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1. Research Paper For this course, I will accept three different types of original research papers: case study, empirical analysis, or theoretical analysis. Your paper should have a clear link to what we cover in this course (lectures and readings). (a) Focus on a common practice of modern firms Examples: advertising, price discrimination (b) Focus on a common feature of modern markets Examples: role of new technology, government regulation After choosing one of the two general approaches above, you should decide whether you want to do a case study, an empirical analysis, or a theoretical analysis within that general approach. (a) A Common Practice of Modern Firms Select a firm practice that interests you. In preparation for undertaking the research, you should evaluate the industries and major firms to which this practice appears to be important. Compare and contrast: why is this practice more prevalent in one industry than another? Why does firm X adopt this practice more than firm Y? Brainstorming in this manner should lead you to some interesting research topics. For a case study, you should examine a particular instance of this practice by a firm (or a select group of firms) in an industry. In general, you should pick an instance where the practice raises some public policy concerns. As you are choosing a single instance, I will expect a detailed, micro-level analysis, along the same lines as the case studies presented in The Antitrust For an empirical study, you should collect data on firms and/or industries in which these practice occur in differing amount or form. Use the data to measure either the determinants of the practice (what are the factors that lead firms to adopt this practice) or the impact of the practice on firm/industry performance. An ideal paper would examine both. The main constraints would be the availability of relevant data and familiarity with econometrics and econometrics For a theoretical study, you can do one of two things: you can either write a literature review on the recent models proposed by academic economists to explain some aspect of the chosen firm practice or write your own model (can and most likely will be an extension of an existing model). The first option will require you to read and synthesize quite a few academic papers, some of which will be technical in nature. The second option will require you to gain familiarity with the analytical tools of modern economics, including constrained optimization and game (b) A Common Feature of Modern Markets This approach is similar to (a) above but focuses on a market feature instead of a firm practice. The outline should be approximately 2-3 pages and the paper should be approximately 12-15 pages (doubled-spaced, 12-point font, and 1-inch margins). I expect the paper to be well-written. Properly document your paper and use formal citation practices. As a warning, I will prosecute plagiarism to the fullest extent. I do not mind you using research or information from another source as long as you properly cite it. A good reference on how to properly cite your sources is the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, available in the Langson Library Reference Collection. Related information is also available online in the MLA Formatting and Style Guide provided by Purdue Online Writing Lab, located at: 1. Research Paper
Hope Mission succeeds not because of the partnerships that it has formed with the community; instead, their success is directly related to the partnerships that the community has formed with Hope Mission! Individuals, large and small businesses, organizations and groups, churches and government all come together to partner with this organization and effect real change in the community, one person at at time. Police officers regularly show up to serve at the soup kitchen; City Council members drops in to visit; Local businesses send entire crews of workers and donations; Many, many organizations and private groups hold fund-raisers and show up when help is needed. And still others partner in ways that are vital, yet not as noticeable. For example the individuals and groups who assist with teaching skills like budgeting, or those that man the food drives, supply the night meals, act as mentors, provide transportation and much more. - Night Meals for Shelter Guests - Empty Bowls - Food Drives - Winter Coat Drive - Inspirational Speakers - Job Training - Financial counseling (how to balance checking account, budgeting, etc.) - HSE (formerly GED) - Continuing Education - Access to medical treatment
An overview of the theatre scene in Austin. Robert Faires offers a brief overview of the theatre scene in Austin, Texas. Christina J. Moore writes about the weirdness of Austin, and how FronteraFest has revolutionized the way the city develops and produces new work. A call to designers to carefully consider the details of their work, no matter what budget size they have, as it is in the details that show deliberate care of the design. Daniel Alexander Jones muses on his lively experiences working in Austin's expanding theatre scene. Caroline Reck reminds us that puppetry is originally for adults through her company’s commitment to it. With that, it has caused a renewal of theatrics tools in Austin, TX. The Rude Mechs explain how their method of including their audiences – inviting them to join in on the creative process – helps to better engage their patrons... and their artists. Robert Matney writes about the various ways in which theater companies are adapting and thriving by incorporating technology into their practice. In this essay, Travis Bedard shows Austin, Texas, as an ideal city for theatremakers yearning to innovate . Series are collections of content curated around a specific theme. HowlRound works with curators to develop topical pieces meant to spotlight current events and happenings within the commons.
Improving cost and outcome evaluation for medical device technologies: the COMED project Innovation and advances in research call for constant adaptation in the health systems. With novel medical devices, appropriate cost and outcome evaluation is key to make the policy decision. This analysis is at the heart of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), the process whereby new technologies are assessed against existing alternatives in terms of their impact on health and quality of life and costs implications for the patient and the entire organisation of healthcare systems. In 2018, the EU-funded COMED (Pushing the boundaries of Cost and Outcome analysis of Medical Technologies) project kicked off with the aim of refining existing methods of cost and outcome analysis for medical devices. Among eight different work packages in the project, one examined methodological issues related to the use of an increasing range of sources for cost and outcome analysis of medical devices. These sources include administrative databases, electronic health records, patient registries and other observational data, that go under the name of real-world data (RWD) and can support decision-making before and after market entry. Based on three selected case studies (hip and knee arthroplasty, percutaneous transcatheter valve replacement technology, procedures performed by the da Vinci Surgical System), the project mapped existing RWD sources in Europe and evaluated their appropriateness for conducting HTAs of medical devices. While RWD sources indeed bear great potential for an HTA of medical devices, remaining challenges include data accessibility, lack of standardisation of health and economic outcomes, and inadequate comparators. A different work package focused on the evaluation of a relatively recent class of medical devices, mobile health applications. After a detailed exploration of distinguishing features that characterise these products, the project developed a structured evaluation framework that is intended to support HTA bodies and payers in the decision-making process related to this increasingly available type of technologies. Oriana CIANI, Italy Oriana Ciani is Associate Professor of Practice, Public Management and Policy Group, Health Economics & HTA at SDA Bocconi School of Management. Her research interests are centred around the use and impact of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) on decision-making in healthcare, on the methodological aspects of the evaluation of health technologies, particularly medical devices, and on the use of evidence synthesis techniques to inform policy decisions and health policies evaluation. She is also Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School (UK) where she received her PhD with a thesis focusing on the evaluation of surrogate endpoints in HTA, which remains one of her main research topics. Oriana has been involved in many national and international research projects. Oriana is author of several publications in HTA, health economics and health services research and reviewer for many international academic journals. She is member of the Early Career Committee of the European Health Economics Association (EuHEA), member of HTAi, of the International Association of Health Economics (iHEA), of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), of the Italian Association of Health Economics (AIES), of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) and of the Italian Association of Clinical Engineers (AIIC). Oriana holds a MSc in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and MSc in Healthcare Management and Economics from Bocconi University. Carlo FEDERICI, Italy Carlo Federici is a lab researcher of Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) at the Center for Research on Health and Social Care Management (CERGAS) of SDA Bocconi School of Management. At SDA Bocconi Carlo teaches the Advanced Decision Modelling course at the Master of International Healthcare Management, Economics and Policy (MIHMEP) as well as several courses on HTA and economic evaluations of healthcare technologies. He conducted numerous research, training and consulting projects with Medtronic, Janssen, ABBOTT, Chiesi Farmaceutica, Assobiomedica, and many others. He contributed to several European research projects such as the H2020 projects MedtecHTA and COMED addressing the assessment of medical devices from different perspectives. In the past years, Carlo has also conducted several research activities with the Italian Ministry of Health on both reimbursement and regulatory aspects of medical technologies. His research activities focus on the area of HTA and Health Policy Evaluation. His current research addresses both methodological aspects as well as applied case studies on decision analytical models to estimate cost-effectiveness of innovative health technologies as compared to other policy options. Other recent research areas include the identification of different dimensions of value when assessing health interventions, such as for example the real option value and insurance value of health technologies; the impact of technologies characteristics on organizational impact and operations management; or the study of performance-based risk sharing agreements between payers and technology developers (e.g., coverage with evidence development, payment by results etc.) He is the author of numerous articles on the subject. His work has been published in Journal of Value in Health, PlosOne, Pharmacoeconomics, Health Policy among others. Carlo serves as a topic editor in the pharmaeconomics and outcome research area for the Journal Clinical Therapeutics. He is a member of the Italian Association of Health Economics (AIES) and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Carlo earned a MSc in Health Economics from the University of York and he’s actually a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Warwick Rossana TARRICONE, Italy At SDA Bocconi, she was first Co-director, and then, Director of Master MIHMEP from 2002 to 2011. She works on numerous researches and training projects for several key actors of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and for public institutions. Her research activities focus on economic evaluation analysis of healthcare programmes, health policy, healthcare management, health technology assessment, health economics and budget impact analysis. She has been PI of a European funded project – MedtecHTA: Methods for Health Technology Assessment of Medical Devices: A European Perspective. She authored numerous books and articles on prestigious journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Health Economics, Value in Health and Health Policy, among others. She is member of the Board of Directors of ISPOR (International Society of Outcome Research), active member of iHEA (international Health Economics Association), and HTAi (Health Technology Assessment international). She has been the Director of the Economic Affairs Department at Eucomed and Scientific Director of the European Health Technology Institute for Socio-Economic Research. Rosanna is member of the Board of Directors of the “San Matteo” Hospital Trust. Rosanna earned a Degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University, an MSc in Health Services Management and a Ph.D. in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.
A PLOT THAT FAILED OCTOBER 1.ACTS 23:14-24. THE WRATH OF MAN OVERRULEDST. PAUL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN THE HIGH PRIEST REBUKEDST. PAUL AS A GENERAL THE SANHEDRIN DIVIDED IN OPINIONDISSENSION AMONGST THE MEMBERSTHE APOSTLE TAKEN BACK TO THE CASTLEENCOURAGED BY A VISIONTHE CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIMINFORMATION CONCERNING THE PLOT GIVEN TO COLONEL LYSIASST. PAUL SENT TO CAESAREA "They shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee."Jeremiah 1:19 . IN THE morning after the riot and St. Paul's rescue by the Roman soldiers, Colonel Lysias in perplexity called together the Jewish Sanhedrin, in order that they might pass upon the Apostle's case; for by this time he had recognized that the point of dispute was a religious one, and that his duty was merely to preserve the peace. Thus St. Paul was afforded another opportunity to witness the Gospel to the Jewsto their most learned body of men, their most influential Court of Seventy. Perhaps by this time the Apostle began to realize that his trying experiences were furnishing him with superior opportunities as a herald of the Gospel. Looking back with the eye of faith, we can perceive that this is always so; that, as from the very first, the Lord is supervising His own work. But only in proportion as we know what constitutes the Lord's work can we have and use the eye of faith. We must see that the Divine Program is not to attempt the conversion of the world at the present time, but to leave that work for the future, to be accomplished by Christ's Millennial Kingdom. We must see that during the present Age His work is merely that of selecting, or electing, the Church, to be His Bride-Consort in His KingdomHis Associate in the great work which will then be accomplished for the whole world. As St. Paul realized the opportunity granted him of addressing the leaders of his nation, he sought to make wise use of it. Hence the earnestness of his countenance. "Looking steadfastly" at his audience, he began by reminding them of his faithfulness as a Jew. He had ever been a model citizen, never lawless. He addressed the Council as "Brethren," thus putting himself on an equality with them, in respect to both religious zeal and general learning. Indeed, it is quite generally supposed that at the time of the stoning of St. Stephen Saul of Tarsusafterwards St. Paulwas a member of the Sanhedrin. The address which St. Paul had planned to deliver was interrupted by the high priest, who commanded those who stood by the Apostle to smite him on the mouth. This was a special mark of indignity and a protest against the words uttered. It is not unfair to assume that the high priest felt his own course in life especially condemned by St. Paul's words; for, as the Master declared, "the darkness hateth the light." Josephus charges Ananias with having been a hypocritical grafter of the baser sort, but so crafty that the public in general esteemed him. Suddenly checked in his speech, the Apostle shouted, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall." The prophecy came true. Within two years Ananias was deposed. Within six years he met a horrible death, his own son being associated with his assassins, who drew Ananias from his hiding place in a sewer and slew him. The term "whited wall" was applied to ordinary graves, which were covered with a stone slab bearing the inscription. These were frequently whitewashed, so as to be easily discernible, lest any traveler should tread upon them and, according to Jewish ritual, be defiled. (Numbers 19:11-16.) The pure, glistening white stone was beautiful; but beneath it was corruption. The strength of the symbol as representing hypocrisy is manifest. Some of the bystanders who heard the Apostle asked, "Revilest thou God's high priest?" St. Paul rejoined, "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." (Exodus 22:28.) It will be remembered that the Apostle never fully recovered his eyesight after having been struck blind on the way to Damascus. (Acts 9:8, 9.) Of his imperfect vision, his "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), the Lord refused to relieve him, but assured him that in compensation he should have the more of Divine grace. This answer to his prayer the Apostle gladly accepted. It is possible, therefore, that he did not discern the high priest, or else did not know that the indignity was suggested by Ananias. It is claimed by some that Ananias had usurped his office, and that hence the Apostle's words may have meant that he did not recognize that the true high priest was present. The latter view is implied by the fact that St. Paul did not apologize for his words, but merely showed that he fully recognized the Divine Law that rulers should not be slandered. This is a good rule for every one today. The tendency to speak evil of dignitaries, to belittle them, to caricature them, is a prevalent sin, which is doing much more to undermine good government than the fun-makers seem to realize. Undoubtedly there are times and ways for protesting against things and methods with which we do not fully agree. But the people of God should preeminently stand for law and order, with as much justice as may be attainable, waiting for absolute justice until the King of kings shall take His Millennial Throne. His command to us meantime is that we "be subject to the powers that be," and "follow peace with all men," so far as possible.Romans 13:1; Hebrews 12:14. Incidentally we remark that some are disposed even to speak jestingly of the Lord and the Scriptures. This is a dangerous practice. "The REVERENCE of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"; and it must continue in us, and increase as the years go by, if we would make our calling and election sure to the glorious things which God has in reservation for them that love Him and reverence Him.Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10. This incident had interrupted in its beginning the hoped-for presentation of the Gospel. St. Paul perceived that the prejudice against him was such that no speech of his could affect his hearers; for they were dominated by the high priest, whose lack of justice had found so early a manifestation. Like a general who, finding his front attack useless, wheels his forces and, by a flank movement, captures the enemy, so St. Paul captured the sympathies of fully one-half of his auditors. At the same time he secured an opportunity for showing that the doctrine which he preached was the logical outcome of the faith of the large sect of Pharisees. The Apostle did this by shouting, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; and I am being persecuted because of my belief in the doctrine of the resurrection." This statement was strictly true. The word Pharisee signifies a person who professes entire sanctification to God. St. Paul had never ceased to maintain this attitude. His experiences on the way to Damascus had changed his course of conduct, but not his attitude of heart, which from the first was loyal to God"in all good conscience." St. Paul well knew that the Sanhedrin was about equally divided between the ultra-orthodox, holiness-professing Pharisees and the agnostic, higher-critical Sadducees, who numbered amongst them many of the most prominent Jews, including priests. The effect of his shout was instantaneous. The Pharisees took his part as one who in some respects believed as they did, although they could not endorse all of his teachings. As between the infidel Sadducees and an out-of-the-way Pharisee, they promptly espoused the cause of the latter. A tumult ensued, some seeking to take the Apostle's life, and others endeavoring to protect him. Again Caesar's soldiers needed to intervene between warring factions of the people of God. How sad a scene! How pitiable that those who possessed much advantage every way, as did the Jews under Divine instruction, should so sadly neglect the lessons of the Divine Law in respect to justice and to one another's rights, not to mention the Divine instruction, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"! (Leviticus 19:18.) How pitiable it is that this is sometimes true of Christians possessed of still higher appreciation of the Divine standards and under covenant vows to lay down their lives for the brethren, and indeed exhorted that they cannot win the prize which they seek unless they reach the point of loving their enemies! True, fisticuffs are not so popular today amongst civilized people. But cannot even greater cruelty be accomplished by the tongue than by the hand? Is it not true that even amongst those who have named the name of Christ and who have taken upon themselves a consecration vow to do His will, many bite and devour one another, under the influence of the spirit of the Adversaryanger, malice, hatred, envy, strife? As we see these things, shall we not learn a valuable lesson, one which will enable us the better to glorify our Father in Heaven? Back in safety to the castle, the Apostle doubtless wondered in what manner the Lord had been glorified by this, his latest experience. Often it is thus with ourselves. But where we cannot trace the Lord's providence and see the outcome, we have all the better opportunity for cultivating the faith which "can firmly trust Him, come what may." Meanwhile, Colonel Lysias was evidently learning that his prisoner was no common man; for one who could remain calm, alert, dignified, humble and self-possessed, while his opponents were the reverse of all these, evidenced to an unprejudiced mind that he was probably in the right of the controversy. This change of the Roman officer's attitude toward St. Paul was manifested in his kindly treatment of the Apostle's nephew, who had brought word to his uncle that a band of forty men were plotting to take his life. These conspirators, forty professed religionists, forgetful of the Divine Law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," had bound themselves to each other by an oath that they would neither eat nor sleep until they had killed St. Paula man who had done them no harm, but who had, on the contrary, merely endeavored as wisely as possible to do them good. At the instance of his mother, who was the Apostle's sister, the lad had gained access to the castle and had explained the plot to his uncle, who sent him to the commandant. The latter took the boy by the hand to a private place, heard his story and dismissed him, telling him to keep the matter quiet. Perceiving that he was in conflict with at least one-half of the influential of Jewry, the commandant concluded that the wisest course for him to pursue would be to put his prisoner under the protection of Felix, the Roman Governor, at Caesarea. Accordingly, at 9 o'clock that very night, two hundred infantry, two hundred spearmen [R5953 : page 268] and seventy horsemen took the Apostle to new quarters, where as an ambassador in bonds he would have fresh opportunity for representing his great Master. This Study shows us that God prefers to use natural means rather than supernatural agencies; and that all of His children should be on the alert to serve His Cause at any and every moment. God's purposes will be accomplished. But happy is he who is accounted worthy of the privilege of any service to the Lord or to the least of His brethren. Let us, then, be continually on the lookout, in an inquiring attitude of mind, desirous of knowing the mind of the Lord in every matter. As for the Apostle, doubtless he learned a lesson which we might all profitably consider; namely, that while having full confidence in the Divine will, it is ours to protect reasonably and properly our lives and interests as well as those of others.
How to Draw a Dragonfly step by step for kids with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Easy animals to draw for beginners and everyone. Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below At first, you should draw the main border. It will be oval body. In front of it draw a circle. It will be the head of your dragonfly. Then draw a long line for the tail of the dragonfly. First draw a line through the middle of the dragonfly’s body. But pay attention to the fact that the line is oblique. It starts at the top right corner of the paper and ends at the lower left corner. I think you can draw a second line for the wing without my opinion. Then make a preliminary mark at the end of the tail. If you have done everything right, you will easily continue to draw your dragonfly. Start with the simple things. Connect the head to the body, draw the outline of the tail and then start drawing the wings. All you need at this stage is drawing the dragonfly’s body and wings, dragonfly wings drawing some veins on them. No sense in comment, just extend the line of the wings and delete all the instructions. Now you find that it’s easy to draw a dragonfly Yes, that is the final step of our lesson because our dragonflies are almost ready. If you draw a drawing with colored pencils now, the 6th step will not be required. Dragonfly has great eyesight. They can see everything around them thanks to the specific structure of their eyes. At the end of the lesson, color your dragonfly with your favorite colors. You can also draw flowers around your dragonfly, etc. Do you love animals? Would you like to see How to draw a cute dog…? Learn more fun drawing tutorials on my website.
How to draw Light Yagami from Death Note with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Anime drawing for beginners and All. Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below Video produced by channel : Cartooning Club How to Draw You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below Start by drawing the paths for the Light, including the head and body guides. Sketch the guidelines on the face as well. Define the shape of Light’s face like that, then outline the long bangs as they fall across his forehead. Next, draw the shape of Light’s head and then draw the hair on the back of his neck. Draw the eyes and then draw the eyebrows. Add nose and mouth. Use the body guides to draw in the torso. This starts with the shirt collar, shoulders, and arms. Then you will draw wrinkles for the shirt and then do step six. Draw flaps for shirt collar and then draw in pocket. You will also draw the buttons and sides of the right part of the body. Finally, draw Light’s arms and hands. Then you can draw the apple floating in his hand as he is tossing it. After all your errors and guides are erased or cleaned up, the drawing should look like the line art you see here. The only thing left to do now is color it.
It would be deceiving the peoples of the world to let them think that a legal provision was all that was required ... when in fact an entire social structure had to be transformed : Rene Cassin, during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Human rights based approaches are about turning human rights from purely legal instruments into effective policies, practices, and practical realities. Human rights principles and standards provide guidance about what should be done to achieve freedom and dignity for all. A human rights-based approach emphasises how human rights are achieved The Commission considers that, for Australia to comply with its international responsibilities, all areas and level of government in Australia have a responsibility to apply human rights based approaches. Development of a National Human Rights Action Plan is a step towards this. The Commission seeks to apply human rights based approaches in its own work. The Australian Human Rights Commission Act (section 10A) states that the Commission must perform its functions with regard for - the indivisibility and universality of human rights; and - the principle that every person is free and equal in dignity and rights. The Commission also supports application of human rights based approaches by businesss and other organisations throughout society. What are human rights based approaches? Details of a human rights approach will vary depending on the nature of the organisation concerned and the issues it deals with. Common principles, however, have been identified as the "PANEL" principles: - Non-discrimination and equality The summary below is gratefully adapted from materials on this issue by our colleagues at the Scottish Human Rights Commission. Everyone has the right to participate in decisions which affect their human rights. Participation must be active, free and meaningful, and give attention to issues of accessibility, including access to information in a form and a language which can be understood. Accountability requires effective monitoring of compliance with human rights standards and achievement of human rights goals, as well as effective remedies for human rights breaches. For accountability to be effective, there must be appropriate laws, policies, institutions, administrative procedures and mechanisms of redress in order to secure human rights. Effective monitoring of compliance and achievement of human rights goals also requires development and use of appropriate human rights indicators. Non-discrimination and equality A human rights based approach means that all forms of discrimination in the realisation of rights must be prohibited, prevented and eliminated. It also means that priority should be given to people in the most marginalised or vulnerable situations who face the biggest barriers to realising their rights. Everyone is entitled to claim and exercise their rights and freedoms. Individuals and communities need to be able to understand their rights, and to participate fully in the development of policy and practices which affect their lives. A human rights based approach requires that - the law recognises human rights and freedoms as legally enforceable entitlements, and - the law itself is consistent with human rights principles.
I get the occasional cold call from secondary school students and always try to respond with some things that are expected and some unexpected. They might miss the mark, or be a bit wayward, but you know its a good sign when a year 11 student is interested in research. This one came from South Australia – literally five minuted response, so hardly even as taxing as the effort of posting it here (almost). The questions were about the Sundarbans, as the student Fariha had read a review essay on recent-ish books: - Can you explain the situation that transpired in the Sundarban, after Cyclone Amphan hit? To be fair, compared to you or anyone else with internet access, I cannot say anything much on this because I’m unable to travel at present and really, I would need to go and have a look for myself. Everything else I could tell you about the Sundarbans in the last year would be a summary of what is already online. I think having a look for yourself is the only way an anthropologist can say something different to what an year 11 researcher might find after a few weeks looking online. To some extent the habit of contextualising is something you learn with time, but if you are sensible you will know not to rush to judgement, to consider as many interpretations you can, and come up with your interpretation without thinking its always correct or final. That is the fun of research though, isn’t it. - Why is the Sundarban area so important (culturally, ecologically, economically, etc.)? Trees, people, animals. In Annu Jalais book Forest of Tigers, you can read heaps about the relationships of humans to animals and jungle. Its fascinating, and there is a lot to learn for all of us. - What strategies are being implemented and/or proposed in the Sundarban to protect the site and local communities? Hmmm, many, good and bad. You should investigate the Marichjhapi massacre for an example of something that went wrong. - What determines the livelihood of the local people in Sundarban? How has extreme weather events such as cyclone Amphan affected their livelihood? Much. Much. Much. Much. But then, ‘extreme weather’ is becoming less extreme in the sense that its hitting everywhere, so that by definition is not extreme but the new normal, however much we’d like to keep thinking its not. I mean, is ‘extreme weather’ or ‘climate change’ not just a way of talking about pollution without putting the blame of the top 100 corporations that easily produce the majority of world pollution, from plastics to carbon monoxide to toxins, to the entire commodity system? - How does the local community’s perspective on the Sundarban and what solution do they perceive will help mitigate the impact of extreme weather events? The mitigation you speak of requires a wider revolutionary movement, the return and even greater engagement of people’s organisations to wrest control of the means of production from the greedy plutocrats that currently dominate and ensure no voice of the people can be heard except when they are controlling the microphone (platform, outlet, forum). - Some writers and scholars have highlighted that dating back to the colonial era, the government has historically offered little help to victims of natural disasters. Do you see any parallels between the situation then and now? What is the difference between colonialism and neo-colonialism? Perhaps the difference is that while people know about it now, people do less about it. A kind of mass paralysis of everyone sitting in front of a screen nodding to the ever slowing heartbeat of their own disengagement. - How has the nature of the Sundarban itself changed over time as a result of lack of consultation and lack of political will for a solution and how has that impacted the lives of the community? Lack of consultation – sounds like a thing, but consultation with who? The lack of political will is real at least I guess, even as communities have been forced out of the area for various reasons. - What do you think needs to change in order for the situation in the Sundarban to improve? Overthrow of the ruling class, defeat of corporate culture, opportunism and bigotry, a real critique of the so-called ‘climate crisis’ (pollution/world destruction). Of which a research project like yours can be a start, but cannot be all we do – it can start with research but it must expand to get more people involved, more people need to be reading and learning about revolutionary theory and thinking long and hard about forming organisations that are collectively run, counter-hegemonic (look it up if need be – against the dominant) and in the business of informed critical engagement, questioning everything, accepting nothing (including this) and of course allowing for occasional five minute rants by grizzled old professors who wish they were a part of the coming global communist insurrection that will be the only thing that will save us all from rampant grasping crazy-ass capital.
Lance Spitzner of the Honeynet Project (www.honeynet.org) suggests a trick that's useful for honey (decoy) nets and maybe even for production DMZs: stealth logging. This trick allows a host connected to a hub or other shared medium to send its log files to a non-IP-addressed system that sees and captures the log messages but can't be accessed directly over the network, making it much harder for an intruder on your network to tamper with log files. The idea is simple: suppose you specify a bogus IP address in a syslog.conf action, i.e., an IP address legitimate for your host's LAN but that isn't actually used by any host running syslogd. Since syslog messages are sent using the connectionless (one-way) UDP protocol, the sending host doesn't expect any reply when it sends a log message. Furthermore, assuming your DMZ hosts are connected to a shared medium such as a hub, any syslog messages sent over the network will be broadcast on the local LAN. Therefore, it isn't necessary for a central logserver on that LAN to have an IP address; the logserver passively can sniff the log messages via snort or some other packet sniffer (but not tcpdump, which looks at packet headers, not data payloads). Obviously, since an IP-addressless stealth logger won't be accessible via your usual IP-based remote administration tools, you'll need console access to that host to view your logs (unless, of course, it prints its logs to a line printer). In addition, to configure each DMZ host's syslog.conf file to log to the bogus IP, you'll also need a bogus ARP entry on each sending host. If you don't, each system will try in vain to learn the Ethernet address of the host with that IP, and it won't send any log packets. For example, if you want a given host to pretend to send packets to the bogus IP 192.168.192.168, then in addition to specifying @192.168.192.168 as the action on one or more lines in /etc/syslog.conf, you'll also need to enter this command from a shell prompt: arp -s 192.168.192.168 03:03:03:31:33:77 This is not necessary if you send log packets to a normal log host, that is, if 192.168.192.168 is the IP address of a host running syslogd with the -r flag.
UEFI Secure Boot downgraded to PITAOct 12, 2012, 11:00 (2 Talkback[s]) (Other stories by Brian Proffitt) The Linux Foundation's solution was outlined by kernel developer James Bottomley Wednesday afternoon, and details yet another variation on how to approach the Secure Boot problem. In order to obtain the much-valued Certified for Windows 8 sticker, any Windows 8 machine will need to run the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of the old BIOS firmware layer. BIOS has been the firmware interface for PCs for a long time. The EFI system has slowly been making headway in recent years, and right now EFI firmware is compatible with Windows supporting the GUID Partition Table (GPT), OS X/Intel, and Linux 2.6 and beyond machines. EFI is seen as a better hardware/software interface than BIOS, since it is platform-agnostic, runs in 32- or 64-bit mode, and GPT machines can handle boot partitions of up to 9.4 zettabytes. 0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment)
Get LISNews via email! Enter Your Email Address: “Print knowledge” is an awareness of the mechanics of the reading process, like the fact that English is read from left to right and that written words map on to spoken ones. Adults often take this knowledge for granted, but research demonstrates that children benefit when these aspects of print are explicitly pointed out. In a study published in the May-June issue of the journal Child Development, for example, Ohio State professor Shayne Piasta and her coauthors report that when preschool teachers drew students’ attention to print while reading to them, the children’s skills in reading, spelling and comprehension improved. These positive results were long-lasting, too, still showing up a full two years later.
Makes a temporary copy of a pointer, executes a list of forms which may use and alter the copy of the pointer across the scope of the macro, and then deallocates the memory provided for the copy of the pointer. A temporary name used to access a copy of pointer . The type of the object pointed to by the temporary pointer. This keyword can be used to access the data at the pointer as a different type. The pointer-type of the temporary pointer. A FLI pointer of which a copy is made. The lifetime of the copy is across the scope of the A list of forms to be executed across the scope of the temporary pointer binding. makes a temporary copy of a pointer, and executes a list of forms which may use the copy across the scope of the macro. Once the macro has terminated the memory allocated to the copy of the pointer is automatically freed. In the following example an array of ten integers is defined, pointed to by . The macro is used to return the values stored in the array, without altering , or permanently tying up memory for a second pointer.
Focus on Kids Pediatrics is sharing tips with first time parents on putting newborns to sleep from the time that they welcome their child into their home from the hospital. Littleton, Colorado (March 8, 2013) – Focus on Kids Pediatrics is sharing tips with first time parents on putting newborns to sleep from the time that they welcome their child into their home from the hospital. The trusted Littleton pediatric practice aims to enlighten parents by avoiding future sleep problems for both themselves and the child. During bedtime, parents should keep newborns comfortable, similar to the tranquility that the womb brings. This can be replicated by swaddling, using a small bassinet or crib, and maintaining a cozy room temperature. After one month, the babies should have their own room to encourage independence and to allow the parents to return to their regular sleeping patterns. Parents should keep in mind that establishing a routine conditions the baby into knowing when it is time for sleeping time. For a relaxed atmosphere, nighttime activities such as feeding should be serene to encourage sleeping. In putting newborns to sleep, parents should place the baby in the crib while still awake to teach them how to fall asleep on their own. If the baby gives a fuss, the parents need to sooth them and calm them down. Doing so addresses the psychological needs of the baby and allows them to relax and sleep. Focus on Kids Pediatrics educates parents that when babies awake at night, it does not always mean that they are hungry. Newborns and infants have an irregular sleeping pattern, which is the REM or active sleep. This sleeping type causes babies to wake up at night due to twitching, movement, and restlessness during sleep. The instance usually decreases at 3-4 months into a non-REM or quiet sleep. Individuals looking for a reliable Littleton pediatrician can turn to Focus on Kids Pediatrics for their medical expertise on children. For more information on the practice, visit www.FocusOnKidsPeds.com. About Focus on Kids Pediatrics By offering routine check-ups to children, the practice aims to aid parents in ensuring that the development of their children is on the right track. The practice is led by Doctors Michael Frand, Regina Kania, and Jennifer Murphy. Focus on Kids Pediatrics 5920 S ESTES ST STE 250 LITTLETON CO 80123-8620 ListFree.org: Embedded data. \|Contact us at :\| \|Issued By:\|\|Logan Rojas\| \|Street:\|\|5920 S Estes St. Ste 250 , 80123-8620\|
Someone said that art reveals much more of the artist than it ever does of the subject. That is especially true when it comes down to writers. Being that literature is not a visual art, every sentence that we read or write, every place, every character is ultimately filtered through the author’s own unique perspective. We may look at a painting and find it ugly, boring, or see no meaning in it whatsoever. However, in literature, we find whatever the author describes as beautiful, beautiful. No matter how plain the thing may actually be, once it is put into words, we have never known or experienced it any other way. As words are laid out on the page, the writer has exposed a piece of their own heart, by showing us the things that they find are the most valuable. For that reason, writing is the truest, most direct form of communication. Every single person who has read Lord of the Rings knows Frodo’s exhaustion as he climbs Mount Doom, and every Harry Potter fan knows the slippery, silky feel of an invisibility cloak. Even if you’ve never had Turkish Delight, you know after reading The Chronicles of Narnia that it’s pretty much the most delicious thing ever. Writing is the great equalizer in art; it creates an experience that everyone can share, something that we can all understand the same way. Most importantly, it connects our hearts to everyone who has ever held the same book in their hands. So while writing, as an art, does expose the heart and mind of the writer, it also provides an experience that connects all of its readers. The subject, the truth of the story itself, lies somewhere between the perception of the writer and the interpretation of the reader. By JK Evanczuk on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - Comments Off It’s a rare–and highly interesting–phenomenon when the success of a character overwhelms even its creator. A. A. Milne found Winnie the Pooh’s popularity a source of profound annoyance. Despite his credentials as an established author and playwright, few took his “adult” work seriously after the success of Pooh. J. M. Barrie had the same troubles with Peter Pan, who entirely overshadowed Barrie’s other works, past and future. Better-known are the woes of Arthur Conan Doyle. The writer absolutely hated Sherlock Holmes, whom Conan Doyle believed was distracting him from his more important literary pursuits. So plagued by the stature of his own creation, Conan Doyle resorted to throwing Holmes off a cliff in 1893. Public demand and financial need prompted Conan Doyle to revive the famous detective a decade later. The detective has not died since. Read more » Just one of many negative perspectives of the Twilight saga. An ambitious sophomore in high school three years ago, I checked out Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Striving to seem mature and sophisticated, I lugged the book around for over a month. It was the hardest read of my entire life. The worst part is I had no clue as to its significance. Grasping the bare bones of the plot, I knew there was more the novel wanted to communicate. Sure, one reason I didn’t catch the significance was because I was a sophomore in high school. In my first year of college though, I’ve discovered I’m not the only person confused. There are whole courses devoted to Dostoyevsky and The Brothers Karamazov; the underlying significances, symbols, motifs and so on. Maybe I should’ve stuck to Harry Potter like the rest of my classmates. In my short time, it seems the literary world places most value on novels with human messages, even more so on novels taking long intricate routes to get to those messages. However, it seems the literary world also tends to cast novels not adhering to such standards as a “literature of diversion” as Jonathan Franzen puts it. At school, literary high brows’ nostrils flare at the sight of a Twilight or Harry Potter novel. “That’s not real literature,” they say. I’m not a fan of genre novels myself, but I think my fellow undergrads and the literary community are wrong for totally writing off such novels. Read more » By JK Evanczuk on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Comments Off Lately I’ve been trying to expand the range of my reading material, in the interest of improving my own writing. My theory is that, at this stage of my writing career, at least a portion of what I am writing is reflective of what I’m reading. So I’m trying to mix it up a bit by reading different authors with different writing styles, by reading different genres, and even by reading books for different age groups. Right now I’m simultaneously reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, a hypothetical-historical piece of literary fiction, as well as Fade by Robert Cormier, a YA book about a boy who learns to become invisible and witnesses the dark secrets of his friends and neighbors, which I originally read many years ago and am now re-reading. My experiences with both books are obviously very different, and the juxtaposition is interesting. Read more » By JK Evanczuk on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Comments Off With 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and even Star Trek, the notion of transformative work has been a particularly hot topic these past few months. Transformative work not only plays havoc with intellectual property law, but also with the audience as storytellers take our familiar, beloved characters and then subvert them entirely. Holden Caulfield is 76 years old and on the run from a nursing home, Elizabeth Bennett defends her family from hoards of zombies, and James Tiberius Kirk finds himself without a father and a long way to go before he can become captain of the USS Enterprise. The result is all the more shocking and enlightening given the juxtaposition of the transformed work with our knowledge of the original work. It’s a compelling artistic endeavor. And transformative work is nothing new. Fans of Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad wrote their own books based on his works. Cervantes’ Don Quixote saw more than a few unauthorized published sequels. John Gardner’s Grendel, a re-telling of Beowulf from the monster’s point of view, was published to great acclaim (which, being one of my favorite books, I definitely recommend you giving it a read). Gregory Maguire’s best-selling Wicked, an alternate take on The Wizard of Oz, is now one of Broadway’s biggest hits. You get the idea. But what about fan-made transformative works? While there are countless pieces of fan fiction and fan art out there, in which fans take their favorite characters and merely continue their stories, genuine transformative works are far less common. But as few and far-between as they may be, their stories really resonate. After the jump, a short list of lesser-known, but by no means lesser-quality, fan-made transformative storytelling that challenge the old adage “there are no new stories.” By JK Evanczuk on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - Comments Off Because a lot can happen in one week and we think it’s worthy to tell you about it, we’re starting a new feature called Midweek Pick-Me-Up. Every Wednesday we sum up the week’s lit & culture news and then help to push you through the rest of the week with a pick-me-up, which is a folksy way of saying we show you a funny video, story, or webcomic. The demise of Reading Rainbow, more discussion about digital readers (as if you haven’t had enough already), and some freaky Twilight-inspired cover art for a classic novel, and more after the jump. A friend of mine recently bought a copy of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight … in French.? Though she studied the language in college and speaks semi-fluently, she’s definitely not a proficient reader of French and reads much more quickly and easily in English.? Nevertheless, she’s forcing herself to plow through the French version of the incredibly successful teen vampire novel just so she can feel less guilty about reading it.? She thinks that most people who see her reading Twilight will think that she has terrible taste in literature, so by reading it in French, she can defend herself as merely practicing another language. While the adults in the publishing industry create rigid genre boundaries, in the minds of readers, these are actually quite flexible.? I’m just as likely to enjoy something on the “Young Adult Fiction” shelf as I am in the “Classics” section. And as the industry continues to suffer during the recession, it’s the sale of young adult content that continues to grow.? So maybe we shouldn’t be so embarrassed? What do you think?? Are there any great hidden gems in the YA section that adult readers should know about?
In our recent paper published in Physical Review A (also available at arXiv:1408.4680), we describe a simple technique to measure the momentum distribution of a strongly interacting quantum gas. We have used well known concepts from Fourier optics to investigate three operations on the gas: focusing, collimation and magnification. When we apply these techniques in our experiment, we see a prominent occupation of low momentum states that was not visible in the in-trap density distribution. Sebastian finished his Master's thesis on the BKT-phase transition in a strongly interacting 2d Bose gas. We're very sad to see you go and wish you all the best, Sebastian! In our recent paper which was published in the current issue of Science 342, 457 (2013) (also available at arXiv:1307.3443), we study the formation of a Fermi sea one atom at a time. We investigate the crossover from few to many-body physics in a quasi one-dimensional system using a single impurity atom which interacts with an increasing number of majority atoms that are in a different state. We could show that for the investigated quantum impurity systems as few as four particles are enough to describe the system with the many-body theory. Our work on finite fermionic systems was recently covered in a science blog by Chad Orzel. The article nicely summarizes and explains why few-body systems are interesting and what we are able to do with these kind of systems. In December last year we moved our experiments from the MPIK in Heidelberg to the Physikalisches Institut, also in Heidelberg. In this new building, the rooms for our labs had just been finished before. We decided to keep the optics and vacuum chambers mounted on the tables for the move. This allowed us to start up our experiments quickly: As of now, one experiment is running as good as before the move, the other experiment is steadily getting there. Johanna Bohn recently finished her diploma thesis, which describes the setup of our new dipole trap and the molecular BEC we are able to create in this trap. The thesis can be found here: diplomarbeit_johanna.pdf. In our latest paper we make two distinguishable atoms behave as if they were fermions, and verify this by comparing them to two identical fermionic atoms. The paper has been selected as an editor's suggestion by PRL, and was highlighted by a Physics synopsis: We sucessfully prepared a tunable quantum system consisting of one to ten fermions. We prepare such a system using ultracold Lithium atoms in a micrometer sized optical dipole trap. Due to Pauli's principle one quantum state in the trap is occupied with one atom per spin state (red and blue balls). By tilting the trap we can control the number of remaining quantum states and thus the number of particles. The paper is published in the current issue of Science. The ArXiv version can be found here and there is also a press release (in German) by the University of Heidelberg.
I’ve just go back from a couple of weeks in France and, I have to admit, those Frenchies certainly have a couple of good ideas. I’m not talking about stuff like French fries – we don’t believe that chips were their idea – they are probably Belgium’s only culinary claim to fame. And anyway, that’s not what the French call chips, they call them pommes frites. Nor am I talking about food in general, although I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a country that’s covered wall-to-wall with vineyards. Okay, so the French do know a thing or two about wine, and cheese, a food in general. But let’s get away from gastronomy and look at life in general. There’s the Tour de France, undisputably (in this household) the pinnacle in bicycle racing, if not the ultimate sporting spectacle in the world. But still, that’s not really what I’m talking about, when I’m talking about good ideas. It’s more about how they live, how they treat one another, and especially how they treat their cyclists. The French, in spite of driving on the wrong side of the road (or the right side, as the rest of Europe would claim), have a great respect for cyclists. If they see a cyclist in the road ahead they don’t hoot and drive as close as possible to the poor victim. No, they slow down, indicate to fellow drivers that they are pulling out, and give the feller on two wheels a wide berth. And just in case Johnny Foreigner (a Brit, in this case) forgets what they should do, the French also have signs like this one, which advise how much space motorists should allow for the velocipedist. In fact, quite a few countries have similar signs, but not the United Kingdom. No, here there are no similar signs because no one is prepared to say just how much space we should give to cyclists. The Highway Code suggests simply that the driver gives the cyclist plenty of room when passing. “Plenty of room” gives a lot of room for argument. A recent Transport Research Laboratory study found that, on average, drivers left a gap of 1.18m, significantly less than the French requirement. But that 1.18m gap is an even more significant when compared with a similar survey in 1979, when drivers left 1.79m. I suppose cars are so much bigger now than in 1979, while roads (and cyclists) are still the same size. You could argue that the drivers of modern cars don’t have the space to leave such a large gap, but the corollary argument is that, because so many vehicles are so much bigger, they should leave an even greater margin for error. Especially when you think that any error could be fatal. That’s all that I wanted to say, really, even though there are probably lots more great ideas that the French have had. Oh yes, I can’t forget the other wonderfully bright idea that I came across – the cappuccino dessert that I had in a restaurant in Castres, near Toulouse. This delight consisted of a small tiramisu, panna cotta, crème brûlée, espresso and a dollop of cream – the perfect get-up-and-go-out-and-party-all-night-after-a-long-day’s-ride kind of dessert. Oh, alright, I admit that it was an Italian restaurant. But the dessert was put together by a French chef.
Sagging economic growth and consequently slowing demand is the single largest source of stress for Indian firms, says a recent study by Crisil Ltd. But liquidity pressures are not far behind. As the chart shows, 72% of the companies surveyed fall in the medium and high vulnerability bracket when it comes to liquidity pressures. That is more than the 69% of the firms that face medium and high stress from a fall in demand. A slowing economy has meant a pile-up of inventories and stretched working capital cycles for many companies. At the same time, interest rates—which had shown signs of easing—have been rising owing to the central bank’s defence of the rupee. Not only does a longer cash conversion cycle indicate greater vulnerability to liquidity pressures, in the current scenario, companies will also find it difficult to raise funds both through debt and equity. Larger firms—those with operating income over Rs.1,000 crore—are more susceptible to liquidity pressures because of higher levels of indebtedness and the increasing stress on financing cost, says Crisil. Leaving out the least vulnerable companies, three-quarters of big-sized firms are impacted by liquidity pressures. Crisil’s analysis also ties in with another rating agency Moody’s Investors Service’s findings: higher funding costs for rated Indian companies will put pressure on margins, particularly for firms already challenged by slower growth. While the latter suggests that the larger companies will manage to tide over this period, their credit metrics such as interest coverage and debt service coverage will deteriorate, as interest costs rise, which will reduce headroom under financial covenants. At the very least, margins are likely to be eroded because of higher financing costs.
Sunlight glints off the International Space Station with the blue limb of Earth providing a dramatic backdrop in this photo taken by an astronaut on the shuttle Endeavour just before it docked after midnight on Feb. 10, 2010 during the STS-130 mission. The first-ever year-long mission to the International Space Station will launch in 2015 and feature an American-Russian crew, NASA revealed today (Oct. 5). Two astronauts — one Russian and one American — will launch together in spring 2015 on an experimental endurance mission that will last twice as long as current stays aboard the orbiting lab. The main goal is to gather data that will help lay the groundwork for manned flights to destinations in deep space, officials said. "In order for us to eventually move beyond low-Earth orbit, we need to better understand how humans adapt to long-term spaceflight," NASA's Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager, said in a statement. "The space station serves as a vital scientific resource for teaching us those lessons, and this year-long expedition aboard the complex will help us move closer to those journeys." The announcement confirms speculation that has been bubbling for several months. Earlier this week, a Russian space official claimed the marathon mission was a done deal, but until today NASA had simply said that such a flight was under consideration. [Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records] Launching two astronauts means that one seat on the mission's three-person Soyuz spacecraft may be available for another crewmember. On Oct. 10, British singer Sarah Brightman will make a "groundbreaking announcement" about space travel, and some observers speculate that she — or somebody else — may be taking the Soyuz' third seat as a space tourist. During the 12 years that people have lived continuously aboard the space station, scientists have learned a lot about how microgravity affects the human body. They've documented significant effects, for example, on bone density, muscle mass, strength and vision. But that information has been based on orbital stays that lasted a maximum of six months. Studying astronauts on a year-long mission should yield even greater insights into crew health and performance, researchers said. "We have gained new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from the scientific research conducted on the space station, and it is the perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital laboratory," said Julie Robinson, NASA's program scientist for the International Space Station. "What we will gain from this expedition will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the future." NASA has a keen interest in learning how the human body holds up for long stretches in space, for the agency is currently working to send astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 and Mars by the mid-2030s. A manned roundtrip journey to Mars could take around two years, according to some mission concepts. Neither NASA nor the Russian Federal Space Agency, which is known as Roscosmos, has revealed who the two astronauts will be. A few months ago, however, Russia's Interfax news agency reported that the NASA crewmember could be Peggy Whitson, who recently stepped down as the agency's chief astronaut to rejoin its active spaceflying ranks. While no astronaut has yet stayed aboard the International Space Station for 12 continuous months, such a long stay in orbit is not unprecedented. Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov lived aboard Russia's Mir space station from January 1994 until March 1995, spending 438 consecutive days off the planet.
The fastest serve in tennis doesn't guarantee victory. Credit: Thaiview \| Shutterstock The fastest recorded tennis serve, hit by Australian tennis player Sam Groth at the 2012 Busan Open Challenger in South Korea, rocketed down the court at 163.4 mph (263 kph). Groth, 24, who was ranked 340th in the world at the time, ended up losing the second-round match to opponent Uladzimir Ignatik from Belarus, who was able to return Groth's lightning-fast serve. Groth's serve was so speedy that it increased the world record for fastest tennis serve by a whopping 5.3 percent. The previous fast-serve title was set in 2011 by Croatian player Ivo Karlovic, at 156 mph (251 kph). Some caveats here: The Association of Tennis Professionals doesn't officially recognize speed records because of a lack of consistency in monitoring equipment. Still, the governing body of tennis confirmed that the radar gun at the Busan event was working and that other data collected at the event appeared to be accurate. Tennis is one of the fastest sports on the world — for comparison, the fastest slap shot in hockey was just 106.6 mph (172 kph), and the fastest pitch in baseball was a mere 100.9 mph (162 kph). Both male and female tennis players regularly hit serves clocked at over 120 mph (193 kph). So what makes a fast tennis serve? Some researchers have crunched the numbers and found that taller players tend to hit faster serves, according to Planet-Science.com. In part, long arms and legs may let players swing up to and through the ball, letting them generate greater racket-head speed. But height can also help in a second way. The higher in the air a racket meets the ball, the more a tennis player hits down into the court, which effectively makes the court a bit bigger. Height adds a better angle and gives a player a greater margin of error. For the record, Groth is 6 feet 4 inches (1.9 meters) tall.
Robots may soon subsume many of the jobs humans have long held, such as driving trucks and caring for the elderly. Credit: EPA PHOTO/EFE/Columbia TriStar/Robert Zucker. From driving cars to caring for the elderly, many of the tasks humans perform today will soon be taken over by robots and other forms of artificial intelligence, experts say. But a new report finds that people disagree about whether that future will be an optimistic or a pessimistic one. Researchers surveyed more than 1,800 industry experts, scholars and other analysts about whether they think robots will take over more jobs than they create by the year 2025. Half of the respondents said they think this will happen, while the other half said robotics technology will create more jobs than it takes away, according to the report, released today (Aug. 6) by the Pew Research Center and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, in Elon, North Carolina. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots] "There was obviously no clear consensus at all among the folks surveyed," said Aaron Smith, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center's Internet Project and lead author of the report. In addition, the responses didn't divide along professional lines —people from vastly different industries took similar viewpoints. The majority of those surveyed agreed that robotic technologies such as driverless cars, robot caregivers and intelligent digital agents will be ubiquitous parts of daily life within a decade, but they diverged sharply on whether these developments will have a positive or negative outcome. The 52 percent of respondents who took a positive or neutral view of the future of employment said that historically, technology has taken over some jobs, but has ultimately created more jobs than it has displaced. "Technology will continue to disrupt jobs, but more jobs seem likely to be created," said Jonathan Grudin, a principal researcher for Microsoft in Seattle. These experts claim that humans will find other forms of work that require uniquely human abilities, especially ones that involve creativity, empathy, problem solving and critical judgment. In addition, the technical advances will relieve humans of some of their everyday drudgery, freeing them up to do more meaningful work. Interestingly, as robots take over more mass production work, "a number of people predicted a return to small-scale, artisanal preindustrial modes of civilization,” Smith said. "We’ll be a nation of Etsy producers.” (Etsy is a website where people sell handmade or vintage items.) But not everyone was sanguine about the future robot workforce. The remaining 48 percent of respondents expressed concern about the growing infiltration of machines into the workforce. "As just one aspect of the rise of robots and AI, widespread use of autonomous cars and trucks will be the immediate end of taxi drivers and truck drivers [the No. 1 occupation for men in the United States]," said Stowe Boyd, lead researcher at GigaOM, a media company and research firm based in San Francisco. These experts argued that technology advances did away with many blue-collar jobs in the past, and now threaten to take over white-collar jobs. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created] "Automation is Voldemort — the terrifying force nobody is willing to name," said Jerry Michalski, founder of the think tank REX (the Relationship Economy eXpedition), in San Francisco. "As long as we need fiat currency to pay the rent or mortgage, humans will fall out of the system in droves as this shift takes place." Although a small percentage of people will be very successful in the new robot economy, many more will be forced into lower-paying jobs in the service industry or, at worst, permanent unemployment, some experts say. How to prepare? Many of the survey respondents said they thought that the U.S. educational system isn't preparing children well enough for the future. "Only the best-educated humans will compete with machines," said Howard Rheingold, an Internet sociologist and self-employed writer, consultant and educator. "And education systems in the U.S. and much of the rest of the world are still sitting students in rows and columns, teaching them to keep quiet and memorize what [they are told], preparing them for life in a 20th-century factory," Rheingold said. In addition, political gridlock and economic shortsightedness may prevent the United States from handling the tough choices that robotic technology could bring. Events such as Occupy Wallstreet demonstrate a growing gap between rich and poor, and that gap will widen as human jobs become more scarce, some say. On the surface, the divided opinions reflect different views on where robot technology and artificial intelligence are heading, Smith said. "But really, it was disagreement about how we as society are going to deal with it," he said. Despite these differences, the respondents who saw a positive future for employment and those who saw a negative one agreed on a few things. "Both groups agreed that, as a society, we are in control of our own destiny on this," Smith said. "We have the ability to choose whether we have a good outcome or a bad outcome."
Microsoft Translator launches Language Labs – Contextual Thesaurus, Bookmarklet, and Universal Text Input The Microsoft Translator team, which powers the translation service behind Bing, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and recently Facebook and other global services like eBay and Trip Advisor, recently launched a new portal called Language Labs. The new portal features experimental new features and research prototypes from the Microsoft Translator research team, which may one day become an actual service or be integrated in various Microsoft products. As of today, Language Labs provides three experimental features – Contextual Thesaurus, Translator Bookmarklet, and Universal Text Input – for you to try out. We’ll go into details of each below: To put it simply, it is an English-to-English machine translation system that lets you explore alternate ways of expressing the same sentence, phrase, or idea. How it differs from traditional thesaurus is that it provides synonyms or near synonyms for words according to its context. For example, try looking up the word “break” in a conventional thesaurus, then look up “businesses are asking for tax breaks” in the Contextual Thesaurus, and you will see the difference. You can try out the Contextual Thesaurus by going to http://labs.microsofttranslator.com/thesaurus now. You can try out the Translator Bookmarklet by going to http://labs.microsofttranslator.com/bookmarklet Universal Text Input (IME) Long Zheng from iStartedSomething has a nice overview for this service: For large parts of the world, not only is English not the primary language but the localized text is not even composed of Latin/Roman characters. Besides the fact that most IBM PC-standard keyboards only have Latin characters, it’s physically impractical to design one for languages such as Chinese with thousands of unique characters. That’s where Input Method Editors, or IMEs, come in. Now an experimental Microsoft Translator Labs project “Universal Text Input” is beginning to port an IME to the web, independent of the operating system. Currently only a small set of languages are available: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Greek, Japanese and Russian. Not only can you try the service on http://labs.microsofttranslator.com/uime, but you can also install the Universal Text Input bookmarklet for your favorite browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox) so that it works on any text box on the web. Pretty nifty feature! We expect more features will be added to the Language Labs page over time, so check it out by visiting http://labs.microsofttranslator.com! You can also provide feedback for any of the services by going to the Microsoft Translator Forums. (Thanks to Leonardo for the tip!)
“Willpower is completely overrated and just doesn’t deliver.” —Dave Kirchhoff, CEO of Weight Watchers Kirchhoff is right; willpower is overrated. I consider myself a fairly hard worker, but I’d never trust myself to keep accountable for my own goals. Our minds have a tendency to focus on the here and now, whereas goals are inherently future oriented. To boot, the research behind ego depletion seems to point to the idea that our willpower is a finite, limited resource, that can’t keep running at 100% during all waking hours of the day. Therefore, the less we use it for tasks that can be automated/outsourced, the more we’ll have available for when we really need it. As such, the purpose of this post is to communicate the importance of automating the task of keeping yourself accountable. Thankfully, there are plenty of free tools out there that assist with keeping you accountable for goals you’ve committed to, which I’ll discuss. Strategies Used By Marketers & Project Managers There are plenty of strategies out there for keeping yourself accountable for challenging goals, but the strategy I’ve found works best is that of repeated reminders. When you have a lot on your plate, goals can easily take a backseat to the urgent tasks in your life (and rightfully so). This is unavoidable, and you shouldn’t feel bad if you ever need to put your goals on the sidelines temporarily. However, it takes a lot of mental energy to summon those goals back up and resume where you left off. This step is so difficult, in fact, it’s a pain point for a lot of people. This is why, in the online advertising world, remarketing campaigns are so effective. If someone expresses interest in an item, but doesn’t buy it right away, marketers have found that repeated reminders – typically through a bombardment of ads for that product – can cause a non-buyer to eventually follow through with the purchase. If the customer was expected to remember to revisit the purchase later, without any assistance from the advertisements, purchase rates would plummet. I believe our goals are the same way. Rather than expecting ourselves to pick right back up where we left off with our goals, why not let an automated system do the summoning and “remarket” our goals to ourselves? The whole point is to have a system that can poke at you, and bring goals to the surface of your mind. And just by the fact that the goal is now a thought in the forefront of your mind, you’re more likely to act on it, without much additional perceived effort. While most of my thoughts on this are anecdotal, there is related research on the effects of priming in daily life that appears to have a similar effect (for more on this, check out Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely). Furthermore, when you take the time to properly validate your goals with concrete actions steps, it’s so much easier to pick back up with a goal if you’ve let it slide for a little while. Having a system that lets you validate your goals in advance is crucial (I use Trello for this, as you’ll see below). Now that we’re familiar with the concepts of repeated reminders and validation, let’s review my personal system for automating accountability and sparing willpower. 1) Google Calendar Emails I have my Google Calendar set up so that it emails me whenever I have an event or appointment coming up. I like this because: - If you don’t receive an email, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that you still have the appointment once dismissing the pop-up. - Archiving the email reminders gives you a sense of progress once the meeting / event is complete. - It allows me to use Google Calendar as an accountability system It’s that last point that I want us to focus on. When Google Calendar can poke at you through your inbox (or text message, if you think that will be more effective than email), you can schedule follow-ups with yourself. For example, I read The Startup of You late last year (fantastic book, by the way), and I wanted to hold myself accountable for the many takeaways contained within. Upon starting this blog post in late May (roughly six months since finishing the book), I received this email from Google Calendar (click to enlarge the screenshot): I immediately thought, “Oh crap! It’s been awhile since I’ve paid attention to this. Let me pull up the notes I’ve taken, and projects I’ve set up on Trello, and see how my progress has been these past six months. If it hasn’t been good, it’s time to get serious.” It’s so easy to schedule a Google Calendar event a couple of weeks/months down the road to check in on projects you would hope you haven’t forgotten about. If you don’t want to enable email reminders for your entire calendar, you can create a dedicated calendar just for these kinds of follow-ups, and enable email reminders for that calendar only. You can likely do this in other calendar applications as well. As I’ve discussed in a recent blog post on validating your inspirations, Trello is fantastic way to translate dreams into real steps. For example, if you read an inspiring book, you should start translating your inspiration into concrete projects and action items as soon as possible. Otherwise, it probably won’t be acted upon. Below is my current setup for tracking my projects and staying accountable through Trello. I had to edit out a few of the projects for the privacy of those I’m collaborating on those projects with (click the image to enlarge): So simple, yet so powerful. FutureMe.org allows you to write an email to your future self, which will be delivered at a specified time. I’ll typically write an email to myself and have it be delivered 6 months or a year in the future. These emails discuss, at a high level, goals and achievements that I’d like to have accomplished (or close to accomplished) by the time the email gets delivered to my future self. When I receive these emails, I’ve usually forgotten that I’ve even written one, so it catches me by surprise. Upon reading it, I’ll either feel great that I’ve made the progress I wanted, or, to put it frankly, feel like shit for falling behind. If the latter, I’ll immediately revisit the goals I’ve been falling behind on, and put together a plan to remedy the situation. I’d highly recommend trying this service out and seeing how you respond to those emails from your past self. Do you have any go-to strategies for keeping yourself accountable for things you’d like to get done in life? Share them in the comments below!
Coaching for Better Communication, Part 2 Effective Limit Setting Burke, Virginia, USA From: LEAVEN, Vol. 36 No. 4, August-September 2000, pp. 73-74 This is the second of a three part series about coaching for better communication. There are times when a Leader can offer the encouragement of coaching support in addition to information. Part 1, "Coaching for Effective Communication" appeared in the June-July, 2000 issue of LEAVEN and Part 3, " Coaching for More Effective Communication with Your Doctor" appeared in the October-November issue. There are times when a Leader can offer the encouragement of coaching support as well as information. Some limits don't require any thought. "You can't bring a wet dog in the house." "The family rule is that everyone sits down to dinner together on Wednesday nights." "I'm not available to help with the paper drive next week." "Children don't play in the road." These limits don't require any thought because the person involved has either formulated an answer long before the occasion arises or doesn't care how the other person responds. When you are caught off guard or are afraid that your limit will cause the other some pain, it becomes more difficult. Effective limit setting is a confrontational skill that requires preparation and practice; that's the bad news. The good news is that practice makes effective limit setting easier. There are four basic steps to setting a limit: Deciding upon your limit, initially stating the limit as clearly as possible, listening to the response, and repeating the limit until it is accepted. Coaching someone who wants to set a limit might sound like this: Sara: Did you ever have a problem with your mother-in-law? Leader: That's an interesting question. Sounds as though you are having difficulty with yours. Sara: I know she means well, but she is really aggravating right now. Ever since Sammy was born, she has been coming over to the house and cleaning up. She comes over two or three times a week, does the laundry and puts things away. The pampering was wonderful for a while, but I want my house back. Leader: You're anxious because she seems to you to be intruding on your space. Sara:. Exactly. I can't find anything and I've begun to feel as though it's more her house than mine. Leader: Sometimes it is difficult to say no to someone, especially someone you care about. Sara: That's true and you don't know my mother-in-law. Certainly I've said no any number of times. My mother-in-law, Joanne, didn't get to be a top real estate saleswoman by taking no for an answer. She just says, "Oh, don't be silly. I love doing this for you," and continues on her merry way. I dread this ongoing conflict. Leader: It sort of sits out there like a black cloud. You can see it coming, but you feel helpless. What you want to do is called limit setting. If you'd like we could rehearse the confrontation. I find that to be very helpful when I'm stuck in situations like this. Sara: I think that would be very helpful. It would give me a chance to prepare myself. Where do we start? Leader: The first thing to do is decide exactly what your limit is and how to phrase it so that your mother-in-law has as little negative reaction to it as possible. Sara: She's just trying to be nice, I think. My father-in-law was a military man and was often overseas or at the other end of the country. Over the years she has told us how challenging it was to take care of five children without his help. I guess this was something she always dreamed of for herself, someone nearby who could look after her. Leader: So, your limit is? Sara: I guess the thing that bothers me is that she doesn't consult with me. I never know when she's coming or what she's going to do. Leader: So your limit is that you want to be consulted about the housework. Sara: Yes. I want her to call before she comes and I want to have a say in what she does in the house. Does that make sense? Leader:Yes. That's a well-stated limit. The limit setting process has a pattern that is helpful. First you describe the behavior and its concrete effect on you; second listen for a response and empathize with it; third acknowledge the other person's position and give positive feedback. Then you state your limit, and recycle this process until the other person accepts the limit you have set. Okay, Sara, can you describe the behavior and its concrete effect on you? Sara: Well, Joanne comes barging into the house at all times of the day and the next thing I know the house is topsy-turvy and I have no idea what's going on. Leader: I think I've got the picture, Sara, but I'm not sure how helpful it would be to say it like that. Could you say something like, "Joanne, when you come over to the house without calling first and start cleaning without consulting me, as you did yesterday, I feel disconcerted because I have to replan the whole day." Sara: I guess I could say that. Then what do I say? Leader: The next step is to listen to her reaction and try to make her understand that you heard what she had to say. Sara: Okay. Joanne, when you come over to the house without calling first and start cleaning without consulting me, as you did yesterday, I feel disconcerted because I have to replan the whole day. Leader (as Joanne): Well my goodness. I was just trying to help. I know what it's like to have a new baby and no one to help out. Sara: Now I've hurt your feelings. I'm sorry. I just can't stand it when people come over and move.... Leader: Whoa! Try repeating her feelings back to her. Sara: You feel hurt because you've been trying to do a good thing and it seems as though I'm unappreciative. Leader: Sara that was wonderful! I think you hit the nail on the head! (Joanne) "Yes, exactly. I was hoping that I was being helpful" Now, here's where you acknowledge her position and give her some positive feedback. Sara: Hmmm. I've noticed how much work you've done around here. You've really lightened the load for me. Leader: This is a perfect place to state your limit. Sara: From now on, I'd like you to call before you come over and consult with me before you do anything in the house. Leader: (Joanne) Well, if that's the way you feel about it, I just won't help out at all! Sara: Oh no! Now what? Leader: See if you can reflect her feelings back to her again, say something genuinely positive and then repeat your limit, exactly the way you said it the first time. Sara: You feel so insulted that you're considering not helping out at all. I want you to know that I've appreciated your lending a hand at such a busy time. From now on, I'd like you to call before you come over and consult with me before you do anything in the house. Leader: This method is also called the "broken record" and when you repeat the limit over and over again, in the same words, it does sound like a broken record. Dr. Robert Bolton says in his book that it can take as many as eight to ten repetitions before the other person really gets it. Sara: Eight to ten repetitions? Wow! How important is it that the words stay the same? Leader: The limit actually gains strength by staying the same. The other person becomes convinced that you must really mean what you are saying. That's another reason why you should think your limit through in advance of any confrontation. Ready to try it or do you need more practice? Sara: No, I'm psyched. I'm going to go home and do this before I lose my nerve. Leader: Don't forget to listen to her responses. Your success hinges on it. Coaching is an important tool for Leaders. Some people need more than information. They need an opportunity to practice new ways of talking to the important people in their lives. The final article in this series about Leaders coaching others for better communication will appear in the next issue of LEAVEN. The topic will be dialoguing with a doctor. This article is the continuation of a theme on coaching for better communication from the last issue of Leaven. The other articles in this series: - Coaching for Effective Communication (Part One) - Coaching for More Effective Communication with Your Doctor (Part Three)
Results 1 - 1 of 1 Refined by:Sites and Collection: Rochambeau Map Collection Remove Subject: Buildings, Structures, Etc Remove Location: Canada Remove Scale ca. 1:7,000. Oriented with north to the right. Relief shown by hachures. Shows fortifications. Indexed for points of interest. LC Maps of North America, 1750-1789, 595 Available also through the Library ... - Contributor: Le Rouge, Georges Louis - Original Format: Maps - Date: 1755
Valley View Ranch - Healing Land(Durand, Wisconsin) Compact plants with dark blue-green, finely curled, thick leaves. Cold resistant when mature. Lemon Balm Tea (From: $1.55 ) Used for treating gas, colic, nerve pain, insomnia, heart problems and much more. Romaine Lettuce / Green Towers - organic seeds (From: $1.99 ) 74 days. One of the finest Romaine for home garden production. Dark green plants. Catnip Seeds Organic / Nepeta Cataria (From: $1.05 ) Nepeta is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. Damiana Loose Leaf (From: $3.75 ) Test tube studies suggest potential benefits for female hormonal and reproductive systems! (From: $2.35 ) Used by European Herbalists for Centuries! Latin name "taraxacum" literally means disorder and remedy! Garden Huckleberry Seeds The flavor of the berries is improved by allowing them to remain on the plant until after the first frost. General Lee Cucumber Seeds - popular slicer (From: $1.45 ) General Lee has the ability to handle stress well and has resistance to powdery mildew. Passion Flower (Passiflora) Tea / Herb (From: $1.20 ) Passiflora may aid the transition into a restful sleep without any 'narcotic' hangover. Blue Violet Leaf / Medicinal Herb Sweet violets have various other uses in the garden, including various medicinal uses. Borage Seeds - Organically Grown herb (From: $2.05 ) Borage Leaf is used to balance adrenal and other glandular functioning. Supports cardiovascular system. Common Mallow Tea (From: $7.45 ) Common mallow is used to combat colds accompanied by a sore throat, a dry, hacking cough and bronchitis. Valley View Ranch is located in the beautiful Chippewa river valley of western Wisconsin about 60 miles east of Minneapolis/St.Paul.
In some cases, we want to save money on film. Why not try doubling the entire roll of film or swap it with someone to come up with great photos? By saying doubling the whole roll of film, I do not mean that you press the MX button every other time after you pressing the shutter. Instead of doing this, you can just reload the film in your camera and shoot with that roll again! Personally, each time I put a new roll in my LC-A+, I’ll fold the beginning of the film at a sprocket hole so that the teeth can go into the hole easily. Alternatively, you can mark the position by a marker. Usually, this method will help you align your shots. Set the ISO rating to underexpose it by 1 step, i.e. set ISO 200 for an ISO 100 film. By doing this, you won’t have your shots overexposed. Another tip is to try not to shoot at the sun. This will definitely cover your other shots on the same frame! Well go and have a try. Here are some film swap photos: Feel free to give more tips by leaving some comments below.
London Pass BlogBack to Blog Experience Northern Renaissance works at the Queen's Gallery for things to do in London Published: Friday 9th of November 2012 Art lovers looking for things to do in London should head straight to the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, which constantly holds fantastic exhibitions. The gallery is currently hosting an exhibition entitled The Northern Renaissance: Durer to Holbein, which is running until Sunday April 14th. It looks at the 15th and 16th centuries, which were a time of dramatic change in Northern Europe. A time of power struggles between monarchs, religious reformation and scholarly enlightenment, the era provided an inspirational backdrop for artists, who produced works with extremely diverse subject matter as well as top-class technical skill. People visiting the exhibition will find that it brings together more than 100 works by some of the greatest Northern European artists from the time. Highlights include prints and drawings by Albrecht Durer, preparatory drawings by Hans Holbein the Younger which are displayed alongside the finished oil portraits, and mythological paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Experience the best tourist attractions in London for free with a London Pass. Follow The London Pass blog to learn about the latest news with attractions, sights and sightseeing events in the city. As well as useful tips, hints and advice for visitors to the city and how to make the most of your sightseeing time in London. We hope you enjoy… Sunday 5th of May 2013 If you want to see the very best of London attractions, and experience all that the city has to offer,... Saturday 4th of May 2013 London attraction: Meet the legends at Chelsea Stadium! Friday 3rd of May 2013 Things to do in London: Get up close and personal with Queen Elizabeth at the National Portrait Gallery Thursday 2nd of May 2013 Things to do in London: Head down to the Courtauld Gallery for a taste of fine art Wednesday 1st of May 2013 Things to do in London: Indulge your sweet tooth at the M&M store Tuesday 30th of April 2013 Things to do in London: Capture the sights and sounds of London with the Photo Walks of London tour Tuesday 30th of April 2013 London attractions: Go for a glide-by on a Thames River Cruise Tuesday 30th of April 2013 Things to do in London: Lebanese artist hits headlines at the Tate Tuesday 30th of April 2013 Things to do in London: Join King Henry VIII at the Medieval Banquet Monday 29th of April 2013 Things to do in London: Witness the best games in history at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis museum Saturday 27th of April 2013 Things to do in London: Learn the language of the sea aboard HMS Belfast
Scattered over a vast expanse of empty ocean the size of Western Europe, the tiny Cook Islands is a castaway’s dream come true. If you’ve ever fantasised about escaping to a remote desert island, far from the hustle and hum of the modern world, then look no further than these 15 fascinating islands, where you’ll find a thousand years of Polynesian culture sitting side by side with some of the most spectacular natural scenery in the South Pacific. The jewel in the crown is Rarotonga, the largest island – a bewitching blend of craggy mountains, dense jungle and glorious bone-white beaches – but you really need to get out and explore some of the other islands as well. The hook-shaped atoll of Aitutaki, the second most visited by tourists, sits at the top of one of the world’s largest coral lagoons, packed with giant clams and technicolour tropical fish, and ringed by smaller uninhabited islets, known as motu, around its outer edges. Then there’s the small, rocky island of ‘Atiu, with its limestone caves, coffee plantations and bush-beer drinking; the makatea islands of Mau’ke, Mitiaro and Mangaia, where traditional village life still predominates; and the far-flung black pearl fields of Penrhyn and Manihiki, which most visitors never get the chance to see. But don’t plan on doing too much. Time, like most other things in the Cook Islands, has a mind of its own. Days roll by with the island tides: one morning you’ll be exploring taro plantations, swimming in underground caves and dancing till dawn with the locals, and the next, a plane will be waiting to take you home. Make the most of it while you can – paradise is a pretty tough place to find.
Stanley Kubrick was my first Favorite Filmmaker, having discovered 2001: A Space Odyssey in middle school, a film which I still consider to be the greatest science fiction movie ever made. His body of work is impressive in its span of genres, covering war (Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket ), heist (The Killing ), period drama (Barry Lyndon ), dystopia (A Clockwork Orange ), and sexual cultism (Eyes Wide Shut ) to name just a very few. Kubrick is a master filmmaker, a brilliant visual artist whose movies are deep and rife with meaning, both overt and hidden – some to the point where something approaching conspiracy theories spring up. In 1980, Kubrick directedThe Shining , an adaptation of the Stephen King novel in which a man and his wife and son spend the winter in a vacant snowbound mountain hotel where the man is serving as caretaker for the season. Evil lives in the hotel, however, and it begins to affect Jack Torrance, with frightening results. It is an intense and surreal film, a perfect horror movie – but it may be much more than just that. Over the years, film enthusiasts have looked atThe Shining in particular, along with many of Kubrick's other films, and noticed certain possible themes or messages hidden in the woodwork. The new documentaryRoom 237 explores these ideas, looking at nine possible interpretations, including viewing the film as a metaphor for the Holocaust, or the genocide of the Native Americans, or accusing the Apollo 11 moon landing of being a fake. Village 8 presentsRoom 237 as the newest installment in its Louisville Exclusives series. The film will run for a week, ending on Thursday, May 16. Village 8 is located at 4014 Dutchmans Lane. Further theater information and showtimes can be found at the Village 8 website. Image: Internet Movie Database
Use the Implementation Guide to plan your approach to any and all of the Playful Building activities. It offers a facilitation outline to help you organize your presentation; facilitator background information and a shopping list to help you prepare for your program; supporting media lists; and correlations to National Science Education Standards. From there, use the step-by-step activity guides to explore the central idea of an imagined community park: Participants are invited to imagine the park of their dreams! In small groups, they place moveable pieces on a grid, iterating on their plan together to create a plan for a community park. Participants explore how different types of simple machines can be used for fun at a community park. They are challenged to create a simple human machine that transports a bean bag. Many groups solve the challenge with a slide — an inclined plane or an inclined plane that has been twisted into a screw shape — made of their hands. They plan, design, test, and revise a boat (with a bow that serves as a wedge, cutting through water) and update that playground classic, the seesaw (a type of lever). Power and Protect Families or groups of children are challenged to solve two problems that they might face in a community park: providing clean water and supplying electricity (such as for lighting along paths and trails). They explore and test common materials to identify the best low-tech materials that can be used to help filter water for a pond, water playground, pool, or other recreational water feature. In another activity, explore and test common materials to modify model wind turbines to better catch the wind. All Playful Building materials are also available free for educational use at www.starnetlibraries.org. June 18, 2013
Keeping Quiet on Child Abusers - The Kincora Scandal: Political Cover-Up and Intrigue in Northern Ireland by Chris Moore Marine, 240 pp, £6.99, June 1996, ISBN 1 86023 029 6 Under intense pressure from an outraged public and press, the Government last month set up public inquiries into two monstrous scandals involving serial sexual abuse of young people and children in homes in which they had been placed for their own ‘care’. The first inquiry is into abuse in private and council homes in North Wales and follows an earlier inquiry commissioned by Clwyd County Council (now disbanded) and conducted by a high-powered team of three experts led by John Jillings, a former director of social services in Derbyshire. That inquiry concluded that ‘appalling’ sexual abuse went on for years in homes throughout the area. Jillings’s report was so devastating that Michael Beloff, a QC who specialises in libel, warned Clwyd Council not to publish it in case the council received some nasty libel writs. The council’s insurers also warned against publication. Indeed, they said that if the report was published and any of the abused young people sued the council, they would not stump up any damages. Thus pressurised, the councillors kept the report secret. The Secretary of State for Wales, Boy Wonder William Hague, also refused to publish it. Vol. 18 No. 15 · 1 August 1996 Paul Foot, in his review of Chris Moore’s The Kincora Scandal (LRB, 4 July), suggests that there are parallels between what happened at the Kincora Boys’ Home thirty years ago and more recent incidents of sexual abuse in children’s homes. For various reasons, some of which involve the role of M15, many of the parallels he suggests are open to question. But what is more important is that Foot’s account of recent events in the North-West is seriously, and perhaps even dangerously, misleading. He writes that in Cheshire and in Liverpool, stories of abuse in children’s homes ‘have emerged piecemeal from a series of carefully separated trials in which the accused – all of them staff from the homes – have pleaded guilty to a series of charges of buggery, rape and indecent assault on the children in their care’. He goes on to note that one Cheshire solicitor ‘represents a hundred young people who say they have been abused in county council homes – and no one denies their claims’. The impression which is created is that the huge number of allegations made in Cheshire and Liverpool have not been contested in any way. It certainly is the case that there are at least four well-established cases of sexual abuse in which the men involved have pleaded guilty, and in which there appears to be no doubt either about their betrayal of trust or about their conviction. But this is only a part of the story. At least seven more cases are in preparation and a number of investigations are still in progress. In six other cases which have already been heard the investigations are still in progress. In one of them, Shirley Brennan, who faced charges of physical abuse, was acquitted. When police eventually returned the photographic evidence which had been confiscated before her trial she was able to prove conclusively that the most serious allegation against her had been fabricated. In another case in Cheshire a care-worker with an outstanding record was convicted. One experienced local court reporter, who has covered 20,000 cases, said that this was the only one in which he had ever become emotionally involved. When the guilty verdict was passed the defendant broke down in the dock and his family wept. Having heard all the evidence, the reporter felt that it should not have been possible for any jury to arrive at a guilty verdict beyond all reasonable doubt and that this care-worker, who is now in prison, was almost certainly innocent. Even the judge, who said during the trial how impressed he had been by letters from those who had formerly been in the man’s care, spoke of how these letters suggested ‘love in the true sense of the word’. In a case heard earlier this year, Liverpool care-worker Phil Savage was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment after pleading not guilty to a series of charges of sexual abuse which he believes were fabricated in order to gain compensation. His family and friends continue to believe in his innocence and his barrister is launching an appeal against his conviction. In yet another case in Liverpool, which came to an end shortly before Paul Foot’s review appeared, James Traynor was given an 11-year prison sentence. He was led from the court crying out that he was innocent. A local solicitor said that in twenty years’experience of work in criminal courts he had not witnessed such a scene. Neither protestations of innocence nor the opinions of journalists can prove that miscarriages of justice have taken place. But if we are to avoid creating the kind of climate in which miscarriages of justice will actually become invisible, it is important to remember, as Paul Foot uncharacteristically forgets, that there are two sides to any process of justice. Above all, we should both respect and report the simple fact that a number of those accused in North Wales and the North-West have pleaded not guilty and that in some cases they have continued to protest their innocence vigorously while in prison. Nobody can or should be obliged to believe what these men say without further evidence. But to silence their voices altogether, as Paul Foot effectively does in his article, can only serve to deepen the moral panic over children’s homes into which we seem to have fallen. At the very least these voices might persuade us to examine what has really happened in North Wales and the North-West a great deal more carefully and critically than we have yet done. Vol. 18 No. 19 · 3 October 1996 To read Paul Foot’s Trenchiad within weeks of his piece on Kincora Boys’ Home and MI5 (LRB, 5 September) is a disturbing experience. The tone, the language, the hatred, is much the same for a case of paedophilic sexual abuse condoned and exploited by government agents and that of a schoolmaster who misused his legitimate powers of corporal punishment. These are not the same offences, nor ever have been in any legal canon. I know nothing of Kincora, but I did know Trench, probably not a lot less well than Paul Foot. The effect on me of reading the two pieces together is to doubt not my own memories but the balance of Foot’s Kincora judgments. Foot will not have had to read far into the book to find my own encounter with Chenevix-Trench’s penchant. I seem to be one of few who bettered the little man, surely because I was by then very senior and potentially quite a nuisance. Like Foot, I was appalled by that aspect of his schoolmastership. In my final year, I conspired with the now Chief Secretary to the Treasury to conduct a public debate on corporal punishment that very nearly persuaded senior Etonians of the mid-Sixties – not easily persuaded of this or anything else – that corporal punishment had to go. Trench could have stopped us, and probably wanted to. But he didn’t. The reasons for telling which story are its demonstration, first, that a few, a growing few, of us were by then becoming aware that beating was a revolting means of punishment, precisely because of the way it distorted the behaviour of otherwise potentially enlightened people at both ends of the cane, our own headmaster among them; but second, as Foot well knows, that the Sixties saw the first steps towards the disappearance of a means of disciplining the young that had been standard since as far back as we know about education. Birch-rod humour had been a staple of young male culture for two and a half millennia at least. The point about Trench is not that he did it like his predecessors, the admired Robert Birley, the infamous Keate and all the rest – but that there was something odd about the way he did it. The reasons were doubtless sexual. No doubt they were so in thousands of other cases of pedagogic brutality. That does not make Trench or any of the rest of them into child-abusers on a Kincora scale. He deserves better than to become a by-name because he came at the end of a very long story where there have been many villains as bad or worse. If corporal punishment is child abuse, then it is a fact, regrettable but undeniable, that this vice lies at the root of Western (and not only Western) culture. I carry no particular torch for Chenevix-Trench. He had many good ideas about what should happen to Eton, nearly all of which were blocked by unregenerate reactionaries of a sort that more usually people Foot’s well-stocked pillory. But he was not an easy man to like; and, yes, he was no great teacher. Foot is right about his pervasive charm. But he was a sad case, not a bad one. Which brings me to a final point. However many child-abusers Foot may or may not have known, he must have known many, many ‘drunkards’. He is surely conscious enough of alcoholism to be aware that those who drink as Trench did are not the exponents of yet another vicious habit but victims of a tragically destructive disease. The odds are that, had Trench been born twenty years later, that weakness could have been corralled, just as the other must perforce have been reined in. In reading and admiring Foot’s searing pieces, I have sometimes wondered where all this fury comes from. Perhaps the answer is, after all, the wretched Trench; in which case, Foot stands convicted of the same posterior obsession as his tormentor. My view of the world, that of a historian rather than a journalist, is that it is peopled by inadequates, not villains; people who misuse (much more often than abuse) power, precisely because they have no real clue what to do with it. Foot persuades me that Kincora was a story of unrelieved villainy. My experience of Trench, as of most rulers of academic establishments where I have studied and taught, was not of a villain but of a figure both waving and drowning. Really good educationalists are extremely rare. Utter shits, in my experience, are rarer. Trench was neither. Foot’s villains need exposure. His inadequates deserve something more penetrating. Christ Church, Oxford
Beside a manhole in a street in Clerkenwell, I am presented with the things that will protect me in the hours to come: a white paper overall suit; crotch-high waders with tungsten-studded soles that will grip but won’t spark; a hard hat with a miner’s light; heavy rubber gloves, oversized; a ‘turtle’, a curved metal box that holds emergency breathing apparatus, to strap around my waist, along with a back-up battery; a harness to loop through my legs in case I need to be dragged out. The hazards include diseases like hepatitis A, B and C, leptospirosis (‘sewer workers’ disease’) and rabies. Then there are the gases: methane, hydrogen sulphide, and fumes from whichever effluents London businesses have poured down their drains and toilets today. A form is handed to me, as I stand in the robing section of the Thames Water van, struggling with my waders. The van is well equipped, with a table and microwave, a small TV and a basin and soap. Dirty overalls and cigarettes are banned from the dining area. ‘Sign it there,’ says a man dressed identically to me, except that his paper hood is drawn over his head under his hard hat, because he knows what’s down there and I don’t. He doesn’t allow me time to read the form, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll be harnessed. I’ll be roped. I have breathing apparatus, and I’m with experts. There are a half a dozen men standing around the manhole. They include a consultant, a catchment engineer and several wastewater operatives, as sewer workers are now officially known. But tonight, they are all flushermen. The name is old-fashioned, given to those who once waded into the silt of a sewer and dislodged blockages with brooms and rakes, and opened inlets to flush river water into the sewerage flow, nudging it down to the Thames. Now, as then, they’re all men, and all white. Their equipment is better, of course, than the heavy blue overcoats and wick lamps of a century ago, but the job is probably harder, because there are far fewer of them. When the London Metropolitan Board of Works marked its centenary in 1955, there were 900 flushers. In 1993, there were more than 200. Now there are fewer than forty; and most of them are in their fifties. Henry Mayhew’s description of their predecessors in 1851 still applies: ‘Well-conducted men generally, and for the most part, fine stalwart good-looking specimens of the English labourer.’ They all seem to have very white teeth. It’s 10 p.m. Night is the safest time to enter sewers, when businesses – who contribute the most waste – have closed. This first sewer is safer still, because the flow has been diverted to allow us access. Even if it hadn’t been, it would be only a metre or so deep, because the Fleet sewer, formed by enclosing the Fleet River in brick, isn’t one of the bigger ones. Some are several metres in diameter, wide enough to drive a small car through. Some are barrel-shaped, some shaped like wagons. The newer ones are concrete. The Fleet is egg-shaped, an oval widening towards the bottom, since a shallow flow is safer than a narrow torrent. In the Fleet, we are to hunt for evidence of water pipes leaking into the sewers. The water company knows leaks exist because the water volume is decreasing. Water is being lost in alarming quantities. This could be because rogue connections have been added to the sewer system – a pipe punched through here, a drain added there – which Thames Water can’t do much about, because it’s so hard to trace the culprits. It could be because of an officially installed cable tunnel that has been driven through the ground nearby. It could be because a third of London’s sewers are 150 years old. In the first half of the 19th century, the practice of discharging raw sewage into the Thames turned the river brown and the air into stench. During the Great Stink of 1858, caused by the combination of a hot summer and the failure to dispose of the waste of London’s fast growing population, the drapes of the new Houses of Parliament were doused in chlorine to mask the smell, and MPs debated with handkerchiefs over their noses. Cholera and typhoid were rampant. The engineer tasked with reform by a metropolitan commission of sewers was Joseph Bazalgette. It took 318 million bricks and 16 years to finish the work. Two interceptor sewers, flowing gently downhill, carried the waste away to the east, where it was still discharged into the Thames, if now further from where people lived. Not far enough, though: in 1878, a paddle-steamer collided with a coal barge near Barking, and six hundred passengers drowned in the thick sludge. Treatment plants – precursors of the two massive sites now at Beckton and Crossness – were swiftly built.
Hann Endowed Seminar: "Studying Birds in the Context of the Annual Cycle: Carry-over Effects and Seasonal Interactions" Migratory birds spend different parts of the annual cycle in geographically disparate places. The conditions and selective pressures during each period are likely to affect individual performance during subsequent periods. This simple fact presents considerable obstacles for understanding how agents of global change (i.e., climate, land-use) will influence the ecology, evolution, and conservation of migratory birds. Such inter-seasonal effects are poorly understood within most avian migration systems, in large part because it has been difficult to follow individuals and specific populations year round (i.e., migratory connectivity). In addition, for most species there exists an extreme research bias towards breeding rather than non-breeding season biology. Furthermore, the limiting factors and regulatory mechanisms that determine abundance remain poorly understood for most bird species. In this seminar, Dr. Marra will use his long-term research on redstarts in Jamaica to show how events on wintering grounds, such as climate and habitat affect both arrival time and body condition of individual birds on breeding areas, and how these parameters are likely to have important consequences for breeding events and annual survival. Understanding how global change will influence migratory organisms requires the study biological phenomena in the context of the entire annual cycle. Dr. Peter Marra is a Research Scientist with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, DC. Urban ecology is a key focus of his research. He created the Smithsonian's "Neighborhood Nestwatch" citizen science program. The program collects data on bird survival and productivity around the nation's capital. Dr. Marra also studies migratory biology and emerging infectious diseases among birds. He earned his PhD from Dartmouth College. This seminar is free and open to the public.
The growth in more flexible mortgage products has helped more homeowners get on the housing ladder, yet this has led to many overstretching themselves, making them more vulnerable to arrears and repossession - finds a new LSE paper launched today. The policy discussion paper, At any cost? Access to housing in a changing financial marketplace, was written by Professor Christine Whitehead, professor of housing in the Department of Economics at LSE, and Katrina Gaus, who has recently completed a masters in housing and regeneration at LSE. The paper recommends that better safety nets and insurance products are needed to protect the growing number of people facing difficulties and financial awareness education should be available to enable people to make more informed choices. Commissioned by the housing charity Shelter, the paper looks at how people access housing in a changing financial market place. The charity hopes it will spark further debate around solutions to various problems such as affordability, rising mortgage possessions, irresponsible lending and the impact of buy-to-let on first time buyers. Professor Whitehead said: 'Changes in the finance markets have been helpful to the majority of households - but there are increased risks which bear heavily on those least able to cope. It's not simply up to households to make careful decisions. The industry, the regulators and the government all have responsibility to manage these risks.' A copy of the discussion paper At any cost? Access to housing in a changing financial marketplace can be downloaded as a PDF here. Christine Whitehead is professor of housing in the Department of Economics at LSE, and director of the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research. She can be contacted by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org or calling 020 7955 7527. For more information contact Vicky Smith, Shelter media officer on 020 7505 2162. 12 September 2007
Fearn - Soya Powder - 1.5 lbs. (680 g) Fearn Soya Powder contains precooked, finely-ground soybeans. For use in baking and for making soya milk. Fearn Soya Powder is made from good quality soybeans by washing the beans in water and then steam cooking at a maximum temperature of 215°F. The hulls are removed to avoid grittiness and because they are not a good source of nutrients anyway. The final step is grinding into a fine powder. Fearn does not enhance their product with additional isoflavones. Studies to date show no added benefits to having more than the naturally occurring levels of approximately 2 milligrams per 1 gram of protein present in their product. No solvents or other processing agents are used and nothing is added. Natural Soya Powder is 100% natural, 100% soybean product. Fearn hopes you enjoy its rich, nutty flavor. What's the Difference Between Soya Powder and Soya Flour? Soya flour is made by grinding whole dry soybeans into flour in the same way wheat kernels are ground into flour. Soy flour often contains considerable hull material, is more coarse, and may even be raw. Soy flour is often dry-toasted after grinding to improve flavor and digestibility it may be used in baking recipes. Soya Powder is made by cooking the soybeans before grinding. Soya powder is finer than soy flour and usually has a better flavor. It may be used to make soya milk and it may also be used in baking recipes. Fearn Natural Soya Powder is an important ingredient in Fearn Pancake Mixes and many of their other products because it adds a good, nutty flavor and the excellent nutrition of soya. Try it in your favorite recipes too. Processed For Natural Flavor Soybeans belong to the legume family along with peanuts, lentils, and more types of beans and peas. While grains such as wheat, corn, beans and other legumes require cooking before they are eaten in order to enhance nutrition, digestibility and flavor. About Fearn Natural Foods In 1930, Dr. Fearn was the first to produce a good tasting powder from Soya, a great source of protein and essential amino acids. Today, Soya powder remains a nutritious ingredient in many Fearn Natural Foods products, boosting their nutritional value and their flavor. Their Rice products are made from the best quality grains, and are terrific for people with sensitivity to wheat and rye. Their Liquid Lecithin is a great, healthful addition to foods and beverages. Fearn Natural products are made from 100% All-Natural sources. Their cake mixes are made with 100% certified organic stone-ground whole-wheat flour. Their products are delicious, user-friendly, with no preservatives, additives, solvents or added sugars.
Pennsylvania may be one step closer to private liquor sales. The House Liquor Control Committee has voted in favor of House Bill 790, which calls for the privatization of Pennsylvania's state-owned liquor stores. The bill, which now moves to the full House of Representatives for a vote, was sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, who called the vote to pass the bill out of committee "the most expansive wine and spirit legislation to pass out of committee since the end of Prohibition." Gov. Tom Corbett, who has been championing the cause of liquor-store privatization, expressed his enthusiasm for the bill. "This is a momentous first step to bring Pennsylvania into the 21st century and provide Pennsylvanians with the convenience and choice that Americans in 48 other states enjoy," he said. House Bill 790, as amended in committee, now includes a series of reforms for beer, liquor and wine sales in Pennsylvania. The amended bill allows beer distributers to expand their businesses to sell liquor and wine, as well as beer. The bill also allows private wine wholesalers to sell products to customers. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board would continue to operate state stores until retail outlets are double the number of existing state-operated outlets. In the House, the bill would be open to amendments and further debate.
Born: April 11, 1914, Chicago, Illinois Died: February 5, 1988, Providence, Rhode Island Dorothy Lewis Bernstein was a mathematics professor at Goucher College who was instrumental in introducing computers into mathematics curricula. In April 1979, Bernstein published "The Role of Applications in Pure Mathematics" in the American Mathematical Monthly based on talks given to the Southeastern Section and the Iowa Section of the MAA a year earlier. During her presidency, the classification of finite simple groups was thought to be completed with Michael Aschbacher's work in August 1980. A special session on the classification of finite simple groups was held at the 1981 national meeting. A long-standing conjecture by van der Waerden was proved independently by Falikman in 1979 and by Egorychev in 1980. Education and Career Bernstein graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin in 1934. She received her Ph.D. from Brown University in 1939. Bernstein taught at Mount Holyoke College, the University of Wisconsin, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Rochester, but she spent the majority of her academic career as a professor of mathematics at Goucher College. Bernstein taught at Goucher for 21 years, beginning in 1959, and chaired the mathematics department for 15 of them (1960-70, 1974-79). She took sabbatical leaves for research at the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of California at Los Angeles, Brown University, and the University of Tennessee. Her professional interests included analysis, probability and statistics, and the use of computers in the mathematics curriculum, of which she was an early supporter. Through her efforts, in 1961 Goucher became the first women's college to have a computer. Bernstein co-founded the Maryland Association for the Educational Uses of Computers and helped introduce computers into the high school mathematics curriculum in Baltimore County, Maryland. Bernstein also instituted an internship program for mathematics majors at Goucher. Bernstein served as first vice president of the MAA in 1972-73 and won the MAA's Certificate of Meritorious Service in 1985. She was also a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Agnes Scott College biography Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's MAA Officers Records, Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, President at the Archives of American Mathematics The Mathematics Genealogy Project "Dorothy L. Bernstein, 1914-1988" by R.P. Boas (MAA FOCUS, Volume 8, Number 4, page 5)
Georgia Transportation Enhancement Advertising - Information on requesting and reviewing bids for your project. Air and Noise - Information on assessing air quality and noise impacts. Categorical Exclusion - Information on preparing the Categorical Exclusion document. Concept - Information on completing the Concept Report. Construction - Information on general construction reporting, DBE reporting, financial reporting and TE Agreements. Design - Information on preparing design plans and utility certifications. Ecology - Information on preparing the ecology report. NTP for PE - Information on selecting a consultant. QCQA - Contains the GDOT QC/QA Sheet for CE documents. Reevaluation and Environmental Validation (EV) - Contains the Reevaluation and Environmental Validation (EV) forms. Right of Way - Information on preparing ROW plans and acquiring ROW and easements. Section 106 - Information on preparing the Section 106 worksheet. TE Sponsor Guidebook July 2011.pdf - TE Sponsor Guidebook July 2011 in .pdf format.
Today I’m really excited to share a recipe with you that’s one of my family’s favorites and has a lot of meaning for me. It’s bread rolls, or “roll-ppang” in Korean. “Ppang” is Korean for bread, and “roll” is a Korean word borrowed from English. You might think that this recipe has nothing to do with Korean food, but it’s something many Koreans make at home. This is one of my family’s favorites and brings back good memories for me, when I used to make these as a snack for my children when they came home from school. They were so happy to smell and see the rolls when they got home, I never forgot the looks on their faces and it makes me smile, even today. If you’ve been cooking for a long time like me, you know that certain recipes remind you of certain periods of your life when you made them all the time. These bread rolls are like that for me: whenever I make them again I’m reminded of when my children were young and studying hard. Now they’re all grown up and I don’t cook for them anymore, but we all have good memories of roll-ppang. I hope you enjoy these with your family, too! This recipe was taught to me by a friend of mine in Korea. She studied nutrition and was a great cook. She had three sons and her house was always full of food! The first time she showed me how to make these I couldn’t believe how delicious they were! I rushed home to make them for myself. So light and fluffy! For me and my friends, the ideal roll-ppang splits apart into light pieces like perfectly cooked chicken breast. Her recipe is perfect every time. The key is to let them rise the second time for a full hour. Even if they look perfect after 30 minutes, let them rise for the full hour, and they will be super-fluffy! I always served these rolls with milk and homemade strawberry or grape jam, two things my children also loved. It was a perfect snack between lunch and dinner, but me and my friends experimented with this recipe to make all kinds of things: fried twisted donuts, buns with vegetable chunks inside, and even sausage rolls. You could also serve them as dinner rolls with a bit of butter. In this recipe i made a small batch, but you can double or triple the recipe, whatever you can eat comfortably over a few days. If you make a larger batch, you’ll have to keep the rolls in the fridge as you form them, otherwise by the time you finish forming the last one, the first one will have started to rise already! For large batches, I recommend you put them in the fridge one by one as you make them, and when you’re finished bring them out so they can rise all at once. Enjoy the recipe and let me know how they turn out! Ingredients (for 6 rolls): serves 3 to 4 - 3 tablespoons butter - ½ cup cold milk - 2 tablespoons sugar - ¼ teaspoon salt - 1 large egg - 2 teaspoons dry yeast - 1 ½ cups plus ¼ cup all purpose flour - 1 egg white - Heat the butter in a large heavy pot. Turn off the heat. - Add the milk, sugar, and salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon until thoroughly dissolved. - Crack the egg, add to the mixture and mix well. Add the dry yeast and let it all sit for 1 minute. - Add 1 ½ cups flour and mix well with the wooden spoon (or rice scoop) for about 1 minute. The dough will be very sticky. - Cover the pot and let it rise for 1 hour until it doubles in size. - Deflate and knead the dough by hand for 1 to 2 minutes and cover again. Let it rise for 30 minutes. - Deflate and fold the dough for another minute until it makes a smooth dough ball. - Place the 1/4 cup flour on the cutting board and sprinkle with some flour. Transfer the dough ball to a dusted cutting board and divide into 6 equal size pieces. - Rub a piece of dough between your hands until it forms into a cylinder. Put it on the dusted cutting board and roll it out with both hands until it’s about 8 inch in length. Coil it around itself and bring the end from the bottom up and over to the top of the coil so you can insert it into the center. The dough is very soft and sticky. When you shape the rolls, dust your fingers with some flour so the rolls don’t stick to them. Put it on a non stick baking pan (I used 7 x 8 inch pan in the video). - Repeat with the remaining dough pieces. Be sure to leave enough room in between the rolls for them to expand. - Let it rise for 1 hour. - Preheat oven to 350° F for 5 minutes. Gently brush the rolls with the egg white and bake for 15 to 17 minutes until light golden brown. - Brush the remaining egg white onto the rolls. Bake another minute. - Remove it from the oven and serve hot.
Monday 10th September 2012 Policy for this edition of Sharing good practice. In recent years, there has been an increased government focus on supporting people with chronic illness back to work. Health, work and well-being – caring for our future, a 2005 green paper driving this agenda, was followed by Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working age population in 2008. The resulting initiatives focused on cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and mental health conditions, and generic long-term conditions. Cancer and work The National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (NCSI) was established in England to develop new models of care for people who have completed cancer treatment. One of the work streams focuses on work and financial issues. This has included the development and testing of a range of tools, resources and interventions to help people living with cancer get back to work. The VR service pilots fall under this work stream. Since the pilots began in England in April 2010, VR services have been developed in the other home nations. More recently, the English Government has significantly reformed welfare support, as set out in the white paper Universal Credit: welfare that works. Up until March 2011, Pathways to Work and the Condition Management Programme were designed to support people with a health condition or disability back into employment. These programmes now only exist in Northern Ireland. In England, Scotland and Wales, these programmes were replaced by the Work Programme. Work Programme services are provided by independent providers and offer a more flexible, personal back-to-work support. Jobcentre Plus pre-work programme offer This Jobcentre Plus offer was introduced in April 2011 for people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Income Support. The offer precedes entry into the Work Programme and allows advisers and claimants to work together to compile a back-to-work programme that suits individual needs and circumstances. It also includes Health Related Support, which helps people maintain health and wellbeing while out of work, as well as manage health conditions while preparing to enter or return to work. Partners and carers of people claiming these benefits can also join the programme. Access to Work scheme Access to Work supports people with disabilities or health conditions in England, Scotland and Wales to stay in work. Funding is available to people either in work (including self-employment), about to start work, or off on long-term sickness absence. It funds things like physical adjustments, support workers, taxis and counselling. There is a similar programme of the same name in Northern Ireland. A programme called Workable is also available in Northern Ireland. It offers a range of support designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities and their employers. Contact your local Jobs and Benefits office for more information. This new government programme was launched in October 2010 and replaced three existing programmes (WORKSTEP, Work Preparation and the Job Introduction Scheme (JIS)). Work Choice provides specialised support to people with disabilities whose needs cannot be met by other work programmes or workplace adjustments. The JIS still exists in Northern Ireland and will help cover a new employee’s first few weeks of wages while the employee and employer decide whether the job is suitable. People with cancer are protected from discrimination in the workplace. In England, Scotland and Wales this is under the Equality Act 2010 The Disability Discrimination Act preceded the Equality Act and still applies in Northern Ireland. Under both pieces of legislation, someone who has, or has had, cancer cannot be discriminated against. An employer must also make reasonable adjustments to the workplace or role so their employee can continue working. Under the Equality Act, employers can no longer ask questions about a candidate’s health during the recruitment process. Therefore potential employees need not disclose a cancer diagnosis until after being offered a job. Please see the references section. Continue reading Sharing good practice Part one - Vocational rehabilitation: building work into a care plan Part two - Evidence base
Massage therapy and cancer Massage is often offered as part of cancer care in cancer centres, hospices, community health services and some GP surgeries. Massage is a form of structured or therapeutic touch. It can be used to: relax your mind and body improve the flow of fluid (lymph) in the lymphatic system enhance your mood. Some studies of people with cancer suggested that massage therapy reduced symptoms such as pain, nausea, anxiety, depression and fatigue. There are different types of massage therapy. Some are soft and gentle, while others are more active and may be uncomfortable. Your therapist will be able to adjust the pressure for your comfort. Cancer doctors and complementary therapists will usually advise you to try gentle massage and avoid vigorous, deep tissue massage. Some people worry that massage could cause cancer cells to spread to other parts of their body. Research has not found any evidence of this, but massage therapists will avoid any areas affected by cancer, such as tumour sites or lymph nodes. Talk to your cancer doctor or nurse if you’re worried. Massage therapists working with people with cancer must be properly trained and qualified. They should have some knowledge of cancer and its treatments. They can sometimes teach relatives or friends how to do basic massages, so that they can support you at home. During your therapy it’s important to avoid massage: directly over a tumour or lymph nodes (glands) affected by cancer (lymph nodes are part of the immune system and help to filter germs and disease) to areas that are bruised or sensitive to areas being treated with radiotherapy during and for a few weeks after it finishes around intravenous catheters (such as central lines) and pain relief patches to areas affected by blood clots, poor circulation or varicose veins. It’s also important to be particularly gentle if: cancer has spread to your bones you have a low platelet count (platelets are cells that help the blood to clot). If you tend to bleed or bruise easily or have cancer in your bones, speak to your doctor before having massage therapy. You can contact the GMCT to find a trained massage therapist. How have we created this information? Read our statement about how we have written and reviewed our information about complementary therapies.
Stories behind Words: dapperPosted by Michael Rundell on March 06, 2013 I was never cut out to be a language teacher. In the summer of 1980, I was teaching English in London. The school wasn’t very good, and I was even worse. I answered an ad for ‘trainee lexicographers’ to work on a new learner’s dictionary, and soon found myself in a publisher’s office, doing a test to see whether I had the requisite skills. Part of the test involved writing sentences to illustrate particular words in natural-sounding contexts. And one of these words was dapper. Hmmm … what to say? I knew it meant ‘smart’ (in the British sense of ‘well-dressed’) and I was pretty sure it was a word you only used about men. Eventually I came up with something like: He was a dapper little man in a dark suit. There are two additional features here: the dark suit hints at a certain kind of ‘smartness’ (formal and correct, rather than stylish or unconventional); and the little implies that dapper men are usually of less than average height. With the language resources available to us now, we can confirm that both these features are typical. For instance, our corpus includes about 40 cases of dapper occurring with small, short, or (especially) little, and in most cases the subject is a middle-aged or older man – as these examples show: We were met by a regular army sergeant. He must have stood all of five foot tall, a short dapper little man. Silver-haired and very dapper in black jacket, waistcoat, and striped trousers, he was the quintessence of an old-school Cambridge don. But where did that sentence of mine come from? The late John Sinclair – the father of corpus lexicography – often warned against relying on intuition, rather than on the objective evidence of a corpus. And in principle he was right: our intuitions about language are subjective and often untrustworthy. But somewhere in our mental lexicons, there are facts about what words mean and how they combine. We may not be able to articulate them, but we draw on them whenever we write or speak. Donald Rumsfeld famously distinguished ‘known knowns’ (things we know that we know), known unknowns (things we’re aware that we don’t know) and – what worried him most – ‘unknown unknowns’ (things we don’t even realise we don’t know). But he missed one out: unknown knowns – things we do know at some level, but without being conscious that we know them. And that includes our intuitions about language. The test made me think about how wonderfully subtle words can be (offering such precise shades of meaning) and made me realise that it would make more sense for me to work with language than to try teaching it. Oh yes, and I got the job. Email this Post About Michael Rundell Michael Rundell is Editor-in-Chief of the Macmillan dictionaries and a director of Lexicography MasterClass, a company that runs dictionary projects and training courses in lexicography and lexical computing. He is the co-author (with Sue Atkins) of the Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography (2008). Very interesting. I looked quickly through the 690 or so ukWaC lines for ‘dapper’ and didn’t find a single one describing a woman, though ‘dapper’ often describes clothes, and occasionally animals, buildings, even a car. (I found one ‘dapper, lanky female’ but it turned out to be a bird, a black-throated mango, no less.) However, it collocates slightly more often with young than with older men (though they remain ‘little’), but this is a minor difference, probably reflecting the composition of the different corpora we used. The collocational profile of ‘dapper’ in the American corpus COCA is pretty similar to that of both. I collect adjectives and verbs that are only used about men, or women: there are surprisingly many. Very enjoyable story, Michael (and belated congrats on getting the job!). I’ve used dapper now and then but never consciously associated it with under-average height. What you say about our linguistic intuitions and the subtle shades of meanings that words accumulate dovetails nicely with a passage on the word perky which I posted on Tumblr today, from a book by John McWhorter. I’d say that one of the main qualifications for being a lexicographer is having the kind of feeling for language you describe, Michael. And if someone hasn’t got it I’m not sure they can acquire it (others may disagree) I looked back to the example for dapper in the 2nd edition of the Cobuild dictionary, which will have been lifted more or less intact from the corpus of the time: it is: The bartender, a dapper little man named Al, was beaming at him. So you have the smallness of stature there too, straight from the corpus’s mouth. The benevolence is an added element here; and in fact the word always makes me think of Hercule Poirot as played by David Suchet, who may or may not be short but is generally cordial. […] of LOL and the origin of the word kempt. At Macmillan Dictionary Blog, Michael Rundell gave us the story behind dapper and the difference between who and […] I really just wanted to write that my first association with the word dapper is Hercule Poirot, but Stan (above) has already said that. So my second association is ‘Dapper Dan’ George Clooney’s character’s hair pomade in the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Nice word, nice post. Thanks, Michael – you’ve reminded me of one of my favourite old time music hall numbers – ‘Any old iron’ by Harry Champion. Here he is 1911, using the noun ‘dapper’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiYGowS_a8 Any old iron, any old iron, any, any, any, old iron? You look neat – talk about a treat, You look a dapper from your napper to your feet. Dressed in style, with a brand new tile, And your father’s old green tie on, Oh I wouldn’t give you tuppence for your old watch chain, Old iron, old iron. This line seems to support the idea of smallness, also, because of the use of ‘neat’, which you wouldn’t normally apply to a large, rangy person. Actually there’s loads of great slang words in these old songs- ’tile’ for hat; ‘dial’ for face, ‘napper’ for head. Now I just need to find out how to get this song out of my head! […] trustworthy are our intuitions about […] In the ‘i’ last Thursday the style column was headlined “Stay dapper – and dry”. A tall blond young man models a light-coloured raincoat worn with turned-up jeans; other raincoats on the page are bright red and bright yellow, hooded, reassuringly expensive. The association of ‘dapper’ with a small middle-aged city gent may be on its way out, but they do recommend that you carry a black umbrella iif your choice of rainwear is the ‘always tasteful’ hoodless mac. Just thought you’d like to know…
Preschoolers, children ages 3-5 years are very curious. They ask questions and want to share what they know. Books can help them to explore the world, things in and far from what they encounter each day. Why Read to Preschoolers Curiosity about the world creates excitement for learning. Sharing books exposes preschoolers to people, animals, ideas, and words. Reading and talking about the pictures and story increases the number of words a preschooler can understand and speak. When he understands a variety of words, he will express himself confidently. The enjoyment of books and reading develops a preschooler’s attention span and motivation to begin reading on his own. When and How to Share Books With Preschoolers Read frequently with a preschooler. Make book sharing a bedtime routine. If the child is not familiar with books, start by reading 5-10 minutes. A preschooler experienced with books can participate for at least 20 minutes. Make reading a relaxed, positive experience. When reading is fun, a child will want to repeat the experience, sharing more books and learning more words. Preschoolers have a good sense of humor and enjoy participating. As you read, add sounds, motions, and funny voices. Encourage a preschooler to join in with repeated phrases and motions. Ask questions about the book’s pictures or what is going on in the story. Repeat the answers, adding extra words to describe color, size, shape, etc. Include questions that require more thinking, such as “What is happening on this page?” “Why did the dog visit the cat?” “What do you think will happen next?” Explain unfamiliar words. Talk about ideas, like above/below, which are part of the story, but not easily seen in the pictures. As you read, point to the words. Show that you are reading the words, not the pictures. To hold attention to the story, try using a child’s name, as well as the names of family members or friends. Say the proper names for the parts of a book, such as cover and spine. Tell him people make books…the author writes the words and the illustrator makes the pictures. What Kinds of Books Do Preschoolers Enjoy? Use individual interests, such as dinosaurs, to rope a preschooler into reading! If a preschooler has a book that he wants to share again and again, read it happily. Repetition reinforces understanding of the story’s action and words. Silly stories, as well as stories about friends, community helpers, and family, are popular. Preschoolers enjoy “happy ending” books featuring heroes and villains. Musical stories, such as “Wheels on the Bus”, and stories with repeated phrases, like “The Gingerbread Man”, encourage participation. Expose preschoolers to a variety of books. Don’t forget poetry and non-fiction (true) books. Other Ideas to Help a Preschooler Develop Language Talk with a preschooler, rather than only giving him directions. Encourage him to tell about experiences at school or home. Use descriptive words to add to his comments. Tell stories about your child or family. Create make-believe stories, asking the preschooler to add characters or events. Read signs, food labels/boxes, store flyers, and recipes. Show him that reading everyday print is important and useful. Play “I Spy” (“I spy something ___”) and memory-style games together. Sing songs and read poetry or rhyming books. Singing breaks down words into smaller sounds. Point out rhyming words, then ask him, for example, “What sounds like fan?” Practice writing skills by providing a child with pencils, paper, forms, envelopes, and other “junk mail”. Ask his help in creating errand lists. While sharing books or writing lists, talk to him about the shapes, names, and sounds of letters. Visit your library, allowing a child to select his own books. At home, have a shelf, canvas bag, or box to store books. Staple some blank pieces of paper together so that a preschooler can create his own book. As he prepares to enter kindergarten, reading and talking with a preschooler will satisfy his curiosity about the world, help him to understand new words, and create a love of books, all important early literacy skills, which will contribute to his interest in learning to read on his own.
The Importance of Law Acknowledgment for Archipelagic Province Toward the Authority Equilibrium in Managing the Natural Resources in Maritime Territory of Autonomous Region Philosophically, discussion on archipelagic province should be preceded by philosophical system of Pancasila by positioning archipelagic province into the Unitary Republic of the Indonesia and the concept of Archipelagic State Principles. Treatment to be done by the Unitary Republic of the Indonesia toward archipelagic province is balanced equitable treatment; it means that the treatment to the land and water area of archipelagic province should be similar to the land area of non-archipelagic province. Based on the valid regulation, the treatments for archipelagic province all this time are unfair due to unimplemented of balanced equitable treatment, thus it affects to government condition. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the 'macrothink.org' domain to your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders. Copyright © Macrothink Institute ISSN 2161-7104 'Macrothink Institute' is a trademark of Macrothink Institute, Inc.
Apple has been granted a patent for Podcasting. Podcasts are audio or video files created by broadcasters or amateurs. The podcast was made popular by Apple’s iPod, from which it took its name. The name was first mentioned by UK reporter Ben Hammersley in the Guardian newspaper. The word Podcasting was declared word of the year in 2005 by the New Oxford American Dictionary, notes Patently Apple. Now that Apple owns the rights to its podcasting process it could make it difficult for third parties to use the word podcast to describe their offerings and for non-Apple software for making podcasts, although it shoudl be noted that the patent pertains to improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use, rather than the term, Podcasting.
Memory Leaks in Mac OS X By Damien Gallop July 19th, 2003 Recently Apple released a version 10.2.6 update for its Mac OS X operating system. According to certain internet buzz, this update does more than provide bug fixes and security patches. It purportedly causes a near-runaway condition called a memory leak. A problem that transcends the boundaries between operating systems, the solution may be to wait for the next great patch to fix the last one. Or not. The problem can be caused by an application. Finding it can be interesting. In a few of the Macs that I have my hands on routinely, there is a full complement of physical RAM installed. Time was, I'd never dream that a computer could even hold a gigabyte of physical memory, much less use it all up. Now I routinely observe these machines dipping into page RAM, the virtual memory created by reserving some disk space and using that to spoof real memory. Page RAM is something like the reserve fuel light on many vehicles. It's okay for it to light once in a while, but you'd better fuel up again pretty soon. Likewise, paging is fine for applications that are sleeping, and is a normal part of efficient operation, but you're in trouble if your machine is paging continually. You'll know when this happening, because your hard drive will be rattling endlessly, as does mine eventually, trying to escape the confines of its cage. Now, this latest buzz is interesting. I always expected OS X to use more memory than, say, Windows 98, and substantially more than its predecessor, Mac OS. It should. But having thirteen megabytes free on a system that has a gigabyte installed is disconcerting. That's how it often is on my home machine, a 500MHz iMac G3 with 1GB of RAM in it and lots of hard disk space, and how it's been for a long time. For me, at any rate, this new update has nothing to do with the matter. Before going further, let's define the term. A memory leak is a loss of computer memory due to either an application failing to return all its memory resources back to the operating system as the application closes, or an application that uses memory so inefficiently that it keeps using the stuff until there is none left. The source of a memory leak could be an application as well as a component of the operating system. In short, memory leaks can be difficult to trace. One of the benefits of the internet is the shared experiences of a critical number of users. If many users concur that there is a problem since installing the Latest and Greatest update, then there is probably something to it. If only I notice a problem, then the first place I should look is on my own machine. I run a few Carbon applications ported from their Mac OS counterparts, applications such as Internet Explorer and Eudora Mail. Without a doubt they use more memory than those earlier versions, though, to be fair, quite a number of features have been added to them in the interim also. The solution to a localized memory leak problem is a painstaking but systematic procedure of turning off one application at a time for a period of time, and observing and recording the results. OS X comes with standard unix tools for observing resource usage, as well as a couple of OS X ones, located in the Applications/Utilities folder. I refer to CPU Monitor and Process Viewer. Open CPU Monitor now, if you like. It has both a real-time CPU usage gauge and a CPU usage chart available from its processes menu, as well as a cute floating bar graph. From the same menu you can find both Process Viewer and a unix utility called Top, which runs in a spawned Terminal window. A Ctrl-C will stop Top from polling. It's that last one which is of particular interest right now, because it lists a summary of useful parameters at the top, including physical memory usage and pageouts to virtual memory on your hard disk. For example, I have had Top running for the last number of hours, so it's been up all the while I've been typing. Free physical memory started out at a modest 60MB, but as I write is now down to 36.8MB and dropping. I don't think I used 23.2MB of memory in typos. For quite some time I have been using a memory tool call MemoryStick. This is a nice OS X program that displays memory usage in a bar graph. It's unobtrusive and useful. Another utility recently brought to my attention is MenuMeters, a neat freebee that runs as a system preference and displays resource parameters in the application menu bar, next to your clock. Do I Need More Memory? While I was visiting VersionTracker, I also came across dinmm, which expands to Do I Need More Memory, written by the author of another great program called iSwipe. Dinmm displays the same information as Top, with additional calculations and alerts based on applications you open since Dinmm started and whether or not you go over the top on RAM usage. All of these tools require resources themselves in order to run. So, while they're interesting to watch and very useful for diagnosing a problem, you may need to strike a balance for how you use them, particularly on an already-overworked machine. Also check exactly what parameters each measures. It may not be quite what you think. MenuMeters, for example, presently reports 413MB of free RAM on this machine, where Top is displaying a mere 26MB. It isn't that one is right and the other wrong; it's a question of exactly what is being measured and how. Remember, you use these things to solve a problem, not to create diversions. A generous reader alerted me to a related issue called vnodes, a type of resource used by OS X. Basically, if you run out of these, your machine will struggle. Thanks to SJ, here is a relevant Apple Support list discussion about vnodes. The numbers given therein are for a representative machine with 1GB of RAM installed. After it's been running for a while, check your own machine for how many vnodes are available. Do this in a Terminal window with these commands, gleaned from that discussion: The default is 17200. If your Mac is using close to the maximum, you'll probably benefit from the tweak suggested in the discussion. I experienced a pronounced performance and stability boost by applying it to my systems. To make this tweak, you need to do a privileged edit. One method of editing a system configuration file such as rc is to start TextEdit like so: sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/rc Some have suggested using the simpler sudo open -e command, but I have yet to gain sufficient file access privileges for it to be more helpful than copying and pasting my admittedly lengthy command to a Terminal prompt. Your mileage may vary. Be sure to close this copy of TextEdit with a Cmd-Q when done. In the last analysis, if the buzz is right and OS X does have inherent memory leaks, we will just have to wait for a patch from Apple. Meanwhile, there is a lot one can do to trace down memory leaks originating in an application. Tracing memory leaks is something like taking aim at a moving target. Consistency and a few good tools - including a pencil and legal pad - can get you closer to a resolution. Good luck. Ciao.
Staying Fit While Pregnant Most medical experts agree that staying fit through exercise while you’re pregnant not only helps keep you in shape, but can be a benefit to the baby as well. It can even help ease your labor. But always check with your doctor before starting any fitness regimen. And if you haven't worked out in the past, it is not a great idea to push your limits when you're pregnant. But you should exercise. According to Bonnie Berk, RN and President and Founder of Motherwell Master FitnessTrainer (www.motherwellfitness.com), "Regardless of whether you’ve exercised or not, pregnancy is a perfect time to start adopting healthy behaviors." There are several benefits to exercising during pregnancy. In fact, says Berk, who is also a childbirth education specialist and a registered Yoga teacher, "Research shows that exercise during pregnancy reduces nearly all pregnancy-related symptoms including ankle swelling, fatigue and low back discomfort. Exercise also helps reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes. Other benefits include improved circulation, increased sense of well-being and decreased excess weight There are, however, certain types of exercise that is recommended during pregnancy. "Walking is a wonderful way to get started. Start with smaller goals," says Berk, author of "Motherwell Fitness Plan.""Take a walk for 10 minutes and then walk home. Walking 20 minutes on most days of the week will help the pregnant woman feel good, stay healthy and havi a positive childbirth experience." She also recommends stretching. "It is good to practice flexibility and strength exercises at least twice a week," she explains. "Motherwell Yoga exercises are designed to reduce minor discomforts of pregnancy and work to stretch and strengthen every major muscle group in ways that are appropriate for And while the debate is divided on the practice of Pilates during pregnancy, Berk, a certified Pilates instructor says, "While Pilates is an excellent way to shape up before and after pregnancy, during pregnancy many of the Pilates exercises are contraindicated. After the first month of pregnancy, women need to avoid exercising on their backs because the increased weight of the uterus presses on the inferior vena cava, decreasing blood flow to the baby. However, many of the side-lying exercises can be done as well as many of the other exercises with modifications. Another position not appropriate for pregnant women is on their When exercising, it is very important to "listen to your body," notes Berk. "During pregnancy, a woman is changing every day. Every day the baby gets bigger and so does she. If a woman feels 'out of breath' while exercising at a pace that was previously comfortable, then she needs to readjust to her body's needs. Flexibility during pregnancy is important both physically and mentally. Some women feel a sense of loss when they can't continue doing fitness activities that they did prior to pregnancy. But it is important to remember that pregnancy is only a nine month experience. Face every day with a curiosity of what kinds of adjustments you will need to make as a result of your pregnancy. Exercise with the goals of having a healthy pregnancy and positive pregnancy outcome." And during what trimester should you stop exercising? Berk advises, "Unless a woman feels uncomfortable or needs to limit activities on the advice of her health care provider, there is no reason to stop exercising. However, most women naturally decrease exercise intensity in the last few months of pregnancy in response to the increased needs of the baby and the growing uterus. Getting a daily dose of exercise, even taking a leisurely walk, can make pregnant women feel better both physically and mentally. For women with back discomfort, exercising in a pool is the activity of choice." And how about after you give birth…when should you resume your workout routine? According to W. Jackson Davis, author of "The Miracle Workout: The Revolutionary 3-Step Program for YOUR Perfect Body"), "The timing of resumption of any exercise program following childbirth will depend on a number of variables: whether you exercised before pregnancy, your physical condition going into pregnancy, the nature of your pregnancy, including particularly any complications, and the nature of the birth experience. The best advice? Consult your physician, and resume exercise of any kind based on her advice. As a general rule, however, healthy women with normal, uncomplicated pregnancies and natural childbirth (as opposed to Cesarean) who exercised regularly before and during pregnancy should be able to resume an exercise program four to six weeks following childbirth, if their Remember, check with your doctor first and keep fit.
Martha Ballard, 1734/35 – 1812 - Known For: Midwife, diarist - Maine Connection: Resided in Hallowell, Maine from 1785 (started her diary) until her death in 1812. - The Diary of Martha Ballard 1785-1812, c1992. - A Midwife's Tale: the Life of Martha Ballard, based on her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Ulrich, 1990.
When the invigilator announced the end of my final paper, I heaved a sigh of relief and put down my pen. A few blissful weeks passed after I had completed my Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations – weeks where I spent half the time hanging out with my friends and the other half basically lazing around. As time passed, I gradually turned my thoughts to the burning question every post-SPM student eventually asks: “What will I do after this?” Examine your options. You don’t really have to pay for those expensive, flashy motivational/ guidance packages. All you need is to be more self-reliant and take the initiative to attend the free education fairs / career talks that are constantly being held. Ask yourself questions, look up informative books or magazines or newspaper articles and do some online research. Personally, an education fair proved to be very informative and certainly provided me with sufficient details, allowing me to actually make decisions. I wandered around the huge education fair aimlessly, accepting every leaflet that was offered to me and filled every single form available requesting for further details of different courses. Different institutions of tertiary education may proffer different information pertaining to the same course, so it would be useful if you ‘did your homework’ and left no leaf unturned. I didn’t know what I want to do, but I knew what I didn’t want to do, so naturally I eliminated anything that involved Mathematics in excessive amounts, because I hate Math. Nevertheless, I briefly toyed with the idea of doing Engineering before dismissing it due to the fact I’m one of the rare, weird people that likes Physics and detests Maths. Talking to the lecturers/ counsellors that were sometimes present at the different booths really helped too. Each of them provided useful insight into the course available: - Required skills - The course syllabus – how does it prepare you for your future career? - Available career options upon completion of course. - What does each career entail – how would your daily life be like? Do allocate some time for your investigation. I spent two days wandering about in an education fair. Technically, I had already made up my mind on the first day and the second day was spent doing in-depth research on my chosen career and the course available. It was time well-spent for I may now state my future ambition with unshakeable conviction whereas I never knew what to tell people my ambition was previously due to uncertainty. Some scholars opt to take Diploma course immediately whereas some would prefer a pre-university course. It is really all up to you and no one can tell you what you should do. Your future is involved, so do open up your eyes and ears, be prepared to embark upon lengthy debates with anyone who is able to provide advice. Make your choice wisely. It will definitely be worth studying your options carefully before making a hasty decision you may regret. Liked this post? Subscribe now to read more post like this one! Tweet
When the Senate Banking Committee holds its hearings today on regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, members should keep foremost in mind the determination by a December Federal Reserve study that the secondary mortgage giants provide little or no benefit to homebuyers, while costing taxpayers billions. This must now serve as the first argument for their eventual privatization. But it is not the only argument. Public support has not only enriched stockholders at taxpayer expense but has provided the rationale for a system of regulatory mandates which seek to use the vast mortgage capital pool as an instrument of unwise social policy. In the name of expanding home-ownership and assisting low-income and inner city households, these mandates risk undermining the crucial habits of thrift and frugality so important to upward mobility -- and replacing them with the fools' gold of easy credit. Here's how the system works. In exchange for their status as "government-sponsored enterprises" -- and the credit market advantages which come from the perception that the government will not allow them to fail -- Fannie and Freddie are subject to so-called "affordable housing goals." These mortgage purchase quotas, set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), require that no less than 50% of the mortgages purchased by Fannie and Freddie be for low and moderate-income households, that 20% be specifically for those of low income, and that 31% come from "geographically targeted underserved areas." These figures represent substantial increases adopted in the waning days of the Clinton administration. What could be wrong with what seem to be laudable goals? A great deal. They are based in a big lie which a national coalition of anti-banking groups has circulated for years: that the private mortgage markets would, left to their own devices, deny credit to those of modest means in less than affluent neighborhoods -- a charge known as red-lining when it first surfaced in the 1970s. The best that can be said for this is that there was a time, before the bank deregulation of the early '80s, when banks had little incentive to serve riskier markets and often did not. But that is ancient history in the mortgage industry -- which now uses computerized credit scoring, flexible interest rates and mortgage-backed securities to serve almost anyone. The advent of sub-prime -- read higher-interest -- lending has brought credit to higher-risk households once outside the mainstream financial system. They have helped push up the American rate of home-ownership to its record high of 68.4%. Indeed, between 1993 and 2001, 1.4 million Americans bought homes with sub-prime loans. But the bank-haters -- including activist groups like ACORN, the Greenlining Institute, and National Community Reinvestment Coalition, whose collective raison d'etre lies in the supposed market failure of the mortgage lending industry -- don't see all this as an advance at all. With HUD oversight, they pressure Fannie and Freddie not to purchase sub-prime loans, which are denounced as "predatory." They have pushed a wave of "anti-predatory" lending legislation through state legislatures, based in such vague criteria that rating agencies, fearful of potential liability, have said they can't rate the risk of mortgage bonds which include sub-prime loans. Were it not for the courageous decision by Comptroller of the Currency John Hawke to exempt nationally chartered banks from these state laws, sub-prime mortgage lending might well dry up. Mr. Hawke was undeterred by threats of lawsuits by Eliot Spitzer, and his Connecticut counterpart Richard Blumenthal. The agenda here is a demand for credit on easy terms for areas and households which are, in the liberal imagination, uniformly victims of an unjust economic system -- rather than being seen as individuals, some of whom deserve credit on favorable terms, some of whom don't. With HUD pressure to meet the affordable housing goals, and high-interest loans castigated as predatory, both the banks -- which want to sell mortgages to Fannie and Freddie -- and the secondary giants themselves, which want to retain government support, have reason to let easy credit flow, willy-nilly, to target populations. Therein lies the real danger of the affordable housing goals. They provide a powerful incentive to say yes to mortgage applications to which it might be better for lenders to say no. It is, after all, better to say no when a household has not saved a sufficient down payment or lacks a reliable income stream. "No," under such circumstances -- and said with an explanation -- is a way of saying, If you improve your creditworthiness, you can get a mortgage. Saying no is also a protection for those who already own homes in a neighborhood. Foreclosures -- the bitter fruit of easy credit -- are bad news for neighboring homeowners who are making their mortgage payments and hoping the value of their home will increase. This is the virtuous circle that arises from traditional credit criteria, and is threatened by "affordable housing goals." That's been the story with another easy-credit mortgage program, that of the Federal Housing Administration, notable for their "flexible qualifying guidelines" designed to help low-income households. Down payments are 3% or less, with loans insured by the federal government. The delinquency rates for FHA loans runs over 12%, more than four times the 2.93% rate for prime rate loans. And problematic FHA loans have been shown to be concentrated in lower-income urban neighborhoods. The Fed has found that higher-than-conventional foreclosure rates also typify so-called Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) "special lending programs" -- a geographically targeted program which banks adopt to fulfill the Act's lending mandates. Like the Fannie and Freddie affordable housing goals, the CRA is built on the false premise of an anti-poor conspiracy by the financial industry; and it allows non-profit mortgage lenders like the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America to gain the right to administer huge pools of mortgage money on behalf of fearful banks. It's true that the delinquency rates for sub-prime mortgages are also high (11+%); but at least these loans hold the prospect of encouraging households to learn from their mistakes and qualify for better credit rates next time. The easy credit of the Fannie and Freddie affordable housing goals breaks the link between personal habits and creditworthiness. Public subsidy for Fannie and Freddie merely gives those who would pervert mortgage markets the chance to make credit seem like an entitlement. Original Source: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-credit_where_not_due.htm
Obsession is typically viewed as a disorder. There are a lot of resources available to help us stop obsessing and hardly anything to help us focus this obsession on someting productive. Yet the people who become obsessed with an extraordinary idea, an unusual notion, an unrealistic goal, or a powerful dream are the people who ultimately end up changing the world. Thomas Edison was obsessed with sound and energy, which he focused on enabling for practical use. Henry Ford was obsessed with automobiles and the idea of making these cars accessible to the mass public, rather than solely for the wealthy. Booker T. Washington was driven the idea that no black person should be deprived of any American rights. Jimi Hendrix obsessed over the guitar so much that he taught himself how to play (left-handed on a right-handed guitar) and is still recognized as one of the world’s greatest musicians. Neil Degrasse Tyson’s fixation with stars contributes to bringing science into our lives in a way that is exciting and inspirational. These people were so addicted to a thing or concept that they did everything within and beyond their power to make this dream real for themselves and everyone else around them. What dream are you not obsessing over? Maybe you want to be a painter. Learn as much as you can about painting and paint. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Whatever it is you want to do, you need to do it every single day. Make time in your day to obsess over something good. I also believe it is just as important to share your work. All of the greats that I mentioned earlier, shared their work. There is some unseen law that when you give, the universe gives back. Several days ago received a Kindle E-book reader. I have been obsessed with reading as much as I can on this device since I unboxed it. When I finish reading a book, I write a review on Amazon. I share my thoughts regarding the book. One of the reviews I wrote was negative. I did not like the book at all and returned it for a refund. Well, the author of that book read my review, looked at my Amazon Wish List, purchased one of the books I had added, and sent it to me as a gift. So now I have another awesome book to read! The worst thing that can happen when we become obsessed is that we gain more knowledge, attain a greater skill, and/or we inspire others around us to do the same. So get obsessed and see what happens.
1861 - Union landing party from USS Massachusetts takes possession of Ship Island south of New Orleans, LA. This was the headquarters for ADM David Farragut's Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron. 1944 - Navy Task Force lands Army troops on Angaur, Palau Islands supported by Navy carrier aircraft and shore bombardment (Source: Navy News Service) Today in U.S. Naval History - October 4 1821 - Lt. Robert F. Stockton sails from Boston for Africa to carry out his orders to help stop the international slave trade. 1943 - Aircraft from USS Ranger sink five German ships and damage three in Operation Leader, the only U.S. Navy carrier operation in northern European waters during World War II. 1952 - Task Force 77 aircraft encounter MIG-15 aircraft for the first time. After completing sea trials off the southern California coast, dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2) was delivered to the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) on Feb. 27. The ship, designated T-AKE, is the second in a new class of combat logistics force ships and is able to deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water, and petroleum products to the Navy’s carrier and expeditionary strike groups and other Naval forces. 1921 - In first successful test, a compressed air, turntable catapult, launches an N-9 seaplane. 1922 - LCDR Godfrey deC. Chevalier makes first landing aboard a carrier (USS Langley) while underway off Cape Henry, Virginia. 1942 - Battle of the Santa Cruz Island. USS Hornet (CV-8) was lost and USS Enterprise (CV-6) was badly damaged during the battle. 1944 - Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with Navy carrier and USAAF aircraft attacks on the retreating Japanese ships. U.S Frigates, cruisers and an aircraft carrier will be decommissioned by US Navy US warships, eleven in number comprising six frigates, four cruisers and an aircraft carrier are set to be decommissioned during fiscal 2013, according to a Navy message released by Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Vice-Admiral John Blake, which includes deactivation dates and the fates of the ships. The six frigates will be sold to foreign militaries, while the four cruisers will be dismantled. Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. stands to loss as much as $194.3 million, more than 40 percent of its potential fee, under the Navy’s latest estimate of overruns for the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, according to Bloomberg. Construction of the Ford, the Navy’s most expensive warship, is likely to exceed by $884 million the shipbuilder’s target contract cost of about $5.2 billion for detailed design and construction The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) conducts operations in the Arabian Sea. The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is on regularly scheduled deployments in support of Maritime Security Operations (MSO). MSO help set the conditions for security and stability, as well as aid counter-terrorism and security efforts to regional nations. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ronald Reeves By Navy News Service 1779 - Continental Navy sloop captures British brig Diligent off . 1934 - USS Constitution completes tour of principal ports 1940 - FDR orders Pacific Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely. 1942 - Carrier aircraft sink Japanese carrier Shoho during Battle of Coral Sea. iXBlue has been selected to provide inertial navigation systems for the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers currently being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance for the U.K. Royal Navy. The bridge system for each of the carriers will incorporate two iXBlue MARINS units. Trials have already been conducted to optimise the configuration of the units to meet the specific operational requirements of the vessels. Today in U.S. Naval History - May 7 1779 - Continental Navy sloop Providence captures British brig Diligent off Cape Charles 1934 - USS Constitution completes tour of principal U.S. ports 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders Pacific Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely 1942 - Carrier aircraft sink Japanese carrier Shoho during Battle of Coral Sea For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. today announced the delivery of the coal carrier Shin Yahagi Maru, which will serve Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. The vessel was delivered at Imari Shipyard and Works of Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. on January 22, 2015. Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF) held a change of command ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) at Naval Air Station North Island Jan. 22. During the ceremony, Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker relieved Vice Adm. David H. Buss as CNAF. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) reports it has received an order for two next-generation LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers from Mitsui & Co., Ltd., scheduled for completion and delivery in 2018 and 2019, respectively. They will be put into service for the Cameron LNG Project Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. signed a contract with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. today (January 29) to charter a new 177,000m3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier. This is the third newbuilding vessel chartered by Mitsui & Co., following a contract signed last September 26 for two carriers General Dynamics Mission Systems makes its debut as General Dynamics' newest business unit at the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) 27th National Symposium. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems and General Dynamics C4 Systems combined to form General Dynamics Mission Systems on In spite of record vessel deliveries the container shipping profitability is expected to improve in 2015, driven by lower unit costs. The global fleet is expected to grow 7.2% in 2015, a faster pace than demand which is forecast to expand at a more modest 5.3%. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) escorted U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Nimitz during the carrier crew’s homeport shift from Naval Base Everett, Wash., to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Wash., Jan. 13, 2015, the USCG reported. The crews of the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutters Osprey and Swordfish The U.S. Navy will insist on competition for the next U.S. amphibious warship despite a decision last year to base the ship on the LPD-17 ship designed by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc, Marine Corps Major General Robert Walsh said on Tuesday. The U.S. Navy plans to award contracts before the end of the first quarter to Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal for its next three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) as well as money to buy materials for a fourth, Navy officials said Thursday. Russia will take France to court within six months over its failure to deliver the first of two Mistral-class warships to the Russian navy, the Russian Defense Minister has said. “There is a contract, so everything must be strictly complied with,” Sergei Shoigu said Fiji has prevented the livestock carrier MV Polaris 2 travelling to China from Chile, from entering Fijian waters because it did not have the proper transit permit. The Biosecurity Authority of Fiji informed that the livestock ship carrying thousands of heifers has been forced back into GE Power Conversion receives first order in Japan from Kawasaki Heavy for electric propulsion motor equipment for LNG vessels GE’s Power Conversion business has received a new order from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. for electric power and propulsion systems for two LNG carriers In December 2014, orders of Japan yard fell 37% year on year, says Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA). Japanese shipyards specialize in building dry bulk carriers. JSEA member yards secured 24 export orders totaling 1,215 The Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd. (G E Shipping) delivered its 1990-built Very Large Gas Carrier “Jag Vidhi” (49,701 dwt) to the buyers on 21st January, 2015. The company had contracted to sell the ship in July 2014. A series of four LNG carriers being built by the Hudong-Zhongua Shipbuilding yard in China will feature Wärtsilä LNG reliquefaction plants and gas handling systems. The ships are owned by Bermuda based Teekay Corporation, China LNG Shipping (CLNG)
Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 5.8 million tons in August, a decrease of 10% compared to July, and a drop of 9% compared to a year ago. Loadings also trailed the month’s long-term average by 10%. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 5.1 million tons, a decrease of 6% compared to a year ago. The August total included 447,000 tons shipped to Québec City for loading into oceangoing vessels and delivery overseas. Year-to-date overseas exports from U.S. Great Lakes ports total 1,994,000 tons. Shipments from Canadian ports to Great Lakes destinations totaled 728,000 tons, a decrease of 24% compared to a year ago. Year-to-date, the Lakes iron ore trade stands at 35.4 million tons, a decrease of 8% compared to a year ago. Loadings are 5% below the long-term average for the January-August timeframe. Lake Carriers’ Association represents 17 American companies that operate 57 U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes and carry the raw materials that drive the nation’s economy: iron ore and fluxstone for the steel industry, aggregate and cement for the construction industry, coal for power generation, as well as salt, sand and grain. Collectively, these vessels can transport more than 115 million tons of cargo per year.
August 16, 2010 Blount delivers tour boat The 89-foot steel excursion boat, LINNEA built by Blount Boats, Warren, R.I., for Wendella Sightseeing Company is now in service. It was delivered to Chicago via the Erie Canal and is now playing its part as Wendella Sightseeing, Chicago's original tour boat company, celebrates its 75th season as one of the city's premier sightseeing and tourism operations. The new LINNEA was designed by Timothy Graul Marine Design of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and is a sister vessel to the WENDELLA built by the Blount shipyard in 2007. It is powered by twin screw Caterpillar engines and will accommodate up to 340 passengers for architectural tours on the Chicago River. The two deck vessel was designed with climate controlled main cabin, granite bar top and is equipped with an entertainment and security system. The new vessel is certified by the U.S. Coast Guard under Subchapter "K" for lakes, bays and sounds less than one mile from shore. The M/V LINNEA is the 330th vessel to be built by the Blount shipyard, which has been in operation since 1949. The Wendella Sightseeing fleet now operate a total of seven boats, of which Blount has built three, OUILMETTE, WENDELLA and LINNEA.
Marketplace PM for May 17, 2005 The Federal government has collected four decades worth of key statistics on gender in the workplace. But they're not ready to release that information. Commentator Kathleen Kennedy Townsend asks why. A century and a half ago, the Homestead Act used the promise of free land to lure settlers to the Great Plains. Now descendants of those settlers are leaving the region in droves. So, some towns in the region are trying to reverse depopulation with, once again, free land. Curt Nickisch reports from the town of Crosby in remote North Dakota. Host David Brown dips into the Marketplace mailbag. What are listeners responding to? Posted In: Canada In China, multinational companies are scrambling to hire Chinese nationals who've studied overseas or worked in foreign offices. Beijing Bureau Chief Jocelyn Ford reports globalization is forcing foreign companies to adopt both the good -- and bad -- of American business practices.
How the natural world deals with bears TEXT OF COMMENTARY Scott Jagow: Time for more of our seires "What's the Fix" -- we're asking people what they think we should do to solve this financial crisis. Today, we turn to animal behavioralist Richard Conniff to get his take on how the natural world would respond to a bear. Richard Conniff: Let's take a herd of elk at Yellowstone National Park, for example. They really know what it means to have a bear threaten their security. So when they're out grazing, somebody's always popping his head up and keeping an eye out. It's an early warning system. When all the elk start to turn and stare in the same direction, it generally means there's a grizzly bear out there. So what's that got to do with the stock market? A couple of lessons from the natural world can help. First, when a herd panics, animals just get trampled and become food for the bear. We need to calm down and look out for each other. And we need real leaders to help. In the wild, strong animals sometimes walk straight toward the bear, as if to say, "I see you and you don't scare me." At Yellowstone, I've also seen mother elk band together and run interference to protect fawns from a charging bear. That's kind of what Warren Buffett's been up to lately. But now we need other big-money types to get into the market with everything they've got and show some nerve defending the system that made them rich. It's a chance for the golden parachute gang to redeem themselves. If you're a CEO taking federal bailout, do your job for a dollar a year and be an American hero. I saw forest fire ravage Yellowstone in 1988, and it looked like the end of the world then, too. But when I went back a few years later, the blackened areas were flourishing with new growth. The same thing happens when financial markets go up in flames. Buck up your courage, buy some stock, and the grass can be green again for us, too. Jagow: Richard Conniff is author of the book "Natural History of the Rich."
When decorating your Christmas tree, don't forget to pay a little attention to the base -- these innovative techniques can make the traditional tree stand as irresistible to look at as the tree itself. Place a sparkling faux tree, such as the Grandin Road Martha Stewart Tinsel Tree, in a beautiful pewter bowl for a one-of-a-kind presentation. To create a base for the tree, cut a round piece of wood that fits in the vessel you are using, drill a hole in the center to ensure the tree is secure, and cover with fake snow. As an alternative to fake snow, a covering of tinsel can add even more sparkle. Galvanized Metal Tray A galvanized metal tray can also be used as a unique stand for faux trees. Turn the base into its own environment for the Christmas tree to live in by adding artificial snow and whatever animal figures or other nature-inspired decorations you prefer. Stands for Live Trees For a distinctive look, try wrapping the tree roots in burlap, set it in a wooden cheese box, and then fill in the box with pinecones. For a small cut tree, try placing the tree in an urn for an unforgettable presentation -- to hold the tree in place, simply add rocks and cover with clumps of moss.
Copyright © Martin Baker for US Congress. Website Designed By: Connecting you to the way people live. Paid for by Martin Baker for Congress. This is the basic outline of the principles I believe in. They are broken down into four sub- categories for easier understanding. I will fight for these tenets and more when given the opportunity to serve you as your Representative from the First District. Respect for Life 1) American values rest with protecting life at all stages, strong families, and individual involvement. 2) Our nation's greatest strength rests on the shoulders of the individual citizens and each person's dignity, freedom and responsibility must be honored and respected. 3) We must be a nation of equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity regardless of race, creed, age or disability. 4) We must seek reform within the criminal justice system by taking steps including reevaluating minimum sentencing for non - violent federal offenders. Respect for the US Constitution 5) We must embrace the principles of free enterprise and encourage individual initiatives as these are the keys to economic growth, and prosperity. 6) We must have a government that is a responsible caretaker of taxpayer money. Taxpayers must be allowed to keep more of their earned money and government must learn to live within its means. 7) Government can only govern with the consent of the governed and must never lose sight that all its power was bestowed upon them by the people. Belief in Limited Government 8) Government must limit its role and provide only those basic needs that cannot be provided by individuals or private organizations. Government can be compassionate without enabling a pattern of lifetime dependency . 9) Government cannot continue to stifle potential medical breakthroughs crucial to our citizen's wellbeing through overregulation or forced participation in restrictive medical care coverage. Belief in Personal Responsibility 10) We must secure our borders from illegal immigration without delay and prosecute those who violate immigration law. 11) Any and all foreign policy decisions including aid and charitable giving must be made with the goal of preserving and improving American society. 12) The men and women of our armed forces who face danger in defense of our principles deserve our respect and unconditional support. 13) Education decisions must be done and kept locally. Issues Martin Baker for Congress August 5th Primary Election
Karl Marx once said that "all hitherto history of mankind is the history of class struggle." Since the advent of class society the exploited class has been at daggers drawn against the ruling class. In slave society, slaves raised their hands against masters, in the feudal system the serfs rose up against the feudal lords and similarly we find a continuous struggle of proletarians against the capitalists. Class distinction in capitalist society is more obvious than those of the previous epochs. There are two classes, one of which possess the means of production, and the other one is the proletarian class, which has to sell its labour just for its survival on earth. The struggle between these two classes commenced with the establishment of capitalist society. The proletarian struggle is still continuing and will continue till the end of class society and the emancipation of proletarians from the ruthless clutches of cruelty, barbarism, suppression and tyranny imposed upon them by the capitalist system. Their freedom is vehemently linked with the establishment of a Socialist Federation of the whole world, which is impossible without the complete elimination of capitalism. The struggle of proletarians to change the system is actually a political struggle as Karl Marx repeatedly emphasises the point that every class struggle is in reality a political struggle as well as economic, where the proletarians strive to improve their living standards, working conditions, hours of work and wages. To make this economic struggle more coherent, properly organised and driven by collective efforts, the proletariat brought trade unions into being. As with the development of technique and industry, larger industry and factories spread all around where the downtrodden, battered, crisis-ridden and hunger-stricken labourers got a chance to establish trade unions. Trade unions are traditional platforms of economic struggle on the part of proletariat. These trade unions played a significant role in the improvement of living standards and the economic struggle of the labourers. In the movement of the proletariat women have fought shoulder to shoulder with male workers, whether it was the great sacrifices and struggles of the working class of Chicago or the magnificent revolution of 1905, the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 or any other political upheavals. Although at the outset very few women used to work in industries, factories or any other economic fields yet with the expansion of the economy, the economic activities of women increased particularly after the second world war, when more and more women came out of their homes to work and now women are performing their duties in all walks of life with an immense enthusiasm. In Pakistan large numbers of women have been joining economic fields, the basic reason for which is their being low paid workers on the one hand and their concentration along with "acquiescent obedience" on the other. That is why the increase in women workers in big industries during the last five years is baffling and incredible as in some of the industries 60% to 70% of the workers are women. Before this very few women were attached to government institutions, as most of them were associated with health and education. Other main reasons for the involvement of women in outdoor work are the disintegration of the family system and economic crisis. The economic crisis has given a heavy blow to the conservative and traditional thinking pattern, which confined women within huge-walled houses to just serve husbands, brothers and the rest of the family. Resurgent unemployment and economic disparity have forced the families to let their women go out to offices and industries. If we take a bird's eye view of trade union movement very few women can be found on the scene. In the past it might have been for their being less in number as workers, but now that is not so; the great causes of women not being organised in trade unions has been the improper attitude of trade union leaders, social and economic suffocation and the general decadence of the trade union movement. If we analyse divergent departments the picture can be delineated in such a way. In this sector women work in health, education, PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunications), PIA (Pakistan Airlines), WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority), the Post Office, railways, banks and other institutions. There are thousands of women nurses in the health department, although they have an association but its working is not as much effective as it should be. Before being banned by Zia al-Huq there were active unions containing a lot of ferment and active women within their sphere. Women played a significant role in the two great strikes of hospitals and they had to wash loose their jobs for going on strike in the first regime of Nawaz Sharif. The betrayal of the trade union leadership's compromise and false strategy immensely shocked the trade unions in this sector so there is now the union but it is inactive and dormant. With a bit of hard work and correct strategy a lot of women could be organised in these unions and their potential can be galvanised into political struggle. Women are working as teachers in the education department and a year ago a resistance movement was launched in this department, which basically opposed the steps such as downsizing. Three months back the female teachers vehemently took part in the strikes and processions and suffered violence from the state. Similarly women in Sindh participated in the movement and played a role of leadership to much extent. The example shows that women can be brought into the movement. The trade unionists are wrong when they say that women do not have any interest in the trade unions. In Sindh the teachers pertaining to our tendency fervently participated in the movement. With the failure of the Pakistani state to invest and develop the health and education sector these vital sectors have been sucked up by the private sector. They are now the most profitable sectors in Pakistan. On the one hand they charge heavily for health and education on the other hand they employ mainly women workers at shamefully low wages. Mostly they are as low as 7-15 pounds monthly. These workers are totally unorganised and there is a dire need of unionisation of women workers in these sectors. There are 76,000 teachers employed in private institutions, 60% of which are female. In the PTCL more than 3,000 women work and most of them are members of trade unions. In the resistance movement and strikes women have played a vital role. At that time a lot women became active in the trade unions but due to the unions' wrong attitude and backward culture the number of women involved went down. The standards of living of the women workers in the PTCL is comparatively higher and that is why they are economically free somewhat and having combined working conditions - they can better perform in the movement and collaborate with other male workers. In big trade unions women take the casting of votes in referendums and elections seriously and they do not pay any heed to those who want to hold back the movement. Similarly a great number of women work in PIA, Railways, WAPDA, banks and other institutions. But they are not active in the trade unions of these institutions. Most of the women are motivated just for the election campaigns so that the leadership can get their votes. In the industrial sector most of the women work in textile, garments, pharmaceuticals, sports and the factories of surgical tools. In some of the big factories more than half of the workforce consists of women. Most of the women work on daily wages and contracts. These women are working in the worst conditions. They have to work for 12 to 14 hours and their wages are 40% to 50% lesser than those of male workers. In most of the factories there are no trade unions present. The leadership does not play any active role in organising women in the unions. The policies of the free market, liberalisation, anti-labour laws and anti-trade union policies have put the trade union at stake. No federation and leadership are serious about raising a voice for the problems of women and in organising them in the trade unions. Apart form them women workers in offices of multinational corporations, travel agencies, private schools, big hotels and departmental stores, they are not allowed to establish trade unions whereas the conditions of women working in the homes and fields are worse than slaves. At present more than 40% of women are enthusiastically active in the villages and these women do not enjoy their rights. The women who are fervently speaking for the human rights of women, child labour, and democracy and are working in the NGOs are themselves deprived of these rights. These non-governmental organisations have contributed in the decadence of the trade unions. The NGOs exploit women burdened with economic duties. These NGOs prove to be a comfortable refuge for the men and women who accept charity and distribute it in the name of reforms. The male and female bosses of these NGOs live in luxury with huge wages and perks. Without any processions, strikes, and economic and political struggle, enjoying delicious food, seminars allocated in the air-conditioned hotels, they have ensnared a lot of enthusiastic workers of trade unions. The following are the main reasons why women are not active: - The social stress and suffocation, which does not allow women to take an active part in activities. - The negative attitude of trade union leaders and male chauvinism, which considers women just a source of sexual satisfaction and that is why they hesitate to go ahead with male workers. - Cultural bankruptcy, conservatism, social suffocation and cultural primitiveness hinder regular meetings of men and women. - The crisis of the trade union movement and stagnation are important in this situation. The betrayal of the leadership and compromises have immensely disappointed the workers. - The pressure of the bosses and the administration in private factories are some other obstacles in the way. Women are afraid of being expelled from jobs and are reluctant to join the unions. - The conservativeness of the institution of the family and the social impact of Islamic fundamentalism. In the wake of the massive increase in women workers in industry it is essential to include and organise women for the consideration and dynamism of movement. No trade union be establish itself and perform work without the inclusion of women workers in the union. The inclusion of women in trade unions in the private sector can make the movement more transparent after evaporating the dark clouds of dejection. Women workers in trade unions can infuse a new determination into the movement. Now it is the responsibility of the PTUDC to organise women and motivate them to play a dynamic role in the movement. - Study circles are being set up where trade unions do not yet exist. Small groups can be formed and prepared politically. These study circles and groups can play an important role in the formation of trade unions. - A forceful struggle is being launched against the male chauvinism, mental perversion and conservatism in the unions to end discrimination against women workers. - PTUDC activists who are present in the trade unions in the public sector make conscious efforts to bring women forward. A transparent programme is being put forward with reference to the problems of women. Meetings of women are being arranged and their work organised. Female representation in the structures of PTUDC is being encouraged. - The factories in which unions are present should be pressurised to let women become members and they should be encouraged to play an active role. - Pamphlets on the problems of women have been printed and distributed. - The PTUDC believes that women can play a vital role in the trade unions and class struggle. Working women are sobbing under the suffocating pressure of extreme exploitation, force, lust, ignorance and poverty. They want change and end to the decayed system. A correct revolutionary programme, strategy, and to crown them all a revolutionary party, can activate women by affiliating them with other parts of society. The emancipation of women is only possible through a class struggle along with their male comrades and not feminism, which only serves to disunite the working class on the basis of gender. History has put this duty on our shoulders. The PTUDC's programme is: - Pay at least Rs 7,500 (£80), linked to inflation. - Trade union rights and the unconditional right to strike. - Elimination of the contract system and all anti-labour laws. - Total ending of downsizing, forced retirement and the privatisation in the name of the so-called independence of colleges, schools and hospitals. - Revocation of all discriminatory laws against women. - Equal wages and equal opportunities for men and women. - The draconian law of two female witnesses against one male witness should be abolished. - Women workers be given maternity leave with full wages. April 19, 2002
First Published: In Struggle! No. 177, October 23, 1979 Transcription, Editing and Markup: Malcolm and Paul Saba Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above. Immediately after Cape Breton miners voted to accept the third contract proposed to them, Bill Marsh, president of United Mineworkers’ District 26, spoke to the media and charged that IN STRUGGLE! leaflets had been outside interference. He declared that he was going to launch an Investigation of our Organization and that he was going to come after it. The next day, IN STRUGGLE! held a press conference in a hotel in Sydney to which all the media in Cape breton (the three radio stations, the two TV stations and the newspapers) came. We publish here excerpts from IN STRUGGLE!’s statement at this conference. What are Marsh’s charges and threats? 1) That the leaflets were by an unnamed communist group and that the leaflets contained no names. This is a ludicrous charge! Both of the attached leaflets clearly identify the full name of our Organization, our Cape Breton address, and the dates of the leaflets. This is a not-so-subtle attempt to try and make people believe that IN STRUGGLE! is conducting a clandestine campaign of infiltration and that we are somehow ashamed of owning up, by name, to our views. 2) The leaflets are “outside Interference”. Perhaps we should give Bill Marsh a little history lesson on the development of the UMW in Cape Breton. The UMW in Cape Breton was founded and built here directly through the untiring efforts of communists, such as J.B. McLachlan, and other militant workers. There has long been a current of interest and support for socialist and communist ideas in the Cape Breton coal fields. It was thus not it all surprising that there was eager interest among many DEVCO workers to read a communist leaflet on the contract. Bill Marsh is so concerned about “outside interference” in the trade-union movement, we have a lot of important issues for him to take up, starting with the interference – indeed, the ever increasing policies of repression – being organized by the State against the Canadian trade-union movement. What about the absence of local control and democracy within the international UMW Itself? Is it not blatant interference in a possible strike situation when, according to Marsh, the International UMW would not have paid a cent in strike pay if Cape Breton miners had decided to strike? IN STRUGGLE! is not alone in asking questions about this. 3) Marsh says he plans to “launch an investigation” of this communist group”. He says, “We are going to go after those fellows”. As far this so-called “investigation”, if Marsh and Co. send $5 to our Cape Breton address, we will send him copies of our various publications – our weekly newspaper, our Programme and Constitution, and the documents from the last Congress of the Organization. They set out clearly what we stand for. These latest attacks by Marsh must be denounced. Bill Marsh said to the press that he would meet these communists “anywhere, any place, any time” to talk about the leaflets. IN STRUGGLE! is, thus proposing that a public meeting be organized soon in Glace Bay to debate the various questions involved. The meeting would elect a neutral chairperson, and then Marsh would have an opportunity to make his charges and threats publicly. An IN STRUGGLE! spokesperson would have the chance to reply. The assembled audience could then ask questions and make statements. As well, our Organization will be sending out a letter to all UMW locals in Cape Breton requesting that we be invited to attend an upcoming local meeting. If rank-and-file UMW members have criticisms or comments on our two leaflets, we would like an opportunity to hear these comments first-hand and reply to them.
What is Service of Process? “Service of Process” is the way you deliver court papers to the person required to respond to them. This person is called the “defendant.” You must tell the defendant, in writing: - there is a case - what the case is about - what the defendant must do - if there is a court hearing and - when and where to come to court. Why do I have to notify the defendant about the case? Unless the court believes there is an emergency, the court can only make an order if the defendant knows there is a case. A defendant must have a chance to come to court and present his or her side of the story. When do I have to notify the defendant? In most family law cases you have 90 days after you file the complaint to serve the defendant. For a Complaint for Contempt, the defendant must be served at least 7 days before the hearing date. How do I notify the defendant? After you file the complaint, you will get a summons and tracking notice. You need to “serve” a copy of the summons, complaint, and tracking notice to the defendant. Usually you need to hire a sheriff or constable to serve the defendant. You can find Sheriffs here . There are also directories of constables online. You will need to pay the sheriff or constable for the service or give him a copy of your approved indigency form. When a sheriff serves the defendant, he gives the defendant a copy of the summons, complaint and tracking notice. Then, he fills out the second page of the summons, called Return of Service. Return of Service is proof that the defendant was served. Once this is completed, the original summons (not a copy) must be filed with the court. Check with the sheriff to see if he will file it for you or if you must file it with the court yourself. It is your responsibility to make sure the original summons is filed. What if I do not know where the defendant lives? First, have the sheriff try to serve the defendant at the last place you knew the defendant lived or worked. If the sheriff’s return of service says that the defendant was not found, you can get service of process by publication in a newspaper. Before you can do this you need to get approval from the court. To get approval follow these steps: - Ask the Register which form you should file: a “Motion for Service by Publication,” or a “Motion for Alternative Service,” and whether the court has a sample you can look at. - Attach an affidavit to the motion. An affidavit is a written statement that is sworn under the pains and penalties of perjury. In your affidavit, write that you do not know where the defendant lives. Write down the last address you know of for the defendant. Briefly describe your efforts to find him or her. - Mail the motion, affidavit and proposed order to the court or file it in person with the Register. Ask the Register if you need to appear before a judge or if you will be notified by mail. - If the judge allows your motion you will get an order. The order will state which newspaper to publish the notice in and when to publish it. It will also give you the wording of the notice. Bring the notice to the newspaper and give it to their legal notices department. After it is published in the newspaper, get a copy of that page of the newspaper and file it with court to prove it was published. What if the defendant does not live or work in Massachusetts? You must find someone who is authorized to serve the complaint and summons where he or she lives or works. The Register may be able to help you locate someone to serve the papers there. What if the defendant is willing to receive a copy of the complaint from me? If the defendant is willing to accept service or accept a copy of the complaint, summons and tracking order directly from you, he or she must sign the summons where it says “Acceptance of Service” in front of a notary public. Then you must file the return of service with the court. Most banks have, and most attorneys are, notaries public. There may be a small fee for the services of a notary public.
PRESIDENT SIGNS BILL THAT BOOSTS BIOTECH Measure Will Allow Companies to Redeem Earned but Unusable Tax Credits for Cash President Bush has signed multi-billion dollar legislation addressing the nation's mortgage and housing crises that also contains an economic stimulus jolt for the biotechnology industry. H.R. 3221 - inked by the President in an Oval Office ceremony and meant to ease foreclosure fears spurred by collapse of mortgage-related sectors - contains an MBC and BIO supported tax provision which will allow companies to expedite use of their R&D and AMT credits in lieu of the bonus depreciation utilized by other industries with different business models. Specifically, the bill allows biotechnology companies making new capital investments during much of 2008 in qualifying laboratory equipment and software, or those gearing up for commercialization, to be able to receive from the government a "refundable" tax credit (i.e., the amount of the credit will be refunded to the company, even if it is not paying taxes as it is in a "loss" position). The bill's passage comes at a time when a severe capital crunch in the financial markets is threatening to put the brakes on biotechnology innovation. (Description of bill's provisions can be found on sidebar; final regulations to be issued by Dept. of Treasury.) "This is a bonus and a benefit for the Massachusetts biotechnology industry on multiple fronts," MBC President Robert Coughlin said. "First and foremost, it rewards the good economic behavior of biotech companies which earn significant tax credits for their investments but have no taxable income against which to apply these credits." Coughlin continued, "Additionally, for the first time Congress has acknowledged that R&D-intensive biotechnology companies should be able to redeem hard earned but unused tax credits for working capital so that they may accelerate the discovery and development of new innovative products." The ability to use R&D credits is doubly beneficial for biotechnology because the tax code generally requires a company to use its accumulated Net Operating Losses (NOLs) before its tax credits can be claimed. As a result, R&D credits will sometimes expire before they can be utilized. The provision not only allows companies to accelerate the date when they can claim their R&D credits, it also allows them to claim credits that might otherwise expire under existing tax law. Numerous Massachusetts biotechnology companies are expected to take advantage of what will be for now a one-time cash benefit and to reinvest that capital into the Massachusetts economy. MBC President Coughlin noted that Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Congressman Richard Neal (D - Springfield) are key players on the budget writing committees that preserved the biotechnology tax benefit measure within the larger housing measured as it moved through the legislative process. "We want to thank Senator Kerry and Congressman Neal for their work on this bill, and of course we thank the entire delegation for voting in its favor," said Coughlin.
"Domestic violence" refers to many kinds of abuse committed by a member of a family, a household, or an intimate partner against another member of the family, household, or against the intimate partner. "Domestic Violence" also refers to many forms of abuse committed by one person against another in certain dating relationships or engagements. You can seek a court order to protect you if your abuser - harms you physically, - tries to harm you physically, - makes you afraid that serious physical harm is going to happen to you, or - threatens, pressures or forces you to have sex. This court order is to protect you from further harm. It is called an "abuse prevention order," a "restraining order," or a "209A." "Domestic violence" is sometimes called "battering," and it also refers to abusive patterns of power and control in family, household, and intimate partner relationships. Know Your Rights: Domestic Violence, published by the American Bar Association, says that "Domestic violence is a pattern of many behaviors directed at achieving and maintaining power and control over an intimate partner, such as physical violence, emotional abuse, isolation of the victim, economic abuse, intimidation, and coercion and threats."
A diagnosis of Huntington's disease is based primarily on your answers to questions, a general physical exam, a review of your family medical history, and neurological and psychiatric examinations. The neurologist will ask you questions and conduct relatively simple tests in the office to judge: - Muscle strength - Muscle tone - Sense of touch - Vision and eye movement The neurologist may also perform standardized tests to assess: - Mental agility - Language function - Spatial reasoning You'll likely be referred to a psychiatrist for an examination to judge a number of factors that could contribute to your diagnosis, including: - Emotional state - Patterns of behaviors - Quality of judgment - Coping skills - Signs of disordered thinking - Evidence of substance abuse Brain imaging and function Your doctor may order brain-imaging tests for assessing the structure or function of the brain. The imaging technologies may include MRI, which can produce detailed cross-sectional and 3-D images of the brain, or CT scan, which produces cross-sectional images. These images may reveal structural changes at particular sites in the brain affected by Huntington's disease, although these changes may not be apparent early in the course of the disease. These tests can also be used to rule out other conditions that may be causing symptoms. Genetic counseling and testing If symptoms strongly suggest a diagnosis of Huntington's disease, your doctor may recommend a genetic test for the defective gene. This test can confirm the diagnosis, and it may be valuable if there's no known family history of Huntington's disease or if no other family member's diagnosis was confirmed with a genetic test. The test won't provide information that is beneficial in determining a treatment plan. Before undergoing such a test, the genetic counselor will explain the benefits and drawbacks of learning test results. The genetic counselor can also answer questions about the inheritance patterns of Huntington's disease. Predictive genetic test A genetic test can be given to someone who has a family history of the disease but shows no signs or symptoms. This is called predictive testing. The test result has no treatment benefit, and it doesn't indicate when disease onset will begin or what symptoms are likely to appear first. Some people may elect to do the test because they find it more stressful not knowing. Others may want to take the test before they make decisions about having children. Risks may include problems with insurability or future employment and the stresses of facing a fatal disease. These tests are only performed after consultation with a genetic counselor. Jul. 24, 2014 - Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2014: 5 Books in 1. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2014. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Jan. 27, 2014. - Tabrizi SJ, et al. Predictors of phenotypic progression and disease onset in premanifest and early-stage Huntington's disease in the TRACK-HD study: Analysis of 36-month observational data. The Lancet. 2013;12:637. - Huntington's disease: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/huntington/huntington.htm. Accessed Jan. 27, 2014. - Suchowersky O. Huntington disease: Clinical features and diagnosis. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Jan. 27, 2014. - Huntington disease. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Health Care Professionals. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/neurologic_disorders/movement_and_cerebellar_disorders/huntington_disease.html. Accessed Jan. 29, 2014. - Huntington's disease: A family guide. Huntington's Disease Society of America. http://www.hdsa.org/living-with-huntingtons/publications/index.html. Accessed Jan. 29, 2014. - Novak MJ, et al. Huntington's disease. British Medical Journal. 2010;340:c3109. - Suchowersky O. Huntington disease: Management. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Jan. 29, 2014. - Bower JH (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Feb. 5, 2014. - Knopman DS (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Feb. 5, 2014. You Are ... The Campaign for Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization. Make a difference today.
Powerful compact units measure impedance at 100Hz, 330Hz, 1KHz and 10KHz, providing accurate measurement of a single loudspeaker, an entire distributed system, or individual components such as resistors, capacitors and inductors. 31/2 digit LCD display clearly shows system impedance with accuracy of up to 0.1O. On 70V distributed systems, it calculates the wattage rating of the entire system. Measurements are taken at audio frequencies, which allows use with impedance matching transformers, switchers and volume controls, providing more accurate readings than with conventional DMMs.The ZM1P has all the features of the ZM1, but adds an overload protection circuit that prevents the meter from being damaged by amplifier output overloads up to 120VAC. The ZM1P also features a tone generator to improve system testing and performance. Banana test leads included. Requires eight "AA" batteries (#292-020), not included.
On Wednesday, London’s Guardian newspaper reported on a secret court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, itself a secret panel, authorizing the National Security Agency to collect the telephone records of Verizon’s U.S. customers — potentially 121 million subscribers. The order, permitted through the Patriot Act, covers the phone numbers and locations of both parties on the call, its time and duration, and what are called “unique identifiers.” It is not clear whether the order applies to other telecommunication companies, but a former intelligence official told The Associated Press it applies to all U.S. phone companies. The three-month order has been regularly renewed. The program began at least seven years ago, according to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, putting its origins in the Bush administration. For a change, it appears that key members of Congress had been briefed on the program — at least none of them appeared surprised. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that the program was necessary for homeland safety and that privacy rights were carefully protected. That’s quite a departure from the tone she took when discussing Bush’s “data mining.” Her House counterpart, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said the records had thwarted a “significant” terrorist attack on the United States a few years ago, but did not give details. A White House spokesman called the program “a critical tool” in fighting security threats. The government has collected an immense amount of information, and the temptation to broaden its use may become too great. Why not, some agent might ask, use it to detect crimes like money laundering and financial fraud? Having gone that far, why not use it to track individuals holding suspect political views? That has happened before in our history. But by the same token, the widespread surveillance of telephone, telegraph and mail transmissions was standard practice beginning with the Roosevelt administration during World War II, and continuing under both Republicans and Democrats during the Cold War. Americans historically have been willing to relinquish their privacy rights to some degree in wartime, but with the expectation that such changes were short-term in nature. The “war on terror” is a gray area, neither war nor peace, although Obama said last month it is virtually at an end. That government surveillance, however, apparently will continue. And this from a president who promised “the most transparent presidency in history.” For the moment, the response of the White House, congressional leaders and NSA is: “Trust us.” For the moment, we have no choice. But we should not forget Jefferson’s admonition: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
At the beginning of the school year, Jackie Bold’s class of 27 students read a cover story in Time Magazine titled “The Plight of the Honeybee” by Bryan Walsh. The students were moved by the importance of the honeybee to pollination of crops worldwide and puzzled by their dwindling population. According to the Time article, one-third of the human diet relies on some degree of bee pollination, including almonds, which are 100 percent dependent on bees for pollination. Under Bold’s supervision, the students studied the issue and researched possible solutions. Taking advantage of the students’ passion on this issue, Bold also incorporated bees and pollination into her curriculum when appropriate. Bees became part of math equations and inference assignments as well as development of problem solving, goal setting and strategic planning skills for the students. “The students’ desire to help the honeybees provided inspiration for them to learn across the board. As a teacher, it was fascinating to watch them process everything they learned and use that knowledge to make decisions as a team to achieve their goal. This was a truly unique group of kids,” Bold said. With the help of parent volunteer Gerry Kiernan, honey tasting was a recurring event for the class. Kiernan as well as students brought in honey from their travels from Marietta to as far away as Arizona and Vermont. The students also enjoyed a detailed presentation on bees, beehives and beekeeping by fourth-generation beekeeper Robby Maxwell with Bees Knees Apiary in Lilburn. The students ultimately set a goal to plant 100 bee-friendly plants to support pollinators locally. To fund this endeavor and to increase awareness of the issue, they sold flowering bulbs to friends and family through FlowerPowerFundraising.com. Raising $369, the students chose to partner with Dunwoody Nature Center on its new pollinator garden to support its on-site beehives. Although the students had hoped to get dirty with actual planting, they decided to allow the Center’s master gardeners to use their expertise in soil preparation, plant selection and planting to ensure success of the pollinator garden. This option also increased the amount of plants to be planted due to the master gardeners’ access to lower priced specimens. A check was presented to David Boyd, Program Manager for Dunwoody Nature Center, during Murdock’s opening ceremonies for its annual field day on May 13, 2014. Some students visited the Center with their families on June 1 to see the freshly planted pollinator garden. For more information on the project, contact parent volunteer Yvonne Matherne at (678) 925-1126. For more information on Dunwoody Nature Center, visit DunwoodyNature.org.
If you believe you have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you. Let me start by saying I know very little about HIV besides what I've read online. I'm a 22 year old male who is bisexual. I started being sexually active around 18 with men and women. With men I mostly performed oral sex, but had anal sex (as a top) on a few occasions. I've worn a condom every time I've had sex except once which only lasted a few moments. About a year ago in Jan 2011 I had oral sex with a man who seemed healthy. A few days later I came down with flu like symptoms but the worst part was my gums and throat became so sore I could barely eat for a week. I also had fever/chills and swollen lymph nodes under my jaw. The sores quickly spread all over my gums and my tongue. Upon looking online the symptoms are almost identical to gingivostomatitis. About a week of this all symptoms left with no scarring and my lymph nodes went down completely. In april of the same year I noticed a lymph node get sore again. A day or two later I began getting sores on my gumline. These were nothing as severe as the first time, just one or two at a time. They are more annoying than anything and very small. The sores would go away and then reappear in different locations for months. My doctor prescribed me acyclovir which made them go away, but they would usually come back. Over summer I noticed my skin looked a little blotchy and dry on my face. I don't know if the two are related. Since about summer my tonsils seem to have enlarged and I've been getting throat infections/ sinus infections fairly regularly. These symptoms coincide with moving back in with my parents who have a dusty house and pets which I've always been a little allergic to. Throughout the past year my tonsils have remained larger than normal, and multiple lymph nodes under my jaw and one in my neck have remained swollen. I've read that herpes especially new cases can cause these symptoms. I still get an occasional mouth sore, but the appearances have gotten fewer and fewer as the months go on. I have been stressed out that I have been infected with HIV. I've since had no sex partners and I've put on about 20lbs. I have always been a big guy. I'm 5'10" and weigh 245lbs. Other than these symptoms I've always been a healthy guy. Right now I've been getting tonsillitis back to back and am about to just get them taken out for good. The past few months I've been getting tonsil stones as well. I've read that if it is HIV that a year would be a long time to still be showing symptoms. I know it is annoying for me to be posting this without having tested myself, but honestly I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. If I find that I am positive there will be no one to turn to. No one knows that I'm bisexual. After a year of no sex I still have swollen lymph nodes, dry blotchy red face frequently, enlarged tonsils, sinus problems. I know stress can add to these symptoms, but I wanted to know what people think the chances are after reading this. I understand that nothing anyone says is 100 percent and i need to get tested, but please tell me whatever you can. I am freaking out. Thank you for the comments. I've read mixed arguments on whether or not you can contract HIV orally. I did not get any ejaculate in my mouth or even on me during this encounter, but its possible a sore or something else made contact with my mouth. This was the only sexual activity I had for months and the symptoms started days after it. My doctor never actually tested me for herpes, but just prescribed acyclovir after looking in my mouth and me telling her my symptoms. During this time I have not gotten a cold sore only mouth sores. I've read intraoral herpes and HIV are somehow related which scares me quite a bit. The Content on this Site is presented in a summary fashion, and is intended to be used for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as medical advice or a diagnosis of any health or fitness problem, condition or disease; or a recommendation for a specific test, doctor, care provider, procedure, treatment plan, product, or course of action. Med Help International, Inc. is not a medical or healthcare provider and your use of this Site does not create a doctor / patient relationship. We disclaim all responsibility for the professional qualifications and licensing of, and services provided by, any physician or other health providers posting on or otherwise referred to on this Site and/or any Third Party Site. 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From Our 2009 Archives School Meals Need to Get Healthier: Report Latest Nutrition, Food & Recipes News TUESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- New guidelines are needed to improve the diets of U.S. school children, finds a new government report that would set maximum calorie counts for school breakfasts and lunches. School meals should have less salt; more vegetables, fruits and whole grains; skim and low-fat milk, and other dairy products, the report from the Institute of Medicine says. It called on the federally funded National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to update its current policies. "The program was due for a revision," said IOM committee chairwoman Dr. Virginia A. Stallings, a professor and director of the Nutrition Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The committee's job was to make recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the school meal program, Stallings said. "We expect that they will take this information and revise the program," she said. "These recommendations will become regulations, and schools are required to follow them if they are going to get reimbursed for school meals," she said. The IOM recommendations would bring school meals in line with the latest dietary guidelines and reference intakes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The current standards for school meals are based on the 1995 dietary guidelines and the 1989 recommended dietary allowances. Increased funding will be needed to implement the changes because of the higher cost of vegetables and whole-grain foods, the report noted. Also, greater federal meal reimbursement, capital investment and additional training of food service personnel will be required for the recommendations to succeed. But these changes are needed to assure parents that schools are providing healthful, satisfying meals, Stallings said. "The school meal programs were established when we were worried about children being hungry and undernourished," she said. "Now we have to worry both about that safety net for children who may not have enough food, but also balance it with a food supply that will prevent the school meals from contributing to the obesity problem." In the past, there had only been a minimum calorie amount, Stallings said. "What the committee is now recommending is a minimum and a maximum," she said. The report on healthy school meals suggests lunches contain no more than 650 calories for students in grades kindergarten through five; 700 calories for children in grades six to eight, and 850 for those in grades nine to 12. Breakfast calories should not exceed 500, 550 and 600, respectively, for these grade groups. To ease the adjustment to lower salt meals, the report calls for reducing sodium over the next decade from today's average of 1,600 milligrams per lunch to 740 milligrams. In addition, breakfasts should contain one cup of fruit, and lunches for grades nine to 12 should also contain one cup of fruit. No more than half of the fruit should come from juice, the report says. Vegetable offerings should increase to three-quarters of a cup a day for grades kindergarten through eight, and one cup a day for grades nine to 12. Starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, should be served less often, and at least half a cup each of green leafy vegetables, orange vegetables and legumes should be provided each week, the report said. For grains, half of the breads and pasta should be whole grain, Stallings said. Milk served with school meals should be skim or 1% fat, she added. Meat with lunches should be kept to about two ounces for all grades, but can be higher for students in high school. For breakfast, meat should be kept to about one ounce a day for children in kindergarten through grade eight, and two ounces for high school students, the report noted. The National School Lunch Program is available in 99% of U.S. public schools and in 83% of private and public schools combined. The School Breakfast Program is available in 85 percent of public schools. About 30.6 million school children participated in the school lunch program in 2007, and 10.1 million children had school breakfasts. In 2007, schools in the program served about 5.1 billion lunches and 1.7 billion breakfasts, according to the report. Stallings hopes the recommendations will filter down to the meals parents serve at home. "I do believe that parents will be able to use some of this to talk about the kinds of fruits and vegetables they should be serving at home and other recommendations that are easily implemented, like going to skim or low-fat milk and thinking about sodium both in cooking and table salt," she said. Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said "this update to school nutrition standards is timely, and most welcome." School nutrition standards were originally devised to protect children from malnutrition and want, Katz noted. "But in an age of epidemic childhood obesity, when children are far more likely to get too many calories than too few, and when more and more succumb to what was called 'adult onset' diabetes just a generation ago, the time-honored school food standards are clearly obsolete," he said. Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Virginia A. Stallings, M.D., Jean A. Cortner Endowed Chair, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, director, Nutrition Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Oct. 20, 2009, Institute of Medicine, report, School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children
Can honey help cure infections? By Charles Downey After decades of turning up their noses at this ancient wound dressing, modern doctors are turning sweet on honey. March 13, 2000 (Big Bear City, Calif.) Peter Molan, Ph.D., likes to tell the story of the 20-year-old wound. Infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an abscess oozed in an English woman's armpit long after it had been drained. Nothing seemed to help, and the pain prevented her from working. Then in August of 1999, she read about the remarkable wound-healing properties of honey. She convinced doctors to apply some to the dressing to her arm, and a month later the wound healed. Now she's back at work. Novel as this treatment sounds, it would have inspired yawns among doctors in ancient Egypt, according to May Berenbaum, Ph.D., a University of Illinois entomologist. "Honey has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of medical problems like wounds, burns, cataracts, skin ulcers and scrapes," she says. "And now various researchers worldwide are also studying -- and finding -- strong antimicrobial properties in some honeys." Honey fell from favor as a wound dressing when antibiotic dressings were developed during World War II. But the new research -- and the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- are putting this old-time folk remedy into the contemporary medicine chest.
Stiff-Person Syndrome Center - Hilo, HI WebMD Physician Directory What is Stiff-Person syndrome? Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a rare neurological disorder with features of an autoimmune disease. What are the signs and symptoms of Stiff-Person syndrome?!--ICCChunk-2578... Other Related Stiff-Person Syndrome Articles Emergency Contact for Hilo Nearby Hilo Hospitals
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, most commonly known as MRI, is a medical device system made up of an intricate set of primary performing MRI parts which use magnetic field and the natural resonance of atoms in the body to obtain images of human tissues. The first functioning MRI device was launched in 1945 and the equipment has become an essential part of the imaging world, with steadily improving technology. Thanks to the increasing sophistication of MRI parts, MRI has evolved to become a key diagnostic device. It is noninvasive and is capable of taking pictures of both soft and hard tissues, unlike other medical imaging tools. MRI is primarily used to examine the internal organs for abnormalities such as tumors or chemical imbalances. The primary functioning MRI parts of an MRI system include: one external magnet, RF (radio frequency) equipment, gradient coils and a computer. Other MRI part components include an RF shield, a power supply, NMR probe, display unit, and a refrigeration unit. Since the process uses an RF signal to deliver the information in the form of an image, radiation is an ongoing risk. MRIs are placed inside RF-shielded enclosures to both protect operators and patients, and also to prevent random RF signals, for example, from cell phones, from interfering with MRI scans. The magnet, which is used to create the steady external magnetic field, is the largest MRI part of any Magnetic Resonance Imaging system. To be useful, the magnet MRI part must be able to produce a stable magnetic field that penetrates all the way through a targeted slice, of the body. There are three different kinds of magnet MRI parts available. A resistive magnet MRI part is composed of thin aluminum bands wrapped in a loop. When electricity is conducted around the loop, a magnetic field is created at a 90 degree angle to the loop. In an MRI system, four resistive magnet MRI parts are placed at right angles to each other, to produce a consistent magnetic field. Another set of MRI parts, used to provide a way to decode the NMR signal that is received from a sample, magnetic field gradients are used. Typically, three sets of gradient coil MRI parts are used to provide data in each of the three dimensions. Like the primary magnets, these MRI part coils are made of a conducting loop that creates a magnetic field. In the MRI system, they are wrapped around the cylinder that surrounds the patient. An important MRI part, the RF system, has various roles in MRI equipment. First, it is responsible for transmitting the RF radiation that induces the atoms to release a signal. Next, this MRI part receives the produced signal and intensifies it so it can be controlled by the computer. RF coils are the primary MRI parts in the RF system. The final integral MRI part in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging system is a computer, which controls the signals sent as well as processes and stores the signals received. Before the received signal can be analyzed by the computer, it is translated through an analog-digital convertor, another essential MRI part. When the computer receives signals, it performs various reconstruction algorithms, creating a matrix of numbers suitable for storing and building a visual display.
"Where Native and non-native Spanish speakers meet, talk and grow" We are the original Tampa Bay Area Web community for Spanish Language and Culture Aficionados. Our members are from different backgrounds, nationalities, ages and language skill levels. We offer weekly Spanish language lessons and Spanish conversation for beginner, intermediate and advanced Spanish speakers and social activities for native and non-native Spanish speakers. From the beginning, Tampa Spanish Language Meetup Group was created to foster a friendly and exciting environment for Spanish language natives and Spanish students to meet. Today, that excitement is still very much alive with social events that allow our members to mingle and speak Spanish with natives and non-natives while having fun. Our members' desire to help others has evolved into a fun and exciting place to learn and grow. That sense of learning has matured into an ongoing study group that helps beginners and advanced Spanish speakers improve or develop their Spanish language skills. The Tampa Spanish Language Meetup Group is a Tampa Bay based group for current & former students of Spanish and for those who wish to broaden their vocabulary & increase their understanding of the Spanish language and culture. The group is a great way to share & exchange your experiences in Spain and Spanish speaking countries. Current Member Benefits: 1) Weekly beginner AND advanced/intermediate Spanish classes 2) Occasional movie and/or game nights (in Spanish w/subtitles) --free to our members 3) Occasional dinners, socials, game nights etc designed to foster Spanish conversation 4) A comprehensive online and link library of Spanish Language resources 5) Members are encouraged to add events (and host events) to our group - examples: Spanish language movies, theater, restaurants, book clubs, dancing and so on. # Our intermediate and advanced Spanish students meet every Tuesday night from 7PM to 9 PM in South Tampa (near Kennedy and Westshore) for Spanish conversation. # Our beginning Spanish Language students meet on Monday night at 7 PM in Carrollwood off of Dale Mabry. Meetings change depending on the groups needs but our "normal" meeting is one hour of conversation in Spanish and one hour of Spanish lessons. Spanish textbooks are available new for less than $14. # Our Spanish movies/game nights are in Town and Country right off the Veterans Expressway. Movies are designed to increase Spanish listening comprehension and to foster an understanding of Spanish culture and history of Spanish speaking countries # We love when Native Spanish Speakers and Spanish Language instructors so their membership dues are waved. Native Spanish Speakers are encouraged to visit, converse, tell us about their country and/or to help us with our Spanish. # More information about the group is available under the table of contents below # For our meeting locations please join our group and remember to RSVP if you are coming. New members are allowed to attend a meeting without paying dues. MEETING ADDRESSES ARE ONLY GIVEN TO MEMBERS. YOU ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND A FREE SPANISH LESSON AND/OR EVENT BEFORE PAYING THE $10 A YEAR MEMBERSHIP FEE. A PICTURE PHOTO THAT ALLOWS THE GROUP TO IDENTIFY YOU (HEAD SHOT IS PREFERRED) IS REQUIRED FOR MEMBERSHIP. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PHOTO YOUR MEMBERSHIP WILL BE DENIED. You are of course welcome to reapply. RSVPs ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL MEETINGS. Access to the group, its Spanish lessons and events for only a $10 a calendar year. This fee is to help reimburse the organizer for her expenses to host this meetup and is a bargain. New members are welcome to attend a meeting before paying their membership fee. Membership fees are always waived for native speakers and volunteer instructors. Our Favorite and Free Resources to Learn Spanish: http://www.meetup.com/SpeakSpanish/pages/Fa...
“Mechatronics.” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said the word so fast that it got lost in the echo of the large aircraft hangar at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology near Memphis International Airport. And he said it only once. The rest of the time, he used a better-known term, “advanced manufacturing.” Mechatronics is the latest buzzword in the resurgence of manufacturing in Memphis. Haslam was at the hangar near the airport in September to announce $2.8 million in grants for TCAT and Southwest Tennessee Community College to get the equipment they need to train those who already have manufacturing in mechatronics. “It’s really kind of the old multi-craft. … It is an individual that really understands maintenance in the manufacturing field,” said John Churchill, executive director of workforce development at STCC. Herbert Beasley makes adjustments to a multiple shaft drive assembly at Southwest Tennessee Community College. (Memphis News/Andrew J. Breig) Joe Vazquez and instructor Steve Browning work on the PLC – the computer that manages all of the other manufacturing equipment. (Memphis News/Andrew J. Breig) Tommy Hall operates the Motor Control System at Southwest Tennessee Community College. (Memphis News/Andrew J. Breig) The change in terminology is an indication of why the comeback of manufacturing a decade into the 21st century is on terms that are much more advanced and complex than they were 30 years ago. That’s when traditional, industrial-age manufacturing at bedrock Memphis workplaces like Firestone, International Harvester and Kimberly Clark began to lock the doors and turn to rust. Manufacturing companies work more deliberately in today’s rejuvenated manufacturing sector to keep unplanned shutdowns of equipment to a bare minimum. So those maintaining the machinery often also do preventive maintenance. Executives at Memphis-based International Paper Co. always outline planned outages during the company’s quarterly earnings calls with investors. Outages, or down time that isn’t planned, are accounted for in the earnings statements the publicly traded company makes every three months. “(Mechatronics) entails just about anything you would need a maintenance person to do,” Churchill said. “It ranges from mechanics, pumps, gear boxes, belts, chains, all of that. It can be PLCs, electric motors, drives, instrumentation and it even includes machine shop skills. I guess the best term is a complete maintenance person for most manufacturing industries.” PLC is shorthand for programmable logic controller, the computer that manages all of the other manufacturing equipment. “In all modern manufacturing, that thing right there is one of the ones that’s going to control the rest of it,” said Hunter Purnell. Purnell is heading a four-member instruction team at Southwest that was working in a lab on the school’s Macon Cove campus just before Halloween with four employees of the Hershey plant in South Memphis. At the PLC station, Joe Vazquez stared intently into a computer screen and a manual. His object, like those at three other stations, was to make a small motor at the station move through a simulator that confronts them with problems along the manufacturing chain between the start of the process and getting the motor to run. That translates to keeping the plant running and making products. Cody Cole and instructor James Warwick troubleshoot an Electronic Drives System in a lab where “mechatronics” is being used. (Memphis News/Andrew J. Breig) “We are seeing what kind of skills they have for a multilevel, multiskilled technician,” Purnell said of the lab work, which followed online cognitive tests. Vazquez and his coworkers scored high enough to advance to this next assessment. With the combined score they get credit toward an associate degree or training certificate from Southwest and could pursue more training. “Instead of just throwing training at them – stuff that they already know – let’s get prior learning assessment on what they already know,” Purnell said. “Let’s concentrate on the things that we can make them better at.” The four workstations demonstrate just how the assembly process crosses boundaries. Herbert Beasley used a socket wrench and a mallet at the mechanical or motor control station. Cody Cole cupped a hand over a display atop a small digital keypad at the Human Machine Interface station. To his right was a small motor. “All inside of what Cody’s messing with – that’s what you would see in a modern plant,” Purnell said. Meanwhile, Tommy Hall repeatedly and methodically shut a power box switch up and down as he checked a network of patch cords that represented an assembly line leading to yet another small motor. Purnell worked at Hall’s station creating problems for the team to solve. “I can go in the back like the Wizard of Oz and I can pull out a plug and put in faults,” Purnell said. “I can make things break. They have to find where the fault is.” Across the room, after lots of adjustments with the mallet and wrenches, Beasley unlocked a safety switch and started up his motor at a slow speed at first. The motor’s whine filled the room as the others continued working at their stations. The whine went higher as Beasley slowly adjusted the speed up and after the whine leveled out, Beasley just as gradually adjusted the speed down to a stop. “Try that one more time,” said his instructor, David Fulcher. A few minutes later, Vazquez diverted his gaze a bit to his right from the computer screen and manual to a button he pushed. Another kind of small motor with a different whine began moving like a lathe with a ring on the cylinder moving left and right. Southwest will be working with three industries in its mechatronics training – medical device manufacturers, process control personnel at plants like Hershey and DuPont and paper companies and logistics. And Churchill said the goal isn’t to make the workers experts in everything. They will continue after the mechatronics training to pursue more intently a specialty like being a mechanic or an electrician. “They are not going to become experts at all of them. But they want them to become very familiar with all of it,” Churchill said. “I can send almost anybody to do most of the elementary things and do it safely and correctly.” There is the possibility those trained in mechatronics could become engineers but the training is not a straight or clear line to a four-year degree. “We have two types of degrees. One is where they take all of the math and science and English mainly so they can transfer to a four-year college,” Churchill said. “When they take the applied degree, then what they are really doing is learning how things work. Very few of the hours are English and math. Most of it is getting them to go out and get a job immediately.” The point Churchill and Haslam make is that while mechatronics is a new name for an old concept, the machinery and technology behind the concept requires some kind of degree or certification and no longer just a high school diploma and being “good with their hands.” Southwest is working with employers like Hershey who are able to say specifically what they want in a training program they send their workers to. The Unilever plant in Covington is putting all of its operators through 40 hours of mechanical training. “It’s no longer where the operator just sits and watches equipment. They have to really understand what’s happening,” Churchill said. “It takes a more educated operator and maintenance person to keep up with the new technologies.” The recently released Greater Memphis Chamber report on the city’s resurgent manufacturing sector showed manufacturers in the Memphis area plan to hire more than 4,000 employees through 2016 at an average annual pay of $32,180. Those are new jobs in a local economy historically dominated by the logistics and distribution sectors – which are also affected by the mechatronics training – along with health care and tourism. Purnell likens the skill set needed in a single plant to cross training. “In a plant of the size that these guys are running, every day is a different day. It’s a new day and a new problem,” he said of the Hershey employees. “It could be a mechanical problem. It could be an electrical problem. It could be a piping problem. A pipe’s broken or a pump’s broken or the piping to a pump is broken. From all of the stuff that these guys do mixing candy, all of that’s involved – pumps, electrical motors, gears, rollers. Once they get the stuff made, they have to be able to palletize it and distribute it.” The experience of the quartet showed in the methodical way they went about the exercise. Each person followed the basic procedures of making sure the machine was off at the power box and testing connections. “You are getting the cream of the crop here. You’re getting guys who already do this for years,” Purnell said. “We have to bring students up, kids out of high school in our area and bring them up and get them to at least a level where they can do some of this troubleshooting in a lab environment. So that when they get their job and they walk out on that floor, they are talking the same language.” The first test of that, he adds, is a supervisor walking up to a first-day employee and saying, “That switch is open. Do you know what I mean?”
VIENNA (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Vienna Tuesday on only his second trip to the West since tensions spiraled over Russia's annexation of Crimea and its actions in eastern Ukraine. Putin met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, who has said that it is important to keep channels of communication open. He also was scheduled to meet other Austrian leaders, as well as the current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, during the half-day visit. Austria is a member of the European Union, which along with the United States has imposed visa bans and asset freezes for a number of Russian officials but so far has refrained from imposing broader economic sanctions. The U.S. Embassy in Vienna noted in a brief statement that trans-Atlantic unity "has been essential in discouraging further Russian aggression and facilitating constructive talks." "The Austrian government, economic leaders, and the Austrian people should consider carefully whether today's events contribute to that effort," it added. Ahead of Putin's arrival, Austrian energy company OMV and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom signed a contract to build the Austrian section of a gas pipeline to supply Europe, bypassing Ukraine, the Austria Press Agency reported. The South Stream pipeline will cross the Black Sea, Serbia and Hungary. OMV argues that it will bolster Europe's supply security.
LOS ANGELES -- BrightSource Energy on Wednesday shelved a major solar power project in California for the second time this year. In a document filed with the California Energy Commission, BrightSource said it "has determined there is a need to suspend" its application to permit the 500 megawatt Hidden Hills solar thermal power project until further notice. The company did not give a reason for the suspension, and company officials were not immediately available for comment. BrightSource, based in Oakland, said it will continue to evaluate the project, which was to be located in Inyo County near the Nevada border. In January, BrightSource suspended its 500 MW Rio Mesa project in Riverside County, California after multiple delays in the permitting process. Late last year, CEC staff said the Hidden Hills project would have "significant" impact on the environment, adding that the use of photovoltaic solar panels "would be environmentally superior" to BrightSource's solar thermal technology. BrightSource disputed those claims at recent hearings, and the CEC was expected to issue a final decision on the project later this year. BrightSource, which canceled a planned initial public offering last year, in March said Spain's Abengoa would become a partner in its 500 MW Palen project in California. That project is awaiting regulatory approval. BrightSource is more than 20 percent owned by French power equipment maker Alstom SA. Other investors include VantagePoint Capital Partners, DBL Investors, Goldman Sachs Inc , Chevron Technology Ventures and BP Ventures .
Last week the Common Application revealed some major changes to its application format. Many are worried about what this means for them. Chances are that if you are applying as a freshman this coming fall, you will be applying for the first time, so these changes will not feel like changes at all. Let's step back for a moment and talk about what the Common Application is in the first place. Several years ago, the Common Application was founded to help streamline the admissions process. Currently there are about 500 colleges across the United States that allow students to apply through this site. While many popular schools subscribe to this application medium, the University of California schools, the California State universities, and several public schools have their own applications. While the Common Application allows students to save themselves the trouble of having to enter some personal information multiple times, most schools require supplements that more specifically ask the questions that each college will want to know. Students should not try to take the easy way out and avoid personalizing each application. So let's discuss these new changes. For many years the Common Application gave students the option of six relatively general essay questions to choose among. Of those topics, one was "Topic of Your Choice." This fall, the questions will be a bit more pointed. They are still broad enough to be suited for the millions of students who will submit applications. Below are the new questions: 1. Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? 3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? 4. Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? 5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community or family. In addition to the new prompts, the Common Application will no longer allow students to upload documents. Rather, students will have to paste essays into a text box. This means that all formatting, including underlining and italics, will get lost. This simply means that you will need to rethink your style a bit. And you will be limited to 650 words. The 500 limit that Common Application introduced two years ago was limiting, but 650 should be ample. If you love to long write, this will be a great exercise to help you become more frugal with your words. Fundamentally, these questions are still focused on getting you to discuss what makes you tick. This year I will give the same advice I have been giving for years -- what do you want colleges to know about you that they cannot gather from your transcript, test scores and extracurricular list? What will you contribute to the university? What experiences have defined or influenced your perspective? What adversities have you overcome? While the structure of the Common Application might be changing, its purpose remains constant. And these new essay prompts are simply meant to help colleges get to know you a bit better so they can make the best decision when they read your application. Don't get caught up in these changes. Rather, focus on you and how you can have the best possible college application. Purvi S. Mody is co-owner of Insight Education, an educational consulting firm that helps students throughout the Bay Area to achieve their educational goals. Email her at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Micromanage the Right Employees desire and appreciate face-to-face time with their managers. However, they spurn managers who inappropriately observe and control the manner in which they perform their jobs. Author Thomas Davenport said as much when he summarized in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article the results of a survey of thousands of employers across the globe. The survey reveals that while effective managers interact with employees at least daily, they also make employees feel comfortable working independently. Somewhat of a paradox, but make it work and you’ll enjoy a productive team of workers satisfied in their roles who will stick around for a long time. You want employees who see themselves as playing an important role not only in the success of your company, but in the success of your customers. Davenport cites anecdotal data provided by consulting firm Towers Watson regarding the healthcare industry that I think applies to the metalforming industry. Towers Watson interviewed dozens of hospital custodians and separated them into two groups—one group that tended to work without interacting with other hospital staff, and another group who went out of their to interact with patients and visitors. Asked to define their jobs, those in the first group saw themselves merely as cleaners. However, those in the more interactive group saw themselves as much more. They believed their roles went far beyond cleaning and extended to “playing an important role” in the patients’ and visitors’ experiences. Their supervisors had pushed the right buttons—and perhaps made the right hiring decisions, too. If you’ve been in a hospital recently, whether as patient or visitor, I bet you’ve experienced this dichotomy amongst the hospital staff. I’ve had incredibly uplifting conversations with numerous non-medical staff—including custodians—while visiting patients. Many of them believe they play a critical role far beyond their job descriptions. And I’m certain those beliefs make more productive employees. The management trick to all of this, be it a hospital or a metalforming company, is to inspire without over (or micro) managing. Some would say meddling. Remember: Managers are (or should be) rewarded for making other people productive. That’s your measure of success. Often the line appears fine between micromanaging and accountability, between practicing the “buck stops here” philosophy and the belief that delegating and empowering leads to growth and success. To walk that line and “micromanage the right ,” Davenport says: “Don’t (just) empower people…foster autonomy…Employees who take intellectual ownership of their jobs are more likely to feel stimulated and engaged and less likely to feel suffocated by managerial attention…Don’t just coach employees…employees benefit from having access to multiple sources of advice, counsel and knowledge, via a confidante or mentor.” There are no comments posted at this time.
Applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) for its sixth round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants totaled $9.5 billion, 15 times the $600 million set aside for the program, demonstrating the continued need for transportation investment nationwide. Altogether, the U.S. DOT received 797 eligible applications, compared to 585 in 2013, from 49 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. The announcement comes weeks after Secretary Anthony Foxx unveiled the GROW AMERICA Act, a four-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that would create millions of jobs and lay the groundwork for long-term economic competitiveness. The proposed GROW AMERICA Act authorizes $5 billion over four years for much-needed additional TIGER funding to help meet the overwhelming demand for significant infrastructure investments around the country and provide the certainty that states and local governments need to properly plan for investment. The TIGER program, which began as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, offers federal funding possibilities for large, game-changing multi-modal projects. The federal funds leverage money from private sector partners, state, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies. The $474 million awarded under TIGER 2013 supported $1.8 billion in overall project investments. Congress provided the most recent funding as part of the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, signed by President Obama in January.
MARYLAND HIGHER EDUCATION SERVES MORE THAN COLLEGES, Private career, trade schools fall under agency’s oversight (December 6, 2007 – Annapolis, MD) Maryland Higher Education Commission announced today that many students interested in attending private career schools are eligible to receive financial aid. “Some students choose not to go to traditional colleges and universities,” Maryland Higher Education Secretary James Lyons, Sr. said. “If they want to be cosmetologists, bartenders, real estate agents, dry cleaners or something else not offered by two or four year traditional colleges and universities, we can also There’s a common perception that Maryland’s Higher Education Commission simply has oversight over Maryland’s public and private colleges and universities and higher education centers, but MHEC also oversees private career schools. MHEC provides financial aid and oversight to private career and trade schools ranging from beauty academies, bartending schools, computer schools, construction trades, and dry cleaning schools among many others. Overall, there are nearly 160 private career schools in Maryland. Thousands of Marylanders hold rewarding jobs because of training they received at private career schools. MHEC regulates four such private career schools: Authentic Bartending School of Maryland (Hyattsville); Baltimore Bartender School; Bartender of America Bartending School (College Park) and the Maryland Bartending Academy (Glen Burnie). There are 29 such schools that teach this trade. There’s a decidedly French touch at the L’Academie de Cuisine – Gaithersburg or there’s the Lincoln Technical Institute. And for dog lovers, there is the Baltimore School of Dog For more information on financial aid to Maryland’s Private Career Schools that are regulated by MHEC, contact the Office of Student Financial Service at (800) 974-0203 or visit the MHEC website at www.mhec.state.md.us. Also, be sure to contact the private career school you plan to attend. The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities and private career schools. It serves as an advocate for more than 300,000 college students in Maryland, for the State and its needs, and for business and industry in
THE HISTORY OF MCD MCD built the flood protection system between 1918 and 1922. The original system includes five earthen dams, channel improvements and levees in Piqua, Troy, Tipp City, Dayton, West Carrollton, Miamisburg, Franklin, Middletown and Hamilton. Construction of MCD’s flood protection system was completed in an amazing five years, from 1918-1922. The Miami Conservancy District's flood protection system was the largest public works project in the world of its time. It employed a workforce of more than 2,000 people. The cost of the flood protection system was more than $30 million. Careful attention to planning, financing, legislation and implementation resulted in the most comprehensive flood protection system in the nation. Since completion of the original system in 1922, the dams have stored floodwaters more than 1,800 times. MCD has built several other flood protection projects at the request of communities that had been subjected to flooding, including Miami Villa, Miami Shores, Excello, Coleman Plat, Lower Stillwater. MCD also helped complete an addition to the Middletown levee system. The residents of these areas and local governmental agencies paid for these construction projects.
The skills shortage is being felt acutely by those employers looking for IT staff in large firms and across London and the South as big data, mobile solutions and the need to meet regulations stretch existing resources. The demand for permanent and temporary IT staff has held up over the last few months according to figures from sources including the IT Job Board, and the latest indication of the size of the growing jobs challenge has been given by the Robert Half Professional Hiring Index. The Index revealed that the skills most in demand were technical expertise in database management, network administration/engineering, Windows administration, desktop support and business intelligence/reporting services. Big data seemed to be one of the main catalysts for firms to accept they needed more skilled staff and there was also a recognition that more help would be needed to meet the mobile challenge. "IT departments across all sectors are facing a shortage of skilled professionals. A shift in technological advancement means that businesses are unable to fill critical back-office roles that support organisational growth and flexibility," said Neil Hedges , senior manager at Robert Half Technology. "Big data is becoming a significant issue for organisations. Many are struggling to manage the vast amount of information passing through the business, and lack the tools required to analyse it in a reasonable time frame, using conventional techniques. Unfortunately we are experiencing a situation where demand is outweighing supply in certain areas, and companies are struggling to attract the requisite talent to support this change," he added.
It took the Claiborne Commission less than 15 minutes last week to conduct the few pieces of county business on its agenda. However, one bit of business ensures the continued equality locally between the sexes and those of differing religious beliefs and ethnicities. The commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution promising the county will abide by the regulations of the federally mandated Title VI, commonly known as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “This is required because the county receives state and federal funds,” said Commissioner Juanita Honeycutt, who sponsored the resolution. Among other things, the Civil Rights Act was created to end the practice of unequal voter registration requirements. The Act also addressed racial segregation in schools, the workplace and those facilities serving the general public. During a speech on July 11, 1963, then President John F. Kennedy called for the creation of the bill which would emulate the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Kennedy envisioned a bill that would also create a means for the U.S. Attorney General to join in lawsuits against state governments who continued to operate segregated school systems. Just days after Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, newly appointed President Lyndon B. Johnson urged the joint session of Congress to move forward with the bill. “No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy’s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long,” said Johnson during the assembly. In other action, the commissioners unanimously approved the donation of $200 for each of the two Little League softball teams poised to compete in the state finals. The funds will help offset the costs of traveling to and from the competition, overnight accommodations and other necessities. In another matter, the commission adopted the extension of Clayton Lynch Lane, on first reading. Jan Runions may be reached at 423-626-3222 or Twitter @scribeCP.
As a member of the World Bank Group, MIGA's mission is to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) into developing countries to help support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people's lives. The development needs today are stark. Billions of people live without access to safe drinking water or sewage treatment. Children can't attend school because there's no electricity to light classrooms in some countries, and no roads to get to school in others. The list goes on. Developing country governments cannot shoulder the burden—financially or technically—of addressing these needs alone. Foreign direct investors can play a critical role in reducing poverty, by building roads, for example, providing clean water and electricity, and above all, providing jobs. By taking on these tasks, the private sector can help economies grow and avert the need for governments to use funds better spent on acute social needs, while taking advantage of the opportunity to make profitable investments. MIGA and FDI Concerns about investment environments and perceptions of political risk often inhibit foreign direct investment, with the majority of flows going to just a handful of countries and leaving the world's poorest economies largely ignored. MIGA addresses these concerns by providing three key services: political risk insurance for foreign investments in developing countries, technical assistance to improve investment climates and promote investment opportunities in developing countries, and dispute mediation services, to remove possible obstacles to future investment. MIGA's operational strategy plays to our foremost strength in the marketplace—attracting investors and private insurers into difficult operating environments. The agency's strategy focuses on specific areas where we can make the greatest difference: Infrastructure development is an important priority for MIGA, given the estimated need for $230 billion a year solely for new investment to deal with the rapidly growing urban centers and underserved rural populations in developing countries. Frontier markets—high-risk and/or low-income countries and markets—represent both a challenge and an opportunity for the agency. These markets typically have the most need and stand to benefit the most from foreign investment, but are not well served by the private market. Investment into conflict-affected countries is another operational priority for the agency. While these countries tend to attract considerable donor goodwill once conflict ends, aid flows eventually start to decline, making private investment critical for reconstruction and growth. With many investors wary of potential risks, political risk insurance becomes essential to moving investments forward. South-South investments (investments between developing countries) are contributing a greater proportion of FDI flows. But the private insurance market in these countries is not always sufficiently developed and national export credit agencies often lack the ability and capacity to offer political risk insurance. MIGA offers comparative advantages in all of these areas—from our unique package of products and ability to restore the business community's confidence, to our ongoing collaboration with the public and private insurance market to increase the amount of insurance available to investors. Our added value Confidence, security, and credibility. MIGA gives private investors the confidence and comfort they need to make sustainable investments in developing countries. As part of the World Bank Group, and having as our shareholders both host countries and investor countries, MIGA brings security and credibility to an investment that is unmatched. Our presence in a potential investment can literally transform a "no-go" into a "go." We act as a potent deterrent against government actions that may adversely affect investments. And even if disputes do arise, our leverage with host governments frequently enables us to resolve differences to the mutual satisfaction of all parties. Market leader. MIGA is a leader when it comes to assessing and managing political risks, developing new products and services, and finding innovative ways to meet client needs. But we don't stop there. We also provide expert advice to help countries attract and retain quality foreign investment, and a host of online services to make sure investors know about business opportunities in our developing member countries. Complex deals. MIGA can be the difference between make or break, by providing that all-critical lynchpin that enables a complex transaction to go ahead. MIGA offers innovative coverage of the nontraditional sub-sovereign risks that often accompany water and other infrastructure projects. We can also cover interest rate hedging instruments, as we did for a power project in Vietnam, as well as provide capital markets guarantees, which we recently did for residential mortgage-backed securities in Latvia. PRI market. MIGA complements the activities of other investment insurers and works with partners through its coinsurance and reinsurance programs. By doing so, we are able to expand the capacity of the political risk insurance industry to insure investments, as well as to encourage private sector insurers into transactions they would not have otherwise undertaken. Our development impact and priorities Since its inception in 1988, MIGA has issued nearly 900 guarantees worth more than $17.4 billion for projects in 96 developing countries. MIGA is committed to promoting socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable projects that are above all, developmentally responsible. They have widespread benefits, for example, generating jobs and taxes, and transferring skills and know-how. Local communities often receive significant secondary benefits through improved infrastructure. Projects encourage similar local investments and spur the growth of local businesses. We ensure that projects are aligned with World Bank Group country assistance strategies, and integrate the best environmental, social, and governance practices into our work. MIGA specializes in facilitating investments in high-risk, low-income countries—such as in Africa and conflict-affected areas. By partnering with the World Bank and others, MIGA is able to leverage finance for guarantee trust funds in these difficult or frontier markets. The agency also focuses on supporting complex infrastructure projects and promoting investments between developing countries. MIGA's technical assistance services also play an integral role in catalyzing foreign direct investment by helping developing countries define and implement strategies to promote investment. MIGA develops and deploys tools and technologies to support the spread of information on investment opportunities. Thousands of users take advantage of our suite of online investment information services, which complement country-based capacity-building work. The agency uses its legal services to further smooth possible impediments to investment. Through its dispute mediation program, MIGA helps governments and investors resolve their differences, and ultimately improve the country's investment climate.
This month, we are supporting our friends with autism. Friends with autism verbally and physically express their emotions in different ways. They have a hard time understanding new words, might yell or move differently, and might feel upset from loud noises. Let us be more understanding of friends with autism. Be patient and kind to all friends. That is what being a Mightee Kid is all about! Follow our beautiful model Sammy Lu's story here. Donate directly to Autism-Society.org here VIew Size Chart
Abstract Women play an integral role in our contemporary society essentially women stand out as makers of any given society women work all the time and it is a rare scenario that we can ignore their appearance right from work , juggling several task like gardening , nursing a baby and back to office . However there can be a diverse meanings of feminism , each responsive for the needs and issues of women in different regions societies and times . Feminism is therefore , a political movement that expresses the concerns of women from different regions and Women play an integral role in our contemporary society essentially women stand out as makers of any given society women work all the time and it is a rare scenario that we can ignore their appearance right from work , juggling several task like gardening , nursing a baby and back to office . However there can be a diverse meanings of feminism , each responsive for the needs and issues of women in different regions societies and times . Feminism is therefore , a political movement that expresses the concerns of women from different regions and backgrounds Like all political movements it can be diverse in its issues , immediate goals , and methods adopted . But beneath this diversity , feminism has its unshakable commitment to breaking down structures of gender subordination and a vision for women as full and equal participants with men at all levels of societal life The recognition of the existence of gender subordination and the need to break down its structures has often led to the wrong conclusion that engenders monolithic and universal issues , strategies and methods applicable to all women in all societies at all time . But apolitical movement that is potentially global in scope needs greater flexibility openness and sensitivity to issues and methods as defined different groups of women for themselves . Self definition is therefore a key ingredient to relevant political action Recognition of diversity in issues and methods allows women to work for changes within existing structures or to work to transform those structures . It allows women to challenge and debate the connection between various immediate I issues and the ultimate vision of gender equality in more fruitful manner than the dramatic assertions of the true meaning of feminism . It makes it possible to form challenges with other organizations , to assent the need for autonomy , or to work within existing organizations as appropriate It enables women to link the gender struggle against national racial and class oppression where these issues are bound together and depending on the politics and potential of other organizations have addressed some of the key issues that women entrepreneurs have identified as challenges Myriad micro-credit schemes have been postulated globally into hybrid lending institutions that combine some of the protections of the community based schemes . Since women usually have less access to credit they have set up their own means of saving and borrowing money in many countries Various technologies for business models are being implemented by various governments to help women entrepreneurs get access to the applied science and technology in that their business are inclined into bigger empires Women and Technology In a period of increasing unemployment and deep recession , training has become what was before a central political issue . It is therefore very important that women have access to forms of training which will give them opportunities for either entry or promotion it is equally important that the forms of training which will give them opportunities for either entry or promotion . It is equally important that the form... More Essays on women, business, technology, gender, WTO - The use of information technology to support the drive for E-Business in organizations, including products and/or processes in the information systems area. - The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professional in a business setting. - Gender Inequalities in the Workplace for Women in Law Enforcement - Buss Comm (WS5) - compare and contrast essay - PROSTITUTION: WHY NOT LEGALIZE IT? - The importance of understanding cultural,ethnic,and gender differences by professionals and managers in a business setting - Session Long Discrimination and Affirmative Action Related searches on WTO, South Africa, World Trade Organisation - business courseworks - sample courseworks on gender - essays on business - World Trade Organisation analysis - merits of WTO - disadvantages of women - advantages and disadvantages of business - gender summary - cause and effect of gender - technology fallacies - WTO test - advantages of South Africa - business introduction
RIP, Captain Henry T. Waskow, KIA 14 December 1943 [LEFT]The Captain was killed in action 64 years ago tomorrow. KB[/LEFT] [LEFT]The legacy of Captain Henry T. Waskow lives on over 60 years after his death. He not only lives on in Belton, Texas, but in the annals of military history, journalism, and film.[/LEFT] [LEFT]On December 14, 1943, the body of Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton was carried down San Pietro Hill in Italy on the back of a mule. His passing was noted by America’s most famous chronicler of World War II and the men who fought it, war correspondent Ernie Pyle.[/LEFT] [LEFT]“In this war I have known a lot of officers who were respected by the soldiers under them,” Pyle wrote. “But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas.”[/LEFT] [LEFT]Waskow was a company commander in the 36th Division, and a young one. He was 25 when Pyle wrote about his death and the reaction of his soldiers when Waskow’s body was brought down that mountain side on a cold, moonlit night in Italy.[/LEFT] [LEFT]“He carried in him a sincerity and a gentleness that made people want to be guided by him,” Pyle wrote. Soldiers were eager to share with Pyle their feelings toward the Captain. “After my father, he came next,” a Sergeant said. “He always looked after us. He’d go to bat for us every time,” another soldier said.[/LEFT] [LEFT]Locally, his hometown has named VFW HALL 4008 and a school - Henry T. Waskow High School- in his honor.[/LEFT] [LEFT]Waskow graduated from Belton High School in 1935 where he was Student Council President and had the highest grade point average of any male graduate in the school.[/LEFT] [LEFT]He attended what was then Temple Junior College in 1936 and 1937 and graduated from Trinity University with a bachelor's degree in English in 1939.[/LEFT] [LEFT]Waskow was buried in an Allied cemetery in Italy, but a marker bearing his name was later placed on a plot in North Belton Cemetery.[/LEFT] [LEFT]In May, 1999, a Burr Oak tree was planted in his honor at Temple College on the north side of the Arnold Student Union. The ceremony was attended by his sisters, Mary Lee and Selma.[/LEFT] [SIZE=2]Henry T. Waskow's Last Letter Home[/SIZE] If you get to read this, I will have died in defense of my country and all that it stands for--the most honorable and distinguished death a man can die. It was not because I was willing to die for my country, however--I wanted to live for it--just as any other person wants to do. It is foolish and foolhardy to want to die for one’s country, but to live for it is something else. To live for one’s country is, to my mind, to live a life of service; to--in a small way--help a fellow man occasionally along the way, and generally to be useful and to serve. It also means to me to rise up in all our wrath and with overwhelming power to crush any oppressor of human rights. That is our job--all of us--as I write this, and I pray God we are wholly successful. Yes, I would have liked to have lived--to live and share the many blessings and good fortunes that my grandparents bestowed upon me--a fellow never had a better family than mine; but since God has willed otherwise, do not grieve too much dear ones, for life in the other world must be beautiful, and I have lived a life with that in mind all along. I was not afraid to die; you can be assured of that. All along, I prayed that I and others could do our share to keep you safe until we returned. I pray again that you are safe, even though some of us do not return. I made my choice, dear ones. I volunteered in the Armed Forces because I thought that I might be able to help this great country of ours in it’s hours of darkness and need--the country that means more to me than life itself--if I have done that, then I can rest in peace, for I will have done my share to make the world a better place in which to live. Maybe when the lights go on again all over the world, free people can be happy and gay again. Through good fortune and the grace of God, I was chosen a leader--an honor that meant more to me than any of you will ever know. If I failed as a leader, and I pray to God I didn’t, it was not because I did not try. God alone knows how I worked and slaved to make myself a worthy leader of these magnificent men, and I feel assured that my work has paid dividends--in personal satisfaction, if nothing else. As I said a couple of times in my letters home “when you remember me in your prayers, remember to pray that I be given strength, character and courage to lead these magnificent Americans.” I said that in all sincerity and I hope I have proved worthy of their faith, trust and confidence. I guess I have always appeared as pretty much of a queer cuss to all of you. If I seemed strange at times, it was because I had weighty responsibilities that preyed on my mind and wouldn’t let me slack up to be human--like I so wanted to be. I felt so unworthy, at times, of the great trust my country had put in me, that I simply had to keep plugging to satisfy my own self that I was worthy of that trust. I have not, at the time of writing this, done that, and I suppose I never will. I do not try to set myself on a pedestal as a martyr. Every Joe Doe who shouldered a rifle made a similar sacrifice--but I do want to point out that the uppermost thought in my mind all along was service to the cause, and I hope you all felt the same way about it. When you remember me, remember me as a fond admirer of all of you, for I thought so much of you and loved you with all my heart. My wish for all of you is that you get along well together and prosper--not in money-- but in happiness, for happiness is something that all the money in the world can’t buy. Try to live a life of service--to help someone where you are or whatever you may be--take it from me; you can get happiness out of that, more than anything in life. Henry T. Waskow Text is copied from the official Will and Testament of Henry T. Waskow The Death of Captain Waskow AT THE FRONT LINES IN ITALY, January 10, 1944 - In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas. Capt. Waskow was a company commander in the 36th Division. He had led his company since long before it left the States. He was very young, only in his middle twenties, but he carried in him a sincerity and gentleness that made people want to be guided by him. "After my own father, he came next," a sergeant told me. "He always looked after us," a soldier said. "He'd go to bat for us every time." "I've never knowed him to do anything unfair," another one said. I was at the foot of the mule trail the night they brought Capt. Waskow's body down. The moon was nearly full at the time, and you could see far up the trail, and even part way across the valley below. Soldiers made shadows in the moonlight as they walked. Dead men had been coming down the mountain all evening, lashed onto the backs of mules. They came lying belly-down across the wooden pack-saddles, their heads hanging down on the left side of the mule, their stiffened legs sticking out awkwardly from the other side, bobbing up and down as the mule walked. The Italian mule-skinners were afraid to walk beside dead men, so Americans had to lead the mules down that night. Even the Americans were reluctant to unlash and lift off the bodies at the bottom, so an officer had to do it himself, and ask others to help. The first one came early in the morning. They slid him down from the mule and stood him on his feet for a moment, while they got a new grip. In the half light he might have been merely a sick man standing there, leaning on the others. Then they laid him on the ground in the shadow of the low stone wall alongside the road. I don't know who that first one was. You feel small in the presence of dead men, and ashamed at being alive, and you don't ask silly questions. We left him there beside the road, that first one, and we all went back into the cowshed and sat on water cans or lay on the straw, waiting for the next batch of mules. Somebody said the dead soldier had been dead for four days, and then nobody said anything more about it. We talked soldier talk for an hour or more. The dead man lay all alone outside in the shadow of the low stone wall. Then a soldier came into the cowshed and said there were some more bodies outside. We went out into the road. Four mules stood there, in the moonlight, in the road where the trail came down off the mountain. The soldiers who led them stood there waiting. "This one is Captain Waskow," one of them said quietly. Two men unlashed his body from the mule and lifted it off and laid it in the shadow beside the low stone wall. Other men took the other bodies off. Finally there were five lying end to end in a long row, alongside the road. You don't cover up dead men in the combat zone. They just lie there in the shadows until somebody else comes after them. The unburdened mules moved off to their olive orchard. The men in the road seemed reluctant to leave. They stood around, and gradually one by one I could sense them moving close to Capt. Waskow's body. Not so much to look, I think, as to say something in finality to him, and to themselves. I stood close by and I could hear. One soldier came and looked down, and he said out loud, "God damn it." That's all he said, and then he walked away. Another one came. He said, "God damn it to hell anyway." He looked down for a few last moments, and then he turned and left. Another man came; I think he was an officer. It was hard to tell officers from men in the half light, for all were bearded and grimy dirty. The man looked down into the dead captain's face, and then he spoke directly to him, as though he were alive. He said: "I'm sorry, old man." Then a soldier came and stood beside the officer, and bent over, and he too spoke to his dead captain, not in a whisper but awfully tenderly, and he said: "I sure am sorry, sir." Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead hand, and he sat there for a full five minutes, holding the dead hand in his own and looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there. And finally he put the hand down, and then reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain's shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight, all alone. After that the rest of us went back into the cowshed, leaving the five dead men lying in a line, end to end, in the shadow of the low stone wall. We lay down on the straw in the cowshed, and pretty soon we were all asleep. Reprinted with permission of the Scripps Howard Foundation. Who is he?never heard of him Well now you have and I believe thats the point... so you can learn about him and know why he sacrificed his life for us... Originally Posted by matsalleh18 I think that's the point... popular war heroes are often a result of circumstance, being in the right place at the right time. Or... the media gets you on the radar for some reason (Ever read "Flags of our Fathers" ?). Originally Posted by matsalleh18 Sometime take a look of the MOH winners or VC winners or whatever your countries highest award is for heroism... how many of these guys did you ever hear of ? Most of these guys figure they represent all the others that never were awarded a medal. The point is combat is about common soldiers performing uncommon deeds... [*****#000080][*****black]"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue."[/COLOR] [/COLOR](Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, 16 March 1945.)
To learn more, download your free copy of The Joint Center Patient Guide. Has your knee pain kept you from doing all the things you used to take for granted, like taking a walk with a friend or playing golf? If you are ready to get moving again, then we'll be with you every step of the way. Our dedicated team of Joint Care professionals will help guide you through the entire process with only one goal: to get you moving again. For more information on knee replacement surgery, or to locate a surgeon in our Joint Replacement Center, call MoBap at 314-996-3627 or email us. Knee replacement surgery relieves pain and restores function to a severely damaged knee by replacing it with an artificial joint made of metal alloys, high-grade plastics and polymers. During the surgery, your surgeon removes worn-down bone and cartilage and replaces it with an artificial knee joint that replicates your knee’s natural rolling and gliding motion. Your surgeon will select the type of artificial knee that best matches your age, weight and activity level. Today, knee replacement is one of the safest and most successful types of major surgery; in about 90% of cases it is complication-free and can result in significant pain relief and restoration of mobility. The most common condition that results in the need for knee replacement surgery is osteoarthritis, a degenerative, joint disease that affects mostly middle-aged and older adults. Osteoarthritis is characterized by the breakdown of joint cartilage and adjacent bone in the knees. Other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and arthritis that results from a knee injury can also lead to degeneration of the knee joint. In addition, fractures, torn cartilage, and/or torn ligaments also can lead to irreversible damage to the knee joint over the years. The decision to replace the painful knee with an artificial one is a joint decision between you and your doctor. Other alternative treatments may first be used, (see our 10 Steps Before Considering Surgery). To locate a specialist in knee replacement surgery, or to schedule an appointment, call MoBap at 314-996-3627 or email us.
SAGINAW, MI — One of the four buildings that are part of developer David Strouse's latest project is among downtown Saginaw's oldest still-standing buildings, local historians agree. Whether it is the oldest or among the oldest isn't certain. What is certain, to Saginaw Valley Historical Society President Tom Mudd, is that keeping original buildings intact on all four corners at South Washington and East Genesee is key to downtown's identity. The Kahan-Dominium building, also known as the "Bliss Block" or the "Mason Building," was designed by celebrated Saginaw architect Ludwig V. Bude and built by Bliss, Fay & Co. in the 1860s. "That would be the oldest existing building in our downtown," said Saginaw Valley Historical Society President Tom Mudd. Tom Trombley, deputy director of the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History, said he knows the Mason Building is one of the oldest remaining structures downtown, though he was hesitant to call it the oldest. "It's certainly one of the oldest," Trombley said. "There are a couple that are probably pretty close in age." Strouse is a CBS Television executive who has redeveloped two apartment buildings in Old Town Saginaw and lives in Saginaw part-time, when he isn't in Los Angeles. His intentions toward the downtown buildings, he told members of the Downtown Development Authority, include a multimillion-dollar renovation resulting in 28 apartments and main-floor commercial space. Strouse hasn't purchased the buildings but is working on an agreement with the DDA. Mudd said, though he is skeptical about whether Strouse's plan will succeed, he is glad to see one more piece of Saginaw's architectural history will be saved from the wrecking ball. "We get to keep an intersection that is fully supported by original buildings," he said. "That particular intersection was extremely important. I'm hopeful, but skeptical." Saginaw County Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Hanley, also a city resident and member of the Saginaw Downtown Development Authority, said he is optimistic about the impact a string of recent developments will have on Saginaw. Hanley said he credits people like Strouse and others who have been taking risks to build on the strengths of Saginaw. "We certainly have some angels among us," he said. Trombley said uncovering the original exterior of the Mason Building, now hidden by a facade, will change the look of the building. "It's really quite a handsome building," he said. The corner building has served as home to WSAM, one of the region's oldest radio stations, and was the longtime office of Leo Kahan, owner of Fashion Outlet and other downtown properties. It was sold to the Saginaw Downtown Development Authority in 2007 for $35,000. Mudd said he is excited by the prospect that the tall, skinny building housing Baz Ethnic Groceries could be part of Strouse's development plans. According to project architect John Meyer, the developers are in discussions with the building owner regarding some type of collaboration. The building, which is about the same age as the Mason Building, was home to Saginaw's Second National Bank, which later moved to the much taller building at 101 N. Washington, now home to FirstMerit Bank. The Baz structure, which Mudd said is the oldest bank building in Saginaw, also has served as a dentist office, the home of People's Savings Bank, a women's clothing store, a shoe repair shop and a jewelry store before Riad K. Baz bought it in 1988. The buildings considered by Strouse for development were all previously slated for grant-funded demolition by the DDA, with the lone exception of the Baz building. The buildings that would have been demolished under the original plan were: - The Leo Kahan Building (former Fashion Outlet) — 206 E. Genesee - The Kahan-Dominium Building (corner building) — 100 S. Washington - The Pickett & Son TV repair building — 106 S. Washington - Shack's Lounge II (former LaSalle Cocktail Lounge) — 108 S. Washington - Lanny Land (former theater and clothing store) — 110 S. Washington While Strouse hopes to preserve most of the buildings clustered on the corner of East Genesee and South Washington, the Shack's Lounge and Lanny Land buildings are slated for demolition before the end of the year. The two buildings yet to be demolished are significant pieces of Saginaw's history. The Lanny Land property since the 1800s has hosted businesses ranging from a women's fashion store to a vaudeville and later a movie theater. The Shack's Lounge building has been a billiard parlor, a restaurant and a bar.
Inside Plant Bowen Water Research Center Water is the backbone of most of the power generation in the United States, from steam-driven turbines to hydroelectric power to water’s cooling benefits in nuclear power. That’s why finding new ways to protect our water resources and use them efficiently is so important. Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen is the site of a new, state-of-the-art water research center dedicated to improving water quality and increasing water efficiency during the process of power generation. The water research center is an exciting partnership between Georgia Power, the Electric Power Research Institute and Southern Research Institute. It’s an innovative collaboration between public and private entities focusing on developing revolutionary technologies with real-world applications that will be used to improve efficiency across the entire energy industry. The center is testing multiple water solutions to our water challenges now as well as in the future. Projects are continually initiated to test technologies in 7 focus areas: moisture recovery; advanced cooling; wastewater treatment, reclamation and re-use; zero liquid discharge; solids management; carbon technologies; and overall water management at a power plant. The test environment offers the opportunity to innovate – think outside the box and run and play in dealing with a quantity in ever-decreasing supply and ever-increasing withdrawal. Based on the new processes that can be researched, and discoveries that can be made at the water research center, employees believe solutions can be unlimited.
Hydrogen fuel cells may soon replace batteries in Apple devices The technology would pack a lot of energy into a small space and allow laptops and iPhones to run for weeks without refueling. Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 02:15 AM If you thought that hydrogen power was a technology reserved for cars, think again. Apple has recently submitted documents to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for hydrogen fuel cells that may soon provide fuel for all Macbooks and iPhones, reports the Telegraph. In the patent documents, Apple claims that its hydrogen fuel cells will be significantly smaller and weigh less than batteries. The new technology could also power devices for much longer — possibly for weeks. "Such fuel cells and associated fuels can potentially achieve high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, which can potentially enable continued operation of portable electronic devices for days or even weeks without refueling," Apple said. The documents are not the first sign that Apple is looking to replace battery technology. In October, a previous pair of patent applications were also submitted by the iPhone maker, each involving detailed new ways of squeezing more power from small hydrogen fuel cells. Since batteries are widely considered an impediment to smartphone development due to their bulky size and relatively short power supply, it's not surprising that Apple is eying an alternative. But because hydrogen is widely regarded as an alternative fuel for cars, the technology might make some people wonder about how it will be used to power small devices. For instance, a necessary byproduct of hydrogen fuel technology is water discharge. Another major advantage of hydrogen power over batteries is that it's more environmentally friendly. Green-minded electronics manufacturers have long considered batteries an unfortunate necessity because the batteries involve toxic chemicals. Batteries can also be troublesome to recycle. Aside from environmental concerns, Apple's patent documents also cited geo-political reasons for switching to hydrogen: "Our country's continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling." "These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources," Apple added.
Design devotee blogs about cities, innovation, architecture and green building. A feat of green arkitecture Although not the most cozy looking place, Ark House brings dramatic, high-concept eco-living to the vast, rugged Montana landscape. Tue, May 25, 2010 at 08:04 AM A majority of the green homes that I blog about, no matter how unconventional, are ones that I can imagine myself settling down in (or at least spending a night or two in). No disrespect to the architects and the client, but this isn’t quite the case with Ark House , an uber-dramatic eco-home that’s sort of sci-fi, a touch Viking, a little bit country, and plenty biblical. Designed to be built on a remote, 100-acre parcel of land atop a windswept bluff overlooking western Montana’s Beaverhead National Forest , Ark House is also pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So even though I wouldn’t personally want to call this desolate, Noah-approved green spaceship/barn with seafaring Scandinavian overtones my own home, its audaciousness is still worth admiring. The 10,200-square foot — this includes a 4,800-square foot observation deck for optimum cow-spotting — Ark House was designed by high-profile interdisciplinary design studio Axis Mundi for a client who wanted a sustainable home that was “of its time, yet be part of the place they love — the vast ancient landscape of Montana.” The design for this residence can been likened to the discovery of an archaic sailing vessel, beached on a mountainside, as if a great ocean receded in the ancient past. Mmmkay. The sail-esque, steeply pitched twin roof structures define Ark House — as well as a 60-foot-long, steel and glass internal bridge — but it’s worth pointing out that the structure is also defined by several eco-features, too: it boasts near net-zero energy use due in part to a high performance building envelope; geothermal heating and cooling systems; reclaimed oak siding and beams; a three-story atrium (Noah's Ark had three decks) with a pond at the bottom; and solar panels incorporated into the roof. I'm guessing that Ark House is animal-friendly although there's no word on exactly how many critters the structure can accommodate in the event of a global deluge. It looks like a few head of cattle could certainly fit into that atrium. What do you think of the Ark House design? Too weird or a perfect fit for Montana's "ancient" landscape? The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
Back in May of 2006, there was a significant change to the tax laws involving IRAs. Starting in the year 2010, all taxpayers can convert their Traditional IRAs to a Roth IRA. That's an opportunity that not everyone had in the past. In this article, we're going to talk about the Roth IRA conversion rule that went into effect in 2010. We'll also run through some of the strategies that individuals can use to take advantage of this change, starting today. Under the current tax law for Roth IRA conversions, which was written in 1997, individuals were permitted to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. There were only two stipulations that taxpayers had to worry about: paying taxes on the converted money and an income limit which determined eligibility to convert. With a Traditional IRA, money can be placed into the account on a pre-tax (tax deductible) and after-tax basis. That investment is allowed to grow on a tax-deferred basis until withdrawn in retirement. If an individual wanted to convert a Traditional IRA, they had to pay federal income taxes on any pre-tax contributions, as well as any growth in the investment's value. After all, once converted to a Roth, all of the investment could now be withdrawn on a tax-free basis in retirement. Unfortunately, that same 1997 tax law contained a provision limiting who could make a conversion. Upper income taxpayers, those with adjusted gross incomes of more than $100,000, whether single or married were not eligible to make such a conversion. In addition, anyone earning $122,000 or more ($179,000 for married joint filers in 2011) weren't eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA. These two tax laws effectively precluded upper income taxpayers from enjoying the benefits of a Roth IRA. They couldn't convert their Traditional IRA to a Roth, and they couldn't fund one either. But back in May of 2006, President Bush signed a $70 billion tax cut provision that changed the eligibility rules for Roth IRA conversions. Starting in 2010, taxpayers with modified adjusted gross incomes of more than $100,000 will be allowed to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth. This change applies to all years beyond 2010, and the income taxes due on the conversion can be spread over two years. So the 2010 conversion amount may be included as taxable income in 2011 and 2012, helping to spread out the tax bite. Conversions in subsequent years are included in income during the tax year in which the conversion is completed. Removing the conversion cap however doesn't mean anyone can fund a Roth IRA, but it does mean that anyone can convert an existing IRA. Fortunately there is a way for all taxpayers, regardless of income, to take advantage of this change in the tax code: Start Funding a Traditional IRA Even if a taxpayer doesn't qualify to make Roth IRA contributions or Traditional IRA contributions on a before-tax basis, they can still make after-tax contributions to a Traditional IRA. By investing in a non-deductible IRA in the tax years 2006 through 2010, a conversion can take place in 2010. Most investors shy away from making non-deductible contributions to an IRA because they are not tax deductible, the investment growth is taxable, and because they are subject to minimum distribution rules, they offer only a minimal tax shelter. But by converting these non-deductible IRAs to a Roth, many of those disadvantages disappear. There is one important rule to keep in mind when converting: federal income taxes are due on any portion of the conversion that wasn't already taxed. Let's say John started to fund Traditional IRAs in 2006, and by 2010 he had $20,000 in his account. Furthermore, let's say this account consisted of four years of $4,000 non-deductible contributions. That's a total of $16,000 in non-deductible contributions plus $4,000 in account growth. In this example, John would need to pay income taxes on the $4,000 in fund growth when he converts to a Roth IRA. But the good news is he'll never have to pay income taxes on this account again. In this second example, let's assume John funded that same Traditional IRA with before-tax dollars, meaning he was able to take a deduction on his tax return for the money placed in the account. In this example, John didn't pay income taxes on any of the money in the account. When he converts it to a Roth IRA, taxes are owed on the entire account balance. In this case he'd have to pay income taxes on all $20,000 in the fund. If John has a Traditional IRA (with tax-deductible contributions) and he starts to fund a non-deductible IRA, then he needs to be aware that tax rules state that any conversion is done on a pro-rata basis. Let's say he had $100,000 in a deductible IRA and he had $25,000 in a non-deductible IRA. If he wanted to convert $25,000 to a Roth, then he'd owe taxes on $20,000 because the pro-rata share of his non-deductible contributions is only $5,000. While it might be very exciting for some individuals to learn they can use this 2010 law to convert an IRA, it's important to mention that a Roth is not for everyone. Before converting, it's important to understand the differences between a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA. It's also a good idea to run through some what-if scenarios using a Roth versus Traditional IRA calculator. It's always best to make an informed decision. Individuals with a question about what's right in their particular situation should consult with a tax professional before making any long-term changes. About the Author - 2010 Roth IRA Conversions - Copyright © 2007 - 2014 Money-Zine.com
LESLIE: Paul in Virginia has a noisy problem. What’s going on? The toilets are making some kind of noise when they’re filling? PAUL: Yes, actually. We bought the house brand new about eight years ago. And back then, when you would flush the toilet it would take, literally, 10 to 15 seconds for the tank to fill back up … PAUL: … and for the water to cut off, completing its cycle. PAUL: Now, when you flush the toilet, it takes well over 60 seconds, a minute … PAUL: … for it to fill. TOM: Have you ever replaced the fill or the flush valve inside the toilet? PAUL: Oh, okay. LESLIE: Well, Paul, toilets need actual like annual maintenance, wouldn’t you recommend, Tom? TOM: (laughing) Yeah, well maybe not every year. But the thing is, if you’ve had an eight-year-old fill or flush valve in there, you’re way past due, dude. You’ve got to replace those valves. The good news is it’s not that hard to do. I mean you basically go out and pick up one of those Fluid Master fill and flush valves. You can pick one up at your local home depot or at your local hardware store. And you turn the water off to the toilet. Follow the instructions on how to pull out that fill valve and the flush valve. It’s really super easy to do. I mean it’s literally like a 15 minute job, maybe 20 minute job. The only place you can get yourself in trouble – and you’ll know it right away – is if you turn the water off to the toilet and the valve doesn’t turn off all the way. Well, you’re going to know that. And if that happens, then turn the main valve off to the house before you take the water connection apart. But it’s really not that hard to do. You’ll have total control over how much water goes in that toilet and how quick it fills back up. And when you replace that flush valve … you could be losing some water, too. I would expect an eight-year-old flush valve to probably leak a lot and you wouldn’t know it. You get this condition called ghost flushing which basically means it sort of fills up on its own whenever it wants to because the seal is leaking. So those are some pretty easy home improvements to do, Paul. And I think that’s going to probably solve your issue. PAUL: Okay, excellent. Because as a matter of fact, now that you’ve mentioned it, it does have a tendency to trickle a little bit now. As in like the float isn’t coming up all the way. TOM: Yeah, exactly. All part of the wear and tear of the most heavily used (laughing) and most misunderstood appliance in the house. LESLIE: (overlapping) And most under-appreciated. TOM: Under-appreciated, as well. That’s right. PAUL: Yeah. Yes. And with four kids in the house, it definitely gets a workout. TOM: Oh, man. LESLIE: It gets its workout. TOM: I thought it was like four years overdue. With four kids, it’s like 12 years overdue. (laughing) Paul, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Get tips on how to fix cracks in plaster walls. Learn how to tape, spackle and cover up cracks in plaster walls. LESLIE: We’re going to talk to Joe in Connecticut about some walls that are just not quite up to his design standards. What can we do for you? TOM: Alright, well that’s easy to fix. What we would recommend you use is a fiberglass tape. If you just tried to spackle over those cracks what you’re going to find is that the crack will easily open up again. So the first thing to do is to sand the surface and then you want to apply a fiberglass tape. This tape is adhesive, it’s perforated, it’s easy to apply; then, on top of that, you’re going to put two to three layers of spackle. You’re going to start with a narrow spackle blade – say about three inches – and you’re going to work out to be about a six or seven-inch blade and by doing that step by step your lines will disappear and they will not come back. JOE: Great, thank you very much. TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
- Tax Hacks 2015: 6 Things Sneaky Tax Preparers Won’t Tell You - Don’t Buy These 7 Things at a Dollar Store - Will Obamacare Complicate Your Taxes? Not Likely - Definitely Buy These 15 Things at a Dollar Store - Ask Stacy: Do I Need a Financial Adviser, or Can I Manage My Money Myself? - How to Find Old Online Accounts and Destroy Them The days of the bride’s parents footing the bill for a lavish wedding are on their way out. Nearly 25 percent of weddings are paid for by the bride and groom alone, Reuters said. If the couple is over age 30, that number increases to 30 percent, according to David Wood, president of the Association of Bridal Consultants. Just 10 years ago, only about 15 percent of couples covered the costs of their wedding. And back in the ’70s, people married much younger and it was widely expected that the bride’s parents would pick up the cost. Today, most people believe the couple should pay for their own wedding, especially if they have lived on their own for some time. Of course, parents often want to pitch in. Reuters said there are a few factors to consider when deciding who will pay for the wedding: - Control. If you want to have total control over the day, it likely makes sense to pay for the wedding yourself. - Budget. It goes without saying that you are more likely to be able to pay for your wedding on your own if you keep the budget small. - Finances. Who can afford to pay for the wedding? If your parents are retired and living on a fixed income, it may make sense for you to pay for the big day on your own. - Multiple weddings. Chances are, if this is your second or third marriage, your parents probably won’t have much interest in paying for the wedding. Been there, done that. My husband and I married in 2006. I was 27 and he was 28. We were both working full time (though I earned $10 an hour as a graphic designer, so I wasn’t contributing much). But between a mortgage payment, student loans and all of our other expenses, footing the bill ourselves for a wedding would have been a stretch. Nor was it expected by our parents, who very graciously split the cost of our wedding right down the middle. I cut costs everywhere I could, so in the end we enjoyed our special day without breaking the bank. My brother, 33, and my sister-in-law, 36, were married in 2013. They covered the cost of nearly the entire wedding by themselves, with a little assistance from both sets of parents. Are you married? How did you pay for your wedding? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.
The word "disjunctive" uses 11 letters: C D E I I J N S T U V. No direct anagrams for disjunctive found in this word list. Words formed by adding one letter before or after disjunctive (in bold), or to cdeiijnstuv in any order: s - disjunctives All words formed from disjunctive by changing one letter Browse words starting with disjunctive by next letter
Remove All Display Ads Definitions of oglev. t. - To view or look at with side glances, as in fondness, or with a design to attract notice. 2n. - An amorous side glance or look. The word "ogle" uses 4 letters: E G L O. Direct anagrams of ogle: loge Words formed by adding one letter before or after ogle (in bold), or to eglo in any order:b - bogle globe d - lodge ogled m - golem n - longe r - ogler s - loges ogles v - glove z - gloze Shorter words found within ogle:ego el gel go leg lo log oe ole List shorter words within ogle, sorted by length Words formed from any letters in ogle, plus an optional blank or existing letter List all words starting with ogle, words containing ogle or words ending with ogle All words formed from ogle by changing one letter Other words with the same letter pairs: og gl le Browse words starting with ogle by next letter Previous word in list: ogives Next word in list: ogled Some random words: llama This is not a dictionary, it's a word game wordfinder. - Help and FAQ - Examples - Home MoreWords.com - V - e2k - 8.038mS
Remove All Display Ads Definitions of zymen. - A ferment. 2n. - The morbific principle of a zymotic disease. The word "zyme" uses 4 letters: E M Y Z. No direct anagrams for zyme found in this word list. Words formed by adding one letter before or after zyme (in bold), or to emyz in any order:n - enzym s - zymes Shorter words found within zyme:em me my ye List shorter words within zyme, sorted by length Words formed from any letters in zyme, plus an optional blank or existing letter List all words starting with zyme, words containing zyme or words ending with zyme All words formed from zyme by changing one letter Other words with the same letter pairs: zy ym me Browse words starting with zyme by next letter Previous word in list: zymases Next word in list: zymes Some random words: ef This is not a dictionary, it's a word game wordfinder. - Help and FAQ - Examples - Home MoreWords.com - V - e2k - 5.989mS

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