Excel is the de facto standard for spreadsheet users. To boot, Microsoft’s PowerPoint is a marketplace fixture for presentations. Plus Microsoft has added collaboration and sharing features to Office 2016 – previously a Google Docs edge. So what does Google Docs have that Office 2016 doesn’t or doesn’t do as well? Visit CNET for the results.
Hello and welcome to this month’s issue of Smart Biz! Each year, the Province of Manitoba invites input into the preparation of their annual budget. In response to their invitation, I was happy to have the opportunity to outline three key priorities the City of Winnipeg would like to see addressed in the province’s 2018 budget. These priorities included rehabilitating our regional roads like Portage Avenue and Pembina Highway, investing in public transit, and committing to a long-term predictable infrastructure program. Continue reading Planning for the future→ Ogoki Learning Inc. is the world leader when it comes to language apps Canada’s Aboriginal languages are many and diverse, and their importance to indigenous people immense. During the past 100 years or more, nearly ten, once flourishing languages have become extinct; at least a dozen more are on the brink of extinction. When these languages vanish, they take with them unique ways of looking at the world. Ogoki Learning Inc. is trying to preserve indigenous languages one app at a time. It all started when Darrick Baxter, President of Ogoki Learning, created an Ojibwe language app for smartphones and tablets. Soon after the release, he noticed the app was doing what he hoped it would, teaching kids the Ojibwe language while keeping them engaged through mobile devices. From that moment Baxter, who grew up in Winnipeg’s North End, knew he had to share the app with everyone, so he released the app for free. Have you noticed the weather getting weirder in recent years? Well, you are not alone. From more heatwaves, cold, droughts; floods, and more oddities, including thunderstorms in Ontario in late February, the dice has become loaded with climate change helping to fuel more of these extreme weather events. These events have an impact financially on government coffers globally.
Are you already over all those New Year’s resolutions? Now that we are a little further into the year, it’s time to pause and refresh in a way that will last longer than a fad diet or 30-day gym membership. You need to flex your creative muscles. You might be surprised at the value of simple design workouts. They can help you forget problems you are actually working on (maybe helping you solve those design dilemmas), and even learn something new. It only takes a few minutes a week to work through an exercise or two, and really stretch those creative muscles. Pick an exercise from our collection below — each one includes just three steps — and make a date to get in design shape! 1. Design a Quote Everyone has a few inspirational mantras that serve as a perk-me-up when things start to drag. Combine one of those messages with great imagery or using beautiful typography and create a social media background image or desktop wallpaper. (These designs are really popular on social media and many of them are not visually pleasing; find one you hate and make it better.) - Find an inspirational quote. (Not sure where to start? Try one of these.) - Add a background image, texture or favorite color. - Typeset using a typeface you’ve been wanting to use or create custom lettering by hand. 2. Sketch Out Your Day Sketching is one of the best tools a designer can have in their kit. You don’t have to have the ability to draw. A sketch is your outline. Sketching can help you get ideas into a visual format quickly and even communicate more clearly with others. - Grab a pencil and paper. - Sketch out three things that have impacted you today. - If you are struggling with sketching your day, pick three objects on your desk and sketch those instead. 3. Browse Portfolio Sites or Galleries Some of the best design inspiration doesn’t come from doing. It comes from observing. There’s nothing like browsing through galleries or portfolios of design work, photography or art to make you think about the craft. Make a point to look at styles that are different than what you might normally pick. - Head to a portfolio website or physical gallery. - Spend 10 to 15 minutes looking at the work. - Reflect on how the designer or artist put the design together. What techniques did they use? What makes it so visually appealing (or not)? 4. Turn Your Name into a Logo At some point, almost every designer is asked to work on a logo. For some it is a welcome challenge, while others see it only as a chore. The best way to feel more comfortable with logo design is to do it. - Start with your name or initials. - Create a logotype sketch. - Take it one step further and turn that sketch into an actual design. (You could end up with something that becomes your personal logo after repeated exercises.) 5. Use Every Photoshop Filter How many Photoshop filters have you actually used? (I’ll admit to using blur and little else.) Make a goal to use every Photoshop filter in some way. This experimentation will give you a better grasp on what the software can and can’t do for you, and you might end up learning about a tool that’s actually practical. - Pick a photo to work with that includes plenty of color and distinguishable objects or action. - Start with Blur in the Photoshop filter list. Play with each filter until you get something that appeals to you. - Save each image with the filter name so you have an inspiration gallery of effects. 6. Enter an Awards Contest There are so many contests to enter. From big-name events sponsored by magazines such as HOW or Print to conference-specific competitions or local design awards, entering contests can be a good way to reflect on the work of the past year. You’ll have to go back through what you’ve done and figure out what you are proud of. The downside can be entry fees, but just think of the glory from earning recognition or an award. - Peruse your projects from the past year. - Pick a contest or two that suits your projects, read the rules and enter. - Pat yourself on the back as you find projects that you are especially proud of. (This tends to be one of the most forgotten design exercises of all.) 7. Reimagine a Photo Draw inspiration from Rohan Sharad Dahotre’s Animal Doodles project on Behance. In this project he turns photographs of animals in the wild into something more. Each doodle features animals that are embellished and backgrounds with extra flair. There are so many fun things you can do to expand on this concept. Doodle on a famous photograph or even some of your personal snapshots. - Start with a copy of an image you want to doodle on. - Have fun digitally or print it out and doodle with markers. - Set a goal to add something additional to the image, such as a new meaning or better understanding of the image itself. 8. Design a Watch Face on Paper Wearables are one of the big trends in design. Whether you own a wearable device or are working on an app for one, step back from the work part of wearable design and create your own watch face. If you would wear anything on your wrist that you wanted, what would it look like? - Sketch a watch face. - Think about features of the design and the user interface or experience. - What does your design do that current devices do not? What can you do to change that? 9. Write Randomly Writing can help you express a lot of different things. It can also help you establish word relationships with images and learn to be more descriptive in your language and writing on an everyday basis. - Google image search a random object, such as goat. - Pick one of the images and write as many words as you can to describe it in 10 minutes. Stick to single words and not phrases. - Spend five more minutes creating a story for the image. 10. Merge Two Unrelated Images Stretching your creative muscles often involves doing things you wouldn’t do on a regular basis. Most of us only use a limited part of some of the design tools at our disposal. - Grab two images. - Merge them. Swap the heads. Flop the backgrounds. - Create something totally fantastical, or so real that it is totally creepy. Here’s your final creative exercise: Bookmark this page so you can come back later when you need to stretch those muscles again. It’s important to do some of these little, and fun, things to keep you thinking outside the box and in a creative space. The demands of work can sometimes make it tough to think creatively all the time, but doing something different is the way to hop right back into that realm. Here’s to getting in great creative shape this year! ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Carrie Cousins; Carrie is the chief writer at Design Shack, with years of experience in web and graphic design. Sports fanatic. Information junkie. Designer. True-believer in karma.
Building With Bamboo IVLP alumna Aruna Kappagantula’s Bamboo House India promotes an ecofriendly substitute to traditional building materials, and serves rural and tribal communities. At a time when concrete and mortar seem to be the favored materials for building houses, Aruna Kappagantula and her husband, Prashant Lingam, have put their faith in the humble bamboo. They have established Bamboo House India, a social enterprise promoting bamboo as an ecofriendly substitute to wood, steel, iron and plastic. It also utilizes bamboo as an economic driver for providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to rural and tribal communities. Search for substitutes The couple’s journey with bamboo began almost accidentally. As Kappagantula recounts, “We went searching for an ecofriendly sofa set for our new home, absolutely sure that it would not be of steel, plastic or an imported one. Eventually, we landed up in Tripura, the land-locked state at the Indo-Bangladesh border.” This is where the couple got introduced to the fascinating world of bamboo and met the people who have depended on it for household needs for generations. By her own admission, Kappagantula had no idea about the potential of bamboo at that time. Building houses with bamboo and nurturing social entrepreneurship around it were farthest from her thoughts. Once convinced about the benefits of this substitute for conventional building materials, the duo researched and found that while other countries were utilizing bamboo for modern and unique applications, in India it was mostly restricted to small handicrafts, scaffoldings, ladders, construction of temporary houses and so on. This led to the establishment of Bamboo House India in Hyderabad in 2008. Kappagantula says they never had any technological or knowledge support. “We learnt everything from scratch and developed solutions to suit the market demand.” In 2013, Kappagantula participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program, the U.S. Department of State’s exchange program for professionals. “It was both enriching and enlightening. There was a lot of curiosity about our work. The best parts of the exposure were meeting and interacting with entrepreneurs and people from other social enterprises, getting to know about their work, their practices and their problem-solving approaches,” she says. “I have implemented some of these in my enterprise too. And, of course, the lifelong alumni network is of immense value.” Over 7.5 million hectares of forests are lost each year worldwide to deforestation, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Bamboo’s versatility as a substitute for hardwood offers protection against the depleting forest cover. Kappagantula points out that depending on the species, bamboo can be harvested in just one to five years as compared to 10 to 50 years for most softwoods and hardwoods. It grows in a variety of conditions, from low wetlands to hilly regions, and even in arid zones. There’s also less wastage because almost every part of the plant can be used to make a wide variety of products. “Bamboo houses are common across the country in tribal, rural and forest areas, but only as temporary dwelling units,” says Kappagantula. “We are trying to build an image of bamboo as a permanent building material.” Are bamboo houses viable for long-term use? “Global statistics say that more than a billion people live in bamboo houses. I can affirm that the bamboo houses we build can last for more than 30 years. They use engineered bamboo boards or bamboo ply,” says Kappagantula. However, people may find it hard to accept the feasibility of using bamboo over traditional building materials. “Even in India, it will take a long time to be accepted, but bamboo is viable for regular use just like other building materials,” she adds. Kappagantula admits that houses made completely of bamboo “might not be practical to address the housing shortage issue in India. But, mixing bamboo with other building materials would be a viable solution given the multi-layer benefits bamboo has to offer, apart from cost.” Bamboo House India has a complex working model geared to suit market demands. Directly or indirectly, at least 100 man days are created for every 300-square-foot house it makes. “At least 50 percent of the workforce comprise women who are involved in making bamboo mats, which are converted to boards to be used as walls, floors and the roofs of the houses,” says Kappagantula. The people employed belong mainly to marginalized communities. “On a personal level, we are confident that the future holds a lot of promise for bamboo as a building material, with market perception slowly changing and acceptance increasing for such initiatives and materials,” says Kappagantula. She emphasizes that all that is required is support from stakeholders and entry of more entrepreneurs to make the ecofriendly building material sector economically viable. Ranjita Biswas is a Kolkata-based journalist. She also translates fiction and writes short stories.
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This infection comes about through sexual contact with an infected person. This includes oral, anal and vaginal sex. A good number of victims may not show any signs or symptoms of the disease. In men, the condition manifests itself as a burning sensation with urination, discharge from the penis, or testicular pain. Females also reported a burning sensation when urinating, vaginal discharge, vaginal bleeding between periods, or pelvic pain. Chlamydia closely resembles Gonorrhea, in terms of causative agent and means of infection. Also known as Chlamydia infection, the disease is sexually transmitted by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. The symptoms of the disease in women include vaginal discharge or burning with urination. For the men, common signs are discharge from the penis, burning with urination, or pain and swelling of one or both testicles. Gonorrhea and Chlamydia rank high on the list of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. For the former, estimates show that 33 to 106 million new cases each year while Chlamydia affects roughly about 60 million people annually. Both diseases are curable if detected on time and treatment commences immediately. Complications arising from non-treatment for both diseases As stated in the preceding paragraph, both conditions are treatable. However, because a good number of people do not show any signs of having either gonorrhea or chlamydia, there is the possibility of complications arising in victims. In fact, in the case of Chlamydia, it is estimated that the disease causes no symptoms in 90 percent of males and 70 percent to 95 percent of females. Hence, Chlamydia is often referred to as the “silent” disease. Complications in Females Studies show that women are at greater risk of long-term complications from untreated, sexually transmitted infections. Untreated infection with gonorrhea in women may ascend up the female reproductive tract and involve the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. At this stage of the infection, a condition called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID); the victim experiences severe and chronic pain and damage in the female reproductive organs. There is also the possibility of developing a blockage or scarring of the fallopian tubes, which can prevent future pregnancy or cause Ectopic pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg takes root outside the uterus. These above possibilities hold true for patients with chlamydia. There is scarring in the fallopian tubes, which impinges on the ability of the woman to bear a child. Other serious outcomes include extensive damage done to the uterus, cervix, and ovaries. Complications in Males The consequences are just as dire in men. In the case of Chlamydia left untreated, sufferers may experience extensive inflammation of the epididymis. The epididymis is the tube that holds the testicles in place. The result of this inflammation is chronic pain and discomfort. The infection could also spread to the prostate gland, causing inflammation and pain. With advanced gonorrhea infection, males may experience a scarring of the urethra. There is also the possibility of the development of an abscess in the interior of the penis. The final outcome is usually reduced fertility or total sterility. Gonorrhea and Chlamydia are treatable infections. The key is to detect the infections in good time and seek appropriate treatment regimens. However, if these diseases are left to fester, the probable outcomes include damage to the reproductive organs and eventual infertility in both women and men.
Wayne Thiebaud: 1958-1968 Wayne Thiebaud: 1958-1968 examines Thiebaud's ongoing impact on contemporary art through in-depth analysis of the paintings and drawings made at the launch of his career, at a seminal moment when the art world was moving beyond Abstract Expressionism and redefining itself. Author Rachel Teagle explores the role of Thiebaud's painting in the traffic of images at the end of the 20th century. Published by University of California Press and Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, 2018. Hardcover, full-color illustrations. More from this collection
Python Productivity for Zynq - A Special Project from Xilinx University Program Please note: PYNQ-Z1 is only available to purchase through Digilent. For customers that are not using the PYNQ project, we recommend the Arty Z7-20. The PYNQ-Z1 board is designed to be used with PYNQ, a new open-source framework that enables embedded programmers to exploit the capabilities of Xilinx Zynq All Programmable SoCs (APSoCs) without having to design programmable logic circuits. Instead, the APSoC is programmed using Python and the code is developed and tested directly on the PYNQ-Z1. The programmable logic circuits are imported as hardware libraries and programmed through their APIs in essentially the same way that the software libraries are imported and programmed. The PYNQ-Z1 board is the hardware platform for the PYNQ open-source framework. The software running on the ARM A9 CPUs includes: - Web server hosting the Jupyter Notebooks design environment - The IPython kernel and packages - Base hardware library and API for the FPGA For designers who want to extend the base system by contributing new hardware libraries, Xilinx Vivado WebPACK tools are available free of cost. To find out more about PYNQ, please see the project webpage at www.pynq.io. Here you will find materials to help you get started and a forum for contacting the supporting community. To use the PYNQ framework - it's required to have the PYNQ-Z1 boot image, which is available from the PYNQ-Z1 Resource Center. You can download the PYNQ-Z1 image and copy it to a microSD card, or purchase a card preloaded with the image. What can you do with the PYNQ-Z1? The PYNQ-Z1 board is a general purpose, programmable platform for embedded systems. Users can customize both its hardware and software for applications as diverse as: - Computer vision - Industrial control - The Internet of things (IoT) - Embedded computing acceleration - Real-time processing and many more... The PYNQ-Z1 natively supports multi-media applications with on-board audio and video interfaces. It is designed to be easily extensible with Pmod, Arduino, and Grove peripherals, as well as general purpose IO pins. The PYNQ-Z1 board can be also expanded with USB peripherals including WiFi, Bluetooth, and Webcams. 650MHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor DDR3 memory controller with 8 DMA channels and 4 high performance AXI3 slave ports High-bandwidth peripheral controllers: 1G Ethernet, USB 2.0, SDIO Low-bandwidth peripheral controller: SPI, UART, CAN, I2C Programmable from JTAG, Quad-SPI flash, and microSD card Artix-7 family programmable logic 13,300 logic slices, each with four 6-input LUTs and 8 flip-flops 630 KB of fast block RAM 4 clock management tiles, each with a phase-locked loop (PLL) and mixed-mode clock manager (MMCM) 220 DSP slices On-chip analog-to-digital converter (XADC) - 512MB DDR3 with 16-bit bus @ 1050Mbps - 16MB Quad-SPI Flash with factory programmed globally unique identifier (48-bit EUI-48/64™ compatible). - MicroSD slot - Powered from USB or any 7V-15V source (see recommended products) - USB and Ethernet: - USB-JTAG Programming circuitry - USB-UART bridge - USB OTG PHY (supports host only) - Gigabit Ethernet PHY - Audio and Video: - Electret microphone with pulse density modulated (PDM) output - 3.5mm mono audio output jack, pulse-width modulated (PWM) format - HDMI sink port (input) - HDMI source port (output) Switches, push-buttons, and LEDs: 2 slide switches 2 RGB LEDs Two standard Pmod ports 16 Total FPGA I/O Arduino/chipKIT Shield connector 49 Total FPGA I/O 6 Single-ended 0-3.3V Analog inputs to XADC 4 Differential 0-1.0V Analog inputs to XADC
As a fashion brand, we inevitably part take in an industry that is the second most polluting industry in the world, falling behind only to the oil industry. We belong to a generation where 20% of the world’s population uses 80% of the world’s natural resources. So what does this all spell out for us here at Stormie Dreams? It means that operating as a fashion brand that emphasizes progressive change, we strive to always do more in our part in reducing our carbon footprint and inspiring sustainable responsibility. How It Happens Transparency is key. Before Stormie Dreams was born, we operated as a full-package manufacturing company based in Los Angeles producing for notable brands. With 10 years of owning our manufacturing business, it's easy to guess that many of our employees are like family. We pride ourselves in designing and producing 100% of our garments in the USA where it will always remain. Creating job opportunities within our own community, providing fair wages typically above minimum wage and adhering to strict regulations is all part of sustaining our high ethical standards here at Stormie Dreams. The magic is in the fabric. All of our fabric is sustainably sourced. Now we're sure you've heard this word used a lot but what does sourcing sustainably really mean? In our efforts to remain environmentally aware, we do not produce our own fabric from textile mills that usually dispose a lot of pollution into the environment. Instead we source fabrics and trims locally in Los Angeles that might have otherwise been destined to the landfills and give it a whole new life. The beauty of rescuing these fabrics and trims is that many are specialty fabrics that have traveled anywhere from Europe to Asia and end up becoming unique pieces in your closet! We like to keep a mindful eye on the water and ingredients used to dye some of our specialty dyed garments and use far less water than the industry standard by sourcing dye houses that adhere to strict sustainable practices. What's better? Through our zero-waste implementation, we use the leftover fabric to produce kids clothing that find their way to our partnered nonprofit organization, Santa Claus Inc. Fabric isn't the only thing that gets another go around here. Some of your fave styles are recycled too!...well they're given a chic makeover. Our designers and stylists scour hidden gems in the city to find discarded vintage patterns and repurpose them with a modern update that you can rock from season to season. It's all in the details. It's often those little details in our everyday meanderings that we don't realize have a bigger impact than we think. Our approach in our sustainable practices is to always continue learning and improving our zero waste and sustainable efforts and policies. From office supplies to manufacturing materials and all the way to packaging, we like to keep a mindful eye on the environmental impact many of these "fine details" may have. Zero-waste means nothing gets left behind, even scraps have a purpose by being repurposed into children clothing that make their way to our non-profit partner, Santa Claus Inc. Nothing says "it's all in the details" like having every single Stormie Dreams piece cut and made to order. Our most recent sustainable endeavor has been the elimination of plastic poly bags from our packaging and opting to have your custom Stormie Dreams pieces travel in cute, reusable tote bags. Now you can feel even better about the way your clothing travels. From office recycling to using biodegradable materials, we are always on the hunt for opportunities and alternative green methods to reduce, reuse, and recycle all while making sure our carbon footprint is smaller each day.
Author(s): Sara Crow; Adam Record (Illustrator) Toddlers will feel better about bedtime when they learn that superheroes, cowboys, princesses, and astronauts ALL have to sleep too! It's bedtime for superheroes . . . and KIDS! Young ones will enjoy this sweet, short, rhyming story that lulls them to sleep with the promise that all their heroes are getting tucked into bed too. It's the perfect story to choose for a peaceful bedtime ritual. And don't miss the companion book - Even Superheroes Use the Potty- to help teach kids good bathroom habits. oWill ease little readers to restful states.o-Kirkus
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) are proposing restribution of the federal electorate of Lowe and the renaming of the seat ‘McMahon’, after former Liberal Prime Minister Sir William McMahon and former member for Lowe (1949-1982). It is further proposed to abolish the seat of Reid, which is currently on the western boundary of Lowe. Electoral boundaries are reviewed and altered on a frequent basis to ensure that seats are similar in numbers of voters across Australia. The proposed changes will result in a substantial amount of the suburb of Strathfield and all of Strathfield South moving to the seat of Watson. There are certain ironies in these proposals. McMahon was the member for Lowe from 1949 to 1982 but was never known to live anywhere near his electorate. The AEC are proposing to rename Lowe, McMahon presumably to honour his contribution as the long-term MP and/or Prime Minister. However, at the same time, they are proposing abolishing the seat of Reid which is named for Sir George Reid QC, former Prime Minister (1904-05) and Premier of NSW (1894-1899). He also served as High Commissioner to UK and was elected to the British House of Commons. He is noted as one of the fathers of Federation and the only Prime Minister of the Free Trade Party, an ancestor of the Liberal Party. If naming seats after former Prime Ministers or longserving MPs is the plan of the AEC, it should at least be consistent. The seat of Reid was created in 1922, after the death of George Reid in 1918. George Reid for many years lived in Burwood and Strathfield.

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